This is my little contribution to Nalu week. Hope you enjoy it!

Ribbon

Lucy trudged into the guild that morning feeling completely sorry for herself and slightly pathetic after another failed attempt at dating, at the tender age of eighteen she was under serious consideration to pack it all in and become a spinster. Maybe she could get a few cats and become 'that' old woman that lived in a rickety old house in secluded part of Fiore – preferably far away from men.

Last night's date had seemed so promising; he was intelligent, polite and charming, perfectly styled blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and a thousand watt smile. But she grew appalled at herself as she gradually started to grow bored... there she was with this seemingly lovely guy and she couldn't stop thinking about what state her apartment would be in when she got home because there was no doubt in her mind that Natsu and Happy had invited themselves in – again.

It wasn't until he excused himself to go to the toilet and didn't come back that things took a turn for the worst. Her first thought was that she had been stood up but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and check the bathroom – just in case he had passed out or wasn't feeling well – before she started jumping to conclusions.

Of course what she hadn't expected to find was her date to be wrapped around this petite and probably quite cute waitress, in fact she was pretty sure that it had been the waitress that had been serving them. She had watched absolutely gobsmacked as they had fallen over each to get into the female toilets as fast as possible.

Naturally she couldn't have left fast enough, embarrassed and mildly annoyed, actually thanking her lucky stars that she discovered his true character before she had invested too much time in him.

She had stopped off on the way home to buy a large tub of vanilla ice cream and chocolate deciding it was the only way to end the night. She was even slightly disappointed when she got in and didn't find Natsu or Happy in her room, they always managed to cheer her up when she was feeling pathetic.

She dropped her bag on the table with a heavy thud, startling Gray out of his early afternoon doze. Erza greeted her with a smile while Natsu grinned between mouthfuls of food.

She offered a distracted smile before dropping down next to Natsu, she let out a long sigh before letting her head fall on her bag.

'Is everything ok Lucy?' Erza asked, setting aside her empty plate she leaned forwards towards the depressed blonde.

'I'm going to die all alone.' She mumbled into her bag.

Erza and Gray passed each other a quizzical look before settling back on Lucy.

'What brought this on?' Gray asked.

'I had a date last night, at first everything was great, he seemed great, we were getting along great but then I just... he was... and he wasn't...' Lucy cast a sideway glance at her pink-haired partner who in turn was watching her while still eating his food. 'Anyway it didn't matter in the end because I caught him making out with our server by the toilets.' She finished, dropping her head back down on her bag.

'Unforgivable.' Erza slammed her hand down on the table jolting Lucy back into sitting position.

'Yeah, kind of a jerk.' Gray added, far more laid back.

'Do you wish for us to teach him a lesson?' Erza offered, as much as Lucy liked the idea no man deserved Erza's divine punishment.

'Thanks but it's ok, I'm honestly not that bothered, he was kind of boring anyway,' she shrugged 'besides I got a little revenge before leaving.' She snickered as she remembered her parting gift. 'A dozen bottles of the most expensive wine the restaurant had to offer and their finest desserts and a very generous tip to the girl he was servicing in the ladies room with the assurance he was paying for it all.' Lucy had figured she might as well have compensated the poor girl for falling for such a creep since she had no doubt he would ditch her soon after.

'I almost forgot how much you like petty revenge.' Gray laughed in amusement and Erza nodded her head seeming to accept this form of revenge.

'Well, honestly, I barely knew the guy, to get angry and upset would suggest I liked him which by this point I was ready for the date to end so it's no big deal.'

'Then why do you bother?' For a moment Lucy was surprised, not at the question in particular because she asked herself the same question after every failed date but because Natsu was one asking and he sounded slightly annoyed.

'Huh?' She turned her attention to him but could only respond with a dumb monosyllable.

'Why do you always have to go on dates with random men?'

'Well because... I mean I... well you know, to find someone special.' She blushed, she couldn't help it, for some reason she felt kind of stupid saying it out loud. Her blush only deepened when he started laughing.

'Why the hell are you laughing?' She snapped, only moments away from slapping the grin off his face.

'Cause sometimes you're pretty dumb.' He stopped laughing and looked at her seriously, he pushed his food away and leaned towards her, his eyes boring into hers, she was feeling oddly nervous as she leaned back, her heart hammering away like crazy.

'S-shut up.' She snapped, embarrassed.

'It's true; you don't need to go on all these dates with random guys that don't respect you so that you can find your special someone.' He reached forwards and took her left hand in between his two bigger, warmer ones. If she were to blush any further she was afraid she might pass out. 'You already have someone special.' Her mouth fell open in wordless shock as she tried to find the meaning to his words.

She was vaguely aware that his hands were moving over hers but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his amused ones.

'You gotta stop going on dates with strange guys, I'll beat up any that try to get too close to you, you hearing me?' Natsu lopsided grin was making her feel really light-headed as her heart raced uncontrollably. She didn't know what to say, how to respond, she was far too bewildered to think straight so instead she nodded her head uselessly.

His grin widened even further.

'Hey Luce you ready for a new adventure?'

'...Yeah.' She wasn't entirely sure what she was agreeing to but her response seemed to make him happy, very happy.

He didn't say anything else, instead he closed the distance between them and softly pressed his lips over hers in a chaste kiss. She was sure a fuse in her mind somewhere burst because all thinking stopped, the heat of her face intensified so much she was sure steam was coming off of it and her eyes had never been so wide.

Natsu... kiss...Natsu... kiss...Natsu... kiss...

The same two words kept repeating over and over in her head even when he had pulled away and was now just looking at her in that manner he always did when he thought she was being a weirdo.

'I'm gonna pick us a really awesome mission.' He announced before letting go of her hand and dashing away in the general direction of the request board.

A low whistle broke her out of her daze, slowly, dazed, she turned her head to look over at her other two companions. She'd completely forgotten they were there and they had had front row tickets to whatever show Natsu had just put on.

'Well that was... something.' Gray coughed awkwardly but his dark eye twinkled with amusement whilst on the other hand Erza was a blushing mess, stuttering something about bold and kiss between unintelligible gibberish.

'What the... did I just pass out and dream that all up?' Lucy asked shaking herself out of her daze whilst looking down at her left hand with a bewildered and flushed expression.

'Nope, he actually kissed you... in the middle of the guild... in front of everyone.' He paused and shuddered. 'I think I'm a little disturbed could you possibly keep your smooching to behind closed doors cause it literally gives me chills to see Flame tard kiss a girl... something not right about it.'

She ignored his jibe and continued to stare at her hand, unblinking, until eventually she looked up to meet their curious gazes with her wide and confused one.

'W-what's this supposed to mean?' She lifted her left hand up from under the table, showing them the very thing that had her flummoxed. On her ring finger, tied gently yet securely, was a thin pink ribbon.

Simultaneously their eyes widened, Gray fell back against his chair in shock while Erza's face turned a deeper shade of red.

I'm no expert,' Gray started, 'but I think Natsu just proposed to you and you said yeah.'

'But he and I... we're... I mean... I'm so confused.' She continued to stare at the ribbon on her finger, fixated, trying her hardest to understand it's meaning.

'It means he loves you.' Gray offered, shrugging with indifference.

'I... I love him too I just never thought that he would... dear Mavis.' Lucy pushed her face into the cloth of her bag to hide the grin that was stretching across her face, she couldn't stop it even if she tried. Natsu loved her, he returned her feelings!

'C-congratulation L-lucy, I would be very honoured to attend your w-wedding,' Erza bowed her head, her cheeks still glowing red. 'P-please take care of me.'

'Uhh...' Gray shuffled awkwardly, tilting his head to the side to look away from the two embarrassed girls in front of him. Damn bastard just had to go and be Mr Smooth, the image of Natsu kissing Lucy was one he wished he could scour from his mind; Natsu liking a girl just gave him the creeps.

'Oi Luce, I picked a mission you coming or what!'

'How does he act so normal after something like that?!' Lucy complained before grabbing her bag and standing up. 'You guys coming?' She asked both Gray and Erza.

'I think we'll pass this time.' Gray answered for both him and Erza since she was still out of commission; he was fairly certain Natsu had his mission picked with the intention of being alone with Lucy. He was tempted to say yes just to mess with pinky but decided not even he was that much of a dick.

'Alright then, see you later.' She waved at them before dashing over to meet her dragon slayer; she stopped short in front of him, her face flushing a pinkish glow as shyness took over the blonde. Natsu being Natsu though simply chuckled before grabbing hold of her left hand, the ribbon still firmly in place, and dragging her out of the guild doors with a laugh.

And nobody could miss the way the blonde smiled adoringly at her pink-headed partner.