A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters.
Chapter 1: Unexpected Company
"Why is it so hot tonight?" Lucy spoke to the darkness of her bedroom not expecting an answer. In an effort to remove some of her blankets, she noticed that there was a weight on her back. 'What in Earthland is going on, what the hell is...NATSU!' She propped herself up on her elbows and brought her chest barley off the mattress. She turned her head to the right and came face to face with the one and only fire dragon slayer, her partner and best friend, Natsu Dragneel. "When did you get here?" She knew he was still asleep and debated whether or not to wake him and kick him out or let him sleep. 'He always looks so peaceful when he's sleeping. I wonder what he dreams about.' Lucy smiled and decided to let him rest a bit more before kicking him out. As she watched him breath she noticed that he was murmuring something in his sleep.
She leaned in closer to hear what he was saying and began to smile, "mm...more...I want...more...mmmm...tastes good".
'Of course he would be dreaming about food, or maybe fire? But that's food to him too, right?' Lucy's thoughts were paused as Natsu's grip around her waist grew tighter. At this she decided it was time to wake him, but as she shifted her weight to free and arm to shake him he mumbled something else that made her freeze and blush intensely.
"Lucy...you taste so good...mmmm...more...I want...more".
Unable to move, Lucy thought about what she just heard. 'He's dreaming about... ME! Is he dreaming about kissing me? Where did this come from? Does Natsu like me? Is that damn cat right with all his annoying teasing? Why is my heart beating so fast?' She was so caught off guard and lost in thought that she didn't notice that there were now a set of onyx eyes staring intensely at her shocked expression.
"What's wrong Luce?" The blush on her face intensified as she registered Natsu's concerned and somewhat sexy voice.
'Wait, when did I start thinking of Natsu's voice as sexy? What's wrong with me?' Lucy quickly tried to recover from her confusing thoughts by pushing he partner out of the bed and somewhat giggling to herself as he hit the floor.
"Owww, what was that for?" Natsu's tone changed to be more annoyed and confused than concerned as he rubbed the back of his head where he hit the floor.
"Why are you in my bed Natsu?" She tries to sound irritated as her pulse continued to race and she rose from the bed allowing her to face away from her friend so he would not see her still blush. 'Where is Happy? I swear if that cat is watching just to tease me I'll kill him!' Lucy's thoughts were cut off by the sensation of incredibly warm arms encircling her waist. "W...what are you doing?" She tried to steady her voice and sound angry as she turned to face the owner of the arms but it was shaky making her blush even more.
Natsu could feel her heart beat pounding in her chest and he became worried that she was sick. "Are you ok Luce? Do you feel sick?" He turned her to face him so he could feel her head for fever but as he did she pulled away and gave him one of her signature Lucy-kicks. As he went flying across the room, landing against the wall he thought 'maybe she isn't sick'. He watched as Lucy went into the bathroom and slammed the door. He listened to her lock the door and turn on the water. "She's gonna take a bath now?" He spoke to himself as he looked at the clock next to her bed. 'It's 2 in the morning, why now?' He approached the bathroom door and leaned his head against it so she could hear him as he spoke. "Do I have to leave now?"
She was barely able hear his voice over the sound of the water. 'Why does he sound so sad?' Lucy took a few steps towards the door and placed her hand on it. She had already undressed, or she might have opened the door to see his face. 'Is he sad because he thinks I'm mad at him? He has no idea what he does to me when he hugs me like that and shows up in my bed like that does he? And what was he dreaming exactly?' Suddenly she realized that she hadn't answered his question. 'Do I want him to leave?' She lifted her head and rested it against the door. "You can stay if you want; I'll be out in a bit." Then she turned to her cold bath. She needed to cool off in more than one way.
Natsu couldn't help but smile. 'She's not mad at me!' His signature grin spread across his face, but it was quickly replaced with a look of confusion. 'Then why did she kick me? Why was she so red when I hugged her, and why was her heart racing if she's not sick?' As his mind tried to think of reasons for her sudden redness and racing heart beat his thoughts wandered to the dream he had been having before Lucy's movements woke him. He remembered kissing her, and it was Natsu's turn to blush. He quickly turned around and went to sit on the bed. As he sat down trying to shake the thoughts of Lucy's lips from his mind a separate thought took hold and gave him cause for concern. "Where's Happy?"
"Sheliiiiiiikes you!" Happy's voice was low and would have gone unheard if not for Natsu's advanced hearing. The Exceed in question was curled up in the large chair on the other side of Lucy's bedroom. Being a very light sleeper when not in his own bed, he hadn't missed a thing. After Natsu had decided to go to Lucy's and jumped through her window, Happy had flown over to the chair and fallen asleep almost instantly. He hasn't been sleeping much lately. Natsu's dreams kept him thrashing around in his sleep most nights making it almost impossible his little blue 'son' to get much sleep. Poor Happy was kept awake both from the noises his 'father' made in his tormented sleep and from worrying that something was going on that he wasn't being told. Either way, he was happy that they had gone to Lucy's. Natsu always slept better there, and that meant that Happy could too.
"Shut-up." Natsu's concern over the wellbeing of his friend was quickly replaced by annoyance over the persistent teasing. 'I wish that were true Happy.' Natsu crossed his arms as he sat on the bed and both dragon slayer and Exceed began to find their way to unconsciousness yet again.
…20 minutes later…
"I so needed that." Lucy spoke softly, knowing that Natsu could easily hear her. She dried off, dressed in a tight fitting tank top and short comfortable sleeping shorts over her plane red cotton panties. She left the bathroom with her hair still wet, 'I'll have Natsu dry it for me as payment for breaking in.' A large smile crossed her face as she looked around to room for her friend. "Hey would you dry...". She stopped as she noticed that he was asleep, and her smile grew even larger. 'He almost looks cute' a small giggle escaped her lips rousing Natsu from his rest.
"Hey" he smiled and stood from the bed taking only two steps to reach Lucy. "You shouldn't sleep with wet hair, you'll catch a cold." He reached his hands up and fire engulfed them both. He had done this before for her on missions whenever they were caught in the rain, and once when she was thrown into a lake by a dark Mage they were fighting. Running his fingers through her hair the fire evaporated the water without burning the delicate strands. Natsu noticed that Lucy had closed her eyes; she always seemed so relaxed when he helped with this simple task. 'I wonder what they feel like, what they taste like...' He had no control over his though as he unconsciously examined the full lips of the gorgeous women in front of him. Again, he blushed from his own thoughts and lowered his hands. "All done, let's go to sleep!"
Before she had a chance to respond, Lucy saw that Natsu was already under the covers. He held them up so that she could easily enter. "You do realize that the couch is over there don't you? It's highly unusual for people who are not in a relationship to share a bed." There they were again, those deep onyx colored eyes that were so caring. Lucy defiantly put her hands on her hips and stared and the pink haired mage and his seductive smile. 'Why do you have to look at me like that? It makes everything so confusing. Do you even know how sext you look like that?' Lucy's thoughts were cut off by the fact that those very eyes were getting closer. As a blush once again spread across her face she turned her head away hoping again that Natsu would not see.
"But we are in a relationship Luce. Were best friends and were partners, aren't we?" He was confused by her statement but his face didn't show it. 'Why would I come over here to sleep on the couch? If I wanted to sleep on a couch I could have stayed at home. Why won't she look at me?' With his last thought he reached out and touched her shoulder. "Besides, your bed is way more comfortable than any couch." He brandished his signature grin as Lucy turned back to face him.
"Yah, I suppose you'reright about that." Without thinking, she leaned in closing the already short gap between them and kissed his cheek. 'What the hell am I doing?!' Quickly moving past the socked boy, she got into the bed and laid on her side facing away from Natsu. She was forced to take a few deep breaths to try and calm her pulse which was racing at full speed for not the first time that night. Once she was reasonably sure that she could speak without shuddering she said good night and tried to once again fall asleep. Her thoughts racing through all that had happen that night and slowly turned into dreams.
Natsu got into bed beside Lucy and laid on his back looking up at the ceiling. "Good night Luce." As he closed his eyes he let his mind wonder. 'Maybe I can continue that dream I was having. It was nice.' He smiled to himself and once he heard Lucy's breath begin to become regular and heartbeat slow to a steady pace he decided that she was asleep. He closed his eyes to try and do the same. 'Why did she kiss me? Why DIDN'T I kiss HER? Does that mean Happy is right, or was she just being nice? But I've never seen Lucy kiss anyone like that before so maybe…' as he thought about his changing feelings towards his beautiful teammate he drifted into a restful land of deep sleep filled with pleasant dreams.
A/N: Please R&R. Constructive criticism welcome and encouraged!