hey! You should come out with us tonight.

Hey Lucy, why weren't you at work today? Text me asap

Lucy we have to talk. Please.

Mira and I are going to a karaoke club tonight, you should come with us.

Do we have red peppers at home?

Hey text me back.

Juvia is worried about Lucy.

Damn it Luce. If you don't answer me, I'm coming over.

I'm inviting Gajeel over tonight for dinner. Would you be okay with giving us the apartment for the night?

Lucy sat alone in the small apartment she shared with Levy. A book was balanced on her lap but she wasn't reading it. Her phone laid on the thick pages, lighting up every so often with a message from a friend. She read the messages but didn't respond to any except Levy's.

Lucy really didn't want to be there but it was the only place she could hide when she didn't want to talk to someone. That someone being Natsu and some of her friends. They were curious about what was going on between her and Natsu, and she just didn't want to involve them. At least not until she was sure what was going on.

Ever since the morning that she saw him leave Angel's apartment, he kissed her, and had that awkward confrontation with Angel, Lucy had avoided Natsu. Some times it made sense. She wasn't sure what had happened between them. She wasn't sure if he kissed her to make her feel better or if he truly meant it. Other times, ignoring him like this seemed childish and pointless. She should just talk it out with him but she was still scared despite what he said.

As she thought that, someone rapped on her apartment door. Lucy sighed and walked to the door and swung it open. Natsu stood opposite of her, a shy smile showing how nervous he was. Natsu was never nervous and it kind of comforted her to know that he was probably as uncomfortable as she was.

"Hi." He said

"Hi."

They stayed there for the longest time, not moving. Then Lucy feeling impolite, invited him in. Now they sat silently on the couch. The silence was deafening and awkward. It had an heaviness to it and it was crushing Lucy. She wished he would say something. He was the one who came over unannounced, again.

"So.. why did you come here?" Lucy asked, hoping that would get him talking.

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck -one of his nervous ticks- then blow a long breath out his mouth. He turned to face her then opened his mouth to speak. But nothing came out. He closed his mouth and thought again how he was going to do this then tried speaking again.

"Lucy, I, uh.. I really want to know what happened. I thought you were happy but then you've been avoiding me. Why?"

Not exactly what she wanted to hear. She wanted him to clear some things up. Like why did he kiss her then act like nothing happened in front of Angel? Did she mean anything to him like he did to her? If not, why would he do that to her? Was girls just toys to him there for his personal amusement and that's it?

Her thoughts were causing tears to burn at the back of her eyes. She tried to keep them in, not wanting Natsu to see her cry. Especially since they really hadn't discussed anything. She made sure not to look at him just in case.

"I'm still confused on what did happen." Lucy admitted.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked and tried to get Lucy to turn around but she refused.

Natsu had enough of Lucy refusing to look at him. It hurt him every time she did that over the past week and it was getting to be too much. He would get her to look at him one way or the other. Giving her the option to on her own wasn't working so now he had to force her to. He slowly moved closer to Lucy then placed his hands on her hips and tickled. The best thing about being a friend before anything else; you get to know all their weakness.

Lucy gasped then shrieked and squirmed to get out of his grasp but he was stronger than her and was able to keep her in his hands. Unwanted laughs rumbled out of her mouth and she heard him laughing at her. Lucy fell back on Natsu, her hands still fighting to get his off. With all the squirming Lucy was doing, the two almost fell off the couch but Natsu was able to roll Lucy to the inside of the couch and prevent them from falling, all while still tickling her.

"Natsu! Natsu, please stop!" Lucy gasped.

But he wasn't going to stop that easily. It only made him tickle more fiercely. Lucy twisted and shrieked again. "Natsu! Please!"

Now she was facing him and Natsu finally stopped tickling her. He was smiling brightly and looking into her eyes. Lucy blushed as she looked into his charcoal eyes. She realized just how close they were, their legs tangled together and his hands were holding her close to him and cornering her on the couch. Her heart hammered in her chest and her breath caught in her chest. She tried to remember what she was thinking before Natsu started tickling her but she couldn't. Natsu was too close and made it impossible for her brain to function. All that worked was the desire to run her fingers through his pink spiky hair, to feel the softness of his lips on hers, and the need to feel his presence more, for him to never leave.

"I love you, Lucy." Natsu whispered and moved a few strands of hair out of Lucy's face.

Lucy stared at him. He just said he loved her. A wide smile graced her lips expressing just how happy she was to hear that. All of her doubts that she could feel in the back of her mind evaporated.

"I love you too." Lucy whispered.

The kiss that they shared didn't hold any of the shyness their first one did not did it have the urgency. It held an loving sweetness; enough to get anyone hooked/ addicted. It surely had Lucy in its warm grasp.

They broke apart but didn't move from where they were. Lucy wrapped her arms around Natsu's shoulders and buried her face in his neck. Natsu tightened his hold around her waist and rested his head on Lucy's.

"Don't you dare ignore me like that again. If you do, I'm tickling you again. Next time until you piss yourself." Natsu threatened in a joking manner.

"Okay." Lucy giggled. They didn't speak after that. Lucy felt they didn't need to. They had said all they needed to.

Eventually as they held each other and sat in the silence, Natsu and Lucy drifted to sleep.

..

Levy walked home late that evening. She had filled in for Lucy that day then went to buy food for dinner that night. She had invited Gajeel over for a meal and hoped things went well. Levy hoped Lucy was okay with giving them a little space tonight and not just saying it to make her happy.

The tiny blue haired girl made her way up the stairs to her apartment. Lucy often found it crazy that Levy avoided the elevator at all cost but Levy was terrified of them. Once as a kid, she got stuck in one for three hours alone before she was rescued. Ever since then she never stepped a foot in one again.

Outside in the hall, she fidgeted with her bags to dig her keys out of her pocket but when she put them in the lock, she found out she didn't need them. The apartment was unlocked.

Levy kicked the door open lightly with her foot and walked into the apartment. She didn't look around but made a beeline to the kitchen counter to put down the brown paper bags. She unpacked the food that was stored inside and put them into the fridge until it was time for that particular item, then she began to prepare parts of the meal.

She had just put the main dish into the oven when it finally dawn on her to ask Lucy what she was going to do tonight. Levy stalked down the short hallway in the apartment; this hallway had three doors. One was to her room, another to Lucy's, and the last to the one and only bathroom in the apartment. Levy knocked on Lucy's door and called out her name but she didn't get a response. Cracking the door open, Levy peeked in to see if she was just sleeping but the bed was empty, still freshly made from that morning.

"Lucy?" Levy called, wondering if her friend was even in the apartment. Still she heard nothing.

Levy was about to accept that her friend had already left when she caught a glimpse of pink from the couch. She walked over expecting to find just Lucy but she wasn't expecting what she saw.

Lucy had her back against the couch cushions and the back, and had her arms limply around a pair of powerful shoulders. Attached to the shoulders was a head of pink hair. Natsu. He was leaning toward the edge of the couch but he seemed to have a firm placing on the couch. He arms were also wrapped around Lucy. His cheek was pressed against Lucy's hair and Lucy's face was in the curve of his neck. Their legs had tangled together and Levy assumed it was this that kept Natsu on the couch.

They looked so cute like that. Levy hadn't even suspected that the two had finally got that close. Of course she knew that they shared special feelings for one another even if they didn't but she never thought they would come together on their own. She smiled down on them and wondered how long it had been going on. A week? A month? She suspected a week since they both acted kind of jumpy around everyone lately. And the way Lucy avoided spending too much time with her friends lately only fed Levy's suspensions. To her, it seemed Lucy was making secret plans with Natsu and avoided friends to keep them or so it wouldn't slip out about a secret relationship. Though if that was the reason, Levy kind of understood. She knew how Mira Jane got when it came to others love lives.

Levy decided to leave them alone for a little while. At least until it was time for Gajeel to meet her at the apartment. She went back to the kitchen area and began preparing the rest of the food.

…

Lucy awoke to the smells of something cooking. She didn't open her eyes, just let her nose silently sniff the air. Then she tried to place herself. Remember what was the last thing she was doing before sleeping. An odd warmth was beside her and a pressure was around her waist. She thought of what it could be but her mind came up blank. Lucy opened her eyes to see what it was and as soon as she saw the short amount of a tan neck everything from that afternoon came to her. Natsu coming over, their very short conversation, him tickling her – which she still didn't understand why he did that-, and then them kissing. Just thinking about it took her breath away.

Natsu was still sleeping and Lucy slowly rose from the couch, trying not to wake him. But as soon as she was out of his arms and off the couch, Natsu stirred. She froze hoping she didn't wake him. When he just turned over and continued sleeping, Lucy released a long nervous sigh.

"Finally awake?" Levy asked from the kitchen causing Lucy to jump a mile in the air. She didn't know Levy was home but now that she thought about it, she should have. She woke up to the smells of food and obviously Lucy hadn't been the one to start it.

"How long have you been home?" Lucy gasped, trying to catch her breath.

"About an hour." Levy turned around to stir something inside a pot then turned back around to face Lucy. "Want to tell me about Natsu?"

Lucy absentmindedly smiled. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"How long has this been going on?" Levy asked, a extra glimmer in her eyes.

"Since today." Lucy answered as she sat at the table. "But we did have a moment last week."

Levy's mouth fell open. She quickly joined her friend at the table. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

Lucy laughed nervously. "Because I was confused by it and didn't want to say anything until I knew what was happening."

Levy had an ah-ha moment. "So that's why you've been acting funny. So what happened last week?"

"While it started with me waking late for work. When I left the apartment, I ran into Natsu as he was leaving Angel's apartment." Lucy saw Levy flinch a little at that but kept going. "I tried to make a quick getaway but I accidentally slipped. Natsu followed me and we kinda told each other how we felt but then we didn't, you know? Well anyway, he kissed me and carried me back here to take care of the knee but Angel caught us. Then Natsu started acting funny, like he was being defensive of his actions. So I kinda got angry and closed the door in his face."

Lucy watched as her friend took it all in. Levy's face changed emotions so fast it was hard to keep up. Anger, understanding, happiness, confusion, and herself trying to figure it out.

Before any other words could be said, someone loudly knocked on the door.

"Oh no! Gajeel's early!" Levy shrieked.

Both girls shot up in their chairs. Levy bolted to the stove to check on food once more before scurrying to the door. Lucy ran down the hall and burst into her room. She changed out of her night shirt and shorts, and put on a pink shirt and white tank top. Sliding on some flip-flops, she ran back to the living room.

"Come on Natsu, you have to wake up now!" Lucy hissed as she leaned over the couch to shake his shoulder. It took a while but finally he opened one eye.

"What's going on?" he asked in a deep husky voice. Lucy's knees shook from the power of his voice but she ignored them.

"We have to go now." She ordered. She walked around the couch, grabbed his arms, and tugged. He rose from the couch a little reluctantly and Lucy lead him to the door.

Levy finally opened the door for the tall, dark haired man who looked a little nervous and kept fidgeting with his shirt collar. Lucy shouted a quick hello as she shoved Natsu out the door and pushed Gajeel into the apartment.

"Good luck." She whispered to Levy then closed the door.

"What the hell Luce?" Natsu yawned, leaning against the wall beside her door.

"Sorry Natsu. Levy wanted the apartment and I agreed. I didn't want to wake you up but I had too." Lucy apologized and hugged him around the torso.

"It's fine." Natsu slowly said, getting the last of the sleepiness out of him. "So what are we doing?"