Disclaimer:

I do not own anything but my own storylines. Credits goes to Hiro Mashima for Fairy Tail and the cover image is not mine.

Fire of Destruction and Creation

BONK!

"Ow! What the hell, Luce?" Natsu rubbed the spot on his head where Lucy had punched him. "What as that for?"

"You know very well what it was for!" Lucy screeched at her partner. "That's the third time this month that we didn't get our reward because you destroyed everything!"

Lucy let out a heavy sigh of frustration. Team Natsu was just coming back from a job. Well, it was only Natsu and Lucy. Gray had a job with Juvia, Erza was going solo, and Happy was with Wendy, Carla, and Romeo.

As Lucy explained before, you can understand why she was so frustrated and angry. Adding to that was the stress of paying her rent that's due the end of the month.

"Why do you have to be so destructive?" Lucy said through gritted teeth.

"Hey, it's not my fault my fire is that powerful," Natsu held his hands up in defense.

"Well then learn to control it!"

"I can control it perfectly fine! Things just happen to get in my way." Natsu said that last statement nonchalantly. "Besides, there're always more jobs."

Lucy growled in annoyance at his casualty in the situation. "My rent is due in two weeks, Natsu. I kinda need the money!"

Lucy was glad when she got to her apartment. She didn't feel like going to the guild today. It was almost getting late anyways. "Ugh, whatever. I'm gonna stay home for the rest of the day." she looked by and glared at Natsu before entering. "And don't you dare break in."

Natsu shrugged and grinned, "No promises." And with that, he ran off to the guild hall.

"Yo!" Natsu greeted his friends at the bar. "Hey, Mira, my usual, please."

"Coming right up!" As the barmaid fixed him his meal, Erza and Gray came over.

Erza then noticed something on his head. "Where did you get that bump on your head?"

"Hmm? Oh this? Luce hit me on the head…" then he grumbled irritated. "…again."

Gray burst into laughter. "You got hit by her again?! Weakling!"

"If I was weak, then I wouldn't be able to bust your ass! But I can, ice princess!" Natsu butted his head against Gray.

"Like you could, tabasco freak!"

"You wanna fight, block-head?"

"Right now, flame boy!"

"You're on, snowman!"

KLANK!

"Boys, were you fighting just now?" Erza spoke calmly with her sword in her hand.

Natsu and Gray laid on the ground with newly formed bumps on their heads. "No, Erza," they managed to grunt out.

Natsu suddenly perked up when Mira arrived with his fire food.

"So why did she punch you, Natsu?" Mira asked curiously while Natsu stuffed his face.

Natsu shrugged, "Eh, the usual. She got mad because we didn't get the full reward again."

"Gee I wonder why," Gray smirked.

The boys were about to get into a fight again but were stopped by Erza's glare. "But Lucy's right, Natsu. You need to control your destructiveness."

Mira nodded in agreement, "It causes way too many problems."

Gray leaned in to whisper into Natsu's ear. "Says the demons themselves."

"I know, right?" The boys snickered behind their hands.

Mira gave them a hard glare but ignored it. "Anyways, you should really go talk to her. Apologize."

"Eh, maybe not right now. She seemed really mad so I'll just give her some room until tomorrow."

"Aww, you're gonna be a really caring boyfriend someday." Mira gushed, going into daydream state about her Nalu ship.

Natsu chocked on his food while Gray chocked on his air. "B-b-boyfriend?!" Natsu stuttered. "What the hell, Mira? Really?"

Erza took over the talking. "Knowing Lucy, she can't stay mad at you for long. Go talk to her."

Natsu let out an exasperated sigh, "Fine. But if she punches me again, I'm blaming you for it because you made me go."

"Very well. I will take full responsibility."

Natsu sweat-dropped, giving her a weird look for being so serious. He shook it off and ran to Lucy's house.

Seeing the apartment, he jumped up to the window on the third floor with ease. He knew he shouldn't, considering Lucy was already mad, but using the door was way too hard.

Entering her home, he found it empty. He heard water faintly sloshing around in the bathtub and figured Lucy must still be taking a bath to calm herself, so he waited.

Already bored, he sat on the couch with his arms sprawled out on top. Natsu was going to take a quick nap when an idea popped into his mind. If he can just show Lucy that his fire isn't always destructive, she won't be mad anymore.

Natsu silently congratulated himself for the genius idea. See? He does use his head. Now…how to make fire not destructive… okay, so the genius plan was missing a huge important part.

Lucy went straight to the bath when she got home. Grabbing comfortable shorts and a tank top along with her underwear, she stomped all the way to the bathroom. She didn't relax until the hot flowing water made contact with her soft skin, relaxing her muscles from being tense.

A hot bath always calmed her down. Replaying today's events up to the little argument she had with Natsu before they parted, she felt almost bad for yelling at him. Almost.

It has happened on way too many occasions. Lucy replayed all of those missions where Natsu had destroyed a whole village, forest, and even caused an entire mountain to collapse.

Lucy shook her head in annoyance. On the other hand, she also recalled the good times too. Like all the times Natsu had saved her, saying that he'd always protect her and be there by her side.

She smiled, blushing at those memories. It was why she could never stay mad at him for too long. It's because…because…

"I love you, Natsu." She played around with the water with her hands. To be honest, she has been feelings these stronger feelings for Natsu recently. So strong she might be in love with him, to overlook his recklessness and destructiveness, because that's what makes Natsu, Natsu. The Natsu she fell in love with.

Wow, she really admitted it to herself.

Sighing for the hundredth time today, she got out of the bath and got dressed.

Stepping outside, Lucy jumped in surprise when she realized Natsu was there, sitting on her couch with his back to her.

She was about to scream at him for barging into her house again when she noticed he was doing something with his hand…lit up with fire.

She was ready to scream again because he was doing hazardous things when she took a closer look at the fire.

It was beautiful. The red, orange, yellow flames danced together producing perfect shadings of the color mixture and created magnificent shapes.

A flower bloomed and burst into spiraling fireworks.

Mesmerized, Lucy approached from behind in a trance. She accidentally bumped into the couch from behind, causing the fires to distinguish much to her dismay and Natsu to turn around.

"Yo, Luce."

"I thought I told you to not break in," Lucy scolded once she fell out of the trance.

Natsu shrugged, "Eh, I was bored. Happy still isn't back yet. And Erza told me to come check on you."

Normally, Lucy would've continued to berate him. But this time, her mind was still caught up on the flames.

Lucy slid into a seat on the couch right next to Natsu. "Show me it again."

"What?"

"The flames, moron."

Natsu smirked, but luckily Lucy didn't see. My plan is working. Raising his left hand, he lit it up. "You mean this?" He wiggled his fingers around to make tiny sparks of embers shoot around, like mini fireworks.

"Wow," Lucy breathed out. She leaned in closer to Natsu, laying her head on his shoulder.

Shifting his position to get more comfortable, he placed his left arm over her shoulders and continued his fire show with his right hand.

Lucy stared in awe as the flames morphed its figure. The fireworks had come together to create a rose, then its petals fell apart and reassembled into a graceful dragon. The dragon danced around the little area above Natsu's hand.

Unconsciously, Lucy reached out cautiously with her hand towards the dragon. It hovered over the dragon, scared to move further. The dragon took the initiative and started swirling around her hand.

Lucy giggled at the playful dragon that reminded her of her dragon. "It doesn't burn," she noticed, "Not hot but still warm."

"Not all fire is destructive," Natsu said. "This is one of my favorite forms to make. Reminds me of who I am…" he paused "…and Igneel."

Lucy looked into his onyx eyes and smiled, "Igneel would be proud of who you are." She turned back to the dragon and played around with it with both her hands now. "What I see here, is a loving dragon who's always playful and fun to be around, full of energy, and sometimes is reckless and destructive because of that overload of energy. But he doesn't mean any harm. He uses his fire to protect and sometimes goes overboard. But it's okay." Lucy met Natsu's deep black eyes. "Because that's what makes him special." She resumed playing with the fire dragon, giggling. "And he's cute too."

Natsu rolled his eyes but grinned. "What is he, a puppy? He's not cute. He's awesome."

"He can be cute and awesome at the same time." After a while, Lucy let out a sigh. "I wish I can do this. Be able to create things with my magic."

Natsu smirked, "I thought you didn't like fire."

Lucy huffed, crossing her arms in a pout. "Hmph, I never said I didn't like it. I just said yours can be destructive." She turned her back towards Natsu like a little kid.

The dragon and Natsu looked at each other. As if thinking the same thing, they both nodded and the dragon evaporated.

Natsu chuckled. Now was his chance. He shifted his sitting position so he could wrap his arms around her from behind.

Lucy jolted at the sudden action but relaxed when Natsu's warm body heat surrounded. He held her small soft hands gently into his rough calloused ones.

He created another ember and made it float on top of Lucy's hands to make it look like she was the one creating it. "Now you can."

The main flame formed a puffy heart while surrounding sparks twinkled like little shining stars.

Lucy couldn't believe her hands were doing this. Well it was Natsu, of course, but it looked like she was the creator of this masterpiece. It was too much. She leaned back comfortably against Natsu's chest.

To make things better, the little dragon emerged from the puffy heart. Lucy giggled, "Hey, little guy. We should name him."

Natsu gave her a weird look. "Weirdo, he's part of my fire."

"But still, it's special. So it deserves a name." Lucy tilted her chin up to give Natsu her best puppy eyes.

Natsu chuckled. To be honest, he really liked the idea. He can control his flames with his mind if he wanted. "Alright. What do you want to name him?"

Lucy hummed in thought. "How about…Sparks? But we'll spell it s-p-a-r-x to make it look cooler."

"Isn't that how you spell it anyways?" Natsu looked utterly confused.

Lucy just shook her head at him and returned her attention to the fire dragon. "You like that name, little guy? It suites you. You are the little spark of fire that becomes whatever we need, whether it's creating light or…" she paused to give Natsu a long meaningful look, making Natsu return a fake, hurt look, and spoke to the dragon again. "…craziness." She settled on the more lightly term.

The dragon spun around in a spiral as if approving his name happily.

"That's a perfect name for him," Natsu said into Lucy's ear causing her to involuntarily shiver.

Saying those things about Sparx made Lucy realize what she had to say to Natsu. She can't stay mad at him for long. Unfortunately.

"Hey, Natsu," Lucy said slowly, not facing him. "I…I'm sorry for yelling at you. I know you never mean to do any harm."

"Hey, I should be the one apologizing. I know I can kinda get carried away sometimes. I'll try to be careful next time and get you your full reward."

Lucy smiled, but she still wasn't facing him. And a good thing too because her face was warm and red and it's not just because it was hot in here from the fire.

She looked at her hands. It fit perfectly into Natsu's, like they were made for each other. The fire was gone, only Sparx remained and he was just dancing around in the air without a care in the world.

Lucy turned her hands around so they were now enclosed in Natsu's. She shifted in her seat so she was now leaning her side into Natsu, her head resting on his chest. "I probably made things worse by saying it was your fault."

At this, Natsu smirked, a new idea forming in his rarely used brain. "Hmm, I'll forgive you…on one condition."

Lucy looked up at him, deadpanned. "Seriously? -_- "

Natsu leaned his face closer, his smirk never leaving his face. Lucy slightly leaned back, blushing at the closeness. "I'll forgive you on one condition," he repeated in a husky voice.

"W-what?" Lucy gulped, wondering what he had in mind.

"I want you to say what you said to yourself when you were taking a bath."

At first, Lucy blinked blankly. Then it all came rushing back to her and her face became redder than Erza's hair. He couldn't have, could he? But it was the only thing I said out loud!

"Why were you eavesdropping on my out-loud thoughts while I was taking a bath?" she retorted.

"I wasn't eavesdropping. My ears just apparently picked it up. Unintentionally."

Lucy turned away, her bangs covering her eyes. She mouthed what she said, the slight whisper of air of the words leaving her mouth. That was probably enough for Natsu to hear.

But Natsu wouldn't accept it. His smirk grew wider as he snuggled his face into her neck. "Say it~" Natsu spoke against her skin.

Lucy leaned her head back, gasping suddenly when she felt his lips kissing it. She closed her eyes, enjoying how he landed butterfly kisses all over her neck. "N-Natsu," she moaned, "stop."

"I don't think you really want me to," Natsu teased, continuing. Lucy mentally agreed with him. "And I won't anyway until you say it."

"Fine," Lucy stated. She grabbed his head to make him stop and look at her in the eyes. She smirked. Natsu thought he had won by making her subdue to his teasing, but she wasn't gonna let that happen. "I love you, Natsu," she stated genuinely, finally confessing her feelings. "I always have and always will. Now kiss me for real."

Natsu blinked, shocked by her reaction. He was definitely not expecting her to do that. But he liked it, and went for her lips this time.

"We're you planning this all along?" Lucy questioned when they had breaks in between kisses.

"Only the fire shape-shifting part," Natsu admitted. "Got a better result than I thought."

"Why?"

"So you'd forgive me. And to show you my fire isn't just destruction..." Natsu trailed off.

"…but also creation." Lucy finished.

Natsu's fire was the thing that sparked the love between Natsu and Lucy.

(A/N)- I hope you like it everyone! This is my first official, published one-shot. My short-stories will always at least 1000 words. I'd like to hear your comments! Please review! Thank you! :)