"Luce! What the hell is this?! Why are there runes all around your house?!"

Lucy was thoroughly irritated with her partner. She knew he was going to come over soon and she was going to have to deal with this scenario at some point, but she had hoped it would be tomorrow when she wasn't tired and emotionally raw from her discussion at dinner. Plus, she couldn't be sure, but Laxus had looked like he was about to kiss her and, unfortunately, Natsu's presence had killed any chance of that. As a matter of fact, he had single handedly ruined every date she had convinced herself to go on over the years. 'Not that tonight with Laxus was a date or anything, but that's really not the damn point!' So she was annoyed and their conversation about the runes and the space she needed wasn't going to go as gently as she had originally hoped.

"Natsu, I had Freed put them up earlier today." She tried for the calm approach, even though she knew it wasn't going to work. It never did when he got like this.

"But why, Luce? Why are they here? Why can't I get in?!" If anyone was going to be allowed through the runes at Lucy's house it would be him, right? Lucy was going to respond and try to explain to her very dense best friend, but it seems Natsu had finally noticed Laxus presence and shot more questions at her.

"Why the hell is he here? And how in the hell did he get inside?!" Natsu spat out his words with venom and began banging on the flashing runes again.

Lucy was done, at her limit, and so very tired of his behavior. It wasn't just tonight. Over the last year or so, Natsu's brawls with the older slayer had become more frequent and even though the guild only saw it as the playful rowdiness between guildmates it had always been before, the three mages present knew there was an extra edge to it now. Lucy knew when her partner was being playful and that was not usually how he was with Laxus anymore.

As for the two slayers, they could both sense the others nonverbal challenge regarding the blonde Celestial Wizard; not that Lucy ever knew exactly why things between them were so tense.

"Natsu, that. is. enough!" she yelled at him and his tantrum ceased, nearly instantaneously Laxus stood there slightly wide-eyed and surprised at her outburst. He hadn't expected her to yell or for the idiot to listen. "Laxus is here because I invited him, we were having dinner! As for the runes, they are here because I need some space and nobody seems to understand what that means! They," she once again referred to the runes, "are here because you nearly burnt down my house yesterday! It took me and Virgo hours to clean up the mess you created and I can't live like that anymore, Natsu, I won't do it!" Lucy realized, now, that she was screaming at him and she had tears in the corners of her eyes. Natsu had his head downcast and his eyes hidden from the light. The fight gone from his posture resulted from Lucy's reprimand.

'He almost did what?!' Laxus screamed in his head. "I should beat the shit out of that little brat for being so reckless!' but he wouldn't, not tonight. By the looks of it, Natsu was getting enough from Lucy it seemed like it was hitting him pretty hard.

He suddenly felt like he was intruding on a very private moment so he decided it was time to leave. He considered gaining Lucy's attention to say a goodbye, but he decided against it. They were having a conversation and a moment they needed to have and him interrupting it wouldn't help at all. In fact, it would probably make it worse; Natsu had seemed to forget he was there and if he remembered he would likely get angry again. Even though Lucy couldn't have heard it, it was so low, Natsu had growled at him when he had seen him. Making it clear to him that he was walking all over the other slayer's territory; be it the actual land or the girl.

Even if in the last few years their fights had taken a slightly rougher turn, Natsu wasn't usually like that and his fights with Laxus were always light-hearted; but this time was different, it involved Lucy without question and now Laxus had no doubt in his mind that the Salamander wanted Lucy as his mate.

His own dragon was livid and rearing for a fight at the presence of a challenger. So, he quickly left without a sound to prevent a horrible battle from occurring that neither he nor Natsu would be able to control. He listened to their conversation until he was too far away to hear and he made his way home to deal with all that the night brings.


Lucy didn't notice that Laxus had left, but Natsu did and he could be calm now as he found his tense and rigid body relaxing slightly.

He had been on his way over to see if she wanted to pick out a job tomorrow when they went to the guild and was about to walk down the path to her house when the door opened and Laxus walked out. He'd been confused and a little irritated at the fact that they were alone together. It was bad enough that they locked themselves in his office at the guild when they worked on paperwork so that nobody would interrupt, but if they were here, alone...then that could mean there was something going on between them and Natsu wasn't okay with that at all.

Ever since they had met in Hargion so many years ago, his dragon had always told him to protect her with everything he had. It had never told him exactly why, but Igneel had taught him not to question the stupid beast too much. So he didn't. When he had come of age, the dragon had only become more talkative and about…different things. It was in the last few years that that their relationship had changed, at least for him it had. When he came back from his year of training and run into Lucy in Crocus at the Games, he had been so happy to see her, but the first year back together, rebuilding the guild, and searching for Gray, she had been distant from him, almost cold. He never voiced it but he suspected it was because she was afraid he would leave her again and sometimes he'd catch her staring at him as if he wasn't really there.

As soon as she had started truly letting him in again, she began spending hours and hours a day with Laxus up in his office. It was the first time his dragon had been angry at something that wasn't a battle or an enemy. After some reflecting he had remembered Igneel's teachings and came to the conclusion that his inner dragon wanted to make her his mate. However, not too long after that, his dragon, finally waking up to this side of its purpose, had also taken a bright shine to Lisanna. He was in love with them both and they both made him happy. So aside from the fact that Lucy was always denying harboring any more than platonic feelings towards him, the only reason he hadn't made any real move on either of them was that his dragon couldn't decide if it wanted Lucy or Lisanna. While Lis definitely had feelings for him and he did love her, some part of him wanted Lucy more. Even if she didn't want him in the same way, he could still try. But he was forced to wait for his Dragon to make a damn decision and if it didn't make one soon he had a feeling he would miss any chance with Lucy.

He only proved his own point when Laxus pulled Lucy into his chest and looked like he was about to kiss her. He fully intended on stopping them when he came face first into a wall of runes that were unmistakably Freed's magic.

Everything went downhill from there and now here he was, getting scolded by his best friend and love. He wasn't dense like people thought he was, he just liked to keep his private life, private and he knew he had really screwed up with Lucy this time. He just hoped it wasn't too late to fix it; he didn't think he could take it if she shut him out again.


Lucy stepped through the rune barrier to get to Natsu. After all, she wasn't hiding from him, he would never hurt her on purpose. She was just keeping her house and fragile belongings from him.

She reached out and pulled him into a hug that he eagerly returned, keeping his head hidden in the crook of her neck like a sad child.

"Natsu, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scream at you like that. I'm just...I just lost my temper." She held him tight and ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. Salmon colored locks that she had secretly always loved for their uniqueness and how they somehow just fit Natsu.

"No, Luce. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was acting like a little kid. I was freaked out that I couldn't get to you. You know I feel like I have to protect you, and with you being somewhere I can't get to, it just makes my skin crawl."

She sighed at him; resting her face on his shoulder, head turned away from him.

"You don't have to protect me, Natsu. Not like that, not anymore."

"I know that, you haven't needed me to save you in a long time. You're super strong, Luigi and you've grown so much since we found each other in Hargeon."

She laughed against his shoulder at his attempt to lighten her up with that stupid name and, Mavis, it always worked.

"The first time we destroyed buildings together." She reminisced with a small giggle.

He smiled at her as she pulled back from their embrace to look at him but then a frown formed as he asked, "Did you really put these up because of me?"

His hands found a home on her hips and her wrists were resting on his shoulders, physical touches between them long since losing their awkwardness. Now being held by one another only brought comfort.

"It's not just you, Natsu. It's everything and everyone. You know how much I hate being alone, but I still need my space, okay?" He only gave her a nod as he looked away and she sighed again as she grabbed his chin between her fingers to bring back his gaze. "I'm not mad at you if that's what you're thinking and you're still allowed to come over, it'll just only be when I'm home. No more breaking in."

That seemed to be what he needed to hear because she saw his face light up with his usual playfulness as he pulled her into one last quick hug and started to walk backwards the way he came. "Alright, Luce! I understand." His smile was back in full swing and she was relieved. "I'll go home for tonight and see you at the guild in the morning!"

"That sounds great, Natsu. I'll be there around nine!"

He smiled and turned to leave.

"Wait, Natsu! I forgot to ask, why did you come over in the first place?" He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck at forgetting the whole reason he came over.

"I came to ask you if you wanted to go on a job tomorrow." his statement doubled as a question and he waited for her response.

She smiled at him and said, "That'll be great, Natsu. But it's gotta be a short one, okay? Only a few days. I have plans next week!"

With that they said their final goodbyes for the evening and went their separate ways.

'Well that could have went better but it also could have went so much worse. So I'll take it as a win.' she thought to herself as she crawled into bed and fell into the first peaceful sleep she'd found in a long time.