They left Lucy's apartment just after 10 am and headed out into Magnolia. The snow had mostly melted, but a few spots still remained where the sun failed to reach. The crowds were just starting to gather in the common places after the church's service had just ended.

"Yo! Lucy! where do ya wanna go first?" Natsu asked, a big grin plastered on his face.

"Hmmm, how about we get something warm to drink first, then we can decide from there." The blonde was wearing a pair of winter boots with dark blue jeans, and topped if off with a black turtleneck sweater. She was also sporting a black beanie that accented her blonde hair that fell out of it like a waterfall. All in all, Natsu couldn't stop taking peaks at her when she wasn't looking.

They walked to a coffee shop where Lucy and Natsu ordered a hot chocolate, but instead of hot, his was scalding. Happy had ran off when the scent of fish caressed his nose. The shopkeeper handed the drinks to them, Lucy was about to pull out the jewels when Natsu grabbed her hands and said; "I got it luce, don't worry."

"No it's okay I can pay for it" "No, I want to pay for it." He grinned as he pulled out the money and handed it to the worker. Lucy made a pouty face but didn't press on. "Fine, but I'll pay for the next thing" "Whatever ya want."

They found some seats in the shop and sat down, talking about small things such as recent books she's read, clothes she bought, events in the guild. For most of the time, Natsu just sat with his head in his hands, listening and watching her with the occasional "mhm."

"Something wrong Natsu?" She questioned, "You're normally more talkative than this." "Nah, I like listening to you talk." A slight blush tinted her cheeks and she looked out the window to avoid his gazing eyes.

"Oh! Let's go to a bookstore next!" She said, testing him. "Sounds like fun" He smiled

what the-... he normally hates book stores, let alone reading

They walked across the street to the bookstore since Lucy actually was wanting to buy some new books anyways. After searching awhile and finding a few intriguing ones, they went to the register. The total ringed up to be 1,200 jewels. "Here I'll get it" Natsu said as he slid the money over the counter.

"You said I could pay" She pouted. "I told you, todays all about you so I'll pay for everything." "Wow, such a man" she said sarcastically. Natsu quietly chucked and grabbed the bag the books were in.

Lucy watched him walked towards the door, her head tilted a bit and a sweet smile coming to her lips. Since when has he been like this? She wondered.

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They wandered around town for awhile until the sun started to settle below the horizon. They sat at the docks watching the color change from a brilliant scarlet, to a shallow pink, "Hey it's almost like the same color as your hair" she giggled. "Shuddup" Natsu sulked, "I don't like my hair color." "Why? It's beautiful." "It's girly."

"Well, I love it." Lucy said as she reached up and scruffed it around a bit. Natsu huffed and playfully nudged her elbow with his.

A chill wind blew by the pair and Lucy shivered, when Natsu wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tighter to him. She was a little surprised but didn't fight the familiar warmth.

The sun's last rays dipped below the earth as the night sky overtook it, but not before a few dazzingly bright golden rays shone on Magnolia.

"It's so pretty" Lucy whispered as she looked at the horizon, not noticing her partner looking down at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Yeah, it is."

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They decided to start heading back towards her apartment, walking their way through the dense crowds that huddled together to hide from the cold.

Natsu placed his hand around lucy, grabbing her waist and pulling her a little closer to him as they wiggled through the uncomfortable crowd. Lucy could feel her face heat up at the gesture, and did her best to flush it back down.

"Is that Lucy Heartfilia from Sorcerer's Weekly?" A man called out. "Holy shit, it is!" another said. Lucy was fairly used to this from her debut with the magazine.

"Fuck she's even hotter in person!" "Hey babe why don't you come join us?" Natsu's head whipped to where the catcall came from, his eyes shooting daggers. "Oh shit, I didn't even notice she was with Natsu..."

Lucy noticed her partner's annoyance. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it to reassure him it's alright.

"It's okay natsu, I'm used to it." "That doesn't make it okay."

Lucy jumped from surprise as a hand reached out and grabbed her ass as she walked past a group of her.

Before the guy could even bring his hand back to him, Natsu had grabbed his wrist and pulled the man from the group. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He asked, his anger practically seething out from his skin. "Woah man chill, it's not like she's your girlfriend." The stranger replied.

Natsu stumbled over his words a bit, "S-so, that doesn't matter, prick." Lucy pulled on Natsu's hand which she was still holding, "Natsu just forget it, let's go." "No he's apologize for touching what's m-... you" What... what was he about to say?? She blushed.

"Why would I apolog-." Natsu exerted enough pressure on the mans wrist to hear an audible crack. "OW! A-alright, look I'm sorry!" he winced. "Good." Natsu said as he pushed the dude back into his friends, knocking them all back. A few stepped forward like they were about to do something.

Natsu let go of Lucy's hand as the ground beneath him started to hiss from the leftover snow melting as Natsu threatened them, his anger turning to heat. "What? You gonna do somethin'?" Fire started to envelop his hands.

The men thought about it before stepping back to care for their hurt friend.

The fire went out and Lucy grabbed his hand, "c'mon natsu let's go, there's a crowd watching us." She said, embarrassed. It was true, a circle had cleared around them, seeing what was gonna happen. Obviously the men weren't from here, because everyone who was, knew not to mess with Lucy.

She pulled him away by his hand quickly with her head down to hide from the stares.

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"Jeez natsu, you didn't have to hurt him like that" "He touched you inappropriately" "yeah, like you've never done that" she replied with obvious sarcasm. Natsu didn't say anything cus he knew she was right. Yeah.. but I don't mean too! He mentally chastised himself.

I'm not mad at you for defending me... actually I'm kinda happy you did, but that was more that usual, She smirked

They were outside her apartment, still holding each other's hand.

Even though natsu's hands were beyond warm, lucy's surprisingly never sweat from it.

"Okay we're here." She mentioned. "Y-yeah looks like we are." He said, scratching his neck awkwardly. Lucy unlocked the door to her place and she walked in, except natsu didn't. She turned to him, "you're not coming in?" "U-um... I figure with the other night... ya wouldn't want me to..." a few quiet seconds passed between the two.

"O-okay... well.. thanks for today, I had a lot of fun" She smiled.

"Me too!" Natsu grinned.

Lucy stood on her toes and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Bye natsu, goodnight"

"goodnight luce!"

She closed the door and locked it.

Both their cheeks turned rosy from the kiss, seeing that they had to hold it in before she closed the door.

Lucy leaned her back against it and slid down so she was sitting on the floor with her knees to her chest. "I... I kinda did want you to stay" she whispered to a dark apartment.

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Natsu was wandering back to his house when a distant "Natsuuuuuuuu" called out to him.

He turned to look behind him hoping a certain blonde was there, but instead he found a blue cat flying to him.

"Oi! Happy! Where have you been at all day??? I was a little worried!" "Well when I went to find that fishy, I saw Pantherlily and Gajeel so I hung out with them." Happy said as he hugged his friend. "Jeez, I didn't know y'all were such good friends" "well... that and... i figured you and Lushee wanted to be alone for your... date" Happy giggled.

"HEY! No one said it was a date!" Natsu exclaimed. Happy laughed even louder and natsu scruffed his head. "Let's go home buddy" "Aye!"

"I kinda wish she thought it was a date..." Natsu whispered, audible only to the dragon slayer himself.

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Off in the distance, a long ways away, a boulder became disloged due to the mudslide that had been triggered by the rain, and tumbled it's way down the valley.

It smashed through anything in it's path, including the column that supported the tracks that ran high overhead.

The train tracks sagged a little when the column had been destroyed, causing the other columns wood connections to splinter due to the added stress.

It surely couldn't hold the weight of a train.