Here we go! I swore I wouldn't start another multi-chapter fic when I already have one in progress, buuuuuut, well, the plot bunnies kinda took the wheel. I just couldn't resist. For those of you who read Adherence, this one will be much lighter with much more NaLu! I do hope that you all enjoy! Be sure to leave a review with your thoughts, good and bad (though, if they are bad, then at least try to be nice about it, yeah?).

Thanks, lovelies!

Kisses to all of you! Now, enjoy...

Stuck on You

Hear me now, obey my command; where we touch, our skin shall brand. Until our love to full blossom grows, we shall follow wherever each other goes.

In which, Natsu and Lucy get a little stuck…literally.

bibbidi-bobbiti…baffled!

"Natsu! For Mavis's sake, sit down or I'll kick you out," Lucy threatened with a snap, brown eyes darting to her best friend as he danced around the room. Wearing her underwear on top of his head. An indignant shriek left the blonde's mouth, something along the lines of, "And put my underwear back!" but, she couldn't be too sure.

She was supposed to be translating this book that Levy had given her. Supposed to, being the key words. Natsu had smashed through her door not ten minutes ago, of course, begging her to go on a mission with him. He'd gone a whole week without a single mission—apparently he was waiting for her to have some free time so they could go together—and was now going through, what Lucy had dubbed, mission-withdrawal. He always got antsy when he went too long without taking a mission, and took any excuse to pick a fight with someone; namely Gray or Gildarts, but sometimes it was Laxus or Gajeel, too.

And, most of the time, that antsy-ness of his drove him to do stupid, stupid things. Like dig through her underwear drawer. How many times had she told him that her panties were not special hats for cats? Plenty of times, more times than she could count.

Did he ever listen to her?

Of course not.

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose, pushing away the heavy book with a groan.

Her eyes were burning because she'd stayed up all night reading and trying to translate it—Levy claimed that she wanted to add it to her collection, but the solid script mage just couldn't figure out the language; hence why Lucy was translating. Or rather, attempting to translate. So far, she was only half way through, but she was going nowhere, and fast, because Natsu was in the background being an idiot.

Again.

Something clattered to the floor—something that sounded suspiciously like a picture frame.

"Natsu…" she growled over her shoulder at him.

The fire dragonslayer, the underwear thankfully removed from his crown, just laughed at her. His brows lifted suggestively as he plucked up what was indeed a distraught picture from her floorboards, and from where she was, she couldn't tell if it was cracked or not. "C'mon, Luce," he threw the picture on her bed, "save the book for later. I gotta good mission—it'll pay your rent for a few months if we manage to pull it off."

Her ears perked at that.

Rent money—something she always direly needed, even though she went on so many grueling missions. How she managed to be broke all the time was an enigma to her. One figured, with all the jobs she took, that she should have had no problem paying her rent each month. But, of course, life was cruel and she was always scraping together what she needed at the very end of the month.

But, even though she needed the money, her friends came first. Levy, more specifically, came first before anything. Girl code and all that.

She sighed. "Sorry, Natsu, but I can't leave till I finish translating. I promised Levy-chan that I would have it done by the end of tomorrow." Which was why she needed him to either sit down and be quiet, or march his ass back home. Because this particular passage, the one that she was stuck on, she had no idea how to even begin translating.

Most of what she'd translated was gibberish, but this was beyond that. It made no sense whatsoever.

Audite nunc audi verbum meum, ubi tangit, varius et pellis nostra. Donec crescat nostrae amore pleno flore, sequemurque quocumque vadit invicem.

No sense. At all.

So, understandably, Lucy was very frustrated by this. She considered herself to be very bright—prided herself on her literary skills, and her writing skills, as well as her talent with languages. The fancy school she'd been forced to attend had apparently done her some good with its mandatory language classes. Lucy was fluent in six languages—a feat of which she was sure that no one else in the guild had accomplished. But this book was not written in any of the languages she knew—not all of it, at least.

What made the book so strange was that there were parts of it in other languages. Some of them, Lucy knew and could coherently translate. Others, like the short paragraph she'd been staring at for about a half an hour now, were not languages she comprehended.

"Eeeh, what's so hard about reading a book?" Natsu grumbled as he sauntered over to where she sat at her desk and peered over her shoulder. His green eyes squinted at the text on the page. "What the hell's that?" he asked, taking note of the strange, unfamiliar words with both confusion and abhorrence. He'd never been one for reading—didn't understand the joy some found in it because it was just words—but if he had to look at that all day, he was sure he'd go insane.

No wonder Lucy had been a bit snappy today, he thought.

Lucy, said snappy girl, sighed again. "That," she said, "is what I'm trying to translate. Levy-chan wants to translate this book that she found in the library's giveaway pile the other day. She asked me to help her out since I speak a few different languages, but, I've never seen this one…" Her tone suggested that she was more than a little bit frustrated by this.

But, Natsu had already known that. See, when she was frustrated, she had a habit of wrinkling her nose and scrunching her eyebrows—the very look she'd given him just a few moments before when he'd been handling her undies, and the look that she was now giving the innocent, albeit baffling, book on her desk. He was pretty good at reading facial expressions—well, Lucy's facial expressions, anyway, though she was never very secretive about what she was feeling—and he tended to know when she was angry before anyone else.

Whether or not that was because he was usually the object of her wrath was up for debate.

"Hm…" he hummed, only half-interested. "What kind of book is it?"

"Well, it looks like it's an ancient magic book. Spells and that kind of stuff," she replied as her eyes scanned over that same snippet once again. Mavis knew she would only move on until she'd managed to crack it.

Natsu grinned, suddenly very interested in this book. "Spells?" he parroted.

Spells were easy for all magic-wielders. Anyone with magical power could use a spell—they just had to know the right words and back it up with enough magic; compatibility also played a large part. So, a water mage would have great trouble using a spell that dealt with fire, or explosions. Likewise, a fire mage probably wouldn't easily conquer a flooding, or a rainy spell. Finding these spells, though, was the hardest part since the Grand Magic Council had confiscated nearly all the books.

Something about death spells, if Natsu remembered correctly.

Lucy, her eyes on the book, growled at him, "Natsu, I know what you're thinking." She'd heard that tone in his voice when he'd spoken—the excitement and curiosity was undeniable. And the last thing she needed was a curiously-excited Natsu wielding a powerful book of spells; that just made for certain disaster. "No, you can't play with the spells. Some of them might be dangerous," she warned.

He deflated behind her, shoulders sagging. How had she known he was gonna ask to see a few? He hadn't even asked yet! Maybe…maybe she'd used a mind-reading spell. "You some kind of mind-reader?" he asked her in all seriousness.

"What?" Lucy's golden head popped up in bewilderment, her brown eyes alight with what appeared to be both confusion and irritation. Her lips pursed. "No, I'm not a mind-reader. I just know you very well."

Too well for her comfort sometimes. The uncanny way she could predict what he would do next was almost disturbing…which was why she should have seen it coming. She should have known that he was going to ignore her earlier forewarning and make a grab for the book that she was stupidly leaving unguarded. And yet, when he suddenly darted around her side and swiped the book off of her desk with a devious grin, she had the audacity to gasp and gape in shock.

"Natsu! No!" Lucy shouted, jumping out of her chair and knocking it backwards in her hastiness.

She was ignored, however, as the fire dragonslayer quirked his brows and read in broken chunks, "Audite nunc audi…verbum meum, ubi tangit, varius et pellis nostra… Donec crescat nostrae…amore pleno flore, seq – …sequemurque quocumque vadit invicem…" His eyes narrowed in displeasure when, after a moment's pause, seemingly nothing happened.

No big boom, or bang, or explosion. Not even a little bit of smoke. Nothing.

While he was busy being distracted by massive disappointment, the celestial spirit mage took the opportunity to reach up and snatch the thick book away, glaring all the while. "Mavis, Natsu," she cursed. Lucy placed the worn spell book, with its soft, faded cover, on her desk with utter care, like it would shatter if it was dropped or handled too roughly. "Do you ever listen to what I say?" The glare she cast him over her shoulder was sharp.

"Eh?" Natsu cocked his head to the side, rubbing his neck in a completely unapologetic manner. "Of course I listen to you."

He always listened to her… Whether or not he actually did what she told him, or suggested him, to do was another story. But, he did listen.

"Maybe I said something wrong…" he grumbled in reference to the spell that had, more than likely, failed.

"Hopefully," Lucy cut in. "The last thing we need is some strange, unknown spell getting us into trouble. What if it had been a curse? Or a summoning? You can't just read off spells that you don't understand—that's why I'm translating for Levy-chan," she scolded, shaking a finger at him in hopes that he would understand just how dangerous unknown spells could be.

So many things could have gone wrong if he'd succeeded with that spell, she knew. For all she knew, that spell was a death spell. Of course, she also had to give the benefit of the doubt, and realize that there was an equal chance that the spell was harmless—a minor health-related spell. Or maybe one about greenery. Still, the fact that he'd blatantly ignored her warning made her sourer than an over-ripe lemon.

As she sat down in her chair again with a grimace and a glare narrowing her pretty eyes, Natsu chuckled at her, "Oh, c'mon, Luce. Nothing bad happened, right? So it's fine." He placed a reassuring hand on her own while her fingers drummed to some innate rhythm, intending for it to be a gesture of comfort.

Instead, it resulted in a small zap—like he'd been shocked by a live wire.

Lucy felt it too, judging by the sharp intake of breath and the small jump she gave in her seat. "Ouch," she muttered, and frowned up at him. "You shocked me."

The fire dragonslayer only laughed and offered a quick, non-meaningful apology. "Sorry 'bout that. But, hey, let's take a break and go on that mission, huh? C'mon, you can get back to your dusty book of spells later," he insisted with a grin that let his canines jut out and poke his bottom lip in a more than adorable way that never ceased to make Lucy's insides flutter.

Like a charm, it instantly made her cheeks grow hot. She coughed to cover it up, and turned her attention back to said dusty book of spells. It wasn't even dusty—she'd dusted it off beforehand, and quite diligently, too. "Sorry, Natsu. I'll go on a mission with you after I finish translating, okay? I promise." She would definitely go on a mission with him later, because, believe it or not, she enjoyed their crazy adventures. Her life revolved around crazy mishaps; as much as she insisted she loathed said craziness, in reality, she really couldn't imagine living without it. "Now, can you…can you please let go of my hand?"

Blinking, Natsu looked down, his neck practically snapping. When he noticed that his hand was still laying over top of hers—his looking bigger, and more tanned, more scarred, and completely enveloping her own—he, too, could feel the heat rising up from the base of his neck and to his cheeks and even up to his ears. It was rare for him to blush, he seldom had occasion to do so, but when he did…the color of his face could usually rivaled that of his hair. Which was why he ducked his head in embarrassment, shielding his eyes and his cheeks from his best friend's penetrating stare.

"Uh, um, yeah. Yeah, sorry," he stuttered, lifting his hand.

And strangely…her hand followed his. Startled, his fingers curled around hers in response. Why would she…? Surely, she wasn't offering to hold hands? That was preposterous. She'd just asked him to let go not ten seconds ago.

As if confirming this, Lucy looked over her shoulder at him, pale face flushed.

"Um... Natsu, you can let go of my hand now," she reiterated, her voice cracking with embarrassment. He was holding her hand so tightly, and their fingers were woven together; surely, a stranger would have thought they were a couple.

Thank Mavis it was only the two of them in her apartment.

Natsu made a strange face, blush dissipating, his lips pulling down into a grimace that Lucy knew well. He shook both of their hands, albeit a little weakly, without receiving the desired result. "Uh... I'm trying. You let go, Luce," he muttered as he yanked his arm backwards.

That, of course, didn't solve the problem. All it managed to do was forcibly tug Lucy up and out of her chair and tumbling into Natsu himself, who stumbled at the sudden, unpredicted weight. She'd crashed directly into his chest, her face smashing into his overcoat and pressing into his thick, muscular pectorals. And still, they were holding hands. If anything, their hands seemed to be squeezing even tighter.

"Ow." Lucy glared up at him from underneath her lashes.

Really, there had been no need to go all he-man and use brute strength to try and pull apart. Upon seeing how close his face was to hers, however—mere inches, within kissing distance—she flushed with both anticipation and excitement, and her anger quickly fizzled out. Like a bonfire smothered by a sudden storm. He really was close... Close enough that all she had to do was lean upwards on the tips of her toes and then their lips would be touching. Her eyes zeroed in on his lips, then, and she couldn't help but wonder if they were soft and firm and warm, like the rest of him.

And then she scolded herself, shaking her head. This was not the time to be thinking about kissing Natsu. He was her partner, her nakama; not her boyfriend. She had no business getting so hyped up about the thought of kissing him.

Especially not when they were, for whatever reason, stuck holding hands. Why on Earthland were they…

Oh.

Lucy stiffened, her whole body freezing.

She was stuck holding hands with Natsu… The spell that he'd read… That probably had something to do with it! Of course. It'd been stupid of them both to assume that there had been no effect from the magic spell just because they hadn't seen anything. Spells didn't always have a visible reaction. Sometimes, they effected the other senses—scent, sound, taste, and…touch.

"Oi, Lucy…" Natsu began in a strangled voice, matching exactly how she felt on the inside. "What's going on? Why are we…stuck?"

She sighed, stomach dropping to the bottoms of her feet. There was no easy way to say it, no "gentle way" either. She was going to have to be blunt. "The spell," Lucy whispered. "It must have been the spell. Maybe it was a stick-fast spell or something… I've heard those can glue anything together." The blonde paused to gulp before adding, hesitantly, "Permanently."

That proved to be the wrong thing to say, as Natsu's naturally tan face paled a considerable amount. His sable-green, typically narrow, eyes grew wider than she'd ever seen. "Oi, oi… Are you saying that we're stuck like this…forever?" As if to emphasize his panic, he lifted up their conjoined hands and gave them a shake. Seeing that they didn't disconnect made him blanch again. "Luce, hey, please let that be a joke. It's a joke, right?" But, when she didn't answer him—just looked down at her feet like a scolded child—he felt his blood chilling. "It ain't a joke…?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, Natsu… It's not a joke… We're stuck together."

And Mavis only knew how long it would be before they returned to normal. Perhaps never, as scary and daunting as that fact appeared to the both of them. But, Lucy, ever the level-headed one, breathed out calmly and collected herself rather well. This was not the end of the world, she knew. Whether or not Natsu knew that was another story, seeing as he looked like he was about ready to start panicking and blowing things up in his typical way to relieve stress.

"Hey, Natsu," she said, snagging his attention before he could act out on those impulses she knew were rattling around in the back of his head. "Don't worry. There's got to be a way out of this. Where there's spells, there's usually an antidote, or an anti-spell. We just have to find it…"

Yeah…she thought glumly, feeling her heart drop. If the anti-spell or antidote hadn't been in a book confiscated by the Grand Magic Council already…

So, yes, it's a little short, but it's just the first chapter, the intro. Typically, I try to make each chapter at least 3,000 words... Anywhoser! Leave your thoughts!