The Demon and The Princess | NaLu

Chapter 19 - Tension Tea

Lucy left later that evening to pickup dinner. Natsu didn't want to leave her alone. When she asked why, he ignored her and started going through her records. So now, here she was. Walking on a side walk, with the sun setting, picking up Chinese take out.

Outside the restaurant, a small family was sitting on the curb. A mother and two sons. The boys were gobbling down plates of sweet and sour chicken. The mother was picking at her meal, eating slowly. The two boys stood and threw their plates away in a trash bin. They say on both sides of their mother, eyeing her plate of chicken.

Lucy stepped inside the small restaurant. She walked up to the counter and was handed a large, brown, paper bag filled with small white containers. She thanked the man and stepped back out into the warm evening atmosphere. The woman and children were gone. She turned on her feet and headed towards her apartment.

• • •

Natsu was laying on her couch watching Happy. The cat had tried to do a trick, but got caught in a ceiling fan. He was slowly spinning around, his tail wrapped around a blade. It was slightly amusing. A few minutes after Lucy left, there was a knock on her door. Natsu stayed quiet, listening to see if there would be another knock.

"Lucy?" A voice asked. It was a male's voice. Natsu stood and strode towards the door. He opened it, revealing Adrian, dressed like a kid who was forced to go out for brunch on Mother's Day.

"She's not here." Natsu said, stifling a laugh. Adrian groaned.

"This isn't normally how I dress."

"Like a rich kid going out for a tennis match?"

"Yeah, sure. Do you know when she'll be coming back?"

"No." He said bluntly. Adrian eyed him. He had read the paper that morning, like every other citizen. He didn't look like the guy Lucy should be with. Natsu was wearing sweat pants and boxers, that was about it. He wasn't even wearing a shirt. He looked like he had been watch some game on TV and was waiting for pizza to arrive. Adrian didn't say anything about it, though. He stepped in and walked towards Lucy's kitchen. "H-hey! You can't just come in here!"

"I need to talk to Lucy."

"You could've done that the other day." Natsu stated. Adrian shrugged and went through her cupboard, pulling out a pink and white colored box. He opened it and pulled out a pink bag. Tore it open and revealed a tea bag. He pulled out a mug and began to boil some water.

"Youthberry, it's her favorite." He stated. Natsu watched him carefully. He didn't have any weapons on him. Unless he had some weird super secret spy thing in his watch, he seemed harmless. He couldn't read him. It was like there was a brick wall surrounding him. He started talking when the tea kettle whistled.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." He said, starting a timer on the microwave. "Would you like some?" He asked. Before Natsu could reply, Adrian had already started a second cup for him. Natsu could smell the tea, it was strong and sweet, it smelled like summer. Two minutes later, he was handed a mug with magenta colored tea inside. He didn't drink any of it though.  Adrian noticed and started asking questions.

"You two went to that record store, did you get that Elvis record?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It had Lucy's favorite song on it. It reminds her of a time when her family was happy and she wasn't afraid of her father. You know, i think that's a reason as to why she left. The fear had driven her into different directions, eventually she listened to herself and left." Adrian said, he then noticed the blue exceed flying in circles in the living room. Natsu was still watching him. Adrian started humming, a tune Natsu couldn't place. A few minutes passed and the door opened, Lucy stepped in holding the bag.