sea shells | natsu dragneel

epilogue

•∞•

2 Weeks Later

"Hey! Where'dya want this?" Gajeel hollers from a meter away, a stack of wooden planks set on his shoulder. 

"You don't need to yell, I'm right next to you!" Levy curses back, eyebrows furrowed under the neon yellow construction safety helmet. We were all wearing variations of it– she with an orange fluorescent jersey tucked into a pair of short jeans. There is a notepad in her hand and a pencil lodged on top of her ear, and she shined as site manager. 

"R- right, sorry midget," Gajeel mutters, turning his head away to the fuschia blush I just caught appearing on his cheeks. 

"Oh... it's okay," the blue-haired girl murmurs, shyly glancing up at him through her lashes. 

In response at that adorable, longing face, Gajeel turns even pinker– promptly twisting around and hopping away, avoiding numerous obstacles in his path. 

Laxus gives him a look, the one that practically spells out 'get yourself together or I will do it for you'. Gajeel grunts in return, back to his usual scowling face. Mirajane giggles behind her hand, the only one of us who can style a fluorescent jersey to look good. 

"Enjoying the show?" Cana pops up next to me, voice as dry as a desert. 

"They just need to start acting like the couple they are," I say, shaking my head in disappointment, "since the bachelorhood has disbanded, what's stopping them?" 

"Their pride," the brunette shrugs. "pretending to hate each other in public for so long is a habit they need to let go of. Not that it was convincing. Everyone knew." 

"We had a betting pool on who was going to spill the beans," my boyfriend appears on my right, slinging an arm around my shoulder. Sweat from both skins pressed against each other, but after living on a beach for so long, it no longer made me uncomfortable. I grinned up at him– his hair had grown a little longer, and now salmon-pink curls were curving around his nape. 

"In the bachelorhood?" I ask, very surprised that a group of sworn-bachelors would bet on a member's relationship. 

"It was falling apart anyway," he shrugs. 

"So that's why you used that hideous pick-up line on me?" I deadpan, and Natsu winces before turning bright red. "you know, I can't believe that the first words you've ever said to me are a skeezy, perverted pick-up line. And now we're going out. How did that happen?" 

"I thought you liked my dorkiness," Natsu sulks, turning on the puppy dog eyes. But I've learned to resist the down-turned lips, the shy eyes, the crinkled forehead. 

"I do," I reply, and his features instantly light up like a lamp being turned on. "but it's also because I have more tolerance and patience than the average person," I wink. 

"You're a special girl," he agrees slyly, his arm moving down to wrap around my waist. His other does the same, and soon enough I'm pressed into his chest. My boyfriend is wearing a sleeveless white top, showing off those gorgeous biceps and shoulders, with army-patterned pants underneath. "to deal with someone like me." 

"Hm, yeah," I grin, bringing myself closer to him as Natsu angles his head downward. "I really should get some sort of reward for my hard work, no?" 

"Well, what are you suggesting?" an equally mischievous grin appears on his face, arms tightening around my hips. His fingers stroke the slit of skin between my cotton shorts and neon jersey. I can't help but shiver in the summer heat. 

I open my mouth, ready to whisper words belonging only between the two of us, before– 

"–hey! Pyro, stop flirting with your girlfriend and come help us!" 

Our eyes close, the moment broken by Gray's stupid voice. We groan, looking at each other, before pulling away. The moment his heat is gone, I already miss it. "Later," I whisper, smiling before pressing a kiss to his nose. 

Natsu whines, childish and high-pitched. 

I laugh, picking up the blueprints I had placed on the floor. "As much as I hate to say it, he's right. We have a job to do, and that's building Levy's bookstore. We promised, remember?" 

"Yeah," Natsu says, resorting to sulking again before picking up cans of cement and lumbering off. 

From the corner of my eye, I see Rogue silently working with Gajeel. I can tell by the look on his face that he wants to talk to him, but is too shy to do so. Mentally noting that down, Yukino and Lucy catch my attention instead. They are taking a break, sitting down on stacked bags of gravel, sipping on ice cold Jewels. I can see them sharing their collection of decorative  keys, the gold and silver glinting in the sunlight of Laguna Beach. 

I grin into my shoulder when I see Minerva a couple of meters behind them, moping at the two figures in front of her. Who knew the fierce leader of Sabertooth could get jealous? 

Speaking of visitors– Makarov even stopped by. And to Natsu's absolute joy and delight, complimented his hard work. 

Picking up a measuring tape, I resume to measuring the lengths of wooden planks. Marking down at the two meter spot with a pencil, I take my hand saw and vertically cut down in smooth motions. Having finished the last one of the pile, I pick them up in my arms and walk towards Natsu. 

"I've finished the last batch," I say, gently dropping them down on the ground. With one hand, I wipe sweat from my brow. "I'm going to go check on our order of paint, alright?" 

"Sounds good," he nods, his brow creased with seriousness. I smile– I liked seeing him like this, despite the rare occasion. When concentrated he can do anything. "but before you go, I need to ask you if you're okay with leaving Crocus. I know we've been over this, but... it's such a big decision." 

I smile softly, touched deeply by Natsu's concern and love. 

"I'm certain," I caution, placing a hand on his. He frowns, "I took such a long vacation because I needed to get away. And now that I've tasted the freedom and joy here, I don't want to go back to that." 

Recently, I have set up permanent residence in Fairy Tail. I resigned from the office job in Crocus, deciding to support Levy with her bookshop instead. As head of accounting, I'm ready to put love and dedication into my work. Kinana and Cobra have already scheduled a vacation, and were coming to visit around Christmas. 

"Okay," my boyfriend still looks nervous. "but–" 

I shut him up with a kiss, a hard slant of my lips against his. 

"Oi! Stop flirting and start working!" 

ah, the epilogue is done! this was fun to write- just fairy tail and their shenanigans. 

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