Natsu had almost fallen asleep at Lucy's apartment. It was shortly before midnight when the television had begun to cut in and out, and the loud static noise had woken both of them up.
During their nap, the two of them had tangled their limbs together. Natsu was laying on the smaller blonde-which she was not fond of, especially due to the drool patch he left on her sleeve-with her legs and his resting together on the coffee table in front of them.
Neither of them denied Natsu needing to go home, though it was clear Natsu could easily have put up a fight to stay. Lucy yawned quietly to herself as they walked out of her apartment. She walked him to the elevator, watching him press the down button on the wall.
"Thanks for walking me home." Natsu smiled his signature idiot grin.
Even despite how tired Lucy was, she couldn't help but smile. "Only fifty percent of the way."
Natsu just gave her a small shrug. "No matter. You're quite the gentleman."
Lucy's laugh turned into a quiet snort. The sound made her blush slightly, especially when she noticed Natsu's onyx eyes widen from him hearing the same sound. Before he could say anything, she kicked his shin. "What?" Natsu yelped in defense.
The doors to the elevator pulled apart with the well-known high pitched chime as always. Natsu, stepping inside, swayed side to side as he looked back at Lucy. "I had a great time tonight."
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lucy replied, "I think I'm the one supposed to be saying those things."
Natsu appeared genuinely appalled. "Says who?"
Lucy cocked her head to the side as she thought. "Every movie with romantic involvement ever made?"
Chewing his bottom lip as if to contemplate this, Natsu eventually gave a small shrug. "I'm not one for tradition."
The brass doors to the elevator made another small chime as they began to close. Immediately, the pink haired boy inside made a soft frown. Sticking his hand through the gap to block the doors from closing, Natsu grabbed Lucy's wrist.
"What's wrong?" Perplexed, the blonde looked at Natsu as he held onto her.
He simply shrugged one more time before saying, "We never properly said good night."
Another smile spread over Lucy's lips. "You get any clingier and you'll start acting like one of Gray's fangirls." She mused, both her and Natsu stepping closer until they stood on the border of the elevator.
Natsu rolled his dark eyes at her words. "He only has, like one fan, and of course he would. He's such a cheap stripper, it's-"
Before he could continue rambling, Lucy cut him off. "Is Gray really a stripper?" She asked quickly.
The pink haired boy quickly piped down. He thought carefully before saying, "Not my place to tell ya."
"You guys say that a lot. It's annoying, I ha-" Lucy began to scold him, but Natsu just pulled Lucy closer to him.
His lips pressed down against her own, silencing the string of complaints that were about to fly past them. It didn't take long for Lucy's chocolate eyes to shut, her hands tugging at Natsu's as he held her.
The doors made yet another chime as they began to close. Natsu quickly pushed Lucy apart from him, and the last thing she saw before they shut was his glowing smile. He even chirped an energetic, "Good night, Luce!" at her.
The blonde stepped back from the elevator, her fingers running through her hair. She needed to brush it. She needed to shower. For once she didn't quite mind skipping it, though she wasn't sure if it was because of Natsu or how tired she was.
Somewhere to her side, there was a deep thud as a door clicked shut. Lucy turned to see the source and found Erza coming up from the stairwell. "Hi." The redhead greeted her simply.
Lucy smiled faintly. "Hey," was all she replied with.
"Did you just say goodnight to Natsu, I take it?" Erza inquired. She gestured to the stairwell behind herself. "I had to take the stairs. Someone was hogging the elevator."
Lucy felt the need to apologize right away, though when she saw Erza's sheepish grin, it made Lucy smile as well. "I think we left before I could properly thank you, but it was really nice meeting your family today."
Erza looked down at her feet for a moment as if she was embarrassed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about them."
The blonde just shrugged it away nonchalanty. "It's none of my business." She said, and it made Erza give another wry smile. "Though-if I may ask-why do you live here, on the same floor as me?"
Sighing, Erza even gave a curt laugh as if she was simply anticipating that question. "You probably noticed Jellal was on house arrest?" Lucy nodded subtly, and Erza continued. "He and Emily live there because of his monitor. I tried to get them to move here with me, but it's out of proximity for his officer."
Lucy was extremely unsatisfied with that, especially how sad it seemed for Erza to be away from her daughter. "You can't live with them then?"
Erza gave another smile; the more Lucy looked at it, the more motherly the redhead really did seem. "Emily and her father never got to see each other much when he was-away." The pause made Lucy sadden a bit. "He's only been back for a few months. They like to be alone together, and our apartment is so small over there I think sometimes I get in the way of their play dates."
The blonde felt her eyes watering softly. In a way she envied Emily on how amazing her father and mother were. They were poor, living in an apartment crowded even for only three, but they were happy. Lucy couldn't help imagine Jellal and Emily sleeping on the couch right now after Erza had left.
"He may seem sketchy given the circumstances, but he's a good dad." Erza said quickly. Her defensive tone made Lucy wonder how many other people had judged Erza for this, calling her daughter the one with the criminal dad and the poor mom. It was upsetting, even to her.
"I bet. She's a lucky kid." Lucy assured the other woman. Erza's smile grew faintly, and for a moment Lucy was just happy to make her feel so proud of what she had.
It was then that Erza took out her keys and walked the rest of the way to her apartment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lucy. Good night."
Lucy waved with a small gesture of her hand. "Good night."
The blonde didn't go inside her own home until she heard the faint click of Erza's door shutting as well. She never thought she would be jealous of her close friend's daughter, but Lucy really wished her family had cared half as much as Jellal and Erza.
"So how was last night?" Gray asked with intense intrigue. He leaned on the metal pole as he and Lucy took the bus to school the next morning.
"What are you talking about?" She sighed, unamused as she held onto Gray's arm. He too had noticed her habits and allowed her to hold onto him instead of the bus pole-even despite Lucy's inquisitive remarks about him being a dirty stripper.
"You have sex hair."
"What are you talking about?"
"Did you not brush it after you and Natsu bumped uglies?" Gray inquired blatantly.
Lucy rolled her eyes in disgust. "Do people even say that any more?" She noticed Gray shrug, but she kept talking before he could say something else that angered her. "I fell asleep before I could brush it last night after my shower and then woke up late this morning."
Gray whistled lowly. "It sounds like your day is off to a shit start."
"Oh, thanks." Lucy made sure her smile was filled with an extra dose of sarcasm as she looked up at him. The raven haired man just replied with a sly grin.
Lucy eventually tore her gaze off of his annoyingly smug face and looked down at her feet in boredom. Her hands eventually wandered back up to try and guess if the clothes Gray was wearing were actually his own-a guessing game she and Erza often played after seeing him in the redhead's sparkly sweater.
Instead, she found her eyes more interested on the red cuts scraped across Gray's knuckles. A small frown overtook Lucy's face, but she knew it was pointless to be worried. No one else ever was, at least. "Get into another fight?"
Gray furrowed his brow at her in confusion before she gestured to his hand. He made a small 'O' with his mouth and nodded. "But look, I hurt them this time."
"I'm so proud of you." Lucy grumbled, her tone dripping sarcasm.
Her friend was equally as sarcastic, so he just hummed back, "Thank you, Lucy."
The blonde shook her head and looked up at him. "Why do you guys keep fighting? You and Loke?"
Gray pursed his lips, blowing a small lock of hair out of his face. "It's not only me and Loke you know. I have a whole line of people waiting to hit me." He said it as if he was proud.
"That's not exactly something to aspire to." She was beginning to grow angry from his vague, half-hearted replies.
Gray just sighed deeply as he looked down at her. "Would you believe me if I told you I stole his girl and he has hated me for it for years?"
"No."
Gray immediately laughed. His hand pressed against his chest in mock hurt. "Don't think I'm capable of stealing his girl?"
Putting up her hand in surrender, Lucy said, "Oh, I think you're very capable. He just doesn't seem like he could keep a girl for very long anyway."
Gray made a soft 'ooh-ing' sound at her remark. "Savage, I like that." he teased, playfully nipping her side.
Lucy squeaked with a small laugh before swatting him away. "Will you tell me what happened between you guys soon? It's just, Natsu-"
"-Is involved in it somehow and you're just so drawn to him you have to know more." Gray finished for her, breathing deeply with fake admiration. "I get it, you're curious. That's fine."
Lucy's eyes widened with excitement. "Really? You'll tell me about all that-you, Loke, Natsu?"
"On one condition." Gray mused, looking down at Lucy from the corner of his eye.
Huffing, Lucy swatted a piece of hair away from her eye and nodded. "And?"
"You have to tell me what's going on with you and Natsu." Gray said. He scowled a little when he said it, like he was ashamed of himself for actually caring. "Not that we're friends or anything. Just curious."
Lucy's cheeks reddened at how adorable she found his denial of kinship. "Yeah, fine." She said. She wanted to say there wasn't much to tell, but Gray wouldn't have that. Besides, she was so close to finding out his truth that she couldn't let it go now.
It was quite a moment longer as Lucy stared at his scabbed knuckled some more. "I can't believe you actually punched Loke."
Gray turned his hand over to assess the damage. "Loke? I didn't get this from fighting Loke."
Lucy nearly screamed with frustration. Maybe he did have a line of people waiting to fight him. "Who then!" She demanded rather than asked it.
"Lyon." He replied bluntly. "Totally different story."
Lyon...Lucy was sure that was the one in her class, the one who broke her bag. They had mentioned Lyon before as well. Apparently Gray had a talent for pissing people off.
"You're helpless." Lucy sighed. She shook her head plainly at Gray.
Gray didn't bother looking down at her. He probably got that a lot anyway. "At least I don't have confusing sexual relations with my neighbor."
Lucy's face heated up, but she wished it hadn't for obvious reasons. "Why would you say that!" She whisper-cried again.
Gray chuckled. "Sex hair."