Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the sixth chapter :D

I'm so sorry for the late update *bow*

I hope you enjoy reading this one~

Disclaimer: My deepest gratitude to Mashima Hiro for bringing this wonderful Fairy Tail alive.

P.S: Fluff alert ! :3


Natsu's hands twitched a bit as he could feel something warm on his cheek. He groggily opened his eyes, his consciousness slowly came back from his deep slumber. Natsu squinted his eyes upon seeing the bright light, but he quickly regained his focus.

The bed was empty, there was only him and Happy on it.

Natsu quickly got up, although he was being careful enough not to wake Happy. He looked at his empty bedroom, wondering where the hell Lucy went. His nose then whiffed a delicious smell in the air and he softly got out of his bed. He opened his bedroom's door and walked towards the kitchen.

The first thing that Natsu saw was Lucy's figure who was cooking. Her back was facing him, his shirt looked perfect on her even in the morning. She wasn't wearing any apron—because neither Happy nor he needed one. They rarely cooked by their own, after all. Without the apron, Natsu was able to fully stare at her curvaceous figure. Even his shirt which was big on her couldn't hide her beautiful figure.

Not that Natsu was complaining.

And seeing Lucy cooking in the kitchen in his house made his heart thumped even faster. After all, he did make the kitchen for her.

Man, Natsu now realizes full well just how much he loved the blonde celestial wizard.

"Good morning, Natsu." Lucy greeted.

Natsu's trail of thoughts instantly stopped and he grinned back at her. "Morning."

"Sit down and have your breakfast." Lucy said. "Is Happy awake?"

"Not yet." Natsu obliged and sat down. His nose whiffed the air, breathing in the delicious aroma of Lucy's cooking.

"I'll wake him up, then." Lucy said and placed down a plate of raw fish on the table. "Before we headed to the guild, can we make a quick stop to buy some clothes for me?"

"Sure." Natsu nodded as he started to gobble up his breakfast. A thought then suddenly crossed his mind. "Hold up, you're not going outside with… that, right?"

A tinge of blush dusted Natsu's cheeks as he eyed his shirt. He loved to see that shirt on her, but he didn't want anyone else to see it too! This was a feast only for his eyes!

"Of course not!" Lucy's face also blushed. "I'll use the clothes I wore yesterday. I already washed and dried them."

"Okay." Natsu let out a satisfied grin.

Lucy then walked back to the bedroom to wake Happy up, while Natsu started to get lost in his mind again. He munched his breakfast as he recalled what happened last night. Hmm… Sleeping together with Lucy—without him sneaking in—and greeted by her cooking in the morning once he woke up? The most perfect thing to start his day. He could really get used to this kind of routine.

Natsu inwardly praised that explosion.

"Good morning, Natsu." Happy greeted sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

"Morning, little buddy." Natsu greeted back.

Happy thrust out his hands and Natsu chuckled a bit before scooping him up into his arms and placed the sleepy Exceed onto the table. Natsu rubbed his blue head affectionately and pushed the plate full of fish towards him.

"Here, you don't want to miss this."

"Fish!" Happy's eyes lit up and his consciousness was fully back. He grabbed one from the plate and started munching on the head.

The two of them enjoyed their breakfast in a comfortable silence.

"Did you sleep well on the couch last night?" Happy suddenly asked.

"Mm-hmm." Natsu unknowingly smirked.

Happy glanced up at his father figure and snickered. "You snuck in, didn't you?"

"Am not." Natsu replied.

"You're smirking to yourself." Happy lightly scoffed. "And this kind of smirk only appears after you snuck into Lucy's bed and slept with her."

"Hey! The way you say it makes me sounded like a pervert!" Natsu complained.

Happy snickered again. "So, my guess is true!"

"It's not!" Natsu said. "Well, you're not wrong about the part of us sleeping together… But I didn't sneak in!"

Happy blinked in confusion. "You didn't?"

"I didn't." Natsu confirmed. When Happy stared back at him half in confusion and half in disbelieve, Natsu let out a small scoff. "She was feeling scared yesterday."

"Why?" Happy asked, his eyes softened.

"Had a nightmare."

"Well, that's odd." Happy tilted his head a bit to the side. "It's so rare for her to have a nightmare."

Natsu nodded. "Her face was wet with cold sweat, too. Pretty sure it was a quite frightening nightmare."

"Hmm… Natsu, do you think that's the reason why she's having trouble sleeping lately?" Happy asked, worry was apparent in his eyes.

"Guess so." Natsu nodded.

"Did you ask what her nightmare was?" Happy asked.

Natsu shook his head. "Doesn't seem like she wanted to discuss about it either."

"I think it's best if we take her to Porlyusica today." Happy said.

Natsu opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by Lucy's voice as she stepped into the kitchen. "Nope. Job first."

"But, Lucy… Even Wendy said it's best for you to see Porlyusica!" Happy said.

"I know, but I need money, Happy." Lucy sighed as she sat down and started to munch her bowl of fruits for breakfast. "Seeing Porlyusica-san isn't free, you know?"

"I can pay for it." Natsu said. "You don't even have to worry about money, Luce. I can earn it for us."

"Hey, you're not some money-making machine!" Lucy glared at her best friend. "Besides, it's not like I'm incapable of working. I want to earn my own money."

"I know, but I mean—"

"No more debate about this." Lucy cut. "I'm already feeling bad enough for not paying any rent while I'm staying here."

Lucy's words stung Natsu's heart quite hard. "What is so wrong with staying with me?"

Lucy's eyes instantly softened upon seeing hurt flashing in Natsu's eyes. "Natsu… Nothing's wrong with me staying with you, I promise. But, you know… This whole 'living together' thing… It's not that… Simple. For me, at least."

"What are you saying?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.

Happy glanced at his teammates for a bit, before flying out of the kitchen while carrying his plate of raw fish. Judging from the atmosphere in the room, he figured both Natsu and Lucy needed time to talk privately. "I'll just… Uhm… Eat in the living room."

Before either one could say a word, Happy was already out. Lucy stared at the flying Exceed in disbelieve. Sometimes, Happy was too attentive for his own good.

Natsu stared back at Lucy and folded his arms in front of his chest. "Alright, so what are you saying?"

Lucy stared back at Natsu and let out a sigh, knowing Natsu wouldn't just drop the topic like that. "Well… Uhm…"

Lucy knew she had to explain herself, but honestly, she had no idea how to explain it! She shuffled in her seat nervously, stabbing her fruits absentmindedly as her brain spun so hard to think of an explanation.

Living together with Natsu wasn't the problem, the problem lied within herself.

Lucy knew how much she loved Natsu and how much she wished to have a future with him. It wasn't like she had never thought about living together with him. Of course that kind of thought had crossed her mind several times. After all, it was a part of the future she wanted to share with Natsu. Ever since he left her for his one-year lone training, she would often dream of spending her entire day with Natsu for the rest of their lives. Seeing his face as the last thing before she went into slumber and seeing it again as the first thing in the morning? Dear Mavis, she could really get used to that. She would love to have that.

Nope, the problem wasn't that. The problem was, Lucy didn't know whether she was ready for the future or not.

As much as she was sure about her own feelings towards Natsu and his feelings towards her, Lucy was still afraid to take the next step. She didn't exactly have a happy memory of having a family, but she wasn't exactly traumatized by it. She could still recall some of the happy moments her parents shared with her in her early childhood before her mother passed away. She could still recall some of the loving moments her parents shared. She could still remember how nice it was for having a family of her own. And Natsu was there, offering her a chance to build a family with him. However, despite all of the unspoken feelings they shared with each other, she was still hesitant to take that chance.

She had the conviction, but she didn't have enough guts for it. She felt like it was too soon to actually share her future with Natsu at this moment. Heck, if it weren't because of that explosion, she wouldn't even move in with Natsu! But then again… Even though a part of her felt like this was going too fast, the other part of her didn't actually have any complaints about it. Even though she felt like she wasn't ready yet, but now that it happens… She found herself was actually more than okay with it.

But still…

Damn it., Lucy cursed inwardly.

Lucy really hated herself when she was having an inner confliction like this.

Lucy let out a sigh at the end, her brain failed to come up with a satisfactory explanation. "Honestly, I don't know how to explain, Natsu. I think this lack of sleep I'm having is messing with my head."

"Have you… Never thought of living together with me?" Natsu softly asked.

"Of course not." Lucy replied without an inch of hesitation. A faint blush then adorned her cheeks. "Trust me, I've thought about that. It's just… I don't know, my head's a mess."

To her surprise, Natsu suddenly grinned at her. The previous pain she saw in Natsu's eyes was gone completely. "Then, that's all that matters to me!"

"What?" Lucy blinked.

"I mean, it's not like you have never thought of living together with me, right? Then it's all that matters to me. Knowing you actually want this as well is more than enough for me." Natsu said.

Lucy's eyes softened. "Natsu…"

"Right then, shall we get going?" Natsu stood up excitedly. "Now I'm itching to go to a job!"

Lucy laughed softly but agreed with him. Hearing her laugh, Happy decided that it was okay for him to return. He had finished his breakfast too. Lucy then finished her bowl and did the dishes, before the three of them going out of the house.

As usual, Natsu and Happy walked together—Happy chose to fly, to be exact—with Lucy. There were plenty of things they could talk about during their walk towards the guild, although this time Lucy was lost in her thoughts and chose not to join Natsu and Happy's talk. She was thinking about Natsu's response to her completely unclear response earlier.

Lucy knew Natsu wasn't that dense, no matter what she said to others regarding that topic. Sure he was goofy and loved to play around, but Natsu understood her better than anyone else. He understood her hesitation and doubts, he respected her decision to take things slowly, and he chose not to complicate things between them. This would be the first time she had ever loved someone as much and as seriously as this, so Lucy didn't want to mess it up. She wanted to take things as carefully as possible, so she wouldn't end up ruining what they already had at this moment. And Lucy knew Natsu felt the same way, which was why he agreed to walk at the same pace as her without her saying any words to him.

Natsu's level of understanding amazed her sometimes.

Lucy let out a small sigh and smiled to herself. She knew sooner or later she had to put out her feelings to Natsu in words, but that was something for another time. Right now, she should enjoy the moments of living together with Natsu.

She inwardly thanked that explosion.


Because there was not enough time to go back to Natsu's house after Lucy did a quick shopping for her clothes, she ended up carrying them with her to their mission. She couldn't buy much with the remaining money she had on herself, so she settled for a few pairs of underwear, a set of pajamas, a few shirts and a few skirts. She actually wanted to buy another set of pajamas, but Natsu said she could use his shirt instead.

She blushed heavily when he said that but nevertheless agreed. His shirt was comfortable on her, so she didn't actually have anything to complain about.

Their mission this time was capturing a group of notorious criminals. They had apparently taken over the mayor's manor as their base, turning every citizen of the town into their own personal slaves. The mayor was powerless to stop them, especially with his own family taken into hostages. He, however, finally managed to sneak a servant out of the town to give out his cry of help to Fairy Tail.

Team Natsu was the one who answered it and right now they are staking out the manor from afar. The town looked as gloomy as the manor itself, it was apparent that the townspeople were suffering. The town used to beautiful and prosperous, but the criminals turned it upside down in just two days. After three months of subjection, the town had completely changed.

"This is so cruel…" Wendy muttered as they carefully observed the situation through the forest that surrounded the town.

"Alright, how do we infiltrate into the manor?" Gray wondered. The town was filled with the criminals who were torturing the citizens in the public.

"We'll deal with the criminals outside of the manor." Erza said. "Wendy, Lucy, you go inside and take care of the rest."

"We'll secure a path for you to go safely to the manor." Gray prepared his stance.

Both Wendy and Lucy nodded.

"Let's go, then! Ice Make: Lance!"

The criminals were taken aback by the sudden attack. "WIZARDS!"

Gray, Erza, and Natsu jumped out of the forest and started to beat the criminals. Wendy and Lucy used the commotion to infiltrate the manor. Thirty minutes later, all of the criminals from the manor ran away in fear.

Natsu jumped up and prepared his finishing attack.

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant—" A thought suddenly crossed into Natsu's mind. He changed his stance instead. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"

The spell brought the criminals down onto their knees. The townspeople stared blankly at Team Natsu for a few seconds before erupted in cheers. The mayor cried in grateful, even giving the team a little bonus.

Lucy's eyes glinted upon seeing the shared reward in her hands. How wonderful it was to have some money!

The team didn't stay long at the town and quickly made their way back to the guild. Lucy, Happy, and Natsu decided to visit Porlyusica instead and left their regards for the guild to their teammates.

Apparently, Wendy had told Porlyusica about Lucy's problems. The guild's pharmacist consultant quickly shoved her medication to Lucy when they got there. Lucy was given a pack of tea that she should regularly drink about an hour before she went to sleep for a week. Her sleeping problem should be solved by then. Lucy thanked her for the help and paid her with her fresh reward, then went back home.

The sun had set by the time they got back to Natsu's house. Lucy quickly cooked dinner for them while Natsu prepared the bath. Lucy wore Natsu's shirt again tonight, since her new clothes had just been washed and were still being dried.

"I'm tired!" Happy yawned and flew sleepily towards the bed. Once his head touched the pillow, he fell asleep.

"We should go to sleep too." Lucy said and she drank her tea.

"Sure. Night, Luce." Natsu waved at her and made his way towards the couch.

"Where are you going?" Lucy asked confusedly.

Natsu turned his head to face Lucy, blinking in confusion. "Sleep?"

Lucy lightly scoffed. "Then why are you going there?"

"Where the hell am I supposed to sleep then?" Natsu asked back.

"On the bed, Natsu." Lucy said.

"Yeah, but you…" Natsu's words trailed off as his brain processed the meaning behind Lucy's words. A light blush adorned his cheeks.

Lucy was blushing too, but she gently took Natsu's hand into her and pulled him towards the bedroom.

"Luce…"

"This is your bed, after all." Lucy said. "And I don't mind sleeping with you…"

Natsu's heart almost leaped out of his chest. He unconsciously gripped Lucy's hand tighter, his cheeks were getting hotter. Heat was erupting from within him, a totally different one than his magic.

"I… Uhm… Ugh…"

Lucy giggled at Natsu's stutter, but pulled him to the bed nevertheless. "Come on, I'm tired."

"O—okay…" Natsu obliged and followed Lucy slipping into his bed. He pondered for a few seconds before making up his mind and spreading his arms a bit. "Can I… Can we cuddle again?"

Lucy giggled, her blush worsened a bit, but she complied. They lied down on the bed in the same intimate position as yesterday's night. Natsu let out a satisfied sigh as he tucked Lucy's head under his chin.

"I could really get used to this." he muttered.

"Me too."

"I'm really glad you moved in with me."

Lucy hummed against his chest. "I'm really glad you asked too."

Natsu ran his fingers along Lucy's hair softly, sleep hadn't really seeped into his eyes yet. There was a question he badly wanted to ask, but seemed like this wasn't the right time yet.

"Hey, Natsu…"

"Hm?"

"Come to think of it, did you change your spell at the last minute earlier?" Lucy asked.

"You mean during our mission?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm… I did." Natsu grinned.

"Why?" Lucy pulled her head a bit apart and looked up to Natsu.

Natsu looked down at her and gently caressed her cheek. "Felt like it."

"No way." Lucy scoffed back.

Natsu chuckled a bit, his eyes softened as he stared at Lucy's brown eyes. She was looking at him with such a curious look, making the fire inside of him burned even hotter. Natsu's gentle caress on her cheek made Lucy leaned into it unconsciously and that brought a smile to his lips.

"I was just thinking that it might be better if I didn't destroy much. You know, that way we can take back more reward." he softly admitted.

"What's with the sudden thought?" Lucy asked again.

"Hmm… Because that way I can give you a more proper house and life?" Natsu smirked.

Lucy's face turned red instantly. She quickly buried her face in Natsu's chest while squealing in embarrassment. Natsu laughed softly as to not wake Happy while pulling her body closer to him. "Alright, let's go to sleep. Don't want to waste the effect of that tea, right?"

"Stupid Natsu." Lucy muttered shyly, although her eyes were starting to flutter close. Sleep started to pull her into a slumber and a few moments later, Natsu's ears caught Lucy's steady breathing.

He let out a satisfied smile before closing his own eyes. Seemed like he would be having a pleasant sleep starting today.


It had been two months since Lucy moved in with Natsu, and he totally loved the new routine. Lucy was no longer having trouble sleeping too, the courtesy of Porlyusica's tea and Natsu's presence beside her. The two of them ended up sleeping together every night, cuddling and snuggling to each other. Lucy would always be the first one to wake up though, because she had to prepare breakfast. Nothing had changed much in their relationship, although they were much closer than before if that was even possible. Holding hands or occasional back-hugs were no longer something rare to be seen from the couple. Natsu had always been a physical type, so he wasn't hesitant to show how much he loved Lucy through his actions. On the other hand, Lucy was a more private type. She didn't hold his hands as much as he held hers nor gave him back-hugs as much as he gave her, but she showed her love for him through her eyes and her gentle sweet gestures such as brushing off his hair or cupping his cheeks.

Seemed like this 'living together' thing really resulted in a significant progress for them.

The rebuilding was going really well too, although it would take a much longer time than they originally thought. The explosion was pretty bad, especially on the first floor where it started. It would be a while before they could start rebuilding the second floor where Lucy's room used to be.

Natsu didn't have any complain though, because that meant that Lucy would be staying even longer with him.

Everything was great, until tonight.

As usual, Natsu and Lucy were snuggling to each other as they slept. Happy wasn't present in the house because he was having a sleepover at Wendy's. Wendy had just bought a new board game, and the Exceeds agreed to try playing it. Natsu and Lucy was okay with Happy going, although Gajeel was a bit reluctant in permitting Lily to go.

After almost two months of not having any nightmares, tonight that nightmare decided to recur. Just like before, the celestial light and the darkness were fighting with each other to take control of this space. The glowing red eyes were still there, staring at her from within the darkness. However, the eyes seemed to be getting closer to her this time.

A shiver ran down along Lucy's spine. She wanted to get away from there, to run away from the closing red eyes, but she couldn't move a muscle. The darkness started to overpower the light, as the red eyes were getting even closer to her. She was frozen in fear and that was when a hand suddenly stretched out from within the darkness. A hand with claws—Lucy noticed it was a dragon's claws—instead of fingers and its skin was covered with a dragon's scales. The same color as Natsu's when he entered his Dragon Force.

A part of her suddenly realized whose glowing red eyes it belonged to, but before she could say anything, the hand suddenly clasped around her neck tightly. Air was suddenly being sucked out of her. She couldn't breathe, but the glowing red eyes are even closer to her right now. Due to their closer distance, Lucy could make out the overall appearance of the glowing red eyes and she widened her eyes in recognition.

Those glowing red eyes belonged to a woman.

She had a long blond hair, a pair of horns protruded from each side of her head. Every part of her body that could be seen was covered with red scales and she had a face that Lucy knew all too well. The woman smirked widely, showing off her pair of upper fangs. Her hand around Lucy's neck tightened even more and everything went black.

Lucy snapped her eyes open and sat up abruptly. She was panting hard, her body was shaking. Natsu's shirt on her was wet with cold sweat. She brought a trembling hand to her own neck, feeling the chill that seemed to be still lingering over there.

"Luce?" Natsu softly called and sat up, he was awakened by Lucy's sudden movement.

Lucy gasped and turned her body around in frantic, her eyes were widened in fear.

"Hey…" Natsu gently called. "It's me, Natsu."

Lucy's brown eyes shook as focus started to return. "N—Natsu…"

"Yeah." Natsu smiled. "It's me, Luce."

"N—Natsu…" Lucy croaked, then hurriedly threw herself to hug him.

Natsu hugged her back and ran his hands along her damp back. "I'm here, Luce. It's okay, it's just a nightmare. Nothing's going to hurt you."

"I'm scared…" Lucy sniffled in his arms, her body was trembling out of fear.

"It's okay, you'll be okay." Natsu cooed, even pouring out a bit of his magic to warm her body because he could feel how cold it was.

What kind of nightmare did Lucy have that made her badly trembling like this?

But Natsu didn't ask anything. He just held her close to him, enveloping her with his warmth while keep soothing her. It took a while before Lucy's sobs and sniffles finally died down.

"Let me get you a cup of warm milk, okay?" Natsu offered and was about to get off of his bed.

"No!" Lucy yelped and pulled his shirt hard.

Natsu jumped a bit out of surprise from Lucy's reactions. He turned his body to face her, placing his hands on her shaking shoulders. "Luce, it's okay. I'm just going to the kitchen—"

"No!" Lucy screamed, tears started to roll down from her eyes again. "No! Don't leave me!"

"Luce…"

"No, no!" Lucy shook her head vigorously. "Please, no!"

"Alright, alright, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Natsu said.

Lucy started to struggle. "No! No! Don't leave me alone!"

"Luce, hey—"

"You can't leave me again! Don't leave me again! No!"

Natsu grabbed Lucy's wrists to calm her down. "Lucy, I'm not going anywhere! Calm down!"

But Lucy was too frantic to think clearly. She kept shaking her head and struggled, her body was trembling badly. Her tears kept rolling down and she kept screaming, begging him not to go and leave her alone. Natsu wanted to hug her again to calm her down, but Lucy's frantic struggle made it impossible.

Now Natsu is getting worried. Clearly, Lucy's nightmare this time was bugging her way too much. Just what did she dream about? What could he do to calm her down?

Since hugging her was impossible, but she was still struggling and thrashing around in frantic, there was only one other way he could think of. Natsu let one of his hands go and placed it firmly on the back of Lucy's head. His other hand swiftly pulled her wrist and he leaned in to place his lips on hers.

Lucy's eyes widened at the sudden contact, but her frantic immediately stopped. She closed her eyes as she soon melted into Natsu's kiss and her body loosened. Feeling that she is much calmer now, Natsu then pushed Lucy's head a bit to deepen the kiss.


Done !

I love writing fluffs for my favorite couple ! :3

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