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justminawrites · 1 year

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Where The Stars Collide

AO3

Summary: When Team Natsu return from Edolas with Lisanna, the consequences set off a series of chain reactions across the Kingdom of Fiore, disturbing the long held peace between the wizard guilds and the Magic Council. Lucy Heartfilia is heartbroken to find that the celestial gate key of one of her oldest spirits, Aquarius, is missing, and with the help of Loke, her more-than-a-friend turned spirit, she sets off on a quest to recover it. Natsu Dragneel has had enough of waiting and joins Gajeel Redfox, Wendy Marvell, and a very, very reluctant Juvia Lockser on a mission to finally find the Dragons that left them all those years ago. At the same time, a mysterious prophecy is circulating around the town of Magnolia, tying two of Fairy Tail's strongest members and childhood sweethearts Gray Fullbuster and Cana Alberona into a tale of bitter and bloody revenge; and an ominous presence lurks on Tenrou Island, infecting the once-holy grounds. What will become of Fiore's fiercest protectors? What will happen to Fairy Tail?

prologue | 1 | 2 | TBC

1.1 : Mira

Mirajane Strauss knew better than to believe in miracles.

Magnolia was a metropolitan city soaked in more than its fair share of culture, marinating in so many different types of magic that even the most dedicated of archives couldn’t keep track of them all— celestial wizards, elemental mages, rune magic and healing spells, mimicry, puppeteering, requipping— but miracles were not one of them.

Of course there was an array of wish fulfilment and illusion magicks, tricks and trades that even the sleaziest castors knew to manipulate, but nothing could bring back someone from the dead. Nothing good anyway. Mira had long stopped peering into that part of her soul. So when she left with her brother to visit her little sister’s grave located in the cathedral church, one gloomy day, she didn’t expect to find a miracle waiting for her.

The door to the guild hall swung shut behind her and the scent of rain hesitantly kissed her nose, the smile on her face giving way to nothing. It had been 5 years since the incident. She could hear the guild members on the other side of the door recall the story in hushed tones. Lisanna would’ve turned 19 this summer. Her breath hitched and she swiped at her dry cheeks. Save your tears for the graveyard, a gentle voice in her head whispered, spring will be over soon.

A soft creaking noise and a large, warm hand on her left shoulder nudged her out of her reverie.

“Mira, we’re here.”

She blinked. The Kardia Cathedral loomed before them: located right in the heart of the town, a near fifteen minute walk from the guild hall, its four cylindrical pillars holding up the enormous green-domed building. It was one of Fiore’s more pretentious tourist traps, with billions of jewels being spent on the flattering archways, the high vaulted ceiling and the pristine marble floors, and little to nothing on its inhabitants. Any priests that survived the meagre wages never showed their faces, preferring to give sermons behind silk or wood screens to largely empty pews.

It was also where Laxus challenged Natsu and the others when he held his coupe.

“We’re here” she replied dully.

The creaking was coming from a tiny gate on the east side of the church, the path to the graveyard. Unlike her brother, Elfman, Mira wasn’t alarmed by her brief lapse of memory; she’d been forgetting more and more things lately. It always happens around this time of year, she noted, latching the gate into place.

Lisanna’s gravestone was one in a long row of similar grey, rounded tablets, inscribed with the Fairy Tail’s sigil, vertically apart from an empty stone coffin. Elfman opened a red umbrella just as a drop of rain plopped onto Mira’s head and they both stood quietly as it pattered around the two siblings, soaking their shoes and nearly all of Elfman’s hair.

Empty, because her sister disappeared right in her own two hands, she mused as she took the bouquet of lilies from her brother and placed it on the grave’s flat, shiny surface.

Empty, because there wasn’t even a body to bury or burn, there wasn’t a single pice of her sister she could hold on to, only the memories of her bruises and the blood. So much blood. There were days where she would wake up in cold sweat, fingers wrapped around torn sheets because she couldn’t remember her sister’s face, just blood and a high pitched wailing. How could you Mira. How could you.

She didn’t know why she kept coming back here; Lisanna never had any fondness for churches and although Mira knew about the second grave that Natsu had built for her sister in a hut in the East Forest, where they had spent their childhood, she could never bring herself to visit it. Two graves were not better than one.

Mirajane looked around at the rows of headstones that surrounded her and for the first time in five long years, wondered how many of them were as hollow as their visitors.

Then she crouched down and ran her thumb along the smooth edge of the stone and sighed, her cheeks wet only from the rain: every year she told herself that the tears would come this time, and every year they never did. Both the Strauss siblings shared this strange grief. It was almost as though they were afraid that if the tears returned, Lisanna wouldn’t. If they could hold on for a little longer then maybe—

Maybe what? She’d come back? The thought was red hot and stung, sharper than a slap. Mira absentmindedly touched her cheek to check for a mark.

The bell began to toll.

Grow up Mirajane, your sister is dead. This voice sounded like her own, bitter and resentful, warped with pain and something she couldn’t name, spinning round and round in her head in time with the tolling.

Your sister is dead and it’s your fault.

It’s your fault.

It’s-

“Mira!”

Mirajane shook her head and looked up at Elfman, who stared back at her bemusedly.

Did she imagine it?

“Big Brother Elf!"

There was no way.

She turned around to see a girl running towards them, unbothered by the rain— with short white hair like the siblings, and blue eyes sparkling with tears. Mira thought she saw the distinct frames of Natsu and Erza behind the girl. What was going on?

“Mira.. I think I might be hallucinating” Elfman whispered quietly, the umbrella slipping out of his hand; it fell to the ground with little protest.

“It can’t be-” she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself. Something vicious inside of her quieted.

Five years. Five long years of waiting and waiting.

“It can’t be.” She repeated. Mira tried to clench her palms to keep them from shaking.

“Lisanna?”

The girl seemed to glow when her name was said, taking a step, two steps forward before throwing herself into the sister she hadn’t seen in so long. Mirajane didn’t realise she was crying until she pressed her cheeks into the girl’s shoulder, dampening her warm skin- she was alive and she was warm and she was, she was-

home.

“Welcome home.”

In her twenty-two years on Earthland, that was the first miracle Mirajane Strauss had ever seen. Soon after, she would wish that it was the last.

1.2 : Lucy

Something was bothering Lucy Heartfilia.

It begun the moment they left Edolas, a persistent itch, like a stray eyelash, that prodded at her subconscious, demanding her attention. They were making their way back to the guild after Lisanna’s tearful reunion with her siblings and Lucy couldn’t shake the feeling that she was forgetting something important. Gray was the first one to notice.

“Everything okay, Lucy?” He asked as he watched her fiddle with the cloak Natsu had given her, looking mildly frustrated.

“Huh- yeah it’s probably nothing, I’m just a little shaky from the anima I guess” she shrugged, her hand immediately reaching for the pouch of keys safely tucked into her belt, and releasing a small breath of air as she confirmed their presence for the fifth time. No matter how quickly she seemed to lose her clothes each time she went on a mission, her keys seemed immune to this particular trait; a fact that Lucy was grateful for every time they fought a villain with any fondness for water. Her hair really couldn’t take more of this.

Gray nodded and ran a hand through his hair, a strange expression Lucy couldn’t pinpoint— sad? wistful? crossing his face.

“I know what you mean, Edolas was really something… different” Erza interrupted, placing an armoured hand on both of their shoulders as they neared the guild hall. She’d been quick to requip back into her usual attire when they’d landed, Lucy noted— the return back to their world seemed to have recharged most of their powers, but her emotional batteries were spent. And of course, there was that itching feeling.

Lucy was just about to unhook her pouch and start counting through all thirteen of her keys when Elfman flung open the doors and a collective gasp descended on Fairy Tail as Mirajane walked in, protectively clutching a girl they hadn’t seen in five years; a girl they all thought dead.

“There’s no way. . .”

An explosive welcome would be putting it lightly— the guild hall erupted with happiness, confusion, relief. Lisanna was alive? Lisanna was alive! How could Lisanna be alive?

Lucy was unfortunately thrust right into the flood of tears and hugs eclipsing the newly undead Edolas refugee right alongside Natsu, Erza, Gray and Wendy.

Gajeel hung back, seemingly content with whispering to his newly found Exceed instead. He caught her staring and glowered until she turned away, Lucy wondered if she’d ever figure that guy out.

Master Makarov’s face had gone pale and he muttered something under his breath; if Lucy didn’t know better she’d think it was a prayer. Lisanna extricated herself from the crowd and knelt in front of him, pulling the tiny, old man into a fierce hug. A hush fell on the room as the usually upbeat and cheerful guild master’s eyes flooded with tears, before the shouts of joy rang out louder and clearer this time.

“Lisanna’s home!”

“She’s home!”

“Natsu brought her back from the dead!”

“Not just Natsu— Erza too!”

“She’s alive!”

“My beloved Gray, you’ve finally returned! I was getting so worried!”

The last one was from Juvia Lockser. The tearful (was she crying this whole time?) water mage flung her arms around Gray much to his chagrin and the two nearly tumbled into Cana who was nursing her second barrel of mead that day.

“Watch it!” Cana snapped as she shifted the cask onto another table, sounding grumpier than usual, Lucy noticed. She’d have to make sure to ask Cana what was wrong later. But for now- Lucy managed to pull herself away from the crowd and dropped back long enough to catch her breath and watch curiously as Gray led Juvia right out the wooden doors from which they arrived.

Maybe his time in Edolas had changed the way he saw her, Lucy pondered, hands drifting to her pouch once more. It had certainly changed the way she’d seen Mystogan, the man with the face of the most wanted criminal in Earthland— and Edolas’ lost prince. Or maybe it hadn’t changed anything at all, she frowned, catching sight of a tired Wendy rubbing her red-rimmed eyes as her exceed, Carla, berated her for being un-ladylike. Maybe it had made things worse.

A flash of golden light interrupted Lucy before she could go over to comfort the girl, and she caught a glimpse of tawny gold hair before she was staring into the hazel eyes of her favourite (though she’d never admit it) Celestial Spirit. If it wasn’t for the out-of-the-blue appearance, Lucy would have realised that it was the first time she’d ever seen him without his blue-tinted sunglasses.

“Lucy!” She could instantly tell that something wasn’t right. Loke never showed up without some grand gesture accompanying him and he’d never showed up looking so distressed before.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s no time to explain,” he shook his head and clasped her palm in his own, motioning for her to follow as he led them both behind the bar counter. Her guild mates were too caught up in the festivities to pay any attention to them.

“You have your keys, right?” She nodded and unhooked the pouch from the belt at her waist, pulling out the ring of keys that were her most prized possession. Loke quickly let go of her hand and handed her one of the many half-filled wooden goblets that lined the counter.

“I need you to summon Aquarius right away”

“With.. mead?” Lucy winced as she recalled The Water Bearer’s infamous temper when she summoned her once using water from a fish bowl— and just her temper in general.

“Don’t you think we should use normal-“

“Lucy, please.”

Lucy blinked and looked up. Loke looked the most disheveled she’d ever seen him, his trademark red tie missing, his shirt collar askew; his usual charm and charisma overshadowed by something that bordered on desperation.

“She might smell like mead for a while but otherwise she’ll be unscathed” he insisted, holding out the cup.

His voice was hoarse, as though he’d been screaming for hours and the shadows under his eyes were bruised purple; Lucy had a strong feeling he hadn’t even slept since the Edolas fight— but his panic was infecting her now, the bad feeling she’d been having all evening suddenly pooling into dread in the pit of her stomach.

“Alright” her fingers tightened on the key ring.

Lucy knew she was fortunate enough to possess contracts with 9 out of twelve of the zodiac spirits at this point, with Aries, Scorpio and Gemini being the latest additions to the team, but Aquarius had been with her the longest.

Their relationship often reminded her of Wendy and Carla’s, Aquarius was always correcting her, prodding at her, pointing out all her mistakes, but when it came down to it, Lucy knew Aquarius would protect her in a heartbeat. It’s why she rarely called on her strongest spirit; Aquarius would protect her a little too well.

That, and it was hard to find many water bodies that she’d consider appealing.

“Aries, Sagittarius, Virgo.. wait that’s not right-” Lucy frowned and held the ring up closer to her face.

“Lucy?”

“Hold on- Virgo, Leo, Taurus.. no, no this can’t be happening!”

Loke’s face lost all colour. The goblet clattered to the floor, splashing both their feet with lukewarm amber liquid.

“The key.. it’s—“ her voice rose with panic.

gone.

“Loke!”

Lucy barely made it in time to catch him before his knees buckled, and he fainted in her arms.

1.3 : Juvia

Juvia Lockser was convinced that nothing in the world mattered more than love.

After all, it was love that had saved her from falling and shattering into a million little raindrops. It was love that helped her find a new home after her guild was destroyed. It was love that had showed her the sun for the first time.

And it was minor technicality really, that her love hadn’t admitted that he loved her back.. yet.

But Juvia had nothing if not faith. She’d read enough novels to know that enough crying and near-death situations (both of which were easy to find) could solve the romantic tension between any pair of lovebirds, no matter how unlikely they were: ‘the bad boy and the good girl’, ‘the socialite and the socially awkward’, ‘the billionaire and the.. wait didn’t she do this one already?’

Either way, the book would insist that the main couple always ended up together, even if it took a contrived turn of events to make it that way, and while Juvia lost all interest in it after they became an item, she too wanted that kind of heart-racing romance— and she’d cry the whole ocean if it meant she could have it.

That’s why she was caught completely off guard when her beloved Gray Fullbuster pulled her aside and told her that it’s over.

“W-What?” She must’ve been hearing things; there’s no way that he would-

“I don’t like you like that, and I feel like I’ve led you on by not making it clear enough,” Gray sighed running a hand through his already mussed black hair. It had barely been ten minutes into their arrival when he’d asked her to join him outside, a few steps away from the brightly lit guild hall, and Juvia should’ve known that something was off immediately.

Gray was missing a shirt (not new) and covered in budding bruises (also not new), but his shoulders were slouched and his eyes were glazed over, as though he was somewhere else entirely. From what Juvia could tell, they’d all just traveled back from some kind of magic-draining endeavour, she couldn’t remember much from that morning, had they taken a job?

“You’re not leading me on, darling I don’t—“

“See, that’s what I mean,” he said, irritation creeping into his voice, “can’t you just stop with all that darling crap? We’re not together.”

Juvia flinched as a raindrop struck her bare shoulder and trickled down her upper back. She didn’t understand where it had come from, the sky was clear just a moment ago.

Gray pulled her towards a nearby kiosk to shelter from the incoming downpour, and they settled onto two unopened barrels. Juvia’s breath came out in white puffs, she hadn’t realised how cold it had gotten, and Gray’s entire torso was streaked with rain. Although he must’ve been freezing, his expression hadn’t shifted at all; serious and stern, only the shadows under his eyes betraying his exhaustion.

“If you just gave me a chance,” she began, reaching out to touch his cheek, to close the distance between them and pretend his words didn’t hurt; all fated couples had arguments before they got together officially - this was probably just her moment to confess her undying love; she could still turn this around.. right?

“Juvia,” she blinked as he looked at her bemusedly, eyes unreadable as ever; holding her wrist an inch away from his face, “You don’t deserve this.”

“You deserve to be with someone who loves you back.”

Juvia felt as though she would faint with relief. Is that what this was all about?

Her beloved Gray didn’t hate her, he just felt unworthy of her love. She’d come across this trope so many times that she was almost disappointed in herself for not seeing it sooner. Of course he wasn’t rejecting her, he would never even think to do such a thing. Their love was too vast and too deep for him to simply cast aside with a few words. He was probably just embarrassed that he couldn’t be as forward about his affections as she was.

“Oh Gray,” she said, her voice softening as he quickly dropped her hand and crossed both his own over the black guild mark on his chest, “You don’t have to worry about me.”

Gray blinked.

“You know that I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait as long as it takes to make you love me back,” she gushed, “I can’t believe that all this time you were worried about me and my feelings, you wouldn’t do that if you didn’t care for me at least a little.”

“Uh-“ he opened his mouth to protest, but Juvia was on a roll.

“Oh I really did pick the perfect man didn’t I?” She squealed, completely oblivious to his growing discomfort, “You’re so sweet and attentive and tortured and cold—“

“I wouldn’t say tortured—“

“And you’re right we should definitely take it slow, I’ll hold off on the nicknames for now, after all we don’t want our future children to think we’re not cool enough to be their parents or some equally ridiculous notion.”

“Future children?!” Gray spluttered in disbelief.

“And you care so much about hurting my feelings because you think you can’t give me the love I deserve but it’s not true because no one else but you make me feel-“

“Juvia!” She winced as he took hold of her shoulders, his icy fingers digging into her pale skin, and met his frustrated look with one of total bewilderment. Had she done something wrong?

“Sorry,” he let go of her immediately, pulling away and putting his head in his hands instead. An uncomfortable silence saturated the conversation and Juvia thought she could hear the faint chirping of crickets in the distance. A few seconds passed and then—

“Have you ever thought about my feelings?” The words came out quiet and matter-of-fact, as though he had suppressed the urge to say it many times over.

The ground could have disappeared underneath her feet at that moment and Juvia wouldn’t have noticed. His feelings? He’d saved her, his sworn enemy, in their very first encounter hadn’t he? And he’d welcomed her into his guild— he wouldn’t have done the same for just anyone, would he?

“Gray, I’m sorry if I did something to make you dislike me,” Juvia said, her voice barely a whisper, almost lost in the plinkplinkplink of the rain spilling from the tiled roof onto the pavement.

“I can fix it. If you tell me what it is, I won’t do it again.”

The silence returned, thick enough that she could feel it bore into her skull and pound at her temples. Silence like soaked cotton filling her lungs; silence that clung to her skin, heavy enough to drown in.

“-if I love someone else..” he said finally.

Gray looked at her then and Juvia realised that she’d never heard such weariness in his voice before.

“What?”

“And if I love someone else? Will you fix that too?”

Juvia had only ever known what it was like to drown once. It happened when she was six years old and the orphanage had taken them on a trip to the community pool as a treat.

The children were warned to stay away from the deep end everyone duly obliged, until it begun to rain. She couldn’t remember if she’d slipped or if someone had pushed her but the water was suddenly everywhere. In her ears, in her nose, it was suffocating her, dragging her down down down into its icy depths, the pressure in her lungs building and building, until she woke up retching in a medical ward.

The doctors promised her that they were able to get to her in time, and there was no cause for worry but Juvia never quite stopped believing that every drop of water she swallowed would somehow drip drip drip its way into her chest and fill her up until there was no room for anything else. That she would die a true Rain Woman. That was, of course, up till now, up until Gray.

Until she realised that this wasn’t her love story after all.

“You know what, forget it.” he mumbled, dispelling both the echoes of her past and the damp stillness they’d been sitting in, with his defeated sigh.

“You’re.. in love with someone else?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Gray’s eyes were cloudy again, his gaze fixated on something behind her shoulder but when she turned around all she saw were a few displaced barrels and a deck of playing cards atop one of them. There was no one else here. It was just her and him and the rain falling down around them as witness.

“But- but I love you, Gray”

Juvia hated her voice then. She hated how it cracked and spilled onto the pavement, mixing with the rain and the remnants of her love. She hated how it made her sound petulant, like a spoiled child in a store and how it couldn’t stop the tears that streaked down her face - desperate, hot, shameful tears that wouldn’t cease.

“I’m sorry,” he said, absentmindedly running a thumb over the shiny silver cross at his neck.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I see,” she said dully, emotion draining from of her words, her eyes. A sharp ache began to gnaw at her ribcage.

For the first time since she’d met him, Juvia wondered if he was telling the truth. Gray didn’t meet her gaze as he stood up and walked back into the rainy streets of Magnolia City.

Away from the kiosk, away from the guild and away from her; leaving the rain woman alone with a heart she’d shattered all on her own.

Next Chapter ->

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thenalu · 2 years

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Fairy Tail Chapter 002 : The Master Appears

Part 01 // Part 02

#chapter 002 : the master appears #fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #natsu dragneel #nalu #natsu x lucy #happy #mirajane strauss #loke #gray fullbuster #cana alberona #horologium #romeo conbolt

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moxiepoxart · 7 months

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I feel the Loke/Gray ship should be more of a thing

#my art #fairy tail #juvia loxar #juvia lockser #ft loke #fairy tail loke #gray fullbuster #lucy heartifilla #gruvia #graylu #gray x Loke #mxpx tiktok #moxiepoxart #my tiktoks

223 notes · View notes

floertoer · 2 months

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146 notes · View notes

zqttixx · 2 months

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fairy tail on twitter part 5 !!! yippee !!!

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isabellafoster13 · 2 years

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This was requested on Wattpad by Charamocha.

More LoLu! Woo!

Shut Up and Kiss Me (Loke x Lucy)

Loke cursed under his breath as a few of the boxes he was carrying fell to the ground. Almost dejectedly, he sighed as he set the other two boxes on the ground and picked up the three fallen boxes, hoping that nothing had broken. He stacked the boxes on top of each other again before picking them up and continuing on his way to Lucy's apartment.

His wizard was away on a job without her team, and she was supposed to return in the evening. He was determined to welcome her back with a surprise that he knew she would love. You see, his genius plan was to set up a lovely dinner in her apartment, just for the two of them. He was also planning to finally confess his feelings to her.

Ever since Lucy saved his life, Loke's been in love with Lucy. He would flirt with her every time he was either summoned by her or summoned by himself. However, Lucy would only respond to his flirting with dismissive remarks and eye rolls. Loke didn't blame her for not taking his flirting seriously. After all, he had been a notorious womanizer for about three years.

Nevertheless, he was determined to put an end to Lucy's belief that his flirting was insincere and make her see that he truly was in love with her and wanted to be with her. He had already given up flirting with other women, something that he had hoped Lucy would notice, but didn't. He was now going to set up a dinner date as proof that he was serious about her.

When he arrived at Lucy's apartment, he shifted the stack of five boxes to rest on one arm and used his free hand to open the front door. He then stepped inside the apartment, pushed the door closed with his foot, and made his way into the main room. He sat the boxes on Lucy's bed and set about working. He unstacked the boxes and opened them one by one, deciding to set up the table before he began cooking. In the first box were plates, glasses, and silverware, in the second box was a white tablecloth, in the third box were two bottles of red wine and a tall, white candlestick and gold candlestick holder, in the fourth box were ingredients for what he was planning to cook, and in the fifth box were pink and blue roses and strawberry-covered chocolate.

He took out the white tablecloth and draped it over the wooden table that sat in the middle of the room. Once he was sure that it was smoothed out, Loke picked out the contents of the first box and sat them on the covered table, setting a plate in front of each of the two chairs with a wine glass on one side of each plate and a fork and knife on top of each plate. He then pulled out of the wine glasses, setting one on the table and deciding to take the other into the kitchen. After finishing off the setup with a white candlestick in a candlestick holder in the middle of the table, he picked up the fourth box and made his way into the kitchen.

It took him the rest of the day, but Loke was able to complete setting up the dinner before Lucy returned. He scooped steaming chicken, peas, and mashed potatoes onto the plates. It wasn't his first pick for dinner with his beloved wizard, but he, unfortunately, couldn't remember how to cook very much else. He heaved a sigh before he headed into the kitchen to properly store the second bottle of wine.

As he was placing it in the refrigerator, the celestial spirit heard a loud bang from the main room. He threw the refrigerator door closed and bolted out of the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks to find Team Natsu, lounging around. Gray was flipping through Lucy's half-finished novel, Natsu and Happy were gobbling down the food on both plates, and Erza was sitting on the bed, eating the chocolate-covered strawberries. The door was broken open.

Loke stared at the mages with wide eyes and mouth agape. Once he fully registered the scene before him, he clenched his teeth and balled his fists, anger rising from within him. He resisted the urge to throw some punches as he yelled, "what are you doing?"

The mages looked over at him and Natsu waved as he yelled back, "hey, Loke! What's up?"

Loke walked toward the dragon slayer, sneering in response, "what's up? What's up? You're ruining the dinner I was preparing for Lucy, that's what's up!" He then snatched what was left of the chicken from Natsu and tossed it onto the plate in disgust. He turned his eyes to Gray and commanded, "put that down! Lucy doesn't want anybody to ready it!" He finished of by directing his next order at Erza, "those aren't for you! Put them down!"

Natsu questioned, looking up at Loke in confusion, "what's with you?"

Loke looked down at him, sighing as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "what are you three doing here?"

Happy shouted from his place on the table, "hey! I'm here too!"

Loke ignored the exceed and crossed his arms over his chest. He scolded, "none of you should be here! Lucy will be back soon and I need to fix the mess you've made!"

Natsu jumped up and exclaimed, "we're here to take Luce on a job!"

Loke snapped at him, "I highly doubt she's want to go on a job right after a solo one!"

Gray spoke up from where he stood next to Lucy's desk, questioning, "what was all this even for, man?"

The celestial spirit answered, "it was dinner for Lucy."

Erza stood up, brushing the chocolate off of her hands as she spoke, "I'm sorry for our intrusion, Loke. Were you planning a date with Lucy?"

Loke felt his cheeks heat up at the question. Not wanting to let himself waver in his anger, he responded, "no! I just wanted to make some food for Lucy! I doubt that she'd want to cook!"

Gray crossed his arms over his bare chest as he walked closer to Loke and questioned, a smirk pulling at his lips, "really? Why were there places for two people?"

Loke sputtered, his cheeks becoming hotter, before he finally answered with a sigh, "alright! I was planning to tell Lucy that I love her! But, apparently, you four just had to come in and mess things up! Now, I don't have time to fix this!"

Natsu tilted his head to one side slightly as he asked, "don't you usually tell her that you love her?"

Loke sighed, not bothering to answer. Suddenly, Gray grabbed the Fire Dragon Slayer and dragged him out of the apartment. Erza and Happy followed them, remarking to Loke behind her, "good luck, Loke!"

The celestial spirit called out to them, "w-wait! What am I supposed to do?"

However, he didn't get an answer. Instead, Lucy's team walked out of the apartment without any further words. Loke heaved a sigh and turned around to take a look at what was left of the dinner he had set up. The bottle of wine was empty and on the floor, the food on both plates was almost entirely eaten, the pink and blue roses were crushed, and there were only a few chocolate-covered strawberries left.

Before the dejected celestial spirit could even think about cleaning up the mess and trying to set up something passable, he heard a familiar voice ask behind him, "Loke, what happened?"

Loke tensed and slowly turned around to see Lucy slowly stepping into the room as she eyed the ruined display curiously, a stark contrast from the anger he was expecting. His felt his stomach drop and he panicked as he tried to explain, not wanting Lucy to get mad at him and think that this mess was his doing, "Lucy! I-um...I was trying to prepare dinner for you, but your team came by!"

Lucy walked toward him, listening as her celestial spirit continued hurriedly explain, "I-I wanted to tell you that I'm in love with you and make you some food! I thought that this would make you see that I really do love you! But, I guess your teammates just can't restrain themselves from breaking into your apartment and ruin things! I-"

He was stopped from talking further when Lucy suddenly cupped his face. Loke looked down at her, his eyes widened with surprise. He found that Lucy was looking up at him with a pleased smile on her face and happiness swimming in her brown eyes, which Loke had always dreamed of staring into for hours.

She then said, "shut up and kiss me," before pulling him into a kiss, which he happily returned.

#fairy tail #lucy heartfilia #loke #leo #loke x lucy #lolu #fluff #failed love confession attempt #first kiss #natsu dragneel #gray fullbuster #erza scarlet #happy

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tokkias · 4 months

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cherry blossom boy ship: natsu dragneel x lucy heartfilia summary: Despite sporting it for most of his childhood, black had never really been Natsu's colour. He had spent almost all of his adult life cycling through new hair colours but none had ever really felt like his. With his new roots growing in and decision paralysis striking, who better than to pick his next one than Lucy? ao3

Glancing up at his reflection in the mirror, Natsu dragged his hand through his hair as he made note of his appearance. It had been a while since he’d last done anything with his hair, and it certainly showed with the length and regrowth at the scalp. The black roots were a stark contrast to the vivid red of the rest of his hair.

He’d never really liked the black, hence the need to bleach it out every few months. It never felt like his colour. Many a time, he had been compared to his brother because of the fact, even though Natsu couldn’t see the similarities otherwise. Though certainly not his favourite, being compared to Zeref was tolerable enough that he sported the jet black for a fair few years of his life. No, it wasn’t until he was forced to share with Gray that he had decided that black simply wasn’t for him. Someone had once told them they looked like brothers, and Natsu had bleached his hair in the bathroom that very same night. He’d fried it to a crisp, but he’d never looked back since then.

Thankfully, his hair had since recovered from that incident, no doubt thanks to Lucy’s offer of help (and forbidding him from doing it himself since then out of fear of giving himself a chemical burn). It had been years since then, and Lucy had been bleaching and dying his hair over the bathroom sink ever since.

Though he couldn’t recall when was the last time they had done his roots, based on the regrowth, it had been two, maybe three months since then. That was longer than they typically go, but that was entirely down to his indecision as to what colour he would be going next.

He had thought the bright red would be fitting to his fiery personality, but the novelty had quickly worn off when he had been compared to Erza, ever known for her scarlet locks. He had tried orange prior, but one comment from Loke about how flattered he was that Natsu was trying to imitate him was enough for him to abstain from the colour for the rest of his life. Cool colours never quite seemed to suit his warmer complexion, so he had been at a complete loss for what to go for this time.

For a moment, he contemplated simply letting it grow out and defaulting back to black for the first time in his adult life. That thought left as soon as it came, however, in favour of doing what he tended to do best in these sorts of situations—ignore the problem and pretend it doesn’t exist in hopes maybe it would go away.

Upon entering the kitchen, he noticed Lucy was already pouring them each a mug of steaming hot coffee.

“Good morning,” she greeted, her voice soft and sunny, just like she was.

He regarded her with a tired grunt in response as he approached before resting his forehead on her shoulder. Her hand came up to tangle in his hair, lightly grazing her fingernails across his scalp before dragging her fingers through to the tips of his hair.

“It’s probably about time we do your roots again,” she mused as though she had plucked the thought straight from his head. “Have you decided on what we’re doing with it yet?”

Pulling his head off of her shoulder and picking up the mug before him, he shook his head.

He never usually left it this long—he would always make sure to keep up with his roots or get bored with whatever colour he had going on before they could grow out this much. In all the years Lucy had been doing his hair, there were probably only a handful of times where she had been the one to bring it up.

“Not going to stay with red?” Lucy asked, to which Natsu shook his head again.

Though it had certainly been one of the better colours he’d cycled through so far, something about it never seemed right. Vibrant reds had always been so synonymous with Erza that he almost felt bad about going red himself, even though it was his favourite colour. Though he liked it, red, much like every other colour he had tried, never felt like his.

All the options that never felt quite right had left him with a decision fatigue that had had him putting it off entirely.

“Why don’t you pick for me?” He finally suggested, having tired of weeks of indecision.

“Me?” Lucy asked, pointing at herself in mild bewilderment.

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

She looked a little sceptical about his suggestion. He’d never left it up to her before—he’d always been the one to pick out the colour; she was simply in charge of putting it in for him.

“Are you sure?” She followed up, uncertainty laced in her voice.

Lucy was his ride-or-die, his best friend, his emergency contact. There were more dire things that he had left in her hands before now, so letting her pick his hair colour felt trivial in comparison.

“Yeah, ‘course,” he replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Still, she regarded him with a sceptical expression.

“What? You don’t wanna?” He said.

“No, it’s not that; I’m just surprised you asked,” she replied, her tone turning more teasing. “I thought if you hadn’t asked me by now, then you just never would.”

A mischievous look spread across her features, as if he had handed her a golden opportunity to get back at him for every time he had been a pain in the ass to her.

“I could do anything; I could make it green, I could make it black, I could shave it all off if I wanted to,” she added, with a poke in the chest for emphasis.

He knew she was just messing with him, but even still, he wasn’t about to let that slip past him.

“Like hell you will!” He shouted back, eliciting a laugh from Lucy.

Her empty threats weren’t enough to make him take the offer back, but it was enough to make him question whether or not he would still have a full head of hair after this.

There was a giddy smile across Lucy’s face when she arrived home, carrying a bag holding all of her supplies in it. Any apprehension she may have held about being put in charge had since fizzled away. With a raised brow, Natsu moved to look inside, but Lucy was quicker than he was and slipped it out of his grasp before he could catch a glimpse.

“Nah-ah,” she scolded. “It’s a surprise.”

Natsu was never a fan of surprises. He really didn’t like change, much less change that was out of his hands, but somehow this didn’t seem so bad. He trusted Lucy more than anyone—he’d put his life in her hands if he had to, so committing to a colour of her choice he could simply bleach out or cut off if he didn’t like it was really no big deal.

That, of course, did not stop him from trying to grab the bag out of her hands, if only to commit to his life-long goal of being a pain in Lucy’s ass.

“Hey! Stop it!” She yelped, running right out of his reach. “Get off!”

Unfortunately for him, Lucy was much more agile than he was and was able to slip away into the bathroom, bringing the hair dye with her. He grabbed the knob, but Lucy, knowing him better than anyone, had already locked it from the inside, leaving him to rattle the door, knowing his efforts were futile.

“Let me iiiinnn,” he whined, flopping his entire body weight against the door with a thud.

“No way!” She shot back. “You get to have your fun, and now I get to have mine!”

She was right—no one had been subjected to more of his pranks and shenanigans than her (sans perhaps Gray), but that still didn’t stop him from pawing at the door like a cat locked out, howling to be let in. She didn’t cave, however, long since used to Natsu’s bullshit, and he couldn’t do anything more than rap at the locked door in an attempt to at the very least be a bother while she prepped his new colour.

Much to his dismay, Lucy had locked the colour away in the medicine cabinet by the time she let him in for the bleaching, and he was left pouting in the chair she had dragged in from the kitchen.

With her brush, Lucy mixed the lightener and developer together with enough confidence and expertise that one could be convinced that she was trained to do it. Though she was certainly no professional, they both knew she was leagues better than Natsu, and having someone who had full view of his head certainly made things easier too. With an experienced eye, she began to apply it to the roots of his hair. The coolness of the bleach mixture, though familiar, still came with a slight sting.

“Is everything okay? Doesn’t hurt, does it?” She asked.

She knew the answer to that already, but it had simply become routine at this point. Sure, it stung a little, as was the nature of putting chemicals on your head, but Lucy was careful and Natsu was used to it, so it was never that bad.

He merely hummed out an affirmation, and that seemed to be good enough for Lucy.

The process of washing out the bleach was always Natsu’s favourite part. He tried his best not to doze off, soothed by the feeling of the pads of her fingers massaging his scalp, though the uncomfortable position she had him in, hunched over the bathtub, kept him awake. He could very well do this part on his own, but he enjoyed the small intimacy that came with her doing it for him. He liked how she was gentle when she knew she didn’t have to be, even when he would have been more rough and careless—not because she thought he couldn’t handle it, but just because she cared. He appreciated how she always checked with him to make sure the water wasn’t too hot or the blow dryer too loud. Even though they had been doing it for years now and she had long since perfected the right temperature to set the water and the right setting to have the blow dryer at, she still always made sure to check in with him every step of the way.

Her checking up on him was just as part of the routine as all of the rest of it was.

Had he been more sound of mind, he might have tried to use this as a chance to sneak a look at the colour as she applied it to his hair, but she had him putty in her hands, his mind hazed over, too preoccupied in his contentment to bother sneaking a peek. Even as the colour ran down the side of the tub in rivers of vividly stained water, his eyes remained shut.

“You ready?” Lucy asked once she was finally satisfied with her work.

Natsu only replied with a vigourous nod of his head. He wasn’t sure he had ever been held in eager anticipation for anything so long in his life. He hadn’t a clue what colour she might have gone with, but what he did know was that there had been a self-satisfied smile plastered across her face throughout the whole process. Whatever it was she had chosen, she seemed rather proud of herself for it and clearly excited for him to see it too.

Turning around to face himself in the bathroom mirror, for the first time today, he saw the colour that Lucy had picked out for him.

It was pink. Bright pink.

It wasn’t as though she had tried to tone it down, disguise it, make it any more palatable to someone who wasn’t a fan of the girlish connotations of the colour. No, this was pink, pink.

Pink like cherry blossoms, pink like the sheets on her bed.

Pink. Lucy’s favourite colour.

He leaned in closer to the mirror as if to get a better look and dragged his fingers through his hair from root to ends. This was not a colour he would ever have chosen for himself, but seeing himself in it now, he couldn’t describe it in any other way than just feeling... right.

He was quiet as he took it all in, his thoughts not showing through on his face.

She looked up at him with shining eyes, looking warm and ever hopeful, but she couldn’t hide from him the tinge of nervousness that lingered deep within them.

“Do you like it?” She asked.

“I love it,” he grinned.

Lucy clapped her hands together in a mixture of delight and relief. If there had been a twinge of nervousness lingering within her, she had done a good job of hiding it, given that he only really noticed when she let the façade drop.

There was a glimmer of pride flickering in her eye and a self-satisfied smile on her lips. He couldn’t help the way pride prickled in his heart too and the wide grin that still donned his own lips. He slung his arms around her, pulling her into his side in a crushing hug that had her squealing and trying to wiggle her way out. It didn’t stop him though—it only served to make him hold on tighter, and when she finally gave into the fact that he would not be letting go, she wrapped her own around him.

He nestled his nose in the crown of her head, his heart full with the knowledge that he would forever carry with him the love of his best friend in her favourite colour, adorning his hair.

#nalu #natsu x lucy #fairy tail #nalu fanfiction #fan fiction #nalu fanfic #mya writes things

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