Sting x Lucy

Ok, so I know I would probably kill someone if it meant my ship Nalu (Natsu x Lucy) in anime would get together, but I certainly wouldn't kill my smol baby Sting.
And I haven't even met him yet.
I was half-way through the Edolas Arc (now I'm in the Tenrou Island arc) in the anime when my little prying eyes stumbled upon these photos on the internet:

Plus, I started loving Sting after watching a simple video on YouTube called "dragon slayer motion sickness grand magic games". If you don't know, that's when Natsu, Gajeel, and Sting are stuck on a chariot with motion sickness and have a three way tie for last place (during the Grand Magic Games arc). Gajeel says, "This is embarrassing. I used to be able to ride on vehicles just fine." And Sting replies, "Hey. That just means you've finally become one. You're the real deal now. A card-carrying dragon slayer. I guess congrats are in order. Welcome, newbie." 

And I just started loving Sting, even though I'm not at the Grand Magic Games arc yet, because he called Gajeel, possibly the scariest anime protagonist I've ever seen, a newbie.

So I decided that Lucy and Sting together might actually be cute. But I still hadn't met Sting yet, so I decided to just keep reading Nalu fanfictions on Wattpad.
But one caught my eye in which Sting made an appearance in. In this very fanfiction, Natsu found Lisanna for the first time after her "death" and started dating her. Loke asked Lucy to a ball, so she said yes, and met Sting for the first time. Sting and Lucy danced, and Sting asked Lucy on a date. Lucy said yes because she thought Natsu was dating Lisanna, which he was.
But before the whole Nalu part of the fanfiction came into play, there was some cute Stinglu fluff.

And I practically died.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nalu. It's by far my OTP of the anime (even above Jerza), but my third-highest shipping pair has to be Sting and Lucy. I can't wait for the Grand Magic Games arc, even if I have about 50 episodes to go.

Ok, so I get why people don't understand this ship. And I get that people think Sting is a "substitute" for Natsu in Stinglu shippers' minds. Sting and Natsu are both dragon slayers, I know that. I get how Sting could be a "substitute" if you consider the similarities--they're both dragon slayers with spiky hair, cute cats, a good sense of humor, and a whole lot of sass. But I don't deem Sting as a "substitute", since I think that Nalu is basically together already. Maybe they're not officially a couple, but we all remember episode 50 (you know, the one where Lucy has all those fantasies about Natsu before realizing he only invited her to a tree to dig holes). But they're just so comfortable with each other and such close friends that I know Nalu is essentially together already.

The only reason I ship Stinglu is because Natsu and Lucy are the closest of friends, and I'm satisfied with their relationship as it is. As much as I'd love to see a Nalu kiss, Stinglu could become a purely romantic relationship unlike Natsu and Lucy. If Nalu got together romantically, what if their friendship was wrecked in the process? I would never sacrifice their friendship for a romance. However, with Sting, I see a romantic possibility. If they break up, nobody gets hurt.

But I just wouldn't sacrifice the Nalu friendship for a romance Mashima would undoubtably break up as a cliffhanger. Stinglu has promise--Nalu might not.

I just love Nalu, though.