Rated M
M is for MATURE, people.
If I can pretend to be, then you can too!
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING! *sob* However sometimes I wonder if Mashima-sama used to follow me and my friends around to help him dream up a few of his characters!
At least let a girl dream!
Eight comments after only one chapter! Wooow guys, you're awesome. :D
I lick your faces cuz I want to and I'm super good and catching you when you least expect it!
*lick lick lick!*
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No Party like a Mad Party
Lucy was becoming more and more convinced that this was indeed a kidnapping the longer this crazy man pulled her along. The path she'd been so careful to follow was now but a memory and she was once again completely lost.
And what did she have to show for it? A deranged man that gained speed with every cackle. Her protests for him to unhand her had fallen on deaf ears.
There comes a time when every good kidnapping must come to an end however, and once Lucy was too exhausted to take even one more step she tumbled to the ground, wheezing for air. The only good thing that came from her lack of ability to continue standing was that the scoundrel had finally released his hold.
In the blonde's effort to catch her breath, she did not take the time to notice that the two of them now stood in a large area with rising and sloping hills covered in lush green grass as far as the eye could see. Neither did the girl watch the pink haired man keep walking until he was at the very peek of the hill she now rested on to take a look farther out. No, Lucy was busying herself drinking in the sweet air her lungs craved and staring at her lap while clutching her sides.
Once she was able to breath slightly more comfortably, her eyes glanced up with alarm at the setting sun. She'd been in this place all day? Surely not. Her father was going to be furious with her! Deciding it best that she sneak away from the mad man and try to get home as the best option, she stamped down her curiosity to wait to see what the hatted man did next. Lucy stifled a groan as tired legs tried to lift herself up to make her way in the opposite direction as him.
Until her turned head and slightly raised torso met with her nose bumping into her obtrusive kidnapper's. Honestly! What sort of person comes back down a hill just to lord over a lady by bending over so that their faces touch the moment said lady moves? Her eyes widened under the golden gaze of this madman. All of her vision was consumed by him and she was suddenly filled with embarrassment. Lucy had never, ever been so close to a man before, and this man was looking into her eyes as though he could see right through them as he personally explored every subconscious thought she didn't know she had swimming around up there.
Lucy sat, frozen to her spot as his eyes changed their shape ever so slightly as he spoke. Pleasantly warm breath danced across her face and quickened the weary pace of her blood. "What is the difference between Tweedle Dee's birthday, and Tweedle Dum's?"
She was quickly loosing the ability to breath again, for breathing in this man's scent had to be sinful, "Wha, what?"
Then the man with the mesmerizing golden gaze lowered to his knees, hovering over her curled legs while he placed strong, warm hands on her shoulders. All the while never breaking the penetrating eye lock he held her captive in, "Hmm. How did the butterfly change into a dragon?"
Lucy's mouth hung slack in an attempt to answer his strange questions, but without an answer to give, she ended just holding her mouth agape for no reason.
"Hmm. Exactly what kinda treasure did I snatch up in my escape from the red queen's wrath, I wonder?"
As his body stayed perfectly still, the man brought one hand from her shoulder to cup her chin with his thumb stroking the skin just under her lips. The heat she grew on her cheeks from his gesture only served to encourage him as he leaned closer and took a deep inhalation of her scent, finally closing his eyes. "It's almost like I've known this smell my entire life."
If a sound escaped the blonde's mouth, it was utterly indiscernible. It felt as though the heat emanating from this man with the smoldering eyes was melting every shred of logic she had.
...That is, until he pressed his open mouth against hers.
As she felt a searing hot tongue drag across hers in a rather intriguing and exploratory manner, all of Lucy's training in etiquette and proper decorum came rushing back to her—despite the small voice (extremely small, and currently being smashed into oblivion) begging to let it be. The girl pulled away and found the strength within to high kick the creep away from her. Now back on her bone-weary feet, Lucy struggled to hush the sudden and unwelcome feelings stirring inside her, such thoughts are not to be imagined by a lady. "How dare you! First you steal me from my path and then you do something so... so..." Words escaped her.
The man's hat flew from his head as he fell to the ground, many paces from her. The girl packed a wallop! As he sat up and rubbed his head with a wince, Lucy raised a curious brow at the pink spikes that his hat had hid. His hair was quite a breath of fresh air compared to the boys of her world who always insisted on primping and preening even more than the women. He looked back to her with one eye still closed in his wince as another broad grin grew, "There's a chance you might fit in pretty well around here, miss."
Lucy scoffed, her heart was beating so fast that it might snap any moment and that was all he had to say? "Fit in? I don't want to fit in! I want to go home!"
The man's grin simmered down to a handsome smile as he leapt back to his feet. "Home! Yea! That's a great idea! After all, I do still need that plus one!" As he took a step closer, Lucy was quick to take a step back. The madman laughed at her skittishness and swept an arm to the ground, reclaiming his hat. After a meticulous examination of the hat's well-being, he set it back onto his head and did what he should have done when meeting a lady for the first time.
After straightening the peculiar black... not/suit that only had a single sleeve, he used one smooth motion to take the hat back off his head, circling his arm to rest on his chest as he bowed while his other hand stayed behind his back. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Natsu Dragneel, also known as the Mad Hatter." His eyes lifted up to look into hers again, and Lucy took an involuntary step back. He tilted his head at her retreat and said, "I think apologies are in order."
Oh! Lucy thought to herself with a brow twitching, maybe he does know at least something of being a gentleman... "...Yes well, don't do anything like that again. I am a lady, not some strumpet."
This Natsu character raised a brow of his own as he stood back up to his full height. "Wait, you think I... no, no. I'm waitin' for you to apologize. No lady should smell as good as you do. Leads upstanding gentlemen like myself to do things they oughta not do."
"Uh... excuse me?" If she could just find one sensible person to help her get out of this insane place, then, somehow, everything would be alright.
"Hmm." The Mad Hatter frowned, "I suppose that'll do for now." Then with a dashing and confident smile, he suddenly held his index finger up into the air dramatically, "but I cannot promise it won't happen again!"
Lucy sighed and spoke to herself in a whine, "I knew I shouldn't have shirked Father's advice about carrying the pepper spray."
"Pepper?" The man grinned, "oh there's lots of pepper where we're going. Maybe that'll help with that delightful stink you're flaunting." Before she knew it, Natsu was right next to her, offering his arm to her just as a gentleman would. "Mustn't keep our guests waiting."
The spirit summoner narrowed her eyes at the man pretending to be a gentleman. He'd already shown his true colors as a deviant—with a surprisingly pleasant taste of his own.
Nope. Not thinking about that, cut it out!
She was about to blow him off with the classic, 'take a hike,' but something on his hat caught her eye. In her surprise, she gasped as she identified the half obscured card tucked into the strap that was wrapped about his hat. It had the picture of the very blue cat she'd followed down here! "Wait just a second! That's—"
"No time to wait, my succulent plus one!" The Mad Hatter quickly placed her hand on his arm for her and continued their walk, uphill then down hill.
"Hey! But the blue cat on your hat, it's—"
"Shhh!" Natsu pulled her down as he squatted at the foot of the next hill and waited as if they hid behind something that was not there.
Lucy frowned at the odd person who had them low in the grass of an open valley. "Just what do you think you're—"
As she pulled away, his warm hand came to rest on hers again, urging her to stay put. The black pupils of his eyes were small as he stared out into the valley, "Just watch."
Lucy's eyes were tugged back down to his hand resting over hers. It was big enough to engulf all of her fingers and rob her of breath again. What was it about this man? He was clearly insane and she should not be anywhere near him.
So why aren't I running away? Is it really because he saved me from who ever was yelling in the garden? No... no, he'd kidnapped me! Well... maybe.
Besides. What else did she have to do now that she'd once again lost her path? At least this Natsu Dragneel had proof of the cat's existence, and to her knowledge, that cat was the only creature that could go between this insanity and the real world. They must be terribly worried about her by now.
It wasn't the setting sun retreating under the horizon that brought her out of her own thoughts, nor was it the madman contently holding her hand in place on the arm that clearly had impressive muscles hidden beneath. It was the trees that suddenly manifested right before her eyes in the middle of the valley. Such beautiful willows with red leaves and white blossoms drooping so low that they curtained around their pale brown trunks. Each petite blossom had a tiny glow right in the middle that created an impressive ambient light. A rather romantic atmosphere, actually, here where she knelt down with a curtain trapping her in with a man that smelled of a rustic campfire boiling tea.
Lucy blushed anew at such an intimate setting, but Natsu simply patted her hand and raised to his feet. After he stretched happily, he glanced back down curiously at the girl still in the grass, looking back up at him. As if by magic, a merry melody began to play as he smiled at her, offering his hand again. "Come on."
Nothing could describe the way her adventurous side was overcoming her logic. Lucy was charmed by the way such a majestic setting had replaced the entire valley, and this man who had the audacity to kiss her the moment they'd met had known it would happen. She felt hell-bent on learning everything he knew, and took his hand with no more hesitation.
The man who called himself the Mad Hatter purred at the intrigue swimming in those lovely brown eyes and lifted her to her feet as politely as he could. Many times one of his partners in crime would remind him of his ungentlemanly behavior, but he'd never cared to follow the guidelines until now. He'd actually worried that he'd insulted her when she'd kicked him, and that was something he did not wish to do again.
With a dashing smile, he led her through the trees, parting many of the hanging branches for her until the two of them breached the willows and into a clearing where the music was coming from. To Lucy's surprise, there were no instruments. Only a long rectangular table with many mismatching chairs tucked under its pristine white table cloth. It had many brightly polished red dishes and tea cups littered on top of it, all jumbled in an unorganized fashion. Lucy muttered, "Oh my," when she noticed the only other person there—glaring at them with disapproval.
"You're late again, huh?" This man stood on the other side of the table, and appeared to have used up all of his humor long ago. His eyebrows were simply... not there, yet she could tell they would have been furrowed anyway as he glared at the smirking madman next to her, still holding her hand. Other than his hair (a long mane of spiky black that must have taken years of neglect to look so stiff), the man had no hair on his face whatsoever. Instead, he had three metal studs where each brow would be and two on both sides of the bridge of his nose. She'd never seen anything like it. There was even one on his chin! His facial hmm... piercings(?) were so uncanny, it took a moment before she realized that there were long brown ears sticking out of his hair—those were also lined with the metal studs. For someone wearing bunny ears... he certainly did not look friendly.
"Haha!" Barked the hatted man next to her, making her jump. "I don't see any guests here yet, so I think we might actually be early!"
The studded man's eyes then centered on her, causing Lucy to fidget, though it was awkward with the Mad Hatter still gripping one of her hands. In a low voice, the man muttered, "We huh? So you finally snagged a plus one, huh?"
"Heh," Natsu smirked again, pulling Lucy closer to the table. "She's no mouse, but she'll do. Where is she, anyway?"
The other man just stood there frowning with his arms folded, "You ain't gonna introduce me to your date, Salamander?"
Lucy raised a brow, Mouse? Salamander? ...Date?
"Oh yeah!" Natsu released her hand and beckoned to the barrel full of fun at the other side of the table, "This is Gajeel Redfox, the March Hare, and a proud member of the Mad Tea Party. Lumpy, this is..." His charming smile faded to a neutral line as he began to move his hands to motion to her. "Hmm... what's your name again?"
A sweatdrop fell on Lucy's brow, "You never asked." Sure, you went and kissed me already, but you NEVER asked my name...
"Geez, Hatter, you really are hopeless. You actually bring someone and you don't even know who she is? Does she even drink tea?" Then it looked as though something else occurred to him and he barked, "Didja even finish the job?!"
Natsu turned back at him and scoffed his offense, "Of course I did! Those roses are whiter than the white queen's dress!"
Lucy blinked, This guy painted those roses white? Why on EARTH would he do that?
"They better be, I ain't lyin about it jest cuz you slacked off. Now, about this girl?"
Natsu narrowed his eyes at the bunny-man and Lucy yelped as he suddenly scooped her up into his arms, bridal style. He glared at his companion, holding her tightly in extremely warm arms as he said, "Don't you worry about her, she's mine. Go... play with your mouse!"
He then deposited her in a plushy chair sitting at the head of the table as Lucy called out at him, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Dragneel, but I am no one's!"
The Mad Hatter simply gave her another handsome smile and seated himself into the next chair sideways, kicking his sandal'ed feet onto the table (sending many red dishes jumping) as he leaned over with his head almost in her lap. His hat tumbled into her hand as his consuming gaze captured her again, "Finder's keepers, my dear, and this dragon does not give up treasure."
Lucy almost trembled. Dragon? Treasure? That Wendy-bug called herself a dragon, and now this guy is too? I really, really need to get home...
"Geheh!" The March Hare bellowed, "So the Mad Hatter has finally found something just for him. Well it's about damn time."
Lucy frowned and pushed Natsu away fiercely, "I am not a thing, Sir Redfox! I am Lucy Heartfillia, Spirit Summoner and the only heir to the Heartfillia family."
One of the brown ears on Gajeel drooped as he frowned, "Heartfillia? Yo Salamander, didja go and bring a spy to our party?"
Natsu frowned, righting himself in his chair as he studied Lucy. He had found her in the red queen's rose garden... Then as if his eyesight were poor, he stood and leaned over the table right into her face—much like he had right before he kissed her.
After what seemed like an eternity for the blonde (slowly reaching for a fork), the Mad Hatter shook his head and leaned back into his chair again and leisurely reached for a pitcher of tea. "Nah, she doesn't smell like a red, so she ain't on their side. She's just Juicy. We'll forget that Heartfillia stuff."
Lucy frowned, "Lucy."
"Aye," Natsu smiled at her while reaching for a capped sugar bowl, "Juicy." He looked down to begin spooning sugar into his cup, but stopped after removing its lid. "Hmm, Ironeyes? Didja loose the Dormouse again?"
"Huh? What? Nah. She's just... out for a walk."
The Mad Hatter leveled his gaze on him while Lucy examined his hat up close. He hadn't asked for it back, so she was taking the opportunity to note the fine craftsmanship it was made from. Yet... he was using it as a pin cushion? Yipes! Those pins are sharp!
Natsu used his thumb and index finger to reach into the sugar bowl and pulled out a tiny blue and orange mouse from it. Lucy noticed and shrank back from it, deciding it might be best to not eat or drink anything here if they were so lax on their cleanliness to allow rodents in their containers.
The mouse was snoring contently, even with Natsu holding it by its tail, and Gajeel quickly ran over, cupping his hands together under it. When the hatless hatter dropped it into the March Hare's hands, the mouse squeaked and yawned, opening its large brown eyes. "What's goin on you guys? Has the party started yet?"
Natsu simply returned to putting a few spoonfuls of sugar into his tea as Gajeel smirked back to the tiny thing, "Mad Hatter finally brought someone with him."
Another squeak was heard from inside his large hands. "Really! Oh man! Are you serious!" The mouse about the size of Gajeel's thumb crawled out of his hands and scampered across the table and right onto the plate in front of Lucy and stood on its hindquarters, staring at her. "Wow."
A panicked grimace held Lucy completely still. There was a MOUSE on her plate! A dirty, disease-ridden rodent that had been NAPPING in the sugar bowl... and it talked!
Things around here would always go from odd to even more odd, so she really shouldn't have been as surprised as she was when the mouse suddenly grew to the size and shape of a human girl sitting cross-legged on the table in front of her. The only evidence of her previous mousy exterior were the two mouse ears crowning her blue haired head, one blue lined in orange, one orange lined with blue. She leaned forward and stared her brown eyes right into Lucy's with a bright smile. "She sure is pretty!"
Both the Mad Hatter and March Hare jumped at how close the girls were. Natsu used the excuse of retrieving his hat to get between them and Gajeel scooped up the blunette, quickly offering her some cheese if she'd come sit with him. All the while Lucy sat there, bewildered as to what had just happened. Natsu stared after Gajeel carrying the blunette back to the other side of the table with a possessive twitch to his brow for a moment before turning back to the blonde he'd captured. He smiled down to her and decided a gentleman should offer the lady a drink. "So..." he sat his hat back upon pink spikes and motioned to the table. "What would you like to drink?"
Gajeel had just sat the not/mouse down into a chair when she squealed happily, "Aye! We've got everything!" Despite her now human form, she climbed back onto the table on all fours and crawled back across the table to sit in front of Lucy much to Gajeel grunt, who was now face planting himself on the table where he'd just seated himself.
Lucy noticed the mouse girl still had a tail waving behind her, displaying her excitement as she ticked off her fingers joyfully. "We have long island, Ugandan ginger, voodoo, hot toddy, gin goblin, Darjeeling... we can make anything!" Again, the dishes jumped as the slim girl leaned forward to bang her elbows on the table and leaned her head into her hands. "Pick your poison!"
Lucy was stuck staring at the over-sized rat tail swishing two and fro, so Natsu answered her with a wink, "Levy, just make her something sweet and fruity. She'll love it."
"Okay!" The girl squealed happily as she rolled off the table, swinging her legs into the air only to catch herself before she fell to the ground. Lucy noticed that the March Hare over on the other side of the table must have gotten quite the eye full from his expression as the girl the Mad Hatter had called Levy hummed to herself as she poured many different liquids into a large goblet. "Oh! Cheesecake!" the blunette turned to Gajeel with stars for eyes, "she needs cheesecake! Gaajie do we have any cheesecake?"
"Uh..." replied the bunny-man.
Lucy's attention was brought back to Natsu as he snickered. "That there is Levy McGarden, our Dormouse. Every proper tea party has one, but ours uses up so much energy that she sleeps most of the time."
"Sure..." Lucy agreed, turning back to watch the blunette dance, hop, and eventually crawl back onto the table in her search for cheesecake.
Just as Natsu sat back down at the table's corner next to her, kicking his feet up again, a familiar voice was heard chuckling near the table's middle.
Gajeel groaned as Natsu gagged on his tea as once again Lucy noticed the crescent smile of the Cheshire Cat as she manifested herself primly sitting in a chair. None of the chairs matched, but as the lovely brunette appeared with her pink and purple tail curling around it, Lucy noticed that the Mad Hatter had given her the only chair that looked supremely comfortable. She suddenly felt awkward sitting there, with two exotic beauties having far less comfortable chairs. Hell, one of them wasn't even claiming a seat, she was crawling about the table as if she were still the size of a mouse!
"Geez, calm down, Levy," the Cana cat said with a hint of agitation while sipping on a cup of tea that floated to her hand. One of her furry pink and purple ears twitched as a jaw dropping, stunningly decorated cheesecake appeared into her other, waiting hand.
With a smile and a hearty squeak of happiness, the Dormouse scampered back to the middle of the rectangular table, happily plopping her entire face into the once beautiful cake. Natsu began a hounding laugh as Gajeel frowned. "Oh man!" Levy cooed between chewing, "this is soooooo good!"
Cana allowed the cheese loving mouse woman to carry away the cake before she smirked at the others sitting at the table. "This is why I came carrying a spare." Another twitch of an ear brought the cake's double to her empty hand and she floated it to the table with nothing but a motion of her hand. Lucy stared incredulously at the Cheshire Cat's reckless use of power. She reached over to Natsu's sleeve and tugged it, calling his attention and abruptly halting his laughing fit—kind of.
He leaned back, still snickering at the not/mouse now crouched over the cake on the floor, shoveling it in. "He, he, he! Lookit her! She goes nuts over cheese, ain't that the funniest thing? How does she stay so thin?"
Lucy deadpanned and Natsu suddenly looked to her and jumped to his feet, misreading her expression and again shooting for the over dramatic, raising his arm and rolling his R. "Dormouse! Where is the Juicy's drink?"
"It's just... Lucy." The blonde sighed.
Levy's head popped up with a mask of icing. She blinked once, twice, then jumped to her feet. "Tea! Yes! Tea!" As she sprinted around Gajeel, he held up a handkerchief with a bored expression and Levy snatched it up smoothly and wiped her face as naturally as another might complete a well rehearsed dance. Lucy watched the not/mouse complete her drink and deliver it to her with a smile. "Here ya go, Juju!" She leaned against the table, waiting for her to try it expectantly with a swishing tail.
"It's... Lucy," she murmured, trying not to frown while staring at the contents of the cup placed in front of her, made by a mouse. How had it come to this again? The Wendy-bug had been trying to get her to drink and eat too. ...But this time she really was thirsty! If you'd gotten pulled here, there, everywhere, then perhaps you'd be ready to drink from a stranger's hand too. Besides. This little sprite of a mouse girl looked far more sane than this Mad Hatter, and significantly less angry than that March Hare.
The Cheshire Cat watched the human girl take a cautious sip, then a deeper one before she flashed her patented catlike smile at her. "Ahh, so it is the Mad Hatter who found the human girl this time, hmm?"
All eyes turned to the cat lady and Gajeel was the one to say, "Human girl?" He turned back to Natsu with a frown, "Salamander, did you know that was a human?"
Natsu smirked, "The proper context would be IS, not WAS, and I definitely and certainly knew without a shadow of a doubt that this scrumptious lady was not of this world."
"Oooooh!" Levy piped up, leaning even closer to the girl just noticing her cup was empty. That drink had been divine! As soon as she lowered the cup, the Levy girl was in her face again, "are all human girls as pretty as you?"
Gajeel groaned and stomped back around the table to again snatch the blunette off the table with a squeak. He then walked her back to the seat he'd originally tried placing her in and reminded her that the Juicy was Salamander's plus one, thus: not hers.
Cana smiled at the two of them before turning back to Lucy. "Don't blame the Dormouse, little human girl. Those of us here cannot help but be drawn to a dreamer." The way she leaned back in her chair reminded Lucy of how a cat seemed boneless at times as the cat smiled happily. "Ahh good, the guests have arrived."
Gajeel and Levy suddenly shushed as something entirely too eerie happened next. Lucy was beginning to wonder exactly what was in that tea when her head began swimming, partially convincing her that what she saw was nothing but a hallucination. As the music grew louder, gray silhouettes began to appear in all of the empty chairs—right before her eyes. But these did not solidify like the Cheshire Cat had. No, these newcomers stayed translucent and insubstantial. Cana smiled at the human girl's surprise as the Dormouse began making drinks and cutting cake for everyone. Lucy just stayed in her seat, drinking her tea... desiring to wake up now.
The music was merry, and a low drawl of voices could be heard though none of the silhouettes looked to be speaking. The Mad Hatter even laughed at something Lucy supposed could have been a joke. Just as the delicious looking piece of cheesecake finally won over her wariness, Natsu raised from his feet and called out, "Change... places!"
The music picked back up to lively and before Lucy knew it, Natsu pulled her from her seat. Her fork with a neatly cut piece of cake clattered back to the plate as he turned them both about and danced them around the table. Was she in the arms of a madman? A salamander? Or a dragon? He'd been called all three. His hands felt as though they radiated heat as he held one of hers while the other rested at her back.
The dance was surreal. Lucy couldn't help but imagine herself in the clutches of a dastardly fire dragon as his eyes burned holes through her soul. She could hear laughter all around her as he spun and dipped her, not once letting her fall. She found herself laughing along with the other voices as such merriment continued and her happiness was the Mad Hatter's delight. Lucy noticed that even the grumpy March Hare enjoyed the dance he shared with the Dormouse as the Cheshire Cat indulged in more drink; all the while spinning and ducking around the mysterious silhouettes that must be the source of the indiscernible voices all about them. When the music ended, All persons found a seat, and Natsu deposited Lucy in the seat Levy had been sat in before.
Once everyone was seated, the Mad Hatter raised back up with a glass held high. "To new friends!"
Amid a chorus of "Ayes," Natsu turned to Lucy, who sat up straighter under his gaze and lifted a glass. Hadn't they been tea cups a moment ago? She awkwardly clinked glasses with him and he smiled and they both drank deep.
"Haha!" Called out a rosy cheeked Cheshire Cat, "as always, a marvelous party." She stood, already completely covered in her stripes and slung a thermos over her arm. "Dormouse, thanks for the carry-out."
A large yawn came from the Levy mouse, "Yea, yea. Nighty night, Cana."
Wait, Lucy thought to herself. The party is already over? I'd thought it'd just begun!
The striped woman smiled to the girl laying her head on the table with a hand on her hip. "The Nobodies and I will be getting out of your hair now." As she began to vanish, her white smile fell onto the blonde watching her, "oh yea... and try not to make anymore dragons cry."
All the eerie silhouettes vanished right along with the Cheshire Cat as two pairs of eyes fell on Lucy's. She glanced between Natsu and Gajeel, completely befuddled. "What? No, no... I didn't!"
Gajeel frowned, "Just like a red, makin' people cry."
Even the Mad Hatter gave her a flat look, "So mean, making the kid cry."
"What!" Lucy was beginning to grow nervous, while Levy made adorable little snores. "I, I, didn't!"
"Gehe," Gajeel grew a smirk. "You sure Cana didn't mean you, Salamander? I bet she could make you cry pretty easy."
"Oh! Look at the time!" Natsu smirked from where he sat, reclined next to the blonde. From his pocket he pulled a broken pocket watch. "Long day tomorrow, yes, March Hare?"
"Aye." He suddenly pulled a huge book from one of the branches (had that thing been up there the whole time?) and slammed it onto the table now covered in its original red tea set. Where had the glasses gone? Honestly! She'd been holding one of them for crying out loud! He opened the massive book somewhere in the middle and flipped through to a particular page. "We gotta get to the whites to collect payment, then we gots a meeting with the reds. Those guys must have another job for us."
Natsu snickered, "Hehe! I hope their garden is still white! Gotta say that may just be my best work!"
Lucy still couldn't fathom why he would have painted all those things white. Exactly how long had that taken him?
"Sure, Salamander. Like the red queen is just gonna let that sit overnight. You better hope she don't come collecting your head."
Natsu waved it off, "Let her try. Who's she gonna use to get'em back if she shaves off my head? You worry too much." He then turned to look to his date with a twinkle in his eye. "You'll stay with us of course. Don't wantcha getting mixed up with either of those groups. Now," His smile almost looked... hungry, and it made Lucy wish for her pepper spray all over again. "Where should we sleep?"
Her eyes widened, "Sleep? No, no, Master Dragneel... I must get home! I—"
Suddenly the blunette's head popped back up, "Sleep?! I love sleep!" Levy scurried back onto the table, narrowly dodging the March Hare who was reaching for her and dived onto Lucy, toppling the chair over.
"Ack!" Lucy squawked.
Both the March Hare and Mad Hatter came up to the scene with sweatdrops, for the Dormouse was smiling with closed eyes with arms wrapped tightly around Lucy's waist. "You'll be my sleeping buddy tonight!"
"What!" Natsu steamed, "go find your own! That one's mine!"
Gajeel frowned, but placed a hand on the Mad Hatter's shoulder before he got too worked up. "Chill out man. You know how she gets."
Lucy blinked up at Natsu's face as it drooped to a faint pout. "...Fine. But I call dibs on her tomorrow."
"Wait, dibs?!" Lucy tried to interject.
"Geheh." Gajeel smirked down at Lucy. "Hope you're comfortable, human girl."
Even as the Levy mouse started back up with her petite snores, Lucy called out in alarm when the bunny man began to walk away. "You're just gonna leave me here!?"
Gajeel kept on without a word, but Natsu stayed, just... watching her.
Lucy grew more than annoyed after a moment of this, "Mr. Dragneel! Aren't you going to help me? I can't just... go to sleep! I've gotta find the blue cat so I can get home!"
The Mad Hatter walked around the sleeping mouse and sat himself next to Lucy's head, then with a content sigh, he laid down in the grass right next to her. Looking up into the night sky, unhindered by clouds, he spoke lowly. "Don't worry, Juicy, I am sure you'll return home before you grow too lost."
He almost sounds sad... how peculiar. Lucy shook her head, about to say something, but then he turned his head and said. "Time is too short for your kinda formalities. Call me Natsu."
Lucy blushed, this pink headed madman who had already kissed and danced with her... well, she supposed she should be able to at least call him by his name at this point. "Umm... very well... Natsu."
As she stared into his eyes, they began to feel heavy. Not for the first time, she wondered what had been in that tea as a yawn escaped her.
It wasn't long after that that the human girl fell asleep, leaving the Mad Hatter to his own thoughts. Dangerous, that. Natsu had so many random thoughts swimming about that it was hard to focus on just one. However, this time all of them seemed to be centered on the girl with the golden hair that smelled so familiar that he'd felt it might be necessary to brand her his. The Cheshire Cat had called her human, and that all here would be drawn to her... if that was the case... perhaps a branding would be in order.
No one was going to take this jewel that he'd discovered amongst the rose bushes.
I do believe this chapter sets the stage properly for the journey ahead, my lovelies.
Thank you all for joining me down this rabbit hole. It means so much to me to be gifted with such steadfast readers.
Seriphia
aka
Lick
*~.🌙.~*