~ The Second Date ~

"Hey, Lucy," Natsu went.

"Hm?"

"Can we stop by The Tavern first?"

"Sure," she replied. "But where are we going today?"

Once Lucy had retrieved her coat from the school hall, she met up with Natsu by the front gate. There, she saw that he had actually brought a coat as well – though it was more like a jacket. It was red and he wore it with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms.

Anyway, when they met up by the front gate, Natsu nonchalantly took her hand and began walking. The girl didn't even have time to mentally prepare herself; suddenly she was walking down the street, hand in hand with the boy she liked. And to top it off, every single Fairy Tail Academy student around saw them leave together and they whispered to each other about it. Natsu didn't seem to notice them, but Lucy who was well aware blushed like crazy. Nevertheless, as they got further away from campus, the attention died down and Lucy was able to calm down – even though her heart hadn't stopped pattering in her chest since the moment Natsu took her hand.

"Actually I haven't decided where to go," Natsu said.

"Huh?"

"I just wanted to go somewhere with you, even if it's not anywhere special," he turned to her and smiled.

The girl felt her heart arrest for a split second when she saw his smile. This can't be good for my heart, she thought to herself.

"I just wanted to try going on a normal date. Are you angry?" He asked when she didn't reply.

"N-No," she answered. "But what's a 'normal date' anyway?" Then she looked down at her attire before glancing at his. "A uniform date?"

"Hah!" Natsu laughed.

At that moment, they arrived at The Tavern's wooden door and were greeted by a rush of warmth the moment Natsu opened it.

"Oh, hey, Natsu, Lucy. What's up?" Gildarts Clive casually greeted.

"Ah! Lucyyy!" Cana Alberona raised both hands excitedly, happily and half-drunkenly welcoming the blonde.

"Yo, Natsu!" "Lucy, long time no see!" "Welcome!" Some others yelled.

" 'sup guys, where's jii-chan?" Natsu returned their greetings.

"If you're looking for Master," Mirajane appeared at the bar. "He hasn't showed up yet."

"'Master'…?" Lucy was confused.

"Ah, didn't I tell you?" Natsu said. "Everyone here went to Fairy Tail."

"Eh– They're all alumni?!"

"Yup!" Natsu replied. "Well, never mind that jii-chan's not here–"

"Ahh–! The two of you are holding hands!" Mirajane squealed out of the blue.

"Eh–!?" Surprised by Mira's yell, Lucy tried to withdraw her hand but Natsu wouldn't have any of it. He caught her before she could slip away and tightened his grip. "W-Wait, Natsu…!" Lucy's cheeks flamed out of bashfulness.

"Are you two dating?" Cana asked.

But instead of answering her question, Natsu simply announced with the most slaphappy grin on his face, "I passed my final exams so we're going on a date today!"

"CONGRATULATIONS, NATSU!" "HUHHH– NATSU PASSED?!" "WOAH, HE REALLY DID IT!" Commotion erupted from everybody in the bar.

"Tadah–!" Natsu took his result slip from his bag and showed it off to everyone.

It was Cana who came up to confirm it. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw it was true. Then she winked at the blonde next to Natsu, "That's great huh, Lucy? You don't have to date an idiot."

"OI!" Natsu retorted.

"W-Well…" Lucy wondered about that.

"In any case," Gildarts butted in. "This calls for a celebration! Order anything you like, Natsu, Lucy – it's on the house!"

"Nah, I only came here to show you guys my results!" Natsu said.

"What? You're not staying?" The middle-aged bar owner said.

"If I stay any longer, she's gonna run away," the pink-head joked.

"I won't," Lucy pouted. "As if I could escape from your monster grip." She lifted the hand that was still holding his.

"Alright, you two are starting to nauseate me," Cana said in jest. "Hurry up and go already!"

Laughter rumbled in The Tavern.

"We're off!" Natsu said, and they both headed out the door.

"Have a great time!" Mirajane called after them.

"Ahh…" Cana sighed and took a swig of beer from her barrel. "I wish I had a boyfriend too."

After leaving The Tavern, Natsu and Lucy strolled aimlessly along the river, the crisp, wintry air cooling their cheeks as they walked hand in hand.

"Where should we go now?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm, anywhere you wanna go?"

She shook her blonde head.

"Then… first thing's first, since it's a normal date, how about we go watch a movie?" Natsu suggested.

"Okay."

And so, the two of them went to Magnolia City's seven-story mega mall. When they arrived at the box office, they looked at the movie selection.

"Oh, this! Let's watch this one, Lucy!" Natsu pointed excitedly to one of the posters. It had a really nasty looking alien on it and the movie looked like a gory horror movie.

"No way!" Lucy flat out refused. "It looks scary!" She didn't like horror movies.

"What! Why not?" Natsu whined. "It looks cool!"

"Definitely not!"

"Then which one do you want to watch?"

"Hmm… Maybe this?" Lucy pointed to one of the posters.

"What, is that a chick flick? It looks boring," Natsu narrowed his eyes at it. "Lucy, I never expected you to have such girly tastes in movies."

"Hah?! In case you didn't notice, I am a girl you know!"

"Okay, okay, but I'm not watching that," he said.

"Then what should we watch? Or should we do something else?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm…" Natsu looked around. "Ah! That!" He pointed to a huge display screen nearby. The trailer of an animated movie was playing.

"Oh!" A sparkle lit in her umber eyes as she watched the trailer; Lucy liked animation too.

"Let's watch that instead!" Natsu said excitedly.

"Yeah!" With an excitement that matched his, the blonde agreed.

When the movie was over, Natsu and Lucy exited the theatre. Lucy silently noted that Natsu never once let go of her hand throughout the movie.

"That was the funniest movie ever!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Yeah! Especially the part–"

"–where the memory cleaners randomly send up the commercial song?" He took her words right out of her mouth.

"Yeah, yeah! And that imaginary boyfriend!" Lucy added.

"Oooh, yeah, that was funny too! 'I would die for Riley!'" Natsu imitated him and Lucy burst out laughing again.

The girl wiped the corner of her eyes with her free hand. "Ahhh, I laughed until I cried," Lucy said.

"I laughed until my cheeks ache," Natsu replied.

"That was a really good movie."

"Yeah," Natsu nodded. "So what should we do now?"

"I dunno, shop?"

"Ok," he agreed readily.

"Really?" Lucy was taken by surprise because she thought guys usually avoided shopping with girls.

"Yeah, why not? That's what people normally do on a date right?"

With that, they browsed through the shops in the mall. However, the more they walked, the more Lucy realized how different their tastes were. Although Natsu followed her around, he wasn't the slightest bit interested in women's clothes or shoes or books. Then again, whenever Lucy followed Natsu into a shop of his choice, she found that she wasn't really interested in gadgets or games either. Still, neither of them really minded following each other around. After all, the most important thing was that they could spend time together.

Just then, they passed by a jewellery store and Lucy's expression lit up.

Did she see something that she likes? Natsu wondered.

"D'you wanna go in?" He asked.

But she shook her head.

"Why not?" Thinking that her response was a little unusual, Natsu looked back at that shop. Heart Kreuz? He read the shop's name in his head.

"That's the Heart Kreuz jewellery store. The one we went to earlier was the boutique," Lucy explained away his unspoken confusion.

"Then don't you want to take a look?"

"It's ok," Lucy said. "The Heart Kreuz boutique sells all sorts of clothes and accessories, but their jewellery store only sells one type of jewellery."

"One type?" He repeated with a questioning look on his face.

"Wedding rings," she said with a half-smile.

"Oh." Another time then, Natsu added in his head.

The pink-head then looked ahead again and was instantly distracted by another store.

"Lucy, Lucy! Let's go to that shop next!" He yelled like an excited little kid.

"Ehhh?" Figurines? The blonde protested weakly but allowed herself to be pulled along nonetheless.

"Uwaaaaah–!" Natsu marvelled at the main display when they entered the store. "It's the main heroine from this season's anime! I didn't know it was out already!"

"Well, I guess it's pretty," Lucy commented.

"Oh!" Natsu noticed a different one nearby and he dragged Lucy to that shelf. "Lucy, look at this one!"

"What are you doing, Natsu?!" She exclaimed when she saw the careless way he held the expensive figurine. She let go of his hand in a frenzy to make sure the figurine didn't drop.

"Relax, I wouldn't drop this one," Natsu said, but held it with two hands now anyway. "This one looks like you, Lucy!" He added with a full-on beam that shot invisible arrows straight to her heart.

"W-What are you saying…" She blushed.

"Look, her blond hair is tied into a one-sided ponytail like yours!" Natsu pointed.

"I get it already. Just put it down."

As soon as Natsu did so, he spotted something else. "Ah–! Those small ones over there look cute!" And in the blink of an eye, he was at the other end of the store looking chibi nendoroids. Meanwhile, Lucy stayed behind with the 1:8 PVC figurine which supposedly looked like her. She realized that not only did it have blonde hair, but it also had brown eyes and a curvy figure.

Hmm… How peculiar, Lucy smiled to herself as she eyed her doppelganger figurine.

When Natsu was done looking at the nendoroids, he went back to that previous shelf to look for Lucy. However, when he got there, she was gone. He walked down all the aisles in that shop but could not find her anywhere.

That's strange, he thought. Did she go to the toilet?

As he was leaving the shop, he halted in his tracks. Lucy had been waiting outside when two guys tried to chat her up.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be so cold," one of them said.

"Yea, come hang out with us, pretty girl."

"No, I-I'm with someone," the credibility in her statement lowered when her voice wavered.

"And where is this 'someone'?"

"That's a lie just to shake us off right?" The other guy said.

As though on cue, Natsu marched straight up to his girl, fuming with anger, and snaked a possessive arm around her waist. Intentionally pulling her close, he said to the two guys in a bone-chilling voice, "What do you want from her?"

"Whoa, dude, we're just looking for some fun." Not wanting any trouble, the guy was ready to back away.

"Let's go, she's already taken," the other guy said, and they both walked off.

Natsu immediately turned to Lucy. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," she said. He was too close and it made her nervous. She had her winter coat slung over her forearm since she was indoors and his heat was affecting her.

He searched for the truth in her eyes. "Making me worry is bad for my heart," he said.

Bad for your heart? Lucy held back the urge to laugh. All day long, her heart had been wreaking havoc in her chest because of him. She had just barely been able to stay calm but now, at this proximity, it was acting up again. THIS is what's bad for my heart, she thought.

Gently and shyly, she pried herself free from his arm, retaining just his hand. Then with a reassuring smile and a more reassuring voice, she asked, "Shall we grab dinner?"

At the thought of food, Natsu's face lit up in a wide smile. "Yeah!"

At the end of the day, when the curtain of night had fallen and the stars had come out to shine, and when they were done with dinner, Natsu and Lucy strolled through the park on their way back to Fairy Hills. The night air was chillier and both of them puffed little white breaths of air whenever they spoke.

"I've always wanted to do this," Lucy said.

"What, stroll in the park?"

"Mm," she nodded. "Under the stars, hand in hand with someone."

"You sound like an old woman."

"Hey!"

"Oh yeah, by the way," Natsu went on.

"Hm?"

"Keep the 24th free for me."

"Christmas Eve?"

"Yeah, let's do something special," he said with a twinkle in his midnight eyes.

"Achoo–! Okay," she said with a sneeze and a sniff.

"Uh-oh. I'm not having you fall sick because of me again, we should go back now."

"Geez, you're worrying over nothing."

The park was a stone's throw away from Fairy Hills and before they knew it, they had arrived at her doorstep (although his was just across from hers).

"Thank you for today," she said.

Instead of answering her, Natsu leaned in but just before their lips touched, the door opened abruptly and Lucy reflexively pushed him away.

"Sorry–!" It was Levy. "Did I interrupt something? Sorry! I was just going to the convenience store." The petite blunette side-stepped around them and hit the elevator button several times, anxious to get out of their way. "You guys need anything?" She asked awkwardly while she waited for the lift.

"It's okay," Lucy shook her head.

The elevator doors pinged. "I'm really sorry!" Levy stepped in. "Seeya later!" She yelled as the doors closed.

That was embarrassing, Lucy heaved a sigh; she didn't realize she had been holding her breath.

"Then, I'm heading in now," she turned to Natsu.

But the pink-head wasn't about to let her off – no, not tonight.

"Wait," Natsu said. Then in one swift motion, he pulled her hard against him and kissed her with all the feelings he had kept to himself for the past month. He threw off her thick winter coat and pressed her body against the door with his, the metal cold against her back. She put her hands against his chest, feeling the hard muscles under his uniform, the beat of his heart beneath them. She liked how his heart was hammering just as hard as her own.

His hands slid around her waist and she melted at his touch. Lucy had always loved the way he held her – strongly and intensely, but not too strong, not too intense, not so much that she ever felt he was hurting her; it was just the opposite. His intensity was what made her feel secure.

"Did you really think I would let you leave without a goodnight kiss?" He murmured against her mouth and her mind went blank. "I've been wanting to do this all day, dammit," he cursed before claiming her lips ardently once more.

His roughness stirred a desire inside of her and she kissed him back, meeting his feelings with the same burning intensity. She wound her arms around his neck and buried herself in his arms, in the kiss. Neither of them could control how they felt about each other, and neither of them wanted to. It was like a wild fire had spread between him and her.

Hope the beginning was not too slow/boring. Thanks for reading! ^^