Summary: Inspired by an episode of Friends. Lucy and Gray fall in love with and fight over a cheesecake.

Pairings: Gray/Lucy friendship, Gray/Cheesecake/Lucy, implied Erza/Cake, implied Natsu/Happy friendship, and implied Natsu/Gray/Lucy friendship.

Author's Note: Thank you all for giving me ELEVEN THOUSAND AND SEVEN HUNDRED REVIEWS!

Lucy came home from a long, tiring, day with the full intention of having a nice bath and settling in bed with a good book. Instead though she was greeted with the sight of a naked Gray sitting at her kitchen table with a cheesecake.

The sight immediately caused her to jump in the air and let out a small shriek.

She really shouldn't be surprised at this point though.

Since when did any of her friends respect the sanctity of her apartment?

"Gray!" Lucy barked furiously as she clutched her chest to feel her heart hammering away fearfully. "What have I told you about being naked in my apartment? It's wrong to strip in someone else's home!" she scolded him. "Rude, even!"

"But I keep telling you Lucy!" Gray whined. "I didn't strip inside your apartment, I stripped outside of your apartment."

"THAT'S NOT AT ALL BETTER!" Lucy bellowed. "And what have I told you about breaking into my apartment?! What is wit- hey," she blinked as the sight of Gray, at her kitchen table, with a cheesecake actually sank in. "where did you get that cheesecake from?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, this?" Gray shrugged. "It was just sitting outside your landlady's front door."

"AND YOU TOOK IT?!" Lucy screeched. "ARE YOU AND THE OTHERS JUST DETERMINED TO MAKE ME HOMELESS?!"

"Of course not!" Gray protested. "I was hungry and your fridge was empty!"

Lucy could feel a vein popping in her forehead. What was with her guild and loose morals? It was like a motto or something! "That doesn't mean you can steal someone else's cheesecake!" she shrieked.

"She wasn't home and it was just sitting there!" Gray yelled back defensively. "It could have gotten spoilt if it stayed out there long enough. I was doing her a favour."

"Yeah," Lucy snorted derisively, "Sure."

"I was!" Gray insisted. "I didn't let her money go to waste and God!" he groaned almost orgasmically as he licked his lips. "Lucy you should try this cheesecake. The biscuit base alone is something to die for!"

"No way!" Lucy barked. "I'm not eating stolen goods!"

"Just one bite," Gray said persuasively, "one, little, weeny bite and you'll understand."

Lucy would have stayed strong. She would have refused. She would have kept the moral high ground…

….but her stomach rumbled in protest and her resolve crumbled pathetically as she hurried forwards and accepted the bite Gray was offering.

Her eyes fluttered to a close at the delicious taste of creamy cheesecake. "Oh!" she moaned blissfully. "Oh! That is heaven!"

"I know," Gray grinned, "how about another bit?"

Lucy hesitated for a moment and then suddenly snatched up a fork for herself. "Erza," she said firmly, "must never know about this."

God knows their temperamental, cake-loving, friend would go berserk at the thought of them stealing someone else's cake.

"Please," Gray drawled, "do I look like I was born yesterday? She'll never know."

And with that reassurance Lucy dived in and enjoyed the best cheesecake there ever was.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFFTFTFTFTFTF

It was supposed to be just a one-time thing. Just once. Never again. They had both agreed, swore on Fairy Tail's honour, in fact, that was the one and only time they shamelessly steal someone's cheesecake.

And yet, a few days later, Lucy came home to find Gray sitting in his underwear in her kitchen with another cheesecake exactly like the one they had devoured earlier that week.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lucy bellowed as she dropped her bag on the floor. "Gray! I can't believe you!"

"Wha…?"

Lucy wrinkled her nose as Gray spoke with his mouth full, splattering her pristine table with crumbs and revealing a disgusting amount of brown mush caught between his usually perfect teeth. Gray loved to point out how revolting Natsu was with his lack of manners and yet the hypocrite was no better whatsoever.

"I can't believe you," Lucy repeated as she crossed her arms, "first you break into my apartment in your underwear again," actually, that bit she can believe because since when did any of her friends respect the sanctity of her locked front door? "Then you stole my Landlady's cheesecake again despite promising that you would never do it again. You swore!" she cried out dramatically. "On Fairy Tail's honour."

"Purr-lease!" Gray snorted. "What honour? Our guild master is a drunken old man that likes to grab girl's bums when they least expect it."

"That's not the point!" Lucy glowered at him, "and what's more, I can't believe you started eating the cheesecake without me!"

Gray smirked as he wordlessly handed her a second fork before she settled down beside him and they devoured the entire cheesecake like animals.

Or, you know, Natsu at an all you can eat meat buffet.

"But," Lucy said between bites of pure heaven, "this is really the last time. We can't keep stealing my Landlady's cheesecake."

"Last time," Gray promised between moans of delight, "for real this time."

Their resolve, however, was immediately tested three days later when they – with Natsu and Happy – spotted the familiar pink pastry box sitting helplessly outside of Lucy's Landlady's front door.

"Oh my God!" Gray froze as he held Lucy back. "The cheesecake!" he hissed. "It's just sitting there. Again!"

"We mustn't!" Lucy hissed back as she clutched Gray's arm tightly to restrain herself just as much as him. "We swore! And Natsu is right there!"

They turned to look at Natsu who seemed oblivious to their inner turmoil as he and Happy debated what was the best fish.

"He wouldn't notice," Gray whispered temptingly, "it's Natsu. I could stuff it up my shirt and walk around with it and he still wouldn't notice."

"First," Lucy replied quickly and quietly as possible, "don't be so mean to Natsu. He isn't that oblivious." Gray snorted and Lucy shot him a glare. "He isn't!" she insisted. "Especially when it comes to mischief making. Secondly we can't steal another cheesecake again. I'm the only suspect. I'll lose my home! Thirdly it would ruin the cheesecake if you squashed it against your chest to hide it under your shirt. And finally, and I can't stress it enough, what shirt?! You're not wearing anything!"

"Oh Goddamnit!" Gray yelped. "When did that happen?!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Let's just walk away like sensible people and have our lunch," she said determinedly as she dragged Gray away from the cheesecake, "we're not thinking about the cheesecake. We don't want the cheesecake. In fact. We hate cheesecake."

"Hey," Natsu grinned brightly as he turned to face them, "what do you two want for lunch?"

"Cheesecake!" Lucy and Gray both yelled promptly.

They then turned to look at the pink box, clutched one another desperately, and then dashed off as quickly as possible leaving Natsu and Happy to stare after them in confusion.

"God," Natsu blinked bewilderedly, "what a pair of weirdoes."

"Aye Sir!"

(When they returned from their lunch, Gray and Lucy were simultaneously dismayed and ecstatic to find that Lucy's landlady had yet brought her cheesecake in and they once again stole the desert to share with one another…..but it was the last time! They actually mean it this time!)

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Lucy couldn't stop thinking about that heavenly cheesecake.

It was beginning to torment her, she would dream about, daydream about it, imagine it's deliciously perfectly basked base, the soft, heavenly, creamy, cheesecake topping, and begin to drool embarrassingly in public.

She wondered if that was how Erza felt about cake in general.

It would explain why she was so willing to behead Gray and Natsu when they destroyed her strawberry cake that one time.

So unable to do anything but think about cheesecake (and not just any cheesecake, the cheesecake!), Lucy caved into the expense of actually buying one and having it delivered to her front door.

She was just in the middle of finally enjoying it when Gray chose that exact moment to come in.

"Are you eating the cheesecake without me?!"

Lucy kept her lips tightly closed as she shook her head rapidly. "Uh-mmph!" she hummed through the delicious crumbly biscuit base and creamy piece of heaven that was currently in her mouth.

Gray shot her a disbelievingly glare. "I will pay your rent up front for this month if you whistle right now," he declared.

Instinctively – because Lucy always needed rent money – Lucy tried to whistle and sprayed out a load of biscuit crumbs out onto her table.

Gray threw his arms up in the air disparagingly. "How could you eat the cheesecake without me?!" he cried out. "You're in so much trouble!"

"Oh what are you going to do?" Lucy snapped back. "Are you going to tell Erza or Natsu? No, because then you would have to tell them what we did. We're dessert stealers!" she said melodramatically. "We're living outside of the law!"

"You know I don't trust you with this cake anymore," Gray decided with a stubborn look on his face. "And I got it first," he grabbed the plate from Lucy's kitchen table, "so I'm taking it back!"

"What?!" Lucy squawked indignantly. "No!" she shouted as Gray began to walk away with her beautiful, heavenly, cheesecake. "Oh no!"

"Oh yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

It had turned into a tug of war fight over the plate of cheesecake. Gray, who was childish by nature and had years of experience of fighting like this with Natsu, was not about to give in but Lucy, who had become used to childish fights like this and was as determined and stubborn as any other Fairy Tail mage, was not going to relent either, and so the two of them tugged back and forth as they shouted childishly at one another.

Lucy then tugged so furiously, with all her strength, that the platter tilted sideways and the cheesecake flew across the room…

….and promptly went out of the open window.

"NO!" Lucy and Gray screamed in unison.

They stood there motionlessly as they stared at the creamy, biscuit-y, splodge on the pavement outside of Lucy's apartment.

And then, slowly, hesitatingly, absolutely reluctantly….Lucy's eyes drifted to her forks, and she looked up to meet Gray's eyes and without speaking they hastily snatched up a fork each and desperately ran out onto the street.

Natsu would find them crouched over the remains of the cheesecake as they quickly shovelled the delicious goods into their mouth before someone saw them. There is a horrible, shameful, moment as they looked up sheepishly to meet Natsu's dumbfounded face.

"All right," Natsu crouched down beside them as he pulled out a fork from his vest, "what are we eating?"

"Seriously?!" Gray yelped. "You keep a fork to eat whatever you find off on the floor?! That's disgusting!"

"Hey!" Lucy scowled at him. "You can hardly talk right now seeing as we're eating off on the floor this very moment." Gray flushed shamefully at that. "And trust me, this is an improvement," Lucy added, "Before he met me, he used to just pick it up with his bare hands."

"Disgusting," Gray muttered darkly.

But all three of them tucked into the cheesecake regardless.

It was just too good!