Title: The Mighty Blunder of the Fire Dragon Slayer

Summary: Natsu wasn't much of a 'think before you do' type of guy because almost every time he did it would flop right in his face. This time was no different. But with Lucy's heart at stake, he found himself in a lopsided struggle for her affection. How will he reclaim what he views to be rightfully his?

Rating: T for brief sexual references

AN: Yes, I know, I know, this is NOT an update for Falling Off of Roof Tops. Or Meant to Be for that matter. But it is something that should have been done ages ago, but I forgot about it. This is a present for maya-chan14, who was the 100th reviewer for FORT. Like I said this is way over due, so I worked on it ALL DAY to get it out by tonight because I felt horrible for forgetting. I hope you guys like it!

He didn't mean for it to end like that. It was supposed to be a simple, harmless shove in the right direction. He would have never guessed that it would backfire like this on him. With a tall mug of Fire Whisky in one hand, and a dark snarl tugging on his lips, Natsu watched with an envious stare as Gray of all the fucking people casually looped an arm around her shoulder. It didn't look right, especially when she smiled up at him- snuggling deeper into the one-armed embrace. Downing the last bit of the alcohol in one go, Natsu cursed himself.

Because it was supposed to be a gentle nudge. Nothing less, nothing more. In the end she was supposed to realize how much she liked him because Gray was such an idiot. For the love of anything holly she even said to Cana that she didn't see Gray like that! So why was she letting him touch her?

He wished he never over heard that stupid conversation. It was what started this...disaster. It happened the night before, pretty much everyone was either knocked out from drinking too much, or had gone home earlier. Natsu had been lying on the floor next to Lucy's stool, fighting off sleep. The blonde had been talking to Cana- the only other conscious person in the guild except Mirajane-about love.

Or more specifically about Lucy and love. The conversation was short lived because Lucy got pretty flushed after only a couple questions and left for the night, but Natsu had heard three important details about Lucy, each of them working in his favor.

She did have a crush on someone in the guild.

She was very close to him.

And lastly, but the little detail that made him the happiest, this person wasn't Gray.

When Cana had asked if it was the stupid icicle idiot, Lucy denied it instantly. If Natsu was in the condition to jump for joy he would have because that only left one other guy she was really close to, and that person was him! He's been waiting for her since the very first day he laid eyes on her. Day by day, his feelings morphed from friendly to whatever was more than friendly. Now, he couldn't imagine her with another guy, and finally, he'd gotten the information he needed to make a move without scaring her away.

The next day he'd come up with the perfect plan to speed things up a bit after hearing Mirajane say something to Levy about Lucy's special guy. The white haired barmaid complained to Levy that Lucy wouldn't tell anyone about this supposed crush. No details, no hints, nothing. She went on to wonder aloud about ways to figure it out herself.

That was how Natsu came up with his bright idea. It was simple really. Mirajane said that sometimes pressure will make a girl admit her feelings faster, so he would find a way to pressure Lucy into confessing to him sooner rather than later. He figured that if Gray (someone he knew for sure she didn't like in a 'more than a friend' way) somehow heard that Lucy may have a thing for him and started making advances on her it would creep her out enough to get her to move a little faster away from him, and into Natsu's waiting arms. He also decided to hang out with Lisanna for the day at the guild too, just for the little bit of added pressure that could push her over to him. She once heard someone say that jealousy made people do rash things, and he figured she'd tear him away from Lisanna and…kiss him or something cheesy like that.

But if there was one thing certain about Natsu, he was the type to do things rashly, and that was for a very important reason. Whenever he did something instinctually or made a spur of moment decision it worked out well enough for him, but whenever he decided to actually think his plans out something would go wrong. Usually that thing would be a big, important something too.

Like today, when he told Jet about Lucy's maybe crush on Gray, who told Droy, who told Levy, who told Mirajane, who told Gray himself. Instead of Lucy retreating from Gray when he asked the inevitable question, she glanced over at Natsu from the corner of her eye as her body stiffened in shock. Natsu, deciding to make it look good and turned to laugh with Lisanna about a corny joke she heard Elfman tell.

Imagine his utmost horror when he turned back to focus on Lucy to see her smiling up at Gray with a blush as she nodded her head. Wait. Wasn't she supposed to be looking guilty for you know…rejecting him? Why was she smiling up at him, and touching his arm, and going on her tiptoes.

Oh god! Why was she kissing his cheek? That wasn't part of his plan! She was supposed to fall into his waiting arms and let him sweep her off her feet after she rejected Gray. He was supposed to be wrapping an arm around her shoulder, not that stupid ice pick! She was supposed to be leaning up against his side. She should have kissed his cheek!

A hand invaded his vision. "Earth to Natsu, yoooohoooo!" Came Lisanna's sweet voice.

"Huh?" Natsu glanced at her for all of a second before returning his gaze to Lucy and Gray. What the actual fuck man. Gray was sitting down now, and Lucy-with a cute little blush-seemed to be debating on either sitting next to him or on him.

"You seem…distracted."

He nodded. Inwardly he was willing Lucy to sit on the chair. Gray was already without a shirt, and from the sex eyes he was making at Lucy he figured it would only take a single thought for the pants to be discarded too.

"Wow, I've only seen you look like that when Gray tried to steal you food."

He nodded his head again. Don't fucking do it Lucy. No! NO! Stop it right now. Don't you dare! His inner voice booed. He began to sweat, pushing back the urge to jump the ice mage right then and there before anything horrible happened right before his very eyes.

"Jeeze, Gray and Lucy are acting weird, don'tcha think?"

He missed the devious tone of Lisanna's voice as he nodded. Lucy's blush seemed to deepen, she was shifting awkwardly now. Natsu's legs began to bounce. It was a nervous tic he developed long ago-and since he was rarely legitimately nervous-no one really saw it. But his legs were going, and his brow had broken out in a sweat because how could she even debate it! He knew for a fate that she had no feelings for him, so why was she acting like she did!

"She has quite the blush going on there. And he seems awfully happy."

Nodding, Natsu's eyes widen. Shit. She was going to go for it. She'd passed the chair, and was no looking down at Gray. The man was even fiddling with his pants like they were getting uncomfortable!

"Are you aware that you are turning green Natsu?"

Natsu nodded jerkily. Lucy sat down. She was wiggling around, and smiling all cutely, and being all cute with her cute little cute. Natsu felt his stomach turn over and plop down into his feet. His fists balled, heat gathering in his palms. His mouth pulled up into an ugly snarl, teeth clenched. She fucking did it. This wasn't right. This wasn't what he imagined would be happening at that moment. There should be more cuddling with him. Not this shit.

"Oh, are those yellow polka dots too? My-my, you should get that checked out."

Flames licked up Natsu's fists, and he saw red as Gray wrapped an arm around Lucy's waist. He noticed how the arm hung low, leaving his hand resting high up on her thigh. Who did that clown think he was anyway? He'd just asked her out and he was already being touchy feely!

"OH! Now your face is purple!"

Natsu stood with the speed of a rearing dragon, eyes narrowed, mouth spewing fire as he growled lowly. He exhaled, his nostrils flaring to let out steam. With a feral growl, he moved in on the growing more offensive scene. Gray had wasted no time in leaning into Lucy's back, lips hovering over the skin below her cute little ear. The flames on one fist died down as he neared the two, fingers twitching with the effort to keep the hand at a bearable heat.

"Oh hey Natsu," Lucy greeted breathily, her face as pink as the dragon slayer's hair. She looked mildly uncomfortable, and that was all he needed to see to release whatever rage on the stupid icicle.

With a growl, Natsu grabbed Lucy by the arm and roughly pulled her away from the evil ice mage's grasp. Her skin, soft and warm, felt wonderful against the palm of his hand. He hoped that after this whole ordeal had been cleared up he'd get to touch her again.

"H-Hey, Natsu!"

He flung her behind him, fixing his furious glare onto Gray. The man looked a bit disoriented, a fraction smug, and party frightened. Natsu felt some pride in seeing the fear in his eyes, but he wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug half smile off his ugly face.

"What's gotten into—"

Gray never got to finish the sentence. Natsu stepped forward, blazing fist flying as he nailed the bastard directly in the face. The force of the hit sent Gray sprawling onto the floor, flipping over the chair backwards in the process.

When Gray didn't move to stand back up to fight him, he felt the anger slip away. He felted elated that the ice mage knew enough to stay down. Even if he acted like he wanted to beat the piss out of him most of the time didn't mean he actually want to, but in this situation he wouldn't hesitate in doing just that.

Behind him, he heard a gasp as hands fisted in the fabric of his vest. Lucy's confused voice came from right over his shoulder, her hot breath washing over his scarf and onto the back of his neck. Natsu barely suppressed the resulting shiver.

"Natsu! That was type of violent is uncalled for!" She reprimanded, a hand touching his shoulder to get his full attention. Little did she know that she had his undivided attention by just uttering his name. Inwardly shrugging, he figured that what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Taking a deep breath he turned away from his rival, facing the girl that caused this entire mess. She didn't look very happy with him. "Uncalled for my ass, did you see the way he was touching you?" Natsu wrinkled his nose at the thought. It was icky, and unnatural, and plan old creepy, and the image wouldn't get out of his head.

She crossed her arms, brows raised. "Of course I knew how he was touching my body. I was there!" She poked him in the chest, "And what's it to you anyway?" She huffed, the challenge hanging heavy in the air between them.

Huffing, Natsu grunted. He couldn't just outright tell her that this whole thing came about because he decided to move things along between in a stupid indirect way. He couldn't exactly go out with the fact that it mattered to him because he'd done this hoping for a different, more kissy, less Gray, ending. He shifted so she couldn't see directly in his eyes (he was horrible at improvising).

"With the way you were reacting," He paused how was she acting? "It looked like you were about to explode," Erm, not quite, but he could work with that…probably, "I assumed you needed someone to get you out of that situation." He finished, happy his improvising had ended with something believable this time around.

Lucy seemed to flare up at his words, eyes narrowing and body shaking. "Excuse me," She began dangerously, Natsu swallowed nervously, taking a step back, maybe he said something wrong afterall, "I may need your help on missions sometimes, I may be your damsel in distress more than I'd like to be, but I believe I can take care of myself every once in a while, Natsu! Besides, it was Gray."

Frowning Natsu took Lucy's fisted hands into his own. He was afraid she would strike him for what he was going to say next because Lucy was weird and got angry over such weird things. "That's the point. It was Gray." He whispered.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She grunted in obvious frustration, teeth clenching as she stomped her foot, even when she was angry she was cute, "Do you have to approve who I let touch me too!"

Swallowing nervously, Natsu grunted. "I can't believe I'm about to say this to you!" He hissed under his breath at her, but it was the only way he could see himself coming out of this with her by his side, and his family jewels intact.

Lucy just stared, clearly still peeved off at him from the furrow of her brow and impatient tapping of her foot. He took a deep breath, cursing himself for being so corny. "I wouldn't have to approve who was touching you," His heart began to beat faster, and his face began to heat up in embarrassment, the sweet still lingering from his anxiety going cold on his forehead, "if it was me doing the touching."

Lucy blinked at him. "Wait, what?" The blush from before returned with a vengeance.

Coughing awkwardly, Natsu let her hands go in favor of crossing his arms in a nonchalant manor. If he was going down, he planned on doing it with even a little of his manly dignity in tact. "I think you heard me, Lucy."

"Let me get this straight. You punched Gray because you were jealous of him?" Lucy snorted, and for whatever reason he even found the unladylike sound cute too.

Natsu released an exasperated sigh hands reaching up to fist in his hair in aggravation. "Urgh! When you say it like that, it makes me feel…I don't even know the word to describe it! But its bad, and it makes me want to just hide!" Lucy's shy laugh brought his attention back to her, His arms dropped, one finger pointing at her in an accusing fashion, "You think this is funny?" He asked, appalled. There was nothing funny about this situation!

She held her hands out in surrender, a brilliant reassuring smile brightening her face. At least she didn't seem angry with him anymore. "No, I think you're adorable when you're embarrassed—"

"Aha! That's the word! Embarrassed!"

"—I was laughing at my own stupidity. Here I thought you didn't care that Gray had asked me out-because I know you heard him, you were watching us like a hawk until I glanced over at you!"

Natsu shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Of course I was watching, it was a part of my horrible HORRIBLE plan."

Lucy looked confused (and cute), but continued on with her explanation. "Anyway, I thought you and Lisanna had a thing. You've been hanging around her all day today, and when I looked over at you and you turned to laugh with Lisanna I just thought that you didn't really care if Gray and I got together."

He ran a hand down his face. Of course she'd actually think something weird like that. He should have seen it coming. When this girl was concerned everything he thought was up, was actually down. So if all else fails, pure bluntness would have to get through to her. Taking a deep breath, he began clarifying himself. "I'm going to make this very clear, me and Lisanna are friends, childhood friends, good friends, but not…lovey dovey friends…if you get what I mean."

Giggling, Lucy nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Relieved, he continued on diving deeper into his mission. "I have a question though. Seeing as we're talking about it, you know. I just need to know something—but only if you're okay with me asking of course!" He sighed. That must have been the smoothest thing to ever come out of his mouth.

Lucy shook her head in amusement. "Ask away, I'm sure it's not that bad."

"What is Gray to you?" He blurted out before he lost the courage to ask. He didn't know why the question had gotten so stuck in his throat. He already knew the answer, well, he thought he knew the answer.

Lucy looked down sheepishly, her hands laced together in front of her, sporting a guilty frown. "He is my comrade, my Nakama."

Natsu took a small step closer to her, leaning down to get a better look at her face. Her eyes were downcast, and cheeks still pink. "Is that all he is?"

Lucy nodded, peaking up at him from underneath her bangs. He could feel the heat radiating off her in waves. It only intensified when he closed the gap between them even more, their bodies' only inches away from each other. Her scent flooded him, forcing him to dip his head to catch the sweet smell again. His proximity let him hear the rapid beating of her head, and he was reassured because hers was hammering just as hard as his.

"What am I to you, Lucy?"

Her breath hitched for a second, and then resumed at a brisk pace. She began to fidget, toying with the end of her skirt. Natsu exhaled through his nose, the hot air messing with her bangs. She visually shivered, and this made Natsu swell with happiness because she could be affected by him like he was easily affected by her.

"Natsu…you are my most precious Nakama. My Best Friend." She whispered for only him to hear, the surround guild mates who'd been previously forgotten by the dragon slayer all groaned in disappointed, unable to hear her quiet words. Apparently they were their entertainment for the day. Natsu didn't care though.

Because his heart stopped. "Is that it?"

She swallowed, he watched the motion of her throat, and wondered how'd it move if he were to ever get the chance to kill it. "N-No." She breathed, taking a deep breath. Her head slowly raised, her eyes meeting his with a new confidence. Natsu had never seen her so flushed for as long as he'd known her. Her face now rivaled the red of Erza's hair. He had to catch his breath as her eyes began to droop. She'd always been sexy, but this was ridiculous. If he wasn't so freakin' hot that all the salvia in his mouth had evaporated, he'd probably be drooling.

She began to lean forward, and he felt the heat spike—almost like a fever would except more abruptly. She looked dazed as her eyes drifted completely closed. Her arms reached around his neck to make him dip down lower, her movements smooth, but almost seemed automatic like she was going on her instincts.

Her lips brushed his, and it didn't take long for Natsu to melt down to the same state she was in, a puddle of hormonal teenage boy. She began to pull away-knowing her she'd apologize, because she was weird like that-but Natsu pressed his lips back onto hers. Fumbling to wrap his arms around her, press up to her, and continue the poor excuse for a kiss at the same time. He didn't know the first thing about kissing, but he was so willing to learn. Especially if it'd be with Lucy.

Clapping and wolf whistles interrupted the moment, and Lucy separated from him like he smelled funny. Natsu kept his arms securely around her, his bright face leaning down to her ear to whisper to her. "You know I need you now, right. In my life. Like this." He nibbled her ear, and she gave a weird sigh moan that did strange things to his stomach.

"On condition," She whispered back, tone playful, "You tell me all about that plan of yours."

Scoffing, Natsu was saved from replying by the outraged, "W-What the fuck!"

Natsu straightened, leering over his shoulder at the intruder. "Get lost loser, she's mine." Natsu hissed, tightening his grip on Lucy and crushing her to him for extra protection. For all he knew the creep could make a grab for her or something. Her face nuzzled into his neck, and her breath sent tingly sensations down his spine. It made him antsy. He didn't want to deal with that bastard now. Couldn't he see he was busy doing things.

"But I just ask her out like an hour ago!" An ugly purple bruise was darkening the skin of Gray's cheek underneath the right droopy eye. Somewhere between waking up and standing up he'd lost his pants.

"Yeah well she already found someone better, ice brain. Find another chick to woe, stripper." Natsu nodded his head at the ice bastard's lower half.

Gray looked down and cursed. "This always happens at the most inopportune times!" He grunted, eyes scanning the nearby area for his missing clothing. Natsu snickered, loosening his grip on Lucy a bit.

"But don't you think this is over! I had her first!"

Lucy cleared her throat, stepping out of Natsu's embrace. He instantly missed her warmth, but bit down the urge to make another grab for her. She looked like she had something important to say.

"Yeah, about that Gray…." Lucy stepped to the almost naked mage. This irked Natsu a bit. His Lucy shouldn't be so immune to nearly naked men. She was too innocent for that, "I don't know about you, but the whole thing felt odd to me."

Gray stiffened, droopy eyes going wide. "It's always awkward at first!" He defended. Natsu moved to stand behind Lucy, snarling at the ice mage. There was no way he was going to stand by the sidelines while he tries to steal Lucy from right underneath his nose. Not in a gazillion and two years.

"That's the thing," She sighed, scratching the back of her head, "with Natsu it wasn't." She looked at him with pleading eyes, and Natsu saw Gray practically melt.

He let out a deep breath, eyes shooting downward. "I understand." Natsu felt kind of bad for the guy. Kind of. Not really.

"So no hard feelings?" Lucy tried for a sweet smile, but it came out looking forced, nevertheless Gray returned the sentiment.

"Good, good," Lucy grinned, and it was genuine (and cute), "One last thing. Can you not let Juvia know about our hour of thing. I only ask because I want my head connected to my body. Juvia has threatened me so many times, and I'm not sure if she's kidding or not anymore."

Gray chuckled as he pulled his shirt over his head. Natsu didn't notice him find it. Either way, it made him relax that much more. The less naked man around Lucy, the happier he was (unless it was him, of course). Gray replied with good humor, drifting away from them in what Natsu assumed to search for his pants. "Yeah, don't worry." He turned, "You know, now that I'm sure nothing can happen between us, I might ask her out soon. I do care for her a lot." To him, it seemed like Gray was talking to himself, but since the guild was so enraptured by the scene, everyone heard him.

A couple seconds of silence passed until the entire guild busted into cheers. Natsu found it strange that some of the girls (including Levy and Mirajane) were high fiving and congratulating each other but Natsu decided to save that investigation for another day.

He grinned, taking Lucy's face into his hands and turning her to look at him. Now that Gray was officially out of the way, she shouldn't have any issues relaxing into him again, right? "See you even you're your ex's blessing, can we do some more of that kissy stuff now?" He moved her so she faced him, leaning down to brush his lips by her ear as he spoke. Man, he could get used to the way she reacted to him. It was like every brush of skin, every touch of his lips set off some reaction in her. He was eager to find them all.

Lucy flushed, pushing in to arms length away. Natsu huffed, what was wrong this time? "Not now! We're in public!" She looked around, smiling gawkily at the pairs of eyes that stared back. Natsu eyed his surroundings himself, and couldn't help but agree. Now that she brought it up, he felt uncomfortable doing the kissy stuff in front of his nakama too.

"Tonight then! Ohhh man, I need to ask some people for advice then!" He released her, heading over to the table where Macao and Wakaba sat. He had a lot of questions for those guys. After all those years of hearing the stories about their conquests, it was time to get a couple 'how to' lessons from them. He'd love to try a couple of the ideas out on Lucy. Especially the one that involved blindfolds!

"Natsu!" Lucy's shrill cry of outrage made him smile. He only hoped he would hear her say his name like that in a more…passionate manner tonight.

"If you talk to them about…indecent things I will lock every door and every window in my apartment! Don't test me, because I'll do it!"

He redirected his route where Erza and Gray sat at the table. He would have went to the bar to avoid the awkwardness between he and that bastard, but there was a group of giddy girls there that he didn't want to deal with at the moment. So he nabbed Lucy's hand with his when he passed her again, bringing her to the table with him.

"I would never think of asking such things Lucy! I'm scandalized you'd think that low of me!" He tried for the 'outraged gasp' type of expression, and from the meek look she shot him it seemed like it worked.

They arrived at the table, and Natsu was relieved when Gray and Lucy fell into conversation about Juvia like nothing seriously messed up happened between them. Yep, their team would be alright.

And as far as Natsu was concerned? He was content with waiting. The girls from the bar would surely come for Lucy in hopes for more details, and that was when he'd slip over to Macao and Wakaba for advice.

Let's just hope this plan won't end up like his other one: and utter failure.