A/N: The word limit is 1,000 for this challenge and I scraped by with two words. I am quite finicky with my word choice and ending for this one but finally...I am done. Enjoy!


"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Natsu shouts, slamming open the guild doors.

"Merry Christmas, Natsu!" mostly everyone replies.

Natsu suddenly becomes nervous. When he looks at Lisanna, his nervousness grows and a small blush appears. When he reaches her, his face is as red as a tomato.

"Uh...Lisanna..." Natsu scratches the back of his head nervously.

"Hm?" Lisanna looks up. "Oh, hi, Natsu~!"

"Lisanna," he swoons, "I love you-"

The image disappears in the now-possibly-delusional-Lucy's mind.

"Stop it, Lucy! Why did you just imagine that anyways?" Lucy reprimands herself while walking around in the cold, trying to find Natsu another present because something happened to the original one and it was all Natsu's fault.


"Heya Luce-"

"NATSU! I WAS CHANGING!"

"Okay, okay, I won't look!" he turned around quickly.

He was about to tell her to hurry up when she told him that she was done. He then turned around with a grin which totally fell off his face and is instead replaced by a bewildered look at what Lucy was wearing.

"..."

The loud-mouthed Natsu was speechless.

Lucy was wearing a very short dress that almost showed off her rear end and showed off a bit too much of her cleavage. She was wearing just the right amount of make-up and finally, she let her hair down and had a Christmas hat on which made her look adorable.

Basically, she was trying to kill him and make him rip off the heads of every male who dare stare at her for an unusual amount of time.

Lucy was a little irritated at Natsu's blank look. "Natsu? What do you think?"

" You look nice." He put on a blank look. 'There! Lucy can't suspect anything!'

Lucy started growling and marched over to him.

"Uh-oh..."

"Lucy Kick!"

Aaand she knocked him right into her cleverly-disguised present (which looked like a book, and so Natsu or anyone else had no way of knowing that could be his present), effectively squishing it.


Okay, it was her fault, really. But it was his face squished into it!

"So, Lucy, what are you going to do now?" she asks herself and then sighs.

She had spent so much money on that necklace which looked like Igneel too. 'One million Jewels down the drain...'

How is she ever going to win Natsu now? He will be entranced by whatever wonderful gift Lisanna has ready for him so long ago-

Wait, where did those thoughts come from? Him and Lisanna? Why would she imagine that? Unless, of course, she likes him, which is so not true. It is unbelievable to think that she, of all people, likes Natsu, the destructive, fire dragon slayer moron who is hot, nice, sweet, goofy-

Okay, Lucy, you are delusional.

Oh god, it is so cold and she's only wearing a jacket.

'What was I thinking? Oh wait, I know, I just decided to throw on a jacket and run outside to try and salvage a friendship! Except now, I'm both cold and on the edge of losing a friendship. It was a bad idea to wear this skimpy dress. I should've known that Natsu would not buy it even if I only wore my bra and undies. Oh wait, that's called a bikini. Alright, that's it, it's time to go home. Your excuse can be 'I was losing my sanity'. And then you can curl up into a ball and cry about your lost friendship and lost love, all in a warm house. Well, there's the upside to this whole thing.'

"Achoo!"

A snowstorm had just come out of nowhere. She starts running, hugging herself and closing her eyes. When she feels she has moved away from the snowstorm, she opens her eyes and sees that she has arrived at the pond where she has fished with Natsu and Happy. She also notices that Natsu is there, sitting down by the frozen pond.

"Lucy?" Natsu turns around. "I thought I smelled your scent. Why are you here and where have you been?"

Lucy notices a bit of concern in his eyes, and she smiles, "I've just been out taking a walk to enjoy the wintry day! I haven't really been to places other than the guild except to get everyone's presents, and that was two weeks ago." She then sneezes.

"With that kind of clothing?" he asks, slightly bitter. He is reminded of the possibility that males had stared at his Lucy.

"Well..." Lucy trails off, mind empty of excuses.

Natsu laughs a little, "And you say that I'm dense. Come here, Luce." He pats the ground right next to him.

"What?" she blushes deeply. 'Why is he being so romantic and...not dense?'

"Just sit!" Natsu chuckles.

"O-Okay..."

She sits beside him awkwardly for a moment before Natsu pulls her to him so that she snuggles against him. She squeaks in surprise and her face is bright red. Natsu grins at her, "There, isn't that better?"

"It is..." Lucy mutters. "N-Natsu...is something wrong?"

Natsu's mood dampens and he sighs. Lucy blushes, feeling his warm breath so close to her face, "I've just been thinking about Igneel..."

"O-Oh..."

"And you know what?" Natsu's smile returns.

"W-What?" she stammers, cursing her constant stammering.

"You sometimes make me forget."

Without warning, Natsu's lips are onto hers. Lucy's eyes widen but then close, thoroughly enjoying the moment. Their kiss is passionate and it feels like forever before they break apart, breathing hard.

"Lucy, I love you, and will you be my mate?"

Lucy smiles, tears of joy brimming in her eyes, "Yes, Natsu. I love you too."

They kiss again, and once more it feels like a lifetime has passed. They end it unwillingly, and their foreheads remain pressed together. "Merry Christmas," Natsu mutters.

"Merry Christmas."

It's silent for a moment before Lucy remembers something with a jolt. "I forgot!"

"What is it, Lucy?" Natsu asks, confused.

"Your present...I accidentally ruined it this morning..."

"Lucy..." Natsu starts, then grins. "I don't care about that."


A/N: I hope Natsu didn't seem too uncaring about Igneel, I meant for him to say that in the...nicest way possible. It's his way of confessing, and I think it's better than making him say a speech, which could be more OOC. Besides, I have a word limit to think of.