Summary: AU-ish, instead of fighting Gray into exhaustion, Natsu comes straight back home to find Flare at Lucy's….for some reason he doesn't take it very well.

Pairings: implied Natsu/Lucy, Lucy/Flare friendship, Natsu/Happy friendship, parental Master/Natsu, Charle/Wendy friendship, implied Gray/Juvia, some implied Happy/Charle if you squint, and lots and lots of other friendship feels.

YouTube Prompt: Natsu/Lucy video to 'The Last Time' by Taylor Swift and Snow Patrol.

It was late and all Natsu wanted to do was curl up in Lucy's bed, breathe in her scent, and go to sleep.

He had the most annoying and frustrating few days having to work with Gray because for some fucking reason idiots want both of them and not Natsu and his actual partners. As soon as the job had been complete and their payment had been given, Natsu took off as quickly as possible before the Snowflake did something to piss him off again.

And now he was home, and he was going to enjoy it before some other idiot requested only him and took him away from Lucy.

It was getting very annoying very quickly.

Happy yawned as he dropped Natsu onto Lucy's floor. His wings vanished and he immediately fell back into Lucy's bed. "Night, Natsu," he mumbled.

"Night Happy," Natsu replied as he too crawled into Lucy's bed. Lucy was already in it, with her back to him and buried under the covers. He couldn't even see her hair she was so well hidden. The weirdo. With a shrug Natsu wrapped his arms round her waist, which was strangely not as wide as normal and felt a bit bony, and nuzzled into the back of her neck which…..smelt nothing like Lucy at all. Natsu's eyes popped open. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Natsu was suddenly pushed out of the bed by the person's hair as they too screamed. The light was suddenly switched on and Natsu yelped as he tried to crawl away from Flare who sat up in Lucy's bed holding the blankets to her chest.

Happy shot out of bed and flew straight to Natsu's shoulders, trembling.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out from behind him on the sofa. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Never mind that!" Natsu yelled. "Why the hell is she here?!" he pointed at Flare.

"Blondie," Flare whimpered.

"Flare," Lucy stressed with a deadly glare in Natsu's direction, "is here because I invited her to stay. Right now she has more right to be here than you do."

"Like hell she does!" Natsu spat out. "Not after what she has done."

"Yeah," Happy agreed, "she's a meanie."

"I'm sorry," Flare mumbled, "I'm sorry, Blondie."

"I know you are," Natsu felt his forehead twitch as Lucy pushed past him to pull Flare into a comforting hug. "I had forgiven you, remember? We're friends now."

"Friends," Flare repeated in awe.

"Lucy, you cannot be serious!" Natsu hissed furiously. "She's Raven Tail!"

"She left," Lucy retaliated mildly, "they were disbanded, remember?"

"She hurt you!"

"And I forgave her."

"She threatened Asuka."

"And Bisca….sort of forgave her."

"See!"

"See what, Natsu?" Lucy snapped impatiently. "It's completely expected for Bisca and Alzack to be wary. They're parents, it's their job to be overprotective of their only child. That doesn't mean that Flare doesn't deserve to be forgiven."

"Blondie is very kind," Flare mumbled.

"Too kind!" Natsu agreed. "Lucy…..I completely forbid you from forgiving this woman!" he said with vicious triumph. Happy face palmed and decided h was much safer to move away from his best friend before he made things worse. "So there!"

"…."

"You heard me, Lucy? Lucy? Luce? Luce? What are you doing?! Wait, no-"

"LUCY KICK!"

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

"For the last time Natsu," Everyone heard Lucy shriek, "the answer is no!"

Everyone glanced at one another worriedly and the moment the doors were pushed open, they scrambled to look as if they were busy. Wendy, unfortunately, couldn't find anything to pretend to be doing and ended up hovering aimlessly by the bar as Lucy marched in with Natsu furiously following at her heels.

"Ah, Lucy!" Mira greeted cheerfully. "Did Flare settle in last night?"

"Ye-"

"Wait!" Natsu interrupted angrily. "You knew she had that Raven Tail girl in her apartment?!"

"Well," Mira said a little uncomfortably, "it was a little hard to not know. She joined us in the baths yesterday."

"AND YOU LET HER?!"

"Trust me," Cana shuddered, "we had no choice in that."

"It's no big deal, Salamander," Gajeel rolled his eyes, "trust me on this one. Flare isn't worth the hassle. She was the nicest member and was always rather pathetic."

"Flare isn't pathetic!" Lucy yelled.

"Jeeze, if Flare was considered the nicest," Evergreen muttered, "it really doesn't say much about the rest of Raven Tail."

"They're a bunch of arseholes," Laxus shrugged, "we all knew that."

"It doesn't matter if she's the nicest!" Natsu hissed. "She tortured Lucy and threatened Asuka into getting her to do what she wanted. She doesn't deserve to be forgiven."

Gajeel stared at Natsu unimpressed, as did most people, Wendy couldn't help but notice that no one agreed ish this statement. Admittedly, she didn't either. Flare-san scared her but she didn't seem all that bad…..just a little too interested in Lucy.

"All right then," Gajeel snapped, "I take it my forgiveness has been withdrawn?"

What?! Wendy stared at Gajeel and then at Lucy and Natsu as she tried to make sense of what Gajeel had just said. Did he just imply that he also beat Lucy up?!

"What are you on about, you idiot?"

"Well I kidnapped Bunny Girl, in fact I threatened Reedus to make her do what I wanted, and then I beat the living shit out of her until I got what I wanted from you." Wendy's jaw dropped in horror. She never knew that. She never thought Gajeel had been so mean before or that he had hurt Lucy. You wouldn't be able to tell, they got on as well as did everyone else in the guild. "No better than Flare," Gajeel continued, "so then my forgiveness must have been withdrawn as you seem incapable of giving it to her."

"It's not the same!" Natsu argued.

"No it's not," Gajeel agreed, "Flare did it because it was that or get beaten again by her own guild. I did it because I wanted to." Several people sweat-dropped at that statement…why were they friends with this guy again? "Flare left some burn marks which were easily healed, I cracked Bunny Girl's ribs and I know she had bruises for weeks after. She told me as much. What I did was a lot worse. Am I no longer forgiven?"

"I-"

"Is Juvia also no longer forgiven?" Juvia asked tearfully. Wendy turned to look at her in surprise. Did Juvia do something bad as well?! "After all Juvia kidnapped Lucy-san and suffocated her into unconsciousness. Juvia is sorry!"

Gray wrapped a comforting arm round Juvia, who suddenly went from tearful to sheer happiness, and glowered at Natsu.

"It's not the same!" Natsu repeated. "You didn't humiliate her in public. You didn't-"

"What about us then?" Laxus interrupted as he waved a hand at himself and his friends. "Are we no longer forgiven? We did far worse things than just hurt Lucy. We hurt the whole guild. We brought it out in the public eye and almost destroyed our home town."

"Good Lord," Charle muttered into Wendy's ear, "I'm beginning to think Natsu is right. They're all a bunch of forgiving saps here, aren't they?"

"Charle!" Wendy hissed scandalised. "Don't be so cruel. I think it's wonderful that they've all forgiven Gajeel, Juvia, and Laxus. Personally I think you can be a bit more forgiving especially to poor Happy-san!"

"Hmmph!"

"YOU GUYS JUST DON'T GET IT!" Natsu suddenly exploded. "IT'S NOT THE SAME AND IT'LL NEVER WILL BE!"

He then marched off with his head held up high, as he passed a table he suddenly, violently, kicked it and sent it flying into the wall. It smashed on impact.

"Jeeze," Gray muttered, "what crawled up his arse and died?"

"I don't know," Lucy sighed, "I best me going. I only came in here in hopes of getting rid of Natsu. I need to get back to my errands before Flare gets worried. I left Happy with her….probably not the best idea."

Everyone said their goodbyes as Lucy waved and left the guild. Mira promised that they would try and talk to Natsu and knock some sense into him ("Not literally! Stop volunteering Gray!") While others were already beginning to shuffle back to their own lives and interests.

Wendy glanced up at the balcony where Natsu stood, glaring defiantly at the guild doors, and sighed.

She suspected it was going to take a long time to convince him to even consider forgiving Flare let alone accepting her presence in Lucy's apartment.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu brooded on the Guild's roof.

He hadn't started there. He had originally been on the balcony scowling at the door as he tried to will Lucy into returning, running into his arms, and telling him he was right….for some fucking reason that didn't happen, and that was when Lisanna approached him and tried to talk to him.

He shrugged her off and moved to a window, and was immediately bombarded by Mira, Elfman (shouting about how unmanly he had acted towards Lisanna), Gray, and Wendy.

Eventually he got so sick of people telling him that he should try and give Flare a chance, he stormed off to the roof and had been sitting there for the last three hours.

How could they not get it?! How could they all be so quick to forgive Flare for making Lucy cry? For making her scream. For letting others think they could do the same….

Natsu shuddered and tried to block out the memories but it was difficult and he hadn't been able to remind himself that she was still alive.

All he could see was her broken, defeated, and covered in dirt, and then he sees her limp, bleeding, and falling from the sky as Minerva drops her, and then….I wish I could have had more adventures….protect the future….

He could never forgive anyone for hurting Lucy. Not anymore. Not now.

Not when all he could see was her dead body before him.

He still hadn't even forgiven the princess and her knight for setting the whole damn scenario up. If it hadn't been for their stupid gate, they would have never have held the Magical Games and Lucy would have never gone through that hell.

"Are you going to keep sulking?"

Natsu stiffened at the voice and curled his hand into a fist. "I'm not sulking!" he snapped as he punched the roof.

"Natsu," Master sighed as he sat down beside Natsu, "even Gildarts can see you pouting."

"What?" Natsu blinked in confusion. "How? He isn't even here!"

"I meant that you're pouting so much that….oh you know what?" Master rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Look you shitty brat, Lucy is in her right to forgive whoever she wants."

Natsu gritted his teeth. Of course his Master just dived right into the problem at hand. "There is a line!" he hissed.

"Is there?" Master asked as he looked up at the sky. "Maybe you're right. I would have drawn it at this annoying pesk who keeps breaking in, eating all my food, reading my private thoughts, and drawing on my face. And that's just the top of the list!"

Natsu bristled at the implication. "I haven't hurt her!"

"Oh I'm sure you have," Master said dismissively, "You're an insensitive little shit."

"GRAMPS!"

Master chuckled. "Look, Natsu," he said much more seriously, "Forgiveness is very difficult, and all of you, not just Lucy, amaze me at how you easily forgive. Gajeel, Juvia, Jellal, and Laxus….it beautiful and enlightening to witness people being granted clemency from the people they wronged and then helped back onto their feet."

"I know but…."

"It's a huge part of Lucy's nature," Master continued, "and I think it's one of the things that make her so beautiful. Something we all love about her."

"Yeah….it's not the same!" Natsu yelled as he realised that he had almost been tricked into agreeing that forgiving Flare was the best option. Master raised an eyebrow at Natsu and he suddenly felt incredibly stupid. Really stupid. But he had to hold on. For Lucy's safety. "I just don't want her to get hurt again," he admitted eventually.

Master shrugged at that. "She won't."

"How do you know?!"

"Well for starters, Lucy is a Fairy Tail mage that automatically means she's very capable of fighting her own battles," Master pointed out with a stern look. Natsu wiggled uncomfortably. He didn't mean to imply she wasn't capable, he was just worried. "She is strong and has a remarkable ability to get up and carry on, no matter what, and then, there's the fact that you won't let her get hurt again."

"I…" Natsu trailed off hopelessly. He hadn't done very well in keeping her from getting hurt these last few weeks. He was finding it harder and harder to do so when people kept requesting them separately. "I can try," he said uselessly.

"That's all we can ever do, Natsu," Master smiled gently, "Now with Lucy's safety assured, do you think you would be able to give poor Flare a second chance? You were able to give other people that chance."

He was right.

Natsu had willingly given out these second chances to many other people, not just his guild members but to Ultear, and Meredy, and Jellal, and to Lyon, and to all the crazy people that followed them….

But none of them were staying with Lucy!

"I don't like the fact she's in Lucy's house," Natsu scowled, "Can't she have her second chance in Fairy Hill's?"

"She doesn't want to join," Master said simply. Natsu looked up startled, she didn't want to join Fairy Tail?! Who wouldn't want to join Fairy Tail! They were awesome! "It's not the life for some people, Natsu."

"Still," Natsu muttered, "Why is she with Lucy right now if she doesn't want to join the guild?"

"The girl is a little lost right now, she had broken free from the darkness but she hasn't quite found the light she needs to create her own way. She needs a little time and somewhere safe to figure out what to do," Master explained patiently, "Lucy gives her the help she needs and somewhere safe to think. You might not like her being there but you should respect the fact it's her right and Lucy's choice for her to be there."

"All right, all right! I get it!" Natsu sighed in defeat. "It could have been worse. She could have decided to let Gajeel stay there when he first joined Fairy Tail. All right. I'll give Flare that second chance but I'm not forgiving her just yet."

"That's all I wanted to hear," Master said happily, "Now then….what the hell is this about you demolishing part of a forest?!"

"Erm…."

Where the hell was Happy with a distraction when Natsu actually needed him?!

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu found Happy asleep on Lucy's sofa and judging by all the fish bones Lucy was cleaning up, he had been very well fed during their time apart.

Flare glanced at him anxiously and turned away quickly while Lucy met his gaze head on. "If you're not here to apologise to Flare," she said firmly, "then I don't want to hear it."

"No, I mean, I am," Natsu babbled, "here to apologise I mean. To both of you." Lucy raised an eyebrow and Flare looked on curiously. "I'm sorry for being so rude and…and…"

"Demanding?" Lucy filled in. "Controlling? A possessive-"

"Yes," Natsu interrupted before Lucy made herself angry at him again, "all of that. You're right to make your own choice in who to forgive or not and I was wrong to judge Flare." Lucy softened at that and Natsu turned and took a step forwards to Flare, "Hi, I'm sorry, about last night I mean," he said awkwardly as he offered his hand out to her, "I'm Natsu."

Flare nibbled her lip nervously and then shyly shook Natsu's hand. "Flare," she mumbled.

"Nice to meet ya, Flare."

Flare smiled softly and it was kinda nice. He could almost see whatever it was that made Lucy so protective of the girl.

However, her smile was nothing compared to the radiant beam Lucy shot him for being nice to Flare.

Nothing ever could be.