Ch. 4- Apologies

Fairy Tail © Hiro Mashima

Story and OCs © Me

It was nearly sundown by the time Natsu and Happy came back... and the moment he did, instead of mocking laughter and pointing fingers, the Fire Dragon Slayer was met with warm smiles from his fellow guild members. Not only that, but Haru and Blue Fang were there, too... the former looking small and sad. Instantly, Natsu felt his stomach sink, remembering how hurt his sister looked when he yelled at her.

"Hi, Natsu," Haru greeted.

"Hey," Natsu replied as he approached her. "Umm... Haru..."

"...I'm sorry," Haru said. "I shouldn't have brought up Lisanna like that."

"...Yeah... and I shouldn't have yelled," Natsu replied.

"Since we're all apologizing," Cana said, "we might as well as say sorry, ourselves."

"Yeah... we kinda went overboard with teasing you," Gray said.

"Oh, gee, it's nice to know you care, Ice Cube," Natsu smirked, causing the Ice-Make Wizard to sneer at him.

"Hey, don't push it, all right," Gray warned.

"The point is," Elektra began, "we shouldn't have teased you in the first place... and we hope you can forgive us."

"Yeah, we didn't mean any harm," Mirajane added.

"So... no hard feelings, right?" asked Jet.

A pause... before Natsu gave them all that same impish, toothy grin.

"Nah," he said. "No hard feelings."

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed as he held up his paw in agreement.

Haru smiled before she walked up and hugged Natsu, who chuckled as he returned her embrace, and soon after, Blue Fang licked his face, causing him to laugh as he wiped the slobber off his cheek.

"See?" Elektra asked with a soft smile. "It all worked out."

"I'm glad it did," Mirajane agreed before she looked at Elfman. "I'm proud of you, Elfman, for talking to Natsu."

"I'm just doing a man's duty is all," Elfman replied with a slight blush on his face, causing his older sister to chuckle as she put her hand on his arm.

"Now that we've all made up, how about we have some dinner?" Happy suggested. "I'm so hungry, I could eat a boatload of fish!"

"Yeah, dinner sounds good to me," Haru agreed.

"Uh, actually," Natsu began, "I have somewhere to be, first. I'll be right back!"

XXX

Lucy sighed as she approached her apartment door, tired from the long trip to the job location with Erza and back. The job wasn't anything too strenuous and Lucy managed to get enough pay for her rent this month, but the issue was that she still didn't make enough to buy groceries to refill her empty fridge and pantries. She managed to get some food while she was out with Erza, but she still didn't know what she was going to eat for dinner.

She supposed she was just going to go hungry tonight.

The moment she turned the key and opened the door...

"Yo!" Natsu greeted as she found him sitting cross-legged on her chair.

"AAH!" Lucy yelped before she groaned in disdain. "Seriously, Natsu?! Why must you always break into my apartment?! I mean, just once, I just... just..." She trailed off as she noticed several bags on her kitchen floor, all of them filled with food. "W... what are all of these?"

"Groceries!" Natsu grinned.

"...You... bought me groceries?" asked Lucy.

"Yep! I used up most of my money, too!" Natsu replied as he scratched the back of his head. "Uh... listen, Luce... I'm sorry I ate all your food this morning... and I'm sorry for teasin' you and pullin' your hair."

Lucy paused... but then she smiled at him, warmly.

"Well... I kinda lost my temper, too," she said.

"So... we're good?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Lucy replied as she went to go put everything away and get started on making herself some dinner... but before she could, a grumbling noise stopped her in her tracks, causing her to glance back at Natsu, who looked down at his belly before he chuckled in embarrassment.

"Umm... I'm gonna go ahead and go," he said as he turned to head out the window.

"Actually," Lucy called out, causing him to look back at her, "if you want... I can make us dinner."

"...You can cook?" Natsu asked.

"Not much, but I can cook a little," Lucy replied as she held up a bag. "How do you feel about hamburger steaks?"

Natsu blinked before he smiled back at her.

"Sounds good!" he said. "Make mine a double, okay?"

"Sure!" Lucy replied as she got to work on chopping up some onions and preparing the ground beef.

'Sometimes, he can be a pain in my neck... but in the end, he really is a great guy...'

She then glanced back at him as he sat on the chair, waiting for the food to be prepared... and as she did, a soft blush appeared on her cheeks before she returned to her cooking. As for Natsu, he cast his eyes toward her as she continued to go about preparing the food. He could feel his stomach making that strange squirming sensation, again, not to mention his heart was pounding and his cheeks were getting warm, again...

...but for once... he was just fine with it.

This was as good as I could come up with, but I think I did a pretty good job on it. ^^

Anyway, this is really gonna be the last of any Fairy Tail for now. I got some One Piece stuff I have to work on!

Review, please!