Staring at her ceiling had never been more interesting. Or so the blonde tried to fool herself into thinking.

In all actuality, she could think of a million things she'd rather be doing than laying in her bed listlessly and staring at the ceiling. Adversely, she could also think of several reasons why staying right here, hiding from the world, was a much better option than venturing out.

She couldn't get him out of her head and so she didn't want to chance running into him until they were both ready. He had simply overrun her thoughts since last night, when he'd said and done those things she had never expected him to do. She didn't even think he was aware of the opposite gender, and what effect that he could have on them, but she felt herself proven wrong after being kissed within an inch of her life.

Okay. So she'd been slightly tipsy, and he'd had a few, but she was in control of her actions, for the most part, and she knew that it always took a decent amount of alcohol for him to get even a little drunk, so they both knew what they were doing. If she had wanted to, she could have pulled away or even slapped him. If he hadn't wanted to kiss her, he wouldn't have. And if there had been anything disagreeable about the whole arrangement, surely they would have both pushed each other away before it got so heated. Right?

If only things could be that simple.

Lucy Heartfilia had never realized how much she wanted him until she'd been backed up against a wall, safely hidden in an uncommon, unseen little niche at the guild, with his lips crushing hers as though their lives depended on it. The blonde never knew how deep her feelings ran until she felt the warmth tingle up her spine at even just the slightest brush of skin on skin. And the way he ran his thumb along her jawline, his eyes almost pleading with her, asking permission to kiss her.

She never realized all that she'd been missing out on until she could feel his warmth emanating from the arms that wrapped tightly around her waist, pressing her flush against him as he taught her that he wasn't as naïve as many thought him to be. It wasn't the first time he'd proved he wasn't as dense as everyone thought, but it was the first time it was ever in this manner, and oh, how she loved the way his lips moved against hers. There was nothing Lucy wanted more than to track him down and feel those sensations again and again until they were almost second nature. But then again, she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible in case it was all some kind of cruel joke.

Last night had been the best night of her life.

Last night had been the best night of her life, all because she'd made out with her best friend.

The brown-eyed girl had no way of knowing how much their kiss truly meant to the salmon-haired Natsu Dragneel, but it had meant the world to her. She couldn't stop bringing her hand up to her lips, almost in disbelief but also in remembrance of what had been shared between the two of them.

There was a part of her whispered that they had both just had a little too much to drink, and that her feelings were forever fated to be one-sided.

The other part of her screamed that neither of them had drunk very much at all and that the feelings between them must be mutual.

She desperately wanted to believe the latter. It would be a dream came true if Natsu could feel the same for her as she did for him. Lucy would give almost anything for him to look at her that way, but she'd kept her mouth shut since she'd figured that out a few months ago. She'd kept her mouth closed about it until last night, when her lips parted just enough for his tongue to slip inside.

Heat rushed to her cheeks at the thought and she rolled over, squashing a pillow to her face as she tried to get the memory out of her mind. No matter how hard she tried, though, the memory was still there, as vivid as ever, and she wanted nothing more than to relive it. At the time, it had seemed irrelevant that they hadn't even talked about dating but were nevertheless holding each other and kissing as if the world was ending. And if Lucy was appalled at her disregard of proper protocol when she first came to her senses this morning, she really didn't care anymore. They were together often enough that they were practically a couple, just not officially. And even though they were partners, it had never yet been in the romantic sense, as she had hoped it would become. But now…now it had the potential to be in the romantic sense, didn't it?

He hadn't pushed her away.

In fact, he'd been the one to initiate the entire scenario. And if at first Lucy wasn't too keen on the whole I'm-kissing-my-best-friend situation, she quickly loosened up because it had been what she had wanted all along. She tried to tell herself that it would be best for their friendship if she'd let him go and push him away. She tried to reason that he had probably drunk more alcohol than she had seen and wasn't in his right mind. As much as it hurt her to think the thoughts, Lucy tried to tell herself that he was just kissing her to be kissing someone, just to be able to push him away. But in the end, none of it worked.

She could have jeopardized their friendship by letting the situation grow, but she couldn't help herself when it came to Natsu and oh-my-gosh, his lips on hers. It seemed so wrong at first, but how could it really be wrong when it felt so right?

Lucy sighed, still unable to get the events of last night out of her head even though she'd been trying for about an hour now. So she pushed herself out of bed and went to take her shower and get ready for the new day. Her guild-mates would think something was wrong if she didn't show up, so she'd make an appearance. She'd try to go back to normal as if nothing had happened, because that was probably how Natsu would be acting. If he showed up which, the blonde mused, he always did. No matter what happened, Natsu usually made sure to make an appearance at Fairy Tail.

This couldn't be any different, could it?

The blonde stared at her reflection in the mirror unseeing for a few minutes before shaking her head, trying to get her wits about her. It was hard to think, let alone act, when Natsu was filling her thoughts.

That side of Natsu…the one that had been daring, flirtatious, and oh-so kissable, had been completely and utterly sexy. He'd been suave and debonair and just…so much more than she had ever imagined. And it was perfect. It made her cheeks grow warm just thinking about it and not for the first time on this particular morning, Lucy wanted the incident to repeat. Replaying it in her mind was one thing, but she wanted to relive it all. The brush of his hand on her neck, on her chin, on her jaw, the other firmly on her waist, or one of them entangled in her blonde locks…she wanted to feel it again. The warmth of his proximity, his breath on her lips…she wanted it back. His kiss, so heated and so passionate that it made her weak at the knees to even think about it…oh, what she'd give to feel that way again.

"What if it was all a dream?" she mused quietly to herself as she left her bathroom, closing her eyes and rubbing them.

"It wasn't."

At the unexpected voice, Lucy's head shot up and before she could even utter another word or say his name, she got what she'd been mooning for the entire morning.

One large, strong, slightly callused hand cupped the back of her head, intertwined with some of her hair, and the other was on her waist, drawing her nearer and nearer to the pink-haired man they belonged to. And the best part was that his lips were once more on hers, kissing her and kissing her so that she no longer cared which way was up or which way was down, just so long as she had him to cling to.

When she finally had a moment to breathe, his own breaths breezing across her cheeks and lips, she gasped out, "Natsu…" and that was all she could manage. But the look in her eyes said the rest.

"Luce," he responded in kind, and then the salmon-haired dragonslayer who was most certainly not drunk pulled the blonde celestial mage who was love-drunk back into his arms. Natsu pulled Lucy flush against himself and with perhaps more passion or need than was necessary, the two began to kiss again. The action felt so natural to Lucy that it was almost as if they'd done this every day of their lives. It felt like the piece of her that had been missing for so long was back, right where it belonged, and she never wanted to let this stop.

Little did she know that Natsu had the exact same thoughts in his mind.

This was literally done quickly, just to get another NaLu up because it's been a while. I'm working on the final chapter of Tell, which is at least two weeks overdue, but it should be out by the end of the week if all goes well.

I'm sorry if there's anything lacking in quality; this isn't up to my usual standards but I'm grading it on a different scale because it's a different concept. Pretty much. XD

Anyway, thanks for giving it a chance!