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Natsu & Lucy
At first, the dream seemed normal… A calm sea, the feel of the sun on her skin and the relaxation of a quiet vacation with herself.
And then, the nightmare started. The dam book in her hand again, the feeling of the evil pulsing through the letters, and Lucy’s desperation while writing. The nightmare progresses, writing becoming messier and slower, despite her efforts. She can hear Natsu’s screams echo through the wind, and Gray’s urging.
She fails.
Lucy fails and the book closes and disappears, and Natsu, brave, good, and cheerful exist no longer. Only a memory, as the distinct roars of E.N.D. awaken her from her dream.
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The blonde mage awakes with a startled scream, and before she can process anything, hot arms engulf her, and she is crying in his arms.
For the first time in forever, Lucy is glad that Natsu tends to occupy her bedroom at every given time. She used to not understand why he did it, but now, after everything with Alvarez, she finally can. The desperation of seeing your partner slip through your fingers, and the fear of losing them when you are not near to save them.
She sees it now, and secretly, is glad that he stuck to it even now.
His comforting words are lost on her, too busy crying and hugging him, too fearful of the nightmare still. Happy’s weight is on her too, hugging her middle, probably stuck between the two mages, but he doesn’t care, or at least, she doesn’t think he does.
It takes her too long for her to calm down, but when she does, Natsu doesn’t release her. The two of them go to bed, embracing still, and they close their eyes, not caring that their breaths mingle in the space between, too close, but at the same time, not close enough.
The next morning, Lucy wakes up slowly, and when she opens her eyes, Natsu is all she sees.
His pink hair is ruffled and messy, and his face is relaxed, not showing the big smiles and the bright eyes that she loves so much.
Lucy sighs.
Her feelings for the dragon slayer are no longer a secret, especially to her guildmates, but for whatever reason, they seem to escape the notice of the only person she cares for. Any other person would have resigned themselves, but Lucy has come to terms with it. She has liked him since he rescued her from Phantom and has been in love with him since Tenrou. It was impossible not to be.
Natsu was everything she was not supposed to like: Rambunctious, loud, messy, and dense. That had maintained her in denial for too long, but she couldn’t ignore that all those things couldn’t overshadow his amazing qualities: his loyalty, his cheerfulness and his intensity were some of those.
But for everything the dragon slayer possessed, a sense of romanticism wasn’t one. All the time spent together, and even if Lucy made it clear, he hadn’t caught on to her feelings.
“He is just too immature for it” Was Lucy’s rant when she had a girl’s night with her Fairy Tail friends.
“I don’t think he is. I think is something else.” Mirajane always intervenes with that phrase.
The white-haired mage is a defender of the boys in the guild for that matter, and she can make “excuses” for all of them.
“Gray is scared of caring and losing again…”
“Jerall doesn’t expect to ever deserve love again…”
“Gajeel thinks you will never forgive his actions in the past…”
And so on.
But for Natsu, it’s that phrase.
“In think is something else.”
Lucy doesn’t know what, but whatever it is Mirajane thinks, is grating on her nerves lately.
Especially when she awakens every day with his face so close to her. She just needs a little movement, and she would be kissing those chapped lips she desires so much.
But of course, she doesn’t. Firstly because he is asleep, and secondly because she doesn’t want to unbalance their relationship if that means losing him forever.
Better friends than strangers.
The quiet moment stops when Natsu opens his eyes, and Lucy smiles softly. She can’t help it.
“Good morning, Luce.”
“Good morning Natsu. Do you want breakfast here or in the guild?”
The dragon slayer smiles and points to the kitchen.
“You make the best spicy eggs Luce.”
Now that was a compliment, and Lucy was not going to forget that anytime soon.
After breakfast (spicy eggs with bacon for Natsu and her and fried fish for Happy) the three go about their day, going to the guild and having a nice day.
It was almost idyllic, at least in Lucy’s mind. And calm.
She should have known…
“What do you mean you are selling the building!”
Lucy was currently at the door, and the landlady smiled politely.
“They offered a lot of money, and I said yes. They are moving at the end of the week. I am sorry Lucy, but I am old, and the money allows me to go live near my son.”
That last sentence made Lucy sigh. She understood that, especially since her landlady’s son had moved to Magarett a year ago and it was too far to travel continuously.
“You have been a good tenant Miss Lucy, and I am sorry.” Lucy smiled a little at that.
“It’s okay. Thank you for all those years. I’ll start taking my things out tomorrow morning.” With that, the old landlady left, surely going to prepare her stuff for the journey.
When Lucy closed the door, she sighed. What was she supposed to do now? She had loved having her little apartment, and yes, in an emergency she could go to Fairy Hills, but the rent… If 80000 jewels were difficult to achieve every month with her team’s usual destructiveness, 100000 jewels would be impossible!
And even if she could raise that money every month, Fairy Hills had two things she couldn’t accept now:
1) Shared bathroom. (She was just too fond of the privacy of a tub for herself!)
2) A prohibition of men in the rooms.
The second one was of special concern to Lucy. She knew that Erza didn’t know about the nightly incursions into her bedroom, and if she ever found out she would not be happy with Natsu’s habit of coming onto her bed every night. And yet, even if the presence of Titania would provide helpful in ensuring her privacy on that matter, Lucy couldn’t lie to herself and say that she would be happier without those two in her house. And it wasn’t always sleeping! Natsu and Happy would just hang out with her in the afternoon, simply doing their own thing, or playing with her, or talking and laughing.
She will not sacrifice that!
“What am I supposed to do?” She sighed to herself, still looking at her closed door.
“You are talking to yourself! Weirdo!”
Lucy would have probably attacked the cat for that phrase, but she just looked at the two. Happy was circling her lamp, giggling to himself, and Natsu was sitting on her bed, with the open window (it wasn’t open a few minutes ago) still on his hand.
“I was just complaining you cat!”
“What happened Lucy?” She must have been making a poor attempt at concealing her troubled mind if even Natsu could pick upon it.
“The landlady sold the house and is moving to Magarett. I have two days to find another place to live.”
Happy, who was still flying over her, made a surprised noise and drop himself into her arms.
“What are you going to do Lucy?” The blonde sighed again.
“I don’t know Happy. Two days is so little time, and if I take a room in Fairy Hills, you two would not be allowed to come in as you do…”
“Why would you take a room in Fairy Hills?”
Lucy looked surprised at Natsu. The face of the wizard, just as she was expecting by the tone of the question, was serious. That confused her even more. Natsu was rarely serious, so every time he was, Lucy knew something was truly making him either sad or angry.
“In two days it will be almost impossible to find a place to live….” Happy nodded along with her, almost in mockery of Natsu.
But the pink-haired mage pointed at her still serious.
“Lucy, you don’t need to find another place to live… You already have a home.”
The blonde looked at the cat in exasperation. Of course, Natsu wouldn’t get it… She knew the dragon slayer to be a man of routine, almost a hater of change, so the fact that she wasn’t going to have her same place was going to put him in that attitude.
“Natsu, I told you… My landlady sold the house.” Natsu stopped her.
“I know that, but Lucy, you don’t need to find any other place.”
She just looked at him, expecting, but he wasn’t saying anything else.
“What do you mean Natsu?”
“Come live with me Lucy.”
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.
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If anyone would have told Lucy Heartfilia that she would accept to be living with Natsu and Happy in their house, she would have probably bashed them in the head. But now, looking at the cabin, she just had to laugh.
“Natsu, what happened to your house?”
Calling the structure a house sounded like a joke. She remembered the first time she had come, but the disaster she found the first time, was nothing like what she was seeing right now.
For starters, the house was in ruins. The structure seemed fine at first glance, but once you actually look at it, you could see that the windows were broken and that vegetation was the only thing holding the roof together. And Lucy was sure that if she looked a little bit more, she would find a thousand more things.
“The house got destroyed by Alvarez last time, and well… We have been so busy…” The excuse seemed almost a joke, but knowing Natsu, Lucy just knew it was true.
“So this is why you have been at my house almost every day…”
Lucy felt only a little bit hurt about it.
Natsu looked at her, and she swore he was going to say something, but Happy chose that moment to intervene.
“You just make fish better Lucy….”
She laughed and looked at the ruins. It was early morning, so they had two days to have the house up to speed…
“Maybe we should call our friends…”
Thankfully, their friends had only laughed a second when she asked them for help (they thought she was joking) but once the blonde had explained the situation, almost every member of Fairy Tail was on board with helping (especially Mirajane). And with their help of them, the house looked better than she could have ever imagined in record time.
It even had more rooms! It had a kitchen, a living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom with a tub which was almost a dream come true for Lucy. Happy and Natsu on the other hand, were ecstatic with the new board of missions that now encompassed the far wall of the living room, and the huge shelf (a gift from Laki) that had everything from their missions.
It almost looked perfect.
But through the process, Lucy had a nagging feeling of anxiety. The living together with Natsu part hadn’t escaped her mind, and she was expecting to be nervous about it, but the more she thought about it, the easiest it was for her to feel comfortable.
It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to the mage around her!
So when the moment finally came, and the last member of the guild went away, Lucy looked at the dragon slayer, that was looking with Happy at the board (they have been doing that for almost an hour, it was honestly endearing) and went into her room.
She should have expected that the living together thing was not going to be enough for I-sneak-into-your-bed-every-night-Natsu, but she was honestly surprised when she opened her eyes that first morning and he was hugging her as tightly as ever.
Lucy was expecting that the bed thing was because he wanted to be near her in case of emergency, but even if they lived in the same house (and the two bedrooms were separated by a little hallway) Natsu seemed to like her bed better. Maybe it was the bed itself…
Trying not to wake him, Lucy shimmied out of bed and quietly took her clothes for the day. She hadn’t used the tub yet, and her body was itching for a good hot bath.
The feeling of the water on her body was enough to send her into heaven. Or at least as close to it as Lucy had ever been. Her muscles started relaxing and even his eyes started to close as a result of it…
“LUCY!”
The yell made her jump almost to her feet in fright, and a second later Natsu was in the bathroom, looking scared out of his mind.
“Natsu! What is it? Is everything all right?”
But he didn’t answer. The mage just advanced towards her and in a swift movement, he had her between his arms.
He was hugging her.
Correction. He was squeezing the life out of her.
Lucy didn’t understand. He was almost vibrating with the force of the hug he was giving her.
“Natsu, are you okay?”
“I woke up and you were not in the bed. I couldn’t smell you either… I was so scared Luce, I thought you left me.”
Lucy’s eyes welled up with tears.
“Natsu, I am not going to leave you. Not now, and not ever. You are stuck with me forever, you weirdo.”
Lucy should have supposed that saying that would have a reaction from the enthusiastic dragon-slayer, but she was not expecting him to throw himself more in the hug, making her lose her balance and quickly slip on the new tub.
At least Natsu’s reflexes have been good and in a surprise move, the two of them were on the water, but neither with an open head due to the fall. That would have sucked.
And well, once she was on the water, she remembered… She had been taking a bath, and she was currently naked, still hugged by an almost naked dragon slayer.
Her first impulse was to cover herself, so she hugged him even stronger, trying to hide her body with his. The gasp on Natsu should have alerted her, but she was too busy with her own shame to realise that he was in fact, blushing and looking the other way.
Of course, just her luck.
“Lucy, please stop moving.”
She hadn’t realised she had kept on moving, and she was rubbing against him. Lucy almost swore her blush was going to stay on her face forever.
“I’m sorry…” Natsu chuckled, almost nervously.
“I’m sorry, I’ll let you finish your shower.” And with a speed she had only seen in his battles, the dragon slayer disappeared from the bathroom, leaving her with a thousand questions and a blush travelling through her collarbone.
Lucy had imagined Natsu on a romantic level. Of course, she had. After all, she was in love with him. But every time she did, she felt a little guilty. Natsu seemed so innocent half the time, that her musings always ended with her feeling like a pervert, and she would quickly finish that train of thought, too preoccupied with their status as best friends to consider anything else.
But after the incident with the tub, she just couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The fact that Natsu didn’t seem to find anything out of the ordinary and acted like everything was the same almost discouraged her from asking anything and pretending like this was normal. But Lucy just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen if she ignored it.
He would never look away from her in that kind of situation. She would know, after all, she would end up in that kind of situation with him almost twice every year. It had been almost a year now since the last, so it was almost time for their next weird-Lucy-is-naked-encounter, but for the first time since they know each other, he had looked away.
Lucy just didn’t understand.
So she resorted to going to the only person that could help her figure out her mind. Levy.
Her blue-haired friend had been the first to point out her obvious feelings for the dragon slayer, and she knew the celestial wizard too much. She had also been the one to figure out that yes, she loved Natsu, and yes it was probably about time she talked to him. But Lucy had been too much of a coward for that, so she didn’t.
If anyone could help her figure out her mind right now, it was going the be the script mage.
The bad news? Levy had taken a job with Gajeel and Lily for at least a whole week, so Lucy resigned herself to waiting for her friend to come back.
“We could take on a mission… What do you think Lucy?” Natsu, said, taking her away from her musings.
The blonde nodded, strapping her keys on her belt, and getting up from the table they had been having breakfast on. She was itching for a new job, and even if she wasn’t as preoccupied with rent as before, she could do with a little more money for groceries and clothes.
A quick easy job would make her feel normal with his partner too…
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.
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Lucy could hear the screaming of Natsu, still detained in the magic of the enemy, even if the man was currently struggling to hold himself. Lucy knew she just needed a few more minutes and her opponent would pass out. But after a sea of defeated enemies, her magic levels were low and she could no longer sustain two spirits simultaneously.
Her star dress, currently Capricorn, was starting to twinkle, and she knew, she only had a last effort.
It had all started normally. The request asked for a fire mage to melt an ice lock in a haunted hotel, but the moment they arrived, they were attacked. Two dark guilds had combined their strengths in order to reign a ghost town, and they were planning on stealing from a cursed ice vault. But for that, they needed a fire mage.
Natsu had been captured almost at the beginning, and it was up to Lucy to combat the two guilds. She had done so flawlessly.
At first, Natsu was more pissed about missing the fight, but when he started realising that Lucy was almost out of magic, he began to look frenetic, and the blonde mage knew that she didn’t have a lot of time to finish the fight before he started hurting himself against the contention spell wall.
The mage looked at her with fury in his eyes, and even if she could do little, she channelled all her magic and strength, into her whip.
A crack in the air, and a scream, and the man fell to his knees. His face is contorted with pain. She had won.
But not before he fired the last spell. It was not very powerful, and in other circumstances, she could have easily dodged it, but Lucy was too preoccupied with her last move to do it.
The magic hit her on her left side, and even if it was not much, the wizard had managed to pull his move as a drill against her. Lucy felt the blood beginning to stain her dress. If she was any less tired, she could worry about the hours it would take for the blood to come out of there.
But at that moment, Lucy could care less, and she fell to the ground, clutching her side.
She may have passed out for a few minutes because when she comes out of the fog in her head, it’s to Natsu crying and screaming her name. His face is on top of hers, searching franticly for her gaze, and when she focuses on his, she knows.
And she kisses him.
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She could blame it on the adrenaline of the battle, or on the blood loss and Lucy knows that if he pulls away, she will muster all her heartbreak into one of those excuses.
Because she knows that if she doesn’t, she will lose him forever.
Luckily, she doesn’t need the excuse, because the moment her lips touch his, Natsu clings to her, and doesn’t hold back.
He kisses as he fights. All his might is poured into that kiss, and for a few minutes, that is all that matters to Lucy.
She could honestly stay like that forever, but the soft giggle from up reminds her that they have an audience.
“You liiike each other!”
Lucy looks at the cat with a happy smile, not caring about the old expression. Of course, he would say that. She is almost tempted to say something to the cat, but Natsu is quicker.
“Of course we do Happy.”
Later they will talk, and Lucy will confess her feelings for him, and Natsu would do the same (turns out he had been in love with her for just as long), and they would talk about a thousand things and make promises about their future together.
But at that moment, Lucy just takes him by the scarf and kisses him again.