Stepping in to the stairwell, Natsu wasn't surprised to see how neat and clean the place was. Everything was swept and dusted, the natural light in the window at the top of the narrow staircase shone down and lit up the dark rosewood of the floor and stairs. A little buzzed, Natsu was still able to focus enough where he noticed the wood banisters, white walls and at the top of the stairs a narrow hallway. As the tiny group walked down the hallway, Lucy showed them a plain looking door, off to the right. What Natsu assumed would be another apartment, was in fact a laundry room and storage area. A plastic sink stood beside the washer, the dryer on the washers other side. The hot water tank was off to the left of the room, a little table for folding clothes against the wall, also on the left side. A fairly large window was on the wall straight ahead, letting a fair amount of natural light to spill in the room. Above the roof was lined with large metal ducts that Natsu assumed was for the heat and air conditioning, thinner copper pipes with a red or blue stripe – presumably for hot and cold water. Dead center in the concrete floor, the drain lay – suspicious looking chemical stains around it.
"Yeah, so that's the boring laundry room! And this is my apartment! Two bedrooms, one bath, the whole shebang! Except en suit laundry, hint hint mister landlord!"
A smile broke out over Natsu's lips, lighting his dark eyes as Lucy grinned over her shoulder to him, her brown eyes dancing with hidden humour and mischief. Although he knew he had to focus almost entirely on his coffeehouse and bar to keep up appearances, Lucy so far didn't seem like a bad tenant – so what if he tried to make her life a tad more comfortable? To his alcohol soaked brain, that seemed like the best idea at this given moment.
"Ah but, Lucy, if you do manage to get your landlord to agree to it, you'd have to contact the buildings owner -"
"I – ugh, why is the world spinning!? - I own this hunk ah junk."
"This building is not a hunk of junk, Dragneel!"
As Natsu fell against the wall laughing, Lucy hitting him upside the head, he could hear the short blue haired woman – Levy, his boozed brain provided – sigh and continue with what she was saying. A growl slipped out of his mouth as Lucy whacked him a good one with her shoe. Reaching out, he grabbed her wrists and held them to his chest, focusing on Levy like his life depended on it. This was important information! To bad he left his pen in his car...
"Anyways! Hunk of junk or not – Lucy, you would have to give up the second room, the whole building would have to be rewired and brought up to code. Yes your apartment is due for a renovation – it's been ten years! - That wouldn't be worth it for the only apartment in a building this old. All of this is up to current city codes, it's best not to mess with it."
Natsu nodded groggily along with every word Levy said. She could've been talking about a skip-rope jumping rainbow panda for all he cared at this given moment, but she seemed eager and it sounded very important by her tone of voice. Another snicker slipped passed as Lucy huffed and tugged him towards her door.
"Shut it, Natsu. No more drink for you, geezus! Instead of caffeine, they should outlaw alcohol!"
"Actually Lucy – from nineteen twenty to nineteen thirty-three they had the prohibition because of people complaining about what alcohol did to people. Turned good people bad – among other issues of that present day and time which I wont be bothered getting in to. Anyways, case in point – they tried, failed and it cost hundreds if not thousands of lives because of failed smuggling, gang wars, over drinking, home made moonshine mixed with poison chemicals and – aahg gods..."
The rest was cut off when Natsu made a run for it towards the plastic sink in the laundry room, all the beer and lack of food in his system finally getting to him. Levy, Gajeel and Lucy stood in the hall way dumbfounded before Gajeel sighed and walked with Levy to Lucy's apartment, the blonde standing there in the hallway dumbfounded. When Natsu finally cleaned himself up and came into the hallway, she looked up at him in surprise.
"What the hell was that about?! Did you eat a history book for breakfast!?"
Blinking owlishly, he was about to speak when she sighed and slapped him upside the head once more, finally tugging him inside her apartment and slamming the door. He hated acting the idiot with Lucy and the others, but part of his job at running a successful illegal coffeehouse meant he had to learn from mistakes of the past! Learning from mistakes of the past meant he could not repeat them! Not repeating them meant he had at least a little bit of a fighting chance to not get caught. The more he educated himself the better – for himself and his customers!
Once inside the apartment, Natsu once again found himself pleasantly surprised. Expecting frilly and pink everything, what he saw actually surprised him. The apartment was one wide open space, one door to the right that lead to what could've been a bathroom or bedroom. To the left stood two doors, also what could be the second bedroom and bathroom.
Feeling better now that the alcohol was out of his system mostly, Natsu followed as Lucy gave a quick two second tour. The same rosewood from the bar and the hallway continued in to her apartment. One giant and large window made up one wall straight ahead, white satin curtains neatly tied off to the sides to let the light in. Lucy's couch was made of soft green fabric, her couch pillows and blanket blue. Her coffee table, end tables and computer table were all made of silver metal frames, with glass surfaces. An over stuffed bookshelf with a chair the same as the couch and a tall silver lamp with a white shade was tucked in a corner off on the right side of the room. The giant television attached to the wall, a glass table holding her wireless router, television receiver and what looked to be a blue – ray player. On either side of the TV table set up, thin and long bookshelves were stacked with countless movies.
"You can close your mouth, Natsu. Apparently my father thought if he made the apartment fancy enough and sent me six months worth of rent twice a year like clockwork – I wouldn't notice he was gone..."
The bitterness in Lucy's voice was not lost on Natsu who found himself wondering what exactly this woman's father was like. To just leave his – near adult, yes – daughter behind like that and put the building she lived in up for sale!? Not a man he wanted to meet that was for sure...! Gajeel had parked himself on the couch and Natsu was extremely reluctant to get into what the hell exactly had happened the last night a more then a few months ago. Seeing a way out, he gently grabbed Levy's elbow as she moved to go help Lucy in the kitchen. Quickly thinking, Natsu came up with the most believable excuse he could.
"Hey, Levy, you mind if I help Lucy cook? I – ah – I want to see the kitchen but I don't want to be nosey..."
Suspicious understanding dawned on the tiny woman's face but Natsu knew he had her the moment he hinted about caring about Lucy's welfare. Although curious as to what the kitchen and the rest of the house looked like, he didn't want to outright nose around. This was just an easy way out of it. Besides...it got him away from talking to Gajeel, so double bonus there!
"Levy, could you pass the green peppers please? Bottom left crisper."
Shrugging, Natsu opened the stainless steel fridge and grabbed the green, red and yellow peppers, green and red onions and broccoli. Arms full, a grin broke out on his lips at the look of surprise on Lucy's face.
"You helped me in my bar today, I figured I'd return the favour by helping with dinner – deal?"
Even though she sighed, hands on her hips, Lucy still handed him a pairing and utility knife, setting both on the counter with a thick clear plastic cutting board. The two worked side by side and Natsu took in the rest of the kitchen to stave off the awkward silence that fell in the room. It seemed all the appliances, from the coffee maker and toaster to the gas stove and dishwasher were all stainless steel. The floor was the same light rosewood through out the rest of the building. The cupboards were a dark stained wood that he couldn't make out, the little nobs also stainless steel. Counter tops were what looked to be white marble, very thin streaks of silver and gold laced through out. The kitchen itself was spacious, a little island in the center with four chairs and those weird plastic place mats with what looked to be an open book, the words just blurry enough to illegible but still clear enough to look like actual words.
Geezus, this whole place looks amazing! I wonder what my apartment will look like...
Before he could think any more of it, Lucy spoke, his thoughts on apartments scattering.
"So. I know why you want to run a barkeep – your version at least...but...why would you want to become a landlord of this building?"
"The idiot of a realtor failed to mention that I would be taking on a tenant and the duties of a landlord. I didn't aim for this."
The look on her face as she stopped chopping the onions caused Natsu to pause, realization hitting him at just how harsh he sounded towards her. It wasn't her fault that Jon Doe-Smith-Smyth turned out to be a sleaze!
"Do you have plans for this building...?"
Immediately suspicious, Natsu kept quiet and waited a few moments for her to continue. When she didn't, again it dawned on him that she was worried about being run out of her home! Immediately looking to reassure her, Natsu wiped his hands on a fluffy yellow towel and pulled out a newspaper add from his pocket, handing it to her.
"You're not gonna loose your home if that's what you're worried about. I'll be moving in the area in a few days hopefully. I called this number but their phone didn't have an answering machine. I saw this add looking for a roommate in the Listings section of the newspaper. I figured it's in the area, nice and close to work, so why no – eh...Lucy?"
Natsu paused in his explanation as Lucy's face paled. Setting down his knife, he got ready to catch her in case she fell. Instead all she did was look at him wide eyed, hand holding the paper shivering as her other hand holding the knife gripped the handle tighter. Taking a step back, Natsu felt his flames rise to the surface in self-defence. If Lucy went to attack him with the knife, he would have no choice but to defend himself! Even though he was extremely reluctant to attack her...for so many reasons, the most important being she was his tenant and sending her to the burn ward would not be a good first step in getting to know her better!
"Natsu..."
"Lucy?"
"Natsu, I put this add in the paper with the realtor..."
She sighed and let go of the knife, her hands limp at her sides as the paper fluttered to the ground. When Lucy spoke, her voice was filled with hope, brown eyes pleading as she looked up into his dark ones with puppy – eyes.
"Please tell me you didn't sign the papers yet!?"
Rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, Natsu tried to smile a shaky smile and shake his head – only to be knocked over and jumped on by Lucy! Her tiny hands were tying the scarf tighter around his neck when Levy walked in with her empty wine glass, surprise clearly written all over her features.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
As one, the two sat up and pointed at the other, each speaking in an attempt to get the words out first.
"We're gonna be roommates!"
Light laughter from Levy and deeper laughter from Gajeel who'd walked up just then rang out in the apartment, the two on the floor going back to Lucy trying to wring Natsu's neck with his scarf while he tried to fight her off.