As his eyes locked with the beautiful blonde in front of him, Natsu couldn't help but feel...complete. It was as though Lucy Heartfilia was filling a void within his soul that even he never knew existed. For some reason, the two of them, together like this, simply felt right to the Dragon Slayer.
"Happy, do you see that?"
"Wow! They lllliiiiiiiike each other."
A sudden feeling of catastrophic doom engulfed the lovey-dovey pair as they worked up the nerve to look up and find the source of those troublesome words.
"Ha-Happy!?" Natsu and Lucy said in unison, the terror clear in their voices.
"Don't forget about us!" Wendy spoke up from behind Happy, Charle snuggled in her arms as usual.
"How shameless, acting that way out in public like this." the female Exceed stated, though a blush tinted her face even as she made her disparaging remark.
"I-It's not what it looks like!" Lucy squeaked out, frantically searching for a way out of this situation. "We were just, uh..." was her feeble attempt.
"Well, we better leave these two lovebirds alone." Charle spoke up again, making sure to put emphasis on her descriptive word of the Dragon Slayer and the Celestial Spirit Mage.
"Aye, sir! Natsu, I'm gonna go back to our place. That mission was really exhausting." Happy said, earning a weak nod from the shaken salmon-haired mage.
As the interrupting trio made their way from Natsu and Lucy's table back to their respective residences, the two partners sat and ate in silence as they contemplated what had just happened.
"Wow, man, that really hit the spot!" the Dragon Slayer spoke up some time later, patting his gorged stomach in contentment.
Lucy couldn't help but laugh a little at how quickly Happy and Charle's comments blew over for Natsu. "Yeah, that was good food." the blonde agreed. "I think we should ask for the check, now." she finished...and then immediately noticed the look of dismay which took over her partner's face.
A waiter soon came to deliver the check, which the Dragon Slayer immediately snatched and then thoroughly examined. Lucy waited as her partner gave the check about twenty glance-overs, before he lowered the offending item from his face, a look of horror etched on his features.
Seeing this look on his face, Lucy hurriedly attempted to reassure Natsu. "You don't have to pay for all of it if you can't." she said quickly, not wanting her partner to bankrupt himself for her sake.
"No...no." Natsu said firmly, though some depression lingered in his voice. "It's your special day!" he finished, a smile plastered on his face, as he rubbed his partner's blonde hair.
Lucy blushed at the affection her partner was showing her today, and noted with amusement at how quickly his smile dropped as he dared to look at the check again.
After having paid the restaurant for their food, though not without some grumblings about 'highway robbery' and 'not even that much to eat' from the Dragon Slayer, the pair walked in comfortable silence as the sun began to set on the day. Lucy once again looped her arm through Natsu's and rested her head comfortably on his shoulder, just as she had done when the day first started. She couldn't help but notice that this time, the pink-haired mage seemed a lot less stiff than when she had first done this. He even seemed to be leaning into her a little bit as they walked the streets of Magnolia, their rather pleasant day winding down.
"I had a lot of fun today." the Celestial Spirit Mage spoke up, as she glanced at Natsu. She couldn't help but notice as well that her partner could look dashingly handsome when his face wasn't the spitting image of the chaos and disorder that he liked so much. At this point in time, the Dragon Slayer was giving her an attentive look, a soft smile on his lips. "I'm glad we did this." she finished, very content with how the day's happenings had turned out, even if there was somewhat of an interruption while they were eating. More importantly, holding hands, right Lucy? And there it was, that voice that just wouldn't leave the blonde alone. She had to admit that though, that...holding hands with her partner back at the table wasn't half bad.
Natsu breathed a sigh of relief, eliciting a curious look from his best friend. "Does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?" he asked, hopeful that this day had at least somewhat made up for his previous gaffe on their mission.
Lucy looked into her partner's eyes. She was surprised that the notion that she might still be mad at him weighed so heavily on Natu's mind. At the same time though, she was appreciative of how much she meant to her fiery Dragon Slayer partner, and vice-versa as well. "Don't be silly," Lucy said softly. "I already thanked you for standing up for me in front of our client. Even if punching him in the face was a little extreme." she made her last remark with a giggle.
"Well, if Lucy's happy then I'm happy." was the response by Natsu. His partner quickly looked away, not wanting him to see her face turn red, a hot blush spreading across her cheeks at her teammate's sweet words.
Before they knew it, they had made their way back to Lucy's house. Despite neither of them having determined where they were going after they had finished eating, they found themselves standing in front of the blonde's apartment anyway. For Lucy, it was instinct from having lived there ever since she had joined Fairy Tail. For Natsu, it was instinct from having snuck in there without his partner's consent ever since she had joined Fairy Tail. Assessing the situation, Lucy sighed.
"I suppose you're coming in?" she asked presumptively of her partner, though she felt like she already knew the answer to that question.
"Can I?" the Dragon Slayer asked, rubbing the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face.
"Fine." Lucy responded playfully, mock exasperation in her voice.
Before they knew it, the pair had talked and laughed the day away in Lucy's little apartment, which both of them had come to call home.
"Natsu?" the Celestial Spirit mage started.
"'Sup?"
"What are some things that get you angry?" was the question posed by the blonde.
"Well," the Dragon Slayer started, scratching his head in thought. "Gray. People who think that I can't beat them up. People who disrespect Fairy Tail. People who disrespect you. Getting tickled."
As Natsu seemed primed to go even further down the list, Lucy interrupted him. "Getting...tickled?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"Oh yeah, I hate that stuff. When I got my payback on Erza during that whole Jellal thing...that was awesome." the pink-haired mage answered dreamily, still reliving that moment of glory in his head.
"You...tickled Erza in the middle of a fight?" Lucy asked, sweatdropping at Natsu's brazenness.
"Yup! Awesome, like I said." was the affirmative response by the clearly insane Dragon Slayer.
As she thought about how preposterous the whole scenario sounded, a look suddenly came across the Celestial Spirit Mage's face. This change in her expression didn't exactly make her partner comfortable, as he glanced nervously at the blonde.
"Uhh, Luce?" Natsu gulped.
Ignoring her partner's call, Lucy made her way over to Natsu, before giving him a quick tickle on his sides. The salmon-haired mage had to quickly put his hand over his mouth to suppress a chortle. Noting how ticklish her friend was, Lucy laughed hard at having discovered some sort of weakness to Natsu.
"Oh...that was funny, huh?"
The blonde looked up to find Natsu hovering over her, a dark smile plastered on his face. Her eyes widened as she gulped nervously. She was beginning to regret her playful action. Before she had time to process her fear, she was besieged by an all-out assault on her sides, as her partner rapidly tickled her, ignoring her pleas for mercy.
"Natsu...stop!" the blonde managed to eek out through her laughter and tears, having been tickled all the way to her bed. Without an end to the tickling in sight however, Lucy resorted to something that she knew would make him stop. With one swift motion, she reached her head up and gave Natsu a swift peck on the cheek. Her calculations proved to be correct, as the Dragon Slayer immediately stopped what he was doing, and looked down at the panting blonde beneath him, his eyes wide in shock.
"Wha-What was that?" he asked breathlessly of his partner, in utter disbelief over what had just happened.
"You wouldn't stop." was the simple reply from the blonde.
A silence washed over them, as the two stared into each other's eyes in their compromising position, Lucy beneath Natsu on her bed after having been tickled damn near to oblivion. The blonde placed her hands on Natsu's face and pulled him closer to her.
"We all have to find love someday, Natsu." was Lucy's simple statement to her best friend. As bold as she knew that her statement was, even she couldn't know how much those words were affecting the Dragon Slayer at that moment in time.
Chapter 6, y'all! What could those words mean to our clueless Natsu! I sure don't know :P As always, read, review, favorite, follow, or do whatever you like. Your feedback really does mean a lot to me!