Curling Toes

"Do you have a place in mind?" he asked. They were en route to the staff lounge so that Lucy could drop off her things.

"Uhm… the café by Magnolia Lake has pretty good food, but… maybe not."

Natsu turned an enquiring gaze towards her.

"It can get really crowded on the weekends," Lucy mumbled. "You'll probably get recognized. I assume… you don't want that?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," he snorted. "I could not even go to the convenience store below my apartment last night without at least one person pointing at me."

Natsu scratched the underside of his cheek, his lips twitching. "It's bloody annoying. I feel like an animal on display at the zoo. For the life of me, I'll never understand how people can stand to have others stare at them so intensely."

Lucy laughed. "And yet you offered to be my model. What's up with that anyway? I watched Mira's interview." Leaning in, she poked his shoulder playfully. "You think modelling is a waste of time."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I have no idea what made me do that."

Lucy arched a brow and Natsu shrugged. "It just came out. Maybe it was the mood? You looked so pleased when you were done, I just thought… Well, it felt kind of nice being able to… help out and all. If you don't need my help, that's fine too."

Lucy had no idea how to respond to that. He basically told her that he made an offer to do something he hated because it made her… happy.

A tingling warmth began spreading out from her core to every inch of her, making her toes curl in her ballet flats.

"You okay?" Natsu prompted, reaching his hand out. "You're not speaking."

The second the calloused finger pads grazed her cheek, the blonde leapt to the side, evoking a surprised look from him.

"Uhm! I- I just have to… I'll drop this off really quick," she said, gesturing at her things. "Wait for me outside the staff lounge!"

Before he could reply, Lucy spun on her heel and dashed off. Her heart must have been racing faster than her feet, and the rhythm was so intense she could almost hear it in her ears. She nearly burst through the glass doors the second the bolt released. Breathing heavily, she plopped down onto her swivel chair, clumsily dropping her things on her desk.

What in Good Mavis was happening to her?

Lucy Heartfilia grabbed her mineral spray. She spritzed it all over her face a few extra times for good measure, yet the heat in her cheeks refused to abate. If anything, loose strands of golden hair now stuck themselves to her moistened lips.

Pbt pbt!

"You're having fun. That was quite the scene in class earlier."

"I think it's everyone else who's having fun at my expense," she retorted.

Drama teacher and watercolour student, Dan Straight, chortled. "You can't blame us. I didn't realise you were friends with Mr Hot Gossip himself."

Lucy rolled her eyes at the cheesy nickname. "We met recently."

"Yeah?"

"His foster sister is one of my closest friends from university. She thought it would be fun to uh… set us up."

"Set you up… like on a date?" he replied incredulously.

Lucy nodded, waving flippantly as if to emphasise the ridiculousness of the notion… and also to distract him from the faint blushing of her cheeks.

"Does that… seem like a good idea?"

Lucy turned at the strangeness of his tone. A shadow seemed to have fallen over Dan's red eyes seem, colouring them a shade darker than usual. The brunette folded his arms and his voice dropped an octave. "I don't know, Lucy. Is that a good idea?"

"Is what a good idea?"

"You two getting together. You told me once you did not enjoy being in the spotlight. If you date him, wouldn't that be tough on you?"

"I don't unde- Oh."

"I'm just saying," he added, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You might want to think about this properly."

Lucy smiled. "I understand, thanks Dan."

The man's tanned cheeks flushed and his gaze dropped as he chuckled weakly. "No worries, and uh... You know that… if you uh… ever wanted a guy, I mean, male company, you can alw-always ask me instead. I care about you, Lucy."

The blonde smiled and cocked her head. "I know. I care about you too. You and Levy, you both get me."

"No! I mean, that's not what I mean…"

Lucy's curious gaze searched his face. How strange it was to see the usually ebullient man suddenly behaving somewhat… shyly? "Dan?"

Dan's eyes suddenly went wide and he whirled around to face her. "When I said I care… Lucy, I-"

Ding dong…! Ding dong…!

"Wha!"

The doorbell to the teacher's staff lounge began exploding in their ears. Was someone jamming the 'Call' button repeatedly? Dan gave a frustrated sigh when the clueless blonde turned away. Whichever student was doing that was going to have hell to pay on Monday!

Lucy suddenly burst out in sheepish laughter and patted Dan's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Dan. Can we continue this on Monday? I'm afraid Natsu's getting impatient."

Indeed, the pair of eyes shooting daggers at the pair belonged, not to any student, but to the pink-haired male. Despite having successfully secured their undivided attention, Natsu still had his finger jammed on the 'Call' button.

"I'm coming!" Lucy hollered. Picking up her weekend sling and phone, she dashed away, not realising how her colleague was reaching out to her.

"What was taking so long?" Natsu grumbled. "I'm hungry."

"Dan, my colleague, was just asking some stuff."

"…Stuff?"

"Yeah. Just… class stuff. He's the Drama teacher, so he wanted to consult me on prop design."

No need to tell him what Dan said, she reasoned. It would just open a can of worms.

Natsu had seen the exact expression on Dan's face at the last moment. That was certainly not the look of someone looking for advice from a platonic colleague. In fact, the expression had irritated him so much that it compelled him to jam the doorbell just to break up the moment.

When her companion didn't reply, Lucy nudged him again. "Aren't you hungry?" she teased, grinning playfully. "Have you thought of a place?"

"Yeah."

An odd look came into his onyx gaze.

"Magnolia Café sounds great."

"You sure about this?" Lucy whispered as she huddled closely behind him.

As soon as they had stepped into the café, nearly half the diners went silent. Then, as expected, nosy looks and whispers began emerging at nearly every table. Even the waiter who came to welcome them had a moment when his brain stopped functioning. It was, however, rebooted when the pinkette raised one brow.

"I'm sorry," the university student sputtered, his freckled cheeks turning a mottled red. "I'm just such a huge fan, Mr Dragneel. I hope you don't mind if I shake your hand… The line of wearable tech Strauss Tech is releasing… Jake… my brother and I, we go crazy every time you guys announce a new design, and I have a thousand questions, and-"

Natsu laughed and slipped him a small bronze card. "We're always looking for interns if you're interested. You can drop Loke an email."

The kid could not look more nonplussed if he tried, but very quickly, the sparkle in his eyes took on a supernova gleam. Lucy had the feeling that if this continued, the starstruck boy would drop to his knees in reverence right there in front of everyone.

"Timothy, I'm sorry to interrupt," the blonde cut in, "but could you get us a table in the pavilion?"

A confused look came into the boy's eyes. "Ms Lucy? It's pretty cold out today."

"I know, but… I don't think Na- Mr Dragneel's presence would be good for everyone else."

"Of course! I'm sorry, right this way."

Timothy hurriedly led the pair through the sea of snooping stares. The pavilion that annexed the main building overlooked the lake, which at this time of the year, would not be crowded. Indeed, with most diners opting to hide in the heated section, they had the entire area to themselves.

Settling down on a cushioned bench, Lucy let her eyes wander over the empty lake. Aside from a few swans gliding gracefully through the waters, there was nobody daring enough to brave the cold that day. As if just the thought chilled her, she shivered and rubbed her arms. She should have brought-

"Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Natsu re-took his seat and picked up the menu.

"Are you not… cold? The shirt and scarf don't look like they provide much protection."

"Don't worry about me. The windbreaker is all yours."

As he browsed the menu, Natsu removed his cap and ruffled his pink hair roughly to loosen the strands. A breeze swept through and Lucy caught the smell of clean soap. It wasn't anything fancy, and the blonde smiled, thinking that it rather suited him.

The selection the café had to offer was small, but every single thing that came out of the kitchen was delicious. More so than usual in fact. Lucy could just imagine Timothy leaning over the counter as he painstakingly picked out only the most perfect ones to serve his idol.

Just as it had been days ago, the conversation between them was easy, and once again, Lucy was struck by how carefree the man was. She assumed that given the gravity of his responsibilities, he would be a stern man.

I guess this really is him, she mused. Nothing to do with the alcohol that night.

After the bungled date, her curiosity had spun a little out of control, and she was unable to stop herself from Googling him.

Although his foster father was still the face of the company, she managed to find a few interviews featuring him. Not being much for tech, Lucy had not been able to understand half the things he said. However, it was abundantly clear that his mind was a steel trap, with some of his answers leaving even the interviewers scrambling to keep up.

That, and he was hardly stingy with his smiles. In the privacy of her home, Lucy could not resist pausing the videos at certain moments to gawk a little longer.

Natsu's laugh punctuated the air.

"You tend to daydream during our conversations."

"I'm sorry." Darn it, focus!

Lucy flushed and he smiled. The flush suited her, for it made her cherubic features appear even lovelier. However, the slight blueness of her lips was a little worrying. Rising from his seat, he shifted his plate next to hers.

"Natsu?"

"Pardon me."

Lucy nearly 'eep-ed' when he sat down right next to her. Even though the bench could comfortably seat three, his body was pressed against hers. His denim pant leg grazed her bare skin, and her toes curled again. The material was crazy soft, and the strange desire to sit on his lap rekindled itself. Removing one scarf end, Natsu re-wrapped it around her shoulders, bundling their bodies together.

Oh my, Lucy's inner voice exhaled as her amber eyes widened. This was… something.

"Hope you don't mind. You still looked cold," he remarked. With his face so close, she could make out even the most indistinct features all the way down to the nearly-invisible mole along his hairline.

"How are you feeling now?"

She didn't trust herself to speak, so Lucy just nodded.

The smile he flashed was almost illegal, and the butterflies immediately returned.

I know Dan's a really old character, but I'm just so used to using him.

My habit of over-shooting the length is definitely returning lol.

Sam.