Lucy chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously, her eyes wandering over the colorful scenery surrounding them. The colors had gotten brighter since she'd found out—now that her and Natsu were an official couple, the world was just…better.

"Hey," Natsu murmured, nudging her softly. "Relax. You've got nothing to worry about."

Lucy turned, eyes looking up at him. "You mean you're not nervous? At all?"

The boy hesitated a moment, then shrugged. "I mean, of course I am. But I know you'll be there, so everything will be fine."

Lucy couldn't help but smile at his words; she rolled her eyes.

It had been exactly one week since they'd confessed their feelings to each other, and it had changed everything. If Lucy had thought colors were amazing before…well, now it was like someone had finally turned the lights on. Colors were even bolder than she'd thought possible; everything was enhanced in every way. Purples, greens, yellows…even the strange pink of Natsu's hair was prettier. Being this close with him, finally having him be hers and vice versa…it had improved life in every way.

They'd basically been in hiding for the past week. They couldn't help it—the colors were so bright and they were so deeply in love that they just couldn't manage to have anything distract them. They couldn't be bothered going to the guild hall and chatting with others, not when they could be alone with each other. So, they simply hadn't.

They'd gone on a little trip, a little vacation. They hadn't told anyone why—they just told Happy they were leaving and not to worry about them. They'd gone to nearby cities and stayed at cute little hotels and gone for romantic dinners. They walked along the pretty beaches and kissed under the stars and gone for icecream. It had been one week filled with absolute love, absolute adoration for each other. It had been the best week of Lucy's life. She would never forget it.

But they'd soon realized that they couldn't avoid real life for forever. They'd have to go home eventually—life couldn't always be a vacation. So, after one week of kissing and giggling and pure romance, the duo opted to head home.

But now, the real challenge had arrived: telling the guild that they were soulmates.

Lucy already knew what was going to happen. The girls would scream and shout and beg for intimate details of what happened; the boys would scoff and act grossed out, but try to subtly question what it was like and how they knew and how long they'd been in love.

She'd been dreading it. For one, she was very protective of what she had with Natsu; it was the most intimate feeling in the world, and sharing it with others just felt sort of wrong. And secondly, she'd been hiding the fact that she could see colors from her friends for months. She didn't want to even guess how much she was going to be grilled about that.

But Natsu was calm and collected, not worried in the slightest. He loved his friends, and he loved his Lucy, and he couldn't see how telling them would be any problem at all. Besides, he'd have Lucy beside him at all times. Nothing bad could happen with Lucy there.

And so, they'd walked into the guild hall hand-in-hand (Lucy's hands were notably sweaty, which made Natsu snort), capturing the attention of all of their guild mates. The entire place fell to silence, a hush sweeping over the crowd as they watched the pair.

"Oh god," Lucy whispered, cringing into the boy.

He seemed amused. "Relax, Luce. It's gonna be fine."

Natsu tugged on her hand, leading her over to the stage. Lucy hesitated at first, unsure of what his plans were—she'd sort of hoped they'd just be seen holding hands and that would be that—but his hand was warm and strong against hers, and he'd flashed her a soft smile, and everything that she'd been worried about was thrown out of the window.

He tugged her on stage, grabbed the microphone, and cleared his throat. Lucy held onto his hand for dear life.

"Hey everybody," Natsu said, voice deep in the mic. "Just have a little announcement to make here."

The crowd watched them silently, all eyes on the pair.

"Turns out, Lucy and I are soulmates!" He paused, grinning that goofy smile at the crowd. "And it took us a little while to figure it out, but we did, and we're super in love and can see colors and stuff."

Lucy squeezed his hand nervously. The way he said it was so…simple. Like it was plain and simple, like the fact that they hadn't known this entire time hadn't torn them both apart. It had fucked Lucy up mentally, confusing her for the better part of a year…all while Natsu had basically been physically tortured by ignoring it.

His honesty, his simple awareness of what they'd endured…it was sweet.

The crowd was quiet for a long beat.

"We already knew that!" Cana grumbled from under her barrel of booze.

Lucy frowned. "What?"

"Yeah—weren't you guys already together?" Someone else in the crowd spoke up.

Natsu chuckled; Lucy made a face.

Master Makarov stood up. "You mean to tell me that you guys weren't dating this entire time?"

"No!" Lucy sputtered, shocked by the lack of response they were receiving from their friends. "We were just…friends!"

"You two were very close," Erza noted. "We all just assumed you two were soulmates and had already figured it out."

Lucy looked up at Natsu, shaking her head; he smirked down at her.

"See?" He murmured. "Told you they wouldn't care."

Lucy rolled her eyes, smiling to herself. "I guess so. I should listen to you more often."

"Yeah, we just kinda figured," Lisanna said, shrugging. "Just like Levy and Gajeel—everyone knows their soulmates already, y'know?"

Gajeel's voice broke out from the far side of the guild. "Wait—what?"

Lisanna blinked. "You mean you aren't?"

"No, no—they have to be," Erza said, agreeing with Lisanna. "Because Levy was telling me about how she was seeing the color green a lot the other day. It couldn't be anyone else. Right?"

The hush washed over the crowd again, everyone turning to look at Gajeel and Levy.

Gajeel looked over at Levy, his expression suddenly crumbling into something that no one could dissect. His voice was low and he tilted his head to the left slightly. "Levy—can you see…"

Levy's head was down, her eyes slammed shut from the sheer embarrassment of what was occurring. Because of course she'd been seeing colors—she'd been seeing them from the very first moment the big dumb idiot decided to be nice to her. They'd fought for so long but somehow the raging annoyance she'd felt for him had shifted—and the next thing she'd known, she'd fallen in love with him. But she'd never known what to do, or how to tell anyone, because how could she have fallen in love with the one person who'd annoyed her the most?

But the truth was out now—Levy knew she shouldn't have trusted Erza with such secretive information—and there was no denying it. It was now or never.

So Levy squeezed her eyes shut, kept her head down, and squeaked out, "Yes, I can—and it's you. It was always you."

"Levy…" Gajeel's voice was rough, unreadable. "Since when?"

"Since…I don't know. Does it matter? Since the first day you said I was smart, the first day you smiled a real smile at me." She didn't look up at him. "For a while, now."

His big hand gently pulled her chin up so he could see her face. To his surprise, Levy had tears streaming down her cheeks. Gajeel wiped them away softly.

"You don't have to cry, little one." He paused, smiling down at her. "I can, too."

The crowd gasped.

Through the loud speakers, the audience could hear Natsu whispering to Lucy. "Oh, he totally loves her. Told you, Luce."

Levy's eyes snapped open. "You what?"

Gajeel shrugged down at her. "I can see colors." He hesitated. "Because of you."

"Since when?"

He grinned. "Since the very first day, half pint." His big hand landed on her head, patting her hair, just like he'd always done to annoy her. "Loved you right from the start."

She frowned. "Then why'd you always bug me so much?" Levy pressed.

Gajeel smirked. "You're cute when you're mad."

Levy rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

"Aw, c'mere," He muttered under his breath, pulling her in close and kissing her softly.

The crowd erupted into cheers and clapping, everyone celebrating the pair finally getting together. Cana grabbed a beer and offered a celebratory shotgun, downing the drink within seconds. Elfman noted how manly the entire confession had been. Makarov seemed pleased that his children were so happy.

"I have an announcement, too!" Gray called out, hopping up on stage. "Can I have the mic, Natsu?"

Natsu handed his friend the mic, opting instead to stand behind Lucy and wrap his arms around her waist; he rested his chin on her shoulder.

Everyone turned their attention back to the stage, leaving Levy and Gajeel to make out in peace.

"I'd like everyone to know that as of last night, that beautiful woman sitting in the front row will be my bride!"

The crowd went nuts; more screaming and shouting and cheering. Cana shotgunned two beers.

Lucy's eyes got wide and she looked at Gray. "You guys are getting married?"

Gray nodded; in the crowd, Juvia held up her hand to reveal a diamond ring on her finger.

"Congrats, buddy," Natsu said, clapping Gray on the back.

"Thanks," The water mage murmured back. He looked happy, peaceful even, like all those months of pain and suffering had never happened. Because he'd found the love of his life and she was going to be his wife soon enough, and nothing else really mattered. "We're really happy about it."

"That didn't take you very long!" Lucy teased playfully.

Gray shrugged. "When you've found your soulmate…what's the point in waiting?"

Lucy smiled, her chest warm…because she'd found hers. After so long, after so much struggle…her soulmate was right here, his arms around her. He squeezed her tightly and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, smiling into it.

She was so happy she could burst.

Makarov hopped up on stage and took the mic, suggesting that the guild party hard tonight to celebrate the ultimate trifecta of romance: Lucy and Natsu, Gajeel and Levy, Gray and Juvia. The crowd exploded into action; everyone headed to the bar to get a drink, to get food, to get a celebratory shot. The music turned on and people began to dance. In the far back corner, a fight had already broken out.

Lucy hugged Natsu closer, pulling him in so she could whisper in his ear.

"I love you."

He flashed her that goofy lopsided smirk, then murmured, "I love you too. And don't worry—you're gonna be my wife. I just have to find a ring."

Lucy rolled her eyes, cheeks flushing. She hugged his arms tighter around her, then peered back out to the crowds before her.

Everything was colorful. Blues, purples, yellows….even the pink of Natsu's hair.

She'd found her rainbow. It was everything around her. Because of him.

A/N: yep, that's the end. Thanks for reading, I enjoyed writing this piece! I might add an epilogue onto it in a few months, I tend to revisit my stories and add a little more on once its completed. So keep an eye out for that. Thanks for all of the support! I'm hoping to get into a better schedule for writing and I'm hoping to have a few stories up this summer, so keep an eye out for that as well! Thank you for everything!