Natsu didn't understand why he was feeling like this. He couldn't even place what this feeling was. He just knew that it had to do with Lucy being with Gray. At first he didn't care that they were dating and then he started smelling Gray all over her apartment and then on her. The first night he smelled he found himself being pinned down by Erza while Lucy stared at him. Almost with a scared look on her face. When he looked at Gray he realized he had busted his nose and was bleeding every where. Wendy had to fix his broken nose and Erza gave Natsu a stern talking-to. That night Natsu had gone home early and even skipped a team mission the next day. He knew he was acting weird but couldn't understand what the hell was going on. It just seemed to be getting worse the more he saw Gray and Lucy together. He started clamming up every time Lucy came around and out right avoided Gray whenever he could. It had really been impacting Team Natsu but he just didn't know what to do. What was this feeling? He heard footsteps behind him as he marched out of the guild. What did iron breath want?

"Yo, Salamander," Natsu paused and turned to look at Gajeel, he was scratching the back of his head and almost looked nervous. He heard Levy walk up behind Gajeel to whisper something in his ear. Gajeel blushed and nodded. As she turned to walk away his eyes followed her and he sighed," look, I don't know how much your dragon told you about your nature but I think we need to have a talk about some things," Natsu had perked up. There were a lot of things that Igneel had only mentioned and Natsu was curious about some things. Natsu weighed Gajeels words. He sighted and nodded his head. Maybe Gajeel could help him with this whole Lucy thing while he was at it. Natsu resumed walking in the direction of his home and Gajeel followed. They walked in silence all the way there. They entered Natsu's house and Happy barely acknowledged the both of them, only grunting when Natsu said hello. They had recently got a lacrimavision and all happy wanted to do was watch it. Gajeel snickered at the blue cat.

"So, I know Igneel told me a lot of things but if I'm being honest I don't really remember a lot of it" Natsu said as he slouched on his couch. Gajeel looked around. The cottage was a nice little house but damn was it a mess. He walked to the chair next to the couch and turned it around and through his leg over the side, sitting in it backwards.

"Well what do you remember?" Gajeel asked. Natsu took a minute to respond.

"Honsetly, mostly just the stuff on how to fight and things not to eat to avoid getting sick," he rubbed the back of his neck," and maybe a few other things like that," Natsu looked Gajeel in the face," I don't get why we need to talk about that though. What did you mean when you said we needed to talk about my nature?" Gajeel dragged his hand down his face. He was not looking forward to this conversation but Levy had talked him into it. She was worried about him. Especially after hearing about him breaking Gray's nose.

"Okay, what do dragons like to do when they find treasure?" Gajeel was trying to figure out how to approach the subject.

"What?" Natsu looked so confused.

"For fucks sake," Gajeel took a deep breath," look I'm going to be real blunt here. You're pissed off lately because you've imprinted on bunny girl and you want to fuck her brains out," at this point Happy had started listening. His eyes bulged out of his head and he turned to Natsu. His reaction was much the same.

" Wha...imprint...what the hell…" Natsu stared at the floor trying to make sense of what Gajeel just said.

"We're more like dragons than people seem to realize. When we find someone and begin to love them we imprint on them. That means we never more attuned to them and we get really possessive. A lot like dragons do when they hoard treasure," he paused, making sure Natsu was listening," to put it in simpler terms, you're in love with bunny girl and you're pissed that snow flake beat you to her," satisfied with his explanation he let Natsu absorb the information. Natsu's brain was short circuiting. He was in love with Lucy? That wasn't possible. Was it? As the wheels in his brain turned he finally clicked all the pieces into place. He placed his hands over his face and started laughing. Happy and Gajeel stared at him like he'd gone mad.

" I think you broke him," Happy muttered.

"I'm an idiot," Natsu leaned forward in his seat and placed his elbows on his knees. He had a sad smile on his face," there ain't shit I can do about it now," he took a deep breath," is there?" He looked up at Gajeel. He shrugged.

" I don't know. I will say this though, don't torture yourself by avoiding her. You'll put yourself through hell and it could end up bad," he made eye contact," your inner dragon could come out and hurt her," Natsu gulped. Shit. Shit. Shit. How was he going to be able to deal with Lucy being with Gray. Now that he understood his feelings he placed the uneasy feeling of seeing them together as jealousy. Natsu was jealous. Gajeel stood up and stretched. Levy would be proud of him. Maybe she'll even reward him. He snickered to himself.

" Just be careful and try to control yourself. You're freaking everyone out," he made his way to the door and had it half way open," if you have any questions I guess you can just come find me or Levy. See ya Salamander."

It felt like Natsu sat on his couch thinking forever. Happy had gone back to his lacrimavision completely oblivious to Natsu's inner turmoil. Mavis, he felt like a dumbass. How had he not knowticed sooner? He vaguely recalled Igneel mentioning imprinting but couldn't remember what he said. Stupid.

"Happy, I'm going for a walk," the cat mumbled his response as Natsu walked out the door. He needed some fresh air. It was late. He let his thoughts wander. Trying to pinpoint the exact moment it happened. It seemed impossible. They had so many memories together. As he replayed them in his head he stopped. Somehow he subconsciously made his way to her apartment. He chuckled to himself and jumped into the tree next to her window. He peered in and took a big breath in through his nose. He didn't feel like dealing with the ice bastard tonight.

Deciding he wasn't there he opened the window to let himself in. Lucy was sleeping peacefully. He dropped himself in to sit by her bed, leaning his head on the mattress to look at her face. Yep he was an idiot. He closed his eyes and sighed. He wondered how she felt about him. Well obviously she seemed to be more interested in Gray. He gritted his teeth. Why'd it have to be snowflake? He thought about it and realized it would have been the same if it were anyone else too. Anyone but him. Fuck. He owned his eyes and looked at her again. She was so beautiful. Why hadn't he just seen it sooner? He took a deep breath and got up. He would love to crawl in bed with her but that just didn't feel right anymore. He reached out and brushed her hair away from her face. He smiled, that sad smile at her.

"I love you…" he muttered. It was a statement more than a confession.

With that last thought he disappeared out her window.