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“Luc–cyyy,” Natsu whined from the table, head nearly slamming into the wooden surface. “I don’t understand this game at all.”
“I’ve explained this like twenty times already,” she shook her head, completely exasperated. “What part do you not understand?”
“Uhh…” Natsu paused as he looked between pieces of paper, a drawn out map, and the dice in his hand. He motioned toward the whole thing, a thoughtless look on his face. “The whole thing.”
“The whole thi-” Lucy repeats, head falling into her hands as she mutters an insult under her breath, knowing full well that Natsu could hear her.
“Hey!” The fire dragon points, finger directed towards Lucy. “That was mean, Luce!”
“Don’t be mad at me!” Lucy bit back, her eyes rolling as she grabbed Natsu’s character sheet from his hand. “It’s not my fault your peanut brain is refusing to understand the game.” She points at the dragon-born character Natsu had created earlier, one with fiery red scales and curled horns. “Might I remind you that you’re the one who wanted to play.”
The huff that comes out of Natsu is uncharacteristic, reminiscent of a child being scolded. “Well, maybe I changed my mind...” he folds his arms as he leans back, head turned to the side. He stares at the rest of the team making their way over to the table where him and Lucy sit, similar papers in hand. He barely hides the groan. “Lucy, this is stupid!”
“Just because you’re having trouble doesn’t make it stupid.” Lucy scolds as she rolls her eyes. She stands up to reshuffle the table, making space for Gray, Erza, and Wendy. “Plus, you wanted team bonding outside of missions, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Before Natsu could reply, the rest of the group was sitting down, a loud conversation about critical hits, charisma, and tieflings only worsening Natsu’s mood.
“I regret my statement from before,” he grumbled to himself, resigning to his fate as the team's brute force character as Lucy reexplains the rules to the new, extremely excited, arrivals. “Stupid table game, who even wants to play this?”
~~
Day has turned to dusk, the guildhall still live and bustling, albeit for different reasons than normal. A crowd formed around Team Natsu as they sat excitedly at their table, hands pointing animatedly, voices loud and roaring, and splashing jugs of juice and liquor into the air as the onlookers cheered on the team.
Team Natsu had already laid blows to their final dungeon boss, their campaign coming to its end. All that was left were the last final blows, and everything rested on Natsu’s shoulders.
“So, you now face the damaged King of the Dragons, hurt thanks to the powerful attacks of Erza the Barbarian and Gray the Warlock.” Lucy paints the picture for the team in front of her and the audience, eliciting excited mewls. “Enemies littered every corner. The stench of death was strong in the air. Natsu, you have one buff still active from Wendy the Bard, how do you proceed?” Lucy sets the mood for the team in front of her, her voice low and ominous, her fingers wiggling in the air as she mimics the smoke.
“Imma rush in!” Natsu yells, hands slamming on the table. “That loser can’t take me!”
The whole table laughs at Natsu’s antics, knowing full well he’s been resurrected ten times already. “Okay, roll your dice for strength, you need at least a sixteen to land.” Lucy shakes her head, her smile soft as she watches Natsu’s excited expression.
Dice shake in Natsu’s hands, his eyes laser-focused on a spot on the table as he chants. “Twenty! Twenty! Twenty!”
With a clatter, the dice scatter across the table, one landing in front of Wendy, the other in front of Gray. It’s silent for a moment as the two peer at the objects, their faces unreadable.
Everything is silent, the entire guild holding their breath, awaiting the verdict of either a critical hit or a death blow.
Wendy and Gray look at one another, their eyes speaking a hidden language as they both hold a dice in the air.
“I got a twenty.” Wendy says, a triumphant smile on her face.
“Twenty for me, too.” Gray said, shaking his head with a slight smirk. “Flames-for-brains did it.”
Erza whistles from her spot beside Lucy, an oddly proud look on her face as they wait for Natsu’s move.
“A natural twenty,” Lucy speaks loudly, voice projecting over the cheers of the guild. “Your attack will not miss, what will you do?”
Natsu rubs his hands together, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he stares down at the ice replica of Acnologia that Gray had made, a sinister chuckle echoing in the space around him.
“I’m startin’ with a weapon attack and then I’m gonna use my breath attack for massive area damage–” Natsu mimicked the attack in real life, throwing a small puff ball of fire into the air. “-and since I put my skills into fighting–” Natsu grabs his dragonborn character, pointing to the weapon in its hand, “-I get an extra action, right Luce?” Lucy nods in agreement, amazed by how much he remembered. “So, now I’m gonna use another fire breath attack!”
Lucy starts tallying the attack hits, taking into account his level, the critical hits, character advantages, and so forth. She eyed over enemies attacked, fingers diligently scrawling on a piece of paper as numbers added up, all before finally turning back to the team.
“In an astounding move, fire burst through the room burning almost everything in sight. The echoes of perishing enemies screams through the chamber, the stench of burnt flesh and ashen bones coating the party.” Lucy moved pieces off the table as she spoke, leaving only Team Natsu and Acnologia left on the game board. “The King of Dragons stands in the center of the room, smoke finally perishing to show severe burns coating the dragon…” Lucy pauses for dramatic effect, biding her time until the audience turns anxious. “That is until Natsu the Dragonborn unleashes another fatal breath. A nasty flame devours the dragon, a mighty roar screeching through the atmosphere as the final roar destroys Acnologia, not even ashen remains coat the floor.”
A pounding, mindbreaking cheer rivets through the guild as Natsu’s character defeats Acnologia. The roar of the crowd, stomping feet, loud claps, and vocal cheers vibrate through Lucy. Her smile was wide as she began her finishing paragraph, her mouth slightly agape as if to speak before pure heat smacked her right into her face. The figurines of ice that Gray made melted under Natsu’s excited rumble of fire as the actual dragonslayer let out his own flame.
In a matter of seconds, the entire campaign disappears; papers turn to ash, ice is disintegrated, and a very angry dungeon master stares at the nonchalant dragon who's too busy hollaring in excitement to notice her glare.
Everyone goes silent as the anger grows on Lucy’s face, all her hard work flushed down the drain by a ball of fire–she’d never let him live this down.
“Natsu-uu…” her tone was low, words teetering on the edge of insanity. Almost instantly everyone cleared the area, guild members suddenly feeling an impending doom. “Come with me.”
It wasn’t a question, no, rather it was a demand, one she knew the dragonslayer would follow. To which he did, with only apologies falling from his lips as he tried to grab Lucy’s attention. They walked for a few paces, making their way to the back of the guild which happened to be empty.
“Luce, I’m so sorry, I was just so exc–”
“Hush.” She presses her fingers to his lips, silencing the dragonslayer immediately. The darkness coating her face shifted, a sparkle of something twinkling behind her eyes. “I don’t want your apologies, Natsu.”
“What do you want, then?” He asked softly, one second away from apologizing again, but Lucy just shakes her head. At this, Natsu cocked his head in mild confusion, unsure of where this was going. He could see the anger rolling off Lucy, yet at the same time, there was joy sparkling under her hardened exterior. “Lucy?”
“What do I want?” Lucy repeated back, her index finger pressed into her chin as she feigned thought. “I want,” she grabs Natsu’s hands suddenly, fingers soft around his own calloused skin, “to tell you how proud I am.”
Natsu stands utterly shocked, this was not what he was expecting. “Wait-! So, you’re not mad?” He blinks at Lucy, expression confused.
“Mad? Maybe a little about the work disappearing.” Lucy mimicked the fireball obliterating the table, but her face was soft around the edges, no malice in sight. “But honestly, I was just happy to see you stick to it, Natsu.”
All worry wiped off Natsu’s face at those words, his shoulders relaxing as Lucy gleamed up at him. Her smile could shatter the skies Natsu figured, and even the monsters in the game couldn’t put a dent in her ethereal beauty.
“Good, you really had me goin’ there for a second, Luce.” Natsu laughed, slipping an arm around Lucy, tapping his hand against her upper arm. “I could’ve sworn I was gonna get Lucy-kicked into next week just now.”
Lucy laughed, softly at first before a sly smile encroached on her otherwise spotless face. “Oh, you still are.”
“Huh?” Natsu turned suddenly, eyebrows raised. He looked down at Lucy, the small and sweet blonde in his arms, and gulped. He’s so screwed. “Are you…being serious?”
The only response he got was a sickeningly sweet kiss on the side of his mouth–although no kiss from Lucy was actually sick–and a wicked wink.
“Yeah, but you won’t see it coming, Mr. Dragonborn.” Lucy suddenly pulled away from Natsu, a smirk on her lips as she sauntered off to Mira’s bar. She peered over her shoulder, blonde hair an angelic a stark difference to her previous words. “Better keep your eyes peeled for me, Natsu–don’t wanna be caught off guard.”
With that, Lucy was sitting herself up on a bar stool, indulging in a drink Mira pushed her way, while Natsu absolutely flabbergasted.
“She’s definitely gonna kill me one day…” Natsu smiled as he watched Lucy sip on some pink drink, his hand scratching the back of his head mindlessly. “And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”