"Lucy! How do you work this thing again?" Natsu yelled from the blonde's kitchen.
"I've already told you a hundred times! Just put the bread in the slot and push the lever down!" Lucy yelled back from her bathroom. "Please don't burn down my kitchen!"
"Have a little faith, Lucy!" Natsu called back chuckling, doing as instructed.
"In battle? Unwavering. In the kitchen? Not so much" Lucy said chuckling, startling the pinkette. She had come up behind him wearing her fuzzy pink pajama shorts and a pale blue tank top, drying her golden locks with a fluffy towel. Thankfully his tan skin hid his blush as he saw her. The dragon slayer respectfully never acted on his urges when he saw Lucy in times like these and he played the part of the fool well enough, always downplaying his slipups so well that no one suspected a thing. Yes, you heard it right folks. Natsu Dragneel is not the dense imbecile everyone thinks he is.
"I don't understand why you have that thing anyway. You have me!" he proclaimed proudly, his thumb gesturing to himself, offering her his famous giga-watt grin, showing off his fangs. Lucy secretly had a hard-on for those long canines, but she kept that bit to herself. Mira and Cana would never let her hear the end of it if that got around the guild.
"What do you mean?" she asked as she now ran a brush through her yellow tresses. Natsu huffed and rolled his eyes as he laid a slice of bread on his outstretched palm. He then placed his other palm over top of it, both arms stretched towards Lucy with a blank expression on his face. After a moment, he removed his arm and held up a now perfectly golden brown piece of toast. Lucy was shocked with the amount of control he had in order to do that.
"Toast." Natsu said simply.
"Natsu, that's amazing!" Lucy said with a smile. Despite the fact that he simply warmed up a piece of bread, his chest swelled in pride that he was able to impress her.
"It's nothing re-"
"But what will I use to toast my bread when you're not here?" she said smugly.
"You won't have that problem if you move in with me." He deadpanned. Lucy froze. They weren't even dating, no matter how badly she wished otherwise. The dense baka was only ever interested in two things, fighting and eating. Lucy blushed crimson as she allowed herself to speak.
"U-um, Natsu? Th-that's not really ap- appropriate-"
"Oh, for Mavis' sake, Lucy! I like you. Like, I really like you, a lot. Why do you think I go all out or overboard on missions? Why do you think I start so many fights at the guild? Sure, beating the pants off of Gray, no pun intended, is a plus but it's to show you how strong I am. Why do you think I'm always trying to catch the most fish or hunt the biggest animals? Yeah, I have a big appetite and I like the challenge, but it's to show you that I can provide for you. Lucy," Natsu closed the distance between them, grabbed her hands and held them to his chest against his heart. "I wanna be with you. My heart only beats like this when you're around. For a while I thought I was sick or I was just really hungry. I've never wanted anyone else as a partner before you came around. I want you to be my partner for life. If you move in with me, you won't have to worry about rent. We can go on missions together and still have money to spare." He brought her knuckles to his lips for a kiss before murmuring against them. "So, what do you say, Lucy?"
To say Lucy was astounded at his confession was the understatement of the century. She had loved him for years and never once thought he felt an inkling of romantic feelings for her. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared into his onyx green ones, shimmering with hope and uncertainty but mostly love.
"You really love me?" she whispered.
"More than anything." He replied quickly. "So, will you be my girlfriend and move in with me?" he asked once more.
"With a confession like that, how can I refuse?" she giggled while wiping a tear from her eye. Pure happiness lit up Natsu's face as he wrapped his arms around her waist, buried his face in her chest and spun her in circles around the room, the space echoing with his euphoric laughter.
"YES! YES! YES! YES!" he chanted. He put her down and cupped her face in his large warm hands. With one last face-splitting grin, he crashed his lips against hers. Lucy was surprised at first before she melted in the kiss and wrapped her arms around his torso. When they at last parted for air, Lucy laughed.
"To think, our relationship started over toast."