Special Seasonings

Chocolate Dreams

Lucy pulled the covers around her, sniffing. If only she could fall asleep and wake up to find this all a dream! Forget Natsu, forget this past week, forget however he would behave with her in the future! Her heart sank. How could she forget? Maybe she should just forgive. Yeah - be like Natsu and pretend nothing ever happened and they would go back to the way it used to be! Yeah, right, she scolded herself, like that will happen! This had been one of the best weeks of her life! How could she forget all the things she and Natsu had done, had experienced? Sighing, she pulled the covers over her head, wishing she could stay like this forever.

When Natsu snuck in her window later, he found Lucy asleep in her bed.

"Good luck, buddy!" whispered Happy as he flew off after helping Natsu carry the stuff he had gathered inside Lucy's apartment.

Now, where to set up? he wondered, glancing around. The kitchen! It took him a couple of trips, as well as an awkward moment where he almost dropped one of the boxes, to move everything to Lucy's kitchen.

Lucy became aware of someone in her apartment before she even opened her eyes. There were soft sounds coming from her kitchen. A burglar? She slowly sat up, grabbed her keys and a wooden bat she kept near her bed. Silently, she crept out of her room and towards the kitchen. She could now hear someone muttering softly - a familiar voice, she realized, her stomach dropping with dread.

"Natsu?" she asked, rounding the corner to her kitchen, the bat and keys lowered at her side. It was the last person she wanted to see, but although he snuck into her apartment and her bed, he never had just helped himself to her kitchen before! No, he usually just begged her to make him food, she thought with a mental eye roll.

Natsu started at Lucy's voice, then his shoulders slumped. He turned around and gave her a half-hearted grin. "I wanted to surprise you," he told her in way of explanation.

"Surprise me with what?" asked Lucy, her curiosity getting the better of her. Natsu was standing guiltily in front of her table, like he was hiding something.

"Well, I guess it's too late now," he sighed, stepping aside and giving a flourishing motion with his arm. "Here it is!"

Lucy saw a silver pot on one of her placemats in the middle of the table. Fruit and cheese were peeking out of white boxes. She also spied what looked like two skewers resting on the table.

Confused, she looked at Natsu, her awkwardness forgotten. "What is this?"

"Something Mira called fon dew, I think," he said, scratching the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. He picked up one of the skewers, waving it around. "You stick the cheese or fruit on the stick and put it in the chocolate. Except," he frowned, "I haven't gotten the chocolate ready."

"Are you talking about fondue?" asked Lucy excitedly. She couldn't remember the last time she had done this! As a child, she and her mother had shared in the experience, with her father joining them when he wasn't working.

"I guess so?" Natsu shrugged.

"Do you need any help?"

Natsu shrugged again. "I just need to heat the chocolate up." He shot her a grin, rubbed his hands together and placed them on the outside of the pot. Lucy peeked over and saw the chocolate begin to bubble.

"Careful!" she cried, "you don't want to burn it!"

"Oh, okay. Well, should we try it?" he asked her, pulling out a chair.

Lucy nodded, sitting on the other side of the table from him. Natsu watched her carefully, realizing she had done this before when she picked up the skewer and expertly impaled fruit on it, then dipped it into the pot, swirling it around so chocolate now covered it.

"Um, we need plates to rest it on," she told Natsu. "Do you mind getting them?"

Since Natsu wasn't a stranger in her kitchen, he hopped up and grabbed two plates from a nearby cabinet without having to ask where. Lucy set her skewered chocolate covered fruit on her plate. She looked up at Natsu expectantly.

"Aren't you going to try?"

"Uh, yeah," Natsu said, clumsily stabbing fruit with his skewer, then dunking it into the pot. Chocolate dripped off of it as he raised it out of the liquid.

Lucy chuckled. "Here, let me help you." She leaned over and placed her hand on his. She guided him to tap the stick on the side of the pot so that the excess chocolate would stay in the pot. Then, she guided it to his plate. "I guess it takes practice," she teased him. "A gentle touch."

Natsu nodded, not saying anything. "Aren't you going to eat yours?" he asked, indicating her plate.

"Oh, sure," she said, the awkward feeling returning. She picked up her skewer and slid the top fruit, a strawberry, into her mouth. The chocolate tasted smooth and creamy, and combined with the strawberry, Lucy let out an inadvertent moan of satisfaction. Several drops of chocolate had dripped on her lips and she used her tongue to lick them off.

Looking back over at Natsu, she was surprised to see him staring at her, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. "Are you okay?"' she asked him.

He seemed to shake himself out of the stupor the erotic sight had given him and picked up his skewer and shoved the fruit into his mouth. "Your turn," he mumbled around the food in his mouth, wanting to watch Lucy savor the fruit again.

She gave him a strange look and followed his lead and shoved the rest of the fruit in her mouth since it was not as large as the strawberry. Natsu almost groaned in disappointment. Misinterpreting his frown, Lucy instructed him on adding more fruit and cheese to the skewer and swirling it around in the chocolate rather than dunking it.

Okay, so it still felt a bit awkward but it wasn't so bad, Lucy thought to herself, chewing on a piece of fruit. It was awfully sweet of Natsu to do this for her, after all. Maybe he felt bad about the whole situation, too.

As if reading her thoughts, Natsu spoke up. "Um, Lucy? Sorry for things earlier. I didn't mean to leave like I did. Things were, well, kinda weird for me, I guess," he finished awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Just forget it, Natsu," Lucy told him with a smile, surprising him. He thought for sure he would get a different answer - not sure what answer, but not one this easy, based on the advice he got from the guild members!

"Okay!" he grinned at her. Then, picking up a strawberry, he dipped it into the pot so that only the tip was covered, then offered it to Lucy. She held out a hand to take it, but Natsu pulled away. "Nope, you gotta let me feed you," he told her with a wicked grin. He dipped the strawberry again, offering it to Lucy.

"Fine," she sighed, leaning forward. Natsu was about to place the strawberry in her mouth, then changed his mind and let the chocolate smear on her lips.

"Natsu!" Lucy started to fuss, but as soon as she opened her mouth, he popped the strawberry in. Chocolate was smeared around the outside of her mouth and she looked around for a napkin to wipe it off.

"I can't believe you did that," she muttered, getting up to get a towel. As she walked past Natsu, he gave her an impish grin, then grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down on his lap. She yelped in surprise.

"What are you - " she began, but Natsu leaned forward so that their faces were almost touching.

"Luce, you got a little chocolate right there," he told her, his voice husky. "Let me get it for you." He leaned forward and kissed first one side of her mouth, then the other, his tongue darting out to finish off the remaining chocolate.

"Natsu?" Lucy whispered, shocked by his actions. "Did you eat another apple?"

"No, just coming to my senses," he told her, shaking his head. Dipping his finger into the chocolate, he smeared more on her lips. "I think you might be sweeter than the fruit," he told her huskily, leaning in to clean up the mess he made. "It took me awhile to discover it, but now that I know, well, I won't forget it anytime soon."