Chapter 10

A few nights later, Lucy and Natsu are snuggled up together, watching a movie. He's lying down on his back, sprawled out on her couch with his arm wrapped around her waist. Her back is against his chest and she's quite comfortable in this position. The only thing she'd change is the movie the pinkette selected.

He thought Don't Be Afraid of the Dark would be a great thriller/horror movie to watch with his girlfriend. Natsu was proud of her for finishing it at least, even though she covered her eyes during certain parts.

The credits start rolling and the blonde takes out her phone to type. The pinkette can read it over her shoulder from his position.

'I pick the movie next time.'

He groans loudly. "It's probably gonna be some chick flick."

'It'll be better than this :P'

"Nuh-uh."

'It won't have creepy creatures that want my teeth!'

"Those critters won't want your teeth anyways. You're too old."

Lucy elbows him before typing some more. 'Don't say I'm old, idiot!'

He leans around to smooch her right cheek. "Besides, I'm here to protect ya. Ain't no way I'll let something happen to ya."

She smiles softly, knowing he means every word. Natsu's done so in the past, but he's saved her from overly flirtatious guys that wouldn't take no as an answer.

"Hey, Luce?" the pinkette asks suddenly. "I'll understand if ya don't wanna answer me, but, uh, how come–" He pauses for a moment. "It's a part of you and I'd like to understand, but why… are ya… Why can't ya talk?"

The blonde knew he would ask one of these days and she was prepared for whenever it did happen. She hits the back button of her phone to look at all the notes she has under her note app. She selects the red one titled "For Natsu" and makes sure he can read it.

'Even when I was born I wasn't able to talk. It was later discovered there was a physical deformity with my larynx. That's my voicebox. Muscles that are used for people to speak were broken before I could even use them. It's so bad that I can't even make sounds if I tried.

'Aphonia makes sense for what I have. If you look it up on the internet, it'll say "inability to produce voice" among some other things. There's no way to fix it so my parents had me learn sign language as a baby so I could grow up learning. The three of us learned together. We had videos and people come in to teach us. I don't remember any of it of course.

'It wasn't too bad growing up I guess. I always had a translator around me so I wouldn't feel left out at home, school, or even in other places. That definitely made things better. It was like I wasn't different after all.

'Middle school was where I met Levy. She was the new kid in class and sat next to me. Levy never looked at me like I was weird and I liked that. We became friends instantly when found out we were both reading the same book when we had free time in class. She learned sign language so she could communicate with me. It was another thing we could bond over together.

'Not much later, my mother passed away because she got sick. There was nothing anyone could do. We just made sure she was as comfortable as possible. When she did die, my father closed himself off. It was like I didn't exist anymore. He busied himself with work to distract himself from his wife's death. By doing that, he lost me too.

'High school started and that's where Levy and I met Gray. He seemed distant at first, but he helped me out when I was in a sticky situation. The two of us got really close after that. He even asked Levy to teach him sign language and he learned by himself on the side with books and videos. High school was pretty fun with Levy and Gray around me.

'The summer after graduating high school was when I turned eighteen. I left home after that. I left behind my father and some friends, but I was happy I did. Because of Levy, I focused on making one of my stories a published piece. She encouraged me along the way big time.

'Now things are the way they are now.'

When the pinkette finishes reading, his grip around her tightens. "So you've… never heard yourself talk? Ya don't even know whatcha sound like?" Of course he would talk about the first paragraph she wrote.

Lucy shakes her head in response.

"I bet you'd have the sweetest voice ever. I'm sure I'd love listening to ya talk all the time. I'd never get bored of it."

She smiles, not admitting she's tried imagining what she would sound like.

"I was too young to remember, but Igneel adopted me when I was a baby," Natsu begins. "Well, he found me really, but I go with adopted. Without even giving it a second thought, he took me and raised me like his own son. Uncle Atlas helped too when Igneel wasn't sure to do about certain things or needed a babysitter.

"I was a real rascal as a kid. Causing trouble is still a specialty of mine. Igneel always blamed my rambunctious behavior that he couldn't tame. I'd calm down in an instant when cars were brought up. I always had an interest in them from the start and Igneel and Uncle Atlas taught me what they knew. I liked fixing them and figuring out what made them tick. As soon as I was old enough, they hired me as a mechanic to work at their shop. That was one of the best days of my life.

"But then something even better topped it. I stopped by the grocery store after work and saw this cute girl who appeared to be having trouble with her car. Now as a mechanic, there's no way I couldn't not help her out. I had to do something. When I saved her, she asked me out to lunch as repayment." He lowers his voice to a smug whisper. "It was totally her way of asking me out on a date really."

The blonde silently giggles.

Natsu laughs and speaks again. "Don't tell her I said this, but she maaay or maaay not have turned my world upside down. In a good way though. She's fantastic. Great. Wonderful. But most of all, she's mine and I'm hers."

Lucy smiles and snuggles back into his chest.

He starts humming a familiar tune and the blonde recognizes it as 'You Are my Sunshine.' She closes her eyes and listens to him contently. She wouldn't want this moment any other way. Especially with anyone else.

A/N: Not a bad chapter I think. This allows for some back story and lets things be calm for a change!

FireShifter: Yes, I gave the readers some relief for a change with the last chapter and this one :P I like having Gray and Natsu butt heads, but they'd never seriously hurt one another unless they had serious intentions to do so (like Natsu thinking Gray took his potential girlfriend from him XD).

CatsCradle22: I like updating when I can! I work a lot so when it comes down to my off days, I'll update as often as possible. And thank you :D

Rainbowpoptartcat: Yaaay, that's a good reaction! ^-^

FairyTail555: Whelp, here's your next chapter! And I'm glad you're liking the story thus far :)