song to listen to while reading this: jason derulo- the other side! hope you enjoy.
As the sunset slowly settled into the sky, Lucy Heartfilia had exited her apartment wearing a beautiful kimono with somewhat comfortable sandals. Her blonde hair was beautifully done, an up-do with her curled bangs framing her gorgeous face. To be straight to the point, Lucy just looked absolutely flawless tonight.
After all, it was New Year's Eve.
The celestial mage started to walk on the side of the river, balancing herself by sticking her hands out. She was heading towards the festival, which had bright lanterns and delicious food with hilarious games. She really couldn't wait to see Levy with Gajeel… honestly, they should just date. Lucy chuckled to herself, shaking her head.
Once Lucy had finally arrived at the dazzling festival, she quickly ran in and searched for any of her guildmates. It was quite difficult, considering that there was a giant crowd surrounding her- either walking forward or going back to their home. However, she heard a familiar voice yelling out, "ANYONE CAN CHALLENGE ME TO A BEER COMPETITION AND I'D STILL WIN!" with a loud burp by the end of the sentence.
She followed that voice, which obviously belonged to Cana, who Lucy found sitting on top of a picnic table. Cana was surprisingly wearing a decent kimono while cuddling a beer bottle. The blonde approached her with a wide smile, "Hey Cana!"
The drunken brunette looked up, squinting to see Lucy's recognizable brown eyes. "LUCYYY~!" She grinned, hopping off of the table and wrapping her arms around the mage. The blonde giggled, hugging her dear friend back.
Cana continued hugging her increasingly tighter, and Lucy tried to be nice to not say anything. Thankfully, the card mage released her suffocating friend and winked, "You look attractive in that kimono!"
"Thanks, Cana! Right back at you," Lucy replied, winking back playfully.
"Oooh, Lucy's flirting with me… Natsu has some competition!" Cana giggled, wiggling her eyebrows after taking a sip of her delightful beer.
The blonde slightly blushed, "It's not like that!" She claimed. "Alright, do you know where anyone else is?"
"That depends! Who're you looking for?" The card mage responded, proud of the reaction she got from her flustered friend.
"Levy. Or Gajeel. Or both."
"Last time I saw 'em, they were making out right next to me," Cana answered casually.
Lucy rolled her eyes jokingly as she chuckled, "As much as I'd like to believe that, I seriously need to know,"
The brunette shot her hands up in the air, sighing dramatically in defeat. "Alright~ you caught me. I saw the couple walking towards the candy apple stand."
The celestial spirit mage quickly said her thanks and goodbye, she made a note in her head to check up on her drunk guildmate later. Lucy then disappeared into the throng, looking left and right to check if she was anywhere near the candy apple stand. It was a long walk, but she finally reached her destination.
Only to meet a hungry Erza.
"Hey Erza," She walked up to the redhead as Erza looked excited to see Lucy. "Hello Lucy! Have you tried these delicious candy apples?" To which the blonde shook her head in response.
"Ah, that's too bad. I almost want to compare these exquisite snacks to my pleasant strawberry cheesecake," Erza pouted, practically drooling at the candy apples. Lucy gasped, knowing how much the cake means to her.
"I know. My strawberry cake would be disappointed in me," The requip mage frowned, now glaring at the poor snack.
"Before you kill the candy apples, do you know where Levy and Gajeel went?" The blonde questioned carefully, fully aware of Erza's angry state. Thank Cowcat she wasn't drunk.
"I think they went to that fish catching game nearby. Just a bit straight ahead," Erza spoke, continuing to give the snack a death stare.
"Alrighty, thanks! And give the candy apples a break, they just want to be loved!" Lucy called out before leaving Erza, who suddenly gave the food a soft look.
She headed out towards the fishing game, and Erza was right! It was just a few steps ahead and Lucy saw the petite blue haired girl and the tall man with no eyebrows. Just when she was about to step towards them, a warm hand grabbed her wrist.
Lucy was about to give this stranger a piece of her mind when she turned around, but when she did, it was her best friend.
"Natsu…" The blonde lowered her fist and melted into his dark emerald eyes, making her heart go doki doki. Everything around them was blurry. It felt like time had came to a halt. Lucy caught her breath as a tint of pink crept up to her cheeks, slowly realizing how physically close they were.
Natsu Dragneel was right before the girl's eyes, panting slightly. He softly stared into her memorable charcoal brown orbs, admiring how pretty they were. At this point, the pink haired dragon slayer just really wanted to kiss his partner.
Unfortunately, he couldn't because Lucy inhaled sharply. Natsu blinked several times quickly before pouting at her, "I was lookin' for you everywhere! I asked Juvia, who couldn't reply because she was lookin' for Ice Princess 'n then I found Freed, who told me to ask Metal Face, but then he told me to go to Cana, and then Cana told me to go back to Levy and I finally found you here! It took me forever! Even Happy… Wait, where's Happy? That just tops it off, I lost Happy for ya, Luce!"
Lucy became flustered because, well, he went through all of that for her? This pink haired idiot was too much! Look at him and his cute pouting face and his ruffled hair and- the blonde flushed furiously. His weirdness was rubbing on her.
"Sorry, Natsu. You didn't tell me if you wanted to meet up, you were too busy planning all of the fireworks," She looked around to save her, and in the corner of her eye, a flying blue exceed was floating around the fishing game. "And there's Happy, obsessing over fish like always!" She pointed the cat out, nodding in the game's direction.
Natsu turned around to confirm that Happy was indeed there and turned back around, but what do you know! Lucy was making a run for it. The pinkette grabbed her waist, chuckling evilly and plopped her onto his shoulder like a potato sack.
Before the celestial spirit mage knew what was going on, she was on Natsu's shoulder and became easily irritated, "Put me down!"
"NEVER!" The dragon slayer replied, laughing villainously. Lucy kept hitting his back with her fists and second by second, the pinkette became annoyed and eventually placed her onto the ground.
The blonde thanked him a million times, happy to be back on the ground again. When she was finished, she plastered her game face on and spoke, "Why'd you look for me? I thought you were doing the fireworks."
"That's exactly why I came looking for you! C'mon, the fireworks are about t' start!" Natsu gave his usual toothy smile, jumping excitedly up and down.
Lucy's game face switched with her imitation of a smile as her heart faintly ached, "Uh, Natsu, you can start without me! I need to go home and work on my novel, I'll hear them from inside!" She stated with her (hopefully) normal voice.
But alas, Natsu knew his best friend too well and asked, "Why can't you watch 'em? I know you're lying to me."
Curse her sucky acting skills! She groaned internally while tensing up a bit. There's no point in lying after all, he's going to sniff it out. "Ah, well," The celestial spirit mage started as she stared at the ground, "When I was a kid, y'know about the whole isolation stuff, I couldn't see the fireworks through the window, and the sounds just terrified me. It's a weird fear, I know. Plus, I'd rather watch the stars."
When she finished the story, the dragon slayer immediately brightened up and grabbed Lucy by the shoulders to make her look up at him. "You haven't seen fireworks, but the sound scares you. You can change that though. Today is the day when you finally get to see fireworks, and the sound'll be worth it. I promise you, Luce."
Lucy firmly trusted and believed Natsu. Most of the time, anyway. So if he said it was okay, she believed it. The girl nodded, gulping as he smiled greatly. He reached for her small hand, holding it while running towards the empty bridge on the river.
When they both made it to the bridge, the firework show instantly began. Lucy flinched when she heard the first "boom", but Natsu gently squeezed her hand, reminding her that he was there for her. She smiled softly, looking up at Natsu and then up to the sky.
And then it happened. Her first ever firework.
She gasped lightly, eyes widening as her pupils dilated. She heard the "boom", but it felt like a cartoon noise compared to the amazing light brightening up the night. "Natsu, Natsu, did you see that? That firework was really pretty!" She tugged on his scarf like a child receiving their gift from Santa.
"'Course I did! It was awesome, right?!" Natsu cheered with excitement laced in his voice. A nod came from Lucy as her response, continuing to stare at the sky as she waited for another firework.
There was a bunch of fireworks coming all at once, all different colors shone. Lucy kept pointing at the ones she liked, "Oh, oh, look at that one!" However, Natsu wasn't looking at the fireworks. He was looking at Lucy.
"Yeah, I like that one."
alright this was a present for my close friend, pao! happy birthday to you, paola! i hope you have a good one and stay awesome;
-j