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“That job sure was something,” Natsu jutted his lower lip out.
“What was that?” Lucy asked, swinging the bag of money they received after the completion of their job.
Natsu pouted, patently dissatisfied they spent their day arranging through the haphazard of books in the library instead of doing something else. He crossed his hands behind his head and kicked a miniscule rock that was in the way.
“It was boring,” he specified.
“No, it wasn't.” Lucy huffed and nudged him on the rib. He dismissed it with a loud yawn. “Look, I will treat you to some food. How does that sound, Natsu?”
“Don’t wanna.” He deadpanned.
“After such an exhausting job?”
“It wasn't tiring,” he shrugged. “That's why I wanna go on another one.” He curled his hand into a fist, the sparkles of his flames casting a shadow over his countenance. He smiled, mischief dancing deep in his irises. “Whaddya think?”
"It’s already late in the afternoon, you know? Maybe tomorrow.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. "Then, can I ask for something else instead?" He added. Lucy chewed the interior of her cheeks, wondering what else he could've had in mind. Curious, she inclined her head to let him continue.
"Let’s go to my house."
“Stay at yours?” She stuttered.
Natsu blinked, raising his eyebrows as if she was being weird. “I mean yeah. We are together now, aren’t we?” He shrugged and grabbed her free hand, his fingers easily lacing through her digits before he tugged her towards the small house that was a little further on the right. Lucy sucked in a breath, speechless, but did nothing, and let him guide her there. No wonder they had taken a different route than the one they initially took on their way out; this direction appeared to be a lot closer to where he lived.
“Hey Natsu,” she started, unable to disguise her amusement at the discovery.
“What?”
“Were you planning to ask for a while now?”
He jolted. Lucy’s smile grew when she saw the tip of his ears morph into a different shade. She had him.
“No, I wasn’t.” He tried.
“You were,” she laughed lightheartedly. “Admitting it won’t hurt you Natsu.”
“You don’t mind though, right?” He asked, letting her last comment slide. Amidst their amble down the street, Natsu gave her a fleeting glance before he resumed to look straight ahead at the road covered grass, and Lucy keeping her eyes trained on him the entire time, caught a small glimpse of his cheeks transforming into the same colour of his ears. Gulping, she shook her head and gripped his hand just as tightly. If they had ever wanted to hang out privately before, they normally did so in her apartment. The fact that he’d finally proposed a change of plan made her heart flip.
The walk didn’t last very long before the messy rooftop of his house came into view. Letting go of her hand, he kicked the main door open with his foot and skipped over the foyer to drop his hefty bag on the couch, stretching his arms with a prolonged sigh.
Her hands were crossed behind her back as she curiously looked inside, peering her neck to inspect the rooms' current state. Compared to the last time she had dropped him a visit, she was pleasantly surprised by how well kept it was.
"It’s neat," Lucy said after she'd finished looking around with a hum of approval, settling down on the hammock.
“Right?” He responded, perked up and overjoyed she took note of his efforts. “I took better care of everything after you helped me clean up last time.”
She hummed again, content and swigged her feet back and forth in leisure. “I know. It looks great.”
He crooked his head to the side. “Now what? What do you want us to do?”
Lucy sighed, looking out the window to observe the sun dip lower, the trees and the rooftops of the buildings kissed and showered by a beautiful shade of orange. “Maybe lay down? I am really tired after today.”
“Don’t ya wanna eat though? I was gonna cook you something.”
“Later, Natsu. Now c’mon. Let’s cuddle,” she whined and tugged his sleeve, pulling him towards the hammock. They hardly got time for themselves for the past few weeks and craved to be touched by him, but despite feeling that way, she knew it couldn’t be helped, especially when they went on so many jobs because of her rent.
Natsu didn't budge a step from the pull. He gawked at her, silent, and stared at her face carefully. The gears of his brain were clearly working at this point, because it appeared as though he wanted to say something. But whatever that was, it didn't come out as he chose to swallow it back down, indicated by the way his furrowed brows smoothed over. With a sigh, he complied and pressed a knee on the hammock, going up to lay down next to her. He hooked an arm around her waist, his hand firm around it as he pressed her body flush against his own. Lucy shivered a little at the gesture, feeling the heat freely ooze out of him in massive quantities.
“You sure you aren’t hungry?” He asked, and Lucy nodded her head against him, lazily throwing an arm across his chest to nuzzle closer. Pressing a cheek on the bare side of his torso, her lips just barely grazed his skin, but such an unexpected approach made him jump and Lucy stifled a laugh at his reaction.
“W—what?” Natsu stammered, taken aback.
“Nothing?” Lucy blinked, looking up at him from where she was. Her hand slipped through the vest he was wearing and rested the tip of her fingertips over his skin, playfully circulating around his chest and down his stomach. She definitely could feel him fidget under her touch, especially when her hand began to wonder around dangerous territories. She smiled knowingly, innocent, and tangled both of their legs together to receive more warmth — to get closer to him as much as she possibly could to cancel out the cold season.
But despite doing all of this for her satisfaction, she couldn’t help but also feel something of similarity from all the reactions he put on display for her to witness, to savour. His confusion and anticipation was something she had expected to see.
Natsu and Lucy hardly ever demonstrated their affection like this, always keeping prying hands to themselves other than give each other a hit-and-run peck that others missed. Natsu was slow, she knew that and it didn't bother her, but at times, she could get impatient. Especially when he never seemed to understand her advances. Like the time she teasingly caressed a hand down his forearm and he grinned in return, innocently wrapping his own arm around her and continued to discuss the kind of job they should go on with the team. Erza and Gray during such times couldn’t do much other than give her a small smile of support and encouragement.
So she gave him time and waited, which in the end proved to be rewarding. Until just recently, Natsu began to reciprocate the little things she used to do. But the change was so sudden she wondered if Gray or someone from the guild went ahead to tell him how dense he could be at times. Or maybe he realised it all by himself? Whether it was the former or the latter, in the end, none of it mattered.
She was happy.
When they would meet at the guild, he would rest his palm on the small of her back as he addressed her. It was a seldom occurrence, but she wholeheartedly welcomed it whenever he did it. Sometimes when he stayed over at her house for the night, he offered to help with the cooking, even though him being in the kitchen wasn’t much of a good idea to begin with. Despite the mess he only ever created in there, it was the thought that had counted, and Lucy’s heart bubbled up when she saw him standing behind the counter, nose scrunched up when the flour would get all over his face and clothes before his sneeze had her apartment shake to its core. She would shove him inside the bathroom thereafter, with a set of new clothes he'd left behind in her cupboard. The lingering stare he would give her before he looked away definitely didn't go undetected under her scrutinising gaze.
Natsu finally cleared his throat, pulling her away from her daze and very slowly, hesitantly had his fingers travel down and ghost past her collarbone before he cupped her cheeks in his hands and gently pecked her on the lips. It was so brief and so quick she questioned if he'd even kissed her or if it was a mere hallucination. But whether it was one or not, she wasn’t too happy about it.
“That was too fast.” Lucy groaned.
“Huh?” He raised his eyebrows, vexed. He squished her cheeks even more between his hands. “No, it wasn’t.” He said, laughter lingering ever so faintly in his vocals.
“Yes, it was.”
Natsu shook his head, standing his ground. “Was not.”
Lucy sighed and propped her hands on his chest before she elevated herself from where she was. “Didn’t last a second, Natsu.” Lucy continued with a small laugh and swung a leg — very carefully so the hammock wouldn't move too much — across his torso, straddling him with her thighs. “I really should hand you one of my novels.”
He huffed, stubborn. “Don’t want it. I am fine.”
“Consider it.”
Natsu pouted. “C’mon, let’s kiss.” He said, grabbing her shoulders to pull her down but she resisted, her fingers pressing down on the exposed part of his chest.
Lucy shook her head then, and cradled his face in her hands, her thumb gently caressing his cheeks in circles — so slowly, so gently, like he was everything to protect. She then lowered down, her breath fanning over him. Her brown eyes shifted from his shaking ones to his nose, his cheeks, and just about anywhere her eyes could land on that was him. She smiled, tender, before she pressed one soft kiss and teasingly pulled away. Just like he had done with her.
The interior of his home was sombre and dark, making it a little challenging for her to see much of anything. But even though it was like that, Lucy still managed to see his flushed face, his body firmly pressed against his bed as he was pinned underneath her weight. He was all red, starting from the tip of his ears all the way down to his cheeks. She wanted to laugh, amused by how much of a mess he was. He was so rouge and heated that she could almost visualise smoke streaming out of his ears. But she held it back, knowing damn well she didn’t look any better.
He frowned, his eyebrows coming together, and already knowing he was bound to complain about how short-lived the kiss was, she dived in again. She teasingly pressed her lips on the corner of his mouth before she moved to capture his lips, her fingers departing from his cheeks to wonder down the front and the back of his neck before she threaded them through his pink hair, softly gripping and pulling on them. A groan rattled through his throat and Lucy jolted, electricity circulating through her veins in that exact moment, feeling some sort of ecstasy — like she was suddenly on cloud nine. She never knew it was possible to feel this type of way by a mere sound. Yet, here she was, craving to hear more of it.
It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard Natsu do that before — she did. Plenty of times actually. But knowing she was the reason behind it now, and he was making such sounds for a completely different reason made her feel excited in a way.
She moved on to nibble on his earlobe and Natsu gaped, a moan ripping through his vocal cords before his hand was on the back of her head, connecting their lips together. He tilted his head so their mouths could fit better, their noses brushing and bumping before he tried to push in his tongue, driven to his limits, and Lucy let him in without much of a hesitation, wrapping her arms around him to deepen the kiss — their proximity almost at zero.
It was a little difficult to get the hang of it at first but they made it work eventually, like they always did, and were in sync soon enough. Natsu’s hands wrapped around both of her arms and he pushed her down before she was the one laying down on the hammock. He towered over her in the span of a second, both of his hands resting on either side of her on the bedding. Lucy pressed her lips together, her eyes freely darting on all his features. She was breathless — both because of the kiss and of the display that was right in front of her. She couldn’t get enough of it.
Natsu looked different — a complete and utter mess. But in a good way. His normally styled up hair was dishevelled, his bangs now resting across his forehead in a messy pile and his cheeks damp in sweat, flushed to the extreme. For a second, she didn’t know how to breathe anymore. He looked so beautiful. She could stare all day to drink in the sight.
Natsu softly cradled one side of her face in his hand, his touch kind. The warmth radiating from it was so welcoming that Lucy found herself leaning to it subconsciously, her heart frantically drumming inside the cage of her chest. The thought of having his hand touch her like she was the most precious thing — the same hand that was capable of so much destruction. The same hand he used to fight their enemies with so much determination, and the same hand he used to protect her and the guild made her chest shake beyond comprehension.
She was lucky he had chosen her to show this side of him.
Lucy sniffled when Natsu began to trail wet kisses down her neck and he froze, hands tensing around her shoulders. He stopped, repositioning himself where he once was and locked eyes with her, concerned. “What’s the matter, Lucy?” He asked, letting out puffs of air between his sentence.
She shook her head, wiping away the tear that had pooled in her tear duct. “Nothing.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Doesn’t look like nothing.”
“It’s just,” she paused, fighting to hold back the tears that formed anew. “I am just so glad we got to meet Natsu.”
“So that’s what this was all about?” He whispered, releasing a breath of relief. He dropped on the hammock beside her, the fall causing it to leisurely move left and right and wrapped his arms around her waist, snuggling to her as much as he could.
Lucy laughed and looked at his lips as it graced a half smile, his face resting on her shoulder.
“You’re awfully touchy today, Natsu.”
“Guess I am.” He muttered, his grip tightening all the more around her in a protective way. Lucy blinked, her stomach flipping as it overcrowded with butterflies.
“You know,” he continued, breath hot against her skin. “I am glad we met too.” He said, moving again to rest his chin atop her blonde hair.
She smiled, wrapping one hand around his bigger one. She couldn’t have been happier.