Did you guys read the new chapter for the 100-year quest? Lucy is always hot but Snake!Lucy? Mmmhmm~.

Lucy didn't know how fast time went. One moment she was looking at baby photos and the next she was giggling at her boyfriends in a tutu at age 6.

Apparently Natsu used to do ballet. Who knew!

While she was enjoying the photos, there was one aim that she really wanted done. The ex's photos. She knew it was bad to go snooping, but she really wanted to see this mysterious girl.

Turns out they didn't have any. They really wanted to forget about this girl.

'Oh well, it's better this way, anyway. At least I won't compare myself with her.'

She was with Grandine and Wendy when she got the first text. It was from Aquarius and it was pretty straightforward.

Aquarius: Never let that boy anywhere near my aquarium!

The first feeling of uneasy came, but Lucy pushed it away. Aquarius was probably just not happy that Natsu didn't reach her too-high expectations.

But then the other texts came.

Michelle: Lucy, you might be in real trouble next time you come.

Michelle: Your boyfriend is like a cyclone!

Eclair: That boy of yours is crazy! If we didn't have to clean up his mess, then I would even think this was funny.

Eclair: The customers definitely got a good show.

Even the new shy girl, Aries, had something to say. She and Lucy have had no communication outside the workplace but now she had messaged her giving her a helpful tip to not let Natsu near any kind of water along with a lot of sorrys.

"Looks like Natsu-nee screwed up." Wendy said as read the texts over her shoulder.

"Oh dear. I knew we shouldn't let him do it." Grandine signed.

"Is he really that b-bad?" Lucy asked as messages came from highly amused or frustrated co-workers of hers.

"Well, usually he's pretty helpful after a few tries, but he gets a little... excited sometimes? He needs to get used to it" Grandine explained.

"The last time Natsu-nee wanted to help me with something, he blew up my chemistry set."

Lucy gulped at that. She was suddenly in dismay of what Aquarius will have to say to her the next time she meets her.

The sound of a motorcycle brought her back from that bleak future. "Looks like he's back." Grandine said, getting up to greet her son, Lucy and Wendy following behind.

Natsu seem as if he has seen better days. Lucy would have felt sympathetic, but he did kind of say her job was too easy.

He climbed up the stair without his usual energy, sinking down...

... right into Lucy's arms.

Lucy squeaked at the sudden hug from her boyfriend. Not to mention right in front of his mother and sister. She tried to loosen his grip, but it just made him bring her closer, nuzzling into her shoulders.

"That bad huh." Grandine said at her son's antics. Natsu just nodded into Lucy's neck.*

"Hey, am I being replaced already?!" Wendy whined playfully but soon giggled when Natsu just pulled her between him and Lucy. 'So apparently this is not a new thing.' She thought at Wendy's easy acceptance of the hug.

"Alright, enough cuddle time! Dinner's done! In you go!"

------N------------A------------L------------U------

Apparently Natsu was so tired that he didn't even want to eat dinner. Which turns out to be a huge thing.

"Natsu-nii doesn't want to eat?! The world is ending! The reckoning is coming!"

"Stop being so dramatic Wendy, you've been hanging out with Zeref too much." Grandine chided as they all had dinner while Natsu went to rest in his room. Wendy just giggled and even Igneel seem to side with Wendy. Natsu without an appetite was not a good sign.

"Lucy, dear, could take a plate up with you when you're done? I wouldn't want him to starve at night." Grandine asked. Lucy wouldn't have minded if it weren't for the glint of mischief in the older woman's eyes. Still, she agreed.

After finishing her food, she grab a plate, filled it up and climbed up to Natsu's room. She could hear giggles coming from below but decided not to give it much thought.

Only after she entered Natsu's room did she get why they were giggling.

'I'm in a boy's room, alone, with only him!'

The last time she was here she was hit in the head so she didn't really realize the implications. Now that her head wasn't pounding, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.

"Luce? What are you doing here?" Natsu asked groggily from his bed. Looks like she woke her up.

"Um, Grandine w-wanted you to eat something."

"So she sent you? I don't think you're ready for me to eat you out yet, Lucy." It took a moment for her to get what he meant and as soon as she did, her head burst into flames.

"T-that's not what I meant, you p-pervert! She wanted you to eat this!" She yelled, trusting the food towards him. She was planning to leave right after, but he pulled her down to sit next to him on the bed.

"You know, Lucy, you're a literal goddess for working under that demon. She's a right slave worker. And I thought Erza was extreme."

"She's not that bad!"

As Natsu ate the food, Lucy looked around the room. It was too dark the last time, and she had little to do now since Natsu was stuffing his face.

As she looked around, she saw the noticeboard on the wall. It had no pictures of Natsu bit rather of his friends and families. They were high quality pictures and by how they were taken it seems like...

"Did you take these pictures?"

Natsu stopped eating when he heard her question, but she did not notice. She was admiring the photos of their friends from before she met them. There was a photo of a 7-year-old Wendy with another pink haired girl (a family friend?), another with a black-haired boy about 12 or 13 (Is that Gajeel?!) with a young Levy and a black cat, a blushing young Erza standing near a window looking at Jellal playing basketball with Juvia smiling at her teasingly (so cute!), a young Gray pouting between a black haired teenage girl and a white-haired boy and many more.

'This is Natsu's childhood...'

"They're all so beautiful, Natsu." She breathed out. "You have a great talent."

She turned around smiling only to see Natsu having a depressed aura around him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just some memories" he sighed before scratching at his head in irritation. "I don't take any photography nowadays."

"WHAT! Why not?!" Suddenly she was right next to his face, not noticing how close they were. At least she didn't. Natsu however was very much aware of it. He didn't get how she went from shy and shuttering to bold and loud in an instant.

"I had a... friend, when I was young. She's the reason I started taking photos. She's gone away now, so I didn't really have a reason to continue."

Lucy could guess who this friend was but hesitate to ask. She watched as Natsu finished the rest of his food and put away his plate to the side. Only then did she dare to open her mouth.

"Was it your ex girlfriend?"

She watched as he tensed up at her question. His eyes hardened, almost glaring at her.

"How do you know about her?" He asked harshly. She flinched at his tone and looked away, not seeing the effect her reaction has on Natsu. His eyes soften in guilt as she tried to make herself small and moved away from him.

"S-sorry! I a-ask your m-mom a-about her. S-she said some t-things, and I got c-curious. S-sorry."

"No, it's okay! You don't have to apologize!" Natsu cursed when he heard her shuttering again. She was just getting comfortable around him and he had to ruin it, just because he couldn't let go of his past!

It was an unfinished part of his life that he left to fester like a wound. And it is hurting the ones in his life now.

"Lucy, you don't have to apologize! You can ask me anything you want to know! I'm sorry that I made you think you can't ask me about her." When she still stayed away from him, he got up from the bed and went to his closet. He took a scrapbook from there and brought it back to Lucy's curled form. "Here, Lucy. You liked my pictures, right? These are some of the pictures I took back then."

Slowly but surely Lucy let herself relax again as she looked at all the photos. Unlike the ones on the board, these were not just the ones of their friends. There were places, things, people, and more. Most seem to be strangers, but there were some repeated photos of people constantly. Lucy could even see some of Laxus, Freed and the beautiful waiter she met that one time with another white-haired boy, though she had shorter hair and looks much more threatening in this photo.

As she looked, she could almost feel the emotions of the pictures. Most were just everyday images but some like a couple sitting under a tree, a mother putting her child to sleep, and such was so beautifully captured that Lucy couldn't help but stop and admire it.

She suddenly stopped when she saw a picture of a white-haired girl's facing away from the camera to the light. Her face was not visible, but you could barely make out a smile. Lucy didn't know why she stopped at her image, but the emotion she could feel from the photo made her uneasy.

She decided to ignore it and continue to the next page, but laughed out loud at the image. It was clear the image was not taken by Natsu, not just because it was unsteady but because it was an image of him.

He was wearing his scarf like a bandana around his head and face completely covering it. It looks like he was trying to sneak up on someone but it was not clear who. He looked so ridiculous she couldn't help but laugh.

Lucy suddenly heard a camera going off and looked to see Natsu taking pictures of her on his phone. She blushed and tried to cover her face, but he just laughed and continue to take photos of her blushing face.

"S-stop it! No! Natsu!"

"Why not? You look so cute right now." Figuring that he will not stop anytime soon, she lost all her restrictions and jumped on him, either not realizing or caring about just how embarrassed she will feel afterwards. Right now she needed those photos deleted.

"Natsu, give me that phone!"

"No way! I'm going to frame these photos and hang them all around my room"

"No!"

Even though she was practically wrestling with him, she could not stop her laughter. Finally, she got him down on the bed under her. She knew it was not her strength that was keeping him down, but that Natsu let her have this win. But that doesn't mean she was going to give up her prize.

"Now... Give me... that phone." she panted, exhausted, but Natsu just grinned up at her. At least he was just as winded as her.

"I will if you kiss me." He said nonchalantly, but just as the words registered in her brain, she tried to jump away from her. Unfortunately, he had already got her trapped in his arms on top of him so she couldn't move too far away.

"Come on, Lucy, I'm the one who always kisses you first. Don't you want to kiss me too." He pushed his lip out in a pout, exaggerating his actions in a silly manner. She could see he was trying to be as goofy as possible to make her less embarrassed. Even so, being the one to start a kiss was still too much for her.

'Just one kiss, Lucy. You can do this. He has kissed you hundreds of times now. Do Not Be Nervous!'

She moved closer so that her face was closer to his. They were both now practically lying down and if someone came in there really was no way to explain without it being inappropriate. But right now she could focus on nothing but the way her heart was beating and the way he was looking at her as if she was as radiant as the stars.

"Close your eyes." she whispered lowly, almost as a breath.

"Why?" he asked back, the same as her.

"J-just do it."

With a amused huff he closed his eyes letting Lucy admire him with no shame. He really was beautiful. She also realised his eyebrows and eyelashes were the same colour as his hair. She always wondered if he was born with it, and now her doubts were cleared.

Her eyes went to his lips next. Though they looked a little chapped, she knew they were very soft. Blushing, she moved her hand closer to his unknowingly only for her mind to give her a plan.

Just as her lips were about to touch his, she change directions and kissed his cheek while taking the phone away from his hand and jump away from him.

"Hey, no fair! That doesn't count!"

"You didn't say where you wanted the kiss so it's fair" she said, deleting the pictures he took of her. She had to admit she looked stunning in it. And he took these photos on his phone! She could not even imagine the wonders he could do with a real camera. But right now her embarrassment and self doubt was yelling at her to destroy everything.

"Well, I have you for myself for the whole night so I'll let this one slide." He said with a shrug, but that one statement made her still.

"W-what do you mean a-all night?"

"Well, I brought you here with little notice. We don't have any other rooms ready, so you have to sleep with me."

As she watched the mischievous glint in his eyes, Lucy felt scared. She knew Natsu wouldn't do anything she'll hate. But that didn't mean that she will like it either.

"N-Natsu, whatever you're thinking- don't! Stop! No!" Natsu's hand went to her sides, tickling her without mercy and making her cry with laughter.

If Lucy was the same girl when she first talked to Natsu, then she would not have felt this safe with him alone. But now, even when he was torturing her with laughter, Lucy didn't want to be anywhere else.

------N------------A------------L------------U-------

"Lucy dear, where did you sleep last night?"

"With... Natsu? He told me there wasn't much time to prepare a room?"

"... You do know that there's more than enough guestrooms in this big of a house, right?"

"..."

"..."

"... NATSU DRAGNEEL!"

*Fun fact: I always do this when I feel tired or stressed after a long day. It's so relaxing to just fall into someone's arms after all the shit I have to deal with.