Archive of Our Own

If there was one thing that Natsu Dragneel knew, it was that he loved gold.

It wasn’t his fault—it was in his nature! Every dragon loved keeping valuables in their hoard. Besides, it wasn’t as if gold was such a weird thing to stockpile. In fact, he knew another dragon who liked keeping metal of all things. How weird was that?

When Natsu wasn’t out finding shiny things, he was usually going fishing with his friend, Happy. As far as he knew, every dragon had a flying cat that stayed with them.

Natsu’s was currently making fun of him.

“Natsu, you need to go hunting for treasure again!” Happy whined. “Your hoard looks pathetic!”

Because Natsu was currently in his human form, he was able to cross his arms indignantly before sticking out his tongue before replying.

“No it doesn’t! I have the best hoard in this entire country! Actually, scratch that. The entire world.”

Happy looked less than convinced, shooting him a side eye. His blue fur reflected the light of the fire Natsu kept in the corner of the cave in order to keep him warm as he flew to the top of the giant pile and inspected the size. He picked up a golden goblet, made an unimpressed face, and then dropped it back onto the pile with a lack of care. Natsu’s skin prickled as he watched Happy handle his things so roughly, but he didn’t say anything about it.

Happy asked, “When was the last time you added new things to it?”

Natsu twisted his face in thought before his shoulders sagged.

“Two weeks ago…”

When Happy let out a bark of laughter, all Natsu could do was glare. The exceed waited until his laughter had dissipated into a small chuckle before replying.

“Come on, Natsu! I’ve been doing my part.”

Happy pointed to a pile of raw fish in the corner, prompting Natsu to frown.

“But I also contributed to the fish pile!”

“So? Listen, we need to have a super cool hoard to impress Charla! She’ll never love me if this cave isn’t stuffed floor to roof with diamonds.”

Natsu scrunched his face up. Diamonds were okay, but gold was far better—an important nuance that was lost on Happy. And Natsu only wanted to bring the coolest stuff to his cave. After all, he had limited space, and he didn’t feel like using his claws to carve out more space in the cave. He always had dirt stuck underneath his claws and nails for weeks!

Happy seemed to sense Natsu’s hesitation because he eventually crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air. Natsu didn’t catch him peeping down at him through a barely-opened eyelid.

“Whatever. You just don’t want to because you can’t. You’ve lost your spark, Natsu.”

Happy forced himself not to smirk as he saw Natsu’s eye twitch.

“That’s not true! I’m the coolest dragon that there is!”

“I dunno…” Happy drawled. He hopped into the air before flying down to Natsu so he could float eye-level with Natsu. “I heard Gajeel found a giant statue for his hoard. We don’t have anything like that.”

“Who needs some lame-ass statue? I could find something totally better, and I’m gonna prove it to ya!”

Natsu had already begun running to the edge of the cave’s cliff, Happy trailing behind. Happy watched as Natsu positioned himself in a squat before his skin started to harden. Within a few seconds, the hard skin had formed into bright red scales, and his body began to stretch and morph. Two giant wings jutted out from his back before the rest of his body joined suit.

Truth be told, transforming was always a painful process. Natsu could feel every bend and stretch of his bones, but he didn’t want to ask Happy to fly him anywhere in his human form right now. He needed to prove just how cool he was.

The now fully transformed dragon looked behind him to shoot Happy a threatening glare. Happy, being used to it, didn’t feel scared at all. He knew what it meant—Natsu would be back with the coolest, shiniest new treasure for his hoard.

With that, Natsu took off into the air, leaving a large gust of wind behind him. Happy’s fur bristled as he watched Natsu soar to somewhere far away.

If I were gold, where would I be hiding? Natsu thought. The towns he normally pillaged were running out of things to give him, and he had explored all nearby caves to their brim. Nasu flew for miles and miles without finding even a single nugget of something gold.

Just when he was considering finding something other than gold that was shiny, he spotted it from the corner of his eye: a giant castle that he’d almost missed because it was tucked behind a mountain. Steam rolled from Natsu’s nose as he breathed out happily. Immediately, he made a giant curve, twisting in the direction of the castle.

As he got closer to it, he realized how big it truly was. The walls were made out of a light yellow material, causing Natsu’s mouth to nearly salivate. Surely something that yellow had to have some gold tucked away in there somewhere!

He flew over the small village next to the castle, ignoring the familiar sounds of screams of fear and alarm bells he heard ringing below him. Natsu had his eyes on the prize, and he wasn’t going to let it go.

Natsu perched on one of the giant fortified circular towers on one corner of the castle. He peeked down into the window, letting out a huff of frustration when his eye was met with the sight of a man naked in the bathroom. The man let out a scream, falling onto his ass onto the cold tile floor. Natsu ignored him as he looked into another window, frowning when all he saw was a kitchen.

Window by window, Natsu peeked inside only to be met with the sight of everything except what he actually wanted. He was about to give up on this useless castle when he snagged a blur of yellow.

It was on the balcony, blowing in the wind like golden threads. For a moment, Natsu simply paused to take it in. It had to have been the most precious gold he’d ever seen. He’d never thought it was possible to spin thread like gold, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that it wasn’t just there—it was attached to someone’s head! Well, that simply wouldn’t do. Natsu flew over to the balcony and stuck his claws inside the wall, holding himself up. The woman, who was hoarding his gold, spun around and let out a scream that hurt his ears. Her pink dress flowed with the wind from his flapping wings.

The wind also caused some of the threads on her head to blow in her face, forcing her to brush them out of the way as she backed away. Her back hit the balcony’s fencing, causing her to stop in her tracks with a grunt. Her covered eyes meant she couldn’t see, so she had to use one hand to steady herself in order not to trip.

As she struggled to catch herself, Natsu realized that it wasn’t just thread attached to her head. It was her hair! How the hell was he supposed to get that off of her? Maybe if he turned into a human and asked her nicely…

He didn’t have too much time to dwell on it. A loud boom caught his attention, and he turned to find a giant boulder flying past his head. Natsu narrowed his eyes at the catapult that had just been fired. The soldiers controlling it were moving it into a position—one that would surely hit its target this time.

As much as Natsu would have loved to stay and fight, he couldn’t give his prize the chance to run away. He grabbed the woman in his claws, rolling his eyes as she let out an earth-shattering scream.

“Let me go, you beast!” she screeched.

Natsu ignored her pleas while he pushed off the castle, the bricks coming loose and falling to the ground behind him. He flew above the catapult, just low enough so he could knock it off the tower with his tail. The soldiers yelled out as they jumped to the side, not wanting to get smacked. Natsu smirked as he flew away.

“I said let me go, you… you…!” The woman was struggling in his claw as she tried to think of an insult. Eventually, she settled on, “Just put me down!”

Was this girl an idiot? If Natsu let go of her, she’d fall to her death, considering they were hundreds of feet in the air. And who knows what would happen to her golden hair if her body hit the ground? Natsu wasn’t risking it.

To his surprise, she struggled for the entire trip, yelling out a series of colorful curses that were so creative they almost had Natsu impressed. However, he’d heard far worse from the likes of Gajeel.

Eventually, Natsu made it home. As he approached the cave, he heard the girl cry out something about crashing into the wall, which made Natsu roll his eyes once more. He was really getting tired of the yelling!

The screams grew louder as he flew full speed into the cave, transforming in the air. The girl cried out as she was suddenly flung into the air, no longer able to hold onto any of Natsu’s claws, but he made sure to catch her in his arms before she fell to the ground. He expertly landed on his feet before looking down at her, frowning as she covered her eyes and shook in fear.

“What’s your problem?” Natsu asked, causing her to quickly remove her hands from her face.

She scanned his face, blinked in surprise, and paused.

Then she punched him in the face.

Natsu let go of her and let her fall on her ass so that he could cradle his throbbing cheek, stumbling back as she scrambled to her feet and glared at him. She held out her hands protectively as she took several steps back.

“Who the hell are you?” she snapped, her bangs falling over her face. Now that she was stationary, Natsu could see how long it was. It fell over her shoulder all the way to her navel, rubbing against the soft fabric of her dress. Natsu resisted the urge to walk up to her and play with it.

Instead, he chose to introduce himself.

“I’m Natsu!” he said, annoyed at the attitude he was receiving.

Her face twisted in anger.

“Well, Natsu,” she spat, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing stealing me away, but my father won’t be paying you a single penny to get me back!”

Natsu blinked. “Uh, okay? Why would I want a single penny?”

Pennies were useless to him in general, but just one was even more useless. In fact, it would actively taint his beautiful hoard of gold.

“I didn’t mean a literal single penny. It’s an expression!” the girl said. “I just meant that my father isn’t going to pay you anything, so your little kidnapping scheme is pointless.”

“I don’t want anything from your father,” Natsu replied as she raised a brow in confusion.

The girl paused for a moment before her posture relaxed ever-so-slightly.

“You don’t?”

“No.”

“Then why the heck did you kidnap me!?”

Natsu crossed his arms. “I didn’t kidnap you. I kidnapped your hair.”

“...Excuse me?”

Natsu sighed as he motioned toward her hair. The woman opened her mouth to ask another question, but Happy flew in from a deeper room in the cave.

“Natsu, you’re home! Did you—Who’s that?”

Happy stopped in his tracks the moment he saw the blonde woman Natsu had collected. Upon hearing his voice, the woman spun around and let out another shriek. Natsu covered his ears as she let out a series of incoherent noises.

“W-What the hell are you!? A talking cat!?”

“Good for you—your eyes work,” Happy said sarcastically before flying over her to get to Natsu. The woman stumbled backward until her back collided with the wall, shaking like a rabid dog. Her eyes were wild as her gaze flitted back and forth between the pair in front of her.

Happy then ignored the scared woman and asked Natsu, “Who the heck is she?”

“I don’t know if she has a name, but I got her for the hoard!”

“Why would we want a person for the hoard?”

“It’s not her we want, Happy. It’s her hair!” Natsu pointed to the pretty tresses of yellow flowing from her scalp. “Look, it’s made of gold!”

Happy flew to the woman, who angrily swatted him away as she grabbed her hair protectively. Instead of celebrating with Natsu, Happy only grimaced.

“Natsu, this isn’t gold. It’s just normal hair!”

He reached out to take a strand with his paw, but the woman stepped away, furrowing her eyebrows. She glanced at Natsu curiously as he took a few steps towards her.

“That’s not true! Look how bright it is.”

The woman was caged between Natsu and the wall, allowing him to take some of her hair between his fingers. He was delicate, since he knew that being too rough might break his treasure. However, when the pads of his fingers felt the material under his fingers, he scrunched his nose.

“What the hell? This is just hair!”

To Natsu’s surprise, the woman snatched her hair from his fingers as she pushed him away. Considering how strong he was, he didn’t go very far, but he did have to stumble back to regain his balance.

“You idiot!” the woman cried. “You kidnapped me because you thought my hair was gold?”

Natsu’s eyes widened. Humans were normally too terrified to give him backtalk. They either ran for the hills or fought him (which never worked out in their favor).

Then he narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arm after realizing she had just insulted him.

“It was an honest mistake!”

“No it isn’t, dumbass!”

Happy chimed in with, “She’s right, Natsu.”

“Happy, why are you siding with her?”

“Okay, both of you just shut up!” the woman said. She turned so she could focus on Natsu. “Listen, there’s been some sort of mistake. I’m just a normal human with normal hair.”

“I’ll say,” Natsu muttered in disappointment. He was ignored as the woman tried to smile politely. It wasn’t convincing, if the vein bulging on her forehead meant anything.

“So, can you please just take me back home? My father and the guards have surely noticed that I’m missing by now, and I don’t want any problems.”

Natsu shook his head. “What are you saying? I can’t let you go now.”

“What? Why?”

“Because now you know where my cave is! If I let you go, who knows who you’ll tell? Someone might come and try to take my hoard, and I’m not taking any risks.”

“What if I promise not to tell anyone?” she tried.

“Oh! In that case—”

“Don’t fall for it Natsu!” Happy interrupted. “She’s lying!”

Her smile fell. “Shut it, you stupid cat! I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Wait, you’re right, Happy!” Natsu replied. He shook his head at the woman. “No way. You’re staying here.”

The woman groaned and collapsed to the floor, burying her face in her hands. Natsu and Happy exchanged a confused glance before she bit her lip in an effort not to cry.

“So, what now? You eat me?”

Natsu and Happy both gagged.

“Ew, no!” Natsu said. “That’s disgusting. How about… we make you our maid?”

“That’s a great idea, Natsu! We need someone to clean up this mess.”

The woman shouted, “Hell no! I am not being your maid. I am Princess Lucy Heartfilia, and my father, King Jude Heartfilia, will be coming to save me any minute now!”

“‘Princess’?” Natsu repeated, which earned him a smug grin from the blonde. He looked her head to toe before shrugging. “You don’t look like a princess.”

She crossed her arms. “Excuse me?”

“Well, you’re a bit heavy—”

Natsu was promptly slapped in the face.

The next two days were spent with the girl, whose name Natsu had already forgotten, going on a hunger strike. Natsu and Happy tried to feed her some of their fish, but she would merely scrunch her face in disgust and turn the other way, sticking her nose in the corner of the cave. Natsu shrugged and ate her portion himself, downing the slimy fish in one bite.

She also insisted on taking one of the rooms he had dug out down a long hallway deep into the cave. How selfish was that? Apparently, women ‘needed privacy’ or something like that. What a load of bogus.

It was the second night of the girl being there when Natsu awoke to the sound of quiet feet on the ground. Natsu sat up from he and Happy’s spot on the floor next to the fire, and rolled his shoulder, turning to look where the sound was coming from. He was so groggy that he almost missed it, but he saw a black shadow brightly outlined by the moon. It wasn’t hard to figure out it was a person, and Natsu had a feeling he knew who it was.

She was tiptoeing towards the entrance of the cave, holding her dress up so it didn’t drag across the ground. Natsu was almost impressed by how far she’d managed to get before alerting him. Keyword: almost.

All it took was one big leap for him to soar in the air over her head before landing right in front of her. She let out a tiny screech—like a little mouse or something—as she placed a hand on her chest, no doubt to stop her racing heart. Natsu watched her emotions change in rapid succession before her face eventually adopted an annoyed one.

“Ugh. Why are you awake?”

“I should be asking you that,” Natsu shot back, placing his hands on his hips. “Happy told me girls need beauty sleep.”

She rolled her eyes, her light blonde strands blowing from the cold, night wind. Now that he was looking at her face, Natsu could see how big and round her eyes looked. If he leaned in close enough, he could probably make out the reflections of stars like they were against a mirror.

He didn’t realize he had actually been leaning in until the girl shoved him away and crossed her arms. God, Natsu was getting really sick of that.

“I don’t know where you think you’d even be escaping to. You have no shoes,” Natsu pointed out. The girl looked down at her toes as if she hadn’t even realized she was barefoot before waving a dismissive hand.

“W-Whatever! I’m tougher than I look. A few rocks and sticks wouldn’t have stopped me.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Natsu wasted no time picking the girl up and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She kicked and fought and yelled, but Natsu’s grip on her hip was too firm. He brought her to the fire and set her down a little harsher than he meant to. The woman rested her cheek in her palm with a pout.

What was her name again? Oh, right.

“Listen, Luigi, I don’t want you here either. I just wanted to get gold for my hoard! But now that you’re here, it’s either you stay so you don’t yap to other people about where my hoard is or I kill you. Trust me, I don’t want to have to do that.”

It was true. Luigi was annoying, but she was still innocent. However, a dragon’s hoard was their most prized possession, and Natsu wouldn’t give his away for anything or anyone. Especially not a princess who could raise an army against him if she wanted to.

Luigi looked at Natsu blankly for a few seconds before huffing.

“My name is Lucy.”

‘Lucy’ didn’t say anything else before turning so her back was to Natsu and lying down. Unsurprisingly, Happy hadn’t woken up through the entire exchange—that cat could sleep through an earthquake when his stomach was full.

The next day, Lucy didn’t utter another word to Natsu or Happy. That was fine by Natsu! He’d grown quite sick of her screaming in his ear every two seconds.

He had a feeling that she was going to try and sneak out again, so he forced himself to stay awake that night. When he heard the familiar sound of bare feet padding against the ground, he cracked an eye open to find Lucy’s silhouette heading towards the entrance again.

This girl was annoying.

Natsu noisily pushed himself to his feet with a huff, which caught Lucy’s attention. She spun around on the ball of her foot, shooting him a shocked stare as he sleepily wandered over to her.

“Seriously?” Natsu asked as he wiped his tired eyes. “You’re trying to escape again?”

Lucy pursed her lips and puffed her cheeks a little. “No, I was just going to look at the stars!”

Natsu scrunched his nose and tilted his head a little bit at her reply. Watch the stars? Why would anyone want to do that? As far as Natsu knew, they were just bright lights in the sky that served no real purpose.

When he voiced his thoughts to Lucy, she looked at him in horror.

“‘No purpose’? Why do I need a reason to look at something beautiful?”

“Stars aren’t beautiful. They’re just random little dots!”

Lucy huffed before grabbing Natsu’s arm and dragging him towards the edge of the cliff. For a split second, Natsu thought she was trying to commit a murder-suicide by throwing both of them off the side (not that it would hurt for Natsu that much), but she simply plopped down so her legs were hanging over the side. She patted the spot next to her and looked at Natsu expectantly.

Even though he was confused, he followed her silent instructions. He sat down so close to her that their knees rubbed together. Lucy scooted away from him before looking at the sky with a smile.

“Stars aren’t just ‘little dots’, Natsu! You know, sailors use them as a navigation tool.”

“Really?”

Natsu should have been annoyed at how much that interested him. He felt like he could remember his father mentioning that he used to do something similar, but Natsu was always too busy drawing pictures in the mud with a stick to pay attention.

“Duh. And look up there.” She pointed towards the sky, and his eyes followed. “If you look closely, you can even make out constellations. There’s Aquarius, the water-bearer.”

Natsu squinted since he couldn’t see anything, but it didn’t help. With a frown, he told her, “I don’t see any water.”

Lucy snorted. “No, there’s no actual water. But if you look closely, you can make out someone holding a vase of water.”

Lucy carefully pointed to each of the different stars making up the constellation and labeled each body part of the supposed figure with them. By the time she was done, Natsu could just barely make out the image she was referring to.

“I can kind of see it,” Natsu muttered as he squinted his eyes again. Then he shook his head. “This is boring. Are there any dragon ‘constipations’?”

“Constellations,” Lucy corrected, “and yes, you moron. You can see Draco over there.”

She pointed to another seemingly random spot in the sky and explained how to find the dragon’s tail and head. To no surprise, Natsu was able to find that one much more easily. When he managed to make it out, he jumped to his feet and blew a celebratory blast of fire from his mouth, causing Lucy to shield her face until they died down.

Natsu sat back down and said, “This is actually kind of cool! Show me another one.”

The two of them spent the rest of the night looking at the stars together. For the first time in his life, Natsu thought the sky looked beautiful.

Lucy was nicer to Natsu after that. The next day, while Natsu and Happy were playing cards, she actually joined them when they asked. The two of them were initially very pleased with the fact that she was warming up to them—after all, it was difficult if their new friend (i.e., prisoner) was always picking a fight with them.

However, after she won for the fifth time in a row, the two realized their mistake.

“I win again! “A royal flush!” Lucy cheered as she laid down her cards with a bright smile.

Natsu watched her drum her fingers happily along her thighs, her knees tucked under her as she sat. He had taken the seat closest to his hoard with Lucy being the furthest away. Earlier that day, she had asked him about it, but Natsu was very snippy when answering her questions.

“A royal flush!”

“No way, you cheated!” Happy sobbed miserably as he threw his cards in the middle of their circle. Natsu couldn’t help but follow in Happy’s footsteps, indignantly tossing his cards in front of him before crossing his arms.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a princess? What kind of stuck-up royal knows how to play poker?” he spat as Lucy gathered the cards again. She began shuffling them on the ground, seemingly unaffected by either of their frustration.

“I’m not stuck up,” she said with an eye roll. “And what’s that supposed to mean? You think we don’t like to have fun at the castle?”

“No.”

“Well… you’d be sort of right,” she answered, arranging the cards in her hand until they were neatly stacked on top of one another. Natsu was about to beg her to spare them the pain of another humiliating defeat, but she didn’t end up dealing the cards again. Instead, she kept her hands resting on her lap as she frowned. “If it were up to my dad, I’d never do anything fun. He just wants me to sit inside the castle all day until he can marry me off.”

“Ew, marriage.” Happy stuck out his tongue in disgust. “Why would you agree to that?”

Lucy snorted. “You think my father would ever allow me to say no? If I don’t get married to Duke Bora, he can’t expand his wealth.”

“Duke Bora?” Natsu repeated while tilting his head to the side.

“Yep. He’s my fiancé and one of the richest men in all of Fiore. I’m sure he and my father have been panicking ever since you brought me here.” She shivered. “Ugh, he’s such a creep! At first, I thought he was such a charming guy, but then I caught him flirting with one of my maids! And he got mad at me for confronting him about it! He told me he’d ‘make it up to me’ on our wedding night. Ugh.”

Lucy began dealing the cards, but she was harshly slamming them on the ground in front of each one of them with a furrow in her brow. Natsu swore he heard her growl under her breath, and he looked over to Happy only to find the cat glancing at him with wide eyes.

“Can you believe that my father would ever make me marry someone like that? Ever since Mama… left, he’s turned into such an awful, mean, selfish person.”

When all the cards had been dealt, nobody picked up their hand. Natsu and Happy simply stared at Lucy who had her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her, like she was remembering something she didn’t want to. Happy was bold enough to cut through the silence with a question.

“Why didn’t you just leave?”

Lucy laughed before looking at the innocent cat.

“I don’t know. I’m still scared of disappointing him for some reason. Isn’t that weird?”

There was an awkward silence. Nobody really knew what to say to that. Happy pushed himself to his feet and walked over to rest a hand on Lucy’s knee. Just as he was about to touch her, Lucy scooted back and stood up.

“Sorry to ramble. I do that sometimes,” she said awkwardly. Her voice was wavering.

She brushed away the dirt that had gathered on her dress, scrunching her nose as she looked at the filth accumulated on her hand. She rubbed her hands together to try and make it go away.

“Ugh, I wish I had another one of my dresses. This one has gotten so smelly already… Anyway, I’m going to go down the hall and take a nap. I’m tired.”

Lucy didn’t give either of them a chance to reply before she had disappeared into the dark shadows. As she left, Natsu smelled something wet.

A few nights later, Natsu was sleeping next to his hoard like always when he heard Lucy stepping around him to get to the entrance of the cave. Immediately, he jumped to his feet and told himself that the bristle of excitement running through his skin was just because he was excited to talk about stars some more ever since Lucy had informed him that they were actually made of fire!

Yes, that was the only reason he was excited.

He must have stood up too loudly, because Lucy spun around and clutched her chest like she’d seen a ghost. Natsu couldn’t contain his laugh at her stupefied face.

“That never gets old,” he chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. Lucy scoffed and crossed her arms.

“You’re a child, you know that?”

“No, you’re a child.”

“Oh, real mature!”

Natsu put a finger on her lips to shush her. She blinked stupidly as he told her, “Be quiet. You’ll wake Happy.”

She smacked his hand away with a huff.

“As if! You and I both know that Happy doesn’t wake up unless he hears the word…”

Lucy gestured towards the fish stockpile in the corner of the cave. Natsu smiled as he nodded his head in understanding.

“Are you going to look at constellations again? Will you show me more?” Natsu asked, a little too excited. The way he knew that was because Lucy smirked at him.

“Wow, your attitude towards stars has really changed.” She tapped her finger on her chin before shooting him a wicked grin. “If you tell me I was always right, I’ll show you how to find Leo.”

Natsu crossed his arms and assumed a wide stance before turning his gaze away.

“No way!”

“Then no Leo for you.”

“Whatever,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “That’s the lion one, right? Totally lame.”

Lucy blew air from her nose before turning around, presumably to go look at the sky by herself. For some reason, Natsu found himself stepping forward and grabbing her wrist so that she didn’t leave without him. She stumbled backward into his chest, looking up and behind her to see his face.

Natsu kept her wrist in his hand.

“Uh,” he said intelligently. “I guess maybe you were right.”

Lucy paused before letting out a laugh. She nervously stepped away from Natsu and wiggled her hand from his grip, a bright blush staining her cheeks.

“Good enough for me,” she replied awkwardly.

There was another pause. Then she spoke again.

“You know, you’re not as bad as I thought you were.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She raised a brow. “Seriously? You kidnapped me from my home, which I still haven’t forgiven you for, by the way!”

“I kidnapped your hair,” Natsu corrected. It only made Lucy more irritated.

“It doesn’t matter! You just took me without my permission, and that was really weird of you!”

She delivered a quick kick to his shin, causing Natsu to keel over with a groan. Then she began twirling a lock of her hair around her finger, the blush coming back to her cheeks.

“Anyway, I was going to say that when I saw you in your dragon form, I thought you were some sort of heartless beast, like in the stories. But you’re actually a lot nicer than I gave you credit for.” She gave Natsu a coy smile as he straightened out his posture. His leg hurt. “I’m still going to be rescued from this place one day though.”

He knew she was just teasing, but the thought unsettled him. Seeing her standing next to his giant hoard of gold gave him this weird feeling in his gut that told him she belonged there with him and Happy.

It was probably just because her hair was the same color as his coins, he reasoned.

“What do you mean ‘saved’?” Natsu challenged. “You said you hated your home.”

Lucy took a step back like he’d stung her.

“I didn’t say I ‘hated’ it! Papa is just… difficult.” She shrugged like she wasn’t bothered, but Natsu saw the slight clench in her jaw. “It doesn’t matter what I want, anyway. I’m going to marry Duke Bora and have his kids so the Heartfilia line can continue.”

If the fire by his hoard wasn’t illuminating her face, Natsu wasn’t sure his advanced eyesight could even catch the slight wobble in her lip.

Natsu reached out to her. He wasn’t sure what he even wanted to do—Natsu had never been good at comforting people. What did Igneel used to do when he was upset as a child? Pat his back?

It didn’t matter either way. Lucy stepped to the side, leaving his arm dangling in the air.

“So,” she said as she took a step towards his hoard, “how long have you been building up your collection.”

Natsu pouted. “It’s a dragon hoard—don’t wimp it down to some simple ‘collection’! And I’ve been working on it ever since I was a kid. It used to be my dad’s.”

Natsu put his hand on his hips as he admired his and Igneel’s work. Lucy didn’t seem all too impressed, but Natsu didn’t expect her to be. He hardly expected a human to understand the importance of a dragon’s hoard.”

“Really? I’m impressed,” Lucy replied. She bent down to get a closer look, and Natsu couldn’t help but feel his stomach curdle with a territorial urge. The only person he let get so close to his hoard was Happy.

Natsu shook the feeling off.

“Your dad gave it to you?” Lucy asked as she squinted, trying to see despite the fire dwindling down.

“Yeah, before he died.”

Lucy stood up straight at that, looking at Natsu with wide eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Natsu shrugged. “Don’t be. He lived a good life.”

“I’m sure you miss him though.”

“Well, duh.”

Lucy pursed her lips in thought before sighing.

“My mom died when I was a kid. I think about her every day.” She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Mama was the one who taught me how to read the stars. She was great.”

Natsu grinned at Lucy before putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“She’d be proud of you.”

For once, Lucy didn’t step away. The fire was almost dead now, but Natsu could make out the gentle curl of her small smile as she gazed up at him. Her giant brown eyes reflected the small bit of fire and moonlight that shone inside of his cave. It looked like she had tiny meteors flickering in her irises.

Until now, he’d never had the chance to inspect the slender curve of her neck or the hollow divots of her collarbone, shadowed by the light crackling around her. Even though Natsu and Happy kept the place a pigsty, Lucy insisted on bathing every day (Natsu thought that was a waste of water, but she kicked him whenever he refused to fill her basin with river water), so her skin was still clean and smooth despite her dirty dress.

It was the first time Natsu had really looked at her lips too. Did all women have lips that plump? Usually they ran for the hills when he came near, so he never had the chance to notice.

“Lucy…”

His body was involuntarily leaning closer towards her. Maybe it was because her eyes looked like fire itself, and Natsu had always been drawn to warmth.

Before he could do… whatever it was he was planning on doing, Lucy turned her head to the side and down, eyes on his hoard. Natsu watched the hair that was on her shoulder slowly glide across her skin until it fell on her back.

Then she audibly gulped.

“S-So,” she squeaked, “like I said: your hoard is pretty impressive!”

She pulled her soft body away to take a step towards the giant pile of gold.

Natsu swallowed. “I guess…”

“Why is there jewelry in here? Do you wear it?”

“Pfft, no way. I just take it ‘cus it’s shiny.”

“Greedy,” Lucy teased as her eyes scanned some of the items. Her head tilted and she smiled before reaching towards something in the pile. “Oh, this is pretty. My mom had a necklace just like—“

Natsu’s brain blanked when he grabbed her wrist and roughly dragged her away. Lucy let out a cry as she was practically manhandled, Natsu shoving her away and standing territorially between her and his hoard. There wasn’t a thought running through his mind—he was running on pure instinct.

“N-Natsu!” Lucy scolded with a scowl. “What is wrong with you?”

She stepped towards him to flick him in the nose, but Natsu grabbed her by the wrist again. He didn’t even try to be gentle, squeezing her arm and holding it in an uncomfortable position. Lucy let out a yelp.

“Never,” Natsu growled, eyes dancing with fire, “Touch. A. Dragon’s. Hoard.”

“Y-You’re hurting me!” Lucy cried with a wince.

That broke Natsu out of his stupor. He could practically feel his shrunken pupils returning to normal as the haze in his mind cleared. Natsu stumbled backwards grabbing his head as he looked at Lucy.

She looked horrified, clutching the arm he’d squeezed with her other arm and tucking it to her chest. Her eyes were watery as she looked at him in fear. It made Natsu want to throw up.

Wordlessly, she spun around and sped to the room she’d claimed for herself.

“Wait, Lucy!” Natsu yelled after her, but she didn’t pause.

Natsu didn’t think he had a right to stop her from retreating to the darkness.

“What’d you do to make Lucy so mad?”

Natsu blew smoke from his nose at Happy’s question.

“I dunno what you’re talkin’ about.”

“She hasn’t been out of her room all day! When I went to tell her we cooked her fish for breakfast, she told me that she wanted to be alone and that I needed to get lost!”

“Must be a woman thing,” Natsu mumbled as he laid on the cave floor, staring at the ceiling. His arms were crossed behind his head so that he could use them as a pillow.

Happy kicked Natsu in the head, which didn’t do much damage considering Happy was a foot tall.

“Go apologize for whatever you did! I miss Lucy.”

“Why? Didn’t you not like her?”

Happy crossed his arms as he looked down at Natsu. He was standing by the top of Natsu’s scalp, so he looked upside down.

“That was before I got to know her! Now I like her, and I know you like her too! So, go apologize. I don’t like her being mad at us.”

Natsu sighed as he pushed himself to a sitting position, gaze fixed to his lap.

“Yeah, I don’t like it either, buddy…”

Within a few minutes, he was trudging down the hall towards Lucy’s room, two items tucked under his arm. It was a small gesture, but he hoped they would be enough for her.

She was sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall as she read a book. When she heard Natsu’s footsteps she huffed and turned the other cheek. Natsu frowned.

“Can we talk?”

“Why? So you can throw me around again?”

Natsu flinched as he remembered how rough he’d been with her last night.

“Listen, Lucy, I really regret what I did. I don’t know what came over me!”

“Maybe you’re just a selfish jerk!”

“I am,” Natsu agreed with defeat as he slowly walked towards her.

She finally closed her book—albeit, with a slam—before glaring at him, her fiery brown eyes blazing. Was it bad that Natsu kind of liked it when she got angry?

“I’m a jerk, and I never should’ve put my hands on you,” Natsu admitted. “But I’ll do whatever it takes for you to forgive me. Here.”

Lucy stood up, a confused furrow to her brows, as he handed her a large piece of blue fabric. She looked at him curiously before she unfolded the fabric, blinking at the sight before her.

“A dress…?”

“Yeah, you keep complaining about how dirty the one you have now is, so I went to a nearby village and got one for you.”

“You stole one, you mean.”

Natsu grinned sheepishly as she inspected the dress. He couldn’t read her expression.

“I know it’s not as fancy as the one you had at the castle. I looked for one that was more poofy, but I don’t think they have dresses like yours anywhere close.”

Lucy snorted but did shoot him a gentle smile.

“I like this one better than any dress I’ve had. Thank you, Natsu.”

“I have this too,” Natsu said as he held her next gift out.

Lucy picked it up with a quirked brow.

“A gold key? What’s it for?”

“I dunno,” Natsu admitted. “I don’t even remember where I got it from. It’s been sitting in my hoard for years.”

“This… This is from your hoard?”

Natsu blinked. “Yeah? That’s what I said.”

“Oh, Natsu, I can’t take this from you!” Lucy cried. “Your hoard means so much to you. That’s the whole reason we got in a fight!”

She tried to hand it back to him, but he gently put it in her palm again before taking her fingers and curling them around the key. He covered her hand between the two of his to make sure she kept her grip on them as he smiled.

“Seriously, I want you to have it, Lucy.”

Lucy smiled at him, but her eyes filled with tears. Natsu wasn’t sure whether she was happy or sad until she stepped forward and gave him a tight hug.

“Thank you,” she told him. “I love it.”

Natsu wrapped his arms around her shoulders and squeezed, careful that he wasn’t too rough. After a few seconds, Lucy pulled back and looked at the boring old key like Natsu had just given her something priceless.

“Are you still mad at me?”

Lucy laughed and beamed up at him.

“I forgive you, Natsu.”

Natsu couldn’t help but grin, but it soon faded into a bittersweet smile.

“I also wanted to say… I wouldn’t blame you if you want to go home. I’ll even take you there.”

“...Huh?”

He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he tried not to make eye contact.

“I mean, it’s not like you want to be here anyway, right?”

Lucy looked at Natsu blankly, her fingers clutching the key he’d given her. She gave it another glance and pressed her lips in a thin line, like she was trying to solve a mystery in her head. Eventually, she let out a small laugh.

“I’m already home.”

Natsu blinked. “What?”

Lucy’s cheeks turned a little pink as she looked away.

“I-If you’ll let me stay, that is! It’s just…” She looked back at Natsu with her big eyes. “I’ve always hated being a princess. I want to go on adventures and fight monsters and all the cool stuff you and Happy have told me you’ve done! Well, not the pillaging part.” She shook her head. “Anyway, this week has been the happiest I’ve been in my entire life. You and Happy are like a family to me

“So, if you’ll have me, I’d like to stay.”

Natsu’s mouth had fallen open in the middle of her rant, and all he could do was look at her with wide eyes.

Everything she said had hit him like a giant boulder. He was certain that she would want to go back to her old life where she didn’t have to sleep in a cave, for goodness’ sake! The fact that she admitted to wanting to stay with someone like Natsu of all people made his chest feel light in a way he couldn’t use words to describe.

Before he could answer, something blue flew past him.

“Oh Lucy, of course you can stay!” Happy sobbed as he flew into her chest and hugged her. Lucy let out a squeak but wrapped her dainty arms around the cat, laughing at his eagerness. Natsu, however, frowned.

“Were you listening, Happy? We were having a private conversation!”

“Aw, leave him alone,” Lucy replied as she stroked Happy's head and smiled sweetly at him. “It’s not like you wouldn’t do the same.”

Natsu crossed his arms at her teasing but eventually let his frown crack into a smile as he watched Happy rub his face all over Lucy’s chest.

He had a feeling this was just the beginning of their story.