Hippo
Hey guys! This is my story, "Hippo" for Natsu and Lucy~
As always, I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, in any shape or form.
**edit: I just fixed some spelling errors, and added some more description. Nothing major. Hope you guys still love the 'fic!**
They hovered over the book Lucy was reading.
It had small font, the size of ants, that disabled Natsu and Happy from reading it.
They instead, gazed at the pictures surrounding the small words.
"If you two wanna look at some pictures, go to the preschool nearby and look at some." Lucy finally snapped, getting annoyed with Natsu and Happy's hovering, which was casting a dark shadow on the pages she was trying to read.
"B-but Lucy! We're banned from the Preschool, remember?" Natsu replied, a giant thought bubble forming over their heads, with the memory of Natsu burning down the small building while fighting Gray in their usual conflicts, appeared.
"Ugh, fine." Lucy replied, flustered. She rolled her eyes at the thought of Natsu destroying a small building meant for furthering a small child's education. Even if she did like Natsu in that lovey-dovey way, she still got annoyed by his childish antics.
Natsu and Happy quickly sat next to her, Natsu on her left side, and Happy on her right, enjoying the book. Natsu was so incredibly close to Lucy, she could feel his warmth. This realization made her cheeks a little pink. 'This doesn't mean anything,' Lucy thought. 'Does he not realize how close he is to me? He's so oblivious!'
Erza snuck a look at the three. "Look at those three," Erza said, nudging Gray on his elbow. The two were enjoying drinks together, like they occasionally do when not occupied with missions.
Gray glanced over lazily, and saw Lucy screaming at Natsu not to invade her "bubble", as Happy snuck under the table in fear. It looked like a normal sight to him. "Looks the same," Gray replied.
Erza chuckled. "You're kidding. They're like the Three Musketeers, so cute together."
"Yeah, maybe," Gray replied, sipping his drink.
Of course, as far his stripping habit goes, his shirt miraculously disappeared, leaving Erza annoyed. Juvia, as always, was watching Gray and smiled to herself with happiness.
"Gray, get some clothes," Erza ordered, her face cherry red and anger seeping inside of her.
Gray, confused, looked down at his shirtless chest (Much to Juvia's enjoyment) and blushed heavily. He dashed outside of the guild to retrieve clothes. Erza wondered how many spare pairs of shirts Gray must own, as a cause of his stripping habit. Erza chuckled as she saw Juvia blushing heavily herself behind the pillar, watching them. Erza finished her drink, and approached Lucy and her pests. "What are you reading?" Erza asked.
Lucy's head snapped up from her book. "A book about a mysterious wizard who-"
"That's not a wizard, it's a hippo." Natsu interrupted, pointing at the image with a rather plump character with a magic wand. It had small, black eyes, and a large snout-like mouth. It had chubby arms, and what appeared to be small ears- just like a hippo.
"That's the wizard, not a hippo," She replied, annoyed. "It's about a wizard seeking love, trying to find someone who will love him despite his flaws-"
"Fat chance!" Natsu exclaimed, slapping his knee at the hilarious joke he had made. (Not so) suprisingly, only Happy understood the joke, and they began laughing hysterically.
Lucy, growing angrier by the minute, punched Natsu right in his cheek. "Natsu, I'm trying to read this book! SHUT UP!" She held the book closer to her face, so the cover hid her face. 'He has to get this hint,' Lucy thought. For once, she wanted peace and silence to read her book.
"You know Lucy, you kind of remind me of a hippo."
The guild got quiet.
-x-x-x-
Everyone stared at what Natsu had just said. They hid in fear, afraid of what Lucy would do. Maybe she'd turn into Lucy-zilla and eat everyone?
"NATSU!" Erza exclaimed, holding Natsu by his neck. She gripped her hold on him tightly. "I can't believe you just tried to say a fat joke to Lucy..."
"L-let me explain..." Natsu whimpered.
The image of a hippo- fat, unacttractive, lazy, always eating, and rolling in dirt- occured in Lucy's mind. Hippos are not cute. Lucy would usually ignore an insult like this, Happy always made remarks like that. But, an insult from the one you love...the love that is oblivious to her own affections... The way he carelessly said it...
"Screw off!" Lucy screamed, throwing the book at Natsu's face. Everyone looked at her- her angry, tomato red face. Tears were suddenly dropping from her eyes. She quickly turned, and dashed outside of the guild. Gray, who was returning from retrieving a new shirt, happened to pass by Lucy.
Noticing her tears, and the way she ran so incredibly fast, he stopped to talk to her. "Lucy, what's wron-"
"Go away!" She replied back, screaming. Pedestrians walked by her, observing this strange Mage running around with tears in her eyes.
Gray slammed the guild doors open.
"What's wrong with Lucy?" He demanded.
Everyone glanced at Natsu. "I dunno. Ask Natsuuuuu," Someone pointed.
"Just ask Romeo what genius thing he did, this time." Another sarcastically remarked.
Gray glared at Natsu. "What idiotic thing did you do this time?"
Juvia silently sulked in the corner. 'Gray-sama...caring about another woman than Juvia?'
"Nothing," Natsu replied. "I said she reminded me of a hippo-"
"A HIPPO? ARE YOU AN IDIOT? YOU NEVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO A WOMAN!" Gray's voice roared with anger, and a teenie bit of humor from Natsu' fat joke. "Natsu, if there's anything you don't say to a woman, it's about her weight-"
"But it wasn't a fat joke," Natsu replied. Erza looked at him. Confused, she loosened her tight grip on his neck. "Hippos are cute, but when you piss them off, they turn all badass and kill everything in sight. Now that's impressive, right?" He grinned.
The guild remained silent, not with fear or anger, but with...disappointment?
How could Natsu be that oblivious to that remark of calling Lucy a hippo? It seemed as though he hadn't even thought about how Lucy would take it.
"So it was a compliment," Erza said, her grip on Natsu fading. She was dumbfounded.
"Well, yeah! I wouldn't insult Lucy like that! Happy usually does that!"
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed.
Gray rolled his eyes, and let off a little steam. "Natsu, I think you should apologize. I passed by Lucy, and she was crying pretty bad."
"APOLOGIZE!" Erza screamed, throwing Natsu out the front door, fire in her eyes.
"What an idiot," Gray muttered.
"Aye," Happy, the blue Exceed agreed.
-x-x-x-
"Lucy!" He called for her, over and over again. No response. He must've wandered around half of Mongolia by now.
'Oh, her house...!' He thought, and ran to her apartment.
"Lucy?" He called for her again, peering into her humble abode. He wandered into the living room. No...no Lucy here. The bathroom remained empty. Even the kitchen.
He left the apartment, wondering where she could be. He folded his arms behind his head, and wondered Magnolia. 'I'll look all over, if that's what I'll have to do!' He began running faster, hoping to find her before nightfall. The sun was already setting. 'What if Lucy got kidnapped?' Horror began to seep into his mind. 'Oh shit..!'
Running out of breath, he slowly walked towards a tree. 'This looks familiar,' He thought. Memories of Lucy slapping him obnoxiously when he told her he had been looking for Virgo to dig up the hole for him. He smiled. Lucy's slaps hurt like hell, but her touch was so ... smooth, so nice, so... wait. Natsu felt himself blush, and his heart skip a beat. 'No, I like Lucy as a nakama..! Not like that,'
He heard sobbing from the other side of the tree. Loud, somewhat obnoxious sobs. He heard the constant choking of the tears.
"Lucy!" He exclaimed, running to the other side. 'What if it wasn't Lucy...what if I'm trying to talk to a stranger...no! It has to be Lucy!' His black onyx eyes expected an image of Lucy, and his expectations were met.
Lucy sat there, her eyes as red as Erza's hair, her knees clutched to her face. So many tears had fallen onto the grass, Natsu was amazed that a lake hadn't formed yet. "Lucy, I'm sorry-"
"Natsu, go away." She sobbed, responding right away. Even with her lingering feelings for him, she didn't want to see his face. Whenever she was having a bad day, she could count on Natsu to make it better. Just seeing his face, with his peachy skin tone, with his dark eyes, and gorgeous cherry blossom pink hair, could make her smile. But she was furious with him right now. The boy she liked had just hurt her feelings with an insensitive "joke". Who would want to be with someone like that, anyways? She was almost certain the feelings were one-sided, anyways. 'The sooner I cut him off, the sooner I'll find a different love.'
"No, Lucy..." He sat next to her. He sat so close, Lucy felt herself blush again.
"Why is it so hard to stay mad at you?" She asked.
Natsu's eyes widened. "Eh?"
"You were a jerk, b-but I just can't stay mad at you..." She snuggled her face into her knees some more. "Kinda like my father..." She buried her face into her knees.
"Lucy," Natsu placed his hand on her shoulder. Her soft, smooth, shoulder... Natsu shook his head, trying to get the thought out of his head. "I didn't mean to piss you off. Calling you a hippo was a compliment,"
"A c-compliment? Are you kidding?" Lucy's voice rose. "Hippos are fat, ugl-"
Lucy was caught in a facade that being compared to a hippo was the truth. No one could love a hippo. That means...no one could love Lucy. Not even Natsu.
"No, they're not." Natsu replied, calm, for once. "Hippos seem cute, but are really tough and badass when they get pissed off. Kinda like you-" Realizing what he said, Natsu stopped speaking. His face turned cherry-red.
"You think I'm cute?" Lucy asked, her face rising above her knees. Her eyes widened, and upon Natsu's words, Lucy's heart skipped a beat.
"Yeah! Lucy, you're amazing!" Natsu replied, grinning.
"R-really?" Lucy asked, smiling. Her tears had stopped falling. She was still blushing. Natsu took her soft hand into his rough hands. They were used to the touch, they had held hands before, but...this time was different.
Sparks flew, pew pew. She could feel it. This was the feeling Lucy had read about in romance novels. It seemed so real, so magical. Now she knew why the library was cluttered with romantic novels. This is the feeling people die for.
He lifted her up. "Lucy, I think you're amazing. I would never intentionally insult you like that,"
His onyx eyes locked with her dark coffee eyes. "R-really? But you and Hap-"
"That's different," He responded, serious. "Lucy..." He placed his hands on her chin. He didn't know why, but it felt right. For once, doing something out of impulse felt right. He pushed her chin slightly upwards with his thumb, with enough force for her to actually look up at his face. He leaned in closer and closer, and pressed his lips against her's.
His lips were soft, like cotton candy. It was surprising for her- she'd always imaged his lips to be rough, chapped, maybe even bleeding a little from receiving so little care. But it twisted her mind, her image of him being shattered.
Natsu had always imaged Lucy's lips to be soft. And he was right- for once. He could feel a lingering taste of her lip balm...cherry flavor? He wasn't sure, but she still tasted so sweet, either way. He opened his eyes, and saw Lucy's eyes closed tight shut. He could see a faint painting of peachy, shimmer eyeshadow painted on her lids. And some mascara, that clumped her lashes together. He observed her, for this is the closest he has been to her- emotionally, and physically it seemed. She pulled back from the kiss first.
"N-Natsu," Lucy whispered, almost whimpering. Her voice had fear in it.
"What's wrong, Luce?" Natsu asked. He stroked her soft cheek. It was so smooth.
"I-I just wasn't expecting that,"
Even under the dark night sky, and with a faint light of the moon, Natsu could see her heavy blushing. And that wasn't make up.
"Well then, you weren't expecting this, either," And he slammed his lips into her, taking her into a ballroom dance of the French kiss. Natsu slapped his tongue onto her's, and he expected her to pull back in that instant. 'Natsu, what the hell are you doing?!' He expected to feel a hard slap on the face- but instead, he was greeted with a slap onto his tongue as well.
The kiss was everything Lucy had read about. A little too wet, and a little sloppy, but full of excitement and joy. Full of passion.
"Natsu," She whispered, after they had pulled back from the kiss. His arms were now wrapped around her back, holding her closely to his chest. Their faces were touching each other.
"Lucy," Natsu whispered back. He pecked her soft lips once.
"You can give a great kiss, but I want an apology for you calling me a hippo," She winked at him.
Natsu chuckled, and began stroking her face. "I'm sorry Luce,"
She smiled, and he assumed that was a sign of acceptance for her apology.
His heart was beating so damn fast. He never had a rush like this before. "Lucy, I think I love you."
'He loves me...' This was so different than the time Mirajane had suspected Natsu of liking Lucy. This was way far more than she could ever ask for.
'So my feelings are returned,' "I love you too, Natsu." Lucy finally said. She wrapped his arms around his neck. 'I guess...even a 'hippo' like me could be loved.'
The moon was high in the sky, it's light shining down on Natsu and Lucy, who had continued to share some more kisses.
Natsu eventually took Lucy in his arms, lifting her off of the ground. "N-Natsu, what are you doing?!" Lucy screamed, attempting to fuss herself out of Natsu's large, muscular arms.
"Lucy, we can't keep making out like this in public. I'm taking you back to your apartment!"
He grinned at her, and in that moment, she was sure Natsu's smile was brighter than even the moon shining down above them.
-x-x-x-
"So, you're an item now, eh?" Cana asked, winking at Lucy.
"W-what? Where did you get that idea, Cana?" Lucy asked, throwing her hands in the air, attempting to seem innocent. She was blushing furiously, which her were not putting the odds in her favor.
"I heard through the grapevine that Natsu took you home. And that you guys were seen making out," Cana winked at her, and smiled.
"W-wh-whaat? I don't even-"
Cana began laughing hysterically.
"But to answer your question, I think we are," Lucy replied, still blushing.
"About time," Cana smirked.
Erza sat next to them at the bar. "Finally," She interrupted.
"Maybe Natsu and I will be like you and Jellal, Erza," Lucy said, smiling.
Erza blushed heavily. "No. You'll be more than that,"
Lucy felt a sudden tug of force against her neck. "What the-"
Cana and Erza giggled.
"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
Lucy blushed slightly. "Jeez Natsu, what's your problem?"
"You're just touchy 'cause we made out," Natsu smirked.
"LUCY! YOU AND NATSU KISSED?" Gray suddenly appeared, interrupting them.
"Eh...?" Lucy questioned.
"Wow Natsu! So you finally got with the hippo!" Happy chuckled.
"SHUT UP!" Lucy growled at Happy.
"When are you two going to take the next step?" Gray asked.
Juvia stood behind the pillar of the guild, watching her lover. 'That's right Gray-sama, Lucy is with another man! Now you have no one to choose but Juvia!' She thought.
"Tonight, right, Lucy?" Natsu asked, still grinning.
"What? What next step?" She asked, embarassed.
Mirajane wiped the bar with a moist towel. "Finally, they're together~"
"The guild is pretty into it," Cana noted.
The group laughed and teased the new couple, as expected.
They made jokes as Natsu wrapped his arm around Lucy, who is and will always be his hippo.
"Lucy, you still remind me of a hippo." Natsu said, slightly smiling.
Lucy narrowed her eyebrows at him. In an irritated tone, she spoke. "You...!"
She blushed heavily, as the group roared with laughter.
That was like, a ten minute drabble I wrote, haha. I hope you guys liked it.
I think the ending was rushed, but...
Hopefully you enjoyed it! C: