The Girl Next Door
vii. kissing her
Natsu wasn't sure what had happened. All he knew was that Lucy had been avoiding him since their fourth date—a date that had gone extremely well, or so he'd thought—and he didn't know why, didn't know what he'd done wrong. To his knowledge, he hadn't done anything to piss her off or scare her away and things were good. He was happy; he'd thought she was too. He hadn't even told her he loved her yet, thinking it was too soon, so he really didn't know what to think.
All Natsu knew was that he was hurt and desperate and in love and worried and Happy hadn't been home since that night (he wasn't worried about him; he knew Lucy was taking good care of the little troublemaker) and—and—and he just wanted to see her.
Natsu sighed and dropped his face into his hands. What to do? Lucy wouldn't look at him, wouldn't talk to him, maybe wasn't even thinking about him.
Ouch. That hurt.
Suddenly, there was a timid knock on his door and Lucy's voice: "Natsu?"
Natsu shot to the door like a bullet, yanking it open harshly, and was breathless at the sight of her. "Lucy."
Her hair was tangled, eyes rimmed with red, and a snoozing Happy was curled around her neck. She was so perfect. Natsu's eyes drank her in eagerly, his body aching with the need to touch her, but he refrained, his nails biting into the door.
"Can...can I come in?" she asked meekly, eyes peeking up at his and then darting away.
"Yes! Of course!" He stood aside to let her in and shut the door behind her. Why won't she look at me?
She was quiet for several long moments, breathing deeply, hands trembling like she was nervous. Or scared. Of him? Natsu wasn't sure he wanted to know.
She gently pulled Happy from her shoulders and settled him onto the couch, where the cat continued napping peacefully. Finally, she turned to him and met his eyes.
He took a step towards her.
"I'm sorry!" she blurted, looking away again. She wrung her hands and focused on her feet. "I...I owe you an explanation. I'm s-sorry for avoiding you these past few weeks...I just—I needed to think. And I—it wasn't fair to you, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't—I had to—" Her voice choked off.
"Lucy, it's fine. It's fine, don't—"
"No! No, I need to say this. Please, just hear me out, okay?" She took another deep breath.
Natsu tried to squash down the sense of foreboding rising in his chest.
"I...I..." Lucy bit her lip. "I needed time because...because I—I thought it was too fast. I wasn't sure—and then I was, but I was too scared—I just - it's only been a few weeks, you know? A-and I thought—I thought it was too fast but—I kept wanting to tell you - "
Natsu had no idea what she was talking about, but it didn't sound good.
"I didn't wanna scare you, you know? But I—I love you, Natsu, and—you don't have to say it back! I mean, like I said, it's fast and—a-and I understand if it's t-too much too s-soon—I just had to tell you—I'm sorry—" She was openly crying now.
Natsu wasn't sure what he'd just heard. He thought—he thought—she'd just said she loved him, but that wasn't a bad thing, right? Why was she apologizing for it when Natsu—if he'd heard correctly, that is—wanted to jump in joy and kiss her senseless?
"You—you love me?" he asked hesitantly, needing confirmation.
She nodded shakily, crying harder. "I-I'm sorry—"
Something wonderful was growing in his heart. "Why're you apologizing?"
She blinked tears out of her eyes, hiccoughing cutely, and looked at him in confusion. "Because...because it's too soon and I'm scaring you?"
He shook his head, laughing a little, blinking a few tears of relief from his eyes. "God, Lucy—do you know how long I've been wanting to tell you? God."
"W-what?"
He strode forward and hugged her tightly, making her squeak. His grin grew against her neck and he couldn't help kissing the skin lightly. She shivered. "Lucy, god, I love you so much. Have you been worrying about this all this time?"
She nodded into his shoulder. "I—I thought—but you didn't—but I—huh?"
Chuckling, he pulled back and kissed her forehead, making her blush, before cupping her cheeks and wiping away the tears with his thumbs. "You weirdo," he teased. "You should've just told me. You think I'd be scared away by you loving me? Seriously, you're so weird sometimes."
She smacked his shoulder halfheartedly. "Well, you didn't say anything either! I thought—I thought it was just me, falling too fast..."
Natsu shook his head and leaned his forehead against hers. "Of course I love you already. How could I not, when you're so weird?"
"Natsu!"
He grinned, then brushed his thumb across her lips softly, enjoying her shiver and the way her eyes widened. Her lips parted slightly and he zeroed in on them.
"May I?" he asked softly.
She licked her lips and swallowed. "Yes," she breathed. "Please."
He leaned down slowly, giving her time to change her mind. She didn't, just waited breathlessly, impatiently—so impatient, in fact, that at the final moment, she surged up onto her toes and kissed him. It was soft, sweet, and they both sighed into it. It wasn't their first kiss, and it wouldn't be their last, but it was one of the most important kisses they would share.
They parted briefly and Lucy giggled. "Natsu," she sighed happily, and that was it—he dove back in and kissed her with all of his pent-up passion and desperation.
Her hands clutched his shirt and pulled him closer as she made a delicious sound that ran down Natsu's spine and made him kiss her harder. His hands roamed, one sliding up her neck into her hair and the other winding around her waist to anchor her to his body.
She whimpered; he groaned. Her mouth opened under his; his heart almost gave out.
"Lucy," he ground out hoarsely, and her knees wobbled.
Eventually, they came apart and gasped for air, eyes still closed.
"I love you," he whispered with a smile, slowly opening his eyes.
She was already staring at him, beaming so fondly his heart ached. He wanted to kiss her again and maybe never, ever stop.
Lucy laughed, a throaty, beautiful sound. "I know."
notes: kisses! originally it was just gonna be the kiss scene but i thought, you know what, maybe i should give it some plot, lol. i love writing nalu kisses. i think i just have this vision of them kissing and it's always so natural, so passionate, so loving...idk I LOVE NALU AHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAHHAHA
so this came out earlier than i (and probably you guys lol) anticipated but tbh i wanted to write this and post this before last chapter, but i figured i should at least pretend other stuff happens in this story and nalu being cute and kissing a lot. :D more kissing to come, soon, maybe, sometime, and also DRAMA! cuz i just realized there aren't any sad/angry/negative emotions chapters and those are only natural in a relationship so some of those to come as well. my muse for this story is loving me lately and i think this is actually one of my most popular stories, if not the most popular one. it's amazing! i'm so glad you're all enjoying this silly little series as much as i'm enjoying writing it!
lemme know if there are any other moments you wanna see, any other characters as well! so far this has been focused on nalu but there are so many great friendships in fairy tail that i'd love to exploit so yeah lemme know!
tell me your thoughts on this chapter, if you think it was too melodramatic, if the kiss scene was unrealistic, whatever you wanna say!
also, as a reminder, i did announce in the very first chapter that this is a drabble collection. tbh these aren't really drabbles cuz they're all more than 100 words but in any case, they're meant to be short glimpses of nalu life. i'll try not to make them too short but please don't ask me to make them longer! even if it's only a couple hundred words, i end a chapter where i do because i feel like i hit a satisfactory stopping point. i include everything i want to include in a chapter and if it's just not that long, i apologize. also it's really not easy to write several thousand words with only a small idea in mind lol. i try to stretch stuff out for you guys, but it doesn't always work out. so, sorry in advance for short chapters in the future but i'll try to update relatively often to make up for it!
replies: it's been way too long since i've done these, i'm so sorry! i'm gonna reply to all of them here and then try to keep up in future chapters (i don't remember if i've replied to some of the earlier reviews before, but if so, lemme just thank you again!). thank you for all your support!
OgaxHilda / Kinoshita Ninako / ZoeNarutoFairy / p3pp3rmintt / aPoliteVillain / jasminewenxinlu / StellaHeartfilia / kat5552 / jyqm03 / sarara1.8 / Lia Dragneel / Animelover1001 / Lyonsgirl / zElliexmagic / Destiny246 / Guest / BatheMeInSprinkles / CarolineSenpai / misssbehavin / LlamaNova242: thank you so much! you are all wonderful beautiful people who deserve all the good!
NaLu x Buckets: you get a special mention because of your many lovely reviews! i'm so sorry i didn't reply to them directly, but i just haven't had the time to do that for any of my stories. i was so so flattered by your kind words and i'm really happy you like my writing! thanks again and i hope you continue to enjoy the story!
sorry for this super long a/n. see you soon!
OMG I ALMOST FORGOT ok last thing i swear so normally i dislike when someone says i love you and the recipient just say "i know" like "duh ofc you do" BUT. IN THIS CASE. i thought it was fitting because lucy didn't know before, didn't think he did, so this time natsu says it and she's telling him that she knows now. SORRY. JUST WANTED TO EXPLAIN. BECAUSE IT REALLY IS A PEEVE OF MINE LIKE WHEN SOMEONE SAYS I LOVE YOU DON'T JUST SAY I KNOW LIKE AN ARROGANT BASTARD TELL THEM YOU LOVE THEM TOO (if you do). OTHERWISE DON'T LEAD THEM ON. anyhoos. SORRY. i'm done, i'm done!
© Copyright 2016 by The Siege