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cuffing season ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Just as the blossoms bloom in the spring, so too does love, and Lucy finds herself falling as naturally as the golden leaves in the autumn. word count: 18,342 ao3

i. autumn

The warm summer months bring with them a surge of job postings tacked upon the board at the guild, which always have everyone eager to get in on the Jewel rush before settling down as the temperature begins to drop with the change of seasons. Combined with the way that the party seemingly never stops at the guild during the summer, it makes Lucy almost glad to see the leaves begin to turn into hues of brown and gold, signalling the change in the season.

It's not that she doesn’t appreciate the way the money flows in, keeping her in her apartment for at least another few months with a little Jewel spare on the side to keep her materialistic cravings at bay, or even the way that her new family can party well into the night in an alcohol-fuelled frenzy. There’s just something about the way the leaves began to fall that makes her fond of the season. It feels indicative of new beginnings and things to come.

The maple in her drink is sickly sweet on her tongue as she pushes through the guild hall doors. She lets in a breeze as she does so, but the scarf draped over her protects her skin from the chill, and she can’t help but smile at the indication of fall. There’s something different about it this year that she can’t quite put her finger on yet, but she feels it in the air and sees it in the stars.

The world has something big in store for her. She’s not sure what, but she knows it’s going to be something special. All she has to do is wait.

☆♡☆♡

A gentle gust of wind blows a smattering of leaves onto the path ahead of them, and Natsu makes it his mission to go out of his way to step on a few, letting them crunch beneath his shoe. The satisfying noise spurs him to do it again, and again, and again, leaving no leaf left uncrunched. A soft giggle leaves Lucy’s lips as he rushes ahead of her, and it’s only at that point does he realise he’s left her behind. He turns around to face her, his head cocked slightly to the side at her sudden reaction.

“What?”

"Nothing, it’s just…” She trails off, not knowing if she really wants to share her thoughts with him.

Her vague reaction only adds to Natsu’s curiosity.

“Just what?”

“I don’t know; I thought it was kind of cute,” she shrugs.

“I’m not cute,” he grumbles, burying his face in his scarf.

His bashful reaction makes her breathe out a soft laugh, as he only proves her point further.

Another breeze passes them by, though this time Lucy is the one to bear victim to it. Her skin raises with goosebumps as the cold air hits her. She rubs her hands up and down the exposed skin of her arms as her teeth chatter slightly, and suddenly, she begins to regret not bringing along a coat. Her ailment doesn’t go unnoticed by Natsu, who glances over at her, noting the pitiful way she tries to warm herself up.

“You wouldn’t always have this problem if you wore seasonally appropriate clothes for once,” he comments.

“I know that,” she spits back. “I just… didn’t think it would be this cold already.”

The heat that comes from the friction of rubbing her hands against her skin helps a little, but it’s the feeling of Natsu’s jacket being draped over her shoulder that warms her body and her heart.

“O-oh, thank you.”

Her face flushes slightly under his gaze as he looks at her expectantly, waiting for her to put it on. She slips her arms through the sleeves, though with the garment being much too big for her, the ends dangle well past her hands, and she feels as though she looked a little ridiculous. That thought is confirmed when she hears Natsu cackle at the sight of her.

“Don’t laugh!” she pouts, bunching the sleeves up at her wrists.

“I gave you my jacket; I get to laugh all I want.”

Lucy merely huffs in response, not wanting to lose her jacket privileges. She supposes she can take ridiculous over cold.

☆♡☆♡

It’s been a while since Magnolia has seen a “normal” harvest festival. Between the battle of Fairy Tail, the seven years they were away on Tenrou, and the year of the disbandment, Lucy has yet to experience the festival in its purest form. Upon being reminded of this fact, Natsu has taken it upon himself to drag Lucy around the city to show her the highlights of the festival.

She’s honestly not too certain what the purpose of a harvest festival is, but what she does know is that the guild and city take it as an excuse to set up stalls and stands of every kind leading up to the big parade at the end of the day.

Lucy isn’t at all surprised when the first thing Natsu does is make a b-line for the food stalls. They line the streets with different autumnal meals and snacks, and her partner looks eager to try any and all of them. It’s been a few hours since breakfast, so she is more than happy to justify treating herself. A candy apple isn’t really a lunch food, but when Natsu holds one out for her, she is hard-pressed to say no. It’s so sweet that her teeth ache when she bites into it, but it tastes so good that she doesn’t even care.

Everything is happening everywhere, in every part of town. Décor lines the streets, and happy chatter fills her ears. It’s all a little overwhelming for Lucy, who simply follows Natsu as he drags her around. He seems familiar enough with it, but it’s been so long since he’s been that he is equally fascinated with all of the sights and sounds.

She shouldn’t be surprised when he drags her over to an apple-bobbing set-up—his fierce competitiveness fuelled by the promise of a tacky looking plastic trophy for those who succeed.

He puffs up his chest and declares that he’s going to win that damn trophy. He talks a big talk, but Lucy isn’t certain that apple bobbing is one of his many talents.

As soon as he gets the go-ahead, he violently dunks his head in the water, half of the water overflowing the bucket before all of it gushes out like a tidal wave when Natsu breaks it with his shoulder. Despite the interruption, he remains strong in his mission to win the trophy and goes for a bright red apple that has yet to roll away in the mess of it all. By the time he gets it, he’s absolutely sopping wet, bangs dripping down into his eyes, which he proceeds to shake out like a dog, keeping the apple firmly in his mouth as he sends droplets flying at everyone in the general vicinity. The sight of it is so ridiculous that Lucy bursts out into laughter immediately. Natsu remains undeterred by her reaction, grabbing onto his apple with one hand and holding it in place as he takes a bite. As he chews, he holds the rest of it up in victory while Lucy laughs and claps, and he absolutely revels in her praise.

“Alright! Where’s my prize?” He demands, bits of chewed-up apple flying everywhere as he speaks.

“There is no prize,” the stall host replies as he flinches away and out of the splash zone.

“What?” Natsu exclaims, his face immediately dropping from one of celebration to one of borderline anger. “I was promised a prize!”

“You broke the barrel!”

Lucy, sensing impending destruction if she doesn’t intervene soon, grabs Natsu by the wrist and drags him away. He doesn’t put up a fight, which is much more than she could have asked for, but he does grumble under his breath as they walk away.

She buys him a treat from one of the stalls on their way out as a consolation prize (not another candy apple; it’s too soon and she worries it might hit a sore spot), and Natsu happily takes her sympathies.

☆♡☆♡

Lucy isn’t exactly sure how she let Natsu rope her into this. Sure, she likes pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice, but carving pumpkins? That’s a little out of her comfort zone. But still, here she is, sitting in the guild hall, a plump, orange pumpkin and a set of carving tools set out before her. It’s part of a guild-wide competition but she has little confidence in her ability to take part because she really has no idea where to even begin.

“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to do this,” she states bluntly.

“Here, lemme show you,” Natsu replies, grabbing his tools and pumpkin before getting to work.

She watches intently as Natsu uses one of the knives to cut a hole in the top of it before reaching in to remove the seeds on the inside. Lucy scrunches her nose as he guts the pumpkin, pulling out all the seeds and wet, stringy pieces. Immediately sensing her discomfort, Natsu takes full advantage to torment her with it, invading her personal space with a handful of pumpkin flesh. She tries to smack his hand away, but her reaction only goads him on more, and he shoves it in her face, letting the seeds fall onto her skirt. Lucy shrieks in horror, shoving his hands away from her, and based on his howling laughter, she figures that’s the exact reaction he was going for.

“You are such a pain!” She cries as she wipes the pumpkin off of her skirt, examining the spot that it has left on the white fabric.

"Aw, come on, it’s just pumpkin,” he grins, knowing exactly what he’s doing.

“If you’re going to be annoying, I’ll just get someone else to help me,” she huffs, arms crossed as she turns her nose away from him.

It’s an empty threat; she has no intention of finishing carving out her pumpkin, let alone actively seeking help from someone else, but she knows that the threat of it will wind Natsu up. Based on the way he’s been doing it to her, she thinks it’s only fair.

"Hey, c’mon Lucyyyyy,” he whines. “Here, I’ll be good. It’s fun, I promise.”

Lucy caves quickly to his pleas and drops her act, letting her arms fall to her side before she looks back over at him. He’s got that familiar goofy smile plastered across his face, and even though she rolls her eyes at it, she can’t help that she’s smiling back at him.

He manages to demonstrate the proper techniques well enough that she feels confident going in herself, copying the actions he takes.

“Have you done this a lot?” She asks as she makes her first cut.

“Yeah, we used to do it all the time as kids,” Natsu replies. “Gramps put a stop to it when Erza and Mira tried to stab each other, though.”

She breathes an airy laugh at his comment. She’s heard all of the stories of what their beloved barmaid was like as a teen but she still can’t imagine the she-devil picking a fight with Erza, armed with a carving knife.

What she can imagine, however, is that she has not been the first victim of Natsu and his slimy pumpkin innards. She squirms a little as she guts it, but it’s not as bad as she originally thought, and she’s steadily making progress.

She’s cutting it close by the time she finishes. Most of the participants are already finished by the time she does, and when she finally places hers next to the rest, she’s a little embarrassed by its sloppy simplicity.

Natsu finishes not too long after she does, and he approaches from behind with his own entry. He’s been hiding his from her the whole time, claiming it to be a “surprise” for when he’s finished, and she’s been more eager to see his finished one than her own.

It’s not until he finally places it down on the judging table that she gets anything more than a brief glimpse of it for the first time. It’s got two little whiskers on each side, two ears, a little button nose, and two wide eyes. Immediately it clicks in her mind what it’s supposed to be.

“It’s Happy!” She cries out in delight.

Natsu gleams with pride as she’s immediately able to pinpoint where his creativity led him.

Looking at her own next to the rest, she decides that it’s not very good, but she’s happy she participated, even if she made it nowhere in the final rankings.

It comes as no surprise when Reedus takes home the grand prize, but that doesn’t stop Natsu from grumbling about it the whole walk home.

“I thought yours was great,” she offers, running a hand across his back in an attempt to comfort him, because she did. It was cute, and silly, and completely Natsu.

He seems to perk up at the compliment.

“I thought yours was great too,” he replies with a grin plastered across her face.

“Alright, you don’t need to lie to make me feel better,” Lucy snorts.

“I’m not lyin’! You did really good for a first try.”

She simply smiles back at him, her heart beginning to race just a little bit faster in her chest as their eyes lock.

“Thanks for teaching me.”

“Any time.”

☆♡☆♡

It’s quiet on the train, save for the soft rumble of the wheels against the track as the carriage sways side to side, which either means that Natsu has fallen asleep or that he has simply given up complaining about it. Lucy cares for Natsu a great deal, but she appreciates the peace that his uncharacteristic silence affords her. The book she has bought along for the journey has long since lost her interest, and now she is content to sit and watch the world pass by. Vast woodlands have felt the touch of autumn, their leaves a million shades of orange, gold, and yellow. They're obscured by the droplets of rain which are pelted against the glass. It isn’t the ideal weather for the job they're taking, but she is more than willing to enjoy it while safely tucked away in the carriage.

When she looks down at him, her suspicions are confirmed, as his eyes have fluttered closed and his chest rises and falls with his steady breathing. Her hand rests gently on his head, and her fingers begin to absentmindedly trail through his hair. He likes when she does that—or at least, she assumes he does. He’s never really in the state to tell her when she does it, but he never complains about it. Secretly, she likes it too. His hair is softer than one might expect, but that’s because he’s a little rascal who’s constantly stealing her shampoo. She doesn’t mind so much; she finds it endearing, if anything. He likes it because it smells like her—something he admits unabashedly and without shame, and hearing him say it makes her inside twist up in knots, but it’s the good kind, the kind that makes her feel like she could take on the world.

She never knew what to make of that feeling; couldn’t ever quite place her finger on what it meant.

She thinks she understands now; she’s just not quite sure what to do about it.

☆♡☆♡

The town that they’ve taken their most recent job in is a boisterous one, and once their obligations are out of the way, the trio takes full advantage of the local market before they’re back off to Magnolia. The market sprawls as far as the eye can see, and there’s a stall for anything and everything. Lucy and Happy split off earlier, leaving Natsu to meander between the stands, eyeing up all the trinkets and tchotchkes that he could take home as a souvenir.

He finds himself taken with a stall that displays various crystals and jewellery. Small signs that label each stone sprawl on about the spiritual powers that each of them holds, but Natsu doesn’t care about any of that. All he sees are cool, shiny rocks, and suddenly his dragon instincts kick in. His eyes graze over the jewellery section of the stall. He’s not much of a jewellery guy, but the shine of the various metals is enough to capture his attention.

Hung up on one of the display stands is a pair of gold earrings—a cluster of stars dangling down from the hooks with rhinestones encrusted in every other star, making them reflect the light when they catch the sun in just the right way. Immediately he is reminded of his partner, and he can’t help but think they really would suit her.

“Hey, how much for the earrings?” He asks the man attending the stall, gesturing to the pair that caught his eye.

“3000 Jewel.”

He pauses to think about it for a moment, but then he reaches in his bag for his wallet. It’s pricey, but with the full reward for their last job, he thinks he can swing it. He hands over the cash, and in exchange, the owner hands him the earrings, placed in a little drawstring bag so they don’t get snagged.

“Is this for your girlfriend?” the man asks.

“Something like that,” Natsu muses as he tucks the bag away in his pocket for later.

It doesn’t take him long to catch up with his partners, easily finding them within the crowd as though he has a built-in sensor just to find Lucy, though the presence of the blue exceed hovering around her probably helps just a bit.

“Did you find anything good?” Lucy asks as he approaches the two.

“Nah, not much,” he shrugs. “You?”

“There was a stall that was selling antique books!” She excitedly shares. “They were a bit out of my price range though,” she adds, her demeanour waning slightly at the thought of leaving back for Magnolia without anything.

“Next time?” Natsu suggests.

“Yeah, next time.”

☆♡☆♡

ii. winter

Winter peeks its head in at the tail end of autumn, making Lucy shiver when she sheds her jacket as she seats herself down at the guild bar. There’s a mug of hot cocoa already sat in front of her, courtesy of Mira, and Lucy gives her a smile and nods in thanks before taking a sip, letting the heat of the drink warm her from the inside.

“Winter sure has come early this year,” Mira singsongs as she collects the dirty glasses from those who have decided to find their morning warmth at the bottom of a glass of whiskey. “Do you have any plans for the season?” she asks as she busies herself with dirty dishes behind the bar.

Lucy looks down at her mug, watching the bubbles float around on the surface as she considers telling Mira what’s on her mind.

“Well… Sort of,” she murmurs.

“Sort of?” Mira repeats, her curiosity piqued by Lucy’s vague answer, “Do tell~”

“I just think that maybe this winter is the one where I can finally settle down with someone,” she admits to the barmaid.

Settling down has always been one of Lucy’s long-term goals, but since joining the guild, the idea of a romantic relationship has been pushed to the side. She loves what she does, but her occupation makes finding a relationship difficult and maintaining one even harder. Few of the wizards in the guild are in relationships, and of the ones that are, most of the successful ones are contained within the guild. Despite that, Lucy is determined to see the start of her fantasy whirlwind romance as cuffing season swiftly approaches.

"Oh, how sweet,” Mira replies, holding her face in her hands as she rests her elbows on the counter top.

Lucy’s one-on-one conversation with Mira is cut short upon the approach of her partner, who takes up residence on the bar stool beside her.

“What’s up?”

“Lucy wants to start dating~” Mirajane coos with hearts in her eyes at the prospect of a new romance.

“What? Why?” He sounds almost offended by the idea, his face scrunched up in disgust.

Romance is not a frequent topic of discussion between her and Natsu, and even though she knows him better than anyone, Lucy isn’t exactly sure how he might react to learning that she wanted to get into the dating scene. This, however, is certainly not what she was expecting. She doesn’t dignify him with an answer; instead, both curious and a little hurt at his reaction, she pries for answers.

“Why do you seem so against the idea of me dating someone?” She asks, folding her arms across her chest in defence.

“Because—” He pauses as though to find the right words. “Because guys are stupid, and none of them will treat you right.”

“Wh—that’s why you’re upset?”

“I’m not upset,” he grumbles, averting his gaze.

“Really? Because you look upset to me.”

"Well, I’m not,” he repeats, firmer this time.

At some point, Mira has slinked away, leaving just the two of them alone for their little squabble.

“I don’t need your permission anyway; I can date whoever I want.”

“Fine. I don’t care,” he grumbles, a pout evident on his face that gives his true feelings away.

“Why are you being so petulant?” She asks, frustration beginning to seep into her voice at his childish behaviour.

“I’m not being petulant,” he spits back, putting extra emphasis on the last word.

Lucy rolls her eyes, quickly picking up on the reason for his uncharacteristic articulation. “Do you even know what petulant means?”

“I don’t have to know what it means to know that I’m not being it,” he practically growls.

He’s been avoiding her gaze the whole time, but when he finally looks at her, his eyes are angry, and suddenly all the frustration in her turns to hurt, and her heart shatters inside her chest.

It’s a look she’s seen on his face many times but never directed at her, and she doesn’t understand why. It’s stupid and it's none of his business in the first place, so why is he acting like this?

She doesn’t want to dwell on it any longer. She doesn’t want to stay and talk, to try and get the answers out of him. She’s barely holding back tears when she wordlessly stands up and storms out of the guild hall.

He doesn’t call after her as she leaves, and something about that makes it hurt even more.

☆♡☆♡

About a week has passed since their spat, and Lucy has seen Natsu maybe three times since then and spoken to him even less. In that time, he had taken on a job without telling her, with Lucy only having found out from Mira, who shot her a sympathetic look as she broke the news.

If he wanted to take a job without her, fine—that was his prerogative—but to go without telling her? That was just petty.

It wasn’t her fault that Natsu was acting like a child because she wanted to start dating. She can’t even fathom why he’s so bothered by it anyway.

Everything about this situation is just so stupid. It’s not like he holds any romantic interest in her anyway, and that was precisely why she wanted to start dating in the first place. She wasn’t about let the complicated feelings that had begun to bubble beneath the surface get in the way of their beloved friendship, so instead she intended to divert them away from him. It’s a win-win situation: she gets to indulge in her romantic side, and they can continue to maintain their platonic relationship.

Apparently, he doesn’t share her enthusiasm.

His stupid, childish pettiness has gotten her down in the time since they’d last spoken. The hurt from his anger had quickly dissipated into hurt from his avoidance. She misses her friend, and right now, she’s more than willing to look past it if he’s willing to speak with her. Unfortunately, based on the way he seems to disappear every time she shows up, he’s not exactly keen.

A soft sigh escapes her lips, her gaze downturned in defeated frustration as she makes her way up the steps to the guild hall. She isn’t paying much attention when she gets to the top, letting her legs work on muscle memory alone, not expecting to bump into anyone at this time of day.

That is, until she does.

Physically.

She quite literally walks straight into someone as her gaze remains distracted. Her forehead thumps against their chest, strong, warm, and familiar, and she doesn’t need to look up to know who it is.

“N-Natsu!” She sputters as she steps back in embarrassment, already feeling the heat rise to her face. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to walk into you.”

When she finally gains the courage to look up at him, he looks surprised, almost panicked to see her, but he doesn’t make an effort to sidestep her or run like he had been all week. Instead, he awkwardly scratches the back of his neck and avoids her gaze.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “For getting mad at you the other day.”

She’s taken aback slightly by his sudden apology. Natsu has a lot of pride, and it takes a lot for him to admit he’s wrong in petty moments of emotion, but he sounds genuinely remorseful, and it makes her feel bad for feeling so negatively towards him in the first few days after their spat.

“I don’t care about that anymore,” she assures, her expression softening as she speaks.

After that, Natsu finally meets her eyes again, and he looks so soft and vulnerable. It’s a strange sight to see.

“I’ve just been… thinking about it a lot, I guess,” he confesses, his eyes flicking away from hers once more as he begins to speak. “You’re right. You can date whoever you want.” There’s not a lot of conviction in his words; it sounds like something he’s rehearsed over and over in his head, but coming from him, she appreciates it nonetheless. “I’m sorry for being an ass about it.”

In all the time she’s known him, she doesn’t think she can ever recall a time where he’s apologised to her like this. Granted, she can’t really recall any time it’s been warranted. This had been their first real argument—one that didn’t involve food, or transport, or rent money. He’s hardly ever apologised for real, big things that deserve them, and she almost wonders if someone has set him up for this, but that I’m sorry sounds so genuine it almost hurts.

“I forgive you.”

Suddenly, he perks up completely, his hunched shoulders push back, and the glimmer in his eye returns as he finally looks her in the eye again.

“Does that mean we’re good?”

“Yeah,” she smiles. “We’re good.”

☆♡☆♡

Even wrapped up in her comforter, as well as every blanket she thinks she’s ever owned, the bite of winter still breaks through into Lucy’s apartment, making her teeth chatter as she tries to fight off the cold. It’s nights like this where she finds herself glad for Natsu’s lack of boundaries as he lays in bed next to her like her own personal radiator, keeping her warm and keeping the heating bill down.

She’s warmed up slightly, but her poor circulation has kept her feet cold, almost painfully so. The feeling plants an idea in her mind, and with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she places her icy-cold feet on Natsu’s leg in an attempt to extract revenge for every cruel prank he’s ever played on her.

He looks at her, a little confused but generally amused by what she has tried (and failed) to achieve.

“Whatcha doin’ there, Lucy?” He asks, knowing full well the reaction she was trying to get out of him but wanting to see if he could get a rise out of her in exchange.

“Wh-does that seriously not bother you?”

“If you needed me to warm them up, all you had to do was ask,” he tells her, with that glint in his eye that always tells her he’s up to no good.

“That’s not what I-” She’s so distraught by the failure of her plan that she hardly gives any notice to the fact that he has his own trick up his sleeve, and it’s not until he’s already under the sheets that she realises her mistake. “NATSU!”

By that point, it’s much too late, and he’s already grabbed hold of her ankle with one hand while tickling the sole of her foot with the other.

She begs, pleads, for his mercy, but by the look on his face, she knows that she’s in for a long night.

☆♡☆♡

There’s a soft thud that rings out as something cold and wet hits Lucy’s back, sending her stumbling forward slightly. Reaching over her shoulder, her hands come into contact with a lump of snow that has stuck itself to her jacket. Pivoting on her foot to see where (or who) it came from, she knows she shouldn’t be surprised when she’s met with Natsu a fair way behind her, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face and another snowball already in hand, prepared should she choose to retaliate.

He looks at her expectantly, waiting to see what her next move is going to be but standing in a fixed position, making him an easy target if she decides she wants to fight back.

She leans down and gathers a handful of snow, packing it together into something that vaguely resembles a snowball and tossing it with as much force as she can muster at Natsu. It hits him square in the chest, which is less impressive knowing that he was basically a sitting target, but she’s happy with herself nonetheless. The single hit is all it takes for Natsu to go full throttle on her in return, pelting her with as many snowballs as he can make before she has time to retaliate.

A high-pitched squeal escapes her as the snow hits her face and seeps underneath her jacket. Not even the numbing chill makes her mood falter as she holds one hand up to shield herself while the other gathers a lump of snow to throw back at him. It breaks in the air when she throws it, not even making it close to her target before it pathetically falls back to the ground, and the sight of it makes Natsu howl in laughter.

Lucy doesn’t have it in herself to be embarrassed by it. Instead, she takes his moment of distraction to make a sturdier snowball and send it soaring at him. This time it meets her target, hitting him right in the face, wiping the grin off of it and leaving him looking thoroughly shocked. It’s Lucy’s turn to laugh at him, and she whoops and hollers at her small victory while he stands there, still trying to process what has just happened.

She takes this time to begin to stockpile projectiles, but she’s not fast enough because in the time it’s taken her to make three, Natsu has recovered and has already begun to pelt her. He's clearly more experienced in this area than she is based on the speed at which he can make snowballs and throw them. Instead of fighting back, Lucy chooses to run, but his aim is too good to outrun, and she falls victim to snowball after snowball.

At some point she turns to face him (a decision she regrets immediately when she’s forced into running backwards as she tries to shield and dodge his attacks) to try and call a truce, but Natsu is not interested. Instead, he hits her with a particularly hard shot to her shoulder, and she loses balance immediately and falls to the ground.

Based on the way he begins to cheer, Lucy thinks that he’s considered it his victory, and she doesn’t have it in her to contest it. She doesn’t realise how tired she is until she’s sitting down and, disregarding the cold, flops back onto the ground. As she lays in the snow, legs spread and arms sprawled out on either side of her, an idea strikes her, and she begins to move her limbs back and forth in the snow to create what she hopes is a pretty imprint on the ground.

She hasn’t made a snow angel in what feels like an eternity, and this time, without the threat of her father scolding her for getting her winter jacket wet looming over her, she can fully give into her childish impulses.

“What are you doing, weirdo?” Natsu asks, a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I’m making a snow angel,” she huffs, thinking she has made it quite obvious.

She tries to ignore the look Natsu’s giving her by shutting her eyes and concentrating on her self-assigned task, but she can still feel his gaze on her. Based on the way he laughs as she does so, she can only assume that she doesn’t look as elegant as she feels.

“Are you going to stand there and watch, or are you going to join me?” She finally says, her eyes fluttering open to meet his.

He doesn’t reply, but it’s not long before he has plonked himself on the ground next to her, and he’s making his own attempt. He tries to mimic her actions, but the longer he lays there, the more the snow begins to melt around him, and Lucy laughs at the absurdity of it all.

When they inevitably stand up to admire their work, they come to find that what he’s made is merely an approximation of a snow angel. Actually, it looks more like someone has fallen face first into the snow and struggled greatly to get back up. It’s really little more than a melted puddle in the grass, the back of his coat completely soaked through, and Lucy only feels a little bad at how much she’s laughing. His brows furrow in disappointment as he looks down at his work; it’s not nearly as pretty as Lucy’s; in fact, it’s not really a snow angel at all, but the way she’s doubled over in laughter, clutching her stomach, and wiping away tears makes him laugh along too.

☆♡☆♡

When Lucy wakes up the next morning, her body protests her every move, and she begins to deeply regret putting looking cute higher on her priority list than keeping herself warm in the snow. She doesn’t last long out of bed before everything in her is begging to get back under the covers.

As soon as her head hits the pillow, she’s out for the count. Several hours pass her by in her comatose state, and it’s not until she hears the thunk of her window opening followed by the chill of the winter air running through her apartment. When she opens her eyes, she’s met with Natsu looking down at her from her windowsill, and in her groggy state, she’s not entirely sure if he’s really there or if she’s having some sort of weird fever dream.

“Na-tsu?”

“Wow, you look like shit,” Natsu observes.

Yep, definitely the real Natsu, alright.

“Thanks,” she croaks out. “I feel it too.”

He pulls the window shut before pulling himself to sit on the bed next to her.

“What happened?” he asks, examining her roughed-up appearance.

Her cheeks are deeply flushed, and a thin layer of sweat makes her hair stick to her forehead and her entire body glisten.

“That stupid snowball fight…” she grumbles.

She knows that it’s her fault for not bundling up in the cold weather, but she feels so terrible right now that shifting the blame away from herself provides a tiny piece of solace.

“Guess we’re not goin’ on that job today,” he comments.

“What job?” she asks, completely perplexed by the sudden mention of a job. There’s no job, as far as she can remember.

“Oh.”

“Guess I’m stuck taking care of you,” Natsu shrugs as he slides off of the bed and sheds his jacket, happy to make himself comfortable.

“You’re not stuck taking care of me,” she grumbles into her blanket. “I didn’t ask you to do it.”

“You know I’m just jokin’ with ya Lucy,” he grins, ruffling up her hair a little. “I’m not gonna leave ya hangin’ while you’re all sick and gross.”

She wants to protest the gross part, but she knows she won’t get far because it’s an objective fact that right now. She is gross. Her hair is a mess, a slick layer of sweat coats her entire body, and she’s pretty sure there’s a trail of snot running from her nose.

The pack that was clearly meant to be for their job today gets tossed unceremoniously to the floor by the foot of her bed as Natsu makes himself comfortable in her home.

“So,” he begins. “What’s the first step in takin’ care of a sick person?”

“Well, what do you do when you get sick?” Lucy croaks.

“I don’t get sick,” Natsu shrugs.

“What?”

“I said I don’t get sick,” he repeats.

“Everyone gets sick.”

“Not me,” he reaffirms. “Gets burnt off before it can affect me.”

She supposes it makes sense, but her brain isn’t really working well enough to question that logic regardless. All she can do is feel envious that he’s never had to go through the experience that she currently is.

“I don’t know,” she grumbles as she flops back down onto her pillow and pulls her comforter up to cover the lower half of her face. “Can you make me some soup?”

“Yeah, I can probably do that.”

If she weren’t currently wallowing in her own pity, she might immediately forbid Natsu from entering her kitchen with intent to cook, but her brain is too far gone to even consider it as a possibility.

As soon as he leaves the room, she begins to drift off again, lacking the energy to stay awake without the external stimulus.

Her faith in Natsu is rewarded when she’s coaxed awake slightly, and when her eyes flutter open, she finds him waiting with a bowl of hot soup and a side of bread she recognises as being from the bakery down the road. She knows it’s just the stuff heated from the can, but once she’s able to get a whiff through clogged sinuses, she’s reminded of how hungry she is, and it begins to look like the most delicious meal in the world.

She takes the bowl into her lap, revelling in its warmth, but before she can reach for the spoon, Natsu is already holding it out for her—a chunk of chicken and some peas and carrots floating in the broth on the utensil.

“I can feed myself,” she grumbles.

She’s sick, but she’s not a child.

Natsu rolls his eyes, a little dejected by her denial of his help, but lets her do what she wants regardless.

She takes the spoon to prove her point and brings it up to her lips to take a sip, only in her sickly haze, to tip it down her front. Her sleep shirt takes most of the hit, but it’s still hot against her skin, and it only serves to make a bad day worse.

Natsu’s once-teasing expression drops to immediate concern as she cries out in pain. He’s not exactly a fast thinker, but he has the foresight to take the bowl off of her lap to prevent another accident, and without having anything else on hand to help clean her up, he wipes the broth off of her skin with his scarf.

When the burning sensation finally wears off and she finally processes what happened, Lucy looks up at him and finds Natsu looking back at her with worry in his eyes.

“Your scarf…” she murmurs, suddenly feeling guilt prick at her heart. “It’s going to smell like soup now…”

“I don’t care about that,” he replies, his brows still firmly fixed into a frown. “Are you okay?”

Lucy comes to a pause for a moment as she looks up at him. She’s fine, really, she is, but she’s taken off guard. Not by the soup, but by the tenderness in his words and the worry woven into his expression. It’s nothing like his usual self—all brash and carefree. Sure, he always worries about his friends, but she doesn’t consider what happened enough to warrant the concern he exhibits.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she affirms, and his shoulders relax just a little. “Sorry.”

“You gotta be more careful, okay?” He says, and she almost wants to roll her eyes given who it’s coming from, but he speaks to her so tenderly and with such uncharacteristic concern that she can’t bring herself to.

Instead, she takes the moment for what it is and lets him take care of her for once.

☆♡☆♡

Christmas sneaks up on Lucy before she even has much time to even think about it. Ever since she and Natsu made up, the pair had been practically inseparable and she has barely spent any time away from him since. Not that she minds. Natsu is her best friend; she loves having him by her side, and really, all this time spent together is just making up for the lost time earlier in the year.

It's low-key this year: just her, Natsu, and Happy. She loves Erza—bless her soul—but she is simply too much for her to handle this time of year. Her apartment is decorated for the season, but she hasn’t bothered putting up a tree. They’ve agreed on no presents this time around, so there’s nothing to put under there anyway, and she doesn’t want to have to deal with lugging the thing up the stairs of her building again this year.

The day calls for food and board games, and the three of them are completely content with that.

“Another round?” Lucy asks, gathering up the cards on the table and shuffling them in the aftermath of demolishing the both of them in a devastating game of Uno.

“Actually,” Natsu hums. “I got you a present.”

Hearing that catches her off guard slightly, and she stops to place the cards down on the table. If she had known that Natsu was going to give her something, she would have gone out of her way to return the favour, but they had both agreed that they wouldn’t be exchanging gifts.

“I didn’t get you anything,” she frowns, but Natsu seems completely unphased by the fact.

Out of his overnight pack, he pulls out a small gift wrapped in bright red and white Christmas wrapping paper and places it in her hand with an excited glint in his eye.

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassures her. "C'mon, just open it already!”

It’s small enough that it fits in her hand, and as she inspects it, she really has no idea what it could be, but Natsu is staring at her with an eager grin and she can’t help but wonder what on earth he’s so excited about. The wrapping is a little messy, and she struggles to get through what she believes to be definitely way too much tape, but beneath it all she’s met with a small drawstring bag, containing a pair of gorgeous gold earrings adorned with glittering stars hanging down from the hooks.

“Cool, huh?”

She doesn’t know how to respond; this is the last thing she would have expected to receive from Natsu of all people.

“Where did you get these?”

“From some market back in that weird little town,” he shrugs.

Her brows furrow for a moment as she tries to recall what he’s talking about, until it clicks in her brain. That was months ago now, and he’d kept it this whole time, even through their no-gifts promise.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I do,” she breathes. “I really love it. Thank you, Natsu.”

Placing the earrings down on the table, Lucy reaches her arms around him, and he quickly reciprocates, his grip around her tight as she buries her face in his chest.

☆♡☆♡

New Year’s Eve brings the guild together once more in celebration. Not that they need the excuse; Lucy is almost certain that a certain subset of her guildmates have already been blackout drunk since early evening.

Nonetheless, an event like this is the perfect excuse for her to get prettied up, and she’s taking it proudly.

Her eyes scan her vanity for the hair ribbons she could have sworn she had just a second ago, but instead her gaze falls on Natsu’s gift. She hasn’t had a chance to wear them yet, waiting to save them for a special occasion, but she supposes tonight is as good as any. Taking her pair out, she switches them for her new ones before pulling her hair back to admire them. They’re definitely a little more out there than anything she might have picked for herself—certainly not an everyday pair—but the way they shimmer and twinkle in the light makes her think that they might be her new favourite out of her collection. When she finally locates her ribbons, she opts to simply tie her hair back in pigtails, letting her new earrings act as her statement piece for tonight. Even though she’s just heading to the guild, Lucy remembers to bundle up this time, having learned from her past mistake and most certainly not wanting to repeat it.

Excitement lingers in the air as she walks through Magnolia. Families are out long after dark, waiting patiently for the annual fireworks show. It’s been a longstanding tradition that has always brought the city together, and this year would be no exception. The best view is always held on the second-floor balcony of the guild hall, a fact that Lucy is intimately familiar with. She rushes up the stairs as fast as her feet will take her, not willing to miss spending the send-off of the year with her friends.

“You made it!” Natsu cheers the moment his partner comes into view.

“Of course I would make it,” she tells him, her words puffing into clouds of steam in front of her face. “I wouldn��t miss it for anything.”

She’s just on time, too.

As the fireworks begin to light up the sky, ringing in another year and a new beginning, Lucy looks out and the crowd of her friends—her family—and watches as couples lock lips to celebrate the coming of the new year. She’s happy for them, really, she is, but her heart begins to ache as she thinks about how another year has slipped her by and she’s no closer to a relationship of her own. It had been her goal to lock herself down through the winter season but she’s just as far away from it as she had been when she shared her wishes with Mira that day at the bar.

Maybe she hadn’t put herself out there enough; maybe she spent the year too occupied with her work, but she had really thought that this would be the year that romance would come her way.

Before she has time to dwell on it too much, she feels an arm slung around her shoulders.

“Happy New Year, Lucy!” Natsu yells, pulling her into his side in a crushing hug.

His smile is so bright, his joy so infectious, that she can’t help the way her heart begins to race in her chest.

“Yeah, Happy New Year, Natsu.”

Without thinking, she finds herself on the tips of her toes, her lips gently placing a kiss against his cheek. She’s not sure how she expects him to react, but when he looks down at her, his cheeks are dusted red slightly, from the kiss or the cold, she isn’t sure, but he doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to.

He smiles at her, and she smiles back.

☆♡☆♡

iii. spring

By the time spring comes around, Lucy is well and truly done with winter. It has been far too cold this year and she is simply looking forward to being able to comfortably exist without several layers and the fear of frostbite.

Something she knows she will miss is the seasonal excuse for her close proximity to Natsu. It’s easy to excuse sleepovers and snuggling with your best friend under the guise of sharing body heat, especially when said best friend is the human equivalent of a radiator.

Still, that doesn’t stop her from standing just a little closer to him than usual, letting their hands brush together as they walk. Each touch of his hand against her own sends sparks through her body that feel so foreign and yet so familiar at the same time. It’s a feeling she knows she’ll now only ever associate with him, and she feels as though she has quickly become addicted.

When he asks why she’s standing so close even as the weather warms up, she pretends it’s because she’s still cold, but even Natsu knows better. Nonetheless, he doesn’t question it and lets it happen quietly.

She wonders if he ever feels it too.

☆♡☆♡

A gentle breeze tousles Lucy’s hair and the fringe of the blanket she’s spread out across the grass. Now that the weather outside is getting warmer, Lucy is ready to take any excuse to be out in the sun, and with today’s clear skies, she’s taking the chance to finish her book along with a packed lunch down at a park.

Where Lucy goes, Natsu follows—a mantra that has never been more true in their friendship than in recent months. Though she values her alone time, she can’t help the way that she still misses him whenever they’re apart, so when he invites himself along to the plans she makes, she doesn’t have it in herself to be upset about it.

Some days it feels like she’s taking a dog for a walk based on the boundless energy he always has, but today even he is subdued by the sun. He relishes in it—revels in the warmth it provides. Once lunch is finished, he is entirely content to bathe in the sunlight as Lucy reads.

She says he’s like a cat. He claims he’s more like a dragon.

She’s not sure how much she’s convinced of that, given that the place he has decided to lay is right in her lap.

His eyes flutter closed in search of a post-lunch nap, which gives Lucy ample opportunity to get through a chapter or two. She expects he’ll be the one to end their little afternoon out when he inevitably gets bored, but by the time she decides she’s done with her book for the day, he’s still snoozing in her lap. It’s rather cute, actually. Her loud, rambunctious Natsu, tamed by a little bit of warmth and sunlight. She doesn’t mind, so she lets him lay there for a while longer, happy to enjoy the sun with him.

At some point, her fingers come to tangle in his hair, gently grazing his scalp, and in that moment, he is so content that he lets out a noise that somewhat resembles a purr.

It seems that cats and dragons aren’t so dissimilar after all.

☆♡☆♡

Every year, when Easter comes around, Fairy Tail hosts a city-wide egg hunt to celebrate.

This year Lucy’s volunteered her time hiding the eggs, so she’s barred from participating, but she is content to just watch. Really, it’s supposed to be an event for the children, but that doesn’t stop the grown-ups from participating. It’s mostly parents playing along with their kids, but there’s a fair few of her guildmates searching around too, urged on by the competitive spirit that is ever present in all Fairy Tail members.

She’s found herself a spot on a secluded bench at the park, far enough out of the way that she won’t be intruding on any of the participants but close enough that she can still observe. A book lays open in her lap, her attention switching between that and the scene before her, checking to see if any of her eggs have been found.

A few familiar faces pass her by, but few take any notice of her, too deeply enraptured by the event to realise that she’s there. She exchanges polite smiles with those that do, but none elicit one quite as genuine as the one that crosses her lips when she hears her partner come along, accompanied by Happy and Asuka. Asuka is sitting atop his shoulders, gripping onto his hair as she searches the landscape from her vantage point for the brightly decorated eggs.

Lucy’s expression softens when she sees them from across the park, and Natsu flashes her a smile that gives her butterflies. Their attention is quickly taken away by the loud squeal that escapes Asuka’s lips as she uses her vantage point to spot a particularly cleverly hidden egg.

She tugs on his hair, and he runs in the direction she’s pointing in, which leads them to a tree where Lucy had wedged an egg in between the branches. She isn’t tall enough to have put it too high, so she knows that Natsu can easily reach for it on his own, but he bends down slightly to give Asuka the chance to grab it.

They both whoop and holler in excitement when she drops it in the basket Happy is carrying, and Lucy can’t help the giggle that escapes her lips. She’s too far away from them to hear, but even if she were closer, she’s certain she wouldn’t be heard over their celebratory cries.

They don’t stay for much longer; Asuka is too keen to continue their hunt in other places to stop by and say hi, but it doesn’t stop Natsu from waving as they dash by.

☆♡☆♡

Natsu is running late the day that he promised they’d take another job together. Lucy isn’t paying much mind to the time in the first place, allowing herself to get stuck into a new novel she had purchased the day prior while she waits. It’s not until nearly twenty minutes have gone by that she thinks to check the time and notices how late he is.

He’s never exactly prompt, but Natsu is a man of his word, and if he says he’s going to be somewhere, he will be there, which makes Lucy begin to worry. There are a couple of things that would keep Natsu from the guildhall when he says he’ll be there, but they’re few and far between, and it has Lucy wondering if something bad has happened to him.

Thankfully, he doesn’t leave her wondering for too long, before he stumbles over to her table. When he finally arrives, he looks downright miserable. His eyes are red and puffy, and his nose is scarlet to match. He sniffs and wipes away a drool of snot, and Lucy flinches slightly in disgust.

“Natsu, what are you doing here?” She asks, concerned by his current state, shuffling away from him slightly when he sits down next to her. “You look terrible.”

“I feel terrible,” he replies, letting his head thunk down on the table and instilling a sense of déjà vu in her.

“If you’re sick, why didn’t you go to Wendy?

“I’m not sick,” he insists. “I don’t get sick, remember?”

She vaguely recalls a conversation they’ve had about this before, and it’s not that she doesn’t believe him because in all the time she’s known him, he hasn’t ever been sick, but he certainly looks sick in the moment, and there is a first time for everything.

Coaxing him off of the table, Lucy presses her hand against his forehead to check his temperature, only to be reminded that Natsu runs about as hot as the sun, and that she’s not about to get anywhere like this.

“If you’re sick, you should have stayed home. Our job can wait.”

“But I wasn’t sick when I was at home,” he groans, letting his head fall into his hands as though that might stop the symptoms plaguing him.

Lucy pauses for a moment and mulls his words over in her head, and suddenly things begin to click.

“Natsu… Do you have hay fever?”

He pauses for a moment and peeks through his fingers, looking at her in confusion.

“What?”

“Allergies,” she rephrases.

“Allergic to what?” He asks, still not understanding what she’s trying to say.

She’s never seen someone look so wrecked by seasonal allergies, but with his heightened senses and this seemingly being the first time he’s been hit by them, it sort of makes sense in her mind.

“To pollen,” she explains. “Maybe you’re having a reaction to the high pollen count. That would be why you were fine when you were home but got sick when you came here.”

He looks at her, and she can almost see the gears turning in his head.

“Maybe? I’ve never had allergies before,” he grumbles, looking unhappy with her conclusion. “I don’t wanna feel like shit every time I hafta go outside.”

The concern she once had turns into a soft laugh when his head falls to the table now that she knows he’s not seriously ailing. It’s a little bit amusing, honestly. Big Bad Natsu Dragneel, taken down by a little bit of pollen.

Thankfully, it’s not something a trip to the pharmacy can’t cure for him.

He takes care of her, and now it’s her chance to repay the favour.

☆♡☆♡

As soon as Natsu’s feet hit the ground, he is on his knees, kissing the train platform like he has never seen solid ground before.

“You don’t need to be so dramatic about it,” Lucy says, debating whether she should pretend she doesn’t know him or not.

When she finally coaxes him off the floor and to the exit of the station, they’re met with a vicious downpour that almost completely obscures the normal view they would get when they come into the city.

“It was raining when we came into Magnolia,” she tells him as she looks out into the rain. “Well, you know what they say: April showers bring May flowers.”

It’s a hopefully optimistic phrase, and it doesn’t match the almost pained expression on her face when she looks over at him.

It had been so nice when they left the day before; the sky was clear and cloudless, with no indication of the greyness that looms over them now. She hadn’t thought to bring a raincoat, and while she could maybe put that down to her inability to dress for the weather, the fact that Natsu hadn’t thought to either at least makes her feel a tinge better.

She furrows her brows slightly as he looks out into the town, though she can’t see much further than a few metres in front of her before the heavy rain obscures the view entirely. While she’s rather fond of rain, that’s in scenarios where she’s curled up inside with a good book. The idea of running through a downpour this heavy is unappealing to her, and she has an inkling that Natsu feels the same way.

“I don’t have an umbrella,” she murmurs. “And the weather doesn’t look like it’s going to let out any time soon.”

They could wait around until the downpour stops, but who knows how long that might take.

Natsu looks up at her to confer about her options, but by that point, she has already made up her mind.

“Well,” she says, tugging off her jacket and holding it above her head. “Are you ready?”

He regards her with a blank stare for a moment, but then he answers her with a wide grin. Before long, they step out into the rain, and they’re running through a torrential downpour together.

Almost immediately, she is drenched right to the bone. Any other time, it would be gross and uncomfortable, but there is so much adrenalin pumping through her veins that it barely registers in her brain. All she can feel is the rush, and the rain washing away all of her woes.

Her feet take her where she needs to go, trailing right behind Natsu in front of her. She’s given up on using her jacket to keep herself dry; the garment is already completely soaked through. Instead, she just lets the rain roll over her, causing her hair and clothing to stick to her skin.

The heavy rain obscures her vision, and she worries that she’s going to lose Natsu, but before she knows it, he reaches his hand out towards her, and she takes it in her own with no hesitation.

Their fingers lace together as they run.

Natsu spots a tree not far from where they are, and as they approach, he tugs on her arm to pull her under it, taking solace in the small bit of shelter it provides. He holds her close to his chest, and she takes in every bit of warmth his body provides. She’s completely drenched, and her teeth are chattering as the cold seeps into her skin. They stay there for a moment, relishing in the temporary shelter, though knowing it’s just that—temporary.

“You ready?” He asks.

“Yeah,” she breathes, looking out at the rain battering down onto the sidewalk.

Sucking in a breath, Lucy grabs his hand once more, and together they run back out into the rain. She holds one hand over her head in a futile attempt to shield herself, and the idea of it is so silly that Natsu doesn’t even try to hold back the laugh he lets out. He could really be laughing at anything right now, but she knows he’s laughing at her, so she huffs and disregards her futile efforts. Instead, she diverts it to running as fast as she can muster, speeding down the streets of Magnolia like her life depends on it. Even Natsu struggles to match her pace.

He shakes some of the water out of his hair like a dog when they make it inside, and droplets splash against her skin, which she makes sure he knows when she lets out a loud squeal. They both know he has more efficient ways of drying himself, but they also both know that he finds it much more fun this way.

Even as she fiddles with the lock on her front door, his hand never leaves his. She knows that if not for it, they would already be inside, but she just can’t find it in herself to pull away.

☆♡☆♡

Alzack and Bisca being away on a day job means that Natsu is on babysitting duty until they return and Natsu being on babysitting duty means that Lucy is on babysitting duty too.

The day is too nice for the three of them to be stuck inside, so they take Asuka for a walk down to a park that sits a few streets down from Lucy’s apartment. When they arrive, they find that spring is in full bloom, with daisies covering every inch of grass as far as the eye can see.

Asuka squeals in delight as it comes into view, tugging on Natsu’s hair to let him know that she wants to be let down, and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she runs off into the field, dropping to her knees to pick herself a bundle.

Lucy and Natsu follow not far behind, sitting beside her on the grassy surface, where Lucy begins to join her in plucking the daisies.

Her fingers effortlessly weave the stems together to create a chain of flowers, the stems braided together with the petals poking out between them. Once she finds herself satisfied with it, she places it gently atop Natsu’s head. His attention has been squarely on watching Asuka gather flowers before tearing all the petals off to add to the pile in her lap, but the feeling of something being placed on the crown of his head has him bringing a hand up to his hair to feel what it is. He looks over at Lucy, confused, only to be met with a soft expression on her face.

“I made you a flower crown,” she smiles, holding back a giggle at the baffled look on his face.

He looks kind of cute like that, she thinks, with the soft white flowers peeking out between his messy pink locks. The delicate flowers juxtapose his loud and boisterous personality, and it reminds her how special she is to get to see the softer side of him.

When he finally processes what has just happened, Natsu begins to gather up a collection of his own daisies to try and return the favour. His hands aren’t as dainty or dextrous as hers are, so he struggles to pierce the thin stems and thread them together, which results in his first attempt being a little sloppy and beginning to fall apart when he tries to hold it up.

“Do you want some help?” Lucy asks, holding a hand out to him, but he merely shakes his head in response.

“No, I can do it,” he replies, already plucking another set of flowers as a look of deep concentration sets in on his face.

His second attempt doesn’t prove to be much better, though, and in his frustration, he lets the flowers fall to the ground. When he looks back up at Lucy, he finds that she’s once again weaving together a string of them at Asuka’s request, and he’s struck with an alternative idea.

While she hands Asuka her chain, she’s caught off guard as Natsu brushes a strand of hair behind her ear and tucks one of his discarded daisies behind her ear. One daisy turns into two, and then three, four, five, until her hair is a sea of flowers and she’s a blushing, giggling mess.

It’s not long before Asuka decides she wants to join in on the fun. Soon Lucy is covered in so many flowers that they simply cannot fit any more on her, and the three of them begin transferring them to Asuka’s hair instead.

☆♡☆♡

In her time spent as a Fairy Tail mage, there’s little that Lucy wants to do that she hasn’t already done yet. She’s got an impressive resume as a guild wizard, she’s achieved a lot in her personal life, and she’s seen all Magnolia has to offer. There are few things that she so desires to experience in the little town she’s found her home in that she hasn’t yet done, but as spring has sprung and flowers come into bloom, there is one thing she still feels like she’s missed out on.

She makes sure to take care of herself early spring this year; she dresses for the weather; she doesn’t take jobs in places where it gets too cold; and she avoids Gray for a whole week when he comes down with a nasty cough. It’s a little much—as Natsu has pointed out to her on multiple occasions—but she is not taking any risks this year, and as the flowers come into view, she knows that it was all worth it.

The sight of the cherry blossoms in bloom in their native spot is nothing like Lucy could have imagined. Soft pink flowers decorate the branches of every tree as far as the eye can see, some of their petals fluttering to the ground as the gentle breeze sways them. She feels a genuine sense of childlike wonder, and it takes Happy tugging at her arm to draw her attention away.

When she turns around, she meets Natsu’s eyes, and gracing his lips is an amused smile that she rarely sees on him.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“‘Cause you’re gettin’ real excited over some flowers,” he replies. “The real fun hasn’t even started yet.”

He’s right—the flowers are only the beginning of the festivities. The day ahead is filled with food, fun, and companionship (and maybe a little bit of booze), and as the sun begins to descend over the horizon and the pink diffuses into a rainbow of colours, Lucy begins to get teary-eyed. Something about the cherry blossoms just brings it out of her, because even though she’s surrounded by her friends in a boisterous environment like this almost every day, tonight she just can’t help but feel sentimental about it.

Maybe it’s the memory of that one night all those years ago and the memory of rainbow petals flittering in the river, or maybe it’s just the glass of wine running through her veins, but when she sees Natsu and Happy standing beneath the tree, tears start running down her cheeks. They’re quiet at first, but it quickly devolves into choked-out sobs that capture Natsu’s attention and cause him to panic. He’s by her side about as soon as he hears them, and she doesn’t realise just how much she wants him next to her until he’s there.

“They’re so pretty!” She sobs out.

“The flowers?” Natsu asks, bewilderment cast over his expression.

Lucy nods frantically as she wipes away her tears. They come so quickly that she isn’t really in the headspace to explain why she’s crying, but the tension in Natsu’s shoulders seems to loosen up when he realises that she’s not in any immediate harm or danger.

“I’m just so happy!” Lucy babbles.

“Yeah?” He affectionately replies. “Me too.”

He wipes away a tear from her cheek with his thumb, a slight mischievous smirk growing on his lips before he speaks up again.

“You’re weird.”

If it’s an effort to kill the tender moment, it fails because Lucy simply clutches onto his vest and begins to sob into his chest. His stupid little comments can’t hurt her when she knows he says them with love.

She’ll always be his weirdo.

☆♡☆♡

As the end of spring nears and the beginning of summer approaches, the days begin to get longer and warmer.

The town they’ve found themselves in prides itself on the gorgeous beaches that line the horizon, and with the way the warmth of the incoming season begins to creep up on them, they decide to take advantage of the cool water as the sun begins to dip over the horizon.

Lucy knows they’ve made the right decision when she wades ankle deep into the water, letting out a relieved sigh as it washes over her feet. She stretches her arms out, letting the breeze tousle her hair as she takes in a breath of the salty sea air. The way the sky is soaked in golden orange hues makes it look like a painting, and with the utter peace she feels in that moment, she feels like she’s in one too.

Her attention turns when she hears the sloshing of water, and she comes to find Natsu, his pants rolled up his legs as he moves to join her.

He’s been staring; she can tell, but he doesn’t hide it. When she casts him a quizzical look, he merely grins at her, and she can’t find it in herself to question him. Instead, she merely smiles back.

Her heart squeezes in her chest at the sight. He looks so handsome cast in the orange hues of the sunset, and the way he smiles at her makes her heart do flips. She’s no longer looking towards the sun, for she has another blazing flame next to her. It’s a soft moment—a good one—but it’s cut short when Natsu kicks his leg up and lets water splash over her.

In ruining one moment, he creates another, and the laugh he lets out almost makes getting her shirt wet worth it.

Now dead set on earning her revenge, Lucy leans down to slosh water on him, and before long the two are engaged in a water fight of epic proportions, laughing and howling like a pair of children, unaffected by the burdens and woes of life.

It’s just them.

Just the way it always should be.

Her feet are beginning to sink into the wet sand, and she’s starting to lose her balance, but she’s not going down without a fight. In a last-ditch effort to hold herself up, she instead grabs onto Natsu, pulling them both down into the water.

At this point, they’re both completely drenched, so falling into the ocean does little to faze them.

Once they break the surface of the water, Lucy spits out a mouthful of ocean water that she obtained in the fall, and Natsu shakes the water out of his hair like a dog. Droplets from his hair splash onto Lucy’s face, and she holds her hands up to shield herself from it despite the fact that she is already soaked.

He laughs again, and hearing it once more, she realises that she’s in deep.

Their gazes meet, and for a moment she wonders if he ever thinks the same of her, but before she can think to contemplate it any longer, she feels his hands on her waist and her lips on her own.

There’s not a moment of hesitation before her hands move up to his face, cradling his jaw as she kisses him back.

In that moment, it feels as though all time has stopped.

It’s just them against the backdrop of the sunset.

She begins to wonder if this is what falling in love feels like.

☆♡☆♡

It has been three, maybe four, weeks since her job out of town with Natsu. Or perhaps—more accurately—since the day Natsu kissed her. The job is foreign in her mind, muddled in with every other job she’s taken over the past few years, but the kiss is so clear in her mind that she would be hard-pressed to ever forget it. It plays over and over again in her mind; the image so clear, it was as though she was reliving the moment every time.

The memory is practically haunting.

It wouldn’t be such a problem if he actually wanted to address it.

They hadn’t spoken a word about it since then because every time she tried to broach the subject, he seemed to get skittish. He was making it clear he didn’t want to talk about it, so she dropped the subject entirely, but for as normal as she wants to act, there’s still a lingering tension between them.

She just hopes things will go back to normal soon.

☆♡☆♡

iv. summer

All the money Natsu saves her in the winter goes down the drain in the summer when it’s time to pay her electricity bill. The window is wide open, two fans are running at full speed, and the AC is down as cool as it can go, but it’s still not enough. It’s not helped by the fact that he has decided to sprawl himself across her bed. Lucy knows he can’t help that his body runs about a million degrees hotter than most, but he’s really not helping his case with how close he's chosen to lay next to her—all but on top of her.

She gently nudges him with her foot in an attempt to get him off her bed and out of her general proximity.

“Off,” she demands, nudging him again, though far less gently this time.

“Don’t wanna,” he drawls, not moving an inch from his chosen spot.

The worst part, in Lucy’s eyes, is the fact that he doesn’t even seem to be affected by the heat, so he’s just taking up residence on her bed and blocking her fan for no real reason.

“You’re too hot,” she groans, rolling over onto her front in an attempt to get as far away from him and the heat he radiates as possible.

She’s aware of the double entendre as soon as she says it, and she tries to shake the thought from her mind when she questions which way she means it.

Ever since the day he kissed her, she hasn’t been able to get him off of her mind. That in and of itself was not unusual; he’s her best friend, and they’re basically inseparable, but this time it’s different. This time, her mind is plagued with thoughts of him as something more. Every time she gets a glimpse of his lips, she recalls the way they felt against hers, and she wants to feel them again.

She really thought that that moment would be the turning point in their relationship—the moment they could take things further than what they have now. They’ve always had something more-than-friends going on in their relationship, she supposes, but he has always left her wanting more. She needs something, anything from him, to let her know how he feels—a label, a kiss, any sort of acknowledgement of these feelings that always seem to be just simmering below the surface—but instead she gets nothing.

She’s not given any more time to dwell on those thoughts when Natsu rolls over to get closer to her, tossing one leg over her own, and suddenly the only thing she can think about is how this is going to be a long, sweaty afternoon.

“You’re comfy,” is the only excuse he drawls.

Lucy doesn’t feel like debating it—she doesn’t have the energy to do so—so it’s left at that.

☆♡☆♡

Honestly, the crackle of the fire is the last thing they need right now given the warm summer nights they’ve been blessed with, but as the sun dips low over the horizon and they still find themselves in the depths of the forest, it’s necessary to cook their dinner and light their camp.

With the sun down, the night is much cooler than the day, making it bearable to linger by the fire for a while before they retire back to their tent for the night.

It’s a little cloudy tonight, but Lucy still indulges herself in the little stargazing she can get this time of night—or at least, she tries to before her attention is drawn away by Natsu, snapping small branches off of a nearby tree.

“What are you doing?” She asks.

“Getting sticks,” he answers, matter-of-factly.

Lucy holds pause for a moment, waiting for him to elaborate. She can see he’s getting sticks, but she’s still unsure why. When an answer doesn’t come, she speaks up again.

“Why?”

“Gonna make us s’mores.”

That causes her to perk up slightly.

“You brought stuff for s’mores?” She asks.

“Yeah, they’re in my pack,” he replies, gesturing to where it sits by the fire as he returns with an armful of sticks he has deemed sufficient for their marshmallow toasting endeavours.

Surely enough, when he rummages through his bag for a moment, he pulls out everything they need to make s’mores. He wastes no time piercing the marshmallows on his sticks and handing one to her. She’s never roasted marshmallows before, which is kind of absurd given how often they’ve got a campfire going, but she gets the idea pretty quickly.

Her first few are not as good as she would have hoped. When she accidentally burns them, charring them beyond recognition, Natsu eats them without complaint. He likes them better that way, he tells her. When he offers one up to her, she politely declines.

She discovers she likes a nice even toast, and the way to do that, as Natsu teaches her, is to keep it in continuous motion.

He only “accidentally” knocks her marshmallow into the fire once.

Their s’mores are sweet, and ooey, and gooey. They’re full of melt-in-your-mouth, chocolatey goodness, and when a little bit of chocolate makes it onto her face, Natsu wipes it off with his thumb and sticks it in his mouth. It’s a marked improvement on licking her face, but the tenderness of it makes her cheeks grow just a little hotter.

She begins to wonder if he might be just as sweet as the s’mores they’re eating.

☆♡☆♡

A bead of sweat drips down Lucy’s temple as the sun beats down on her.

They had planned to stay at the guild a little later than usual and wait out the midday sun, but even that is proving to be still much too hot for her. While Natsu fares fine in the heat, Lucy does not hold up so well and is in a rush to make it back to her air-conditioned apartment.

It’s not a long walk from the guild to her apartment, but in this heat it’s never felt longer, not made any better given Natsu does not seem to be in the same hurry she is. He trails a few feet behind her, and as much as she would like to just leave without waiting around for him, she can’t do that to him. Just as she’s at the end of her rope, she turns on her heel to snap at him to hurry up, the weather doing no good for her irritability, but in that moment she realises why it is that he doesn’t seem to be in much of a rush.

On the corner of one of the corners she passed without much thought, is a little ice cream stand, making the most of the summer season.

She comes to pause, unable to hold it against him when she suddenly wants the exact same thing. An ice cream seems like the exact thing she needs to get through this weather.

When she opens her purse, she remembers all the frivolous purchases she’s made this week, and there’s nothing more than a few stray jewels in there—not nearly enough to buy herself a little treat. In a last-ditch attempt to obtain her sweet treat, she turns to face her partner.

“Naaattsssuu~” She says, batting her eyelashes in an attempt to sway him.

She doesn’t have to ask because he already knows what she wants.

He’s never succumbed to her cute charms before, but it’s worth the attempt anyway. Natsu, as perhaps predicted, looks unaffected.

“Please?” She adds, sweetly.

She’s not entirely sure if it’s because of her persuading—if anything, she thinks it might be in spite of it—but Natsu rolls his eyes and caves anyway. Lucy lets out a celebratory squeal, clapping her hands in excitement, giving no care to the thought that she may look childish in that moment. The stand worker hands her a cone, a cherry blossom pink shade with strawberry ripples throughout.

The coolness that hits her tongue is exactly what she needs. Any irritability correlated with the weather melts away like the trail of cream that drips down her hand. She thanks Natsu for the treat, and she can’t be too upset with him when he takes a lick from her cone.

☆♡☆♡

“Up,” Lucy demands, throwing a pillow at Natsu’s face to rouse him from his slumber. “Up!”

Natsu groans, perhaps justifiably so, considering that it is the middle of the night and the sun hasn’t even begun to threaten peeking over the horizon. He’s clearly a little dazed and out of it, but given she’s waking him at no later than two in the morning, she can’t exactly blame him.

“Don’t wanna,” he drawls. “Wanna go back to sleep.”

"Well, you can’t,” she replies. “I’m going out, and who knows what kind of creeps are roaming around at this time, so I need you to come with me.”

“Where are you going?” He asks, his voice still hoarse.

“We,” she corrects, gesturing between the two of them. “Are going stargazing.”

Natsu doesn’t reply immediately. After a few moments of silence, Lucy comes to realise he is probably not going to reply at all. Given the demand route didn’t work, she switches up her tactics and puts on a pout that she hopes he can see in the dark.

“Please?”

There’s another beat of silence that makes Lucy wonder whether this is a lost cause, but before she gives up entirely, he caves.

“Fine.”

They’re in a town far out from any cities, bordering a forest where light pollution is almost non-existent. The summer weather has brought them a warm, cloudless night, so perfect for stargazing that Lucy could almost cry.

Once they make it just outside the border of the town, she spreads out a blanket onto the grass before splaying herself out on top of it, at which point Natsu joins. It’s not the most comfortable laying on the grass, but the view is so pretty that Lucy can’t bring herself to care.

As if by instinct now, her eyes trace lines between the stars to draw pictures of constellations. It’s engrained in her brain now, in her soul, and in her very being. It brings her such comfort to be out among the stars, like she was meant to be there. She lays there for a moment or two before she realises that Natsu is not made quite the same way.

She reaches her hand out in front of them, her index finger pointing towards the skies, where she locates a cluster of stars not terribly familiar to her but she knows well enough will pique his interest.

“That there,” she begins. “Is Draco.”

His eyes seem to light up, attention captured by her words. She tells him the tales of the stars, and he listens until deep into the night.

She lets out a small yawn, the late night finally taking its toll on her body. She knows it’s time to go back to their rooms, but the view is so pretty and the moment is so perfect that she just doesn’t want to leave.

So they stay.

Before long, the night sky before them is swallowed away by droopy eyelids and the promise of a cool night’s sleep.

☆♡☆♡

If she had to pick, Lucy would probably choose summer as her favourite season. Though she loves the golden leaves of fall, the gentle blossoms of spring, and the soft snowflakes of winter, the warm rays of summer always seem to edge it out for her.

For the most part, anyway.

That was before a heatwave hit Magnolia, at which point she had to reconsider. She has lived here for years by now and though it certainly gets warm in the summer, she’s never experienced heat like this until now. Fortunately for her, that is where Erza comes in clutch with a trip to Akane Beach as a reward for all the hard work they’ve done this year.

“Can someone please put some sunscreen on my back?” Lucy drawls as she lays sprawled on her towel on the sand.

The heat itself is already unbearable—the last thing she wants right now is to be baked until her tender skin is peeling off of her back.

“I can,” Gray volunteers, reaching out for the bottle, but before she can pass it off to him, Natsu interrupts from practically half way across the beach.

“I got it!”

He makes a mad dash for it, snatching it out of her hands before Gray can get to it.

It’s a little bit of a strange move, but she simply puts it down to his competitiveness. Right now, all Lucy cares about is whether her skin is protected from the death ray that is this year’s summer sun, so she makes no comment as she lays face down on her towel.

The coolness of the lotion against her back brings her enough relief that not even Natsu’s warm hands bother her. It’s rather nice feeling him massage in the cream, working out the knots and cricks in her back as he goes. It’s enough to have her falling asleep in the sun, only to wake up hours later, stuck within a moat Natsu has decided to dig around her.

☆♡☆♡

The beaches are packed during the day, but despite still being warm out at night, they empty out when the sun goes down. It’s perfect for Lucy’s plans, given she didn’t get to go for a dip during the day. She had been too busy working on her tan, but she can still admit that the water looked tempting.

Armed with a beach towel, she wanders down the hallway with the intention of having the beach to herself but is promptly cut off when she rounds the corner and finds her partner about to enter his own room. Her presence is enough to capture his attention and the swimsuit peeking out from her shirt is enough to raise questions.

“Where ya goin’?” He asks, brows quirked in curiosity.

“For a swim,” she replies.

“At this time of night?”

“Mhmm.”

There’s a beat of silence for a moment as he mulls over her words.

“Can I come?”

She thinks that might be the first time he’s asked permission in his life, so she’d be hard-pressed to say no to him.

The cool water against her skin is exactly what she’s been needing, and going out this late means that it’s just the two of them. She wades in waist deep, and Natsu follows not far behind. Looking up, she sees that the vast sky is cloudless, presenting them with a canvas of stars smattered across the galaxy. She leans back and lets herself float on the water, and Natsu follows suit.

The feeling it gives her in that moment is nothing short of absolute peace.

Natsu’s unusually quiet as they gaze at the skies, and Lucy glances over at him to make sure he’s okay. He notices her gaze immediately and shoots her back a grin.

In that moment, her heart squeezes in her chest.

“Ya wanna swim?” He asks before she can give it too much thought.

“I’d like that.”

It feels like they’ve entered a new dimension as they swim under the moonlight, one kept secret from the rest of the world. A sacred place where only they exist.

When Lucy breaks the surface of the water, she flips her hair back and takes in a deep breath to savour this moment and the salty sea breeze. Upon looking at Natsu, she finds his hair dripping over his eyes. He shakes his head to rid of the excess water, and she lets out a squeal as it splashes up onto her face. It’s a declaration of war, and she’s not going to back down so easily.

Ruthlessly, she sends an armful of water his way, and he makes the mistake of yelling out as she does so, getting a mouthful of salt water in the process. Lucy howls in laughter as he sputters and spits, and Natsu takes the distraction to give her a splash of epic proportions.

She’s already soaked, but she’s not about to give him the satisfaction of winning. As a lifeline to keep herself from submerging, she grabs onto Natsu, arms wrapping around his chest, her face pressed up against him.

In that moment, she is hit with a bout of déjà vu, and she’s brought back to that night on the beach in the spring.

He must feel it too, because in that moment he freezes, and she waits for him to kiss her just like before. He lifts her up into his arms, holding her bridal style just above the water. Instinctively, her arms come to rest on his shoulders, and she puckers up, ready to feel his lips on hers.

The kiss she’s waiting for never comes.

Instead, he tosses her into the water, where she lands with a hearty splash. It happens so quickly that she doesn’t even process what’s happened until she’s already submerged. She tries to gasp for air in shock, but instead takes in a mouthful of water and chokes. Her return to the surface is less than graceful, and she thinks Natsu is pulling her up, but she’s so disoriented that she doesn’t know what’s happening.

All she can really register is the look of guilt on his face as he helps her back to shore.

☆♡☆♡

For as enthused as Natsu had seemed to hang out with her at the start of the trip, it seems like all that enthusiasm has gone out the window as the days progress. He hasn’t spoken to her directly all morning and even as the group makes the excursion out into town, he keeps his distance.

She looks over at Natsu and finds him looking back, but the moment he realises she’s spotted him, he looks away. It’s not the first time that’s happened this week, and based on the way things are going, she fears it might not be the last either.

He’s been so weird these past few days—she’s barely even seen him since their moonlit beach trip. She thought it had been a coincidence at first, that he just happened to be occupying himself with something else whenever she saw him, but now she knows he’s been doing it on purpose. She’s just not sure why.

Does he feel guilty about nearly drowning her? He’s always been bad at apologies and accountability, but he’s done plenty worse to her before without remorse, and she really isn’t upset about it. If anything, she’s upset that he’s ignoring her—that he doesn’t feel like he can confide in her about whatever’s bothering him.

It throws off her mood for the next few days, and everyone else seems to notice.

Erza doesn’t even have to say anything; she simply holds up the bottle of sake, and Lucy knows that all her problems are going to be washed away with it for tonight.

☆♡☆♡

It doesn’t quite hit her how much she’s had to drink until she’s hobbling down the hallways back to her room, hand trailing the wall to keep her balance as the world threatens to spin around her. Despite that, she’s convinced she can make it to her room herself—that is, until she sees Natsu round the corner, and based on his expression, he doesn’t share her conviction.

It takes all of her willpower not to fling her entire body weight at him out of excitement the moment she sees him. Still, she refrains.

He’s mad at her, is the conclusion her drunken mind has come to. Why else would he be avoiding her the way he has been? He’s mad at her, and he doesn’t want to spend time with her, and he doesn’t want to kiss her.

He’s pulling away from her because the tension between them is palpable since their kiss, and it’s only made worse by the fact that she so desperately wants more between them, but he just wants to remain friends.

With furrowed brows, Natsu approaches her in an attempt to make sure her drunken self is okay. He reaches out to her, his hand resting on her arm to help her maintain her balance.

The feeling of his hand against her skin is enough to make her do something stupid.

“Why won’t you kiss me again?” She slurs.

She can’t stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth, and she regrets them the instant she sees Natsu’s expression morph into one of panic, but she’s too drunk to take them back.

“I, uh-”

He swallows thickly and averts his gaze, and her heart breaks all in the same moment.

“C’mon, let’s get you to your room,” he says, avoiding the question entirely.

He reaches out to lift her up, and she tries to bat him away, to turn around and get back by herself, but his sober movements are too much for her drunk self, and before she can make any meaningful escape, he’s scooped her up in his arms. Instinctively, she reaches around his neck and nuzzles her face into the crook of his neck.

Anything else that happens after that is nothing but a blur in Lucy’s mind, mingled together with the scent and warmth of Natsu wrapped around her.

☆♡☆♡

It’s their last night at Akane Beach, and she feels as though she’s wasted it. The first few days were good, great even, but ever since Natsu began his dance of sidestepping her at every occasion, things have been downhill.

She can exist without Natsu, and he can exist without her. She has no problem with him having his own space, doing his own things, but things have been awkward between them, and it makes her worry about the state of their relationship. There’s been question marks around it all summer—a lingering tension between them ever since they kissed. Still, Natsu refuses to acknowledge it, leaving Lucy unsure how to address it.

Maybe, given some time, things would go back to normal. What they have is too strong to be broken by a measly kiss. They could just brush it off as some spur-of-the moment mistake, but as soon as that liquid courage entered her veins, she had to go and ruin it all by admitting that she doesn’t think it was a mistake—that she wants more.

Evidently, Natsu does not.

There’s a fireworks show on tonight, and everyone is practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of seeing them. The balcony in Erza’s room provides them with what proposes to be an incredible view of it, and while everyone has gathered there to see it, Lucy has gone off on her own.

While she loves her friends, what she needs right now isn’t to be crammed on a balcony with them—with Natsu. She wants to clear her mind, and a cool night's walk to pull herself together while the rest of them are occupied offers the perfect opportunity.

She walks through the town through sunset, letting her legs take her where they may until she finds herself walking the beach, sand beneath her feet under a moonlit sky.

With the display on tonight, much of the beach is full of both tourists and locals eager to watch the canvas of the sky be painted with more than just stars tonight. She avoids the crowds as she walks, nothing more than intuition leading her way, and is rewarded when she comes across a secluded spot on the beach, far away from everyone else. It feels wrong to be out here alone on the final day of her trip, but she can’t bring herself to face Natsu right now.

She’s just a stupid girl. A stupid, dumb, idiot, lovestruck girl who’s ruined everything good in her life over a crush and a bottle of sake.

She’s let herself get her hopes up, she’s deluded herself into thinking she has a chance, and she’s wasted her time on someone who doesn’t want her and ruined their friendship in the process. She doesn’t want to cry over something like this, but she can’t stop the few tears that manage their way down her cheeks. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her forehead on them to conceal the little sobs and whimpers she lets out.

Before long, the rising chatter of those excited for tonight’s display draws her gaze up, and she realises how pathetic she seems in this moment. She considers leaving, going somewhere more private to wallow in self-pity in peace, but the sound of footsteps in the sand behind her captures her attention instead. She turns around to find the source and sees Natsu approaching behind her.

She’s not sure what to say to him after embarrassing herself in front of him last night, but when he grins and plants himself on the sand beside her, she knows she doesn’t have to say anything. He wraps his arms around her and rests his forehead against her shoulder. In that moment, she feels all the tension between them melt away.

“Hey,” he says, voice little more than a murmur against her arm.

“Hi,” she manages to squeak back.

It’s quiet between them for a moment after that. Lucy doesn’t know what to say after all that’s happened—she's not really sure she knows how to be normal around Natsu after all of this. There are all these weird feelings swirling around in her chest that she isn’t entirely sure how to address now that he’s here, so she simply doesn’t say anything.

“Why’d you come all the way out here?” He asks, finally breaking the silence between them.

“Because I needed some time to myself,” she answers honestly.

She doesn’t say anything to elaborate on it, and they fall into silence once again. She’s embarrassed to say why—embarrassed to let him in on her feelings, especially when the tension she’s been worried about seems to have dissipated in an instant.

“Why did you come out here to find me?” She asks, filling the quiet air that has befallen them.

“Because I missed you.”

It feels strange to hear, given that he’s been avoiding her all week, but when he smiles at her the way he is; so truly, so genuinely, none of that seems to matter.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” she says.

She’s not too sure if it’s meant to be a question or not, but it comes out as a statement. A look of guilt crosses Natsu’s face, and he averts his gaze, confirming what she already knows.

“Yeah,” he affirms with a murmur. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

The question topples out of her mouth before she can stop it. She’s not entirely sure she wants to know the answer, but by then, it’s already too late.

“I’m not good with… feelings,” he says, eyes still trained on the sand in front of them.

That is something she has long since become acquainted with. Natsu doesn’t do feelings. He’d much rather ignore any complicated feelings than have to acknowledge they’re there because feelings incite change and Natsu doesn’t like change.

Change is good; change is necessary, she thinks, but when it comes to their relationship, she thinks she understands where he’s coming from.

What they have is good, not something worth ruining over a few little complicated feelings. That’s why she’s wanted to move on, to find someone else to help stray her romantic thoughts from Natsu, but so much as she tries, she just can’t imagine herself with anyone but him. He’s so kind, so thoughtful; he protects her; he takes care of her. He makes her laugh and smile, even when things feel hopeless. He takes her on adventures, he teaches her new things.

He gets her.

There is no one else out there like her Natsu, and she knows that anyone who tries to vie for her heart will always be put in comparison to him. Still, what they have isn’t worth losing over whatever she feels towards him and so she should be content keeping things as they are.

She wants to tell him this, but the sound of fireworks painting the night sky pulls them out of the moment.

It’s a cloudless night, and the sky is littered with a million stars that might be the centrepiece were it not for bright colours lighting up the night. It’s pretty, and it’s perfect, and it eases any worries Lucy might have had—at least for now. She’s happy to have this moment with him, to let it linger untainted from any feelings she may have for him, even if just for a moment.

She’s happy to share this with him.

That untainted moment is cut short when she feels his hand, callouses and all, graze her cheek. She drags her gaze to meet his, and if she thinks she has any idea what he’s doing before now, all that goes out the window when he’s kissing her lips.

It’s more deliberate this time—less spontaneous, less salty. This time she’s given the chance to feel him against her, to taste his lips, and it’s so perfect she could almost cry.

It’s not their first kiss, but it’s their first kiss that means something, and if she has any doubts about that, they quickly dissipate when his thumb rubs gently across the soft skin of her cheek and she gives into him, truly and wholly. Her hands come to rest on his chest, and she lets herself melt into the taste of his lips. She doesn’t even realise she’s out of breath until she pulls away and has to gasp for air.

When her eyes flutter back open, she’s met with Natsu’s brows furrowed as though he’s been gripped in concentration. The sight of it catches her off guard, and she can’t do anything but laugh at the absurdity of it.

“What? Why are you laughing?” He asks, sounding almost offended. “Was it bad?”

“No,” she says, shaking her head. “It wasn’t bad.”

It causes a flutter in her heart to know that he cares this much. Natsu goes through life not caring about what others think about the things he does, so to think he worries what she thinks about their kiss says a lot.

“Well, good, ‘cause you said that you wanted me to kiss you again.”

Her face comes up in a flush at his words as she’s forced to remember the events of the previous night. Just because things are looking like they’re smoothing over doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.

“And I dunno,” he murmurs. “I kinda wanted to kiss you again too.”

At his words, she feels her face is flushing for a different reason.

“I’m not good at talkin’ ‘bout my feelings,” he says, pulling her out of her thoughts. “But I don’t want things to be weird between us like this.”

“Yeah, me either,” she replies.

“You’re my best friend,” he starts. “I know you probably think I’m too stupid to have noticed that things have been different between us the past couple of months, but I have.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid,” she tells him, her voice soft and airy, tender and gentle.

“Yeah well… I dunno. I think you’re cool, and I like being with you, and lately I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout us as—y’know.”

He cuts off there as if he’s waiting for her to fill in the blanks, but all she can do is regard him with expectant gaze.

“As boyfriend and girlfriend,” he says.

She’s taken aback by how up-front he is about it. They’ve been tiptoeing around it all summer long, trying to dodge the conversation at his skittish avoidance, but now he’s suddenly the one to bring it up.

“I never really cared about that sorta stuff before, but I know you do, and I thought I’d be okay when you finally decided you wanted to start dating, but the thought of you doing all that dumb romantic stuff with another guy didn’t make me feel good either,” he continues. “And I guess I realised it’s because I wanna do that stuff with you.”

Suddenly, his words put everything that’s happened over the past year into perspective. She’s always worried what she has read as romantic subtext is just her looking for something where it’s not and that this is just the natural progression of their relationship—that Natsu’s just like that. Natsu tends to wear his heart on his sleeve, but rarely does he share his innermost thoughts, even with her, so all she can really do is make assumptions and wait for a moment like this where he finally starts to truly open up.

“I thought maybe if I said that’s what I wanted then things would change, and I don’t like when things change, but I guess the more I thought about it, the more I realised things probably wouldn’t be all that different,” he tells her. “I think dating is kinda dumb, but I don’t think it’d be dumb if it was with you.”

She’s usually the words girl and he’s usually the actions boy but in this moment, he’s left her speechless. Her heart thumps hard in her chest, and she wonders if she heard him right. There’s so much she wants to say to him, but she’s not at all prepared, so there’s only one thing she can do.

Her hands shoot up to his face, cradling his jaw, and she practically throws herself into his lap as she kisses him.

He’s taken off guard for a moment, but he quickly gives in, and his hands tangle in her hair, and they fall into the sand.

Her heart is so full after yearning for so long that she could almost cry, and perhaps if she weren’t otherwise preoccupied, she just might.

When she finally pulls away, she gets a glimpse of him beneath her in the moonlight, grin plastered across his face and sand stuck in his hair. This moment makes all the pain, the pining, the waiting worth it.

If she had known it would be this easy, she would have done it long ago, but she knows Natsu, and she knows that he needed his own time to figure himself out. She would have waited forever for him if that’s what it took. As she looks down at his smile and feels the tingle of his taste lingering against her lips, she’s glad she didn’t have to.

“Is that a yes?” He asks with a knowing grin plastered across his face, which tells her he already knows.

She doesn’t bother to dignify him with an answer—she just leans down and presses her lips to his, hoping that after so long, he’ll finally get the message.

#mmmmmmm this was so good i'm gonna die

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