Ok, this is an old fic, my very first Fairy Tail oneshot, and while I tried to fix a few things here and there, there still may be some minor OoC. If there is, please forgive me for it, but I hope you enjoy the stories either way. Hope you like it!

Title: Respect comes with a price

Author: dawnangel14

Fandom: Fairy Tail

Characters: Lucy, Erza, Natsu, Aquarius, Happy, and various other members of FT.

Pairings: Natsu/Lucy

Words: 3368

Rating: K+

Summary: Tired of being the subject of Aquarius jokes, Lucy makes Natsu her pretend boyfriend to win over her respect. But there's a small flaw with her master plan... the stellar spirit wants a live demonstration! NaLu

Warnings: Set after Edoras, because Lisanna's around.

The young blonde fell heavily on one of the many wooden chairs of the Fairy Tail guild.

Mirajane noticed her sour expression right away, but could not get near her under the circunstances. The amount of mages this day was too much for her, as not only did she have to attend the guild's bar but also confirm the departures of guild members on missions, and with the S-Class exams getting near, a lot were departing right now. Lisanna barely could handle the bar by herself, to the extend that she gave Cana the key to the wine cellar to stop listening to her constant demands for her glass to be re-filled.

Usually, in this situation, Levy McGarden would've approached her friend immediately and tried to ease her worries, but the petite mage was off in a mission with Jet and Droy. Lucy's fellow teammate Gray Fullbuster wasn't in the guild either; he had been assigned on a special mission somewhere else. And since the mission required an ice and a water mage, Juvia had been sent with him, which made her burst of happiness at the prospect of spending two weeks with 'her' Gray-sama, but she was soon disappointed, as Wendy was required to come along as well. And Natsu was nowhere to be found, as usual.

With the male members of her team missing, Erza Scarlet sighed and knew it was up to her. She finished up her piece of cake before walking up to her.

"Lucy, is something wrong?" asked Erza as she sat next to her.

"It's just..." she muttered in response, pulling out one of her keys.

"Did you get into a fight with one of the stellar spirits?" the redhead analyzed her expression. "Which one was it? Loke? I can kick his ass, if you want to."

"No, no, please don't" she quickly denied. Knowing Erza, she'd have attacked Loke without waiting for an explanation. "This is Aquarius' key. Along with Loke, he's my most powerful stellar spirit, and I inherited this key from my mother before she died. But she is..."

"Yes?"

"Well, she has a very... particular personality" sighed Lucy. "She has a boyfriend, and loves to remind me of it. She says that I'll never get one, which is why she won't obey or respect me. She even attacks me at time during battles..."

"I see. So, basically, you need to win her respect" she summed up, and Lucy quickly nodded.

"But that's not something so easy to win, is it?"

"On the contrary, it seems very easy" replied Erza. "Everyone respects me without me doing anything."

"Trust me, you do" affirmed the stellar mage. "But I can't intimidate Aquarius like you would do, now can I defeat her in battle, like you could do..."

"Then there's only one simple solution" her friend finished, deadpan serious. "Get a boyfriend. That way, she'll respect you and accept you, and the issue's over, right?"

"As if it was that simple!" exclaimed Lucy, shocked upon her proposal.

"It doesn't have to be a real boyfriend" the other woman clarified. "You can lie, right? Aquarius doesn't need to know if it's true or not..."

"Oh, I see what you mean... thanks Erza, you're great!" she thanked as she stood up.

Talking to Erza had renewed her energy. Now, she had an idea in her mind, and as she ran out of the guild she could see Erza smiling and searching for another piece of cake. However, it took her only five minutes of running across Magnolia to realize the small detail she had skipped...

'Where the hell I'm going to get a fake boyfriend?!'

The plan shattered upon that simple thought as she blamed her stupidity. It wasn't like they sold it on boutiques or random shops around town. And she couldn't just go up to a man and say, "excuse me, would you pretend to be my boyfriend so I can tame a powerful magical spirit". It was just plain insanity.

She felt as defeated as before talking to Erza when she walked inside her appartment.

"Hey Lucy!" a blue cat greeted her as she walked in.

"Oh, you arrived early today" observed the cat's owner, who was doing push-ups. On top of her bed.

"Don't do that over the bed, I sleep there!" yelled Lucy, kicking him out of said place. "I lost count of how many times I told you guys not enter my home while I'm gone! Do you even listen to me?!"

"But it smells nice in here" complained Natsu as he stood up.

The small exceed took that as a cue of the same that he always did.

"He liiiikes you" he teased, laughing as he always did.

Lucy silenced him immediately, but after doing so, in her head, she started meditating over those words. She looked at Natsu, who seemed completely unaffected by what Happy had implied. If that was the case... he couldn't possibly be affected by what a stellar spirit he rarely saw could think, right?

The pieces of the shattered plan were starting to repair themselves.

"Happy, Charle was looking for you" she quickly lied.

"Really? I'll go right away then!" Happy quickly opened the window and flew out.

Lucy closed the window immediately and turned around to the Dragon Slayer, who was thinking about what she had just said.

"Does that mean Gray is back as well?" he asked, remembering that Wendy and Charle had left with Gray. "Because I ha-"

"No, he's not back yet" she interrupted. "I said that to Happy because... I needed to be alone... with you..."

Those last words managed to lit her face bright red. But why? Wasn't she usually alone with him, on missions or other similar situations? They were close friends after all... well, Happy was always there as well, she had to recognize that... and yes, this time was different. This time, she had wanted to be alone with him, she had lied to be alone with him.

Only thinking that made her blush even more. But... why?!

"I did not mean that! That's not what I was trying to say, not alone in that way! I was just saying-"

"Are you feeling okay, Lucy?" Natsu studied her face, a little worried.

"Okay, ehm... how do I say this?" she mumbled, unable to find the right words to explain herself. "I need your help, Natsu."

"Sure, just tell me what you need me to do" he accepted, not a hint of hesitation on his words.

"Well, it's actually quite simple" said Lucy, a little more calm upon hearing the lack of doubt on his response. "Remember my stellar spirit, Aquarius?"

"Is she the fish-woman?"

"That's the one" she confirmed. "Well, all you have to do is pretend to be my boyfriend for a moment in front of her. No complains? Perfect! See you at the Magnolia Harbour in an hour, bye!"

That said, in an unbelievably fast manner by the way, the stellar mage pushed her teammate out of her appartment with surprising strength.

Confused, Natsu tried to understand all what Lucy had just said, but he had barely caught a few vague ideas. Had Lucy wanted him to pretend he was her boyfriend? Ha! That was certainly hilarious! He was sure that, if he asked anyone about it, they would just laugh and say that they would kill each other on the first date. Unless they destroyed the place first.

In fact, he found the idea so funny that he decided to share it with the others in Fairy Tail. When he arrived to the guild, however, his story was met with quite different responses than expected.

"I always said you two would make a fine couple one day" sighed Mirajane, smiling happily at him.

"If you're a man, you better take care of her, Natsu!" Elfman warned him.

"I bet Lucy would look fine on a white dress" laughed Lisanna. "Right, Mira-nee?"

"You're getting ahead of time, Lisanna" her older sister commented. "Although I agree, she'd look beautiful as a bride."

"Finally, Lucy has a boyfriend!" exclaimed Cana, surrounded by empty liquor barrels. "About time!"

"You're a lucky man, Natsu, while I..." mumbled Azleck, looking discreetly towards Bisca and avoiding eye contact with a small hint of a blush.

"I don't get what you're talking about!" he replied, frustrated that everyone seemed to have something in mind that he didn't quite catch.

"Natsu, come with me, I'll explain it all" Erza intervined, although it sounded more like an order than anything else.

Titania grabbed Natsu by his scarf and dragged him to a table far away from the other mages, who were speculating along the Strauss sisters about their wedding day. Once there, they sat down and she quickly explained the idea she had come up with to help Lucy with her stellar spirit.

"Although I'm surprised she actually picked you, from all people" she said, once her explanation was over.

"Does that mean I really have to act like her boyfriend?" cuestioned the Dragon Slayer.

"Only in front of Aquarius, and for a few moments... think about it, Natsu, this would make Lucy really happy."

"You're right... that's it, I'm doing it!" he decided. "By the way, how does a boyfriend act?"

Erza sighed. She should've figured Natsu would have no idea about that.

"How do I explain?" she mumbled. "You should grab her by the hand... be sweet to her, but without getting out of character, just the necessary measure... and smile at her, don't forget that."

"Just that? It sounds simple. Thanks Erza!" he flashed a smile at her. "I'm supposed to meet Lucy in an hour, see you later!"

"Wait up, Natsu!" yelled Erza. Fear paralyzed him on the spot. "Did you bath since our last mission?"

"Uh..."

"I knew it. Take a bath, and then meet up with Lucy." she suggested, but again her suggestion was more of a command than anything. "Got it?"

"But I-"

"Any complains?" her look would've been enough to scare the fiercest of warriors.

"None! I'll go bath right now!" he said before running away.

oo00oo00oo00oo00oo

The young woman got inside the bath tub filled with hot water, which immediately worked to relieve the tension she had been accumulated. 'Déja vu', she mumbled to herself.

It was true. She had lived a similar situation some time ago, when Natsu had asked her to meet him at the park at night, and she had immediately assumed it was going to be a love declaration after something Mira had told her. She was decided to reject him in that very same situation, in that very same bathtub; after all, they were teammates, and things would get really weird and awkward if they broke up. However, as soon as she got out of it, she put on her best dress, got a haircut from Cancer, and ran to meet up with Natsu.

What the hell did that mean?!

'That my will is stronger than my intelligence', her mind replied to her. What was that? The will to do what one wants to do, no matter what, and the intelligence that ordered to do the most rational thing, even if it wasn't what she truly wanted. Was it that her love for Natsu was so strong that it made her forget her common sense, that while her intelligence screamed that she should reject him, at the same time she pictured a whole life with him? Babies included?

Wait, what? Love for Natsu?!

She jumped up and left the bathtub, decided to leave those absurd thoughts there, where they belonged. But those absurd thoughts came back soon afterwards, as she searched her wardrove for an appropiate change of clothes. Perhaps she was really scared that things wouldn't go back to the way they were now, when they got along so well? What if they went out and later broke up? It would never be the same, maybe they would even stop being friends... and that, above all, she wanted to avoid. Maybe that was the reason she'd never admit how she truly felt?

But she didn't feel anything! Not at all! Right? Right, she didn't feel anything for Natsu Dragneel! He was just her best friend! Yet, why... why had she now chosen her newest and prettiest dress to meet up with him?

It was navy blue, matching with her crystalline eyes and marking all her curves, showing off the beauty she was. She sighed, as there was no way she was changing now... but why would she?! There was no problem at all! Why was she having those strange thoughts? Was it because Natsu was now her fake boyfriend?

'Because I want it to be true..'

Someone seriously had to silence that voice in her head! It was going to drive her crazy!

Lucy walked out of the appartment and skipped the steps down to exit the building. She walked nervously and after a while had arrived at the port, the meeting point she had settled. In a deserted wooden deck, the fire mage was waiting for her to arrive, and for the first time he wasn't accompanied by the blue exceed. Why had she chosen the Magnolia Harbour, of all places? Simple, where else would she summon a spirit that demanded to be summoned around water? On a urinal?

"Natsu!" she greeted him, running to meet him.

"Lucy, what took you so long?" he waved at her casually, flashing one of his usual grins.

She caught up with him and showed him a small smile. What had she been thinking about? It was same, old Natsu...

Wait a minute, his smell was weird... unlike him... had he bathed? In all their time together, she doubted that he had ever been this clean. It was a weird thing, why did he do it? 'He could smell really nice when he wanted to, though... focus, Lucy, focus!'

"I'm sorry, Natsu" she mumbled, sorrow heavy on her voice. "I know you must be really confused about this whole thi-"

"Don't worry, Erza explained me some things" he interrupted. "You need to win Aquarius' respect, right?"

"Thank you so much for understanding, Natsu" she replied, granting him her brightest smile.

Why was she smiling like that? Why was her smile so bright? 'Oh, she already started acting, that must be why!' he reasoned in his mind. 'Remember what Erza said, smiling is one of the key things for this act. Which were the others? Oh, right, holding hands, sure...' He offered his hand to a shock and slightly red Lucy.

"We're supposed to hold hands, right?"

She was a little surprised that he came up with it, but it was a nice idea. She grabbed his hand and he was immediately surprised. He hadn't expected her hand to feel warm; his body could produce fire, so the amounts of things that he could consider warm were quite limited. However, this sensation didn't seem to be related to his fire magic... if that was correct, then what was it?

"Open the Gate of the Water Bearer!" summoned Lucy, putting the key on the water. "Aquarius!"

After the summoning words were said, a burst of golden light came out of the water, and from it, a woman with blue hair and a fish-like tail instead of legs, that only wore a bikini in her upper body and carried some sort of big vase on her hands. The celestial spirit looked around in confusion, since she didn't see any battles around her, and turned to her owner in anger.

"Now you're calling me just to annoy me?" asked an already very annoyed Aquarius. "I have a date with my boyfriend today. With. My Boyfriend."

"You don't need to repeat it" muttered Lucy, then she gathered what was left of her courage and spoke up. "I just invoked you to let you know something. As you can see, I can get a boyfriend too, Aquarius! See? This is Natsu Dragneel..."

"Hey" he waved at the spirit at the mention of his name.

Aquarius frowned, but upon a minute of staring at the two mages her expression changed drastically. She started laughing maniatically, much to their surprise.

"What... what's so funny?" her owner asked.

"You're not fooling anyone, and certainly not me... I know from Loke that he's just your teammate" she informed between giggles. "What an idiot, trying to fool me like that, it's so pathetic..."

"We were just teammates, now I'm her boyfriend." corrected Natsu, who looked angry at the choice of words the spirit had used. "And don't insult Lucy like that in front of me."

Aquarius' laughter ceased completely as she studied the fire mage's face. She smiled, interested, as she was now intrigued by his reaction. She desired to know if it was true, or just an act Lucy was pulling to prove her wrong, as if she wanted to demand authority to her... more than once had Aquarius denied her help by stating that if she couldn't even get a man, how could she possibly dare to command her... and if she was telling the truth about their relationship, she would be forced into submission by her own words...

"Oh, it seems like you're serious about it" the celestial spirit smiled evily at them. "Very well, I demand some proof."

"Pr... proof?" repeated Natsu, confused.

"Yes. A kiss, at least." she casually explained.

'No' Lucy told herself. 'I can't force him into that, it's too much. I got him too involved in this, it's my business... I can't do this to him'. But as she was going to speak up, she was surprised that he had grabbed her by the shoulders.

It was then that their lips met for the first time.

That was certainly not expected, as she had believed that the spirit would believe them without doubting it for a second (which, in retrospective, she thought was a bit childish to believe). But no, this just had to happen... then why in the name of hell was she enjoying it?!

She had never been kissed before, was this how it was supposed to feel like? Because she had to admit, it wasn't that bad... Natsu was quite a good kisser, something that was more than unexpected (although a little rough, and she suspected it was his first kiss as well). He was sweet, giving her time to react and keep up with his pace, which -like everything with him- was intense. His tongue requested permission to enter her mouth, which she allowed right away, using her own tongue to discover new sensations...

Lucy wrapped her arms around the other mage's neck, which pulled them even closer, as his hands slid down, caressing her cascading blonde hair until they reached her waist, firmly holding her close from there.

The sound of a loud complain from the water spirit forced them to separate slowly... very slowly... as if they wanted nothing but to remain like that forever...

"Tsk, it's ok, it's ok, I believe you, you don't have to be so arrogant" complained Aquarius, evidently mad. "Fine, I'm leaving, I'll close the door myself."

And that, she did, leaving behind her a very awkward silence... what was one supposed to say after what had just happened?

Lucy surprised herself breaking the silence.

"Natsu... now what?"

"¿Hmp?"

"What do we do now? What about... us?" she blushed like an idiot at the simple mention of that. "What are we now?"

"I don't know" he replied bluntly, as he always was, extending his hand towards her. "But I guess we should figure it out... together, shouldn't we?"

Lucy stared at him, at his pure, innocent smile for a moment, and she truly believed his words. She truly did, how could she not trust Natsu Dragneel, the man who had brought her to Fairy Tail, that had made her dream come true? The man who had saved her over a million times and fought a million enemies for her?

She grabbed his hand and returned the smile. They figure out what it was, whatever was going on between them... together.