Natsu groaned as he made his way into the train station of Magnolia. It wasn't fair. He hated trains. And almost anything else that moved for that matter.
He'd begged Lucy for hours to let them walk but it was no good. She'd just started ranting about how it was "too far" and the path was "too dangerous" and it would take them days to get there.
So yeah. He was pretty pissed.
"Are you okay?" asked the blue furred exceed flying by his side, in slight concern. "What do you think?" Natsu muttered in a more aggressive tone than he meant to.
The cat pouted. "Jeez, I was only asking Natsu. No need to be mean."
He sighed. "I'm sorry Happy. I'm just not in a great mood. I hate the train..."
"I know" Happy replied, rolling his eyes. "So anyway, where's Lucy? I thought she was with you at the guild this morning?"
"She was. But she forgot her keys so she went back to grab them from her apartment. She said she'd meet us here."
"Okay." They continued through the station until they saw a blonde haired teen standing by one of the trains and looking extremely impatient. She saw them coming and exploded on them.
"WHERE WERE YOU?!?! You're LATE! I thought we were going to miss the train because of you two!"
"Shit" Natsu mumbled under his breath. "Jeez I'm sorry Lucy." He said louder.
Lucy suddenly deflated letting out a breath. "Never mind. Let's just get on the train." He gulped.
"Come on. Don't be a wuss Natsu, you'll be fine." She said, turning to him with a raised eye brow.
"Y-yeah. Sure." He replied, taking shaky steps towards the train. More like death trap. Happy shot him a sympathetic look before following Lucy on board.
Soon the trio were all seated in a carriage. Natsu and Lucy sat next to each other (mainly to lower the threat of puke on her feet slightly) and Happy sat opposite them munching on a fish.
Natsu had just begun to relax slightly when the whistle sounded and the train jerked into motion. He immediately felt a wave of familiar intense nausea and resisted the urge to gag, his head already spinning.
After several minutes of this, and his face steadily turning a more green hue as he made noises of discomfort, Natsu felt a gentle hand on his back. It rubbed it comfortingly before lying him down across the seat and putting his head in a familiar lap.
Natsu quickly began to feel a little better in this comfortable position and closed his narrowed eyes with a contented sigh, falling into peaceful oblivion.
~~~~~~~~~
As the train started to move Lucy sighed, seeing Natsu's immediate reaction. As the minutes wore on Natsu's state worsened, until it was particularly bad, worse than she'd seen in awhile. And that was saying something.
Jeez... we haven't even been here for half an hour!
She started rubbing his back sympathetically when she suddenly had an idea. She gently grabbed his shoulders and carefully made him lay down across the seat, with his head on her lap. She ran her fingers through his spiky pink (or salmon as he always insisted) hair absentmindedly as she watched him. She noticed his body posture relaxed considerably in his new position and he let out a contented sigh. Soon he fell asleep.
Lucy looked up as she heard a semi-suppressed giggle, to see Happy staring at the two of them with a cheeky grin.
"You looooooooovvvve him..." The blue exceed taunted. Lucy glared at him with a light blush dusting her cheeks, her hand still in Natsu's hair, and groaned inwardly.
"Shut it cat!"
~~~~~~~~~
The rest of the train journey was relatively peaceful, aside from Happy making suggestive faces and comments and then getting glared at by Lucy.
When they arrived at their destination, Clover Town, Lucy gave Natsu a little nudge. He continued to snore so she smacked him.
The pinkette sat bolt upright with a small yelp, more out of shock than pain. He looked around slowly, realising where he was.
"We're here?" He asked letting out a yawn.
"Yes. We better hurry because we're running a bit late. We're meant to meet the client at 2pm and it's already 1:30 and it's at the other side of town."
Natsu groaned. "Ugh, that blows. I'm starving. I guess we'll have to work on an empty stomach..." he sulked.
"Me too..." Happy said
"I know... We can get something as soon as we finish though. This job shouldn't take too long. 2 hours, tops. We're just getting a few monster scales."
"Okay..." Natsu and Happy mumbled at the same time."
"Oh and smarten yourself up Natsu. You're hair's a mess from your little catnap." She said dryly.
Happy started giggling and looking between the two slyly as Natsu fiddled with his hair.
~~~~~~~~~
After the trio finished the job (which took far longer than planned) they looked around the town and found a nice cafe.
"FOOD!" Natsu and Happy screamed the second they walked in. That earned them a few funny looks. Lucy just face palmed.
They got the food and sat down at a table. The boys immediately started stuffing their faces. Lucy just rolled her eyes at them as she ate more delicately.
Once Natsu finished his meal he sat there quietly, thinking.
"You okay Natsu? You look kinda depressed." Commented Happy.
"Yeah... just thinking about something."
Happy did a double take. "Natsu?!?! THINKING?!?! What the heck?!?! Are you okay?!?! I THINK YOU NEED A DOCTOR!!!"
"Yeah yeah, whatever..." he replied, not paying full attention.
The blue exceed looked surprised and maybe a little confused at his reply, clearly expecting more of a comeback. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah..."
Natsu stared thoughtfully out the window, pondering the train ride this morning. He'd felt much more content across Lucy's lap. The journey had actually been bearable for once. Something about her scent and her presence had just made him feel so much more relaxed.
He'd noticed that recently. He'd had all these strange emotions and thoughts as of late. Always in relation to Lucy. Whenever he saw her or someone mentioned her he would get this wierd fluttery feeling in his stomach. What's more he was pretty certain he'd always felt like this; he'd always been vaguely aware of it but had just never really given it much thought up until awhile ago. What was this odd feeling?
Gah, maybe he'd just ask someone at the guild. All this thinking was beginning to make his head hurt.
"Are you ready to go guys?"
"Aye sir!" Happy responded.
"Natsu?"
He looked up at Lucy's voice and nodded, standing up. "Let's go! I'm all fired up!"
"Well you won't be in a minute since we have to get the train home in a few minutes and all" she joked. Natsu blanched for a moment before returning to normal and smiling at her.
"I figure it won't be so bad this time."
"Oh? And why's that?"
"Because I have you with me, duh!"
Lucy blushed scarlet, looking a little taken aback. "I-..." She looked at the ground smiling slightly. "Dork."
"Hehe" Natsu grinned.
Happy looked very smug.
"Let's go!" He exclaimed, grabbing Lucy's hand and breaking into a run.
They exited the cafe and ran off in the light of the now setting sun, towards the train station. But Natsu knew he would be fine. And he may not know what these strange feelings were now, but he'd figure them out. Eventually.
~~~~~~~~~