A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, so don't have too high expectations, I'm still a newbie at this. Please leave reviews; tell me if you like it or leave some constructive criticism... write whatever you want, I'll appreciate it all! By the way, English is not my native language, I've only learned it through school and media, so I might be using the wrong words, or building up the sentences wrong... if you notice something like that, and it just really irks you, then please leave a review on it as well, and I'll try to fix it and never do it again. You can of course also favourite, follow and all that (if you like the story). I don't know yet how many more chapters there will be, probably one or two more. I've already written pretty much further, it will probably be done soon (hopefully).

So I hope you'll enjoy the story! :D

Finally Back

By the outskirts of town, an all too familiar salmon-haired mage wearing an all too familiar grin walked happily towards the centre of Magnolia, accompanied by is blue Exceed. As they emerged from the woods and saw the city lighting up the ever so dark night, the fire mage pumped his fist in the air triumphantly, his trademark grin never faltering.

"Yosh! We're finally back!"

"Aye!"

The blue Exceed joined in on the celebration of finally coming home, flying around his friend in happy circles, a huge grin plastering his face as well.

They were both overjoyed of being back. They had picked a fairly easy job that would only last a couple of days... at least they thought it would. The request was for them to be sure that a precious heirloom, not to mention a mighty valuable one, wasn't stolen while showcased to the people of Crocus Town.

There was a rumour going about a gang of thieves that would be after the heirloom, but nothing Natsu couldn't handle. Just toast'em up nice and good with some fire, and they would be scurrying away frantically, aiming to get as far away from the crazy ass 'monster' as they could, as well as locating the closest source of water to extinguish their flaring behinds.

Natsu was honestly more worried about trying not to destroy half of the town in the process, not to mention trying not to destroy the freakishly expensive and fragile looking heirloom he was supposed to protect.

The Fire Mage and the blue Exceed therefore got caught off guard when the gang they thought would be a piece of cake turned out to be mages recently kicked out of a guild. And pretty damn capable ones at that.

They practically wept the floor with Natsu's face, and Happy; although he himself is convinced that he is the strongest one in the guild who is just so kind as to let the others have the spotlight, was knocked out cold after one single punch, no magic involved in adding power to the punch whatsoever. Natsu and Happy therefore ended up having to chase the thieves from town to town after they woke up from their... ehmmm... 'slumber'.

And that's why the Salamander and the Exceed now; FOUR weeks later, finally found their way back home, and why they are more than a little happy to be back. Natsu had already intertwined his hands promptly behind his head and begun his whining circus.

"Maaaan, all that work and only 50,000 jewels!"

The Salamander didn't really care about jewels all that much, as long as he and Happy had the most essential – which usually consisted of fish, meat and fire – they were more than pleased. 'Not nearly as bad as Lucy', Natsu thought to himself and couldn't hold back a chuckle at the thought of his rent obsessed friend.

Natsu and Happy were glad that they never have had to worry about things like rent, even more so after their seven years of absence, when he and Happy witnessed the ghostly faces of the people in the guild when they heard the amount of jewels they owed in rent, while he and Happy only had to worry about food. They did, however, complain more than most of the others in the guild, but that is only to be expected from the duo. Food is like life itself to those two.

They had both been – considering how lively they usually are – surprisingly silent throughout their trip back, the toll of the past few weeks getting the best of them. But the city and the thought of his precious people had the same effect on Natsu as a massive bonfire would; he was all fired up!

He couldn't believe how much he had missed his friends – no, family – the past four weeks. He missed Cana's drinking, Elfman going on about manliness, Jet and Droy sticking to Levy like glue (with an ever so slightly jealous Gajeel watching the scene along with his Exceed.) Hell, he even missed that cold underpants-bastard Gray.

But both the Salamander and the Exceed had that one person that they missed more than everyone else, the person that made them even happier to be home, if that was even possible. Happy had caught a fish for his special one, and held a slight hope of her actually accepting it this time.

Said Exceed had not eaten a fish in hours, he would not in a million years eat Carle's fish! Adding that to the time they had spent walking all the way back to Magnolia (because someone was just too damn stubborn to take the train!), the flying cat ceased his celebration and instead settled to sleep on his teammate's head. Natsu, not having the heart to wake the cat up, ceased his celebration as well and walked silently the remains of the journey back to their house out in the woods of Magnolia.

After he had settled Happy and himself in bed, Natsu; instead of shutting his eyes and being taken away to the land of dreams, laid flat on his back, his hands tucked behind his head staring up at the ceiling intently, minute after minute passing by.

In all honesty, he was too damn excited about being back to be able to even think about sleep at the moment. He glanced down at his blue Exceed and best friend, a small smile forming on his lips as the cat started mumbling something about fish in his sleep. 'Happy had brought a fish back for Charle'. As that thought yet again struck him, he cursed under his breath, regretting more and more that he had not brought anything back for his special one; the one that had occupied his mind most of the trip back home, as well as during his and Happy's little game of cat and mouse with the thieves.

Happy had been slightly curious as to why Natsu had been so overly clumsy in their pursuit. Natsu had only waved him off, telling the Exceed that it was the after effects of their train rides. It might have been a factor, since they took way too many trains and other moving transports for Natsu's liking, but he himself knew that it wasn't entirely the truth. It could not be a coincidence that every single time he tripped over a stone or a log, his mind had in the moments before his fall travelled to his blonde teammate, thinking of how she must miss him; imagining her sulking, head slumped over the bar. And every single time he fell (he couldn't keep count after he hit double digits) it always hurt, but never on his leg, or arms, or head. No, he always felt a tiny sting to his heart, feelings of guilt, sadness and other emotions he couldn't quite put a finger on sticking to his chest.

Yes, the Salamander severely regretted not bringing a present back home for her. He regretted lots of things. He regretted not whining a little bit more when she wouldn't go on the mission with them. He regretted not asking her to come along one more time before they left. He regretted thinking that it wasn't such a big deal, since they would be back after a couple of days anyway. But most of all, he regretted not bringing her back any present. He didn't have anything he could give her that would show her how much he had thought of her.

Then it struck him like Laxus' lightning had done oh so many times. A proud grin decorated his face as he now had the best present in store for his special one. 'Waybetter than a fish' Natsu thought proudly to himself as he jumped out of bed to execute his plan.

At an apartment in the centre of Magnolia, a blonde celestial mage opened her eyes hazily as sunlight made its way through her bedroom window. The sky was always clear in Magnolia, except for the times Juvia got jealous when girls got a little too upfront with Gray for her taste. Talking to the Ice Mage usually was enough for her to make assumptions that they loved him. Everyone loves Gray-sama! (You had to go through tougher measures to make Juvia jealous enough to make it rain though. That only happened rarely, she has gotten surprisingly good at controlling it.)

Heck, even Lucy has been accused of being in love with the Ice Mage on several occasions. She is Juvia's 'rival in love' as the Water Mage herself would put it. The thought of being with someone who couldn't walk around for more than maybe a minute before his garments were disposed of, did not really appeal that much to the Stellar Mage.

Although, when she thought about it, everyone in the guild seemed to have their quirks, and frequently stripping surprisingly enough seemed better than a lot of the other habits in the guild. And she had to admit that his body was more than fit enough to be displayed, so she didn't really mind it that much. She has even stolen a glance or two at the well-built body of the Ice Mage, but she would never in a million years mention that to Juvia. That would be the same as signing your own death certificate.

The Stellar Mage sat herself up in the bed, stretching out her stiff limbs. Lately, she had taken on numerous simple jobs to earn up the money for the rent that had to be paid at the end of the month. The jobs she chose were not really that tiring at all, they would never leave her body as tired and stiff as it was now, but she had gone on these jobs continuously, only coming back to the guild, picking out another job, taking a shower, changing some clothes and then leaving again right away.

She purposely picked out jobs that never lasted more than two days at maximum, so that if a certain Mage would finally decide to get his ass back here, she would know quickly after his home-coming so she could kick his ass and scold him for being gone way longer than he said he would… And then she would hug him like there was no tomorrow, because damn, had she missed him. She couldn't bear the thought of her leaving on a weeklong mission and then coming back only to find out that he has already been back for days. Most of all she wanted to pull a Nab and never leave to do a job so she could be here when he came back, but the rent does not pay itself, now does it?

So that is why her body now feels like it had been tossed and turned like the time she was controlled by at Tenrou Island. And trying to stretch was certainly not a good idea, as instead of pleasure and relaxation of the tense muscles, she felt a surge of pain throughout her body; from her fingertips to the tip of her toes. She winced at the sudden pain, cursing herself for thinking that it was a good idea to stretch in the first place.

'A good warm bath with some soothing oils will definitely relax my tense muscles' the Stellar Mage mused to herself and braced her arms on the bed to lift herself up. When a dissatisfied grunt then sounded from underneath her right hand, and she indeed felt that the texture of what she had so forcefully planted her hand on was not the texture of her sheets at all, her recent plans all went through her head and out the window, as she instead directed her attention to the source of the sound.

She turned her head around slowly to see her hand planted on top of a humans' face. But this was not just any human, oh no, this was a well-known face to Lucy, even now when her hand covered most of it. If she hadn't recognized his face, the salmon hair would have given him away.

"I've been gone for four weeks, and this is the welcoming I get!?" Natsu managed to muffle out from underneath her hand.

Lucy could only stare dumbfounded at the mage in her bed; completely awestruck by the situation at hand, not sure if she was happy, angry, surprised or embarrassed. Likely, she was all of the above. She just kept on staring and staring, her jaw dropping further and further.

"I would at least appreciate it if you would get your hand off of my face; it's not really the way I prefer to wake up."

Natsu's grunts of dismay seemed to finally reach the blonde's ears as she after an awkwardly long time finally lifted her hand off of the Fire Mage's face. Natsu let out a big overly-dramatic sigh of relief as if he had just gotten loose from one of Bob's chokingly tight hugs. He then sat himself up in Lucy's bed, his lips tugging upward to create one of his heart-warming grins, the kind that Lucy had missed so damn much the last couple of weeks.

"Morning Luce," Natsu said, his smile never faltering.

These actions tipped Lucy's emotions over the edge. The sight of him again became too much for the Stellar Mage. Natsu fell right back down on the bed again with a soft thud as he was practically attacked by the blonde in front of him when she brought him into a bone-shattering hug.

"C-can't breathe," Natsu choked out, and he could have sworn that his face was turning blue from the lack of oxygen. Lucy let go with world record speed after hearing his barely audible and desperate voice begging for mercy.

"I-I'm sorry," Lucy stuttered, her recent actions causing a slight blush to paint her cheeks.

She watched as her teammate gasped for some well-needed air, a soft smile covering her lips. As his breathing once again had turned back to normal and his attention was back to her, she continued to speak.

"You know, I'm really happy that you're finally back and all, but…"

She took a pause to give him a glare that practically pierced his soul, a dark aura surrounding her, resulting in a rather loud gulp coming from the victim of her vicious stare.

"Why the hell did you decide to bunk in my bed!? Huh!?"

Natsu shook his head violently while waving his hands desperately in front of him and backing away as far as he possibly could, until his back was pressed firmly against the wall of the bed. He tried to avoid Lucy's wrath with all his might. It was something that he had experienced a few times before, and although it can't measure up with Erza's wrath (nothing really can) it was still pretty damn scary.

"I-I-I was j-just, uhmmm.. I-I m-mean.." Natsu's tongue severely failed him in his pursuit for the right words, ending in him getting completely tongue-tied. He decided to set his eyes anywhere else than at the piercing eyes of his teammate, so he decided to advert his gaze down at the sheets which he were awkwardly fidgeting with. Not looking at the blonde before him had a surprisingly good effect on Natsu as he was finally able to speak somehow normally again.

"W-well, I came back home last night, and as always Happy had brought a fish back for Charle.."

"What does that have to do with you ending up in my bed!?" Lucy had cut him off in mid-sentence, too damn impatient to wait for him to make a novel out of the situation.

"Hmmm, well you know, he brought her a present, right? Just because he had missed her a lot, and I guess he kinda wanted to let her know that she's been on his mind the whole trip, and that he would never forget her, even when separated for a long time.. That's the meaning of a present, right? To let people know you care?"

After a few awkward seconds of no response, Natsu glanced up at the Mage before him, a look in his eyes telling her that this was no rhetorical question, like she had obviously thought it was.

"Yeah, I guess that is the purpose of a gift… but I still don't see what any of this has to do with you deciding that sleeping in my bed was such a great idea."

Lucy was starting to grow mighty impatient, and the Fire Mage had picked up on the vibe, but he still had a difficult time finding the words. He was usually one to just speak without thinking over what is really coming out of his mouth. His thoughtless actions often resulted in punch and kicks from various guild members, and after already receiving a hand in his face (although not on purpose), he did not really feel like becoming a punching bag at the moment. He therefore desperately tried to arrange his words as best he could, resulting in a long and awkward silence.

"..Well?"

"Uhmm, well basically what I'm saying is that I wanted you to know that I've missed you a lot, that I've been thinking about you the whole trip, and that I would never forget you; even though we would be separated for a long time."

Natsu once again found the sheets interesting as his eyes darted back down after seeing Lucy's reaction to his words. He had said something wrong, hadn't he? Well, god dammit.

The Salamander closed his eyes and waited for whatever punishment that would come next. Lucy just stared dumbfounded at the Fire Mage before her. What was this behaviour all of a sudden? Had he gotten a hit to the head while fighting the thieves, messing up his brain even more than it already was? It had to be something like that, because this sounded awfully a lot like some kind of confession, at least to her ears. Then again, it could only be him caring about a nakama, he did love everyone in the guild like a family, and she could picture him saying that to many of the other members in the guild without it sounding weird in any kind of way.

But still, he had not went to any of the other guild member's beds. He was right here, which means that she had a special place in his heart…? Or was it just her imagination running wild? Lucy gripped her head in frustration as her head pounded from over-thinking. After not getting any kind of response in quite a while, the tension in the room got too damn high for Natsu to bear, so he bravely decided to speak up yet again.

"I know this isn't really a present at all, you probably don't even appreciate it. If anything, you're thinking that it's irritating and me invading you privacy… I know as much." Natsu's voice had a sad tune to it as he spoke those words.

"But I couldn't get any sleep because I felt bad about not getting you a nice gift like Happy had done for Charle, and at the time, I couldn't come up with anything better than this… Also, your bed is really comfy." As he spoke those words, he finally got the courage to lift his head up as he met her with another one of those heart-warming grins of his. Lucy couldn't help but to feel bad for him.

She had never told Natsu this, nor will she ever tell him, but she actually liked the fact that he broke into her apartment at any hour he found suiting, eating all her food at day, and sneaking into her bed at night. She would never in a million years tell him that she had actually missed his warmth at night these past few weeks, so much that she had to replace it with numerous blankets and even a small teddy bear; not so much for the warmth, but rather to have something to hug and snuggle close to at night.

The funny thing is that she never had a problem with the cold before; it was honestly the opposite way. Before he started to casually bunk in her bed, she would find excessive blankets annoying, and would rather sleep without any, the heat seemingly unbearable to the Celestial Mage. Now, she would almost go as far as to say that she had become dependent of the constant warmth of her hot friend… NOT hot appearance-wise; hot body-wise… NO, not his body like in his rock-hard abs and strong arms and…

Lucy mentally slapped herself, trying to get her mind back on the right track again. It really didn't help the situation that he was wearing his normal vest, meaning that his toned stomach was out for the world to see. Her mind already being set on 'perverted', resulted in her face becoming red as a tomato as she kept on ogling at her teammate's chest.

"Hey, Luce, are you okay? You're all red. You haven't gotten a cold, have you?" Natsu's worried voice barely reached the blonde's ears, her head too occupied with dirty images of her and her teammate. What did make her react was when she felt the hot hand of her worried teammate graze her forehead carefully. The warm touch that she had missed so much was finally back, and she was bathing in all the wonderful feelings that one touch was able to emit from within her.

With her mind hazed with pleasure, she suddenly found herself acting on her desires. She hated it when she felt herself leaning into his touch. What she hated even more was the fact that she wasn't able to stifle the moan that escaped her mouth.

Natsu, who merely seconds ago was an innocent little Dragon Slayer who simply was worried about his nakama's well-being, had now lost his ability to move, speak, think; to do anything at all, really. He just sat there, as if frozen by Gray's ice magic, staring wide-eyed at the scene before him.

As soon as his hand made contact with her forehead, her expression had turned into one that Natsu found extremely… arousing? Yes, he couldn't explain it any other way. She was making him all hot and bothered, and all he wanted was to lean in and capture her lips with his. He wanted to taste her lips, to inhale her intoxicating scent, and to explore the curves and dips of her body. But he knew that he shouldn't. He couldn't. They were nakama for god's sake!

The way she seemed to lean in closer to him didn't really help him in his resolve, as he found it harder and harder to refrain himself from acting on his needs and desires. When he heard a moan escape her plump lips, all coherent thoughts were thrown out the window as he harshly crashed his lips upon hers in a fierce kiss filled to the edge with desire, stealing the rest of the moans that would come from the blonde later, because he would make sure that the one just heard wasn't the last.

At the sudden feel of texture on her own lips, the blonde mage shot out of her lust-filled daze, only to end up staring dumbfounded at the very object that had sent her into her daze mere moments ago. He was now well on his way in executing the images she recently had in her head, leaving her in no doubt if this was real or not. Sucking and tugging on her lower lip, tongue swiping over her white set of teeth. No, she had no doubts what so ever. All of her dreams, all the dirty things she had imagined doing with the Fire Dragon Slayer up until this day had never felt this good.

But when, how and why had all of this suddenly happened? Had God heard her silent prayers that even she herself had a hard time of hearing and accepting? Did something happen, so that all of her thoughts imprint into real life?

The thought of it sent shudders of pleasure down the blonde mage's spine, knowing well that her thoughts had been way more lewd; this – although pretty hot and heavy in itself – seeming like child's-play in comparison. In her perverted mind, they were all sweaty and naked, tangled together in the sheets, his breath hot on her neck as he whispered all the things she needed to hear.

Another shudder surged through her body as she shut her eyes close and easily submitted to his ministrations. Who in their right mind would want to stop this kind of pleasure? She moaned loudly into his mouth; opening her own both to allow him access into her mouth, as well as being able to get a taste of his. A low growl emitted from the Dragon Slayer's throat as he suddenly felt her answering to his needs, and with the reflexes of a dragon, he grew bolder in his movements. He eagerly kissed her back even more fiercely, efficiently knocking her down on the mattress at the same time. His hands started exploring, feeling the dips and curves of her petite body; from her stomach, down her hips and thighs and up again.

Her hands had found their way to his hair, grabbing harshly onto his soft pink locks, as if it was the last string of her sanity. She wrapped her long, creamy legs around his hips, aching for as much proximity to the Dragon Slayer as she could possibly get. He answered by putting his strong arms around her back and efficiently pulling her close to him, her body almost melting into his. Their lips parted; the Stellar Mage getting some well needed air. Natsu though, did not even hesitate for a second, as he was now attacking her neck with hot open-mouthed kisses, occasionally sucking and nibbling on her skin.

Natsu slowly made his way down her neck, satisfied by the sets of moans and sighs coming from the mage underneath him. He grunted in frustration though, when he could no longer go any further, as unnecessary fabric blocked his path. The Salamander stared at the set of clothing in frustration, contemplating if he should just rip the whole thing off. Knowing the woman squirming beneath him, ruining her clothing was not a good idea. Sure, she wouldn't mind now, but as soon as she got down from her high, she would yell at him like there was no tomorrow. Instead, he settled for creeping his hands under her shirt, longing to feel the sensation of her skin.

"N-natsu!" The voice of the Stellar Mage was coated with pleasure, as she wasn't even sure herself if her yelling his name was a plead to stop or an encouragement to continue. The Fire Mage obviously took it as the latter, as if her actions only seemed to arouse him even further, again capturing her lips with his in another fierce kiss. She felt his hands slowly finding their way underneath her pink-lace bra, and suddenly realized that there was no way back now, oddly enough liking the thought of it. She wanted this so bad.

What the two mages heard next left them staring wide-eyed at each other, lips still connected.

"Natsuuuuu~"

A/N: Was it good? Horrible? Aren't you even reading this because you stopped reading this after the first excruciating sentence? Please tell me what you thought, everything helps! ^^ Oh, and tell me if this was rated wrong, I just rated it T because they didn't go that far, atleast in my opinion... but if you feel it's rated too low, tell me, I'll change it. I'll say it again: first fanfic, new to it all, so I'm not really sure how to rate yet. Next chapter will be up when I'm done with it, I can't give you any specific time, but I'll try to make it quick! :) (Having these A/N's here will be very awkward if no one reads my story - just had to get that out of my system)