{Warning: some cursing ahead!}

Chapter 9

The dark-haired guy falls back onto his butt and stares up at Natsu with utter shock.

The blonde is surprised Gray was knocked down so easily. He teaches self defense lessons with his father at a studio and is a total pro. He's even taught Lucy so she could handle herself if he wasn't around to help. She reasons the only reason he's on the ground is because dark-haired guy had his guard down when the pinkette showed up unexpectedly.

Gray snaps back to his senses and glares. "The fuck is wrong with you, Dragneel?"

The blonde knows she never told him Natsu's first or last name. That was personal information he could have tracked the pinkette down with. The blonde puts things together easily: the two know each other somehow.

Natsu forms fists like he's going to pummel something or someone. "I have been waiting for Lucy since two o'clock! That was two hours ago! At first I thought she was just late because normally she's on time or even early! Then I thought something had happened to her when she wouldn't answer her phone or respond to any of the nine texts I sent her!" The pinkette's chest is heaving from talking and the words only come out faster from his mouth. "Not too long ago I got the idea she stood me up for some reason! For whatever kinda reason she had! So I came here to talk to ya about things ONLY TO FIND SHE'S HERE WITH YA! I RECOGNIZED HER CAR OUTSIDE AND COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"She can be here if she wants to be here! She's my s–" The dark-haired guy stops speaking. Then he stands up and faces the blonde. He opens his mouth to speak, but gets cut off.

Natsu puts him in a tight headlock. "I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS, YA TRAITOR!"

With ease, Gray flips his assailant over his shoulder and throws him onto the wooden floor. The pinkette lands on his back and gulps for air, having had the wind knocked out of him. The dark-haired guy looks at Lucy who is petrified on the couch. "Shit. I'm sorry, Lucy."

Her brown eyes flicker between her brother and former crush. She's not really sure what to do.

Natsu forces himself to sit up and he looks at the blonde sadly. "Why are ya here… ? Why weren't ya with me… ?"

She hears the pain in his voice. Lucy isn't sure why he's acting like she's the one who betrayed him. He's the one who asked a girl out one day and thought he could still take her out on a date the very next day.

"Did I do something wrong, Luce?" Natsu adds.

Her hear twists. He was the first and only person to call her that. It made her happy at first, but now she despises it. Now things are different.

She reaches for her phone, only to realize the dark-haired guy still has it. So she settles with standing and signing. *I will not go on a date with guys who already have a girlfriend.*

The pinkette looks at Gray for help. "Did ya catch any of that?"

"She won't go on a date with a guy who already has a girlfriend," he translates.

Natsu looks surprised and jumps to his feet. "But I don't have a girlfriend!"

Lucy is beyond vexed that he's lying straight to her face. *Tell that to the girl I saw you with yesterday! I heard you confess that you like her! And you asked her to be your girlfriend!*

"She saw you were at Blue Pegasus with a chick yesterday," the dark-haired guy begins. "She saw you confess and ask her to be your girlfriend."

The pinkette blinks. "That was Lisanna and she was helping me out."

Gray rolls his eyes. "Why couldn't you just ask Lucy, dumbass? Did you really need Lisanna to practice with?"

"Like I said, she was helping me out!" he counters.

"With what? All you had to do was just ask Lucy. That's it! Easy as that!"

A blush tints his cheeks. "I wanted to ask her in a special way!"

The dark-haired guy looks incredulous. "Special?"

"Yeah. Special." Natsu walks over to the blonde and stands in front of her. "I think I practiced enough so it shouldn't be too horrible…" Then he raises his hands and uses them to sign, *I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?*

Lucy's hands cover her gaping mouth. She's completely astonished.

"Did I screw things up?" Then the pinkette gasps. "Did I sign something wrong?!"

Leaving her hands where they are, the blonde nods, answering his first question.

Natsu grins from ear to ear. "Yes?"

To make sure he understands, Lucy uses one hand to sign with to reconfirm it. *Yes.*

The pinkette laughs and hugs her tightly. He smooches the top of her golden head before nuzzling it.

The blonde is bubbling with happiness. Natsu had someone teaching him just so he could ask her something in sign language. It was special. Extremely special. And she was the one he wanted to be with.

The duo leans back to look at each other.

"Sorry for the confusion," the pinkette says sheepishly.

She merely shrugs since her arms are preoccupied. Then it hits Lucy they aren't alone. She looks past Natsu for her brother.

The dark-haired guy is actually nowhere to be seen. He slipped away without either of the two realizing it.

"What's wrong?" The pinkette looks over his shoulder. "Hey, where'd Ice Princess go?"

"If you two want, I can watch everything that happens," he says, his voice coming from the kitchen.

"I agree." Natsu says, and then smirks. "We don't need him to see us make out and–"

"THAT'S MY SISTER!" Gray hollers, storming into the room. Now is black tee is nowhere to be seen.

"Sister?" The pinkette looks back and forth between the two. "But you're too ugly to be her brother."

The blonde silently laughs at his statement.

On the other hand, the dark-haired guy rolls his eyes and folds his arms across his bare chest. "We're very close."

Natsu hugs Lucy closer to him. "Well, we're dating now so I think we're closer."

"I've known her longer than you."

The blonde rolls her eyes and pulls away from the pinkette to sign. *This is ridiculous.*

"This is what?" Natsu asks.

Lucy arches an eyebrow at him. *How much sign language do you know?*

"Uh, wait. I got this." He thinks for a moment before using his hands. *I want to learn sign language. I know a little bit.*

The blonde melts a little and can't stop the smiling forming on her lips.

"Who's been teaching you?" Gray asks. "This Lisanna person?"

"Duh. Lisanna teaches sign language classes."

"Why didn't you ask Levy?" the dark-haired guy questions. "She's been friends with Lucy even longer than me. I'm sure she would have helped you out."

The pinkette chuckles. "She wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret. She woulda told Luce right away."

Lucy nods in agreement, knowing how her best friend would have reacted.

"Lisanna doesn't know Luce so I didn't hafta worry about her telling her. It all worked out really." Natsu frowns slightly. "Except for the part where Luce found us at Blue Pegasus…"

*Why did you tell me you had work?* the blonde asks. *It would have been fine if you told me you were meeting a friend.*

"Why didn't you tell her you were meeting with a friend in the first place?" Gray asks.

The pinkette scratches the back of his head. "I, uh, panicked. Really, I did. I knew I couldn't tell ya I was meeting with a friend to learn sign language. That would ruin the surprise. I knew I had work before meeting Lisanna so I went with that. It was kinda like the truth…"

The dark-haired guy groans and facepalms. "I get that it was a surprise for Lucy, but try not lying to her. Maybe get as close to the truth as you can before you ruin the surprise. Better yet, tell me so somebody else is included in your idea."

"Hey, Igneel knew what I was doing!" Natsu says defensively.

"Okay, so the next time you're trying to surprise Lucy, just let her be aware there's a surprise for her."

"But that takes away from the surprise," the pinkette groans loudly.

Lucy silently laughs. She's enjoying this moment. She's with her brother and boyfriend. Things couldn't be better.

A/N: I decided to leave my comments down towards the bottom rather than up at the top above the chapter :P And yaaay, now things are better :D I also did update this chapter for some of Natsu's speech so it sounded a wee bit more like him. Now I getta figure out what happens next!

FireShifter: Thank you :) I ended up having Natsu explain why he said he had work in this chapter. I could see him panicking and being his normal self, which means he was being more stupid than usual because of Lucy haha. Between Gray and Natsu, I don't think things got toooooo ugly XD It could have been worse for sure!