I apologize in advance. Kind of.

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!


Once they made it out to the sidewalk, Natsu reached over and took Lucy's hand.

"Do you mind?" he asked as he lifted their linked hands.

"Not at all," she responded. "You're really warm, and it's a bit chilly out here."

Natsu caught himself looking at her legs and turned away quickly, hoping she hadn't noticed. Although he wasn't sure why, he felt like it wasn't a good idea to be caught staring like he'd been doing. "If we walk a little closer together, I could help with that," he offered.

She looked up and gave him a big smile. "That'd be great!" Lucy unhooked their hands and then moved his arm over her head to rest along her shoulders before wrapping an arm around his waist. "Is this close enough?"

Natsu felt his body growing warm on its own and had to swallow a bit before answering. "Uh, yeah, that's perfect."

Lucy leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed. "I really like this," she said.

When he glanced down at her, Natsu found that his eyes got caught on the tantalizing display of her breasts, which were exposed by the open V of her jacket. "I… really do, too," he said, completely caught up in staring at her. For a little while, they were both quiet, and Natsu continued to watch the sway of her breasts as she walked next to him.

It wasn't until Lucy steered them around an approaching couple that he was finally able to drag his eyes away. He began to look around to distract himself and completely missed the grin on Lucy's face as she looked forward again.

"It's a nice night," she said, "despite the cold."

"It is," he agreed.

"I still wish it wasn't so bright here," she mused as she looked up at the sky.

"Why do you say that?" he asked as he steered them around a potted plant.

"You can't see the stars very well here." Natsu looked up as well to see what she meant. "I've done some driving around outside the city but I still haven't found a good place to go out stargazing. I really wish I could. I really love the stars," she whispered, raising her free hand to link her fingers with his.

Natsu adjusted his fingers slightly, and then allowed his magic to flow softly through his fingers so he could read her. She was thinking about a night when she'd been young and gone out stargazing with her mother. While they'd been out, her mother had taught her some of the constellations and told her stories about them to distract her from her father being gone on business again. The place they were in was beautiful, a small clearing surrounded by a quiet creek and willow trees.

"I know what you're doing," she whispered.

Natsu immediately cut the connection as he glanced down at her. "I don't know what you mean."

"You were reading me, right?" She squeezed his hand a little as she looked up at him. "You've done it enough I know what it feels like, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that I noticed."

"Sorry," he said. "I was just curious. I should have asked before I looked."

"I don't mind," she said as they rounded the last corner. "I like that you want to know what I like."

The smile she gave him felt similar to the one she'd given him after her blasted color question and caught Natsu off guard. He couldn't come up with anything to say as she began to lead him towards the door of the cafe they were headed for.

Step Four: Open doors for her.

"Hold up, I got that," he said rushing forward to get to the door before her.

"Thank you," she said with a small squeeze of his arm.

Natsu blinked, completely confused again as he felt something in himself respond. What is she doing to me? he wondered before following her inside. Lucy had already spoken with the host, who was grabbing them menus and pointing the way. "If you'll follow me, please."

Natsu followed behind Lucy, trying and failing to keep his eyes off her body, to a table near the back. As the man placed the menus on the table, Natsu moved forward to help Lucy with her coat. "Let me," he said.

"Thank you," she said, allowing him to pull the jacket down her arms.

Step Five: Pull out her chair for her.

Natsu hung her jacket on the back of her chair and then pulled it back. Lucy was clearly surprised as she looked up at him, but he just smiled at her as she moved forward to take a seat. Once she was pushed up, Natsu moved to sit in his own seat, but not before he caught the host staring at Lucy's exposed skin. With every ounce of willpower he had, Natsu managed to himself from growling or assaulting the other man, but as he passed by him, he stepped none-to-nicely on his foot.

When the host looked up and opened his mouth to say something, Natsu merely glared at him with as much fire as he was able. The host backed down immediately and then introduced the server, who was just arriving, before leaving with a small limp.

"Hi," the girl said as she pulled out a small pad and pen. "My name is Rachel and I'll be serving you today. Can I get you started with anything to drink?"

"I'll just have a water," Lucy said.

"Make that two," Natsu added.

"Sounds good. Would you two be interested in any appetizers?"

"Yes," Natsu said as he quickly read through the list. "Can we get nachos and cheese curds?"

"Absolutely," the waitress said as she wrote on her pad. "Would you care for any extra salsa or sour cream on the side?"

"Yes to the salsa, and can you put extra cheese on the nachos?"

"We sure can," the woman said as she scribbled. "Will that be all?"

"I think that's plenty for now," he answered with a grin.

"Then I will put those orders in and return shortly with your waters."

Lucy couldn't help but notice the way the waitress smiled at Natsu as she spoke to him, or the way she looked back as she made her way to the kitchen. When she caught Lucy's eye, she merely smiled before turning away again.

Natsu quickly scanned the menu and then looked up at Lucy once he'd made his choices. So far, he'd done well with Happy list, but it was the next two steps that were going to take the most effort and he was damn well going to do them right.

Step Seven: Listen to what she has to say. Ask questions and show an interest in what she talks about.

Step Eight: Look into her eyes when she's speaking.

"So, I had a question," Natsu asked as he set aside his menu. "You mentioned that there are three big holidays at the end of the year, right?"

"Yep. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Technically there's four if you count New Years. Why do you ask?"

"You and the girls spent a lot of time planning for Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's almost the end of the month, if I'm not mistaken, so why haven't you guys been planning for the next one? I noticed some decorations got put up, but that's about it. So what's the deal?"

Lucy finished looking through the last page and chose her food before looking up to respond. "Unfortunately, everyone seems to be busy with their own thing this year. Cana's father is going to be in town so she's out. Levy's parents are taking her on a trip out of town to celebrate with her extended family so she'll be gone. Juvia said she was invited to go somewhere with Gray and Lyon, although I suspect that invite wasn't given willingly, and it sounded like Gajeel would be joining them, not to mention Jet has his own family to celebrate with."

Lucy sighed as she put her chin in her palm. "I know Loke doesn't have anyone else to celebrate with, but he hasn't said anything yet. Not to mention I haven't actually spoke to him since Monday. I expected a text or something about missing bar night last night, but he hasn't messaged me at all. It's kind of weird, to be honest."

Natsu had to fight hard to maintain eye contact as he responded. "It can't be easy running a restaurant. Everyone gets busy and doesn't respond to messages. Besides, since both you and Levy were supposed to have dates last night, I'm sure he knew you weren't going."

"I suppose," Lucy said as she fiddled with her necklace. She sighed and sank into her seat a little. "I was really hoping to salvage some sort of Christmas party, but I just don't see that happening now."l

"You could celebrate with me!" Natsu reached across the table to grab her free hand. "I don't know a lot about the holiday, but I'm sure I could figure it out. We could do all the things you're supposed to do at Christmas time, just the two of us, what do you say?"

Just the two of us? What the hell Natsu! How could I forget about Happy? We both love parties, so why the hell am I so excited about the idea of spending time celebrating with just Lucy?

"Oh, I don't know," Lucy said. "I'm sure Happy wouldn't be too happy about that. We should at least invite him."

"Of course," Natsu said, forcing a laugh. "I meant just us three. I would never leave Happy out of a party like that."

When she grinned at him again, Natsu decided he would never get enough of her smile, and then promptly wondered where such a thought had come from. "So, uh, what kind of things are we supposed to do?"

"Well for starters, we'll need some proper decorations in my house. I haven't put up my tree or decorated it yet, and I have several strands of lights and stockings and other things to put up around the house. We should bake some cookies, sing some carols, although last year the girls and I went carolling around the neighborhood and that was actually pretty fun. It probably wouldn't be quite as fun with just two, so we'll have to wait until next… uh…" Lucy cleared her throat. "Anyway, uh, I like to watch some of the classic Christmas movies on Christmas Eve, and then of course set out milk and cookies for Santa."

"Santa?"

Lucy smiled while desperately trying to keep her glee hidden. This was an opportunity that didn't come around often, and she was damn well not going to lose it. "Yeah. Santa. He's the jolly man in the red outfit that brings gifts to all the good little girls and boys."

"You… let a man come into your house on Christmas to deliver gifts?"

"Of course. He's Santa Claus, so why wouldn't we? He works with his elves all year long to make all the gifts for everyone. Then, on Christmas Eve, he puts all the gifts in his sleigh and his reindeer pull it across the globe so he can deliver all the presents."

"Hang on, he does what? How on earth could he possibly visit every single person on the planet in one night? That's impossible!"

Lucy gave him the most serious look she could manage. "It's usually just kids, but it's not impossible, he does it every year. He's magic."

"Oh puh- lease, I don't buy it."

"Natsu, I'm serious. It happens every year."

"I won't believe it until I see it," he said.

"Don't worry, you will," she said with a smile.

"Here you are!" Their waitress appeared at their side and set down their waters. "Are you ready to order or do you need some more time?"

"Are you ready?" Lucy asked Natsu. She was annoyed that the waitress appeared to be directing her words entirely towards Natsu, but she was determined to remain cool about it.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Why don't you go first?" he offered.

Lucy was a little surprised, but she gave him a smile and looked up at the waitress, who was still facing her roommate. "I'll have the chicken parmesan with a side of steamed veggies."

"Sounds good!" The waitress took a small step closer to Natsu. "And what can I get you?"

"I'm going to take one of the bacon burgers with fries, one plate of your lasagna with a side of garlic bread, and a sirloin steak, rare. I think that one also comes with fries, but can I get some veggies instead?"

Rachel looked surprised as she took his order. "I can absolutely do that for you. Are you sure you want to order all of that right now?"

"For now, yeah, unless I should order dessert, too?" He looked at Lucy as he spoke, the question obviously directed her way.

"No, that's all for now," Lucy said, answering the woman's question. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'll just take these then, and your appetizers should be out soon."

"Thanks again," Natsu said. Lucy definitely saw the waitress's cheeks turn pink as she stared at Natsu. She cleared her throat, making the other woman jump and then scurry away with the menus.

"That was weird," Natsu said, his brows tight together in confusion. "Why was she staring at me? Is there something on my face?"

Lucy laughed. "No, Natsu, she was staring because she likes you."

"She likes me?" He glanced over his shoulder. "How can she like me when she doesn't even know me?"

"Oh come on, Natsu. You know what I mean."

"I… I don't think I do."

Lucy stood slightly so she could lean across the table to whisper, "She thinks you're attractive."

Natsu didn't respond right away, since he was too distracted by the substantial amount of cleavage she was flashing him with. Which was ridiculous, he knew, but he couldn't seem to look away. Lucy frequently wore low cut tops and he'd never been so enthralled before, so why was it suddenly so hard to look away?

"So, which one do you want to start with?" Lucy asked as she sat back down. She barely managed to contain her laughter as she watched his eyes bug out of his skull and then flicker back and forth across her chest.

"I… What? Which one should I start with? What-"

"I think I'm going to start with the cheese curds," Lucy said, then reached forward to grab one.

"Cheese… curds?" When he finally managed to return his eyes to her face, she was giving him a half smile and waving a cheese curd at him. "Oh! Yeah, I, uh, I think I'm going to start with the nachos."

Step Nine: Mind your manners while you're eating.

Step Nine: Mind your manners while you're eating.

Step Nine: Mind your manners while you're eating.

Natsu recited the step in his head multiple times to distract himself. Lucy watched him as he focused all his attention on his food. She had to admit, it was nice to see that she could affect him with her body. Even after seeing her half naked several times after he'd arrived, he had never had a reaction to her until their trip to the mountains. Even then, it had been that altered personality, or whatever it was that took over and seemed so focused on her, and not Natsu himself.

This, though, this was definitely Natsu that was being affected by her, and she had to admit it gave her a rush to be able to get those kinds of reactions out of a supernatural being like him.

"So, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

Natsu made sure to swallow everything in his mouth before he answered. "I did have some other stuff I was curious about, yeah."

For the next hour, they ate their food and spoke about everything from presents to secret santa to where Santa lived to how reindeer could fly to typical Christmas food. Lucy was continually impressed by Natsu's unusual table manners, and Natsu was continually distracted by the way she moved and spoke and smelled.

By the time they were done eating, Lucy had stopped being even a little annoyed by their waitress. Natsu hadn't looked at her once since their appetizers were delivered. He was so focused on her, that the waitress had started to give her annoyed looks when she was unable to draw so much as a verbal response from him.

Natsu was just finishing up his second dessert when Lucy began to wonder how far she wanted to go in her seduction plan that evening. Initially, she'd only wanted to assess how interested he was, but now that she was certain that he was interested, she wanted to go just a little further. She was nervous, though, about bringing it up. What if he wasn't actually interested? He wasn't human, so perhaps he had different cues when he was interested than a man did. How could she find out, though, without outright asking? She didn't know if she could be forward enough for that.

Natsu wiped off his mouth with his napkin and then grabbed the bill. "Be right back," he said with a grin and headed towards the till.

Step Ten: Pay for dinner.

He was pretty proud of himself. There were only two more steps to go and then he would have successfully finished their date. Natsu wondered how he could assess how well he'd done without outright asking Lucy. As he contemplated this, he made his way towards the till to settle their bill.

Lucy watched him as he walked away, noticing for the first time how many other women in the restaurant were watching him as well. A table of four women near the front were outright pointing at him as they stared and whispered between themselves. One of them nodded in her direction, and when the others looked her way, Lucy could feel the murderous look that began to appear on her face. Much to her shock, two of the women gave her a thumbs up and the other two just mouthed wow before they seemed to forget all about Natsu.

Once he had returned, Natsu gave her a big smile. "Are you ready to go or do you want to hang out for a bit?"

"I think I'm ready to go," Lucy said, a little sad that they were almost done.

He quickly grabbed her coat. "Let me help with that," he said as he held it out for her.

"Thank you," she said as she slid her arms into the sleeves and then did up the buttons.

Once they made it outside, Lucy slid her arm into Natsu's but he didn't start walking right away.

Step Eleven: Offer to take her on a romantic walk in the park or along the river.

"Do you wanna head back?" he asked. "Or do you wanna take a walk first? I think there's a path down by the river. It's only a couple blocks away." Which he knew because he'd studied the town's map for almost an hour to make sure he wouldn't get lost.

Relieved that she'd have a little more time to figure out her plan, she quickly nodded. "That sounds great! I'm up for a walk, as long as you keep me warm again." Thankful that Natsu was as naive as he was, she hugged his arm to her a little more, which pushed her breasts a little further out of her jacket.

His eyes snapped down, but only stayed for a moment before he cleared his throat and then looked away to lead them across the street. It was a nice night, despite the cold, and with Natsu combating that with his own heat, Lucy felt herself relaxing as they strolled down the street. It was early enough there was still a lot of foot traffic heading towards the bars and restaurants, but they easily made their way through to the river. They cut through an alley before finding themselves at a small playground. Once they'd passed it, they moved onto the path and began to follow it.

"So I have a question," Natsu said. He wasn't sure if there was a better way to find out, but he decided to just ask Lucy.

"Ask away," she said as she laid her head against his shoulder.

"How did I do tonight? On our date?"

Lucy chuckled. "How do you think you did?"

"I think I did okay, but I've never done this before. I'd like to know if there's anything I need to improve on."

"Well, you ate a lot. That could be a turn off for some girls."

"Is it a turn off for…" you? "Nevermind. I'll keep it in mind. Is there anything else?"

Lucy shook her head a little. "Honestly, I think you did great. You even ignored the waitress who was obviously into you and focused on your date instead. That's a huge ego boost for the date, seeing you so interested you even ignore other women in the room."

"So you… had a good time?"

"I did." She hugged herself closer to him. "Thank you, Natsu. I really did have a good time."

"I'm glad." He pulled them both to a stop, just under a rather large tree. "Actually, there's one more thing I have to do to complete the date. Can I do that and then ask you again?"

Not sure what to expect, Lucy stepped back to create some space between them. "Sure. Although I don't think whatever you're going to add is going to change my assessment all that much."

Natsu nodded and then took her hands in his as he turned to face her. He'd done his research. He'd watched clips of movies, he'd read articles, he'd even read through a particularly enlightening message board. He was positive he could do this right, even if everything he'd found said he should wait until a later date.

"I had a really great time," Natsu whispered as he pulled Lucy's hands up to his lips.

Lucy's entire body froze as she watched Natsu kiss the knuckles on both of her hands. Surely he wouldn't. He adjusted his grip so he was holding her hands in one of his and he raised his free hand towards her to softly grab onto her face. She felt her heartbeat increase exponentially, and as he pulled her face towards his, she wondered how on earth his eyes could shine like they were in the shadows of the tree. Lucy was helpless, unable to even form a thought as he smiled and brought their faces closer together. Did he have the same thoughts as me? What is he going to do?

Step Twelve: Tell her you had a good time and kiss her good night.

"Lucy," he breathed as he took a step closer. Her hands landed on his chest as their bodies brushed together. His other hand moved to the other side of her face and carefully tilted her face to the side. Natsu took a moment to study her beautiful face, the way her lips were parted slightly, the way her eyes reflected the light from the stars, and the way her hands slowly curled into his shirt.

With another small smile, he lowered his head and rubbed his nose against hers.

"Lucy," he whispered again, and then he was kissing her.


HAHAHAHAHAAA! The evil is real, and I have fallen in deep. Until next time!