Day 3 of NaLu Week: Admiration

Lucy was lost in thought again. It really wasn't her fault though. She had decided to go to this renaissance fair with her friend Levy since they both had really gotten into Merlin. That is precisely how she found herself here on a Saturday at King Igneel's Fair. She had wandered around for a bit, having lost Levy to the blacksmith's tent after they had thoroughly made a dent in the script shop. Lucy herself had gotten a new notebook to write in. Levy had gotten a book full of ancient texts. Lucy never pegged Levy as a sword person, but then again, she had never pegged Levy to be into piercings either. Yet, there Levy was flirting with the blacksmith as he worked. Lucy had to admit that he did have really nice biceps, but the studded face wasn't something she herself was into. Lucy suddenly collided into something hard, falling to the ground from impact.

"Hey, watch it, Princess!" Some guy said to her.

"Hey, Jerk, maybe you should be more careful," another voice ridiculed the man. Lucy took the hand that was offered to her and stood up, brushing the leaves off her dress.

"Ya do look like a princess," her savior said. Lucy looked up to see that he was a pink haired boy, around her age, and he was dressed in the typical renaissance fashion, except he didn't have a shirt on underneath his vest.

"And you look perfectly rogue-ish," she teased. She looked down at her light blue dress. The sleeves were wide and in style. A silver chain belt was hanging around her hips.

"You're missing something though," the man said thoughtfully. Then he snapped his fingers as an idea hit him. "Wait here." He ran off further into the woods. Lucy was about to leave when she saw him running back.

"Here," he said as he placed something on her head. Lucy reached up to take it off. It was a blue flower crown.

"Thank you," she whispered as she caressed the flowers, "It's beautiful."

"Well, what's a princess without a crown?" the boy said with a toothy grin. In the distance they heard a gong sound.

"Crap! I gotta go. They'll be look for me. Nice meetin' ya, Princess," he said as he sprinted off again. Lucy was too in shock to stop him.

"That was weird," she said to herself as she put the flower crown back on. She checked the time on her phone. She still had another hour before she was supposed to meet Levy for lunch. Levy kept telling her that she absolutely needed to eat a turkey leg since "it doesn't get any more renaissance than that." Lucy noticed something nailed to a nearby tree that looked like a schedule.

"Fire breather, 11 am, Fairy Tail Stage," Lucy read aloud.

"That's supposed to be pretty interesting," someone said next to her, "But the ice sculptor is better." Lucy turned to see a black haired boy standing next to her.

"The ice sculptor isn't until 1pm though," Lucy said.

"True. You should still go," he told her.

"I'll see if Levy wants to go," Lucy said before walking off towards the Fire Breather show. Luckily, the show hadn't started yet, but she still ended up with a seat furthest away from the stage. Lucy sighed as she directed her attention towards the stage. Suddenly, there was a blast on stage. Out of the explosion stepped a boy. A certain pink-haired boy to be exact. Lucy's jaw dropped as the boy that gave her the flower crown took center stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare to be amazed by the great and powerful Salamander!" a voice on the loud speaker said.

"They said he was trained by dragons," someone whispered from near Lucy.

"Sure, and my mom was a mermaid," the person's companion muttered.

"Oi! Who's ready to see me eat fire?" The boy said. The crowd cheered in response.

"Oh, I don't know, that didn't sound very enthusiastic. I said, 'WHO'S READY TO SEE ME BREATH FIRE?'" The boy tried again. The crowd went wild.

"Alright, that's better. Nice to know you're all awake. Now, I have to tell you all not to try this at home. Somethin' about a possible lawsuit if I don't say that," he told the crowd. They laughed in response.

"No, I'm serious! Not everyone can do this. If you're not careful, you could burn down your house and have to join the renaissance fair, like me," He chuckled as he pointed at himself, "Alright! Let's get this started!" The boy went over to the side of the stage and picked up a match. "I'm gonna need a volunteer," he said as he looked out into the crowd. A whole bunch of hands shot into the air, but he ignored them. Then, he locked eyes with Lucy and smiled.

"Please don't pick me," Lucy whispered.

"Princess, in the back! Come on up!" he called. Lucy just shook her head.

"Alright guys, looks like she needs some convincing. Join in with me. Prin-cess! Prin-cess!" He started cheering. The crowd joined in, but Lucy didn't budge. With a shake of the head, the Salamander jumped down off the stage and walked down the aisle between the seats towards her. He reached his hand out to Lucy and gave her a small smile. With a bit of trepidation, Lucy placed her hand in his. As his fingers curled around her slender hand, his grin grew wider. He led her back to the stage and jumped up. When he motioned for Lucy to follow she shook her head.

"It's too high," she told him. Salamander sighed and jumped back down.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her.

"I just met you."

"Yes, but you can choose to trust me."

"I…don't know."

"I won't make you do anything that would hurt you," he promised her.

"Okay," Lucy whispered. The Salamander then proceeded to pick Lucy up bridal style and leap onto the stage. He and Lucy were drowning in each other's eyes, but the wolf whistles from the crowd brought them back to the here and now. He gently placed her down and turned out to face the audience.

"Alright, who's ready to get the show goin'?" He called. The crowd cheered again.

"What's your name, princess?" he asked the blushing blonde beside him.

"Lucy," she told him.

"Let's give a warm welcome to Lucy!" he cheered. A round of applause followed. The Salamander walked over to the side and picked up a bucket of water and a couple of torches. After getting those he walked back over to Lucy. He placed the bucket down and handed her the torches. He then proceeded to take off his vest and throw it to the ground, earning him some catcalls and whistles.

"So what did you need me for?" Lucy asked him.

"You're gonna light me on fire," he told her.

"WHAT!" she yelled.

"Shhhh not so loud. I want you to take one of these matches and light my hands on fire," he told her as he produced a matchbook from his pocket.

"If you say so…." Lucy mumbled while taking the matches from him.

"For my first trick, I will have my lovely assistant, Lucy, light my hands on fire and then I will eat it," He told the crowd. Lucy then held the match on display before lighting it and touching it to his hands. A flame began to spread over his hands.

"I-it's not supposed to do that," Lucy whispered in fear. He just winked at her before putting his hands to his face and swallowing the flame. The audience clapped. He then took a torch from Lucy's hands.

"FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" He yelled before breathing fire and lighting the torch. He then lit the other torches on fire and juggled them before then eating the flames. He performed a myriad of tricks for the next 20 minutes before turning to Lucy.

"For my final trick, I will teach my assistant how to hold fire," he told her.

"I couldn't possibly do that!" Lucy said as she vehemently shook her head.

"What did I tell you earlier?" He asked as he took her hands and looked into her eyes.

"That you wouldn't make me do anything that'd hurt me."

"Exactly," he said gently. Lucy hadn't noticed that he'd been rubbing special cream on her hands as he held them.

"I will now light her hands on fire," He said loudly to the crowd as he lit a match. He gently tipped the flame towards her hands. She cupped her hands together to hold them together as she turned to face the crowd. The crowd went wild. He looked at her with budding admiration. The Salamander then brought her hands to his face and sucked in the flames before turning her hands over to kiss her knuckles.

"Let's give another round of applause to my lovely assistant, Luigi!" He called.

"It's Lucy," she corrected as he led her to the edge of the stage and placed her on the ground.

"Now, I know this may come as a shock to you all, but I'm fairly broke. So, if you liked the show, feel free to tell me with tips! I'll be at the end over there with my cat. Give me 5 dollars, I'll give you a high-five, give me a ten and you've made my day, give me a 20 or more and I'll make your night," he joked as he walked to the end of the seats with his cat bag. Audience members filed by, filling the hat with tips. Lucy hung back until the crowd had left before placing 30 dollars in his cat bag.

"So does this mean I get you for the rest of the night?" She smiled.

"If you want," he smiled back, "Let me just put this in my tent. Unless you want to come with me?"

"And see where the great Salamander sleeps? Count me in," she teased as she followed him to a hidden gate.

"It's Natsu, actually," he told her as he opened the gate for her.

"Well, Natsu, I enjoyed watching your show," she told him.

"Well thank you, Lucy, I enjoyed having you be a part of it," he told her as he led her through the tent city that was spread out before them.

"Do you always teach your volunteers how to hold fire?" she asked.

"Actually, I don't usually have volunteers. For whatever reason, I decided to break the habit today," he said thoughtfully as they stopped in front of a tent. He lifted the flap for her to enter.

"Wow, this is so cool!" she told him as she took in her surroundings. It was a large tent. There were two beds set up in the tent as well as various bits of furniture. If it weren't for the fact that she knew this was a tent, she would have thought of it as a small room.

"It would be great if I didn't have to share it with that ice bastard," he commented.

"Who?"

"Gray. He's the stripper that makes ice sculptures," he explained.

"Does he have black hair?"

"Yep. You see him?"

"I think so," Lucy told him as she thought about the guy from earlier. Natsu sat down on the bed and put his cat bag in one of his drawers.

"So, what brought you to the fair?" he asked her.

"Levy and I got into Merlin and we wanted to see a real renaissance fair," she told him.

" I LOVE THAT SHOW!"

"Me too! Shoot! What time is it?" Lucy asked as she scrambled for her phone.

"Noon. Why?"

"I have to go meet Levy for lunch!" She told him as she ran out of the tent.

"Wait!" Natsu called as he ran out after her.

"Yes?" Lucy asked as she stopped and turned to face him. He stopped to late and ended up pushing her against the wooden fence that stretched around the fair grounds, separating it from the tent city. Natsu locked eyes with her before letting his gaze fall to her lips. He realized where he was staring and brought his eyes back up to hers, but Lucy could see the pink on his cheeks.

"Do you want to hang out after the fair closes for the night?" he asked her.

"I'd love to," she told him as she licked her bottom lip.

"I can meet you out front after the parade," he whispered as his head dropped a bit towards her. She closed her eyes in anticipation. Then, she felt something hard hit her forehead. When she opened her eyes she saw his forehead resting against hers.

"I'll see you then," he told her before pulling back and opening the gate for her. She walked out and smiled, excited for their date later.