Now that I'm conscious of the pacing of this fanfic, I'm so nervous. I can't tell if it's rushed or not and it's freaking me out. ;_;
This winter break feels very nice and I hope everyone who is on break is enjoying it as well.
Thank you very much for reading! It makes me feel fuzzy that I almost have 200 follows already.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Consider this chapter my holiday present for you. It's not the best present ever, but at least it's something!
To the people who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a merry one. c;
Enjoy this chapter!
"Hey, Natsu, could you play your video game any louder?" Lucy inquired to the pink-haired boy as his thumbs smashed every single button on his controller.
Natsu's thumbs stopped moving as he paused his game. He viewed Lucy who was sitting at their kitchen table with a textbook in front of her.
"Let's see," Natsu said as he reached over to the low table in front of the TV.
Holding down one of the buttons on the TV remote, he placed it back on the table and leaned backward to his previous position.
"Looks like I can!" he yelled over the loud video game. Lucy's eye twitched in response.
They had been living together for a week and a half now. The obstacle of having friends over the apartment was over, but Lucy soon realized that Natsu himself was an obstacle.
He was noisy, sneaky, and even a little conceited sometimes. Yet Lucy found it oddly amusing.
"I am trying to study!" she declared, marching towards the table where the TV remote laid.
"Shouldn't you be studying, too?" she asked after lowering the volume down.
"I'll do it later," Natsu responded, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"If you fail the final exam, you can get held back," she warned.
"It won't happen," he guaranteed.
"How are you so sure?" she lifted an eyebrow.
"Did you see that?!" he exclaimed while pointing at the screen. "I was so close to slaying that dragon!"
"Are you listening to me?" she frowned, staring down at him.
"I have to try again," he muttered.
"I'm done trying," the blonde shook her head. She spun back around and fell in her chair to resume studying.
Although it took all of Lucy's energy to focus on what she was studying, she managed to study what she planned to. She had even glanced through the notes she was going to study tomorrow.
With a content sigh, she shut her textbook and sat back in her chair with her eyes closed. She felt extremely comfortable; she could have fallen asleep if it weren't for the annoying noises coming from the living room.
"Hey, Lucy," Natsu called out to her.
"What do you want?" she asked, not opening her eyes to look at him.
"I'm hungry," he stated.
"Make something then," she replied. She opened her eyes to pile up her things and return to her room.
"Lucy," he whined as she stepped towards her room.
She froze and peered at him expressionlessly.
"What do you want to eat?" she questioned.
Natsu smiled slightly at his victory. "I want some rice balls."
"Now?" Lucy's mouth fell to the floor. "Natsu, it's late."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry for asking," he rotated back to the TV, his shoulders doing an exaggerated slump.
Instantly, guilt began to settle inside Lucy's chest. She bit her lip as she thought about the situation.
"If I make them right now, you have to eat them for lunch tomorrow," she arranged.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he twisted back around to face her.
"I already made up my mind," she said. "I'm making them."
"Okay," he responded smoothly, shifting back around and going back to playing his video game.
As Lucy retreated to the kitchen, she caught a glimpse of Natsu's wide grin.
"How sly," she mumbled under her breath.
Over half an hour later, the rice balls were finished. She would have been fast asleep by this time, but she didn't complain. Going to sleep late for one night wouldn't hurt.
"Natsu, the rice balls are done!"
Lucy listened to Natsu shuffling around. She nearly screamed in happiness after hearing him turn off the TV.
"Here," she placed the plate in the middle of the table for them. Along the way of making them, she wanted some, too.
"Have you ever wondered why they're called rice balls when they're actually triangles?" Natsu asked.
"Don't question it," she replied, receiving an amused smile from him.
"Can you pass me the hot sauce?" he requested after sitting down.
Lucy didn't object to his request; she had come to accept that he ate everything with his beloved hot sauce.
She slid the bottle on the table to him and watched him drizzle it on top of the rice.
"Is it good with hot sauce?" she wondered aloud as she noticed how enthusiastic Natsu always was while eating her food.
"Try it," he extended his rice ball out to her.
Lucy examined the food in front of her with wide eyes.
"I'll just put some on mine," she stammered, withdrawing her gaze from him. She reached over to the bottle and began to drizzle a good amount on it.
"You need to put more than that, Lucy," he chuckled, leaning over and placing his hand on top of hers.
Her hand felt hotter than the sauce while he moved the bottle around the rice for her.
"Isn't this too much?" she inspected the now flaming red rice.
"Only a wimp would think it is," he responded with a smirk.
"R-Right," she stuttered. There was no way of getting out of this now. If she didn't eat the rice ball, her named would be changed to Wimp.
She cautiously raised the rice ball to her mouth, already feeling her eyes begin to water. She desperately hoped her tolerance for spicy food was stronger than she thought it was.
"Is it good?" Natsu asked, his smirk never faltering.
"Delicious," she forced herself to say with a mouth so hot she was sure she could breathe out fire.
"You look sick," he pointed out.
"I think it's just your imagination," she laughed weakly, placing her rice ball on the plate. "I'm already full, so I'm going to brush my teeth now."
Rising from her seat, she nonchalantly strolled to the bathroom. Once she was out of Natsu's sight, she began to sprint.
"How can someone eat something like this?!" she thought to herself with disbelief while she rinsed her mouth to get rid of the taste. She was no match for those fiery rice balls.
"Thanks for the food!" Natsu told her loudly as she went to her room.
"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off. "Goodnight."
It was way past her bedtime and she knew she was going to feel exhausted tomorrow. Even though there was a lingering sense of heat on Lucy's tongue, she fell asleep in an instant.
No matter how obnoxious Natsu was, his soft chuckles that continued to ring her ears soothed her entirely.
"Lucy, wake up!" Natsu pounded on her door.
Lucy opened an eye and listened to the repeating hammering with the expectations that it would stop sometime soon. When it didn't, she gave out a loud sigh.
"What do you want?" she hissed after heaving herself up from her bed.
"You overslept," Natsu stated.
Her breath stopped when she noticed he was already in uniform.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" she exclaimed, spinning back around and slamming the door.
"Your snores were telling me not to wake you up," he responded behind the door.
Lucy didn't bother to reply as she jumped into her uniform, buttoning it up as fast her slim fingers would allow.
Seizing her phone and schoolbag, she swung open her door.
"You're not going to make breakfast?" Natsu asked when seeing the blonde dashing towards the counter in the kitchen.
"With what time?" she inquired, hastily snatching the lunch bag she was thankful she packed last night.
"Bye, Natsu," she said while exiting the apartment. There wasn't a second she could waste when school started in less than 20 minutes.
"You're breathing heavily," Erza observed as Lucy entered her classroom with a minute to spare.
"I woke up late," Lucy answered breathlessly. This time it wasn't a lie.
"Were you staying up all night studying like I was?" Levy questioned. Lucy nodded unhappily; half of it was true.
"You two are already studying?" Cana's deep purple eyes widened in surprise.
"Final exams are next week, Cana," Erza reminded her.
"And then we'll be free for two weeks!" Levy leaned back in her chair to lift her hands in the air.
"I can't wait to get a new class when we come back," Cana admitted, taking a quick look at everyone in the classroom.
"Hopefully us four are still in the same class," Lucy spoke as her voice blended in with the bell.
"Don't say things like that, Lu-chan," Levy pursed her lips with disapproval.
"I'll make sure we're all in the same class next year," Erza assured, facing the front of the classroom.
"The joys of having a scary student council president as a best friend," Cana scoffed while she twisted back around as well.
Lucy immediately leaned against her hand after one word left her teacher's lips. Though she overslept, she felt as if she didn't gain at least a minute extra of sleep.
"It's his fault he made me sleep late," she mentally cursed.
What made her weariness worse was her growling stomach. Once again, something was Natsu's fault.
"Here, Lu-chan," Levy whispered as she passed Lucy a granola bar.
"Thank you so much," Lucy replied with a grateful smile.
Food wasn't allowed to be eaten before or after lunch, so she was forced to eat it as quietly as possible. She was glad she sat in the back of the classroom.
The granola bar only satisfied Lucy's stomach for about two hours. She prayed that the next hour would pass by as quick as possible.
"Your stomach is so loud, Lucy," Cana cackled once the bell chimed that signaled lunch.
"I didn't have breakfast this morning," she explained.
Her stomach began to rumble like crazy when she pulled out her lunch bag. She could already imagine biting the lightly salted rice ball.
Peeking in her lunch bag, Lucy couldn't believe what she was seeing. That included Lucy's stomach as well because the growling stopped instantly.
"No way," she breathed out.
She reached her hand into the bag and lifted the rice ball up to see it with better clarity, but it wasn't necessary. The stench of hot sauce burned her nose.
"Where are you going?" Erza asked when Lucy surged up from her seat.
"I have to go to the restroom," Lucy answered, swiftly leaving the classroom.
"With your lunch?" Levy gave her a look of curiosity.
"What class was he in again?" Lucy asked herself while scanning the letters above each classroom.
When the letter never surfaced into her mind, she had no choice but to stick her head into each classroom.
The sound of laughter exploded from each classroom Lucy poked her head in. After five minutes of searching, she eventually spotted a pink head in Class F.
All Lucy wanted was to eat her rice balls. She was in no mood to quietly call for Natsu so nobody would notice.
"Natsu!" she screamed at the entrance of the door.
Simultaneously, each student stared at the out of breath blonde. She didn't bat an eye to anyone because all she wanted was her food.
"Can you please come here with your lunch, Natsu?" Lucy asked with a forced polite smile.
"Uh, sure," he gave her a strange look, pushing himself off the desk he was sitting on top of.
Everyone began to whistle as Natsu walked through the classroom to exit.
"She's hot!" somebody howled.
Natsu stayed silent as he exited the classroom. Though the door was open, Natsu slid it shut.
Lucy could hear the gossip already blossoming, but she ignored it.
"Follow me," she grabbed Natsu's wrist and pulled him with her to the back of the school. Thankfully, the spring air in Magnolia was warmer than usual.
"How do you know my name?" he questioned playfully.
"I wish I didn't," she quipped while tugging him with her.
"Are you going to confess to me?" he smirked once Lucy found an area isolated from everyone.
"Absolutely not," she shook her head, shoving her lunch bag into Natsu's chest. "I accidentally grabbed your lunch bag this morning."
"I knew this lunch bag smelled weird," he said while handing her lunch bag.
"What does it smell like?" she inquired, raising her bag to sniff it.
"Not hot sauce," he replied.
She held back a scoff, but her stomach didn't hold back another growl.
"I'll be going now," Lucy spoke, whirling away on her heels to return to the classroom.
"When will you be confessing to me?" he called out.
"I'm not going to confess to you!" she yelled over her shoulder. Again, she ignored the looks aimed at her.
"As if I would confess to someone like you," she shook her head slightly with a smile just barely peeking out.
Lucy couldn't fight the impulse to eat anymore. While she strode to her classroom, she chewed her rice balls happily.
"Are you okay, Lu-chan? You were in the bathroom for a long time," Levy asked with worry when Lucy returned.
"I'm fine," Lucy assured with a smile. She thought her smile was going to be forced, yet it came naturally.
"Couldn't hold it in, huh?" Cana sipped on her juice.
"Cana, we're eating," Erza whined. Lucy giggled as she continued to eat her lunch.
There was something about Natsu that made her forget her worries; however, her friends always made her stress dissolve in an instant. That was something he could never do for Lucy.
And anyway, Natsu was simply her roommate, after all.