Chapter 17

Towards seven o'clock, Lucy and Natsu are leaving a frozen custard place with cups and spoons in hand. They both got two scoops of the flavor of the week.

As the couple rounds the corner towards the small parking lot, they stop when they see familiar faces.

Levy breaks into a smile upon seeing Lucy and Natsu and waves at them. "Hey, guys!"

Over the past month, Lucy and Levy have grown extremely close with one another. Sometimes Natsu and Gajeel are left out of the picture because the two young women want to spend time with one another. Of course, Lucy cherishes the friendship she shares with Levy.

"What are ya guys doing?" Gajeel asks.

"What's it look like we're doing?" Natsu digs his spoon into his cold treat before taking a big bite. "Duh."

"Aww, is Natsu taking you out for your birthday, Lu?" Levy inquires.

Lucy and Natsu both have different reactions to the question. She freezes up, panic washing over it. On the other hand, he is absolutely dumbfounded.

"Birffday?" he questions with his mouth still full. He takes out his spoon and swallows, a puzzled expression on his face. "Her birthday?" Then he looks at Lucy. "When's your birthday?"

"Today…" Lucy says quietly.

His jaw immediately drops open. "Gah, I'm a horrible boyfriend! How could I forget your birthday?!" Something dawns on him. "Wait, I don't think you've ever told me about your birthday before…"

"Hey, it's all right," she assures him. "I don't celebrate it. I never do anyways."

"Never do… ?" Natsu's face falls.

"Ya never celebrated your birthday when ya were a kid?" Gajeel asks.

Lucy shakes her head. "My seventh birthday is the last birthday party I remember. After that–" She cuts herself short when she realizes what she is going to say.

"Luce?" Natsu questions with concern. He does not want to pry information from her, but he does want to know if she is doing okay at the very least.

"Uh, I don't want to dampen the mood."

He is quiet for a moment. "If you don't wanna say it now, that's fine. Just know I'm always here to listen. Whenever and wherever."

She smiles up at him. "Thank you."

Levy smiles at the couple. "Aww, you're so good to her!"

"At least he isn't screwing things up," Gajeel teases.

"At least I didn't scare Luce outta her mind the first time we met," Natsu points out with a devious grin.

Gajeel nearly pops a gasket. "Grr, what was that?"

"You wanna go, Lug Nuts?"

Levy rolls her eyes and pulls Lucy over to the side so they can sit down on the nearby metal bench. They both know the guys need to blow off steam. Of course, if things get too bad one of them will put their foot down.

"So you really didn't tell him?" Levy asks.

Lucy shakes her head. "I didn't. And you only know because of websites. I doubt he would have researched that part about me."

"I can't argue that," she admits.

Before she went to bed last night, Lucy silenced her phone. At that point, she knew she would be receiving everything from notifications to texts from all sorts of people once midnight hit. Of course, she will take some time to reply to certain ones. But she will deal with them tomorrow.

"I hope you know that Natsu will try and make things up to you," Levy says. "He's that kind of person."

She toys with her frozen custard with her spoon. "But there's nothing to make up…"

Levy arches an eyebrow. "It's your birthday. And it's your first birthday that's happened since you guys started dating." She smiles softly. "Birthdays mean something to Natsu. They're important to him."

Lucy looks down at the cup in her hand. She stares at her black raspberry chocolate chip frozen custard as though it is the most interesting thing in the world. "They're important to me, too. It's just not important when it's my birthday."

That causes Levy to chuckle. "I'm sure Natsu would disagree with that."

A gentle smile forms on Lucy's lips. "I can only imagine…" Taking a breath of fresh air, she looks over at Levy. "Anyways, what are guys doing out and about?"

"Oh, there's an antique store I've been meaning to visit for a bit now," she replies with a small smile. "Gajeel suggested we could stop by since we are running errands. Well, we were at least…"

Stealing a glance at Natsu and Gajeel, Lucy finds they are still going at it.

Gajeel folds his arms across his chest defensively. "At least it didn't take me almost twenty-four years to get the girl of my dreams."

"At least I wasn't dumb enough to drop the engagement ring because I was shaking so much when proposing," Natsu counters smugly. "And then lose it in the snow…"

"O-oi!" Gajeel shouts, looking like he might take a swing at his cousin.

"Have fun pulling your fiancé away from my boyfriend," Lucy comments.

Levy giggles. "I think I have a few tricks that might work…"

"All right, let's see what you have up your sleeves!" Before the show can start, Lucy sits back and eats her frozen custard.

"Hey, you two!" Levy starts. "Lu and I are going to get going and shop together!"

Neither of the two acknowledges what she just said.

"Levy, look!" Lucy says in a loud enough voice, remaining in the exact same position. "An ex of mine just texted me!"

Natsu immediately whips his head around, no longer giving Gajeel his sole attention. "What?!" Ignoring his cousin completely, he rushes over to Lucy. "What did that no good bast–" Something clicks for him and he stops short. "Wait… I'm the only person you've ever dated… You can't have an ex…"

"Wow, that's a good one, Lu!" Levy says with amazement. "I might have to use that someday!"

"Hey, no ex of yours should be texting ya, Shrimp!" Gajeel exclaims.

Now that she has his attention, Levy stands up and makes her way over to her fiancé. She wraps her arms around one of his muscular arms, hugging it against her torso. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Good," he grunts.

With the hand holding her spoon, Lucy waves at the engaged couple. "You two have fun shopping now!"

"Take care!" Levy says as they walk away.

Natsu takes a seat next to Lucy, their thighs touching each other.

"So how's your frozen custard?" Lucy inquires before taking a bite of hers.

"It's good," he replies. "I almost smashed it into his face."

Lucy gasps, feigning horror at the very idea. "That would have been a waste of perfectly good frozen custardy goodness!"

"Which is exactly why I didn't." Natsu takes a bite of his and thinks about it for a moment before he looks at his girlfriend. "Hey, lemme try some of yours."

She is confused. "What? But we have the exact same thing."

"I'm pretty sure yours is better than mine. That's why you've eaten more than me."

She rolls her eyes. "It's actually because you were too busy chatting with Gajeel."

"Well, I'm positive it's because yours has more chocolate chips in it." Just as he tries stealing some of her frozen treat with his spoon, Lucy deflects it with her own. Natsu looks utterly betrayed by her action. "How could you, Luce?"

"How could you try and steal some of mine?" She scoops of a spoonful and raises it to her mouth.

Natsu swoops in and totally steals the bite from her with his mouth. "Mm, yours is better than mine!" he says, licking his lips.

"N-Natsu!"

"You should totally lemme have more of yours!"

"And I should totally Lucy Kick you for that!"

His face instantly blanches. "No. Please. Anything but that."

"Then don't steal any more from me," she warns.

"A-aye, sir!"

x-X-x

Towards the end of the night, the duo is back at Lucy's apartment. Natsu has come to learn over time that when Lucy is tired, she is grumpy. However, when she is sleepy, it is like she has no filter for anything. Sometimes whatever she is saying makes no sense at all no matter how hard Natsu tries deciphering it.

They are currently on the couch, cuddling with each other. Natsu is sitting upright while Lucy is lying down with a pillow on his lap. With closed eyes, she is facing him, her back towards the TV as he watches some show on Netflix.

"Hey, Natsu?" Lucy asks suddenly, not bothering to open her heavy eyelids.

"Hm?" He is expecting her to say something silly like she has been.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure."

"It's something no one really knows."

He pauses whatever he is watching. "Okay."

"My mother passed away after my seventh birthday. Her death took a heavy toll on us. My father became less involved with my life after that. Every single year since he has forgotten my birthday and nothing has been ever done." She chuckles softly. "I used to make fake cakes out of rocks and plants I found in the garden. Dolls of mine were my only friends and they sang happy birthday to me. I stopped doing that by the time I was thirteen though." She sighs, snuggling more into him. "That's why my birthdays don't mean anything to me."

The apartment falls utterly silent. Only their breathing can be heard.

"What if I make them special for you again?" Natsu asks after a moment when he finally finds his voice.

Lucy giggles. "Gonzales already tried that when I was younger. Her plans never worked."

"Who?" he questions, and then shakes his head. "Uh, nevermind."

"The little garden parties were fun," she says in a dreamy voice.

"I think it's time you went to bed, Luce. You ready?"

"I'm comfy."

"But I bet your bed is comfier," he comments, turning off the TV with the remote.

"But it's too far awayyy," she whines.

"I'll carry you."

"All right." But she makes no move to adjust herself so he can carry her or even stand up.

"Luce." He gently pokes her cheek with a finger. "Luceee."

"Whaaat?" she asks, slight annoyance in her voice. All she wants to do is sleep and he is preventing her from doing that.

"C'mon. Time for beddy bye land." Putting up with the fact she is practically a dead weight, Natsu manages to move her around so he can carry her bridal style.

Without bumping her dangling feet into anything, he makes it to her bedroom and lies her down on her bed. After tucking her under her covers, he leans down and smooches her forehead. "G'night, Luce. Sleep tight."

"Luv you…" she mumbles just as he is stepping away from her.

Natsu freezes in place. It is the first time either of them has said that. Although, he is not even sure if she means it because of her current state. He softly smiles at her even though she is not looking at him. "I love you, too."


A/N Part 1: Can you guys tell what I was craving when I wrote this chapter? XD There's a frozen custard store right next door to the studio I work at! The flavor Lucy had is my favoriteeeeee! :3 Possible Future Spoiler Warning: In case y'all were wandering, the name Gonzales comes from the Eclipse Celestial Spirits Arc in the anime! For those who aren't there yet, there might be a slight spoiler about who Gonzales is in the upcoming chapter!

A/N Part 2:I guess I'm continuing this arc ? It was supposed to be the "Gildarts Arc" and then skip to something else. But now it's branching out with this birthday thing. So I'm rolling with it for now…

A/N Part 3: Here's to you guys! Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement! Everything means so much to me :3


FlameDragonHime: Maaaaaaaybe he did XD Maaaaaaaybe he didn't!

Panickingathogwats: Thank you! After all, RPRT did start it all for me XD So I liked adding that in there :3

Jessyka Lyn: Hey, that's a good thing! :D

Anonymous Guest: Wassup? :D Gah, I'm really happy you're enjoying this fic so far :) And more NaLu feels to come! Trust me on that!

Guest: Yay, I love when creative minds are creative :3 Always a good thing!

nalu lover girl: WOO, GLAD YOU THINK SO! Ugh, I wish I could update faster :P I'd love that! And yaaaay! Great to hear you enjoy MTAP!