Dear Readers,
This is a short NaLu story. It was written for contest on DeviantArt called Fairy Fest. My team is Heavenly gates (WOOHOO!)
The prompt was: July 7th
This is a romance story.
It's not that good (I'm not a good writer anyways...)
Enjoy!
July 7th, X791
It was an ordinary day at the guild. But it seems that a spark of romance has just caught fire in the air of Magnolia. Near a peaceful river that runs through the eastern edge of the city surrounded by a meadow of grass lay Team Natsu.
Erza was oddly depressed. Gray was silent, and uttered not a single sound. Lucy, Happy, and Natsu, however, were chattering away.
The summer breeze blew through and ruffled the hair of these cheerful wizards.
"Isn't it such a lovely day!" Lucy said while smiling.
"Aye!"
"I guess so. But it's boring. We should go do something!" grinned Natsu.
Just then Gray stood up. He was clad in nothing but his usual boxers. Gray, still silent, waded into the river and smirked. He tilted his head up and turned his head to face Natsu and Lucy.
"Yes, it's boring. Let's do something fun." The ice mage finally spoke.
"Aye! But what?" Happy asked.
Gray cupped his fingers around his chin and started thinking. Erza looked up. She smiled and nodded.
"I know."
This caught everyone's attention for Erza had seemed like she was in a bad mood all day, although they did not know why she was feeling so down.
"After all, it's July. Let's play a little game."
Natsu abruptly stood up.
"What type of game?"
"A game about love."
The dragon slayer groaned.
Lucy and Gray just looked at Erza.
"How do you play?" Happy inquired.
"Well, it's easy. The first one of you to make another member of this team fall in love with them wins. So basically, Gray and Natsu have to try and win Lucy's heart, or Lucy has to win one of theirs. Unless Gray and Natsu want to be together….."
Natsu yelled and Gray dunked his head underwater. Lucy and Happy just laughed.
"What about Happy?" the celestial spirit wizard asked.
"Happy and I will not be participating." Erza replied.
"Well, what do we get out of this game?" asked Natsu.
Erza glared at him, "The winner gets the love of whomever they made fall for them and…..70,000 jewels. They will also receive the bragging rights against everyone else. You don't want to be known a loser, do you Natsu?"
Natsu narrowed his eyes and grunted, "Fine, I'll win this, you'll see!"
"In addition to all of that, the losers will be punished by me."
This caused quite a lot of commotion but soon things settled down once again.
"You have until the sun goes down. You may begin now."
Well, then I guess I'll have to do this! I need that money to pay my rent…And I really don't want to face that punishment. But who should I go after? Natsu or Gray? Lucy thought to herself while scanning the two boys.
Natsu walked straight up to Lucy.
"Hey Lucy, want to be my lover?"
She just laughed, "Why would I ever want to be with someone like you?"
"Hey what's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just kidding Natsu, you're really handsome, did you know that?"
This caused the fire mage to blush but he shook it off and shot a smile at her, "C'mon Lucy, don't tell me you're falling for me already."
Gray stepped out of the cool water and started to move towards Lucy. Well I should at least try.
He leaned towards Lucy and started slowly moving forward. Lucy found herself walking backwards away from him. He's too close. Next thing she knew, Lucy was pinned against a tree. Gray was leaning over her. He rested an arm against the tree, on a spot right above her head. His eyes met hers. They stared at each other for awhile.
"So Lucy…..how are you?" He spoke in a deep gentle tone.
Lucy face turned a shade of bright red. Gray's face was so close to hers.
Natsu was standing behind them, his anger slowly growing inside. He was infuriated. How could Gray be winning? He pushed Gray aside and stood in the same position in front of Lucy as Gray had been in only moments ago.
"Oh Lucy, you know that ice-block's no good."
Inside Lucy's mind: I've got to step it up a notch. Gray's good at this, so I'll just have to seduce Natsu.
The next thing she did was unexpected; Lucy pushed her body against Natsu's and shoved him down to the ground. Natsu was now sprawled out on the grass with Lucy on top of him. Her hands held her up and her face was about a foot away from Natsu's.
He looked up at her. She smiled sweetly. "Natsu, are you having fun?" she cooed.
Natsu observed the girl above him. To him, Lucy's big brown eyes were mesmerizing. The way her shiny golden hair, tied in to two pigtails, illuminated her face, was dazzling. The kind tone of her voice, the kindness in her heart, and that beautiful smile of hers….they were so indescribable…he could not handle how amazing she was. Not only was she a good friend, but maybe she could be something more…? Natsu had never thought about a girl like this before. It was a completely new idea to him….love…..is this what it felt like?
He grinned his goofy wide grin and quickly slid out from underneath Lucy. She was not expecting this so she nearly toppled to the ground….only to be caught by Gray. He stood up and brought Lucy up with him. He wrapped his arms around her.
Lucy's eyes widened as the felt Gray's lips brush against her ear. He whispered her name.
She broke away from Gray's embrace and grabbed Natsu's hand and lifted him up.
As soon as she did so, Natsu started dancing with her.
"Eh?"
"C'mon Lucy! Let's dance!" Natsu exclaimed.
The pair started spinning and dancing around the meadow.
"Natsu?"
"Yes, Lucy" He said as sweetly as he could.
"I'm going to tell you what I think of you, alright?"
Natsu was momentarily surprised but then he regained his composure.
"Sure" He shot her another smile, which she returned.
"Natsu Dragneel," she spoke slowly and carefully, as if every word was dear to her, "you are one for the greatest people I have ever met. You are such a great friend, and although you can be weird and stupid at times, I think of you as an amazing person. I cannot thank you enough for introducing me to this wonderful guild. You are cute and funny. Sometimes you make my heart skip a beat. Some of things you say are so heartwarming and inspirational; it fills me with so much happiness. I really couldn't have asked for a better teammate. You are everything I could of ever of hoped for. And by that I mean you're really one of a kind. I really like you Natsu. I don't know what to say. You are, after all, my dear nakama."
Natsu was stunned by her speech. And afterwards, Lucy genuinely smiled.
The next thing that happened might have surprised all of Fiore, because right then and there, Natsu leaned in and pressed his lips against Lucy's. She closed her eyes, and soon they were enveloped in a warm passionate kiss.
"That was faster than I expected." Gray muttered under his breath. His bangs covered his eyes.
Natsu broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against Lucy's.
"Lucy, I think I just fell in love with you."
Gray stood next to Erza. They stood shoulder to shoulder watching the new couple (Natsu and Lucy) laugh and talk while Happy flew around them.
Gray was the first to speak, "Wow you're little plan worked. It happened so fast though."
"Well they were probably in love with each other from the start. They just needed a little push." She replied.
The sun was setting. It was a beautiful sight.
Erza chuckled, "Since Lucy made Natsu fall in love with her then I guess that means that you and Natsu are the losers. Ready for punishment?"
Gray cleared his throat. "Please tell me you're just joking about that, I mean Natsu's probably already forgotten about it….."
Erza just shook her head, "How did you know what was going to happen?"
"It was obvious that you wanted him to fall for her. I was just helping out by playing along."
"Is that so?"
They just stood there, admiring the sky.
Gray once again started talking, "Erza, what are you thinking about? What's with this sudden interest in love?"
Said person turned her head and looked into Gray's eyes.
"Do you think we'll ever fall in love with someone just like them?"
Gray grinned.
"You've already got Jellal, ne? You're all set. You've got a bright future filled with friends and love and all those other things."
She nodded. "Thank you. That makes me feel better."
"I don't see what you were so bummed out about anyways. No matter what, we've got each other. We're Fairy Tail after all."
Titania smiled.
"Well, it doesn't hurt to fall in love."
Gray laughed, "I wouldn't really know, but I still agree."
"Well, Juvia's in love with you."
"What are you talking about? Since when?"
Erza sighed and turned her gaze back on the Natsu and Lucy. Natsu had his arms wrapped around the blonde and they were smiling and watching the sun go down.
Another swift breeze moved through the air. It was hot outside. The sun was going down. Team Natsu was positioned in the middle of a large meadow near a stream in Magnolia. Natsu and Lucy were together. Happy was out and about. Other than the chirping of birds, the only noise that could be heard was sound of Erza's voice followed by Gray's.
Erza sighed and her lips curved upward into a soft smile. "Ah, Summer Love."
The black haired ice mage responded by crossing his arms and speaking with a hint of humor in his voice.
"Yeah, I guess now, we'll never be able to forget July 7th."
~edolucy
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