A/N: Yes, I know, I have like a gajillion fics going on. Didn't I already establish that I'm a clown though? That out of the way...

I couldn't resist writing this one shot. I saw this on Tumblr and my imagination ran a bit wild. I also wanted to try a different tone to the fics from the somewhat heavy-handed fics I usually write. So this is just an experiment and idk how it would read, so let me know please! I'm usually not very good at this kind of tones, and consider this me testing the waters for a bigger 6-chapter project I want to write.

I'm so bad at titles lmaooooo. Hopefully the fic is better than this dumbass title.

AN UNEXPECTED TURN OF BOREDOM

It was another boring job. At a library. He hated libraries. Natsu looked over at his partner who was immersed in… whatever she was doing, as she pored over the table in the library. At leastsomeone was enjoying themselves. He watched as she didn't spare him a glance as he sat from across her as he made loud huffs of annoyance to get her attention. He watched as she absentmindedly swatted away Happy who tried to crawl into her lap. She also ignored him when he claimed he was hungry and only paused to dig some jewels out of her bag to hand them over to him.

Now, he sat across from her, arms crossed and looking at her indignantly. As a last resort, he nudged her foot under the table. She only only grunted.

What? He liked (her) attention, okay?

He nudged her leg harder this time, and her head finally snapped up at him.

" What ?"

"I'm bored," he said pouting at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Just… go read a book or something."

He groaned. "I hate reading."

She went back to her book. "So you've said. Many times," she murmured with amusement. "You might find one that you like if you-"

"-Look hard enough? No," said Natsu, narrowing his eyes. "Reading… it makes me restless."

She looked at him again, an eyebrow quirked, mirth on her face.

"I… Have to sit still. I hate that. I don't know how you do it," he muttered.

"That's Lucy for you," chirped Happy, now perched on Lucy's shoulder.

She rested her chin in her hand, elbow on the table as she tilted her head at him. "That may be so. But I love reading. And when it pays money? I love it even more," she said shrugging. "I need this money for rent."

Natsu grunted again as she went back to reading the book, her cheek resting against her hand now.

" Lucyyy ," he said, almost whiny this time.

Without looking up, she simply replied, " Natsuuu, " in the exact same tone, making Happy chuckle at the scowl on Natsu's face.

And before he could resist or talk himself out of it, Natsu climbed the table and crawled over so he was kneeling opposite her, peering down at her face as he snatched the book of her hands. Startled, she sank into her chair, looking up at him wide eyed, her cheeks flushing red; that happened a lot these days, noted Natsu and he would rather eat his own fire than admit that he loved seeing her all worked up and flustered.

"Lucy," he said again, peering into her face.

"Natsu," she said, her voice not as confident as before.

"Why're you so red?" he asked, grinning at her as she sat frozen stiff.

Her hands flew to her cheeks as she stuttered at him. "I- I don't… You don't know what you're saying."

"She liiiiiiiikes you."

Happy floated off of her before starting to giggle behind his paws as Natsu started cackling, leaning in closer. Lucy started to tip her chair back, eyes set on his. "What are you doing…"

"Nothin'," he said, starting to look smug. "Just… Snatching up all your books."

And before she could react, in one swipe he'd gathered the scattered books in his hand. He was back in his seat cackling again, pleased to literally hear that her heart was still racing. She blinked at him in annoyance before yelling at him and reaching across the table to grab the books back.

"Natsu, come on ," she sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly. "I really need the money. I promise, the next job, you can pick whatever you want."

Natsu relented, disgruntled again as he pushed the books back towards her. He was tired of sitting around. It was making him restless, and well, he didn't want to spend the entire day just staring at her. Not that he minded, of course. He would if he could. But what if she noticed. He couldn't have that, no.

Not even fifteen minutes had passed when Natsu was already thinking of ways to annoy her. He thought 'annoy' but really, he just enjoyed embarassing her, or flustering her. Once again, his own fire as a snack would be a better option than admitting that he liked her attention, specifically and it made him cranky when she ignored him. It was silly, he knew that, but hey, it is what it is.

He sat on his chair, his feet tapping against the wooden floor of the library restlessly. He saw her worry her lower lip intensely, brows scrunched up in a frown as she looked at some text with narrowed eyes. Silently, he noted with amusement that she looked really cute when she did that. He looked around as if worried that someone might have heard it.

Happy slowly hovered in front of him, snickering behind his paws. "Stop staring at her, Natsu."

Natsu pursed his lips and with a grunt asked him to shut up, making Happy laugh louder. Lucy looked up at the sound, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Natsu is staring at you," Happy cackled deviously, flying out of Natsu's reach.

Natsu saw her cheeks turn pink again as her gaze flickered to him, and he didn't look away, holding her gaze. Licking her lips nervously, she quickly looked down at the book, holding up this time so she could hide behind it. In the air, Happy was only laughing harder when Natsu looked up at him with a scowl. But then, well… Natsu was Natsu. And he liked a challenge. Not to mention, he also liked embarassing his bestfriend. Who he was in love with, but that was irrelevant. And not really the point right now; it had nothing to do with anything, of course. Totally, completely, unrelated facts.

So he leaned over and placing a hand on the top of the book, pushed it down, looking at her with amusement as she looked at him warily.

"Why you hidin' behind that book, Luce?"

She scrunched her nose and it took Natsu a great deal of self control to not boop it. "Because you're staring at me."

"So what?" he grinned.

He heard her heart beat faster as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear nervously. "It's… distracting."

"Why?" he asked, cocking her head at her.

"'Cause she looooooves you," chuckled Happy, now perched on Natsus' shoulder.

"Shut up, cat," she muttered, before adding, "Go find something else to do if you're bored." She tried to tug the book out of his grip, and looked up at him angrily as he refused to let go. Leaving his chair once again, he clambered onto the table and sat cross-legged in front of Lucy. She kept tugging, now glaring at him. She stood up as well, now her face level with his as she started to tug harder.

" Let go , Natsu."

" Natsu. "

" Lucy. "

" Come on , Natsu, " she said through gritted teeth, now trying to use the entirety of her body strength to pull the book out of his grip. "I said . Let. Go."

"No," he said again, tugging at the book so she fell forward and into him.

His hands slipped around her waist to steady her as her nose bumped into his shoulder, making her mewl in pain. He chuckled as she drew back, and she was still frowning at him, mouth open to scold him till she realized he was still holding her. And that her hand was grazing his bare chest as they bunched up the material of his vest.

"Uh, Natsu, you can let go now," she said nervously.

"Why?" he asked, thoroughly enjoying himself as she saw her face and neck blush red.

Her mouth fell open in disbelief. " Really? We're here to do a job that I've been trying to finish." And then, she started poking his chest, "And you won't let me," each word punctuated with a poke.

"Because I'm-"

" Bored , yes," she rolled her eyes. "Can't you find something else to do besides annoying me?"

"Nope," he said gleefully. "You're fun to annoy."

She grunted in annoyance, desisting for a few seconds till her eyes fell on the books again and she realized there's a job that needs to be done. This was getting so irksome now, she really just wanted to finish and leave this place. She had no idea what was going on the devious head of her best… friend… but clearly it wasn't anything good, going by the amused mischeivous smile on his stupidly good-looking face. She huffed again, and started to squirm out of his grip. He let go this time, thankfully, and she let herself sit with a soft thud on the chair as she opened the book again and lay it in front of her with a smack. At least tried to, but Natsu still hadn't moved. So she just lay the book against his crossed legs and continued to read.

Stupid dragon slayer with his stupid grinning and getting-so-close-that-she-could-smell-the-cinammon-on-his-breath. The job was hard enough with all the concentration it needed, what with Natsu just sitting right across her while she worked, trying her best not to feel self-conscious in the intense way he looked at her. She had been able to sense it and had done her best to ignore it, and would've probably succeeded as well.

But no .

He had to sit this close to her. So close that she could feel the heat radiating off of him, which only served to remind her of the nights when he slipped into her bed. And how though she scolded him, she really, really loved the feeling of his warm hand draped across her waist as he held her tightly in his sleep and the way he sometimes tucked her head under his chin without realizing it.

"Hey, what're you thinkin' about?" he asked quietly, now taking quietly to playing with her hair as he towered over her.

She stilled, feeling the heat rush to her face again. Goddammit, that was the fourth time in a span of one hour.

"Nothing," she muttered. Just how much I like it when-

"Really?" And his amused voice made her look up at him curiously. "Because you know… I can hear your heart racing."

Her eyes widened and she gulped. Her face only got hotter and she tried to look angry. "Whatever, Natsu."

"And now you're blushing…"

" Am not," she muttered, going back to her book.

Why . She just really wanted to finish this job and get that money. And she hadn't moved forward at all in the last hour. Her lack of progress was beginning to get on her nerves and it didn't help at all that she constantly lost concentration. It was simply all the more annoying when he actively did something for that.

"She loooooooooooves you," said Happy again, now sitting on Natsu's head.

Lucy growled and before she could retort, Natsu joked, "You know, maybe she is in love with me, Happy." Lucy's head snapped at him, eyes narrowed as she looked at his amused face, as he "That's gotta be the only reason she keeps-"

"So what if I'm in love with you," she snapped. "Mind your own business and let me work !"

Then, she huffed, snapping open her book again and determinedly continuing where she left off. There was an unusual silence that settled around them and it took Lucy a few minutes to realize what she'd just said. She swallowed thickly but didn't dare look up, keeping her gaze fixed on the book. Concentrate.

"What?" came Natsu's hushed whisper, and she felt a strange sense of satisfaction despite the freakout she was having that she'd managed to shut even Happy up.

"You heard me," she said with confidence that she wasn't really feeling at that moment. "Now, leave me alone and let me work."

" Luce ," he said, and she looked up exasperatedly.

" What ?"

"You mean that?" he asked, and she could see the nervous look on his face, the faint tint of pink coating his generally tan cheeks.

She gave him a small smile. "Of course, I do."

"Okay." He started grinning at her and leaned forward to plant a kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Good."

She blinked in surprise, and Natsu chuckled quietly as colour rose in her cheeks again, his face hovering over hers. "You're blushing again."

"Shut up," she muttered, embarassed, hands flying up to cover both her cheeks.

I'd rather eat my own fire than… "You look cute when you do," he said, reaching out to pull her hands away from her face.

She didn't say anything, but looked at her book again. He could tell she wasn't really reading as the tip of her nose turned red as well, but he didn't let go of her hand. She didn't pull away either.

"Hey, Luce?"

She looked up at him slowly, face still pink. Tugging at her hand gently, he pulled her closer to lean down and kissed her for real this time, square on the lips. She let out a soft squeak of surprise, but melted into the kiss as he let go of her hands to cup the back of her neck while hers rested on his knees, gripping tightly. They finally drew back to the sound of Happy tittering above them in the air.

"I'm in love with you too," said Natsu, grinning, hopping off the table to sit in the chair next to her.

This time, he let her finish the job in peace and watched her do so unabashedly.

A/N: This is a little similar to Chapter 2 of a fic I'm yet to publish but OH WELL. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK PLEASE.