This is almost 3000 words so I had to split it XD

RIP

And this was supposed to be out on Friday whoops

Not that anyone reads this rn anyway DXD

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 Happy was stifling laughter at Natsu's outfit. He was in a simple tuxedo with his scarf, tugging on the sleeves periodically feeling awkward in such fancy clothing. "I get that this is a big deal, but do I have to wear THIS?" Natsu complained, adjusting his scarf again.

Science was extremely awkward after lunch earlier that day. I can't believe how many people congratulated us. Holy crap, how many people actually want me and Lucy to be together? Seemed like the whole school. Mira now had an nearly-official shipping squad, with the second in command being- you guessed it- Happy the exceed. Then there was a bunch of others, like a brunette girl with bright blue glasses, or a really annoying boy with a plaid shirt and a hoodie. (LOL sorry, cameos out of nowhere. Probably triggering one of them if they ever read this XD)

How does Mirajane even convince all these kids to join her personal dark side? Seems unfair I can't get the younger students to follow me around and get them to destroy the teachers.

"YES Natsu, it's a dance! A big dance! And you've got to make an impression~!" Happy sung, flying around in circles just high enough Natsu knew he couldn't grab the blue cat out of the air.

The sky looked like it was on fire from the sunset, the clouds making it look enchanted with their pale pinks and mysterious purples.

"Looks like it's time," Happy breathed, now speaking in his smarty-cat voice.

"YES, I can see that Happy! Stop freaking bugging me!" Natsu complained, tugging his shirt cuff again. Happy frowned, and then started giggling.

"You're nervous,"

"Well of course I am! Have you seen me all week! I'm a mess..." Natsu sighed and fell into the chair at their dinner table, away from the door.

Happy looked to the floor as his shoulders sagged. "Sorry Natsu... I thought I was just being funny." he mumbled, looking very dejected.

Natsu sighed. "Well it's too late now to back out. If one good thing came from this is that I actually snapped out of my denseness for once." it was dry humor, but it was enough to get Happy smiling again.

"Aye, you numbnut!"

"HEY WHO YOU CALLING NUMBNUT, FURBALL?!"

"You, dense fireball! Now go have fun at that dance!" Happy cheered, picked up Natsu, and tossed the pinkette out the door.

"Hey-! Oh. Eh oh well." Natsu brushed the dust off his tux and started as fast as he could to the residence of Lucy Heartfilia before he could chicken out.

Almost there! Natsu thought as he sprinted down the final stretch to Lucy's apartment. He stopped in front of the building, looking it up and down. The river that ran by Natsu's house was more of a small canal that cut a watery band through the dull grey of the sidewalk.

...Window or door...? The first time Natsu had actually pondered this question. Normally when he visited Lucy he and Happy always went through the window, mostly because Lucy's reaction was always funny and welcoming, and her bed was soft. He glanced over it again and saw the window was cracked open. Hmm... I'm gonna surprise her then!

Natsu walked up to the door and opened it, climbing the stairs and finding the door he knew was Lucy's from her scent. He raised his fist to knock, and then stopped.

What am I doing? I'm Natsu Dragneel, taking Lucy Heartfilia out to prom dance in our senior year. Infamous pyromaniac versus the smart, rich girl novelist. Oh god, I'm an idiot, this is never going to work... Yet we're still best friends.

"You can do this, Natsu."

"You can do this, Lucy. No big deal... going with your ...dash... to the freaking prom. No biggie! Right Plue?"

Huh. She was talking about me there. ...I wonder what she thinks of me? Before Natsu had realized he had knocked on the door it opened, revealing one blonde with her hair up and in a flowy red dress and a little Nikora spirit, shaking as always standing beside her.

"Woah Natsu! Didn't think you knew how to use a door! Heh, I totally didn't leave the window open for you, nope! Hah..." Lucy glanced off to the side, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Well guess I proved you wrong! You look good, Luce!" You look beautiful, in fact. Crap Natsu, don't lose your cool!

Lucy smiled awkwardly and started turning pink. "T-thanks?! You look good yourself," her face turned fully embarrassed. "N-not like that! I mean, isn't that what we're supposed to do, complement each other?!"

Natsu meanwhile was couched over laughing. "HAHA! What's up with ya Luce? It's perfectly fine! C'mon, let's get going?" Wow. I love being dense sometimes.

Lucy stopped freaking out, and then was awkwardly embarrassed. "O-oh, heh. Can we just forget anything happened then?" Natsu grinned.

"You betcha!"

Plue pulled on Lucy's dress, attracting her attention. She looked down as he gave her a shaky smile and thumbs up, and then he disappeared.

Lucy seemed to take a breath, and then turned to Natsu. "Let's get going then!" she proclaimed, taking a step towards the door.

"Ah ah, I went through the door coming in. But it's always in my custom to use the window!" Natsu exclaimed and promptly scooped Lucy up bridal style. She shrieked in protest and Natsu kept his cheeky grin and hopped onto the windowsill, and then smoothly to the ground. "See? Wasn't so hard!" the pinkette laughed and let Lucy down.

She stumbled, disoriented, before recovering herself and glaring at Natsu.

"DON'T do that please!" Natsu held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Jeez, sorry." he grumbled. Technically he should be annoyed, but Natsu being Natsu he wasn't really that put out. That's Luce for ya!

"Hey you two! Ready for some partying?" Levy ran up to Natsu and Lucy, dragging Gajeel in a suit himself looking extremely awkward.

"You bet! Do you think they'll play slow music or modern?" Natsu and Gajeel both looked distinctly uncomfortable, knowing know most couples did when a slow dance came on.

"I hope for a good mix of both, because it's prom, but if it's all slow it's boring!"

"So true!" The bluenette and the blonde started chattering like two songbirds. The boys fell behind their dates, both quickly realizing this was probably going to turn out very badly.

"I didn't sign up for this," Gajeel grumbled.

"Yeah you did when you asked Levy out. Then you started this whole big chain reaction and now all of us guys are in the same position!" Natsu argued sarcastically.

Gajeel scowled. "Who knew girls could be so demanding?"

They got to the school and saw flashing lights through all the windows of the cafeteria.

"Have you even ever attended a school dance before?" Natsu questioned.

Gajeel thought for a moment. "Can't say I have."

"Well, you're missing out! When you don't have to worry about dates at least." Natsu slouched from his positive attitude. "Normally the other guys and I sneak out the back to the soccer field or something and hang out there. Not so crowded, still got music, and we can brawl out until we break something!" he slammed a fist into his hand.

"Wait, THAT'S where you go every dance! I always look all over for you!" Lucy complained, looking a little offended.

Crap... "Uh huh, oops?" Natsu offered. Lucy sighed and facepalmed.

"Of course. Come on you two, let's go buy tickets and get in there!"

"Oh, hi Lucy, Natsu, Levy, Gajeel!" Mirajane greeted, not without her infamous shipping look paired with her innocent smile.

The four of them all knew now that Mira was here they were never going to hear the end of it.

"Four tickets?" she questioned them.

"Wait, you're doing cashier as well as announcer? Why didn't you tell me! I could have helped!" Levy exclaimed indignantly.

Oh yeah, she's a part of student council too. This can either make or break us, Gaj. The two guys shared a glance.

Mira smiled. "Because I want everyone to have fun! Don't worry, I know after a while no one will keep showing up, so I'll put the cash box somewhere and then start doing what I'm supposed to be doing." the white-haired girl paused. "Plus, Elfman got sick and is at home, and he was supposed to be doing this. But it's okay! Evergreen's with him, and she's pretty nice! I'm sure everything will be fine!"

Natsu shuddered at the image of the popular drama queen.

"Yeah sure, it's all good."

"Anyway, it's four hundred Jewels for each couple." The girls blushed at Mira referring to them as a couple as Natsu moved forward and handed over the money.

Lucy blinked. "Wow Natsu, I didn't even know you could pay that much."

"Seriously?! And you're always saying you're flat-out broke! Plus, it's what guys do, isn't it?" Lucy smiled warmly and nodded ever-so-slightly as Gajeel sighed and did the same.

Mira smiled brightly and gestured to the doorway that was covered by a black sheet. "Have fun all of you!"

They nodded in thanks and passed through the doorway to find the large room lit up partially, not bright but not dark either. Levy started pulling Gajeel away, leaving Natsu and Lucy to themselves.

"So, uh... what to do first?" Lucy asked, sounding as awkward as Natsu felt.

"Well, hm... OH! There's cake- That's a bad idea." Natsu stopped himself when he saw Erza in a purple dress with long white gloves staring intently at the giant, five-by-four cake.

"That is a huge cake. Why- oh. Yeah, not a good idea right now!" Lucy noticed Erza as well. "Although she doesn't look half bad in that dress..."

"Ah, you and you're girly looks! Let's go get some FOOD!"

Lucy pouted. "Always with you and the food! It really is your one true love, isn't it?"

Natsu stopped. Is that really how she thinks of me? It felt like a blow to the heart that that was all Lucy saw him as.

"No. It's not. For the record, as a fire dragon slayer my body has an incredibly high metabolism and goes through energy like that-"Natsu snapped coldly. "But that doesn't mean that the only things I like are food and fighting. I'm not dense, I do like other things to. Or people." Natsu walked briskly off, getting lost in the crowd.

He heard Lucy cry out at him, but his brain was on autopilot for the moment. The adrenaline wore off, leaving Natsu feeling strangely exhausted and slowly realizing what he had just said.

Crap... What did I just do. I just totally got Luce super mad at me didn't I? Oh, god... LUCY! Natsu spun on his heel and shoved his way through the crowd at the back of the dance hall again, searching for a blonde amongst the odd dark colors from the crazy lights that were swinging everywhere.

"LUCY! LUCE! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, I just... oh I don't know! LUCY!" the music suddenly seemed to get louder.

I swore this was supposed to be a formal dance. Shouldn't that mean old boring classic music and the waltz dances? The deafening music was making Natsu's ears hurt. I can barely hear myself think.

He found himself back where he and his date had been standing (at least he thought) but there was no sign of his crush.

Where could she have gone? I can't believe I screwed this up already! Not even thirty minutes in, you IDIOT. Scanning the crowd again, he went through a list of people he could maybe ask.

Levy would kill me, although Gajeel would probably help, even if he's a jerk about it. Erza would kill me. Mira would kill me. Grey probably wouldn't give a sh*t. Juvia would probably kill me for going near Grey. Cana would probably kill me. Geez, why does Lucy have to be friends will all the tough girls in the school?(I almost said guild whoops XD)

The only decent light in this place as the sky outside started getting darker was the bathroom. That light is motion sensored. She could be... Natsu had a flashback to the many times he had been scolded for doing things like walking into the girl's bathroom. He honestly didn't care, it wasn't like there wasn't stalls that girls did their business behind. Everyone had their pants up and shirts on (unlike a certain ice-make user GREY) and that was what mattered. Plus, it had only ever been after school when it was only him looking for Luce anyway.

"Luce?" Natsu called into the bathroom doorway. He was confused when he first heard grunts and what sounded like fists against flesh (a sound he knew all too well from many a fights with a certain ice-make user GREY)

But then there was the all-too well recognized feminine Lucy shriek.

Apparently it was louder than it sounded, because most conversation faded in an instant and the DJ scrambled to turn off the music. "Is everyone okay?" Mira rushed onto the stage and asked into the microphone. A quiet murmur spread through the crowd, Natsu felt the air cool slightly and heard the smooth sound of metal being drawn and knew the other magic users at the school were going on defensive.

Suddenly the windows seemed to disappear and several grappling hooks shot through at hit the opposite wall. Figures slid through in the dark, unable to be really seen in the darkness. The lights flicked on and students streamed out in panic, while magic students fired their prepared spells.

"Ice Make: Spears!"

"Regulus Impact!"

"Cards Magic!"

<i<AAND screw it. Natsu knew the other magic students were going to handle these guys no problem. He turned to go into the bathrooms, focusing only on the safety of his date, but Erza caught his arm.

"Natsu! Go outside and keep the crowd under control!"

"Aw, but-"

"DON'T PUSH IT NATSU."

"Y-YES MA'AM!" Dammit Erza. But I REALLY don't want to deal with scary her right now. Natsu glanced back, and then sprinted through the halls back outside. Lucy, goddammit, sorry. I'll find you, I promise. Natsu knew that something had happened to her, only one person could scream like she did. Finding himself outside, he nearly fell on his face from people panicking outside.

"What the?!" he skid on his shoes, nearly falling on his face from the lack of traction on said shoes. It was dark outside, only lit by the orange streetlights, as students were screaming and running from more shadowed figures.

There's more of these jerkwads? Well, guess I'm not missing out on all the fun then. Besides making a fool of himself, Natsu knew the one other thing he was good at was fighting with fire.

"Hey you!" he shouted over the crowd, one of the masked enemies stopping from chasing a random student. "You really shouldn't have messed with a bunch of rowdy teenagers. We're really not that good at listening. But since you did, I'm all fired up!" Natsu lit his fist. "Everyone, get back inside, but stay away from the cafeteria until someone gives a signal!"

Fearful students started rushing back inside from Natsu's command and he focused (almost) solely on the current enemy.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

The attacker didn't have a moment to react before he was out against a wall. Natsu turned to the next attacker, only to find one of the other boys in the grade nearly throw himself onto the pinkette.

"Please, you've got to help her! These guys took my date, and I saw them bagging other girls as well! Please, Salamander-"

"On it, thanks for the heads up." the boy's eyes widened at Natsu's immediate acceptance, and then he turned to the safety of the school building with the rest of the grade.

Kidnappers? That's what happened to Luce. I'm coming! It seemed too simple, but Natsu was really only focused on one thing right now.

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Don't ask me what the heck is happening XD it was getting awkward and my hardcore Nalu shipper friend told me to put some action into it soooooo

You're welcome O