Did you guys know that this is the longest story I've ever written? Even incomplete, it surprasses every other story I've ever started and either abandoned or finished. It really makes a difference when you get feedback (in the form of follows, favorites or reviews.) I love each and every one of you. Keep being awesome guys.
Savwafair: The all caps stuff was just noises. Lucy only spoke once, in a hazy defense of the lizard folk.
As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!
Lucy sighed and rolled over to snuggle deeper into her blankets. It was Friday, so she needed to get up soon, she was sure, but her alarm hadn't gone off yet, so for now, she'd enjoy the comfort of her bed. The nightmares she had been certain would haunt her after seeing those men at the restaurant had so far not returned, and every night she didn't have nightmares was a good one.
She sighed as she finally got comfortable. Once again, she could swear that she could smell Natsu's dark campfire smell on her pillow, but assumed it had transferred from her clothes. Excitement began to fill her as she remembered that they were having their date that evening. Even if it wasn't a real date, she was looking forward to whatever Natsu had planned for them. She was sure it would… be…
Slowly, Lucy opened her eyes. It was still dark outside, very dark. As she sat up, she realized she wasn't in her pajamas. Also, she'd already gone to work. The girls had come over to help her pick out her clothes, they'd kicked Natsu out of the apartment, and then… nothing.
When she checked her alarm, she saw that it was after midnight. She stretched out her body before standing and padding barefoot out of her room. As she left, she noticed there were clothes still littering her floor from where she'd dropped them earlier. Where had her evening gone? When had the girls left? What had happened with Nastu?
The lights were all out in the apartment except for in Natsu's room. His door was shut, but the light filtered out through the bottom of his door. She paused in the hallway, not sure how to proceed. She'd never forgotten hours of her life before- not even when she'd gotten drunk. It was the most bizarre thing, and she was worried about what Natsu was going to say when she asked him what had happened.
Lucy contemplated the shadows in the living room as she stood there. Maybe she could trick Natsu into somehow telling her what happened without her asking. Surely she could find a way, right?
As she contemplated just going back to bed instead, Natsu's door opened, blinding her with the light. "Hey Lucy, glad to see you're awake finally."
"Good morning," she said, her hands firmly over her eyes.
"Are you feeling okay?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah. A little stiff but otherwise I'm okay."
"That's good. You were all passed out when I came home so I was a little worried."
Passed out? "Sorry for causing you trouble."
"It's okay," he said. "I just figured you guys got too excited and wore yourselves out."
"Did the girls get home okay?" What happened to make us pass out?
"Yeah, I got them home fine." He tapped his nose and grinned. "A sharp nose comes in handy when looking for someone's house."
"Well, that's good."
Lucy fiddled with her nails as she wondered what she should say. She was so confused. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember what had happened. Not only that, she was sure she'd upset Natsu by skipping out on spending time with him. Tears began to form in her eyes, but before she could say anything else, Natsu reached out and pulled her into his arms.
"Why do you look so upset?" he asked, his warm breath caressing her cheek as he spoke. "I don't mind that we didn't get to go out. It won't be the only chance we have. We don't have any plans this weekend, so we can go a different night if you want, or even go out for lunch, how does that sound?"
She wasn't even sure why she was crying, but Lucy nodded as she hugged Natsu even tighter. There was something she felt like she needed to remember, something important that had happened, or maybe something she needed to do… Maybe the tears were from that? Had she spoken to the girls about something important?
"Hey, I've got an idea," Natsu said as he pulled away. "I know it's not a date, but how about we go down to that little restaurant down the block from Loke's place? They're open all night, and they have ice cream. I bet you're hungry and you know I would never say no to food."
Lucy wiped away her tears as subtlely as she could before she looked up at him with a smile. "I think I'd like that. Since I didn't have supper, I'm pretty hungry."
"Sweet." He pulled away with a big grin. "Do you wanna change first or is this okay?" he asked as he gestured at her clothes.
"I think I'd like to put on something more comfortable. Can you give me a minute?"
"Absolutely. I'll wait in the kitchen." He reached over and turned off his light before heading that way with a smile.
When Lucy finally joined him in the kitchen, she was wearing her favorite sweatpants with a long sleeved black shirt and her comfy slide on shoes. Natsu looked her up and down, and then changed his clothes as well. His jeans faded into a similar pair of gray sweats and his shirt changed into one that was red with long sleeves. A pair of tennis shoes appeared on his feet, and of course his scarf remained wrapped around his neck. He held out her denim jacket and asked, "Ready to go?"
She smiled and nodded as she pulled on the jacket. "Yeah. Let's go get some food."
After they locked the door and began to walk, Natsu reached over to tuck her arm into his. "So, how much am I allowed to get this time?"
Lucy smiled, no longer annoyed by these conversations. "Well, it is late on a Friday night, so we'll either be the only ones there, or there will be a lot of people there trying to even out the alcohol. I don't want to draw a bunch of attention if we're the only ones, so how about we wait to see how many people are there before we decide?"
"That's reasonable," he said, "but if there are a lot of people, how much can I get?"
"How about three entrees and two deserts."
"Awwww, that's it?"
Lucy laughed as they walked, amused as he tried time and again to get her to let him have just one more entree, or dessert, or even a side dish. She knew he was being silly on purpose, so she let him, and even created her own silly reasons for saying no to his arguments.
By the time they made it to the restaurant, she had forgotten all about her missing time and instead just enjoyed spending time with her dragon-demon roommate.
"So, you don't remember either?" Levy asked.
"Not a thing!" Lucy rolled over and held her phone above her. She had texted the girls as soon as she woke up, and an hour later, they had all been awake and they'd started a video call. "I woke up a little after midnight and for a while, I forgot that I had already gone to work!"
"Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever lost time before," Cana said. "At least, not since I figured out how to properly drink that is."
"Did we start drinking?" Juvia asked. "I don't feel hungover and my morning breath was terrible, but not like it is after I've been drinking."
"I don't think so," Levy said. "I wouldn't have, at any rate. I was supposed to go to the library for a few hours last night, so I would have said no even if you guys pulled out any alcohol."
"This is driving me nuts!" Lucy said. "How on earth did we lose an entire afternoon and evening? Whatever happened, I completely bailed on Natsu, and I hate doing that to people, even if he does seem to be okay with it."
"Just make it up to him," Cana said. "Go out with him tonight and wear whatever we picked out for you."
"… Did we pick out an outfit?" Lucy asked.
"Oh for the love! It was the whole reason we came over, and we didn't even manage to do that much? What the hell happened?" Cana grabbed a drink from off screen and took a long drawn on the brown bottle.
"Did we talk about anything important?" Levy asked. "Did someone have anything really juicy that we maybe hashed over until we fell asleep?"
"Juvia is having some trouble with her beloved, but nothing that would take too long to talk about," Juvia said.
"That's because you know what we think already," Cana said. "What about you, Lucy? Did you have any deep dark secret confession to share with us? Perhaps about your feelings for a certain pink haired man who just happens to live with you?"
Lucy sighed and rolled once more, making sure to put her lamp behind her to darken her face in the video as she felt her cheeks heat up. "I'm done defending myself against those accusations, move on to another theory."
"Well, there's always Levy and Mr. Piercings," Cana said.
"Pass," Levy said, adjusting on her own bed. "He didn't even call or message or anything about our missed date, so I'd rather not talk about him actually."
"I'm sure he's curious about what happened," Juvia said.
"Yes," Levy said, sarcasm heavy in her tone. "So curious that he didn't even try to find out what happened. Next!"
"Well I don't know," Lucy said, "but whatever it was, it happened in a relatively short amount of time. Natsu said he got back here a little before five and we were all just snoozing away in my room."
"Was I at least cuddling those amazing knockers?" Cana asked.
"I didn't ask," Lucy said. "So quit thinking about them."
"Kinda hard to do when they're right there," Levy said.
Lucy looked down and saw that her tank had been pulled down by her rolling around. She quickly yanked it up, ignoring the whines from Cana and the laughter from Juvia. "Alright, all that aside, do you guys want to help me try again to pick something out for tonight?"
"No need," Cana said. "I know exactly what you should wear."
"What?"
All three girls spoke at the same time. "The little black dress."
"What?! Are you insane?"
"A little," Levy said, "but not about this."
"Guys, please, that's a terrible idea."
"Why do you think that?" Juvia asked.
Lucy felt herself blush as she rolled on to her side. "Because that's my I'm-really-sexy-and-you-should-think-so-too dress. I'm not going to wear that on a friend date!"
"Oh come on, Lucy, what are you afraid of?" Cana asked.
"I'm not afraid," the blonde argued.
"I think you are," Levy said.
"Juvia agrees."
"Guys-"
Cana cut her off. "You just be quiet for a minute and listen to us."
Lucy opened her mouth to retort, but the looks on her friends' faces stopped her. Instead, she propped her head up in her hand and nodded at them to continue.
Levy went first. "Lucy,I know you keep saying this is just a friend date, but we can clearly see that you're just saying that to protect yourself," Levy said.
"Yes, and we think that you should stop trying to keep that distance and give Natsu a shot as a real date and potential boyfriend."
"What?!" Lucy pulled her phone close to her face. "Guys, what are you talking about?"
"You, being the happiest we have seen you in a long time," Levy said.
"Yeah. Ever since Natsu showed up, you've really seemed to come out of the shell you've been in these last few years. Ever since you got weird during that extended trip away, you haven't been yourself," Cana said. "You're still you of course, but you seemed to be hiding some of yourself. At least until Natsu came around. You seem… is looser the word I want?"
"Relaxed," Juvia said. "You don't seem to be hiding behind a wall anymore whenever you talk to new people. You're more direct when you turn the guys down at the bar and you don't get so nervous about them talking to you and asking you out. Heck, you even agreed to go on a date with a guy you'd only met a couple times. I don't think you would have done that half a year ago."
"That's true, I suppose."
"So we think you should do it right," Levy said. "Do the real thing, go on a real date. Go out with Natsu and see where things go. And if you end up falling in love and moving to wherever it is he eventually decides to settle down, we'll be sad of course, but we'll still be here. We'll still be your best friends, and we'll still be supporting you." Levy pointed at the screen. "I don't want you to let what happened with Stier and those other guys deter you from giving a good guy a chance to be with you, understand? Natsu is great, and I have a feeling that the reason you're so against giving Cana a shot is because you want to be with him, isn't that right?"
Lucy swallowed, unsure how to respond. What they were saying was completely reasonable. It all made the best sense, and under normal circumstances, she would take their advice and run with it.
However, it wasn't a normal circumstance. Her roommate wasn't just some gorgeous former friend that she could grow close to and potentially fall in love with. He was a demon, one who was contracted to her and would be disappearing within the year. So even if there was a part of her that wanted to just take her friends' advice and go for it, she couldn't.
"I really wish I could guys, but there are extenuating circumstances that keep me from doing that." The girls all began to smile wide, hair raising grins. Lucy sat up as she watched them, her concern steadily growing. "What? Why are you guys smiling like that?"
"Because you just admitted it!" Levy said.
"Yep, you just said you wanted to date him," Juvia added.
"I- I did not!"
Cana brought a hand to her chest as she began to flutter her eyelashes. "I really wish I could guys," she said in a terrible fake Lucy voice, "but there are blah blah blah blah blah. Come on, lady, just go for it!"
"I can't, okay? I just can't."
"Lucy-"
"Sorry guys, I have to go," Lucy said, cutting off Levy. "I'll talk to you guys later." Once she hung up and put her phone down, she fell back on to her bed and contemplated her choices. Plue hopped up onto the bed and came to curl up next to her him. Lucy moved her hand closer to pet him, causing him to purr.
"What do you think, Plue?" Plue's only response was to purr louder. "That's what I think, too. He's a half demon, half dragon hybrid, and I'm a boring little human who lives a life free of magic and adventure most of the time. There's nothing there, right?"
Even as she spoke, she remembered the looks Natsu had given her. The ones where his eyes had flashed gold and his entire being seemed to focus in on her and nothing else. She remembered when it had happened in the living room, right before Happy asked her not to point them out to Natsu. When he had gotten so close and nuzzled her. Just the thought made her body heat up, and she had to remind herself more than once that those moments had meant nothing. It hadn't been Natsu that had done that. She didn't know what it had been, but Natsu didn't remember doing it, and he'd never done it when he wasn't in that trancelike state, so it didn't mean anything, right?
Natsu interrupted her thoughts with a holler from the kitchen. "Hey Luce! You have a visitor!"
"Who is it?" Lucy asked as she sat up, careful not to move Plue.
"New neighbors," Natsu called.
Curious, Lucy rose and made her way out to the kitchen. Natsu stepped away from the door so she could squeeze by. "Hello?"
"Hello," the shorter of the two men said. He was wearing a bright orange shirt with a pair of jeans and sandals and his blond hair was swept back into a small bun. "My name is Maverick and this is my mate, Oakley." He gestured at the taller, broader man standing behind him. Oakley was wearing a gray shirt with his jeans and tennis shoes, and he had long dark hair pulled back into a low pony. He nodded his head as he was introduced and gave her a small smile. "We just moved in next door and wanted to introduce ourselves."
Lucy found his use of the word mate to be a little weird, but she thought they made a cute couple nonetheless. "Oh, that's so nice! It's been empty for a while, so I'm glad it finally has residents again. My name is Lucy," she said, holding out her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
The pair looked at each other, and then Maverick looked over her shoulder toward Natsu before reaching forward to take her hand. She continued to smile at him as she gave him a firm shake. "It's very nice to meet you as well."
Oakley also shook her hand before retracting it and putting it around Maverick's waist. "Nice to meet you," he said.
"So where did you two live before you moved to Magnolia?" Lucy asked.
"Oh, very far away from here. In fact, this place almost seems like a completely different planet."
"I'm sure it's not all that different," Lucy said.
"It most certainly is," he said. "In many ways, it's- hands!" Oakley pulled away the hand that had been rubbing Maverick's side.
Lucy blinked, confused when his exclamation triggered something in her memory. What he'd said felt familiar in some way, but she didn't know why.
Maverick turned around and scolded Oakley. "I'm trying to make a good impression on our neighbors, so please behave!"
"Oh, he's fine," Lucy said. "Honestly, I don't mind seeing PDA, as long as it's, you know, within reason. You don't have to pretend in front of me. I've never minded much who loves who as long as both parties are happy, you know?"
Maverick turned back her way, eyes wide and misty as his lips began to quiver. He stared at her for a long moment as though she'd just given him something he had waited his entire life to have. Tears welled in his eyes and she suddenly found herself in a bruising hug. "Thank you," he whispered in a watery voice. "I am so so sorry, and thank you so much. You don't know what it means to me to have someone say that to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
"Can't… breathe."
Immediately, the arms disappeared from around her and Maverick backed away with his hands up. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to."
"It's fine," Lucy said. "It just got a little tight."
Maverick chuckled nervously and then glanced at Natsu again. "Well, I suppose we'll leave now," he said with a quick swipe under his eyes to collect his tears. "We just wanted to say hi."
"Well it was nice to meet you," Lucy said. "If you ever need help finding something in town, just let me know. I've lived here my whole life, so I can help you find just about anything."
"Thank you," Maverick said again. "I might take you up on that. We'll see you around!"
"See you," Oakley said.
"Bye!" Lucy shut the door and then watched out the window as the pair left. Oakley reached over to wrap an arm around Maverick and didn't seem at all affected as the shorter man waved a finger at him. In fact, instead of letting him go again, he merely leaned down and kissed the other man on the head. "I like them," she said.
"It's always good to like your neighbors," Natsu said.
"So, what are we doing tonight?"
Natsu leaned against the doorway. "Does that mean you've decided you want to do dinner and not lunch?"
"Yeah, I think I'd prefer that. There's some leftovers in the fridge I wanna eat for lunch. We can go to that cafe tonight, if you're okay with it."
"I could eat," he responded with a grin.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "You're a dork."
"But you love me," he said as he pushed off from the wall and made his way into the living room.
Lucy's heart stuttered before taking off again. The words didn't mean anything, but her traitorous heart was putting meaning into them that wasn't there.
Demons will do it with just about anyone who's willing.
Much to her chagrin, Lucy felt her body heat up as she remembered Natsu's words. Then her friends' words began to spin around in her head, and she wondered if, perhaps, she could have some sort of relationship with Natsu. Even if they couldn't be together forever, he would be around for several more months.
Lucy was an adult. She could handle a physical relationship without getting too attached, right? Assuming Natsu would go for that kind of thing. She'd wondered more than once if they could learn from each other, so perhaps it was time to give it a try. Perhaps there was some super secret demon or dragon move he could teach her that would give her the most amazing orgasm of her life. Did she really want to risk missing out on that just because she was worried about catching feelings and getting her heart broken? Really?
She moved to follow him into the living room. "Hey Natsu?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think about the color black?"
"What? That's it? But what about Loke?!" -Every single one of you readers
Sorry kids! You'll have to wait until next time… *evil grin*
