Calendar Girl, a fairy tail fanfic

I actually managed to get this finished in time for Christmas... Holy crap... It's nearly 17k words, and I started it all the way back in March, but it is finally complete and I'm rather relieved. This story is actually a follow-up/sequel to my Christmas fic from last year, Mistletoe. If you haven't read it, it's not a big deal, but this story essentially fills in the one year time skip I had at the end of that story. And, in case anyone is wondering, the reason I posted this separately and not in Match Made in the Stars is because it's set up to be a sequel to a story not included in that "collection".

Also, this is kind of a song-fic. Sort of. Honestly, it was my first attempt at writing a song-fic, so... yeah. And, I know, there's wayyyy too many song lyrics in there, but the story was pretty much based on the song as a whole so I couldn't see a way to take any of them out since they acted as prompts. If this gets deleted, I'll get it posted on my tumblr as well as AO3.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a safe and happy time this holiday season! If you're lucky enough to have snow, well... screw you (just kidding, I love you). If you're like me and unlucky enough to get 35+ degree (95F) weather every year at Christmas time... I feel you...

Quick side note though: There is a poll up on my profile that I would appreciate you all at least taking a look at! It would help out a lot if you voted on it.

Song used: Calendar Girl by Neil Sedaka.
/watch?v=qUlOyj9F5gM

January

You start the year all fine

Starting the year off with a bang was always Bickslow's favourite way to go, and starting that year off with Lucy was no different. Things shouldn't have been so great, considering they'd only been together since Christmas, but it wasn't as if either were going to complain.

It was nearing the end of January when they each realised that they were seriously falling for each other. Unexpectedly, too, but it was real. Or at least, that's what they believed and assumed. They kept that from each other though, because that was bound to ruin things between them, or at the very least, make things more than a little uncomfortable, all because they were sure the other didn't feel the same way.

But Bickslow still loved starting the year with a bang, and when he got to start the year with a girlfriend that he was falling for way too quickly, it was a great feeling. And all of that was before the first month was even over.

With the month nearly over though, the worst of the winter weather was mostly over. Unfortunately, by the very end of January, both Bickslow and Lucy had gotten sick. Fortunately for them though, being sick at the same time with the same flu that was going around and making a good portion of Magnolia feeling under the weather for a few days only meant that they got to battle their illness together.

So for the last few days of January, they got to spend their days curled up together under all the blankets they owned with the babies and Plue. And even if they had to be taken care of not only Virgo, but also Mira, Erza, and Wendy for a few days, it was still a great start to the year – flu and all.

February

You're my little Valentine

He nervously climbed the steps up to Lucy's apartment, all while telling himself that he had no reason to worry about anything at all. It was Valentine's Day, and he was so in love with her already that it was just a little worrying, but it wasn't exactly like he was going to tell her how he felt. Oh hell no. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

No, he just wanted to have a nice, slightly romantic night with his girlfriend that he just happened to love. They hadn't been together all that long anyway, so it wasn't like they could do much. Bickslow didn't really want to freak her out or anything.

He'd listened to Mira's advice, as well as Evergreen's, and also Freed's, Erza's, Gray's, and… Not Natsu's. Definitely not Natsu's. Or Happy's, for that matter. Bickslow didn't know much about what was a good idea and what wasn't a good idea when it came to Valentine's Day, but he knew for sure that Lucy would not want to go fishing. Or even if she did want to go, Bickslow certainly didn't. But the only reason he'd had to take advice from so many people was because they'd all overheard him asking Mira what he shouldn't do. He'd never exactly had a girlfriend (or anything close to a girlfriend) on what was apparently the most romantic day of the year, and he didn't exactly want to screw anything up with Lucy.

So he'd gone to Mira. And because Fairy Tail was full of people who had no concept of a boundary, too many people for Bickslow to like had decided to make their opinions on what would be a great night known. Ignoring all of the way too disturbing ideas, Bickslow had confirmed that flowers and chocolate were the way to go. Of course, not knowing what Lucy's favourite flower was, he just went with roses.

And as he climbed the stairs to Lucy's apartment, he had fifty-two red roses in one hand, one rose for each day they'd been together because he was a bit of a hopeless romantic, and a box of mint and cookies and cream chocolates in the other. She really loved her cookies and cream chocolate, apparently, as well as her dark chocolate and mint.

When Lucy finally heard the knock on her door though, she quickly got up from her lounge and raced over to it. She'd been expecting Bickslow, so she wasn't surprised to see her Seith mage of a boyfriend grinning once she'd opened the door. "Hey, you," she whispered, and a hand lifted to thread her fingers through the hair at the back of his head as he leant down and gently brought his lips down to hers.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Cosplayer," he murmured. Following her back into the apartment with the roses and chocolate still held behind his back, Bickslow chuckled quietly when he noticed what she was wearing – dark grey leggings that she seemed to have a million pairs of, and a shirt of his that she had apparently stolen. "Nice clothes." It wasn't exactly like he was any better – although he was wearing a shirt with buttons for a change – but he did like being given opportunities to tease her.

She gave him a sly grin as she came back from her kitchen with two wine glasses and a bottle of red. "Like I was going to get properly dressed for you," she scoffed. "And besides, it's what is under my clothes that's important."

"Oh really? What exactly is under them then?"

"You'll just have to wait until later to find out," she murmured, and then as she came back up to Bickslow after placing the glasses and bottle of wine on her coffee table, she sneezed suddenly.

"Bless you! Bless you!" the babies chanted happily from behind Bickslow.

Lucy sniffled and smiled up at them. "Thank you," she whispered. Looking back to Bickslow in front of her, she tried her best to look behind him to see just what it was he was holding behind his back. "Now come on. Show me what you've been hiding from me since you got here."

"Okay. Well, since we're not doing anything grand or super romantic or whatever, I just stuck to the basics since we haven't been together for all that long," Bickslow began, and Lucy was trying hard not to giggle (or sneeze again) at how excited he suddenly seemed, even if he was rambling a little. He pulled the box of chocolates with the green and white bow around it from behind him, and held it out. "So, mint chocolate and cookies and cream because I know how much you like it."

Oh, he knew her so well already. It was probably part of why Lucy was already in love with him. "Perfect. But you know I'm not going to share these with you, right?"

"Wouldn't expect you to," Bickslow chuckled. Then, as he pulled the large bouquet of roses out from behind him, he continued slowly, "And… Fifty-two roses for—bless you—each day we've been together because I'm a bit weird like that, and because girls apparently like roses and I didn't know what your favourite flower was, so… Roses."

Roses.

Of all things, it had to be roses. Honestly, Lucy had half been expecting it because roses were the go-to for Valentine's Day, but she had been hoping for any other flower. She would have gladly taken fifty-two lilies, tulips, or orchids, but not roses, even if they truly were beautiful and she wished she could put them in a vase and sit them in her apartment for the next week to be reminded of how much of a sweetheart her boyfriend was.

But they made her sneeze.

Smiling sweetly up at him while slowly taking the bouquet, Lucy nervously nibbled on her bottom lip. "Um…"

Bickslow's face fell, and he was suddenly wishing that he'd taken Natsu's and Happy's advice and taken her fishing. "Oh god. It's the fifty-two thing, isn't it? I knew it was a bad idea. Shit, I am so sor—"

"No, no, no," Lucy giggled, and she lifted a hand just to lightly rest against his cheek. "I love that there's fifty-two of them," she explained, and she was really trying hard not to sneeze, and her eyes were beginning to water from the roses already. "And I love you because you're so sweet sometimes, but I'm allergic to roses, Bix."

It seemed to go over both of their heads that she'd just sort of said that she loved him, and right then, all Bickslow was thinking about was that she was allergic to them. He just had to go and get her fifty-two of the things she was allergic to. Bickslow was feeling like the worst boyfriend in the world right then, that was for sure. "You… Are allergic to roses," he muttered, all while staring at the overly large bouquet of them in her hands.

Lucy nodded. "Only thing I'm allergic to in the entire world. I was going to tell you before Valentine's Day, just in case you were going to get me roses, but I forgot to."

"The only thing," Bickslow repeated, and he let out a heavy sigh while dropping his head to rest on her shoulder. He hadn't wanted to screw up up Valentine's Day, even if they really were just going to be spending it in and having a quiet night. But getting her roses was just a wonderful way to screw it up, and Bickslow really was sure he needed an award for being the most moronic boyfriend in the world.

Straightening up suddenly, Bickslow quickly pulled the bouquet from her hands. "Hey, what are you—" Lucy cut herself off as she only watched the Seith mage silently rush over to where her bed was on the far side of the room, and then climb onto the edge to force the window over it open, just to toss the bouquet of roses out and onto the street below. Lucy covered her mouth with her hand to keep her giggling at bay, but it really didn't work all that well. How was she supposed to keep her laughter somewhat controlled when Bickslow was so adorably embarrassed about it all? "Oh god. Bix, you really didn't need to throw them out the window," she laughed as he came to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Well, I did, because you're allergic to them and I don't want anything to happen to you or anything," he explained. "Wait, you're going to be fine though, right?" he asked then as he suddenly began to panic. "You're not going to need to go to the hospital or anything any time soon because you're going to like stop breathing or something, because remember when I had to at like two o'clock in the morning because of that rash from the mistletoe? Oh god, please just tell me you'll be okay and that I didn't basically just kill you."

"I'll be fine, silly," Lucy giggled again. She would most definitely not be needing to make any visits to the hospital because of her allergy, unlike Bickslow who had had to on Christmas because he was apparently severely allergic to mistletoe. "But just don't get me roses again, yeah?"

"Never again."

She nodded, and stood on her tip-toes to quickly press a kiss to his cheek before pulling away and grabbing her baby pink overcoat that was hanging on a hook on the back of her door. "I do, however, need to go and buy some anti-histamines, because otherwise I'm going to be no fun, and we both know how boring I am when I'm sick," Lucy said while slipping her feet into the ballet flats that had been sitting just next to her door, too.

"I'll pay for them." It was really the least Bickslow could do, considering he was the one that had given her the damn roses in the first place. So off they went down the stairs in Lucy's apartment building so they could go to the nearest pharmacy that was really only a few minutes away so it wasn't a big deal.

It was as they got outside and they walked past the fifty-two roses on the ground in front of her building that Bickslow remembered what Lucy had said. Or at least, he remembered what he thought she had said. She'd said that she loved him, right before she'd told him he was allergic to roses which was what was most important at that moment, but now that wasn't so important. It was what she'd said first that was the most important.

Looking down at her as his lips slowly pulled up into a grin as they walked, Bickslow quietly asked, "So did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"What you said before," he explained. "When you said that you love me."

"I… Uh…" Lucy quickly flushed and she turned her face away from him as they walked. She had really been hoping he hadn't picked up on that, just because it was a blunder she didn't exactly want to explain. Had she meant it? Of course she had. But she had fallen far too quickly and far too hard, and it was way too early for Bickslow to feel the same about her. "Well I…" She cleared her throat and shoved her hands into her pockets and stared down at the ground as they walked, then she mumbled as quickly and quietly as she could, "Well I didn't mean to, but I… I do…"

Bickslow's grin got wider and he pulled one of his own hands free from his pocket to put his arm around her shoulders and pull her into his side. She loved him! Oh, it was fantastic, and Bickslow had a glimmer of hope that he hadn't completely ruined Valentine's Day. "Me too," he said softly.

Her eyes went wide as she looked up to him, and she didn't care in the slightest that her face and ears were the same shade of red as her nails. "You… You do?" she whispered, smiling softly when she thought about what he meant.

"Of course I do. I mean, how could I not love myself? Tall, strikingly handsome, great in bed, a bit of a hopeless romantic if I do say so myself…"

Lucy pushed his arm off of her shoulders with a huff and folded her arms across her chest. Of course he just to tease her about it. "You're a jerk," she muttered.

Bickslow chuckled as he quickly caught up to her again once she increased her pace. "Hey, come on." He stepped in front of her, and he smiled down at her once again. He knew she wasn't really that mad at him. Embarrassed, probably, but that was his fault, anyway. He only had one thing to say right then though, and it was the one thing he hadn't intended on saying at all, but that didn't really matter anymore. Letting his forehead rest of hers, he only whispered, "I love you, too."

March

I'm gonna march you down the aisle

Bickslow looked up at the familiar sound of his girlfriend's voice (er, screech), just to see her burst through the doors behind a frankly terrified pink-haired Dragon Slayer and a blue Exceed.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen Lucy chase Natsu through the guild to get her revenge for something, but right then, he was honestly fearing for Natsu's life. There was something deeply disturbing in her eyes that even Bickslow could see from where he sat, and it was putting him on edge, too. But, as scary as Lucy was right then, and for reasons that Bickslow hoped to be finding out quite soon, he was still her boyfriend and he could handle the blonde. And right then, Bickslow had a feeling he was probably the only one who was going to be able to handle her. With the way she was chasing and screaming at Natsu, he knew he'd get a few thank yous for most likely saving their lives.

By the time Bickslow reached the blonde and the pink-haired idiot, she had him cornered and the Dragon Slayer was only sliding down the wall and holding up his hands in surrender and apologising over and over. Happy was safely up in the rafters and was actually using his brain for once.

"You," Lucy hissed. She continued to slowly step forward towards the frightened Slayer to loom over him. "I am going to skin you alive and then mur—"

"How about you calm down a little, okay?" Bickslow chimed in suddenly from where he stood behind Lucy, effectively cutting her off as he quickly wrapped his arms around her middle and lifted her off the ground. "And how about we get out of here so you don't become a murderer?"

"No! Bickslow, put me down!" She kicked her feet and tried her best to claw at the arms that were securely wrapped around her waist, but his heavy clothing and just general inability to feel pain just made her efforts futile. "Let me kill him!"

The Seith mage shook his head, turned around, and began walking towards the guild doors with a kicking and seething blonde in his arms. "Not today, Lucy," Bickslow said. "Tomorrow, I might let you kill Natsu, but not today."

It was only once they were far, far away from the guild that Bickslow set Lucy down. And, as they walked back to her apartment, since that was where she had muttered about needing to go there, Bickslow couldn't help but find it all slightly amusing. He had no idea why she wanted to kill Natsu, but the way she was acting was just incredibly cute.

And hilarious, because she was acting like a kid, but it was cute.

"So, are you going to tell me what Natsu did to make you want to kill him?" he asked once they were back in her apartment and she'd slammed the door shut behind herself.

"He got me evicted, that's what!" Lucy shouted.

"He… He did what?"

She stopped her rampant organising and tidying up of a few bits and pieces to point towards her kitchen. "He did that," she said bitterly.

It was completely scorched. Everything was black and charred and he could see the counters actually crumbling. Though, how her apartment didn't smell like smoke, he had no idea.

"So," Lucy continued, "The landlady came by this morning to tell me I have a week to get out. Plus, I still have to pay for the repairs and the remodel of the kitchen. That, Bickslow, is why I want to murder Natsu. And then bring him back to life so I can murder him again."

"Oh…" Yeah, Bickslow could see why his girlfriend really wanted to murder her best friend, because Bickslow found himself kind of wanting to kill Natsu, too. "Is there anything you want me to do? Or need or anything?" he asked.

"Let me kill Natsu?"

His lips curled up into a smirk. "No. I don't want to be the boyfriend of a murderer, and, before you ask, I don't want to become a murderer either."

Lucy sighed and slumped in her lounge. Well, it was worth a shot. But… There was one thing she needed Bickslow's help with. She could go to someone else, like Levy or Erza, but things would be so much easier with Bickslow. He was her boyfriend, after all. "Well, there is something you could do…" she mumbled while nervously wringing her hands together.

"Name it."

"Let me stay with you until I get a new place?" she asked. "I mean, it would only be for a few weeks and I'd pay your—"

"You can stay as long as you need," he cut in softly.

"Are you… Are you sure?"

Bickslow nodded. "Yeah, 'course," he said. He had absolutely zero problems with Lucy staying with him. Hell, he kind of loved the idea of it. He barely had time to smile before Lucy was up and rushing over to where he stood, though, and he was jumping up to throw her arms around him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said quickly. Her fingers made quick work of lifting up his visor she could pretty much attack his face with her lips between each thanks, before pressing her own lips to his. "I love you! I just… I won't stay for long, I promise. And I'll pay your rent, and I'll… Well, I'm honestly hopeless when it comes to cooking, but I'm good at cleaning! I'll clean! And I'll be tidy!"

"It's not that big of a deal, seriously. And don't worry about any of that, because firstly, you know I can cook. Secondly, you know I'm a neat freak. And, thirdly," He set Lucy's feet back on the ground and ducked his head to quickly kiss her back, then added, "I'm not gonna make you pay rent. It's only temporary, after all."

And so Lucy stayed with Bickslow rent-free, much to her frustration.

It was nearing the end of March when Bickslow came back from a job one night, nearly three weeks after Lucy had been told to get out of her apartment because of what Natsu had done. It had occurred to Bickslow around the time he'd accidentally said 'welcome home' to Lucy when she'd gotten back from a job just the week before that he had really enjoyed having her there.

No, he'd just downright loved it.

It had been great, and Bickslow was almost glad that she'd had trouble finding a new apartment. The longer it took for her to do that, the longer she stayed with him, and he was realising that he didn't exactly want her to go.

The babies rushing down to the bedroom to circle her before settling themselves down on the comforter. He heard her laughter and was smiling before he was even in the room, and as soon as he was, he was greeted by the sight of Lucy sitting up in bed with a slew of papers surrounding her. That was something Bickslow could get used to seeing.

"Hey, welcome back," Lucy said softly.

"It's good to be back," he replied. And oh, is it. He walked around the bed just to duck down and quickly press his lips to hers, and then he grimaced. "Ugh. Gross. You taste like peppermint."

"Probably because I just brushed my teeth," she laughed.

"Still gross."

Lucy only shook her head and roll her eyes at her boyfriend's strange hatred of all things peppermint flavoured.

He climbed into bed after changing out of his copious layers of clothing, swapping them for sleep shorts and a t-shirt. He pulled the now crumpled page that he realised he'd laid on out from under him, and turned to his side to prop himself up on one elbow and read the information on it. "So I'm going to assume the house hunting still hasn't gone anywhere?"

"Unfortunately, no," she sighed. "Everything is still too much for me to afford, too big, just not what I'm looking for, or my landlady has already apparently convinced every single landlord and lady between here and the border of Fiore not to let me be their tenant because I'm apparently a horrible one. Which, really, isn't the case. I'm a good tenant! Natsu was the one that kept making a mess of my apartment, not me!"

All of that in one breath. Damn, Lucy. "Hmm…"

Lucy sighed again and crumpled up one of the pages then tossed it to the pile on the floor, then added, "I'm sorry it's taking so long, though. I only thought it would take me a couple of weeks at most."

"It's okay, I don't mind you being here," he said softly.

"Still, I just wish it wasn't this hard." She quickly kicked the sheet and blanket back, disturbing the pages and the souls that were scattered around her, and got up from the bed with yet another sigh. "I give up for tonight. I'll go see if there's any other houses or apartments or anything new in the morning. I just really feel like a hot chocolate right now," she murmured.

Bickslow frowned as she slowly padded out of the room to go make her hot chocolate. He just really didn't want her to leave – not to go and get her hot chocolate which she'd done most night before going to bed, but to kind of move out. He wanted Lucy to actually move in. And yeah, they'd only been dating for like three months, but he did really love her. He didn't really think about how Lucy actually moving in would be rushing things, because he just didn't think it mattered all that much. It wasn't exactly like their relationship had followed a very conventional timeline so far, anyway, so surely it wouldn't be that bad if Bickslow did ask her to move in on a more permanent basis, rather than temporary.

He dropped the page he'd been looking at when Lucy came back in, the mug in her hands. "You know," Bickslow began as he crumpled up the page and threw it to the pile, then looked to the blonde standing by the edge of the bed and watching him through the steam rising from her drink. "There is another option."

"If you're going to suggest the dorms, don't, because they're way more than what I was paying for my apartment, and I honestly can't afford that."

"I meant here, actually," he said. "Like, you could actually move in here."

The cup slid from her hands suddenly and fell towards the ground. Of course, it didn't actually hit the ground, and instead it only stopped a foot above the ground, thanks to Bickslow, and Lucy only stared wide-eyed at him as the liquid fell straight back into the mug without spilling a single drop. "Are you… Asking me to move in?"

"Well, you basically already have anyway, but yeah, why not?"

"I have not."

Bickslow arched an eyebrow and tried not to let his amusement show too much. "You have," he insisted. "For starters, you have a side of the bed."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"There's also almond milk in the fridge. Like, what the fuck even is almond milk?!"

She shrugged. "I like it."

"And there's tampons in the bathroom."

"W-Well, sorry for being a woman, but where else do you expect me to keep them when I kind of need them?" she mumbled, heat flooding her cheeks.

"I also just had to put up with Laxus giving me all kinds of shit for the last two days because I accidentally used your shampoo and ended up smelling like fucking grapefruit and lavender or something like that."

"It's not my fault you used the wrong one."

Bickslow rolled his eyes. "But my point is that you could actually move in, if you wanted to," he said as Lucy just continued to stare at him with the mug back in her hands now. "'Cause like, I like you being here. Well, I love it, actually. And I kind of want you to move in, too."

"You… Want me to actually move in?" she whispered incredulously.

"Well, yeah. Not just because you're my girlfriend and it would honestly be great if you did move in because I love you and we would have a hell of a lot of fun if we lived together." He paused as Lucy carefully climbed back onto her side of the bed and crossed her legs under her, and only continued to watch Bickslow with amusement over the top of her drink. "Plus," the Seith mage continued, "It'd be kind of convenient."

"Convenient."

He nodded. "Because, you know, you can't seem to find an apartment or anything, and your boyfriend happens to live in a perfectly fine place with a landlord who doesn't mind you staying here."

"He knows I'm here?" she asked.

"Kind of had to tell him because he threw a bitch fit when he found out you were staying here and he said to make sure you get put on the lease if it was a permanent thing," Bickslow explained to a nod of understand from Lucy. "But, you moving in would be convenient because the rent would be good. 'Cause, I mean, I'd make you pay half if you did decide to move in, but it would still be less than what you were paying for your other apartment, and it would be a win for me, too, since I'd get cheaper rent, plus I'd get a super sexy roommate to snuggle with all the time. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a really fucking great roommate. I'm not even messy!"

And it was arguments like that that caused Lucy to actually move in, but it was Lucy moving in that had them having their first argument. And to make matters worse, it wasn't at home. It was in the middle of the grocery store, in the middle of the day, and in the middle of the goddamn aisle.

And of all things for their first real argument to be over, it was about what flavour of toothpaste to buy. Lucy liked all things peppermint flavoured, Bickslow hated all things peppermint flavoured. Bickslow liked all things spearmint flavoured, but Lucy hated all things spearmint flavoured. When those were the two main flavours that toothpaste came in, they found themselves with a bit of a problem.

Of course, it was only when one of the store clerks was sent down to that aisle due to complaints from other shoppers did they come up with a solution, and that was to just get two tubes of toothpaste – one peppermint and one spearmint.

Unsurprisingly, that was also the time that they decided that they could never shop there again, ever, for anything, just because of the embarrassment their first argument had caused them, because they'd still ended up being marched down the aisle by the manager and out the doors with a lifetime ban anyway.

April

You're the Easter bunny

When you smile

There were certain things Bickslow had gotten used to since Lucy had moved in, and there were certain things he was still trying to wrap his head around, too.

One of the things that Bickslow had gotten far too used to was the fact that his favourite Stellar mage apparently wasn't a fan of clothes sometimes. And really, that was more than fine with him. He had no issues with his girlfriend wanting to sleep naked occasionally.

But where Bickslow had already gotten used to being able to come back from a mission occasionally and find Lucy lounging comfortably on the bed in just a shirt he was sure was actually Gray's (she claimed it was what happened when he stripped in her old apartment and he never came to retrieve his clothes) and her underwear, he had most definitely not gotten accustomed to coming home and finding his girlfriend on the bed in just her undergarments (ones that matched the bunny ears she was wearing, he noticed) and surrounded by more chocolate wrappers he cared to count.

Oh, and Plue. But Plue, he was sort of used to. Even if he really could not figure out just how the fuck the thing was supposed to be a dog.

But that was what Bickslow was coming home to that night after a single day mission. And really, he couldn't help but wonder just what in the world was happening right then.

Luckily, Lucy already had an explanation ready. So as her Seith mage just stared at her from the doorway, she smiled and reached for another fun-size chocolate bar and began her explanation. "So, before you ask, the answer is yes, you can have some," she started.

Because that was most definitely what he'd been wondering the most. (Well… He had been, actually.)

"Also," she continued, tossing the wrapper down next to her and already reaching for another candy bar. "I kind of forgot how Wendy and Erza gave me this giant box of chocolate for Easter before." Lucy pointed to the large box on the floor by the drawers and Bickslow shrugged – he'd been wondering what had been in that. "And then I was doing some cleaning and some organising, then came across that, and I just opened it and thought, 'why the hell not?'"

"Fair enough," he mumbled. Really, it made sense for Lucy. Sort of. But as he pulled off the rest of his own clothes, stripping down until he was just in his appropriately hot pink boxer briefs (because hot pink underwear was always appropriate in his book, and it had yet to fail to amuse Lucy so there was that, too) to climb onto the bed beside her, he only moved aside some of the wrappers and gestured to her figure beside him. "But what's with the clothes? Or, well, lack of. Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"Because I'm sitting here gorging myself on nothing but chocolate, and more than one person should probably eat in a month let alone a night, so I figured it'd be easier to get fat if I wasn't wearing any clothes."

"Smart."

Lucy grinned as she reached for the large block of cookies-and-cream chocolate. "But that's why you love me," she pointed out.

Bickslow wasn't going to deny that. No way in hell. "Too true," he sighed. "But you know what I want to do right now?"

"Get fat with me?"

"Bingo."

May

Maybe if I ask your dad and mom

"You know, I'm kind of glad your parents are dead."

It was one of the rare moments where Lucy found herself wondering just why she loved the Seith mage as much as she did. She already wasn't exactly in the best of moods or all that happy with Bickslow, mostly because he'd been arrested and fined the previous afternoon by the council for pranking someone she really shouldn't have (how he'd managed to do that, she had no idea, but that was what happened when Crime Sorcière were in town, apparently) and she had most definitely not enjoyed going to Era first thing that morning to retrieve him. And now, saying that he was glad her parents were dead? She was not in the mood for that. Not even if it was one of his warped and twisted jokes.

Of course though, Bickslow was quickly realising what he'd just said with his brain-to-mouth filter still being non-existent, and with Lucy merely ignoring him and continuing for the bedroom, he added, "W-Wait, no! I don't mean like that. Because, you know, it really sucks they are dead 'cause I know you miss them and I'm sure they really were awesome people."

She shot an almost murderous look over her shoulder.

"But like," Bickslow continued then. "I just mean that I'm kind of glad I'm not able to meet them."

"Why would you say that?" That's not a very nice thing to say. Because if she could, she would've introduced Bickslow to her parents. Seemed like the appropriate thing to do, to introduce her boyfriend (the one she was not happy with at all) to her parents. But even if they were alive, Lucy was wondering if she'd have bothered at all if Bickslow didn't want to know them.

He shrugged before mumbling, "Pretty sure they wouldn't exactly approve of me."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you know…" He avoided looking at Lucy to instead look down and tug on his sleeve. "It's not like I'm the best influence on you – I'm a terrible influence on you, really. And let's face it, you're way too good for me."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She hadn't expected it to be about that in the slightest. And really, now Lucy was just confused.

"So I'm just saying that it's probably a good thing I can't meet them," he continued just as awkwardly. "Because I'm pretty sure they'd spend half their time trying to get you to find someone that's not a total moron, or they'd try and get me to do the, I don't know, smart thing or some fucking shit and break up with you because I'm pretty sure they would wish they were dead if their precious daughter married someone like me—"

She almost squeaked when she spun back around. "Wh-What?"

"—and even then, I'm pretty sure they'd say no if they were alive for me to even ask…" Because people did that, didn't they? He wasn't good with customs. He had no clue. But what he was sure of, was that Lucy's parents would most definitely not approve of her choice in boyfriends if they were alive, and they would most definitely not want her marrying someone like him.

And really, Bickslow wasn't all that sure if he should care all that much about it or not, since they were dead after all so he most definitely had no reason to worry about Lucy's parents liking or hating him. He just couldn't help but think they really would hate him if they could.

But Lucy was just staring at him with wide eyes then, almost like she'd just seen a ghost, and Bickslow couldn't help but look behind him to see if there actually was some kind of apparition behind him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he mumbled. How could she go from looking like she wanted to murder him, to that?

"What you said before," Lucy said.

"Eh?"

"You said… You said if I married someone like you."

Bickslow lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck and chuckled sheepishly. "Oh… Right… Yeah…" He'd totally forgotten he'd let that slip already. It wasn't like the entire topic hadn't crossed his mind just a few times recently, because it had. But really, only a few times. It wasn't his fault he was hopelessly in love with her – that was Lucy's fault for being so goddamn awesome and putting up with his shit.

But with Lucy, he really did like to think that he had done right by her so far. She kind of deserved it, so he'd try to make sure he kept doing right by her. And if that had meant actually asking her parents – should they have actually been alive – if he could marry her eventually, then sure, he would've.

Lucy wasn't really sure what she was supposed to say, though. Did that mean Bickslow had actually thought about marrying her? That was kind of terrifying, if anything. "You've, uh… thought about that?" she asked nervously.

"Well, maybe just once or twice…" he admitted.

"O-Oh… Wow…"

Bickslow quickly went on to defend his weird thoughts, "But I mean, it's not like I actually thought about it a lot. Because that would've been weird. Just, you know…" He shrugged. "If it was something that I maybe wanted to do one day because you're super awesome and I'm pretty sure I'd be stupid to actually want to break up with you…?" His voice might've been close to an actual octave higher by the time he'd finished, but he couldn't find it in him to be embarrassed. He never could, really, not even when his girlfriend came to pick him up from the magic council for being a moron.

It was still terrifying, but at the very least, Lucy knew not to expect some kind of weird proposal anytime soon. She most definitely would've said no.

There was just one other part that Lucy needed to worry about, and that was unsurprisingly the part where he'd brought up her dead parents. "But if you ever could ask my parents if you could, you know, marry me…" she began just as nervously as she had before. "You wouldn't actually care that much, right?"

"Well, sure I would. They only want what's best for you, and I mean, I'm nowhere near being that. Obviously. I'm like, the worst influence on you ever."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "But, hypothetically now… If you did ask them, and they didn't give you their permission, you mean to say you would actually break up with me then? Just because they'd tell you to?"

And Bickslow thought about it for a moment then. He did think that was how it would probably go down – he'd meet her parents, they'd tell him to leave her so she could actually be with a decent guy because he was most definitely not that decent of a guy. That'd be the honourable thing to do, surely. But… he wasn't honourable. His intentions most of the time were dishonourable most of the time, even if he was fiercely loyal to the guild, his team, and of course, Lucy.

But honourable? That was not something Bickslow happened to be. And he honestly didn't give a damn. He was beginning to realise that he'd be the type of guy to really not care about what his girlfriend's parents thought what was best, either. His girlfriend was a big girl and she was smart enough to know what was good for her and what wasn't (of course, most would say that she probably didn't, considering who her best friends were and who she happened to be dating, but whatever. Bickslow wasn't going to complain).

"You know what?" Bickslow shook his head. "Fuck 'em. I mean, in the nicest way possible because they're dead and all. But I would probably tell them to go to hell if they told me to break up with you or something." He was too weak to break up with her anyway. "And if they didn't give me permission to marry you? I'd probably still try and do it anyway."

"Uh-huh… That's what I thought," Lucy smirked. Really, she'd been a little worried where her Seith mage had seemingly disappeared to for a second.

But that being said, he had just said he was glad her parents were dead, and even if he had meant it in the strangest way possible and it wasn't really supposed to be that offensive, it still was, and she was still mad at him for the stunt he'd pulled the previous night and that morning. And more importantly, Lucy really couldn't let Bickslow think that she'd already forgotten about it.

So she only turned around again to grab the nearest pillow to throw it at him. "But don't say you're glad my parents are dead, jerkface!" she shouted. "And stop doing stupid things with Cobra and Meredy! I'm not coming to get you the next time you get stuck in Era."

Bickslow was nodding quickly as he held up the pillow as a shield, just in case Lucy threw more. It would be a pillow fight he'd actually lose. "I won't do it again. I promise!" Well, he wouldn't say he was glad her parents were dead again, even if he had already stopped caring about how he was convinced they would actually loathe his existence if they were alive. But there was no way he could promise not to get into trouble with Cobra and Meredy again. That was just one promise he couldn't make.

June

They'd let me take you to the junior prom

Even having lived with Bickslow for a little over two months at that point (well, officially), there were still plenty of box that had yet to be unpacked, and there were many things of Bickslow's that had yet to be given new homes. Even if the Seith mage was particularly neat, he had a hell of a lot of clutter and just general stuff. So naturally, with Lucy moving in, he'd had to organise what he owned, and a lot of the things he'd kept in spare drawers or in the wardrobe had just been put in boxes and moved to his spare bedroom to be dealt with at a later time.

And so slowly, as Lucy got more settled in, she'd been helping Bickslow go through all of his things as she gave all of hers new homes. Because the guy was most definitely not capable of going through his belongings and deciding what to keep and throw out himself. He was borderline a hoarder despite being a neat freak. It was weird.

So it was on one of their rare quiet nights in where neither of them were out on a job with their respective teams or they weren't off at the guild or having fun somewhere in town, and Lucy was making the most of it by going through another one of Bickslow's clutter boxes while Bickslow himself worked on getting dinner ready.

So far having his girlfriend go through all of his things had been highly amusing, but more so for Lucy since he admittedly had kept some pretty weird things over the years, and Lucy really couldn't help but ask him about every odd trinket she came across. And whenever she did ask him just why he happened to own something weird – like a collection of mini cows, for example – all he needed to say was 'just because.' Most of the time that was good enough for Lucy, too, except for when it came to the cow figurines. That one, he'd actually had to explain, and thankfully, it was an easy explanation.

They'd been a gift from Wendy and the rest of his team after he'd gotten crushed by a herd of them.

But still, even if Bickslow had already started getting used to hearing her giggle every now or even just groan and mutter something along the lines of 'I don't even know why you still have this, but you most definitely do not need to keep it,' Bickslow was still just a little cautious when he heard the former of the two. He couldn't help it if he liked knowing why his girlfriend found it necessary to laugh at him. So when he heard her snicker from the lounge on the other side of the kitchen right as he slid the tray in the oven and set the timer, Bickslow could only let out a sigh as he stood back up and ask as he rolled his eyes, "Alright, what did you find now?"

He was curious. Really.

"A photo album," she answered. She tucked her legs up when Bickslow sat down, just so she could lay them back out on his lap.

"A photo album, huh? And what are you looking at in it that's so amusing?"

"You."

"Oh, well I figured that much." He scooted under her so he could get a better look at the vaguely familiar photo album she was still giggling at on her own lap, and only grimaced when he saw just what Lucy had found. "Oh, fuck me, that's a bad photo." He'd almost forgotten it existed, but then again, it had been taken ten years earlier.

Lucy giggled as she looked to the pained Seith mage just beside her before pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

"Baby, I'm sixteen there. I look fucking horrible."

"Aw, it's baby Bixy!" she crooned, only to receive an eye roll from Bickslow. "You were so cute! And so skinny!"

"Don't remind me…" he muttered.

Lucy really just couldn't get over how adorable the Bickslow in the photo was. He didn't even look all that different, though she most definitely preferred the version of him she was very happily dating. She was even glad he'd changed his hair at some point in the eight years that occurred between that photo being taken and them meeting for the first time, because the messy flop of hair he had on his head in the photo was much too like Gray's for Lucy to take it seriously. The mohawk suited him better she thought.

But the hair wasn't even what she found the most entertaining. It was the damn light blue frilly suit he had on.

"So just why are were you wearing something so horrendous when you were sixteen?" she asked.

"Ah. That, my dear Cosplayer, was what I wore to my prom."

"Your prom?"

He nodded, and only waited until the dam burst and Lucy began giggling uncontrollably again before adding, "Excuse you, that was like, technically seventeen years ago. That was the style back then, baby."

"Uh-huh… Sure." He was only four years older than her so she was sure her boyfriend was just trying to make an excuse for his horrible style. That was something he seemingly hadn't grown out of. "But what about your date? Her dress looks nice at least."

"Yeah, well, it was the first time Ever put on a dress, too," he chuckled.

"W-Wait, what? Ever?! As in… Evergreen?! That's her?"

He nodded again. "Yup."

Lucy couldn't help but shuffle uncomfortably. "You never told me you and Ever dated when you were younger…"

"We didn't," he assured her. "We just went to prom together because I didn't know who else to ask."

"Oh… Okay then." She looked back down to the photo album and sighed happily at the adorable photos held in it. She didn't have many of her own albums and her own family had never been one for taking pictures when she'd been growing up either, so she liked looking at Bickslow's, especially when they made her laugh. "You know, I never had a prom."

"What? Seriously?"

She shook her head. "Nope." She was sure she would have liked having one though. She'd read about them in her novels and even seen them in some of her favourite shows and movies, but never experienced it herself.

Bickslow seemed to deflate a little when he remembered just why Lucy wouldn't have gone to prom. "Oh, that's right. You were home-schooled." He already knew that she hadn't grown up like he and most other people had and that she'd missed out on countless experiences. But strangely, Lucy having not been able to go to a prom bothered him more than everything else she'd told him about her upbringing had. Prom was like a rite of passage for a teenager.

So surely, it was his responsibility as her awesome boyfriend to do something about that… Right?

He had some thinking to do, he quickly realised. So pushing Lucy's legs from his lap he was quickly kissing her cheek and getting up from the lounge. "I'm going to go take a quick shower before dinner is ready."

"Mm-kay."

By the time he was back in the kitchen and checking on the food in the oven, Lucy was already comfortable on the lounge again and flicking through the album just a little quieter than before.

...

It was just a week and a half later that Lucy was being delivered an envelope in the guild hall by an irritated as ever Laxus. In it, she found a single piece of card with elegant swirls on the corners and printed with what she quickly realised was a set of instructions that were in none other than Bickslow's writing.

Always being one to enjoy whatever Bickslow came up with, she was quickly leaving the guild that afternoon and heading to where her instructions sent her: the park in the centre of town.

It was there that Lucy found a silver balloon tied to one of the benches, just as her card had said, and of course, another set of instructions within another envelope.

By the time she was on her way to what she knew was a dress shop after coming from a hair salon where she'd had her hair slightly curled and twisted loosely at the base of her head to form a bun (and she was sure she was going to have to apologise to Cancer later, too), she was more than a little curious to know what Bickslow was planning for the night. She hoped it wouldn't require too much energy if anything since she'd been out all day with Evergreen on a small job (Bickslow had insisted on them getting to know each other a little better) and she was extremely tired. But knowing her boyfriend and considering how he'd managed to get people from all over the town involved in his plan, Lucy was expecting to be having a very busy night somehow.

And so when it came to the last set of instructions from the woman at the dress shop, Lucy was incredibly nervous as she made her back home in the light blue gown with silver embellishments on the straps and around her waist, and of course, with the matching heels on her feet, too. Bickslow didn't really do anything fancy, as she'd come to learn, but she sure felt fancy, and whatever his plans were for that night… He'd really just gone above and beyond all of her expectations.

The door to their apartment was quickly being opened before she'd even reached it, and in it stood Bickslow in a surprisingly normal and thankfully plain black suit with his hands folded behind his back. "Hey, baby," he grinned.

She let him take her purse and her bag with the clothes she'd been wearing before to hang them on the hooks in the small foyer as she closed the door behind herself. The entryway was barely the size of their bathroom which was why Bickslow had always kept the French glass doors in it open (he'd always claimed the previous owners had had some pretty odd decorating habits, which explained the doors that didn't match anything else in the apartment). But for a change, they were closed, and even more strange, they had curtains on the other side of them, blocking her from seeing into the rest of the apartment.

"Okay… Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked cautiously, but the ever cheeky grin on the Seith mage's face already gave her the answer.

"Not yet," he answered with a shake of his head.

"Well, how about where we're going that has us dressed up like this then?" If anything, it had to be some high class restaurant she'd never heard of or ever imaged being taken to.

"We're not going anywhere."

"Oh?" The night just keeps getting weirder and weirder…

"We're staying in," Bickslow clarified.

"We are?"

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

"But… Our clothes…?"

"It'll make sense in a minute, don't worry." And Bickslow was nearly bouncing with excitement at that point. He just couldn't wait for Lucy's reaction, and as much as he wanted to just blurt it all out, he couldn't. Everything had to be done correctly. So with Lucy only looking at him like she was waiting for him to say he was just kidding, he softly said, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask me something?" she repeated. Lucy couldn't possibly figure out just what Bickslow wanted to ask her, but then she seemed to notice just how he'd kept one hand behind his back the entire time so far like he was hiding something from her. And then there was the fancy clothing and the secrecy… "Oh, god… Bix, you're not…"

"Oh! No, not that," he chuckled. He wasn't asking her to marry him. Oh no. He'd be stupid to ask her that. And he may be act like an idiot most of the time because that was just who he was, but he wasn't going to be the idiot who proposed to his girlfriend after dating for just six months. He was sure Lucy would say no if he'd asked then anyway. And with Lucy not hiding her relief, he was pulling his hand from behind him and revealing the white tulips on the silver ribbon he'd been holding, and matching the one he had pinned to his jacket. "Will you go to prom with me?"

Lucy had to refrain from bursting out laughing right then and there. She couldn't help but giggle, though. "Are you serious right now?"

He nodded. "Very." Then he was leaning in to whisper in her ear, "The answer is yes, by the way." His plan failed if she said no, and he really just couldn't let that happen, which was why he was already placing the corsage on her wrist and then looping his arm through hers.

Now Lucy really had no clue what was going on, though she was more than excited to find out. So when Bickslow pushed the doors open for her to reveal what he'd done to their living room, she was instantly completely in awe.

He'd dimmed the lights just enough to be able to see without tripping over anything and set vases with arrangements of her favourite flowers (he had managed to find out what they were after the whole rose incident) on almost every surface. Stray balloons in black, grey, and a soft blue were on the floor around the room, and matching ones were tied together in bunches in the corners and floating against the ceiling. He'd even gone as far as attaching long sheets to the light fitting in the middle of the room to have them draping across the entire room, and it was only then that Lucy even noticed that Bickslow had changed the globe in the light itself to make it softer and warmer.

There was even a bowl of punch on the counter. But maybe what amazed her the most was that he'd somehow given the babies little black and white tuxedos.

"Bickslow… What is all of this?" she whispered.

"Well…" He was slowly pulling her towards the centre of the room where he cleared a small space in front of their lounge, and was dropping his hands to her waist as his favourite ridiculously cheesy love song started playing softly in the background and they started slowly twirling around together. "Remember when you were looking at that photo album and there was that photo from my prom?"

"Uh-huh…"

"I just thought you should be able to have your own prom," he answered softly. "So I gave you one."

"Aw, Bix… You gave me a prom?"

"'Course I did." He'd been planning it all week, too. It had taken him a few days to come up with a decent plan after finding out Lucy hadn't been able to go to prom when she'd been a teenager. All he'd had to do was get Lucy out of the apartment for a little while so he could hide all the supplies he'd bought throughout the week, then convince a few little old ladies to help him with his surprise in the name of love (really, it worked), and then make sure Lucy was out all day so he could set everything up.

He'd had to tell his team to get them to help, though. Evergreen had been tasked with distracting Lucy, but he figured he was killing two birds with one stone on that front because he really did want them to get to know each other a little better. Freed had help him decorate the apartment and cook everything, and Laxus had just sent Lucy on her quest. He'd taken a little more convincing though.

But still, it had all come together perfectly and Bickslow couldn't be happier, and he knew Lucy couldn't be either.

He was stopping their kiss short just to quickly add on, "I mean, I was originally planning on getting the entire guild involved so there'd be more people and it'd be more like a prom, but then I thought it'd be nicer with just the two of us and if it was here."

"This is perfect. I love this."

"I'm glad you do." And Bickslow was just ducking down once again to lightly press his lips to hers as they continued to slowly twirl and dance together in the middle of the living room. "Oh! I almost forgot." He'd almost forgot one of the most important parts of his plan, and so quickly he was stepping around Lucy to grab the sash he'd hung over the back of a barstool.

Lucy couldn't help but giggle as he draped it over her. "Prom Queen too? Where on Earthland did you get this from?"

"Ah, it's probably best I don't answer that," he chuckled. He wasn't sure Lucy would appreciate finding out that it was really much less innocent than it appeared… At least not until the end of the night, anyway. "But anyway, I'm pretty sure you'd have been crowned Prom Queen if you'd actually had a prom, so… You get to be Prom Queen tonight, too."

"I feel quite royal right now," she giggled.

"There was a tiara too, but, uh… The babies kind of stole it and won't tell me where it is."

The quiet laughter from the flying totems where they hovered only had Lucy rolling her eyes. They liked shiny things, apparently. "Well, that's okay," she sighed. "Now how about you get your prom date a glass of punch?"

July

Like a firecracker

I'm aglow

Their slightly wobbly walk home after the guild's fireworks display celebrating the middle of summer earned them a few odd looks from people they passed. It wasn't so much because they were incapable of walking in a straight line – it was a Friday night and it was late so it wasn't that odd. It was more about the fact that they were both giggling and seemingly incapable of stopping.

Neither could even remember just why they'd started giggling in the first place – although years later, Bickslow will stubbornly argue that it was because someone had let Lucy have too much to drink and it had only resulted in her falling off the bar and making Laxus spill his drink all over his favourite shirt, which had been the beginning of a guild-wide brawl – but by the time they'd reached their apartment building, it was really just a miracle they even managed to make it up the stairs to their floor at all, being too busy stealing as many kisses as possible from each other.

It was only after Lucy had finally fished the keys from her purse to unlock the door that she found it in herself to pull away from the Seith mage. "Bix, how about we—" Except Bickslow was apparently much more interested in giving whoever decided to walk out into the hall a show, rather than getting into their own apartment, and was insistently kissing her again and again while continuing to quietly chuckle. So Lucy was pushing back on his chest to complete her sentence. "Wait until we're inside."

Bickslow didn't even get a chance to try and convince her of the sudden beauty of the hallway before she was quickly ducking under his arm to unlock their door.

But of course, as soon as they were inside and Lucy had hung her bag on the hook, Bickslow was kicking the door closed behind him and wrapping his arms back around his girlfriend's waist.

"Bix, come on…" Lucy giggled again with a roll of her eyes as she blindly reached out for the light switch. "You couldn't even wait until the lights were on?"

"Nope." Lights were good and all, but not necessary. Not for what he had in mind anyway.

"So impatient."

"Very." And admittedly, Bickslow was just a little preoccupied with kissing his way up the side of her neck to nibble on her ear, but not so preoccupied to notice that they were in fact still in the dark. And that no matter how many times Lucy kept flicking the switch, the lights just weren't turning on. "Probably just needs a new lacrima in it," he mumbled. "I'll look at it tomorrow."

"Probably…" she agreed. Though when she managed to pull herself free from the Seith mage again to finally leave the small entryway and to try the lights in the actual living room, she could only let out a small sigh when they remained in total darkness.

"Or… Maybe the entire apartment is out?"

"Seems that way," Lucy sighed.

So with no lights in their apartment whatsoever, Lucy let Bickslow venture into the darkness first. He knew his way around a whole lot better than she did having lived there a lot longer than she had, though apparently, that didn't seem to matter in their slightly intoxicated states. And in the pitch black apartment from all the curtains being closed too, Bickslow only somehow ended up tripping over his own feet (or maybe it was the rug) and landing on the floor with a thud and a groan, only causing Lucy to trip over his legs and land right on top of him.

That only led to more drunken giggling and more mostly innocent kisses, and suddenly Bickslow wasn't so annoyed about having tripped over in his own apartment. "Ugh, babies… Do that thing…" he groaned.

Lucy was just a little confused at what Bickslow meant, but then she was looking up just to see the five tikis coming to hover just above her and begin to glow a bright green. "Oh, Bixy! They're glowing!" she said in amazement. She'd never seen them do that before – or even known they were capable of it – but they were bright enough to just barely light up the area around them in a soft green light, and show them that they'd ended up on the floor right between the coffee table and the sofa.

"Uh-huh. They're like lil' floating balls of light," the Seith mage giggled – a sound that only made Lucy giggle some more herself. The babies were harmless like that though, contrary to how they appeared. They were merely letting themselves be seen as souls – the way he could see them with his Figure Eyes – and they just happened to be bright enough to act as a light source. And really, light was nice. Especially when the bright green seemed to reflect off Lucy's hair and bask her in a beautiful glow. And if he hadn't been completely smitten with her before, he most definitely was now. "Hey, Cos-Cosplayer," he giggled again at the smiling blonde sitting above and on him. "You're kinda glowing too."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yup! And…" Lucy leant back down to softly kiss his lips again, and for a second, Bickslow was simply distracted by her and the way her fingers were threading through his hair and completely messing it up (not that he cared right then anyway), so he merely let his hands wander down her sides until he was toying with the hem of her skirt. But his hands weren't the only things that wandered then as they continued to giggle against each other between light and insistent kisses. His mind began to wander just like it usually did, too. And suddenly Bickslow was pulling back from his girlfriend and looking up to her with a wide grin. "Oh! Hey!"

"Uh-huh?"

"You know what we should do?"

"Get naked and do it on the floor?" she guessed, though really, it was more hoped than anything.

"Well, yeah." That was just a given, really. "We should make a baby!"

Lucy pouted as she let out a small sigh, only sitting up to smooth her hands over her flat and toned stomach. "But I'll be fat if we make a baby," she pointed out. "Capricorn will be so mad at me if I get fat."

"Yeah, but… But you'd be so pretty!" Bickslow said. "And you'd… You'd be all glowy!" And really, that was what had him saying they should make a baby. Because his babies were almost making Lucy look like she was glowing, and since there were a few in the guild that were expecting, he'd had the great pleasure of hearing Mira just go on and on about how they were starting to glow. He didn't quite get the whole thing, but a glowing and super pregnant girlfriend appealed to him in his drunken state. "And baby, you would look fucking great fat."

"You're just saying that 'cause you love me," she giggled, leaning down again to kiss his lips.

"Just a little."

"I wouldn't be able to do this if I was fat and pregnant though."

He hummed in thought as he considered just how they were on the floor, with Lucy completely pressed against his chest with her knees on either side of him. A baby bump would surely get in the way. "Hmm, I suppose so…"

And so come morning following a long night of giggling and hypothetical situations, they could agree on two things.

One, that the bed – or even the lounge – was far more comfortable than the floor.

And two, that they should most definitely not make a baby. But the idea was still slightly appealing.

Sort of.

August

When you're on the beach you steal the show

Bickslow loved summer. He would argue that no one loved it more than him, and already, Lucy had given up on trying to get him to see that she loved summer just as much as he did.

Bickslow wasn't really so sure why he loved the sunny season as much as he did, although he had a feeling that it something to do with where he'd unfortunately happened to live when growing up – a cold a desolate country he would love to see the fall of.

But Magnolia had always been warm, and he'd been happy in Fiore since the first day he'd arrived there. The fact that he'd first come to Fiore in the middle of summer had only had him running towards the nearest lake just so he could dive head first into the cool water, but that particular event had almost ended in disaster, since he'd never learned to swim and he'd never had a reason to considering where he'd come from; but thankfully, his babies had stopped him from drowning. And funnily enough, Bickslow really was quite thankful for that, since if he had drowned then from being a total fucking moron (because in hindsight, diving into a lake when he hadn't known how to swim hadn't been his finest moment), especially since not drowning had meant he got to join Fairy Tail, and there were just a few people in Fairy Tail that he really fucking loved.

One of them was a blonde who also happened to be his roommate, and who on that particular sunny day, was for some reason, burying him in the sand at the shore.

He really had no idea why, either. He'd just been lying peacefully on his towel in the sun next to Evergreen, working on his ever present tan and drying off, and then all of a sudden he'd had a great big pile of sand dumped on the middle of his chest.

So that was how he came to be sitting up on his elbows and staring down at his new mermaid (er, merman?) tail, courtesy of his girlfriend.

Bickslow only ignored Evergreen's snickering and Laxus's wicked grin as he looked up from where Lucy had expertly moulded the sand to his torso. "So, now that you're done transforming me into a mermaid—"

"I believe you are technically a merman now," Freed cut in to everyone but Bickslow's delight.

The Seith mage just rolled his eyes before continuing, "So now that you're done transforming me into a merman, do you maybe want to tell me why you decided to make me a merman?"

Lucy only shrugged. "I just thought you would look pretty with a tail," she said innocently.

"Uh-huh, sure." There was nothing innocent about Lucy as he'd come to know all too well over the last eight months, so Bickslow was more than certain that her intentions for burying him under a fuck ton of a sand and giving him a pretty tail (and it was really was quite pretty, because she'd spent the better part of the whole afternoon sculpting it and giving it detail) were also less than harmless.

She was up to something. And strangely, Bickslow didn't quite want to know what she was planning.

He seemed to be finding out just what Lucy's intentions had been just a moment later anyway when the blonde was standing up and dusting the sand from her legs. "Well, we're off to get some frozen yogurt from that new café," Lucy announced as she slipped her floral sundress on over her head.

"Wait, right now?"

"Yup." She was already packing up the rest of their things with the rest of the Raijinshuu and Laxus having already begun to walk along the sand back to the stairs up to the cliff. "We've been here all day as it is, and I don't know about you, but I'm starving." The picnic lunch they'd all had earlier hadn't been all that filling, and Lucy really just wanted something other than crisps or soda to eat. As soon as she had her frozen yogurt, she was going to go home and jump straight in the shower – she had sand in some extremely unfortunate places.

Bickslow was starving too, of course, but the difference was that his legs were presently buried under close to a foot of sand and he couldn't just get up suddenly to go get food and go home for the day. "Yeah, well, so am I. But someone – and I'm not naming names here or anything – decided to turn me into a bloody merman and I can't really get up right now!" Bickslow grumbled.

Lucy shrugged as she gave a simple, "Uh-huh."

That was all it took for Bickslow to just mutter under his breath something about hating what he'd turned Lucy into before he was attempting to lift his head just to begin digging himself out from under the sand pile. Except then the glowing, purple runes that were all too familiar to one of his closest friends were appearing just in front of where the sand was around his navel and completely surrounding his new tail.

"The runes will wear off at sunset," Lucy said over her shoulder once she knew the runes had been activated. She'd been waiting for that moment all afternoon, just to see his reaction. The only reason it had worked at all was because her stupid boyfriend had somehow fallen asleep at some point after she'd started sculpting his tail. It had only been for fifteen minutes, but fifteen minutes had been more than enough time for Lucy to enlist Freed's skills as payback. That was just what Bickslow got for handcuffing her to the bed and losing the damn keys.

All Bickslow could do was shout at the sun still beating down at him for Lucy to come back and get him out of it, but it didn't take long for him to realise that literally no one was listening.

By the time he did get home though, surprisingly pink and raw, he'd most definitely realised that being stuck as a merman and forced to stay in the sun was Lucy's way of getting revenge for the handcuff incident a few weeks earlier – the one where he'd had no choice but to go and get his landlord with the bolt cutters to set his naked girlfriend free. He wouldn't exactly say that being left in the sun (though with water, thankfully) was fair, but he'd take it.

Still, when he walked into their apartment to find Lucy waiting with the aloe vera gel, Bickslow couldn't imagine coming home to anyone as perfect as his Cosplayer.

September

I light the candles at your sweet sixteen

When Bickslow's twenty-sixth birthday came around, Lucy took it upon herself to make sure it was a birthday to remember.

It had all started when they'd still been sorting through all of their belongings and finding homes for everything, and Lucy had found the album her father had left for her when she'd been trapped on Tenrou Island. And in it, she'd found pictures from her sixteenth birthday from when she'd still lived in Acalypha with her father. Bickslow had only teased her about the disgusting fluffy pink dress she'd been wearing, which had entertained him for a good five minutes… But then Bickslow had only told her that he'd never really had a birthday party before. He'd never really had friends when he'd been a kid – it was kind of hard to hang around the weird kid that talked to dolls – and even when he'd been around other kids in the orphanage, there'd certainly never been any parties.

And of course, seeing how sad Bickslow had been when he'd told her that, Lucy only decided that her boyfriend deserved the party of all parties for his twenty-sixth birthday, because it was about damn time he had one.

She'd been planning it all out to perfection with the assistance of Mira and the rest of the Raijinshuu (plus Laxus, sort of) for weeks, to which Bickslow was none the wiser. Lucy would tell Bickslow that she was taking a simple job that would take her out of town for most of the big day, and after spending the night at Cana's, she would really only be helping everyone else set up the guild and make it perfect for the party. And to keep Bickslow away from the guild until the evening, Freed and Laxus would keep him distracted for the day.

When it finally came to leaving the afternoon before Bickslow's birthday, she felt a little bad about lying about taking the request just because she'd seen how disappointed Bickslow became from realising he wouldn't be able to spend the day with her like he'd planned. But she knew that the party would make up for it.

And so then finally, after a boring day of keeping Bickslow as far away from the guild as possible, Laxus was finally allowed to suggest they head to the guild.

Bickslow didn't really want to, though. Lucy had told him that she doubted she'd even make it back to Magnolia to do something that night, but all Bickslow felt like doing was going home and just having a quiet night in. He'd had his day out with his team, and going to the guild just didn't interest him.

But unfortunately for Bickslow, Laxus and his team insisted, and Bickslow just didn't really have the energy to argue with them about it. So he let himself be dragged along to the guild, and just hoped that he wasn't going to have to stay for too long.

When they reached the guild, the rest of his team had fallen behind which made Bickslow the first to go through the doors, but he didn't even mind it because he really just wanted to get visiting over and done with as quickly as possible – his bed, junk food, and a book of Lucy's were calling him. But as soon as he'd pushed the tall, wooden doors open, he just about had a heart attack from the mass of people all jumping up at once and shouting, "Surprise!"

Confetti from buckets balanced precariously on the rafter above the door came down on him, and he'd only managed to get a quick look around the guild and to all of the giant green, purple, and blue balloons tied to columns and weighted on some of the tables, before he had an all too familiar blonde coming up beside him and had a dark grey sash with the words 'Birthday Prince' on it draped over him.

"Happy birthday, Bixy," Lucy murmured with a kiss to the Seith mage's cheek.

Bickslow was only able to stare at Lucy in shock as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening. "But you… You said you'd… Huh?"

"Come on, do you really think I'd take a job request and risk not being here for your birthday?" Lucy said. If she hadn't been feeling guilty about her little trick on him, she'd be at least a little offended that Bickslow had genuinely believed that she would leave so close to his birthday.

"I… I guess not…" he mumbled. "But… All of this?" He gestured to the noisy room before them as he was led down the stairs. "You did all of this? For… me?"

"Well, I had some help – a lot of help, actually. But of course it's for you!" she said. "No one else in this room deserves a sweet twenty-six more than you."

Bickslow was suddenly at a loss for words, which was a rarity in itself. He wasn't even going to question just what the hell a sweet twenty-six was, either. He was just amazed that Lucy – and whoever else she'd had help with – had thought to do all of that for him. Bickslow wasn't really used to people going out of their way to do nice things for him.

He became aware of the babies zooming up near the rafters and testing just how much abuse the giant balloons could take then, as well as ginormous banner hanging over the stage with a little picture of his face next to the words Happy Birthday that Reedus had obviously painted. He was really just in shock, and Bickslow couldn't help himself from turning to Lucy beside him to wrap his arms around her waist and lifting her up into a tight embrace. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said quickly, kissing her on the lips between each utterance of his thanks. "This is… God, all of this is so fucking great. I don't even know what else to say right now, really."

"You don't need to say anything at all," Lucy said sweetly. "Now, come on, put me down. You haven't even seen your cake yet."

October

Romeo and Juliet on Halloween

It was no secret that Halloween was Bickslow's favourite holiday of the year, and as Lucy had quickly realised once she watched Bickslow make a point of changing all the bed linen to something that was more... festive, as well as drag a giant box labelled 'Pumpkin Tools' from the back of a cupboard, it was an event he took it rather seriously.

But much to Lucy's surprise (although in hindsight, she did wonder why it had surprising since it was Bickslow after all), what Bickslow was looking forward to the most about Halloween that year, was apparently being able being able to dress up as a couple. It wasn't as if Lucy had any issues with dressing up for Halloween – she'd already said that it was the one time of the year that Bickslow could get away with calling her a cosplayer. It was just that so far, all of his suggestions had been a little strange.

Bickslow wasn't exactly known for having the brightest ideas at times, and as far as Lucy was concerned, his first suggestion of them dressing up as a cheerleader and a football player for Halloween was the absolute worst thing she'd ever heard.

"Okay, what about… A sexy nurse and her handsome doctor?" Bickslow suggested one night as he climbed into bed beside Lucy, propping himself up on an elbow and laying his other arm across her.

Lucy merely sighed and turned to the next page of her current book. "I'm not dressing up as a nurse."

"Hey, no one said anything about you being the nurse," the Seith mage pointed out mischievously, only getting an amused smirk from the blonde beside him.

"Oh? So you want to be the sexy nurse, and I'll get to be the handsome doctor?"

Bickslow nodded. "Fuck yeah. Have you seen me in a skirt? I look fucking great," he joked, even lifting his leg beneath the covers and running his hand up to his thigh almost suggestively.

Anyone else probably would've believed that he was serious, but Lucy wasn't one of those people. She knew Bickslow, and unfortunately, she knew that her boyfriend did not look great in women's clothing – at least a short skirt or a dress of some sort, anyway. His usual get-up? Sure. But Lucy was sure she'd have nightmares if Bickslow dressed up as a nurse for Halloween.

She only rolled her eyes at him before turning her attention back to her book once again. "Neither of us are going to be dressing up as a nurse for Halloween," she said firmly.

Bickslow pouted and collapsed down onto the bed with a sigh. Halloween planning had been simple when it was just him, but Lucy being stubborn wasn't going to deter him from his goal of having matching costume that year. "Fine," he grumbled half-heartedly, crossing his arms over his chest as Lucy smirked to herself and continued to silently read.

As he contemplated other costume ideas, Bickslow slowly began to realise that Lucy had so far only turned down the more revealing of his suggestions. And that was fine, he supposed; it wasn't like he wanted half the male population of the guild perving on his girlfriend when she was dressed as an oh so sexy nurse (or cheerleader, or anything for that matter). But it kind of ruined the fun…

Not to bother. Halloween didn't need to be sexy anyway.

He turned onto his side again to peer up to Lucy again. As he settled himself again, he ignored the slightly narrowed eyes the blonde was directing at him (she was waiting for him to say something stupid, he figured), and then said, "What about Romeo and Juliet then?"

She raised an eyebrow at that and even ended up closing her book. "Romeo and Juliet? Really?"

Bickslow shrugged. "What's wrong with Romeo and Juliet?" They were supposed to be like, the ultimate couple or something, right? He didn't really read much, but Lucy did, and if it was one thing Bickslow knew about his girlfriend, it was that she didn't mind her tragedies. He'd even seen the play sitting on the shelf, so at the very least, Bickslow knew that Lucy was familiar with it.

"They're just overrated, I suppose," Lucy answered with her own shrug. Truthfully, she'd never liked Romeo and Juliet much, even if she did have a penchant for liking similar stories. She just hadn't been able to move past how idiotic the two had been.

The Seith mage only grew more curious. "What's overrated about star-crossed lovers?" he asked. "Sounds pretty sweet, if you ask me."

"It means doomed, Bix," she said. "Star-crossed means doomed. There is nothing sweet about a relationship that was doomed from the very beginning."

"Oh, I guess so…"

"Even then," Lucy continued, "Romeo was an impulsive moron, and Juliet was… Juliet was basically a child. I'd prefer not to dress up as a couple that ended up killing themselves just because they didn't want to be without the other." She just thought it was stupid how it had ended up, even if it had been expected. Juliet's life must've been boring as all hell if she hadn't been able to find anything to live for without her precious Romeo – or at least that was how Lucy saw it.

"I suppose that makes sense…" Bickslow mumbled. He'd never really thought about it that way before – all he'd known was that they'd both ended up dying… But even knowing how Lucy saw it, he couldn't help but still think it was sweet. Just… in a slightly more morbid way, because he could kind of see why Romeo would do what he did. "But… That's gotta be like, true love, right? Since they don't want to live in a world without each other." He turned onto his back again and tapped laced his fingers together over his chest. "I know I wouldn't really want to be in a world without you…" he mumbled again.

"What? Are you saying you'd kill yourself if I died?"

"W-Well, no…" Bickslow admitted weakly. "But… But I'm impulsive! And you said Romeo was impulsive… And, well… I'd at least think about doing it. Are you saying you wouldn't?"

Lucy sighed as she placed her book on the nightstand, and then shuffled down the bed and under the covers until she could lay her head on the Seith mage's shoulder. "Bix, I love the heck out of you, even if you do and say some pretty stupid things sometimes," she began softly. "But I wouldn't want to die if you did." Admittedly, if something did happen to Bickslow, she would probably wish she could join him in the land of the dead, but it wouldn't be anything more than that. She'd miss him, but if anything, she'd want to live on for him.

Even then, if they were still together years down the track and maybe had children together, that would be a reason to live… But she wasn't going to tell Bickslow that she'd fantasised about have a family with him just yet.

"I'd miss you, but I wouldn't take my own life just because you weren't here," she continued. "And I wouldn't want you to, either."

He pulled his arm out from under Lucy to wrap it around her shoulders. "I suppose that's fair…" he sighed. If he thought about it, Bickslow could see the silliness in it all. He adored Lucy, he really did, and as impulsive as he was, he certainly wouldn't go and kill himself if she died. He was sure ghost-Lucy would kick his ass back into the world of the living if he did that anyway. "But that still doesn't solve the Halloween costume issue, since Romeo and Juliet are now obviously off the table…"

Lucy only rolled her eyes before lifting her head from his shoulder to quickly kiss his cheek. "Bix, it's only the fifth. We have three weeks to sort it out. Now go to sleep." Bickslow grudgingly obeyed his girlfriend and went to sleep, of course only thinking about possible costumes they could do for Halloween right up until he actually fell asleep.

Thankfully, by the time Halloween came around, their costumes had been decided and much to Bickslow's surprise, it had been Lucy who had suggested them. And so on Halloween, when he became the Joker to her Harley Quinn, Bickslow thought it was rather fitting.

November

I'll give thanks that you belong to me

"Alright, alright… Who's next?" Laxus grumbled as he sank into his armchair some more. Evergreen was still smirking from hearing him finally admit that he was thankful for the guild taking him back, and Bickslow on his right was only snickering. He'd never really been one to celebrate Thanksgiving, but then Freed had suggested they all do something nice that year with Team Natsu, and now here they all were, saying what they were all fucking thankful for.

Unfortunately for Laxus, Freed had made him promise not to zap anyone (or maim), so he had to do with kicking Bickslow's leg and glaring at him before growling again, "How about you, Bix?"

The Seith mage only sighed before sitting back into the lounge where he sat with Lucy tucked into his side. "What am I thankful for?" Oh, he was thankful for plenty of things – especially those days, anyway – and although the whole idea of sharing all of that was new to him as well, Bickslow found himself actually wanting to share what he was thankful for. "Ah, well… I'm thankful for my babies, of course," he decided to begin with, only gently patting one of the wooden dolls that had made itself comfortable on his lap. "And… I'm thankful for Freed for cooking the best dinner ever. I mean, the turkey was just a little dry—"

"Hey, don't be rude," Lucy scolded with a slap to his arm.

"But babe, I'm not being rude. I'm saying that I'm thankful for the turkey that just happened to be a little dry," Bickslow explained, unsurprisingly gaining an eye roll and a sigh from the blonde beside him. He turned back to Freed to add, "But seriously, it was great. And those mashed potatoes were fucking amazing. Like, wow."

Freed could only sigh. "Thank you, Bickslow… I think…"

"What else am I thankful for…" Bickslow wondered aloud before grinning mischievously and wrapping his arm around Lucy's shoulders. "Ah, I can't forget my Cosplayer," he said, well aware that it only made her blush and made Evergreen go 'aww.' "Super thankful for my girlfriend's rack."

Lucy only slapped his arm again.

"What about you, Lucy?" Freed decided to chime in, lest Bickslow say anything else inappropriate. "What are you thankful for?"

"Well… I'm thankful for the guild, of course," she said with a soft smile. "And I'm thankful for my team and my friends for always being there for me when I need them… And for my spirits, too, because they're my family… And… And I'm thankful that everyone is happy and that we're all well."

"That was lovely, Lucy," Erza said.

"Yes, I thought so too," Freed agreed.

Bickslow, however, only pouted. "Is that it?" he asked.

Lucy turned back to him with an eyebrow raised in question. "Hm? Oh, well… yes? I think so?"

Of course, Bickslow just huffed and removed his arm from around her and crossed it over his chest. He wasn't going to make a fuss about it. Oh no. Lucy didn't need to say that she was thankful for him or anything… It was just that it would've been nice to hear it, that's all. He'd at least said he was thankful for her – well, her tits, specifically, but still…

Lucy couldn't help but giggle into her hand as it became Gray's turn to share what he was thankful for. She wasn't stupid; she knew exactly what she'd failed to mention. Of course she was thankful for her dork of a boyfriend; she couldn't quite imagine her life without him at that point. It was really just that she'd never really liked being overly affectionate or anything in public – not even in front of their friends. It still wasn't as if saying she was thankful for him was affectionate, but for the most part, Bickslow was already included as part of her friends and her family so Lucy didn't think she'd needed to specifically say anything about him. He already knew how she felt, and Lucy knew that too.

But… That being said, even if she hadn't felt the need to say she was thankful for Bickslow and everything he did for her, Lucy had been planning on proving it to him later anyway.

December

You're the present beneath my Christmas tree

Somewhere around the time Lucy had been proving to him just how thankful she was for him, Bickslow had come to be certain of one rather important thing: that he didn't want to remember just what it was like to not have her part of his life. He didn't want to be without her or just be here friend. That just wouldn't be enough, because he couldn't stand the thought of not getting to spend every single Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas thereafter with her.

So he came up with a plan, one he was rather proud of, and by the time Christmas Eve came around, Bickslow was just about shaking from excitement and nervousness. Unfortunately, shaking hands only made doing the buttons up on his black shirt just a little difficult.

From the living room after briefly touching Horologium's key in her purse, Lucy only sighed before shouting down to the hall, "Bix, hurry up. We're going to be late." They were supposed to be heading to the guild as usual, but at that rate, Lucy was sure it would officially be Christmas by the time Bickslow had even finished getting dressed. Out of the two of them, he was the one who spent more time getting ready.

She'd found it odd once. Now she was just used to it.

When Bickslow finally made it out just a minute later, hands fumbling somewhat as he rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, Lucy picked up her coat from over the back of a dining chair and asked, "You ready to leave now?"

Technically, he was ready, but he had something else he wanted to do first. "Yeah, in a minute," he answered, only doing his best to stop himself from grinning like a fool just yet, and placing a hand on Lucy's back to guide her over to the lounge. "I want you to open one of the presents first though, alright?"

Lucy laughed nervously as she sat herself down on the edge and watched Bickslow turn to grab what was probably the largest of all of the presents under their softly glowing tree. "Um, okay…"

Now, Bickslow really was grinning like a fool, but he didn't really care. He was far too excited at that point and it was a miracle he was able to keep himself still as he knelt down comfortably in front of her after handing her the large, perfectly wrapped present with the candy-cane wrapping paper. "Open it."

Lucy quickly realised that he was obviously excited about her opening the present, so she obliged and began tearing at the festive paper until she was holding a plain white box on her lap. Throwing the wrapping paper aside, Lucy glanced to Bickslow in front of her quickly before prying the lid from the box, and revealed what was simply a slightly smaller box with the same wrapping paper as some of the other presents under the tree. "Bix, come on…"

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh as he urged her to open that one as well, and soon found herself surrounded by piles of torn wrapping paper and empty boxes that only progressively got smaller. Eight boxes later, she was lifting the lid from another white box that now fit in her palm, and lifting out a small, purple, velvet box from within it.

She'd only just opened the small box to see the gold pave band with the amethyst set in the centre before Bickslow was softly asking, "So will you marry me, Cosplayer?"

For the most part, Lucy couldn't give him an actual answer, not unless incoherent squealing and gross sobbing counted. She eventually managed to calm herself down though, and as she stared at the ring and slowly began nodding, her sobs began to start sounding a lot more like 'yes' and soon she was repeating it over and over again as Bickslow stood and she was wrapped up in his arms. She wasn't capable and saying no to marrying her best friend. Not now, at least. They'd been together long enough for her to know that it was exactly what she wanted.

Above them, the babies began to cheer and Lucy couldn't help but laugh as she lifted her head from the Seith mage's chest and looked up to them. When she saw the bunch of mistletoe floating up there with them though, she wasn't the least bit surprised, and only found herself laughing more before she looked back to Bickslow and softly pressed a kiss to his lips.

And exactly seven years from the time they shared their first kiss under the mistletoe in the guild, and six years from the day Bickslow proposed, they were welcoming their first child into the world on Christmas Eve night, and her name was Holly – simultaneously her father's love and his weakness.

Lucy found it all rather fitting.