"Lucy, can we be done now?" Natsu whined out from his position on the kitchen counter as Lucy dabbed peroxide on the cut on his lip.

"Almost." She flicked his arm. "Stop being such a baby." She grumbled out. Natsu stuck his tongue out at her and she giggled.

"I'm not a baby." He continued to whine. Lucy rolled her eyes and dabbed the tissue against his lip one more time. He flinched at the action.

"There." She stepped back and admired her work. "You look as gorgeous as ever." Natsu rolled his eyes, but gave her a playful smile.

"I'm always gorgeous, even covered in blood." He smiled wide. Lucy swatted his arm.

"Don't smile like that or else your lip is going to start bleeding again." She scolded. His smile dimmed but remained.

"Yes, nurse Lucy." He teased. She rolled her eyes again, but smiled.

"Don't be weird." She said as she gathered up the rest of her supplies and began to put them away. Natsu watched her intently, gaze never leaving her. Lucy could feel him watching her and a blush began to make its way up the back of her neck.

She didn't understand anything about this boy. One moment he was rude and hurtful toward her and now he was teasing and playful.

She also didn't understand this strange feeling she had been feeling since having had a real encounter with him. Watching him from a distance had always been easy, but having him in her house was doing weird things to her.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." She almost didn't hear him say. Lucy turned and looked at Natsu. His playfulness was gone, replaced with regret.

"What for?" She questioned even though she already knew what he was going to say.

"About earlier. I'm really sorry for how I treated you in the cafeteria today." He looked down at his intertwined hands. "I had a bad start to the day and I guess I took it out on you."

"Natsu-"

"I'm just sorry and I really hope I didn't ruin any sort of impression you had of me." Lucy crossed the small distance between them and placed her hand lightly over the Hello Kitty Band-Aids on his cheek.

"I'm sorry to." He looked into her eyes and furrowed his brows.

"Why?" He questioned.

"For not being a good neighbor." Lucy said around the lump forming in her throat. She always did feel like she was a horrible neighbor to him. She was always so shy and nervous around him and that made her never go over and talk to him. She knew he didn't really have any friends at school and she really wondered if he had warm meals at home. She could've helped him overcome the loneliness. She could've helped him help her.

He snorted.

"If they were giving out awards for being 'The shittiest neighbor', I would definitely win." Lucy smiled sadly.

"We would tie for first place then." She dropped her hand and looked down where she began to play with the hem of her shirt.

"Luce-" Lucy's head shot up at the nickname and she felt a tear slide down her face. Natsu reached up and brushed the liquid away with his knuckles. "It's not your fault. None of it." More tears welled up in Lucy's eyes knowing where the conversation was going.

"Do you remember the day Gildarts became our guardian?" He asked. She nodded, mind taking her back to that time. She remembered the sadness and loneliness of the months right after her parents' passing. She remembered how she felt as a complete stranger decided to bring her into this place and take care of her.

She also remembered Natsu.

"I have dreams about it sometimes." He whispered out, eyes casted down to his knuckles where he started playing with a silver band around his middle finger. "Being in the courtroom and the judge telling us we were going to go live with this man that neither of us knew anything about. This man who came into our lives unexpectedly, claiming he was our godfather and that he was friends with both of our families."

"But neither of us had ever met him before." Lucy whispered to. "I remember it all." Natsu looked up to her again, their eyes connecting.

"And then he stuck us in this complex, not even in the same room, and said that he was going to take care of us from now on. Just strangers living across the hall from one another.

"What a way to raise a couple of nine year olds?" The tone of his voice was sad and bitter. Lucy felt the same way. The two of them had lost both of their parent's and everything they had ever known, only to be thrown into an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar man. And then they were alone.

"I've never told anyone about how I got to live here." Lucy said quietly. Natsu glanced up at her.

"Levy and Cana don't know?" He asked carefully, truly curious but worried that he was overstepping. Lucy just shook her head though.

"They think it's a home for emancipated kids. They know my parents are gone and that I've been living here for the last eight years, but not how I came to live here. Not about Gildarts or anything about the two of us being in the same position." Natsu didn't have anything to say about that. Lucy stayed quiet for another moment.

"Can we be friends?" She asked suddenly. Natsu raised his brows in surprised.

"You wanna be friends?" Lucy shrugged.

"I mean I know it's really late, but late is better than never right?" Natsu remained quiet and Lucy was almost worried that he would say no.

"Why?" He finally asked. She gave him a confused look.

"Why not?" He gave her a hard stare.

"You really want to be friends with a social reject like me?" He said after what felt like forever. Lucy scoffed at that.

"You're not a social reject, Natsu, you're just-" She struggled for the right word. "Picky." She finally decided on.

"I'm picky? What does that even mean?" He questioned. Lucy shrugged her shoulders looking everywhere but at him.

"I don't know, you just seem like you're someone who chooses their friends wisely and isn't someone who just has to be friends with everyone." Natsu raised a brow at that, but didn't say anything. He stared down at his lap deep in thought. Lucy wondered for a moment if he thought she was talking about herself. She remembered what he had said earlier about her 'reputation'.

"Why are you helping me?" He asked suddenly. "I can't figure it out." He hopped off the counter and stood tall in front of her. "I understand that you have some sort of game where you think you have to help everyone in that suicide center they call a school, but I refuse to be one of your little projects." He rubbed his hands over his face before growling out, "It's been eight years. Eight years. Why now? Why after all these years did you decide to talk to me; To want to 'be friends'?" He stepped toward her making her take a step back in return. He continued forward and she continued backwards until she hit the kitchen wall. Her heart raced in her chest and her breathing accelerated. He was so close to her now, pressing her firmly into the drywall.

"Is there some sort of reason you're doing this? Did Gildarts put you up to this? Have you been talking to him about me?" His words kept growing louder and his eyes kept getting angrier, heat coming off of him in suffocating waves. Lucy was scared, but not of Natsu. Something else.

"I know you've been watching me." He hissed low in her face. "I know you stare at me all day in school and then spy on me when we get home. I know." Lucy didn't know how to respond. He was so angry and she didn't know why.

"Natsu." She whispered out at last. Natsu's chest rose and fell quickly, his hot breath fanning her face. She knew he was trying to calm down, but he just had so much anger inside him. So much hatred toward the world.

"I didn't talk to you until now because I was scared." He gripped her upper arm tightly, but not to where it would bruise.

"Scared of what? Of me?" Lucy shook her head.

"Of course not!"

"Then why?!" He finally yelled, eyes wild with rage. Normally Lucy would have flinched, but with Natsu she couldn't help but feel sad.

"It was because of me." She whispered. "I couldn't say anything to you because every time I even looked at you, my mind would take me back to the courtroom." She looked down at her feet. "I couldn't keep going back there. I couldn't keep going back into the dark." She felt Natsu's hands begin to shake on her shoulders. He noticed to and quickly put them to his sides where they continued. She tentatively reached out to them. "I'm so sorry." She grasped both of them in her hands. "I'm so sorry that I left you all alone for so long." She couldn't figure out if he was shaking more or if she had begun also.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." He took a step back, breaking their connected hands and inhaled a deep, shaky breath. "I'm really sorry, but I need to go." Then he turned around and headed for her door. Fear enveloped Lucy like a tidal wave.

"Natsu, wait!" Lucy panicked. He paused at the door, hand on the handle. She fidgeted with what she was about to say, but knew if she didn't say it, she was going to regret it. "Will you stay over tonight?" Natsu turned around, brows furrowed.

"What?" He asked, wondering if he had heard her right.

"Please? Now, Laxus and his goons know where you live and I'm going to be so worried all night thinking they're killing you. I mean, for crying out loud, you already got stabbed." She paused and walked into the living room. "Please, just for one night." She begged. Natsu scratched his head.

"I don't understand." He closed his eyes. "Just, why now?" Lucy took a deep breath.

"Because I can't be alone anymore." Natsu opened his eyes at that. She took another step closer to him. "And I know you can't either." His shoulders slumped forward in defeat and he winced from his side.

"I don't know how to not be alone." Lucy almost didn't hear him. Her heart broke just a little more. She felt so guilty. She could've rescued him years ago, but didn't. He could've rescued her years ago and he didn't. Maybe, now was the time to start over.

"We can teach each other how to not be alone." She took a tentative step toward him, scared that if she got too close he would run away. "I've wanted to make things right for a long time now, but-" She struggled with what she was trying to say.

"How do you save someone else when you can't even save yourself?" Natsu finished. Lucy nodded.

"We both deserve happiness." She looked into his eyes. "I haven't been happy for a long time and I don't know when the last time you were so, maybe, if we're friends, we could remind each other what it's like?" Natsu rubbed his face with the back of his hand, inhaling a large, deep breath.

"If it makes you feel better, I can stay for one night." Surprise flooded through Lucy, but so did happiness.

"Really?" She asked astonished. Natsu snorted.

"Taking back your offer so soon?" He asked. Lucy's face lit up in a deep blush.

"No!" She almost yelled. "I mean, I'm not taking back my offer." She walked over to the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly anxious. "My couch is really comfortable or I have a spare bedroom. There isn't a bed in the spare only a chunk of foam you could lay on. It wouldn't be super uncomfortable, but you might get a kink in your back from the stupid floors." She was starting to ramble.

"I'll take the couch, if that's okay." A small laugh escaped his lips and Lucy smiled.

"Sounds good." She breathed out. She looked around. "I think you'll have enough blankets." She gestured over to the mound of blankets from earlier.

"I'll probably only use one, but thank you, Luce." That was the second time he'd called her that. She blinked slowly.

"Um-" She fidgeted, not knowing exactly how to feel about the new nickname. "I guess all you need is a pillow then." She pointed down the hallway to her bedroom. "I'm going to go get you a pillow, you stay here." She slowly started backing toward her room, not wanting to take her eyes off him in case he decided to run away.

"I promise I won't run away." Natsu said as he tentatively sat on the couch and smiled at her. Lucy gave him a hard stare before deciding he wasn't going to bolt as soon as she left. She rushed into her bedroom and to the closet where all her extra pillows and where her extra blankets had been. She paused for a second, not entirely sure how many she should grab, and ended up getting six. She ran from her room, bumping into the doorframe with her elbow, cursing at herself for being such a klutz, and made it back into the living room.

"Did you run into a wall?" Natsu questioned, amusement lighting his face up.

"My walls hate me." She growled out and began throwing the pillows at him. He dodged each one with ease and Lucy's mind quickly flashed to his hurt side. For a brief moment, she wondered how he moved so easily when he had been in so much pain not too long ago, but Natsu interrupted her thoughts of him.

"Thank you, again, Lucy." She stared at him intently.

"Just promise you won't leave in the middle of the night." Her voice came out whispered and she mentally scolded herself. She couldn't help it though. Everything about this boy had her mind on edge and she was certain he was going to disappear sooner rather than later.

"I promise, Lucy." He started making his bed on the couch, placing most of the pillows on the floor beside him in case he rolled over in his sleep and fell off. Lucy watched him observantly, trying to ease her mind about everything. She couldn't help but worry about Laxus and his group coming after him again, either in school or even crashing down her own door for him. She also worried about his wounds and if they were going to heal right. She wasn't a doctor. She didn't know what she had been doing at all while dressing his wounds. What if infection was setting in?

And the one thought that kept plaguing the back of her mind; She had never had a boy sleep over before.

"Are you okay?" Natsu's voice broke her out of her daze. She glanced to him and noticed his bed was made and he was sitting crisscross on the floor. She blinked.

"I'm fine, I'm just wondering what I'm going to make for dinner." It wasn't a total lie. That was on her list of things to do, just not toward the top.

"Chinese sounds so good right now." Natsu said as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Mu Shu pork sounds absolutely bomb." Lucy chuckled and he peaked at her with one eye, a large smile decorating his face.

"Sounds good to me. I'll call Macao's and have some delivered." She felt her back pockets only to find that her phone was missing. "Fuck." Lucy's voice came out annoyed as she started searching around the floor around her.

"What's up?" Natsu asked, ready to help her with whatever she was doing.

"I think I dropped my phone somewhere." She said as she got down on her hands and knees to look underneath the couch. Her mind raced as to where she left it. She remembered grabbing it from Mira's but maybe she had dropped it on her way home. Or maybe…

"Did you drop it in my apartment?" Natsu asked what Lucy was just thinking. She sighed, not really wanting to go back in there just yet.

"I think I did." She breathed out. "Do you have your phone on you?" Natsu shook his head.

"Wasn't on my list of priorities when I came over today." She grimaced. Of course he didn't have his phone on him. She sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Well, I guess we have to go over to your place and grab them." She grumbled out already heading toward the door. Natsu bounced up from the floor and walked with her. Lucy's mind wondered for just a moment how he was able to get up so quickly. She had to be imagining things.

"That's fine, I need to grab some clothes anyways since I'm staying the night." Natsu smiled wide and child-like causing Lucy to forget everything she had been thinking about. He had that effect on her and it almost troubled her. Almost.

"I could always lend you something." Lucy said. Natsu grimaced.

"Sorry, Luce, but I don't think we wear the same size." He teased, poking her side. Lucy batted his hand away, blushing furiously.

"Is that a fat joke?!" She nearly screamed at him. Natsu laughed.

"A short joke actually." He snickered out. Lucy huffed in irritation.

"I'm so only ordering enough Chinese for me." She grumbled as she headed out the door and across the hall.

"But, Lucy!" He whined, following her out the door. "I'll starve to death!"

"Good! You deserve to!" She crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot impatiently. "Hurry up and open your door already."

"Only if I get Chinese to." He pouted, also crossing his arms over his chest. Lucy stuck her tongue out at him and he did the same. She giggled, and tried to hide her smile.

"Fine, fine, you win, brat." He grinned wide. Lucy's breath caught in her throat. He was so handsome when he smiled, it completely lit up his features. She couldn't help but appreciate his tanned skin, calloused hands, and secretly perfect body. Why did he not have woman crawling all over him at school constantly?

"You just have to remind me not to eat too much otherwise I'll get real nasty farts all night." He said as he opened his apartment door and walked inside. Lucy stiffened. Maybe that was why.

Review! Bye, loves :)