Chapter 50
Friday evening, Lucy is over at the Dragneel's house. She is in the family room with Natsu and Wendy while Igneel and Grandeeney are upstairs. The married couple is finalizing packing for tomorrow.
"All you have to do is make sure that they have food and water," Wendy explains. "Simple enough!"
"Keeping 'em company won't be so bad either," Natsu adds. "Besides, they obviously like you."
"What makes you say that?" Lucy asks sarcastically. Happy is curled up on her lap while Carla is leaning against her left thigh. Both of them are purring contently as she pets each of them with a hand.
Wendy smiles. "I'm really glad that they get along with you."
Natsu nods in agreement. "Well, why wouldn't somebody get along with Luce? She's great!"
Now it is Lucy's turn to smile. "I'm not all that great."
Suddenly, Wendy's phone ringtone starts going off. "Oh, I thought this was on mute!" She takes it out of a back pocket and looks at the screen. "I'm going to take this." After holding her phone up to her ear, she starts walking away. "Hey, Chelia!"
"Is there anything else you should know about the house or cats?" Natsu questions.
Lucy starts counting off her fingers. "I have a house key. I know the security code. I know where the food is for Happy and Carla. Not to mention I know where their treats and toys are…" She pauses for a moment before resuming petting the purring cats. "I think I'm all set."
Then Natsu plops down on the couch next to Lucy on her right side. He glances back and forth between her hands before looking at her. "Too bad you don't have a third hand for me to hold."
She laughs. "If only."
"Or, you know, if only they would leave you alone so I wouldn't hafta share you…" he pouts.
"If only you didn't bring me here in the first place," she sasses.
"Hey, I brought you here for Wendy's birthday and to meet my family."
"It turned into the cats liking me the most of you and your family."
"As if they can compete with my love for you," Natsu scoffs.
"I don't know about that." She glances down at the cats before looking back at her boyfriend. "They purr when I pet them. You don't."
He laughs. "Is that a deal breaker for you when it comes to our relationship?"
"I'm surprised that you haven't figured that out by now," Lucy teases.
"There's always something with you."
She playfully sticks her tongue out at him.
"Okay, but I should be the one getting attention from you," Natsu points out. "They getta see you for a whole week while I'm gone. I gotta charge up before leaving."
"You're clearly going to have to fight them for me."
"Challenge accepted." With ease, Natsu picks up Happy and places him on the floor as the feline meows in protest. By the time he has his hands under Carla to lift her up, she hops down onto the floor. When Carla starts leaving the room, Happy goes after her.
"Well, that was easy," Lucy comments.
Then Natsu lays his head down her lap, snuggling up to her and moving his legs onto the couch. When Lucy starts running her fingers through his locks, he obnoxiously purrs.
She cracks up, stopping what she is doing with her hands. "A-all right, you c-can't do that. It's weird. Like, really weird."
"It makes sense since I'm your weirdo," he jokes, ceasing his purring.
"Yeah, my weirdo," she agrees, going back to working her magic touch through his hair. There have been times that Natsu has fallen asleep because he has become so relaxed. When that happens, Lucy just takes out her phone and reads a digital book.
"Hey, when I get back, what do you wanna do?" he asks. "It'll be the first, and that's our two month anniversary."
"I think just spending time together will be nice," she replies honestly.
"But napping together on the couch and going out to dinner are two different things."
"Who says we can do both?"
"Dinner and then napping off our food comas sounds like a better order."
"And over dinner, you can tell me all about your adventures in France." Lucy grins a little bit, booping the tip of his nose. "No getting into too much trouble while you're over there."
"Not my fault if trouble finds me," he teases.
"Then you better ignore it if it does."
"And if that doesn't work, I'll kick its ass!"
She rolls her eyes.
Natsu peeks an eye open to look at her. "Or, you know, I'll do what you did at the Aquarium."
Some videos from what happened with Lucy, Natsu, and Nathan at the Cerulean Aquarium have since gone viral. They circulated even more when people made the connection about who Lucy and Natsu are. Most people leaving comments are applauding her for standing up to Nathan. Other mock Nathan for getting beat up by a girl.
"Maybe I should give you lessons before you leave."
Both of his eyes open up now, eagerness clearly written all over his face. He opens his mouth to speak.
"No," Lucy says. "And before you ask, I'm not going to ask Capricorn to teach you."
"But I won't abuse my powers," he whines.
"Powers?" she snorts. "It's self defense."
"It's awesome," he corrects.
x-X-x
By now, Lucy and Natsu are standing outside on the front porch. It is time for them to say goodbye.
"A week will pass by faster than we think," he says. "Just like blinking."
"Just who are you trying to assure with that piece of information?" she asks. "You or me?"
"You. But probably me. Most definitely me."
Lucy sobers up a little bit to be serious for a moment. "I want you to have fun though. You shouldn't be thinking when you'll get to see me again, all right? You'll be with your family, and I want everyone to have a good time."
He smiles down at her. "We always do. But this year, I have somebody to come back to."
"I'm sure that Happy will be super happy to see you, too," she teases.
Natsu wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her in. "I'll have two somebodies then."
"Lucky you."
Then he leans in for a chaste kiss on the lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
x-X-x
The next morning, time seems to be going by so slowly. Lucy has tried tricking herself into thinking that Natsu isn't thousands of miles away from her. In another time zone. Out of the country. She wants to think that he isn't around because he has some shoot the first half of the day and then he has to deliver pizzas for the rest of the day. However, she knows better.
"Lucy, he'll be back in a week," she tells herself as she paces inside of her family room. "You have all the time in the world to write." But she doesn't want to write alone. She wants to have Natsu napping on the same couch as her while she is writing on her laptop. When she is debating between things or even names, she can always ask him what he thinks.
There is a knock on the door.
Lucy freezes in place and looks towards it. No one has texted her saying they are coming over. She has no reason to expect any company. "Coming!" After taking a step forward, she stops in place to look down at herself. She is still wearing the pajamas she slept in.
Then she shakes her head. So what if she is still in her pajamas and it's after ten in the morning? This is her apartment and she will answer the door dressed however she pleases. After walking across the room, Lucy unlocks the door and opens it.
The first thing she notices is a bouquet of pink roses wrapped up in blue paper. Behind them is a deliver guy.
"These are for Lucy," he says with a smile.
"I'm Lucy," she says rather lamely.
The guy hands the roses to her and takes out a device for her to sign. After the quick exchange, the guy says goodbye and walks away.
Lucy is left in a slight daze. All while looking down at the roses, she goes back into her apartment and closes the door behind her. She notices a note, grabs it, and opens it to read it.
Luce - I'll see you in a week! Don't have too much fun while I'm gone :P
There is no name to indicate who the roses are from, but that doesn't matter. Lucy already knows. She smiles. "You're such a sweet boyfriend, you weirdo…"
Then she gets to work on arranging the roses in a vase and filing it with water. She puts the vase on top of the coffee table in the family room. That way, she can look at it while writing. And speaking of writing, she needs to get on that. The stories in her head aren't going write themselves.
Just as Lucy is about to sit down on the couch, there is another knock on the door. "Who is it now?" she mumbles to herself, walking over to it. When Lucy opens it, her face lights up when she sees a familiar face out in the hallway.
A/N: CHAPTER 50. OMG. AGAIN, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE-SHOT. WOW. A big cookie goes to the person who guesses who the character in the hallway is!
Guest: Aww, thank you :D
Anon: I love NaLu as well (why I write it!). I like having Lucy be a badass about things! Ain't nobody gonna mess with her :D (Oh man, I love being creative! So much so!) Yeah, Natsu knew that Lucy could handle herself for sure! She's a tough cookie! How I write NaLu comes from the relationship I have with me and my fiancé! Easy enough to write that way :) I love having Natsu be bilingual. Like a little shocker at first, but so great! I'll probs stick with French though…
AquariustheKey: Yay, I'm glad! I got the facts from online from the aquarium it was based on, but changed some around. And I added my own personal experience, which came in handy! Aww, thank you so much! I'm still trying to improve how I write, too. Gotta make it even more magical XD
Fairy Tail Lover: They'll be reunited at a point though! Only a week! (and thank you!)
