"What are you going to do?"
"Well… what am I supposed to do? It's not like she was forced to go with him."
Erza sighed a little, eying the pink boy with scrutiny. She had no place after all, she had been the one to tell Lucy to decide on her own whether or not she wanted to leave with Loke on the plane to Europe. But Europe was a long way from Japan, and she knew for a fact that Natsu was holding onto certainties that only he was too hesitant to take action. But he wasn't a man of words, she grew up with him long enough to know that, and as he sat at the bench with a calculating expression, she knew there was something going on inside that head of his.
"You're going to miss her, correct?" Erza settled herself opposite Natsu, sitting on the stool and folding her skirt beneath her.
"Yeah, I guess." He sighed, dumping his elbow on the bench top and resting his head on top.
"They say Paris is the city of love."
"Yeah?"
"Yes." She nodded, never once taking her eyes off him, watching as he dragged a hand restlessly through his salmon coloured locks, a current state of agitation.
"What about it?" He huffed, clearly noticing that she had glued her attention to him all of a sudden.
"Loke said it was the first place he wanted to take her."
"Why would I give a damn about Loke?" He growled, crossing his arms. If this was his version of having a strop, she knew that she would have to try and make herself as blunt as possible.
"Natsu."
He raised a brow, her change in tone apparently making him realise that she wasn't widing him up without a reason.
"Do you like Lucy?"
"Yeah of course."
"Do you love her enough to let her go to Europe for a year?"
"What?"
"She's leaving for a long time."
"A whole year? Why?!" His expression changed, a new form of anger dwelling in his dark eyes as he tensed himself up.
Erza stretched forward, her red hair toppling over her shoulders as she pulled at the sleeve of his denim-coloured collar shirt, unhooking the button to twist it back into it's correct place.
"Didn't you know this?"
"Lucy just said it was a holiday-"
"It is. Virgo lives in the south and Lucy wanted to visit Aquarius several times. There's a lot of travelling involved."
"But… how's she supposed to get money? A year's a long time and she can't pluck jobs up like she can here…" He grumbled, yanking his arm away from hers to adjust it messily again.
"She's going to try do some writing, I think she took up a couple of travel journalist blogs that can earn her a little money. She said there's also a Magazine in Italy that she messaged and they sounded eager to have her on board."
Natsu frowned, his emotions faltering with every extra word that Erza let escape out of her mouth; so she forced herself not to add anything else onto that sentence.
"The point is, a lot of things can change over a year Natsu. She might not be the same Lucy when she comes back."
"It's Lucy. Lucy is always the same."
"I mean, she might look at you differently. Or maybe you'll look… at her differently."
"What d'ya even mean? Is this another life lesson about why things won't work out with you and Jellal?"
Erza grumbled cross, this an attempt to shush him.
"No, I'm just saying you might no like her the way that you like her now."
"Like her what way?"
"The way that she likes you."
"What way is that?" He asked, his expression now innocent, it was amazing how fast his aura could change simply from the information he was being given.
"That she loves you."
His eyes widened, as this had never occurred to him before.
"You think she loves me?"
"I know she loves you."
"I… I didn't… think she felt that way…"
"And you do too, right?"
"Well… I never thought she'd… I don't know…"
"Aren't you going to do anything?"
"Do anything?"
"Yes, aren't you going to stop her from going?"
"Stop her…? I can't stop her from going! She's been talking about this for the last few weeks, she's really excited!" Natsu defended, Erza smiling at how effected he seemed with his concern or Lucy's excitement. She'd be lying to not admit that she didn't want the pair to get together after all.
"But you can tell her."
He nodded slightly, "Yeah I guess I could tell her I feel the same way if it's true…"
"You'll have to hurry, Natsu."
"Hurry? She wasn't supposed to be leaving until tonight."
Erza laughed, rolling her eyes at how uninformed the poor boy was.
"Natsu, their flight got moved up by 4 hours, they had to leave for the airport 25minutes ago."
"What?!" He practically slammed his hands down on the table at that, completely outraged by this newly found information. "The hell did no one tell me this for?! Why aren't you at the airport?!" Natsu barked his questions, his angered panic from before returning.
"Calm down."
He didn't though, he just glared at her, she hadn't told him about the moving of the flight till now and she was the only one home with him; they had planned to wave Lucy off together with all the others and Erza was to accompany Natsu on the travel due to his motion sickness. It never really got him very far alone and the taxi men were always getting angry when he chucked up in the back.
"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to know what you were letting Lucy do."
"I'm letting Lucy do something she's been dreaming of."
"You're letting Lucy think that there's somewhere else to find her dream." Erza corrected, narrowing her glance, her words wise and completely pulled out of thin air.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means she's been waiting to long."
"Too long for what?!"
Perhaps she was enjoying the riddles a little too much. "For you to tell her that you love her."
"When is her flight?"
"In two hours from now. They would already be waiting in the terminal now."
Natsu growled, pulling himself away from the bench in a stubborn manner, yanking his trainers off the floor and shoving them onto his feet.
"I suppose this means you want to leave immediately?" Erza asked, tilting her head and pulling at the hem of her sweater as she too rose to her feet.
"You sure as hell bet we are. I ain't gonna let her leave without at least a goodbye kiss."
