Like IV: Heartfelt


"Now this is what I call a sleepover party!" Mirajane exclaimed as she bounced on Lucy's bed beside Levy. Levy squeaked a bit as she was bounced slightly into the air, but then she let out a happy giggle as she settled back down onto the bed.

"Yeah, thanks for inviting us over, Luce," Levy said as she lightly kicked her legs against the side of the bed, where they hung over the edge.

Lucy looked up from the ground and grinned at her two friends on her bed, from where she sat on the ground before a large bowl of popcorn, a large half-eaten pizza, and an empty container of icecream.

"No prob, you guys. I couldn't have a full-fledged sleepover without you all here," Lucy answered back as she first looked to the side to grin at Erza, who was lounging in Lucy's chair. She then turned her gaze forward to grin at Lisanna, who was also sitting on the ground across from her.

Mirajane clapped her hands suddenly, bringing all the attention in the room to her.

"So, I'm curious about everyone's love life! I've noticed you've been looking at Gajeel a lot more than usual, Levy. Is there something going on between you two?" Mirajane inquired with an impish grin, as she lightly nudged Levy in the side with her elbow.

Levy blushed furiously and tried to look everywhere but at her friends, as she nervously pushed her glasses up on her nose.

"N-n-no, why would you think that? There's nothing going on between Gajeel and I...even though I may wish there were," Levy whispered this last part under her breath, hoping no one heard her.

But of course Mirajane did, and she quickly took Levy's hands into her own and squeed loudly.

"I'll be rooting for you, Levy! So don't give up, okay!" Mirajane exclaimed as she gave Levy an encouraging grin.

Levy smiled back shyly, and gave Mirajane an affirmative nod.

"So who do you both like, Lucy and Lisanna?" Mirajane turned her attention to her two friends on the ground, and gave them both a not-so-innocent grin. She was well aware that they both liked Natsu, but she'd had a few private minutes right before the sleepover to speak to her sister. Lisanna had told her about the little 'challenge' she and Lucy had going on concerning Natsu, and Mirajane couldn't help teasing them both a little bit over it.

Both Lisanna and Lucy flushed a deep red, but as they were both trying to stammer out a response, Erza suddenly held up her hand for silence.

Everyone else in the room immediately became quiet, and waited to see what had set Erza off.

With no warning and a sudden cry, Erza leapt up from the chair and in two quick strides, she was at the door and bursting it open.

There was a loud cry and the sound of scuffling coming from just outside the door. The next thing the girls in the room knew, Erza was dragging in and throwing down onto the ground before her Natsu, Gray, and Happy.

The boys all looked suitably embarrassed to have been caught, as the girls all began shouting and exclaiming that the guys were peeping toms, and they were going to get pounded into the ground as punishment.

Natsu, Gray, and Happy all went down on their knees before their angry female friends, and begged for mercy.

Considering it was her room that the boys had invaded, it was Lucy who finally decided to grant them mercy, and actually shocked and surprised them all by inviting the boys to stay for a while. She replied to all their surprised faces and raised eyebrows by simply stating, "the more the merrier."

No one was going to argue with that logic, and for the next two hours all the Fairy Tail friends had fun laughing, teasing, and joking around with one another. Then after all the fun was had, Gray and Happy bid their farewells and left for the night. The lights in the room were turned off and the remaining girls all snuggled down on either the bed, or in sleeping bags on the ground for the night. All except for Lucy, who found herself sitting outside on the stone steps leading up to her apartment building.

Lucy looked up at the clear, full moon and found herself dreamily thinking about what it would be like to go out on a date with Natsu. She then jumped slightly as a long, warm cloth was wrapped gently around her shoulders. Lucy looked up and into the dark intense eyes of Natsu, who gave her a wide grin as he sat down on the step beside her. Lucy then realized that the scarf from Igneel that Natsu always wore around his neck, was the very same one that was now wrapped tightly around her own.

Lucy blushed faintly in the soft twilight that surrounded them both. She slowly brought her hands up to the scarf, gently held onto it, and snuggled her cheek into its surprising softness.

Natsu just continued to softly grin at her, as he put his arms behind his back and his hands on the ground to brace his body up. He then looked up into the clear night sky, and began speaking softly.

"Lucy...I've got something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now..." Natsu trailed off nervously as his eyes lowered to the ground before him. Then surprising Lucy with his swiftness, Natsu sat up, turned his body towards her and caught her smaller, smoother hands in his larger, rougher ones.

Lucy could only blink her widened-eyes in shock, her mouth hanging slightly open as she looked into Natsu suddenly serious face.

"Lucy I...Lucy there's something I've wanted to ask you, before all of this Edolas and Anima stuff happened. I wanted to ask you...if you...if you wanted to...to go out on a..."

"Yes!" Lucy answered in a breathy, excited whisper.

It was now Natsu's turn to have his jaw hanging open, and his eyes widened with surprised shock.

"But how...I was just...huh," so discombobulated was Natsu with Lucy's reply, that it took him a few additional seconds to realize just what her reply was.

"You...you said yes," Natsu whispered in soft wonder.

Lucy blushed deeply, realizing that Natsu still held her hands gently in his own.

"That's because I...kind of wanted to ask you the same thing too, before all of this crazy stuff began to happen," Lucy replied, as she looked off shyly to the side.

Natsu lightly squeezed Lucy's hands to gently bring her attention back to him. Once Lucy was looking back into Natsu's intensely-dark eyes, he spoke softly to her again.

"I have to tell you the truth though. I agreed to go out on a date with Lisanna first. But I realized throughout the course of this day and night that I just can't do it...I can't go through with it. I can't pretend to have feelings for someone that I no longer have. I did care...very much...for Lisanna once. But someone new unexpectedly strolled in and seemingly...effortlessly captured my heart. From the very moment that I first met this person, she has lit up my life in ways I never expected. We've been through some pretty wild and grand adventures together that created a bond between us...a pretty deep one, I think. She's been there for me to save my life, and to help and care for me when I needed it...even when I felt I didn't need it she was still always there by my side...never leaving me. I've found myself thinking about and caring about this person more and more each day. And I just...want to see where things could go with this person...this person named...Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy let out a soft gasp as tears of pure joy began slipping down her face. And the only way that she could think of to possibly answer Natsu's heartfelt confession, was to lean forward and kiss him with all the pent-up love and passion she had for him.

So she did.


AN: I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading and reviewing my last one~ Your views inspire me to write more and more ^^

Please review and let me know what you all thought of this chapter =3