{Zeref’s POV}

“I’ll get it ready, just wait a minute.” Jellal replied to the person he was speaking with on the phone, constantly checking his watch as he hurriedly climbed down the flight of stairs, his phone sandwiched between his shoulder and ears.

“Yes, that’s all for the dessert.” Natsu put up an index finger in the air, glancing up and nodding as if the person sees him on the phone.

“Black...” Gray muttered, fixing his hair in front of the mirror to look presentable.

Gajeel’s eyes were fixed on the window. “The car? Yes. We’re about to go... Zeref’s hair, don’t worry.” My hair? What are they even talking about? “Shrimp, calm down. You’re not the one getting married... okay.” Gajeel shuffled and pressed something on his phone, and I realized he put it on loud speaker.

“Ahem. Zeref! Hurry up!” She screeched. Since Gajeel’s speaker was loud I had to cover my ears. “Mavis here is getting—” The line went dead suddenly.

Gray stopped fixing his hair and eyed me. “Mavis is probably anxious right now. You know, it’s not like she’ll mind your physical appearance. The important thing is that you’re there as her groom and you didn’t ditch her. Now, speaking of ditch, you may now want to go to the wedding before she does.”

Everything he said had a good point. “Okay.” I inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm my nerves down. In anything I did to calm me down, nothing worked. It all seemed to fail. Marching to where the car was and after a drive for about a good ten minutes, we reached a not-so-large garden. Yeah, it wasn’t anything you’ve thought of. A church wedding, beach wedding... it’s a garden wedding. Mavis told me that we should have a wedding like that since she wanted it simple.

“I can’t believe it. My brother is getting married.” Natsu muttered under his breath.

I snickered at this. “You’ll have some wedding too, with her.” A blush crept on his cheeks, looking away. “Aw, li’l bro is blushing.” I teased, poking his ribs.

“Oh, would you shut up?”

I greeted my family and my closest friends as they each gave me pats, bro fists, smiles and a few words of congratulations. My hands started to sweat as I passed by Mavis’s parents. Her father motioned for me to come near him. We were going to have the talk.

“Hey. Take care of my daughter. Hurt her in any way and it’s your end of the world.” I grimaced when he squeezed my shoulder in a painful manner that I bit my lips just to prevent myself from yelping.

“The bride is coming!” Natsu shouted. Mavis’s father nodded at me and I proceeded to position myself in front of the mini altar. That’s when the mini door of the garden opened.

To say I was speechless is an understatement. Just... just look at the girl in front of me, wearing a white dress in a white veil looking all pretty with her bouquet of flowers, her dad who had tears welled up in his eyes accompanying her to where I was standing.

Wait. She’s about to come to me.

I quickly closed my mouth as she neared me, expression too vague for me to see.

Mavis looped her arms on mine silently and we faced the priest who nodded at us gracefully, signalling the start of the event. Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down, Zeref. This’ll be just for a little while.

The ceremony dragged on for what felt like forever, but I did wait patiently for the time that Mavis and I will actually be called a married couple or in short, Mavis Vermillion will be referred to as Mavis Dragneel. All this time I was preparing for the sweetest kiss I’ll give Mavis.

“Time for the exchanging of vows...” The priest informed. ‘The time gets near...’ I thought nervously.

“... I do.” I found myself answering quietly. People who attended the wedding stared at the priest expectantly and in an anticipating way.

“You may now kiss the bride.” After the priest motioned me to kiss the bride, Mavis and I turned to each other in an extremely slow motion. Natsu smirked at me, Jellal crossed his arms, Gray watched the whole scene while laughing and Gajeel, with his arms slinged around Levy’s neck, lifted an eyebrow with an amused look. The other girls were giggling like crazy. Lifting Mavis’s veil, I gazed in her green orbs.

Then I leaned in to kiss Mrs. Mavis Dragneel.

When the passionate kissing was done, the guests started letting out whoops of congratulations and random shouts like: “Honeymoon later!” That... was absolutely embarrassing.

Lucy ran toward me and slapped my face. “Hey! I didn’t do anything sinister to you! What was that for, huh?” How could I not be mad? That slap threw me off the ground literally! It was normal for me to expect Mavis helping me, but of course she wouldn’t. She just laughed her ass off.

“Great. Just great.” I grumbled as I struggled for balance. When I glanced at Lucy, she was teary-eyed. “And you’re now crying.”

“Shut up!” She sniffed. “Because of you, we’re saying goodbye to our careers.” Oh. Eight Members are going to quit singing for now because, well, their managers are getting married—no, we were already married. There was a time that Mavis and I persuaded them to find their new manager but they didn’t want to. In the end, it was all useless. The public hadn’t heard of the news just yet and before the wedding reception ends, they’re going to announce it. Lucy, of course, is so disappointed and was so against it, but she said she had no choice. “No, don’t blame yourself. It was we who decided in the first place.”

I sighed and blinked. “No. I’m sorry. This... your life as a singer... it was your dream. I had to ruin it. Sorry, but I just...” I paused, draping my arm over Mavis. “I just love my wife over here.” Mavis looked away, blushing furiously.

Lucy nods in understanding. “I know that. We know that. And no, it’s not your fault. By the way, you don’t have to go announcing to the world that you’re married ‘cause it’s making me bitter.”

Natsu casually strolled in the scene, smirking at Lucy. “Don’t worry Luce, we’ll be having our marriage soon enough.” In case I forgot to mention, they were already in a relationship.

Lucy glared at him. “I hate you.”

“I love you to the moon and back.” Mavis and I chuckled at their argument.

“Yo.” Gray raised a hand up. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” Mavis and I answered in unison.

“By the way, have you guys seen Juvia around? She ran off to buy chocolates since you know, it’s V-day today. Oh wait, no, she’s just basically hungry right now.”

Natsu pointed to a direction. “She’s over there, probably looking for you.”

“Thanks.” Then he stalked off.

“Creeper.”

“Nerd.”

“Metal-faced.”

“Small.”

“No eyebrows.”

“Shrimp.”

Levy’s tone was laced with mockery. GaLe couple fighting, no surprise. Gajeel palpably started the quarrelling with him calling Levy “Shrimp”. They may be a couple right now, but trust me, in this situation, I think they’re not a couple.

“Immature couple, don’t you think?” Mavis whispered.

“What did you expect? They’re not lovey-dovey like we are.” Smiling, she poked my rib and leaned on my shoulder. “So, do you want a drink? I could get you some, if you like. You know that I don’t want my princess being thirsty or hungry.”

Mavis rolled her eyes at me. “There you go again with your flowery words. And do I look like a princess to you? Anyway, I need water.”

“You are, in my eyes.” I winked and went off to get some food.

On the way there, I bumped into Jellal and Erza. “Oh, Zeref. Didn’t see you there. Congrats, by the way.”

Even though I was tired of hearing congratulations, I replied my typical, “Thanks.”

“Where ‘ya goin’?”

“Don’t mind my business, Jellal. Just getting water for Mavis.”

Jellal shrugged. “If you say so.” Then he proceeded to walking with Erza to their designated table, Jellal intertwining their fingers. So far, they were the most mature couple I’ve ever seen, apparently opposite with Gajeel and Levy. They balance their schedule well and knows when to be romantic and affectionate with each other... unlike Mavis and I.

After getting Mavis a glass of water, somebody tapped my shoulder. “Zeref?”

“Natsu. Hi there.”

“Father wants to talk to you over there.” He pointed to where dad was. Uh-oh. Heart to heart talk coming up.

I scooted away from Natsu. “Do I look scary?”

“Uh, what?”

“You look afraid, like I’m a serial killer who’s gonna stab you a hundred times.”

“Yeah. Just look at that knee-wobbling expression you have. Who wouldn’t shake in fear?”

Dad laughed. “No. I was going to remind you to take care of Mavis and don’t make too many kids because it’s a hassle. Don’t hurt her, all right? Real men never hurt women.”

I blushed deeply at his notice. “Dad! What a thing to say!”

“I’m serious, son. I mean every word I said. Now, I’ll be going. Good luck with your honeymoon.” He waved me off before I could even retort.

“What took you so long?” Mavis asked, annoyed as she snatched the water from me. “Have you been on a trip?”

As her daily habit, Lucy shook her head, rolling her eyes. “He musn’t be cheating on you.”

I put my hands up in surrender. “Woah there, dad talked to me and reminded me of a very important thing. Why get suspicious? Loyal guy here.”

“Get out of here. And what did you two talk about?” I shook my head, blushing, causing her to eye me curiously but then she let it go after awhile.

Lucy cleared her throat as if to interrupt a moment. “Love birds, if you don’t mind me asking, should I go up and announce the big news now along with the others? You can continue your moment as soon as you answer me.”

“Go ahead. No one cares.”

“Shut up,” She growled as she turned around to look for everyone around the party hall.

A waiter came up and bowed politely. “Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel, would you like to sit down in front? I hear that there’s a revelation coming up later from the Eight Members.” Mavis nods at me—a sign that we must sit there.

Imagine the people if they hear this. They might freak out and some may even do suicide because of the Eight Members resigning from the wonderful Music Industry. They were an important part of history, no doubt about that. Their songs were the all time favorites. They’ll surely be missed.

Wait. Are they gonna die? Because with the way I’m speaking they look like they are going to heaven.

“Hey... guests,” Lucy mumbled over the microphone, uncertain. The people laughed at the very unusual greeting. “Can I have your attention? We, rather. Sorry Mavis and Zeref. I know this is your wedding but we have to get in the scene.” Mavis and I shook our heads.

“Hey Luce.” Natsu casually kissed Lucy’s cheeks and I heard some muffled screams. “Babe, rather.” Lucy flinched, blushing.

After that, the three couples started getting romantic—even Erza and Jellal—causing more cameras around. Television, social media, newspaper... Eight Members will be the content of those things.

“So.” Levy clears her throat uncomfortably. “We’re here to tell you guys that Eight Members are going to quit the music industry.” I heard poor cellphones crashing the ground after that gigantic revelation.

Soon, people started going wild. Our parents (including Lucy and the others) got no idea with this plan of ours.

“What?”

“No!”

“Please, for the sake of my child, don’t do that.”

“My heart just broke into little pieces.”

“Can I commit suicide?”

“Guests!” I shouted after standing up. “Calm down. Hear the details.”

At the drop of a hat the guests returned to their seats.

Juvia gave me a thankful nod. “We really need to do this. We won’t have our managers because they’re going to focus on their families. Yeah, we can find another manager but we don’t want to have any other managers besides them so we’ve come up with this decision.”

Gray held Juvia’s hand and Mavis had to hold her breath. “Please bear with our decision. It’ll help us in a lot of ways.”

All Gajeel could do was agree. He didn’t speak at all. He really is standing up for the quiet type. Typical him.

“But we have a gift before leaving.” Jellal and Erza added in unison.

Then I heard the intro of a familiar song. The boys started singing. They were all gonna sing, alright.

“♪Saw you from a distance
Saw you from the stage
Somethin’ bout the look in your eyes
Somethin’ bout your beautiful face♪”

The girls then sang.

“♪In this sea of people
There was only you
I never knew what this song was about
Suddenly now I do♪”

Cue duet.

“♪Trying to reach out to you
Touch my hand
Reach out as far as you can
Only me, only you and the band
Trying to reach out to you touch my hand

Can’t let the music stop
Can’t let this feeling end
‘Cause if I do it’ll all be over
I’ll never see you again

Can’t let the music stop
Until I touch your hand
‘Cause if I do it’ll all be over I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again
I’ll never get the chance again♪”

While they sang, they danced and of course got affectionate with each other. The guests started getting emotional for their last song.

I felt Mavis lean on my shoulder and sniffle. “Hey, what’s wrong now?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I’ll miss them.”

Lucy turned to us with a sad smile. “It’s not like we’re gonna die. We’re just quitting the music industry. We’ll still be around like normal people. We’ll still live together under one roof.”

As the Eight Members heard that, they did a group hug. “I love you guys.”

The End.

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*gets all emotional*

I finished! Oh my gosh achievement. A penny for your thoughts? :)