Face

"Say what now?"

"I said 'strip'. Sorry, are your ears not working right?"

Natsu scowled as he took a step backward from what he was beginning to think was one blonde high on substance, cursing their mutual meddling friend's ways in his mind.

"I heard you fine. I'm just now sure why I have to-"

"Oh don't be a wuss. Here, give me your arms."

"Hey! Excu- what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"It's because you're so slow!" Lucy snapped as she grabbed the ends of his thin shirt and tugged it upwards unceremoniously. Natsu instantly straightened his arms skyward if only to prevent her from ripping his tee. Good quality cotton was hard to come by these days.

"In any case, why the hell do I have to strip for you?!" The male snapped as he snatched his shirt back from between the blonde's fingers. The female didn't reply, but instead took a few steps back and gave his torso a calculating stare, her gaze bearing into his now bare chest.

An awkward self-consciousness came over him and the male scratched the side of his jaw, his fingers picking up the faint roughness of stubble.

"Hey! Don't move!"

"Wh- Oi!" Natsu yelled out when the crazy blonde lady suddenly reached out and grabbed his arm, pushing it back to his side and holding it there.

"Shush. I'm trying to come up with a design in my head, so stay still."

"I-mmph!" Onyx eyes narrowed downwards as the blonde rudely stuck one finger against his lip, effectively cutting him off as she continued to watch him steadily.

Much to Lucy's relief, the uncooperative male soon got the hang of staying still and stopped making fighting back, save for the occasional grumble and insult mumbled low under his breath, though she barely registered them in her mind. Her mental gears were working overtime now. Faced with a fresh new subject, her imagination was overflowing with various new scenes and positions that oscillated between the sweet and the scandalous.

She could barely rein in her growing excitement, as her gaze trailed down the smooth contours of the male's skin, pausing for a few deliberate moments at the shadowy corners masked by his limbs as her mind instinctively filled in the missing parts as it was now wont to do.

Her new guinea p- ahem- subject had evenly tanned skin that faded a few shades before disappearing under the snug fitting denim hugging his waist. There was a faint smattering of dark coloured hair starting beneath his navel that trailed downwards between the V of his hips but as a professional, Lucy did not let her mind wander. Instead, she brought her gaze up again along the other side of his torso, mentally gleeful when she noted the evenness of his abs.

Having used Elfman-like models for so long now, she had long missed drawing the toned, swimmer-like builds of men built on leaner lines. It was proving to be a downright challenge already, she thought, as she circled the scowling male slowly. His muscles and pecs arched much less than what she was used to and his torso was much narrower even at its widest. Lucy experimentally poked a finger in between his shoulder blades, and scrutinized the way his entire body instantly tensed and the back muscles flexed, producing new contours and shadows were there once was only light.

"Oi, blondie! I would appreciate if you don'-"

Natsu growled as he looked behind him, only for his voice to trail off when he caught sight of the expression of deep concentration on her face. A sudden discomfort filled him at the thought of disturbing her though he quickly shook that off as hunger pangs.

Her brows, both a brilliant shade of blonde that glimmered under the light were narrowed, pulling along with them the skin of her forehead which scrunched up in the middle. A pair of large amber eyes seemed to be trained on a certain part of his back, though what there was to be fascinated about for so long, Natsu had no idea.

The blonde was chewing down on her lower lip, and while one arm was folded under her chest, the other was actively moving, her fingers wrapped around an invisible pencil and her wrist flicked and swished back and forth, as though she was drawing on a canvas only she could see. The movements were mildly… entrancing and the male found himself staring for an unnecessarily long time before he managed to tear his gaze away only to now find his gaze focused on her chest. As his eyes took in the way her large shirt was pulled tight over her chest by her tucked arm, Natsu felt the heat of embarrassment creep up his chest and neck and he quickly whipped his head back to the front.

God damn it, did the blasted woman have to have such large breasts? Even her baggy, homely shirt had made her look almost… sexy. Couple that with the way she had been biting down on her lip, which so happened to be one of the things he liked best on a woman, and he was on the highway to crazy blonde hell.

He shook his head furiously, only to jolt when he felt a vice like grip clamp down on his head. Straining to turn his head around, Natsu gritted out through clenched teeth.

"Blondie… what the hell…?"

"I told you to stop moving! Really, are you deaf or something? God…"

"… Bitch."

"Yes yes. Now shut up and stay still. I'm not done with you yet… deaf idiot."

By the time his teeth had unclenched, whatever heat he had been feeling for this blonde had chilled to fury and Natsu instantly locked on to that new feeling, determined to maintain it for the rest of the night. On the far wall, the clock ticked just past 8, and the male groaned inwardly at how time seemed to be against him tonight.

As Lucy stepped back, a genuine smile spread her lips for the first time that day as she gave a mental double fist pump, and her eyes sparkled with delight. Dashing past a surprised male, she hurried to her work desk and plopped herself down onto her chair. Her fingers quickly closed themselves around a thin charcoal pencil. The next moment saw her hand flying back and forth across a clean piece of paper, and the once clean sheet of white was rapidly smeared over with lines and smudges of black and greys.

Noticing that the blonde was no longer hovering over him, Natsu's annoyance was quickly transformed into curiosity and he took a cautious step forward to her. To his surprise, no bark of irritation burst out from the blonde's lusc- ahem- bossy mouth and he slowly creeped closer towards where Lucy was seated. Muttering a terse "excuse me" under his breath, he then paused, awaiting a sign of acknowledgment but none came. Instead, the blonde merely continued to ignore him as she pored over her work. Taking that as a green light, Natsu leaned carefully over her shoulder, and as his gaze raked over the images that were slowly forming on the page, he could not help but let out a surprised "Hmm."

Lucy whipped her head around immediately, her brows creasing when she noticed how close he was to her.

"… What?"

"Nothing. Continue."

To his annoyance, her hand refused to budge.

"Obviously, you had a comment. What is it?"

"Nothing. Honest."

Lucy turned back to her drawing only to tilt her head slightly in his direction moments later to cast him a sidelong glance.

"Is there something wrong with the scene?"

"I didn't say that. Geez blondie, stop being so suspicious over any noncommittal sound."

"…Hmph."

Natsu made a mental note to seal his lips after she finally resumed her work. Instead he settled for standing to a side, looking casually bored while occasionally sneaking a glance at her progress. Her progress had slowed over time as compared to when she had first started. despite his amateur artist's eye, he could make out the shapes of two human figures, one male and one female standing next to each other. The male stood in profile, looking off into the far distance with his back ramrod straight with determination. The female stood facing the front, her body also straight but her head had a distinct tilt to it in the direction of her male companion. Between them, two arms hung in a V with their hands clasped together gently. While their faces had not yet been drawn in, Natsu could already guess that this frontispiece was going to bear a solemn theme.

Indeed, the initial joy that had been on her face was now gone. In its place were sobriety and a tinge of genuine sadness in her eyes as her fingers carefully etched in the details on the female's sleeves. Before he could stop himself, Natsu found himself laying a hand on her shoulder.

"You ok?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." Lucy mumbled as she put her pencil down and rubbed circles over her temple. "It's just that sometimes I tend to immerse myself into the story too much when I draw that I get overemotional."

He didn't know how to reply to that so he simply patted her shoulder softly before drawing his hand back to his side.

A half hour passed before Lucy finally looked up from her drawing to glance at the clock. It was a full half hour past 9 now. Time really flew whenever she truly immersed herself in her work. The design was halfway to completion now; all that was left was to tidy up the lines and fill in colour. Just in time for her deadline submission in three days time. As was her usual practice, Lucy pushed back from her work desk and rose from her seat to get herself a snack when she suddenly squealed in surprise.

"What the-?"

Natsu dropped his mobile when the blonde suddenly turned and bumped right into him, knocking him backwards onto his ass. There was a loud thudding noise as flesh and wall made contact and Natsu's eyes snapped shut in pain.

"Ow, my head!"

Lucy leaped to her feet in a flurry, her eyes instantly taking in sight of the male recumbent beneath her, his hand clutched around the back of his head.

"Ohmigosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there. Are- are you alright?"

"Didn't- how on Earthland do you not see an entire person, blondie?" The male groaned as he climbed to his feet.

"S-sorry. Here. Let, uh, let me."

Gingerly, Lucy touched her fingers to the back of the male's head. The instant their skin made contact she felt him tense under her touch though he didn't not make any sound of protest. Taking that as a green light, Lucy gently traced her fingers along the skin where she could already feel a tiny bump beginning to swell. In spite of herself, she found herself holding her hand there for longer than was unnecessary but the blonde found herself fascinated by the soft, silkiness of the hair between her fingers.

As she leaned around the male's head, her gaze focused on the strands playfully curling themselves around her digits. With hair as spiky as his, she would have thought the strands coarse and dry from copious applications of gel. Instead, they had the texture of newborn's first hair. Before she could lean in to satisfy her curiosity if they indeed smelled like a baby's too, Lucy squealed when the male suddenly pushed past her, leaving her hands bereft.

She looked up at the male who was now standing a few meters away. He was wearing an odd expression on his face, though at that angle, she could not decipher it for certain. She jumped when he suddenly spoke, his voice oddly coarse.

"So we're done then?"

"Huh?"

"The drawing thing." Natsu turned to glare at her as he snapped out. "You're done now?"

"Uh… yeah. I think so. Just have to tidy it up a bit before I can put colour down."

"Hmph. Let me see." Without waiting for her reply, he reached out and picked up her sketchpad.

"Hey! Wait a moment! I didn't-!"

"…Not bad."

Lucy's mouth clamped shut when she saw him nod. There was an approving light in his eyes, and for some reason, it shocked the hell out of her.

"I didn't know I look so good underneath." The male chuckled arrogantly as he lightly traced the outlines of the male figure drawing, only to have the blonde smack his hand away.

"Don't smudge it!"

Lucy watched him study her sketch and as the seconds ticked by, she found that she was actually anticipating his reply. Weird.

She saw his gaze zero in onto the face of the male and his eyebrows suddenly shot down. She wondered if he had been shocked at her level of prowess in realistic detail. After all, she herself was feeling mighty impressed by herself tonight.

What she had not expected was for the male to suddenly whirl around and grab her wrist roughly. She reacted instantly, squirming and tugging against his grip but his hand was like a manacle – unrelenting – as his onyx eyes narrowed at her, fury burning deep in its depths.

"Let go, Draguniro." She gritted out through clenched teeth, refusing to let herself raise her voice at this jerk of a male.

"What the hell is ice- Gray Fullbuster's face doing here?!"