A/N: I'm glad to see everyone loved Chapter 7 - Practice so much! Now, I know a few of you want me to continue it, and I'd probably do it, but it would most definitely turn into an M rated continuation (very lemony). So if you're all fine with that, just say the word! Until then, here's some meaningless fluff.

Chapter 8 – Misunderstanding

Lucy cheerfully entered her apartment, having a big surprise for Natsu and Happy. She had gotten these free tickets to go see a performance of fire breathers, she knew Natsu would love it. Except, Natsu wasn't in her apartment this time.

"Strange," she said out loud, walking around the premises in search for the pink haired boy and the blue cat. They were nowhere to be seen. She simply shrugged and took a bath, she figured she could give the tickets to them tomorrow when she would see them at the guild. Her next encounter with the pink haired boy was indeed at the Fairy Tail guild. Lucy sat down next to him, causing Natsu to flinch back in response.

"What's wrong with you?" she said suspiciously.

Natsu whipped his head back and forth, looking quite uncomfortable, like he had done something wrong. "N-nothing!" he lied.

Lucy hand waved his obvious lie, ignoring it since she had these tickets that she wanted to talk to him about. She would get back to his suspicious behavior later.

"Anyways, I wanted to talk to you about something."

Natsu swallowed loudly, avoiding eye-contact with her. Oh he most certainly did something wrong, but Lucy still wanted him to know about the tickets first. "What about?" he asked nervously.

"Well, it's a surprise! I can't talk to you about it yet," she said, noticing Happy wasn't with Natsu. She wanted Happy to hear the news as well.

For some reason, Natsu's face started to burn a bright red. "A-aye," he said weakly.

Lucy studied him with suspicious eyes. "Natsu, what are you getting all red for?" she asked. "Did you do something wrong today?"

He hastily turned his face away from her, fanning his hand at it. "I'm just really hot at the moment!"

The girl shrugged; she would pry out the real reason later. "Where's Happy?" she asked.

"Uhm, he's sleeping at home."

Lucy smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him up with her and dragged him out of the guild. "Well then, let's go to your house!"

Natsu stayed silent on their way to his house, which was very surprising and also kind of creepy. Nevertheless, they arrived at Natsu's crappy old house, and Lucy pushed open the door, pushing away the trash that was blocking it as well.

"Why'd you want to come here?" asked Natsu quietly as he walked in behind her.

"Because I got something important to tell you!" she said happily, then looked around for Happy.

The blue cat was sleeping in the hammock, safe and sound. Lucy hopped over some trash to get to him, and shook the cat. He only groaned in response and turned over to sleep on his other side.

"Hey, Happy, wake up! I got a surprise," she said while grinning. Happy wouldn't wake up though.

"Just leave Happy be, he'll wake up in an hour or so," said Natsu.

"Aww, but I wanted him to know," she said disappointed and turned to face him.

Natsu cleared his throat, avoiding her eyes once more. "What is it?"

"Well, I really wanted to tell you yesterday, but since you didn't even come to my apartment," she started, then slipped her hand into the pocket of her skirt, slowly pulling out the tickets.

"Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you would like -."

Natsu held up his hands in front of her, motioning for her to stop talking. "I don't know yet, okay!"

Lucy frowned and looked at him confused, her fingers letting go of the ticket. "Wait, you know already?" she asked.

Natsu's face started to turn red once more, and Lucy wondered what in the world he was thinking. "Y-yeah … Mirajane told me yesterday."

"Oh that snitch! I told her not to say anything to you before I did!" said Lucy angrily, she would need to have a word with the white haired woman later on. "Well anyways, what's your answer?"

Natsu shuffled on the spot, scratching his arm awkwardly. "I don't know yet … I need some time to think about it, is that okay?"

Lucy frowned again. "Sure … but these things got a time limit on them, you know,"

Natsu nodded his head nervously. "I know, I know."

"Well, just let me know before Saturday, alright?"

"Saturday, okay," he repeated.

"I'm going back to the guild now, will you let Happy know as well?" she asked, walked towards the door already.

"Sure …" he said a bit confused.

Lucy waved him goodbye and went back to the guild. The performance was on next week Saturday, so Natsu would have until Friday to make up his mind. Which was weird, considering Lucy had thought he would loved to go see it and snatch he tickets out of her hands. Instead he was fumbling over his words and couldn't stop shuffling with his feet. What was wrong with him anyway?

Days passed on, and every time she had seen Natsu, he would make a quick getaway, or turn around and pretend he didn't see her. Lucy had no idea what made him behave this suspicious around her, but she had a feeling Mirajane was behind it. It was almost nearing Friday, and Lucy was beginning to think her tickets would really be wasted. So she decided to remind Natsu – if she could get a hold of him that is.

"Natsu!" she called out, jogging after the dragon slayer when she saw him exiting the guild.

Natsu stopped in his tracks and faced her, not running away this time. "What's up?" he said indifferently when Lucy caught up with him.

"I just want to let you know that tomorrow is the last day, you know."

Natsu's cheeks once more turned red at the mention of it, and Lucy really wanted to ask why. "I know, and I promise I'll have my answer by then."

"Okay good, you didn't forget about it or anything," she sighed in relief.

"Forget it? More like it's been on my mind the whole week …" he said bitterly.

"Really? So you're exited?" she asked happily. Maybe he did want to go after all!

Natsu stared at her with wide eyes. "I uhh … I'll talk to you tomorrow!" he said hurriedly, then ran away from her.

Lucy merely huffed and stomped her foot on the ground, the nerve of the guy. Tomorrow came and Lucy waited patiently for Natsu to tell her his answer, since tomorrow the performance would be held and the tickets would be useless.

"Can we go someplace alone?" asked Natsu.

Lucy raised her eyebrows, which turned into a frown; she just didn't get Natsu lately. His actions were so bizarre and unpredictable sometimes. She had a feeling he would finally explain himself, so she let Natsu guide her out of the Guild, and they went around the back where they could be alone.

"So …" she started as they stood together in silence.

Natsu looked up at her and gave her an awkward grin. "Uhm, I just wanna say I'm sorry for acting weird and all that this week …"

Lucy crossed her arms and nodded. "You sure did, what was up with that anyway?"

Natsu ignored Lucy's question and continued. "And uhh ... my answer …"

She waited for him to finish his sentence. It wasn't that hard to tell her if he wanted to go or not, she wouldn't be mad if he turned down her tickets. They were given to her free of charge anyway. Lucy's thoughts were interrupted when she felt Natsu's hands on her arms. She was about to ask what he was doing, when her lips were quickly muffled by Natsu's. Her eyes grew wide in shock and she pushed him away on instinct, making him stumble backwards.

"W-what are you doing!" she yelled at him, her face turning an awful shade of red.

Natsu looked at her weirdly, his face red as well. "Huh?" he said stupidly.

"What the hell Natsu, what gave you the idea to suddenly kiss me? Ugh!" she said then slapped him across his cheek.

How dare he kiss her! It was her first kiss as well! Natsu merely widened his eyes as he started to stutter his words.

"B-but, I thought that … I thought you wanted me to!"

"Whaaat? What made you think that!"

He cocked his head to the side. "Don't you like me?"

Lucy's eyes almost bulged out. "Wait – who told you that?"

"Mirajane said you liked me last week."

Oh, she was definitely going to kill that woman for lying to Natsu. She had told Mirajane about the tickets, but never said anything about liking Natsu. She knew something was up when Natsu acted so weird on the day she was trying to give him the tickets. That Mirajane …

"She's such a liar! Last week I told her that I have some tickets for a fire breather performance for tomorrow, which I wanted to give to you. But then you said you already knew, and needed some time to think about it. I figured you hadn't decided whether or not to go yet."

"So wait, are you telling me that's all you wanted to ask? If I could go to some performance?"

"Yes! I got the tickets right here," she said, pulling them out of her pocket and shoving it into Natsu's face. "What did you think I was talking about?"

"I thought you wanted to know if I liked you too …"

"…"

Oh god, Natsu basically told her he liked her by kissing her. When Natsu saw Lucy's face heating up with blood, he quickly backed away from her.

"No, no, it's not what you think! I just did that … because I didn't want to hurt your feelings! Honestly! There's no way I could like you. Yeah, maybe in your dreams – I just didn't want you to feel bad around me."

"Wow Natsu, I never imagined you would have the guts to lie straight to my face," she said with an all-knowing smirk.

"I really don't you like you back!"

"Who said I liked you in the first place?" she butted in.

He buried his face into his scarf, all embarrassed. "Argh, don't confuse me!"

Lucy stepped closer to him, which made him even more cautious of her. "You were thinking all this week that I liked you, and you responded by kissing me. Hmm, I don't know what I should do about that."

"You should definitely forget it! It was a mistake! A lie!"

"If I never told you about these tickets, did you assume we would become boyfriend and girlfriend?" she said tauntingly.

Natsu violently shook his blushing head, which was so adorable at the moment. "I didn't!"

"You want to be my boyfriend, don't you?" she asked as she marveled in his weakness. It was so much fun teasing him right now, serves him right for right for kissing her in the first place.

"I never said that!"

Lucy laughed out loud, much to the surprise of Natsu. "This isn't funny, Lucy," he said darkly, but Lucy only laughed louder when she heard his threatening voice.

"Oh Natsu, you're so stupid, you know that? I can't believe you thought I liked you. Then you went as far as kissing me! I'd be pissing myself if it weren't for the fact that I'm still a little bit angry at you – still, this is priceless!" she said while she took a deep breath to laugh again.

"Fine, what if I did believe that you liked me? So what!" he said as he turned away from her laughing face.

"Well, I would have never thought you would respond to my feelings with a kiss. Come on – did you really think we'd become a couple?"

Natsu remained silent.

And Lucy suddenly got it through her thick mind; Natsu was being honest and sincere about his feelings at the moment. "Oh god, you really want to be my boyfriend."

He whirled around, his face still a dark red, and yelled; "I do not!"

Lucy simply smiled at him and slowly shook her head. "I'll tell you what," she said and walked closer to him.

"I'll let you know my answer in a week," she whispered in his ear.

Natsu's ears turned red this time as well, and he backed up, looking at her all flustered. Lucy simply grinned and walked away, leaving him to ponder on what she had just said.