AN: So I wrote a shoujo manga-uh, fanfic. It's just simple, fluffy, romantic WAFF-stuff that seriously came out of nowhere. I may or may not continue this in some way… but I wouldn't wait for it.

Set some time after the events of the school omake.

Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, Pantherlily would be named Tigerlily.

Honey, Honey

"So yeah, that's how it is," Natsu said nonchalantly to Lucy who had suddenly become very pale, "I like you."

Wait a minute. Her brain couldn't quite grasp this.

"R-repeat that."

He frowned at her. "I think you heard me."

Lucy felt her jaw drop open, and if this were a manga, then it would have surely hit the ground by now. Okay, now wait just a teeny-tiny second. She needed a moment to record that. There was a chance he was joking. After all, who would say something like that straight-faced as if it was the most normal thing on earth that is done on a daily basis? Shouldn't he be all blushy-blushy, stutter-stutter?

This guy likes me.

What the hell kind of joke was that?!

He had to be kidding. This was Natsu, for god's sake. The biggest trouble maker she knew, and the closest thing to a delinquent Fairy Academy had. He was a god damn Yankee. Wait, that had nothing to do with this, since he had just confessed to her. That he kind of liked her.

Was he messing with her?!

Lucy's palms suddenly felt very moist. She felt her lips curl upwards in an awkward smile and soon a nervous giggle bubbled out from her mouth. Her head was spinning. She really needed to lie down.

"Eh… he… ehehe… eh he…"

Natsu suspiciously arched a brow at her. Meanwhile, Lucy concentrated on not fainting in front of that guy.

"D-did you lose a bet or something? I-I mean, y-you're kidding, right?" she finally managed to sputter in a weird laugh.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Yeah, it did. At least, she wanted to believe so.

Lucy gulped, still smiling weirdly. "W-well, you can't really be serious, can you?"

His frown sort of answered her question, and her smile was wiped off her face almost immediately. He looked kind of disappointed when he glanced aside; now he actually had a tad more in common with the stereotypical guy-who-confesses, and it made Lucy less sure that he was just joking. A little bit at least.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You're really starting to hurt my feelings," Natsu mumbled, and maybe he was blushing a bit, but that could just be her imagination. "It's not like I can chose who I like or something. This isn't my fault, okay. If you wanna blame someone, then blame yourself!"

If this were a manga, there would be a picture of a very dot-eyed Lucy. But then again, if this were a manga, Natsu wouldn't tell her to blame herself as if he hated the fact that he fell for her. She felt her eyes narrow doubtfully.

Natsu groaned, rolling his eyes. "Look, what more do you want me to say?" Something nice wouldn't hurt, idiot. "You made me like you, now deal with it."

Lucy was suddenly very aware of how warm her cheeks felt, realizing she was probably blushing pretty bad. Even though this confession had nothing romantic or flattering at all. Frankly speaking, this was probably the most nonchalant confession of all time.

And how come she wasn't yelling at him yet?! That dumbass had the nerve to tell her to just deal with it as if it was her responsibility! This wasn't how she pictured her first time being confessed to by a guy to be.

Where were the rainbows and butterflies, damn it?!

Okay, she needed to sound seriously pissed now, because she was. Damn right, she was happy-uh, pissed. Of course she was pissed! Not happy. Who'd be happy after this messed up confession?

"Y-you." Damn it! That sounded anything but pissed. "You're saying that you like me."

Now she was pretty sure Natsu was blushing. "Don't say it like it's a weird thing!"

"It is a weird thing!" she squealed. "I-I mean, you never even treated me like a girl. You always tease me, call me a freak or other names and play mean little tricks on me. I really thought you couldn't stand me and now suddenly you… It's – it's really unexpected, you know!"

He dug his hands in it pockets, looking at his shoes. "I didn't expect it either, you know. But it's like this now, so… yeah," he murmured at the ground.

Lucy frowned oddly at him. "And what's that about it being my fault anyway? How's it my fault that you… that you… How is that my fault?!" Okay, this was getting pretty embarrassing after all.

Natsu hid his mouth behind his scarf; he wore that damn thing even now, during summer. "Then stop being Lucy. Maybe then I won't like you."

What.

What's this idiot saying?!

She felt her face flush ten different shades of red, and for some reason only god knew she suddenly got goose bumps; and it wasn't cold out here in the schoolyard. Oh holy shit, this guy was totally and entirely serious, wasn't he?

God damn it.

What was she supposed to do now? Lucy didn't hate the guy, but she wasn't even used to the idea of calling him her friend yet, let alone her… b-boyfriend! She never even had a boyfriend in her life, to be honest.

"Lucy?"

Her head shot up, she was still pretty flustered. "Y-yes?"

Natsu looked away. "So what should I make of this?" he mumbled quietly, as if he expected her to reject him.

Lucy pressed her lips together, uncomfortably playing with her fingers. Calling this situation awkward would be an understatement. But she was surprised to find herself unsure whether she should reject or accept his confession. She really didn't hate him, and he was pretty hot. He'd be pretty popular among the girls if they weren't that scared of his attitude.

Oh god, his attitude. She'd never be able to put up with this hothead.

…Right?

"I-I need some time to think about it," she heard herself say weakly.

Natsu frowned at her for a while, and then shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"No… way."

Lucy sipped uneasily on her juice box, cheeks still pretty warm from… the incident earlier. Across from her sat her girl friends who were trying hard to realize what Lucy had just said. Erza had a look of pure disbelief on her face while Mirajane was smirking happily to herself (what the hell?), and Levy's face looked like some weird mixture of shocked and horrified.

Their expressions pretty much summed up Lucy's feelings perfectly.

Erza was the first one to snap out of it, "He actually confessed to you." She paused dramatically. "Natsu did."

Lucy nodded stiffly, sucking harder on the strawberry juice. It sounded even more implausible when others said it.

"Whoa, didn't know he had that in him," Levy mumbled, eyes almost bulging out.

Mirajane unwrapped her lunch, triumphantly smiling to herself. "I knew from the start. I have the sixth sense for that kinda stuff," she said.

Well, that was certainly true. Lucy had to hand her that bitterly. She still remembered that one time when Natsu had been particularly mean to her and she had complained to the school idol about it. Mirajane had jokingly told her that Natsu might do that because he actually liked her a lot; in a romantic way, that is. Let's just say, things got pretty awkward afterwards.

She sure had been right, though. Damn it.

"You're sure it's not just a bet?" Mirajane whacked Levy over the head. "Ow! H-hey, you've gotta admit that it's pretty much out of the blue!" The rant went on, but Lucy wasn't really listening.

Erza ignored both of them, and frowned at Lucy. "So are you two going out now?"

Mirajane and Levy immediately shut their mouths, staring at their friend with wide eyes. Lucy felt herself blush pretty badly, and tried to hide it by looking down. God, the way she was acting it was almost as if she was going out with him, not the opposite. She was very, very confused.

"N-no." Oh great, her voice was still trembling. "I told him I needed time to think about it."

"So you rejected him," Levy stated flatly.

Mirajane gave a fake sob. "Oh no, my poor little Natsu!"

"No!" Lucy said once more, blushing even more. "I-I really do need time to think. I'm not sure what I'm going to answer him yet…"

Mirajane was suddenly beaming at her. "Seriously? You mean it could be you'll say yes?" she exclaimed in excitement, bending forward a bit.

Lucy arched an eyebrow. "Maybe," she pointed out slowly. She felt pretty insane even saying that.

"Does that mean you kinda like him?"

The blonde felt feverish by now, and Levy's questions really didn't help her state. Why did that girl have to be this straight-forward with that sort of stuff?

"I-I don't know." It was sort of true. "I don't hate him?"

Levy waved it off. "That's half-assed. You should reject him," she said matter-of-factly, examining her nails.

"She's just not sure of her own feelings yet! That's totally normal for a pubescent girl," Mirajane interfered with a motherly smile; Lucy sometimes forgot that she was her age. "I think you should go for it. You and Natsu make such a lovely pair. I'm cheering you on, Lucy!"

"That's stupid," Levy said to Mirajane. "She shouldn't go out with him just because she 'doesn't hate him'. Something like that really sucks."

"Like I've been saying, she probably just doesn't know that she likes him yet."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Lucy followed their conversation with a weird expression of pure bewilderment on her face. Some advice that was. Both were right in some way. It wouldn't be fair on Natsu to go out with him even though she wasn't sure if she liked him. But then again, she wasn't sure if she liked him. It could be she did have feelings for him, but didn't really realize them, so Mirajane was right, too.

A girl's heart was fickle, right?

She glanced to the other side of the cafeteria where Natsu was goofing around with Gray, Loki and the likes, like nothing ever happened. Either that guy was very good at keeping his feelings a secret, or he just didn't care that he might have gotten rejected.

Stupid idiot, messing with her mind.

"I think you should try to get to know each other better."

Lucy's head shot up at the sound of Erza's voice, and apparently Levy and Mirajane were curious, too. "What do you mean? I think I know him pretty well," she said.

Erza smirked in amusement. "Sure, you know him as your classmate, but do you know him outside of school?"

"Well, there was this one time we went to karaoke after you and Siegrain-kun--"

"Let's not go there," said the scarlet-haired woman sharply and Lucy flinched at her deadly glare. Oh right, that date didn't go well at all. Actually, it had pretty much been a complete flop.

Mirajane gently nudged Lucy in the side. "Erza's right. Before you decide you should get to know him first," she purred with a smug smile. "Natsu is a great guy once you get past his rough attitude, you know. He's really sweet and caring and he'd protect you from anything."

Erza nodded. "Out of all the idiots he's the most reliable."

"Are you complimenting or insulting him…?" Levy mumbled, then sighed. "It's true, though. He is a good guy. Also, he's pretty hot and I know what I'm talking about," she flashed them a large grin, "Since I saw him naked."

Lucy immediately spat out her juice while Erza choked on her bread.

"Oooh my," Mirajane cooed, very much intrigued.

"Where the hell did you see him naked!?"

Levy quirked a brow as if their choleric reactions were really uncalled-for. "It was in the gym a while back, I passed by and the boys just happened to forget to close the door to their locker room." When she grinned mischievously, even Erza blushed. "And let's say, that was definitely above average."

"Levy!" Erza snapped, her ears were glowing red. "That's indecent!"

"I mean his abs, you pervert," Levy smiled while Mirajane giggled. Erza looked like she was on the brink of melting into an embarrassed pulp.

Lucy knitted up her brows, her friends' words still in the process of sinking in. She ignored their friendly argument and glanced over at Natsu once more, surprised when she found herself wondering what he and his friends were talking about. The truth is, she always felt kind of uneasy whenever he was around and figured it would go away once she knew him better. Maybe now was her chance to do that.

She kept staring at him, unconsciously smiling when he choked on his food between laughs. But then he suddenly looked up and their eyes met, and Lucy ruggedly snapped out of it, her face rapidly heating up. Natsu flashed her a teasing grin that she found oddly endearing, but instead of smiling back, she sent him an angry scowl and turned away.

It didn't mean anything that her heart just skipped a beat, right?

Much to her surprise, Lucy was still thinking about Natsu even when school ended. She kept telling herself that maybe as soon as she left the school grounds it would stop. It wasn't as if she never thought about him before this day… N-not that she ever did think about him!

Not in that way at least. Right…? Oh yes, of course.

She took a deep breath, in and out, releasing her thoughts of that dork with it. Or so she made herself believe. Humming her favorite song to distract herself, she went directly to her locker and opened it to change shoes.

That was when she heard it. It came from the locker row behind hers.

"C'mooon…" A girl giggled. Lucy cringed at the sound of her voice; that hurt. She prayed to god that those two wouldn't start doing things.

"What do you want me to do?"

Lucy's eyes widened. Hold on. That voice seemed awfully familiar.

The horny girl giggled again. "You know what I want, Na-tsu-kun."

Now wait a minute. Natsu?

What the… THAT ASSHOLE!

The blonde clasped a hand over her mouth to muffle a gasp of shock and leaned backwards against her locker. No, no, no. This wasn't right. She couldn't be jealous and act like a girlfriend over a guy she wasn't even on that good terms with. He was free to do whatever he wanted, right? He didn't owe her anything. Just because he confessed to her didn't mean he was obligated to look only at her.

She knew all that, but a girl didn't need a reason to get pissed at a guy. She clenched her teeth. I'm gonna show that bastard…

"Sorry, I already told you," she suddenly heard Natsu say, "I'm not gonna do that anymore. There's a girl I really like now."

Lucy's eyes widened, her cheeks suddenly feeling warmer. He was talking about her… right?

"Eeeh? So we're not going to play anymore?"

Sheesh, didn't Natsu already tell her it was over? That stupid, horny bitch should just get off his back and leave him the hell alone if she wanted to see the next day. Not that Lucy was jealous or anything… Well, maybe a little.

"Nope. See ya."

Before Lucy could react, Natsu was suddenly standing right in view, and they were staring at each other in utter shock, both didn't know what to say or to do. It felt like an awkward eternity, but in reality it was just a few awkward seconds until Natsu finally snapped out of it.

"L-Lucy!" he sputtered, cheeks flushed.

She was sure she was blushing just as madly as him, but tried to hide it as she looked down, very much flustered. "U-um… I – I didn't hear anything, you know…"

"Ah! Oh yeah, no, didn't think so. Ha-ha," he laughed oddly, scratching his neck.

Of course they both knew that Lucy did hear everything, or at least the important parts. Which was maybe why the silence that followed this awkward conversation was even more awkward. Lucy felt her wild heartbeat pumping in her ears as she carefully avoided his gaze, although she was fairly sure he was too embarrassed to look at her anyway. She really wanted to say something, anything, but her mind was blank and her mouth was too dry.

"Well, I guess I'd better go then."

Lucy's head shot up at this. Natsu was frowning uncomfortably at the ground, shouldering his school bag.

"See ya, Lucy."

"Wait!"

The word bubbled out of her mouth before she could form any coherent thought and when Natsu looked at her in pure bewilderment, she realized that she didn't even know what to say. That was when she remembered what Erza told her earlier this day, something about getting to know him better. Next thing she knew she took that advice and came up with something unexpected, even for her.

"Can… can we go home together?" she sputtered weakly, cheeks burning up.

Natsu gawked at her as if she had asked him to cut off his arms. He was silently staring for at least a minute, but then cleared his throat, obviously pretty flustered.

"Sure, whatever. I mean, it's okay if you really want to, you know. It's not like I care," he murmured with feigned indifference. When he saw Lucy's frown, he groaned, ruffling his hair, "Ah shit, who am I kidding?"

She felt her lips curl upwards to a soft smile, and for the first time around this guy the heat in her cheeks didn't feel unpleasant at all… rather welcome. In a weird way, but definitely not a bad one.

"Alright," she said warmly, cocking her head. "Let's go."

Natsu actually smiled at her. She immediately thought he had the cutest grin.

"Yeah."