It was another typical day, except the way Natsu woke up.

Wow, her scent is amazing... Natsu's sleepy mind thought, a grin on his face as he started to open his eyes. She did have a wonderful scent, it was almost like roses.

He felt his arm draped over something, so he peeked an eye open to see his arm laying over her waist. Her relaxed body was close to his, making his face become warmer, a red tinting the apples of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

Jerking his arm back, his breaths were more quicker from realizing he had slept on her side, mere inches apart. Natsu sat up and ran a hand through his salmon colored hair, shaking his head.

The last time he'd slept that close to someone was with Lisanna.

No, she's in the past. Natsu reminded himself, taking a glance at Lucy beside him before he got up and got ready for the upcoming day.

After a couple minutes, Lucy opened her eyes from her body feeling somewhat quickly colder, stretching her legs under the blankets. She shivered as goosebumps appeared on her bare arms, so she decided to sit up.

She sat up in silence, taking a few minutes to relax before needing to get up. The bathroom door swung open to see Natsu walking out already dressed, his hair still damp from his shower.

"Good morning, Natsu." Lucy smiled at the Captain, who had a faint blush appear on his face.

"G'morning Luce, sleep well?" The question stumbled out of Natsu's mouth, only meaning to keep those two extra words inside his head.

She nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Natsu raised his arm behind his head, looking out the window to make sure she didn't notice his face. "A-ah, you're welcome, Miss." A soft giggle came from the blonde as she stood up from the bed to grab her clothes and get ready.

"You don't have to call me Miss." Lucy laughed, but thought it was a polite gesture from him every time he called her that. "I didn't think Captains would be so polite to the newbie."

Natsu gave Lucy a playful glance as she laughed, closing the bathroom door behind her. "Maybe I'll make ya scrub all my floors today by yourself!" He jokingly teased, getting a quick reaction from her.

"Ew, no! It's hard enough to clean them with Gajeel and Juvia!" Lucy complained, but still laughed after her fuss.

Natsu shook his head as he proceeded to the upper desk. "What the hell is wrong with me today already?" He scowled at himself, feeling much hotter than normal. He couldn't stop his cheeks from being flushed as if they were on fire. Maybe it was just how he woke up today that was throwing him off.

"Cap'n! We're headed towards Ismalu, the large town that was north of where we last went to, Riduele." Erza pointed to land that was far in their vision, but many shops were set up, almost like a festival style. "We're buying more supplies and weaponry, I could use a new sword myself." She commented.

"Yay! I can't wait to go shopping again!" Wendy squealed, making all the females around her laugh while the men groaned.

"Aye, I could use a break from this ship before I get motion sickness stayin' on this thing for too long." Natsu replied as he put his hands on his hips. He took a deep breath of the fresh air that was blowing in his face.

"I'm surprised he's lasted that long without even batting an eye, but then again the ocean's been as calm as ever." Carla mentioned, noticing that the ride for the past nine days have been going smoothly.

Happy nodded his head, but snickered. "Well, I'm not too surprised that he's been feeling better than usual." He added an extra wink towards Natsu, while Mira covered her mouth to muffle her laugh.

Gray noticed how much more energetic and positive the Captain was, he's only had three fights with him this past week. Most of the time the Fire Dragon Slayer held back. "Yeah, ever since we left Riduele you've been more professional, what's up with that?" He crossed his arms over his chest, not noticing the bluenette standing a few feet away from him.

"Oh, my beloved! It's too much to look away!" Juvia gasped, her eyes shaped into hearts while staring at the male. "Darling, we simply must go shopping together for a shirt to cover yourself up!" She grasped his arm with both hands tightly, making him jump.

"W-what?! Who said anything about shopping together?!" Gray sputtered, trying to take away his arm from her grasp. She hugged his arm close to her chest, making his ears feel like they were on fire.

Natsu sighed in relief, almost getting stuck unanswering Gray's question in front of everyone. "You just got lucky." Happy huffed, jabbing a paw into his shoulder.

_______

Lucy blinked as she looked at how large the land was, they were finally almost there. She could see tons of shops, already seeing three times more than what Riduele had to offer. "Wow, this is exciting!" She squealed, her eyes expanded in glee.

"It's named Ismalu, a popular city in this area of the sea." Natsu commented, standing next to her. They both leaned on the side of the ship, somehow patiently waiting.

"I've never seen a town so big before." Lucy gasped, resting her smiling face on one hand that propped up with her elbow against the rail.

"Ismalu's famous for how many festivals they celebrate during the year. They've got tons of things to buy, it's hard to keep track of how much you spend." Natsu grinned to see the blonde glance at him and laugh for a second. "I'm not surprised, there's dozens of shops I can already see."

"We're almost there!" Romeo cheered, raising a fist high into the air with Wendy standing next to him.

After a few minutes passed by, the ship was snug into a spot big enough to fit, staying in place.

Natsu suddenly leaped up onto the side of the ship, perfectly balanced on the railing. "Aye, we should stick in pairs at least before running off."

"GRAY!" Juvia leaped towards him, making him catch her in his arms and sweatdropped. "This is gonna be a long day..." Gray mumbled, having an animated painful expression written all over his face.

Mostly everyone paired up, with Lucy standing to the side. She felt a hand grab her own, looking up to see Natsu leaning down on the railing, smiling at her. "Miss, I'll show you around."

Lucy softly smiled back, her cheeks having a pink color visibly appear. "I'd love that." Natsu jumped down from the rail, still holding her delicate hand in his.

"Oooh, he's makin' a move~" Happy snickered to Carla, whom rolled her eyes at his remark. "Maybe he's just being a decent Captain for once, tomcat."

Lisanna sighed at the sight and Happy's comment, she'd almost walked up close enough to ask Natsu if he'd like to go with her but he'd already had his eyes on someone else.

Natsu ordered the men to help pull down the wooden walkway attached to the side, letting everyone get off before him. "You'll be here in case anything happens."

"Aye, Captain!" Both Droy and Jet saluted, standing perfectly still as Natsu lead Lucy off of the ship.

Lucy could barely keep her excitement contained; The city was gorgeous already! Her feet did a little dance for a split second, having a hop to each step.

After they'd reach the dock, Natsu let everyone scatter to wherever they wanted, whether it was eating all the food from a restaurant or raiding an old mans wallet. As long as they didn't get in trouble, he was fine.

His fingers still barely touched hers. "So Luce, any particular place?"

"I don't mind, I've never been here so lead the way." Lucy said, walking next to the man. He had long strides, so she moved her feet a little quicker to keep the same pace as his.

They walked through the crowd of people, it somewhat made Lucy feel shy from weaving through so many people. It was insane how many people could be outside all at once and still manage to find their way of direction.

Natsu looked over his shoulder to check on Lucy, who was having a hard time managing to stay by his side. He held out his hand to her. "Just to make sure I don't lose ya, keep close to my side."

She gratefully took his left hand with her right, feeling significantly better from having less chances of getting swept away in the sea of people.

The wooden built shops were vastly larger than the ones in Riduele, having a much larger variety of everything. Half of the things on sale she's never seen before.

She studied every shop they passed by, hoping to find something that appealed to her eyes. After a few more minutes of walking, they turned onto another road, a much smaller crowd surrounded them so Lucy could actually see past Natsu.

"See anything that caught your eye?" Natsu asked, glancing at Lucy next to him as her eyes were scanning everything. "Mmmm..."

Her pace slowed down slightly as they approached a large weaponry shop, their weapons obviously made from expensive, sting material. A smirk slid on Natsu's face as he noticed her eyes scanning the shop, but was totally unprepared for the sudden stop that jerked him from their grip.

"Luce! Ya can't scare me like that-" Natsu stopped mid-sentence as he spun around to see her a few feet away from him, eyes glistening at a specific beautiful bow and arrow.

Lucy's eyes studied how well the bow was crafted, admiring the smooth edges to the delicate designs engraved in the material.

It was a rich, dark blue that was detailed with silver and gold in all the tiny grooves. The curves were more accentuated, curving back into the strong handle. The gold and silver lines all started at the handle, then spread out towards the tips of the bow, a design replicating angel wings. At the handle and ends of the bow were a few diamonds delicately placed.

"Wow..." Lucy mumbled, thinking that it was the most beautiful bow she's ever seen.

"I'd like to purchase that bow and arrow." Lucy snapped her head towards Natsu as those words escaped his lips. "That one for the lady? It'll be-"

"N-Natsu, it's very e-expensive, you don't have to-!" Lucy started stuttering, but got interrupted by her Captain who placed his pointed finger on her lips again to keep her from rambling.

"I don't have to, but I want to." Natsu replied, dropping a couple jewels in the guys hand.

The salesmen's eyes boggled, immediately stunned by the gems that were placed in his hand. "H-h-have a good day, sir!" He quickly handed over the highly-crafted weapon to Natsu.

Lucy's mind was racing right now. "Natsu-"

"You needed a bow and arrow anyways, take it as a gift from me." Natsu stepped close in front of her, gently handing her the beautiful weapon to her smaller hands. She stared down at it, her eyes becoming watery from the all-too-kind gesture from him.

"Y-you didn't have to." Lucy mumbled shyly, but couldn't stop smiling. Her thumb traced over a small portion of the tiny grooves that formed the wings, already knowing how high-end the product was.

"C'mon Luce, it was nothin'. It's all-" Natsu was interrupted by her tightly wrapping her arms around his torso for a few seconds, her cheek pressed against his chest.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you, nobody's ever done this for me!" Lucy happily cried, not noticing Natsu widely looking down on her. "It's the nicest thing I've ever received by far."

Natsu's eyes softened from her words after being mind-boggled by her actions, gently wrapping his arms around her lower and upper back.

After a coupe seconds, Lucy let go of the embrace and skipped a few steps in front of him, obviously more excited to adventure the city more. "We gotta go see the other shops! I bet there's tons more to look at, we just have to!~" Lucy cheered, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she started walking forward with a more lively character.

Natsu stood still for a second, seeing how he was just hugging her, and now she's fired up? She was an animated person indeed, and she always somehow kept him on his toes.

"I'm coming! Trust me, there's a whole lot more for ya to look at." Natsu grinned as he was now following her, making sure to keep close in her distance.

He couldn't remember the last time he had this much fun shopping with anyone from the crew, well, besides Happy stealing a fish from a man and then flying off with it. Usually he'd get pretty bored fast, losing all of his energy and will to tag along so he'd either go get something to eat, buy another sword, and or head back to the ship.

Luckily that was his choice to go buy twin blades last time they were on Riduele, he'd never had met her. He could thank Gray for that later, considering he was the reason why Natsu decided to look around on his own.

After visiting more shops, somehow they ended up on a fruit and vegetable isle, which Lucy took advantage of. "Knock knock!" She giggled, already knowing her joke was going to be cringe-worthy for the Captain.

Natsu smirked. "Who's there?"

"Lettuce."

"Lettuce who?"

"Lettuce in and you'll find out!" Lucy held a fat lettuce in front of his face, laughing from how corny her joke was now that she said it.

Natsu shook his head, cracking up. "Wow Luce, that's gotta be one of the most random things I've heard when I go out shopping."

"Oh thank you Lucy!" A female voice said, grabbing the lettuce from her hand and placed it in their basket. The two looked to see Mira and Laxus with a basket full of groceries, along with the lettuce now on top. "We desperately needed more lettuce for the salad."

Natsu laughed out loud at how perfect the timing was while Lucy giggled. "You're welcome I guess."

The two strolled along, leaving Natsu finding it more hilarious. "That was great Luce, fantastic." He looked down and kept laughing, his shoulders jerking from each laugh.

"Well I guess I let them in to grab some lettuce." Lucy replied, her face getting hot as she smiled even wider.

Natsu started to lead the way, still cracking up. "Okay, lets keep moving." He gently touched her slim exposed back. "You're too funny."

"I can't take all the credit, I didn't expect Mira to pop up." Lucy walked next to him, admiring how handsome of a smile he had.

To be honest, she didn't expect any Captain to be gorgeous, so when he lead her onto his ship, she'd only thought of him as a regular crew member.

They passed through the vegetable isle and almost got through the fruit section, but Lucy had to say another cringe-worthy joke. "Why aren't bananas ever lonely?"

Natsu furrowed his eyebrows at her question. "Lass, I couldn't tell ya."

Lucy lightly nudged his side with her elbow. "Because they come in bunches!"

Natsu laughed out loud for a few seconds. "What, did ya not have anyone to tell these to your whole life?"

Lucy's heart immediately throbbed, starting to ache. That question felt as if a knife had stabbed her chest, feeling it harder to breathe. "Ah-h, w-well, I-I..."

Natsu looked down to see her choking on her words, eyes widening. A wave of regret passed into his body, seeing her not being able to function. "Luce, I didn't mean to, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, it shouldn't matter anyways." Lucy interrupted, her voice unconfident and shaky. She let her bands fall in front of her face, hiding her whelming tears building up. She fell silent, desperately worrying the man next to her.

I know he didn't mean it, but questions like that always tend to hurt. Lucy ran a hand through her high side ponytail, twisting it between her fingers and then grabbing onto her locket.

Natsu repeatedly clenched his fists and opened them, struggling with himself in the situation. His chest felt tight, worrying more than he usually does for anyone in the crew. The feelings inside were more emotional and significantly stronger regret saying the wrong words to her. His stomach was churning with uncertainty, conflicted with an unknown feeling that overwhelmed him. With anyone he'd always say a quick apology, unless it was Gray, but he couldn't get rid of the regret that tightened his chest.

He breathed heavily through his nose, clearly frustrated with himself. "Lucy..."

"Don't worry about it, maybe you can feel lucky that you'll get to hear all my jokes." Lucy faked a smiled on her lips, hoping he'd buy it and stop worrying about it for now.

He lowered his eyes at her face, noticing that her smile was just different. It looked forced, so he'd have to confront her later with a real apology, not half-assing it like he usually did.

"I'd love to hear more of your jokes." Natsu replied, finally managing to get them out of that store and back onto the road.

Lucy told him a handful of her own puns while they continued taking their time walking around Ismalu, making sure to also grab a quick bite to eat somewhere since both of them were starving.

The mood lad lightened up for both of them luckily, strolling down to pass by a few more shops until they headed back to the Fairy Tail ship.

"Ey girl, what's yo name, you lookin' cute." A low voice crawled up from their backs, a shiver running up Lucy's spine as she turned around to see a man her age with spiky brown hair and piercing blue eyes stare into hers. "You're even more beautiful from the front, lemme take you somewhere gorgeous thing~"

"No thank you." Lucy peeped, stepping back but finding herself being pulled back behind by Natsu himself, keeping his right arm protectively around her.

"Aw bro, why you gotta be a cockblocker-"

"She's not yours to take." Natsu growled between his teeth, feeling her hands firmly grip the back of his clothes.

The other man let out a hysterical laugh. "Wow, okay then pussy, fight me. C'mon girl, you can do a lot better with me than him." Natsu felt a string snap inside of him, but smirked as the guy pulled out a tiny dagger knife as a weapon. He crossed his arms to his sides, whipping out his twin blade swords simultaneously with a slice echoing through the air.

Natsu glared his piercing onyx eyes like daggers at the young man, seeing his blue eyes widen in shock. He stumbled in fear. "U-uh, imma just let you have the girl for now, next time I see you though I swear." He jittered away, hiding his knife back in his pocket.

The Dragon Slayer had a huge smirk on his face as he put his swords back into their sheaths, glancing back at the furiously blushing blonde. "Thank you."

"No problem, that's the easiest thing I've had to do in my life." Natsu replied as she cheekily grinned at him. "He was a bit on the creepy side too." She mumbled, hearing him snicker.

He turned around and walked by her side closer than before, keeping a keen eye more alert.

"Natsu, why do you use two swords? I've never heard of someone wielding two at the same time." Lucy asked, curious about his style of battle. Natsu chuckled. "I actually learned this style by a close friend of mine. I've known him for a long time, but the funny thing is he lives in a completely different world."

"World?" Lucy repeated, raising her eyebrows. He nodded from her word. "It's named Sylvarant, he uses these flying machines called rheairds, high advanced technology lemme get that straight. My friend's name is Lloyd Irving. You wanna know why he chose to use two swords instead of one?" Natsu asked, cracking up slightly.

"Because it's cool?" Lucy guessed, knowing her answer was already wrong, but it didn't hurt to try.

"Actually, he thought since being able to use all your strength in one blade was a hundred times powerful, using two blades was twice as much damage as only using one!" Natsu laughed, shaking his head. "It's obviously not true, but using twin blades are especially handy. It trains your arms to become stronger and quicker in your movements."

"That's really amazing, funny story too!" Lucy complimented, finding the reason quite humorous.

After a minute of walking, Natsu's eyes landed on a jewelry shop, leading her there. "A pirate's never got enough."

Lucy shook her head as Natsu mainly went to look at the gold earrings and necklaces for himself, so she went roaming around the shop on her own.

A familiar figure walked in straight past her, catching Lucy's eye. She glanced to see Lisanna walk towards Natsu's direction, but continued looking at the gorgeous jewelry.

Her eyes scanned stunning necklaces, but her attention fell on a certain beautiful piece of jewelry that she loved. It was a rose gold color, the necklace very thin. The shape of the pendant on it was the shape of a small rose the same beautiful color, tiny pink diamonds on each petal with a white diamond in the center of the bud.

While Lucy admires the necklace, Natsu was currently buying new diamond studs and gold hoop earrings for himself, even if he already had a crapload of them. He can never have too much, apparently.

He kept glancing over at Lucy to see if she saw anything in particular that she liked while Lisanna kept rambling to him about something, something about food? He wasn't really paying all that much attention to her. Natsu noticed that Lucy had stopped walking, obviously looking at a certain jewelry object she liked.

"Yeah so you wanna go shopping together?...." Lisanna asked, earning a silent reply as he saw his eyes keep glancing in the same spot past her shoulder. "Natsu?"

"Lisanna, can you do me a favor and see what she's looking at?" Natsu bluntly asked, totally forgetting about the question she asked. She raised an eyebrow, but smiled sweetly at him. "Sure."

Why'd he want to know what she's looking at? Lisanna couldn't help but wonder as she approached the female who was looking at a gorgeous necklace. "Hey! I also love looking at jewelry, they're so beautiful." She started off, seeing the blonde look up at her and smile. "Yeah, they're really pretty. I love everything about this one, it's my favorite color and flower on it."

Lucy pointed to the one necklace she loved, hearing Lisanna gasp. "That's so pretty. I totally agree with you." Lisanna could tell Lucy had good tastes in things that were simple but beautiful.

"Is Natsu still buying earrings?" Lucy laughed as Lisanna nodded and sighed. "Yeah, he tends to usually get caught up into diamonds and gold jewelry for his ears, I couldn't tell you why because I have no idea. I'll tell him to hurry up so you won't waste another hour here."

Lucy giggled at Lisanna's reply. "Thank you Lisanna, you're too sweet." With that, the whitenette headed back to the Captain, who was still picking out large diamond studs.

She tapped his shoulder to grab his attention. "I can tell you she has very good taste in jewelry." Lisanna mentioned, seeing Natsu have a huge grin on his face.

The blonde had moved to another section of the shop far away from the necklace, scanning through all the different styles and shapes of rings they had.

"I'll meet you by the salesman, I need you to go and grab it for me." Natsu whispered, nudging Lisanna playfully. "Rodger that."

Their small plan worked wonderfully without Lucy even having a thought about noticing them meet up to have Natsu quickly fish another couple jewels and coins out of his pocket to another salesman.

He scanned the necklace in the palm of his hand, smiling to himself before placing it in the tiny pouch he got with it, then placing it in his pocket. He should've known she'd like the simpler things, but it was still just as beautiful, almost like a diamond in the rough.

It was just like her.

"Thanks Lisanna, couldn't have done it without you." Natsu said, giving her a thumbs-up. "Anything for you, Natsu." Lisanna softly replied, lovingly gazing at him as they walked by the front where Lucy had decided to wait.

"I've never met someone who shops as long as a girl looking for a dress." Lucy giggled, having her arms crossed as Natsu just looked at her while trying to keep a straight face. After a few seconds, they all laughed together while walking towards the ship.

"Geez, I didn't know we've been walking for this long. Luce, my legs are gonna be really sore tomorrow!" Natsu groaned as the sun was setting behind the water, hearing her pure angelic voice laugh. "Honestly, you're going to have to let me sleep in, I won't be able to move my legs from all this walking." Lucy replied, hearing a light giggle escape Lisanna's lips. "No chores either."

Natsu looked over and lowered his eyes for a second, seeing that Lisanna was walking next to him and Lucy was on the other side of her. For some reason, it really irritated him not having her walk by him. "Hey Luce, I'll promise you no chores tomorrow on one condition, but you're the only one who can know." He casually said, sliding to Lucy's right side to whisper it into her ear.

Lucy closed her eyes and let another laugh out. "You want me to bake you cookies tomorrow?" She whispered back.

"Well Mira said you were a really good cook, and I wanted to try some of you cooking." Natsu's ears and face became hot as Lucy giggled, their heads close together.

"Okay, if those are your terms." Lucy said, shaking her head as she stood back up straight from leaning her ear in.

Natsu couldn't stop the childish grin that spread on his face, putting both hands behind his head as they walked back to his ship.

__________

Geez, okay this was chapter 5 for ya

This took so long to write bruh

If you're a Tales of Symphonia fan, PLEASE tell me you got the whole reference of Natsu talking about his friend Lloyd Irving 😂 I wanna see how many y'all know who is my favorite fictional character of ALL TIME.

Yeah, I wanted Natsu to use twin blades because my babe Lloyd does too ❤️💕

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter & thank you so much for reading ❤️💕