I would like to announce that there is no specific setting for this story. Only that it is in Earthland composed of fictional and even fanfictional places. The reason for the vagueness of which year or time, month the whole story's set, it is up to the readers to make their guesses. I have tried to make it as unconflicting as possible. For author confirmation, you can ask me for details and I will PM you.

Warning: this chapter contains heavy paragraphs. AND REFERENCES!

FULL SUMMARY: There is really nothing wrong between BFFs Natsu and Lucy, except that many things have influenced how they show their affection for each other. A personal notebook, romantic comedy movies, fandoms, fan people standards, everlasting BFF codes, family and friends. The challenge, done like some sassy God, has made them insane. They must face their fears, denials, and insecurities, because it will very well affects their lives. The problem: this whole thing is too messed up to be "Cliché, huh?"

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters. This guy does: Hiro Mashima

"Past conversations"

Lucy

There was something wrong with that clock. Lucy stared at it like a mad woman. She closed her eyes and tried to find her happy place. Well, in her life, there are only a few things she considered joyous: her friends, specially the idiot Natsu and the people from Fairy Tail; her books; the wonderful stars; literature; and her parents. Right now none of the thing mentioned above seemed to help calm her haunting thoughts.

4:47 am.

The clock is incorrect, she settled. It must be.

She closed her eyes, and maybe this time, an hour had past. Apparently, her mind had other ideas. It finally went on sleep-mode, dreamless.

Lucy normally dreams of the past, mostly about her dark past that includes her mother's death and her father being cruel. She would wake up in the middle of the night to break from a nightmare.

One time when Lucy had a fever (so high she couldn't remember why it happened except it was Christmas and Lisanna died) and Natsu had to take care of her, she had a dream. She was back from her childhood when her mama died. Her papa stood behind her and screamed for his wife, not her mother. That scared both little and big Lucy. Her dad was not only trying to ignore her, he was forgetting the past and it meant forgetting his only daughter.

He. Did. Not. Want. Her. That was the sign: the painful truth.

In the dream realm, she was screaming.

In reality, she whimpered in her sleep.

When asleep, anyone is oblivious about the things that happened in reality. Natsu answered, holding her hand.

In the morning, she woke up first—that was normal—Lucy woke according to plan while Natsu was a heavy sleeper. The first thing she noticed was Natsu was facing towards her, his fingers almost reaching hers. She had to sit up to prepare breakfast or else. Her mind raced as she got to the kitchen, almost reached.

There were times that Lucy dreamt of Natsu involving everything romantic. Almost everything that she would have never seen in real life has happened in her dream. Talk about dream boy. Yes, Lucy has dreamt of kissing Natsu. To be honest, she liked it. In her dream, he was warm as always. The dream was just a typical one, those recurring images of your daily life. What Lucy would never thought was Natsu would just grab her and kiss her passionately. Even in her dream! Because of that unlikely kiss, all her senses were activated, heightened!

His warm breath made her relax and excited as he took off his coat. Her heart was beating erratically, it made her giddy. When he murmured something against her lips, stupid or not, Lucy giggled. His lips were surprisingly soft, it was kind of addicting. She could feel how firm Natsu held her waist and how gentle his hands move from the side of her face to the back of her head, shoulder, her upper back, and he barely brushed his fingers on her bra. The Dragon made the princess Heartfilia shiver in delight.

Like Natsu, Lucy was burning up. Whenever they kissed, it felt true and even her dream self lungs were in great need of air and her real self begged to breathe. She wanted another despite the breathlessness. Suddenly, the pink-haired Dragon held her shoulders and told her, "I know you are in love with me!" And he laughed like a lunatic.

I am not in love with you, stupid, she wanted to gasped back. He was her best friend.

Natsu laughed harder like he couldn't believe she was denying it. Embarrassment welled up inside dream Lucy that she could explode like a volcano, lava and ash.

If Lucy feared her papa's arrogance, Lucy didn't want to love Natsu romantically. Best friends are always best friends. She has seen many anime or Hollywood romantic movies that involved enraged best friends because of unresolved romantic issues or those people finding their partner immediately at first sight. And Natsu was not the one-legged type that sexily looks at you and says, "I fear oblivion." or asking this in an eargasmic British accent, "are you responsible for answering that letter for Claire Smith?" or some hot older guy who fell in love with his lyricist or those lone wolfs that would find sanctuaries in happy-go-lucky but stubborn girls or some eligible prince helping a princess like in Disney films. This was the two best friends with a one-sided love story and if romance is involved—insert fissure cracks!—there goes friendship, eaten by the earth. Lucy's main goal for now is continue to be friends with Natsu. If ever the friendship vanishes because of that, Lucy might lose her sanity.

"I know you are in love with me!'"

Then she woke up, it was deadly dark. Natsu beside her was murmuring. At her dream, she would have fawn, but in reality she felt scared and the dream quickly faded in her mind. Natsu was crying softly, sweat beaded his forehead and brows meeting against each other. Although Lucy knew this well and she had experienced this many times herself, that was the first time Natsu showed vulnerability.

"Luce..." Lucy recalled the fear in his voice.

How Natsu ended up with her in bed was a weird commotion. (This was Natsu's second time. The first time was days ago when she had a fever.) Lucy did not want him on her bed again when she was on it. People had thoughts they should not be thinking about. They label them as an item. And that was alright to Natsu. Of course his emotional range is only between extreme infatuation for fire and anger for enemies.

Lucy wanted to prevent these thoughts from getting confirm, so after working at Fairy Tail, she totally evaded Natsu in days he'd go to her apartment. But then, that Natsu had a nose and the guts of a blood hound. Before the she could get to her bed, Natsu was already sleeping in. Lucy did all she can for that goof ball to get out. She even gambled their friendship, which will never work. She knew Natsu is fully aware of how priceless it is. So she gave in for whatever reason, Natsu slept peacefully until…

"Natsu," Lucy called, and placed her hand on his forehead.

He was unnaturally cold for a Natsu. Lucy wiped his forehead and wrapped her arms around him. Suddenly, her best friend's pinched and distorted face calmed. She was relieved and wanted to kiss him, but she declined and slept, avoiding her head on him. Okay, maybe she did or did not do something like feeling his heartbeat with her hand.

No matter how many protests her head is making about this, Lucy knew that it was the right thing. It was a good feeling. And she was right of her hunches: more nights with that idiot, but she steadily preferred it.

When Lucy gotten used to Natsu sleeping with her, it was when she realized she was in love with him.

On some Friday and Saturday nights, Natsu and Lucy would watch a horror film and after that romcoms or comedy/dramas to relieve the tension. They would wrap themselves in thick blankets and prepare popcorn, candies, drinks and large flashlights in case the lights were actually out. (One time, Lucy had onions and garlic sitting by the window.) They don't cuddle though, but in horror films, Lucy had to totally cover herself and Natsu had to protectively wrap his arm around her after teasing her of course. Their viewing would reach 2 in the morning and Lucy would most of the time sleep first, leaving a grumbling Natsu to turn off the TV set. Then he would return to the couch, probably crashing himself on something soft or a sanctuary of peace. (Lucy woke up with pained arms.) Their wake up time was normally late in the morning or early afternoon. Lucy's eyes opened to view Natsu's peaceful face. Every time that she did, she admired it and wondered how Natsu sees her. Then she would remember that movies they have watched the previous night coincidentally referring to best friends falling for each other. She blushed at the thought, embarrassed and immediately disappointed. It is all a fantasy; a product of intense imagination. Reality governed in another way. Natsu treated her friendly. And yet she had no idea about the weird position earlier that day, because, in the morning, Natsu was sleeping on floor.

Natsu had a reputation of being bold. His boldness had caused Lucy many sorrows and disconcertion. However, months ago, it had brought Lucy one of the greatest joys. On a newspaper headline, Natsu found out that Jude Heartfilia had made a big contract with a communications company. That would mean Heartfilia Industries would be bigger and richer in Lucy's sense, while her best friend thought of it as an asshole kind of idea. "No parent keeps their success to their children," Natsu would convey. Then Lucy would reply. "He does not even tell how his day is how much more a million-dollar contract?" The supposedly heir of the Heartfilia Industries didn't care as long as she gets to study. A justified Natsu had made a difference to that.

He had made a ruckus—a major one!—it was even aired in the news—at the HI main office.

Luckily, with Erza's help, who had connection to some government officials, Natsu was not brought to jail or—thank Mavis—to court for something worse.

Two months after that incident, for four weeks, Natsu invited her to visit a hospital. He explained no reasons. "Just come with me," Natsu asked for a week, and she said no, hoping for unclassifying things. For the second week of that month, he begged, "please, come with me." Natsu would even hold out his hand which she would not place hers. Due to night shifts at Fairy Tail, senior life, and student council president duties, she had no time for a visit at the hospital not knowing the reason why. Those were most days Natsu was not at Fairy Tail, but he would be when she goes home. The following third week, "Luce, it's important," he said, bowing to her which made her exaggerate a refusal. Confusion was a familiar word at the time. No one understood why Natsu did all this, not anyone who would tell Lucy though. Lucy was shocked of how negative she has been treating Natsu. She would not sleep at her bed just to stay away from him. Finally, at the fourth and up to final week, "let's go," she answered. Lucy would not expect to see her papa on the hospital bed, begging for forgiveness.

Lucy felt her body jolting. She was awake.

5:08 am.

"How?" Lucy smacked herself flat with her hand.

Lucy is a person of minimal patience and easily burdened with hurt. How this was affecting her was too much. She wanted to cry, but her her eyes felt gravitated to the window. So to tone down, the sick-feeling of anxiety, Lucy got out of bed. It was hopeless, her sleep felt hell.

Her hand grabbed her blanket and walked out of bed. She went to her window, Natsu's special entrance. Her heart fluttered for a second as she remembered when she was busy studying and he would come by unannounced. Natsu would climb up to her window, sitting like some good-looking pink-haired Tarzan smiling. It would have been romantic until his smile melted. "I'm bored," he'd say instead of greeting. Nevertheless Lucy would not stop smiling when he surprise visits.

Maybe he would come now.

But that would not happen. Lucy opened her window. She could see how dark the neighborhood is. Thankful for the moonlight, it was an amazing sight. If only Natsu had not brought sorrow to her heart, she would have appreciated the view more.

She sighed and tied her blanket like a cape.

How to climb again? She asked herself. Twice she had marveled stargazing on the roof. Natsu had helped her. She placed her arms on the sill and pulled herself up. When she was all there, she reached for the gutter and held mildly. Her arm reached the uneven column beside her and used it as a handhold. "Here goes nothing," she whined lightly.

"How long are you friends?"

"Almost five, right Natsu?"

"That's incredible."

"Five years of friendzone? Really nice."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

OMG! This was one tough chapter because I have poured out my own experiences with how I felt about love. And my personal experiences are so minimal. If anyone else have read my other stories, you might find similarities with how I approached best friends to lovers concept. I always find it annoying for how people underestimate the troubles of best friends to lovers. It is not easy to deal with. Also, love is a very daring game. And that is what Natsu and Lucy are experiencing here. Just because he or she is always there, he or she is the one, it is not, people will leave you one point and they may or may not come back. This would be fearsome and regrettable.

I hope you like the story so far. :)

chapter 5: Her best friend