The rosy haired man leaned down and kissed the blonde girl curled up against his side tenderly, and her eyelids fluttered closed as she smiled against his lips. The sky was clear and blue above the tree that they sat under together, and the shadows flickering across her pale, beautiful features were just so endearing to the young man that he couldn't resist. And when he pulled away and she smiled brightly up at him, he knew that it was perfectly okay. And why wouldn't it be okay for him to kiss his girlfriend of just about three months? The three best months of his entire life, since his foster father's disappearance. She just had this way of cheering him up when even the cat-like creature known as an exceed, who was almost like a son to him, couldn't even tell he was upset. And maybe that was part of why he loved her so damn much that it sometimes hurt. But he wouldn't have it any other way, because what other way would end up with her comfortably in his arms like this one?
He snorted at the thought of another guy coming and trying to take his Lucy away from him. Because, really, who in their right minds would want to go up against a Fairy Tail mage? Especially Natsu himself? And if they did approach Lucy, Natsu let himself grin an almost feral grin at the thought of what he just might do to the guy if the girl in question wasn't present at the time.
"Natsu," Lucy said, in that sweet voice of hers that lifted and fell in a way that let him know that she was aware of the train of thought he'd been on. How could she not be, with the burning glare he was shooting at the guy who so unashamedly stared at her, mouth agape, from just ten feet away. "Calm down, Natsu. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."
At her words, he smiled a warm smiled down at her and pulled her closer, nuzzling into her hair. She giggled at his warm breath on her neck, but didn't protest, and the person staring seemed to get the picture that she was taken, that she was Natsu's, and scurried off before the male mage turned that really freaky glare on him again. Because no one wants to be at the receiving end of a glare like that from Fairy Tail's number one destructive mage. There might not be anything left by the time he's done with them.
And so the happy couple fell into a companionable silence again, watching the sun begin to set from their spot beneath the nice, shady oak tree. His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, and her head fell against his chest. He smiled softly as she let out a little shiver at the cool breeze and slowly unwrapped his scarf with one hand, so that she wouldn't notice. Her eyes were riveted to the pinks and purples and yellows that spread across the sky in a beautiful conglomeration as the sun set, so distracted by it that she didn't feel him moving behind her until he dropped the scarf around both of their necks. She looked at him, kind of surprised, and he just used Igneel's scarf to tug Lucy closer and kiss her again, which made her giggle this time. And he decided he liked the feeling of her giggling against his lips - but he wasn't going to tell her that just yet. She already knew how he liked his food, and what his favorite colors for her to wear were (blue, because it went with her hair, and red because she just looked so damn sexy in the color), so he wasn't going to tell her about the giggling thing. She didn't need another thing to hang over his head when she was in a particularly vindictive mood.
The way her gorgeous, chocolate colored eyes slowly opened after he had kissed her had always made his heart freak out in ways he hadn't thought possible until he'd met her. And it just got better each time, because every day he fell a little more in love with her - though, again, he wouldn't tell her that just yet, because he still hadn't even told her he loved her once yet. He had the idea that she could see he did, but she hadn't said it yet either. And as the sunset got even more spectacular before their eyes, he decided that wouldn't this be the perfect time? And besides, he needed to tell her before he went crazy.
"Hey, Luce," Natsu said into her ear, and she giggled as his breath tickled the feature.
"Mmm?" she said, eyes on the sky once more.
Natsu tucked his head in the crook of her neck from behind her, his nose touching the skin of the back of her shoulder as his forehead rested on the part of his scarf around her neck. The nervousness built just a little in the pit of his stomach, but the fire mage would not allow this to dissuade him from his chosen action. He was going to tell Lucy how he really felt, and he was going to do it now.
"I love you, Luce," he breathed, and her breath hitched slightly, and then she let it out, and then she giggled, before starting to laugh and turning around in his arms and throwing her own around his neck.
Just centimeters from his lips, the laughter dying just a little, she said, "I love you too, Natsu," and her breath brushed across his lips. He didn't have time to think about it before she was kissing him - and it was a great feeling, to have her start this kiss. Lucy, despite her attitude and how sure of herself she was in her sex appeal, was so timid in their relationship, and Natsu thought it ought to have been the other way around. And then her words registered in his mind, and his arms tightened around her back and he kissed her back, just as excited that she had said it as she had been when he'd said it to her.
She ran her hands through his rosy hair, and again, Natsu decided he wouldn't tell her just yet, but that had a way of getting to him, and he found he really liked it when she did that. And it's not like Lucy would tell him, but she felt the same way about the way he was running his hands through her hair, because how could something so simple feel so good?
Lucy made him feel like he had fire in his veins - which, contrary to the popular belief among some of the guild members, or the fans he hadn't realized he had until Lucy told him, he didn't - but he wasn't going to let her know how warm she made him inside.
Not just yet.
