Disclaimer: I don't own fairy tail or any of it's characters.
Natsu scratched his head and looked at the clock one more time. It seemed odd that Lucy hadn't gotten back to him yet. Shouldn't she have seen his reply by now? Screw it; he was going to just go knock on her door. He was too hungry to just sit around and wait for her.
He walked up to her apartment on the second floor and lifted his hand to knock, then stopped to sniff the air. Was that smoke? He knocked on her door and waited for a moment. No response. He tried knocking again and calling her name. He was starting to get worried. Natsu was pretty sure the smoke smell was coming from her apartment. He figured he was going to have to bust down the door, but just to be sure he checked the door knob, Lucy would be pissed if he made a mess. He turned the knob and the door popped right open. Shaking his head at the idea that a girl who was mugged just two weeks ago would leave her front door open, he walked into the apartment and immediately started coughing and sputtering. "Geez, for a smart girl, Lucy sure is an idiot!" he said to himself as he hurried over to deal with the source of the fire.
Lucy was in heaven. The tub was full and bubbly, the water was the perfect temperature, her favorite music was blasting in her headphones, and the candle made the room smell like lavender. Finally a little bit of relaxation. Lucy was pretty sure that her phone had pinged a bit ago but she decided she would answer it when her bath was finished; didn't want to look too eager.
She was taping her toes on the tub along with the music when suddenly she felt a cool breeze. She turned her head to see Natsu's head poking in his eyes wide in surprise. "Ooops, sorry!" He said, removing his head as quickly as he had put it in.
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed furiously, throwing a damp washcloth at the now closed door. That was when she smelled the smoke. Her relaxation ruined she pulled the plug and clambered out of the bath, hurriedly throwing a towel around herself.
When she got in the living room, Natsu was relaxing on the couch messing with his phone. "What the hell Natsu? Why does it smell like smoke in here?"
"I should be asking you Luce." He grinned up at her, completely unfazed by her angry tone. "I'm not the one who likes to coat my oven in vegetable oil and then light it on fire so that I can have the right ambiance for bath time. It was smokey like that when I came here. You must have had a ton of gunk in that oven to start a fire that big."
This deflated her anger a little bit. "My oven caught fire? But it was just self-cleaning! Maybe it was from the pumpkin pie I made for Christmas?" She began to drift into the kitchen.
"Yea, I'm starting to think you're some kinda weirdo perv Lucy. First you invite me to spend the night and you walk around in your underwear. Than you practically set fire to your apartment so I'll come see you in the bath . . ."
"I did not want you to see me in the bath!" Lucy snapped. She opened her oven "Oh no! It's ruined!" The oven looked completely charred on the inside.
"Nah, it'll come right off, we'll get some cleaner," Lucy jumped at the sound of his voice in her ear. Fighting a shudder, she turned and he was standing right behind her, a big goofy grin on his face. He was enjoying this just a little too much.
"Natsu, how did you get in my apartment?" Lucy asked, worried she would find her front door bashed to bits.
"You left the door unlocked. Which I meant to say something about, cause are you serious! You were just mugged like a block from here two weeks ago, why is your door open?" he scolded.
Lucy stared off pensively, "Oooh, I must have forgotten to throw the lock after taking out the trash." This really could have been a huge mess.
"Earth to Lucy," Natsu waved a hand in front of her face. "Look as much as I love seeing you walk around in a towel, could you go get some clothes on? I'm starving! Gray wants us to go meet him for some pizza; he doesn't want to be alone with Juvia."
Lucy snapped out of her daze and headed to the bedroom. "Sure, pizza sounds good and I need to get out this apartment, it smells terrible!" She closed the door behind her, not wanting to invite Natsu for yet another peep show. As she pulled a shirt over her head she called through the door, "Who's Juvia?"
"Gajeel's cousin, she's some type of engineer for the water treatment facility in town." Natsu's voice called back. "She's pretty cool, no clue why she's wasting time chasing after stripper boy, he's kind of a dick."
Lucy stepped out of the room, all dressed and feeling much more herself. She just barely caught the heated way Natsu looked at her from head to toe before he became very interested in a piece of junk mail she had left on the counter. His look made her feel flushed and hot, the sweater she had picked out now seeming like it might be too much for the day. She wondered how he could look at her like that, act so confident around her, and yet he still hadn't tried to kiss her. Was she just seeing what she wanted to see?
"He can't be that big of a dick if you hang out with him all the time," she said, trying to forget the small moment they just had. She walked towards him, happy when he looked back up at her with that toothy grin. "And what do you mean stripper boy?"
"I have to hang out with him, he's family! " Natsu explained. He chuckled as they headed towards the door, Natsu guiding her gently with his hand on the small of her back. "And about the stripping, you'll see what I mean at New Year's; he's got this hilarious bad habit when he's been drinking."
Juvia sat in her car feeling absolutely furious. When Gray agreed to have lunch with her, Juvia had assumed it would be just the two of them. As soon as she left her office to meet him, Juvia received a text saying Natsu and some girl Lucy would be joining them as well. Juvia had been irritated, but texted back, "Great! See you soon!"
It wasn't great. It wasn't that she minded Natsu, he might be a little silly and loud, but overall he was very nice. The problem was that Gray kept finding excuses to not be alone with her. He was so damn confusing! Most of the time it was as if his mouth said one thing and his body said another. Juvia did not understand why she put herself through all this, why did she have to feel so strongly about Gray!
Gajeel had told her she was stupid to care for such a jackass, that she deserved better, but all Juvia wanted was Gray. He was so handsome and smart. Every time he touched her it was like he shot a spark through her body, even if the touch was usually by accident. And when she would finally convince herself to move on he would do something surprisingly sweet! Juvia tried going on a date with Lyon to forget Gray, but it was just like being with a poor substitute. An attempt at a relationship with him wouldn't be fair to either of them. Then when Gray had found out about the date he had been so furious that he and Lyon had a tussle in the parking lot. Thinking surely this was the moment he realized his feelings for her, she had gone to him after breaking it off, only to find him cold and distant as usual. Juvia was so perplexed!
Maybe today was the day; maybe she could make this the final straw. If Gray couldn't see how wonderful Juvia was then it was his loss. She would just drive off and forget about him. Would he miss her if she stopped calling? Would he even notice?
All of her resolve melted when Gray appeared, waiting by the front entrance of the pizza parlor. Smiling, she leapt from her car and yelled "Gray-sama! Hello!" only to have her coat catch in the door, bringing her run to a comical halt. He looked up, shook his head at her, and came to help dislodge it.
"Hey Juvia," he opened the door freeing her from her self-imposed trap. She wobbled slightly from the lack of pull and he caught her arm to keep her from falling over. Juvia just went with it, using this as an excuse to throw herself in his arms. His eyes went wide in surprise at her forceful hug.
"Thank you Gray-sama," she said softly. She was so glad to be near him, even if his response to her display of affection was an awkward pat on the back.
"No problem Juvia, let's get inside. Natsu is already in there and if we give him too much time he'll eat all the pizza in the joint." Gray started back towards the restaurant; Juvia locked her car and hurried to catch up with him.
She giggled, "Yes, Natsu is a bit of a glutton."
Yajima's pizza place smelled heavenly. It was fairly crowded but that was usual, it was a very popular place to get lunch in town. Gray grabbed her hand to weave through the patrons arriving at a table with a window near the back. Juvia was pleased to see Natsu sat next to who she assumed was Lucy, leaving her the seat next to Gray.
"Juvia, this is Lucy. She has a bakery over in the Magnolia Center." Gray said as he went to take the seat next to the window.
Juvia took the seat next to him, "It's so nice to meet you Lucy."
Lucy looked up with a smile, "It's nice to meet you too Juvia!"
"You took so damn long getting in here that I already ordered ice tits," Natsu sat back with a scowl on his face.
"So sorry we made you wait a minute longer to stuff your face," Gray rolled his eyes.
"Did Lucy have a nice Christmas?" asked Juvia in an attempt to change the subject. Gray sat back in his seat and threw his arm on the back of Juvia's.
"Yes, well enough. I made a lot of sales at the bakery; it's going to make it a lot easier going into the New Year." Lucy said pleasantly.
"Juvia must come by then; Gray-sama said it's at the Magnolia Center?" Juvia asked. She looked over to see his affirmation, but he was staring off at nothing out the window. Gray had started absentmindedly playing with her hair with the hand that rested on the back of her chair; she wondered if he even realized what he was doing it.
"Yes, next to Levy's bookstore," Lucy interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh yes! Juvia love's Levy's little store. Gajeel has taken me many times," said Juvia.
Bixlow came over to the table with two massive piping hot pizzas. He set them down on the table with four plates.
"Out to lunch with your beautiful babies huh?" he said pulling out a pad to get Juvia and Gray's drink order.
"You know it," Natsu confidently replied, giving Lucy a quick squeeze around the shoulder and then digging into the pizza in front of him. Lucy's cheeks flushed red but she didn't say a word. Juvia felt relieved, taking this to mean she wouldn't have to worry about Lucy being a love rival. That would make it easier to be friends.
Gray was pulled from his stupor by Bixlow's remark. Realizing what he had been doing behind her seat he pulled his hand back as if burned. "Don't be stupid Bixlow, Juvia isn't my baby," he said grumpily.
Bixlow rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say Gray, what I can get you guys to drink?"
After Bixlow left, Juvia couldn't help but be disappointed by Gray's comment. Why did he have to say anything at all? Bixlow was just teasing really, and Gray became so defensive. She didn't have long to dwell on it though because the boys were getting restless.
"Don't drool all over all of the pizza flame turd, that's supposed to be enough for four people you know," Gray criticized Natsu.
Natsu looked up at the challenge half way through his second slice already. "You're not the boss of me ice nuts, I do what I want!"
Recognizing what was starting, Juvia quickly moved the pizza in front of her and Lucy to the table next to them.
"You wanna go fire crotch!" Both boys were standing now.
"Are they always like this," Lucy whispered from her side of the table.
Juvia rolled her eyes but smiled, "Yes, Natsu and Gray-sama are always getting rowdy. Juvia doesn't understand why they enjoy each other's company so much when all they do is fight."
Lucy got a mischievous look in her eye, "Why don't we just leave them alone to their lover's spat?" Juvia looked at the guys, Natsu now had Gray in a headlock across the table and Gray was trying to give him a purple nerple.
"Yes," she said "Juvia thinks that would be prudent."
Lucy smiled big and whispered "Come on." The two of them picked up their plates and the pizza that hadn't been knocked on the table and went to a booth on the other side of the restaurant. The boys continued their fight, completely unaware that they were now alone.
Bixlow brought back their drinks, left Gray's on his table and brought Juvia hers with a wink. "Very smart, much quieter over here, those numbnuts don't get what their missing. Let me know if you lovely ladies need anything else!" he called over his shoulder as he walked back to the kitchen.
"This is much better, we can watch them be idiots without getting pizza in our hair," Lucy smiled as she took a big bite of her pizza. Gray now had Natsu's head on the table and he was shoving a slice in his mouth while Natsu punched him in the head.
"How has Lucy been liking the area so far?" said Juvia, deciding she liked the blond very much.
"A lot! Everyone has been so nice. Although I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to get out much. Hopefully with the holidays over I can at least get over to Mira's every now and then again."
"You should let Juvia know when you go! Juvia would love to meet up with Lucy," they were in the process of exchanging numbers when Natsu and Gray finally realized they had been ditched. Gray left his stuff behind and headed towards them, while Natsu put every last piece of the smashed pizza on his plate and quickly followed after.
Gray sat next to Juvia using his hip to bump her a little bit further into the booth so that he had room. "Why did you leave?" he asked, placing his arm back behind her head on the booth.
Natsu set his plate of pizza mess on the table. He saw that Lucy had scooted to make room for him, but instead of sitting, he opted for lying down on the booth and placing his head in her lap. "Yea, why did you leave me alone with frosty nips over there Lucy," he whined.
Lucy laughed "Maybe we didn't want to be pulled into the fray." She made a face and picked a piece of tomato out of Natsu's hair, "Or get covered in pizza."
"It's not so bad Luce," said Natsu putting a piece of cheese on her face.
"Natsu!" Lucy spat. Natsu dashed out of the booth and Lucy chased him around the restaurant.
"Look at them acting like children," Gray said, picking up a new slice.
"Gray-sama is one to talk," said Juvia snappily, making Gray choke on his pizza.
He got a hold of himself and drank a sip of water, looking at her eyes wide he said "What?"
Juvia blushed, worried that in speaking without thinking she had made him mad. "Well I, umm, what Juvia meant is . . .the fighting . . ." Juvia covered her face with her hands, completely at a loss on how to explain herself. Maybe Lucy had been a bad influence, she never would have thought to tease Gray like that before. "Oh Gray-sama, Juvia is so sorry."
Gray laughed, pulling her hands from her face so that he could look her in the eye. "Nah, I deserved it."
Natsu and Lucy popped back in their booth, their faces flushed and smiling. Juvia felt slightly jealous of their ease with each other. Juvia had known Gray for at least three months longer than Lucy had known Natsu. Then again Natsu wore his heart on his sleeve and rarely hid what he was thinking. Gray was much more reserved, like a puzzle to be solved. Juvia had always liked that about him. Today he seemed a little bit different; he had gone back to facing forward but continued to hold one of her hands, gently rubbing her palm with his thumb. She looked down at their hands with a grin, and that was when she noticed the time.
"Oh, Juvia must get back to work. Juvia's break is almost over!" she exclaimed.
Gray slide out of the booth and stood looking at her, "I'll walk you to the car."
"Thank you Gray-sama!" Juvia said, sliding out.
She started to pull her wallet from her purse but Gray stopped her. "Don't worry bout it Juvia, I got it."
"Bye Juvia!" said Natsu with a grin.
"It was very nice meeting you!" added Lucy.
Gray opened her door to let her in her car; he stood there looking down on her a slight grin on his face. "Are you going to Mira's for New Year's?"
"Yes, will Gray-sama be there?" Juvia asked.
"Yea . . .umm," he started to say something else but was distracted by the sight of Natsu helping Lucy up into his truck.
"Don't worry Gray! I told Bixlow that you'll be covering the bill!" Natsu yelled with a laugh, hopping into his truck.
"Why that little . . ."Gray was furious, but he looked down at Juvia with a grin saying "I'll see ya there Juvia, thanks for having lunch with me." After gently closing her car door, he sprinted towards his friend shouting "Don't you dare leave, you flaming piece of crap!"
Juvia smiled. Oh, she hoped this meant this would be a Happy New Years!
"And then she told me we'd show her husband and I asked by making a closet?" Natsu related his morning to Lucy as they drove back to his place.
"Oh my god you didn't!" Lucy doubled over with laughter.
"I didn't know what to say! It was so awkward!" Natsu made a grimace. "I mean seriously what was she thinking!"
"Maybe she just couldn't resist your charm" teased Lucy, tickling below his ear.
Natsu playfully smacked her hand away and giving her a stern look, he said in a serious tone "Don't distract the driver Lucy, it's not safe."
"Really?" Lucy started to tickle his stomach. Natsu laughed, but her innocent playing was starting to make him feel anything but. She had to stop touching him like that or things were going to start getting very uncomfortable. He quickly swerved the car; Lucy squeaked and stopped tickling him in order to hold on to her seat. "Natsu!"
"See I told you not to distract the driver," Natsu grinned pleased that his plan had given him a slight reprieve.
They pulled into his driveway and twisted through the woods until the came out into a clearing. Lucy sat up on her seat to get a better look. "Wow Natsu, it's so pretty here!"
It made Natsu so pleased that she could appreciate this place. He had been worried that after what she had grown up with she wouldn't be able to appreciate its simple beauty. The property was still definitely a fixer upper, even after the months of work he had put into it. "I know, it's my own little escape. The house is kinda a dump but that's not why I bought the property anyway." They drove a little bit further up, revealing the tiny house that had been hidden behind the hill and, behind it, the massive garage that was four times its size.
"Why is the garage so much bigger than the house?" asked Lucy.
"The former owner was obsessed with cars or something, took me forever to clean all the random parts and pieces up from around the yard." He parked in front of the garage, hopped out, and ran over to help Lucy down from her seat. "Wait until you see the inside, it's the first place I fixed up here."
Natsu led her in through the side door and flicked on the light. This was a place he was proud of. He remembered the first time he saw this place, a large metal building with a concrete floor, full of scraps of metal and leftover trash. Even then he could tell it was perfect. Now he had it outfitted with massive woodworking tools, a cabinet saw, lathe, band saw and planer. On the wall hung tons of small hand tools and clamps, every single space utilized with a hook or shelf for storage. He had a whole wall to store his different kinds of wood and veneer; tables set up for finish work and smaller projects. It had a powder room and a fridge so he wouldn't have to leave, unless it was time to sleep. It had great lighting, an expensive ventilation system, and the heat and air in here was better than it was in the house. It even had a pretty good sound system. Really he was lucky he showed Lucy this place before his actual home, or else she would have thought he was a complete slob. This was where he really lived, this is what he cared about.
"Wow Natsu, this is amazing!" Lucy wandered around, slowly taking it all in. "Now I see why you thought it was so hilarious that Levy thought you were the electricity guy. Has she ever seen this place?"
Natsu thought for a second, "No, I don't think so. Really I don't bring many people over here. Gajeel, Gray, and Laxus have seen it because sometimes we use it for jobs. Laxus helped me buy a few of the larger tools in return for them being able to use the shop whenever they needed it."
"Are these your wood burning pieces?" Lucy had walked over to the far corner of the garage where he had racks of finished pieces on the wall, a nice study table and his burning tools and tips.
"Yea," he said, suddenly wondering if he really wanted her to look at them. What if she didn't like them? That would kill him. He slowly sauntered towards her as she clicked through the pieces in the smallest rack, trying desperately to hide the anxiety he was feeling about her being here in his space, looking at his art. Natsu needed to see her face, her expression; even if he was afraid it wasn't what he wanted.
"Lots of dragons hmm?" her hair covering what she thought of them.
"Yea, I really like them," he said quietly. He finally stood near her, leaning against the wall. Natsu was relieved to see her mouth curved up in a small smile.
"These are amazing Natsu," she breathed out, looking up at him, her eyes shining, her smile wide. "Do you sell them?"
"Umm, sometimes, I just find most people seem to think they are worth the same as some machine printed crap from Walmart. There's not a lot of money in the wood burning stuff, I sell more of the furniture and like small boxes and things," he explained. "Would you like one? Just pick one; you can have whatever you like."
She looked up at him again; "Really?" he nodded. "Thanks Natsu!" She returned to looking through the wooden pieces. "Oooh, is this an angel?" She held up a piece of bass wood, on it he had burned an angel, standing beneath a cherry blossom tree, her hair whirling in the wind.
Natsu froze. Crap, he had forgotten about that one. He had made it during the week he hadn't been able to see her, unable to get her out of his head. Every night he had added just a little bit more, her wings, the tree, until he couldn't look at it anymore because he missed her so bad. Did she realize it was her beneath the tree?
"Yea," he said staring at her, trying to gage her reaction to it.
She looked back down at it. "She's beautiful" she said.
"Yea, she is," he said, still looking at her and not at the burning. Seeing her in that moment, he didn't doubt himself anymore. Here she was in his home, in his safe place, and she was in awe of it. She hadn't scorned his rundown property, or teased him for his hobbies. He didn't know why he had been so insecure about where he could stand with her. Natsu's feelings of desire for her were overwhelming, practically suffocating, and he no longer understood why he was holding back.
Natsu closed the distance between him and Lucy, taking the angel out of her hand and placing it on a nearby table. Then before she could get a word out to ask him what he was doing, he kissed her, cradling the back of her head with one hand and using the other to pull her close to him by the small of her back. She immediately kissed him back, throwing her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair. And then his phone rang.
He pulled it out and tried to silence it growling at the distraction. He finally got it to stop, only to have it start up again. Lucy giggled. "Aren't you going to even look at who it is," she asked.
Natsu pulled away from her, giving her a frustrated look. He sighed and turned it over. "It's just Laxus," he said, silencing the phone again. He returned to kissing her, this time more gently on the lips when the phone rang yet again. Natsu threw his head back and groaned. Lucy laughed lightly and hugged him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
He picked up the phone and practically yelled, "What?"
"You know, I'm really getting tired of you answering the phone like this," Laxus replied.
"Well, I'm really getting tired of you calling at the worst possible times," Natsu snapped back.
Laxus sighed, "Look Natsu, I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't have to, but Gajeel is not picking up his phone and he was supposed to help me the next two days so I could get this job done before the end up the year. That bastard is picking the worst damn time to disappear on me. I'd ask Gray, since I know you need a break after her majesty's last job, but he's still finishing up putting in the new air system at the community center. So could you suck it up and just help me out for once?" Lucy giggled into his shoulder, obviously hearing Laxus's side of the communication. Natsu rubbed his face in irritation. She moved away from him, going back to looking through his wood burnings. He immediately felt cold, missing her presence. He wanted to throw the phone across the room.
"Fine, when and where do you need me?" he was going to murder Gajeel.
After he finished getting instructions from Laxus, he turned off the phone and shoved it in his pocket. He looked up at Lucy who was looking at him and smiling sweetly. '
"What do you want to do now?" he asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed about his behavior.
Then she asked the one question that could make him love her more, "Are you hungry?"
He grinned real big and answered, "Always!"
"Take me to the grocery store and then take me home. We can get that oven cleaned up and I'll cook you some dinner." She smiled back.
"Perfect," he said with a grin, all awkwardness forgotten.
They started to head for the door, when she paused and ran back to the table near the burnings. "I'm taking my angel." She said grabbing the wooden circle.
"Of course," he smiled, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.
Lucy waved as Natsu went down the hall to the stairwell, part of her wishing she was just a little more adventurous and had invited him to stay the night. She closed the door and rested against it for a moment with a smile. While Lucy was very sad that she wouldn't see Natsu until the New Year's Eve party, she knew that there was a bakery screaming for a deep clean. It wouldn't be hard to stay busy. She touched her lips, still feeling his, taking a deep breath to calm herself.
She was sure if Laxus hadn't of called who knows what would have happened. Not caring that it was a garage, or that she had only managed to finish shaving one leg during her bath earlier that day. Thank goodness the phone rang, who knows what he would have thought of her, but something about the way he kissed her turned her world on its head. It had never felt like that with Loke, and certainly not with the few guys she had dated in between. There was a spark, an excitement that she had never experienced before. She sighed again and went to get ready for bed; New Year's was going to be fantastic!