A/N It has been so long since I've written a fanfiction, or like, any story at all to be honest. So I hope this didn't come completely awkward. I admit, this story is purely to satisfy my incessant desires for Team Natsu fluff because I'm a sucker for friend to family relationships. So this is really a present to myself for surviving the first half of the semester and I hope you all get as much enjoyment out of it as I did!

Lucy had a lot of problems. An extraordinary amount of them. Complaints that ranged from her hair-tie snapping to Natsu setting her clothes on fire on a regular basis to goddamn why can't the world just stay saved for more than one week at a time?! But despite that, she wouldn't consider herself a huge complainer. Really. She tried very hard to keep a smile on at all times and only freak out when necessary. And if that happened relatively often, well that just wasn't her fault.

It's just that life kept on testing her to the point of insanity and this was the last damn straw. Eons of pent up rage just couldn't stay contained any longer because HOW MANY TIMES MUST THIS HAPPEN? Her calm shattering just like her dreams, Lucy's fists went flying, indiscriminately. Grabbing Gray by his obnoxiously floppy hair, choking Natsu by his scarf to drag him down, Happy yanked by his tail and even Erza, terrifying Erza, was pushed to the ground albeit with a bit more finesse.

Her team now dejectedly thrown onto the floor on their knees, Lucy glared at them through fiery eyes and clenched fists. "You broke my bed." She gritted out.

Silence. A crushing silence filled with dread. Whoever spoke first would surely be yelled at, incinerated by rage alone with nothing left to bury. They were idiots. Loud, brazen and rowdy idiots who didn't know how to be careful. But Lucy knew that going in!

Lucy rubbed at her forehead, face stoic. "I just bought this bed. You know, after you all SMASHED the other one!" a laugh burst out of her mouth, dangerously close to insane chuckle, "Oh and before that Natsu burnt it because he had a nightmare," her giggles were definitely on the brink of crazy now oh shit, "And the time before that Erza sliced it trying to reign in you two's shenanigans and I can't even remember what happened the time before that!"

Fairy Tail's strongest team continued boring holes in the ground with their eyes as the pressure mounted. Finally, unable to bear it anymore, Happy cracked. "IT WASN'T ME! I'M TOO SMALL! TOO WEAK! SPARE ME QUEEN LUCY!" he shrieked, fat tears spilling over frenzied eyes.

Immediately, chaos erupted in the little apartment on Strawberry Street. "OY YOU TRAITOROUS CAT WHO'S THE ONE THAT STARTED THIS MESS!" Gray's shirt flew in the air as his glower struck knives into the little cat.

"Hey ice freak, who do you think you're yelling at? Hahh?" Natsu, reanimated in his quest to look like a mafia boss, shoved his shoulder against Gray's like a battering ram.

"Oh?" Taunted Gray, "You gonna defend him as though it wasn't your fist that broke the bed first trying to kick him out?"

Natsu eeped, glancing quickly at Lucy who seemed ablaze in righteous fury. Before he could defend himself, Erza's fists smacked them both into the walls, denting them beyond repair, "Both of you quit your fighting-"

"ERZA!" Lucy shrieked, horror melting her body into a puddle of tears on the floor.

"My ROOM!" she cried, "My BED!"

Her tears stopped her friends in their tracks for only a second before Gray's fist landed a solid uppercut to Natsu's jaw, "Look you ash for brains freak show, you made her cry with your stupidity!"

"ME? Erza's the one who broke the damn walls!" Natsu's accusatory finger was bent backwards as he howled in pain, Erza's demonic expression encompassing his view.

"OH? My fault? If you two hadn't-"

Screeching, Lucy smacked all four of their heads consecutively, "It's ALL your faults! Or maybe it's mine, for having a bunch of destructive maniacs as my best friends!"

Natsu picked his head up off the floor somewhat fearfully, "We're sorry Luce, honestly." He pleaded, hands pressed together above his head.

Feeling braver, Gray peeked up from behind his bangs, "Yeah Lucy, it was an accident, we didn't mean it…"

"It's ALWAYS an accident." Lucy huffed as the group in front of her looked away sheepishly.

Feeling somewhat mollified by their fear and somewhat sincere apology, Lucy sighed in exasperation. "Honestly!" she huffed, "You all practically live here anyway, eating all my food and sleeping over whenever you feel like it! I'm fed up with you freeloaders, it's time for you to contribute to the Heartphilia household!"

Four confused stares met Lucy as she wiped her tears and grinned, somewhat maliciously (but no need to focus on that). Resolved in her decision, Lucy pulled at her friends and pushed them towards the door. "Grab your jewels, we're going bed shopping!"

The five of them somehow managed to make it to The Furniture Emporium with minimal damage and only a few complaints, taken care of with a few Lucy kicks. As they entered the store, Team Natsu was dazzled by the sheer immaculateness of it all. Everything was shimmery and beautiful and had that wonderful new furniture smell. Rushing to the bed section, Lucy was pretty sure Natsu drooled, which was disturbing but, Lucy had to admit, they did look heavenly.

Lucy clapped her hands together, snapping the team out of their daze, "Alright team! We are here for one purpose and one purpose only, to find a stylish, yet affordable bed and mattress. Go!" with that, the five of them split ways to each launch themselves onto their bed of choice.

"Happy! Happy! I'm in heaven," Natsu moaned, sinking deeper into the mattress, "I've never been so comfy in my life."

His mumblings were drowned out by his gradual snoring, but Happy was too satisfied on his mound of pillows to really notice. Meanwhile, Gray and Erza were soaring through the air as they bounded from bed to bed. "The best measure of a bed is its bounceability." Erza decreed, adding another hop atop of a Hotel Luxury Sleep 2000 that probably cost more than her whole armor wardrobe.

Gray shook his head, "The real test of a bed is how high you bounce up once you flop on it. A bed is all about flopping on it after a long day!" To prove his point, he jumped in the air, landing flat on his back, a perturbed expression on his face.

"What." He stated in such a deadpan fashion Erza was sure a cute woodland creature died somewhere. Glancing at the sign, Gray's mood soured more, "Memory foam? Who needs that! We need springs!"

Catching the flames of his determination, Erza voiced her agreement, "Springs!" she cried, already on the hunt for her next target.

Their battle for height continued amidst Lucy shaking her head, fingers massaging the sides of her head. Sighing, she contemplated just falling asleep on the first bed she saw and hope the manager just let her live there before a sign caught her eye. The Ultra Soft Super Sleep 3000 with a free mattress protector stole her attention with its bright red and yellow sign. Stepping over to it curiously, Lucy pressed her hand against it before slowly lowering herself down. Shifting around in her spot, Lucy couldn't help the small sigh that escaped her lips as the tension oozed out of her body. It was miraculous. Enlightening! She swore the secrets of the universe became unveiled to her as she relinquished conscious thought over to experiencing the pure joy of comfortable nothingness. She soaked in the peace for as long as she could before the inevitable meteor landing of her teammates hit her in a flurry.

Erza, the first to to want to try the bed the never impressed Lucy seemed to like had bounded over to the blonde and jumped next to her, arm flung over Lucy's back. Erza moaned, "Lucy, this is an incredible selection." She praised, smiling from behind stray locks of hair.

Lucy grinned back, barely flinching as Gray and Natsu fist fought their way over, both collapsing on the bed at the same time. All at once, their fighting spirit seemed to die as they gave into the comforting embrace of the mattress. As Happy snuggled between them all, Lucy noticed with surprise it was the first time in a long time that they were all together and quiet like a starry night. Tranquility was a rarity when it came to them five. The warmth emanating from her friends softened her heart as her decision sharpened in Lucy's mind. Any bed that could render her rambunctious friends speechless had to be a good investment.

Lifting her head up, Lucy's smile more than made up for her frightful glares the whole day, "I guess we found ourselves a winner." She said cheerfully.

Turning over onto his back, Natsu nodded in agreement, "This one's even big enough for all of us!" he grinned, stretching his arms out to prove his point while not so subtly smacking Gray in the face.

Erza tapped her finger to her chin, "Ah, you're right Natsu. This way we won't have to fight over who gets the bed," she turned to Lucy, approval set in the slant of her brows, "Good choice Lucy."

Lucy blinked. Mouth agape, she glanced over her friends, all lounging like cats over the bed she was probably going to have to pay extra for because they believed in home sharing more so than they did in privacy and just…stared. Because how did someone like her, who grew up never interacting with people beyond necessity, beyond politeness, beyond business talk and the odd gossip chit chat, end up with a ragtag group of friends quite like this? Who weaseled their way into her life and invaded every single aspect of it that being on her own would feel so devastatingly empty. Buying this bed would mean no more excuses to not have sleepovers, would mean an endless stream of overnight guests and all the company anyone would ever need let alone humanly handle. It probably didn't even occur to them that she'd buy a single did it.

Lucy sighed again, a small affectionate smile tinged with exasperation following soon after. She gave up. There was no point in fighting a battle you couldn't win, too much wasted energy. Before, she would've yelled about how she wasn't going to encourage their break in behavior or condone their overuse of her home. But lately, her apartment only seemed to be a home when her playing cards were strewn across the table top and waiting in line to use the shower and opening the fridge to find all her friends' favourite snacks. She didn't mind, she conceded, being her team's clubhouse. "You all better be pitching in for this," she said instead of the rant she thinks she's supposed to have said, "I'm expecting this to go five ways you know!"

And as they fought over owing who what and who stayed more and who really ought to do the paying, nobody said anything more once they reached the cashier and forked over their share. The complaints that tore from their throats as they carried the bed frame and new mattress home were more for show than for anything else. And when they all fell into Lucy's apartment to clean up the mess they left behind and set up the new furniture, it was a comfortable banter they fell into that felt more like home than the four walls surrounding them ever could.

Finally, at around midnight, the walls were magicked back to the way they were, the broken bed was packed neatly at the curb and the new California sized bed cramped up Lucy's room but she couldn't think of anything that looked more perfect. Stretching, Lucy yawned as she reached over to her p.j. drawer, tossing Erza a cute bunny set before settling on a plain pink nightgown herself. "Well, you guys know where to go, let's hurry this up, I'm tired." She said plainly, watching as Gray and Natsu elbowed each other to get to the bathroom first while Happy merely lounged on the couch arm rest munching on his fish.

Half an hour later, Team Natsu's bags for their mission the next day were all packed up next to the door ready to go and one by one, the lights in the apartment went out. Despite the chaos of the five of them leaping into the bed at once, they all fell into their places like they had done numerous times on missions abroad when they had to sleep on floors big enough for them all. Gray always took up the farthest side, his back pressed up against the wall. Lucy, who loved the warmth, always aimed for the middle, face turned to Gray's chest, legs trapped between Natsu's own, kicked atop of hers. Natsu liked to sleep on his back, arms swung out on either side, one lightly resting against Lucy's head, the other next to Erza, who curled up against it, already fast asleep. Happy found his place on a pillow between Lucy and Natsu, his tail gently waving in the air.

As Gray's breathing softened to a constant rhythm and Natsu's snoring rippled through the air, Lucy closed her eyes, wanting to feel the moment, engrain it in her heart. Sometimes friends can become your family. Sometimes friends comfort you, wrapping you up in a cocoon of safety and care, depending on one another as though clutching lifejackets in a thundering sea. Each of them on the bed had aching chasms in their hearts that dragged them down into the darkness at every opportunity. But it was the breathing of the ones next to her, that kept Lucy from drowning within herself again and again. And she knew, from the way Gray's shoulder pressed lightly upon her forehead to the tangling of her and Natsu's legs and Erza's arm looped over Natsu in a loose embrace, that they felt the exact same way. And that this, no matter if her furniture broke or her walls bent or even if her whole house fell apart, would be the one thing that would always stay.