Natsu hugged her on the sofa for half an hour, purring to her and stroking her hair until her heart beat calmed, and the scent of fear had left her. With a deep sigh, she got up and went into the bathroom to have a shower. He'd been happily raiding her fridge, sniffing at some questionable looking ham and wondering if it was worth the risk, when he'd heard the first hiss and whimper.
"Lucy? Are you okay?" His hand went to the bathroom door, ready to slide it open to check on her.
Her frantic cry of "Don't come in!", had him anxiously pausing. Normally he would just barge in, but after today… He knew he was second guessing everything he did, because he wanted to care for her like a mate would – obliterate the bastard that had frightened her, soothe her hurts, calm her fears, but he hadn't even told her how he felt about her, and now was definitely not the time. He swallowed, adam's apple bobbing in his throat.
"Just tell me what's wrong, Luce" he said, his fingers still curled tensely around the edge of the painted wood of the sliding door.
"I… I'm okay. I just forgot about the coffee, and the warm water is stinging my legs a little. Please just… could you go get my pyjamas, they're under the pillow on my bed."
He felt his anger rising all over again, like bile in the back of his throat, but swallowed it back down, going over to her bed to retrieve the neatly folded sleep shorts and singlet from under her pillow. He picked the pillow up for a moment, scenting her usual calming fragrance, breathing it in like a balm to his heated anger and sighing as he exhaled. He was furious at himself for forgetting that prick had splashed hot coffee on her, especially as burns got worse the longer they were left untreated, and the rage he had felt at the café was still swirling with nowhere outlet.
Even though it was hard, he had to push the anger down and keep a level head. Lucy had a lot more experience at this, being the person who cared and comforted, he was more about action, but that wasn't what she needed right now. He could do this. He would concentrate on caring for her, trying to make her feel better, and hope he didn't fuck it up by saying the wrong things.
He walked over to her chest of drawers and retrieved a clean pair of panties for her and walked back over to the bathroom to wait. The sound of running water stopped, and he rapped his knuckles on the door, before sliding it open just enough to thrust his arm through holding the clean clothes.
"You're gonna let me check those burns, right?" he asked, as the pyjamas and panties were taken out of his hands.
"Yeah, okay", he heard Lucy sigh. He stayed by the door, listening as she towelled herself dry and got dressed, gritting his teeth as he heard a catch in her breath a few times.
The door slid back, and Lucy squeaked as she nearly walked into him, but his gaze had immediately dropped to her lower thighs where the coffee stains on her stockings had been, and he growled at the reddened skin, peppered with tiny blisters, and the dark oval bruises higher up on her leg, like fingerprints too persistent to be washed away.
"Lucy, go sit down. I'll get the first aid kit." He waited for the usual rebuff, that she could look after herself, thank you very much, but she meekly went to sit down on the sofa, her head lowered.
When he returned with the first aid kit, she was sitting very still, feet flat on the floor, back hunched, her face buried in a cushion that she hugged to herself tightly. He could only just make out her muffled words.
"I thought… I thought after a shower, I'd feel better. But I can still feel them on me. His… hands."
Natsu gulped, looking at her helplessly. Maybe he couldn't do this after all. He didn't know what to do, what the right thing to say would be, he was fucking terrible with words. He wanted to hug her again, but he didn't want to do anything that would upset her more. He knelt on the floor in front of her, putting the first aid kit down, reaching his hand out to touch her knee, then drawing it back uncertainly.
"Luce, you know I'm happy to listen to anything you wanna talk about, but did you want me to get someone else? Levy maybe, or Mira?" He rubbed his palms anxiously on his thighs, the fabric of his trousers creasing under his heated grip. "I just… I wanna help, I'd do anything to make you feel better, but I don't know what to do. Tell me what I should do. What would make you feel better?"
Lucy chuckled into the pillow, but it sounded a little more like a sob. "I don't know. When I saw the burns and the br…" her voice broke a little over the word, "uises, I…" She lowered the pillow enough to look into Natsu's anxious eyes. "I want you to stay Natsu. I feel safe with you. I always feel safe with you."
His heart swelled a little at her trust in him, but that still didn't help his anxiety about doing or saying the wrong thing. He sighed and nodded. "I'm gonna have to touch you to put a dressing on those burns Lucy. Is that okay?"
She nodded, putting the sofa cushion aside. She prodded his leg with her foot. "Natsu, I'm still me. What's with the kid glove treatment, huh?"
Natsu looked at her seriously, his hands clenched into fists on his thighs. "That bastard frightened you. I don't wanna frighten you, ever."
Lucy gave him a watery half smile. "Since when have I been frightened of you, big bad dragonslayer? Do your worst, hot shot."
Natsu smiled back. He rummaged around in the first aid kit, disrupting its usual order, then fished out a tube of antibacterial cream. He gently started dabbing cream on the burns, where she had been splashed from the hot coffee in spots from her knees to mid-thigh, being careful of the blisters.
"I dunno Lucy", he said, looking at them with concern, "I think maybe Wendy should take a look at these." He definitely wasn't an expert in first aid, and he never got burned, so he was unsure if he was treating them correctly or how bad they were. Her skin still felt warm, and blisters meant they were bad, didn't it?
"Let's just put a dressing on them for now, please Natsu. I don't think they're too bad." He looked up into her eyes and she gave him a small smile. "Wendy's not feeling well, and it's not like they're life threatening or anything."
He sighed again, but did as she asked, carefully placing a loose dressing on top of each of the burns and wrapping a bandage around each leg to keep them in place.
He reached for the small white jar of arnica cream and dabbed it as softly as he could on the darkening bruises on her upper arm, muscles twitching in his jaw as he clenched his teeth, then moved on to the ones on her upper thigh. After he'd dabbed at those, Lucy grabbed his wrist.
"I… I'll do the rest, o-okay", she said, her voice shaky.
Natsu looked up at her in surprise. "The rest?" he questioned, then looked back down at her leg, trying to see what he might have missed.
And then he noticed, peeking out from just underneath the hem of her tiny sleep shorts, more bruising fingerprints on her inner thigh disappearing up towards the fabric covered area of her crotch.
His eyes shot to hers, and she gamely tried to give him another watery half smile. But then her lips compressed, and the corners of her mouth turned down, her bottom lip trembling.
Natsu slumped back a little. He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He had hoped desperately, that perhaps Loke was being his usual flamboyant self, and was over dramatizing the situation, but here was the proof. That fucking bastard.
"Lucy", he said brokenly, his own eyes filling with tears, "I'm so sorry."
"Me too", she whispered. "I had always hoped…" Her eyes shut, and a tear rolled down her cheek. She pushed at it with the heel of her hand, wiping it away with much more force than necessary. Then her other hand rubbed at another tear, and soon she was scrubbing at her face furiously, almost like she was trying to wipe away her own expression.
Natsu blinked his own tears away and grabbed her hands gently, cocooning them between his own warm palms.
"Hey", he said gently. "Be careful."
She turned her eyes towards the floor, tears dripping down her cheeks. "I just feel so ashamed."
She startled, her eyes widening as she heard Natsu's low rumbling growl, a sharp contrast to his previous soft tone. "Don't", he said roughly. "Don't say that. Don't…" He let go of her hands, letting them drop into her lap and leaned forward to cup her cheeks with his palms, his dark green eyes pinning hers.
"You are Lucy Heartfilia, a Fairytail mage. The strongest celestial mage that I have ever seen", he rumbled, his voice quiet but firm. "You are courageous, bold and kind, and always ready to step in and help those who need it. A force to be reckoned with."
His voice softened, and he stroked her cheek gently with his thumb. "You are… beautiful… inside and out. You walk tall, Lucy. You show that bastard that he can't break you. You are better than him. He's nothing but scum on the heel of your boot. You shine so bright sometimes that I…" He swallowed, his voice suddenly gravelly, and dropped his hands away from her cheeks. "I mean, there is no reason for shame, none at all."
Lucy sobbed, but did her best to smile through her tears. He had a sudden memory of last time he had seen her face like this, after her loss to Flare Corona when she had cheated at the Grand Magic Games; had smiled at him through her sobs and said, "I'm all fired up". She hiccuped a little.
"Can I be strong tomorrow?"
"Idiot. You're already strong. You always are. But when you need to, you lean on me okay?"
"Okay." She sniffed, and then he backed away, making space between the on the sofa so she could lean down and pluck a couple of tissues from the box on the coffee table. She blew her nose loudly, and he grinned at her. Since he had finally admitted to himself how much he loved her, he often felt in awe of how beautiful she was, and then she would do things like that, and remind him that she was still his loud and not particularly graceful best friend Lucy.
He watched her blow her nose, hands twitching, one leg bouncing. He knew he had to do something. All these feelings, rage, sadness, empathy and love, were swirling together in his chest like an explosive cocktail, and he wasn't sure what would happen if they didn't get released soon. A sudden thought, a way that he could run and let off steam and still take care of Lucy had him smiling.
"How about I go get us something to eat, Lucy? There's not much in your fridge."
Lucy scowled at him, teary chocolate brown eyes glowering over the top of the tissue. "Yeah, I wonder who's fault that is."
"Sorry", said Natsu with a grin, bouncing to his feet and not looking sorry at all. "I'll get you some of that chicken you like. My treat. I'll be fast okay?"
"Alright", said Lucy, clutching the used tissue in one hand and rubbing her forearm with the other, still sniffling a little. "You promise you won't be long?"
"Promise", he said, jogging over to the window. He paused, balanced in a crouch on the windowsill, and turned to gift her an encouraging grin, then dropped to the ground, running as if his life depended on it.
Twenty minutes later, and he was back, two bags of steaming takeaway clutched in one hand, the mixed aromas making his stomach growl audibly. He easily made the jump up to the windowsill, but the window was shut and locked. He peered in, cupping one hand around his eyes, trying to see where Lucy was. He finally spotted her pacing backwards and forwards in the kitchen, her keys clutched in her white knuckled hand. He tapped on the glass and she jumped, nearly dropping her keys, and quickly came over to the window to unlock it.
"Are you okay?" he asked, dropping in through the window. "The window was locked."
"Yep, just peachy", she smiled, but it was another of those empty false smiles that Natsu had become all too familiar with this week. He hated them.
He put the bags down on the table and eyed her carefully.
"Okay Luce, spill. What's going on in that weird head a yours?"
"Well", she began, twisting her keys in her hands, "I was just thinking. I don't know much about that guy, but he seemed fairly high powered. Expensive suit, lots of rings, real gold – one of them had a seal on it, so he's probably old money, like the people my father used to mix with."
She started pacing backwards and forwards in front of Natsu. "Those sorts of people, they don't take no for an answer. What if he goes after Erza, after she embarrassed him in front of all those people at the cafe? What if he goes after the guild to take revenge? What if… what if he comes here?"
Her eyes widened, and she clasped her arms around her body, hugging herself tightly. "I mean it's pretty easy to find out where I live right? It's not like I make a secret of it." She began breathing faster, as her voice sped up and rose in pitch. "Anyone could follow me and know exactly where this apartment is. For all I know he already does know. And he'd probably send someone, a mage, maybe more than one. Those sorts of people don't do their own dirty work. It could be Phantom Lord all over again and it would be all my…"
Natsu placed his hand over her mouth, stopping the torrent of words. He could hear her heart rate accelerating, anxiety pouring off her like a shaken, gushing bottle of fizzy drink that Mira served at the guild.
"Lucy, breathe." He took his hand away and said gently, "That's a lotta thinkin' for the short time I was gone."
Lucy chuckled without humour. "Well, you know, overly dramatic Lucy, that's me." She bit her lip, worrying the soft flesh with her teeth.
Natsu placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her backwards until she was in front of the sofa, then pushed downwards with gentle but firm pressure until she dropped onto the cushions.
"Time to eat", he said firmly. "Talking after." He went to the kitchen and got two glasses of water, then pushed a container of chicken and vegetable stir fry with paper napkins and bamboo chopsticks towards her. "Eat Luce." He piled the other boxes up in front of himself, and began to attack them methodically, eating through each one without stopping.
It was only when he'd got three quarters of the way through the pile of food in front of him that he noticed that Lucy wasn't actually eating, just moving the food around with the chopsticks listlessly. She tried to hide a yawn behind the back of her hand, but it was easy to see how exhausted she was.
"You want me to put that in the fridge for you to finish tomorrow Luce?"
Lucy sighed. "I'm sorry Natsu, I really am. I appreciate you going to get this for me, but I'm just not hungry at the moment." She put the chopsticks down on the table and rubbed her eyes.
Natsu started packing up all the food, putting lids on the containers.
"Hey, you don't have to stop eating just because I'm not", she began.
"Nah, it's okay. I'll save it for tomorrow. You look like you're ready to crash Luce. Maybe you should go to bed."
He picked up the containers and carried them into the kitchen, opening the fridge door and shoving them in haphazardly. When he closed it, Lucy was standing there, looking at him anxiously.
"You're not going to leave, are you Natsu?" she asked, twisting her fingers together.
He smiled at her cheerfully, even though it hurt him to see the anxious expression on her face. He would do anything to wipe it away.
"Not if you want me to stay. Happy will probably come looking for me soon though. Is it okay if he stays too? Him an' me could camp out on the sofa and…"
"Would it be weird…"
"I expect weirdness from you, ya weirdo!" he grinned, and then he chuckled when she made a "hmmph" noise and punched him in the arm.
"Rude!" Her bottom lip jutted out in an adorable pout. "What I was going to say, before I was interrupted, was… could… could you… um…"
"Hey, just spit it out Lucy, I'm not gettin' any younger over here!"
"Forget it", she grunted, and turned to stomp away, but he caught her by the arm.
"I'm sorry, I was just tryin' ta cheer ya up. Please, I'll be good."
She looked at him uncertainly. "I'm just feeling a little…" She clenched one hand into a fist and pushed it against her heart. "I can't… I'm so tired, but my thoughts… could you maybe lay next to me while I go to sleep and do that purring thing again?" The last part came out in a rush, as her cheeks flushed red, and she looked away from him. "I was frightened before, and it helped."
Natsu's cheeks flushed also, but he smiled, hiding how fast his own heart was beating, how much her request had affected him. "Gladly, Luce."
He followed her across to the bed, and she slid underneath the covers.
"Is it okay if I leave the window open for Happy? I don't want him ta wake ya up tappin' on the glass." Lucy's eyes widened, and he added, "I'll stay right next to the window okay? Nothin's gonna get past me Lucy, I promise."
She nodded, and lay down on her side facing him, her head resting on the pillow, golden locks bright against the white fabric. Natsu slid the window open just enough for Happy to be able to squeeze in.
He kicked off his shoes and took off his scarf, vest and socks, leaving them in a messy pile on the floor, and lay down next to her on top of the covers, their heads sharing the pillow.
He looked into her dark eyes and she smiled, the first real smile he'd seen for a while. She scooted over towards him, tucking herself in tightly against his warmth, which immediately triggered a rumbling vibration in his chest. After a moment's hesitation, he wrapped her up in his strong arms, tucking her head under his chin, his purr sending both of them off to sleep.
Natsu watched as Lucy emerged from the bathroom dressed for work, her face determined. She was wearing some of her own clothes, black ballet flats and full-length opaque stockings, a circle skirt that came down just past mid-thigh, and a white button-down shirt with a lace trimmed collar and elbow length sleeves. She tugged on one golden pigtail, tightening it, and made sure the white maid's cap was secured in her hair.
"Are you sure you want to go into work today Lucy?" he asked carefully. She had slept restlessly and she still looked tired. The dark circles under her eyes were hidden by makeup, but he knew they were there. Happy hadn't turned up during the night, but he wasn't overly concerned, thinking he'd probably stayed with Erza or gone to Wendy's. Happy might still be young in some ways, but he was an exceed, and like the cats he resembled, he always found a soft place to land on his feet.
A sudden knock on the door had them both tensing.
"Relax Luce", said Natsu, trying to quell the anxiety he could feel coming from her direction, "I doubt a mob of attackers is gonna turn up and knock on the door."
"How do you know?" muttered Lucy, but she stayed behind him as he walked over to answer it, her keys clenched in her fist at the ready.
Natsu swung the door open, and was surprised to see Erza, Gray, Wendy, Charle and Happy there.
"Hi", chirped Wendy, waving a little, Charle and Happy perched on each shoulder.
"Good morning", said Erza pleasantly. "I'm glad to see you are both up and looking ready for work."
"At least Lucy does", sneered Gray, "Flamedork here looks like he slept in his uniform."
"Oi, can it, ice prick", retorted Natsu, heating his palms and running them quickly over his vest, shirt and pants, getting rid of most of the creases.
"Why are you guys here so early?" asked Lucy a little uncertainly. It was still a little over an hour before they needed to start work, and it was only a ten-minute walk from her place. After their first day, they'd agreed to meet at the café fifteen minutes before their shared shift began, rather than meeting at the guild and going together.
"I thought it might be pleasant to get something to eat at the café as a late breakfast before we started our shift", answered Erza.
Happy sniggered behind his hand. "Yeah, Erza doesn't think she'll be able to manage a whole shift without eating cheesecake first." He squawked a little and flew out of range as Erza's fist shot out. Charle groaned and the others grinned at Happy's reckless quip, everyone except Lucy.
Natsu watched as she bit her bottom lip a little before answering hesitantly.
"Oh. Um, okay."
Natsu kept a worried eye on Lucy as they walked towards the cafe. She still looked tense and kept continually tugging at the hem of her skirt, as if trying to make it longer, and she kept glancing behind them nervously. This behaviour really wasn't like her, and he felt on edge, and ready to punch something.
Her legs were still bandaged under her opaque stockings. Some of the blisters had burst overnight, and she had let him apply some more cream to them before putting on clean dressings. The bruise on her upper arm had turned a deep ugly purple, a hand print clearly evident. He hadn't even realised he'd been growling as he brushed over her skin with the arnica until Lucy had touched his face. He'd swallowed it down, trying to stay silent until she headed into the bathroom to get dressed.
As they got closer to the café, Natsu could hear Lucy's heartbeat accelerating. He reached out as nonchalantly as he could and took her hand in his, squeezing her fingers, pushing a little warmth into his hand, and rumbled a small purr, as loudly as he dared. He saw Happy look back to them as he heard it, a teasing look on his face, ready to say his usual catchphrase no doubt, but stopped when Natsu shook his head.
He leaned in close, saying softly, "Ya know Luce, no one would think less of ya if you needed one more day off. I could take you back home…" her hand clenched his, and he quickly changed tack, "or you could wait for me in the kitchen out back, and I could check in with you when I'm on my break."
Lucy shook her head. "No", she said determinedly. "I'm better than him, remember. I can't let him win. And if I can't go back in today, he wins." Natsu was about to say that it didn't mean anything of the sort, but the soft look she gave him stopped him in his tracks.
"You give me courage, do you know that Natsu? Sometimes I'm not very brave. When we're fighting, sometimes my hand shakes, even with all the help I have from my spirits. But seeing you there, fighting alongside me, makes me brave."
Natsu snorted. "Luce, feeling afraid when you're fighting doesn't mean that your not brave, it means that your smart. Just 'cause I throw myself at things like a dumbass doesn't mean I'm brave." He took in a deep breath and squeezed her hand gently. "I want… I want to protect you, always. And knowin' you're there with me makes me fight that much harder." They gazed at each other, each holding their breath, afraid to spoil the moment.
"Oi, hurry up you two." They looked up to see the others waiting for them at the café, Gray calling out through cupped hands, and they let go of each other's hands awkwardly and speeded up their steps, both blushing a little. The rest of their team had already headed into the café to see if Mira could find them a table, Erza marching in the lead.
Lucy paused at the entrance, her fists clenched. She tugged at her skirt again, then took a deep breath and stepped in, walking over towards the rest of the team.
"That's my girl, Luce", said Natsu under his breath, a proud smile splitting his face. He watched the determined swing of her hips, and the defiant tilt of her chin. "Look at you shine, baby girl. Shinin' like the star you are."