Work Text:
“Hey Lucy, can I ask you a question?”
Lucy turned from her drink to look at the white-haired mage who had taken a seat beside her. “Sure, Lisanna. What’s up?”
“Are you and Natsu dating?”
Lucy wasn’t sure what question she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that. She felt the blush rises in her cheeks. It certainly wasn’t a question she wanted to be asked. “No!” she said, a bit more loudly and vehemently than she had intended. Lowering her voice to a volume less likely to get the whole guild eavesdropping on what was already one of the last conversations she wanted to have, Lucy continued. “No! Not at all! We’re just teammates! What would give you a ridiculous idea like that?!”
“Oh, the two of you were a couple in Edolas. I was just curious if it was the same here.”
Lucy’s blush faded. That was a reasonable question to ask. The Lucy in Edolas had been rather forward. “Oh, that makes sense. No, nothing like that’s happening here.”
“But you do like him, right?”
The blush started to come back. Lisanna was almost as bad as her older sister. Lucy tried to choose her words carefully. Very carefully. “Natsu’s a good friend, just like everyone in the guild. I could hardly be friends with someone I didn’t like.”
Lisanna smiled. “Yes, but do you like him?” The emphasis was unmistakable.
Lucy opened her mouth to deny it, to insist that she had no such feelings for the pink-haired dragonslayer, that there was no way she ever would have such feelings, that she and Natsu were nothing more than friends and partners, to say all the things she always said whenever someone brought the whole subject up, but a little voice deep inside her said no, that telling the girl who had loved (and perhaps still loved) Natsu would be the worst mistake of her life, and just as the words of that denial were about to pass her lips the little voice inside seized them, dragged them down, and strangled them in her throat.
Lucy sputtered and spluttered, and Lisanna must have assumed Lucy had choked on her drink, for the youngest Strauss sibling was up in a flash, pounding on the blonde’s back. At least she had an excuse for her beet-red face now. She coughed a few times – perhaps she had taken a sip without noticing – and tried to concentrate on getting her breathing under control.
But there was another hand on her back. Familiar, warm, and frankly not one she wanted on her at that moment. “Hey Lucy, you all right?”
Lucy looked up into the face of her partner and her heart skipped a beat. Natsu’s dark eyes were filled with worry, and there was no sign of the ever-present grin he normally wore. It wasn’t a look she liked to see. “I’m fine,” she said, giving him a wan smile. “Just choked on my drink.”
Natsu turned to face the offending beverage and lit his fist on fire. “Okay milkshake, say your prayers, because no one hurts my friends and gets away with it.” His tone may have been serious, but his face – that was the look Lucy liked to see.
She laughed in spite of herself. “Natsu, I think I can handle a milkshake.” To prove her point, she took the glass and drained half of what was left.
He tugged on his scarf. “Anyways, Happy found a job for us. Let’s go!”
If Lucy wasn’t familiar with her partner’s general enthusiasm she’d have been pulled off her seat; as it was it took all her strength to not end up face-down on the floor. She whacked Natsu on the head. “Let me finish my drink at least! Waiting another five minutes isn’t going to kill you.”
Natsu seemed to disagree, because he stomped back to Happy with all the grace and poise of a man climbing to the gallows. Lucy just rolled her eyes.
“So Lucy, you never answered my question…” Unlike Natsu, Lisanna had an attention span.
The remains of Lucy’s milkshake vanished. “Sorry, no time to chat! Got a job!” Having disengaged herself from that conversation with utmost subtlety, Lucy hurried over to the job board only to fall back on her stool when Lisanna caught her wrist.
“Lucy, Natsu isn’t very good at sharing his feelings with other people.”
Lucy blinked. That was not the Natsu she knew. Right? Definitely not.
Lisanna continued, “So be patient.” There was something in her eyes, something that made Lucy’s gut clench. “Look after him.” With that, Lisanna released Lucy’s wrist.
Lisanna turned back to the bar after watching Natsu, Lucy, and Happy leave the guildhall, only to find herself face to face with her older sister.
“You didn’t tell me they were together in Edolas.” Mirajane smiled beatifically, a smile that promised consequences for the wrong response.
Lisanna smiled back. “I may have exaggerated slightly.”