Chapter 15

Exactly a month later, Lucy and Natsu are at her apartment together. They are waiting until four o'clock, when it is time for them to leave. In the meantime, they are chilling inside of her family room on the couch. Lucy is taking up a single space with her laptop on her lap as she types away to her current novel that is still in the works. On the other hand, Natsu has claimed the remaining spots as he is sprawled out, eyes on the television screen.

Breaking the calm air between them, Lucy groans rather loudly and startles Natsu in the process. He fumbles with the drink resting against his chest and the dark soda spills down his shirt. "Luce!" he gasps, quickly sitting up and setting the can down on the coffee table.

Her hands fly to cover her mouth and she cannot help but laugh at the frazzled look her boyfriend is giving her. "I'm s-sorry," she sputters. "I didn't mean t-to scare you."

"You caught me off guard," he corrects to protect what is left of his dignity. Then he looks down at his shirt as he holds it away from his torso. "Ugh, this won't work for later."

"Just toss it in the laundry room and put on another shirt," Lucy says. "I'm sure I have a load I can start."

With that, Natsu stands up and strips off his shirt. Much like the rest of him, his back is toned and tanned. He turns to face his girlfriend and bundles up the tee that will not do. Rather than looking at him, Lucy looks at his two noticeable scars. One is on the right side of his neck while the other one is a slightly larger, x-shaped mark on the left side of his abdomen.

"Eyes are up here, Luce," he snorts, and tosses the bundle at her.

She catches it before it smacks it into her face. "I know that!" she hisses, wishing her cheeks did not feel so warm. With one hand, she sets her laptop down on the couch before standing up. "I'll take care of this"-she holds up the tee-"while you take care of"-she motions to his bare torso-"that."

"Aw, don't you like whatcha see, Luce?" he snickers, sending a wink her way.

Arching an eyebrow at him, she steps to be right in front of him. She quickly looks him up and down before standing on her tip toes to whisper in his right ear. "You wish…" Lucy says in a teasing tone. Then she saunters away to the laundry room, knowing what she is doing with her hips as she moves.

"Shit," Natsu says under his breath, barely loud enough for Lucy to catch what he did say.

Giggling to herself, she walks into the laundry and starts loading the washer. By the time she starts the load and returns to the family room, Natsu is there on the couch. Now he is wearing a clean, plain grey tee. He keeps some clothes and other things in a drawer from her dresser that he has taken over for his own. Slowly but surely, it feels as though he is moving himself into her apartment. Lucy has even found some shower supplies of his, but she does not mind.

"Took you long enough," Natsu teases.

She sits down next to him. "Only because my idiot of a boyfriend decided to spill his drink on himself."

"Only because his weirdo of a girlfriend decided to catch him off guard," he counters, looping an arm around her to pull her close to him.

Lucy cuddles up against his body, enjoying the moment. "Remind me again why we're going out again?"

"Because my godfather is back in town from traveling and I want you guys to meet before he leaves again. He's normally gone long periods of time so when he's around, it's always a must to meet up with him at least once." Natsu smiles a little and boops her nose. "And now that we're dating, I especially want him to meet you."

"Does he know we've been dating?"

He rolls his eyes dramatically. "He thinks I'm making you up."

That causes her to laugh. "Another person who thinks I'm not real?"

"But you are! And you're mine!"

She smooches his right cheek. "Just like I'm yours–"

Natsu's alarm on his cell phone sounds off from inside of his pocket, signaling that it is time to get going. "Woo, get pumped, Luce!"

"All I have to do is put my shoes on and grab my purse."

"Then hop to it!"

But Lucy remains in her place. "Uh, Natsu?"

"Yeah, Luce?"

"You have to let go of me first," she says, drawing attention to the arm still wrapped around her.

He merely hugs her tightly with both arms, squeezing her extra good. "Neverrr!"

x-X-x

Natsu parks his vehicle and shuts off the engine. "You ready?" he asks, looking over at Lucy in the passenger seat.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she replies, grabbing her purse from the floor by her feet.

They get out of the car and Natsu locks it behind him as they walk hand-in-hand to the building. Quatro Cerberus is a popular sports grill and bar. There is plenty of outdoor seating under different umbrellas and music can be heard throughout.

"Who suggested this place?" Lucy inquires as she looks around.

"It's a go to spot for Gildarts and me," Natsu replies. "Quatro Cerberus is always a great place and has a good vibe to it."

Natsu gets the door for them and he leads the way to the back patio that is fenced off. "He's normally in our usual spot–" he begins to say.

"Natsu!" a loud voice booms.

Lucy looks to see the large man who is waving a hand high above his head, holding onto the amber drink in his other hand. He has a muscular form and a stubby beard. He has shoulder- length light brown hair that is slicked back and dark eyes.

"Hiya, Gildarts!" Natsu greets with an ear to ear grin.

When the duo approaches the table, Gildarts rises to his feet and holds his arms out wide. "C'mere, boy!"

Lucy lets go of her boyfriend's hand so he can go hug his godfather. Now that they are next to each other, clapping the other on the back, Natsu looks significantly smaller compared to him. Lucy feels slightly bittersweet about the moment because she wishes she could have a similar relationship like they have.

When they break apart, Natsu looks back at Lucy and motions her over. "There's somebody I wantcha to finally meet, Gildarts." He takes her hand and smiles. "This is Lucy. My girlfriend."

"She's Lucy?" He gestures with both of his hands. "This is the Lucy you've told me about?"

"Yeah…" Natsu seems confused by the reaction.

Looking back and forth between the two, Gildarts finally stops on Natsu. "But she's hot! Way out of your league hot!"

Natsu looks like he is going to blow a fuse, but he does not tighten his grip on his girlfriend. "Hey!"

Gildarts looks at Lucy. "Is he bribing you to be his girlfriend? Did you lose a bet or something?"

"Nothing like that," she laughs.

He gives her a bewildered look before giving his attention to Natsu. "She's the first girl you show actual interest in and you just happen to land her?" Gildarts cracks up before slapping Natsu on the back. "Good job!"

He takes a step forward from the force that he did not expect to happen. "Th-thanks. I guess."

Gildarts looks at Lucy. "If this kid ever gives you trouble, just let me know."

"I doubt I'll ever need to," she says.

Natsu grins at her words.

"Hey, it's time to sit down and celebrate!" Gildarts says. "My little godson has a girlfriend! Finally! After ages!"

"We've been dating for a month now," Natsu points out as he pulls out a chair for Lucy to sit on.

"Thank you," she says as she sits down.

"I'm surprised you've kept him around for that long," Gildarts jokes, and takes a swig of his drink.

"He can be a pain sometimes…" she teases.

Natsu looks at Lucy, ignoring the previous comment said by his godfather. "Hey! I brought you here so you two could meet! I didn't expect to be ganged up on!"

Gildarts bellows with laughter. "That's just how things work for you." His mood changes slightly. "Okay, now I need even more caught up on the loop. How did you two become official?"

Remembering how it happened, Lucy gets slight butterflies in her stomach. Then she looks at Natsu. "Do you want to tell it or me?"

"So here's how it all went down," he begins with excitement. "We were at the mall and ended up at a bookstore with Ice Princess and his girlfriend–"

"Double date?" Gildarts inquires out of curiosity.

"Yeah."

"Okay, keep going."

"She had grabbed the first book to a trilogy and didn't like I was gonna get the other two books for her. So I try going off to pay for them and she follows me down another section. Some sappy moments later and me not screwing things up, we're official!"

"Officially official, huh?" Gildarts asks with a small smile.

Natsu eagerly nods. "About as official as you can get." He uses his right hand to reach for his girlfriend's left hand that is resting on her lap.

She uses her thumb to stroke his skin.

"Well, congratulations," Gildarts says warmly. "To the both of you. I'm really happy for you guys." Then his mood changes. "Oh, do you want drinks? Food? Just put whatever you want on my tab!"

"Now, Gildarts–" Natsu begins.

"Whatever you want," he stresses, ignoring his godson. "On my tab."

"Thank you," Lucy says, happy about his considerate gesture.

Natsu stands up and looks down at her. "Do you want your usual?" he asks.

"If you don't mind," she replies.

He smooches the top of her head before walking away. "No hitting on her, Gildarts!" Natsu warns.

He merely chuckles. "No worries!"

She can only hope he will not try anything funny with her.

"Lucy." For whatever reason, Gildarts' tone is serious.

"Yes?" she asks, looking at him.

He never looks away from her while he speaks. "I know Natsu's an adult and can take care of himself, but he's still my godson. Now he's pretty dense and might not be the brightest bulb in the drawer, but I don't want anybody taking advantage of him."

In all honestly, she is stunned he is talking about this to her. How can he possible think she will want to do that to Natsu?

"If you're one of those girls who have "fallen head over heels in love" with him for his looks and money–" Gildarts continues.

"Ashley," Lucy interrupts, taking a firm stand against him.

He blinks. "Huh?"

"Have you heard of an author who goes by Ashley?"

He rubs his stubble. "Can't say that I have."

"You should look her up sometime," she suggests. "I can promise you that it'll give a better insight into who I am."

Gildarts studies her carefully. "Is that so?"

She merely stares back, not uttering a single word.

Suddenly, he is all smiles when he spots Natsu heading over to the table.

"Here you go, Luce," Natsu says, setting the drink in front of her.

"Thank you." An idea comes to her. Something that can prove herself to Gildarts without being too obvious. "Natsu, did you tell Gildarts that Happy and Carla both like me?"

Gildarts chokes on his drinks and tries not to sputter everywhere.

"You okay?" Natsu asks him.

He sets down his drink so he does not spill it and beats his chest a couple of times. He looks at Natsu with wide eyes. "Do th-they really l-like her?" Gildarts clears his throat. "The b-both of them?"

He grins. "Yeah, they do! They really like her!" Then he drops his voice to a grumble. "Happy likes snuggling her more than me though… Damn little traitor…"

Gildarts shifts his gaze to Lucy, looking at her with awe. "Wow."


A/N Part 1: Making up for the lack of updating, here's a longer chapter than usual! I planned on having Gildarts at a point, buuut due to the last time I was out with my fiancé and his dad, I totally wanted Gildarts and Lucy to pick on Natsu XD It just seemed right haha :P And some drama in this chapter, but it'll get better!

A/N Part 2: Anyways, happy Valentine's Day! You guys are the best and deserve some love :3

A/N Part 3: Psssst. In case y'all didn't know, I have a Tumblr! Feel free to follow me on there :) I'm always up for new followers and following back! The username is the same one I have on here: RayreeAnne

A/N Part 4: So EmeraldTrees made two awesome covers for my Fairy Tail Fanfics, MTAP and CAF! I'm sooo thrilled with them! ^-^ It's the first time I've seen/received artwork for my writing so I was hella pumped getting 2 covers from a fan :D Of course, the new covers are now up. I also shared them on my Facebook and Tumblr pages if you guys follow me on those sites.


Guest: NaLu ftw :D And thanks for reading!

Keiko Fukeno: I'm glad you liked it! Jerza will be a thing. Gotta think of it how to fit in. Bu tI think Erza will be Team Natsu and Jellal will be Team Lucy…

Guest: They are just special weirdos XD

Flamexofxchaos: Woo, glad you liked it :D I feel kinda bad I've been updating once a week rather than twice. But work is a thing. And I do get paid for work… Kinda hafta have priorities with that :P But I'm really happy you guys still keep reading my works!

Guest: Omg, sameeeee. Such a great weirdo OTP couple XD

Satisfied Reader: Hey, at least you gave it a try! So thank you for that :) And I plan on some more for this fic before it's over!

Guest: I'm happy you love it! That's great!

nalu lover girl: HAHA, IT TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH XD But I'm glad you enjoyed that last chapter :3