This is based on a project my roommate is currently attempting.
I love this pairing to pieces. It's a pretty unpopular ship, unfortunately. I'm hoping inspiration for a long fic for them will materialize in my brain one day, but I'm not holding out much hope. Hope you enjoy this short fic for them in the meantime!
Sometimes the mere act of coming home could be an adventure all its own. And when you lived with Natsu, those days where it was seemed to occur rather frequently, as Yukino was discovering.
The celestial mage gazed around the home she shared with her boyfriend, the usual amount of disarray amplified by the addition of carpentry tools and scrap wood strewn about everywhere. In the center of it all sat Natsu, his signature scarf tied around his head to keep his bangs out of his face. A blue, cloth cube sat in front of him, and it looked for all the world like he was trying to hammer a piece of wood into it.
In between arguing with Happy, that is.
"Natsu!" the exceed whined at his partner, sitting on the floor with him. "When are we gonna be finished? I want my fish already!"
Before Natsu could answer, Yukino cleared her throat. He turned his head towards her, his face lighting up with a grin. "Yukino! Welcome home."
"I'm home." Her answering smile was soft, but no less happy. "What is all this?"
Natsu gestured vaguely at the cube in front of him. "Training! Sort of. For Happy." Scratching his head, explained, "The idea was to make a maze of these interconnecting cube things, so Happy could train his sense of smell by tracking a fish. Igneel once did something similar with me, so I thought it would work for Happy, too. But these cloth cubes can't really go vertical? They keep collapsing. So I was trying to shore them up, but it's proving a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"It's taking forever!" Happy let his complaint be known. "I just want to eat lunch, already!"
They had been planning on putting a raw fish in the cloth cubes? Yukino was a little aghast at the idea.
More importantly, though, a dragon had once made something like this? The mental image that was giving her was hilarious.
"I see," she finally replied, deciding to go along with it without comment. "Do you want any help?"
Natsu's eyes glittered with relief at her offer. "Please." Then, an idea struck him. "Hey, do you think you could get Libra to suspend this thing from the ceiling…?"
"Probably not," Yukino stated, sweat sliding down her neck at the notion. The balancing spirit would not appreciate being summoned for a task like that. "I can ask, though, if you'd like."
"Nah, that's okay." With a shrug, Natsu picked up his hammer. "I can just nail them to the ceiling."
"Please don't…" Happy whimpered. "I won't be able to fly in here."
"Good point. Maybe we should raise the ceiling first then?"
Yukino repressed a laugh at how quickly Natsu had jumped into considering renovating their home just to make a maze for Happy. "How about I make food for us before we consider major changes to the building?"
"Yes!" Happy shot straight up into the air, wings spread. "Fish first!"
With a roll of his eyes, Natsu precariously stood up amongst the debris he'd created. "I'll move this outside so we have some room, then." He started to pick his way across to where Yukino stood, and gave her a peck on the cheek. "It shouldn't take too long."
"Thank you," Yukino told him, warmth spreading throughout her body from where he'd placed the kiss.
Yes, living with Natsu had brought about a lot more adventure than she'd anticipated.
But it was adventure that she loved unequivocally.
