I apologize for the late chapter, I was on vacation! Please enjoy.

Chapter 7

Little Things

Natsu waved his hand in front of Mira's face, "Hello, is anyone home?" Her eyes were glazed over as she looked through him seeing something far off in her own world. He couldn't understand what had happened, she was fine just a few minutes earlier as she placed his third serving of breakfast down on the counter. She had asked him if he was going to need anything else, and when he replied that he was fine, she had stopped moving. Her smile grew as she began to sparkle, her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest. Natsu tried for a solid minute to interrupt her weird rambling about colors, flowers, and fabrics with no success. All he wanted was a cup of water, why couldn't she snap out of it for just a second to get that for him?

"Might as well give up, Mira-nee is absolutely useless when she gets like this." Lisanna giggled as she watched Natsu's futile attempt to get her sister's attention while Mira submerged herself in fantasy. Natsu sighed in defeat, Lisanna was probably right, and he could live without a refill. "Did I mention that you look really good." Lisanna tilted her head as she examined her friend for the umpteenth time. Unintentionally she reached out and playfully poked his cheek. "It's kind of weird."

"Umm, thanks, I think." Natsu tried to ignore the second poke to the cheek. "And you are the weird one around here."

"Is that so?" She raised an eyebrow playfully poking his cheek a little harder with her knuckle this time. "Hey, so about that little show earlier," she had been waiting for her sister to zone out before approaching the topic she really wanted to discuss with her fiery friend. She grinned as she leaned in, making sure only Natsu could hear her. "Can I assume things worked out with Lucy?" Lisanna giggled as Natsu averted his gaze, a soft hue of pink coating the tops of his cheekbones.

"Well, we haven't actually talked about what happened." Natsu shifted in his chair, knowing that this would turn into an interrogation if he wasn't careful. "I'm pretty sure it will be ok though." Natsu, sensing Lisanna's eagerness, pre-empted her next question. "She can't be that mad if she is coming over later, right?"

"Absolutely." Lisanna nodded, a gleam of excitement making her azure eyes sparkle. "I know that you'll be fine, once you two talk this through." She took a second to register that her sister had paused in her rambling to listen, her eyes doubling in size as the conversation registered. Lisanna waited until Natsu's attention returned to his empty glass before she gave Mira her best do-not-say-anything glare, mouthing that Mira should stay out of it. It was too risky to continue talking to Natsu about the struggle he had been having with his feelings while Mira's undivided attention was intact, so Lisanna decided to change the topic completely. "So, when is Happy due back?"

Natsu closed his eyes, counting back. "A day or two, I guess." His small friend had gone on a fishing/training trip with the other Exceeds, at Natsu's insistence of course. Natsu had hoped some space would give Happy time to come to terms with what had happened. On a more selfish note, he had wanted some time alone, to wallow in his pain, both physical and emotional. He felt a surge of apprehension at the thought of seeing his furry little best friend again since they had left on rocky terms.

For the first time, Natsu felt hope in a situation that had been so desperate. He was getting better, the voice was even quieter than it had ever been, and he felt even stronger after eating a proper meal. It was too early to say, but it could be possible to mend the rift in their friendship, and the first step would be to tell Happy everything.

"I bet he'll be excited to see you doing so well." Lisanna cradled her chin in her hand, watching Natsu's shoulders relax. "He has been so worried about you." The serene smile on Natsu's face gave her a moment's pause, it had been so long, and she wanted to linger in his warmth for a while longer.

"I bet he will." Natsu agreed with a nod. He watched her out of the corner of his eye, trying to ignore the tears rimming her big blue eyes as she smiled at him. "Hey." He said softly. "I wanted to thank you." Natsu paused, self-conscious for a fraction of a second, "I know I don't make it easy to be my friend, and I really appreciate all that you do for me."

"Of course," Lisanna gave a short sigh. "Family takes care of their own, I will always be here for you no matter how much of a jerk you pretend to be." Lisanna reached over, placing her hand on Natsu's shoulder, and patted it gently. "There is nothing that could make me love you any less, so if you ever want to talk, I am here to listen." She pulled her hand back and got to her feet. "Unless it's about yesterday. I DO NOT WANT DETAILS." She whispered, only loud enough for Natsu to hear.

Natsu let out a loud full-hearted laugh as she shook her head, crossing her arms in a large X. "Message received, loud and clear." The sound of Natsu's laughter brought a lot of unexpected attention as Lisanna started to dance around making silly X signs. They looked so carefree, that it was almost like Natsu's long months of isolation had never happened, some mages even found themselves giggling along.

Lucy sighed as she walked down the cobblestone road on her way to her missions objective. So much had happened in such a short time, that she was having difficulty processing it all. Her world had been flipped on its axis, and everything she thought she knew was being called into question.

For years she had assumed that Natsu Dragneel was the kind of person that had the simplest of motivations: Eat, sleep, fight, and protect his friends. Never in a million years did she dream that he could be so... her mind stuttered as she tried to come up with a word for his actions. Passionate.

In all honesty, Lucy was still in a state of suspended disbelief. The small sample of his fevered touch had left her a puddle of useless goo, and the intimate way he had handled her at the guild had set her blood racing. Her cheeks flared with a mixture of embarrassment and longing as she remembered to way Natsu's lips had just lightly brushed her ear as he spoke to her, and how quickly she had almost allowed herself to make such a private sound in public. Lucy shivered remembering the way he had stroked a loose strand of her hair, not even her exposed skin, just her hair!

Surely if anyone else had been watching the exchange might have seemed innocent, barely even worthy of mentioning, but her mind had practically melted as he smiled at her like that.

Would it be that way every time from this point on?

How could she possibly survive being near Natsu if that was her new default reaction to him?

Musings of their next encounter started to dance through Lucy's mind, her daydreams growing ever racier with every step that brought her closer to their reunion.

The small couch in his apartment would be the perfect place to pick up where they had left off, she wouldn't waste time so long as he allowed her to do it. Her body was craving the feel of his overly warm hands, and every second that passed the coil of tension in her lower belly was becoming tighter. Her inner thighs burned painfully with every new image her mind conjured, intensifying as she let her mind wander to the way it would feel to have his hands intensify that burning. Her throat went dry as she imagined the way his body molded to hers, sending white-hot lightning from her core to her fingertips. She imagined his hand running along her bare stomach, reaching ever higher.

His eyes burned darkly as he leaned forward, his lips just barely grazing her ear. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for this." His hand wrapped around her throat, the pressure causing her to choke.

Ice replaced the fire in her veins as the Natsu of her daydream began to squeeze, cutting off her air supply, a horrific smile twisting his face. "Good bye, Lucy."

Lucy stopped dead, shaking her head vigorously. She wrapped her arms around her middle as she tried to settle her sudden tremors. Why in the world would she think something like that?

The blonde took a few more settling breaths as she looked around at the addresses on the buildings to either side of the street.

She cursed inwardly, she had almost missed it.

There was no way she was going to let something as rediculous as a twisted day dream get in the way of her job, so she braced herself, slapping both palms against her cheeks. The sting helped clear her mind, and with one more deep breath, Lucy was able to settle the rest of the way down.

"Time to work!"

A wave of icy air washed it's way from the back of the guild, clearing a pathway for the dark-haired ice mage. "Natsu, we need to talk." Gray stopped a foot away from where Lisanna was mid-hop, his hands shoved in his pockets. "In private." He sent Lisanna a short pleading gaze before Natsu could catch him, knowing full well that she had heard the exchange from earlier that morning. He was still struggling to reconcile what he had been observing of Natsu while he had been in the guild, and even though a part of him was happy to see Natsu had -supposed returned to himself- Gray was wary about trusting the fire mage completely.

Natsu felt his stomach roll as Gray's prickly essence met his nose, Lucy's fragrance was still entangled there. "Let's take this outside. Ladies first, ice princess." Natsu ground his teeth, fighting off a wave of nausea that the mixture of Lucy's fragrance with Gray's brought on. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm, which was greeted with a cold glare. They stared at each other for a long moment, neither willing to yield.

Finally, Gray let out a frustrated sigh and made his way out of the guild; Natsu wasn't far behind, his good mood spoiled.

They made it a fair distance before they stopped, resuming their contest of wills.

Gray knew he needed to clear the air, but he was still so damn angry about the way things had turned out that he couldn't think straight. He had intended to warn Natsu that if he hurt Lucy ever again he would personally see to it that Natsu would never walk again, much less see the blonde. Even though he had taken an hour to mull over how he was going to handle such a speech, he was having diffucultly saying the words. Something felt off, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Natsu for all he was worth clung to the last vestiges of his self-restraint as the smell surrounding Gray continued to bombard his senses. For months he had watched Gray try to get closer to Lucy as Natsu had pushed her away. He had never liked it, but he couldn't come out and say that he didn't want Gray to take over as Lucy's partner… in any sense of the phrase. Natsu had been fighting off his horrific nightmares, sleep deprived, and desperate. He had wanted Lucy to be as far away as possible to spare her from whatever the madness of it all would drive him to become, even if that did mean she would abandon him in the end. If Natsu was honest with himself, he had made a decision that it was ok to leave Lucy in Gray's care when he had thought he was going to die, but now...

He needed a clean breath of air to settle himself down, he needed to push back the sudden boiling anger that he felt toward Gray, so he did the only thing that made sense. Natsu ignited the air surrounding Gray, the quick flare removing the last trace of Lucy from the space between the two of them. Gray's eyes doubled in size, but the flame was gone before he even had time to react. "That's better." Natsu took a long deep breath, and relaxed. "Now talk."

Understanding crashed down on Gray like a bucket of ice cubes, he watched the dark shadow fade from Natsu's eyes, the color returning to its original forest green. He had seen this happen once before, during the fight that had left him in the hospital. The air around them sparked as Gray pushed away the superheated air of Natsu's flames with a burst of icy mist, his survival instincts taking over. "Lucy asked me to leave things be," Gray growled through gritted teeth, as he tried to ignore the cool perspiration gathering at the base of his neck. "But, I won't stand by and let you get away with being an asshole to her."

"Maybe you should stop meddling in other people's business." Natsu retorted, flames licking his fingertips.

"Maybe you should listen to me, for a change." Gray's balled fists started to ice over, as his eyes narrowed. "I'm warning you now that I will step in if you hurt her."

A tense silence fell between the two of them, as their magic charged the air.

Natsu took another long soothing breath, his mind becoming clearer, he let the fire die back almost completely. "It won't come to that," Natsu said in a firm voice. "Not that it's any of your business, but I would rather die than ever hurt her again."

Lucy smiled as she handed over the parcel to her client. "It was a pleasure to help you." She bowed her head as the reward was passed to her.

She waved farewell, and let herself out.

Lucy stashed the reward on the small wallet attached to her belt, she was sure that she had made the record time, finishing her job before noon.

She made her way back toward the guild ignoring the lingering dark thoughts that were clouding her mind. She silently chanted to herself that she was being ridiculious.

Natsu was waiting for her to return, and she was eager to fufill her promise to him.