Author's Note: So I recently got into watching the anime Fairy Tail when I clearly should have been doing my assignments. When I watched Loke's arc, oh damn, the feels - I became a LokexLucy fan. There's just something about the two that's natural and beautiful. Long story short, here's a ficlet from Loke's PoV.

Dang it, ideas, stop ittt! T_T I need to work on PoT. Yes, I'm still working on The Scent of Jasmine. It's not fast, but progress is progress nonetheless and better than no progress at all .

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.

"Stay with me, don't let me go,

Cause I can't be without you,

Just stay with me,

And hold me close..."

Inspired by 'Stay with me' - Danity Kane

Loke leaned against the trunk of the tree, propping up a leg as he absentmindedly toyed with a stray flower in his hands. It had been a long day. Their mission had suddenly escalated in the middle as their client turned out to be an S-Class mage with a vengeance and penchant for revenge, assaulting them after being found out. Said client also turned out to be connected with one of the dark guilds under Oracion Seis. Suffice to say, the Guildmaster was not going to be happy when he found out about it.

The Celestial Spirit's thoughts turned to Lucy then. She had fought hard, dealing immense damage but had almost gotten killed by a couple of the mages under the madman's command who were A-Class. If he hadn't sensed them in time...

He shook his head, attempting to get rid of his darkening thoughts. She had survived. She lived. And that was all that mattered, he reminded himself.

But what if? What if she'd died? That little voice whispered in his mind.

Loke fought to keep his composure, to keep control of his emotions. He knew that if she had died, it would have probably resulted in him refraining from making anymore contracts. No one could ever replace Lucy - she was the one who had risked both her magic and life for him despite his idiotic act of constantly avoiding her.

She had even called out the Spirit King.

Never, in his life, had he seen the Spirit King willingly appear before a Celestial Summoner. In Earthland, no less. It was...puzzling, though he wouldn't complain as he was allowed to live after all. But still, it didn't make it any less strange.

The stellar mage had also summoned multiple spirits simultaneously, he mused as he recalled the memory. And they weren't all entirely weak, either. Aquarius. Taurus. Sagittarius. Virgo. Four of them were part of the Celestial Spirits like him. Honestly, in his opinion, she was often underestimated - not to mention she often underestimated herself. After all, she was quite a powerful mage.

"Loke?"

Startled out of his thoughts, the spirit glanced up to see his owner crouched down in front of him with a questioning expression on her face.

"Lucy? Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked, concerned. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm fine," the stellar mage gave an exasperated sigh. "I couldn't sleep. You know how those two are." She grimaced, jerking a finger in the direction of Gray and Natsu's snoring in particular. "I don't know how Erza puts up with them," muttered Lucy under her breath as she sat beside him.

He couldn't help it - a chuckle escaped him as her frustrated pout turned into a glare. "So you decided to join me? Why Lucy, I had no idea..." Loke teased as her cheeks flushed red.

"Stop teasing me!" Lucy hissed out, being careful not to wake anyone.

"No." Was the spirit's prompt reply as he flicked her nose lightly, causing her to glare even harder.

Giving it up as a bad job, she finally changed the subject.

"So what were you thinking about? You didn't even notice that I was in front of you," the blonde asked, concerned.

Caught!

"Nothing," he quickly replied, silently hoping that she wouldn't ask anymore and would drop the subject.

Unfortunately for him, she was nothing if not stubborn in her own right.

"Loke...what's bothering you?" Lucy asked quietly. It was the same tone she had during the conversation they had in the resort before the whole deal with the Spirit King.

"...You almost died today," He finally spoke, averting his gaze.

"But I didn't."

"You could have."

"But I didn't, Loke, You helped me. You saved me."

"I almost failed."

"Loke, look at me." She tilted his head up to face her directly, forcing him to look her in the eye.

"You didn't, you idiot." Lucy smiled. It was a smile he hadn't seen before. It was soft and gentle with the warmth of the sun.

With a shaky laugh full of relief and a mixture of emotions, he pulled her into a hug.

And this time, she returned it.

"Stay with me?"

"Of course."

~End~