Since I didn't really say it in the prologue, allow me to say it now: I want to express my gratitude to Twinado, for helping me out as a beta, even when she has her own stuff going on.

Notes: Um… Let me just say, I am amazed at the feedback I got from you guys. Seriously, wow. It's actually kinda nerve-wracking to know so many people are so excited about this. Hope I don't disappoint you with these first few chapters, where it's gonna be more about Natsu getting to know Lucy and accepting her than about falling in love with her. But we'll get there soon enough, I promise you. And the courtship hijinks will pick up, especially after this chapter.

Also, this first act is gonna be told in… flashbacks, I guess? I'm honestly not sure anymore.

That fateful day hadn't started out as anything particularly special. Sure, he was pursuing what Happy thought sounded like a pretty promising lead on his dad, but really, it wasn't that different from the fifty-or-so other investigations he'd gone looking into. Just some vague clue, in some boring town, after some run-of-the-mill mission. And a god-awful train he'd ended up stuck riding twice.

Ugh.

Really, nothing he hadn't suffered through many, many, many times before. Even the disappointment of some lame-ass human mage with equally lame-ass fire magic being the source of the rumors wasn't that big of a surprise, really. Kinda weird, yeah, but sadly not the first time it'd happened to him. The crowd of obnoxious and violent fangirls didn't usually enter this kind of scenario, but again, not anything he wasn't fairly used to, thank you, Loke.

And some girl quietly insulting a sleazy guy after he'd vacated the premises? Please, come by Fairy Tail some time, the girls there wouldn't even wait that long to start making jabs.

But then, the girl turned–she was actually kinda pretty, he noticed–and rather cheerfully greeted both him and Happy with a weird "Thanks for earlier!" and proceeded to invite them to lunch. Her treat.

That.

That was new.

The act of sharing or giving food is a pretty standard way to show interest in your potential mate's wellbeing.

Despite what some ice-making assholes may think, he was smart enough to know that offering a person food did not mean that someone was trying to vie for marriage. It didn't always mean shit for dragons either, after all–and he wasn't a moron.

So, he wasn't leaping to conclusions, even if it was a little weird that a complete stranger he'd met not twenty minutes ago was buying him lunch. He was just gonna appreciate the fact that Lu-something (it's surprisingly hard to hear over the sound of your own chewing) was a stupidly nice person that somehow thought stumbling through a crowd warranted an entire free meal. Even if she did talk a whole lot about stuff even the youngest mages knew about.

He did twitch a little when he realized she thought he was some regular person. And kept excitedly chattering at him before he could get a word in to correct her. It was almost like talking to a little kid.

"There's no way something like that would be here!"

A little kid that made a very good point. In hindsight, a fire dragon being in a human town near the ocean did seem pretty farfetched; he'd kick Jameson's ass when he got back. But he was interrupted from his stewing by Lucci's quick goodbye–and going the extra mile by placing enough money to cover all three of their orders, and even some extra.

She really was just way too generous. She wouldn't even take that famous guy's autograph to settle the score even a little. Honestly, he was starting to feel like he was being propositioned.

Aaaand now she was gone. Ah well. Far be it for him to turn down free food, even if it didn't really feel right.

Once his hunger pains had abated, he stopped eating quite so fast and tried to savor all of the different foods he'd normally not bother spending the jewels on. Happy was also taking the opportunity to sample the variety of fresh fish available to a port town, with a rather dreamy expression on his face… He had a feeling more money would be going towards Happy's food expenses from now on.

It was dark by the time they finally wrapped up and made their way downtown, patting their stomachs in contentment. Even if the lead had turned out to be a dead-end, they were finishing the day off on a surprisingly good note. It was a clear night, his sleeping bag was intact, they had full bellies–not a bad way to end their trip.

Of course, Happy had to point out the stupid ship sitting in the bay. Ugh, just thinking about the rocking and swaying made him nauseous, to his best friend's exasperation. In between his gasps for air as he tried to swallow down the bile, he could pick out a couple of girls talking about some party that a famous guy was throwing. Probably that Sala-

"He's that famous mage from Fairy Tail."

Both he and Happy jolted to attention.

For the first time, he actually understood what people meant by something "feeling like a bucket of ice water dumped on you", though it didn't take very long for that feeling to be replaced with a steady boiling in his veins. His eyes found the ship once again, now gauging how long it would take them to reach it and where would be the best place to gain entry.

That bastard had better pray to the gods of death that this was a misunderstanding, or else he would be paying those gods a visit very soon.

Maybe it shouldn't have surprised him that the weird girl from before seemed to be in the thick of things here. After all, anyone that generous (and pretty, an idiotic part of him muttered) was just asking for trouble from all sorts of people–plus, she seemed pretty ditzy. Still, it was kind of surprising, considering how much she seemed to loathe the guy a few hours ago. Not any of his business, though. He had bigger fish to fry.

Just as soon as the stupid ship stopped rocking.

He couldn't even open his mouth to interrogate the bastard without worrying about vomiting all over himself. Deep breaths were all he could manage.

But his ears were working just fine and-

Fairy Tail? Really? She's been aiming to join their guild? And this creep had duped her too?

Well, at least he knew how he could repay her now. Once he'd taken care of a certain smarmy, lying jackass. Lucky for her, Happy knew the drill when it came to his fights, and seemed already fond of her, so he didn't hesitate to grab her and fly away. One less thing for him to worry about.

Now, if only this stupid ship would stop fucking rocking-

It was at that exact moment that he got his wish. Via a shit ton of sea water flooding the entire ship and sending the damn thing careening across the bay.

He wasn't sure how to take being washed away by some flash flood that disappeared as suddenly as it came, but his eyes were certainly spinning from it. It took him a good minute to shake off the disorientation and glance outside–to see they'd crashed into the port. Literally crashed into it.

Where the hell did a tidal wave that massive even come from? First this Salamander guy that he was pretty sure was impersonating Fairy Tail, then that weird girl damn near propositioning him, and now a freak tsunami hitting the ship so hard it dug a crater in the port. He couldn't tell whether luck was on his side today or not. At least the rocking stopped. And the girl was safe, even if she seemed to have run back towards the danger, like an idiot.

Whatever, he had other problems to deal with.

"Oi, are you really from Fairy Tail?" he hissed, now fully recovered. He'd give the man a chance to take it back. He was nice like that.

The blue-haired bastard dared to smirk as he claimed that he was. And that just wouldn't do.

Natsu took a moment to get a good, long look at the face of the son of a bitch that dared drag Fairy Tail's name through the mud. When his smirk crept further up his face, the dragon slayer snapped and bashed the nearest flunky's face into the floor. From there, it was an all-out brawl.

Or perhaps it'd be better described as a massacre.

He could admit he may've gone a bit overboard, but in his defense, he hadn't been this well-fed in years. He had a lot of energy to work off, and these sorry assholes were such a wonderful outlet. Honestly, he was kind of putout that the military showed up when they did. They did remind him of something, though…

Thinking fast, he grabbed Lushi and beat a quick retreat.

She may have protested at him dragging her along, but when he'd made it clear where he was taking her, she'd been more than happy to join Happy and him in their escape. She even laughed as the soldiers kept screaming at them to come back, and her excitement was contagious, putting matching smiles on both boys' faces.

Yeah, in spite of it all, today was ending on a pretty good note.

Even before initiating a courtship, it's always good to make sure that the other party is at least interested in you.

Really, after bringing her to Fairy Tail, he'd thought he and Luigi would go their separate ways. He'd done his part, that should've been that. The hell did he care that she got the guild mark? He could appreciate her enthusiasm, but seriously, gush to Mira, not him.

There may have been a part of him that was a little nervous she'd try to pull something like she had in Hargeon, but if anyone asked, the only reason he was speeding to the job board was because he was broke. He was not running away from a ditzy blonde with weird ideas of gratitude, nope, shut the hell up, Happy.

Of course, just when he found a pretty decent-sounding job, he had to overhear Gramps and Romeo arguing about Macao. The idiot still wasn't back yet, and not even his son's tears could persuade the old man to send someone after him. Unbidden, memories of an empty clearing and a silent forest flooded his mind, and a sour taste built in the back of his throat.

Before he'd even realized what he was doing, he'd already grabbed his pack and promised Romeo something he knew damn well he couldn't guarantee. And now he was on yet another monstrous device sent from hell to torture him. With an unexpected, blonde tagalong.

If he wasn't so damn nauseous, he'd have questioned her intentions more. Hell, he'd probably have made sure she didn't even get in the carriage in the first place. The last thing he and Happy needed was unnecessary baggage.

"You can live with Natsu and me," his best–soon to be dead–friend offered when the other mage mentioned looking for a place to live. Dammit, he was trying to avoid getting into a damn courtship with the girl, not skip all the way to the final stage of one. His dad would punt him off a cliff the second he found out, he was somehow certain.

Luckily, despite her suspicious intentions and general ditziness, even she seemed to take issue with the suggestion. Thank the gods.

And with that, they could finally disembark. Why she seemed to be surprised at the weather was beyond him, but she definitely wasn't prepared for it. Damn girl even stole his sleeping bag for her own blanket before summoning a totally awesome clock-shield-thing to hide in.

"I'll stay here, she says," the clock guy… spoke for her? What the hell?

Okay, it didn't matter how pretty this girl was, she was just weird. Or an idiot. Probably the latter. She didn't even know what job Macao had been in the middle of before getting involved in this, geez. She really just needed to leave already.

And by that, he meant she needed to go back to Magnolia, not get kidnapped by the very monster they were just talking about. Oh well, at least he didn't have to wander aimlessly through the blizzard anymore. Even better, it looked like the bastard could talk. That just made things so much easier.

He and Happy quickly took off in pursuit, before that monkey's tracks disappeared once more. It didn't take them long to find the cave he must've been using as a shelter, but when they got there, Happy fell back and told the flame mage that he was gonna keep out of sight in case they needed to get out quick. Natsu didn't see the necessity of it, but he wasn't gonna protest against his buddy being cautious.

Turned out to be a good call on the blue cat's part, as Natsu seemed to have caught onto a certain pretty girl's stupidity and just naively followed the Vulcan over to the cliff-side for the bastard to push him off. If it weren't for Happy's years of experience and fast reaction time, he doubted he'd have come out of that fall in one piece.

In his defense, his reaction to the sight of more monsters greeting them upon reaching the cave once more was entirely justified. He did not have time to deal with some giant-ass bull monster on top of that monkey bastard, so he'd just chosen the appropriate response of a flying kick to the face.

How was he supposed to know that the new freak had just happened to be another of that girl's weird spirits? It was like she had hundreds of them, dammit.

Ugh, whatever, it wasn't like he could've been that useful, anyways, if just one kick could do him in. Not that he was gonna say as much. Ditzy as she may have been, he had a good idea of just how well she'd take such a comment. So, instead he focused on the pervert monkey that seemed to have built some kind of grudge against him and was now trying to turn him into a damn pincushion.

Pfft, too bad his weapons of choice were all things made of ice, the stupid-

And then the Vulcan picked up that bull's giant fucking axe. That. That could be a problem.

With a downright fucking murderous look on his face, the monster started swinging every which way. And truthfully, he was a little too quick with the thing. Natsu was gonna get cleaved in two at this rate.

Right as he thought this, he tripped, leaving himself wide-open for the axe heading straight for him. His quick reflexes helped him catch it in time, but the monkey was strong. Stronger than him in this particular instance, which meant the giant blade was baring down on him hard. He had to act fast.

Melting a piece of the axe down into a pseudo-bullet that beaned the monster in the forehead to stun him long enough for a flaming fist to the face–it was honestly one of his smartest moves ever, and he was a little disappointed that only his best friend and their little tagalong had gotten to see it.

Well, them and Macao, whom was apparently stupid enough to let Vulcan perform a Take-over. Geez, and people called him reckless. At least he wasn't crazy enough to take on a Take-over monster without any backup, or else he'd be the one falling out of an opening to his-

Oh shit!

He and Happy were quick, but luck was not on their side. They'd managed to leap over the edge and catch Macao, but the flying cat couldn't carry two grown men, his magic was gonna run out any second anyways, and Natsu didn't have any spells in his arsenal that would help them here. He was scrambling for options as they began falling once more.

But then, they weren't.

When your intended has your back, even in the thick of combat, take that as the guarantee that they care about your well-being.

He couldn't help the surprised flush in his cheeks as he took in the pretty blonde mage gripping Happy's tail and holding all three of them up. She was struggling with all her might to haul them up, even though it was obvious even from his position that she didn't have the strength for it. Still, she refused to let go.

Huh.

Thankfully, that Bull of hers turned out to be a better (and more useful) guy than he'd thought. Between him and Lucy, they managed to drag them back up to the relative safety of the cave, and from there they'd started ministering first aid to Macao, whom was actually in pretty bad shape.

It was pretty touch-and-go, especially with that hole in his side bleeding as heavily as it was. But, as he was coming to find, Lucy wasn't as squeamish as she looked, so he was able to cauterize the wound while she held Macao down. There may have been some shouting about what was best for Romeo, but he wasn't gonna mention it. The stubborn bastard's condition stabilized pretty quickly once they got to the hospital, and the look of shame in his eyes made it obvious enough he'd gotten through to him, so that was good enough for him

Although, the pair of big, brown eyes that kept watching them fondly flustered him a little. At least he wasn't the only one unnerved by it. Every time Macao noticed Lucy looking at him, he'd scratch the back of his head and try to avoid her gaze as he asked after Romeo again and again.

By the time they'd reached Magnolia, Lucy had thankfully lost that soft look in her eyes, though she kept smiling for no reason. Actually, she seemed pretty cheery from the moment they'd met, so that might've just been normal for her.

They left quickly after witnessing the touching father-son reunion, having already done their part. As Romeo shouted his thanks after them, Natsu glanced back at the cheery blonde that had turned out to be a pretty good addition to their team, however uninvited.

And he couldn't help thinking, as he took in her sunny grin aimed back at the little boy and his dad, that maybe a courtship wouldn't be such a bad thing. At the very least, Igneel would definitely like her.

First chapter of this slow-burn hell, done!

So, what'd you guys think? I know it was more or less just me embellishing the first two adventures of our intrepid trio (although I kind of shoved Happy into the background. Whoops.), but I promise that it's going to be a bit more original the further in I go.

Though, to be fair, I came up with this whole premise as a way to explain why the hell Natsu was so nonchalant about all the romantic shenanigans, despite obviously understanding the implications of it all, so it may be that I try to shoe-horn straight canon in here to just to prove a point. Heh.

Many thanks to:
Rebecca Frost, Marie Allen, Sunny Mars, cutekittenlady, and R0ckandR0gue for expressing your excitement. Here's hoping you enjoyed the first chapter.
Empress of Everything, I'm really glad you enjoyed Igneel. I had a lot of fun writing him, and yeah, his bit about showing off was a nice, light-hearted bit I couldn't help including.
Lyonsgirl, good call. That is definitely something I was alluding to, and I hope I do that part justice when I get to it.
RosesAndRavens, thanks for telling me. I'm honestly pretty bad about disjointed writing, so I appreciate you telling me that. I'll try to be better about it.
ofsaltandsea, it's a cute idea, isn't it? It's a fun perspective to have when going through the series, let me tell you. And thanks about Igneel. I loved writing him.
SailingFreely, you would definitely be right about that. However, more often than not, Natsu will definitely be intentional, if clumsy, when trying to reciprocate. This I can assure you.
wisdom-of-me, well, I don't know about Natsu dying inside, but he's definitely gonna be screaming internally. Especially whenever Lucy gives him mixed signals. Or advances their "relationship" without warning. Poor guy's just scrambling to keep up.
semi-absorbed, I'm glad it's standing out! This was partially due to frustration at how most of the mating stuff was portrayed, and I wanted a semi-realistic approach. Ah, thanks for letting me know about the shift between persons. I'm bad about things like that, especially when I get to do exposition type stuff.

And a massive thanks to everyone that Favorited and Followed this story. I'd list you all, but… that would take quite a while, and I'm naturally a really lazy person. So, generic gratitude that is still sincere will have to do!

Here's hoping I can get the next chapter out sooner than I did this one. Feel free to give me more feedback, as that's the only way I can improve. I appreciate all the support I've gotten from you guys, and I hope I can live up to your expectations.