Smiling could be a hard thing sometimes.
And sometimes, smiling could be the hardest thing.
See, there are different kinds of strength. There's physical strength. Natsu had that. Magic strength - he had that too. And there was a strength people call courage, and Natsu definitely had that one.
But there was another kind of strength: emotional. Emotional strength was something that a lot of people really don't have. Emotional strength is the kind that helps you push back your tears and put a smile on when smiling is the hardest thing you could try to do.
But Lucy had it.
Natsu could tell.
From the moment he'd met her, he saw that bright, beautiful, cheerful smile and he suddenly realized he wanted to get to know her. He brought her to Fairy Tail, and that had been one of the best choices of his life. Because there was something about Lucy that nobody else had.
Her smile.
Lucy was the one who smiled at him and cheered for him when the odds were impossible. Lucy was the one who forgot about all of her pain just to smile for her friends' sake. If her friends needed something - a smile, a little support - she didn't give a second thought to the emotional turmoil inside her.
Through everything, Lucy always smiled.
Even after losing her mother and being neglected through most of her childhood, Lucy was the one person in the guild who smiled the most.
Even after she had been kidnapped and beaten by Phantom Lord, Lucy smiled at Natsu, cheered him on, and helped him with everything she had left.
Even after she was beaten up by Kain Hikaru and he was threatening to crush her skull, Lucy smiled and told Natsu she'd rather stay with him than save herself.
Even after she found out her father had died, Lucy maintained her smiley character.
She had smiled through tears, through life-or-death situations, through torture, and through everything else the world threw at her - and she did it all for the sake of her friends. Because a single smile can give everyone hope. And so Lucy smiled. She smiled through all of it.
And that, Natsu knew, took unbelievable strength.
Maybe that was why he'd fallen for her.
... ... ...
Hai! You likey?
This one was drabbley and stuff. It was kind of a request from turtlerocksmysocks, who asked me to do a little something on why Natsu likes Lucy so much. And so... there ya go! :D
Mira: SocutesofluffysocutesofluffysocuteSOFLUFFEH! *passes out*
:3 I'll be glad to know what you guys think of this one. It was definitely fun to write!