Heyyo (￣︶￣) I'm alive and writing again!

Been wanting to get this chapter out for a week or so but it needed serious editing... I have no beta (this is mentioned before) if there are any grammar issues you're stress by just pm me and I'll do my best to fix them!

I also went through and adjusted a few of the older chapters. Just a few things here and there for continuity!

The group of four split ways at a fork in the road. Loke and Gray headed further down the mountain whilst Lucy and Natsu on to her cabin. As the two boys walked away Lucy yelled a quick 'don't be late!' in their direction. A quick raise of Gray's hand told her that they'd heard her and with any luck, they would turn up on time tomorrow. They'd decided that after breakfast would be the best time to meet up and ski; then they could chat about their evening plans whilst on the lifts up the mountain.

Lucy shifted her skis to her other shoulder when she began to feel a twinge. Though Natsu offered to carry hers, she was determined to do it herself. The weight of her skis and the effort it took to lug them back home helped distract her from the chill in the air.

The temperature began to drop as soon as the sun started to set and, despite how hot and sweaty they'd all been whilst skiing, they all felt it. It was what prompted them to head home. Her fingers, still tucked into her gloves, had started to tingle and numb. She couldn't wait to get inside, have a nice warm shower, and snuggle up in her dressing gown.

She absent-mindedly wondered whether she should have provided one for Natsu, but knowing how hot he runs he probably wouldn't use it. She'd never seen one at his when she'd slept over. Honestly, she was lucky if he kept his pyjamas on at all. Even at their first accidental sleepover, he'd stripped down to his underwear when it was time to sleep. Apparently, it's 'just a boy thing' according to him and Gray. Not on her watch. Especially since she was trying to fight the 'dating' rumours at the time. Fortunately, she managed to convince him to keep their sleepovers appropriate and he would now wear proper pyjamas, in the form of an old band shirt and shorts or a set of red dragon pyjamas she gifted him for secret Santa one year. The memory of him opening the present and immediately looking at her brought a small smile to her face. Maybe it was pretty obvious the gift was from her; I mean she had been telling him to buy pyjamas for months. But still, the thought that he instantly knew she was the one that had given it to him meant a lot.

Before she knew it, they had reached the cabin. After their skis and boots were neatly locked away, they headed inside. The warm air inviting them in. Lucy placed her coat on the rack and scoffed in disbelief as Natsu quickly followed suit. As he turned to face her, she raised an eyebrow, gesturing to his neatly hung-up coat.

"Really? Now you hang up your coat?"

"Luce, good impression. Remember?" Natsu even had the nerve to look at her and smirk whilst dusting some extra snow off his coat as well as hers. Before she could even try to throw a snarky response in his direction he nodded his head towards the room behind her. "Where to now?"

Her eyes scanned him up and down as she scrunched up her nose. She felt kind of sticky and gross, and with his extra body heat he must've felt it too. A few locks of his hair stuck to his forehead and his cheeks were still a light pink, probably through exertion. They did end up going down another harsher run after the first. She paused for a moment before answering.

"Uh, to shower. You stink."

"How dare you. I've never smelt better!"

Natsu looked scandalised. He lifted his arm and turned his head slightly to get a better check on how he smelt. As he did so, a dangerous grin crept onto his face. Lucy immediately began backing away from him, knowing what was coming next. His next words of 'wanna check?' unfortunately came as no surprise as she bolted towards her bedroom. He was like this after matches with the club as well, always chasing her down, high on the adrenaline from the fight.

The two of them slid across the wooden floors in their socks as Lucy desperately tried to run fast enough to escape. Natsu was swiftly on her tail laughing maniacally behind her. They both knew from experience she wasn't fast enough to beat him. Her only advantage here, was that she knew the layout. A quick turn to run up the staircase and a dart into the first bedroom meant she lost him for long enough for him to get turned around the wrong way. The bedroom was an old guest room with a double entrance. Which meant a second door for her to escape from. This trick bought her a few precious seconds. Unfortunately, on the second set of stairs to her bedroom she heard his footsteps get closer, and she began to giggle hysterically as she attempted to stay out of his reach and get to the safety of her room first. Just as she crossed the threshold, he barrelled into her not thinking to slow his momentum in his haste. They crashed onto her bed in a heap and ended up laughing all over again. They both turned to lie on their backs and catch their breath, unknowingly mirroring each other.

"My dad's not even in this side of the house." She said pushing herself off the bed once they'd calmed down. She stood up to shimmy off her salopettes and gestured for him to do the same. They'd already marked the covers with melted snow, and she didn't want it to get any messier. Natsu tilted his head in confusion before standing up and shucking off his own. Noticing his confusion, she picked up their salopettes to fold and continued. "To make a good impression? We probably won't even bump into him unless he needs something or organises another stupid business meeting for us to attend."

Natsu nodded in understanding and moved up to lounge on the bed. After looking in the mirror and briefly noting she looked like a pink-faced lunatic after their little chase, she followed suit, grabbing the TV remote as he responded.

"Oh. Well, guess I can impress Cap then. He still around?" The remote was quickly stolen off her, giving Natsu the chance to flick through all the channels they had here.

"Yeah. Cap is here, he's probably packing things up from that meeting Dad said he had." She rolled her eyes at his thieving behaviour and settled next to him at the top of the bed. Her legs tucked up to the side and his outstretched. He leaned back onto her, so they were squished side by side, despite the amount of room her queen-sized bed allowed.

"Ah, okay." Natsu paused his channel surfing and landed on an episode of some teen drama Lucy had convinced him to watch with her about a year ago. It had started off pretty typical and devolved into some weird fantasy mishmash of events. The episode that was playing on the TV just happened to be the one where they've been granted entry to a nightclub, on the grounds that they find the witch responsible for local town culling. Yeah, it got weird. But the premise of the episode clearly reminded him of their earlier conversation, or Lucy's earlier request. He turned to face her. The corner of his mouth twitched a little and he elbowed her lightly to get her attention, "Thanks for not goin' out tonight. I 'preciate it."

"Yeah well- it's not fun if people don't want to be there." Lucy pouted slightly, as the boys' earlier rejection came to the forefront of her mind again. It really was supposed to be the best spot around. Especially for students and young holiday goers.

The club was called 'Mirage' and changed up its theme every month. It decorated the club based on the chosen theme, added limited edition cocktails to fit, and also had a one-night exclusive day where they went all out. Apparently, there had been an 'under the sea' themed night where they fixed large flowing jellyfish sculptures to the ceiling and pumped a salt-scented 'fog' throughout the club to give a sense of flow to the evening. It sounded amazing. She'd also once overheard a few girls on the resort talk about when they held a 'masked ball' themed event where wearing a mask was required the whole evening. If you didn't bring one with you, they were provided on entry. Jealousy practically oozed from her when she heard that. What a romantic setting. That is a meet-cute waiting to happen. Lucy felt pretty sorry for herself when she missed out on that opportunity.

The most recent exclusive event was 'flower garden' themed, and luckily for them it had pushed on a little longer than usual to account for the influx of visitors over the holidays. Of course, the big event of the holiday was Christmas day, the start of the next theme 'winter wonderland', but Lucy would be happy experiencing any of them. According to their website, they still had a majority of the decorations up, and were offering some of the limited-edition cocktails. So, she was at least looking forward to assorted Wisteria and Plumbago hanging down from the ceiling and a 'Violet Drop' shot or an 'Elderflower Fizz' at least.

"We'll go tomorrow though, okay?"

Lucy only broke from her daydream about the club when Natsu ruffled her hair and thanked her again continuing his sentence. She involuntarily leaned into his touch and thanked him. Natsu froze for a bit his hand in her hair before deciding she should be the one to shower first. Obviously, Lucy didn't complain as she was planning to nab the first shower anyway. That way she could dry her hair whilst he washed. Towels had been placed on her dresser by someone whilst they'd been out. Lucy grabbed her set and made her way to the bathroom reminding Natsu not to mess up anything whilst she was in there. Natsu held his hands up in innocence and crossed his heart he wouldn't 'mess anything up'. Seemingly satisfied with that answer she closed the door.

Natsu chuckled to himself, he promised not to 'mess anything up', but he never promised not to snoop. The shower clicked on and Natsu knew he had at least 15 minutes to look around before Lucy came out and yelled at him. Briefly scanning the room, he wondered where to start.

Lucy's room here was easily the most personalised. For starters there was the incredible painted ceiling. Every other room had natural wooden planks as a centrepiece. Then there were the small accents of pink on every piece of furniture. Pink pillows adorned the cream sofa under the window, her chest of drawers had a thin pink throw on top of it, and the dressing table had a mirror outlined in pink. Hell, even her bedframe and cork board littered in photos had small pink flowers on it. He's pretty sure those were hand-painted though.

As he got up, he decided to look at the photos on the corkboard first. He immediately spotted a whole club photo from the first year that Lucy joined. There she was, in the centre of the photo, Natsu's arm slung around her shoulder. That was a good day. It was when her club jacket finally came in. The name 'Lucy' stretched over her back with an explosion of constellation embroidery surrounding it. It was gorgeous. She looked gorgeous in it.

The photo beside it was from when she was younger, but no less interesting. Lucy looked about eight or nine, and there was a strangely familiar looking dirty blonde next to her. If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was Loke. Wait... he had that same stupid little scar on his hand in the same place.

It was Loke. Sneaky bastard never said how long he'd been friends with Lucy before Uni. They practically grew up together! He bet that rat bastard Gray knew as well. On that note, why hadn't Lucy told him. He never really paid attention to who she knew right at the beginning, but he did remember that she'd known Loke previously and not just through the club. Lucy probably wasn't keeping it from him on purpose, but he'd have to corner the other two tomorrow and ask why they never said anything.

Shaking his head he looked over the rest of the corkboard. There were a few polaroids of various friends, a photobooth strip of her and Levy pulling faces, and a picture of her and Natsu in matching costumes at one of Cana's parties. His eyes wandered away from the photos and to the other pieces of paper tacked onto the board. He zeroed in on a few green ticket stubs. One of them was for…

No way.

He gently pulled the ticket off the board, exposing the one beneath. It was the ticket stub from his first club showcase. He'd kept a copy of this ticket too. It was tucked away nice and neatly in his memory box, along with a photo of him, Gray, and Gajeel. They had all competed that day and were forced to take the photo together. He only kept it because it was an important day. Nothing else.

When he looked back at the board, he noticed the stub underneath it was now visible. It was a random low-level match between some guy named Jared and… him? Again? Wait. He remembered that match too.

It was the first match he'd invited Lucy to watch. She seemed interested in joining the club, so he thought he'd offer a ticket on the off-chance she wanted to see what they got up to in competitions. It got pretty intense. His opponent, Jared, had come up to him whilst he and Lucy were chatting before the match. The guy was slightly taller than him, and he definitely fancied himself a catch. He tried to wager a bet; if he won, he would take Lucy out on a date. Didn't ask. Just proclaimed that was what was going to happen. Ugh what a skeev. The audacity alone made him want to beat this guy's ass. But the look on Lucy's face? When he'd suggested the wager? That made him want to decimate him.

And he did. He won. Lucy sung his praises afterwards and if he preened slightly at her undivided attention then that was between him and the Big Guy.

But she'd kept the ticket. Not only did she keep it, it's on a board in her bedroom. That's… it made him feel… he didn't know what. Proud? Maybe. He didn't have time to mull it over when he heard the clack of bottles being placed down in the shower. Lucy was probably washing her hair. Natsu didn't know how long he spent staring and reminiscing over the ticket stubs, but he had to get a move on if he wanted to snoop some more.

He made his way to the dressing table next. At least if he got caught there, he could say he was picking up the towels left out for him. There were only two shallow drawers within her dressing table. He tentatively opened up the left-side one first, peeking at what was inside. Nothing interesting. Just predictably Lucy. A notepad and pen, some lip balm, and old brushes of some kind. As he opened the right-hand drawer though, he paused. There was a small photo album with a picture on the front. It was of, what he assumed, was a child-sized Lucy being cradled by an older blonde woman who shared her kind brown eyes.

Her mum.

His hand reached out and gingerly touched the cover. She looked so happy, so relaxed. Lucy had never really specified how old she was when her mum died but he knew she hadn't been old. Perhaps six or seven? It couldn't have been too long after this photo had been taken. Natsu suddenly felt an uncharacteristic pang of guilt for snooping in the first place and carefully shut the drawer ready to sit on the bed and wait for Lucy to finish her shower.

A few minutes passed and the steady stream of water suddenly stopped. Lucy emerged from the bathroom in a small mist of steam that took its opportunity to escape through the open door. She had a red glow over her face from the heat and her hair dripped over her shoulders. Natsu's breath caught in his throat, and he wasted no time in grabbing his towels and heading into the bathroom.

The door clicked not 10 minutes later when Natsu emerged fully dressed. Lucy was sat at her dresser in a pink fluffy bathrobe, finishing off drying the dregs of her hair. She turned off the hairdryer and gave him a once over. He'd clearly tried to towel dry his hair; it was still damp but now it was sticking up in wild directions.

"Do you want me to dry it for you?" She offered, holding up the hairdryer for him to see. She noticed that he looked slightly more subdued than before his shower, maybe he was tired.

Natsu nodded and she sat him on the edge of the bed in front of her. The low whirring of the hairdryer filled their ears, as she gave his hair a once over on full power. After fiddling with the settings, she settled on a low and hot one to dry his hair more effectively.

She secretly loved when he let her dry his hair. Where he usually air-dried his hair, it would have this untameable volume to it, but when she could blow-dry it properly for him it ended up being more fluffy than wild looking. Lucy's gentle hands threaded in and out of his hair. Running her fingers over his scalp and through to the ends to make sure there were no unpulled tangles. Natsu let out a quiet hum of appreciation and leaned into her hand whilst she worked. She stopped, her breath hitching as he tilted his head towards her.

Jesus Lucy. Pull yourself together.

She shook herself out of it and continued to work on his hair.

As she was drying the final few locks at the base of his head, a short knock sounded at the door. Natsu lifted his head to look at Lucy, questioning as she told them to come in. It was a pink haired woman with two steaming mugs in her hand.

"For you Princess." She spoke softly as she stepped into the room place the cups on the dressing table.

Lucy's face flushed pink as she spluttered.

"Virgo! I told you to stop calling me that, it was fun when I was like five!" Natsu noticed the woman unsuccessfully hiding a small smirk, and she swiftly made her exit before Lucy could try and stop her. There was a beat of silence before Natsu piped up, a teasing lilt drenching his words.

"Princess?" He questioned.

"It was- I was like five. It was a game we'd play together. I really thought she'd stop when I got older." Lucy grabbed the cups gave them both a small sniff and handed Natsu the light green mug, whilst keeping the light blue for herself. Natsu raised an eyebrow but took a sip. It was a rich dark chocolate with… chilli? It was spicy! He took another large gulp.

"What the hell, why is it spicy? Amazing!"

Lucy just held her mug in both hands, sipped her own drink and let the flavour wash over her tongue. A small sheepish smile making its way onto her face.

"I may have let it slip you like things hot. In both senses of the word." She joked. "Mine's peppermint. They're the best, right?"

Natsu nodded as he gulfed the rest of his down, enjoyed the burn it left on his tongue and cheeks. Lucy sipped hers slowly till it was gone. Natsu placed down his mug then ran his hand through his hair to check it was dry. He was seemingly satisfied as he shuffled back to the head of the bed and began to make himself comfortable. Lucy took the opportunity to place their mugs on the small table outside her room, knowing Virgo would collect them later. She dimmed the lights and made her own way to the bed.

As they lay on their respective sides, waiting for sleep to claim them, they bathed in the soft light of the moon drifting through the partly open curtains. Shuffling was heard from Natsu's side, and Lucy could already tell he was feeling restless because he either couldn't sleep, or wasn't tired enough to try. Right on cue a small 'psst' came from his direction. Lucy kept her eyes shut and wondered if he knew she was awake. 'pppssttt' it came a little louder this time. As she lay there, still pretending to try and sleep she felt the bed shift as he moved towards her. What she wasn't expecting was the warm breath in her ear as he called her out with a little 'boo'. Lucy jumped but chastised him saying they needed their sleep.

"But Luucce 'm not tired yet."

"Natsu," Lucy said exasperated. "How can you not be tired? We've had such a long day!"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "Let's just play a game or somethin'."

Lucy relented, and they went back and forth on a few ideas, but it wasn't long before Lucy was running out of game options. There were only so many you could play with just two people. As she racked her brain for all the different no prep games that they'd usually play at pre's, a thought struck her.

This could be fun.

"21 Questions?"

"Psh," Natsu scoffed as soon as the suggestion left her mouth. He looked towards her from his place on the bed. "Bold of you to assume there are 21 things I don't know about you. You're an open book."

Lucy turned on her elbow to face him, raising an eyebrow before goading him into it.

"Oh? Is that a challenge Natsu?"

That got his attention.

"Alright, bet."

When you got to know Natsu, he was very easy to persuade. Honestly, if you made something a competition, a challenge, or if you added some kinds of stakes, you could usually convince him to play along. His eyes flashed with a competitive flair as he matched her position. Leaning forward whilst facing her. "Ask me anything and I'll get the answer."

Lucy accepted and sat up a little to fire off a stream of small surface level questions, testing his knowledge of her likes and dislikes. Her favourite colour, film, flower, comfort food, coffee order, karaoke song, and where she was born. He answered them in quick succession. Correct on all accounts.

"Pink, Tangled, Peony, Lasagna, White hot chocolate, Unwritten, and… Acolypha!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him and studied his face as a knowing smirk grew on it. He shrugged his shoulders slightly and gave her a look.

"Luce, I told you I know you."

"Fine, but I know yours as well." She huffed a little, dropping herself back down to stare at the ceiling again. She was confident she knew the opposing answers for him but didn't realise he also took in so much information about her. Natsu just chuckled a little in reply, which only spurred her on further. She shot off the answers relating to him in the same order.

"Red, How to train your dragon, Daisy, Fire chicken, Chai latte, Tequila, and a little village called Amaranto." Lucy flicked her eyes over to Natsu with her own little victorious smile as his reaction told her all she needed to know. Her answers were correct as well. Natsu scrunched up his face and complained.

"Ugh Luce, see! There's no point! We already know basically everything. Let's just look some up. Look up like 'deep questions' or 'unusual questions' or somethin." He flicked his arm up in the air in frustration.

Lucy rolled her eyes mumbling that he was being 'dramatic' but still begrudgingly pulled her phone off charge to look up questions they could ask each other. Natsu scooted towards her so he could also look at her screen. They sat mindlessly scrolling lists in the dark, light illuminating their faces, no sound but the soft in and exhale of their breath.

In the soft light Lucy could barely see his outline, yet if you asked her to point out every freckle on his tanned face she could probably do so with immense accuracy. The freckles that scattered over his cheekbones and ears were only defined in the sun, but if you looked up-close, he actually had them all year round. They were on the list of things she adored about him. Along with-

"What's your dream job?" He announced, pointing at the question on her phone. She groaned in annoyance, not just because her sappy thoughts were interrupted, but also because she already knew it. She let him know just as much.

"What? No you don't." He replied quickly.

"Yes I do Nats." The boy in front of her held her gaze, brows slightly furrowed, as if he were challenging her to get it right. Letting a sigh escape from her lips, she put down her phone and looked at him. Feeling her face melt into a fond expression. "If you could be anything, you would be a firefighter. Just like your dad." Lucy quieted. She had debated whether or not to include that last part, but evidently decided to go with it.

Natsu kept his eyes trained on her, stunned as he mumbled out. "But I've never told- How did you…"

Lucy struggled to think of how to word how she just knew.

"Well despite the fact you act like a pyromaniac with your impromptu campfires and 'emergency lighter', I feel like it's pretty obvious." He looked at her and nodded for her to continue. "You- when we pass fire stations you always get this look, I'm not sure how to describe it. But add that with the stories you've mentioned about your dad and how it might make you feel closer to him, your little fire cadet pin you have at your house, and- well- I guess your personality. Firefighter. It just makes sense."

"My personality?"

"Yeah, you're kind. To a fault, sometimes. You always try and find a way to help people when they need it, even if it means putting yourself in harm's way. I mean that's how we met isn't it? You went out of your way to help me, a random stranger."

She could see his eyes glisten a little and he scrunched up his face a few times. He turned his face to bury it in the pillow before mumbling out, "You want to be an author, that's the obvious answer, but you also wouldn't mind being a photographer."

It was Lucy's time to be surprised. She hadn't told him that either. Curious as to how he put two-and-two together she waited for him to continue and explain why he thought that. As he did, he lifted his head up again slightly, so his voice wasn't muffled.

"Your collection of cameras for one. You seem to enjoy taking photos when something inspires you right? Even if we're rushing, you might stop and take a few snaps before continuing." Natsu paused but his words hung in the air unfinished. He wanted to say something else. Lucy waited until he spoke again. "I- well I also think you mentioned starting to take photos because of your mum. She couldn't come out with you anymore, so you took photos and brought the outside in."

Lucy turned to face him, only to be met with him already looking at her. Due to their position, if they moved even a fraction of an inch closer, their breath would have mixed in the air between them. She felt herself well up a little bit at his explanation. At the memory she doesn't even remember mentioning to him, but that he deemed important enough to hang onto all this time.

They held each other's gaze as they lay there. Their words lingering in the room. Enveloping them both in memory. Lucy suddenly found herself breathing quite shallowly and noticed that Natsu seemed to be struggling too. An internal debate was on her mind. He had been interested in the ceiling her mother painted, and he brought her up again. She broke the silence first, eyes darting away as she did. It wouldn't hurt to share a little bit more, would it?

"Yeah I- yeah. You're not wrong." She chewed on her lip. Debating it one last time before asking him outright. "Do you want to see some photos of her?" Looking back to see his answer, she saw his eyes had widened slightly and he was slowly nodding his head. Words eventually caught up with his body and he said he would love to.

Lucy carefully shuffled out of the bed and to the drawer that Natsu had found earlier in the evening. She opened it up and pulled out that same small photo album with her and her mum on the cover. When she got back into bed, she curled up a little, angling towards him so he could see the album in her hands. Wasting no time, he slung his arm around her and pulled her into a perfectly friendly hug. Just for the sake of comfort. She began to show him the photos hidden away inside.

There were so many. And Lucy narrated them all.

The first few pages were Lucy as a baby or toddler. The cutest was definitely her dressed as a little dragon princess, a tutu over an all-in-one costume. There were a few where it looked like they were on the slopes, another with a larger group of people, and throughout the photos you could see it. You could see her mum getting ill. The way she changed, the trajectory of her mum's life, it seemed like a long time coming. That couldn't have been easy. Lucy couldn't have been much older than six when it happened. Her hands stopped flicking through the album as she focused on a particular picture, gingerly touching it.

"This. This was the last one of me and her together. It was about a month before… she got too weak to carry on conversations and my dad didn't want her using all her energy to entertain me. I- I only saw her a few more times after this and-" Natsu cut her off by pulling her into a tight hug, trying to squeeze away her sadness.

"She's gorgeous Luce. You look just like her." Lucy let out a small sniff at his words, her eyes starting to sting. Though she'd definitely find herself blushing over the statement later, it felt so nice to have someone compare her to her mother in a positive way.

For years, when her dad would say she looked like her mum it was full of disdain. She knew she couldn't blame him. He'd lost his wife. His love. Every time he saw Lucy he was reminded of her. Of the woman he lost. Lucy spent years staring angrily at her reflection in the mirror when passing one, wishing she looked dissimilar to her mum, that she didn't share her features. No matter how fleeting the anger Lucy felt at the similarity, regret followed shortly after. Each time the thoughts crossed her mind, she found herself deeply saddened by the thought of not looking like her. Of not sharing her big brown eyes, her smooth blonde hair, even the small-upturned end of her nose. Having Natsu double down on what he said by describing their similarities added to her happy sob. As she buried her head in his chest, he lifted his arm underneath her up and to lightly stroke her head.

It was rare to see Lucy cry over something serious. Unserious little things, like burning a dinner she was looking forward to, or anything involving favourite characters on TV or in books, she would cry. He once had to pause a TV show when her reaction to a characters almost-death left her sobbing so much she couldn't speak. But if something really struck a chord with her, if it seriously upset her, she would get this faraway look. A look of calm, as if her face were a mask carved from stone.

Natsu hated seeing Lucy when she was like that. The first big argument they'd had, ended with her apathetic and walking away. Her reaction terrified him, especially after seeing her breakdown over much smaller things. So much so that he sought out Levy, her closest friend beside him, and Levy had mentioned something to him about how she'd been brought up. Big displays of emotions were frowned upon. Though Lucy was realising she could let go a little bit more often now, she still fell into old habits sometimes. Hiding her emotions in order to placate the room. To make things easier for those around her, even at her own detriment. Natsu was horrified when Levy had told him. He sought her out and apologized fast and hard. That was when Lucy started crying. Like now.

He gently closed the album, lying half-forgotten on their laps, and reached over to place it on Lucy's bedside table. She mumbled a thanks into his shirt as he whispered back a response. They shuffled down, a little bit awkwardly, until they were lying flat on the bed. Natsu's arm was still around Lucy as she now huddled into his side. Usually, it was the other way round. Him being overly generous with hugs and affection and trying to find some way to sneak as much from her as he could. But having her hold onto him, especially as a source of comfort, made his heart ache. They stayed there for a while; Lucy's hand now placed on his chest as her breathing began to even out. The position was more intimate than usual, particularly since it was deliberate. A hot flush burned his ears, as he found himself idly rubbing his thumb over her shoulder to soothe her. His movement stuttered slightly but as she shifted underneath him, he kept it up. Her voice piped up, small and uncertain but still Lucy.

"Thank you."

Though she never specified, Natsu knew what she meant. Letting her cry about her mum. He felt the same when he spoke about his dad with her. He gave her a squeeze, wrapping his other arm around her to do so, and replied in as soft a tone as he could.

"Thank you for telling me about her."

Lucy squeezed back, wrapping one arm over his chest in response. As they lay there comfortable, just before they fell asleep, it started to dawn on them both that maybe… just maybe this was a bad idea.