"…I'm sorry again about that," Cobra said. "I shouldn't have kept that from you. I just…" Even as he spoke, the excuse in his mind felt flimsy, so the words died on his lips. Lucy continued not looking at him, and he couldn't get a read on how she felt. Her body language was mostly focused on the trek ahead, with her face to match. "I was wrong. That's all I'll say. If you don't want me to be around until we talk, just to think, I can–"
"Erik."
That one word nearly made him trip. Lucy stared at him, eyes large and mournful. "Please don't," she continued. "What I said before is all true, and I still don't know how to feel about a lot of things…but I don't want you to leave in the meantime. We shut each other out, and things got worse for it. I know it sounds like a contradiction, but I want to be near you and communicate more clearly this time before something like this happens again."
Before he had time to form a response, she stumbled.
They had started up an area with more rocks, wet from the rain, and she slipped, plunging forward. In a flash, he was at her side, keeping her upright so she didn't fall and hit the rocks. Lucy steadied herself on him and gasped. "You good?" he asked.
"Y-Yes, thank you," she breathed. Instead of separating right away, he noticed that she lingered, holding his side as he held her own. They stared at one another, then broke apart to dust themselves off. "You'd think I'd be more careful at this point."
"I know…it's a shame we all can't be as graceful as me," he said. She snorted and rolled her eyes. But the smile returned, and he found himself smiling as well.
…That is until he looked ahead and saw Macbeth giving him a raised eyebrow while Mirajane's eyes somehow (he swore to Zeref) made little hearts. That sent him into a sneer, and the two whipped back around. Mirajane's conversation took an excited tone, and he desperately hoped Lucy would be too focused on the mission to notice.