Here's chapter threeee!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and all related characters belong to Hiro Mashima
"Is that everything from the car," Aries asked as she set down a couple of grocery bags.
"Yeah, I think so," Loke set down his bags. He could not remember the last time he had brought home so many groceries. Then again, he was shopping for two and restocking a scarce kitchen. "That should last a while, right?"
"It should…" Aries agreed, already filling the refrigerator with the cold foods. "We just need to be careful about not letting the food spoil."
"Okay." Loke agreed while putting away the food from the bags he carried in.
Aries looked at the cake that they bought to bring to everyone later that evening. "Do you think they'll like it," she asked. Really, she wanted a slice right there, but she knew better. Her finger was raised to her lower lip in temptation.
"Sorry, Aries, I think everyone will notice a slice taken out of it," Loke half joked, half apologized. "Otherwise I'd let you have a slice." He pet the top of her head, "But I'll have you know that Erza's cakes are some of the sweetest and things that are sweet are worth the wait." He smiled gently.
"I-If you say so, Leo." Her cheeks heated up a little bit. "Sorry, e-excuse me." Aries ducked her head and made a mad dash for the restroom. Steadying herself on the sink, Aries looked at her face in the mirror, the blush was not entirely noticeable, but she had to check.
Loke knocked at the door, "Aries, are you alright in there?"
"I'm fine, I'll j-just be a minute…" Aries squeeked.
"Okay, I got the text from Virgo saying we can come over," Loke said looking up from his phone. "Can you get the cake? And you already have." Loke said when Aries appeared by his side carrying the cake.
"Ready," Aries practically sang.
"Alright, let me show you where Virgo's apartment is." Loke lead the way and after a few turns they were at Virgo's apartment. He knocked on the door.
Virgo opened the door, "Oh, good, now everyone is here," she stepped aside to let them in. "And you brought a cake, let me take that to the snack table." Vigo took the cake from Aries and walked away.
"Aries!" Aquarius called and engulfed Aries into to a tight hug. "It's so good to see you. How have you been?"
"Oh, sure, you're nice to her…" Loke said.
"She's the one who walked in with the cake," Aquarius hissed. "Also, she's much cuter than you and I haven't seen her in a long time." She began rubbing the top of Aries's head. "Aries, your hair is so soft!"
"We came with each other, so the cake is also my contribution!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Aquarius finally let go of Aries, "So Aries, have you finally gotten yourself a boyfriend," she asked a little too loudly, turning a few heads of the others that were at the party.
"N-no I-" Aries began to tell Aquarius, turning a deep shade of pink.
"Aww… You're so precious," Aquarius giggled. "I'm surprised no one has taken you off the market yet."
"Me too," Taurus said, giving his two cents, "especially since you have a nice bod-"
"Taurus! That's no way to talk to a lady," Loke scolded.
"Yes, indeed," Capricorn agreed. "There is also more to a relationship that the physical attraction to the other person."
The group talked to the amongst themselve and at some point split off between men and women on opposite sides of the room, which was surprising since Gemi and Mini never seemed to leave each other's side.
"So Aquarius, h-how far along are you," Aries asked, trying to break the ice.
"What are you talking about? I'm not pregnant." Aquarius seriously said.
Aries had a moment of pure horror, "I'm sorry, I just assumed-"
"Pfft… I'm sorry, Aries. I've been dying to do that to someone and you've been the first to ask in a while. I'm five months along. Virgo is throwing a baby shower for me in three or four months depending on everyone's schedules. You're invited of course."
"Aquarius, that was not very nice," Virgo stated. "She just moved here and you already managed to horrify her while getting settled in."
"No, it's okay…" Aries tried assuring. "Virgo, th-this is a really nice get together that you made."
"Thank you, Aries." Mini raised her hand and the other three women stared at her for a second. "Yes, Mini," Virgo asked.
"Huh, sorry, old habit from school," Mini ran the raised hand through her light blue hair. "I just wanted to ask Aries why she was not in a relationship with Leo. I mean, it's totally obvious that she likes him."
"Wh-what are you t-talking about," Aries stuttered and she began to blush furiously.
"That," Mini pointed out.
"You two would look so cute together," Aquarius declared. "Yo, L-" she was cut off by Aries's hand.
"No don't," Aries begged.
"You mean you do not want our help with big brother," Virgo questioned.
"C-can we just change the subject," Aries pleaded.
On the other side of the room, the men were having their own conversation.
"Leo, have you asked Aries to be your girlfriend yet," Scorpio asked patting Loke on the back. "Aquarius and I would love to have another couple to go on double dates with."
"I thought I already told you guys that Aries and I are just friends."
"Really, because I'm sure you've been hit by Cupid's arrow for some time now," Sagittarius said.
"We're just friends," Loke tried assuring, but it was clearly not getting across.
Gemi just sighed and looked towards the women's group, almost wishing he had stayed with his sister. He'd just share information with her later.
Capricorn had strayed away from the group and was looking through Virgo's bookshelf. He pulled out one that caught his attention, "Virgo, is this your copy of our senior yearbook?"
"Yes it is," Virgo said looking up.
"What, I wanna look through it," Mini said. Since she and Gemi were three years behind the rest of the group in school, she never got a chance to look through their yearbook.
"Yeah, let's look through it," Cancer agreed. "I haven't looked through mine in since we graduated five years ago."
"Gather around then, everyone," directed Virgo, taking the yearbook from Capricorn and taking a seat on the couch. "Where should we begin?"
"Your guys' senior pictures," the twins said in unison.
"Alright," Virgo opened the book towards the front of the book to where the senior pictures were, the only pages that were in color.
"Oh, Scorpio," Aquarius cooed, "It's been so long since you bleached half of your hair to be red and white," she pointed at his picture. Now Scorpio's hair was a solid red.
"I know, I kinda miss it, baby."
"I can dye it for you again if you'd like," Cancer suggested.
"Nah, it's fine, I got other things to worry about right now," Scorpio placed his hand over Aquarius's stomach before placing a quick kiss on her lips. "Hey, baby, I almost forgot that you used to wear your hair short," he said pointing at Aquarius picture.
"I had to keep it short for swimming. Putting long hair in a swim cap was very troublesome. It was easier to wear it short then."
"I found you Aries," Virgo announced. "That's right, you used to wear brown ribbons on both sides of your hair."
"I remember now," Loke mused. "Why did you stop? It was very fitting for you."
"I guess I just grew out of it," Aries shrugged. Slowly after graduation, Aries wore her ribbons less and less until she stopped wearing them in her hair all together. "Cancer, I almost forgot all about your afro!"
"Ah yes, some of my best hairstyles, if I do say so myself," Cancer said. "But I like my cornrows right now. Who knows, maybe I'll let my hair grow back out one of these days."
"Hmmm… That is odd. I can't find big brother or Capricorn…"
"What? I know I went in for pictures," Loke said taking the yearbook from Virgo.
"As did I," Capricorn added.
"There I am," Loke pointed towards his own picture. "You probably just didn't recognize me because I wasn't wearing my shades. He looked at the other pictures, "Same for Capricorn, he doesn't have his shades in his picture either."
"That's right, I was told to remove my glasses for the picture. I assume you were told the same thing, Leo?"
"Yeah. Oh, look, there's Virgo and Sagittarius… You guys look mostly the same ," Loke told everyone.
"I do not," Sagittarius took the book. "... I guess I do."
"I cannot look that similar," Virgo took back her yearbook. "... I was mistaken." She looked for Taurus as he was the last one. "And Taurus still has that cowlick he can never seem to control... Let's move on to 'Senior Bests.'"
"I remember that!" Aquarius cheered. "Scorpio and I won cutest couple." Sure enough, when Virgo turned the page, there was a picture of Scorpio and Aquarius in a heart frame on the page with Cutest Couple written underneath it. "And we still are," she declared while hugging Scorpio's arm, very similarly to the picture in the yearbook.
Cancer's afro made a reappearance under Best Hair. Virgo and Capricorn both had Best Dressed for the girl and boy's categories.
"I'm pretty it's was the three piece suit is what broke the tie between Leo and me," Capricorn commented. "Don't be so bitter, Leo, you're in here."
"I remember, but it wasn't just me," Loke smiled. He was surprised it was not brought up earlier, but he and Aries were voted as Best Friends and it was placed right next to Cutest Couple. Maybe it was Cancer's old afro that had distracted everyone. "Aries, do you remember taking this picture?"
"Yes, because you nearly dropped me picking me up from your unexpected piggyback," Aries answered, half seriously and half jokingly.
"Ah, but I didn't," Loke retorted. "And we got a pretty good picture out of it."
They looked through the rest of the 'Senior Bests',they knew most everyone that was in there. Like their friend Lyra that was voted Best Musician.
"Go to the Freshman pictures," requested Gemi. "We want to see our pictures," completed Mini.
"Very well," Virgo took a few tries before she found the Freshman section. "Here you are." Gemi and Mini were doing back-to-back poses in their photos.
"We did things like that all our high school photos," Gemi and Mini said in unison. "Let's bring our Senior yearbook next time, Brother! That had the best one," Mini cheered. "Okay, Sister!" Gemi approved.
"What else is in here," asked Aquarius.
"Well, many of us were in clubs or sports, right," Sagittarius pointed out. Sure enough, he was right. Aquarius, Taurus, Capricorn, and Sagittarius were all captains to Swimming, Wrestling, Debate, and Archery; respectively, by their senior year. Gemi and Mini were seen again in the Drama club group photo.
"Say, let's all have a drink- except for Aquarius- to celebrate tonight," Taurus declared, holding a wine bottle. The others agreed, and continued looking through the yearbook, looking for themselves in the backgrounds of photos all the photos.
"Natsu, we need to pick an official wedding date," Lucy whinned. "We can't put this off any longer.
"Right now? We don't even know what's good for everyone," Natsu sighed. "Do you know where you want it, that would make picking a date easier. Like, I would not want a wedding in the mountains in the dead of winter or one on the beach during its hurricane season."
"Well no, not yet, I want a place that you'd like too. We should at least get some other decisions made so we don't have a million decisions to make at once." Lucy explained. It had been six months since their engagement and they had barely had anything finished, except for Lucy's dress. "Also, if we wait too long, my dress will be out of style," she complained.
"Alright, Lucy," Natsu straightened up from his seat on the couch. "Let's think of date, do you have a certain time range?"
"Well, I don't want it in four months because of Aquarius's due date," Lucy thought out loud.
"Then I don't want it any later because then her baby might cry in the middle of the wedding," Natsu added.
"So in three months or less?"
"Yeah. What else do we need," Natsu questioned.
"Well, have you thought of your best man or groomsmen?"
"I want Happy as my best man," Natsu declared.
"Natsu… Happy is the cat," Lucy deadpanned, while looking at Happy who was sleeping with the dog, Plue, quite contently.
"I was just joking. I was actually thinking about making my best man Gray. Sure we've had our share of fights, but we grew up together and is practically my brother. Don't ever tell him I said that last part," Natsu ended.
"Sounds like you really thought this through," Lucy giggled. "I was thinking about asking Levy to be my maid of honor, but she and Gajeel are already married, so really she is my matron of honor. Maybe Juvia should be my maid of honor, she has been dropping multiple hints that she would be up for the task. And if Gray is the best man, I'm sure she would be more than willing to accept the position."
"Okay, but let me ask Gray first. We don't want to end up disappointing Juvia if he turns down the offer." Natsu pulled out his cell phone and dialed Gray's number. He waited for Gray to pick up on the other end, "Yo, Ice Queen, wanna be my best man? Really? Cool, great. I'll send you the details later," he hung up. "Said he'd do it."
"That's great," Lucy gave a nervous chuckle, not understanding how Natsu and Gray's friendship worked when it was full of insults. "Why do you call Gray 'Ice Queen' anyways?"
"Because he used to beat me all the time in snowball fights as kids. Anyways, I was thinking of having Gajeel and Laxus as my groomsmen."
"You might have to find one more, or I'll have to narrow down my choices by one more."
"Who else are you thinking of?"
"Mira and Erza," Lucy answered.
"Hmmm…" Natsu thought of his other friends that were close to him, there were a lot to choose from. "What about Jellal? We've gotten much closer… Plus, I think Erza would secretly like it," Natsu smirked. "Have those two finally gone out or are they still beating around the bush even though they know how they feel for each other?"
"No, they've been beating around the bush," Lucy sighed. "Everytime I bring him up, Erza just starts freaking out and tries to convince me that there's nothing going on." A sly smile began to form across Lucy's face. "Let's keep it a secret for as long as we can. So that way neither of them can backout."
Natsu stared at his fianceé in shock, "Lucy… I had no idea that you could be so devious… I like it." He wore his own smirk. "Let's do it," he raised his hand for a highfive.
Lucy returned the highfive. "I'm sure you have been waiting for this question: what flavor of cake do you want?"
"Yeah, I've been waiting! I want red velvet," Natsu's voice boomed through the apartment.
"Red velvet," Lucy whispered, sure she liked it, but she had something else in mind. "I kind of wanted strawberry."
"Strawberry is good too, I guess," Natsu brooded.
Lucy did not want Natsu to give up what he wanted for her sake, there had to be something that she could do. "What if we had a three-tiered cake? One red velvet, one strawberry, and the top tier that we safe for our one year anniversary is marbled with both flavors?"
"Marbled," Natsu's confused face appeared. "Does that mean it's all hard like a rock?"
"It means both flavors are mixed throughout the cake," Lucy explained.
"Oh…" Natsu smiled, "Okay, Lucy, let's do that!" He scooped up Lucy for a tight hug and a kiss. Then another… and another… and another…
Lucy broke off for a second, "I'm getting the hint, Natsu," Lucy teased. "Let me just write down what we have decided and I'll talk to Mira about booking a place tomorrow." Their friend and wedding planner would be glad to hear some new information from the engaged couple. Lucy wrote down their decisions in her notebook, "Oh, and I'll also need to call Erza to see if she can still make the cake… Natsu, c-can't you wait two minutes," she asked as Natsu began to bury his face into her neck.
"No…" Natsu murmured, his voice deepening.
"I'm almost done," she teased.
"Fine," he watched Lucy make all her notes and waited for her to close the notebook. As soon as she did, Natsu picked up Lucy in his arms and started carrying her off, "Let's go have some fun, Lucy!"
"N-not so loud, Natsu," Lucy blushed.
"Leo," Aries whined. "I can w-walk… on my own," she insisted from on his back.
"No way, Aries. You're starting to walk funny," Loke disagreed. "Just a little further… You only had a glass and a half though, but you ate…" he was trying to figure out if she would be fine, he himself felt perfectly fine. Probably due to the fact he most likely had the higher tolerance.
"It was a strong wine… But don't worry, Leo… I'll be fine…" Aries began to rest her head between Loke's shoulder blades and tightened her grip on his shoulders.
"Yeah, I guess it was," Loke thought about the type of wine that was in the bottle, it looked a lot like one of the higher alcohol content wines that Cana had at her bar. His thoughts were broken when he felt a pair of hands running through his hair. "A-Aries, what are y-you doing?"
"S-sorry," Aries bleated. "Y-you're hair just l-looked really s-soft," she returned her hands back onto his shoulders. The alcohol had obviously lowered her inhibitions.
"It's okay, Aries," Loke told her. Even though he wanted to tell her that it was okay for her to keep doing it, that would be taking advantage of the situation in his mind and decided against it. "Alright, we're here," he knelt down so Aries could climb off his back and he could unlock the door and turn on the lights. "You might want to get some rest, think you can make it to your room," he asked, very concerned. Maybe he was worrying too much, but he could not help it.
"I think so, um, th-thank you for carrying me… You didn't have to though…" Aries played with the hem of her shirt.
"It's was no problem,however I need to get to sleep. I don't think Lucy will give me two unscheduled and unrequested days off in a row. You need your sleep, too," Loke advised for the second time. "Off to bed, see you in the morning."
"Good night, Leo," Aries said before walking with a slight sway in her step towards her bedroom. After entering the room and closing the door behind her, Aries changed out of her day clothes and into some pajamas. Her bed seemed extra soft when she crawled in.
There was a knock at the door, "Aries are you still awake?"
"Yes," Aries answered. Loke pushed the door open, but held his hand in front of his eyes after doing so. Earning a giggle from his friend. "Don't worry, Leo, you can look. I'm decent."
"Good, walking would be very difficult then," Loke joked before setting down a glass and two aspirin tablets. "In case you need them in the morning and I'm not here," he explained. "Sleep well," he bade before pulling her covers up higher.
"Good night, Leo… What do you think the others are up to now?" The two of them had left while some stayed behind.
Loke stopped in the doorframe and rested his hand on it and scratched the back of his head with the other, "Well, if I heard correctly, Taurus suggested 'Spin the Bottle'... I don't think Capricorn would let that happen though. Also, a lot of people were leaving, so his plan probably backfired." He turned off the lights, "But don't worry about it, just go to sleep."
'What if we had to...' Aries thought while raising her fingers to her lips, but her thought was never completed as sleep took over.
"Come on, baby, I'm sure you want to know," Scorpio insisted as he caressed Aquarius stomach. "It would make naming our baby much easier if we knew if it was a boy or girl."
"But I thought we agreed to keep it a surprise, darling," Aquarius settled deeper into the couch. "Aren't we going to keep it a surprise?"
"We are! If that's what you want, baby," Scorpio said. "We'll just have two names in mind then."
Aquarius stayed quiet, she really wanted it to be a surprise. "Well… Maybe I could go in for an ultrasound," Scorpio's face lit up, "but only to check if the baby is healthy. I'm over halfway through and due for another check-up anyways."
"Sure thing, baby, that's cool," Scorpio held her hand close. "Let's go to sleep, I'm sure you need your rest."
Thanks for reading, I'll try to update as soon as possible since I have to go back to school soon.