Guys, you're the best readers ever. I appreciate every single review you guys leave me, no matter the length. They always make my days better, so thanks a whole bunch and happy reading!
(Little man is taking a nice long nap today, so I have skirted my responsibilities and am instead using my free time to write. Enjoy!)
As Lucy finished adding her chosen salts and oils, she realized the tub was still only halfway full. She moved to open the curtains and stared out the window to enjoy the view. She could tell from the shadows that the sun was nearing the horizon, the light already changing the colors of the snow.
Once the water was high enough, Lucy turned off the spouts and moved to take off her clothes. As she finished taking off her shirt and pants, she paused as she realized she'd forgotten her phone. She'd left her book in the room since she planned on taking in the scenery, but her phone had her music on it, and what bath was complete without a little music?
Eyeing her clothes, she decided she would be lazy and pull on a robe. She sighed as she pulled on one of the robes hanging near the door, in awe of how soft the material was, before pulling open the door. Before she could step out of the room, she heard Natsu's angry whispers coming from somewhere nearby. The door to the bathroom was facing the room's door, mostly away from the rest of the room.
Pressing herself against the door jam, she slowly peaked around the corner before she finally saw him standing on the room's small balcony. Looking around the room, she realized that he was using her phone to make his call. Curious, she almost called out to him, but she decided to remain quiet. It was obvious he was trying to keep his conversation from her, and she was very curious about why. The door was cracked open, so she quieted her breathing as much as she could hear him.
"… said that you could figure it out… you promised me… I want to help… what you said… what good are your stupid cameras…" Who is he talking to? What about cameras? Lucy made a move to step out of the room, intending to get closer, before he growled loudly, "Damn it, Loke, you said you could figure out who they were!"
Lucy froze, as did her heart, before she quickly moved back into the bathroom, her toes barely missing the carpet. What the hell was Natsu doing talking to Loke behind her back? As she quickly sorted through what she'd heard, she realized that the only place Loke would have cameras, that Natsu would care about, was in his restaurant. Her heart plummeted as she realized what that could mean. Natsu had known where she was on Monday, when she'd come home so upset. He hadn't seen her, but he must have figured out somehow that she was upset. If he'd reached out to Loke, he might have been able to figure out something happened.
Lucy had been sure that she'd left Loke none the wiser about her change in mood, but he was a very observant man. If he'd figured out that she was upset, and talked to his server, he could have very well used his cameras to look back and figure out something had happened. If that was true, then he and Natsu were conspiring together to find out what it was, and Natsu obviously intended to do something about it. Lucy felt herself soften some at the thought. It was rather sweet that he was trying so hard, but on the other hand, if he interfered, she could be looking at more problems with that group of men, and while he would easily be able to handle them if they tried anything, Natsu wouldn't be around forever. If they figured out where she was, they only had to wait out Natsu's visit and then come after her once her demon roommate was gone. She couldn't risk that.
Lucy sneaked another peak around the wall as she considered her options. Natsu was pacing a little, his free hand raking through his hair. "Well, I can't do anything if I don't know who they are," he said, no longer whispering. "I know, Loke, but I care about her, too." There was a pause. "How would I know if it's more? Does it matter?" Lucy felt her confusion grow more as she continued to listen. He laughed, a dark chuckle that sent shivers down her spine. "I can assure you of that much. They wouldn't dare bother her again after I was done with them, trust me." He paused. She could only see half of his face, but his dark glee changed instantly, his expression as cool as his tone. "I can't tell you that, you'll just have to trust me, and even if you question many of my actions, this is one time I promise you, I wouldn't disappoint."
Annoyed, Lucy slipped back into the bathroom as she considered her options. Natsu had told her before that he never lied. She wondered if that had been the truth. Now seemed like the perfect time to test him, so she pulled the door mostly shut and called out for him.
Natsu paused in his pacing as Loke continued to rattle on in his ear. "-you keep telling me that you can easily handle this, but I'm not still not even sure there is anything to handle!" Had Lucy called for him? "What I saw was only an observation. The timing was right, but I have no evidence that those men were actually a problem-"
"Natsu?" Shit.
Natsu put his hand over the mouthpiece of her phone. "Yeah, Luce?"
"Hey, I was about to hop into the bath but I realized I forgot my phone. You mind bringing here? I wanted to play some music." Double shit.
"Yeah, sure, I can do that. You want your book, too?"
There was a pause. "No, that's okay. Just my phone would be great."
"Just a sec," he called. Putting the phone back to his ear, "-I've never seen the guys before-" he interrupted Loke's tirade. "Listen, Lucy's calling for me. I gotta go. Just do what you can for now." He hung up and quickly moved towards the door. When he saw the door open, Natsu internally groaned. Triple shit. He smiled as he handed her the phone, pointedly looking away from the door where she stood in only a robe.
She gave him a bright smile. "Thanks bunch. It was going to be awfully boring in here without my music."
"No problem," he said as he moved back towards the beds.
"That's weird," she murmured.
Natsu froze. "What's weird?"
"I must have pocket dialed Loke earlier. I have an outgoing call to him. Looks like it lasted a while, I wonder why he didn't hang up."
The half dragon swallowed as he looked around the room. "Is your battery going to hold up for your bath? I could grab your charger."
Lucy took a step out of the bathroom, triggering the spell and surprising Natsu as the alarm went off in his head. "That would be wonderful actually, thank you." Lucy watched as he jerkily moved across the room and grabbed her charger off the table next to her bed. "Do you need my phone before I bring it in here? I can tell you the passcode, in case you ever need to use it. I know we decided that email was enough, but sometimes it's just easier to call or text people."
Obviously uncomfortable, Natsu avoided looking at her as he came back and held out the cord for her phone. "I'm good."
Lucy grabbed his hand before he could pull away. "You okay? You seem nervous."
Natsu dipped his head, avoiding her gaze. "Trying to respect your privacy. You're in a robe."
"Is that all?" she asked.
She could see him open and close his mouth several times before he spoke again. "Let me know if you need anything else," he mumbled, before moving quickly back out onto the balcony.
Lucy didn't try to stop him as he went. Well, technically he didn't lie to me. She sighed as she closed the door behind her and set up her phone. Once she picked out a playlist, she quickly finished undressing and pulled her hair up into a high bun. She groaned softly as she sank into the water. The heat instantly loosened her up as she looked out the window. If she moved just right, she thought she could make out Natsu's hair as he leaned against the balcony's railing. She sighed as she readjusted in the tub, resigning not to think about it until she got out.
Slowly, she sank into the tub until only her head was above the water, and tilted her head so she could watch the colors on the snow slowly change with the setting sun.
Happy flew determinedly towards his goal, his focus only interrupted by the occasional protest from Carla. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked for the tenth time since they'd started their trip.
Happy nodded. "It's the only way I can find out for sure."
"Why don't you just ask Wendy?"
"She's still young yet. I doubt Grandeeney would have told her about that kind of thing."
Carla sighed. "I suppose you're right. I'm just worried. We Exceeds are allowed to travel anywhere we want, but we're not always welcome everywhere."
Happy paused in his flight to grab Carla's hand. "I have to risk it. Natsu is my best friend, and if I'm right, then he's going to need help figuring things out. You know he'd never realize it on his own."
She nodded. "You're right." Happy squeezed her hand before continuing his flight.
"Besides," he said, a false air of confidence around him, "they're just dragons. How dangerous can they really be?"
Carla rolled her eyes instead of answering.
The next morning, Lucy was still trying to figure out how to confront Natsu as they made their way up the mountain on the lift. Since the trip was so long, the lodge's lift had enclosed cars that could hold up to a dozen people. Natsu and Lucy were accompanied by six other people, all of who were in the middle of a heated debate about how to properly eat cereal.
Natsu remained silent, his brow furrowed as he listened to the argument grow louder as they climbed the mountain. He leaned down as one of the women threw her glove at one of the men sitting across from her. "I don't understand what is happening," he whispered. "Do I need to do something to stop their fight?"
Lucy looked back towards the group before shaking her head. "They're fine. None of them are really mad, and they haven't done anything to shake the car too much so just leave them be."
He nodded, then a beat later, leaned down again. "What is your opinion?"
"About what? Cereal?" He nodded, making her chuckle. "Do you honestly want to argue about cereal right now?"
"I wouldn't say argue. We have no idea if we have the same stance on the issue yet."
Lucy grinned as she turned his way. "Do you think there's a correct way to eat cereal?"
"There seem to be at least some consistent rules about the proper procedure."
"Like?"
"Cereal should be eaten with milk and no other liquid."
"Agreed," Lucy said. "What else?"
"Cereal should be eaten out of a bowl."
"That is typically the way, but a glass or mug could be a suitable substitute in a pinch."
Natsu nodded slowly. "I can agree with that." He glanced at the group as one of the men poked his friend with his ski, who then grabbed onto it. "It seems like sogginess is a bad thing, so I kind of agree with the one man that the cereal should remain out of the milk and you should mix them one spoonful at a time."
Lucy made a buzzer noise as she folded her arms in front of herself. "Wrong. Cereal should be just a little soggy when you eat it. Not like, left in the bowl for an hour kind of soggy, but just a little."
"Soggy cereal sounds gross," Natsu said with a frown.
"Are you telling me you really haven't tried any cereal yet?"
He shrugged. "I only eat breakfast when you make it."
Lucy nodded slowly, remembering what he said about demons not needing to eat as much as humans. "I'm going to change subject, because arguing about cereal is just really not on my list of things I want to do today. How long can you go in this world without eating?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. I've been eating at least once a day since I got here. I could go longer, but why would I give up the opportunity to indulge on the wonderful food of this world?"
Lucy returned the smile he gave her, distracted from her thoughts for a moment as she saw the drop off coming up. "That's a pretty good reason," she said as she took hold of her skis. "Our stop is coming up," she said nodding towards the opposite window. The other group had noticed, too. Their argument quickly turned into excitement as they pulled on their gear and got ready to disembark.
Once they were safely off and out of the way, Lucy dropped her skis and put them on her feet. "So, are we taking the easy path to start? I could use the warm up to get my skiing legs back under myself." When Natsu just blinked at her in confusion, she sighed. "It's just an expression. Let's do the bunny hill first. I can teach you better there and you have less opportunity to hurt yourself."
Natsu grinned as he put on his own skis. "The bunny hill sounds lame, let's do the black diamond!"
Lucy blinked at him before she squinted. "You watched videos last night, didn't you?"
"Yep!"
"So you understand that the black diamond is the hardest slope?"
"Yep!"
"Natsu, doing that one first, when you don't even know how to move around in skis, is a terrible idea."
"Of course it's not! Come on, it'll be fun! It's not like it'll kill me. Where's your adventuring spirit?"
Lucy sighed as she watched him awkwardly waddle his way in his skis towards the black diamond sign. "Natsu, please at least let me teach you-"
"See you at the bottom, Luce!" Natsu yelled as he pushed himself over the edge.
"- how to stop," she finished, moving forward to watch his descent. Almost immediately, he lost his balance and began rolling head over heels. As he hit a short flat patch, he managed to get his feet under him, but he wobbled as his skis continued to slide.
"Luce!" he hollered as his arms pinwheeled. "Luce! I don't know how to-" He was cut off as his skis tipped and he began sliding down again. "-STOOOOP!"
Lucy sighed once more as she moved forward and slowly started to follow the half dragon down the mountain. She hadn't realized he was going to be so difficult about learning, or she would have practiced with him before they left their room.
As she heard a loud crash, and saw a tall, thin tree start to fall in the distance, she wondered if his skin was as thick as his skull.
