Here's chapter 2! Special thanks to all of you who have followed/favorited this story, I never thought that anyone would even read it!

For all the GraLu fans out there, the first 4 or 5 chapters of this story will seem pretty heavy on the NaLu, but don't worry, the real action is starting soon!

Chapter 2: Summer Sun

In the woods just outside of Fiore, a young woman walked along the well-worn path carved between the trees by the constant footfalls of a certain pink-haired dragon slayer and his blue exceed. Though Lucy herself had trod the path many times by now, she always felt a degree of remoteness from her setting. The woods surrounding his home were undoubtedly beautiful, especially now, with the golden light of the evening sun casting through the trees to briefly illuminate the small insects drifting on the gentle breeze.

In Lucy's eyes, the woods were another part of Natsu. As a child, the hours he had spent here had gradually shaped him into the man he was today, and though he was an oblivious idiot, the trees never complained of his childlike nature. They provided materials for his home and training, as well as game to sustain him during the cold winter months, standing sentinel when he was out on a mission. It was a comforting sensation, to feel so much of him through her surroundings, although the trees did carry with them an air of wisdom and serenity that she highly doubted Natsu would ever display.

Readjusting the picnic basket on her arm to relieve the pressure building in her muscles, Lucy smiled to herself as she pictured his forthcoming reaction to the dinner she had prepared for him. It had taken no less than three hours, one rather pricy trip to the market, and six different recipes to prepare the delectable feast that she hoped would make up for her previous actions. She had cooked several of his favorite dishes, spicy creations that would leave a normal person gasping, but seemed to have almost no effect upon Natsu. Needless to say, during the time they had known each other, Lucy had greatly improved her tolerance for spicy foods.

"AGHHHHH!"

The serene peace of the forest was shattered by a warlike scream which caused the birds to take wing, and Lucy's heart to begin screaming as she nearly jumped out of her own skin. Swiveling her head to the left to evaluate what may have been the source of the noise, she encountered on of the strangest sites of her life. Sticking out from what might have once been a woodpecker hole in a tree was a pair of legs, clad in baggy white pants with sandals on the feet. Also observing this oddity was a small blue cat with wings, with a facial expression somewhere between confusion and sheepishness.

"AGHH! Happy! Get me out of here! It's too dark!"

The legs kicked back and forth as Natsu's voice sounded from within the tree trunk, slightly muffled by wood pressing in on him.

"But Natsu, you said you wanted to work on aerial attacks. What are you doing inside of a tree?"

Happy sounded so genuinely stumped that Lucy had to giggle, and in response to the sound the series of curses echoing from inside the tree came to a sudden halt.

"Ne, Happy, is that Lucy? I can't smell a thing from in here…"

Happy brought a fuzzy paw up to his face to hide his burgeoning grin, and spoke in a muffled voice loaded with condemnation, "Natsu, Lucy is laughing at you."

"ACK!"

Almost instantly the pair of legs began thrashing again, and soon enough a tousled head of pink hair became visible. Natsu grinned at Lucy and crossed his arms, looking battle-ready for all the world in his dragon-made muffler and one-sleeved jacket, except for the minor detail that he was coated in grime and leaves. Happy merely snicked at the antics of his adoptive father and best friend, then floated over to Lucy, eyeing the basket in her hands with hopeful eyes.

"Luuushiiii, what's in there?"

Lucy smiled mischeviously at the exceed and reached a hand up to ruffle the fur between his ears before she whispered to him, knowing perfectly well that Natsu's enhanced sense of hearing could pick up her words.

"Well, I was kind of mean to Natsu today, so I made dinner for us. And you know what else I did?" She paused for dramatic effect, "I broiled a freshly caught fish just for you."

Before she could process what had happened, she found her face enveloped in a furry hug from her blue friend, right before he grabbed the basket from her hands and took off. She laughed as she watched the small blue figure making a beeline for his favorite spot on the banks of the river that ran behind Natsu's home, quickly followed by a pink-haired man running at full speed, at which point she decided that unless she wanted to go hungry, she had better chase after them.

"HEY! Just because I made it for you doesn't mean that you get to eat all of it!"

When Lucy reached the river bank, she was met by smiles from her boys, reclined on the checked picnic blanket she had packed for just this purpose. They had all of the dishes already out of the basket, but surprisingly hadn't delved into any of them. Even Happy hadn't taken a single bite out of his fish! She sat down with them, astonished that they had waited for her, and together they began to dig in.

Fifteen minutes later, Happy was snoozing with his paws folded satisfactorily on his rounded white tummy, the remains of his meal cast to the side. Every now and then, a small bug would attempt to land on him, but Happy unconsciously flicked his ear so as to foil their plans, and slept on peacefully. Lucy smiled at the sight; Happy was just so cute!

Natsu grinned knowingly as he observed Lucy's face. Happy was certainly hard to resist. Some of the men in the guild (coughWakaba cough coughMacao) had said that having a pet was a definite chick magnet, a statement that resulted in Loke adopting a goldfish the very next day (the number of dates he went on never did increase though, since the goldfish died two days later). Natsu had never tried to use Happy like that though. Happy was his friend, not a tool! But sometimes, when he saw that adorable face the Lucy made whenever she felt the overwhelming urge to hug some small creature, he felt glad that Happy was so cuddly (unlike Gajeel's weird-ass cat… sheesh, the damn thing looked like it had been taking steroids for years).

Soon enough, Lucy reclined back onto the picnic blanket and closed her eyes, her sated appetite beginning to drag her towards sleep. When she spoke her words were just barely slurred, the consonants more rounded in their vocalization.

"Sorry 'bout earlier Natsu. I really did overreact. You know you're always welcome."

Inexplicably, she could hear Natsu grinning from ear to ear, and most likely formulating plans for a reprise visit. His next words would have normally brought her up shrieking, but since Happy was sleeping she restrained herself.

"Are you going to cook dinner for us every time you run out of food?"

She opened her eyes to grant him one of the most wearisome looks she had ever achieved, and was about to make a quiet retort when her eyes caught sight of a leaf sitting in his pink locks, waving back and forth as if to taunt the very person who was playing host to it. Her eyes narrowed on it, and she quietly spoke to Natsu, who loomed above her.

"Natsu, come here."

Instantly his grin disappeared, and he warily leaned towards her, his onyx-colored orbs flickering between her eyes and her lips, then flinching away slightly when she extended a hand up towards him. She stilled her movement, and he gently leaned into her hand, his lips parted, and just beginning to close his eyes when she plucked the leaf from his hair.

"Got it." She whispered smugly from beneath him as she held the leaf in front of his face.

"Huh?" Natsu's eyes followed the motion of the leaf, and he leaned back away from her. "What's that for?"

Lucy laughed, a bubble of joy emerging from between her parted lips as observed his confusion.

"You had a leaf in your hair, idiot. Get rid of it for me?"

Natsu grinned and puffed out a quick burst of flame from his mouth, burning the leaf into oblivion, and almost singeing Lucy's fingers, which she quickly pulled back with a gasp. As he watched the remains of the leaf flutter away on the breeze with a look of satisfaction, Lucy pouted.

"Natsu, you almost burned me."

He looked down at her with a face that spoke no apology, and stated matter-of-factly:

"I would never hurt you."

He then reached out to grasp her hand, and entwined his fingers with hers before lying down with his head on her stomach. Absentmindedly, she began to stroke the pink strands, content that she had everything she could ever want, when she felt a light vibration from his chuckles.

"What are you thinking about?"

She spoke quietly, the only sound besides their breathing the soft chirping of birds in the distance, and the steady rush of the river over its rocky bed.

"Think an aerial attack would work on the ice princess?"

Some things never change.