A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks for the wait. This chapter is kinda inspired by the Coca Cola Extra (personally my favorite extra) and the second time skip. Hope you enjoy! (Also thank you Free2Fly for catching the typos. I don't know why when I was writing it, Gray with an "e" looked correct to me x_x )
Moving Forward
After the whole embarrassing incident, a temporary truce was held between the two villages and an attempt to co-exist went into trial.
Most people were surprised how okay they were with the whole immersion. People were happy to travel between the two clans without any worry and even learned all kinds of new techniques from each other.
And the most important thing, Natsu and Happy got to see Lucy whenever they wanted.
"Hiya Luce!"
That included her favorite bathing spring which they somehow always, always, always knew when she was in.
"I told you!" She started, putting her clothes on regardless of her skin still being wet. "If you do not know where I am, you can ask around and wait, you know what wait means right? You can wait at the village until you see me."
She started her brisk walk, or as Happy has dubbed it, her angry walk. Every time he and Natsu does something Lucy doesn't like, her cheeks get puffier and her walks get faster and the only thing they can do is follow her and make silly faces until she laughs again.
And when Lucy laughs again, their whole world gets a little lighter. Natsu couldn't believe how just a month ago, the woman staying in their hut was the same woman as the one now; so full of energy, face full of color, and a body soft and firm enough to hug forever. That is, first they gotta go calm her down.
One day the villages decided to host a bonfire. Everyone was allowed to enter the contest to see who could get the biggest piece of meat they could find. The winner would get to be acting chief of the co-villages for a week.
The Natsu gang were super excited. They had packed to go on a whole trip to go look for something big enough to win.
Before heading out they stopped by Mira's hut for a bite to eat. A bunch of other people were also hanging around before leaving to find their own prize. The trio sat with Gray, Erza and Wendy as everyone talked strategy plans.
"...well you know, worse comes to worst Lucy can do whatever she did to attract Natsu to her so stubbornly." Gray joked around, chuckling about how Natsu and Happy always yells at their prey even though that gives away their location.
"No! Lucy's boobs are for me only!" Natsu declared, wrapping his arm around Lucy's waist, just right below her chest. It was something he did quite often. But whether it was a conscious or unconscious move was something Lucy wasn't clear about.
"Yea! And it was her butt we saw first anyways." Happy added.
Lucy shoved Natsu to the side and huffed. "My boobs aren't only for you Natsu! And they're definitely not used to attract prey. If that's all you see in me then you can go on the hunt on your own!"
With her "angry walk", Lucy stalked off and left the group to themselves. Erza and Wendy quickly got up to follow and see why Lucy's mood was so distressed, leaving the guys alone.
"Man, you really screwed that one up." Gray said, casually taking a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, anyone from a distance can tell she's really angry at you." Gajeel walked up to them, taking a seat where Erza was once sitting.
"Please, little do you guys know, Lucy can never stay mad at us." Natsu said, with Happy nodding furiously.
"I don't know man, I feel like every time I see you guys, you're always in an argument."
"You should do something different." Gajeel added. "Shrimp's always happy when I find new cave drawings to show her. You should do something like that."
"That's where you've been disappearing off to? Since when did you become a female expert?" Gray asked.
"Says the one who's always got that Juvia looking at him."
"I complimented her once and she just got all attached!"
"I don't know…" Natsu thought to himself, bringing their conversation back to the main topic. "Lucy's anger has never been anything serious. I'll just wait for her to come back!"
"What are you crazy?" Gray and Gajeel said.
"Go do something for her!"
"Yea! Win the contest or something for her."
Natsu's eyes lit up at that idea, remembering how excited Lucy was to win the prize.
"That's a great idea! Lucy was really happy to go hunting. She'll be so surprised when I get her something all on our own!"
"Aye!" Happy exclaimed, ramping up to Natsu's excitement.
"Let's head out now Happy! We can't waste a minute!"
(By the girls' side)
"Lucy!" Erza called out, following after the speedy blonde.
She had left in such a hurry, both Erza and Wendy were concerned.
"Lucy-san! Please wait!" The two cornered her down and after all of them regained their breaths, sat down to talk.
"I don't know what's going on with me lately." Lucy began. "We're fine most of the time, but then he'll say something and it'll seem like he wants more but he doesn't do anything so I'm just so confused."
"Lucy…" Erza blushed almost as red as her hair. "Are you saying you want to… make babies with him?"
"Yes? No? I don't know? Sometimes I just look at him and I get this weird gnawing feeling, but he's Natsu and h-he just… acts so stupid sometimes! I don't… even know if he likes me for me or for these stupid fatty flesh!" She said, angrily grabbing her boobs.
Pulling her hands down before Lucy hurt herself, Wendy asked, "Did you ever ask him?"
"B-but Wendy! How could I ask him that. Knowing him he'll probably just say he likes my boobs." Lucy said tearfully, already accepting the truth about the idiotic person she liked.
"Have some faith in him! I'm sure he likes you for you as well Lucy-san."
"You're right! I'll go look for him, he's probably waiting for me still anyways. I just… gotta have faith." Lucy took all her courage and trust and went back to Mira's hut where she had last seen Natsu.
But when she got there, the only emotion she was feeling was emptiness.
About a week later, Natsu and Happy excitedly came back to the village with the biggest prey they had ever captured.
They knew for sure this would make Lucy happy and they'd get to be the village chief! It was the best win-win scenario they've ever encountered.
Everyone gathered around them to inspect the prey they got. They were honestly impressed they didn't get lost after leaving the village for so long. But the one person Natsu and Happy didn't see was Lucy.
Looking around, they decided to check the hot springs, her little tent, and Mira's hut but there was no sign of her.
Finally, they decided to ask around and see if anyone's seen her. Levy and Gajeel were sitting close by, but before they could ask, they noticed the pair was having a pretty heated discussion.
"How could you tell him to just run off like that?"
"What's the big deal? I run off all the time and you like it when I find something for ya."
"That's completely different Gajeel. I know you like to have your space and freedom so I'm totally fine with you doing your thing, but that's not how Lu-chan and Natsu work. The whole point of them going on the adventure together was so that they could be together. She never cared about the prize to begin with!"
"What." Natsu said aloud, making his presence known.
"Look he's back already. No harm, no foul. Go back to yer Princess, she's been upset this whole time." Gajeel pointed out.
"You said she'd be happy if I got her a prize!" Natsu argued.
"Well I was wrong! But that don't mean you can't fix it. It just means yer got a lot of apologizing to do." Gajeel pouted. He didn't like people pointing fingers at him.
Levy gave a light smack to his head for being insensitive, but also gave Natsu some encouragement.
"I agree Natsu, just tell her the truth, that you thought what you were doing was to make her happy. I'm sure Lu-chan will understand."
"Do you know where she is? I've been searching everywhere."
"Hmm, I think lately she's been hanging out by the waterfall near the men's village. The one where you first found her."
Without even saying goodbye, Natsu and Happy took off to find their friend.
When they got to the waterfall, they quickly noticed her due to her blonde hair standing out vividly against all the green. But before Happy could call out to her, Natsu shushed him and told him to wait. He could smell salt in the air. The kinda salt that made Natsu's stomach twist and turn instead of grumble with hunger. Lucy was crying.
Slowly approaching her from behind, Natsu quietly said her name as to not startle her.
But when she recognized his presence, her face turned red from embarrassment of being caught crying, and bolted out of the area.
Just like when they first met, Natsu and Happy chased after her. But this time, it was to console her, not to take her. They caught up to her and they fell to the ground.
"Noo!" Lucy yelled, shielding her face with her hands and kicking anything that came near her.
"Lucy!" Natsu flat out laid his lower body on top of her to stop her from thrashing and he gently pried apart her arms to see her face.
"Lucy, please look at me. I'm sorry." He said, taking both her wrists in one hand so he could stop her head from moving.
"Let me go." Her eyes were closed shut and Natsu felt so sick to know that she was doing all she could to not look at him.
"If I let you go, will you promise not to run? I just want to talk Lucy."
"We're really sorry." Happy also chimed in, his ears flat on his head to indicate his emotions.
"I don't really want to talk to you right now Natsu." Lucy was still sniffling from before, and even though she finally got to see Natsu again, she didn't really want to hear any excuse they were going to tell her.
"Please," He lightly brushed the back of hands to wipe away some of the tears on her cheek. "Just a few minutes and I promise I won't hold you down. You know I keep my promises Luce."
She stilled after that, knowing that despite it all, he really did keep to his promises. She gave a small nod, just enough so that Natsu could understand.
He slowly got off her, and even pulled herself up to sitting position and gave her space to wipe her face and calm down.
"Lucy, we were only gone because we thought you were upset with us. We thought if we won you the prize, you'd be happy with us again. We didn't mean to make you feel like we left without you on purpose. We'd never do that to you."
"I know it was probably upsetting to see us just disappear—"
"Upsetting?" Lucy asked. "Natsu, I was more than just upset. I felt… practically heartbroken. You didn't care at all what I thought and you left on your own."
"Hey! We did care! That's why we left to get you the prize in the first place."
"No, you just thought about making yourself look cool. You didn't even think to tell me you were leaving, even though you knew how excited I was to go on this trip. You didn't think about how lonely I felt when you didn't say good bye. You didn't think at all because you don't care about me." She started tearing up again despite not wanting to cry in front of Natsu. She just couldn't help saying her worst fears and knowing that they're true.
"How can you say I don't care about you Luce?" He softly touched her arm, not wanting to scare her, but also wanting to console her.
"I come visit you everyday since our villages combined. I taught you a few fire tricks and you showed me stars and told me stories about each and every one of them. I think you're amazing, and definitely a lot smarter than me. You're a little weird sometimes, but that would never make me want to stop hanging out with you. You taught me to put others first and you've always been number one, Luce."
"I'm sorry we didn't come get you and say good bye. And I'm sorry we didn't get to go on an adventure together. But we can go right now! Who cares about the contest, let's just go explore and have some fun!"
But despite Natsu's idea, Lucy didn't budge. He almost gave up before he heard Lucy quietly murmur.
"Why do you like me Natsu?"
He gave her a winning smile and said, "Because you're Lucy of course!"
She took in his smile and gave him a small one back.
"Not because you only like my body?"
Natsu's face froze as Lucy could literally see a blush starting from his forehead, creep all the way down to his neck.
"W-well. I mean… I-I definitely… appreciate your body Luce, but it's not the only reason why I like you." He looked down, suddenly very interested in the grass and not at all at Lucy's curious stare.
"I told you before that I'd respect you. If I'm not doing it right you can tell me."
"It's not that Natsu. I'm very happy you um… find my body attractive. I just wasn't sure if that was the only thing you found attractive."
"It's not." He said firmly, catching her eyes before the both of them turned away with bright red faces.
"Do you… would you still want to go on a trip?" Natsu asked.
"Yeah. That'd be kinda nice. We can wait till after the bonfire if you want so you can see if you won or not." Lucy shyly reached for his hands, relishing his warmth.
"Nah it doesn't matter. It wasn't that fun without you so I don't mind leaving whenever you want." He pulled her up so they were both standing; their faces almost touching.
"Hey! Are you saying I'm not fun Natsu?" Happy forced his way between the two, pouting that they seemed to be getting along without him.
"Not at all bud, just saying it would have been more fun with Lucy around."
"Hmm well if you guys are gonna be tryin' to make babies, I don't want to be around."
Both Natsu and Lucy tripped, falling flat on their faces with cheeks going not just red, but purple.
"Happy!"
A/N: Anddd we've come to a full circle! Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think :)