CHAPTER 3

So here's chapter 3! Please leave a review guys XD

"So it's a date?"

Lucy was sitting in her bedroom with her long-time friend Levy McGarden, trying to explain why she needed help picking out an outfit for tonight.

It was not a fun conversation.

"No Lev! He just invited me over to thank me for paying for snacks for his cat!" she cried with a red face.

The whole situation was embarrassing, Levy had been teasing her for years about her bad luck with guys, and now with Natsu's invitation she jumped at the chance to tease Lucy again.

"Yeah, sure. And I'm a fairy princess Lu" said Levy with a deadpanned look.

Lucy glared at her blue-haired friend, Levy was so short and petite that she could have convinced her she actually was a fairy. But Lucy knew Levy was very sensitive when it came to her height so she chose not to bring it up and make her mad.

"From what you've told me Lu it seriously sounds like this Natsu guy has a major thing for you. I'm surprised you can't see it" said levy as she dug through her friend's closet to find something nice.

Lucy blushed and scoffed Levy's words.

"You're crazy Lev, no guy would use his own cat just to ask a girl out" said Lucy as she looked at two dresses laid out on her bed.

Levy stopped what she was doing and gave Lucy a hard look over her shoulder. Lucy blinked and realised what she had said and pointed at Levy accusingly.

"Just because your weirdo boyfriend did it, doesn't mean Natsu is!" she said with an embarrassed huff.

Lucy was of course referring to the time when Levy found a lost black kitten on her porch during a thunder storm. The poor thing was terrified and soaked, so Levy being the little saint she is took him in and fed him what she had in her fridge.

Since he had a collar but no number, she put up posters in her neighbourhood to try and find his owner, and luckily after only a day his owner called.

So Levy met little Pantherlilly's owner, Gajeel. A large rough looking man, she never would have thought a man like him would own a cat, but once she handed him his cat she found out he was actually a big softy on the inside.

Gajeel was so grateful to her for keeping his cat safe that he told her if she ever needed anything she could call him and he would be there.

After a few exchanged texts and being treated to lunch Levy asked Gajeel out and they had been dating ever since.

"I'm just trying to make sense of things for you Lu. What does this guy do for a living anyway?" asked Levy curiously as she looked at Lucy.

Lucy sighed and sat down on her bed "He's some kind of pyrotechnics master. Basically he makes fireworks, and creates machines for concerts and performers who want pyrotechnics" she explained.

Levy blanched and started laughing uncontrollably at this. She was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

Lucy glared and grumbled at Levy's reaction.

"Well I'm so glad you find it so amusing Lev" said Lucy with a huff.

Levy calmed her laughter down to a small giggle and gave Lucy and amused smirk.

"Come on Lu, you can't blame me for finding this funny. I mean he literally plays with fire for a living, and you are a firefighter! You don't get any more ironic than that!" said Levy with a giggle.

Lucy gave Levy an unamused look "Oh yeah, do I need to point out that you and Gajeel are pretty much the embodiment on irony?" said Lucy.

"Was that a crack at my height? And here I am trying to make you look cute for your date tonight, that's gratitude for you" said Levy with a huff.

"It is not a date!" yelled Lucy again.

Levy rolled her eyes at Lucy's protests.

"Ok Lu, let me ask you something. Do you like this guy?" asked Levy seriously.

Lucy pouted a Levy's question and blushed, avoiding any eye contact with her. "Well… I don't hate him" she muttered softly.

Levy sighed, Lucy was always so shy when it came to guys and dating, it was a wonder how she dated at all.

"Okay… well, if this does turn out to be a date, how would you feel about that?" asked Levy as she sat down next to Lucy on her bed and looked at her expectantly.

Lucy thought for a moment, how would she feel if it turned out to be a date? When she thought about Natsu she didn't have any problem with him, other than his tendency to set his home on fire he was a great guy. He was always smiling that impossibly cute smile, he was pretty funny and he had a love for animals that she couldn't resist. Not to mention that he was easy on the eyes, his boyish features were so handsome and he was muscular, but not like Gajeel, more lean.

After thinking about it Lucy blushed when she realised she wouldn't have a problem with dating Natsu, and suddenly felt very nervous about this dinner date with him tonight.

Lucy groaned and fell back on her bed with her hands covering her red face.

"Oh Levy! Why would you ask me that?!" whined Lucy.

Levy giggled at Lucy's reaction and pat her knee.

"I love ya Lucy, and I want you to be happy. I'm just making you face your own feelings right now. And besides Natsu sounds like a good enough guy. Not to mention I'm sure there'd be less fires at his place if you two started dating" said Levy with a giggle.

Lucy smacked Levy on her shoulder playfully "Don't even joke about that Lev. You make it sound like he purposefully set his home on fire just to talk to me" scoffed Lucy.

"Well… I mean if you think about it-"

"No! Don't go there! Stop talking! I'm nervous enough as it is and I don't want you putting ideas into my head!" yelled Lucy as she tried to cover her friend's mouth.

"Okay, okay! Let's just get you all pretty for tonight and then you can worry about your possibly crazy pyromaniac boyfriend" teased Levy with a grin.

"Levy!"

"Happy! I'm back!" yelled Natsu as he walked into his home with his hands full of grocery bags.

The little blue cat jumped at the sound of his name and grocery bags and ran towards the kitchen where he expected his owner to be.

Happy meowed loudly and rubbed against Natsu's legs as he put the grocery bags down on his kitchen counter.

"Yeah, yeah I know what you want" said Natsu as he dug through one of the bags and pulled out a can of tuna that had Happy clawing at his legs.

Natsu cringed and grabbed a can opener.

"I know you're hungry lil' buddy, I'm opening the can now" said Natsu as he pulled the lid off and emptied the contents into Happy's bowl. Happy immediately let go of Natsu and started chowing down.

Natsu sighed and started to put the rest of his groceries in the right place.

He spent the whole week trying to figure out what to make Lucy for dinner, his tastes were a lot different from other people since he had a preference for spicy foods, but he wasn't so sure that Lucy would appreciate her mouth burning when he was trying to repay a favour.

So having limited options he decided to go with spicy fried chicken and rice. Making sure to get mild spices especially for Lucy.

It was now 4pm, Lucy said she would arrive at 6, so Natsu had plenty of time to shower, cook, and clean his place before she got there.

Natsu grinned with excitement. He couldn't wait for Lucy to come by, and this time she wouldn't be in her firefighter getup.

Natsu blushed when the memory of Lucy in casual clothes resurfaced, and he wondered what she would wear tonight.

Realising he was wasting time, Natsu slapped his cheeks and started to clean up his house. Making sure all visibly flammable objects were put away and the new extinguishers he got were put in a place where Lucy would see them.

"Alright! Let's get ready for Lucy!" said Natsu with an excited grin as he looked at Happy.

Happy looked at Natsu blankly and meowed in response.

"I'll take that as an 'Aye Sir!'" said Natsu with a thumbs up as he marched towards his bathroom.

It was almost time for Lucy to show up so Natsu went into his kitchen to start cooking. He made sure to apply mild spices for Lucy's portion while making his in his signature flaming fire spice. The rice and veggies were just about done, all that was left for him to do was fry the chicken and his meal would be complete.

He was just about to start frying when his doorbell rang, making Happy glance up from his seat on the couch curiously.

'Crap, she's earlier than I thought she'd be. But… that just means she was looking forward to this too right?' thought Natsu with an elated grin.

Natsu wiped his greasy hands on a cloth and placed the spiced chicken next to the stove. He sucked in a nervous breath and made his way to the front door.

"Okay Happy, wish me luck" said Natsu nervously.

Happy meowed at his owner and went back in his sleeping position. Natsu scowled at his cat's lack of enthusiasm but shrugged it off and grabbed hold of the doorknob.

Once he opened it and saw Lucy his breath caught in his throat.

Lucy was wearing a beautiful strapless red sundress and a black cardigan, her hair was done in a high ponytail with a red bow and she was wearing black ballet flats.

Natsu's heart was beating rapidly. She was here, right in front of him, and she looked so damn cute it was downright criminal. Not to mention…

'She's wearing red! My favourite colour! This couldn't get any better!' thought Natsu as he tried to contain his elated grin.

Lucy stood in front of Natsu and fidgeted nervously, he was just standing in front of her and gawking. Like he couldn't believe she had shown up, and he looked so happy that she was there. She was worried that the outfit Levy picked out for her would be too much, but seeing his face like that made her kind of happy about it now. She realised she wouldn't mind him thinking she at least looked cute right now since he'd only ever seen her in her uniform.

Noticing that he hadn't moved since he laid eyes on her Lucy tried to wake him from his stupor by clearing her throat.

"Uhm, am I late or something? You look surprised to see me" she said nervously.

Natsu snapped out of his daze and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"S-sorry about that, you just looked so pretty I sort of forgot how to talk" he said with a shy grin.

Lucy's face went so red at his words steam was coming out of her ears, how could he say such embarrassing stuff so easily?!

"W-what do you…? I-Idiot, are you gonna let me in or what?!" she said avoiding eye contact and squirming shyly.

Natsu chuckled at her reaction and moved out of the doorway to let her through.

"Please, enter my humble home fair maiden" he said with a fake British accent.

Lucy blinked and giggled at his silly behaviour, sometimes this guy was just too much.

"Why thank you kind Sir, I shall" she answered, playing along by also speaking British as she entered his home.

Lucy looked around his house and took in all the surroundings, for once she wasn't checking to see if anything was on fire so she could finally appreciate his home and his style.

"Gotta say, it's nice to be able to look at your place without having to worry about any burning furniture" she said with a smile.

Natsu chuckled sheepishly and closed his door "Yeah, and it's nice to let you see my place when it actually looks clean. You can make yourself comfortable on the couch, I'm almost done with-"

Suddenly all the lights to his place went out and they were left in his hallway in the dark.

Thanks for reading guys! Please don't forget to leave a review, it always helps the confidence to know that you guys like my writing XD