So I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who's favourited and followed. This story is now so close to being my most popular in both respects (an age old one that I abandoned because I didn't like how I'd done the characters 'Morning Jogs' is currently the winner along with 'Her Spider Catcher'). Again thank you so much for reviews as well, they affect me so much (even though they probably shouldn't XD) but I appreciate them more than you can imagine, so will be replying to some in these beginning parts.

Joeclone: I've tried to base it in the same 'Earthland' as in the manga, just as if there were no magic (if that makes sense)! Thank you so much, I think Loké will be explained further later in the story, and you are correct about Laxus!

Michiamotippete: First of all thank you for all of your reviews, I really appreciate them. And I sure hope he does! You'll see in this chapter!

Heyitsmeduhnat: Haha! You are CORRECT my friend!

Thank you to all the usual reviewers as well! Let's continue with the story! This is one of the longer chapters again!

Chapter 5 – Learning to fit in

"Who the fuck is this, blondie?"

'Oh god, oh god' Lucy repeatedly whispered under her breath. She unconsciously tightened her grasp on Natsu's arm; god knows when she had latched onto him. Of all the people that they could've bumped into first, of course it would be her eldest cousin.

Laxus.

"So?" He crossed his arms, eyes flitting over Natsu's form quickly making a silent judgement they could only hope was good. "Who is he?"

Natsu took a deep breath, plastered on his normal smile and walked closer to the man. Unconsciously he puffed out his chest to make himself seem taller and held eye contact with him. He wasn't going to look intimidated by him, even if he definitely felt that way.

"I'm Natsu. Lucy's best-.. uh boyfriend." In the corner of his eye, he could see Lucy flinch at his little slip up. Of course he messed it up on the first day. God dammit maybe they should've thought this through more.

The man before him raised an eyebrow, seemingly amused at his answer. The corner of his lip turning upwards despite his best efforts to keep a stoic and scary face.

"Her best boyfriend?" He repeated back to them both. Lucy moved to stand next to him and smiled as sweetly as she could at her cousin, nodding her head and hoping to god he believed them.

"Yeah." Natsu said, more firmly this time.

"That's kinda arrogant of ya. Has she even had any others?" The miniscule smile on his face was replaced by a soft mocking smile pointed at Lucy herself this time.

"Laaxxuusss…." Lucy softly whined. She didn't want to be reminded of her failure of a love life. "Be niiccee…"

"Tch fine, come in I guess then." Lucy let out a sigh of relief, passing Natsu to give her cousin a quick hug before turning round and gesturing for Natsu to follow her inside the house. He began to follow her in but found himself stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder swinging him to face the other way.

"If I find out you ever do a single thing to hurt her. You'll seriously regret it."

Laxus practically growled the words out.

Okay, so he was seriously overprotective, but then again who wouldn't be over Luce. Though Natsu felt his throat tighten a bit as he gulped, he held eye contact with the man and firmly replied.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Laxus held the eye contact for a few seconds longer, before breaking it to shut the door behind him, seemingly satisfied with Natsu's reply. He walked into the next room over and saw Lucy reuniting with a girl with long platinum hair.

No way.

"Oh Lucy hello!" That voice. It had to be, the same soft voice he recognised from years earlier. The name was out his mouth before he could stop it.

"Mira?" He breathed out. The girls stopped their hugging and both turned to look at him. Lucy with a look of confusion, and 'Mira' with a look of amusement and what she tried to make out as innocent shock.

"Oh my, so it really was you Natsu?"

Lucy felt her head turn to look at Mira, then Natsu, then Mira, then- you get the point. She was confused. As hell.

"Hang on, how do you Laxus' fiancé?"

"Oh we go waayyy back Lucy. We used to be Neighbours back when I lived in Magnolia!" Mirajane began. From there she dove into a short recap of how it had been about 4 years since their families had seen each other. Mirajane and her family had moved out of the neighbourhood and closer to Acalypha when her youngest sibling had disappeared, of course Lucy knew that part. Mira had confided in her after a particularly heartfelt conversation they had last year. But when Mirajane continued to let them know that not only was she now in contact with her sibling, but that she had been found.

Lucy felt Natsu stilled beside her at that. Asking Mira to repeat what she just said.

"Lisanna came back," Her eyes filled with unshed tears. "It's a long story but she had been taken away into protective custody and.. well I'm sure she'll just tell you the rest."

She laughed through a small sob, as Laxus pulled her into a rough hug, and a few soft steps came from the hallway behind them.

"Natsu?"

Her voice was soft, almost as sweet as her sisters, but richer. Despite himself, Natsu stood up to face the direction of the voice.

"Lis-"

Natsu barely breathed out her name before he was cut off by her practically jumping from the doorway o latch onto him, and squeeze him silly in a hug. Of course, he returned the hug with just as much vigour that Lucy couldn't help but tear up at the scene. The pure unadulterated joy on his face was an expression she'd never seen before, and it tugged at her heartstrings.

She knew Mirajane had lost a sibling, and that Natsu had lost a friend but not one time did she put two and two together. Who would've thought, that two people close to her could be so heartbroken by a tragedy that occurred years before, and so elated through the miracle of her coming back so recently.

Natsu buried his face into the shoulder of the girl and sniffed slightly, his eyes clouding over. Though Lucy was beyond happy for him, she couldn't ignore the small nagging voice in the darkest corner of her mind.

The voice of jealousy.

Her and Natsu weren't really together, and from what she'd heard from Gray and the others, Natsu and Lisanna used to be close. Very close. So maybe now that she was back he would want to pick that up again, maybe that was why he hadn't actually been with many people, because they weren't her?

In her spiralling she missed the part where Natsu asked for the story, and only when she felt the sofa dip from their combined weight was she dragged back to reality in time for a short retelling of the story.

"Well big sis already knows, and I'll fill you in on details later I'm sure, but you remember the day we went out on that hike?" Natsu nodded eagerly awaiting the rest of the story, as Lucy listened in. She couldn't help but feel like she was intruding as she heard this story. "Well, whilst I was separated from them I actually witnessed something suuuper illegal, it was like human trafficking bad. And they saw that I saw them-" Before Natsu could bombard her with more questions about what she saw she turned and directed her next sentence at him to quiet him. "I really didn't even see much from where I was stood, but apparently being there was enough to put me on their hitlist."

Lucy looked around the room. Mirajane was stifling soft sobs as her sister recounted what happened, no doubt reminded of the pain that came with in for her, and Laxus had a protective arm around her shoulders. Natsu was sat close to Lisanna, hanging off her every word. The next part she talked about was not pretty. She was caught by them as she tried to get back to her siblings, and captured for a while. In the end she was only able to escape because they had an undercover agent in the operation.

"It was being investigated by EDOLAS- an organisation that not only have a special ops department but also a protective custody service. Which is where I have been for most of the four years." She let out a shaky breath, and Natsu placed his hand on her knee to reassure her.

This did not go unnoticed by Lucy.

"Honestly, the only thing that got me through it was that they had the best agents on the job to take the organisation down, and the fact that I would get to see you guys again someday."

Lucy chewed her lip when they got to that part of the story. She was so happy, SO happy that Lisanna was back, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she was intruding on a personal moment. Especially between Natsu and Lisanna.

Despite the elation for her friends, the jealousy was still there and Lucy hated herself for it. She was not going to ruin a lovely moment between Natsu and his old- or rather found? Best friend. She couldn't do that to him, especially not for such a petty reason as their charade was. So she quietly excused herself to the kitchen asking if anyone wanted a warm drink.

The others offered to help, but Lucy insisted they stay and get to know each other all over again.

Kettle boiling and biscuits located, Lucy grabbed a few mugs out of the cupboard and lined them up on the side as she tried to sort through her tangled thoughts. If she looked at the facts, she was now positive that the reason Natsu hadn't really been with many people was because of Lisanna. They had spoken before about how much her disappearance affected him, and she just must not have picked up on it in that way before… right?

She let out a sigh. They had barely even started the two week holiday and she had already felt herself swept away by the possibility of being with Natsu as a couple. She needed to get a hold of herself. Over the last year, she had already come to terms with the fact that he didn't see her like that, but some of the stuff he said, some of the stuff he did would knock the breath right out of her lungs and make her fall for him all over.

She tried to shove it all down, put out the flame, but it felt almost impossible when he would turn up for random film nights to cheer her up, or casually pay for her favourite drinks on a night out, or even do this stupid hug from behind to make her jump usually.

Lucy shook her head. Maybe Levy was right. Maybe this was a bad idea.

Just as her thoughts began taking another spiralling road she caught herself and began quietly talking to herself, gesturing and pacing, the whole shebang, to psyche herself up again.

"That's it enough moping. You'll be happy for them because you are. You'll explain the fake thing to Lisanna later and you'll-"

"What are you doing, you weirdo?" Lucy choked on her words and spun around to face the pink haired dumbo she'd deliberately left in the living room. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a sceptical look on his face. She let out a small groan of annoyance, as she turned back around the pour water out of the now boiled kettle.

"Natsu. I said I was fine to bring the drinks out, why aren't you catching up with them? You haven't seen them in FOUR years!"

Halfway through the second cup, she felt warmth behind her and one of his usually sneaky surprise hugs, only without the surprise. His chin rested on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her and watched what she was doing, replying simply.

"Yeah but you looked upset."

Frustrating was the first word that came to mind. He was so frustrating. How could she not like him when he pulled stunts like this, and said things like that.

Lucy exhaled and unconsciously leaned into his hug as she contemplated her next question.

"Do you- do you want to tell her the truth? I'd feel bad for lying to her. She was- or I guess is actually your best friend.. so do you want to tell her that we're only pretending?" She felt Natsu stiffen behind her before he swirled her round so quickly she almost knocked a mug off the side.

"Luce you're still my best friend, you weirdo. You know that right?" He searched her eyes for a semblance of understanding before leaning back slightly. "Lisanna is important to me and I am beyond happy that she's back and safe... but you're important to me too. She's my childhood best friend, I guess you're like my partner in crime or something. You can't be replaced that easily."

Lucy smiled softly at his reply. Of course she was overthinking it.

"What so now I'm a criminal?"

His eyes widened at her response.

"No shuddup you- you know what I mean."

He may be dense but he has a big heart, and from what she'd heard Lisanna was a lovely girl. She would love to get to know her better. She would still have the spot of 'partner in crime' even if Natsu did end up liking Lisanna in that way. That was something she could live with. She flicked his nose playfully and turned back to the drinks on the side.

"Okay Pinkie… how does she like her tea?"

After properly introducing Lucy to Lisanna, as both Laxus' cousin and Natsu's 'girlfriend', Natsu got relentlessly teased by Lisanna and Mira about him being 'so grown up' and how he'd finally 'reached adulthood'. They even went as far as pretend to be crying over his maturity level, promising to tell Lucy all the embarrassing stories they could think of later in the holiday.

Lucy could tell she'd get along with her just fine.

A bit more nattering followed, including the usual 'How's Uni' speech and talk about their final year projects. But after a while they decided it would probably be best if they all actually unpacked and went to their respective rooms for a bit.

Lucy led Natsu to her room. It was on the left side of the house a good few metres away from any other rooms. The front of her door had a small 'L' in the centre, for good measure, but when she opened it. Wow. It was just so... so Lucy. Though the mahogany beams throughout gave the whole cabin a rustic vibe, but Lucy's room felt familiar.

A double bed covered in pink fluffy pillows and blankets was in the far left corner, just underneath a window much like the one in her flat back at uni, but she had a small shelf next to it as well littered in books and a single reading lamp. The wardrobe next to her bed was modest and matched the beams in colour, as did the chest of drawers on the left hand side. There was a small gray sofa by the far right wall, next to yet another window that showed off the beauty of the mountainous area around them, and the en suite was also on that side.

But the kicker. The kicker was when the door shut behind him, and he turned around. Scaled across the wall opposite Lucy's bed was an entire constellation map. A view to the heavens. Each of the 88 constellations labelled in a neat swirly handwriting he didn't recognise.

"My mum did it for me." Lucy spoke softly, a fond lilt to her voice as she stepped passed him and lightly touched the wall, tracing some of the writing. "She had a thing for stars see? And I guess that's where I get it from."

"Well it's beautiful."

"I know."

Lucy walked away from the wall and over to her bed, dumping her bag down and gesturing Natsu to do the same. From there she flung open her closet, seeing that all of her usual winter outfits were still there along with her skiing supplies. She then inspected the chest of drawers and after find nothing wrong with it nodded to herself and began unpacking some of the essentials she brought with her.

"Natsu, you can have this side, I'll have the other?" He shrugged, mentioning how he wasn't really bothered as long as they all fit. He didn't really bring much with him.

Once they finished unpacking they both collapsed backwards on the bed to stare at the ceiling. The journey earlier had really taken its toll on them and the emotional rollercoaster Natsu just boarded had tired him out even more so.

"God I am knackered. Soooo tired, I can't imagine how tired you must feel.."

"Eh?"

"Ya know, after everything that's happened today? Don't you just want to crash and sleep?"

Natsu had his arms behind his head and lazily rolled it to the side to face her.

"I mean I suppose so.." He continued, drifting off as he didn't really have much else to add.

"Oh yeah speaking of sleeping, how do you wanna do it?" He turned to meet her eyes, an expression of confusion covered his face. God he really was tired. "Ya know, how do you wanna sleep? Like we do back home where you just fall asleep in my bed where you're comfortable, or do you want to set out sides?"

Natsu sat up in shock. It was almost as if he forgot they would be sharing a bed, because they were posing as a couple now.

"We're sharing a bed?!"

Okay.. so he had forgot. Lucy rolled her eyes, too tired to put up with whatever weird shenanigans he was going to come up with now.

"I mean.. duh? Where else is there to sleep?" She narrowed her eyes at him and got closer, as he back away slightly. Why were his cheeks so pink, it wasn't that hot in here, and he wasn't usually affected by the heat. "Why are you being so weird about it, you've slept over at mine loads of times!"

"Well I- I don't know? I just-"

Natsu's excuse was cut short by a sharp rap on the door. Lucy sighed and sat up on the bed.

"Yeah? It's open!" She yelled, instantly regretting it as she saw who was on the other side, and exactly who had opened the door to her now shared room. She stiffened and stood up off the bed immediately.

"Dad?"

The older Heartfilia pursed his lips as he looked at the two young adults before him. Giving Natsu a once over, and then settling his dark eyes on Lucy. God if he thought being stared at by Laxus was bad, this man was on an entirely different level.

"Lucy. At least try to behave the way an heiress would, that includes not yelling through doors like some common hooligan."

Was he imagining it, or had her dads eyes flitted over to him when he said those last words. Natsu took it in his stride and stepped towards Lucy, putting his hand in hers as a slight reassurance. She looked nervous.

"Sorry father. Uhm, this is Natsu," Lucy gestured beside her to a now more stoic looking Natsu. "He's my bo-"

"Yes, I'm aware of who he is. We're eating at 'The Peak' at 8:00 sharp, be sure to dress up.. nicely." He glanced at Natsu giving him a quick once over before sneering slightly. "And make sure you do too." And with those lovely caring words, he was gone. The door shutting roughly behind him, as his footsteps faded down the hall.

Natsu heard Lucy let out a breath that even she didn't even realise she was holding. She released her rather tight hold on Natsu's hand and wrapped her arms around herself protectively. A gesture he was now realising was probably frequent. Not knowing what else to do, he decided tackling her onto the bed to tickle her was the best solution to the dramatic change of mood. And though she protested at first she slowly succumbed to giggles and heavy laughter in a matter of minutes.

Lying side by side, and both breathing heavily due to the laughter and effortful tickling, their hair mingled on the bed.

"I always thought you were exaggerating." Natsu started. Lucy didn't need to ask what he was talking about, it was pretty obvious what he was alluding to.

"Nope, no exaggeration."

Natsu took a breath to say something else, but Lucy interrupted him before he could by announcing she had bought him a little surprise. He held his tongue, and didn't ask he planned question, instead asking her what the hell she meant.

"Did you pack any fancy clothes?" The way Natsu shrunk into his shoulders kind of gave it away. "I knew something like this would probably happen, so I actually picked you up these."

She reached into her suitcase and produced two dress shirts; one a navy blue with small embroidered flames covering it in an even pattern, and the other a deep red with a large dragon print wrapping around it. The details on both were incredible.

"Luce.. these are awesome! And I HATE fancy clothes!"

"I know I know, I found one when I was browsing the web and was going to buy it for your birthday since it would be near the Summer Ball, but thought why not buy it now since you agreed to come here. And the other I actually commissioned when you agreed to come with me. The least I could do is provide you with some fancy clothes since you have to put up with this stuff whilst you're here."

Natsu gingerly took them from her hands and placed them on the bed, before encompassing her in a tight hug and thanking her.

"Yeah, yeah come on we better actually get changed then." Lucy headed to her closet and looked over the dresses she had stored in there, before saying she'd decide after and headed into the bathroom to get ready.

All Natsu needed to do was maybe wash and switch shirts, but he'd have to wait for Lucy to get ready first and he knew that would take a while. Half an hour later, she was done with the bathroom and came out in a pink fluffy towel, making sure to shove him in the shower quickly.

When he emerged 10 minutes later with damp hair and a towel around his waist, he stood in the doorway frozen at the scene in front of him. Whilst he was no stranger to seeing Lucy dolled up and ready for a night out, something about her was different. Maybe it was the clothes she was wearing, or maybe this was the first time he'd seen her since he'd realised his feelings. But she was dressed in a dark red halter-neck dress that hugged her curves and reached just above her ankles.

It wasn't the fact that she was wearing his favourite colour that shocked him. It was that she had one leg up on the bed trying to do up some matching heels, and this action had caused said leg to slip through the slit of the dress, showing up to her mid-thigh and wow was it making him feel funny.

"Oh good, Natsu, can you hel-"

He slammed the door and shut himself back in the bathroom. He needed to calm down. God think of anything else but her, think of Erza when she's angry… think of happy… think of the ice princess? Oh yeah that would do the trick. Ew. Imagining Gray's legs made him kind of sick. He opened the door once more to see her sitting at the chest of drawers putting on some make up.

"You feeling better than whatever weird mood you came out in before?" She chuckled. He mumbled out a shut up, and dried off popping the red shirt on and quickly hopping into his other clothes behind the open closet door.

Lucy finished her make-up application surprising quickly for her, and ended up having to dry Natsu's hair with her hair dryer. As she plugged in the dryer, he ran his fingers through his damp hair. It probably wouldn't take too long.

At first Lucy sat behind him on the bed, weaving her hands in and out of his hair to try and dry all of it evenly. It was when she stood in front of him, to dry his bangs and the rest of his hair that he regretted the decision. The cut of her top wasn't.. conservative. Let's go with that. And from where he was sitting he could see everything.

Through the struggle of avoiding looking at her chest like it would blind him, and her berating him for squirming so much, he ended up just closing his eyes, and praying she wouldn't see the heat covering his face. In doing so, he really focused on how her hands felt combing through his hair, and just like on the plane that morning he found he really rather enjoyed it.

The strangest part was, the lighter the touches were, the more they seemed to spark him. The firmer, massaging motions were nice and relaxing, but the lighter touches set him aflame. They sent shivers down his spine, and made his breaths feel shaky. And all too soon, it was over. Lucy had unplugged the hairdryer and patted him one last time on the head claiming her 'work here was done'.

Natsu felt his eyes lift open, heavy with relaxation as he looked up at her. Lucy flinched ever so slightly when she met his eye. Something about his expression was different. Something about his expression was dark, but in a good way? She didn't know why, but she did know.. she hadn't seen it before. And she liked it.

They broke from their awkward eye contact, when a soft tap on the door alerted them to the time. They grabbed their things, and made their way out of her room and the cabin. The moment forgotten. For now.

The journey to the restaurant was easy, a ten minute journey round a few corners and there it was hidden away. The best kept (expensive) secret of this mountain range.

As they approached the doors to the restaurant, Natsu felt Lucy grab onto his arm, and used him other to reassure her.

"Ready?" She questioned him, nervous not only about the interaction she had earlier with her dad, but also that this would be Natsu's introduction to her family, and despite the feelings not being mutual. She liked him, and wanted him to feel welcome.

"As I'll ever be."

Wow, sorry lads this one is quite a long one as well. I tried a bit of angst and a bit of fluff. Let me know how I can improve or if you guys liked it! Reviews are most welcome!

Did the whole Lisanna bit make sense? I wanted to include that or somehting like that into the story but didnt know how to coorporate it in? Anyone guess whats gonng happen in the next chapter?

Thank you again for taking the time to read :)

P.S. If anyone wants to talk about the story or suggest things, my PM's are always open :)