AN: If you've made it this far, you know the drill: if you don't like NaLu, don't read. On another note, though, asdfghjkl; them reviews. Over 500(!), which is just plain darn amazing. I can't tell you enough how snazzy you all are – the cat's pyjamas, the lot of ya!

And apologies for the mess ffnet has caused lately; apparently a lot of people have had trouble uploading new chapters. Hopefully the problem is solved now.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belongs to Hiro Mashima. I own nothing.

Chapter XXV

"Yer...cleaning?"

Looking up from where he was stuffing a handful of mismatched objects and knick-knacks into a large chest, Natsu threw his friend a grin, not at all thrown off by the wry disbelief on Gajeel's face as he took in the state of the room.

"Something wrong with that?"

Gajeel quirked a brow. "Did I say it was? The hell are you doing it for, though? 'S long as I've know you, you've never stored any of it away," he said, motioning to the room in general, cluttered as it was with every kind of oddity under the sun. Natsu had grown up on the streets with nothing; keeping anything other than the clothes on your back had meant having to protect it from other street rats. Everything was fair game, if you could get your hands on it. He'd always had a roof over his head – if different roofs each night – but the general rule had been that you didn't own anything. So when he'd finally gotten his own place – in which to keep his own things – he'd taken to storing whatever he came across on his jobs. Memories, and other useless things that caught his fancy. Keeping them out and around in his flat made it feel more like home, though he had to admit there wasn't much room for keeping company, which was why Gajeel was still loitering by the front door.

And he was right – Natsu had never used to store things away. He liked his memories where he could look at them when he wanted.

"Well, uh...yeah. It's about time?"

Gajeel snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Understatement if I've ever heard one, but your beeswax's your own. What'd ya need me for?"

Dropping what he was holding into the chest, Natsu sprung to his feet, dusting his hands on his trousers with a gleeful grin. "Need your help with something, and it looked up your alley."

He was met with a sceptically raised brow. "Oh yeah?"

Natsu didn't say anything else as he walked, still grinning, into the small kitchenette, motioning for Gajeel to follow. When he entered, he waved a hand towards the object of his thoughts – and his current problem – where it was propped against the far wall. Gajeel stopped in the doorway, blinking as both brows crept towards his hairline.

"That's an engine."

"Yup."

"Why'd ya have an engine in your kitchen?"

Natsu shrugged. "Wasn't any space left in the living room."

"Idiot."

"What?" he asked, motioning towards the thing. "I got it from the geezer's old flivver when he got that new automobile last year. Thought it could fetch some dough."

"Yeah? Then why is it still here?"

Natsu scratched the back of his head, smile turning sheepish. "Well, I kind of forgot about it."

"...it's in the middle of yer kitchen."

"So? I usually eat at the speakeasy."

"Glutton."

"Hey!"

Gajeel smirked. "Ya were askin' for it, Salamander. So ya want me ta help ya move it?"

Natsu shrugged. "Nah, not really. I was thinking you could have it."

Gajeel blinked, brows furrowing in surprise. "Me?"

"Yeah. Y'know, you like to tinker with this kind of stuff, right? When's the last time ya had an entire engine?"

Natsu could tell his friend was trying to keep his enthusiasm from showing too much, and felt his grin widen. Gajeel was notoriously horrible at accepting anything without being suspicious, so he wondered how he'd react to the gesture.

"Gonna take more than the two of us ta move it," he pointed out then, and Natsu hid a smirk at the fact that he hadn't turned the offer down.

"Yeah...I don't even remember how I got in in here to begin with. But can't you just pick it apart and take it away piece by piece?"

Gajeel gave him a look. "That's gonna take time."

"Need a new project?"

He snorted. "Got enough on my hands, thanks," he muttered, almost to himself, and Natsu crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ya could bring Levy over." At this, he got a really odd look from his friend, but ignored it. "Y'know, to keep you company? And, uh, Luce could come with you. And...I'd get some food."

There was a smile stretching across Gajeel's face that told Natsu he'd been found out, and he fidgeted under the knowing smirk. "Oho? So that's what it's all about. Well, it explains the cleaning," Gajeel said with a snort. "Ya need a chaperone, hmm?"

Natsu grimaced, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Mira said it was proper," he said, before muttering under his breath, "whatever that means."

"It means she's used to having chaperones. Doesn't mean she wants one."

Natsu looked uncomfortable. "Mira said she might be more comfortable, y'know, if Levy was here, maybe? And...I was...there's.."

"Ya don't want Leo around Blondie, and Shorty needs a bodyguard."

Natsu tried to smile, but it felt awkward. "Yeah? So...will you do it?"

Gajeel looked like he wanted to laugh, but he settled for shaking his head. "I ain't back on duty, yet. Hag's orders."

"Well, what about when you're back on duty then? Hell, I'm going to need the time to fix this place up," he muttered, casting a look around his home and wondering what he had been doing these past two hours. Everything was in a heap in the far corner, and what he had moved he'd replaced with other trinkets and objects. If anything, it looked even worse than it had when he'd started.

Gajeel was silent for a moment, eyes on the engine across the room and an unreadable expression on his face. Natsu wondered what he was thinking, and what conclusion he was coming to.

"If Shorty wants to come," he said finally, shifting his gaze until he met Natsu's, "then I'll tag along." Pushing away from the door frame, he stalked across the room, before kneeling by the hunk of metal.

Natsu grinned. "Sweet! Owe ya one, Gajeel."

"Yeah, yeah, don't go getting excited – she ain't agreed to it yet."

Natsu shrugged. "I've got some books somewhere...I think. She likes those, right?"

Gajeel didn't even look up from his tinkering. "Yeah. Bit of a bookworm, that one."

"Who'd have thought you'd go for an upper class girl, anyway. Thought you hated fat cats," Natsu said as he leaned against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest.

Gajeel snorted. "She ain't a fat cat."

"She's rich, ain't she?"

"Not anymore, she's not."

"But if the old man gets her name cleared?"

He just barely caught the way Gajeel's hands hesitated, before he tugged another part loose from the engine. He didn't reply, and Natsu wondered if he'd hit a nerve, and panicked a little that maybe he'd change his mind about getting Levy to come with him. He also wondered what he was worrying about, if that was the reason he was so silent. Levy obviously liked Fairy Tail. Lucy and Cana had talked about it – said she looked a lot happier than she had in her old home. Did he think she'd go back if she got her name cleared and her fortune back?

"Still won't make her a fat cat," Gajeel said finally, turning his head to regard Natsu with furrowed brows. "And what about you? Blondie hasn't been cast off. What happens when her old man wants her back?"

Natsu's brows furrowed. "She'd stay here."

"She tell ya that?"

"Yeah. She told me she liked Fairy Tail. Said she wanted to stay."

Gajeel snorted as he turned back to the engine. "There's a big difference between what ya want and what ya can in her world," he said finally, voice a low rumble, and there was an underlying...something, there, that Natsu couldn't put his finger on.

"But if she wants, she can," he said. It was that simple.

...wasn't it?

"Her old man's Jude Heartfilia," Gajeel said, cursing under his breath softly as a loud 'thunk' echoed through the kitchen from where one of the parts had come loose and hit the floor. Natsu just waved it off – he never used the kitchen much. And he was more preoccupied with what Gajeel was telling him, anyway.

"So? He's some business big shot, right?"

Gajeel snorted. "Not just 'some' big shot. The big shot. Trumps the old man, anyway, if that puts it into a better perspective."

Natsu frowned, remembering Lucy's words from when they'd walked to the match that day; when she'd been worried about her father sending someone after her. Would he? And when? He'd told her he'd have to go through him first, and he'd meant it, although he hadn't really thought it would be such a problem. If she was happy, wouldn't he just let her stay?

"She's old enough to do what she wants," he said then, because it was the only reply he could come up with.

"Means little in her circles," Gajeel retorted. "Old man's probably got a husband waitin' for her for when she gets back 'n everything. Ya can bet yer next paycheck on that – she's an only child, ain't she? And a woman."

"The hell does being a woman have anything to do with it?"

Gajeel sighed, as though growing impatient. "In Fairy Tail? Nothing. In her world?" He let the question hang in the air, as he continued tinkering with the engine.

Natsu felt his hands twitch against his sides. It had all been so simple. He liked her, and he wanted her to stay. She wanted to stay. There hadn't been a problem. But he forgot, sometimes, that she was from a different world than he was. She was from posh town – had grown up in posh town, not just watched it from afar like the rest of them. He didn't known lick about what kind of life she'd led, but she was in Fairy Tail now. That had to count for something. That was a choice, wasn't it?

"If her old man wants her back, what'll you do?" Gajeel asked then, and Natsu looked up, brows furrowing.

"I'll protect her."

"And if she wants to go?"

"But she wants to stay." She'd told him so.

"I do want to stay – more than anything!"

"He's the only family she's got," Gajeel pointed out. "'S far as I know, and from what Makarov said. She ain't said anything bad about him, either, and from what Shorty's told me, he ain't a bad guy."

Natsu felt like he was trying to keep a piece of fraying fabric from dissolving, and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "That what makes you worried?" he asked then, finally. "That she'll leave, if she gets her name cleared?" He wanted to shift the topic away from Lucy, because it was making him angry just thinking about what Gajeel was telling him.

Gajeel was silent for another long lull, the only sounds in the kitchen coming from the engine. Finally, he sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "It'll be her choice, if it happens. I can't choose for her."

Natsu frowned. "But she's your girl."

"Yeah."

"D'you think she'd want to go back?"

Gajeel was silent again, before answering, "Haven't asked. Maybe."

There was still a whole room of unanswered questions; of speculations he wasn't eager to voice out loud, and Gajeel wasn't eager to answer. He was saved the trouble by the front door opening, and he raised his head from where he'd been intently focusing on the floor, wondering who'd stopped by without knocking. It wasn't the safest neighbourhood, but even street rats kept away during the day if they knew what was good for them. And what kind of thief used the front door?

"Natsu?"

His eyes widened at the voice, and a grin stretched across his face as he turned around in the doorway, just in time to see Happy drop his bag to the floor by his feet. Removing his blue sixpence, he wiped his forehead, a wide grin tugging at his lips as he caught sight of his brother.

"Happy!"

"Hey, you're home!" The boy grinned as he dragged his bag with him, depositing it by the old sofa, only to be pulled into a crushing hug.

"Ya didn't tell me you were coming home!"

Happy made a choking noise at the back of his throat, but laughed as Natsu released him. "It took less time than I'd thought," he said with a shrug, adjusting his hat when it fell into his eyes. He threw a look around the room, brows dipping down in bemusement as he stepped into the kitchen. "Are you...cleaning?"

"Uh–"

"Hey, Gajeel! What are you doing here?"

Rising from his seat, Gajeel wiped his grease-covered hands on his trousers. "Hey, kid. Been a while – what, you grown three inches or something since I last saw ya?"

"Have I?!"

Gajeel only quirked a smile, and Natsu shook his head, but the boy was too eager to notice the exchange. "How was the job, Hap?" Natsu asked then, as Happy went for the cupboards to look for something to eat, rifling through some tins until he got his hands on something not even Natsu knew they'd had lying around.

"It was a success!" he declared around a mouthful of food, as he turned around with a grin.

"Gets his manners from you, I see," Gajeel muttered with a smirk, and Natsu ignored him. "Oye, brat – Lil's been askin' fer ya. When are you gonna join us in the Pit?"

Happy almost choked on his biscuit, and coughed. "Lily did?" he asked, when he cleared his throat, and a grimace tugged at his mouth.

Gajeel smirked. "What? Not up for it?"

"N-yes, no. Yes. I mean. It's just–"

"Leave him alone, Gajeel – he's got enough with his new job. Old man's got him on the distillery run. He doesn't have time for the ring, right Hap?"

Happy shot him a relieved look, and Natsu grinned. "Yeah, uh, that's right."

Gajeel shook his head. "Whatever you say, kid." Walking up, he grabbed a biscuit, popping it into his mouth as he leaned against the counter Happy was sitting on.

"Who're you calling a glutton again?" Natsu asked as he eyed the open tin in Happy's hands.

Gajeel shrugged. "You weren't treating your guest. What kinda host are you? You gonna bring Blondie home ta this place and not have anything ta give her?"

Happy perked up at that, just before Natsu could signal to Gajeel to shut his trap. "Blondie?" he asked, throwing a curious look towards Natsu. "Who's that?"

"Uh–"

"He's got a crush," Gajeel said then with a shrug, and Happy's eyes went round as saucers.

"Really?"

"Hey, now–"

"Cleaning the place fer her and everythin'," Gajeel added as he helped himself to another biscuit when Happy held the tin open for him.

"Oye–"

"Oho?" Happy said, before a grin spread across his face, and his eyes looked almost cat-like with their cunning. "You must really like her," he teased, rolling the words around on his tongue.

Gajeel grinned. "My work here is done – I'm headin' back to Fairy Tail."

Natsu glared at him as he walked out. "Yeah, thanks for the help."

Gajeel threw his hand up in mock salute. "See ya later, kid. Drop by the joint and Cana'll have a drink fer ya. Job well done and all."

Happy grinned. "Will 'Blondie' be there?"

"Happy..."

Gajeel smirked. "Dunno, Salamander. Will she?" he asked, before turning and heading out the open front door. "I'll talk ta Shorty about the visit," he threw over his shoulder as he vanished from sight.

When Natsu turned back to his little brother, he had his arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face that promised nothing but trouble.

"Blondie, huh?"

"So, who was it you wanted me to meet again?"

Turing his gaze from where he'd been surveying the square, Natsu shot Lucy a smile. "Happy – he's my little brother. I told you about him, right?" Happy wasn't his brother by blood – he'd pulled him off the streets right after Makarov had taken him in. He'd had room for two, and he'd known what it was like, living alone on the streets. At first, the boy had depended on Natsu for food, but when he'd become old enough to start working for the old man, he'd started looking out for himself.

She smiled. "Yeah, you said he was out on a job for Makarov? He's back then?"

Natsu grinned as he jumped up until he was sitting on the elevated brick wall running the length of the street. Looking down at her, he titled his sixpence to shield his eyes from the evening sun, hanging low over the rooftops. "Came back this morning. And it was his first job outside the city. 'S a big deal. And Extalia's pretty far, too. My first job out of town was in the capitol, and that's just a few miles away. Hap's been across the border. Geezer's expanding his connections and all that."

She smiled, tilting her head. Some of her hair escaped from the confines of her hat, though she didn't seem to notice, and it glowed golden in the sunlight. He blinked, momentarily distracted, and tried to focus on her face instead. "You're proud," she said then.

He grinned. "Well yeah! It's a big thing, and he's pretty young."

"How old is he?" she asked as she leaned her back against the wall, but didn't make any move to jump up beside him. Natsu looked down on her from where he sat.

"Sixteen."

She hummed under her breath. "Young, then."

"How old are you, Luce?"

She smiled up at him wryly from beneath the brim of her hat. "You're not supposed to ask that question of a lady, you know."

He snorted. "What? You actually really old or something?"

She nudged his knee roughly with a gloved hand in mock offense, and shook her head. A lull passed before she spoke, eyes trained on the river opposite the street. "I'm twenty."

"You're not married," he blurted before he was able to stop himself. She didn't notice the wince, though, as her gaze was firmly locked on the running water.

She grimaced. "No, I'm not."

"...were ya supposed to be?"

She looked up at him then, surprise flickering across her face, before her expression softened into something he couldn't read. "Maybe," she said then, turning back. She sighed. "I'm supposed to be a lot of things I'm not," she murmured, almost too low for him to hear.

Natsu was silent, fingers twitching against his sides; itching to do something. He didn't know what was "proper" in these situations, but he knew he didn't want to see her look sad, the way she did now. He couldn't see her whole face because of her hat, and he frowned, wondering if she was hiding from him.

A thought struck him then, and he went with it.

"Hey!"

He grinned, holding the hat out of her reach. She had a hand atop her head, and her hair was wild about her face as she looked up at him in bewilderment. Freed from the confines of the stupid thing, the blonde strands glowed in the warm sunlight. "Natsu, what–"

"Why'd ya always wear a hat, anyways, Luce? Your hair looks a lot nicer when it's free."

She blinked, and he almost thought he caught a blush. "Because–"

"Natsuuuuu!"

Looking up at the call of his name, Natsu waved the hand holding the hat as Happy came running down the street from the square. "Hey, Happy!"

Coming to a stop before them, Happy placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath, a grin splitting his face. "Sorry I was late! I...uh, had to post something."

Natsu frowned. "Post what?"

Lucy looked up at him, one blonde brow raised in wry amusement. "A letter? What else would you send by post?"

Happy turned his gaze on her, eyes widening with recognition as a smile stretched across his face. "Blondie?"

"Blondie?"

Natsu laughed. "Nah, Hap, her name's Lucy!"

"Ah! Pleased to meet you, Lucy!"

Lucy shook her head, but there was a smile on her face, "It's nice to finally meet you too, Happy," she said, and Happy blushed, scratching the back of his head.

"So who were ya sending a letter to, Hap?" Natsu asked from above them.

Happy's gaze shifted to the side. "Uh...someone. In, uh...Extalia."

"Ah, did you make a new contact?"

Happy fidgeted with one of his suspenders, and Natsu frowned, wondering why he was acting so strange. From beside him, Lucy hummed, and when he looked at her there was an odd smile on her face. "I think I know what kind of letter that was," she mused. "What's her name?"

Happy swallowed and avoided her gaze. "Her? I don't–"

"You got a girl, Happy?" Natsu asked, leaning down almost to the point of falling off the wall.

Happy shook his head frantically as he held up his hands. "It's nothing like that! I mean, it's not – not yet, or, well, ever. If, you know. She's not–" his cheeks turned very red and his fingers twitched at his sides, until he crossed his arms over his chest. "And what about you?" he suddenly asked, completely changing the topic.

Natsu blinked. "What about me?"

Happy threw Lucy a look, then looked back at Natsu, and was about to open his mouth again when Lucy suddenly went rigid, and made a strange noise at the back of her throat that had Natsu quirking a brow.

"Ya okay, Luce?"

"No," she whispered, but she didn't seem to be talking to him, and it was then Natsu became aware that the man who had stopped on the other side of the street from them a few minutes earlier hadn't moved. He turned his gaze towards him, and found it resting on a taller gentleman in a pinstripe suit, watching from over the rims of a pair of glasses.

"Who's that?" Happy asked, picking up on the tension. Natsu frowned, and jumped down from the wall just as the man began walking towards them. Stepping forward, he angled his body so that it covered both Happy and Lucy.

"You got a problem?" he asked, not bothering with any pleasantries, sensing that whoever he was, he meant trouble.

The man didn't smile – didn't even acknowledge that Natsu was in front of him. "Miss Lucy," he said simply, looking right past Natsu to the girl at his back.

Natsu glared, shifting so that he was right in the man's line of vision. "Oye, I asked you a question."

He still didn't so much as glance at him, but when he spoke, it was clearly to answer the question. "I am here to take Miss Lucy home."

"Did he send you?" Natsu heard Lucy ask, steel creeping into her tone, but he didn't turn from where he was standing, in case the fella took advantage of his distraction.

The man's expression didn't change. "I have my orders," was all he said, and Natsu felt Lucy stiffen behind him.

He snorted. "Sorry, but that doesn't really work for me," he declared.

"I have my orders, Miss Lucy," the man repeated, ignoring that Natsu had even spoken.

"Oye–"

"Natsu," Lucy cut him off, placing a hand on his elbow. When he looked at her, there was a determined expression on her face, but he could still see the worry behind her eyes. "I want to go home."

He'd always considered himself an impulsive person. People told him often enough that he lived more by his gut than he did his head, but then, that had always worked for him. He didn't stop to think too much – he acted. If he'd always second-guessed himself, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere. He wouldn't have gotten off the streets, he wouldn't have found Makarov and Fairy Tail, and he wouldn't have made it half as far as he had in the ring. He could have spent hours thinking and rethinking the things Gajeel had said earlier, about whether or not Lucy wanted to stay at Fairy Tail – wanted to stay with him – if she had to make a choice between that and going back to her father.

He could have, but he didn't. Because he realized that in his current predicament, second-guessing his decision – second-guessing his beliefs – could cost him just about the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"I do want to stay – more than anything!"

And so he went with his gut.

"C'mon, Luce," he said. Grabbing her hand, he didn't even look at the man as he brushed past him, heading in the direction of the speakeasy and tugging Lucy along behind him. He heard Happy follow in their wake, his brusque footsteps over the cobbled stones of the street betraying a nervousness he was clearly trying to hide, but Natsu wasn't listening for his friend. He was listening for the man, to see if he would follow, too. Throwing a look over his shoulder, Natsu noticed that he was simply watching them depart, although he didn't meet his eyes, focusing instead on Lucy. He didn't move from where he stood, silent against the brick wall; his shadow long against the cobblestones with the evening sun at his back.

"Natsu..."

He tightened his grip around her hand as he turned his gaze back to the street ahead of them, but he didn't look at her. Not until they'd rounded the next corner, and the following one, did he allow himself to stop and meet her gaze. She hadn't said anything for the entire walk, but there was a worried crease to her brow that didn't look right on her, and he felt like physically wiping it away. Her hair fell tousled around her face, and a thought struck him, if perhaps she'd worn the hat to hide it? Had she been recognized because of him?

There must have been something on his face, because she smiled suddenly, but it seemed forced. Unnatural. "Hey, uh, you forgot my hat," she joked, but there was a hollow sound to it that made him feel cold.

"I could go back and get it," Happy proposed from behind them, and something that looked like panic shot across Lucy's features.

"Ah, no! That's okay, Happy," she said. "Thank you, but I've got other hats back home."

"Home?"

It took him a moment to realize it had come from him, and when she looked at him, he felt like squirming under her close scrutiny. Then she smiled, and though it was far from the ones he wanted to see on her face, it was better than the one she'd given him earlier. This, at least, seemed genuine.

"Yeah," she said, and her hand tightened around his. "Fairy Tail." Home. "Now come on," she said, as she tugged him along. "The sun's going down, and I haven't brought a warmer jacket. And I want to get to know Happy," she said, throwing the boy a grin that made him blush.

She looked at Natsu then, when he didn't answer. "You okay?"

"I want to go home."

He nodded, and with a grin, tugged her along with him as he picked up his pace. "Yeah! C'mon, Happy – we're going home!"

"Ah, wait up!"

Lucy laughed as he pushed his pace to a light jog, and Natsu laughed with her, even when she yelled at him to slow down so she could catch her breath and that her shoes weren't made for running on cobblestones. Out of the glow of the evening sun they ventured, into the slowly dawning shadows that marked the entrance of the Alleys, until they reached the mouth of the alley that held the back-door to the speakeasy. Opening the door, he let her go in first, and ignored the worried glance Happy sent him as he followed suit.

He didn't tell her about the people who'd followed them; who, now that he'd become aware of their presence, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before.

"...he'll have to go through me..."

He had a feeling that would happen sooner than he'd thought.

AN: I was looking through old Fairy Tail chapters in preparation for Jude's entry into the story, and was not prepared for that onslaught of forgotten feels. BAUGH; LUCY.

flivver: old, run down car.