"Relax Luce, it's just me," he said amusedly with his arms raised in mock surrender. He got in— no, he broke in, through my damn window. Who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to sneak into someone's room and pretend everything was all fine and dandy? I'll tell you who: Natsu Dragneel, pink-haired pyro douchebag.

"They're called doors, idiot!" I yelled in annoyance, picking up a shoe from my closet and throwing at his stupid face. He dodged it easily with a tilt of his head.

"I see your aim has improved."

"What if I was indecent, huh?!" I continued, throwing another shoe at his head. He caught it right before it could hit his face. Damn him.

"But you weren't, isn't that all that matters?" He smirked, carefully dropping my shoe on the floor.

My eyes narrowed. Was he that stupid? "You're an idiot."

"Ouch. You're still so mean, Lucy," He replied with mock hurt. I said nothing, letting my hate-filled eyes do all the talking. If looks could kill, Natsu would be a lifeless heap on my carpet right now.

He let out a sigh. "Oh c'mon. You didn't miss me? Not even a little?"

"Just get out, and if you ever come into my room like this again, I swear I'll beat you worse than Erza ever could," I fumed as I walked over the door and yanked it open, gesturing for him to leave. He smirked again. I felt my eyebrow twitch.

"Your threats have gotten more creative."

Ignored.

"So what's up?"

"Out."

"I can't have a simple chat with an old friend?"

"No. Leave."

"You're no fun, Luce."

Fun?

A light bulb suddenly lit up in my head.

Operation make Natsu uncomfortable: commence.

"Oh, you want to have fun? Why didn't you just say so," I said, trying to sound as sultry as possible as I began stalking towards him, watching his expression waver with every step and loving every second of it.

His sudden change of demeanor was pure gold.

The stupid sly grin slowly began to fade as I got closer, watching his face go red and his smug expression quickly shift into a vulnerable one.

Ah, I missed this.

"… U-Uh, a-actually you're right, it was wrong of me to break into your room, I'll just see myself out—"he began to trip over his words, suddenly stopping when his gaze met mine.

"Huh? I thought you wanted to have fun?" I kept the eye contact, now close enough to reach out and touch him. My eyes scanned his stunned face once more, and that's when I came to a few shocking realizations.

I always Natsu was attractive, but now he was just plain hot. The guy looked better than he ever had before, and we were alone. In my bedroom. So close I was basically standing in between his legs.

I couldn't help but glance down as his lips.

He noticed. And mirrored the action.

What was this feeling?

Before I could process what was happening I felt a pair of arms shove me back and heard a "Gotta go!" before Natsu disappeared out the window in which he came from.

What was that?

A bunch of weird feelings began to bubble up in my gut. For a second there it was almost like I had actually wanted something to happen.

And why did I feel like I'd been rejected?

God, what was happening.

This was a mistake.

I needed to lie down.

Walking into the crowded dining hall for the first time in months was great. The sound of many conversations happening at once, combined with the smell of cheap greasy dining hall food filled my senses, and I realized how much I actually did miss this. Finding everyone was relatively easy, since we always sat at the long table in the back. I was making my way towards the line for fries when I heard a cute voice calling my name behind me.

"Hey!" Levy ran up to meet me on line, still looking cute as ever in her orange dress.

"I missed this," I hummed dreamily, eyes scanning the huge dining hall, suddenly stopping when they spotted a certain douche making his way towards our table.

Right after the event that happened in my room earlier, I had to go into deep thought and spend the next 30 minutes reminding myself once again that Natsu was just a troll who deserved an Erza beat down, and was able to push any other thoughts to the back of my mind, where I hoped they would disappear forever.

"Yeah," Levy sighed. "This year's gonna be so great!"

"I sure hope so," I replied while side-eyeing Natsu, who stopped to talk(and probably flirt) with some blonde girl he seemed to know. "Let's just hope the fireball over there doesn't ruin it for me."

"Nah. He seems a lot more mature now, in more ways than one if you know what I mean," she uttered with a smirk.

"I second that."

We turned our heads toward the voice that just agreed with Levy and found Cana walking toward us with her head turned in Natsu's direction.

"That guy grew up good. I wouldn't mind having a piece of that now."

I resisted the urge to gag.

"You've had too much to drink," I scoffed.

Cana snorted. "I can never have too much to drink," she refuted, and I slightly chuckled at that very valid statement. "Just look at him, and honestly tell me he hasn't gotten hot."

I rolled my eyes, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing, even though I knew her statement was one hundred percent valid.

His green eyes were dreamy as ever, jawline defined to perfection, and his white smile was absolutely stunning. His pink hair was perfectly messy, the red v neck t-shirt he wore fit his built frame wonderfully, and the black jeans they were paired with did not do him any justice. He looked good.

"Well?" Cana asked expectantly.

Instead of verbally answering, I snatched the flask she had in her hand and took a long sip. Levy and Cana's jaws dropped in amusement and shock and I merely shrugged, giving the flask back to the brunette.

"This year is gonna be interesting. Can't wait to see how you and fireboy over there play around with each other now that you're adults," Cana said with a smirk before she walked off to flirt with some random guy. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't play around with him!" I yelled after her, feeling my face burn at her clear implications. Levy let out an amused laugh beside me.

"I think you should try to forget about this whole 'I hate Natsu' thing. Maybe you can take this as an opportunity to settle your differences?" Levy suggested.

"Never. I can't ever get along with him," I retorted, proceeding to explain the events that happened today, minus 'operation make Natsu uncomfortable' of course. No one could know about that. After I finished, I searched her face for the reaction I was hoping for, and for a few seconds I was met with a blank stare. Then she randomly burst out laughing, much to my surprise and annoyance.

"What?" I demanded.

"Lu-chan, you guys are so cute!"

"Wha- What!?" My face heated up again. "He broke into my room through the window! That's just plain weird!" I said incredulously.

"I guess that's a little weird, but it's also a total Natsu thing to do. I highly doubt he had any ill intentions," She reasoned.

"It's a complete invasion of privacy and it was not appreciated."

"Lu-chan, it's been so long, and you still don't understand why he does this?"

"I do understand. He likes to make me mad. It somehow amuses him."

She laughed. She laughed.

"What?" I huffed again, even more annoyed.

"You really can't see it?"

"What is there to see? He likes to troll me, that's it. It brings him joy."

The smile remained on her face as her laughter subsided. "I don't think that's entirely true. He's too good of a person," she insisted.

"To you," I muttered as we reached the front of the line and filled our plates with fries.

We eventually met our friends at the long table and I made it a point to sit as far away from Natsu as possible, though that didn't stop the glances he kept sending my way. What was his deal? Was he upset at the fact that he couldn't troll me from the other end of the table? Probably. I chose to believe it didn't have anything to do with what had transpired earlier at all.

Our dining hall session came to a sudden halt when Natsu accidentally set the table on fire (like an idiot) and everyone was forced to evacuate the space while the staff took care of it. Gray had some choice words for the pyro, and Erza looked ready to kill after having to leave her strawberry cake behind. He made it a point to stay as far away from her as possible, hiding behind Mira and Lisanna who tried their best to keep him away from the redhead's evil glare. No one else seemed to be upset with him, probably because it was Natsu and no one could possibly ever stay mad at him. That guy was a goddamn saint in everyone else's eyes. Curse his amazing people skills.

By the time I had arrived back at the dorm and got ready for bed, I was exhausted. Though as soon as my head hit the pillow, my thoughts began to go haywire.

I always knew Natsu was attractive, but that was back in middle school, when we were 15 and just barely beginning to understand those types of feelings. But today hadn't been like any ordinary Natsu-hating day in the crowded middle school hallway. We were now close to 18 years old when feelings were as intense as ever, and even though he annoyed me to no end, I couldn't help the strong physical attraction I felt towards him. That said, I didn't realize how strong that attraction actually was until that moment just hours prior. Honestly, if it weren't for our history, I'd have probably tried my hand at pursuing him this year. Not that I'd ever admit that to anyone.

I made a note to keep that information to myself, because if Natsu ever found that out, he'd have a field day with it.

Curse you Natsu, you attractive son of a bitch.

"So fire brain, now that you're back are you finally gonna tell Lucy how you feel?" Gray pressed, sitting at Natsu's desk and playing with an ice ball he conjured up.

"What?" Natsu replied sharply, not moving from his lying position on his bed but suddenly shifting his eyes to meet the ice mage's.

"Okay, I know you're an idiot, but you're not this dumb. You know what I mean."

"Fuck you, ice dick." He returned his gaze to the small flame in his hand, ignoring the question completely.

"Whatever. I'm just sayin', you guys aren't kids anymore. You can stop with the teasing bullshit and actually be real with her."

"I don't like her," he lied. "She's just really fun to mess with."

Gray rolled his eyes. "You're lying and you know it, but fine. I'll drop it."

"I'm not lying."

"You so are."

"Fuck off. I'm being serious."

"Why so defensive?"

"Why so annoying?"

"I'm just sayin', she's not gonna tolerate you messing with her forever," Gray deadpanned. "And don't deny it. You've liked her since day one."

"I'm gonna throw this fireball at your fuckin' head."

"Go ahead and try, won't change the truth though."

An instant later the fireball Natsu had been playing with immediately began flying towards the ice mage's face, and was easily dodged by the ice Gray had conjured up earlier.

"I'm not talking about this anymore," The pyro grumbled.

"… Fine," Gray huffed, reluctantly dropping the subject. "Be honest. Are you actually okay? You spent the last two years alone and living in the woods," Gray questioned, his tone shifting to something more sincere, serious.

"Yeah. I told you, Happy was with me the whole time," He repeated. "And it's not like I couldn't see you guys. I was around, just not allowed to talk to anyone. But it was fine," he lied, glancing at the blue cat sleeping peacefully at the edge of his bed.

"If you say so…" Gray uttered, checking his phone. "Shit, it got late. I'll see ya tomorrow, and try not to set anything else on fire 'till then, ya fuckin' pyro."

Natsu said nothing as the ice mage left and kept his gaze fixed on a spot on the ceiling, recounting the past two years in his head.

To be honest, being forced to stay away from his friends was a feeling that a guy like Natsu absolutely hated. The prolonged loneliness combined with the constant fear of being found by his brother ate away at him constantly, and it's a miracle he was able to get any sleep at night. If weren't for Happy, he probably would've fallen into a state of extreme depression. He constantly supported him through his words, and encouraged Natsu to play with him when he was feeling extra sad. Happy was a constant reminder that that he wasn't actually alone, that he was still a part of something. He was the greatest friend a guy could ever have.

Being within range of his friends but not being able to talk to them did make him upset, but also reminded him of why he needed to get through it. The memories of brawling with Gray and Erza on the playground, Mira's and Lisanna's forgiving smiles when he inevitably caused mischief, Getting stomped constantly whenever he challenged Laxus, Cana's constant dirty jokes, and Lucy…

Lucy.

She had captured his attention from the very beginning. She was always optimistic and smiling and it uplifted everyone around her. She was also incredibly feisty when provoked despite her usual kind nature. For as long as he could remember she was always cute, yet fiery and it provoked feelings in him that no one else had ever been able to bring out. He wasn't quite sure how to handle it, so he often found himself lashing out at her when they were kids. When they were older he would tease her constantly to get a rise out of her, just to get her to pay attention to him.

He couldn't help it.

When they got older, he began to notice just how pretty Lucy actually was. The way her long blonde hair fell perfectly past her perfect shoulders, her big brown eyes that glimmered in the sunlight, a body that could get her any guy she wanted, full lips that Natsu couldn't help but daydream about… Lucy was gorgeous. He would find himself dating other girls in hopes to get his mind off the blonde, but it never worked.

Gray was right. He's liked her since day one.

He would never admit that to him though, since he'd probably tease him constantly for it if he found out.

Natsu knew Lucy didn't feel the same way about him, which is why he'd never told anyone about his true feelings towards her. Hell, she probably hated him. But he was willing to live with that as long as he could still be around her. It also helped that she was incredibly fun to mess with, and he just couldn't resist not doing it. She was just so cute when she got riled up over his light teasing.

Now, if he knew that Lucy didn't genuinely enjoy taking part in some of the trolling herself, he would've stopped doing it a long time ago. He loved it, but if he found out that it really bothered her he would stop in an instant. Almost every time he'd say something fully intending to get a rise out of her, she'd almost always come back with an equally clever retort, and he often wasn't prepared for it. He could tell by the subtle smirk she desperately tried to hide when she saw his shocked face that she loved messing with him just as much as he liked messing with her.

Today though, was especially unexpected, and he wasn't prepared for it at all.

In that moment, it took all his strength not to kiss her, and it was made even harder when he noticed he wasn't the only one thinking about it. Or maybe she wasn't actually thinking about it, and was just trying to troll him even further…

He kept replaying those few seconds in his head as the day went on, unable to think of anything else. He had to applaud himself for his immense self-control after he'd found the strength to push her away and get the hell out of there before he did something he might regret, and he had to constantly remind himself that she was just teasing him on the whole walk back to his room.

He probably shouldn't put himself in that kind of situation again.