#nalufluffweek2019

Word Count: 823

Rating: K

“You’re back early.”

Lucy flinched as she stood on the doorway to her living room. She wasn’t expecting any company. Though, she admitted to herself, she should know better by now.

“What have I told you about sneaking into my house!” She yelled, irritated.

“But we were bored.” Drawled the dragon slayer sitting cross-legged on her floor, a small pile of cards on his hands.

“And in our defense,” Chirped his blue companion, sitting across from Natsu while also holding a pile of cards. “You weren’t supposed to come back until muuuch later.”

The two intruders noticed how Lucy’s countenance changed from annoyed to somber at Happy’s statement.

“Did something happen, Luce?” Natsu could already feel his blood boiling. He had been skeptical about letting Lucy go on this date ever since she told him about it, but if that boy had dared to hurt her, he would pay.

“No.” The blonde sighed. “My date didn’t show up… I was stood up on Valentine’s Day, yay!” She let out a humorless chuckle, and Natsu and Happy shared a glance before looking back at her sympathetically. “It’s fine, really. I’ll get over it. Let’s just play.”

“Actually…” Happy hovered over his partners, fidgeting with his little paws. “I have a date with Carla.” The two humans looked up at him with a surprised expression. “Well, she doesn’t know it’s a date. But we are hanging out on Valentine’s Day! That counts as a date, right?”

“Sure, buddy.” Natsu chuckled.

“Will you be okay, Lushi?” Happy looked at Lucy worriedly, and she smiled appreciatively. The exceed could be really adorable when he wanted to.

“I’ll be fine. Go on your date! Have fun!” Happy smiled and flew out the window.

Natsu stared at Lucy. She was smiling but it didn’t reach her eyes. She wasn’t fine. That guy would pay for this. Who would stood Lucy up? She was amazing. Any guy would be lucky to spend their Valentine’s Day with her.

“Uh…” The celestial mage finally spoke up. Natsu had been staring intently at her for about fifteen seconds, and she would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a bit intimidated. “is everything okay?”

“No.” Answered Natsu, narrowing his eyes. “You are not okay and I don’t like that.” Lucy opened her mouth to say something but Natsu held up one finger. “You can’t fool me, Lucy. Let’s go.” He stood up, heading towards the door.

“W-where are we going?” Asked the blonde as she stood up too.

“On a date.” Natsu looked back, showing her his toothy grin.

Lucy felt her cheeks heat up. “Y-you don’t have to do this, Natsu. Really.”

“I want to. I’m not letting you spend Valentine’s Day, or any day, unhappy. Let’s go.”

***

“We are here. I know it’s not a fancy restaurant or anything like that, but it’s the first place I could think of.” Natsu scratched the back of his head, the darkness of the night hiding the dust of pink on his cheeks.

They had arrived to Natsu and Happy’s fishing spot. At first, Lucy was confused as to why they were heading to Natsu’s cottage. She was even more confused when they walked past said cottage. But now, she understood. It was always daylight whenever she came to this place, so she had never seen just how beautiful it was during the night.

The full moon and the stars reflected on the pond as the crickets provided the only sound around them. It was beautiful. Peaceful. It almost felt as if they were the only two people in the world.

“Natsu… It’s beautiful.”

“Happy and I came the other night to fish and I thought you would’ve liked to see it, but I always forget to tell you about it. You can really see the stars from here.”

“Yeah.” She whispered as she looked up at the sky in awe.

They sat in comfortable silence for a bit, Lucy looking at the sky and Natsu looking at her.

“That one is Virgo, right?” The dragon slayer pointed at the constellation.

Lucy looked at him, surprised that he knew that. She would constantly talk to him about constellations and the stars, but she never thought he actually listened.

“Yeah.” She smiled. “And that one next to it is Libra.” She pointed to the sky.

They continued talking and admiring the sky for hours, though for them it felt like mere minutes. They didn’t know when they had positioned themselves they way they had, but Lucy was resting her head on Natsu’s shoulder while he leaned comfortably on a tree trunk. His scarf laid on top of them to cover them— well, mostly Lucy, from the cold midnight breeze.

“I’m sorry your date night didn’t turn out how you wanted it to.” Muttered Natsu sleepily.

“No.” Lucy sighed as she closed her eyes, letting sleep finally take over. “This is even better.”

Word Count: 504

Rating: T

“Natsu, look out!” Yelled Lucy as the boar came running at him from the back. Luckily, he reacted right on time and slayed the enemy with his magic.

“Thanks, Luce. That was a close one.”

“Be careful next time, you’re gonna get us killed!”

“You know I would never let anything happen to you.” Natsu placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

“Yeah,” Lucy blushed. “I know.”

“Hey, lovebirds. Stop it with the lovey-dovey shit and help us out.” Yelled Gray from where he, Juvia, and Erza fought the boars, a few miles away from the couple.

“Shut up, ice prick! You’re just bitter.” The pink-haired boy snickered.

“Quit it you two! We’ve got a mission to complete.” Erza’s voice interrupted the yapping between the two men, who instantly quieted down and focused on the task at hand.

The team fought the boars until the path was clear for them to walk through. After a bit of walking, they got to the entrance of a big, dark castle. It was old, and looked like no one had come in in years.

“Well,” Natsu gulped. “We’re here.”

“It’s so much creepier in real life than on the post.” Natsu saw his girlfriend cringe.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Let’s just go in.”

Oh, but it was something. As soon as they entered, a group of dark-clothed people started attacking them, some with swords, some with magic. The group of young mages reacted fast, however, and were able to fight back.

The enemies were strong, though. And they were many. Natsu and Lucy fought together, combining their magics to make their attacks two times as powerful. While they were busy fighting, they didn’t notice one of the enemies coming to attack them from the back.

“Lucy, watch out!” Yelled Juvia, but this time it was too late.

As Lucy turned around to look for what she was being warned about, the girl in black clothing stabbed Lucy with a rapier through her gut. Lucy stumbled back with wide eyes, until everything became blurry as she fell to the ground.

“Lucy! No!” Natsu ran to her side, trying to figure out a way to help her, but it was too late. She was gone.

“I can’t believe I lost! Again!” Groaned Lucy as she threw the controller on the coffee table.

“Admit it, blondie, you suck.” She heard Gray snicker through the headset she had yet to take off.

“Oh, shut up Gray, I can beat you at poker and take all your money any time of the day.”

“That’s true.” The other friends agreed, chuckling, and Gray grumbled.

“I just need to practice a bit more. I will pass this level, you’ll see.”

“It’s okay, Luce.” Her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, murmuring into her ear. “Let’s just go play some other game.”

“What other game?” Juvia’s intrigued voice was heard through the headsets.

Word Count: 2,056

Rating: T (?)

Ninth period. The last one of the day, and the one Lucy hated the most. Well, hate is a strong word. However, it certainly wasn’t fun having to sit next to your year-long crush who didn’t even know about your existence.

It was her fault, really. If only she would’ve talked to him. It really wasn’t that hard. All she needed to do was turn her head to the right and introduce herself. Hi, I’m Lucy Heartfilia. Nice to meet you! And then they would talk and discover just how much they have in common, and they would fall in love and get married. See? Easy.

Except… he was the Natsu Dragneel. She could never go up to him and start a casual conversation! He was one of the cool kids. The type that everyone knew and everyone liked. The class clown. The jock. The hot guy. Everything Lucy was not.

Albeit she had a decent amount of friends, she was known as shy, and quiet. The type that people would go to for “help” on the test. The teacher’s pet. The bookworm. She didn’t believe someone as gregarious and confident as Natsu could ever be interested in someone as boring as her.

Which is why she was so shocked when she felt him put his hand on her shoulder to gain her attention.

“Hey.” He whispered. Lucy was speechless. She tried to play it cool, but was pretty sure she was failing. He had never talked to her in the entirety of the school year, unless they had to do a lab together. And even then, their conversations were short and strictly about the assignment. “Isn’t it stupid that we still have to do labs in the last week of school?”

Lucy chuckled nervously. “I guess.”

“My friend Gray told me they aren’t doing anything in Ms. Strauss’ class.” Gray Fullbuster. Natsu’s… best friend? Truthfully, Lucy wasn’t sure. They were always together but they always seemed to be yelling insults at each other. Juvia, one of her best friends, constantly tried, but failed, to flirt with him. Lucy admired her determination, and wished she had a bit of it herself. “But we had to be stuck with Mr. Dreyar” Natsu murmured. He and Mr. Dreyar were not the best of friends. Natsu was the class clown, always getting in trouble and never taking anything seriously. At least, those were Mr. Dreyar’s words, ones he repeated almost every day.

“Call it senioritis, but I don’t want to be here, and I have a way of getting us out of here. If you want to, of course.” He finished.

Lucy didn’t know how to respond. She was never one to cause problems. If anything, Mr. Dreyar always trusted her to solve the problems other students would cause. But, Natsu Dragneel wanted to skip class with her. When will an opportunity like this ever arise again?

“Ok.” She let out a shuddering breath. “What do you have in mind?”

He smirked mischievously. “Pass me that test tube.” He pointed to one of the test tubes standing on the test tube rack on her side of the desk.

“But that’s—”

“I know what it is. Just trust me, ‘kay?” And how could Lucy refuse when he looked at her with those dark green eyes and that cute little smirk? “Before I do the honors…” Natsu pinched Lucy’s nose to prepare her for what was to come, and Lucy hesitantly did the same to him, her cheeks painted with a dust of pink.

With his one available hand, he poured the contents of the test tube in the flask. It only took about two seconds before the chemical reacted with the substance already in the flask, instantly rising up and flooding the science classroom with an overwhelmingly bad odor.

Everyone started running out of the class, coughing and covering their noses with their lab coats, including Mr. Dreyar, who ran out of the class with his face cringed in disgust. The culprits weren’t far behind; Natsu grabbed Lucy’s hand and ran with her out of the classroom. Perhaps she was being delirious because of the smell, but she could swear she felt a spark the moment his hand came in contact with hers.

Everyone ran out to the end of the hallway, as far away from their classroom as possible, and once her adrenaline had died down, Lucy couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Natsu was startled by the sound, but soon after he accompanied her.

“That was the most exciting thing I think I’ve ever done… and all I did was hand you a test tube!”

“Really? You’re such a goody two shoes, I might need to corrupt you a little bit.” He winked teasingly, and Lucy felt her entire face heat up.

“You.” Their little bubble of joy was bursted by the growling of their teacher. “Natsu Dragneel. I can’t say I didn’t expect this from you, but Lucy?”

The aforementioned let her head fall forward in shame.

“Lucy didn’t have anything to do with this. I’m the one to blame.” Lucy looked up with wide eyes, taken aback by Natsu’s declaration. She would be lying if she said it didn’t make little butterflies flutter in her stomach.

“No. I helped him, Mr. Dreyar. I’m sorry.” Natsu opened his mouth, about to protest, but was interrupted by the blonde. “I’m ready to take responsibility for my actions.”

The young teacher looked at them sternly. “Very well. If both of you are so willing to take the blame, then I hope you won’t mind coming back after school to clean up the science lab.”

“But today is the wrestling team party. I can’t miss that! Can we just get detention tomorrow?” Whined Natsu.

“You should’ve thought of that before stinking up my working space. I’ll see you both at three.” With that, Mr. Dreyar headed downstairs, probably to discuss the matter at hand with the principal, who also happened to be his grandfather.

“I’m sorry, Lucy.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve never gotten detention before, I wonder what it’s like.” If she was being honest, the idea of spending the afternoon alone with Natsu didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

****

“Here are your utensils.” Mr. Dreyar put down two buckets full of water, and handed each of them a toothbrush.

“Toothbrushes? You expect us to clean all of this with toothbrushes!? Is that even legal?”

“And I better be able to see my reflection on the floor after you’re done. I’ll be in the class next door with Ms. Strauss if you need anything.”

“This is child abuse!” Yelled Natsu as the chemistry teacher headed out.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. If you want you can go and I’ll take care of this.” He turned to the blonde with an apologetic smile.

“No! Really, Natsu, don’t worry about it. This could be… fun.” She stated sheepishly.

Natsu showed her a lopsided grin. Just like that, they started working, scrubbing all the desks and windows with the toothbrushes. After a few minutes of silence where Lucy tried to build up the courage to start a conversation, she heard music from the other side of the room, where Natsu was cleaning one of the windows.

“I love that song.” Lucy said before she could stop herself.

“Me too. I’m actually trying to learn it on the guitar.”

“Really? I didn’t know you played guitar… or that you liked 5 Seconds Of Summer.” She smirked.

“I like Amnesia, and a couple other songs I’ve heard.” He scratched the back of his neck, as if embarrassed to admit he liked the band. “And yes, I play the guitar. You would know if you actually talked to me.”

The comment was meant to be a lighthearted joke, but Lucy frowned, unbeknownst to Natsu. It was true. If only Lucy wouldn’t have been so wrapped up in her own head, she would’ve gotten to know her crush better— be friends with him at least. Now, they’re three days away from graduation and this is the first time they had actually talked.

They cleaned in silence for a few minutes, listening to Natsu’s playlist until an ad interrupted the music.

“This is boring.” Natsu drawled, startling Lucy slightly. “Can we take a break?”

“We’ve only been cleaning for like twenty minutes.” The girl smiled. It amused her how energetic Natsu was.

“Still.” He shrugged. “Let’s play a game or somethin’.”

“What game?”

“I don’t know…” He pondered for a few seconds, before an imaginary lightbulb turned on above his head. “What about truth or dare?”

“I don’t know… I don’t really like that game.”

“C’mon, Luce! Live a little! I promise I won’t make you do anything that could get you in trouble.”

Lucy was surprised by the nickname, but she didn’t mind. After thinking about it for a bit and looking at his cute little face she sighed. “Fine.” It was just a game of truth or dare with her year-long crush. Alone. No big deal.

Natsu grinned from ear to ear and Lucy thought she might melt for a second.

***

“Truth or dare?” Natsu grumbled from the corner of the classroom. Lucy had dared him to sit still in that corner for three rounds, which was almost impossible for someone as rambunctious as him. The game had gone on for way longer than anticipated, and they were getting more and more comfortable with each other as time went on.

“Truth.”

“Who’s your crush?” Lucy could swear she saw a dust of pink on his cheeks as he asked the question. A color that was more than likely also covering her face at the moment.

“No one.”

“Really? No one at all?”

“Nope.” Lucy was a bad liar, she knew it, but she still tried her best to hide her true feelings. “Truth or dare?” She added before he could question her any further.

“Considering I can’t do any dares while I’m sitting here: truth.”

She already knew what she wanted to ask. In fact, she had wondered about this for a very long time. It’s now or never, Lucy thought as she exhaled.

“Same question for you… do you like someone?” Lucy looked down while answering the question, scared of the answer.

“I do.” At this, Lucy looked up, trying to conceal her disappointment. “I think you know her. She’s short, blonde, really pretty, like gorgeous. She’s kind of weird, though. I mean, we’ve been lab partners for the whole year and she’s never even said ‘hi’ to me unless I say it first. But she’s very smart, and I like how she blushes at every little thing.” Natsu grinned, and Lucy blushed. “She also has big brown eyes. They’re pretty. Like her. She’s really pretty. Did I say that already?”

The blonde kept looking at the floor with wide eyes. Could it be that all this time, Natsu actually liked her too? It seemed impossible but, it was true. She couldn’t look up. She felt as if she looked up, she would see a mischievous glint in his eyes or something that would give away the fact that he was only joking, messing with her and with her feelings. But… Natsu wouldn’t do that. As much of a trouble maker as he was, Natsu was kind, and cared about other people. She knew it in her heart. So, Lucy looked up. She saw Natsu looking down at the floor, his face almost matching the color of his hair, with an expression of… disappointment? Fear? Regret? All of the above?

“Really?” Lucy let out in a tone that was barely above a whisper.

Natsu flinched, as if he had forgotten where he was for a moment. He looked at his lab partner and smiled softly. “Yeah. Figured I’d tell you before graduation.”

“I… I like you too.” Her face felt as if it was burning. Natsu’s smile widened as he looked into her eyes. “We should finish up.”

The pink-haired boy’s smile instantly fell.

“I forgot we had to finish cleaning.” He groaned.

“You got us into this mess with your mischief, mister. Assume the consequences.” Said the blonde with a firm voice, though her smirk gave away the fact she was only teasing.

Word Count: 326

Rating: K

Just a short little drabble for the first day of fluff week :)

“She’s got your nose!” Pointed out Natsu as he and Lucy looked at the 4D ultrasound of their baby. They had just gotten back from the doctor’s appointment where they had seen their baby girl for the first time. The couple was amazed at how… real it looked. They could really see her face before she was even born and she looked perfect.

“She will probably look a lot like me. You know how strong the Heartfilia genes are.” Lucy smirked. They were both sitting on their bed, from where they had not moved ever since they arrived to their apartment, too entranced with the picture of their daughter to move an inch.

“I hope she does look like you.” Natsu looked at his wife fondly, then back to the ultrasound. “I didn’t notice before; it looks like she’s smiling.”

“Oh yeah!” Exclaimed Lucy. “I hope she gets your smile.” She muttered.

“Huh?”

The blonde looked up, realizing she had said her last statement out loud. “It’s my favorite thing about you. I really hope she gets that from you.” She explained in a soft voice, looking at her husband in the eyes, who returned an appreciative smile.

“Nah. I would be blessed if she got all features from you… but, now that I think about it— the more she looks like you, the more boys are going to want something with her.” The soon-to-be dad cringed at the thought. “I’d rather she be ugly than have that happen.” Lucy couldn’t help but laugh at his foolish realization. Natsu looked back at his wife and smiled softly at her reaction.

He laid next to Lucy again, resting his head on her shoulder and wrapping an arm around her protruding stomach.

“Who am I kidding?” Stated Natsu as the couple continued admiring the ultrasound. “There’s no way she’s going to be anything but beautiful.”