"I think that's the last of it," Natsu declares as he stacks the last empty box away in the corner.
Lucy wipes the sweat off her brow with the back of her wrist, giving a sigh of relief. "Thank god! I thought it would never end."
She flops down on the couch that they had both set up together earlier, and rolls around so she can stare up at the roof that is miraculously not breaking with the weight of the snow on top of it. Natsu, after bumping into something and cursing, which she has noticed he has the tendency to do, sits down next to her, kicking his feet out so they rest on the opposite side of the couch, near her head.
It feels really comfortable for some reason.
Lucy lays her head back so that it falls over the edge of the armrest. In the back of her head there's a nagging voice telling her to get home and finish the chapter but honestly moving herself seems so impossible.
Lucy thinks again how comfortable this is. They're two grown adults squeezing onto a couch yet it just feels so right, the way his cheek is resting on her ankles and his prickly legs are touching her shoulders. They kind of fit right into each other, and now she feels a heat rising inside her, from the tips of her toes all the way up to her head, filling her entire body with this really satisfied feeling.
I feel really good right now, she thinks. She hears Natsu saying something but it sounds far away and right now her eyelids are heavy and sleep is sounding better and better.
She wakes up to footsteps and a loud stomach rumbling.
Her eyes fly open but settle. She's looking up, and she's seeing the roof like she always does. Her neck is propped up on a pillow and her back for some reason is super stiff-
It's at this moment that Natsu's face appears directly on top of hers with a large grin. "Good morning!"
Lucy screams and abruptly sits up, her nose smashing into his. They both recoil back in pain, Lucy landing back down on his couch and Natsu getting up, rubbing his nose and giving her a sour look.
She gets up slowly, rubbing her back and warily looking around her. Had she slept the night in his place? She must have. She didn't really remember much from last night.
She blinks. No way. Did I just spend the night at a guy's house? A guy who's basically a stranger?
Quickly she looked down at her clothes. Her bath robe was undone, probably because of her rolling around during the night. Her shirt was barely covering her midriff; she pulled it down hastily.
She didn't look like she had been molested, but she should probably make sure.
"Did you pull anything on me last night?" she suspiciously asks.
"Pull what?" he answers dumbly.
Lucy shakes her head. He must be one of those dumb, oblivious types who probably wouldn't know a relationship if it hit them in the face.
"Sorry for sleeping here," she apologizes, getting up and fixing the pillow. "I better head back now."
"Nah, it's cool," he says, and Lucy's cheeks feel the slightest bit tingly. "In fact, you should just stay here."
Lucy's cheeks go from slightly tingly to rosy pink in a heartbeat. She huffs, tying her bathrobe and slipping her feet into her shoes. She rushes out the door, mumbling about how she has her own flat for a reason.
"Join me for breakfast!" he calls after her, before shutting the door. Lucy, who was just about to put the key into her apartment door, stares in his door's direction in shock, almost dropping the key.
"Did he just...?" Lucy hesitantly asks, before shaking her head and opening the door.
Lucy breathes in deeply inside her apartment. Home sweet home.
Except it's not as warm as Natsu's apartment. She already finds herself wanting to go back, go back to chilling on his couch with their legs tangled up and their breaths mingling.
Clapping her hands to her hot cheeks, she rushes to the bathroom. She feels so silly. He's just Natsu, her new next-door neighbor and maybe, if she can call him that now, her new friend.
She shows up again at his door forty five minutes later, wrapped up in a cute pink coat trimmed with white fur and blue jeans that she feels super cute in.
(Though it's not like she's dressing up for this or anything. She just wanted to wear this outfit.)
She's about to knock, but her fingers stop just before hitting the wood. The reality of what she's doing is kind of like a punch to her throat and she has to stop to breathe, the cold December air scratching her throat.
Natsu is her new next door neighbor. How the hell did he work his way into her life so fast? It's been merely twenty four hours and yet she's already wearing her best clothes and waiting at his door to eat together. What is this? Is this normal? Is she supposed to feel...is she supposed to feel kind of excited, in front of his door?
Her thoughts are interrupted as the door opens from the other side. Natsu sees her and smiles immediately, shutting the door behind him and locking it.
"I was just about to get you because you were taking forever!" he says, walking towards the stairs. Lucy, surprised at his speed, trots to catch up to him and then follows him from a step behind, watching his broad shoulders and how they just seem to cover her entirely.
"Wait, I thought we were eating in your apartment?" she asks him as they reach the bottom.
"I don't have shit in my refrigerator," he admits and Lucy gives him a look.
"So where are we going?" she asks.
He shrugs. "I thought we could figure it out in town."
And now without even realizing it Lucy's walking around in downtown Magnolia with a somewhat cute guy in the middle of December.
"It's so fucking cold," Natsu grumbles, pushing his muffler up so it covers his mouth and the tip of his nose.
Lucy, who had noticed the very same scarf tied around his waist yesterday as they were unpacking, asks, "Is that scarf important to you?"
Natsu's head snaps down to look at her, and Lucy's taken aback with the intensity burning in his onyx eyes. After a moment, he slowly looks away and says, "Yeah. My dad gave it to me."
Maybe that was a touchy subject. Lucy pouts, looking the other way towards the river that runs through town. It's frozen over now, and some daring kids are ice-skating on the thin ice, their laughs ringing through the air.
"Want to go here?" Natsu asks, pointing towards a small coffee shop nestled in between a clothing boutique and stationary shop.
A bell dings at the door as Lucy and Natsu walk in. Instantly an overpowering scent of coffee beans and warmth hits her in the face, and she blinks as she adjusts to the dim lighting and the cramped shop.
The shop is almost empty. Natsu walks up to the barista and asks for a simple cup of black coffee.
"What do you want?" he asks Lucy over his shoulder, and Lucy blinks. She wasn't expecting him to ask her. He's being more...chivalrous than she thought.
"A cappuccino," she decides, and the barista nods.
After getting the drinks, Lucy and Natsu sit at the long bar counter that runs along the window at the back of the shop near the door. Lucy blows on her drink, the foam rippling away. Her feet dangle slightly on the high stool she's sitting on, and she takes a sip, her eyes on the faded street she can see through the fogged over window.
Natsu, having already gulped down his strong coffee, is drawing pictures on the fog with his finger. She can see him, and his cat, and his couch, and - is that her?
"Wait, is that me?" she asks. He nods absentmindedly, his finger drawing something that vaguely resembles a dress.
Lucy stares at his depiction of her, before bursting out into laughs.
"Hey, it's not that bad!" he shouts, pouting.
"Yes, it is," she replies. "I do not look like that. God, you drew me so fat!"
"It's a masterpiece," he declares, covering up his drawing to stop her from erasing it.
Eventually she gives up and goes back to her drink, but she can't help but subtly glance at it every minute or so. For some reason, his awful drawings are extremely cute and she just wants to hug him.
In the drawing she's standing next to him, with Happy the cat in the middle. The couch is on the side - and now he's drawing a blob which she thinks is a cup of coffee.
She stares happily into the remaining foam in her drink, breathing in the coffee aroma. The warm feeling is back and she just wants to drown in it. She wonders if it's from the coffee or the shop or Natsu or all of it at once.
Natsu holds his head in his hands and glances at Lucy out of the corner of his eye. She's staring into her drink and softly smiling and one blond lock is falling over her face and she looks like she's kind of glowing in the faded winter lighting.
"A masterpiece," he mumbles, except this time he's not looking at the drawing.
A/N: People actually wanted me to update and I failed them. I'm horrible.