It was Valentine's day and love was in the air.

The town of Magonila had decorated itself for the holiday with red, pink and white streamers, balloons, hearts and confetti with chatter of the townspeople being that of love, the only seemingly good subject of interest. But deep in the very heart of the city walked a certain well-known fire mage, who strutted proudly to his destination after struggling to think of or find anything that would be considered 'special'.

It wasn't easy nor was it fair.

That bastard made it look so easy!

Natsu Dragneel was a rather well known face in the town of Magnolia, in all of Fiore. He was carefree, compassionate, reckless, child-like by nature, was fiercely loyal to a fault and very protective. His mind was rather straightforward and was incapable of disrespect or hostility. As such people would find it hilarious that romance would be something the destructive and brash Salamander would be capable of.

Natsu smirked.

He'll show them!

Natsu hummed a merry little tune as he bustled about his kitchen, stirring and mixing within the pots and bowls on his counter top. He was just so excited for the special surprise dinner he had in mind for his dashing ice prince and the minute he did, his mind automatically drifted to that soft, spiky, dark hair, his gorgeous dark blue eyes that seemed to easily enrapture the pinkette, and that body. That amazing and delicious body that was toned and muscular that while it made the pinkette jealous he couldn't help but run his slender fingers dance and trace every dip and curve, flutter across the papery scars that Natsu seemed to admire despite heavy objection while drooling over and worshiping it.

Twin Gods above, he was sexy...

And Gray was his mate!

Gray was always doing something 'special' for the fire mage on this holiday since they got together three years ago. Any holidays actually, if the pinkette thought on it, ranging from his birthday to even the less important tree day, Gray would plan something for just the two of them.

But not this year!

When Team Natsu took that mission under Erza's 'request' to take care of a bunch of bandits that looted a bunch of gold, gems and other valuable trinkets from a local mountain town, Natsu watched the valuables being returned to their rightful owner's hand, hoping that they could give him inspiration or an idea as to what to get Gray. Gray didn't like having flowers or chocolates thrown at him. He wasn't a vain man- nor was he materialistic, he wasn't even the slightest bit shallow. If anything, he was just an egotistical asshole- And that only came into play during contests and challenges so while most of the time it was in play, when it was just him and Natsu, there was no such thing. Most of the time, the guy was just a laid-back, tired and lazy ass who looked like he wanted to be anywhere that wasn't where he would be currently...

He told Lucy this and she suggested an idea to the pinkette and that was how he knew what he was going to do for Gray.

"How about a romantic meal? Loke's always done them for me..."

He smiled as he continued making his special dinner, excited for the mere thought he was actually one up on the ice mage. Doing something romantic before he could and he couldn't help the child-like giggle that escaped his lips and so glad that Happy was willing sacrifice to precious time he wanted to spend with Carla to help him distract Gray, under pretense that the ice maker mage help him find the perfect gift for Carla.

Distracted the pinkette was he didn't realize that the roast he put into the oven had burst into flames until it was too late and the fire alarm went off.

"Wha- Oh no!"

"Ok... I think she's going to like it," sighed a rather exhausted ice mage, "You must've gone through one of everything from that market."

"It's got to be perfect!" Happy whined, clutching the gift wrapped fish tighter as he floated around Gray's head. "It can't be anything less than that!"

"I know- I know," Gray assured with a wave of his hand, "But it doesn't explain why you needed me. You seemed more capable by yourself-"

"You had to."

"Why?"

Happy sat there, staring at the ravenette like he just noticed he was there. "Because you had to."

"That didn't answer my question furball!"

Happy giggled, while Gray sighed in slight annoyance and rolled his eyes as they walked down a dirt path toward their home. He couldn't believe he got conned into this, but alas he did- And it was all because he forgot- Actually forgot- that Valentine's Day was this weekend and didn't realize it until he had woken up and glanced over to his calendar and nearly screamed, somehow not waking Natsu in the process due to his frantic behavior in the bedroom. When Happy came into his and Natsu's shared bedroom, asking for help, naturally Gray was quick to accept the offer as he saw it as a way to get something for his mate before the dragon slayer woke up and figured out what today was.

He didn't expect it last all fucking day.

After spending hours upon hours going to every fish market Magnolia possessed to help Happy find the perfect fish for Carla, Gray decided to settle on getting a large bouquet of red roses and dinner reservations for a nice sit down restaurant for later tonight. He was going to head home, grab Natsu, have them both shower and dress decent, drop Happy off at Wendy's and then head off.

Provided if he got away that was.

"Huh... That's weird."

Gray blinked. "What's weird?"

"There's smoke coming through the trees," Happy replied, pointing toward the direction, "It's looks like it's coming from our house..."

"WHAT?!"

Gray's head snapped up in the direction Happy was pointing and sure enough there was smoke, thick and ash grey. Alarmed, Gray ran forward with Happy following right behind as the two of them ignored all any and all danger and dashed into the thick smoke.

"NATSU!"

Natsu swallowed the last of the flames down, saving his kitchen from the heat's hunger trying to save the dinner he worked so hard on making for him and his ice prince. Once the smoke cleared the pinkette got a good look at his roast and felt the world crushing his chest.

His dinner- His hard work- Was destroyed.

Natsu fell to his knees as a small sniffle escaped his lips as tears stinging his eyes as they welled up at the destroyed dinner. For once he wanted to do something special for Gray, for once he wanted to surprise Gray, just for once he wanted to be the 'romantic' one.

"Natsu!" Natsu jumped in the air upon sound of his lover's voice. "Natsu! Where are you?"

"I-I'm in here!" Natsu called, wiping his eyes. "In the kitchen..."

"Oh god Natsu!" Gray cried, bursting into the room, followed by Happy. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine." Natsu soothed. "I'm okay... I'm okay."

"What happened?"

"I-I was making dinner..." Came the soft voice. "Roast beef with mashed potatoes... Must've- Must've set it to high..."

Gray nodded and with a small smile, tugged the fire mage into his arms allowing Natsu to lean forward and pressed himself against his mate's chest. Natsu blinked before a large bundle of roses entered his line of vision pulling away to get a better look.

"I got you these." Gray smiled. "I know it's not a good time, but uh- Happy Valentine's day, Natsu."

Natsu slowly wrapped his hand around the bundle of thorny stems and brought the roses to his face. He stared at the beautiful soft red petals before realization sunk in, everything sinking in and making the pinkette clutch the roses closer to his chest as tears bubbled in his eyes, startling Gray.

"Is- Is something w-wrong?"

"It's not fair." Natsu whispered.

"Natsu?"

"It's not fair," Natsu repeated, tears falling. "It's not fair!"

"Natsu- Baby, what's not fair?"

"All this happened just because I wanted to do something nice for you," Natsu wailed. "You've always been the one doing nice and special things for me! You've gotten me flowers, chocolates, stuffed animals and other girly shit, just this once I wanted to return the favor!"

"Baby-" Gray was touched.

"Sure, I was embarrassed and annoyed as shit by them because they, at first, make me feel like I'm some girl to you, but in the end, they were so sweet! I kept them all!" Natsu clutched the roses tighter, almost crushing them against his chest. "So I decide to treat you to dinner! I wanted to make it special! I'm sorry Gray! I'm so so sorry! I ruined Valentine's day!"

"Hey now, don't worry about it," Gray replied soothingly, pulling the pinkette back into his arms against his now bare chest rubbing a gentle hand up and down the dragon slayer's back. "It's okay-"

"No it's not!" Natsu retorted into the ice mage's throat. "I ruined your special dinner!"

"Oh, but you didn't."

"Huh?" Natsu pulled away from the embrace, eyes wide and confused. "I didn't? What?"

"What you got me was 'appreciation'." Gray explained with a small smile. "It's makes me happy to know that you like the gifts I got you. To me, that's something special."

Natsu blinked several times before a large smile appeared across his face and pressed himself deeper into Gray's neck and chest with a small laugh.

"But ya' know what-"

Natsu blinked and craned his head and looked up. "What?"

"How 'bout I treat you to dinner?" Gray leaned forward and placed a kiss to Natsu's forehead. "I got us some reservations at a quaint restaurant.."

"That's sounds nice..." Natsu sniffed. "Thanks."

Gray just smiled.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!