"Come on, Luce," Natsu groaned as he followed the blonde through the busy morning streets. "Tell us where you're taking us."

Lucy shook her head with a wide grin as she rounded a corner. "You'll just have to wait. We're almost there."

Lucy had been simultaneously excited and scared about the possible reason for Bickslow asking her to come to Hargeon. Mostly though, she scared when it came to her team being invited, especially when Bickslow was terrified of what Erza would do to him when she found out about them.

The only reason her team had decided to follow her to Hargeon after Lucy couldn't offer an explanation as to why was because Erza said it would be good to get out for a bit after they'd all been cooped up in home or at the guild for a couple of days. Still, the only reason they were out at all was because Wendy had received some remedies from Porlyusica the morning before, and within twelve-hours, they'd all been back to their usual selves.

"Hm, I wasn't aware this building was being used anymore," Erza mused as she followed Lucy into the small entrance of the Raijinshuu's gym.

"Yeah, well…" Lucy shrugged as she pushed the second door open, leaning her back against it to keep it open and allow her friends to pass through into the gym. "Apparently it always was."

Natsu had instantly run off to where Laxus was lifting weights and yelling at Gajeel who was leaning on another piece of equipment while eating the weights themselves. "Wow! This is so cool! Oh, Laxus! Laxus and Gajeel are here! Let's fight, Laxus!" the over-zealous pink-haired Dragon Slayer screeched, only to be sent unconscious by a stray bolt of lightning.

"I'm beginning to wonder why I agreed to this…" Laxus muttered under his breath.

When Lucy walked in, the door slamming closed behind her, the first thing she noticed was how the layout was slightly different. The various blocks and mats that were in the centre had been moved off to the sides as Freed and Evergreen sparred in the air, the runes that had been set up from floor to ceiling and surrounding the area getting lit up as each up their attacks bounced off various places.

"Damn, this is nice," Gray said as he moved closer to the centre, wanting to get a close-up of the fight.

"I agree. This is marvellous," Erza added as she looked over the building before turning to Lucy. "Who owns this?"

"Laxus and the Raijinshuu," She replied with a smile.

Erza nodded. "Interesting. It's definitely set up for each of their personal fortes."

"Indeed it is," Freed chimed in as he walked closer to the two, wrapping a towel around his neck. "I thought it might be a good idea for Team Natsu to join us for today… and, uh… Gajeel and Levy." He forced polite smile. "If anything, it allows our teams to get closer, and after that joint-mission back in August, it might be useful should we ever be put in the same kind of situation."

"Oh, of course," Erza agreed, already having requipped into something more suitable. "Thank you for inviting us, Freed. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe Natsu is slowly becoming conscious again," she said as she walked away from both Freed and Lucy and towards the Dragon Slayers.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at Freed as he continued to watch Erza walk away. "Is that really all you're planning?"

"Honestly, no," Freed replied, turning back to Lucy. "Well, sort of. It could be good for your team to see yourself and Bickslow in a friendly situation, before you do decide to break the news to Erza and Gray."

"Huh… That's actually not a bad idea…" she murmured, looking around the room. "Still would've been nice to know exactly what was going on…" Lucy mumbled, trailing off when she saw Bickslow hanging from the trapeze down the end by his feet.

Freed smiled weakly. "My apologies for that… I didn't actually fill Bickslow in on all of the details until this morning when we got here. He only knew the first part until then."

Lucy sat watching everyone from one side of the gym, sitting on a stack of thick mats with Levy who had brought a pile of books with her.

Natsu and Gajeel were fighting down one end, Erza and Laxus were stuck in a surprisingly even match inside the runes in the centre of the room, Gray and Freed were working on escaping Rune prisons and dispersing Ice Make magic, and Evergreen was checking out her manicure as Bickslow was balancing one-handed on one of his babies.

"So… Has nyone said those three little words yet?"

Lucy made a sound that resembled a squeak as she turned to Levy, seeing the smirk on her face. Lucy instantly went a deep shade of red as she tried to form her words. "W-What? No!" Lucy hissed.

Levy gawked at the woman. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!"

"Wow…" Levy muttered. Maybe she really does have no idea she said it? "But… Do you love him?"

Lucy looked down when she felt her face heat up even more. She'd never really thought about it. Sure, she'd been falling in love with him, but was she already there? She watched Bickslow from where she sat, a wide smile spreading across her face when he fell from where he was perched on one of his babies as he sneezed. "I don't know… Maybe?" she said as she turned back to Levy before they both broke out into a fit of squealing and giggling. Maybe? Probably.

Both Laxus and Gajeel were too busy listening to the conversation between Lucy and Levy to focus on what they were doing, and they were both defeated by their respective fighting partners within seconds out of each other.

Laxus took his defeat in stride, since out of anyone, Erza wasn't so bad to lose to. And it served him right for eavesdropping, too.

Gajeel, however, didn't. "Shut up, Salamander!"

Natsu was jumping around, laughing like an idiot. "Hah! Gajeel lost, Gajeel lost!"

"It doesn't count! I wasn't paying attention!"

"That was stupid," Natsu responded as he folded his arms behind his head.

"How the hell were you not listening to that conversation?!" Gajeel shot back, gawking at the other Dragon Slayer.

"What conversation?"

Gajeel could only throw his hands up in the air in frustration before he walked away and towards Levy to get his favourite post-fight snack from the woman.

It was a little after noon and by that point, everyone had rotated and changed partners and what they were doing. Erza and Evergreen were the ones in the runes set up in the middle, Natsu had been shot down by a single lightning strike again, Gajeel was back to chewing on pieces of Laxus's weights, and Bickslow was being a show-off with his fancy flips, and honestly, Lucy thought it was pretty great.

It was only when Bickslow was getting dizzy and his head was starting to hurt did he finally stop. He looked towards the smiling women who had been perched atop a few of the stacked mats the entire morning and a wide grin spread across his face, his tongue lolling from his mouth. "Yo, Cosplayer!" he shouted across the hall. "Come over here."

"What? Why?" Lucy shouted back, her eyes wide in her confusion.

"You've been sitting on your ass for three hours. Come do something productive."

Is he calling me lazy?! She turned to glare at Levy beside her who was snickering, only to turn into full blown laughter as soon as Levy had seen how annoyed she was. Lucy couldn't even be mad at Bickslow when she turned back to him, just because of that ridiculous grin of his.

So with a huff, she slid to the edge of the mats and hopped down, shaking her head slightly as she walked. After all, Bickslow had been right – she had been sitting on her ass for three hours… but she hadn't been doing nothing. No, Levy had been squeezing far too many details about her sex life out of her after she'd moved on from the whole maybe or maybe not actually in love with Bickslow conundrum.

"So what exactly will be classified as productive to you?" Lucy asked contemptuously.

Bickslow shrugged, "Well, there is something I can think of… But it can't really be done here," he murmured. He chuckled when Lucy's cheeks turned a dark pink. "Anything you want to try or learn or something?" he asked, sniffling slightly. I refuse to believe I am getting sick.

Lucy unfolded her arms as she looked around at all of the mats and pieces of equipment she still couldn't put names to before she focused on the spring-loaded floor just next to them and her eyes lit up. She pointed towards it. "That."

"Nope." Bickslow shook his head. He wasn't letting Lucy try tumbling. "Could start with the basics, though."

"Fine. Like what?"

Bickslow walked over to the rolled out carpet that ran next to the tumbling floor. "Can you do a handstand?"

"No…" she admitted quietly as she looked down slightly. I can't even do a handstand. Why the hell would I think I can do all of those fancy tricks?

Bickslow let out a short laugh as he pointed to the floor just in front of him. "Do a handstand," he insisted.

She stared at Bickslow and his smug grin for a short moment before she unfolded her arms with a sigh. At least I'm not wearing a skirt.

With a steadying breath, she bent forward, placing her hands flat on the soft carpet and kicking her feet up. When she could feel herself falling towards her back as soon as she'd gotten close to being upright, Bickslow's hands grabbed her ankles and stopped her from falling backwards. "Point your toes," he said, completely ignoring the fact that by that point everyone else in the room had stopped to watch them.

"I wasn't aware Lucy was interested in learning any of that," Erza mused as she took the bottle of water that Evergreen handed her. "I could have taught her to do that…"

Evergreen smirked as she opened her own bottle of water, watching the pair intently. "Oh, just leave them. Bickslow's good at that kind of stuff."

Lucy's hands were starting to get sore from the unfamiliar weight on them and she could feel her arms beginning to shake. "This is… starting to hurt…" she said, blowing the hair out of her eyes as it hung down. She found it hard to get air into her lungs as she was upside down.

"Fine. Come down care—" He let go of her ankles to let her get back to standing on her own, but he paused when she started swaying the wrong way and fell flat on her back. "—fully…"

Lucy smiled as she sat up, leaning back on her hands as Bickslow shook his head at her. "Maybe we try handstands again later?" she giggled.

"Yeah, maybe," Bickslow agreed as he helped her to her feet. "Um… How about we try something else now…" He pointed to a spot on the ground as he moved to stand near it. "Stand here."

So she did exactly as he asked. "Done," she said with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes at the blonde when he realised she was mocking him. "Hands up. And then lean back."

"Wait, what?" She looked incredulously at the man. "Do you want me to fall over again?"

"You're not gonna fall. I prom—" He turned away as he sneezed, shaking his head lightly when he turned back. "Promise. Make sure your feet are apart," he finished, sniffling again.

So when she put her arms back up again and spread her feet, she looked at Bickslow with another smirk. "Never get sick, huh?" she murmured as she started leaning back slowly.

"Shut up. I'm not sick," he mumbled as one hand rested on her back and the other on her stomach. "Keep going until your hands touch the floor."

When her hands connected with the floor, it had honestly been unexpected and had happened sooner than she'd thought it would. She adjusted her hands and feet a tiny bit, just to make it a bit more comfortable even though she could already feel the muscles in her arms and legs start to hurt.

"Now, kick your feet up and go into another handstand." When he saw the hesitation in her face, he added softly, "Don't worry, I'll help you. On the count of three, okay?"

Lucy hesitantly tried to nod. She felt Bickslow's hands move, one shifting slightly on her back and the other going to just behind her knee.

"Okay, one… Two… Three." And on the third count, Lucy tried her best to kick her legs up from the position she was in but it didn't matter since Bickslow did most of the work for her. He waited until he had a secure grip on her legs again before continuing. "See? That wasn't so ha—" Another sneeze interrupted him.

"I would laugh if I didn't think I'd fall. You are so getting sick," Lucy scoffed.

Should let her almost fall just for that. "That's not very nice," he mumbled. "Tell me again why I put up with you?"

Although she wouldn't laugh, she could grin. "'Cause you love me," she answered quickly. And when she realised what she'd said, the grin was lost instantly. She hadn't meant to say it, but Levy had got the issue stuck in her head. But before she could even curse herself under her breath or try and correct it and make things less awkward, Bickslow's response came just as quickly.

"Damn straight I do."

And then they both froze, along with all three of the Dragon Slayers who had heard it, and then Levy after Gajeel was pulled from his stupor just to whisper in his girlfriend's ear.

What… The… Fuck?! Bickslow's brows knitted together as he wondered just what in the hell had made him say that, because really, it just came out before he'd been able to even think of a response.

Two days ago, he was quite certain that he'd been unsure of whether or not he loved the blonde. But he'd also been thinking about it non-stop for those two days, although that was partly because he had Evergreen breathing down his neck about it constantly.

"When you know, you'll just know," she'd said, and honestly, it had made Bickslow walk away laughing because it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. How the hell was that piece of advice supposed to help him? He'd wanted to know what it was supposed to feel like to be in love with someone, because maybe it would tell him whether he was or not. But no, Evergreen wouldn't tell him that. Instead, she was the one who had walked away laughing.

But even if he didn't know whether he loved her or not, he knew that he cared about her. A lot.

Either way, none of that explained just why his mouth decided he knew better than he did, and honestly, that made no sense at all.

Lucy could only try to ignore the fact that her hands felt like they were on fire the longer she stayed on them. She couldn't, however, ignore the fact that her heart was beating a million miles an hour in her chest and she was honestly starting to feel lightheaded, and she didn't know whether it was from being upside down or if it was from what Bickslow had just said.

Either way, she needed to get back on her feet. Literally.

"Uh… Bicks?" she said, her voice wavering slightly.

But Bickslow was still out of it, still lost in his thoughts.

"Bicks, please…" Lucy whispered when she felt her arms start shaking again and her eyes started to feel heavy. "I need to come down now…" Because even though he was holding her legs, it was only to keep her steady, not to keep her upright.

It wasn't long after that did her eyes finally close and she lost the ability to hold herself up. She was conscious long enough to feel herself slipping from Bickslow's grip slowly and towards the ground, and then she was out.

Coincidentally, that's what it had taken for Bickslow to finally snap out of his thoughts. There was a brief second of confusion when his brain tried to comprehend what was going on, and then he was falling to his knees as far as he could as his arms somehow manoeuvred Lucy as she fell, just so she wouldn't land on her head and completely hurt herself. "Oh shit, Lucy?!" Bickslow couldn't help but panic as he laid her carefully on the mat. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Take her upstairs," Erza commanded as the group came running up.

Bickslow was pulled back by the collar of his shirt as Natsu leant down to pick her limp body up before turning to the stairs, the rest of her team and Levy following behind them. Bickslow, without thinking, automatically went to follow them, only to be pulled back again as Freed, Evergreen, and Gajeel all moved to stand in front of him.

"What the fuck are you guys—"

"She just passed out. She'll be fine," Laxus said from behind him.

"Besides, we need to talk about something else right now," Evergreen said as she wrapped her hand around Bickslow's shoulder, turning him and pulling him towards the corner of the building that was the farthest away from the loft.

And Bickslow didn't argue it, because he knew they were right. She'd be fine, because she had her team. Plus, if he did go up there, he'd have to explain it to Gray and Erza on his own and that wouldn't go well. There was no way he was having that conversation when he had a bigger problem to deal with.

Bickslow had been pushed to sit on one of the other piles of mats that sat down one end. His foot was tapping on the ground impatiently as he kept glancing up toward the loft. Fuck, I want to be up there! But he still knew he couldn't be, partly because his team and Gajeel were blocking him from getting up as they all stared down at him, and partly because Bickslow just had no intentions of explaining anything to Lucy's team on his own.

"So, wanna explain that whole declaration thing that just happened?" Laxus asked as he folded his arms across his broad chest. Everyone was just as confused as Bickslow was when it came to him blurting it out, because prior to that, everyone else had thought he was still unsure of his feelings. Now though, it was pretty clear, even if Bickslow was still just a little confused.

Bickslow glanced towards him. "What? I don't even know what happened," he said. "It just came out before I even got a chance to think about it!"

"So is it true?"

"I still don't know!"

Evergreen groaned as she rolled her eyes. "Can't we just tell him?" she complained.

"Are you sure that is a wise decision?" Freed asked, the uncertainty evident in his voice.

"Come on, he's the only one who doesn't see it!" she said in a loud whisper as she leant in closer to the Rune mage.

Bickslow looked back to his friends. "See what?"

Evergreen pointed towards him. "My point exactly."

Laxus shrugged before he looked back down to Bickslow, then to Evergreen again. "I was going to start a wager on how long it would take him to realise, but sure, this will be fun. I'm not saying it though," he mumbled.

"Well, I'm not doing it," Evergreen said.

"I'm certainly not," Freed said as he took a step back before they all turned to Gajeel who looked between them all when he realised he was the last one.

"You're fuckin' kidding me, right? Shit, why can't Shrimp do it?"

"Because she's busy trying to keep Blondie from coming downstairs at the moment," Laxus said as both Dragon Slayers turned their heads in the direction of the loft.

Then they all looked back to Bickslow who was still stuck in a state of panic and confusion. "What the hell is going on?" he pleaded.

"You're been in love with her for a while, dude," Gajeel sighed. He couldn't quite keep the smirk away, though.

"What the fuck? No I haven't!" Bickslow shouted as he stood up, only to be pushed back down by Evergreen.

"Yeah, you kinda have," she mumbled as she pointed her folded paper fan at him. "Don't even try and say you're not, because we've all been waiting for you to realise it this entire time."

"Wait, the entire time?"

"Well, at least half of it." Gajeel shrugged, pulling a handful of bolts from his pocket before throwing them in his mouth with a loud crunch.

Bickslow stared at the space behind the group as his thoughts took over again. There was no way he was in love with Lucy. He would have realised he was falling in love with her, right? Or maybe he'd just been too happy and he'd missed it? No, I definitely would have realised if I actually loved her or not, because I'd probably be telling Laxus and Gajeel to go fuck themselves so they can let me get past so I can go upstairs.

But he really wanted to do that, more so than usual. She'd fainted and he knew it was his fault, somehow. He needed to be up there to make sure she was actually okay. There was a part of him that didn't care the rest of her team was up there because he didn't believe they cared about her as much as he did.

And maybe that was the point. Maybe he'd gotten everything mixed up and that was why he'd missed the possibility that he'd been falling in love with her - or perhaps fallen in love with her.

But it was still like he couldn't bring himself to believe it. That possibility terrified him. "No… I don't… I don't understand," he whispered as he shook his head slowly.

"Fuck me, and I thought Salamander was stupid," Gajeel groaned.

Evergreen knelt down in front of Bickslow with a small smile. "Think about it, Bicks," she said softly. "You were miserable when she was gone for three weeks."

"Yeah, 'cause I missed her…"

"And how many times did we have to save your ass from getting hurt over the last two days because you were too busy worrying about her?"

Bickslow looked up, "Wait, what? You did?" And when they all nodded, he looked back down, "Shit… Sorry…"

"Blondie makes you happy, right?" Laxus asked.

"Pretty sure she's the reason for me being happy at this point…" Bickslow mumbled.

"And what does it feel like when you're around her?" Evergreen asked, the small smile still on her face. She knew they were slowly getting through to the man.

"Like… nothing else matters." Because she's the only thing that matters.

Freed stepped closer as he looked down. "You care for her deeply, don't you?"

"More than I thought was possible." A few months earlier and he would've hated himself for saying the words he was saying. He didn't do feelings or emotions. Not really, at least.

"Do you realise how much you've changed in the last three months?"

"I… I guess." Bickslow shrugged. He did realise, but none of it really bothered him because he felt like it was for the better.

"And what was the reason?" Freed asked slowly.

"Her."

"But you don't care how much you've changed, do you?"

"No…"

Somehow, Bickslow knew where the questions were going, and with each one, he was getting closer and closer to accepting the truth that he'd been ignoring.

But it was Laxus who delivered the final question after a few moments of silence, partly because he was bored of all the questions his team were giving him, and partly because he just wanted to hear his friend accept it because he'd watched the way his demeanour had changed over the last few months and even the last few minutes. It was getting kind of old at that point. "So do you love her?" he asked.

And there was another moment's silence as Bickslow thought about his answer.

He cared about Lucy more than he could put into words, and when he'd been out on his last job and she'd been at home sick, he'd hated himself because he'd wanted to be there looking after her. He knew he should have stayed whether she'd wanted him to or not.

When she was happy, he was happy. When she smiled, he couldn't help but smile because the way it lit up her entire face was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen, and he loved it. He loved her laugh and the way she could somehow always vaguely smell like strawberries.

In his own weird way, Bickslow loved that he'd seen her at her absolute worst. He'd seen her when she'd just woken up and her hair was a mess and her makeup had smudged and he'd seen her when she wasn't able to get out of bed. Hell, he'd seen her throwing up and he'd even held her hair back and honestly, vomit was one thing he never did. He usually just let Freed and Ever get it all over their own hair. But none of it fazed him.

Because between all of her strengths and flaws (the fact that she was a morning person was definitely a flaw in Bickslow's opinion), Bickslow still thought Lucy was perfect. He'd said it the first time he'd ever kissed her, and hell, did he mean it.

But regardless, Bickslow was slowly coming to terms with the fact that he did actually love Lucy. Somehow, he'd missed it happening and that seriously made him wonder, but he couldn't even deny that he'd fallen in love with her.

His friends were right.

He'd fallen in love with Lucy Heartfilia without noticing and it was something that simultaneously made him happy beyond all belief and scared the living daylights out of him.

He dropped his shoulders when he lowered his head more. "Yeah," Bickslow finally said, barely a whisper.

There was another moment's silence as a smile graced each of their faces because it was the one thing they'd been waiting for since Gajeel and Levy had filled them in on their adventures in double dating. Now that Bickslow had accepted it, Lucy was the only one who had to and then it was just a matter of them actually admitting it to each other, preferably not by blurting it out accidentally.

"Fuck," Bickslow said as he shot up suddenly, causing each of them to jump slightly with the sudden movement. It was so unexpected that Bickslow was able to push past both the Dragon Slayers and head for the stairs, but he only got a few feet away before there was a sharp pain in his back that he knew all too well and he was on his stomach with the side of his face pressed into a mat. "Laxus, what the fuck?!" he shouted.

"Can't let you go up there, Bicks," Laxus said with a shrug. "I'm not ready to be planning your funeral." He couldn't help but shake his head as he finally left to retreat to his own corner of the gym. "Damn. Never thought I'd be saying that."