Lucy held the job request out in front of her, scanning through the information.
"Natsu, THIS SAYS JEWELLERY NOT JEWEL!" she shouted in exasperation, making the Fire mage and his blue cat jump in fright. "And there isn't even an amount on here, HOW DID YOU MIX THEM UP!?"
The three of them had just come back from a job outside Magnolia, which Natsu had assured Lucy would pay her next month's all-important rent. What Lucy failed to remember is that Natsu had the attention span of a goldfish, and hadn't actually read the mission details properly. Or even at all.
"And this jewellery isn't even REAL, it's PLASTIC!" she continued as she dropped to the floor and began to rock back and forth.
The sight of Lucy in a heap on the floor had Natsu and Happy fall into a fit of laughter, despite the pangs of guilt the former now felt. Happy, in a moment of sudden clarity, jerked up with eyes wide and mouth trembling;
"Natsu… HOW ARE WE GONNA BUY FISH NOW!?"
Natsu was used to the blame falling on him by now. In all fairness he'd cost the Guild a fortune in repair bills for all the damage he'd caused over the years.
"It's not that bad Luce', look at how cool this bracelet is!" He joked, holding up a garish yellow and blue plastic bracelet. "All jokes aside, we can just rack up some cash from doing smaller jobs in town,' he reasoned. "It'll be like that time we babysat Asuka!"
Lucy stood up, dusting of her clothes. She flushed slightly as she remembered the adorable little girl demanding that Natsu kiss her. She shook away the thought.
"I guess you're right, but next time I pick the job, got it?" she said, shooting the two of them a menacing glare.
"AYE SIR!" they conceded, not wishing to experience her wrath.
Soon enough the three of them had arrived back in Magnolia. The streets were bustling with activity, with people coming and going, buying anything from Magic scrolls to street food. Happy's stomach made an almighty rumble, announcing the arrival of lunchtime, and before Lucy could even say goodbye, the Blue exceed and the pink-haired Fire mage were shooting off in the direction of their house, presumably to stuff their faces.
"See you later Natsu!" Lucy shouted after them, getting a wave in reply.
Natsu had changed in to a clean, uncharacteristically smart set of clothes and began to make his way to Lucy's apartment – Happy had gone ahead to the party at the guild hall with Wendy and Carla, eager to sample the selection of fish he had been promised by Mirajane.
The guild was celebrating its 106th anniversary – it had been 106 years since the guild was founded by First Master Mavis and her friends. With that in mind it made it extra weird that Mavis was at the party too – despite looking younger than Wendy. Natsu and Lucy had been joking about the celebration on the way back to town earlier that day, marvelling at the fact the guild was marking the 106th year. It was really just an excuse for everyone to get drunk, they both concluded.
Natsu crossed the canal and saw Lucy step out of her apartment as he approached. He felt a strange feeling when he laid eyes on her – she was absolutely stunning, in a tight dress that was the exact same shade of red as his own guild mark. Her light-blonde hair was tied up with a black ribbon reminiscent of the knots that were beginning to form in Natsu's stomach.
"Hey Luce'," he tried to say casually, "you ready to go?".
Lucy nodded in reply, beaming at him with that beautiful smile and coffee-coloured eyes, and hurried over.
The closer they got to the guild hall, the louder the music and hubbub of the party got, and it only increased their levels of excitement. Lucy noticed that Natsu was stealing the occasional glance at her as they walked side by side but decided not to call him out on it – she actually found it pretty gratifying.
Before long they'd reached the doors to the guild hall and burst in to scenes of raucous laughter and heavy drinking all around. They looked at each other and nodded in unison, splitting up to head to different groups.
While Lucy headed towards a table with her girl-friends on it, Natsu headed over to where he saw Gray, Gajeel and the others. As soon as he arrived, Gajeel wolf-whistled at him and nodded to Lucy, until Natsu's face had turned the same colour as his hair.
"Drop it, rusty!" Natsu barked at the Iron dragonslayer.
"I didn't say anything Salamander," Gajeel shot back. "You're looking pretty embarrassed though, maybe I hit a nerve?" he teased.
Natsu simply sat down at the table in defeat, to the amusement of Gray and the others. Banter began to fly around the table, with the occasional challenge to a fight.
All around the guild hall people were playing card games, dancing, and generally having a good time. Natsu stole a look over to where Lucy was sat and marvelled at the sight of her, before laughing to himself at how much Cana was clearly forcing her and the other girls to drink. Natsu was pretty lucky when it came to alcohol – his fire magic tended to burn away most of the alcohol he drank, although this ability did have its limits. Especially when Cana was involved, anyway.
In an instant, Makarov was standing on the bar, tapping a glass. When he realised he wasn't getting anyone's attention, he used his giant-magic to slam down on the bar top. As everyone began to listen, Lucy's group crossed the room and joined with Natsu's; Levy sat next to Gajeel, Juvia began her usual poring over Gray and Evergreen sat with Elfman. It was obvious that Cana had gotten them all drunk, because besides Juvia, none of them would be so brazen with their affections without liquid courage. As Natsu looked back over to the guild master on the bar top, Lucy sat next to him and watched with everyone else.
"We are gathered here tonight in celebration of the 106th anniversary of the founding of Fairy Tail," Makarov boomed. "Some of you may be questioning why we are marking such a seemingly unimportant milestone. The point is that every single day as a part of Fairy Tail is worth celebrating. I want to take this opportunity to remind you all that I am proud of each and every member of this guild. You must always remember those around you are not just your guild-mates – they are like family and no challenge, no trial or tribulation, will ever break that bond!" he continued to cheers from all around the room. "Continue to make Magnolia proud, as the strongest guild in Fiore! NOW LETS PARTY!" he finished, to the sound of glasses clanking together and yet more cheers.
After a couple hours of heavy drinking and arguing with Gray, much to the amusement of Gajeel and Laxus, Natsu found himself looking around the hall. He couldn't see Lucy and so decided to go look for her, under the guise that he was simply going to get another round of drinks.
Outside, he heard the magical sound of Lucy's laughter. It always made him feel warm, which was strange because he was already inherently warm as a Fire dragonslayer. He remembered that Igneel had explained to him the concepts and purpose of love, but Natsu was never sure if what he felt for Lucy was love. All he knew was that he yearned to be in her presence at all times, and when he wasn't with her, he was thinking about her.
Lucy was in a heap on the grass with Levy, Juvia and Lisanna.
"Wh-where's my -hic! shoe," Lisanna stuttered between bouts of laughter, "I know it's around h-ere some.. somewhere." Lucy, Levy and Juvia doubled over laughing at this, and Natsu couldn't help but supress a smile. He joined the girls and within minutes he too was in fits of laughter. When they eventually found the missing shoes, they turned to head inside, but Natsu grabbed Lucy by the hand and spun her around to look at him, to the surprise of the other girls. Natsu pulled out an ugly, garish plastic ring that he'd gotten from the mission reward earlier that day, proffering it to Lucy on one knee.
"Lucy Heartfilia, will you marry me?" Natsu said, grinning at the sounds of laughter coming from the other three girls. Lucy burst into laughter and dramatically put her hand to her forehead, pretending to swoon.
"Yes, Natsu, of course!" she drunkenly struggled to say through her laughter. As Natsu rose they hugged and Natsu's heart skipped a beat, despite himself. Seconds later they were all heading inside, to the sound of 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the other girls, interspersed with Juvia's complaints that Gray hadn't yet proposed to her.
Thinking on the joke, Natsu began to imagine proposing to Lucy for real one day, confessing how he felt to her before crashing his lips into hers. His throat went dry at the thought, and he sat down yet again at the table with the others, quickly realising that he was going to have to explain the lack of drinks.
It was getting late but the celebrations were showing no signs of let-up. Macao and Wakaba were struggling to keep up with Erza and Cana's drinking, and Laxus and Mirajane were chatting each other up by the bar where Happy was regaling Carla with stories of a giant fish he had once caught. Whilst Gajeel was distracted by Levy and Gray was having an ice-make battle with Lyon, Natsu slipped off again in search of Lucy.
Opening the door to the bathrooms he saw the girls passed out on the floor, having finally succumbed to the scarily large quantities of alcohol Cana had challenged them to drink. In the corner of the room, however, was Lucy. Natsu's eyes widened when he noticed she had her head in her hands, quickly drawing up next to her and sitting down. Upon closer inspection, he noticed she had been crying and his instincts immediately kicked into gear.
"Who would dare make Lucy cry – MY Lucy!?" he accidentally thought aloud.
"Natsu, you're here," she said, slurring her words.
"What's wrong Lucy? Who was it, I'll burn them to a crisp!" he said, struggling to keep an even voice.
Lucy began to tear up again. "It's nothing N-hic!-atsu, it's j-just," she said, clearly very inebriated.
"I... think I love you," She whispered, her eyes beginning to close as she fell victim to the drowsiness the alcohol was enforcing.
Natsu didn't know how long he stared at the Celestial mage for, but when he finally tried to speak, he couldn't find any words. The girl of his dreams, the girl he'd been longing for was in love with him? However, his elation was quickly tempered with a profound sadness – she was so drunk that he couldn't tell if she was making a genuine confession or just making a random, meaningless drunken comment.
He didn't know what to think.
If she wasn't serious about this, then why was she crying? And in that same vein, if she WAS lucid enough to be truthful to him, why was this upsetting her? Igneel had told him that love was the greatest feeling a human could feel. Shouldn't she be happy? He felt so strongly for Lucy he wanted to shake her awake and tell her how he felt in return, but Natsu found himself supressing his actions against the wishes of his heart.
The questions were making his head spin:
What if Lucy didn't feel the same way he did, and he ruins their relationship by pressing her about it?
What if he doesn't press her about it and misses his chance to show her how he feels?
Over the sound of ragged breathing from the unconscious girls around the room, the sound of his heart was thumping loudly in his ears. The party was still going on out in the guild hall, but Natsu didn't care. Leaning back and resting his head against the wall, Natsu stared out into the darkness of the bathroom. He was always rushing into battles and challenges head-on with reckless abandon – but for the first time in his life he just didn't know what to do.