Nobody's POV
It was a rather warm July day and everybody in Magnolia was in high spirits, including the Fairy Tail guild.

"Oi oi oi," Natsu yelled his onyx eyes glaring at the ice-make mage in front of him. "Just because hot dogs have two buns, doesn't mean that they're a sandwich!"

"Huh?" Gray questioned as his eyebrows drew together in a scrutinizing way. "Did your idiotic fire burn away your brain or something? It's because it has two buns, it should be considered a sandwich. Sandwiches have two slices to them, not one. Dumbass."

"Who the hell are you callin' a dumbass, you damn ice prick!"

"Obviously you," Gray shrugged rolling his eyes. "I mean you are the only one in the guild who has fire magic, besides Romeo and Mavis knows that kid is always gonna be smarter than you."

"Oi, pickin' a fight with me or somethin'?!" Natsu shouted, cracking his knuckles.

"Ah, sure am. Is there a problem with that, you damn Firecracker?" The raven haired mage scoffed, a cold blue mist beginning to seep from his fists as he readied for the upcoming fight.

Natsu grinned and lit his fists on fire. "Fine by me. Bring it on Ice Pop, I'll beat your ass to the North Pole and back."

"I'd like to see you try!" And with that Gray launched himself at the dragon-slayer, his right fist colliding with his left palm as launched an attack. "Ice-Make: Lance!" He yelled, thrusting his arms forward as an lance made out ice appear and launched itself at Natsu.

Jumping to the side, Natsu quickly dodged the attack, causing the table behind him to get hit instead, effectively destroying it, much to Makarov's dismay.

"Oi! If you're gonna fight, do it outside. I'm tried of paying for and drowning in repairs costs! You damn brats!"

"It's no use, Master." Mira chuckled from behind the bar, wiping down a glass cup. "You know Natsu and Gray, the two of them can't help but fight and it's virtually impossible to stop them once they start unless you use violence."

"That's true but why can't they fight outside of the guild. Do you know how much of our money is spent on repairs?"

Mira giggled. "It's better that they destroy the guild, than towns and cities, is it not?"

Makarov only grumbled in response, but knew the take-over mage was correct.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted as red and yellow flamed spewed out of his mouth and shot at Gray, who dodged thanks to Juvia who tackled him to the ground, and wrapped her arms and legs around him tightly. Also, thanks to Juvia, Natsu's attack kept going and ended up hitting and setting fire to, the table that Lucy and Levy were currently sitting at.

Not noticing this, Natsu cliched his stomach, pointed to the Ice-Make mage on the floor, currently wrapped up in Juvia's embrace, and burst out laughing. "Seems like I didn't need to take you out, Popsicle, you're girlfriend was going to do it for me!" Natsu let out another loud roar of laughter as he stared down at a struggling Gray.

"Oi, Juvia get off me!" He shouted, attempting to pry the water mage off of him but to avail.

"Juvia is sorry, Gray-sama. But Juvia couldn't hold herself back anymore." Juvia cried, turning into a sphere of water and enveloping him. This only caused Natsu to laugh even harder, as he watched his rival struggle more frantically. Suddenly, a familiar scream caught his attention.

"Natsu, help us, our tables on fire!" Lucy cried, her brown eyes widened in fear, as she tightly held on to Levy.

Seeing that he love of his life was potentially in danger, Natsu rushed over and quickly sucked up all the flames, successfully putting it out, much to the relief of the two females.

"You alright, Luce?" Natsu asked leaning down to inspect the blonde for any injures.

Slipping out of Levy's embrace, Lucy placed a hand on her chest and took a deep relieved breath. "I'm fine, thanks Natsu." She gave him a warm smile.

"Anyway Luce," Natsu started, helping the Celestial mage to her feet, "How did you end up setting you're table on fire? Don't you know that it's dangerous?"

"Huh? Are you seriously asking that?"

Natsu blinked. "Yeah. Should I not?"

Lucy started at pink-haired mage in disbelief.

He couldn't be that stupid, could he?  She wondered, narrowing her eyes.

No, he definitely could. This was Natsu she was talking about. Nothing was impossible when he was involved.

Sighing, Lucy placed a hand over her eyes and shook her head in defeat.

"Natsu... I don't have fire magic, so unless I have matches, which I don't, it's almost impossible for me to start a fire."

"So did Levy light it?" He asked cocking his head to the side.

"No! You caused the fire, idiot!"

"Huh? That's not possible, I was fighting Gray. There is no way that I could've done that."

"Like I said.....ITS BECAUSE THE FIGHT WITH GRAY, THAT THE FIRE HAPPENED, YOU IDIOT!" Lucy yelled, raising her leg and giving Natsu a swift yet painful kick in the abdomen, causing him to fly into a table, breaking it.

"Way to go, Lucy!" Gray called, finally escaping Juvia's water hold.

"Not you too!" Makarov cried slamming his face on the bar in despair. "You were supposed to be one of my good children."

Mira giggled. "Looks like Natsu, Gray, and Erza are rubbing off on her."

The short old man sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Oi, Lucy why'd you do that?" Natsu groaned getting up and walking over to blonde mage, who stood at the center of the guild with her arms crossed over her chest.

To anybody else Lucy looked irritated beyond belief and unapproachable but to Natsu, she looked like a damn goddess. From her long honey blonde hair that flowed down her back like a waterfall and ended at her waist, and her beautiful hazel eyes that seemed to penetrate his very soul. To her flawless vanilla skin that was as soft and smooth as a baby's and her melodic voice that was so sweet that it made Natsu want to listen to it every second of everyday. She truly was a goddess to him, in every shape and form.

"Don't worry about it." She huffed looking away.

"But you hit me!"

"And I'll do it again in a second, if you don't stop bothering me."

"But-"

"But what?" Lucy cut him off.  "You burned down my table, then had the nerve to blame it on me. I think I have the right to be a little bit angry."

"But..." Natsu was quiet for a moment but before he could think about what to say next, three special words tumbled from his mouth. "I love you."

Upon hearing this Lucy as well as the whole froze. All tension and anger drained from the Celestial mage as those words bounced around in her head.

"Way to go, Natsu!" Cana cried from a corner of the guild, raising her jug up in celebration then taking a long drink from it.

"Like a man!" Elfman yelled.

"Best treat her right, Natsu!" Gray exclaimed, blue mist coming from out his fists and his face deadly serious. "Or I'll bring into a world of pain."

By now the poor Celestial Mage's face was as red as a cherry and was probably was the most embarrassed she had even been in her life. Feeling all the guild members stares on her, she quickly stuffed her face in her hands and hoped that by some miracle she would disappear. But during this, confusion swept over her like a wave and a boulder of doubt and feelings lodged its way into her heart.

For months Lucy had been battling her growing feelings for the dense pink haired dragon-slayer with the excuse that he didn't see her as anything other than a partner and best friend, but now... Now that he had gone and apparently confessed his feelings to her, she didn't know how she felt. Sure, she was glad and even happy that he said he loved her, but did he love her as a fellow guild member and best friend or as a lover and potential girlfriend? And if it was the second option was it all a hoax, was he just playing around with her? But Natsu wasn't that type of person....was he? Lucy groaned and shook her head, she didn't want to think about this, it made her head hurt.

Natsu on the other hand was absolutely petrified as to what he said. Yes, he had loved the bubbly blondie for many years now, but he hadn't planned on confessing for at least a month as to prepare for a possible rejection, but now... he had done and gone confessed. He mentally groaned. He didn't want to look at Lucy and see the utter disgust and horror on her face at his sudden confession. So instead of facing up to his actions, like a proper adult, he ran away.

"Sorry." He mumbled quietly, giving a quick bow and before Lucy could say anything, he bolted out of the guild, the heavy wooden doom slamming shut behind him.

It was silent for a moment, before the door creaked open and Natsu popped his head back in, an irritated look on his face as he glared at Gray.

"You don't have to tell me that, you damn Icehole. I'll take better care of her than anyone." And with that the fire dragon-slayer slipped back out of the door, once again leaving the guild in silence.

Juvia turned to Gray, a perplexed look on her face.

"Gray-sama?" She asked, catching his attention as well as the rest of the guilds, excluding Lucy as she was still too embarrassed and confused as to move. "What's a Icehole?"

The ice-make mage turned to the small girl and shrugged. "One of his idiotic nicknames?" He guessed.

"Um...if I may," Levy piped up, a few feet away from the two, trying to comfort the Celestial mage, "I think that he replaced the 'ass' in 'asshole' with 'ice' and changed it to 'icehole'."

"That's-" Gray started.

"Stupid and childish." Erza finished, shutting her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. "Yes, unfortunately that is who he is. But it's thanks to that, that we can laugh and fight as we do. He really is one of a kind. You're a lucky girl, Lucy."

Although still mortally embarrassed, Lucy could help but agree.

~🌸~

It had been a week since the day Natsu had confessed to Lucy at the guild and since then, the dragon-slayer had evidently been avoiding the blondie, much to her dismay.

The day she was confessed to, Lucy had made up her mind, with the help of Levy, to confess her feelings back to the pink haired idiot. Unfortunately she could almost never find him and if she could, he would always run away before she could say anything. And that, to no end, immensely irked the blonde beauty, so she came up with a plan. A stupidly dangerous plan, one that Natsu himself even with all his recklessness and bravery wouldn't do and certainly wouldn't approve of, but a plan nonetheless.

It consisted of Lucy being in danger and Natsu having to save her, forcing him to come face to face with her and allowing her to confess to him. For this plan, Lucy enlisted the help of Levy, Gajeel, Gray, Juvia, Erza, and Mira, none which were happy to hear about putting one of their friends at risk but after a little. With everything set in place, the seven of them put their plan into action the next day.

It was around three in the afternoon and high in the sky when Natsu hesitantly ambled into the guild looking to pick a fight with Gray, but to his surprise the raven haired mage was no where to be found. Blinking, he walked over to bar and took a seat.

"Ah Natsu, what do I owe the pleasure?" Mira asked placing down a dish she was wiping off.

"Could you get me some fire chicken, please?" He asked, his onyx eyes scanning the guild for any of his teammates and rivals.

"Coming right up." She replied walking away to prepare his order.

Placing his elbow on the bar and his chin in his hand, Natsu lazily watched Mira make his chicken, his mind wandering.

Wonder how Luce is doing? It's been a week since I've last talked to her, I wonder if she's mad at me. Hell, I wonder if she'll ever talk to me again after the shit that I've pulled. Confessing then blatantly avoiding her, I'm such a jerk.

Natsu groaned.

"Here you go, Natsu." Mira said cheerfully placing a plate of chicken lathered in hot sauce in front of him. "Something wrong?" She asked titling her head.

Snapping out of his thought, the poor dragon-slayer looked up at the take-over mage.
"Hmm, Ah no." He offered a small smile. "Thanks for the food Mira." And with that Natsu proceeded to scarf down his food.

When he was done and was about to get up, Mira came over with a strange look on her face.

"Have you seen Lucy today?" She questioned, worry laced in her silky voice.

Natsu shook his head. "She hasn't been to the guild today?" He asked.

Mira shook her head and absentmindedly rubbed her left arm, something she only does when she's worried.

"She took a really simple mission yesterday, one that would only take a few hours to complete but since then I haven't seen or heard from her."

"Couldn't she just be at her apartment?" He reasoned. "She could just be super tired."

Mira shook her head again and looked down. "I sent Lily there and he said that she wasn't there."

"Couldn't she just be out?"

Mira was getting slightly irritated at this point and wished she could just beat Natsu into meeting Lucy but she didn't want to betray the blondie's trust so she swallowed her anger and kept acting.

"No, I had Lily search all over and he couldn't find her. I even called her lacrima and you know she always answers that unless she's in trouble and she didn't answer it!"

Seeing how panicked Mira looked, Natsu finally believed her.

"Alright, where is she?"

~🌸~

Running full throttle to where Lucy was, tired Natsu out more than he was ready to admit but when he saw a terrified Lucy and a ice and water monster looming over her, all his exhaustion seemed to vanish, all that mattered was keeping his Lucy safe. So without thinking nor stopping Natsu launched himself at the monster, his fist ablaze and the desire to protect in his heart.

It didn't take long for Natsu to defeat the monster but only when he did, did he notice that the blonde beauty no longer seemed conscious. Approaching her cautiously, Natsu hoped that she didn't wake up and he wouldn't have to face her and his actions. Unfortunately for him, once he had bent down and placed his hand against her cheek, her large brown eyes open and bore into his ebony ones.

"Natsu..." She whispered, reaching up to touch his face only to have him pull back and take a few steps back. "Wait." She called sitting up. "Don't go, talk to me."

Natsu took a step back and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, please!" She pleaded, her voice straining. "I need to talk to you."

Natsu took another step back. "I can't."

"Please..."

Natsu his head and turned his back to her, ready to walk away.

Lucy sighed and got to her feet.  "I didn't want to do this, if I didn't have to, but it seems you leave me no choice."

"Do what?" Natsu questioned turning around.

"Use force." Lucy stated, her hazel eyes narrowed determinedly. "Levy-chan, Gajeel. Now!"

"Solid Script: Torches!"

"Iron Dragons's Cage!"

Before Natsu could comprehend what was happening four torches appeared around him and Lucy, not two seconds later a giant metal dome with no openings fell on top of the two, successfully trapping them in it.

"What did you do?" Natsu questioned, looking at the blondie, a look of betrayal on his handsome features.

"What did I do?" Lucy asked almost laughing. "I made an opportunity to talk, since you seemed hell bent on running away. Which is stupid, after the stunt that you pulled!"

"I know I'm being a jerk and a coward by running away but-"

"You know nothing!" She shouted, her voice livid.

Originally Lucy planned to sit down and talk to him after trapping him in the dome, like a normal person, but her emotions were stronger than she anticipated and they ended up over running her reason.

"How would you feel if I confessed in the middle of the guild or any of place, then proceeded to apologize and run away, avoiding you for the next week straight?"

"Well...I wouldn't like it." Natsu mumbled quietly looking at the ground.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed throwing her arms out and stalking up to the pink haired dragon-slayer. "And when exactly where you planning to stop avoiding me?" She questioned jabbing a slender finger into Natsu's well toned chest.

"Um...until we were able to talk things out?"

"You sound very unsure about that. And when exactly would we have talked things out?"

"Um....in a couple of months?" Natsu shrugged.

Lucy's eyebrow twitched. "You were gonna ignore me that long...are you that disgusted by your words to me?"

Natsu looked down. "Not disgusted....just afraid."

"Afraid?"

"Mmm. I was afraid that you would reject me and never speak to me again. So I'm preparation of that.."

"You avoided me." Lucy breathed.

Natsu nodded, his face still towards the floor. "I'm sorry."

Lucy was quiet for a moment as she silently watched the dragon-slayer, then she sighed as a slight smile came to her face.

"Natsu you're an idiot." She stated with a soft laugh. "Look at me."

Natsu titled his head up but refused to meet her steady gaze.

"Look at me." Her voice was strong and in his surprise Natsu accidentally met her gaze but when he did he was unable to look away, it was as if her eyes were an endless sea of hazel. "Now listen."

Natsu swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in the process.

"When I first met you and technically still to this day I think you're an idiot but I learned very quickly that you're an idiot that protects and inspires, only one of the reasons I fell for you."

Natsu's heart caught in his throat. She fell for me?

"You fell for me?" He breathed.

"Mhmm. I fell long and boy I fell hard. If I'm being honest, I probably feel for you on our first mission, although I didn't accept my feelings for some time."

"Really?" Natsu asked astonished, I mean he never actually expected a girl as perfect as Lucy to fall for someone as chaotic as him.

"Really." She stated matter of factly.

"Really really?" He asked again, this time some happiness evident in his voice.

"Really really."

"Really really really?"

Lucy softly chuckled. "Really really really." Lifting her right hand up, she gently placed it on Natsu's cheek.  "I love you, Natsu." And with that she gently pressed a kiss to his lips.

Kissing Lucy was the best experience Natsu had in his entire life. From the soft and warm texture that came from her lips to the honey and strawberry flavor they provided. It was like a whole another world, one that he thoroughly enjoyed. He was a little sad when Lucy pulled away and took a step back.

"Oi, I told you my feelings, isn't only fair that you told me yours." She asked a slight smirk on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes.

Natsu chuckled and grabbed her waist, pulling her to his chest. "I suppose you're right but only if I can't get another kiss as a reward."

Lucy's eyes softened. "I can arrange that. But first, I need to hear it."

"Lucy, my beautiful celestial mage," Natsu started as she hummed in response, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing him even closer so his lips were hover just above hers. "I love you."

And this time as the idiotic dragon-slayer confessed, he didn't apologize and he didn't run away and in turn got what he always wanted, the love of Lucy Heartfilia, his blonde goddess.

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It's been three year, sorry about that. But I am happy to say I am back and I plan to update this book once or twice a week. I really hope that you like this one shot, which I started three years ago and apparently never finished or posted. Any hoo, let me know if y'all liked them and if you have requests. Thanks for reading.