~PREVIOUSLY ON THE LAST CHAPTER~

"I'm a peach. Does that mean I taste like one? Hey Lisanna, lick me." Lisanna looked at him horrified, blushing a deep red. Lucy sighed and shook her head, wondering what in the world was wrong with Natsu.

Before she knew it, Natsu was on the floor with Erza glaring. Natsu and Gray are in a hell lot of pain.

Wendy pulled back the string that was attached to the bow, her aim steady and her arrow aiming for the red dot on the target. "Easy now, don't forget, practice makes perfect." Erza said as she bent down towards the blue-haired Dragneel, looking at the target and back at her concentrated face, Wendy squinting just a bit as her fingers let go of the string and the arrow pushed forward like a rocket. The arrow flew through the sky till the pointed part went through the yellow part of the target, Wendy frowning as she didn't reach her goal. Erza smiled just a bit as she put a hand on her shoulder, the blue-haired camper looking up at her director with teary eyes. "Don't worry, you did great."

"But Erza-San. . . I missed the red part."

"You did well, it's alright. We'll do some more later on."

"Okay Erza-San."

"Don't be so down, Wendy. Look at the bright side; you did better than your older brother." Erza pointed at the pink-haired counselor that was shooting arrow after arrow at the target, cursing every time as the arrow went farther than the target or short than the target, never hitting the board. Lucy stood behind him with some campers, sweat-dropped at his action but just silently watching, hoping he'll stop soon.

"Well, that is true." Wendy giggled towards her older brother's action, Erza nodded at her direction. She watched as Lucy marched over towards him, soon shouting at him something that was very distant. "Stop that, idiot!"

"I can do it, Luce! Watch me!"

"No, let the others do it, you're wasting the arrows! Go get them!"

"No, Luce, I've got this – watch!" Natsu aimed towards the target once again, letting it go to hit the leg of the target board, the whole board falling to the ground. Lucy looked at him with wide eyes and Natsu ran on over to the target board, frantically trying to fix it. But it was no use, it has broken.

"Natsu!"

"Shit, Igneel is going to kill me!"

"Oh give me that!" Lucy took the board away from him, telling him to go retrieve the arrows as she started to fix the target up. She never understood why Natsu was so stupid sometimes. Knowing him for almost 2 months know, she felt she she's known him since they were kids, that guy acting as if they were friends forever. She never understood that either, it was just Natsu's nature.

Lucy placed the target on the half-broken stand and sighed, seeing that it was shorter but it was still useful. Natsu came jogging back, 14 arrows in his hands as he looked at what Lucy had done, grinning as he noticed she had fixed it. "You're awesome!"

"And you're never going to do archery again."

"Wha – why not?"

"Cause you almost broke a target board and 3 arrows? I bet you broke a bow also."

"Did not!"

"Oh really?" Lucy crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at his direction, Natsu feeling a bit uneasy. He hated lying to Lucy since she always knew if he was lying or not. He sighed and slumped a bit, feeling guilty. "Yes, I broke one." He mumbled, Lucy rolling her eyes in process. "I knew it – come on, let's get going. After yesterday's horrible day off, I need a break at least." She grabbed the arrows from him, Natsu following her like a lost puppy-dog.

She noticed his hand was a bit swollen but better than yesterday – at least his personality was still the same.

They walked away from the archery place, Erza and Gajeel being the helpers they didn't need their help. Lots of kids didn't do archery anyways, so it didn't need to be supervised as much as the other places.

Natsu swung an arm around Lucy's shoulders and grinned widely, Lucy sighing as she ignored him. "Where we going this time?"

"Well I don't know where you're going but I'm going to the art center."

"Art center we go!" Natsu exclaimed as he started to shove Lucy towards the cabin that was named the art center, Lucy shouting something about not wanting to go with him but he just ignored her. The burst through the place, Natsu greeting the place to be greeted back by giggling girls and Lucy shook her head side to side. Natsu ran on over to a group of kids, peering over their shoulders as he commented on their painting, the pink-haired counselor looking real fatherly all of a sudden.

"Lu-Chan!" Levy shouted snapping Lucy back into reality, brown eyes meeting hazel. Lucy smiled at her blue-haired friend and she smiled back, sighing just a bit to wipe the sweat off her forehead. She was dressed in an apron, paint and glitter all over the apron and her arms, her right hand holding a paintbrush while her left hand held a bottle of green paint. "What brings you here?" She asked, panting a bit. "Ah, got bored of archery and had to go somewhere else before Natsu broke more equipment."

"Again?" Levy sighed and Lucy laughed a bit. "How's art?" Lucy asked as her eyes racked across the whole room, seeing children paint, laugh, talk, and run around the place. Lisanna was in the far back teaching a kid how to make a macaroni necklace and Natsu was watching from the back. "Fun, great – the kids are real enthusiastic about this."

"Ah, lucky kids." Lucy sighed, smiling as a small 8-year-old ran past them holding a piece of paper. Levy giggled and agreed, soon the two of them becoming silent to look around the room. It really was a peaceful sight.

Suddenly, something wrapped around Lucy's neck and she looked at the person that was standing in front of her, grinning from ear to ear. She looked down and saw that there was a macaroni necklace wrapped around her neck, causing her to snort a bit. "I made it!" He shouted proudly, Lucy noticing that the middle three macaroni's were painted and glittered. She looked closer and saw that here was a pink N and a yellow L painted on the white colored macaroni, a plus sign right between them.

She couldn't help but smile.

"How'd you make this in 5 minutes?" Lucy asked, looking up to meet his onyx eyes. He shrugged and started to wipe the paint off his fingers with a wet towel Levy had just given him. "I don't know, I just started to do with Lisanna said to do and it didn't take that long."

"It's cute, thanks."

"You're welcome. I made it for you so don't break it or you owe me 5 bucks."

"5 bucks! This necklace was free, you know!"

"Yeah, but I'm charging you 5 bucks if you break or lose it." Natsu smirked at her before running off to shout at Lisanna that he wants to participate in the arts and craft. Lucy watched him leave before looking down at the necklace again, wondering why he made it for her. And what was with the N + L thing? Lucy decided she was just over thinking things.

After all; she was in the heat for 3 hours today.

Lucy sighed and decided to craft something as well. Might as well do something productive before the sun sets and dinner was served.

"You know, you should save some food for the rest of the people in camp." Lucy said as she scrunched her face up in disgust, Natsu stuffing anything in his mouth that was edible. "Don't worry about it, Flame-head's father knows what to do. He knows his son's monstrous eating habit so he gets separate food for him and the others." Gray leaned in towards Lucy as he pointed towards the pink-haired man who ignored them. Lucy's lips made an 'o' shape as she nodded, understand.

Igneel must spend a lot of money.

Lucy poked her fruit salad, sighing just a bit. Mira noticed and eyed her weirdly, noticing that her food wasn't touched at all. She started to worry. "Lucy?"

"Yes, Mira?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Lucy cocked her head to the side and Mira pursed her lips, looking down at her plate then back at her face, her blue eyes locking on a necklace right around her long neck. Her eyes widen for a moment, Lucy wondering what was wrong with her then she looked down, gasping as Mira was staring at her necklace Natsu had given her. She took it and stuffed it in her shirt, smiling sheepish at the white-haired beauty. "Did Natsu make you that?"

"Uhm, yes." Lucy answered, putting a banana in her mouth so she didn't have to answer any more questions. "Give her what?" Erza asked as she leaned over towards the conversation, Lucy quickly dismissing it. "Natsu made her a macaroni necklace with N and L written in pink and yellow paint."

"Oh yeah, I saw Natsu give it to Lu-Chan earlier today."

"What did I give her?"

"Let me see." Gray tugged on the string from the back of her neck, the blonde squeaking as she lifted her hand up to push him away but Gray grabbed her wrist to not allow her to lay a single finger on him. He squinted and read it till a grin appeared on his face, Lucy feeling as if she was nude in front of all of her friends. "Oh, Pinky and Lucy, eh?"

"I – It's not like that!"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?"

"About how you liiike Lucy!" Lucy gapped at her blue-haired friend, wondering if she could tease her about Gajeel but knowing how violent and scary he looked, Lucy let it slide. "Wait – what?" Natsu looked like he was going to choke but managed to have a straight face on. "You like Lucy, don't you?" Gray smirked, leaning against the table as Natsu shot him a look. Lucy leaned back as Gray and Natsu started to lean in, hissing at each other like cats that were angry and about to pounce on each other. "Says who?"

"Says us, we have proof."

"Where's the proof then, ice-brain?"

"You have Lucy a necklace that said N+L that says something."

"Yeah, it says N+L not I-fricking-love-you-be-my-wife." Natsu sneered at Gray and somehow that made Lucy's heart sink. "You never gave me a present and I've known you for almost 10 years now, Natsu." Lisanna said as she joined the conversation, grinning at Natsu's horrified face that clearly wrote How-Dare-You-Take-Their-Side? "Well, I don't know . . ." Natsu reeled back a bit, looking down at his almost empty plate as he began to think. Back then when he first met Lucy he didn't actually have any feelings for her except for the friendship kind. He liked teasing her and he still does but he was uncertain of his feelings.

"Oh, Natsu is actually thinking about this." Natsu felt a single vein pop out of his forehead as he clutched his hand in a fist. He slammed it against the dining table and shot the person a glare. "Shut the hell up!"

~X~

"Scoot over," Lucy mumbled, her right fists rubbing her right eye as she stood in front of Natsu's bed wearing nothing but an over-sized t-shirt. Natsu cocked an eyebrow at her direction, wondering what in the world she meant by scoot over. This was certainly his bed and not hers. Lucy didn't even like sharing beds and her bed was just above his but why was he asking for him to scoot over? He decided to ask. "Uhm, what?"

"Scoot over. Was I not clear?"

"Uh, why should I? Your bed is right above mine . . ."

"I don't feel like climbing up the stairs and it's pretty cozy sleeping next to your warm body so either scoot over or I'm climbing over." Lucy hissed at him, trying to make her voice low as the others campers were asleep. It was almost 11PM and the campers were assigned to sleep before 10:30PM and most of them were asleep.

Natsu was still at daze, staring at her till she groaned and ducked under the bunk bed, climbing over his figure till she was on the other side of the bed, Natsu watching her every moment. She normally hated him sleeping in her bed but now she wants to share?

"You never liked sharing beds, why do you suddenly want to be in my bed?"

"I told you earlier – pass me Plue, please?"

"You can snuggle me instead," Natsu put his pillow flat against the bed as he lied down, pulling the blankets over the two. Natsu was sure she was blushing but he ignored it, swinging an arm around her waists to pull her closer. He looked down at the blonde and she scowled at him but he just grinned like the fool he was. "We should do this every night."

"In your dreams, idiot. I'm going to only do it when it's chilly."

"You're wearing nothing but a long t-shirt and panties and that's your excuse?" Lucy flushed and glared at him, Natsu snickering in victory. "But I don't mind, after all you have great legs." Natsu said, patting her bare thigh which she jerked at. She swore he was doing this on purpose.

"Just shut up and sleep!" Lucy hissed, turning around to yank the blankets and make her back face his back. Natsu pouted and pulled on the blankets causing Lucy to pull back, the male scooting closer to share the blankets and hold her close. Lucy didn't mind but she kept space between them, at least 2 inches of separation so he didn't touch her in any way except for his arm that was wrapped around her waists. She didn't want this to look too awkward or too sexual for the boys and girls when they saw them the next morning. She knew she'll get teased but it was worth it.

"Goodnight," Lucy heard him mumbled, a small smile spreading across her lips before she mumbled back a goodnight. She knew she was falling for him little by little each and every day.

A/N: Sorry for not updating this in a while! I'm taking a break and writing time to time and bleh. Sorry. e n e
Thank you for reading and please review, hope you enjoyed the chapter!~