Last Chapter

Natsu didn't get it.

They'd had so much fun at Gajeel's party, and now he hadn't seen her for weeks. He couldn't help but wonder if it was something he had said- something he had done? Maybe he had creeped her out...

Today was another one of their hangouts. The ballerina girls and the skater boys. They had taken to going to get ice-cream after every hangout, even though it was cold outside, if only for lack of creativity on what else they could do as a group. Cana suggested they go iceskating, making Gray scoff and they got into another argument. Lyon tried bragging to Juvia about how great of an ice skater he was, and everyone else just shrugged and said 'why not.' Natsu didn't particularly like ice skating- he was more of a warm-weather person himself. He didn't get why Gray didn't want to go though, since he knew for a fact that the ice-popsicle was (admittedly) very good at it. He had done hockey for years when they were kids. Didn't he want to impress Cana? Natsu knew for certain that if he had a chance to show off his eating skills to Lucy, he definitely would...although he doubted that would actually impress her...

And there he went, thinking about her again. He couldn't help but shove his hands further into his pockets as he sulked. When Levy appeared at his side, he gave her a nod, assuming that she was just passing him, but when she remained there, he looked over at her again and raised an eyebrow. She locked eyes with him and abruptly stopped, the group kept obliviously walking ahead of them, only Gajeel huffing once in annoyance before passing them by. Natsu stayed back, since he knew she obviously wanted to talk about something.

"So you want to see Lucy, or not?" She said, crossing her arms.

Natsu looked at her, bewildered.

"Well, yeah," he stuttered out, "Of course...can I?"

She rolled her eyes, "Duh, I just thought you would have asked by now. I found out that her dad's been real strict lately- won't let her go out anywhere, so she's been in the studio most hours of the day."

"O...kay?"

Levy shook her head, exasperated, "So I can give you the address to the studio, and you can go see her. If she can't come to you, then you've got to go to her. Unless, of course, you don't want to see her..."

"I'll take the address," he said automatically.

The windows in the studio were enormous, basically stretching across the whole wall to show her the lingering sunset over the hills of Magnolia. Lucy had stopped to admire the sight, wishing she could have been with her friends to watch the sun go down. Speaking of friends, Lucy wondered how Levy was going to help her. After all, she was grounded. She sighed, it would probably be a few more weeks before Levy figured out a way for Lucy to see everyone- to see Natsu.

Turning away from the window, Lucy pointed her toe and began her routine again.

Natsu had a great sense of direction- at least he thought so. Whatever the case, he found MPDA fairly quickly, entering the code Levy had given him into the gate and driving on through. That was probably breaking some sort of rule, but it's not like he had ever been one for rule-following anyways. Plus, this was a good cause. Definitely a good cause. He counted the different numbers on the school buildings, looking for 14- the dance studio.

Lucy.

He wondered how she'd react to seeing him. Surprised, probably, hopefully in a happy way. Once he spotted the sought for golden numbers on the side of a short square building, he parked his car and walked up to the front doors. Inside, he found himself in a long hallway, various rooms on both sides, the walls covered in mirrors. He walked down the hall, glancing into each room until he got to the very last one, smack dab in the center and obviously the biggest one in the building. He paused before slowly pushing the door open, and music instantly flooded his ears.

As the first few fluttering notes of the piano song came through the speakers, Lucy lifted her head from her arms, eyes closed. She was on the ground in a starting position, right leg stretched out in front of her and the other bent behind her, knee pointing in the same direction of her right foot. She stretched her arms put to the sides of her body, bringing them up above her head gracefully, then back down. Raising her left arm over her head as she bent her body to the right- her other arm held across her body. She did the same on the other side before bending her front leg to bring herself to a staining position on her right toes, other leg stretched out behind her as she bent forward to the ground in a balancoire, the piano slightly slowing with her movements.

He had never seen her dance before- he realized. It wasn't something that had ever crossed his mind, and he couldn't help but watched, entranced, as she moved her body gracefully to the unfamiliar piano tune. It was so different from skateboarding, and he wondered if she had ever compared the two, as he was doing now. He watched her in her reverie, still unnoticed as he stood in the doorway.

Amazed at her impeccable balance, he followed the movement of her right leg as it bent up behind her, level with her waist, and she bent her other leg, lowering herself nearly to the floor before setting her foot down and tip-toeing a few feet and did a sort of bowing motion, legs crossed.

After her plie, the music started to pick up she couro, pas' ed across the floor and jumped lightly into a small cabriole, and then down into a quick entrelace. She did a pirouette and transitioned into a ciseaux, pas de landing on both feet and immediately following through with a few quick steps to the windows. She was lost to the music now as the song progressed and with a few double tours, she poured her emotions from the last few weeks into the piece. Seven doubles and one triple fouettes en Tournant, and a penuche got her thinking about how her dad had treated her. What was originally one jete turned into three, and an arabesque led into fouette as her thoughts turned to Natsu. Failli, grands ronds de jambes, manège, as the piano keys moved impossibly fast and Levy, Cana, and Lisanna came into her mind. A soubresaut, tour lent, and a grand jete later, came the climax of the song.

He could only stare as she flew across the dance floor, leaping and bounding and spinning and getting faster as the music seemed to become more intense. At the height of the song, she jumped into the air, her legs almost to the height her head had been a moment before, all her limbs brought behind her as her torso was thrust forward.

After she landed the butterfly, she felt a renewed energy, jumping again to perform a 540 battement en rond, landing again on one foot and one knee. Both arms still in the air, she took a few measures of the song to breathe. The soft ending was coming, the music slowed down, and she slid up to both feet, arms to her sides as she did a few port de bras. She danced quietly for the last minute of the song-ecarté, divisés en quarts, and a few other soft moves. She spun slowly once, twice, and then a third time before sliding back down to the position she had started in at the very beginning.

A few seconds later, she let out a relaxed breath.

Natsu let out the breath he was holding- perhaps a little loudly. Lucy jumped and jerked her head around to see him peering at her from the doorway. She scrambled off the ground in shock.

"H-how long were you there," she breathed out shakily. Natsu gave her a wide grin.

"Since the beginning," he said, smile not coming off his face. Her face turned red immediately, and she was frozen as Natsu stepped forward into the room, letting the door close behind him.

"I didn't know..." he started, an admiring look in his eyes, "...I had no idea how good you are. You're...that was..." He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to find the words to describe what he had just seen.

"...man..." was all he came up with.

"Uh, uhm, er," Lucy sputtered, "I didn't know you were watching," she said shyly.

And his grin was back, "I know."

"I don't usually...dance like that, when I know people are watching," she said timidly. He smile fell.

"Oh- I'm sorry- I didn't mean, I mean, if that was something personal- I'm sorry," he said sheepishly, a worried expression on his face.

"No no no," Lucy said, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that, well, I usually can't dance like that when other people are around."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "Why not? That was great."

Lucy bit her lip, "Well, it's just, I don't know. It's stupid."

"No, really," Natsu stepped up to her, so only a few feet separated them, "Why not?" he inquired softly.

She paused, "It's just that...it's hard to open up like that to people, you know? To let them see all of me. That's my dancing. The way I usually dance, well, it's still me- but with pretenses. I can't ever get the jete's right in front of the girls."

Natsu looked at her questioningly.

"Oh, er- jumps, I guess," she said.

"Well, I'm glad I got to see you," he said, "All of you. It's pretty amazing."

"Ah, um-"

"You're pretty amazing," he corrected himself, determinedly. Lucy froze with her mouth open, not sure how to reply. Luckily, Natsu continued to speak.

"I've missed you these past weeks," he said, "I wondered why you didn't come to our hangouts- I thought it was me, at first," he paused, "But when I was watching you dance, I realized how you could stay away- with this to come back to. I realized that ballet to you is how skateboarding is to me. And I...I feel like I know you better now, and I'm glad."

"I wanted to see you!" Lucy rushed out, then blushing and looking away she said, "Ah, I mean- I really wanted to see you...I just..." She trailed off.

"It's okay, I know," Natsu replied, "I know about your dad. And I get it, believe me. When I first joined the Dragon Slayers, I hid it from my mom for months. I knew she wouldn't approve- that I'd probably get in trouble," he took a breath, "But then I decided that I couldn't hide that part of me from her. Of course when I did tell her, I was grounded for a month," he chuckled, "But she came around eventually. It all worked out."

"One month!?" Lucy blurted.

"I know," Natsu laughed, "My mom believes in hard punishing, that's the longest I've ever been grounded for though."

Lucy shook her head and put her hand on her hip, "Try three months. I'm pretty sure my dad's the strictest there is."

Natsu's jaw dropped, "Wha- three months!? What the heck does he expect you to do for three months!?"

Lucy smirked and gestured to the air around her.

"Oh, yeah," said Natsu, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah."

...

...

"So...I guess this means I have to wait until three months from now to ask you out?"

Lucy blanched, "Wh-what?"

But Natsu was continuing on, nonchalantly, "Cause I thought I was patient before, when you didn't show your face for a few weeks, ya know? But I feel like this is really going to test the limits of my-"

He was cut off by a pair of pink lips crashing down on his own.

Eyes wide, he stared at her own scrunched closed eyelids as the pressure on his mouth slightly increased. She pulled back, but kept her one-handed grip on the front of his shirt. They stared at each other, the few seconds seeming like hours.

Then Natsu seemed to find the use of his limbs again, after his brain re-circuited itself. His hands grabbed her hips and pulled her close again as he tilted his head slightly to the left, initiating another kiss. And another, and another, as she responded with equal vigor, moving her mouth against his. He kissed her once more, keeping his lips connected to hers in a prolonged moment, relishing in the feeling of her hands in his hair, and his arms around her waist. As he pulled his mouth away from hers, he kept his eyes closed, keeping their faces only inches away. When he raised his eyelids, he saw her doing the same, eyes slowly opening. There was an awkward moment as they both stepped back, letting go of each other.

"So..." he said watching her as she fiddled with her fingers. Her cheeks were pink, and he knew his definitely matched.

"So..." She echoed absently.

"You wanna go out?" He asked, "Er, in three months, I guess."

Lucy raised her eyes to meet his. She smiled, and he smiled back.

"No."

It took a second for him to realize what she had just said, and his smiled immediately dropped off his face.

"Wait- what?" He asked, confused. Didn't they just kiss? He thought that meant-

"No," she said, but now she was grinning slyly, "I don't want to go out 'in three months,'" she used air quotes, "I want to go out with you today. Right now."

Natsu let out a relieved whoosh of air, "Haa, you totally freaked me out for a moment there," he took to smiling at her again, "But, uh, I thought you were grounded."

Lucy shrugged, "I figured something out, while I was dancing just barely," she said, "I don't want my happiest moments to be based on ballet- I only want to remember them when I'm dancing, so that I can dance the best I know."

Natsu looked at her, tilting his head questioningly.

"Eh, what my dad doesn't know won't kill him, right?" She said.

Natsu grinned, "I know I should't be encouraging you to break your 'good girl' status, but I totally agree with you."

Lucy stepped forward, intertwining one of her hands with his and walking with him towards the door.

"Who says I would be breaking my status?" She asked wryly.

He cocked his head, not sure if this was a rhetorical question or not.

"And besides, you know what they say," she continued, "Good girls are just bad girls who haven't been caught."

Welp, there's an ending for ya. I know it seems kinda abrupt, but I wanted this story to end at ten chaps. Hope you still liked it though ;) Let me know what you thought! Or just forget what you thought, cause good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught...

Haha, just kidding- a review would be real nice...

And yeah, I totally realize that I started this story based off one song and then ended on a whole different song, but whateva. Haha