"You're gonna lose."
"…"
"No, you're definitely gonna lose."
"…"
"I can feel it. You're close… You're gonna cave."
"…"
"…damn it… a little longer…"
"…"
"You're… not gonna win… again…"
"Natsu, I don't think this is good for your-"
"Not now. Concentra- ah shit!" Natsu squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them harshly, practically crying with the way they were watering.
He'd just been in the fifty-eighth staring contest of his life, one he'd been damn sure he was gonna win, he would've bet his scarf on it, thankfully he didn't, and his cat, Happy, had just succeeded in keeping his champion title. So far their score was thirty-three to twenty-five but Natsu was slowly and surely going to turn those numbers around. He'd be damned if he let someone who only ate fish beat him at something as simple as a staring contest.
"Damn it!" He opened his eyes back up and pointed a finger at his smug looking cat that was sitting on the bar's counter, "I'm gonna kick your ass next time. Just wait."
Lisanna laughed and set a burger along with a plate of fish down in front of the frustrated teen and the winning cat, "I told you you were going to lose."
"Yeah, thanks for the encouragement." He grumbled and stuffed five fries into his mouth, chewing angrily and giving Happy a look.
"He's just too good." She laughed again and pet the blue animal's head, eliciting a soft meow from him that Natsu childishly squinted his eyes at.
"Not for long." He replied when he was done swallowing, "He's gonna slip up sometime. It's soon- I can feel it."
"Are you two seriously discussing how good a cat is at staring contests?" Gray, who was shirtless of course, came up to the pair with an almost condescending tone coloring his voice and took a seat next to Natsu.
"I'd like to hear you say that again after you get your ass whooped by a "cat"." He mimicked Gray's voice at the word cat, making a face along with it.
"He's right Gray." Lisanna spoke up as she set some glasses into the sink and shrugged her shoulders, "He's just really good. No one but Natsu can beat him."
"Bet I could."
"Oh you wanna bet?!" Natsu bought into his goading tone and stood up.
"I just said I did! Where's your head at?"
"Not in my ass like yours that's for sure!"
"You wanna-!"
"Natsu, Gray," Lisanna placed a hand on both of their shoulders, gaining their attention, "Sis has a headache and is trying to sleep it off in the back room, so I suggest you don't piss her off by waking her up with your petty fighting. You wanna see what happens when she wakes up angry be my guest but neither of you are going to have asses to get your heads out of by the end of it."
The two of them were almost visibly shivering as memories of a past Mira, one that wasn't all sunshine and kindness, flooded back into their minds. "R-right…" They spoke in unison and Natsu went back to eating while Gray gave into the talk about Happy being a stare-down champion and engaged the cat in a contest.
Lisanna nodded and grinned knowingly to herself as she went to take a customer's order. You can always count on men uniting when their heads are in danger of being severely smacked by a woman's wrath. Well, at least the men I know, she thought and laughed one more time before greeting her new customer.
Natsu finished his burger and fries in fewer than six minutes, his usual time, and waved "see ya" to Gray as the guy left the warehouse a defeated man, both of them forgetting they'd almost just gotten into another fist fight. He'd only been able to keep his eyes open for a measly twenty-two seconds, an average record for newbies trying to win against Happy, and accepted his defeat gracefully, swearing he'd beat him but left that for another day due to having plans to get to.
Now Natsu was once again left with only himself and his thoughts, plus a cat that was happily munching on his choice of fish. Something that was happening too often lately, he thought- the him "being alone with his thoughts" thing.
He didn't like being alone. At all. Which bothered him some. Though he'd never admit he was actually lonely, not even to himself. Happy was with him, sure, and he was always good company but seeing as though he was cat and couldn't really converse, it was close enough to being alone. It made him feel listless and just… weird.
Was it odd of him to not like to be alone? It didn't seem like other people had a problem with it, from what he'd seen at least. Levy had always said she needed at least an hour a day by herself so that she could do some reading, which he could never understand- reading for an hour seemed a little like hell to him. Gray often did things by himself without looking like it bugged him- Juvia would always catch up with him somehow though- and Erza liked to tend to her weapons by herself some days, saying it was "nice to be alone with the quiet of her own company."
Natsu picked his arms up over his head and stretched, shaking the thoughts out of his head when he was done. Thinking too hard wasn't like him. He was simple minded, as he'd been told many times, so he guessed that continuously trying to figure out things like why being alone made him feel weird would get him nowhere. Instead, he would just take action and make sure he wasn't left by himself. Simple as that. That way, that odd feeling wouldn't bother him.
It was best to avoid it.
"Hey, Natsu?"
The teen looked up from his hands, that he'd been subconsciously rubbing together, and saw a terrible looking Mira come out from the hallway next to the bar, "Mira? I thought you were tryin' to sleep a headache off?"
The woman groaned and rubbed her temple as she walked closer- even her outfit resembled how awful she felt, "I am but I forgot I was planning to give Lucy something today."
"Lucy?" Natsu raised a brow at the blonde's name. He'd just been thinking about her earlier. She hadn't been around the warehouse in a few days and it was making him a little curious. They'd taken a job together at the beginning of the week, it was her first one- a job helping an old grandma plant new flowers in her big ass garden, and it'd gone really well. She'd been glowing by the end of it but he hadn't really known it was just sweat. Anyway, that was the last he'd seen of her all week.
"Yeah." She reached into her sweatpants pocket, pulled out a piece of paper that'd been folded into a square and stuck it into Natsu's hand, "She asked for a recipe last week but I kept forgetting to give it to her. Would you mind very much doing it for me?"
He eyed the paper curiously and nodded, "Sure. I was probably gonna go see her later anyway. Haven't seen her around in a while."
At his words, Mira's face took a small break from being twisted into discomfort and turned into one of realization- with a little discomfort still in the mix of course, "You're right… I haven't seen her either… I wonder if she's doing alright."
"Guess I should go find out." Natsu replied regularly but his curiosity was growing to an uncomfortable level, "What recipe did she ask you for anyway?"
"She wanted to learn how to make those jalapeno poppers we serve. I suppose she has a taste for them." Mira shrugged and said, "Let me know how she's doing when you see her and tell her I said hi." before turning to retreat back into the hallway.
Natsu watched her as she disappeared and began laughing to himself when he finally remembered why Lucy would want the recipe. He recalled asking her if she could make them one morning and being slightly disappointed when she said no. It wasn't even disappointment, really. Did that actually bother her? He thought as he continued his laughter and walked out of the warehouse with Happy nestled onto his shoulder, she was too funny.
The teen reached into his pocket once he was outside and took his phone into his hand. His calloused fingers put together a text letting Lucy know he was coming over and didn't bother waiting for a reply that said he could- or rather he just didn't think to wait for one. Once he was finished he shoved it back into his pocket, said "see ya" to Romeo and Wendy who were eating an early lunch together outside, and began his walk to Lucy's house, wondering what she was up to.
It took him eleven minutes to get to her home from the warehouse, the usual time it takes, though he was considering getting a bike. He didn't mind walking but it would make the trip easier. Now, he stood on her porch and rang the doorbell three times.
While waiting he took a step back to take the house in. He still admired it to be honest. It was a huge thing, something he probably mentioned a million times already, but it still got to him. The wood was a such a rich color, the brick that made up the steps to the house looked worn but in a good way, and there was a strange feeling he got when he was near it. A good one, but strange. Damn… a lot of things recently, he just now noticed, he was describing as strange… There was just somethin' really homey about the house that felt… nostalgic maybe?
Natsu was quickly pulled away from his thoughts when he heard the door unlock and saw it open to reveal Lucy along with Plue eagerly wagging his tail in anticipation.
Natsu smiled.
"Sorry it took so long for me to answer." She immediately apologized and opened the door wider, "I was in the middle of… is that a blue… cat?" Lucy looked at Happy in astonishment and quickly rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing correctly.
"Oh yeah-" He grabbed him from his shoulder and held him up for Lucy to see, "This is Happy! He's one of my best pals."
"Okay… wai- hold on. Do you want to explain why he's blue?" She wasn't going to let him skip over that vital piece of information.
"Just is." He replied simply.
"But, how… wha-?"
"I learned not to question it." He cut her off and walked in, "No one knows why he's blue. I just found him in the woods one day. His mom wasn't around so I have no idea if she was blue too."
Lucy sighed, there was always something new with him. She didn't really mind but it was like being swept up into a whirlwind most times he spoke and it would be nice to experience a calm breeze instead, "Okay, introduce him to me again."
"What?"
"I didn't greet him properly! He's one of your best pals, right?" She stuck her hands on her jean clad hips, "I want a redo."
Pfft. Weird… he thought.
"Okay then, Happy," He held him outward and Lucy put a smile on her face, "this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Happy."
"Nice to meet you." Lucy greeted him and held her hands out for Natsu to put him there, "He's cute." she stated as the cat sniffed her curiously and decided whether or not he was going to like her.
"That's what everyone says." He agreed and bent down to pet Plue who wanted attention from the teen, "Look Happy this is the guy you've been smelling on me."
The cat looked down at the dog with squinted eyes and Lucy asked, "Is he okay with dogs?"
"Don't really know…" he got up and eyed happy, looking at his reaction, "He seems okay... Wanna let him down?"
"Uh… You sure?" Lucy was hesitant. She'd seen her share of Animal Planet. She knew of some bad reactions cats had to dogs. Some of them acted like dogs were the bane of their existence.
"Yeah. It'll be fine." Natsu, who was now a little eager to find out, took Happy from Lucy and set him down on the wooden floor, letting the animals decide if they liked each other.
Plue immediately went up to the cat, sniffing curiously and Happy had on the most "what the hell" expression Lucy had ever seen on an animal.
"Fight, fight, fight, figh-"
"Stop that!" Lucy cut off his chanting with a smack to the shoulder, "The last thing I need right now is a fight happening in my living room."
For a few more seconds Happy seemed less than pleased with the situation he'd been put into but with a final curious sniff from both of them, he settled for tolerating the puppy.
"See?" Natsu grinned and crossed his arms, "Nothin' to worry about."
"That was easier than I thought…" she mumbled and looked over to her guest, "So? What's up? Did you need something?" Getting a sudden text from him saying he was coming over had sent her into a frenzy of trying to make herself look presentable and open to company. It was actually very stressful.
"Right." Within the short time of being there he'd already forgotten his purpose in going, "Mira asked me to give you this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the squared piece of paper, holding it up, "Said she kept forgetting to get it to you."
Immediately, the blonde snatched it out of his hand, unfolded it to look at the content, then quickly folded it back and stuck it in her own pocket, "You… did you see what it was?" She questioned, trying her best to act nonchalant.
Natsu wanted to laugh but knew that would give him away, "Nah. I didn't look." He wanted to save that easy tease material for later.
"Oh, good." She looked a little too relieved for her act and it made him want to laugh even more. "Is that all you needed?"
"Well, that's all I was asked to do." He replied as she leaned against her couch, pulling her hair to one side, "Why? You busy?"
"…No. Not really." Lucy scratched her nose and adjusted her shirt, feeling a bit awkward and hoping to god it didn't show.
"In that case you wanna do something?" Natsu asked with a hint of hope that his day wouldn't be so loner-ish after all, "I've had nothin' to do all day, plus I've already done my fill of jobs."
Lucy laughed, she wasn't surprised at that, but the invitation he just extended, however, elicited a not so happy reaction from her.
It wasn't that she didn't want to hang out; it was just that she didn't want to hang out.
If that made any sense at all?
The girl had spent her whole week in a rut of sorts. It was the kind where you want company, but don't want to go seeking it out. Her motivation to do anything had been completely shut off, like there was a literal switch for it only she couldn't flip it back on and nothing was pleasing her. It'd been ridiculous and her knowledge of it being ridiculous only made it worse. Her days had practically melded together and the only thing to come out of it was an extremely depressing journal entry written by a cereal fueled mind.
Her problem was that she felt lonely. She felt lonely and yet she didn't want to do the one thing that would help that. The teen had been lonely and it was her own damn fault. God did she wish she could turn off her thoughts for at least two minutes…
It had just been a shitty week and honestly, she was surprised she was able to keep it together long enough to have a conversation with him.
"Um… sure." She tried to smile convincingly, knowing that getting out was most likely going to be good for her- especially considering who the other person was. Natsu, in the time she'd known him, had always been good for a laugh.
"Alright cool." He replied and bent down to pick Happy up, putting him back onto his shoulder.
Silence.
"…"
"… …"
"… … …"
"…So…?" Lucy's voice drifted off as she looked at Natsu, waiting for him to do something.
"What're you doing?" Natsu asked.
"Me? What are you doing?" She gestured toward him.
"I don't know. What do you want to do?"
"How should I know? You're the one who asked."
"Does that matter?" He tilted his head slightly to the side, thinking, "Uh… How about the park? Pretty sure these two wouldn't mind going. There's also a place near there that lets you eat outside so we could get some lunch." Natsu suggested, already forgetting he just had a burger earlier, "Pretty sure I went into a food coma there once." He burst into a loud bout of chuckling at his words, finding the phrase "food coma" completely hilarious.
Lucy shook her head but grinned at his silliness. His laugh was a unique one, always rambunctious and loud, and every time she heard it a smile was always pulled onto her face. It was really infectious.
"That almost sounds like a date." She joked and went over to her hall closet to pull out her boots.
"Guess so." He agreed casually, not picking up the fact that she was messing with him.
The girl accidentally hit her head on the clothes rack at his reaction, "Y-You-" She faced him with pink cheeks, "You're supposed to deny it."
"Why?" He tilted his head again, really not getting it.
Lucy almost wanted to hit her head on the rack again, "You- Just… nevermind." She gave up and bent down to pull her shoes on.
"Okay but I still don't see why…"
She sighed and went about getting the rest of her things.
They arrived at the park about forty minutes later- it would've been faster if Natsu hadn't made them stop for a Frisbee. The teen had insisted on getting one when they left her house, saying no park experience was complete without a Frisbee throwing competition, and dragged her into the nearest store he could find. It took even longer due to them not being able to decide on a color. They stood there for six minutes arguing about it. Lucy had wanted a pink one and Natsu was refusing to buy one that wasn't red, saying pink was a little too girly for him, which rightly prompted her to throw his hair color into the conversation. Eventually he gave in and let her get the pink one, not without two minutes of grumbling to himself afterward of course.
Now they stood near the pond she'd almost been arrested at, a story she was withholding from him for obvious reasons, having the Frisbee competition he'd been talking about. She was up by three, much to her satisfaction and much to Natsu's aggravation. He wasn't about to lose two competitions in one day.
"…don't catch it, don't catch it, don't catc- damn it!" He'd been chanting under his breath but yelled when she caught his toss easily. She was up by four now.
"What's the matter?" Lucy teased as she tied her hair up, getting a little more serious now that she was so ahead, "Upset?"
"No!" Natsu sounded like quite the five year old, "Just throw it!"
"Okay but if you miss this one this counts as the rock kicking rematch." She demanded, keeping the Frisbee until he replied.
"No way." He refused- only due to the fact that was probably the only competition left he could win that day, "That's somethin' completely different. S'got nothing to do with this."
Lucy clicked her tongue, something she never used to do but had somehow gotten into the habit of, and retorted, "Fine…" promptly throwing the Frisbee as soon as her mouth shut.
While it was in the air, she got the sudden idea to say, very quickly, "loserhastogobuydrinks!"
To her glee, the abrupt string of words confused her opponent and made him miss the flying disc by quite the distance. Lucy couldn't hold in her laughter as he didn't hold back on showing his frustration, letting loose words not too pleasant. It was hilarious to her- the way he was so competitive. She had only known him for a short time and already she'd experienced more competitions with him than anyone she'd ever met.
"That didn't count!" He told the blonde as he jogged over to her, "I call foul play."
"It does too count." She crossed her arms, "You didn't catch it. I had nothing to do with that."
"You confused me!"
"It counts."
"Does not." He stepped a little closer, leaning over her the slightest bit.
"Does too." She replied and stayed put, plotting to confuse him again.
"Does not."
"Does too!"
"Does not!"
"Does not!"
"Does too! …wait… shit." Natsu brought a palm to his forehead, groaning with regret at the realization of what he just said.
"Haha!" Lucy laughed at her opponent's reaction, "I can't believe that worked!"
"Yeah, yeah." Natsu replied in an annoyed tone, looking away from the blonde. She'd gotten him twice now. Twice.
"Oh come on." She leaned around him to get a look at his face, "You're not mad are you?" The girl was beginning to worry he was the type who got seriously mad when they lost at something…
Natsu looked at her from the side of his eye, seeing she was concerned and decided to let it go. He wasn't mad, though it was a bummer to lose… "No. Just a little ticked you got me twice."
Lucy laughed again, her voice taking on a silvery tone, "It's funny though, right? You have to be able to laugh at it at least a little."
She continued her with her giggling and Natsu let out a deep breath. He knew she was right.
"Alright- loser gets drinks." He repeated her words and walked over to the park table Plue was tied to and Happy was laying on, the two of them taking a break from their earlier activities, "What'd you want?"
Lucy followed him, petting Plue for a moment before answering, "I'll just take a water."
Natsu gave a nod, asked if she was okay to be alone with the animals, and then jogged off toward the nearest vending machine with his change in hand.
Lucy let a sigh escape her mouth, a little breathless- throwing a Frisbee around proved to be more of a workout than people made it seem. Speaking of which, she remembered she really needed to start doing that again… She groaned at the thought. Working out was great and all, it keeps you healthy but… God did she hate it. She hated it with a burning passion but staying fit wasn't just going to magically happen.
Ugh, just stop thinking about it. She willed the thoughts of early morning jogs away, deciding leaving that thought process for later was best and stepped away from the table, planning to see how far she could throw the Frisbee.
Three, two, one… She counted down in her head and threw the disc with the most force she could muster, beaming at the distance it flew. Nice. Lucy mentally patted herself on the shoulder and then turned to her friends, "I'll be right back."
Quickly, she ran over to where the thing landed, looking around for a few seconds before she spotted it and bent over to pick it up. At the moment she did, a whistle, one that she could already tell belonged to an absolute idiot, was heard behind her.
"Nice view."
Lucy stood upright, abandoning the Frisbee on the ground, and turned to face the source of the honeyed voice behind her, confirming that he was in fact an idiot, "No." She stated simply and tried to turn away when the man spoke again.
"Wait hold on- let me get that for you." He flashed a grin at her, one that wouldn't be unpleasant to ignorant eyes but Lucy couldn't help but be grossed out, and grabbed the Frisbee.
"Okay… thank you for that. Now I'll just-" The blonde reached for the disc but the man pulled his arm back, keeping it out of her reach. "Really?"
He only laughed, "I just wanna talk t'you some more. You come here alone?
Lucy intentionally groaned very loudly, hoping the guy would get the picture, "No. I didn't. There's a cat and a dog waiting for me. Is that all? Can I have that back now?"
"What're you in a rush for?" He grinned again, keeping the Frisbee up and away from her hands as she reached for it a second time, "D'you wanna come hang out with me and a couple friends? We're over by the- MMPH!" Suddenly, a tennis ball came hurling into the man's face, landing a hit right on his cheekbone and causing him to fall over onto the grass, spewing a string of words not appropriate for anyone's ears.
Lucy flinched and immediately turned toward where the ball came from, looking for the source.
Natsu.
"What the hell?!" She yelled over to the teen who, despite having probably injured the man still lying on the ground spilling out curse words and spit, looked completely innocent.
"Hey Lucy." Natsu greeted her normally as he came upon the pair.
"Don't "Hey Lucy." me!" She gestured toward the man cradling his face, "What the hell did you do that for?!"
"He looked like he was bothering you." From his tone and expression, Lucy could see the teen had no issue with what he'd just done.
"Okay yes, he was, but you don't just chuck a tennis ball at his face!" She scolded him with furrowed eyebrows and a stern tone, "What if you broke something?!"
"Yeah man… fuck's your problem…?" The nameless person on the ground managed to spit the words out, eliciting a change in expression from Natsu.
"Oh shut it Mr. "Nice View". You're no better." Lucy quickly shut the man down, "Where'd this ball come from anyway?"
"Found in in the bathroom."
"Ew man! You threw a fuckin' toilet ball at my head?!"
"That's rig-" Natsu was about to step into the man's space when Lucy stopped him by putting a hand on his chest.
"I have this." She gave the rosy haired teen a look, telling him to back off for a second and nodded when he stepped a few feet away.
Lucy put a hand on her forehead and rubbed. How quickly things can turn south, she thought.
The blonde helped the man up, releasing him as quickly as she grabbed him, "Are you okay?"
For a moment he hesitated, looking over at Natsu who had crossed him arms and set his face into a hard glare but then replied, "Yeah I'm good. Who the hell's this toilet ball psycho over here?"
"Shut up." Lucy stared daggers at the man, "Just… stop talking for a second."
One of the things Lucy hated most were men who thought saying whatever they wanted, to whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, was okay. Too often had she been the literal object of attention and inappropriate stares during her life in her father's business circle, and in turn she knew a thing or two about how to handle guys like the one in front of her. It pissed her off, sure, but getting furious and lashing out at the man, in her own experience, wasn't the best way to go. But now that she didn't need to worry about damaging her father's reputation, she wanted to openly converse with that type of man while in complete control of the topic.
"Why did you come up to me?" She asked. It was a simple question but one she'd been dying to ask for years.
"Whaddya mean why?" He gave her a confused look.
"I mean, what made you think coming up to me, commenting on "the view", and keeping my Frisbee away from me so I was forced to talk to you was a good idea?"
"…I don't know… just normal…" The man was mumbling now, beginning to feel awkward.
"Let me tell you something." Lucy pushed her bangs behind her ear and stepped a little closer to him, still glaring, "This whole thing, the way you approached me, is not okay. It doesn't make me want to go hang out with you or your friends. In fact, it makes me want to throw a toilet ball at your head." She couldn't help but let out a small laugh during the words "toilet ball". "Telling girls you don't know, and this is key, they provide a nice view doesn't make them happy- it makes them feel grossed out. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
He nodded with averted eyes, rubbing the back of his collared neck. He would've left already it weren't for the buffed up guy practically staring into his soul and the chick's tone. If he walked away he'd probably get beat up by both of them…
"You can't treat people like that. If you really want to talk to someone, instead of the way you just approached me, try something nice, alright? Next time there might not be someone willing to talk to you like this. If you get hit with something worse than a toilet ball because of your behavior, don't say I didn't warn you."
Natsu shoved his hands into his pockets, a little displeased Lucy was still talking to the guy. He'd just gotten back to their table with three waters, eager to start a new competition with the ball he found but she'd been nowhere in sight. He'd scanned the area and what his eyes had been met with was nothing short of irritating. She stood there, obviously annoyed, trying to reach for her Frisbee with some bastard keeping it out of her reach. He hardly had time to think before the tennis ball left his hand and flew into the man's skull. Natsu hadn't felt an ounce of shame at that.
But this was weird.
Lucy was still talking to the guy previously harassing her… and making him… apologize? Both of his brows rose in astonishment at the new development. She had actually gotten the guy to say he was sorry. Never, in all his encounters with men like that, had he ever heard one of them say the words "I'm sorry".
Lucy watched the man go back to wherever he came from, happy he was finally doing so, and turned back to Natsu, giving him a face.
"What?" He asked as she walked back over to him, Frisbee and tennis ball in hand.
"I'm still wondering why you thought it was a good idea to throw a ball at his head." The blondes arm's crossed again, for the millionth time it seemed.
"He was messing with you. Seemed like the fastest way to get him to stop." He answered simply, still not feeling bad about it.
Lucy let her head fall into her hand, laughing dryly despite herself, "Okay fine. Just, next time something like that happens, which hopefully it won't, let me handle it. I was doing fine before you intervened but… thanks I guess."
Even if it was bad to just suddenly throw something at a person's head, Lucy couldn't deny that she was a little happy Natsu had done that for her. It was sweet in a violent, illogical way…? Okay that wasn't the best description of it but the fact that he wanted to help her was really nice. Help during situations like that was never something offered to her during her father's parties, or parties she was forced to attend to, when she could practically feel stares coming from a variety of men on her person. The funny thing was, thought it really wasn't funny, they were mostly after what getting with her would gain them. They all thought her father's favor was something she had to give. When really, she didn't even have it herself.
"Are you hungry yet?" Lucy asked the teen, letting her frustration drift off, "I want to see that restaurant that put you into a food coma."
Natsu chuckled. Those words never failed to amuse him, "Yeah I could go for some food." He walked beside her as they went back to their curious friends, who had both stood up during their encounter with the stranger, "They have this HUGE pizza, like, bigger than probably… eight of your heads put together."
"Sounds gross…" Lucy admitted, getting a frown from Natsu, "What? Why would any one person need a pizza that big?"
"Who said I ate it by myself?"
She gave him a blank look, "I doubt the food coma could've happened any other way."
Natsu laughed again.
"I'll just decide when we get there." She stated and went to untie Plue from the table, then grabbed the water she'd gotten as a prize from winning their competition.
"…Hey… quick question." The teen spoke as he grabbed Happy and placed him on his shoulder again, the cat's usual spot, "How'd you get that guy to apologize?"
"How did I get him to apologize?" She repeated and he nodded.
"I didn't really… I mean…" Lucy thought for a moment, "All I did was point out what he did was wrong and tell him why. It was up to him to apologize or not." She began walking, "I find it better to educate a person on why what they're doing is bad rather than blowing up in their faces about it- tends to work better in my opinion. You don't really get anywhere just getting mad at someone."
"Hm…" Natsu took her words in, applying them to all the times he'd had run-ins with men like that. Never had he really thought to talk calmly to them, or rather they didn't give him the chance. They would always just lunge for him, trying to pick a fight, which worked, so there really wasn't any time for talking…
I guess I'll try that next time… He thought to himself. It was a good idea, and it seemed to work from what he saw. Though he didn't know how different it would sound coming out of his mouth.
"Natsu?"
"Hm- yeah?" He picked his head up, he'd unconsciously been looking at the ground, and turned to the blonde, "What?"
"Was that all you wanted to ask?"
"Oh. Yeah that was it. Thanks."
Lucy's brows furrowed, wondering if that was really all, but let it go, changing the topic to something else as they walked on.
Some hours passed and they got their food. In the end Lucy gave into his wanting pizza, and they got what was called a "Mega Pizza". A bit of a lackluster name, she thought, but the actual thing was anything but. He'd been right. It was definitely about the size of eight of her heads put together, and was making Plue, poor thing, drool like a maniac. The food had taken up most of the table they were sitting at, which was quite something in itself, but the toppings he chose… she didn't even want to remember it. Thankfully, they'd split the pizza in half. One side was her choice of toppings and the other was his.
After that, since they were closer to her home than his, they took the leftovers, which was probably more than the amount of two large pizza's, back to her house and decided to leave Happy as well as Plue there. Plue, being the puppy he was, got tired easily so he was wiped by the time they got there. And Happy, who wasn't looking necessarily tired, had been chosen to keep Plue company by Natsu, giving his owner a "if I have to" look before the two departed again.
Now, they were walking around town, about hour after having left her house the second time, talking about unimportant things while enjoying the cool breeze the shaded sidewalk offered.
"I don't know…" Natsu mumbled, agitation coloring his voice, "This is weird…"
"What is with you and the word weird…" She huffed and rubbed her hands together, "It's not that hard. Just take your time."
"…It's not working." He grumbled and stopped walking, staring down at his hands angrily, "It won't- Lucy, it won't come off."
She giggled at his expression and moved a little closer to the teen, "Okay, calm down. That's the key. You have to be patient and go slow. It'll only get tighter if you get frustrated with it."
Natsu tried it again, taking her words into account, but ended up making the thing tighter, "It ain't coming off!" He exclaimed, completely vexed with his situation.
Lucy sighed, "Okay, okay hold on. I'll get it off." The blonde stepped in front of the man and reached for his tanned hands, laughing at the Chinese finger trap that refused to let him take it off.
They'd stopped by a knickknack store a little earlier, Lucy practically flew into the store when she saw it, and she ended up buying a few things- nothing she couldn't easily fit into her jacket pocket. She hated having to lug around shopping bags. Anyway, Natsu had explained he never tried one before, much to her astonishment- he seemed like the type of guy to have tried a Chinese finger trap- and almost immediately she made him try it out. And that's what he'd been doing for the ten minutes they'd been away from the store.
Lucy took his hands , or rather his two index fingers, into her own and began trying to pull the thing off. For a moment it was going well and seemed to come off easily, but she decided she wanted to mess with him a little before freeing his fingers.
"Umm…" She feigned a worry ridden voice, keeping her eyes on the finger trap, "This isn't as easy as I thought… I think… I think it may be stuck…"
"What?!" Natsu panicked. He really didn't want to have to live the rest of his life with a damn finger trap connecting his hands together, "Are you sure?! I thought you said you could get it off!"
The rosy haired teen moved his head much closer to Lucy's, without her knowledge, trying to get a better look just as she decided to let him in on the prank. "Haha! It's fine, it's fine. I was jokin-"
She faced upward, not knowing how close he'd gotten, and went silent at the lack of space in between them. The blonde could feel his breath on her face; it was warm and smelled of the caramel he'd just eaten. His eyes were a dark green, full of the innocent panic her prank made him feel and in a split second she felt like her legs were turning into some form of jelly.
"Wait- you were joking?"
The girl snapped out of her hazy thoughts and stepped backwards, getting back to the normal amount of personal space between them, "I- uh… Yeah. I was joking. Look." She pulled off the finger trap easily, and set it in his palm, releasing his hands as she did.
"Sweet freedom." He stated with a grin on his face and held up both his hands, clenching and unclenching them- an action that Lucy, given what just happened, couldn't help but stare at.
What was that?! The blonde mentally cursed at herself, Get a grip. Calm down. He was just a little close- that's al-
"Lucy?" Natsu spoke her name and stepped a little closer, peering at her face, "Somethin' wrong?"
Shaking her head, she stepped back and said, "It's nothing. I just got caught in my thoughts for a second…"
"Oh… alright." He let it go easily, not noticing how red her ears had gotten and looked around, trying to get a hold on where they were exactly when he spotted a poster, letting out a small "Ah." at the sight of it.
"What is it?" Lucy asked and followed his line of sight with her eyes, noticing what he saw as well.
Placed on the window of a bakery was a busily designed poster reading "ANNUAL END OF SUMMER FESTIVAL! SPONSORED BY YOUR LOCAL FAIRY TAIL ODD JOBS! GET READY FOR A TON OF FUN DOWN BY THE BEACH!"
"They're already spreadin' these around, huh?" Natsu rubbed his neck, remembering last year's festival and how crazy thin they'd been spread due to lack of planning, "Guess it makes sense."
Lucy kept on reading the poster, and spun around with wide eyes when she was finished, "You guys hold a festival?!" Her voice took on a high pitch, clearly overexcited at the news, "Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Uh… I didn't real-"
"Wait, never mind. It doesn't matter! How big is it?!" Despite being embarrassed by their earlier proximity, she stepped closer to him, staring his face down with pure joy.
"S'pretty big. All the locals get together and provide their own stalls filled with their food and merchandise. Some of them even make stuff for a limited time that's only for the festival. Then there's a lot of games and competitions to get in, a Miss Magnolia contest, and at the end of it all there's this huge fireworks show." he answered the eager teen. "They've been holdin' one every year since before I got here so it's a pretty big deal for everyone… I think you need to breathe…" Natsu stopped, worried about the color Lucy's face was turning.
"That sounds amazing! I can't wait! Do I have to sign up to help? Is there going to be a meeting or something? Wait- am I going to be allowed to participate since I'm new?"
The teen put his hands on her shoulders, getting her attention and answering, "No, you don't have to sign up. The boss makes everyone help. There's always a meeting- we just have to wait for him to let us know when. And hell yeah you're gonna participate." He grinned at her, "Doesn't matter if you're new or not."
Lucy got the sudden urge to want to hug the teen, very badly, answering her spitfire questions but bit that feeling back. She'd always wanted to attend a festival. A few years after her mom died, the town they'd been living in decided to throw together a festival of their own. Lucy must've begged more for that than anything else in her life- she desperately wanted to go- but her father, of course, had shot her down. He hadn't even allowed her to go with one of her butlers. Every year after that they held one but Lucy didn't bother asking again. The only thing she asked for was for one of her maids to bring her back a caramel apple and any kind of souvenir.
She grinned back at him, feeling like kid again, and suddenly felt a buzz coming from her jacket.
"Well what do you know?" Natsu chuckled and took out his phone, "Just as we were talkin' about it."
Lucy grabbed hers as well and saw a text from their boss, saying they were to attend a meeting tomorrow night concerning plans for the upcoming festival. "This is great!" She beamed and locked her phone before placing it back inside her jacket pocket.
"Yeah I guess."
"You're not excited?" She questioned.
Natsu shook his head, "I'm excited, don't get me wrong. I just like the actual festival more than the planning stuff. It gets more… work-ish every year."
Lucy didn't know how to respond, she'd never been involved with one before but she at least knew a lot of work had to be put into it. "I'm just happy to be included... It wouldn't matter if preparing was all I got to do."
Natsu gave her a curious glance as he pulled on his scarf. Something in her tone just then seemed… distant? He wasn't too sure. It may have just been him.
"Anyway, now that we have to wait until tomorrow, what now?" She asked the teen standing beside her and grabbed a piece of her loose hair, messing with it so she something to do with her hands.
"Well," He looked down at his watch to check the time, seeing that it was already five in the evening and said, "did you want to head back? It's gonna get dark soon."
Lucy hesitated.
She really didn't want to go home yet… Now that she'd gotten her company, she didn't want to be alone again. Having him with her all day had provided a pleasant distraction from her earlier thoughts, the ones that practically bound her to her house all week, and she didn't want to give that up just yet. It might've been selfish of her, but she just really didn't want to go back to that yet. Actually, she didn't want to go back to that ever, but it wasn't like she could keep someone by her side all day every day. Not that she wanted to- that'd be a little excessive- anyway, her point being going home now didn't sound appealing.
"I don't mind being out a little longer." Lucy spoke a little too quietly, she was annoyed with herself for it, and said, "Did you want to go back?"
"Doesn't matter to me. I've got nothing to get to anyway. Where'd you wanna go?" He asked, somewhat relieved she didn't say yes. The rosy haired teen, despite never admitting it to anyone or himself even, didn't want to be alone either.
"No idea." The blonde admitted and shook her head. The town was still a mystery to her. Even now she didn't have a clue as to how to get back to her house from where they were.
"Have you been to the beach yet?" He suggested, kind of proud of the idea. If she hadn't, he'd really like to be the first person to show it to her- the way she reacted to things made him happy for some reason. She was fun to watch, he supposed, and with the way the beach looked he wanted to see what kind of face she'd make when seeing it.
"Oh!" Lucy's eyes lit up, "No, I haven't been yet."
"It's decided then!" He threw his fist in the air and got looks from the people passing by, "The beach it is!"
"Um… okay this isn't uh… I mean it's nice… but um…" Lucy was at loss for words at the moment and Natsu wanted nothing more than to bury himself in the sand.
"What the hell…" Natsu groaned and turned his back to the scene in front of them, putting a hand on his forehead, "I swear it wasn't like this last time. Goddamn couples…" He muttered under his breath.
Before them was a very nice beach with clear waters and a nicely colored sky, but also before them was an unusual amount of couples not holding back an ounce of their… couple-ness.
It was an intense make out spot.
Natsu had unintentionally led her to make out city.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…" He apologized, rubbing his temples. "After you'd been all excited too…"
"No um…" she cleared her throat, "the beach is… the beach is nice. You were right about that… The water looks really… nice. So does the um… sand... Do you wanna go down?"
"What?" His head whipped back to look at her instantly, disbelief coloring his cheeks and voice.
"Not for that!" She yelled, wanting to slap the expression off his dumb face, "I just wanted to see the water!" Though, if she were to be honest about it, she couldn't deny having someone to be like that with wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. But never would she ever do what these couples were doing in public…
"O-oh, right." Natsu coughed and turned back to the beach, "Are you uh… you sure?"
Lucy eyed him and put her hands on her face, hoping to cool it down while looking back at the beach, "On second thought…" She stared for a few more seconds, waiting for something to completely change her mind, and then turned away once something did, "never mind."
Natsu sighed. He was disappointed with the turn of events until he recalled a nice spot he used to hang out at all the time when he was younger. "D'you wanna go to the cliffside instead? From what I can remember it's just as nice."
Lucy looked skeptical, "You aren't leading me to another place full of sex-crazed teens again are you?"
"God no." Natsu shook his head, "Let's get out of here."
Lucy agreed and they were about to walk away but not before Natsu could shout, "GET A ROOM YOU DAMN PERVS. YOU'RE RUININ' THE BEACH."
He got a lot of middle fingers in response, to which he replied generously.
After about thirty minutes full of walking, sort-of climbing up a wooded cliff, and Lucy complaining that she wouldn't have agreed to go if she knew she had to be a pro hiker to make the trip, they reached the spot Natsu had been talking about. They were at the very edge of the cliff, where the trees died out and where the town met the water down below. Natsu had discovered it years ago, thinking it was his own personal hideaway but had somehow forgotten about it until now. Though, as he looked out onto the water, he couldn't imagine why he'd ever forget about a place that offered a view like what he was seeing.
"Well," Lucy stood beside him and spoke up, her hair whipping about in the chilled wind the cliffside had to offer, "You were wrong about it being just as nice…"
Natsu was about to question her sanity when she spoke again, "This is way nicer…" She smiled, "And there's no "pervs" to see here." Lucy mimicked the way he had shouted the word to the couples back at the beach, laughing at the recent memory.
Natsu watched the blonde turn around and heard her mention how she could see most of the town- he only said a "yeah" in reply and let her get lost in trying to find the places she knew of. He was a little distracted.
The teen moved closer to the edge and sat down, letting his feet hang off the edge. They were pretty high up, but it didn't bother him. He liked heights. They gave him a nice feeling. He used to go hiking with his dad all the time when he was younger- they'd make a few days trip out if it- and every time they reached the very top of what they were climbing, his dad made this… expression. An expression that, at the time he couldn't tell what it was but now understood, showed his earnest want for adventure. Maybe that's where he'd gone off to? Natsu shrugged that thought off and went back to admiring the view. He wouldn't mind a little adventure himself, in fact he wanted it. But actually doing it, leaving everyone behind- he knew that would be extremely difficult.
He sighed and scratched his head. Damn vastness of the ocean, making him get all screwy in the head…
"I couldn't find anything…" Lucy suddenly appeared beside him again with a pout on her face, and sat down, putting her own legs over the edge.
Natsu laughed, "Bummer."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them minding it, but then Natsu remembered he had a tease card to play. And oh was it going to be sweet due to all the times she'd messed with him earlier that day. She wouldn't be expecting it either! Natsu was getting a little too excited for it.
"So… you wanna make jalapeno poppers, huh?" He grinned mischievously and busted into a hearty laugh when her eyes widened.
"You told me you didn't look!" She yelled and quickly stood up, probably a little too quickly because she stumbled, which wasn't a good thing to do on the edge of a cliff, but caught herself.
"I don't recall…" Natsu feigned ignorance, getting a kick out of her reaction.
"Sh-shut up!" She fumed, angry at the warmth on her face, and turned her head away, an even worse pout spreading on her mouth, "You seemed all disappointed when I told you I didn't know how to make them and it annoyed the hell out of me later that day so I ended up asked Mira to give me her recipe."
Natsu stood up as well, much more gracefully than she did, and said with a silly, toothy grin, "I can't wait to try them." Now that he was thinking of them, he wouldn't mind a huge basket full…
"No! You don't get to try them now!" She retorted, trying not to let his smile affect her. "Why did you bring it up all of a sudden anyway?"
"Well you've been messing with me all day so I wanted to get even." He replied as if she should've seen it coming.
Lucy huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face and still trying to will the blush on her face away, "You're so rude."
"Ha! I'm rude?" Natsu threw his head back with a short laugh and said, "Like I said, you've been pranking me all day! How am I rude?"
"Just are." Lucy replied curtly, her pink nose, it was pink due to the temp. that went down slowly with the sun, sticking up slightly.
"That's not a go-" Natsu was about to defend himself, not seeing where she was getting this "rude" business from when he felt a buzz in his pocket. Another text.
Sticking an idex finger up to Lucy, telling her to hold on a second, he grabbed his phone and saw the sender was Gajeel. He tapped the screen, getting into the message, and read that his friends were having a barbecue over at Fairy Hills, drinks courtesy of Mira and Lisanna. They did this pretty often. Even though they pretty much partied and drank almost every night at the warehouse, the barbecues were mostly made up of the younger people in FT. Needless to say why it was only them, really.
"Oh sweet." Natsu grinned and quickly replied to Gajeel before shoving his phone back into his pocket along with his keys, the reason why it was so banged up. "You wanna go over to Fairy Hills?" He asked the blonde, "Everyone's heading over for food and drinks."
Lucy, who was still a little upset over the teasing, questioned, "What… like a party?"
"Guess so. If you call getting somewhat drunk and eatin' a whole lotta meat with some music in the background a party?"
Lucy couldn't help but think he was telling her his own personal version of the gathering, but replied, "Um, sure. Sounds fun. You don't mind if we stop and check on Plue and Happy do you? I don't like leaving him alone for too long."
Natsu nodded and began walking down the steep cliff, entering the trees again, "Yeah sure. I was gonna mention it. I don't think Happy'll appreciate me leaving him at your house all night, especially not when he has a date tonight."
Lucy quickly followed behind, saying, "A date? How does a cat have a date?"
Natsu chuckled, "He's in a, and I quote, "deep and unprecedented love" with Wendy's cat Carla. Little dude's head over heels for the girl."
"That's so cute…" Lucy wanted to clutch her heart, but her hands were preoccupied with trying to keep herself balanced.
"Right?" The teen agreed, not being able to deny that it was, and stopped when he came to a sudden drop on the ground. For a moment he sized the height difference up, but decided it wasn't too much for him and jumped down, landing on his feet easily.
Lucy looked down at him with a frown.
"You need help getting down?" he asked, a little smile in his voice.
"No." She refused and moved closer to the edge. It wasn't that far down… not really… If she could unintentionally fall off her deck's railing and laugh it off then surely she could intentionally make a safe jump off a small ledge…
"Come on," he moved closer and stuck his arm out, "give me your hand."
She hesitated for two more seconds and then gave in, "Fine…" The girl, honestly, just hadn't wanted to touch his hand again… The warmth she'd felt on her ears earlier hadn't really gone away and to take his hand again would most definitely spell trouble for her.
Why on earth was she so worried about touching another person's hand? It was just a hand for God's sake.
Lucy reached down and put her hand in his, grabbing it tightly as did he. It was warm, unlike hers, and rough, like he'd done a lot with them over the years. They were nicely tanned too… actually, he, in general, was very nicely tanned. Even in the shade of the trees his skin seemed to give off an almost sun like glow… It was pleasant.
"Uhh, Lucy? Are you gonna jump?"
The blonde blinked twice and then very quickly went red from head to toe, or at least that's what it felt like. Without wasting another second, Lucy jumped down, relying on his hand more than she thought, and landed clumsily but landed nonetheless.
"You okay?" Natsu asked, not yet separating their hands.
"Yeah, I'm good. Totally fine." She pulled her hand out of his and stuck it in her jacket pocket, waiting for him to lead the way again.
"Alright…" Natsu didn't completely buy it but figured she probably just got nervous and didn't wanna sprain her ankle or something.
Lucy walked behind him with eyes a little wider than usual, a new warmth creeping up on her neck despite just feeling cold a few second ago. Maybe deciding to go to this "Fairy Hills" place with him wasn't such a good idea… She thought worriedly and on the entire way down she hoped that the rest of the night went smoothly.
If not, she'd probably die from overheating.
A/N: *does a victory lap* I FINALLY FINISHED IT. Dear Go d I thought I'd never do it. I get in the mood to write at the worst times and when I've got spare time my brain decides I'm illiterate. Sorry if there're some mistakes. I read it over twice so I think I caught everything but if I didn't my bad.
Anyway, I'm sure you can guess what the next chapter's gonna be about. ;) Party with the FT youngsters that the older adults never get invited to but wouldn't be thrown out if it they ended up going. Lucy's finally going to get to meet everyone, everyone, and her "unusually close for the time they've known each other" relationship with Natsu is going to be under some intense observation. Also bby girl's beginning to feel what it's like to have a crush for the first time.
As for her "shitty week" I wanted to explain for a second- hope you don't mind that I like to explain things here. That was her falling back into her old habits. Lucy left home without resolving anything at all, so things are bound to come back and mess with her. She thinks she left it all behind but it's not so easy to just leave a life like what she'd been living. Habits and feelings are bound to stick. I don't know if you can tell, but both Natsu and Lucy are becoming each other's temporary cure for loneliness. While Natsu has had his friends/family, there's never been anyone he could really get stuck to, if that makes sense, and Lucy, who's never really had friends, found something in him that makes her feel at home- a feeling she hadn't experienced in a long time. I tried to make that obvious but wanted to give a more literal explanation here. It's not a bad thing, I don't want them to have an unhealthy relationship here, but it's something they'll both have to deal with. Fics that romanticize unhealthy things are a no go for me.
Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for reading and reviewing. Tickles my dumb heart.