Enjoy my lovelies. :D
Bisca, Alzack, and Azuka had returned home. Grey, Lucy, Igneel, and silver were still outside doing god-knows-what. While everyone else was exhausted from the crazy day and went to sleep. Gajeel, Levy, Juvia, and Layla were sleeping in the living room and Grandeeney and Ezekiel were sleeping in their rooms.
Natsu was the only one awake waiting for the foursome to return. Mainly Lucy, the others he isn't so worried about.
Time keeps ticking by and the night wasn't getting any younger, Natsu became paranoid. He paced back and forth checking between the imaginary wrist-watch and the imaginary clock on the wall. Then he scurried to the kitchen to see what time it actually was, on the stove.
2:28 A.M.
Natsu panicked once he saw the time. He grabs his jacket and turns on his phone flashlight as he hurries to the door. He glanced around to make sure no monster was trying to stop him, once he felt safe, he rushes towards the door once again.
It was until this very moment that Natsu notices the door was locked.
The teen pondered on how come they didn't knock on the door. He tries to think back to when they could've knocked and no one heard them. Maybe it was when he was taking a shower and jamming out to his playlist 'Shower thoughts'. He shrugs at the thought and walks outside.
"Zzz" A faint snoring can be heard, it halted the teen in his tracks. He slowly turns around to see the mighty four sleeping against the wall of the front porch. Igneel and Silver were leaning on each other with mean looks on their faces as if their bodies knew that they are using each other as support to sleep. Lucy was sleeping on Grey's lap -Natsu's eyes twitched at the sight- with Grey's shirt draped over her.
'Why does he strip randomly like that... I'm going to kill him.' Natsu felt his hand slowly gravitating towards Grey's neck but stops himself. 'Now is not the time... Later, Natsu, later.'
The teen reaches towards Lucy and shakes her lightly in an attempt to wake her up. It didn't work the first time but it worked after the fifth time as he shook her with more force. Lucy shot up, confused like the day she was born (Well at least she imagined this being her thought process as a newborn baby) "Where-where am I? Who am I?-" She glances over at Grey "Why is Grey shirtless?"
Lucy notices the shirt was covering her, she grabs it and takes the time to put Grey's shirt back on.
Natsu watches the whole thing unfold, waiting for her to notice him. She turns over and sees Natsu, "Oh hey there. How long have we been sleeping out here?" She asked, confused as the day she was- oh wait, already used that simile... Confused as the day she woke up outside of the front porch of her boyfriend's house with her step-brother, step-father, and her father-figure.
"Well I don't know how long you guys have been sleeping out here but I do know that I'm going to kill Grey." Natsu glares at Grey trying to shoot a laser beam at his heart.
Lucy whips out a pen. "I have a pen." Natsu shrugs, "Close enough." He grabs the pen and starts doodling on his face then he glances over at his dad and Silver. "Hmm." He ponders for a second and decides to doodle on their faces as well.
They both giggled at the masterpieces Natsu created and head inside, leaving the trio outside.
"Isn't kind of mean that we left them out there?" Lucy felt guilty.
Natsu whips off one of the three blankets Gajeel had covering him and goes outside to cover the trio up. "Simple problems have simple solutions."
They both headed upstairs. "I feel super dirty from sleeping outside. I'm going to take a shower."
"Then I'm going to be in my room, I just wanted to make sure you were safe before I go to sleep." He gives her a peck on the lips. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." She giggles, "but you should care about the others too." she bonks him lightly on the head.
"Ehhhhhh I guess." He sticks out his tongue mocking her then makes his way towards his room while Lucy makes her way to the shower.
oOo
Natsu couldn't exactly sleep at the moment. He really did start to feel guilty for leaving them outside but he is also too lazy to get up from bed to actually do something about it.
'The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. Round. Circle. Perfect circle. I suck at drawing, I could never do a perfect circle, Heck! I could hardly do stick figures. Stick figures fighting are pretty entertaining though. Natsu, go to sleep! Go. to. sleep. You know telling yourself to go to sleep isn't helping at all. I KNOW ME! Okay, okay, okay. Don't think at all...'
As Natsu was fighting with himself, he failed to notice a figure entering his room. 'So if I save a dollar a day, in a year I would have 365 dollars and in 10 years I would have 3,650 dollars. Dang, should've started saving when I was younger... I should tell Ezekiel this tomorrow. Nah! I'm going to forget.'
The figure approaches closer. "So if I kill Grey tomorrow, would that make me the most suspicious suspect? Should I wait-', "Hey Natsu."
'I'm going to die for thinking of murder, it's instant karma before the crime was even committed' Natsu cries inside not ready to be killed by the figure.
"Natsu, it's me you scaredy-cat," Lucy whispers harshly. Natsu clears his throat, "I knew that." He shifts himself upward fixing his posture. "So, what brings you to my kingdom?"
Lucy sighs deeply and immediately Natsu knew it was serious. Lucy's voice shivers as she kept sighing, not knowing how to begin. "After I was done taking a shower, I saw the scars on my back in the mirror, and I thought to myself. Have I truly escaped him?" She chokes up, "He is dead. That can only mean that these scars won't hold me back right? I remember trying to show you them before he came back... So, Natsu." She looks straight into his eyes with her pleading ones. "Can we continue where we left off?"
Natsu sits straight up, "Yes we can if you are positive that you want to go through with this."
Lucy walks up to him and cups his face, "Natsu, I want to be married to you someday, or you know... I don't know I'm still learning about this love thing. The point is that I don't want to bare this burden when I'm with you."
Natsu's heart skyrocketed at the mention of marriage. "You want to get married!? You thought about marriage!? Lucy, are you serious?" Lucy nods her head awkwardly and he immediately hugs her. Natsu honestly didn't think the day would come so soon that Lucy would consider marriage. "Okay, I was thinking we can be married like a year after high school or maybe after college. Yeah, after high school. Then like two years after we graduate college we can have a kid of our own. Now I know Ezekiel will be 12 or 13 but that's okay, when our kid becomes old enough to be rebellious and bratty we can burden Ezekiel with him/her."
oOo
Ezekiel shifts slightly in his sleep and whispers softly, "No."
oOo
Lucy giggles, "Hold on, cowboy. You really thought this through." He nods his head fervently. "Well step one right now is to help me get over this fear, okay." She kisses his forehead.
She backs away turning her back towards him, her shaky hands grip the hem of her shirt. She froze there, unable to bring herself to raise her shirt.
Natsu sat there patiently knowing that this is extremely difficult for her. He has seen her scars before but only a glimpse when they were on vacation at the beach, he honestly doesn't even want to fathom how many or how bad the scars are.
After what seemed like an eternity in deathly silence. Lucy sighs in exasperation, "Aries, Leo, Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio, Taurus, Sagittarius, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Capricorn, Aquarius-" Lucy's eyes start to water, "Man, Aquarius always makes me emotional."
Natsu absolutely didn't know how to react to the sudden Zodiac names Lucy recalled. "Uh... Why is that?"
"I don't know. Cause it's water-related, I guess. You know, tears equal water." Lucy shrugs, "I don't know where I'm going with this explanation."
There was a brief moment of silence. "I lied," Lucy admits.
"It makes me emotional because it was the one gift that my mother gave me that I absolutely adored. She gave me a key with the Aquarius sign on it. I honestly have no idea why I loved that thing so much. Maybe I loved it dearly because it was the last gift she gave me before she ran away." Her eyes roam around the room not knowing where to look.
Natsu gently grabs her shoulder reassuring her. "Lucy, you don't have to do this right now."
Lucy shakes her head, "It's okay I want to do this. I need to do this. I know that this is the final chain I have to break to be free from him." She then musters up all her strength and slowly but surely raises her shirt up, revealing the scars that bind her to the past.
Her hands were shaking immensely, she shut her eyes tight muttering under her breathe repeatedly, "He isn't alive anymore." Her breathing starts to quicken and she felt a panic attack coming.
Natsu reaches out and holds her hands gently. Slowly he wraps his arms around her body, cradling her. He whispers angelically, "Lucy, I'm right here. I will always be here."
She wraps her arms around his, holding him close. "Thank you." Her breathing slowed.
Natsu loosens his embrace leaning back and taking a good look at the scars. It looked horrible, they were small and big slashes on her back. It's horrifying for him to even think of the torture his love has gone through. A beauty marked by a beast. His hand unconsciously reaches out and gently traces one of them. Lucy shivered, not expecting him to actually touch them.
To her surprise, she wasn't shaking violently or jolting away from him. She lets him continue to trace over her scars, it was... smoothing. His touch is relaxing and reassuring, it didn't feel disgusting in the slightest.
Natsu gently pulls Lucy's shirt down, covering up her scars. She turns around, facing his sweet loving smile. "Thank you." She whispers softly.
Natsu's hand glided to her face, cupping the diamond in his palm. He gazes into her twinkling eyes. "You're welcome."
The young male traces his thumb over Lucy's bottom lip, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. He uses his other hand to guide Lucy's body his way. To his surprise, she is allowing it to happen. As a matter of fact, she has a look of expectancy for him to continue.
'Thank goodness, I took a shower earlier today.' were his thoughts before proceeding.
Natsu leads her to sit on his lap. With the hand that he had used to guide her, he combs through her long silky gold hair. Afterward, he places that hand gently on her waist. Lucy began to show her nervousness, her eyes roam around unable to focus on one thing. It made Natsu feel nervous as well and the next thing he knew his eyes decide to travel around the room, discovering new things in the process.
In the midst of being unable to calm their nerves, their eyes catch each other. Both of them glistening as they lock on.
Time stood still. Allowing them to have this eternity together.
They lean in, slowly closing the gap between them only to stop millimeters apart, their breaths mingling together. Natsu glazes his thumb over her bottom lip once more before intertwining their lips together.
Heaven had met earth. The kiss felt angelic.
The teens slowly pulled apart. "Why did that kiss feel... so different?" Lucy asked, smiling lovingly.
"Becuase you're free."
His response caused Lucy to feel overwhelmed with so much happiness that she leaned back in, wrapping her arms around him and kisses him passionately. He was taken aback at first but quickly returns the kiss. Natsu tilts his head to make the kiss deeper, Lucy responds in kind. Lucy ruffles through his hair causing Natsu to growl.
Lucy then pulls away, leaving Natsu's lips longing for more. "I love you, Natsu Dragneel." Her smile brightening up the room.
"I love you too. Lucy Dragneel." He winks.
Lucy smacks his shoulder playfully, "Not yet, buddy."
The blonde teen suddenly became serious, "We should really bring those three inside though." Natsu groans, "fine." Both of them got up from the bed and head downstairs to retrieve the three.
As soon they reached the bottom, they see Gajeel sitting at the dining room table eating a bowl of cereal. They all lock eyes. "Munchies." was all he said before continuing to eat his cereal. Natsu and Lucy just nod their heads as they go outside to see that Grey, Igneel, and Silver were still asleep.
They both laugh totally forgetting that Natsu drew on their faces. Lucy shakes their shoulders lightly "Wakey wakey." None of them budged. Natsu sprays them with a sprays bottle he snuck from his room. Lucy gives him a look of disbelief, "Seriously?" He nods his head as he keeps spraying, "Wake up dogs and dad."
They all shot up startled, "I'm going to kill you Natsu!" was Grey's immediate reaction before even realizing what was actually happening.
"Son, why did you spray us with water?"
"Because you wouldn't wake up when we tried shaking you and calling your name."
"Fair point."
"No not a fair point!" Silver and Grey exclaimed in unison.
Natsu and Igneel gave them a blank stare, "Like father like son," Igneel mutters.
"We can say the same about you." Silver responded.
"Touche," Natsu said mockingly. They all began to bicker, not realizing that Grandeeney pulled Lucy inside and locked them out of the house.
Ding.
Natsu's phone rang as he received a message from his mother, he read aloud "You guys were too noisy, it woke me up and now I'm cranky. So, shut up! And sleep outside. I left pillow and blankets for you guys. Love you, rest well."
They all looked over to see the blanket and pillows in front of the door. "Looks like she took Lucy." Natsu pointed out. "No dip, bed head." Grey smacked the back of his head. Natsu tackles him in return. Igneel and Silver separated them, "No fighting. I fear your mother when she is cranky. Let's all just go to sleep."
The boys reluctantly settled down. The guys laid down, "Oh yea, and Natsu." Silver spoke out.
"Hmm."
"Tomorrow morning, we are going to get you back for drawing on our faces."
"ZZZ" Natsu fake snored in response.
oOo
Gajeel stops eating his cereal for a split second, 'I wonder where my blanket went.' he shrugged and resumed eating.