Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I last wrote a fanfic and I must say I'm really happy to have written this one! Who knows, maybe now I'll unblock The Thirteen Keys and finally finish it! But I definitely think you'll be hearing more from me this year!

This one I made for the February Challenge of HC-Bingo, at LJ. The prompts were Hugs, Amnesia, Witch Hunt and Hostages. Hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: FT belongs to Mashima Hiro-sensei.

Stay

"Stay, stay, stay

I've been loving you for quite some time, time, time

You think that is funny when I'm mad, mad, mad

But I think that it's best if we both stay."

Lucy couldn't believe her eyes, but it was obvious, wasn't it? Who else had that ridiculous capacity of destroying all her clothes? Over a year had passed and all her clothing remained intact, and then he appeared and they were in shreds. She wanted to scream at him for being so reckless, but how could she? They weren't best friends anymore, they weren't teammates anymore, they weren't in the same guild anymore. She wanted to be mad at him not only for burning her clothes, but also for leaving her so suddenly, when she so desperately needed him. Yet, all she felt was sadness and loneliness.

And then, he looked at her, and grinned widely.

"Yo, long time no see, Lucy."

Oh, fairies. She wanted to punch that pretty face and that childish smile. Yet, all she could think of was how handsome he looked, with the hair longer, wilder.

"You can't do that, Natsu. Get out of this arena." she explained calmly. "They won."

"I just wanted to check it out, this tournament. It's so nostalgic… Made me remember everything, and I had to come."

"Sure. Now get out, before the royal guard appears. You can't afford to have yet further problems with the royalty."

He chuckled.

"You'll come too? To catch up?"

"Yeah, sure."

Of course Natsu wouldn't notice there was something different about her. Of course he wouldn't notice how deep her loneliness was.

I just wish I could hate you.

They met outside the Coliseum, and Natsu gave her his cloak.

"Thank you. I'll just change clothes and we can meet somewhere."

He hugged her tightly.

"It's so nice to see you, Lucy!"

She wanted to scream at him, to punch him in the face, anything but to stay in that hug. She couldn't handle that hug, with his scent invading her nose and his warmth spreading through her body as it used to do when he invaded her bed in the early hours of morning.

She didn't hug him back, and that he noticed. She wanted to cry but she didn't, not in a busy street of Crocus, where everybody could see her.

"Come on, I'll show you my new home."

Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"You live here now?"

"Yeah. I have a job on Sorcery Weekly, now."

"You serious?"

"Sure. They pay me to write, what else can I ask for in a job?"

"But-" whatever he was planning to say, he gave up. She was different. He felt that when she didn't hug him back.

So, he followed her quietly to her new building, climbed the stairs and walked into her new apartment. It wasn't that much different from her old one, except for one thing. The wall at the end held an enormous map, and on the map, clippings and photos of all the Fairies. Then, it hit him. All this time she had been alone.

"Lucy, I-"

"Make yourself comfortable, okay? I'm just going to put on some clothes and will be here in a minute. You can whatever you want from the fridge too."

He only nodded and sat on the floor, close to the wall with the map. He wasn't there, because for a whole year he had avoided big cities, thus avoiding any press attention. Lucy sat beside him, now fully clothed again, her hair hanging loose on her back. It was so much longer, he noticed, it suited her.

"So, you know where everybody's at?"

She shrugged.

"Not really. I just keep updated about their last sightings. Jason-senpai nicknamed me Fairy Hunter, comparing me to witch hunters, he is just so stupid!..." she sighed. "I wanted to see everyone again, but figured that if they didn't come to see me, then maybe they just don't want to meet me."

"That can't be true, Luce. You know that. Everyone is just…"

"Yeah, I know. But everyone knows where I am. My articles are featured on the magazine every week. I'm easy to find, so if they ever want to see me again…"

Natsu wanted to hug her again, but decided against it.

"Where's Happy, by the way? He talked to me at the arena and then disappeared."

"He said he was going to look for Lily or Charles. Said there was something going on with the Exceeds and wanted to talk to them. So he just walked with me until the Coliseum, and went away."

"I see."

"You look so different, and yet… exactly the same."

She opened a small smile.

"Guess I can say the same about you."

He took her hand and looked back at the map and the photos.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know Fairy Tail wouldn't stick together. I thought I was going and that everything would be the same when I went back to Magnolia. I thought you would be mad at me for leaving without saying goodbye but that you would understand, and you would keep doing jobs, but with Levy or Lisanna, or anyone else. I didn't know you would be alone."

Lucy let her tears run down her face freely. Stupid, stupid Natsu. How could he think everything would be alright, after that awful battle against Tartaros? But then, it was Natsu. Of course he would think nothing would change.

"You couldn't know, it's okay."

He looked at her, looked at the tears on her cheeks, and couldn't decide what to do.

"Aren't you mad at me?"

"I wish I was. Instead, I'm just… Sad. Sad and lonely." she saw how he was struggling to find something to say to her, his brows creased in worry. "It's okay, Natsu, really. I'll get over it sooner or later."

"Please, Lucy, just tell me anything you want. Yell at me if you must, just don't… keep it all inside like that."

She laughed. Was she sounding that bitter? For even Natsu to notice, it must really be awful…

"Come on. Just tell me everything you want to and we'll start over again."

"I so wished I could just hate you, Natsu, for leaving me after everything that happened, after I lost Aquarius, after I broke the precious key my mother had cherished. But I just can't, I can't hate you, not now, not never, but I'm still so sad for being left behind!" she tightened her grip on his hand. "Please, don't ever do that again, and if you do, don't ever come back to me like this. It hurts much more. I don't know how to act around you anymore, we are no longer best friends, you no longer invade my house in the middle of the night. I had already forgotten how you sounded and smelled."

This time she hugged him, to hide her face, ashamed of her tears. Natsu immediately enveloped her with his arms, bringing her as close to him as physically possible.

"I'm sorry, Luce. I won't do it again, I promise you."

She was sobbing, so she couldn't articulate a decent answer, but she felt just so stupid! Crying like a baby because she was left alone for a year. No real mage would do that! Taking deep breaths, she tried to control the tears, tried to get herself rid of that knot on her throat.

"I'm the one who is sorry, Natsu, for breaking down on you like this. I'm just so stupid, and I never learn. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry. If it were how you really felt,you shouldn't be sorry."

She opened a small smile.

"Thank you."

"And you are still my best friend."

"You don't have to say this just to make me feel better, Natsu. I'm a grown up."

"No, I mean it. You are my best friend. Well, maybe I'll have to put Happy before you in the friendship list, but still…"

She chuckled.

"I wouldn't dare trying to be ahead of Happy."

Natsu sighed in relief. She was more like herself now, he noticed, and he was glad. He never meant it for her to be so devastated just because he had gone away.

"Hey, do you want to go out and eat something? My treat."

Lucy smiled at him.

"Absolutely."

They got out and Natsu put his arm around her shoulders as they walked to a nearby restaurant. She felt so comfortable around his warmth she let her head rest on his chest, snuggling even closer to him.

"I missed you." she whispered softly, loud enough for just his dragon hearing to listen.

"Me too, Luce."

As they sat in a quiet table, the pretty waitress with strawberry blond hair came to get their orders, grinning at Lucy.

"Do you know her?" Natsu asked once she was gone.

"Yeah, I do. Her name is Suzuku, I always sit in one of her tables, and she already know my favourites. However… I think this is the first time I come here with company."

Natsu grinned.

"So, still with the singleness fame, huh."

"Shut up. I won't let you of all people tease me about that."

He chuckled.

"Guess you're right. Hope Happy is lucky, though. After one year, maybe Charle finally realized she likes him too."

"Oh, that would be sweet!"

Their orders came and they kept talking naturally, as was natural to them, Lucy telling him all about her "fairy hunting", and Natsu telling her all the adventures he had with Happy.

"And there was this time Happy and I were kidnapped by some strange native people of a forest we ended up in. It was so funny! We were sleeping when they caught us, and we woke with the heat of a cauldron beneath us!"

Lucy laughed hard.

"Gods! That is so cliché!"

"Right? And then they fed Happy with something really strange and he forgot everything, even that he liked fish! Do you believe that? Happy didn't remember he liked fish! And that was enough for me. I burned our way out and forced the bastards to cure Happy. He was so depressed he had forgotten even Charle that he spent the next week not eating fish, as a punishment."

He kept talking and talking and Lucy just let him go on, resting her face on her hands, smiling as she listened carefully to every word that got out of his mouth. Natsu told those stories with such a childish enthusiasm, it was cute. His hands were part of the taletelling, making explosions and emphasizing sounds.

Suzuku had to literally force them out of the restaurant, although she was smiling widely to Lucy.

"I never saw you this happy before, Lucy-san. Cling to him, okay?"

Lucy smiled back to her.

"You can bet on it, Suzuku-san."

Natsu kept talking on the way back to her apartment, and only noticed the time when they finally arrived at her door.

"I think I spoke a little too much, haven't I?"

She smiled to him.

"Not at all. Your stories are great. I want to hear them all."

Natsu chuckled, embarrassed.

"Guess I should find somewhere to sleep, then. Good night, Lucy."

But she grabbed his hand before he could go.

"Stay."

"Are you sure? I mean, you always complained before."

"Before I was sure you would be there the next day."

She didn't mean to phrase it like that, but now it was too late.

"Just… Stay, will you?"

He put a hand on her face, delicately running his thumb across her cheek.

"I'll stay as long as you want me, okay? I won't leave without you again, right? It's a promise."

He raised his pinky finger to her.

"I promise."

She laughed at the childishness of that act, but intertwined her pinky to his.

"I accept your promise, Natsu."

He grinned widely.

That night, they slept like they used to, side by side on her bed, except this time was different. She knew he was there all along and she molded her body to his, as he hugged her tightly. And she could only hope they would sleep like this for all nights to come.