HI LOL

Um im on my way hkme after just moving out of my dorms, literally on the road right now and I'm crying for absolutely no reason so CHEER ME UP AH

Lucy woke up with the sun on her face, the blinding light streaming through the curtains. She squinted and groaned, pulling up the blanket to hide her face.

"You up?" Natsu's deep, sleepy voice crawled into her ear, the soothing sound warmed her heart. She grumbled out a yes, shivering as she felt a light kiss press against her cheek.

"How do you feel?" He asked as he nuzzled his nose against her, tightening his arms around her.

"A bit sleepy still," She sighed, turning around in his hold to face the soft smile he flashed her.

"I was askin' about your mental state," He snickered, moving his chin to rest atop her head. "You had a rough night. I know I was supposed to be a distraction, but it's not good to run away from your problems."

"Running away is kind of my only option," She groaned, not ready to think about the issues waiting for her at home. "My dad won't listen to me."

"Maybe he will? You can lay low here until you want to go back. Not the best idea but maybe freaking him out will be a good eye-opener."

"You might be right," She sighed, leaning into his chest. "And I've never spent a spring break doing anything that wasn't PR for his company."

"Really? No sitting around? No video games? No junk food?" Natsu asked, gasping dramatically as Lucy shook her head.

"Well then, we have a long day ahead of us! I'll call the guys, we'll give ya the best day ever, Luce!" He said before shooting out of bed, grabbing his phone off the side table.

"W-Wait!" She stopped him before he could put the phone to his ear. "At least give me some real clothes to wear, I'm not sitting around in your t-shirt all day."

"Sure, yeah," He snorted, pointing to the closet off to the right. "You'll find something in there, Erza stores a bunch of her extra clothes here."

~000~

"Uh huh, you really expect me to believe nothing happened here last night when bunny girl over here is wearing Erza's stuff? I wasn't born yesterday, Salamander." Gajeel said as he set down the bags of snacks he brought over.

"I didn't think you had it in you to mess around with riff-raff," Gray snorted as he handed Lucy a box of pocky. "I guess I respect that, you're not as goody-two-shoes as everyone thinks, I guess."

"It's none of your business what we did or didn't do," Lucy stuck her tongue out at the two as Natsu snickered. "Natsu's just hiding me out for a few days to scare some sense into my dad. I didn't have anything else to wear."

"Tell that to Loke when he gets here later," Gajeel roared with laughter as Lucy felt the hairs on her neck stand on end. Loke was actually the last person she wanted seeing her like this, jokes or no jokes. He always had a tendency to be dramatic, and their parents worked closely together. He might rat her out.

"You didn't invite him, did you?" Lucy cringed when there was another knock at the door. Natsu tightened his lips together, feeling guilty as Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose.

"He's one of the guys, I had to get someone to drag Jellal over here. Otherwise, that loser doesn't remember the world exists outside of Erza's place. He wouldn't see the sun if it weren't for us."

Lucy made herself cozy in one corner of the couch, feeling her stomach knot as Loke's laugh carried through the hall.

"You'll never believe that I had to kidnap this idiot while Erza went inside to get more lemonade. He was harvesting her freakin' strawberries again," The other three laughed as Jellal reluctantly walked in front of them, momentarily hiding Lucy from his sight.

"President?" Jellal looked curiously at her as she waved, instantly recognizing the dress from Heart Kreuz that he and Erza had bought together.

She offered a short wave, her smile uneasy as Loke turned in her direction. His eyes went from her, to her clothes, to Natsu, who looked incredibly guilty for no reason at all. He went back and forth a couple more times, giving the others ample space before the orange-haired boy exploded.

"What the fuck did you do to her, Dragneel?" His voice cut through the air like a knife, and Natsu raised his hands quickly in defense.

"Nothing, really, I swear!" He shrieked, dodging the obvious punch aimed his way. Natsu managed to run to where Lucy sat, lifting her up to stand between them. "Just ask her!"

"Lucy?" Loke huffed, pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "My dad asked about you last night, he said you ran out of the party venue."

A party he probably missed to spend time with the timid Aries. "I did…"

"And? How'd you end up here wearing Erza's clothes?" Geez, did everyone in his life know that Erza kept her clothes here? "I know he gives them out without thinking, so if this asshole talked you into doing anything—"

"I just spent the night!" She stomped her foot, tired of everyone assuming correctly that she had sort of been with Natsu. "And my dad was being an asshole, so I asked Natsu to hide me here until spring break is over, okay? There's nothing for you to worry about."

"Right…" He cleared his throat, glaring at Natsu who still used her as a human shield. "Alright then. But call me if he does anything weird. I'm not against beating the shit out of this asshole."

Lucy nodded with a sigh of relief, ignoring Natsu who protested her agreement to let Loke beat him up if she ever required his services.

While their parents worked together, and the Celeste family was pretty straight-laced, she thought how well he got along with Natsu and his friends was strange. Usually the sons of CEOs she met in passing were annoying and hoity, always sticking their noses in the air when it came to those 'beneath' them. He was a regular kid if she ever met one, something she envied slightly in their lives. He was allowed to be himself, more or less.

"Well, today is about Lucy learning what it means to relax, so load up a movie already!" Natsu sat beside her, nonchalantly throwing an arm around her shoulder that everyone eyed for a split second.

She was quick to glare and they looked away. She didn't mind his closeness, especially after what happened between them last night. Not to say that this meant it would happen any time soon, just that she trusted him to maintain her boundaries comfortably.

~000~

After the first movie they ordered lunch, getting what they swore was the best pizza in town. One cheese , one pepperoni, and one pineapple jalapeno and olives…

"Just try a bite!" Natsu insisted, shoving a slice of his masterpiece as close to Lucy's lips as possible.

"Trust us, it's foul," Gray cringed as he bit into his plain slice, turning away from the stomach-churning spectacle. "Natsu probably only invited you over to make someone else try that monstrosity."

Lucy's lip quivered as she watched their heads shake, looking back between Natsu and his friends.

"I wouldn't ask you to if I didn't think it was the best combo in the world! Seriously, Luce, you gotta take a bite!"

"Luce?" Gajeel asked, the blonde embarrassingly taking a bite of the slice he offered her to keep anyone from answering his question.

It was a pretty big bite, if she was doing this, she would go all the way.

Natsu watched as she chewed slowly, Lucy somewhat nervous as well as invigorated. They looked at her like she was stronger than the lot of them, their physical disgust no match for Natsu's excitement.

"...It's not that bad," They let out a chorus groan as Natsu cheered, handing Lucy the slice for her to finish on her own. "What? It's sweet and spicy―"

"And the olives?" Gray glared at Natsu as he stuck his tongue out playfully.

"I like olives," She shrugged, Natsu preparing for another round of gloating.

~000~

Lucy's elbow bumped into Natsu's as they crowded their corner of the couch, though no one else bothered to join them on it.

They were playing one of the mini-games in their most recent round of Mavis Party, Loke's head dropping as Lucy flung him from a rolling log.

"How are you better than me when you've never played this damn game?!" Loke resisted the urge to throw his controller at the television, Lucy smugly shrugging her shoulders.

"You've always sucked at this game," Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Don't go blaming bunny girl."

"At least I'm better than Jellal," He sighed, the blue-haired boy turning his head with a gasp. But what could Jellal say? He had died within the first five seconds of the game, trying to figure out which button was for jumping.

"Just goes to show ya that Luce should've been hangin' out with us this whole time." Natsu sacrificed his life to sling his arm around Lucy for the millionth time that day. She was starting to get a little too used to his casual gesture.

~000~

The boys sat gathered at Natsu's table, their shouts filling the apartment as they played a rousing game of Bullshit.

Lucy was in the kitchen making dinner, the sound of something stewing on the stove. Natsu had groceries sent to the house and Lucy offered to cook, never having the opportunity to at home.

She insisted on working on her own, not wanting to be bothered by their childish antics. Save for Jellal, who gave up after losing for the fifth time in a row. He always tried calling bullshit when most of the cards were down. Said strategy usually worked on Erza, but mostly because it was easier to tell when she was lying.

He was a great help in the kitchen, sharing his story of how he learned because Erza couldn't cook for the life of her.

"Are you two dating?" She asked, the question making the others laugh out loud, the walls almost shaking.

"The day that Jellal finally asks Erza out is the day the world ends." Gray snickered, everyone nodding in agreement.

"They've been in love since the fifth grade. But neither of them can get the words out." Loke shook his head pitifully.

"I think that's sweet," Lucy reassured Jellal with a comforting hand on his back.

"It was sweet when we were nine. Now it's just plain annoying." Gajeel smacked his next card into the pile, Natsu following suit.

I have a lotta hot and spicy stuff planned, stay tuned!