Hello everyone. I know it isnt a new chapter for the main stories (they are coming I promise!), but I have a little piece I was inspired to write for valentine's that I would like to share with you all. I hope you all had an pleasant valentine's whether with a significant other or no. Here is my gift to you all, a nice little piece of fluff. I hope you enjoy it!
Natsu grumbled to himself and sipped at the last remaining liquor in his cup. It was his favourite spiced brandy, and yet he could hardly taste it. All around him the guildhall was alive and humming with excitement and enthusiasm, and while that wasn't necessarily any different to the norm, it was the subject of his guildmates' enthusiasm that was. It was less than a week until valentines, and that had them all riled up… well, all of them save for Natsu. For him, it was simply terrifying.
The others had already set themselves up with dates. Even those without partners like Macao or Wakaba still had plans, even if those plans were to drink themselves stupid and ogle Mira or Cana from across the bar. Even Happy had a date! He was set to spend an evening with Carla (albeit after a hefty amount of interference and persuasion from Pantherlily).
Natsu didn't have such plans; in fact he didn't have any plans at all. At least, he didn't have any plans yet. He had settled on asking Lucy to be his valentine, but whenever he thought about it his usual courage and confidence would completely desert him. It had gotten so bad by now that just the idea of asking her out was enough to leave him weak at the knees and short of breath.
It was peculiar to him, that despite everything the two of them had been through, that he would feel this way. Heck, this was Lucy after all. The two of them had been practically inseparable ever since they had met all those years ago in Hargeon. They had worked, fought, and weathered every storm together. She was as much his comfort as he was hers, so why was it that he felt so afraid of what she might say.
It had been a long while since his feelings had first become apparent, but he had been slow in coming to understand them. To anyone else it might have been obvious, but everything had been so new and alien to him. The fact that his heart would flutter whenever she smiled or that his cheeks would burn when she hugged him. It had all added up until at least he had been forced to admit the undeniable; he had fallen in love with Lucy Heartfilia.
But that in and of itself wasn't the problem, at least not truly. The problem that he had was that he remained unsure as to whether she felt the same way. He had caught her staring at him from across the room numerous times before, and some of her mannerisms seemed to suggest that she had an interest in him but he simply couldn't be sure; and it was driving him crazy. Time and time again, he wished that she could be more like the dragons he had known growing up. They, at least had been straightforward and easy to understand.
But at last, he had decided that enough was enough; if he was ever going to know how Lucy truly felt, then he would have to express his own feelings first. He would have to throw his hat into the ring. She would either catch it, admitting that she shared those same feelings, or she would reject him. At least no matter what she did, he would know where he stood.
Natsu had considered so many ways of asking the Celestial mage to spend the day with him but no matter how hard he thought, his ideas had always seemed to fall short of what he wanted to achieve. They lacked the mood and gravitas of those romance novels of which the blonde was so fond. He had decided that things would have to be perfect or they simply weren't worth bothering with.
Naturally he had consulted with a few of his friends for advice, and they had all been remarkably forthcoming with it. Erza had suggested a night of pure romance by the river, while Levy had suggested a more muted night under the stars. Juvia had been all in favour of a dramatic and heart felt love confession, stating that the setting didn't matter so long as the emotions behind it were pure. After quite some deliberation, Natsu had ultimately chosen to go his own way, marrying up what he felt were the best aspects of all three, along with a little Natsu 'flair' for good measure. All that remained to him now was to put his plans into action.
Lucy stared at the note in her hand with a frown. She knew that crude script well enough to recognise it as Natsu's, but that wasn't why she was frowning. It was more what it said that had left her feeling so confused.
'Come to the hills by the Magnolia River after sunset tonight. I'll be waiting.'
With the idea of Valentine's weighing heavily on her mind, it had been all too easy to assume that Natsu was finally going to confess the feelings that she so longed to hear. But she had forced those hopes deep down inside, not wanting to set herself up for another fall. She wasn't sure if she could take that kind of disappointment so close to Valentine's, and especially not from Natsu.
It wasn't that she felt particularly unloved, or undesired. Far from it, she had received more than her fair share of invites to dates over the Valentine's period from all manner of men (and even women) in Magnolia, but she had turned every last one of them down. There was only one person that her heart desired to be with on that most special of days, and if she couldn't have that rosy-haired, fiery-spirited someone, then she wasn't about to settle for anyone else.
It had been hard to admit it to herself at first, but as time had gone on her love had only grown for her partner and best friend. But after a while it had become impossible to deny, just everything about him seemed to fit her heart's desires. Sure, he was a far cry from the dashing princes and refined gentlemen that she had once dreamed so often about. But he was kind and loyal to a fault, and strange and rude but she didn't care. She may have shouted outwardly at finding him in her bed, but some small part of her loved when he did. It always felt as if they grew even closer in that space.
She had longed to ask him about his feelings, but never once had she managed to summon the courage. She had implored all of her beloved spirits for their help, but they had offered nothing but their support in return, telling her that if it was truly how she felt, then being outright about it was the best path that she could take. Even Aquarius had toned down the amount of ridicule that she usually threw around.
Regardless, she had to follow this note. For better or worse, she had to know what Natsu was up to. It had piqued her curiosity if nothing else and that alone would drive her mad until she satisfied its demands. Groaning to herself, she shuffled through to her apartment's bathroom and drew herself a bath of piping hot water. That, she mused, would at least help calm her mind.
Natsu ignored the several splashes of molten chocolate that covered his face and arms. His sage eyes were firmly locked onto the contents of the mixing bowl in his hands. He watched as the chocolate slowly liquidized as it had so many times previously. Satisfied that it was thoroughly melted he stemmed the flow of magic to his hands, and allowed the engulfing flames to flicker out of existence. The sides of the bowl still glowed a little with the residual heat but he didn't give the chocolate time to settle. Grasping a wooden spoon he made bold mixing gestures, turning the chocolate over and folding it in on itself over and over until he was satisfied that it was smooth. Finally, it seemed, he had actually avoided burning it. But that was how the phrase went, wasn't it, tenth time lucky?
When he dipped his finger in to taste the mixture, he practically cried with joy. It tasted good! It was almost perfect, even if he said so himself. With great haste, he set about pouring the mixture into the moulds, as if fearing they might suddenly spoil if he didn't. Looking around at the tiny pile of ingredients that were left over he sighed in relief. It didn't look like there enough for another attempt.
Natsu knew that Happy would be less than pleased when he told him that he had spent the better part of their week's budget on the ingredients for his chocolates, but the pyromaniac didn't care. He would be damned if he was going to ask Lucy out and not present her with the finest gift that he possibly could. He was sure that Happy would understand that much… probably.
It was a painful wait for the chocolates to cool but once the mixture had set, he grabbed his piping bag for the first time. This was it, all untrodden territory from here on in. Growing increasingly aware of the passing time, he locked eyes onto the tiny sweets laid out in front of him and set about decorating them. His hands trembled uncontrollably throughout the first three or four, leaving the designs a little squiggly; but as his confidence grew so too did the quality of the designs. When at last he finally finished, he backed away to admire his masterpieces. Natsu might not have been the most artistic, but when he really applied himself, he wasn't half bad. He just hoped Lucy would like them.
Lucy sighed softly to herself as she began to climb the slope of the hill beside Magnolia river. The moon was shining brilliantly up above and bathing the waters in a pale luminescence that was altogether mysterious and beautiful. She paused for a moment to listen to the river babble against its banks as it made its way off across Fiore. It was a wonderful sound.
Turning away from the river, she continued her walk. All the while, her Russet eyes scanned through the darkness for any signs of Natsu. It didn't take long for her to find him. The dull orange glow coming from just over the crest of the hill was a dead giveaway. Yet what she found up there caught her completely by surprise.
A large blanket had been draped across the hill top and weighed down on each of the four corners. Mounted by each of the corners was a modest wicker sconce, into which candles were set. They offered a slight and flickering glow to the area. A light scent of jasmine filled the air as they burned, her favourite scent.
But perhaps what surprised her most was Natsu himself. He was stood looking out over the river below, staring into space. He had set aside his usual outfit for the dinner suit that she had seen him wear only a handful of times before. Even his hair seemed to have been tamed in advance.
Completely unbidden, her heart began to beat ever faster until it threatened to leap out from her chest. It all seemed too much; surely she was dreaming or imagining this. She closed her eyes, expecting to be back in her apartment, but when she opened them again it was all still there; The candles, the blanket and Natsu himself.
Suddenly, he seemed to become aware of her presence and turned to face her. His expression was markedly more sheepish than she had been expecting. Even as she watched, he subconsciously raised a hand and began to scratch at the back of his neck, just as he always did whenever he was nervous.
"Hey Luce! You came. I wasn't sure if you got my note." He chuckled
"You had stuck it to Plue, I could hardly not find it." She laughed in response, remembering how she had left the room for only a minute, to return to find Plue running around in desperation and trying to get the paper off of his back. She had felt bad for laughing, but it had been pretty comical and just like Natsu to do that.
"So what's all this?" She asked, bringing the conversation back to the present once again. Natsu didn't answer immediately though. Rather, he seemed to be struggling with some kind of inner turmoil or problem. A long minute passed them by without so much as a word, but Lucy didn't press him for an answer. It didn't take a genius to see that Natsu had something to say, and that rushing him would be unlikely to help the situation; although, that didn't stop her mind from racing.
Over and over again she found herself wondering if this was it. All of the indicators seemed to be pointing in the same direction. The jasmine scented candles, the fancy suit that he had put on, the mysterious note and even the nervous Natsu. It all seemed to be pointing towards that that she had only dreamed of; his confession.
"Luce, I really don't know how to go about saying this. I know I'm not like all those fancy guys in the books that you like so much…"
Her palms began to clam up at her side and her breathing hitched. This was it, it had to be. Her heart was aching and it took everything that she had not to set off running. She couldn't handle all of this suspense, it was truly killing her inside.
"I know you have always dreamed about some real suave guy coming along to sweep you off your feet, probably on some horse or something, but I'm not like that. Even so… I've gotta tell ya Lucy… I like ya. Not just as friends or partners, but something more… a-and I have for a long time now."
That was it. Lucy felt like her heart had stopped dead in her chest. Over and over her brain played those words back to her, looking for any way in which she could possibly have misinterpreted them. Surely she must have misheard him. Yet, every single fibre of her being told her that she had heard him right, that he had just told her that he had feelings for her. It was all too much in the moment; she felt her knees tremble just an instant before they gave out. Already tears of joy were beginning to form and roll down her cheeks.
Yet she never hit the ground. No sooner had her legs fallen out from under her, that a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around her and lowered her gently onto the blanket stretched out across the hilltop. Looking up, she was met with the face of a very concerned Natsu staring right back at her and in that moment all of her emotions boiled over.
Laughter escaped past her lips, much to the confusion of the dragon slayer holding her in his arms. She laughed until her sides hurt and tears of mirth were streaming down her cheeks. Happiness had swelled within her until it wrapped her entire being in its warm embrace. With perhaps the most genuine smile of her life, she playfully punched Natsu in the shoulder.
"You idiot! Who cares about some dumb prince with a horse?" She moved a trembling hand to caress his cheek, marvelling at how the smooth skin of his face was hot to the touch "I have a dragon…"
"D-does that mean…?"
She nodded silently, not trusting her voice to hold out any more. Seemingly feeling much the same way, he moved in until their foreheads met. They remained like that in companionable silence as the minutes ticked by. Lucy couldn't imagine any way that things could possibly get more perfect when Natsu reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small box wrapped up in red paper with a messily tied bow around it.
She looked at him in confusion for a moment before taking the package and opening it up. Her smile only grew wider seeing the twelve neatly packaged chocolates it held inside. Each one had been hand decorated with the twelve signs of the zodiac, or what Natsu's closest approximation to them was.
"You really went all out didn't you? Thank you Natsu, this is all so perfect~" She whispered before popping the chocolate into her mouth. She savoured the sweet flavour as she let it slowly melt on her tongue. A sensation of pleasure ran up and down her spine as it did.
They sat like that in each other's arms for hours, even when the night's chill began to creep in around them. Not that Lucy felt it of course; she had long since snuggled into Natsu's arms. She savoured the warmth of his body against her own and marvelled at just how comfortable she felt beside him. The atmosphere all changed as a gust of wind swept across their little hilltop, blowing out the candles around them and plunging them into darkness.
The dark closed in, but as their eyes adjusted the glow from the moon and stars overhead seemed to grow. Lucy looked up at the familiar constellations that she had come to know and love, and she could have sworn that they were shining all the more brightly than usual as though the joy of her spirit friends was brightening up the sky.
"So Luce… I kinda forgot to ask but, will you be my valentine?"
She looked up at him and barely suppressed a giggle. Leaning in she brought her lips into contact with his for all but the briefest of moments.
"I would love to be."
So there it is, a lovely little Fairy Tail ending. I know it wasn't a particularly long piece, but I hope you all enjoyed it all the same. I absolutely adored drafting this out and playing with all the crazy situations that I could see in my head for these two. In the end Im really pleased with how it turned out. Maybe I will write a few more seasonal one-shots in future, so if you are interested in that then please do watch this space!
thank you very much for reading. Dont be afraid to leave a review and let me know what you think and as always, I will see you all next time!