Long Distance

Lucy didn't like having to deal with distance. Not in the least. She always ended up separated from her friends, and that's what irritated her the most. She wouldn't be able to gossip wih Levy about new novels, she wasn't able to look for Erza's protection or Wendy's contagious kindness, and she wasn't able to hang out with Natsu. Or Gray. Or anybody. Wait, what was she saying?

There was always Plue, her precious little dog (who also liked disappearing randomly). Even though she couldn't talk to him all the time, Plue was always a friend she could rely on.

Oh, and there was that thing called FaceTime on her iPhone. It didn't always work (mostly because the WiFi at her house just sucked), but at least she could still talk to her friends. She could call or text them too. Then there was Skype, the only thing that really worked out, since Lucy used it on her computer (and, unbelievably, she had with her more than her phone).

Whenever her dad always dragged her out on random business trips, Lucy always made sure to talk to every single one of her friends every night. Well, if she had the chance to. Her father tended to keep her occupied, which was something that irritated her on a whole new level. For crying out loud, why would he care? Jude Heartfilia practically ignored her and pretended she didn't even exist, so, again, for crying out loud, why would he care?

Lucy flinched, realizing she was going into darker thoughts she didn't like to think about. Instead, she turned to the positive news.

Cana was still her drunken self, somehow managing up to ten barrels of liquor each day, though Lucy couldn't help but wonder how she wasn't yet dead. Levy, like always, somehow found a new book to gossip about every day-she was so fast Lucy couldn't keep up with her! Not only that, but Lucy started gaining..."theories" about her short bookworm of a friend. The girl had been hanging out a lot with some punk guy with piercings everywhere, who also had an...interesting way of singing.

Wendy was still the kindhearted sweetie/occasional crybaby she always was, being the apprentice of that really negative-and easily angered-doctor named Porlyusica. It's actually surprising Wendy's managed this long, Lucy realized. The two were as different as night and day, so it was only natural to assume hell would freeze over before those two would get along.

Mirajane and her siblings, Lisanna and Elfman, still managed that bar, Fairy Tail, though with how rowdy it was, Lucy couldn't help but wonder how much longer they could keep it up. Erza remained, well, Erza, eating her strawberry cake and practically dictating the rules. Looking back, Lucy couldn't help but wonder if that was a good thing.

Gray was still his normal self. But, being the stripper/nudist that he is, Lucy also couldn't help but wonder if his normal self was a benefit or a curse. And of course, there was Juvia. She, of course, was still obsessing over her "beloved" Gray, stalking him and clinging to him every chance she got. Not to mention, she still called Lucy "Love Rival," like she calls everyone else who gains a close relationship to Gray. Was that a good thing as well?

And, lastly-Lucy didn't know why she saved him for last in her thoughts-there was Natsu. That pink-headed idiot still didn't know how to keep himself out of trouble. Lucy swore, for every step that fire-obsessed boy took, he got into twice as many fights. The guy kept flunking his classes at school, and when he wasn't flunking, he was ditching. Not only that, but Natsu was as dense as they come. He still said the most...wrong things when he talked to her.

One time, he called her cute without realizing what he was doing until Lucy pointed it out. Once she did, though, he didn't do so much as blink, saying, "What? It's true."

Lucy smiled, remembering that. If only her father didn't drag her all over the country at each opportunity for a potential increase in business. Even though this time, her dad made the excuse of it being a Christmas break, Lucy still believed it to be for work. Indeed, it was Christmas that was coming up soon, but that seemed to make no difference for a man like Jude. He didn't even notice when he missed Lucy's birthday for the last few years. Indeed, it wouldn't make a difference for a man like Jude. And it broke Lucy's heart that he would treat as though she was a broken toy, neglected until thrown away, where no one would even spare a glance.

However, Lucy's friends told her otherwise, and brought her out of the pain of feeling neglected. Friends like those are not people that someone would meet every day. They were one-in-one-billion people. How gifted Lucy was to have met them.

Lucy hugged her pillow to her chest, coating herself in her bedsheets. They were, indeed, warm, and comfy, but they could never even hold a candle to the warmth and love that her friends had given her, especially Natsu, who was another deal entirely.

The moment she heard the ringtone on her phone, Lucy jumped up off her bed, her sheets and blankets falling to the floor. The blonde rushed over to her desk, snatched her phone, and checked the caller I.D. When she saw Natsu's name, the girl's lips cracked into a smile. Lucy pressed the answer button, and lifted the phone to her ear.

"Yo."

"Hey." Lucy replied to Natsu's impolite greeting, too happy to scold him for his manners. Getting calls from Natsu was rare, all things considered, since he always loses his phone somehow. Yet, here he was, calling her.

"How's your little Christmas trip going?"

"If you call my dad totally ignoring me normal, then, call my Christmas trip normal." Lucy twisted a lock of her gold hair around her finger.

"..."

Lucy figured Natsu would reply with silence. He never liked the way Jude treated her. Especially since the boy's own father had died a year or so ago, after he disappeared when Natsu was ten, and returned, barely hanging onto life. Not long afterwards, Natsu's father died, and to see Jude treat Lucy like that, made him want to slaughter the guy.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked after a minute or so of silence.

"...can we Skype?"

Lucy was taken by surprise, falling against the wall of her bedroom. "H-Huh?"

"Can. We. Skype. Are you deaf? Weirdo."

"Uh, says the fire-breathing delinquent who never knows when to stop brawling."

"I show that title proudly, thank you very much!"

The blonde laughed at her friend's, well, personality.

"Alright, we can Skype. Give me a moment. Bye." Lucy pressed the end call button, set her phone down, and grabbed her laptop.

After settling down comfortably on the bed, her laptop leaning dangerously off the windowsill next to it, Lucy opened the computer and opened her Skype app. She searched through her contacts, found Natsu, and quickly dialed his number.

Natsu accepted her call before the first ring even ended, and Lucy started jumping at the way the "connecting" message continued its "dot-dot-dot." It made her incredibly impatient, to the point Lucy considered hijacking her house's WiFi machine to fix the speed.

When Natsu's face appeared on the screen, Lucy smiled, though it couldn't possibly compare to the 10000-Watt grin Natsu wore on his face as he showed up, with his normal spiky pink hair and white scarf around his neck.

"Yo." He greeted again. Even though Lucy was happy to see him face-to-face, she was ready to beat him senseless this time, then beat the sense back into him.

"Hey, and Natsu, saying 'Yo' like that is very rude, you know. If you were here in person, I would've slapped you." Lucy pointed a finger at the camera. She barely held back the smile tugging on the corners of her mouth. "Be prepared for a beatdown when I get back!" She shouted.

Natsu laughed, before he suddenly fell backwards, his chair sliding back against his bed. Lucy panicked at the sight of him like that, but relaxed the moment she heard a loud "meow."

"Happy! I told you to stop doing that!" Natsu shouted at his-strangely, blue-cat, lifting Happy up by the feline's armpits, and throwing the cat behind him, right onto the bed.

Lucy looked behind Natsu, staring intently on the screen. "Um, Natsu, will Happy be okay?"

The sakura-haired boy waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah right. Happy's survived getting hit by a car unscathed. Pretty sure he can survive me throwin' 'im."

Lucy acted impressed, faking a gasp. "You actually know what unscathed means?" She asked rhetorically.

The blonde barely held back a giggle at the sight of Natsu's face reddening in anger. "Do you think I'm that stupid?!" He exclaimed.

"Yep."

"And I thought we were best friends." Natsu whined, sitting like a cat in his chair as he spun around in it.

Despite the laughs that Lucy couldn't stop, her heart warmed at his comment. He thought they were not only friends, but best friends...it made the blonde's heart pound against her rib cage.

Lucy jolted at the sudden memory, her laughs dying down. Natsu stopped spinning. "What is it?"

"Isn't it way later there? I mean, it's like, nine here, and since you're three or four hours ahead of me, shouldn't-"

"Relax, Luce," Natsu cut her off, "yeah, it's past midnight here, but I don't mind stayin' up."

"You have a Christmas party at Mira's bar tomorrow, don't you?!" Lucy shouted into her laptop's speakers. Natsu flinched, before regaining his composure. Which, in Natsu's case, wasn't really composure.

"Yeah, well, so what? I'll just ditch and spend time talkin' to you all day! I'll pretend I didn't get enough sleep!" Natsu smiled.

Even though your excuse is kinda true. Lucy thought depressingly. She felt special that Natsu would do that much for her, especially since tomorrow was Christmas, so then it was more like a Christmas present. But still, Lucy didn't want Natsu to miss out on the Christmas party Mira was having at her bar, Fairy Tail. It was a huge tradition that Natsu didn't need to miss because of her.

So, as a solution, she came up with a plan to get Natsu to go. She would fake falling asleep, so that Natsu would end the call, and hopefully get enough sleep to attend. Then message him tomorrow that she had stuff to do. Hopefully, that would encourage Natsu to go. Not the best plan (it was pretty stupid, actually), but it was the best makeshift idea Lucy could come up with at the moment.

So, Lucy folded her hands down on top of her laptop's keyboard, and rested her head against them. It wouldn't really do much, but at least it would make her fake sleeping look more real.

"Well, if you won't shut off and go to sleep, then tell me how things have been going while I've been here." Lucy attempted to make it sound a little slurred, and quickly faked a yawn to help.

"Okay!" Natsu grinned brightly, before he started to tell her about the last few days Lucy'd been gone.

Even though the blonde was enjoying what he was talking about, she made sure to keep her act up. Her eyelids slowly slid closed, and she made it look like she was trying to stay up, by forcing her eyes open every once in a while.

Once Lucy's eyes completely closed, she forced herself to not smile whenever Natsu said something happy, or laugh when he said something funny. Instead, she tried to keep her breathing normal, and squeezed her eyes shut.

And then, the unthinkable happened.

"Then, Juvia attacked Ice Block again," Natsu took a breath, "and later that night I realized I was madly in love with you, even though you really do suck at fake sleeping."

Lucy's eyes shot open, her breath hitching.

Natsu chuckled. Then, he actually got up, and kissed the camera lens, making Lucy get a perfect view of his mouth. He left a huge smudge on the camera, but Lucy was too shocked to laugh.

After he sat back down, he smiled and said, "Merry early Christmas, Weirdo." And he ended the call.

Lucy couldn't move. Couldn't breathe either. A pleasant numbness spread through her body, and it took a moment for Lucy to remember how to breathe-and move-again.

"He's...in love with me?" Lucy squeaked, getting up from her position on the keyboard. "He loves me?"

Next thing Lucy knew, she was smiling, barely holding back tears that threatened to burst forth, through the dams in her eyes. She too shifted her position, and kissed her camera lens as well, though she was too happy to care about the mess she made on it.

"Merry Christmas to you too, my Fire-Obsessed Weirdo."

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MY LOVELIES!

I hope you enjoyed this OneShot, and that you will enjoy many more stories to come. Thank you.

-HeavenDragon