The Five-Year Token
Natsu watched her walking along the deserted beach, kicking at the ebb and flow of the waves as they washed close to her feet. Lucy was so beautiful. Her blonde hair gracefully shifting in the winds behind her. Salty breezes that she would turn her head to and close her eyes, taking in the ocean scents. He was going to miss moments like this. She was too young. Don't get him wrong, they were perfect together and that scared him. She was too close, too attached, and Natsu wanted her to find herself before making a decision to settle. That wasn't to say she wasn't independent already, he just wanted to make sure, for his own sanity, because forever I do, should mean forever.
He reaches down, picking up an oddly shaped, blue piece of beach glass. Its edges smooth and worn from years of abuse at the mercy of shifting sands. Tarnished and no longer opaque, but a white finish to its lost luster. Just a simple looking piece of unwanted glass. Did it have a history? Could it have once been like a message in a bottle that sailed across the Pacific Ocean and landed on this Californian shore? Or maybe from just another couple relaxing along its shore, discarded in the throes of love?
"What ya got there?"
"Oh, just a piece of glass," Natsu looks over and sees her bright, chocolatey eyes beaming up at him. He smiles at the infectious curiosity burning behind them. "It had me thinking a little."
"About?"
"Where did it come from or how did it get here? And the longer I look at it, maybe what its future might be like?"
Lucy giggles, reaching over and gently taking it from his hands. She turns it over to give it a good look. "You talk like it's a person."
"Maybe it made me think of one," he smiles back, but with a sigh. "Lucy, I've been… thinking about our relationship and I think we should take a break."
"What? Why?!"
"Please hear me out," he gingerly tips her chin up, placing a chaste kiss against her pouting lips, letting his thumb ghost over the skin, lightly. "I love you, and that's why I want you to experience life on your own first, before we get anymore serious. I'm a little older and lived on my own for a time, you'd just graduated high school when we met and never lived without someone around. Lucy," he wipes away a tear that had broken free, "this doesn't have to be forever."
"But…. I-I don't want to lose you Natsu."
"And you won't, if that's what you choose." He steps back just a tad, taking one of her hands and turning it palm side up. "I want you to take this," he places the piece of glass in her hand and closes her fingers around it, holding his hand over the closed fist. "It will be my promise to you, that in five years, if you still wish to be with me, I will gladly accept. But please first live…. For me and for you…"
The first couple of months apart were gut wrenching for Natsu, enough so that there were moments he wanted to call, text, run back to her home and beg to throw the deal right out the window. But each time those churning emotions threatened to take hold, he stopped. This was the right thing to do. As hard as it was, he knew that he wasn't ready to give Lucy the life she deserved. This time apart would help them to grow into the individuals they were destined to be, and prepare them for a possible future, whether together or apart, to survive this weary world.
And for that, it meant getting his head in gear or in other words, a career going.
A building boom was in its beginning stages, so it was the perfect time to start up his fledgling construction business. Natsu moves to another town where the market was showing high promise, and he had friends ready to jump on board. There Dragneel & Associates was born, specializing in residential and small business construction jobs. It was a lot of hard work, but the strapping young men had no trouble with the workload. Between his partner Gray's flare for creative design, and Natsu's energetic personality with guard loosening smile, it took them from a start-up to a referred-out business in less than a year with contracts steadily lined up.
He was busy enough that a personal life could easily be placed on the back burner. With no time to even look at other women, Natsu focused on putting together a future so that one day, when he did settle down, he'd be able to provide for his family. That's not to say he didn't get lonely from time to time. Lucy was often on his mind whenever times were slow, or he felt alone in his apartment. He had occasional relationships, but none of them lasted very long because they lacked one very important trait. They weren't Lucy.
"You ever think about find her again?" His buddy Gray questions as they hang their legs off the eaves of a roof job on lunch break.
"Sometimes… I ain't gonna lie," Natsu sighs. "But I know I did the right thing. Being 7 years apart in age, she was still in that younger mindset…"
Gray laughs, "you make like we're these old men compared to her! And hell, you still act like a teenager sometimes."
"Oi, I've learned how to turn it off and on! And there ain't nothing wrong with feeling younger!"
"Touché," Gray sits back, propping himself up. "Still, I think you guys could have made it work anyways."
"Nah, she always talked about going to college and stuff. This way she can focus on that instead of me. Plus, I feel good about setting myself up like we've done. No point in having a girl if ya can't take care of her. Speaking of which, how are you and Juvia doing?"
"She's a little clingy, but sweet. I'm taking her out on our third date this Friday..."
After coming home from a long day on the job site, Natsu kicks his feet up in his recliner and turns on the television. Dinner was nothing special, just leftover pot roast, washed down with a beer or two. He sighs, this apartment was smaller than he could afford, but worth it in all the money he was stocking away. At least it was cozy, and for the most part quiet except for the children living upstairs. He didn't have a problem with children, in fact he couldn't wait to have some of his own, it was more with their parents. Natsu wasn't one to gossip, but through the thin walls he knew enough to know the couple upstairs was going through a divorce.
He himself didn't start off with the best of a home life. Orphaned by his birth parents, he and an older brother ten years his senior were sent to foster care where they languished for about a year before being adopted. His adoptive parents were great people. A good outcome in a way for the then 6-year-old to be one of the lucky ones. They even adopted a little girl two years after, once his brother hit adulthood and went off on his own. Natsu smiles, his sister Wendy was adorable in all the ways a child could be cute, and so smart. She's 4 years his junior and currently working on her education across the country. He missed her too but was proud of her accomplishments.
But these poor kid's upstairs were a whole 'nother story. Their father had moved out with a new girlfriend leaving his wife and two kids behind. Anytime the man visited, he could hear them fighting. The woman herself was a mess, emotionally, and he suspected financially. Too often than not, Natsu swore the kids seemed starved and if not for food, definitely for attention. They were barely old enough to be home alone at the ages of 12 and 10, but he assumed it was what the woman could afford. She worked long hours in order to support the whole household now. Natsu could barely comprehend the stress she must be under.
The dying embers of the day pick up, glinting off the top of the metal railing and casting a blinding light into his living room, causing Natsu to look out over to his patio. He loved those burning colors of reds and oranges, mixing into cascades of golds or even strange purple flashes when blended against the fading deep blue sky. Colors of passion to remind him of all the reasons he did what he did, and what he hoped to do in the future. Natsu shields his eyes a moment when the setting sun passes below the rail. Three years have passed since he'd made his vow, meaning two years closer to a possible new future.
Times like these made Natsu thankful for the chance to reflect and reminisce, until a thud against his ceiling breaks those thoughts. He looks up, the kids must still be home alone. 'Did they eat dinner yet?' he wonders to himself. When he'd first tried being nice and help them out, the woman was wary of a strange man befriending her children. But after a couple of months, or maybe due to exhaustion, she'd relented. He was in a small way like a downstairs babysitter who kept and 'ear' out for them, feeding them if he had extra food, or just giving the two boys another male role model to talk to. On the weekends if he didn't have a job to do, they'd come over while she was at work and they'd play video games. It wasn't much, but he looked at it as practice for his own future family. 'Some day,' he sighs.Another thud catches his attention and he looks at the remnants of the pot roast, he could eat leftovers for one more day or just give it to them. Natsu opts for sharing and takes it upstairs to the kids.
As he switches the month on his calendar, Natsu hesitates for a moment. In less than three weeks it will be the fifth anniversary of that date on the beach. So much had happened in this five-year journey. He'd moved twice, the latest to the neighboring down just under a year ago where he'd bought a new house. His business was doing well, and they were busier than ever. All the goals he had set for himself that day had been met, except one. But he had no idea how to reach out to her.
He sits back in his chair, closing his eyes to relive that scene like it was yesterday. No pictures were needed to refresh his recollections. Her golden locks wafting around in an ethereal display, caught up in the summery breeze. How her laughter filled the empty beach, swirling with the endless tide into a refreshing memory. Or the bright sparkle in her gaze, chocolate pools of melted bliss to warm any soul. Lucy was a dream and one Natsu wondered if he was worthy of attaining. He'd left their future in fates hands that day, it was a high-stakes gamble that he could only hope to strike seven on. If it's to be, it will be…
"Gray, I'm gonna take care of the Redfox's proposal. I'll be back this afternoon."
Natsu gathers his clipboard from his desk and leaves the office in his partners hands. This job should be a fairly easy one, these people needing to do a few renovations to their home before the wife gives birth. The husband was a bit of a hard ass, the wife a sweet lady over the phone. Natsu was sure it was a social persona she showed to strangers, because that woman had to have some fight in her to deal with a grump of a husband.
When he arrives, he notes that the husband isn't home. That's perfect! He rather deal with the woman of the house anyways. If there's one thing he's learned over the last few years, is that when there's a wife involved, get her opinion on the job, especially in a case like this when part of the renovation is for a nursery. Happy woman of the house often led to a more successful job outcome.
The front door opens as he's pulling a blank estimate sheet from the inner compartment. "Hi," he mumbles without looking, working to situate the sheet onto the top of the clipboard. "I'm here from Dragneel…"
He stops cold, the name of his company, the reason for his visit, and any other rational thought dying away on his lips upon seeing the person standing there. It can't be! She can't be the wife!
"L-Lucy?"
"Oh, my gosh, Natsu!" The woman flies out, hugging to and sending the clipboard clattering to the ground. "I can't believe it! What are you doing here?" Lucy asks as she steps back and lets the shaken man go.
"I-I'm here to do an estimate for a job," he blinks, "a-are you the lady of the house?" 'Please don't say yes!'
Lucy giggles, "no, that would be my friend Levy. Come in," she holds the door open and gestures to come inside. "I'm just visiting."
After picking up the almost forgotten clipboard, Natsu follows Lucy, who leads him to a living room.
"I'll go get her," Lucy gestures to a couch. "You can wait here."
"Thanks…. Luce."
The woman pauses, straight and stiff like a ghost had just brushed against her back. Lucy turns around slowly, her hands reaching up near her mouth as if to catch the breath she couldn't hold in, and her eyes glaze over as a light hint of pink filters onto her cheeks. "You remember my nickname?" Her voice trembles through every syllable.
"Of course, I do," he grins wide.
His mere trademark, ear to ear smile sends the girl over the edge. Tears cascade down her cheeks, but her eyes brighten, and flash like in his memories. She throws herself back onto the man, hugging to him as if her life depended on it. Lucy had all but given up hope of ever seeing Natsu again, yet here he was, in her arms, finally! Nothing else mattered in that moment. Not all the sleepless nights nor times she'd cried herself to sleep over losing him once. Only her heart begged and pleaded to let this not be a dream. She finally lets him go, plopping where she landed on his lap, trying to brush away the tears that continued to trickle.
"I've missed you too," Natsu's eyes crinkle into a smile at the warm reception, placing his hand upon her cheek and thumbing away at the smooth milky skin. He wipes away more of the tears and tucks her hair behind her ear.
At that moment, Levy walks in. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I…." The petite woman quickly rushes over to the couch. "Oh My God, what kind of guy are you making my friend cry! I oughta…"
"No, no!" Lucy waves her hands at her friend, "Natsu didn't make me cry, he's…" she catches herself before saying the first thing that came to mind. "Levy, he's the one I told you about."
"Wow seriously?!" Levy drops onto an adjacent chair in shock. "Wait, he is the contractor right? He didn't just magically show up here?"
By this point, Lucy had scrambled off of Natsu's lap and taken a seat beside him. Her nerves were frayed, heart pounding in her chest as she fidgeted with her fingers. She had so many thoughts racing through her mind. So many questions she wanted to ask, but right now, he was here for her friend's job first and foremost.
He'd almost forgotten the reason for being there. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts, "yes, sorry, forgive me. I'm Natsu Dragneel from Dragneel & Associates here to do the estimate. I had no idea Lucy would be here."
"Oh, well," Levy waves her hand nonchalantly with a smirk on her face. "If you're a friend of Lucy's your hired. But you know," she feigns a yawn, "sorry pregnancy and all, I get tired easily, could we reschedule for tomorrow to go over what I want done?"
Natsu tilts his head confused, "yeah sure, I understand." The woman was barely showing, and she sure didn't seem tired a second ago. "I have 10 am tomorrow open if that works for you?"
"Perfect, I'll be here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I should get some rest," Levy winks at her friend, "Lucy could you see him out?"
"Of course," Lucy's eyebrow raises. She knows her friend is faking it.
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow Mr. Dragneel."
Once Levy is out of the room, Lucy turns back and notices Natsu still sitting there confused. She chuckles, "she did that on purpose to leave us alone."
"O-Oh!" he grins again. "That's nice of her."
Lucy giggles and shrugs. "We met in college and ever since then she's been my best friend. In fact, I only recently moved to this town to be around to see the kid when it's born."
What were the odds?
It was now or never. "Lucy, I-I was wondering," he runs a hand through his hair nervously, "s-so how have you been, a-are you seeing anyone?" There! He asked the most important question of his life! And if his heart didn't explode, he had a chance to survive the answer.
Lucy blushes and pulls up the chain hanging around her neck to reveal it's pendant. His eyes widening the moment it crests her collar. She shakes her head with a vivid blush and expanding glow, "I'm still waiting to cash in my token."