Gravity

He was late. Again. Which normally wouldn't be that big of a deal, except now it was a big deal because it was Lucy's birthday. And he was late to give her his present. A present he'd spent a ridiculous amount of money and time hunting down with Levy. He only had a week notice, hearing about it accidentally from Erza; he'd been mortified that no one had thought to tell him Lucy's birthday was coming up. He'd ended up calling Levy in a panic and asking for help to pick out the perfect gift. She'd been excited to share a secret with him, about a stone she'd hunted down and a matching one to cover all their bases. One Lucy personally loved.

So, he'd gone and done a different kind of hunting, the thrill of trying something new helped to ease the stress of picking the perfect stone. The work was long and tough, and Natsu had developed a newfound appreciation of the skills Levy possessed. He'd known the stone was just right the second his eyes landed on it. Natsu was eager to give it to her, and, if he was being completely honest with himself, see her. It's been exactly three weeks; a rough three weeks of recovering from his fire breathing incident and training. It was a long recovery, and now he had an appointment to make after being sick. Which left Natsu feeling both late and apprehensive.

"Stop being a baby."

"Are you sober enough to do this Cana?" Natsu hedged. He shifted uneasily on the cushioned chair turned table he hopped up on. "I don't want a repeat of when you pierced my tongue two weeks ago." He laid down and winced when his sweaty back connected to cold black leather. His mouth was dry, and his hands were growing clammy.

"Am I ever sober?" Cana joked. She didn't even glance at him as she set her tattoo gun up with a skilled grace gained from experience. It would be impressive if he didn't still have nightmares about the clusterfuck that was his tongue piercing. Needless to say, that needle had hit him in more than one place.

"That's why I'm nervous. You're about to have a tattoo gun on my throat."

"You weren't whining this much when I did your stomach. Stop being a baby." A sigh while the brunette carefully picked a red with the help of her intuition.

"Cana,"

"Runes are important. I'm not drunk, Natsu." She was serious. Her hands steady as she wiped the sweat off his throat, shaved the area and sanitized. "I don't play with the lives of my guildmates, or anyone who comes to me for help."

"I know. I wish you felt the same about piercings."

"If you know then stop talking so I can get the stencil to lay perfectly." A lighthearted laugh before a concentrated silence took over. "I think I got it just right. Take a look in the mirror and tell me what you think." That was Cana speak for 'check it out but don't think I'll move it.' So Natsu took the offered hand mirror and craned his neck. Two minimalistic half lines spanned his throat, opposite each other vertically and horizontally. One centered more to the right while the other more to the left, gently curving around his Adam's apple without fully connecting. The starting points slightly curled outwards with small flame shaped dots at the top of said curves.

"I don't hate it," the pinket joked with a grin.

"Good 'cause I was just going to tell you to blame your aura. Your lines don't lie and making a rune that followed that and had to do with fire retardancy was a bit tricky." Cana replied, squirting a red the shade of pomegranate skins into a small paper cup. She checked her machine, turning it on and checking the needles, before wheeling her chair back over to him. "Ready?"

"Yeah." He was ready. To have this done so he could finally see Lucy. He'd gotten her number from Levy after their gem search and made plans to go out to dinner 'to catch up' as he phrased it. He'd been so nervous, unsure if asking her out on a date would be too much or if he should wait. They've only ever hung out at her shop besides that one time at his guild that didn't really end well, and he wanted to get to know her more. He liked being around her.

"Buckle up buttercup." Cana slurred.

"That's not funny."

"Yeah but don't move, it takes a fair bit of concentration to tattoo straight and push my intentions and magic into the ink." Natsu decided not to respond, and Cana took that as her cue to start. The constant buzzing of the gun and lick of pain along his skin were all familiar sensations to him now. He just laid back, tried to relax, and let Cana work her magic.

oOo

Why was he so nervous? The butterflies in his stomach were more annoying than the tenderness of his throat. Maybe she hadn't heard her doorbell ring? He was about to reach forward and press the button again when her door jerked open.

"Natsu!" Lucy's face lit up and she moved to the side, motioning him in. "It's good to see you."

"Heya Luce, thanks for inviting me over." He said around clearing his throat. Her smile was contagious. He slipped past her, trying not to stare too hard, "Where's Plue?"

"No thank you for being down to change plans. I had been planning on cooking dinner anyway and thought it wouldn't be such a stretch to just cook for you. Instead of going out. I mean.." Natsu found himself grinning hard at her obvious nerves. She was cute when she rambled. "Uhm, he's currently guarding the backyard. He didn't want to come back in." the blonde ended on a shrug.

"Nice place, it's so clean!"

"Thank you?"

"Seriously, Luce. You must clean like once a week or something." Natsu said with such innocence that Lucy didn't have the heart to tell him she tidied up daily. She didn't want to know what his house looked like if he thought this was cleaning once a week. The blonde watched as Natsu slipped off his shoes and wondered around her living room, taking in the bookshelf filled with books and framed pictures, her couches and when his eyes landed on the skull he'd given her his face lit up. "Cool skull. Is that a werewolf?"

"You have a good eye," Lucy said around a smile, "It's one of my prized possessions. A gift from…" Natsu could only watch in fascination as her face tinted pink, and she ducked into the kitchen and hid behind her fridge door. "Someone special. Sit down and get comfortable, I just have to throw together a few things and then we can eat."

Natsu was actually here in her apartment. Staring at all of her things before lounging on her couch like he owned the place. To Lucy it looks like he's always belonged. She couldn't help but sneak glances at him from under her lashes as she started plating the chicken curry she made for this date; she remembered how excited he had been when he talked about Mira's fire wings, so she made his portion spicier than normal.

"Whatever you made smells good," Natsu groaned in time with his stomach. With his head thrown back over the couch's arm, Lucy got an eyeful of the new tattoo that adorned his neck. That was new but fit him well. The red was striking with his hair, and the lines were straight and complimented the natural lines of his throat. Two gently sloping 'S' shaped curves that met around his Adam's apple without touching, along with what looked like small flame dots at the outer curves. Simple but nice.

"Wait till you taste it." Lucy said back and froze in place when his dark eyes connected with hers. She felt her face catch fire when he broke into a slow grin.

"I bet it tastes," did he have something in his mouth? "Amazing, Luce." She felt her face grow warmer. He definitely had his tongue pierced, which was definitely new.

"Mmm," was all she could manage to squeeze out of her dry mouth. She couldn't help but replay the conversation and feel the inuendo. Lucy realized she wanted to take his tongue for a ride and was extremely embarrassed by her train of thought. Now would be the perfect time for Aquarius to hit her with cold water. "Alright, it's ready." The blonde pushed out past her dry throat and beelined for the table with two large bowls in hand. "What would you like to drink? I have wine, beer, water, tea."

"You don't have to serve me." Natsu sighed, pulling out his chair at the table and sitting down heavily. He decided it was best not to comment on her red face, so he drooled over the curry in front of him. It smelled spicy.

"What do you want Natsu?"

"Surprise me."

"So, what have you been up too these last few weeks?" Lucy started, setting down her glass of red wine and handing over an IPA she'd bought on a whim. "You've got a new tattoo, I see." finished shyly.

"Ahh, well. Gray and I had to do the first half of our exam, you know to rank up." Natsu talked around shoving his face. His table manners were atrocious, how did he manage to get that much food around his mouth? Lucy ate quietly as she listened in fascinated horror as he recounted the survival portion of the exam. "So yeah, nothing really besides training and trying to study for the written exam. I'm not exactly the best with pencil and paper tests."

"Nothing really?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That sounds like an understatement."

"Eh, not really. Normal stuff, it was better than having to study." A loud burp punctuated the sentence. Natsu leaned back against his chair, rubbing his stomach. "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing much." Lucy joked while clearing the table, "Just minding the shop and waiting."

"Waiting?"

"Yes, waiting."

"For?"

"That's a secret," Lucy said around a smile. Natsu shot up from the chair he'd been lounging on, startling the blonde.

"I almost forgot!" a blur of pink and he was suddenly next to her, looking nervous. "I can do the dishes, besides happy belated." Natsu continued while shoving a messily wrapped box into her hands and gently pushing her from the sink. Lucy could only watch gob smacked as he filled the sink; she winced when he squirted a large amount of soap into the water and carelessly dumped the dishes in. "Stop staring at me and open the box."

"You got me a present?" Lucy whispered. What she really wanted to ask was how he knew about her birthday. She dropped her eyes to study the long box in her hand before peeling away some of the grey wrapping paper.

"Don't I always bring you something back when I'm gone for a while?" He sounded amused. Lucy's reply dried in her throat as she stared at a royal blue velvet box. Her hands shook a bit as she lifted the lid.

"It's beautiful," Lucy mumbled. She couldn't help but run a finger over the teardrop shaped gem. The gem a light translucent blue. It reflected the light when Lucy shifted it and cast off a rainbow of color. "Levy and Jellal? This must have been expensive, his work isn't cheap." Brown eyes lifted from the delicately crafted necklace.

"Don't worry about that," Natsu shrugged. Onyx eyes glanced at her face before falling to the necklace as he dried his hands. "So, do you like it? I asked Jellal to make the necklace durable but pretty. It should hold up in a fight."

"I don't like to fight," Lucy sighed. "I'd prefer to reason my way out of a situation if possible."

"Better safe than sorry." Natsu grumbled while moving behind her. He reached for the necklace over her shoulder, "Let me put it on for you." Lucy held the box closer to him and watched him pluck the necklace from the box. His fingers were quick as they fastened the clasp. She couldn't help the involuntary shiver as his knuckled brushed against her nape. Lucy wanted him to keep touching her, to lean back against him. The spell broke when he stepped back. "Turn around Luce, let me see."

"Okay," the necklace sat perfectly, the gem resting in the hollow at the base of her neck. Why was she suddenly so nervous at the thought of facing him? She didn't want to admit it, but she wanted to kiss him. Would kissing be crossing the line?

"It would look a lot better if you didn't look constipated." Natsu's tactless remark shattered her illusion. "Fits well though." He ruffed her hair and then laughed when she took a swipe at him, her face a bright shade of pink.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Me? Why is your face all red?" Natsu shot back dodging another fist, "You were the one looking at me all weird."

"You need to learn when to be quiet."

"Why-?"

"BE QUIET."