"Natsu! Stop eating all of the food! There will be nothing left when everyone arrives!" I shout to the pink headed man standing in front of the small table with a cupcake half hanging from his mouth.
"What?" He asked nonchalantly. "It's not like they are going to miss one cake!"
I sigh. "It's your daughter's birthday. Can you at least try and make it through one day without stuffing your face and embarrassing her?"
"Luce. We have not seen Nashi for over two weeks. It's my job as her Dad to do just that!" I laugh. "I'm also gonna bring her out on stage and get the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to her tonight"
"What? Natsu no!" I say almost mortified.
"What! Our little girl is now 5 and she told me that she wants to be like us one day! She is growing up Luce!"
I sigh in defeat. "Fine. As long as I am out there with you"
Natsu walks over to me and kisses me. "I wouldn't want it any other way."
It has been six years since Natsu proposed to me and both The Mages and All Fired Up are still going as strong as ever. Everyone has grown up (some more so than others) and we have all somehow managed to settle down while managing to keep our bands alive. So much so that we are on the final night of a small two month tour celebrating All Fired Up's tenth year of being a band together! As I place some more small fairy cakes onto the table that the venue we are currently at provided us so that we could have a small birthday party for Nashi after the show, I take out my phone to check the time and look at my main screen photo. It is of myself and Natsu on our wedding day. For a few minutes, I smile and let my mind trail back to that wonderful day.
"You may now kiss the bride?"
"Finally!" Natsu shouted out making everyone, including me, laugh as he kisses me with so much love and I to him.
I laugh at the memory. It was a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon and instead of having a fancy wedding like Gray and Juvia did, Natsu and I decided to have our wedding in the back garden. We decided to get married in only a month since the boys had a spare week whilst they were on tour so there was not a lot of time to prepare much, but we both agreed that we wanted to get married because we loved each other and that we didn't need anything else but us and our family. So that was what we had. We got married in the back garden of our house under the sakura tree that was planted specifically for it and we had our reception in our living room. It was perfect.
To make things better, it took the newspapers a whole two weeks of beautiful bliss before they found out and everything went mad.
I sigh to myself. Not long after that I became pregnant with Nashi. Natsu was such an amazing person the day that I went into labour, and he is an even more amazing dad to both Nashi and her three year old little brother Hiro! Naturally he is the fun uncle as well to all of the other kids that have popped up over the last few years, especially to Gale since he is old enough to understand most things at the age of 6.
An arm encases me from behind and I realise from the white scarf hanging over my shoulder that it is Natsu, so I lean into him enjoying his unnatural warmth.
"What were you just thinking about?" He asks looking down at my phone screen and seeing the picture. Natsu chuckles "It seems like so long ago doesn't it"
I nod "But I wouldn't change it for the world." He continues, turning me around and kissing me on the lips. "I love you Lucy Dragneel"
"I love you too Natsu Dragneel"
With that, our moment of solitude was broken with the sound of a knock on the door. I went to open the door and was met with the most wonderful site of long pink hair.
"Mama! Papa!" Nashi shouted running up to me throwing her arms around to hug me. I giggle and bring her up so that she is on hip and I hug her tight. I hate being away from her for so long but I know that we have to when we are out on tour. Luckily, Igneel stayed in touch and was currently holding Hiro who was asleep in his arms with noise cancelling headphones on.
"Hey birthday girl! I missed you so much! Did you have fun with Grandpa?" Nashi nodded enthusiastically and started to suck on her thumb - a habit I have been trying for years to get her to stop. It only ever seems to work when we put a toy microphone in her hands - guess she really does take after us.
"Hey my gorgeous girl." Natsu says from behind me, grabbing Nashi off me to give her a tight hug. "Happy birthday!" He said swinging her about. I should be worried, but after a few years of this from Natsu, I knew that if I stressed about it every time, I would be sent to an early grave.
"Hi Igneel" I whisper taking Hiro off him, who immediately snuggles his head into the crook of my neck. "How were they?"
Igneel sighs "Nashi is just like her father. She was so hyperactive that she would not sleep at all last night! She insisted that we all stay up until midnight so that she could be awake to officially be 5 years old."
I look back horrified. "You didn't right?" I could just see the nights of getting her into a bedtime routine go right down the pan.
Igneel shrugged "What can I say? I can not turn her down. Hiro was asleep by 8 but she managed until 9…. plus I put the clock in my living room forward so that it looked like it was later. She was out like a light the second she got into bed too."
I laugh "At least she didn't stay up all night. It would have meant that she would not be able to do anything tonight."
I invite Igneel in and as soon as I do, there is another knock on the door and a bombardment of people came rushing into the door.
Gray and Juvia were first in the door with their 4 year old twins Storm and Rain who ran straight towards Nashi and Natsu. I hugged Juvia and Gray hello as Gajeel and Levy came in the door with their 6 year old son Gale who joined the children in the corner and finally Jellal and a pregnant Erza.
An hour later, the children were sitting on the sofa along with a now awake Hiro while the adults were standing around the sofa singing Happy Birthday to a very excited Nashi. Just as we were finishing and Nashi was blowing out the candles, someone knocked on the door.
Gray opened the door and Mira Jane walked in. "Auntie Mira!" All of the children shouted and ran up to hug her collectively.
She laughed "Hey everyone! You having a good birthday Nashi?"
Nashi nodded and jumped up and down excitedly "Daddy promised me to take me out on stage tonight! Yay!"
Mira looked back faking excited surprise and looked at Natsu with a quizzical look who shrugged his shoulders. Clearly this was not planned for tonight but Natsu was going to do it anyway.
"Well. Either way, your Mummy's have to be on stage in 10 minutes so I need to borrow them ok?"
"You guys want to go and watch them with us?" Gray said looking at the children causing them to jump up and down and cheer.
We all laughed as we make our way to the stage, the boys and the children staying at the sides like they always did.
Our set that night was amazing just like every other night so far. Whether it was the fact that our children were there with us as well as our husbands or what, but it was the best that we had been feeling on stage in a while.
As we stood at the side with the kids watching their dads perform on stage, I could not help but feel a large sense of pride. It's weird to think that all of these years ago Erza, Juvia, Levy and I were just four best friends playing in a band together with the hope of making something of ourselves. Now, years down the line, we are still best friends, we are in a highly successful band together, we are married and we have our wonderful children by our sides.
I was brought out of my thoughts by loud screaming. I winced. How on earth have I ever managed to get away with listening to something that loud all of these years. Thank Mavis for the ear plugs I wear when I play.
"Thank you all!" Natsu shouts out to the audience. "Thanks for coming tonight. This night is very special to us since it has been 10 years since we have been together as a band."
The room erupts in applause and yet more screaming. I look down at Nashi and at Haru in my arms who both have their hands over their industrial headphones they are wearing to try and block out more of the noise.
The boys laugh. "Well as I'm sure a lot of you know, and I can see it from some of the banners that are waving in the audience tonight, it is my little girl Nashi's 5th birthday today!" The audience cheers again "I promised her that when she was old enough, I would bring out on stage to come and see you guys and today is the day! Luce?" He turns to look at me to indicate bringing Nashi on stage. I give Haru to Levy and grab Nashi's hand while the other one is currently sucking on her thumb in nervousness. I start waving to the crowd as the audience screams seeing Nashi arrive on stage for the first time. Natsu hands Gray his guitar and picks Nashi up into his arms so that she can see more of what was going on. She immediately snuggles her head into Natsu's neck to show that she is shy but after a few seconds she turns her head back to the audience and waves, causing the audience to wave back at her and cheer.
Natsu and I laugh. "Okay." Natsu says into the microphone. "Everyone this is Nashi. Say hello Nashi" He motions to her placing the microphone to her mouth.
"HELLO!" She shouts into the microphone taking her thumb out of her mouth for the first time tonight shocking everyone, including myself. I laugh out loud in shock. She is so much like Natsu sometimes it is unreal. She never fails to surprise us!
"HELLO NASHI!" The audience shouts back waving and cheering more.
Natsu laughed and brought the microphone back to his mouth. "I think we need to sing Happy Birthday to her don't you?"
The audience cheer and erupt into a loud clear chorus of Happy Birthday to Nashi while all of us on stage joined in, applauding at the end. With that, Nashi and I waved goodbye while the boys carried on with their set.
The rest of the night was just perfect. After the show, the boys and I took it in turns to look after the children while we did a few meet and greets with people who had paid for a VIP pass, most of the girls wanting to meet Nashi and wish her Happy Birthday separately. We told them no since she was too tired from the party, but the truth was that she will have to live with the fact that her parents are famous, making her famous in the process anyway. She has enough to deal with and having her parent's fans trying to meet her while she is still young is not right for her safety.
After the meet and greet, we carried on the rest of the night with a party for the kids and we let the tour bus that we had been sharing for the past two months take us all home one by one.
Natsu, Igneel and I were the last to be dropped off since we all lived the furthest away. Igneel was going to be spending the night with us tonight so that both Natsu and I could have a chance to catch up on sleep. Natsu had Haru sleeping in his arms and I had Nashi half-sleeping in my arms while Igneel was dragging our suitcases behind him with our guitars on his back. I sigh. It was so much easier when we did not have children but I am grateful that Igneel is here to help us.
We finally make our way back into our home. Things have changed a lot since the children have come along. The house is now even more of a mess since there are toys and clothes everywhere throughout the house! At least now Natsu and I have a good month or two to relax before anything else happens with work. To be honest, Erza will be due in a couple of months time so things will be put on pause for The Mages anyway, but that will not stop the boys from doing anything else work related.
"Home sweet home" I say as Natsu walks past me with Haru and gives me a kiss.
"It feels great to be back doesn't it" He smiles.
"I'm gonna go put your bags in your room." Igneel said clearly trying to stay away from the moment we were having.
I giggle "I'm going to put Nashi down. Say goodnight to Papa and Grandpa" I say to Nashi who gives Natsu and Igneel a kiss and a hug tonight and lies patiently in my arms as I make my way up to her pink and pale yellow princess room with pictures of princesses, dragons (Natsu's touch) and castles everywhere on the walls. As we had dressed the kids for bed on the tour bus, I immediately placed Nashi in her bed and pulled the covers over her.
"Did you have a good birthday?" I ask
She nods wiping her eye with her fist "I don't want to go to sleep." She mumbles.
I chuckle. "It's been a very busy day today for you. You need to sleep if you want to wake up in the morning to play in the park tomorrow with Daddy and I like we promised" It was our compromise for them to get ready for bed.
"But I don't want to go to sleep yet" She counters.
I chuckle "How about a bed time story?"
She nods. "Can you tell me the story of how you met Daddy?"
I smiled. I had told her this story hundreds of times before but she never tires of it. It seems to be her favourite at the moment. I did have the thought of writing the story of how we met into a book and letting her read it by herself since she mastered reading fluently by the age of 2. It would be quite nice to have her read the story back to me (With the more adult scenes left out of it of course) It would be like reliving old memories again.
"Okay. Lie down in the covers" She does and I lay myself onto the bed next to her so that she can snuggle up against me.
"Are you ready?"
She nods. "Okay then, let's begin. Once upon a time, there a young girl named Lucy and a young boy named Natsu….."
THE END
Well it's official! I did an epilogue! I know that a few of you requested one and believe me, I had no intention of writing one, but I need to thank Lavawings for emailing me at the beginning of this month and kicking my butt into gear to write one. I know that it has been a while since I wrote for Life on Tour, but I now have a new job which takes up a lot of my time so it will take a while for me to upload anything new and I wanted to make sure that I make the epilogue worth reading. I promise that I will have something new out soon but I can not be sure when yet since I want to get at least a basic storyline down before I release anything.
I'm going to dedicate this chapter to everyone who has ever reviewed, Pm'ed, followed and favourited this story. It has been a real pleasure writing this story and I hope that you all decide to read this story again and again. I hope you all like the final chapter and dont forget to tell me what you thought!
Thank you for your love of this story.
Love to all!
Mooney-996 xx
Finally: I don't own anything related to Fairy Tail! I just used the characters to make this story!