Natsu hadn't brought up the whole Lucy-possibly-dating-Bickslow thing since they'd left the guild for their job and neither had Lucy. For a while, things were just normal again and they both relished that fact. But as they walked along the crowded street in the late afternoon, the sky having already become tinted with orange and pink hues, Natsu had one more question to ask.

"You're not gonna leave the team, right?" he asked as he walked alongside the blonde, arms folded behind his head.

Lucy looked up suddenly. "What? Of course not!" she replied. How could Natsu think I would? "I'd never even think about leaving."

"Good!" Natsu exclaimed as his mouth broke out into a grin. The team just wouldn't be the same without his blonde friend, and everyone knew that.

As the guild building atop the hill came into the sight, Lucy once again found herself thinking about how well (surprisingly) Natsu had taken everything. He had asked questions and he had listened to everything Lucy had said. Sure, he'd made it apparent he didn't like it, but he'd put that aside. He'd put his newfound hatred for the Seith mage aside because of Lucy. He hadn't hurt him in any way (albeit Natsu knew he had terrified the guy) because of Lucy, and she was glad for that. Lucy honestly thought telling Natsu would be the end of the world, but it wasn't all that bad. Natsu had surprised her.

As the two walked into the guildhall a little while later, Natsu and Lucy instantly went over to where Happy was sitting atop the table with Carla, Wendy, and Gray.

"Hey, Happy!" Natsu called with his usual grin as he took a seat opposite Gray. "Ready to go fishing?"

Lucy sat down next to Natsu, remembering how her day had been strangely quiet with no ayes or tongue rolling from the blue Exceed every few minutes. Not to mention the constant comments on the blonde's weight, which she really did think were only said because Happy knew it pissed her off. Eh, he's a cat. What can you expect?

"You're going fishing?" Lucy asked as she raised an eyebrow slightly. "Isn't it a bit late?"

"Nope!" Natsu said with a laugh as he stood up, "Come on, Happy!"

"Aye!"

Carla sighed loudly as Happy and Natsu finally disappeared through the doors, causing Wendy to chuckle nervously. "About time he goes away," Carla muttered.

Lucy smiled slightly. It wasn't a secret that Happy had a habit of hanging around Carla whenever he could because he liked the white Exceed, but Carla, well… She didn't like him as much. Lucy had asked Natsu where Happy had been before they left her apartment for the guild that morning and Natsu had seemed a little disappointed his partner had ditched him for Carla for the day. He was a cat, so he was allowed to hang out in the female dorms all day.

So as Natsu and Happy made their way out of the bustling town in the early evening and into the quiet forest on the outskirts of Magnolia, the blue Exceed smiled devilishly as his head turned towards Natsu, continuing their walk. "So did you talk to Lucy?" he asked.

Natsu sighed as his arms folded behind his head again. Lucy had made him promise not to tell Happy about her and Bickslow, and as much as it hurt him to lie to his other best friend and partner in crime, he would do so. "Yeah."

"So does she like Bickslow?" Happy asked as he flew to sit down on the edge of the pond. He had been there in Hargeon when Natsu had originally asked if she had liked Bickslow, so Happy was still a little behind when it came to Lucy's love life (or lack thereof for the most part). That being said, he wasn't as dense as Natsu was when it came to most things, so the blue Exceed had already figured there was something going on.

Natsu cackled as he sat down next to Happy. "Nope."

The end of the week came around fairly quickly. Lucy had spent her time divided between sitting in the guild with the rest of her team and sitting at her desk at home, constantly throwing crumpled up pieces of paper to a wall or the floor behind her. She had her rent covered for the next two months so there was no need to go out on any jobs for the time being, and she planned on spending her time wisely by working on her book as much as she could.

Bickslow, on the other hand, spent most of the week with his team in Clover after Freed had eventually graced them all with his presence later on Sunday morning.

But it was now late Friday morning and Bickslow found himself staring at the request board near the guild doors. Although it wasn't so much the board itself as it was the blonde standing in front of it, and had been for the last five minutes.

He found himself debating if he should go and talk to her, much like he had the previous day when he'd spent his afternoon in the guild drinking way too much as usual. But every time he'd looked over in that direction, Natsu had sent him a look that really just made him want to run away. But then he remembered what Laxus had said on Sunday, that he basically had permission from the pink-haired Dragon Slayer to continue dating her. Then again, why should he believe what Laxus said? The guy was the definition of anti-social and it wasn't like he had any experience with relationships and dating either.

Fuck it, Bickslow thought as he looked towards the board once again. You missed your chance to do so yesterday, so do it now. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

The Seith mage rose from where he sat announcing that he was going to look for a job.

Freed looked up from his Level 2 Rune Shorthand Examination book, sending a curious glance in Bickslow's direction. "But we just got back the other day…?" he said quietly. Freed was a little confused. Bickslow rarely chose the jobs they went on. It was more of a case of him saying 'sure, whatever,' or 'fuck off, that's a stupid job,' to any that himself, Evergreen, or Laxus suggested. Mostly the former, though.

"He's not looking for a job," Laxus murmured.

"Huh?" Freed turned in his seat to look towards the board, placing his book back on the table. "Oh…"

Bickslow stood between Lucy and Nab at the board. He looked towards Nab out of the corner of his eye. He had to find a way to get rid of the guy before he could even think about talking to Lucy. So as Lucy continued looking over the requests , much like Nab who was still looking for a job that only he could do, Bickslow skimmed over a few of the requests in front of him.

Dark guild, dark guild, bandits, security, find a lost object, blah blah blah. None of these are good.

And then one caught his attention. Bickslow pulled it from where it was stuck at the top of the board and thrust it into Nab's vision. He hadn't actually read it all – something about a wild animal, blah blah blah. Right up Nab's alley, right? "This one seems like it would be your kind of job," he said quietly as Nab took the request flyer from his hand, reading it carefully.

Lucy's eyes went wide when Nab's face suddenly lit up and he lifted the flyer into the air, staring up at it with a wide grin.

"Yes!" Nab exclaimed as he turned to face Bickslow. "This is it! This is the one!" He turned to wrap his arms around the taller man. "Thank you, Bickslow!"

Bickslow laughed as he pat the man on the back before pushing him off. "Alright, alright. Just go already."

"Of course, of course," Nab said as he looked towards the flyer once again before turning to face the bar. "I'm going out on a job!" he yelled over everyone in the hall before running through the doors and out into Magnolia. A few cheers erupted in the hall as the man finally left.

"What was that about?" Lucy muttered as she turned to look at the requests again – because really, she didn't understand what had happened. Was Nab really going out on a job?

Bickslow shrugged as he glanced down to her. He couldn't make it seem like he was there to talk to her. No, he had to make it seem like a conversation because they were discussing jobs or something. People in the guild did that, right? He didn't really know.

"You wouldn't understand. It's a Seith bromance thing," he chuckled.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "'Seith bromance?' Wait, Nab uses Seith magic?" Lucy had always wondered what type of magic Nab had used, but she never expected Seith magic.

"Yup."

"Huh… I never would have guessed that." She continued looking up at the numerous flyers that littered the board, trying to find something suitable for the afternoon she had promised to spend with Asuka and Natsu. "So is he a glorified puppeteer too?" She asked quietly as a smirk played on her lips.

Bickslow couldn't help but break out into laughter, warranting a few questioning glances from people around the hall (Natsu included). "No," he managed to choke out. Then, as he got a hold on his laughter and quieted down again, he said, "It's not the same. Different forms of Seith magic."

"Right…"

"Anyway…" Bickslow glanced over his shoulder, instantly tensing when he saw Natsu's cold (surprisingly) glare from where he sat with the rest of his team. Bickslow wouldn't have been surprised if Natsu was listening to their conversation. With a slight smirk, he turned back to the board, watching Lucy from the corner of his eye. "Doing anything tonight?" he asked quietly.

"Not tonight, no." She smiled slightly when she found the perfect job for the afternoon before reaching up to pull it down from the board, examining it more as she brought it down.

"Dinner, then?"

"Sure. Pick me up at seven?" Lucy said before she turned away from the board.

Bickslow nodded as he continued to look up at the requests. "Seven it is."

So as Bickslow remained at the board and Lucy presumably went to sit with the rest of her team once again, it occurred to Bickslow that he hadn't really thought about the plans for that night. Hell, he hadn't actually planned on asking her to dinner again. He'd just wanted to talk to her. But dinner was okay. Dinner was fine.

He just didn't know where dinner would be, because he hadn't thought that far ahead. So after waiting a somewhat reasonable amount of time to not draw any suspicion to himself, he turned and headed out into the town again. He had to find a restaurant, and that was going to prove to be difficult, he realised. He knew where every single bar and strip club was, but not nearly as many of the restaurants that littered the town.

Damn it. This is hard.