Some time later, Lucy was snapped out of her thoughts by a plate plunking down on the table next to her. Startled, she looked up. Natsu was retaking his seat next to her, holding his own plate of food. Her plate had a sandwich, and when she saw it, she suddenly realized that she was very hungry. Pushing her paper aside, she pulled the sandwich in front of her. "Thanks, Natsu," she said simply, feeling a warmth in her stomach that already was starting to allay her hunger.
"No problem," he answered around a mouthful of his own food. He managed to swallow his enormous bite, and asked, "Are you tired?"
Taking stock of herself, Lucy answered, "Yeah, I guess I am a bit tired." She smiled a little at him. He sure was being nice to her.
A grin split Natsu's face as he replied, "I'm not surprised, you've been running through my head all day." He took another huge bite, and somehow the gesture was almost triumphant.
Lucy groaned. She should have known better than to think he was actually being attentive towards her. Of course it had to do with the pick-up line contest. She picked up her sandwich, and looked down at it thoughtfully. Well, maybe not. At least he hadn't been using the sandwich to tell her a pick-up line. Maybe he was actually just taking care of her. She smiled a small, private smile, and began to eat. Even if he was just being nice, she could still counterattack.
"Hey, Natsu, you'd better watch out. You're being so sweet to me, you're going to give me cavities." She peeked at him out of the side of her eyes to gauge his reaction.
He snorted. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I didn't get you dessert, then."
Although her mouth was full and she couldn't retort, she still glared at her partner. How was he staying a step ahead of her so easily?
He just chuckled and said, "Anyway, Luce, if you're up for it, I have a job for us to go on." He leaned over and scrutinized her. "That is, if you're actually not too tired."
Swallowing, she replied, "No, it's ok, Natsu. I'm not really all that tired. How long is the job going to take?"
Pulling out a paper, he looked it over and said, "I'm not sure, but it looks like we can take care of it pretty quickly. It's a request from a store in town."
Shoving the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth, Lucy mumbled around it, "All right, what are we waiting for, then? Is Happy around?"
Natsu shook his head, standing up from his own empty plate. "Nah, he went on a job with Wendy and Carla. They needed some extra flying power." Reaching his hand out with a devilish grin, he said, "Hey, your hand looks heavy. Can I hold it for you?"
Rolling her eyes, Lucy nevertheless placed her hand in his and hauled herself to her feet. Once standing, she tried to disentangle her hand, but Natsu gripped it tighter. "I said I'd hold it for you, didn't I?" He smiled at her in such a winning way that Lucy's heart flipped over. As he pulled her out of the guild hall, she frowned slightly. Since when did Natsu make her heart flip?