It was a typical warm and peaceful day in the middle of their summer break. Natsu was comfortably sprawled out and laying on his back, his arms and legs outstretched as far as his pre-pubescent limbs would allow him. The soft and vibrant grass tickled his ears as Natsu sighed, listening to the calming sounds of birds tweeting and the rough sound of chalk hitting the pavement nearby. The pink haired boy slowly opened his eyes, squinting when the sun blinded him. Turning his head to the left, he watched his best friend at work, enjoying the summer air with a day outside in his front lawn and driveway, while Lucy worked away on some chalk drawing.

Lucy was focused on what she called her masterpiece, sleeves rolled up as she went to work on the hot cement below her, a worn out piece of pink chalk in her hands. The blonde had arrived at his house earlier that morning out of a mix of pure boredom and probably a lame attempt at avoiding too much time at home with her father.

Natsu smirked and rolled his eyes knowingly; he had always wondered why the girl could never enjoy the summer break as much as he did. The freedom from homework and nagging teachers was a liberation for the nearly-always-failing boy. But for Lucy, her brilliant mind needed-craved-the constant mental activity; the summer was her definition of hell on earth, something Natsu would never understand.

Either way, she had arrived at his house earlier that morning. Luckily his foster parents had not been home, having taking off for the week to God only knows where; Natsu did not mind so much and had gotten used to not asking any questions; they provided a roof over his head and food so Natsu could care less what else they did with their time.

The pink haired boy sighed and sat up, stretching out the kinks in his neck before turning to Lucy only a few feet away. Her head snapped up and looked at him in almost horror, "Don't look! It's not ready!"

Natsu, dumbstruck, simply laid back down in the grass having nothing else better to do and shocked at how determined the blonde was at keeping something as silly as a childish chalk drawing a secret from him. He grumbled to himself about being bored but Lucy ignored him, her tongue sticking out and matching the determined look in her chocolate brown eyes.

Natsu found himself sighing again that morning. His chest felt tight again at the sight of his best friend at work. As soon as they had hit puberty, Natsu had noticed small changes in Lucy and himself. Whether it be her laugh or simply the way she said his name, Natsu had suddenly become hooked on Lucy and everything she meant to him.

And he would never admit that to another living soul as long as he lived. Not even the girl in question.

"Okay, it's done."

Natsu sat up and placed his hand underneath himself to balance himself as he stood up. His legs felt stiff from not being used for longer than ten minutes but he walked it out by seeing what the fuss was all about over this chalk drawing.

But when he finally got a good look at what Lucy had been hiding from him all this time, he could not even hide the small intake of breath that escaped. Glancing up at Lucy, who happened to be scrutinizing him for his response, Natsu felt a bit of heat reach up to his cheeks.

It was a drawing of him.

Natsu knew he had an infamous grin from the many remarks and comments from other people his whole life. Although he had a rather large-and sometimes obnoxious, according to Gray-smile, the pink haired preteen had avoided showing off his pearly whites for awhile now. It was not some new life choice on the part of the boy but simply a natural consequence of having less to smile about in his life.

But there, on the sun-heated pavement, was a chalked-up portrait of that very infamous grin staring him back in the face. He took a big swallow before he found his voice, "Why the hell'd you draw me?"

Natsu tried to not notice the small cringe Lucy gave at his classy choice in language-he knew she hated it but it could not help it sometimes (blame his lovely upbringing)-but she smiled his way nonetheless before replying, "I don't know, I wanted to draw something I cherish the most."

It had to be the summer heat because Natsu felt the temperature sky rocket, making him grab his white tee shirt and giving it a jostle to get some air flowing. He gulped before finally finding his voice "Well...that's stupid. Why'd you go and waste your time on that...chalk drawings are silly."

And once again, Natsu wished he had the ability to use words the way Lucy could. He wanted to punch himself in the face after seeing the look Lucy had given him before she had silently kneeled back down on the pavement, collecting the chalk. What scared him the most was how silent she was doing all of this; usually Lucy would blow up and beat him until he was near death and begging for mercy, but this time...this time, he was a total and complete moron.

He did not deserve her as a friend.

"What do you mean?"

'Shit,' Natsu blushed, he had not realized he had voiced his thoughts until Lucy had finally spoke up.

"Uhhh," The pink haired boy scratched the backside of his head, a nervous tick he had developed from who knows where, "I just..."

Then he noticed his skateboard he had left stranded next to where he was laying earlier, a sudden idea coming to him. He knew words would probably fail him again and he needed to make it up to Luce. Grabbing a nearby piece of chalk, Natsu went to work, scribbling a note onto the rough piece of wood, covering the normally black top with a message for his friend.

Lucy was still kneeling on the ground, confused entirely by her friend's behaviour but waiting for his explanation. She knew he had not meant those earlier harsh words but whether or not he did was besides the point; she had admitted out loud how much he meant to her and instead of doing the mature thing for once, he had thrown it back at her with his silly immature stupidity.

She sighed, what else had she expected? Lucy had felt these weird feelings developing over time and only recently had she realized that she might feel something more than friendship for her best friend. Blame it on puberty but something about the silly, obnoxious, and loud boy had attracted her.

Suddenly something knocked into her legs. Lucy glanced down and noticed it was Natsu's skateboard. She looked up and saw that, yes, Natsu had been the one to push it towards her. He looked incredibly nervous and Lucy did not understand why until she looked back down at the piece of wood on wheels only to finally notice the words that were chicken-scratched onto its surface.

'Im sorry,' It started, 'I say stupid things but I hope u know u mean alot to mee to.'

Lucy blinked back a couple tears that wanted to escape before standing up and running over to Natsu, crashing into the shocked preteen and wrapping her arms around him. Shoving her face into his scrawny chest, she giggled and whispered a 'thank you'.

Natsu gulped, absolutely red in the face, but secretly so incredibly happy that the message had gotten across. Lucy was special to him and although he was nowhere near ready to consider her as girlfriend material, he knew she would be a part of his life for as long as she wanted him in her life.

A/N: Soooo, wrote this after being inspired by my lil' punk of a brother tried teaching me how to ride a skateboard. The skateboard lessons did not pan out but I got this little plot bunny in my head of a little Natsu skateboarding...although the skateboard part became quite a small part of this drabble. I'm not sure how I feel about this one and was even too lazy to really edit it like I usually do...gosh, that's my pet peeve but still. Either way, let me know your thoughts. :)

And someone asked about my moving to Japan...I'll be moving August 3rd to teach English in the Miyagi prefecture up north for at least a year. I'll have access to internet to no worries on that front. :D