Y'know what, maybe I'll just pretend Fairy Tail ends at the Edolas Arc so it's a win for everyone. Lisanna comes back alive, there's no Zeref to worry about, Loke and Lucy are hinted with the "Is he your boyfriend?", Juvia and Gray don't end up together, not much of the Mystic/Jellal & Erza bs, and so forth.
That means you'd get about 95 episodes without having to worry about fanservice or forced pairings with just a tiny bit of filler in the middle. It's before it gets all "what the fuck is happening/why are we wasting so much time" segment and arcs.
A perfect ending in the rain while most of the characters concerns are finally resolved. It would be an intense, but well-executed ending instead of what we actually got.
Kinda want to rewatch Fairy Tail, kinda don't knowing Lucy doesn't end up with Loke or Gray.
Looking back at it, Natsu treated Lucy so horribly. Calling her fat as "jokes", calling her "weak" at some points in battle, or the cheap "she's always n*ked in battles", ditching her for a year with nothing but a letter, constantly breaking into her house and gr0ping her multiple times...
Loke always made Lucy his priority. Even after he becomes a spirit again, he broke through worlds to make sure she's okay. He adores Lucy to bits and always made sure she was complimented. Not once did he make her feel like she wasn't valued.
And Gray was the only one who really treated Lucy with respect too. He properly apologized after hurting her before the fight with E.N.D, and actually had a canon crush on her for a while. His monotone/cooler temper would've been a better match for Lucy.
It amazes me how people still defend Na/lu. Don't get me wrong, there's still a couple cute moments. But the vast majority of interactions between Natsu and Lucy makes it seem like Lucy is just better off with someone else or with no one at all.
I find it so hilarious that writers were trying so hard to push an enemies-to-lovers trope with Lu-mi*ty that all the development and tragedy of a great enemies-to-lovers unintentionally went into Lunter.
Amity was... always just known as the school bully, but Hunter ended up being a brainwashed kid that needed someone to get him out of the Emperor's Coven. Hunting Palisman is a perfect example of what I mean, you can tell there's more unsettling tension than the school bully picking on a normal girl.
It's partially bad writing, & partially bad development of the main ship. Hunter has more depth and emotional turmoil than Amity and that's what makes his character so appealing. He develops the story whereas Amity is just... kinda there.