1. Food Fight
Lucy isn't entirely sure how baking cookies turned into an all out food fight, but here she is, covered in raw cookie dough with melted chocolate smeared across her left cheek. And here's her kitchen, a complete and utter mess of ingredients exploded across the floor and walls. She doesn't even want to think about how much of a pain it's going to be to clean that up later. A glob of dough drips from the ceiling right in front of her, landing with a smack and splattering across her bare legs. Wonderful. Her right arm bends back, poised to throw an egg at the enemy as she glares at him from in front of the stove, left hand clenching the discarded cookie sheet, brandishing it before her like a shield.
Natsu sends her a cheeky grin from where he's hiding behind the counter, egg yolks dripping down his neck and his rosy hair stained white with flower. His hands are up in front of him, showing his surrender, but Lucy doesn't believe it for a second. She knows better than to ever let her guard down around her devil of a friend, especially after that one time with the super soaker last Christmas.
There is no way she's doing that ever again. It took her a week to get the grape juice out of her underwear and she'll be damned before he ruins another pair of her panties.
"Lucy," Natsu laughs, "come on! I give, I give!" He creeps out from behind the counter, grinning at her so widely she thinks his face might split, before shaking his head so that flour flies across the room in a great, white cloud that tickles her nose and makes her sneeze.
The flour clears, revealing Natsu standing before her, covered in egg and flour and all sorts of cooking ingredients, but smiling down at her nonetheless.
She doesn't lower her hand, only raises a brow at him and lifts the egg higher. It's a silent challenge, she knows. And one she's not likely to win, at that, but she's going to try.
Natsu notices this, casting a weary glance at the egg clutched between her lithe fingers, but otherwise does nothing.
Lucy tries not to smile as he peers down at her with wide green eyes, but her lips twitch, quirking up at the corners. Natsu's smile only widens when he sees hers, and tentatively he reaches out, thumb stroking across her cheek, wiping away the smear of chocolate.
"I love you," he tells her gently, more serious than she's ever heard him before in her life, and she falters, nearly dropping the egg in her surprise, her eyes flying open wide.
For several heartbeats, she can't breathe, merely staring at him in complete bewilderment as he looks down at her with heartbreaking honesty.
This is the first time he's ever told her he loves her. They're both covered in raw ingredients and her apartment is an utter disaster and apparently he loves her and figured now would be the best time to tell her.
The egg cracks against Natsu's head, splattering across the right side of his face. A second later, Lucy has him by the collar of his shirt and drags him down into a sweet kiss—literally.
One of her hands snakes to the back of his neck as she presses up onto her toes, but Natsu is too shocked to do anything but stand there and let it happen, arms dangling at his sides.
It doesn't last long at all, but it steals the breath from his lungs and leaves him with a spinning head.
Natsu blinks down at Lucy, who grins. "I love you, too," she tells him.
This time, Natsu is the one to drag her lips back to his.