"Lucy, Lucy, wake up!"

"Huh…?" said girl drowsily started as Natsu shook her awake. "What do you-" she yawned, "want? What time is it?"

"I wanted to ask you something!" her boyfriend excitedly answered. Lucy forced her eyes to open and quickly found Natsu sitting up, leaning over her.

Lucy rubbed at her eyes as she yawned again and sat up. She gave a glance to the clock on their bedside table. "Natsu, it's three in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but something Gray said today at the guild has just kept me up thinking!"

"Since ten? What have you been thinking about for so long? What did Gray say?" Lucy asked, adjusting the pillows to make it more comfortable to sit. She rubbed at her eyes again, still drowsy and sleep trying to invade her mind again. "You said you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yeah, let's get married!"

Well that certainly cleared any remnants of sleep she had.

"What!?"

"Marry me!"

Lucy gaped at him, heart pounding in her chest and not knowing what to think. He wanted to marry her? Natsu had asked her to marry him. He was proposing to her!? "I- Natsu! It's- It's three in the morning! Why are you- Why are you proposing at three in the morning!?"

"Like I said, I've just been thinking-"

"What the hell did you say Gray told you at the guild!?"

"Well he asked me if we were ever gonna tie the knot and I said that I'd been thinking about asking for months now but didn't know if it was too soon , you know, since we've only been dating about a year and a half, and he said 'Dude, she's a girl. She's probably been thinking about marrying you as long as you have, if not longer.' And that's what I've been thinking about, whether or not it really was too soon or if I should go ahead and ask you and I decided that I totally should because I'd love to be married to you and be your husband and-"

"I- Natsu…" Lucy still didn't know how to respond. Gray was correct, she had been thinking about being married to Natsu for so long now, and the thoughts had only increased when they moved in together half a year ago.

Natsu's grin fell. "Crap, it is too soon, isn't it? Uh, just forget this happened, then. This is just a dream, go back to sleep!" He chattered desperately.

"Natsu!" she interrupted.

He stared back at her wide eyes, cheeks flushed as his mind raced to fix the situation.

"Yes," she told him as she smiled.

"…yes?"

"Yes. Let's get married."

His face lit up again, and unable to express all the feelings he had through his words, he grabbed her cheeks and pressed his lips to hers in a fierce kiss. Lucy eagerly returned it, and they could both feel each other's grins.

"I'm not dreaming, am I?" he asked as they separated momentarily. "Because like I said, I've been up all night thinking over this and I'm really tired."

Lucy laughed. "No, I don't think you're dreaming."

Natsu couldn't help but feel like he was still forgetting something, though.

"Oh yeah!" he suddenly shouted, scrambling out of the bed and to his pants on the floor. He fumbled for a bit with the cloth until finally finding his pocket and pulling out a small box. "I almost forgot to give you this!" he tossed the box to Lucy, and she couldn't help but snicker at his completely untraditional way of proposing. She opened the box, grinning wider as she saw the beautiful ring. It was shaped like a dragon, a modest diamond set within the creature's open jaws with a few more tiny ones along its spine. It was breathtaking.

"Natsu, this must've cost you a fortune!"

He scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "Yeah, it did. But I thought it was really neat and that you'd like it."

"I do," she commented, kissing him again. "It's beautiful.

Natsu smiled again, climbing back under the blankets and pulling Lucy down next to him after she had closed the box again and put it on the nightstand.

"I love you," she told him, snuggling up against him.

She earned a snore in reply. She laughed. Natsu must not have been lying when he said he was tired.

Thank you for reading!