You're Here

Lucy threw her phone onto her bed in frustration, watching it bounce off the bed onto the other side on the floor. Not caring enough to check whether the screen was cracked, she flung herself onto the soft mattress and buried her face into her fluffy pink pillow. She groaned, kicking her legs back and forth with force. Just then, her phone lighted up and rang a soft 'ding'. She scrambled up from her position and draped herself over the side of her bed and grabbed her phone.

Unknown number:" FREE fitness membership for one month for a trial! Sign up at our website for more details!"

She sighed, dropping her phone back onto the floor and rolled over to face the ceiling. It was just chain mail. And her phone screen had cracked.

Lucy Heartfilia was awaiting a reply from her best friend, Natsu Dragneel. He hasn't texted her for ages, and she missed having someone to talk to and go out with. She barely saw him in school anymore and when she did, he did not notice her most of the time. He always seemed to be rushing somewhere. It started happening at the beginning of the year, and it was May now, the break almost starting, and Lucy was getting desperate. Despite her constant complaints and whines about the boy, she fairly liked him. No, scratched that. She really liked him. Without him, her life was so dull, that even the colour gray seemed like a rainbow to the poor girl. He suddenly cut her off in the middle of January, and whenever she tried to contact him, he was always busy. They barely even exchanged a 'hello' once a week. He had changed all his classes.

Today, however, he actually texted her first, asking her when she was free. Lucy was elated, and replied within the minute the text was sent out. Her luck was short-lived though, it has been 3 days since her reply. Lucy was currently being extremely bumped out by it.

She had consulted their group of mutual friends, and even asked Gray, Lisanna and Erza for help, the four of them having being friends with him since they were little. Unfortunately, she had asked in vain. They were of no help, because apparently Natsu was completely fine with them. When they tried to ask him why he was being so cold to Lucy, he'd look at them weirdly and cock his head to the side, seemingly very confused. According to him, his friendship with Lucy was fine, and nothing was happening.

-flash-

"Erza! Please! Tell me what's going on with Natsu! He hasn't been replying me at all! And whenever I see him in the hallways, he turns in the other fucking direction. What on earth happened? What did I do?" Lucy was badgering Erza for answers, becoming almost hysterical. It was somewhat amusing to Erza, as she had never seen Lucy this disoriented and muddled in the three years she had known her.

Just at that moment, Lucy had actually saw Natsu walk past the cafeteria she and Erza were in. She jumped out of her seat and raced towards him.

"NATSU!" She yelled. "Talk to me."

She ran in front of him and stopped, expecting him to slow down and talk to her. But to her dismay, he just brushed past her and continued walking down the corridor, mumbling a single 'later' to her. she froze. He didn't even as much as spare her a glance.

"That's what you've been saying. For the last two months. Talk to me," she whispered to no one but herself.

Defeated, Lucy trudged back to Erza and sat back down onto the chair. Bringing her legs up to her chest, she just stared at the ground, wondering what she did wrong.

Erza was just about done with Natsu as well. He wasn't telling her shit too. She got up and started walking towards the cafeteria doors when she heard Lucy softly whispering," Don't. I think he needs space. We should all leave him alone for awhile."

And so everyone left Natsu alone, on Lucy's orders. But he didn't stop ignoring her. Soon, he was fine to everyone except her. And she was devastated.

-back-

Lucy then became extremely frustrated, irritated, and distracted by it, like she was now. She could barely get anything done. Something had obviously happened.

Before Natsu's withdrawal from Lucy, he had spent every living minute with her. They ate lunch together and spent breaks together. He had never failed to walk her to and from school everyday. They also had monthly chill out sessions where they would have a movie marathon at Natsu's house every last Friday night of the month, which hasn't been happening for the past five months. Natsu had even broke into her house multiple times, climbing in through her window on the second storey of her mansionette house, and though she complained every time Natsu 'visited' her, she still missed it. Very much.

-flash-

Thud.

Squrrrch.

THUMP.

"HOLY MOTHERFUC-"

"Natsu?"

"..."

"Natsu what the heck are you doing here? How did you get in? It's like one a.m. and can you please shut the hell up you're fucking loud what the heck. You're going to wake my dad up!"

Natsu rose from the floor, rubbing his foot while mouthing swear words, pain evident on his face. He looked up at Lucy and stopped swearing immediately, putting his foot down. Lucy was livid. It was the middle of the night and she was planning to go to bed after finishing a pile of homework for the next day before the idiot that was Natsu came housewarming as a surprise.

Lucy's eyes were squinted and the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees. Even Natsu with his abnormally hot body temperature felt a little chilly. Looking at Lucy's face, he knew that he was going to get his head smashed into the wall by her. He closed his eyes and waited for her patiently. But instead-

"Look Natsu. It's getting really late and I really want to go to bed. So hurry up and tell me why the fuck. Are you here?"

Natsu looked up at her sheepishly, one hand scratching the back of his head.

"Well," he started." I can't really sleep. And it's really quiet without Igneel around often anymore. So i decided to find you. Since you live like two blocks away, why not?"

Natsu ended his little explanation with a grin showing off his pearly whites for the world to see. At that point of time, Lucy was too tired to process whatever the hell was happening and so, instead of dealing with Natsu, she merely slumped down onto her bed, reaching out for his hand on the other side, and dragged him down besides her. She couldn't send him home, it being so late at night.

Natsu was surprised. Lucy had just pulled him down beside her to sleep beside her on the same bed in very, very close proximity and he was very, very happy that it was happening. A blush had found a way onto Natsu's cheeks when Lucy suddenly curled up in his chest. So slowly but steadily, he wrapped her up in his arms, engulfing her in warmth and pulling her closer to him. She let out a content sigh before falling into a deep sleep, him looking down at her before smiling and falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

-back-

There were moments like those where she'd remember vaguely, she that she would miss dearly. Those moments flashed through her mind once in a while and though it had been just a few months without him, him disappearing with no explanation seemed like years to her. She wrecked her brain for what could have happened or anything that she had done wrong. But there was nothing. And it was killing her.

Natsu Dragneel laid back down onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was reaching his limit. He had to do something about the situation. It has been eight months since it happened, and five since he shut Lucy out. He couldn't tell anyone, especially not her. But he needed someone to talk to. Quickly. And it couldn't be Lucy. Because she was so very important, and she definitely could not get hurt under any circumstances. He missed her dearly, but he needed to protect her first. From people like him. She would want to help, and he could not bear to even imagine the look on her face when she finds out. He knew that once he opened his mouth to talk to her, everything would come spilling out. Because she was Lucy, and she did not deserve to be lied to, even if she was hurt that he was ignoring her.

His phone then lighted up, with a message from Lucy.

"Natsu, talk to me. What's wrong?"

That was what she had been asking for the last three months. He was going to break soon. He was going to run to her one day and hold her and break down and let everything that happened tumble out of his mouth.

Then, his phone lighted up again, with a message from Gray.

"You gotta talk to her man. She's gonna go insane tryna find out what happened. I don't care what it is, but you gotta tell her man. She's worried sick. Tell her. Even if it's about your father."

That was the first message Gray had ever sent him with no swear words, and it was the only one that actually made sense, and forced him to think. He knew she was pestering his friends about it, albeit subtly and they were getting irritated at him. They could see how much it was killing her, and it was eating them from the inside too. He wasn't telling them anything either. They only knew about his dad and not why he was ignoring her and just her.

-flash-

"Goddamn it, Natsu. Just fuckin' tell her and get it over with. Tell her what's going on." Gray yelled as he threw a punch at Natsu.

"NO. I CAN'T. I CAN'T BECAUSE I LOVE HER AND SHE'LL BE IN DANGER," Natsu roared back at Gray and pushed him back into the grass.

The both of them were in an empty field. Natsu had asked Gray to meet him there to get out some steam over what was happening with his father.

But it had turned into an argument over if Natsu should tell Lucy what was going on or not.

"NATSU. YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID. TELL HER AND IT'LL BE FINE AGAIN. SHE. WILL. BE. OKAY," Gray shouted as he got up to kick Natsu in the shin.

"No. She won't be. I don't wanna risk it. What if Dad finds out she knows and he gets angry? She'll be hurt. I don't want that to happen," Natsu said plainly, looking at the grass. He didn't bother to hit Gray back anymore.

Gray sighed at his best friend. Neither of them knew what to do anymore.

-back-

He thought back to all the times she had tried to ask him about what had happened, and if he was okay. All the text messages asking if she did anything wrong. He thought of all the times he had shut her out with a short 'later' or a 'I'm busy' or a 'it's fine'. But it wouldn't affect her that much right?

He had actually thought of telling her, and sent her a text. But he decided not to, he couldn't tell her. Not yet.

Natsu raised both his hands up from his sides to cover his face. He rubbed his dry, tired eyes and opened them, staring at the clock on the wall. It was nearing midnight, when his father would return home. He dreaded then, and wished that the minute hand on the clock would just start going backwards. Back to when everything was fine, and he was with Lucy during their monthly movie night again.

-flash-

"Natsu! You spilled the popcorn all over the couch! Ugh. It's extra work thanks to you. We were supposed to relax tonight!"

Natsu chuckled at her adorable pout and put a hand on her head, messing her hair up.

"I'll it get ,Luce. Just gimme a few minutes would ya?"

Instead of sitting back like how he would expect her to, she helped him pick up the popcorn, though grumbling the entire time. After that, she headed to the kitchen to make new popcorn, as most of them fell under the dirty and dusty coffee table and she refused to let Natsu even touch them. She also refused to let him help her make the popcorn and promptly threatened to go home when he insisted. So he could do nothing but watch the beautiful blonde butter his popcorn.

After the she was done, she then plopped herself onto the couch and chucked the bowl at Natsu, crossing her arms, mumbling about what a nuisance he was being, all while trying to suppress a smile. He laughed even more.

"You're adorable, Luce," He blurted out. Lucy had stopped mumbling and looked at his flushed face, with her own deepening into a dark crimson.

Natsu merely coughed and ran his hands through his pink locks. He then extended an arm to grab Lucy's forearm, pulling her onto his lap, her back against the armrest of the couch and knees bent. He then wrapped both his arms around her, with the bowl of popcorn on her stomach and turned the movie on. Lucy, after processing what was happening to her, proceeded to lean her head on his chest, watching the movie. The both of them stayed like that cuddled up and faces flushed throughout the entire marathon.

-back-

The door unlocked with a click. Natsu shot up from his position on the bed and walked out of his dark room. It was nearly midnight. Igneel, his father, had came back. He stood in the hallway of their small two bedroom apartment as Igneel removed his shoes and coat.

"How was it, dad? Did you get them?" Natsu questioned his father despite knowing the answer himself.

Igneel grunted as an acknowledgement of Natsu but shook his head in disappointment to answer the question. With that, he trudged back to his room and collapsed onto his bed with an audible thump. Sighing, Natsu returned to his room and laid down on his bed again. He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, wishing everything would go back to normal.

Igneel was not supposed to be alive. He was a criminal and was in a gang. He successfully robbed a top security vault of one of the most prestigious banks in the world. The police had got to the scene and gun shots were heard. Some say that they last saw him fall into a river. The police searched the entire area, but no body was found, so they pronounced him dead.

But Igneel had gotten away. One of his accomplices had saved him in the nick of time and they escape into the darkness, with only a few minor scratches here and there.

The police were still hell-bent on catching the gang, but still, after almost a year, did not have any idea that Igneel was still alive.

Recently, Igneel's gang had been attacked by another gang, and there were huge fights going on. Natsu had been dragged in by Igneel too and it was affecting him and every way possible. He wanted his father to be safe but he wanted to be safe too. He wanted to live a normal life with his friends. His friends and his Lucy.

Just then, he was interrupted by a loud meow. He looked to the side of the bed and there was happy, meowing his lungs out at Natsu in all his blue glory. Lucy had though that Happy would look cool if he was blue and dyed a bath blue after putting Happy in. It was a surprise for is birthday and when Natsu found out, he almost cried. Of fear. He had thought that Happy had caught a disease and was dying and started crying out of shock and misery before Lucy smacked his head and asked him to stop being an idiot, that it was just dye. Natsu eventually learnt to like his cat being blue.

And he missed Lucy.

But right now, there was no time to miss Lucy, because Happy was loud, and Igneel would kick Happy out of the house for being a nuisance. Natsu went to Happy and pat his head, ticking him under his chin, whispering," Hey buddy, what's wrong? You gotta be quiet, or Dad'll be angry."

Happy then padded across the room to the window when Natsu saw her.

There was Lucy, wearing a hot pink bicycle helmet, with a humongous bag of popcorn, and an even bigger bag of hot cheetos, standing on the fire escape outside his bedroom window. His jaw dropped. What was Lucy doing here? She had a small grin on her porcelain face and she held the two bag of chips, one on each hand, shaking them. She then jutted her chin out towards the window, gesturing for Natsu to open it.

Natsu walked to the window and lifted the latch, pushing it out, being careful not to hit Lucy. He then stepped aside for her to come in but instead, she simply smiled turned to her right to walk further up the fire escape.

"Let's go to the rooftop."

After sending Natsu yet another text asking what was happening, and to attempt to get him to reply her, Lucy has had enough. She would go up to Natsu herself and she would find out what on earth was going on. And she would find out that night. Lucy had a plan and it would be executed perfectly.

Getting out of her bed, she threw on a pink hoodie and a pair of jean shorts so that she would be comfortable. Next, she grabbed her wallet and phone and stuffed them into her hoodie pocket then dug through her closet for her helmet. She would need that. She plonked the helmet onto her head and grabbed a backpack and her humongous sleeping bag.

She padded out of her room and down the steps and into the living room. Going to the couch, she reached for two pillows and the small blanket draped over the couch and stuffed them into the bag.

Suddenly, she heard a shuffle coming from above the stairs. She froze for a few seconds after slowly turning towards the stairs and anticipate her father's bedroom light switching on. Luckily, all she got was a loud ass snore. She looked down at her backpack and pulled the zipper close then slinging it over her shoulder and headed for the door.

After closing the door with a soft 'click', she rushed towards the nearest convenience store to get the snacks. She bought a big bag of Natsu's favourite cheetos and a bag of popcorn, which she went to heat up in the microwave in the store.

Exiting the store, she checked her phone. 11.37p.m.. It was getting really late, and she wasn't sure on how to wake Natsu up if he was asleep. She hurried towards his apartment that was two blocks down, thankful for the bright streetlights.

When she reached his apartment block, she went inside and took the life up to the highest floor. There, she exited through the emergency staircase and headed up to the roof. The night air was chilly and there was a light breeze. Perfect. She thought. Lucy found a nice clean spot and laid out her sleeping bag, also dumping the pillows down with the blanket.

Then, she grabbed the two bags of snacks and headed for the fire escape down to Natsu's room. It was payback for him sneaking into her house so many times. this was what the helmet was for. Lucy was terrified of high places and it was a bad idea to go down the fire escape but she reassured herself that it was going to be fun and it was fine. She also reasoned with herself that Natsu probably wouldn't answer the door at 12a.m., him being so lazy. She buckled her helmet and went down to his room on the fifth floor.

Clutching the two bags at her sides, she reached for the railings and shakily made her way down two floors putting one foot in front of the other. The only consolidation she got out of everything happening at that point was Natsu at the end. Natsu with his adorable grin and his soft pink hair (that Lucy once touched out of curiousity - if they were as soft as they looked and they were ) and also the answers that she might be, no, would be getting.

Lucy reached Natsu's bedroom and looked in. He was sleeping? She couldn't tell. But he was still dressed in jeans and he didn't even take his scarf out. She was about to knock on the windows when he got up and headed over to Happy. Happy must've seen her and started meowing. Good cat.

Then, he saw her. And he came to open the window and 'invited' her in. She then shook her head and told him,"Let's go to the rooftop."

Lucy threw the cheetos at Natsu, who caught it, then climbed out of his bedroom window and onto the small platform where Lucy was waiting for him. Then, the both of them climbed up the stairs to the rooftop.

Lucy led Natsu to the sleeping bags and seeing them, he whispered," Wow, Luce. You set this up just for me?"

Lucy blinked at him said," Well, yeah. I wanted to ask you why you haven't been talking to me for like the past year." She then removed her helmet and dropped down onto the large sleeping bag. Natsu felt guilty. He had barely said a word to her anymore the past few months and he knew that she needed a good explanation.

"Lucy I-"

"If you aren't able to tell me what's going on then just sit down. Please? Even if it's just for a bit."

Lucy cut him off, pulling the hood of her hoodie up over her head so that Natsu could not see the lone tear slipping out of her eye. She missed him so. And she never cried over a boy before. Not even when that playboy Loke broke her heart a year ago. But Natsu. She missed him so much and it was so overwhelming with all her feelings of confusion and curiosity that she let a tear slip out.

All she wanted was to sit there under the stars with him. She didn't even mind if he sat five feet away from her. She was even drifting away from her originally plan on how she was going to approach him. Lucy had initially planned to put up a tough front so that Natsu couldn't help but answer her. But here she was, inviting him to go back down without an explanation or a single word to her.

Natsu, on the other hand, was surprised. Lucy never covered her face up before. She only did that when she was embarrassed because someone was teasing her. He needed to tell her tonight. Right there and then. Natsu walked up to her and crouched down in front of her and was shocked to see that she was crying. Lucy never cried. He hated seeing her cry. He really fucked up this time. So he did the only thing that he could think of. He gently placed his hands onto her shoulders and gently tugged her to him, wrapping his arms around her. He used one of his hands to rub soothing circles on her back, comforting her.

Lucy slowly wrapped her own arms around Natsu's torso, breathing his scent of marshmellows and ashes. It felt warm. It felt nice.

"I'll tell you, Luce." He whispered. And he did. He told her everything about what had been happening for the last few months. He told her about Igneel, and how he was still alive, that he lied about his father being dead. He told her about the upcoming gang fights and all the illegal stuff that his father did. He told her about how his father got him involved and that was why he often looked preoccupied and tired in school. Soon, Lucy had opened the popcorn she had bought and Natsu was now lying down on her lap as he told her his story. She was leaning back on one hand, her legs stretched out, with her fingers running through his hair. But she still had one burning question that he hadn't answered yet.

"Natsu, you haven't told me why you've been ignoring me. I don't understand why you've ignored me for the past eight months."

Natsu sat up and he looked straight ahead. "I haven't been telling you what has been happening because I didn't want to hurt you. I know it's stupid and I know it wouldn't hurt for you to know. But I didn't want you to be worried. I didn't want to involve you in this at all. And I've been avoiding you because I knew that I would spill everything to you once I started talking to you. I didn't know that you'd be so hurt by it, though." Then he turned to look at her, his dark green eyes with flecks of black piercing into her chocolate brown eyes. "I'm sorry Luce, I thought I was doing the right thing not telling you, but I guess it's because I don't want to put you in even a bit of danger. I need to protect you from bad people. People like me."

She stared at him. Before she could comprehend what was coming out of her mouth-

"I love you, Natsu."

His eyes grew as wide as saucers. But she continued, not giving a heck about her inner voice asking her to stop. "I don't care what kind of 'people' you want to protect me from. And I don't give two fucks about whatever danger you're trying to protect me from. If getting into danger means that you won't be around anymore then whatever. I don't care. I need you. And it's driving me crazy when you're not around. I miss you."

Lucy looked down after that, her cheeks burning. This is it, she thought. Natsu is going to walk away and never see me again.

Natsu, however, instead of running away from her in disgust, was, albeit shocked, overjoyed. He did the only sensible thing he could think of - he reached out and lifted her chin with his hands and kissed her.

It was soft and sweet, and tasted like popcorn and caramel. It lasted for a few seconds but it was absolutely magical. He pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. The kiss still tingling on both of their lips.

"I love you too, Luce," he whispered.

He leaned in to kiss her again but she started laughing at him. She pulled away and giggled, pointing at his cheek.

"I'm sorry! I think I dropped some popcorn onto your face just now. Lemme get it ," Lucy laughed and removed the popcorn from his face and popped it into her mouth. He chuckled and stuck his hands into the bag of popcorn, grabbing a few and chucking them at her. Lucy giggled again. "Hey! They're all going to stick to my hair!" She grabbed a few more pieces of popcorn and threw them at Natsu, who let out a cry of horror. "Luce! My scarf! You know how long it takes to wash it!"

Lucy rolled her eyes at him. "I wash it for you, remember? Because you have no idea how to 'handwash' scarves. Besides, my hair! It's going to be sticky and eeky!"

"But Luceeeeeee!" Natsu whined, and pouted at her. Lucy just giggled cheekily and chucked even more popcorn at him. Natsu narrowed his eyes at her and simply grinned evilly and opened the bag of hot cheetos.

"Natsu. Don't you dare. Cheeto smell will stay for days!" Lucy cried wearily. Natsu just leaned in close enough to her for her to hold her breath. Then he blew air at her nose plunged his hand into the cheeto bag, saying," Oh Luce, I do dare."

And finally, everything was back to normal again.