Welcome to Papa's Ball Part 2! Enjoy!
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PART 2
I finally managed to pull Natsu out of my room after several rather embarrassing scenes with items about whose existence I'd completely forgotten. Happy had become infatuated with a rather large fish a maid had brought to my room and told us he'd rather stay and eat it rather than watch us "get all mushy". We walked through the hallways in a comfortable silence, neither really knowing where we were going but simply enjoying each other's company. At some point during our stroll we were coming up to another corner when I heard several deep voices, all discussing the same topic. Me.
"…she has returned."
"I'm wondering who was chosen as her betrothed. In full honesty, I wouldn't mind a piece of her."
"Jude would get a good deal from her marriage, no doubt."
"There are rumors of her already having chosen someone…"
"Not a chance. A high society lady would never go against her father…"
I heard Natsu suck in an enraged breath and I placed my hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and shuddered slightly, working hard to get his feelings under control.
"Natsu, give me your arm." I whispered and he stuck it out to the side, confused. I tried very hard to not giggle as I arranged our arms so that they were linked, making me 'on his arm' in high society terms. "Okay, now keep walking and don't get into a fight."
I led the way around the corner and the men froze as we came into view. Four pairs of eyes immediately jumped to our linked hands as we brushed past them before sliding over to Natsu and thoroughly examining him. They checked his hair, his outfit, his scarf, his face, his posture – it was downright ridiculous. Natsu stiffened as their eyes moved to me, darting up and down as they looked me over. He let out a low growl, barely audible, but I caught it and squeezed his elbow. We couldn't afford a fight here. When the next corner came I was ready to scream in joy and relief.
"Thanks." I dropped the arm link and grabbed his hand instead, a far more comfortable position. His hand tightened sharply before relaxing and he let out a long sigh.
"No wonder you ran away." He muttered. I nodded in reply and pulled us to a garden door, pushing it open to let the fresh air blow around our faces. The sun was edging towards the horizon, covering the gardens in a golden glow. Natsu took the lead, his pace speeding up until he was practically running. I kept stumbling over my dress and before I knew it Natsu had me in his arms, carrying me like a bride while still managing an easy run. I would bet my closet that not one of the high society men could do the same. I snuggled into his chest and his grip tightened as he slowed down before coming to a full stop. I lifted my face to find us at the edge of a large pond, the edges framed with carefully placed rocks and overgrown lilies. The sun's rays danced across the water, illuminating it with a gold sheen. Natsu set me down oh-so-carefully and wrapped his hands around my waist in a tight hug.
"I want to go back and find those bastards and rip out their throats and…" He trailed off. I felt a smile tug at my lips and I leaned back against him.
"Only four days, Natsu, and then we can go back home. Besides, it's only natural for my father to try something like this." I spoke softly, enjoying the moment.
"Like what?" Natsu's forehead came in contact with the back of my head.
"Like inviting a bunch of single rich-as-hell freaks to the ball in the hopes that being amongst them will magically turn me back into a lady." I threaded my fingers with Natsu's. "Or he'll just shove a handpicked suitor under my nose and expect me to stay, which is far more likely."
"Then I'll burn them all into little piles of ashes." Natsu played with my fingers, his voice a low growl. I giggled and he relaxed slightly, letting out a content sigh. "Then we'll go home and go on a really big mission and beat up a bunch of bad guys and destroy lotsa stuff."
"Yes go home, yes go on a mission, yes beat up bad guys but no destroying stuff. I need to pay my rent and if you demolish another village I'll be paying damage expenses instead." I twisted around to look at him and he grinned.
"If you move in with me then you won't have to pay rent and we can destroy stuff." Natsu planted a soft kiss on my forehead. He could be so gentle sometimes, like when he wasn't fighting Gray or being a general nuisance, and it still surprised me sometimes.
"I'll think about it, but you can't just destroy stuff. No one's going to hire you like that." I told him and he pouted. He looked absolutely adorable when he did that, making it very hard to resist giving him what he wanted. It was a wonder the world was still in one piece. He captured my lips in a lasting kiss and a comfortable heat spread through my body.
"We have to ask you to stop dirtying our lady." An aggressive voice followed by a chorus of sniggers broke our moment and we both turned to see a rather unimpressive scene. A dozen men, maybe more, all dressed to the point of choking in fancy clothes. Most had a decent amount of stomach bulge and carried the stench of liquid courage. All were eyeing me with unguarded desire, no doubt undressing me in their perverted heads. Cowardly bastards.
"What's it to you?" I asked them. A few shocked gasps rang out, unnervingly loud in the otherwise silent evening.
"You are forgetting your place, my lady." The headman smirked. "Undoubtedly the result of being in the company of such lowlife. Your father would be beyond grateful if we freed you from the contamination of this filth." He gestured at Natsu. I had a very expected urge to slap the hell out of this guy, but Natsu beat me to it.
"Why don't you ask her? If it's so important to you then let her decide." Natsu's voice was a snarl. The men sniggered, most of them clearly drunk.
"Her opinion doesn't matter." The headman took a swaying step towards Natsu and pointed a shaky finger. "And yours doesn't even exist." Natsu didn't bother responding, he just leaped at the crowd and covered his fists in flames along the way. I let Natsu vent his anger and merely watched him as he pounded the scumbags into the dirt. Once he finished with the last one I walked up to him and wrapped my hands around his neck, the dress protesting every inch of the way. He pulled me into a tight embrace and buried his nose in my hair before taking a deep breath.
"You good?" I asked him, my voice muffled by his chest.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." He barely passed a whisper.
"They got what they deserved. Nice follow-through on the third punch, by the way." I pulled back so I could look at him and a very wide grin split his face.
"I think the second one was better." He chuckled, completely forgetting about the perverts that littered the ground around us.
I smiled up at him. "They were all good." He rolled his eyes and swooped down for another kiss. When we finally broke apart my lungs were heaving for air. "C'mon, we have to go join the others for dinner."
"But Lucyyyyyyyy—"
"It's either that or facing Erza's wrath. Your choice." I carefully made my way around the bodies and back up the path to the mansion, a whining Natsu in tow.
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Dinner was uneventful, to say the least. My father didn't ever bother to make an appearance. On our way to the dining room we met several groups of men, but none dared to provoke Natsu. Undoubtedly, someone had already spread the word of our little pond-side encounter. Erza was happily oblivious and made her way through several slices of cake, Happy munched on another fish and Natsu ate the table bare. Once his stomach was full he offered to walk me back to my room and refused to take no as an answer. I kicked him out after thanking him, of course, to take a relaxing bath and crawl under the covers without any pink-haired or blue-furred surprises.
I awoke because I was hot. Sure, the blanket was far too thick for the weather, but there was no chance it would heat me up this much. I could feel the sweat dripping down my back and my hair was plastered to my face. I suppressed a groan as I made an attempt at getting out and was stopped by a strong arm around my waist, pulling me back.
"Luceeeeee… five more minutes…" Natsu mumbled sleepily. I rolled my eyes and tried to pry his arm off without any success whatsoever. Instead, he slipped his other arm under my side and buried his face in the crook of my neck. Well, at least I knew why I was so hot.
It didn't look like my situation would change in the near future and to be perfectly honest, I kind of liked it when Natsu started his morning cuddling. He'd always end up in my bed, either when I came home in the evening or when I woke up in the morning, and each time I had to kick him out.
"Fine. Five more minutes." I said softly and dropped my head back on the pillow.
"Lushy, where's the fish?" Happy flew out of the bathroom, frantically searching for his fish. I rolled my eyes and made absolutely no attempt to respond. "Lushy?"
"I don't know, Happy." I was falling asleep again. Forcing my eyelids open I took in the sight of a damn blue cat puffing out his cheeks with a sneaky smile.
"You liiiiiiiike him." He snickered.
"Obviously." I shot back and the cat fell out of the air in shock.
"You're supposed to deny it!" He wailed. I smirked and he decided to attack my walls. I didn't really care about his scratch marks, considering how I wasn't going to stay. It would take my father a mere flick of his fingers to have the walls repaired.
A knock sounded from the door. "My Lady? May we come in?" It was the maids again.
"Give me ten minutes." I called in response.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes. Leave and come back in ten minutes." I didn't want them to see Natsu and Happy in here. Who knows what my father would do with that information. The maids left, their chatter fading with each step. I pried Natsu's arm off and quickly slid out from under the blanket before he could pull me back in.
"Luceeeeeee—"
"Natsu, you have to get up. We can't give my father anything to use against us." I cut off his whiny protest. He mumbled something unintelligible and cracked open one eye to give me a pleading stare.
"But it hasn't been five minutes." His eye closed and he rolled over onto his back.
"Yes, it has. Go back to your room before the maids start looking for you." I pulled out a towel and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I ignored the various soaps and fragrances that lined the shelves and pulled out a bottle I brought from home to use instead. The bath didn't take long, but when I came back Natsu and Happy were replaced by three overexcited maids. Once again we rummaged through the closet to find something simple and ended up picking out a pale purple dress with dark purple layers and borders. I refused to let them do my hair and makeup, rather sending them away and applying my usual. A purple ribbon did the job for a side ponytail and I left for the dining hall. Erza caught up to me halfway there, wearing a dark turquoise dress with her hair falling free.
"How was your night, Erza?" I asked her, aiming for small talk. She took the hint and answered seamlessly.
"It was fine. Yours?" A slice of cake made its way into her hands and I had to restrain from gawking.
"Fine, thank you. When do you think Gray will come?" I started with good manners and quickly dropped them.
"Popsicle? Hopefully never." Natsu snuck up behind us and threw a hand over my shoulder. He was wearing another simple suit, probably meant to make him look poor in the high society men's eyes.
"What was that, flamebrain?" Gray's voice hit us from behind and we spun around to find the ice mage being escorted by a maid. A tick appeared on Natsu's forehead and within seconds the two where butting heads.
"You wanna go, stripper?"
"Bring it on, pyro!"
"Ice freak!"
"Fire freak!"
"Idiot!"
"Dumbass!"
"Do I hear fighting?" Erza spoke around a bite of cake. The effect was instantaneous. Gray had his arm around Natsu, Natsu had his arm around Gray, and both were shaking like lost puppies.
"N-no, ma'am!" Gray whimpered.
"A-aye!" Natsu agreed. I giggled at their antics as the maid watched in horror.
"How was your job, Gray?" I saved the boys from Erza's criticizing stare and they both pledged their undying loyalty.
"Tch. It was easy, just had to take out a thief. Took me less than a day." He stuck his hands in his pockets and his shirt was already missing.
"Your clothes…?" I trailed off as we reached the dining hall doors and a pair of maids swung them open for us.
"Crap!" Gray lunged for his shirt, lying discarded by the wall, and pulled it one before joining us at the table.
"Welcome home, Lucy." My father was sitting at the end of the table, his eyes locked on me. I refused to curtsy and instead took a place beside Natsu rather than at the other end, earning a shocked look from my father and suppressed gasps from the maids.
"Good morning, father." I replied and scooted my chair in before reaching out to fill my plate. The breakfast passed in silence, Natsu inhaling dish after dish while my father watched in disgust and irritation. The moment he was done he let out a long burp and sighed in satisfaction.
"That was good, Luce." Natsu patted his stomach. I smirked and pushed away from the table, not bothering to excuse myself.
"How about I give you a tour of the grounds?" I asked my friends. Erza nodded thoughtfully while nibbling her tenth cake slice.
"Sounds good. You coming, Erza?" Gray stood and unconsciously began to pull of his shirt.
"Of course. I must fulfill my duties. Your shirt, Gray." Erza rose gracefully and threw the freshly discarded shirt at the ice mage. He caught it – barely – and slung it over his shoulder.
"Yosh! Let's go, Happy!" Natsu jumped from his seat and knocked over his chair in the process.
"Aye, sir!" With Happy's cheerful shout we left my father and his maids alone in the dining hall, our every movement a clear rebellion to his plans.