I'm back! Has it been two months already? This is a NaLu one shot because I'm having serious writer's block on everything else and it sucks...Review and Enjoy! Ciao!
Winter came early in Magnolia and this year was forecasted to be brutally cold. In a matter of weeks the town was covered in snow leaving the citizens curling up in bed or in front of a fire in an attempt to stay warm. Fairy Hills was nicely heated, as well as the guild hall; but sadly for Lucy the heating system in her building broke leaving the blond shivering under piles of blankets. Lucy was curled up in a little ball under the covers of her bed with every blanket she had on top of her. Even lifting up one blanket meant instant air flying into her cave of warmth that was barely warm enough.
"If only there was a fireplace, or something!" She mumbled into her hands whilst blowing on them to keep them warm. Suddenly her sheets disappeared and goose bumps instantly lined her skin and made her shiver violently. "Hey Luce! What're ya doin under there? Let's go on a job!" Looking up, she saw Natsu in his outfit without a coat, and Happy hovering in the air next to him. Lucy frantically grabbed the sheets and blankets up off the floor and hid under them again.
"No Natsu! I'm freezing and it's worse now because of you." Natsu cocked his head to the side slightly in confusion while watching the moving lump. "What do you mean? You're cold?" "Not everyone has dragon slayer abilities and can be resistant to the cold Natsu!" The grumpy voice scolded from under the blankets. "What if I start a fire?"
Before Natsu could dragon fire roar the place to the ground Lucy sprang up from the bed and covered his mouth, scowling at him at the process. "Don't you dare Natsu! I will not have you setting my house on fire again." Lucy's frown melted away when she felt the heat radiating off of Natsu's body and hugged him. "Uh, Luce?" Natsu looked over to Happy who stood on the coffee table staring in shock and jealousy thinking of Carla doing the same thing. Wondering if he could be so lucky as well, the cat bid farewell to a protesting Natsu as he flew out the window to Wendy and Carla's apartment at Fairy Hills.
Feeling a bit betrayed, Natsu turned his attention back to the girl clinging to his vest and noticed she was no longer shivering. "Natsu, you're so warm…" "Heh, yeah I guess; comes with the magic I guess." Natsu didn't know how to react to the sudden change of attitude in Lucy, for her to do something like this was very unlike her. Suddenly coming to her senses, Lucy jumped back from the warm body realizing what this must look like. "I'm sorry, uh…I'm keeping you from a job. I won't keep you anymore."
With that the blond turned around and returned to her ball form under the sheets in her bed. "Right…uh, bye." Natsu turned and walked to the front door (for once). Looking over his shoulder, he saw the form of blankets moving slightly, and with his dragon senses heard Lucy's chattering teeth. In a way, he thought it was kind of cute, her reaction. He walked back and lifted the covers enough to climb in next to her. "Natsu?" Lucy turned over to see the smiling face of her best friend. "Can't just let you freeze here can I?"
Lucy felt an arm wrap around her middle and pull her closer towards him. Instantly, the heat radiating from Natsu's body returned and seemed to be soothing to Lucy. In seconds she was asleep, leaving Natsu to gaze at the face of his partner. To see her eyes close made him a little sad and he didn't know why, but her sleeping face was cuter than her embarrassed face. She seemed so calm and peaceful, nothing like the badass girl who cares more about others than herself. He really adored that about her, and how she never backs down from a challenge like during the clock fiasco.
Thinking of Lucy made Natsu's face feel hotter than the rest of his body and increased his heart rate. It was confusing, but he had recently come to a sort of conclusion about the blond. He seemed to care about her and her safety more than anyone else at the guild, but didn't know what it meant. He tried asking Mirajane whose face turned red and squealed loudly. He figured he shouldn't ask anyone else in fear for the same reaction. Now however, he seemed to physically react to the thoughts of Lucy, and her scent seemed pleasantly intoxicating.
Looking at the clock, Natsu saw he had been contemplating his feelings and thinking of Lucy for the past two hours and it had now become dark outside. He figured it'd be beneficial to turn down his body heat so as not to set something on fire, but only slightly so that Lucy could remain warm. Doing so, the girl shuffled closer until she was as close as possible, and even then Natsu's arm wrapped itself around her waist more as her head lied on his bicep.
"Na-tsu…" Lucy was known to sometimes mumble things in her sleep. Natsu would know after all, he did sneak in a lot. Usually they were nonsense but this was a name, his name. His cheeks turned red slightly but a smile slowly formed as he gazed at the girl with half-lidded eyes. As a spur of the moment, he had no idea why, he kissed the top of her head softly as she cuddled closer to his chest. With that he felt sleep over take him and the two rested soundly through the night.
Sunlight pierced through the drapes on either side of Lucy's windows and rested on the two. Her eyes shifted slightly, then opened to not understand what she was seeing. Thinking for a moment, she recognized the vest and muffler to be Natsu's, and looked up to see the boy's sleeping face so close to hers. In the past, they kept to their sides of the bed due to Natsu constantly sneaking in, but this time they were so close in the middle of the bed.
Memories of the previous night came flooding back and caused Lucy to blush. The bed felt like a cloud thanks to the soft mattress and the body heat coming off from Natsu. Staring at him, Lucy thought about their history, and her feelings felt even stronger. She had liked Natsu for some time now, and being in his embrace felt like a curse. It was what she had been wanting, but only if he liked her back.
He was too dense to catch any of her flirtation attempts or any signs, and it seemed as if she was merely a friend to him so to be in a situation she had been craving for was not peaceful, but hell. He would never like her the way she loved him. Tears began to form in her eyes, and a sniffle was made. This woke up the dragon slayer who at first smiled to see Lucy was still there, but the happiness soon turned to concern as he saw the girl cry. "Luce? What's wrong? Am I crushing you or something?" Lucy shook her head and placed her hands on his chest to push herself away.
"Don't worry about it Natsu I'm fine…you should probably go." Lucy sat up and was about to get out of bed when her wrist was grabbed. Looking behind her, Natsu had sat up and pulled her backwards. He caught her as she fell and spun her around to face him while still holding onto her hands. "What's wrong Luce? Tell me." It was times like this, when he was caring and sweet that hurt the most because it made her love him even more. "It doesn't matter Natsu, please don't be worried about it."
Natsu shook his head as his brows furrowed, "How could I not worry about you? Just tell me alright?" Lucy sighed, seeing as there was no way she would be getting herself out of this situation. "You're so cruel Natsu, and you don't even know it. You stay with me all night and act caring and sweet, and it's just so cruel." Natsu stared at the girl in complete confusion, "How is that a bad thing? Do you want me to be an asshole or something?"
Lucy shook her head and looked down as everything she had been feeling for months just spilled out. "No Natsu. When you act this way with me it seems as if you like me, but I know that's not true. I'm not talking about like as in nakama, but as in an attraction to another person. We are best friends, I know, and I know you would never want to date or be anything more and I understand that…but I like you and to have something like this happen is cruel because I know you will never feel the same way as me."
Lucy looked up to see Natsu staring at her, blushing. Was this a confession? What did this mean? Didn't she know how much he cared about her? Maybe he wasn't the only dense person in Fairy Tail…"Natsu I get that it must be pretty awkward for you right now, I think you should leave." Lucy got off the bed and walked to the front door and opened it slightly. In a daze, Natsu stood up and walked towards the door Lucy was standing next to. Her tears caught his immediate attention and he slowly closed the door and turned to face her.
"Lucy, I don't know why you don't think I don't like you as well. I'm sure as hell not leaving, why would I want to? All I want to do is be wherever you are…" Lucy was taken aback at his words. "Luce…" He began as he gripped her shoulders and brought his face down to hers to look into her eyes, "I like you more than a friend. To me, you're not just my partner or nakama, to me you're the only person I could ever say I've loved. I'm not sure of everything in my life, but I am sure about how I feel towards you. We started out as best friends, but now I can't imagine my life without you; I would do anything to make sure you're alright and that's partly a reason I stayed last night. The main reason is because I like you and I want to always be by your side if you'll always be by mine."
New tears of joy began stream down Lucy's face as she shot forward and hugged the pink haired dragon slayer. His arms immediately wrapped around her small frame and his red cheeks buried themselves into her hair. "Natsu, I love you." Lucy looked up to see Natsu's face staring down at hers; and then, their lips met.