Natsu was terribly clumsy.
He had no etiquette when it came down to greeting people, older or younger, and he never gave off the best impression when he exchanged hellos with someone.
Most people were terrified at the end of the day, as it had dawned on them soon enough that this wizard was an arsonist.
Natsu Dragneel relied on his flames for just about anything, so one flick of the finger was enough to light a candle. . or grill or. .
He smashed the ash-ridden wall down, causing the entire building to fall in shambles behind him.
He sighed as the two kids that had been tucked under either of his arms screamed in terror and ran away from him, towards their parents.
. . House.
A piece of wood crashed against his skull and he stumbled. If he hadn't been a good mage serving a well-renowned guild, he would've been just as bad as any other criminal. . err, arsonist out there.
Juvia had come upon the scene, coincidentally enough. She'd seen the crackling combustion with her expressionless eyes and then sprung into action.
After a minute or so, she sprayed the last of her water onto the flames, extinguishing them completely. "Juvia is done." She said in satisfaction, eyeing her work pleasantly.
The family of the barren home thanked her profusely while somehow simultaneously shooting a few nasty looks in Natsu's direction.
Natsu slouched in his seat, covering his scowl with his scaly muffler. Hey, I didn't have to save your damn kids. I could've let them burn in hell. .
"Thanks, Juvia." Natsu said gruffly while ignoring his bitter thoughts, though he personally wished the water mage hadn't come to save the day. The damn kids were watching her, starry-eyed as if she were the real hero.
Well, she was the real hero. It was his own fault for setting the home ablaze to begin with.
Juvia settled beside him on the bench, practically sitting on the edge of the seat. The rain woman established some seriously strict boundaries when it came to being nearby anyone but the nude bastard. .
"Juvia wants to understand why you can't control your fire."
He couldn't hide his surprise. Anyone other than Juvia would've asked about the situation and how it unfolded, but then again Juvia was sitting right here. And she always went straight to the point.
Natsu lifted his shoulders. He could usually keep up his front, with his feisty grin and eager attitude. But he was in no mood to act like this was something he was proud of. "Usually I can. But if I'm feeling anything other than happy, my stupid fire goes outta control." Natsu sighed out. "And then I get pissed off and the fire gets a lot worse."
Juvia nodded in reply. "You're unable to control your emotions."
"Yeah, I guess. It makes no damn sense though. It gets explosive so easily and I can never stop it until I douse myself in water or something." Natsu ran a hand through his dusty hair, exhaling through his nose to rid it of the fumes. "I just wish Gildarts or someone else was around to help me figure out exactly what's going on."
"You'll be able to." Juvia said stoically, and then stood up, brushing the gravel off of her own clothes. She seemed so apathetic but at the same time sincere, in a way. "Magic is never easy. Juvia had her own troubles with her water magic. But it stopped soon enough. Juvia is fine now."
"Wait!" Natsu reached out, almost tempted to grab her hand, but he couldn't be sure Juvia would let him do that. "How did it stop?" He begged.
She walked away, refusing to elaborate any further.
Natsu leaned back, tilting his head to stare at the cloudy pitch black sky. He couldn't make out the moon or any stars, after many days of looking up.
He visited his partner's apartment later that night. He clambered through the window as always, finding it easier to use than a door. After all, a door would require finding a key or simply breaking it down. The first was tedious and the second wasn't too bad but neither were viable options in Lucy's book so it was a hard no for both.
The window it was.
He rolled onto the bed, the carpet,and stopped right before he hit one of the walls.
He sprang to his feet and scouted the area, searching for Lucy. The kitchen, the bathroom, the bedr- oh wait right.
He scratched his head before simpering. It was always a blast to go into her room without her knowing.
He looked in her desk and at the piles of papers she had hidden, consisting of drafts of unfinished stories.
He picked out one of them and began to scan it, searching for anything interesting. She always wrote in her spare time and trashed anything she didn't like, so there was bound to be something worth reading here.
Dear Diary,
Natsu stopped himself. It was wrong to read the rest of it, especially since it was Lucy's personal stuff, and if he'd ever written - Eh.
Natsu Dragneel wasn't the type to dwell anyway.
He already found himself picking it up and starting over, practically unscathed.
"Sure she won't mind~" he hummed mischievously.
Today, was a decent day. I went on a quest with Natsu and Happy and it went pretty smoothly until Natsu set one of the books in the library on fire. . Honestly, that boy. He bursts into flames at the strangest moments and he doesn't stop until everything gets burned down.
It's tedious and terrifying at the same time, to the point where I'm willing to find a solution to his dumb problem, but I don't know where to start… Well, okay, I have an idea but it's going to sound weird.
Startled and immediately interested by what she wrote of, Natsu read the contents even faster than he had before.
I'd have to study his habits to see what stimulates his fire as well as understand his inability to keep it under control. He's really emotional, so I can definitely see that playing a role in it but for all I know, it could be the darn weather or temperature or anything that's just short of my comprehension. I'll do the best I can though, I guess. Maybe I'll learn more about him.
Natsu chest tightened in warmth, not failing to recognize that Lucy cared about him enough to try to pull off this feat.
Moving on, we had to pay the librarian everything we'd earned from the quest and we were basically at square one. This day would've been terrible and I would've fumed the whole time if it weren't for Mira saving the day. She saved that damn Sorcerer's Magazine poster just for me, and as embarrassing as it was we all got good pay out of it. Though, Natsu and Happy didn't really do anything but laugh at me. .
But I guess I laughed too. Those bikinis were pretty ridiculously designed after all.
Everything was so hectic in general, but I don't know what I'd do without those two. Without Natsu. He's a dense idiot, but he managed to turn my life around out of nowhere. He really is something. Maybe that's why I'm willing to find a way to suppress his fire. . Because I care about him? Ah! This is too weird! I can't think of Natsu, this way, it makes things way too complic-
Natsu had to stop mid-sentence because, well. .
The paper had fizzled up. His hands met emptiness.
Also, the room was totally ablaze. Every nook and cranny of Lucy's apartment, the one she fussed over for so many months, before his very eyes so easily.
Smoke filled his lungs for the second time that day, except for some reason it felt a thousand times worse. Natsu's chest ached, as he was already dreading the fact that Lucy was going to Lucy kick him to the fiery depths of hell where he belonged.
Not that this scene didn't look like hell.
Natsu noticed the fabric of the sheets were caught by the flame, charring the faint blue color into a painful black.
The wooden desk was being reduced to smoke, along with all of Lucy's drafts. Her drafts. Her stories.
"SHIT!" Natsu roared at his own idiocy and started to sift through the papers, hopelessly scavenging for any leftover stories.
A hard cover of a book met his stained fingers and he yanked it out, staring at the leather cover and its golden cursive title. He couldn't make it out, but anything in that book had to be worth loads more than what Lucy had scribbled onto random pieces of paper.
Good enough. Natsu thought before he jumped onto the bed and out of the still open window.
Lucy squinted at her apartment complex. . or the remains of it anyway.
Natsu shrank back in shame, wishing that the ground could absorb him and take him out of this terrible situation he'd put himself in.
"Natsu?"
"Yeah?" His heart dropped to his toes.
"Why is my room on fire?"
Natsu wasn't good with words.
In fact. .
Natsu was terribly clumsy.
"I read one of your diary entries and I burst into flames."
He couldn't even make that sound any worse than it already did.
"NATSU!" She shrieked, jabbing a finger in his face. "You READ MY DIARY?!"
"ONE ENTRY!" Natsu yelled back in self-defense. "I DIDN'T MEAN TO I SWEAR!"
"LIKE HELL YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO - EVERYTHING WAS UNDER MY DESK; THAT MEANS YOU SNOOPED IN THERE!"
Natsu hung his head while Lucy stomped her foot against the rubble, crushing it and causing dust to fly everywhere and also on Lucy's foot. "Natsu Dragneel, you are so incredibly, UTTERLY-"
"What. A disappointment? Idiot?" Natsu gritted his teeth together as he realized the exasperation that was coming over him. "Heard it all Lucy. Say your worst, it's probably nothing new."
The celestial spirit mage became caught off-guard by Natsu's resentfulness.
He hadn't expected it either, but he just about through. Of course he didn't like being unable to control his fire sometimes, and of course he'd tried to do something about it. But nothing had worked. Training and beating up people only increased his firepower and stamina, not his control over magic. His close nakama in the guild typically shrugged and told him he had to discover it on his own.
Lucy hesitated instead of finishing her comment. "Natsu. ."
"It's okay, I know I'm too hard to put up with. You should probably find another person to team up with." Natsu muttered. Lucy had no need a guy like him, throwing a wrench into every scenario and ruining her day. She'd be better off teaming up with another mage.
"Natsu." Lucy repeated, more gently this time around. "I'm not mad at you. And I don't want to leave you."
"Don't lie. You're pissed, I can see it." Natsu grumbled irritably, even though it was clear her rage had ebbed away long ago. He just hated seeing her pity him, despite the fact that he was acting pretty pitiful at the moment.
"Look, Natsu," She crouched near the ground so she no longer had to look down at him. "I want to tell you something."
Natsu was thrown into a state of bafflement. What was there for her to tell him right now, other than what any other civilian would screech at him?
He stayed silent for a while, pondering on this, but he knew that the curiosity wouldn't be quenched until he received an answer.
Lucy remained where she was, with both of her eyebrows arching slightly as she waited for his response.
Natsu gave into temptation. "What?"
"I found out a way to control your fire."
This time, Natsu didn't respond, doing his best to squash the slight shred of optimism that had trickled into his system. What did she mean she'd found a way? How? That diary entry was only a few weeks ago too, from what Natsu recalled, so how could she have a solution to his lifelong dilemma so quickly?
He'd asked so many people for help, even his own father, but he hadn't been around long enough to help. He'd disappeared with the rest of the dragons, without giving him a single hint as to what to do.
"You're screwing with me." He tried to say angrily but anyone with ears could tell it was half-hearted.
"Nope. I'm not." The stellar spirit mage beamed brightly, so much more brightly than the hot fire still crackling behind her, inside of her apartment. The huge flames bathed her in a warm light that surrounded her frame, illuminating her. "Want me to show you?"
She held out her small, glowing hand for him to take. The chocolate brown eyes bore into his fondly, dappled with flecks of gold.
Natsu had never seen a sight so breathtaking. Better than any star or moon he'd wished to see that night.
Who needed those when she'd been right there all along? Lucy.
Natsu wordlessly took her hand, looking right back into her eyes - unable to control his gaze.
Lucy giggled, guiding him towards her. "Come over here, you dumb pinkhead."
"What the hell?" Natsu was phased by her insult. "Who you callin' pink-" the words on the tip of his tongue melted away, as soon as Lucy kissed him into submission with her soft lips.
His brain just about exploded from the thoughts rocketing through, racing and trying to find an explanation behind what the fuck and why the fuck this was happening.
If that hadn't been enough to put him on the edge, Lucy pushed harder into the kiss with her fervor, draining away all of his inteospection.
For the first time, Natsu felt truly weak, dominated by a woman who miraculously spiraled him out of control and thrust him on the brink of stupidity.
She made him hot all over, every incendiary inch of him only needing a match or another kiss to make him lose it.
"N-Natsu-" Lucy panted, feeling the heat rolling off of him as she came even closer to touch him a third time. Her half-lidded eyes full of want, the sweat dripping down her forehead, the sensual way her lips moved as she practically moaned his na-
Natsu burst into flames again.
"Fff-FUCK-" he shouted as he tore himself away from their kiss and. .
Fell straight into the river.
A deafening splash and the rush of water over his entire body doused the fire instantaneously. He held his breath, wondering if that had been an accident on his part or Lucy had planned it.
Lucy. . He peered up at the surface, barely making out the shadow of her figure.
He swam towards it, kicking his feet until he broke through the river and gasped for air.
"LUCY, WHAT THE HELL?!" He croaked out. He coughed and spat out some of the water that had gotten into his mouth, groaning at how salty it was.
Lucy fell into hysterics at his distress, holding her stomach as if doing her best to prevent her insides from spilling out. She'd taken off her boots and dipped both of her feet into the water, though she was still sitting on the ground. She reached up to wipe a stray tear off her face and continued to snicker. "That was AWESOME! You looked so funny when you fell into the river - I just - HahHAHAHAH!"
"Shut up Lushi." He dipped part of his face below the surface, too embarrassed to say anything else.
The stellar spirit mage raised her eyebrows and splashed her feet against the water. She flicked some of it at him. "That's how we're going to get you to control your fire."
"W-Wha-?!" Natsu blubbered, tongue-tied.
She was going to k-kiss him to-?!
This time his hair erupted into a miniature inferno. Lucy pointed and laughed at him until he extinguished it by ducking his entire head into the water.
He gulped in air the second time, though this time he couldn't bear to look at Lucy.
"Why-Why do you want to kiss me? How does that help?" Natsu stumbled over his words ungracefully, once again proving his speech impediment.
The blonde blushed. Natsu noted this with suspicion.
"Well, I did some investigating." She started off carefully.
Natsu bobbed his head up and down, indicating that he was all ears.
"And, I compiled lots of data. Your habits, your emotions, stuff like that. You don't need to know all the intricate details, but I discovered you lose control when you're flustered."
". . Flustered?" Natsu inspected his hands, which were blurry since they were still in the river.
He recalled when he'd read Lucy's one page of her diary, about how she was thinking of ways to keep his fire under control.
I was flustered?
He had been flattered and almost overjoyed that Lucy cared so much, but when had he been embarrassed by what she wrote?
He didn't know. But. .
He remembered how he'd been at the two kids' home, heeding their request for him to visit them. Upstairs, they'd played with their dolls and toys until they asked Natsu something.
They asked if. .
Oh hell no.
Natsu dove into the water just as hints of another fire sprouted on the tops of his shoulders.
"Is that blonde girl your girlfriend?"
"That makes sense." Natsu voiced his agreement with Lucy's conclusion, his arms crossed and his head bobbing again as if he had been in deep thought.
"Of course. I found out after all." Lucy informed him whilst basking in her self-gratification. "So all we need to do is have you get used to embarrassment. So you won't get as flustered anymore, and you'll be able to handle your fire power a lot better. You are very welcome." She sang.
Natsu scratched his head, an almost malicious thought coming to him. But he hid it behind a thoughtful expression as he said, "So if I need to get used to embarrassing situations, can't I just make a fool out of myself and then jump into the water? Instead of you know, making you kiss me all the time." He sniggered when Lucy gaped at him in horror, as if realizing what she had just done.
"Oh-UH-WELL, YOU CAN DO THAT TOO OBVIOUSLY!" The blonde nodded rapidly and gestured to him in total assent, and she chortled nervously the entire time, eyes darting between him and wherever else she could look. It was totally pointless. Natsu could be hard-headed, but even he had pieced it together.
This fool, Natsu smiled affectionately at her efforts to diverge from the fact that Lucy had been willing to kiss him, to the point of numbing him of embarrassment. She would kiss him over and over to help him control his bad habit, and that made his heart swell.
"Thanks, Lucy." He finally told her, silencing her. "For figuring it out. And willing to help me."
The stellar spirit mage returned his sentiment with her own sweet smile, placing her hands on her lap. "No problem, Natsu. You're my partner. I'd do anything for you."
The pinkette stretched out his muscled arms, yawning in an over-exaggerated manner to catch Lucy's attention. "So, anything for me, huh?"
The smile dropped off of Lucy's face in a millisecond, replaced by the former wariness and fear.
"I mean, it's pretty interesting that you offered to kiss me like that Luigi." He smirked knowingly. "I'm wonderin' what you're thinking to gain from all this."
"N-NO-" she squawked, "It's not what you th-think-"
"Come over here!" He teased, splashing her with a huge wave of water. She screamed loudly, unable to defend herself when Natsu tugged on her forearm, causing her to submerge into the murky water with him.
She managed to escape him in 5 seconds tops, traveling back to the surface as he chuckled at her antics.
"Natsu, I'M not supposed to go into the water!" She whined, shaking the liquid out of her hair. "Where will I be able to take a shower?!"
She wailed in distress while Natsu laughed at her soaked, miserable state.
"You can take a shower at the Fairy Hills." Natsu snorted, proceeding to paddle over to her. "And besides, I need you in the water."
"For what?" Lucy asked grumpily.
"For this."
This time he initiated the kiss, tilting his head so their lips could meld together as they did last time.
He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, touching her skin and feeling the hear shoot through his veins.
"You're going to burn me," His best friend breathed in between kisses, confirming that he was indeed on fire for probably the bazillionth time.
"You're burning me." Natsu murmured in her ear, before pressing his lips against her collarbone.
She pulled them down together, under the water so the fire would sizzle out.
But instead of going back up as they had before, Lucy pushed her hands into the pink hair she had mocked earlier, brushing through every lock and spiking a flash of adrenaline into Natsu.
He dug his teeth into her collarbone, breaking the skin and making her flinch, but she didn't stop him.
In fact, she was touching more and more of him. She traced his ears, his nape, his back - even his chest. Natsu relished every second of what she was doing and how she was making him feel like fire even though that was impossible in the river.
He pushed his body flush against hers, licking the small wound he had created. He accidentally poked her neck with his nose, instantly sniffing her and losing himself in her aroma. Maybe the perfume she wore all the time had to do with it, but goddamn it she smelled so amazing.
Lucy. .
He bit into the side of her neck this time, eliciting a moan from the stellar spirit mage and small murmurs that Natsu couldn't quite make out, but had a feeling spoke bits and pieces of Natsu's name.
Being around her for this long was making him lose control, but in an entirely different way. A part of him desperately wished they could somehow breathe - so he could explore every inch of her body without having to worry about burning her with him.
Lucy pushed herself away from him, covering her mouth and departing from their embrace. Natsu was losing his breath too so he followed suit.
The blonde pushed back her wet bangs, before sighing. "Natsu, I need to breathe, remember?!"
"Haha, gomen," the fire dragon slayer apologized, not really meaning it though. He licked his lips, memorizing the taste of her. "I couldn't help it anymore. Also you started it." He added for good measure.
Lucy pouted, swimming over to the sidewalk and climbing out of the river. She lifted her fingers to trace over the marks Natsu had left behind. "Dammit my neck's sore now. Also you didn't even touch me." She mumbled in a lower volume, probably believing that Natsu wouldn't hear.
"I. . Oh. I guess I didn't." The pinkette rubbed the back of his neck. In truth he'd been so entranced by her scent and her taste that he hadn't been able to indulge himself in anything else. "Maybe next time, when we're under the water haha."
"Dammit, this is going to become a habit isn't it." Lucy swore indignantly, while squeezing the water out of her clothes and hair.
Natsu took in the sight of her a second time, unable to help but smile again. She was more unruly and drenched in water; there was no fire behind her anymore, but she was just as gorgeous.
"Yup."
Well. . . It's been 2 years.
The reason I didn't write/update any fics for this long was because I got over Fairytail tbh. I really hated the Tartaros arc and I honestly don't care for the Alvarez arc too much either, but looking back at the older episodes of the anime as well as chapters of the manga, I realized that I missed this.
Idk if I can finish the fics I started, mainly because my thoughts are scattered everywhere and I'm notorious for being unable to update multi-chaptered fics. I'll stick to one-shots probably - that's better for me. That is, if I stay on this site and don't leave again trololol (fuck high school).
Don't take this fic too seriously, it's barely edited and I wrote it in the middle of the night to get everything out of my system. Natsu's slightly OOC since this time he has something obstructing his confidence and his carefree attitude, but he's pretty much the same person otherwise.