Lucy was late to lunch. She'd lagged behind after class to ask the teacher a question about a tough algebra question, then gone to her locker to stash her heavy books away for the break. This caused her to enter the cafeteria exactly seven minutes later than her usual entrance.

Normally, she'd walk in, find the boys—they always sat at the same table; now, they saved her a seat as well—plop down, chat and munch on whatever grub she'd packed for herself.

This time, when she entered the cafeteria, she was absolutely puzzled by what she saw before her. Rather than the normal group of four sitting at the table awaiting her arrival, there were only three. Lucy stopped in her tracks, frowning at the sight. No head of spiky pink hair sat with Gray, Gajeel and Laxus.

Well, that's weird.

Lucy shrugged it off, figuring he was just as late as she was. She stepped up to the table, giving everyone a greeting, and then let her curiosity get the best of her.

"Where's Natsu?"

Immediately, Gajeel and Laxus dropped their eyes to their food, looking at it with intensity, as if they didn't really wanna answer her question. Gray glared at the table, nose wrinkling in disgust and annoyance just at the sound of Natsu's name.

"Over there," Gray said, although the words spat out rather harshly. He nodded his head towards the far back corner of the cafeteria.

Lucy's eyes trailed over to the back wall, widening once she realized Natsu was sitting back there, stuffing his face all on his lonesome. Her frown deepened. "He's not sitting with you?"

Gray scoffed. "Nah."

She blinked, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Did you guys get in a fight, or something?"

Gray forced a tight smile at Lucy. "Let's just say I don't really feel like being his friend right now."

"Yikes." Lucy murmured, eyes worryingly flickering up to the lonely boy in the corner.

Now, if Lucy had been exactly on time like she normally was, she most likely would have overheard the small exchange between the two boys that had led to something as drastic and dramatic as sitting on opposite sides of the cafeteria. But, she'd been late, and she'd missed everything, and no one seemed like they were about to explain it to her.

So, she let it go, didn't ask any further.

"I'm gonna go eat with Natsu."

The three boys' faces flashed up to hers. Gray looked astounded. "You're picking him over us?"

Lucy made a face. Clearly, they had gotten in a pretty big argument. "He's all alone, and you guys have each other. I'm not picking favorites."

She didn't mention that if she were picking favorites, she'd still pick Natsu every single time.

Gray turned his glare back onto his hamburger. "Fine, fine." He let out a sigh. "I'll see you after class, right?"

Lucy blinked. "Did we have plans?"

"You said you'd pitch to me so I could practice my batting, remember?"

"Oh," Lucy nodded, but her stomach dropped. She'd kind of been looking forward to hanging out with Natsu after school. She kept her tone bright so that Gray didn't notice how disappointed she was. "Right. Yeah, I'll meet you at the front doors, okay? Then we can walk to the diamond together."

She'd promised Gray she'd help him earlier that morning, in first block, but had totally forgotten about it. Thoughts of watching a movie with Natsu or doing anything with Natsu, really, had clogged her mind. Now, she kind of resented that she'd even offered Gray her help—any time without Natsu seemed sort of like a waste of time.

Because he was her best friend, and not because he was super nice and super cute and made her heart hammer in her chest. She had to repeat that sentence in her mind a couple times before she could even pretend to believe it.

"Sounds good," Gray responded, although his tone was still bitter. Probably still mad about whatever he and Natsu had argued about.

Giving a wave, Lucy headed off to the far end of the cafeteria; she plopped down beside Natsu tugging the salad she'd prepared the night before out of her bag and placing it in front of her. "What the hell are you and Gray fighting about?"

Natsu's expression was pure fury. "Don't wanna talk about it."

"Aw, come on! No one tells me anything."

Natsu took a bite of his burger—it was the daily special in the cafeteria—and gave Lucy a look. Instantly, fear ran down her spine; he looked absolutely livid, like he was made of pure fire. Her eyes widened at his expression, realizing just how mad he really was.

Natsu didn't ever really get mad, so to see him in this state was rather terrifying.

Lucy pulled the top off of her container, grabbing her fork and poking around at her salad. Green, healthy, bland. She sighed and took a bite of lettuce. Unsatisfying, especially with Natsu stuffing down two burgers right in front of her face. "Yeesh." She huffed out a breath at his dark look. "Must be pretty serious."

"I want to kill him."

"I'm guessing Gajeel and Laxus took his side, then, considering they're over there and we're over here?"

His cheeks were full, but she could tell he was still violently raging. "I wanna kill them, too."

Lucy took another bite of salad, nearly drooling as she watched Natsu dig into his second burger that he'd set aside. "So, what'd he do?"

Natsu's eyebrows tugged down as he chewed. "Something unforgivable."

"Listen, I'm gonna need you to be a bit more explicit. How am I supposed to take your side if I don't know what's going on?"

"Just trust me."

Lucy sighed. Looks like she wasn't going to find out what really went down. "Please tell me that you'll be friends again by the time school is over?"

Natsu made a face. "Why?"

"Because I told Gray that I'd help him practice at the diamond, and I was kinda hoping you'd come, and—"

Natsu's eyes widened slightly, and his voice was completely serious. "Don't go."

"What?"

"You heard me—don't go."

Lucy's shoulders dropped and she looked at him, head cocking to the side slightly. "Does that mean you'll still be fighting and you won't come?"

"I'm not going anywhere near that asshole," Natsu spat gruffly. He hesitated for a second, holding his burger close to his lips; his eyes were locked with hers. "Please don't go, Luce."

"Natsu," Lucy whined. "I'm not picking favorites, I just promised him, and—"

He shook his head. "It's not that. I don't think you're picking favorites. Just…please, can you just do me a favor and not go with him tonight and just not ask me a single question as to why I am asking you this?"

Lucy frowned at him, brown eyes searching his face. There was no sense of humor emitted into expression, not even a hint to his usual smirk—he was dead serious. Painfully serious. And his eyes were wide and his lips pulled down in the corners, just like they always did when he was upset. His body was tense with anger and his eyes were bloodshot and he looked drained.

He looked awful, like he might just try to kill someone or maybe even cry, so she couldn't help but do as he'd asked.

"Okay," Lucy said, breaking the silence after a few long moments. "Okay, fine. I'll say something else came up. Sound good?"

Relief flooded him, and Lucy could see him visibly relax. "Yes. Perfect. Thanks, Luce."

"I still don't get it, though."

"You said you wouldn't ask any questions, Luce."

"Ah," She hissed. "Damn it."

Natsu's lips spread into a little grin—nothing like his normal beaming smile, but a hint of his regular self—but for only a split second. Immediately after that glimpse of happiness arrived, it was halted, stopped in its tracks and replaced with a frown.

He was eyeing her, his gaze flickering down at her blank expression and her salad. Natsu sighed, then handed her his burger. There was a little over half of it left. "You're lucky I love you."

Lucy's eyes widened, glancing at her best friend and then down at the burger in his hands, which he was now holding out to her. "What? Natsu, I don't need it. It's yours."

"Luce—your eating a salad. Take it." He pushed it towards her even more.

Lucy's brown eyes dropped down to her salad, then looked back up to the burger. The burger was greasy, slathered in barbecue sauce, topped with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a slice of cheese. She was practically drooling on it. "I like salad."

"Really? 'Cause you look like you're about to cry eating it."

She paused, realizing just how warped her expression was, filled with disgust stemming from her leafy lunch. It was weird—she'd eaten salads nearly every meal every day at the prep school. She'd been taught that it was the perfect meal (healthy, filling and beautiful) and every single student took part in eating magnificent salads throughout the day. The salad in front of her was beautiful, and had been her favorite type to eat when at the prep school. But right now, it just seemed…awful.

She shoved the salad to the side and wrapped her hands around the thick, juicy burger. She gave Natsu an excited grin and then sunk her teeth into the beef, pleasure running through her body.

"Jesus, when's the last time you ate a burger?" Natsu said, watching the girl scarf down the food.

Lucy shrugged. When she spoke, her voice was barely audible due to her mouth being absolutely stuffed with the burger. "I dunno—last time you bought me one."

"That was before you left! You didn't eat a burger at your fancy ass school?"

Lucy shook her head. "No junk food. They had specific diets for everyone. Counted calories, controlled portion sizes." She shrugged as if it were normal. "Lots of salad."

Natsu made a face. "Sounds like hell."

Lucy would've responded, but she was far too busy stuffing her face. She finished the burger in record time—Natsu was impressed—and leaned back, totally satisfied.

Natsu smirked at her. "You've got barbecue sauce on your cheek."

Lucy wiped her right cheek, frowning. "Did I get it?"

He laughed. "No—let me." He leaned across the table, swiping his thumb across her cheek; he scooped up the drop of sauce. And then he stuck his thumb in his mouth and sucked it off, giving her a sly grin afterwards.

Was it bad that he'd just turned her on? The thought made her face go red, and then she proceeded chastising herself silently for the next couple seconds.

Before another thought could ripple through her mind, Lucy leaned back and let out a loud belch. People at the next table over gave her a disgusted glance; they whispered under their breath about how gross that was. Natsu laughed, impressed; Lucy gave him a sheepish smile in response.

By the end of lunch, Lucy had completely taken Natsu's mind off of his beef with Gray; instead, they spent their time laughing and joking around about random things. They had a burping contest—Lucy had forgotten how good she was at burping—and argued about who the real winner was.

But then, the bell rang, and they had to head off to different directions. Lucy gave a wave before dashing to her locker to grab her things.

When she saw Gray, she came up with some lame excuse as to why she could no longer help him with baseball that evening.

Gray frowned. "Did Dragneel ask you to stay away from me?"

"No," Lucy lied. "I just remembered I was supposed to help my dad this evening, and I really don't want to back out of it. Can we do it another day, maybe?"

He narrowed his eyes, but sighed. "Yeah, sure. Just tell me whenever your free."

"Sounds good!" She hollered over her shoulder as she ran off to class, thanking the lord that Gray had believed her terrible lie.

The day flew by; once the dismissal bell rang, Lucy grabbed her things from her locker and met Natsu down by the front doors, like she always did.

Again, it was glaringly clear that Natsu was waiting at one end of the doors, while Gray, Laxus and Gajeel waited for their buses to come directly opposite of him. Lucy gave Natsu a smile, and they started their trek home; she gave the other boys a little wave, and they'd waved back.

Gray flashed Natsu a severe glare; Natsu returned the gesture.

Lucy and Natsu went back to Lucy's house and pigged out. When Lucy's dad questioned Natsu as to why he was always emptying out their fridge, Natsu had shrugged, saying that the Heartfilia's stocked their fridge with better stuff. Jude had laughed, and Lucy had grinned.

Then, they'd gone over to Natsu's house and played video games. Lucy was rusty—quite a while had gone by without practice—and it took her a while to get back into the groove. But, when she figured it out, they were competing yet again, just like they used to when they were kids.

Around seven o'clock, Lucy had sighed, saying that she felt greasy and needed a shower.

"You look greasy," Natsu had joked. "You're icky."

She'd smacked him, and then hauled herself to a standing position. He asked her to come back after she was done showering, and she'd agreed—they were going to watch a movie and then crash at Natsu's place. She took off, excited by the idea of wiping the grime from school off of her body.

Lucy had showered, and then gone into her bedroom to get a change of clothes, careful about not dropping to her underwear this time.

Realizing that it was laundry day and all of her pajamas were filthy, she dug through the back of her closet, desperate to find some sort of sleepwear she could dress in. If she were staying at her own house, she probably would've just slept in her bra and panties, but since she was crashing at Natsu's, she refused to even entertain the possibility.

So, she dug in the back of her closet and came across a better option.

Her old sweatpants.

Lucy tugged them on without hesitation, pulled on an old sweatshirt she'd found stuffed into the back of her closet. She looked at herself in the mirror, frowning.

It was like time had gone backwards, like she'd never gone to prep school at all. Looking at this Lucy, it was hard to believe that she even owned a mini-skirt or knew the details of what made something a princess gown or an empress waistline.

And for some reason, she felt…happy. Comfortable. Like she'd missed the person looking back at her in the mirror.

So, Lucy pulled her hair back into a messy pony, and headed to her door, ready to have a great night with her best friend.

But when she pulled her bedroom door open, there was something in front of it.

Gray stood there, eyes wide, arm up, hand balled into a fist. He'd just been about to knock on her door.

"Gray!" Lucy gasped, surprised. Soon after, a strange nervousness sunk into the pit of her stomach. Natsu had asked her not to hang out with Gray tonight, yet here he was.

"Uh," Gray stammered, caught off guard. "Your dad let me in."

"Oh," Lucy said, forcing a smile. She knew Gray and Natsu were still fighting, and she was desperately hoping that Natsu couldn't see that Gray was currently in Lucy's house from the window. "Is everything okay?"

"Well." He hesitated. "Not really."

Lucy frowned, noticing how…strange Gray looked. He looked rather upset, like something was really bothering him, something more than the fight with Natsu. "What's wrong, Gray?"

Gray sighed. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Lucy said, blinking. She ushered the boy into her room, eyes immediately darting to her window. Natsu was nowhere in sight; she breathed a sigh of relief. "What's up?"

Lucy took a seat on the edge of her bed, and Gray sort of paced anxiously in front of her. "Lucy, I know this really isn't any of my business, but…do you like Natsu?"

Lucy froze; she felt her face get hot, and she hoped her cheeks hadn't gone red. "What?"

Gray turned, shoulders square with hers. His eyes were intense. "Do you like him? I mean, more than a friend?"

Her mouth fell open slightly; she blinked four times. "Uh…"

Well, did she? I mean, he was her best friend since the second she'd moved into the neighborhood when she was five years old and the only person she'd ever gotten truly close and comfortable with. He was the only person she'd told secrets to and he was the only person who knew exactly what she was thinking and he was the only person she'd ever allowed herself to cry in front of—like, really cry in front of.

Natsu was the guy she'd talked to until five in the morning and he was the boy she watched movies with until they fell asleep and he was the boy who always came over, took care of her when things were bad. And he'd hold her when she cried, and he'd buy her chocolate when she got her period and he was everything she'd ever needed.

He'd stolen her heart the second he'd knocked on her door. But he'd also been the boy to break her heart at the dance.

So, she'd loved him before, obviously. But were those feelings still there?

Natsu was cute and he was handsome and yes, she couldn't help but admire his attractiveness but did she like him? Did she have feelings for him?

Gray awaited an answer.

Lucy knew the answer. Of course she liked him. She loved him back then, and she loved him now—that's why it had hurt so much when he'd broken her heart.

And that's why she was so fucking determined to make Natsu find her attractive, to make Natsu ogle her body and make him see what he'd been missing out on all of those years. But he never noticed and that's why she was disappointed. Because she wanted him. Not just revenge, but him.

"I, uh…"

Gray shook his head, impatient. "Look—it's just, I need to know for myself. Because I want to ask you out, Lucy, and I want to take you on a date. And I would never want to intrude on something if you did like him. I wouldn't want to disrespect your feelings like that."

Lucy stared at him, in complete shock. Disrespect her feelings? This was coming from the kid that asked her to the dance in middle school and ditched her at the front doors. This was the kid that told her she was wearing an ugly dress, for god's sake!

People could change. Clearly. After all, how many times had Lucy changed? She'd been a tomboy, left for a year, and come back as a freakin' homecoming queen. And then what? She spent maybe, what, a couple weeks with Natsu, and here she was disregarding everything that had influenced her at prep school. She wasn't wearing makeup and her hair was in a ponytail and she was wearing sweatpants. People could change, and Lucy was leading the troops.

"You're asking me out?" Lucy stammered, not knowing what else to say.

She couldn't just tell him the truth. She couldn't. What was she supposed to say? No, I don't want to date you, Gray, because I've been in love with Natsu since I was five years old even though he doesn't think of me as a woman, let alone romantically? Of course not.

"Yes," Gray breathed, clearly nervous. He didn't meet her eyes. "I am."

"Oh," Lucy said back, still dealing with the shock running through her veins.

Gray looked up at her through his eyelashes, cheeks red and eyes wide and chest heaving slightly as he took shallow breaths. "And your answer?"

"Well," Lucy mumbled out, eyes darting to the ground and then to her hands and then to her window. Natsu wasn't there. She couldn't see him. God, she wished he was there. She wished he'd crash through the door and bail her out of this situation, save her. But he didn't, and time moved forward, and Gray wanted an answer. "I, um…"

Lucy looked at the boy before her. He was nice enough. Friendly. Funny. Cute, clearly—the girls at school went wild for his good looks. Why shouldn't she date him?

She already knew the answer. He wasn't Natsu.

But Natsu didn't show any interest and he saw her as a little brother. And that was the whole reason she'd left, right? Because she was sick of being the little brother? And now she'd come back and Gray was giving her the attention she'd always craved and he thought she was pretty and he complimented her outfits when she dressed up nicely. Gray was giving Lucy everything that she'd yearned for all these years. So, why not?

So, she took Levy's advice and she went for the guy that was showing interest.

"Sure, why not?" Lucy sputtered out, eyes flashing up the black haired boy's.

Gray was frozen in place and then his face lit up and he looked so happy he might explode. His cheeks went pink and he grinned—but then stopped, trying to contain himself and maintain his cool image. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "So…tomorrow, then? 8:00?"

Lucy nodded, hands clammy and stomach tight. "Sounds great."

If it sounded so great, why the hell did she feel so…heavy?

"I'll see you then." Gray gave her a smile and then left, letting himself out of the house.

Lucy sat there for a long time afterwards, frozen in place, feeling like she could puke.

She tried to convince herself she was doing the right thing. Gray showed interest, Natsu didn't. Gray thought she was pretty, Natsu thought she was his little brother. She was following Levy's advice, going after everything she'd always wanted.

Why did it feel so…wrong?

And then, after what felt like an hour in Lucy's mind but was in reality only 45 seconds, a voice came through the can dangling from her windowsill. Lucy's stomach jumped and she lurched towards it, holding the little can to her ear.

"Luce?"

Lucy flinched. Guilt hit her body like a freight train. "Natsu?" She whispered into the can.

He sounded…different. "Hey."

She still couldn't see him from the window—he must be down below, laying on the ground. He must have been there the whole time. That's why she couldn't see him before…

"How much of that did you hear?" Lucy asked, throat tight and aching.

There was a pause. "All of it." Natsu's voice was deep. Off. Wrong.

Lucy felt like crying. Everything felt wrong. She'd done the wrong thing—she'd betrayed her own feelings. And now, it felt like, for some reason, she'd betrayed the boy behind the window.

"I'm sorry," Lucy whispered. She wasn't sure why she said that. Was she supposed to be sorry? It's not like she owed Natsu anything. They weren't dating. They weren't even close. It wasn't like she'd actually betrayed him or cheated on him or anything like that. But why did it feel like she had?

His voice was quiet, but he was forcing himself to sound upbeat. He wasn't acting like himself at all. "Are you gonna come over, or am I gonna watch this movie by myself?"

Lucy could hear something wrong in his voice, like there was a twang of something hidden. "I'll be right over."

So, she went over. They watched the movie. They chatted. They fell asleep in Natsu's bed.

But it wasn't the same. Because Lucy spent the whole night at war with herself—because she was allowed to date Gray, but it felt so horribly wrong at the same time. And because Natsu wasn't himself. He was different. He was…sad. Quiet. Hidden beneath a mask he'd put on.

Lucy fell asleep first. He watched her for a bit, tucked her in, made sure she was warm and comfortable. And when she started to snore—that's how Natsu knew she was in a deep sleep—and he was sure she wouldn't wake up, he kissed her forehead and snuggled up to her, wrapped his arm over her side and tucking his chin on her shoulder, spooning her.

He hugged her tight, knowing that this was probably the last time this would ever happen. No more sleepovers, no more late night movies, no more ice cream and chocolate and staying up late talking.

Because she was going on a date with Gray. And that would turn into a relationship. And that would turn into Lucy and Gray, falling in love.

And there was no room in a relationship for the best friend.

Especially not when he was falling so fucking hard for her.