I'd just like to remind that this story is rated M for a reason, there will be eventual smut C:

Chapter 6: The Swipey-Swipey App

Lucy was overall embarrassed.

While she was able to escape work earlier than most days, she encountered a problem. Her outfit was more runway than café, which would really bother her.

But why?

Her office attire could easily be mistaken as trying too hard for this da-meetup/confusion clarity event or... really, she didn't know what to make out of it. The interactions she's had with men were either in relation to work or just sleazebags that were trying to get in her pants. In her mind it was one or the other when she had to categorize men but where does Natsu fall?

Despite his mix-ups he doesn't necessarily seem like a bad guy, he hadn't made any moves on her, but he was incapacitated during one of those meetings. Yet, he did go out of his way to contact her on a dating app, just to tell her that he likes how weird she is, and then doesn't that mean something? The other question was does she want this to mean something?

She could feel herself blushing at the idea of wanting something like that. After being set up with countless suitors sent by the Heartfilia Konzern and her father's constant yammering about continuing the Heartfilia legacy, she demolished all chances of romance. Especially with...

She shuddered at the memory.

The gentle chirping and soft trickles from the waterfall did nothing to calm her nerves down in this situation. Lucy tried her hardest not the shatter the bone tea china from her grip as the angry void inside her grew immensely. Spetto-san would be heartbroken if she stained her newest Heart Cruez addition, especially if it was caused by the bigot in front of her.

Lucy cleared her throat," Can you repeat that, Mr. Lancelot?"

The young man was dashing, there was no beating around the bush, a genuine prince that could have just waltzed out of a fairy tale. His hair almost looked edible, like blueberry cotton candy. Then his delicate blue eyes gleamed at her question, not only was he beautiful like a prince-

"Of course, Ms. Heartfilia! But please just call me Lancelot and perhaps I can refer to you as Mrs. Lancelot one day. So, you can hand over your position over to someone soon and then we can begin with continuing my linea-ah! Our lineage! Do you like cooking? My mother is an amazing cook, and she can teach you all my-"

He was also ignorant, just like a prince.

She was born into the wealthy world, and understood the dynamics taught to all its recipients. In a way, despite the ladders they can climb in their privileged orb, it meant dehumanizing everyone outside of their immediate bubble. Lucy knew how lucky she is, to have monetary wealth is a dream for nearly every person on Earthland and she was born with it. If only that meant she didn't have to be exploited as a pawn to expand that.

Lucy stared at this man yammering on and on about some delusional fantasy painting her as a housewife that decorates his home and adds additional characters to the background. There was nothing wrong in being a housewife, it was just that she didn't want that. This man spoke of her as one would talk about furniture. She was used to people like him, ones that didn't really care or ask about what she wants. She felt like an NPC that was dragged along, not the main character she wanted to be.

"-also, I would like to start on making children right away so why don't we take a trip right after the weddin-EURGHHH! AH! DID YOU JUST THROW HOT TEA AT MY FACE?!"

Poor Spetto-san, she had to bury yet another tea set after it suffered the rage of Lucy Heartfilia

Regardless of how many times she mulls over whether this is a date doesn't mean she'll get an answer.

"Hiya Lucy!"

She let out an inhumane scream and threw her bag at his face. Natsu fell back but caught her bag before it made impact.

He laughed at her," Your face! That's so funny! Do you like hitting me or something? You're so loud too, your poor neighbors must hate you. This place is so cool by the way, I saw you running in your heels so I thought might as well meet you here."

She was clutching her pearls and staring dumbfoundedly at him, "I-I wasn't running! But how did you even get in? You're right in front of my door! Anyone would scream, what if you're going to rob me? Oh my gosh, are you going to rob me?!"

He pouted back at her," Why would you say that? I followed you in and I kept calling you, but you were thinking so hard at something. I thought you were ignoring me at first but then I saw you pick your nose so clearly you were-" Lucy slapped her hand over his mouth. "I did no such thing!"

His cheeks pinked a tinge, but Lucy didn't notice, not until a moment passed without any words and she could feel Natsu breathing out of his nose. She quickly pulled back and held her own hand.

"Sorry, I am a little jumpy today, but I wanted to change out of my office outfit. I thought I'd beat you to it, it doesn't feel appropriate for the café." Natsu's eyes skimmed her all over before making a pensive expression.

"Appropriate? What does it matter being appropriate for the café. It looks fine, I mean you're okay with sitting, right?"

That question alone determined that today was in fact, not a date. For some reason she was hoping he'd say something a bit better than fine, or comment on her. However, if she was being honest, him not commenting on her appearance the way most men do, made her relax.

Letting out a sigh, she smiled at him, "You're right, let's just go."

Natsu really liked the way she smelled, every time their shoulders or hands would touch, he felt their closeness carry over her clean scent. It smelled like a bubble bath but not harsh like one.

Immediately entering the stupid bakery wiped it out, and he was a bit upset by that.

What he was enraged by was both himself, for not remembering a key detail regarding one of his closest friends…

"Natsu was heavily reprimanded for his atrocious actions, I assure you if he ever decides to harass you in such manner, there will only be death waiting for him" Erza Scarlet, the leader of his group and a frequent strawberry cake connoisseur, gave him a glare that sent a shiver to even those that were sitting him.

Lucy let out a giggle, she was barely breathing earlier when Natsu ran underneath a table after spotting the red-head and even tried pulling her with him, but Erza somehow appeared in front of them and dangled Natsu by the ankle.

"It's really alright! He explained exactly what happened many times and has apologized more than enough. To be fair, a lot of it was my fault as well." That wasn't entirely true, but anything was better than being strangled by Erza.

Natsu pointed at Lucy," Exactly! You heard her admit it! Put the plastic knife down, please." He pleaded but Erza kept her eyes narrowed at him.

She carefully placed the offending object next to her seventh plate of strawberry cake, "You have survived another day, Natsu." He let out a heavy sigh and clutched his chest, hoping his heart doesn't jump out of his body.

Lucy, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing at the two, so Natsu kept shooting her dirty looks and grumbled to himself.

Suddenly, Erza beamed at the two before asking the question that wiped off Lucy's smirk.

"I apologize, Lucy! Am I interrupting? A d-da-dat-" Erza's face began to turn red, and her eyes switched from the two rapidly.

Natsu quirked a brow at her," What do you mean interrupting?"

Lucy caught the gist of what she was implying and rushed to clear the confusion," No! You're not interrupting anything, Erza! We-rather Natsu just wanted to clear any confusion and u-um, clear out his conscience. This is just a friendly meeting!" Lucy sputtered and her teacup shook viciously as tried to explain.

Erza let out a little 'oh, is that so' and dug through her bag.

Natsu still looked confused but didn't comment, he just thought Lucy was weird.

He huffed," I dunno what's going on, but I went through so much effort setting up that stupid 'The One Magic' service just to talk to you. But you keep talking to her!"

Lucy and Erza flushed simultaneously, Erza began her accusations towards Lucy, citing that she is witnessing flirtatious actions between the two. Lucy vehemently denying and Erza doubling down. Natsu had enough of this, he was too irritated by the intruder.

"Oh! It's getting late! Sorry, I wake up really early, do you guys' mind if I bounce?" Lucy knew she was telling the truth, but it felt like a convenient excuse to escape Erza's wrath as well.

Natsu pouted at her," Do you hafta go?" Erza swatted his arm and admonished him for questioning her. He jumped out of his seat, eager to get away from the disgruntled red head, and grabbed Lucy by the wrist.

"He-hey! Don't just drag me-EEE!" Lucy flapped in the air like a flag in the winds as Natsu ran away to her apartment. He expertly avoided every person and made sure his 'cargo' wasn't harmed either. Everyone in the café was dumbfounded at the sight and a quiet moment passed after they exited the glass doors.

Erza was simply eating away at the remainder of her 18th slice and let out a calm breath.

"He will be punished."

From a distance, a cotton candy pink-haired girl shivered out of nowhere.

"I dunno why she had to be there, and I'm still so hungry…" Natsu kept grumbling under his breath while Lucy stared at their hands. Natsu had clearly been an aggressive person, not necessarily in a bad way but more so an excited way. When he picked up her body weight by dragging her the wrist, it was a little painful.

To say she was shocked was an understatement.

She knew she was relatively strong, in fact she did judo-kick this man unconscious when caught off guard, but this alone put into perspective how carelessly strong he is. Not to mention his friend who they just met was clearly someone he feared so now she can only imagine what monsters these people are.

Natsu was caring though, he heard her yelp once they stepped out the café. He didn't say anything out loud, but he grabbed her hand from the top, so not in a handhold but a grab. Yet it was still a soft touch that made her blush. Her thoughts began racing all over the place but from the interactions she has had with Natsu, it probably didn't mean anything to him. Her ears picked up on the last whine he let out.

"How are you still hungry! You had twenty bowls of their spiciest curry?!" Lucy was in disbelief when she watched him obliterate the food, even when Erza mentioned that he's typically prohibited from any food eating competitions because he never loses, Lucy just couldn't believe it.

Whining yet again, Natsu dejectedly walked up the stairs to her floor [Why they hadn't taken the elevator? Who knows. It's a miracle she lives on the 3rd floor otherwise she'd be dying by now] and said," I knowww~ It wasn't nearly enough. Maybe I'll go to the guild and ask Mira to make me something."

For some reason, her heart tickled when he mentioned someone cooking for him. Scratch that, when he mentioned a girl's name. Without thinking Lucy blurted out a question:

"Is that your girlfriend?"

They had coincidentally reached her apartment door, and now Natsu dropped her hand immediately turned towards her. "What? Girlfriend? No, Mira's- "

Embarrassed and confused by her own actions, Lucy leapt ahead of him and turned away so he wouldn't see her burning face.

"I'm sorry I don't know why I asked it like that I was just saying whatever was on my mind, not that I think that-or rather like that or no I don't mean that. I was just thinking that's why you have someone ready to cook for you but again that's not my business, I don't know why I asked it crossed my mind, again I didn't mean to sound weird about it, considering we're just friends meeting up not like your girlfriend would be bothered by this-wait sorry, you said don't have one or I mean that it's not this Mira person-"

Lucy felt like shooting herself in the face for rambling like a crazy person, she was so grateful she was facing her door as her heart felt like an earthquake and she knew her face was on fire. Placing her hand on the door, despite it shaking, she attempted to get the key in but after much more rambling and finally getting it to work, she was able to push the door open slightly.

"Sorry, I will see you around-"

There was suddenly a very warm presence behind her, and the world became silent.

His chest barely touched her back, but he was just so close she was fearful he could hear her heartbeat. His hand covered hers on the door and it interlaced their fingers, it felt like her wrist and hand were engulfed in fire with how drastically different their temperatures were.

She felt him crouch a bit and an arm lightly ghosted her mid-section, she looked down and saw that his forearm and bicep was nearly as thick as her waistline. She hadn't said anything, not from fear but because it felt like her heart had just crawled up its way into her mouth and would jump out if she tried.

He moved her hair with his nose and dragged it from the base of her neck to her ear, taking a long whiff of her scent and she wished she could see what he looked like right now. His lips opened slightly at her ear before he began speaking in a quiet low voice that made her shiver.

"I should've said something about this. I'm not trying to be your friend, Luce. I'll be clearer if you want me to, and I'll respect whatever you want me to do. But tell me…do you want to see me tomorrow?"

A little nod confirmed.

"Good. I want to keep seeing you. A lot." His hand unlocked itself from her hand but caught it before it fell back to her and slid from her palm all the way to her neck, leaving her hair standing and goosebumps in its wake.

"Do you like this? Me touching you?" She balled her fists and felt embarrassed about the answer before letting out a tiny nod.

"Good." He left a scorching kiss on her neck for a moment before abandoning her body entirely. Lucy felt like fainting and could barely bring herself to turn around and look at him, once she did she regretted it.

He stared at her with half lidden eyes, his dark eyes glazed over as he stared at her bashful expression. She alternated between looking at him and the floor but requested," Please stop looking at me like that."

He snorted," Yeah, once you stop looking like you want to eat you."

She gasped at him and began sputtering noises, Natsu took pity on her and let out a chuckled before rustling up her hair.

"Call me tonight, Lucy. I want to see you as soon as possible." With that, as if it was the most casual thing in the world, he turned and walked away.

Lucy's mouth lay agape as she watched his retreating figure disappear down the hallway. After she finally collected her bearings, she opened her door, went inside, and slid down the frame with her burning face held in her hands.

Never in her life, did she think she'd become a stuttering mess from someone that basically just held her hand.

"…how could he say that so casually." She murmured.

Erza finally wrapped up her remaining paperwork and decided it was time to head home. The Sun had set, and Magnolia had the tell-tale quiet hum before nightfall. As she took a few steps, the doors of the apartment building connected to the café slammed open.

With it came Natsu, stumbling onto the floor and falling on his face. Then he began rolling all over the ground, yelling "WhatdidIdo. What did I do?! WHAT DID I DO!?"

Swiftly, Erza kicked his body and he unexpectedly flopped against a nearby tree. Blinking his way back into consciousness, his eyes completely widened as he saw the scarlet grim reaper in front of him.

"What is the meaning of your hooligan behavior Natsu? You're acting like a child and scaring people"

The small crowd busting along and around the scene quickly turned their heads back into whatever they were doing before once Natsu finally looked around. A familiar little boy tugged on his mother's dress and pointed right at them before she picked him up and ran off.

Erza waited for an explanation with her arms crossed over her body.

Then yet another curious thing happened.

After a moment of contemplation, he was reminded of what just transpired and Natsu's face became a solid pink. His mouth opened but all that came out were choked up sounds that meant nothing. He suddenly jumped in the air and exclaimed that he must go home before running to the building across, nearly being hit by vehicles, stands, and people alike.

Erza tilted her head at the sight.

"Natsu is exhibiting weird traits these days."