After a great deal of convincing, Lucy convinced Jacob that Natsu would be able to take her home in time much faster than he would. Her curfew was in ten minutes, and Natsu had proven himself more than capable of running with her on his back for extended periods of time. Jacob definitely didn't like it, but said he'd see her tomorrow and walked off.
As he was running toward Lucy's house, Natsu muttered, "I really don't like that guy."
Lucy giggled from his back. "Why, you jealous?"
He hummed. "Maybe. Also, he's too perfect. You think they grew him out of a lab?"
Lucy laughed harder, before remembering something from the afternoon. When she could get words out, she said, "Speaking of him, do you know him? You seemed like you recognized his last name earlier."
Natsu was quiet for a minute, probably trying to catch his breath to speak. Or maybe he was ignoring her. She waited, and was about to ask again when he spoke. "His mother caused some real trouble for the pub a while back. Alyssa Cobeson, a snake in human skin. She tried to buy the pub out from under us, and almost did. But your old man started gunning for it around that time, too. Then both companies just stopped trying to buy. That's all I know, but I don't really like either of those names. My drunk self took it to the next level, I guess." He shrugged, like it was no big deal that he had been out of control. That story bothered Lucy for some reason, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She let it go, though. It wasn't something to think about right now.
"I know I'm prying, but were you upset about anything else? I've never even seen you drink, much less wasted at five in the afternoon." Lucy felt bad asking so many questions, but she was worried about him.
Once again she was left waiting, but she had a feeling he would answer her. She waited until they were standing in her room, Natsu laying on the carpet panting like a dog. He swallowed and accepted the glass of water she gave him, downing it in one go.
Lucy gave him an expectant look. "Oh, right. I was just worried, since you hadn't come back. I know you'd said to give you a few days, but I guess I'd expected you to come back that night. I've actually been drunk since…Was it Tuesday?"
Lucy stared at him. "Natsu, it's Saturday."
"…Definitely Tuesday."
"How are you a functioning human being?" Lucy was pretty sure that no one had that kind of alcohol tolerance. He'd even had a minor hangover three hours ago, yet here he was: laughing loudly after running for ten minutes straight without a care in the world.
"I probably slept for a few days in between." He saw her worried and disbelieving look. "Don't worry, I used to do it all the time."
Lucy smacked him upside the head and stepped into her bathroom. "Don't worry, Lucy! I used to give myself alcohol poisoning all the time!" Lucy muttered to herself, imitating Natsu's low voice to herself as she changed into a pair of pajama shorts. She walked out, rubbing her eyes. She hadn't realized how tired she was until now. Natsu looked at her and went to go, but she grabbed his hand. "No, don't go. I wanna talk some more."
He paused, but relented. They sat on the floor by her bed and talked about anything they thought of. Lucy fell asleep with her head on Natsu's shoulder.