Chapter 4 – Boyfriend and girlfriend

The next day, when Natsu arrived at Lucy's house, Erza and Wendy were already there, drinking coffee and looking pretty excited.

"We want to see Mira's reaction when you tell her!" explained the red head in a cheerful spirit.

"I think you're making this a bigger deal than it actually is" argued Natsu. He tried to kiss Lucy, but quickly lost the will to when he noticed Erza and Wendy watching them like they were some kind of spectacle.

After breakfast, they all went to the guild together. Natsu noticed Lucy was flustered, her heart was beating fast and her hands were shaking. He held one of them and tried to warm it up, since it was super cold.

"What's the matter?" he asked, frowning.

"I don't know, I'm really nervous all of a sudden" she explained, looking down. "It feels like I'm going to meet your family or something"

"Well, they are my family" the dragon slayer considered. He was going to continued, but got interrupted.

"What if they don't like me?" she said in a panicked tone.

"But they're your family too!" he finished the thought. "You already know them, and they already like you!"

"They like your friend Lucy, now I'm going to be your girlfriend Lucy!" she continued, and it seemed like she was talking to herself more than with Natsu. "Maybe they'll think I'm not good enough to date you!"

"What is this nonsense?" he didn't know how to make her feel better, since all she was talking was crazy to him. "Happy! Help me out here!"

"Don't worry, Lucy, they'll like you!" Happy said, patting her back. "I'm sure they won't mind… You know"

"You know what?" she repeated in an even more intense panic. "I shouldn't have chosen these clothes! I'm going back to change!"

"Thank you so much, Happy" Natsu said ironically as the exceed hid his laughs.

"Lucy, you have nothing to worry about" Erza soothed her, patting her head. "Mira already thinks you're a cute couple, she's going to be nothing but happy!"

After what felt like forever to Natsu and the blink of an eye to Lucy, they arrived. As soon as they entered, Lucy knew something was off. They were loudly greeted, but as they made their way to the counter, everybody kept looking at them and hiding giggles. She considered it could be because Natsu was still holding her hand, but she had a feeling there was something else going on. She became even more suspicious when they got to the counter and found Mira standing with her hands behind her and a wide smile, as if she was waiting for them.

"Good morning, Natsu, Lucy!" she said, completely ignoring Erza, Wendy and the exceeds that walked in with them.

"Morning Mira!" the dragon slayer answered, pretty anxiously. He didn't seem to notice anything out of ordinary. "We have some news!"

"Yes, I imagined you would" she replied with a chuckle, and Lucy heard more giggles around her. When she turned, she noticed most of their close friends were nearby and watching the interaction with interest.

"What is going on here?" the blonde asked, frowning.

"Well, we just learned some exciting news ourselves!" Mira informed with a wide smile. "But go ahead and tell us yours first"

"Geez, Natsu, they already know" Lucy sighed, annoyed.

"You do?" he asked, confused. "How?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" the older Strauss replied, even though she couldn't help letting out a small laugh.

"I knew we couldn't trust your stupid cat!" the stellar spirit mage glared at Happy.

"I didn't say anything, I swear!" the exceed promised, looking genuinely confused.

"I know then!" Natsu turned to the iron dragon slayer. "Gajeel, it was you!"

"Nope, there wasn't even time, the news arrived before me!" he shrugged with a smirk.

"Well, then it could only be… Cana" Lucy turned to the brunette. "After all this time?"

"I don't remember telling anyone…" the card mage considered with her hand on her chin. "But you know me, sometimes things slip when I'm drunk"

"It wasn't Cana either" Mira said, shaking her head. "Why don't you just admit it, and then we can tell you how we know?"

"Okay, okay…" Lucy complied, blushing. "Go ahead, Natsu"

"Lucy is my girlfriend now!" he announced loudly, raising his arms along with her left hand, making her bracelet tinkle. "Which means I am the only one who can kiss her!"

"Good for you" Gray replied, since the dragon slayer had clearly glared at him while saying the last sentence. "But not so much for you, Lucy"

"Your girlfriend?" Mira repeated with a smile, surprised. "You guys are so adorable… I didn't think it was this serious yet"

"Well, this is actually recent" Lucy informed with a small smile, red as a tomato as Natsu grinned and hugged her. "So, it's your turn! How did you know?"

"First of all, because you two are super obvious" Levy answered, and everyone nodded in agreement. "I mean, the day of the convention? Seriously"

"We could all see you holding hands under the tables as well" complemented Lisanna with a chuckle.

"For the last weeks you guys only went on jobs with each other" Gray pointed out. "You always had an excuse not to go with our team"

"And yesterday there was Natsu's fit of jealousy" Mira said, shrugging. "But it was mostly conjecturing… Today, however…"

She finally took her hands from behind her back, and showed Natsu and Lucy the newest edition of Sorcerer Magazine. The cover was completely taken by a picture of the two of them. They were hugging in front of a big Christmas tree. Lucy remembered this day. They were in Crocus for a job and stopped to see the palace's decorations. The photo was taken right after they kissed, and it portrayed Lucy smiling with her eyes closed and Natsu, also smiling, looking at her with a loving expression. Under them, it was written 'New Fairy Tail couple!' in big letters.

"You made it to the cover of Sorcerer!" the waitress announced happily.

"Oh my God, I am so gonna kill Jason!" Lucy's face went to a whole new level of red, and nobody was sure if it was because she was embarrassed or furious. "I can't believe he would print this without my permission!"

"Hey, that's a pretty nice picture" Natsu said, taking the magazine of Mira's hands. "Do you think he has more?"

"You… Aren't you mad?" the blonde asked in disbelief, watching Natsu look at the cover with a smile. "It's a huge violation of our privacy!"

"Nah" he shook his head, unaltered. "Actually, I think it's the first time I'm happy I got to appear in this magazine!"

"Natsu…" Lucy felt her anger melt away to see her boyfriend's adorable reaction.

"Well, usually it's just all about how I destroy a bunch of stuff" he argued.

"To be fair, the issue does end with how you put fire on the palace's Christmas tree that day" Elfman told.

"WHAT" the fire mage yelled, leafing the magazine to read the article.

"Yes, and they wonder if your new relationship will increase or decrease your destructive habits" Cana read with a chuckle.

"Did you all buy this issue?" Lucy asked, looking around and noticing everyone had a copy.

"We did, and the newsstand guy said it was selling like crazy" Levy informed. "He even had to ask for more"

"Wendy, we should buy copies for us before it's sold out!" Erza said with alarm.

"You're right, Erza-san, let's go right away!" the bluenette agreed, and they left in a hurry.

"This certainly isn't how I thought our announcement would be" the blonde pouted, leaning against her boyfriend.

"Nothing goes as expected in Fairy Tail" he said, kissing the top of her head.

"See? I've always said you'd make a cute couple" Mira winked, and Lucy couldn't help but admit she was right.

When the Master came in and learned the news, he declared they should have a party to celebrate, in his words, the two lovebirds who finally decided to stop being stupid.

During the party, the fire dragon slayer found out Gajeel was right. He was more secure knowing that it was establish that he and Lucy were a couple. His jealousy got much smaller and manageable, and he didn't feel the need to punch everyone who came around her. She was his and everybody knew it, including her, which was the most important person.

After several hours, when it was already dark, he took her home, happy they were finally alone. It was pretty cold and it had snowed all day, so she snugged next to him, holding his arm, as he used his magic to melt the snow in their way.

"I had no idea we were such a popular couple at the guild" she said as they reached her house.

"Yeah, me neither" Natsu agreed, holding her close so she wouldn't slip on the stairs. "That's for showing how much free time they have…"

"Are you coming in?" she asked after unlocking the door. "After all, I still haven't been able to keep the promise I made you"

Natsu grinned and followed her inside. He pressed her against the door after she locked it and searched for her lips. They were cold, but this didn't bother him, he loved making her warm. She kissed him back, hanging in his neck. They hadn't turned on the lights, so everything was dark, but Natsu didn't need his vision to enjoy her. He could smell her, touch her, hear her, and, most importantly, taste her. Right now, he really wanted to taste her neck. He lifted her, which was easy since, despite Happy's jokes, she was light, and held her in a higher level than his, making easy access to her neck, which he soon start to kiss. Her scent was stronger there, since her hair protected it, and he felt his head lighter when he inhaled all her concentrated fragrance. Then he opened his mouth, buried his teeth on her flesh and started sucking. She let out a moan that sent a cold to his stomach and enlaced her fingers on his hair, holding tight.

Natsu was acting at pure instinct. He had never done any of this or learned how to do it anywhere. Again, this was a whole new feeling for him. Over the years, he had always made contact with Lucy's and other female friends' body parts, but had never felt this way. Even though he recognize the nice texture, he never had the need to do it again. However, in the last few weeks, ever since Lucy's kiss, this desire grew inside him. His body called for hers. He wanted to feel every part of it.

"Natsu…" he heard she whisper, and let go of her neck, bringing his face close to hers.

"Am I hurting you?" he asked, also whispering. She shook her head, brushing her nose against his.

"No, it feels nice" even though they were in deep darkness, he knew she was blushing, because her cheeks were warmer.

"Good, because I'm not done" he said, kissing her mouth, chin and jaw all the way to the other side of her neck and starting to bite and suck it just like before. She buried her nails into his shoulders and moaned again, and Natsu felt like the happiest man alive. After he was satisfied with the work on her neck, he stopped and gave her light kisses all the way up to her mouth again.

"N-Natsu, my legs" she pleaded. He took her in his arms and took her to the couch, sitting next to her.

"Hey, can you do that thing again?" he asked, whispering against her ear. "Where you sit on my lap?"

He felt waves of hot air as she blushed again, but she did it. He felt her climb on his lap, kneeling on his sides. Just like the night before, she was wearing pantyhose, and he held her tights, slowly making his way to under her skirt. Meanwhile she kissed his lips, one hand stroking his hair and the other landed on his shoulder. She was leaning against him, so he could also feel her breasts on his chest. Then she sucked his bottom lip, slightly biting it. That was when he lost control. Suddenly he could feel Lucy's smooth skin on his hands. That only made him more excited, so he grabbed her harder and brought her closer.

"Natsu… Natsu, stop!" Lucy commanded in an urgent voice, releasing him. "You're burning my clothes!"

"What?" he opened his eyes, and thanks to the moonlight coming from the window, he saw Lucy trying to cover herself in half burned clothes. He scratched the back of his head, grinning "Oops"

"Do you have any idea how expensive these were?" she asked, irritated. She noticed he was staring, and threw a cushion on his face "Don't look!"

"I'll buy you new clothes, I promise!" he said in a muffled voice. "Why can't I look?"

"What makes you think you can?" she had left his lap and was looking for something to cover herself.

"I'm your boyfriend now! Doesn't that mean I can see you naked?"

"N-No!" she finally found a long coat and put it on. "You can see me naked when I feel comfortable with it"

"Oh, man!" he whined, and she turned on the lights.

"You can look now" she informed, and he removed the cushion from his face. He could see that she was about to ask him to leave.

"Lucy" he called, grabbing her hand and pulling her close again. "Let me stay tonight"

"Natsu, you can't!" she said, getting even more flustered. "I'm not ready!"

"Ready for what?" he asked, confused. "I always sleep here"

"Yeah, but now… If you stay, we'll… You know, kiss all the time!"

"You say like it's a bad thing" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, one thing leads to another, and…" she left it in the air for him, but he didn't seem to understand what she meant. "You know, sex!"

"Sex?!" he blinked, getting flustered himself. "You think I want to have sex with you?"

"You're saying you don't?" she replied, looking angry this time.

"Well, it's just… I've never thought about that" he explained, embarrassed. "Although… Now that you mentioned it, you're right, that's probably what my body wants so badly"

"See? I told you, all men want this" she said as if it was matter of fact.

"Oh, you're gonna act all high and mighty?" he raised an eyebrow. "I know you want it too, I can smell it"

"You can what?" she asked in a high pitch tone, getting flustered.

"When we're making out, I can smell something from you… That calls for me" he tried to explained, getting a little flustered himself. "I know it doesn't make much sense, and I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it does call me, and it… It smells really good, like, the best ever"

"Okay, fine, you're right, my body wants it too" she admitted, seeing that this was a rare moment Natsu got really embarrassed. "But my emotional needs more time, do you understand?"

"I guess" he nodded, even though he couldn't really understand what one thing had to do with the other. "So I'll leave the timing to you"

"Deal" she smiled, knowing she could trust Natsu.

"Just don't do it while we're sleeping and throw me out like our first kiss, okay?" he grinned.

"Well maybe I should just throw you out right now!" she teased him back.

"Nooo, please, I'll be good!" he promised, putting his hands together. "I just wanna sleep next to you, I miss it!"

"Fine" she sighed, touching his forehead with her own. "I miss it too"

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"Natsu, isn't Lu-chan coming to the guild today?" asked Levy to the dragon slayer, joining him at the table where he was busy eating with Happy.

"No, she's on some writer's gathering… Reunion… Something" answered Natsu between bites.

"Oh, shoot, I wanted to talk to her about the book we're reading… When will she be back?"

"Tonight. But I think she's only coming to the guild tomorrow" informed the fire mage, putting more pepper sauce on his food.

"Okay, thanks" Levy agreed with a sad face.

"Actually, this is great news, Levy!" said Cana, sitting on her side and across from Natsu. "We can have a little talk to you, Natsu, to see if you're treating our Lucy right!"

"Oh, I already had that talk with him" told Erza, joining them as well, seeming proud of herself. "Remind me, Natsu, what is gonna happen to you if you ever touch Lucy without her consent?"

"You're gonna rip off my thing and hang on the guild hall for everyone to see" he chanted with a terrorized face. "As if you needed to tell me that! I'd never do that to Lucy or anyone!"

"Well, better be safe than sorry" she said, still with a threatening expression.

"That's… good, Erza, but it wasn't exactly what I meant" continued Cana with a chuckle. "I just happen to have a magazine test here to see if you're a good boyfriend!"

She showed them said magazine, already open in the pages that read: 'Find out if you have a nice boyfriend!' As if summoned, Mira, Lisanna and Juvia appeared, very interested in the test too.

"That's a great idea, Cana!" Mira approved, clapping her hands.

"I don't wanna do any stupid test, I'm leaving" the fire dragon slayer whined and tried to leave, but was not so gently pulled back by Erza.

"You're doing it!" she commanded, and added in a more soft tone: "For Lucy's sake"

He groaned, annoyed, but stayed put, since the red head was sitting by his right side and now Mira sat on his left, which meant he didn't really have an option.

"Okay, question one" Cana read, already with a pen in her hand. "How often do you take Lucy on dates?"

"Dates?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I don't need to take her on dates anymore, she's given me permission to kiss her whenever I want"

"What?!" Cana shouted, and all the girls frowned like he had just said something horrible. "Are you kidding me?"

"Natsu, you don't take your girlfriend on a date just because you want to kiss her" Mira tried to explain. "You do it to show her you appreciate her, and to have fun!"

"We already do almost everything together" he argued.

"Look, I'm gonna let this one slip by, because you took her on a date every day when you started" Cana sighed. "But you seriously need to change that!"

"I think I know Lucy better than you do" the dragon slayer said, annoyed. "She's happy with how things are"

"Natsu, we have…" she stopped to look around and count "Six ladies here. Now raise hands who thinks Natsu needs to take Lucy on dates again!"

All the girls raised their hands. Natsu puffed, crossing his arms.

"This is good for you, Natsu. It's to help your relationship, so you won't lose Lucy" Lisanna guaranteed him.

"Question number two!" Cana continued, "Do you make sure to tell her how beautiful she is?"

"Why would I do that?" the fire mage rolled his eyes. Again a wave of discontentment aroused between the girls.

"You never tell her that she's beautiful?" Levy asked in disbelief. "Or that she looks good?"

"I would have to do that every day!" he explained, raising his hands in exasperation. "Sometimes she changes clothes in the middle of the day, then I would have to do it again, what's the point? It's like telling her she's still blonde or something"

"Awwwwwww" this time they all looked at him like he did something right, which only made him more confused.

"Still, you need to tell her that occasionally" insisted Erza. "Like when she dresses up for your dates or special occasions."

"Fine, I guess I can do that" he agreed with a sigh, and heard laughing. He looked around and discovered Gray, Gajeel, Elfman and some other guys from the guild were from a nearby table watching his suffering. He felt his head almost exploding from anger.

"Gee, Natsu, cool down a little" asked Erza, since he was making the temperature rise. "Next question, Cana!"

"Next question!" she repeated, after drinking some more from her bottle. "Do you bring her a lot of gifts?"

"Yes! This one I do!" he answered in a victorious tone. "I always bring her something when I go on a job without her!"

"Not that she likes your gifts" Happy opined. "He likes to give her bugs and weird stuff he finds on the forest"

The approving smiles from the ladies quickly became disappointed frowns after that comment.

"Natsu, you are such a child…" sighed Erza, putting her hand on her face.

"What? It's still a memento to show her I was thinking about her!" he argued.

"Well, then start changing them to chocolates, flowers and jewelry!" suggested Lisanna. "She'll appreciate it!"

Natsu groaned in annoyance, but didn't insist. He could add these things, but he wouldn't stop bringing Lucy the interesting things he always found. If she didn't like them as much as they were saying, she wouldn't keep them in a drawer, like he knew she did.

"So what's next?" asked Levy, peeking the magazine in Cana's hands.

"Let's see… Do you have pet names?"

"Pet… names?" Natsu scratched him head. "What's this?"

"You know, cute nicknames you call each other" she explained. "Like 'baby' or 'pumpkin'"

"Oh… No" he answered, looking down.

"Hm… I don't think you're being honest" Mira said, the smile vanishing from her face. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing!" he insisted, still facing the table. He could hear the guys laughing already. "We don't call each other anything special!"

"Wait a minute! Yes, you do!" Happy interrupted and Natsu froze. Could it be that he heard them…?

"What? What does he call her, Happy?" asked Cana anxious.

"All the time, he calls her weirdo" the exceed revealed, much to everyone's disappointment and Natsu's relief. "'Cause she is a weirdo"

"That's not a pet name, that's just an insult!" Levy stated, and all the girls agreed. "You need to be better at this, too, Natsu"

"Guess I'll have to try" he shrugged. The truth was that, since he gave her the bracelet, sometimes he called her his little star, but he definitely didn't need everyone else knowing about that. "So, what's next?"

"Question 4… How often do you kiss goodnight?"

"Every night" he replied without thinking, which made the table next to them burst in laughing. He felt his face fluster in embarrassment. "Ugh…"

"Don't mind them, it's adorable!" Mira said, but that only made them laugh harder. Natsu sighed and wondered if there was something he could say to make Erza hit him so hard he would pass out and be free of this hell.

"Okay, okay, at least you have one point now" Cana commented, marking something on the magazine. "Next question… Have you met… Oh, wait, we'll have to skip this one"

"Why? What does it say?" he asked, curious.

"Well, it's… if you have met each other's parents" she informed. "But, you know…"

Silence fell among them. Natsu blinked. He had never thought about this, but now he realized he would really, really want Lucy to meet Igneel. He'd love for his dad to meet all of his friends, but especially Lucy. And judging for Lucy's letter, he guessed she would really like for him to meet her mother as well. That only made him feel sad.

"Well, they've met each other's family, which is Fairy Tail, right?" said Mira. "I mean, what are we doing here but acting like both Natsu's and Lucy's older sisters?"

"That's true!" Cana chuckled, and they all agreed. "Another point, Natsu!"

"Wow, so relieving" he said sarcastically, but felt his mood improving.

"Next question: do you remember special occasions?" the brunette asked. "Always, often, sometimes or never?"

"Like the day we met?" he replied, with a hand on his chin. "If it's like the day she joined Fairy Tail, I always remember!"

"That's good. How about her birthday?" Mira questioned.

"Her birthday doesn't count, she can't stop blabbing about it for at least a week" Cana waved her hand. "You still haven't had an anniversary… What about Valentine's Day? It was a couple months ago"

"She gave me chocolate!" he grinned to the memory.

"And what did you give her on White Day?" asked Lisanna.

"Oh, come on, now you're just making things up!" the dragon slayer replied with a smile, certain they were messing with him. The terrifying expressions focused on him made him falter, though.

"It's a month after Valentine's, you're supposed to give her something to reciprocate the chocolate" Levy explained.

"How do you even know all these things?" he groaned with a frown.

"The first thing you'll do after this is going to get her something for a late White Day" Erza ordered, and he nodded, miserable.

"Okay, last but possibly most important question!" the brunette warned, raising her index finger. "How often do you tell her that you love her?"

"I…" Natsu blinked. "I've never told her that… Not in those words"

They all gaped at him, incredulous.

"Never?" asked Lisanna "Not even when you confessed?"

"We never got to confessing" he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "We just… Started kissing and then I asked her to be my girlfriend. I told her I really liked her and I wanted to be the only one she kissed"

"Wow, Natsu… That's… Serious" Levy said with a sad expression.

"You definitely should tell her right away!" Erza determined, and most of them nodded.

"Juvia disagrees!" a voice interrupted them suddenly, and they all looked at Juvia, confused.

The bluenette was very shy when she wasn't around Gray, and she was blushing and looking down, but determined in her opinion.

"This is something that should come from Natsu-san" she explained. "How do you think Lucy-san would feel if she knew he only said it because we told him to?"

All the girls fell silent again.

"Well, Juvia has a point there" admitted Erza.

"But it's not like we're telling him to lie" argued Mira. "We all know Natsu loves her, he just should express it with words"

"Still, it should come from him, it's a very special moment and it shouldn't be fabricated like that" the water mage replied.

"It's a matter to be further studied" determined Cana. "So, Natsu, your result is… Bad boyfriend! You better step up your game or Lucy's gonna get tired of you!"

He just groaned, staring at her annoyed.

"It's not hard… Just try to amuse her more" Levy said, trying to make amends.

"Remember: dates, compliments and love! Lots of love! And less bugs and telling her she's weird" Mira summarized with a smile. They all got up to leave. Natsu got up too.

"So when do you think I should say it?" he asked Happy, intrigued by all this love talk.

"Well, it's like Juvia said, there's no right or wrong here, Natsu" the exceed answered, flying next to him. "It's up to you guys. Maybe she'll tell you first"

"Ugh… This relationship thing is harder than I thought" he considered, frowning as they left the guild. "I didn't know I was so bad at it"

"You shouldn't take the test so seriously" Happy said. "You were right, at the end of the day, Lucy's pretty happy. She even twinkles"

"She what?" Natsu turned to him, since his words didn't really make sense.

"She twinkles… You know, like a little star" the blue cat explained, covering his mouth with both paws and laughing as his partner turned all shades of red.

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"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu called the attention of the girl leaving the train. She smiled, running to him, and he took her in his arms. "How was your writer's thing?"

"It was fun" she answered, stepping back and giving him a peck on the lips. "You didn't have to come pick me up"

"I wanted to" he replied, and they started walking together, holding hands. "Levy missed you at the guild today"

"Oh, I'll definitely catch up with her tomorrow" she said excitedly. "She's gonna flip when she hears what I learned today about the next book releases!"

"More books?" he chuckled. "The two of you will soon have more books than the guild's library."

"Actually Levy is way ahead of me" she guaranteed him, and they kept walking side by side, talking until they reached Lucy's apartment.

"Did something interesting happened at the guild today?" she asked once they were inside, taking off her shoes.

"Well… The girls made me do a stupid test to see if I'm a good boyfriend" he told, blushing.

"What?" she started laughing to the image of this interaction. "I can't believe it, you poor thing!"

"They said I'm a bad boyfriend!" he whined.

"Ohh, Natsu" Lucy walked to the couch where he was sitting and hugged him. "You're really not, I'm sure they were just teasing you"

"I don't know, they made some pretty good points" he informed, still upset. "Weren't you sad because I didn't give you anything on White Day?"

"You know what White Day is?" she asked, surprised.

"I didn't, but I learned today" he told her, taking a small package out of his pocket. "Here, I'm sorry it's late"

"Natsu, you didn't have to, I never expected you to do this" she said with a warm smile, blushing.

"So you just expect me to be a bad boyfriend?" he questioned, crossing his arms.

"N-No, of course not!" she added quickly. "I just mean that… Well, you gave so many gifts the first weeks we were going out, I just considered you did it for the whole year!"

"Hmm…" he let out a small smile. She was good at this arguing thing. "Still, I don't want you going easy on me!"

"Going easy…?" she repeated, confused.

"If I'm doing the boyfriend thing, I wanna be the best boyfriend!" he grinned. "Or at least better than the guys from the guild!"

"Oh, my…" Lucy shook her head, laughing at the mage's competition habits.

"So, as my girlfriend, you'll coach me" he determined. "So yell at me whenever I act like a bad boyfriend"

"Fine, I guess I can do that" she agreed, rolling her eyes.

"So that way I'll never lose you" he complemented, and Lucy could see that this was his actual concern. She snuggled closer to him and stroked his face.

"You could never lose me" she assured, putting her lips on his for a deep kiss.

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Natsu hated to admit, but some hints from the girls were actually good. He started to take Lucy on dates again, not everyday of course, but at least once a week, and actually had fun with it. He noticed he didn't really enjoyed the others dates properly, since he kept thinking about the kiss and anticipating the end. Now he could only think that he should have known, after all, like Lucy used to say herself, it was always more fun when they were together. He probably could go to the opera with her, which was the most boring thing he could think of, and still manage to have fun, even if only by teasing her and stealing kisses here and there. Plus, after the dates Lucy would get a lot more mellow, and he really enjoyed her like this, especially when it was just the two of them.

Tonight, he would put the opera theory to the test. It was not actually opera, but Macao gave him tickets to some fancy event and told him to go with Lucy. He usually hated things like that, but the older man guaranteed him it would be worth it. He showed them to his girlfriend to let her decide, and she was so happy he had no choice but to go.

"Hey, Lucy, are you ready?" he asked after hoping in through the window and almost slipping. "Damn shoes!"

"Hi, I'm ready!" she announced, coming out of the bathroom, and stopped in surprise upon seeing his boyfriend. "Ohh, aren't you handsome?"

"M-Me?" he asked in disbelief, blinking. He was wearing a suit he borrowed from Macao and hadn't been able to properly knot his tie, so he just covered the mess with his scarf. Happy insisted he combed his hair back, not that it changed much, and that was it. She, on the other hand, was absolutely stunning. She was wearing a long black dress with a slit on the side, so he could see her creamy thigh in contrast with the black fabric, and the cleavage was nestling a golden necklace, not to mention her careful make-up and complex hairstyle.

"Yes. I really like how you look in a suit" she said, coming close to him and lifting his scarf, revealing the messy knot. "Oh, Natsu, if you don't know how to tie the knot, you could have just asked"

With these words, she started to do it for him with a smile. Natsu was blushing from her compliment. He remembered Erza saying he should praise Lucy whenever she dressed up, and now he could understand why. He felt really happy that she thought he was attractive. And now he felt a sting of guilt to realize he had been keeping this feeling from his girlfriend.

"You look beautiful" he said quietly as she finished with his tie. "I mean, even more beautiful than normal"

She looked up at him, surprised. He watched with delight as her cheeks went rosy, her eyes sparkled and she cracked a shy smile.

"Thank you" she whispered, putting her arms around his neck. He put his own hands around her waist and kissed her lips delicately, since he knew she would be upset if he ruined her make-up.

"You don't need to wear the bracelet tonight if you don't want to" he informed. "I know it probably doesn't match your looks"

"Of course it does! It matches everything!" she argued, and he smiled in relief, even if he knew she was lying.

"Wow, your dress feels really good, too" he noticed, rubbing the silky fabric up and down her back.

"You keep saying this kind of stuff and I might let you burn it a little bit later" she said with a smirk.

"Why would you tell me that? Now I don't even want to go" he whined as she let go of him. "Let's just stay and skip to the burning part!"

"No, we have to! I want to show my boyfriend around a little bit" she chuckled, getting her purse and stretching her hand out to him.

The dragon slayer sighed as he grabbed her hand and followed her out the door. No matter how boring the event would be, Macao was right, it was so worth it.

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Natsu watched as the sky of Magnolia turned orange. He stumbled on the street, still recovering from the train trip. Again the guild received a request asking especially for him and Gray, and he had to spend almost an entire week with the ice mage, which wasn't a little bit enjoyable for neither of them. They spent the first half of the time fighting, but by the end, they had no energy for that, so they just ignored each other.

Man, how he missed Lucy. It felt like they were apart forever. He wondered if she still remembered what he looked like. He had never gone so long without kissing her ever since they started, and he could swear that it was physically painful. Naturally, he was going to her apartment directly from the train station. He could only hope she was home… Maybe now she would be gone on a job, and in that case, he would have to go on another trip for his kiss.

As he recovered, he walked faster, and soon he was completely well and climbing Lucy's window. He pulled himself up, peeking inside, and let out a sigh of relief to see that she was home.

Lucy was absorbed in something and still hadn't noticed him. Instead of opening the window, he stayed where he was for a few more moments, observing her with affection. She had scattered several sheets of paper on the table and was looking at them with a frown, biting the end of a pen. The blonde was wearing pink sweatpants and a black tank top, and had her hair tied in a messy bun. She must have been working for a while. The bracelet hung around her wrist and there was a little ink stain next to her mouth. She always managed to do this when she was writing and he loved teasing her about it. He was the only one who got to see her like this, and he loved that too, just as much as he loved that after three months, she never took off his bracelet, not even to take her baths. He realized his list could go on forever.

At last, Natsu opened the window, and Lucy turned, feeling the cold air entering the apartment. She opened a wide smile when she saw it was him, and he felt his heart warming up when he saw her running to him. He had barely put both his feet inside when she threw herself onto him, hugging his torso and pressing her face against his chest. He smiled and hugged her back, squeezing her small form.

"Natsu! I missed you so much!" she said in a muffled voice.

"Lucy…" he called softly, his eyes closed, inhaling her scent. He had intended to tell her that he missed her too. But, for some reason, the words that came out of his lips were a little different.

"I love you"

He felt her stiffening up in his arms, shocked by his sudden confession. He kept his eyes closed. Even though he let it slip, he had no regrets. It was true, and it was right. Finally, she relaxed again and held him tighter.

"I love you too"

Natsu smiled against her hair. Hearing it felt even better than saying it.

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