"This holiday is so stupid." Natsu sighed, his hand under his chin to keep his head from falling onto the desk in Lucy's apartment. "I mean, who even thought of Valentine's Day?"
"Valentine's Day celebrates the burial of Saint Valentine, I'm honestly not sure if it was ever meant to become a romantic holiday." Lucy explained before clapping her hands together, getting a dreamy look in her eyes. "Even so, you can't tell me that you just don't love all the romance in the air! It's such a beautiful day!"
Natsu sweat dropped at the blonde's swooning. "I think you've been spending way too much time with Mira, Lucy."
"Yeah yeah." Lucy waved him off.
"Well I think you're just a little pissy you don't have a valentine." Gray teased the pink haired teen when Lucy was out of earshot, making Natsu immediately get defensive.
"Y-Yeah right! I could so get a valentine if I wanted!"
"Oh?" Gray challenged. "Then by all means, go out and get yourself a valentine Natsu."
Before Natsu could respond, Lucy abruptly stood up in her place. "I'll go get dinner started since I know you two are useless when it comes to cooking, might as well send you home with a nice meal."
"You know us so well Lucy." Natsu grinned while Gray nodded in response, watching their blonde friend retreat to small kitchen.
"As I was saying," Gray spoke up after a moment of silence, "Go and get yourself a valentine Natsu."
Natsu paled a little, sneaking a little glance in the direction the blonde went. "I mean I could, but whats the point in that? It's just a stupid holiday."
Gray laughed at his response. "Admitting defeat already? That's not like you."
"I'm not admitting defeat!" Natsu snapped back. "It's just…"
"Hmm?"
Natsu growled. "I don't gotta explain myself to you!"
Gray put his hands up in defense. "Alright, alright. Take it easy. You're lucky we're in Lucy's apartment."
Natsu snorted. "Since when has that stopped up before?"
"Since I decided to ask Lucy to be my valentine."
Natsu choked on his spit. "Y-You what?"
The dark haired teen raid an eyebrow. "I said was gonna ask Lucy to be my valentine, gotta problem with that?"
"Yeah, actually I do!" He shouted back.
"What's the problem with me wanting Lucy to be my valentine Hot Head?"
"Because I want Lucy to be my valentine!"
It was Gray's turn to snort. "Oh yeah? I thought you could get whoever you wanted as a valentine?"
"I mean I could." Natsu mumbled, sounding unsure of himself. "But just because I can doesn't mean I wont. I only want one person to be my valentine and that person is Lucy."
"Do you even like Lucy?"
"Of course I like Lucy! She's my fri-"
"If you say shes just a friend I'm going to smack you upside the head, dipshit." Gray stated in a serious tone, surprising Natsu. "Valentine's Day isn't for friends. It's for couples, romance, love, all that stuff you see in chick flicks. If you don't want to be anything other than friends with Lucy then-"
"But I do." That shut Gray right up, the taller teen looking to his pink haired companion. "Whenever Lucy's around, I get super nervous. Like I'm scared I'm gonna do the wrong thing or some shit, but I guess that's okay because I like seeing Lucy get worked up over the dumb things I do. I think of her all the time without even meaning to. I think about her when I'm eating man, when I eat I usually just think of when I'm going to eat again. Whenever I'm away from her, I just wanna be with her that's why I try to sneak into-"
"You try to break into her apartment?!"
Natsu rolled his eyes at that. "I said sneak in, totally different. Anyway, Lucy's a weirdo and doesn't lock her window. That's on her."
Gray sweat dropped. "I really hope you know that doesn't give you an excuse to break into her apartment."
"How are you even better!" Natsu said in defense. "When Lucy first moved in here you were in your underwear."
"Hey! I got naked before I came into Lucy's place!" Gray said with tinted cheeks. "At least I don't get kicked out of her bed constantly!"
"At least I'm man enough to get into her bed!"
"You sneak in! She kicks you out of it as soon as she wakes up!"
"W-Well you!" Natsu growled in frustration, unable to think of a decent come back. "Don't strip while I'm right in front of you, asshole!"
"Like I would ever strip-" Gray looked down to see his bare chest, "Where the hell is my shirt!"
"Hopefully the same place as your pants." Natsu grumbled, his eyes lingering a little too long at Gray's figure, going unnoticed by his rival. "Anyway! We got off topic. Why do you want Lucy to be your valentine?"
"Isn't it obvious idiot?" Gray replied as he buttoned back up his jeans. "I like Lucy, much more than a friend. Unlike some of us in this room."
"I like Lucy much more than a friend too!"
"Then why didn't you just admit it in the first place?"
"Like I should tell you my feelings." Natsu tsked.
Gray face palmed. "Seriously man? You just admitted to me that you liked Lucy."
"No I didn't-" Realization dawned on Natsu's face. "Holy shit I did." He looked at his rival. "How long have you liked Lucy?"
Gray put on a thoughtful look. "Lets see. We've all been friends since what, 6th grade? We're seniors now…" He dropped the look with a shrug. "Probably 8th grade."
"That's so long!"
"Yeah? Jealous because you only discovered you liked Lucy five minutes ago?"
Natsu growled. "Wrong! I've liked Lucy since 6th grade!"
Gray looked flabbergasted. "6th grade?! And you say my four years is long! What even made you like her in the first place?"
Natsu shrugged. "She was weird."
"What a good reason." Gray sarcastically replied. "Anyway, bottom line we both like Lucy. What are we gonna do about it?"
Natsu, for the first time that night, went into deep thought. "Good question. It's not like we both can date her, right?"
Gray sighed. "No idiot, if we both date Lucy that means we would be dating each other to."
Natsu looked offended. "What the hell is wrong with me Princess?"
"It'd be easier to name what wasn't wrong with you."
Without thinking Natsu pounced on Gray, which resulted in them rolling in Lucy's living room knocking over books, knick knacks on Lucy's shelf and making Lucy's dog, Plue, run off in fear into the bedroom. The only thing running through the male's veins was adrenaline and anger, neither taking the time to think about where they were or who was in the next room.
"Natsu! Gray! What the hell do you two think you're doing?!" The two instantly froze, fist in each others hair as they looked to the source of the voice. They instantly let go of one another upon seeing the seething blonde.
"Look at what you did to my living room!" She exclaimed looking at all the knocked over furniture and items. "I just cleaned it up…"
"We're sorry Lucy…" They both said in unison, looking down in shame. They hated it when Lucy was seriously mad at them, like she was now.
They watched as the blonde took a deep, calming breath. "Its… okay." She turned around, not wanting to face them in fear of what she would do out of anger. "I'm gonna finish dinner."
The two watched her walk away, guilt in their hearts. They hated making her anything but happy.
Well there goes their chances for accepting either one of their valentines request.
"Well fuck." Natsu grumbled as he scratched the back of his head. "We messed that up didn't we?"
"You can say that again." Gray sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "How mad do you think she is?"
"Pretty mad, she wouldn't even look at us." Natsu muttered, finally taking a look at the damage they did. "Good reason to be mad though, I would hate for someone to come to my apartment and do this."
Gray snorted. "Your apartment is a pigsty. The only reason it gets clean is because Lucy comes over to clean it."
He shrugged. "I guess."
"We gotta make it up to her though."
Natsu tilted his head to the side. "Should we ask her to be our valentine then?"
Gray shrugged "We both want Lucy as more than a friend, right?" Natsu replied with a soft yes before the taller teen continued. "Knowing Lucy she wouldn't want to hurt one of our feelings by choosing one or the other, but I don't know if shes open to a threesome or an open relationship."
Natsu's eyes grew wide. "You don't mean-"
"But I do." He interrupted. "Honestly, I'm territorial over Lucy. I know you're the same way, I mean how many guys have we scared off from getting close to Lucy? Too many to count that's for sure, and besides…" Gray turned his head away from Natsu, "If I had to share Lucy with anyone, I would want it to be with you."
Natsu smirked, "What was that Gray?"
"You really going to make me repeat myself?"
Natsu cupped his ear with his hand, a smirk on his lips. "Repeat yourself? I didn't hear what you said in the first place."
"You're such an ass." Gray grumbled. "I said if I had to share Lucy with anyone, I would want it to be you."
"Feelin's mutual Dick Lick."
"Glad we have an agreement." He nodded happily. "Now, any ideas?"
Natsu's grin grew. "Oh I have an idea or two."
The Next Day (Valentine's Day)
Lucy sighed as she made her way to her locker, thankful this hellish school day was over. The fight she had with Natsu and Gray last night put her in a bitter mood (and the awkward dinner that followed wasn't any better). She felt guilty for snapping at them. She should've knew by now that when left alone they would fight, but alas, she let jealously get in the way. She didn't want to hear her two best friends talk about who they wanted to be their valentines, so instead she got up to make them dinner.
Natsu and Gray had offered to pick up her living but she told them not to bother (also knowing their version of picking up a mess was making more of a mess) and sent them out the door. She took a look at her destroyed living room, not feeling the motivation to clean up after the idiots. Instead she took a bath, letting the warm water wash away all of her nerves.
If only it were that easy.
Lucy was in a dilemma. She liked Natsu and Gray. Not just as friends, but more than friends. She honestly didn't know what to do or who to pick. If she picked one, the friendship between them and the other would be over and thats what she wanted to avoid. The two men meant more to her than the world, and she be damned if she lost even one of them due to her feelings.
Lucy rubbed her head in frustration trying to rid herself of her self loathing, it didn't help that it was the one day of the year was love was everywhere you looked. Natsu was right, this was a stupid holiday.
Making her way to her locker, she already knew something was suspicious. Why? Because the front of her locker was plastered with hearts with words like 'Happy Valentine's Day' and 'Be Mine!" written on the inside of them.
Upon opening her locker, she seen nothing out of the ordinary besides a white note on the top shelf. Opening it up she read:
Happy Valentine's Day! Get yourself prettied up and meet me here for the time of your life.
Your Secret Admirer.
"S-Secret Admirer?" Lucy shouted in her head. "Who the hell would like me?" Now that Lucy thought of it, guys didn't come by her as much as they used to. She snorted, there was probably two main reasons for that happening. Her two, overprotective, loving, caring, totally good looking-
Lucy shook her head. She couldn't think of them like that when there was someone interested in her. She would deal with that situation later, but for now she would deal with the fact that someone was interested in making her have the time of her life.
XxXxXxXxX
Walking up to the restaurant that was on the note, Lucy felt confident. She left her hair down, even curling it a bit at the ends to give it more volume. The make up she applied was light amplifying her brown eyes. The black dress she wore showed off her curves and the black pumps associated with the dress made her legs look endless.
Needless to say, Lucy felt beautiful.
She just hoped her admirer felt the same way.
Lucy made it to the front doors, eyes widening when she seen two familiar figures. She stood there in shock as they both took a break from their bickering to look at her (from top to bottom but she ignored that fact) "N-Natsu? Gray? What are you two doing here?"
Gray smirked while Natsu answered. "You know waiting for our valentine's date, but she sure was slow."
"Is she still not here…?" Lucy asked in a confused tone, looking behind her to see if anyone else walked through the door after her. She only turned back around when she heard them laughing. "Whats so funny."
Natsu wiped a tear before responding. "You, you're whats funny Lucy."
Lucy tilted her head in confusion. "Wha-"
"We're your secret admirers Lucy." Gray said with a small smile. "We couldn't exactly say you had admirers, that would kind of give us away."
It took Lucy a minute to fully comprehend what was said to her. "Whoa whoa wait."
"Do you not like that idea…?" Natsu said solemnly, making Lucy regret her words.
"No its not that! I'm just.. surprised." Lucy replied. "I mean I've never had a valentine before and now I have two people who want to be my valentine… you'd be okay with me accepting you both, right?
"Well yeah," Gray said a little nervously. "I mean, if that's okay with you?"
Lucy smiled, taking both of them by the hands. "It sounds perfect."
"Alright!" Natsu whooped. "Enough with this lovey dovey shit, lets eat!"
XxXxXxXxX
After the trio ate a rather (much to Lucy's surprise) normal dinner between the three, the two suggested they head back go Lucy's apartment so they could talk. Lucy had a pretty good idea of what about, but didn't want to get her hopes up.
Lucy unlocked the door, gasping when she stepped inside and looked at her living room. "H-How?"
"We skipped school and decided to clean up instead." Natsu said nonchalantly. Lucy guessed that's why she didn't see them today. Even though she knew she should be mad that they skipped school, but tonight was too perfect to let it be soiled by something she couldn't change.
"Um…" Lucy said awkwardly, looking to the boys who looked lost at what to do. "I guess I'll make us some drinks and then we could… talk?"
Both boys agreed and they made their way to Lucy's kitchen table. Lucy made them their favorites. Strawberry milk for her, iced tea for Gray and hot chocolate for Natsu. When Lucy served the drinks, she sat at the table. All three not knowing where to start.
"So…" Lucy began. "I take it you both have feelings, for me?"
Lucy watched their reactions carefully, heart fluttering when they both nodded.
"We both do." Gray replied. "We've had some time to discuss this Lucy. And we both agreed your comfort is our number one priority."
"He's right Lucy. You can have none of us, one of us, or both of us." Natsu explained further. "We just want to make sure you're happy."
Lucy felt so touched she could cry, it felt like a huge weight off her shoulders. Apparently she was silent for too long since the boys started to panic.
"You don't have to pick today!" Natsu said waving his hands.
"Y-Yeah! No pressure at all!" Gray added further waving his hands the same way Natsu did.
Lucy couldn't help herself.
She laughed.
She laughed so hard it worried both Natsu and Gray.
"Lucy…?" They both said slowly. The two were confused by her reaction, but gave her a minute to collect herself.
Once calm, Lucy wiped an eye before offering the two a ready smile. "You two never cease to amaze me."
"That's a good thing right?" Natsu said hopefully.
She nodded back vigorously. "Very, very good."
"So Lucy?" Gray said once the emotions calmed down slightly. "What's your answer?"
Lucy smiled. "Could we maybe talk about the details you guys discussed?"
"'Course." Gray replied. "As you know there's a few different options. Me and Natsu discussed which ones we were comfortable with."
"There's two that we decided on." Natsu continued. "An open relationship where we would share you by your terms. And another…" Natsu paused, face flushed as he put his hand on top of Gray's. "We can be in a relationship; the three of us."
Lucy's eyes widened. "You don't mean-"
Gray nodded. "During our conversation with trying to decide how we would date you, it turns out we felt a lot deeper about one another than what met the eye."
"Heh, guess all those fights were a lot more meaningful than we thought." Natsu joked. "Doesn't mean were going to stop though."
Lucy smiled at that tid bit for information. She put her hands on the table. "It feels like this isn't real, like I'm going to wake up and we'll go back to being just friends."
The two reached out and grabbed her hands. "We'll be whatever you want us to be and take this at whatever pace you want."
They all looked lovingly at one another, just asking in the present of once another. "So, are you guys going to officially ask me or keep me waiting.
The two men smirked at each other before walking over to Lucy, both bending down and putting one of her hands on their hearts. Lucy's face flushed, this was overly sweet and out of character for the two men.
Though Lucy welcomed their out of character actions.
"Lucy Heartfilia," they said in unison, "will you be our girlfriend?"
Lucy laughed a bit before responding. "You two are cheeseballs. Of course I'll be your girlfriend."
The two hugged their new girlfriend tightly, which Lucy returned with as much gusto. The two pulled back, eyes drifting to her lips. Lucy blushed as the two began to lean in both heading towards her lips. Lucy met the two half way, kissing Natsu first before turning to Gray.
Lucy pulled back giggling and took in the soft expression her boys were giving her. Unable to resist Lucy leaned into Gray first this time for another kiss before switching to Natsu.
"So Lucy," Natsu drawled, "Did we make this a night you'll never forget?"
Lucy laughed as she pulled her boys into a tight hug.
"Of course silly, I'll never forget tonight."
"Why don't we take this to the couch? It's kind of cramped here." Gray suggested betting up from the tiled floor. Lucy watched as followed Gray's action, the two holding their hands out for Lucy to take. Smiling, Lucy gladly grabbed their hands as they made their ways to the couch.
Lucy sat in the middle while Natsu and Gray hugged her from each side unwilling to let her go. She sighed happily, taking both hands and running it through their soft locks.
Yeah, Lucy could get used to this.
