Lucy comes home to a brick through her window, which she didn't think happened in real life. It gets the point across just fine, though. She doesn't need to read the letter. She knows things are about to get a lot worse.


"What do you mean you haven't found a place yet?" Levy snaps, looking up from her book. The club is almost empty, save for a few drunken stragglers. The ceiling lights are on so Levy can do her calculations without losing whats left of her dwindling eyesight. Natsu always thought the place looked dank and dirty without the cover of the dark and the tinted lights.

He shrugs, and avoids pouting. Levy was usually fun, even if he didn't understand her references and her fiance is a monster. The stress of moving seemed to have killed Fun Levy. Natsu silently mourns.

"We're leaving in a week, Natsu," Levy reminds him, peering over the rims of her glasses, "Where are you going to stay?"

He shrugs again before turning around and making for the locker room. He nearly winces as Levy shouts at him, "You are not sleeping at the club again."

"I'll figure somethin' out," he throws over his shoulder.


Levy stomps into the bar, throws her hands up as she slips onto the stool in front of Lucy, "Oh my god. He's impossible."

Lucy waits for her to elaborate.

"Natsu," Levy says, rolling her eyes when the other girl doesn't agree, "He's been so stubborn about everything lately. All he does is pout. Did you know he hasn't even found a place in CA yet. We're leaving on friday. What is he doing."

Lucy doesn't respond. She has nothing to say about Natsu. She's certain the feeling is mutual. Levy rests her forehead on the counter and Lucy tries to quash the straining sensation in her chest. Her decision was already made. Natsu was moving (in the loosest sense of the word, according to Levy) and reconciliation is lost in the transition.

"I just don't understand. He's acting like a petulant little child. Even more so than usual." Levy sighs, considering her woes for a moment. She peeks up at Lucy through her bangs, testing the silence between them. Lucy doesn't look up and Levy's bottom lip drops just the slightest bit, "Oh," she says, "That's why."

Lucy resists reaching a hand up to feel around her face for what betrayed the events of last week so blatantly. She puts on a scowl, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Levy shrugs, and Lucy sees she's fighting down a smile, "Nothing at all, my dear Lucile."

Lucy decidedly lets it go, but she doesn't miss when Levy mutters under her breath, "Petulant children."


She doesn't go in for work. It's Wednesday and the bar closes early anyway. She sits at home, staring out the window up at the few little stars she can see, feeling like the heroine in some trashy romance novel. She doesn't understand why everything has to be such a catastropheall the time. Her life wasn't always some great tragedy. She wonders where she went wrong.

Immediately (and slightly unjustified), her mind jumps to a certain pink haired idiot. But the mistake wasn't inviting him in, and it wasn't keeping him. No, keeping him was one of the best things she's ever done.

So there's only one thing to do.

She's out the door in thirty seconds, not waiting to second guess her decision, but she doesn't make it very far. It seems someone had the same idea.

"Natsu..." Lucy says, still crumpled on the ground where she tripped over his seated form. He looks down at her with wide eyes, rolling onto his knees, reaching out to help her back up. She swats away his hands and sits up, chin tucked as she looks him over. The bruises have healed, at least, but she notices a set of dark rings under his eyes. Those are new. "What are you doing here?"

He glances over his shoulder at her door, as if he'd forgotten where he was. "I miss you," he says.

Lucy looks at him, at his hunched form. She feels like crying and laughing. And she actually does laugh, just a choked little giggle, just because he's ridiculous and so is she but at least that's one thing they have in common, "Missed you too."

He reaches out for her hand and she presses her palm against his, gently, carefully. They share a secret smile, like they know things will get better, even if they're still a bit messed up now.

They end up in her apartment. He takes up a lot of space, but in a good way. She puts on another awful comedy. They laugh anyway. They don't talk about stripping or the bar. No one mentions the stars. They sit on her couch in the dark, until the movie gets boring and they start telling their own stories instead, until it's three am and they're both falling asleep, until it's morning and they wake up, pressed against each other with cotton mouth and stiff necks and stupid smiles.

And they heal. Slowly, but surely, they heal.


It's Thursday and Lucy is the only one working, which is just as well because the bar is empty. It seems like nothing could possibly happen until Levy comes in at eight and pulls Lucy into a hug over the counter. It's an awkward angle, but a warm and welcome embrace.

"I'll see you around," Levy says, pulling back slowly, "I'll be sure to write."

She pays Lucy a sad smile, mirrored by the other girl.

"Don't forget me when you're famous."

Levy laughs, "Could I ever forget such a pretty face?."


There hadn't been time to discuss Natsu's imminent departure. Or maybe there had been, but it was passed up in favor of topics that didn't exhaust them both emotionally. Lucy is starting to regret not bringing it up as she heads home that night. She doesn't know where she stands with the guy. She doesn't really know where she wants to.

He's there when she gets home from work, which is a lot less concerning than it should be, but little surprises her anymore when it comes to Natsu. She watches him for a while, waiting for him to speak. His fingers drum erratic beats on his thighs, his gaze trained on the hardwood floor. Finally he looks up, "Tomorrow is-"

"Moving day," she says. She wraps her arms around her stomach, grabbing her elbows, but rethinks the movement, and fists her hands at her sides, not wanting to look small. This conversation is already wearing her out, "I know. Levy already said her goodbyes, so it's your turn, I guess?"

Natsu frowns, confused, though he can't say why, "I don't want to say goodbye."

There's a beat of silence as his words stew. A nervous energy washes over the room. "What do you want, then?" she says, her voice much softer than she'd like. The question is a flash back to earlier conversation. It feels heavy in the space between them.

"...You," he says, like he's just come to the realization himself. And it makes sense. It feels like that's all he's wanted since the day he met her. And everything else suddenly seems to make sense too.

Something in her resolves at that, like a piece of her has been untangled. Lucy decides, for once, she's going to do something and not consider the consequences. It's the only thing left to do. She comes to stand directly in front of him, close, but still so, so far away. Too far. She leans in.

He inhales sharply. "Lucy what-"

"Don't talk, just... shh..." she says, tells herself that she can be brave if she tries. She wants to do this. She wants him like this.

Lucy moves her legs so she's almost straddling him, hovering just above him with her knees bent into the couch. He thinks she's going to drive him crazy.

"I really want to kiss you," he says, and it comes out like a breathy plea "Really, really."

She takes his hands and moves them so they hover over her hips, looks him in the eye for a second before letting them rest gently against the fabric of her jeans. His palms are warm, even through the material, and he looks up at her, wonderstruck and wanting.

She lifts her hands to run through his hair, scratches her nails gently against his scalp and he holds back a groan and concentrates on keeping his hands in place. "If I kiss you, will I die?" she asks, quiet, so quiet, like a sigh, like a brush of the wind.

His hands tighten, ever so slightly on her hips. He laughs, a bit, "No, but I might."

She looks up at him through the fan of her lashes and he falls silent. "Hold very still," she says, and he doesn't even breath as she drifts closer, eyes pinned to his lips. It's just a peck, light and sweet and simple, but Natsu feels like the entire world has shifted and everything is different now. And everything is better.

"See," he says as she leans back, "Wasn't so bad, right?" But his voice is strained despite the nonchalant nature of his words and his fingers twitch against her sides.

She looks down at him and instead of answering she just leans in again and this kiss is heavier, more substantial than the last one. She gauges his reactions as she presses in, harder, softer, and their eyes drift closed at the sensation. The next one is warm and wet and open mouthed and she's sitting in his lap now and doesn't even care. He pulls her closer, his hands finally leaving her hips and running up her spine, feeling, memorizing every vertebrae beneath his fingers.

And god, does he want her. This. Everything. And he is such a greedy man because he wants all of her. It burns through him as he presses her closer, closer, breathes her in and swallows the little keening noises she makes as he moves his hands over her that make him want to growl. She ends up pinned beneath him on the couch and it isn't until she turns her head away that he realizes.

She's gasping. He doesn't know if she's just out of breath or having a panic attack but he sits back so he's straddling her thighs and runs a gentle hand up and down her arm, "You okay?"

She nods. She's still catching her breath. "I think so."

He gets off her and moves to the other end of the couch. He leans back into the cushions. "Fuck," he says on the end of a sigh. She looks up, not startled, but curious. She sits up slowly, her hand on her heart. She's worried about the ways it's racing. That can't be healthy. "I'm in love with you."

"Fuck," she says in that same, resigned tone. Natsu thinks that just might be the first time he'd ever heard her swear. She laughs, "I am too."

He grins down at her with his teeth so she can see the sharp points of his canines and the look in his eyes is so reverent it makes her want to cry. Something in her chest tightens and breaks at that look and she knows she's lost something she's never going to get back. She doesn't want it back.

She falls asleep in his arms, and when she wakes up in her bed alone, she wonders if it was all just a crazy dream. The note he left on her counter assures her it was not. She starts her day feeling changed and good.


AN: Guess who's tired - me, it's me. So please forgive any mess ups with tense, I am a struggling little bug. Also, if it wasn't clear (because timelines are another thing I have issues with), it's friday for our little babies now. Thank you so much for reading, especially if you have come here from my other trash fics. Please review if you have the time!