Category: Romantic Fluff
Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia
Requested by: Anonymous (Tumblr)
"Whooooooo! Let's go, let's go! Camping, camping, camping~"
Lucy heaved a wearied sigh as she listened to Natsu and Happy's incessant chants, which had been ringing in her ears for the entire ten minutes that their camping party had been hiking up the campsite path. The cotton candy-haired mage and his Exceed familiar were a few paces ahead of her; Natsu was pumping his fists in the air so hard that his rolled-up sleeping bag atop his stuffed-to-the-brim-with-useless-bullshit hiking backpack shook wildly and precariously, while Happy was flying in circles around his head, bleating the word over and over again. Next to her, Gajeel whirled on his booted heel with the hundredth grumble in the last five minutes that he was walking home, while Levy tutted pleadingly and hung on his muscled arm while begging him to stay. All she had to do was bat those pretty doe eyes at him and he'd turn right back around, mumbling that he'd better because she was small and could be eaten by a bear. Lucy groaned as she rubbed her aching temples. She should have known better than to allow Levy to weasel her into this mess.
The blue-haired, stupidly cute mage had cornered her, basically, waving the pre-bought campsite passes in her face. "Camping is so incredibly romantic! You're gonna confess to Natsu on night number one, and then we'll have a whole weekend of fun double-dating!" Of course, Gajeel was completely out of the loop, because the brash dragon slayer would incessantly tease the poor celestial mage, and with Natsu's keen ears he would be bound to overhear something… Ugh, Lucy would never be able to live it down! Still, Levy was right to push her… Lucy had been sitting on her fledgling love for Natsu for such a very long time, and she just kept inventing excuses for not confessing. Gravel crunched under her foot as she slammed it down particularly hard. She sucked in a breath, hoping the mixture of gases would somehow grant her courage, and clutched her hand over her heart. I will confess to Natsu tonight! No more holding back!
She instantly deflated when she realized that actual words would have to come out of her actual mouth. It was so much easier thought than done… Miserably, her brown eyes watched the bobbing form of the handsome man several paces in front of her. When he whirled around to walk backwards and give her that incredibly beaming smile that rivaled the brightest of stars, Lucy's heart clenched within the vice of anxiety in her chest. Confessing to someone as easy to talk to as Natsu wasn't that big of a deal… Right?
Wrong.
Lucy's screams of self-pitying agony were muffled by the thick, sound-absorbent feathers within her pillow. Safe from prying eyes within the confines of her pitched tent, she writhed around in her unzipped sleeping bag to angrily slam her arms and legs around while her defiant screeching was securely absorbed by the pillow. After a minute or so, her strained muscles began to burn with exhaustion, so she lifelessly flopped them against the plush fabric of the sleeping bag, with her face remaining buried in the pillow. Too bad the fabric was annoyingly breathable, and she couldn't suffocate.
They had reached the campsite before noon. It had taken them all of twenty minutes to pitch their tents. It seems the heavens were on Lucy's side, because they had presented plenty of opportunities for the young woman to finally confess her love. They had gone swimming in the creek first since the heat had reached its peak for the day, and Lucy had slipped on the slick gray stones in the bed of the little waterway to all but land straddling Natsu's lap with her face centimeters from his. After that, they had gone hiking up a nearby trail and Lucy had been startled by something rustling around in the underbrush, and had instinctively leaped into Natsu's arms- and he caught her without thinking and asked her if she was okay, before giving her that aggravatingly attractive grin and telling her that he would protect her. The hike was long and had wasted most of the afternoon, so they settled around the fire as the sun was setting and cooked dinner, then marshmallows. Lucy's marshmallow had fallen off and she had felt quite sad about it; sooner than she could replace it, Natsu had pinched off a big gooey glob from his and held it out to her on his thumb, pretty much asking her to eat it off. And what did Lucy do at each and every single one of these glimmering, golden opportunities?
Balk. She went all doe-eyed and blushy and jittery, and oblivious Natsu had been none the wiser to her internal dilemma, acting his natural self while Lucy all but short-circuited. Now here she was, late into the evening cursing herself for her damned indecision. With a small, pitiful groan, she turned her head to peer at the small gap of starlight that was filtering in through her unzipped tent opening. Sound spilled in as well, the unrelenting deafening opera of crickets with the background chorus of the crackling fire, occasionally joined by the shaking of leaves and branches as the wind rolled through the ripple across the thin fabric of her little camping abode. She didn't imagine that anyone would be outside now, so she pushed herself up to crawl through the tent opening. It wasn't like she was going to sleep, anyway. She stood up, brushing the detritus and dirt she had accumulated on her bare knees crawling out, and then looked at the fire.
Lucy hastily whirled around to crawl back into her tent, froze, did an anxious wiggle of her fingers, took a deep gulp of breath, and then whirled back around. Sure enough, Natsu was sitting there, back to her as he gazed thoughtfully up at the brilliant full moon. Lucy stood stock-still as she gawked fearfully at him. He hadn't heard her. She could shimmy back in that tent and cocoon herself and he would never know. Yeah, that sounded lovely-
"Lucy?" Dammit, of course he smelled her. She managed to plaster a falsely saccharine smile on her face as his pink-haired head swiveled around to peek at her in curiosity. "I thought you were goin' to bed?"
"Hehe, I think all the camping excitement is still hitting me; I can't seem to get a wink!" she laughed, trying to control her nervousness, as she rubbed at the back of her neck. Well, she was in it now, so she forced her stiff legs to carry her over to the fire. He scooched over on the thick log that he was perched on, patting the spot expectantly. There went her plans of sitting as far away as possible. Her knees felt like they were encased in concrete, as they simply did not want to bend to allow her to slowly ease herself onto the log beside him; it took a lot of mental fortitude and internal cursing, but she managed to do so without looking too suspect. To further reinforce her façade that nothing was wrong in the slightest and she totally wasn't freaking out due to an unresolved crush that had been going on for what seemed like forever, she flashed him a cute smile. "What're you doing up?"
"Ah… Bein' out in the wild kinda reminds me of Igneel, y'know," he said with a wan smile, casting his gaze to the ground. Though he was smiling, Lucy could see the tension and pain in his expression; it was not the smile she knew, shining with the force of the sun. No, the light was one of a star in its dying breath, after the supernova when the last sputters of its life scream across the universe in a desperate plea for notice… Lucy's heart broke of the diminishing of Natsu's gleeful aura, and her own problems were momentarily forgotten. Wrapping her slim arms around the bulk of his bicep, she slid across the log to press her body reassuringly against him and lay her head on his shoulder. Natsu did not mind the intrusion of his personal space; in fact, he welcomed it. No sooner had Lucy's head nestled in the crook of his neck did his head angle down to rub slightly against hers, pink tufts teasing into golden streams like the weaving of an ornate tapestry. "I miss him."
"I know," she crooned softly. It was hard to remember with Natsu's overtly sunny disposition that he carried the deep wound of Igneel's departure and other darknesses within him. His light was so bright that it cast all of those into weak grey shadows, but night had to come sometime… Even for Natsu. One of her hands snuck around to begin rubbing soothing, rhythmic circles into the middle of his back, tracking a wide circumference. "I'm here for you, Natsu."
"Hehe, thanks. I feel better already!" Hard to get him down for long, she remarked silently with a small sniff of laughter. There he was, eyes scrunched up and cheeks rosy as he used every one of his facial muscles to smile luminously down at her. She couldn't help the way her eyes softened as she regarded him. He was simply so illuminating… It was hard not to be drawn in by that effortless charm and personality.
"I'll always be here, Natsu."
"I sure hope so. I dunno what I'd do without you, Lucy!" It was such a casual statement, but to Lucy, it was everything and more.
"I don't know… What I'd… Do without you either, Natsu," she whispered, forcing the words out of her thickening throat one by one. She had her toe in the door now; all she had to do was ease it open and step through… That wasn't hard…
Natsu's green eyes were blinking at her in befuddlement as she seemingly struggled to form simple sentences. She squirmed against him, unconsciously tightening her grip on his arm, as if she were afraid that he would leave. "I… I love you, Natsu," she admitted in a voice no higher than a mouse's whisper. As much as she would've liked to be staring into those gorgeous, emerald green eyes of his, she simply could not bring herself to, and so her brown eyes were fixated on a particularly dead oak leaf by her foot instead. Her face was incredibly taut as she tensed in the wake of her admission. There! I did it! Now screw off, Levy! She scolded, though it was only in her own head where the bookish girl had no way of hearing. The breath Lucy was holding in her lungs grew staler with each millisecond Natsu regarded her with silence, mounting into a demanding scream for air. She was desperate for him to say something, but also manic for him not, because she had no idea what was running through that head of his because she couldn't read his expression because she wasn't looking, but she didn't want to look, because then she could, and oh, Jesus, she thought she was going to faint-
"I love you too, Lucy." Oh, the huskiness in his voice was going to do her in. Her head was swimming like water sloshing around in a pail toted by a clumsy child on the beach, but Lucy ignored that and whipped her head up to meet his gaze. She couldn't read it for a minute, only because the hasty action had fogged her already muddled mind so much that her vision actually hazed for a moment. When it did clear, she found him chuckling amiably, seemingly amused by all her shyness. "You're cute when you're shy, y'know?" he said, lifting a hand to oh-so-delicately trace it down her jawline. Lucy's breath finally left her in a rattling, shaking wheeze, so transfixed she was by that simple gesture. His fingers caught her chin, tilting it up a little. Those magnificent irises that reminded her so much of dappled sunlight filtering in through a canopy of leaves drilled intently into her own, compliment her hues of brown like the mosaic of a tree trunk. She was so enamored that momentarily she forgot to be relieved that he had returned her affections at all.
Natsu loves me. That thought finally clicked in the gummed-up machinery of her mind, and instantly flipped the switch to activate a raging blush. He laughed at that, shoulders shaking with the light guffaws. Lucy couldn't help it. No amount of dreaming for that moment could prepare her… Her breath hitched as he swept the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip experimentally. "Can I kiss you, Lucy?" His voice was wonton with desire and passion, but he patiently awaited her answer, not wishing to cross any lines. Lucy's eyelashes fluttered wildly as her stupefied mind struggled to comprehend his question.
"O-of course… You don't have to a-"
He caught her completely unawares, and the way he grinned against her mouth indicated that the dastardly boy had done it entirely on purpose. Her shriek of alarm was swallowed by his mouth sensually crashing over hers. That's all it took for her rigid muscles to relax entirely; Lucy eased into his body, like he was a receding tide pulling her into him. His lips were so much softer and more pliant that she could ever imagine, like creamy fudge melting against her lips over and over again. He kind of tasted like chocolate, too, which surprised her; she would've imagined him having the musky undertones of roasted meat and the coarse tang of smoke, but instead, he was undeniably sweet. The hand on her chin spread out to grip it tighter and angle her head, because seemingly Natsu simply couldn't get enough of her; she shared the sentiment, really.
They broke apart after a minute or so, breathing a little labored and a thin sheen of sweat on both their faces. Natsu smiled alluringly as he leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, those captivating eyes never leaving hers for a single second.
"Always, huh? I'm holdin' you to that." Lucy giggled and nodded in understanding. It was a hefty promise, but she had no intentions of breaking it anytime soon…
~Bonus~
Levy had a hand over her mouth to surprise the girlish squeals that were bubbling out of her lips at every riveting moment of watching Lucy finally confess her feelings. God, Levy thought she wanted it more than Lucy herself did! Watching her bungle throughout the day had been torturous, and she had told Gajeel if that girl didn't confess out by that fire, Levy was gonna storm out and do it herself, dammit! Luckily, that wasn't necessary.
"Ah! Aren't you happy for them, Gajeel~?" she trilled as she whirled around to throw herself onto his thick abdomen, crossing her arms and laying her head on them while kicking her small legs over her back and crossing her feet at the ankles.
"Sure," he grunted unconvincingly, eyes closed in half-sleep. Levy puffed out her cheeks defiantly. What a bore he was! He sensed her displeasure, as he cracked an eye open and flashed that wolfish smile at her. "Fine, it's nice to see the two pining losers finally use enough brain cells to riddle it out." Levy rolled her eyes at his brusqueness, but at least it was an answer. Now that her mission was accomplished, she could finally enjoy being with her man, though! With a happy chuckle, she snuggled up into him such that half her body was splayed over his upper half, her head just resting at the base of his chin. As he craned his head up to greet her, their noses lightly brushed. "You're in a good mood."
"Of course! Now my best friend can be as happy as I am~" she purred delightedly. Her body shook as chuckled rumbled in Gajeel's sturdy chest, and it almost felt like the consistency of a cat purring atop her. One of his tree-trunk arms lazily rounded around her comparably tiny and delicate waist, and he tilted up slightly to press a chaste little kiss to the tip of her nose. Levy hummed in contentment, and when his head flopped back down against the pillow, hers descended to bury into the warm, welcoming junction of his neck and shoulder.
"Heh, I guess I should be glad for Natsu, if he's as happy as I am with you," he grunted after a minute, voice drawled with sleep. Levy's lips curled into a rosy smile against his neck, and out of habit, she reached up to thread her fingers through his thick locks of wiry black hair.
"Mhmm… Just wait until all the fun double dates tomorrow~"
"Aw, hell-"
