Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to the final chapter of the first half of "The ABCs of Natsu and Erza!" And we close Part One of this story off with the letter M as in Morning!

The first part of this chapter went by well, but I did have to play around with ideas until I found one I liked. And I notice I write more about Erza's interactions with the girls than Natsu's interactions with the guys, which strikes me as kind of odd, since I am indeed a guy. Oh well, I guess I have a better grasp of the female characters, and there's really nothing wrong with that... is there?

And so, I have nothing to say, except enjoy the chapter!

I don't own these characters, Hiro Mashima does.

The first thing Erza noticed this morning was that the sun was too damn bright. Now, Erza Scarlet was not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, so when the light started shining through the curtains, she was rather cranky.

The second thing Erza noticed was that she was alone. Normally, this didn't worry her, but last night, she had her boyfriend over, and they had gotten… intimate… with each other.

What really rubbed Erza the wrong way was that this was the first time they had gone all the way. Yes, they had been dating for quite some time, but Erza was adamant about waiting until marriage.

However, the guild had welcomed a new member into their ranks. She had one of those complicated names that nobody remembers the first time, and Erza was no exception to that rule. Either way, the guild had had one of their customary welcoming parties, complete with more alcohol than you could shake a stick at. And Erza had partaken of it against her better judgment.

The thing is, she was drunk enough that it affected her judgment, but not so much that she didn't remember the events of the night before. Natsu, who had a dragon's alcohol tolerance, took Erza home out of concern for her well-being. She had protested at first, but as soon as his strong arms took hold of her, she began to make plans to take him the second he brought her home.

It was cute the way Natsu had resisted at first, not wanting to take advantage of his drunken lover. But after forcing her crotch into his, Natsu's willpower had gone out the window, and his dragon instincts took over, asserting their dominance over the normally proud Titania. And as one of the most feared mages in the country, Erza reveled in a lover that could dominate her. The mere memory sent chills up her spine and made her wonder why she had ever denied herself such maddening pleasure.

Except now, on the morning after, that idiot, that complete and utter MORON wasn't here with her, and now she looked like a damn fool! Her mind made up, she Requipped into her normal clothes and stormed off to give that stupid Dragon Slayer a piece of her mind.

If only she had noticed the piece of paper on her desk.

Erza stormed through the guild doors with all the fury of a hurricane. Anyone could tell that she was pissed off, and staying out of her way was the only option for survival.

Scanning the guild hall for any sign of pink hair, she found none, which only irritated her more. She walked up to the bar, where Mira was in her usual place, talking with her siblings, and slammed her palm down to get the barmaid's attention.

"Good morning, Erza! You're looking well this morning!" said Mira pleasantly.

"Skip the pleasantries, Mira," said Erza. "Have you seen Natsu at all this morning?"

Mira frowned. "No, I haven't," she said. "In fact, I half expected you guys to show up together."

Lisanna turned her head to face her sister. "Why would Natsu and Erza come together?" she asked. Suddenly, a spark of realization flashed through her mind. "Unless they "came" together!" she exclaimed.

"Ooooh!" a feline voice yelled. "Natsu and Erza did it, didn't they?" Happy appeared from behind the bar and started dancing on the countertop in joy.

Erza blushed. "What the hell is it to you?" she yelled.

"Nothing," Mira answered for the blue Exceed. "But weren't you waiting until you two got married?"

"Alcohol gives me ideas. Bad ideas," said Erza stiffly.

"Oh, you have to give us details later!" said Lisanna excitedly.

"Fine," said Erza, not really paying attention to what the youngest Take Over mage was saying. "If you see him, let me know so I may teach him a lesson about leaving his lover in the middle of the night."

The sisters gasped, scandalized. "He left?" asked Mira.

"Natsu wouldn't do that!" said Lisanna.

"That unmanly bastard!" bellowed Elfman. "Real men always spend the night!"

"Elfman, people are staring," scolded Mira.

"Maybe he just went home to change clothes," said Lisanna.

"I haven't seen Natsu since last night," said Happy.

Erza growled. "So if you haven't seen him at all, Happy, then where is he?" asked Erza dangerously.

Happy flinched. "H-h-h-he's probably hiding because he kn-kn-knows you're going to kill him!" he stuttered.

"Oh, I won't kill him, Happy," said Erza, grinning like a madwoman. "I'll just…"

"WE DON'T WANNA KNOW!" everyone screamed.

Erza pouted. "Why must you all ruin my fun?" she said.

At that point, Cana came to the bar. "The usual, Mira," she said with no pretense. "So what's going on?"

"Natsu walked out on Erza," said Elfman. "So unmanly."

"Seriously?" said Cana with a sigh. "That idiot didn't mention that!" No sooner than Cana said that had Erza descended upon her.

"Where is he?" she growled lowly.

"Probably back at Lucy's helping her with her hangover," said Cana. She sighed sadly. "Poor girl doesn't have to get piss drunk to impress me… I love her just the way she is."

Suddenly, a memory surfaced in Erza's mind. In it, Lucy was walking around the guild, drunker than she'd ever been, flashing anyone who would care to look, which was to say, most of the male members of the guild. Eventually, she leaned over the bar and vomited damn near everything she drank that night, but the damage was done. It was then that a horrified Cana had trapped her in a card and left the guild without a word.

"That's why he left," whispered Erza. She dashed off without saying anything more.

Lucy felt like crap. No, crap was putting it mildly. God, what had compelled her to have so much to drink last night? What was she trying to prove?

She had learned a valuable lesson this morning. Just because her girlfriend was a drinker doesn't mean she had to be. Cana had made that perfectly clear as soon as she woke up.

Natsu, ever the worrywart when it comes to his friends, dropped by to see how she was feeling, and was putting on a cup of coffee for her right now. Who knew a hangover could leave you sleepy? Well, she sure has hell did now.

A knock on her door snapped the Celestial mage out of her musings (and brought back the headache from earlier with the force of an elephant stampede). "Natsu, get the door!" she yelled.

"I can't! The coffee'll burn!" the Dragon Slayer replied.

"It's coffee! It doesn't burn!" groaned Lucy. "Besides, it'll only take five seconds, so get your ass out there!"

"All right, all right!" Natsu grumbled. He opened the door… only to reveal Erza, who had flung herself into his arms.

"Oh, Natsu, you big sweetheart!" said Erza.

Natsu grinned. "I am sweet, aren't I?" he said.

"That's why you're my Honey Dragon!" the scarlet-haired woman cooed.

"You know I am, Baby Red," replied Natsu. The couple then shared a passionate kiss.

Meanwhile, Lucy had summoned the strength to walk to the living room. When she saw Natsu and Erza start to kiss, she sighed. "I guess I'll get the coffee, then," she said to no one in particular and trudged off to the kitchen, grumbling all the way about no one taking care of the hung over people.

I honestly would've liked this to turn out... better, but it just seems to fit.

And now that we're halfway through the alphabet, I would like to announce that this story is ON HIATUS FOR TWO MONTHS! But that's not to say I'm not writing for two months. No, I'd like to use this time to explore avenues I can't really explore within the confines of an alphabet challenge that only has room for one-word prompts. They won't necessarily be all NatsuxErza, so you can expect stories about... pretty much any other couple in Fairy Tail, provided it somehow makes sense to me. I may also delve back into Bleach and/or Pokemon, but really, I'm not about to make any promises. I am working on a LucyXJellal oneshot (blasphemy? Not to a NatsuxErza fan!), since I kind of got into that couple lately and there's literally no stories in which they're paired up, which is justifiable, since they haven't interacted once during the entire series. Of course, my compulsion to remain as canon compliant as possible probably won't allow me to finish it, since Ultear and Meredy are just going to disappear and live out their lives as a lesbian couple (I'm only half-kidding about the latter). Hey, I might just write something about those two! Who knows?

Well, I've got a lot planned, so I'm just gonna shut up now. Until November, this is Nightlingbolt, signing out from this story, and I will see you all... wherever.