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fairydares · 8 months

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Reminiscing on the Hard Road (A Gruvia Fic)

Rating: M

Summary: While on his way to a mission, Gray reflects on the hardships, tears, battles, and triumphs which led to him and Juvia finding their happiness together. (Or: the story of how they finally, officially got together told through memories).

AO3 Link ; FFNet Link

Words: ~8,000

Warnings: Please read with caution as this contains adult themes & situations (though nothing explicit). Also swearing and allusions to mental illness, dissociation and depression symptoms especially. Man this feels like the end of a drug commercial. Enjoy!

AN: I realized how long it'd been since I updated Chasing Tails and was feeling really bad about it. I'm so sorry, guys! I've just been really busy! I don't have time to get Chapter 5 up tonight, but I do have the time to share this Gruvia piece I wrote a while ago as a karmic sort of apology.

With that in mind, this is a bit of a rough, long one-shot. It comes from a chapter in a larger, mostly Nalu-focused fic which I may or may not ever actually finish writing. Sooo it's not even really a one-shot so much as it's, like, a segment of a chapter from one. I also barely had time to clean it up ever so slightly.

However, I thought Gruvia fans would appreciate anyway. Maybe one day, I'll write the whole thing because I honestly think it could be a story, or maybe a series of drabbles? This is all you kids get for now, though, lol. no fucks given (just kidding this will keep me up nights.)

o(O)o

Ignoring Natsu's whining about still being motion sick from beside him, Gray buried his hands in his pockets and let his eyes engage in their favorite past-time: roaming the curves of the blue-haired woman walking in front of him.

Him and Juvia had officially been together for over half a year, but his eyes still snagged on the same places they always had. The sway of her blue hair, now long enough to partly obscure the pinch of her waist and flare of her hips with each swish. The pretty, cute flush that lived on her cheeks as she listened attentively to Erza, who was chattering about a famous desert shop in the area. The way shadow and light shifted over the curve of her rear. And—forever his most favorite—the exposed skin of her legs. Long, toned, moon white...and fucking perfect.

Gray felt his cheeks heat, but couldn't find it in himself to drag his eyes away. The solidness and length of their relationship did absolutely nothing to diminish the novelty of her beauty, like he might once have feared it would. Instead, it hypnotized him more surely than ever. Noticing all the men drooling over her figure as they walked past, Gray was aware of the sting of possessiveness and annoyance which rose in his chest, but was also easily able to ignore it.

He was as comfortable as any guy with a stunning girlfriend could be in his own jealousy, these days. More shockingly, so was Juvia, a fact that was plain from the way she shot only perfunctory glares at the women eyeing him and whispering to each other as they passed.

As he stared at her back, his lips quirked ever so slightly. It had taken time, tears, and work—more work than he could ever have anticipated—to get to this point in their relationship. But work had never been more worth it.

His mind wandered to reminiscence. To where it had all started, when they had started, after the 100-Year Quest had ended and he'd finally—with Lucy, Levy, and Erza's help—managed to ask Juvia to be his girlfriend.

"Not just 'yours'," Levy had insisted, explaining that phrasing would confuse her. "Your girlfriend."

He'd actually fought them on it. Not really because he had a problem with commitment anymore (okay, it was a little embarrassing, but not too much) but because the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" felt ridiculous, considering everything they'd been through. How deeply he cared about her. For crying out loud, they'd tried to kill themselves for each other. He'd kill for her, die for her, and—most importantly—he would live for her. Beyond making his ears feel like they were going to melt off, the word "girlfriend" felt trite.

But when Lucy and Levy demanded to know if that meant he was going to propose, he'd balked. Actually, having the m-word shoved right up against his nose kind of made his soul flee his body. As ready as he was for a romantic relationship, he wanted to go through the actual experience of having one. Like, with all the steps involved. In order. He was at the point in his life that he wanted it more than anything.

More importantly, he wanted to give Juvia that experience. He was determined to do right by her.

With the girls' reality check, and the point they'd made that ambiguity might make Juvia jump to the wrong conclusion or even hurt her, they'd convinced him. He'd been committed to making his long-awaited confession as special for Juvia as possible, complete with saying any embarrassing words she wanted to hear.

Gray still hadn't felt worthy of the love she gave him. He still struggled to believe he was a man who could protect her. But after everything he'd been through during the 100-Year-Quest, seeing how much she'd missed him the whole time, and his talk with Juvina-sama, he'd understood it was completely unfair to ask Juvia to wait for him to decide he was worthy enough to love her openly. He also wasn't above admitting that Juvina-sama's suggestion that she wouldn't wait forever had disquieted some irrational part of him enough to make him antsy, impatient to make absolutely sure they were exclusive.

He'd been completely flustered throughout his confession, but known it had gone as right as it could. Lucy, Levy, and Erza—who thought they'd been slick, hiding in a nearby bush to watch him confess—had agreed. (Lucy had annoyed him to no end by teasing him over how "adorable" he'd been.)

And yet...Juvia's response hadn't been quite what Gray hoped. Lucy hadn't noticed it, but he had. He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but at some point, he'd learned to read the Water Mage like an open book. For how sincere a person she was—a trait he was all too familiar with—Juvia could also be surprising, even mysterious. As transient as water, with hidden depths you'd never know a thing about unless you were willing to dive beneath the surface.

When Gray confessed, he'd braced himself for joyous screaming. He'd planned to freeze a literal flood of tears before it could wash them both away. He'd been prepared to get a concussion from how hard she'd glomp him in the street. But while she had said yes, demurely accepted the roses, and hugged him plenty tight...her response had been subdued. In hindsight, he could see the pattern her reaction fit: the way her gaze had dropped to the street despite her happy flush, the hesitant, nervous gleam in her eyes, the limited verbal response.

The only times she'd ever acted that way had been when he actually reciprocated some of her affection. When he'd promised to give her a straight answer, after he defeated END. When he'd given her a one-armed hug and said he was glad her "body" was safe, after he'd saved her from that wood bastard.

Something had been wrong. But when the girls who'd spied on him only gushed afterwards, not seeming to have noticed anything off, he'd shrugged off his concerns, assuming it was his own lack of romantic literacy. He'd been nervous, but also really excited to learn.

But as their relationship officially began...it quickly became obvious that there was a problem, and that a one-sided approach to fixing it just wasn't going to cut it.

Juvia had always been prone to mood swings severe enough to make Gray's head spin, but as soon as they started dating, her mood seemed to sink. He'd try to ask her about it only for her to put on an obviously fake, cheery front and insist she was fine.

At first, he was sure it must be his fault. He'd had no idea what he was doing wrong. At that point, the guilt he felt for not taking Juvia's feelings seriously for so long, for abandoning her in Amefurashi Village, and for nearly letting her die in an attempt to save him had been taking a serious toll on him. The guilt had sometimes left him ragged. Every time she seemed down, he beat himself up and tried to do better. Talking, dates, spending time together (even when it meant ditching missions he really wanted to go on with the team), accepting her gifts and acting happy about them (no matter how much they creeped him out).

But the more he'd tried to make up for everything, the worse it seemed to get. He watched her frustration rise as he tried to be more openly affectionate, her denials that she was frustrated getting louder. More and more, she gave, but when he gave back, she'd look ready to explode or burst into tears.

What had made everything come to a head was the sex. A surprise in itself. For all the ways their relationship had suffered, sex had never been one of them. It'd started back in the cabin they shared in Amefurashi Village. From the first night they'd moved in together, Juvia had not-so-surprisingly tried to edge her way into Gray's bed constantly. She'd use excuses of cold weather, make puppy eyes, and sew nauseatingly pink coupley bed sheets to try to lure him (when, he still had no idea).

Meanwhile, he struggled more and more to pretend he didn't find (most of) her antics adorable. Not to mention incredibly tempting. Things escalated to where he'd feel his excitement rising towards the end of their daily training sessions, to the point his body became conditioned to react when he saw the damn sun set.

He also felt increasing dread at the notion of having to turn Juvia down—and for having to sneak out in the middle of every night to "take care" of the problem she always left him with (cold showers didn't exactly work for an Ice Wizard).

Finally, one night, she'd pouted and whined that she was sore from training and begged for a massage. Gray didn't know if it was the fact she was asking him for something instead of offering; the unbelievably cute, sparkly-eyed, hopeful glances she kept sneaking at him; or the fact he could tell she actually was sore from the way her face would pinch as she attempted to stretch provocatively in front of him, but his resolve had shattered.

Before he could think and without a word, he'd lifted his covers and held her gaze, not bothering to hide the dark promise in his eyes.

Her reaction had been priceless. He'd never forget it.

His acceptance seemed to knock the breath straight out of her. Her eyes had gone round as saucers, staring into his eyes like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her cheeks had darkened. She'd stood stunned for so long that he'd started to get nervous, wondering if she'd only been being playful all this time, not really meaning to come on to him or maybe not expecting him to ever accept. But just as he'd been trying to field the disappointment sinking his heart and trying to think of how to promise he wouldn't do anything she didn't want, she'd hesitantly approached the bed, trembling.

After giving her the massage she'd asked for, he'd rewarded her bravery three times over.

After that, for the very first time, the dynamic of their relationship shifted in one, important way—the one which would force him to finally confront his own heart:

In terms of their physical relationship, he became the more dominant one. In this one aspect of their shared life, he chased. Gray flustered Juvia. He hadn't been able to get enough. What had once been a relentless, one-sided pursuit (one where she had, admittedly, been gaining on him without his notice) became a dance which had addicted him before he knew it.

The notion of reciprocating her feelings had once had him running for the hills. So it had been a huge shock to learn just how much he liked it.

She was so obviously happy and disbelieving that first time he slipped her clothes off in the moonlit dark, cursing over her beauty. Utterly awestruck when he'd seen to her pleasure (twice, he still liked to remember proudly) before even considering his own. Sex was the first time he heard her speak in the first-person, the first time she said his name without adding "-sama" (since that battle in the rain, anyway.)

It was when he lost himself in her soft skin, her passion, and her pleasure that some part of him was able to accept the truth she'd had the grace to surrender to from the very beginning.

The shift in their sex life was also when he'd started to twig something wasn't right between them. After Alvarez was when he'd started it back up. His plan had been to wait until he was able to reciprocate her feelings verbally, like he'd promised, but almost losing her had broken him in a way some part of him would never truly recover from. Between that and his final, full acceptance of his own feelings, there'd been no restraining himself. He'd come onto her with all the subtlety of a freight train the second they were alone.

Even then, something hadn't been quite right. She hadn't been herself, quiet enough that—even as...compromised as his critical thinking skills had been, at the time, and even in his heightened emotional state—he'd noticed. He'd pulled back and asked if she was okay, but when her response had simply been to drag him back in for a kiss that made his knees weak, he'd taken it as a yes and matched her passion enthusiastically.

She kept staying quiet in bed. It bothered the hell out of him, and he badgered her about it more than once, but would ultimately let it go when she insisted she was fine. In his defense, there had been a lot of reasons she could've become subdued. They had just fought a war. They were all exhausted from fixing the town and working to build peace in Fiore.

But after the 100-Year Quest and after his confession, she got even weirder. He noticed it all the time, in every aspect of their relationship, but it was especially noticeable in bed, when they were so close to each other, both completely vulnerable.

When they'd cohabitated, he'd almost always been the one to start something. He'd enjoyed that. He'd even (hell, especially) enjoyed the way she'd flirt, pretend to be oblivious to his advances, pout and blush and make him impress her, coax him to the brink of losing his mind before finally caving to both of their desires. Those times where he went from prey to predator had balanced their entire relationship, satisfying both of them.

Gray wasn't some slimeball who needed sex, but he did need some balance in their dynamic. The private, physical side of their relationship was just where it'd happened to play out. It could've played out anywhere in their relationship, if they were off sex for a while for whatever reason.

But as soon as they became official, it became clear she'd fight tooth and nail to make sure that never happened.

She came onto him. Every. Single. Time. He'd been a little surprised, but happy enough. At first. But as he pushed her to talk to him harder and she denied louder, he'd started to guess that something was genuinely, really wrong.

She didn't speak in the first-person when they were intimate, any more. She didn't drop the "-sama." Even worse, he started to suspect she was seducing him even when she wasn't really in the mood. Almost like she felt like she had to.

It had been one such time when he finally flipped his shit. Even now, walking behind her and appreciating her curves, the memory made his mood falter a little.

He regretted how he'd handled things. It shamed him to remember how he'd all but shoved her off him and refused to do anything else with her until she was ready to tell him whatever the hell was going on inside that crazy, watery head of hers. It was an ultimatum. A cruelly-put one, at that. He hadn't realized just how hurt and angry he was until the words flew out of his mouth.

Juvia had opened up, alright.

In fact, she'd exploded.

They'd screamed at each other, horrible things Gray could hardly stand to repeat even in his own head. She'd demanded that he quit wasting both their time and leave her again, like they both knew he would. He'd asked how stupid she could be to think he'd do that, when he was obviously dedicated enough to put up with her psycho stalker gifts. She'd retorted that her "psycho stalker gifts" didn't seem to have any affect on his libido. He'd yelled that she was the one jumping his bones, ever since he'd asked her out. She'd said that was because she actually cared about his happiness, implying that was something he'd never understand.

She'd ended the black, ugly fight with four hoarse words that ripped his heart out of his chest: "This is over, Gray-sama!"

His apartment door had slammed behind her.

He'd been too shocked and devastated to do anything but watch her go, not even managing to stagger to the door and chase after her until she was long-gone. Black curse power had swirled across his skin as he pelted to the guild, growling in frustration when he didn't find her there. Then he'd run all the way to the female dorms at Fairy Hills only to be deterred by Erza, who met him at the gate. She hadn't known anything about his and Juvia's fight, but she'd been drawn by his yelling.

His older sister figure had knocked him out "for his own good."

The next afternoon, Gray had woken up in his own bed. Not bothering to see if he was dressed (it would turn out he wasn't) he'd booked straight to the guild only to be devastated by the news that Juvia had taken a long-term S-class quest just that morning, news which was delivered by a sympathetic Mira.

Sure that it was over, that he'd ruined everything, he'd drunk himself sick—then kept drinking, swinging fists at anyone and everyone who tried to console him until, finally, in the wee hours of the next morning, Gajeel managed to knock him out of it.

The hostility, Gray had expected. Gajeel was Juvia's best friend; of course he was angry to learn that Gray had done something to upset her so much, she'd left for a Quest that could take months or even years to finish without so much as a word to Gajeel or any of their other comrades.

What did surprise Gray was the understanding Gajeel eventually showed.

Gray got his ass knocked flat by the Iron Dragon Slayer. From his back on the ground, he started to spit out what happened. With each word, the larger man had visibly calmed. After enough had come out, he'd awkwardly helped Gray to his feet (his own, gruff brand of apology.) He'd helped Gray sober up, then he'd given him a pep talk.

He'd refused to explain his own guesses as to what was going on with Juvia, insisting "who knows what goes on in that water witch's head." But he'd also insisted that whatever was going on, it for damn sure wasn't what Gray thought, which was that he'd hurt her too badly for her to love him anymore.

"She's obsessed with you," the man had said, scowling in disgust. "She's always been obsessed with you. She's way too stubborn to let it go that easy. It's annoying."

By six AM, Gajeel Redfox—of all people—had talked Gray into chasing after the love of his life. He'd even used his Iron Magic to create a lockpick which got them into the archive room, where they'd found Mira's records...and Juvia's location.

He'd barely had the time to register the irony of her quest's location before he was gone, shooting Gajeel a gruff "thanks" over his shoulder and running home to pack.

It'd been raining when he finally walked into Amefurashi Village.

He hadn't consciously known where to start looking when he arrived, but his feet—following some combination of muscle memory and the fate he'd fought for so long—had carried him to the place where the word "home" had changed for him: the cabin he and Juvia had shared. Where they'd grown together. Taken care of each other.

Where he'd left her. Hurt her. Even if most of the reason to do so was because he wanted to protect her, he couldn't stop hating himself for that.

She was standing outside the place, drenched and shivering, when he got there. As if sensing his arrival as surely as he'd known where to find her, Juvia had turned to look at Gray with eyes that were glassy above flushed cheeks. She'd wavered on her feet.

As soon as she'd whispered his name, she'd toppled. Gray's bag had landed in a puddle with a splashy thunk. He'd lunged to catch her like his life depended on it.

Shouting her name had earned him no response, but pressing the back of his hand to her forehead had been enough to convince him that she had a seriously high fever.

Strangely, as worried as he'd been about her, he hadn't even thought to bring her back to Wendy or seek a nearer healer. In hindsight, he was sure that deep down, he'd realized it would do no good; she wasn't physically ill, but heartsick, just as he was. He'd felt lower than the mud gathering around his boots.

He'd been surprised to discover that he had to break into their old home, and rapidly deduced that Juvia hadn't been staying at their old cabin even though she'd been standing outside of it, both from that fact and the fact that none of her stuff was there.

As soon as he lay her in the bed which had once been his before becoming theirs, she'd begun shivering. For the first time in his life, Gray cursed that he was an Ice Wizard instead of a Fire Wizard.

He'd run outside, grabbed his bag, then come back in—only to curse again when he unclasped the bag only to discover that all its contents were soaked. Thinking quickly, he'd stripped his wet clothes, then hers. He'd climbed into bed with her.

"'M sorry, Gray-sama..." she'd slurred her sleep. "Juvia's so sorry...Juvia had to...I just had to..."

He'd shushed her, rubbing her arms to try to warm her up. "It's okay, Juvia. I know, my love. It's okay..."

He'd kept holding her and whispering soft comfort to her until she'd finally stopped shivering, at which point his frantic worry had abated enough that he could fully admit to himself how good it felt to have her in his arms, her skin against his. How warm she was. How perfectly she fit against him. How much he missed her. She was right there, as close as another person could ever be to him. Yet with how things had been between them lately and how lost she was to fever, he'd never felt further away.

Apparently, he'd fallen asleep at some point, because when he awoke, it was to the rising sun blazing at him from the center of the cabin window. Ignoring his body's reaction to waking up in the arms of the very naked, beautiful woman he happened to be in love with, Gray had instantly dropped his hand to Juvia's forehead, sighing in relief when it became clear her fever had reduced. She wasn't better, but she was getting there.

Quickly figuring out what needed done, he'd dropped a tender kiss to her warm forehead, murmuring a threat against her sweaty hairline: "You'd better not even think of running away again, crazy woman. We are going to talk when I get back."

Gray had dressed, glanced back, and left. He'd met up with he client—a rich and unfortunately good-looking asshole about Gray's age who was way too disappointed Juvia, herself, wasn't the one who'd shown up. Through gritted teeth, Gray informed the bastard it would be a couple days before he and his partner (he was sure to emphasize those words several times) would be able to begin investigating the dark guild threatening the area, as she'd fallen ill.

It annoyed him to no end that the creep seemed genuinely concerned about this, trying to insert himself, demand to see her, and attempting to coax Gray into revealing her location (Gray couldn't help the pleasure and hope which rose in his chest, when he learned she hadn't told this guy wherever it was she was staying; obviously, she'd had no interest in sharing that information.)

The client had thrown a rich boy tantrum when Gray refused to tell him anything, but ultimately let him go when Gray promised Juvia would be there in a couple days (not bothering to mention that he would absolutely be there, too.)

He'd gone to pick up medicine and food. He'd grabbed all the ingredients he could remember for something hearty, mild, and delicious she used to make him when they lived together, a chicken stew that tasted like something he could remember from childhood. Those ingredients, medicine, ginger tea...anything he could think of that might help her feel better, he purchased, barely noting price.

Juvia had been waiting on the porch wrapped only in a blanket when he returned, flushed with both fever and anger.

They'd both been pissed at each other. While Gray locked horns with Juvia's amorous creep of a client, she had apparently been discovered by the landlord who owned their old cabin and only barely managed to talk him out of his anger, ultimately having to pay double their old monthly rent to keep him from calling the authorities—all while wrapped only in a blanket.

A brief yelling match had ensued. It ended when Juvia began coughing rather violently, Gray dropping his groceries in the mud to run to her. Even as she insisted she was fine, he'd ushered her into the cabin, forcing her to sit before he went back out to grab the food he'd bought.

Her face had gone funny when he began grouchily unloading chicken, rice, broth, veggies, and herbs. When he (somewhat defensively) asked what the hell she was staring at, she'd haltingly asked if he'd bought all of that for her. Exasperated, he'd told her of course he had, she'd had him worried sick.

The groceries had been abandoned when she burst into tears.

It had taken several minutes of heart-wrenching sobs on Juvia's part and coaxing on Gray's for the conversation to actually begin.

During their ugly fight in his apartment, she'd exploded.

Here, in the lonely home they'd once shared, she imploded.

While the groceries thawed and dripped on the kitchen counter, Juvia sobbed the whole, messy, painful truth into his chest. She told him everything. She told him how, deep down, she'd always known she wasn't worthy of having her love reciprocated by him. It had been true from the moment they'd met, when she'd been part of Phantom Lord, but remained true no matter how long she'd been at Fairy Tail. That was how she'd put it: "I always knew I wasn't worthy of Gray-sama's love." Not only because of her past, but because of how annoying she was. How gloomy. How creepy and obnoxious.

Gray hadn't even had time to express his horror at the fact she thought those things before she'd been plowing on, her tears only getting thicker and her words only making his heart sink lower.

She said knowing she didn't deserve his love had turned to knowing she didn't deserve to love him at all, when she'd killed Keyes to free Gray's father from his undead life. But even though "Gray-sama had been wonderful enough to forgive Juvia," she'd continued to hate herself, deep down.

She told him that sharing a life in the cabin they were currently in had, for her, been the sweetest kind of torture. That she'd never been so happy—and never felt more undeserving. For the first time, she told him that she'd only had one lover before Gray, some piece of shit named "Bora" who'd never cared about her or her pleasure. Gray had been nothing like him, attentive, caring, and as invested in her pleasure as he was in his own. At first, feeling so cared for had been as overwhelming as it was amazing, but by the time Gray started to pull away from her for his mission, the overwhelmed feelings had slowly begun to fade, letting her forget everything but the happiness she felt with him.

Juvia told him that the day he abandoned her to infiltrate Avatar, everything which she'd started to believe could feel right began to feel wrong, and everything which had felt wrong began to feel right. She'd never felt she deserved to be loved by Gray the way she loved him. Being left by him had, in a horrible way, made her feel like the world was how it was supposed to be.

But it had also ripped her apart.

It had destroyed any confidence she'd begun to gain in herself.

She told him that she resented being abandoned. Resented not being told about his mission to infiltrate a Dark Guild, not just because of their relationship, but because she had once been in a Dark Guild, and could potentially have helped his and Erza's Mission. She'd not only felt betrayed on a personal level, but disrespected as a Mage with no small amount of skill and experience.

It was a side to the issue which he had, shameflly, never considered.

He was mortified when she'd finally let herself chastise him for this—especially when he'd tried to defend himself by bringing up details of his mission only to be instantly struck down and ripped apart by someone who was, in fact, very obviously more knowledgeable about the inner workings of Dark Guilds than either he or Erza ever had been. Hell, Juvia could probably have run the mission almost as well as Jellal had.

For the first time, he saw just how beneficial it would have been to have her on board, despite Erza urging him not to get her involved. He should've gone against her orders, asked forgiveness instead of permission. Over the course of that one conversation, it was clear that having her on board would have shortened the length of their mission by probably several months.

But worse than the benefits they'd missed out on, in infiltrating Avatar, worse than the fact that she resented him, was her admission that she hated herself for that resentment.

She'd apologized. So many times. Too many times to count. Each apology was another crack in Gray's heart. He'd tried to ask her to stop, but they'd just kept slipping out anyway. It was like she couldn't help it.

She'd told him that over time, as she got to know the other women in Fairy Tail—Lucy, Cana, and Levy—she'd realized just how unworthy she was of the care Gray held for even just his friends. She just hadn't been forced to confront her own lacking sense of self-worth...until he openly reciprocated her feelings.

She said that the second he confessed, part of her felt wrong. Like she'd donned someone else's skin—someone who was worth being loved by Gray. Her guilt, her knowledge that she wasn't worthy of him, her bitterness, her self-hatred...all of it had come rushing to the surface.

She told him that, as unworthy as she'd felt, she'd been too selfish to reject him. Too angry at the thought of him being with someone else. Her own selfishness made her feel even worse than before. She'd been determined to be worthy of him, and so she had sought to pay every ounce of love he gave her three times over. At least.

It hadn't made her feel any better. No matter how hard she tried to be sure to pay him back, every time Gray took her on a date or made love to her, it made her skin crawl, because she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve his love, his affection, or even his attention. He deserved better, and she was nowhere close to deserving him. She never would be.

If there had been even one last, single sliver of a doubt as to how he felt about this woman, it died then and there. Nothing—not his own guilt, being screamed at, or being broken up with—nothing could hurt worse than being made aware of what a hard time she was having. Learning just how badly she'd been dissociating during all their most precious moments. How much pain she was in. How little she thought of herself. How deep her scars ran.

He'd have given anything to take her pain away. He'd have given anything to change it. Right then, he couldn't think of a single thing he wouldn't have done to make her see herself as he saw her: the energetic, caring, fierce Mage he'd come to know. The woman who always eclipsed everything else for just a second, the first time he saw her every day.

He'd wanted to tell her all that, and more. He wanted to apologize. He'd wanted to tell her how badly he missed her after he'd left her here, that this place had been home for him, too. He'd wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, that no day without her smile even felt real, but his voice had been stuck behind a lump of misery and all he'd been able to do, for a very long time, was lay in their bed and hold her while she cried the rest of it out. He wasn't too ashamed to admit he lost a couple tears in her hair, too.

Over the twilight of time it had taken for her sobs to turn hoarse, then to whimpers, then sniffles, guilt, emotional exhaustion, an anguish washed over Gray in their turn.

Until finally, he hardened all of those feelings into resolve.

"I'm really thankful that you're here. For always being beside me..."

Those were the words Gray had said to her before Alvarez, and he'd meant them. For years, Juvia had done nothing but be there for him. Even when he didn't want her there, she stayed right next to him, quietly piecing together his heart and his trust. It killed him that the woman who'd confronted him with her love, made him face down his own weakness, always thought of him, and helped him so much more than he could ever truly thank her for had been hiding so much of her own pain. He wished she would have told him any of this all the times he'd pushed and asked.

But he couldn't blame her for that. Maybe she hadn't opened up to him before then, but her mentions of her days in Phantom and of that shithead ex of hers had driven home, with stark clarity, a realization he wished he'd made a lot sooner: Juvia didn't know how to open up like Gray had tried to demand, because she hadn't grown up somewhere like Fairy Tail.

Unlike Gray and Natsu and the others, she hadn't been taught to bare her pain, hadn't always known there would be someone to listen to her, cry with her, be on her side. While Gray had been fought, teased, and accepted for exactly who he was (more often his whole self than not) Juvia had been abandoned by every single person in her life except Gajeel and those who'd wanted to use her for their own ends. Gray abandoning her had only confirmed what she'd been taught was inevitable.

But the Ice Mage wouldn't linger on that. He wouldn't give any more time to despair.

It was his turn now, he realized. His turn to stay beside her even when it was hard, and do the work. Now, he just had to figure out how. But while he'd been trying to do that, had been gathering his words, Juvia had recovered enough to speak once more.

She'd apologized again. She'd told him that she knew this was too much, that all of this was too much...that she was too much. For the times they'd shared, she thanked him quietly, eyes bright with yet more tears and refusing to meet his as she continued that she'd had to let Gray go because she wanted him to be happy, and she'd finally, finally realized she could never do that for him, not really. Then she'd tried to push him away, and as Gray had tightened his grip, he'd realized he didn't need to figure out what to do, what to say, or how to love her.

She'd been showing him all along.

After a deep breath, the words had come low, and easier than he'd thought. He told her she was right, all of this was a lot...but also that he was so, so happy she'd finally told him what was really going on. He'd been as gentle as possible when he told her he could see how difficult and scary it had been for her to open up about all this and that he was proud of how brave she'd been for doing so, but she'd started crying again anyway, so he'd had to carry on with a shakier, hoarser voice.

He'd apologized. For everything. For not taking her feelings seriously for so long, for not seeing her when she needed to be seen, for leaving her behind and hurting her so badly she'd gotten sick. He hadn't been dismissing her abilities as a Mage so much as he'd been trying to protect her, but that was no excuse. "High-handed and cruel" was a generous way to describe his behavior, and he finally saw that. He'd told her that if he could take it back, he would. But he couldn't. He could only promise to never, ever leave her like that again, and he was more than ready to make that promise. He had been for a long time, since well into the 1oo Years Quest. If she'd only give him another chance, he'd show her.

At this point, Juvia had obviously started to twig that this conversation wasn't going to go how she planned, with Gray accepting she was too burdensome and unworthy for him and leaving her alone like everyone else had left her, because she'd started kicking up a fuss, forcing him to hold her there again.

"Let Juvia go, Gray-sama!" she'd demanded shakily, sounding like she was barely clinging to her determination. But Gray had refused. He refused to let her go like this, not until she'd heard him out.

As brief as the ensuing argument had been, it was also one of the most frustrating conversations Gray had ever taken part in (and he'd fought Natsu on basically every cock-and-bull-ass plan he'd ever come up with.)

He'd tried desperately to insist that while Juvia could be creepy and he did find rain somewhat gloomy, she was not worthless or annoying or obnoxious. He'd tried to tell her that she did make him happy. He'd tried to tell her how he felt about her.

Juvia had not responded well.

A wall had slammed up in her eyes, the same blank one he'd met on that fateful, rainy day so long ago. As she'd kept denying, and he'd kept pushing, their voices had gotten louder. Eventually, Gray had realized it was raining outside the window next to their bed again, and that was the one thing that had forced him to take a step back from his own frustration. Lucky, because if he hadn't, he might have flown off the handle and ruined everything all over again.

Looking down at her, he'd forced himself to cool off and realized he was being unfair; he was asking her to take an entire journey in one leap, to unlearn a lifetime's-worth of lessons about her own worthlessness over the course of a single conversation. No one could do that. It was an unreasonable thing to ask.

And so, when he'd finally gathered his wits and perspective enough, he'd said, "You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to agree with my feelings for you. But you have to believe that they're real...and you have to at least consider my side."

Juvia's eyes had gone wide. As they regained their sparkle, he'd refused to break eye contact. Slowly, the rain had stopped, leaving them in the silent hut.

After what felt like years, she'd shakily whispered, "O-okay."

And Gray had known that they were finally, finally getting somewhere.

Quietly and slowly, with their hands intertwined between their chests and their foreheads pressed together, they'd pieced together a fragile plan. They would stay together and be as they had been, but from now on, they were both going to make a concerted effort to be honest and rebuild trust. Gray started by admitting that missing out on Quests with his team had really started to bum him out, and while this seemed to sadden Juvia at first, she admitted after some thought that in being with Gray, she hadn't been nurturing her own friendships with her friends like Gajeel and Meredy. Lucy had also asked for help training her in Water Magic, and Juvia had declined so far even though she was interested in having someone to teach.

Gray had encouraged all of this...and he'd encouraged her to visit Porlyusica, too, when they got home. The old lady was hardly a Mental Healer, but she'd hopefully be able to help them find someone who was, someone objective and removed from the situation who Juvia could talk to openly. One thing which had sunk in fully for Gray over the course of Juvia's heartrending speech was that it was going to take a lot of time, work, and love to get Juvia to a better place. There was no way the two of them could do it alone.

They'd talked and planned until their voices were hoarse...and then they'd not talked for even longer. Juvia once again dropped the "-sama." She let him come to her. She didn't just surrender herself to him the way she had when they had each other before in their cabin, she'd given him even more—in his arms, she'd bared a small and precious part of herself Gray had never even realized she hid from him.

Over the course of the month they spent in that cabin, he'd cherished everything she gave him more than most men could've in twice the amount of time. How they'd managed to deal with that Dark Guild months and months ahead of schedule, he would never understand, because his head had never been less in the game. Neither of them had been able keep their hands off each other for more than an hour when they were alone together.

Neither had been particularly disappointed when that crotchety old landlord refused to give them back any part of their months' rent. Instead, they'd stayed till June was up breaking the place in thoroughly.

"It's payback for him being a jackass to you!" Gray had once playfully defended against her neck, pinning her against the kitchen counter and grinning as she gigglingly scolded him.

He only prayed no one ever took a UV Lacrima to the inside of that place. They'd go blind. He'd taken her on the couch, over it, against the walls, on the counters and tables, and in more positions than he'd previously known existed in that bed. When they returned home, a bunch of people had pointed out that they both looked like they'd lost weight. Gray didn't doubt it, after all the—

"...seriously, none of you know what it's like, every time we travel...OI, STRIPPER, YOU MAYBE WANNA QUIT EYE-FUCKING YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN WE'RE IN PUBLIC, YOU GODDAMN PERVERT?!"

The absolute last voice Gray wanted to hear when he was thinking about such great, intimate things yanked him out of his reflections in the most unpleasant of ways. An expression crossed between a scowl and a grimace consumed his features.

"Gray-sama!?" Juvia spluttered, craning her neck to peer at them over her shoulder with wide eyes. She looked half-scolding, half...affected as her cheeks went rose red.

Gray felt his own face grow hot as he turned to glare furiously at the pink-haired, disgusted-and-disgusting-looking bane of his existence.

"Would you keep your voice down, Dragon Boy?! I was not 'eye-fucking' Juvia!" His cheeks burned hotter as an elderly woman passing by shot him a deeply disapproving look.

"The hell you weren't!" Natsu snapped, drawing even more attention. "I could see all your gross, perverted thoughts right there in those droopy eyes of yours!"

"ARGH! So what?!" Gray just wanted this fight to be over, and figured that sort of admitting to what he'd been doing was the quickest way to make that happen. "Can't a guy even look at his girlfriend without pink-haired, flame-brained losers getting involved?!"

"THE HELL YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

"OH, SO YOU'RE DEAF AS WELL AS BRAINLESS, NOW?!"

"THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD IT! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU ICY BAS—"

"That's enough."

Uncharacteristically subdued and uninvolved though Erza's command was, it was enough to have both Natsu and Gray cringing and sweating in fear almost instantly.

"A-aye!" they squeaked, then sighed in relief as she shot them one last glare and clanked away.

"Ah, it always goes this way." Happy folded his little blue sausage arms over his chest and tsked. "If only Gray had kept his perverted eyes on himself, we wouldn't even be talking about this."

"And just how the heck is one supposed to 'keep their eyes on themselves', huh?" Gray growled up at the floating Exceed.

"By not being you, apparently!" he cackled back, Natsu soon joining him in his obnoxious guffawing.

"Why, you—! Get back here, you little shit!" Gray made a random grab at the little creep only to curse as he missed his tail by about a centimeter.

Meanwhile, Juvia clasped her still-red cheeks with her hands and donned an all-too-familiar, starry-eyed expression. "Juvia does not mind at all if Gray-sama...covets Juvia in public! How Juvia adores Gray-sama's passion!"

Gray flinched as if he'd been whipped in the back. In a second flat, he was blushing again. "O-oi, Juvia—!" he started, scrambling to find a way to get her to calm down before she came onto him in public.

(Again.)

"However," she continued before he figured out how to distract her, turning to look at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "If Gray-sama is going to covet Juvia on a public street, Juvia thinks he should at least wear clothes."

"Wha—?! CRAP!" Gray shouted as soon as he realized he'd stripped down to his boxers. "When did that happen!?"

Juvia wrinkled her nose cutely and giggled while he scrambled for his clothes. When he was finally yanking his jacket on, he shot her a playful glare only for his lips to quirk when she winked and sauntered after Erza.

That little...she'll get it later, he thought with a huff before shoving his hands in his pockets and strolling after her. He was well aware that he was full-on grinning, now, and didn't care in the slightest.

Little interactions like that...those were the fruits of all the hard work they—especially Juvia—had done when they got back from that S-Class mission. Gray had been prepared for it to be grueling and difficult, to fight. "Relationships take work" was a piece of advice he'd heard plenty, since he started asking for advice about how to love Juvia.

But what he'd never expected to find was that, while it was hard sometimes, it was work he was all too willing and capable of doing, because it was for her. For them. And what no one had told him was that, while loving someone meant their pain became yours, it also meant that their triumphs became yours, too.

Some days had been worse than others. Even though she'd been talking to a friend of Porlyusica's and made an impressive effort to spend more times with her friends, there were moments where Gray had felt like Juvia was back at square one. But he'd been there beside her, encouraging her every step of the way while she healed, learned that he wouldn't leave her again, learned that she was worth all of it. And slowly but surely, she'd healed.

That was what no one had told him: that every time she huffed at him to do his own laundry, teased him, sassed him into taking her on a real date, and even turned him down for sex, that he would feel such a huge rush of pride and triumph.

It was true that the road had been hard, but Gray had walked it with Juvia, and that had made every step worth it.

o(O)o

AN: Ah, sorry I don't have the time to edit this now and make it more cohesive! Also that I can't publish my next chapter of Chasing Tails just yet! I definitely, definitely will come back to edit this piece one day and make it better after I've done that. In the meantime, Happy Belated Gruvia Day!

P.S.: Fun Fact! I named this partly after one of my all-time favorite fics from a completely different fandom. The Hard Road by wthtonibelle, a Kacchako fic (from the My Hero Academia fandom) which is written in a similar way and has similar themes, only it's longer and better lol. check it out if you're so inclined!

#fairy tail #gruvia #gruvia fan fiction #gruvia fanfiction #fairy tail fanfiction #fairy tail fan fiction #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser

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hopeheartfilia · 5 months

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thinking about how it was kind of hard to be like a lucy heartfilia fan account without mostly ending up posting nalu content?

like there was definetly a lot outside of that, but it was just. a situation? somehwta idk im not thinking anything specific about it, more like how it feels like thats a thing

#fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #shes always been my favourite fairy tail characther #even in juvia or like natsu or even my bfried wendy phase #but sometimes its a bit whack. like im also personally a lucy multishipper int hat yeah nalu of course #but also lucy and cana is great and adorable #like she is bi and natsu is bi and they are in love #but theyll talk about crushes theyve had and be chill about it #also im a natsu and juvia brotp sort of persom they should be besties but thats an entierly different topic

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petri808 · 9 months

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To help with writer's block: #12 Nalu!

I hope it helps cuz I can already see it in my mind!

“You kick a ball and your shoe flies off, hitting them in the back of the head.”

Nalu Week- 7/30/23 Shenanigans @allaboutnalu

Magnolia Park, so called for the large flowering trees that dot its landscape is a favorite place for many residents of the mid-sized college town. Forty acres of grassy knolls and walking trails with park benches along the way, at any given time during daylight you’ll likely run into kids playing, joggers and bikers, and people simply taking in the fresh air. Just like a group of friends who are spread out on a large colorful blanket having a picnic on this sunny Sunday.

It’s just one of those spurs of the moment events when they ran into each other at the local supermarket that morning. They rarely have a day off that coincides, so, Lucy Heartfilia suggests they all have a picnic in the park.

“We were just about to head there, so you guys should join us!” The blonde woman beams.

Natsu Dragneel, Lucy’s boyfriend smiles. “Yeah, unless you’re busy.”

“Nah,” a male named Gray Fullbuster shrugs, “no plans.” His new girlfriend Juvia Loxar nodding in agreement as she hangs onto his arm.

Levy McGarden, another female smiles. “It’s a perfect day to hang out, right?” She turns and looks up to her taller husband Gajeel Redfox who just grunts in return. “We’re down for it.”

They pick a spot under one of the magnolia trees, thankful for the shade it provides. There’s a very light breeze that comes by now and again, but nothing that will send their blanket flying. The combination is enough to keep them cool under the warm late spring afternoon. Each couple has supplied a fair share of offerings, snacks like chips and dip or cookies, some popcorn chicken and rolled sushi from the deli, and half a dozen donuts that Gajeel tries to say are Levy’s, but they all know that’s a lie.

For a couple of hours, the friends chat about everything and nothing, catching up on how each are doing. Levy is four months pregnant, so the girls are happily chittering, asking how things are progressing. Aside from month two’s morning sickness, nothing else has been troublesome. She also relays that they hope to find out the sex in a couple of months, and the names they’ve been tossing around for whether the baby is a boy or girl. They eventually made a deal that if it’s a girl Levy will pick the name, and if a boy Gajeel, and they can’t complain about the choice. This leads into a discussion of what Lucy or Juvia would name any future kids they may have. The guys are discussing an upcoming MMA fight and who they think will win the main event. Well, mostly bickering over which fighter they think is better. It’s just a laid back, vegging kind of day where the biggest excitement is a bee that wouldn’t leave them alone for a time.

Well, that is, until Natsu suddenly grabs everyone’s attention by tapping a key from his keychain loudly on the side of a glass juice bottle. They all stop talking and turn from their conversations to see the man sitting back on his haunches, seiza style with a big smile and the reddest blush alighting his cheeks. “I’ve got an announcement.” He states plainly with a slight cracking in his voice. “Lucy, could you come closer?” He accentuates the request by gesturing to the spot in front of him.

“Okay…” Lucy’s tone drips with hesitant curiosity as she heeds the request. “What is it?”

Natsu then pulls out a single shoe from behind his back. Everyone’s eyes narrow in confusion, head tilting, or brows furrowed wondering what in the world is their friend doing. The shoe is a woman’s flat sandal, light beige with an inch deep cork/leather platform sole bottom and crisscrossed straps running over the top to secure it to the foot. It’s open-toed and an open backed slip-on sandal that Lucy recognizes instantly as her own. He holds it perched on the flat face up open palm of his left hand while cradling the side with his right as if presenting a gift. Which he is.

“Natsu why do you have my shoe?” Lucy queries, but her eyes and focus are on the tiny item tied with a ribbon to the strap. Knowing, yet not knowing exactly what it is.

“Because it’s special,” he grins. “It’s the one you wore the day we met, remember?”

“I remember, but what’s that?” She points towards the strap with a head shaking, smiling laugh. “Please don’t tell me you’re doing what I think you’re doing.”

He nods as he replies. “On a day two years ago, the wearer of this sandal stood above me as stars danced around her head and light haloed like a golden angel from Heaven…”

“Oh my god!” Lucy mutters and palms her face despite the heat flushing her cheeks and brimming smile of embarrassment overwhelms.

His grin widens even more and eyes sparkle in the sunlight as he puts the sandal down and undoes the ribbon holding the ring. “Lucy Heartfilia,” Natsu holds the ring up. “Will you be my star for the rest of our lives?”

Lucy snorts a laugh and pushes him lightly on his shoulder pretending to try and knock him over. “You total weirdo!” But also presents her left hand to him. “Of course, I will!”

After Natsu slips the engagement ring onto Lucy’s finger, he pulls her in for a sweet kiss, cradling her cheek and resting his forehead on hers as she whispers words of love through the embrace. Their bonds strength is one that couples wish for, dream of; a connection where unspoken words are communicated simply with a look in a language only known to them. It’s an endearing scene made all the sappier with the oohs and ahhs of their friends and the wows from the women over the white gold band and 1/8 carat solitaire diamond ring. It isn’t a large or fancy ring, but for Lucy, just the fact it is from Natsu is all that matters.

“But Juvia is still confused,” the woman breaks through the chatter. “Juvia doesn’t understand about the sandal.”

“Oh,” Levy laughs, “it’s about how they met.”

“It was long before we met,” Gray takes over the explanation for his girlfriend. “Lucy’s sandal hit Natsu in the head and knocked him down.” He laughs too. “It was pretty funny at the time ‘cause he had a welt on the back of his head for a week so he couldn’t sleep on it, and the guys at the academy teased him mercilessly for it.”

Juvia turns back to Lucy and Natsu with genuine curiosity in her voice. “How did it happen?”

Even for Lucy this is a memory that she’ll be sure to tell her grandchildren about one day. Of all the ways to meet someone, this is not something anyone would recommend. But it does make the story a whole lot more memorable.

Natsu perks up at Juvia’s question. “Oooh, I’ll tell the story!” He sits cross-legged and leans in with gusto. “Gray and I were jogging through the park that day ‘cause we were in training for the fire departments physical exam…”

In Lucy’s mind a vision of that long ago day floats back into her consciousness as Natsu’s voice slowly fades away and she’s transported back in time. It was sunny and comfortably warm that day in July, not too hot like a typical summer day could get. She’d done an interview earlier that morning for a magazine article she needed to write later, but since the rest of her day was open, Lucy decided to relax in the park. It’s something she often did, taking a new novel to read and finding a bench along the walking paths of Magnolia Park. That day passed along quickly unfettered to Lucy as she lost herself in the fictional story, so by the time a soccer ball rolled up and bumped her foot, she hadn’t realized three hours had already gone by.

She’d put her book down on her lap and looked up at the kid’s voices, calling to Lucy to kick their ball back to them. There was a group of children of various ages between 7 and 14 playing soccer in the adjacent open field approximately 50 feet away. It Was perched on a hill with a slight incline of about ten degrees, but sure, why not? It shouldn’t be too difficult to kick the ball up the hill. So, she stood, lining up the shot so it should go in the correct direction.

And it did! The ball headed straight towards the center of the group.

But Lucy didn’t notice the children’s squeals of joy. She only heard the cry of “Watch out!” by someone nearby. She turned to her right in the direction the male voice had come from and saw a black-haired male standing next to and over another male who’s lying on their back in the grass with their palm pressed against their forehead… and her sandal lying next to his arm. Lucy’s eyes widened in realization.

True, the ball had gone towards the kids, but her shoe flew in another direction striking a hot, pink-haired guy in the back of the head hard enough to knock him down. “Oh, no, I am so sorry!” Lucy rushed over to the two men twenty feet away, dropping to her knees. “Are you hurt?!”

The male rolled over and groaned, his eyes still blocked by his hand. “What’s that thing made of wood? It hurts like hell, but I’ll live.” He moved his hand and looked up towards the female voice, squinting as his eyes readjusted to the sunlight. He blinks a couple times and tips his head slightly. “Did I die and you’re an Angel taking me to heaven?”

“Oh, brother…” The black-haired male rolled his eyes at the lame pick-up line. “Idiot.”

Completely flustered, Lucy’s face turned cherry red. It had been a while since a guy had tried to talk to her, and this one was certainly in the top 5 of hottest guys who’ve hit on her before. “N-No, not an angel,” she stammered, “a journalist.” She reached over and helped him to a sitting position. “Maybe I should grab some ice,” she suggested when noticing the angry bump developing on the back of the man’s head.

The man shook his head no. “What you can do is tell me your name.”

“Lucy.” She responded. “And you are?”

“Nice to me you Lucy,” he held out his hand, “I’m Natsu…”

The memory of him flashing his pearly white smile that sent a shiver through her soul, fades away back to the present, and being surrounded once again by their best friends. If someone had asked her if two years later, she’d be back in the same park being proposed to with the same shoe by the guy who’d been hit by said shoe in the head Lucy would’ve said they were in a fairytale. Well, and here she is. She smiles as Natsu reaches the end of the story.

“And that’s when I asked for her number, and we’ve been together ever since.” Natsu proudly proclaims.

“Juvia thinks that’s such a sweet story!”

Levy chuckles. “I remember when she called me that night to tell me about Natsu. She couldn’t stop talking about how hot he was.”

“Hey!”

Lucy squeals and dives to cover Levy’s mouth, but Levy ducks and continues. “She was known for her soccer kick in high school,” she laughs, “but never would’ve guessed she’d catch a guy with it!”

“Ha Ha,” Lucy rolls her eyes feigning that she’s not embarrassed despite the blush in her cheeks. “It’s not like I was trying to, but at least it’ll be a funny story to tell the kids one day.”

Natsu suddenly perks up in confused excitement. Did he hear what he thinks he heard? “Huh, kids?!”

#naluweek2023 #nalu #nalu fan fiction #fairytail

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celestialulu · 5 months

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Songs I'd give to Lucy if she was a Kpop soloist and why:

title is self explanatory and some of these might just be based on vibes and sound rather than as a whole but I tried to keep it also based on the general dance/performance and lyrically aswell. idk this is just for fun because ive thought about this a bit lol ALSO i tried to keep these as soloist songs but i think a lot of group songs fit her so most of them are just group songs lol

ALSO a lot of these are nalu based but thats unavoidable because theyre very intertwined lmao

also also this ended being a longer post than i expected and i dont think anyones gonna read everything but yeah

Herione by Sunmi

I mean first of all the title is LITERALLY called Heroine like... come on. This song for me is very nalu core like whenever i hear this song the lyrics scream nalu from a Lucy POV, for me anyway. Mostly the lyrics about a hero, lucy herself has agreed that natsu is kinda like her hero in the RAVE x FT crossover little comic if you didn't know. I would said the sound kinda fits lucy its not too brooding but not too crazy and hyper and its a good middle ground that I think would suit her :)

POP! by Nayeon

Okay so I was deciding between killin' me good and pop for this list because I think they both fit her in diff ways but I think pop is better for her because its whimsical and silly and happy with a bit of cunty and that's very lucy for me <3 but in general I think both songs would work for her but anyway yes pop is very silly and fun and cute and i think thats very fitting for lucy and she would rock the pop m/v outfits

Queen of Hearts by TWICE

Okay this one is both based lyrically and vibe vise. I think it sounds like something lucy would perform its a powerful song but not too over the top and a good middle ground that would suit lucy. anyways the lyrics from the first chorus:

its VERY fitting for lucy leaving her old life behind and starting new and becoming bigger and better yes yes yes and the lyrics about being a queen yes she is a queen and she will rule the world!!!

BONVOYAGE by Dreamcatcher

i loveee this song and honestly a lot of dreamcatcher songs I imagine nalu scenarios in my head to them because theyre songs are sooo catchy and fast paced I can imagine the craziest things,, anyway the reason I chose this song was mostly the lyrics i mean things like

i cant explain it but this is definitely them theyre soulmates and the "maybe you dont but i love you" definitely suits lucy i specifically thought of the line in 100yq of her thinking natsu doesnt like her in that way but you know she loves him anyway and they'll be together forever in his words etc etc

again i cant really explain how this is them but if i had to i would say the way theyre really close and best friends and yet have fallen in love with eachother but are hurting eachother going in circles with their relationship and not confronting their fears about losing each other either quite literally or their relationship and it's gonna build up until it explodes lol

okay last part these lyrics really remind me of the ending in dragon cry when lucy tells natsu that even with the different conflicting parts of him she knows him and she knows that even with all of that hes still just natsu and its what he needed to hear and she just knew that so :)

and also other than the lyrics I think the song can be very lucy sounding,, to me anyways :D

enchanted night ~ 白夜 by Billlie

Okay after the essay on the last one I wanted to do a song that has a more simple explanation,, so Billlie have amazing songs theyre one of my favourite kpop groups and if you haven't listened to their songs they bang so hard please listen <3 anyways the lyrics are all based around of course an enchanted night with lines like "The moon is freaky, the stars are dreamy" etc etc which of course suits lucy due to the stars and such but also the moon part made me think of the galuna island arc and of course the whole eclipse gate and such so yeah! (also the song sounds soft and pretty like lucy.. (: )

Playing with Fire by Blackpink

another song based off of lyrics being very nalu i mean... playing with fire as a title is very nalu,, but also the lyrics are about going too far in love and getting hurt getting burnt etc etc which like you know that one scene in 100yq and like the whole slow burn thing they have,, its very fitting to me imo and also the sound suits lucy its again middle ground powerful but not too overwhelming to the point where its too powerful that it wouldnt suit lucy (not saying she isnt powerful she has her moments which is why i think a middle ground is good)

Queencard - G-IDLE

this might be a hit or miss for some people,, but hear me outtttt... I wanted to add a song thats very high confidence and powerful but a lot of songs in mind were too dark and serious but and I feel like this fits the most,, its feminine and fun with confidence and cunt slayage and its silly and fun and its so lucy to me its so so so lucy too me. I need to draw lucy in a queencard stage outfit like yesterday thank yew also i know a lot of people thought the lyrics were cringe and this that blah blah blah but i think adds to the fun and it kinda fits lucy sometimes shes a little silly and girlfail and thats okay we love her for it

(I will leave it there for now but theres defo more songs out there for this but I dont want to make this toooo long and obv i included these songs a lot because I like them and some other people may not like the songs or agree that they suit lucy but its how I view them and its just for fun :)

#this is curated to a specific audience i hope it finds its way there #fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #fairy tail lucy

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aranarumei · 2 months

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OH ALSO gajevy fairy tail :3

ask me about a ship and I’ll give my opinions + classify them as does / doesn’t make sense, does / doesn’t compel me

heyyy sunnfish I picked this one to answer first bc I thought it’d be the shorter answer and then it got a little bit long so let’s put this guy under the cut

gajevy’s really interesting to me out of the Big 4 (nalu, gajevy, gruvia, jerza) because I think that without a doubt, they’ve fared the best canon-wise? but out of the big 4, they’re also the ship I’ve always been least invested in, so I’m gonna say: makes sense, doesn’t compel me.

feel like I can hear some ghost screaming at me like. how the hell were u more invested in gruvia. I will get to that. nalu I’m still invested in… it’s the kind of thing where lucy and natsu just have to be best friends for me. I like other ships with natsu and lucy just fine, so long as it doesn’t demean their relationship. because I truly believe in how dear those two are to each other. for me, as fairy tail progresses, I think the characters in general… got a little worse, haha. so natsu got dumbed down a lot, and a lot of the nalu moments weren’t less genuine sincerity and more jokes or bad fanservice. I also felt like lucy as a character kind of got fumbled with the star dresses… they certainly could have worked but I just feel like it made her fights less interesting? with gray and juvia, I was obsessed with juvia as a kid, and still am… I genuinely think that the gray & juvia is really interesting in the beginning, where juvia’s this gloomy, kinda shy, kinda creepy, kinda sweet stalker. what really worked for me there was that there wasn’t a huge push for gray to be actually receptive to any of juvia’s feelings, and the first big moments juvia had were like… her friendship with lucy and that first unison raid, as well as that moment in the battle of fairy tail where she sacrifices herself for cana. I think those two moments really demonstrate juvia in her best moments… maybe she’s a little standoffish, but she just wants friends, and her love for others is evident. so I feel like something interesting could have happened with her and gray if we got these moments of her making friends and then having a real, proper transition of their relationship from blind adoration to actual friends. gray gets to realize that juvia’s weird as hell but deeply kind and actually considerate of his feelings, and juvia gets to see gray as more of a person than someone she’s mostly watching from afar. Instead, juvia’s possessiveness gets turned up to a point where it’s grating, and it feels like gray gets bullied into liking her by the plot. not great for either of them! my personal gruvia ending has them becoming like. good friends that are just a little extra-protective of each other because of the things they’ve been through. and for jellal and erza we’ve talked about this one. insanely good setup and execution, probably the one I wanted canonicity for most, and then post-timeskip I think it sucks.

and then there’s gajeel and levy! I think this works remarkably well in canon. having him be properly repentant and making it up to levy in particular does a lot in terms of integrating him into the guild. gajeel’s just one of the most solid characters in fairy tail I think. really fun guy to watch. they’re also the only ship out of the big four who really achieved canon status I think. Part of my non-investment in them does stem from that, because it’s like… well, canon treated them well enough so I’m not making giant sermons on what could have been, because I never got to a part where I was like. you know what? this SUCKS and I could do better. but what I really don’t like about canon is that I think the relationship ended up doing a real disservice to levy’s character. rather than be her own person, she ends up as just adjacent to gajeel… which is a real shame! solid script is so interesting, and she’s a good support character, so I don’t like it when she gets cast into the role of like. just the girl gajeel likes. so I actually like gajevy fic a lot when it treats them like yknow, actual people. I think my opinions on gajevy are just not too strong, which is why they don’t really compel me compel me. I want to see more of team shadowgear working as a unit, and like, gajeel and levy having interactions that don’t just sum up to gajeel protecting her and levy maybe trying to help him out. Oh man you know what was really good actually. fairy tail gaiden: rhodonite is this little spinoff bit that was written by a different author, but it’s really really good. I am obsessed with that version of gajeel and levy. actually that series is so good in general. some of my favorite members of the fairy tail ensemble. juvia’s here so we get like. gajeel-juvia friendship crumbs which I lost my mind about.

so basically my thoughts are like. I probably wouldn’t write gajevy personally as anything but lightly existing in the background in a nice way, but if it’s written well I’m so on board

#sunnfish #ask #ask game #kiri.txt #really funny how I spend most of this ask talking about other things #im always like that tho. listen. its context!! its context!!#in this essay i will

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mochiwrites · 1 year

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which dynamic do you think scarian is in the Fairy tale vers? me personally? im thinkin a bit like jerza but also not? mmmaybe gajevy (its impossible to pin their dynamic into any ship obvi but this is just a lil fun thing lol)

OHMYGOD YOU’VE JUST BECOME THE BEST PERSON EVER TO ME

ohmygod okay okay okay. I’m apologizing SO hard in advance for how nerdy I’m about to get.

jerza and gajevy are 100% valid answers!!! I can see scarian’s dynamic in both those pairs and I 🥺

if we take scarian at their CORE dynamic, ignoring the angst (we’ll get to that >:3) and with the two of them at their rawest form as characters, my answer is nalu.

and no it’s not just because they’re my favorite fairy tail ship I promise — well, maybe it does play a small part :3

let’s look at natsu and lucy first here, and then apply scarian.

SO. natsu and lucy. very much the dynamic of “a follows b around and tries to stop b from doing something Stupid” but there’s more! natsu and lucy hold a lot of respect for one another, as well as trust. there’s this bond between them that goes a lot farther than any kind of label. it’s the way they know one another like the back of their hand, and their communication doesn’t even need to be verbal for the other to pick up on the message.

natsu can read lucy like an open book. lucy can Mostly read natsu like an open book.

lucy is the One person who can pull natsu back before he goes too far. and natsu encourages lucy when she’s close to giving up.

and their banter???? the way lucy tries to keep natsu from doing something dumb but somehow gets roped into whatever he’s going to do anyways?

lucy is very much natsu’s home, as evident by the number of times he’s snuck into her apartment. and lucy is Not quiet about her complaints about natsu. but at the end of the day, they have each other’s backs and I’m going to stop before I go Any Further or else I’m going to derail this ENTIRE thing.

ahem. right. so. Scarian.

already you kinda start to see the similarities between the two pairs, yeah? grian tries to stop scar from doing stupid thing, somehow gets roped into it anyways. and he very much complains the entire time, even as he helps.

scarian trust each other a lot. and you can see that in third life and double life. I know people seem to get on scarian about their “lack of communication” but in actuality their communication in double life was just fine. they’ve done this rodeo before. they know how to trust and communicate with one another without needing to do it verbally.

they know how to trust each other.

they hold each other as equals, they joke and banter and grian knows how to read scar very well. scar can… sort of read grian? but grian is a very complex character to begin with.

also scar just…. fits as natsu so well? dorky, lovable himbo who likes to burn things. also early ft!natsu with his chest out. gestures to scitties. enough said

and grian Mostly fits in that role as lucy. he’s the one pulling scar back (or at least trying to), complaining whenever scar tries to do something dumb but still helping him anyways.

scar and grian have a mutual trust and respect for one another, much like natsu and lucy do.

and I mean. C’mon. grian killing scar in third life? natsu seeing future lucy die? OR OR OR natsu and happy disappearing for like a year without telling lucy in person because he wanted to become stronger? grian pushing scar away after third life without telling him why because he didn’t want to hurt scar again?

also !!!!! grian and scar are ALWAYS attached at the hip, much like natsu and lucy.

I think out of all the fairy tail ships, scarian most closely fits nalu, nerd rant over LMAO

god one of these days I’m going to write such a self indulgent hermitcraft fairy tail au

#mochi speaks #scarian #hermitshipping #THANK YOU FOR ASKING ME THIS #GENUINELY MADE MY NIGHT 🥺#also sorry for going full nerd on you LMAO

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firedragonironfist · 1 year

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Fairy Tail fic rec part 2!! Since people liked the last one and I have a few more :)) again, this is only Nalu bc I don't really read anything else.

1. Thank You, Nashi by flamefairyx777 (fanfiction.net) (complete) (PG)

Next generation fic! Canon compliant, kind of. As you can probably tell by the title. It's told in Nashi's POV, and kind of like an adventure fic. I've read this SO MANY TIMES you have no idea. Very satisfying. 8/10. Nalu isn't established, they get together later in the fic. There's a sequel, I think?

2. Beach Houses Are Where We Play by notjustanyfangirl (fanfiction.net) (complete) (+18)

Au. This is Natsu x Lucy x Gray. They're polygamous. It sounds a bit weird but HEAR ME OUT OK. They work well together and Lucy being pampered, plus Natsu and Gray wrestling it out? What more do you need. 9/10.

3. Pass It On by LoneStorm (fanfiction.net) (complete) (PG)

Au. I love this it's soooo cute. Natsu's characterisation in this isn't Canon, but he's awkward af and it's funny to read. Kind of sad too, but mostly funny. Very cute and fulfilling. 7/10.

4. Bad Behavior by 13bean (fanfiction.net) (complete) (PG)

Canon compliant. I sobbed. I'm still sobbing. It's not even sad, just hit me right in the feels. I miss natsu and lucy. 10/10. Most Canon of fics. So far.

5. Telling tales by tremordragon (fanfiction.net) (complete) (PG)

Canon compliant. They put on a play with natsu and lucy as the main leads :) 7/10

And that's about it. I'll probably never find a good one ever again :(.

#nalu #naluficrec #natsuxlucy #natsu #dragneel #lucy #fairytailficrec #fairy tail

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neontokyoo · 1 year

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Ask Game For Writers

Do you listen to music while you write?

I actually have two different writing playlists. I usually write with classical music or music that goes with the story and gets the creativity flowing because if it’s super quiet my mind tends to wander and I end up leaving my current draft to write a new one and then my perfectionist ass can’t keep up with my own thoughts and all of my documents are mixed up and it’s total chaos.

2. Computer or pen and paper?

Sometimes I will write in a notebook when I’m in the car or I’m not able to type anything just because I get really good ideas at the most random times. I usually type it though because I feel like it’s a lot easier for my left-handed ass.

3. Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published?

I have never actually published anything due to copyright because none of it is mine except for the storylines. I could probably publish an original work in the future, but I don’t really think I would want to because writing is just a hobby I do for fun and I really don’t care too much about getting famous or making money off of it.

4. How much writing do you get done on an average day?

I have absolutely no idea. Probably like five to ten thousand words a day because of requests and my current WIPs.

5. Single or multiple POV?

I mostly write in second person. However, I like to write about multiple characters’ thoughts and feelings.

6. Standalone or series?

I enjoy both. Although, in reality, I have never actually published a series yet because my mind usually wanders away from it before I can even finish it.

7. Oldest WIP.

Probably one of my unpublished Wattpad stories, Opposites (Sherlock x reader). I’m trying to get it published whenever I can, though. I just haven't had the inspiration or motivation to continue writing it yet.

8. When did you start writing?

I started writing about four years ago when I was in my Fairy Tail obsession.

9. What was the first story you've ever written?

I don’t even remember what it was but I remember it being a NaLu fanfiction for Fairy Tail.

10. What genres have you written for so far?

Romance, fanfiction (fluff and angst if those count).

11. Have you ever written for a fandom without reading other fanfictions from that fandom?

Yes. I do that with every single fandom I find myself obsessing over. I did it with Haikyuu, Fairy Tail, MHA, Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, and Inuyasha.

12. Have you ever written a fic and never decided to publish it? Why?

Yes. Because I feel like I’ve been copying the Yuumori anime and Manga too much and I have A LOT of editing to do before I publish it.

13. What is the biggest change between when you started writing in fandom and today?

Probably the tone (I think). When I first started writing when I was like fourteen, I was really unorganized and scattered. I was using numbers instead of typing out “she was fourteen years old” and it really sucked now that I look back at it. Now my writing is more formal when I write stories because I type how I think instead of how I speak. Which is probably why everything else isn’t as organized because when it’s not a fanfic I stype how I speak.

14. In your opinion, what’s your most underrated fic?

I feel like in general my most underrated fic is the Sherlock x reader wedding one. Again, I love William more than anything, but this one had me in tears. You know those certain parts of either a story your writing or somebody elses story and it has you like screaming into your pillow for 10 minutes after every paragraph? That was literally me while writing that one.

15. What’s your most overrated fic?

In my opinion, it’s either just every single William fanfic I write, or it’s the amount of Mycroft angst requests I receive every day. It seriously makes me giggle with how angsty Mycroft’s relationship with the reader is. Has me giggling while I bawl my eyes out while I write it. That’s officially my new genre now: Mycroft Angst.

16. Has there ever been everyone who’s made you freak out because they’ve read your work and followed/favorited/reviewed your work?

Okay, when I first started posting on Tumblr it was because I happened to run into @moriartyluver and a few other blogs that I don’t remember because I never saved anything and let me tell you when I started getting notifications that said they either liked, reblogged, etc., my heart nearly stopped beating because I really wasn’t expecting for the inspiration to end up reacting to my work and it just made me really happy. It’s unbelievable how quickly my blog is growing and how many people enjoy it. I love you all! <3

17. What’s the nicest review you’ve ever gotten?

When I get asks that are always telling me like “I am so obsessed with your writing” and things like that it just makes me really happy and gives me more motivation to continue writing just knowing how many people enjoy my content.

18. Are any of your stories inspired by personal experiences?

A lot of them have references to my own personal experiences or things that I’ve seen other people experience because I feel like it’s a lot easier to write about things that I’ve actually experienced.

19. Who’s the one character who shines without you even trying?

William. He is literally husband material no matter what you do to him. As long as the writing style is good, I’m going to end up being obsessed with literally any and every fanfiction I read and/or write. He’s just perfect in general, and there isn’t really much you can do to ruin him.

20. What embarrasses you most about your own writing?

I feel like the most embarrassing thing I have ever written is sexual content/smut because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing due to my lack of experience.

21. Do you write every day?

I try to, but sometimes I’m unable to due to school and/or work. Exams are killing me and taking up most of my time lately, so I’ll write whenever I have the time, but usually I only get like five minutes every two hours between studying. I’ll definitely have more time to write this summer.

22. What time of day do you prefer to write? Why?

I usually write in the morning before school and/or before my first class starts, as well as late at night when I have more time.

23. Do you feel like you put out enough content?

I feel like I do, but I definitely feel like I could write more. I just don’t have time.

24. Favorite writing snack?

Oreos & milk, goldfish, and cinnamon rolls.

25. What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

I think that my favorite part is coming up with ideas to write about or add into a story. Even though 95% of the time they never make it to the finished project.

26. What’s your favorite emotion to write?

Mycroft angst and William fluff

27. What kind of endings do you prefer?

I actually have no idea. I want to say that if I had to pick one it would be cliffhangers or endings that didn’t really make sense because it always has me trying to figure out wtf just happened.

28. Do you plan or jump right in, and if you plan, how much do you like to do before you start a story?

I kind of do both if that makes sense. I’ll come up with an idea, think about how I want it to go, and then I’ll start writing without even drafting it. And then I usually have to go back and rewrite half of it because the original version was absolute shit.

29. Narrative or dialogue?

Dialogue. I cannot go without somebody talking because I feel like it gets really boring and I end up passing out halfway through it just because I’m wasting all my time and energy trying to make it more interesting.

30. Describing people or settings?

I feel like I’m better at settings just because every single one of my character descriptions are always: “He was tall and skinny with ____ eyes and long ____ hair”. You know? But with settings I can be a little bit more descriptive like “the grass was green with a variety of different types of flowers blooming. The sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, …”

31. Show a piece from your current WIP/most recent story, up to 30 words.

The same one that probably will never be published, but at this point, I really don't care anymore.

“‘I am afraid there is little that can be done,’ William confessed to Moran and Bond after we had recounted our encounter with the woman. 'Once wed, the bond between a husband and wife is irrevocable. Unless, of course, the matrimonial union is terminated by unspeakable means.’

”'Till death do us part,’ I uttered aloud as if reading my brother’s thoughts.

“'Indeed,’ William concurred. 'Unfortunately, there are no alternatives. The only solution is to eliminate one of the partners.’”

#asks #ask games #writer asks #writing asks #asks for writers #ask games for writers #moriarty anime #yuukoku no moriarty #moriarty the patriot #moriarty the patriot x reader

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tokkias · 9 months

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arbitrary anniversary ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Lucy really, truly wishes that when Natsu had offered to plan their date, that she could simply relax and not worry about it. Unfortunately, there's that little itch in the back of her brain that's telling her that there's something that she's missing about this. ao3

Nalu Week 2023 Day 1: Anniversary @allaboutnalu @thenaluarchive

It was a rarity for Natsu to plan their dates, and even rarer that he had insisted on doing so. In the eight or so months they had been together, it was mostly Lucy who had put together their date nights. It wasn’t something she minded; Natsu had always been passive in her planning, willing to go along with whatever would make her happy.

He wasn’t a traditional romantic, not fond of candlelit dinners or bouquets of roses, and while maybe that was the type of guy she had always dreamed of as a little girl, she couldn’t imagine herself spending her life with anyone else.

That was why it came as a surprise when he wanted to plan their next date night.

She was all for it; it was less work on her plate, and she trusted Natsu truly and fully, but he had been going to strange lengths to ensure he kept everything about it under wraps, and it was almost... unnerving.

They didn’t keep anything from each other. Secrets did not exist between them, but Natsu had insisted this wasn’t a secret; it was a surprise, putting particular emphasis on the difference between them and justifying his vagueness with any details.

At first, Lucy found it cute and endearing, but as the days passed by and he continued to be giddy about his plans but vague about the details, Lucy began to worry that she had blanked out on a very important date in their relationship.

"I think it’s cute," Levy reassured as Lucy recounted her woes to her, tucked away in a corner table of the guild. "It’s Natsu, he gets excited about things."

"I know," Lucy sighed, nails anxiously tapping the glass of her drink as she spoke. "But he’s almost too excited. He keeps saying that he has big plans but won’t tell me what they are, and I feel like I’ve forgotten something."

"Like what?" Levy prompted.

"Birthday? Anniversary? Other significant date?" She listed off in reply.

Her birthday had already passed, and Natsu’s wouldn’t be for another few months. They were still a few months away from their anniversary, as far as she was aware. She had spent the past few days wracking her brain to try and figure out what other significant dates Natsu might put this much weight on, but continued to come up short.

"Maybe he’s just being romantic," Levy lightly suggested, offering her friend a reassuring smile to try and bring her down from her spiral.

"It’s Natsu," Lucy replied. "He doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body."

"The same Natsu that dug up the cherry blossom and sent it down the river just for you?" Levy teased, a light smirk creeping up on her face. "That Natsu?"

"It’s different," she sputtered back, her face heating up at the memory. "Natsu’s the reckless, spur-of-the moment kind of romantic. He only ever plans things out when it’s really important to him."

"You’re important to him."

Lucy pursed her lips slightly, having no rebuttal for her statement. That didn’t stop the nervous energy that coursed through her veins.

"Why are you so worried, Lulu? It’s just a date."

"Because if I’m forgetting something important, then it makes me a bad girlfriend," she sighed.

Natsu may not have been the dream boyfriend her mind had conjured up as a girl, but he really was the most incredible boyfriend she could have asked for. What he lacked in romance, he more than made up for in other areas.

He was surprisingly attentive. Natsu had a reputation for being careless and forgetful, but when it came to the things that were important to him, he never let the small details slip by. Every important date was burned into the back of his mind, with no need for reminders; her birthday, the day she first joined the guild, the dates both her parents passed, even down to the day her book first got published.

He remembered little details she mentioned in passing: her favourite flowers, the one particular flavour of gummies she liked, the way she prefered oat over soy milk but always got soy because the best coffee shop in town didn’t stock it. It was always things that she thought he would never think twice about, but he remembered, and whenever she asked why, he would simply hit her back with, because it’s you.

He was so good to her, and if he was putting all of this effort into a special celebration of something she couldn’t even recall, then did she even really deserve him?

"I don’t think that Natsu will be upset," Levy justified, and to be completely honest, she was right.

Natsu could barely hold a grudge against anyone, let alone her. If he did get upset, it wouldn’t last the night.

That didn’t stop the guilt from gnawing away at her insides.

"You’re right," Lucy conceded, realising her venting would get her nowhere.

She flashed a half-hearted smile to her friend, who returned it with a sympathy-ridden look.

She couldn’t continue to wallow in her own guilt and worry for much longer, or she just might explode.

If there was some sort of motivation behind Natsu’s strange behaviour, she would just have to find it herself.

"You’re right," Lucy repeated, with more conviction this time, her words more addressed to her inner dialogue than her friend’s statement. "I’ve gotta go," she declared, standing up with newfound resolve.

Levy raised her eyebrows in confusion as she watched Lucy’s behaviour change dramatically in little more than the blink of an eye.

"I’ll see you later, Levy!" She called out, already out the door, before Levy even had a chance to figure out what was going on.

It wasn’t often that Lucy found herself at Natsu’s place, but she had the path there memorised for emergencies, and this, she thought, definitely counted as one.

Natsu and Happy had gone out for an overnight job the day before, leaving her ample opportunity to do her fair share of snooping. Just to be sure, she did a light rap on the front door, only to be met with silence.

Perfect.

She reached for the door handle and found they had left it unlocked again. Any other time she would have scolded the pair for being so careless, but right now she was thanking all the stars that they had left her the perfect setup for some snooping.

That feeling of relief left her quickly the moment she stepped inside, and she soon became overwhelmed, not knowing where on earth she would start.

A calendar would be her best bet, or some sort of notebook where he had maybe written these important dates down, but the place was predictably an absolute pigsty, and she had no idea where she would even start. There was no rhyme or reason for where Natsu put things, and as well as she knew him, she could never quite get into his head when it came to figuring out where he might have left something.

Stepping over a pile of… something, he had left on the floor, Lucy scanned the room looking for any place to start but ultimately came up short. With a sigh, she contemplated the only real option that was presenting itself.

She was going to have to clean his damn house again, wasn’t she?

In all fairness, the cleaning very much went hand-in-hand with the snooping. In doing so, she found a small journal, perfectly cat-sized and decorated with little fishies, multiple letters (rightfully) accusing Natsu of destruction of property, and several pairs of panties that she had thought she had lost long ago.

Partway through her mission, she spotted a pile of recent job requests sitting atop his coffee table, and in her effort to clear it up, she picked the leaflets up with the intention of pinning them to his board, only to promptly drop them when she saw a calendar sitting beneath it.

She had been beginning to lose hope because her brain was beginning to ask why on earth Natsu would own a calendar, but it seemed all her worries had been for nothing.

Reinvigorated by her find, Lucy flipped it open to the date of their date, only to find it and the rest of the page blank. Upon further inspection, she found that the thing was three years out of date.

With a huff, she slammed the thing back down on the table in frustration.

Stupid Natsu and his stupid hoarding tendencies

"Whatcha doin’?" A voice came from the doorway, and Lucy immediately whipped her head over to find that she had been caught red-handed.

Natsu seemed unphased by her intrusion as he tossed his overnight pack carelessly to the side, letting it flop down onto the floor as he walked in.

"Nothing!" She replied, a little more defensive than she intended, causing Natsu to give her a surprised look. "I was just waiting for you, is all."

"Lucy’s been snooping!" Happy butted in, noting the way things had been moved from their original spot.

"I have not!" Lucy spat out in a blatant lie. "I’ve been cleaning," she justified, which she supposed was a half-truth.

It wasn’t like she was here to reveal her true intentions just because she had been caught.

The both of them glanced around the room to find that she had done a rather… unconventional job of it, with certain areas looking spotless while others looked like they had been ransacked, which, to be fair, wasn’t too far off how it had looked before she had arrived.

He shot her a sceptical look, to which she stuck out a pout in response.

"Hmph, maybe I just want to find out something about our date," she huffed, arms crossed over her chest as she carefully danced around the specifics.

Natsu simply chortled in response.

"You’re still on about that?" He teased, clearly feeling at least a little pleased that his surprise plans were getting under her skin. "Can’t you just accept a surprise as a surprise?"

"Wow, Lucy’s so desperate she’s resorted to breaking and entering," Happy sniggered, clearly just in it to get a rise out of her.

"Oh butt out Happy! You two do it all the time!" She snapped back, giving him exactly what he was looking for.

Before any more venom could be spat between them, Lucy felt Natsu’s hands rest on her arms, drawing her attention back to him.

"C’mon, just trust me here, Lucy," he grinned down at her, clearly not upset by her scepticism but not wanting her to worry about it nonetheless. "It’s gonna be great; you ‘n’ me can celebrate together. It’ll be fun."

He was doing his best to reassure her, but his downfall was that he had no idea what he was actually trying to reassure her about. Instead, he had struck fear into her heart with just one word.

There was no longer any benefit of the doubt; he was planning this to celebrate something, and she was still none the wiser as to what exactly they were meant to be celebrating.

She tried to play it cool, to hide her worries from him, but instead her voice got stuck in her throat, and all she could do was flash him a weak smile and hope that he didn’t notice when it didn’t reach her eyes.

Their date was in approximately three hours, and Lucy was no closer to figuring out what the hell they were supposed to be celebrating with it. That was not for lack of trying, of course. She had tried to worm any information out of Natsu, but he would simply shut her down every time with that stupid, cute grin of his that made it hard for her to be upset with him about it, no matter how frustrated she was getting.

He had left her no clues or hints as to what it was that this date was for—he’d hardly even given her a dress code. She was well and truly at her wits end trying to figure out this stupid date.

He had gone to all this effort to plan what he had promised her would be the perfect date, and yet she couldn’t even figure out what the occasion was.

Was she supposed to get him a gift? Would he be mad at her that she didn’t? Would she be able to play it off like she knew what was happening, or would the guilt simply eat her whole?

Perhaps most importantly, did all of this make her a bad girlfriend?

Natsu asked for so little in their relationship compared to what he gave her. If she was forgetting something that was apparently so important to him that he needed to plan a whole date around it.

Lucy wasn’t an insecure person, but sometimes Natsu was so good to her that she felt undeserving of it.

It wasn’t until she got to the final hanger in her closet that she realised she hadn’t been paying any attention as she flicked through her options. Not knowing anything about what they were doing or where they were going had made it difficult to pick out what she was supposed to wear.

She didn’t want to show up underdressed, but she didn’t want to be overdressed either, lest she find out that Natsu had planned on taking her on a spontaneous hike or something like that. It was early afternoon, and it would still be light out when he had told her he would be by, which did her no favours in figuring out where the hell they were going or what the hell they were doing.

Hangers and dresses began to pile up on her bed as she sorted through what she had, feeling as though nothing would be adequate. She tried to concentrate on picking an outfit, but in the back of her mind, all she could do was worry.

It was so stupid. She knew Natsu better than to worry that he would be upset with her, but he had sounded so excited when he talked about this date that she worried that she would hurt his feelings because, in her ignorance, she couldn’t share his enthusiasm.

If she didn’t know what they were supposed to be celebrating, she supposed she would just have to pretend.

She was still putting in her earrings when she heard a knock at the door—a rarity from Natsu but appreciated nonetheless.

"Coming!" She called out as she put in the backing and gave herself a final look over in the mirror.

She had settled on a light blue sundress that hit just above the knees and was decorated with pink and gold flowers that accented the gold stars dangling from her ears.

Grabbing her purse, Lucy finally made her way to the front door, where she came to meet her boyfriend, beaming back at her.

She was relieved to find that, at the very least, she had dressed appropriately for the occasion, finding Natsu donned in a red button up and dark jeans, of course accented with his scarf hanging around his neck.

"Hi," she greeted, her voice soft as her legs practically turned to jelly in his presence—a response that had never really gone away in all their months of dating.

"Hey!" He replied, with that big Natsu smile of his plastered across his face.

He held his hand out for her, which she took in her own, letting their fingers intertwine as she stepped closer to him, basking in the comfort of the familiar heat emanating from his body.

"So, are you going to tell me where we’re going?" She asked, ready to cut to the chase now that the day that had been plaguing her with anxious thoughts had finally arrived.

"Nope!" He simply replied, his smile not wavering even as she huffed in response.

"Please?" She tried, trying to give him her cutest pleading face, but she should have known that Natsu scarcely gave into her charms.

Instead, he leant closer to her, and she was almost certain that he was simply going to cut her off with a kiss before he stopped when their noses bumped together.

"What part of surprise don’t you get?"

When Lucy only replied with another pout, he moved backwards, stepping away and leading her out of her apartment doorway.

"You’ll find out when we get there," he reassured with a smile.

Lucy had expected the when they get there, to come much sooner than it actually did. Instead, she was met with a walk through Magnolia that had gone on much longer than she had expected.

As they were walking down the stairs of her building, she noticed his daypack tossed over his shoulder, which was her first indicator that they weren’t going on a traditional candlelit dinner night. Not that she expected it from him in the first place, but considering she had zero clue what his plans were for the night, being able to rule anything out was a win in her book.

As they strolled through town, hand in hand, they made idle conversation, Natsu not once mentioning what the occasion was. It instilled a certain sense of relief in her, thinking that maybe he would simply not bring it up and she could let herself enjoy the date.

With that little voice of anxiety gone, Lucy could finally let herself relax and enjoy Natsu’s presence, laughing along to his stories from his latest solo job while she shared her own and proceeded to laugh at the silly pout on Natsu’s face upon mentioning receiving the whole reward with no costs for destruction of property.

She didn’t even realise where they were headed until they reached the very outskirts of Magnolia, and her suspicions were piqued again. She shot Natsu a confused look, hoping he might elaborate, but he only looked back at her with that grin that had accompanied every I’m not telling up until now.

It only took a few minutes before she recognised the familiar path they were taking out of town and through the woods lying just on the outskirts. Her suspicions were confirmed when they arrived at a little spot that had become increasingly familiar to her over the years.

The little river, not too far from Natsu and Happy’s house, was a picturesque location, something that Lucy had repeatedly mentioned each time she was dragged here, but her comments were quickly brushed off in favour of what they considered to be the biggest appeal of the place: the vast amount of fish swimming through it.

She just hoped that wasn’t what they were here for today.

Leading her over to one of the trees that stood several feet away from the bank, Natsu dropped his pack on the floor and began to rummage through it before pulling out a well-worn picnic blanket and spreading it out across the grass.

Her expression softened when he looked over, and she realised what he had planned for her.

He may not be the traditional romantic, but he was sweet and thoughtful with everything he did for her, and moments like these made her so grateful that he was hers.

As he was unpacking their dinner from his bag, she caught him off guard with a gentle kiss to his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise, and his cheeks grew a rosy hue as he looked at her, and she had to hold back a giggle at the sight.

She made herself comfortable on the blanket as she watched him set out sandwiches, cheeses and deli meats, and little chocolate-covered strawberries, which he neatly arranged on a little plate for them. Her heart swelled with affection as she watched the little wrinkle of concentration form in his brow as he made sure everything looked perfect for her.

When he was satisfied with its presentation, he shuffled over to join her, a satisfied look on his face as he looked over his work. Looking back over at her, he smiled when he noticed the look of adoration painted across her features.

"Did you make all of this?" She asked, looking down at all of the options he had laid out for them.

He nodded in response, a proud look evident on his face.

"Mira helped me make it," he explained. "Well, she made most of it, but I helped," he corrected, his voice barely more than a mumble as he tried to conceal and exaggerate the part he played in it.

"Thank you," she breathed. "It’s perfect."

"It’s no biggie," he shrugged, though the pleased look on his face not leaving for a second.

Before he had the chance to say much more, Lucy’s hands were resting gently on his face, and she pressed her lips against his in a soft, thankful kiss. She could feel his smile against her lips; he was clearly proud of how it turned out, and rightly so.

She was fully prepared to take back every time she had said that he wasn’t romantic, because this was everything she could have asked for and more.

They were both panting for breath when she finally pulled away, only barely sated by the taste of his lips, but her plans to kiss him more were stifled by the way her lungs cried out for air.

He grinned at her, cheeks flushed and lips swollen, before he finally spoke up.

"Soooo… can we eat now?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at his very predictably Natsu statement but nodded nonetheless, just as eager to dig into their picnic dinner.

She sat comfortably in his lap as they ate together, enjoying each other’s company and the delectable food Natsu had brought along.

She laughed when he moved his head suddenly as she tried to feed him a chocolate strawberry, resulting in a brown smear of chocolate across his cheek, which he, of course, promptly wiped off with his hand and then licked clean, not about to let any of their food go to waste.

A content hum passed through her lips as she rested her head in his lap, enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature surrounding them; the rush of the river, the songs of the birds, and the rustle of the leaves as a soft breeze passed them by.

All her worries had been for nothing. This was perfect.

Perfect.

He ran a hand through her hair, the gentle scratch of his nails against her scalp calming her body before he began to coax her off of his lap. She sat up and opened her eyes, letting Natsu lean over to his pack as he reached inside.

"I got us one more thing," he told her as he carefully brought out a pristine, white dessert box from his bag.

Once he placed it down on the blanket in front of them, he opened the lid to reveal a cake decorated with blue icing and gold rosettes piped around the border of it. Across the top were letters sloppily scrawled across it, which, after a moment, Lucy surmised said Happy Anniversary, and her heart dropped.

Up until now, she had thought that it would never be brought up and that, in her bout of overthinking, she had misheard him when he said they were going to celebrate.

Between then and now, she had checked her calendar again and again and again, but she was certain that today was not a significant milestone in their relationship, so what the hell was Natsu on about?

"Mira ran out of time, so I had to ice the words on, but I think it looks pretty good," he said, admiring his hard work before looking back over at Lucy, who could do nothing but gape at the cake, looking truly and deeply distressed. "Lucy? Is everything okay?" He asked at the first sign of her panic. "You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to; I just thought it’d be nice."

If she were any quicker on her feet, she would have said something earlier and played it off like she knew what was going on, but the moment she saw the cake, it seemed that her brain had turned off altogether.

Her lack of response caused panic to arise within Natsu, who was desperately trying to find out what was wrong.

She wanted to say something to reassure him, to let him know that all of this had been perfect, and to gently explain that she had no idea what anniversary this was, but she still appreciated all of his effort, nonetheless. Maybe she could have if it weren’t for her brain running a million miles per minute, making it hard to pin down any words and form them into coherent sentences. All she could do was stare at the cake, completely taken aback, until she managed to babble out one sentence.

"I’m the worst girlfriend in the world."

"What? No, you’re not," he assured, worry sparking behind his eyes. "Lucy, what’s wrong? Do you not like the cake?"

"I feel so stupid," she sobbed, bringing her hands up to cover her face and hiding herself in shame. "I’m sorry."

"I don’t know what you’re apologisin’ for," he frowned, his hand resting on her knee in a bid to comfort her. Please, Lucy, ya gotta tell me what’s going on."

With a fair bit of coaxing, she finally managed to look Natsu in the eye, who was looking back at her with a concerned gaze. Her eyes flicked down to the blanket below them, not having the courage to look him in the eye when she finally spoke up again.

"I have no idea what anniversary we’re celebrating," she admitted.

Natsu was silent in response, and suddenly she was overcome with nerves and worry that she had upset him. She had tried convincing herself that he wouldn’t be upset with her, but now that it was happening in real time, she wasn’t too sure.

She glanced up at him quickly, trying to gauge what he was feeling, expecting an expression of anger or upset, but was instead met with a look of confusion on his face.

"You don’t know?" He asked, his voice soft as he spoke, and Lucy’s heart couldn’t take the guilt as she realised that she may have hurt him.

She shook her head.

"Our one-year anniversary isn’t for another four months," she tried to justify, scrambling to save his feelings.

"I know that," he replied, brows furrowed.

"Then… what are we celebrating?"

"Eight months ago, you and me had our first kiss, right here," he explained, which was met with a stunned silence from Lucy. "You don’t remember?" He asked, a twinge of hurt marking his voice.

"Of course I remember," she assured, bringing her hands up to cup his cheeks as she began to recall that moment. "You and Happy took me fishing for a date, but I complained the whole time about how unromantic it was, so you let me sit in your lap while you fished," she recounted. "And then when you finally hooked something, you got so excited that you kissed me for the first time."

Her heart fluttered as she thought of the memory. It wasn’t the perfectly romantic first kiss she had thought she wanted, but it was perfect for them, and that was all she could ask for.

"Yeah, and then you fell into the river," he added, not wanting that seemingly important detail to be missed.

"I didn’t fall. Happy pushed me," she sneered, unimpressed by his reminder.

"Maybe. But however you got in there, you looked real cute clingin’ onto me when I pulled you out."

His smile was so wide as he talked about that memory that every single woe she had instantly disappeared at the sight of it. She let out a breath of relief now that she knew that he wasn’t upset about her not remembering the exact date.

"I want to be so mad at you right now because you made me so nervous thinking that I had forgotten something important, but I can’t because it’s just so cute that you want to celebrate the eight-month anniversary of our first kiss."

"Is it not important to you?" He asked, cocking his head slightly to the side in confusion.

"No! It is important to me; it’s just…" She trailed off and paused for a moment as she tried to think of the right words. "Eight months is kind of a weird milestone to celebrate."

He blinked at her, his expression blank as he tried to process her words.

"Is it?" He replied, not quite understanding where she was coming from.

"Yes, you weirdo, it is."

He hit her with a sort of sheepish, almost embarrassed smile as he registered why she had been so confused.

Well, can we at least still eat the cake?" He asked, glancing over at the box with his celebratory dessert inside.

"Yes, we can still eat the cake," she smiled, which was met with an enthusiastic yell of delight from Natsu.

He had thought far ahead enough to bring them plates and cutlery to eat with, but that didn’t stop him from demolishing his first slice (and each subsequent one) with his hands and encouraging Lucy to do the same. It was only a small little thing, but the two layers made it difficult to fit the whole thing in her mouth when she tried, resulting in frosting being smeared across her lips.

"You got somethin’ on your face," he grinned before leaning in closer, and Lucy was almost certain he was about to lick it off, but instead she was caught off guard when she felt him gently press a kiss to her lips.

When he pulled away, he had not in fact cleared the icing off her face but had instead transferred it to his, and she let out a loud cackle at the sight of it.

"What?"

"You look silly," she laughed, before running her thumb across his lips to wipe the frosting off.

Wiping the icing off of her own face, she leant in to feel his lips against hers once more, barely pulling away after, their noses brushing against each other, their breaths grazing one another’s skin.

"So," she began, endeared by his idea of an anniversary. "What anniversary are we celebrating next?"

"Nine months?" He suggested, his smile wide and so endearing that she couldn’t do anything but laugh.

Nine months sounded good.

#fairy tail #nalu #nalu week #naluweek2023 #fan fiction #mya writes things #allaboutnalu

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