xX Talking Body Xx
Xx Chapter 6: No Sleeep xX
They had spent the remainder of Friday afternoon hanging out, talking, and getting to know each other.
Lucy felt that she had learned a lot, but she had a feeling there was more to learn about the pink-haired stripper.
For now, she learned that it was a dog he owned - she had problems remembering that for some reason - and his name was Happy. He was a little teacup chihuahua, and he was blue, because blue was Natsu's favorite color purely because it was the hottest flame. She found out that when he wasn't working at the club or doing his other job - which she had yet to find out - he helped his father with his firework business. She learned his favorite subject was lunch, and that he was smarter than people gave him credit for.
She learned he had one sibling, but they were long gone - not as in dead, but as in off to travel the world. She learned that his father wasn't his actual father, but merely a foster father. He didn't tell her what happened to his actual parents, the subject being a bitter one for him, and she didn't pry.
He also mentioned that he was prince in his past life? She didn't know if he was joking or not, and decided not to find out.
In return, Lucy told him that she was an only child. Her cousin was a beekeeper in Sabertooth farms, and his name was Sting. That lead to Natsu finding out that she was majorly allergic to beestings, and rarely ever visited her cousin. She also told him that her family owned a lingerie brand, which prompted him to ask if she wore her own product.
She did, but she didn't tell him that.
Lucy told him that she had a fish she named Meezmo - because why not? - and he laughed because he thought it was a stupid name. It was stupid, but she was partially intoxicated when she named it.
She told him it was a gift from her mother, and he didn't ask about her. Nor her father for that matter...
Meh, it was fair trade, she supposed.
Lucy told him that she really liked kids, which made them steer towards the park to watch and play with the children there. The parents were a little suspicious of a pink-haired, scarf wearing man, who had sprinted into the playground and immediately started pushing the first kid he saw on the swing higher into the air, but they eventually relented, seeing as how he didn't seem like a threat.
Maybe it was because Lucy was standing beside him, laughing at his antics. Probably. Most likely.
Definitely.
It was a good day, Lucy thought, walking beside Natsu, a chocolate ice cream cone in her small hand. She smiled to herself.
"I had a good time today," she said. "I've been under quite a bit of stress lately."
"How come?" he asked, practically swallowing the ice cream whole. He didn't, there was little bit left that couldn't fit into his mouth.
"Just family things, and work. Mid terms are coming up and I might have a few students showing up for supplementary lessons over break." Lucy sighed.
"Teacher?"
"Yep."
"Huh."
"Mmhmm."
Silence reigned as they both enjoyed their ice cream - or what was left of it. Natsu finished his and almost went after hers, but with a glare pointed in his direction, the man backed off.
Lucy also found out the dude could really put it away.
"What grade do you teach?" he asked, licking his fingers clean. Lucy averted her eyes.
"All grades. Whatever they throw on me."
"High school?"
"Mmhmm. Much better than being a stripper, I assure you." She grinned and he huffed, but she could see the small smile tugging on his lips.
"I definitely make more money than you," he countered.
"Are you discounting the fact that I am an heiress to the lingerie company I told you about?" she retorted. Natsu sputtered, and Lucy laughed, tossing the rest of her frozen delight into a nearby trashcan.
He damn there went ballistic.
"You're wasting my money!" he cried, reaching into the can. She squeaked and pulled his arm away before he could be seen, yanking him away from the bin. "You could've finished that! Three dollars, gone!"
Lucy laughed as she continued to tug him forward, no specific destination in mind. She really...She really just wanted to be with him a little while longer.
"No one told you that you had to pay for mine! I have money as well, you know!" she said.
"And listen to every man ever tell me I'm a jerk for not paying for the woman? Nah, I'm good." He grinned and Lucy shook her head with a smile.
Her phone rang, the chiming startling them both.
"One minute," she muttered, digging in her purse for the damned object. She swore if it was her father saying there was some company business she had to attend to-
Levy-heichou
Ah...Lucy hit talk.
"L-Levy-chan..." she answered sheepishly.
"Where are you?!" her friend screeched in her ear. Lucy pulled the phone away and glanced at Natsu. One look on his face - which was pulled into a grimace - showed he had heard that from where he was standing.
Which wasn't that far away...
They were brushing shoulders...
Huh.
"I'm out right now," Lucy told her, purposely leaving the answer vague.
"Well you need to get back in! It's precisely 11:32 and we're worried! Juvia's crying!"
It could've just been her imagination, but did Natsu flinch? Maybe Levy was louder than she thought.
"Sorry! I lost track of time." Which was always a surprise since Lucy had to be the most precise person in their group of friends. She was always planning something, estimating the time it would take to do this or that or get from point A to point B, and harping on her roommates to make sure they were always on time.
What was this man doing to her?
"You can apologize later. Just get home so we can start mopping these floors - ah Juvia, no! You can shut the faucet off now, Lu-chan's on her way home now!"
"She flooded the house?"
"Not yet. She's well on her way though. Hurry up before we have to replace the floors - Juvia, you don't need to flood the house when you're upset!"
"It's the only way Juvia can expresses her extreme sadness! Through water!"
"Come now Juvia, put the vase down - don't dump the water out - Juvia!"
Lucy sighed. "I'm on my way. Just hold tight, okay?"
"Eek! Come on, that was a new book! Quit splashi-"
Lucy ended the call.
The blonde ran her hands over her shirt in an attempt to gather her bearings. After formally adding Natsu into her contact list and calming her whirling mind, she turned to face the stripper. "Sorry about that. My roommate is having a breakdown and I need to calm her down."
His eyes snapped into focus, and he grinned at Lucy. She frowned. "It's alright! Crying girls are a mess so I don't want to be in your place," he said, a little too enthusiastically while folding his hands behind his head. "I have to go check on Happy anyway. He probably shit all over the place." The two scrunched their noses in disgust.
"Not sure if I want to meet the little rascal now," Lucy mumbled.
"Is that your way of saying you don't want to see me again?" Was Natsu pouting? He was really pouting!
"That's not it!" Lucy hurriedly assured him, frantically waving her hands. "I want to see you again, definitely! Happy just sounds..." Really damn ignorant of his bladder and bowels. She was scared he might piss all over her shoes if they met.
Lucy flushed when she realized she just admitted to wanting to meet up again. Quite eagerly in fact.
He grinned. "Alright! Wanna meet up tomorrow? It's a weekend and I don't work until midnight."
Right...Glutton during the day, 'entertainer' by night.
But he was still cool.
Lucy nodded, smiling widely. "Just message me the deeds and we can make it happen."
"'Deeds'?"
"It's what the kids say!"
"No. No it's not."
Natsu laughed and Lucy blushed in slight embarrassment. But mostly because he had a great laugh.
Maybe she could put it as her ringtone...
"So I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, taking a few steps back.
The blonde took two small steps away. "Yeah, you will..."
"Promise?" One large step on his part.
"As close to promising as you can get." Three more tiny steps on her end.
"I'm holding you that!" He had to raise his voice.
"You better not stand me up!" She rose hers to the same level.
"I'll text you! If you don't answer, I'm spamming your phone!" He had to peek his head around the corner.
"If you break it, you're buying me a new one!" Her finger pushed the button on the light pole, urging the 'walk' symbol to show.
"At least I'd definitely have your number then!"
"Yeah you will!" She walked backwards across the crosswalk.
She smiled at him. He smiled at her and waved. She waved back.
He disappeared around the corner.
She couldn't calm her heart.
...
Now Lucy had grown to expect the weirdest out of friends. Usually they were in a state of organized chaos when she returned home, so she never expected the worse.
She did not expect to step on a soaking wet 'Welcome' mat.
She also did not expect to open the door and watch a small stream of water exit her home.
There went her paycheck.
Removing her wet heels, though it would make no difference if she hadn't, she cringed when her stockings squished against the wet floor - the equivalent to wet socks. Lucy shuddered and pressed forward into the kitchen, where she heard incoherent screaming and wailing.
And lo and behold, standing on the kitchen table, wielding a bucket full of water, was a very, very wet and crying Juvia. On the floor, screaming and flailing, was a soaked Levy, and laying across the counter, chugging a bottle of hard lemonade, was a completely dry Cana.
Lucy sighed and put her purse, car keys, and cell phone on the damp couch.
Rolling up her sleeves, she charged.
Lucy sprinted to the bluenette and her arms around her waist. She instantly went berserk and started swinging the bucket, somehow managing to not spill any of the water inside of it. Cana's laughter rang throughout the kitchen just as Levy cried "Lu-chan" in absolute relief.
The bucket-wielder froze and turned to face Lucy, the blonde giving her a reassuring smile. Yes, she was home. Yes, she was safe. And she wouldn't worry them anymore. Juvia's eyes watered...
And she dumped the water on Lucy's head, bucket and all.
...
"Juvia has lost her phone. It died early this morning," Juvia said.
Outwardly, Lucy gasped. Inwardly, she threw a party.
Juvia was practically one with her cellular device. She never went anywhere without it, and was always on it. Doing what, only Mavis knew, but it made it hard to conversate with the girl. She knew everything about the phone - Lucy still wasn't sure if it was because of her part time job working in a phone store, or if it was because she spent her life on it - and it practically kept the poor girl going. She never let it die, never dropped it, kept a case on it at all times, and never let anyone hold it.
In short, Juvia cared about her phone. A lot.
"That's horrible Juvia! What happened?" So Lucy could make sure it happened again.
The blue-haired beauty twisted her fingers together over her bare lap. After the water fight, Juvia, Lucy and Levy decided to relax in their underwear, whereas Cana just sat naked, despite being the only one to come out of the incident dry.
"Juvia dropped it in the toilet. It was why she was so...distressed both this morning and when Lucy-san returned."
Cana scoffed. "'Distressed' is putting it lightly. You were in hysterics, screaming and burying the phone in rice."
"The neighbors were...concerned," Levy said, playing with the hem of her boy shorts lightly.
Lucy pat Juvia's bare shoulder, marveling at how pale the woman was. "Don't worry. We'll get you a new phone soon!"
"It would not be the same," Juvia said solemnly, her eyes filling with tears. Jeez, the girl really loved her phone. "It was the phone in which Juvia discovered Gray-sama had the same brand..."
Lucy still had no idea who 'Gray-sama' was, but she long since decided she'd stay out of her love-life.
The long-haired bluenette sniffled. "Juvia would like to hold a funeral for Ice Make-kun." Right, that was what she named her phone.
"Juvia..." Lucy started.
"I don't think..." Levy continued.
"It's a phone," Cana ended with a deadpan.
"Juvia would like to hold a funeral for Ice Make-kun," she repeated.
Lucy sighed. "Okay, okay. We'll hold a funeral for Ice Make...kun. He will be sorely missed."
"Agreed...?" Levy questioned.
"Not really," Cana smirked. Juvia glared.
"Until Juvia gets a new cellular device, Lucy-san, Levy-san, Erza-san and Cana-san are to not use their phones."
"Okay now that's too much!" Levy.
"I have a job and an overprotective father to deal with, who Erza also works for!" Lucy.
"How am I going to send my nudes?" Cana.
"Levy-san, Lucy-san, Erza-san and Cana-san are to not use their phones in Juvia's presence!"
They all sighed. "Fine."
"Whatever."
"You got me fucked."
"Cana-san!"
"Jeez, okay! Fine!"
Right on cue, all three of their phones bleeped with incoming messages.
"Really?!"
...
Lucy awoke to the sound of something ringing repeatedly. It only paused for all of two seconds, before ringing again with a vengeance.
Lucy's shot out from underneath her pillow and slapped her alarm clock off of the nightstand. It dropped to the floor with a loud clatter, and the ringing stopped. Relief coursed through her veins as her body sagged further into the fluffy mattress.
The ringing started again.
After throwing her famous hissy fit, Lucy deduced that the ringing originated from her phone, and they were text messages. A few calls. And they all came from Natsu.
Right. He said he'd spam her phone if she didn't answer.
She hadn't answered.
Running her slender fingers through her hair, Lucy sighed and flipped open her phone. 16 unread messages and 3 missed calls.
God. Dammit.
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:04 AM
Message: Wake up, Teach! What time you wanna meet?
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:09 AM
Message: Oh I see. Ignoring me, aren't ya?
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:10 AM
Message: Well I will have you know that I can go on forever with this
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:10 AM
Message: I'm just gonna keep spamming you until you respond
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:11 AM
Message: Then your phone's gonna break
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:11 AM
Message: Then what would you do, huh?
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:12 AM
Message: Nothin
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:13 AM
Message: That's what you would do. Nothin
Missed Call: Nasty-kun
Missed Call(2): Nasty-kun
Missed Call(3): Nasty-kun
She didn't feel like going through the rest of the messages, so Lucy just sighed and opened a new message.
To: Nasty-kun
Delivered: 9:46 AM
Message: I just love waking up to see some man spam my phone with useless messages.
Lucy let out a large yawn and made her way to the bathroom. Brushing her teeth felt like a chore due to her rude awakening, but she carried it out nonetheless. When Lucy looked back in her room and saw the second bed rumpled yet well made, Lucy deduced Erza had returned home last night. What time? Lucy had no clue.
She threw on a form fitting t-shirt and sweatpants before making her way out to the living room, checking her phone periodically to see if she had received a message from Natsu. A glance at the couch told Lucy that Levy had spent the night, for the little bluenette was curled up on the sofabed, snoring away. Lucy smiled softly.
Levy lived nearby, in a small condo next to her job at a museum. She was one of the guides, impressing the manager and tourists with her vast knowledge on certain historical figures. When Lucy had visited, she was surprised to see so many people following her around, listening to her with rapt attention, even that one pierced guy with spiky black hair. He seemed to be watching her closely, more so than the others, and Lucy immediately became suspicious of the fellow.
But more on that later.
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 9:57 AM
Message: And I just love doing the spamming
Lucy smiled as she made her way to the kitchen, preparing to fix up a quick breakfast for her roommates and occasional moocher.
To: Nasty-kun
Delivered: 9:59 AM
Message: I'm surprised to see my phone still working at all. Congratulations, you don't have to face my foot.
From: Nasty-kun
Received: 10:00 AM
Message: Dammit. I was hoping to see some leg
Lucy shook her head with a small smile, taking out the batter, getting ready to whip up some good pancakes before Levy, Juvia, and Cana could wake up. Erza was most likely at work already, but maybe Lucy could prepare a small lunch for her in case she came back during the day? The blonde nodded her head at the plan and got to work.
To: Nasty-kun
Delivered: 10:12 AM
Message: Please, I'm sure you see a lot of leg from the sheer amount of provocatively dressed women at your job.
Lucy's phone buzzed with a call. Nasty-kun. She answered immediately.
"I will have you know that those legs don't count."
"They're legs nonetheless. Long, smooth legs that flex when a woman walks."
"They're not your legs though."
"What's so special about my legs?"
Wait...were they...flirting?
"Dunno. I just like your legs better."
"Sexual harassment."
He laughed, and Lucy smiled as she poured the batter into the hot pan for the second pancake. "What're you making?"
"Pancakes."
"You ever wonder why they call pancakes a breakfast when cake itself is a dessert?"
"No, can't say that I have," Lucy chuckled. "Check Goggle for the results, Natsu."
"You know Natsu?"
Lucy spun around to see Levy and Cana standing in the kitchen. Her mouth dropped open as her eyes flicked between her friends.
"Wait...Isn't Natsu the name of the stripper we went to see?" Cana asked, a wide grin on her tanned face. "Well, well, well."
...Shit.
1. If you haven't noticed, all of the chapter titles are song titles or lyrics. I don't own any of them (or FT), and they really have nothing to do with the chapter. I just really like those songs and the name fits what's in the chapter.
2. Now my Dad's a 6'4 heavy guy, like 330 lbs of pure muscle and some fat in there somewhere. He taught me kickboxing when I was a young lass still pissing the bed. He knows three forms of martial arts, has a bone-chilling mean mug, and his bicep is the size of my damn head. His hobby is baking cakes and being his dear daughter's teddy bear.
3. Aniki is about 5'11 and made of toned muscle, maybe 180 lbs. When my dad taught me kickboxing, he was teaching Dev Muay Thai. His face is...eh. Not scarier than Dad's but still menacing nonetheless.
4. Imagine my surprise when I wake up on my birthday (thank you to all who wished me Happy B-day) to two very heavy bitches flopping on me like I'm some damn trampoline. I punched Dev and threw Dad off of me, and they had the nerve to look at me like 'where'd you learn to do that? When did you get so strong?' You Dad. I learned that shit from you.
5. Kay. Chapter. Not much to explain except that I really like writing Natsu and Lucy together. It's fun. They're cute. And I'm funny. If there's something I'm missing, let me know so I can address it properly. And this chapter is mostly filler, but know I don't put stuff in there without a reason. It may seem like humor and filler, but it's vital to the story in some way.
6. Subtlety. My favorite method of surprise.
7. Spot the manga references? Yeah you did.
8. Y'all ever look at generic brand cereal in your house like 'get the hell out ya nasty'?
9. Get it? Levy-heichou? SnK reference? When I first started watching/reading the manga/anime, I kept pronouncing Levi as Levy. Still do sometimes.
10. Let me know in a review which you like more, puppies or kittens. I'm a dog girl, so I'm saying puppies.
11. Also I made a tumblr! slightly-writeis my little url thingy. Anyone out there that has one, how about you follow me and we can talk on there? I'm all about making friends. Who knows, you all may get sneak peeks into this frantic little mind of mine and see some story ideas that I have planned.
12. You don't have to, I would just really appreciate it. *does the puppy dog eyes*