brace yourself for love

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we're finally intertwined, nervous and shy,
for the moment, we will come alive.

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THERE were a lot of things Natsu wanted to tell Lucy.

He wanted to tell her that she was heavy, and she was really stubborn. He wanted to tell her that she should be nicer to him and Happy. He especially wanted to tell her that she was mean for not letting him sleep on her bed. But he gulped all of those down, because it didn't seem like the answer that the girl wanted to hear.

"Well," Natsu began, "I think I should tell Lucy that she sleep talks. Sometimes I hear her say the name of the members of the guild. It's really funny, I'm waiting for the perfect time to tell her and use it as blackmail. You should hear some of the things she says about you and-!"

Abruptly, Natsu stopped, feeling a certain scary aura. For a second, he thought it was Erza, but he gulped when he saw the barmaid- who was, in his secret opinion, ten times scarier than Erza in her Satan Soul form. "Natsu," Mira said calmly, even though there was a terrifying glint in her eye, "I'll ask you one more time. What do you want to tell Lucy?"

For the millionth time, Natsu gulped. So far, he had been giving the wrong answers. First, he said that Lucy should train more to be stronger, which got him into a debate with Mira because she accused him of calling Lucy weak (which she wasn't, he just wanted her to train so in the next S-class trials, she'd get in too- and they'd be the strongest mages in Fiore, together!). Next, he said that Lucy should know Gray said something about her chest, which resulted in Mira turning red and spluttering something about indecency, and promptly being doused in water from the tears of an obsessive water mage, crying about her 'Gray-sama!' His most recent answer was her sleeping habits. Natsu was sweating a bit now, knowing that if he did not give the takeover mage a good answer, he'd be tortured in ways that even Erza couldn't think of. If Mira wanted to, she could be terrifying.

Mira looked at the fire mage, who was sweating so hard that he barely noticed Gray laughing at him (who was then distracted by Juvia, who was wearing a less-than-decent top, while shouting, "love rival will not win Gray-sama because of her chest area!"). After blushing a bit at the scene, Mira frowned a bit to herself. She was waiting for a confession, about how much Natsu loved Lucy, but it was obvious that this way, she wasn't going to get her answer. Which was slightly annoying, because Valentine's Day tomorrow, and she was hoping that the two would spend it together (not as friends, like last year, but as lovers). As the thought entered her head, she faltered a bit from the perfection.

"Okay Natsu," Mira said, snapping the dragon slayer out of his thoughts. "Just tell me… how do you feel about Lucy?"

Natsu frowned at the question, scratching his head a bit. "What I think about Luce?" He asked, and the impatient Mira nodded. "She's my best friend, and my partner. Sometimes she's really annoying," Mira frowned at his words, "but I can't imagine a world without her. It's like a world without the… the, uh… sun. Yeah, sun! If Lucy's gone, then the whole world will be gray. Not like that stupid ice bastard Gray, but the color gray. Everything will be boring and lifeless without her," he said honestly.

Mira swooned. Again. Except a hundred times over— now that it was official (sort-of). But that abruptly stopped when Levy walked up to Natsu excitedly. "You read Lu-chan's novel too?" Natsu looked at her wide-eyed and gulped, stealing a glance at Mira's confused expression, at the same time telepathically trying to tell Levy to leave. "I recognized the speech you said, even though you twisted the words a bit." Oh shit. "It's so cute that you think of her the way Haku thinks about Chihiro, I really think that they belong together! Have you read the latest chapter?"

"..."

"Natsu?" Levy asked, but the boy in question was frozen in place. Probably because a certain takeover mage was glaring holes into his head. Who was about ready to kill him a million times, in a million terrifyingly torturous ways. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, Levy. I'm fine... and I think... I think..."

"You think what?" She asked, concerned when she saw Natsu sweating bullets. It was hot, but Natsu ate flames, so it couldn't be because of that. Was he sick, maybe?

"LEVY!" Mira suddenly called, making the bluenette turn towards the barmaid, who had, what she could tell, a forced smile on her face (which was freaking Levy out, because she had no idea what was happening). "Gajeel said he needed some help with reading some runes back at his place," Mira calmly stated. Levy was about to retort, knowing for sure that her boyfriend was on a mission for the master, but not wanting to get sucked into whatever that was, Levy nodded.

"Oh-kay then," Levy said, "bye!" She called, failing to notice the look of desperation on Natsu's face. Or, more likely, choosing to ignore the dragon slayer, who was at the complete mercy of the takeover mage. 'Good luck Natsu,' she thought to herself. 'You're going to need it.'

As soon as Levy was gone, Natsu put a forced smile on his face as Mira loomed over him, her face dark. He could feel the dark magic that was piling up, and he gulped. Before she could get another word out, Natsu suddenly burst into a wave of words.

"How I feel about Luce? I like her, I really, really, really, like her. She's really pretty and when everyone else looks at her, I feel like punching them on the face. Whenever she cries, I feel like crying too, and killing the person that made her cry. When she's mad, I stand by her, and I'll help her take down who made her angry, because I know Lucy would never get mad at anyone without a good reason... because that's the type of person Lucy is! She's kind, caring, and loving!" Natsu stopped a second to see Mira completely quiet, which urged him to go on. "I don't know what's wrong with me but whenever I see her, I get this weird, uncomfortable, feeling in my chest. And I really like the feeling. When I see her smile, it gets stronger. She makes me feel like I'm with Igneel again, and I always want to be the reason why she smiles. I want to make her smile forever and ever. Even when she's old and I'm old, and everyone's old, I still want to be right next to her, taking missions and going on more adventures together. If she ever leaves, I'll never get over it. It'll hurt as much as it did when Igneel left me. I love Lucy as much as I love Igneel. But to Lucy, it's a different kind of love. I don't know anything about this love stuff, that's all Luce. So I'm not even sure if it is love. But I know it's something strong, something really strong, and I know I have feelings for her stronger than one a partner should have, and it's scary. Because I feel like if I tell her, she'll get another partner, and just leave me..."

Natsu trailed off, everything he wanted to say off his chest. He felt lighter, calmer, even. But it really depended on Mira's reaction... which, right now, was completely quiet. Oh Mavis, she was going to kill him right? The Great Salamander, destroyed by The Demon. He shut his eyes, Lucy, I'll miss you most, he quietly thought to himself, shutting his eyes, preparing for his end.

"Did you get this from another novel of Lucy's?" She asked dangerously, already in the position to transform.

Desperately, Natsu held his hands out. "No, no! I swear that it came from me, I mean it!" He shouted, waiting for a reply, but the barmaid was completely silent. Oh Mavis, he was going to die. Mavis, Mavis, Mavis... he was too young to die! Ignoring the seven-year gap because of what happened in Tenrou, he was too young to die. After a few seconds, he heard an ear-piercing sound. Was this what death sounded like? No...

He opened his eyes, and saw Mirajane Strauss, barmaid and recurring model, squealing so loudly that all their guildmates turned towards her in concern. So it was no surprise, after a few seconds, she promptly fainted.

Natsu sighed in relief. He was going to live another day! But then, "Natsu, is that really what you think of me?"

He froze, and carefully turning around, saw the blonde head of his teammate, partner, and the girl he may or may not like. All the guild was looking now, the female population squealing (some fainting like Mira), and the boys either cheering Natsu on, or rolling their eyes at the sappiness of it all.

Natsu, on the other hand, had a deep red blush on his face. Same with Lucy, actually. "I- I-," he tried to say, but after a few suffocating seconds of silence, he blurted out, "Mira made me say it! I didn't mean it!" He shouted, trying to make Lucy see him as the manly man he used to think of her as, not the girly sap he turned into when he launched into his speech.

As far as Natsu was concerned, Lucy didn't want a girly boyfriend, she wanted the big, strong, prince that was man!

... he really needed to stop hanging out with Elfman.

Lucy's blushing face (which Natsu was actually enjoying), immediately disappeared when he said that. So did the guild's noisy and excited tone. "Oh," she finally said, her face covered with her hair.

"Y-Yeah," Natsu said, frowning a bit at Lucy's odd behavior. "Luce... what's wrong?" He then asked, confused, and reached out to touch her shoulder, only to get pushed away. He felt a bit hurt when she did. "Luce?"

"It's nothing Natsu," she replied, smiling at him (even though he- and probably everyone, could tell it was fake). "I, uh, I have to go home and write my novel. You want to read the next chapter, right, Levy-chan?"

The bluenette, who had recently returned with Gajeel, was looking at Lucy in worry, nodded her head, and let out a shaky, "h-hai." When Lucy announced that she was leaving, Levy gave Natsu her angriest glare. 'Go after her,' Levy's eyes told him, but it didn't reach Natsu. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't read eye-language.

As soon as Lucy left, the guild said, in an annoyed and angry chorus, "YOU IDIOT, GO AFTER HER!" Even Mira, who had finally woken up, glared at Natsu to go.

With a terrified yelp, he ran after the girl he liked.

Lucy locked the window.

Probably to keep Natsu out (as far as he knew, he was the only one who actually used that window to get inside her room). It didn't work anyways. Natsu knew that window like he knew Happy. Fiddling with the window for a second, he managed to break the lock, and get inside—completely oblivious to the fact that breaking and entering was illegal (which Lucy would tell Natsu one day).

"Luce?" He called, frowning when nobody replied. He knew that she was in here, he could smell her. "Luce! Where are ya?" He asked, passing through her bedroom to her kitchen. He imagined the food inside. Mm, she probably has that special flame chicken... wait, no! Natsu, focus! Lucy! Confession! Find her! "Lu-"

"Go away Natsu," the voice was so quiet, that Natsu, even with his hearing ability, could barely hear it.

"Luce please, talk to me," he persuaded, finding out that Lucy had locked herself in the bathroom. "Unless you're doing your business in there," he added after a second thought, "in that case, I can wait for you to finish."

He heard a sudden scuttle in the bathroom, as the door opened. Natsu smiled, but immediately, the grin disappeared when he saw that her face was red and puffy. She smelled salty too. "Luce..." he whispered softly, "were you crying?"

Instead of dodging his question, which Natsu expected her to do, Lucy just glared at him. "Of course I'm crying you stupid, dense, stupid, stupid, idiot!" She shouted at him. Even though Natsu was offended and wanted to insult her back, he knew that she was Lucy, and she should be treated less like a guy and more like a girl. Delicately. Which was stupid, because Erza (and Mira) were definitely not to be handled delicately. More like handled as if they were a bomb about to explode.

Wait. That is delicate, isn't it?

Yeah, so that's why girls are delicate! Because if you're not careful, they'll blow up and destroy you! He was about to share his epiphany to Lucy, but suddenly remembered why he was here. Oh yeah... he hurt Luce. He frowned, he didn't want to hurt her.

"Do you want to cry in my arms?" Natsu then asked, noticing Lucy just letting the tears flow. He hated seeing her cry. He hated knowing that he was the reason why she cried. "Levy said that if girls cry, you should let them cry in your arms, because it makes them feel better. And I want you to be happy again Luce... someone as pretty as you doesn't deserve to have those ugly tears mess up your face."

Lucy looked up at him, and for a second, he thought that she'd smile and hug him, but, in a flash, a dark red imprint was on his face. "Don't do that! Don't tell me you love me, then say you didn't mean it, then say these sweet words that you're just saying to make me feel better! I hate you! I hate you, Natsu Dragneel!" She screamed.

Natsu couldn't lie, it actually hurt. Hearing the girl he loved saying those words. He knew that Lucy wanted him to leave, but he couldn't. Not like this. Immediately, he scooped her in his arms. As soon as her body touched his, she broke down, tears spilling endlessly as she repeatedly pounded on his chest. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, you stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—!"

"Just let it out, Luce," he soothed, rubbing her back. "I know I said that I didn't mean those words, but I did. I really did," he said, knowing that Lucy was listening to him through her sniffles. "I really like you Luce, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you. But it's hard, ya know? I thought, what if you didn't like me back? And I didn't want to know the answer... because if it was no, I don't think that my heart could handle it. I'm sorry Luce, I tried to protect my heart... but I broke yours in the process. Will you ever forgive me?"

Lucy looked up at him, and knew that he was telling the truth. A smile graced her lips, and it's like Natsu's whole being lightened up. They stared into each other's eyes, daring the other to make the first move. After a second, they both gave in, and shared their first kiss.

And in that moment, and every moment after, the two could both say, safely, and confidently, that they were completely, head-over-heels, in love with each other.

"... I could never stay mad at you for long, Natsu."

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i. this is my first fanfic, so i'd love to know what you think! (good or bad, i'm cool with any- but good is preferred.)
ii. anyone notice the teensy weensy crossover of spirited away? *cough* haku and chihiro *cough*
iii. in the actual manga, natsu definitely woudn't say anything this romantic, but a girl can dream. HAHA.

— sarah.