It was the first day of Spring and Natsu was feeling, as always, all fired up about it as he was walking around Magnolia with his friend Lucy.

"I'm all fired up! Haha! First day of Spring! Finally!" The rosy haired fire mage exclaimed. Lucy Heartfilia, his best friend in the world, merely chuckled at his all too typical behavior with a grin.

"Haha Spring is my favorite season of the year." She replied.

"Mine too!" He said with a classic Natsu Dragneel eye squinting smile that could warm a heart of stone. Lucy's heart made a thump-thump sound at the sight of this smile. She had seen this smile a thousand times before and not once had she reacted like this. She returned a smile but secretly wondered why she was suddenly reacting this way. Her palms were starting to get sweaty and her heart was beating faster than normal. She felt nervous. But why?

"We've done a lot of missions lately, Lucy. You wanna just take it easy for today? Maybe go and get something to eat?" Natsu asked.

"Oh, um, sure." Her heart felt weird at the sound of her name coming from him. "Wh-where did you want to go?" She replied a little shakily. What was going on?

"Your choice, Luce." He replied.

"Hm..How about that restaurant by the guild?" She asked him. He never let her choose what restaurant.

"Alright. What time?" He asked with grin. Lucy's cheeks went ever so slightly red from the sight of his grin.

"How about 7:00 tonight? I need to go shopping for some stuff." She said.

"How about I go with you?" Natsu asked with his hands interlocked behind his head as they walked.

"Huh?" Lucy looked at him quizzically. Natsu never goes shopping with me. "You never want to go shopping with me."

"Yeah I know but I thought that since I don't have anything to do today and nobody to hang with since Happy is with Charle and Lily that I would just hang out with you." He replied giving that classic Natsu grin again. Lucy's heart fluttered and her cheeks turned a few shades redder.

"Oh. Okay then." She said turning her head praying that Natsu didn't notice her blushing.

"Hey, Lucy. Do you have a fever or something? Your face is turning all red." Natsu asked, oblivious as to what was beginning to transpire.

"Actually I have to go home right now! I think I left the stove on!" Lucy exclaimed, suddenly feeling the need to get away from him. She ran and didn't stop until she was in her apartment. She felt bad that she just ditched Natsu like that but her heart had just started pounding so fiercely and her face had felt like Natsu's flames when he said her name. "Uuuugh what is going on?!" She cried as she fell onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow. It was true that the two of them were close. But her and Natsu? She started to picture him asking her to be his wife. To her surprise, it made her stomach have butterflies just thinking about it. She smiled dreamily before coming back to reality. "Waaah! Noo! This is not happening! This is NOT happening!" She cried as she threw her pillow across the room. Was she falling for Natsu? She decided to get a bath and try to clear her head of this nonsense. As she mulled it over in the tub, she started to think about Natsu. She pictured him. His toned biceps, his perfect 8-pack, and that toothy, eye squinting smile of his. She sighed and then blushed furiously at the realization that she could ACTUALLY be falling for Natsu. "Ugh! Natsu what are you doing to me?!" She screamed in frustration. She got out and got dressed as it was nearly time to leave.

"Hey, Luce!" Natsu said as he squatted on the window sill.

"Wahh! Natsu!" Lucy screamed as she fell over. "What are you doing here??"

"I came to pick you up so we can go to that restaurant. You Ready?" He asked.

"Oh. Yeah." She replied hesitantly.

As they made their way towards the place, Lucy noticed Natsu looking at her. "What?" She inquired with a nervous chuckle.

"I dunno. You just look nice I guess." He said as he locked his hands behind his head.

Lucy's heart sped up.

"Really?" She asked unable to keep the excitement out of her voice and the pink tint from her cheeks.

"I mean sure. I like looking at you. You're nice to look at. And..."He trailed off sounding nervous. He looked away from her uncomfortably.

"Natsu?" Lucy said wondering why he was acting so out of character.

"It's just that.."Natsu stammered. "It's just...I.."He couldn't seem to find the right words. He took a deep breath. "You remember back during the big Sakura Tree Festival? You were so sick that you couldn't go. You had been so excited to go that you couldn't stop talking about it for a month before it even happened. And you were devastated when you couldn't go. Remember how I sailed by your apartment with that sakura tree on a boat? That was all just for you. And..I mean...I guess what I'm trying to say is that..." He took another deep breath. "Lucy, I-" But before he could finish his sentence, a gang of 10 street thugs had kidnapped Lucy.

"NATSU!!" Lucy cried out. She had left her keys at home as well as her whip so those would be of no use. "Let go of me you filthy scumbags!" She yelled as she was tossed into the back of a magical fourwheeler. "What do you want with me?" She asked.

"You're Lucy Heartfilia. Heiress to the Heartfillia empire. You are gonna give us all of your fortune and we are gonna be rich!" The obvious alpha of the gang boasted.

Lucy just rolled her eyes. "Don't you idiots know that I am no longer the heiress to that?" She asked them.

"Well if that's the case then we can always sell you on the market! Hahaha!" The alpha laughed maniacally. Just then, Lucy heard the loudest, most bestial, unearthly roar coming from behind them.

"Ha! You guys have really done it now!" Lucy proclaimed. "You hear that? That's the sound of you jerks getting your butts kicked! You know who that is?" She continued.

"RAAAAGGHHH!!!! GIMME BACK MY LUCY!!!" Natsu roared.

"That's Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail. Salamander." She said with a smile that said "You are all dead men walking". Just then, Natsu, flying using his fiery feet as propulsion, flew in front of the vehicle. He stood there and the look he gave the driver was enough to rid even Erza Scarlet of her courage. The driver, however was too petrified to move. Natsu cloaked his arms in fire and met the speeding vehicle head on. As he pushed against it, his feet dug into the pavement and he stopped it. He ripped the door off the side of the car and got Lucy out and asked "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" With panic evident in his voice.

"No Natsu I'm fine. Really." She replied smiling. Natsu let out a breath of relief.

"I'm glad you're safe. But now I'm gonna teach these guys what happens when you kidnap my Lucy!" He growled and then cloaked his entire body with fire. "Don't you EVER. TOUCH. LUCY. AGAIN!!" He roared. His body became a single pillar of intensely burning fire. All the scumbags were cowering in fear against the magic vehicle. Some had even soiled themselves at the sight of something so terrifying. "DAZZLING BLAZE OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" He put both of his fiery hands together creating a massive fireball and sent it flying into the ground where the would be kidnappers were still cowering petrified. Most of them were sent flying from the blast but a few were spared that fate for a fate much worse. "FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Natsu instantly roasted the remaining scum and anything else within the path of his attack. He picked up the alpha who turned a pale white and lowered his voice saying in the most threatening tone "If you ever come back to this town, or ever think about coming near Lucy again, I will turn you all to ash." And then threw him down onto the cobblestone pavement. The ones who were still conscious picked up the unconscious ones and ran as fast as they could away from the mage that fought like a demon.

"Natsu.." Lucy breathed. She was in awe of just how powerful he was. Natsu spun around to Lucy and held her close.

"Natsu what are you-" She started but was cut off.

"Lucy. What I was saying earlier. I never got to finish. Lucy, I like you. I've liked you since you came here to Fiary Tail. And I can't even imagine what it would be like without you." He confessed. Lucy felt something warm and wet on her hair.

"Oh Natsu.." She breathed again. She began to realize all the times that he had saved her, all the times that he was there for her, all the time that they had shared, she had felt the same way but just didn't know it. She wrapped her arms tight around him and cried tears of happiness.

"I love you too!" She proclaimed.

"I promise I will never let you go, Lucy." Natsu said as he touched foreheads with her. Lucy just smiled and felt like she wanted that moment to last forever.

"Thank you for saving me Natsu." She said as she looked up into his eyes. They burned like fire right back into hers. Her heart sped up a little bit and she could feel his speed up as well. He took her hand in his and leaned down inching closer to her face. She breathed and threw her arms around his neck as he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

"I'll always be here to protect you Lucy. I promise." He said softly as they broke away. "Come on. Let's go eat." He said. And with that, the princess and the dragon walked hand in hand down the street towards their guild and lived happily ever after.

The End

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