Lucy was waiting for Natsu at Magnolia's only train station. She still couldn't believe that they were actually doing this. She had planned to relax before Christmas, do some leisurely gift shopping, maybe bake some Christmas goodies… I mean, there was a reason why she volunteered to decorate the Christmas tree; it was the easiest and fastest job! But now, thanks to her partner, she was waiting in this vacant – and freezing cold – train station first thing in the morning.
They had agreed to meet there after she had kicked him out of her apartment for the umpteenth time that month. You'd think he'd get the message by now, she thought to herself as she recalled all the times she had kicked him out of her home since they first met. Ironically, kicking him out only worsened things, and now it had gotten to the point where he would even dare to climb into bed with her. She closed her hand into a fist and shook it at the sky, to whatever dragon god that caused Natsu to be this way.
A part of her had to admit, though, that there were some benefits of having a personal heater during this time of the year, not that she would ever tell anybody that. It was bad enough that Natsu kept breaking into her house – a declaration like that would only encourage him further – but if the people at the guild ever heard of this. Oh, she would never live it down. She imagined Mirajane planning their wedding, Erza, Cana and Levy fighting for bridesmaid rights, and Natsu with one hand around her waist, and starting fights with everyone who looked her way. She shuddered.
"Yo, Lucy!" Speak of the devil. The fire dragon slayer was running towards her wearing his usual outfit since the Grand Magic Games, a one-sleeved top and his usual baggy pants. The cold literally did not bother him, she noted, seeing the snow around him melt with every step he took.
"Hey Natsu, where's Happy?" she asked, noticing a lack of furriness in the vicinity.
"He wasn't at home when I went there, and he wasn't at the guild. Mira said he, Charle and Wendy went to send Christmas cards or somethin'."
"Looks like it's just the two of us then…" She felt a bead of suspicion, but she brushed it off when he continued to talk.
"Mm!" he beamed. "So, where to first?"
"Well," Lucy consulted the map Mira gave them. "First stop is this small town named Garnidelia." She pointed at a dot marked with a red X on the map. "It's an hour's journey by train."
"Wait, we're travelling by train?!" Natsu exclaimed horrified.
"Uh, why else would I ask you to meet me at a train station?" Lucy replied sarcastically, one hand on her hip.
"How would I know?!" Natsu's voice went up a notch when he saw the train approaching the station. "Can't we walk?" he begged, now on his knees for a last ditch effort.
"Walk in this cold? Are you crazy?" Lucy cocked her eyebrow at him.
"Please, Lu-ucy" He tugged harder on her ankles.
"You know, taking on this errand was your idea." She pointed out.
"I know, but that doesn't mean we have to take transportation!" he squeaked as the train pulled into the station.
"Then how else do you expect us to get there?"
"…walk?" he tried again.
"No." Lucy repeated curtly, boarding the train, bag in one hand and an already sickly-looking dragon slayer in the other.
"Sweet, sweet ground!" Natsu gasped when he tumbled out of the train. "Sweet, unmoving ground!" He kissed the snow, immediately causing it to melt. Then he rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes in bliss.
"Natsu! What are you doing?" Lucy said exasperatedly, exiting the train just in time to witness the spectacle. Leave him alone for one minute and he goes and declares himself as a tourist attraction, she rolled her eyes. She shooed away the people who had gathered to gawk at his snow melting capabilities.
She reached out one hand to pull him up, but much to her embarrassment, he began staring at her intently from his place on the ground instead.
His eyes had sharpened, taking on the intense gaze that was usually reserved for battles. Lucy found that she could not move. What's with him, suddenly?, she thought. His eyes continued to travel up and down her body, and she suddenly had the greatest urge to cover herself up, or run away.
"Aren't you cold?" he finally asked, the puddle slowly evaporating.
Her heart jolted in shock at the question before she could answer. "No, I'm wearing tights. See? Tights", she stuck out her leg to him.
No answer. He continued to scrutinise her, his eyes now glued in the general direction of her mini skirt. This Natsu… You could be like this too?!, she gritted her teeth in building fury.
"C'mon, I got directions to the shops on the list!" she snapped impatiently, waving the list across his face. He finally grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled himself up, leaving a Natsu-shaped hole in the snow.
After they had walked a few steps, Lucy took a deep breath to calm herself down. "According to Mira, this town produces a lot of plant-based items." she began to explain as they walked side by side.
"Hold on." Natsu unwrapped his scarf and tied it around her neck.
Lucy's eyes widened. She looked from Natsu's serious face to the scarf below her chin, feeling her anger towards him melt away like the snow beneath him. "Eh, are you sure?" she asked. He just nodded in approval.
"A-anyway, we'll only be getting a few gifts here, so we should be able to retire before dinner if we're quick." she concluded after scanning the list. She felt her cheeks heat up despite herself.
"Okay then, let's go!" he said, grinning at her.
She tugged on the edges of his scarf nervously then smiled. "Mm!"
Once they were in the heart of Garnidelia, they realised it was quite a quiet and peaceful town. While there were people walking around the streets, it was nothing compared to the hustle and bustle of the streets in Magnolia. Here, it was as if time stopped for this town alone, and Lucy felt wave of peace sweep across her heart as they wandered around looking for the first store.
"There it is!" she exclaimed, spotting their first stop. She stopped in front of it to consult the list.
Gardinelia
Meena's Nursery:
Droy - Beast Plant Seeds (Rare)
Porlyusica - Flytrap Seed Extract (Rare)
"Droy and that old hag, huh?" Natsu murmured over her shoulder, only to receive a whack from her.
"Don't call her that!" she reprimanded him as she pushed the shop door open.
Strangely enough, she was reminded of Porlyusica-san's house when she stepped into the shop. The entire shop smelled like a forest, its walls filled with every kind of plant imaginable. And some, in Natsu's case probably, unimaginable. In the middle of it all was a small, plump lady whom she deduced to be the shop's owner.
"Are you Meena?" she asked.
"Yes, I am. How may I help you?" the lady replied in a surprisingly high voice.
"I'm looking to buy these plants for my guild members." she showed Meena the list.
It was not long before they were engaged in friendly conversation. Mages didn't come around these parts very often, as Lucy found out. Since the town, in nature, was peaceful, there were hardly any problems springing up. She was, however, familiar with the guild Fairy Tail, and that was only because Mira would come by every year to buy gifts for Christmas.
"I was surprised to find out that you and that pink-haired man would be replacing Mirajane-san to buy gifts this year. After all, I wasn't expecting anyone from Fairy Tail to come here after Mirajane-san ordered some packages from me a month ago." Meena commented conversationally.
"She did?" Lucy said in surprise. "I guess those weren't Christmas gifts then."
"I guess not," Meena agreed. "But it was weird…"
"What was?"
It appeared that Meena didn't hear her question, because she handed the wrapped up packages to Lucy. "That'll be 9000 jewels." she said with a smile. After Lucy dug out the money to pay, she had already forgotten about the question and was preparing to leave when she realised she was missing something.
"Natsu, let's go!" Lucy yelled for him, and her loyal dragon slayer bounded out from behind a row of plants. Was it just her or did he look a lot more… dazed than usual?
"Did you see anything interesting?" Lucy asked him, smiling.
"Kind of. All the plants looked the same to me." He replied.
While Lucy rolled her eyes amusedly, he leaned in to take the weight of the two gifts from her, then things began to get weird. Natsu, as if in a trance, began sniffing the air around her. While she had had her fair share of weird experiences with the fire mage, this ranked pretty high. People were beginning to stare as he moved his head around her randomly while sniffing, very loudly she might add.
She clamped her hand down on his shoulder and pulled his attention back to her. "Natsu… what are you doing?" she asked.
He immediately stopped moving around to look at her, but then he did something completely unpredictable again. He inhaled deeply right in front of her face then exhaled gently with a dazed look on his face, just like the one he had when he came out of the store. Lucy just stared at him in disbelief.
"Natsu?" No response. "Natsu!" she waved her hand in front of his face. "Are you alright?"
He blinked a few times before replying. "Eh, it's nothing."
She stared at him for a few seconds before deciding to let it go. "Okay, then let's go. The next shop is a few blocks away."
Lucy couldn't believe it. The Santa Operation was a lot less stressful than she thought it would be. For one, Mira's list was god sent. It had every single detail that they needed to know on it; no wonder it was so blinking long. And two, Natsu (except for the weird sniffing fiasco) was being surprisingly well-behaved… and sweet. She felt her heart give an involuntary thump when she remembered the touch of his warm fingers on her neck when he wound his precious scarf around it.
She looked to her left. Her pyromaniac friend was currently carrying all of the gifts they bought today. He wasn't destroying anything, or picking any fights, or doing anything stupid for that matter. He wasn't even shaking the gifts too much. It was… weird. She frowned. As much as she liked it, this wasn't her Natsu. She was about to ask him about it when he began talking.
"Lu-uucyy, I'm hungry!" he complained.
"Hold on, let me check the list again."
Gardinelia
Meena's Nursery:
Droy - Beast Plant Seeds (Rare)
Porlyusica - Flytrap Seed Extract (Rare)
The Apothecary:
Wakaba - A new pipe and special herbs
(Lucy recalled that purchase with some disgust)
Wood Works:
Laki - A Specialist's Guide to Wood, volume XII
Bickslow - 4 specially handcrafted dolls (ordered in advance)
"Alright, we're done for the day!" she cheered.
Natsu whooped in excitement. "Time to eat!"
They walked into the next restaurant, a warm-looking place with wooden everything and hanging plants. After Natsu ordered almost everything off the menu and Lucy thanked the heavens that food expenses were also included in their spending allowance, the two began a friendly conversation.
"I still can't believe your face when you had to buy Wakaba's 'herbs'" Natsu said, bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
Well, somewhat friendly anyway.
"Stop it, Natsu! You should have helped me when that shopkeeper gave me the look." Lucy puffed her cheeks.
"Why should I? You looked like you were handling it fine." He was wiping away tears of mirth now.
Lucy groaned. "I don't know what Mira was thinking, buying that for him."
"You know he receives that from at least one person every year, right?" he smirked.
"N-no! How do you know?"
Natsu merely tapped his nose proudly.
"Ugh, you disgust me. And I'm never going to look at his smoking the same way ever again. Do you think he uses that for his magic?"
"Hey, Lucy, do you use perfume or something?" Natsu blurted out, completely ignoring her question.
"That's not an answer." she replied. "And what?" she asked loudly, his question finally registering in her brain.
"I mean, you smell nice, Lucy." he said. On his face was the weird smile from earlier, and Lucy felt dread stir up from the depths of her chest.
"Are you sure you're okay, Natsu?"
Just then, the food arrived and Lucy wouldn't be able to get anything except the sound of munching from him even if she tried. Sighing, she eyed her partner. Something was different about him today, not that she didn't like it, but—
"Lucy, why aren't you eating?" he mumbled, his mouth stuffed with food but his eyes locked on hers.
She would figure it out later, she thought. For now, she shrugged off these odd emotions and buried them under her food.
Natsu let out a large burp as they left the restaurant. "Man, that was a good dinner!" he exclaimed, patting his stomach. Lucy let out a yawn. "I'm just sleepy, I can't wait to get to our hotel." she said, wiping away a stray tear from her eyes. "And according to the list, it's just around the corner."
When they reached the entrance of the hotel, Lucy practically pranced straight to check in. "Two rooms for Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel?" she asked the clerk.
After a moment's pause, the person replied. "I'm sorry, there must be a mistake. There's only one king sized room here in my register."
Why did she have a feeling that this would happen. "There must be some kind of mistake!" Lucy said, her face creasing into a frown.
Natsu, who was trailing behind jogged up to join her. "What's wrong, Lucy?" he asked, standing way too close to her.
"This person says there's only one room booked for us and not two."
"Oh, is that all? That's okay, isn't it?" he smiled gently at her.
"No, it is certainly not okay." She felt herself getting more and more annoyed at this peaceful-looking version of Natsu.
"But we share a bed every night anyway, Lucy." he said with a tone of reason that Lucy felt like strangling out of him.
"No, we don't. Since when have I given you permission to sleep in my bed?" she began to raise her voice.
"But every night you always come closer to me when I—" Natsu began.
Lucy snapped. Her face turned several shades of red before she slammed enough jewels on the counter and grabbed the room key from the now terrified clerk. Grabbing Natsu by the collar, she dragged him off to the elevator.
"Not. A. Word." she muttered fiercely, a dark aura overcoming her.
The room was worse than she had expected. When they opened the door, the light setting was set to a romantic 'dim', there was jazz music playing, and there were rose petals scattered everywhere. Frickin' rose petals!
Lucy stomped angrily into the room while Natsu only looked around curiously. She had realised immediately when the clerk said those dreaded words that this was all the work of Mira the demon matchmaker. In fact, it was a possibility that this entire plan of sending them off for 5 days alone was all part of her plan. She groaned and sat on the edge of the bed.
You know, it wasn't as if she detested Natsu. Sometimes, she even thought he was rather good-looking. It was just the constant match making of them together that got on her nerves. Once provoked, Mira would never stop, bringing in illogical examples and even pitting Levy (her best friend!) against her, all so that she would admit that she liked Natsu.
Not that she did. She didn't. Or maybe she did. She didn't know. But what she did know was that if there was anything that Lucy Heartfilia hated more than anything else, was when other people tried to force her to do things against her will.
"Lucy, are you okay?" Natsu placed his arm gently over her shoulder. Speaking of Natsu, now that she knew that this was all Mirajane's fault, she had to check.
"Hey, Natsu. Did Mira, by any chance, give you something to drink this morning?"
"Hm, she made me a fire drink this morning. Why?"
"Nothing." Lucy silently cursed Mirajane.
At that last vicious thought, she stalked angrily to the toilet and slammed the door shut, leaving a confused dragon slayer sitting on the edge of the bed.
Natsu winced as the toilet door slammed, separating him and Lucy. He didn't know why Lucy was so angry. It wasn't as if they'd never slept in the same bed before. It was true that they'd been sleeping together (in the most innocent of meanings, of course) for a long time already, and he knew that she liked it. She would sometimes murmur it in her sleep. Yet, she never admitted it in public, and she was so adamant about her non-existent feelings towards him too.
Not that he minded. He didn't love her like Mira kept saying either. She was precious to him, but he didn't think he understood what loving her meant, even though that's what his brain had been telling him – that he loved her – for the whole day. It was weird, he felt out of his mind today. What with her scent suddenly smelling so tantalising to him, or how pretty she looked today. He also gave her his scarf, he realised, and he didn't feel the bareness around his neck at all today. Natsu clutched his head. What was going on?
It appeared that he could only think normally when she wasn't around. He looked around the room. Apparently all of this was supposed to be romantic, but he thought it was ridiculous. Rose petals? Jazz music? It only reminded him of Ichiya, and Gajeel's terrible singing. He shuddered. He thought the way they spent time together was much more fun, but Lucy always took these things so seriously. And today he was taking it seriously too, and that was ridiculous.
"Natsu" a soft voice called out to him. He looked up to see a wet-haired and calmer Lucy standing at the bathroom entrance. Her face was still flushed from anger, but her expression was sad. Lucy…, he thought sadly.
"Will you dry my hair?" she asked weakly.
Wordlessly, Natsu got up from the bed and gestured for her to sit down. Upon sitting down, he began running his fingers through her hair, his body temperature immediately causing the water in her hair to evaporate. He felt Lucy begin to relax under his touch.
"I'm sorry, Natsu." Her back slumped. "I was just angry… that Mira did this."
"You think she did it?" he asked, thinking that she was talking about the room arrangements.
"Well, of course she did! Who else would—", her volume began to rise again, before she caught herself. "Sorry, sometimes she just goes too far."
"Mm" he mumbled. Her hair was soft, and her shampoo smelled so nice. He continued to run his fingers through her hair until it was completely dry.
He was about to call out to her until he realised that she had fallen asleep.
Lying her down on the bed gently, his eyes traced her gentle features. Her eyebrows had relaxed though her mouth was still firmly curved downwards in a frown. Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't like to see Lucy this way.
After covering her sleeping body, he made his way to the plush chair in the corner of the room. Only after watching her sleep for awhile did he realise she was still wearing his scarf. He smiled gently. I love you, Lucy, he thought, before falling asleep.
Note: Firstly, thank you for all the follows! I'll definitely be updating at least once every day or two. Secondly, I could have wrote this chapter differently but somehow, it turned out this way. For those who don't get it, things will be clearer in the next chapter. Til then!