Lucy POV
"Damn, Luce! This is amazing! And you just threw this together?" Natsu shoved another fork full of the spicy chicken casserole in his mouth and smiled. Personally, I gulped another glass of milk after taking another bite.
Regardless, I smiled back at him, "I did! I'm glad you like it!" He shoveled down some more of the chicken, cheese and spices as my phone rang. I picked it up and read the caller ID. "Levy-chan".
"Hey, Natsu, I'll be right back I gotta take this." He smiled and nodded, still shoving shovels of the casserole in his pie hole.
I walked off from the table and answered the phone, "Hello?"
A small voice answered me, "Hey, Lu-chan! It's Levy! So I was wondering, Lisanna wanted me to ask if you and Natsu wanted to come over to her place tonight. She's trying to put together this whole big party thing since her and Laxus are gone for a few nights for special doctor's appointment for the baby in another city!"
I let out a squeal, "Oh, I'd love to, Levy-chan! Who all is going?"
"Me, you, Gajeel, Natsu, Gray, Juvia and I think Wendy and Romeo... Maybe a few others but those are the only ones invited to spend the night."
The heat rushed into my face, "Spend... the night? In the same room? At the same time?"
"Yeah, it's kinda odd, isn't it? But I'm not about to turn down a party with everyone! It'll be fun, Lu-chan. Please?" Levy begged from the other end of the phone, causing me to laugh.
"Okay! Alright, I'll come, just let me finish my dinner and ask Natsu, okay?"
The girl squealed, "Okay! I'll tell Lisanna! Bye Lu-chan!"
The phone cut off before I could say goodbye so I just walked back into the kitchen. "So Levy just called and-"
"I'm in!" he interjected.
"How did you even-"
"Dragon senses!" he grinned his signature grin and I couldn't help but smile back.
Suddenly, he jumped up and ran over to the door, opened it and ran out screaming, "I'm gonna go back some clothes and whatever! I'll be back in just a sec!"
The door slammed behind him and I was suddenly left alone in my apartment. I smiled, thinking of the memories that we had just made and walked into my own bedroom to pack.
I pulled out a small pink duffle bag from under my bag, neatly folding some pajamas, socks, skirts and a shirt into the bag. I made my way to the bathroom, picking up my toothbrush and other toiletries and shoved them in a side compartment in the bag. Picking up the bag, I looked around my room, suddenly realizing what I had forgotten. I hooked my keys on my hip and gently lay my stuffed rabbit into the bag underneath all the clothing, blankets and pillows. I had loved this rabbit ever since mother have it to me as a child right before she passed on.
I shook my head, ridding myself of the memory. Throwing the bag on the couch, I sit down at the table and began eating once more, still chugging milk to level the spice out. How could Natsu eat stuff like this?
I quickly finished the meal, did the dishes and decided to text Natsu and find out where he was.
To: Natsu
Where are you?
From: Natsu
just finished packing omw over to your place now wanna meet me outside and walk together
To: Natsu
I'm not walking all the way to Lisanna's. That's like four miles!
From: Natsu
so?
I sighed and moaned in protest, but nonetheless I decided to meet him outside. My key turned in the key hole as I pushed it and locked the door to my apartment. Natsu was already standing outside, waiting for me, idiotic grin and all. "Luce! What took ya so long?" he asked, pushing a hand through his pink locks.
"It takes longer for girls to pack 'cause we need all sorts of crap. Pajamas, clothes, brushes, hair stuff, pads-"
He cut me off, "Yeah, yeah I get it. Let's just go." He turned and started to walk off, his cheeks flushing a light pink as he did so.
I grinned, knowing I could get him back for making me walk. "Natsu, does talking about menstruation make you nervous?"
"No! I just... No," he kept walking, scratching the back of his neck, "I just don't get it and it seems... Weird to me. Like... Yeah."
I stifled back laughter. He was so much more innocent than I would've thought. "Why is it weird? I mean it's not like once a month I start bleeding and-"
"Yeah that's great. Is Lisanna gonna have food?" he cut me off yet again and this time I couldn't hold back my laughter. I could see the bottoms of his ears were pink, almost red and there were several times he almost turned around, remembered his red face and kept walking.
I ran to catch up with him after a little while. I glanced up at his solemn face and spoke, "Natsu... You never answered my question. What were you trying to save yourself from?"
His breath hitched for a quick second, his eyes darted to the ground moving below us as we walked along the cobble sidewalk. The sun was just starting to set behind us, making him look like a dark shadow in the light of day.
"I guess I didn't did I? It's nothing really. Gildarts was pushing me more than usual..." his answer didn't satisfy my curiosity.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"You know what, Natsu. You can't stop talking to people. You'll explode one day."
Natsu POV
Oh, Lucy. If only you knew how I exploded. That's my whole problem. Exploding. That seems to be all I hear now. Stuff about how to control my dragon and my own anger.
I finally spoke, "It's not a huge deal, Luce. Not something you need to worry about. It's just my own problem. I got some... Issues I have to deal with now because of something stupid I did. I can't drag you into it. You would get hurt. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of my idiocy."
"Natsu, you know I don't care, right?" I looked down at her. She was staring straight at me with big brown eyes; her silky hair falling down to her chest and mid back was sparkling in the setting sun.
I sighed, "I know, Luce."
She looked back down, realizing the conversation wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't ready to tell her that the military had their sights on me. Not after she just got me back. It would crush her.
"I understand if you don't wanna tell me." Her soft voice broke me out of my trance. "I just want to help. It's been a long time since you smiled like how you smile now. Lisanna told me that you hadn't been happy in years..."
"Yeah... I guess so... But I've been getting better. Gildarts helped me a lot. Along with a few others. It's just been hard. Igneel was my father. My hero. Then he disappeared in the blink of an eye. Later found dead and putting me in a world of trouble he couldn't even comprehend. Then I made everything worse for all dragon slayers. There's more out there... Just waiting and hiding until the right moment to come out. I know some of them, but they haven't told many people ever since Faust came around. He's obsessed with the dragon slayers and their immense magical power. The power to defeat dragons. What could power like that do to an army or-" I had slipped up again. Releasing something vague but she could put two and two together with a snap of her fingers.
Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, realizing what I had just said. "Natsu, are you-"
"Hey we're here!" I yelled with enthusiasm, seeing Lisanna's house in the distance. I took off in a sprint towards the small house. Lucy stood stunned behind me but quickly recovered and yelled at me to slow down. We both reached the house and the door swung open to greet us.
Lisanna's young face met us, "Lucy! Natsu! I'm glad you guys could come!" She beamed at us and took our bags. "These will be upstairs in your- I mean our room!" Slipping down a hallway, she ducked into a room, I turned and found Levy, Gajeel, Gray, Juvia, Wendy, Romeo and of course her older brother, Elfman. So we were the last to arrive.
The white haired girl skipped back into the room and smiled, "Well, I've got snacks and games, so let's start with something small like... Karaoke!"
Gajeel jumped up, "Oh! I'll go first!"
I rolled my eyes. This is going to be a long night.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for 100 reads! I really appreciate it ^-^
*I don't own Fairy Tail, btw
~Melody Elaine