~It's not a walk in the park

to love each other.~

"Hey."

"Hey…"

"I said HEY."

"Shut up."

"Lucy, come on."

"Luuucy…"

"I'm talking to you here."

"Shhh."

"Lucy."

"…"

"Lucy, please talk to me."

"…"

"Helloooo!"

Lucy groaned as she abruptly had the map she was studying lowered from her eyes by a particularly large, at least in comparison to her own, hand. She eyed the black wrist band that matched hers as the hand crossed her vision, and rudely took away her only way of figuring out where they were, despite how futile it was proving to be.

"What?" she hissed in retaliation of his want in her attention.

"Are you still mad?" he sighed and crossed his arms, giving her a look that explained he honestly didn't know why she was upset.

"No Natsu. I'm not mad. I just wasn't speaking to you out of pure enjoyment!"

He lifted his hands to the level of his eyes, palms outward, "Hey now, no need for hostility."

"No need? We're completely and utterly lost! And in the middle of the fucking desert no less!"

"Who there sailor mouth. All we need to do is keep looking right?" He replied to her words and flashed that adorable grin which, on any other day, would've made her heart skip five beats.

But unfortunately for her, she was in no such mood.

"We've BEEN looking!" she shouted, "Why the hell did I let you convince me into this job?!" she waved the job flyer in her partner's face, only one because Happy wasn't here due to his hatred of hot places, and then shoved it back into her bag, "The reward isn't even that high in the first place! Hell, I didn't even know that there was a desert region in Fiore!"

"Hey! Calm down! We've just gotta keep looking. It's not my fault that the guy lives in a hole in the ground. How the hell does a guy even live underneath a desert?" he placed a hand on her bare shoulder and she immediately winced at his touch.

"Ack! Jesus Christ, your hand is searing!" she screamed and smacked his hand away, promptly blowing on her skin that was now going completely red and puffing up in the spots where his fingers landed.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to- I mean I'm naturally hot blooded so this desert makes it worse- I'll try and cool down- Fuck- I'm sorry." He scratched the back of his head and a guilty expression crossed his face. He stepped back a few feet and did what he usual does to lower his body temperature. Lucy could immediately feel the difference in heat around him.

Despite having just been yelling at the guy, she felt sorry for reacting as strongly as she did when she saw the look on his face. It was unfair really; the man could go through most of his life and get away with unimaginable things with that puppy face if he wanted to. It worked on her, so it might as well work on everyone else, right?

Shit. She hated when he got like this, it would last forever if she didn't mend it right way. "It's fine. It'll start to swell, and most likely leave a scar, but it's nothing I can't handle." She sighed and continued walking on, only to pause when she realized Natsu still had the map.

"Can I have that back now please?"

He looked up from his sulking position and reached over to hand the paper back to her, his hand lightly brushing hers when he did. Thankfully, it wasn't as hot as before, so her reaction was much more normal this time.

A light blush spread over he cheeks, despite already being flushed from the heat, and she looked up at his still regretful face, "I told you it was alright already. You didn't mean it, and I'm sure you wouldn't hurt me like that on purpose so forget about it, alright?"

She took his hand in hers, blissful that he had managed to cool off, and began to drag him with her. They'd held hands before, it wasn't such a big deal now, at least not to him from what she could tell, but in her case her heart started hammering like mad.

"You sure?" he asked in a skeptical voice and with his eyes squinted. Natsu wasn't such a fool as to believe that Lucy, Lucy who loved to make sure her appearance was grade A, would treat a scar on her shoulder as nothing. Frankly, to him, he didn't care what she looked like. She was a fucking Goddess in anything she wore, and to be honest the thought of her having a scar her and there turned him on. Of course her actually getting hurt in order for her to have a scar is what he had a problem with.

"Yes, yes. It's fine." She sighed and released his hand for fear of him thinking she was holding on too long.

"Alright…" He was still skeptical, but he left it there for now, a bit disappointed she let go of his hand.

They kept walking on for a few more minutes making idle chat while Lucy was desperately trying to figure out the map when Natsu finally, finally saw what they'd been looking for.

On the flyer it said that this kooky guy they were looking for lived in a mound of sorts, with only a wooden door, no doubt being held to the sand with magic, to show that someone actually lived there.

"Look Lucy!" he grasped her hand and began sprinting towards the mound, "We're finally here!"

Lucy laughed as she saw that his behavior had returned to normal, and returned the blinding smile he wore on his face, lacing her fingers in between his.

"Great now let's hurry and get this job over with!"

~But when our fingers interlock, I can't deny you're worth it.~

~Cause after all this time, I'm still into you.~

"UUUUGGGGHHHHH." Lucy groaned loudly as she stepped off the train, bouncing with its constant shift in weight, "That was the worst job we've been on in long time."

"I dunno," Natsu spoke up having already recovered from his motion sickness, "I thought it was pretty funny."

"How do you figure that?!"

"When you kicked that one bandit in the dick, remember that, now THAT was pretty hilarious." He laughed and held his torso, trying to hold in another laughing fit.

In spite of herself she couldn't help but join in, "But apparently that wasn't enough because once he was on his knees you had to go and break his nose."

"Well of course," he gave her a look of "don't be stupid Lucy", "the guy was damned pervert. He tried to kiss you for fucks sake, you think I'd let him off with a throbbing dick for trying to harass you?"

Lucy sighed and tried to contain her blush, a warm tingly feeling forming in her abdomen, "Well considering that it was ME being harassed, I was supposed to be the one doing the "letting him off" deal."

He only grinned in response, so she laughed and grabbed her luggage, "Alright then, let's hurry back to the guild. I'm starving."

"Yes!" he pumped his fist into the air, "Food!"

And instead of running off in a wild manner like he would've done in the past, he waited for her to get all her things settled and they set off at a leisurely pace. Shoulder to shoulder.

~I should be over all the butterflies, but I'm into you.~

~And baby even on our worse nights, I'm into you.~

"We're back!" Natsu loudly greeted the guild upon his entrance and ruffled Lucy's hair before he ran over to Mira, yelling that he wanted some fire-food A.S.A.P.

"Welcome back Lu-chan! You guys were gone longer than expected." Levy strode up to her friend, with Happy just behind her.

"How was the job?" Happy asked in his high pitched voice, and from what Lucy could see there was no guilt whatsoever for not going with them on his furry face.

"Awful." She grunted as she sat and rested her head against the table they had walked over to, "First we couldn't find the damn guy, then Natsu accidentally burns me," she looked over to the whelp on her shoulder, " and after hours of searching we finally found the old guys house. Apparently some bandits were convinced that he was holding some type of mystical treasure in that mound of a house and wouldn't leave him alone."

Lucy sighed as she recalled the mission, and leaned back against the benches back board, "We had to stay the night and wait for the bandits to show up and let me tell you," she raised her eyebrows, "that place was not accommodating in the LEAST!"

"What do you mean?" Levy intrigued by her friend's tale pushed her on and Happy, who was suddenly munching on a fish also nodded for her to continue.

"Well we were in a desert, so you can only imagine how much sand there was and how it would just end up everywhere. In the food, in my clothes, eyes, hair, everything had sand in it."

"What about the bandits?" Happy spoke this time.

"Oh them? They weren't that bad. We finished them off pretty easily actually." Lucy grinned at their accomplishment, "Except there was this one really pervy guy who didn't go down so easily."

Levy face scrunched up at the word "pervy" "He didn't do anything to you right?"

"No." Lucy shook her head and a bemused smiled crossed her face, "After trying to get a kiss from me I kicked him where it would hurt the most."

"Hahaha! Nice!" Levy laughed and held out her hand for Lucy to high-five, which she gladly accepted. "Was that all?"

"Well other than Natsu going a bit over board and breaking the guy's nose, that was pretty much it. The guy who requested us gave us our reward, and we began our way back home."

Lucy finished her story and glanced over to Natsu who was merrily stuffing his face with the food Mira had just prepared for him. He sat there talking with Gray and Elfman, a bit of food spilling out of his grinning mouth as he replied to their conversation. Most girls would've been utterly repulsed at the sight, but Lucy? She was used to it. Now a days she actually, despite the way she upholds her own manners, found it sort of endearing.

"Luuu-chaaan?" Levy teasingly called out her friends name when she noticed Lucy had gotten lost in translation while staring at Natsu. She giggled and continued her small teasing parade, "How do you do it Lu-chan?"

"Huh? Do what?" Lucy turned back to her friend in a nonchalant manner, pretending that she hadn't just stared at Natsu longer that necessary.

"SAY THAT AGAIN, ICE DICK!" Natsu suddenly exploded across the guild. Only seconds ago they were chatting normally, but now the usual fight was about to occur.

"BRING IT ON FUCK FACE!" Gray shouted back in equal volume and lunged at the fire mage in a quick second.

"FIGHTING IS MANLY!" Elfman yelled with intensity that shook the room and proceeded to join in the fist fight that had just developed.

"How do you put up with him all the time? You're not even yelling at him to stop fighting like you usually do?" Levy brought up her question again as cheers and whoops sounded throughout the guild. The blunette wanted to get a good response from her friend while they were on the topic.

She wasn't oblivious to the blonde's feelings towards a certain dragon slayer. They'd talked about it a few times before and the spirit mage had actually admitted she held a crush on the guy, but that was it. Anything more than that she had vehemently denied with a red face. But of course Levy had seen through that. Anyone would've. It was so painfully obvious that the pair was in love, but like most clichés, everyone knew it but them.

Lucy shrugged, "It's not how I put up with him. It's how I genuinely enjoy his company."

Levy blinked at her words, not believing she had actually said them. Even Happy, who had just finished his fish, couldn't even respond with his running gag of "She liiiiiiiikes him".

~Let them wonder how we got this far,

cause I don't really need to wonder at all.~

After a few seconds the blunette quickly snapped out of her shock and resumed her teasing, "Ohoo, Lu-chan. Do I sense a confession coming any time soon?"

"CONFESSION?!" Happy's mouth dropped at this new information. "LUCY, YOU LIKE NAT-?"

"SHHHH CAT!" Lucy immediately slapped a hand over the exceed's mouth and shot a venomous glare towards her friend, "Levy!"

"Sorry Lu-chan." Levy giggled at her slip of the mouth and held her hands up, "I forgot he was here!"

"But Lucy you like-?"

"Shhh. Let's not talk about this right now, okay?" she shushed Happy and tried her best to control the heat rushing onto her cheeks.

"But Lucy I have to tell you someth-"

"I said SHHHH" she stopped Happy yet again. Her embarrassment growing by the second as Levy had her head thrown back in laughter at the scene.

In a fit of frustration Lucy made a 180 and turned her back on her friends to watch the unruly fight that was happening a good distance away. She had been in a good mood and wasn't about to let it get soured over some teasing, despite the fact that it was all true.

Her eyes focused on Natsu and his movements. The fighting wasn't serious of course, it was sloppy, full of dodging and punching but it wasn't like anyone was trying to do serious damage. They were all grinning and laughing at each other, throwing in insults here and there.

Just as Natsu was about to slam a temporarily paralyzed Gray into a table, he caught sight of Lucy looking his way and grinned, her heart fluttering, as usual, in response.

So, to make things a little more interesting she did something that she wouldn't normally do. She pumped her small fist into the air, cupped the side of her mouth, and joined in the cheering of the rest go the guild, "Go Natsu!" she grinned, ignored the snickering behind her, and yelled out to him.

At this Natsu face dropped a fraction of a second and froze, trying to process this new cheer coming from the blonde.

Hold the phone a second. Is Lucy actually… a red tint formed on his face… cheering me on?

"Oh hell yeah!" he shouted in response to the girl and resumed his fight with a new vigor, a smile wider than she'd ever seen spread on his face.

Lucy laughed and cheered once more, still ignoring the meager cat calls coming from the exceed and blue haired girl behind her.

~Yeah after all this time,

I'm still into you~

At around one in the morning the fighting, drinking, and partying died down. The usual scene of mostly everyone passed out amongst the destroyed tables and chairs was playing out but of course Lucy had managed to outlast them all in terms of staying awake.

She passed all the unconscious bodies and made her way to the bar where Natsu had conked out nursing some fire whiskey and Mira humming a tune while she cleaned out some glasses.

"Oh Lucy." She was surprised at the mages sudden appearance, "You're still awake too, huh?"

The blonde sighed and sat down next to her partner, trying to suppress a yawn, "Yeah. I can't seem to fall asleep as easily as everyone else after all that racket." She spoke as she idly poked Natsu's cheek, seeing if he was actually asleep, "I prefer my bed much better than the wooden floor."

Mira laughed to herself as she took in the scene of the pair in front of her. In all her days she had never seen a couple as oblivious to each other as them. And what made the situation so odd in her opinion was that they were the closest to each other out of everyone. They were so maddeningly close, and yet they couldn't even see the others feelings.

Well, she thought to herself, at least one of them isn't so oblivious.

"If you're going to head home soon do you think you could take care of Natsu?" she put the glass she was cleaning back under the bar and set her hands on her hips, "I've got to make my rounds and get everyone to clear out."

Lucy raised her eyebrows at the woman's words, "You're the one who gets them all to wake up and head home?!"

Mira smiled and responded, "Well someone has to do it. And if I can, then I will."

A sparkle of admiration shone in Lucy's eyes, "You're like everyone's mom aren't you?"

"I suppose you could put it like that." She laughed, "I know I've taken Natsu and Happy home quite a number of times, with the help of Elfman of course. He did all the carrying."

"Hahah," Lucy let out a small laugh at the sheepish expression Mira was wearing, and promptly lifted herself off of her seat.

"I guess I'd better get going then. I'll just take him to my house since he'll probably bust in anyway." Lucy pretended to be unnerved by the man's breaking and entering habit, but Mira saw through it, "Have you seen Happy?"

The bar maiden look around the guild for a few seconds and spotted the furry blue cat, "Ah, there he is." Lucy looked over to where Mira pointed and "awed" out loud at the sight.

Laying on one of the still intact tables was a small bundle of white and blue. The two exceeds were cuddled up together and sleeping soundly, their tails winding around each other's.

"Oh my God!" Mira cooed at the pair, clutching her dress where her heart was. "Leave them be. That is way too adorable to interrupt! Oh, I've got to get my camera!" And with that Mira Jane disappeared into one of the back rooms to search for her belongings.

Lucy sighed and turned her head back to the pink haired man still passed out on the bar, "Hey." She pushed on his shoulder trying to see if he'd wake up, "Are you really going to make me carry you all the way to my apartment?" she tried again, but no dice.

Grunting, she pulled one of his arms over her shoulder and once that one was secure in her hand, she pulled the other one over, successfully managing to get the mage onto her back, "Ugh. Since when were you this heavy?!"

Of course the reason behind it is all that muscle he has…. Lucy blushed at her thoughts and made her way out of the guild as quickly as she could, leaving the practical mother of the guild to her antics and self-assigned job.

~Recount the night that I first

met your mother~

"I swear, this needs to stop!" Lucy shouted to herself on the lonely street back to her apartment after her thoughts had run wild yet again, "How fair is it that he just gets hotter, nicer, more considerate, funnier and dependable every year!"

Natsu smirked against her shoulder, having woken up as soon as they hit the cobbled streets of Magnolia. He didn't want to let her know that he was awake just yet; it was quite enjoyable to hear her voice, which he honestly liked, especially when she was talking about him. It was difficult, but he tried not laugh at her sudden outburst.

"Damn it damn it damn it!" she swore into the cold air, "Why is it so HARD!"

They were together every damn day! So why was it so hard to just say it outright? Of course the inevitable fact that they were together all the time is what made it so difficult. If she was to say it, and he ended up not feeling the same way, then what the hell would happen then?! If they couldn't reconcile, if she couldn't get over her own feelings, her life would have a big change occur.

Then on the other side of the spectrum, there was a chance that he did return her feelings. That would be, for a lack of better word, AMAZING. Not much would change in between them though. They were already together all of the time, so that would be the same. But changing into a more serious relationship, well let's just say that more intimate things would ensue. Like saying those three words out loud to each other, and otherthings...

Lucy reddened at her thoughts.

God. How many times had she involuntarily dreamed about kissing the passed out guy on her back? To see how his hair, that look so soft despite its spiky-ness, felt in between her slender fingers? To run her hand over his trained muscles that flexed so torturously when he did normal things throughout the day?

"Agh! Stop it Lucy!" she scolded herself out loud, and immediately checked to see if the pink haired mage was still sleeping.

Natsu held in his laughter as he sensed Lucy turn her face towards his. He could tell she was moving to see if he was still sleeping by the way the vanilla scent of her skin moved closer towards his nose.

The girl sighed and slowed her pace just a bit, feeling the wave of defeat she had become oh so familiar with when it came to this wash over her.

"Why is it so hard to say "I love you"?" she breathed aloud, having checked if Natsu was asleep or not, "The only way I can get it out of my mouth to say it to you is when you're passed out and drooling on my shoulder for Pete's sake!"

~And on the way back to my house

I told you that I loved you.~

If Natsu wasn't already unmoving he would've frozen in his spot. He tried to stay silent, but seeing as how his heart head decided to go on over drive it was proving to be difficult.

Did she really just say...? Did LUCY just say that she… loved…ME?!

He honestly wanted to get up off of her shoulder and run around in circles trying to process this information. It was obvious that the blonde had harbored some kind of affection for him. They were partners, and after all the words and teasing from people in the guild, he had begun to notice she acted a bit differently around him.

When this news that Lucy might've liked him reached his ears, he had already fallen down deep into the bottomless pit that was his love for her, as put by Mira Jane. And by no means had he actually thought the girl loved him back in the same way. Like he said before, she was practically a GODDESS in human form, so how in the hell would she have liked a guy like him?

But as the time passed by, he noticed more, heard more, and felt more. He'd become less oblivious to her feelings and was at least fifty percent confident that she loved him too. And with that fifty percent, he wanted to wait for her to have her fifty.

What that meant was that he wanted to wait until Lucy was sure of herself and knew for herself that he loved her. What good would it be for them to force a relationship? As sure as he was in his feelings for the girl carrying him back to her house, he wanted her to be equally as sure before he said anything. Otherwise it would be awkward and stressful, again, as put by Mira Jane.

Yeah he had gone to her for help. The guy hardly knew anything about that type of love, let alone relationships, and was desperate for advice. And since Mira was the self-proclaimed match-maker of the guild, who else was he supposed to turn to? Gray would've made a mockery of him. Erza would've tried to give him the sex talk. Master would've begun to talk about their mutual interest in the blonde's ass, and he probably would've tried to punch the old man for it. Lisanna had actually been there when he talked to Mira, so her input was helpful. Gajeel? Well Gajeel had been his second option since he was a fellow dragon slayer, and he knew how things operated when it came to love and such with them, but since he had gone to Mira first there really wasn't a need to talk to him afterwards.

Anyway, the point of him not pouncing on her right that second was that he wanted to wait until she actually told him to his wide awake face. Or at least wait until he was absolutely sure of how she felt and then HE would tell her.

But now she actually said it! Granted he was pretending to be asleep, but she still said it!

Fuck, he was over the moon and he couldn't do anything for fear of her beating the shit out of him on accounts for pretending to be asleep and eavesdropping on her "private" conversations with herself.

~You felt the weight of the world fall off your shoulders. And to your favorite song we sang along to the start of forever~

So he would wait until she was fully ready to say it to his face. But God knows that he isn't a very patient man, so it'd better be sometime soon or else he was going to lose his head.

Then all of a sudden, she started humming a song to herself. It was soft, and slow, a peaceful tune.

And despite his recent mood of jubilation, he was actually beginning to grow a bit sleepy at her voice. A Goddess I'm telling you. Her voice was amazing and why she didn't let anyone else hear her sing was still a mystery to him.

Natsu had only heard it twice before, and that was when they had gone on missions with just the two of them. Of course they had had to take the train home, so he wasn't particularly feeling well and when he was about to vomit all over Lucy's lap, which he was using as a pillow, she began to sing a song. Whether it was for him, or for herself he didn't know, but what he did know was that he had found a cure for his motion sickness.

Her voice had been so goddamn beautiful that he had actually forgotten about the puke that was about to surface out of his mouth and instead he had been able to focus on just resting with a still irritating, but endurable stomachache.

So as she sang to herself when they reached the door to her apartment, and cursed when she accidentally jammed her pinky on the door, he only smiled and allowed himself to sink back into sleep, actually feeling a tiny bit guilty that she was struggling with every muscle in her body to keep his large frame on her back.

He had fallen hard for the mage that was still cursing to herself as they entered the small one room apartment, and only just then had he finally hit the pavement.

~Cause after all this time.~

~I'm still into you.~

A/N: Short but sweet.c: Song- Still Into You by Paramore.

Hope you enjoyed. ^_^