"Him? I can't believe you're in love with him."
"Shut up. At least I know my feelings."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Natsu's in love with you, you know, and all you two ever do is touch each other's butts."
"You're so immature."
"As are you."
"Why did I let you in here!" Lucy shouted in partial annoyance and partial laughter. She chucked the throw pillow at Gray over her head.
He managed to miss it just slightly. With a simple push of his hand, Gray smoothed his shaggy hair away from his eyes. "I'm irresistible to women." He cooed.
Lucy rolled her eyes at his hypnotic voice. "Yeah, a lotta good that does you." Her tongue poked out between her teeth childishly.
Unable to argue with that, Gray just shrugged and stuck his tongue out as well. "You know...Loke never hated me because I was gay."
Lucy was unsure if he was saying that to convince himself or her. It was Loke of all people-it would be less than a surprise if he did hate Gray for such a thing. "You don't think?"
Gray's lips twitched, the pale skin debating whether or not to smile or frown and somehow doing both in the process. "I told him I was gay before I had to courage to tell him I even liked him remotely. He seemed fine."
Feeling her own lips purse, Lucy bit down on them to hide her expressions. Her emotions had a habit of getting out of hand; it was easier to suppress them entirely. "Things aren't always what they seem."
Her nails picked at the cuticles of her fingers as she looked for any reason to distract herself from the topic of love. It was uncomfortable, and not in the germy way she was so used to; it was uncomfortable, uncharted, unknown territory. She couldn't spray some alcohol on it and clean it. Love was messier than anything.
"I just wish Natsu wasn't so protective over it." Gray refused to look at Lucy as she refused to look at him, both staring at their empty hands as if they were thinking about who possible could have been holding them. "It's nice, in a way, but-bothersome."
"He's trying." Lucy spoke quietly, her soft voice delving fifty shades more velvety and serene. "He tries so hard. I don't get it."
Gray sat up on the couch a little bit. Among a blur of dark hair and pale skin, Lucy looked at Gray as she caught him finally looking at her through her peripherals. "Some people care about other people a lot more than they care about themselves, you know?"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh softly. "You think Natsu doesn't care about himself?"
The other man just scoffed. "Have you seen the way he eats?"
Among the slight shaking of her stomach as she laughed, she found her shaky nerves to be calmed as Gray laid his head down on her lap. Her legs stopped fidgeting and kicking against his. Just a headful of long black hair cascaded over the tops of her thighs as Gray turned his body and used her lap for a pillow.
A couple gold flecks of glitter dotted Lucy's legs.
"You're getting glitter on my couch." Lucy said blankly. Her hands threaded through the mess of hair on his scalp.
Gray's shoulder's gave the weakest shrug. "It's a memento of me being here. You're welcome."
Her chest inflated and deflated subtly with the even breaths she took as Lucy laid her head on the backrest of the couch. You're an idiot, Lucy thought tiredly. Thank you.
He doesn't care about himself. The words repeated over again in Lucy's mind as she held the tray of food in her hands. Have you seen what he eats?
Natsu's head of pink hair caught her attention as soon as she stepped out onto the courtyard. He sat underneath the tree the larger boy with the headphones always used to sit under, but the blonde guy seemed to be AWOL today.
Natsu didn't even notice her until Lucy was right in front of him and beginning to sit down cross-legged on the grass in front of him. The cafeteria tray slid off her lap and onto the ground. "Afternoon." Lucy greeted warmly.
With a smile stretching ear to ear, Natsu nodded his head a little bit and made a subtle hap-tipping gesture. "M'lady." He cooed before looking down at the food she brought. He lit up like a lantern. "I forgot my money, you're like my guardian angel."
A sound just faintly louder than a giggle escaped Lucy's lips. "No problem. Here, I got you a burrito." Pulling the thin knit gloves off her hands, Lucy grabbed the foil-wrapped food and handed it to Natsu.
It was rather cold out still, nippy and harsh-winded, but nothing that would bother her too much. She heard the foil crackling as Natsu peeled it back and began to eat yet found trouble trying to pick up her own food.
It wasn't packaged. It wasn't her usual vending machine sandwich put together in a sanitary factory but clean workers and machines-even if it wasn't always that healthy. This was a normal burrito, made by sloppy, untrusted lunch ladies. But Natsu hadn't die yet, had he?
Lucy grabbed the burrito and picked at the edges of the wrapper to unfold it. Just as the edge of the tortilla began to peek out at her, Natsu made a retching noise.
"What, are you sick?" Lucy sat forward on her knees as Natsu coughed, his nose upturned in disgust. The pinkette just shook his head, but Lucy knew it had to be the untrustworthy, sickening lunch ladies.
"What is this?" Natsu composed himself just long enough to pry at his burrito and pull out a thin and green slice. "Is this...lettuce?"
Lucy leaned away from him. "Yes."
Natsu flicked the chopped up lettuce from his hand as he retched again. "I can't believe you tried to make me eat a vegetable." He breathed in deeply.
It was silent for a moment, a moment just long enough for Lucy to make up her mind on whether wanting to hit him or not. She grabbed the crumpled up tinfoil from his burrito and chucked it at his face. "Don't act like that over lettuce, you scared me!"
The other boy simply huffed, but he grabbed his burrito regardless. "I said thank you for the food, didn't I?"
The blonde shrugged. "You implied it." She corrected.
With lips slightly pursed, Natsu brought his burrito to his face again and quietly said, "Well, thanks."
Lucy nipped at the corner of her tortilla, pulling a sliver of it into her mouth. At least she couldn't taste germs, or she may be retching, too. "You're welcome."
Perhaps Natsu was a good enough distraction, but Lucy found herself not entirely wrapped around the idea of disgust and disease as she ate. She just stared at Natsu was a wry, half-smile as he ate, picking at and playing with his food like a child.
"Do you really want me to meet your family still?" Lucy asked after swallowing a lump of black beans and sour cream. It was decent considering it was cafeteria food.
Without looking at her, Natsu continued to pick the lettuce from his burrito as he said, "Actually, I want them to meet you. You're cooler than them, so I kinda just want to rub it in their face." He admitted. Despite the harsh words, Natsu was oblivious to the insults he had thrown. "But yeah. I really do."
Lucy set her burrito down on her lap. Her cheeks flushed with both pride and embarrassment at Natsu's explanation. "I want to. Having a family dinner sounds pretty nice."
Natsu paused everything he was doing. A lump appeared in his throat as he swallowed the bite of food that was sitting in his mouth. "Really? I mean, they can be a handful, so if you want to do something else we c-"
"How about tonight? If that's too early, I'm free this weekend." Lucy's chest opened up as she took a deep breath, her blood rushing through her veins as if just talking about having dinner was an adrenaline rush in itself.
Natsu was still silent, skeptical. He didn't believe she could handle it; Lucy didn't blame it. Regardless, she gave him a wider smile as he nodded his head simply and said, "No, no. I'll call them. Tell 'em we're coming over tonight."
Luckily, Natsu was an open spirit. He was spontaneous, which was much, much more than Lucy was. Having a dinner with an anchor like him would be a breeze, she hoped, she prayed.
"I'll come by your apartment when my next lecture is over." Lucy grabbed her burrito again, the half-eaten food looking ten times more appealing than it did five minutes ago. "It'll be nice."
Natsu stuffed the last bite of food in his mouth. Though Lucy smiled as she ate, she watched his eyes dart uneasily back and forth. But she knew he had no reason to worry; tonight would turn out great. She was drunk on good intentions.
Though even with her high hopes, the world had a habit of crushing them.
Nalu Lemon Novel
Exy Koroleva © 2016
Thank you for reading.
Some triggering scenes
to be included, so please
do not report. Comments
& votes are appreciated.