Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to Letter P of "The ABCs of Natsu and Erza," as in "Photographs!"
I know, I know, it's an odd obsession for Natsu to have, but if you've ever read that omake where Lucy sneaks into Natsu's house, she notices all these souvenirs of her missions with Natsu, and I figured pictures would be right up that alley. Meh, it's probably not as awesome as what I was originally thinking, but I'll leave that for you guys to judge, along with my sincerest apologies that this had nothing to do with a pregnant Erza. This is what my muse gave me, and by God, I'm rolling with it!
Also, I am a herp-a-derp! I accidentally posted the wrong document! Thanks to Rockmanbeasto for noticing. As a reward, I'm letting him request a Fairy Tail prompt.
I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.
Natsu loved photographs. He loved taking them, and he loved being in them. Every image spoke volumes to him. They spoke of times gone by, of cherished memories of his beloved guild and the nakama that were part of it.
Natsu was quite imaginative when it came to photographs. He liked to pretend that he was back in the exact moment a picture was taken, to imagine what he would say and do to the Lucies and Grays and Erzas of the past. Even though such pastimes were fun, at the end of the day, he wouldn't trade the memories he had of his family for anything.
Natsu's love of photographs was well-known throughout the guild. Occasionally, he would bring a camera to the guild and try to capture a drinking contest, a performance by Mirajane, or just a usual guild brawl. In turn, anyone who had a picture of the Salamander would gladly offer him a copy. They ran the gamut, from annoying Lucy, to fighting with Gray, to being scared shitless by Erza...
Erza. The pictures of Erza were always his favorite.
He thumbed through his photo album, looking for pictures of the Titania. He smiled and stopped at one of her eating strawberry cake.
This was the first time she had tried what was now her favorite dessert. Natsu had tried a piece of strawberry cake that Levy had baked based on a recipe in a cookbook. He remembered being excited, as he always was when trying new things, and demanding that everyone try a piece. First Gray, then Cana, then Elfman, Macao, Wakaba, Gildartz, even Laxus and Mystogan, though Jellal's Edolas counterpart had cast his Sleep magic on everyone, for now obvious reasons, before eating it, with only Makarov awake to serve as a witness.
Eventually, Erza had tried the cake. She was apprehensive at first, but once she tried it, she had proudly declared that strawberry cake was a dish fit for a goddess. Unfortunately for those guild members who had yet to try it, she had devoured the remaining cakes in under a minute.
Later that night, Erza had thrown up from eating too many cakes. Natsu smiled at this part for three reasons. The first was that he had reprimanded her for her gluttony, which was really the first time he got to tell her off. The second was that, when she had finally thrown up the last of the cake, she had decided that strawberry cake was worth feeling the way she had. That was the kind of resolve he had come to expect from a member of Fairy Tail, and the kind of resolve he would model his own path as a mage after.
The third reason was that she had trusted him to see her at what he thought was her worst. However, when he had learned of Jellal's existence and seen what he did to Erza, whether he was aware of it or not, that illusion had been utterly shattered. That was another reason Natsu loved photographs; they allowed you to hold on to naïve notions, even when you knew better than to believe them.
He turned to a page containing a photo of Mystogan without his mask. It was taken with his consent after the Oracion Seis battle, and Erza had the only other copy. The idea was to give Erza a record of Jellal's face, as he and Mystogan happened to look exactly the same. Erza had said that though her eyes knew it was only Mystogan, her heart would gladly pretend otherwise. Natsu didn't like the idea, but if it brought Erza peace, so be it.
Thinking of Jellal always soured Natsu's mood, so he flipped a few pages without even looking at them, hoping to land on something – anything – that would make him smile.
Imagine his surprise when he landed on a picture from the guild Christmas party several years back. He and Erza were kissing underneath the mistletoe thanks to a prank Mirajane had pulled. The Demon had promised Erza a whole strawberry cake if she would hold the kiss for an entire minute. The minute had passed, Erza licking her tongue against Natsu's lips out of boredom. Out of reflex, he had opened up to grant her easier access. Ultimately, both parties had ignored Mirajane calling the time until they needed to breathe again.
It was Natsu's first kiss, much to Lisanna's annoyance, and he imagined it was Erza's as well. They were young, they were stupid, and Erza only seemed to be in it for the cake, so neither had thought about it for a long while.
That is, until Erza brought it up coming home from the Oracion Seis battle. It seemed losing Jellal again had forced her to take stock of her life and reevaluate what she held dear. Natsu didn't remember the whole conversation, but she had mentioned that she couldn't possibly conceive of him hurting her. Natsu had reaffirmed his promise to protect her, and they had started a secret relationship. Natsu hadn't seen why they needed to hide their feelings; Erza argued she wanted to be sure this was right for her.
Two years later, it must've been, because they had long since gone public. The guild was largely supportive, even Lisanna, who as it turned out had hooked up with Bixlow two days before the announcement. Gray, however, had nearly punched him in the face. Natsu could deal with that because A: he knew Erza was just as dear to the Ice mage as she was to himself, and B: if Gray struck first, Erza couldn't fault him for anything.
However, Gray merely recounted that Erza hardly ever smiled before Natsu came to Fairy Tail and stalked off to mope. Of course, these days Juvia didn't give him much to mope about.
Suddenly, Natsu heard the door open. Only the guild members knew where he lived, so he hardly ever locked his door while he was home. He looked up and was greeted by a scarlet-framed face smiling warmly at him.
"Hey, you," said Erza, walking into the Dragon Slayer's living room and sitting down on the couch.
"How was the mission?" asked Natsu. Erza had taken a solo mission somewhere between a week and ten days ago – he didn't really know, it was still too long to wait.
Erza stole a kiss before replying. "Annoying," she replied. "The client was obnoxious, the bandits were much stronger than I anticipated, and I have this nasty wound on my abdomen – it's mostly healed though!" she said, hastily adding on the last part after seeing the look of worry on Natsu's face.
"That sucks!" Natsu complained. "I was planning on giving you a warm welcome, but now I gotta wait until you're better!"
"You're here. I'm here. What's stopping you?" asked Erza, bemused by the Dragon Slayer's logic.
Natsu blushed. "Well... when I said 'warm welcome,' I meant... well, you know..."
Realization dawned on the Titania's face. "Oh!" she exclaimed, blushing profusely. "Please forgive my naivety!"
Natsu laughed nervously. Yes, the couple had engaged in sexual activity before, but they were both determined to not let it define their relationship. The fact that sex was still somewhat of a taboo subject in their daily conversation unless both of them were in just the right mood spoke volumes about the love they held for each other.
Erza looked at the photo album and smiled. "Oh, is that the mistletoe picture?" she said. "I love this picture!"
"I know," agreed Natsu. "It really makes me think how far we've come together."
"Well, we were young and stupid back then," mused Erza. "That was when strawberry cake was the most important thing in the world to me."
"Hey, we're still young and stupid!" argued Natsu. "Don't talk like you're Gramp's age, Erza!"
Erza giggled. "Okay, fine. We were younger and stupider then than we are now," she said.
"Stupider isn't a word, idiot," said Natsu.
"Um, yes it is, Natsu," said Erza. "Stupid, stupider, stupidest."
"Are you sure?" asked Natsu.
"Are you trying to annoy me, Natsu?" said Erza fiercely. That shut the Salamander up rather quickly.
"Hey, uh, I think Mira's setting up the mistletoe today," said Natsu. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Indeed I am," said Erza slyly.
"Awesome!" said Natsu. "Now we just need to find someone that breeds fruit flies!"
Erza hit her boyfriend over the head. Rubbing his skull, he said, "Making out works too." With that, the knight whisked her dragon out of the house and towards the guild.
Natsu loved photographs. They held the history of the world, his life, and his guild. And it seemed today, history was going to repeat itself.
Dear God, why must I continuously write fluff? I remember my early days of writing when all I wrote was humor! What happened? Do you realize I added that part about the fruit flies upon this realization? Oh well, I guess it just goes to show that I've matured as a person. I could possibly make a relationship work, but with no job and no license, I'm not really confident I could keep a girl interested. At least not an attractive one. Le sigh!
If I can actually get motivated enough to write it, I've got a NaLu oneshot in mind. Probably not the best thing to announce to my rabid NatZa fans, but if I have an idea, I'll write it, damn you all. Except not really, you guys are awesome. It would be part of that Lucy romance collection, so... yeah.
Anyway, I gotta get this posted, so until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt! Bye bye!