Lucy would never understand how Natsu always kept so warm, even in winter. Even as the first snowfall of the season quickly turned to a heavy flurry of thick flakes, Natsu was glowing like embers in an old campfire.
They still laid on the shop rooftop, and they could have stayed there for hours longer, especially is the weather hadn't been so cruel. Natsu didn't seem to mind and Lucy made do with laying on top of Natsu and piling the blankets on top of her.
"I'm not making you too hot, am I?" Lucy looked down at Natsu with an inquisitive gaze. If needed, she'd shed a couple blankets. Better to be cold and with Natsu than warm and sitting just nearhim.
He shook his head from side to side very slowly. "But I'm always hot for you, though."
Lucy made a posh gagging noise from the back of her throat just to make it apparent that his jokes truly were awful. He just wiggled beneath her, his arms tangling with hers in a generous 'I could hit you harder but I'm letting you win' type of play. "How cheesy."
Natsu scoffed. "I happen to love cheese."
Lucy didn't bother saying anything else; when Natsu spoke too much it was her job to balance the scales. It was her duty to lay on his chest, arms crossed over the slate of his pectorals and her chin rested on her wrists to look at him. A smile quirked up at the corner of her mouth at the notice of a little double chin from such an angle.
Feelings their legs writhe together beneath the sleeping bags and makeshift bedding brought to Lucy's attention that throughout their sexual encounters, they had never done it properly. It was a favor for him or a favor for her, but true consummation had yet to happen.
She picked her head up a little and traced her hand along the shirt on Natsu's torso, feeling the fabric beneath her frozen fingers. Even with what Lucy had gone through in the past, she always considered herself a virgin.
Just one man who enjoyed her body did not take her virginity. No, not in Lucy's mind. She had convinced herself that no man could take her virginity against her will. That man was just a man who had hurt her and nothing more. Nothing of hers belonged to him - certainly not her innocence.
Lucy had plenty of purity still within her. She was a virgin of dates until Natsu came along and took her out. She was a virgin of romance until Natsu pressed his lips on hers. She was a virgin of sensuality until Natsu laid with her and held her and nothing more. Natsu had already taken more of Lucy than any man ever could.
"Why are you smiling?" Natsu picked his head up a little bit, ears red and not from the cold. "Can you see up my nose or something?"
The blonde leaned forward, an instantly calming motion that led Natsu to lay his head back down. Her head tilted towards his own, nose brushing on his, smile impossibly wide. Her finger poked his jaw, her voice a whisper. "I can see your double chin."
Natsu took a moment to take it in. Silence before: "Impressive, right? If you get Erza to feed me again then I can show you at least two more."
Lucy nodded her head firmly. "A quadruple chin would certainly be off the charts."
With that, Natsu wiggled a bit to sit up, Lucy pushing up to lean back on her knees as well. She stretched a bit, feeling revived and refreshed from a two hour nap even though she never slept. Natsu grabbed the blanket nearest to him and rolled it up. "Let's go then, I'm getting hungry."
"Didn't you bring food?" The blonde reached over to the mini cooler set to the side. Before she could peek in, Natsu gave her the eyes of a dog who just peed on the carpet. "I never even saw you eat any of it, when-"
Natsu looked away from her and kept folding. "I have my talents."
After finding out the heating in Gray's apartment had broken, the band of misfits had decided to go to Erza's. Lucy, of course, was much too sterile to let so many people in her house at once, and Natsu had too much of a mess to have so many people get through his front door.
Despite the lack of heating in Gray's apartment, Natsu and Lucy still found him wearing nothing but jeans and a ROTC t-shirt upon arriving at Erza's. It was odd to see how tan his skin looked when compared to actual snow. And here Lucy thought he would blend right in.
Emily jumped into Lucy's arms before she could even finish taking her coat off. "Hey, kiddo." She shut her eyes tightly as she felt the little girl press her lips to her cheek. An affectionate gesture, yet grotesque. Children and bacteria were as good of a couple as Gray and one dollar bills.
"ROTC, huh?" Lucy shifted Emily's weight in her arms before deciding it would be a better idea to put her down rather than drop her. "I never knew you for a military brat."
Gray looked down the ROTC label on the left pectoral of his shirt before shrugging. "It was only a training class in high school. I grew up in the suburbs kid, it's not like I learned how to fight on the streets."
He nudged Lucy's shoulder with his, giving her his devilishly mischievous smile. She shook her head before turning to Jellal. His arms slid around her torso in a friendly hug, and she tried her best to wrap her arms stiffly around his body in return.
"It's good to see you again." The blue haired male smiled warmly at her. How a father like that could ever have been in jail, Lucy didn't know, unfortunately; she wanted every little detail.
Lucy shrugged her coat off her shoulders before draping it over her forearms, too timid to ask where to hang it up. "It is. How have you been?"
Jellal sighed, his body swaying a bit as a very energetic Emily tugged at his arm. "I'm about to lose my mind if I have to stay in this house any longer but I'm making it. You?"
She gave her best attempt at a modest smile before laughing. "I'm doing good." Talking about her fear of yicky-icky stuff felt wrong compared to house arrest.
"Alright, we're going to bed." Jellal scooped up his daughter. Emily had protested, but Lucy heard him reminding her that she had school tomorrow and that mommy wanted to play with her friends as he went down the hall to Emily's room.
Erza nudged the refrigerator door closed, balancing four empty glasses in one hand and a bottle of boxed wine in the other. "The wine is boxxed and the glasses are not glass but a shiny plastic. No judgement, children are expensive." She spoke the disclaimer with a smile as she sat on the living room floor, cross-legged, and they followed.
Lucy had been sure Erza was the only one old enough to drink. Natsu and Gray were the same age, and Natsu was surely had never drank alcohol around her before. They all took a cup regardless; Lucy curled up on the floor against the couch, cradling her glass.
"It's good to see Gray is looking a little less black and blue today." Erza sighed in a motherly tone just shy of judgmental about his habit of getting into fist fights.
The raven haired man stretched his legs out and downed a few gulps in one go. "I heal quickly. My body is a wondrous place." He winked slyly.
Erza scoffed before dipping her finger in the liquid and flicking it at him. "Perv."
"Yes, but-" Gray sat up straight, slouching over casually as he sloshed around the alcohol in his hands, "-I was not the perv who trapped a girl on a rooftop with me all afternoon."
Natsu coughed and sputtered a bit after fumbling over Gray's words. "First of all, it was awesome and this is the reason why you're single, because you have no sense of romance, and-" he turned to Lucy with a pitiful face, "-must you tell our friends everything?"
The blonde simply shrugged, hiding her smile behind her wineglass. "I can't help it. Gray is just so in touch with his emotions that he makes confiding in him easy-"
"Hey," Gray's foot reached out to kick Lucy's, "watch it with the sarcasm, blondie."
She shrugged innocently yet again, lips forming a familiar grin. Erza chimed in with an airy voice, "Ah yes, a sensible and open Gray. A creature no one in any realm has ever heard of."
"Maybe we will find that mystical and kind creature one day." Natsu sighed. "But for now we're stuck with cranky Gray."
Gray chugged the last of his wine before whipping the plastic cup at Natsu. "Can we change the subject, please? I'm not feeling the gang-up-on-Gray session."
"Fine, fine..." Erza's velvety voice trailed off, delicate finger running along the rim of her cup. She looked very elegant in a way, like a woman who shouldn't be holed up in an apartment but in a three-story manor instead. "After all the holidays are coming up soon. Seeing as Jellal can't leave for our usual winter vacation, we were hoping we could have a day to spend with you guys."
Lucy had never thought she would be spending her holiday vacations with a married couple and their kid, her boyfriend, and her stripper best friend. Things had a funny way of working out like that. "Actually I'm leaving for winter vacation."
She had no idea why she blurted that out. She had no family to go to, definitely no friends back at home. Lucy was used to spending Christmas on the couch and watching the ball drop on New Year's from the comfort of her own room. A party was out of place, uncomfortable. It made her skin crawl.
Natsu set his hand on the floor, resting his palm on top of the back of her hand in a small yet affectionate gesture. "Where are you going?"
"Well, there's - there's this astronomy program, it's f-for students to travel abroad." Lucy adjusted her position a bit, yet her embarrassment had already sunk in. Rejecting social invitations had just become such a habit. "There's this summer chance to study in Hawaii, too, but for winter break it's a lot shorter trip."
Please don't ask where, please don't ask-
Erza's chest deflated with a pitiful humph. "Too bad. I was really hoping you'd be a part of the gift exchange this year. It's usually very~ fun." She pushed herself to her feet to discard grab the boxed wine and try to shake out the last of it.
"That does sound fun." Lucy noted aloud. Her face was frozen in a polite smile, trying her best not to falter.
No one brought up how sad they were that Lucy wouldn't be there to join them for the rest of the night. The conservation digressed to the ridiculous dragon onesie that Gray bought Natsu in the Secret Santa project last year, and all was forgotten.
Hours passed, Emily was fast asleep, and Jellal was sitting on the couch above Erza on the floor. Slightly buzzed and tired as ever, Natsu and Lucy helped each other stand to say goodbye. Gray was the first to leave, saying few parting words and grabbing a beer from the fridge before walking out.
"Thanks for having us over." Lucy waved shyly at Jellal from the couch. The bags under his eyes matched the color of his hair, yet he managed a wide smile and a wave goodbye as well.
Natsu was still finishing Erza's orders of cleaning up when she cornered Lucy. "It's a shame you can't hang out with us at all this year." Her smile was faint but genuine.
Her toned arms crossed over her chest and suddenly Erza's voice went lower. "We're a family here, okay? Those guys are my brothers. I understand if there is something keeping you distant from us, but we're always here to welcome a new member of the family."
Lucy's mouth parted to reply, but she found no words to speak. Erza was a bloodhound when it came to sensing others' feelings, and Lucy couldn't be more grateful; the woman knew everything without Lucy having to explain it.
The blonde's voice was weak yet audible. "I might be able to manage a gift exchange or something."
That was when Erza smiled, her arms falling from around her chest to relieve herself of the matriarchal pose. The redhead pressed her lips together, nodded, and waved slightly. "I sure hope so. You'd make a fine sister."
It was corny, but the words made Lucy's cheeks hot with redness. "I'd be a part of a very odd family."
Erza chuckled. "Like we're from a fairy tale."
Nalu Lemon Novel
Exy Koroleva © 2016
Thank you for reading.
Some triggering scenes
to be included, so please
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