"Hmm, it's definitely more active outside than the time you've spent with us, Lucy." Mira mentioned as she wiped the last of the dishes in the kitchen, setting them back.

Lucy nodded, curiously glancing outside to see how much darker it was than usual. "Yes, it's kind of worrying me to be honest."

Mira glanced at her. "I'm a little worried too, but I'm sure we'll pull through."

_________

Erza looked up at the sky, seeing darker gray clouds covering the blue sky. "Hmm, looks like there's going to be rain soon."

Natsu glanced up, feeling the ship ride another few jerky waves, making him hold his breath to keep from coughing. "Yeah."

The sea had started to become more lively; large waves crashes against the ship more fiercely, ear-biting winds nipped harshly at their skin chilling them to the bone. The sun had vanished behind the shadowing clouds that quickly raced across.

Natsu gripped the wheel tighter as the ship jerked more violently, having a bad feeling in his stomach other than the motion sickness rising to his throat. "This ain't gon' be good." He muttered, the clouds quickly making it darker.

The air became thick with salt, carried by a gale that could only sing a single note. The clouds have gathered since last night, dark and unyielding, covering any existence of the sun. It was the foreshadowing of a rain storm promising to turn the tides.

"Make sure everyone's prepared." Natsu warned Erza, nodding before quickly proceeding to notify the crew. The Captain pressed his thin lips together, keeping a sturdy stance as the ship ferociously glided against the choppy waters.

Happy dryly gulped as he felt a few thick drops of water fall against him, blinking to look up at the falling rain. "Here it comes." He nervously pointed out.

The stinging raindrops began to fall, hitting the disturbed water. The sound was similar to bullets against the wooden ship, ferociously bouncing back up.

The water pummeled against Natsu's side, the wind exaggerating its speed to the full potential. Dark black clouds quickly mixed in, obscuring the scene. They churned grimly to cover up the blue sky that was no longer in an eyes sight. The winnowing winds fermented, rippling the waters surface. It stirred the flaps of the Fairy Tail pirate flag above harshly.

"Fuck! Make sure we have Gajeel, Gray and Juvia by the entrance just in case!" Natsu yelled over the roaring howls of the winds that whipped up in a frenzy.

Happy immediately took off. "Aye, sir!" He flew down to the doors, seeing that the three were already set into place.

Gajeel cracked his knuckles and smirked. "It was bound to happen soon."

Lucy approached behind the three, glancing outside to see the scene of what she was hearing from the inside. The ship kept harshly rocking against the growing waves, having her grab onto the door to keep her glance on her feet. "This isn't good."

A faint crack echoed from the distance, a warning to the more violent storm that was brewing. "I wasn't expecting this heavy of a storm." Gray commented.

Natsu squinted his eyes and wiped the wetness from his face and hair with his hand, keeping the ship under control as it rode over the reckoning waves. The scent of the rain and sea water was heavy, making it hard for him to breathe. He gritted his teeth as there was no calm moment anymore, the ship continuously rocking in all directions.

Another few booms rolled off the darkening clouds as the rain refused to hold back mercy, falling as it fell from buckets, cascading like an endless waterfall.

Lucy jumped as a burst of yellow cracked through the clouds, sending chills down her spine. "Is Natsu up there?!" She yelled worriedly, realizing that everyone else was inside.

Gajeel nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad that ain't my job though." Juvia rolled her eyes at his unneeded comment, looking to see Lucy's eyes shaken with fear.

The sky shrieked, sending down a jolt of lighting straight into the water, breaking the surface. Natsu gritted his teeth, his clothes stuck to him like he held onto the wheel with his prideful life. The ship flung forwards, sending dozens of items to crash into the sturdy insides of the barriers.

An enormous, devouring wave exploded from the sea, determined to swallow the ship whole. It curved while it began toppling over, Natsu quickly churning the wheel to avoid the hallowing water as best he could. He felt it crack onto the ship's surface, his whole body being swept off his feet. Hells chilling water temped to wash him overboard, but he grabbed the wheels post to keep himself from ending his life.

His body throbbed as he determinedly yanked himself back up to take control of the creaking ship. His stomach did back flips from seeming as if he was stuck on an endless roller coaster.

"This ain't gonna kill me, not today." Natsu gritted through his teeth, even if his insides were threatening to make his body collapse to throw up. Nasty coughs left him as another wave smacked him on the other side, the winds screaming into his ear with the pelting rain stinging his skin like a mob of bees.

Juvia sent out a barrier of water as a intimidating wave quickly attacked from the front, sending it directly towards the door. Lucy's eyes widened in fear, kidding behind the two male figures to see the water being flung off in the opposite direction.

Lucy looked up the large poll and gasped, seeing that the one with the sails on it was starting to crack through a part of it. "Gajeel, look! It's going to fall!"

He looked up. "I see bunny girl, thanks." With that, he walked out into the horrendously roaring storm that temped to sweep them away, sending a punch straight into the poll. A layer of iron crawled from his fist all the way up, covering the poll to keep it sturdy and straight.

The sea was a monster; lunging across the deck to capture anyone within it's deadly grasp and lure them into the seeping darkness. Everyone held onto something to keep themselves from being thrown across all directions. The hungry waters clung onto the Fairy Tail, trying to pull them into the icy depths.

As the three used their magic to protect the ship, Lucy's mind was only thinking of their Captain. Her fists clenched as more waves tempted to swallow the ship while, but were cut off by Gajeel, Gray and Juvia.

She yanked out a key, casting it into the air and yelled out words. "-Aquarius!"

The celestial spirit appeared rather sassily, putting her hands on her hips. "What now, Lucy? I was on a date with-!"

"Please! I need you to help out and protect the crew! There's a huge storm!" Lucy pleaded, pointing to the nightmare playing outside. Aquarius studied it, glancing back and forth for a few seconds. "Fine, but I better not be called out for a long time!" She huffed dramatically, slowly making her way outside.

A threatening wave tempted to sweep her away, but she easily pushed it away.

"What the hell is that?!" Gajeel yelled at the sight of what it seemed to be similar to a mermaid. She sent a dirty glare back at the dragon slayer. "Piss off or else I'll send you with it next time, fat raccoon."

Gray let out a laugh at the comment as he froze a wave solid. "That's a great nickname!"

Natsu looked down to see a fourth figure, questioning who it was as he kept his stance sturdy, refusing to let the liquid element devour him into the deep sea. The cloud right above him cracked with an electrical current, a split second later letting it strike down.

"Look out!" Natsu yelled at the figures, seeing the bolt attempt to strike straight down onto the deck.

Gray jumped out of the way just before striking, but glanced up to see the decks surface unarmed. "What the-?! Where'd it go?!"

The Captains eyes widened as a blinding light shot straight towards the yellow bolt, intercepting the blow. His onyx eyes captured the arrow before it landed in the water, instantly being swallowed up. An arrow...?

Lucy.

"She better not do anything crazy." Natsu said to himself, barely hearing his own words from the way the winds screamed at him.

Aquarius annoyingly inspected the storm, getting fed up by being stuck out here. "I'm literally through with this, we're getting out of here." She casually made her way to the back of the upper deck, seeing a pink-haired man controlling the wheel.

Natsu made eye-contact with her. "Who are you?!" He yelled, receiving an irritated eye roll from the creature.

"I'm only doing this because Lucy summoned me out and it actually looks like a fucking crisis. I'm saving your Captains ass." Aquarius spat, not caring one bit about his status of the crew. She sauntered past him, leaving him glaring at her backside.

The celestial spirit lifted her arms above her head, then throwing an endless amount of water to suddenly propel the boat at an extremely vicious speed. The ship sliced through the water directly in a straight like a knife.

Natsu grabbed the wheel as his body was being pulled back by how fast they were gliding through the water.

"Woah!" The crew yelled, their bodies suddenly being thrown back by the unknown force of speed. Lucy clinger onto the door entrance, closing her eyes as icy water pelted against her shivering skin. Her golden hair whipped back behind her viciously.

"What the hell is this?!" Elfman shouted, grabbing a piece of wall while holding Mira and Lisanna between his other arm.

"How are we going so fast!" Droy yelled, bear-hugging Jet.

Another minute passed with the crew shrieking, until they could feel their jelly bodies completely numb.

Gajeel rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and looked up. "What in the hell just happened?" He was blinded by the sun, quickly taking his eyes off the clear blue sky.

Lucy's eardrums rang as the silence struck her, opening her eyes to see the suns rays blaring down on the motionless waters surface. Her legs felt wobbly themselves, trying to find her a balance from the ship's complete stillness.

Her eyes glistened, quickly racing towards the upper deck to find her celestial spirit.

Waves of heat courses through his veins, various sweat drops forming over his soaked skin. His body ached as he barely kept himself propped up, heavily breathing against the wheel. His stomach refused to stop churning as he stumbled to the side of the ship, covering his mouth with his hand. With each step his body tightened and throbbed, his headache immensely painful.

Natsu kept swallowing as the exotic bitter taste flooded his mouth with thin saliva, his throat kept clenching. It didn't stop the warmth from growing in his stomach that rose to the back of his throat. His chest keeled over the railing, his arms the only thing keeping his heavy, slumped body from falling overboard.

The nauseous feeling rose to his head, making him cough from his disturbed, bruised insides. He scrunched his eyes shut as his back awkwardly arched, his head dangling as his wet hair stuck to his sweaty forehead.

With one heaving lurch from his stomach, a large amount of vomit spilled out of his quivering lips into the water, his whole insides burning.

"Aquarius! Thank you!" Lucy breathed as she sprinted towards her beloved spirit, hugging her tightly.

She froze for a couple seconds, but lightly pushed her off. "It was nothing. I expect a long time of rest, got it?...and your Captain over there, he needs some help." Aquarius snickered as her pointer finger extended just past Lucy.

The celestial spirit returned to her key as Lucy turned around to see Natsu's drenched body halfway over the side, hearing his painful coughs. "Natsu!" She ran over to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Natsu coughed another series, his body shaking from how weak he felt. He spit a few times, his burning lungs begging for air as he desperately inhaled heavy breaths. "Luce.." he weakly croaked with his hoarse voice.

He felt the back of her hand slip over his forehead, feeling how hot it burned. Lucy saw his eyes squeezed shut, noticing how bad he was burning up. "You need to go wash up and rest."

Lucy swung his arm around her shoulders as she kept hers around his waist, gently bringing him upright. Natsu let some of his body weight fall against her, trying to attempt to keep himself up.

Lucy slowly led him down the stairs, feeling his grasp tighten on her. "It's okay, you're going to be alright." She whispered, laying a hand on the middle of his hard chest as his head rested against the side of hers. Each breath he took was heavy and restrained, some deep coughs escaping his aching body.

A trail of water dropped from their soaked clothes as Lucy led him to his room.

"Where's Captain Nats-!" A feminine voice began to yell from behind, stopping short to see him propped up by someone else.

Lucy glanced back far enough to see Lisanna. "Do you mind opening the door for me please?"

Lisanna ran over and swung the door open, clearly worried about her Captain. "I assume you have it under control?"

Lucy nodded as she squeezed through the doorframe. "Yes, thank you Lisanna."

Lisanna nodded, feeling sick at herself for a wave of envy to run through her veins at the sight. She couldn't be jealous, after getting to know who Lucy really was, she didn't have the right.

Lucy brought the stumbling Natsu to the bathroom, bringing him down to sit on the ground next to the toilet. She took a step over to plug the tub drain, turning on the water to start filling it up. A squirt of the liquid soap in the water began to immediately bubble and foam.

Natsu wrapped his arms around the toilet bowl, letting his head hang again from the nauseousness still taking over his weak body. A hand gently massaged the center of his back, slowly moving up and down for a minute. When the soothing touch left his back, he groaned from the lack of it.

Lucy grabbed a couple fresh white towels, dark gray sweatpants, and-

"They're in the second drawer." His voice croaked from the bathroom, her face exploding into a burning crimson red.

She glanced back to see his face still arched over the toilet bowl, awkwardly making her way to his dresser. Four long drawers were placed, and her face only burned hotter as she quickly opened it and grabbed the first black pair of boxers, placing it between the folded sweatpants.

Lucy placed them between the counter space of the double sinks and reached over to stop the water, the perfect amount filling the tub.

"Natsu, the tub's ready for you to get in whenever you're good." Lucy softly said, biting her lip when he didn't move.

"Can you pull off my boots?" Natsu breathed, hoping it wasn't already too much for her to do. With no hesitation, Lucy carefully slipped off his footwear and set them to the side. Salty sea water pooled out of them, making her scrunch her nose and quickly wiped it up with a towel.

He shakily stood up, the nauseous sensation slowly settling. He arched his back to try to shake off his drenched coat, but felt the heavy clothing item slip off his body with her help.

Lucy held it between her pointer finger and thumb, hanging it on one of the racks. Her cheeks were scorching by looking at his exposed back that shined with dampness.

"You got everything else under control I guess?" Lucy managed to peep out, her eyes scanning his tanned skin that defined his well-built body. He nodded, so she quickly raced to take her leave from the bathroom to give him privacy.

"Can you wait a few seconds outside?" Natsu asked, tiredly staring at the wall with his eyes half-lidded.

Lucy gulped. "Um, sure." She exited and closed the door behind her, wondering why he'd make her wait. She shook her head of strange thoughts, leaning her back against the wall.

Natsu stripped the rest of his soaking clothes off his body and stepped into the foamy warm water, already relaxing every aching muscle in his body. The silence was a blessing to his ringing ears, the deafening roars from the storm was painful.

He splashed water over his tiresome face, his arms terribly aching from barely using any energy. "Luce c'mere."

Lucy creaked the door wide enough to shyly slide in, taking a few steps to see Natsu slightly hunched over, most of his upper body completely exposed. Her fingers awkwardly danced at her sides while she couldn't control the heat flushing her entire face. Thank goodness she put in a crapload of bubble soap so the surface of the water was extremely foamy.

"Could you wash my hair?" Natsu asked, keeping his eyes downwards.

Lucy pointed a finger to herself. "M-me?" She barely breathed while stuttering. She didn't know why her face wouldn't stop heating up from seeing him, she's seen plenty of men her age all her life shirtless. Why was she acting this way?

Natsu turned his head towards her, his tired eyes glancing at her rosy reddened face. One side of his mouth barely curved upwards from seeing her shyness. "Yeah Miss, you." He noticed how she was soaked too as she walked over and reached for his shampoo and conditioner. She placed them on the side of the tub, taking a seat with her legs bent to her left side.

It's fine, it's just another person! I can do this, what am I talking about? I've done this before. Lucy reminded herself as she took a handful of water, reaching over to let the warm liquid run down his hair.

Natsu's head dipped forward a little bit as she soaked his hair. "I hope the storm didn't shake ya too much." He said, breathing slowly while she kept wetting his hair down.

Lucy shook her head. "No, I was just more worried that's all." She smiled when she saw his lips curve up in relief. "I think you did an incredible job keeping the ship as controlled as possible, even if Aquarius thought otherwise."

"So that's who that was, huh?" Natsu commented, feeling his mind ease by the light touches of her fingertips.

Lucy reached for the shampoo bottle and poured a small amount in the palm of her hand. "Yes, she can be a sassy one, but I still love her. She's been with me since I was a little girl." She rubbed her hands together before placing them on his hair.

His heartbeat quickened as her hands slowly massaged his scalp, a relaxed smile placed on his lips. "If it wasn't for you we'd still be stuck in that." Natsu admitted.

Lucy quickly shook her head in denial. "N-no, it was my celestial spirit, she did all the work." She continued to wash his hair, slightly giggling at how calm he looked now comparing to finding him on the upper deck.

"You called her out on your own, and don't think I didn't see the arrow intercepting that lightning bolt that would've struck the lower deck." Natsu turned his head to look at Lucy, who was at a loss for words.

"I really didn't do anything, I helped a tiny bit." Lucy shyly said, biting her bottom lip again with one front tooth.

Natsu glanced at her blossoming rosy cheeks, finding it somewhat cute. "Still need to learn to take compliments, Luce." He chuckled, glancing down quickly at her lip-biting.

"Mmm--you're welcome?" Lucy said, her voice raising a higher pitch at the end. He shook his head and sighed lightly. "You're somethin', Miss."

Lucy bit the inside of her cheek, but changed the topic. "Could you lean your head back for a moment please?" Natsu willingly did, feeling her hands run through his hair to rinse out the shampoo.

He noticed how graceful she was after getting over her awkwardness, having a hunch as if she's done this before. "What was it like at Riduele?" The pinkette curiously wondered, knowingly to keep away from Stings message.

Lucy smiled as she grabbed another handful of water. "It was peaceful, everyone knew each other. It was always sunny, with the very occasional light rain. Most people enjoyed their time outside with one another, whether it be yard work, working at shops, anything."

Natsu listened carefully to her words, almost imagining how it was like when he set foot onto the small land. "I remember how many people were outside I didn't expect a large crowd like that." He commented. His head raised after she was done rinsing his hair, watching her place a tiny amount of conditioner on her fingertips.

"A lot of children would go play in the sea water. I know my father didn't allow me to play with them, so afterwards they all wanted me to wash their hair. It took me a long time to do so, but I grew up doing it. My father was specular about it, but he let it slide if that's the only thing I did outside." Lucy rambled, gently conditioning the ends of his hair.

Natsu nodded in understanding, a sad feeling aching in his heart. "You weren't even allowed outside just because?"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "Yes. There were millions of times I begged, but he'd just lock me in my room so I couldn't get out. I started using the window, but it was risky. I couldn't tell you how many times I screwed up my ankles." She lightheartedly laughed at her own sentence, shaking her head from the memories.

"After he noticed I was using the window, he'd lock that up too, even the one in my bathroom. There were times when I didn't leave my room for days, weeks, a few times it was for over a month because he was so suspicious for random reasons." Lucy sighed, finally rinsing all the product from his soft hair.

She met his gaze, seeing his empathetic expression. "You don't need to feel bad, I promise. This is the best opportunity I've ever had in my life." A smile grazed her lips.

Natsu couldn't believe his ears. Being locked up in a small space for a month? "I'm sorry."

"What? Natsu, it's okay. I couldn't be more grateful that I met you that day." Lucy replied, seeing his eyebrows slightly furrowed together. "You know, that same day I had ran away from the guards that were making sure I was in my room like my father ordered them to."

Natsu just gazed at her shining rich-brown eyes, wondering how she could smile about that. Did her chest not tighten like his when he could imagine her closed off from everything? Was his heart the only thing that ached knowing that if he hadn't ran into her, she'd either been killed or captured by whatever pirates were chasing her?

"You're amazing, Luce." Natsu bluntly said, admiring her inside and out. "I haven't even been through half as much as you, and I'm a jackass for a Captain."

Lucy blushed from his sincere compliment. "I'm really not...if you think about it, all I am is an item to be placed on a bookshelf. I think you're a wonderful Captain, you shouldn't call yourself that."

"Stop, you know that's not true." Natsu informed, shifting his upper body to face hers. He quickly ran a hand through his hair from having it stuck to his head to spike it up. His forearms leaned against the side of the tub. "I don't want to hear you say that about yourself ever again."

Lucy's eyes widened from how close his serious gaze was to her, trying to keep her attention from glancing down at the droplets of water that traveled down his toned upper chest to his abs. "You still need to take compliments too."

Natsu's lips curved upwards. "Maybe, if they're true."

Lucy's heart skipped a beat when his hand touched hers, but remained calm. Her eyes expanded as he shifted slightly towards her, noticing from the corner of her eye to see more of his gorgeous body exposed from the water.

"I think you can finish washing by yourself." Lucy purses her lips out from her slightly sassy tone, quickly wiping off the smile from Natsu's face like a windshield wiped off water.

Natsu watched her saunter out of the bathroom with a sassy smile kept spreading across from her eye-luring pink lips that she lightly bit down on. He was left utterly flabbergasted, seeing how quick she played him off in less than a split second. He didn't realize how much he enjoyed her presence, almost wanting to feel her delicate fingers graze against his skin.

"Why am I feeling like this?..." Natsu muttered to himself as he tiredly washed off the rest of his aching body by himself in peace. The emotion in his body only grew since the first week with her, confused by how much he wanted her with him.

_________

"Lucy, where were you? Everybody's been washing up, you look like you haven't had any rest." Levy curiously asked as the blonde made her way up to the kitchen.

Lucy blushed a little bit, but smiled. "Natsu was feeling really sick and he wanted me to stay down to help him for a bit."

Levy pressed her lips down to keep a smile from showing while Wendy giggled next to her. "The Captain asked you to stay when he was sick after all that motion? Wow, you must be pretty special." She mentioned, having a feeling about noticing how much time he spent with her.

"W-what do you mean?" Lucy questioned, lightly sweat dropping from Levy's remark.

"The Captain always tells everyone to go away when he's sick. He won't even let Mira bring him a meal because he's so stubborn. The last storm we went through he refused to let anyone, including Lisanna, help him, we didn't see him until the next day." Levy replied while she finished tossing the salad.

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't realize that, I shouldn't have-"

"Girl, he obviously has his eyes on you." Levy cooed, gushing over imagining the blossoming romance between the Captain and the mermaid. "I can just picture you and-"

"I-It's not like that, Levy I swear!" Lucy blurted out, completely red in the face. She waved her hands out to make her point across.

Levy raised her eyebrows but shifted her shoulders. "Hmm, we'll see. I just know."

Mira was hysterically giggling from the side, agreeing with Levy's viewpoint. "Levy I can see it too!" She squealed, letting out a laugh after high-fiving the shorter girl.

Lucy stood there, but cockily crossed her arms while looking at Levy. "So we can't mention how Gajeel gives you special attention?"

The bluenette quickly stopped laughing, a blush of her own rising to her face. "What? No way Lucy. No. Way."

The three other girls started cracking up from Levy's protests and denials. "Lets just eat dinner, alright?"

Soon enough, everyone's at the dinner table like normal. Lucy couldn't help but notice the empty space in the chair next to her left at the end, feeling her conversations falling short.

"Droy stop taking all the chicken! We need to eat too!" Jet yelled across from him, nabbing back a chicken wing. "You seriously need to go on a diet!"

"But I am on one! I eat one less calorie every day!" Droy argued back, with everyone around him face palm their face.

"At least it's somethin'." Bickslow commented between laughs, taking a bite of salad afterwards.

"As long as you're improving!" Mira happily stated, smiling. Laxus rubbed his face from her positive comment and sighed.

Lucy took another bite of potatoes, slowly chewing as she listened to the different conversations. She swallowed. "Hey Levy, do you mind if I stay in your room for the night to wash up? I don't want to disturb Natsu that much."

Levy eagerly nodded her head. "Of course! We'll have a sleepover!" Gajeel made a funny face at the enthusiastic bluenette, but didn't decide to take his chance of receiving an elbow to the side again.

Lisanna finished early, placing her dishes in the large sink. "I think I'm going to get ready for bed, I'm exhausted." She quickly made her way out of the kitchen. Lucy couldn't blame her, she assumed everyone was exhausted from today.

After a long time spent with the crew finishing dinner, Lucy put a small amount of food on a plate with a glass of water.

"I'll meet you in my room, you already know where it is so come by anytime." Levy said as she walked past her.

Lucy nodded, then walked to Natsu's room, hoping he was still up to eat something. Her body was aching, she couldn't imagine what his could be feeling right now.

She silently grabbed the door handle and started to turn, but stopped when she heard voices from the other side. She could clearly hear two different voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

Lucy quietly opened the door slowly and started to slip her body through. She froze in place, her breath stopping short from the sudden awkwardness overwhelming her.

Natsu's back pressed against the headboard of the bed completely shirtless, his hair mostly dried. He was staring at the girl sitting on the edge of the bed extremely close by him, not noticing the door creeping open.

His eyes adverted to the door and widened, his breath hitching in his chest, immediately realizing what the blonde was thinking. "Lucy-wait, it's not-!"

Lisanna stopped whispering to him and whipped her head around to see Lucy awkwardly shuffling back out the door. "A-ah, I-I'm s-sorry, I didn't m-mean to interrupt you t-two..." she stuttered, feeling a pain suddenly throb in her chest. Her hand shakily set the dish down by the desk next to the door.

She noticed how Lisanna was leaning over towards him, somewhat envying how her hand grazed his chest. Biting her tongue with her lips pressed together, Lucy turned around and started walking out.

"Lucy! I didn't-it's not-! Luce! -fuck!" Natsu yelled, scrambling to get out of bed.

Lisanna pushed him back down. "Don't you realize?! You need to stay in bed, you're sick!" His eyes darkened, glaring into her eyes.

"Why Lisanna? Why are you doing this?! I don't get it!" Natsu lashed out, forcefully stepping out of bed and immediately following the blondes footsteps. His legs wobbled with every step, his whole body unbalanced.

"I don't understand why we can't resolve anything!" Lisanna cried back, bringing herself up from the edge of his bed to outside, grabbing his wrist. "I just want us back, I want what we used to have. I'm sorry."

"We'll talk later." Natsu hissed before taking his wrist back, his walking pace quickly turning into a jog as he saw her blonde hair barely round the hallway.

Lucy hugged herself as she made her way to Levy's room, wondering why her stomach churned as if she disapproved what she witnessed? She wasn't the person to feel angry, but glancing at the way the two were so close made her heart ache.

"Lucy!"

She stopped and turned around to see him catch up to her, almost out of breath. "I didn't mean to interrupt you guys, I'm spending the night in Levy's room anyways so you can go back to whatever you and Lisanna wanted to talk about. It's fine." Lucy distastefully said, almost shocked by how rude her tone sounded. She quickly plastered a smile on her face to cover up.

"Luce, I don't wanna. Just stay a little longer, it wasn't what it looked like." Natsu said, looking directly in her eyes.

She didn't respond, turning to walk away.

Natsu caught her wrist between his grasp, pulling her close to him. She took a step back from him, looking up into his gaze. "Please let me go."

He dryly gulped, letting her wrist slide from his fingers. "I just came down to give you dinner, I left it in your room." Lucy said, keeping a fair distance between themselves. "You shouldn't be up with how you're feeling right now."

Natsu's whole body dropped on the inside. "Is that only what you came for?" He gently asked, the back of his mind praying that it was more than what she said.

"What else would you need me for? Of course that's why." Lucy shockingly said, giving him a funny look. Deep down, she knew her emotions were tied in awkward knots that linked to her mind. "Go back to bed, Lisanna already checked on you."

He let his hands drop to his side, letting his gaze fall short. Lucy noticed the flash of hurt cross his face for a second, his shoulders slumped more than when he was sick earlier. "Natsu, why do you need me to go back?"

Her question silenced him.

She didn't expect him to answer, pivoting on her heels to face the opposite direction and took one step before his voice stopped her.

"Because you're the last person I wanted to say goodnight to."

Natsu's face was towards the ground, his face feeling hot and flushed. His aching body still shifted from being unbalanced, focusing on one spot on the wooden floor.

Lucy turned back around, a sweet smile grazing her lips. After a few seconds of thinking, she sighed lightly through her nose. "Come on, Levy won't mind what time I swing by."

A smile spread across his face, letting her lead the way to his room. She made him directly go back to his spot on the bed, grabbing the small portion of food and bringing it to him.

Lucy awkwardly approached him, remembering where the exact position Lisanna had sat. "Um, I'll just set it here." She placed it on the small bed stand next to him and stood, the inside of her desperately squirming to run out.

Natsu noticed how uneasy her demeanor was. He motioned her to sit close to him, which she almost denied.

"Just don't throw up on me." Lucy muttered, purposefully loud enough for his good ears to hear.

"I'm not gon' throw up on you." Natsu sighed, straightening and flexing his upper body when she glanced at him with a small smile.

Lucy was still bugged by Lisanna, she couldn't shake the feeling away from her. Her fingertips tapped gently in slight irritation.

"What's wrong?" Natsu mumbled, easily noticing her awkward quirks.

"I shouldn't be bugged, but I am. Lisanna finished dinner early and said she was exhausted and wanted to get to bed early. I just don't know why, there wasn't a need for her to lie." Lucy explained, her attention still focused on her feet.

Natsu glanced over her. "I don't know why either." They both sat in silence, the couple candles on his nightstand the only source of light emitting within the room.

Lucy raised the back of her hand to his forehead again, noticing that it was much better than before but still was burning like charcoal. "I think you'll be fine by tomorrow."

The flickering light outlined his perplexed jawline, his gaze seemingly more stronger than before. His onyx eyes tempted to lure her closer, his hand touching the small of her back.

She noticed how close his upper body was to her, trying to keep her hands away from reaching out. "I th-think I should let you get some rest, goodnight." She quickly stammered, her heartbeat uncontrollably racing from how intense his gaze influenced her.

"Wait-" Natsu gently pulled her back closer, lightly chuckling at her. He realized what he did, immediately breaking out into a blush of his own. "-Er, I just-" He swallowed his words from her entrancing gaze, sending fires roaring in his chest.

Lucy placed a finger on the center of his bare chest, her other hand extinguish the small candles, the room quickly falling completely dark.

Natsu held his breath as her finger trailed upwards, feeling her whole palm start to graze from the bottom of his neck, leaving his skin tingling. He was completely breathless as her hand slid up to rest on the side of his face, feeling her other hand gently hold the other side. He could hear his heartbeat pounding through his eardrums.

Lucy couldn't believe how by just grazing his skin, she noticed how well-built he truly was. She closed her eyes and leaned forward, her lips pressed gently against his forehead.

Natsu's eyes widened as he felt her contact, her lips placing a light kiss.

"Goodnight, Natsu."

Before he even noticed, she slipped her hands away and stood up, making her way towards the door. She quietly slipped out of his room closing the door behind her, quickly making her way towards Levy's room.

Natsu could only fall back into his pillows, completely dazed in a trance by her. He ran his hands through his hair, her image never leaving his mind. It was incomprehensible. She was his stable force at moments, and he needed that, that one calming stability in his world full of chaos. He couldn't replicate the way he saw her comparing to anyone else.

He closed his eyes, a smile never leaving his face. "Goodnight, Luce."

________

Holy shit this is a long chapter

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter & thank you for reading you beautiful people❤️💕