prompt_glass house
note1_don't bother looking for the actual prompt. The connection between this story and "glass house" is almost nonexistent. In other words, it's nonexistent.
note2_after that one chapter where Lucy wakes up with Natsu in bed with her, this was just asking to be written. You do not hop into bed with your friends-of-the-opposite-sex in the anime world and not have Fanfiction notice. obvi.

sudden downpour
. . .

Summers in Magnolia were always hot. From June through August the air grew thick and humid, and the huge trees lining the streets seem to plump up from extra moisture. Despite the uncomfortable temperatures during the day, the nights were warm and always lively. Lanterns were strung up by all the walkways, and people would come out to enjoy the festive air. Bands of traveling entertainers flooded into the city for the coming summer months, putting on shows at what seemed like every plaza and street corner, filling the tepid night air with music and laughter. Vendors would leave their stalls open for longer hours, taking advantage of the midnight crowd and throwing their voices into lively night-time babble as they hawked their wares.

It was Lucy's favorite time of the year, especially since it was also during this time that Drake's Bookend had their sale on their "Ancient Books of Antiquate Origins" collection. Currently, she was in the streets weaving through the throng of other late night pedestrians with her spoils. An architecturally unsound stack of massive books rose up from her hands as she struggled to keep the arrangement steady beneath her chin. Her strategy was working remarkably well, and the only flaw in her tactic was that she couldn't see ahead of her, banking on the hopes that any persons in her way would be kind (and smart) enough to step out of her way.

The air was sticky causing her bangs to stick to her sweaty forehead in odd clumps, and as she struggled with her load she wondered if a storm was on its way. Thankfully, aside from the occasional close call, her endeavor to get from Drake's to her apartment had been proceeding relatively smoothly, which of course made the accident inevitable.

Lucy was navigating the crowd with a constant stream of apologies, sounding more like she was reciting a mantra. "Excuse me! Sorry! Sorry! Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through! Sorry!—Ah!" She cried out as she collided headlong into someone.

She tumbled butt-first to the ground and the books fell with her, crashing around her like a contained landslide of leather covers and flapping pages.

"Ow, ow, ow," she groaned out, as she reached back to rub her throbbing tailbone. "Sorry about that…"

"Hey Lucy!" A familiar voice called out and she looked up.

"Natsu?"

The fire mage stood before her, appearing completely unscathed by their literal run in. "What's up?" He greeted cheerfully.

Her face soured slightly. "No wonder it felt like I had hit a wall…"

"Hmmm? Did you say something?" He asked as he crouched down to help her collect her books.

"Nothing...Master said you wouldn't be back for another month from your mission," she said and rescued A Comprehensive Anthology of Celestial Beings and Orders off of the ground before it could be crushed by the wheels of an oncoming cart. When they had everything gathered, the two mages got to their feet.

"Tch...that farty old man's always underestimating me. Those wussy snow ogres had no chance against my flames!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure it was epic," Lucy placated. "Where's Happy?"

"Hmph…" the fire mage's face soured. "He went straight off to see Charlie as soon we got to the gates," Natsu grumbled as he adjusted his grip on the six massive, leather-bound books beneath each of his arms.

Lucy giggled as she prodded him playfully in the arm. "Awww, jealous?"

"I'm not jealous! It's just that he's always flying off to see her now days…"

Definitely jealous, Lucy inwardly prescribed with a small smile. "Well he is getting to be that age."

"He's only eight!" Natsu shrilled.

"Ah hah!" Lucy said, punctuating her epiphany by smacking A Comprehensive Anthology of Celestial Beings and Orders against Natsu's forehead.

The dragon slayer scowled. "What."

"Since Happy's a cat, he's actually 56 in human years! No wonder he's in such a rush."

"That's stupid," Natsu said as he let Lucy tuck A Comprehensive Anthology of Celestial Beings and Orders into the pile beneath his left arm. "Happy's not 56, he's 8, which is still too young to be dating," he said with fatherly firmness.

"Oh come on, Natsu, lighten up a little. You're starting to sound like a crotchety old man. They like each other, so its only natural that they'd want to spend time together. I think it's cute."

"And I still say he's too young," Natsu declared, trailing after Lucy as she wove through the crowd. When Lucy heard him she just laughed and Natsu couldn't help but soften just a little. It had been three months since he and Happy had left Magnolia for the peaks at Fiore's border to take care of a pack of snow ogres terrorizing a village. As an S-Class mage, he found the ogres themselves to be insultingly weak. The real challenge was finding the little boogers in the eternal blizzard that raged throughout the mountains. After months in that hellishly monochrome landscape of gray and white, Lucy's smile was a golden slice of sunshine.

"We're here!" Lucy called out to no one in general as she opened the door to her apartment and flicked on the lights.

"Ow! Hey, Natsu!"

The fire mage didn't apologize for shoving past her. "This place hasn't changed one bit!" He said appreciatively and unloaded the books onto the kitchen table. The two piles thumped against the wood with heavy finality and he exhaled loudly before throwing himself on her bed.

"Ahhhh," he sighed into the blanket. "Smells like Lucy."

"Natsu! Gross! Take a shower! I just washed those sheets yesterday!" Lucy complained.

"Man I'm starving! What's for dinner?"

"Natsu!"

"Lucy!"

"Augh! All right, fine! Just don't...try not to roll around too much. I'll go scrounge something up for you after I shower."

Natsu shot her a winsome grin. "Thanks!"

Lucy answered with a withering glare before it dissolved into defeated sigh. "I'll be out soon. Please don't burn my house down. Again."

"Have a nice bath!" He called after her.

Lucy shut the bathroom door and leaned back against it. She couldn't believe it. Just yesterday afternoon she had sat at her desk, staring into space while the clock slowly ticked into the empty silence, wondering out loud what Natsu was up to.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, she supposed.

"Natsu?" Lucy called as she came out of the bathroom with a towel to her head, dressed in a fresh set of pajamas. "What do you want for…" she trailed off when she spotted him fast asleep on her bed. "Jeez, as if dirt and sweat wasn't enough...now you're gonna get drool all over my bed sheets too," she muttered as she approached the dragon slayer.

To Natsu's credit, he hadn't moved since she had left him. He was still on his back with his arms crossed and his face partially burrowed into his scarf. He looked uncharacteristically vulnerable, and Lucy had the sudden urge to push the bangs off of his forehead.

"Hey, Natsu," she said softly. "Hey, wake up."

He let out a tired groan and turned onto his side, away from her. "Let…sleep...," he mumbled while readjusting himself into a more comfortable position. His breathing slowly evened out and he was out like a light.

Lucy shook her head. "Really, you big lug, "she said exasperated, while rubbing his back at the same time.

She pulled a spare blanket out from the closet and hit the lights, plunging her small apartment into darkness. For a moment all she could see was the open window by her bed, a rectangular box glowing orange from the street lights outside. After tripping over the rug, stubbing her toe against the bookcase, and running into the kitchen table, she finally managed to make her way to her bed.

She wrapped the blanket around herself and looked down as she searched for space on her bed. During her examination, her roving eyes wandered up to Natsu's sleeping face, and she paused to consider it.

He had a boyish face, almost pretty she thought, and then felt a hot blush bloom red across her cheeks when she realized her own blasphemous thoughts. Because this was Natsu who chewed with his mouth open, picked his nose whenever it suited him (which was always), and ran around blowing up towns with his pecs exposed in all their glory (and they were quite glorious, she almost thought, but stopped herself).

And she was just Lucy, the friend who told him to close his mouth, stop excavating his nose in public, and followed him around saying, "Sorry, he's an idiot."

They were just friends, and the back of her mind suddenly recalled reading a trashy romance novel that went by the same title last Tuesday, but she slammed the lid on that can of worms before anything unexplainable could wriggle out. Not giving her thoughts a chance to wander farther into strange realms about the whole sharing-a-bed-with-Natsu thing (who was just a friend), Lucy quickly laid herself down beside him.

She regretted it immediately.

She could feel him breathing, his back rising and falling against her as she lay rigidly in place; who knew that another body could feel so warm—or maybe that was just her.

The ceiling loomed above her, and she wished she had pasted glow-in-the-dark stars or dinosaurs or something—anything—on them to distract her. The minute hand on the clock ticked by loudly, counting out loud the passing seconds and reminding her of the long night that lay ahead.

"Relax," she murmured to herself and closed her eyes, willing herself to take deeper breaths. "It's just Natsu."

And then she felt herself roll a little to the side as Natsu shifted away from her. The mattress creaked, something pulled at her hair, and the rich scent of wood smoke tickled her nose. Her heart thumped frantically against her chest plate like a desperate fist pounding against the door, and she waited for him to hurry the hell up and move over her for what was probably a bathroom break.

When nothing happened, she opened her eyes, only to let out a small squeak of surprise. Natsu's face hovered above hers, and she felt herself backing away from his gaze as they contemplated her. Unfortunately the mattress at her back hindered her attempts to escape. He had a hand placed on either side of her head, his arms coming down like pillars to cage her in.

Maybe it was the nighttime gloom, or maybe it was angle, but for a moment Lucy didn't recognize him. The light from the window outlined his jaw in a faint orange glow and made his onyx eyes glitter in a way that was a bit unnerving. Also, his hand was on her hair, and it hurt her scalp, but she figured she'd endure it for a bit because she honestly didn't want to say anything, what with him staring at her with such a carnivore expression; it made her nervous and she was afraid her voice would fail her.

Her own eyes rove around restlessly as she waited for him to crack a goofy smile and laugh as he said something stupid like, "Sorry, I need to take a piss." And then she could call him an idiot, and roll her eyes as if watching the whole thing pass over them like some strange midsummer storm.

Natsu did laugh, however, it was more like a light chuckle than anything else. "What's wrong Lucy? 'It's just Natsu,'" he said with a mischievous grin that made her stomach drop as if she'd just fallen ten stories.

"Your hand…is on my hair," she replied weakly, and they both knew that was the furthest thing from her mind.

Outside, the dark skies rumbled with promise of rain.