Outside the snow fell heavily that night, forgetting to light her fireplace Lucy fell asleep to a warm room that quickly fell in temperature after she drifted off. Happy snuggled tightly against her, soft meows failing to wake her to the problem that quickly descended upon them. In the dead of the night the metal door on the window opened for just a moment, the little Exceed jumped out from under the covers ready to defend Lucy from who ever just entered their home.
The fireplace quickly roared to life with a few mumbles from the fire dragon as he stepped around the false wall that separated Lucy's sleeping area from the rest of the tower. Petting Happy on the head he looked down at Lucy as she lay under her pile of blankets curled up into a little ball and shivering.
She was sleeping so soundly and deeply, so was so incredibly warm. A shift of weight beside her didn't alarm her at first, until she opened her eyes to see Happy sleeping on the pillow on the other side of her. Sitting up abruptly she tore the blankets off the bed with shriek.
"What's your problem, it's too early for this." Natsu grumbled, rubbing one of his eyes as he looked up at a steaming Lucy.
"Why are you in my bed?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips and leaning over the bed with a pout. The dragon smirked at how adorable he found the blond when she was mad and lecturing him about something, he resisted the urge to pull her back into the bed, for now.
"I heard you shivering in your sleep, so I came to warm you up." Natsu explained sitting up and patting the bed where she was laying just a moment ago. Looking out the doorway Lucy noticed that the fire was going now. He is so warm, and it made the bed so comfortable. Lucy thought as she gave in and climbed back into bed, the dragon wasting no time in grabbing a hold of her and nuzzling against the back of her head breathing in the scent of her hair.
"Nope." Lucy squeaked out getting out of bed again ignoring Natsu's protest and even his low growl as he didn't get his way. He followed her out to the kitchen, watching her walking about starting to make breakfast, one hand scratching aimlessly at his shirtless stomach. As she walked past him again, he caught her wrist.
"I'll roll over, just come back." He pleaded, sounding so sad. Lucy looked to one of the small windows that had glass to see the black sky outside and back to the begging onyx eyes and agreed. Just as he said, Natsu rolled over and faced away from her as they slipped back to sleep. Lucy's dreams filled with all sorts of different scenarios where the dragon rolled over.
An alluring scent of food being freshly made woke Lucy from one of her many dreams that left her wanting. Natsu no longer in the bed by her side, Lucy slipped out of the bed and walked out of the room so see what she expected. The fire dragon was cooking them breakfast.
"You know you shouldn't crawl into someone's bed without asking first." Lucy scolded.
"Sorry Luce. I thought you were going to freeze, I heard you shivering in your sleep."
"You said the same thing last night." Lucy paused. "How sensitive is your hearing?"
"It's the best, now let's eat." Natsu beamed as he set a plate down in front of her.
From that night onward Natsu hardly left the tower at all, only leaving momentarily to supplies he had stored in his cave. One day when he was out getting some meat, Lucy was reading from a book with Happy lazily laying by the fire when a loud crash into made the metal doors of the window shake followed by a string of curses and a thud on the ground outside. Failing to stifle her laughter as she imagined the sight of Natsu slipping on the icy ledge and falling. Opening the window, she giggled at the sight of the Natsu shaped hole with a steady stream of steam flowing out.
"That didn't hurt." Natsu groaned sitting up from the hole rubbing his back. "Didn't hurt at all."
"You okay?" Lucy called down to him, her head leaning into her open palm as she smiled brightly and ever so warmly to the dragon.
"I'm okay." He called back, standing up only to fall onto his hands and knees. Concerned Lucy leaned as far forward as the barrier would allow her to.
"Happy." She called to the little cat, he lifted his head and floated over to Lucy's waiting arms. "Fly down and help Natsu for me?" she asked with a kiss to the top of his little head. The kitten flew out the window, without waiting to see if the kitten was helping the dragon or teasing him as the two loved to play pranks on each other.
Carefully rushing down the stairs Lucy flung the door open to a mountain of snow that spilled down on her feet, sucking in her breath she stepped into the freezing snow, pressing herself tightly against the barrier and called for Natsu to come to her. A few moments later steam came into her view, shortly after his pink head came into view and the snow in front of the doorway and around Lucy's feet melted.
Despite him trying to play off his injuries, the fall hurt him more than he cared to admit. His human form was a weakness after all, and he hit his back on the metal ledge on his way down and then again when he landed. Taking Natsu's weigh onto herself, Lucy positioned herself under one of his arms and began making her way up the stairs after kicking the door shut.
Sitting Natsu down on the closet thing she could reach as she finished coming up the stairs, a chair at the table, Lucy rushed to grab her first aid. Happy meowed at her, flying circles in and out of the window. Quickly pulling it closed she gave the little kitted a quick rub on his head before returning to Natsu. Carefully pulling off his open vest shirt he always wore she examined all the scrapes and bruises he had. Seeing him shirtless was nothing new to her, he never seemed to have his chest covered, but now she was finally seeing all his old scars and wounds he gained in some of his more serous battles he had told her of once before.
Some fluff before the M rated stuff in the next chapter...
I was going to start pacing out the posting of the chapters to give me more time to think of how i want this one to come to an end, but since i've had the issues with the text i decided to post this one early :)