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It was cold.
She was out in the middle of nowhere, sometime past midnight, and she couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. It wasn't quite freezing, but she was wearing only her PJ's and it was the middle of winter. She wasn't wearing any shoes either - not even her slippers. She was just out there, outside, with nothing around her for miles and miles.
It was dark, too. Normally, her night vision wasn't that bad, but tonight she felt like she was blind. Yet somehow she knew that there was nothing to be seen, even if she could see properly. There was just nothing out here.
She wrapped an arm around herself and thought about calling Horologium so she would have some shelter, but when she reached for her keys, they weren't there either.
It was quiet, and dark, and the temperature was still dropping, and she was alone.
She was alone.
Lucy's eyes slowly opened to the familiar ceiling of her apartment. She was in her own bed, in downtown Magnolia, and when she glanced to the side her keys were right there on her bedside table. It was still dark outside. It was probably the middle of the night still.
She let out a deep sigh. A dream, huh?
She rolled around in her bed and felt for the person beside her, but he wasn't there. The bed was still warm, though, so he must have been there recently. Right?
It was a little pathetic. All she ever really did nowadays was look for Natsu.
But... He'd come back, right? He'd come back for her. That wasn't a dream.
Was it?
Slowly, Lucy sat up straight in her bed with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She looked around her darkened room. Nothing.
"Natsu?" she whispered.
Nothing.
She started shaking a little. She was cold.
"Natsu?" she said a little louder.
Still nothing.
Suddenly, she got scared. She wasn't wrong, right? He'd come back? He'd been right beside her just now.
Had he left again?
She raised her voice even further, still trying to keep it to a loud whisper in the night. "Natsu?"
"Hmm?"
She let out a relieved sigh at the sight of her best friend popping out of the bathroom. His hair was a tangled mess and he was wearing nothing but his pajama pants. He was having difficulty keeping his eyes open. It must really be late.
"What is it, Luce?" he asked, and he started walking back to the bed.
She was looking at him with wide eyes, as if he was a ghost or something. "Nothing," she whispered, finally, "Just a little cold."
But it wasn't nothing, was it? She looked like a deer in the headlights.
"Sorry," he mumbled as he got back into the bed beside her, climbing over her to get back to his spot next to the window, "I had to go to the toilet."
"That's fine," she told him quickly, "If you gotta go then you gotta go, right?"
She smiled at him from the other side of the pillow. She was always so great at putting up a brave face.
Natsu mumbled something incomprehensible and reached for her, winding his arms around her and pulling her towards his chest. He heard Lucy's breathing hitch, but he ignored it, instead resting his head on hers and securing her firmly against himself. This way, she couldn't see his expression either. That was good.
"This way you won't be cold, right?" he mumbled.
He was right about that. Natsu was like a small furnace in her bed, radiating as much heat as ever. There was no way she would be cold like this.
"No..." she told him softly.
"Then go back to sleep."
She nodded, and before long he could hear that her breathing had become calm and stable and she was back off to dreamland. Natsu just stared up at the ceiling. One of these days he would have to come to terms with how badly he'd hurt her by leaving. But with the scared look on her face still on his mind's eye, he knew that it sure as hell wouldn't be today.
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Even after a fair number of mornings, Natsu still hadn't gotten used to waking up with Lucy in his arms. It still felt like he was doing something he wasn't allowed to be doing and that whenever the girl woke up she would kick him out of her bed and call him a pervert or something.
With the kinds of thoughts he had in the mornings, he wasn't sure she shouldn't.
Lucy softly mumbled something in her sleep. Her hair was really beautiful in the morning light that streamed in through the half-open curtains. He was a little disappointed he couldn't see her expression. Lucy was incredibly cute when she was asleep.
He sighed to himself and tried to stop himself from just imaging her face, but it was hard not to think of Lucy when she was right there, wrapped up against him, clinging onto him like she was a body pillow.
And she smelled so nice. She always did, but it was harder to ignore in the mornings. She was so soft, too - her skin against his, so beautiful and smooth, and he wondered what it would taste like -
See? He was a pervert. Even after a night like this, when she'd so obviously been scared, he couldn't help but have these thoughts. He was really an idiot.
Lucy mumbled a little louder, now, and then let out a cat-like purr. He recognised it as the sound of her waking up. She pulled away from him a little bit so she could stretch one of her arms and yawn, her mouth opening wide as she let out the cutest of sounds. Like every morning, he focused on getting the starstruck expression from his face before she opened her eyes.
And, like every morning, she didn't look weirded out when she finally looked at him, so he figured he'd succeeded.
Lucy smiled at him. "Good morning."
"Morning."
She looked so content. So different from last night after he'd walked back into the room.
Natsu couldn't stop himself from reaching out his hand and gently running it through her hair. She looked a little confused, but didn't stop him or pull away. She actually seemed to enjoy herself, even.
He was so soft with her in the morning. She loved it.
"You weren't cold anymore after that, right?" he asked her softly.
Lucy shook her head. "Nope. You kept me nice and toasty. Thanks, Natsu."
"Yeah."
She inspected his face for a moment and he struggled to keep his expression blank.
"You're not very energetic today," she concluded.
"Guess I'm still sleepy."
She smiled at that. "Maybe we should just stay in bed?" she told him conspiritorially.
He smiled back. "When did you get so lazy, huh?"
"But it's so nice in here!"
She snuggled up against him again, wrapping her arms back around him and pressing her face to hist chest. He worried she'd hear how fast his heart was beating.
"Sleeping is for the night," he told her, "You can go back to sleep once today is over."
He hesitated for a moment.
"And then tomorrow morning it'll be just as nice as now," he added.
She pulled back a little to look at him.
It was as close as he could get to saying he would stay with her every night without completely embarrassing himself. She seemed to get it, anyway, because she sent her another one of her soft smiles.
"Yeah," she said, "You're right."