It'd been nearly four days since Natsu and Lucy spoke, let alone looked at each other, making the four classes they had together unbelievably awkward.
Lucy knew it'd be weird between them for a few days, but she didn't think they would end up blatantly avoiding the other.
In study hall and government, Natsu sat halfway across the room from Lucy, in calculus he faced the complete opposite direction, and in physics he just flat out ignored her.
But worst of all was lunch.
It was known amongst practically the entire school that whatever table Natsu and his friends sat at would undoubtedly be the loudest. Natsu, Gray and Gajeel were constantly yelling or fighting, Erza was always the one to break it up, and Lucy, Levy and Juvia were left to try and talk over all the noise.
But even on tuesday, the second to last day of school for seniors, Natsu was still avoiding Lucy, and rather than sit next to or across from her like he usually did, he sat at one end of the table while she at at the other.
The table was almost completely silent aside from a few concerned whispers, tension so thick even some nearby tables were more silent than usual.
After nearly ten minutes of no eye contact and complete silence, Gray slammed his hands down, drawing the attention of the whole table.
"Alright, I can't take it anymore, somebody has to say it!" He almost yelled, staring down Natsu and Lucy. "You guys almost kissed, so what? It happens to the best of us!"
"I hope you know what you're imply-"
"Don't you even start!" Gray cut Natsu off, ignoring Juvia's silent pleading for him to not make a scene. "The sexual tension between you two is so fucking insane that I can feel it from halfway across the goddamn school!"
Natsu and Lucy blushed, making eye contact for a moment before quickly turning away.
"Yes, it's gonna be awkward, yes, everyone knows that you wanna make out now, but I highly doubt that you want to finish your senior year ignoring each other." Gray finished, crossing his arms and sitting back down.
Natsu and Lucy looked at each other in silent agreement, finally speaking again as they walked to their next class together.
For the next week Natsu and Lucy spent every possible minute together, even going to graduation in the same car.
Since they were required to be at the auditorium an hour and a half before graduation already began, they went for a walk in the nearby woods, sitting on the swings of an abandoned park that they had found.
There was a comfortable silence between them as the swings creaked loudly, a light breeze rustling the leaves above as they swung.
"In less than three hours we'll officially be done with highschool…" Natsu said in an almost whisper, looking up to the trees in way that almost made him seem sad.
Lucy hummed in response, partially zoning off into her own thoughts as she watched the small river in front of her ripple with each gust of wind.
They still hadn't talked about the almost kiss, or how they could feel each other's heartbeat quicken with every second that passed, the way their lips felt together even though they only touched for a mere-
"Hey, Luce, what time is it?" Natsu asked, breaking Lucy from her thoughts.
Lucy jumped slightly, fumbling with her phone before pulling it from her pocket. "Crap, we need to get back soon or we'll get yelled at!" She jumped off the swing, beginning to walk back towards the auditorium before Natsu's voice stopped her.
"Could we stay a few minutes longer? There's something I wanna tell you…" Natsu spoke cautiously, thinking over each sentence before saying it.
Lucy stopped mid-step, her body tensing at his words. "He's gonna talk about the kiss…" She thought, slowly walking back to where Natsu stood.
He avoided her eyes, choosing to stare at the river instead. "I know we talked about this before, but I have something to add to it this time." He spoke slowly, taking a deep breath before looking at Lucy. "I'm not ready to be separated from you, and I know you won't change colleges because you're going to the best one in the country and it's got all the classes you need and stuff like that, so I came up with a solution…" Natsu pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket, opening it up as he spoke.
"I studied more than I ever have before, just so I could get a chance to go to the same college as you." He was smiling now, handing the paper to Lucy so she could read it. "This is the letter they sent me a few days ago…"
Lucy gladly took the paper, eyes widening as she read it over. "We're going to the same college?" She mumbled in disbelief, reading over the first paragraph three more times to make sure she read it correctly.
She looked up and grinned, pulling Natsu into an embrace, paper still in hand, tears of happiness falling from her eyes as he told her the details of how he kept it a secret.
Lucy's arms were still wrapped around Natsu's neck when they pulled apart, both of them grinning like idiots.
"Holy shit I really wanna kiss you right now…" Natsu said after a few seconds, grin momentarily faltering.
Lucy was barely able to finish saying "please do" before Natsu's lips were on hers, soft and only a little sloppy as he pulled her closer by the waist, a hum of content escaping her. It felt like a century before the two pulled away, breath heavy and cheeks red.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that…" Natsu said, grabbing Lucy's hand before heading back to the auditorium.
*Single tear rolls down cheek* I've done it, I have finally finished my first ever multi-chapter fanfiction...except for the epilogue!
The epilogue will be posted in a few hours as it has not yet been finally edited. I'll have a big announcement about future plans along with it, so look forward to that!