Cute As Fuck

Chapter 4

The duo is currently making their way through Magnolia Fashion Place, which is more commonly known as Magnolia Mall. It is highly popular and attracts many people with the indoor and outdoor shops and restaurants it has. As a way to continue their date, Natsu asked Lucy for help in shopping for a birthday gift for his sister. She will be sixteen, and he wants to make it special for her.

"So what is Wendy like?" Lucy inquires, wanting to know who they are shopping for.

He is already smiling at the thought of her. "She's pretty awesome actually. Really good in school and has great grades. She wants to become a doctor someday!"

"What are some things she's into? Clothes? Makeup? Books? Sports? Videogames?"

Natsu shrugs. "She's not big on clothes. I think she wears some makeup. Yeah, she likes books. She isn't really into sports. She's not a fan of videogames."

"All right, what kind of books?"

"Her taste ranges from the classics to some more modern stuff."

"Do you mean Pride and Prejudice or The Shining for classics?"

"Pride and Prejudice for sure. She likes stuff like that."

"So Jane Austen and Charles Dickens."

He nods. "Yeah, those names sound familiar. I'm sure Wendy has those on her shelf."

"What about some more modern ones?"

"Her favorite author is J.K. Rowling."

Lucy lights up. "I love Harry Potter!"

"So does Wendy! She owns all of the books!"

"I do, too! All right, who else? She owns the Harry Potter series so that's off the table."

"Ashley."

Lucy blinks. "Huh?"

"Ashley. That's another author she likes. No last name though. Just Ashley."

Lucy does her best to not deadpan. That is the penname she uses when she publishes novels. In fact, the book signing she has on Saturday is one where she will be the one signing books! Natsu will know she is Ashley if he happened to look at her little photo on the back of the inside covers of her published novels.

"Ashley, huh?" she asks, being blasé about the topic.

"Yeah. Wendy really loves all of her books. They have enough romance, action, and adventure for her."

"Does Wendy have all of them?"

"All except the last one that was published not too-Hey! I should get that for Wendy! I bet she'd love it!"

An idea comes to Lucy, knowing she has a few spare copies of her latest novel back at her apartment. "I can do you one better..."

Natsu gives her an incredulous look. "How can you top that?"

"A signed copy of Elvina."

His green eyes grow wide with surprise. "How?! You gotta tell me! C'mon!"

She laughs. "I can't reveal my secret!"

He groans dramatically. "Lameee."

Suddenly, Lucy freezes when she sees something past Natsu.

"What's up?" he asks, stopping as well.

She rushes over to the railing to her left and looks at the store across the way. It is a men's clothing store that features three, black and white banners hanging in front of the windows on the right side. Her eyes focus on the middle one. While looking off to the side, the shirtless model has his toned back towards the camera so the back of his jeans are displaying the brand. Which, by the way, make his ass look mighty fine to say the least. Lucy has seen the backside of Natsu more than enough today while he was up bowling and she was sitting down. Besides, his profile is easily recognizable, too.

She turns to look to her left, finding he is standing there and leaning one arm against the railing as well. "Natsu... ?" she asks delicately.

He rubs the back of his head sheepishly with his free hand. "Yeah, I got some modeling under my belt. I pretty much only wear that store's clothes. Like what I'm wearing right now is all from there actually. Well, except the scarf.

"Couple years back, a manager saw me walking around the store in their clothes. She loved the look and ended up contacting some higher ups. Next thing I knew I was offered to model their clothes."

Lucy laughs. "Clothes, huh? That implies more than one. The only thing I see you wearing in that is a pair of jeans."

"Hey, I was wearing a shirt before they took that photo," Natsu says defensively. "They just ended up using one where I wasn't wearing it..."

She rolls her eyes. "Sure you were." Then she cracks up. "So you model and deliver pizza? That's such an odd combination!"

He arches his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? Well, what do you do?"

"I write," she says matter-of-factly.

He makes a face. "I don't like reading."

Old memories fill her mind as Lucy's expression softens. "When I was little, my mother was in the hospital and I used to read to her all of the time. She enjoyed it." Her lips curve upwards slightly. "She enjoyed it even more when I would tell her the stories I came up with..." If only Layla can see what her daughter has accomplished since those hospital days.

Natsu is quick to notice the change in the atmosphere. "I don't know my real folks. I was so little that I can't remember 'em. Igneel and Grandeeney adopted me when I was a kid. Not much later, they adopted Wendy when she was a baby. Happy family of four. Well, six if you include the cats we have."

"You still live at home?"

"I used to have an apartment with a friend, but then Ice Princess and his girlfriend wanted to live together. So I packed up and moved back home so she could move in with him. It's temporary for now since I'm looking for a new roommate or two."

"Good luck with that." Lucy tried looking for a roommate in the past, but no one ever clicked. So that is why she lives alone now.

"Thanks. I'm sure I'll need it."

Something dawns on her. "I'm sorry. Things got off track because of me."

"It's cool." Then Natsu jerks his head to the right. "Let's keep walking, yeah?" He walks off, leading the way.

She follows after him and they pass more stores before she realizes something. "Wait, where are we going?"

"Whatcha mean?" he questions.

"Aren't we just walking around aimlessly now?"

"Huh?"

"We came here to figure out a birthday gift for Wendy, but now we have that in mind."

"Guess you're right." He simply shrugs. "Oh, well. Doesn't mean we hafta leave. Uh, unless there's somewhere you need to be."

She smiles up at him. "I don't."

x-X-x

A/N: For those of you who have read More Than a Princess, Elvina is my version without Fairy Tail characters. Some things are different storyline wise though, along with people, of course. Like the princess is Elvina while the second prince from another kingdom is Owen and so on... I totally coulda said the Lucy in this fic was the author of Rave, but I wanted to change things up!

Edited as of 1/1/2017