Worn sneakers padded down the faded asphalt, gripping the ground as if they knew their home. The young man walked past lines of foliage and gravel on either side of the street, not ceasing until he arrived across from the end of a long driveway.

Against what most would deem reasonable, however, he stepped out not to cross the street, but to stand exactly in the middle. The road was quiet. Nearly empty as it always had been; he'd not seen a car for miles around.

Adjusting his scarf, Natsu smiled, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets. Not a thing about the setting had changed since that four years ago.

Nothing but the night, the snow, and the beautiful girl that had tackled him into it from this very spot.

Natsu shifted his feet on the blacktop, looking around him to insure there were no approaching cars. But he didn't want to move for the moment. He needed to do this. Stand here, right here, again, and remember what he'd thought that night.

He'd thought it was the end.

He had felt… relieved, yet hopeless.

But now… His heart was warmer than it had been then. After four years of college for the arts in Italy with the money he'd gotten from the jobs he'd been offered after his near-death in high school…

He knew now, if there was another truck, he wouldn't stand there to accept some twisted fate.

Natsu would run like hell.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in the familiar summer scent of Magnolia. He'd only returned mere hours ago after his graduation and return flight. After his house, this is the first place he'd wanted to go.

The fulfillment of standing in that same spot, unburdened, was exhilarating… except the feeling was dimmed.

With a sigh, Natsu opened his eyes. He was there, made anew, but as for the one who had convinced him to keep going in the first place…

He hadn't seen her in nearly four years.

Off at some genius college in America, surely. Far away from Natsu, as her father had desired once he'd found out that his daughter had a pink-haired delinquent for a boyfriend. But Natsu knew… he'd see her again.

While he felt he should be excited to see her, as he reached Magnolia and considered the idea that she may be in the area, only dread had clouded his mind. She was the most beautiful and kind girl in the world… surely she'd gotten some other boyfriend, maybe even married…

Which would be a problem. Because he was even more insanely in love with her than he had been the last time he stood in this one patch of asphalt.

Thinking of her bubbling laughter and the smooth brush of her hands when she kissed him, the way her eyes would light up when talking about stories or how he'd love to listen to her speak for hours about anything at all…

A loud skidding sound and the blaring honk of a horn behind him brought him stumbling back to reality, spinning to see a truck, having stopped only a few inches from hitting him.

"You almost got hit by a truck!" screeched an amazingly familiar voice.

He could only watch as she swung down from the driver's side of the little, blue pickup truck. Her hair had grown longer, every feature adorning her only more splendid, but irritated expression the same as he'd always seem in his dreams.

"But I didn't." Natsu could only smile. "And in my defense, you're the one that almost hit me with a truck, ya weirdo."

Lucy's face changed as she gave out a sudden sob, slamming the door shut and running at him. She jumped on Natsu with such force it nearly knocked him clean off of his feet.

There he held her a foot off the ground with a tight embrace, rocking back and forth. He buried his face into the crook of her neck and felt as if he could breathe freely for the first time in years.

"I missed you," Lucy whispered. "So much. I'm so sorry… I wanted to write and call but my father blocked your number from me and your siblings' and I didn't know your address and you didn't know mine and now-"

"Shh… hey, I figured. I knew you would if you could," he murmured back, smoothing golden hair over her shoulders.

"I came back and checked your house, but they said you went for a walk - I thought you might be here." Lucy said.

"Just needed to see this spot again," he told her, holding her out by the shoulders to smile at her.

His hands slid off of her shoulders when she put hers on her hips. "But in the middle of the road?! You idiot - you'd think you'd have learned by now!"

"Probably," he laughed, bashfully pushing a hand through his hair.

He watched Lucy look him up and down for a few moments. His nerves lingered on how he hadn't shaved in a few days, how his hair was probably all messed up from the wind, how he was taller than he had been…

"Looks like life has been treating you well," she said finally with a gracious smile.

"Well, I passed my classes and learned Italian, so I guess that counts."

"C'mon inside." Lucy linked her arm around his. "My dad is on a business trip; I'm just staying for a few days until I can find an apartment. I've got some food in the truck. Also found a new anime to show you, if you'll show me a little Italian, that is."

"You had me at at 'food'."

When she'd parked, they'd raced up to her room with the food, slamming down onto her bed and flipping on the TV. Strange, how they could act as they always had after so long. They did as they had the last time he'd seen her - each ate a half of a small watermelon, gorged on a bag of Doritos, and binge watched for nearly two hours on Netflix before Lucy finally paused in between episodes, taking a large chug of her juice box.

"So," she began casually, leaning back against the window pane, "meet any cute girls in Italy?"

Natsu swallowed, but tried to match her tone. "Eh, some were pretty, yeah. How about guys in the States?"

"They were alright." She shifted her gaze to him from the side. "Italy seems to be a good place for dates."

"Yeah. Got asked on a few. New York was probably pretty exciting for night life too."

"It was," she admitted, picking up her seventh juice box. "I prefer Fiorian men, though. Italian women more your type?"

"Nah. Never accepted the dates." His fingers tapped on his knees with anxiety. "All the women there had the same problem."

"What was that?"

"They weren't you."

Lucy set down her drink slowly, flushing as she twiddled her thumbs and eyed her bare feet. "Well you know… You don't have to have that problem anymore."

"You think so?"

Kissing her for the first time in four years was like a breath of fresh air. The feeling was so natural, comfortable, when he sighed in ecstasy and gathered her closer to him. She smelled the same, of honey, and felt the same as she cupped his face and moved her mouth against his.

It was minutes before they broke apart, and he rested his forehead against hers. "Ti amo," he said quietly. "Ho pensato a voi ogni giorno."

"What?"

"You asked for some Italian." Natsu grinned. "I said that I love you, and I've thought of you every day."

Sliding her fingers around his, she looked into his eyes, calculating. "You seem a little older. More content. But you're still that wild, dorky boy that randomly is very sweet, aren't you?"

"That hasn't changed," he said. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Not really," admitted Lucy, shifting so that she sat at his side and rested her head on his shoulder. "When I went to your house earlier, I ran into these two guys on my way to your porch."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. They said they were your cousins, Sting and Rogue, from before you went into foster care, coming to your graduation party. I asked them if you were home, and they said you'd better be, because they hadn't seen you for years."

Natsu's eyes went wide, thumb that had been making circles in her palm coming to a halt. "Were they… did they seem… happy?"

"They did," Lucy told him. "Smiling, healthy-looking." After eyeing him for a moment, she leaned back again and said, "They said something, when I told them I was your best friend. They said 'then you've probably heard that we're douchebags'."

He glanced at her quickly. "Hmm. Weird."

"Yes…" Lucy traced shapes into his hands absently. "I thought so too, because you'd only mentioned them as silly little kids. I told them that, and they seemed surprised. They said something about how it was amazing that you'd forgiven them after you'd been framed for what they did."

"Ah. That."

She dropped his hand, raising her eyebrows at him. "So? Is it true? You're innocent?"

Natsu only shrugged. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because," he answered slowly. "I knew you didn't care either way. And when I was around you…. I didn't really care either. It's not like I was keeping it from you - I just didn't think it was important, and your dad wouldn't have believed me if I'd told him that anyway." Fingering his scarf, he said, "As long as I knew I was innocent… I was satisfied."

There was a weighted silence in which he was afraid that she was angry with him, but soon, she was hugging him about the waist and rolling her eyes. "You sure are something else, Natsu Dragneel."

"Yeah, somethin'." He smiled. "So, about that graduation party… I think Gildarts would cry if you didn't come."

"Probably," she sighed. "I guess I'll just have to stay all night."

"I guess so. And maybe tomorrow."

"Yup, probably will have to do that too."

"And then maybe forever."

She stood, holding a hand out to him. "Maybe."

And as they got into Lucy's truck to head back to his home, Natsu decided that someday, he'd make that maybe into a definitely.

The truck's radio was crackly when Lucy turned it on.

...I need somewhere to begin

So if you have a minute why don't we go

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything

So why don't we go

Somewhere only we know…

Heya loves!

Just a little sequel I wrote up in honor of Fairy Tail Fluff Week Day One: Together/Come on! on Tumblr. Some people had asked for at least a small continuation, so here it is. Hope you enjoyed. :)

Mizpah,

~LoneStorm