Water drizzled from the sky in the form of mist. Not quite heavy enough to be called rain, but no one can say that they were safely dry either. It was the kind of weather that made people cancel picnics and curse themselves later.

Lucy Heartfilia was currently banging her head against her desk. Scattered papers and a pen with a broken nib testified to her frustration. She was in the throes of that which all authors hated and dreaded: writer's block.

Plue shivered next to her, sucking on a lollipop, eyeing his contracted wizard with gentle puzzlement. He expressed that confusion through a plaintive "pun-pun?"

"It's nothing, Plue." Lucy sighed, rubbing the Celestial Spirit on the head. "I'm just stuck."

"Speaking of stuck…" came a loud voice from behind her, "can you get over here and get me out?"

Lucy let out an outraged noise as she saw a pink-haired Dragonslayer halfway through her window, trying to yank his tangled scarf free from a catch on the window frame while nearly strangling himself in the process. "INTRUDER!"

"I just wanted to say hi! What's wrong with that?" Natsu frowned like a child, waiting impatiently for Lucy to walk over and save him from his slightly ridiculous predicament.

"Say hi like normal people do." Lucy groused as she stomped over to the window. "Through an open door and not the window."

Natsu huffed, and rolled his ochre eyes that were currently rather hurt. "That's the boring way." He leaned in conspiratorially to her face, grinning like a fiend. "I like to do exciting things!"

Steam practically shot of Lucy's ears. "Y-You dummy." She carefully backed out of range and returned to her desk. "If you're going to be in here, be of some use. Please help fix those papers, and NO ravaging my fridge or pantry."

Natsu wilted. "Fine." He walked over and picked up some of her scattered papers, arranging them somewhat clumsily. However, a few choice words caught his eye and he began to read in curiosity. "What are these, anyway?"

Lucy squealed and tried to grab them out of his hands. "Don't read those! Don't read those!" Plue let out a little cry as he tumbled off the shaking desk and onto his face.

Natsu read aloud from a random page, his mischievous tone melting into some confusion as he progressed. " 'Edouard's smile was like sunshine, and his actions yearned towards her. He made her heart pound, but at the same time, she did not dare to approach him. She felt like he would reject her and their friendship, like a golden treasure, would melt in the heat of their argument.'" He stopped and stared at her. "What the freaking heck, Lucy?!"

"You weren't supposed to read that!" Lucy wailed. "That's just an idea! A passage from one of Erza's romance novels, not mine! Research! Though not really for my story…." She clapped her hands to her cheek and found them burning hot.

"Huh." Natsu gave her an odd look and went back to stacking them haphazardly on her adjacent table. He was quiet as he silently read several other passages.

Disconcerted, Lucy busied herself with pretending to write gibberish furiously on a scrap piece of paper. To her horror, she found herself writing suspicious letters that looked disturbingly like "N+L". She hastily balled it up and hurled it at the wastebasket, and accidentally beaned poor Plue on the head, eliciting a startled "PUN!"

"I'm so sorry, Plue!" Lucy scooped him up, cursing herself for being so flustered. "Here, I'll send you back." She raised her silver key, and suddenly yelped.

A strong hand was locked firmly around her wrist, and that same hand spun her around so that she was face-to-face with Natsu's burning dark eyes. Lucy turned redder than Erza's hair and stuttered a "Nat….su?"

"Is this true?" He held up a piece of paper that had several scrawls slathered over it. To Lucy's infinite horror, she recognized the paper, written several weeks ago when she was in a rather pissed off mood. Natsu is such an ignorant dolt. I'm an idiot for liking him.

"Well?" Natsu asked. A hint of impatience was in his voice. "Is this something else you "didn't mean to write"?"

Lucy sighed loudly, her heart screaming bloody murder in her ears. "I was mad that day. I know you really aren't an ignorant dolt. I apologize for that."

"That's." Natsu leaned in, glaring at her. "Not. What. I. Mean." Lucy sucked in air as he moved closer to her face, close enough to feel the heat of his breath.

"Natsu…don't even…" She whispered as he leaned in…and relaxed his forehead against hers.

"Don't leave such private stuff around like that, okay Luce?" Natsu grinned, all previous intensity gone like dew in the morning. Lucy was left reeling mentally and physically as he let go of her arm.

"If the others see that, or even Happy, then they might think you like me." The Fire Dragonslayer commented, throwing his arms behind his head, flopping onto her bed. "And you don't want other people to know that, right? That makes you all jumpy."

Lucy blinked. "Say what?"

Natsu glanced at her. "I like you too." He declared this without a single qualm or hesitation. "I think you're pretty, and you're really strong. I think you're the best, and I like you. Really like you, you know?"

Lucy stared, agape. Natsu laughed and sat up on the bed, his hair tussled. "Don't stare like that. Something might fly into that mouth of yours."

"TO HELL WITH THE NERVES!" The blonde wizard shrieked, and she ran across the room and flung her arms around a startled Natsu, and kissed him fiercely. On his lips.

She had her eyes tightly shut, so she didn't see the wide eyes of Natsu. Nor did she see the way his gaze softened, or the way his eyes drifted shut.

Lucy didn't need her eyes to feel his arms pull her close, impulsively and quickly as he always did things. She didn't need to see to hear his sounds of pleasure, his insistence and his gentle but firm furtherance of the kiss. She didn't need to do anything but to reciprocate, to entangle her fingers in his bangs, to touch her tongue to his, to lose herself in that dream-haze world where so many lovers find themselves in.

"Is the world is ending, or did I just witness Natsu becoming an actual hormonal teenager?"

"L-Lucy…!"

Gray Fullbuster and Erza Scarlet stood in front of them. Gray was smirking fondly at them, while Erza tried to reconnect her brain to reality without short-circuiting her easily turned-on brain.

"Dumbass! Don't interrupt my private time!" Natsu sent Gray flying with a blow of his fiery fist, and Lucy screamed and threw her pillow at the intruders, which was promptly sliced in half by Erza.

Plue made an approving sound, and whisked off to the Celestial Spirit World to inform the other spirits of heir contracted wizard's relationship. Leo would not be happy about this.

A/N: Sorry for those waiting for an update to A Tale of Stars and Dragons. Exploring some more NaLu while Hiro Mashima trolls with my heart in the newest Fairy Tail chapters.