Chanting at the same time, two friends are in a heated battle and the stakes are high… But so far, they have tied four times in a row. "Saisho wa gu, Jan ken pon!" Lucy throws a rock and so does Natsu; It's a tie for the fifth time. "Aiko deshou!" Lucy throws a paper and Natsu sticks with his rock.
"Paper wraps rock, I win!" Lucy fists bumps the air while sing-songing, "Ha, ha, I win, I get to pick, the movie!"
He immediately starts whining cause he knows the girly film she wants to watch is not even remotely close to something he'd rather see tonight. "Come on Luce, one more round?"
"Too bad Natsu, you lost the game, so I get to pick this time."
"But seriously?! Why Burlesque? I mean sure I don't mind looking at half naked women but still…" Lucy punches his arm. "Oww! Well, if you don't want me to drool over them, then pick another movie!"
With her hand on her cocked hip in her 'not gonna back down' stance, the blonde stares the boy down. "I like this movie for Christina Aguilera and Cher's singing."
Realizing he's not gonna win, his shoulders slump, "Ugh, fine! I'll go make the popcorn…" Natsu sulks away to Lucy's kitchen while she smirks over her triumph. Three weekends in a row he won their Jan Ken Pon battles and she got stuck watching a martial arts or action type movie. Now it's her turn to make him watch something she knows will drive him crazy.
"Don't forget the arare," she calls out, "and the furikake, I made sure to buy some for tonight. Oh, and mix it good, last time it was all clumped together."
"Alright…" he yells back. "I'll give you your damn Hurricane popcorn…" mumbling under his breath.
Lucy walks up behind him, "Did you say something?"
'Shit!' he stiffens, "I said I'll make your hurricane popcorn…"
"Uh-huh…" opening the fridge door, "What do you want to drink?"
"Do you got Corona's?"
"Want li hing mui in yours?"
"Yeah, if you got some."
"Well you're in luck cause I happen to have." Lucy knows it's how he likes his beer, so she made sure to grab the salty sweet treat for their movie night. "I'll be waiting in the living room." She kisses his cheek and walks out with two bottles and the package of red seeds.
If anyone looking in didn't know better, the pair seem like an average couple, as in the romantic variety, just a boyfriend and girlfriend about to settle down for a relaxing night in with a movie. But no, just friends they'd say if asked even though they were both lying through the smiles… And tonight, like many others before it, a simple game of Jan Ken Pon, determined who got to choose the film.
As Lucy walks out of the room, she doesn't see Natsu put his hand to the cheek she kissed or the light shade of pink staining his ears. The skin on his face is still tingling or is that sensation really his heartbeat fluttering? Sigh… They met her freshman year of high school when he was tasked with showing the new transferee around campus. Pretty and sweet, she melded right in with his group of friends, and somewhere along the line, into his heart… Like two peas in a pod, their bond grew quickly until they were practically inseparable and that continued through high school, through the college years and that's where he finds himself now 10 years after that initial meeting. But it's not like they stayed single either, she's had boyfriends, he a couple of a girlfriends, but neither ever made it very far into those relationships. He didn't know the reason hers never lasted but his was because, well, they could never compete with Lucy.
"Here you go, just how you like it." Natsu hands her the bowl and plops next to her on the couch.
She giggles and settles against him like she usually does. "Thank you." Popping some in her mouth. "Mmm…" licking the butter off her fingers, "Another yummy Natsu concoction. Where'd you learn this recipe again?"
"Oh," he runs a hand through his hair to calm the nerves still teetering from watching her lick her fingers. "I, um saw it on a cooking show from Hawaii."
"You don't watch cooking shows."
"Not normally, I just happened upon it when I was flipping channels."
"Well I'm glad you saw it," giggling again, "Cause it was a perfect fit to our movie nights." Holding up the remote ready to un-pause the movie she's already queued up past the advertisements. "Ready?"
"Yeah…" 'Ugh… chick flicks…'
There were a few times, he's not gonna lie, that he dozed off. But they didn't last long, not when every time something interesting happened in the movie; a song, a dance catching her attention and she squealed, laughed, giggled, or cuddled against him again, and now throw a new move into the mix, her legs over his lap. He'd taken to putting his arm around her shoulder, on the off-beat chance of keep her still, but of course it didn't. All it did was to serve him a bigger dose of the sweats. Couldn't she hear the thumping from his heart whenever she snuggled to him? Didn't she feel the rise in his temperature when her skin contacted with his? This is exactly, why he hated watching chick flicks! When she watched the action stuff she wouldn't get so lovey-dovey but these damn movies, it was like it turned on some torture gene inside her! And the storyline, guy in friendzone, falling for a pretty blonde… Not helping!
Natsu's eyes widen when the wedding scene shifts to Jacks apartment and he and Ali start making out. 'Oh, dear God!' he tips his head back and chokes back a groan, 'I didn't know there'd be a sex scene in this movie!' As if he needed more torturous images playing on the screen, he saw enough on the back of his eyelids every time he closed them. The song, 'Bound To You by Christina Aguilera' is playing… 'Sweet love, sweet love, Trapped in your love…'
"Natsu?" a meek voice brings him back and he turns his head towards it. '…You're all I need when I'm holding you tight…'
"Yeah Luce?" '…I am terrified to love for the first time, Can't you see that I'm bound in chains?..' He freezes and gulps; what her eyes are communicating is a yearning, a desire that he's never seen directed at him from the blonde before. "Wh-what's that look for?"
Lucy bites her lip nervously, and this does not go unnoticed. By now Natsu knows all her little quirks and this move is not just alluring but right now, down-right terrifying of what could be on the girl's mind. "Do you sometimes feel like Jack's character?" '…I'm strong and I'm sure there's a fire in us.Sweet love, so pure…'
'Oh fuck!Why is she asking me that…' "What do you mean?" he cups the back of his neck. "Feel like what?"
She runs her hand over Natsu's chest and he stiffens even more. "Like when he sees Ali, the way Jack looks at her, because he likes her but tries to hide it… Do you sometimes feel like that?"
"Is it getting hot in here…" he tries to stand, after all, his body temperature is rising, but her legs keep him pinned to the couch and stays put. '…I found a man I can trust, And boy, I believe in us…'Sigh, "Come on Lucy… Wh-why are you asking me that question?" her stare is scrutinizing every word coming out of his mouth. "Are you hoping the answer is yes or something?"
'…All that I have been carrying all these years.Do I risk it all, come this far just to fall, fall?...' "Yes…"
Natsu stops breathing. "You just said yes?"
Her eyes grow teary. "Yes." '…And finally found my way, I am bound to you…'
"Wholly shit you just said yes!" The excitement in his voice winds down, "Why'd you say yes?"
"What do you mean why?" she punches his chest. "Why wouldn't I say yes! Did you want me to say no?! Oh my God!" she hits him again and starts to scramble off his lap, "Please don't tell me you don't feel the same way I do…" but he grabs her around the waist to keep her from getting off. "…because that's gonna be too embarrassing." He's grinning and trying to stifle his laugh. "Damn it," she whimpers, "please just say something…" as the tears threaten to spill.
"What do you want me to say Luce?" his voice softens. "How long I've wanted you? How every time your close to me I wanted to kiss these lips…" he runs his fingers lightly over them. "How you're the only girl who could ever make me happy…"
"Natsu…" Putting a finger to his lips to hush him. "Then just shut up and kiss me already..."
He happily obliges, finally he gets to really kiss the girl he's been over the moon for! Sweet and slow, their lips meet like two virginal teenagers trying it out for the first time. Not that either are new to the game but in their case, it is a little awkward having been friends for so long first. But that hesitation loses to the fire that had smoldered for far too long… Lucy shifts herself onto his lap, straddling his legs and rolls her hips against his, inciting a low growl from the boy. Is she trying to push things faster along? Taking her actions as an approval to go further, his hands wander down to squeeze the ass that he'd longed to hold… The blonde moans from his strong grip though her kisses, "God Luce, you smell so friggin good…" that have now moved on to his neck. "So, do I get a strip tease like Jack did?" she bites his earlobe hard. "Hey!"
"Maybe…" she purrs
