Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Please, please, PLEASE, let me take a break!” Lucy almost sobbed as she took another step. A 5 hour trip to Hargeon was not the best way to break in her new heels, and she honestly never would have picked those shoes if she knew that the “quick walk” Natsu had been talking about, was in fact a hike and not a leisure stroll. 

“Come on, you already know that it’s only another 30 minutes, you can manage!” Natsu slowed down briefly at first but came to a complete halt when he looked down at Lucy’s foot, that she was now massaging tenderly. They had a scary amount of red, inflamed looking blisters, and he almost winced at the sight. 

“Does it look like I’ll manage?” Lucy sneered back. Natsu frowned at her foot at first, for making Lucy suffer, and then at the shoes that were the very cause of her suffering. 

“Hop on my back,” he said, crouching down in front of her. Lucy would normally decline offers like that, but she had already used up too much of time on Horologium’s schedule, so borrowing him for a ride wouldn’t be possible, and though she could walk barefoot the last bit, her feet could really need the relief from all the pressure. That, and the path they were walking on had surprisingly sharp pebbles – something she learned from another unfortunate pick of footwear. 

“Thanks,” she mumbled, annoyed that her pride had even allowed her to get her feet this bad in the first place. Had she asked him for his help earlier, she would probably have only half the number of blisters that she currently was cursed with. If only Wendy or Shelia was nearby to relieve her from it. 

After climbing onto Natsu’s broad back, they were once again on their way. The immediate relief from pressure helped Lucy truly relax, urging her to use Natsu’s left shoulder like a pillow. He could act really heroic when he wanted to. That’s of course until he starts complaining about her weight, which he usually would do as soon as she mounted him. Though, today he’s unusually quiet, leaving the air around them only filled with the sounds of his rhythmic steps against the gravel and the birds chirping. 

“Why are we even going to Hargeon in the first place?” Lucy asked for the tenth time this day, knowing she probably wouldn’t get a proper answer, but still hoping that she was wearing that secretive shield down. 

“I told ya’ it’s a secret,” Natsu answered, still not faltering. At this point Lucy didn’t know whether she should be excited or worried for this trip – for all she knew, a horribly embarrassing job with little to no pay could be waiting in the town they were heading towards. That, or Lucy had once again underestimated Natsu’s kindness, and some nice surprise was waiting for her. You never knew when it came to Natsu. 

Perhaps that unpredictable nature was part of why Lucy still felt like their friendship was as fresh as it only could be in the beginning – in its honeymoon phase, one might say. They never tired of each other, not really, despite what it might seem like when Lucy kicked him and Happy out of her apartment for the hundredth time in a week, or when she scolded them twice that amount. When they first got to know each other, the small fights were actually based on real discomfort – who wouldn’t be shocked when a guy you practically just met used your bath with his winged blue cat without even locking the door? Though as the time went on, her crazy reactions felt more like acting, rather than something based on true discomfort. She would put on her loud voice, yell out something witty and then a ‘get out!’ and then watch as Natsu and Happy would giggle while scrambling to her hallway, and she’d watch them do this with a smile on her face. It was their running gag, something that reminded them of where they started and where they are now. 

Well, unpredictable friendship or not, Lucy wasn’t sure if this little hiking trip Natsu had brought her along to was worth it. Those blisters already looked unreasonably red and angry, and they sure felt like they were angry too, stinging even at small breezes. 

“You know I won’t be able to fight properly like this, right?” Lucy told Natsu, kicking her feet in front of him. 

“Well, you won’t have to fight.” 

“Hah! I got a clue!” Lucy burst out, celebrating her success at wearing him down. “So, no fighting… Does that mean I’m just here for company for a job? Or maybe the job just requires one of my spirits… or! Maybe we’re just here for a retreat!” 

Natsu sighed and readjusted his hold of her. He had accidentally told her just a little too much – not enough for her to figure it out, but still enough for her to speculate. He was fine with her talking, but he was a little afraid she’d make him say too much again, maybe even make him spill everything, and then he’d let all his work to keep the secret go to waste. 

“Not telling,” he just told her, trying to keep his ground. He made his mind up to only answer her if she talked about unrelated topics – otherwise he would definitely spill everything. Luckily for him they would reach the edge of the town in just 10 minutes as long as he kept a good walking speed. 

“Don’t you think you owe me a proper clue? After all, you didn’t tell me that we were going to walk for hours! I would have changed shoes if I’d known, you know!” Lucy poked Natsu’s cheek repeatedly. Maybe she could annoy an answer out of him. 

“I already gave ya’ one,” Natsu tried. 

“Noooo, I decided that it was a clue, you didn’t give it to me out of free will!” 

“So you want another clue?” 

“Yes!” 

“Well, my clue is that you won’t have to fight.” Lucy pouted. 

“You already gave me that clue.” 

“So you admit it was a clue?” 

“Natsu!” 

*** 

“I can’t believe you won’t tell me anything!” They had finally arrived, and Lucy was walking barefoot on the cobblestone paths that covered the coastal town. She had insisted on walking by herself when they started meeting people on the way, saying something about it being embarrassing to be carried when she was a mage with reputation. Natsu couldn’t understand how being carried would affect her rep, since she was in a team that destroyed everything in its path, but he complied. 

“I just think you’re making it bigger than it is,” Natsu shrugged. His surprise wasn’t really that big, and this build up certainly wasn’t giving him any favours. 

“I’m not making it bigger than you are. You’re the one that won’t tell me about this small surprise.” Natsu knew that Lucy was stubborn, but this was reaching new heights. 

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you!” he once again defended himself. “I just don’t want you to think it’s some amazing, cool thing and then be all disappointed.” 

“I’d never be disappointed,” Lucy promised. She knew however that Natsu didn’t believe her – he had that peculiar look on his face that showed when he was doubting something. They continued this bickering for a few minutes, until Natsu finally came to a halt. 

“We’re here.” Lucy looked around. The street was familiar – if she remembered correctly, this was the street where that wizard, Bora, had been scamming people. Which also, coincidentally, was the street where she and Natsu first met. 

“Hey, I remember this,” Lucy said, not concealing the fondness in her voice. “This is where we met for the first time.” Lucy was smiling, and Natsu already felt like he had succeeded. For him, the hours of complaints were all worth it as long as she had this expression. But he knew Lucy would be annoyed if they had gone all this way just for a tiny peek into memory lane. 

“Do you remember that there was this big crowd of girls just over there?” Natsu smiled. 

“Yes, and I was in it.” A small grimace crossed Lucy’s face, until she started talking again. “I was completely charmed by Bora. Or, well, his ring at least.” 

“The great salamander and his charms.” 

“But hey, I did get to meet the real salamander! He was just naïve enough to think that Bora was a dragon in the middle of the town.” 

“How was I supposed to know?” Natsu defended himself. Lucy raised her eyebrows. 

“A dragon? A huge, fire breathing dragon, smack down in a town with crowded buildings and humans everywhere? It didn’t take a genius to figure out that things weren’t adding up.” 

“Hey, me not being a genius led to us meeting. I wouldn’t change that, ya’ know.” Another soft expression graced Lucy’s face, and he had to hold back from giving her a big hug. “Anyways, I thought we could stay here for the weekend. I’ve booked a room, and just across the street there’s a place that’s got lots of cheap food!”

“You really thought this through, didn’t you?” Surprise didn’t begin to describe how Lucy currently felt. She didn’t think that Natsu would be so perceptive, though if she actually thought back she should have known. He had always been sentimental, if that wall of memorabilia had anything to show for. Hell, he even got himself a mannequin so he could display the maid outfit Lucy had dressed up in, way back for their first mission. Naturally he’d remember the date and location of their very first meeting.

“Since I prepared all this I’ll let you pay for the food,” Natsu said, snickering at her with a sinister grin. Right. There’s the catch.

Though since there wouldn’t be any crazy amounts of orders on raw fish, calculating the lack of exceeds in the company, maybe the bill wouldn’t be too severe. And with exceeds on the topic, Lucy sort of missed having the blue pal around. She could name a thousand annoying traits Happy possessed, but when it came down to it she wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. He was her best friend, they bantered and had fights, sure, but the bond she shared with him was irreplaceable. Which is why she felt like there was a void present - they were missing a part of their team.

Lucy hadn’t gotten any explanations on why Happy wasn’t around today, but she knew that Natsu knew. Hadn’t he known, he would have complained the entire outing. Still, Lucy was curious about what kept Happy away today.

“Where did you say Happy was today by the way?” She had first asked him an hour into their impromptu hike, but had only gotten a vague mumble as an answer. This time she was ready to drill him – after all, she was paying for their food.

“Oh he had this… thing? With his parents and the rest of the exceeds. I don’t remember what exactly.” Lucy found his answer a tiny bit suspicious, but didn’t dig deeper. Surely there was a reason behind the vague answer – maybe Natsu had promised to keep a secret. Happy had recently gotten more serious about his feelings towards Carla, so maybe it was related to that.

“Right,” Lucy said, now feeling her stomach rumble. “So are we checking in at the Inn or eating first? I’m starving, but I think I’d like to freshen up a bit before we go eat.”

“Yeah sure, let’s make a stop at the room.” Natsu’s compliance was also a bit suspicious, Lucy thought. Though she didn’t mind it of course – maybe this was a part of the anniversary treatment.

She should have known something was up when Natsu had booked the room. The Inn was nice and clean, the staff was nice and she was delighted to hear that breakfast was included, but the first red flag was when there was only one room key. Lucy’s face had turned a light shade of pink at the thought of sharing a room – not because she wasn’t used to it at home, but because of the implied intimacy between her and Natsu. They were known to be “only friends” back in Magnolia, people barely batted an eye when they did almost-coupley-things (like walking home with arms linked, always sleeping at Lucy’s apartment, Natsu resting his arm on Lucy’s shoulders at the farmer’s market – all things that had been written about, and then been unbunked in Sorcerer’s Weekly), but in Hargeon their unique friendship wasn’t as widely known. So when the receptionist smoothly added that all their rooms were sound proofed, Lucy could only smile politely and nod.

The room itself was as stunning as the rest of the Inn. It was embellished with cute, golden, swirly details in every corner of every object, and the walls had a stunning tapestry with light blue flowers scattered across an eggshell-white base. There was a body length mirror with a dark wooden frame just to the left as you walked into the room, and to one of the walls there was a pretty wooden dresser. Everything looked handmade, and Lucy couldn’t help but awe at every detail.

See, the room was so pretty that Lucy hadn’t noticed that there was only one bed. When she did notice, it was only because she was admiring the bed frame – of which there was only one. Had she turned light pink before, she could guess that she was sporting a rosy red on her cheeks now. Truth was, she and Natsu had never shared a bed alone in another place than her apartment. Happy had always been a barrier between them, even when a similar occasion had occurred with there only being one spare room for the night. This time however, Lucy and Natsu hadn’t arrived with a third party. And this time, the room wasn’t the “only one available”. Natsu had been the one who booked it, and he clearly didn’t care about their reputation.

This entire thought process had taken maybe a second in the real world. See, Lucy didn’t really believe that Natsu didn’t care about “reputation” and silly things like that. She knew that Natsu didn’t see this sleepover as anything different than when Happy was around, and how the Inn-staff interpreted their relationship was simply not in Natsu’s equation. He had just wanted to make this a memorable trip, and sharing a room was just more economical, and really the only reasonable option when it came to the two of them. They were already sharing Lucy’s twin-size bed at home, so why bother booking two separate rooms when Natsu probably would end up in Lucy’s bed no matter what.

So with a deep breath, Lucy turned around and grabbed her bag where she kept her necessities.

“I’ll take a quick shower, is that fine with you? Or do you need the toilet?” Natsu could see a quite violent blush on Lucy’s cheeks as she tried to act unfazed. He covered up an amused smile with a yawn.

“No, you go ahead.” As Lucy closed the door he allowed himself to chuckle. She was really an open book.

***

“Good evening! Table for two under the name Dragneel?” A chipper waitress welcomed Natsu and Lucy into the restaurant. It was one of the perks of being a well known face in Fiore.

“Yes please,” Lucy said, minding her manners more than usual. She had thought that Natsu would leave the food aspect to Lucy, since he had joked around about her paying for him, but to her surprise he had led her here – to a nicer restaurant than they usually ate at. Well, they usually ate what they hunted in the woods, but even when they went through towns on missions they normally ended up in some cheap diner. This place was no five stars, but it was more than she had expected. She almost felt a bit self conscious in her simple dress.

The two of them were led to a table by a window that had the perfect view of the harbour.

“Hey that’s where we met for the second time!” Lucy exclaimed, pointing towards the horizon. “I thought you were such a loser for getting seasick,” she snickered, giving Natsu a provoking poke on his arm. He was nicely dressed up, wearing a navy dress shirt and black tailored pants.

“And I thought you were stupid for falling for Bora’s trick twice,” Natsu joked back with a smirk. Then he surprised Lucy for the third time in one day, fourth if you count his nice clothes. “We’ll take a bottle of the house’s red, assuming you want a meat dish?”

Lucy almost dropped her jaw, only giving a dumbfounded nod as an answer. As the waitress fetched their first order Natsu started to browse the menu.

“Hey what on earth was that? Who taught you wine-etiquette?”

Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

“This lamb looks good, doesn’t it?”

Lucy scoffed, but she was honestly impressed. It showed that Natsu had put a lot of thought into this day, even if he had played it off as a simple trip down memory lane. She opened her own menu and gave it a quick scan. He was right, the lamb did look really good, but at a closer look she could name multiple meals Natsu would prefer – he had mentioned the lamb as a recommendation to her.

“Yeah, I think I’ll take the lamb,” she slowly said. “What are you having?”

“The firecracker beef,” he said, pointing at the five chilli peppers on the side of the dish, symbolising how hot it was.

“Oh, fun!” Lucy praised.

As they waited for their wine they fell into a comfortable silence. Lucy had a million things to say, to commend him for. Well, minus one since she still felt her feet ache from the long walk. However, as soon as the waitress had taken their new orders, Natsu spoke up.

“This is a special town, dontcha think?” Lucy nodded. “I know Erza, Gray and Lisanna told you already, but before I met you I was really grumpy.”

“You don’t say?” Lucy giggled, thinking back on his curt behaviour before they formed a team.

“Hush,” he smiled, “I’m going somewhere with this.” Lucy made a zipping-motion with her hand over her mouth, and let him continue. “Anyways, I was a real bad-tempered kid, didn’t exactly like to hang around people other than Happy, and well, he’s a cat.”

Natsu seemed different today. Other than his odd sentimentality, Lucy thought he looked mature in his proper clothes, with a glass of red wine in front of him. Had she thought two times further she’d get flustered by how much this dinner seemed like a fully fletched date. Luckily Natsu continued speaking before she got there.

“There were all kinds of circumstances that made me behave that way, but in hindsight I kinda boil it down to searching for Igneel and losing Lisanna. Either way, I was having a tough time back then, especially when guild members didn’t take my search for Igneel seriously. Though, it was thanks to them we even met at all, since I followed one of the leads.” Natsu started looking around, losing the thread. “Well, I guess I wanna say I’m sorry for acting like a brat back then, I was really dismissive of you despite how friendly you were. Hell, you even got me and Happy lunch, we were seriously saved, I had to spend that lunch money on an extra train ticket.” He gave up a pained laugh from the memory of being stuck on that train ride. Lucy was amused by the picture he painted – even back then he didn’t manage motion well. It was sort of comfortable to know that some things would never change, no matter the adventures they went through.

“Either way, I would not change a single thing that day, the extra train ride made me meet you! Though meanwhile you were getting charmed by Bora.” He once again laughed at the memory – her eyes had practically been hearts. “And look what I brought, by the way!” From the backpack he had carried (against Lucy’s wishes) he pulled out the white cardboard paper that was signed by Bora, or Salamander as he had conned people to believe back in the day. Lucy yelped.

“I can’t believe you kept that! Eugh, it still gives me the creeps,” she shuddered and showed her arm where goosebumps had appeared. Natsu just laughed loudly – a heartfelt laugh that Lucy had heard countless times before but never got tired of hearing.

“What can I say, it’s a souvenir!” He was still laughing when he put it back into his backpack.

“Gross,” she muttered, but a smile was creeping across her face. She could never stay upset, even on pretend, when he laughed like that.

“Anyways, I just thought I’d tell you my side of the story of how we met. Though, you know the basic facts already. I just remember thinking that you were really weird.” Natsu was leaning his forearms on the table, suddenly feeling very close.

“I knew that much already,” Lucy teased. She was no longer fazed by his “weird”-accusations – they kind of cancelled out when you considered who was speaking.

“Yeah, well that wasn’t all I thought of you.” Lucy’s interest was piqued. Natsu’s eyes were dark in the dim light, and though his mouth was turned to a smile, he looked very serious. “Other than weird, I found you dumb, for paying for my food, loud, for how you spoke while paying for my food, endearing for how you spoke about Fairy Tail.”

Lucy felt her face get warmer. He had told her that she was weird, dumb and loud before – all while joking of course, but she had never heard him call her endearing.

“Then, when we met for the second time during the same day, I thought you were special. Then I got motion sick, so I mostly felt nauseous,” Lucy giggled before he continued, “but when you brought out Aquarius and helped me out, I knew you were special. I had never seen anyone converse with their magic the way you always have – mostly literally, but also figuratively. Happy told me the same night that he saw you find Aquarius key almost telepathically after you dropped it in the ocean. We both knew you were special. Are. You are special.” 

Lucy felt like her face was on fire at this point. She had never heard Natsu be so straightforward before. It was strange, in a very good way.

“Oh Natsu, gosh, I don’t know what to say,” she breathed. It was rare to hear these sorts of words from anyone, aside from maybe Loke. “You flatter me.” She laughed, fanning herself to cool her head.

“I don’t do it nearly often enough,” Natsu argued boldly, only making Lucy blush more. “It’s just, I have so much to thank you for. My life has been pretty awesome if I may say so, but the truth is, it’s all thanks to you. I wouldn’t have had the amazing team I have today, I wouldn’t have made it out from any of the countless life threatening situations I’ve been in, if you weren’t there to save me. I owe everything to you.”

“That’s my line,” Lucy smiled, holding back tears of gratitude. “I would have roamed the streets still if we hadn’t met.”

Natsu smiled. “I doubt it. I would have picked you up along the way a hundred times if I could.”

Lucy snorted.

“That’s an awful pickup line!”

“Yeah, that was bad, wasn’t it?” He grimaced. “Though I can’t stop it with the sappy stuff until I finish what I started saying earlier.”

“About what you thought of me when we first met?” Lucy asked. She had sort of mastered the art of following Natsu’s train of thought, so she was spot on.

“Right, I think I mentioned weird, dumb, loud, endearing and special.” He regained his serious look, the one that made Lucy feel like she was the only one in the room, nay, the world, that mattered. “I also remember thinking that you were, and are, pretty.”

If Lucy could burst into flames of embarrassment, she would have. Except, she couldn’t say anything. If she said anything, she would wake up from this wonderful dream, and everything would go back to normal.

“I don’t tell you nearly enough,” Natsu said with a sheepish look. He was blushing for the first time since he got into puberty. It would take a lot for him to repeat these words. It was somehow comforting to hear Lucy’s heartbeat patter like a scared rabbit – like she didn’t hate hearing it from him, rather, the opposite.

It was however even more comforting to be interrupted by plates of food arriving. It was a natural ice breaker after the hot tension Natsu’s sentence brought. Lucy could utter a thanks to the waiter, and when her seal was broken, so was Natsu’s. Except, they didn’t address the elephant in the room. Natsu had called Lucy pretty, and Lucy liked hearing him say it. If any of them even mentioned it they feared a bomb would set off - a bomb they would have to clean up after in public. It was a silent agreement that they wouldn’t mention it before they were alone. Meanwhile, they had food to eat and a bottle of wine to finish.

***

The walk back to the Inn was quiet. Lucy walked slowly, partly to not strain her feet, but also because she needed the air to cool her head. Natsu naturally adapted his step to hers. Once they had walked in their own paces, unapologetically, but since quite some time back it had gone without saying that they were meant to be by each other’s side.

Natsu glanced over to Lucy. She had her eyes turned towards the skies, as she usually did when the sun had gone down. It was like she was acting on instinct, searching for the small, twinkling stars that were her good friends. Today however the lights in the town dulled the night sky, to both of their disappointment. Lucy’s skin had a special glow at night. It was like she was meant to be looked at by the moon, because Natsu could swear he saw a light sparkle, almost too faint to be there at all. Even the man in the moon showed Lucy his best side, Natsu realised, and felt his heartstrings tug. What a woman he had met.

If he looked into her eyes at night he could see the stars reflect in them. It looked like the night sky was swimming in dark chocolate, doing their best to stay afloat in her deep gaze. And not to mention how her light blush from the cold made her look ethereal, how her lips turned into a light purple when they no longer had the warm light of the sun shining on her, and how her golden hair almost turned white, following the colours of the sun and the moon on the night sky.

Calling her pretty was an understatement, yet it seemed like she didn’t really believe him when he had told her. At that realisation, Natsu got an overwhelming urge to tell her again. He wanted to tell her how gorgeous she was, inside and out, and he wanted to hold her tight and never let go. Carefully, he grazed his finger on her hand. Light enough to seem like an accident, put listening closely to the signs she gave. If she pulled away, so would he. Except, she didn’t. So he grazed it again, this time longer, making his intentions clear. Still, no movement from her, aside from the slight bobbing of their walk. On his third attempt he carefully braided their fingers together, relishing in the cool temperature of her soft, small hand in his.

He glanced over at her again, trying to read her emotions. She seemed happy, like he had just told her she would never have to pay rent again in her entire life. He caught himself with the same stupid smile, and decided to only look on the road ahead from now on. Whether he decided literally or metaphorically, he didn’t yet know.

***

Lucy was sweating. She cursed herself for it, because when Natsu had taken her hand, he had seemed so nonchalant, just acting like it was the most natural thing for the two of them in the world. And the fact that he hadn’t let go of her hand when they entered the Inn made Lucy beyond flustered. She had held his hand before, in fact, she had held it many times before. None that had felt so meaningful though. The light touches before he actually grabbed her hand, the way he had held it like it was the most fragile, yet important hand in the universe – the intention had felt romantic. And that’s when the day caught up to her.

Natsu’s nostalgia-trip had been like a weekend retreat for couples. It had felt like a long date, with marriage in mind. Though of course she didn’t think he’d propose – even he knew there were steps to take beforehand in their relationship, but today had indeed felt like a long list of steps to take before a proposal. Not that it felt staged in any way, but it was clear that he was advancing their relationship, whether he knew it or not.

Eventually Natsu had to release Lucy’s hand. He wasn’t successful in finding the key with one hand, so reinforcements were necessary.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Lucy said her first words in 30 minutes.

“I’ll just take a shower.”

And 10 minutes later, Natsu copied her.

When Natsu came out of the bathroom, they were both still in their bath towels. Lucy had managed to dry her hair halfway, but didn’t get farther before Natsu suddenly was standing in the archway between the bedroom and the hallway, his towel hanging dangerously low on his hips. She quickly turned off the hairdryer.

“So which sides did we settle on?” She kept the topic safe, or, at least as safe as it could be when she soon was to share bed at an inn, with no one present but her and her crush.

“Whatever you prefer,” Natsu answered. He would cling to her no matter which side they were lying on.

With all safe conversation topics exhausted, Lucy swiftly changed into her pyjamas. Natsu was lucky that she always carried her essentials – toothbrush, hairbrush, moisturiser, a couple of panties and a tank top, because otherwise she would either have to sleep in her outside clothes, or naked – both terrible options in Lucy’s opinion.

Natsu had known what the weekend had in store, but he hadn’t felt compelled to pack a pair of pyjamas anyways. A pair of boxers were enough in his opinion. As soon as he turned off the lights, he joined Lucy in bed. Once again he found himself looking at her in the dark. This time the light was so faint he could barely make out her contours, but he saw her there anyway. Her bangs had fallen to the side of her head, and he saw her entire forehead. It felt holy, in a way, because when he saw her wholly he felt like he could see everything about her. Her thoughts, her opinions, her memories. He knew that he couldn’t tell her this, because Lucy would think he was making fun of her big forehead. Little did she know that all his teasing, all his little jokes, were based in admiration. He had to keep talking to her to convince himself he was speaking with a human, and not an angel.

That’s when she opened her eyes and met Natsu’s gaze. At first Lucy’s heart skipped a beat – she hadn’t been prepared to be so intensely stared at. But then she allowed herself to be. She thought, just because she could see him watch her, it didn’t mean he saw her any differently to when she was unaware he was looking. And even if he understood her differently, did that telepathic thing where they spoke through glimpses and glances, he still saw the same woman he had always seen.

“What are you thinking about?” Lucy dared to ask, in a voice that barely counted as a whisper. He had been looking so intensely, like there was no tomorrow, yet he had an indescribable look on his face. Like he was troubled and content all at the same time. Stuck in admiration and puzzling.

“That you’re pretty,” Natsu said. And it was true. The way Lucy looked in the darkness, when Natsu barely could make out her shape, was captivating. He could easily lighten up the place with his fire, make every pore in her face visible as day, but barely seeing her was seeing her in a new light. He couldn’t get enough of her. It was like he was seeing her for her – not in the lights and shadows of a campfire in the woods, not under the light of her booklamp that she used every night. She wasn’t reflecting any light at all - yet somehow she was. If it was the faint light from one or two stars that peeked out behind the curtains, or if it was the faint glow of her own magic power, Natsu didn’t know. All he knew was that he couldn’t get enough of her. He had to feel her, taste her.

So he did.

He started with feeling. Grabbed her hand, this time with more determination. He grabbed it with both hands under the blanket, tracing her joints and feeling her smooth fingernails. It felt surreal to be touching this work of art he was watching. Then he traced up her arm, along her shoulder and neck, and soon enough he was tracing her face. Feeling the soft, thin skin across her eyelids, brushing up her eyelashes. Feeling her breath under her nose, the warmness of her lips. With every light brush his fingertips made, the more of her he smelled. He didn’t know if it was some sort of instinct, that he could smell her better the closer they were emotionally, all he knew was that he almost went dizzy from the sweetness, the realness she smelled. “Bunny” crossed his mind before he started combing through her hair.

“So pretty.” He had said it out loud before he registered the thought in his brain, but somehow it didn’t feel as smothering as it had in the restaurant. And that’s when he bent forward and kissed her. Softly, lightly on her lips. Her lips had fluttered slightly at his touch, but he noticed that she had closed her eyes on instinct. So he did it again, slightly firmer this time, pulling her body close along with the kissing motion. It felt like the ultimate sign of intimacy – like an embrace out of pure love, except amplified.

When they pulled apart for air, Natsu only had one thought on his mind.

“We can take the train back tomorrow if you want. No more hiking in heels.” And in the middle of a giggle, Lucy pulled them together again.