A/N: I'm so proud of you Natsu – just sayin is all (clenches her fist and suddenly has proud tears streaming down her face) Now go, bro!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Chapter 21: Natsu, destroyer and constructor

Lucy smiled to herself when Wendy and Happy left her apartment. In all honesty she felt a lot better after being healer. Sure she could still feel the sickness lingering in her body. Like her throat was still sore, and it also felt like there was a heavy weight on top of her chest. And sure it still felt like there was this weird invisible layer of sweat covering her body, making her shiver involuntarily from time to time. But other than that she felt somewhat fine, which was awesome!

"Hey uhm... Luce?"

"Yeah?" she turned her head to look at the fire mage and was momentarily surprised that he had already changed into the cloth Virgo had brought. It was a rather modest outfit which contained some loose pants and a t-shirt. It wasn't sparkling or flashy in any ways, it was just a basic outfit, which was almost surprising since she knew Virgo's taste in clothes.

Ohh well, it looked good on him...

"I... uhm..." Natsu scratched his neck and looked somewhat nervous as he turned his head to stare at the wall "... how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine" Lucy smiled "Wendy is amazing"

"Yeah she is" Natsu sighed heavily as he trotted over to Lucy and placed himself next to her on the bed.

"Uhm... so..." the blonde started not sure what to say or do.

"... yeah..."

"Fishing, huh?" Lucy started fidgeting with her hands in her lap feeling somewhat nervous all of a sudden.

"Uh-huh" Natsu nodded to himself "I promised Happy to go... so..."

"Yeah I was there when you made that promise..."

"Right..."

"Uhm... I thought it was sweet of you, to make that promise to him..."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm" she nodded and turned her head to stare at her hands "... so... I guess it'll be fun..."

"Yeah... hopefully..."

The silence that followed was almost deafening. Both of them knew that they couldn't keep avoiding the subject, but for some reason it was hard taking the initiative.

"Hmm..." the fire mage hummed.

"What is it?" Lucy turned her head and watched Natsu rub his chin in thought.

"Since Happy didn't go on the cloth fetching mission I should have told him to go get the peppermint pastels..."

"Ohh..." the blond blinked and felt her heart fluttering "... it's okay, I mean I already have your scarf, so you've done more than enough"

"If you say so..." the fire mage shrugged and turned his head to glare at Lucy with a mischievous smile on his face "... it's probably for the best too"

"Why?"

"Because Levy told me that you can only take one at the time, or else she would be mad and take them away from me"

"So?"

"I'm not sure you could restrain yourself from doing that" Natsu chuckled as he pointed a finger towards her "I could because I'm awesome! But I'm not so sure about you..."

"Oy! Are you saying I can't restrain myself?"

"Yup!" he nodded eagerly.

"Ohh really?"

"Yes really"

"Tsch!" Lucy snorted with a smirk as she clenched her fist, and very gently hit his shoulder "Says the number one reckless person in Magnolia"

"Ouch..." Natsu whined dramatically as he grabbed his shoulder "... ohh no!"

"What?"

"I think you just ruined my fishing arm..." he sniffed dramatically ".. ohh well, guess that means I have to disappoint Happy tomorrow... poor cat... how am I supposed to tell him that you broke my arm... who knows maybe I'll never be able to fish again..."

"You..." Lucy smiled deviously as she raised a clenched fist above her head "I'll give you a broken arm"

"Ohh no!" Natsu chuckled as he raised his hands and started waving them in front of him "I'm sooo scaaaared!"

"Yeah right, you wish" Lucy giggled as she snapped her head in the window's direction "Hey is that Happy?"

"What?" Natsu quickly turned his head towards the window as well.

"... way too easy..." Lucy whispered to herself with a playful smile on her lips, as she used the distraction to slam her shoulder into the dragon slayer's chest.

"Yaaaarrr!" the fire mage exclaimed as he feel backwards from the impact, making him lay a second later on his back with Lucy casually leaning against him.

"Now..." there was a devious smirk on Lucy's lips as she placed her hands on each side of his torso and very slowly raised herself, so she was hovering above him "... payback time"

"Ohh nooo..." the fire mage rolled his eyes dramatically "... I'm tooootally caught now aren't I?"

Lucy smiled brightly as she tilted her head to the side, a blush suddenly spawning on her cheeks "... my, my... the famous dragon slayer is caught by a girl" she chuckled brightly "Who would have thought that was possible, huh?"

"It ain't my fault you're being so forceful" he smiled a toothy grin towards her.

"Ohh yeah?"

"Yup!" he nodded "Besides I know better than to go against a forceful woman"

"Reeeally?" Lucy smirked playfully as she moved her legs, so she was suddenly straddling the other mage underneath her "You sure about that?"

"Mm-hm" he nodded.

"So..." she gently placed her index finger on his chin "... if I was to grab my marker, you wouldn't object if I drew a beard here"

"Uhm..." the fire mage was blushing "... I... guess..."

"Aaand..." she gently moved her finger from the top of his lips and over the skin of his cheek, trying to draw an imaginary moustache "... you wouldn't mind if I drew here?"

"N-n-no..." he stuttered and she could feel how her insides suddenly was screaming in delight. It was just so entertaining teasing him, plus there was another side of her that was almost celebrating, from the sudden sparks of electricity that seemed to spawn when she touched him.

She had no idea what was happening, but it made her feel rather daring!

"Mmm-hm" Lucy purred as she slowly traced her finger against his skin to draw imaginary glasses.

When her finger stopped moving she turned her eyes to look down at the other mage, who was staring back at her with a soft expression.

For some reason she had started leaning forwards when she had drawn the glasses, so their faces were actually really close to each other. It wasn't as close as it had been that morning, but it was still too close, because it made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

But then again it didn't... it was like the closer she got, the harder her heart would pump inside her chest. Plus it was like all of her skin was covered in goosebumps, however it wasn't unpleasant, no far from it...

"I... uhm..." she sank and for some reason her mouth suddenly felt really dry.

Natsu didn't say anything but kept staring at her with what she thought was determination. It was weird really... like there was a more primal side of him that had evoked and was staring at her like he could eat her at any moment.

It didn't scare her or anything, no quite on the contrary because she could feel how her own almost primal instincts had woken, making her own rationality a faint memory.

What was it? Why was it like there was an invisible force that pulled them together...

The urge to touch him was so overwhelming that it actually scared her, because usually she never acted that much on her instincts, but more on her rationality.

And was it her or was it starting to get really... really hot...?

Lucy saw Natsu slowly raising his hand towards her face and she knew that a second later he would place it on her cheek.

And then what would happen? Was this the moment they would potentially destroy their friendship? Did she want this... yes... but was she ready for it? Maybe...?

A million thoughts ran through her head and suddenly she felt really scared. Honest to god, she hated to admit it, but at that moment she panicked.

"Hey!" Lucy quickly scooted away from Natsu and jumped into a standing position "I kinda feel hot all of a sudden!" she nodded eagerly to herself "Mm-hm! This calls for ice cream! Yup!"

Lucy avoided looking towards the dragon slayer, but instead ran as fast as she could towards the kitchen.

Holy shit, she felt like a douche bag... an idiot... a coward...why couldn't she just face her feelings like a grown woman?

A frustrated sigh escaped her lip as she fetched a spoon and a bucket of ice cream from her freezer.

Feeling really bad about herself, she leaned against the wall and glided down until she was sitting on the floor.

Yup, she was the biggest idiot on the surface of this world... truly...

Natsu felt confused, angry, rejected and sad when he watched Lucy run away.

Like what the heck?

The adrenaline from what might have happened escalated through his body, making his heart hammer inside his chest.

Jeeeeez! He groaned inside and slowly wiped a hand down his face.

His insides was in chaos. Honestly it felt like there was a battle going on between two forces. One side was the good and jolly side, that wanted him to cheer and feel like giggling. The other was the pessimistic and rather emo side of himself, that wanted nothing more than to sulk in a corner.

Well laying on the bed wouldn't solve anything now would it? Natsu thought to himself as he trotted out to the kitchen, where he found Lucy sitting on the floor munching ice cream.

"Can I have some?" he asked while pointing his finger at the bucket in her hand.

"Yeah sure" she nodded and kept her eyes fixed on the ice cream.

Ooohh kay? Weird...

Natsu grabbed a spoon and sat cross legged on the floor across from the blonde.

Lucy didn't say anything as she gently placed the bucket of ice cream between them.

"Neat, strawberry flavor" the dragon slayer smiled sadly, feeling somewhat depressed as he started scooping up ice cream on his spoon. Honestly ice cream wasn't his favourite dessert, but it was edible...

"So... ice cream, huh?" Natsu said while turning his head to look at Lucy.

"Yeah..."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, none of them knowing what to say next. So instead they just ate ice cream in a rather uncomfortable atmosphere.

After a while it was too much for Natsu though, making him sigh heavily as he started ruffling his hair.

"Wendy has really improved her skills, huh?"

"Yeah!" Lucy nodded eagerly "She's quite amazing"

"She is" Natsu looked at his hand and turned it a few times "I mean healing my wounds would have taken forever, if she didn't heal them"

"That's true" the blonde nodded.

"Uh-huh..."

"Uhm..." Lucy started rubbing her arms like she was either cold or really nervous "... I know this might be... too personal... so... if you don't want to answer that's fine..."

"What is it?"

"I just... uhm... I was wondering... when we were out on the mission, when we were at the bonfire...?"

"Yeah?"

"When you got mad at Gray and left, only to come back all wounded" Lucy turned her head and glared at her hands "I just... wanted to know what happened"

"Ohh..." Natsu blinked momentarily stunned.

"As I said if you don't want to tell me then that's fine" she smiled nervously while waving her hands in front of her "seriously it's just because I'm curious"

"It's fine..." he sighed heavily "... guess I should have known, you wanted to know about it sooner or later"

"But..." Lucy whispered in an uncertain voice.

A groan escaped Natsu's lips as he placed his elbow on his leg and started massaging his temple "I felt kinda frustrated about the whole situation, that's why I left the camp..."

"Frustrated?"

"Yeah..." he narrowed his eyes, because the memories was reminding him way too much of the pain he had felt "... I was really confused and angry about... stuff... so I had to release some of my pent up energy, you know?" he motioned with his hand in a circle, hoping that it would be enough for her to understand.

"Sure..." the blonde nodded slightly.

"Anyhow, I was taking my anger out on some rocks and stuff... eventually the anger died down and I..." he sank nervously.

Should he tell her about it? How fragile he suddenly felt? The confusion? Would she understand?

A dark chuckle escaped his lips as he had a moments flashback.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked in concern.

"... I... well... I guess you could say that I had a mental breakdown"

"Ohh... but..."

"Yeah... it doesn't matter though..." Natsu waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want her to ask any questions yet "... because I was confronted by a pack of wolves which ended up in us fighting. Unfortunately I didn't come out of the fight totally victorious, hence my wounds" another dark laugh spawned from the dragon slayer "But yeah, then this huge ass black wolf came and sure it was a somewhat dire situation. Luckily Fenrir decided to join the fight and eventually I lost my consciousness. I guess you could say the rest is history"

"I see"

"Yeah..."

"But why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you have a mental breakdown? You're always so confident in everything you do. And..." she took a deep breath "Why were you frustrated? I mean your mood changed so suddenly and honestly it kinda scared me. Especially when you snapped at Gray like that..."

"Ohh... yeah, I guess you wouldn't know, huh?"

"Know what?" she tilted her head in confusion.

Natsu exhaled a shaking breath as he pointed a finger towards her "That it's all because of you"

"Me?" she sounded perplexed.

"Well obviously..."

"What?"

"Even though you're a smart person you can be really stupid..." Natsu started massaging the bridge of his nose in frustration. After all he didn't want to push his luck. Besides Gray had told him earlier that he shouldn't push her too much, because she might not have reached a conclusion about her feelings yet.

So it was a hassle... really... to balance things without being too direct in his approach...

"What?"

"Seriously isn't it rather obvious..." he narrowed his eyes feeling rather impatient "... that I was mad, because of the whole kiss incident at your apartment?"

"I... ohh..." Lucy blushed as she started fidgeting uncomfortably in her position.

"But speaking about that..." he sighed "... I guess I should tell you that I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen and... yeah..."

"Ohh... okay" the blonde leaned forwards making her hair shadow her eyes.

Natsu started scratching his neck and glared at the wall "So... I guess what I'm trying to say is, that I shouldn't have done it, especially since kissing isn't something you should do, unless the feeling is mutual... or so I've heard and I guess it makes sense..."

Lucy seemed to twitch in her position but didn't say anything.

"I didn't know that... well maybe I did but I didn't think... I just acted on instinct, you know?"

"You just acted on instinct?" her voice was dangerously low, making him turn his head to glare at her in confusion.

"Well yeah and that's why I'm sorry"

"Ohh... well... okay" she chuckled in a low tone "That's fair... I guess"

"You guess?" he crooked his eyebrow towards the blonde.

"Yeah... totally fair..." her voice was trembling for some reason.

Wait what? This wasn't the way things was supposed to go!

Perplexed he watched Lucy get into a standing position and with heavy steps, started walking into the living room.

Well shit!

Natsu quickly followed the blonde and once he was close enough he grasped her wrist, to stop her from going any further.

"Lucy, where are you going?"

"I don't know..." she whispered, still with her back turned against him.

"You don't know?"

"No..."

"Come on you can't just leave me hanging like that"

A sad laugh escaped Lucy's lips "... really?"

"Yeah"

The blonde sniffed and exhaled a shaking breath "... but why?"

"Why?"

"Yeah why?" she turned her head and Natsu flinched in surprise, when he saw that there was a few tears rolling down her cheeks "You said all you needed to say right?"

"Well... yeah?"

"Then there's nothing more to talk about"

"What?"

What the fuck was going on? Why was she sad all of a sudden? Ugh!

"Luce, please..." he tried to appeal, only to see anger suddenly flash in her eyes.

"No! Don't please me!" Lucy's voice cracked painfully "You said all I needed to hear and I'm done! I can't take it!"

"Luce listen to me"

"No!" she stomped with her foot "I don't want to hear it!"

"That's it!" Natsu growled as he grabbed her shoulders "This is fucking getting on my nerves!"

"Ohh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"And why would it get on your nerves?" Lucy's body started trembling more violently.

"You're not making any goddamn sense!"

"And you make too much sense!"

"Ohh so now I'm the idiot here, huh?" he clenched his teeth momentarily in anger "Then by all means, please enlighten me"

"You..." her eyes narrowed and the volume of her voice lowered considerately "... you said that you were sorry"

"Yeah, so?"

"And that the only reason... that you... was because... you acted on instinct... and... " she shook her head "... and... I don't want that"

"Luce..."

"I don't want that!" she snapped her head up and glared in his direction with tears now freely streaming down her face "I..." her eyes narrowed "I know I'm being selfish... but... I can't..."

For some reason Lucy's knees seemed to buckle underneath her and she would have fallen down on her butt, if Natsu wasn't already holding on to her shoulders and in a quick movement caught her in a tight hug, pressing her small body against his torso.

"Oy, oy... easy now" he whispered and felt his stomach sink, when he heard her starting to cry out loud against his shoulder.

Not really sure what to do, he gently scooped her into his arms and carried her over to the bed, where he placed her on top of it.

She was still crying and honestly he hated seeing that side of her. Especially when he was the one who somehow brought it on.

Yeah speak about going easy on her, huh? You inconsiderate idiot!

Carefully he laid himself next to her, so they were facing each other.

"Lucy"

"Mmm..." she wiped her eyes.

"I think you misunderstood what I said" Natsu smirked as he removed a few stray hairs from Lucy's face.

The blonde blinked but otherwise didn't say anything.

"It's true that the only reason I kissed you, was because I acted on instinct and yes I said I was sorry because of that. However I never said I regretted doing it"

"... what?"

"The only thing I might regret is doing something rash, if the feeling isn't mutual"

"Ohh..."

"Luce..."

"Yeah..?"

Natsu chuckled as he placed his hand on her cheek "I don't think I have to ask you, but the feeling is mutual isn't it?"

"I..." Lucy blushed as she shot up into a sitting position "I..." her entire body was shivering almost as if she was an animal, who was suddenly being targeted by something she couldn't avoid, before it said crash boom! Pow!

"You..." Natsu smiled a toothy grin as he got into a sitting position as well "... I'll make you understand"

"Uhm..."

Without saying anything he gently wrapped his arms around her, catching her in a tight hug. To his satisfaction he felt Lucy return the gesture as her arms suddenly sneaked around his torso.

Natsu took a deep breath to settle his raging emotions and felt how her scent seemed to calm him down. It was weird but it was also really satisfying in it's own weird way.

And hoozah, now they had the rest of the day to have fun! Just the two of them! Woho!

A/N: Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane! And I know this situation could easily lead to lemons spawning all around, but this ain't that type of story. I'm not a lemony girl... author... that's just how I roll... (wait what did I just type?)

H: "Natsu will you stop giggling like a fangirl"

Natsu: "Naaaw, that ain't gonna happen" (keeps giggling)

H: "Hmm, well according to my notes, the next chapter should be the last..."

Natsu: "What?! You can't end it now! I want more fluffy moments!"

H: "Yeah I figured you would say that... besides I have a few ideas I need to add, before this story reaches it's final moment"

Natsu: "YAAASSS!"

H: "I hope you guys enjoyed the double up on chapters! Now I'm gonna go fetch me some coffee! Woohoo!"