Off-Screen Romance

A/N: Takes place after Natsu faces off with Gemma (: ... just Lucy being jelly :P One-shot of Nalu. Enjoy (:

It was only Natsu who wasn't in the lodge yet and although everyone had fallen asleep, Lucy was still wide awake. For some reason, she couldn't fight the feeling that maybe Natsu was doing something rather compromising—not in a dirty way of course. The last she saw him was in the room when Yukino came over offering her two gold keys. After that, Wendy told her that Natsu went to talk to Yukino about something. She had no clue about what though. Her body rolled from side to side while her mind remained restless. Why couldn't she just sleep already? They have to get up early tomorrow for the games and she was in need of some good rest.

Then finally she heard the creek of the front door open. She moved her head to see the light coming from the hallway pass through the door. It was Natsu and he was cradling Happy in his arms. What happened? She was about to get up from the bed but she heard Natsu whisper.

"Happy, we're here now." He mumbled under his breath.

"Aye…" Happy fell asleep in his arms and still had his eyelids shut.

"Wanna sleep next to Lucy?" He asked the blue cat.

"…Aye." Happy replied.

Lucy shut her eyes and pretended to sleep. For some reason she wanted to hide the fact she was awake from them, although her mind was screaming for an explanation.

Lucy felt the blanket on top of her lift for a second and was replaced by a furry creature. Happy decided to curl near her torso and Natsu tucked them in. Still she kept her eyes closed, and Natsu lingered near the bed for a few minutes. He didn't leave the cat until he was purring to sleep. As he got up, Lucy could feel the heat of his stare, not at Happy but at her. It took all her will power to stop herself from blushing or smiling. The she heard him sigh. His footsteps led him to the washroom and Lucy assumed he was just getting ready to go to sleep.

Unfortunately for her, she was still awake as day. Her nose captured the lingering scent of the dragon slayer and it smelled like burnt wood. Then she realized that he must have been in some kind of fight. Just when she thought of getting up to check on him, the washroom door swung open and Natsu threw his torn up clothes on the floor. She caught a glimpse of how worn out those clothes were and she just knew it had to be him against thirty or more people. Natsu was that kind of person—one versus a million.

Again, she forced herself to look like she was asleep because she felt the intensity of his stare. She heard another sigh followed by a body dropping on a bed. It squeaked a bit as he found his comfortable spot but even after a few minutes, he kept shuffling around. Maybe he was restless too.

One of Lucy's eyes peeked at Natsu to see how he was doing. All she saw was his bare back and boxers. A sudden heat flow to her face caused her to shut her eyes quick before she would see anything else. Where were his pajamas? But then again, what guy wears pajamas? Her mind started to wander. She thought about why he was in the fight, why did he go out of his way to speak to Yukino? Did his fight have anything to do with Yukino? The pit of her stomach started to feel uneasy. Her chest sank in a little as she lay on her back. Her eyes were staring at the ceiling as she tried to comprehend Natsu's nature. Yes, Natsu is the type of guy who saves the damsel in distress. But Yukino wasn't in any danger when she left? Did she offer to buy him food after? But they had just eaten before their meeting.

Was this jealousy? Was she jealous? Lucy mentally slapped herself. Why on earthland did this whole thing keep her from sleeping?

Lucy sighed heavily.

Natsu popped out of his position and sat on his bed.

CRAP! Now he knew she was awake. Then again people sigh in their sleep right?

"Lucy?" Natsu whispered from his bed.

Lucy contemplated on whether or not she would answer back, she was about to say something until Natsu spoke.

"I—I…" He was mumbling now and Lucy couldn't hear his words properly.

But this just made everything worse in her mind. Could he be saying that he's interested in Yukino? Did he go out on a date with her? Was he trying to ask her for help in dating? This was utterly frustrating for the blond mage. A tear slipped out of her eye. It was hard for her to think of Natsu dating someone else. It never really bothered her until this moment because Yukino had many similar traits to Lucy because to be honest, all the other celestial mages were mean and abusive to their spirits. But Yukino treasured them just the same as her. Plus the other mage had white hair who also has the same coloured hair as his childhood crush. Why is she bringing Lisanna into this? What is wrong with her? Jealousy is very unfitting.

Then Lucy felt a weight on her bed. This time she decided to open her eyes. Her gaze met his onyx eyes. She was well aware that he was wearing less clothing than usual so she hid her face under the blanket.

"Lucy…" He whispered softly. It was soothing and calm. "Were you awake this whole time?" He tugged on her blanket.

As she revealed her flushed face, he gave her his toothy grin. Then he invited himself under her covers. Usually, she would kick him out but on occasions she let him stay especially if he was having a bad day. She kept her eyes on him and he wrapped his arms around her torso. She couldn't hide the fact that she liked feeling his warmth. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head closer to her chest. There was no one else that she was this close to and she didn't want to share it with anyone else either.

"What happened?" She finally spoke.

"…Nothing… Promise me one thing though." He said seriously.

"What is it?" She stroked his hair.

"You won't ever leave the guild."

Lucy wanted to laugh. Why would she do such a thing? She loves Fairy Tail. He of all people should know that. "Why would I leave if everything I love is in Fairy Tail?"

She felt his shoulders shrug.

"Natsu…" She forced his chin up so they would be face to face.

"Yukino was kicked out of her guild for one mistake. She didn't even harm any of her nakama." He spoke quietly to mask his anger.

"I guess, it's their way of their guild. Not all guilds are like ours." She continued stroking his hair to calm him down.

He just grunted back.

"So you and Yukino… didn't uhm—hang out?" Lucy asked nervously.

"No, why Lucy?" His eyes now perked with curiosity.

"Because you were so late in coming back here, I originally thought that—you two would…" Lucy started to mumble off.

"You are a weirdo… why would I go out with someone else when I have someone to go home to, to be by my side all the time, to sleep next to, to tease, to pull pranks on, and to care for." He was as genuine as anyone could possibly be.

Lucy's face flushed. "Well—I,"

Natsu placed his lips lightly on hers. She was wide eyed in shock at his sudden intimacy.

"It's not like you to be jealous." He smirked.

"I'm not." She scoffed.

"Sure," He paused to rub her cheek gently. Her face pressed lightly against his palms. "Night Lucy."

"Night Natsu."

Fortunately for Lucy, she had the best sleep in forever. But waking up on the other hand was anything but pleasant. Erza was glaring daggers at the pair in the morning. She kept lecturing them about how Wendy is also in the room and it was a bad influence on her. She also kept saying how love and hate were also too heavy of a burden and that she needed something to release her anger on. Although Natsu was willing to fight, Erza refused to injure a team-mate during the tournament games. She promised she would save their punishment for after. Natsu and Lucy kept their heads down the whole time and shuddered at the thought of what their punishment would be.

"Wow I guess she's going to take part in the games today." Gray said as he shed his shirt.

"Yeah she could probably fight 100 monsters with her attitude this morning." Natsu replied.

"Pft, I don't even think the stadium could even contain 100 monsters." Lucy commented.

Fairy Tail A made their way to the stadium after Erza led. The next event blinked on the screens…Pandemonium.