The guild was being noisy as usual. How annoying.

Charle crossed her arms and wished she would have stayed at Fairy Hills. She was still angry at Wendy who had gone to the park. With Romeo, the little brat who tried to be like Natsu and would surely turn out as bad-mannered as the dragon slayer. Therefore Romeo wasn't a suitable acquaintance for Wendy.

"Charle, I have a present for you." Happy appeared infront of her, showing her a basked filled with fish. Charle raised her eyebrows, wondering where Happy got so much fish.

"I don't want it", she refused his offer and turned her head away from him. She saw Laxus being admired by the Raijinshuu, especially by Freed whose eyes were sparkling. Nearby, Natsu listened intently to something Macao said, and at the other side of the room Levy and Lucy flipped through some book pages. Lucy …

Charle's vision blurred, weird pictures appeared inside her head. Her eyes went wide and she held her head in shock. Something bad was about to happen, she had to warn-

"Happy, you can't steal all the fish", Mira complained, leaning down to the two exceeds.

"But you promised me as much fish as I want. You're being mean, Mira", Happy whined. Charle listend to them halfheartedly.

"If your mission had been a success."

"But it was! I made them kiss. I deserve every fish you've got!"

"My, my … Our two lovebirds are barely talking to each other. You failed, Happy. You shouldn't interfere with other people's love lives, it's really rude", the barmaid said, her hands on her hips.

Charle rolled her eyes and commented: "You're one to talk, Mirajane ..."

Suddenly the guild's door sprang open and Gajeel stepped in, looking ridiculous in his white suit.

"I wrote a new song!", he shouted enthusiastically, but before he had a chance to sing a single tone, he was hit hard by a plate Gray had thrown. Unfortunately, it had been the plate of Erza's strawberry cake.

"My cake!" The red-haired woman went furious and gave Gray a punch that sent him flying across the room until he crashed into Luxus.

"Laxus, are you all right?", Freed asked with deep concern in his voice. Then a thunderbolt strucked him instead of Gray who managed to escape Laxus' attack.

Soon enough, most of Fairy Tail's mages joined the fight, throwing around various things like chairs, bottles and fish. Somehow Charle managed to get to Lucy without being hit by anything. She had to warn the Stellar mage. From the Eclipse plan incident she had learned that it was better not to keep her visions a secret.

But what exactly did she see? Probably a theft, for Lucy was pushed against a wall.

"Hey, Charle", Lucy greeted her, ignoring the brawling guild. She even smiled.

"Lucy, be careful when you go home today. I saw something, although I'm not sure what exactly. Just watch out for muggers and suspicious people."

"What?"

"Sorry, Lucy", Happy, who had followed Charle, said. "I can't help you defeating the muggers, I have to protect Charle. Today's a dangerous day for cats."

"Ridiculous", Charle muttered.

The downing sun had already started to color the evening sky red when Lucy decided to finally go home. But before she could reach the guild's door, she was held back by a strong hand grabbing her wrist.

"I come with you", Natsu grinned. "Let's kick some muggers' asses."

"How do you know about-", she started, but hr waved her off and explained: "Good hearing, remember? I heard everything Charle said to you. I can't believe you wanted to go home alone."

"You know, I can take care of myself perfectly well", she snapped, freed wrist from his hold and marched outside. He followed her immediately.

She sighed and made an annoyed face, although she secretly was glad about his company. "Why do you follow me? Loki or Taurus can protect me as well."

"Yes", he answered. She was startled by his suddenly serious tone. "But I told you before that I would always protect those who are important to me."

"Natsu ..." She looked at him and felt a little bit touched by his words. "Fine. You can come with me."

They walked in silence alongside the river. The water shimmered underneath the sundown, the air was still warm.

Without being attacked by anybody, they reached the front door of Lucy's home. Natsu stopped right in front of her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Didn't you want to to kiss me yesterday?", he asked all all of the sudden, looking directly into her eyes. She began to feel uncomfortable under his stare.

"You know that Happy controlled me with his stupid doll. So don't say I kissed you, okay?"

"Does that mean you don't like me?" Lucy was hit by the honesty and sadness in his voice, but all she could do was to speechlessly look into his onyx eyes as he continued: "Erza told me that kissing means you like someone, and I like you a lot. Honestly, I also liked that kissing thing. It might be even better now because you aren't controlled by the cursed doll, don't you think so?" He grinned slightly but kept his eyes which were still fixed on hers open.

Lucy didn't know what to think. Was that just a confession? Her heart was beating so hard, but somehow she doubted Natsu really knew what kind of liking a kiss normally required.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" She tried her best to keep calm but backed away from him at the same time. When he followed and she backed away a few more steps, she felt her back touching a solid wall behind her.

"Of course, I'm not stupid!", he said and pushed his hands against the wall next to her head.

"Don't come … any closer", she managed to complain. Her heart was racing, her breath being taken away. She could feel his body heat, and her fingers itched for grabbing his scarf to pull him closer to her.

Shyly she looked into his eyes which were darker than usual. "Back off."

"I don't want to", he answered with a rough voice. Instead of moving back to give her the space she needed to breath, he snuggled closer.

He really means it, Lucy thought and the realization hit her. He actually might have fallen for her, like she had fallen for him long ago, though she would never admitted it before.

Natsu lowered his head, and Lucy closed her eyes, now anticipating the kiss. His warm breath tickled over her skin, her mouth.

When she heard him cursing, she opened her eyes in confusion and saw him stamping around, flames shooting from his mouth while he screamed: "What is that shit? I'm feeling way too hot. Damn it!"

Lucy giggled at this sight. He was still Natsu, what did she expect? He would never turn into a Prince Charming, and she didn't want him to.

She wasn't expecting what happened next. Natsu stopped his cursing and rushed back to her, crushing his lips over hers. Their bodies were pressed together and he slowly, experimentally opened her mouth with his.

She tucked her hands at his scarf and leaned into the kiss. When they finally separated, both of them were breathing hard.

"I knew it would be better", Natsu cheered. "So, will you be my girlfriend from now on, Lucy?"

"Sure." She gave him a warm smile which he returned.

"Great. Now that it's settled, can we go inside?"

"Why …?", Lucy asked, suspicious of his intentions.

"Because there's always food in your fridge, and I'm starving. Go make me a sandwich."

"What?" She slapped him on the back of his head.

"Ooww, why did you slap me?"

"You can't order me around like this."

"But Macao said ..."

"Don't listen to him", she said, took his hand into hers and went inside her apartment.

Neither of them noticed the figure that staggered across the road, obviously drunk.

"You won't believe what I just saw!", Cana shouted when she entered the guild. "You will so not believe this!"