Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
Lucy flashed a dazzling smile at the pink-haired dragon slayer who was sitting at the counter of the bar, "It's a date! I'll see you tomorrow, Natsu!" She dashed out of the guild with a giddy smile plastered on her cheeks.
Mirajane happened to be eavesdropping from behind the counter. The glass she had been holding shattered on the floor. Natsu whirled around, "You okay, Mira?"
Mira's mouth was agape, "Da-date?"
"Huh?" Natsu scratched his head. "Oi, Lisanna, Elfman, I think Mira is broken."
"Men don't break!" Elfman shouted. Lisanna sweat dropped, "She's not man." Then the youngest Strauss sibling walked over to Natsu and Mira. "What's the matter, Mira-nee?" The Satan Soul mage remained frozen with utter shock written all over her face.
Natsu shrugged and plopped down at the bar, "See! She's broken." He took a big gulp of his fire whiskey just as Mira unfroze and let out a loud squeal, "Natsu asked Lucy out on a date!"
Natsu choked, spitting his drink all over the floor.
Lisanna joined in her with her sister's squealing, "Oh my god! Finally!"
Happy flew over, "You asked Lucy out, Natsu?"
"That's manly!" Elfman commented.
Natsu's face was burning. Burning? Natsu never felt this sensation before. "N-no, of course not!"
But Happy wasn't listening, instead the cat said, "I knew you likkeeed her!"
"Like Ash Brains would know how to ask a girl out," Gray scuffed as he walked over to the embarrassed fire mage.
"Oi!" Natsu growled at the ice mage. "Shut up!"
"Ahh I'm so happy for Lu-chan!" Levy was now crowding around Natsu as well. "Natsu, you better treat her right."
"We aren't going on a date!" The fire mage cried. Why was everyone crowding him now? He felt annoyed and even hotter than before. The only thing Natsu was thankful for was that Lucy wasn't in the guild. Though he couldn't fathom why he was relieved by this little fact.
Natsu got up from the bar stool, trying to get away from everyone, but the crowd followed.
Erza walked into the guild with Cana. She immediately noticed everyone crowding Natsu. "What did Natsu do?" She growled.
"Natsu-san asked Lucy-san on a date!" Wendy gushed.
"Not you too, Wendy!" Natsu cried, feeling betrayed.
"WHAT!?" Cana gasped. "No way!"
Erza perked up, "Oh! Is that why Lucy looked so happy when we walked past her?"
"She did have a huge smile on her face," Cana thoughtfully added. "Unbelievable! When's the big date"
"Tomorrow," Mira answered proudly.
"It's not a date!" Natsu moaned for what felt like the thousandth time. "We are going on a job! That's all!"
Cana growled and shoved her way over to Natsu, grasping him by his scarf, "Oi! Cana!" Natsu breathed tightly. He tried to loosen Cana's choke hold, but her grip only tightened.
"Listen here, you idiot!" Cana growled. "This is Lucy's first date. You better not screw it up! Whether you meant to ask her out or not, Lucy thinks you guys have a date! And Lucy is very excited about it!" She released him rather roughly. Natsu fell flat on his butt, with an ungraceful "Oof."
He was positive he was on fire at this point. Something about Cana's words made his stomach flutter. Lucy is excited for our date? Natsu blanched. Realization hit him hard. He was going on a date. His first date. "It's my first date too, you know."
Lisanna cooed, "Aww! Little Natsu is growing up! How cute!"
Natsu felt defeated. His face seemed to be permanently heated as the guild continued to make jokes about him and Lucy. His shoulders slumped and he fought his way to the doors of the guild.
He had no idea whether or not Lucy thought this was an actual date. All he did was ask Lucy to go on a job with him…
What am I supposed to do? He inwardly groaned.
XOXOX
"Mira-san," Lucy cried. "Do you have any jobs saved for me on the side? There's nothing good on the job board and Natsu and I are supposed to go on a job today."
Mira couldn't help but grin at the mage, "Oh don't worry about that, Lucy. Natsu already has something picked out. Something special." Lucy shot Mira a questioning look. Mira continued. "Something romantic."
"Ehh?" Lucy's jaw smacked the floor. "Romantic?"
Mira giggled and went to serve food to Maceo.
Just as Lucy was going to chase Mirajane, a hand patted her on the back, "Good luck today, Lu-chan!" Levy smiled brightly.
"Err, thanks?" Lucy blushed. What's with everyone?
"Lucy!" Lucy looked over to see Lisanna walking over to her. "I'm so happy for you and Natsu!"
"Lucy," Erza was now next to her. "If he tries anything funny, I'll make sure he regrets it."
Lucy backed way, rubbing her head sheepishly, "Okay!"
She bumped into someone, Cana. The card mage turned Lucy around and grinned. "Make sure you go easy on him. He's still very innocent."
"What's with all of you?!" Lucy shrieked. "Just tell Natsu to meet me at my house!" She rushed out of the guild.
"Aww," Lucy could hear Mira coo as the guild doors slowly closed. "Natsu's picking Lucy up from her house! How sweet!"
Lucy's face was fire. "Why are they so weird?"
XOXOX
Natsu fiddled around Lucy's door. He had knocked for the first time in a very long time, actually he couldn't remember a time when he had ever knocked. He was wearing his usual attire, though the girls of the guild had tried to force him into a suit, but Natsu refused. If Lucy liked him, then it shouldn't matter what he wears, right?
Lucy opened the door, her mouth formed an O-shape, "Natsu! You actually knocked?"
"Don't act so surprised," Natsu chastised. He looked Lucy up and down and let out a sigh of relief. She didn't look much different than usual, in her navy-blue skirt and pink tank top. Her hair was done its usual manner. She looked pretty, but she always looks pretty.
Natsu blushed. Lucy always looks pretty? When had he began to think this way? Did he only just realize? Was this just a fact? Natsu remembered all the comments about the celestial mage when he first brought her to the guild. All the boys drooled over her, well except for himself. But here he was, thinking about how pretty this girl is.
Natsu was staring so intensely at Lucy, she began to feel warm and flustered.
"Ready to go?" Lucy asked. Her face had a light dusting of pink. Natsu found that it added to her beauty.
He shook off his daze, "Yeah!" and grabbed her hand, tugging her away on their adventure.
"So what's the job we are going on?" Lucy asked. "Mira said you had something umm…" Romantic, Lucy's face burned, "special planned."
Natsu handed her a flyer and quickly looked away, hiding his face in his scarf. He could tell that Lucy didn't consider this a date. He inwardly cursed the guild for blowing things way of proportion.
Lucy didn't seem to notice Natsu's strange behavior and read the flyer aloud.
"Spend the day in Crocus. Objective is to have fun. Reward: having the best day ever." Lucy's eyebrows furrowed, "Ne, Natsu, isn't this a weird request?"
"Hmm?" Natsu gave her a sideways glance, "Seems normal to me, Lucy."
"But," Lucy bit her lip, unsure of what she was trying to say.
Natsu gave her a reassuring grin, "There's nothin' strange about this request, Lucy. You're just a weirdo so anything normal will seem weird to you, duh."
Lucy's eye twitched and before she could retort, Natsu dragged her off to the train station.
She sat across from Natsu and watched as he helplessly slumped against the window, holding back his vomit. She shook her head, "You poor thing." She pulled out her book and began to read.
About two hours in, Lucy realized a certain blue friend was missing, "Why didn't Happy come with us, Natsu?"
Natsu, who was now hunched over, looked upwards at Lucy, "He didn't…want to…third…wheel…" His head dropped back down to his lap.
"Wh-what?" Lucy stammered. Her face turned bright red and her heart skipped a beat. She was thankful that Natsu was no longer looking at her.
Natsu didn't reply.
XOXOX
"FREEDOM!" Natsu kissed the ground.
Lucy giggled. "C'mon, you're making a scene!" She pulled the dragon slayer up. "What do you want to do first?"
Without hesitation, Natsu said, "I'm starving! Let's eat!" He dragged Lucy off to a restaurant. And to Lucy's surprise, Natsu actually laced their fingers together instead of his usual non-laced hand-grab. She did her best to ignore her racing pulse.
They were seated down in a private booth. Natsu had ordered practically everything. Lucy settled with rice balls. Then for dessert, Natsu ordered them a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie ala mode. Lucy was a bit shocked that he wanted to share dessert with her and blushed whenever their spoons collided. It did seem a little romantic as Mira had stated.
The waiter put the check on the table as they finished scrapping the plate. Lucy went to grab the check, but Natsu beat her to it. "I got this," he said with a lazy attitude.
"Are you sure?" Lucy raised a brow. "I don't want to impose…" Normally Lucy would do the math to figure out what everyone owed.
"Yeah," Natsu waved her off. "My treat."
Lucy blushed and softly said, "Thanks."
After Natsu paid, he quickly laced their hands again. His heart was pounding against his chest. He did his best to make the handholding as causal as possible. "What should we do now?" he asked.
"Hmm," Lucy looked around the city, thoughtfully. "Well I always wanted to check out the Palace's garden."
"Let's go then!" Natsu gave her his signature grin. A grin that always managed to make her heart stop.
XOXOX
They strolled the garden, hand-in-hand. Lucy couldn't help but notice how close they were walking. People would definitely think they were dating. For some unknown reason, this made Lucy's heart sore.
Natsu kept sneaking glances over at Lucy. She looked beautiful. The way the setting sun shined on her golden hair, it created a halo. His face began to flush. He also couldn't help but notice how cute she looked with her awed expressions at the amazing flower displays and hedge arts. It made him chuckle.
They left the park and continued to explore the town, putting on flower crowns and necklaces. Laughing and goofing off. They were having a blast. People would exclaim, "What a cute couple!" Lucy would blush and Natsu either pretended he didn't hear them or was actually not bothered by the comments, Lucy couldn't tell.
After their walk, Lucy mentioned that she wanted to check out the book store. Supposedly, it was the biggest one in all of Fiore.
"Wahh," Lucy gushed, placing her hands on her cheeks. "It's huge!" Even Natsu was impressed. It was like a sea of shelves with probably hundreds of books on each one.
They quickly began to browse. Natsu would pull out books with funny titles and Lucy would playfully smack him for his immaturity.
Natsu couldn't remember when he last felt this happy. There was something amazing watching Lucy browse. Her delicate hands would pull a book off the shelf and she would carefully turn each page, scanning quickly.
Lucy was holding one particular book. She stared at it for a few minutes before saying, "We can go now." She went to place the book back on its shelf.
"Oi," Natsu's hand halted hers. Her pulse jumped. "Why aren't you getting that book? You clearly want it."
Lucy turned away, flushing, "I'm a bit tight on money this month…"
Natsu pulled the book out of Lucy's hand. "Then I'll buy it for you."
Lucy gasped, "Natsu. I can't let you do that."
He just scuffed, "Why not?"
"Well you treated me to dinner and the books a bit pricey…"
"Well I want to," Natsu walked away quickly before Lucy could protest.
She watched in utter shock as Natsu purchased it.
"Th-thank you, Natsu." Lucy breathed once they left the shop.
"No problem, Lucy," He grinned, placing his hands behind his head.
XOXOX
The sun had settled down and the moon shone brightly as the duo headed back to the train station. It was starting to get chilly. Lucy shivered. Suddenly, a cloth wrapped around her neck. "Natsu?" She glanced over at him. He didn't respond. He was staring off to his side.
Lucy took this time to observe him. It was rare to see him without his scarf. She could make out the silvery scar on his neck. She giggled as she remembered the truth behind the scar. Her gaze traveled upwards. She liked his facial features, she marveled at his bone structure, she loved that his eyes were slanted. His hair had a silver tint to it in the moonlight. He was gorgeous and Lucy blushed furiously at this realization.
Their hands were once again interlocked. She never realized how soft his hands were. She figured they would be rough and callously, but they weren't. Must be because he's a fast healer… Suddenly she found Natsu's eyes on hers.
Natsu gazed deeply into her warm brown eyes. She looked good in his scarf, so good, in fact, Natsu had to look away before he did something stupid.
They quickly boarded the train. Natsu, once again, was keeling over and Lucy began to read her new book. It made her feel all warm and tingly that Natsu bought it for her.
Her eyes grew sleepy, unable to focus on the words of the book. She rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. She realized she was still wearing Natsu's scarf. She took a big sniff and reveled in its scent of fire as she drifted off to sleep.
XOXOX
Lucy awoke bright and early in her bed the following morning. "Hmm?" She wondered if yesterday was all a dream, but then she realized there was something wrapped around her neck. Natsu's scarf. She gasped in surprise. "He didn't take it back?"
She quickly got ready and dashed off to the guild with Natsu's scarf neatly folded. As badly as she wanted to keep wearing it, she knew the guild would tease her endlessly over it.
"Morning, Lucy." Mirajane greeted. "How was the date?"
"Date?" Lucy's face scrunched up in confusion. "What date?" She took a seat at the bar counter, in front of Mira.
"Your date with Natsu."
"My date with Natsu…" Lucy repeated, wondering what Mira was going off about.
"Lu-chan!" Levy flopped down next to the celestial mage. "How was the date!?"
"Yeah, how was it?" Lucy jumped, Lisanna was suddenly on the other side of her.
"Umm…" Lucy's face began to change colors.
"Did he try anything funny?" A voice demanded. Erza.
Gray suddenly appeared next to Erza. "Can't believe you actually went on a date with that flaming idiot."
"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy blushed. "And, Gray, your clothes!"
He glanced down, "Shit!"
"Did you guys keep it PG?" Cana smirked.
"Did he at least kiss you goodnight?" Levy inquired.
"N-NO!" Lucy cried. "Why would he?"
Mira pouted, "Well it sounds like a boring date. Why do you have his scarf?"
Lucy was nervously sweating, "Look I don't know what you guys are going on about…and I don't feel like going into exact details about yesterday, but all you guys need to know is that Natsu and I had a really fun day." As an afterthought, Lucy added, "I always have fun with Natsu."
XOXOX
Natsu was outside the guild doors, listening to what was going on. He heard them bugging Lucy and knew it was best to wait outside. Happy was floating next to him. Thankfully, his blue friend had stopped teasing him. Happy understood Natsu's feelings for Lucy ran deep.
Natsu's heart stopped as he heard Lucy say, "I always have fun with Natsu."
The doors to the guild pushed open and somebody walked right into the fire mage. "Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed, dropping his scarf on the ground.
He steadied his blonde friend, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "It's probably best if you don't go in there," she warned. "They keep harassing me about yesterday..."
"I figured," Natsu sheepishly replied.
"They think we went on a date," Lucy giggled nervously.
Natsu's eyes darkened, his expression was unreadable. "Really?"
"Yeah," Lucy continued to giggle. "Ridiculous, right?"
Natsu didn't reply. Instead Happy began to speak, "Let's say it was a date…Was it a good one?"
Lucy's face turned red. "But it wasn't a date!"
"What would make it a date then?" Natsu asked in a low voice.
Lucy began to stammer, "W-well you asking me out for starters…"
"But you said 'It's a date!' like two days ago! Remember?" Happy asked. He had happened to overhear them the day Mira freaked out, though of course he knew Lucy meant it as an expression, but he just wanted to join in on the teasing that day… But now Happy needed to help Natsu. No more messing around, "And Natsu told me he paid for dinner and bought you a book and that you guys were holding hands…Sounds like a date to me."
Lucy's heart was pounding.
"What else would make it a date?" Natsu asked with urgency, his hands were still gripping her shoulders. His onyx eyes burning into hers. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't.
"A kiss would…" Lucy quickly closed her eyes in embarrassment.
And suddenly a pair of warm lips enveloped her own. Her eyes opened as she gasped. Natsu's eyes were shut. He quickly deepened the kiss. Lucy melted right into it. She moved closer. Her hands somehow ended up tangled in his soft, pink hair. Natsu's hands traveled down to the small of her back.
Sniggering in the background broke the two of them a part. "Young love," Happy teased.
Lucy blushed and buried her face into Natsu's chest. Natsu chuckled and wrapped his arms tightly around her. Happy flew straight into the guild to tell everyone one what had just happened.
"I'm going to kill him," Lucy's voice sounded muffled.
Natsu laughed as his hands rubbed up and down her back, "I know."
Lucy pulled away from Natsu and picked up his scarf she had dropped. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."
"Anytime," he grinned as he put it back on. "It looked good on you." He confessed, his cheeks had a light dusting of pink.
"Thanks," Lucy flushed back,
Suddenly, Natsu grabbed Lucy's hands and gazed into her eyes, "Lucy, will you go out with me?"
"Yes, stupid!" Lucy giggled before tackling Natsu into a hug.
THE END
Ahh did you all like it?! Please let me know what you thought of it! Thanks for reading :)