Chapter 2: Longing
A/N: Thanks for the reviews :D and here's the second chapter lol enjoy :P
Natsu packed his stuff and was ready to get on the train—even the word made him nauseous. But he had to get on the train. This time he asked Happy to not come with him because he needed some alone time to think and assess the situation between him and Lucy. One thing he knew for sure was she is the most important girl in his life. He valued her just as much as Happy and Igneel.
The train arrived on the platform, he had to force himself to get on the train since no one else was with him. But as soon as he put his foot through the door of the train, everything went hazy. He crawled to his seat but before passing out, he had sniffed a very calming and soothing scent. This made his lips curl upwards as his head found somewhere soft to lie on.
Flashback Incident #2
After the first close encounter with Lucy, Natsu has been waiting until the next time he would have close contact with her again. He didn't know why but his body reacts strangely to her and only her. Everything just feels a lot better when she's near him.
But every time he had seen Lucy, she was with everyone else. It was Gray, or Erza, or Levy, or Wendy, or Mirajane. She was never alone. This added to his growing frustration. He just wanted to be alone with her but he was unsure if she wanted to be alone with him. But the way she stares at him were telling him she feels the same way. Every time he glanced around the bar, his eyes landed on hers and hers on his.
That night, he was unable to sleep. Happy had stayed over at Wendy's after accompanying them home. So Natsu was alone in the house. Then he realized he would pop by Lucy's apartment—even though it was really late at night. After much debate, he ran out of his house and straight to Lucy's window.
Before entering her home, he took a mental picture of the sleeping blonde. She looked beautiful with the moonlight glowing on her skin. He easily slid the window open, which made him wonder if she left it unlocked for him.
Unfortunately the blond woke up from the cold breeze that Natsu let in.
"Hm? Nat-su?" She tried to open her eyes but they remained shut.
"Sorry Lucy, I couldn't sleep…" He admitted sheepishly.
She rolled over to face him and she patted the space beside her. "Come."
He was thankful that she kept her eyes closed or else she would see his face burning up. He shifted closer to her and she remained unfazed by his recent behavior. He inhaled her scent once more before falling asleep.
Lucy peeked to see if he had fallen asleep and he had. She gently placed her hand on his cheek and rubbed it softly causing him inhale deeper.
"I hope this is your way of returning my feelings…dummy." She said to herself before drifting off to sleep.
Lucy had found her way onto the train in the last second. Apparently her alarm clock wasn't set and so if she had woken up a minute later, she would have missed the train and missed Natsu. Fortunately for her, she made it just in time. But as soon as she got on the train she already found the groggy dragon slayer. Poor guy, she thought. His body was sluggishly crawling its way to a seat. Most people got out of the way to avoid being accidentally groped by the nauseated mage.
Lucy made her way to Natsu, carefully avoiding his trail of drool. She picked him up gently and placed a napkin on her lap before placing him on her lap. She already knew that he had blacked out just by looking at his limp form. Her hand started to involuntarily caress his hair as she stared outside the window.
"What went wrong?" She thought to herself.
She and Natsu were finally moving forward in their relationship and then all of the sudden he was avoiding her. She didn't understand it and it hurt her thinking that maybe he didn't want to be with her in that way. As he distanced himself from her, all she did was let it happen because she didn't want to force a relationship with someone who didn't want it. But the way he looks at her makes her heart yearn for him. Why gaze at her with longing eyes but stay in the opposite corner of the room? He was toying with her heart.
Two hours passed and Natsu hadn't woken up during the whole ride. Lucy's legs were completely numb by now and she had really tried to move around but the dragon slayer kept his iron grip on her. But as soon as the train had fully stopped, Natsu popped out of his seat and stared at Lucy in shock.
"Lucy?" He asked. He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or she was actually there.
"Uh, hi Natsu." She smiled innocently.
"You're real?" He flicked her forehead lightly.
Lucy just glared at his immature way of finding out if she was real or not. "Am I real enough YET?" Her voice was slightly raised.
Natsu gave his toothy grin and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. "But what are you doing here Lucy?" Even though he had spent most of his energy avoiding her the last few weeks, he felt so relieved just being next to her. There was no awkward moment with her and its one of the things he's missed most.
"Well we're partners aren't we?" Lucy grinned as she watched him scratch the back of his head.
"Yeah but who told you about my mission?"
"Our mission—Natsu." She corrected. "And who else? Mira-san asked me to come."
"Oh okay then let's get it over with."
Natsu grabbed his bag and got off the train. Lucy followed after him. She smiled at the thought of them working together again just like before. He had the same smile and same attitude. So why has he ignored her for the last couple of weeks if it was this easy to speak to each other?
"Natsu?" Lucy wanted to ask him questions. She wanted to know why but she also didn't want him to push her away. She had to be patient. She had to wait for the right moment.
"Hm?" He replied.
"Oh um… nothing." Her face was looking down.
"Come on we're almost at the client's home." He grabbed her arm and launched forward.
Lucy's body went flailing after being dragged across the town. Finally they had arrived at the client's house. Natsu rang the doorbell with no hesitation.
"Oh hello, are you from Fairy Tail?" A pretty girl with short hair and blue eyes opened the door.
"Uh.. yeah." Natsu stuttered.
Lucy stood behind Natsu and looked at the girl in front of them. Was she really 83 years old? She looks like she's barely 20, Lucy thought. Then she stared back at Natsu who carried a slight blush on his cheeks. Unfortunately for Lucy, the pit of her stomach sank inwards. She had just been bitten by the jealous bug.
"I'm Lucy and he's Natsu." Lucy introduced since their eyes were locked on each other. "Ahem." Lucy coughed louder.
The girl snapped out of her gaze and she smiled politely at Lucy. "Oh sorry, I'm Yukino." She finally let them through the door.
Natsu looked at Lucy but Lucy was giving him the cold shoulder. He scratched his head in confusion. What did he do now to make her mad? If anything she should have been mad before because he was avoiding her. But that was over and done with. Natsu had a hunch that the next couple of days weren't going to be as easy going as he thought only moments ago.
