Chapter 5:

I hope you guys enjoy this EXTRA LONG chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this one and I hope you like it! :)

The blonde shifted uncomfortably in her sleep. The lumpy couch she was currently laying on was making her back hurt from the lack of support and not to mention, her muscles ached from yesterday. Letting out a yawn, she gently stretched out her limbs and turned over to snuggle deeper into the couch's cushions and hopefully fall asleep again. Her right hand came across a piece of fabric lodged in the cushions that felt nothing like the soft material of of the couch she was currently laying on. Curiosity got the best of her and she wrapped her fingers around it and gave it a pull form it's hiding place. Slowly blinking her eyes open, she looked to see what she had pulled out and was very surprised to find it was a knotted mess of baby blue lace.

"What's this?" she mentally asked herself. She laid back onto her pillow and gently started to pull the knotted mess apart. She looked at the piece of material in her hands and wondered why it seemed so familiar. Undoing the last knot, she held it upright and looked at it with an inquisitive gaze. That's when it hit her what it was. She quickly chucked the piece of fabric away, letting it fall into the pit of despair that was the back of the couch and she took off into the kitchen to wash her hands. After vigorous scrubbing, she let out a sigh of relief as she patted her hands dry with a nearby towel.

Why was there underwear in Natsu's couch?

Who's underwear were they?

And why would they leave them?

Did they leave without wearing any?
Her cheeks began to glow rosy with all the questions swarming through her head. She needed to calm herself. She quickly went back to the living room and tidied up her sleeping spot on the couch.

"There, all neat." she whispered to herself as she patted her nicely folded blanket. Not feeling relaxed enough, she thought she might need a breath of fresh air. Not trusting herself not to get locked out of the front of Natsu's apartment, she opted to sit out on his balcony. She gently shut the sliding glass door behind her and went to the fenced edge of the balcony. The bottom of the fence edge was just big enough to let her legs slip through and dangle in the crisp morning air. She let herself slouch forward and closed her eyes and let the morning air do its magic. The sounds of birds chirping and the warm rays of sunshine hitting her goosebumped legs stimulated her senses. Letting out a long sigh, she laid back onto the cool concrete of his patio, not aware of Natsu's old cigarette butts beginning to coat her hair in ash.

…

Natsu awoke to the sound of his phone alarm going off. He snaked a groggy hand from underneath his covers to reach for the phone that was about to vibrate off his nightstand. He quickly turned the alarm off that read 'Cover Popsicle Dick' and let out an annoyed groan. It was 7:30 a.m. and he was not ready to get up but he totally forgot he was covering for Gray at work today. Shit. He quickly threw on his clothes and headed to the bathroom where he quickly ran a comb through his hair and splashed cold water on his face. The icy water wasn't enough to fully convince him to be awake. Coffee. He need coffee. Shuffling to the kitchen, he squinted as the blinding sunlight poured into his kitchen. Who turned on the sun in here? He turned his head away from the radiant source as he quickly drew the blinds close. Thank god he had a pair of sunglasses in his motorcycle helmet. It's not that he didn't like the shining sun or mornings, he was just a man that preferred evenings. He was a creature of the night, that's all.

Taking a sip of his freshly brewed coffee, he let the warm liquid slowly trickle down his throat to warm his insides. The rich taste coated his tongue and its aroma filled his nose and he could feel himself becoming more awake by the second. He glanced at the clock on the oven and saw it was already 7:45. Shit he had to go. Slamming down the rest of his coffee, he ran through the living room and began to pull his boots on at the couch and noticed a certain blonde no where in sight. In her spot sat a perfectly folded blanket and the pillow he let her borrow. So if she wasn't here, she wasn't in the bathroom, and she wasn't in the kitchen with him now….. she must have up and left. Cool! She must have went crawling back to her boyfriend. Good riddance. That's less for him to worry about. He shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to slam his door shut and lock it.

"Natsu? Is that you?" asked the blonde as opened the sliding glass door open and moved aside the blinds that were now in her way. She thought she heard some movement going on in the apartment but maybe she was wrong. Although, she noted that she had opened the blinds this morning right before she went outside. Seeing that there was no visible movement, she quickly passed it of as her imagination and closed the door behind her.

Her stomach gurgled, signaling that she was hungry but the only problem was…. She didn't know how to cook. Being an heiress and all she really didn't know any "basic life skills." They didn't bother teaching her because she was supposed to marry a man rich enough to give her the same exact life she had been living before There were maids to cook, clean and bathe you so what use were life skills for her? Instead, they taught her French, Spanish, Mandarin, how to sew, and most importantly, how to sit there and be an obedient wife while your husband makes business deals. Luckily the home schooling program required things courses like math, reading, writing and other courses. So she thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't dumb as a rock.

She scowered the kitchen for something to eat, disappointed when she came across empty shelves and a refrigerator with only a piece of moldy cheese in it. Trying to stay hopeful, she opened the last shelf and it had stuff in it but sadly none of it was edible. In the last shelf sat 2 bowl, 4 mismatched plastic cups, 2 coffee mugs and a lone spoon.

"Doesn't this man keep any food around here?" she pouted as she turned around. That's when she spotted a package of crackers on top of the fridge. She mentally cheered as she stood on her tippy toes and managed to snag the package. Sinking to the ground, she ripped open the package and stuffed crackers into her watering mouth. Never has anything tasted so good before. After eating half of the sleeve, Lucy stood up and dusted the crumbs off her lap. She could feel her teeth gummed up with crackers and felt the strong urge to brush them. Her tongue flicked across her teeth and could feel bits of cracker and plaque building up on her teeth. She scrunched her face in disgust, pushing away the thought of how bad her breath smelled at this point. Maybe Natsu had a spare toothbrush somewhere. She needed one asap. She walked down the hallway towards his closed bedroom door and knocked gently 3 times. No answer. She knocked again but a little harder.

"Um, excuse me? Natsu? Can I come in?" she asked. Still no reply.

"Natsu?" she repeated, opening the door this time. His room was dark as she navigated through it slowly, trying not to step on anything. Standing by his bed, she saw a lump underneath his covers and reached a shaky hand out to poke it. It was unbelievably squishy underneath her fingertip to be a person, let alone the muscular man she met yesterday. Tearing off the over, she wasn't surprised to see a pillow and not Natsu.

"Hmm I guess he isn't here." she said to herself. "Maybe he had to go somewhere important?"

She shrugged her shoulders and padded her way out of his room to go to the bathroom. I guess she would have to look for a toothbrush herself. After looking through every nook and cranny of his bathroom, she came up dry. Guess she would have to just use her finger. She put a small dab of toothpaste on her clean finger and began to try and brush with it. She made a mental note to ask Natsu to help find her one. Sighing with discontent at her poor brushing job, she headed back to the living room and sat on the couch. Maybe he had to run an errand and would be back soon. So she waited. And waited. 3 hours passed until she finally had enough. It felt like an eternity sitting on that couch. If he hadn't come back by now that meant he wasn't coming back anytime soon. Glancing at the oven clock, she groaned as she discovered it was only 12:15 p.m. She still had the whole day ahead of her.

What should she do to keep herself occupied?

She could write! But she didn't recall seeing any pen or paper around.

Hmm….

And then an idea hit her.

Lucy recalled seeing some bottles of cleaning supplies and old rags by the washer when she was scavenging for food. If she was staying here for a week she might as well make her living space livable. Also Natsu would probably appreciate it! What a good house guest she was going to be! She carefully read the instructions on all the bottles to makes sure to use them right before starting any tasks. Last thing she needed was to ruin something of Natsu's. Cleaning turned out to be a little harder than the maids made it look. And it was a lot more exhausting than it looked. She gagged a lot picking up his moldy food containers off of the ground. And she groaned a lot having to clean a very resilient sticky spot on his table. All the tasks she was doing made it look more and more like a living room. Underneath all the mess, Natsu owned a couch, 2 side tables, a standing lamp, a small tv on a stand, a standing lamp with no shade, and a little dining table that was against the wall with 2 chairs. Lucy wiped the sweat off her brow and looked at the room with pride.

As for all his clothes, it wasn't so hard to pick up the piles from his room and the living room and toss them into a basket she found. Although, she managed to pick up at LEAST 6 different pairs of lacey panties, which she immediately chucked into the trashcan. She pulled the heavy basket of clothes along his carpeted floor from his room to the kitchen where the washer was and began to separate out the clothes like the instructions on the detergent said. When she came across her clothes she decided to trash her hoodie and pants but kept her undergarments. The thong she was wearing wasn't half bad. She actually almost preferred it over her other pair. With the fabric being so small and delicate, she hardly noticed it at all, which she liked. Lucy decided to keep her old ones as backups just in case. She opted to hand wash her garment instead of throwing them in the wash and once they were done, she neatly laid them on a clean towel from the bathroom. She caught a glimpse of the clothes she was wearing and saw that they were covered in ash, dust and random smudges from cleaning. Heading back to Natsu's room, she went through the basket of clothes that Cana had brought up. The blonde changed her white tank top for a red one and searched for bottoms that would cover more than half of her butt. Sadly there was nothing that matched that description in the basket. Her eyes flickered to Natsu's dresser. She ransacked his dresser and she felt as if she had won the jackpot when she came across a flannel pair of pajama pants with a drawstring. She shrugged off her pink velvet shorts and pulled on the pants and pulled them taunt around her waist before tying a little bow. They were a little long and the extra material trailed behind her but as long as it covered her butt, it didn't matter. After starting a load of laundry, she clapped her hands together in accomplishment and looked at the clock. Wow it was already 7:30 p.m. Hopefully Natsu would be returning soon. She was starving and had already eaten the other half of her sleeve of crackers.

…

Natsu felt exhausted. He didn't sleep very well or long last night and the lack of sleep made his eyes twitch uncomfortably. Also it made dealing with Gajeel even more annoying than usual. Natsu had no patience to deal with his taunts and jokes so he mostly stayed quiet the whole shift, making sure to use the few working brain cells he had left to focus on work. He yawned as he looked at the clock. Yes 7 o'clock. Quitting time. He quickly clocked out, mutter a goodbye to Gajeel and jumped on his motorcycle to zoom straight home. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to turn on some music for the ride home when he saw he had a text message from a contact labeled 'Sexy bakery girl/.

"Need you tonight."

He smiled at the memory of meeting the beautiful brunette girl in the bakery section of the grocery store that one day. She was an absolute freak in bed and that was the only reason he kept her in his contacts. Even with his exhaustion eating away at him all day, he perked up at the thought of a nice tumble in the sheets. He had been extremely horny lately and needed to get laid soon. It had been about 2 weeks since his last encounter with the opposite sex and that was 2 weeks too long.

"Pick you up at the usual place." he texted back with a smirk. He threw his helmet on and zoomed off to pick up his stress reliever for the night.

They had barely gotten off of his motorcycle before she was running her hands underneath his shirt, practically drooling as her hands smoothed over his muscles. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to fiercely kiss him as they made their way to the stairwell. Natsu let out a small moan when she bit into the tender flesh of his neck and he pushed her up against the guard rail of the stairs as he began to let his hands wander her body. Wanting to seal the space in between them, she wrapped a leg around his torso, pulling him closer to her. He heavily breathed out as he felt how hot she felt against his groin. She let out a small yelp as he quickly picked her up and wrapped her other leg around his torso, and with his left had full of her plump behind and his right on the guard rail, he began to ascend the stairs. He let out a string of curses as he fiddled with his keys as he tried to find the lock on the door. She was groaned loudly into his ear when he finally pushed the door open and used her body to slam it shut behind them.

Quickly, he slipped out of his shoes and started to blindly feel around his dark apartment for a flat surface to set the moaning mess clinging onto him. When his thighs met a solid surface, he made she it was solid before setting the brunette down as he swiped everything off the surface of what appeared to be a table. He shed his shirt and began to fidget with his belt while she threw off her top exposing her sexy black bra. Natsu trailed sloppy kisses down her neck to the valley of her breasts, all while pushing up her tight black skirt around her waist so he could pull down her underwear. He tossed the soaked lacey mess behind him and went to pull down his boxers when the living room lights came on, blinding him. A gasp caught his attention and he turned to see a familiar blonde standing in the hallway of his apartment. She was tomato red and began sputtering nonsense.

"I'm sorry!" she managed to squeak out before turning to high tail it back to Natsu's room.

"Wait! Lucy!" he yelled as he chased her.

"Go away! Forget I'm here!" she yelled as he grabbed a hold of her arm.

"I can't just forget that- hold on a sec!" he replied with annoyance. She manged to rip her arm from his hold and turned to jump onto his bed and hide under the covers when it happened. In slo-mo, Natsu stepped on the edge of Lucy's pants and the perfect knot she tied became undone as her pants fell to the floor and she went tumbling forward. She managed to catch herself on the edge of his bed but went sliding forward as he collided into her bare behind. Trying to avoid falling full force onto the girl, he grabbed her waist with one hand and braced the other hand on the bed. He let out a groan as the blonde underneath him gasped and arched back, pushing her butt into his stiff member. She let out a breathy cry and he let out a gasped choke.

"What the fuck is going on?" asked a voice from behind them.
"It's not what you think!" Natsu yelled, turning around with his hands up. "It was an accident and this is all a misunderstanding!"

Lucy quickly scrambled up and tossed Natsu's sheets over her practically naked bottom half She grasped them tightly to her body as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.
"An accident?" The brunette echoed. "Misunderstanding? Explain! Explain to me why this blonde bimbo is in your apartment!"

Lucy's eyes shot to the brunette as she stared at her in disbelief. This girl was calling HER a bimbo. She angrily puffed her cheeks before opening her mouth but someone beat her to the punch.

"First of all. Lucy isn't a bimbo. She's a prude." Natsu corrected. "Second, I don't need to explain anything to you. You're not my girlfriend."

The brunette seemed to swell with anger at his words and she gave Lucy the death glare. That's when something even more angering caught her eye.

"You're engaged?!" shouted the brunette. "You cheating SCUMBAG! I'm leaving! UGH!"

"Engaged?" Natsu echoed in confusion. He looked down at Lucy and choked on his spit when he saw the gaudy diamond on her finger. She was engaged? How did he not see that ring before? He shook his head and went after the brunette stomping out of his apartment.

"So, see you next week?" he asked before getting the front door slammed in his face."I'll take that as a no."

He sighed and rummaged around his jacket on the floor for his cigarettes. Taking one out and lighting it up quickly he threw himself on the couch and gazed up at the ceiling. It wasn't long before he could feel a pair of eyes staring at him from the hallway.

"You got a lot of explaining to do." he said rather calmly, which unnerved her. She whimpered as she shyly walked into the living room. She stood in front of him and focused on watching herself twiddle her thumbs instead of his almost naked body in front of her. "Go ahead, Blondie. You have the floor."

"I- I don't know what to say." she stuttered out.

"Maybe start by explaining why you didn't pawn that ring to get money to stay in a hotel." he suggested.

"I didn't know I could do that." she said, looking down at her feet. "To tell you the truth, I didn't even realize it was still on."

"How can you forget having a diamond that BIG on your finger?" he sat up, pointing to the ring. She just shrugged at his question which made him groan. "First thing tomorrow, we are pawning that ring and you are getting the hell out of here."

She just nodded her head in reply, not wanting to anger him. He let out a loud sigh as he slumped back into the couches cushions and took a deep drag of his cigarette. She took a seat on the couch as fall away from him as possible and curled up into a little ball. He felt bad for her but his easy going bachelor life was getting complicated with her here. It was that apparent from her staying 1 day. He took another hit and let his eyes wander the room. Surprise hit him when he saw his living room because he could actually SEE it. Everything was tidy and clean except for the dishes on the ground that he was assuming were on the table before he came in knocking things around.

"Did you… Did you clean up while I was at work?" he asked, turning to the blonde. Without lifting her head to look at him she quickly nodded. "Wow! I forgot what my apartment looked like."

He got up of the couch and began to wander around, looking at all the stuff he didn't remember having.

"Look I have a lamp!" he said with excitement. "But it doesn't have a shade."

"I couldn't find one." she said with a hoarse voice, as she looked at him with red eyes.

"You know… I think Cana took off with it when I had a party a few months ago." he remembered. "She was wearing it like a hat all night. It was hilarious!"

He laughed as he told a funny story from that night and Lucy listened, a small smile forming on her lips.

"And that's why I can't stomach tequila anymore." he laughed out. Right as his story ended, a loud grumbling sound filled the room. He looked at Lucy with wide eyes and she blushed as she held her stomach and looked away from him. "Have you eaten at all today?"

"I found a sleeve of crackers on top of your fridge this morning and ate those. I guess it wasn't enough." she replied back, her stomach growling even louder.

"You cleaned my entire living room only fueled by a sleeve of crackers?" he asked in amazement. "I would have died by hunger pains."

She shrugged again and he looked at her in amazement.

"How about I order us pizza for dinner?" he asked her. Her eyes lit up at the offer of food and she quickly nodded. She didn't know what this 'pizza' was but as long as it satisfied her hunger it was all she needed to know. "I'll call them."

He stood up off the couch and searched through his phone for the pizza place number. Once he found it, he hit the call button and it began to ring and he shuffled around the living room trying to put his pants back on.

"Yeah, I'd like to place a delivery order. Last name Dragneel. Yeah that's the address. I need a large pepperoni, half of it with jalapenos on it, an order of breadsticks and a 2 liter of Sprite. Yep, yeah just charge to the card on file. 15 minutes? Okay, thank you." Natsu replied, hanging up the phone. He slipped his phone into his pocket and gave them one last yank up so that he could button them. Turning around he found that the blonde was not on the couch anymore but sitting on the ground by the table, picking up dishes from the ground. He quickly knelt down to help her and she whispered a thank you as he handed her dishes. She stood up from the ground, dishes in her arms and walked to the kitchen to put them in the sink to be washed later.

"Aren't those clean?" Natsu asked, pointing to the dishes.

"Well they were touching someone's rear and then they fell on the floor." she stated, going back to the table with a soapy rag in hand.

"A little dirt don't hurt." he shrugged, which she replied with a face of disgust. She quickly wiped the table off and returned the rag to its place by the sink. Grabbing a paper towel, she went back to the living room to pick up the fresh pair of panties laying in the middle of the floor. Making sure not to touch it with her bare hands, she gently wrapped the panties in the paper towel and darted back to the kitchen and chuck them in the trash.

"You could have touched them you know. They aren't going to burn you." he said with a raised brow.

"That's disgusting. Why would I want to touch someone else's underwear?" she asked.

"I touched them and I'm fine!" he said, waving his hands in the air. "I've touched a lot of them and I'm still alive to tell the tale."
"I know." she nodded. "I found 6 other pairs today."

"6?" Natsu echoed with wide eyes. "Wow. I'm losing my touch. Do you want to be number 8?"

He smirked and put his hands in the air and made a grabbing motion.

"N-no!" she squeaked, dashing off into the kitchen, the pink haired man quickly on her tail. She let out a screech as he picked her up and placed her on the kitchen counter. "Put me down!"

"Would you hold on a second Lucy! I'm not gonna hurt you I promise!" he said, putting his hands on her thighs. "Let me help you with something!"

She froze as he went in between her legs and leaned forward into her body. His right arm snaked behind her as the left stayed glued to her thigh. He emerged 2 seconds later with a pair of scissors in his hand.

"What are you going to do with that?" she gulped.

"To avoid another collision." he simply said, before ducking down to her feet. She peered down at him as he grabbed her pant leg and began snipping off fabric. Lucy stayed perfectly still as he moved to the other leg. "See? All done!"

She smiled at his crooked handy work. She could see her feet now! Going back in between her legs, she relaxed, knowing he was putting the scissors away behind her. He leaned back to look at her in the eyes, their faces only inches apart. She could feel his cool breath on her heated cheeks.

"Looks like someone double knotted this time." he said, giving the bow on the front of her pajama pants a small yank. "Poor thing is locked up tighter than a prison."

She choked on the air at the thought of his fingers being so close to her private area. He placed his hands on either side of her body, caging her in. He seemed to be getting closer until a knock at the door startled both of them.

"Pizzas here." he smiled, backing away as if nothing happened. Natsu held out a hand, which she took as she hopped off the counter. He left her there as he went to answer the door. He thanked the delivery guy, giving him a tip from his wallet before closing the door. "Hope you like pepperoni."

She hoped so too. Although, honestly she would eat anything at this point in her starvation. Lucy watched as he set down the pile of boxes on the table and begin opening them. Everything looked so GOOD and smelled heavenly. Natsu grabbed a slice of pepperoni and jalapeno and stuck it in his mouth as he made his way to the kitchen to grab two cups for the soda. He set down his slice in the empty part of the box as he unscrewed the cap of the soda and poured some into both cups. He offered a cup to Lucy and she took the clear fizzy drink and held it to her lips. She took a small sip and immediately began to cough. She's never encountered anything fizzy before. At the estate, she only drank water and hot tea. Natsu watched carefully to make sure she didn't choke but thankfully she recovered quickly. Taking another sip, she tried not to let the bubbles tickle her nose and really paid attention to the flavor. It was sweet and crisp with hints of lemon and lime. It was actually quite tasty. She took a big gulp as she made eye contact with Natsu which sent her into another choking fit.

"Aren't you gonna have some?" he asked, picking up another slice of his slide of the pizza.

"Yes, I just um… I pick it up with my hands?" she asked, placing a finger on her mouth.

"Yeah?" he responded confused. "Haven't you ever had pizza?"

She shook her head in response.

"Never?" he gaped.

"Never." she replied.

"Wow." he said in astonishment. "Just pick it up in your hands like I am and that's how you eat it."

"I don't need utensils?" she asked. "Won't my hands get dirty?"

"That's part of the enjoyment." he smiled, taking another bite of the tasty pizza.

"If you say so." she said, sounding unsure. She used both her hands to take a slice of pizza and juggled the big slice awkwardly in her hands. Natsu held his slice up and took another bite and she mimicked the same motions. She let out a moan as flavors exploded in her mouth. Bread, sauce, garlic, cheese and meat made a heavenly combination.

"You like it?" he asked, breaking off a bread stick and dunking it in a tub of red sauce.

"I love it!" she said, taking a huge bite. Her toes curled at all the flavors swirling in her mouth and her stomach practically threw a parade for the food that was now going down into it.

"Try this." he said, dunking a bread stick in red sauce and offering her a bite. She hesitantly leaned forward and took a bite. The bit was too big for her and made red sauce go all over her lips but it was worth it when she started to chew. This bread was extra garlicy and had a cheese that gave it a nice saltiness. She moaned at the taste because this too was so tasty. Lucy froze as a thumb ran over her lips. Natsu swiped the sauce off her lips and stuck his tongue out to lick it off. "It's good huh?"

She nodded slowly, a blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Napkin!" she said, quickly. "Is there a napkin?"

"Here you go." he replied, sliding a stack of paper napkins in her direction. "If you're worried about the sauce, don't worry I got it all off."

"Um… thank you." she muffled from behind a napkin. She willed her blush to go away as she quickly wiped her mouth and went for another slice but she couldn't get her heart to stop beating so rapidly.