Pairing: Natsu and Lucy

Word Count: 1,954

Perfection. That was what she strived for. Perfection was key, it always had been. For as long as she could remember, it was perfection that had played a major role in her life. It was easy to see perfection in things, people, but it was harder to obtain it. Lucy learned that at a young age, but that never stopped her from trying. Because that was what her father wanted from her, it was the only way to gain his attention, his affection. But nothing was ever enough. Nothing was ever perfect.

Not even her.

He noticed her.

He always noticed her. The blonde beauty was the first thing in his mind when he got up and was his last thought as he fell asleep. He knew her like the back of his hand, he knew her better than he knew himself and vice versa. Maybe that was the reason why he was the only one who noticed.

He noticed how she began to reject the milkshakes that Mira would make for her. He noticed how her smile grew tighter and tighter with each passing day. He noticed how her skin paled, her usually bright brown eyes turned sunken and sullen. He noticed as her bones became more prominent.

As everyone passed off her looks as their imagination running wild, he watched from the background with the unsettling feeling in his stomach growing. He knew something was wrong with Lucy, and he along with Juvia and Gajeel were the only ones who knew it.

Which led Natsu to where he was now.

It was late, somewhere around two in the morning if he had to guess, and he was standing outside of Lucy's apartment. Natsu never thought things through, it just wasn't who he was, and yet he's been standing in the dead of night for a half an hour going over in his head what he would tell his beloved partner.

He figured out a few hours ago what had been the match to her flames of depression. It had happened during one of their typical missions, defeat a monster, destroy the city, pay for the damages with their reward money. But something else had happened along the way.

Natsu, Happy, and Lucy were walking around the city as they usually did before they start their missions, looking around and exploring the streets. Natsu was whining about needing food as Happy joined him and Lucy rolled her eyes at their silly antics.

It was at that moment that she had accidentally walked into a tall woman. She had black colored curls that spilled out of a tight ponytail, a scowl forming across her red painted lips as she glared down at Lucy with piercing blue eyes.

"Watch where you're going, Blondie." She snarled, shoving Lucy back. The blonde merely stumbled in surprise, being stopped as Natsu gently caught her arm and kept her upright. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Lucy apologized, bowing her head slightly. Natsu didn't release his hold on her arm as he stared down the stranger glaring at his best friend.

"Clearly," the woman stated before glancing down. Natsu's moss colored eyes followed her icy blue ones. They stopped on Lucy's hand, the one that proudly showed her pink Fairy Tail guild mark. The emblem seemed to anger the black-haired girl even more as her snarl intensified. "Maybe if you didn't think you were so perfect all the time you'd realize you're just a wannabe little girl with big hips and a large chest. You're no better than me, or any other girl."

Natsu felt a growl rumble out of his chest, growing louder with every insult the woman hurled at Lucy. Said blonde flinched at the hatred in the taller woman's voice as Natsu continued his animalistic noise.

"Leave Lucy alone. She said sorry." Natsu defended, his face distorted in anger as the black-haired woman turned around. She began to walk away but not before adding, "Tell her to pull her head out of her stupid delusion of being perfect and to join us down here on Earthland. Maybe then she won't walk into people."

After that incident Lucy had managed to fool him with one of her well-practiced faux smiles and told him that they should start the mission. She may have tricked him that one time, but now Natsu knew better. He wouldn't fall for it again, not since he knows she's hurting.

He moved his gaze other window that was pouring out light. That was Lucy's room. He grew more confident as he realized that the blonde was still up. As he readied himself to climb up to her window, he did not prepare for what he would see next.

As he crawled through into her room as normal, instead of hearing Lucy screaming at him to get out like her typical greeting, he was met with a watery-eyed blonde. "Lucy?" His voice unwillingly cracked as he took in the sight of his best friend. Her cocoa eyes were rimmed with red, cheeks stained with tears. The blonde hair that she had always worked so hard to take care of was now a rat's nest upon her head. All of these things were shocking and definitely told him something was up but that wasn't what hurt the most.

What hurt the most was being able to see her stomach scored with angry red lines that most likely had came from herself.

"N-Natsu…" She hiccuped. Her arms curled around her marred abdomen in a pitiful attempt to hide the destruction from him. His olive eyes zeroed in on her trembling hands that were splayed across her skin, red painted nails blending in with the scratches. His gaze was focused solely on the impressions on her once smooth skin. This is what she was doing to herself, was his immediate thought. While he was standing outside like an idiot, she was in her mutilating her skin with her own fingers. The very thought of it made him want to scream and kick himself in the head.

As he stared at her, Lucy didn't make any attempt at conversation. Her fear was more than apparent in her tear-filled eyes as she practically felt him skimming over every raised mark on her.

"Lucy-" His voice caught in his throat as though a hand was clenched around it, squeezing tightly and cutting off his supply of oxygen. The entire speech he had prepared was suddenly tossed out of the window as his mind went blank. How was he supposed to react to this? Out of all the scenarios he had thought up, this was not one of them. Never would he have thought that Lucy, his Lucy, would ever do something like this. She was always smiles, and when she was sad she cried and immediately told him what was wrong.

But now, she was standing in the middle of her room, topless with only a pale blue bra to cover her generous chest as she tried her hardest to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. A strong scent of salt filled the room making his stomach churn. After a few moments of silence Natsu finally spoke, saying one single word.

"Why?"

That question seemed to have been her trigger as Lucy crumpled in on herself, collapsing to the floor. Her hands slithered into her knotty golden hair, her pink guild mark standing out brightly. In an instant Natsu was off the window sill and by her side. One of his hands overlapped her smaller one as he tried to pull it out of her tangled locks gently.

Her broken sobs shattered the stifling silence as her arms tethered around his, hugging the limb to her chest for the smallest amount of comfort. He could feel her nails biting into his tanned skin but he didn't flinch. If she needed to dig them in until they broke his skin and drew blood just so she could keep a grip on reality, then he would let her.

Her tears splattered onto his burning hot skin, the corded muscles beneath flinching as Natsu felt them. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't exactly beat up the person who made Lucy feel the way she is. It wasn't until her head was pressed against his neck, her cold nose brushing lightly against his collarbone, did it click for him. Right now, Lucy didn't need an interrogation, she didn't need a big long speech about how she was perfect in every way to him. Right now what she needed was comfort, someone to hold her until her tears ran dry.

So he was going to give her just that.

With his arms wrapped around her shaking body, warm fingers splayed across her bare back, Natsu held her tightly against him. He acted as some sort of anchor for her, refusing to release his hold for even a second. His need to protect her, to hide her away from the world and keep her all to himself, grew stronger than ever before.

Her blonde hair tickled as it gently trailed against his chin and throat with every move she made. He blindly reached behind him, grasping at thin air until his tan fingers wrapped around Lucy's pink covers. He yanked the duvet off her bed before gently wrapping it around her shuddering shoulders, covering her up the best he could as she held on to him.

He almost laughed as he saw Lucy move his precious scarf out of the way so she didn't cover it in her tears, but he bit back the desire. He brought her closer to himself, almost as if he was trying to swallow her whole. "Luce?"

"I'm not okay, am I Natsu?" Her voice was scratchy from her sobs, but her question was as clear as day to him.

Hesitantly, Natsu shook his head, his rose-colored hair hanging over his eyes. Of course she wasn't okay. She has red marks across her smooth stomach, and she's sobbing into his shoulder clad in only her bra and shorts. "You're not,"

"But that's fine. Everyone has somethin' that makes 'em sad, and they all have somethin' that makes 'em angry and scared and happy. And they all have someone that they can go to that makes 'em okay," Natsu continued, his olive eyes glued onto Lucy. "But it's up to 'em on whether or not they go to that person who makes 'em happy."

Lucy's tears slowly stopped, her shoulders no longer trembling as her breathing calmed to shuddery intakes of breath. And the entire time Natsu sat by her side, clutching the blanket to her bare body as he whispered soothing words in her ear. The red scratches on her stomach were now a pale pink, the raised marks lowered. Unconsciously her head rested against his shoulder as her eyes tiredly closed.

Natsu curled his long, tan fingers through her golden hair, relaxing her into sleep. As he did so, he lightly pressed his chapped, warm lips against her temple.

She wasn't okay, Natsu knew that as he gently lifted her off the ground. Placing her under her covers he brushed his hand along the side of her peaceful face. But he knew she would be. He knew that there would be painful and hard times, lapses that could tear her down, but he also knew that she was strong enough to overcome them.

Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear he smiled down at her sleeping figure. He knew she would overcome them, because he trusted her to come to him when she needed his help to power through.