So... yes... I know I took too long to update, I suck! I'm really sorry, but here it is: the tenth and last chapter :)
You should thank my crappy internet service for the update hahaha. Internet is a big distraction that keeps me from writing
I wanna thank all those who reviewed this story as well as the favs and follows! Even if this story is over, I hope you'll check the others and hear from you :)
Hope you enjoy this chapter guys! Please review!
The guild didn't take long to find out about Natsu's and Lucy's relationship and the months passed by quite quickly for the happy couple, who was now living under the same roof in Natsu's house. During that time, Gajeel and Levy started dating, as well as Erza and Jellal, not before resolving their long list of issues. Gray, on the other hand, was finally starting to accept his feelings towards Juvia, flirting with her just to see, what he now thought was, her cute reactions.
And now, here they were, a year later and Natsu was, surprisingly, talking peacefully to Gray
"So... what are you gonna do, matchstick?" The alchemist asked the pink-haired man sitting across from him at the table
"I don't know~!" He whined and hit his forehead on the table, ignoring his nickname
"Tomorrow's your anniversary, right?"
"Yeah" Natsu raised his head, resting his chin in his hands "I can't go on a mission, she'll murder me if I'm not here tomorrow"
"But you need the money for tomorrow right?" Natsu nodded "Then why don't you take a short mission with a relatively good reward? I bet you have some money saved"
"But not enough... Damn it... I guess I'll have to go" Natsu said while sitting straight "She's gonna murder me" a shiver went down his spine
"Don't worry, I'll help you... Just kidding, I'll enjoy watching you suffer" Gray mocked him
"Shut the fuck up, you stupid pervert!"
What did you say, you-?" Gray interrupted his sentence when he saw his frenemy stand up and head to the mission's board, leaving him talking to himself
"Is he seriously that worried?" the ice mage thought "Jeez... He changed way too much... finally" a smirk appeared on his face
Natsu didn't feel comfortable having to do a mission in such a short time, but he needed to get 20.000 Jewells and fast. That was the reason why he was trying to stand that deathly transportation called train while heading to Chitose for a mission.
"I'm gonna die before I get there" he mumbled to himself since Happy was busy and if Lucy found out about his absence she would kill him. He remembered clearly what happened a few days back
Flashback
"Yo! Lucy" Natsu called for her while coming in through her window
"Natsu, how many times have I told you to come through the door? I gave you a key for that, remember?" The said blonde came out of the bathroom to find her boyfriend sitting on her bed
"But it's faster this way!"
"But I don't care! It bothers me"
"Fine..." Natsu pouted and crossed his arms. He stayed that way for a minute until he remembered why he came in the first place "Right! Do you wanna go on a mission?" He asked while handing her the request. Lucy took a few seconds to read it before answering:
"No"
"WHA-?! Why?!" Natsu protested
"Because this mission would take us at least a week to do and I don't want to spend my anniversary trying to defeat some dark mages"
"Anniversary? Of what?" He asked bluntly
To say that Lucy had been angry back then was an understatement, and Natsu had to deal with her while she ignored him for two whole days. He didn't want that to happen again, so he just decided to stay quiet about this mission, and could only hope that he wouldn't be murdered when he came back. It was supposed to be a day-long mission. How hard could it be to help a man with his restaurant?
It was harder than he thought
The day had finally come, and Lucy decided to spend her morning at the guild waiting for her boyfriend.
After that little misunderstanding a few days back, the celestial mage had received an apology from her boyfriend after he had been, not so kindly, explained what anniversary she was talking about. Thank you, Erza and Mira. He had said he would take her out on a date as an apology too. To say that Lucy was happy was an understatement. It had been weeks since their last date, thanks to Happy's constant presence and Natsu's constant fighting with Gray that left him too tired and injured to do anything
She had arrived at the guild with extremely high spirits; however, they were slowly decreasing since Natsu was nowhere to be found.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him since yesterday's morning" The blonde thought while looking around the now not so empty guild hall. She spotted Gray and approached the man who was sitting at a table by himself, quietly drinking a beer
"I didn't know you liked beer, Gray" She called his attention. The man just shrugged
"Not particularly, but sometimes I really like drinking something cold and Mira always has them well refrigerated"
"Oh... I see" She took a sit across from him "Gray, have you seen Natsu? We were supposed to go out today but I haven't seen him" Gray's hears picked up at the question "Flame-head isn't back? What mission did he take?" The man thought while considering in telling his blonde partner and his frenemy's girlfriend about the Dragon Slayer's whereabouts
"Well... Last time I saw him was yesterday morning..." He was thinking carefully of what to say to that his friend wouldn't murder him
"Same as me then"
"Yeah... But... I know where he is" He saw Lucy's look that practically said "Say it or I'll rip your balls out" and decided that he still wanted to live a bit more "He's out on a mission"
"WHAT?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" Lucy's outburst caught everyone's attention; they had never heard Lucy curse like that "He knew what day was today!"
"That was to expect" The alchemist thought "Listen Lucy, I don't know anything other than that. He told me he needed some money and left. In his defense" Lucy's eyes widen at the idea of Gray defending Natsu "He said the mission would only take a day. He should be back by now"
"Why does he need money so urgently?! I have some money saved up just in case; he could have just borrowed it"
"I don't know why, sorry" He lied. Gray knew perfectly well what the money was for, and borrowing from Lucy was not an option.
Lucy stood up and headed to the counter "Hey Mira, what mission did Natsu take?"
Said woman, like everyone else, had been paying attention to Lucy's conversation with Gray "Mm..." she said while flipping some pages "Here. Help a man with his restaurant in Chitose. The pay was 25.000 Jewells since it's a really simple job so he should be back by now" After hearing what the mission was about, Lucy's worries, which she had been trying to hide, faded a bit.
"He probably didn't get off of the train in time, that idiot" She tried to wave it off but couldn't help but worry
Like that, hours passed until it was late in the afternoon, around seven o'clock, the moment when Lucy was usually getting back home, but today was not that day. Lucy's worries increased as Natsu took longer to come back. "What if something happened to him?" She was seated on a stool at the bar, her chin resting in her folded arms leaning on the counter
Just like clockwork, the guild's doors opened to reveal a Natsu who was in serious need of a shower
"Hi, everyone!" As he caught their attention, everybody turn around to see Natsu covered in ashes and dirt, with a goofy smile on his lips
"He's dead meat" They thought
Lucy, on her part, just glanced for a few seconds and straighten up in her sit, taking a sip of her strawberry smoothie
"Where's Lucy?" The pinknette asked as everyone moved to make way to the celestial mage, whose aura was turning darker by the second "Hehe..." Natsu laughed nervously "Hey Lucy..." The girl kept on ignoring him while drinking her smoothie "Happy anniversary...?"
Lucy stood up closing her eyes and then faced Natsu. The Dragon Slayer could have sworn that if glares could kill, he would be lifeless on the floor by now. The blonde started walking towards him and Natsu swallowed hard, unprepared for what was to come.
It surprised everyone when Lucy didn't stop and headed to the door without sparing a glace to the pink-haired boy
"I screwed up pretty bad, didn't I?" He asked to no one in particular
"Yes" Everyone said in unison, sweat-dropping
"Fuck" He said while running towards the exit and his pissed off girlfriend
After a 10-minute exhaustive search, Natsu found Lucy sitting at a park's bench, watching the birds as they drunk from the fountain across from her "How should I approach her?" The Dragon Slayer was currently hiding behind a tree a few meters away
"I know you are there" He heard Lucy say "Fuck! I'm dead" He slowly left his hiding spot and walked towards his girlfriend. The atmosphere was tense while Lucy continued to ignore him.
"Did you spend the day at the guild's pool? You are wearing your swimming suit" And she was indeed, wearing a red bikini top. She then remembered than before having a drink at the bar, she had been with Levy sunbathing at the backyard. Being as upset as she was, she had only changed into her skirt. Then Natsu happened to come in and she left leaving her shirt behind.
Natsu coughed to get her attention "Yes" Her answer was small and simple; she wasn't in the mood for more
"Looks like Gray is rubbing off on you" He joked but received no answer.
An awkward silence reined the place. Natsu started to get nervous again, glancing everywhere until something caught his eye; Lucy's scar on her stomach was pretty easy to spot, even in her already pale skin. He still had nightmares about that day, but the ending was different. In his dreams, she would die in his arms; Wendy never made it in time...
The first few weeks had been the worst, but eventually, the nightmares became something more sporadic. However, they were always pretty bad and had him screaming in his sleep, waking up Lucy and Happy. They would ask what the dreams where about, but he didn't want Lucy to know, so he would just ignore them and hug his girlfriend until he fell asleep again.
He decided that is train of thoughts was leading somewhere unpleasant and that it would be best to think of something else, as well as get over his nervousness and just say what he had to say
"Lucy, I'm sorry I-"
"You know, when someone makes a commitment, they have to stick to it" She interrupted him "What was exactly did you say back then? Oh right! 'I'm sorry I forgot of our anniversary, I'll make it up to you with a date, just meet me at the guild at noon on that day'... You know, I spent the whole day at the guild. Arrived in the morning so that I wouldn't be late in case I slept in" Natsu lowered his head, now finding his feet fascinating "Then Gray you had left on a really simple mission and that you should have been back by then. I was really worried" Natsu heard her voice crack and turned to see unshed tears in her eyes "Who the hell takes too long to come back when you had to help for half a day in a restaurant, Natsu?!" And she was mad again
"Luce-"
"I was worried sick but then you showed up like everything is peachy!"
"Lu-"
"And like hell it is! I was worried out of my mind and you just downplay it with that stupid smile of yours!"
"Lucy-"
"And you expect me to act like nothing happened?! Fuck off!" Natsu's eyes widen at Lucy's cursing, he wasn't used to it
"Hey-"
"With your stupid jokes and small talk! What the hell?!"
"Lucy-"
"When I disappeared like you did you were even more pissed off than I am right now!" She was right. She had done it once and he had not taken it well
"Luce-"
"And what the hell was that about leaving and not even telling me about it?!"
"I knew you would be pissed-"
"Plus! It's not like we don't have any money! Since I don't pay rent anymore I have some savings!"
"Luce-"
"You knew today was important so you could have just borrowed money or something!"
"Lu-"
"Instead of standing me up!"
"LUCY!" Natsu yelled while grabbing her shoulders, making her look straight at him "You talk way too much and I can't apologize like that!"
Lucy blinked a few times "Okay..."
"I know! I'm sorry! You were right about almost everything"
"Almost?!" She said indignant "Where was it exactly that I made a mistake?!"
"I can't borrow your money, at least for this kind of circumstances"
"And why is that?! A man's pride or something?!"
"You could say that" Natsu looked at her straight in the eyes "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the mission, I'm sorry I stood you up and I'm sorry for worrying you It wasn't my intention, I was trying to do something nice and it back fired"
"Something nice?"
"Yeah... sort of... for today" Natsu let go of her and run his fingers through his hair while sighing "The mission sucked!" Lucy looked at him carefully and realized he had dark circles under his eyes
"Yeah, I can see that. Why are you so dirty?"
"Well, it's true that the mission was supposed to take a day but I screwed up a lot" He took a deep breath, aware that there was a lot of explaining to do "For starters, the man asked me to help him cook the food because his hoven broke down. It turns out cooking is really difficult! I burned the food and the kitchen" Lucy sweat-dropped "So the man asked me to leave the kitchen and help the waiters. I did sort of alright with that except that I yelled at some costumers" Lucy sweat-dropped yet again, not surprised at all by the outcome "And since the man wasn't satisfied with my job and he had to fix the mess that I did with the kitchen, he said he wouldn't pay me, so I asked him if I could repair everything and get my pay. He agreed and that's why I arrived this late. Well, for that and for another reason, but I'll tell you that later" Natsu took another deep breath "Well, that's about it. So... Can you forgive me?"
"Well, there are still a few questions, but I really don't want to argue with you today" She smiled softly at him, and he returned the smile, the same as hers, not his goofy one.
"Yes!" He cheered
"I'm going to ask you later though, don't think you are safe" Natsu gulped but then smiled at her at seeing her caring eyes.
"What a beautiful sunset" Lucy said while watching the sun hide in the horizon. The reds and oranges mixing perfectly with the blue sky while its shade was turning darker by the minute
"Yeah" Natsu agreed while moving to sit on the floor across from Lucy
"Why are you sitting on the floor?"
"Felt like doing it, don't know"
"Weirdo"
"You are the weirdo" He smiled at her while she was watching the sun.
A few minutes passed in a comfortable silence. Natsu saw this as the perfect chance
"You know Luce..." He called his attention; getting her to look him in the eye "I really love you" Lucy blushed at his words, surprised at how easily he could say them
"Shut up, idiot"
"Don't wanna" He laughed, but then his expression turned softer "I love how you appreciate the little things, the way you wrinkle your smile when you are thinking too hard, the way you play with your hair while writing your novel, and the smile in your face while you do that too" Lucy was now as red as Erza's hair, if not worse
"You are embarrassing me!" Natsu laughed
"I don't say this stuff much, so I figured... this is a special day, there should be special words right?" He stopped for a few seconds before continuing "I love how you care about everyone, be it good or bad people, although I don't like it much when you are nice to assholes" He mumbled the last part, but Lucy heard it perfectly and giggled "I love it when you giggle and I hate it when you cry, I love how you take care of Happy, and how you are able to stand me when I'm a pain in the ass"
"You are not a pain in the ass, Natsu" She assured him while smiling
"Sometimes I am" He argued "I love how you are so understanding and supportive, how you blush when I embarrass you, I love that look and smile that you reserve just for me. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really love you, even if I don't say it much"
Tears had been gathering in Lucy's eyes, and the moment she blinked, they started pouring out of her deep brown eyes like a waterfall
"I love you too Natsu" Her voice cracked
"I'm not done yet!" He protested "Lucy, I love you... I've never felt this way about anyone and don't plan on doing so, I want to be with you for the rest of my life" Natsu changed his position so he was kneeling in front of Lucy, while taking a small box out of his pocket, while tears starting welling up in Lucy's eyes "If by any chance I'm lucky enough to have you feeling the same way I feel about you, I could die as a happy man. Lucy Heartfilia... Would you marry me?" Natsu opened the box the reveal a small diamond ring. It was nothing fancy, and actually pretty simple, but beautiful non the less
"YES!" Lucy tackled him with a hug, causing them to end up on the grass "Yes Natsu!" She kissed him full on the lips, but only for a few seconds. When they broke the kiss, Natsu started laughing
"I was scared to death that you were going to say no" He kept laughing, happier than he had ever been
"I would never say no to marrying you, Natsu" Lucy was still on top of him, but neither of them minded "I've known about my feeling towards you for a while and it's always been clear to me just how much you mean to me" She smiled at him softly. There was the smile he loved so much.
They both broke their hug, sitting up straight in the grass
"Here" Natsu said while putting the finger in her left hand "Now I can show off about who my fiancée is" Lucy giggled, tearing up a bit more
"Would you stop crying?" Natsu mocked with a smile on his lips that just wouldn't go away
"Don't want to. I'm happy"
"Me too" Natsu smiled and started leaning in. They shared another kiss, that electricity that they felt the first time they kissed was still there, running down their spines while they melted into it. Natsu put one of his warm hands in Lucy's waist, while the other was resting on her neck, while Lucy was doing the same
They pulled apart just a bit so that now Natsu's forehead was touching Lucy's
"I love you, my future wife"
"Lucy Dragneel" She tested the words coming out of her mouth "I like it"
"Me too" Natsu smiled softly
"And I love you too, my future husband"
The couple remained that way until it turned dark and decided it would be best for Natsu to take a shower so that they could get something to eat somewhere other than the guild, so they headed to Natsu's house holding each other's hand.
Just for today, they wanted to keep their engagement as their little secret and have some privacy and quiet time together, since tomorrow they would tell the guild about it and most likely have to deal with their noisy party.
And they wouldn't have it any other way.
THE END