Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and its characters.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Spells"

Announcements/Large Beings Talking

Natsu felt like a complete tool. He had no idea how he let Gajeel talk him into wearing nice clothes to go see the rainbow sakura trees blossom. They were just trees, dammit! But here he was, getting ready in his brand new master bathroom.

"How the hell did Gajeel even get my measurements?" Natsu grumbled as he put a white suit on that wasn't quite form fitting, but wasn't far off. "No one's ever bought me a suit before. And the rented ones only mostly fit."

Natsu thought long and hard about who would have an idea about what his measurements were and he honestly couldn't think of anyone.

"Did… did he sneak into my room on that last mission and measure me?!" Natsu whisper-yelled to himself in horror. That was… the most violating thought Natsu believed he had ever had. And suddenly he felt the need to shower.

But, he only had 15 minutes before Gajeel showed up and Natsu had to be in the cottage for that. Tomorrow was the big reveal of his new place and he couldn't be more excited. Well, maybe he could, if Happy had stayed the night with him instead of flying off to go find Charle right in the middle of the setting up of the furniture. Natsu did have the movers to help him, but he wanted Happy to suff- to help too!

Natsu finished tying his tie, which he will never forget how to do due to the trauma the two female S-class mages left him with, and walked down the stairs of his new house. Not to toot his own horn, but the place was fantastic. Sure, it could use a couple of more paintings or photographs on the walls, but besides that the place looked great. The rush order on the dining room table even came through and it was delivered in the very early hours this morning.

He had even had time after the table delivery to move a good chunk of his mementos to the memory room. He started with the things he placed on the tables for display, then moved to the things that would hang. One of the last things he would move, tonight after he got back from the festival, would be Lucy's maid outfit. The main reason being that anyone that had been to his house would recognize if it wasn't there anymore, and the other… well, Natsu felt like he was doing something bad by keeping it.

Originally, he had kept the maid uniform as a memento of their new partner's first mission. Lucy had wanted to destroy it since it reminded her of how that weird old guy called her ugly. Natsu had hidden it from her, and eventually bought a mannequin to place it on. Over time, and as his feelings for his partner developed, he would take to staring at the maid outfit thinking of his partner before bed. Of how nice Lucy always smelled, how soft her hair was, how- Natsu abruptly shook those thoughts away. They were friends. Just friends. She had found someone that she swore made her happy, and Natsu had no reason to not believe her.

What was he thinking about? Right, the house! The furniture matched nicely with the wood floors, and one of Natsu's favorite additions was the sky light in his room. Directly above his bed. Stargazing always brought him back to a time when he would stargaze with Igneel. Or when he would stargaze with Anna, now that she had helped him remember her part in his upbringing. How peaceful those times were to his otherwise hectic training schedule.

While thinking, Natsu had made it to the cottage and had sat down on the couch. He played with a few things he had lying around while he waited. Then his hand found the communication lacrima again, and he was reminded how he never did get Warren to explain how it worked to him. Meh, some other time. He fiddled with things and decided that the first thing he was going to do when he got back later was empty the kitchen of everything and bring it to the new one.

Just as he was thinking of what else he was going to do later, he smelled Gajeel coming to get him. For some reason he wanted to go together, and not with Levy. Who was sent to Lucy's apartment to get ready for the festival.

"Salamander!" Gajeel called out as he approached the cottage. "You better be wearing that-"

"Keep your pants on!" Natsu yelled back as he opened the door. "I'm wearing the stupid thing."

"Very nice, Natsu." Pantherlily said with a nod as he looked the Dragon Slayer up and down. The Exceed was wearing a small suit of his own.

"Yeah, yeah. I don't get why we're wearin' these things anyway." Natsu grumbled as he closed the door behind him and walked down the road with the other two.

"Ah stuff it, Salamander." Gajeel growled. Natsu could see a slight shake to his hands.

"What are yah, nervous?" Natsu teased.

"Shut up." Gajeel said as he slugged Natsu in the shoulder. That just made Natsu grin wider.

"C'mon guys, suits, remember?" Pantherlily groaned as he knew what was going to happen if the guys kept going.

"Hmph." The two said as they crossed their arms and turned their noses up at one another. Pantherlily shook his head at the two's childish antics.

Eventually the three came up to the area of the flower viewing. Both Dragon Slayers immediately began sniffing the air to try and find their friends. Which they did after a minute or so.

"Jellal!" Natsu said happily. It seemed even the reclusive man made it a point to come to the Blossom-Viewing Festival. And Ezra was practically beaming with happiness. Natsu felt like he had to look away. The woman was blinding.

"Natsu. It's good to see you." Jellal said as he stuck his hand out. Natsu grasped it gladly and the two hugged a bit afterwards.

"You should really stop by more often!" Natsu said as they broke apart.

"That's what I've been hearing all day so far." Jellal said with a small smile.

"Well then yah definitely should! Just join the guild already!" Natsu said happily.

"Maybe one day soon. Now why are you all dressed up? I was under the impression only the girls from the guild dressed up." Jellal questioned as he looked Natsu over.

"Yes, Natsu, why are you all dressed up?" Erza asked as she looked her friend up and down.

"Is it because you're trying to impress a girl?!" Mira asked as the Strauss family appeared out of nowhere.

"What? No way." Natsu said as he shook his head. "I was told you're supposed to, so I did. Obviously that wasn't true."

"Gihi." Gajeel grinned as Natsu gave him a scathing look.

Now that everyone looked at the two Dragon Slayers, they could see that both were wearing white suits. Gajeel in his usual performance suit, and it looked like Natsu got one to match…?

"Didn't know the two of you were that into each other." Gray commented after realizing they were matching. Both Dragon Slayers turned green at the accusation as if they were on a train.

"We're not. We just wanted to look even better than you when you strip for all the guys here, Stripper." Natsu snarked back.

"No fighting." Erza said to stop anything from starting. Most of the girls spent hours doing their hair and makeup and she didn't want any of them to have theirs ruined.

"Yes ma'am." Natsu and Gray saluted.

Natsu turned back to ask Gajeel something when he noticed the iron Dragon Slayer was now over by Levy. Natsu rolled his eyes in response. The man demanded they go together, then ditched him at the first chance.

He looked around and saw Lucy with her boyfriend, Dan. Natsu had met the guy and had talked to him a few times. The guy seemed nice enough, but Natsu always got the feeling that Dan didn't want Natsu there. Or maybe just around Lucy, Natsu couldn't tell. So he wouldn't go sit with them just yet.

'Now who can I sit with?' Natsu thought to himself as he looked around. Gajeel and Levy didn't have room on their blanket, Jellal and Ezra had brought their own chairs, the Strausses had a blanket to themselves… aha! Wendy only had Happy and Charlie on her blanket. And she was staring at him hopefully. Guess she was starting to feel like a third wheel.

"Yo, Wendy!" Natsu said happily as he made his way over. "You look great!"

And she did. She had her hair in pigtails with a dark blue with white flowers and sparkles all over it.

"Hi, Natsu." Wendy said with a smile and a wave. "Thanks. You look good too."

"Ugh. I didn't think they changed the rules for guys to dress up, but that's what Gajeel said." Natsu grumbled as he crossed his arms.

"I-it's okay! Dressing up once in awhile is fun, no?" Wendy said to try and cheer him up.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Natsu said with a grin. Then they began to talk amongst themselves, the Exceeds, and anyone else close enough to hear.

After a while the group could see the sun starting to set. It was only a matter of time before the trees began glowing in rainbow colors. This was it, everyone began to stand up so they could see the different trees.

"I'll be right back, wanna look at the trees better." Natsu said, then began to sneak his way to the front without waiting for a reply.

He passed Gajeel and snuck something into his pocket. Then stood off to the side looking at the trees changing color.

After everyone's excited chatter died down, the Fairy Tail mages all became wide-eyed. Gajeel was kneeling in front of Levy. The women all covered their mouths in shock, and the men grabbed the women they were with or close to and held them close.

Levy was already on the verge of crying.

"Levy… I told you durin' the war that I believe you bring out the best parts of me. That you helped a guy like me to find love, and that I started thinking about things I had never thought about before. A future with you, a family with you, I wanted to walk side by side with you always. I don't want to feel the pain of losing that future I see for us again. So I'm gonna ask, will you be by my side forever? Will you marry me?" Gajeel said as he stared into the eyes of the one woman that had ever made him feel so loved.

Natsu and Pantherlily stood next to the happy couple and looked on with matching grins as Levy couldn't even speak. It looked like if she opened her mouth, she'd begin wailing. She just simply stuck out her hand, and nodded her head, whimpering slightly. Gajeel took the ring out of the box and for the first time, everyone got a good look at it. It was an oval style two carat orange gemstone with a simple polished iron band just thick enough for Gajeel to have imprinted Levy's name on the interior of the band. It had taken him a while to get it perfect as he wrote it in the copperplate style since that was Levy's preferred handwriting style.

The roar of the crowd as they watched Levy say yes was deafening. Even those not from the guild had watched the proposal, and whenever people watch a proposal they clap or cheer if the one being asked said yes. Plus within the town of Magnolia, the Fairy Tail members were well known. The fact that another two of the fairies had gotten engaged lifted everyone's spirits and made the night that much better for everyone else.

Natsu stopped staring at Gajeel and Levy and looked at his friends surrounding them. Mira and Lisanna were being held close by Elfman in a big family hug, Jellal had Erza practically glued to his side as they looked on with smiles, Lucy was all wrapped around Dan crying in happiness, and Gray and Juvia were looking on as they seemed to be trying to share the exact same spot in the park. Juvia was made of water, so Natsu guessed she could take whatever shape she really wanted to fold herself around Gray. Wendy and the Exceeds were in a similar position to the Strausses, with Wendy holding the two and the couple holding each other.

He saw the happiness radiating from his friend group and couldn't help but grin just a bit wider. Looking around again, Natsu saw other guildmates in the surrounding area looking on happily and knew it would be maybe an hour before news spread throughout the entire guild. That meant there would be a huge celebration tomorrow and Natsu couldn't wait. He hadn't been able to exercise in awhile, so he was looking forward to a guild-wide brawl.

However, it wasn't five more minutes before Natsu felt a small tremor of pain rip through his body. Not enough to truly hurt the fire Dragon Slayer, but enough to remind him of whatever was happening to him. Since it was slight, though, Natsu decided to ignore it.

He then made his way over to Wendy and saw the young girl had tears silently streaming down her face as she gazed on the happy couple. Levy was now staring at the orange diamond and was beaming with happiness. Natsu heard her ask Gajeel where he found an orange diamond, and Gajeel grunting something that sounded like "around."

"Good for them, right?" Natsu said to Wendy as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a side hug.

"Yeah!" Wendy agreed happily. She knew how much this step meant to both of the soon-to-be parents. She leaned into Natsu's shoulder before realizing something. "You knew! That's why you're dressed up and walked away before! It wasn't to see the trees better, it was to pass Gajeel the ring!"

"Guilty." Natsu said cheekily before giving her another squeeze and letting her go. "I'm surprised you figured it out so quick."

"Well it's obvious if you think about it. I think everyone's gonna figure it out soon." Wendy said as she took a step away from her fellow Dragon Slayer. She wasn't going to be near Natsu if he started getting interrogated.

"Wait a minute." Lucy said out loud. "That's why they're all dressed up!"

Everyone looked at Lucy in question. They had no idea who she was talking about. Except Levy. she knew exactly what Lucy was implying, and looked around for Natsu before locking her sights onto him. She narrowed her gaze when she saw Wendy take a step away from him.

"Natsu and Pantherlily! They're dressed up because they knew this was going to happen tonight!" Lucy explained as she looked from Lily to Natsu and back again. Both men were grinning guiltily.

"What?" Most of the girls asked as they copied the celestial spirit mage.

"Hehehe… can't hide anything from you, Lucy, you're too damn smart. He had to hide the ring somewhere besides their apartment. So he chose my house." Natsu said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Levy was still staring at him suspiciously. Then she looked between the two male Dragon Slayers. Natsu was worried she was putting things together that he'd rather her not know. Like how he gave Gajeel the jewel sitting in her ring. It wasn't exactly a secret that he liked to collect gems.

However, Levy's face soon broke out into a smile and she began fiddling with her ring again. This action was similar to a call to arms, as all of the women immediately approached Levy and asked to see the ring. They cooed once they saw it was an orange diamond, as they knew Levy's favorite color was orange. They then began discussing the size of the ring and how they wanted their future rings to be smaller or bigger, and what styles they preferred.

Natsu could see the boyfriends of the group listening intently to this information being given to them. He had a feeling they'd probably forget if they didn't go straight home and write it down. At least he would. But, he didn't have to worry about that kind of thing yet since he was single. Then, Natsu saw something he didn't expect; Happy was glancing nervously at Charle.

'He's already thinking about proposing?!' Natsu thought to himself as he went wide-eyed. He didn't know that Happy was thinking about that already. Sure, Happy had been in love with Charle since he first set eyes on her, but they had only started dating a little while ago! Didn't a couple usually date a while before they started thinking about marriage?

He looked over at Lucy and rethought that. He wasn't sure that, had he been able to ask her out, he wouldn't have proposed after being with her for a month.

'I guess I can see where Happy's comin from.' Natsu thought to himself.

As the commotion calmed down, Natsu saw his chance to get everyone's attention. He snuck up to each couple or group and presented them with a hand made invitation each.

"What's this?" Erza asked before looking the simple card over. It was a postcard sized piece of paper with fish drawn on it everywhere (courtesy of Happy). It also just simply said that they were all invited to Natsu and Happy's place the following day. It didn't give a time, luckily, since Natsu knew there would be a morning party for the couple.

"An invitation!" Natsu said happily and moved away before she could ask more questions and handed the rest out. Each person he handed one to asked him similar questions, but he either deflected them or ignored them (in Gray and Gajeel's case). The invitations said everything they needed to know anyway.

"Everyone to the guild!" Cana yelled as she ran up to the group, eyeing the stone on Levy's hand. "Master has an announcement to make!"

Everyone shared looks with each other. They all felt it had to do with the engagement, but they were still a little worried it might be something else. With that in mind, they all hurried to the guild. It wasn't late compared to how long the guild usually stayed open, but it was normally closed during the Festival. However, when the group got there, they saw just about every guild member was already there. A few were missing, like Gildarts, but it seemed like everyone else was there.

All of them were facing the stage, where Makarov was seated in his wheelchair. He saw the final group come in and waited for the doors to close before beginning.

"Good evening, everyone!" Makarov began, getting muttered "good evenings" back. "It has been brought to my attention that something terrible has nearly happened!"

Immediately this set everyone on edge. If something terrible had happened that was cause enough to bring the whole guild together… that could only mean a war started, couldn't it?

"I have been informed that our very own members, Levy McGarden and Gajeel Redfox, have officially become engaged!" Makarov continued, finally grinning wide for all to see. "And we nearly made them wait until tomorrow morning to congratulate them! So now… LET'S PARTY!"

The guild cheered in response and Mirajane, Lisanna, and Kinana immediately let the taps flow. Alcohol began finding its way into each member's hands. Except those too young to drink, of course.

Natsu, being Natsu, was the first to cast a stone. In the form of a punch. One that sent Gray flying into the table of Warren, Max, Jet, and Droy. who then retaliated by sending Gray into Elfman. Max also sent Warren flying in the opposite direction with a loud laugh. Natsu grinned viciously. This is just what he wanted!

Elated, Natsu jumped head first into what would be the first brawl of the night. No magic was used, everyone smiling as they pummeled each other. In between brawls, each member sat with a new group just drinking and joking around. Everyone had a great time. All worries from everyone's day to day life were forgotten for a short period of time. At the end of the night, Natsu and Happy went to leave before being reminded by those that they had handed out the invitations to that they weren't given a time to show up.

The duo looked at one another before nodding. "Twelve." "One." The two said at the same time before looking at each other again, this time with wide eyes. Those around them rolled their eyes at their actions and shook their heads fondly. They all agreed that they'd be over around one.

Natsu and Happy couldn't wait to surprise them all.

Yo Champ in the Making!

Two within a few weeks of each other! How different! I hope I can keep the inspiration flowing and things don't pick up for me again to keep me from writing. So how bad does everyone else want to see the reactions to finding out just what The Project is? Stay tuned!...Oh and review please! Almost to 100!

See yah next chapter!

Zolf Edward Elric- Their relationship, I feel, is downplayed in the anime except in very specific instances. I could see the twins, because of Gajeel's imagination of the future when he's "dying" shows a boy and a girl that look to be the same age. I haven't finished either of my longer stories, but I imagine it's similar to when you finish a book you've grown very attached to.

ndjjdjsujsj- Haha how do you think the people who've been reading all along feel? Also, I feel your name is a purposeful challenge to authors that respond to reviews.

Cookie-4IS- I'm so glad you like it! I hope I live up to your praise.

Amanny- Thanks!

Ultimatrix bearer- One could say I'm setting things up for the future…

Nalu1iscannon- That is a weird take on it, but I am usually eating when I write so maybe that energy made it into my story. I'm glad you like the chapter and hope you continue to!

TysonG- You'll just have to stick around to find out! ? He is easily - to me - one of the strongest characters in the series by the time the 100 year quest starts. I wish I was disciplined enough for an update schedule. As do those that have been reading along with me I'm sure. I do try to get one out a month, but that doesn't always happen.

Oliver- Thanks! That means a lot to me.