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Lucy lay awake in her tent, sleep failing to claim her as she stared blankly at its roof, running her fingers idly over the edge of her blanket. She had too much on her mind to sleep, or maybe she didn’t. Maybe she had no thoughts at all to help her sleep.
Maybe. But she didn’t know.
Happy curled closer into the side of her neck, his tail tickling her collarbone with its constant flicking as he dreamed. He was more a cat in rest than he was awake, restless as he constantly moved about, from her waist to her stomach then atop her head to down by her feet then now nestled in the crook of her neck.
He purred out something unintelligible, claws poking out and just barely scratching her skin as Lucy tried to slip away. His eye cracked open by a sliver when she started to move but barely registered her leaving him, pulling himself fully onto her pillow with a sleepy huff, curling up again for sleep to take him in a matter of seconds.
She chuckled at his antics with a light smile on her face, crawling out from the tent and straightening. She grunted softly, cracking her spine as she stretched her arms high above her head, rolling her shoulders just so to get rid of those kinks that had formed over night.
The crisp air made goose flesh prickle on her skin and she gratefully pulled more into her lungs, not realizing how still and heavy the air inside her tent had been. She welcomed the chilly change in wake of her lost sleep.
It was almost morning, but night hadn’t let up its grip on the sky just yet, still inky black with stars where the treetops touched the sky but as she looked out beyond it started to lighten. It was that weird in between time, just tethered in a way that would tip in either direction if it had the choice.
He was easy enough to see in the twilight gloom propped up on the trunk of an old withered tree beside the ashes of the earlier fire, aimlessly dragging weakly lit fingertips through its remains. His eyes were glued to the dark horizon.
“Can’t sleep huh?”
She spotted the quirk of his lips at her question, wiping off his ash covered fingers on his chest. He waved off her concerned gaze when he winced, patting the patch of grass next to him.
The short blades scratched at her thighs but it wasn’t anything she wasn’t used to, her hand instantly to his chest. She prodded at Natsu lightly, fingers skimming over the sensitive bruise, stopping when he sucked in a weak breath.
“Still a bit sore.” He said lamely.
“This what’s keeping you up?” She asked, hand moving to rest comfortingly on his shoulder. He paused a bit, thinking of an answer.
“Yes. And no.” He clucked his tongue softly. “ I never fell asleep. Maybe it was the wounds from today, maybe it wasn’t. I just accepted that my brain wasn’t gonna let me sleep tonight.”
He wheeled on her suddenly with a childish pout, the corners of his lips pulled too far down and eyebrows drawn in together too close to be real.
“It’s being mean to me Luce!” He whined. Lucy hardly held back her snort, shoving him weakly as he guffawed heartily at her reaction, laughter infectious and pulling her in. It took some time for them to die down in hiccupy giggles.
“When are you gonna stop being so weird.” Lucy said, humour tinting her words. Chill air breezed over them, weakly tossing her hair about and into Natsu’s face. He paid it no mind, grin still on his face as he aimlessly twirled the strands between his fingers.
“When you stop being weirder than me.” Natsu wound the strands around a finger tightly, ash flakes fluttering away when he let go of the weak curl. “Which we both know is never gonna happen.”
He eased off the tree trunk with a grunt, slipping down to rest his head comfortably in her lap, curling on his side closer to her with a dopey grin, pulling at his cheeks and pushing his eyes near close.
He nosed at her shirt when she huffed in faux annoyance. His attempt to warm her didn’t go unnoticed under his cuddle guise. Natsu thought he was so slick sometimes.
“Anything in particular on your mind?” Lucy asked softly. She absently pulled at a few locks of his hair, the strands a strange silver in the fading moonlight, twirling them into the beginnings of a braid.
He always claimed to hate when she braided his hair but he never once tried to stop her.
“Kinda, I guess.” He let out a heavy breath against her shirt. She didn’t notice one of his arms had snaked around her middle, his fingers tapping absently on her side made her blink in surprise.
“Just little stuff. Today, yesterday. You, me. The guild, home. It’s weird, they’re all just kinda going through my head right now.” Natsu let out a weak snort. “Sounds kinda dumb now that I’ve said it out loud.”
Lucy hummed softly, deft fingers tucking a finished braid behind his ear, twirling more strands start another. A few leaves that still clung to the branches were rustled free, twirling down gently to land on the pair.
“Sounds like you have a lot thinking about.” She said. “And I’m just awake ‘cause of empty thoughts. We both got some weird reasons for staying up tonight huh?”
He made a noise in agreement. Natsu tugged the back of her shirt down from where it started to ride up. He toyed with its hem.
“Tonight just wasn’t meant for sleeping.” Lucy joked.
“ ‘less you’re Happy right now. Probably dreaming up the best grilled fish of his life without us.”
Natsu rolled over, disturbing Lucy’s braiding, a wry smile working its way to his lips at her disgruntled look. He rumbled out a laugh when she poked and pulled at his cheeks, squishing his face in revenge when he started to laugh even harder, the sound echoing in the air.
Cold light filtered through the gloom, soft pale yellows breaking through the night’s last hold. Lucy snorted when he stuck out his tongue at her, looking ridiculous with his face all smooshed up between her hands like that.
“Hey, you know what?” She asked
“What?” The word sounding weird and silly when it left him.
“Even though I didn’t get any sleep, I’m glad this could happen.”
Narsu reached up and tangled his fingers in her hair that started to fall into his eyes. Lucy let her hold on his face ease up, just lightly cupping his cheeks.
“Glad you could beat up on me?”
“No. That I could be dumb with you. It was worth the lack of sleep.”
She leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his, smoothing her thumbs over his cheeks with a smile. Natsu smiled too, twirling a few strands loosely between his fingers.
“Yeah.” He mumbled softly. “ I’m glad too.”