Prompt: "I've never felt this way before, and I'm terrified to be honest." for NaLu
He was sitting at the bar, his eyes following his best friend. A year after the war with the Alvarez Empire, Lucy had finally finished and published her novel. It was a dream of hers that she'd had for a long time and tonight she, her guildmates, and all manner of individuals were gathered to congratulate the celestial mage on receiving an award for the book.
Naturally, he'd read it because it was something Lucy had written and he wanted to support her. "The Adventure of Iris" was a retelling of all that Lucy had experienced thus far at her time in Fairy Tail and he remembered each and every one of them. Starting from the day they met and ending with their latest trial that had ended only a year prior. Reading it had shown him just all that they'd been through in only a handful of years.
Their adventure wasn't over yet however. While she'd been working on her novel, he hadn't just been sitting idly waiting for her to finish. The fire slayer had been taking care of something rather important for his team and was more than ready for this night to be over. But this night was about Lucy, so he'd mingle and enjoy himself until she passed out from drinking too much, when he'd take her home.
As he shifted his weight to stand, Natsu felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over at Gildarts who'd taken the seat beside him.
"You've been staring all evening," he teased. Natsu looked away from the aged man, blushing and mumbled something about old men minding their own business. "So what're you gonna do?"
"Huh? About what?"
"A girl with a heart as big as her's is rare," he stated. "Not to mention her body-"
"Oh, come on," Natsu groaned, rolling his eyes. The man just laughed.
He knew that Lucy was beautiful; he'd seen wearing next to nothing plenty of times. Hell, he'd seen wearing nothing on more than one occasion also and didn't need to be told that she was gorgeous. He didn't care about all that though. He cared about the girl that had been through every adventure with him. She saved him just as much as he had her to make sure that they always returned home together.
"I care about Luce and I want to be with her forever."
"Then stay with her." He looked at Gildarts as the man threw back his drink.
"What am I supposed to say? I've never felt this way before, and I'm terrified to be honest," the fire slayer confessed.
"Who says you have to say anything, Natsu? If you want to be with her forever, then be with her."
He thought about the older man said and looked at the celestial mage who was standing with Erza. The blonde looked his way and waved, smiling gleefully. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he wanted to be with her always, but would she understand if he said it that way?
He didn't know and didn't think about it again as spent the rest of the evening enjoying the revelries until it was time to take Lucy home. He carried her home, where she promptly stripped and climbed into bed, cuddling Happy. He had to pry the exceed from her grip just to get her to change and after doing so she clung to him and he was forced to lay with her until she'd fallen asleep.
The following morning he had his opportunity to tell her but as he looked down into her glistening brown eyes, he realized that Gildarts had been right. There was no need to define what he felt for Lucy, just as long as they could stay together forever.