Summary: Even when Lucy is feeling at her worst, Natsu is always there to try to cheer her up. NaLu.

A/N: I've been feeling the NaLu lately! I wrote most of this back when I was watching the GMG arc and just decided to finish it. It's just a silly little fluff fic with a silly premise playing on the fact that Lucy's seduction attempts always fail, nothing too graphic.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or the cover art used for this story.

Just Kiss!

…

Lucy had no idea why she had chosen to go through with this.

Sure, it seemed like a great idea at first. A chance to put her self-perceived good looks and feminine charm to good use for the sake of the guild. After all, she was attractive, right? She was blonde with a cute face, big boobs, a small yet firm stomach… didn't men like that kind of stuff?

However, she was quickly beginning to realize that maybe she wasn't as pretty as she always thought she was.

With the loss of its master and strongest members during the seven yearlong time freeze after Arcnologia's attack on Tenrou Island, Fairy Tail had plummeted financially, barely managing to stay afloat. It was no secret that the guild was struggling when they had returned – the guild hall was in shambles and even the quality of food served there had decreased severely, much to the disdain of Natsu and Happy.

A simple correction to that was to do more jobs to increase the flow of money within the guild, but with the absence of the Fairy Tail's stronger mages, much of Fiore's population had ceased sending in job requests to the guild. Yep, Fairy Tail had become a joke.

The most obvious solution to both that, and the money issue appeared to be to enter, and win, the upcoming Grand Magic Games. Two birds with one stone, right? They could regain their former glory, as well as the large sum of jewel that was being offered as prize money to the winning guild.

However, their beginning performance in the Games was… lackluster to say the least, things were not looking good for them. And they were even having some difficulties paying for food and lodging during their stay in Fiore's capital. So, then came the solution, a completely absurd and juvenile one suggested by Erza of all people. And one that seemed quite contradictory to upping the guild's public respect level. During their one off day to rest in the middle of the tournament, the women of Fairy Tail would set up a kissing booth on the streets of the city to earn money for the guild.

Markorav, and even the ghostly Mavis endorsed the idea. It was no secret that Fairy Tail had a number of attractive female members, they figured that the guild may as well cash in of that fact in the time of financial difficulties. None of the girls were forced to participate of course, but a fair number of them did, including Lucy herself. After all, she may as well use her good looks for the guild, and she couldn't deny that she enjoyed the attention.

How disappointed she was to find that almost no one had come to her booth yet.

Mirajane was, unsurprisingly, the most popular of them all; her line extended so far out that Lucy could barely see the end of it, even members of their own guild were commissioning her. Erza was easily second, garnering nearly as much attention as Mira despite her somewhat… intimidating attitude towards the men that approached her. Cana was quite popular as well, especially due to her tendency to get a little touchier than just a simple kiss with the guys, oh they did like that!

The only one that was just about as unpopular as Lucy was Juvia, but it was blatantly obvious that that was more by choice than anything, as it was clear that the only reason the blue-haired female had agreed to participate was out of hope that she might score a kiss from Gray. She had turned away everyone that came to her booth, while eagerly, and not-so subtly, trying to encourage the dark-haired ice mage to partake in her service.

Lucy glanced over at Juvia's booth to see Gray bickering with Lyon, who was currently trying to convince her to kiss him as fervently as she had previously been trying to convince Gray to do the same. For a moment Lucy thought Gray might actually go through with it, if not just to get Lyon to leave.

But even with all the rabble going on at Juvia's booth, she was still getting more male attention than Lucy was.

Sure, this money-making ploy was a success. At 10,000 jewel a pop, it was clear that the other girls were making a large sum of money with their efforts. One might have thought that the public would not be interested due to Fairy Tail's current state of unpopularity, but it seems that people were able to overlook that for the sake of getting to kiss an attractive female. It was so successful that even Blue Pegasus's Jenny Realight had chosen to set up a booth, and she had garnered just as long of a line as Mirajane.

How dejected she was that she wasn't able to keep up with the rest of the girls. No one was even giving her a chance. She had even worn some of her nicest clothes just for the occasion; a black, lacey top that showed off a gracious amount of cleavage and a skirt that was more than just a little short. How could people not be noticing her? Even the flirtatious boys from Blue Pegasus were choosing to bypass her booth in favor of others. Not only did she feel as though she had disappointed the guild for the second time this week, the first being her loss to Flare, but for the first time in her life she felt truly ugly.

After all, no one wanted her. Not when they could have one of the many girls that were prettier than her.

Lucy looked up eagerly when she heard the faint sounds of footsteps approaching her table, only for her expression to drop when she saw that it was just Natsu, who was followed closely by Happy.

"Lucy what are you doing? I thought you were suppose' to be working," the Dragon Slayer spoke with a muffled voice, his mouth full of food from the turkey leg he was casually chewing on.

And just when she thought she was going to get a customer too. She groaned, ungracefully rubbing her hand down her forehead. "I am," she whined. "No one is coming to see me. You're the first guy that's come to my booth all day and I don't suppose you want a kiss do you?"

At this, Happy loudly snickered and Natsu coughed on his bite of turkey, lightly pounding his chest to clear his throat. Lucy quickly looked away, blushing furiously at her bold offer. She would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about kissing her pink-haired teammate before, they were pretty close after all. But this was Natsu, who had the sexual interest roughly equivalent to a rock, he didn't want to kiss her.

Opting to ignore her comment/question, Natsu casually unfolded a chair and sat down next to her, with Happy flying to sit on the table and continuing to chew on his fish. "This whole idea is stupid anyways. We should just earn money by doing missions like we always did. Plus, we're going to have a bunch of jewel when we win the Grand Magic Games!" Natsu commented cheerily, flashing his teammate an enthusiastic grin.

"Yeah, I suppose so," Lucy said dismally.

"It's not like we're not earning money from this though, if that's what you're worried about," Natsu continued, apparently trying to comfort her in his own way. "Actually you got a pretty sweet deal! We're earning money and you haven't even had to do anything."

"It's not that… it's just – never mind," Lucy responded. She did appreciate his attempts to make her feel better, even if he was missing the point of why she was upset. Plus, she wasn't going to exactly complain to Natsu that she was disappointed she wasn't getting more male attention.

Lucy watched out of the corner of her eye as Happy hopped onto the other male's shoulder and whispered something into his ear, snickering all the while as he did so. She couldn't hear what he had said, but whatever it was, it caused Natsu's cheeks to suddenly match the color of his hair, brows creasing into a glare as he slapped the Exceed away. She quickly looked away, feeling a light flush form on her own cheeks. Admittedly, she was pretty curious on what Happy had said, but another part of her felt as though she was better off not knowing.

A few minutes passed of several more men bypassing Lucy's booth. Some would stop to glimpse at her for a moment before continuing on their way, while others simply sped past her without paying her a second glance. Natsu was still sitting to her left with Happy on his lap as they both obnoxiously chewed on their food. Lucy sighed, frowning at the two males. "You know, you guys sitting here being gross isn't exactly going to help get me any business."

"Why?" Natsu muffled out through a mouthful of food. "If they like ya, they'll come anyways."

"Lucy just needs to act sexier!" Happy chimed as he chewed on his fish bone.

"Don't you think I'm trying?!" Lucy exclaimed, perhaps a bit more loudly than she had intended as several nearby people were now looking in their direction. "You two idiots aren't making it any easier."

At this, the two males simply shrugged and resumed eating. Lucy groaned, planting her head on the table so that it made an audible 'thud'. Truthfully, she'd given up the whole 'act sexy' thing long before her two teammates had even arrived. It obviously wasn't working.

Once again she heard the sound of footsteps near closer to her, but she opted not to look up, her forehead remaining firmly planted on the table. Even if it was, by chance, a customer, she wasn't certain she could even perform 'the service' for them right now. Not with Natsu sitting a mere couple of feet away. That would just be awkward.

"My dear Lucy, this is so unbecoming of you," a suave male voice came… wait, she knew that voice. She felt a clearly masculine, slightly calloused hand ghost across her own momentarily before grasping it, as if encouraging her to look up. "A girl like you should be smiling!"

At the contact, she jumped up from her seat to make eye contact with a familiar pair of brown eyes, masked ever so slightly by darkened glasses. "Loke!" She hissed. "Why are you here? I didn't summon you…"

The Lion Celestial Spirit smiled rather seductively at her, bringing her hand closer to his mouth as if he was going to kiss it, causing a mild flush to tnt Lucy's cheeks. "Why, I heard about what you lovely ladies were doing and I just had to come see it for myself."

"Yo! Loke! What's up?" Natsu chimed in, seemingly oblivious to the intimate nature of the exchange between the pair in front of him.

Lucy flushed even darker, sparing a glance back at the Dragon Slayer. She hated it when Loke flirted with her like this, especially in front of Natsu…

Loke used his unoccupied hand to nonchalantly push his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, smiling amicably on Natsu. "Good to see you Natsu! I'm not surprised to see you with Lucy here, glad to know she has someone she can count on when I'm not here."

"Yeah, well, someone's gotta keep an eye on her, right Lucy?" Natsu responded, flashing her a grin.

"Y-yeah…" Lucy responded somewhat awkwardly, glancing at Natsu momentarily before making eye contact with her contracted Celestial Spirit. She yanked her hand away from him and placed both hands firmly on her hips. "Don't think that I'm going to kiss you though," she snapped at Loke.

"Oh, no, of course not!" Loke spoke hastily, waving his hands defensively out in front of him. "I couldn't kiss you, you're my owner," he placed a hand on his chin and hummed softly, glancing fondly towards the row of booths that the rest of the girls were working. "But one of these other beautiful ladies though…"

"Eh?" Lucy stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. It's not like she wanted to kiss him or anything, but how could he not want to kiss her?! He flirted with her all the time, and that whole 'because she was his owner stuff' sounded like a bullshit excuse. Was that just for show? Was he really not attracted to her enough to want to kiss her? "Seriously?! You came here just to do that?! I'm not going to use my magic power to keep you here just to fool around with girls. Close Gate of the Lion!" She snapped angrily as she waved Loke's key at him to forcefully close his gate.

"What?! Wait, Lucy! That's not fai-" He vanished in a smoky 'poof' as he was forced back into his own realm.

Lucy sighed, plopping ungracefully back down into her seat, her expression downcast. Not even Loke wanted to kiss her… She truly was hopeless if she couldn't accomplish that.

"Well, that was harsh," Natsu casually commented after a moment's silence.

"Yeah Lucy!" Happy agreed as he continued to chew on his mostly stripped fish bone. "When did you become so mean?"

Having been around her two partners for quite some time now, Lucy could tell that they were just joking with her. Making fun of her like they normally did. But she just wasn't in the mood for it right now. "He deserved it," she responded shortly. "He told me he would stop acting that way around women."

Natsu simply shrugged in response. "That's a lot to ask for Loke."

Another hour had passed and it was beginning to grow dark outside, the crowds gradually thinning out. Another hour, and still not a single guy had visited her booth. She had passed the time with occasional small talk with Natsu and Happy, both of whom had opted to stay with her the entire time with the excuse of 'having nothing better to do'. Although she had to admit that she was thankful for the company, even if it did little to improve her current lack of self-esteem.

She truly felt ugly. For the first time in her life, she felt as though she was unattractive enough that no man would want her. To think that just a few hours ago, she was so confident of her feminine charm that she figured she'd be the most popular girl in the guild. Oh how wrong she was.

"Man, I don't think you could possibly look any more depressed," Natsu suddenly broke the silence, staring intently at her as he sat slouched in his chair, his arms crossed casually over his chest. "Is it really that bad? Figured you'd be happy that you don't have to kiss any random guys…"

Lucy simply sighed, her expression downcast. "Natsu, am I ugly?" She blurted out after a moments silence, continuing to stare down at the table. She didn't know why she suddenly had the urge to ask that, but she didn't want to see his face when he responded.

Natsu stared awkwardly at her, failing to respond initially, and Lucy felt herself growing anxious at his hesitation. "W-well, umm…" Natsu responded after a long pause, awkwardly stumbling over his words as he tried to form a response, which prompted an amused snicker out of Happy. "N-no, you're not. You're… you're very... pretty."

Lucy blushed deeply at his answer, feeling her stomach do a flip. This was the first time she'd ever heard Natsu call anyone pretty, even if he was put on the spot for it just now. Was he lying to make her feel better? Lucy turned to glance towards him as he blinked at her owlishly as if waiting for a response, a pink tinge blatantly evident on his cheeks. "You're probably just saying that to make me feel better. I doubt you really think that. If I was pretty, at least someone would have wanted to kiss me today," she responded in a slightly flustered tone.

Natsu paused, staring at her with a dumbfounded expression for a moment before sighing loudly and standing up with a weird determination. He shoved his hands in his pocket, rifling around for a moment before marching over to the table and loudly dropping a large sum of jewel onto the table in front of her. "Okay, kiss me then," he said simply, his tone blunt.

Lucy heard Happy cough violently as he choked on his fish bone, but it was mere background noise when compared to what was currently happening in front of her. She blinked at him, bewildered. Natsu silently stared back at her with a rather intense expression on his face, the intimidation factor only just slightly lessened by the obvious blush on his cheeks. "Wh-what?" She finally choked out. "K-kiss you? B-but, I couldn't…"

Natsu leaned down onto the table, moving his face closer to hers. "Yeah you can. I paid for it, right?" He pointed at the large pile of jewel lying on the table. "There has to be at least 10,000 in there. You aren't going to back down on your services are you Lucy?"

"This is the best!" Happy exclaimed excitedly in the background, his voice wheezing slightly as he recovered from his prior choking incident.

"W-well, I guess you're right…" Lucy responded shyly, her blush deepening as she stood up from her seat to move closer to the expectant male.

As she approached him, she quickly realized that he appeared to be just as nervous as she was. Visible beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and his posture was stiff. Nonetheless, he continued his act. "Well?" He said expectantly, cocking his head slightly at her.

Lucy felt her stomach do a somersault at their closeness. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to kiss Natsu, her teammate and closest friend in the guild? She had to admit, she kind of wanted to, but the idea of it made her so nervous.

She heaved a sigh, her eyes meeting those of the slightly taller male momentarily before rocking up onto her heels and placing her lips onto his, her hands finding their way to rest on his shoulders. For a moment, Natsu didn't react, simply standing there motionless as she moved her lips against his. His initial inaction made Lucy stiffen in anxiety, maybe he didn't really want this? She nearly pulled away, but then he gradually began to ease into it, bringing his hand up to rest on the back of her neck, tangling in her hair, and tilting his head to deepen the kiss

This was happening, this was really happening. She was kissing Natsu, and he was kissing her back.

The kiss was light and chaste, but it was still a kiss, a kiss with her teammate, her closest friend. There were hundreds of people standing around them, chatting amongst themselves, but in this moment they all seemed invisible to her. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest.

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, Lucy moved to break the kiss, but the instant she moved to pull away she felt Natsu's hand tighten on her neck, holding her there for a few moments longer. She felt her stomach do a small flip at this action. Eventually he released her, breaking the intimate embrace and taking a small step back from her. Lucy felt herself immediately missing the warmth of the contact.

Lucy hesitantly glanced up at him, her face flushed to the color of Erza's hair. Natsu simply stared back down at her with the same intense expression he had held before they kissed, but the blonde swore she could see a sort of fondness in his eyes that wasn't there before. "You taste like strawberries," he said simply after several moments of awkward silence, curling his lips inward as if to lick them.

Does that mean he liked it? She was nervous to find out, but at the same time she desperately wanted to know. She laughed awkwardly at his remark. "O-oh, really? Must be the lip gloss I put on earlier today…"

"Maybe," he responded, still chewing on his lips. "I like it."

Lucy quickly looked away from him, feeling her stomach do another flip, her face feeling like it is on fire. He liked it, he liked kissing her. And she had to admit, she liked it too, it felt as though some hidden, deep want was finally fulfilled inside of her. But what does that mean for them now? Technically this was just a no-strings-attached service, but Natsu is different from some random guy on the street. Will their relationship change, or will they still just remain friends and teammates as though nothing was different?

They stood there in silence for a few moments longer, still standing awkwardly close to each other. Lucy didn't know what to say, only knowing that her face looked like a tomato and her legs were beginning to feel more and more like jelly. The silence was finally broken by a loud scream, one that harshly reminded Lucy that they were still in a very public area.

"Lu-chan! I'm so happy for you!" Both Lucy and Natsu turned to face an overly excited Levy, who was standing in the middle of the street with a rather disinterested looking Gajeel and neutral Pantherlily.

Lucy felt her face pale when she looked around and realized that everyone was staring at them. A few looked surprised, some stared at them knowingly, while others, such as Happy and Levy, appeared downright excited. Great, now everyone in the guild was going to be talking about them.

"Congratulations you guys," the sweet voice of Mirajane came from the booth next to Lucy's, her head cocked slightly as she smiled kindly at them.

"See, I knew that guy was her boyfriend," A younger male in Mirajane's line whispered not so quietly to his friend.

"Yeah, did you see how they acted in the arena after her fight with that one crazy, red headed chick?" His friend responded.

"They're always seen together too!"

"I heard he's a Dragon Slayer, don't want to mess with his girl."

"Yeah no way, that's why I said we should avoid her booth."

"Wh-what?" Lucy exclaimed, feeling her face once again heat up in embarrassment. "WHAT?!" She exclaimed again, a bit more loudly this time. His girl? That's why people were avoiding her booth?

She felt her body stiffen as Natsu shuffled closer to her, casually swinging his arm over her shoulders and pulling her into him with confidence. "Yeah, this is my girl." Lucy felt her heart skip a beat. "So better keep your hands off." Natsu said with determination, exhaling a puff of fire from his mouth for intimidation factor.

"H-hey! Wait a moment! I'm no ones 'girl'!" Lucy exclaimed, unsuccessfully attempting to unwind herself from Natsu's arm, who simply responded by gripping her tighter. "N-Natsu, what are you talking about?" She stuttered out, quiet enough so that only he could hear.

"Hey, relax." Natsu responded, finally releasing his grip on her shoulder and flashing her a grin. "It's just for show."

"O-oh." Lucy responded quietly, feeling her heart sink.

So he's not serious. She didn't know why, but she felt disappointed. Natsu was her friend, her partner. She didn't want to be with him romantically, did she?

Natsu exhaled and shuffled awkwardly for a moment before leaning down and whispering into her ear. "But it doesn't have to be. Wh-" She heard him pause momentarily, swallowing thickly. "What do you say?"

Lucy didn't know if it was out of nervousness, or shock, or happiness, or what, but she felt herself burst into laughter, causing Natsu to look momentarily taken aback. "Lucy that's not an answer. You just look crazy," he stated, urging her to respond.

Lucy simply shook her head, still in a fit of giggles as she turned to face him and pull him into a tight hug. "You're ridiculous," she stated simply, finally calming herself. "But yes."

She decided that she wanted to, she wanted to be more than just friends with him. Months ago she would have gawked at the idea, after all at times he was just absurd and completely juvenile. But then again, that was part of his charm. It certainly can't hurt to try.

The blonde felt her heart skip a beat as Natsu tightly wrapped his arms around her, grinning wildly into her hair. "By the way Lucy." He said after a few moments. "I'm pretty certain that was at least 20,000 jewel I gave you. I think I deserve to get the most out of my money, don't you?" He said suggestively, tapping his lips with his finger.

Lucy laughed lightly, leaning in to give him a light peck on his slightly flushed cheek. "Don't push your luck," she warned jokingly. "Maybe later, when we're alone." She winked at him, causing him to grin at her, his grip around her back tightening.

They were once again abruptly reminded that they were still surrounded by people when a passerby hooted at them. Lucy felt her blush return when she looked around to see that some people were still staring at them, but fortunately for the most part, everyone had returned to what they were doing before. Not that she really minded anymore that people knew…

She jumped when Happy not-so-subtly flew up next to them, hovering eye level with her. "You liiiiike each other !" He sang excitedly with a roll of the tongue.

Sure, Lucy may have made less than any of the other girls today, but in her mind, she came out on top. It may have been in the form of an impulsive, immature, and destructive fire mage that has zero understanding of personal space, but for her, that's just what she needed.

…

FIN