Needless to say a lot of NaLu drabbles are going to involve fire in some way. It's corny, but I mean…he uses fire dragonslaying magic and fire also happens to be a metaphor for a lot of things, like sparks of love and throes of passion.

Written for a tumblr prompt: just a bit chilled.

It is AU, just btw. ;) I know it doesn't match the setting and feel of the other drabbles but I thought that I would at least keep all the NaLu in one place for all your lovelies.

Waiting for Summer

It wasn't Lucy's fault that she was born cold-blooded.

All her entire life she had lived in warm sunny places—places that shivered the weather dipped below 75 degrees and where the coldest it got were inside supermarkets next to the poultry.

The short-wearing, tank top-donning blonde truly had no idea what she was in for when she decided to attend college at Fairy Tail University, where there were actually four seasons and not just wet and dry.

Lucy shivered, her teeth chattering under her frozen breath. She looked around her—all the other people walking around the street seemed perfectly fine, dressed in jeans and long-sleeved shirts. She, on the other hand, in a winter coat and warm boots made for the deadliest of winters, was still freezing her ass off—especially because she was sitting on a metal bench waiting for the bus.

She looked over at the pink-haired man flipping through his phone to the right of her. He looked absolutely comfortable in the cold weather, despite wearing shorts and a tshirt. She watched him exhale, his warm breath forming thick clouds in the sharp cool air, and her eyes looked hungrily at the heat he released.

She casually looked over his shoulder to glance at the time on his phone—too cold to pull out her own.

Ugh, she could not wait for the summer—her favorite season—to come back around.

Lucy sighed. She had about ten minutes to wait for the bus. Not sure if she'd be able to make it that long, she clasped her hands harder together and closed her eyes, counting to eight over and over again to distract herself from the biting cold.

The man sitting to the right of her laughed. "How are you doing?" he greeted.

She opened her eyes, surprised he was stirring conversation, before she realized that her body had unconsciously pulled itself close to him, as if hoping to share his body warmth, her entire torso very obviously slanted and leaning towards him.

She quickly readjusted herself, sitting up straight. "S-sorry!" she apologized. "I'm just a little bit chilled."

He looked at her for a moment, charcoal eyes analyzing her, before laughing out loud again.

"H-hey!" she said, embarrassed and a little annoyed at him for making such a scene. "What's so funny?"

"It's 70 degrees outside!" he exclaimed. "You're already in winter clothes—how are you going to survive the rest of the season?"

"Well, I'm not," she pouted, frustrated at the obnoxious man.

He laughed out loud again—his laughs were starting to get on her nerves. "Okay, how about—out of the goodness of my heart—I try to help you out this winter, then?"

She looked away, scoffing. "I never said I needed your help."

"Alright, alright," he defended, a smile still on his lips, turning back to his phone.

But he didn't tease her anymore when her body started gravitating toward his again, and she, for one, was going to take all the warmth she could get.

the next day

Today was even colder—even if it was just one more degree so.

Lucy felt goosebumps crawl up her arms, and she shuddered quietly to herself, feeling the ever encroaching arrival of winter.

Suddenly a large piece of fabric fell over her head—and for two seconds, she thought she was getting kidnapped—but when she lifted the cloth up from her head and looked around, she saw the pink-haired man from yesterday sitting down next to her, chuckling to himself.

"What was that for? What's this for?" she asked him, a little angrily.

"It's a warming tool to help you with the cold," he answered genuinely.

"I never said I needed your help," Lucy retorted, albeit softly.

"I know," he insisted, "I'm volunteering it."

But he didn't make any more of a scene about it, and she, for one, wasn't going to complain about the fuzzy blanket she now held up against her cheeks.

another day

If the cold kept racing in at this rate, Lucy was most definitely going to die.

Chattering and very visibly shaking her knees up and down, she looked down at her phone, so cold that she could barely hold it in her hands.

Lucy looked around. Where was that pink-haired guy anyway? He was at least 10 minutes late from the time he usually got to the bus stop.

And most importantly, he was her heater—she needed him to get through waiting in the cold!

"Hey!" someone down the street called out to her.

When she turned her head and saw the pink-hair and the dorky face that came with it, she groaned.

"Why are you so loud about everything?" she asked him as he approached her, sitting down at the bench to the right side of her, as always.

"What? You can't even thank me for getting you hot chocolate?" he defended, suddenly reaching behind him and passing her a warm cup of the drink.

Attracted to the steam coming up from the hot chocolate, her eyes lit up and she reached up to take the cup from him. "Oh, thank you," she said. "Ah—!"

She dropped the drink—too hot for her to handle in her icy hands.

"Oops," he said, catching the cup before it fell out of her hands. His warm hands gently brushed over hers, and she wasn't sure if she was blushing red from the stinging cold or the sudden caress.

"Sorry," she said, flushing and moving her eyes to the barista-scrawled name on the cup.

Natsu.

Summer, she translated quickly in her head.

But he didn't make any more conversation, letting her finish the hot chocolate, and she, for one, wasn't going to take his kindness for granted and allow the drink to go cold.

the following day

Unbearable.

Even sitting right next to him, curled up in a blanket, sipping on hot chocolate, she was still shuddering.

"Today's pretty cold, huh?" he asked her.

She could only really nod, shivering.

"Wow, you're not lying about all this, are you?" he remarked, clearly amused. "And all this time, I thought you were just trying to feel me up."

She blushed furiously, glaring at him. "Wha-what would make you think that?!"

Ignoring her, he reached down and picked up a scrap of newspaper on the sidewalk. She watched him, curious about what the hell he was doing, observing him twist the paper into a stick—before suddenly he pulled out a lighter from his pocket and set the paper on fire.

"Wha-what are you doing?!" Lucy shrieked, getting up from the seat and pulling herself away.

"What? I'm making a fire. Aren't you cold?" he asked, completely confused.

"Are you an idiot?!" she asked, horrified, stepping on the fire to put it out. "You can't just set a fire in the middle of a city!"

And as if things couldn't get any worse, a couple police sirens sounded from down the block, having seen the smoke.

"Oh shit! Come on, let's go!" he said, looking in the direction of police and grabbing her wrist. "Running will help you warm up! Let's go!"

"W-what?"

But he wasn't going to let them get caught by the police, and she, for one, wasn't going to let him go.

Ugh, I know. I wanted sooo bad to continue with this story and make it longer but I had a word limit on this prompt. (And I'm still about 200 words over! Ah! I couldn't help myself.)

Let me know what you think! (And also, if you want me to continue it!)

thir13enth