Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When one of Horologium’s keys had first come into Lucy’s care, he’d had multitudes of keyholders before, of course. He had never come across a Holder quite like Miss Lucy, however. A Holder who cared so deeply about her spirits and respected them and their contracts so thoroughly was incredibly rare. He was rather fond of her, at this point, and made sure to keep a watchful eye out for whenever she might be in true danger in the event he might be able to intervene in time. Using up all his magic energy this way so frequently for just one Holder had certainly gotten him a bit of a scolding from Horologium Super in the past, but he could not bring himself to mind much, not when he saw so much value in assisting her in any way he could.

Over time, their strong bond led to Horologium being quite in tune with any changes to his Holder’s wellbeing in general, not just her immediate danger levels. As such, he was quite early in his realization that the relationship between Lucy and Natsu had finally begun to deepen into something more than friendship, starting from just after they returned from the war. Natsu was clearly deeply moved by what she had done for him, rewriting his fate, and Horologium was acutely aware that she had only been able to do so in the first place by drawing from their deep bond and understanding of each other. Obviously, these feelings were nothing truly new, but Horologium could practically see the lightbulb click on above each of their heads as they each came to that realization on their own.

Horologium found himself once more frustrated by how little time humans had, and how much they tended to squander that time with silly things like “wondering if they feel the same.” He watched them spend months still after their mutual realizations, dancing around each other with blushing faces and stuttered excuses. Horologium would never admit it, but he may or may not have tried to usher things along by appearing when not strictly necessary to and confining them both to his chamber for a bit.

After all, Horologium quite liked Natsu - he found he rarely needed to step in if Natsu was around, as the dragon slayer was always keeping an eye on Lucy on the battlefield and would do pretty much anything to keep her ultimately safe, even if often he took a more roundabout approach than Horologium would prefer. He held very few reservations about this burgeoning development. Similarly, he knew the other Silver Keys also approved, as it had been a topic of frequent discussion amongst them.

Plue’s approval was never in question - he doesn’t really understand the whole human “dating” thing (or much of anything really), but knows that Natsu-Lucy-Friend is Nice. And Lucy-Owner Likes Natsu-Lucy-Friend. So that’s the end of the story for him, really.

Pyxis had been firmly in Natsu’s camp ever since he very calmly suggested his key be used while Lucy had a bit of a mental breakdown over being lost in the woods during an “easy” mission gone sideways. (She’d been pulling extra hours finishing up her book, and that had been the final straw for her sanity, it seemed). Pyxis valued both Natsu's even-keel and his memory.

Lyra was also easy to win over simply because Natsu never failed to remember her scheduled days when they happened to have downtime that coincided. He would suggest she be called while Lucy worked in particular, because Lucy loved her music and it helped keep her focused. What he didn’t realize was that her music was feeding entirely off of their feelings - she considered the two of them to be wonderful muses.

Crux barely woke up long enough to get an answer out when Horologium asked his thoughts once. A simple, “He’s a good one,” and he was back to snoring in seconds.

The Golden Keys, however, were a different story. They were fiercely protective of their Holder, even more so than Horologium sometimes, and with them all being much more involved in Lucy’s day-to-day life, it would take a bit more to convince them that he was “boyfriend material”.

‘Ah well,’ he thought, watching through his Earthland window as Lucy opened the door to Natsu and was quite adorably shocked by the handful of clearly freshly-picked flowers in a death grip in his hand, ‘I best warn them the time has come before they find out on their own.’ He closed his window and headed to call Virgo in order to get the word out in the most efficient way possible.

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Lucy could hear the girls snickering the next room over as she toweled off from her shower. “Nono Gray’s 100% gonna be the best dressed... for about 10 seconds, maximum,” Cana cackled, and Lucy heard Juvia’s flustered gasp even over the other girls’ laughter. “There’s no way it’s gonna be Natsu, even if he finally got his shit together - we all saw his idea of ‘dressing up’ at Lucy’s last release par-”

“Oww,” Levy cut Cana’s sentence off sharply, “Hey Cancer, that’s a little too tight with that curler, ok?” Lucy frowned at herself in the mirror. That was so unlike him. She was quickly distracted by the realization that her wet hair was dripping on the floor and groaned, pulling it up into a separate towel and heading out to the main room with a pout.

“Why so glum, Baby?” Cancer asked immediately, cuing into her disappointment before the others even registered her entrance. He’d always been able to read her like a book, she would never be able to hide it even if she actually wanted to.

“I forgot how long it's gonna take to dry my hair today without Natsu here...” she lamented, pulling on her undergarments behind her changing screen and begging her tights not to get a run on her and make her already bummed mood even worse.

“What's Natsu got to do with how fast your hair dries?” Cana asked, setting her flask to the side briefly to squint at her when she emerged again, this time with her tights and underdress in place.

Lucy laughed a little, “Oh it’s kinda a sweet story. Recently he noticed that I really don't like when it's wet and touching my shoulders, so he figured out how to dry it for me by warming his hands just enough and kinda pulling his fingers through my hair. It took some patience to figure out the right temperature, because he wanted to make sure he didn’t burn me by accident, but now it takes him like 5 minutes or so! It comes out soooo nice and is so convenient - it's gonna take like half an hour to dry with the towel. I’ll have to do my makeup and everything first I guess.”

“Natsu does this for you?” Erza asked, clearly bewildered, “Patiently?” Juvia and Levy on either side of her on the bed both had that same shine to their eyes, like they were swooning, which Lucy really didn't know how to handle, so she just nodded.

Mira practically shrieked, hands curled up into balls by her grinning face and mischievous eyes that reminded Lucy a bit of Happy when he was on a teasing streak, “And he hasn’t burnt you? Even a little? Because he was careful?” 

“You all are missing the most important piece of this story - you’re telling us he wasn’t totally oblivious and... noticed something? Without you telling him outright?” Lisanna tacked on before Lucy could get a word in edgewise, which had Wendy and Carla nodding along in aghast agreement.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply to the flood of comments, blushing a bit at their incredulity, but the response got stuck in her throat as Cancer was immediately behind her, tugging the towel loose from her head and inspecting her hair closely. “No damage, Baby. Not even a split end,” he reported, sounding just as taken aback as the girls.

With a huff, Lucy snatched her towel back and swatted at his arm with it before wrapping her hair back up, “Yeah, I know - I told you, he was careful. And he usually brushes out any tangles I missed too, you know I can’t always see the back when it’s this long. My hair has probably never been healthier, honestly.”

Cancer seemed to be in a bit of shock, simply blinking at her, arm still raised to where he'd held the strands of her hair. Lucy wasn’t exactly surprised - Cancer had always been a bit protective of her hair (she had a sudden memory of the scolding he gave her when she was 13 and decided to cut her own bangs because she was frustrated with them in her eyes and couldn’t track down Spetto) - but this seemed to be a bit more than just that. Even so, he seemingly shook it off quickly and went back to Levy, pinning her last roller into place while she continued to have what seemed to be an existential crisis.

“If you all really want to be surprised,” Lucy smirked, sitting down on the bed between Juvia and Erza and leaning in conspiratorially, really hamming it up in the face of their doubt, “Put my bet down for Natsu for best dressed - I reminded him two weeks ago about that old celestial suit Virgo gave him which has been sitting in his closet since the fight against the Oracion Seis, and it has mysteriously made its way to the front of the closet with a few repairs recently.”

She basked in the squeals and shrieks (and counter bet from a disbelieving Cana) for a bit, leaning back on her hands and grinning at the room, then made eye contact with Cancer and saw something shining there that she didn’t recognize, but made her heart just a bit lighter for some reason.

Her hair looked breathtaking that night, of course, despite the longer dry time, and she couldn’t help but notice Cancer chose pins to compliment the blue outfit Natsu did show up in perfectly - almost like he was placing a bet of his own.

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“No-Lucy. Lucy please don’t do that while I’m trying to get us home, it’s really distracting,” Natsu huffed, hiking her legs higher around his waist. “We only have a few blocks left, Luce, then you can do whatever you wanna do to my ears for whatever reason.”

Lucy somehow managed to giggle and slur at the same time, “Levy’s shexy books say that biting ears is hot. Do you think it’s- hic -it’s hot? This is for schience.”

“Honestly? I probably would if you were coherent and I wasn’t worried about dropping you,” Natsu replied, laughing a bit. It was a lot easier to handle Lucy when she had a bit too much to drink now that he knew that she did feel the same way about him, sober or drunk, and he could humor her a bit in order to get her cooperation. “You can jot that down later in your journal or whatever.”

He could feel her pout against his neck as she slumped, and now her breath was right against his pulse, and that was distracting for a whole different reason, “Won’t ‘member... Wait! I know!” Suddenly she sat straight up and leaned back, nearly knocking him off balance, “Gate of the hic- shit. Gate of - hic. Shtupid hiccups!” 

“Princess, may I be of assistance?”

“What the-” Natsu yelped, once again nearly losing his footing and needing to crouch to catch his breath while Lucy laughed like she was on the best roller coaster in the world.

“Apologies if I startled you Master Natsu,” Virgo intoned, not looking apologetic at all, while Natsu glared from his crouched position, “Princess seemed to be struggling a bit and I figured I would help by summoning myself.”

Lucy hummed, slumping once more against his back, and nodded furiously, “Yes yes I wanted.... I don’t know actually. Can’t ‘member. Oh well.” Natsu could feel her shrug and felt no small amount of relief that she wasn’t about to dictate her likely dirty thoughts to her spirit.

“Sorry for the hassle Virgo,” Natsu said with a sheepish grin, once more getting up and continuing the trek to Lucy’s apartment, “She’s a bit of a handful right now.”

Virgo did not close her gate just yet, falling into step beside him, and seeming to study him, “May I ask why you are up on the retaining wall, if you’re so concerned about dropping her?”

Natsu rolled his eyes playfully, hiking Lucy up again as she began waving enthusiastically and calling out to her “most favoritest boatman”. “Oh she insisted, said its her ‘tradition’ and I needed to ‘get with the program.’ When I warned her we could both be drinking river water she gave me those big eyes and said ‘You’d never drop me, would you?’ and well. That was that.”

“Brought shorts,” Lucy announced proudly, tuning back into the conversation as abruptly as she’d tuned out.

Virgo’s brow creased, “Brought shorts, Princess?”

“Mmhmm!” Lucy wiggled, hiking her skirt up to show the shorts she had underneath, and Natsu snorted again, enjoying the bewildered look on Virgo’s face. “Brought shorts! Cuz Cana said we were gonna get schwasted for her birthday and I came prepared.”

Virgo still looked baffled as she stepped to the side, leaving room for Natsu to hop down from the wall and cut across the street to the apartment, balancing Lucy with one arm and digging in his pocket for his spare key with the other. “I can probably explain a bit better than drunky here  - she asked me to pick her up the last time Cana planned a girl’s night, and she was a whiny baby about it when I told her we couldn’t do a piggyback cuz the wind was too bad and would blow her skirt up and she’d be upset about it in the morning. So this time-”

“Shorts!”

“Yeah Luce, you brought shorts to wear, good job.” He, Gajeel, and Gray had helped get the rest of the girls to their respective rooms in Fairy Hills before heading back to their own homes. At least last time Jellal had also been around to assist with herding cats, but he and Erza were off on a first official date Very Important Mission. Also, his traitorous best friend had flown off cackling to Wendy and Carla’s room the second he’d seen the chaos in the dorms. Natsu was thoroughly exhausted, but he couldn’t help his fond smile at his girlfriend as she hopped off his back and ran immediately for her desk the second they got through the door.

“OH! I remembered! I gotta write something down! It’s a secret shhhhhhh,” she faux whispered, digging through her notebooks and giving Natsu the least subtle wink of all time that she clearly intended to be seductive.

Virgo sidled up to him while he palmed his suddenly flaming face and nudged his side gently, giving him a look he couldn’t really decipher, “I’m going to dismiss myself now. Please have her let me know if she is in need of anything else, or if she would like to punish me for my insolence. But I assume you have this handled?”

He blinked at her, “Yeah, no worries Virgo, I’ve got her. Go uh... enjoy your night? Day? Whatever it is in the celestial world I guess.”

She grinned like the cat that got the canary just before she disappeared, so quick Natsu almost thought he didn’t see it. He shook it off and focused on getting a glass of water in Lucy before bed despite her newly realized obsession with seeing if she could get her lipstick on every part of his face.

[Two weeks later]

“Hey Luce?” Natsu called from her bedroom, staring down at the full drawer in front of him in confusion.

“Whuh?” Lucy called back from the bathroom, toothbrush dangling from her mouth.

“Where’d all these vests and pants and stuff come from? In my drawer?”

She spit out her toothpaste and dabbed her mouth clean before coming in, “Oh yeah, Virgo brought those for you the other day. She said you might appreciate having a few more options in your ‘preferred style,’ whatever that means. She’s so funny sometimes. Usually she only makes clothes for me.”

Natsu continued to stare down at the drawer, with its full rainbow assortment of outfits, and couldn’t help but feel like he’d passed some sort of test he didn’t even know he was taking.

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‘That’s it, just keep talking, jerk’ Lucy thought to herself as she once again inched closer to her whip which was just out of reach. She’d been cornered by this asshole for what felt like hours but she knew realistically it was likely closer to 10 minutes. Everyone else was occupied with other, more pertinent issues and she really, really didn’t want to be a distraction. Even Taurus was locked in against some sort of... gladiator? wizard from the underground dark guild they’d stumbled on during a “routine” mission, and her magic was running a bit too thin to even think about summoning anyone else right now, so it was just her and her Taurus star dress left to fend off the foe in front of her. 

“You know, princess, if you covered up a bit more and didn’t flaunt yourself like a damn floozy maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to get a ‘cheap hit’ in on you,” the slimy jerk sneered at her, yanking her attention back, still preening over the fact he’d managed to disarm her with a bit of a zap of what she thinks is some sort of light magic while she’d been keeping an eye on Taurus’ fight and getting into her Taurus stardress at the same time. “What’s with this costume anyhow? Do you ride the cowman or something?”

She almost managed to get her fingertips to the hilt of her whip, but she couldn’t manage to hold back her grunt of pain from where her inflamed skin had caught on a stray rock, unintentionally catching the attention of not only her assailant but also two hyper-aware pairs of eyes that suddenly locked onto her. “Aw, is the little slut still trying to win?” the object of her current detestation laughed, kicking the whip further out of her grasp, “Come on, beg me and maybe I’ll let you get a swing or two in before I put you down like the bitch you are.”

“LOOOOO-CY,” Taurus shouted, eyes wild, and his grip slipped a bit against the gladiator’s... axe... wand? Lucy really couldn’t tell what that lady’s deal was from where she was, but Taurus seemed devastated at not being able to run to her side.

He didn’t need to worry.

One moment Lucy was spitting at the loser’s feet, mentally steeling herself to lunge for the whip now that her cover of “too injured to move” was blown, and the next a supernaturally warm hand was around her waist, lifting her easily to her feet, and the other was handing her Fleuve d'étoiles back to her. She glanced over to where she was sure Natsu had been just a moment ago, nearly 200 yards away, and saw only a scorch mark where his foe had been previously. When she turned to look at him, his eyes were flickering with rage but the side of his lip quirked just a little as he met her gaze, totally ignoring the flustered wizard in front of them, “This guy botherin ya Lucy?” 

“Oh you know, same old same old. Loser has never seen a girl in a bikini before, apparently, the way he’s going on about it,” Lucy replied, playing along, and feeling like she was partially rejuvenated just by having him nearby. She steadied herself, trying to communicate just with her eyes, ‘I got this.’

‘I know,’ Natsu’s eyes said back, but out loud he said, “Well you should really tell him about the increased range of motion. Big plus, if you ask me.”

Lucy grinned, catching his meaning immediately, and her whip lashed out in less than a blink, wrapping around the padding the wizard had around his knees (gods this guy was so LAME). Lucy spun out of Natsu’s grip and yanked, pulling him off balance and dragging him towards her. She grabbed his collar and hauled him up, swinging him over her head once to build momentum before releasing him into the gladiator lady Taurus was facing off against, sending them both crashing into the wall. Then she crouched and, channeling her increased strength through her legs, launched herself over to the guy and stomped on his hand as he tried to regain his stance to fire another blast at her. Taurus was at her side in a second, hoisting the gladiator, unconscious from the impact of her teammate’s body to her skull, over his shoulder to bring her to the pile of others the rest of the team was forming as they wrapped up their battles as well. Natsu also seemingly appeared next to her, hauling the guy up and offering all-too-innocently, “You’re injured Luce, let me.”

Lucy raised a brow at him, not really buying the naivety act, but allowed him to carry the man over and headed over to help Wendy with the guy she was currently dragging across the field, leaving Taurus and Natsu alone.

As she left, Natsu’s demeanor shifted sharply, and he set the man down in front of him and set about getting magic blocker cuffs on him. “You know, you’re lucky she’s too nice. I’d have made you ash for what you said to her, what you called her.” Taurus stopped in his tracks and pivoted to watch, and saw the man squirming in Natsu’s grip. Taurus noted the cuffs were briefly bright red, and saw the evil wizard’s alarm level rise, “But I’ll respect her doing what she wants with you. Just know - I will be watching. And if you ever step a toenail out of line again - I will put you down.” He paused, and for a moment Taurus saw a flicker of the demon that was still a real part of Natsu's heritage, “Like the bitch you are.”

Taurus felt a level of respect he’d never felt for another man before. Maybe he’d even try to tone down his own comments about Lucy’s body from here on out.

Emphasis on try.