A/N: Hey Hey lovelies! This was written for the blog wheelofwriters on tumblr, with the prompt picture frame! If you don't know that blog, it's run by awesome cinnamon rolls who select ten writers each month upon request to write for a prompt they choose, and it's all anonymous to the readers, and you have o guess and see who's writing belongs to who! Luckily I've been able to take part in the first month, so without further ado, here was my submission! Hope you enjoy!
"When do you leave?" She asked him with a softened voice, her brown eyes drifting down to stare at Happy as he curled himself into a blue furry ball on the carpet, unable to look her fiancé in the eyes.
"One week from now." He told her, sending her spilling into a world hotter than the crackling fireplace they stood before, the heat baking onto her skin as she clenched her shaking fists. "Things are getting bad out there, Luce. Makarov needs all the men he can get-"
"But why you?" she cut him off suddenly, her voice cracking as she felt tears bud in her eyes, finally getting the courage to look up at him."You have a choice to stay, and you're choosing to put your life in danger?! Do you know how dangerous Alvarez is? Innocent people are being killed everyday! They have no qualms about taking lives!"
He nodded at her, his green eyes reflecting the fire as his face turned stone hard. "I know. And that's why I have to do this. For Fiore's sake."
She shook her head as she bit down on her lip, her tears finally springing free from her eyes as she watched him stare at her evenly, though his eyes did catch the sparkling tears in her eyes as they slid down her cheeks in mini waterfalls.
"But what about your friends here? Do you think they'll approve of this?! How do you think they'll react when they find out you're shipping out to one of the most dangerous countries in the world?!"
He glanced into the fire, his mouth curling downwards as his eyebrows followed suit. His stare quickly became a frustrated glare as he bore his teeth to the flames, mimicking Lucy's fists as his tanned hands took on a clenched appearance.
"What about us?" She asked him quietly, watching his body out of the corner of her eye as she noticed it stiffen like ice. "Natsu, what am I going to do with myself if you die out there-"
Her speech was immediately halted as she felt his lips crash down onto hers in a fiery need, his hands reaching upwards to cradle her tear stained cheeks as they continued to flow freely down her face. Her heart jolted at the initial contact, but she soon felt her body react to his kiss, just like she always had. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened their kiss, squeezing her eyes shut as she raised herself up on her tippy-toes to get closer to him, their chests pressing together as their hearts pounded with the same rhythm. She grabbed onto his pink hair on the back of his head, not wanting to let go, and he didn't want her to either. She felt her arms become vices as her feet left the ground, clinging to her fiancé as he bent backwards slightly to accommodate her to his height. She felt an arm wrap around her waist as he held her close to him, while his other arm cupped the back of her head.
Their lips slowly pulled apart, lingering only a few inches away. Natsu quickly closed the gap once more, and five seconds later, he broke it again to touch his forehead with her shaking one.
"I ain't gonna die, Luce. That I promise you." he told her softly, as more tears began to flow out of her eyes.
"H-How can you be so sure?" she whispered shakily on the verge of another sob, her bottom lip quivering as she looked up into his blazing green eyes.
"Because I have you to come back to."
"Just tell me already!" Lucy huffed as she crossed her arms over the fastened gray seatbelt of Levy's light blue chevy malibu as it cruised down the familiar streets of Magnolia. With the window rolled all the way down, Lucy inhaled the scents of grapefruit and lemon trees as Levy drove past ballet slipper pink houses with white window frames.
The petite blunette driving the car shook her head, her curls bouncing over her shoulders. "Nope! No can do, Lu-chan! I told you, it's a surprise!"
Lucy rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto her long blonde ponytail and began combing it with her fingers. "I don't see what could be so exciting that you'd have to hide it from me."
Her friend huffed as she glanced in her rearview mirror before merging into the adjacent lane on the road. "You'll just have to wait and see. Call it an early birthday present."
Lucy narrowed her eyes as she glanced at Levy through the corners of her eyes. "My birthday isn't for another five months."
Levy shrugged her shoulders as she unconsciously reached down to rest her left hand on her five month pregnant belly, rubbing it in small and slow circles. "Then it's an early birthday present. You'll find out when we get to your house."
Lucy huffed haughtily as she looked out the window of the moving car, focusing on the dotted white lines marked on the glistening black pavement. "Maybe it was a mistake to have a key to my home made for you." she told Levy wryly.
"Personally, I think it was a fantastic idea." Levy retorted as she continued to rub her belly. "Now I can sneak inside when you're not home and eat your famous peach pie."
Lucy feigned shock as the car slowly pulled to a stop in front of a red light. "You would never do such a thing, Levy-chan!"
The girls giggled as Levy glanced down at her stomach. "Then again, you might find me raiding your fridge after all, considering all the weird and random types of food that this little guy is making me crave. You wouldn't think of it, but pickles dipped in peanut butter is actually pretty delicious."
"Gross!" Lucy exclaimed as she laughed at her friend's statement, her eyes softening as the laughter left her body. "How are you, by the way? Is the little guy letting you get some sleep?"
Levy nodded, a happy blush spreading onto her cheeks as her eyes glittered. "Yeah, he let's me sleep…for now that is. But then again it's not this guy who keeps me up all night."
Lucy rolled her eyes in amusement. "Let me guess…Gajeel's being a little clingy isn't he?"
"Lu-chan, you have no idea." Levy sighed. "He insists on doing everything he possibly can just to make sure I barely walk each day. Once, he checked on me every five minutes when I was taking a bath because he didn't want me or the baby to drown."
Lucy laughed as an image of a frazzled Gajeel entered her thoughts. "You know he's just getting pre-daddy jitters. Plus, he's doing it out of love, even if he won't admit it."
"Yeah." Levy agreed, glancing down at her stomach once more to smile warmly and softly, looking like a true mother. "I know."
Lucy smiled at her friend before turning her attention back out of the window, her mind beginning to wander. She thought about the baby, and what he'd look like when he was finally born. She and Levy secretly hoped that he would look like Gajeel, not that they'd tell him of course. She thought about the outfits he'd wear and the babysitting sessions she'd have with him, and she thought about how proud Gajeel would be when he took his first steps.
And then, she thought about having her own baby.
Her very first child, a small little thing with her big brown eyes and her daddy's pink hair. Lucy imagined a small hand reaching up to grasp onto her finger as she flashed Lucy a toothless smile. Her skin would be silky smooth thanks to the lotion Lucy would apply to her after giving her a bath. She imagined Natsu and the baby falling asleep in a chair while reading a bedtime story. She saw the three of them together, and how happy they all were.
The image of her fiancé floated into her head, flashing her his bright smile.
Natsu…
Her eyes drifted down to the sparkling diamond ring wrapped around her left ring finger, the sunlight catching onto the jewel as a small burst of rainbow light reflected onto the window of Levy's car. With a smile, she stroked the small diamond with her right index finger, twisting it around as she closed her eyes.
It had been two and a half years since Natsu left for Alvarez, and while it was at the peak of its war. In those two and a half years, Lucy watched the news everyday, hoping to hear any form of good news that would result in her fiancé's departure back to safe Magnolia. He'd call her when he could, but it had only been on super rare occasions when he was allowed to use a phone.
For the first week that Natsu was gone, Levy had volunteered to sleep at Lucy and Natsu's home, and while Lucy had insisted that she was fine and that she didn't need company, Levy blatantly refused to listen. Lucy was glad that Levy hadn't left when she told her to.
Her bed was so empty without him sleeping next to her each night, and that fact had absolutely killed her so much that she'd almost snuggled their cat Happy to death. Then again, the feline hadn't fought as much; he'd missed Natsu too.
How she longed to see him again, to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face into his chest as he held her tightly, wanting to feel his lips come in contact with hers…
Saying goodbye to Natsu was one of the hardest things that Lucy ever had to do, the funerals of her parents going hand and hand with the goodbye. The air had been extremely frigid that morning, numbing their cheeks as they stared at each other for speechless seconds before she tackled him to the ground and held onto him like a barnacle, sobbing uncontrollably. He'd held onto her just as tightly, burying his face in her neck as he kissed her shivering skin. She grabbed fistfuls of his hair as he increased his grip on her, yet he didn't shed one single tear.
After all, that's what the Dragon Slayer rank came with; Lost tears and an Everlasting Sense of Pride.
What was the point of being prideful if your life was on the line?
Natsu… Lucy whispered to herself as she released her finger from her ring.
"We're here!" Levy exclaimed as she pulled into Lucy's driveway, suddenly becoming extremely happy and jumpy as she slowly brought her car to a halt. "Time for your surprise!"
Lucy sighed as she broke out of her private thoughts, reaching up to tighten her ponytail before unbuckling her seatbelt with a flourish. She playfully nudged Levy's shoulder with her own. "This better be good, Levy-chan." Lucy teased.
As she pushed the car door open and stepped out, Lucy tugged down on her white t-shirt and smoothed out the wrinkles caused by the constricting seatbelt. When her top was adjusted to her liking, she turned around to close the car door but froze when she saw Levy's amused face, a face attached to a pregnant body that was still sitting comfortably in the car.
Lucy frowned. "Aren't you coming?"
Lucy raised her eyebrows when the pregnant blunette shook her head in amusement. "Nope!"
"No?" Lucy inquired as she put her hand on her hip. "What do you mean, no?"
Lucy's eyes widened as Levy's car began to slowly back out of the driveway, leaving a stunned Lucy standing on the pavement, speechless.
"W-Wait a minute!" Lucy exclaimed, lunging for her friend's car but missing it completely as it drove out of her grasp completely. She stumbled around on the pavement before finally catching her balance, glaring out at Levy's car when she heard amused laughter. "Levy-chan! What in the hell are you doing?!"
"Go into your bedroom!" Levy exclaimed with amusement. "Look for the picture frame!"
Lucy was beyond confused. "Picture frame? What are you-"
"See ya later, Lu-chan! Have fun!" Levy exclaimed with glee as she turned her attention to the road.
"Levy-chan!" Lucy exclaimed as Levy drove away with a flourish, leaving Lucy standing all alone on her driveway, both dazed and incredibly confused.
Lucy slowly opened her front door before cautiously poking her head in, the scents of vanilla and sakura blossoms hitting her nose. Biting down on her lip and narrowing her eyes, she scanned her living room for any sign of tampering or movement, but she found none.
Then again, this was Levy she was talking about. She couldn't even imagine what a pregnant Levy was thinking.
"Happy!" Lucy called as she fully walked into her living room and shut the door behind her. "I'm home!"
When the sound of paws clicking against the hardwood floors never came, Lucy frowned. The blue feline usually came running out to greet Lucy whenever she returned to her home, and she'd always reach down and scratch him right between his ears.
"Happy?" she called again, this time walking in the direction of her and Natsu's bedroom, looking back at the living room once final time before accepting that the cat wasn't anywhere to be found.
When Lucy made it to her bedroom door, she frowned when she found that it was closed, rather than left ajar like it always had been. Had she closed it this morning and trapped the feline in her room?
"Happy?" Lucy called out one final time as she opened her bedroom door, and to her relief she saw the blue cat lounging lazily on her queen-sized bed, licking his paws and shooting her a look that gave her the impression that he thought he was the most important thing to ever walk on four paws.
"Well, hello to you too." Lucy said wryly as Happy mewed softly, his purring increasing by a tenfold before going back to his grooming. Lucy rolled her eyes before walking over to the cat and ruffling up his fur, grinning as the cat glared at her for messing up his work.
Her grin fell, however, when her eyes caught the sight of a rectangular shaped object sitting on her bureau, a white sheet draped over it like it had been the most normal thing in the world.
That most definitely wasn't there when Lucy had left that morning.
"Look for the picture frame!"
Could that have been it?
Lucy slowly walked towards the object sitting pristinely on the white bureau, examining it for a good five minutes before slowly reaching out to pinch the sheet between her thumb and index finger. A few more seconds passed before her cringing face sobered up, and she tossed the cloth to the side with an undramatic flourish, acting as though there were a bomb underneath.
Needless to say, Lucy was very confused when her eyes settled on the object beneath the cloth.
The picture frame was adorned with golden embellishments that flashed against Lucy's eyes, twisting and turning into an intricate golden vine that stretched all along the four corners of the frame. The gold glittered and sparkled with all its might, enchanting Lucy's vision as she traced the intricate design with her chocolate eyes.
And it was those same eyes that blinked back at her from the glass mirror that was glued to the inside of the frame where a picture would usually have been placed.
Lucy watched herself frown into the mirror. "What in the…"
It was at that very second her eyes caught sight of a small white index card placed along the base of the frame scribbled with handwriting that seemed almost identical to Levy's. Lucy picked it up, thinking that it may have just been a simple gift tag.
Was she ever wrong.
A Picture Perfect Sight was written in spiky cursive font with gold ink.
Lucy glanced back at the small mirror before her and began to ponder the words on the small piece of paper. What was Levy trying to do for her? Boost her self esteem up a few notches? Then again, that was hardly the time of gift that Levy would want to surprise her with, seeing that Levy told all of her friends about their good qualities on the daily.
Lucy watched her reflection as she slid her finger through her ponytail, bringing it away from her back and draping it over her right shoulder. She really had allowed her locks to grow so long, but she decided to keep it that way for a bit. She bit down on her pink lips as she lightly touched her cheek with the tips of her fingers, secretly admiring the makeup job she'd done that day. Smiling in satisfaction, she turned her head to the right to examine the blush shade she picked out that morning, only to completely freeze in shock when her eyes caught something in the left corner of the mirror.
The sight was enough to constrict Lucy's chest into a tightened knot that hurt with ever fibre of her soul, squeezing her heart as it pumped faster and faster to a hastened beat. The fingers that rested on her cheek began to shake violently as they dropped from her skin and landed upon the corner of the mirror in which a flash of a color that she hadn't seen in over two years was suddenly present to her widened eyes.
A flash of pink.
"Hey there, stranger." a familiar voice said, a voice that could've struck Lucy down onto the ground with its gorgeous pitch and melody, a voice she'd last heard over a crackling phone.
Not once in Lucy's life had she experienced tunnel vision, but there was seemingly a first time for everything as she slowly began to turn around, her entire body shaking.
The first thing her eyes landed on his pink, messy, and yet so perfectly malleable hair. Watching with shocked eyes as he ran his right hand through it sheepishly. He smiled at her with that irresistible sexy grin, his canines poking out only so slightly as the memory of his lips hit her like a freight train.
He was wearing his uniform, a navy blue and tan spotted shirt and top that helped blend with the murderous beaches and shores of Alvarez, the uniform accentuating his tanned muscles that seemed to have been sculpted into redefined strength.
A sense of nostalgia and heaviness began to flood her body as she imagined him fighting with the higher-ups to wear his signature scarf over his attire, noting the colorful brass pins clipped into the soft fabric.
She barely paid any attention to Happy's content purring as he jumped off of the bed and began to do figure-eights around his ankles, watching wordlessly as he leaned down and scratched Happy's ears. "Hey there, little buddy! I missed you too."
That explained why Happy hadn't greeted Lucy when she walked in the door. He had someone else to greet…
Why couldn't her body move? Why couldn't she speak or say anything?
Their eyes connected once more as he raised himself upright from his attention to their pesky feline. His eyes never left her for a second.
They were the same blazing eyes that stared at her bravely on the day he told her he was leaving her, containing the same sparkling fire that she'd fallen in love with.
She fought to continue standing, the ground feeling as though the gravitational pull was latching onto her and gluing her in her spot. Her legs shook along with her entire body in a frantic beat as she brought her hands up to cup her opened mouth.
She watched him smile at her warmly as tears finally spilled out from her eyes, her small shocked sobs muffled against her flesh.
He spoke once more, adding a warmth to his voice so strong that it melted all reason.
"I'm home, Luce."
It was all over.
Lucy had barely noticed the short time it took for her to launch her body into his roughly, her arms wrapping themselves around his neck like vices as they toppled to the ground, slamming into their cream colored wall. She buried her tear streaked face into his warm neck, sobbing hysterically with happiness as she grabbed onto his scarf and held it tightly.
As if to lessen the shakes emitting from her body, she felt his arms wrap around her torso and pull her into his chest at a suffocating level, but she barely noticed. Neither of them did.
She fought to keep her eyes open, fearing that if she closed them, he'd disappear on her completely. Her chest burned like she'd drank down an entire bottle of vodka in one sitting, invading her heart and making her blood burn.
"Natsu…" Lucy choked out, her sobs making the rest of her words incomprehensible.
"You don't know how much I've missed you…" Natsu said softly, his voice straining to speak as his lips brushed against her neck, making her shiver. "I thought about you every second."
Lucy's vision blurred further into oblivion as her tears took over her eyes. She undoubtedly had smudged her makeup in the past few seconds, and she most definitely had gotten some on his shirt.
But nothing else mattered at that moment.
Slowly, Lucy felt Natsu push her off of his chest so that he could look at her properly, his green eyes sending Lucy into some sort of calmed trance. As if by a natural pull, they leaned into leach other until their foreheads lightly touched.
"H-How are you…" Lucy began.
He flashed her an infamous smile. "The war's over. We're no longer needed in Alvarez, nor will we ever."
Lucy's eyes widened as she grabbed onto Natsu's scarf with trembling fingers. "You're staying…you're really staying…" she said with wonder, tears spilling out of her eyes when he nodded.
"You're the only thing that gave me the hope to push on, even on my worst days." Natsu told her, reaching up to cup her cheeks affectionately. "You were my reason to keep on living, to keep thinking of the future…our future."
"Natsu…" Lucy whispered, a smile finally forming on her lips as she gazed into his sparkling eyes. "I love you…so so much."
"I love you too, Luce." he told her. "So much that it hurts."
She felt his arms wrap around her waist as he lifted them off of the ground, their chests pressing together tightly. Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed into his scarf before finding his lips with hers. They picked up a steady and steamy rhythm that sent nostalgic chills down her spine. An intense wave of relief and happiness flooded her senses, and she was more than ready to drown in it.
Their lips separated slowly, and after a few seconds of silence Lucy giggled. "Now what will we do?"
Natsu grinned at her as he set her down on the ground, reaching down to Lucy's side to grab her left hand, bringing it up in front of her as he squeezed it softly. Lucy looked down at her hand, her eyes immediately catching onto the sight of her glistening diamond engagement ring.
It was funny…for in that very moment Lucy could've sworn that she'd never seen that diamond shine as brightly before. Then again, it all made perfect sense.
"We'll get married, that's what we'll do."
Perfect sense…all captured in a perfect picture.