Here's chapter 3! ...For some reason, it was extremely hard for me to write. I knew what was going to happen, I just had difficulty putting it in words. Don't you hate when that happens? I rewrote it like five times! Well, I hope it came out okay. I tried my best!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. If I did, Erza and Lucy would be canon.

Our Fake Relationship- Chapter 3

Erza and Lucy arrived at the latter's apartment only minutes later. Lucy somewhat shyly retracted her hand from the red head's in order to rummage through her pocket for her house key.

"Um, do you want to come in?" Lucy felt odd for asking since her nakama always barged in uninvited anyway.

"If it does not trouble you, I will take you up on your offer." Erza replied with a smile.

Once the celestial mage unlocked the door and they were inside, Erza shut it behind them.

"Do you want something to drink?" Lucy asked, leading the Fairy Queen to the living room.

"No, that is alright. I do not plan to stay."

"You don't?" Lucy was surprised at how much disappointment was in her voice. She cleared her throat and said, "Um, is there something you have to do?"

"No… but since it has been such a trying day for you, I thought I would let you get some rest."

Lucy blinked and then beamed. "Wow, Erza… That's really considerate of you! Thank you!"

"It is the least I could do, since…" She fell silent.

The blonde cocked her head to the side with confusion. "What?"

After a few seconds, a smile appeared on the Titania's lips. "It is nothing, Lucy. Pay me no mind." She turned away and headed for the front door as Lucy continued to stare at her with a puzzled expression. She opened the door and before heading out, she looked back and said, "If it is alright with you, I will come to check up on you later."

"Oh… That's fine."

Erza gave a slight nod and then disappeared from view when the door closed.

Lucy stood staring at the door for a few minutes longer. 'Was it just me, or was Erza acting a little weird?' She wondered. She shook her head after thinking that. 'No, it was probably nothing. And anyway, all my nakama act weird.'

Lucy turned and walked into her living room to sit down on her couch. She sighed in satisfaction and got more comfortable. 'It really was nice of Erza to let me rest.' The key mage thought, blankly staring at the ceiling. 'I guess I do need it, with everything that happened today… Gray and Natsu confessing… I didn't even see that coming. But maybe I should have… Mira coming up with the plan to have me date Erza… I was skeptical before, but I can't believe it actually worked! And I guess I'd rather it be Erza than someone else… She is a really nice person… If you don't get her angry that is… I don't even really know why I was so against it before… It's only temporary so…' Lucy glanced at the window only to nearly jump out of her skin.

On the other side of the glass was Natsu with Happy on his shoulder. The boy had a wide grin on his face as he tapped on the window, signaling Lucy to open it and let him in.

Lucy was quick to do just that. Once she wretched it open, she snapped, "Why can't you use the door like a normal, sane person?!"

"Because it's more convenient this way." He replied as he clambered inside. Happy almost fell off his shoulder when the cat's forehead hit the window.

"Just how is this convenient? Wouldn't using the door be –You know what? Forget it." Lucy let out a weary sigh. So much for resting. "What did you come here for anyway?" She asked.

"I chose a request for us to go on!" He announced as he shoved a paper in the girl's face.

Lucy's eyes skimmed the paper. "Collecting… herbs? Since when do you pick easy requests? You normally pick ones that involve giant monsters or beating someone up…"

Natsu frowned. "You didn't read the whole thing." He said impatiently. "The herbs we have to pick are in a dangerous territory, so chances are we'll get to fight. There are bandits and monsters over there, so it's all good!" His boyish grin returned as Lucy sighed. Of course. Natsu picking a request that didn't involve fighting was out of the question.

"I'm still a bit surprised though." Lucy said as the dragonslayer plopped down on her sofa. Happy hopped off of him and snuck to the kitchen to 'liberate' some fish from her refrigerator. "You usually pick ones that actually ask for someone to be beaten up, so why did you choose one where there's a chance we won't?"

Natsu shrugged. "Change of pace, I guess."

Lucy frowned at the floor. She couldn't help but wonder if it was because of her that he was 'changing his pace'.

"But don't worry about it." He said after noticing her expression. "Actually, I sort of just chose this request because I saw how much the reward was. It's a lot, since we'll be going into danger. You have to pay your rent soon, right?"

Lucy blinked. Natsu… knew? She smiled as she sat down beside him. "Thanks, Natsu."

"No problem." He grinned sheepishly. "I was thinking that if I got on your good side and did a bunch of nice things for you, you would go out with me."

The blonde blinked, and then let out a laugh. "Though I would appreciate it, that's not going to happen."

The fire mage peered down at his hands in his lap. "Yeah, I didn't think so. But I wouldn't know without trying, right?"

They fell silent for a minute until Lucy thought of something.

"Hey, Natsu? Why did you take my relationship with Erza so well?"

"Huh?"

Lucy looked at her lap for a moment before turning to face him. "I thought you would take our relationship badly. Like Gray did. I thought you would get angry… but you didn't. I want to know why."

Natsu kept eye contact for a few seconds longer before looking down. Lucy thought he was going to brush away the question before he began to speak. "I guess… because I like you." When he looked back at Lucy, she was staring at him with confusion. "Er… You know, when you like someone, you want them to be happy, no matter what. Even if their happiness lies with someone else. So… I'll be happy as long as you're happy. Even if your happiness is with Erza."

Lucy's eyes widened. "Natsu… That's so sweet! And it sounded so mature!"

Natsu sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Really? I thought it sounded kind of dumb."

"Not at all!"

"Does having said all that make you want to go out with me?"

"… Sorry, but no." 'Was that the reason he said that? What he says may sometimes be mature, but I know for sure that he'll never be…'

"Oh. Oh well. Anyway, I'd better go." He said as he stood up.

Lucy copied his action. "What? Why? Is there something you need to do?" After she said that, she got a feeling of déjà vu. Hadn't she said the same thing to Erza? And didn't Erza say something odd at one point?

"I was going to let Erza know about the request." Natsu answered. "I was thinking we could do it tomorrow, since today is half over. That's okay, right?"

"Oh… Yeah, that's fine."

The boy turned away to call out, "Happy! Let's go!"

The blue feline appeared in the kitchen's doorway, munching on a fish. "Aye! Lucy, you need to buy more fish. You ran out."

"What?!" The thoughts on her last conversation with Erza were quickly forgotten as her face turned red with anger. "That was my dinner for tonight! You damned cat!"

"Bye, Lucy!" Natsu hastily said, grabbing the cat and leaping out the window.

Lucy had half a mind to stop them so she could yell at them some more, but she let it go. She sighed as she shut the window, and then smiled. Natsu… He was something else. His words were very moving. But not in the 'suddenly wanting to date him' sense. She decided that she needed to give him more credit. He deserved that much.

Lucy moved to the couch again, hoping to actually be able to relax this time without a distraction. It seemed to work for a while, since she nodded off to sleep for at least an hour. But then a knock at the front door disturbed her rest. She groggily got to her feet and made her way to open the door.

'I wonder who it is.' Lucy thought, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 'Maybe it's Natsu again… No, he would climb back in through the window. So maybe it's Erza. She said she would come back to check up on me…' With that thought in her mind, she perked up. Expecting to see the Titania in the doorway, she was surprised when she opened the door.

Standing there with his arms crossed was Gray.

Whew. Done with that. Now I need to write chapter 4...

Also, I have a poll on my profile page: Which Fairy Tail couple is your favorite? I made it just to test out this poll thing, so I would greatly appreciate it if you took the time to take it if you hadn't already!

As always, please review! Good or bad is appreciated! Your reviews for me is like alcohol for Cana! ...Did that make sense? I'm pretty sure it did...I didn't really think it out... :l