Chapter Five - Meeting the Family

The next few weeks flew by. Lucy finished an essay on evaluating a way to measure and train resilience in Army cadets to promote optimal performance, whereas Natsu had just finished a project on the barriers to physical activity for children in care. After quite a few sleepless nights spent in the library, with Lucy tirelessly studying and throwing soft mints at Natsu whenever he threatened to fall asleep, they didn't really find the time to discuss their plans much more than they already had.

It was currently 24 hours before their plan got put into action. They were in Natsu's room packing his bag for the trip when Lucy nonchalantly mentioned booking an uber to the airport. Natsu stopped shoving clothes in his suitcase and turned towards her. His tanned complexion paling and a thin film of sweat coating his face as she continued.

"So," Lucy started. "If we get there at 7:00am we can grab some breakfast before the flight."

"The flight." Natsu repeated quietly.

"Yeah, the flight." Lucy paused for a moment before continuing to fold up the clothes he had dumped on the bed to take with him. "It's at 12:00 tomorrow."

"The flight." He repeated again, voice cracking slightly.

"Yes, god, the flight Natsu," Lucy sounded exasperated. "you know the main air transporta-" Lucy stopped talking. She whipped her head up to see him frozen above his suitcase, eyes wide, and a nervous smile plastered on his face. "Oh god."

How could she be so careless. Anybody who knew Natsu knew he hated public transport, or any transport for that matter. His travel sickness was something Gray and the rest of their friends teased him about relentlessly, especially if they needed to travel anywhere for Club competitions.

Lucy immediately began to apologise. Berating herself for not remembering and going off on a rather long tangent about him not having to go as she could always ask someone else. She started to talk about how she could probably ask Loke to step in as their fathers worked together sometimes and- Natsu stopped her right there.

He'd got this far, and he'd be damned if he let Loke of all people take his place. Forcing himself to take a deep breath and calm his nerves he began talking.

"Hey. Do I at least get the choice still?" Lucy's panicked expression softened.

"Of course you do Natsu," She hugged her arms around herself gently as she sat down on the edge of his bed, guilt plastered over her face. She was so easy to read. Like an open book. "I just don't want you to feel you have to go just because I dragged you into this stupid plan."

He paused for a second, before sitting next to her and gently bumping their shoulders. "Luce. You didn't drag me into it, I walked into it fully aware." He forced out a small chuckle. "Well maybe not fully aware considering the whole…" He shuddered. "flight thing." Lucy gave him a slap on the chest for making light of it.

Natsu sighed and slowly slumped his head onto her shoulder, shifted to look up at her. "The things I do for you." He whispered out, before continuing. "Besides, I'm not missing out on a free holiday, and free food, because of a stupid hunk of metal."

Lucy giggled and ran her hand through his mess of pink, scratching at his scalp lightly. It was something she usually did to comfort him when he was in the throes of motion sickness on the way to competitions, but apparently it worked as a general comforting tool for him as well.

After a minute or so of sitting like this, Lucy whispered a quiet 'are you sure?' to which Natsu just stood up and continued to pack his suitcase, giving her a small smile as he did.

They finished packing his bag and he carried it downstairs to place next to Lucy's by the door. She had done hers earlier and brought it with her so they could leave from his house the next morning. And after double- no triple-checking all of their paperwork and essentials, that is exactly what they did.

The uber dropped them off at the airport in record time, giving them a few hours to spare after checking in. There were a few options around for breakfast, but they went with a classic Starbucks toastie and hot drink. After Natsu wolfed it down and Lucy ate it like the civilised person she was, they ended up wandering around the Duty-Free shops in search of deals.

Natsu found the alcohol section pretty quickly and searched for a nice Single-Malt whiskey to give as a gift for Lucy's dad. Maybe he could try and gain a little bit of favour with him if he brought along a fancy-looking gift. Having lost Lucy to the make-up and perfumes isle he headed to the till with the aim of meeting up with her afterwards. Whilst in the queue he ended up also picking up a selection box of ridiculously priced chocolates to sweeten the deal so to say.

Lucy ended up catching him up as he was paying and, confused, pointed out the items.

"I thought you only like Fire whisky?" She asked as Natsu said 'yes' to the gift-wrapping option the cashier just presented. They walked away with his purchases in a bag. Natsu scrunched up his face a little.

"Oh, s'not for me." He pulled it out the bag to show Lucy properly. "S'a gift ya know. Gotta try and get on ya dad's good side." His stupid lopsided grin creeping onto his face.

Lucy's heart swelled. Here he was acting adorable and trying to come up with ways to make a good first impression on her dad. With a real nice gift and everything. It warmed her heart. It made it all feel slightly too real, like she was actually bringing home a boyfriend to her dad.

She mentally shook her head. She couldn't let herself grow accustomed to this kind of thinking. Natsu never gave less than 100%, meaning that he would throw himself into this plan, this role of 'boyfriend', completely. Giving it his all. She was going to have to constantly check herself. Remind herself that this wasn't actually real, that it was a façade that she stupidly came up with in order to sneak him on the trip. She couldn't let herself be sucked into these domestic patterns that she knew would hurt to remember when they went back to being just 'best friends' after the trip.

Getting a hold of herself, she hardened her gaze. This change in affect as she spoke did not go unnoticed by Natsu. "That's super sweet, but you don't have to spend your money on stuff like that for him." Before Natsu could protest, she continued. "It's just my dad, not an actual girlfriend's."

Those words cut into Natsu more than he'd like to admit. Making him glad Gray wasn't around to witness proof of what he had told Natsu was bound to happen. A heavy feeling settled in his chest as he put away the gifts in the bag and mumbled, "Well it can't hurt, he'll think we're dating and it's still my first time meeting him."

If Lucy heard what he said, she made no obvious moves to acknowledge his statement. Their awkward walking in silence was interrupted by an announcement for their gate being opened and the panicked rush of getting there in time for boarding.

Boarding was quick and simple. They got on the plane with no fuss and easily found their seats near the back of the cabin.

Lucy began to heave her hand luggage over her head to push into the overhead storage. As she did so, Natsu leaned over her, took it from her hands and placed it inside, placing his luggage next to hers. As Lucy turned to thank him, his hands were still resting on the compartment above her head. Effectively boxing her in.

Lucy had always thought he wasn't that much taller than her, but as she turned around, she realised her field of vision was full of his broad chest. She wasn't lying when she said she had noticed he'd filled out since the year before. And nicely for that matter.

Against her better judgement, she looked up to thank him. Her words died on her tongue when she met his eyes. Dark with small flecks of honey hidden among the onyx as he looked down at her. The longer she stood there not saying anything, the more intense his gaze seemed to get. The air between them thickened. Natsu's lips parted slowly, he took a sharp breath in ready to say something when a curt 'excuse me' broke them from their short but shared reverie.

They broke away from each other, shuffling into their seats as they mumbled apologies to the passenger trying to get past.

God get a hold of yourself Lucy. She berated herself as Natsu sat in the window seat beside her, slumping into his seat slightly.

They made it through the rest of the flight surprisingly well. Natsu had finally conked out from the anti-nausea meds he took, and with Lucy comforting him throughout he may as well have been in first class.

Their cases were surprisingly quick to come through and they made their way to the collection lounge. Natsu saw a large burley man stand out among the other family members and friends waiting in arrivals. Stark-white hair contrasting his dark sunglasses and full black suit. He was holding a sign that had the words 'Miss Lucy & Natsu' written on in neat cursive handwriting. Of course, they had a damn bodyguard to pick them up.

Natsu leaned down to whisper to Lucy, "Well, he's terrifying."

"He's a complete softie, you'll see." Lucy replied as she raised her hand to wave the man over.

The smallest of smiles hinted at the corner of the large man's mouth as he folded the sign into his pocket and made his way over, begrudgingly accepting Lucy's large bear hug with an awkward stance before clearing his throat and holding a hand towards Natsu.

"Capricorn. Pleasure, Sir." Natsu took his hand, matched the strong grip, and gave his own name. The man seemed to nod to himself before releasing his hand and taking Lucy's bags off her.

"Cap, I can carry my own bags to the car you know!" The large man gave a soft grunt in reply and continued walking with her bags.

"I still think he's terrifying. His grip strength is insane." Natsu whispered to her as they followed him to the car.

Natsu could tell they were getting close to the lodge when Lucy's posture changed. One minute she was comfortable, slouching and chatting about what to do first. The next she was sitting up straight and had crossed her hands in her lap, whether it was a conscious action or not he didn't know. It didn't suit her. The Lucy that Natsu knew sat with her feet up on chairs in the library as she scribbled down notes or sprawled out over the bed when complaining about deadlines. Not a girl, as stiff as a board, looking scared to meet her own family. He felt himself frown, shifting in his seat as they pulled up to the cabin.

As the car pulled to a stop in the driveway, he could see a blonde man waiting at the entrance to the cabin. Capricorn waved them to the door and bowed his head slightly before going to unpack their luggage. Natsu grabbed the duty free bag and moved to help him, but he just held up a hand and darted his eyes behind Natsu.

"Chin up young sir." Was all he got from the man before he gestured to Lucy and the cabin.

The blonde man was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, glaring as they made their way down the drive to meet him. Lucy exuded a faux calm as she tentatively grabbed his hand, her fingers weaving between his. It took a moment for Natsu to remember that this was supposed to be natural, and he squeezed her hand as they reached the man.

"Hi dad." Her voice was too quiet, too small.

"Lucy." He looked towards her with a small nod of acknowledgment. "I'm tied up with meetings this week. However, there's a family dinner Thursday at 8 o'clock. My colleagues will be there." He looked them both up and down. "You'll have to dress appropriately of course. Remember what it means to be a Heartfilia." He then turned to Natsu and continued. "You can come too…"

"Uhm," Natsu wiped his hand on his trousers before holding it out to shake. "Natsu. Natsu Dragneel." He looked at Natsu's hand unimpressed and shook it briefly.

"Mm. You can come too Natsu." He then turned back to Lucy, unspoken words hanging in the air as he stared her down. Natsu almost forgot the bag in his hand but remembered in time to break whatever telepathic conversation Lucy and her dad seemed to be having.

"Mr Heartfilia, these are for you." Natsu held the bag out towards him until he hesitantly took them off him.

"Oh. How nice." He stepped into the house without so much as a glance into the bag. "I'll see you Thursday."

Before the man could round the corner he paused briefly to turn his head a fraction of the way back.

"Oh, and Lucy. Don't be late this time. It doesn't look good on either one of us."