So, hey again! I know it's been a long time, but as I said in my previous chapter, I had a load of exams going on :P Haven't got the marks back yet, hope I did okay. Anyways, this isn't about me, it's about hardcore NaLu fluff fans! First misunderstanding scene here, me thinks, but it's resolved easily so never fear! Oh, and in that scene, I think that Natsu's really OOC, so sorry :P ON WITH THE SHOW I SAY!
I OWN NOTHING
But I wish I did. IMMENSELY.
btw, sorry this chapter's shorter than the previous two and I am afraid that I think that they will consistently be this size from now on :P
Lucy sat next to Natsu in the train carriage, the plush red seats and constant rocking movement urging her to fall asleep. And, normally, she would. But, thanks to the World's biggest headache, the long yearned for refuge of dreamland was far beyond her grasp. Fidgeting in her seat in an attempt to make herself more comfortable and perhaps fall into a slumber, the blonde unknowingly snuggled into Natsu's side, curling her body up next to his and laying her head on his shoulder. In her frustrated state, Lucy took no notice of her new position, but it was quite another story for Natsu. He looked the opposite direction, a slight red colour dusting his cheeks as he tried to ignore his girlfriend. However, when he noticed that she was trying, and failing, much to her irritation, to sleep, he shyly wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her closer to his warm body. This snapped Lucy out of her haze of unawareness, and this brought a budding rose colour to her cheeks too. The pair sat in an awkward, yet comfortable silence, for about two minutes. That was when Lucy gave another whine of annoyance and began to lightly massage her temples. Blinking at her in confusion, Natsu asked,
"What's wrong, Luce?"
The blonde sighed and turned towards the dragon slayer, grateful for someone to listen to her.
"Nothing much, Natsu, I just really want to sleep, but apparently my brain decided that now was the perfect time to have a massive, mood-killing headache..."
She grumbled, before smiling at the boy.
"But, don't worry too much, okay?"
Natsu frowned. His brow furrowed as he thought about a way to relieve Lucy from her displeasure, when something Erza had said a while ago hit him. His face lighting up in the happiness that he thought of something, the boy turned towards the bewildered mage beside him. Acting on impulse, he grabbed Lucy around her waist and plopped her down onto his lap. The unsuspecting girl gave a little shriek as she was moved, a shriek of both terror and embarrassment. 'Oh God...' thought Lucy as she sat on Natsu's legs and stared at his chest, determined not to meet his gaze so that her already crimson cheeks didn't darken in colour. 'I'm sitting on Natsu's LAP!' Turning her head up, cheeks still flaming red, she looked at Natsu to see that he had realised what he had done and was now blushing too, locked into place.
"N-N-Natsu, wh-what i-is it?"
She stuttered, just about dying from embarrassment. A light bulb seemed to go off in his head as his mouth rounded into an 'o' and his eyes lit up with understanding.
"Oh yeah! Gimme a sec!"
He exclaimed, all traces of blushing gone from his cheeks, and Lucy too, began to grow accustomed to their position, the redness slowly draining from her face until it was its natural colour. Just when she finally felt comfortable, Natsu stared directly into her eyes and brought his hands to her face, the palms resting on her cheeks and the tips of her fingers grazing her temples. Lucy felt a rising blush and fought to keep it at bay as Natsu closed his eyes and brought his face closer to hers. Lucy's eyes widened. Was he going to KISS her? She wasn't sure if she wanted this. She loved Natsu with her entire being, but did she to kiss this early in their relationship? Should they leave it a few more days? And she'd blush like crazy! Just when she was about tell him about her conflicting emotions, Natsu's fingertips began to give off a soothing warmth on her temples and she realised his intentions. He was trying to warm her temples to relieve her from her headache. When he opened his eyes, he gave her the most loving smile she'd ever seen.
"Feel better now, Luce?"
She smiled back at him and answered,
"Yeah, thanks Natsu, that was sweet of you."
She gave him a quick peck in the cheek as a thanks and when she pulled away, she giggled at Natsu's cute facial expression. A blush was dancing on his cheeks and his eyes were wide, staring at Lucy as if she were an alien. Lucy snuggled into Natsu's chest and immediately a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. She smiled once before dozing off under her boyfriend's loving gaze.
PAGE~~~~~~(¬.¬~~~~~~)BREAK
Lucy woke up a when they were a few minutes away from their stop. She sat up and yawned, expecting to have been moved onto the carriage seat by Natsu, but was surprised when she woke up on said person's lap. The pink haired boy flashed her his signature toothy grin.
"Hiya, Luce! Sleep well?"
She gave him a smile, rubbing her eyes as she spoke to him to get rid of any remaining sleep.
"Yeah, great, thanks to you!"
The now wide awake blonde laughed heartily at Natsu's blush, and it only grew louder when he stammered,
"L-Lucy~! Don't! I-it's embarrassing~!"
Finally relenting, she snuggled into the crook of his neck.
"N'awwww, aren't you cute! Fine, I'll stop!"
"Lucyyyy~!"
She laughed and straightened up, before tilting her head as if she remembered something.
"Oh yeah, Natsu, why didn't you move me to the carriage seat? I mean, I must've been heavy, right?"
Natsu smiled at the blonde, who currently, in his opinion, looked ridiculously cute with her head tilted to one side and a small pout evident on her lips as she tried to work it out for herself. He chuckled, and mumured,
"Simple Luce..."
He encircled her waist with his strong arms as he spoke, hoping to earn a blush from the blonde. Apparently, sitting on his lap itself was much more intimate than a hug, so him hugging her in this position didn't really make a difference. Ah well- there'd be plenty of chances to see that blush.
"...I liked it. I love being close to you, so I struck gold when you fell asleep on my lap. Don't worry, you weren't heavy, no matter what Happy says! Oh, and you're cute when you're asleep~!"
He laughed as a blush rose to her cheeks, but unfortunately, it was gone just as fast as it arrived.
"Natsu~!"
"Hahaha, awww, who's the cute one now, huh?"
The pair laughed together, Natsu never once letting go of Lucy, until the train jolted to a stop. The unexpected movement threw Lucy towards Natsu, her forehead leaning against his and their noses touching as she put her hands on the seat either side of the pinkette's head so as to stop her moving further. Their lips were but millimeters apart. And Natsu still had his arms around Lucy. All in all, it was a very intimate position. The couple blushed hard and flew to separate ends of the cabin, their faces so hot they were practically steaming. Natsu broke the silence first, grabbing their bags and stuttering
"H-hey, w-we should p-probably g-go, t-th-the t-train's s-s-stopped and all t-the p-passengers are g-going!"
"Y-Yeah! L-let's go!"
The couple exited the train, both looking away from each other as they walked towards their hotel. 'Boy, that was embarrassing...' they both thought.
PAGE~~~~~~(¬.¬~~~~~~)BREAK
The pair checked into their hotel and sat in their room in silence. They still hadn't spoken after the 'train incident' and the situation at the hotel register just made things worse...
Flash back
Natsu and Lucy arrived at the village's only hotel in silence, and found that despite the bandit problem, the hotel was teeming with people. Natsu dumped their baggage on the floor and was about to ask the woman on the register for two rooms when she squealed,
"OMIGOSHHH~! You're such a cute couple~!"
The pair blushed and looked in opposite directions, Lucy sweat dropping and thinking 'She's exactly like Mira...'
"T-thanks! But, could we have two rooms please? Preferably on the same floor so that me and Luce can talk!"
At this the weird Mira-woman frowned and said
"Aww, I'm sorry you two, but the only room we have left is a couple suite!"
Flash back end
And that's how Lucy and Natsu ended up sharing not only a room but a bed. Again. If she didn't know better, Lucy would think that it was a curse that she had to spend many embarrassing nights in the same bed as Natsu. Eventually, the tension in the room got too much for the blonde to handle, and she grabbed her towel and mumbled something about 'having a bath'. She was about to walk past Natsu when a hand closed around her wrist, tugging her backwards into the dragon slayer's lap. She gave a little squeak and was about to protest until she saw that Natsu had his eyes covered by his bangs.
"Lucy..."
The blonde frowned at his tone. He was sad. She hated it when he was sad.
"Lucy... Please... Don't be mad... I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."
He whispered the last two words, his voice breaking. Lucy's eyes widened. Was he crying? Sure enough, droplets of water landed on her cheeks and that was it. She snapped. Lucy flung herself at him with such force that the pair landed on their backs on the bed, Lucy's arms wrapped tightly around the shivering frame of her boyfriend.
"WHY ARE YOU SAYING SORRY? It wasn't your fault, Natsu! It wasn't anyone's fault! I'm not mad at you, silly, I'm just...I'm just embarrassed!"
Her voice dropped in volume as she said those last few words, her own tears threatening to spill.
"Because Lucy, i-if I hadn't have been holding you it wouldn't have happened, and you'd still be talking to me, and we wouldn't be sitting here afraid to even look at one another! You have plenty of reasons to be mad at me!"
"Natsu...don't you understand...I can never be mad at you... I-I love you too much for that!"
And with that, she buried her head into his neck and sobbed. Natsu, whose tears had long since dried up, sat on the bed in utter shock, before hugging her tightly and rocking her back and forth, soothing her frayed nerves. He was surprised by the out right confession. So far, Lucy hadn't really blatantly said that she loved him, only the one time when he misunderstood her feelings and was about to leave her alone.
"Ssssh, Luce... It's okay... We won't let silly things like that get in the way of us anymore...ssshh... I love you too..."
After they had both stopped crying, the couple simply lay on their bed, comfortable in the presence of each other.
"We're such sillies, aren't we Luce?"
Chuckled Natsu, earning a smile from the celestial mage. After a while, Lucy got up and smiled at Natsu, who was still sprawled over the bed.
"I'm going to have a bath, okay Natsu? You order room service- just, don't go overboard okay? My wallet won't be able to handle it!"
She laughed at her own joke but was stopped when Nastu interjected,
"Nah, don't worry Luce, I'll pay!"
And with that, he wandered off to find the spacious room's phone, leaving a shocked Lucy rooted to the spot. Natsu was paying? What was the World coming to?
PAGE~~~~~~(¬.¬~~~~~~)BREAK
Lucy shrugged on her pajama top and took out her hair band, letting her hair flow out of their restraints.
"Aaah, that was so refreshing~!"
She sang to herself, before exiting the shared bathroom and going to find out what Natsu had ordered. The boy had decided to take a shower in the morning instead of at night as he always did-well, except for the times when he bathed at Lucy's. That was just at anytime he could sneak in. Lucy opened the door to the dining room (as it was a couple suite, the room was practically the size of her own apartment) to find Natsu setting the table, and surprisingly, a moderately sized romantic dinner on the polished wood, complete with scented candles. Lucy blinked. Then once more. Then pinched herself. This was not happening. Natsu, Natsu Dragneel, was setting up a romantic dinner, and was paying with his own money!
"What's gotten into you? First you decide that you're paying, then you set up a wonderful, romantic dinner for two?"
Lucy laughed and ruffled his rosy locks.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it though!"
Natsu looked back at her, blushed beet red, then looked to the side again, whilst stammering,
"Y-yeah, T-thanks!"
Lucy smirked and bent in such a way that Natsu could still see her.
"N'awww, what's wong wittle Natshoooo~?"
The boy blushed harder and rubbed his neck, still refusing to meet her gaze.
"N-Nothing, Luce! Hahahaha!"
He looked at her and briefly forced a smile, before looking away again and busying himself with some plates. Lucy frowned. Had she gone to far?
"Ne, Natsu, you're okay right? Sorry if I hurt your feelings or anything, but you know I was joking don't you?"
Natsu froze and turned around to face Lucy, the blush still evident on his face and, if anything, it had grown darker.
"I-I'm fine Luce, it's just that..."
He took a deep breath to steady his nerves and, in a shaky voice, said,
"I-I'm not used to seeing you with your hair down and...um...i-it looks...you look...err...YOULOOKREALLYBEAUTIFULLUCY!"
He blurted out all of a sudden. Lucy blinked and asked,
"Could you repeat that please, Natsu?"
"Errrm...y-you look really b-beautiful, L-Lucy...eheh..."
Lucy blinked again and looked blankly at the dithering boy in front of her before what he said sunk in. 'Natsu just called me beautiful...' She blushed and walked towards him, noting that his blush intensified with each step. Thinking that he may not be comfortable with a full-on hug right now, she wrapped her arms around his muscular forearm and reached up to give him a quick peck on the cheek.
"Thank you, Natsu. No one's ever said anything like that to me before."
Natsu grinned down at her, still blushing, but he didn't care anymore.
"If that's true Luce, then why are you just hanging onto my arm?"
He laughed and swept her up in his arms, spinning them around as Lucy shrieked and flung her arms around his neck, hanging onto him for dear life. When he grew dizzy, the fire mage slowed to a stop and it seemed as though time itself had paused for the breathless couple. The pair blushed as they stared into one another's eyes and slowly, very slowly, Natsu started moving his head towards Lucy, and this time she had no doubts. Well, she had a couple, but right now she wanted to kiss him. Doubts could wait. The blonde closed her eyes and the dragon slayer copied her action as they drew ever nearer. When their lips were about to touch, a rapping from the door snapped them out of their little world. Both of their eyes flew open, and immediately the pair blushed. Lucy practically jumped out of Natsu's arms and rushed to open the door. Natsu sighed and collapsed onto one of the wooden chairs. 'Dammit... I was so close...' he thought as he ran his hand through his pink tousles, frustrated. Lucy silently re-entered the room, placing what looked to be dessert on the table. 'Tch...if I hadn't ordered that, we would have...' Natsu blushed as he thought about what would have happened had he not placed an order for dessert. Noticing that Lucy, who he had his back to, was still not talking, he started,
"H-hey, look, Lucy, I'm sorry I-"
That was as far as he got before some porcelain arms wrapped around his shoulders and he felt a weight on his crown, which he assumed to be Lucy's head.
"Silly Natsu, did you forget your promise already? We said we wouldn't let things like this get in between us anymore, so stop worrying, and besides, it's not always your fault!"
"But I-"
Again, he was cut off, this time by Lucy firmly placing her hand over his mouth.
"I'm not letting go until you promise not to feel bad."
Natsu rolled his eyes and nodded, indicating that he wouldn't take the blame- even though inside he still felt bad.
"Nuh-uh, I know you're faking, and this hand ain't leaving until you tell the truth!"
The pinkette blinked in surprise. How did she know? Even Happy couldn't tell when he was lying all the time. Inwardly, he smiled. Lucy always understood him. But he was really hungry and couldn't exactly tell Lucy how he felt, so the hand had to go. An idea popped into his head and he smirked evilly before poking his tongue out and licking the mage's hand
"EEEEYYAAAHHHH~!"
"HHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"NATSUUUUU!"
"WAAAAAAHH~! EVIL LUCY IS BACK! RUN AWAY~!"
Lucy chased the dragon slayer though the entire room, before rugby tackling him onto the bed. Once again they stared at each other, before bursting into peals of laughter. As Lucy clung to Natsu's vest, she rolled around, shaking uncontrollably with mirth. That is, before the bed disappeared from underneath her. She shrieked as she fell, and because she was still holding Natsu's vest, she pulled him along with her. As they fell, Natsu switched their positions so that he was below Lucy to prevent her from harm and took the brunt of the fall. As they lay tangled on the floor, they began laughing again, before making their way to the dining table to finally eat.
PAGE~~~~~~(¬.¬~~~~~~)BREAK
Lucy sighed and clambered into bed. She had eaten too much. Definitely. Oh well. It was okay to treat herself once in a while, right? Before she could try and persuade herself that she wasn't just fat for any longer, a warm body joined hers under the duvet and she blushed. Hard. Natsu, apparently able to see her vividly even in the dark, noticed this and frowned.
"Hey Lucy, I thought we talked about being embarrassed at times like these."
"Y-yeah, we did, it's just that normally, I fall asleep without you being there and only wake up with you beside me, so falling asleep with you is k-kinda hard...and embarrassing..."
She added in a quiet tone at the end. She, personally, didn't think she worded her sentence very well, but surprisingly, Natsu seemed to understand. He sighed and put his arms behind his head, facing the ceiling.
"Yeah, know what you mean. Normally you're asleep when I arrive, so right now I'm a bit embarrassed too!"
He chuckled softly after his statement, still not moving from his position. Lucy was actually shocked out of her skin. Natsu, Natsu Dragneel, is not only embarrassed, but he admitted to it! She smiled warmly. 'My little Natsu's finally growing up...' Suddenly, the boy said,
"Hey, Luce, if it'll help you sleep, I won't hug you! Promise! So sleep, okay?"
"And why're you worried about me sleeping, but not yourself?"
"Because I don't want to be the reason you have a fitful sleep!"
Still smiling, she crawled over to him and hugged the confused boy tightly to her chest. Copying his words from earlier, she whispered,
"If that's true, Natsu, hug me you big idiot. I love you."
Natsu grinned so wide that Lucy was sure his cheeks would ache tomorrow. He moved himself up so that Lucy was curled tightly into his chest and was trapped there by his arms, which had tightly wound themselves around her petite frame. She blushed heavily and tried to hide it from her boyfriend by burying her head in his vest. (His pajamas were basically the same clothes he normally wore, but the colours were backwards, like when Zeref turned his scarf black) Natsu looked down at her and smirked at her obvious attempt to hide herself.
"You know, Luce, you look cute trying to hide your face like that."
"STOP IT, YOU!"
Natsu chuckled, before settling down to sleep.
PAGE~~~~~~(¬.¬~~~~~~)BREAK
This was Hell. Natsu was awake, trapped in bed, and sweating bullets. He was going to be dead meat- and even if Lucy didn't kill him when she woke up, he'd probably die of embarrassment anyway.
Take on a dark guild? No problem.
Defeat Jellal Ferdenanz? Pssshhh, easy!
Beat up a guy on a flying snake who could predict his every move? He's on it.
Wake up in the morning to find himself hugging Lucy tightly to his chest, his head on top of hers and their legs tangled in a very intimate position? Hell, NO.
The pinkette was blushing furiously as Lucy's arms wound her arms around him even tighter. Suddenly, she sighed and moved her head so that it was angled upwards, facing Natsu. It was then that sleeping Lucy thought it was a great idea to snuggle even closer to her boyfriend, effectively bringing their lips dangerously close. Natsu stared at her intensely, panicking, and was about to wake her up when the blonde's eyes fluttered open, caught blushing Natsu's gaze, realised their position, and blushed so hard she could rival the boy's own blush. Slowly unwinding her arms from around him and untangling their legs, she sat up and gave him a nervous smile.
"H-hey, Natsu! What time is it?"
Natsu felt relief wash over him as Lucy, though embarrassed, showed no signs of being angry, upset, or trying to avoid him. He smiled gratefully at her, and repiled,
"Around 8, I think. I'm going to shower, can you order please? Pleeeaseee~? I did yesterday!"
The celestial mage chuckled at his childish antics and ruffled his hair, causing him to pout. A smile evident in her voice, she laughed,
"There's no need to beg me, Natsu, I was going to anyway! Silly~! Now go shower! You stink!"
"Luceee~!"
Said mage giggled at the whining dragon slayer who was walking in the general direction of the bathroom. She stifled a yawn and clambered out of bed, crawling out of the comforting warmth of the duvet. She shuffled over to the telephone and ordered a plate of spaghetti for herself (she had no idea why she wanted spaghetti of all things as breakfast, but she was in a pasta mood) and some extra spicy chicken for Natsu, as the head chef did not deem it safe to make fire chicken. Thanking the guy who took her order, Lucy clunked the phone down and made her way towards her closet, intending to change. Just as she had chosen her clothes, however, she heard the bathroom door unlock and open slightly so that Natsu's sheepish, blushing face could poke out.
"H-hey Luce, I think I forgot my t-towel in there, so could you please pass it to me?"
The blonde blushed heavily. Though the door frame was hiding his lower body from her, she could see his toned chest and arms, the muscles rippling as he moved, water droplets trickling down the tanned skin, drawing her attention to the lines of his firm...
AAAAAH! What was she thinking? Blushing brighter than she ever thought possible, she nodded vigorously at Natsu, before running to fetch the towel. She returned grasping the fluffy white thing and gently tossed it to him, trying not to look at him for fear of losing herself again. As he caught the towel, Natsu mumbled a thanks and softly closed the bathroom door. Lucy immediately leaned against a wall and slowly slid down it, burying her head in her knees and groaning when she was sitting down.
"Damn you, Natsu..."
She whispered to herself, before the doorbell went. Sighing, she staggered to her feet and went to collect their breakfast, unbeknownst to a grinning Natsu listening in behind the bathroom door...
Aaaamd, we leave it there, otherwise it'll go on for about 8000 words XD So yeah, chappies will be this size now, not really far off, about 600 words less? Anyways, Chapter 4 opens with... A FLUFFF SCENNNNEEE~! Though, as I am now working on Together Alone's next chappie too, it'll be slightly longer this time :P I apologise. Feel free to PM me and rage if you wish XD anyways, cyaaa~!
