Adaptation (NaLu one-shot)

A-Adaptation

Lucy swore she was never going to get used to it. Whether it was the excited squeals from Mira every time she and Natsu would walk into the guild, the teasing looks from Levy, or the shiver that would sweep down her spine when he randomly took her hand in his. She was never going to get used to it.

But right now, it was Mira's squealing that was causing her to flinch and reconsider entering the guild today. Maybe she should just stay home for a few days, relax, read a few books, and let all this "Natsu and Lucy" stuff blow over. Although if she knew her guild mates as well as she thought she did, it wouldn't blow over for a long long time.

Their Dragon Slayer had finally found a girl, and they all seemed ecstatic.

Lucy hadn't expected the reaction they had gotten when she and Natsu had first walked into the guild, hand in hand with smiles on their faces. They'd been extremely close for the entire time she had been with Fairy Tail, so in a way she wondered if they'd even notice. She had been so close to Natsu as a partner and a friend that she honestly wondered if some people thought they were already dating. But all of her thoughts about how they would react calmly were thrown out the window the instant those guild doors opened.

They had been swamped with a crowd of excited members, questions and excited whistles roaring out in the building. Lucy had jumped a mile; somehow able to resist the urge to clap her hands over her hears. It was deafening.

"You two are holding hands!?"

"What happened?!"

"Did you two finally get together?!"

"Natsu and Lucy! I never thought I'd see the day!"

"You two are so cute!"

"Congrats, Natsu!"

"I'm surprised he could even feel an emotion like love. Nice one, Lucy! You're talented if you got this dense idiot to recognize his feelings!"

Natsu of course had yelled at Gray for what seemed like hours after that comment. A guild war had broken out again, chairs and glasses flying everywhere as Lucy and Levy stood off to the side, watching the pile of fighting men (and Cana) from the edge, unamused looks on their faces.

And from that day onward it continued on the same way. Lucy could never spend any time in Fairy Tail without the girls teasing her and giggling to themselves, and the men patting her on the back in congratulations and sending a cat call her way. Of course the cat calls were meant in celebration, but Natsu never took them that way.

Lucy wasn't sure if she thought it was cute or a little hazardous when Natsu would stand up quickly, yelling out an 'oy' to whoever had whistled at her. It was cute, yes, exactly how possessive he was, and something about those times when he would defend her, or start a fight out of jealousy would make her blush. But it was also hazardous, and she had to apologize to Makarov on multiple occasions for the sudden increase in damages done to the building due to Natsu's almost constant fight with someone over something they'd said.

But all of that mess was overridden by her immense happiness. Lucy couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been in love with Natsu. Maybe the first day she'd met him, when he'd eaten like a pig, and distracted her from the fake Salamander. But from the instant he saved her on that boat, carting her off to Fairy Tail afterwards, she'd helplessly fallen, and hadn't exactly wanted help to get up.

She was in love with the dense one, as so many of the people called him. She was pretty sure every single person in the guild knew that she liked him, all that is except for Natsu himself. And although it frustrated her that every time she tried to show him how she felt, he'd stay up on his little cloud of oblivion; she wouldn't have it any other way. That was Natsu, the one she'd fallen in love with, even if it was far beyond exasperating.

She'd tried everything. She'd set up dinners for them, hoping maybe he'd figure out somehow she saw it as a date. Instead he ended up eating the restaurant out of food and complaining to the waiter that it was too dark. She'd dressed up in her most revealing outfit she could imagine, hoping that maybe something primal in him would be activated. Instead he had frowned, telling her she was going to be cold if she didn't put on something with more fabric. She'd pulled out every trick up her sleeve she could think of, and he hadn't picked up on it even once.

So she'd decided to give up. About a week ago she'd decided 'to hell with it'. He was oblivious, that was Natsu, that's who he was, and she couldn't change that, no matter how much she wanted to. So she'd resigned to a life of helpless fawning over a boy that only saw her as a friend.

And the next day was when it happened. Lucy wasn't sure if it was a coincidence, or if Natsu had been waiting for the day that she stopped trying so hard, but either way she was glad she'd finally given up on trying to get him to recognize how she felt, because he did it on his own. All on his own. Oblivious little Natsu had felt the feeling of love, for her, all on his own.

He was perched on her bed, his eyes flicking around the room erratically and his face beet red when she'd come home. It was a normal site, and it didn't surprise her, however his nervousness did. Usually he was stretched out on her bed snoring away with his little blue cat snoring almost as loudly next to him, but that day he was sitting on the edge, his feet tapping and Happy nowhere to be found.

Before Lucy'd had the chance to ask Natsu what was the matter he'd sprung up from her mattress, grabbing both of her arms and yanking her into a hug. She'd stood, petrified in his grasp, her eyes wide and her heart hammering away in her chest. She'd been confused. Why was he hugging her? He'd never hugged her like this before. Oh Mavis did someone die? Her thoughts spiraled helplessly in her head as he stayed still, his warm breath hitting the top of her head in little puffs and his heart pounding against her own chest.

Once again before she had the chance to ask him what was going on, he beat her to the punch. He'd stuttered and stumbled over his words for a while before taking a deep breath and blurting out, "I like you, Luce. Like… love you, Luce."

Lucy swore her entire world came sputtering to a halt after those two sentences. She'd dreamed of him saying that more times than she could even count and yet she'd never predicted it would actually happen. He loved her. Those feeling she had for him, he had for her.

After the hug ended, a very long conversation commenced. Lucy and Natsu talked about everything. They started at the beginning, Lucy telling him she felt the same, and asking him why he had told her now. It turned out little dense Natsu wasn't so dense after all, and had felt that way about her just about as long as she'd felt that way about him.

Their conversation took a waltz down both of the paths they had taken. Lucy told Natsu about all the things she'd done in hopes of getting him to notice, and Natsu had told her about how he had misinterpreted them. Those dinners that she nonchalantly invited him to, he believed were meant for someone else, and she had brought him as a backup. When she'd dressed up in her revealing outfits he noticed them, yes, and was more than a little afraid that other men would see her that way, but he'd never thought about the possibility that they were for him.

He also told her about exactly how afraid he was to confess to her, and she had had to work very hard to keep from laughing. She knew Natsu had no need to be nervous to tell her how he felt, but apparently he had been shaking in his boots for the nearly months now that he'd been trying to get up the courage.

After they had seemingly talked about everything regarding their newfound relationship, they turned to other topics. Lucy had climbed into bed next to Natsu and they'd stared at the ceiling, talking about everything from childhood memories to what kind of dressing they liked on their salads. Lucy had never had a heart to heart conversation with Natsu like the one she'd had that night. She'd never felt as close to Natsu as she had that night, after they confessed their biggest dreams and most crippling fears.

And the next morning when they'd walked into the guild, their fingers intertwined and a contented smile on both of their faces was when all of the excitement started.

Even though it'd been a week, nothing had changed. If anything, Lucy believed that her guild mates' exhilaration had gotten even louder. At first she was embarrassed, but after a while it just came to be a little bit of an annoyance. So much teasing and congratulations and noise, all over their relationship. Sometimes she wished she could just drag Natsu into a little compartment where they could finally have some peace and quiet and time to themselves. To make matters worse, Gray and Erza seemed more than happy to stay at the guild, and weren't clamoring for any jobs, which meant staying in the guild even longer. The thought crossed Lucy's mind of going on a job with Natsu, however he seemed just as happy to stay at home in the guild than go out on a mission.

She'd told herself to get used to it, to adapt to the noise and conversation about them. It was going to be the new normal, however she just couldn't. And now, as Mira skipped happily toward the door, a larger than life smile on her face, Lucy sighed to herself. She was never going to get used to this.

"Hi lovebirds," Mira chirped happily, "You two hungry?"

"Starving!" Natsu replied, marching after Mira as the white-haired barista turned on her heel, mentioning that she'd be out with food in a bit.

Lucy was dragged helplessly behind Natsu, her hand still firmly in his grasp as he stalked over to their usual table and plopped down, patting the seat next to him. She obliged, sliding into the seat and trying to avert her gaze from any of the other members.

Erza, Gray, and Levy were sitting at the table. Erza polishing one of her swords, Gray eating away on a plate of pasta Mira had already given him, and Levy staring dreamily over at Lucy and Natsu. And of course Juvia was standing in the background, cheering 'Gray-sama' on because 'he could eat pasta faster than anyone!'.

Levy sighed, "You two are lucky. Lu-chan, you must tell me how you got him to recognize his feelings. Gajeel could use some help with that." Lucy gave her a sympathetic smile as the blue-haired female peered over her shoulder at her Dragon Slayer in the corner, his lip curled as he took a bite into a sheet of iron, his eyes holding some sort of amusement as he watched Natsu bounce in his seat, eagerly awaiting his meal.

"I'm sure he will soon," Lucy smiled, "I was sure Natsu was never going to realize a damn thing, but he came around. I think this one is more oblivious than that one," Lucy said, jabbing a finger at Natsu first, and then Gajeel.

Levy sighed again, "I sure hope so."

Mira sauntered up to their table a second later, placing a heaping plate of spaghetti in between Natsu and Lucy. "It's all we really have today," she said, wiping her hands off on her apron, "Enjoy it you two!"

Natsu shrugged, diving into the plate of pasta hand-first without taking the time to grab his fork.

"Oy, Salamander," Lucy heard Gajeel grunt from the corner, "You have a girlfriend now, eat a little more lady-like," he smirked, chuckling to himself.

Natsu stopped mid noodle slurp, his eyes flicking to Gajeel's corner. "What was that?" he asked, his words slurred pitifully because of the pasta.

Gajeel shrugged, "Just sayin'. Your masculinity'll be out the window soon; I wouldn't be surprised if you two lovebirds came in wearing matching sweaters tomorrow." Gajeel shamelessly guffawed at his own joke then and Natsu's eyes narrowed. Lucy shrunk a little in her seat. Here he went again.

Natsu stood up from the table abruptly, the plate jumping on the table due to the impact. "Why don't you get over here so I can kick your ass! I'll show you what masculinity is, you pansy!"

Gajeel then shoved out of his table with a shout and Lucy knew for sure they were going to start a guild-wide fight again. Levy shrunk a little lower in embarrassment too.

Natsu marched out from the table and into the center of the guild, just in time to hold up a finger in remembrance and quickly jog back over to Lucy's side. He bent down, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and grinning to himself in pride. "I don't really like sweaters but if you wanted to wear matching ones I guess I could give it a try," he said, nodding to her before promptly dashing back out into the guild and sending a blast of fire Gajeel's way.

Lucy blinked, her back straight as a board as she watched the fight, her mind eons away. He'd kissed her. Granted it was on the cheek but still; he'd never done anything like that before. And it felt wonderful.

She couldn't help but smile and blush to herself as she brought a finger up to touch the place his lips had met her skin. She thought she wouldn't be able to get used to the guild's excitement? Well, she just found one thing that she thought would take much longer to adapt to.