Pink Lemonade: Thank you so much! Gosh, you're always such a huge sweetheart! ^^;

Nalu reader: Thanks! That is what I try to aim for, so I'm glad you said so!

. . .

This chapter's a little different thanks to the prompt (apparently a lot of people had trouble with this one) but it's a good lead in for what comes next, hm hm hm.


~Lucky Summer~
Day 6: Glory Days

July 6th-

Lucy really, honestly, and entirely had been looking forward to this movie night –and some epic spy adventure drama film was the only thing playing that wasn't scary or mushy- and she even went the extra mile to get all dolled up like it was a movie date…even though Natsu kept assuring her that she could wear a paper bag and she would still look fine, but that wasn't the point. She felt confident when she wore what she liked, and if that meant going out in her preferred short skirt, knee-length boots, and a blouse made from very thin fabric, then so be it!

Except this had to be the one day out of the whole week that had the crappiest weather.

"I told you to wear something warmer," Natsu murmured, his eyes locked on the lacrima screen but the rest of his senses attuned to the fact that Lucy was trying way too hard to snuggle into him, attempting to warm as many parts of her body with his as she could. It was less perverted than it appeared though.

"And I told you that dark clouds and nippy winds weren't dominating the sky earlier!" she jeered back, refusing to let him know that she may have been starting to regret her fashion choice to an outdoor movie lacrima theater. Just a little. She felt the glares of fellow movie-goers gouging into her for her lack of subtlety, but she was far too cold to give them a second thought. "B-Besides Natsu, you're not affected by temperature; why'd you wear a jacket?!"

He smirked and poked her nose; she puffed out her cheeks. "Maybe so I could better rub it in your face that you were wrong and should have listened to me."

"Whatever…stop getting on my case and watch the movie…"

"I'm trying, but there happens to be a girl desperately tugging on me for warmth and her chatting teeth are drowning out the sound!"

"SSSHHHHH!" hissed nearly every person that was surrounding them, Lucy gulping and Natsu hastily hiding his face in his scarf. Happy was of no help whatsoever, giving them some space as he munched on fish-flavored popcorn from afar.

"They're like an old married couple," he snickered, far more entertained by the two of them than the movie he was supposed to be watching. "Aye, I always did prefer live action romantic comedies…!"

Lucy ignored the cat's less-than-needed tittering and continued adjusting next to Natsu. Eventually the dragon slayer had enough and rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"Oh for the love…Lucy, c'mere."

The blond yelped when Natsu's arms were suddenly locked around her waist, dragging her into his lap. He placed his covered arms over her bare ones, pulled her into his torso, and rested his head on her shoulder.

"There, now you're warm and don't need to fidget next to me," he announced proudly, ignoring the blush invading Lucy's face. "Now stay quiet- they're about to blow up the building!"

"…fine," Lucy murmured, knowing that she couldn't have fought her way out of his grip even if she wanted to. She tried to ignore the fact that several of the couples scattered about the ground were sitting in similar positons, and Lucy sort of wondered if that was how Natsu got his idea.

It wouldn't be wise to ask him, though. Not with how intensely he was staring at the screen watching things ignite.

Still, once she got over her self-conscious tendencies, she was able to get back into the movie, using Natsu as her own personal chair –at his insistence. The plot had really picked up ever since the explosion, and Lucy was even getting a little inspired for her novel. However, when the dust cleared and the scenes started to slow down a little, the lead girl was shown back in her apartment, despairing for the first time since the movie started. Lucy felt her heart clench with empathy as the girl explained that both her parents had died in that explosion; the crowd around Lucy appropriately gasped at the unexpected plot twist. She'd been orphaned.

Lucy's stomach was in knots as the girl went on to elaborate more of her life stories through a series of flashbacks, showing the many good times the girl had with her parents during her childhood…but then there had been a fight, and the girl ran away to become a spy…and now, she had no way to make amends with them. She had no way to say goodbye.

Lucy suddenly didn't feel so good.

Meanwhile, Natsu was shamefully starting to doze off now that the action parts had passed, thereby causing him to miss a big chunk of the more important scenes. He found a comfortable angle to rest on Lucy's shoulder, lulling himself to sleep with the aroma of her sweet scent…until he started to smell salt instead. He was groggy when he brought his head up to locate the source, but instantly became alarmed when he caught Lucy's eyes watering.

"H-Hey Luce, what's wrong?" he asked softly and as calmly as possible, nudging her worriedly. That only made her curl her lip and quiver even more. He blanched. "Ack! I'm sorry! Please don't cry, but did I-?"

"It's not you, Natsu," Lucy assured, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her blouse. "But, um, I don't think I want to watch the rest of the movie anymore…"

"Okay Lucy," Natsu said straightaway, already sensing that the movie wasn't really the problem here, but he didn't question it as he untangled himself from her and helped her on her feet. "Whatever you like…"

"I-I'm sorry…" Lucy sniffed, embarrassedly hanging her head as Natsu gathered their stuff. "I'm making a scene and I-"

"Don't apologize; it happens to the best of us," Natsu told her as she moved to hide her face in her hands. Happy was immediately over to them in a heartbeat to investigate what was wrong, but Natsu only shook his head as he led them all away. "It's not a good day to be outside anyway. No harm done."

Lucy tried to keep her sobs to a minimum until they were out of earshot of the rest of the patrons, but even then Natsu took her further under his arm and managed to hide her cries anyway.

. . .

On the way back it had rained as Natsu originally expected, and of course he wasted no time in shedding his jacket to spare it to Lucy. It wasn't utterly warm, especially given that it only had one sleeve, but at least it better covered her up. He clutched Happy to his torso and did his best to shield his cat and best friend from the downpour, so upon returning to the hotel room, he was the most soaked out of everyone and his bangs had stopped defying gravity and flopped into his face.

"You wanna shower first?" Natsu asked a shuddering Lucy, who nodded quietly afterwards. Seeing that she was still pretty unhappy, he cracked a smile at her. "Hey, it's a good thing we left when we did, otherwise we would've been caught in the rain longer!"

"Yeah, that's true…" Lucy agreed before grabbing her things and vanishing into the bathroom. Natsu stared at the bathroom door for the longest time as he ran his fingers through his hair before igniting himself, drying his clothes, and flopping onto the bed disgruntledly. He didn't even bother to fix his bangs, especially when he was face down in a pillow. And now that Lucy was out of the room, Happy flew onto the bed and alighted himself next to Natsu.

"…is Lushi going to be all right?" the cat asked, swinging his paws over the side of the bed.

"Yeah, of course. What's bothering me the most is what brought it on…she kinda broke down out of nowhere."

"Well that movie was really sad. I told you to watch that one with the creature in the basement."

Natsu only moaned into his pillow as he listened to the rain drum harshly against the window. The skies that had been pure blue and sunshine for five days straight were now spattered in angry shades of gray and seemed to wash out all the color straight to the horizon. Definitely wasn't the prettiest of days, but Natsu really wished it wasn't affecting his mood…

Just when Natsu was prepared to call it a night, he suddenly felt Happy tugging on his bagging pants, and one lazy onyx eye rose to acknowledge him. The blue Exceed gave a small smile as he looked somewhat hopeful.

"I have an idea."

By the time Lucy had emerged from the bathroom not looking quite as gloomy but not all that happy either, she was a little startled to find a tent of blankets had been formed on the top of the bed, with Happy's tail sticking out of the entrance. She quirked an eyebrow at this –as she didn't think she'd been in the shower that long- and clambered on in. It looked way bigger on the inside, with Natsu able to sit up without any problems, and there was still room for Happy, "Igneel", and a spontaneous horde of things to make s'mores with. Natsu eventually welcomed her in with a toothy grin.

"I had room service bring all this stuff by! I was hoping it would cheer you up…"

"All Natsu's idea," chirped Happy, gnawing on a marshmallow. Natsu shrugged and scratched his cheek as Lucy got comfortable next to him and gave him an earnest look.

"You're always doing nice stuff for me…please, when we go back, let me do something for you, okay?"

"All right, but I already think it's nice enough that you even put up with me," Natsu hummed, successfully getting Lucy to crack a smile. "Besides, it's still your vacation- if you're sad at all I'm doing something wrong."

"More than one thing," Happy murmured under his breath, Natsu nonchalantly smothering him with a pillow afterwards. Lucy smiled a bit at their actions, but didn't make any eye contact. Once Natsu was done suffocating Happy, he turned to Lucy with a frown creasing his cheeks.

"…so, um, why were you, uh-?"

"Oh! Yeah, that…" Lucy glanced away. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me… One moment I was fine and then the next I just…well, I didn't mean to ruin the movie."

"Eh, it was dragging in the beginning anyway," Natsu assured. "'Sides, as long as you're a little better now we won't dwell on it, m'kay? This is way better than a movie by a longshot- it's like we're camping!"

"Aye, camping in comfort!" agreed Happy, which finally got Lucy to perk up as she grabbed a marshmallow.

"Is that why all this s'more stuff is here…?"

"Yosh!" Natsu plucked the marshmallow from Lucy and tossed it twice in his hand, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "It has come to my attention that you have never had one of my famous s'mores, and as they are guaranteed a smile, I decided that this would be a good time to change that little fact."

"A s'more doesn't seem like something that takes much effort though…"

"It's about the only thing he makes really well," scoffed Happy, with Natsu shaking a fist afterwards.

"Hey! I make a pretty mean soup, and I never hear you complaining whenever I bring meat home!"

His subtle fury was subdued when he heard Lucy laughing, turning to find her staring eagerly up at him.

"Well, enough stalling then! Let's just see if this snack of yours is worth all this boasting."

"Heh, coming right up!"

Natsu spun the marshmallow around on his finger and ignited it, putting out the flame right as it darkened to a deep gold color- just before being burned. Happy then tossed two pieces of chocolate into the air, where they landed on the graham crackers balanced on Natsu's free arm. Natsu placed the marshmallow on one of the halves, pressed them both together, and presented it to Lucy with a wink.

"And I didn't even destroy anything!"

"I…am impressed," Lucy admitted, taking the s'more and inspecting it closely. "Are you sure this isn't any different than a normal s'more…?"

"Lucy, you wound me. Do you not trust that a s'more crafted by the flames of a full-fledged dragon slayer would just be some mere chocolatey graham cracker snack?!"

She gave him one more wary look before taking her first bite out of it. His heart soared as he watched her face melt in pleasure after just one taste.

"…Oh my gosh, Natsu! This is amazing! Y-You didn't even do anything different than normal, how did you possibly-?"

"Let's just say it's a Fire Dragon Slayer Secret Art," Natsu chuckled before filling his face with marshmallow puffs. Lucy frankly did the same with her s'more. "You want another one?"

"Yes, please!"

"Haha, someone's addicted now…!"

Not that he was complaining.

Lucy eventually devoured three more s'mores, and she probably would have eaten two more had Happy and Natsu not joined forces to eat the rest of the supplies. Natsu kept his hand outstretched in the middle of the fort, almost like a campfire, and Happy attempted to tell scary stories to pass the time (until they all started ending with "And the fish was EATEN! It was horrible!") From there, Natsu found that he'd rather talk about all the good times they'd had so far, which Lucy was more than on board with. They again talked about how they first met –it was always one of their favorite stories- and followed up with the dramatic tales of all their adventures. No matter how many bad things and bad people were thrown their way, they always managed to pull through and smile about it afterwards.

They had talked and laughed for so long that Happy had eventually fallen asleep on the plushy Igneel, cuing Natsu to put out his fire while Lucy rolled up in her own blanket and contently kept listening to him recount their finest memories. She almost thought he would've talked nonstop about nothing but his various quests across the kingdom, but was pleasantly surprised to find that most of his cherished memories involved her. He was ridiculously open about it too, but one thing she noticed was that he hadn't spoken about anything more…recent.

"-and then there was that time when we finished up a mission early, and we all just hung out for the night, and I totally dominated in that pillow fight," Natsu snickered before sighing happily afterward, kicking back against the headboard. "Yeah, we've definitely had some really good times back then…"

"Hm, are you trying to say those were our glory days?" Lucy asked casually, her arms folded on her pillow and her head resting on them. However, Natsu's eyes lit up with genuine confusion when he glanced down at her.

"Eh? What are glory days?"

"Well…" she paused, trying to think up a good way to explain to him. "They're days in the past that were better than how they are now…"

As his mind stirred trying to make sense of that, Lucy lowered her gaze.

"It's like when I was young…my life became so miserable that I always thought the best days were behind me."

"…well that's a sudden change of atmosphere," Natsu mumbled, lowering his eyes. Lucy bit her lip and buried her face into her pillow. "C'mon Luce, what's up? Happy's asleep- he won't tease ya or anything."

Lucy was quiet for the longest time, but eventually she murmured,

"Natsu, tomorrow is our last day of being here…isn't it?"

His breath caught in his throat- crap, crap, it WAS their last day! How did it all fly by so quickly?! He…he hadn't even attempted any sort of confession yet! Oh lord what was he supposed to do now?! Six days had flown by and not once had he even come close to spitting out what he needed to. He tensed as his stomach churned violently, knowing that he'd just made a tomorrow into a "Now or never, do or die" moment, but with the way Lucy was shuffling around under the sheets, Natsu knew there was something else on her mind.

And her problems came first.

"Also…it's the seventh…of July…tomorrow…" Lucy stuttered moments later, grasping her pillow with a fierce grip. She expected him to gripe at her for bringing something like that up, but when he was quiet for far too long she turned back to him…and found him sitting with wide eyes and a shamefully horrified look.

"I…forgot…" he breathed, shaking slightly and gulping down his sudden anxiety. "I forgot…that was this week…I was so distracted I forgot…"

Lucy didn't take her eyes off of him as she placed a hand on his knee, trying to get him to calm down. Slowly, after cursing himself for "being so dumb" a few moments longer, his eyes met hers, and both their gazes held nearly equal amounts of sadness.

"The seventh day of the seventh month in the year X777…" he recited, with his voice sounding a bit scratchy. He didn't need to say any more; they shared the same thought, and they knew it.

"The worst day of our lives."

The room fell into a fleeting silence as the weight of the declaration settled- that tomorrow was the anniversary of a day that turned both their lives inside out for very similar reasons. One of them lost a mother…the other lost a father.

No wonder Lucy had shattered earlier, and Natsu was kicking himself for not realizing it sooner. It had been plaguing her mind all day, and only now was he realizing that's why she'd been hesitant to come on the vacation in first place. She already despised her birthday, and tomorrow was the one day out of the year when she preferred to be alone- the days in between were just one giant sandwich of dwelling and dreading, and he knew that…and it slipped his mind. Idiot.

"I'm so sorry, Luce," he whispered, tearing his gaze away and still mentally kicking himself. She stared up at him quietly, wondering why he was apologizing this time. "I just wanted to make you feel better, but I got impulsive and I wasn't thinking-"

"…it's fine. I mean, tomorrow's not a good day for you either…" She hiccupped and lowered into her pillow once again. "…but I'm afraid I'll ruin our final day on vacation by getting all choked up… She's been gone for so long, Natsu…and I hate that the anniversary is always going to remind me of that pain no matter how much I smile!"

His heart sank when she broke down into full on tears, no longer holding anything back anymore. The worst part about it was that she was upset about something he just couldn't fix, and that killed him the most.

"I…do know how you feel, you know. For the most part, you're over it…but thinking about it is still always going to hurt…"

"But you just get angry whenever you talk about the day Igneel left; you've taken action, you've gone looking for him, you've been productive about it…" Lucy blubbered. "…all I can do is just cry and mourn and it doesn't do anything for me…"

"Everyone copes differently, Lucy," Natsu murmured, his voice growing quieter. "…and it's not like I never cried…"

"I r-really did have fun this week, though…I just really don't want to end this on a b-bad note…"

"…hey, don't worry." Natsu gently held her chin and guided her face out of the pillow so she could see his smile. "Together we are going to make tomorrow a day we'll remember happily instead of with a heavy heart. I'll see to it; we'll make new memories that'll start to chase away all the bad feelings that come with that date, okay?"

As if to prove his point, he started to lay down too, ready to fall asleep and grab tomorrow by the horns, come what may. It took Lucy a few more minutes to halt her tears, but once she finally did, she flipped to face Natsu again and managed a weak smile.

"Okay…I believe you…"

The two of them fell into another sleepless silence, although not an awkward one, until Natsu decided to speak up again.

"…what was your mom like?"

Lucy immediately tensed up; Natsu felt like throwing himself out the window as he hastily started to apologize.

"A-aw crap! Sorry! Sorry! Insensitive question! I just…since we're not sleeping anytime soon and it's on your mind I thought-"

"Calm down, you dork," Lucy chuckled, which he did as soon as he saw she wasn't upset at blabbing the first thing that came to mind as usual. "I'm surprised you're interested…"

"How can I not be? She's the wonderful person that brought you into this world, nah?" Natsu hummed, getting a giggle out of Lucy. He beamed as he adjusted himself, turning on his side and resting his hand on his hand. "So she was wonderful, right?"

Lucy nodded carefully, a small smile on her face. "Yes, of course…after all, she was my father's voice of reason, and she was the anchor that kept all within the Heartfilia Mansion in check. She could turn any bad situation into a better one, and if she was present, you'd always know things would be okay in the end… There was a lot that I didn't even know about her, with me being so young and all, but I remember that no one really told me when or how Mama got sick…and she was ill for a long time…and then one day she was gone, and I wasn't around to see her just one more time."

She dropped her head, dry of tears for the moment, but sad just the same. Natsu ran her words through his heads before speaking again; he was putting in the effort to not upset her again, but he felt more comfortable when he just spoke his mind.

"Well, I'm glad that you rightfully cherished your time with her. And being upset that she's gone…that just shows that you genuinely cared," he said quietly, looking away to avoid her gaze. "The closest thing I ever had to a mom was Mira, and even then that was like having a cranky older sister nagging you all the time."

"Aw, I'm sure Igneel had his…softer moments." Natsu snorted at her remark with a wicked smirk.

"Heh, when you're the Flame Dragon King, there's not much room to be gentle…but he definitely was compassionate when he wanted to be." Natsu gently moved Happy off of plushy Igneel, then dragged the stuffed dragon into his possession. He smiled gently, taking in the similarities once again. "Yeah, he never held back with me- I was pushed hard all the time, always having to give it my all just like a dragon. He had faith that I could succeed in everything I did, no matter how many times I failed. At the same time, he tried his best to keep me up with human culture, but his knowledge was kind of dated…"

Lucy watched as he pulled his scarf over his face.

"…sometimes I feel so behind compared to everyone else…and I can't catch up. Even though I knew Fairy Tail was the place I belonged from the first day I stepped foot in it, I…kinda felt like an outsider for a while."

"And now look at you- one of the biggest names in the guild, one of the most important members, and one of the reasons why I joined in the first place," Lucy pointed out softly. "It might've been a little rough for the both of us in the beginning, but at least we're in a good place now."

"Yeah," he agreed simply, distractedly playing with plushy Igneel's little wings. He blinked in surprise when Lucy nudged his arm out of nowhere, finding her beaming at him.

"…thanks for telling me all that, Natsu. You didn't have to, you know…"

"Eh, it was only fair. Why should you be the only one that gets to share?" he said with a wink. "Besides, if you were to ask me, I'd say that glory days are the wonderful things that have yet to happen. Because, if the best is already behind us…what would we have to look forward to?"

His grin was bright even in the dark, Lucy basking in its glow.

"Huh…that's pretty insightful, Natsu."

"You say that like you're surprised. I spout my psychology all the time."

"Philosophy, and I'm not surprised." She smiled bashfully. "I just happen to think it's a nice thought."

God, his cheeks were aching from grinning but he couldn't stop. "I like to believe in the good things that are coming."

He noticed Happy twitch from where he was, but other than that the Exceed didn't stir. Natsu smirked at his cat, then started twiddling his thumbs. Lucy could tell he was obviously thinking about something –it wasn't hard to tell when he was- but what came out his mouth next she was very surprised to hear.

"Do you think one day we could get a second chance?"

"Mm, what do you mean?"

"Like…well…" He was utterly still, except for the fact he was fiddling with his scarf. "I mean, my time with Igneel has made me who I am today, and nothing's ever going to replace Fairy Tail…but I can't help but wonder what having a 'normal' family is like. I see Bisca, Alzack, and Asuka all the time and they seem pretty happy…"

He glanced at Lucy for her reaction, but she appeared perplexed. He quickly tried to backpedal his words.

"…it's silly, isn't it? I shouldn't have said any-"

"No, it's normal for you to think like that…" Lucy assured, Natsu relaxing slightly. "…but what do you mean by a second chance?"

"You know…if one day…I ended up starting a family," he said simply enough. "I wouldn't want my kids to be deprived of a mother, and I would always be there for them… I'd take 'em on adventures, teach 'em dragon slayer magic, convince 'em to help me prank Gray from time to time-"

"You would," Lucy snickered with an eye roll, yet Natsu heard the smile in her tone.

"Anyway, my point is, I'd want give my family the things I never had, that's all," he finished, seeming wistful as he said it. "I just hope that I do a good job…I'm not exactly my first pick for a decent dad…"

"Well, I've seen how good you are with kids…and you care about people so much…" Lucy added with a yawn, starting to snuggle deeper within the blankets. "…I think you'd be a fantastic father."

Natsu's eyes widened with the potential implication of her words; his heart started rattling in his ribcage like it was desperately trying to break free. His mind raced and he felt as though an eternity passed in the short few seconds it took to get his thoughts together. Heart still hammering, a surge of courage of a different kind than he was used to pumped through his veins- it inexplicably burst through him, washing away any concerns he had for consequences.

"Well…if you really want to know the truth…" he started cautiously yet not hesitantly, squeezing his eyes shut as if to forcibly chase away his second thoughts. "…I wouldn't mind at all if…you were the mother…"

He held his breath, expecting her to immediately shoot down the idea and scold him for being some twisted pervert, or at the very least get her flustered, but surprisingly there was no response. He froze, imagining her thinking over the possibility…and then blanched, wondering if she was repulsed by the very thought.

He swallowed the lump in his dry throat.

"Lucy…?"

His worries were shattered where he heard a soft snore, and he was half relieved half disappointed that she had fallen asleep. His rush of random courage dissipated, and he was reprimanding himself for his approach while also griping over the fact that she'd fallen asleep on him!

"Aw man, I was so close...I could've built up to something…!"

Natsu held his breath again as Lucy shifted where she was, but she seemed to fall into her usual hard sleep. He released the breath and decided he should probably get to sleep too before he deprived himself of too much air. As he laid comfortably, he had a slight feeling that Lucy wouldn't have taken too well to his implications, so maybe he dodged a bullet with that one…but hey, he could still dream about it.

"Maybe someday…maybe some glorious day that'll finally happen." He lit up at the thought, nestling snuggly into the soft pillow. "…I kinda gotta tell you how I feel first though. Happy would go berserk on me if he found out what I just tried…"

The blue Exceed in question ticked an ear, but it went unnoticed by the dragon slayer.