Chapter 48

The next morning, Lucy wakes up to Natsu softly humming a familiar song. The same song that he sings in French to her sometimes.

"You're my sunshine, too, you know," Lucy says, opening her eyes now that he is done humming.

Natsu is slightly surprised that she is awake, but does not show it. He simply runs a hand through her locks that are splayed about on the pillow. "Yeah, but you're the one with golden sunshine blonde hair."

"You can be a ray of pink sunshine if you want," she teases.

"That'll really stand out. Make a statement."

Lucy playfully rolls her eyes. "You always do. Wherever you go."

"You think I do, but it's really you."

"As if, Mr. Model."

"Miss Author," Natsu sasses.

"Mr. Model and Miss Author," she muses. "What an interesting combination."

He grins. "We're a great pair." Then he leans forward for a kiss.

"Whoa, I have morning breath!" Lucy warns, covering her mouth with a hand.

He makes a face at her. "So what? I do, too."

"You're not kissing me until I brush my teeth."

Something sparks in his green eyes. "What was that?"

"No," she says firmly.

"Challenge accepted–"

With quick thinking on Lucy's part, she grabs the pillow Natsu is not using and hits his face with it.

"Oh, it's on now!" Then he moves and lies down on top of her, practically squishing her with his body. He knows that he is too heavy for her to move. Plus, he is stronger than her.

"Natsu, you're heavy," she whines. Her attempts at pushing him off are feeble. He is too sturdy for her.

He dramatically gasps. "Are you calling me fat?"

"I think your abs prove that you aren't."

"Because I'm abs-olutely pec-tacular!"

Lucy cracks up at his puns. "Th-that's so stupid!" She laughs some more.

"Hey, Lug Nuts thought it was hilarious when he first said it."

"Gajeel always thinks he's funny."

"But he's not."

"He's better than you," she sasses.

"Take it back."

"Never."

Natsu's eyes flash. "Take it back orrr you'll regret it."

Her first thought is that he will try and tickle her. He will have to pull down the covers in order to get directly to her sides.

However, he does what she did not want him to do in the first place. He leans forward and kisses her lips.

Now that he is already doing it, she does not protest.

He grins. "And in the end, I got what I wanted."

She playfully rolls her eyes. "You're such a dork."

"Hey, that's Mr. Dorkneel to you." Then he winks at her. "And one of these days, you'll be Mrs. Dorkneel."

Her cheeks tint pink. "H-how can you say that?"

"Because I know what I want." He cracks a smile. "And you're in too deep to get away from me."

"We haven't even been dating for two months."

"It's the twenty-second now. We're close to the first."

That date means something else to them. "That's when you'll get back from France, right?"

"Oui."

"It'll be a long week without you. It'll be quiet for sure."

"No staying cooped up in the apartment to sulk though," Natsu says, booping her noise.

"As if I'm going to be out partying like crazy."

"True, but I still wantcha doing things."

"Hey, writing counts. And I'll be at your house at different points to spend time with Happy and Carla."

"They're going to like having you there."

"They both like me better than you anyways," she teases, booping his nose.

"Too bad I like you more than the both of 'em together. In fact, I loveee you."

"No need to get defensive over your cats," Lucy chuckles.

"Hey, they've had it coming. Especially Happy." Then he mutters under his breath. "That traitor…"

Lucy ruffles her boyfriend's hair with a hand. "So what's the plan for today?"

Tomorrow they will drive back home so they have to make the most of today.

"I say we have fun at the water park here, eat lunch, then go to the place," Natsu replies.

She is confused. "The place?"

"It's a surprise."

"A good or bad surprise?"

"You'll just have to wait and see," he cackles.

Then the couple finally makes their way out of bed to get ready for the water park. Since they are taking turns, Natsu changes in the bathroom while Lucy changes in the main area. He waits until she gives him the a-okay to come on out.

As Natsu walks by Lucy who is pulling her back into a high ponytail, he bats the strings hanging past her neck like a cat.

Lucy flashes back to what Travis did to her yesterday, now not liking hands near the ties of her bikini. "Hey!" she exclaims, letting her hair fall down as her hands drop to her sides.

He seems taken aback. "S-sorry. I was just joking."

She inhales deeply in order to calm herself before speaking. "I over reacted with you. I'm sorry. It's just that Travis tried doing that yesterday–"

"Wait, what?"

He has been oblivious that Travis attempted to have her bikini top come down. He clearly missed the moment when it happened. Well, he did not have an inkling about it until now…

"Luce," Natsu says when his girlfriend does not speak up. "What did he do?"

"He tried undoing the top part of my bikini"-she points to the bow at the back of her neck-"but his plan didn't work all of the way. He only undid one knot and not both since I double knot."

"Ugh, I knew I didn't like that no good bastard. And not just because of the open flirting he did with you. Gut feeling. Like worms crawling around in my stomach."

She makes a face at his description. "Ew."

"And don't go thinking that you hafta change what you're wearing to avoid that. Guys are just gonna hafta learn that they can't go and do shit like that. You rock that bikini and rock it good."

Lucy cracks a grin. "You're all fired up."

"Did the cussing give it away?" he teases, slipping on a shirt so he can walk through the hotel without a problem.

"Hey, at least we'll never see him again," she points out, trying to look at the bright side. She starts gathering her hair again to put it up.

Natsu grins. "You got that right."

When it comes down to it, the last thing Lucy needs in order to be ready are her sandals. However, she can only find one of them even though she put them together last night.

While he waits on her, Natsu is leaning against a portion of the wall. Just to mess with her because he loves her, he is balancing the "lost" sandal on his head. He is amused that she has yet to catch onto him. "What's up, Luce?"

"I can't find my other shoe…" She gets down on her knees to check under the bed, thinking it somehow got kicked under it. Much to her disappointment, it is not there.

"When's the last time you saw it?"

"Last night." Then she looks around the nightstand, but still sees no sign of it.

"Huh. Weird."

Lucy sits back on her heels as her eyes scan over the floor.

Natsu does his best to not burst into a fit of laughter. "Maybe it'll turn up…"

She looks up at him. "I don't get–" She cuts herself off when her eyes narrow in on what she has been looking for. "Natsu…"

He laughs wholeheartedly, grabbing the sandal from his head before it can fall off from his shaking. "H-here."

Standing up, she puffs her cheeks out as she steps towards him to take her shoe. "You're a child."

"But you love me anyways."

"I never said that."

"You didn't hafta say it directly. I already know you do." He holds a hand over his heart. "I can feel it deep down inside me."

"The butterflies aren't there." She raps a hand against his abs. "They're in there."

"Forget a herd of butterflies. I feel a whole zoo because of you."

Lucy laughs at his silliness. It always makes her days better. Always. "It's not a herd of butterflies."

"A gaggle then."

"Kaleidoscope," she corrects.

Natsu blinks. "Huh?"

"A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. Some people call it a swarm or rabble, too. Personally, I like kaleidoscope. Oh, and a group of caterpillars is an army."

"Wow, only a weirdo would know that."

She only shrugs. "The more you know…"

"Why do you even know that?"

"I have my reasons."

"Lemme guess, writing reasons?"

He sees right through her. "Yes…" she admits.

Natsu smooches the top of her head. "You're adorable."

"I'm vicious."

"Viciously adorable."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes more sense than adorably vicious."

"That doesn't make sense either."

"Exactly."

She shakes her head. "Come on, let's go."

"Last one down to the pool is a rotten egg!"

x-X-x

After lunch and a quick shower, Lucy and Natsu are wearing casual clothes. He has not given any hints on where he is taking her.

"When will I find out?" she asks as they head towards his car.

"You'll find out when we get there," he assures her.

"How long will the drive be?"

"Not long. Maybe twenty minutes."

"Only twenty?"

"Ish."

"Ish?" she mocks.

"Oh, and you hafta keep your eyes shut while I drive."

She is surprised. "Why… ?"

"Because they'll be road signs and they'll ruin the surprise," he reasons. "Duh."

"Because I would have known that," she sasses.

In reality, if Lucy had been paying attention to the world around her as they driving, she would have seen the signs. Instead, she had her nose in a book and her writing notebook. She was even napping during the last part of it.

As Natsu opens the door for his girlfriend, he smiles. "You'll like it there. I promise."


A/N Part 1: I'll admit. I planned on a bit more for this chapter. But then all of that fluff happened. On accident. I swear. No regrets though… But at least y'all will find out about "the place" in the next chapter :D

A/N Part 2: I'm planning on having the next arc start on Chapter 50! I dunno if something special will happen or not in that particular chapter since it'll be the fiftieth chapter for this supposed-to-be-one-shot XD

A/N Part 3: For those who haven't read it yet, I posted a one-shot recently. Called 50 Shades of Green. Features NaLu and if you can't guess by the title, jealousy is involved :P I had fun writing, and from the look of things, people enjoyed reading it!


Anon: Aww, thank you :D And yes, NaLu forever for sure!

Guest: Thank you! :) Yasss, having those "personal bodyguards" are wonderful! And when the fake boyfriend doesn't work, having a fake lesbian lover works for me and a certain group of my friends. They also know to protect me since I always get hit on…

FallingRyuu: Aye, sir! And thank you :D

Anon: Gah, thank you! :D Like I said, I can laugh about that event now. Heck, I even wrote it into a work to share for others (whether for their enjoyment or second hand embarrassment haha). In Lucy's case, not everyone flirted. In mine, only the older dudes didn't flirt with me… I love having NaLu compete with each other. They can really get each other going XD And yesss, protective but comfortable! That's how me and the fiancé are so that's why I write NaLu like it :)

Fairy Tail Lover: NaLu is great. Hella.