I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry that it took practically forever to update this story. But I'm back with another chapter. Some crazy things have been happening and I barely had time to even edit this chapter. I'll try my hardest to get the next one out sooner. Work has been keeping me pretty busy so I hope I can get the next chapter out in a timely manner...

Anyway! Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4: Spending the night

Natsu stared down at the most beautiful pair of chocolate brown eyes that he had ever seen. They belonged to a girl that must have been around his age, maybe a little younger. She had beautiful blonde hair and a face that was simply angelic. She had flawless cream-colored skin that glowed in the pale moonlight. Her lips were plump and a lovely shade of pink. But sadly, her once probably rosy cheeks, were now tear stained and those dark, lush lashes that framed those beautiful eyes, damp with tears. Poor things must be scared to death. She probably needed to be comforted…..

….He was good at comforting.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy." He said, offering his hand out, a lopsided grin on his face. She extended her hand as well with her wrist slightly bent to expose the soft skin on the back of her hand. Natsu wasn't sure exactly what she was doing so he quickly shook her hand and let go of it, which left Lucy very confused. Usually gentleman kissed a lady's hand. Never had she ever encountered a situation where her hand was shaken firmly and then tossed aside. That was more of a man's greeting for another man. She stared at the man trying to figure him out. He was quite peculiar. He was wearing a white tank top that exposed his muscular arms that were decorated with a few tattoos. The most noticeable one being the intricate dragon that wrapped around his right arm. It was breathing fire that was beautifully swirled out onto his shoulder region that was covered by the interesting patterned white scarf he was wearing. He also was wearing ripped jeans and a pair of black combat boots. His entirety was shocking to Lucy. She had never encountered anyone who was tattooed, let alone anyone who dressed this way. But what shocked her the most was his unruly pink hair. Virgo had pink hair of course, and it was natural so that wasn't the issue. But being as intimidating looking as he was, and being male, the pink hair was very, very unusual. "What are you staring at?"

"I apologize. Forgive my rudeness. I just have never encountered anyone that looks like you." She told him. She furrowed her brow and lifted a hand to touch a pink tuft. It felt soft in between her fingers despite its spiky appearance.

"Well I've never seen anyone that looks like you either." He replied offensively, thinking that she was making fun of him. He batted her hand away and watched the shock wash over her face from his actions. "Look at you. You're like a hoodlum Barbie in that getup." He huffed.

"I- "she started, before taking a moment to take in his words. "I am unsure of how to respond."

"Save it. I've done my part. I'm leaving." He said, reaching to the ground to pick up his leather jacket. He had thrown it down on the ground in the heat of the moment. Well there goes the idea of bringing her back to his apartment for some "comfort". This girl wasn't what he was expecting. She didn't throw herself into his arms. She didn't beg to have company because she didn't want to be along tonight. No. She just stared at him like he was some freak and touched his hair. Geez, there are weirdos out running around out there. "Have a nice night and try not to get yourself in trouble again." He spit onto the ground before turning around and walking off.

"Wait! Please don't leave!" she yelled, running after him.
"Now what do you want?" he whined, continuing to walk briskly away.

"Please, sir. You don't understand." She told him, trying to keep up with his fast pace. "I am in dire need of some assistance!"

"And what's with the way you talk?" he asked her. "Trying to make me feel illiterate? That's right. I know what illiterate means."

"I think you have greatly misunderstood me. I don't wish to make fun of you in any way. And I don't doubt your intelligence either." She explained.

"Damn, right you shouldn't." he said, picking up his pace to lose her. She maybe beautiful but god was she getting annoying. "Now get lost."

"Why excuse me!" she huffed. "I just needed your assistance on finding the nearest hotel."

"3 blocks up, a left of Baker's street, and 7 blocks to the right. There." He said, quickly jogging across the street away from her. Lucy stood where he had ditched her. Her mouth open. Shocked that he had just abandoned her in the street and god knows what hour! In an instance, he was out of sight and Lucy was alone again.

"Some savior he is!" Lucy muttered in frustration. She was walking in the direction that Natsu had pointed her in, keeping an eye out for Baker's street. It was getting even colder out, but she willed her legs to go forward even if they were getting stiff. The sound of screeching in the close vicinity made her jump and she looked behind her and watched as a motorcycle hurdled toward her with frightening speed. She let out a scream and covered her eyes as it she waited for it to hit her. But it never did. She took her hands off her eyes and discovered that the motorcyclist had stopped directly in front of her. He took his helmet off and she was surprised to see that it was the pink haired man that just ditched her.

Natsu?

That's right.

His name was Natsu.

"I felt bad for leaving you there so hop on and I'll take you to the hotel, Looney." He said rolling his eyes.

"And what if I don't want your help." She said, folding her nose and turning her head to pout. "And my name is Lucy I'll have you know. Lucy Heart- um."

She paused after almost saying her full name. It probably wasn't safe for people to know her full name. Her father was an extremely wealthy man. What if this guy tried to hold her ransom or something?

"Do you want to freeze out here, 'Lucy Heart'?" he asked, using air quotations around her name. She frowned, knowing that he was trying to make fun of her.

"No, I do not." She muttered.

"Then hop on." He said, annoyed.

Lucy stood on the sidewalk's curb staring at the man with her eyes wide.

"I just told you. Hop. On." He said in a demanding tone. The harshness in his voice sent a shiver up her spine. This guy sure could be scary.

"Hop on? On that deadly contraption?" she shivered, both from the cold and from fear. "Is it even safe?"

"Yes, here. You can even take my helmet." He said, extending his helmet out to her. She looked at him wearily. She had never been on anything like this in her life. She had barely even been in a car! Natsu, seeing her look of worry decided to try and make her feel better. "If it makes you feel better, I will go slower and you can even hold onto me."

She had a pouty look on her face, but she finally took the helmet and put it over her head. Natsu quickly helped her fasten the chin strap.

"How do I get on?" she asked him.

"You put your foot here and swing your leg over. Kind of like getting on a horse." He explained.

"Oh, father never let me ride horses. This won't break my hymen will it?" she gasped, crossing her legs and inching away from the bike.

"Your what?" Natsu said confused. "Just get on. I don't have time for this. Do you want a ride or not?"

Lucy hesitantly mounted the bike.

"This isn't so-" she started, but her voice was drowned out by the loud revving of the engine.

"Better hold on." Natsu looked at her with a grin. He let go of the clutch fast and they took off. Lucy screamed and threw her arms around Natsu's torso and squeezed her eyes shut. Her eyes remained shut for the rest of the ride. She didn't need to see how fast the world was flying by or she might get sick and vomit. Which would have looked VERY unladylike.

"You can let go now." Natsu said. "We're here."

"We're here!" she squealed. She ungracefully dismounted the bike and shakily stood on the sidewalk while Natsu stayed on his motorcycle. "Thank you so much for bringing me here. And for saving me."

"Don't mention it." He shrugged, putting on his helmet. "You got everything handled then?"

"Yes, sir! I got my money right- "she froze as she felt the inside of empty pocket. The money that Virgo had given her was gone. "It's gone!"

"Gone? What's gone?" he asked.

"My money! All of it! It's gone!" she cried, frantically searching her pockets. "It must have fallen out when those men harassed me!"

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"No, no, no! This shouldn't be happening right now! What am I going to do? I can't go back! I just need a place to stay for the night." she started to cry.

"Sounds like a tough situation." Natsu said with a little sympathy. "Well I better get going."

He didn't need to be here, watching this crazy girl have a meltdown. There were people for that. And they were not him. He revved up his motorcycle and began to turn it so that he could leave but was stopped when Lucy jumped in front of him.

"Wait! You can't just leave a lady alone on the streets with no money!" she cried out. "Please, can't you help me? You were so kind earlier."
"Well here's something about me that you don't know. Come here." Natsu said, wiggling a finger at her for her to come in close. Her eyes lit up and she leaned forward to listen closely. "I'm not a nice guy."

He revved his engine again and began to turn the handlebars in the direction of the street. Not thinking, Lucy closed her eyes and reached out to grip his handlebars, refraining him from going anywhere.

"Please, I don't have any other place to go!" she begged, tears freely falling from her eyes.

"Please don't cry. I hate crying." He said with slight disgust. "Listen, I don't have enough money on me right now to get you a hotel, but you can crash at my place. JUST for tonight. Okay?"

"Really?" Lucy said, wiping her tears away. "Thank you!"

"Now I'm not promising that anything won't happen tonight." He smirked. "Girls just find me hard to resist."
"It must because of your kind heart." Lucy beamed. She put her hands over her heart and looked at him with this, as Natsu would describe, a crazy look. "Thank you. You've saved me!"

She threw her arms around him and he was startled by her sudden action. He hesitantly hugged her back and let her overwhelming floral scent enter his nostrils. Geez did she bathe in flowers or something. The scent slightly burned his nose and he scrunched it and turned his head away from her. She pulled away after a moment.

"I promise that it will just be for tonight. And that I will be no trouble at all!" she told him.

….

"What a wonderful- um- home you have here." Lucy managed to get out. They had safely made it back to Natsu's home and she was not only winded from all the stairs they had to get here but in utter shock as well from the mess in front of her. It was absolutely disgusting. There were tons of boxes and containers of half-eaten food everywhere, along with clothes strewn everywhere.

It was smaller than her house (But I mean she lived in a mansion on a giant estate), but it was about the size of her own quarters.

It was cute.

"Thanks. Sorry that it is a bit of a mess. I haven't gotten around to cleaning in a little while." He said, clearing a path to the couch. "Or ever."

"It's alright. I am just grateful for a place to lay my head for the night." Lucy said, watching where she put her feet. She didn't want to step on anything that could be valuable to him. Or step on anything hiding underneath all this stuff.

"You can sleep on my couch for tonight." He told her, pointing to the lumpy grey couch that was in front of them. There was another couch adjacent to it, but it was a weird brown color as far as she could see from underneath piles of clothes, empty food containers and junk. "Or if you like, you can share my bed with me."

He gave her a small wink which she shrugged at.

"The sofa is perfectly fine with me. Thank you for your offer. I'm supposed to wait until marriage before I share a bed with a man." She said with a matter of fact tone.

Um, what?

Did he just get flat out turned down?

He stared at her for a moment. Ouch.

"Okay but if you change your mind, I'm just down the hall." He waltzed over to his couch and began wiped off all the trash onto the floor in one foul swoop, leaving it on the floor. "I'll grab a pillow and blanket for you."

"Thank you very much for your hospitality." She said, slightly bowing in his direction. Once he left to retrieve some bed items she took a moment to further clean the couch. If she was going to sleep on it, it better not have any food hidden in its cushions. Lucky for her, there was no moldy food. Just the pair of the most scandalous, frilliest pink underwear she had ever seen. With a disgusted face, she quickly tossed it aside and wiped her hands on her pants. She didn't need to think about who or how those underwear ended up in the couch that she was about to sleep on.

"I hope you don't mind but the only extra blanket that I have is this one." He said, holding up a large fuzzy blanket that had a cartoon picture of a candle and the words "Blow me, it's my birthday" printed in large font across it. "It was a gift."

"Anything you give me, I will be very grateful for." She faked a smile. Damn, there goes rule number 9. But it was hard to be sincere about a blanket with a sexual joke on it. Lucy wasn't totally out of the loop with things like that. Sure, her body was still innocent, but she knew a few things about sex. Mostly because Taurus liked to tell dirty jokes which later Virgo had to explain to her, making her face burn red with embarrassment. He tossed her the blanket which she barely caught.

"Bathroom is down the hall." He pointed. "Goodnight. See you in the morning."

"Have a wonderful rest of your night. Rest well!" she smiled. He half smiled back at her before turning around and heading to his room. Lucy spent a few minutes to further wipe off the crumbs from the sofa before making her bed. She tried her best to make it like Virgo made her bed but trying to make a sofa look like a bed proved difficult. When she was semi satisfied with her project she cleared a small section of the food strewn floor and knelt in front of her bed.

Natsu couldn't believe that a girl had turned him down for sex. Usually they flaunted themselves at him after just seeing his muscular tattooed arms. And not to mention how many panties hit the floor as soon as they found out he drove a motorcycle. He grumbled to himself as he tried to figure out other ways to get this girl into bed. Bingo. He pulled off his tank top that he was wearing and threw on a pair of basketball shorts and let them lay extremely low on his hips. No girl would be able to resist him like this. He confidently made his way out of his room.

"-Everything seems calm right now, which I am thankful for but of course you know what all happened today…." Lucy spoke.

Natsu's ears perked up at the sound of her talking to herself and he peered around the corner and saw her on her knees with her hand delicately folded in front of her with closed eyes. She was praying? Did he bring home some crazy, escaped, hot nun girl? It felt weird watching her talk to herself. He had never really seen someone pray before and he felt intrusive.

"- Oh and Natsu…. he seems a little rough around the edges but I'm sure he is really nice. I'm sure you know all about him." She smiled to herself. "Please let him have restful sleep tonight. Amen."

"I didn't peg you as the religious type." Natsu said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed in front of his tanned chest.

"Not really." She shrugged. "Are you relig- "

Her eyes widened to the size of teacup saucers. She had never seen a half-naked man before but here he was.

"I don't believe in shit like that." He shrugged, heading into the kitchen. "It's all bullshit."

"And I fully respect your opinion." She said, avoiding eye contact as she stood up to get into bed. "Religion does have a lot of unknown questions. I barely believe it myself."

"Then why did you pray then?" he asked, filling up a glass with water. He was so focused on talking to her that he totally forgot the reason why he came out here. "Did you go to catholic school? Because I heard those girls are freaks in bed."

"I don't actually pray to God. I just talk out loud to my mom. It gives me a sense of comfort." She said, getting into bed. "And no, I did not attend a catholic school. I was homeschooled."

"Yikes. No wonder you don't have any social skills." He replied, downing his glass of water.

"Well I apologize for not knowing for to socialize properly." She sniped. "Now if I may be excused from this conversation, I would like to go to bed."

"Alright, alright. Don't get your granny panties in a twist." He said, holding his hands up in defense. "Night."

"I bid you goodnight." She said, grumpily. "And don't talk about my undergarments!" She tried her best to get comfy once Natsu had left but this couch was extremely uncomfortable. She angrily puffed her cheeks before sitting up and busing herself with a task that would hopefully make her sleepy.

….

"Natsu! You need to wake up!" Lucy said, shaking him.

"Nooo. Don't make me leave. Let him find us." He mumbled in his sleep.

"Pardon me?" Lucy responded. She didn't have time to figure out how what he was mumbling about. She just needed to wake him up.

"Natsu! Wake up!" she said louder, using all her might to shake him.

"Whattt?" he said, sleepily opening his eyes.

"Good! You're awake!" Lucy exclaimed with happiness. "You need to help me. There is a terrible beeping sound coming from the kitchen and I don't know how to stop it! And I'm too short to reach it."

Natsu tilted his head and tried to listen for the beeping noise for himself.

"It's the fire alarm." He said, as he lazily turned over. It took a moment for it to sink in that it only went off when something was burning. His eyes shot open as he shot out of bed and ran into the kitchen. There was a stream of black smoke, steadily leaving the toaster.

"All I did was put bread into it!" Lucy told him as he quickly unplugged the toaster and took it out onto his balcony to let it finish smoking. "And then the horrible beeping started!"

"Open the windows to let it air out in here." He ordered her. She quickly scampered off into the living room and began to open the windows. After she had finished, she came back into the kitchen where he was standing on a chair resetting the fire alarm.

"There. No more noise." He said, getting off the chair. "Now what the hell where you doing? Trying to set my apartment on fire? And what's with the mess in here?"
"I was just trying to make you breakfast to show you my appreciation for letting me stay here." She said in a small voice. "I just didn't know how."

"What kind of girl doesn't know how to cook?" he questioned.

"I was never taught." She told him. "Anyways, I just put the bread in and then it started smoking. I'm not sure what happened."

"Well that toaster is pretty ancient." He said. He rubbed his eyes before looking at the food scattered over the counter. "How about I make breakfast and you can watch? And not touch anything."

"That would be wonderful!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands with excitement.

"Okay, okay. Don't act so cheery." He grumbled. "It's like 5- WHAT. Why are you up at 5 in the morning on a Saturday?"

"I usually am awake around this time every morning." She said, tilting her head with confusion.

"You- you, ugh." He groaned in defeat. "Okay, well I'm up let's do this."

"Hurray!" she said. "I'll set the table."

"Table?" he asked. "What table?"

"You're dining table?" she asked back, confused. "Here, I'll show you."

She led him to the small table that was in the living room.

Wait, the living room?

Natsu looked at the rest of his apartment and could hardly recognize the organized room in front of him. Everything had a place and was clean and tidy.

This was like some weird dream.

"I hope you don't mind that I tidied up a few things." The blonde said, rubbing her arm nervously. "I couldn't sleep last night so I thought cleaning would help wear me out, so I could rest."

He gaped at her with a raised brow.

"Your table is actually quite nice and perfect for having breakfast on." She smiled, patting the small oak table in front of them.

"Well look at that." He said, putting his hand on his jaw. "I have a table. Is that really what my carpet is supposed to look like." Touching the blue, fluffy carpet with his toes.

"I assume so?" she responded. "Now show me how to make breakfast, please!"

Lucy watched carefully, making mental notes, on how Natsu measured out various ingredients and blended them together to make a pale batter. Or how he carefully cracked eggs into a sizzling hot pan that held crisping bacon. She thoroughly enjoyed watching him make breakfast. It was very relaxing. Once he was all finished and the dirty dishes placed in the sink, she set the table and laid out their plates of food. Natsu sighed as he finished drying his hands before he went to sit down at his 'new' table with Lucy.

"Okay, I'm here. Dig in." he said, pouring syrup over his buttered pancakes.

"Um, Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm?" he responded, his mouth full of a pancake.

"What exactly are these?" she asked, pointing her butter knife at the pancake on her plate.

"They're pancakes." He shrugged. "What have you never had pancakes before?"

She shook her head in response.

"I could have certain pastries during breakfast but nothing I have had that has even remotely resembled this." She said, poking her pancake.

"So, what you do is, take this syrup and pour it all over it." He explained, handing her the bottle of syrup. She picked it up in her hand and opened the container and dribbled a thin stream over her pancake.

"Like that?" she asked.

"Nope, more." He said, taking another bite. "Like this."

He put his hand on top of hers and helped her pour over a heavy amount of syrup.

"There. Perfect. Now you can eat." He said, picking up a slice of bacon from a plate and dipping it into the leftover syrup on his plate.

She picked up her knife and began to precisely cute bite size pieces. She jabbed her fork into one of the pieces and pressed it securely onto her fork with the back of her knife. Natsu watched her as she took her fist bite and saw her eyes light up as she began to chew.

"This is delicious!" she exclaimed, stabbing another piece and putting it into her mouth. "You are a marvelous chef!"

"I'm glad you enjoy it." Natsu chuckled.

The rest of breakfast continued in a happy silence for the two.