Natsu was bored.

Sure, Lucy's bed was comfy and the room smelt awesome thanks to her freshly washed, still drying hair, but Natsu truly was bored.

Happy had shoo-ed him off earlier that evening to try and attempt to woo Carla uninterrupted; and as soon as Natsu reached Lucy's room (through the window as usual) she had stormed out of the bathroom - all clean, nice-smelling and dressed - with an expression that meant she had an idea and that she had to write, ready to take down Vulcans with her bare hands should they come between her and her desk right then.

She didn't even say hi.

'Did she even notice me here?' he had asked himself.

Now sick of staring at the ceiling, Natsu sat up on Lucy's bed, ready to whine and catch her attention, when his own was diverted. By her.

She was hunched over her desk writing so furiously, a small part of him wondered if she would up setting the paper on fire.

'That'd be pretty cool,' he decided, with a small grin.

But what had stopped him from unleashing his distract-Lucy ammo were her eyes. Even from this angle he could see the passion they held for the words she was churning out a mile a minute. Her face scrunched up, her eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed - she was clearly in the zone.

And he couldn't mess with that.

But there was one thing marring that image of sheer determination and focus – irritation.

No, not at Natsu (for once), but at the strands of her hair that would fall over her shoulder, tickle her face and land onto the sheets on which she was currently painting her protagonist's ruin. She would flick the offending locks back distractedly, and in a rush to get back to her penning, not do a very good job of it. Which meant in moments her hair would fall back onto the work she didn't want to pause even for a second, much to her annoyance. This had happened several times in the few minutes Natsu had been observing and he nearly found it funny.

Actually he did find it funny.

Only he liked observing her passionately writing even more.

Making up his mind, he walked over to Lucy's dresser.

Lucy actually had noticed him when she came out of the bathroom (thank goodness for remembering to take her clothes in this time). But she had just experienced one of her best Eureka-moments and really really needed to pen down the sentences already forming in her mind before she forgot. Oh, how she loved the swarm of ideas and words that signalled sweet end of a writer's block; and she knew there wasn't a second to lose.

She sat down and began writing with all she had. The editing could be done later but she simply had to get this scene down, trying to keep up with her chain of thought. She only began noticing the slight ache in the wrist and fingers as she reached the end of her latest chapter. Her pace had slowed down by then and she was panting ever so slightly, brushing a bothersome lock of hair behind her ear as she mulled a good way to present the cliffhanger.

She began writing again as the words came to her, but stopped abruptly when she felt warm fingers glide along the back of her neck, followed a slight tug on her scalp.

"Natsu?" she sounded curious but the tone also held a slight warning to it.

'Another prank, maybe?'

"Don't worry, Luce. Just finish your story."

His reply chased away any worry she had of a practical joke or any ill intentions, his voice bleeding sincerity.

Lucy made a small noise in lieu of nodding her head and got back to her cliffhanger. Soon, she inked the final full stop to her latest rough draft, feeling immensely satisfied with her work.

Paying attention again, she found that she still felt Natsu's fingers threading through her hair.

"But what are you doing?" she asked finally.

"Shh, you carry on-"

"I'm done."

"Oh, uh," he paused for a bit and she felt his hands let go, "take a look in the mirror."

'Was that Natsu sounding sheepish? Natsu. Sheepish?'

Lucy gave him a look he ignored as she sauntered over to her dresser mirror, and nearly burst out laughing at her reflection.

Nearly.

Her hair was pulled back into a very messy twist that had, by the looks of it, every single ribbon she owned intertwined in it, in an attempt to keep it all together.

'How had I not felt any of this,' she wondered, among many things.

She turned around to look at Natsu, who - seeing her turn towards him - quickly averted his eyes to the adjacent wall.

"I didn't know you had an interest in hairstyling, Natsu," Lucy giggled.

Natsu stiffened, then slouched and pouted, still not meeting her eye.

"They were bothering your writing, so I thought I'd braid it," he mumbled.

Lucy's eyes widened before she felt herself smiling at the dragon slayer. 'He really can be thoughtful sometimes,' she noted, remembering how he hadn't once interrupted her writing before his attempt at helping her with her hair. And even that had been gentle. 'A braid, huh?'

"Well I like it," she declared, twisting to pose as she got a clearer view of herself in her mirror, new hair-do and all.

Natsu's eyes snapped back to Lucy. "No you don't, it sucks," he said plainly thinking he called her bluff.

"It does suck yes," she replied honestly as she ran her fingers over her rather unique hairstyle, "but I like it." She turned to him and smiled genuinely.

And Natsu saw she was being sincere. 'Now is as good a time as any.'

"Teach me?"

"Hmm?" asked Lucy, who was now putting on a clip to control a particularly rebellious blond lock - one of many.

"Teach me how to braid hair?" he asked now; much clearer but still sounding shy.

"Alright," smiled Lucy. "We'll have to undo this one though. I can't teach you with your puny hair."

"Hey! My hair isn't puny!" protested Natsu.

Internally, however, he was berating himself for worrying about Lucy teasing him for his request. Lucy wasn't judgmental. Well, maybe she was a little, but not when it came to him. He was special like that.

"Suure it isn't," she giggled. "Now help me with this, please?"

And Natsu did. With a bit of effort on both their parts, they somehow managed to undo the 'Natsu-braid' as they were calling it now.

"It's tough. Like me," Natsu reasoned proudly.

Soon enough, Lucy was combing out her hair, prepping it for Natsu to practise on.

"How come the sudden interest?" she enquired, looking at him from over her shoulder.

Natsu shrugged, "Asuka once asked me, and she found what I did real funny," he smiled at the memory. "I thought it'd be nice to surprise her with an actually good one next time."

Lucy's resolve to teach him only strengthened.

Nodding, she sat in front of her mirror as Natsu stood behind her, and she began instructing him, using their reflections as her guide.

"Okay collect it as if you were making a ponytail, remember to get all of the longer strands...good, now split it into three equal bunches...take the first and fold it over the second," she demonstrated using her own fingers in the air, Natsu quietly imitating the same with her hair. "...That's right, now.." she continued teaching him patiently while he diligently followed each step to the 'T'.

After the first few trails, Natsu seemed to get a hang of it and was now practising with no prompts or cues from Lucy at all.

Who now found herself suddenly paying very close attention to her new hair stylist. Or, more precisely, what he was making her feel.

There was a warmth that radiated from him, even if he wasn't directly touching her that her holding back shudders. A weird feeling would creep up her spine, or blossom in her chest each time his hands brushed her the back of her ears or neck and with no writing to distract her now, there was nothing to stop her from being so acutely aware of those feelings. She had come dangerously close to naming the tingling sensation when -

"Done!" declared a very happy Natsu.

Lucy, now attentive, turned to inspect the braid in the mirror. "Very nicely done Natsu," she praised, genuinely impressed. He really had improved very fast. "Neat, and almost no strand out of place, good job!" she said, turning to smile at him.

His answering grin could have lit up the room on its own.

"All thanks to you Luce!" he said. And Lucy found herself grinning back, as an idea occurred, causing her to jump off her stool and onto her feet with a loud clap of her hands.

"How about I do you?"

Natsu seemed to have choked on air. "What?!"

"Braid your hair?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Composing himself quick, he retorted, "But wasn't my hair too puny for that?"

"Well it is now," said Lucy with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "but not for long."

Before Natsu could ask, Lucy was walking across to her desk, and pulling out a golden celestial gate key. "Open! Gate of the Golden Crab! Cancer!"

Cancer appeared in a flash of bright light, striking a pose with his scissors.

"Good evening, Miss Lucy. How can I help your hair today, ebi?" he greeted.

"Hi Cancer," she replied warmly, "could you extend Natsu's hair and make them longer?"

"Like when I cut it, ebi?"

Natsu watched with wary eyes as Lucy shook her head and her smile only grew. "Even longer."

By the time Cancer returned to the spirit world with his key-holder's thanks, Natsu was left sitting on her bed with his hair as he'd never seen, felt, heck even imagined it before. And he wasn't pleased.

The area framing his face was pretty much the same as it was by the end of his training mission. The back, however, now reached halfway down his spine in long, weird spikes that were thick and tangled and made his shoulders and back itchy.

"Luuuce!" he whined, running his hands through his impossibly messy mane. "This doesn't feel cool at all!" he frowned, his hands finding themselves caught in yet another knot. He had cut his hair first chance he got for a reason.

"Oh, stop complaining." Lucy rolled her eyes as she fished out the widest wide-tooth comb she had.

She indicated for Natsu to scoot the edge of her bed, (which he did while still grumbling) and kneeled behind him, beginning to carefully undo the knots in his hair.

Turns out Natsu's tangles were as stubborn as he could be. 'Natsu-knots,' she giggled internally.

Lucy found herself exhausted by the time his hair was completely de-tangled, her arms now slightly aching (had she toned her biceps further?). Natsu, on the other hand, was pouting grouchily at the abuse his scalp had just endured despite Lucy's best attempts at keeping the process pain-free.

'The result was worth it, though,' mused Lucy, running her fingers through thick pink locks that now felt nice and soft to the touch.

Snapping out of her little daze when Natsu turned to glare at her from the corner of his eye, Lucy began quietly combing his hair, tugging and twirling it with practised ease into a neat braid.

She finished the do by securing it with a red ribbon, knowing instinctively and without much of a thought, that it would be the colour he'd want.

"Okay!" she said cheerfully, patting both his shoulders as she leaned forward to see if he was still pouting. "Go take a look in the mirror, sourpuss."

Natsu turned to face her and, after an instant of more glaring, beamed as if having just received a gift. Lucy found that it was even more dazzling up close, and managed to somehow hold down a blush at the sudden proximity of their faces.

"Sure thing, Luce!"

The celestial mage marvelled at how quickly he forgotten all about his mini not-really-a-protest protest only a small while ago, as she watched Natsu jump off the bed and rush to the mirror. He inspected his reflection very seriously, pulling the braid over one shoulder to the front, the pushing it behind to see how far down his back it reached, and pulling it to the front again.

"So?" he asked finally, turning to Lucy and striking a pose of his own. "Whaddya think?"

"I think it looks pretty good on you," breathed Lucy taking note of how the tamed new length only complimented his already good looks, adding a new somewhat mature, more experienced air to him. She quickly caught herself, however, before she turned away and added in a rush, "But what do you think? That's what matters!"

She could feel Natsu's eyes on her for a few very awkward seconds, 'til they went back to the mirror to inspect further.

A few moments later, with Lucy having gone back to watching him toy with his hair, he made a decision.

"I'm keeping it," he announced.

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Weren't you just complaining about it a while ago?"

"Isn't complaining your thing, Lucy?" he asked flatly.

"Hey! I wasn't the one pouting just now!"

"Neither was I."

"You so were! Like a petulant little-"

"I wanna braid some more," the dragon slayer interrupted, looking at the tip of his red ribbon between his fingers.

Lucy sighed as she stood up and reached out for the ribbon in his hair, "Okay, we can -"

"No, we're not undoing this!" he held his plait away from her, protectively.

"Well, we're not undoing mine either," huffed Lucy, taking a similar stance, not wanting to undo such a brilliant effort by her best friend.

"Well then you - "

"Guuuuuuuys!" came Happy's voice as he flew into Lucy's room through her window. Again. "Guess what? Carla finally - er," he stopped, noticing how Natsu and Lucy seemed to have been in an argument when he came in, before they had turned to look at him.

The said partners then shared a glace, before they nodded and grinned at each other.

Happy didn't like the look of any of that, and especially not the glint he saw in their eyes as they both jumped into action.

Natsu launched himself to catch and hold down the now howling exceed.

Lucy was already in the middle of summoning the Crab sprit.

The feline's opposition to the whole "game" was ignored by both his best friends, much to his dismay.

"But I don't want an Afrooo!" he wailed into the night.

"Or braaaaids!"

Thank you for reading! Do let me know what you thought! :D