The NaLu Chronicles

The Loves Of Her Life (Part 3)

It takes Gray a week to apologize to her.

"I'm an idiot," he tells her, as soon as the door opens. "A jealous, possessive, caveman of an idiot."

She holds the door wider to invite him inside. "Go on..." she encourages.

He smiles faintly. "Even after we broke up, I still thought of you as mine. Even now. Even fifty years from now, I'll still think of you as my first love, and that... that is hard to let go of. Especially when I know that you're gonna be here, beside me, that whole time. And maybe that'll be with Natsu, I don't know. Maybe I'll be best man at your wedding, I... The idea scares the shit out of me, frankly. Not because it's unbelievable but because it actually makes sense. Because you're the only one who ever got through to him. You're the only one he tried with. And maybe I knew, maybe I always knew that he had feelings for you and I just chose to ignore them. All I know is that it's hard to let you go, even now, after four years. It's hard to see you with anyone else, but it's especially hard when I know that he loves you and you love him, enough to give him up so he doesn't lose me. Enough to give us both up even though your life would be ridiculously boring without us."

She lets a small smile creep onto her lips. "Is that right?"

"Yeah, it is." He reaches for her then, pulling her in for a hug. "I'm sorry that I screwed this up and I didn't listen when you needed me to. I'm sorry for a lot of things that happened between us but at least this one I can fix..." He leans back so he can see her and says, with all sincerity, "Don't walk away. Don't let him go. I can't guarantee things will be easy at first. It's gonna take some getting used to, but... I will. For you, for both of you, I will."

She closes her eyes when they burn a little and squeezes her arms around him tighter. "Thank you."

It's a relief, because as resolved as she might've been to walk away, she's missed them every day since she did.

----------------------------------------------------

She hasn't been to the gym where Natsu works out since. It feels like longer than a week when she finally walks down the stairs.

Erza, a close friend of them both, sighs, shoulders slumping in relief, when she spots her.

"Do me a favor," she says as she passes her, "don't ever leave him again."

She quirks an eyebrow. "That bad?"

"Nightmare," she says, shaking her head before she climbs the stairs to the door.

Lucy is silent as she makes her way toward the thwack of Natsu's fists hitting the boxing bag punch after punch.

"Erza!" he yells, concentrating on the bag. "When I'm done this round, we'll practice. Your defense is sloppy."

"Way to sugar-coat it. I'm sure she really appreciates the gentle approach."

He jumps at her voice, his arms lowering abruptly as he turns to see her, his brows hiked. He stares at her a long moment, and then looks wary. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

He winces.

"Sorry, I could've worded that better..." she sighs, reaching up to rub between her brows. "What I meant was that I talked to Gray and we figured things out."

At his flinch, she rolls her eyes at herself.

"Not romantically! God, I'm really screwing this up. He came over to apologize and to tell me that he made a mistake telling us what to do. He's just having a hard time adjusting to all of the changes and it's hard for him, because we were each other's first loves. And that... That doesn't really go away. It changes and you move on, but who we were to each other, that's always going to be there. But he understands and, in his own way, he gave us his blessing, so..." She blew out a heavy breath as she walks toward him. "I know it hurt when I walked away, but I wasn't going to be the reason you and Gray stopped being friends. I couldn't do that. You two need each other, a lot more than you need me, I—"