~sugar, sugar~

A chocolate a day doesn't keep the dragon (or his cat) away.

"Chocolate?" Lucy repeated, looking incredulously at the several boxes Mirajane had shoved into her hands.

Mirajane clapped her hands together gleefully. "Yes! Wouldn't it be good to make chocolate for everyone in the guild? For Valentine's Day tomorrow, you know?" There was a gleam in her blue eyes that foretold of a horrible, horrible plot brewing in her mind.

Lucy weighed her options. On one hand, she could start running, because the last time Mirajane had tried to intervene in any romantic endeavors, they had… not gone well, to put it lightly. Very lightly. Lucy shuddered at the memory of the utter embarrassment she had felt when she had deluded herself into believing the Take-Over mage's words about Natsu liking her. That was not something she wanted to experience again.

On the other hand, she could try reasoning with Mirajane, and Lucy wondered if she was a masochist. To persuade Mirajane out of engaging in one of her favorite pastimes was not an easy thing.

"Mira, I don't know… Are you sure you want the guys eating chocolate? They're already totally uncontrollable when they're not hyped up on sugar." Except for when Erza was around, but that was an entirely different matter. "And are you sure you don't have some ulterior motive?"

"Hm? Like what?"

"Um, well, you know… Spiking the chocolate with love potion, or maybe labeling the chocolate to be from different people who have no idea what's going on, something like that?"

"Oh?" Mirajane's eyes widened innocently, and she laughed in that tinkling way of hers. "I'd never do something like that, Lucy."

Liar!

"You can trust me!"

When it was Mirajane of all people saying that about this sort of situation, it usually meant the opposite. Lucy took the comment with several grains of salt.

"Really, Lucy," Mirajane leaned over the bar counter, giving her most sincere smile. "All I want is for everyone to get some chocolate for Valentine's Day. We're thinking of some of the quieter members in the guild too, you know. It'll be nice for them to know that they're appreciated for the work they do as well."

In the face of that reasoning, the celestial spirit mage felt like a terrible person. "A-alright, I get it…"

"…But why am I doing this?"

In the Fairy Tail building's kitchen, Lucy stared incredulously at the several boxes Mirajane had shoved into her hands.

"I have to go out to run some errands, but I'll be back in a few hours or so."

A few hours? What kind of errands are these?

"Don't look like that, Lucy, you're doing me a big favor." With one hand on the doorknob already, Mirajane waved cheerfully. "It should be really easy! The special recipe I have should be right in that book over there, and if you burn something, just call Natsu over to eat the fire. I'll come help you when I'm back."

"W-wait, Mira!"

The door slammed shut.

Lucy stood in the middle of the kitchen, feeling slightly shocked at the other woman's abrupt departure. Then she sighed. "The things I do around here…"

Dumping the boxes of chocolate on the large counter, Lucy picked up the book Mirajane had mentioned and flipped it open. She had to admit, the picture showing the completed chocolate looked delicious. "Well, at least it doesn't seem too bad. Melt it, mix some sugar, pour it in shapes, and let it cool. Should be easy." With that, Lucy pulled her hair back in its usual sidetail, tied one of the many aprons in the kitchen around her waist, and opened the first box of chocolate.

Sometime later, a pot of melted chocolate was bubbling gently on the stove. Lucy brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of her eyes, nodding in satisfaction. "I didn't know it got this hot in here… Maybe I should open the door."

She walked over to the door connecting the kitchen to the main guild, pulling it open just as Natsu flew past and bounced into the room behind her. Happy followed a heartbeat later, and slammed the poor door shut just as an ice hammer collided with it. Thank goodness for magical reinforcements.

"GRAY, YOU BASTARD! Oh hey, Lucy."

Lucy shook her head despairingly. "I'm not even going to ask-" she began, but was interrupted by Gray's muffled retort from the other side of the door.

"Hiding in there, squinty-eyes? I win then!"

"Like hell you do!" Natsu yelled back, and began to rush to the door. But he stopped suddenly, turning around to sniff at the air. "Something smells good. What're you making, Lucy?"

Happy flew in a quick circle before landing on the counter, reaching out to one of the unmelted chocolates. Lucy smacked his paw away. "Hey, no touching!"

"You're being mean, Lucy," the Exceed complained. "And there's not even any fish-flavored chocolate! Are you going to try and poison everyone with this gross kind?"

"I just don't want your dirty paws all over the food! And since when has there ever been fish-flavored chocolate?"

"It's totally out there somewhere, Lucy! You didn't look hard enough!"

"I'm not the one who bought these, cat! Go get your own!"

"Oi, oi," Natsu put one hand on Happy's head and the other on Lucy's shoulder, gently pushing them away from each other. "So you're making chocolate? Can I eat it?"

"It's not done yet, Natsu." Lucy turned her attention back to the stove, taking a spoon and the can of sugar out, sprinkling a liberal amount into the pot. "Mira asked me to help make the chocolate for Valentine's Day tomorrow." She looked at Natsu's face and flushed slightly. Must be the heat.

The Dragon Slayer seemed to neither notice nor care though. He suddenly looked excited. "Hey, can I help?"

Lucy couldn't hold back a laugh. "You? Help? I think you'd blow up the kitchen in about ten seconds. No, five."

Natsu seemed affronted. "Hey, I've cooked before! Lisanna taught me a bit, and Happy and I don't eat at the guild all the time, you know."

"Aye!" Happy agreed cheerfully. "We've made tons of stuff before at our house, and it was really good."

The celestial spirit mage remembered the state of Natsu and Happy's… "house", and was not encouraged. "Excuse me if I have some doubts about that…"

"I'll prove it to you!" Natsu rolled up his nonexistent sleeves and stomped over to the stove, but stopped when Lucy swatted his head with the wooden spoon.

"Fine," she sighed, only agreeing because it would be a waste of energy otherwise, and pointed at the sink. "But you have to do everything I say. First of all, go wash your hands."

When he wasn't blowing things up or getting in a fight or stuffing his face or generally being his usual chaotic self, Natsu was actually a pretty good helper. He followed Lucy's instructions with little complaint, and only when she had vetoed his suggestion of making flaming chocolate.

"It'd look so cool, Lucy!"

"The chocolate would melt! And no one except you would be able to eat it."

"That's fine with me."

"NO, IT'S NOT!"

Happy sat lazily on top of the refrigerator, claiming that if he helped out making anything but fish-flavored chocolate, he would get sick. Lucy ignored him.

"Alright, that's all the chocolate melted!" She tossed the last empty box of chocolate in the garbage can and went back to the stove to stir the pot more. Natsu was busy setting up the tin shapes for the chocolate to be poured in.

"These shapes are all boring," he complained. "Who wants a bunch of hearts?"

"It's for Valentine's Day, and hearts are a traditional shape," Lucy explained. "Besides, it doesn't matter what shape it's in after you eat it, does it?"

"Yeah, but it should at least be fun to eat. Like, make it into the shape of meat! Or maybe flames, or maybe…"

"Fish!" Was Happy's obligatory answer.

Lucy sighed in exasperation. "These are the shapes we have, so we'll have to make do. And don't ask if you can melt them into different shapes!" she added, seeing Natsu open his mouth. "These are Mira's, and I don't think she'd be happy to see that you twisted them all up into weird things. Anyway, pour the chocolate into the bowl already."

Natsu nodded obligingly, and lifted the heavy pot with an ease that Lucy could only envy, setting it on the counter. Thanks to that ridiculous sleeveless vest-thing that Natsu always wore, his bare, muscular arms were always exposed, and Lucy admired the sight for a moment. Then she blinked. Why am I staring at his arms?

"Hold it still, okay?" She slid the smaller mixing bowl under the large pot, tipping the pot over gently while Natsu kept a firm grip on the bottom. The liquid chocolate flowed out in a steady stream until the mixing bowl was half full, and Lucy pushed the pot away. "That's enough for now. You can put it back on the stove while I mix this stuff."

Lucy heard the clang and winced as Natsu set the pot down none too gently on the stove. "Don't just drop it like that!" she said irritably, stirring the bowl with a spoon. A bit of chocolate splashed out and Lucy flinched as it splattered across her cheek. Oh well, she'd get that later.

"Lucy?" Natsu's voice had an odd tone to it, but Lucy didn't bother looking back, still intent on stirring the chocolate in the bowl.

"What?"

Suddenly, she became aware that Natsu was suddenly right behind her, and extremely close, and he was leaning in towards her face and oh god what was he doing and was that his tongue-

Natsu licked the spot of chocolate off her cheek.

Natsu. Licked. Her. Cheek.

Lucy shrieked like never – well, rarely – before, and backhanded Natsu across the face. The Dragon Slayer yelped and tumbled ungracefully onto the kitchen floor.

"W-w-what the hell, Natsu?" she stammered, feeling her face burn like never before. Oh god, this was so embarrassing and gross and all sorts of wrong. "Why on Earthland did you do that!"

Natsu frowned as if the answer was obvious, but ignored her and turned to his other friend who was still sitting on the refrigerator. "Happy, you were wrong. Aren't girls supposed to like that? Lucy didn't like it at all."

"But the book said that they always do!" Happy called back, oblivious to Lucy's smoldering rage. "And then you should be curling your tongue around like-"

"What kind of book were you reading to get the idea to do something as stupid as that?"

"Natsu, Lucy's being scary again!" the Exceed wailed, flying to Natsu and settling on the Dragon Slayer's hair.

"Nah, she's just being weird like usual."

Lucy glared at the two of them with her best death stare, and they cowered. "H-hey, Lucy, don't get too mad at us… Please? It was just a weird book we were looking at and it was just open to a page where there were a lot of pictures of people doing weird things with their tongues-"

She held up a hand to stop Natsu's rambling, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I asked. Just… don't ever do that again, and we'll pretend nothing happened. Got it?"

"Yeah, but-" Happy started, and Lucy smiled dangerously at the cat. An aura of doom seemed to emanate from the blonde, despite her cheerful expression.

"Got it?"

"Aye, sir!" Happy squeaked in terror, and bolted from the kitchen.

"Tsk." Lucy reached for a paper towel, grimacing as she wiped her cheek. That had been absolutely disgusting. "Scaredy-cat. Well, now we don't have to put up with Happy's commentary," she muttered, picking up her abandoned bowl and stirring it in a sort of frenzy. "Get back to work, Natsu."

"Aye, sir!" Natsu squeaked. Lucy rolled her eyes at Happy #2, and he cleared his throat. "Um, yeah. I mean, doing what?"

"Go get another bowl and start stirring, of course. What did you think?"

Natsu obeyed, pouring more chocolate into a different bowl. "Man, to think that I picked you to be on the team 'cause I thought you were nice," he grumbled.

Lucy waved the spoon indignantly, not caring about the bits of chocolate flying everywhere. "Hey, I am nice! You guys were just being bigger idiots than usual. I mean, what kind of book did you think it was?"

"Some book that would teach me how to tie my tongue in a knot! Wouldn't that be pretty cool?"

"I think you mean pretty creepy…"

"Well, whatever. It's okay, I still like you even if you get as scary as Erza sometimes." Lucy abruptly stopped mid-stir, staring at her pink-haired friend. And while she was at it, why was Natsu acting like he was the one forgiving her?

"Um… S-say that again?"

Natsu looked confused. "Say what again?"

"What you said just now."

"What, the I-like-you thing?"

"Y-yeah, that!"

"Um, okay. I. Like. You." he repeated slowly, intently staring at her eyes. She had no idea if Natsu was aware of the potential double-meanings that could have.

Lucy suddenly blushed so furiously, she was half-surprised that her head hadn't exploded from the steam yet. "W-well, I… I-I like you too." She rushed to add something else, because it was much too embarrassing to just leave it at that. "Because we're friends and teammates, you know?"

"Good to hear it! It'd be pretty hard to take jobs together if you didn't…"

"We're finally done!" Lucy laughed and slapped a high-five with Natsu, who pumped his other hand in a fist. "Thanks for helping me out. You can have the first pick when these get handed out tomorrow."

Natsu stared at her for a moment, and grinned in that mischievously sunny way of his. "Hey Lucy, you've got chocolate on your face again."

"Again? No, don't lick me." Lucy reached a hand up to touch her face. "Where?"

She got her answer as Natsu's lips crashed into hers, and it was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted.

Omake

Gray wandered into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks. "Oh. Uh… Is this a bad time?"

Lucy and Natsu sprang apart, breathing heavily. "G-Gray!" Lucy stammered, backing away from Natsu. The Dragon Slayer growled in irritation at the interruption.

Gray smirked knowingly. "It's about time, honestly. You two were always dancing around like that. But jeez, get a room. And in the kitchen? Classy."

"It's not like that!" Lucy wailed despairingly, flailing her hands around. Selectively ignoring the mortified celestial spirit mage and scowling Dragon Slayer, Gray picked up the spoon with chocolate residue on it.

"Is this what you guys were making the whole time?" Without any further ado, he stuck the spoon in his mouth. "Wow, it's pretty good."

"Hey, don't eat that!"

Suddenly, Juvia randomly burst into the kitchen. "Lucy is alone with Gray-sama! Juvia cannot even take her eyes off the love-rival for one moment!"

"N-no, it's not like that! Natsu's here too! See?" Lucy pointed at the aforementioned person, who had uncharacteristically buried the lower half of his face into his scarf. Was Natsu blushing?

"Lucy, let's get out of here. The ice-brain's pissing me off." Natsu seized Lucy by the hand, all but dragging her out before Gray could shout an insult back.

"Eh? What? H-hey… Don't eat the chocolate, Gray!" Lucy shouted over her shoulder, before she and Natsu both disappeared around the corner.

Gray blinked. "Well, okay then. Ha, they're probably going to go keep making out." Because he was a somewhat decent person most of the time, Gray opened the refrigerator and put the completed trays of chocolate inside, as that was probably what one was supposed to do. He closed the door and turned around to see the water mage. "Oh, you're still here, Juvia?"

Juvia nodded quickly, somewhat at a loss for words now that she was alone with her beloved. This was not helped when Gray dropped his shirt to the floor. She focused her attention on the spoon that Gray was still holding. "Um… Juvia would like some too!"

"What, the chocolate?" Gray glanced at the bowl. "I guess Lucy can't complain. I already used the spoon though, let me get another one-"

"No!" The ice mage jumped at Juvia's forceful tone. "J-J-Juvia wants to use that spoon."

"Huh, really? Alright, if you don't think that's too gross…"

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Or Singles Awareness Day, or something like that. I still can't believe I wrote this just for the ending line of the story and the omake. Oh well, I hope you guys had a good laugh.