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"A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark."
-Dante Alighieri
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Ignite
Chapter #3: Spark
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He really didn't like that smirk that Gray gave him when the ice mage decided to occupy the seat next to him. It looked way too smug and held the promise of endless teasing. However, when several moments passed and the ice mage had merely nursed his frosted glass, Natsu allowed himself to relax.
He should have known better.
"Honey and cinnamon huh? Gotta give you points for originality."
Natsu's face flamed, a look of horror and embarrassment (and horror) dominating his features. "What?" He wheezed, trying to play it off as bafflement instead of the very real panic he was feeling. "What are you talking about?" That's right, if he just denied everything then maybe it would all go away.
Gray chuckled, sipping on his drink - whiskey judging by the smell. "Don't play stupid. The whole guild knows about it by now." He slanted the dragon slayer a look that clearly said he was enjoying every ounce of Natsu's discomfort. "Next time you decide to go all lovey dovey you should make sure Mira isn't in hearing range."
No.
Not Mira.
Shit that meant the entire guild probably did know. That's why everyone was giving him that creepy smile for the past few days! "I-it wasn't like that!" he sputtered, "I was just answering her question!" He knew the embarrassed flush he could feel warming his cheeks was not helping his case. Thank Mavis Happy was on the other side of the hall chatting up Charle, his blue buddy would never let him hear the end of it. As it was, he could still hear the cat's drawn out 'you liiiiiiike her' bouncing around his skull.
"Sure," Gray drawled, "Whatever you say Flame Brain." His grin turned down right teasing. "Just make sure you pop some major breath mints before you go shoving your tongue down her throat."
Natsu wrinkled his nose, deciding to ignore the jab for now and focus on the more important question that was suddenly plaguing his brain with incredibly awkward visuals. "Why would I want to stick my tongue down her throat?" Seriously, that just sounded uncomfortable. And awkward. Was that even physically possible? He didn't think his tongue was that long ...
The ice mage's amused chuckle quickly fell into a blank, almost disappointed stare. "Wait, you're serious?" When the dragon slayer's expression remained the same, Gray groaned. "Dude. You seriously need to get laid."
Embarressed and still confused (because damn it who in their right mind would find getting a tongue getting shoved down their throat arousing?) the demon slayer snapped, "Shut up!" Natsu pointed at the ice mage accusingly. "It's not like you would know anyway!"
The cool, collected look quickly slipped off Gray's face. "Of course I do!"
Natsu snorted, leaning his cheek on his fist as he turned the table on his icy friend with vindictive pleasure. "Liar! I'd know if you were!" He pointed at his nose cockily. "The nose knows."
Gray glowered at him. "You know that's totally disgusting right?"
"Is not!" The dragon slayer bristled. "You're just jealous of my mad skills!"
"Why the hell would I be jealous of that!" He sputtered, slamming his glass on the bar. Some of his whiskey sloshed over the rim and onto the lacquered surface.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Natsu leaned back in his chair. "Because. I know stuff you don't."
"Whatever," he sneered, but his eyebrow was still exhibiting an aggravated tick. "What good is knowing who's screwed each other if you don't even know what it's like to kiss a girl?"
Before he could come up with a scathing retort, Mirajane piped up from behind the bar, all innocent curiosity. "What are you guys talking about?" Natsu glowered at her, intent on telling her exactly how displeased he was with the rumor she'd been fueling when Gray beat him to it.
"Apparently Natsu's super nose can tell who's been screwing with who." There was a sadistic smile on Gray's face, one that promised ill-gotten revenge.
Mira's pale hands suddenly paused in drying the beer mug and Natsu decided that he definitely did not like the conniving look in her eye. "Is that so?" she asked, voice so sugary sweet it made his teeth ache.
Swallowing the bundle of nervous energy that had magically congealed in the back of his throat, Natsu scratched the back of his head in hopes of faking some sense of composure. "U-uh, yeah. That's right."
She set the neglected mug on the counter and leaned forward, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Spill."
"W-what?!" He couldn't do that! The guild would murder him. Besides, it wasn't any one's business but their - wait. He blinked and took another deep breath to confirm before his face twisted in distaste. The smell of lightening and molten earth (and other stuff that did not belong to Mirajane) was covering her like a second skin."Gross! Since when did you and -"
Her hand immediately slapped over his mouth, successfully cutting him off. The demonic energy that swirled around her and sharpened her eyes into barely concealed threats made a shiver race down his spine. "Not. One. More. Word." Nodding enthusiastically, because he wasn't a moron, she promptly removed her hand and sighed. Grabbing her dish towel she gave him a pointed look. "We will continue this conversation later."
Gray, suddenly seeing some merit to Natsu's special super power, looked between the two of them. "Wait!" He looked at the dragon slayer with an annoyed frown. "What the hell were you about to say!?"
A withering glance from Mira made him shrink in his chair. "Uh ... I forgot?"
The pale haired woman gave an approving smile. "Smart boy." If he pretended that she didn't just praise him like a dog, Natsu could almost take that as a compliment.
Gray rolled his eyes, apparently unwilling to put any more energy into hearing the juicy bit of gossip. Still, Natsu could see the curiosity still lingered in his gaze as the ice mage eyed the beautiful bartender thoughtfully and it made the pink haired man smirk. Maybe that would teach Frosty a lesson or two about calling his sense of smell 'disgusting'.
Mira smiled sweetly, her hands once again busying themselves with glassware before someone at the other end of the bar called her over. With one parting (warning) look at Natsu, she chimed "Coming!" before leaving the two mages to their own devices.
Before either of them could start another fight, Natsu heard the guild door open and immediately turned to investigate in hopes of finding a golden haired celestial mage in the doorway. He wasn't disappointed.
The first thing he noticed was that she seemed to be in a good mood, all bright smiles and happy waves as she made her way between tables and to the bar. The second thing he noticed was that she hadn't worn any perfume, the scent that wafted off her was all Lucy - that honey, cinnamon, and other stuff that had quickly become ammunition against him. Still, for some reason it made him happy despite the hell it had caused him earlier.
The third thing was the most baffling. She was wearing a strapless white summer dress that had a yellow satin tie cinching around her waist and drew even more attention to how curvy her body was. Her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders instead of the pigtails that had been her hairstyle of choice recently. A silver bracelet was shimmering on her wrist and, looking closer, Natsu realized that it matched the dangled earrings that were peaking behind her hair. She didn't usually wear that kind of stuff. Not to the guild hall anyway. She definitely didn't normally wear her nice jewelry."Hey Natsu! Gray!" She plopped herself in the seat on the other side of him, the one that had kinda unofficially been proclaimed as hers. "So..." she drawled, sweet and full of implication. "You guys wanna go on a mission with me?"
Gray chuckled. "Let me guess. You need rent money?"
Lucy gave a sheepish grin to save face from the mortifying desperation she was no doubt feeling. "That... might have something to do with it."
"Happy and I will go with you, Luce!" Natsu exclaimed. It seemed like it had been forever since they took a good mission. Forever being three weeks ago, when they had gone up against that sand mage and Lucy had run her hand-
Right. Best not to think about that right now.
Gray's smooth voice filled his ears. "Sorry Lucy, think I'll pass this time." The ice mage sent him that same teasing look he had come in with, "I'm sure you two will be just fine on your own."
Natsu immediately frowned, "But there's three of us." Seriously, did he have icicles in his ears or something? He had just said Happy would come too.
Gray looked at him for a moment, and the dragon slayer got the sense that the dark haired man had completely given up on him. Though what he had failed at completely escaped him. "Right ... " He nodded to the eldest Strauss sibling toward the other end of the bar. "Hey, Mira?" When he got the pretty blue eyed mage's attention he held up his empty glass. "Mind serving me another? And maybe ten more after that?"
Lucy shot the dark haired male an annoyed look that Natsu didn't understand. A moment later she was shaking her head and turning her attention back to the dragon slayer. "Well, I'll go ask Erza if she wants to come -"
"No!" Natsu voiced, on the verge of panic. The last thing he needed was to be traveling with Erza when she was in full blown rage stage. The temperamental red head would no doubt maim him at least once over if they were forced together for so long.
Lucy frowned. "Why?"
Luckily the ice mage answered for him, with words that were a lot more eloquently put than his own would have been. "Er, she's in a bit of a mood. Might want to just steer clear," Gray answered in a lowered voice. It was true enough. She had nearly decapitated Elfman for bumping into her earlier that morning and Natsu suspected that no amount of strawberry cake would curb her homicidal tendencies this time around.
"Oh," the blondes eyes quickly landed on the scarlet haired woman across the hall before frowning sympathetically. "Must be that time ..." she mumbled, too low for the ice mage or anyone else to have heard but loud enough for Natsu to have picked it up quite clearly.
He almost choked on his own spit.
How the hell did women know that kind of stuff without smell?
"Ok," she chirped, suddenly all smiles. "I guess it will just be the three of us again, eh Natsu? I already got the perfect mission for us!" He opened his mouth to complain, because there had been a posting that had looked really cool, but she cut him off with a sharp glare. "Don't even Natsu! You said I could choose the next one! Remember? You promised!"
Crap. He forgot about that. Well, a promise was a promise ... but still. "Damn it." Maybe he could convince her to take the one he wanted? "Well, did you see that one posting for the giant spider extermination? That would be a really awesome one, don't you think?" Way awesome. Like, giant-spider-on-fire awesome.
She gave him a level look that clearly said she wasn't the least bit impressed with his attempt to convince her. "No. That actually sounds completely aweful.
"Fine," he whined. That spider mission had sounded super fun, he wasn't sure why Lucy didn't see the appeal. "Let me just go grab Happy and we can head out."
"No!" she said quickly, voice a bit louder than she intended judging by the way she quickly shrank under all the stares she was suddenly getting. "Um, that is, tonight isn't good for me. How about tomorrow morning instead? That will give us plenty of time to pack and, you know, pack."
Natsu tilted his head, watching her curiously. Why was her face turning all red? "Ok, sure. Happy and I will come grab you in the morning then."
She smiled brightly at him. "Sounds great! I figure we can catch the 10:30 train, so be at my place at 10 ok?"
His curiosity towards her changing complexion vanished the moment his turned unnaturally green. "The train?! Why does there have to be a train? We can just walk!"
"Nope," she chirped, "My mission. My way. We are taking the train." She glanced at the clock and, before Natsu could even attempt to change her mind, gasped. "Shoot! I gotta go!" She gave him a wave, already making her way to the exit. "See you tomorrow Natsu! Don't be late!"
Mira, arriving with Gray's whiskey, giggled as she watched the blonde leave and close the door behind her. "Well doesn't she just look adorable? I bet she has a date tonight!"
His head snapped to look a the the take over mage, confusion written all over his face. "Date?" Natsu echoed, the word tasting unusually bitter on his tongue. Was that why she didn't want to leave until tomorrow? But, why would Lucy want to go on a stupid date with some guy instead of going on a mission with him and Happy?
An, increasingly familiar, gleam was sharpening Gray's eyes. "Wow, good for her." He casually swirled the amber liquid in his glass. "Wonder if she'll kiss the guy?"
Kiss?
Mirajane, either completely oblivious or totally in on the ice mage's deliberate attempt to get under Natsu's skin, sighed. "That would be romantic, wouldn't it?"
Somehow, the thought of shoving his tongue down Lucy's throat wasn't quite so unappealing anymore. The thought of someone else's mouth any where near her lips, her skin, made his stomach turn uncomfortably for the rest of the day. When Happy asked about it, Natsu lied and said it must have been a bad fish.
AN: I've been so inspired by all you're lovely reviews that I decided to release this one a bit earlier than I originally intended. Everyone has been so very supportive and encouraging!
I already have a lot of chapters started, and it looks like we will be looking at around 16-20 chapters total. It will have two parts: this first part is geared towards Natsu's perpective and the second will be geared towards Lucy's. I have a couple other ideas for some AU NaLu too that have been started (that have no guarantee of going anywhere so please don't get your hopes up). Once I get a clearer idea of where I want them to go (and if I want them to go) I will be sure to let you know.
I also want to just make a little side note about the whole "shoving his tongue down her throat" thing. Just to be clear, Natsu knows about french kissing. He is just oblivious that when Gray says to "shove his tongue down her throat" he doesn't mean it in a literal sense. Because really, if you think about it in a literal sense the whole thing would be kinda awkward. Lol.
As always, please tell me what you think!