Chapter 3, Warm me up.

See, the whole point in taking a job was to get away from Natsu and pay my rent. Get away from Natsu being the operative motivation. Yet again, he finds his way around my entire mission. At least Hologrium can hold me separate from him for awhile. We're about a mile away from the place

"AHH!"

"Sorry miss, needed by another" Hologrium saluted and left.

"What the hell!" I screamed as I felt my skirt start to soak in the snow. It's too cold for this no matter where I go. I'm screwed.

"It's not that far off, you'll be fine if you hurry up" Natsu was walking on his own. Happy stayed behind with Wendy and Charle, again.

"Easy for you to say, you furnace!" I hissed as I manuvered my way through some snow before falling to my knees this time.

"I. Hate. Sno o ow" I shivered. Before I could pick myself up, another hand beat me to it. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the snow. I could feel the warm coming from just holding his hand. It helped a lot. But then I remembered that he was holding my hand and freaked out, trying to pull mine away. "Na- Natsu! What are you doing?!"

"You need to keep warm right? And we won't get anywhere with you falling the whole way" He said like it meant nothing else. It stung a little but I just kept walking with him holding my hand. That little weight in my chest from his words never really left and we were silent the whole rest of the way.

"Are you the wizards from Fairy Tail?!" Someone opened a rather large door out of two to us.

"Um yes, we're here as escorts" I pulled my hand from Natsu's to speak.

"Not dressed like that" She pulled us both inside and sent us separate ways. We were made up pretty quickly. I was put in a formal white gown with my hair done up and Natsu was forced to put on a suit and do his hair. You could see his discomfort though.

"Thank you so much for doing this tonight. My parents are very protective" A young man came into the lobby in front of us. He was gorgeous. He had semi long brown hair and fair skin. He wasn't built but he wasn't a twig either. You could tell in his stance that he was a gentleman and his smile was warm and sincere.

"It's not a problem" I smiled.

"Well at least I'll have a beautiful woman accompanying me to the party. Akira Hashimoto" He took my hand and kissed my knuckles. I swear I saw fidgeting next to me but ignored it as my cheeks blushed. Before I could reply, we were all shoo'd into a carraige that was taking us to the party. Natsu sat next to me while Akira sat across from us. Natsu felt warmer than usual and was sitting closer to me than normal but then I took that as his way of trying to get past feeling sick as usual. So, to help him out I put my hand on his head and started to scratch. Immediatetly, his body leaned against mine and he was calm. He didn't say anything but I knew this was comfortable for him. Akira was barely paying attention but I was having a mental panic attack. I wanted to stay away from him. I need to be away from him if I want to move on but here I am, rubbing his head. No matter how much I want to, he isn't letting me leave him..

"Sorry about making you guys come all the way here for nothing.." Akira apologized for the thousandth time. We got to the party with no issues and we stayed for a while without anything suspicious. It turns out his parents are just paranoid. Some big business in the country and there son is a prized possesion although I'm pretty sure they're just scared of some girl picking him up that they don't approve of because whenever I'm around him, they give me death stares. Natsu hasn't said anything all night but I could tell he was pissed he didn't actually get to do anything.

"Really, it's not a problem. Just glad we could do our job and meet you of course" I smiled at him. The night was winding down so it's time for Natsu and I to head back.

"Will you be heading back to the city now?"

"Yea"

"You can't possibly trail this late at night! At least allow me to get you a hotel room for the night. It's the least I could do"

"No- no! It's alright! We received our payment from your parents. We're alright, really" I protested.

"But I have yet to give you my thanks, please? I won't take no for an answer" He was stern. How am I supposed to answer that? Where's Natsu and his stubborn side when I need it? Nowhere near me. Apparantly, the leftover food is more important. Typical. Akira went on to make some phone calls to arrange our stay for the night somewhere. Why he needed so many calls, I had no idea but I wasn't about to ask. Natsu eventually came back around but still wasn't speaking to me. What is wrong with him..

"You're all set! My car will take you to the hotel before dropping me off at home" Akira smiled.

"You don't have to. We can walk"

"Lucy.. You should know by now I won't take no" He smirked and I swear I felt my knees go weak. If all else in my life fails, a life in the mountains with him might not be so bad that's for sure. We all got in the car and Natsu chose to sit across from me this time and Akira next to me. It felt weird but I didn't do anything about it. Along the ride, Natsu stuck his head out the window for obvious purposes while Akira started up conversations with me about anything. We could have talked for days if it weren't for the car pulling up to our hotel. It was huge tall, to be precise. 10, 20 stories? I wasn't even aware people on the other side of this damned mountain were this advanced.

"Woah.." I said, stepping out of the car.

"Oh, Lucy" Akira called from the window.

"Hmm?"

"I know this is a bit bold but if you would allow me to, might I come into the city to visit sometime soon?" He smiled at me.

"To visit? Um, I guess. Sure" I assured him.

"Fantastic, I'll see you soon!" He waved and the car drove off. I went inside and it turns out Akira really did handle everything. Room, food, etc. Only thing was he got us one room, one bed. You'd think if he wished to 'visit' me soon he wouldn't stick me in one room, one bed with another guy who I'm obviously close to. Not a smart one, he is.

"I'm gonna um, take a shower" I raced to the bathroom.

One room

One bed

My god I sound like a movie trailer.

Seriously, it's not that big of a deal.

Yea who am I trying to kid? I'm supposed to sleep in the same bed as Natsu and I'm not supposed to freak out?

HAH!

The warm water's starting to feel lukewarm on my skin now, defeating the purpose of the warm shower in the first , I got out. I could feel the breeze underneath the bathroom door from the bedroom and could tell it felt freezing but I can't get dressed in the steam either. I pushed the door by a crack and saw Natsu laying down on the bed facing the other way.

psssssst

"Natsu!" I hissed but there was no response. Maybe he's asleep.

"Asleep or not do NOT turn around!" I opened the door fully and walked out in my towel towards my bag for clothes.

"Seriously Luce, I've seen you in less than that" Natsu scared me. I turned to face him with red cheeks. He's.. eating? Room service, of course.

"Natsu I said not to look!" I yelled.

"Why?"

"Because it's embarrasing!"

"It's me Lucy "

"Exactly, it's YOU! Now turn around!" He huffed but did so anyways. I got dressed quickly without paying attention to him. I put on a pair of sleep shorts and a cropped tank top. Leave it to me to even pack the wrong things to sleep in. It's freezing. I turned off my light and went straight under the covers for warmth.

"You not hungry?" He mumbled from his side of the bed.

"I'm just gonna get some sleep. Don't keep that light on forever" I told him as my eyes closed. I felt the light go off a second later but thought nothing of it. I could feel Natsu get up from the bed and them come under the covers a second later. Just that had my heart racing already. I'm horrible at this. Just as I thought I was getting past it, I felt Natsu on my back. Then his arm over mine..

"Nats- "

"You're cold right?" He stopped me.

"Um.. yea bu- "

"Then just let me do this. It'll stop your shivering" He said, ending the subject. I could here one deep sigh from him before his breathing steadied. He fell asleep holding me. Why? Was it for me? Was he worried.. No. My shivering wasn't letting him fall asleep. That's it. It was for him..