Missing You

...

I miss you a little. A little too much, a little too often, and a whole lot every day.

...

The marker was in his hand, but the giant map made him hesitate.

Pictures of their friends were scattered out on a large bulletin board with pieces of yarn connecting them to several locations. Some of the pictures were connected to others. Dates were scribbled urgently beside most of them.

Natsu lowered the marker in his hand, suddenly not feeling as mischievous as before. When he had heard from Lucy that Fairy Tail had been disbanded, he had just gotten angry. Angry at Gramps for doing something so terrible, angry at his guildmates for not sticking together, and angry at Lucy...though he wasn't sure why he had been so cross with her.

Looking at all the effort she did to keep track of everyone, Natsu felt the anger and disappoint rising in his gut again; the only difference this time was that he was upset with himself. He really didn't have an excuse to get mad, especially not at Lucy of all people. After all, he had left the guild—left Lucy!—behind for a year with nothing more than a letter.

If anyone was being selfish here, it had been him.

"Natsu…" Happy cooed, holding onto Natsu's leg. "She looked for everyone. She never stopped believing in Fairy Tail."

Natsu gave a short nod. He kept his eyes fixated on the board in front of him opposed to the sleeping form of his friend who had endured so much because of him. "That's Lucy for ya," he murmured.

Reaching a paw out, Happy touched the picture of himself and Natsu that Lucy had pinned to her board. A big fat question mark was drawn beneath it and it was completely isolated from any of the other pictures. "We should have taken her with us."

The room stayed quiet as Natsu shifted his eyes to the sleeping form of Lucy. It was weird seeing her sleep in a different bed, in a different house, in a different city from when he left her just shy of a year ago. And yet, it was still familiar.

The gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed and the small sighs she made as she exhaled were both small things that Natsu had come to appreciate in the several months he had been gone. He had been with Lucy for so long, it had been weird for the blonde's absence during their training.

Happy hugged Natsu's leg a little tighter, effectively regaining his attention. "You're right," he finally agreed, smiling down at his blue friend. "Not sure if she would have enjoyed it that much."

Happy shrugged slightly. "She'd be fine because at least we would all be together."

Natsu gave a one last look over the mapped board before turning back towards the door, but Lucy rolling over in her sleep stopped him for a second. He was about to disregard her when he just barely caught her mumbling the words, "Fairy Tail...Natsu...home."

It wasn't exactly a well thought out plan, but before he could even process what he was doing, Natsu was pulling back the covers and crawling into bed with Lucy who was still fast asleep. Despite her tank top and shorts, she still felt warm as he nestled into her body. He had never slept this close to her before and wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised when he felt her cuddling into him as well.

"Natsu? Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Happy stood at the end of the bed, his head tilted to one side. "I don't think Lucy is going to like it if she wakes up that you've been spooning her all night half naked."

"What are you talking about?" Natsu whispered over the top of her head. His eye peaked just past her blonde tuft of hair enough so that he was eyeballing the Exceed. "Lucy is used to me not wearing shirts. Besides, I'll be out of bed long before she wakes up."

Happy yawned sleepily, desperately trying to stay away by rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Is this because you loooove her?" he asked around another yawn.

Natsu snorted quietly. "Don't be weird. The couch was just too small."

Scoffing to himself, Happy curled up in the center between Natsu and Lucy. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, Natsu."

Natsu rested his head back down into the pillow. Within seconds, Happy's small breaths had become even with Lucy's.

Once again, Natsu nuzzled his nose along the top of Lucy's head. She felt so warm! And she smelled of ginger and cinnamon, a drastic change in the cucumber-melon that he usually associated her with.

It was weird how much it bugged him that he had missed so much her life in the last year. It bothered him even more that he had been the cause of so much of the grief that she had suffered as well.

Suddenly, Lucy shifted again and Natsu found himself almost nose to nose with her. She had the biggest smile on her face. Pursing his lips to the side, he wondered what she could have been dreaming about to make her smile so big.

He also began to get the feeling that getting out of bed the next morning would be harder than he thought.

11/11/16