A/N: This is set shortly after Lisanna's return from Edolas.

Fairy Tail ©Hiro Mashima

"Well, you see Mr. Reporter Person, this whole experience has been more humbling than anything else. I mean, I would never have expected to receive such an honor!" Lucy put a hand to her heart , making sure to look as genuinely modest as possible when inside she was screaming, HELL YEA! ABOUT TIME, SORCERER WEEKLY!

"Always so modest, Ms. Heartfilia! Would you say that there's any… bad blood between you and Mirajane since you've taken her title as the most attractive and most popular wizard in Fiore?" This reporter was about a million times cuter than the last loser Sorcerer Weekly sent to Fairy Tail, much to Lucy's relief. He actually looked a lot like Hibiki… Hmm…

"Oh, no, of course not! Mirajane is mature enough to admit when someone happens to be prettier than she is, it really can't be helped~" she threw in a wink for good measure. "Mirajane and the rest of Fairy Tail have been very supportive and I couldn't ask for anything more!" I'm a natural at this! she thought, smiling to herself.

"Excellent! So, Lucy…" a pause.

She batted her eyes at him and was sure it looked adorable. "Yes?" she added once the pause became a bit too long.

"Lucy…" his hand reached out and touched her shoulder.

Oh no… maybe I laid the "super-cute" on too thick… "Mr. Reporter… Person? I um… I'm flatte—"

Just then, he shook her. "Lucy." Again. "Lucy." Again. "Luce…" This time was more of a squeeze.

"LISTEN BUDDY, JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU—" and just as she was about to serve him a roundhouse kick to the face, something strange happened. The guild and everyone in it was starting to melt away. And the reporter kept shaking her, as though nothing was happening. She finally brought her focus back to him and noticed he was melting, too. His face and hair were melting, contorting. She then shut her eyes as tightly as she could, held them that way, and slowly began to open them once more.

"Lucy." Shake. "Wake up." Squeeze.

Groaning, she finally turned over, "I'm awake," she grumbled to the pink haired boy in the windowsill above her bed.

"LUCY, WAKE UP!"

"I SAID I'M AWAKE, IDIOT!"

Natsu was about to make a smartass comment, but Lucy was in scary mode so he decided against it. "Hey um, can I sleep here tonight?"

She sighed, staring at her bedsheets. "Natsu, you really need to stop showing up here unannounced all the—" her eyes then traveled up to his as he sat in the window, "—time…" This was the first time she'd actually got a good look at him. He was peering at the floor, brow furrowed, eyes slowly leering left and right, and for a second, she could swear she heard him heavily sigh to himself. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" he proclaimed, shaking his hands in front of him with a fake grin. Lucy raised a suspicious eyebrow and his grin began to fade. "Well it's… about Lisanna."

She froze for a moment, nervous for some reason, before shaking it off. It's probably nothing. Natsu is an idiot, he probably just took something she said the wrong way and got offended or something, she thought to herself. "Shut the window behind you, I'll go make up the couch…" It was then she realized she had no couch. She had to throw out her old one because of Natsu and Happy's bright idea the last time they were over. ("Natsu, look at all the fish I caught! Where should I put them all?" "I dunno, just throw them on her couch or something." "Great idea! I want to eat them now but they're cold…" "No worries, lil' buddy! I got ya!" "Thanks Natsu!" "Ugh, what's that awful sme—DID YOU JUST SET MY COUCH ON FIRE?" "Aye!" "Happy made me do it!"). "How could I forget," she said to herself, rolling her eyes. "I'll um… I'll think of something."

"I don't mind sleeping here," he was already under the covers of her bed, most of his clothes off and quite at home.

"And where exactly am I supposed to sleep?"

"In your bed. Duh."

"You mean… you want to sleep in the same…" her face turned a very deep shade of crimson as she turned away and squished her cheeks with her hands. Sleep in the same bed? With Natsu? In my jammies? She then took a breath and slowly turned back around

Natsu was completely stone-faced, and maybe a little puzzled. "Uh, yea. Quit actin' weird." It was then it dawned on Lucy that Natsu, with his Natsu reasoning, didn't see anything wrong with two teammates sleeping in the same bed. And if he didn't, well, why should she?

…Okay, she still found it very weird, but she was at least going to pretend as though she didn't.

"Sorry, must be my sleepiness making me a bit loopy!" With a bit of nervous laughter she slowly climbed into bed, trying not to touch anything else but herself and her side of the bed. A small silenced passed before she remembered that Natsu probably needed to talk. "So, you mentioned Lisanna…?" She hadn't been back home from Edolas for long, but Lisanna and Natsu had been spending a good chunk of time together. He hadn't been breaking and entering into Lucy's apartment as often, that was for sure. When he wasn't on missions with the team, he was with her. When they were hanging around the guild, having a drink, he'd find her. Lucy would never have admitted it out loud, or even to herself, but things were a little too quiet without him around all the time.

"Yea." He had his arms folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. "She's mad at me."

She turned her head to look at him, slyly smiling, "Oh yea? What'd you do this time?"

"Nothing I swear! I just… we were talking, and I was just telling her about you guys, and outta nowhere she just yelled at me and stormed off." For the first time that night, he seemed just a tad… uncomfortable.

"That can't be the whole story. What exactly did she say before she ran off?"

"Oh, I dunno, something about… 'why can't you think about anything except missions and adventure' and 'what am I to you,' stuff like that." Lucy bit her lip. That was all she needed to hear to piece everything together. "I thought that everything would be like how it was before… but she's been acting like a crazy person and I just don't know what the hell's going on."

What should I do…? Should I tell him? Is that my place? "Natsu, she wasn't frozen in time all those years, you know," she began, as delicately as she could. "She's grown up. And it sounds like she's expected you to have grown up as well." Noticing his face contorting into protest, she quickly amended, "Not to say that you haven't grown up! You've just grown to a different place." She then turned completely on her side to face him, holding her head up with one hand. "She's on one plateau, and you're on another. It seems like she was hoping you'd both grown into the same mindset."

He was silent, staring at the ceiling as though he'd bore a hole into it with his eyes. Deep in thoug—"Huh?"

Did he seriously not get any of that? "Um… okay, to put it in different terms, you both received two different types of training, and have grown stronger in different ways that aren't really compatible."

"Oh! Well… that's too bad. I wish there was something I could do to fix it." He then rotated on his side, his position mimicking Lucy's. "It's kinda funny… I wished for Lisanna to come back for as long as I can remember. And now that she's here… I dunno, nothing's how I thought it would be."

Meanwhile, Lucy's face had flushed once more as he was now incredibly close to her face, just now realizing how small her bed was now that there was someone else in it. "W-well, give her a little time. I'm sure she'll sit you down and try to explain everything soon." She decided that it certainly wasn't her place to tell him Lisanna's feelings.

He smiled, probably for the first time that evening. "Thanks, Lucy." His other hand reached up and playfully tousled her hair, much like how he would with Romeo sometimes. After a couple seconds, he stopped, and without even thinking about it he softly pushed the hair out of her face. The entire moment barely lasted a few seconds, but it felt like hours to Lucy.

"Oh, um… no problem! Glad I could help." They were both still locked in the same position. "So… can I go back to sleep now?" she finally added after the small silence with a sleepy smile.

"Yea, I'm pretty tired, too," he replied, slowly turning onto his back as he yawned. "Night, Luce."

Lucy turned away from him, hiking her blanket up. "Goodnight, Natsu."