Hey, sorry this has taken so long. I've had a lot of work recently, plus another story which I need to write for too, so it's kind of hard to produce regular updates for this story. I really enjoy writing it though, the three way scrap for Lucy's really entertaining for me.

"Woah…." Natsu awed, looking excitedly around the spacious back of Lucy's limo. "It's so big! This is so cool Lucy! I didn't think I'd ever get to ride in a car like this!"

Lucy laughed nervously, eying a furious looking Caprico out of the corner of her eye. Clearly he didn't like the idea of a 'commoner' in his limo. "Yeah, well… welcome to my world I guess…"

Natsu laughed heartily, kicking off his shoes, and reclining across the back row completely, further pissing Caprico off, although the butler would never dream about scolding a friend of Miss Lucy. Natsu kicked the back of Lucy's seat. "Damn Lucy, why didn't you tell me about this before? Could you imagine Droopy eyes' face if I rocked up to school in a set of wheels like this driven by Alfred!"

"Alfred…" Caprico muttered angrily under his breath, Natsu missing it but Lucy not.

"Well… I was worried that people would treat me differently if they knew about.. well, all this. I'm really glad to-"

"So is your dad a mob boss?" Natsu blurted out, interrupting Lucy.

"What?"

"Well is he?"

"No, why would you… No!"

Natsu breathed out a big sigh of disappointment. "aww man, really? I was hoping he was…"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Anyway, like I was saying… I'm glad to see-"

"So why would people treat you differently?" Natsu interrupted again.

Lucy gritted her teeth, a little annoyed by being interrupted again. "Well, I thought some people might hate me for being so well off. And others would.. well… pretend to like me for my family's money…"

Natsu snorted. "That's dumb. Not even Droopy eyes or Gajeel are that stupid."

"Natsu, I need you to promise me something."

"Sure, what?"

"You can't tell anyone else about this. Not Erza, not…. Gray…."

Natsu blinked. "You OK Lucy?"

Lucy shook her head, reassuring Natsu but not Caprico. "You can't tell anyone about this. Please."

Natsu stared at the back of her seat before exhaling slowly. "Sure, I guess. If it's that important to you."

Lucy smiled relievedly, glancing back at Natsu. "Thank you."

######

"Alright, what's up with you?"

Lyon, washing dishes, glanced back at the table where Ultear was looking expectantly at Gray, who was slumped forwards in his chair, his head buried in his crossed arms resting on the table. When he didn't say anything, Ultear reached forwards and forcefully poked the top of his head.

"What….?" he groaned, his voice muffled by his arms.

"You're acting weird. You've barely said a word all evening. Something's wrong, so just tell your brilliant big sister what's wrong so that she can fix it like she always does."

Leon snorted. "Yeah, brilliant…"

Ultear shot him a warning glare before turning back to Gray, who was still in the same position. "Well?"

"Something happened with that Lucy girl I assume…" Lyon said as he picked up another dirty plate. Ultear's head snapped in his direction.

"You knew that all the time but you didn't say anything? And wait…" She turned back to Gray. "Since when were you with that new girl? And wait…" Ultear turned back to Lyon, who was amused greatly by her reaction. "How the hell do you know about this anyway?"

"Gray told me last night. I'm way easier to talk to than you after all…"

A vein popped on Ultear's head. She turned angrily on Gray, who was still stuck in the same position. "How could you not tell me about your new girlfriend. I swear no one tells me anything…"

"She's not my girlfriend…" Gray mumbled. "It's… complicated."

"Of course it is. Everyone's relationship is…" Ultear grumbled, Jellal and Erza immediately coming to mind. "You know, if everyone just let me run their relationships, everything would work out so perfectly!"

"Yeah, because you have such a successful relationship yourself, right?" Lyon smirked, his back to a now glaring Ultear.

"Hey, If I wanted to, I could get any guy I want."

"Of course you could," Lyon replied sarcastically. Ultear was about to retort, before turning back to Gray, deciding her other brother wasn't worth it.

"Anyway… What's this about you and that Lucy girl?"

Gray sighed, at last slightly lifting his head out of his arms, so his eyes at least were visible. "Lucy saw me and Erza hugging and thought we were together or something."

Ultear narrowed her eyes. "Were you?"

"What? No!"

"Good, because she's Jellal's… hopefully. Some day. Maybe. Anyway, that's not important now. What we need to do is figure out how to fix this issue between you and your girlfriend."

"I told you, she's not my girlfriend. We haven't even been on a date yet. We were meant to, but she hates me now…"

Ultear snorted. "Stop acting like you just got told you have a week to live. This really isn't a big deal. All you have to do is explain to her what happened. If she's reasonable, she'll realise this was all a mistake. If she isn't, well she's not worth it anyway."

"It's not that easy…"

"Of course it is. Why don't you try it before telling me it doesn't work."

"But how do I even approach her tomorrow? She didn't even want to look at me before!"

"Easy. You go up to her and say 'Hey Lucy, I want to talk to you.' And then you talk. See? Easy."

"Ugh…"

"Don't 'ugh' me, young man. Now come on, let's rehearse what you're going to say tomorrow…"

######

"Woah… This is so awesome!"

Both Lucy and Caprico nervously watched as Natsu leapt out of the back of Caprico's car and began bouncing about Lucy's front garden. Lucy was about to follow when Caprico spoke.

"Miss Lucy… are you sure this is a good idea?

"Absolutely… wait, dad's not home, right?"

"Right…"

"Absolutely then."

"Miss Lucy, I-"

"LUCY!" Natsu yelled, now running back towards the car. He forcefully swung the back door open, once again missing how Caprico winced at this abuse of his property. "This place is huge! Your garden's as big as like a billion soccer pitches!"

"Well, not that many…"

Just then, the front door opened and out came a confused looking Virgo. "It's so loud out here," she stated in her usual monotone. "Is the Princess home Caprico?"

Natsu nudged Lucy. "Woah, you have a maid too!"

Virgo blinked, only just now noticing Natsu. "Oh, who is this? An intruder?" She asked casually.

Caprico rolled his eyes. "No. And if he was, is that really how you react to an intruder?"

"This is Natsu, a friend of mine," Lucy introduced.

"A pleasure to meet you" Virgo mechanically replied, giving a slight courtesy, before turning to Lucy. "I'm glad you're home princess. How was your day?"

"Uh… interesting. And yours?"

"It was good thank you princess. Though is it perhaps time for punishment now?"

Lucy sighed. "No Virgo…"

Natsu gulped. "Woah Lucy, I didn't know that you were into that kind of stuff…"

Lucy glared at him. "Of course I'm not! It's just this weird thing Virgo does…"

"You don't have to worry about it, I won't tell anyone…"

Lucy blushed bright red. "There's nothing to tell! I told you, I have nothing to do with that stuff."

"If you say so…"

"Yeah, I do!"

Virgo blinked. "I appear to have embarrassed you in front of your friend Princess. It would seem that some sort of punishment is necessary."

Lucy glared at her. "You stay out of this!"

Caprico, who was the only one still in the car at this point, watched as Natsu and Lucy continued to bicker, with Virgo occasionally making a comment that both annoyed Lucy and amused Natsu at the same time. The butler looked between Natsu and Virgo before sighing. "Why is everyone Miss Lucy befriends so… abnormal….?"

######

"Your dining room is SO HUGE! You could fit like our whole class in there!"

"Natsu…"

"And your bathroom is amazing! The tub is like a swimming pool!"

"Natsu!"

"And you have like a billion bedrooms too! Do you sleep in a different one every night or something?"

"NATSU!"

Natsu, still gushing over how amazing Lucy's house was, stopped walking and glanced back at Lucy. After taking Natsu to her house last night, the pink haired teen had stayed for a couple of hours before Caprico, against his wishes, drove him home. What Lucy hadn't then been expecting was at 7am the next morning to see Natsu outside her house's gates, repeatedly ringing the doorbell, driving both her and Caprico mad. After breakfast, Caprico drove the two teens to Lucy's usual drop-off spot from which they were currently walking to school.

Natsu, confused about why Lucy seemed annoyed, scratched his head. "What?"

"You need to stop talking about my house. This is our secret, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

"Of course you did…" Lucy grumbled, walking past her still stationary male friend.

"Hey! Lucy!"

Lucy's heart sank at the sound of the familiar voice. She didn't have to turn around to know that it was Gray. "I uh… I have to go."

Natsu blinked. "Right now? But droopy eyes is coming."

"You can walk with him. I really need to go now."

"But Lucy…"

That was as far as he got before Lucy hurried away. Gray, seeing this, increased his speed, but was too far behind to catch up to Lucy. He sighed, stopping next to Natsu, who was watching Lucy's retreating figure. "Huh. What's up with her?"

######

Lucy glanced behind her, making sure for the hundredth time that Gray wasn't still following her. The rational part of her knew that she couldn't just avoid him forever, but Lucy wasn't really thinking beyond that morning, let alone the rest of the day or week.

Because she wasn't facing the way she was moving, Lucy didn't notice someone standing in front of her. Lucy would have charged right into him if he hadn't held his hands up to lightly grip her shoulders and stop her. Lucy blinked, and turned to face a familiar face. "Loke!"

Loke smirked cheerfully. "Morning. You know, I've been in the same situation so many times with…displeased…. girls, so I can tell when someone's trying to get away from someone."

Lucy's eyes dropped to the ground. "It's… uh… nothing."

Loke's expression hardened. "I see. You're upset. Who's hurt you?"

"it's nothing, really. I'm just kind of in a hurry because I need to see a teacher before school, that's all."

"But you were checking behind you."

Lucy, only just registering that Loke was still holding her, shuffled out of his light hold. "It's nothing, really. You don't need to worry about it."

With that Lucy walked past Loke, who kept watching her. "I am worried."

Lucy sighed. "Why?"

"Because you're not smiling."

Lucy blinked and turned around, confused. "Huh?"

Loke stared her straight in the eyes, his expression deadly serious. "When you smile, you shine. I won't forgive anyone who takes that beautiful smile away."

Lucy gulped, her cheeks heating up. She quickly turned around, not wanting Loke to see. "That's so corny. Do you use that on all the girls?"

The blonde didn't bother waiting for an answer, hurrying away. When she was out of sight, Loke smirked. "Nope. Just you."

######

"You and I need to talk. Now."

Lucy stared coldly at Gray, who was standing in front of her desk. "Class is about to start."

"Lucy, this is ridiculous, you can't just-"

Just then the door to the classroom opened and Miss Porlylusica entered. She instantly caught sight of Gray, the only student not sitting down in their place. She didn't need to say anything, the glare she gave Gray saying it all. The dark haired teen sighed and took his seat on the desk behind Lucy. He glanced at the empty seat next to him, Natsu nowhere to be seen at the start of the lesson as usual.

Miss Porlylusica sat down at her desk and opened her teaching diary. Her eyes lit up when she noticed what day it was. "Ah. Presentation day. Wonderful. Now who to go first…."

Both Gray and Lucy gulped. With everything that had happened over the last day, they had completely forgotten about their project which they were meant to finish last night. Unfortunately for them, Miss Porlylusica noticed this. "Gray and Lucy. You two will be first."

Gray sighed, reluctantly getting to his feet. Lucy on the other hand, stayed put, weakly raising her hand. "Uh… Miss? Me and Gray weren't-"

Gray nudged her on his way to the front of the classroom. Lucy stared expectantly and he mouthed "We'll improvise". Lucy, not liking that idea, sighed, but deciding that a mediocre project was better than no project at all, also got up and joined Gray at the front of the classroom.

######

Natsu smirked and prodded Gray. "Well?"

"Well what?"

Natsu jerked his thumb at a smug looking Elfman. "We didn't just finish our project, we beat you and Lucy!"

It was lunchtime and Gray was sitting down in the cafeteria with Natsu and Elfman. He had been peacefully alone before the two louder teens approached him a few minutes ago, glad that they finally had the chance to gloat. As you would expect, Gray's and Lucy's project was mediocre and was generously awarded a C. Natsu, when he did finally arrive, and Elfman on the other hand were amazing, and were given an A by a shellshocked Miss Porlylusica. Gray suspected the two had gotten someone else to do it for them, but was too preoccupied with Lucy to bother with arguing about it.

"Whatever. I'll pay you later."

Natsu stared at Gray. "What's with you? It's no fun beating you if ain't gonna get annoyed!"

"It's nothing. Have either of you two seen Lucy? I've been waiting here all lunch but she hasn't turned up."

"What, you two having a date or something?" Natsu asked.

"No, I just need to… wait, how did you know about me and Lucy?"

"Mira told me. Although considering you guys are meant to be a couple or something like that, you really don't seem to spend much time with her. I mean, she was all alone yesterday when I met her after school."

Gray's eyes widened. "You met her after school? What happened? Was she OK? Did she mention me?"

Natsu blinked. "What're you getting all worked up for? She was fine, we just hung out like usual."

Gray didn't reply, instead standing up and walking out of the room, leaving his two confused friends behind.

######

Lucy sighed, turning the page of her book, trying hard to ignore the sound of her stomach growling. She was hungry, no doubt about it, but she couldn't risk running into Gray in the cafeteria. So she was currently hiding outside around the back of the school, Laxus' usual hang out spot. Luckily, it seemed like he was only there before and after school, and so Lucy was able to get the peace and quiet she wanted.

"You know, you really shouldn't keep things bottled up inside of you. You'll feel much better if you talk about it to someone."

Lucy was half glad and half annoyed to hear the familiar voice approaching her. "Loke, please… I really want to be alone right now."

Loke smirked, sitting down on the ground next to Lucy. "That's not true… You just don't want to be with Natsu… right?"

Lucy frowned. "Natsu? What?"

Loke's eyes lit up slightly. "Ah, so it's not Natsu! So then… Gajeel maybe?"

"No, not Gajeel either. Stop trying to guess why I'm upset."

"So someone is making you upset! Alright, so it's not Natsu or Gajeel… maybe…. Gray?"

Lucy didn't respond, instead letting her eyes drop to the floor. Loke's expression hardened. "So Gray. What did he do to you?"

"Nothing."

"Lucy…"

"Nothing."

"Alright. Well, if you want to talk about it, I'll be right here."

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. "Sure."

She then waited for Loke to stand up and leave her alone, but he just remained there. "Uh… Loke?"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

Loke blinked, confused. "I'm staying here… Don't worry, I won't say anything, you can read in peace."

"You're just gonna sit there?"

Loke smiled. "Yeah. I said I'd be here if you wanted to talk, didn't I? Besides, I can't just leave you alone out here."

"Loke…"

Loke lightly rested his hand on Lucy's arm. "I'm always here for you Lucy. I know you have a lot of preconceptions about me, and maybe they were right. But I've never met someone who makes me feel the way you do. I don't know what's happened between you and Gray, but I do know that I want to be the one with you. More than anything."

When Lucy didn't say anything, Loke leaned in towards the blonde's face.

"So I'm the cheat, huh?"

Loke stopped and turned around, the new arrival's voice stopping him in his tracks. It was Gray. However angry he had sounded, there was only one emotion clear on his face. Betrayal.

"Gray…" Lucy gasped. Said boy shook his head and turned around.

"You're the worst."

With that he stormed off, leaving a shocked Lucy and Loke behind, It taking Lucy a couple of seconds to come to her senses. When she did, she reached for her book and scrambled to her feet, immediately heading after Gray, leaving now just Loke behind. The teen stared at Lucy's retreating figure before slumping against the wall and cursing quietly.

"So close…"

So now it's Gray's turn to be upset. Will he and Lucy be able to fix things, or will Loke finally get his chance? And where is Natsu in all of this?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story!