This is a one shot, hope you enjoy it!
The cold, pre-dawn air hung loosely to the ground. The wind calmly blowing against the trees, making their leaves sway and fall.
Autumn had come.
And, with the coming of autumn, meant the rush of people trying to start their Christmas shopping early; the start of the bitter cold air, and more days off from work. Natsu was most looking forward to the last one, ever since she left he found it hard to get out of bed in the morning.
Let me explain. Natsu's girlfriend, of almost four years, had broken up with him on the day before Christmas because she had another love interest. His heart had been shattered into a million pieces, and to show the sea of depression he swam in, he didn't go into work for a whole week - Erza had to drag him by his salmon pink hair to work, or else he wouldn't be able to pay the rent this month and get kicked out.
Now, almost four years along, he was still depressed over her.
He sighed, the sun was shining out amongst the grey clouds, making a blinding heavenly light. He felt like a hollowed out tree; he felt like he was on his own, in a lonely tunnel, with no cars or reception for his phone.
He listened to the happy whistle of the trees, whilst in his mind, he tried fishing for answers of why she had left him. This was his routine every Sunday, it had been his routine for the past four years!
He didn't turn a light on in his room, instead, he let the light from the outside infiltrate his room, lighting it up with a faint, dim light. It highlighted the king-sized bed with a blue blanket on it, and it cast a shadow over his wooden dresser, and the light shone in the face of his side table, where upon it, lay a picture of a blonde haired girl with a muscular, grinning, pink-haired man - his arm swung across her shoulder.
Outside his window, and what his eye gazed over, was a large park. In this park were two children play areas, with swing sets and slides, and all the other things that would be there, and there was a large field that was surrounded by a forest. But, right in the centre, where it was almost deserted, there was a brilliant blue lake, it shimmered and glistened in the sunlight.
Here, though now it was a distant memory, was where the pink-haired man had met the blonde. She had dropped her favourite necklace into the water, and it was lost in in depths. He had come along and taken off his shoes and socks, and rolling up the jeans he wore, walked into the water and rolled his sleeves up. He began feeling the bottom of the lake, the dirt and sand lodging itself in his nails.
After five minutes of looking, he pulled up the silver chain. To his amazement the girl leapt on him, hugging him and squeezing him. His face had flushed and she place herself back on the floor, he passed her the necklace and then she thanked him, by buying him food.
The man reminded himself of the store: its checkered blue and white walls, and its white coloured tables with grey coloured chairs; its white coloured counter, with its black coloured cash register.
In this shop, he and the woman had exchanged phone numbers, and within ten minutes of being apart from each other, they had begun texting like crazy.
Ah, how he treasured these memories. But, how he dreaded the last one.
After countless arguments that had only brought them closer, and after passionate nights and intimate days, she had broken his heart. You see, after some of their arguments she had gone out: "To clear my head" she had said. But, in reality, she had been meeting up with a bastard.
That is when their love became a battlefield. That is when their love became more than just 'love' and became a furious fight of keeping. She began going out more frequently, soon he hardly saw his girlfriend.
Natsu sighed, once again. Love was not plain sailing, it was a vigorous storm. He should have noticed the warning signs when they stopped arguing as much, she had become the calm before the storm.
To the bitter end he had loved her, and beyond that, he still loved her.
A slight jingle of a phone knocked him out of his hazy daydream, and with a groan, he moved his legs, unwillingly, and headed towards the door. The same door she had walked out of and slammed on their last day together. He picked up the keys that lay on the glass table and shoved them deep into his pocket.
'Can't have you losing them.' An image of his ex-girlfriend, his ex-lover, flashed in his mind. Her sweet voice ringed in his ears, but in that stilled image he could not see her pink lips moving.
He walked towards the door, pulling down the silver handle and pulling it towards him. He felt a whoosh of air hit him in his gut, and he felt his breath be taken away against his will.
He was almost one and a half heads taller than her now, and he had shaped up to stop looking so scrawny and weak. Whereas she had filled out - in all the right places. Both of them twenty-eight now, they stared at each other. Unwilling to tear their eyes away.
He looked into her big, brown, shining eyes. She looked into his black, deep, onyx-like eyes.
For a moment, the whole world stopped.
But Natsu, the first to tear his eye's away, felt like his world was crashing down on him. He was lost in his sea of emotions, drowning in it.
For the blonde, she felt blind in the fog of her tears. She hadn't seen him in four years, and she had broken his heart - she didn't know how to face him again, but here she was. In front of the man that she had thought about many times when with Sting; this was the man she had left, and then left Sting for.
Her voice seemed to fade, and then after a silent croak, she said, "You're an idiot! You're dense and stupid, and you didn't pay attention to the hints I dropped you two years into our relationship! And, even when I had left you, you were still in my mind! You wouldn't fucking leave, Natsu! I thought you didn't want me, because when I hinted at you what I wanted you didn't react! But then, ten months after I left, thinking you didn't want our relationship to progress, I get a phone call from Gray! Fukcing Gray! Saying that you were like shit without me, he explained everything!"
"Luce-!" He began, choking on his words. But, she wouldn't let him speak.
"I broke your heart, but you acted like everything was fine. For two years I stayed with Sting, but I couldn't love him like I did you. I broke it off with him, and then found a place to move here! Two years it took to find a place to live here, and I did it just to call you an idiot! Because you couldn't notice my-!"
"- hints." He clamped a sweaty palm on her mouth. "I got your hints, idiot." He sighed, he released her mouth. "I didn't want you to know I got them because I wanted it to be a surprise. When we began being calm again, I was going to ask you to come with me somewhere. But, the day I was going to ask you, you broke up with me. I had everything set up, all I needed was you to come with me, but that never came."
"Natsu-!" She was cut off when he walked away from her, opening up the drawer in the table. He pulled out a black, velvet box, and shook it in front of her. "You... you knew?"
"Yeah..." He placed it on the table, then looked at her in her loose white top. God, she looks beautiful, he thought. "Listen, if you still love me, for the dense, stupid idiot that I am - pick up the box and wear it."
"You can't be serious, it's been four years." Her voice was shaky, and her tears stained her cheeks. "I can't become your wife just like that after four years."
"I'm not saying become my wife." He sighed, placing a finger on his temple. "Um, how should I put this? More like... no, no - that's not right." He pondered a while longer, then, almost like a light bulb, he became bright. "More like a promise ring, I promise that I won't act like I don't notice your hints, and when we're finally at that point to actually get, you know... married and stuff, I'll ask without your hints."
"So, that's a promise?" She asked, taking small steps inside. She took the smooth box in her fingers, then lay it to rest in her palm.
"It's a promise, Luce. Let's start over." He grinned at her, a big toothy grin - the one that sent her heart insane.
She opened the box, inside it, filled with a blue cloth, was a golden ring. Atop the ring, stood a proud diamond, it wasn't too big, but just a right size. On either side, it had hers and Natsu's birthstones. She pulled it out, carefully analysing it between her finger and thumb.
'Natsu and Lucy.' was written in italics on the inside, it was engraved in it like he was engraved in her mind and heart.
She placed it on her finger and smiled at him. Although she was crying, they were of happiness and they fell like rain onto her hand, and she couldn't help but fling herself onto him.
He held onto her, and then spoke, "I've missed you so much, Luce. I promise this time I won't let you be so calm." He chortled, bumping their foreheads together.
He took her face in his hands, her legs around his waist and her hands tangled in his pink locks. He placed his lips on hers. They moved in sync, their lips moulding to the shape of each other. The taste of their lips lingering on the others, a much-desired taste that they both missed. They became a hot mess, and then pulled apart, their desire much more than fulfilled, but the years they had missed with each other? Oh, that would take many passionate nights to make up for.
She buried her head in the crook of his neck, still clinging to him like a monkey, and he left his arms by his side walking towards the kitchen - he felt hungry.
"You making food?" She mumbled, sighing with contentment.
"Yeah, you hungry?" She shook her head and he smelt the vanilla that she always washed her hair in, and he had always loved the smell. "Wel, you should get off me, I might burn the apartment to the ground."
She giggled releasing herself from him. "You're the fireman, you should be able to put it out."
She walked out of his kitchen, sitting on the black leather couch in the living room and kicking off her shoes. She only felt this comfortable in Natsu's care, with anyone else she didn't feel as comfortable.
"Shit!" Natsu screamed from the kitchen moments later.
"What happened?" Lucy yelled from the living room, not moving an inch.
"I fucked up, let's start over!"
'Let's start over', oh - how they loved that sentence.