Carnival

Lucy sighed and leaned back in her desk chair, resting her pen on the mostly blank paper before her.

"Ah-I'm never going to get this finished." She moaned, her head falling forwards. She was tired, bored, she had a numb butt and, worst of all, she had writer's block.

Shifting to rest her chin on her palm and her elbow on the desk, Lucy stared out of her bedroom window to the river before her. It was a quiet day in Magnolia, something she wasn't used to what with being a Mage of Fairy Tail, and she had decided to use this day to work on her novel. Levy (her friend and self appointed proofreader) was beginning to get impatient, and more importantly so was Lucy.

Sighing again, the girl got to her feet, her palms flat against the desk. She'd make herself a drink, maybe get a snack, and then-

"Hey, Lucy!"

"Ahhhh-!"

Lucy spun around to see Natsu, lounging in her bed with a large bag of crisps clutched in one fist. Crumbs were scattered on the duvet and trapped in the corners of his smile, which hadn't faded despite, or maybe because of, her reaction to his presence.

"Natsu! What are you doing in my house?!"

Hadn't she locked the doors for this exact reason?

"Come on, we're going!" He told her, that same easy grin on his face, and got to his feet. Starting towards the door he dropped the crisps on the floor, the remainder of the snack strewn across her rug, and grabbed her wrist.

"Eh?! Where?!" Lucy, not strong enough to fight against his grip, was dragged through her front door with little effort from Natsu.

"The carnival!" He replied, as if that explained everything.

"Carnival?" Lucy shook her head. "I can't! I'm busy today! And you shouldn't walk into people's houses and expect them to do what you want!"

"You aren't busy; you've been sighing over the same piece of paper for half an hour." Natsu said, simply, ignoring her reprimand and leading them down to the streets of Magnolia.

"HOW LONG WERE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!"

The midday sun cast a kind of enchantment over the town as it glittered off the river. It wasn't the kind you could buy in a shop, or learn from a friend. It was the kind that appeared very rarely but made the day even more special for it's appearance.

Realising restating would do no good, Lucy quickened her pace until she was level with Natsu. They were following the river through the mostly empty streets. Lucy supposed everyone was at the carnival Natsu mentioned.

"What about Happy?" She asked him, curiously. Her wrist had slipped out of his grip by now and they were moving at a leisurely pace, though Lucy could see Natsu was itching to hurry up and get to the carnival.

He really was like a dog, she realised with no small amount of fondness. He needed both regular exercise and excessive amounts of food, and he never took no for an answer.

"Already there." Natsu answered. He was turned away from her but as she watched, his lips pulled up into a smirk. Lucy went to ask what was so funny but suddenly her hand was in his and he was running, pulling her along behind him like a petal caught up in the wake of a hurricane.

"Natsu!" She shrieked as she fell over her own feet attempting to keep pace with him, more shocked than annoyed, but annoyed nonetheless.

Then he turned and flashed her that bright smile, bright like so many rays of the sun, like the way chocolate milk tastes on a hot summers day, like the way she had always thought she would feel when she met the mages on her 'Perfect Boyfriend' list. She hadn't.

Lucy just smiled and laughed back at him as they ran, following the river until suddenly they turned down a side path, through the small road between a row of houses. That was where she saw the carnival.

"Food!"

"Aye!"

"Is that all you two think about?" Lucy puffed out a breath in exasperation as she watched Natsu and Happy raid the nearest food stall, too run ragged to follow them with any kind of excitement. They had been there a for a few hours and were only now taking a break from the rides.

One hand planted on her hip which was popped out to the side, Lucy took a moment to simply look at what was going on around them. Members of Fairy Tail wandered aimlessly, intermingled with Magnolia's citizens and for once managing to blend in. It was as quaint an evening as it had been a day. It was no longer quiet, the carnival had taken care of that, but it was peaceful. Lucy had been able to change Natsu's path enough to prevent him from colliding with Gray and Gajeel therefore fights had been infrequent, short and dealt with effectively.

Though the lights twinkled prettily at dusk, Lucy was uninterested. Her attention had been caught by a contraption, empty save for it's bald driver, a little way back from the food stall which still captivated the stomachs of Happy and Natsu. It was circular and had long, gold painted poles stretching from the top to the bottom. Attached to the poles were model horses, all with various combinations of coat, mane, tail and decoration colour. In particular she was entranced by a horse, created to appear as if it was mid-gallop, with a snow white coat and pale gold mane and tail. Around it's head was a blue circlet, complete with a feather, that matched the saddle on it's back.

"A...carousel?" Lucy murmured, curiously. Almost of their own accord her feet moved forwards, enticed by the sweet music coming from the speakers of the carousel and the vague memory of summer evenings, a carousel and and her mother. Slowly she approached the attraction, unsure as to whether she really wished to get on or not.

"Lucy?" Natsu watched the girl from over his half-empty plate of chicken, wanting to see what she was doing. Happy, beside him as always, seemed not to have noticed anything and was instead contentedly chewing his way through a fish that Natsu had yet to pay for. Still Lucy didn't turn around, apparently not having heard him, and so Natsu stood and walked to stand beside her.

"Oi." His voice was quiet, not affectionate, but neither was he truly meaning to be rude. "You...want to go on?"

"Hm?" Lucy's cheeks flushed at being caught staring. "O-oh, I-"

Where other people would have rolled their eyes and perhaps spoken, Natsu easily threw the girl over his shoulder without saying a word. This, of course, didn't go down well with Lucy, who promptly turned bright pink.

"Natsu! What are you-"

"You wanted to go on, right?" He pointed out, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "So let's go on, moron."

Hopping onto the carousel and, grabbing on with one hand, Natsu dropped Lucy onto the saddle of the horse she had been staring at and straddled the one behind it, wrapping his arms around the pole and slumping forwards so that his neck was pressed up against the cool metal.

Lucy, sat side-saddle, curled one arm around the pole and turned in Natsu's direction, a small smile on her face.

"I think I went on a ride like this with my mother once." She told him. Her eyes were directed at him, but she was looking somewhere else, into her past where Natsu couldn't reach. Normally this would irritate Natsu, being rendered useless, unable to do anything except sit and listen. This time, however, she was talking about her mother and he understood that it was important and so he would listen, no matter how long it might take her. This was why he was surprised when she stopped, and smiled at him.

"Thank you, Natsu." Lucy said and, before she could give in to cowardice, she leaned forward and softly kissed his cheek which soon grew warm beneath her lips.

Only slightly less confident about what she had done now she had done it, Lucy slipped from the horse's back and began walking over to the food stall where Happy sat, chewing on a fish and entirely uninterested anything else. Before she got there an arm was carelessly thrown over her shoulder, an action that was comfortingly familiar to her. This time, though, she was pulled tighter into a body that smelled faintly like a bonfire, her cheek pressed up against bare skin and she smiled. Words were not needed for her to know that it was okay.

It was more than okay, she realised Natsu's other arm moved to first caress and then ruffle her hair. It was a beginning.