Silence
Chapter Three:
"Uno."
The pinkette slammed a fist against the table and glared at his friend, Gray. The raven haired man laughed as his girlfriend, Juvia, gushed at him.
"Gray is so good at everything!" she cheered. Lucy, on the other side of the table, rolled her eyes.
"It's just Uno Juvia."
"Still!" cried the blue haired woman. Gray smirked and stuck a tongue out at Natsu. The man just grabbed the cards and started shuffling again.
"You can do it Natsu!" Lucy winked.
Where were they? Currently, they were at Gray Fullbuster's house. They sat in his living room, playing Uno on the coffe table. The game was at a tie with both men having won one round each. Lucy was on the couch by Natsu, while Gray and his girlfriend took the other couch across.
Although Natsu and Lucy weren't official yet, they had been hanging out a lot over the past week. Mainly with other friends like Gajeel and Levy or Jellal and Erza. Lucy seemed to get along with most of the pinkette's friend. Natsu was happy either way.
After shuffling the cards, Natsu dealt each of them seven cards, putting the rest in a stack in the middle. His eyes gleamed with determination while Gray smirked back. Lucy blinked next to Natsu.
"It's just a game!" Lucy cried. Gray and Juvia gasped while Natsu almost dropped his cards.
"Just a game?" Juvia asked. She flailed her arms dramatically. "This is not a game! This is Gray's chance to prove his love for Juvia by winning!" Lucy cocked her head.
Gray answered, "That's. . . not how it works, but I have to agree on one thing; this is totally a chance for me to kick this idiot's ass at something again." Natsu shook his head in disagreement and Gray laughed. "I could beat you at anything!"
At this point, both men were standing up, pushing their heads together, cards long forgotten.
"Hey!" Lucy cried and waved her arms frantically. "Let's just continue playing!"
"Go Gray!" cheered Juvia.
"I'll call Erza!" Lucy threatened. At this, Gray squealed and immediately sat down. Natsu did the same, almost squashing the blonde's arm.
"Please! No!" Gray whimpered. Lucy watched with amusement at their suffering. She flipped some strands of hair behind her thin shoulder and smirked confidently. Natsu cocked an eyebrow and grabbed a notepad and pencil. Lucy leaned over his shoulder very closely (which he very much liked) and her breath fanned his neck passed the scarf he was wearing. When he was done writing, he gave her the small booklet.
'You're cruel. You know that?'
"Wha-" she said, but cut herself off to stop from screeching. "You're just wimpy," she pouted childishly and looked away while crossing her arms. Natsu pinched her cheek and she yelped. Juvia and Gray looked at each other knowingly and smirked.
"Not to be rude, but it's getting late. Perhaps Lucy and Natsu would like to get home before it gets too dark?" she said sweetly. Natsu looked at Lucy, who nodded and the two got up. Gray grabbed Natsu's shoulder and leaned in a little too close for Natsu's comfort.
"Go get em' buddy," he smirked. Natsu just rolled his eyes and smacked Gray's hands away. He went to the front door that Lucy was leaning on, waiting for him.
"Ready?" she beamed. Natsu nodded and opened the door for her when she moved away from the handle.
"Goodbye. Be safe!" Juvia cried and Lucy snickered.
"She's like a mother, huh?" she said when they were outside and the door was shut. Natsu just shrugged as they walked. It was getting pretty late and the sun seemed to be setting. Luckily, Gray hadn't lived too far away from either of them, so it wasn't hard to get there. "You gonna walk me hm?" Lucy quipped and bumped shoulders with him. Natsu bumped shoulders lightly, hoping not to tip the poor girl over and nodded. "Oh what a gentleman!" she said sarcastically. Natsu's shoulders shook, signaling that he was laughing.
Lucy looked up and cocked her head as they walked down the sidewalk.
"You can already see some of the stars," she pointed out. Natsu looked up and noticed that she was right. He nodded to show that he was listening and she continued on. "I quite like the stars; the constellations in particular. My mom was an astronomer. She taught me all about them every night. Practically drilled it into my brain." Natsu cocked an eyebrow. Her mother was an astronomer? What did she mean by was?
Lucy noticed him giving her a funny look and put the pieces together silently in her head.
"She died a long time ago." When she noticed Natsu giving her a look of pity, she shook her head frantically. "I'm over it now. Like I said, it was a long time ago. I still miss her sometimes though," her voice trailed off as she muttered the last part. It seemed like she was convincing herself. Natsu wrapped his arm round her as they walked.
"Thank you," Lucy said. "It's a bit cold."
Natsu had barely noticed. The girl sank into his abnormal body heat and sighed. Natsu could tell what she would say next. It would be about his warmth. Everyone did.
"You're warm."
And there it was.
"It feels nice," she said and smiled at him. Well that was certainly new. Natsu hid the slight blush on his face with the scaly scarf on his neck.
It was silent for the rest of the walk. As they approached Lucy's house, she spoke.
"Thank you," she said. "It was really fun. I'm a bit new, so I don't really know anybody."
Ah, so that was why had had never seen her before.
Natsu wasn't paying attention until he felt a soft kiss being placed on his cheek. He widened his eyes and awed at the girl.
"Thank you my good sir," she said and curtsied. She laughed at her own joke and walked inside. She gave Natsu one last glance before shutting the door.
The pinkette touched his cheek with a blush on his face. Were everyone's lips that soft and warm?
He blinked in surprise as he walked home. His thoughts never drifted away from the kiss.
When he got in bed that night, it was still warm where her lips met with his cheek.
