Lucy POV

"I feel sick..." The dragon slayer barfed.

"Could you be sick away from me?" I said to him. He groaned in response. "Is there anything I can do to make you stop barfing?"

"I dunno... just ... help.. me." Natsu barely got out, trying not to throw up.

"Fine, I'll try." I said as I laid his head on my lap. I started patting his soft, spiky pink hair, massaging it. He sighed in relief, still a little sick, but I think he's falling asleep.

"You loooove~ him!" Happy teased.

"Shut it, cat!"

I kept running my hands through his hair until he fell asleep. Well, at least he's in peace now, and not barfing his stomach out.

I hummed softly to myself as I pulled out a book and started reading it. Happy seemed to have fallen asleep as well, so I sat in peace and quiet as Natsu slept on my lap, and Happy across from us.

~*~

On the way there, I heard Natsu mumble a few things about food, or fighting. Then I think I heard something about kicking Gray's butt. I giggled softly to myself. He was so cute when he was sleeping.

"Lucy...mm.." Natsu murmured in his sleep.

"Huh?" I whispered softly.

Uh... did I hear that right?

All those thoughts were returning, ugh! I'll have to try to think about it later, though. We were almost there. I cleared my mind, putting my book away.

The train blew it's whistle as it stopped.

"Natsu," I shook him. "Wake up. We're here."

"Mmm.. what? I'm not barfing! I'VE COME BACK TO LIFE!" He said in excitement, waking up Happy.

"Fish? What? Are we there yet?" Happy mumbled, just waking up.

"Yup, come on, we're finally here," I said, walking off the train, followed by Natsu and Happy. "So this dog, it's rabid, but supposedly also uses magic, and it's very smart. That's why they contacted a guild to take care of it. We're gonna need a hotel here tonight, because it's gonna take a while to find and take care of if what I know about it is right. Let's go talk to the client."

"Aye sir!" Happy saluted.

~*~

Natsu POV

Once we got to the client's house, Lucy did most of the talking, asking about sightings, and the magic, stuff like that. It's pretty unnecessary if you ask me, but she seemed like she needed the information, so I didn't get in her way.

Well, really, for most of the time I was just thinking about Lucy. Again. I couldn't stop! It was so annoying. Her hands in my hair was soothing, probably more than it should have been.

"-Atsu. Natsu! Come on we need to go!" Lucy called out to me, standing up to leave.

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." I responded, standing up to follow her.

"Psssh, since when do you get lost in thought?" Happy teased.

"I can be smart when I want to!" I defended.

"Mhmm.. I'm sure." He said sarcastically.

"Geez would you two cut it out? You're like an old married couple." Lucy giggled.

I grunted, and Happy laughed.

"So are we going to hunt the monster yet?!" I ask Lucy, getting excited that I get to fight something.

"Yup, come on!"

"Yay!" I said, excited. We were walking together. Our hands were so close. I moved my left hand closer to her right hand, interlocking our fingers, and holding on loosely. She hesitated, caught off guard, then accepted the gesture and held my hand too.

I felt heat rise to my cheeks. What was this? It's not like my magic. Oh no, am I blushing? Good thing Lucy isn't looking at me, and Happy is ahead. After a few seconds the heat faded. Phew, crises avoided.

We walked around, searching for the monster, holding hands. After a while we finally found it, and dealt with it. Honestly it was a really easy job, it just took a long time to find the dog. By the time we were done, it was 10 at night.

We trudged up to the hotel, and it looked like Lucy was exhausted. She had to use four spirits, two at a time, so it took a lot out of her. Aquarius, whom was summoned out of a puddle (which put her in a bad mood before she even got there) tried to wash everything away, while Virgo kept asking for punishment. Loke kept getting in my way, and Aries kept apologizing for 'not doing a good enough job' when actually she was the most productive of the spirits. Lucy really was getting a lot stronger though.

We walked into the hotel, which looked small, but decent.

"Could we have two rooms please?" Lucy asked the receptionist sweetly.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, we only have one room left for tonight." Lucy gave the woman a nasty look. She honestly looked so done, out of patience. The receptionist realized this. "We.. could cut the price in half..?"

"Fine, I guess that'll do."

"2,500 jewel, please, Ma'am."

Without saying anything, Lucy handed over the jewel, and got our key. She sighed an exhausted and annoyed sigh as she walked along to our room, Happy and I not daring to say anything. We didn't want to make her any more angry than she already seemed.

We finally found our room, Lucy slowly unlocking the door, and walking in. We looked around, finding that there was only one bed, but a couch, too.

Except that couch was tiny, barely even a couch. More like a huge chair. I sighed walking over to the 'couch.' Lucy got the bed, because she was the girl, I like her, and I really didn't want to make her mad.

"Do you want the bed?" Lucy offered me. I really wasn't expecting that, but I guess she realized as well as I did that the couch was way to small for me.

I hesitated before saying, "No, you take it."

"Okay.. You sure?" I nodded. "Thanks. I'm going to take a shower." She smiled at me.

Oh how I loved her smile...

She got her pajamas, walking into the bathroom. I could relax once I heard the shower turn on. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding, and changed into my pajamas. I laid on the couch.

"Hey.. You're acting kind of weird, Natsu. What's wrong?" Happy asked, with slight concern in his voice.

"Nothing, lil buddy, I'm okay."

"You sure about that? Ever since last night when you came home from Lucy's, you've been acting weird. Almost... mature."

"Are you saying I'm not mature? And to answer your question, she held my hands and now I just can't stop thinking about her."

"You looooooooveee~ her!" He giggled.

"Well... maybe.. Gajeel said she could be my mate. And the thoughts I'm having aren't exactly... thoughts you have about your friends... if you know what I mean."

He looked shocked. "Oh my god! You aren't a dense idiot anymore! Well you still are, just less of one. What happened? Tell me everything!"

"You're such a girl," I scoffed. "But she just touched my shoulders, then held my hands, looking into my eyes. I guess something clicked then, because I started to have these... thoughts about her." I explained.

"Tell her! It's obvious she like you."

"And how would you know? You say that Carla likes you, but it's clear she doesn't." I huffed. "And I don't even know how I feel, or even what's happening."

"Whatever, and Carla does like me."

"Mhmm," I agree sarcastically. "Just... please don't say anything to her."

"Fine. But I won't lay back on the love~ comments. Heheh.."

I sighed, knowing that's the best I would get from him. I heard the shower click off, and a few minutes later, Lucy came out of the bathroom in her pajamas.

"You can take a shower now, if you want." Lucy offered. I nodded, got off the couch and walked to the bathroom. As I went in, I saw her pull out a book, her brows furrowing and eyes darting back and forth across the page.

Damn... that girl is adorable.

I closed and locked the bathroom door, and as soon as I entered, I got intoxicated by Lucy's scent. It was everywhere in the bathroom, on the walls, shower, counter, everywhere. I sniffed it in, and sighed with content.

Then.. dirty thoughts started entering my head. I saw the bar of soap, and I couldn't stop thinking about how she had rubbed it all over her body. Her. Naked. Body.

Natsu? Stop. This isn't okay, you're nakamas. Not lovers.

Lucy... I needed to stop thinking about you.

I tried to forget the smell, and got into the shower. I took a quick one, getting out pretty fast. I needed to get out of that room, to stop smelling Lucy's sweet scent. It would only remind me of her. I got dressed in my pajamas again, coming out of the bathroom.

The lights were out, but I could still see pretty well. I settled down, and got onto the couch.

"Night, Luce."

"Hey, Natsu?" She said softly. "Could you come here...?"

I walked over to the bed. "What's up?"

"...I.. well.. we both know that the couch is too small for you.."

"I can sleep on that, Luce." I insisted, trying to keep the dirty thoughts from my head.

"We both know it will be uncomfortable. And I don't mind sharing." She offered, scooting over.

"Lucy, I-"

"Just, lay in bed with me. I'm.. kind of cold, anyways." She urged.

I took a shaky breath, then got into bed behind her. We were facing opposite ways, but after a few minutes I turned to Lucy. My arms moved by themselves, wrapping around her waist, loosely.

"Natsu..?" She asked softly.

"..Sorry Luce.." I tried to think of an excuse for my actions. "Didn't you say you were cold...? I can keep you warm this way."

"Okay," She said softly, barely audible. I could feel her heartbeat pick up the pace, since my chest was up against her back. "Thank you, Natsu. Goodnight."

~*~

(A/N) PHEW

THAT TOOK FOREVER!

I hope you enjoyed!

xox, monica ♡