Author's Note: Sorry this one is so short! I really struggled with how to end this story after the last chapter. I wanted to draw it out a little longer originally but I clearly have no patience. Anyways, thanks to all who stuck through this with me! Eventually I'll write another fic, but I'm definitely going to take a break from writing for a little while. Let me know if you have any suggestions/prompts in the meantime though, I'd love to hear them!

SEVEN

When I woke up the next morning the heat of Natsu beside me was gone, and I was left feeling chilly alone in my bed. Confused, I sat up and looked around. Did Natsu leave? A quick search told me he wasn't in the bedroom anymore, but I also didn't hear any commotion coming from the kitchen this morning. Curiously, I walked out into the living area, rubbing my eyes as I went.

"Natsu?... What the HELL are you DOING?"

I walked into the room, only to find Natsu snooping through a pile of papers that could only have been my novel.

"I never gave you permission to read this!" I shouted, grabbing the stack from his grasp, "It's private!"

"Aww but Lucy, it was really good! Could use more dragons so far but I really like it! I wanna know what happens next, you can't just take it away from me like that… Besides, it's a book, isn't it supposed to be read?"

I paused at that, He really thinks it's good?

"Still, you didn't even ask first, Natsu."

"I'm sorry Luce. Can I pleeeeease finish reading it?"

I thought for a second. He had said he'd liked it so far, and he'd already started… What was the harm, really?

"Yeah, ok," I handed the stack of papers back gingerly, trying to straighten out the pages as I did.

Natsu eagerly went back to reading, and I went about making us some coffee and breakfast; it was too early for me to deal with this and be undercaffeinated.

Natsu barely looked up at me as I set down a plate of eggs with toast and a cup of coffee next to him. I went ahead and ate at the kitchen table while he continued to read. I was almost too nervous to eat, but I knew I'd regret it later if I had nothing now.

What if the rest of it is garbage and the first part was just a fluke, I thought, and suddenly I was even more anxious to hear what Natsu had to say. I knew he'd be honest at the very least, and so I realized in some ways, I was glad to have him read my book. At least I'd finally know for sure if I was any good. Time continued to pass, and I started to get more and more antsy about the whole thing.

"Aren't you finished yet?"

"I'm not the fastest reader ya' know. And it'll take me longer if you keep bothering and hovering over me like that."

"… I'm sorry, it's just I haven't let anyone read my novel before and I'm worried it's really bad."

Natsu turned to me at my admission, a confused look on his face, "But Lucy, this is really good! I don't read very much but your book has me totally into it!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, totally! I mean, like I told you earlier, it could use more dragons…"

"Of course you would think that, weirdo," I laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. I'm serious though Lucy, you should show this to people!"

"Thanks Natsu."

And for a bit, all we did was stare at each other. Finally tearing my gaze away from his, I looked outside for the first time that morning, only to see a complete white out on the other side of the window.

"Yikes! You and Happy better stay here a little longer until that storm clears up."

And so we settled in to our usual movie routine, with snacks and drinks on the couch. This time though, I couldn't help but notice our legs touching over the course of the first act of the movie. Was that on purpose? [more thoughts about the night before and conflicted about it now, what does it mean].

Finally, I found it in me to say something to him, "Hey Natsu?..."

"Yeah, what's up Luce?"

"… I noticed… last night I mean… Um… You kind of were…"

Before I could even finish, Natsu got a somewhat horrified expression on his face. Had it been that bad? Did he regret what happened, or did he even realize what he'd been doing?

"Aww, Lucy, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, promise!"

"Oh! Uh… Ok"

"Really Lucy, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything!"

"It's ok Natsu!"

We fell briefly into an uncomfortable silence, and I began to regret even bringing it up at all.

"We can just forget about it if you want," I said finally.

"Yeah, ok," And I could have sworn I heard disappointment in his voice.

When the movie was over, the storm was still raging, so we started to make lunch together; Natsu made what I supposed some would call sandwiches, but looked more like something out of a cartoon, and I sliced some apples to go with them. There had been an uncomfortable silence since I brought up the previous night, and for about the millionth time in the last couple of hours, I regretted bringing it up at all.

Was it possible I had completely misread everything? Maybe Natsu had just unconsciously cuddled up for warmth last night, and he felt mortified because he didn't feel that way about me at all. My head swam with thoughts about what might have been going through his head, preoccupying my thoughts so that I didn't even notice when my knife slipped while slicing an apple.

"Ouch! Crap…"

"Lucy, you ok?"

"Yeah, I just gotta grab a band-aid," I said, wrapping a towel around the cut finger.

"Here, let me help," Natsu said, grabbing a bandage from the package I was trying to open. And he wrapped it around my finger so gently, so tenderly, I knew that at least I hadn't completely imagined what happened last night.

"Hey Lucy?"

"Yeah?..."

"Last night, I… That wasn't really an accident or nothin'…" He kept looking down at my finger, "But I hope I didn't make things too awkward?"

I smiled at the sweet but dense boy in front of me.

"It's alright Natsu… I didn't actually mind that much."

He looked up suddenly, beaming, "Really?"

Then, as if nervous, he looked away again, "Hey, Luce? Do you think maybe… sometime… you'd want to go do something together? Ya' know, like just the two of us?"

"Yeah Natsu, it's a date."

And I couldn't stop smiling, because I hadn't imagined things, and of all the people he could have chosen, he wanted to be with me. And I knew, whatever we did next, it was sure to be an adventure.