LUCY HEARTFILIA

"Hold up, Princess." A large hand wrapped itself around my wrist as I attempted to leave Erza's little party.

"What?" I asked Natsu.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Um. Bed? To, you know, go to sleep? It's sort of early, but I think I'll go home and read or something."

"No, you're not." He decided for me.

"I'm not?"

"Nope."

"Um. Okay." Be open to it, Lucy. "Where am I going, then?"

"With me."

"With you."

"That's right."

"Where, exactly, with you?"

"You'll see."

"Right, well, you see, I'm, ah, sort of really tired, so maybe – oh-kay, maybe not." I said as he wrapped an arm around my waist and picked me up about an inch off the floor. He started walking towards the door, a backpack of some sort slung over his shoulder.

"What's that for?" I asked, craning my neck to look at the backpack.

"It's got all your stuff in it. Levy packed it for me."

"Whoa, wait." I wriggled to driveway in front of his car and spun around to face him. "I'm supposed to go to sleep at...wherever we're going?"

"Yep." His eyes were dancing with excitement. "It's sort of our thing. Gajeel and I go there all the time. He's already brought Levy, so I thought you should also go."

I looked at him, at his eager face and his hands gently pushing me toward the passenger door.

"Are there two sleeping bags in there?" I finally asked in a resigned voice, and his smile grew.

"Nope." He said cheerfully. "Just one, let's go."

"But where am I supposed to sleep?!" I asked as he pushed me into the car "Natsu stop it!"

"You'll sleep on the bed, and no."

"There's a bed?"

"Yes. Will you stop squirming?"

"No! I am perfectly capable of walking by myself! I don't need to be carried around like a small child!"

"But I have to carry you there. It's tradition." He said earnestly, and hoisted me more comfortably in his arms so that I lay across them, bridal-style. I straightened out and slung an arm around his neck so I wouldn't go flapping back.

"So you mean you carried Gajeel there as well?" I asked in a dry voice as he continued to walk briskly through the woods on the edge of the park we parked at.

"No, but he carried Levy there."

"You guys are so weird." I rolled my eyes and leaned my head against my arm.

"That's what makes us so special!"

"Yeah, special."

"Low blow, Lu."

"Call me Lucy." I said quietly after a moment.

He stiffened. "Why? Don't your friends call you Lu?"

"Yeah... well just Levy... but I like the way you say Lucy. Like you're singing it or something." I murmured, hoping he wouldn't hear.

Apparently, he heard it. "Lucy!" He sang in a dorky voice.

I laughed. "Don't ever do that again."

"LuCCCCYYYYYYYYY!"

"NEVER AGAIN, Natsu!"

"LU- CCCCCCCCCYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

"I think my ears just died."

"You loved it."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm still recovering from your blatant abuse of singing rights."

"At least I'm not as bad as Jason Weekly." He chuckled.

"Ugh." I shuddered. "Please don't remind me."

"What were those lyrics again? Something about animals stampeding through a park of luuuurve?" I squealed and hung on tighter as he spun around.

"I would rather not relive that painful memory." I said in a voice shaking with controlled laughter.

"It was pretty funny."

"Shut up."

"Admit it."

"Shut up."

"Come on, Lucy, it was funny."

"Okay. Fine. It sort of was."

"Okay. Up you go." He said after a moment, and I looked up in surprise to see that we were standing in front of a ladder.

"Whoa, I didn't even notice we were all the way out here." I said in a wondering voice, looking around in awe at the trees that surrounded me. The sky glowed as the sun set, the golden clouds shining in the star dusted darkening sky.

"You know this time of day?" Natsu said from under me as we climbed.

"Sunset?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Sunset, but with the stars out?"

"Yes. It's really beautiful."

He smiled. "I used to call it Lucy's twilight"

"Lucy's twilight?" I questioned.

"Yeah." He hoisted himself up and sat down next to me on the wooden ledge that jutted out from what seemed to be a tree house. "It's twilight, but there's still gold from the day..."

"How do you get the term 'Lucy' from gold clouds?" I asked with a bemused smile.

He grinned at me. "Your hair's gold." He tugged lightly on a lock and I scowled.

"So? What does my hair have to do with it?"

"It looks like gold. Gold, Lucy, Lucy's twilight." He said matter-of-factly.

"But you came up with this term as a little kid."

He smiled softly.

"I barked out a dazed sort of laugh. "Um, wow. I never really thought you cared."

"That's where you're wrong." He said seriously. "It's like I said before, I never hated you, Lucy."

"I made myself believe I hated you because I thought you hated me." I replied softly, looking over the trees again.

"I acted like I hated you because I thought you hated me." He shook his heads. "Wow, we're idiots."

"Come on, let's go inside." He offered me his hand, and I took it, letting him haul me to my feet.

I looked put over the ledge, "Oh, wow!" I gasped just as the sun hit the perfect spot in the sky. It glowed a brilliant, bright gold, shooting out through the blue. Stars were dusted across the sky, and the whole thing gave an effect of being absolutely surreal.

His face was serene as he looked at the sky. "Isn't it magical?"

"Extremely." I agreed, looking at the amazing scene in front of me. "This is amazing, Natsu."

"It's absolutely beautiful." He said, looking at me.

NATSU DRAGONEEL

"It's absolutely beautiful." You're absolutely beautiful.

I gazed at the side of her face, watching as the sun made it glow. Her big brown eyes had never looked more beautiful as they sparkled even more than the sky; it was like a bunch of stars jumped down and landed in them. Her golden hair shone looked a million times brighter than the golden clouds.

Suddenly, loving Lucy Heartfilia didn't seem like such a bad thing after all.

She's still holding my hand. I will refrain from whooping and jumping about in joy.

The sun set behind the earth, and there was just a faint light left in the sky. She turned to me, her face still glowing.

"I feel like I'm in a fairytale right now." She said wonderingly.

"And, naturally, I'm the Prince Charming, right?" I grinned at her, and she laughed.

"Sure." She replied easily. "I'll be the princess."

"Well, then." I bowed and swept my hand towards the tree house. "Shall we, your majesty?"

She giggled. "We shall, Prince Charming."

She walked ahead, pulling me behind, her hand still clasped firmly in mine. "You know, we could have been best friends if we weren't such idiots."

I feel like something inside me is flying right now. "We can start now." I suggested.

"Okay!" She agreed. "We can do best friend-like things, like – oh, wow!" She gasped as we entered the tree house. I grinned as I took a look around it. Ah, home sweet home, with the one bed that Gadget and I always fought over, never wanting to change it by adding another bed, and the television that we'd somehow managed to sneak in and rig up.

All in all, it was pretty tricked out.

"You like it?" I asked her, letting her hand go as, with a squeal of excitement, she ran over to the iPod stand.

"Like it?" She asked enthusiastically, putting down my iPod and spinning around, taking in the room. "I love it! How'd you guys manage to do these things?" She picked up the remote and clicked a button, beaming as the screen lit up and one of our earlier hockey games came on. I watched as screen-Lucy shot the puck to screen-Natsu and screen-Natsu sent it careening towards the visitor's goalie, making him drop to the side of the net just a split second too late. Screen-Lucy and Screen-Natsu grinned at each other.

That was always my favorite part; she smiled at me.

"A lot of work." I said, flopping down on the sofa and putting my feet up. "It took a good year and a half to make, but it was so worth it."

"This place is amazing." She said, perching on the sofa as she continued her attempt to look at everything all at once.

"You want to eat or drink something?" I asked, getting up and heading towards our little bar/kitchen.

"You have food in here?" She asked joyfully, following me and sitting on a barstool as I ducked behind the counter.

"Of course." I replied, rooting through the refrigerator. "You want iced tea or soda?"

"Iced tea, please." She said, still sounding a bit absentminded. I pulled out two bottles and handed one to her, popping my own open and taking a sip.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I asked her.

"What?" She squeaked. Her face turned bright red. "Ah, sorry. Um...I don't really mind."

I gave her an odd look. "Okay."

"Let's go back outside again." She said quickly, turning around and nearly bolting to the door.

So, that was weird.

I found her outside, looking up at the sky. "I love stars." She murmured as I came up next to her, looking at the side of her face. "They're the best part of night."

I smiled. "Yeah. It's so relaxing to just stand and look at them, you know?"

"Yeah," She said in a surprised tone, and I saw her looking at the side of my face out of the corner of my eye. "Have you ever wondered, that maybe, each and every one of those stars is another sun for another earth? And that there are people over there who are just like us, or maybe even different?"

"That's a lot of people." I muttered, taking in the millions of tiny lights. "Makes you feel really insignificant."

"It does." She agreed.

"When I was little," I began haltingly. "Makarov used to tell me that every one of those stars is someone who died. Someone who was really brave, someone who couldn't be forgotten, so as a tribute, they got put up there to watch over us all the time."

Her soft hand slipped into mine. "Which one's your dad?" She asked quietly.

"That one." I pointed to the brightest star in the sky. Her hand squeezed mine.

"Hi, Igneel," Lucy whispered. "How's it going? I never really got to know you. But, you know, I'm sure that you were a fabulous person. And I'm not just saying that. I really mean it. Makarov and my dad talk about you all the time."

My heart hurts.

"I wish I could meet you again, just once. But even if I can't, that's okay, because I've got Natsu here. I bet he's just like you. You should be really proud – I bet you are." Her breath hitched slightly.

I squeezed her hand. "He says thank you." I said, still looking at the star.

"What about – my mom?"

I swallowed. "How about right up there next to the moon."

She leaned into me. "What about Simon?"

I put my arm around her shoulder and pointed up to the sky with my other hand. "He's right there. Sometimes he disappears. He's a tricky one."

She gave a watery laugh. "Why do people die?" She finally asked, her voice trembling.

"I don't know." I finally said. "Maybe because whoever's up there needs them more than we do down here."

And that's when she put both arms around me and pressed her face into my chest, her shoulders shaking with her sobs.

I looked up at the sky. "Thanks, dad." I mouthed.

"I'm really sorry." She bit her lip as she looked at my ruined shirt. Wow, that girl cries a lot! It's absolutely soaked!

"It's okay." I assured her, digging through the closet. Mavis, we have extra gloves in here, but we don't think to keep a freaking shirt.

"I didn't mean to cry! I hate crying. I'm an unattractive crier." She sniffed. "Ugh, I'm so freaking emotional! I'm so sorry!"

"Lucy, it's fine. Really." I leaned around the door to smile at her.

"Never do that again." She commanded.

"Do what?" I asked as I dug through the clothes again, just hoping that a shirt would miraculously pop out.

"Get all sweet and emotional on me." She said.

I rolled my eyes. "My bad, sorry."

"Did you find anything?"

"Nope." I sighed and closed the door shut with a loud snap, then pulled my shirt off, wadding it up and throwing it in the corner of the room.

"Um." She quickly looked at something else. "Let's watch some television."

"Okay. What do you want to watch?" I asked.

She swallowed. "It doesn't matter."

I shrugged, then walked over to the sofa, snagging the remote along the way. "How about home videos?" I asked, rifling through some of the DVD's I had with me.

"Uh, that's fine." Her voice was rather high-pitched.

"Alright." I put it on and turned to flop down on the sofa, throwing my arm over the back of it. She was sitting stiffly next to me, staring straight ahead.

"Um, are you okay?" I asked her uncertainly.

"Who me?" She asked, still in that high-pitched voice. "Oh, yeah, I'm just peachy." She glanced over at me, her eyes flitting down to my chest, then gave a loud, nervous laugh and quickly looked back at the screen.

"Peachy." I raised an eyebrow at her, a smirk growing on my face.

"That's right. Hey, look, there's Grayl!" She pointed at the screen, then gave another nervous giggle and gingerly leaned back, clearing her throat awkwardly.

What is up with her?

"Are you sure you're fine?" I asked her again, and her face turned bright red again.

"Yes. I'm fine." She bit out. Her eyes slanted sideways at my bare chest again.

Oh. Oooooooh. OH!

"OH!" I exclaimed. "Do you want me to wear a shirt or something? Is that why you're so uncomfortable?"

"What? No, I'm fine. Really." She said. "It's got nothing to do with your, erm...lack of shirt."

"Okay." I shrugged – I liked not wearing a shirt – and slung the arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards me. I was surprised when, instead of pulling away/slapping me like I expected her to, she nestled into my side, leaning her head against the side of my neck.

"You're comfortable." She said. "Like a teddy bear!"

I grunted. How lovely. I remind her of a teddy bear.

"Except – for – these – rock – hard – muscles." She muttered, shifting around and elbowing my stomach in the process. I grinned.

"That's what happens when you –" I started.

" – spend most of your life playing hockey, I know. Even I have abs. I kinda hate them, but, hey!" She shrugged. "We all make sacrifices to play the game that we love."

"Very true." I said.

She giggled as we watched me dump a whole bowl of milk on Wendy's head. Wendy peered up at us through the milk, his her dark eyes bewildered, and then her eyebrows scrunched up in anger. She promptly turned around and punched me in the gut, and with a cry of pain, I fell over backwards. Then we both burst into tears.

"I miss her." I said wistfully.

"Me too." She sighed.

The last thing I remember was Bickslow and Erza laughing while I let out another roar, and Lucy's hand on my chest. Then it slid to my stomach and her face turned into my neck. And my eyes closed as I pulled her closer to me, finally falling asleep with the scent of vanilla surrounding me.

Ugh, there's something hot against my chest. It keeps breathing on me. And something's tickling my ear. It's soft and it smells like...vanilla.

Lucy.

I frowned and opened my eyes, squinting my eyes slightly against the glare of the sunlight as it filtered through the windows of the tree house. Then I glanced down and nearly died of happiness.

Lucy Heartfilia is sleeping on me. Yes, that's right. She is sleeping on me. Me! Not Jason Weekly, not my cat, not some other guy, but me. Natsu Dragoneel. Me.

Her legs were curled up against mine, her hand was resting against my stomach, and her head was on my chest, her hair splayed out above her head and tickling my neck. My arm was somehow around her, holding her to me – ow, she was sleeping on it, now it's numb.

Oh, well. I am currently too busy being the happiest guy alive to care about that right now.

She yawned and shifted, making a content humming sound. I watched as she moved her hand over my muscles again, a confused frown on her face. Then her chocolate brown eyes opened and her frown deepened as she gazed at her hand. Her eyes moved up slowly to my face – Mavis, I hope my smile doesn't look creepy or something – and she smiled, relieved.

"Good morning." She said sweetly, pulling herself up. "For a second I forget where I was, and I got really worried." She laughed and I grinned at her, sitting up and stretching out.

"Ugh." I said, cracking my back. "That is the last time I fall asleep on the couch. Never again."

"Sorry." She smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"It's not a big deal." I shrugged. She bit her lip, then looked around.

"What time is it?"

"Time for us to head back and get ready for that shopping trip." I told her wisely, gathering up the stuff we needed and heading out to the balcony. She followed me out, pulling in a deep breath of the fresh morning air.

"Wow," She whispered, taking in the view. "This is absolutely breathtaking."

I looked out over the tree tops, to my house (mansion.. whatever Gajeel) which was just passed the woods. The clouds rolled lazily through the blue sky, and the sun shone over it all.

"It is." I agreed with her.

She giggled and worked her way down the ladder, taking my arm and pulling me down as well. I tried to hide my wide grin as best as I could.

I failed.

Well, it was worth a shot.

"That was the best...er...hanging out?...I've ever had!" She declared.

"Um, I do believe that qualifies as our first date."

"First unofficial date." She corrected. "We have our first real date today."

"Well, actually I guess the date started last night, so it was included in the 'first date' package." I haven't ever given another girl a date like that! She can't just go around denying that it was a date. Granted, we didn't really kiss or anything (since Jason Weekly wasn't there...), but still. It qualifies.

"Okay." She shrugged. "As long as the word 'date' is somewhere in there for Jason Weekly to see, I'm perfectly fine."

I tried to hide my scowl.

I failed.

It was still worth a shot.

"But," She nudged me with her shoulder, grinning happily. "It was still the best date ever. I don't think a girl could ask for anything more, Natsu. It was fantastic."

I feel like I'm flying right now.

Oh, the things that Lucy Heartfilia does to me. This cannot be healthy.

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