Catching Tears
Summary: Lucy catches her boyfriend cheating on her and an overprotective Natsu takes matters into his own hands.
Lucy had many wonderful things going for her. She was part of the guild of her dreams, she had friends willing to die for her, and she was drop dead gorgeous. Even with all of that, however, her love life was a complete and utter wreck. She sat in the bathtub replaying the scene in her mind. The sun had just begun to set, and a lovely orange gradient filled the sky. She had been casually window shopping when she spotted her boyfriend, Francis, shamelessly making out in the middle of the street with some brunette. Lucy immediately marched over to him, slapped his face as hard as she could, said they were over, and didn't look back.
With a downtrodden head and feet feeling like fifty-pound weights, she made it back to her apartment with the resolve not to let it affect her. The depressing thought haunted her though— that she would never find love. Every guy was the exact same.
"Oww! Damn it!" Lucy quickly pulled the razor from her shin and frowned at the chunk of skin she accidentally scrapped off. After a moment, blood started oozing out into the bathtub. "Why does this always happen to me?! You are such an unbelievable asshole! Did I ever do anything wrong? No I've been the perfect girlfriend."
She continued ranting as she got out of the bath to dry herself and then slapped on a bandage. Lucy was so caught up in her rant she didn't hear Natsu enter the bathroom until he and Happy shouted gleefully. "We're home Lucy!"
"Ahhh!" she shrieked and promptly kicked him in the stomach sending him flying out from the bathroom. He hit the wall on the opposite end of the room and fell face first onto the floor. "What have I told you about bursting into the bathroom when I'm in here?! I mean really how many times do I have to say it until you listen?! And you can't 'be home' if you don't live here moron!"
"You should lock the window then, how else am I supposed to know if you don't want me to come in?" He mumbled with a face-full of carpet.
Her eye just twitched. Oh the ways she could reply to that, but instead she slammed the door shut and sat on the ground determined not to move until he left. "I'm not in the mood you guys! Go away!"
Natsu sat up and thought quietly for a moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered that wall felt warm when he hit it, but he focused on more important issues. He knew he heard it, that quiver in her voice as she told them to go away. It was only there when Lucy was upset.
"Lucy, did something happen?"
"No." She tried so hard to make that sound convincing, but her voice cracked and she internally cursed. "I'm just tired." She tried again and was successful in sounding normal, but it was too late.
Natsu picked himself up and went over to the bathroom door. His deep voice floated through the door in a tone that was sincere, yet verging on dangerous. "Luce you can tell me anything, did that bastard hurt you?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Lucy mumbled back. She waited for him to make the next move, and he was only silent for a couple seconds until she felt angry stomps heading away from the door that literally shook the floor she was sitting on. She popped up and threw the door open. "Natsu please don't, it's not worth it!"
"You are worth it. Nobody gets away with hurting you. I'm gonna beat his sorry ass until he is a bloody pulp and then burn him alive!"
She ran up behind him and clutched his shirt, he continued to walk until her meek voice cut through his blind rage. "Please."
He turned around to face her, not having the heart ignore her plea, and felt more anger well within him when he saw her shoulders begin to shake. "Luce…"
She let her forehead fall to his chest with a sob. "I saw him with another girl while I was shopping…I thought…he was all over her…I should have known…he was always acting like this…I just didn't want to admit it. What's wrong with me? Every guy I date does this! Any now I'm crying all over you, this is so pathetic! This is why you shouldn't break in all the time. It's all your fault!" She hit him softly with a closed fist.
Natsu softly put his hands on either side of her face and squished them together so her cheeks became chubby. "It seems like this is even more of a reason to break into your apartment."
"Natsu," Lucy gave a warning growl like she would have if it were any other day of Natsu patronizing her, but there were no feelings of annoyance behind it. Natsu just chuckled, she looked pretty cute this way.
He stopped squishing her face and brushed away her tears. "It is my fault though, I knew he was bad and I should have tried harder to keep him away from you. Even if I ended up getting a beating." His hands ended up on her shoulders, but Lucy was the one to bring herself close to him. "Uh," Natsu became a little flustered at the unexpected hug, but eventually he remembered what he was going to say. "Listen, you aren't pathetic and nothing is wrong with you, well maybe besides how you constantly beat me up or you're loud snoring." Natsu was being supportive and caring, but Lucy realized he lacked some basic knowledge of cheering people up like, you know, not making fun of them.
"I don't snore!" She warbled into his chest and he laughed. "Yes you do! Like a bear in hibernation. You know, last time I woke you up you did act like an animal wanting to rip my head off." She pushed away from him, wiping her eyes. "At least I don't sneak into someone else's bed like some kind of pervert."
"I told you, my bed isn't as comfy as yours." He pouted making Lucy laugh for the first time that night.
"Yeah, just like how my food is better, my house is cleaner, the soap is soapier..."
"And the books are dirtier." He stuck out his tongue and Lucy flared red. She grabbed the nearest item she could find and chucked it at him. "Argh you are such a moron! Get out for real this time or else I will kick you out!"
Natsu dodged the array of items Lucy chucked at him until he realized something. "Have you seen Happy?"
Lucy quit throwing things and looked around. The both looked around until Lucy spotted a bump of fur squashed by the wall where Lucy had sent Natsu flying. Apparently he was behind Natsu when he crashed into the wall. "Happy?!"
Lucy followed Natsu who ran over to the blue mess and pick up a passed out Happy. "You okay? Wake up Happy."
"Sa…kana…" Happy mumbled and Natsu grinned. "Look what the nasty bear did to you." He plopped Happy into Lucy's arms and walked in the direction of her open window. "Watch over him. I'll be back soon." He cracked his knuckles and jumped out before Lucy could say anything. She hugged Happy to her chest and smiled. A part of her felt very satisfied that Francis was going to be sorrier than he ever had before, but mostly she was just thankful to have Natsu as a friend. She didn't know what she would do without him. Why couldn't she find someone like Natsu to date?
'You could date Natsu.' The little voice in her head in her head went unnoticed.
The next morning Lucy was sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and peacefully reading the news. Last night Natsu had woken her up when he slipped into bed and wrapped his arms protectively around her. Her heart skipped a couple beats and she wondered what possessed him to hug her like that. After his breathing slowed and she figured he was asleep, she whispered softly, "Thank you."
In response, she felt his arms tighten around her, "Don't be ashamed to cry, especially not in front of me. You don't have to be strong all of the time."
Lucy's thoughts were far away from the break up and betrayal, instead she only thought of Natsu. Last night almost felt like a dream, but she could still feel the warmth of his hand resting on her stomach as they fell asleep. It definitely happened. It had been sometime since she fell asleep in someone's arms, but this time was so different from anything she had ever experienced. Had it been anyone else, that position would have been romantic. Lucy mused about the kind of magic he used to make something that should be intimate feel so normal—no it wasn't magic, he was just a clueless idiot. A clueless idiot she begrudgingly missed that morning when she rolled over onto the cold and empty side of the bed.
The stark contrast of the warm memory and the cold nothing she woke up to made the weight of loneliness press on her chest. Single again. No one to love. No one to love her. The usual mantra plagued her mind until Natsu's words and actions last night sparked a warm glow in her stomach. If not in the conventional sense of the word, she always had a certain someone who loved her.
Lucy flipped to the next page and skimmed titles of the minor stories after she finished reading the headline news. She nearly spit out her last sip of coffee when she read one of the story titles, "INFAMOUS PLAYBOY FRANCIS DOTEA BRUTALLY MUTILATED." Her eyes eagerly flew to the paragraph beneath.
"Walking home late last night, Dotea claims to have been assaulted by a fiery demon. 'I was casually walking down the street with a lovely young woman, and suddenly this demon shows up and threatens her to leave. He snapped his blood thirsty eyes my way, and started talking about all the ways he was going to hurt me and how I deserved to suffer more than anyone else in the world. I tried to reason with him, but he was a complete maniac…' Dotea suffered many injuries, one in particular, spelling out the word 'ugly' across his forehead. His face forever will bear many scars, and while the playboy says he will make a complete recovery, currently he is reported to be unrecognizable."
"Oh, Natsu."
