The Love of a Lion

Embarrassment

The two of them return to the guild together. Happy pesters them with questions about the date and Natsu goes into story-telling mode. Exaggerting the size of the Vulcans and the amount of stuff they had stolen.

"There were mountains of gold! And vulcans seven times as tall as me! And this creepy little girl who stayed with them."

"Wait... You left a little girl in the forest? Alone? With Vulcans?!" Gray bursts out.

"Well, yeah. Anyway, the Vulcans surrounded me-"

"And, Lucy, even you left her?!"

"S-she said they were her friends...?" Lucy stammers.

Gray, along with quite a few other guild members, look at the two in astonishment.

"Never become parents!" Gray yells, running out the door.

"At least put some clothes on before you go looking for a little girl!" Lucy yells at Gray's bare back.

"Gray-sama, I'll help dress you!" Juvia says, trailing after him.

"Now that he mentions it, leaving her there really wasn't a good idea." Lucy sits down at a table and rests her cheek on her palm. "I didn't even think to ask the girl her name... Or ask about her parents."

"Maybe she was raised by Vulcans! Like how Igneel took care of me!" Natsu says as he flops down in a seat next to Lucy and drapes his arm across her shoulders.

"You guys are so cute together!" Mirajane squeals from behind the counter.

"Well, I better head home!" Lucy says as she shrugs off Natsu's arm.

Natsu frowns and says, "I'll walk you home."

"No, it's okay! I can walk by myself!" Lucy calls out as she races out the door. She runs part of the way home and then slows down, asking Plue to walk with her.

"Plue, I don't know what to do! I feel so embarrassed around Natsu right now. I feel like everyone is watching us interact and thinking how lovey-dovey we look or how we don't look like we even like each other or... I don't even know. This is way different than how it's been with Loke."

"Plue, Plue!"

Lucy looks down at Plue and stops to scoop him up into her arms. "You know just what to say. Let's go home and take a bath! That'll make me way more relaxed. And hopefully it will clear my head."