Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, that would be the wonderful Hiro Mashima

XOXOX

"Okay," Gildarts-sensei's voice boomed at the entrance to the park gate. "Everyone split into groups. Try to have at least three to a group! Meet back here by five. If you're late we'll leave without you! Now go have fun!"

Everyone started to split off into mini groups. Lucy could see Gray ducking behind people, looking very flushed on his pale, icy face. Then he would peer over their shoulders in a rather peculiar manner, looking very paranoid.

She moved her gaze next, to Levy who was blushing at Gajeel, though trying to look callous with the way her hands her balled up at her waste thanks to his aloof attitude.

Before Lucy could observe anyone else, she felt a fiery-warm hand wrap itself around her wrist, dragging her away from her fellow classmates. Her eyes flew to the lightly tanned hand that was engulfing her wrist and followed the hand up the arm and to the rest of the body, though she knew exactly who was holding her hand right from the touch, "Natsu!"

"C'mon! Walk faster!" he chopped, dragging along her sluggish form. "Gotta beat everyone before all the good rides get long lines!"

"But Gildarts-sensei said we need groups of three!" she protested, remembering her teacher's exact words.

"He said try to," Natsu corrected with cheeky ease. "We tried, but failed. Oh well!"

"I don't think we tried at all," she muttered before an "EEK," escaped her lips as she stumbled a bit, but Natsu didn't seem to notice. "Can you let go of my—"

"OIII!" a frantic voice called from the distance. "LUCY! ASSFLAME! WAIT UP!"

"Heh?" Natsu and Lucy whipped around to see Gray running towards them.

"I don't—I don't have a—a group," he wheezed, bending over with his hands on his knees. He looked as though he had been running for his life, but before Lucy could question him about it, Natsu said, "No."

"Look," Gray breathed heavily, his eyes darkening, "I don't wanna third wheel your date any more than you guys want me to. But I need to join your group!"

"No way," Natsu said coolly just as Lucy turned a brilliant shade of red and wailed, "WE AREN'T ON A DATE!"

Amusement glinted in Gray's dark blue eyes as he shifted his gaze from Natsu to Lucy and down to Natsu's hand on Lucy's wrist, "So if you guys aren't on a—"

"You can join us!" Lucy tightly beamed, shaking Natsu's hand off her wrist like it burned her.

"Great," Gray smirked, walking ahead of them, but making sure to shove Natsu in the process. Natsu angrily stuffed his hands into his pockets, clearly mad at Lucy for allowing Gray, his arch-nemesis, to come along with them.

But Lucy didn't care, in fact she really liked Gray—as a friend, of course.

"So I think we should ride the Ice Make Rapids first," Gray suggested, looking over his shoulder at Lucy and Natsu.

"No way!" Natsu glowered, "I wanna ride the Dragon Slaying Coaster!"

Gray turned on his heel and smirked, "Well too bad. We're going on the Ice Make Rapids!"

"No!" Natsu growled, stomping his feet towards Gray. "We're going on the Dragon Slaying Coaster!"

And suddenly their foreheads were pressed against each other as they butted heads and babbled,

"Ice Make Rapids!"

"Dragon Slaying Coaster!"

"Ice Make Rapids!"

"Dragon Slaying Coaster!"

Lucy stood there as beads of sweat rolled off her forehead. People were staring as they passed by, causing Lucy to press her palms against her eyes, wishing she could turn invisible.

"LUCY, PICK FOR US!" both boys screamed.

"KYAA!" she cried, dropping her hands stiffly to the side. "DON'T DRAG ME INTO THIS!"

"Just decide!" Natsu snapped.

"Errr…Well actually neither…" she sheepishly shuffled her feet as both boys turned their gazes on her, "I wanted to go on the Celestial Key Swings..."

XOXOX

It was a two seater ride that that held 12 swings to represent the 12 zodiac houses and it spins people in a circle at a height that rivals that of a skyscraper.

"YOSHH!" Natsu whooped with his arms in the air as Lucy buckled them in. Gray had opted to ride alone, sitting on the swing right behind them.

The ride started and just as the swing began to lift up, Natsu hunched over like a sack of potatoes, clutching a hand to his very-green face.

"GAHH, NATSU!" Lucy panicked. How could she have forgotten about Natsu's one true weakness? Motion sickness. "YOU IDIOT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU GET ON?!"

"L-Looked...fun," he gurgled, slumping back against the chair.

"IF YOU PUKE ON ME," she screeched, just as the ride began to spin, "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" A shiver shot through her as the ride picked up speed, hurtling them through the brisk, cool temperatures of the higher altitude.

Natsu wilted over, resting abnormally warm forehead against Lucy's arm, but despite the fear of him throwing up, she felt at ease. His body heat seemed to do the trick, ridding Lucy of the uncomfortable chill.

Probably the longest two minutes ever as the ride finally came to a halt. Natsu nearly kissed the ground as he dashed off the spinning-hell contraption.

"LANNDDDDD!" he cried on his hands in knees. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCHH!"

"Idiot," Gray scolded, jamming his hands into his pants pockets. "Why the hell did you come on this trip if you can't go on any rides?!"

"Because," Natsu said as he stood back up, still looking a bit green, his slanted eyes flashed over to Lucy for a split second, before returning to Gray, "it sounded fun."

"Tch," the dark haired boy scoffed. "Well I guess you should just sit over there while Lucy and I go on the rides."

"Eh?" Natsu choked as he watched Gray wrap his cold hand around Lucy's wrist.

"Well you can't go on any rides so…" Gray smirked.

"Tch, whatever. Eating's more fun anyway," Natsu smirked as he left to go to a concession stand, but his smirk vanished the second he was out of sight.

XOXOX

Ride after ride after ride they went as Natsu sat there feeling bored and left out while Gray and Lucy would come back laughing and smiling. Maybe he should have skipped out on the trip after all, he mused as he tried to figure why he didn't.

"That ride was amazing!" he could hear Lucy squealing as her and Gray made their way back to him from the Dragon Slaying Coaster. His heart rate doubled in an instant like it always did when she was nearby.

Oh right, that's why he didn't ditch the trip...

"Definitely a 10 out of 10 when it comes to rides," Gray said back.

"Right! I wonder how our picture turned out…Oh! There's Natsu!" Natsu whirled around, making direct eye contact with Lucy's tender brown eyes. His jaw clenched. "Natsu!" she beamed, causing his heart to race a bit, "Come look at our picture!"

"That's the last thing I want to look at," he murmured to himself as he begrudgingly got up and walked over to them. It was like this after every ride. Lucy begging Natsu to check out her and Gray's photo and each photo left a churning sensation in Natsu's stomach.

This photo was different than the rest which were normally a goofy photo of them screaming or making silly faces. It even beat the one where they were holding hands. This photo made Natsu's blood run cold as he leered at it with narrow eyes, "Why are you two hugging?!"

"Dunno," Gray said. "Lucy was scared so I guess we somehow ended up hugging?"

"Hey!" Lucy pouted, making her bottom lip look huge, "You were scared too!"

"Pffttt no I wasn't," Gray grinned. "I was comforting you!"

"More like I was comforting you!"

Natsu rolled his eyes, turning away from the arguing couple—his skin crawled. Why were they acting so couple-like? It was driving him insane…If he had to look at another photo of those two he was gonna—

"AHH!" Lucy shoved past Gray, running to one of the game stands. "A PLUE PLUSH! I ALWAYS WANTED ONE OF THOSE! But ugh I suck at these games!" It was one of those balloon popping games and Lucy knew she wouldn't be able to win with her lack of hand-eye coordination.

"The snowman?" Natsu asked, having no clue what a plue was.

"It's not a snowman," she chided, "it's a dog!"

"Are you sure about that?" Natsu and Gray sweat-dropped, staring at the snowman.

"So what ride should we go on next, Gray?" Lucy asked, ignoring as she smiled with excitement.

"Hmm…" Gray began to ponder.

Natsu stood there, crossing his arms. There had to be something he could do to get rid of Gray… And then he saw it; a girl with blue, wavy hair. A devious smile overtook his face as he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "YOO, JUVIA! COME OVER HERE!"

"JU-JUVIA?!" Gray chocked, looking in Natsu's direction as his already pale face drained of color. "SHIT!" and just like that, Gray was gone.

"Gray?!" Lucy cried out, she went to chase after him, but Natsu gently grasped her forearm.

"Just leave him," Natsu beamed and then dragged her towards the balloon game. "Now let's go play!"

"But I suck at these," she frowned.

"But I don't," he cheekily smirked as he placed money down on the counter and began to play.

"Eh?" she blinked, not quite understanding as she watched Natsu pop balloon after balloon after balloon with darts like a pro.

And before she could process anything, Natsu was picking out his prize, "I want the ugly snowman!"

"You mean the dog?" the game clerk asked, cocking his head to the side.

Natsu nearly face planted to the floor as he said with gritted teeth, "Yeah…the dog."

Lucy watched in awe as Natsu accepted Plue from the clerk. "Wow, Natsu! You're so lucky!"

"Heh?" he titled his head as he observed the creature with great interest. "Why am I lucky?"

"Because you have a Plue plush!" she exclaimed, gawking at it. "It's sooo cute!"

"Ehh it's alright, I guess…" he shrugged and then held his hand out, "Here."

Lucy's eyes widened as she looked from his hand to his face only to see Natsu grinning at her, "You're giving it to me?"

"'Course," he lazily said, "I mean what am I going to do with an ugly snowman?"

"Ohmygosh, Natsu!" and without a second thought, Lucy tackled him into a hug, "OOOF!" he stumbled a bit, but managed to hold his ground.

Her clean, floral scent hung around him as he hugged her back, not caring if Lucy could hear his rapidly beating heart.

"I missed this," she breathed against his chest.

"Missed what?" he inquired, as he absentmindedly stroked her long, silky locks.

"Your warmth," she clarified. "Gray's too cold."

"Well he is an Ice Princess," Natsu cheekily grinned, pulling away from the hug to see Lucy's cheeks painted pink, making him wonder if his cheeks matched hers.

His heart stuttered as he watched her coyly bit her lip, "Say, Natsu," she swallowed nervously. "Why did you come on this trip if you knew it would be hell for you?" and then she added, "Be honest."

"Be honest?" he looked away and mused, tapping a finger to his lip. "Alright," his slanted, dark eyes returned back to Lucy's. He smiled gently and said, "In all honesty, it's because I like you, Lucy."

Her mouth parted and her eyes doubled in size, "Wh-What?"

"I wanted to go on the trip so I could be with you," he further explained. "'Cuz I like you."

Her heart hammered in her chest as she rasped out, "Natsu…" It was like she forgot how to breathe as she began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. She didn't know what to say. Was this even real life?

"You don't have to say anything," Natsu continued. "I don't really care if you like me back or nahh. It's just that you told me to be honest, so I'm being honest." Then he turned on his heel, "We should probably head back to the gate 'cuz it's almost time to go—WAHH"

Lucy had thrown herself at Natsu's back, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist to hug him. "I-I like you too, you dummy!"

"Lu-Lucy!" he sputtered, placing his hands over hers and disentangled them from his waist. He turned around and looked at the blushing blonde in awe.

She squirmed under his dark, unreadable stare as she reiterated, "I like you, Natsu."

A small smile broke out in his lips, "That's a relief." And before Lucy could realize anything, Natsu's lips were on top of hers.

It was warm and sparked like a flickering candle. Like wax dripping from a candle, their bodies molded together. Both desperate to feel one another, not caring if anyone was watching.

And neither of them cared that they were going to miss the bus back home.

XOXOX

The End.

Thank you all for reading!

Hope it turned out okay!