It was a sunny day at Magnolia Elementary School, and all of the kids were on the playground, sliding down slides swinging on the swingset, climbing the rockwall, or playing tag. But there was always one group of kids who sat on top of the monkey-bars and just talked the entire recess period. "So did you finish that math homework from last night?" a scarlet haired 10 year old asked her blond friend. "I barely finished. My dad and brother stayed up all last night talking about buisness stuff while I struggled with my homework," the blond replied with an exasperated sigh. "I'm sure you'll figure it out, Lucy. If you want, me and Erza can help you," a petite blunette joined the conversation. Lucy's expression brightened,"You'd really do that, Levy?"

The blunette nodded,"Of course we would! We can meet at the library after school today." The three nodded and helped their friends Juvia and Cana up onto the monkey-bars as well, and carried on different conversations. Sitting at the top of the rockwall was a group of boys who watched the girls on top of the monkey-bars intently. "Who do you think will look prettier when they are older-  Lucy or Erza?" Gray asked the other boys sitting with him. "Erza would be my pick," Jellal answered. "Mine would be Levy, but if it's between Lucy and Erza, I'd say Erza," Gajeel said with his signature laugh. "Yeah, me too," Gray chimed in and looked over to a pinkette who hung from the top with only his arms folded across the top,"What about you Natsu?"

"Lucy for sure," Natsu said with a grin. "Really?" They all said. Natsu nodded,"One day, Lucy will fall in love with me, and we'll get married." The boys laughed at their friends accusation. "Why don't you ask her to marry you now if you're so in love with her?" Gray said laughter evident in his voice. Natsu's lightbulb lit up like a star in the sky,"Alright, I will." With that and his friends jaws dropping, he jumped down and confidently strutted towards the girls. "Look, Lucy, it's Naaaaatsuuu~ Levy and Juvia said his name in a sing-song voice. She sighed and turned to look at the pinkette. "Lucy, I need to ask you a very important question," Natsu announced. Lucy jumped down from the monkey-bars and gave her attention to Natsu,"What is it?" Natsu started to fluster a bit and then blurted,"Will you marry me?!" Lucy's face turned the color of Erza's hair and the girls released ear-piercing squeals. Lucy shook her head to get the heat out of her face and then replied,"I must deject your proposal."

"But whyyy?" Natsu said, disappointed. "Well, for starters, you didn't do it right. Not only that, but we're too young to marry, and you're shorter than me," Lucy replied. Natsu thought for a minute and then smirked,"So you're saying that if I did it right when we are older and if I'm taller than you when I do so, you will marry me?" Lucy giggled and shook her head,"Sure, why not." Natsu smiled and said as the bell rang,"I never forget a promise, Luce." Then the young boy ran off to class.
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12 years later

Lucy was placing books on the shelf of her library and taking down books that needed to be moved. She reached to trade Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for The Wizard of Oz when she fell a few inches short in the height department. The rolling ladder was back on the other side of the library and didn't want to waste precious time to go retrieve it, so she helplessly tried to reach for the book. "Dammit, where's a tall person when you need one," Lucy muttered to herself. "Uuuh, do you need help there?" a male voice asked. Lucy sighed, not even bothering to turn to face the man, and replied,"Yeah. Can you get that book and replace it with this one?" She pointed to the book she needed and the man grabbed it and replaced it with ease. Lucy sighed once more and faced her savior,"Thank you......... Natsu?" She noticed the pinkette standing there with a book in one hand and the other hand slowly moving to his neck to rub it. His goofy grin present on his face as usual. "Hey, Luce," He said. His voice had changed from the last time she saw him, which was on the day he left to go to New York for his college classes. "It's been a while," Lucy said and didn't hesitate to hug him. He hugged back with a chuckle,"I know. I missed you while I was gone, so I had to come back and do something." Natsu released Lucy from their hug, and handed Lucy the book in his hand. She took it and saw what book it was to find out it was the first copy of the book she wrote. The first copy that she gave to Natsu before she let the publisher place it in stores. "Why are you giving me my own book, Natsu?" Lucy asked not looking away from it. Natsu's smile grew a little bigger,"There's a page marked." She flipped to the page, feeling something off about it, but remembered exactly what she wrote on this page. This entire story was indirectly about her life, but used characters that represented people in her life. This page was the scene of that one memorable day. The day Natsu proposed to her as an 11 year old boy.

Natsu took the book from her hands and read aloud,"Nate flustered and blurted to the young Layla,'Will you marry me?' Layla's friends happily screamed, but Layla rejected the proposal. 'We're too young, and you're too short,' She replied with an amused giggle. The young boy was determined with his firey personality to make this girl his, so he smartly replied,'So if I was taller and older, would you then marry me?' Layla was amused by the boys attempts that she threw him a bone and replied,'Sure, why not.' With the bell ringing, Nate smiled his big goofy smile and stated,'I never forget a promise, Layla.'" Lucy grinned and felt heat rise to her cheeks. "I never forget a promise, Luce," Natsu restated the quote of the little Nate, and opened a small compartment from the book's pages and revealed a small box with a a white bow wrapped around it. Lucy's mouth opened, but no words came out as Natsu got down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a sparkling diamond ring. "Lucy Ashley Heartfilia, will you do me the honor to be mine for the rest of my life?" Natsu asked. Lucy was in tears and couldn't get a word to exit her mouth, so she only nodded and tackle hugged the pinkette to the floor. "I'll take that as a yes," Natsu laughed and Lucy laughed with him. They both leaned in and passionatley kissed until they needed air, and Lucy said,"It's a yes."
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I hope you guys are proud of me! 😸

-FTF
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