He was feeling...what was the best description for it?

Violently ill.

No matter how many times he swore -never- to get on a train or transportation again, it was something that was vaguely impossible. Happy could fly him for a distance, but the blue Exceed had limits, and to walk and fly to their destinations could take far too long. He knew that his anger and great urge to protect could lend him strength, speed and stamina; like when he rushed to save Lucy as she fell from the Tower, snatched away by Jose, but those were short bursts of energy, like adrenaline. And they wouldn't last, not long enough for a trip to a mission.

And Lucy would never run/swim along with him. She couldn't last, even if she was improving by the day - it came with running along with Natsu and his crazy antics all the time.

So there they were once more, on a train.

That murderous invention.

Natsu felt his stomach lunge with the intention to empty his guts out, and he slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent it from happening, misery being the only thing he felt. Happy, the traitor, rested on the seat opposite him, snacking on a fish as he shook his little blue head at Natsu.

The pinkette turned his head over to the only other person in the carriage compartment, a sickly sight with his green and pale skin.

She sighed, lifting a finger to him, pointing at the man as though she would murder him like the train did, even though it was but a warning. Scooting over to his side, the blonde lightly grabbed the dragon slayer, placing his head onto her lap with yet another sigh.

"Don't you even dare. Those are new shoes." She muttered a deadly warning, aura mimicking that of Erza.

At that point of time, Natsu could not even care and merely moaned in utter desperation, his answer giggled at by the Exceed.

Happy, for all his bonds with Natsu, decided that it was time for him to visit the washroom ( did the Cat even need a washroom for that? ), and despite the clear lie, slipped out, leaving the partners alone.

She stroked his hair absentmindedly, tuning out his groans and moans as she watched the scenery go by in the window. As long as nothing was emptied out of him onto her, she really did not mind.

That is, after she shoved down that awful feeling that came along with watching Natsu suffer. Oh she knew exactly what that feeling meant, and unlike Natsu, she knew exactly how she felt towards the other. Yet Lucy, silly weird Lucy, she would always be in denial.

Natsu was like...fire. No matter how much she lik-loved him, it was impossible for her to hold him to her. It was a one-way road. She could love him with all her heart, but he would never return her feelings. She had heard enough stories of the past, of how Natsu and Lisanna were so close, how Lisanna wanted to get married to Natsu, how adorable Natsu was. It wrenched at her heart, and the Celestial Mage had been found by Loke, curled up in her bed while she wept. The spirit had no understood what or why she was crying, but his comforting hand did nothing to aid her feelings. Slowly, she begun to push away those romantic feelings, trying to see Natsu as nothing more than her partner, a nakama.

How she wished she could hate Mirajane, for even suggesting that Natsu liked her then. It was false hope, and the dashing of that hope had Lucy slapping Natsu, and while she appeared to have gone crazy, it was another weeping session, this time in the bathroom, where tears joined water.

She wished she never noticed those feelings for the clueless and dense dragon slayer, but love had a way of elbowing its way into people's life, and slapping them with the facts that they didn't like to know. Natsu was after all, secretly, the type of guy she liked. Safe for the 'gentlemanly' and 'smart' demeanor she always enjoyed, Natsu had always given her a sense of security, and placed his nakama over anything else. He always caught her.

And now, he had already captured her heart.

A lovelorn sigh escaped her, and the mage squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back the flood of emotions she had been placing a dam on for ages.

On her lap, Natsu, despite his motion sickness, glanced up at Lucy with as much worry as he could muster. Speaking was out of the question for him, and he really did not know what to say either. Instead, he curled his arms around her waist without a word, burying his face into the pale exposed skin.

She froze up, breath hitching, eyes snapping wide open as she stared down at the pinkette, heart racing so loudly, she was sure that Happy, fugitively listening outside, could hear it.

"...You smell good, Lucy.."

She kept silent, waiting for him to go on, if he had anything to go on.

"Sing me that song again... It makes me feel better.."

Her heart sank. So it was only because he wanted to feel better. It had nothing to do with her, but more of the magical words that her mother seemed to have weaved from her mind, and music...from the heart. She had sung it first to Natsu many missions ago, and almost confessed then. Or rather, she did, but he was fast asleep by then.

Shaking the memories from her head, Lucy took a deep breath before she begun the starting notes of the song, which was in truth a love song. He didn't know how hard it was for her to sing it to him, knowing full well that he did not return her feelings. But it made him feel better, and so she shall sing.

"And as the light shone d-"

"I love you too, Lucy."

"...What?" Did she...no, she had to be dreaming or imagining it.

"...I said, I love you too."

"...What are you talking about, Natsu? This isn't something to be joking about." She trembled, unsure whether it was with rage, angry that he was joking about such a thing, angry that he would take her feelings for a joke.

"I'm not. I mean it. You said it, didn't you? Back when we were coming home from a mission. You sang this, and you said it."

"...But..but...you were asleep."

"I wasn't."

"What are you saying?"

"That I love you too, weirdo. Don't make me say it again." This time, it was his face that was tinged with pinkness, and he sat up from her lap, scratching at his cheek awkwardly.

With the moment that the two were having, it was only Natsu who had noticed that the train had pulled to a stop, for he could now sit up and look Lucy in the eye, grab her close, and with shyness one would never expect from the dragon slayer, plant a chaste kiss on her lips.

Lucy stared back in bewilderment, confusion racing through her head and mind and heart and every single nerve in her.

He frowned, chewing on his lip nervously. "...Was it...that bad...?"

"...No.."

"...You...don't like me anymore...?"

"No..."

Downcast, he pulled away from Lucy, only to be grabbed by the ends of his scarf. "Love...doesn't go away that easily.."

"..I don't get it, Lucy... All this...this...emotions thing..I don't get it at all."

"...Kiss me. Again. Properly."

What was 'properly'? He might be older than Lucy, whichever way you looked at it, but when it came to this, he was completely clueless!

But for her to ask him to kiss her again...it might that...she still loved him...right?

Exasperated at even himself, the fire mage might have grabbed Lucy a little too roughly, slamming his lips back down on hers, while pushing her back against the shut window. A hand slipped over to the back of her head, holding the blonde in place as he dove into the caverns of her soft lips to explore - having stolen the chance when she gasped at the assertiveness of the male. They fought each other for a few moments, before Lucy submitted to the dominating male, who despite all his inexperience, was not all that bad.

Not that she had any experience.

As they finally parted for air, her cheeks were flushed red, and while his was not too differently coloured, he wore a grin from cheek to cheek. "So is it a yes or a no?"

...Did he really have to ask? After all that?

But she didn't need to answer, for a blue head popped into the compartment, rolling his tongue as he commented.

"They likkkkkkeeee each other~"