A/N: I'm going to finish this fic, I swear, I'm on a roll, I can do it! Thanks for the reviews, they give me motivation. Keep reading!

Lucy had never felt so well-rested. Last night had been the best sleep of her life, though her neck was feeling a little stiff. She tried to give it a little stretch but found her pillow wasn't as soft as usual, wait did her pillow have a collarbone?

The blonde squinted in the morning light coming from the window behind her. She saw the tv was on, glowing with the loading screen. She realized she was on the couch. She must have fallen asleep while watching The Lion King last night…

…which meant her "pillow", probably wasn't a pillow…

Her head shifted, accidentally shrugging the tanned arm off her shoulder, and her wide brown eyes landed on the stretched-out, pink-haired, drooling, fireman sleeping on her couch.

Lucy let out a squeak as she jumped off the couch, startling Salamander awake.

"What's happening? Are we under attack?" the pinkette was looking around confused, his butt still planted on her couch, but arms raised in a defensive pose.

Lucy's face was red, she couldn't believe that she'd fallen asleep or that he'd fallen asleep, that she had had a boy stay over, and she'd been using him as a pillow and oh stars!

The blonde fanned herself as her face overheated from the brain overload.

"Lucy!"

Lucy blinked at him, how was he so relaxed? Wasn't he worried about being late for work or embarrassed or something?!

"You fell asleep on my couch," she said feeling stupid at his confused and concerned expression.

"Oh, yeah," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You fell asleep first and I felt bad pushing you off me, so I figured it'd be better to just stay put. I know Erza would have killed me for waking her up, girls are really grumpy about their beauty sleep"

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep!"

"Whoa, no, it's ok. What's a sleepover between friends, right?"

Lucy blinked. Friends, they were friends, really good ones. Even if they hadn't known each other long something about the pinkette felt right, like he was meant to be in her home, his smile lighting up the room even better than the sunlight filtering in. Still…

"I mean sure, I guess, but don't you plan sleepovers in advance like what if you have work the next day? Oh my goodness, do you have work today?!"

Salamander shrugged, "Nah, today's my day off, otherwise I probably would have risked waking you up."

"Good" Lucy breathed. She shuffled awkwardly while her guest watched her with an amused and curious expression, his body relaxing back into the couch. Then his stomach gave a rumble.

"Oh, you're hungry!"

Salamander laughed, "Always!"

Lucy giggled and headed towards the kitchen area, "Better make some breakfast then"

"YES!" the pinkette cheered hopping up, off the couch, and stretching out his back. He wandered into the kitchen after her.

Lucy pulled out some eggs and bacon and started cooking breakfast while her friend basically drooled. His commentary on her cooking habits, the way she held the spatula and used the same pan to fry both the bacon and eggs, was fun and teasing and added some excitement to the usual morning routine.

He absolutely devoured the food when it was placed in front of him, and Lucy was both appalled and amused and wondering whether she should have made more food. He finished eating before her and was staring at her plate while she tried to eat. She finally gave in to his puppy eyes and gave him one of her pieces of bacon, which he ate in point five seconds.

After breakfast, they ended up just hanging out and talking. It was like their walks home but more, there wasn't a rush to finish the conversation before they got home – they were home. They ended up throwing on another Disney movie and talking about favourite characters and childhood memories – making snowmen, Halloween costumes, bullies, embarrassing school talent shows. No topic left untouched.

When it was time for Lucy to head to work, Salamander walked her to Fairy Tail, still excitedly keeping the conversation going.

"Alright, I have to start working now," Lucy told him, cutting him off mid-story about breaking a window during a middle-school baseball tournament.

"Awww" he pouted.

Lucy giggled at the adorable expression, "Thanks for walking me to work, I'll talk to you later."

"For sure, Luce. I'll be here to walk you home at closing time"

Lucy's eyes widened, "You don't have to do that!"

Salamander just flashed her a crooked grin, "I know, I want to."

And with that he walked away, leaving Lucy to get to work, blushing at his sincerity.

Sure enough, when she and Mira exited Fairy Tail after locking up, the pinkette was outside waiting for her.

Mira giggled, "Goodnight Lucy, you let me know if Mr. Dragneel gives you trouble, eh?"

Lucy smiled as Salamander started to protest Mira's comment, "Goodnight, Mira"

The pinkette grumbled as Mira walked away but quickly perked up as the two of them started walking back to Lucy's place, excitedly launching into a wild story of bumping into an old rival at the pet store.

Lucy smiled as she comfortably fell in to step next to him, loving the exciting stories and easy conversation. Before she knew it, he was following her into her apartment, not wanting to stop mid-story, and the two were comfortably on the couch, falling asleep to the familiar sounds of childhood movies. Despite her protests from that morning, Lucy found she didn't mind one bit.

Without realizing it, the pinkette had quickly become one of her closest friends and her favourite pillow.