CONTENT WARNING: Alcohol

Hiya! 26 already!

I realize I have a few filler chapter at this point, before the story moves on to the next arc. I hope it stays interesting enough for all of you.

Happy reading!

Lucy's eyes fluttered open in the dark. What had woken her up? Next to her, Natsu's breath was deep and regular. She shifted and rolled over, trying to get comfortable to go back to sleep, quickly getting frustrated that she couldn't sleep. She heard Natsu stir behind her and startled when his hand found her head, stroking her hair. "Shhh…" he whispered. "You're safe. Everything's okay." She didn't dare to move or speak, and his voice eventually lulled her back to sleep.

...

Lucy woke up again in the morning, rolling over to find Natsu still sleeping beside her. She smiled softly and cozied up, deciding to lay down a while longer. As she looked at Natsu, a hazy memory started poking at her mind. Had she really woken up in the middle of the night? Had Natsu really whispered to her until she fell asleep again? Or did she dream it?

She reached slowly to brush a strand of hair out of his eyes and frowned. It wasn't the first time she saw him sleeping on his side, but it definitely wasn't common for him to do so.

"Morning," he mumbled thickly without opening his eyes. She stayed quiet, unsure if he actually was awake. Then his eyes cracked opened.

"Morning," she replied. "How did you sleep?"

"Mhm… okay… You?"

"Good, I think." Natsu blinked, his eyes finally focussing on her face.

"You think?" he asked.

"Dunno," she admitted. "Just have a very vague recollection of waking up in the night and… you whispered to me until I fell asleep again." He looked confused for a moment.

"Oh… Erm… I thought you were having a nightmare." She studied him for a moment, puzzled.

"You mean that you did?" she questioned.

"Uh… Yeah… Every once in a while, I notice your breathing goes faster. I assumed it meant you had a nightmare, so I wanted to help calm you before it got too bad."

"How often do you do that?"

"Dunno. I don't fully wake up anymore, it's kinda a reflex. I barely remember doing it." He rolled on his back to stretch. "Did you have a nightmare?" he questioned.

"Not that I remember. I think I just… woke up and got fed up because I couldn't fall back asleep, so it still helped."

"Good," he smiled. "I'm glad." He pushed the blankets off his legs to stand, stretching again. Lucy couldn't help looking at the scar on his side.

"Hey, Natsu?" He looked at her as he lowered his arms and she stood too. "Would it… uh… be inappropriate to ask how you… uh… got that scar on… your neck?" It made him pause. "Sorry, forget I asked."

"Happened when I was a kid," he shrugged. "I think I got whipped by a branch when I was running in the woods. I don't really remember how it happened, took me a while to notice."

"You didn't notice you cut your neck?" she asked, surprised.

"No."

"How old were you?" she asked, only now noticing his grim expression. She saw him with that look a few times. Anytime he talked about Lisanna.

"Err… Eight, I think." She was surprised. She had expected it to be around the same time he had lost his friend, from his expression.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He hesitated for a moment, then sat on the bed. She sat on the other side.

"Lisanna and I were playing in the woods near where my dad lived and at some point, I lost her. I thought she was trying to prank me, but I still went looking for her. I heard her scream, so I bolted to get to her." Lucy felt a prang of guilt for asking. "Turns out, she had run into a spider web and was freaking out about having spiders on her," he added with a small laugh and Lucy smiled. It wasn't as bad of a story as she had feared. "But somewhere between when I heard her and when I got to her, I was bleeding. She felt really bad about it, especially when it scarred." Lucy couldn't help looking at the scar on his side. She would always feel bad for it, even if Natsu didn't seem to care for it. He noticed her look and a forced smile strained his lips. "It wasn't your fault any more than it was hers," he reassured her. "I just have a knack for getting hurt."

"That's what you're calling it?" she snorted with a raised brow.

"What would you call it?" he threw back, a real smile tugging on his lips now. Lucy looked pensive for a moment.

"I guess I'd call it a knack for not being hurt as badly as it first seems," she conceded.

Natsu laughed. "I'll take it," he agreed. "Let's have some breakfast now."

...

"Are you sure you want me to come?" Lucy asked anxiously.

"Why do you even ask? Of course, we want you there, Lucy!" Mavis exclaimed.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Zeref assured her, "but we would love to have you there."

"What do you think, Natsu?" she turned to him.

"Well, there's no way I'm getting out of this one. It'd be more fun if you were with me, but it's your call."

"And you're sure my prom dress is fine?" Lucy asked Mavis.

"Of course! You two looked adorable," she cooed. "Oh, Zeref! I totally forgot to give them a copy of their pictures!"

"Pictures?" Natsu asked.

"The pictures from prom!" Mavis exclaimed. "I figured you'd forget to claim them, so I had Cana send me the link, they arrived last week!"

"Oh, I'd love to see them," Lucy nodded eagerly.

"I'll bring them by tomorrow," Zeref assured. "But let's not lose track here. Natsu, you never replied to my question?"

"What question?"

"Being my best man!" Zeref sighed.

"I'm pretty sure I replied," Natsu argued.

"You laughed."

"Yeah, exactly."

"So that's a no," Zeref concluded.

"Do you really think I can write a speech? Would you even want me to?"

"That's fair," he sighed. Lucy chuckled, imagining just how bad it would be.

"I'm sure Precht would be honoured to be your best man," Mavis nudged him. "Unless you want to ask Warrod." Zeref cringed.

"He'd be the only one laughing at his own speech," he sighed. "And Precht is way too serious. No, Yury is the perfect in between."

"Oh, is he gonna be back in time?" Mavis exclaimed excitedly.

"You know he'd never miss our wedding. He's been talking about it since we were twelve."

"Sounds like you've got your match," Natsu grinned. "Why didn't you just ask him first?"

"I did. He insisted that I ran it by you first since we're family."

"You have my blessing," Natsu giggled at his own joke.

"Who is your maid of honour?" Lucy asked Mavis.

"Zera. She's been my best friend since we were seven, and she's been dying to meet you. Which brings me to the next point: The Bachelorette party. You have to come."

"Me? But I'm not even in the bridal party."

"Neither are Cana and Sherry, and they're still coming." It took Lucy a moment to process this, and Natsu still reacted first.

"Cana is going to the wedding?"

"Why, yes, of course. It was a bit last minute, but we made it work."

"Who else will be there?" Lucy questioned.

"That you know, there will be Shelia too, but Wendy couldn't make it for the bachelorette. Otherwise, Zera, obviously, Rita, she's Yury's wife, Jenny, my cousin, and Shelia's cousin, Sherry."

"Alright, I'll come too," Lucy nodded, and Mavis squealed in excitement.

"And Natsu is coming to the bachelor party," Zeref added.

"I am?" Natsu asked with surprise.

"You're my brother, I'm not giving you a choice. Loke already booked you the time off, so no excuses."

"Sounds like fun!" he grinned.

...

And so two weeks later, Natsu and Lucy found themselves at Mavis's and Zeref's place shortly before noon, and they all went to lunch at a nice restaurant. There, Lucy met with Zera, Rita, Jenny and Sherry for the bachelorette party, and Yury, Warrod, Precht, Larcade – who apparently was Zeref's and Natsu's cousin – and Invel. She was surprised to find out that Natsu already knew most of everyone, though she realized that Mavis's and Zeref's closest friends would have wanted to know Zeref's little brother as soon as they learned about him.

After their lunch, they parted ways, all the men heading one way and the women the other. Lucy had a blast throughout the day. From the restaurant, they went to a spa and soaked in hot water for a couple hours and Cana treated her to a pedicure, assuring she would do her manicure for the wedding. After, they went to see near-by waterfalls. Lucy was surprised she had never known about those, especially considering how often she had walked near the river, and finally headed for a chic restaurant to grab dinner.

Lucy was grateful for Cana's and Shelia's presence since everyone else was Mavis's age – they were all high school friends. She wasn't all that surprised to learn that Shelia wanted to study in medicine and Mavis would take her as an intern as soon as she would be qualified to start. Lucy also quickly figured that Mavis probably have told her friends to not ask about her dating life, because they didn't bring it up, although Zera did ask her how living with Natsu was, and Jenny hopped in, asking if she knew if he had ever dated. Lucy told them as briefly as she could about his background with Lisanna, admitting that he had liked – maybe even loved – her, but that she didn't know much about their relationship because he didn't like to talk about it. She could tell Mavis's interest had been caught, but she didn't hold on to the conversation as they changed topic.

After dinner, they went to see a movie. With it getting late, they started talking about going to the bar, and Rita, who was three months pregnant, offered to drive home anyone who didn't want to go. Shelia and Lucy bid their goodnight to everyone else and got in the car with Rita.

Lucy settled on the couch for a bit, until Natsu would get home. It wasn't long before she got a text from him saying he would be late, and she shouldn't wait up. She stayed up until almost midnight before giving in, getting ready and curling up in his bed.

It was probably 3 AM when Natsu stumbled in, though he couldn't read the time on the clock with his blurred vision. He made to get in his room, and paused, instead stumbling to the couch, falling asleep all dressed within seconds.

...

Lucy was confused when she woke up alone and felt a rush of panic. She grabbed her phone and saw a text from Natsu sent at 2:34 AM that she could only guess had been intended to say 'Heading home' though it was typed 'hdzidng gkme'. 'Where are you?' she typed back. She heard Natsu's phone chime from the kitchen and let herself relax at last. He had made it home then. Just as she let herself breathe again, she heard a crash followed by hurried footsteps, then the slamming of what had to be the bathroom door. Happy ran into the room a moment later, jumping on the bed with wide eyes. She got out of bed, worried, when she heard retching coming from the bathroom.

She knocked on the door. "Natsu?" she called. More retching reached her, and she felt a bit queasy at the sound. "Are you okay?" There was a groan that could be either a yes or a no, then a mumble that sounded like 'Gimme a minute'. Lucy backed from the door and saw that his phone, the TV remote and the PlayStation controller had been knocked off the living room table, along with some papers that had been on it the night before. Luckily, his computer was still sitting on top of it, though it was hanging off the edge, ready to fall. She went to clear up the mess, centering the computer on the table before it could fall.

A moment later, she heard the toilet flush and the shower turn on, soon followed by the fan. "Natsu? Are you sure you're okay to have a shower?" she called. Again, the noise that answered could mean anything and she sat with her back to the door, listening for any sign that he would fall and get hurt. Happy came to meow at her, and she pulled him on her lap to pet him. She knew he wanted to be fed, but she didn't want to leave until Natsu was out. When the shower stopped and she heard the curtain withdraw, she allowed herself to breathe again and stood to go feed the cat.

Just as she was getting ready to knock again to ask Natsu if he was okay, the door opened. Not expecting to see her standing there, he startled and moved back, slipping on the wet floor and falling. By some miracle, even though his towel came undone, it still covered him – or at least the parts of him that Lucy hadn't seen before.

"Oh god! Are you okay?" she asked. He didn't look so good, his skin pale and dark circles under his eyes. He pushed himself up on an elbow and raised a shaky hand to cover his mouth. After a moment, he let it drop by his side.

"I think so," he groaned in response.

"Let me help you up," Lucy offered, pausing when she saw him blush. He shook his head and had to blink to clear his vision. "What's wrong?"

"Well… I'm kinda… naked here," he croaked.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" She turned away, since she couldn't close the door with him sitting there. She could hear him struggle to stand.

"I'm good," he announced at last and she hesitantly turned his way. He was leaning against the door frame, still holding the towel around his waist.

"You sure? You look terrible," she pointed out.

"I feel like I'm dying," he whined. He stumbled a little as he made his way to the bedroom to get changed. Lucy closed the door after him and opted to move away from it to avoid startling him again. When he came out, his was wearing his sweatpants and a tank top, dragging his feet to sit next to her.

"What happened to you?" she asked, worried. She had seen him looking pretty rough before, but this was a whole different level of it. She wondered briefly if he had looked like this under all his bruising after he had been taken hostage. His head dropped to the counter, hitting it hard enough that even Lucy winced.

"I'm never drinking again," he whined, and the pieces clicked in Lucy's head. Despite her aversion for alcohol, she laughed.

"You're hungover?" she realized.

"More like dying," he groaned. "My head is killing me…"

"Banging it on the counter was not the best idea," she agreed.

"Didn't mean to," he admitted, rolling slightly to the side to look at her. The small motion made him lose his precarious balance and Lucy barely managed to grab his flailing arm to keep him from falling off the stool.

"Alright, let's get you in bed."

"It's noon," he argued.

"Don't care." She was surprised to find how light he was when she draped his arms across her shoulders and leaned his weight against her. He wasn't light light, but with how muscular he was, she had thought he would be heavier than he was.

"I can walk," he protested.

"Also don't care," she repeated.

"Luce," he whined, but still followed her – not that he could have fought it in his state. She almost fell on top of him when she laid him down. "I'm hungry," he complained. She firmly pushed down on his chest when he tried to stand.

"Don't move. I'm gonna call Cana."

"Why?"

"Because she's the only person I know who can help a mean hangover."

"She's gonna make fun of me," he pouted, but couldn't get free from her grip, which was really frustrating because she was barely even holding him.

"If you keep fighting me, I'm gonna have to sit on you while I call her," she warned him and he stilled, seeing just how serious she was. "Good boy."

"I'm not a dog," Natsu mumbled. Lucy felt herself blush as she realized what she said.

"Hush," she simply mumbled, dialing Cana's number. "Morning Cana," she greeted after a few seconds.

"Hey Lu, what's up?" She sounded pretty sober, though Lucy knew she probably got way drunk the night before.

"I need some advice, but you need to promise you won't laugh."

"Sure. What is it?"

"It's Natsu. He's really hungover and…" The roar of Cana's laughter made her flinch and she held the phone away from her ear. "Cana!"

"Sorry. Oh man, can I come over? I'd kill to see that."

"Just tell me how to help him."

"Tell him hold his liquor better."

"Cana…" she warned.

"Urg, fine. Get him to drink lots of water and eat lots of wheat product. Bread, pasta, whatever, and let him sleep it off."

"Thanks, Cana."

"Still a no on coming over, then?"

"See you tonight," Lucy replied and hung up, looking at Natsu. "You stay right here."

"Fine," he grumbled. She quickly came back with a bottle of water and Natsu chugged it with a sigh of relief. "I'm still hungry."

"I got pizza in the oven," Lucy replied.

"Awesome!" She went to get him more water, refilling his bottle thrice until he only had a few sips. By then, she allowed him to stand and eat in the kitchen. She only had two of the eight slices, and Natsu made quick work of the rest of it and leaned back with a content smile. "That hit the spot."

"You should get some more rest. You haven't slept that much." Natsu's fingers twitched as he counted.

"I got like… seven hours," he argued.

"Then let's get you one more for good measure."

"Can we watch a movie and go for a nap after instead?" Lucy laughed.

"Alright. I can agree to that." So, they settled down on the couch a browsed for a minute before choosing a movie and watched it more or less quietly. Then she ushered Natsu to his room and thought a nap could do her some good too and soon, they were both laying down.

"Hey, Luce?" Natsu said hesitantly, staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." She turned her head his way, but he didn't look at her and didn't add anything. She propped herself on an elbow, trying to catch his eyes.

"Why?"

"For… for getting completely wasted… For coming home completely wasted." He slowly turned his eyes toward her as she realized what he was saying. "I didn't know which room you'd be in, so I slept on the couch, but I… I should have crashed at Zeref's. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she assured him, settling down again. She hadn't even thought about the fact that him being hungover meant he had come home drunk out of his mind.

"It's not," he argued. "I should have known better. I swear I won't do it again."

"Just sleep for now," she declared, shifting so she could caress his hair. He made that purr-like noise.

"I know I can be difficult," he mumbled, quickly falling asleep, "but I do love you… taking care… of me…"

Lucy's heart was still pounding hard, but Natsu was fast asleep.

How cute is it that Lucy doesn't have nightmare because Natsu reassures her before it gets too bad?
And we have a wedding coming, how exciting is that! I've only ever been to one wedding and bachelorette, which was pretty much the same as Mavis's. I don't feel like she would be a strip club kinda bachelorette.
And can we just talk about Natsu's last line in this chapter? I squealed when I wrote it.
Since we've hit 101 followers (!), I will line up my chapters and try to update once a day every day next week (from Monday to Sunday), because my birthday is this weekend and I don't want to worry about updating then.
So I'll see you all on Monday!

Copperreign12: Laughter is the best medicine! Finding a new normal is definitely part of the healing process!

Valerioux: I don't feel like Natsu would be the jealous type cause he puts so much trust in his friends, but he'll definitely have his moment feeling possessive ;) (Which let's be real is pretty similar)

SummeryNIghts: Thank you!

Guess: Thank you! I'm glad to see you on board!