This is inspired by all of the tracks from The Maine's 'Lovely Little Lonely' album.
Expecting it to be about 4-5 chapters.
It makes sense why Mira, Lisanna, and the Raijinshuu banned everyone from the guild for the past two days.
The tables are covered in pink and green tablecloths. Spring flower centerpieces adorn each. Shimmering streamers hang from the balconies and pillars. And most glaring of all - random marble statues of winged babies and maidens are scattered all over the hall.
Something is up, and Lucy feels like she's the only one currently out of the loop. Instead of a usual greeting, she pouts when she meets Lisanna at the bar. "Is it me or is this party very… Evergreen themed?"
Lisanna hums and pretends she has no idea what Lucy is talking about, which deepens Lucy's pout.
Behind Lucy, the guild doors burst open extravagantly. Cana walks in smugly and strikes a photoshoot pose in her blue, velvet dress. "It ain't no party til the booze arrives!" A crew of the guild's men begin rolling in huge barrels the size of cows on wheeled carts.
"Comrades! Make way for the gem of the party - the cake!" Lucy never could understand how Erza manages to project her voice over the entire guild, like she has a personal megaphone system installed in the building just for herself. Right behind the last barrel of booze, rolls in a tiered cake taller than Elfman; frosted a light pink and adorned with raining flower petal pieces.
Erza and Cana start a shouting argument about what makes a party between booze and cake, while a quartet of music wizards launch into a festive, upbeat tune from the stage. Lisanna escapes from Lucy, mumbling that she has to refill the appetizers, leaving Lucy to slouch into her regular bar stool.
She arranges her skirt and chuckles to herself, thinking back to a few hours ago when Leo and Virgo had a similar argument as Erza's and Cana's current one, about which star dress Lucy should wear. The two spirits collected votes from the whole gang back in the celestial world, and Capricorn's turned out to be the winner.
Judging by the other female guild members in sight, including Erza with a sexy crimson piece, Lucy decides she approves of the Capricorn dress for the… Evergreen themed night.
The wizard quartet nears the end of their first tune, which Mirajane takes as cue to stroll up on stage. There are a few late stragglers, but for the most part, the guild is present and focussed on Mira and what she has to say as the party opener.
"Dearest members of Fairy Tail!" Mira is absolutely beaming in a classic yellow dress. "Tonight, we celebrate the most wonderful of news! Yes, we have gathered together to commemorate our latest victory, but it gets even better… behold, my little brother Elfman is getting married to the love of his life, Evergreen! And this time, it's for real, not a scheme to win against me!"
Lucy's jaw, and the jaws of every other guild member present, drops. Guild members left and right make unbecoming, disbelieving noises. "Come on up, you two!" Mira's smile widens even more as she beckons for the two wizards. Evergreen walks up confidently, followed by a sheepish Elfman.
Naturally, Natsu Dragneel decides to make his loud entrance at this critical moment.
"Sorry I'm late! The baker was giving away free fire!" Happy the cat waves enthusiastically behind Natsu.
Mira's glowing grin wavers just a little bit. "Hello there, Natsu… Will someone please catch him up to speed…?"
Lucy brings her arm down in an iron-grip hook around Natsu's neck, simultaneously grabbing Happy by a fitted, red bowtie the cat decided to match his mini suit with. "Seriously! The nerve of you two!"
Most of the smart guild members choose to ignore Natsu's delayed reaction to the big announcement when Lucy sits her partners down at the bar and fills them in. Up on stage, Mira proceeds by handing the mic over to Evergreen. "Care to provide us the juicy details, Elfman? Evergreen?"
The fairy wizard looks amazing, pairing the smoothest, silkiest green dress with a wreath of flowers on her head, elegant but not overdone flower jewelry, then a final touch in the form of a pair of flowery, earthy flip flops. "Well for starters, Elfman was being the man of all men during our fight together with these stubborn wizards from that guild…"
Lucy misses the bulk of Evergreen's proposal story, unfortunately, thanks to a couple of her very noisy partners who decide that swallowing mouthfuls of food and then seeing who can belch louder is more interesting. What makes them stop is a snarky whisper to quiet down from Carla. Happy argues that Natsu forced him to do it, of course.
"…asked me in the hospital room at night when everyone else who got injured slept, and I said yes! We want the wedding be next month!"
Cheers and applause erupt from the guild. Some are swiping tears from their eyes, like Lisanna and Fried, and master Makarov is full on bawling. Amidst the shouts of "Congratulations!" and "Finally!"s from scattered places in the crowd, Elfman's declaration about how getting married is a man gets drowned out.
Mira takes back the microphone, eyes glistening as well. "That's about it for our big announcement! I'm sure some of you realized by now that the party's theme was specially chosen for our bride-to-be…"
"Wait!"
No one particularly needs to turn their heads, because the resonant, booming voice projecting loud enough to make Natsu cover his ears? Belongs to Erza Scarlet and Erza Scarlet only.
"Where is the ring?"
Erza is suddenly in the center of the stage, a very serious set of eyes boring into Elfman. "Where is the highlight of the marriage proposal - the ring?"
Elfman gulps. "Well, the whole proposal was unplanned, so I actually didn't…"
Before he can finish, poor Elfman is flying through the air, crashing into Jet and Droy.
"Unacceptable! Listen up, everyone! From hence forth, no member of Fairy Tail will partake in a proper marriage proposal without a ring! Such as this marvelous one here!"
Lucy's eyes about pop out of their sockets, and she's pretty sure Natsu and the guild share in her state. On Erza's outstretched left hand, there is a gleaming, thick gold band around the ring finger, studded with a red gem so sparkly, it entices the eyes and makes Lucy see her world tinged in red for a few seconds.
Erza wags her hand in a half circle on stage, her face so smug it could be evil even. The room is dead silent, until the loud, blatant noise of someone choking horribly somewhere in the back breaks the spell. Natsu, Happy, and Lucy's heads creak back and forth from the choking man with bright blue hair, to the stage.
"Jellal proposed to Erza with a ring?!"
The guild goes wild, everyone talking everywhere.
"It just so happens, yes. Now, for us, we do not plan on holding a wedding any time soon," Erza uses her projection(?) magic again to shut everyone up. "This ring is more of a promise of our eventual, future path, and of course, Elfman and Evergreen's wedding celebration can come first. But as it stands, dearest Elfman, you have been beaten fair and square in a battle of which man made the best proposal."
Evergreen is red and fuming to Erza's right, but Mira… something dark and ominous might or might not be smoking up from Mira's head, Lucy isn't too sure.
"Excuse me! I have something I want to say too!"
The guild has just about had enough of the eyes and jaws popping out of their bodily places, but Lucy has a gut feeling that there's more surprises coming, because the second interjection isn't just from anybody. It's from her best friend Levy, who jumps up to the stage with her small, quick body.
"…Levy..?" Erza recoils when Levy sticks her head too close to the red gem of the proposal ring. Levy puffs her cheeks in response, turning toward the crowd. At this point, the guild is just about ready for anything.
"Like I said, I have an announcement to make!" Levy squeezes her eyes shut as she shouts. "I'm pregnant with Gajeel's baby!"
Turns out, the guild wasn't ready for that.
Most of the members are screaming in shock, but Natsu's voice is the closest to Lucy, and therefore the most painful to her ear drums. Grimacing and surveying the guild's reaction to the newest turn of events, Lucy thinks back on the past few weeks. That's why her friend was so moody lately…
And then, an eerie quiet fills the air as all heads sort of simultaneously turn toward a back corner across from the bar, where it just so happens that Gajeel is standing next to Jellal. While Jellal is still getting over his choking fit, Gajeel has more or less turned into a stone statue, ready to crack and crumble into dust at any moment. Even more unfittingly, Panther Lily the Exceed is nodding in understanding near Gajeel's feet, smirking as if he's known everything all along.
Then, once again, all hell breaks loose. The guild's patience has run drier than Gray's chapped lips in winter, and the united voice of congratulatory feeling is replaced with anger, drama, questions.
"Gray sama, Juvia wants to become pregnant with your baby, please!" Juvia rips free her top (thankfully her outfit is a two piece) and pounces Gray, who for some reason is already only wearing black slacks and a bowtie. The two tangle and roll off, coincidentally, in Jellal and Gajeel's direction.
"This is a monumental moment for the future generations of Fairy Tail! Now I can retire as guild master in peace!" Master Makarov's tears begin creating a warm pool in the middle of the hall.
"This was supposed to be a big party for my little brother!" Mira stomps her foot, something dark and ominous definitely smoking from her white hairs.
"Levy! If you get married, does this mean the end of Shadow Gear?"
Levy smiles at her deflated partners, Jet and Droy. "Of course not! I'll be out of commission for about a year, but after that, we'll have our 6th member of Shadow Gear!"
Since when was Shadow Gear 5 members? The floating thought coasts by in Lucy's mind, but she doesn't have time to linger on it long.
"…Levy… Are you suggesting that Gajeel… beat us at the best proposal?"
Erza is still on that, and Levy tries to pass it off that she was just caught up in the moment and burst up on stage, and all of the girls on stage (except Mira) flush bright red, modesty suddenly kicking in as they congratulate one another on all the news.
With her sweet, angelic voice, Mira declares, "Proposing by making a baby is absolutely not model behavior! Gajeel, you are officially on my naughty list!"
Thankfully, that was exactly what Fairy Tail needed to begin shaving away at some of the tension and frustration built up from news after shocking news. Mira curtly disperses the crowd, and the three women on stage trail away discussing the specifics of whose wedding might come first while getting down to the floor. Cana roars that the party is a drag and breaks out the alcohol, and the more Fairy Tail-esque part of the night finally commences.
In general, no one seems heavily opposed to the three couples' engagement news, except maybe Lucy.
"Natsu! Why are all of our friends getting married all at once?!"
Natsu and Happy are back to chowing down again. "Huh? Gray's not getting married."
Lucy pauses, glances at the tangle of Gray and Juvia across the hall, and snaps back to Natsu.
"You're right. Why are most of our friends getting married all at once?!"
Natsu just shrugs. "Not sure. Maybe cuz they feel like it."
"They lllllike each other!" Happy sprays bits of half chewed fish in the air.
Lucy deflates with a sigh, turning away from the unsightly boy and cat pair and dodging the spray of fish without even looking.
"Lucy san..?" The ever graceful Wendy and Carla save poor Lucy from the unhelpful company of her partners. She greets them gratefully.
Wendy somehow doesn't seem as cheerful, sort of wiggling in her little body and starting to say something, then pausing, then repeat. After a sharp word from Carla, Wendy finally points in the direction of the stage shyly. "Don't tell me you and Natsu san…"
Before Wendy can finish, Lucy's shout darts out from her throat. "Absolutely NOT!"
Wendy flinches and Natsu and Happy pause to stare at Lucy weirdly. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy sees Cana pushing through with several jugs hugged to her chest.
"Sorry about that, Wendy… It's just… I'm absolutely not getting marred any time soon. You have my word on it."
"Oh, I see… well, Carla and I need to go congratulate Evergreen san… and Erza san… and Levy san… and then we need to head home, since it's getting late. And everybody will probably get drunk soon… Anyway, have a good time, Lucy san, Natsu san, Happy!"
Wendy and Carla bound off with waves, and Lucy remembers the critical thing she vowed to herself before arriving at the guild. She doesn't have time to spare, so she grabs Natsu by the arm and gives him a very serious, Lucy glare.
"Natsu, I need you to help me."
"With what?"
"Remember that time I got drunk and you had to carry me home?"
Natsu frowns, wiping crumbs off his mouth. "Mm hmm."
"And that other time that I got drunk and you had to carry me home?"
"Uh… huh."
"And that other night that I got drunk and you had to carry me home?"
His scowl deepens. "Wait, Lucy. Which time are you talking about? That one time, or that other time? Or is it that…"
"Doesn't matter! What matters is that if I keep having any more incidents like that, I'm never gonna get married to a decent guy! And look at Evergreen and Erza and Levy! They're getting way too far ahead of me!"
"But you just told Wendy you're not getting married soon."
"That's not the point! The point is, you have to help me make sure I don't get drunk tonight, got it?"
"Why does it have to be me?"
"Are you going to help a friend or not!"
Happy the cat flies in and lands on Natsu's head. "But you're so funny when you're drunk, Lucy!"
"Quiet, Happy! Cana is coming this way!" Lucy leans her face closer to Natsu's. "Natsu, when Cana tries to make us drink, can you drink everything up so there won't be any left for me? And for the rest of the night, do the same thing, so my lips won't touch an ounce alcohol."
"That… doesn't sound that hard, but what's in it for me?"
"The next job we go on, you and Happy can have all the reward money. I'll help for free." Lucy can't hide the grimace in her voice at this.
"And I get to choose the job, right?"
Lucy nods, moments before Cana sweeps in elegantly. "Alright, you two! Bottoms up!"
As promised, Natsu sloshes down all of the jugs in Cana's arms, one, two, three, four. Followed by a big, loud, belch, and then a "Thank you for the meal!"
Cana's face turns devilish, showering Natsu with fiery words about how he wasn't supposed to drink all of those because they were for the four of them. Which is like watching some words scribbled on wads of paper and tossed weakly at Natsu's pink head. They just bounce off harmlessly, having less than zero effect.
"Lucy, come get some more drinks with me." Cana wags a finger in Lucy's direction.
"Well actually, Natsu, Happy, and I were gonna go congratulate Elfman and Evergreen next…"
Cana doesn't seem too happy about it, but she lets them go with a final devil glare. She mumbles something about finding Laxus or Laki instead.
"You pulled it off perfectly, Natsu!" Lucy beams at him, handing him a napkin.
"I'm gonna be so full by the end of the night…"
"Oh please, your stomach can take it! And I wasn't kidding about going to see Elfman and Evergreen. Come on!"
Lucy has high hopes for maintaining her composure tonight, as long as she keeps close to her dragon slaying partner with a bottomless pit for a stomach, or so she believes.