Lucy could not keep pace with how fast everything went suddenly downhill.

They had just woken up on the same bed, and now they were in a midst of a terrible argument. How did things turn so bad so fast?

When Lucy woke up, she found Natsu looking down at her with a grin on his face. That shocked her so much that she screamed as she tried to get off the bed. She fell of it in the process.

Natsu laughed hard at that. The fall however, woke Lucy up completely and she remembered what had happened last night, calming down her nerves in the process. It didn't make her feel less embarrassed however. Embarrassed and now annoyed that Natsu could just sit there and laugh at her.

She stood and quickly took a pillow, then slammed it down to Natsu's face. "You moron!"

"Hey, what did I do now?" Natsu was still laughing.

Despite her annoyance, Natsu's laughter was quite contagious, and Lucy found herself chuckling as she threw the pillow at him this time. "Being yourself, that's what you've done."

"But I can't help it." Natsu had taken the pillow she threw at him and was now holding it to his chest. "Lucy looked like a mouse who just saw a cat."

"Yeah?" Lucy placed her hands in her hips and tried to look angry. But she was having a hard time not laughing herself. "Well comparing you to a cat would be a large stretch of the imagination."

"What? But people say Happy and are like real brothers." He placed both of his hands in his cheeks and tried stretching them apart, as if he could mold them to look like Happy.

Lucy had to smile at that. "They meant your personalities not your looks. You both are moronic idiots!"

Natsu was about to respond, but his stomach chose that time complain its lack of dinner, and it was already morning.

"Did you eat last night?" Lucy frowned.

Natsu smiled guiltily. "No, and I'm famished."

Lucy sighed as she shook her head. "I'll go make breakfast."

As she fed Natsu in her kitchen with them sitting on opposite sides of the table, it seemed like everything was back to the way it was.

Natsu ate like it was his last meal. And to Lucy who was a refined lady at heart, someone eating like that would have been a total turn off. But the only thing she felt was warmth as she watched Natsu devour his food. She found herself leaning towards him from her side of the table, with her chin propped on her right hand, as she tried to observe him more.

Natsu glanced up at her with a piece of meat still on his mouth. "Ish Lushy not hungrrr."

Startled, Lucy quickly straightened up. "No, it's almost noon. And I know what I said yesterday, but we had already reserved a table at the Verserean Pavilion last week. And it's not so easy to get a reservation there."

Natsu stopped eating. He swallowed his food in one gulp and then looked at Lucy as if he was contemplating something.

"Lucy really likes having a boyfriend, right?"

Lucy's eyes narrowed at the question. "Yes..?"

"But Lucy having a boyfriend means spending a lot of time with him and less time with your friends." Then Natsu stood, placing both hands on the table. "But I have a solution to that." Natsu says with a triumphant look in his face.

"Okay..." Lucy wasn't sure where this conversation was heading to, but for some reason she found herself feeling guarded about it.

"I will be Lucy's boyfriend!" Natsu declared it as if he had just solved the greatest dilemma on the planet.

At first, Lucy's heart went overdrive as if she just ran a thousand miles. But then anger started rising from deep within her. Still, she tried to reign it in. "You don't have to Natsu."

Natsu however didn't notice the controlled anger inside Lucy. "But why not? I can do it. I don't think it's that hard. And if it makes Lucy happy, then I definitely will do my best."

"I said you don't have too!" Lucy was clearly angry now.

And Natsu didn't understand it. He was trying his best to make things work, so why was she so angry? "But it would be so much easier..."

"Get out!" Lucy's voice thundered.

"Hey wait now Lucy." Natsu was beginning to get angry to. Was he that lacking in her eyes that him taking Ark's place made her this angry. "If you don't want to, just say no. You can stay with Ark if you really want him that much. It was just a suggestion."

"Get the hell out!" This time, Lucy threw the plates that were on the table into the floor, and Natsu knew there was no speaking with her.

"Fine." Natsu stormed out of her apartment. Just as he threw the door open, he saw Ark waiting outside. Natsu glared at him but then went past him without a word.

Lucy fell into the floor crying. She clutched at her aching chest as she sobbed her heart out. How could Natsu be so unfair? She tried so hard. She really did.

From the start, Natsu seemed to have no interest whatsoever in romance. So as to remain his closest friend, she had to not be interested in him as well. She was not like Juvia. She didn't have the confidence to persevere in a one-sided love.

Really, she admired how Juvia could survive it. If it was her, she would have broken apart into pieces already. Just as she was breaking into pieces right now.

To survive, she had erased all thoughts of anything seriously romantic with Natsu. From time to time, she would fantasize, but there were all joke images of him, they weren't really Natsu. They were just clouds that could be easily blown away.

Deep inside, she had caged her real feelings from a long time ago. So how dare he just easily let them out like that? But it was too late. There was no way she could pretend anymore.

She was in love with Natsu.

The moment he had suggested being her boyfriend, her heart knew without a doubt that it was what she wanted. And yet, it was not really what he was offering. He wanted to be her boyfriend because it was more convenient for him that way. How dare he? How dare he?

How dare he? How dare he do this to her. She was sobbing so hard when Ark knelt down and tried to take her in his arms.

But Lucy pushed him away. "No. I don't deserve you."

"It doesn't matter to me who is deserving."

Lucy looked up at him with tears falling down her face. "How much did you hear?"

Ark looked at her guiltily. "From "I will be Lucy's boyfriend"?"

"Then you must understand why I can't be your girlfriend anymore." Lucy sobbed out. Ark was smart. Unlike Natsu, he knew exactly why Lucy was crying. In fact, in his gut, he knew something like this would happen eventually. He had just not wanted to admit it.

Ark sighed. "But we are friends too aren't we?"

When Lucy nodded, he took her into his embrace once more. "Then let me hold you for now at least." This time Lucy didn't push him away.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed into his chest. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright." Ark held her tightly and petted her hair to soothe her pain. "It's partly my fault. If I didn't get between you two, this would never have happened, and you both would still be in friendship bliss."

"How can you be calm about all of this." Lucy wondered how there can be a person so perfectly understanding. And how could she do this to him.

"I wouldn't have been if not for last night."

Lucy moved her head away from his chest to look up at him. "Last night?"

"Yes." Ark smiled down sadly at Lucy. "Someone gave me some really useful insight."

His smile disappeared and he sighed once more.

"At that point, I already knew I've lost."