Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 14

It all worked out. That much, she was thankful for. It didn't matter that she felt like three trains ran her over or the fact that she almost had a seizure. The day was saved, she gained a friend, and that's all that she could really ask her.

Well, maybe she just had one more thing to ask for.

"Why the hell is Loke's scent all over you?"

She certainly hadn't expected returning home to an angry dragon. Especially not after all the work she'd put in tonight. It was already a hassle explaining to everyone the events that happened a few hours prior that she completely forgot Natsu went off somewhere earlier in the day. He stood in front of her, frowning with his arms crossed over his bare chest, and she knew she'd find his jacket somewhere on the floor.

"Look," Lucy huffed, "It's been a crazy ass day, I'm exhausted and emotional. Can't we just go to sleep?" She made a move to push past him into her apartment, but he grabbed her arm.

"First, you sent me off earlier, so I went to go and meditate then I come back, hear all of this drama — just, what the fuck is going on?" Natsu asked, exasperated. Oh, right. She had sent him off earlier, but it was only because she didn't want him knowing that she was being nosy about Loke's business since he already told her to leave it alone.

Lucy blushed, a bit embarrassed, took a deep breath before she started talking.

"OkaysobasicallyLokeisactuallyacelestialspiritand — "

"On second thought, nevermind, I don't even want to know," Natsu stated, cutting her off. She protested before she was thrown over Natsu's shoulder. Happy followed them in too, silent for once, opting to crash on the chair instead of the bed. She hung limply as he walked, almost dumbfounded at her position, before she crash-landed onto her bed. She tried to get up, but Natsu practically fell on top of her, pressing her into the mattress.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?" Lucy yelped, pushing back at Natsu's shoulders half-heartedly. Then, she noticed the tenseness of his shoulders and how they shook a little bit, trembling.

She eased up, trying to get Natsu's head up, so she could properly look at him, but he was adamant on squishing his face into her stomach.

"Natsu? What's wrong? Is everything okay?" She asked worriedly, tugging on his hair a bit. He hissed slightly at a particularly harsh tug before he settled. "Please, you're scaring me," she whispered, biting her lip.

He murmured a few words into her shirt before he sighed, "it's nothing." He said once, he lifted his head up.

"You're shaking," she pointed out with a blank stare.

"So, what?" He retorted, squishing his face against her stomach again, mumbling all the while. She heard a small laugh from Happy, so she turned to him.

"Help me, dumb cat! Do you know what's wrong with him?" Lucy inquired. Happy giggled some more before he was pinned with a death stare from Natsu, but of course, the little feline wouldn't let that stop him.

"I think Natsu has some sort of separation anxiety, I heard him talking to Mira about it the other day — " Happy teased while Natsu growled, lifting himself off of Lucy to grab Happy to skilfully dodged and flew out of the window, "I'll be out trying to get fishes, don't miss me too much!"

Lucy gaped at the pink-haired man who scowled relentlessly, his stare focused on the cat flying out of the window.

"Y-you have anxiety? Separation anxiety?" Lucy tugged him back down to her, so he sat next to her on the bed rather than laying on top of her. He remained quiet, refused to even look at her, and that's when she knew Happy was being serious. She laid her head on his shoulder, trying to comfort him in the ways she hoped she could.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," she said softly.

So, they sat in silence. So long that Lucy found herself nodding off at his side.

"Mira said it's because we're friends, and we spend so much time together,"  Natsu said so quietly that Lucy almost didn't catch it. She was astonished. Natsu Chaos Dragneel had developed some sort of separation anxiety or some type of attachment to her. Well, she guessed they did spend a lot of time together; at the guild, on missions, hanging out at her apartment — okay, maybe they did spend a lot of time together now that she sat there and thought about it.

"I've never spent this much time with anyone... much less, have a — h-have an actual friend... " Natsu squeezed his eyes shut, sounding a bit embarrassed as he clenched his fists tightly. Lucy placed her hands on his and gently uncurled them.

"That's not true! You have Happy, Gray, and Erza, along with everyone else at Fairy Tail!" Lucy beamed.

"You know I'm not much of a people person so yeah, I guess I had acquaintances, but I haven't spoken to a lot of them until recently,"

It was a little odd to see Natsu feel so embarrassed or express this much emotion, but she enjoyed the change. It was nice to see that he wasn't always as detached as he portrayed himself to be.

"And it's like, I get so worried about you, you know? You go off doing things and I just... I don't know, I just panic!" He groaned, flopping down onto the bed on his back. Lucy giggled before flopping down right next to him, she entwined their hands together. He threw his other arm over his eyes as if to hide from the embarrassment, but he never once pulled away from her.

"I get like that too sometimes, I get scared when you put yourself in danger willingly, I get scared when you get hurt and you're limping or bruised or bleeding — " she stopped herself before she really trailed off and got carried away, "a-anyways, the point is that I care about you! Erza, Happy, Mira, Master — heck, even Gray cares! It's normal to have people in your life that you care and worry about." She blushed, turning her head away from him. Crap, she just embarrassed herself.

"I don't like it," he grumbled like a child.

"It doesn't matter if you like it or not, you're going to form bonds and relationships with people, it's kind of unavoidable really,"

"I still don't like it,"

"That's fine, hopefully you get used to it soon then. What were you doing while you were gone all this time?"

"I was meditating," he confessed, and Lucy perked up. Natsu? Meditating? "Its something my dad used to do with me as a kid when I was learning Dragon Slaying magic. It helped teach me control, but now, I do it because it helps me feel calm."

"That's nice, I've never tried it but maybe you can teach me sometime," Lucy mused, kicking her feet up and stretching herself out a bit. She reached over and pulled his arm away from his face, smiling when he looked at her. His ears were a little pink and Lucy giggled.

"C-can we... c-can we cuddle?" He whispered. It looked like it pained him to say that, and Lucy burst into laughter.

She threw her arms around his neck, clambering onto him, so she could lay on his chest properly. He looked totally constipated, but it was kind of cute that he asked.

"Let me go and get ready for bed really quick," she laughed, stumbling off her bed and into her bathroom. Ten minutes later, she emerged in her pajamas; a cute matching set of pants and a tank top, with her long hair tied into a high bun. Natsu was still laying on her bed where she left him, except he fixed himself to lay properly in it and she felt eager to join him.

She climbed into the bed next to him, smushed together due to the bed's small size and squeaked when Natsu pulled her on top of him.

"Your love language is definitely physical touch," Lucy observed, secretly relishing in the hold of Natsu's arms, "you better soak this up." She threatened playfully with a giggle when he breathed loudly right on her ticklish spot.

She swore she felt him smile against her skin.

To be continued...