Chapter 8

Noon-thirty ended up not working for Natsu due to unforeseen circumstances. So now that is around four-thirty, Lucy is pulling into the parking lot of Petit Papillon. She parks her vehicle in a free space and shuts off the engine, slipping her keys into her purse. She unlocks the door, but stops before opening it when her phone goes off. Lucy decides to check it quickly, discovering it is a text.

Yukino: Hey, this is just a little reminder that you have another book signing a week from today! You do remember when and where, right?

Just so she will not have to worry, Lucy takes a moment to reply back.

Lucy: I'll be all good to go then! I'm looking forward to it :)

Suddenly, her door opens without warning. Lucy turns to look as her heartbeat becomes erratic, eyes falling onto a familiar face.

"Hiya!" Natsu greets.

She sighs in relief, regaining her composure. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Scare you?" He tilts his head to one side. "Whatcha mean?"

Slipping her phone into her purse, Lucy gets out of her car and stands up. "You don't just randomly open people's car doors."

"But it wasn't random. I was helping you out."

"Then give me a warning next time."

"I tried waving atcha, but you were busy with your phone."

"My assistant was just reminding me about things."

Natsu waggles his eyebrows. "Ooo, look at you being all fancy with an assistant."

Lucy rolls her eyes playfully. "I'm sure you have a manager or something."

"Or something," he agrees, pushing a button on the still open door to lock the vehicle. "Ready to go inside?"

She smiles. "You bet."

After shutting the door, the duo heads for the front of Petit Papillon. Natsu is the one who gets the door and holds it open, gesturing with his free hand. "Mademoiselle," he says with perfect annunciation.

Lucy giggles and steps over the threshold, taking in all of the new sights. The whole place has a rather cozy feel to it. Polished wood and bookshelves filled with all sorts of novels with decoration here and there. In one corner is a fireplace with tables in front of it while some of the walls have paintings on them. She may or may not have found a new place to sit and write with her laptop.

With no line, the duo steps forward to the counter.

The older female worker smiles at them. "Bonjour!"

That is another French word Lucy actually understands and she knows it means "hello" for sure.

"Bonjour!" Natsu says warmly. "Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?"

Lucy has to do a double take. Did he really just speak French?

"Je vais très bien!" The worker steals a glance at Lucy before turning her attention back to him with a smile. "Je vois que vous avez apporté une amie avec vous aujourd'hui!"

He grins. "Ouais!"

The worker holds out her notepad, pen at the ready. "Qu'est-ce que ça sera, monsieur?"

Natsu begins prattling off different words in French, glancing over the menu every now and then. While he speaks, the worker is jotting words on her notepad. Meanwhile, Lucy is enthralled by the fact he apparently speaks fluent French. That is news to her. Rather exciting news even though she can't understand him.

The worker looks at Lucy. "Et pour vous?"

She freezes up, unsure what to say. Lucy desperately looks at Natsu for help.

He merely laughs before looking at the worker. "Elle ne comprend pas le français."

"And you?" the worker asks, switching to English. "What would you like?"

Lucy sighs in relief that she can understand her, but now she is unsure what she wants. "Um…" She looks over the menu, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the options. She should have figured out what she wanted rather than gawking at Natsu while he spoke French.

"Psst, I totally got a bowl of onion soup," Natsu stage whispers to her. "And a ham baguette sandwich with Swiss cheese and dressing that's toasted to perfection."

"Oo, that sounds good."

Natsu looks look at the worker. "Pour deux, s'il vous plaît."

The worker nods. "Bien sûr!" So she gets to work on preparing the two bowls of soup.

Natsu grabs two trays for them to use and the appropriate silverware that they'll need.

Delicious looking soup is presented in bowls and placed on the counter by the worker. "Cheese or croutons for your soups?"

"Both for me," Natsu replies, moving a bowl onto Lucy's tray before his own.

"Just cheese please," Lucy answers.

They are given plastic cups of what they asked for. Once they place their order for drinks, the worker rings up the total. Natsu is already holding out cash before Lucy can even open her wallet.

"Oh, I'm paying for me," Lucy says.

"Nope," is all Natsu says, not even looking at her.

The worker settles with taking the cash from him.

Lucy looks at Natsu. "I'm serious. This isn't like bowling where you paid for everything."

"Well, I made it into the building last so that means I pay."

She puffs her cheeks out, already putting her wallet away. She knows she lost this round. "That isn't fair at all."

He chuckles. "I know, tell me about it." Slipping his change into his pocket, Natsu grabs his tray. "C'mon, let's sit down."

Lucy grabs her own tray, dreading the fact she might spill the hot soup. "Wait, what about the rest of our food?" she inquires. "Do we have to get it when it's finished?"

"Somebody will bring it out to us." He goes right towards an empty table by the flames. "I like being by the fireplace. My favorite spot in the entire place."

With the fire's warmth to her left and a portion of the wall made of mirrors behind her, Lucy sits across from Natsu. As soon as he sets down his tray, he gasps. "I forgot 'em!"

She starts to panic. "What did you forget?"

"The roses!"

Now she is confused. "Roses… ?"

He runs both of his hands through his hair. "Gah, I totally forgot to bring 'em!" He groans. "I had 'em on the counter all ready to go and everything. Then things kept happening one after another–"

"It's all right, Natsu," Lucy says, hoping to calm him down.

He looks at her with a frown. "But I wanted things to be great for this date. I had to keep pushing back the time and then I forgot the roses at the house."

"I guess we'll just have to go there to watch a movie or something when we finish eating…" she muses, sprinkling in some cheese into her soup while moving it around with a spoon.

His face goes blank for a moment before he lights up with a smile. "That's a great idea, Luce!"

"Now that we have plans for after this, how fluent in French are you?" she inquires to strike up another conversation.

He flashes her a toothy grin, adding some croutons and cheese to his soup. "Je parle couramment français."

"Show off," she mutters, feeling utterly lost.

He chuckles before speaking in English. "I grew up learning it and studied more in high school. Grandeeney has a French background, and our family has been to France a lot of times. Every other year we go during the summer for a week or so."

Lucy smiles. "That's pretty awesome! Are you going there this year?"

He grins. "Yep!"

"I bet you're looking forward to it."

"Oh, yeah!"

Bringing a spoonful to her mouth, Lucy blows on it before taking her first bite.

Of course, Natsu is watching her just so he can see her reaction.

Normally she isn't one for liking onions, but she absolutely loves them in this form. "It's really good!"

"Gets even better when you dip your sandwich into it. So don't eat it all now."

Her eyes light up at the thought. "We don't have to wait much longer for them to be ready, right?"

Natsu cracks up. "Soon enough, Luce. Soon enough."

x-X-x

By now, Lucy has finished half of her meal while Natsu is nearly done with his. She has been doing her best to ignore a group of three girls who are sitting at a nearby table. Not once have they attempted to be discreet in the slightest. They have been pointing and looking at Natsu while giggling. Although, Lucy is slightly surprised he hasn't done a thing to acknowledge a single one of their presences.

"And that's why his name's Happy!" Natsu finishes.

Lucy laughs. "It's a good name for him."

His eyes flicker over her remaining food. "Do you want me to grab you to-go containers? I don't think you've touched your food for a bit now."

"It's so good, believe me, but I'm really full."

"I'll grab you boxes and then we can skedaddle."

Lucy snorts. "Who even uses that word anymore?"

"Clearlyyy I do." Then Natsu stands up and walks away.

She watches him go before she notices the trio of girls is watching him as well. Once he passes by, they go into a fit of giggles and chatter excitedly among themselves. Lucy grabs her drink and sips the clear bubbly liquid. So maybe she is a little jealous that he is receiving attention from them. On the plus side, at least he hasn't shown interest in one of the girls.

Lucy is so caught up in her thoughts that she doesn't even notice Natsu return until he is sitting back down in front of her. He holds out two different containers for her sandwich and soup. "Here you go."

"Thank you." She gets to work on packing away her food, slightly eager to finish it the next time she is hungry.

When she finishes, Natsu rises to his feet and holds an arm out. "Mademoiselle."

With a small smile, Lucy stands up and links it with one of her own arms. "I call dibs on picking what movie we watch by the way."

He groans dramatically. "Just nothing sad. Promise?"

"Promise."


A/N Part 1: I like having Natsu be bilingual. I might do that for future works with him XD

AN Part 2: I literally used Google Translate for the translations. I put them below in case y'all don't wanna be left in the dark like Lucy XD


Natsu: Mademoiselle. = Miss.

Worker: Bonjour! = Hello!

Natsu: Bonjour! Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui? = Hello! How are you today?

Worker: Je vais très bien! = I am wonderful!

Worker: Je vois que vous avez apporté une amie avec vous aujourd'hui! = I see you brought a friend with you today!

Natsu: Ouais! = Yep!

Worker: Qu'est-ce que ça sera, monsieur? = What will it be, mister?

Worker: Et pour vous? = And for you?

Natsu: Elle ne comprend pas le français. = She doesn't understand French.

Natsu: Pour deux, s'il vous plaît. = For two, please.

Worker: Bien sûr! = Of course!

Natsu: Je parle couramment français. = I speak French fluently.

Natsu: Mademoiselle. = Miss.

Edited as of 2/14/2017