Aaaand here is nalu week day 3: Flirt! I took a lot less prominent approach to this one but it's there.
Title is from Jeremy Renner's "Main Attraction".
As always, comments would be highly appreciated.
Enjoy!

"Oi, fuck off you stupid icecube-"

There was a loud crash, then a cloud of dust and a few seconds later, two very disgruntled mages poked their heads out of the pile of wood that had once been several tables and benches placed around the guildhall.

From her place at the bar, Cana rolled her eyes. "You're both idiots!" she scolded them loudly while Mira, still polishing a glass like nothing had happened, just smiled at her.

"Oh let them be, Cana."

The card mage huffed. "They'll never learn," she said grumpily and took another sip of her beer - out of a real glass. They expected a few reporters from Sorcerer's Weekly any moment now and Mira had forcibly wrestled the barrel of wine she'd been nursing on out of her grip earlier.

"They're just in a mood because their girlfriends are still not back from their mission," the barmaid stated calmly, still smiling, and Cana sighed, hitting the bartop with the flat of her hand.

"If they'd at least make it official!" she almost whined, taking another sip of her beer. "But no, they're just dancing around each other for weeks on end and don't admit to anything!"

"Gray and Juvia became official just two weeks ago! And you're just grumpy because you're losing the bet."

Cana pouted. "I could've bought so much wine if they just wouldn't be so dense," she mumbled sulkily.

"Who's winning at the moment, Mira-nee?" Lisanna asked, carrying several bottles of various alcoholic beverages over to the bar, where she stored them in the shelves on the wall.

Mira put a hand to her chin, trying to remember the dates the several guild members had put their money on. "Now that you say it… Levy had her money on today, actually."

Her sister blinked, surprised. "Like, this exact day? Not, like, this week?"

Most of them had their money on a wider span of time, like a week, some even a month. Of course a more specific time meant more winnings, if the prediction came true.

"Yeah, she changed it sometime last week, I think…" Mira said, locking eyes with her sister. "Weird…"

By now, the culprits of the mess in the corner had fought their way out of the rubble and headed over to the bar. "Whatcha talking about?" Natsu asked as he took the seat next to Cana.

"Oh, nothing important. Just a little bet we have," Mira answered, back to attending to her polishing work.

"A bet you say…"

Lisanna had her back to the bar and Cana was busy starring sullenly into her mug of beer, so no one witnessed the sly smile stretching over Natsu's face.

Of course, Lucy and Juvia came back from their mission - both Gray and Natsu had been benched when they hadn't even made it to the train station without a fight - right on time. They came in while Jason from the Sorcerer's Weekly was setting up his camera and other equipment, Happy hot on their heels. He had two apprentices with him who looked around in obvious awe.

"Hi, Jason!" Lucy greeted the reporter enthusiastically and of course, he took that as the first reason to escalate.

"Luuucy!" he screeched, getting out another camera, snitching multiple pictures of her while she was just smiling at his antics. One of the apprentices, a young guy around Lucy's age, looked at her in obvious appreciation but she didn't pay him any mind.

The others had already been through the same procedure as first Lucy and soon both Juvia and Happy would. There was an official photoshoot to follow but as always, they had to get through Jason freaking out on them before real work was possible, even after everything that had happened.

"Hey guys," Lucy said as she'd finally made her way over to the bar, Jason now having moved on to his next victim. She sat down next to Natsu and casually took a sip of the drink in front of him. She grimaced. "Whiskey."

"Well, get your own drink if you're just bitching about mine," Natsu snapped, obviously in a foul mood.

When no one was looking, he winked at her conspiracionally.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or what?" Cana asked, still drinking beer out of a glass.

"I just don't like the guy," Natsu mumbled, his brows furrowed as he gestured over to one of Jason's apprentices, a guy called Ryotaro who - Natsu had noticed the second she had stepped in - had seemed to have taken a liking to Lucy and therefore just didn't sit well with the Dragon Slayer. He wouldn't even have to act his part, it seemed, depending on how the situation would develop.

"Don't worry Natsu, they're not here for you, but for Gray and Juvia. Jason's going to do an interview with them and take a few pictures, and then he'll have a quick photoshoot with me and Lucy. They'll be gone before you know it." The barmaid smiled at the dragon slayer as she talked but he kept sulking, eyeing Ryotaro sceptically.

They stayed around for Juvia and Gray's interview, which was almost uneventful aside from Juvia's more or less obvious discomfort, before Lucy and Mira had to get ready for their shoot. They had decided for a summerly setting, so they both were in a light dress, their hair in a not too fancy updo. By now, more guild members had shown up, trying to snatch their five minutes of fame, but the reporter and his apprentices kept their attention on the models for the evening.

Ryotaro however was entirely focussed on Lucy. He offered her water and snacks between pictures, told her how beautiful she was and was just entirely too attentive to her - at least for Natsu's liking. Not that Lucy reciproked his advances or even responded to them, really, at least aside from a smile here and there, but it still irked the Dragon Slayer more than he would've thought.

When he caught Jason's apprentice outrightly staring at Lucy's boobs while they talked he lost all patience.

"Would you stop ?" he growled, entirely focussed on Ryotaro. He hadn't thought his anger would be so real when they had planned this. They hadn't expected the apprentice to be such a damned flirt ; but even though he definitely didn't like the way the guy was around Lucy Natsu was still distinctly aware it worked in his favor.

"Stop what?" the reporter-to-be shot back, an easy grin on his face that just irked Natsu more.

"Flirting with my - With my - Just stop flirting with Lucy!"

"Your what ?" Lucy asked, one eyebrow raised into a perfect half circle, a glint in her eyes that almost made Natsu snarl.

She was enjoying this, the damned minx.

"Just mine ," he growled, now focussed on the celestial spirit mage, and ignored the gasping in the background. Mira at least, probably several more people, had their whole attention on the exchange and Natsu was distinctly aware of Jason clicking away on his camera.

"Yours?" Lucy whispered as she drew closer, a lot more serious now. Sure, it was a somewhat preplanned scene, but that didn't mean they couldn't be serious about what they were acting out.

In this moment, Lucy was asking Natsu if he was sure, if he really wanted them to go public, and he answered in brutal honesty.

" Mine ," he whispered, and then he kissed her passionately in front of at least half the guild.

Neither of them even heard the gasps and catcalls in the background. They were exclusively focussed on each other, entirely new to the situation even though they had kissed like this hundreds of times before.

When they finally broke apart, both gasping for air, the whole guild was cheering and Natsu grinned at his girlfriend. "That guy is still an idiot," he said, gesticulating to Ryotaro who was gaping at both of them.

Lucy shot him an easy grin back, leaning onto his chest. "You know you're the only one I have any interest in, Natsu," she said and his heart soared.

The next issue of the Sorcerer's Weekly was a big hit and Lucy smiled when she came into the guild the day it was published. A picture of her and Natsu kissing spread over the whole cover page and there were even more pictures and a whole article about them inside, but they could live with that.

She placed her new purse on the table as she sat down, smiling and winking over to Mira, who was behind the bar.

Just a few minutes later, while she was flicking through the magazine, someone took the place opposite to her and the celestial spirit mage looked up, surprised to see Juvia.

"Juvia wants to say thank you to Lucy," she said, looking directly into her eyes and even though she immediately knew what the other girl was talking about Lucy did her best to seem innocent.

"I have no idea what you're-"

"Juvia knows Lucy and Natsu staged the whole thing," she interrupted the celestial spirit mage, "And she knows winning that bet isn't the only reason. You also did it because you knew that Juvia was anxious about that much attention and wanted to keep her out of the spotlight." She lowered her head, bowing to Lucy. "Gray was so excited about that interview and Juvia didn't have the heart to tell him how uncomfortable she was with the whole thing. So, thank you."

Lucy smiled at the water mage when she was looking up again, a conspiratorial glint in her eyes. "I won't tell anyone if you won't," she offered and smiled wider when she saw the grin on Juvia's face.

"Deal."