Chapter 10

It is well past two in the morning now, and Natsu is still over. Lucy isn't sure how the two of them ended up snuggling together on the couch, watching whatever is on TV. The nearly empty pizza box with cold slices is on the nearby table. It is completely forgotten since the duo is full.

"Ugh, I should probably get going," Natsu finally says. "I got work tomorrow."

Lucy lifts her head off of his chest so she can look at him. She studies him carefully. "Are you going to be okay to drive?"

"I'm getting a bit sleepy, but I'll be good."

"Text me when you get home so I know you made it."

Natsu chuckles. "Will do."

Every time Lucy has thought about asking Natsu a certain simple question, she has chickened out. She is dying to ask him since they first sat down, but she isn't sure if she wants to hear his answer. And now he will be leaving soon so her window is closing.

"Something wrong?" Natsu asks, noticing her staring.

Shaking her head, Lucy sits up so they can stand. "Never mind." Then she pats his thigh. "Ready?"

Natsu jumps to his feet and stretches his arms high above his head, clasping his fingers together. "I'm glad we got some more one-on-one time today."

"Me, too," Lucy says as they walk together.

Now the two are standing by her apartment door, and Natsu smiles at her. "Thanks for me having me over, Luce."

"And thank you for stopping by." She nods her head towards the coffee table. "And I appreciate the pizza."

"Hey, no problem." He flashes her a grin. "We'll hafta do that again."

Her heart squeezes. Of course, she will love for that to happen, but she isn't sure if it will. "I guess we'll have to see."

Natsu places a hand on the door handle and opens it.

Lucy looks down at her feet just so she can avoid looking at his face. "Hey, Natsu?"

He stops opening the door and looks at her. "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

He chuckles. "Aren't you asking me something right now?"

She takes a deep breath. "Why are you here?"

"Whatcha mean?"

"Why are you here and not with your crush?"

Natsu's body stiffens at the last word that leaves her mouth.

"The crush you and Wendy were talking about earlier," Lucy clarifies due to his lack of speaking.

"Uh, haha, funny"-he clears his throat due to his cracking voice-"funny story 'bout that…"

She finally looks up at him. "If you like her then why aren't you with her?"

"My crush. Yeah, I like my crush. I'm working at spending time with her. I mean, she's a great person after all." He cracks a smile. "Even if she's a lil' bit of a weirdo. But that's totally a-okay. Just adds to her charm."

Lucy perks up at the last part. Along with Luce, Natsu calls her that all of the time. "Weirdo?" she finds herself asking.

He rubs the back of his neck. "So there's a thing. And the thing is I haven't wanted to date anybody else before I met her. She just, I dunno, caught my interest. In a really good way." He smiles as he fondly remembers seeing her for the first time. "Maybe it was her jammies…"

Recalling how embarrassed she felt in that specific moment in time, Lucy blushes as she remembers their encounter. She folds her arms underneath her chest. "I bet she was comfortable at least."

"She can really rock the jammie look," Natsu says, quickly glancing her up and down. Then his eyes rest on his face and he admits rather sheepishly, "Uh, so there's another thing. I'm afraid I'm gonna screw things up."

Lucy merely blinks at him.

Next thing Natsu knows, he begins to babble. He voices what he has been thinking and feeling. "So my crush is the first girl I've liked. Like really liked. The like like level. And I'm just"-his voice falters for a moment-"afraid I'm gonna somehow screw up and make things awkward for her…"

She is genuinely surprised by what he is saying. "What?"

"What if I say the wrong thing? Or do the wrong thing? I don't want her to not like me if I screwed up."

It is easy for Lucy to see how stressed he is about the subject.

"Take last night for example," he continues.

Her mind is already racing as she thinks about what happened last night.

"I walked her out to her car, right? That seemed fine on my part I think. Then after we made plans to see each other the next day, we ended up hugging. Hugging." Natsu runs both hands through his hair, making it stick up even more. "But am I always supposed to hug her when we say goodbye? I highly doubt she'd like a high-five though. But what about kissing? Would she like that or is kissing too soon considering we've only known about–"

Lucy ends up cupping the sides of his face and forces him to focus on her. "I'm sure she'd like that," she whispers.

His green eyes slowly grow wide as he processes her words. "Oh…" Natsu wets his lips with his tongue. "Well, do you know if she'd want me to kiss her or her kiss me?"

"I'm sure she doesn't have a preference," she replies softly.

Pink begins to tint his cheeks. "Uh, how does she feel about me never kissing anybody before? I don't have experience in that department."

"She hasn't either so she won't be the judging type."

Ever so carefully, Natsu begins to lean forward.

Suddenly, his phone goes off because of an incoming call. The two jump apart at the assigned tune for the contact: "The Imperial March"

"What could he possibly want at this hour?" he grumbles as he fishes his phone out of his pocket. He accepts the call and holds his phone up to his right ear. "Whatcha want, old man?" His eyes flicker over to Lucy. "Yeah, I'm still here. Just getting ready to leave." He pauses. "Hey, you're the one who interrupted me from leaving! Don't forget that you called me!"

Lucy giggles at his frustration. Of course, Igneel is giving him a hard time. That is just his way of showing he cares for his son.

"Leave the front door unlocked when you go to bed," Natsu continues. "I'll be home soon." He pauses yet again. "Yeah, okay. I'll see you in the morning. Bye, old man." Then he mumbles a quick "love you, too" before hanging up. After he slips his phone away, he looks at her. "Where were we?"

She remembers what they were attempting before they were interrupted and she blushes. Lucy becomes flustered. "We were, um, going to–"

Natsu cracks up and hugs her tightly. "You're so cute." Then he laughs and smooches the top of her head. "Cute as fuck actually."

Embarrassment washes over her and she feels her ears heat up. Her hands move to the front of his shirt and grab fistfuls of it. "No more talking for you."

He waggles his eyebrows even though she cannot see him. "Oh, you want me to do something else with my lips instead?"

Lucy's grip on him tightens. "That wasn't funny."

"Oh, c'mon, Luce. That was pretty funny."

She peeks up at him. "Not even a little."

He gapes like a fish at her. "Whaaat? I'm hilarious."

"In your dreams," she scoffs, rolling her eyes.

In a quick movement, Natsu's face is right next to hers.

Lucy squeaks in shock, having not expected such close proximity so quickly. "Wh-what are you doing?"

He blinks in surprise. "Huh?"

"You're close."

"I mean, how else are we s'posed to kiss?"

"Oh. R-right." She gains some confidence. "Let your dad know he killed the mood we had before."

He snorts. "Ohhh, don't worry. I'll be sure to do that."

"Don't let him off easy."

"Aye, sir."

Lucy chuckles. "You're a weirdo."

"Hey, you're the obvious weirdo here."

"Am not."

"Weirdo says what."

"What?"

Natsu cackles. "You fell for it!"

Lucy puffs her cheeks out. "That wasn't funny."

"Oh, c'mon. That was pretty funny."

Déjà vu washes over her. "Not even a little. And before you say it, no, you're not hilarious."

He arches his eyebrows at her. "Then what am I?"

"Cute," she admits.

"Look who's talking." Then his voice drops above a whisper. "Hey, Luce?"

"Yes?" she asks softly.

"Can I… ?" But his voice trails off. He leans in to press his warm lips against her own.

Lucy's eyes flutter shut as butterflies zoom around her stomach. She tugs on his shirt so he can be closer to her yet. She even tilts her head more to her right so they can kiss just a little bit better.

The kiss is short lived before Natsu is the first to pull away. "You good?" he asks, a lazy grin now on his lips.

"Great," she replies breathlessly.

He grins. "Well, that's great. You seemed a bit nervous before."

"You snapped me out of it."

"Had to make sure you were loosey-goosey before the kiss."

She cracks a grin. "You did a good job with that."

A silence falls over the two as they simply stare at one another.

"Uh, I guess it's time I got going," Natsu says after a moment.

Lucy nods in agreement. "Text me when you get home."

"Night, Luce."

She smiles at him. "Goodnight, Natsu."

"Sweet dreams."

"You, too."


A/N: Because y'all have been patient with me, NaLu had their first kiss in this fic! More is to come for sure! :)

Edited as of 2/14/2017