Chapter 13: Its closing in all around

Lucy didn't want to wake up. She was quite warm and comfortable the way she was, snuggled underneath the blankets, as if she was being cuddled by a dog. In fact, she decided to move closer, squeezing the figure next to her with her arms.

The first thing that tipped her off was the fact that it moved. Then, she realized that it was rather smooth, yet hard, but not like a wall. More like… muscle?

"The hell?" she mumbled.

Natsu was snoring softly, enjoying his dream. He was hunting with his father, Igneel and they had spotted a deer. As he positioned for his shot, he saw the doe's eyes, which were big and brown. Suddenly, the deer transformed into Lucy.

"Luce?"

The girl in front of him giggled and started to run away. Natsu chased after her, but then tripped and fell. He clenched the ground in frustration as it seemed to swallow him up, tightening its grip on him.

Both set of eyes opened instantaneously. After staring at each other for a few seconds, they connected the dots and jumped away from each other, leading to Natsu falling off the bed.

"Ouch." He moaned.

Lucy blushed when she fully registered what she'd done.

"Sorry!" She whispered, aware that Wendy was still sleeping in the bed next to her.

"Yeah right. Ya know, I was sleeping all peacefully until someone decided to push me off the bed." He grumbled.

"Well I was sleeping all peacefully until I realized there was a friggin' pervert sleeping next to me."

"I don't know Luigi… You're the pervert here." Natsu snickered. Lucy took a deep breath to control the anger rising in her stomach.

"It's Lucy." She hissed. "Now get out before I Lucy kick you all the way to Sector 1."

She raised her foot for emphasis and Natsu flinched.

"WAIT!" he half-yelled, half-whispered. "Now, let's not be so drastic."

Lucy's eyes didn't relent.

"I just need to tell you something." Natsu pleaded. It was like he was talking to an wild animal.

"Then talk."

"Mirajane just told us that we had to see my mom as soon as we got up. She told me to sleep here, so I'm sorry." He bowed his head in apology as he waited for the kick to come.

"Oh, okay then." She said, already getting out some clothes for today.

...Damn mood swings.

Once Lucy got dressed, they stopped at Natsu's room (which was pretty close) so he could get a change of clothes, but it didn't take too much time and they were soon on their way to visit Grandeeney.

"Oh hello dear!" Grandeeney chirped when she saw Lucy, putting aside whatever she was writing.

"Hello Mrs. Dragneel," Lucy chirped back.

"I'm assuming you are here to get checked up on?"

Lucy nodded.

"I must say I was impressed. Makarov said that he'd never seen a clearing mission done so fast!"

"Thank you."

"Now come over here dear so I can check your cuts."

Natsu knew the game his mother was playing and he stood there during their little conversation mocking her.

But when Grandeeney had only complemented Lucy on the mission, he accidentally shouted in indignation.

Grandeeney laughed. "I'm proud of you too Natsu, though don't let it go to your head. Your ego is already bigger than your father's."

Natsu turned his head away from his mother and humphed, which caused his mother to ruffle his hair and Lucy to giggle at his antics.

He swatted his mother's hand away in a playful manner and glared at Lucy, who was now in hysterics.

"Alright dear, now let's see those ribs," Grandeeney said. Lucy lifted her shirt up, showing her the now fading bruise.

"It's getting better, but you overexerted yourself didn't you."

Lucy sheepishly nodded.

"Rest dear. It's the only way to recover."

Wait… Lucy hadn't been at her best and still completed the mission? She sure was something, but what, Natsu didn't know.

Next, his mother checked over all scrapes and cuts. It was nothing too bad, though the one on her arm still looked bad.

"Where's the gauntlet?" She asked, concerned.

Natsu reached into his pocket. "Here. It fell off when Luce was being checked over last night."

His mother took the leather gauntlet and gasped when she saw the bite marks.

"Are these bite marks?" She asked, astonished and worried. "What happened out there?" She placed her hands on her hips.

"Yeah Luce, what happened out there?" Natsu asked, also placing his hands on his own hips, mirroring his mother. He even got the tilt in the head right.

Grandeeney whacked her son's head in annoyance. "Shut it." Natsu quietly shlumped (Grammarly says it ain't a word, but it totally is) over to the side, clutching his heart in mock pain.

She sighed and shook her head before turning back to Lucy, muttering about how childish he was.

"Well?"

Lucy shifted uncomfortably. "Well, it was in that house Natsu blew up…"

"BLEW UP?"

"Yeah, uh, well we had to blow it up because there was an absurd amount of zombies there and we were overwhelmed. Well, they were kinda concentrated on the second floor, which is where I was, so I was about to swing my axe when the zombie bit my arm. Fortunately, they only got gauntlet? Anyway, Wendy w-"

Grandeeney turned to her son.

"You blew up a house? I thought we talked about this."

Natsu scratched his head. "We had no choice."

"First it was the chemistry lab. You blew it up THREE TIMES! Now it's random houses. Just because it's the apocalypse right now, doesn't mean that you can blow things up willy nilly! Show some control, you pyromaniac."

Once Grandeeney finished her lecture, she ordered her son to switch places with Lucy, who was secretly happy that Grandeeney hadn't given her a lecture on safety in the field.

Natsu grumbled and mumbled complaints as his mom prodded at him.

She huffed when he came out okay, just a rather deep cut on his leg, which she bandaged up in no time. She gave them orders to rest and eat before going back to her work.

Natsu wasn't done complaining and gave Lucy and earful on their way to the former cafeteria.

"I mean, she doesn't even acknowledge me when we entered and then she spends five minutes yelling at me for blowing up a house. You do it too! It's just not fair, especially when she completely ignored the fact that you were bitten, which we will talk about with the team."

Lucy sighed. So she hadn't escaped her punishment. It was weird having people who still cared about her.

"Yeah yeah." She mumbled, getting in line for food. Mirajane smiled at her as she served her food.

Natsu had gotten bored and decided to rest his chin on her head.

Mira winked at Lucy before giving Natsu his food and Lucy blushed a little.

"Lushi… play with me."

Lucy was caught off guard, her mind filling with all the possible meanings that statement had.

"M-maybe later." She mumbled before sitting down at an empty table. Natsu sat down across her.

"So... " He said after taking a bite. "How do ya like Fairy Tail?"

Lucy shrugged. "It's alright. I mean there's this one really annoying guy that keeps on bothering me."

Natsu was clueless. "Who? I'll make them stop." Lucy sweatdropped.

"I don't know if you can… Besides, I don't know his name." Lucy said.

"Then describe him to me."

"Is you say so… Well, he's a runner. He tends to sneak into my room quite often and sleeps in my bed." She paused to watch Natsu's face. He was taking it all in.

"Go on…"

"I know his little sister. She's very nice. But he just gets on my nerves."

"What about some physical attributes?" Natsu prompted.

"Well, he's about 5'10 and he has these dark green eyes. Almost black. He also has pink hair."

"Pink hair, green eyes, 5'10? Wait a second… NOT FUNNY!"

A chuckle came from another table.

"So he's dumber than I thought."

It was Gajeel.

"Take that back Metal Mouth!" Natsu shouted.

"Nah. You just proved it. No wonder why you're single." ...Did Gajeel just wink?

"Oh yeah? You're one to talk."

Gajeel snorted. "I have a girlfriend doofus."

"Don't you mean imaginary?"

"Does Levy McGarden look imaginary to you?"

"WHAT? WHEN?" Heh. It was Lucy who yelled this time.

"Last night while you were blowing up houses."

So word spread around quickly…

"Fine, I'll give it to you. You got a girlfriend first, but I bet I'll get my first kiss before you!"

Gajeel laughed. "And who would ever want to kiss you? Besides, I already got it moron. What do you think couples do?"

"Yeah, well I'm shocked," Natsu retorted. "Why would Levy kiss you if you're so ugly that it makes me want to vomit?"

Gajeel got up, growling. "You wanna say that again, pyro?"

Natsu gave a shit-eating grin and laughed. "Bring it on!"

Lucy sighed and leaned to whisper something to Natsu. "Natsu! Come on! Its our day off! Can we not spend it fighting?"

Natsu turned his head, and their lips got smushed together.

Lucy's eyes widened and she flushed as she stumbled back in shock.

"Shit," Someone whispered as Lucy bolted. Where? She didn't know, but as long as it was away from Natsu it was okay.

"Wait Luce!"

"Give it up, she's gone by now. Looks like you blew it,"

Natsu glared at the person who had commented and cracked his knuckles ominously.

She had chosen the library, a place that Natsu seemed to stay away from.

Lucy hid in a corner and sat, deep in thought. She replayed the kiss in her head. It was nothing much, just a quick peck on the lips, but why did this bother her so much?

Was it because it was her first kiss? No.

Was it because of the way Natsu's lips felt? Nope. They were soft, not chapped like hers.

Was it because she like-liked him? Yes.

Wait what?

Lucy groaned and slid against the wall as she cursed herself. She had fallen for that idiot.

"Damn it."

"Yo Luce! Are you in here?" An unwanted voice called out. "I need to tell you something."

*Immese screeching and odd fangirling* Natsu and Lucy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes LOVE then comes MARRIAGE then comes a cute baby Nashi in a baby carriage! After the 2 month anniversary, this story will be on hiatus until the 17th due to a horrible thing called finals and my bio teacher had the Brilliant idea to include an entire year worth of information that I have forgotten already.

Responses:

Ushindeshi: Yup, well... the end of the first part. But I'll save the rest of the pain for another time. But it looks like we have a little block and epiphany.

suzaanoelofse01: Yeah, well we all need a bit of normal when there's craziness. So glad you love the story!