Someone actually asked for it and I'm not about to hold my work hostage for a specific number of favourites or follows so, as promised, the NaLu chapter!

Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima and the italicised quote is from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, or wherever she got it from. I'm sure Lucy would have read it.

413 Minutes

It's been a rough day. Frickin' awesome! But boy am I tired. I knew that Cobalt Talon or whatever would be a weak-ass guild as soon as I set eyes on that sissy guild mark. Coulda taken 'em even without Lucy there. Picture this, right? An entire guild of dark mages. The job posting came from the mayor of Daffo-something... some small town. Said a couple guys were making themselves unwelcome, the pay was good, and I figured Lucy could use the money. Just a couple trouble-makers, no reason to drag Grey and Erza into it, which meant more money for Lucy. But that mayor was a lying cheat! It was awesome! Dark mages everywhere! All for me! And some for Lucy. But most for me! It was like if I was Erza and the town was a cake-shop. But by the end of the day, I was Natsu and the town was some town I'd just destroyed. Lucy was pretty sure it was my fault the mayor wouldn't give us the full fee, so I let her have what was left. Part of it goes towards food that I eat anyway.

And now we're back at the guild, right in the thick of things, right where I love to be. I kicked some ass, filled my belly, regaled my comrades with tales of my epicness, and picked out a job for tomorrow. Now I just need to rest my eyes a bit. Just for five minutes. As long as I can still hear and smell everything I won't miss anything, right? I can still tell that Lucy's real close, Happy's even closer, there's no sign of icy-pants and the Gajeel's all the way on the other side of the room. Everyone's safe and happy. What else matters?

I focus on Lucy's scent. It's calming or something. Huh. I can even hear myself snoring. Dragon Slayer senses for the win!

Lucy Luce Luce... I'd thought she was standing at the table to my right talking to Cana but I must've been wrong because she's sitting right beside me. I show her the job I picked out. Just look at that reward! 54u43ih488943898943 jewel! It looks a little off to me but Lucy's sure impressed. She sidles up so her left thigh is pressed tight against my right. The force of her sidling somehow pushes us halfway down the bench and knocks Happy onto the floor or something because he's nowhere to be seen. Which is just fine because there's plenty of Lucy to be seen. I guess my right arm's been around her shoulders. If I squeeze her, I can make her boobs jiggle. Or hey! If I just move my arm up a bit, guess where my hand lands! And if I just take her right hand and move it over to me right thigh, not only does it somehow make her cleavage even more noticeable, it brings her within easy kissing range. I didn't think I'd kissed Lucy before but right now it just feels like the acceptable thing to do. Just an average day at the guild for dream-me. You rule, dream-me.

"C'mon Natsu... Stop it... Not out in public." So I do kiss Lucy! In private at least. I thought so. But we're not in private and I wanna get to kissin' now. Time to turn on the charm.

"It'll be fine! C'mon, just a little?" For a little added persuasion, I give a bit of a squeeze with my right hand.

"Ahn... oh..." Now that's what I wanna hear.

Suddenly Gajeel pounds his fist on his table across the hall, jerking me right out of my dream. Now Lucy's all the way over there again! What crawled up his ass? Does he wanna go? Just five more minutes and I'll knock him another seven years into the future.

"Natsu, you can't sleep here!" Like I haven't heard Lucy say that before. I wanna go back to the things she hasn't said before. "That goes for you too, Happy!"

He squeaks out a feeble "Aye..." but can't quite gather the strength for a "Sir!" He's just as wiped as me. Poor little...

"C'mon Natsu... Stop it... Not out in public."

"It'll be fine! C'mon, just a little?" He is drooling on the table. People have to eat there.

But he did have a hard battle today and he does look a little... well not cute exactly, but... do I really have to move him? "Ahn... oh..." I'm just about to say it's fine when someone punches something hard. I have to get him out before a brawl starts and he gets trampled. Besides, people (namely Juvia) are staring. At us! I don't like her expression one bit! What does she think's going on? I'm not even touching him! Time to put my foot down.

"Natsu, you can't sleep here! That goes for you too, Happy!" What would Natsu do if he didn't have me to tell him where not to sleep? Oh, right. He never listens anyway.

I weigh the pros and cons of summoning a spirit to carry them home. I'm still pretty drained from our job. But I should be able to handle keeping a gate open long enough to get them to bed. I definitely can't drag them out of here myself. I'm definitely not strong enough to carry Natsu if he's not willing to walk on his own and just use me for support. Since he's already snoring, that's out of the question. I could literally just drag him, but what would I grab on to? His scarf would choke him, his vest would just come off, and I am not sticking my hand into his waistband. It would have to be a limb. Or maybe his hair. So, that's an option. But why not see if I can come up with something a little less painful for him. Just to be nice.

I already used Horologium today. We had to hike over the mountains to get to the town where the job was. It wouldn't be fair to call him out again.

Plue couldn't even lift Happy, let alone Natsu.

This is definitely not a job for Crux, or Lyra. Pyxis would help if I didn't already know where Natsu lives, but I do. I'll have to use a gold key.

Taurus would be the obvious choice but he got pretty beat up today. I'd better jut let him recover.

Aquarius is out of the question. Even if I could manage to summon her from the only liquid in this place ‒booze‒ she would be pissed. And then she'd be pissed that I summoned her for something this simple. We'd get to Natsu's house, alright. Just not in one piece.

Ah, that's right! She's still on her stupid "Make-up Vacation" with Scorpio. What even is that? I guess that means he's out to...

That's it! I'll summon Loke! I'm sure he won't mind carrying Natsu for me! I'll just open his gate and... "Virgo?!"

"At your service, princess! Loke is on a date, please punish me in his stead."

"Again?! What does he think this is?" Once, I can understand, but pulling this stunt twice?

"He said to tell you to please refrain from summoning Aries as well."

"H-he's with Aries?!" And so the lion fell in love with the lamb, huh? Not entirely unexpected but still, is everyone hooking up except me?! Ah well. Virgo's more than capable of carrying Natsu. "I just need to get these two home as soon as possible, can you do that for me?"

"Understood, princess," she salutes. In a second, she has Natsu and Happy in her arms and is gone. I guess I'd better get home too. It is getting late.

I trudge down the streets of magnolia, too tired to even walk along the edge of the river. With my luck tonight, I would fall in. I open the door to my apartment, let out a big sigh... and realise that Virgo has taken Natsu and Happy to the wrong home. She's tucked them into my bed, not that there's anything too out of place about that. She's done a very though job of it, too. There's even a fresh glass of water for them. Nice attention to detail. And Natsu's clothes are neatly folded on the... neatly folded... not on his body! No.I am too tired to deal with this right now. I collapse on top of the covers. I'll yell at everyone in the morning.

Too... early...

I swing my torso up and plop my arms between my legs, shoulders hunched. Too early to sit straight. I let out a yawn and rub my right eye, taking in my surroundings. Lucy's apartment. Lucy's bed. Lucy! Last thing I remember we were at the guild so she musta brought us back here! Sweet! And after all those times she's complained about me sleeping in her bed! I guess the guild ranks above Lucy's bed in places not to sleep. Good to know! Guess she was pretty tired after the mission too. She's still out like a light. Didn't even put on pajamas or get under the covers. Weird. She must be kinda cold. No problem! I can warm her up, easy! I flip my side of the blankets over to cover her and wrap myself around her, setting myself to simmer. And that's when I feel it. A cool breeze on my... bare backside.

I don't think I'll ever know for sure why Lucy stripped me. Every time I bring it up, she just starts yelling at such a high pitch that, with my sensitive hearing, it just ends up sounding like noise. Some girl thing, I guess. All I know is that when she did, she was so impressed that she fainted. All. Night. Long.