A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I thought I'd get an update out for the celebration! At least for my side of the world. It's like, one-thirty in the morning and nothing's gonna be edited so beware! It's like a trick or treat of grammatical doom for english majors or people (like me... sometimes) who are super OCD with that kind of stuff.

Buuuut anyway! Since a lot of you were excited at the prospect of Natsu and Lucy co-owning a puppy (and I admit that I kind of left it on a cliffhanger) I decided that I shall write you guys a special chapter—completely in Natsu's 'P.O.V.' of course—instead of uploading the next part!

...you guys love me still?

There's some extra content from the small time-gap we missed between chapter 18 and 19, so have fun with that.

Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire (Guest replies below!)

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima

As We Know It

Special Chapter 19 point 5

(A brief look into Natsu's point of view after Chapter 16 and through Chapter 17 and 18)

Thirty minutes after he stormed off to calm down, Natsu wandered out of the bathroom in a pair of sleep shorts.

Okay. So he admits that he probably could have handled that better, but sometimes the blonde was just so– so frustrating. The Firefighter pulled his towel over his wet hair and roughly rubbed the salmon-locks to dry it. He only paused the ruthless treatment of his hair to glance towards the bed, his lips pursing in trepidation. His sensitive ears could hear Lucy's steady breathing and knew it was only a matter of time when she started to snore away peacefully.

The Firefighter deposited his towel haphazardly over the back of a wooden chair by the small, make-shift kitchen table on the other side of the room and silently moved towards his side of the bed. The moment his knee touched the first layer of blankets on the bed, Happy's head popped up sleepily from the other side of the blonde's and the salmon-haired man lifted his finger to his lips, shaking his own head in slight panic. The cat's eyes flashed as he stared a moment longer before the feline yawned and cuddling back under Lucy's chin.

As quietly as he could, Natsu slipped under the covers and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when his head nestled in the pillow without delay.

And before he knew it, he was on his side, head propped up on his left arm, and peeking over at the blonde. He was met with the back of her blonde head, making him frown. He clearly remembered her telling him that she liked to sleep on her right side (which was quite opposite of him because he'd rather sleep on his left or his back) because she hated her hands hanging off the side, but she was currently sleeping with her back facing him and somehow pushed herself as close as she could towards the edge without dangling off. Happy, who was nearly falling off of his and the blonde's pillow, seemed content to snuggle closer to the woman.

He let out a quiet breath before reaching towards her. As gently as he could and without waking her, he carefully gripped her shoulders and turned her around. This, however, pulled her farther from the edge and more on his side. Despite having little to no space left on his side, the Firefighter refused to move her anymore in fear that she would wake up and start yelling at him. He wasn't kidding when he told Gray that an angry Lucy could be as scary as Erza.

Suddenly, his breath caught in his throat as he noticed the drying tear-tracks on her cheeks. Reaching forward, he slowly traced the path with the rough pad of his thumb.

"What are you crying for, Weirdo?" He whispered into the silence.

Unconsciously, the blonde woman smiled softly in her sleep and scooted closer to him. Natsu froze. He suddenly had a flashback of the night—or early morning—when she did the same thing that night when she bandaged him.

It was originally meant to be a joke; him sneaking into her bed and pretending to be asleep, but he found himself accidentally falling asleep again. Honestly, he blamed her. She was just so easy to tease and all he wanted was to see what her face looked like when she found him in bed with her. However, once he settled down on her comfortable mattress, he was a goner. It took all but a mere two minutes for him to feel comfortably drowsy in her warm bed. It took only a minute after that when she turned to him and snuggled into his side.

He was bandaged then though, but now those bandages were gone and he felt the full effect of the blonde's palm pressed against his chest. He couldn't help but take a peek at her face which were now tear-streak free, thanks to him. She looked so peaceful and not as loud as she was when she was awake. It only took a second before he finally made up his mind. Oh, he was going to get yelled at for this.

He was definitely going to get chewed up and spit out.

Natsu gently lifted Lucy's head and slipped his arm under her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He slid his other arm around her waist and pulled her more onto him so he could scoot them more towards the middle of the bed. Once he was satisfied, he slipped half of the blonde's body off of him but kept his arm around her shoulders, cradling her head against his chest. The Firefighter startled the blue feline and then pinched the corner of the cat's pillow to pulled him closer to them. Happy eyed the man for a moment before he padded to the edge of his pillow and curled up against the pair, purring in content.

The Firefighter made sure they were all comfortable before he gripped the sheet and pulled it up until Lucy was tucked comfortably under the covers. The blonde stirred a little closer to him before settling down again with a sleepy sigh. He tucked his free hand under his head and stared up at the ceiling. His olive-eyes traced imaginary shapes on the white-washed roof, occasionally stopping to eye the precarious water-stain in the corner before resuming his tracing.

Natsu let out a bored sigh after a minute and closed his eyes, already knowing he'd need the sleep for tomorrow.

He wasn't mad, frustrated maybe, but he was never truly angry at her. Although most would consider him dense, he understood that there were boundaries that he absolutely could not cross. And for some reason, mentioning her frustrating need to carry the burdens on her own was one of them. Crossing boundaries is equivalent to losing the person that set them and although he wanted to prod—so badly—he couldn't. Not to Lucy.

She keeps him in check. She makes him think. She's gullible and has a quick temper, but she's a good friend. So if she didn't want to speak of last night, then he'd respect that. If she wanted to pounce on him and Happy to wake them up and still not talk about it, then he'd respect that too. If she wanted to drag them both to the train station right after being woken up and still not talk about it, he was fine with that. If she wanted to take care of Happy while he tried to sleep through his motion sickness and still not talk about it, he was fine with that too.

However.

If she thought it was okay to change her weirdly calming scent, he wasn't okay with that. If she thought it was okay to let out a stupidly charming laugh when she purposely triggered his motion sickness by talking about the best thing in the entire world (the best thing being food—and 'best' only after Happy and Fairy Tail—of course) on a moving vehicle, he was not okay with that. If she thought it was okay to worry him by supposedly taking a five minute leave, but actually taking twenty, he definitely wasn't okay with that.

And if that creep thought even for one moment that it was okay to touch his partners and try to get away with doing so... well let's just say Natsu refused to let that one slide.

In his haste to get to both Happy and Lucy, the Firefighter tossed his bag on the ground. Normally he was a private man when it came to his personal possessions (a long time ago, his father called it a hoard and the term stuck with him for some reason) and would've gone ballistic if anything fell out. This time though, even if something did fall out, he was more concerned about his partners' well-being and was too blinded by furious rage to pay any mind to it. All Natsu thought, after breaking through the crowd of creepy women and saw that dark-haired bastard raise his fist towards Happy and Lucy, was: Get to him. Get to him, now.

And make him regret it.

He doesn't remember much of what happened next. Although he does remember tensely asking the pair behind him if they were okay and that, to his great relief, he managed to literally catch the hit before it could reach his friends. With half a mind on the situation at hand, Natsu tried that term out in his head. He then decided that, yes, they were friends. All of them were friends; him, Haps, and Luce, but he kind of forgot about thinking that way because the completely frustrating female with the blondest hair he'd ever seen thought otherwise.

He'd convince her soon enough, but that soon enough would have to wait because right now some creep was threatening that still-fragile bond between them three. There was nothing Natsu wanted more than to beat the guy to the ground and be over with it, but he didn't want to scare Lucy away. Levy once admitted that he could be pretty terrifying when he fought seriously and even Mira agreed with her.

On the night they met, he was able to fight normally; Happy knocked her out—accidentally—so he didn't mind it too much. Even with the Disappearing Brothers or whatever from the small, fat, rich dude's mansion back in Shirostume; Lucy was off doing whatever blonde weirdos do to read a book with no pictures. Mavis knows why she'd put herself through that torture. However this time, she wasn't off somewhere else and she wasn't knocked out either (both of which he was glad for, but it was still inconvenient). She was right behind him and the most he could do was keep her behind him so she couldn't see the harsh scowl on his face.

The creep made some lewd comment about Lucy that made Natsu's face darken dangerously and, suddenly, he wasn't too afraid about scaring the blonde away. His body moved before he could even process what he was doing and disabled the man against the wall with a fluidity that would've surprised him... if he wasn't so pissed off at the moment. He wasn't psychic, but he definitely saw red in this man's future.

His mind was too far gone by then and his sight was in a haze of fury. He distinctly remembers Lucy calling out to him once, but he couldn't be too sure. It wasn't until the golden-haired woman brought him back with a soft brush of her fingers that he noticed the lack of crowd surrounding them and that she was still there. Her lingering presence floored him when he turned to look at her, his gaze softening against his will. Despite seeing him snap, she was still there and smiled at him like she was halfway between holding back a laugh and trying to convince him to do something.

Oh yeah. She wanted him to let the creep go. Natsu wanted to scoff at her. Yeah, fat chance of that bastard getting off free, there's no way he'd do it willingly.

But then her smile, unwavering, grew more confident that he could let the man go and Natsu found himself crumbling. Lucy's expectant face mingling with Happy's smart-ass stare forced him to turn his gaze towards the back of the cree's head so he couldn't see their expressions. The Firefighter tried his best to silently relay to the man that he was lucky his friends saved his life, only for Natsu to let him go and relay it verbally anyway. This time, though, Lucy and Happy were trapped behind him again—this time it was more for cautious' sake than to hide his expression—and the bastard managed to get away.

It wasn't until later that night after they found no traces of the Traffickers and hunkered down in their hotel room, that Lucy smiled teasingly from her bed a few feet away.

"I thought you were a firefighter," he remembered her saying. Of course, he had nothing else to say to that so he called her a weirdo and told her that even though he starts his own fires half of the time, that didn't mean he wasn't a firefighter. Lucy merely rolled her eyes, hid her yawn behind her marked hand, and told him, "I never said you wasn't, dummy, but most firefighters don't do what you do. They don't apprehend men against the wall as naturally as you did."

The conversation fell from there after she bid both him and Happy a contented 'Good Night' and fell asleep. Natsu stayed up a little while longer to think about what she said and found himself surprised that what she said was sort of true. He'd never admit this to her, but the reason why he was able to do it so well was probably because it's been done to him more often than he'd like it to. Natsu then fell asleep to a shudder of fear.

Erza was one scary cop.

To make funding ends meet, they had to do a couple of side jobs. They weren't hard jobs, but they really did take away from the amount of information gathering that the could get on the traffickers. However, Natsu couldn't say that he was completely disappointed. After all, working in kitchens, washing dishes, fixing stoves, or even doing some clean-up on the other side of the port-town gave him a lot of extra time to really get to know his blonde partner. And vice versa.

He distinctly remembers one big moment for them though. His face was covered in oil and grease from a stove he was fixing and Lucy was handing him a working tool that neither of them knew the name of when she finally revealed to him that she was still worried about not getting accepted into Fairy Tail. He nearly sliced a tube filled with Mavis knows what when she admitted that. Natsu immediately dropped whatever he was doing and slid out from under the stove to stare at her for a moment. Lucy's face looked pained, as if she hadn't meant to say it, but accepted it because she the truth was out and she couldn't take it back.

The scarf he'd usually have around his neck, but had taken it off so it wouldn't get dirty, dangled limply off of her shoulders because he trusted her to keep it safe. The whole restaurant was empty because of the faulty stoves, so he didn't have to worry when he stood up, gripped Lucy's hand, and dragged her to the nearest phone, telling her that she was being dumb. The blonde gaped at him then started to complain that she was being completely honest and he called her dumb for it. It was safe to say that her complaints fell on deaf ears.

Soon enough though, her complaining slowly changed into pestering when he started to jab a number he knew by heart into the restaurant's telephone.

"This is the working guild of Fairy Tail," a familiar voice answered from the other side. "My name is Mirajane Strauss, how can I help you?"

"Hey, Mira!" Natsu chirped into the receiver, snickering at the way Lucy's mouth flapped open soundlessly.

"Natsu no!"

He ignored her, "I have a question, that I'd like you to answer."

"Natsu?" Mira asked in surprise, her voice crackling from the unstable connection, "Is everything okay? How did the Shirostume job go? We heard the reward was raised to two million jewels and you didn't call afterwards so we were worried."

"Yeah, we're fine," he answered quickly, "Job was a bust. Failed it. Luce was mad we didn't take the reward. Client was happy enough with performance. Met the Ice Bastard afterwards. He knows. Now about the question?"

"Gray knows about the—" Natsu made an impatient noise, "Right, question. Go ahead, Natsu, but don't think this conversation is over."

He barely repressed a shiver, only all too eager to ask his question, "So, hypothetically speaking, what woulda guy do to convince his weirdo partner that she's being dumb for worrying whether or not she'd be accepted into a guild that she's already in?"

"...Is Lucy there?"

Natsu paused, his eyes sliding towards the mentioned woman who had buried her face in embarrassment. Huh. He was wondering why she was being so unusually quiet. She tied her hair back into a pony-tail a long time ago and because she did so, he was able to se the red flush that she blocked with her hands run from the tips of her ears until it disappeared under the fabric of his scarf. He snickered, her neck was pink enough to blend with the fabric on her wrist.

"Yeah," Natsu affirmed, "She's here."

The white-haired woman's next reply was a demand he couldn't deny, "Put her on."

He shrugged and tried to pry the blonde's hand from her face but she just shook her head furiously and refused to budge. "Luuucyyy," the Firefighter cooed teasingly, snickering when she just shook her head again. Normally, Natsu knew she'd try to hit him, but she was too embarrassed to do so. "C'mon, Luce!" He tried to coax, tugging at her hand again, "Mira wants to talk to you!"

"No, Natsu," the golden-haired woman grumbled, her voice muffled by her hands, "I hate you."

"No you don't," Natsu sang, grinning when she split her fingers to glare at him, "C'mon Luce, if you love me and you want me to live, then you better talk to Mira."

"Then it's a good thing I don't."

"Don't what? Love me? Or want me to live?"

"Yes." He sent her a dry look and Lucy snorted in reply, "All of the above, Natsu. All of the above." Then she started laughing at him. Like, cracking up to the point of tears. "Y-Your face!" She spluttered through her laughter, "Oh sweet Mavis that's good!"

Oh yeah, he also got her stuck on that expression as well. Now he regrets it.

Grunting, he shoved the phone against her face, "Talk to Mira, I'm gonna go find Happy."

He left her still laughing at him, clutching the phone to her face while her other hand clutched her side to desperately keep herself together, and left through the back door. Natsu peeked at her mirthful expression through the window when he passed and, through the same window nearly ten minutes later, caught the sobered, but relaxed, smile on her face when he returned with Happy on his shoulder. He only entered when she finally hung up the phone.

"Hey, Natsu?"

Her hand rest heavily on the telephone, as if she was in shock of whatever they talked about on the phone. She acknowledge him without even turning around and he made sure he was completely quiet when she entered. Briefly, he wondered how women were able to do that; know that they're there as if they had eyes on the back of their heads. Instead of continuing with that thought, however, he answered her.

"Yeah, Luce?"

"Mira said I was already a registered member and that I just have to sign a few papers when we go back."

"Okay. We'll be home soon enough anyway."

"She also said that was the reason why I could get the temporary mark, but I would've needed permission before getting it. She said I already had it because someone called in beforehand."

"Oh, really?"

"...you didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"

"Me? Psh. Of course not. You know me, I can't think that far ahead."

Lucy finally turned to him, her chocolate pools of brown were warm and curious as she stared. Natsu found himself involuntarily shifting under her gaze after she hadn't spoken a word. It seemed that she took his words to heart, but she didn't believe him, that much was obvious. Then she smiled and everything was alright again. The golden-haired woman fixed his scarf on his shoulders as she walked over to him and gathered Happy from his shoulder. She then offered up lunch after they finished the job and he quickly agreed.

"Is it okay?"

Lucy asked him this when he slid back under the stove. He couldn't see her expression, but her voice was soft, level, and controlled as if she didn't want to show him what she really wanted to say. So, he stayed under the metal machine to respect her wishes because he knows he'd see, in her eyes, everything she didn't want him to.

"Is what okay?"

"Well... earlier, you said that we'd be home soon enough. Is... it okay if I call that home too?"

"Of course, you weirdo. What else would'ya call it?"

"I'm being serious, Natsu. It's been a really long time since I've been able to call someplace home."

"...I know."

"Know what? That I'm serious? Or that it's been a while since I actually felt at home somewhere?"

Her voice was light, but too forced to feel playful. Natsu stopped tightening the bolt on the stove, and pushed himself out of the machine. Lucy's gaze wasn't on him, but rather on her fingers that she slowly threaded through Happy's fur. The cat looked content, but the agitated twitching of his tail and Natsu's personal experience with the blue-feline told him that he knew exactly what was being said. And Happy agreed with him in how he disliked the farce acceptance she plastered on for them.

"Yes," he answered simply. Finally drawing the woman's focus to him, the man graced his lips with an award-winning grin, "All of the above, Lucy. All of the above." Satisfied with the laugh she released, Natsu slid back under the broken machine. "I'll pay for lunch," at her protesting, he continued, "I can't make you pay for everything. You have rent and stuff after all."

Lucy scoffed, "And you don't?"

"Nope," Natsu denied, "Gramps convinced the Mayor to give me some land to build on."

"Oh?" Her town was curious and he heard her clothes rustle as she shifted closer, "So you live in town?"

"Nah, I live in the eastern forest around Magnolia."

"That's... far."

"It's a little out of the way since the guild is more northern, I guess," he admitted, "But hey, I live there for free. Who's complainin'?"

"But that's far," she blanched, "That distance makes Fairy Hills look like a skip and a hop."

Natsu shrugged, "Eh."

"How often do you even go to the guild anyway?" She asked, "I can't even imagine frequenting the distance from Fairy Hills, yours must be worse."

"I go every day."

"Ever day?!" Lucy's voice choked out in disbelief, making him snicker, "You're crazy! That's way too far to go every single day!"

"We all gotta make a living."

"You live for free!"

He tightened the last bolt on the stove and slid out, grinning at the blonde's gobsmacked expression. The frustrated tint in her eyes and in her flush had him grinning wider. He couldn't help it, she was seriously too easy to rile up. Natsu quickly turned to test the stove before Lucy could any more mad at him, and was satisfied when they were in perfect-working condition.

"Since I know you like to wind down after a meal, we're going to search the western part of town right after lunch," Lucy ordered after pushing Happy back into his arms and nearly choking him whens he wrapped his scarf back around his neck.

Natsu gaped at her, "That's so evil!"

"Well," she snapped, "That's what you get for teasing me!"

"I wasn't teasing you!" He denied instantly. At her skeptic look, he grimaced, "At least not on purpose."

"You can't tease someone on accident," she bit back, "And this isn't like sniffing someone on accident either. Look me in the eye and tell me you weren't doing it on purpose." He immediately adverted his eyes and pursed his lips. "See!"

"Okay, so I was," Natsu whined, "But you're too easy to rile up, Luce. You know me! I can't just turn away an opportunity like that!"

"I know you can't," Lucy agreed, making him droop in relief, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let you off the hook. We're still going to the western part of town right after lunch."

"Fine," he groaned, but then perked, "But at least let us be ninjas today!"

The blonde shot him a look that made him feel kind of dumb for even suggesting it. She opened her mouth and for a moment, he was afraid she'd deny the request. Thankfully, her face twisted in a way that told him she should have expected that and then laughed after agreeing. What was even worse, even if she didn't agree, he wouldn't have enough willpower against her stubbornness to deny her denial. So he was immensely relived when she said yes.

But then he immediately regretted it afterwards because she couldn't stop laughing for five minutes after lunch. Lucy kept telling him they looked ridiculous even though he was probably the most dressed in the bunch. And by 'dressed' he only meant that he wrapped his scarf a couple of times around his head so only his eyes peeked out. It was safe to say that they didn't get much done and he was pretty sure Lucy would be proudly sporting a six-pack after all the laughing that she did.

"Thanks, Natsu," the blonde said as they settled in for the night.

She just returned from the shower and kicked him and Happy out of the bed, admonishing them for 'invading' her personal space or something. In his defense—that he was all too eager to point out to the blonde—he was completely worn out and her bed was closest to the door. He just fell in it because he was tired and no other reason. Honest. She ranted about it for a moment, but then abruptly stopped mid-rant and told him to get some sleep because she wanted to do something in the morning. He was about to question her sudden change but then she said that.

He smiled despite himself not wanting to, "Thanks for what, you weirdo? Makin' you the best ninja in the world?" After a moment of hesitance, he added: "Or for earlier with Mira?"

There was a small smile on her face that grew and it reminded him of the reminiscent smile she had on last night when she told him how he was a natural at apprehending that creep. It was a bittersweet memory, since he wasn't particularly fond of remembering the man that got away from his fist, but he enjoyed the smile on Lucy's face. Then and now.

"Yes," she answered tiredly, capturing her yawn in her hand and giggling, "All of the above, Natsu. All of the above."

A/N: HAPPY HALLOWEEN AGAIN! I'm tired. It's late... GUEST REPLIES GO!

To (My fellow Fanfictioner) Nekokittygirl: Since I can't PM you: Nya! Here's another update for your eyes X3 Hope ya like it! All my tiredness went in it so I hope I haven't burned you with all my grammatical errors!

To (My ever loyal Guest) Animallover: Ha! Me too! I have no life either XD If it wasn't for the daily trek to school and back, I wouldn't step one foot out of the house. I would rather be on my computer typing fanfictions for Fairy Tail or working out original stories that probably won't even see the light of day. My friends? Pssh! Who need's 'em, right? (I'm kidding, I love every single one of my friends. I need them. I really do.) And if it's still relevant, good luck on the getting a job! I'm a slob, as I stated above. I am ashamed to admit that I don't pay even a partial mind to grammar when I'm writing. Run-on sentences? Dangling Modifiers? Tense Shifts? Whazzat? Hehe... grammar to me is whether or not I spelled (...spelt?) a word right. I write whatever feels right, but yes, I have to improve on grammar. It's not only pleasing for the author, but it's also pleasing for the readers as well.

Your reply is pretty long, by the way. It wasn't until I tried reading your review from my gmail when I found out that Fanfiction has a word capacity in the emails they send. I had to go on my tab to see the whole thing (Then not even a minute later, the same thing happened when I was PM'ing someone and got the email for it. I love this site, it's glorious). Which isn't a bad thing at all; to me, long reviews feel a lot more thoughtful and critical. That's why I like your questions, it points out things that I would have missed otherwise. If you have none, I've done good enough. Sorry if that makes you feel awkward, haha!