Of Blonde Haired Cuties and Dimwitted Dragon Slayers

Summary: Natsu is embarrassed. Lucy is shy. Gray is perturbed. Happy is STILL amused

Rating: T

Genre: Humor, Drama, Romance

Pairing: Natsu/Lucy

Status: Completed Twoshot. Sequel to OEBCAUPHI

Time: Approximately six hours

Disclaimer: '. ;.;

Author Note: I hope you guys like this as much as the first.

Plopping down at his normal seat, the fire dragon slayer ran a hand through his hair, grunting as his finger tips snagged in the tangles of pink. Nervous eyes glanced over at Lucy, who sat with her back to him, talking to the girls by the bar. She wore a pretty little sundress that matched the blonde color of her hair. He always liked how solid colors looked on her. They brought out the intense brown of her eyes.

"What's gotten into you, flame fart?" Perking at the insult, Natsu found himself grinning. In the years of knowing Gray, he'd never called him something like that. Pffft, fart.

"What are you talking about iceface? I'm fine." He retorted.

Gray pulled up a chair from a nearby table and turned it around, sitting on it backwards. He crossed his arms over the back, leaning his head against them. "Fine?" He scoffed, "If you were fine you would have already fought me three times by now, and that's with Erza around! If you were fine you would have already ordered food. If you were fine you would be forcing Lucy to go on a mission with you. Instead, you're ogling her from a distance, and flamebrain, that is something that you don't do." He nodded to himself.

Natsu rolled his eyes, shoving away from the table to stand. He turned around, intent on leaving the guild to do a bit of thinking. "I don't know what you're talking about." He decided to avoid eye contact. He would never, ever admit it, but the stupid ice mage had a point. But, he would die before admitting to Gray of all people that he and Lucy had a moment together. Besides, if he looked at him, icebags would get a look at the healthy blush that reddened his cheeks. He couldn't let that happen.

"Dude, are you blushing?" A slapping noise resounded, and Natsu guessed Gray slapped his knee. "This is great! I thought I was seeing things all day yesterday. Man, spill. What did you do?" An icy hand gripped his wrist, tugging him towards the sitting mage. Natsu cursed under his breath,

"I'm not telling you a damn thing! This is my business, not yours, so butt out ice breath!" The look of utter glee on Gray's face reminded him of the girls when they gossiped. "Man, you're such a girl. Why don't you grow a pair?"

If that didn't throw ice man off his case, he wouldn't know what would.

"So you admit something happened!"

Well shit.

"I did not!"

"Oh man, you so did. I can't wait to tell—"

Punching Gray in the arm, Natsu poked his bare chest with his finger. "You won't tell anyone anything, because there is not a thing to tell. Got it?" He threatened. If word got around about his…experience with Lucy then he would be as good as dead. Not only would the girls smoother him with embarrassing questions, but the guys would tease him, and last but not least, Lucy would do…something. Chances are, whatever her reaction would be, it would be violent.

All in all, the situation would be bad.

Gray stood, bare arms crossing. Natsu looked down, sighing in relief, at least the freak had pants on. "I'm gonna go tell Mira. Right. Now."

Natsu promptly tackled Gray to the ground, tipping a couple chairs over in the process. The two mages now lay under a table. "Did you hear a single word I said? Or do you have icicles shoved in your ears?" Natsu hissed, pinning his rival to the ground after a short struggle, "You aren't saying anything. I don't care if I have to rip your tongue out."

Gray had the audacity to snort at him. "Oh Mir—"

Shoving his hand over the stupid, stupid ice mages mouth, Natsu glared. "Shut the hell up!"

Gray returned the heated glare, flipping Natsu off of him. The ice mage sat up, rubbing his lips with the back of his hand. "Ugh, that was nasty. Never put your hands on my mouth again. I don't need your nasty ass fire germs on me any more than they already are." He puckered his lips in obvious disgust.

Natsu sat up as well, pushing the toppled chair from between his legs. If he were a normal person, the position Gray just tossed him into should have hurt him. Lucky for him, he wasn't normal.

Gray stood, turning to walk towards the girl's again. If he thought he was going to get away from him that easily, then Gray had another thing coming to him. Stupid icicle stupid face.

Staggering into a crouch, Natsu then launched himself at his foe. There would be no hasty escape this time around. He slammed Gray's face into the wooden floorboard. Now, in his closer proximity to the girls, he heard Lucy mutter, 'What do you think their fighting over this time?'.

If she only knew.

Standing, Natsu dragged the stupid icicle stupid face back to their table by his foot. Then, with a mighty heave, flung Gray on top of the table. Stupid face's eyes widen, and he quickly sat up.

"What the hell, you son of a bitch. I was just going to the bathroom!"

That might have explained why he made doing that so easy.

"How was I supposed to know that? " Natsu exclaimed in a hushed tone, moving into an offensive stance. He didn't plan on letting stupid icicle stupid face in that general direction until he promised he wouldn't tip Mirajane. If there was one thing that Natsu respected about Gray, it was his ability to keep promises.

"If you just told me already we wouldn't have to go through this at all." He crossed his arms over his chest again, then frowned and looked down. "Where the hell did I put my shirt?"

Natsu chuckled. Took him long enough to notice. "Give me one good reason why I should tell you, it's not like you would have anything helpful to say." He challenged, stance relaxing just a little bit.

Somehow, stupid icicle stupid face found his shirt, and with his head burrowed in it he replied. "That's were you are wrong-again-I for one have way more experience with girls than you. I could help you figure things out…without you ending up dead." Gray's head popped out of his shirt, and he put his arms through it. Annoying, droopy eyes slid over to Lucy, and he waggled his eyes to prove his point.

Lucy was awfully violent….

He shook his head. "What do you mean you have more experience with girls, beside Erza, I've never seen you hanging around anyone else. And she makes you do her laundry, so don't even try to say you guys are together. I'm a lot of thing, but I'm not that stupid."

He shivered. "I wasn't going to say Erza, t-that's suicide. I was going to say that I have a stalker, and you don't."

Natsu fell out of his stance, one pink eyebrow shooting up beneath his bangs. "Juvia doesn't count." He heard a gasp from a nearby pillar, and grinned. He would never understand that girl.

Gray's mouth stretched into a wolfish grin. "I wasn't talking about her."

A thump was heard, and a blue haired water mage fell onto the ground from her hiding place, landing face first. Gray turned to look at her, amusement shining in his stupid eyes.

"Then who?" Natsu would be damned if he wasn't interested. Who the hell would willing follow such a…stupid icicle stupid face around? Well, besides Juvia, but she's a freak.

"I'll tell you if you tell me what you did to Lucy."

"I didn't do anything to Lucy!" Technically speaking, Natsu wasn't lying. She did start it.

Gray retook his seat, this time sitting in it the correct way. Leaning forwards he balanced on arm on his knee, which was spread a good length away from the other. "Alright, if you didn't do anything to Lucy, then why are you avoiding her…" He trailed off, and Natsu swore he saw something working in that little brain of his, "…oh god, she did something to you, didn't she?"

He hated it when Gray thought about things, because in typical cases he could figure said things out. Damn him and his logic, it could go to hell. "I thought you had to go to the bathroom." He changed the subject. He wasn't going to try lying to the stupid icicle stupid face, because as far as people go with knowing him, this freak knew him just about as well as Happy did.

"You didn't deny it! Did she finally make a move then? She must have, that would explain the sexual tension between you two." Gray grinned, and Natsu figured he must be blanching by now. The man was more of a woman that Erza, and Erza had pretty big boobs.

"…You didn't do anything stupid did you? Like shove her away? Right?"

Natsu hesitated, if he admitted that he didn't push her away, then that's the same as admitting they had a moment together, and he wanted to avoid that at all costs. He wanted the thing he had with Lucy to their little secret until things cleared up with her.

"Uh, I didn't exactly push her away…" Came his lame answer.

Gray rolled his eyes. "So what exactly did you do?"

His eyes shifted to Lucy for a split second and then returned to Gray when her brown eyes met his over her shoulder. The girls were more than likely talking about a similar subject. He felt heat rise up to his cheeks. "That's for me to know, and for you to never find out."

Gray didn't respond for a bit, and instead just stared at Natsu with such intensity that it made the dragon slayer uncomfortable. Deep down he knew that Gray was more…astute with these types of things, and Natsu would bet his next pay check that as Natsu stood awkwardly in front of the ice mage he was sorting things out.

And for once, Natsu hated being right. "Alright dude, cut the 'beating around the bush' bull shit. I know you have a thing for Lucy, and I have good sources that say Lucy has a thing for you. So do you want my help or not? It would be a shame to see you mess things up, which I'm sure you will, because lets face it; you're not very good with personal relationships of these types."

Natsu had a couple options here. He could tell Gray to shove off, which he had half a mind to actually do. Or, he could accept Gray's offer and talk it out with him. Seeing as he would rather talk to a fish about his relationship issues than Gray of all people, he looked to the first option.

He could just do things in his normal, 'action first, think later' manner and see where that brought him. Lord knows it's worked well enough for him up to now…but then again, this is Lucy. She was a girl, and girls were weird. They had girly emotions, and girly ways of thinking.

For once, he went against his normal intuition. "Alright…let's go somewhere else though. And you better spill about your other stalker!"

Gray merely smirked as he stood from his chair. "I thought you'd see it may way."

Stupid icicle stupid face.

XxXx

Both teens sat behind a tree a good distance away from the guild, but still remaining on Fairy Tail property. Natsu leaned against the rough bark, his fingers playing with the green blades of grass of the field. Gray sat a good couple feet away from where Natsu sat, his eyes closed as a breeze ruffled through his hair.

"Ok, so start from the beginning. I know that Lucy came to the guild freaking out about something that involved you, but nothing else." Gray broke the easy silence, and Natsu heaved an embarrassed sigh. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. Especially with his arch nemesis!

"I went fishing with Happy two days ago, you know, on our day of. Then he started teasing me with his stupid 'you liiiiiike her' thing, and after a while I kind of…admitted it…." Natsu buried his face in his hands, the moment was embarrassing enough, he didn't really want to relive it, "I didn't know that Lucy was standing right behind me when I said it."

One second of silence.

Two…

Three…

Gray busted into hysterical laughter. The stupid icicle stupid face buckled over onto his side, and began wheezing in merit. "Oh that's…that's fucking great!"

Leaning over, Natsu punch Gray in the shoulder, which only served to double the dark haired man's laughter. "I don't see how that's funny." He dead panned, glowering down at the now gasping ice mage. He hoped something like this would happen to him soon, so he could laugh in his face.

That would be awesome.

"Ahhhhhh, my god," He chuckled a bit more, earning another punch," ok, ok, ok, I'll stop. Chill," He snorted regardless of his words, "So what happened next? What did she do? What did you do?"

Natsu scooted back to his spot against the tree. He rubbed the side of his neck in thought, wondering how to phrase this without it sounding…gooey? Is that the right word? Probably not. But he couldn't find it in himself to truly care.

"Well, she kissed me. And I tried to kiss her back."

Gray hesitated only for a second. Glancing from the side of his eye, Natsu saw a large grin on the ice mage's face. Despite his resolve to not allow his flustered emotions seep into his voice and actions (as Gray would love that), he felt heat return to his cheeks. Damnnit.

"What do you mean tried?" He finally asked, the stupid grin on his stupid icicle stupid face leaked into his voice. It sounded like he was taunting him. He didn't like that.

"Exactly what it sounds like. I tried to kiss her back."

"So she pulled away before you could deepen it?" Now Gray sounded genuinely confused.

"No. As in it was my first kiss."

Gray snorted. "Dude, I can't help you if you won't tell me something with more detail. So stop wasting my time."

Natsu bristled. "This was your idea."

"Yeah, but you accepted."

Touché.

Natsu growled in attempt to hide how much this conversation was effecting him. He wanted to run from it because, man, if his comfort zone was a place that could be literally walked into, this conversation would be miles away from it.

"Fine. But I'm only explaining this once." He began, his voice low, "After I blurted my…feelings for her she came closer to me. I thought she was going to slap more or something equally violent. But then she just kissed me, and before I could really respond she pulled away from me. Happy?" Natsu muttered, giving up on keeping down his humiliation. His cheeks were bright red.

"Not quite. Did she seem disappointed after the kiss?" It creeped Natsu out that he was being so serious about this. No teasing, no insulting. Who is this man and what did he do with the Gray he knew so well?

"No, she smiled, and her eyes were all dazed. When Happy opened his big mouth to say 'She liiiiiiiiiikes you' she just laughed."

"Ah, and what happened next?" A shirt went flying over Natsu's head. The fire mage didn't say anything and just looked to the ice mage in amusement.

"I made up some lame excuse and got the hell out of there before she killed me, or I died of embarrassment."

Gray face palmed. "Man, you need to go talk to her," He looked to the sky, his hand coming up to cup his eyes to block the sun, "you've been avoiding her for two days now, she probably thinks you didn't mean it."

"But I did."

"You didn't tell her that, now did you?" Gray countered, eyes still focused on the sky.

"No, how do I bring it up?"

Gray shrugged. "I don't know, that's up to you. But it's about noon, so she's probably heading home to work on her novel and grab something to eat. If I were you, I would go now while she's alone."

Natsu nodded and stood up, dusting his clothes off. The warm day was accompanied by a strong wind, and now that he was standing with no tree to shelter him it blew at him relentlessly. "I'll catch you later." He turned to begin his mad dash to Lucy's apartment but paused, "Oh and Gray, Thanks." He called over his shoulder.

The dark haired mage waved him off. "Don't mention it, Romeo. Seriously, don't mention it. Ever."

Natsu had no problem with that. But in the not so distance future he would have an issue with something. And that something was the fact that Gray still hadn't told him who the second stalker was.

Secretly, Natsu suspected that the girl didn't exist.

XxXx

At Lucy's apartment, Natsu stood in the doorway, leaning up against the door jam. He looked on with slight amusement as Lucy hummed to the song playing on the radio. She flounced around the kitchen, frying pan in one hand, and a spatula in the other.

"I say don't you know, you say you don't know," She sang, her hips bouncing to the beat of the funky alternative music. Natsu would always be amazed by her taste in music. One day she would be listening to classical, the next country, and then a week later alternative like this.

Out of all her choices he liked this one best, not because he liked the type of music, he really wasn't a music type of guy, but because she was always in a good mood while listening to alternative. Peppy, energetic, and smiley.

She put the pan down on the steel part of the sink and reached for a plate, her body still swaying to the beat of the song. "I say, take me out!" She had to go on her tippy toes to reach the plate she was going for. This made the dress she wore ride up to her high thigh. The yellow material just barely covered the bottom of her butt cheeks, and despite himself, Natsu found himself wishing she had worn something just a tiny bit smaller.

Of course, he only thought these type of things when no one else was around, otherwise he would much rather have her wear baggy sweat pants and something less low cut. He actually deliberated switching all her clothes with his, so she'd be forced to wear something that would cover up her assets better for at least one day.

He quickly thought better of that because that meant he would have no extra clothes for himself, and he'd be damned if he wore woman's clothes. Plus, Lucy's violence would only intensify if her precious clothes were tampered with.

"I say you don't show," Many wouldn't expect this (he sure didn't), but Lucy had a pretty good singing voice. He guessed she took some sort of voice control lessons back when she was younger or something, because when she was alone, she could belt things out better than Mirajane, "Don't move time slow."

He smirked to himself, well, when she thought she was alone that is. Now, sitting at the kitchen table with an egg and cheese bagel in front of her, she leaned over and turned the radio down until it could be considered background noise. Subtly, her head bounced to the funky beat still, even as she took her first bite.

Natsu chose this time to make his presence known. He wasn't sure how to go about doing this, so he did what he did best…

"Hey LUCY!"

Scaring the shit out of her.

She turned around in her seat, almost sliding off it in her rush, cheeks full of food, and eyes wide in terror. He snickered. "You didn't make me one?" He whined, faking a pout.

She swallowed hard, leveling her surprised expression with a dark glare. "I haven't seen you around in two days, how was I supposed to know to make you one?"

Sheepishly, Natsu took a couple steps closer to her. "I, uh, saw you at the guild."

Her eyes narrowed further, clearly unimpressed. "That doesn't count and you know it. Besides, you didn't even come over to say hi to me there! You seemed to prefer to sit by yourself at a table."

He didn't know how to counter that one. Sure, he kept his distance, but that was only because he was trying to sort things out in his head. He needed a couple days to accept that she liked him back. Yes, he was that sure she would turn him down if he told her.

She seemed to take offence to his silence, and with a deep huff she turned back to her food. "Look Natsu, I'm sorry if me kissing you freaked you out or something. I thought-since you said you liked me-that kissing you would be a justified way of telling you I liked you back. I suppose you got carried away with Happy again or something. So just forget about it. I'll get over it eventually."

Her words frightened him, and before he realized he was moving he grabbed her by he shoulder. Annoyed brown eyes snapped to his. He noticed that her cheeks were a brilliant shade of pink, and felt a little relieved that what she said hadn't really been as nonchalant for her as it originally seemed.

"Lucy…" He breathed, his heart beating as quick as it had when she kissed him, "Luce, that's not what I want at all. You've got it all wrong." He pulled her up, forcing her to stand in front of him. The edges of her dress brushed up against his bare chest. The material was soft.

"Then what DO you want, Natsu? I'm tired of trying to figure it out on my own." Natsu's hands traveled down her arms, fingertips brushing the soft hairs there until they intertwined with her own fingers. He would be lying if he said he knew what he was doing. But hell, when did he ever?

"You."

"Huh?"

And suddenly, everything became clearer. Funny, that her confusion made everything ten times easier for him to understand. The stupid expression on her face reminded him of why he liked her, and therefore what he wanted.

He wanted to wake up next to her every morning. He wanted to share the rest of his life with her. Some day, he wanted to raise a family, and eventually grow old. He wouldn't tell her this now, but maybe sometime in the future. Right now, all he wanted to do was to show her these emotions.

If only he was better with actually speaking words.

But he'll try anyway, because he had a hunch that Lucy needed to hear something from him before he tried a trial two of the kissing thing.

"First off, I never told you to try to figure it out by yourself. So you can't yell at me for that," He smiled at her deadpan stare, "second of all, I'm sorry for the past two days. I was being all wussy and nervous. But now, I think I've figured everything out."

Lucy still looked skeptical, but at least she seemed more relaxed. Her tone was level. "Alright, I'll bit. What have you figured out Natsu?" She bated her eyes sweetly, and he knew she was teasing him.

"I want you."

And he slammed his lips into hers. Smashing them together in much the same way she did at the river. He slipped his nose to the side of hers, nuzzling his face as close to hers as physically possible. He'd forgotten to wet his lips in his rush to initiate the kiss, so moving them against her still ones was a bit awkward. So he pulled away, not far, but far enough away to here her whisper.

"Natsu."

"Hmm?"

She chuckled. "You're a horrible kisser."

She unlaced her fingers from his and reached for the hairs at the nape of the neck. "Let me teach you how to start one."

And for the next twenty minutes, she did just that.

XxXx

A couple hours later, Natsu lay in bed next to Lucy. Both of their chests heaved, and he watched as she straightened out her dress. His hands twitched as he recalled how soft her skin was. Earlier, he had observed how soft the dress was. Compared to her skin, the fabric felt like the bark of a tree. Rough and scratchy.

His lips were warm and a bit swollen from all the kissing. He never thought about those type of…sexual things. Or at least very often. So when she directed his mouth to her neck, he was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed kissing there too. He especially liked her heated reactions.

His heavy eyes glanced over at her. She looked out the very window that he climbed through just hours ago, her neck was lined with little red marks. He was proud of them because in a way they marked her as his. Scooting closer to her, he draped an arm over her flat stomach and looked out the window with her. The sun was lower in the sky since he arrived, and he estimated it to be about four o'clock.

Happy would come looking for him soon.

Really, now that everything turned out okay, he should apologize to his friend. He was pretty harsh on him for the past couple of days, and now that he thought about it, he didn't deserve it.

If he didn't tease him about Lucy by the river this wonderful thing wouldn't have happened. He would still be confused and in denial and frustrated. And Lucy would have to wait that much longer to teach him how to kiss.

But, one thing has been bothering him about that whole situation, even now.

"Hey Lucy?"

"Hmm?"

"How did you know where to find us at the river? I never told anyone where we were going. As far as I know I'm the only one that knows about that fishing spot."

"Happy told me to meet you guys there after the doctor appointment. He said you're the one that told him to invite him."

"No I didn't."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"That little shit, he planned it! I'm going to roast him when he comes back from the guild!"

XxXx

Not ten minutes later did Happy crawl through the window, a satisfied smile on his lips when he saw his two friends laying on the bed, side by side, in each others arms.

But that didn't last long. He dodged the pillow that was chucked at him by the fur of his tail. He expected to see Lucy hurling the fluffy projectiles at him, because out of the two Lucy happened to be the most prone to throw things at the cat, but he was surprised to see Natsu sitting up in bed, another pillow in hand.

Happy sometimes forgot that Natsu did in fact have a brain, and did use it on occasion. He forgot that he was actually pretty intelligent as long as he wasn't dealing with relationships.

Of course Natsu would put two and two together, figuring out Happy's plan. Of course he would be angry about it. But it wasn't something the dragon slayer wouldn't get over. After all, look what his plan produced!

Frowning, the blue cat looked over his shoulder as he darted out of the room. The dragon slayer didn't look like he was going to leave Lucy's side any time soon. So he would be safe in the living room and kitchen for a little while.

His eyes automatically drifted to the refrigerator. Maybe if he waited for Natsu and Lucy to… distract themselves he could clean the apartment of its food.

He giggled, from the sounds of it, the two lovebirds would do just that.

THE END!