Sitting at the table with his family and Lucy right in front of him, Natsu was utterly confused and lost in thoughts. All he could do was poke at his steak and eye Lucy time to time who looked super uncomfortable, too. But he couldn't blame her—she was a commoner who was suddenly brought to the Kingdom and forced to eat dinner with royalty. And he did fall on her earlier, as well. He felt uncomfortable thinking about it, he couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

"So how is everyone doing, eh?" Sting suddenly spoke up, grinning from ear to ear with stains all over the corners of his mouth. "How's your day going, Natsu?"

"Fine," he answered, his eyes narrowing at his carefree attitude. "just fine."

"Great! How was your day, Lucy?"

"E—eh?" Lucy squeaked, raising her head to notice twelve pairs of eyes on her making her squirm uncomfortably. "It's... it's going well, thank you."

"That's great!"

"Did you wake up hung over, blondie?" Cobra barked out in laughter making her flush pink. "Or with sore legs?"

"S—sore legs?"

"Cobra, shut it. I haven't done anything to her but take her home last night." Sting snapped, the look of mock anger on his face.

"What? You didn't? Well, I bet I could." Laxus suddenly spoke up, the look of lust flashing across his eyes as Lucy shivered uncomfortably in her seat. "How about it?"

"L—Laxus, do you not think this is a bit—?"

"Shut it, Wendy. You're too young to understand this. So, what do you say, blondie?"

"U—uhm, no—"

"What the hell is wrong with you all?" Natsu suddenly snapped making the entire table become silent as the attention was now on him. "You guys are obviously making Lucy feel uncomfortable and betting about how you guys can get into her pants right in front of her? Have you have no shame? Just what the hell is wrong with you?"

The entire table became dead silent before a smirk broke out on Laxus' face and he leaned right in, pointing his fork at the pink-haired Prince. "Ya jealous or somethin'? Don't worry, we can share."

Getting tired of him, Natsu slammed his fist down on the table to make everything jump and the entire table grow silent once more.

They watched how he stormed off in an angry manner and it made Lucy watch in worry as her favorite Prince stormed off angrily. But what bothered her the most was Laxus being the prick he was betting about how he was going to get into her pants and saying he'll share with everyone there. What kind of pig was he? It made her lose her appetite and she stood up from her seat, her chair making a loud screeching sound to catch everyone's attention around the table.

"Where are you going?"

"Away from here." Lucy snapped as she turned to walk away but when she felt somebody grab her wrist, she turned back. "Let go of me!"

"C'mon, just leave it alone, will ya? Enjoy the party—"

"There's nothing to enjoy when all I'm hearing is how you're betting about getting into my pants—which will never happen—and how you'll share me like I'm some kind of whore. This shows you have no respect for me or women in general. You're disgusting." Lucy snarled at him as she jerked her wrist free from his grasp. "Now if you excuse me, your highness, I have to go find Prince Natsu."

And with that, she left the room leaving everyone dead silent and speechless.

Meanwhile, Lucy walked down the isolated large hallways as she tried to think of where Natsu could have gone. She didn't want to go hunting for him and going into places where she shouldn't be going in and getting kicked out of Magnolia. But where would he go if he wanted to be alone?

Automatically, she started to walk to a familiar place without any thoughts and ended up in the ballroom where it looked oh so big and isolated. Just last night it was packed with loads of people and now it was completely empty.

She also noticed the double French doors open and realized that Natsu could be outside. She walked on over slowly to make sure she wasn't disturbing anything and poked her head over the wall, staring at the back of the Prince who looked all tense and stressed out.

"Natsu?" She murmured softly, knowing that he probably wouldn't hear it but when she watched him turn around and cock his brow at her, she assumed that the royalty must have great ears. "Are you okay?"

"I should be the one asking you that," he let out a heavy sigh as he walked over to where she was. "are you okay? I shouldn't have left you alone back there—did they do something to you?" He placed his hand on her shoulders. "You look fine."

"I am fine, Natsu. It's alright, they're just talk, nothing more."

"Those bastards... what the hell do they think they're doing saying shit like that?"

Smiling softly at him, Lucy placed her hand on his bicep making him look down at her in concern. "Natsu... I promise I'm okay. Thanks for worrying."

"That idiot Sting probably brought you back here without thinking again, huh?"

Nodding her head, Natsu let out another heavy sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry he's such a idiot. He just is that kind of person and it pisses me off," the Prince let out a heavy sigh as the look of anger crossed his features. "he's really immature and that is coming from me..."

Laughing lightly at his comment, the blonde offered a reassuring smile as she place her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. The simple gesture had the Prince smiling right back as his dark orbs bore into hers. A light blush dusted her pale cheeks and Natsu couldn't help but let out a low chuckle as his hand rested on her hip, his other hand to grab her free palm.

"Would you like to dance?"

"Yes, I would love to." Lucy nodded as the two started to sway back and forth just like they did the night before. The quiet atmosphere had the two falling in love with each others eyes in no time. "You're such a good dancer... I wish I could dance as well as you."

"It's not that hard," he laughs as he twirls the blonde before pulling her back into his strong arms. "well, let me take that back. If you know how to step, it's not that hard. I just hate to stay still and go back and forth like this so it took me five years to master when it really takes about a year and a half." He chuckles deep and low making his chest rumble against the blonde's. "But if I have to confess something, I honestly think I would have mastered dancing much quicker if you were my partner."

Unable to hold back the giggle, Lucy quickly adverted her gaze to the space between the two as her cheeks burned bright pink.

"I—I don't know what to say, Natsu..."

"You don't need to say anything," he murmurs softly as he tilted her chin up to allow eye-contact. "just keep looking at me... don't you know it's rude not to look at one's partner when they're dancing?"

"I—I'm sorry... I—"

"Shh," Natsu hushed Lucy making her stare dumbly at the male in front of her. "don't speak... just... dance."

Swallowing down the nervousness, Lucy kept her mouth shut the rest of the time they danced back and forth. She felt the warmth of Natsu pressed against her and the feeling of security as he had such a strong and firm yet gentle grip around her. She felt protected and she knew nothing could get between the two, now.

"You look good with your hair down, too." Natsu suddenly murmured making the blonde quirk her brow at him.

"Too?"

Chuckling at the small confusion, he adverted his gaze down to the ground. "That must have sounded very weird," the two laughed together. "it's just, like, last night you had your hair in this side pony tail so I just noticed—"

"You noticed my hairstyle?" Lucy asked in surprise as she reached up to tap the area where she usually has her side pony tail with her matching color ribbon. "You noticed my pony tail?"

"Well... yeah. I really like it. My mom always had some kind of hair obsession or something so she did this or that. And I could tell she was disappointed that her first child was a guy cause she wanted to do all sort of girly stuff to me. She once tried to grow my hair out long!" He exclaimed making Lucy laugh at little story. "I'm not joking. Once my hair reached my shoulders and people started to call me Princess Natsu, that's when my dad made my mom stop all the girlish stuff." He chuckled along with the giggling blonde in front of him as the two continued to go back and forth.

"Aren't you hungry, Natsu? You suddenly got up and left before you actually could eat."

"Not yet, I've lost my appetite earlier when they were talking but I'm sure I'll hungry sometime later," the Prince hummed as he looked down at the beauty in his arms. "are you?"

"No—"she started to say but suddenly stopped as the rumble of her stomach interrupted her.

An awkward silence snuck past them as Lucy's face heated up warmly, the rosy-haired male staring at her in surprise. Soon, a smile appeared on his face and he opened her mouth to tease the blonde but she shook his head and pulled away from their dance making him stop.

"E—excuse me, I—"

"You're not shy about other things but when you're asked if you're hungry, you are?" He snickers making her scowl slightly. "What's up with that?"

"It's not like that—"

"Then what is it like? Hm? What are you hiding?" He leaned in and grinned, amusement laced in-between his words. "Are you on a diet or something?"

"No!" Lucy cried out, her cheeks brighter than usual. "It's just—"

"Just what? Spill it, Luce, why are you lying?"

"Because I didn't want to ruin the moment!" She snapped making Natsu blink and quirk a brow at her.

"Moment?"

"The whole dancing and loving moment, okay? I didn't want to pull away and go eat and be with the others because I wanted to stay just the way we were!" She turned around and faced the other direction as the embarrassment started to build up. Her heart raced in her chest and she felt her cheeks burning as if she had a fever. "But now that was ruined because you asked if I was hungry and made me think of food!" She pouted while watching the sun set just down the horizon.

She stayed silent and still as she waited for a quirky remark or some smart ass comment from the Prince but he was completely silent. Instead, she felt something wrap around her waist and something warm press against her backside.

"You could have said so," he murmured against her hair. "to be honest, I liked it, too. The whole you and me thing... I don't want to go back and be with them either so how about this?" He pulls back to turn her around and make her face him once more, a smile present on his handsome face. "How about we go out and eat? Just you and me and then I'll take you back home." He brushes a strain of hair behind her ear. "What do you say?"

Smiling right back at the male, Lucy nodded making Natsu grin right back and grab her hand. "C'mon, we gotta be quiet about it."

"Are you even allowed to go out?"

"Nope," he popped the P as he pulled her out of the ball room and down the large empty hallways. "but if it's for you, I don't care."

Feeling her heart race in her chest as she heard the words slip out of his mouth, the couple made sure to be quiet and not be seen as they snuck out of the kingdom. But with the guards and maids running around, it took a while for them to get out.

With a few giggles and running around, the couple was out of the kingdom and out in the streets where commoners roamed around.

"Are you sure it's okay to be doing this, Natsu? Won't you get in trouble?" Lucy asked as she kept looking back as Natsu pulled her along.

"Yeah, I will," he paused making Lucy gap at him. "but I don't care. Don't think about what'll happen to me, thank bout what you want to eat. What do you want? You look like the type of girl to like eating fatty foods."

"I do not!"

Laughing at her offensive manner, he slowed his pace to walk side by side next to the woman beside him.

"So, you decided where to go?"

"Im not sure. It's just my third day in Magnolia, after all. You've got anything you want to eat?"

"Well... there is something I always wanted to do when I got the chance to come out..."

Looking at the male beside her, Lucy could only raise one brow.

—X—

"This is what you always wanted to do? Really?" Lucy asked as the two arrived at food stands that had food cooking and people pushing for the fast foods.

The sun had set by now and the bright night lights laminated the streets as Natsu experience the first daily life of a commoner. His eyes are sparkling and he has a wide grin on his face as he looks like a kid on Christmas morning. He could barely contain his excitement as he bounced up and down on his heels, his wide eyes looking directly at the blonde in front of him. "Can we go and try the foods now?"

"Are you sure you wanna eat the fast food here?"

Rapidly nodding his head as an excited kid would do, he pulled on the arm of his date towards the food stands where he first came face to face to such foods.

"What is this, Lucy?" The male pointed at the tray of foods. "It looks good."

"Those are fried octopus balls. They're really good, you want to try some?"

Nodding his head, Lucy faced the woman and offered a bright smile. "Hello, could I get one order of the fried octopus balls?"

"Yes, of course."

Grabbing five balls and placing them on a paper plate, she handed the food to Natsu who was already drooling by the sight and smell of it.

"That will be four dollars."

"I've got it, Luce!" Natsu said as he quickly handed the plate to the surprised blonde as he dug into his vest pocket to pull out a bill. He handed the money to the woman and offered a wide smile before taking his woman out to the side to try the food. "I can't wait to try this!"

"Y'know, I could have paid for that." Lucy suddenly said as she frowned. "I feel bad now."

"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who offered to bring you out and this isn't anything I can't afford anyways. Now, let's try these babies!" He grinned widely as he reached for one.

"Wait, Natsu, they're hot!"

"They are?" He asked as he popped one into his mouth without hesitation. He didn't react to the hotness as he just chewed and stared at the gawking blonde in front of him. "Not bad. Do they have any meat around here? Or fish?"

Slowly reaching for one of the balls, Lucy bit into it to nearly burn her tongue off, throwing the ball back on the plate and to have tears burning her eyes. "I thought you said it wasn't hot!"

"I never said it wasn't. But it isn't," he laughed as he watched the blonde huff and try to cool her burning tongue. "it wasn't hot to me but I guess it was to you."

"Of course it was! Now thanks to you, I burned my tongue!"

Laughing at the pouting woman in front of him, Natsu placed his hand on top of her golden head, a large grin decorating his face. "C'mon, let's get something cold so we can cool that tongue of yours."

—X—

"Enjoy your shaved ice!"

"Thank you!"

Carefully holding onto the large styrofoam cup full of shaved ice and fruit toppings, Natsu made his way back to the bench where he left Lucy. When he arrived back, he came back to see her sitting down exactly where he left her with her tongue sticking out like a dog.

"What are you doing? You look so stupid, you weirdo."

"Hay! Dats meen!"

"You sound stupid, too."

Scowling at the Prince who sat right down next to her, she watched him get comfortable before handing her the other plastic spoon he had. Once she took it from his hands, he was quick to dig into the styrofoam cup and pop the thing into his mouth.

"Mm, this is good. Looks weird, but tastes great!"

"What, you never had this before?"

"I've had shaved ice before but with like syrup. I never had shaved ice with fruit and mochi and red bean paste on top. This taste great!" He had a wide grin on his face as he kept putting spoon after spoon into his mouth. "You're lucky to eat these kinds of comfort food."

"If you say so..." She murmured as she sucked on her spoon while eyeing the male beside her.

She found it oddly adorable that he was experiencing all this for the first time and enjoying it so much. He was just like a little kid and she just found that utterly and completely adorable. She also found out that she was enjoying herself way too much and in the end, she probably will get Natsu a huge lecture by somebody back in the kingdom. She'll probably be punished for sneaking and taking the Prince away, as well. All she could do is enjoy the time she has with him now and feel bad about it later.

"How's your tongue, now? Still stinging?"

"It's better than before thanks to the shaved ice," she smiled as she went back to eating the shaved ice. "thank you."

"No problem at all. I'd like to thank you for bringing me out here, it's nice."

"I didn't really do anything."

"You gave me a close insight of everything, Luce!" Natsu suddenly exclaimed making her eye him and slowly suck on his spoon again. "And letting me try all those foods and such, it was so much fun!"

"Well... whenever you need a tour guide to the commoners world, I'll be here."

"And whenever you need a tour guide to the royal world, I'll be here." He winked at the female making her scoff and fight back the smile that was crawling up her face.

"Yeah, well, that's all I've been experiencing since I arrived to Magnolia."

"Maybe it's your fate. Do you believe in that kind of thing?"

Letting out a sigh and tilting her head up to look up at the night sky where billions of stars scattered, Lucy put her spoon into the shaved ice and kept it there. "Of course I believe in that... I believe in all of that."

"I could have guessed that with how passionate you are about stars." Natsu spoke as he continued to finish up the rest.

"Do you believe in the red string of fate, Natsu?"

"The red string of what? Fate?"

"Yep! Do you know what that is?"

"No, the hell is the red string of fate?" He asked as he furrowed his brows and gave the blonde a confused look. "Is it like, string?"

"Yeah!" Lucy sat up straight as she pulled her pinky out in front of her. "It's like, soulmates you could say." She glanced at the male to see if he was still listening. "It's when two people are born, they're destined to be together. But with this, people say it's some kind of invisible red string tied to your pinky and on the other end, your soulmate has their pinky tied to the same red string." She raised her hand to stare at her empty fingers. "They said it never can be cut. It can get tangled and intertwine with others for a moment but it will forever and always be with the two people."

"So, you're saying that you could have a red string tied to your finger and I could, too?" He summarized as he raised his hand up in the air right next to hers making her nod. "Do you know who is on the other end?"

"Of course you don't," she giggled as she dropped her hand and looked at the male next to her. "nobody knows."

"Then how do you know if that person is your soulmate or whatever?"

"You just do."

"Okay, Lucy, you're not making any sense, now."

Laughing loudly at Natsu who has a large grin on his face, the couple spent most of their night talking about such things as a very long and very tangled red string hung down from the bench behind them where their hands rested.

—X—

"So, this is where you live? Nice place you've got."

"Thanks," Lucy smiled as she glanced back at her apartment to look right back at Natsu who stood in front of her gazing at it. "It's quiet a lovely place."

"I bet it is."

A quick silence walked right through their way before Lucy let out a heavy sigh and offered a small smile.

"I had fun, tonight."

"Same here," he grinned. "thanks for taking me out here."

"No problem. I hope you don't get into too much trouble once you go home..." The blonde smile sheepishly making Natsu waved it off and shrug.

"It's fine. It was totally worth it."

"Well, at least you enjoyed it. I hope you have a safe journey back to the castle and remember, don't take any alleyway shortcuts and don't talk to strangers."

Rolling his eyes and fighting back a smile that had his lips twitching, Natsu slowly nodded while responding. "Yes mother."

"I mean it, Natsu."

"Alright, don't worry so much. I can take care of myself, Lucy, so you don't have to worry." He placed his hand on top of her head as she smiled and sighed.

"I guess..."

"I'm not sure when we'll be seeing each other again but I have a feeling it won't be that long," he chuckled as he reached down and grabbed her hand. "and since I haven't done a single princely-type wumbo-jumbo, I'll leave you with this," he slowly leans down to press a quick and chaste kiss on the back of her palm. "sweet dreams, miss."

Fighting back the heavy blush that was dusting her cheeks, Lucy bit back the smile that decorated her face. "Good night, Natsu." She spoke softly as she lingered just a bit longer before turning around to walk towards her doorstep. She gave him one last look and smile before she entered her home and left the male standing in front of her home with a smile.

Once he heard her door click shut, his smile dropped and his eyes narrowed to the ground.

"What are you doing, Gajeel? Don't you know it's weird to stalk people?" Natsu spoke lowly and softly as a figure emerged from the shadows. "What do you think you were even doing following me?"

"Just wanted to see what fuckery you were up to, now. Who was that blonde chick just now?" The Prince asked as he walked close to the rosy-haired one, a devilish smirk on his face. "You trying to get involved with commoners?"

"That's none of your business, metal head."

"Oh, but it is if our dear Prince Natsu, future rule of Fiore is dilly-dallying with a commoner, it really is my business."

Clicking his tongue in disapproval, Natsu shoved his hands into his pocket as he made his way towards the large castle, trying to ignore his cousin who always managed to piss him off.

"You should seriously stop whatever you are doing if you know what's good for you."

"Mind your fucking business, this has nothing to do with you." Natsu hissed under his breath before disappearing into the dark streets.

notes: i apologize for the lateness and unactiveness but I've been really busy and stressed out lately so I had no time. but I finally got the motivation and tone to write so here is chapter four! i also apologize if there are misspelled words or horrible whatever cause I wrote most of this with my phone.

notes2: leave a lovely review bc Natsu and Lucy are hell OTP and cute