It was already late midnight. The guild hall was dark and empty. Well, almost empty. On a lone table there was one person sitting. Darkness surrounded that person since the only light source were two candles on the table. It didn't look like it bothered the man though. He was just sitting there with a blank expression and drinking one cup after the other.

Just as he wanted to gulp the beer in his refilled mug he was interrupted by the sound of the opening main door. Someone entered the hall and soon after switched the light on.

It was a slim, young woman. She had long, white hair which curled slightly at the ends, with two bangs framing her face and reaching down to her chest. Her hairstyle's most distinctive trait was a short, upward ponytail obtained by gathering and tying the hair covering her forehead. No doubt about it, she was one of Fairy Tail's most beautiful women. Mirajane Strauss.

Mirajane noticed the lone person sitting at a table on the middle of the guild hall.

"Natsu? What are you doing here at this hour?"

In front of her was a muscular young man of average height with a slightly tan skin tone and spiky pink-colored hair. He wore his widely known white scarf which was decorated with scale-like patterns around his neck. Mira was surprised to see him to say the least.

"Yo Mira"

Natsu didn't look up and gave her a half-hearted greeting.

"Did you drink all those barrels of beer?"

Mira saw many empty barrels right next to Natsu. They were still wet on the inside which was a sign that they were emptied fairly recently.

"What brings you here at this hour? Shouldn't you be back home by now?"

Natsu avoided her question. He just now looked up her way. The one thing that caught his attention was a beautiful, expensive looking ring on Mira's left ring finger. His heart was quickly filled with sadness upon seeing that shiny object on Mira's hand

"I came here to sort the flowers and the decoration for the after wedding party here at the guild. Tommorow will be a busy day so I thought it was better to do that now."

Mira answered with a smile thinking about her upcoming wedding in a few days, not noticing Natsu's frown at that thought.

"I see"

He simply confirmed. A sad, melancholic smile forming on his face.

The Takeover-mage noticed his lack of excitement, lack of happiness even, and made a worried face

"You still didn't answer my question Natsu. What are you doing here this late? You have been down now for weeks. What's wrong Natsu?"

Yes, that's true. Natsu hasn't been his usual self for the past few weeks. Even though he tried his best not to be sad when his friends are around, it was getting harder and harder every day.

"It's nothing, really."

The dragon slayer his best to put on a fake smile and brush off the worries of the white haired beauty in front of him

"I know that's not true Natsu. Happy said you he heard you crying yourself to sleep the past few nights and that you barely ate anything. You rarely show up at the guild and when you're here you just sit there and drink all the time. Not even Erza, Lucy or Wendy know what's going on with you."

Natsu was a bit pissed off that his best friend sold him out like that but he just couldn't really blame Happy for what he did. Natsu knew Happy was just worried about him.

"It really pains me to see you like this. Please, Natsu, you can tell me what's wrong."

Mira eyes got misty and Natsu realized she was holding back her tears. He hated himself for making Mira worry that much about him. She was getting married soon. She should be the happiest girl in the world right now, but there she was on the verge of tears. All that because of him.

Everything came back up. That one thing he was so desperately trying to forget has surfaced back in an instant.

*FLASHBACK*

Natsu was restless. He was sitting at the table with his team but he didn't bother engaging in any of their conversation. After getting "It's nothing" answered every time they tried to ask Natsu what's wrong, they soon stopped bothering and went on with their own business.

'Lisanna said Mira is on a date right now but she should be back any minute' the fira mage thought. He was waiting eagerly for the barmaid to return.

'Today I will tell her how I feel about her! I know it may be a dick move since she is currently in a relationship but I just have to tell her how I feel. I have been holding back these feeling for far too long. She deserves to know!' justified Natsu to himself. His leg quickly bounced up and down in impatience.

Just as he thought he couldn't wait any longer the main door was opened. Mira and Laxus were entering the guild together, Just when Natsu wanted to confront Mira about his feelings he noticed something that made him stop dead in his tracks.

Laxus, who held Mira's right hand, was smiling like never before. Mira on the other hand had tears running down her cheeks. However, she didn't look sad at all. On the contrary, she was smiling so bright. She just looked like the happiest she's been than ever before.

"Everyone.. listen up please."

Mira's voice was shaking a bit but still lound and clear for everyone to understand.

"When we were having dinner. It was just so good, the atmossphere was perfect, and the waiters were all looking like they had fun, and the food was great and-"

Mira's excited babbling was gently cut off by Laxus' hand on her shoulders.

"Mira, babe, calm down a bit"

Laxus said to his girlfriend making her realize that she was talking nonesense

"Right, dear. To get to the point everyone. Laxus proposed to me."

She paused for a moment.

"And I said yes!"

Mira excitedly lifted her left hand, showing off the brilliant shining engagement ring to everyone

Everyone fell silent for a second. A few moments after that however everyone in the guild started to scream and cheer at this wonderful news.

The girls of the guild all ran towards Mira and asked about every detail of Laxus' proposal and their upcoming wedding. Mira was a bit overwhelmed but happy nonetheless.

The boys on the other hand went up to Laxus and joked around like "Say goodbye to half of your stuff" or "It was nice knowing you Laxus". But they were only joking around. They were truly happy for their fellow S-Rank mage, patting and gently punching his shoulder in acknowledgement.

Overall, everyone was celebrating those big news. Even Erza went up to her former rival with sparkling eyes and euphorically congratulated Mira.

Only Natsu stood there. His expression went blank, all those loud cheers went past his senses. He felt like he was getting sucked into an endless void. With every passing minute he felt more darkness consuming every inch of his heart.

After he felt a tap on his shoulder, Natsu snapped out of his trance.

"Oi Natsu. Are you alright?"

Laxus asked Natsu, slightly worried about the pink-haired mage.

"Oh.. umm.. yeah, those news just shocked me"

"I bet hahaha" Laxus laughed at the confusion of his fellow dragon slayer. "But I wanna ask you something Natsu."

Laxus got serious again

"Huh.. What is it Laxus?" Natsu was still in disbelief

"You see.. uhmm" Laxus scratched the back of his head. He was a bit hesitant about this. "If you hadn't stopped me when I started this damn civil war bullshit back then, I wouldn't have been able to get this far with Mirajane."

This sudden confession just confused Natsu even more, but he remained silent and listened on.

"What I wanna say is… Do you want to be my best man?"

Laxus proposed still a bit hesitant to show any kind of emotion towards someone that wasn't Master or Mirajane but still, Laxus wouldn't want any other person to be his best man. Laxus would never admit it but he considered Natsu one of his closest friend after his fight with him during the civil war.

Gears started to turn and grind in Natsu's head trying to comprehend what Laxus just said. 'Me? The best man? While Laxus is marrying the only woman I love?' but he was snapped out of his thoughts by Laxus' voice

"Oh.. yeah, sure… Of course I'm gonna be your best man. I will make sure this is gonna be the best weeding ever! I'm all fired up for it"

the fire dragon slayer tried to sound as passionate and enthusiastic as possible.

"Great, man. Thanks a lot. You're the best Natsu"

Laxus smirked. After he gave Natsu a pat on his back he walked back to his fiancée.

Natsu looked their way. After a while Mira noticed Natsu glimpse at their direction, she put on a bright smiled and gently waved at him. After that Mira shifted her attention to Laxus who just grabbed her by her waist.

They looked deep into each other's eyes. They simled at each other for what felt like minutes and gave each other a small kiss. At that point everyone, including Natsu, knew, they were happy together.

Natsu realized now. He would never tell Mira about his feelings. He had no right anymore to stay in their way towards happiness. They were the happiest people ever right now and that would not fade away in near future, maybe never.

If he ever had a chance to be with Mira up until now, it was gone for good now. It was too late now. At that moment, after he realized just that, something irreparably broke inside of him.

*FLASHBACK END*

Mira looked at Natsu with tired but worried eyes. She must have been so busy the last few days to prepare everything for the upcoming wedding which was going to be in a few days.

Natsu's heart broke at the sight of Mira that was genuinely worried about his wellbeing while still overworking herself a lot to make the wedding perfect.

He knew he had to do something. He just couldn't watch her like this anymore. Natsu pulled all his strength to act as natural as he could

"You know when Laxus chose me to be his best man, I was worried. I have no idea what I have to do to fulfill this important role. It is important to me, ya know. You two are very important to me and everytime I asked Laxus if I could help with anything he just said he is fine."

Natsu looked up at Mira for the first time in what felt like ages.

"Because you are so important to me I wanted to make sure you had the best and most spectacular wedding Magnolia, no Fiore has ever seen! Yet here I am unable to do anything while you two are working your asses off. Even Erza is helping so much she barely visits the guild anymore."

Natsu explained. It wasn't actually a lie what he said. He really was worried that he did way less to help them than others did. But in the end, that wasn't what really depressed him. He had to watch as the only person he ever loved was marrying someone else. That was only natural, wasn't it. Natsu hid his feelings all the time and never trying to make a step forward.

'She will be happy with Laxus. It's for the best.' Natsu justified his lack of action since Mira's and Laxus' engagement.

Natsu hoped that by revealing the tip of the iceberg Mira would be relieved and went on with everything else.

Mira looked at the dragon slayer, still with a worried look. After a while she sighed in relief and smiled

"So that's it? You really had me worried a lot about you these past few days you know."

Mira eyes lit up again and every trace of tears in her eyes vanished.

"You don't have to worry about that too much, Natsu. I know you will do a great job. The best 'best man' if that makes sense."

She chuckled delighted as she found out Natsu was overthinking rather small details.

"Hehe, yeah.. you're probably right"

Natsu put on a small smile and tried his best to act authentic

"And if you really wanna help out that much then you can help me sorting the flowers and decorations right now"

An encouraging smile made its way on Mira's face. Usually the barmaid was the best and could see right through everyone like they were transparent but this time Natsu seemed to be able to deceive her enough. Maybe that's because she was tired of all the preparations or because she was so happy with Laxus that she didn't bother a second thought.

"Yeah sure, I could do that."

Natsu couldn't help but feel a bit happy. The last time he had time to talk to Mira and be with her alone felt like it was a long time ago.

"Great. Follow me then. I hope you aren't tired because this will probably take a while"

The barmaid said playfully walking towards the storage room of the guild. Apparently Laxus and Mira put everything there after the order arrived but because there was lots of other things to do they just put it in the room without any order. That's why someone had to sort the mess now so the after wedding party could be organised quickly the night before the actual wedding.

Natsu knew his beloved Mirajane was getting married soon. She was going to marry Laxus, someone other than him. It broke his heart every time he thought about that.

"I love you Mira…"

Natsu silently mumbled to himself.

Mira turned her head around and looked at Natsu

"Did you say something?"

Mira didn't seem to hear Natsu's silent confession.

"No, it's nothing."

"Then get over here already, we have a lot to do"

Mira called out to him. She already stood in front of the door of the storage room.

Natsu ran up to her and smiled sheepishly.

"If you ever need a hand, I will always be there for you, ya know"
Natsu stated with a gentle voice.

His voice was more gentle and warm than ever. She never heard Natsu speak in such a compassionate tone before which surprised Mira.

Still oblivious to the deeper meaning of Natsu's words, she opened the door and walked in.

Natsu followed soom after. After Mira explained how to sort all this stuff they silently did their work.

A bit of sadness rised up in Natsu as he knew that this was probably the last time ever he will spend with Mira alone. Recognizing that he tried to enjoy every last second of this moment.

They did not speak much because both of them was busy with their work but every now and then Natsu caught himself staring at Mirajane. She was just so beautiful that she looked like an angel from another world. Even now he couldn't help himself but love her with all his heart.

All this time Natsu could feel a small but honest smile on his face.

A smile that would fade away forever soon.

To be continued(?)

Tell me your thoughts about this one and whether there should be a continuation or not. (I would love to continue this)

I know it's a bit depressing but I still hope you like it. :D