A/N: School was hell. I still own nothing. Enjoy!

wolfko - Unfortunately, with the poll closed, I can't accept your vote. But worry not! It is possible to write a story with rivalry and jealousy ;) For that, I decided that the second one with the highest votes (which happened to be RoLu) to be one. Also, when the story is nearing it's end, I might do another poll about the final pairing. Hope it's good with you! :)

10. Proposals

Lucy was not given any details about her trainer, but when Happy came flying towards her house, she had an idea it would be Natsu. Her bags were hurriedly packed and she was almost ready to go. She only used a little perfume, before picking up the bags.

"Change of plans!" Surprisingly, Erza arrived before Happy. Lucy shrugged it off: it wouldn't be too shocking, if the exceed caught a whiff of fish. "The master said you should come to guild. Sabertooth's Rogue wants to see you."

"Rogue?" Lucy questioned, putting on a beautiful necklace she had bought a few months ago. With a bright smile, she turned around and grabbed her keys, heading out after the redhead.

"Did he say what he wants?" she was skipping down the street, looking curiously around. Even after all this time living in Magnolia, she loved the sights.

"No," Erza replied tersely. Lucy nodded thoughtfully. "But he did mention a way to strengthen you."

"Really?" Lucy grinned. She would expect no less from the mysterious man, who'd replied to her. "That's nice to hear!"

They had reached the guild and Lucy followed her friend in. She was greeted with a blizzard and loud voices. "Gray!" She heard Erza get mad, followed by the gulping of a certain ice mage.

"What happened?" Lucy asked from Mira, who handed her a strawberry milkshake, as if having predicted her entrance, although in truth, Wendy had mentioned her arrival.

"Gray-san and Sting-san had an argument," said the dragon slayer with a meek smile. She turned around and waved over the other part of the twin dragons and said. "Rogue-san, Lucy-san is here."

"I've noticed," he said, taking her hand and kissing it. Lucy blushed and looked away. Mira's eyes sparkled gleefully.

"Lucy, will you marry me?" a voice from her behind froze everything and everyone in the guild. Lucy turned slowly around. Half-naked Gray was kneeling there. In his arms was a bouquet of flowers made of ice. They were beautiful, covered in frost and they seemed so fragile. Lucy gasped at the beauty of them. It was as if all of winter had been gathered in the shimmering blue roses.

Rogue put his arm in front of her and pushed her gently away, his eyes furious.

"What is the meaning of this?" Erza asked darkly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Gray, your clothes!" She sounded like the lack of his clothes was the more important problem there, but for the first time, Gray made no attempt to try and cover himself up, noticing he was still wearing his underwear, and continued gazing at the reddened blonde.

"If anyone is going to marry Lucy, it's me! I'm her best friend!" a pink-haired boy interrupted. His fists lightened up with fire and he looked ready to attack. "You wanna go, ice princess?" Again, Gray didn't react and had only eyes for Lucy. It was Erza, who knocked Natsu on his head.

"What was that for?!" Natsu exclaimed, rubbing his head. His eyes were woozy, but his sense of smell helped clear his head up. Erza was looking happily at the scene before them. "Oi! I asked you something!" He couldn't believe he was being ignored so simply.

"Um, Gray, what are you doing?" Lucy asked, looking straight to his eyes. Gray blinked

"I'm proposing to you," he said like it was the easiest thing to read from his actions.

"I see that," Lucy giggled, but in a moment, she became serious again. "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Gray shot back, but before he could give his answer, a man bellowed over them all: "I wasn't done with you!" Sting was angry and his magic was raging. The light dragon's strong emotions got the best of him and he destroyed the bouquet Gray was so carefully holding.

"The flowers!" Lucy cried, ignoring the fact how a whiff of magic had barely missed her. Gray reacted within seconds and attacked back and soon, everyone in the guild joined in.

The blonde swinged herself over the counter and tried to take cover, but luckily for her, someone took a firm grip of her wrist and pulled her along to the safety. Lucy sighed in relief, when they exited the guild through the back door. "Thanks!" she said, turning to her saviour and was surprised to see it was not Mira like she had believed.

"No problem," Laxus shrugged with a smirk. "I think Erza's idea was rather stupid for this time."

"What?" the girl shrieked and glanced at the guild in shock. "Erza's?!"

"Why, yes. She concluded the safest way to get you out of the trouble of dragon slayers kicking you around and ending up hurting you was to marry you off, before the imprinting starts," he said carelessly. Lucy stared at him in shock and he leaned closer to whisper in her ear: "Except, she didn't know it had already started." His breath tickled her earlobe. Lucy bit her lip, but the blush on her face was betraying.

Laxus chuckled and moved away. He gave Lucy an approving once-over and turned around, walking away in his arrogant manner. It took a few moments for Lucy to gather herself, but when she did, she yelled: "What imprinting? What are you talking about?" The man laughed loudly from afar. "Laxus!"

She shook her head. Even if Laxus walked out on all of their conversations, she would both love and hate him for his ridiculous hints. She brought a hand up to hide her growing smile.

"Was that Laxus?" she barely heard Mirajane say. For the answer, she could only nod.