A/Ns: Ah, happy Valentine's Day (if you're reading this then, which I doubt you are), my lovely followers and reader. I hadn't planned on having this as a V-Day story (even though it was always set then - I just had no intentions of having it written for then), but then I realised it worked, so I did it.

And yeah, sue me. It's being posted on the 10th because it's been sitting in my docs manager for too long and I don't want to wait until the weekend to post it. It isn't the end of the world... Maybe.

It's another origin story for this universe, and you should be able to tell what it's about from the title... And the summary. Maybe. Who knows, really?

But anyway, since there's quite a few HWHL stories at the moment, and there's so many more to come, I'm going to start adding a list at the bottom of each story (I won't be going back and adding them to the older ones) so you can see the order in which they're set, if it's not entirely obvious. I do try, and you should be able to figure out roughly when each one is set, but sometimes that just doesn't work. As always, they don't need to be read in order, because they're definitely not being written in order, but in case anyone was curious, it will be there.

For now though, I hope you enjoy the story!

Lucy sighed as she walked up to the guild doors that day, a frown on her lips that was sure to last the entire day. It was Valentine's Day. Again. And she couldn't even spend it with Bickslow, because they were still keeping their relationship a secret. They'd been together for nearly a year (they had decided not to count their technical first date on Valentine's Day the previous year as the start of their relationship), and the most they could do was spend an hour or two every now and then at their secret spot, or occasionally spend a night together.

They rarely got time together, and honestly, it sucked, and they both knew it.

Their secret relationship had turned into a game almost though. So long had passed since they'd started dating that they weren't exactly wanting to find a way to tell their teammates; it had been so long that they were only wondering just how long they could go before someone figured it out on their own.

They had to admit that the sneaking around was just a little fun. Lucy had long since stopped counting just how many times she'd been pulled into a dark alley with someone's hand quickly shooting out and wrapping around her arm, only to find herself between a wall and her slightly insane though adorably ridiculous boyfriend. But when she wasn't being pulled into an alley, sneaking over to his apartment in the middle of the night because she really just wanted to cuddle with her boyfriend, or meeting at their secret spot, Lucy constantly missed him, and it was times like that where she really wished that they could actually be a normal couple.

But they weren't a normal couple, and she knew that. She liked it, in a way, but it was just annoying sometimes. Especially on days like Valentine's Day where it seemed that everyone and everything around her was rubbing it in her face that she couldn't even be with her boyfriend. No, she had to pretty much pretend the man didn't exist, and he had to do the same with her. Hell, they didn't even have any plans for that night. It wasn't like they could go out to dinner or anything, because people would see them, and if anyone from the guild saw them, their game would be over (not that Lucy would mind that much, and she didn't think Bickslow would, either). No romantic walks on the beach or even quiet nights in where there is a good chance they wouldn't leave the bedroom for a good while weren't on the agenda for that night.

Nope. They were going to have to go home. Alone. And cry over not being able to spend even a tiny bit of the day with each other.

Steeling herself, Lucy finally walked through the guild doors, half expecting the hall to be as decked out as it had been the previous year. She hadn't been able to help but worry about what Mira and Cana were planning for that year, but as Lucy stood there and looked out at the hall, she didn't think she had to worry about it that year. Which was amazing, because she really didn't want to be having to go on another blind date… Unless it just happened to be with Bickslow again. That, she wouldn't have any objections to. Ever.

But the guild that year actually wasn't horrible. It was nowhere near as bad as it had been the previous year, and that made Lucy incredibly glad. There was still pink ribbon wrapped around each column, and the rug in the centre of the room was now a pink that matched some of the tablecloths, but that was fine. She could deal with the roses and the heart-shaped biscuits again, because honestly, they tasted pretty amazing.

Lucy just needed it to be like a normal day, and as she sat down with her team, she realised it would be. She needed something to take her mind off the fact that it was Valentine's Day, and the first time she had ever had a boyfriend on that day, was also the first time she would not be allowed to spend that day with him.

And so her day was actually okay for a while. Mira had asked Lucy if she had any plans for that night, to which she said no, unfortunately; Erza had invited Lucy over for strawberry cake and a whole lot of sweets with Wendy; and, she'd been asked out by someone whose name she didn't even know. And to that, the answer was most definitely no. Though to that, she'd looked up and across the guild just to see Bickslow scowling like he always did whenever he happened to witness someone hitting on her or asking her out. Even with his visor, he was cute when he scowled, and for the briefest of moments, she was giggling and not just frowning. Not that anyone noticed just how down she was that day, and she really didn't want them to.

It was a little after noon when her day decided to turn around though, and it was right when a teenager dressed in a red suit holding a large gift basket in one hand and a large bouquet of what she instantly knew were rose mallow hibiscuses in both luna red and white and stargazer lilies in his other hand walked right into the guild, stopping on the steps and looking over at the now silent guild. "Is there a Lucy Heartfilia here?"

Lucy blinked, and she desperately wanted to try and melt into the wooden bench when almost everyone closest to her in the guild pointed to her. This couldn't be happening right now. She had known that Bickslow had been involved before the guy had even said her name. The flowers in the bouquet were some of Lucy's favourites, but she'd only ever mentioned them once or twice to Bickslow over the last year. How he could have remembered that, she just had no idea.

When the basket was placed down in front of her and the bouquet was handed to her, Lucy smiled politely and whispered a thank you to the teenager, only watching as he bowed then quickly turned and left again. It took a few moments for everyone to go back to what they had previously been doing (talking, yelling, drinking, brawling… The usual for Fairy Tail), but once they did, she let out a small sigh.

"So, Lucy. Who's all of this from?" Erza asked as she gently took the flowers from Lucy after she pulled the small card from the centre of them. "Oh, these smell wonderful! What are they?"

"Rose mallow hibiscuses and stargazer lilies," Lucy replied instantly. "And I'm not sure who it's from, to be honest. Maybe I have a secret admirer?" She fought to keep herself from giggling too much, because it really wasn't that far from the truth. She had a secret boyfriend who was acting as her secret admirer that day, but no one really needed to know that right then.

She looked down to the card and opened it up, and she smiled as she read the words in the familiar writing before reading them aloud for her team and everyone else who had joined their table out of curiosity. "I could use this opportunity to quote some horrendous poem or tell you that I love you to the moon and back, but I'm not going to do that because that would be stupid, and I'm sure you would make me regret it later," Lucy began to recite, still trying hard not to laugh at it, even though everyone around her was just staring and trying to figure out just what was going on. "What I will do, though, is tell you that I really am so hopelessly and insanely in love with you, and I really hope you can tear yourself away from your books and your wine this year to meet me at 7 p.m. You know where."

Gray pulled the card from Lucy's hands and inspected it himself. "So you really don't know who it's from?" he asked. Lucy shook her head, a small smile still on her lips as she pulled the basket closer towards herself to look at what was in it. "You're not actually gonna go meet this guy, right?"

"Probably not," Lucy lied. "It's still really sweet though."

"Oh but Lucy, what if this secret admirer of yours is the one?" Mira crooned as she sat down beside her, propping her chin in her hands. "You won't know unless you go and meet them. What if it's someone from the guild? Oh! What if it's someone you're already friends with!"

"Mira, I highly doubt this person is the one, and I'm definitely not going to go and meet them tonight. For starters, I don't even know where I'd have to meet them."

"But it says you'd know where," Levy said.

"But I don't know where," Lucy insisted – another lie, of course. She knew exactly where Bickslow meant. Plucking the card back from Juvia after it had gone around the table once, and pulling the flowers back to her and placing them in front of her next to the gift basket filled with all sorts of goodies, she continued, "And secondly, what if they're some kind of serial killer or rapist or something? I value my life, thank you very much."

So she was being just a little harsh, but she needed to be. She needed to make sure that everyone would believe she wasn't actually going to go and meet the mystery man, a.k.a., her boyfriend, because she didn't want to risk anyone following her and having their secret exposed (even if it really wouldn't be the worst thing to happen).

"So, what?" Mira said, a frown etched on her lips as she watched Lucy begin to unpack and smile at everything in her basket. "You're just going to accept everything this guy sent you and pretend it's not from someone who could quite possibly be the man of your dreams?"

"Yup."

Mira sighed. "Alright then. So you're still going to just have a quiet night in? I can set you up on a date tonight if you really want me to just so you're not alone…"

Lucy looked up to Mira with an honest smile. "Mira, I don't need you setting me up with anyone. I am quite happy with the way things are right now, okay?" And even if she wouldn't be having a quiet night in that night anymore, not like she planned, she was sure what Bickslow had gotten her would be used at some point in the next few weeks… Or days. Whatever.

Two bottles of her favourite white and red wines, a couple of newly released books from her favourite authors, far too much milk, dark, and white chocolate for her to consume in one sitting (but she probably would anyway, because she had no restraint when it came to chocolate), fresh strawberries, and her favourite scented candles that came from a woman on her street. She was actually amazed at it all too, even if she knew exactly why Bickslow had put what he did in her over-stuffed gift basket. Their first date, she'd only teased him about how she would be spending the rest of her night sitting on her lounge in her underwear, reading, gorging herself on chocolate and getting drunk by herself. He'd somehow remembered something she'd said from a year ago, and right then, it was almost too tempting to get up and walk over to her perfectly indifferent boyfriend and kiss him in the middle of the guild.

But she couldn't do that.

From the other side of the guild though, Bickslow watched in amusement as his girlfriend no doubt did everything she could to fend off the nosy wolves she called her friends. He knew that it had been a little risky sending her something, but he just hadn't been able to help himself. He rarely had the opportunity to do something nice for her just because of the way their relationship was. They almost never went on dates out to restaurants or cafés because there was always a chance someone from the guild would see them, and they could never just go out together and do things as a couple.

If they went out, it was to quaint places that they knew no one would find them at. The rest of the time, if they weren't trying not to lose track of time in their secret place, they were just sitting in either one of their apartments and seriously hoping none of their teammates would arrive unexpectedly and ruin their time together. It sucked, but they got through it.

For Valentine's Day that year though, Bickslow really wanted to do something nice. He couldn't wake up next to her and tell her just how much he loved her every morning, and he sure as hell couldn't go to sleep next to her and tell her the same thing right before bed. He couldn't take her out and spoil the hell out of her, and he couldn't even hold her damn hand if they just happened to be walking alongside each other in town and heading towards the guild – it happened occasionally, given Bickslow's apartment was in the next street so they went the same way.

That night though, he could do that. He'd been planning it all for months, and that alone had been just a little risky, but he hadn't really worried about it. Right from the moment he'd first told her than he loved her, he'd somehow known things would last between them. At least for a while longer, anyway. But now here they were, still together, and Bickslow could finally give her a night that she'd deserved for an incredibly long time.

"I tell you," Laxus began, pulling Bickslow's eyes away from the blonde on the other side of the guild who was already beginning to read one of the books. "Whoever Lucy's secret boyfriend is, has got to be one hell of a guy."

Bickslow arched a brow beneath his visor. "What makes you think she has a secret boyfriend?"

"She's blushing too much," Laxus answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She knows exactly who it's from. So, she has a secret boyfriend. And whoever he is, the son of a bitch is one lucky man, and brave as hell to even think about getting involved with her and her psychotic team."

Bickslow shrugged as he lifted his mug to his mouth again and looked back to the table Lucy was sitting at. Laxus knowing that much wasn't that big of a deal, and it really wasn't all that surprised. He knew more than he let on about his guild mates, being too observant for his own good sometimes.

But did Bickslow know just how lucky (and a little stupid, not brave) he was? Of course he did, and he didn't think he'd ever forget it. With a smirk hidden behind his drink before he took a sip, Bickslow only quietly agreed, "No doubt about that."

When Bickslow led her to a restaurant in the centre of town at a little past seven after meeting him at their spot and then through the stained glass doors with the sign saying they were closed that night, Lucy didn't really know what to think. First she'd gotten home that afternoon to put her flowers in a vase and chocolate in the fridge, only to find a dress hanging on the back of her door and a note taped to the hanger telling her to wear it that night. And now, she was being led into a seemingly closed restaurant on Valentine's Day.

Rounding the screen where the hostess podium was, Lucy's eyes went wide when she saw all of the empty tables in the room, each one set with plates and glasses and single candles and red roses in the centre of each. The table in the centre of the room drew her focus though, the one that a waiter with a white vest stood next to, and she looked up to Bickslow beside her. "What's all this?" she asked softly, still not quite understanding what was going on.

"Well, this is me taking you out to dinner because you're my girlfriend and I love you, and I wanted to do something special for you," Bickslow answered as he gazed down at her. The corner of his lips quirked up, his other arm lacing around her waist and joining his other, and he added, "Plus, I've also decided to make it my life goal to get you to love Valentine's Day as much as I do now."

And it was just a little funny to Bickslow that just a year earlier he'd been conflicted about how he felt about the day as a whole; loving it yet hating it at the same time. But that had been before Lucy, and now, he only loved it, and he loved the idea of being able to do something like what he was doing that night every other year. He'd long since realised that the idea of actually being with Lucy was one he rather enjoyed.

Lucy turned to look over her shoulder at the empty tables behind her with a quiet laugh before looking back up to Bickslow. "And you thought somehow managing to completely book out one of Magnolia's fanciest restaurants on Valentine's Day would be the way to do that?"

"Yup."

She laughed again. "Well, you thought correct." Granted, she'd come to realise she had a pretty big reason to enjoy Valentine's Day and hopefully future Valentine's Days, that's how into him she really was, but booking out an entire restaurant on one of the busiest days of the year? Now that was a reason to love it. "But I don't think I even want to know just how you managed to do all of this, or how much it would have cost you…"

"You don't need to know any of that anyway." Bickslow could have told her that he'd had the place fully booked out so it would just be them since August the previous year, but he didn't want to. And how much it had cost him was something he would definitely not tell her, because it really didn't matter. Every single Jewel he'd spent so far had been worth it, including the thousand he'd had to give some random teenager to go into the florists and get Lucy's favourite flowers, all because he'd been banned from almost every single florist in Magnolia for causing too much trouble on Valentine's Day in previous years.

She sighed as she sat down on her chair as Bickslow went around to the opposite side of the table and sat down himself. "This is really incredibly romantic though. I would've been quite happy just curling up on a lounge with you instead and sharing all of that wine and chocolate you got me, but I do love this," Lucy said softly with a smile she was sure she wouldn't be losing for the rest of the night. How could she not love it? She was getting a date with a boyfriend on Valentine's Day – one she hadn't expected – and it was romantic as all hell. It was perfect. "But…"

Bickslow looked back to Lucy as the waiter disappeared towards the kitchen at the back of the restaurant after filling their glasses, and he gave an answering smirk when he saw her own. "But?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were proposing, what, with surprising me with this seriously romantic night and all."

Bickslow chuckled as he took more than a sip of his wine. "Yeah, I'm definitely not proposing." He had to stop himself from saying 'not yet, anyway,' because that was sure to make things just a little awkward. In truth though, he hadn't even thought about ever doing so, even if he had thought about staying with her in the long run.

He could see how she would think that he was though, even if she did know that he really wasn't going to, because it probably would have been the perfect opportunity to. You know, had they not been dating in secret for the last eleven months and they had maybe been together for a little while longer at least. He didn't even know if that was something Lucy would ever want though. Could she see herself being with him in the future, and actually having a life together where the guild and their friends actually knew about them? Because Bickslow really could, and if Lucy could too, then that would be perfect.

Bickslow cleared his throat as he gently lowered the glass back to the table, his other hand idly moving the fork in front of him as he kept his eyes down. "But… I mean… One day I might," he mumbled, feeling a surge of embarrassment run through him. "If that… If that was something that you'd want me to do."

Lucy almost dropped her own glass, and she was fighting a losing battle to keep the wide grin off her face. She had, on multiple occasions, thought about what things would be like if they stayed together, and more than once, she'd been caught daydreaming about that kind of life… By Bickslow. Had she ever told him that? No, never, because she'd never really known if Bickslow would want that kind of life.

She'd been with Bickslow long enough to know that she would happily and gladly spend her life with Bickslow. Their relationship wasn't conventional in the slightest, but that was fine. They rarely got to see each other and even talk to each other, but that was also fine, because the time that they had spent together over the near year they'd been together had been some of the best moments of her life to date, even when all they'd done was sit in their secret spot and laugh about their teams' antics. He wasn't the man of her dreams, and she really didn't believe in the idea of everyone having a one true love or a soulmate (even though the author in her did, but that was really just for literary purposes so it didn't count), but he was perfect to her (most of the time) and everything she needed and even wanted. If someone had told her that a year ago, she might have ended up rolling on the floor laughing.

So if Bickslow were to ever propose, she would gladly say yes, and she would do so without any doubts. But… She really did know that it wasn't going to that night, or that week, or maybe even that year. But that was fine. They would get there when they got there, whenever they were ready and whenever that may be. "It would be," Lucy answered, of course, feeling just as embarrassed as Bickslow was. "But, you know, that wouldn't be until the guild knew about us. I don't think they'd take too kindly to finding out we'd been dating in secret for a while and got engaged in that time too."

"That's a really good point," Bickslow laughed quietly. "Can you imagine what their reactions would be if we decided to run off and actually get married though?"

At that, Lucy's hand could only fly to her mouth before she ended up spitting wine all over herself, the table, and possibly Bickslow. His laughter that only seemed to get louder and morph into his usual cackle had Lucy giggling along with him, even if he was laughing at her. Bickslow had known he was probably pushing it, considering they'd literally just had the conversation where they'd basically just established that there was a good chance they'd get married one day, but he hadn't been able to stop himself from thinking about them running off and eloping.

It would be sure to make the guild implode, that was for sure, and someone – probably Bickslow – was bound to die. It wasn't like they would ever do that, because if he were to ever marry Lucy, he would want to find the perfect ring and surprise her.

"Firstly, Mira would probably pass out and yell at us for not inviting her," Lucy laughed, picturing the white haired barmaid literally fall to the floor in a pile of romantic goo over finding out that she decided to run off and marry Bickslow without telling anyone about them.

"Secondly," Bickslow added with just as much amusement shining in his garnet eyes. "I think Laxus would electrocute me. Ever would hit me with her fan a few hundred times and scream about also not being invited before turning me to stone. Freed would... I have no idea what Freed would do, to be honest. I think Freed would be easy to deal with, assuming he didn't go full-on demon."

Lucy nodded, a slightly mischievous smirk pulling at her lips. "Thirdly, Erza and Natsu specifically might just go a little crazy…" The instant grimace that formed on Bickslow's face from the mention and reminder about the probably wrath of Lucy's team had her giggling quietly before adding, "But then Erza alone will be a problem anyway, considering she sometimes thinks she's my mother and she is very, very pro-abstinence and is set on me being boyfriend-less until I'm in my thirties at least." But that ship has obviously long since sailed… Sorry, Erza.

Bickslow snorted – a sound that always made Lucy giggle because it was quite possibly one of the cutest (strangely) noises he ever made. Aside from the fact her team was something that managed to scare him more and more every day (mostly because of Erza, because it wasn't the first time Lucy had brought up her friend's weirdly old-fashioned in terms of relationships values. In fact, the first thing she'd thought of after the first time they slept together was that Erza was either going to kill her or Bickslow, and ever since then, it had terrified him), one thing was very clear. Taking another sip of his wine, Bickslow deadpanned, "Okay, so basically, if we were to get married before telling anyone, or at all, really, then the guild would implode or explode or something, and you'd be left a widow because I'm pretty sure everyone would want my head."

"Pretty much."

"Sounds good. Let's do it."

Lucy sent the foot that was crossed over her knee forward and gently kicked his shin. "No, you idiot," she said to her jokester boyfriend. "If I marry you, which, I'm going to say I will most likely want to actually do one day because I don't hate you all of the time."

"Just most of the time?" he smirked.

She nodded, then continued, "Then I actually want to stay married to you. At least for a few years before I'm widowed anyway. After that, you can die. No doubt you'll do something stupid enough to piss off Erza or even Laxus and you'll get yourself killed before you're thirty anyway. So then I'd be happily single again, I'd have all of your money and I'd be free to go and marry whomever I want." She paused to hum in thought for a moment, a finger over her mouth as she did so. "Oh! Maybe I'd marry Loke after that. And I'm keeping your babies too when you die, or at the very least the totems, because they're fun to cuddle with at night."

For a moment, all Bickslow could do was stare at his girlfriend in amazement. He knew she was joking (well… Mostly), because he'd long since realised that she was slightly more insane than he was, but it was only making him quickly come to the realisation that he really did want to marry her one day. Of course, after they'd been together for a little while longer and everyone knew about them being a couple in the first place. But one day, he wanted her to be more than just his girlfriend, because damn it, did Bickslow believe he was never going to find someone who was even half as amazing as Lucy Heartfilia.

Half-hearted insults and all, she was brilliant. And he loved her. Blinking at her in astonishment, all Bickslow could say was, "God, I love you."

And to that, Lucy only smiled as she picked up her menu from where it had been just in front of her. "And I love you too. Now, what's on the menu for tonight?"

A week had passed since their Valentine's Day date; since they'd joked about getting married more than they should have, and since they'd last talked to each other. Lucy had left with her team early the morning after Valentine's Day, so they hadn't been able to spend one of their rare nights together, which admittedly sucked a little, but they got over it, even if it had been the most romantic day of the year and they'd had to go home separately and alone.

It had been a very long week for Bickslow, and not just because he hadn't had a chance to talk to Lucy at all (most of the time, they managed to sneak away to their secret spot every few days to talk and spend a little bit of time together). All he'd been thinking of was wanting to spend more time with her where they didn't have to worry about anyone else. For once, he just wanted to be able to go out with his girlfriend in public and not worry about anyone else finding out about them being together. When Freed had asked him on the train back from their own two-day mission what he had been thinking about, obviously acting differently to what his team were used to, Bickslow had been seriously debating just blurting it out then and there that he'd been dating Lucy for nearly a year.

But he hadn't, because they'd decided long ago that when they really wanted to tell people and when they were so far past being done with the game they were playing, that they would do it together. They'd joked about how it would probably happen with them walking into the guild holding hands one morning and just telling everyone that way. Whether it was done that way or not, it didn't matter. They just knew they would tell everyone together.

It wasn't like they didn't enjoy the game though, because they did. It was why it had even become a game to them in the first place. They had come to enjoy the sneaking around, and the time they did get to spend together was just that more important to them. Even if they both wished they didn't have to do any of it sometimes, they weren't quite ready to give it all up yet, and that was why they'd lasted as long as they had in the shadows.

But along with just wanting to be able to act like a normal couple, Bickslow hadn't been able to stop thinking about actually proposing one day. He was sure she would say yes, because she'd practically said that she would when he eventually asked her. He just couldn't even think about asking her to marry him until everyone knew about them, and that was just slightly annoying.

It was almost as annoying as just how many jewellery stores Bickslow was realising Magnolia had. He'd never even known that there were at least eight that he walked past on the way to the guild every morning until that week, and it had been far too tempting to actually walk into one and look at rings. God, would that be hard to explain if Mira or his team had found out though.

But it was a week later when Bickslow was deciding he needed to spend some quality time with his girlfriend and hopefully, future wife. Away from the guild, the town, everyone and all of their worries. It would just be them. And so it was why he was walking into her apartment in the middle of the night, only quietly closing her door behind him (her door had been for coming in, and her bathroom window had been for escaping) as he quietly walked over to her bed, pocketing his keys as he did so and silently thanking every god there was that Natsu hadn't decided to sneak into her bed that night.

He felt just a little bad that he would have to wake her, but he hadn't had any other chance to do so. Plus, once they'd talked, he could stay until morning before slinking away through her bathroom window and back to his own apartment.

Crouching down beside her bed, he switched on the small lamp on her bedside table and pulled his visor off, dropping it gently on top of the book she was currently reading. "Hey, Lucy," he said softly. Bickslow reached out to tuck the shorter strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail back behind her ear, and his hand lingered by her cheek as he softly said her name again. "Lucy…"

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, then quickly shut again to block out the light from the lamp, and she let out a groan as she turned her head into the pillow. "Bicks…? What are you doing here?" she mumbled into her pillow in her barely-awake state. She was truly having a hard time telling if it was real or she was still actually asleep and it was some sort of dream, but when she cracked an eye open again, only straining it against the light, she realised that Bickslow was in fact in front of her, in the middle of the night.

"I wanted to talk to you about something."

She sighed as she fought to keep her eyes open then. "Can't it wait until morning?" she asked quietly.

"Well, I suppose, but… But I wanted to talk to you about it now." He paused, feeling bad about waking Lucy up for just a conversation. Sometimes he forgot that they actually had slightly different sleeping schedules, all because they don't actually get the chance to spend nights at each other's place and not worry about having to get there late enough so no one will question it, or get up early enough so they can sneak back to their own home. Lucy was an early riser and so she was almost always in bed before midnight unless she was too enthralled in whatever book she was reading or writing, and Bickslow slept late and went to sleep even later. But to wake her up in the middle of the night just because he wanted to talk to her? He was realising it wasn't his brightest idea. "I'm sorry, it was a terrible idea," he apologised weakly. "I'll just… Come back early in the morning and I'll talk to you when you're awake."

With the light off, she could keep her eyes open, with the moonlight streaming in through her open curtains above her bed lighting up her room enough for her to see without wanting to tear her eyes out. "No, come on," she said softly with a tired smile as Bickslow slowly stood. "I'm kind of awake now. We can talk about whatever it is you wanted to. But you've gotta get in bed with me first because you're already here and I like cuddle time." Even if it had just been a week, and even if she really was dead tired and she was going to be trying hard not to fall back asleep in the next thirty seconds, being woken up in the middle of the night to talk to Bickslow was probably the only reason she would allow to be woken up in the middle of the night. She missed him, constantly.

Nodding as Lucy moved over on her bed until she was close to the wall, Bickslow began to pull off his clothes until he was just standing in his boxers and then placed them all on the chair at her desk, all neatly folded up. Climbing into the bed beside her and letting Lucy get comfortable again (which happened to be with her arm draped over him and her leg tangled with his, for whatever reason), he quietly said, "I was thinking that we could take a trip somewhere. You know, like a holiday. It would just be the two of us and we wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing us or anything."

"How would that even be possible?" Lucy asked.

"Well, my team have never really been opposed to me disappearing for a few weeks at a time sometimes, so I can easily tell them that I'm just going to go off and do my own thing for a little while," he explained as his hand slowly stroked up and down her back over her shirt. "And then you still have a few friends back in Crocus from when you were a reporter, right?"

She shrugged as she tilted her head up on the pillow, looking to Bickslow once again. "I guess. I haven't talked to them in a long time though."

"But your team probably don't know that, so maybe, if you told your team you were going to go catch up with some of them for a little while, you'd have an excuse to go away on your own."

Lucy had to admit it was a decent idea, because she could easily get away with saying she was visiting friends. A holiday was appealing, and the idea of it just being them and they wouldn't have to worry about being found out was one she loved. There was just one thing she didn't quite understand though, and that was why Bickslow was suddenly wanting to take a trip together. "So it might be my sleep-addled brain that thinks it could actually work," Lucy began with a quiet laugh. "But where is this coming from all of a sudden?"

"I'm just getting tired of only being able to be your boyfriend when it's just us and there's no one around us," he answered. "I want to be able to actually go out with you in public and do things together. Hell, I just want to be able to take you out on dates in restaurants with actual people in them and that aren't on the outskirts of town."

"You know I don't care about the dates though. That's not important to me."

"I know, baby, but it is to me sometimes." Sighing again, he turned from his back until he was on his side and pulled Lucy closer to him until his face was resting on the pillow just in front of hers. If people knew about them, he was sure he would've asked her to move in with him by then, and even if most of the times they had managed to spend a night together had only ended with him on the verge of falling out of his own bed, he really, really loved cuddle time… Just not so much when she got the babies and Plue involved. "And it's not like I want to tell everyone about us just yet, because I don't think I'm ready to die just yet, but if us telling people was what you really wanted, then I'd go with it and be happy about it because it's not like I'm not ready for that or anything… Assuming didn't get beheaded or something…"

She smiled. "Bickslow, you're rambling."

"I know." Pausing again, he took a deep breath and continued quietly, "But if we went to Crocus for a couple of weeks, we'd be able to actually do things as a couple, and we'd have time to ourselves where we wouldn't have to worry about anything."

"That does sound really nice," Lucy whispered.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

With another tired smile, Lucy closed her eyes and ducked her head to rest beneath his chin and against his chest. "Mm-hmm," she murmured. "But can we talk about the details in the morning before you have to go? I really just want to go back to sleep now."

"Of course we can," Bickslow whispered. And gently and carefully doing his best to shift to a slightly more comfortable position (he'd resigned to the fact his arm was going to be sore and dead in the morning), he lightly pressed a kiss to the top of her head before closing his own eyes.

Just a few days later, Bickslow and Lucy were enjoying the start of their two-week vacation in the country's capital. They'd each been to Crocus countless times over the years – Lucy had even lived there for a while after the guild had disbanded – but this time, it was different. It was just them, and they honestly hadn't known what to do with themselves on the first day where they were there together, having had to leave Magnolia separately. It had felt amazing to just walk down the street and hold each other's hands and actually act like a couple, but they'd gone so long with just being able to spend a few hours at most with each other here and there throughout the week that they weren't used to being able to spend every second of every day together.

That didn't mean they didn't enjoy it though. The first day had honestly been a little awkward, finding out they weren't quite sure how to act like a couple in public in the first place and know how to talk to each other for more than ten minutes at a time, but by the end of the second day, they were fine. They were both quick learners, after all.

So by the third night, they'd got everything under control. The days, they had agreed, were too short, and the nights also weren't long enough. They had realised that their two weeks would be up pretty quickly, and then they'd have to go back to Magnolia and pretend that they hadn't just spent an amazing two weeks together.

Bickslow still hadn't been able to stop thinking about where he wanted things to go with Lucy. Even just spending three days with her so far and being with her the entire time had made him all the more certain that it was what he wanted. He could very well get used to spending that much time with her all the time (excluding jobs, which sucked enough as it was).

But if Bickslow was sure of one thing, it was that he did want to be with her. He wanted to marry her one day, have a family with her and be able to go to sleep and wake up next to her each night and each morning. It was just a little sappy, he knew, but he couldn't help it. He knew what he wanted, and he really hoped that it was the same as what Lucy wanted one day too.

All of that would have to wait though, because nothing could happen until their friends knew about them. And they weren't there yet.

It was as they were walking back to their hotel on the third night that Bickslow was really thinking about it all though. They'd spent most of their day at Ryuzetsu Land, and had ended it with dinner in a restaurant not too far from where they were staying. On their walk back to the hotel though, still holding hands, Bickslow was in a losing battle with his mind. He honestly hadn't been paying that much attention to what Lucy had been saying, only hearing bits and pieces of it. All he'd been able to focus on was how there was a jeweller just a few stores back and it would be far too easy to turn them around and drag her in there, tell her to pick out a ring she liked and propose right then and there, and that there was a twenty-four-seven wedding chapel just up ahead. He'd noticed it on the first night when they'd been walking back to their hotel, and again on the second night, too.

But on the third night…

On the third night, right then, Bickslow was only silently telling himself not to even dare thinking about it. They might have joked about it on Valentine's Day, but they couldn't actually elope in Crocus…

Could they?

No, no. That would be ridiculous. One, Lucy will say no. Two, I'd get myself killed if the guild were to find out I'd married her and kept it from them all. Three, it's insane.

But Bickslow was just a little insane, and Lucy was just a little insane…

The only problems that Bickslow could see right then were that Lucy had said before that he couldn't propose until the guild knew about their relationship, and that even if that itself wasn't a problem, what was to say that they were ready to get married? What was to say that Lucy was ready? What if she was counting on it not happening for a while longer, maybe a few years?

Then there was the entire part where it was an insane idea anyway, and Lucy was bound to say no.

Maybe…

Surely it wouldn't hurt to actually… Find out? Worst case scenario, he gets his pride wounded a little bit, but it wasn't like that hadn't happened before. He was honest to god, expecting Lucy to only laugh at him and then let her drag him back to their hotel room and pretend that nothing had happened. It was really what was most likely to happen, but that didn't stop Bickslow from coming to a stop suddenly in the middle of the busy path, causing Lucy to stop when she noticed his resistance.

She turned and raised her eyebrows when she saw Bickslow standing in place and looking down towards the ground. "Bicks? What is it?" she asked quietly as she stepped back in front of him.

"Um…" Bickslow looked up then, his brow only slightly creased if he wondered if he was actually going to do it. Not wanting to stand in the middle of the path, he quickly pulled her to the side so they were out of the way and were standing under one of the multitude of streetlights that lit up the town and by the stone railing on the edge of the single canal that ran throughout Crocus. As he looked back up, he could see that Lucy was beginning to worry, and he didn't want or need that. So nervously, he began, "You uh… Still love me, right?"

"Sometimes."

The corner of his mouth quirked up for just a moment. "Come on, I'm being serious here. You definitely love me, right? And we're… And we're good together, right?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and pulled her hand free from Bickslow's, and quickly lifted both of her hands to his cheeks and held them there gently. "Of course I love you, silly," she giggled. "And we're great together. Why are you asking all of this?"

"I just want to make sure." He needed to know that Lucy felt the same way about him as he did with her, or at the very least was close. He hoped, really, that she was as head over heels and hopelessly in love with him as he was with her, and as he had been for a while. Just as nervously as he had before, Bickslow then asked, "But… Just so we're on the same page and all. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you love me?"

She pursed her lips for a second and her eyes lit up with her sense of mischief coming out, and said, "Hmm, maybe a three?"

"Wow, that much?" Bickslow chuckled. "I was expecting less, to be honest."

"Wait, what's one and what's ten?"

"One being peaches, and ten being strawberries and bacon."

"Oh. Yeah, definitely a three then," Lucy deadpanned. "Three-and-a-half if you're doing something romantic." Though, if she had to be completely honest, then Bickslow was definitely a ten, if not an eleven. Part of what made them so great together was that they could joke about things like that, and nothing would change between them. Bickslow knew how she felt, and no matter how many times they'd told each other they hate the other over the last year, acted like they really couldn't stand being around the other sometimes, or argued about the most ridiculous things in the entire world, it was all just fun and games to then. They both knew where they stood in their relationship, and at the end of the day, they didn't need to spend every second they managed to have together being completely serious and reciting love poems to each other. That just wasn't who they were and how their relationship worked.

Shrugging, Bickslow quietly chuckled again as he pulled her hands away from his face, lacing their fingers together between them. "Well, a three is high enough for me," he joked before his smile softened, and he looked down to where their hands were joined. "But you know, we've been together for nearly a year. And to be perfectly honest, I really didn't expect us to even last six months when we first started dating, but now here we are, and I am just so, so happy with how things have turned out so far. Well, considering the circumstances, anyway."

Lucy pulled her hands free again and lifted her arms to slink around his waist and murmured, "Okay, so maybe you're a four on the peaches to strawberries scale… Even if you had no faith in us lasting."

"I know that you had just as little faith as I did, Cosplayer. But that's okay, because we're here now, and right now, you love me and I love you a hell of a lot, so…"

"So…"

That was where Bickslow hesitated. He only wondered again if he was really going to go through with saying what he wanted to say, and it really wasn't because he was scared. Nothing, apart from Lucy's team and what they were capable of doing to him, scared Bickslow. Not even asking the woman of his dreams to marry him, right then and there. He didn't really have anything to lose, so why exactly was he wondering if he should do it?

If he did ask her and she did say no, it wouldn't really matter. Their relationship would be fine, he knew that, and he'd be able to move past it, knowing that it was one, a terrible idea, and two, he would be able to tell if it was something Lucy was or wasn't ready for yet. There wasn't much of a downside apart from the fact that his pride might be a little scathed, but that was okay.

And so it was with those thoughts in mind that Bickslow finally continued, all while keeping the soft smile on his lips and looking directly into her bright eyes. "So…" he said again, a little gentler that time. "We should get married. Here. Tonight. Right now."

Her eyes widened and she blinked at him in shock, only to see his unwavering certainty and seriousness staring back at her. "You're… You're kidding, right?"

"Is that a no?"

"W-Well, no, but…" Damn it, was it a no? Yes, it's a no! They couldn't get married there. No way. The guild would have them them alive. Her face searing hot, she tried not to pay too much attention to Bickslow's smirk that only showed that he knew she'd backed herself into a bit of a corner. "It's not a yes, either," she said firmly, hoping that her words would convince herself and drown out the annoying voice inside her head that was having a ball and begging to have some more fun. "I'm not saying I won't marry you one day, because I will. You know, just… Just not like this."

He arched a brow at her, internally laughing at how it was turning out. She had yet to actually give him a solid answer – a no that wasn't a yes either. Bickslow could see the way she was going over it, no doubt at the speed of light or something close to it in her head, making sense of it and doing her best to come up with a definitive answer. And that was a great sign, actually. She didn't know what she wanted, and he needed her to. He needed an answer either way, and he could see that she was torn between giving him the one he wanted to hear, and the one that he wouldn't be all that upset about hearing.

Leaning in until the tip of his nose brushed against hers, and with his mouth twisting up into a smirk, he murmured, "You didn't exactly give me a proper answer, so… Why not?"

Why what? Why hadn't she said yes like part of her was wanting to? "Because… Because of the guild," she spluttered quickly. "They'd probably kill us if they found out we got married and had been dating for a year."

"Is that it?"

"I…" The truth was that Lucy wasn't able to come up with any other reason right then, and she knew that Bickslow had realised that. But, in her defence, the guild losing it if they were to find out they'd first been dating for a year and then decided to elope was a pretty valid reason for not doing just that. Plus… "And we don't have any rings, either!"

"You know how many jewellery stores there are in Crocus and on this street alone? We could go and get rings any time. Anything else?"

Damn it. Why does he have to have a point right now? "Uh, well… Where exactly would we get married anyway?" she said quickly and quietly, still desperately clinging to the threads of excuses she was hoping were good enough to stop herself from actually giving in. "Crocus is a big place, and we could be up all night trying to find someone and somewhere—"

"There's a place that's open up all night that does weddings just up ahead. So… Next excuse?" He gave Lucy the time to come up with something as he lifted his head, and when he gave her the same face – bottom lip protruding and lips twisted into a scowl, looking up through her lashes – she made every time he beat her in a game of cards or chess, he found it incredibly hard not to laugh. Aside from her being too cute for her own good when she was pouting, it only meant one thing: he'd won. She had no excuses left. And knowing that, Bickslow slowly asked, "So really, the only issue here is the guild. But if they knew we were together and I asked you the same thing, what would your answer be?"

Her answer would be hell fucking yes, and she didn't even need to say that because Bickslow already knew it. He'd figured it out like he figured everything else about her out, and there was absolutely nothing he didn't know about her and it had been just one short year together. He knew how her brain worked, what she liked and what she hated. He knew what she could put up with and what could have her seething in a matter of seconds. He knew it all, and right then, he knew what was going through her head. He knew what she wanted to say to his original proposal, and Lucy knew that he was going to say just what she needed to hear to give him the answer that he wanted.

"Think of it this way," Bickslow began again after a moment as he removed her arms from around his waist and laced their fingers together again, his thumb idly brushing over her ring finger and the top of her hand. "It could be another game. Nothing would really change, because we'd still be in a guild full of unobservant airheads and drunks. No one but us would know a thing unless we told them, and you know that that would be the only way they'd find out anyway. Fuck, I'd probably get you knocked up before anyone managed to figure it out on their own."

Her face was instantly heating up again as she lifted one hand to gently shove his chest. "No, you will not," she giggled. One day, maybe… Eventually… But definitely not before their friends were aware of their relationship. She could deal with telling her friends and family that she'd been dating Bickslow for a year, and she could probably find a way to deal with them after telling them they decided to sneak off and get married (and she'd probably have to call off her team so she wasn't widowed before she twenty-one). But she didn't think she could cope with telling the guild that not only had they been in a very happy and mostly loving relationship for a while, they were married, but were also expecting a baby.

Oh no. That, she did not want to be doing. Ever. She really didn't think she would be able to protect Bickslow from the wrath of the guild, or specifically, Team Natsu.

She was already on the verge of blurting out her relationship status to them as it was, and she was sure that actually marrying Bickslow would make her want to do that a whole lot more. Having a secret boyfriend was one thing, but a secret husband? That was on a whole new level of insane, but it was an insanely appealing idea.

Part of Lucy was having a hard time trying to comprehend the fact that she was very seriously considering actually getting married. Right there, in Crocus, and right then. It was reckless, that was for sure, but that didn't bother her. Ever since they'd brushed the surface of that discussion on Valentine's Day not even two weeks earlier, she'd been thinking about it. She wanted to be with Bickslow, and even if him having just suggested they get married that night had quite possibly been the stupidest thing she had ever known to come from his mouth, it was also the greatest.

She wanted to marry him. She realised, right then, that she wasn't going to be able to last another year before the guild found out about them. She would have to tell them about herself and Bickslow before that, because it would drive her insane if she didn't. Six months, tops, she figured. That's how long she reasoned she could last before telling them, assuming no one miraculously managed to figure it out on their own.

"So, Cosplayer. You wanna be taken off the market for good?"

So only sighing quietly when she couldn't keep the smile off her face, she looked up to the sparkling night sky above them for just a moment before meeting Bickslow's gaze. I can't believe I'm about to do this… "I'm keeping my last name though, alright?"

Barely half an hour later, they were standing before each other and listening to the words that would bind them to one another. The paperwork they'd needed to do had been filled out rather haphazardly, and neither had paid too much attention to what the minister's assistant had been telling them to make sure it wasn't voided in the future for any number of reasons. Loke and Virgo had made their presence known and were acting as extra witnesses, and the babies hovered happily above them, doing their best to quietly hum along to the soft music being played on the piano behind them as their impromptu wedding ceremony continued.

It wasn't the magical and whimsical wedding she'd always wanted as a kid, but that was okay. She didn't need that to be happy, and right then, Lucy was the happiest she had ever been, and so was Bickslow.

The guild was actually going to have his head once they found out, but that was also okay, because even if he did die (oh, he was hoping his soon-to-be wife would be able to hold her team specifically back), he would have died a very happy man, having been able to call Lucy Heartfilia his wife. Facing the wrath of her team (and Mira), would be so worth it though.

"…I remind you that marriage is a lifelong commitment, and a challenge to love one another more completely each and every day." The words of the woman next to them finally filtered in through their ears, and their matching smiles only got brighter as she continued, "Bickslow, do you take Lucy to be your wife, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish your union and love her more each day than you did the day before? Will you trust and respect her, laugh and cry with her, love her faithfully regardless of the obstacles you may face together? Will you give your heart, your soul, and your love to her every day from this day forward?"

Smiling, Bickslow softly said, "I do."

The officiant turned to Lucy with her own smile, and she waited until Lucy had nodded and looked back up after attempting to dry her eyes with the back of her hands. She was not supposed to be crying right then, but she just had not been able to stop the overly happy tears from pooling in her eyes. "Lucy, do you take Bickslow to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish your union and love him more each day than you did the day before? Will you trust and respect him, laugh and cry with him, love him faithfully regardless of the obstacles you may face together? Will you give your heart, your soul, and your love to him every day from this day forward?"

"I do."

Having decided to sort out the rings in the morning, knowing that they weren't necessary, and neither being able to come up with anything to say, the officiant closed the small book and held it over her stomach behind crossed hands. "Bickslow and Lucy, may your love never fade, and in your journey together, may you often remind yourself of the love that brought you together."

"Ah, let's never tell Mira and Cana this was all their doing, okay?" Bickslow interrupted with a quiet laugh. If it hadn't been for those two, they wouldn't have ever had their impromptu date on Valentine's Day the year before, then they wouldn't be standing in Crocus right then. Or at least, they didn't think so.

"Yeah, maybe not," Lucy giggled. Turning, she only gave an apologetic smile at the officiant to let her continue.

Realising the two before her were an interesting pair, she smiled herself again and continued just as gently, only glancing up every now and then to the odd floating totems above them who seemed to only get louder and more out of pitch with each second. "Bickslow and Lucy, you have expressed your love to one another through the commitment and promises you have just made," she said. "By the authority vested in me by the country of Fiore, I pronounce you to each other, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Bickslow didn't need to be told twice to kiss his girlfriend—no, wife, so he did so as gladly as he had every other time he'd kissed her. Which, admittedly, wasn't anywhere near enough as he should have and how much he had wanted to, considering they'd been together for a year. And when they pulled apart, Bickslow's forehead resting on Lucy's as they looking lovingly into each other's eyes, they were both sure that deciding to get married right then had been the best decision of their lives.

And so with Loke crying along with Virgo just beside them and the babies giggling and twirling happily above them, Lucy smiled up at her husband, and whispered, "I love you, you idiot." From that day onwards, Bickslow was her idiot and her adorable dork, and she couldn't be happier.

Smiling before pressing his lips to hers once again, Bickslow said the only words other than 'holy fucking shit, I just married Lucy Heartfilia' that came to his head. "I love you too, Cosplayer." Because if he was her idiot and dork, then she was his favourite cosplayer, and until the end of time, she would be his queen.

A/Ns: So there we have it. The story of how they eloped in Crocus. And, if you didn't know already, this is set six months before the starting story, We're Telling Them.
Hopefully the wedding 'ceremony' was okay. I've never actually been to a wedding so everything is coming from research, so if you've read my other stories that have weddings, you'll have noticed that I tend to skip a whole lot of it and only put bits of pieces in, just because I don't want to screw it up. But hey, it's a story, anyway (that's what I keep telling myself...). I won't be doing that for Souls and Spirits though, in case anyone was wondering. That chapter, when I get to it, will be written out... Completely. Or mostly. It needs to be.

Oh, and yes, this entire story (all of the one-shots) are set after the events of Tartaros (or is it Tartarus? I had no idea, honestly, but I'll just stick with Tartaros for the sake of it). And by the power of story-telling, Lucy has Aquarius back.

Anyway. As I said I'd do, here is the order in which the Happy Wife, Happy Life stories are set. And note, these are not the order in which they NEED to be read, or the order in which they're written. It's just for referencing really. (I should probably add that this is all roughly the order in which they're set. This is pretty close though. Some just might be swapped around, not that it makes much difference).

1. How It All Began
2. Pride
3. The Spontaneous Decision
4. We're Telling Them
5. The Job Boycott
6. Here We Go Again
7. Sleeping Arrangements
8. The Bet
9. Trick or Treat
10. 2AM

As always, I hoped you enjoyed this addition to the HWHL universe. I did wonder if I should put all of these into one story like I'm doing with the Brothers, Sisters, and Unfortunate Husbands one-shots, but I decided to just leave this. It would be too difficult to re-upload everything and I'm sure you'd all hate me for it.

Until next time though.

- April