So a lot of you asked for a second part to this fic, and it took me a bit, but here's the second part for you all! Enjoy!
She was wrong. Winter was just as freaking cold despite the fact that she and Natsu were spending winter break together. Winter had hit hard. One area of town was in a state of emergency—seven feet of snow had buried the residents. People were rushing to the store, grabbing up toilet paper and bread.
Natsu and Lucy were alone, save for Happy. Igneel, Natsu's awesome, not-to-be-trusted-with-whip-cream father, had gotten stuck at work. A snowstorm had blown in, and now they were snuggled on the couch, watching bad horror movies because neither Natsu nor Lucy were into sappy Christmas movies.
Besides, Igneel and Natsu had a huge collection of bad horror movies. They were watching Psycho. They liked picking on the effects, and the character's bad decisions. They'd been dating since Thanksgiving break, a fact that continued to amaze Lucy. She knew that it may have never happened if Natsu hadn't caught a kitten and made her keep it in her dorm.
Speaking of…
Happy, still blue despite their best efforts, decided to invade their blanket fort. They'd dragged every blanket out of every closet, every stool, every chair and even some rope to make the biggest, roomiest, most amazing blanket fort Lucy had ever had the pleasure of being in. They were watching Psycho on the living room TV, which they'd completely buried and interred into their fort.
Jumping onto the TV's stand, Happy flicked his bright tail in front of the screen, looking straight at Natsu.
"Happy!" Natsu complained. "Come on, that chick was so gonna get killed!" Happy simply sat, blocking most of the screen, and began to clean himself. Lucy giggled; she swore the cat was sick of being ignored, and simply wanted attention. Wiggling out from under her blankets, she plucked Happy off the TV stand and brought him over to their cocoon of blankets they'd deemed too soft and warm to use for the fort itself. Content, the cat curled between them, purring loudly.
Natsu rolled his eyes.
"Cuddle whore," He accused, and Happy swatted at his shoulder, causing Lucy to burst out laughing. None of them were watching the screen, and no one seemed to care when a dramatic scream sounded. Lucy picked up a piece of string—from one of the many blankets no doubt—and began to play with the lithe cat. He was still a kitten, technically, but he'd grown a lot since Thanksgiving Break. Lucy smiled as she remembered how much trouble it was for her and Igneel to tell Natsu that he could not keep Happy in the dorms again, and no he couldn't come visit. Natsu had pouted the whole first week back, causing Gray to dump the moping boy in Lucy's dorm, claiming that he didn't want to deal with a whining pink haired freak.
Natsu had gotten Gray back by drawing on all of Gray's underwear. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but Gray had a habit of forgetting that he wasn't wearing anything other than his underwear, and walking around the dorm building with little Happy doodles on his ass. And as the door to Natsu's dorm room was almost always propped open due to the near constant stream of people coming in and out, Lucy had walked in on Gray and others in very little clothing.
She'd gotten used to it after a few times though, and vehemently denied screaming the first time it had happened.
Life with Natsu would never be normal, and Lucy wouldn't want it to be.
Now though, winter break was welcome. No tests or morning classes. The snowstorm rather sucked, but nestled in their fort, it didn't seem real. It was nice to sleep in, and being able to spend more one-on-one time with Natsu was nice. Happy yowled loudly, swatting at her hand, she'd zoned out on the TV and had stopped wiggling the string.
Well, one-on-one plus a cat, Lucy amended.
Psycho ended, and Lucy couldn't remember being scared or feeling suspense throughout it, though to be fair, she hadn't paid much attention. Natsu put one of the Screams in and they started a poke war during the opening credits. They didn't pay much attention to this movie either, it was just background noise, and only gathered an occasional comment.
"So," Natsu was trying hard not to laugh. "We're at Uncle Metallicana's house, and Gajeel and I are-" The movie cut out, and the lights shut off, leaving them in darkness.
Neither Lucy nor Natsu made a sound, Happy was silent as well.
"Well," Natsu finally said. "That sucks."
"Do you have candles? Or flashlights?" Lucy asked.
"Candles?" Natsu sounded incredulous. "Oh, that's right, you don't know. Well, story for a different time, but let's just say the Dragneels and fire is not a good combination."
"That's reassuring," Lucy said dryly.
"Relax, we have flashlights…somewhere." He muttered the last word, shoving the blanket cocoon off him, burying Happy and Lucy in the process. Happy protested loudly—the cat didn't seem to do anything quietly—and Lucy's protest was muffled by blanket fibers in her mouth. "Luce?"
"I'm fine," She said unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Just buried under a mountain of blankets." She managed to find her way out, after fighting with them, much to Natsu's amusement. She glared at him, or where she thought he was, and her scowl deepened when she realized he couldn't see her. "Your cat's under there you know."
"HAPPY!" Natsu attacked the pile of blankets. "I'll save ya buddy!"
"Oh sure, save the cat." She muttered, trying to find her way out from under the fort. All light was blocked off. Night had long since fallen, and she'd lost track of time. Last she'd checked—three movies ago? Four?—it had been nine at night. Now, it may very well be three A.M.
Why did the lights always go out at three A.M.?
Luc finally made it out of the blanket fort, somehow managing to avoid knocking the whole thing over. It was a bit easier to see without the blankets blocking the moon's light. She was glad to see it had stopped snowing. A little moonlight allowed her to navigate into the kitchen, where she searched for the junk drawer every kitchen had. She found a small flashlight, but its beam was weak.
"Natsu, I found one, but it's dying." Lucy called, hoping he'd know where more were, or at least where some batteries might be at. She didn't hear anything, and continued searching for more lights or batteries. "Natsu? Where would the batteries be? Natsu?"
Suddenly, arms grabbed her from behind, and she jumped, stifling a scream.
"Natsu! You jerk!" She slapped his arm as he broke into a fit of laughter.
"Sorry," He didn't sound sorry. "Couldn't resist."
"I should've expected it, honestly." She said shaking her head. "So, flashlights?" He bent down and picked something up from the floor, a button clicked and she blinked as a bright light filled the room. It was a large flashlight, shooting a wide beam around the room.
"You know," He scratched his head. "Igneel's usually here for these things, so I'm not quite sure what to do…"
"I think you're supposed to call the electric company and ask when the power might be turned on." Lucy said, and she looked at the fridge. "We don't have to worry about the food, if it starts to get warm, we can stick in a snowbank."
"Snow's good for something at least," He muttered. She'd discovered that Natsu considered winter to be his natural enemy. Just the sight of snow made him pull his scarf over his mouth and pout. Natsu was summer, and he liked doing his own thing outside. Snow was not fun for him, though Lucy was hell bent on trying to get him to try to appreciate it. They had plans to go Snow Mobiling with Gray in a couple days. Apparently, Gray was the king of winter sports. "I don't know the electric company's number."
"Would Igneel still be up?" Lucy asked wishing she hadn't neglected to charge her phone when it had died earlier. Natsu pulled out his phone and squinted at the screen.
"It's three thirty," He said and then shrugged. "I'll text the old man. If he ain't up it's not a big deal. We'll just go to sleep, and deal with this in the morning."
Lucy rather liked that plan. The late hour was starting to get to her.
"Come on, let's go back to the fort, it'll be warmest there." Natsu said sounding pleased that he got to sleep in it. Sometimes, he was more a child than a college student. Lucy would be lying, however, if the idea of sleeping in the giant blanket fort didn't sound appealing.
Laughing, they raced each other to the fort, smacking into things and laughing all the harder. They used the flashlight to separate the blankets and make their own blanket cocoons. Happy watched with glowing eyes, freaking Lucy out whenever she glanced over at him. He stayed just out of the light; only his luminescent green eyes gave his position away. She felt he was doing it on purpose. Once they were settled, they talked and laughed more, waiting for a text from Igneel.
None came.
Eventually, conversation faded out, and they both dropped into sleep, their hands loosely clasped.
"Lucy!" Igneel called as he smacked the snow off his boots. "Natsu!" It was noon, the sun was bright overhead, and the roads had finally cleared enough for Igneel to squeeze through the snowdrifts and find his way home. He hated winter. Snow had no business existing in his opinion. Igneel, unlike most parents, didn't worry when he didn't receive a response. He trusted both of the kids, and knew they wouldn't do anything stupid.
Well…
Okay, so Natsu did stupid crap, but Igneel knew he didn't have to worry about his son when it came to girls. Besides, Lucy wouldn't let Natsu get away with anything even if Natsu had been so inclined.
Feeling mischievous, he quietly took off his boots and closed the front door gently—his son had crazy good hearing. He walked through the kitchen and stopped dead when he came face to face with a wall of blankets.
The blanket fort took up the entire living room and looked tall enough to stand up in in some parts. Igneel scanned the blankets and realized he didn't even remember owning some of them. Those two must have dragged every blanket out from every corner of the house—was that rope holding some of the fort up?
He had to give the kids credit; they didn't half-ass this fort. He reevaluated, and then set to work.
Ten minutes later, he turned the stereo up to blast, not knowing the power had gone out during the night had had returned not long before he'd walked in the door. Music slammed out of the speakers that were placed strategically around the house. Happy, a blue flash of fluffed up, pissed off cat, shot out from under the fort, seeking to escape the noise.
Barely Igneel heard an exasperated 'Daaddddd' from under the fort.
Then, Igneel grinned as he pulled a rope, causing a domino effect on all the support points of the fort, causing it to collapse.
"DAD!" Natsu shouted, buried in what was once a great fort. Igneel's laughed rivalled the music, and he turned the music down a bit.
"The hell?" He heard Lucy say, she sounded sleepy still.
"Come on dad!" Natsu was laughing, though he tried to sound mad. "That took an hour and half to make!" Natsu's pink head finally popped up, and Lucy's tangled hair popped up not too far from him.
"So we'll make a new one!" Igneel said grinning. Natsu grinned back, and as always it filled Igneel with pride and love to see his own grin plastered on Natsu's unique face.
"That'll be fun," Lucy said smiling sleepily.
"Yeah, but after breakfast!" Igneel said. "I'm starved."
"Aye!" Both boys charged for the kitchen, Natsu jumping over the couch, tackling his father as they both fought to get to the kitchen first. Lucy rolled her eyes and made her way into the kitchen, stepping over the writhing mass that was father and son wrestling.
She started pulling out pots and pans, searching the freezer for things that had thawed during the night and needed to be cooked.
An hour later, Natsu claimed he'd won and had gotten to the kitchen first, saying that Lucy 'cheated.' They devoured the breakfast they'd all made somehow without destroying the kitchen.
They spent the next hour fixing the fort, laughing and arguing all the while.
Lucy decided she'd never felt more at home before as father and son once again wrecked the baby fort, forcing them to start over again.
Happy brushed against her legs, as if agreeing.
What more could she want?
So this is an early B-Day present for SpiritWolfSong, 'cause she's awesome and I decided she needed NaLu fluff for her birthday. I know it's like two days early hon, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
And as you can tell, I adore Human!Igneel a lot, and I think he'd be this awesome daddy who rarely got mad but when he does watch yourself because shit gonna go down. And as for the can't-be-trusted-with-whip-cream-thing...well, they kinda got into a food fight once... lol.
So this may get random updates from time to time, but it'll always be put as 'completed.' If you've got any ideas, then please, say so. ^^ I try to answer all reviews, and I love talking to you guys. You all rock!
GUEST REVIEWS!
Guest: I'm glad ^^ Hehe. XD
Nekokittygirl: Here's your continuation! Enjoy hon!