Hello all my lovely readers! We are getting close to the end but don't worry, things are only starting to heat up. What's gonna happen in this chapter... well, read and find out ;)

Let me know what you think. I will reply to all comments. Love you all!


"So why did you tell me to dress up if we were just gonna have a night in?" Lucy asked as she walked out of the bathroom attaching her new earring to her ear.

"I have my reasons," he gave her a wicked smile. She always knew when he was up to something. Coincidentally, a knock at the door sounded. Natsu gave her a look before walking over to the door and opening it to let it the unknown guest. Lucy could hear Levy, Juvia and Gray before they stepped past the threshold.

"Hey, guys!"

"You ready to go, Lu-chan?" Lucy looked to Natsu for answers, but he simply smiled back at her. "Go where?"

"You didn't tell her?!" Gray asked as he looked at Natsu.

The pinkette shrugged, "I wanted it to be a surprise."

"What are you guys talking about?" The group all looked towards her but only Juvia spoke up. "Natsu said you needed a night out so all of us are going to hang out at the boathouse like we used to in high school!" Stunned at her friends' compassion towards her, she mustered all the energy she could to smile and not cry.

Levy, Juvia and Gray all started to walk out of the apartment and down the stairs to the front door. "You set this up?" she asked as she grabbed her jacket and walked towards Natsu.

"You looked like you could use a little fun," he winked as he threw his arm around her shoulders. The two walked out of the apartment and down the stairs to join their friends. After locking up, the five proceeded to walk through town towards the lake. Levy and Juvia dropped back to talk to Lucy so Natsu wandered over to join Gray. "Are you okay, Lu-chan?" Lucy gave a small smile and nodded her head. "Yeah… just stuff with my dad. I knew he wasn't doing well but he was so serious when he told me about the will and…" Each of the girls held one of Lucy's hands.

"I'm sorry, Lucy." Juvia spoke.

"Death is a part if life, unfortunately… I always knew I would lose him someday, but I didn't think it would be so soon."

"Well, at least you won't be alone, you have Natsu." The three glanced at the pinkette walking a few feet in front of them. He was actually smiling and laughing about something with Gray. Lucy smiled and spoke just loud enough for the girls to barely hear her, "Yeah, I do have Natsu."

The group walked the rest of the way making small talk until they reached the lake. They walked along the pathway near the edge of the lake to the dimly lit boathouse. Natsu and Gray reached the door first and began knocking at the door. A portion of the door slid away to expose Sting's eyes glaring back at Natsu's. "What's the password?" he mocked.

"Seriously?" Natsu mocked back.

"Sting, just let us in," Gray remarked.

"You could at least say please," he grunted as he opened the door to let the group in. They all walked in single file with Lucy at the back; Sting stopped her before she could fully enter the structure. "How you holding up?" he asked in a hushed tone.

Lucy shrugged, "Did Dad talk to you?"

"Yeah… he told me he wanted to leave things to you."

"And Natsu… but you agreed to it." She said almost in disbelief.

"He left things to you right now, not Natsu; and it would be enough for you to buy your own house and get out of that crappy apartment."

Lucy placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward to get into her brother's face, "Excuse me! I'll have you know I was able to get that with my own money."

"And I'm proud or whatever but that doesn't mean it still isn't poor living conditions."

"Hey," Natsu placed his arms around both of the blondes' shoulders and pulled them close to him. "We are here to have a good time free of adulthood distractions, not to argue. So let's settle this tomorrow morning, shall we?"

"Come on everyone, let's all sit down," Erza called from inside the building. Lucy and Natsu walked into the structure with Sting following behind. Lucy walked into the room to see the small space filled with her high school friends: Jellal, Erza, Juvia, Gray, Levy, Gajeel, and Yukino.

"So what is new with everyone?" Levy asked. Lucy rolled her eyes, not the awkward catch up routine. "Well, we just had our second child," Sting began. The group collectively awed in response. "And she is with Grandine tonight, thank Mavis." Yukino added.

"We love our child, don't get us wrong, but having some time to ourselves is few and far between." Sting explained.

"It's weird not having a child constantly attached to my chest," the white-haired girl added as she held up her empty hands near her chest.

"I'm super grateful for that," Sting added as he leaned in towards his wife's face to kiss her.

"Ugh, get a room!" Natsu called from across the circle and Sting just glared back.

"What about you Levy-chan?" Lucy asked, diverting attention to another group in the room.

"Well…" Levy began as she looked over at her pierced boyfriend. "Gajeel and I just celebrated our four year anniversary."

"There gonna be another wedding in our future?" Jellal asked as he glanced at Lucy and Natsu then back to Levy and Gajeel.

Lucy remembered when Levy first hooked up with Gajeel. The two girls were bridesmaids at Erza's wedding, and the group all hung out together, kinda like they were now, the night of. She noticed how Gajeel and Levy were getting really close that night; they were sitting away from the group in close proximity to one another and constantly giggling to one another.

Levy was supposed to meet her for brunch the next morning but never showed up. Instead, she rushed into Lucy's hotel room sometime in the late afternoon wearing a baggy, oversized shirt (which she could only believe was Gajeel's). She and Lucy spent the next couple hours talking about what happened between the two of them the night before. The two were in a weird, extra friendly state for a while after but Gajeel finally came to his sense and asked her out.

"I am happy with where we are right now," Levy stated with a peaceful contentment. Lucy figured there was more to it than that but she let it be.

"I understand where you're coming from, Yukino," Erza commented from beside Yukino. "It's hard having little ones running around because you can't do your normal activities."

"How many kids do you have now?" Juvia asked.

"Three," Jellal smiled as he glanced over at Erza. Lucy looked at her friends with a confused look. She remembered the two but what about the last one? "Three?" Gray seemed to voice her confusion.

"Simon, Kagura," Jellal listed before placing his hand on Erza's stomach, "And a little one on the way." The group's faces lit up at the news followed by many congratulations.

"Ugh, my mom has been pushing me for years to have kids," Natsu groaned.

"I'm just surprised you found someone willing to have kids with your ass," Gray snarkily replied.

"Gray!" Natsu and Lucy both shouted.

"You have no room to talk, Ice Head." Natsu added.

"Excuse me?!" he sat up to stare at his friend.

"Your parents are just as on your ass about kids as mine, but you're just scared." Natsu didn't hold back.

"W-what?!"

"If you would just grow some balls and ask Juvia to marry you this would all go away," he added. Juvia and Gray's jaws both dropped and some of the others with drinks spit out the sips they had in their mouths.

"We aren't even dating!" Gray defended.

"Oh, please." Natsu rolled his eyes as he spoke, "You guys have practically been dating since high school." The room was silent for a bit; no one wanted to admit Natsu was right or had any sense of truth but… they were all thinking it.

"Alright, what do you all say we play a little game?!" Gajeel awkwardly broke the even more awkward silence. He nodded towards his blue-haired girlfriend who then began distributing drinks to people (ginger ale to Yukino and Erza).

"So what are we playing?" Lucy played along.

"Kings of course!" Levy cheered as she smiled at her blonde best friend.

"Kings? What are we in high school?" Natsu snarked.

"High school never ends," Gray toasted as he glared at his friend before taking a gulp from the solo cup.

"Don't drink it yet!" Levy whined at Gray. "Save it for the game!"

"So does everyone remember how to play?" Gajeel asked as Levy sat down beside him.

"How could we forget? You two insist we play it every time we get together," Jellal chuckled.

"We all pick a stick from the cup. They are each labeled with a number or a crown," Erza added.

"Whoever picks the crown is the king and sets the rules for the game," Sting finished.

"Anything else?" Yukino chuckled back.

"No, that's it," Levy deadpanned.

"Let's get it started then!" Gajeel cheered. Gajeel swirled the cup he held in his hand, causing the sticks to swirl around in the cup as well. Everyone reached in and grabbed a stick; Lucy came away with 4 and Yukino was king (er queen). "Alright, we will start it off with a simple request. 2 sit on 5's lap." Lucy breathed a sigh of relief; she always hated this game but she could never bring herself to say anything to Levy. "I'm 5," Gajeel stated in his rough voice.

Levy sighed, "I'm 2." The group giggled as Levy begrudgingly climbed into her boyfriend's lap. "Round two!" Sting chuckled as he collected the sticks then held out the cup for others to choose again. Gray ended up with the king stick, "No mercy here, 3 kiss 5." The whole group went through what their sticks said and no one seemed to come up with either number. All that who was left was Natsu and Sting.

The two looked down at their sticks then up at each other. "Shit…" they both said aloud, to which the whole room chuckled. "Wow, cheating on Lucy right in front of her eyes." Gray taunted and Natsu glared back. Natsu turned to look at the blonde male who obviously didn't want to do this as much as Natsu did. "He didn't specify how it had to be done," Sting clarified. Too quick for anyone to pull out a camera, Sting grabbed the pinkette's head and kissed his cheek.

Natsu disgustingly rubbed his cheek as the sticks were reset. He was still rubbing when the cup was handed to him. He begrudgingly took a stick but cheered up when he saw the crown drawn on the stick he picked. "Yosh! Read it and weep suckers!" he cheered as he threw down the stick on the floor. Everyone started groaning; Natsu sometimes went a bit extreme when he was in charge. "I decree 6 and 2 to spend 7 minutes in heaven together." Most everyone sighed in relief when they realized their numbers weren't called.

"I'm 2," Gray sighed in defeat. Lucy couldn't help but notice the sly smile and glare Natsu sent Gray's way. "YES!" Juvia screamed as she threw herself onto Gray. "Juvia is 6!" Lucy chuckled at the blunette; she talked in third person when she was excited and she got REALLY excited when it came to Gray. "Seriously?!" Gray whined.

"You heard the king's orders," Jellal sassed back as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Get out there killer!" Natsu called as Gray slowly stood, taking Juvia's hand is his own before walking out the boathouse with the lovestruck girl in tow. As soon as the door shut behind them, Yukino spoke up, "Someone set a timer." Erza held up her phone signaling she was on it.

"How long do you think they will be out there?" Lucy whispered to Natsu.

"Oh, they will be out there all night," Natsu whispered back to her. "Who's next?" he spoke up as he leaned away from his fake fiancé. The group redistributed the sticks and Lucy came up with number 4… always a bridesmaid.

"Okay, I'm king!" Gajeel cheered. "Number 4… truth or dare?"

"Ooh I like this!" Levy egged on.

Lucy gulped. Gajeel was like Natsu when it came to being king, waaay over the top. She figured she would go with the safer option. "Truth?" The group all turned its head towards her in anticipation of the question and her answer. Her shoulders sank when she saw the horrible look in Gajeel's eyes.

"Tell us about your first time." Her jaw dropped open, WHAT?! "I-I'm not answering that; my brother is in here," she paused before remembering who she was sitting next to, "a-and my future fiancé."

"It's okay, Luce." She whipped her head over look at Natsu. "I get that you have been with other guys before me and that's fine." She glared at him and he responded by giving her a confused glance.

"See he is fine with it!" Gajeel cheered.

Sting slowly rose his hand from his slouched position, "I'm not."

"Then get out cuz it's an order." Sting did not like the response and slouched even further. Yukino chuckled at her husband and rubbed his shoulder. Lucy sent Levy a glance signaling a plea for help. Levy caught on and understood what Lucy was implying; she leaned against her boyfriend's shoulder to whisper into his ear, "Maybe you can change the request?"

Gajeel laughed, "Pft, no! An order is an order." Levy gave a sorry glance to Lucy. The blonde sighed to gain her composure before she began. "College was a bit… difficult for me. I didn't have many friends to start out with so I joined a few different clubs. One of the clubs I joined was the Theatre Club where I met Larcade." Larcade, that's an interesting name, Natsu thought. He glanced over at Lucy and was surprised to see such a sad look on her face. He glanced over the crowd and stopped on Levy who wore the same expression. His own expression started to falter in response… maybe this wasn't the best story to share.

"He was really friendly and welcoming to me, he invited me to sit with him at lunch and hang out with his friends, and he was always there to help me out when I needed him. He was popular at the school and because I hung out with him, I was accepted there; I felt like I belonged.

I'm not much of an actor so I worked backstage. Larcade invited me to the cast party the night after the closing show. He had it at his apartment and it was honestly the first time I had fun in a while."

"Get on with it," Gajeel began but was quickly met with a slap to the chest by his girlfriend.

"He invited me up to his room and we had sex. There you happy?" Lucy deadpanned as she glared at Gajeel.

"That's it?" He asked not hiding how upset he was.

"No... unless you want to hear about how he bet his senior buddies he could get me to sleep with him in the first semester then dumped me and used his popularity to ridicule me until it became too much for me to bear and I switched schools." The group was silent and at a loss for how to react; that changed quickly.

Natsu was stunned; he knew Lucy changed schools but never knew why. He thought it was odd since she had been dreaming about going to that college her whole life… her parents met there. Lucy leaving a prestigious college, one she worked so hard to get to, and go to some small private school set off a red flag but she seemed to dodge the topic every time he asked about it.

And to think it was all because of some douchebag… How could he do that?! "That son of a bitch did that?!" Sting yelled. "What was his name? I'm gonna find him and rip his throat out!" Yukino pulled Sting back down to his seat after he stood up in a rage.

"Don't worry about it, Sting. He showed me what love isn't, but I was so desperate for approval I didn't think twice about who was giving it. I made the decision to protect who I loved from that moment on… to only give my heart to people who proved worthy and true of my love."

"And Natsu stole your heart?" Erza cooed as she brought the group mentality back up from its abysmal crash with that tale. The group awed as they glanced back and forth between the engaged couple. Natsu did what he could and reached out his hand to take Lucy's. She glanced over at him, almost shocked at the gesture and he gave her a small, reassuring smile. Lucy had no clue why, but the gestures seemed to calm her; she squeezed his hand back to give him the same feeling of reassurance she felt.

"Well… who's next?" she asked to change the subject once more. Just then, Erza's phone went off, signaling the end of Gray and Juvia's time in 'heaven.' Jellal stood up and walked over to the window to attempt to locate the couple banished from the boathouse. Natsu could see Jellal's eyes scan the outdoor scenery until they came upon something that made his eyes bulge. He quickly turned around to face the group, "I think they won't be joining us for the rest of the evening."

"Told ya so," Natsu whispered to Lucy as Jellal took his seat. The group continued their game; shockingly, Gray and Juvia joined the group after an hour but they came back extremely disheveled. Gray glared at Natsu when the pinkette gave him an eyebrow waggle as the two took their seats once more.

Yukino took first pick of the sticks and grinned wildly when she saw the crown in her hand. She kept it a secret as she held out the cup for others to choose their numbers. She watched as the others in the circle picked a stick, paying especially close attention to the numbers a certain 'engaged' couple selected.

Once everyone had chosen their sticks and discovered their numbers, Yukino announced her title. "Guess who is king again?" She chuckled evilly as she glanced towards the two she had in mind. "My decree is… numbers 5 and 1 to kiss."

"We did this already," Gajeel whined.

"This time it has to be lip contact and kept for as long as I say."

"So who is up?" Gray asked as he threw his stick down.

Natsu pointed his stick at Yukino's face, "You are just out for me, aren't you?"

"Why is that, Natsu?" she tilted her head and smirked at him, an evil glint in her eye. "Are you 1 or 5?" Natsu could tell by her tone she was just toying with him and he didn't appreciate it. "I'm 5." He angrily sighed.

"Who is 1?" Levy asked.

Lucy sighed before slowly lifting her stick to reveal her number to the group, "I'm 1." All heads turned towards the couple; Levy and Erza's faces particularly lighting up in joy for the moment before them. "Aww! We get to see a preview of the happy couple!" Juvia cooed.

Natsu sat back in his chair and looked over at Lucy as the rest of the group went on about how they make the cutest couple. "It's just a game, Luce," he whispered to her. What? This or our relationship? She thought. "So you want to just play along?" she whispered back.

"It's not like we're gonna die or anything," he reasoned back.

"So are you gonna kiss her or not?" Gray yelled. Lucy and Natsu turned their heads to glare at their friend. "Why are you doing this?" Sting angrily whispered to his wife beside him.

"I have my reasons… besides, it's not like they haven't done this before." She smirked as she turned to face the group again.

"They WHAT?!" he yelled.

"Okay, okay, everyone shut up." Natsu calmed the crowd. Once he had their attention, he turned towards Yukino. "This is on you." Yukino nodded her head for them to proceed.

Natsu gently placed his right hand on Lucy's left cheek to draw her to him. As he came closer to her face, she closed her eyes in anticipation. Her mind started racing in the few seconds she had in this moment. She remembered being so nervous about her first kiss… she was asked to the dance by a guy a grade older than her. She panicked so much Natsu offered to help her deal with whatever was wrong no matter what. He was honestly stunned when she asked him to kiss her.

"What if I mess up and hit his teeth? Or-or I don't tilt my head enough?" Lucy panicked as she paced in her bedroom with Natsu sitting on the bed. He lounged on her bed as he watched her spiral. "Luce, you're overthinking this. Everything is gonna be fine."

"You can't say that. I could embarrass myself!"

"Don't focus on that."

"I need to practice!" She paused before looking right at him. He didn't seem to follow her train of thought and gave her a confused look.

"Kiss me!" she yelled as she jumped onto the bed beside him. Perturbed, Natsu quickly climbed off the bed and stood at the foot of it. "What?! Luce, what are you saying?!"

She stood up and grabbed his hands, "I want to make sure I don't completely embarrass myself if Bora decides to kiss me! So help me practice!" She started to lean in to kiss him but he held up his hand to catch her face. "Luce, you'll be fine. Besides, if I kiss you now, wouldn't I be taking your first kiss and not him?"

She paused before responding, "I guess so… Oh well!" She started to lean in again but he stopped her once more. "I thought you were the one that wanted it to be some big special moment between you and the guy you like."

"Well, yeah… but I don't want to take the chance to mess it up."

"I've never known you to mess anything up." She smiled back at her best friend. "Thanks, Natsu… But I cant guarantee my moment with Bora will be special. I do know that every moment I spend with you is special and you're my best friend, what better guy can I get?" He was stunned, she would really throw away her princess moment to be with him? She seemed certain and he never doubted her. "Are you sure about this?" he asked but she nodded her head excitedly. Caving in, he took a deep breath in before kissing her.

Lucy's breath hitched in her throat as she felt his soft lips on her own. Her body slowly melted into the familiar heat radiating off his body. She exhaled the sudden breath she held in her chest in bliss.

The others in the group gave mixed reactions of awws and groans of annoyance (mostly between the girls and boys respectively).Sting grunted in anger and his shoulders tensed at the sight before him. Yukino chuckled and placed her hand on her husband's arm to calm him. "You can stop this anytime now…" he heavily implied.

"I know," she smirked back which he didn't seem to appreciate. "They seem to be enjoying themselves."

"If they enjoy themselves anymore, I'm going to take out my growing frustration on Natsu's face."

She chuckled once more at her husband before announcing to the group, "Alright, time's up. I relinquish my throne." Natsu and Lucy slowly broke away from one another; their lips parting but their hold on each other still strong. The group started collecting and redistributing the sticks once more… but their voices blended into the background.

Lucy still tried to gain her composure; she didn't want to appear stunned by what just happened, after all that should be a normal occurrence for them as an engaged couple. What stunned her was her reaction to the kiss. She had been kissed before but she hadn't felt such a calming and blissful sensation from being kissed since… well, since she had her first kiss.

She took a glance at Natsu to see how he was holding up. He sat quietly and kept to himself which was unlike him; his eyes stared straight forward and held intently on the cup in the center. He sat with his left hand covering his mouth and he leaned forward into his hand.

"Lucy… Lucy." She snapped out of being lost in her thoughts and turned to her right to see Juvia holding out the cup of sticks to her. She grabbed one before taking the cup and handing it to Natsu. Without looking down at the cup, he grabbed a stick but not the cup. Lucy had to lean over Natsu to pass it along.

"I'm king!" Levy cheered. She glanced around the group and stopped on a still contemplative Natsu. She was able to make out the number on his stick, so she decided to pick on him once more. "Number 3, truth or dare." The group looked around to find out who was number 3. No one seemed to react so they all glanced at Natsu, who was still oblivious to the game.

"Natsu," she began as she lightly touched his arm. He jumped wildly at the sudden touch and turned towards her with wide eyes. "Are you 3?" He looked down at his stick and saw he was in fact 3. He held it up for the group to see rather than simply answering verbally.

"Truth or dare?" Levy repeated.

"Uh… truth?" Interesting, Lucy thought, Natsu was usually one for dares since he never backed down from a challenge. Seeming to be the answer Levy wanted to hear, she smiled confidently and leaned back in her seat. "Do you love Lucy?" she asked, in a serious tone.

Lucy was confused by the question, as was a couple others were in the group. Love typically accompanies an engagement so it should be a given… why was she asking? Sting and Yukino seemed particularly interested in Natsu's answer. Lucy looked to the man next to her and anxiously waited for his reply. He looked back at her with a look just as serious as Levy's awaiting gaze. He took a moment to stare at her before replying, "Yes." Natsu maintained his serious demeanor while Levy genuinely smiled at the pinkette. "Good," she simply replied. "I step down."

Lucy didn't understand the exchange, but no one seemed to think anything of what happened, so she just went along with it. The two stayed for a few hours before all the couples headed to their respective beds.