Pairing: Nalu

Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Happy

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Rating: K

Summary: About Lucy's second attempt to exact revenge on her dragon slayer and his exceed. One that manages to somehow end up with Natsu feeling mighty pleased.

Notes: Based on Mashima's recent Twitter art, and on Lucy's weird notions of what revenge is supposed to be like.

"Bwahahahahahahahaha! Lucy! Your FACE!"

Of course her face. You don't just barge in to someone's room, hide in their bed and then jump out while their changing and not get a "face" in reply.

It was a good thing she'd mastered the star dresses.

Switching to her Leo dress in the blink of an eye, knowing her one vanilla Lucy kicks weren't enough, Lucy then planted a nice Regulus aided roundhouse one with an appropriately loud "GET OUT!" sending both dragon slayer and exceed flying out her open window.

Panting away her anger Lucy continued grumbling as she changed into her outfit for the day.

This was the last straw.

She'd get her revenge on the team of meanies.

A thought occurred as a the gears in her head began turning devious plan for delicious, sweet payback cooked itself up as a result.

Well, devious to her anyway.

"No cleaning this time, no cleaning this time," she chanted out-loud, a lesson from the last time she had tried to gain her revenge. It also didn't help that he hadn't ever showed up, having barged in at her own apartment once again.

Lucy paused in her nighttime stroll to his house.

He had never really thanked her for it either.

Hmph.

Resuming at an extra fast pace, she made it to the little cottage that belonged to 'Natsu & Happy,' the board outside proudly announcing the same.

She had made sure to let him know he was not welcome to her home that night, and was sure he'd have got the message. It was the only thing she had said to him all day after all, and any doubts she could have had were silenced after seeing his resigned pout. Lucy had ignored the small pang of guilt the sight brought about. It wasn't like he wasn't going to see her that evening, after all.

Plus, this was all about the payback.

Doing her best to contain a bout of evil laughter, she snuck in quietly through the window.

She padded silently towards where she knew the dragon slayer's hammock ought to be, only to not find it there.

Puzzled, she turned around to search the house for it or any other sleeping arrangements they would have had.

Now that she looked around properly, eyes adjusting to the dim moonlit room, she noticed that the one room cottage wasn't nearly as messy as it had been the last time she had broken in.

Heck, it could even pass off as neat. Lucy had to admit to being impressed.

Reeling her thoughts back to the mission at hand, Lucy began to explore the room for the bed her two partners would tuck in on nights they were not sneaking into hers.

And find it she did.

Lucy's eyes widened as they took in the sight of the large queen sized bed positioned in one corner of the house. Walking up to it, she noted how it was hastily made, had three soft pillows and even had a snowy duvet on, one very much like her pink one.

She wondered when they had invested in this and - more importantly - why. Was the hammock causing back pains? were they just interested in a large bed to roll around in? Or maybe they expecting someone else to live with them? A secret girl-friend maybe?

Wait.

Did this mean they wouldn't be barging into her house as often?

Lucy was taken aback by the a nasty feeling of disappointment that made home in her heart at that final thought, instead of the relief that she technically should have felt.

Shaking the thought away, Lucy preoccupied herself with her quickly kicked off her slippers, lifted the duvet and crept inside, making herself comfy and grinning the whole while.

Ah, she could almost imagine it. Lucy lying peacefully in bed as they entered and screamed, "THAT'S OUR BED!" And finally she'll be the one laughing at their ridiculous expressions.

Lucy giggled, doing her best to stem the full-blown laughter threatening to bubble out of her.

Trying to reign it all in, she brought a finger to her lips, telling herself to hush and proceeding to lay as visibly comfortable as possible for maximum impact.

Now all she had to do was wait.

And wait she did.

For quite some time.

Lucy wondered where they were and why were they taking so long. Granted, it wasn't all that late just yet, but it wasn't like they would head over to her place tonight, she had made certain of that. And, as far as she knew, her place was the only nighttime chill spot they enjoyed.

Wait, was it?

Catching herself thinking rather dangerous thoughts once again, Lucy decided to consciously shift her line of thought as far away as possible, indulging instead in daydreams of happy, high-paying missions, fame and hoards of fans requesting for photos and autographs.

She didn't even realise when she fell asleep.

Natsu and Happy managed somehow to drag themselves home.

Mirajane had very politely (and slightly scarily) asked them to leave so that she could shut the guild hall down for the night and it had taken a very sulky Natsu every effort to not drop in at Lucy's.

Lucy.

Natsu's frown grew more pronounced. He never liked it when she didn't talk to him and she had practically ignored his very existence all day - except of course, to deliver the nasty blow of not letting them to her place that night.

Which was weird, because Natsu could tell she wasn't really all that pissed anymore. In fact, she looked more like she was excited about something, especially when she wasn't actively showing Happy and him how she wasn't talking to them.

But she did mean it when she had very seriously told him to not come to her house.

All of which weird behaviour, even for Lucy.

Reaching for the door to his cottage, Natsu paused.

"What's wrong Natsu?" asked Happy, noticing him freeze.

"I smell Lucy."

"Lucy? She's mad at us, Natsu. She won't be here...would she?" the exceed added almost hopefully.

"She wasn't really mad, Happy. And I'm sure she's here."

Not waiting to explain further, Natsu opened his door and followed his nose to where it was leading him.

Only to find the source of that pleasantly familiar scent cozily curled up and fast asleep.

In his bed.

Her hair was open, somehow glowing in the dark and she had the most serene expression on. The only sounds in the quiet dark room were of her soft breathing, Natsu's own being held in - not that he noticed.

The dragon slayer titled his head, absorbing the heartwarming sight, committing it to memory.

It wasn't like this was his first time witnessing a sleeping Lucy, oh no. He had seen her gracefully asleep, and had seen her sprawled across the bed with her mouth open as well. He'd seen her drool onto her pillows and seen her hug them when dreaming happily and seen her clutch it in the middle of a nightmare.

He had seen all kinds of slumbering Lucys.

But there was something about watching her sleeping in his bed that had Natsu's heart racing.

Happy watched him from a distance, wisely choosing to not break his trace as he continued staring at her with an unreadable expression.

A few moments later Natsu grinned.

He quietly hopped to the other side of the bed and did his best to slip inside without jostling the bed or the other person sleeping on it.

Looking over at Happy, he patted the pillow next to his head, the cat getting the message and landing silently on to it hiding his own knowing smile.

Seeing the cat comfortable, Natsu turned to the blonde lying beside him, back back facing him. This was happening far earlier than he had planned, but Natsu found that he had not one complaint.

Feeling brave with all the happy hormones rushing inside him, Natsu raised an arm and curled it around Lucy's middle, gently pulling her closer to him.

Lucy offered no resistance, only fidgeting slightly to adjust to her new position.

Natsu sighed into her hair.

This felt right.

A rumbling sound brought Lucy from blissful sleepy ignorance to the edge of consciousness. It was deep and not very loud. It actually sounded like the purring of a cat. A very large cat.

In time, she noticed the warmth enveloping her coupled with the purr and the strangeness of it all finally hit her.

Lucy's eyes gently opened only to find herself gazing at tanned pectorals.

'Huh?'

Jerking in surprise, Lucy pushed against it to straighten as much as the arm around her would allow, to look at the not-so-mystery person she had just been unconsciously cuddling.

Natsu's face - for it was his - was the tranquil calm that was only ever there when he was peacefully traversing the land of dreams.

It did occur to her that this was the cue for her to be screaming, waking him up and pushing him out of bed, but for once she had no drive to do so.

Instead, she found that her palm itched to move the strands of pink hair that draped over his face, wondering how they would feel between her fingers.

And before she could think twice, she found herself doing just that.

Her plan had failed miserably once again, she knew. But much like last time she didn't feel so much at a loss at the end of it either.

Natsu suddenly showed signs of waking up and, unsure of her ability to fake anger at this point, Lucy shut her eyes pretending to have never awoken.

When Natsu only turned to his other side, drawing his arm away from her, Lucy actually frowned, missing the feeling of being held so securely. But she figured this was her best chance to leave, postponing any potential awkwardness for later.

Quietly, she slipped out of the warm duvet and onto her feet. She turned around to look at her best friend once more before putting on her slippers and padding to the door and showing herself out, full of very mixed feelings.

Natsu opened one eye carefully as she left, smiling softly at her attempt to try and fool him. She didn't know it was easier for him to read her breathing and heartbeat than it was to read actual words. Nor had she known that he had woken long before she had, not wanting to move from where he was - from where they were.

He knew she wasn't ready yet, and had thus given her the chance to get up should she have wanted to.

He also knew to not bring it up later, for fear of scaring her. And so he wouldn't.

But there wasn't anything in the world that could stop him from cherishing what he had just experienced.

And who knew? Maybe there would come a time when he would get to make more such memories with her.

The queen sized bed was bought for a reason after all.

As usual, thanks for reading! Do drop in a review - no review is silly and they are all excellent encouragement to keep writing!

Special thanks to xhearthemusic, Erzatscarlett, Lyonsgirl and Yuyui Hime (twice :D) for your reviews, as well as everyone who favourited and followed! :D