Blossom

All In Your Head

Lucy bit her lip as she went through her closet, suddenly regretting every past fashion choice she's ever made.

Meeting Natsu's family was hard enough, but now he's been making it sound like meeting his brother would be the worst experience in the world.

She didn't necessarily care if his family liked her, but it was nice to know that the other half of her child's family didn't hate her- it'd make this whole co-parent thing a little better. But now it's like all of her "good first impression" were either missing, or needed to be put in the wash, and they didn't have time to wait on the laundry right now.

"Lucy? Can I come in?" Natsu had his ear pressed against the door in an attempt to hear what was going on, so he nearly fell over when Lucy opened it for him.

"Uh..." She decided not to dwell on his clumsiness, "I'm not sure what to wear anymore. Everything I have left right now is too close to what you advised me not to put on."

"Eh? No way..." He skimmed through the pile of clothes she had atop her bed, "This one looks... nice," He said as he held up a small blue maxi dress.

"But it's spaghetti straps, the skirt cuts off over my knees, and there's a slit down the left thigh..."

"...So?"

"So, you said to wear something that I'd wear at school, and this is not-"

"I just meant you shouldn't wear nothin' crazy. Zeref is hella judgmental, but that dress is hot. I think you'll be alright."

"...Hot?"

"Hm?"

"You think the dress is hot?" Lucy took the dress in question and held it up to herself, though her eyes were trained on Natsu's, waiting for his response.

"Wh-" He swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat, fighting back against the blush that threatened to take over his face, "Well... Yeah? It's cute."

"Mhm," She turned away from him to study the dress in the mirror, "Thank you."

"Yeah..."

"Natsu-"

"Yea- Yes?"

"Could you leave... so I can change?"

"Oh!" Natsu rushed out of her room to give her some privacy, and he was sure he heard her giggling on the other side of the door. It's still so weird to him that anyone could make him this nervous- a feeling that's almost completely brand new to him.

As he felt something on his foot, he looked down to see Happy staring up at him- a shit-eating look in his eyes. It was if he was taunting him for being so out of his element right now.

"Stop lookin' at me like that, cat."

-

"I'm so freaking nervous," Lucy muttered for the 100th time, "Are you sure this dress is alright?"

"Yeah," Natsu let out a deep sigh, he was seriously starting to worry. It wasn't his intention to stress the poor girl out like this, but he knew they had to prepare for the possibility of Zeref not liking her. Not only that, but the weather has started to get colder, and he hadn't thought about how cold it'd be today when he suggested she wore that short dress.

"I'm sorry, I know I keep rambling," Lucy assumed the troubled look that slowly invaded Natsu's face was because she was starting to irritate him, "I'll shut up-"

"You're fine, just try to calm down. You can't be stressed like this." When they stopped at a stop sign, Natsu quickly removed his jacket and set it in Lucy's lap, "Put that on, it's only, like, 40 degrees."