Admiration

There was no doubting it that in their team, Lucy was the brains, and Natsu was the brawn. Often on jobs, Lucy would figure out the plan, and Natsu would enact it. Not that Lucy was complaining, she liked doing things that appealed to her intelligence like this.

At the time, Lucy was watching Natsu and Gray doing their standard brawl. She then smiled slightly while watching him.

"Like what you see?" Mirajane asked. Instead of being embarrassed, Lucy chuckled.

"Don't let Juvia hear you say that," she said.

"I'm not worried," Mirajane said, "There's no way Juvia hasn't wised up at to what's going on."

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon!" Mirajane said with a big smile, "You admire him, don't you?" Lucy suddenly turned a beautiful crimson.

"Admire him?" she asked.

"That's what I said."

"But… but…," Lucy stuttered, "How could I admire a guy like that? He's such a savage, pyromaniacal, dense, savage…"

"You said savage twice," Mira said.

"Well, its true," Lucy said, still red. Mirajane just giggled.

"You so obviously admire him," she said. Lucy tried to argue, but figured that once Mirajane had her mind set on a romance, nothing would deter her at this point.

"I'm actually not that sure what I think about him," she finally admitted.

"Do you not like him?" Mirajane asked.

"No, of course I like him!" Lucy said, waving her hands. It wasn't long before she realized what she'd said, and before she could retract, Mira jumped on it.

"So you do like him!" Mirajane said, with a grin.

"Not… not like that!" Lucy said, waving her hands.

"Well then, what do you think you think about him?"

"Well," Lucy said, putting a finger to her chin, "He's definitely strong, easily one of the strongest in the guild."

"If he were cleverer, I think he would be able to beat both me and Erza," Mirajane said.

"Well, its not as if he's stupid," Lucy argued, "He's dense sure, but when you're raised by a giant fire breathing serpent, I think anybody would be rather dense." She then smiled.

"He's quite loyal as well," she said, "No matter what, I always know that I can rely on him."

"So he has traits that you like in him?" Mirajane asked.

"Well, yeah."

"So then you do admire him!" Mirajane said, clapping her hands together.

"I'm beginning to think there is no right answer to this," Lucy said, "No matter what I say, you're going to get me to say that I…." She passed, as Mira looked at her expectantly.

"Nice try." The bar maid just giggled.

"Almost go you," she said. As Mirajane went to attend to another guild member, Lucy looked at Natsu, who had been quieted by Erza, and was now feasting on some fire he got from the grill. While watching him, the blonde couldn't help but remember something else she liked about him.

(Flashback)

The team had ventured out to a nearby island to find a sea monster plaguing the local fisherman. Natsu had his face pressed to the ground, as he sniffed at it, walking on all fours like a lizard.

"I think I once saw a gecko walking like that," Lucy mentioned, as she walked beside him.

"For Natsu that's a compliment," Happy said.

"I think I can smell it," Natsu said, all but pressing this face to the ground, "It smells terrible."

"Knowing you that's saying something," Lucy said.. The two walked down through the island forest, until Natsu's nose lead him face first into a pond, which made both Happy and Lucy laugh.

"Its down here!" Natsu announced, as he pulled his head out the water. He then ignited his fist.

"Fire Dragon's…."

"Wait!" Lucy said, "We need a plan!"

"Plan?" Natsu asked, cocking his head.

"Of course!" Lucy said, "If we got down there half-cocked one of us will get hurt. Most likely me."

"Aye!" Happy said, jumping to Lucy's should,"We need to think about this. Remember the guy told us that this monster likes pretty girls. We need to find a pretty girl." That made the blonde's ears perk up.

"Great idea!" Natsu said, "Let's get one." Lucy didn't like where this was going.

"Can you turn into a girl?" she asked with combination of nervousness and hope.

"What?" Natsu asked, "Why would I need to do that?" Lucy sighed.

"I guess there's no point in arguing then," she said.

(End Flashback)

So they had suspended Lucy from a tree, and waited for the monster, called a "gill-man" to show up. It eventually did, and the "plan" (Lucy was regretting mentioning it at the time) seemed to be going good. But then Natsu, true to form, mucked it up; well insofar as he went outside the plan. The gill-man was still toasted, and they got their reward, but Lucy still had to deck Natsu for being Natsu.

Lucy smiled more at Natsu as she watched him starting to brawl with Gajeel this time. If nothing else, she could always rely on him to be him.

"I guess I do admire him."

Note: "Admiration" is pretty broad, so to that end, I went with the basic definition. I figured this has great possibility as it stands for all sorts of sweet scenes.

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