"Natsu, I know this is a bit late to say, but ya know what yer doin', right?" The gruff question had a tone of disbelief that set the pink-haired man on edge.
"I know full well Gajeel. Full well." Natsu ground out.
"But does she know?" Gajeel's question was thrown out with feigned nonchalance. Natsu paused mid-step in his pacing, unable to give a response.
"I knew it." Gajeel gloated.
"Knew what?" Gray finally gave up all pretense of being asleep on the sofa, throwing his shirt down unconsciously as he did so.
"This idiot hasn't told Lucy anything." Gajeel answered before Natsu could say anything. "So she's in the dark about being his mate, and anything related to that."
"Duuuuuuuuddeee," Gray let out a low whistle, "Yo, I don't even know what that *means*, but I know that shit's bad."
Natsu punched the nearest wall in frustration, while Gajeel slid into the now-empty sofa spot Gray had vacated in favour of unconsciously stripping.
"Unlike you all, ice boy, who can cozy up to whomever ya'll fancy, we only get one mate. One person. That we get tied to. Hell, even our emotions get tied to them. Our lifespan gets tied to them, since we all got loooonngg looooonng lives and ya'll don't."
"You have *got* to be shitting me." Gray could hardly pick his chin off the floor.
"Nope," Gajeel grinned perversely, "as much as I would like to. So, flames for brains, whatchu gonna do?"
"No idea." Natsu groaned as he banged his head against the wall repeatedly, before slowly sliding down dejectedly, cheek smooshed against the wall.
While Natsu was doing his best impression of a bird that flew into a skyscraper, Lucy was facing an interrogation of her own.
"So, Lucy, how did Natsu propose?" Suddenly, as if by some magical summoning- which it probably was no doubt- all the girls of the guild were crowding around Lucy, eager to hear her answer.
"He... uh..." Lucy stammered, eyes landing here and there, before she felt a soft paw patting her arm furtively. She calmed down, taking a deep breath, before she started again. "Natsu asked really casually. We- we were having breakfast one day, and he uh... just said that he'd like it if I we could eat together like this always." This wasn't strictly a lie; Natsu had actually expressed this sentiment on a number of occassions, and Lucy had blushed every time. But Natsu had not proposed like this.
The half-lie felt like a stab to her gut.
"THAT SOUNDS SO SWEEEEEEEEEET!" The girls all gushed as one.
Lucy smiled half-heartedly as the girls returned to bustling all around her. She was feeling a complex set of emotions that she hadn't even been able to put down in words, as she had discovered last night, much to her dismay. She disliked this. Disliked feeling this way, disliked that her marriage, something that she had fantasized about now and again, was going to take place under fabricated circumstances. But after all, what could she do, tell her guildmates that she was marrying Natsu because she was a. too craven to come clean to her new-found aunt about the fact that she was very much single and hated to disappoint a relative, because disappointing meant loss and that b. she was spineless enough to never act on her love for Natsu, and had thus chosen the easy way out?
After all, she reasoned with herself, Natsu *had* been the one to offer in the first place. That surely meant something, right? But with Natsu, she never could know in these matters. Sometimes he was as dense as a brick wall, but every so often he said or did something so profound she couldn't quite fathom it.
She was jerked out of her thoughts by Happy's voice. "Lucy!" He waved a paw in front of he as he unfurled his wings. "I'll go check on Natsu, alright?" Lucy nodded, half-heartedly, once again forcing a smile as she watched the blue cat fly out the window.
"Lucy." Once again someone was calling her, this time the voice soft. Lucy zoned back in to see Levy gently patting her arm, a concerned look on her face. "Are you ok?"
It was the concern that did it. For just a split second, Levy's face overlapped with Layla's. Her mother used to have the same look, the same tone, when Lucy used to be feeling ill about it. And in that moment, Lucy broke.
"I'm not." she sobbed, hard, "I'm not." The bustling in the room came to a screeching halt. Instantly, Lucy was enveloped in multiple hugs simultaneously, and even as she berated herself for being weak, she couldn't help but feel an immense sense of relief.
"What's the matter?" Mira asked gently as she held Lucy to her chest. "Is it nerves?"
"Not... exactly." Lucy choked out.
"It's okay Lucy! When Juvia finds herself crying too much to speak, she finds it helpful to take deep breaths." there was a cute voice from Lucy's right.
Lucy followed the advice, breathing deeply as she composed herself, before spilling everything she could and holding nothing back. The girls had all the appropriate responses, grimacing and oohing and ahhing in unison.
"Here, take this sweetie." Cana thrust a hot mug of something steaming at her. To Lucy's surprise, it wasn't alcoholic. It was chamomile tea. This itself was enough to shock Lucy out of her recurring sobs.
Cana and Mira took a long look at each other, before Cana opened her mouth again, "So, kiddo, what seems to be the problem?"
Lucy's mouth fell open in surprise. "I- I... I just told you!" She sputtered.
"Yeah, we heard. But, see, is either one of you in the dark about what's happening?" Lucy shook her head. "You like Natsu right?" Lucy shyly nodded her head as she turned pink. "Natsu was the one who proposed the whole thing, right?" Lucy nodded again.
"Then," Mira took over, "there doesn't seem to be a problem, right? I mean, you've made it clear to Natsu that if he does end up liking someone else, he can come and tell you and he'd be free to pursue them, right?" Lucy nodded her head again. When Cana and Mira put it that way, it did seem rather silly of her to be fretting or being sad over it all. "Besides, you may want to give the boy a little credit. Maybe he's planned it all out a bit more than you think." Mira winked at her, and suddenly Lucy couldn't help but remember about all those rumours she'd heard about Mira and Laxus being together.
"Do you know something I don't?" Lucy asked tentatively. She didn't want to appear rude or too inquisitive.
"I know lots of things you don't." Mira answered, giving her an enigmatic look before releasing her, and Lucy noticed that she was still being held in her arms. "But it's not my place to tell you everything. Now," she clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, "let's hustle, we have a wedding to attend!"
"I'm sorry, everyone." Lucy said quietly, as everyone started to get up and resume their tasks "I didn't want to lie to any of you."
"We understand." Lisanna said sympathetically, chucking her under the chin.
"Just don't do that again." Erza mock-scolded her.
"Aye!" Lucy finally cracked a smile.
The wedding was being held in the guild. Or rather, the gigantic grounds behind the guild that everyone called the garden. Someone- Laxus presumably- had set up floating fairy lights and lanterns all around, and the tables were scattered, filled with dinnerware and flowers. Flowers, now that she noticed, were everywhere. Someone had twisted the boughs of the trees surrounding the clearing so that they created avenues of flowers.
It was nothing short of magical.
Lucy looked to the front, at the raised dais that was supposed to be a stage, and her heart almost stopped.
Master Makarov was there, ready to officiate, as were Gray, Laxus, Loke. Jellal stood to the side, violin in hand, and she belatedly realised that he had already started playing. Belatedly, because all she could think about was the fact that Natsu was there, looking equal parts nervous and anxious and- she noticed with a shock- happy. When he caught her eyes, he gave that blindingly brilliant grin of his, and suddenly all of Lucy's butterflies were gone.
Instead of the butterflies, she felt dizzy, dizzy with happiness- and there was no other way to describe it- high. She felt like she had been medicated by that one thing Polyursica had given her once before, when she had extracted a tooth. Something that made her notice everything detachedly, like she was standing outside of her own body, gleefully noting the proceedings. Something that made her feel like she wanted to weep and laugh and hug someone to seeking comfort all at once.
She saw herself say I do, and she saw Natsu grip her hand and say the same. She saw all the girls of the guild crying, and she saw Master surreptitously wipe away a tear before giving his blessing. She saw everyone attack the food, and Cana the drink, n a way only Fairy Tail could do. She saw Jellal pick up his fiddle once they were done, and the whole party simultaneously becoming one that was dancing riotously, bouncing off each other. Miraculously, boisterous as they were, no one fought, even though once or twice she saw Natsu and Gray bump into each other in a way the normally portended blood. But a look from Erza or Mira always guaranteed that no one did.
And as the night grew deeper and deeper, the laughter changed from one that was boisterous to one that was more thoughtful, the way 3am does to most people, and people took to sitting down and gazing at the stars and they sky, and she found herself beside Natsu.
"So." Natsu started, even though he rarely found the need to break the silence.
"So."
"We're married."
"We're married."
They looked at each other, a long measuring look, and they grinned at each other, before breaking up into laughter.
They were partners, in every sense of the word now, and they would get through this swimmingly, come hell or high water.
A/N: So, here's chapter 2. I know I took a ridiculously long time with this, but I re-wrote this chapter at least 6 times. I'm not entirely happy with how it's turned out, but it's still better than anything I wrote before this, so I'm putting it up, because there is no way I can rewrite this once more.
Initially I tried to make it so that Lucy kept her reasons a secret from everyone else, but I couldn't. Somehow it didn't seem right that way and so the story wrote itself to be this way~
I'm also going about and changing the summary and title for this, because what I put up previously was just a placeholder. Anyway, tell me what you liked and disliked, and I will bear those critiques in mind ^u^
Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the first chapter. If not for your comments, I would never have bothered to update this ridiculous plot bunny of mine. I love you all with all my heart, as much as a writer can towards their reviewers without it becoming creepy.
Till then, bisous~