Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia

Hey, everyone! :) This here is my submission for Day 7 of NaLu Week, for the prompt "Smile."

If Natsu had to choose the thing he loved most about Lucy, it would be her smile.

Natsu had never seen a smile as radiant as hers. It illuminated rooms like a beacon, filling the space to every corner with a warm, gentle light that no darkness could taint. Her smile seemed to be a sun in itself; not only was it bright and radiating, it possessed its own gravity. Natsu would find himself lured in by its magnetic pull. Lucy's smile embodied everything about the luminous girl that Natsu adored- her kindness, her optimism, her friendliness, her beauty. Yes, Natsu Dragneel loved Lucy Heartfilia's smile.

That's why he immediately noticed its absence when he slipped into Lucy's house to find her morosely lounging on her living room couch. A handful of crumpled tissues were scattered on and around the coffee table. Lucy lay on her back, sniffling despondently as she stared at a tear-stained piece of paper in her hand. Eyebrows knitted together in concern, Natsu walked into the living room and timidly asked, "Lucy? Are you okay?"

The celestial mage jolted into the sitting position and stuffed the paper behind the throw pillows. Laughing amiably, Lucy hastily wiped her tears away with her wrist and smiled at Natsu.

"Of course I am! What's up?" Natsu hunched down, like a wary cat inspecting a new room. Her smile wasn't right. The light was dimmed, like a lightbulb flickering in its last moments of life, and rather than a summery bright yellow, its aura was more of a sickly off-white. His green eyes bored intently into her form, taking note of the slouch in her shoulders and the unkempt crimps of her normally brushed and shampooed hair. "N-Natsu? What's that look on your face for?" she chuckled nervously. She pressed her body into the disarrayed throw pillow where she had hidden the paper, obviously trying to shield it with her body. "I'm okay! Really! It's just my allergies."

Natsu's nose wrinkled as he smelled the nervous sweat blooming on her body.

"You're lying," he accused. A pink flush appeared on Lucy's cheeks, and she shook her head insistently.

"Nuh-uh! I'm perfectly fine, see?" She flashed him that smile again as if to use it at evidence, but it only affirmed Natsu's suspicions. Lithe and cautious so as not to startle the edgy girl, he crept around the edge of the coffee table with slow, deliberate steps. Lucy fidgeted on the couch, sneaking her hand around the throw pillow. His keen ears heard the parchment wrinkle as she gripped it.

"Lucy… What's on that piece of paper?"

"Nothing!" she screamed and leaped from the couch to take off toward the hallway, flailing the parchment over her head. Natsu's nostrils flared as he vaulted over the coffee table to spring in front of the girl. She squeaked and ducked under his arms as he lunged for her, veering off at a ninety-degree angle to flee into the kitchen. "Natsu! Leave me alone!" she wailed as he stormed after her. She scurried behind the kitchen table, heading for the exit to the entryway, but as Natsu came tromping around the other side of the furniture, she squealed and back-tracked. She stopped on the long side of the table while Natsu paused on the other, and they became embroiled in an intense stare-down. Each time Lucy shifted like she was going to flee, he stomped his foot threateningly and lunged in that direction, making her squeak and reconsider her decision.

"Lucy, I am not above climbing on this table!" he warned. He placed a foot on the cushioned seat to emphasize. Lucy cringed and retreated within herself, clutching the letter to her chest.

"What is it gonna take for you to give it a rest?!"

"Tell me what you were cryin' about!"

"I wasn't crying!" she protested and clutched the paper further into her bosom, crumpling it up. Natsu growled and stepped up onto the chair, preparing to scramble over the table's surface. Lucy shrieked as he came shambling on all fours over the wood, but as he snatched for the paper, she shimmied away and took off back into the living room.

"Dammit, Lucy, c'mere!" Natsu roared, hopping off the table to scurry after her. He found her straddling the back of the couch, pushing up the window with one hand and swinging one leg over the windowsill. "Gotcha!" he grinned as he jumped onto the couch cushions and wound a thick arm around her waist.

"Natsu, nooooo!" she whined as he easily flung her like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder. As he stepped down from the couch, he plucked the paper from her hand. Lucy bleated protests and pounded her fists into his upper back and shoulders; she then fell limp like a fish and groaned when he refused to budge, and just resigned herself to her defeat. Natsu's leaf-green eyes scanned over the neatly printed letters on the page, a frown deepening on his face with every paragraph he read.

"… You got rejected for a publishing deal?"

Lucy sniffled wretchedly, then nodded with a tiny whimper. Natsu balled up the rejection letter in his hand and tossed it across the room so he wouldn't have to look at it, because it would only anger him. How dare they reject Lucy? She's a great writer! He thought haughtily and stamped his foot. He began grumbling under his breath about the publishing company's incompetence, and for a moment, he was completely oblivious to Lucy. He blinked when he felt her shudder on his shoulder and glanced down between his arm and his body to see tears rolling down her cheeks. "Lucy!"

"That isn't the first one. Six different companies have rejected my latest manuscript," Lucy said dolefully. She scraped at her eyes with the heels of her palms, but the tears continued to flow. They beaded on her lashes like dew on grass blades after a morning rain. "I've lost my touch… I'm going to be a one-hit-wonder," she sobbed. Natsu pursed his lips and walked back over to the couch. He fixed the cushion before plopping down, then resituated Lucy so that she was seated on his lap. She straddled him as she miserably wiped at her face, openly weeping and crying out in shame. "What do I do, Natsu?"

"Listen to me," he grunted and grabbed both her wrists. Lucy offered no resistance as he pulled them down to rest on her thighs. Leaving them there, he cupped her face and swept his thumbs over her cheekbones to catch the tears still rolling over them. "You are not going to be a one-hit-wonder. Your stories are amazing! So what if those jerks are too blind to see it?" he huffed insistently. "Lucy, you're going to be a famous author someday with tons and tons of published works under your belt. I know that because my Lucy never gives up."

Finally, there it was. Lucy's shaky lips wobbled into a tiny smile, like the first glimpse of the sun after being concealed by roiling gray storm clouds. She giggled, scrunching up her eyes like she always did, and leaned forward a little to lay her hands on his chest.

"You really think so?"

"I know so!" he frowned haughtily. Lucy chuckled again and leaned back, a blush alighting her cheeks. Natsu smiled warmly as that smile he adored so much finally broke out on her face, all teeth and glee. Her warm brown irises barely peeked out of her blonde lashes as she smiled with every ounce of energy in her body. The gloom in the house immediately evaporated, and sunlight streamed in from the open window behind them to bathe the living room in golden light. The natural sun's glow couldn't compete with Lucy's smile, though- it was too warm, too bright, too gorgeous. He reached up to pinch her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and she opened her eyes to regard him curiously.

"There it is. I missed it."

"Missed what?"

"Your smile, Lucy. It lights up the whole world. I'm sad without it." Lucy blinked, then smiled affectionately. She melted over him, pressing her torso against his and winding her arms around his neck. Natsu was not prepared for such an overtly romantic gesture, and so he reflexively grabbed her hips. She seemed not to mind, for she began twisting the ends of his salmon-colored locks around her index fingers.

"That's interesting. You wanna know a secret?" Blinking, he nodded. Lucy leaned forward some more, brushing the tip of her nose against his. "Your smile lights up my whole world."

"Really?"

"Mhmm," she nodded, cocking her head to the side as her fingers traveled further up his scalp. "I remember it so fondly- when you grabbed my hand, said we were going to Fairy Tail, and gave me the biggest, most beautiful smile." Natsu, not used to so much overt praise, flushed as pink as his hair. Her chocolate-brown eyes smoldered with an intense heat that rivaled the temperature of his fierce flames, and they fixated intently on his face. Unable to hold Lucy's searing gaze, Natsu's green eyes dropped down to her lips. Suddenly, he was gripped by the overwhelming urge to kiss her. The little smile playing over her plump pink lips was simply so inviting; that gravity, stronger than the largest planet in the universe, effortlessly drew him in. He barely realized what he was doing before he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers.

She hummed serenely and relaxed against him. Natsu appreciated how every contour of her plush, pliant body molded so perfectly against his rugged contours. One of his hands swept a swathe of her golden hair away to tuck it behind her ear, while the other migrated to her waist, hugging the divot of her body. She tasted like strawberries with a faint hint of zesty lemons. He kissed her lips once, twice, three times, before pulling back a hair and looking into her eyes.

"What was that for?" she asked teasingly. Natsu flushed pink and looked down meekly.

"I dunno. I just felt like it 'cuz you're so gorgeous," he admitted. Lucy snickered and reclined against him, laying her head on his shoulder and continuing to play with his tufts of soft pink hair. Natsu purred in contentment and nestled back into the couch, wrapped his arms around her lower back. She was so cozy and warm that he was beginning to drift off to sleep.

"Natsu?"

"Hnn?"

"Thank you. I feel much better." He glanced down at her to find her smiling again, smiling truly like she ought to. He gave her a lopsided smirk and kissed her forehead.

"O'course."

They drifted off together on the couch, like a couple of lazy house cats snoozing in the sun. However, Natsu's sun wasn't hanging in the blue sky outside; no, it lay in his arms. He held her tight to his chest, his Lucy, his bright golden sun and center of his universe.