CHAPTER 6

Hello! Well it's day 6 of NaLu week, so tomorrow is the final chapter XC. Hope you liked this story, it was fun and challenging for me to get all the chapters ready on time. Anyway thanks for sticking with it, and don't forget to leave a review guys XD

Natsu held Lucy close for a while, his breath was starting to tickle her neck and she was getting more and more flustered the longer he held on.

She had no idea what she was getting into when she first agreed to this dinner date, but she was definitely not expecting this, or the fact that they would get tipsy and start spilling their life stories to one another. She had never done anything like that before, especially not on a 'first date'.

'I might as well get over myself and admit this is a date already' she thought begrudgingly.

But then again… Lucy had never felt so close to a guy before. Sure she had been on one or two dates before, but those guys were all shallow and only wanted to date her because of what they imagined her to be like. They didn't know her at all, but they loved acting like they did.

Suffice to say she didn't go on many second dates. Just the memory of those guys was enough to make her eye twitch in irritation.

Natsu suddenly took a long deep breath and finally let go of Lucy slowly.

"Sorry about that Lucy. I got super clingy there" he said sheepishly as he avoided eye contact.

Lucy also couldn't seem to look him in the eye "I-it's fine… so uhm… do you feel better now?" she asked shyly.

Natsu glanced up at Lucy shyly and nodded his head in confirmation.

Lucy cleared her throat awkwardly and patted his head comfortingly "Well… good. Now, why don't I go grab us another beer huh?" she said with a comforting smile and made her way to the fridge.

Natsu watched her walk with a tender look in his eyes. He was by no means a secretive person, he always said what was on his mind and didn't stop to think about the consequences. But talking about Igneel was not something he did with just anyone. In fact he couldn't even remember the last time he told anyone about him, it was such a refreshing feeling. It always made him happy when he talked about his dad, he didn't like feeling sad so he tried not to be, but sometimes the memories would overwhelm him and the sadness would come over him.

Having Lucy see him in such an emotionally vulnerable state was definitely not something he wanted, but she was so easy to talk to, and they had more in common than he ever thought they would. When she held him, it was like a bright light had washed away all the darkness surrounding him. He felt so peaceful in her arms he almost never wanted to leave them.

He could never have predicted he would fall so hard so fast for someone before. Natsu was a one girl kind of guy, and he always followed his emotions, but this feeling was a first for him and he had no idea what to do about it.

He suddenly felt a cold object being pressed on his head and saw that Lucy was pressing a beer can against it.

"Don't think too hard that your brain will burn up" she said with a smile. She noticed he had this hard look on his face, as if he was trying to solve world hunger or something.

Natsu looked at Lucy with an unreadable expression, which made her feel a little shy.

"Hey, do you remember the day we first met?" he asked suddenly.

Lucy blinked as she took a sip from her beer, confused and wondering where he was going.

"Well it's kinda hard to forget. You were freaking out about your sculpture getting burned to a crisp, and then you had the audacity to call me Mario's sad and less appreciated brother" she said with a huff.

Natsu laughed loudly at that. His hearing had been a little messed up since the fire started because his fire breathing sculpture of a phoenix suddenly exploded, giving him a mild concussion. Not to mention his vision was also blurry so he had no idea that Lucy was even a woman that day.

And come on, Lucy and Luigi could be confused by anyone…

"Well, do you remember what you said to me that day?" he asked with a knowing smile on his face.

'You idiot! Objects and things can be replaced anytime! Worry about your life and the people who care about you! Next time make these crazy things outside to avoid further damage, or else next time it won't just be your sculpture that gets damaged'

"Ah… yeah I remember. You pissed me off coz you kept on whining about you beloved sculpture and you didn't seem to care about the fact that your life could have been in danger" she said with a frown.

"You seem to have skipped the part where you slapped me in the face while I was still recovering from a concussion" chuckled Natsu.

Lucy blushed "I didn't know you were concussed at the time. You certainly weren't acting like you were" she muttered in annoyance.

Natsu laughed "True, I was pumping with adrenaline so I wasn't really thinking much" he said with a grin.

"But still, you were like a fiery guardian angel. You yelled and attacked me while everyone else treated me like some victim even though I wasn't hurt much. Your words that day really resonated with me, not to mention you were the only woman on call that day so the guys were giving you a hard time. I had great respect for you" he said with a soft smile.

Natsu knew how hard it was for woman firefighters out there. They were constantly being tested by the men and forced to work even harder in order to be recognized by their peers. Even their training was different which made the guys pick on them even more. Luckily he also knew one other woman firefighter who could put the guys in their place with just a glare, her fiery hair was like a symbol of hope for all woman wanting to become firefighters. Yes, Erza had the men beat in pretty much everything. She even did the men's physical exam when she became a firefighter, making sure that she was known as a woman to be reckoned with.

Lucy blushed at Natsu's words. It was true that she was the only woman on call, since Erza had the day off she was stuck with guys who thought she didn't have what it took to be a firefighter and made a point of telling her about it. She may have taken out her frustrations that day on Natsu, but finding out that he didn't hold a grudge for it made her feel a lot better, in fact he was grateful for it.

He made her sound like some ethereal being or something, she felt like he was placing her on some ridiculously high pedestal that she wasn't sure she could live up to.

"I think you're overestimating me. I'm just a regular girl like any other" she said softly.

Natsu shook his head in disagreement "There's nothing regular about you Lucy! You need to have more confidence in yourself! You are the most amazing weirdo I have ever met, you're smart and kind, not to mention beautiful. Sure you can be a little annoying at times-"

"Hey!"

"But that's what makes you who you are! It's what I love so much about you!" Natsu yelled suddenly.

Lucy blinked in shock, and so did Natsu.

'Oh holy hell, did I just say that out loud?!' he thought with a nervous sweat.

Lucy must have heard him wrong. She must have! There was no way that Natsu had just said he loved her, no way!

Lucy was staring at Natsu with wide eyes and an open mouth. What was she supposed to do now!? What should she say?! She knew he had an impulsive nature but this had caught her completely off-guard.

Natsu was freaking out. Why wasn't she saying anything, or running away, or doing something! She was just standing there staring at him like the idiot he was. At least react or something! Anything is better than this deafening silence!

"D-did you just say… th-that you… l-l-l-l-love me?" asked Lucy in a surprised tone.

No, scratch that, silence was better.

'What should I do now?! Should I deny it? Well I meant it, and denying it might make her think I say that to anyone! Ah crap!' he thought in a panic.

"Answer me Natsu" said Lucy in a serious tone.

Natsu looked at Lucy and saw that she was giving him a hard stare, one that held no room for arguments. Natsu took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart.

He meant what he said, might as well face it.

"Yeah… I do" he said with a red face as he looked at Lucy with serious eyes.

Lucy's face felt like it was a supernova. She sputtered, opening and closing her mouth unable to say anything. She felt like she was chocking.

His confession… it filled her with such indescribable happiness and panic she didn't know what to do. Should she say it back? Should she say thank you? She was at a loss.

For as happy as she was about his confession, she wasn't sure she felt the same way just yet.

She knew she liked him, a lot. He was such a sweet guy and he always found a way to make the butterflies in her stomach go wild. But, she couldn't call it love… not yet.

"Look I don't need to hear your answer right now" said Natsu suddenly.

Lucy looked up at him in shock "Huh?"

"I know I sprung that on ya out of nowhere. And to be honest I've pretty much felt like this about you since day one. But I know it's not the same for you" he said with a sad tone.

"Natsu, I… I really do like you. A lot, I have never liked a guy this much my whole life! It's just…" she argued with a defeated tone.

"It's not love, right?" he said with a small smile.

Lucy looked to the floor in defeat. She couldn't find it in her heart to finish her sentence. Some writer she was, she couldn't even speak anymore.

"Well I guess that just means I have to turn it into love right?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

Lucy lifted her head in surprise "What?" she asked in confusion.

"But I gotta warn ya, once you fall for me you'll never be able to love another man ever again! I am ridiculously lovable!" he yelled with determination while he pointed to Lucy accusingly.

Lucy couldn't help the giggle that left her throat at his declaration, and it eventually turned into full-blown laughter. She was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach.

She took a deep breath to try and calm herself and smiled widely at his satisfied face.

'I have a feeling it won't take much time for him to convince me I'm in love' she thought with a smile.

"Are you sure you can handle me Dragneel? You said so yourself, I can be pretty annoying" she said with a teasing smirk.

Natsu smirked back at her a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Oh don't you worry Heartfilia, when I want something I do whatever it takes to get it"

Bet none of you saw that coming, mwahahaha! Leave a review please XD