A/N: Last chapter! Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows!
"You love me!?" Natsu and Lucy yelled simultaneously. "I love you!?" There was a pause as they stared at each other.
Then, the realization crashed onto them like the lightning crashed in the sky outside, and at the exact same time, their faces were suddenly emblazoned with bright blushes. "Hoy crap, I do! I'm in love with you!" Natsu and Lucy both yelled out. They stared at each other with dumbfounded looks.
"So that's what that feeling was!" Natsu shouted.
"That's why I always feel so happy when I'm around you, even when we might die!" Lucy shouted back.
"That's why I always wanna protect you!"
"That's why I always know that you will!"
"That's why you're always on my mind!"
"That's why you're always on my mind!"
There was another pause, and then, just as when they blushed, their expressions changed at the same time once again. They changed into wide grins that spread nearly from ear to ear. Lucy jumped into Natsu's arms and wrapped her own arms and legs loosely around him as he picked her up and spun her in the air. They giggled together while in an eskimo kiss.
After a couple of spins, Natsu set her back down on the ground so as not to get dizzy. Then they kissed again, a passionate kiss that felt almost magical to the two of them. Lucy couldn't help but remember her imaginings of storybook kisses of true love as she kissed Natsu. This kiss wasn't at all like those imaginings; it was better, more personal. It felt more like them then one of those storybook kisses could've been. Lucy's end of the kiss was slightly tentative, as if she was trying to decide how to go about it. The caution was over quickly once she had an idea of what she was doing. Natsu's side also matched his personality. He was giving it everything he had, even though he had no idea what he was doing. Overall, they ended up with an awkward, obviously inexperienced kiss, but it was special all the same. When they separated, they leaned their foreheads against each other's and announced, very proudly, "I love you," once again. Neither one's grins could seem to falter, even if they desired for it. Their cheeks were starting to hurt, but they were both so ecstatic at the new development that they didn't care.
"So... What now? Are we a couple?" Natsu asked completely without tact.
"Well, I would assume so. Do you want us to be a couple?"
"Hell yeah!" Lucy laughed at Natsu's response before nodding. "What do couples even do, though? You know, before getting married and having babies and stuff?" Lucy laughed again, and blushed a little as images of she and Natsu at the alter and little pink-haired and blonde-haired babies ran through her head.
"They go on dates, for one thing."
"What do you do on a date?"
"It's different for every couple. It could really be anything. Going out to a restaurant to eat, or going to the park, or even just staying at home and doing things like playing games or cooking." Lucy imagined doing those things with Natsu when she realized something. From the confused and slightly wide-eyed expression on Natsu's face, he was coming to the same realization. "Wait..."
"Haven't we..."
"already done...
"all that?"
Natsu and Lucy bust out in laughter again. "We've already been dating!" Lucy exclaimed. Then she paused, and a second later, burst out, "Wait! We always invited Happy along when we went out! So we weren't dating!"
"Did Happy ever actually come with us?" Natsu wondered as he tried to conjure up memories of Happy from when they went on 'dates'.
Lucy paused to think. "I'm... Not entirely sure. I was too enamored with you to... pay attention to Happy." Lucy said, feeling guilt creep into her current emotions.
"I think I was the same way. I don't remember ever really taking my focus off of you..." Natsu said when he could only remember Lucy.
"Oh my God, Natsu, we made Happy a third wheel!" Lucy suddenly exclaimed.
Now Natsu was confused. "A 'third wheel'?"
"When a couple has a friend along with them, and the couple is being all lovey-dovey and not paying any attention to the friend!" Lucy had her hands in her hair, slightly pulling at the strands in stress.
"Oh. That sounds bad."
"It is! We have to apologize to him the very moment he gets back."
"Yeah, we should." Natsu shrugged. Sure, they had accidentally ignored Happy, but it wasn't so bad that Lucy needed to be stressed. Happy was the one of the ones who tried to push them together the most. The exceed was probably too overjoyed at their dates to be too upset about them.
"I feel so terrible!" Lucy shouted, her hair being pulled harder.
"Hey, Luce? Stop feeling so guilty. We'll apologize to Happy and everything'll be okay. I mean, he'll tease us a ton for sure, but he'll understand!" Natsu didn't like it when Lucy felt upset, and because of recent developments, he knew why now. He was in love with her. It seemed so obvious to him now. Why did it take... Whatever the hell had happened for him to realize it?
Lucy smiled to Natsu. "Okay. Thank you." They hugged, then yawned as the earlier exhaustion seeped back into them. "We have more we should talk about, but I think we should just go to sleep for right now."
Natsu nodded, then kissed Lucy's forehead. "Yeah. I'm sleepy. Also, I wanna cuddle with you."
Lucy smiled. "I do, too- EEK!" Natsu had picked her up, his arms wrapped around the underside of Lucy's thighs. She clung her arms tightly around Natsu's shoulders and neck. Natsu just laughed. Lucy could feel his grin against where it rested on her neck. In the next moment, Lucy was plopped onto the couch, still in Natsu's arms. They adjusted themselves into a comfortable position. Lucy ended up squished between Natsu and the back of the couch, but she didn't mind. Natsu had his arms around her lovingly and protectively, and his nose was buried in the golden locks at the top of her head. Lucy had her hands resting on Natsu's chest -a very nice feeling, she couldn't help but notice. She kissed the spot on Natsu's neck where her lips were resting, then sighed in contentment. The last thing Natsu did was throw a blanket over top of them before he also sighed happily and admitted his love to Lucy again. She replied with her own confession of love, and then they fell asleep, basking in each other's warmth and happiness.
"Ready to tell the guild?" Natsu asked his new girlfriend. Natsu and Lucy were standing outside the guild hall, preparing themselves for the teasing that would surely come in the next few minutes. Lucy smiled and nodded, and then they pushed the doors open, hand in hand. They headed towards the bar, where some of their closer friends were talking amongst themselves.
Gray glanced to the door when he heard it open and rolled his eyes when he saw Lucy and Natsu with their hands clasped together. "Here they go again."
"When are they finally gonna get together?" Mirajane rhetorically asked. Levy shrugged and Erza shook her head.
Natsu and Lucy heard the conversation as they approached and snickered to each other. They really had been idiotic to not notice how in love they were.
"That would be last night," Natsu stated when he and Lucy arrived.
The four at the bar stared at him, trying to decide whether or not he meant what it sounded like he meant.
"You mean..." Erza began.
Lucy smiled and leaned up to kiss Natsu's cheek. "Yes. As of last night, we are officially a couple."
"Yup!" Natsu added before capturing Lucy's lips in a kiss.
Gray snickered. "Get a room, you guys!" Just as he was hoping, his remark colored Lucy's face red. There was revenge to be taken out, and embarrassment was one of the best forms of it. The other people at the bar gave remarks of 'finally' and 'congratulations'.
"Anyways, it turns out we've been in love with each other for a while."
"Oh, wow." Levy said sarcastically.
"That is new information." Mirajane remarked, also with a sarcastic tone.
Lucy blushed a little more. "Yeah, neither of us figured out that we were until last night. I know it's not usually a good idea to act on feelings right after you figure them out, but I think Natsu and I'll be okay."
Mira smiled. "Yes, I'm sure you two will be fine. You're already best friends! The only thing that really changes from that is that you'll be kissing!"
Cana, who had been staying out of the conversation up until now, spoke her two cents. "And fucking!"
Natsu and Lucy blushed at the remark, but they couldn't help but glance at the "special section" of their partner's body. Then, their eyes both darted back up at the same time, and they managed to accidentally look each other in the eyes. They blushed harder and quickly looked away, and the others laughed at their plight. Although, Gray's laugh held a twinge of annoyance that "Flame Brain" would probably lose his virginity before he.
"Do you guys realize," Gray started, "that you have been dating and acting like a couple pretty much since you moved in together?"
Lucy squeaked. "You mean you noticed?" Everyone nodded with a smirk. "I'm sorry we've been so idiotic! I can't believe it took us kissing to-"
"What!?" Mira asked. She and the others were wide-eyed.
"Oh, yeah, Lucy and I kissed a couple times and said we loved each other before we even realized what we were doing! It's pretty funny!"
Lucy whacked him in the chest. "It's not funny! It's embarrassing!"
"It's a little funny. And we'll be laughing about it when we get married!" Lucy blushed a little at the mention of them getting married again, but frankly, she couldn't imagine not marrying him. And she definitely wouldn't get out of it now that the idea was planted in Erza and Mira's heads. One glance at the scary women told her that they were already planning for the event.
Gray gaped, still not able to get over how Natsu and Lucy had gotten together. "How the hell does that even happen!?"
Mira spoke up, hearts replacing her pupils. "It's like their hearts were so fed up with their minds for not figuring it out, that their hearts took action and let the minds ask questions later!" Everyone laughed at the ridiculous, but somehow reasonable, suggestion.
Cana spoke next. "Hey, Natsu! Let's see you plant another one on her!" Natsu didn't hesitate to comply. He had found that kissing Lucy was one of his new favorite things to do. Cana wolf-whistled when Lucy eagerly returned the kiss, which caused them to separate and blush.
It was just then that Happy flew into the guild hall, arriving back from his job. He had seen the kiss, and he was ecstatic.
"Did the idiots in love finally get together!?" He shouted. Natsu and Lucy happily nodded. "Yes! This is so great! Now I'm allowed to tease you again!" And he immediately began to do so, first starting with a "You liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike each other!"
Lucy was about to tell the exceed to stop, but then Natsu stopped her. "We kinda deserve it," he said with a snicker.
Lucy also laughed as she thought back to the past couple of weeks. "Yes, I guess we do. We really were a couple of idiots in love."
A/N: The end. I hope you all enjoyed!
It may be a little while until I post something. A lot of stuff at school has come up, and I just haven't had the time to write. I have a chapter of Togetherness underway and I've kind of started another chaptered fic, but it may be a little while before they're seen. As per usual, I will finish the entirety of that chaptered fic before I begin posting.
See you next time!
Edit: MasterGildarts (I love you, dude. Thanks for all the support you give me!) brought up that they'd like to see a sequel to this, about Natsu and Lucy's marriage and going into their first child. In my head, I've kind of thought of "Idiots in Love", "Father's Day", "Togetherness", and also "You Weren't Supposed to Find That!" as connected, so I guess there's your sequels, if you want to think of them like that. For those who haven't read any of them, you can find them in my profile. None of those actually have the wedding, but if demand is high enough and if I have enough motivation, I might write a short fic about their wedding.
Again, see you next time!