notes: i don't even know anymore. might turn this into a two-shot, the next part being the wedding. maybe.
dedication: for m-pbaseunleashedbecause she's just all that.

disclaimer: own nada

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{I'm the one who wants to love you more}

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This was not how he planned it.

Yes, contrary to his friends Gajeel and Gray's beliefs, he could actually plan something.

But that didn't mean that what he planned was going to work out.

You see, he was sure that karma, Murphy's Law, the world - and maybe just the entire universe – had it out for him.

Because here he was. In a holding cell instead of at sitting at a table in the fancy restaurant he'd reserved for his favorite girl and himself.

Somebody just kill him now.

Natsu Dragneel sat on the (uncomfortable) bed in his holding cell with his head in his hands. The pinkette groaned because, if he didn't end up being incarcerated (he already was), then Lucy would be at his throat and who knows if he'd make it out alive.

He wasn't really the 'romantic' type of guy, so to speak. He was no Mr. Darcy or Gilbert Blythe or any of those other fictional guys Lucy admired, but he had tried. Did he ever try. He always tried to be chivalrous and kind, but he was clumsy (and so was she, unbelievably so) and most of the time he messed things up.

But Lucy didn't seem to mind. In fact, from her pint of view, it was sweet and kind and just all sorts of cute. Except maybe for that one time he spilled red wine on her pretty cream cocktail dress. She wasn't so thrilled with him then.

They'd been friends since high school, and he'd had a crush on her for forever. Then the two friends he'd mentioned earlier (actually, Gajeel was his cousin but what the hell did it matter?) called him chicken and he finally asked her out.

And was he ever glad he did.

Because it turns out she'd had a crush on him too. Like, major crushing. He wasn't joking.

When he'd asked her to go to a movie with him, she'd dropped the books she was holding.

It was actually really funny.

Lucy, in his eyes, was the incarnation of perfection. Sure she was weird (like, really weird, seriously), and she had a hot temper, but she actually managed to put up with him and they fit together perfectly in his mind. In others too he imagined because he was always overhearing comments from their friends and people they passed on the street about 'how cute they looked together.'

So sure, Lucy had her quirks (so did he), but he loved her for them.

And that was why, after five years of dating, he was going to propose.

His plan had been perfect, flaw free. Or so he'd thought.

He'd reserved a table at Erza's – it was this high class restaurant and hard to get into even though he'd been friends with the owner since elementary school and dammit her cakes were delicious – and he'd bought a ring. It had been pretty far out of his comfort zone, so he'd asked Juvia Lockser (Gray's not-girlfriend – his friend was an idiot and seriously needed to confess already) to go with him because she was one of Lucy's friends and it would help him feel not so awkward looking at all those diamonds.

And he couldn't trust Levy McGarden – Lucy's best friend – to go with him because the blunette couldn't keep a secret to save her life.

So Juvia had gone with him and they'd picked out a ring, well, he had done most of it. She was just there for moral support. She'd been really cool about it and he really liked her so Gray needed to hurry up and confess already dammit.

Anyway, the ring. It was simple, for the most part, but it burned a hell of a hole out of his wallet. A white gold band with a ruby dead center, and two smaller diamonds on each side. There was a little swirly design around the jewels, but that was pretty much it.

Juvia loved it, so he hoped Lucy would too.

Then, he'd called the other night and asked her to dinner with him. He was going to propose during dessert (he'd planned on ordering one of Erza's strawberry cakes, her specialty, because Lucy loved them), the whole 'get down on one knee and make a heart-warming speech in front of all the other patrons' kind of speech.

He was even wearing a tie. Lucy should have been happy to know that, because he absolutely abhorred the damn things. They were like leashes and it was like they strangled you.

So, about half past six, he'd climbed into his car, ring in his pocket, and headed to dinner. Usually, he picked Lucy up, but she had to work late tonight and so she said she'd just go herself and wait for him. And that was fine because, honestly, he'd been so so nervous.

In fact, he'd been so nervous that he didn't see the hot dog cart in the street until it was too late.

Seriously, who just leaves a hot dog cart in the street? Six-thirty p.m. was like, second rush hour, duh.

But apparently somebody decided that it was a perfectly wonderful place to park their vendor cart.

And so that was how he ended up in Magnolia's police station in a holding cell.

He didn't even really like hotdogs before, and he definitely hated the things now.

He had to admit though, the look on Igneel Dragneel's face – his father was a police detective – had been pretty hilarious as he watched his twenty-three-year-old son be marched down the hallway to the holding cells.

Natsu groaned and pulled at his pink locks. This night was a disaster, his proposal was ruined, and seriously, who leaves a hotdog cart in the street?!

The pinkette sighed and stuck a hand in his pants pocket, pulling out the small midnight blue velvet box that held the engagement ring.

"I'm never planning anything again." he muttered, shoving the precious item back into his pocket.

Damn were his premium rates ever going to go up.

And he'd even been placed on bail. Good grief, were the Magnolia police ever stiff. He hadn't even hurt anyone. Mass murdered a couple hundred hotdogs maybe, but he hadn't hurt any people.

His car and ego had taken most of the blow. Well, that hotdog cart wasn't going to be selling anymore hotdogs ever again either, but…

"Mr. Dragneel," he cringed because that's what people call his father besides 'Detective', "you're entitled to one phone call. Do you want it or not?" the officer – Max Alors, someone he's known since high school – asked in a bored sort of tone.

He's almost tempted to turn it down because, what is even the point? Maybe he could call a lawyer because this whole situation was ridiculous beyond belief, but other than that-

"Yes." he snapped suddenly, because he had an idea.

He was going to improvise.

Max raised a brow, but unlocked his cell that he still can't believe he'd been put in, before marching him back down the hall and to the phone mounted on the wall.

Natsu picked up the phone, and lifted it to his ear, before he dialed the number he'd long ago memorized into the mount on the wall. Igneel Dragneel watched as his only son tapped his foot in impatience – something that was one of his earlier mentioned 'quirks' – and he wondered just who he could be calling.

Natsu was nervous, even more so than before, because he hadn't showed up for their dinner and it was already half past eight and should he even be doing this? Over the phone, and in a police station?

He was seriously considering hanging up when the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

And, oh shit, she'd been crying.

"Lucy." he didn't phrase it as a question, because he already knew it was her.

It was silent for a moment.

"N-Natsu? Where have you been?! I had to sit here like some loner and eat by myself and there was this creepy guy and I waited and waited and waited because you said that you'd be here, but you never showed up!" her voice was steadily gaining volume until almost everyone in the room could hear her. "I feel so stupid because I kept looking toward the door expecting you to walk in any minute with some stupid stupid excuse but I was ready to forgive you anyway!"

Does he ever feel like a jerk. It was bad enough that she'd been crying, but crying because of him? It was worse than worse.

"Lucy," he began slowly, listening as she hiccups and he can hear Erza in the background trying to calm her down, "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah well, where are you anyway?"

He turned slowly to look at all the people – detectives, his father, regular officers, rookies, criminals, people there for interrogation – and saw that all eyes were on him. Why had he thought proposing in some high class restaurant would be a good idea? It was stupid, stupid, stupid.

Slowly, he turned back to the wall where the phone was mounted.

"Natsu?"

"Uh yeah." he breathed. "I'm uh, kind of in jail."

Silence.

Deafening silence.

Then, "Did you kill someone?"

"What?!" he exclaimed. "No! No! Of course not!"

He was definitely not counting all those hotdogs.

"I'm uh, in here for hitting a food vendor cart." he replied sheepishly.

"So you put someone in the hospital?" Lucy asked in a sort of monotone and nobody else understands why she was taking this without panicking or freaking out.

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, no. I didn't hit anyone."

"Then why are you there?"

"Honestly," he turned around again to give his arresting officer the evil eye, "I don't really know."

Lucy let out a little laugh. "That's so stupid."

"I know, right?" and he was beginning to feel better already. "Hey Lucy, listen. There was something I wanted to ask you over dinner tonight, but since, ya know, I'm stuck here, I had to improvise."

It was silent for a moment again.

"I'm listening."

"Okay," Natsu breathed, and he'd already started to feel nervous again, "Lucy Heartfilia, I've loved you ever since I first saw you spill your lunch tray all over Gray in the ninth grade." she groaned loudly in embarrassment. "And honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you in my life."

He paused, because suddenly it was deathly quiet in both the precinct and on the other end of the line. Oh well, he'd already started, might as well finish.

"I had this all planned out." he admitted, sheepishly again. "And seriously, I wasn't planning on doing this from a wall mounted phone in the police station, but, like I said, I had to improvise because no. It couldn't have waited longer." he stopped once more, gathering his last remaining ounces of courage and to take a deep breath. "So Lucy, will you marry me?"

And damn, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

He was starting to get worried. Really worried.

"Of course I will you moron!" she screamed over the line, and he could tell she was crying again.

And suddenly, people were clapping and what the hell? This wasn't some sappy romance movie – although it damn sure could be – and it wasn't for their entertainment.

"I'll…uh…give you your ring when I get out of here."

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And a few hours later, after he'd been released because the charges against him had been dropped – really, he hit a hotdog cart, it wasn't like he committed murder in the first degree – she picked him up from the station (because his car was in desperate need of repairs now) and they drove to a small coffee shop where he slipped the ring onto her left finger and they watched the sun rise.

end notes: yes so the ending was cheesy, so what.