Summary: Set right after episode twenty. Lucy isn't talking to Natsu and its driving him mad.

Pairings: Natsu/Lucy, Natsu/Happy/Lucy friendship, implied Natsu/Lisanna friendship, implied Lucy/Mira friendship, implied Gray/Mira friendship, implied Gray/Lucy friendship, Gray/Natsu friendship, and some implied Lucy/Levy friendship.

YouTube Prompt: A Fairy Tail tribute to 'See Who I Am' by Within Temptation.

It started right after Natsu sorted things out with Happy, they were all cheerful, joking, and laughing, and then Lucy suddenly stood up abruptly. "Right," she dusted off her skirt, "I'm going home. It's getting late now and I still have so much to do."

"Awwww!" Natsu pouted. "Come on Lucy, don't be a spoilsport."

"I will see you tomorrow," Lucy said as if Natsu hadn't spoken, "It was nice fishing with you Happy," she petted Happy briefly and grinned down at the blue cat who returned the smile. "Goodnight."

"Night Lushy!" Happy mumbled.

And then Lucy began to walk away. She didn't even look in Natsu's direction, let alone say goodnight to him! "Oi!" he yelled after her. "Where's my goodnight?"

Lucy froze for a moment, and turned round. Natsu stiffened as he was suddenly hit with the iciest, coldest, and most frigid, look he had ever been given. It made Gray's ice make magic seem like a tropical breeze.

He shuddered.

Lucy turned back and continued on as nothing happened.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Natsu bellowed once he was able to collect himself. "Why is Lucy being so weird?!"

"No idea," Happy shrugged, he then suddenly eyed Natsu suspiciously. "You didn't say anything mean to Lucy after I left did you?"

"What?!" Natsu squeaked. "No! I would never….erm," Natsu scrunched his face up as he tried to remember anything other than yelling at Happy and then storming off to sulk, "I…..might of done?"

Happy face palmed. "Natsu!" he cried out in exasperation. "You're such an idiot sometimes."

"I am not!"

"You are too! And a big meanie on top of that!" Happy waved his fish frustrated. "Lucy is probably waiting for you to apologise."

"WHAT FOR?!" Natsu bellowed irritably. "I haven't done anything!"

"Well obviously you did," Happy pointed out, "and you better fix it before Lucy decided to replace us with a nicer partner that doesn't insult her."

Natsu scowled at the floor. How is it when he fixes one friendship, another breaks without him noticing? It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo unfair! What was he going to do now?!

Natsu tugged at his hair and let out a scream of frustration.

Fuck, someone up there is definitely laughing at him.

He bets it's Gray.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

It had been days since Lucy stopped talking to Natsu and it was beginning to drive him insane (and, according to everyone else, he was beginning to drive the whole guild insane with his constant pacing and screaming). Nothing he did would make her smile and talk to him, not his fire juggling, or his fire art, or his belly dance, or any of his jokes practical or normal ones, nothing.

She would just give him that icy look and turn away.

"WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" he wailed despairingly as the one last attempt of offering to go on a Lucy-job (boring, no chance of fighting, but lots and lots of rent money) had failed epically and Lucy had taken the job out of his hand and started to talk to Gray about going. "Nothing I do makes her pay attention to me."

"Here's what you should do, Natsu," Mira said sweetly, and Natsu instantly perked up. Mira would know what to do, Mira was clever like that, "You grab Lucy by the shoulders."

"Uh-huh," Natsu nodded excitedly.

"You sweep her off her feet."

"Yes?"

"And then you ki-"

"- Apologise," Gray interrupted. For some reason Mira deflated in disappointment and Gray shot her an irritated look. "Lucy will take you back in a heartbeat if you just apologise."

"How do you know?" Natsu glared at Gray suspiciously.

"Because she told me, duh!" Gray rolled his eyes. "Jeeze you're such an idiot."

"Why would she tell you?!"

"I'm her friend too, you know," Gray said, "she needed someone to talk to and apparently I have good shoulders to cry on."

"She cried?!" Natsu said alarmed. "And why are naked shoulders good to cry on?!"

"Crap! Not again!" Gray searched desperately for his clothes but as none could be found in the guild building (apart from a mouldy sock hidden in a corner behind a table that looked like it had been there for months), it was concluded as a lost cause, and Gray slumped at the bar, in only his boxers, by Natsu. "Look, she half gets it because Mira already told her."

"Wait, what?"

"About Lisanna."

"What has Lisanna got to do with this?!"

"I don't know!" Gray snapped, "Only you would know what insanity goes on in your head."

"I don't know anything!" Natsu wailed. "I just know that Lucy is angry for me for some reason and I don't know why."

"Natsu," Gray said exasperated, "do you even remember what you did to Lucy?"

"Erm….."

"Unbelievable," Gray muttered, "you told her to shut her mouth. Really nastily too, by the sounds of it even the bad guys have spoken to Lucy in kinder tones than you have."

"WHAT?!" Natsu yelled. "I wouldn't do that! Why would I do that? I like Lucy talking, she tells great stories, and says the weirdest things, and-and-and fuck!" Natsu suddenly froze as a memory crashed over him. Natsu, you'll never get a girlfriend if you keep acting like that, she had said teasingly, the light cheerfulness that she always had when she wasn't annoyed with him breaking into her apartment. And he….he replied in the coldest, rudest, tone; You shut your mouth, and then he walked away, leaving her hurt and alone as he sulked about Lisanna….Natsu grabbed his hair and tugged it hard as he screamed in frustration. Again. At this rate Lucy was going to make him lose all of his hair. "Is this why she isn't talking to me?!"

"Unless you have done something else to her in the last few days," Gray said, "but seeing as she hasn't been anywhere near you in the last few days I can't see that being poss – oh who the hell am I kidding? You would somehow find a way to piss her off even when she's not talking to you!"

"What the hell does that mean?!" Natsu exploded.

"That you're annoying as hell!" Gray snapped. "Christ, Natsu. You're pain and I can't stand you but even I know you're not mean, why did you treat Lucy like that?"

"What she had said," Natsu mumbled, "it was something Lisanna had said to me."

"Ah," Gray's eyes widened in realisation and he softened completely. He put a rare but comforting hand on Natsu's shoulder. "I get it. Trust me, I get it," Gray said, "but you cannot treat a person so cruelly just because you're grieving."

(Years down the line Gray will regret ever saying this to Natsu when he lets his own grieve get in the way of being nice to Juvia. Natsu will point this hypocrisy out by dancing around Gray and singing 'Gray is a hypocrite, Gray is a hypocrite' over and over again until Gray snaps and punches him. Thus starting the eighteenth brawl of that week.)

"What do I do?!" Natsu wailed. "I hate not talking to Lucy. There's this great big hole of nothing and I don't know what to do to fill it."

"God, it's simple enough, you moron," Gray rolled his eyes, "you apologise."

"And you think she will forgive me?" Natsu asked eagerly.

"Against her better judgement," Gray muttered, "but yeah, of course she will. You're her friend."

Lucy had been across the guild building during this entire conversation as she was caught up in a conversation with Levy (probably over something boring as books, Natsu had no patience for that unless it was one of Lucy's stories, and even then he preferred to have it read to him than do all the hard work), it seemed that conversation was at an end as the two girls hugged tightly and Levy was dragged off by Jet and Droy. Lucy, herself, looked like she was about to leave as well when Natsu chose to tackle her.

"NATSU!"

"LUCY I'M SORRY!" Natsu bellowed into her knees as he held onto her legs. "I'm sorry I had been so mean! And rude! I didn't mean to be! I don't want you to shut your mouth. I like your mouth!"

"Natsu!" Lucy flushed bright pink. "Don't say things like that. People will get the wrong idea!"

"What the hell does that mean, you weirdo?" Natsu frowned. "I mean!" he corrected himself hurriedly. "I'm sorry! Really sorry! I miss you, can we be friends again?"

Lucy smiled down at him softly and he jumped slightly when she patted him on the head. "We never stopped being friends," she said kindly, "and of course I forgive you. I understand why you were so mean, Mira explained it."

"Then why weren't you talking to me?!"

"Natsu," Lucy rolled her eyes exasperated, "just because I understand doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you straight away without an apology. I'm not a walking doormat."

"Of course not, Lushy," Happy said appearing out of nowhere, "you're too squishy to be a doormat."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?!"

"AHHHH!" Happy screamed. "Lucy is going to eat me!"

Natsu couldn't help but laugh as Lucy tried to chase Happy round the guild for his comment on her weight. "Come on, Luce," he tugged at her arm, "let's go on a job together."

Lucy flushed happily at that. "Okay," she smiled, "I need rent money."

"You always need rent money."

After a lot of bickering, with Happy giving his input, they finally picked a job, and walked out happily to have another adventure, just the three of them.