Summary: Natsu accidentally burns Lucy….

Pairings: Natsu/Lucy, Lucy/Juvia friendship, Gray/Lucy friendship, Gray/Juvia, implied Natsu/Lisanna friendship, mention of Mirajane/Lisanna/Elfman sibling feels, Erza/Natsu friendship, and Erza/Lucy friendship.

Author's Note: For the Guest Reviewer called Beauty, who wanted a fic based on this particular Avatar plot point.

Natsu had been showing off.

He would like to point out that it was Gray's fault, he practically challenged Natsu to be more entertaining with his magic after constantly making ice sculptures in the river and different shaped ice cubes for the girls' drinks. It wasn't that impressive to put star-shaped ice cubes in Lucy's drink, and Natsu hated all the ooh-ing and ah-ing Lucy had done over it.

That's why he started to juggle with his fire, and then he started making his own shapes just to prove that what Gray did wasn't all that impressive at all.

Gray made his shapes out of solid, boring, material. Natsu's was made out of exciting, uncontrollable, exciting, and not to mention really cool and beautiful material.

"Oi, Natsu," Gray yelled, "cut it out, will ya? Some of us are trying to eat our lunch and would like to do it without sweating like pigs."

"Juvia is highly uncomfortable," Juvia agreed as she tugged at the collar of her dress, "Gray-sama cool down Juvia with the cold perfection that is Gray-sama's body!"

"What?!"

"Come on Natsu," Lucy stood up, "you made your point, fire is better than i-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Natsu froze in horror.

He hadn't meant to. It was an accident! He had been in the middle of trying to make one of Lucy's spirits when Gray yelped (Juvia had tackled him to the ground) and he lost control of the flame which shot across the space between him and Lucy as Lucy had extended her hand to him, and burnt her.

"Fucking hell, Natsu!" Gray spat out. "What have we told you about playing around with your magic?!"

"I-I-I didn't mean to!" Natsu stammered. "You made me jump."

"That doesn't matter, Natsu," Erza said coolly as she put down her cake, "we have told you enough times to not play with fire. I thought you learnt your lesson after the time you accidentally burnt Lisanna."

Natsu shuddered at the memory. It was horrible enough that his best friend had an ugly red mark on her arm and had stared at him with big, wide, tear-filled, blue eyes but it had been made a million times worse when Mirajane and Elfman heard that Natsu had hurt Lisanna…Urgh, the horror!

"It's okay," Lucy whimpered, "it was just an accident.

"Luce," Natsu reached out for her.

That was when, much to his horror, she stepped away from him and cradled her hand to her chest, as if he would burn her again just by touching her, and to make things worse it was her guild mark he burned, the skin around it was a raw, shiny, red.

Natsu halted to a stop and felt his breath catch in his throat.

She didn't want him to touch her. She feared him. He made her scared. It was times like this where he really hated his magic.

"Don't touch her, Flame Brain!" Gray snarled as he summoned a small block of ice, "you'll probably make it worse. Here, Lucy, let me put this-"

"No Gray-sama!" Juvia cried out as she stepped between Gray and Lucy. "Too much cold at once will make it hurt more. What Love Rival needs is water," it was at this point that Juvia manipulated the water from the river to wash over Lucy's hands in a repetitive, rocking, motion. Lucy sighed blissfully and leaned against Juvia. "That's right, Lucy-san," Juvia murmured, "let Juvia take your pain away. Let Juvia make sure you stay far, far, away from Gray-sama."

"Hmmm…." Lucy moaned, "Told you before, not interested in Gray."

"That's a lie," Juvia said, "Juvia knows that everyone is interested in Gray-sama."

Normally Natsu would scoff at that and make disgusted noises, after all, who would be interested in a naked pervert? But right now he was burning, he was boiling over with jealousy and disgust.

Jealous, because Lucy was resting against Juvia, that she chose Juvia to take care of her instead of her partner, and he envied Juvia's ability to heal with her magic. To use water in a helpful and nice manner that didn't destroy things or hurt the people she loved.

And then he was disgusted at himself. Disgusted that he had hurt Lucy, revolted that his magic did nothing but cause destruction, and irritated that he was jealous when he should be relieved that someone is there to help Lucy.

After a while, Juvia had managed to reduce the burn, and with some ice from Gray's magic, and a homemade bandage that Erza cut up from Gray's abandoned shirt (even Erza and Gray were able to do good and helpful things with their magic) they bandaged Lucy's hand up until they could find Wendy and get her to heal the burn.

It was then when Erza declared it was time to go home and as the others packed, Natsu sat on the ground as he eyed his hands with disgust.

"Hey," Lucy squatted next to him, "don't just sit here. Help us clear all of this away, you helped make this mess with your piggish appetite."

"Yeah."

"Natsu," Lucy said, she tried to reach out and touch him but he jerked away, "Natsu!" Lucy repeated much more harshly as she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "What's wrong?!"

"I hurt you."

"Yeah?" Lucy said impatiently. "And?"

"I'm a monster!" Natsu exploded. "All I do is destroy and hurt people and nothing that is actually helpful. I'm not like Erza, I can't cut up bandages, or Gray, I can't make beautiful things out of my magic like he can, and I'm definitely not like Juvia who helped you, I'm just destructive and chaotic and-and-and - "

"– and an idiot," Lucy interrupted firmly, "a complete and utter idiot."

"Oi!"

"Well it's true!" Lucy snapped. "If I hear you call yourself a monster one more time I will Lucy Kick you so hard that you will end up in Edolas. You're not destructive and chaotic…well okay," she admitted sheepishly, "you are, but that's not all what you are. So fire is dangerous, that doesn't change the fact that it's also beautiful and magical, and you do amazing things with it because you're kind, and beautiful, and wonderful." Her cheeks were a bright pink but that was nothing compared to how hot and flushed his own cheeks felt. "I never want to hear a hateful word about your magic again because it's wonderful."

"But I hurt you!"

"God, Natsu," Lucy rolled her eyes, "this," she held up her bandaged hand and Natsu felt a stab of longing. He wanted to see her guild mark, not a bandage from where he had hurt her. "This is nothing," she said firmly, "you've done worse to me before. You once punched me so hard in your sleep that I flew out of the guild building. You once set me on fire entirely."

"Eh," Natsu said sheepishly, "I forgot."

"I noticed," Lucy said dryly. "Look," she said in a gentle tone, "don't worry about it. I'm made of stronger stuff than you think. One little burn isn't going to end me running. The state of your house, however…."

"What's wrong with my house?!"

"Natsu," Lucy sighed, "It's a rubbish tip!"

"It is not!"

"It so is!"

"Not!"

"Is!"

"Not!"

"Is!"

They argued about this for ages until they realised that Erza, Gray, and Juvia had left them behind and they put the fight down long enough to run after them and catch up. Gray hadn't noticed them at all as he was too busy trying to ply an adoring Juvia off of him but Erza met their eye and nodded.

"I hope you have resolved your issues," she said calmly, "but if you're still feeling like a pathetic guilt-ridden mess, Natsu," she continued, a small smirk playing on her lips, "then might I suggest you kiss Lucy's hand better."

Natsu turned to look at Lucy, who was bright red, and grinned at her. Lucy's eyes almost popped out in alarm as she realised what he intended. "Natsu!" she squeaked, "don't you dare!"

"But Lucy," Natsu pouted, "you're hurt."

It was then when Lucy suddenly leaped into a run and tried to escape him, Natsu chased after her, laughing, and all his worries and self-loathing was forgotten.