.
Astraphobia
.
Ahh, my first real NaLu fic!
This is a (SUPER) belated birthday present to my loves, Rissa and Leah! (hence a two-shot, ah? AH? GEDDIT?)
I am so, so sorry this came so late (I sound like a broken record) and I really tried to tone down the angst BUT it is a LITTLE BIT angsty so my deepest, sincerest apologies.
Happy Birthday!
(Note: for those of you waiting on other stories (cough) I am slowly but surely getting myself back on that horse.)
.
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail, its respected characters and its plot are all sole property of Hiro Mashima. Any resemblance to other pieces of literature or fiction, whether published online or on paper, is purely unintentional and merely coincidental.
Warnings: The first chapter is pure (ish) fluff, the second chapter will be SMUT. Have fun. :)
.
Lucy Heartfilia couldn't sleep.
Well, truthfully, she hadn't really been trying to sleep in the first place – the storm outside was only just hitting its crescendo, and it certainly didn't seem like it was ready to stop any time soon. In addition…Lucy wasn't exactly a huge fan of thunderstorms…especially the whole 'thunder' part, and it was only getting louder and louder by the minute. All of this didn't seem to stop Natsu though, his snores were almost as raucous as the rain pelting against the straining walls of their shared tent. As several streaks of brilliant white light flickered across her line of vision, Lucy hurriedly clasped her hands over her ears, shut her eyes tight, and began mentally praying for this entire thing to hurry up and blow over.
'One…'
She hadn't always been afraid of thunderstorms. Once upon a time, someone had held her, rocked her back to sleep against the angry thrum of raindrops and howling winds, smoothed her hair, sung sweet lullabies…
'Two…'
Moments like these…they were dimly lit memories that she would have liked to forget…
'Th – '
A clash of thunder interrupted her thoughts, shaking the tent violently in its wake, and everything became drowned out by deafening radio silence.
This sort of freak storm was highly unheard of in the south of Fiore. Even with Juvia's turbulent nature, the town of Magnolia rarely (if ever) experienced weather out of the ordinary like this. Of course, every place had its fair share of squalls – quiet; rolling storms that bled their way through sleepy summer afternoons – but nothing, absolutely nothing, like this.
Gods, and it just had to have come at the absolute worst time, too. Things had gotten rather tense between her and Natsu beforehand. But that wasn't her fault! She hadn't…been the one to initiate that dumb kiss; she hadn't been the one who had a bit too much to drink and started spewing out spontaneous declarations the previous night –
Another stream of light flashed and before Lucy could anticipate it, a crack thunder wailed, shaking their tent violently. Nothing could control the scream that clawed its way out of her throat at that moment, her entire chest convulsing and tightening, all of the air abruptly leaving her lungs. Choking, sputtering, with an endless stream of wild tears, everything hurt so much, it hurt so, so, so much, she –
"Lucy!"
Natsu held her to his chest as she began to kick and scream, locking down her body against his. He mentally cursed at the growing swell in his jaw after she smacked him during their short struggle. Dammit. Looking at her you'd think Lucy was all smooth edges and soft curves, but that girl had a mean right hook.
Once she had settled and her breathing began to even out, Natsu finally relaxed his grip just enough for Lucy to adjust herself and throw her arms around his bare neck.
Well, shit.
This mission, funny enough, wasn't really supposed to be an overnight job per se. They had delivered the package to Hargeon's port in record time and were on their way back when the storm began to roll in out of nowhere, leaving them with little time to run for cover. Setting up the tent hadn't really been much of an issue (truly, bless those celestial spirits) but what had been an issue was the, er, 'spat' they had gotten into moments before the storm.
Never before had Natsu experienced the cold shoulder from any girl, let alone Lucy, and he quickly realized once she didn't return his 'goodnight' that her silence was more harmful than any punch Gray or Erza had thrown at him.
He'd never understand girls. One second Lucy was teasing him, tugging at the hem of his vest jacket and calling him 'quite the charmer' (what?), and then she was flustered and angry, yelling at him for his insensitivity, his inability to read situations, his overall incompetence. And now…now she was burrowed deep into his chest; eyes closed, strands of flaxen hair curling around his skin like a blanket, arms holding their bodies close, breath ghosting across his skin.
Both his hair and boxers were unfortunately still a bit damp from the rain, but he had at least abandoned his soaked vest, scarf, and pants in favour of his sleeping bag on the opposing end of their tent – and now he was regretting it dearly as Lucy shifted her body dangerously onto his lap.
"Natsu?"
Her voice was muffled and soft but he still heard her amidst the wind.
"Hey, I'm right here."
Now she was crying! What the fuck, he was only reassuring her that –
"I'm so sorry about earlier, I'm so, so sorry!" She was wailing as loud as the wind, tears staining his skin.
Tentatively, Natsu parted her arms from clinging to him and instead cupped her face gingerly, bringing them to eye level.
"Luce, it's fine," he chose his words carefully this time, as to not fuck up like earlier, "we all have moments like this, don't beat yourself up over it."
That only caused her to cry harder.
Well, shit.
"Lucy, c'mon," He pulled her back into a hug, her face resting into the crook of his neck, "you don't have to apologize for anything, really, what matters is – "
"Please don't leave me again, Natsu. Please promise me that you won't leave again."
Though they were just as muffled as her sobs, he could still hear every word and feel every vibration of her lips as they moved against his skin.
"I promise," he leaned into her hair, arms tightening around her body as her crying slowed in tempo, "I'm not going anywhere."
"Everyone always leaves."
He paused and swallowed heavily before continuing.
"I'm not everyone."
She pulled back from him then, eyes red-rimmed and leaky.
"You left, though."
The storm was still raging and a flash of lightning gave a moment of pause for Natsu to think before he responded.
"I had to."
"But you left, Natsu."
He couldn't argue with that. He had left her – and he really hadn't wanted to – but he hadn't planned on it being so sudden.
Another (slightly distant) clap of thunder shook their tent and she clutched him even harder, still sniffling.
Natsu Dragneel was not exactly well versed with goodbyes. They were too final, too formal; they denoted that you were going to leave someone permanently. When you said goodbye, it wasn't meant to be a temporary thing. Moreover, you were lucky, he knew, more than blessed, to even get a goodbye at all.
"How can I prove to you that I won't…how can I make it better?"
Lucy sniffed, still attempting to calm herself down.
"I…"
She coughed lightly.
"I…don't know."
His eyes were hyper focused on her finally, and for once Lucy couldn't say the words she so badly wanted to say.
More than anything in the entire world – and she knew it was such a disgusting, romantic cliché – Lucy Heartfilia just wanted physical affection. Another kiss, more to the point. She was a sobbing, screaming, panicked mess, but gods would she just kill to be held and showered with affection.
Hold me just like you are now? Maybe…kiss me? Yes, she wanted him to kiss her like he had done the night before, yes, yes, yes. A kiss. Something physical, something reassuring…something more than just words on a piece of beaten parchment paper in an illegible scrawl. Anyone could make empty promises with words, but actions would always speak louder than any other form of communication.
Kiss me…hold me…kiss me…hold me…they were thick in her mouth, she could taste them, if she would just get the nerve to say the one she really wanted, if only she was as confident as Erza or as forward as Juvia, if only she could just say how badly she wanted him to kiss her again, feel his tongue part her lips, his teeth pulling at her skin, kiss her like he meant it, like he –
"What was that?"
Natsu's voice broke her thoughts.
"What was what?"
"What you just said…"
"I didn't say anything," her heart rate began to increase exponentially.
There was no possible way she could have…
"You said you wanted…" he blinked, face blank, "me to kiss you?"
Lucy swore that her face was on fire. She shoved Natsu, kicking at the sleeping bag underneath their bodies. No, no, no!
Grabbing her arm, Natsu pulled her back towards him, swallowing heavily as their eyes locked, neither wanting to be the one who broke the stare first.
"Where do you want me to kiss you?" his voice was low, almost gravelly, and that husky undertone sent shivers quickly down Lucy's spine, leaving a trail of white-hot prickling heat.
In reality, she desperately wanted to say many places, but her mouth and tongue obeyed themselves this time and instead it was her finger that motioned towards the swell of her bottom lip.
Here.
For several seconds, Natsu didn't move at all. He just stared down at her like she was speaking in tongues, and Lucy became increasingly worried that he was going to launch her off of his lap and make a run for it into the storm. He wet his lips, eyes traveling back to her eyes, back to her finger, back to her eyes, and then finally back to her finger once more before he cupped her face again and swiftly brought those same lips down to clumsily meet hers.
This kiss was slightly different. It lacked the last one's liquid courage, and though it was not as experienced as the previous kiss by any means, nor was it as sloppy as one would expect, it did set off a chain reaction of events that ended with Lucy straddling Natsu between their two sleeping bags, both of their clothes (or Natsu's lack thereof) disheveled. This time Lucy initiated the kiss, timidly asking for entrance with her tongue. Natsu allowed it, and as she deepened their kiss, heart hammering wildly against her rib cage, he returned the action greedily.
Storm almost entirely forgotten by now, Lucy childishly whined as Natsu pulled his tongue from hers, moving quickly to burrow his face into the crook where her shoulder met her neck. He just felt so…ridiculous. Physical affection wasn't exactly one of his strong points, but gods he really did care for Lucy and kissing her made him feel like he had devoured the sun.
"Was…that all you wanted?" his voice broke on the last syllable, but Natsu didn't know how else to ask for more, more, more of her, because gods did he want it. Damn him for feeling so uncharacteristically shy in this moment, it was just that…Lucy straddling his hips in their small little tent when just moments before she was panicking and crying and grabbing onto any part of him she could reach. He didn't want to initiate anything more, out of fear that Lucy would assume he was taking advantage of her even though she had been the one to ask for a kiss.
Natsu heard her swallow thickly.
"Can we do this," she tilted her head down, motioning to their intertwined bodies, "for the rest of the night?"
The rain slowed once more.
Instead of answering her, Natsu pulled her back so that she was laying on top of him once more, sealing his lips back over hers.
Yeah, he could do this for the rest of the night. No questions asked.
.
Notes:
Second chapter on the way :)
xx