Ready for some fluff?
As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!
"Just try it!" Natsu held out his fork, a bite of cake speared onto the end.
"I don't want to," Lucy said as she shook her head. "It's going to be spicy!"
"Oh come on, it's not that bad. You can handle it." He dipped his head and pouted. "Please?"
Lucy's nose crinkled. "You can't win me over with that face."
"Can't I?" He stuck his bottom lip out even farther and gave her his most pleading look.
She sighed. "Fine. One bite." Natsu instantly perked up and brought his fork to her mouth.
Lucy took the bite, but her eyes started watering almost immediately. Natsu laughed as she coughed into a napkin, glaring at him the whole time. "That is definitely too hot!" she said when she finally caught her breath.
"It's just cinnamon," he said.
"A lot of cinnamon!" She drank some of her water as he continued to chuckle. "You'd better be nice to me," she warned.
"Or what?" he asked, a not-so-innocent twinkle in his eye.
The blonde looked away and took another bite of her own desert. "You'll regret it."
Natsu grinned. "I'm intrigued… I might just have to keep being mean."
When Lucy shoved at his arm, he allowed her to push him while he laughed. "I'll be right back. Gotta use the bathroom." He shot her another smile as he stood and headed towards the back of the cafe.
Lucy couldn't stop herself from smiling like an idiot once his back was turned. She felt so good. Even if their relationship was kind of a strange one, she couldn't help but be happy with everything going on. Natsu had proven to be even better at doing the real dating thing than he had at planning their first date. He'd been sweet and affectionate, touchy without being clingy, and when she was around him, it didn't matter what they were doing, she always felt like she was the center of his universe with all the affection and attention he showered her with. She was positive she would miss it once he was gone.
With that thought, she turned back to her desert, after eyeing his with a shudder, and waited for him to return.
Natsu muttered a spell under his breath, one that would cause everyone around him to ignore his presence. As he entered the back hallways, he walked passed the restrooms and through the employees only door at the end. He quickly made his way through the kitchen, avoiding walking near most of the employees, before exiting out the back door.
"I appreciate that you didn't make me wait."
Natsu turned and found Loke leaning against a wall. "Well, you were pretty loud so it would have been hard to ignore you. What do you want? I thought you were still resting."
"I wanted to come check in on the restaurant," the angel said.
"And your charge." Natsu crossed his arms. "Do you not trust me at all? Your people have added multiple runes and spells to Lucy's apartment and work, and I've added a few of my own."
"You're not in either of those places," Loke pointed out.
"They won't take her from out in the open. Zalanoon know that doing so will cause a lot of trouble with multiple other realms, and if he wants this plan to succeed, he needs to stay low."
"He's angered enough of them," Loke said with a venom laced voice. "My king has already started talking to the demon kings and leaders from several of the other races. If he's not dead, he will have a very hard time accomplishing his plan now. With the kings on alert, Lucy should be free to live her life without any more problems."
Natsu raised an eyebrow. "So why are you so worried about Lucy's safety?"
"It's not her safety I'm worried about."
It didn't take a genius to figure out what Loke's look meant and as soon as Natsu did, he growled.
"Don't be that way," Loke said with raised hands.
"You're worried about me? What have I done to warrant that?!"
"You're a demon, Natsu, that made a contract with my charge."
Natsu's glare heated up. "I'm a dragon with demon blood. I'm not like my demon brethren, you know that."
Loke raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't make me bring up what happened in the Dark."
"That wasn't my fault." Natsu growled even louder.
"I'm not saying it was, but it happened." Loke readjusted his weight to his other foot. "You're not as innocent as you're trying to make yourself out to be."
"That was different. Lucy is perfectly safe here with me." He turned around. "I'm going back inside."
"Natsu, what are you trying to accomplish?"
The hybrid paused. "With what?"
"What are you doing with Lucy?"
Loke could see Natsu's shoulders tense as he answered. "I don't know what you mean."
"I saw you two inside. You looked awfully cozy together."
"Jealous?"
"Worried," Loke corrected. He moved forward and put a hand on the hybrid's shoulder. "You know nothing can come from having a relationship with Lucy, so why try?"
"Demons are greedy creatures," Natsu said angrily as he shrugged Loke's hand off of him.
"You know you're more dragon than demon, Natsu." Loke moved to stand in Natsu's way. "You care about Lucy, anyone can see that, but what you're doing is going to hurt her. It will have to end eventually and in the meantime, her heart is going to get involved, I know it will. Lucy's not the type to date or sleep around without getting attached. What will you do when all of this is over?"
"We've already agreed to remain friends," Natsu said. "Do you mind? She's your charge, so I understand that you're worried about her, but she's an adult and she can make her own choices. Whatever we do together is none of your concern."
"Actually it is," Loke said.
"No, it isn't." Natsu stepped around the angel. "Keep your concerns to yourself, Leo. I have no intention of hurting her, so you don't have to worry."
"Natsu-"
"I have to get back to Lucy." Natsu held his hand over the door to unlock it again. "Don't forget about Christmas. Lucy will be disappointed if you don't show up." Without another word, Natsu went back inside.
Loke sighed. That talk hadn't gone as well as he wanted. He had to protect Lucy- he had to protect the Heartfilia line. The angels had been protecting them for multiple generations. If he failed now, in the home stretch, he could lose his angelhood. Not only that, worse case scenario of him failing was the realms being pulled together into one. That was a death sentence for humans and multiple other beings, so he couldn't fail.
If one and two create a pair…
Being Natsu's mate made Leo's job so much harder, since he had the power to interfere with the 'naturally dying' part of the prophecy.
Leo decided to let it go for now. If he had to interfere later, he would. At this point, heartbreak was the only thing he was risking. If Natsu pushed things too far, then he'd be forced to interfere and he would do what he had to then.
Leo sighed as he meandered around to the front of the cafe again. From the shadows, he watched the pair interact. Lucy was laughing at something Natsu said, and when the hybrid leaned forward to whisper into her ear, Leo could see her cheeks redden as she giggled in response.
Deciding he needed more rest, he mentally let Virgo know he was going back before heading to his home in the angel realm.
At least there, he could have a break from worrying over everything happening.
"So do we have everything for Saturday?" Natsu asked.
"I believe so," Lucy answered as she put away the rest of the groceries. "I checked with Oakley and Maverick this morning and they are still bringing the pies. Loke called about an hour ago; he's coming with Aries and Manda and they'll each be bringing a salad. We're still inviting Wendy and Carla, right?"
"Yep." He glanced over his shoulder before casually turning another page in the cookbook in front of him. "So where has Loke been? Did he say?"
"Yeah, apparently an estranged great uncle of his passed away and he was in the will."
"Estranged? Doesn't that mean he didn't associate with his family anymore?"
"Yeah, but he apparently was around for a while when he was younger and grew pretty attached to Loke. He left due to some other family issues and when he passed away, he left about half of his stuff to Loke and the rest to a friend, I guess.
"I get that he was busy, but it would have been nice if he'd called or shot me a text, you know? Just so that I knew he was okay." Lucy came and sat next to him at the table so she could rest her chin on his shoulder and look at the cookbook as well. "So? What amazing dish are you making?"
"You sound like you're expecting a lot out of me, but I've found very little differentiation between green bean casserole recipes and there are only so many options for potatoes."
"What about the meat?"
"I'm making a duck and a ham. The duck is sitting in a solution in the fridge and Saturday I'll just have to throw it in the oven. Same with the ham."
"Oooo, I love dark meat. I bet the duck is going to be delicious." Lucy grinned up at him. "Did you pick that out special for me?"
Natsu cleared his throat as he looked away. "Duck is different, and I thought it would be fun to try."
Lucy grabbed his chin and pulled his face her way. He avoided her eyes, but she eventually forced him to look at her. When he finally did, she immediately grinned and kissed his cheek. "You're too cute."
Natsu blushed. "I don't know what makes you say that."
"You definitely decided to make that for me. I can tell you're trying to lie to me." She stood up and went to the fridge. "You can't lie to me, mister. You're just as bad at it as you told me when you first showed up."
Natsu's stomach sank as he closed the book and stood up. "You'll just have to get used to it I guess. Might want to remember that before asking me if your pants make your butt look big."
Lucy froze, a bottle of beer inches from her mouth. She slowly lowered the drink as she cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean?"
"Uh…" Natsu began to inch his way towards the living room as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just, I saw a lot of references about it on the internet and I just-"
"Do you think these pants make my butt look big?" she asked as she turned sideways.
"What? I was saying you shouldn't ask me. I don't wanna-"
"Answer me," Lucy said as she desperately tried to hide her smile. He was so adorable when he was nervous like that. "Does my butt look big?"
"Your butt looks edible," he said, a flash of gold appearing around his irises.
Lucy's cheeks began to burn but she didn't look away. "Well that's nice to hear, but do you mean that?"
"We- I definitely mean that," Natsu said, swiftly correcting himself. No need to bring up his alter ego to Lucy. He preferred the mystery of not knowing over risking telling her that he had some extra personality or whatever in his head that wanted to peel her out of-
"Are we still going out to get dinner?" he asked, desperately trying to clear his head. The presence was there, trying, he was certain, to make him stare at Lucy's butt. Or maybe that was just him. She still hadn't turned back his way which was making it difficult.
"Yes. There's a place in town that makes amazing burgers and I have a hankering for one."
"Alright. Do you work tomorrow?"
Lucy shook her head. "It's Christmas Eve so I have the day off! Oh, and in case I forgot to mention it, everyone is going to be busy or gone, so we won't be going to Fairy Tail."
"That's okay," he said as he finally forced his eyes up to hers. "I was hoping for a little extra prep time before Saturday."
"Well you'll have it." Lucy took a drink from her bottle. "I'm honestly a little surprised that the bar isn't going to be open. They're usually open every year for Christmas Eve. The owner likes to throw a little Christmas party for people who want to go. Since he's Laxus' grandfather, we usually go, but this year he was invited to a special thing at Mira's so he's closing it up."
"Well it's a nice tradition, even if he's taking a break from it this year."
"Yeah, well, he likes to have somewhere for people to celebrate that don't have anywhere else to go. I heard that he might be having it on Christmas Day instead, but I didn't have a chance to ask Laxus if that's true. Even if it is, we'll be too busy to go anyway, so I didn't try too hard to find out."
Natsu grinned as he put an arm around her. "You'll have your hands full throwing a Christmas for plenty of people in that same boat." He hugged her close and put his chin on her head. "You're amazing by the way, do you know that? That you're gathering all these people together to give them somewhere to celebrate the holiday is pretty incredible."
"It's really not. I do it every year," she said as she waved away his praise.
"Well I think it's pretty amazing." He kissed the top of her head. "Also, I like being able to touch you like this whenever I want." He grinned and lifted her hands up to his mouth to kiss the palms. "It's nice."
"I like it too," she said with a grin of her own. "Although, you might not want to grab me so much in public. Some people aren't a fan of PDA."
"Are you sure? I don't care if you don't. It's not like they're the ones I'm touching." He ran his hands down her sides as the golden rims of his eyes practically glowed. "I can touch you however you want to be touched, whenever you want to be touch. Just say the word, master," he purred.
Lucy swallowed. "Are you getting drunk? You're being awfully forward, even for you."
The golden ring disappeared and Natsu backed away, hands raised. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I just-"
Lucy laughed and grabbed his hands. "I'm just kidding. Mostly. You are being a little forward, but I don't mind. It's kind of nice that you can go from being so confident to being this shy." She pressed a lingering kiss to his hand before nodding toward the couch. "Wanna make out a little before we head out to grab dinner."
Natsu's relieved smile and subsequent grin was a relief, and when he grabbed her into his arms and started walking across the living room, Lucy laughed despite the butterflies in her stomach.
"I think we have some time," he said as he tossed her lightly onto the cushions and then stretched out over her body. "But first…"
He growled and then gently bit her neck. Before Lucy could do anything to respond, though, Natsu began to mercilessly tickle her. "Natsu! Stop!"
Natsu ignored her as he mercilessly tickled her. Lucy desperately tried to buck him off but he was too strong. Eventually, when it was obvious that she was struggling to breathe, he finally pulled back with a smacking kiss on her mouth.
"What… was that… for?" she asked as she fought to catch her breath.
Natsu's eyes lingered on her heaving chest. "Because I could."
Lucy didn't say anything. Instead, she continued to watch him stare. She could see the gold in his eyes again, but she was positive that the hungry look she saw there wasn't from the dragon this time. It was Natsu.
And a large part of her hoped that he would devour her.
Natsu suddenly shook his head violently as he clumsily stood up. "We should get going."
Disappointment hit Lucy hard. "But-"
"No arguing." He grabbed her hands and helped her to stand. "Come on, food and then we have a little trip to make."
"What? Where?"
"I can't tell you. It's your Christmas present."
Lucy frowned. "But it's not Christmas yet."
"I want to give it to you early instead of late, and it's not something I can box up. Come on," he said as he tugged her into the entryway. "Get your jacket so we can go."
"But Natsu-"
"No arguing." He tossed her jacket at her and it landed on her head. "I'll wait for you outside."
When Lucy finally untangled herself from her jacket, Natsu was already out the door. Confused, she set aside her jacket and started to pull on her boots.
Outside, Natsu paced the sidewalk, desperately trying to get himself under control. It was cold and the air was crisp and clear, but he could still smell it.
Smell her.
He could smell her all the time, even when she wasn't there, but this had been a different smell. It had been… primal. It had awakened instincts in him that he didn't have any experience handling. It had made him want to tear off her clothes and then do… something. He thought back to the few times he'd see demons in the midst of sexual encounters, and he knew that if he did any of those things, he'd hurt Lucy. How was he even supposed to be with Lucy? How did humans do that kind of thing?
Did Lucy want that? Was he sure that was one of the dating things she wanted with him? Now that he thought about it, he had assumed that it was part of their new arrangement, but he wasn't sure if she'd meant for it to be.
"Ready to go?" Lucy's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he jerked to a stop, a fake smile plastered onto his face.
"Yep. Let's go," he said as he held out his hand towards her. She smiled as she took ahold of it and began to walk at his side.
Natsu was relieved that he was only picking up her regular scent as they walked. Being yanked out of his thoughts had helped to bring his urges under control so he felt much better as they headed into town. Now he just had to hope the other smell didn't return while they were out and about. And he had to have a talk with Lucy about her… expectations.
