And here's the second part of chapter 6! I'm glad you're enjoying it! This one has a little more nalus B)))
Also I'm currently writing Chapter 9, so it looks like your updates will remain regular for at least a while longer! I really hope I can see them through to the end!
As always, please consider leaving a review for the story, because nothing brightens my day more than your kind words! ^-^
chapter 6:
if you give a mouse a cookie
She didn't have time to process the insanity that had just taken place at her dining table.
Straightening her hair and clothes one last time after she had made it to the door, she finally opened it. The woman waiting on the other side had her hand raised, stopped in the process of knocking.
"Finally," she exclaimed, retracting her hand to comb it through a curly mane of maroon hair, "I was about to kick the damned door in!"
"How did I know it was you, Cana?" Lucy sighed, smiling at her friend.
"Because you know I wouldn't let my sick friend suffer alone at home on a friday night?" Cana winked, moving in to hug Lucy to her chest just a little too closely. After an extended moment had passed, Lucy cleared her throat, rolling her eyes when Cana wiggled against her chest one last time before pulling back with a smirk.
"Soft as ever," she grinned, but then a thought seemed to occur to her. "By the way, what was that weird bang?"
Lucy paled. "I, uh, tripped."
"Lucy, are you okay? You really do look pale! Did you hurt yourself?"
"Oh, no no," Lucy laughed weakly, "I'm all fine! Except, of course, the headache. And all."
Cana gave her a weird look, but then shrugged. "Oh well. Look, I brought you a pretzel. And some of my number one medicine!"
"Cana, that's a bottle of wine."
"Exactly," Cana grinned, waving the bottle in her face before making her way to the living room. There, she sniffed the air in confusion. "Why the hell does it smell like sulfur in here?"
"Oh. Uh. That's… matches! I used almost a whole pack trying to get the stove to work, it was acting up again," Lucy lied, scanning the room for anything small and red. Whe she found nothing, she relaxed.
Cana snorted. "Really, Lucy, are you sure you're not a witch?"
Lucy joined in on her laughter, hoping Cana was finally done with her assessments. It would probably be a good idea to remind her of the wine. In the year Lucy had known her, she had learned that usually proved to be effective.
"So about your medicine…" Lucy grinned. "Should I fetch us some glasses?"
"Oh boy, you really need it, huh? I promise you'll be cured in no time," Cana laughed as she sat down on the couch while Lucy went to the kitchen and back. Under no circumstances could she let Cana go in there - the table was still laid, and for two people. Cana would undoubtedly come to only one conclusion - and would probably raid her closet in an attempt to find a naked man hiding in it.
(Still no red lizard sightings. Despite her relief she was curious as to where the little bastard had crawled to.)
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it," she confessed with a roll of her eyes, sitting down beside Cana and setting two delicate wine glasses onto the table. "Pour me a big one."
Cana's eyes were curious as they scanned Lucy's face.
"And what happened to you," she inquired with a sly twinkle in her eyes, "Don't tell me you have someone?"
"Wh-what! No, it's nothing like that!"
Right below them, not even an arm's length away, a little red lizard snickered to itself. It rested beside an crumpled chocolate bar wrapping and a ball of dust, exactly the spot that was hardest to reach beneath the couch.
Had anyone seen it, they would have described it as a very proud and self-pleased looking animal. Quite dusty too, around the edges, because it had become stuck in a spiderweb on its journey. The hungry spider had gotten a nasty surprise, though, and would now no longer be getting any surprises. Ever. The little lizard burped.
Then it wondered why it felt happy about Cana's assumption and Lucy's embarassment.
And not in the way it had felt happy about it moments before, not because her embarassment confirmed that she was aware of him as a man and he could indeed use his body to his advantage. No, he felt happy because… she liked him? The thought of her feeling something for him to the point she became embarassed, anything at all, be it romantic or sexual or even platonic, it made him feel happy? It should not make him feel anything at all.
"Oh don't you try to hide it from me," Cana continued, tapping her nose, "I have a detector for these things, you know. The Cana Radar 6.0."
"Oh you can't be serious. You sound like Igneel!"
"Oh, that odd inventor that lives next door? The one you always tell me about, with the insane inventions?"
"Yes," Lucy laughed. "He's a great guy, really."
Cana's face dropped. "Wait, don't tell me it's him!"
"Oh my god! Cana! No!" Lucy yelped, slapping her hands over her eyes as if that could make the images go away. "How could you! I can never unsee this!"
Cana shrugged, chuckling. "Well, I wouldn't know. Is he attractive?"
Lucy lowered her hands to glare at her friend in amusement. "Oh don't you dare, he's like a father to me! Besides, I'm pretty sure you have a girlfriend at the moment," she grinned.
"Sure do," Cana agreed, and then added with a wink, "And you know you'd be the next in line, either way."
Lucy chuckled, shaking her head at Cana's usual flirting. She took a big sip of her wine, feeling it warm her lungs. Maybe it wasn't such a bad medicine after all - even if she wasn't ill at all. You could never be careful enough with sickness prevention.
"Careful, or one of these days I might take you up on your offer," she replied with a cheeky grin, placing the glass back onto the low living room table.
"You know, I'd ask Juvia to join if she weren't so shy. You are too, for that matter." Cana's grin spread as she licked her lower lip. "But seriously, it's been ages since you had anyone!"
Lucy made a grumpy face in response.
Well, this knowledge only strengthened Natsu's resolve. (And why the hell was he happy about that too?!)
This little secret undertaking proved to be very informative. Who would have thought Lucy could be so flirtatious? It was a side to her that he had only seen small hints of before. But it didn't really surprise him much, either. There was something wild slumbering beneath her well-behaved and restrained surface. And oh, did he want to set it free.
This Cana person was quite to his liking, too. Lucy could keep her.
The two women kept talking and talking, and soon Natsu found himself zoning out, even dozing off on more than one occasion. Just how long could they keep at this?
Only when the couch above him shifted did he startle, jumping into the chocolate bar wrapping. There were some crumbs inside, and he hungrily nibbled on them as he concentrated on the conversation still going on above him once again.
"Oh no, the wine is empty!" Cana wailed. "Lucy, do you have another in the fridge by any chance?"
"No," Lucy hastily denied, "Nothing in the kitchen at all. Besides-" She gave a hearty yawn, stretching her arms above her head. "-I'm actually quite tired now."
"Oh, that's right! You should really sleep off that headache."
"Yeah, as if that will work with half a bottle of wine coursing through my veins," Lucy hiccuped. "Oh god, I'll be dead tomorrow."
Cana giggled rather evilly, and Natsu watched as two pair of feet touched the ground in front of him. "I'll leave you, then. But I really gotta pee before I go."
"First door on the left," Lucy informed her, "First, not second."
"Yes yes, I got it. First. Jeeze, you sound like you're hiding a corpse in the second."
Lucy laughed weakly. The second to the left was the kitchen. A corpse was not exactly what she was hiding. It was the opposite, really, with how lively and fidgety Natsu was. Actually, she might have preferred a corpse.
She giggled, alone in the living room, and leaned back into the soft couch.
Something tickled her knee.
Without thinking, she tried scratching the itch. But then her fingertips brushed against something she had not been expecting, something soft and scaly. And then the something bit her finger.
Lucy bit back a surprised yelp in the very last moment, incredulously staring at the lizard climbing her knee. His little talons dug into her jeans with every step, sometimes scratching the soft skin below the fabric.
"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed, and could have sworn the lizard grinned.
Their eyes locked.
In that moment, they heard the door to the bathroom open. It took Lucy a fraction of a second to decide her next move, and in this very fraction Natsu felt his heart drop. He had seen fire and death in her eyes. She grabbed his little body, yanking him off her leg, and with a desperate cry on his part, Natsu was sent flying towards the flower pot beside the couch. He hit the large philodendron, dropped off the leaf and landed on a root instead of the soft earth right beside it.
Lucy saw none of that, having already turned away and trying to look completely casual, as if she had not just flung a horned lizard across her living room.
Cana sauntered back into the room mere seconds later.
"Are you sure you don't have a secret boyfriend?" Cana asked with a grin, taking her jacket off the hook beside the door.
"W-what makes you think that?" Shit. Had she seen something after all?
Cana shrugged. "Ah, there's a cute guy I could introduce to you, you know. I met him at work."
"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Lucy laughed, trying to hide her relief. "You don't have to play matchmaker for me, you know. I'm actually quite happy by myself at the moment."
"Yeah yeah, they all say that - and then they're in love before they know it," Cana laughed, hand on the doorknob. "Look at me!"
Lucy smiled fondly. "Yeah, look at you. Now leave!"
Cana laughed as she hugged her goodbye, kissing her cheek before leaving the flat and rounding the corner down the hallway. Lucy closed the door.
Then she leaned back against it, breathing a loud sigh of relief.
"Natsu?" she finally asked. "You're alive, aren't you?"
A familiar puff confirmed what she had known, and seconds later a tousled head of pink hair appeared behind the far side of her couch.
"You're a monster!"
"Says the devil," she chuckled. The laughter died on her lips, however, as Natsu got up. There still was an angry glare etched into his face, but it was lost on Lucy entirely. Because, once again (how many times had it been?) Natsu stood in front of her in all his naked glory. Oh and it was glory indeed. Clearing her throat - to squeal - Lucy whirled around.
It did not help that she was tipsy, too. Her face flushed a deep shade of red.
And then her breathing stopped altogether when she heard him walking towards her.
He was naked.
"What's wrong, Lu?" he purred, and she was sure she had never heard his voice like this before, or had been called this nickname. He certainly didn't sound as pissed as he had looked moments before.
What was happening now?
Naked.
He was standing behind her now, poking a finger between her shoulderblades. Lucy froze when he leaned his head in closer, until she could feel his breath fanning against her right ear.
He was naked. Completely naked. Standing behind her naked.
"You're naked," she cheeped, hoping the fact might have escaped him.
"I've been naked a lot of times," he spoke into her ear, "I like being naked."
But never before had she reacted in this way. And he knew it.
Was he playing with her?!
Oh, they could play if he wanted to play. The alcohol made her brave, and she spun around to clutch his head between her hands. She pointedly avoided even a single glance downwards, focusing solely on his black eyes. Which might have been a mistake.
For a moment she forgot what she had been planning to do, staring into the bottomless orbs. They were sparkling, despite the surprise that was written across his face. A bright, familiar grin settled on his face, and she almost felt happy that she had finally gotten a glimpse at the Natsu she knew, had he not been acting to completely different in every other way. His eyelids drooped.
"Oh?" he spoke.
Lucy leaned in closer, eyes squinting and hands gripping the sides of his face firmly.
His skin was hot. Now that she was closer to his face than she had ever been, she let her eyes roam for a split second, over ruby skin, slanted eyes, a slighty crooked nose, strong jawbones - and she liked what she saw. Then she pulled herself together.
"Get - a - towel, " she commanded calmly, turning his head to the right to make his body follow. "It's time for your shower."
"What," he complained with a low whine, taken completely by surpise and dropping his charade before he could think better of it, "But Lucy! I hate showers!"
He let himself be pushed towards the bathroom nonetheless.
His tail tickled her belly as they walked, brushing from left to right and up and down in a manner that made it impossible to believe that he was not doing it on purpose.
Natsu grinned to himself, feeling the muscles of her stomach contract even through the fabric of her shirt. Ticklish, too. What a weak human she was.
He guessed now that he had started Mission Seduce Lucy, he could be nice to her again. It only made sense, and would definitely work in his favour.
Somewhere deep inside, he knew he was happy that he could use his plan of being nice as an excuse to actually be nice. Really, he just wanted to be with her like before.
But he couldn't admit that to himself.
Natsu's struggle continues. Don't worry, this story will be about more than just his manpain. ;) (I'm such a sucker for manpain though, no regrets.)
And time for some more review talk!
First off, because I forgot commenting on this in the reviews last time: I am a disgrace. I know Mario Kart is a Nintendo only game, I don't know what I was thinking. *covers eyes* I wrote it as 'gaming console' first, but then decided that Playstation simply sounded nicer so I changed it. Agh. We have an Xbox and Wii at home, so I really should have paid more attention omg. :'D I will change it even if it disrupts the wordflow, for the sake of accuracy! Hahaha. Forgive.
Oh, and, before you ask: No, I don't hate Gruvia. I just happen to enjoy the Juvana crackship and seeing as neither Gray nor Juvia will play an actual role in this fic, I decided to pair her with Cana. ;) If you don't like it, ignore it. It's of no importance to the story.
R: Guest Mirai
A: Ahh omg thankyou so so much for this detailed and thoughtful review! It finally showed up! I love that you are having all these questions, because they are, in fact, exactly the questions I want you all to be asking. B)
And yes I admit I kinda dragged the beginning/first act out a little, but that was totally self-indulgent. I wanted to keep the happiness while it lasted... :D *dramatic foreboding music* Okay, and it gave a lot more insights into their dynamics and relationships etc so it wasn't really pointless either. :p
R: HalfBlackWolfDemon: Omg this is getting so fucking good! Each chapter and interaction makes my heart quiver in the most pleasant ways possible!
I love your portrayals of Lucy n Natsu and how u have Igneel as big a part as you do! *squeals* It's not something I've seen. He's almost always dead in the stories.
A: Ah yay thankyou! Yes, I really enjoy having him as part of the cast for a change. Writing Igneel is soo much fun, I'm totally in love. I hope your heart will continue to quiver :D:D
R: sarara1.8: Can't wait to read more :) are devils in your Story immortal?
A: You'll have to wait and see. ;)
R: ThatBrunnette: This fic is so cute!
A: ...I apologize in advance for all the pain that is to come. :)
