(A/N: Mentions of suicide and abuse in this chapter, you have been warned. Enjoy the chapter!)

3RD PERSON POV

The sun began to set for the residents of the city as street lights flickered on and lit the streets one by one. People were walking like zombies, trudging up the steps to their apartments and home, stepping out of their cars as they parked up against the curb. Just then, two pairs of feet came into view after turning a corner.

The pinkette and blonde were sharing a laugh between themselves, the trip to the supermarket was quick as Natsu seamlessly moved through the store, picking up all he needed for the dinner and going through the checkout like a ghost. As of now, Natsu was telling Lucy a story from his past with Lisanna.

"And then she punched me in the stomach and called me a jerk before leaving for her trip to Europe," Natsu said as he made his way to the staircase that led to the front entrance of his apartment building.

"Are you serious? Lisanna really did that," Lucy brought a hand to her mouth as she chuckled at the story Natsu was telling her.

"Yep, she ignored all my texts and calls for a good month before demanding me to send her a video of me bowing down and apologising. Of course, I did because I guess I felt bad at the time but I later came to the conclusion that she's just weird," Natsu grinned.

They got to the door and Natsu turned to Lucy who was holding his backpack as he held the bags of food for dinner, drinks, and some groceries.

"Oh, I should have taken the keys out earlier, sorry," Lucy apologised.

"It's okay," Natsu hummed.

"I was just so into the shenanigans you and Lisanna get up to," Lucy beamed as she unzipped the front pouch of Natsu's backpack and pulled out his keys.

She tapped the fob on the icon of the keypad for the front entrance.

"Then I guess you should be prepared in the future for a time of laughter and awe because whenever Lisanna and I are within each other's vicinity, it gets hard to pry yourself from the entertainment," Natsu pushed the front door open with his shoulder and held it open with his foot for Lucy to come in before him.

"That's the reason I stay around you, you know," Lucy giggled as she entered the building.

"I might have to start charging you then," Natsu laughed.

The two began to walk up the stairs, Lucy going before Natsu who carefully walked three steps behind her.

"I'm amazed at the bond you two share," Lucy gently walked up the stairs, "For people who aren't exactly blood-related, you act almost like brother and sister,"

"What can I say, she's like the twin I never had," Natsu responded with a neutral tone.

"Saying that, if you guys have been friends for that long, when did Loke show up? From what I can remember, you were friends since the start of high school," Lucy asked as she looked over her shoulder at the pinkette who just shook his head with a not-so-amused face.

"Longer than that. Loke has been in my life as long as Lisanna has," Natsu told her with a low sigh. He hated bringing up Loke's name in a conversation, but since they've become friends, he may as well let her know about it.

"So Loke lied to me?" Lucy reached the first level and stopped for Natsu to get to the top of the stairs.

"Afraid so. I would've corrected him but I was so out of it that day, all I wanted to do to him at that moment was punch him... at least three times. Or even more," Natsu scoffed as he gestured to her by rolling his shoulders to continue to the next set of stairs.

"So violent," Lucy giggled.

They began to walk up the next set of stairs, and this time, Natsu had a question.

"So, do you have any siblings, Lucy?" He asked, looking down at the steps so he could watch his step especially whilst holding these slightly heavy bags.

"Just one. My older sister," Lucy replied.

Natsu grinned as he followed behind her, "Yeesh, same here. On the older sibling part, of course. Is she far apart in age as well?"

"Not really, just two years ahead of me. But she acts like she's far older than I am by acting like my mother all the time," Lucy let out a sigh, "And I know she's just looking out for me but it's annoying to always have her breathing down my neck,"

"Never thought I'd witness the day when Lucy Heartfilia will tell me about family issues," Natsu shook his head with a foolish smirk on his face.

"Why is that?" She looked back with a brow raised.

"Oh, nothing, just surprised is all,"

She pouted at him as she reached the top step, "Why is that a surprise?"

"You come off as this perfect woman with a perfect life, perfect job, and everything at her fingertips. So it just feels new to me, is all," Natsu closed his eyes and hummed as he reached the top step, "It's ignorant, I know,"

Lucy brought her index finger to her lips, "It will be a gloomy day for everyone if I wore my dark feelings on my shoulders, like you Natsu,"

"I look good in it, you should try it sometime," Natsu smirked as he looked down at the blonde.

"Can't wear the same outfit now, can we? How else will I stand out," Lucy said before turning away from him with a smile on her face.

Her gentle smile was plastered on her face, her heart was racing and her thoughts were running wild as she could only imagine what will transpire once the two of them enter the apartment.

"Once we start drinking, we'll be lost in a world where only love and pleasure exist. I'll get to feel the real Natsu inside of me and it won't be a dream this time. Is he submissive or dominant? Where will he touch me first? Will we share a deep and loving kiss that'll put Romeo and Juliet to shame? How many times will we do it? Two times, three times, the whole night? We will have to take the day off tomorrow then," Lucy said in her mind as her face heated up, "I can't wait!"

It was all too much to imagine. She wants to do everything she did with the dream version of Natsu with the real Natsu.

She held the key to the lock.

She looked back at Natsu with a warm smile and the pinkette smiled back at her.

"I can't wait to have you to myself tonight, I promise you won't be disappointed." She thought.

She held the key like it was a golden ticket to a great chocolate factory. To her, this moment was the beginning of something great and she wanted to savour every second of it.

But before she could even stick the key in, the door swung open and the silver-haired bestfriend of Natsu popped out with a big grin on her face.

"You guys are finally here!" Lisanna exclaimed, "What took you so long, Natsu?!"

"Give me a break, the line was somewhat... long," Natsu responded as he brushed past Lisanna, "I'll get started on making dinner right away-."

"And I'll help ya'!" Gildarts raised a hand as he sat back on Natsu's bed with a bottle of booze in his hand.

"Good grief, of course, you're here," Natsu scoffed as he dropped the groceries on the kitchen top.

"What's wrong Natsu? You thought I wasn't goin' to make it, aye?" Gildarts snickered as he cracked open a bottle of beer.

"I wish you didn't," Natsu muttered.

Lucy was still at the door staring at Lisanna with mixed emotions. It was like being so close to the finish line, just for the referee to "yoink" the finish line and put it further ahead.

"Are you happy to see me, Lucy? You didn't expect to see me, did you?" Lisanna said as she pulled the blonde inside by the hand.

"Yeah... Yes! I didn't expect you to drop by today." Lucy laughed it off but deep down she was annoyed because this was the closest she has been to the pinkette and a place where it'll just be the two of them will allow her to have a better chance at having him but she couldn't be upset at Lisanna since it is obvious that she wasn't aware of Lucy's intentions.

"Lucy, I want you to meet our Uncle, Gildarts!" Lisanna shut the door after the blonde had stepped inside, "He used to train us in martial arts when we were kids,"

Gildarts sat on Natsu's bed as he gawked at the young blonde's beauty.

Lucy brushed a few strands of her golden hair behind her left ear as she bent down and began to remove her heels.

She looked up at Gildarts with her chocolate-cream eyes and parted lips before raising a hand and waving at Gildarts, "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Lucy Heart-."

"You're an absolute cutie!" Gildarts jumped up from bed and pounced over at Natsu who was chopping up some onions.

Gildarts poked Natsu in the cheek as he wrapped an arm around his neck, "So, how did you obtain this one, Natsu? Huh? Where do you keep finding these diamonds? Hm,"

"I've got a knife in my hand old man, get off me," Natsu jerked the brown-haired man away from him.

Gildarts leaned on the armchair of the single couch that Lucy was now sitting on and looked up at her with puppy eyes.

"The pleasure is all mine, darling. You may call me whatever you like! So, tell me, where did you meet Natsu?" Gildarts questioned with a big cheeky smile on his face.

Lucy chuckled, "We have been working with each other for a month but officially became friends this week,"

"Dammit Natsu! I thought I taught you better than this," Gildarts shouted at the pinkette who was moving swiftly with his onion cutting, "You had a cutie like this waiting for you for that long!"

Natsu set the onions to the side and began soaking the drumsticks in a pot of cold water then reached for a knife in the wooden block and flicked it up in the air before catching the black handle with ease.

"Money always comes first," Natsu replied before continuing with his work.

"That little twerp," Gildarts clicked his tongue with his brows furrowed at Natsu before turning to Lucy with a kitten-like expression, "Tell me, what kinda strokes does Natsu give when you two are getting it on?"

Lucy's face completely turned red, "Um... what?"

"Gildarts!" Lisanna exclaimed.

"What? Are they not together? Or are you two friends with benefits? Natsu is like my son, so you don't have to worry about the embarrassing details," Gildarts rubbed his hands mischievously, but before he could even get an answer, Lisanna had already walked around the couch and kicked him towards the wall.

Gildarts went head-first against the wall before falling face flat to the ground.

"Seriously, that's your first impression," Lisanna sighed, putting her hands on her waist, "You could've at least asked about some hobbies first,"

"Expected?" Natsu said aloud without turning back to them.

"Expected," Lisanna replied without turning back either.

Lucy was unsure of what had just gone down in a few seconds and she was still quite flustered by the question Gildarts had asked her. Even though she dreams day and night about Natsu rearranging her insides and making her melt beneath him as she loses her mind, the question was still a little embarrassing to hear especially when the pinkette wasn't out of earshot.

"I'm sorry about that, Lucy. I'll clean up here and get everything ready for dinner. See if Natsu needs any help," Lisanna said as she had to peel Gildarts off the floor.

Lucy stood up with excitement and went towards Natsu who was standing over the stove as he turned it on and placed the pot of drumsticks on top. They were defrosted, with a fluff of seasoning on top and chopped onions all over it, below that, the chicken was bathed in a brown sauce that was possibly going to help give the drumsticks their flavour once the sauce starts getting hot.

Lucy tapped the pinkette on the shoulder to notify him that she was in his vicinity.

"Lucy? Hey, what's up?" Natsu responded by turning around to her and reaching for the salt in the cupboard above him.

"Just wanted to see if I could be of any help," Lucy said as she removed her beige jacket and hung it up on the empty hooks that held the aprons.

She took an apron, tied it up around her waist and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, unbuttoning the few buttons of her shirt, she was ready to work.

"I never knew you would lie to me," Lucy said with a playful hurt tone in her voice.

"About what?" Natsu said without turning to her.

Lucy turned her head to look over her shoulder at the pinkette, "Your hobbies. Isn't cooking considered a hobby?"

"No. It's considered a duty," He continued with his cooking, "A man must always hunt for his food or else he will starve. A hobby is optional and grants benefits but food is needed to survive… well, that's how my dad would say it,"

"I guess your father taught you how to cook?" She began washing her hands by the sink.

"In a way, yes. But it was my mom who got me into cooking, she was a professional chef," Natsu said with a burst of prideful laughter.

"Wow, you must've had the best meals as a child then," Lucy gleefully said.

"Only the best. Mom was always cooking, no matter what, if she is unhappy, she would cook and if it was the opposite of that, she'd still cook," Natsu chuckled as he brought his head down, "She was truly the best,"

"She was? Did she stop cooking after her baby boy left to go work or something?" Lucy giggled.

Natsu looked up at the wall for a minute before getting the lid for the pot and placing it on the top of the pot and going over to the sink beside Lucy.

His expression returned to his default neutral expression.

Lucy noticed this as he made his way over towards her.

"Is something the matter?" Lucy asked as she grabbed the cloth beside the sink, dried her hands and waited for the pinkette to be done so she could hand him the cloth

"By was, I mean she used to when she was alive," Natsu answered bluntly as he politely took the cloth from her hands, "She died in a kitchen fire at the restaurant she worked at due to fatigue,"

"Natsu, I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-."

"It's okay, you didn't know. Besides, I'm 27 now, a grown man. I'm comfortable talking about it with people that I trust, I know that it's only been a few days but I feel like I can really confine in you, Lucy,"

"…" Lucy remained quiet, she was happy that Natsu thought of her that way, but her sad expression and sharp gaze showed that she had sympathy for the other words that had left his mouth.

"I guess the only thing that haunts me to this day about her death is that at the time they found her body, she was completely charred all over but a picture my brother and I laid in the darkness of her palms as if she was protecting it with all her strength," Natsu said which made Lucy's eyes widen as she watched the pinkette tell the summary of the story and not even shed one tear, "It's crazy because at that time that she died, I was out smoking with Loke in an abandoned home that was two towns away from where I lived. I ran away from home two days ago after getting into an argument with my parents about hanging out with Loke,"

Natsu let out a long sigh before taking a breather and bringing his palm to his face.

"She spent all her days and nights looking for me, never quitting, and never ceasing till she saw that fluff of pink hair that belonged to her ungrateful, brat of a son," Natsu chuckled as he brought his hand down from his face. He furrowed his brows and a grimaced expression appeared on his face, "I caused her so much unnecessary pain, so much stress, and she died with that instead of going in peace,"

"Natsu! We are going to get a few things from Uncle Gildarts car, make sure to let us in when we come back!" Lisanna shouted as she dragged Gildarts out of the apartment.

Once the front door slammed shut, Natsu turned on his heels and headed over to the other side of the kitchen to take out the vegetables from the grocery bag.

"Now for the vegetables. We need to wash it all first, cut them up, then wash them again and place them in a bowl," Natsu took the greens from the bag and set them down on the green chopping board.

Lucy stared at the back of Natsu's head and she could feel the tight squeeze around her heart, just hearing a little bit about his mother was already making her feel like breaking down. She could only wonder how he took it when he found out, how his small little face scrunched up in horror, shock, and depression.

The thought was enough to make her gag. Natsu working his butt off saddened her, but Natsu telling her about the bad eggs in his life made her want to die.

"Natsu…" Lucy spoke up.

The pinkette looked at her and then returned to sorting out the greens.

"At first, cooking was a hobby to me but after my mother passed, cooking became a necessity when need be, a chore even," Natsu told her without turning to her, he was just concentrating on sorting out the vegetables.

"The love for it kind of just disappeared especially when our family has broken apart which all started after my father returned from his long hauls, he had warned me several times about hanging around Loke, which made him lash out at me. I can't say I blame him though… he lost his wife, his strength, and his mentality. And just when things weren't bad enough, my older brother took his life,"

Lucy took many steps forward and embraced the man from behind and Natsu made no move to push her away. Opening up about the hidden flares in his life has put him in a place where all he can do is keep spilling it out.

He continued, "It wasn't entirely our mother dying that made him want to commit suicide, rather something at university made him do it, the depressing part about that is that we got no closure on it. It could've been stress from work, or possibly bullying, whatever it was, our mother's death only amplified it. Everything that happened to them was my fault, and my dad hated me for it,"

"Is… that why… you hate Loke too?" Lucy gently asked.

Natsu remained quiet for a few seconds before sighing and nodding his head, "Yeah… because instead of comforting me at the time, he ditched me in high school and tried bullying me. That shit made my blood boil, I did all that stupid shit with him because I was his only friend and as result, it took my mom away and just when I needed him after losing my brother, he treated me like filth!"

"And now you're probably wondering: why do I put up with him? Because I still need to look after my dad," Natsu said bluntly, "If I lash out at Loke, I guarantee you that I'll end up killing him, I swear it,"

Lucy didn't disagree.

With all that pent-up rage, she's not surprised that he'd think that.

"You know how you said that cooking is a chore, is it… a chore now?" Lucy asked with a worried expression as she stepped back away from him, leaving the embrace.

"Nah, of course not because I'm doing it for other people than myself. If I'm doing it for myself, I just hate it," Natsu explained.

Lucy felt bad for bringing this up. She felt like Natsu talking about his mother may have opened up old wounds that he wasn't ready to face again.

"I'm… sorry," Lucy looked at him apologetically but the pinkette just shook his head.

"Don't be, I told you that I trust you, Lucy," Natsu turned to her and grinned.

Lucy remained silent, with her bangs covering her eyes.

Natsu continued, "Like, I'm serious. Now I get why Loke and the others come to you about their problems, it's just so easy talking to you. I guess I just needed someone other than Gildarts and Lisanna to talk to about this,"

The blonde remained still and quiet once again. She raised her hand and held her arm tightly.

"You know, I used to dislike you at first because I thought you were just another woman who would use her beauty to get what she wants but you're cool, Lucy." Natsu said calmly as he turned around to face her, "Hehe, truly-."

And before he could even finish his thanks, Lucy lunged at him, pulled him by his collar and kissed him deeply which immediately caught the pinkette off guard…

But he remained still... and didn't move at all. His eyes were as wide as plates, he was completely stunned by the sudden action that she had taken, but he didn't push her away like the old him would have done.

He was being truthful about everything he had said before, so it was safe to say that Lucy Heartfilia had made a great impression on him but this situation was a little much for the pinkette.

It has only been a day or two and she is kissing up on him randomly like they've been dating. She had done this in the meeting room, and now she was deep kissing him out of nowhere.

"Alright, how do I get out of this situation without making it… awkward…?" Natsu said with a ball of sweat rolling down his forehead.

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To Be Continued