Natsu POV:
I glance at the clock hanging above the hospital bed for the thirty-fourth time.
Eleven.
Lucy and I have been at the hospital for more than four hours.
From waiting for a room, taking x-rays, and now waiting for the results, we've missed four periods already.
My eyes move from the clock and onto Lucy.
She sits on the hospital bed; her left arm holds onto her right, and her gaze is fixated on the wall.
"Luce, you okay?" I ask in concern.
No reply.
"Luce?" I question again.
Lucy snapped out of her trance and answered, "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine."
"What was that about?"
Just as I was about to ask her, the door opened.
The doctor, Dr. Porlyusica, stepped inside the room, in her hands I assume are Lucy's x-rays.
"Well Lucy, looks like you fractured your right arm." Dr. Porlyusica announced.
A distressed sigh is released from Lucy's mouth.
"How bad is it?" I ask, now standing up and walking towards the hospital bed.
Dr. Porlyusica turns off the lights in the room, and walks towards the x-ray machine.
She places the x-rays on the machine, then turns it on.
"It's not that bad, a small fracture is all. Luckily, there is no need for surgery; a cast and some pain medicine will do the trick." Dr. Porlyusica explains.
I release the breath that I didn't realize I was holding in.
"Thank god."
Dr. Porlyusica walks towards Lucy.
She places her hand on Lucy's bad arm, which causes Lucy to flinch.
"I just need to get this in a cast, then in about a month it will be as good as new." Dr. Porlyusica states.
She releases her hand and heads towards the door.
Before she leaves, she turns her head back and questions, "I'm going to go get the supplies for the cast, any specific color you want?"
"Pink, please." Lucy responds.
"Alright." Dr. Porlyusica says as she closes the door behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About Forty-five minutes later, Lucy and I walk out of the hospital's front doors.
"Well, at least it's not that bad." I try to reassure her.
A smile forms on her face.
"I guess you're right." She says.
Pulling out my phone from my pocket, I check the time.
"Wow, it's already almost twelve!" I exclaim.
Lucy's head droops down.
"I'm really sorry about this, we've missed most of the day because of me." Lucy whimpers.
I place my hand on her head.
"I told you there's nothing else in the world that I'd rather be doing right now, except being with you." I explain.
Her smile grows.
"Also," I continue with a wide grin, "it's because of you that we get to go have fun!"
Lucy looks over at me, her face shows confusion and excitement.
I offer my hand and smile as I say, "Come on!"
She takes my hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy POV:
"Where are we going?" I ask as we get back in the car.
"You'll see." Natsu replies with a smirk.
"Aw, come on tell meeee!" I beg.
"Nope." Natsu refuses with a snicker.
We both begin to laugh.
"Okay, wherever is fine as long as I'm with you." I admit, my cheeks slightly warm.
He puts the car in reverse as his cheeks turn a bright shade of red.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After about twenty minutes we arrive at our destination.
"Okay, close your eyes." Natsu childishly says.
I giggle a bit before meeting his demand.
Natsu opens his door and gets out of the car, and soon appears on the other side to open mine.
Grabbing my good hand, he leads me outside and stops somewhere along the way.
Natsu places his hands over my eyes and says, "Okay, open your eyes."
I open my eyes to see ten fingers, as excepted.
"Natsu..." I whine.
"Okay, okay now open your eyes." Natsu says as he removes his hands from my field of vision.
In front of me is a faded green building with an old, light up sign that illuminates "Madeline's Memories".
"What is this place?" I ask in amazement.
"It's a vintage bookstore; you said you like books, so I thought you'd like it here." Natsu explains with a grin.
Grabbing his hand, I run inside with excitement.
Inside was a wonderland.
Thousands of books of many shapes, colors, and sizes scoured the walls of this nirvana.
I pick up one of the books; I could feel all of the memories and experiences this stack of paper has been through.
"Natsu, th- this place is amazing!" I exclaim.
His smile grows bigger as he replies, "Good, I'm happy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natsu POV:
I watch in fascination as Lucy frolics around the bookstore.
She looks like an eager child in a candy store.
Her eyes aren't clouded by despair anymore; no not at all. Her eyes shine bright with passion and love.
"Natsu! Look at these!" Lucy called from somewhere in the store.
Locating her in the back of the store, I'm not surprised to see her attempting to balance a stack of books with only one hand.
"Do you need some help?" I ask with a laugh.
"Please," She answers and give me half of her stack, "and look at this."
Lucy steps closer and presents a book to my eyes.
"It's about the constellations! Look at all these fantastic drawings!" She exclaims as the pages flip forward.
My eyes move from the book and onto her.
I guess she noticed my change in attention when she questioned, "What?"
"Oh, um I was just thinking... you're really cute when you're passionate about something..." I admit, my cheeks as hot as the fire burning in my heart.
Her cheeks become red.
"Thanks." She responds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lucy POV:
Walking out of the bookstore with two bags of used books, Natsu and I return to his car.
Once inside, he puts the keys in the ignition and turns it.
"Where are we going?" I ask, recalling the last time I asked the same question.
And, like last time, he responds with, "You'll see."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After about twenty minutes of driving, we stop at a place called "Cattuccino".
Assuming it's a café of some sort, my stomach grumbles with delight.
"Cattuccino?" I interrogate.
"Yeah, it's really good! There's sandwiches, pastries, so many different drinks, and the best part... cats!" Natsu explains, his eyes light up with every word.
"Come on!" He shouts with joy.
Together, we get out of the car and enter the café.
When Natsu and I get inside, my eyes don't know where to look first.
The place has a pretty modern style: a simple gray color with splashes of color from photos on the wall, comfortable, neutral colored chairs and couches with funky decorative pillows, and different flowers and plants are set in just the right places for a good pop of color.
What caught my eye first though was all the cats, very unique cats.
Blue.
White.
Black.
Green.
Red.
Five cats surrounded Natsu and I.
"Hey guys! Haven't seen you all in a while!" Natsu greets to the cats clinging to our feet.
He looks at me and smiles.
"I used to come here all the time when I was little, my dad would always bring me." Natsu explains as he picks up the blue cat.
"His dad? So this place must be really important to Natsu then."
"Please come in and take a seat!" A barista shouts.
We, and the five cats, sat at a table near a window.
The sky held white, puffy clouds, and the sun was no longer right above our heads.
Reviewing the menu, I decide to have a chocolate croissant and a latte.
"And, I'll have a coffee cake and a latte as well." Natsu orders.
"Alright, that'll be out shortly!" Our server exclaims and walks away.
Once the server is out of sight, I question, "So, why did your dad like to bring you here?"
Natsu smiles, looks out the window, and explains, "My dad met my mom here; one of his first jobs was being a barista here, and one day when he was working him and my mom met. Soon, my mom started coming here regularly just to see him, then they eventually started dating, and then later married."
"Aw, that's so sweet." I respond.
"Yeah, I think my mom really misses him, and Wendy too." Natsu states.
"And you?" I ask.
"Extremely, I miss him extremely. We used to do all sorts of fun things; from trying to catch ridiculously large fish to playing tag around the house, we did everything together. " Natsu admits, his grin grows bigger.
"What was he like?" I question, my eyes meeting his.
"He was jovial, energetic, and warm. He was always helping others when they needed it most, that's what I liked about him the best." Natsu describes.
"He sounds just like you." I confess with a genuine smile.
Natsu lets out a laugh as he rubs the back of his head.
"Thanks!" He replies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natsu POV:
My arm falls back to my side.
I hesitate at first, but then ask, "What was your mother like?"
Her smile widens.
"My mom was kind-hearted, intelligent, and beautiful. Just like you and your dad, we'd do everything together, like singing songs and reading magical stories. It amazed me that even if I felt sad or lonely, she'd always be able to brighten my day." she answers.
"With the description that you just gave me, I'd say you take after your mom." I conclude.
"You think?" Lucy questions, not believing my statement.
"Yeah! You're all the things you described your mom as: kind-hearted, intelligent, and especially beautiful!" I exclaim.
Lucy's cheeks become a deep shade of red, as she says, "Thank you."
"N-no problem!" I shudder, as my cheeks heat up while I gaze at her cuteness.
Lucy and I continued talking and before we knew it our order arrived.
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Lucy POV:
"Did that really happen?" I say with a small giggle.
"I'm telling you it happened! Gray's bare butt was seen by the eyes of all our classmates in elementary school!" Natsu exclaims with great joy.
We laugh until we're out of breath.
Once we calm down, Natsu takes a look at his phone; his eyes widen and his mouth becomes agape.
"Oh crap! We gotta go!" he shouts.
"What? Go where?" I ask.
With his signature grin, he says for the third time today, "You'll see."
Placing a twenty-dollar bill on the table, Natsu grabs my good arm and races out to the car.
Once inside the car, he turns the key and zooms off to our unknown destination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we arrived the sun had already set, so at first I couldn't see much.
"Let's go!" Natsu eagerly says.
Meeting the crisp, cool wind on my face, I evaluate the sight in front of me.
A wide open field painted with flowers and trees.
Taking my good hand, Natsu says, "Come on the others are waiting for us!"
"Others?" I ask.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eventually, I begin to see a faint light in the distance.
When we got closer I could make out six people; they seemed to be holding blankets.
Them.
Our Friends.
"Hey guys!" Levy greeted as we came closer.
She pulls me into a tight, comforting hug.
"H-hi! What are you guys doing here?" I question in utter confusion.
"Well, Natsu said that you fractured your arm and we wanted to see how you were doing." Erza explains with a smile.
There's a moment of silence before Juvia kindly announces,"It's the perfect night to star gaze, not a cloud in sight."
"We figured that this would make you feel better; you did say that you like the constellations." Gajeel grumbles.
"You guys..." I whisper, so overwhelmed with how much they care about me.
"Come on, let's put these blankets down and start watching!" Natsu exclaims.
"Don't tell me what to do Flamebrain!" Gray hollered.
"Oh no..." the girls, except Erza, say in unison.
"What was that Ice Striper?" Natsu fired back.
"I said, don't tell me what to do Flamebrain!" Gray shouted.
Gray attempts to throw the blanket he was holding at Natsu's face, but it collides with Gajeel's side instead.
"What the hell are you dumbasses doing?!" Gajeel complains.
"Who are you calling a dumbass, you no eye-browed bastard?" Natsu angrily questions.
"What'd you just call me?" Gajeel screams.
"You guys better knock it off." Jellal warns from a distance.
"Shut up Jellal!" the three idiot yell.
Jellal, getting annoyed at this point, joins the fight by saying, "Don't tell me to shut up!"
The bickering continued until each of them earn a slap from Erza.
"We came her to star gaze, not to fight! Now, put the blankets down so then we may lay down!" She ordered, her demonic aura grows strong.
"Y-yes ma'ma!" They obey.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once the four blankets are set, we all lay down.
"Lu-chan" Levy whispers from my right.
"Yeah?" I ask, turning my head in her direction.
"I just want you to know that this was all his idea." Levy states with a wink.
My cheeks warm up.
"This was all his idea?"
"Thanks for telling me, Levy-chan." I say.
Looking back at the stars and hearing the whispers and giggles of my friends, I glance over at Natsu.
He did this.
All of it.
Everything.
"Why'd you do all this?" I question.
Still looking up into the night sky above, Natsu confesses with a bright smile, "Because I knew it would make you happy."
I scoot closer to him, close enough so that my head rests side to his side.
"Thank you." I say.
"I think love is when you would want to spend time with that person and share beautifully wonderful memories with them."
Juvia's words replay in my head as I glance back at the breathtaking view above.
Grabbing Natsu's hand and entangling it with mine, I move closer to him and repeat, "Thank you."