Lucy awoke to the sound of snickering. She was dazed, woken far too early for her liking; she felt like she was sleeping on a cloud, like she'd just had the most comfortable sleep of her life. She closed her eyes, desperately trying to ignore whoever had stirred her from her sleep. Lucy hugged her pillow closer.
The voices continued to interrupt her sleep.
"Bet you a week's worth of kitchen duty that they fucked."
Another voice responded, now. "You think Natsu could manage that? Not likely. You're on."
Lucy growled, unsure if she was dreaming or not. She hugged her pillow closer against her chest.
"Mmfph." A voice squeaked against her.
Lucy's eyes snapped open, glancing down at the head of pink hair nuzzling into her breasts. "Natsu!" Lucy cried, flinging the boy off of her. "What the hell are you doing?"
Natsu peered up at her, clearly half asleep and extremely confused. "Wha?"
Lucy looked towards the entrance of the tent, where Gray and Gajeel stood, observing the pair. The two boys were snickering.
"Sorry to interrupt your love fest," Gray sputtered out between laughs. He looked at Gajeel. "I think I won the bet. They definitely fucked."
Lucy's cheeks were blood red. "We did not!"
"Then why isn't Natsu wearing pants, Blondie?" Gajeel pressed, smirking.
Lucy's eyes snapped back to the boy, laying on the cold floor of the tent. He was shirtless, only wearing a pair of boxers with cartoon dragons on them.
Why wasn't Natsu wearing pants? Why had Lucy been cuddling up to him when she woke up? Why had his face been in her boobs?
She was so embarrassed she could've died. Except now, she was looking at Natsu's tummy again, and she lost her train of thought.
"Jesus, Lucy, quit checking the kid out." Gray and Gajeel were laughing again, Keeling over and holding their sides.
Gajeel turned to Gray, shaking his head. "Guess I owe you a week's worth of kitchen duty." The boys turned, making their way back to the campfire, where everyone was eating breakfast. Gajeel called out, loud enough for Lucy to hear, "Hey, everyone! Lucy and Natsu slept together."
Lucy went pale; she heard everyone else gasp and question the boys. Quickly, before anyone else could harass her, she zipped up the tent and turned back to the sleeping boy beside her.
"Natsu! Wake up, you idiot!" She smacked him, stirring him from his slumber.
He growled, grumpy and tired. "Shut up, Luce."
She smacked him again. "Where the hell are your pants?"
The boy sighed and sat up. He shrugged. "I dunno. Over there."
"Why!?"
"Got too hot last night. You wouldn't let go of me and we were all sweaty-"
"Do not say we were sweaty together," Lucy hissed.
"Well, we were, and you kept snuggling up to me, so I took my pants off."
Lucy's voice was furious. "Pervert!"
Natsu made a face. "You didn't seem to mind last night. " He paused, looking at the blonde with concern. "Why's your face all red?"
"B-because!" She snapped in response. "Everyone thinks we slept together, and-"
"Well, didn't we?"
"Not like that, you idiot!" It felt like her cheeks were on fire.
The boy seemed genuinely confused. His eyebrows tugged down as he tried to make sense of what was going on. "I thought we did."
Lucy's brown eyes washed over his face, picking up on how abruptly disappointed he was; her heart sank a little, melting into a tint puddle at the bottom of her stomach. He'd wanted to sleep with her, and was upset they hadn't. That was sort of...well, sweet.
His dark eyes flickered up to hers. "'Cuz we're friends, right? Friends sleep together. "
And yet again, Lucy's heart dropped in disappointment. He thought sleeping together meant they were friends. She flashed him a scowl, annoyed by his endearing friendship. "Get your pants on, Natsu." Lucy turned towards the door, prepared to unzip it and leave.
Natsu's big hand caught her wrist, carefully not to grab her too roughly. "Luce," He said, voice husky as his expression fell serious. "What's wrong?"
It took all of her willpower to stop herself from telling him, from telling him that he was confusing her and gave her mixed signals. She wanted to scream at him about how he was so cute sometimes but also so hot but like a broken little puppy dog all at the same time. She wanted to tell him about how he made her want to strangle him but kinda sorta kiss him, too.
But she didn't. Even if she had, he would've thought she was just his pal, joking around. Because that's what friends did.
"Nothing, Natsu."
"Liar," He grumbled, annoyed she wasn't being honest. "You suck at lying."
Could he really not understand why she was grumpy? Only an idiot wouldn't be able to see her giant stupid affection for the guy.
Not that she liked him or anything. It was just...friendly affection.
Natsu squeezed her arm again, appearing to be genuinely concerned for the girl. "Did I do something wrong?"
Lucy huffed out a sigh. Of course he hadn't done anything wrong. He was just being himself, being innocent little Natsu. How could she be mad at him for that? It wasn't his fault he was so oblivious. Her brown eyes flickered over his deeply concerned expression; she felt her heart melt. "No, silly. I'm just tired. Bad sleep."
Natsu nodded, believing her wholeheartedly.
Lucy poked between his eyebrows, trying to straighten out the concerned wrinkle he had acquired. "Quit frowning, Natsu." She giggled at his worried expression.
His big hand came up and grabbed hers, holding it tightly and pulling it away from his face. His skin was hot on hers. "Sorry. Just had to make sure my girl was okay."
Lucy froze, heart missing a few beats. "Y-your...girl?"
The pink haired boy nodded. "Yeah."
Lucy was red now, from forehead to toes. "Want to elaborate on that a little bit?"
The boy made a face. "You're my girl, I'm your guy. What's so hard to understand about that?" He grinned, and it was so bright and happy and perfect Lucy could've melted on the spot. Natsu stood, unzipping the tent door. "I'll head out there, make you some breakfast, okay?"
Lucy sat frozen to the floor of the tent. Her eyes followed him out; the second he stepped out the door someone screamed out that he actually wasn't wearing pants and that now the group could confirm that he had slept with Lucy. She cringed, trying to block out their words.
His girl. That's what he'd said. Three times now, in fact. That meant something, didn't it? She wasn't just crazy, right? Lucy attempted to calm herself, desperate to not be slammed with disappointment again. It was Natsu. He was an idiot. They were just friends, and she knew it. He'd made that very clear several times by highlighting their friendship.
But, then again, wasn't it a bit more than friendship to call someone 'your girl'? Wasn't that pushing it a bit? And the fact that they'd slept in the same tent and snuggled all night. And that he hadn't been wearing pants. And he'd practically suffocated between her breasts. Were friends supposed to do that? No. Of course not.
Did Natsu know that?
No. Of course not.
God, he was hard to read. Was it bad Lucy was still blushing? Was it bad that she was sorta kinda half-psyched that he hadn't been wearing pants? Was it bad that she was still imagining his drool-worthy stomach?
"God!" Lucy snapped, hitting herself. "Snap out of it, Luce, get a hold of yourself..." She ignored her own internal commentary on Natsu's oddly attractive physique and tried to focus on the matter at hand-breakfast, then the trek back to the facility.
Lucy unzipped the tent and headed towards the fire. Before she had the chance to greet anybody or question anyone's rather suggestive stares, Natsu blurted out at her.
"C'mere, Luce! I made you breakfast!" He seemed overjoyed that she'd graced him with her presence, which only made her heart melt more.
She took a seat beside him, ignoring the whispers from the rest of the group. She peered down at what he held: a completely charred burger. Even the bun was singed. "Oh," she whispered, blinking at the destroyed piece of food.
His eyes were bright, sparkling. "Made it just for you."
Lucy nearly slapped it out of his hands and scolded him for his terrible cooking skills, until she realized that he'd cooked something for her, over open flames. Natsu. The boy afraid of fire.
Erza, who was sat on the other side of Lucy, piped up. "You don't have to eat that crap, Luce. I'll make you a good one."
Lucy noticed Natsu flinch; his hands were trembling. "No," the blonde said, shaking her head. "This is exactly how I like it." She gave Natsu a warm smile.
Erza shrugged, mumbling something about how gross that was, and headed off towards the food table.
Natsu's eyes flashed up to hers. He was shaking terribly still. "Really?" His voice was low, broken.
Lucy gave him a soft grin. She reached out and grabbed the food from his hands. "Yes."
Natsu nodded, smiling, but it quickly faded away. After a few seconds, he leaned in close to Lucy and whispered in her ear, "Could you cook me some food after?" He paused, gulping for air as if it were difficult to breathe. "I can't. The...the fire scares me."
Her heart fluttered, and she desperately wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him tight. He'd tried to make her food, and it had scared him so badly he couldn't cook his own food. But he'd tried. For Lucy.
"Of course," Lucy whispered back.
And so she did. She ate her charred burger, not even caring about the horrific taste, because it was special. She cooked Natsu a burger afterwards to his liking; he was grateful. Afterwards, they packed up their tent, and the group began their hike back to the facility.
Everyone kept whispering about Lucy and Natsu, about how he hadn't been wearing pants and she'd cooked him breakfast ever so lovingly, but the duo didn't really care. They walked at their own pace, behind the pack, oblivious to their gossip. Lucy pointed out every bird she saw; Natsu dove into a pile of thorns, ignoring Lucy's shouts of concern, to pick a wild rose. He gave it to Lucy, and she tucked it behind her ear.
He'd said she looked pretty like that. She blushed.
That night, once they got back to the facility, the pair met up on the roof, as they did every night.
When it got late and they both got sleepy, Natsu walked Lucy to her room, like usual.
This time, when they said goodnight, he kissed her cheek.
Edited 22/06/18.