Summary: Exceptionally talented and powerful, yes. Exceptionally observant or romantically inclined? No, not so much. Picture perfect moments that really aren't so perfect because certain exceptionally dense mages fail to make a move. One: Lucy has certain expectations and needs that are neither met nor satisfied.

dense

lucy x natsu

It was a beautiful day. The sun was bright, there were picture-perfect fluffy white clouds drifting lazily through the blue, blue sky, tugged by equally lazy, light breezes. The ocean glimmered aqua, turquoise, blue, and purple, the rays of the sun filtering over the waves just so. Soft, pristine white sand sifted through her toes and there were even palm trees with coconuts swaying in the wind. She had her favorite, cutest, sexiest bikini on-a tropical, floral affair that actually provided a great deal more coverage than her other swimsuits-and a piña colada in hand. She'd thoroughly played herself out before stretching out for a tan with a book, and then had retreated inside at one point for a massage from a very handsome masseuse and some peace and quiet.

Lucy had absolutely no reason to be unhappy. It was literally a picture-perfect vacation day, and nothing relaxed the mage like vacation ambiance did.

Except now the sun was slipping down the horizon, dyeing the sky a veritable Pollock-work of oranges, yellows, reds, pinks, and purples as its reflection glowed orange on the surface of the ocean. Which was gorgeous, to be sure, and the novelist in Lucy carefully documented every detail for a future scene in her book.

The romantic in her, too, sighed happily over the perfection of the day and the sunset-and railed wildly against the fact that Natsu was nowhere to be found.

If he doesn't show up before the sun goes down... Lucy growled to herself.

She loved Natsu the way he was—complete and utter cluelessness and all—but sometimes...well, sometimes a girl wanted her upside-down kiss in the rain.

Is it too much to ask for just one, just one, normal, relationship-y moment? Lucy asked herself before sighing. It was Natsu, so...most definitely, yes. She couldn't even get a until-later kiss when they parted ways at any point of the day-she had to content herself with a huge, cheesy grin and a wave, or if she was lucky, she could catch his arm before he sped off and brush her lips against his cheek.

They hadn't even really gone on a first date, seeing as their first attempt had ended in disaster. And by disaster, Lucy meant a big, life-threatening mission.

The Celestial Spirit Mage sighed. She was doomed to go on missions that doubled as dates with an Exceed chaperone/third wheel for the rest of her life.

"Whatcha thinkin' about, Lucy?" Natsu asked curiously, breaking through her thoughts as he dropped down onto her towel to sit next to her.

Not even an arm around her shoulder or a kiss on the cheek.

But Lucy took one look at her Natsu's adorable, open, handsome face and felt her heart melt all over again. Of course, she'd hardened herself to his (unwitting) charms by this point, and stubbornly held onto her frustration and irritation.

"Natsu...where have you been?" she asked, trying not to let too much annoyance seep into her tone.

"The ice bastard challenged me to a race," the Fire Dragon Slayer answered happily, "and I beat him! I got back and came to find you," he added, picking up on the annoyance in her tone...even if he didn't know why she was annoyed this time.

Lucy looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. "The sunset is beautiful, isn't it?" she said, changing the subject.

"Mhm," Natsu answered noncommittally, too busy soaking in the way the light from the sun gilded Lucy's outline and brought an extra sparkle to her chocolate brown eyes.

"And today was a really beautiful day, too. And fun. Almost perfect, don't you think?" Lucy prompted, hoping against all hope that Natsu would just pick up the fact that she was trying to hint at something. (She wasn't going to hold her breath in hoping that he'd pick up on exactly what she was hinting at.)

"Definitely," Natsu agreed easily. Lucy huffed inwardly. He most definitely was not picking up on the hint that she was hinting at something.

"Natsu...we're on a beach." Lucy decided to try and spell it out for him. Natsu gave her an odd look.

"Yeah, I know. You're being weird again," he teased, ruffling her hair gently. Lucy ignored him.

"And we're sitting together. On a beach. And the sun's setting." Natsu frowned slightly.

"Er…yeah. Didn't we just talk about this?" Lucy groaned inwardly, trying and failing to stay patient.

"And it's been a great day. And the sunset is beautiful. And we're together. On a beach. Watching the sunset," she said testily.

Natsu was feeling a little nervous. Lucy was most definitely trying to get at something, but Natsu had no idea what she could even possibly be thinking about. So he just stared at her with a slightly terrified expression on his face.

"Um…"

"It's romantic," she said darkly. "Romantic, Natsu, romantic!" The terrified expression didn't change. "And we're dating and when people date, they do romantic things...on the beach...while watching a sunset...?" Lucy wanted to cry from frustration. She and Natsu had kissed precisely one time in the almost-one-year they had been together.

Once.

And it hadn't even developed into a snogging session. Which isn't to say that it didn't set off fireworks in Lucy's mind, because it did...it was just...chaste. Extremely chaste. And a girl has needs. God only knew how many times she had fantasized about just dragging him behind a pillar and snogging the living daylights out of him. Natsu was hot and that was only the icing on the cake because Lucy knew him, and she knew herself, and she was pretty sure that if she wasn't already in love with him, she would be one day. So there was that. And the fact that she had needs.

She just wanted one kiss. One. One kiss to bring their grand total up to two.

"Lucy...I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say." Natsu looked at her unsurely. "Do you want something?"

Yes! she screamed in her head. I want you to either grab me and press me down into the sand and kiss me like your life depends on it or just lean in and give me a kiss, preferably a long one, but just kiss me! On the beach! While we watch the sunset! I want you to kiss me! Now! And preferably without me having to tell you to kiss me!

But she kept that all to herself and just stared at him.

He stared back.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" she demanded.

"Er…no…?"

Lucy looked a little bit like she was about to smack some sense into her stupid, stupid, clueless Natsu. Instead, she released a strangled cry that sounded like "Argh!" and pushed herself to her feet suddenly. She looked down at Natsu, let out that noise again, and stormed down the beach. "Natsu, you are so stupid!"

Natsu was scrambled to his feet in a flash and chased after her, spouting apologies that he knew she wasn't going to accept.

"The beach, Natsu!" she kept saying. "The beach! The sunset! And dating! And romance! Natsu, you are such a blockhead!"

disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or anything related to it; I do, however, own this story idea/plotline/etc.

written: 24 January 2012

published: 24 January 2012

word count: 1,198

notes:

-This is a story coming from a self-proclaimed romantic idiot. I can write it, sure, but dear God. Let's just say that, like Natsu, I cannot pick up on clues. At all.

-Jackson Pollock...short, probably inaccurate, version is he was a famous artist who make splatter paint look good. But it's an ungodly hour of the morning and I should be working so...

-I promised myself this would be short. As in actual drabble short. As in maybe a few hundred words. I should know by now that I'm pretty much incapable of that. Anyways, this is totally not read over at all in any way shape or form because I am about to pass out on top of my computer.

request(s):

-If you caught any mistakes (of any kind), please let me know!

-Tell me how it turned out and review, yeah? And tell me what couple you want to come up next! I'll see if it's something I can handle...i.e. crack couple. I can't do non-het, not because I'm a homophobe, just because a) I don't think I can write a non-het relationship and I would hate to not do the characters justice and b) I personally don't see anything but hetero relationships in FT.

-Some announcements on my profile that you should check out. :)