All cred goes to one of my best friends who gave me this idea a while back when I first told her I had started writing a fanfic (not this one though). Even though she was against the idea and never would write one herself – she said she prefer to keep them in her head – I wrote this for her ;)
Love you, darling (even though you probably never will see this :P), but I´m sorry it probably isn´t as you thought it would be – it´s my own version of it, I guess? :P

The picture is from when Lucy slaps Natsu and then run away. I couldn´t get all in, so I just decided to take Natsu´s expression because it´s hilarious XD

Disclaimer: I don´t own Fairy Tail.

Lucy hadn´t really thought she had those kind of feelings for him. She didn´t realize it until a while later, really – that she had a small crush on him. Okay, maybe not small, but it wasn´t like she was in love with him.

She probably was though, but she wouldn´t admit it.

It was all Mirajane´s (and partly Natsu´s) fault! If Mirajane hadn´t said that she thought Natsu was into her, she never would have got those crazy ideas. And the fact that Natsu started acting suspicious, blushing around her and telling her to meet him alone, had only made it worse.

She shouldn´t have drawn conclusions. After all, Natsu was only after a photo-album with embarrassing pictures of the guild members and wanted Virgo´s help to dig it up since the soil was so hard.

Lucy had wondered for a week why she had acted so strange when he told her about wanting Virgo´s help. At first, she had tried to come up with a nice way to reject him (before she was going to meet him), and then she slapped him and ran away when she found out how the real situation was. She had gone over the day over and over in her head, and eventually she had realized it. She felt kind of bad for slapping Natsu afterwards as well, after all she was the one who had misunderstood it all – and Natsu hadn´t even once asked why she slapped him. Maybe he just assumed he had done something wrong, after all he did quite many stupid things… like all the time.

Lucy sighed as she locked the apartment door behind her. She was still thinking about that day. Which was stupid and irrational since she should just forget about it all ready - and forget about her feelings for Natsu as he would never feel the same towards her. As Lucy could see it there were two reasons for this, 1, he sees her as his best friend, and 2, he´s immature and dense, and he probably barely knew what love was. There was no chance for them to ever be together.

That´s it, Lucy thought determined. I´m going to stop wasting my time thinking about that dense idiot and forget all of those feelings I have for him. We´re best friends and partners, and I like it the way it is!

…. Even though it would be nice if he liked me too… SHUT UP LUCY!

Lucy shook her head. She was in need of a diversion, something that would take her thoughts away from her crush. Something to think of instead of him… someone else… she needed a date. But where could she find one? She could ask Cana, the woman had been on way more dates than Lucy. After all, Lucy had only almost gone on one. And what was the reason she hadn´t showed up? Natsu.

She had an idea who to ask. But she hesitated to ask Cana, as Cana seemed to have a slightly different taste in guys than Lucy self. And her friend was a total drunkard who liked to tease her, so maybe she would just trick her. And she would definitely ask why she wanted to have a date…

Lucy approached the guild doors. And she realized one thing – Cana was her only option at the moment.

"You want to find a date, ey?" Cana said and raised a cup with beer to her mouth. She then laughed a bit manically. "You have come to the right person! What kind of guy are you looking for? A thug? Nah, that´s too much for you. A bad-boy maybe? Or are you more after cute, nice guys? But then again, they might be too soft for you… maybe you should have a combination? Or how about…"

"Cana!" Lucy interrupted and Cana looked at her.

"What?"

"How about you listen to me?" Lucy asked with a smile.

Cana sighed and rolled her eyes. "Alright. Even though it´s more boring this way…" Lucy pretended she didn´t hear the added mumbling part. "Okay, so what´s your ideal guy?"

"Ideal guy?" of course, a picture of Natsu popped up in her head, but she shoved it away. She had thought about it before, so she was sure of some things. "Assertive."

"Assertive?" Cana asked surprised. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Then why won´t you just date Natsu?" Cana teased her, laughing. Of course she had to choose Natsu and of course Lucy had to blush. Her blush did not go unnoticed. "NO WAY! You actually wanted to – mph!"

Lucy quickly covered her mouth. "Cana, please don´t! No, I don´t want to date him", she hissed – but a voice inside her was screaming at her liar – and she ignored it, continuing. "I want to forget him."

"Ah", Cana said as she took away Lucy´s hands without any problem. "I get it. Unanswered love, huh?" Lucy didn´t say anything. "Alright, I´ll set you up with a guy I know. Don´t look so worried – you´ll like him."

Lucy beamed, even if her heart felt a little heavy. "Thanks Cana!"

Cana just patted her head. "Don´t mention it. Just show up at that café by the river at five, alright?"

Lucy nodded. "I´ll be there!"

Lucy ran out of the leaving Cana behind by the table.

Lucy leaving was something the pink haired Dragon Slayer in the guild didn´t miss. He saw her leaving Cana behind, and thus he went to Cana to ask where he´s friend was heading. But Gray picking a fight was something he just couldn´t ignore, that was against his nature, and therefore the guild got caught up in one of those famous guild-brawls and Lucy just managed to miss it.

Lucky girl…

When Lucy got home, the first thing she did was checking the clock to see how much time she had before she was supposed to meet her date. Three hours, that should be enough, shouldn´t it?

.

.

.

.

"Oh, I´m late!"

Three hours wasn´t enough. To fix her hair and pick out her outfit had taken Lucy way longer than she had expected, and the fact that she had taken a long bath didn´t make anything better.

Now, when she was half-running down Strawberry Street, she was happy she had gone with her white flats rather than a pair of high-heels. That she had chosen shorts with a tank instead of a dress was something she appreciated now as well. It was much easier to run in them.

When she arrived at she went to sit at the outdoor café immediately. It was such a nice and warm day, it would have been a waste to sit inside.

"Excuse me, are you Lucy Heartfilia?" a young male voice asked her.

Lucy turned her head to see a dark-blond and green eyed young guy, about her age or maybe a little older. He seemed to be quite tall and his face was rather sharp, but his eyes were very kind.

"Yes, that´s me."

He smiled and held out his hand. "I´m Joel, your date for tonight."

Lucy smiled back and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Joel."

"Pleasure´s all mine", he said as he sat down in the chair opposite of hers.

"How did you know it was me?" Lucy asked curious.

"Cana told me that you were blond and brown-eyed. But if she had told me you were this beautiful, I would have found you much faster", he said with a charming smile.

Lucy blushed a little, but to hear the words come from Joel sounded wrong in a way. Even though she was here with Joel, she could still only think about Natsu.

That would have been to expect, it´s not like I would forget about Natsu right away.

But as the date went on, Lucy still only thought about Natsu. It almost was as if she was on the date with Natsu and not Joel.

"Oi, Cana!" Natsu called out.

"Hm?" Cana barely even looked up at the approaching young man.

He stopped by the end of her table.

"Where was Lucy heading in such hurry?"

Something gleamed in the brunettes eyes, but he wouldn´t notice something like that.

"Lucy? She said something about a date…"

"Date?"

"Yep. Why´re you asking?" she asked slyly.

Natsu blinked. "I just saw her run off and wondered if she had found a mission or something."

Cana felt like face-palming, but kept herself from doing so.

"That was a couple of hours ago", she pointed out and took a sip from her drink.

"Gray was looking for a fight", Natsu answered as that explained everything. Which he probably thought it did. And Cana remembered that they had been fighting for pretty long before Master had stopped them and kept them from destroying the guild.

He probably forgot to ask me after that and just remembered, Cana thought.

"Whatever. Anyways, that´s why."

Natsu nodded. And then he looked like a thought just had struck him. "But if Lucy´s on a date… what am I supposed to do?"

"You have other friends, haven´t you?"

Natsu looked very depressed. "… but I was going to hang out with her…"

Cana shrugged. "Too bad she´s already busy. If you know what I mean", she said as she blinked.

Natsu just tilted his head in confusing before he left looking gloomy, dragging his feet as he went.

Cana slipped out from her place and went to the bar were Mirajane was following the gloomy-looking Natsu.

"What happened to Natsu?"

"Lucy´s on a date."

Cana could practically see how Mirajane´s eyes began to sparkle. "Is he jealous? He is jealous, isn´t he?! I knew Natsu had a thing for Lucy!"

Cana was about to make the white-haired young woman calm down, but then decided not to since she knew nothing would work.

"How about I pay and we´ll get out of here?" Joel said as he smiled towards her.

"… What? Oh, yes, of course", Lucy said, getting back to Earthland. She had spaced of for a moment.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just got lost in thought", she smiled a little. "How much do I owe?"

He shook his head. "I´ll pay, don´t worry about it."

"But…"

"You need to save for your rent, right?" Joel interrupted with a smile. "I´ll pay, it´s no big deal."

Lucy smiled. "Thank you."

Walking down the street Natsu tried to figure out he was supposed to do. He suddenly came across a certain smell and his pace sped up involuntary.

Little did he know, two shadows followed him without his notice.

They walked down the road, side by side in silence. Lucy was looking out over the canal, admiring it as all the lights reflected in it beautifully.

Joel suddenly came to a stop. Lucy continued for a few step before she noticed and turned to face him.

"What´s wrong?"

Joel smiled at her, but it was something off about the smile. "I´ve had such a nice time with you, Lucy…"

"I feel the same way", Lucy said, even though it wasn´t exactly true. All she had been able to think about was Natsu, after all.

"Too bad it has to end, huh?"

"Maybe we can see each other again?" Lucy said, feeling uneasy. Something wasn´t right.

"But I won´t be able to wait…"

Suddenly Joel grabbed Lucy´s arm and pulled her towards himself.

Lucy screamed at the sudden pain. "It hurts, let go!"

Joel smiled, a wicked smile. "Hurts? It won´t hurt, you´re going to enjoy it."

He pulled her into an alley and pushed her against the wall. Lucy wanted to scream for help, but nobody was around.

What am I going to do?!

Joel leaned closer, placing his lips by her ear.

"Don´t scream. It´s not like anybody´s going to hear you… Be a good girl and keep quiet", he whispered.

"Please…" Lucy´s voice trembled with fear and anger. "Let me go!"

"Hey! Get your hands off my Lucy! Who do you think you are?!" a voice suddenly called out angrily. Joel got pulled away from her and Lucy stared in shock at her savior who had appeared out of nowhere. Natsu pushed him up against the opposite wall of the one Lucy was still standing by.

"Natsu!" Lucy called out surprised. "How did you find me?"

"Cana told me you´d gone off to a date and then I found your smell", he grunted, still staring with furious eyes at the terrified Joel.

"Natsu…" Lucy whispered, at loss of words. "No, don´t!"

Lucy flew forward and grabbed onto Natsu´s arm to keep him from hitting Joel.

"Lucy?" Natsu looked at her questionable.

"Natsu… don´t…" she whispered.

"But he…"

"He didn´t do any harm, Natsu. He´s not worth it. Let´s just go, okay?"

Natsu looked her in the eye and then nodded. "Alright."

He let go off Joel and turned away. But he didn´t leave.

"Let me make one thing clear for you, bastard", Natsu said without even looking over his shoulder at the man slumped against the wall. "If you ever as much as touch a hair on my Lucy, I won´t let you get off the hook, no matter what she says. Whoever hurts my nakama will feel the pain tenfold."

Joel nodded, even though he knew Natsu couldn´t see him.

"Let´s go, Luce", Natsu said as he smiled and grabbed her hand.

She nodded and followed him away from the alley, away from Joel and the fear she had felt. Now, with Natsu by her side and her cold hand in his warm, she felt as if it all had happened a life time ago.

"Told you", Cana said as Mirajane squealed in happiness, "that you wanted to come with me."

Mirajane just nodded and jumped up and down in her fangirling.

"I just need to talk with someone", Cana told Mirajane and left their hiding spot. "Joel!"

The man turned around. "There you are, Cana!"

Cana smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, but couldn´t leave my friend behind."

Joel rolled his eyes. "Anyways, you could have warned me."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn´t know myself how he was going to react", Cana answered as she stopped in front of him.

"I refer to that he was so strong."

"If I told you, I wouldn´t have been sure you´d show up", Cana countered.

That comment made Joel snort. "I never say no to a date with you Cana. Tomorrow?"

"Like we said", Cana smiled and he left.

Mirajane came out from her hiding-spot. "Did you sell a date to a guy so he would pretend to be a jerk to Lucy so Natsu could show up and save her?"

Cana brought the drink she had held in her hand all along to her lips. "Something like that."

Mirajane raised an eyebrow and then smiled. "I didn´t know you were such a matchmaker, Cana. How come I didn´t think of this?" Mirajane looked down to the ground and then smiled as kind as ever towards Cana. "I´m impressed. I´ll use that someday."

Cana raised her drink. "Cheers to that."

"Hey, Lucy, what´s wrong?" Natsu asked the blonde who seemed very down.

She sighed. "Nothing really… it´s just that I was finally going to have my first date and look how it turned out…"

"Is that all?" Natsu said and then grinned at her. "Then I´ll take you on a date!"

Lucy widened her eyes. "Are you serious?"

He nodded. "Sure."

His answer made her grow suspicious. "Natsu… do you even know what a date is?"

He frowned. "No…"

Lucy sighed and then she begun laughing. She wasn´t surprised at all. Then his words from earlier echoed in her head.

Keep your hands of my Lucy!

She hadn´t really heard them when he said them, but now when it finally got to her, she blushed a little. She thought about her and Natsu going on a date, like he said.

Maybe it´s not impossible he´ll feel the same as me some day, like I thought it was…

And that end´s this one shot. Hope it was enjoyable to read! I hope I got what assertive means right… I tried to check it up and it seemed it means "pushy", sooo… If I got that wrong, I would like to know :)

This was my first one-shot, so I would like to hear what you think, so if you have time, how about leaving me a little review with your opinion? :) Or you can PM me too, if you don´t want to write a review for some reason :P