Light My Fire [Nalu] {The FT Love Chronicles; Book 3}

Chapter Four

~Natsu~

“Natsu, you're being loud,” Happy said, nudging him awake with his foot.

“Nn?” He asked, groggily.

“You're snoring really loud,” Happy complained. “Be quiet.”

“Sorry,” Natsu yawned, dragging himself out of bed. Happy went to sleep before Natsu was even out of the bed, so he didn't bother waking him up as he got dressed. “I guess I'll go see what Lucy's doing,” he said, stretching. His wounds had fully healed in the three days they had decided to take off, but he still wore the bandages, secretly liking the way Lucy fussed over them.

The walk to her apartment didn't take very long, and it was easy to sneak in through her kitchen window. He moved silently, afraid that he'd wake her if she was still sleeping. To his surprise, she seemed to be awake. He heard her voice and chuckled. She must be talking to herself. When he entered the main room, he came to a halt, seeing Gray sitting next to Lucy at her table. They were bent over a piece of paper that Lucy was writing on, murmuring to each other.

“Gray? Why are you here?” Natsu asked, shocked. He was also a little angry, but he had no idea why.

“Natsu?” Lucy asked, looking just as surprised as he felt. “When did you get here?” She grabbed the paper, putting it behind her.

“Just now. What are you two doing?”

“None of your business,” Gray snapped, crossing his arms.

“You--” Natsu started forward, but Lucy stood up, frowning. “Don't break into my apartment and start a fight!” She warned him.

“Why is he here so early? It's barely seven!”

“I could ask you the same!” She scoffed. “You usually sleep until after eleven.”

“I woke up early, so I decided to visit you,” he shrugged.

“We can't finish with him here, so I'm going to the guild. See you later,” Gray said, opening her door.

“We're still on for tomorrow, right?” She asked, going to the front door.

“Yeah.” He gave her a nod and a smile, then left.

“What was that about?” Natsu asked,crossing his arms. He was really annoyed that they were hiding something from him, and he didn't like how friendly Gray had been acting towards Lucy.

“Nothing,” Lucy lied, stuffing the paper into one of her desk's drawers. “Are your bandages still alright? How's your injury?”

“It's healed,” Natsu told her, removing the bandage. “See?”

“That's great!” She smiled. “Want to go to the guildhall? I was going to meet up with Levy, Jet, and Droy there.”

“You go on ahead. I'm going to get Happy, then I'll meet you there.”

“Want me to come with you?”

“No, it's fine,” he said, heading towards the door.

“Are you sure? I can go with--”

“It's fine,” he snapped, closing the door behind him. He didn't know why, but he was angry at Lucy for hanging out with Gray so early in the morning. He wondered what they could have been doing that Gray woke up so early to go to Lucy's apartment. Unless he had spent the night there. That thought bothered him more than the fact that she was hiding something from him.

~Lucy~

Lucy stared at the door in shock for several minutes after Natsu slammed it behind him. “What was that about?!” She sighed, glad that he hadn't seen the paper she had been writing on. The day before, Mira had told her that Natsu's birthday was in a week. Having no idea what to get him as a present, and thinking that he would know Natsu the best, she had asked Gray to come over and help her brainstorm. She had also confessed to him that she liked Natsu, and that she wanted to tell him how she felt when she gave him his present. Because of that, she wanted to get him something really special. I hope Natsu didn't misunderstand something. She shrugged it off, figuring he was too oblivious to notice that they were hiding something.