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tokkias · 1 year

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right in front of you ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Lucy had been burned just one times too many. It seemed as though she was simply cursed to a romanceless life, but that was nothing her best friend and an evening spent on his couch couldn't fix. ao3

The front door to Lucy’s apartment shut with a loud slam, shaking the trinkets that sat on the shelf of the hallway, threatening to wobble off the edge as Lucy stomped into her home, rage fueling every step.

That’s it.

Lucy Heartfilia officially hated men.

Just when things had been going well for her, everything had to come crashing down, didn’t it?

She really thought she had found a nice guy who would have made the perfect boyfriend. He was polite and smart and charming, and everything Lucy could have wanted in a partner.

But as it turned out, he was also a massive pervert.

And he didn’t even have the decency to reveal this side of himself until the fourth date.

On every first date she had been on, Lucy made it clear what she was looking for—a long-term partner, a full commitment, and definitely no sex on the first date. It worked in weeding out every man who was just in it for a quick hook-up, but he had been so understanding of it that she really thought she had found the right person for her. That was until he spent their entire fourth date staring at the cleavage of their waitress.

Had he bored of her abstinence so soon?

Lucy left him no time for explanations before she made her exit, leaving him gaping in confusion in her wake.

Entering her bedroom, she kicked her heels off, not caring where they landed, before flopping back onto her bed. The last time she left this place, she hadn’t expected to return alone. She didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh, cry, or do both.

She’d spent a good two hours getting ready for a date that had barely lasted a quarter of that time. All that effort went to a stupid, nothing guy who clearly had no respect for her or any other woman, it seemed.

With a groan, Lucy rolled over to rummage through her bag and pull out her phone to break the bad news to the group chat. At the very least, maybe her miserable night could be salvaged by reading all the creative insults Cana would come up with for the pathetic excuse of a man she had wasted her time on.

As she opened her messages, Lucy noticed a new message from Natsu that had come through while she was on her date. Tapping on the notification, her phone brought up their last conversation.

Natsu 5:13pm did u want 2 come over for pizza tonight

Lucy 5:14pm Sorry, I have a date tonight. Maybe next week?

Natsu 6:46pm ok

Geez. Natsu was a slow texter, but a full hour and a half for a two-letter message was excessive.

In her residual anger from her date, Lucy almost wanted to berate him for his slow reply before she came back to her senses with a drawn-out sigh. It wasn’t his fault she was in a mood, and she couldn’t hold it against him when she wouldn’t have replied any faster anyway. Instead, she felt herself overcome with regret that she had chosen to pass up his offer to spend half an hour at a stuffy restaurant with a lame guy who clearly didn’t care about her feelings at all.

There was no use moping around all evening, wallowing in her misery by herself.

She’d much rather wallow in her misery with company.

Lucy 7:23pm Hey, is that offer still open?

Her eyes nervously watched the text bubble that popped up, indicating his imminent reply before it came across her screen in a single word.

Natsu 7:23pm yeah

It wasn’t like she had expected him to reject her. She could have probably shown up at his place unannounced with no issue, but the affirmation that he was still happy to have her around after she had blown him off was nice to have.

Lucy 7:24pm Okay, see you in 10?

She didn’t have to wait before Natsu sent her an acknowledging thumbs-up emoji, and soon after, Lucy was out the door, taking the familiar route to his place.

By the time she had arrived, the smoke alarm was already blaring out in his kitchen, and Lucy, fearing for his safety, didn’t bother with the formalities of knocking before she let herself in to assess the damage.

Hurrying into the kitchen, Lucy was met with Natsu frantically waving a tea towel by the smoke alarm while simultaneously trying to retrieve something out of the oven. In a bid to help him, Lucy grabbed the cloth from him to try and disarm the alarm, leaving his hands free to get his food from the oven.

It didn’t take long for the alarm to stop blaring out, much to the relief of Lucy and her ears, and she turned her attention to the kitchen counter where Natsu had placed their dinner—a very tasty-looking homemade pizza, still sizzling from the heat of the oven.

"Hey!" Natsu greeted casually, ignoring the rather absurd circumstances of their meeting.

"Hey," Lucy smiled.

His eyes flicked up and down, taking in her appearance as she stood before him.

She shrank slightly under his gaze, feeling herself a little insecure about what she had shown up wearing. She hadn’t bothered to change before she made her way here, leaving her in exactly what she had worn on her date, sans the bobby pins that had fallen out, leaving her hair cascading down her back in long, golden waves, and the heels, which she had swapped out for a much more comfortable pair of sandals. It was much too formal for pizza and movies with Natsu—a little uncomfortable even—but as he stared at her get-up, Lucy prepared to defend herself by arguing that she had spent too long making herself look pretty to waste it on a failed date.

"You look nice," he said.

Lucy stared at him, a little taken aback, prepared for his relentless teasing for looking so formal for a lazy night on the couch with him, only to be met with an uncharacteristic compliment instead.

"O-oh, thanks," she managed to get out, still staring at him like he had just grown a second head.

The room fell quiet around them, and while Natsu had occupied himself by searching for the pizza cutter in his mess of a kitchen, Lucy found herself awkwardly standing there as she tried to process his sudden tenderness.

"I thought you were ordering out," she commented, trying to pry her mind away from overthinking about his compliment by changing the conversation topic altogether.

"I thought I was too, but then you said no and left me with a free night to make my own," he replied, rummaging through a drawer before triumphantly pulling out the metal cutter.

"It looks really good," she said, watching as he sloppily cut the pizza into uneven slices, ruining what was otherwise a very picturesque meal.

The crust was thick and bubbly, with perfectly charred bits on the edge. It was unsurprisingly topped by what looked to be every meat Natsu had in the kitchen, on top of a layer of perfectly melted, gooey cheese. It looked and smelled absolutely delectable.

Natsu didn’t cook often, but he had a few recipes up his sleeve that he knew how to knock out of the park, with his only drawback being his consistent tendency to set off the smoke alarm.

Without giving her a reply, Natsu grinned and grabbed himself a slice, the molten cheese slipping off almost immediately, only for him to catch it in his hand, causing Lucy to flinch, knowing how hot it would be, but he didn’t react. He simply placed the blob of cheese and toppings back onto his slice before shoving almost the whole thing in his mouth at once.

"Verdict?" Lucy asked, curiously.

"Try it," he grinned, gesturing to the rest of the pizza.

"I’m not looking to get third-degree burns on the roof of my mouth," she replied. "Not all of us are heatproof."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged as he unceremoniously chucked the slices onto two plates. "Ya wanna lay on the couch, eat pizza, and watch action movies for the rest of the night?"

"Please."

Grabbing her plate, Lucy carefully made her way over to the couch in a stark contrast to Natsu, who had made a mad dash to it and leapt over the back of the couch, nearly letting a slice slide off of his plate in the process.

After choosing to take the safe route of walking around the couch, Lucy made herself comfortable on the spot right next to Natsu (partially to be close to him but partially to avoid sitting on the mysterious stain that had been on the thing since he and Gray had taken it from the side of the street).

"So did you finally realise that the dumb guy you’ve been seeing is a loser and bail on him to come hang out with me?" Natsu teased, poking her in the side as he stuffed another slice of pizza into his mouth.

"Yeah," she sighed as she leaned against him and picked the olives off of her still-too-hot pizza. "I just wish I had realised that before the date."

"Wait, you actually went on the date?" He asked, shifting slightly to get a better look at her; his expression one of genuine surprise.

"Did you really think I would just get ready and then stand him up?" She asked, brows raised in curiosity.

"Yeah, kinda," Natsu shrugged. "Thought maybe you’d finally figured out that guy was lame anyway."

"How would you know? You haven’t even met him."

"Don’t have to, ya got shitn taste in guys," he replied, the shit eating grin plastered on his face giving away the fact that he was just teasing.

"Yeah…"

His expression softened to one of concern at her meek reaction.

"That bad, huh?"

Lucy weakly nodded her head.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

"You gonna see him again?"

"I hope I don’t have to," Lucy admitted.

"Guess that means I get to do this again."

Before she had time to process what his intentions were, Natsu had pulled her into his lap, arms wrapped tightly around her waist as he blew a violent raspberry into her shoulder.

"Natsu!" Lucy laughed, using her free hand to try and push his head away from her while the other held a firm grasp on her plate. "You’re going to make me drop my plate!"

Despite her protests, Natsu didn’t stop until he was fully out of breath, pulling away to gasp for air before leaning in again.

"Don’t you dare!" She shouted, trying to wiggle out of his grasp before she fell victim to it once more, only to feel his chin rest gently on her shoulder.

She had missed this.

She leaned back on his chest and let him pick the olives off her plate and flick them into his mouth.

"I didn’t realise you liked olives on your pizza," she said, continuing to pick them off each of her slices.

"Don’t really, but I know you don’t like ‘em and I was mad at you when I made it," he admitted.

Any offense she may have taken at the comment was overridden by sheer curiosity. Natsu wore his emotions on his sleeve and was never one to hide when he was angry or upset, but in all the years they had known each other, never once had either of those emotions been directed towards her.

"Why were you mad at me?" She asked

"I guess I wasn’t really mad at you, I was probably just upset you didn’t wanna hang out with me."

On the scale of things he could have done while mad at her, she supposed something as petty as putting olives on his own pizza was probably the best thing he could have done.

"Sorry," he murmured. "It’s stupid."

"Guess I’ll repent by picking off all of these stupid olives," Lucy joked, trying to bring the mood back up after Natsu had become unexpectedly somber.

"Thanks for comin’ over," he said, gathering up her little pile of olives and tossing them over her shoulder and into his mouth.

"Thanks for still letting me come."

"You can come over any time," he affirmed. "Things are boring without you around anyway."

Lucy tilted her head back so the crown of her hair was resting against his chest to look up at him. Immediately she was met with his beaming smile, and any animosity he once held now fizzled away completely as he looked down on her, completely content with the outcome of the night.

"I’m lucky to have you," she smiled.

"Me too," he replied, foregoing the chance to tease her in favour of squeezing her closer.

If there was anyone that Lucy could rely on to make her feel better, it was Natsu. He always knew all the right ways to make her smile, stood with her in the good times and the bad, always wanted to be near her, just as much as she wanted to be near him.

Natsu loved to joke about how he was better company than all of the guys that Lucy had ever dated, but deep down, she knew he was right.

There really was no one else she would rather be with, now or ever.

Once her pizza was sufficiently olive-less, Lucy made herself comfortable in Natsu’s lap before digging into her meal. Just one bite in, and she was reminded of just how good Natsu could be in a kitchen when he set his mind to it—as to be expected by someone who loved to eat as much as he did.

"You’re a really good cook, Natsu," she complimented between mouthfuls of delicious, cheesy pizza.

"That’s what I keep tellin’ everyone, but all you guys wanna talk about is me settin’ off the fire alarm," he grumbled, eliciting a chortle from Lucy.

"Your future girlfriend is going to be a very lucky girl, with very damaged ear drums," she teased, poking him in the leg for emphasis.

"Girlfriend?" He repeated, the word sounding unfamiliar on his tongue, almost confused by the mere suggestion of it.

"Well yeah," Lucy murmured. "Is that… not something you want?"

"Don’t need one," he shrugged, earning him a curious look from Lucy, who clearly didn’t understand his response. "I’ve got you."

"W-what?" She sputtered, confused by his explanation.

"Why would I need a girlfriend when I’ve already found the person I wanna spend the rest of my life with?" He replied, his voice calm and nonchalant, as though they weren’t talking about anything out of the ordinary.

Lucy, on the other hand, was sure that he could hear her heart thrumming hard and fast in her chest.

"I’d make a better boyfriend than any of the dumb guys you pick anyway," Natsu added.

"I doubt you even know what a boyfriend is," Lucy accused, slightly offended by his jab at her but more bewildered by the situation that was unfolding.

"Yeah, I do," he retorted, sounding vaguely hurt at her insinuation. "They call ya pretty and take you on dumb dates, and take care of ya. I pretty much do all of that stuff for you anyway."

Lucy could feel all the heat rushing to her face in that moment, surely bright red all the way to the tips of her ears at his declaration.

He was right. Natsu had been more like a boyfriend to her than all of her past ones combined. What else could what they were doing right now be called other than a date? She was dressed up all cute just to cuddle on the couch with a home-made meal with the one person who had always been there for her. The one person who wanted nothing more than to make her happy every day for the rest of her life.

This whole time she’d been looking for the perfect boyfriend when it seemed that fate had already dropped it into her lap. Or perhaps more accurately, dropped her into his lap.

But the more she thought about it, the more she became confused about his intentions.

Was Natsu… asking her out?

He had never shown any interest in dating before, so why now? Why her?

"There’s more to being a boyfriend than just doing those things," Lucy murmured, trying to keep her sudden nerves out of her voice.

It was possible that he didn’t know what he was insinuating, that she was just misinterpreting the signs, and that he was just saying that he always wanted them to be together; it didn’t necessarily have to be romantic. Of course she had considered Natsu a potential romantic partner, but she had always stomped out those thoughts as quickly as they came. He’d never shown interest in her before, or at least she hadn’t thought he had, but it was simply best that she didn’t get her hopes up only for them to come crashing down on her.

"What? Like kissin’ and stuff? I can do that too."

For a moment there, Lucy was almost certain that her heart had skipped a beat. Natsu had just said that he would kiss her.

Natsu wasn’t stupid. He knew what a kiss meant, and Lucy knew that.

Based on the way he was looking at her, he didn’t mean an innocent kiss on the cheek either.

Lucy tried to avert her gaze, but she was entrapped under his.

She’d hardly ever seen him look this serious before.

There was no use in beating around the bush anymore. If Natsu wanted to be direct, fine, she could be direct.

Natsu, are you… asking me out?" She finally asked, not wanting to prolong the potential miscommunication between them.

"Yeah, guess I am," he replied plainly.

Natsu, her Natsu, the one who was reckless and brash and didn’t think before he spoke, who thought romance movies were gross, who had once made fun of Gray for calling Juvia "baby" for almost three hours straight, who had never once looked at a woman romantically in his entire life, that Natsu, was asking her out.

"I always thought dating was kinda lame, but I don’t mind doing all that mushy romantic stuff if it’s with you," he admitted, a soft flush having since made its way across his cheeks. "I wanna see you be happy knowin’ that I’m the one who made you smile like that."

Lucy knew she must have looked like an idiot staring at him the way she was, all wide eyed and mouth agape. Natsu always knew how to leave her speechless, but usually that was never for good reasons. Right now, she couldn’t muster the words because she was on the receiving end of her perfect, fairy tale romance confession from the last person she could have ever hoped or expected it from.

Her lack of response didn’t seem to bother him though; instead, he let the words flow straight from the heart.

"Seeing your smile makes me feel all weird inside… good weird, I think," he continued to explain. "The kinda weird that makes me wanna kiss you all over. I’ve never felt like that about anyone else, but I feel it about you."

She opened her mouth to reply, to tell him yes, he could kiss her all over; in fact, she wanted him to, but her brain just couldn’t seem to think of the words to say. In her fantasy love confession, she had been more eloquent about it, but every time she tried to speak, the words got stuck in her throat, so in a last-ditch effort to let him know how she felt, she grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his.

She kissed him like he was the last thing keeping her alive, fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer as their lips melded together like two puzzle pieces that were meant to fit together.

The moment of hesitation he had was quickly dashed at the taste of her lips. His hands moved to the small of her back while her own dragged across his scalp, turning him to little more than putty in her hands.

She had never been kissed like this. He kissed her with such fervour and desperation, like he had been waiting a thousand lifetimes just for the chance to feel her like this.

He kissed her like he loved her with every fibre of his being.

Because he did.

Lucy was nothing more than a fool for not noticing it earlier.

Maybe if she had, they could have been kissing like this the whole time.

When she finally pulled away, she moved her hands to rest around his neck before resting her forehead against his, their noses touching as their breaths grazed against each other’s lips.

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier, dummy?" She murmured.

"Why didn’t you kiss me like that earlier, weirdo?" He retorted.

Lucy breathed out a soft laugh at the use of his silly nickname right after they had just locked lips.

That was Natsu for you.

"I didn’t know that’s what you wanted," she replied softly.

"Are you blind?" He asked, gently coaxing her face away from his to get a better look at her. "Course I wanted you. Everyone knew that but you."

From this angle, she could get a better look at his face, boyishly handsome, just like always, looking at her with that bright smile and those dopey, lovestruck eyes, just like always.

She experimentally laced her fingers with his and found it was a perfect fit.

Everything, all of it, was pointing to the fact that he was made for her, always had, but she had always thought it too good to be true. There had to be some sort of catch to it, but there wasn’t.

She had been with him through the good and bad, seen him at his worst, and still loved him every step of the way. Natsu wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for her.

"I wanna be your boyfriend so I can take you out on all those dates you wanna go on and do all that romantic stuff you always talk about wanting to do," he told her, his hand having moved down to cup her cheek in a touch so soft she would have never thought it had come from Natsu if he wasn’t sitting right in front of her.

"That works out, because I want to be your girlfriend and do all that romantic stuff with you," she smiled, before adding, "like this."

She leaned back in again, gentler this time, as she took his lips in another kiss, which he happily reciprocated in a consummation of their relationship, and as she let herself get lost in the taste of him, Lucy couldn’t help but think that this was the best first date she’d ever had.

#nalu #fairy tail #fan fiction #fanfiction #mya writes things #like 10 hours between posting here and ao3 bc i was lazy last night sorry #thats why you should sub to me on ao3

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