Walking along the canal to the guild hall the next morning, Lucy's mind was playing on an infinite loop. Natsu's peaceful sleeping face, his arms caressing her body, as he said those shocking words. She always thought Natsu was too thick-skulled to even understand romantic love. She had to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. There was no way she could ask Happy, so she would go to the only other person to could possibly have any answers.

When she arrived at the guild hall, it was buzzing with activity in the mid-morning of a late spring day. The jeering and fighting jarred her from her thoughts momentarily, but she recovered her resolve and made a bee-line for her favorite bar-maid at the back of the main hall. Mira seemed to know everything that was going on in the guild.

"Mira, something happened yesterday, and I need your advice." Lucy blurted nervously.

Mira's brow quirked up as she set down the mug she was drying. Leaning over the bar to Lucy, she teased "Is it about Naaatsu?" throwing in a wink for good measure.

"Shhhh!" Lucy said, rising out of her barstool, frantically looking around to see if anyone had heard. Luckily, the place was so busy, nobody seemed to be paying them any attention. And Natsu was nowhere to be seen.

"Mira… Yesterday, in his sleep, Natsu said…well… he said… 'Luce, I love you, let's be together,' but he told me when he woke up it was like friend-love. What do you—"

"Well of course he loves you, Lucy. He's been in love with you for a long time," Mira said matter of factly. She picked up another mug to dry before continuing, "But he doesn't think you would ever be interested in him in that way, so he never talks about it." she finished.

Lucy's brain was running a hundred miles an hour, no singular thought clear enough to grasp onto. Mira continued drying mugs as though she hadn't turned everything Lucy thought she knew upside down.

How could I not know? All this time?! For years, she thought Natsu was completely blind to this type of thing, and all along, he was hiding his feelings for her? She felt so many conflicting emotions. Shock that she could be so blind to something like this. Elation that her feelings were returned. But most of all, Lucy felt sorrow. Sorry for Natsu, that he had suppressed his feelings for so long, as she went along completely unaware. It was this emotion that drove Lucy from her chair, it's legs scraping against the hardwood in protest of her sudden movement.

"Thanks Mira!" she called over her shoulder as she ran from the guild hall. She had to tell Natsu that she reciprocated his feelings, that he wasn't alone in this!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Natsu took his time getting to the guild that morning. He had run home from Lucy's house when the sun came up, and was in no rush to see her. Knowing Lucy, she would be all awkward about it, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with that just yet.

"Oiiii Happy!" he hollered to the Exceed flying above him, "Let's go fishing!" Though he lacked the patience to enjoying traditional fishing, trying to catch them with his hands was good training, and he and Happy could save money on food!

As Natsu and Happy strolled along the canals at a leisurely pace, Natsu's mind drifted to his dream from the night before. At least it was one of the tamer ones, he thought with a chuckle. A quick pit-pat of footsteps caught his attention, and was quickly followed by an all-too-familiar scent. Natsu felt panicked and excited at the same time; he was always happy to see Lucy, but he wasn't prepared to rehash that. Even worse, Happy was there to tease him relentlessly.

Since Lucy hadn't called out to him yet, he continued toward the river, listening to her approach. He could hear her labored breathing and pounding heart, and her scent was enveloping him with every step. She would call out to him any second now, he guessed.

A/N: Working on more chapters!