NINE MONTHS

1st Week: Momentous

Lucy tensely bit her lower lip and studied her toes carefully, waiting for a word, a sound, just something from her team mate and friend sitting next to her on her bed. She had her sheets wrapped tightly around her lithe frame, her body felt weak and warm with embarrassment. She could not believe this happened.

The situation was so awkward that it almost made Lucy forget about her terrible headache. She somehow found the courage to throw a glance at him, but quickly turned away when she realized he was staring at her intensely. Her cheeks flushed and she inched away a little.

She felt horrible. She felt god awful. This was so not her. Lucy wasn't the kind of girl to get drunk and end up in bed with her good guy friend. She wasn't someone who would sleep with a guy she wasn't even in love with. She knew better than that.

Lucy felt an itching in her eyes as she lowered her head a bit. "S-stop looking at me… like that," she mumbled. Like she was still naked. Although she was still naked underneath the covers.

"Sorry," Natsu answered her quietly.

She tried to remember how exactly they ended up here. She reconstructed the events of last night in her mind, from when they had a real blast in the guild, to when everyone decided to play a game involving a lot of alcohol. Lucy vaguely remembered that she and Natsu had been awfully touchy-touchy the whole evening and that at some point he had planted a sloppy, rum-tasting kiss on her lips. But from then on everything was blurry and pretty much totally blank.

"Could you… could you please put on a shirt," she said after a while.

"Um. Sure."

Lucy still looked away when Natsu stood up from the bed, even though he was wearing his boxers. This was so weird. Usually, Natsu would have started teasing her by now. She never would have thought that something like this would actually bother someone like him. But then again, he did have a pulse.

She saw him put on his pants and his shirt from the corner of her eye, waited patiently until he was fully dressed. But even then, Lucy found it impossible to lift her head and look up. Her heart clenched every time she thought about what she had done. What a stupid mistake they had made.

She heard him sigh deeply. "Lucy." She said nothing. "You won't even look at me?"

It wasn't so much a question than it was an observation. Lucy could only weakly shake her head and ultimately buried her face in her knees. She was kind of scared to look at him. Because she didn't want to see the look he was giving her. It had changed. Of course it had changed. There was no way he was going to look at her like he did before ever again. And she wasn't going to either.

"I… I just can't," she managed to whisper. "This is… it's so embarrassing."

Natsu sighed again as he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Look," he said really softly. "If I could turn back time, believe me, I would stop myself from getting that drunk. But I can't."

Lucy shook her head once more. "It's not only you. I'm at fault, too. I just don't…" She looked up only an inch. "I don't wanna lose you, Natsu."

"Hey!"

Her eyes widened when Natsu suddenly grabbed her by her arms to make her look at him. His gaze was earnest and truthful and Lucy almost felt a little bit better.

"You can't. Ever," he said to her. "We're still friends, right? Lucy?"

Lucy's mouth opened in wonder at his expression. As if he was begging her to reassure him like he had done with her. That was when she realized that she wasn't the only one who found this situation painful and awkward. She probably wasn't even the one who was feeling the worst here.

She felt her quivering lips curve upward to a small smile. "Of course. We'll always be."

Natsu immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew." With that hint of a grin, he looked more like himself. "You finally looked at me. I was pretty scared here for a sec."

Lucy felt her mouth twitch with guilt. Even though she had said that, she still felt as if it was not entirely true. Even now, she felt uncomfortable with the way his hands rested on her upper arms, but couldn't find the strength to push him away. Not when he looked so lost. She was very certain that something about their relationship would change drastically. And something told her it wasn't going to be a change for the better.

"Just out of curiosity," Lucy finally started. "Do you… you know." Her cheeks flushed. "Remember anything about it?"

This was probably the first time ever that she saw Natsu blush because of a girl. He quickly let go of her like she was a poisonous plant. Lucy watched curiously as he turned around and began to nervously scratch the back of his head.

"Not from when we left Fairy Tail."

"Yeah, same here…"

"I'm never gonna drink with Cana again."

"You know, maybe we haven't done anything after all."

Natsu turned around to her with an expression of pure disbelief. "Lucy, seriously?" he said. "We both were incredibly drunk and woke up naked in the same bed. Go figure."

That was when Lucy threw herself at her bed, burying her face in her pillows. "I know! Sheesh! I'm just trying to find excuses! This is just so weird!" she squealed into the fabric.

Natsu watched as she tore at her hair and pummeled her pillows in somewhat of an ashamed frenzy. He brought a hand up in an attempt to pat her back in a comforting gesture, but then after a second thought let it limply fall back on the mattress. He had a feeling it was better not to touch Lucy right now. When she was like this, she was pretty much unpredictable. Instead he turned away and looked outside the window.

"Then again, maybe you're right," he uttered and he could make out Lucy's face resurfacing from her pillows. "I mean, we both can't remember. Maybe we wanted to, but never got to finish. Maybe we fell asleep or something."

Lucy nodded eagerly. "Yes! That must be it!" she shouted out so suddenly that Natsu flinched. "I don't see a… c-condom lying anywhere, so we can't possibly have done anything! We wouldn't be that stupid, would we?"

"Nah, never." Natsu gave a small nervous smile.

"Ah, I'm so glad," she blushed furiously and fumbled with her sheets, "Since I've been saving myself for my wedding night. I wouldn't be able to get married after something like that."

He suddenly felt a powerful jolt of guilt in his stomach. "O-oh really."

Lucy nodded, and she undoubtedly looked very relieved. Natsu thought that maybe she needed this right now. He guessed she really needed to believe that nothing happened. Even though she knew deep down that it probably did.

"You know, I should probably go home now." Natsu stood up and put on his trademark scarf. "I'm pretty worried about what happened to Happy after we left."

Lucy smiled a little awkwardly at him. "Oh yeah, sure," she said a little too enthused. "I'll see you later then!"

He arched a brow at her. "Yeah. See ya."

The way she was acting, he was getting pretty worried that she would take this too much to heart. After all, she was Lucy and if he knew her just a tad of what he believed, she would probably keep acting this weird for a while. And the worst part was that he had no idea how to fix this.

"Natsu!"

He turned around and saw her blushing.

"Let's keep this a secret."

Natsu sighed as he climbed the window sill. "Sure."

When Natsu was gone, Lucy's smile immediately disappeared from her face as though wiped off with a towel. She felt queasy. Her head was aching horribly, her insides hurt from a pain that was more of a mental nature than anything else. She felt like the dirt under someone's shoes and she just didn't know why. Why was she making such a big deal out of this?

It was just sex. Sex with her friend. That she had merely platonic feelings for.

Yes, it was true that Lucy didn't remember the previous night. It was true that she hoped she could forget about it and act like it never happened. But the painful truth was that it had happened; the evidence was a throbbing pain between her thighs, a pain she had never felt before. She knew why it was there. She may have been a virgin, but she wasn't entirely stupid.

Little tear drops moistened her sheets and Lucy realized she was crying. How could she have been so stupid? Her father had been right from the start. A seventeen year old girl was in no way capable of taking care of herself alone in a giant city like Magnolia. He had always said she was going to wind up getting knocked up by some thug and become a drug addicted single mother who would sell her body for Crack.

Lucy now saw that same future before her eyes and cried even harder. She had never in her life bought a condom. What for anyway? She had been sure that she would give her virginity to her husband the very same night they would vow to love each other until death would part them. But maybe Natsu had some? He was a guy after all. Guys always walked around with a giant pack of condoms.

With that thought, she sniffled and glanced over at her trash bin. She swiftly stood up, sheet still wrapped tightly around her body and walked over to the silver case. She took a deep breath, wiped away her tears and quickly looked down inside the bin before she could change her mind.

It was there.

Lucy couldn't believe it. There was actually a condom there. No single mom prostitute lifeline. She was officially out of the woods. Lucy sank to her knees and started laughing manically. They had used a condom!

Her laughter died out when she realized she had lost her virginity. To Natsu.

When Natsu got home that day, he got a glimpse into Lucy's everyday life.

"Welcome home, darling," Lisanna purred playfully as she sat on his couch. "How was your night?"

Natsu almost choked on his own spit. "What the hell." This girl, she knew how to put him at a loss. And why was she acting like a housewife?

"Natsu!" Happy cried out as he flew directly into his arms. The little cat looked up at him, obviously sulking. "What happened? Why didn't you come home? Where did you sleep? What about Lucy? You just went and left me behind! I was so worried!"

This cat sure could talk a lot and it wasn't exactly making his headache any better. "Sorry, partner. I… was busy."

Lisanna smirked knowingly at him. "So I've heard."

Sometimes, he felt like strangling her. She had only returned from her little death trip to Edoras about a month ago, but things had quickly reverted back to the way they were before the incident that had everyone thinking she had died happened. Natsu and Lisanna went back to being the best friends they had been before, with Lisanna sometimes annoying the living hell out of him. He hated how she always seemed to have the upper hand in an argument.

"What are you doing here?" He glared half-heartedly at her.

"I actually slept here," she said with a mock sigh. "Really now, Natsu. Someone had to take care of our dear son after all. And since the Daddy decided to spend the night somewhere else, Mommy had to look after him all by herself."

Natsu's glare intensified. "Stop talking like a housewife."

Lisanna flashed him a big, teasing grin. "Looks like we got up with the wrong foot today, eh?" She had a good stretch and leaned back against the sofa. "And here I was so sure that your night's been absolutely lovely."

The fire mage gawked at her like she was from another galaxy. Oh bloody hell, she knew. There was no mistaking that glint in her eyes. That bitch had known right from the start and now she was here to have a little fun with his guilt.

"What are you guys talking about?" Happy asked, curiously.

Natsu gulped. "Hey, how about you go outside to the pond for some fishing? There's something I need to discuss with Lisanna," he uttered and Lisanna's smile broadened.

"O…kay?" Happy arched a brow and flew outside the nearest window.

When the blue Eksheed was gone, Lisanna crossed her arms in front of her chest and crossed a leg over the other, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Natsu mimicked her gesture and also crossed his arms, although his was more an act of caution.

"Spill it. What do you know?"

Lisanna puckered her lips. "What is there to know?"

"Huh." Natsu knit up his brows, glaring quietly for a while. "You don't know."

"So there's something to know?"

"Not at all."

"Then I can't know, can I?" Lisanna smiled triumphantly.

Natsu's eyes widened. "You do know!"

"Know what?"

"You know what!"

"Do I?"

"The way you're grinning. You know it!"

"So there is something to know."

Natsu was actually speechless. "I… uh… that…" He struggled for words, but quickly gave up. "You tricked me!"

Lisanna giggled at his expression. "So you cheated on me, did you?"

"Stop talking like that," he hissed, cheeks flushed as he flopped down next to her. "How did you find out anyway?"

"What, you think you two were discreet or something?" She rolled her eyes at him. "You're lucky everyone else was pretty much just as wasted as you two. But since I've been helping Mira-nee at the bar, I kind of saw the whole show. From when you were feeling her up at the pool, to when you and Lucy decided to sneak off. You guys were practically eating each other alive, you know-"

"Okay, I get the picture." Natsu held up a hand to silence her, then gave a deep sigh. "I did something really stupid, Lisanna."

The white haired girl frowned and put a hand on his arm. "Oh c'mon, Natsu. I'm sure Lucy's not mad or anything, since you were both drunk and stuff…"

"Not that."

Lisanna watched him carefully. She had to admit that she had never seen Natsu so worked up.

"I… I lied to her," he finally admitted. "I said I didn't remember, when actually… I do remember. It's all very fuzzy, but you know. It's there."

"Ah." Lisanna stared quietly at him. "So?"

Natsu leaned back against the couch with a low groan and Lisanna pulled up her legs to turn her body fully around to him, patiently waiting for him to continue the story about Natsu and Lucy's Night of Drunken Passion.

"So," Natsu emphasized. "I shouldn't have done that. It's just that she was trying so hard to make herself believe nothing happened. This thing really got to her. And then she went and said that she was a virgin."

"Wait. You took her virginity?"

"Apparently I did. Although she wanted to wait until she's… y'know, married."

"Heh." Lisanna grinned to herself. "Lucy, Lucy… So she's not only naughty in Edoras."

Natsu looked almost desperate. "Take this seriously, would you. I'm not in the mood for your little jokes today."

"Fine then, no little jokes," she laughed out loud, patting his head. "Still, I don't get why this is giving you such a hard time. So you two got drunk and had sex. That happened in Edoras, too. And you two recovered from it. Oh, but that was because you were in love there."

The fire mage looked up at his ceiling. Was that just him or was his Erza sandbag glaring at him in a very unpleasant way? His blood froze at the thought what she'll do to him.

Lisanna looked thoughtful. "So the question is easy, really."

"Is it?" he replied lazily.

"Are you in love with Lucy?"

Natsu sighed. "No," he answered flat-out.

"Then it might be difficult," Lisanna said with a frown. "But you used a condom, didn't you?"

Heavy silence.

Lisanna's eyes widened in alarm. "Natsu," she said slowly. "You did use a condom, right?"

"I don't know!" he cried out, clasping his hands over his face. "That part I actually can't remember. I know Macao gave me one, but from when we got naked everything's blurry. I don't know!"

"God, Natsu, you're an idiot. I am never giving you alcohol again," she scoffed.

"Yeah."

"You need to talk to Lucy."

"I know."

"What's a condom?" Happy asked innocently as he flew inside.

Natsu gave a groan and Lisanna waved it off. "You're way too young for that talk." She stood up and looked at the miserable picture Natsu was giving off. "Coffee?"

"Please."

"Morning," Lucy called out somewhat cheerfully into the guild and was welcomed by universal groaning. It almost sounded a little like a concert of pain and weariness.

"Why's she being so loud," Gray grumbled, massaging his temples. "Someone please shut her up."

Lucy kicked his leg very hardly as she sat down next to him and Gray gave a pained noise. "So I see everyone had a great morning," she scoffed wryly.

"We're still trying to figure out what the hell happened yesterday," Cana snorted as she sat cross-legged on the table and surprisingly held a cup of coffee instead of the usual barrel full with booze. If even Cana had a massive hangover, it really had to have been one hell of a party.

Lucy glared viciously at Cana. "You. This is all your fault to begin with."

"Agreed," Gray uttered miserably.

Juvia leaned kind of awkwardly against Gray's shoulder. "Juvia can't believe you made her drink that much," she mumbled weakly.

"Hey." Cana crossed her arms, frowning at her friends. "I never forced you to participate. It was your own decision to get all wasted."

"Yeah, because you got Master so riled up about that stupid drinking contest that he ordered everyone to take part," Lucy snapped as Mirajane brought her a cup of steaming coffee. "Oh, thanks, Mira. By the way, where's Erza?"

Mirajane giggled, one of her hands covering her mouth. "She's passed out over there in the corner."

Lucy glanced at the spot in the guild Mirajane had pointed to and saw the famous Titania in all her armored glory sitting at a table and leaning against the wall, sleeping. The blonde felt her mouth fall open at the unexpected sight. Honestly, what kind of party had that been?

"Has she been here the whole night?"

"We tried to wake her, but nothing works," Gray explained with a tired smirk.

Cana was slapping her leg, laughing loudly. "See that? The great Titania's so not good with alcohol."

Lucy shrugged it away and blew at her hot coffee. "So I take it you guys don't remember anything about yesterday either," she said.

"Lucy-san neither?" Juvia asked.

"Nope. Total black out."

"Oh, that's too bad," said a saccharine female voice.

Lucy looked up to see a widely smiling Lisanna approaching their table. Behind her was Happy and none other than the reason her headache was getting even worse: Natsu Dragneel. Lucy promptly choked on her coffee and started coughing as if she was struggling for dear life.

"Whoa!" Gray started violently patting her back to help her out.

Mirajane worriedly rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lucy, is the coffee too hot?"

"I-I'm alright," Lucy managed to hoarsely squeeze out between coughs as she glanced up at Natsu at the same time that he looked at her. She quickly looked away. "H-hi."

"Yo," Natsu mumbled his reply sheepishly into his scarf.

Lisanna glanced from Natsu to Lucy and then grinned with obvious amusement before leaning down to the blonde celestial mage. "So Lucy, how are you feeling today?" she purred all too sweetly. "Did you have a blast last night?"

Lucy's eyes widened with horror. Oh dear god. This couldn't be. Oh, he didn't. Did he?

She threw a dangerous glare in Natsu's direction who nervously looked away, and she knew in that moment that she had not been wrong. Lisanna knew what happened last night. Oh, that no-good bastard of a stray cow. Lucy shot out of her seat like a bolt of lightning and went straight for Natsu.

"You." She grabbed him by the arm. "Let's have a nice talk outside."

Lisanna watched Natsu being dragged outside the guild by the fuming girl with utmost satisfaction. She knew her Natsu; he would have never had the guts to make the first step. And those two really needed to talk it out. But she decided to not tell them that when this incident happened in Edoras, Lisanna was actually the one to help them out there, too.

"Some things don't change," she sighed.

Happy threw her a huffy look. "Will someone explain what's going on?"

"L-Lucy, you're choking me!"

"I don't care."

They walked some feet away from Fairy Tail, with Lucy dragging him along by his scarf violently and Natsu awkwardly stumbling along. When they reached a deserted alleyway, Lucy let go of the scaly material and whirled around so suddenly that Natsu backed away a step.

"O-okay," he said anxiously as Lucy kept glaring at him. "You're probably a little upset right now. I-I understand that."

Lucy was tapping her foot angrily against the ground. "Oh no, my friend, I've moved past upset and straight to pissed off," she spat at him and poked him hard in the chest. "I can't believe you told her! You promised to keep it a secret!"

"I didn't tell her! Look, this girl's an eagle, she sees everything!"

"You mean she found out by herself?"

Natsu's cheeks turned a bit rosy. "She said we were pretty obvious. What with the way we were making out and stuff."

"Wait just a minute." Lucy raised her hands in disbelief. "We were making out in the guild?"

"That's what she said." He paused for a bit, then realized what he had said and chuckled about his words.

Lucy whacked him over the head. "Be serious, you jerk!" She sighed deeply and brought a hand up to touch her forehead. "I can't believe this is happening to me."

"But good news is that everyone else is just as blacked out as we are, so…"

"Yeah, that is somewhat of a relief," she said quietly. "I guess it's okay as long as Lisanna doesn't say anything…"

Natsu nodded quickly. "And she won't. She's not like her sister, I promise."

Lucy also gave a slight nod. Despite of the situation they were in, she couldn't help but feel a little bit relieved. The way they had bickered just now had finally felt a little more like them again. She had been so scared that everything would be ruined, but after this, she thought, maybe there was still hope that they could continue being friends. Going on merry adventures and having fun together, like they always used to. Maybe.

"Um." She lifted her head to see Natsu fidget uncomfortably. "There's something I still need to tell you, actually."

Lucy's face immediately paled to an alarming degree. He couldn't be about to do what she thought he was about to do. It was impossible. They were team mates, and friends on top of that. Yes, they did share a drunken mishap, but was he really going to make things even more complicated for them? She knew that she didn't like him that way. As uch as she hated it, she needed to be straight with him.

"I'm sorry, Natsu," she sighed sadly.

He looked up, confused. "Sorry? Why?"

"I… I just don't have those kinds of feelings for you."

Silence.

"Uh, what?"

"I'm really sorry. I know it must be hard, but I'd feel better if we could just remain friends."

Natsu stared at her for a while, and then burst out laughing really loud. Lucy was taken aback to say the least and watched in bewilderment as he held his stomach, laughing maniacally.

She felt herself blush a little. "Wh-what's so funny?"

"Sorry, Lucy," he managed to gasp. "I don't like you like that either. I guess I'm just glad we feel the same way and it doesn't have to be awkward anymore."

Lucy blinked at him. "So… you don't love me?"

"Oh no, I do," Natsu grinned. "As a nakama."

She actually smiled at that. A real smile. "Oh god, that's good. I was so scared you'd be crushed," she breathed in relief. She felt as if a load was taken off her shoulder and Natsu's bright smile just reassured her even more.

"Yeah, me too."

"So then what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Ah. Yeah." Natsu ran a hand through his rosy colored hair, cheeks heating up. "The truth is, I lied. When I said that I didn't remember. I actually do remember the… specific parts."

Lucy gaped at him as if he was an alien. He could not be serious. She felt as if her body just flushed from her toes to her ears, and quickly slung her arms around herself in embarrassment before she turned away from him.

"Oh my god! Don't look at me! You're never allowed to look at me again!"

"Wha- NO! I didn't mean that!" Natsu quickly cried out, waving it off. "I mean more like… how it happened. You know, the stuff leading up to it."

The blonde shut her mouth abruptly, eyes wide. "Re… really?"

"You wanna know?"

"Yeah. No. Yes. Yes, tell me." Natsu opened his mouth, but Lucy quickly cut in, "No, don't! I don't wanna know. Don't tell me."

"Whatever you say."

"Tell me!"

"Well…"

"NO! Don't!" Lucy took a deep breath. "I'm sure. I don't wanna hear about it."

"All right then," Natsu said. "It's just that…" He trailed off.

"What? What is it now?"

He gave a sigh and looked away. "I can't remember if we used a condom."

Lucy stared at him for a while, unsure what to make of this situation. On one hand, she would have loved to leave him in the dark and see him freak out some more. But then again, the guy deserved to know. She figured it wouldn't be fair, since he was just as troubled by the whole thing as she was. Maybe even more so. She knew that guys had terrible commitment issues and an unwanted pregnancy could easily make a guy like that panic. So she decided to tell him the truth.

"Don't worry." Natsu looked up at her. "I found a used one in the trash."

And just like that, he was beaming as if he just found Igneel. "Seriously?"

Lucy couldn't help but smile at his relief. "Yes, seriously. We're safe here, dummy. Told you we wouldn't be that stupid."

"Oh man." He laughed in relief, sinking against a wall nearby. "Oh crap. Shit, there's a god. There's a god and he loves me. Oh, thank you, man!"

The blonde giggled at him and slid down the wall to sit next to him, even though the ground was dirty. They didn't care. "You sure are relieved."

Natsu looked over at her, surprised. "Well, aren't you?" he exclaimed. "I mean, it would've been terrible if you had gotten pregnant or something. I am so not ready to be a dad. I don't even know where mine is."

Lucy nodded. "Tell me about it."

They sat there in comfortable silence, both sucked up in their own relief. After some time, Lucy inched closer and rested her head against Natsu's shoulder, smiling to herself. Natsu threw a glance at her golden mass of hair, her pigtail tickling his chin. He grinned warmly and playfully flicked her forehead. Lucy giggled.

"Hey," she said after a while. "I'm glad it was you."

His grin grew wider. "Right back at ya."

Hi there, this is Dancing Kitten speaking. I'm glad you decided to check out my humble attempt at writing a fanfiction for this adorable couple. I've read a lot about them and realized that this theme has never been tried before. I thought it might spice the fandom up a bit and I'm a sucker for stories like that anyway. I apologize if the characters seem OOC, but this is my first try, so please be gentle. I'll try to improve.

About Lisanna. I'm aware that this is probably a whole new approach to her relationship with Natsu, but I really do see her like this. Her teasing always seemed of a friendly nature to me. I think they are merely the best of friends and I wanted to test how much I could play with that.

I'd be glad if you let me know what you think and what I can do better. Or at least that you enjoyed it.