Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia

Genres: Romance, fluff

Summary: Taking care of a drunk Lucy was quite the chore, and definitely not Natsu's idea of interesting. Until it was.

Notes: Starting of 2018 with some good old, canonverse, doodle-fix-it fluff. Super special thanks to the amazing x-benihime (do check her work out)!

Shots Taken

Natsu suppressed another exasperated groan.

It was always fun and games chilling with Lucy, but as soon as alcohol was involved, whole vibe of the evening would change.

For the worst.

Like it just had.

Add that to the fact that they were fresh out of the hot-springs, and the team — including Happy — were now suspiciously nowhere to be seen, his dread only cemented further.

He sneaked another glance at her flushed face and dazed eyes. She was giggling at goodness-knows-what which would have been cute, had it not been unsettling at the same time.

Instinct and experience had taught Natsu as much.

But as easy as it would have been to shove her on one of the girls and skedaddle, he knew she was also the safest with him.

"Natsuuuuuu!"

Ugh.

"Natsuuu," she slurred again, crawling her way to where he was seated, at her wobbliest best.

"Y-yeah?" Natsu forced out, knowing he didn't sound anywhere near as patient as he wanted to.

Lucy paused trying to get closer to stare blankly into his eyes — which had his heart hammering fast enough (was it nervousness? Fear? That look?), but things got a lot worse when she smiled.

It was slow.

Full of meaning.

And deadly.

Natsu gulped.

"Scratch me," she then meowed, confirming Natsu's worst fears.

'She's kitty level drunk!'

Sweating (while remarking how not even Erza managed to do that to him), Natsu gingerly brought a hand under her chin and did as she asked, unable to stop himself from rolling his eyes when she started to purr.

He was absolutely torn between being there for his best friend, and his gross aversion to being forced to play along with her every sake-infused whim. It wasn't like refusing her was an option, though, oh no. No, kitty Lucy was still waay better than waterworks-Lucy.

Seriously, she could put the water-woman to shame.

He was jarred out of some very scary thoughts on both of them being sad-drunk together, when Lucy practically draped herself on his side. Curling her arms around his arm, she hugged him close, murmuring the whole time.

He'd known the clinginess was coming, but facing it was a whole new ball game each time.

His discomfort stemmed mainly from Lucy's own reaction to her drunken actions. She nearly always regretted the stuff she did when she was drunk (once witnesses were able to convince her they were really telling the truth about her drunk shenanigans). And it would usually bum her out so much, he could practically hear her overthinking.

To make matters even worse, she always ended up avoiding him for a while each time. And while he understood she'd always come back, and that their friendship was as important to her as it was to him, it hurt to have her be that way.

Natsu sighed, forgetting where he was.

Until he felt a finger prodding at his cheek.

"What?" he asked, turning to see Lucy watching him carefully. As carefully as one can while she was obviously seeing in twos, anyway.

"You're...mad at me?" she asked softly, her voice really tiny.

His heart broke a little. Setting aside his own negativity, he put on a smile. "Nah, not this time," he said.

"That's not Natsu's smile," she accused, face contorting into a big frown. "You're not happy."

"Uh," he scratched a cheek in discomfort, knowing he could never lie to her. "Yeah, I guess."

"Do you want to be scratched instead?"

"No, no thanks," said he, backing away just a bit.

Lucy watched as he did. "A... piggyback ride, then?"

That got a snort out of him. "You can barely stand on your own right now."

Lucy's expression twisted more, clearly deep in thought. Natsu gave her her time, genuinely curious to see where her spirited thoughts would take her.

"I don't know," she exclaimed finally, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I don't know how to make you smile and that's very very scary, Natsu."

The concern in her voice alarmed him. "You don't have to, Luce! I'll be back to normal tomorrow!" 'As soon as you are!'

Concern made way to a giant pout on her face. "I miss your sunny smile. I don't wanna be why it's gone."

How the hell was he supposed to stay put off at such obscene levels of cute?

Against his better judgement, he patted her head. "Hey," he said softly. "That smile will always be around. You're here."

Her silence as she absorbed that made him a little nervous. His sentiment was genuine, but he also knew this wasn't the ideal time for Lucy to feel very sentimental.

But he was then rewarded with a genuine smile of her own.

"You make me happy, Natsu," she confessed. Warm, genuine and as Lucy as Lucy ever could be.

"Heyyyy," she exclaimed suddenly, pointing at him excitedly. "That's a new smile!"

"It is?" said Natsu, the automatic pull of his cheeks confirming that he was indeed grinning.

"Yes!" she giggled, "You looked like you're the one who's drunk."

"I did?" his smile only growing.

"Uh-huh," her tone changed. Eyes suddenly a whole more lot sharp, the warmth in them a whole lot more than that. "See something you like?"

Natsu gave it a moment, and decided to give in. "Naw."

Slowly, giving her enough time to pull away, he gently rest his forehead on hers.

Voice soft, eyes clear, he responded, "Love."

Lucy froze, and Natsu let what he said sink in. The shock was predictable.

The blush was too.

The ecstatic, unbridled joy? Not as much.

But he practically mirrored her reaction when her response was, quite simply, probably the biggest smile he had ever seen on her. Directed at him.

Next thing he knew, he was tackled into a hug, and for the first time, he was thrilled to receive one from a super-sloshed Lucy. A boisterously laughing, super sloshed Lucy.

The jolly sound was infectious, and he couldn't help but hold her close, and join in.

Until, he felt just how dead her weight was on him. And registered a soft snore.

This time, Lucy's passing out didn't quite bring the relief it usually did.

"Never again," Lucy groaned, sun hitting her right in the eyes.

"You say that every single time," reminded Natsu from where he lay, head propped on an arm, on the futon right next to her.

Lucy couldn't even bring herself to care.

"Stop your gloating, yeesh."

"Gloat? Me? Just because I can drink all the alcohol I want and not feel like crap after?"

Lucy blindly threw a pillow at his mock-offended face, which he dodged with ease that was infuriating.

Lucy cracked open an eye to glare at him.

"Stop that weird face, will you?"

"What weird face?" Natsu asked.

Lucy raised a hand to indicate at...all of his face. "That one."

"Is it...new?" he asked, reckoning it was worth the shot.

"Yeah, it's weird," she said, rendering Natsu more disappointed than he expected to be. That is, until —

"Kinda looks familiar, though."

Four words, and it brought all the hope he needed.

"Natsu..." Lucy called, nervousness creeping into her voice.

He knew that if last night was anything to go by, he had a solid chance.

"Natsu, Natsu, I do know that look too well. Don't do this, you know I'm hung over," she pleaded, trying to roll away.

He could always see her blush like that once again.

"No, no, no, no, no —"

Natsu pounced and Lucy didn't know what hit her. And as she squealed and laughed along with Natsu's notoriously effective tickling, he found himself certain of one thing.

Maybe he'd be able to tell her how he felt sometime soon.

Maybe they did have a good shot at being together sometime in the future.

And maybe drunk Lucy wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: Happy new year, everyone! :D

Special thanks yous to DancesWithSeatbelts and quite-a-riot (I'm sorry about your tears, does this help?) for your lovely reviews, and to everyone who read, favourited and followed!