Chapter 7

After getting told to find Lucy, he easily picked up her scent and followed it. The scent lead him straight to Luc's and Juvia's new house. The door wasn't locked, so he just easily walked in. He could already figure out that Lucy was in her own room, so when he reached her door he just walked in. The room was dark, but he could see Lucy curled into a ball in the corner. Sting began to walk towards Lucy.

"Hey, Blondie. Look, I'm sorry that I snapped back there, but-" Sting began, but stopped cold in his tracks and his speech after Lucy snapped her head back up to face Sting.

The expression on her face surprised him. She had tears running down her cheeks and her cheeks had become a faint red color. From seeing Lucy like that, Sting could feel his face heat up and he knew completely well that he was totally blushing, hard. Lucy didn't seem to care about that. She wiped the tears away and stood up.

"Now what do you want?" Lucy asked, still wiping away her tears. Sting tried to act cool, but was failing.

"Oh, um, well, you see..." Sting mumbled as he scratched the back of his head, still blushing. After a few more minutes, he could finally talk clearly again.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I guess I was kinda out of line, considering what you've gone through." said Sting.

"And how would you know about my past?" Lucy asked, still in her same emotionless tone.

"Your little friend told us." Sting said.

"Well, whatever...A-and thank you, Sting." Lucy said quietly as she looked away, now with a blush of her own.

"Wh-what?" Sting said confused.

"You...you were right. I...I was being selfish. I should've paid more attention to my spirit and my friend. So, th-thanks." Lucy said with her right eye twitching, but she still looked away to the side and had a deep red blush.

Sting couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lucy, a person who acted even more emotionless than Rouge, was apologizing to him and seemed to be embarrassed by it. He didn't know what to say or what to do. He could feel his face heating up again.

"What the hell's wrong with me?! Why's my heart beating so fast!?" Sting mentally screamed. He could practically feel his heart beat against his rib cage. He did his best to try and calm himself down, but it wasn't working.

"Um, yeah. No problem." Sting answered, now looking away as well. They were both now blushing in deep shades of red and were looking away. It took a few moments of silent until someone spoke.

"Well, I guess you won't be trying to hide your emotions any more." Sting said, trying to laugh off the awkward situation. Lucy's blush soon died down and she could now look him in the eye and speak clearly.

"I'm not so sure about that yet." said Lucy in an uneasy tone.

"Why not?" asked Sting.

"I just don't think I'm ready yet." Lucy as she tried to walk past Sting and out the door, but Sting grabbed her arm before she could leave.

"Ready for what? You're not making any sense." said Sting. He kept his tight grip on Lucy's arm even when she turned around to face him.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to open up to people like that again. I let all those people know my true feelings and my entire sad past and...all it brought me was more heartbreak." Lucy finished on the brim of tears looking at the floor.

Suddenly, she felt a strong arm yank her in and she ended up hitting a soft chest a felt strong arms wrap around her. When she looked up, she saw Sting's head over her shoulder with his eyes shut. Lucy felt her cheeks heat up again.

"Um, Sting?" Lucy said quietly.

"Are you always gonna be like this?" Sting said into her ear. He pulled away from the hug he was giving Lucy and now just held onto her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes.

"You'll never know what people will think about you unless you open up to them, and besides, even something bad like that happens again, you'll always have your real friends like Juvia, your spirit...and me." said Sting.

Lucy was surprised by the last part, saying that Sting was her friend. When they first met a few days ago, they acted like they would hate each other forever and would always be fighting, but apparently, they couldn't be closer as friends. Lucy had tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around Sting's waist repeating the words 'thank you'. Sting just patted her head and let her cry out all her tears. After that day, everything would be different for Lucy and Sting.

After waiting for a few more minutes than they expected to wait, they saw Lucy and Sting coming back. But, Juvia and Rouge could tell something was different about both of them. Lucy had an unusually happy smile with a spring in her step and Sting seemed to be a little more happier because he now had a genuine smile as he looked at Lucy. Both Rouge and Juvia had to use all their strength not to fall over from the sight they saw coming towards them.

"Ok, what happened?!" Juvia asked Lucy while grabbing her shoulders.

"Haha. Sorry for making you worry Juvia. I just needed a talking to. And, I'll go to the guild's infirmary after training for today, alright?" said Lucy with her old smile. Juvia blinked a few timed then actually fell over this time. Once Lucy had gotten her friend back on her feet, she took out Suirō key and summoned him back.

"Oh, Lucy. You're ok." said Suirō.

"Look Suirō, I just wanted to apologize for earlier. If I ask to much of you, I want you to tell me, ok?" Lucy said innocently. Suirō then ended up doing the same thing Juvia did earlier, but Juvia did it again. As Lucy was dealing with her two fallen friends, Sting leaned against a tree by Rouge and they both watched watched.

"So, what happened during your guys' talk?" Rouge asked.

"Well, to keep it short, let's just say I found a new person I care about." Sting said as he looked at Lucy from a far, now with a tint of pink in his cheeks.