AN: So excited to be nearing the halfway point for this story! Mainly so that I can start an AU story, but also because I just love this one too :D

Chapter 11

Lucy let out a hearty laugh as she was surrounded by many of her old friends, explaining how her life had been since the guild disbanded. Everyone welcomed her with open arms and threw a party to celebrate her return. The guild began to reek of alcohol, though not even an hour had passed since the girl arrived, but she didn't mind. This was Fairy Tail, after all. This was her home. This was what she had been missing for over a year and a half.

"Juvia is happy Lucy is back! Though she is also upset that she has more competition now," the water mage announced.

"I-I told you it's not like that," Lucy deadpanned. It really was like old times, though she wished Juvia would get it through her head that she didn't have feelings for Gray. Perhaps if she told the girl who she truly loved she would drop it.

"Lucy, did you finally gain some experience?" Cana asked as she took a swig of whatever she was drinking. "Don't tell me you're still a virg-"

"CANA!" the celestial mage shouted as she leaped towards her and clasped her hand over her mouth. "I-I guess I have some experience…"

"Wait, are you serious!?"

At this point all of the females were surrounding the blonde to listen in on their conversation. Apparently Lucy gaining any romantic experience was too unbelievable.

"Well, I don't know if it's considered experience. I still haven't done anything with anyone, if that's what you're asking. I just turned down a couple of guys."

Cana shrugged and replied, "Hey, as long as you are talking to boys."

Mira then grabbed Lucy's hands and stared into her chocolate-brown eyes. Mira's own magnificently blue eyes twinkled with eagerness as she asked, "Do you at least like someone, Lucy?"

The blonde mage awkwardly chuckled as she rubbed the back of her head. What was she supposed to say when the guy of her affections was just standing feet away? These girls also tended to have big mouths, besides Erza and Levy. Maybe she shouldn't let them know she's fallen head over heels for Natsu.

"Her silence is a definite yes," Levy said with a smirk. "C'mon, Lu-chan! You could tell us!"

"I-I can't!" Lucy replied as she attempted to hide her burning face.

Mira gasped and asked, "He's in this guild, isn't he?"

Lucy weakly nodded and slunk into her seat. Luckily, there were rumors that she was with at least five different guys in this guild, so it couldn't be too easy to figure out. Still, hearing one of the girls call out Natsu's name in a guess worried her and she knew she had to leave before her face exposed the answer. Thus, she quickly got up and excused herself, ready to walk to who knows where.

"Hey, Lucy," Gray started, "where are you going?"

The celestial mage faced her old, dear friend with a smile. His dark hair was disheveled-probably from fighting with the other boys in the guild- and nearly all of his clothes were missing. She couldn't even see them in the guild hall. Just where did they always manage to disappear to? It was like they would vanish into thin air.

Lucy sighed and finally answered, "I'm just going to go for a walk. The girls are bombarding me with questions and I guess I need to escape before they figure things out. Wanna come with me?" They never did get the chance to talk when they came over since Erza and Natsu called dibs on her.

The two walked in a peaceful silence at first, enjoying the cool weather and the night sky. Eventually they began to talk about their lives and what they were doing after Fairy Tail disbanded. To Lucy's surprise, the boy had been living with Juvia before coming back! She had always hoped the two of them would end up together- partly so Juvia would stop pestering her about it- and it seemed they were getting closer and closer. A sudden pain coursed through the blonde's heart as she thought about her own love life. Her nonexistent love life that is.

Lucy let out a sigh as they sat on one of the benches in a nearby park. "So are you ever going to acknowledge Juvia's feelings for you? Especially now that the two of you lived together."

A tint of pink spread across the ice mage's face as he lamely answered, "I don't know… I'm not good at that kind of stuff. I don't know what it means to be in… you know… love. Even if I did love her, what the hell am I supposed to do then?"

"Sheesh, are all boys this dumb? You date her. Take it slow and figure it out on the way."

"How do you know all this stuff when you've never had a boyfriend?"

"I guess I've just read enough to get a basic understanding of it."

Gray nudged the girl next to him and smiled at her. "So, enough about me. What about you? How are things with your love life?"

Lucy laughed and playfully nudged the boy back and answered, "What love life? As if someone like me could have something like that."

"What do you mean? You are Lucy. Everyone's got a crush on you!"

The girl sighed and stared up at the sky. The stars were twinkling magnificently and there was a slight breeze passing by. "Not the guy that I want."

"Ahh, so you've finally figured out your own feelings, huh?"

Lucy blinked once, then twice. "What do you mean?"

"You finally found out who you love. Took you long enough."

"Yeah, well, I wish I hadn't figured it out. This love of mine is unrequited and will stay that way until I die. I'll be forced to adopt a bunch of cats and be known as the crazy cat lady."

Gray chuckled and leaned back on the bench. Lucy wondered how he didn't freak out when his bare back collided with the cold touch of the bench.

Finally, the ice mage replied, "He's just an idiot. Give him time, even someone as stupid as him will come around."

Lucy laughed. "You talk as if you know who I'm in love with."

"Because I do. It's pretty obvious. I've known you've had a thing for Natsu for years." Gray noticed Lucy's jaw dropped and continued. "Erza knows too, and I wouldn't be surprised if Happy and Mira knew. Hell, even the whole guild might know you love the guy."

"Except for him, huh?"

"Just wait it out, Lucy. If he doesn't figure it out on his own soon, I'll nudge him in the right direction. I might have to use my fists to do so, though."

Lucy sighed contently, feeling as if she had an older brother. She was glad to have talked to Gray about this. It was as if a huge weight on her shoulders has finally been removed just confessing to someone- though it wasn't the person that held her affections. Gray then reached his hand towards the girl to help her up, which she accepted with a warm smile and a giggle. They then made their way back towards the guild while chatting about random things.

Natsu was in the process of punching Elfman in the face when he noticed Gray and Lucy leaving the guild. A snarl and low growl escaped his lips and he tried to go after them, only to be pulled back by Gajeel. The metal dragon slayer punched him in the face and began to laugh maniacally. The other male mages joined in the fight, making it impossible for Natsu to leave and follow the two.

Eventually, somebody- he wasn't sure who- managed to ruin Erza's cake, which resulted in her joining the fight and quickly putting it to an end by pulverizing everyone. Once Natsu was able to stand back up, his bones aching from the redhead's wrath, he made his way outside. His steps were wobbly and he was finding himself losing his balance, though he kept trudging towards the vanilla-lavender scent he remembered as Lucy's.

Finally, Natsu found the two sitting on a bench near the park, a little too close for his liking. It took every being in his body not to run towards them and drag Gray away from Lucy. The boy went close enough just to listen to their conversation. His eyes widened as he found they were discussing the topic of love. Apparently Lucy talked about this kind of stuff with everyone.

"You finally found out who you loved. Took you long enough," the dragon slayer heard Gray say.

"Yeah, well, I wish I hadn't figured it out. This love of mine is unrequited and will stay that way until I die. I'll be forced to adopt a bunch of cats and be known as the crazy cat lady," Lucy replied, making Natsu wonder who could be the one to not return her feelings.

The dragon slayer then listened as Gray talked about how stupid and dense this mystery person was for not knowing his feelings towards Lucy.

"How could somebody not know when they are in love?" Natsu wondered, unintentionally zoning out of the two's conversation. "Isn't it supposed to be obvious or something? And who the hell could reject Lucy's feelings? Whoever that guy is, is an idiot! I'm gonna have to teach him a lesson when I meet the guy."

Natsu convinced himself that he was only thinking that because Lucy was his best friend and didn't like to see her hurt. It's not as if he could have feelings towards her, right? Natsu then tuned back into the conversation (sadly missing the part when Gray said that it was Natsu himself that Lucy loved). He then realized that Gray knew who this mystery guy was. Gray of all people knew who Lucy liked, but he didn't? Apparently Erza knows, along with Happy and Mira. Just who the hell was this guy? He knew it was somebody in the guild since he was listening to Lucy's conversation with the rest of the girls, but if it wasn't Gray, then who was it?

Natsu was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the two getting up. Dashing back towards the guild, he made sure to beat them there so that they didn't know he was listening to their conversation. He waited patiently for the two to arrive, and when they finally did, the boy quickly grabbed Happy along with Lucy's hand and dragged them back towards their house. The curiosity over this mystery guy was killing him. He needed to know, and by all means he was going to find out.

"Natsu, this place is a mess!" Lucy screeched as she entered the small cottage. Clothes were piled like mountains on the floor, dirty dishes were piled in the sink and scattered around the house, and as she expected, fish bones were laying in the oddest of places. "Do you two ever clean this place up?"

"Nope!" Happy answered as he began to munch on a new fish. Quickly finishing it, he tossed the bones onto the floor and sat onto the couch.

Lucy marched towards the exceed and placed her hands on her hips. "Happy! You can't just toss your trash on the floor like that! Are you trying to attract cockroaches? That's it! I'll just go stay at a hotel or something tonight!"

Natsu grabbed the girl before she could walk out the door and said, "No, Luce! You can't just leave! Look, we can all just clean the place up! Right, Happy?"

The blue cat reluctantly nodded and replied, "Aye…"

With that, the three quickly began to clean the small cottage- well, Lucy and Natsu were cleaning as Happy simply pretended to help. Despite the small size of the house, it took what seemed like forever to finish cleaning. Their backs ached from the hard work and they all plopped onto the floor with sighs after finally finishing.

"Hey, Lucy," Natsu started, unsure as to how to continue. Deciding to just rip it off like a band-aid, the boy bluntly asked, "Who do you love?"

The blonde nearly choked as she was drinking water when he suddenly asked the question she was hoping he would never ask. "W-Why do you want to know?"

"Well apparently everyone knows but me! I'm your partner, I should know!"

Happy's glance switched between the two amusedly. Both were so dense, it was surprising the two managed to stay alive this long.

Lucy sighed and answered, "I love a lot of people! I love you guys, my parents, my celestial spirits, everyone in Fairy Tail-"

"Oi, you know what I mean!" the dragon slayer interrupted, now sitting up and paying full attention to the girl. Her face was a deep shade of red and her arms were crossed in front of her chest in a pout. "Cute- Wait, what am I thinking!?"

"I-It doesn't matter who it is!"

"Why don't we make a game out of this then?" Natsu asked. He didn't know why he was so desperate to find out who this mystery guy was as if his life depended on it, but he knew it was killing him not knowing. "I get to ask three questions about him and you have to truthfully answer."

"And why the hell would I do that? What's in it for me?"

"…I'll take you shopping and buy you whatever you want."

Lucy's jaw dropped as she stared at the pink-haired mage in front of her. Whenever she asked him to go shopping with her, he would always turn her down saying it was too boring. And now here he was saying he would go and pay for everything! It was like a dream come true.

"Fine," the girl finally said. "But how will you know I'm telling the truth?"

"I'm a dragon slayer, Luce! I can hear your heartbeat!"

"…Alright but I get to pass on questions I don't like!"

"Deal! Alright, what is the color of his hair?" Natsu smirked, knowing this was a brilliant question considering everyone in Fairy Tail seemed to have distinct hair colors.

Lucy's face reddened even more than before as she squealed, "PASS!"

"Damn it. Alright, what is his favorite food?"

"I-I don't think he has a favorite. He eats everything."

"Damn, that doesn't help me. OK, what team is he on in Fairy Tail?"

"P-Pass!"

"Damn it, Lucy! You are making this too difficult! What is his favorite color?"

"Red! I think…"

Natsu sighed and asked, "Lucy do you even know this guy!?"

"S-Shut up!" the girl replied.

"OK, last question. What is the first letter of his name?"

Lucy contemplated whether she should pass this question or not. Part of her wanted him to figure it out, another part of her didn't. Perhaps part of her believed Natsu felt the same. Even if he didn't, it would take some of the weight off her shoulders from keeping it a secret, just as it did with Gray. Then again, if he found out and took it the wrong way it could ruin their friendship…

Finally, the girl announced, "His name starts with the letter 'N.' Good luck figuring it out." With that, she was making her way towards the bathroom to get ready for bed when a hand gently grabbed her wrist, sending warmth throughout her body. She turned around to find Natsu looking at her with his signature grin.

"I'm going to figure it out, Luce! Just you wait!" he exclaimed determination gleaming in his eyes.

"I hope you do," she whispered in reply.

"And I hope you love me back."

AN: I'll admit, a tiiiiny part of me used to ship Gray and Lucy haha! But I really like the two of them as super close friends, like brother and sister! :D Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter :D

MarSofTheGalaxies: Thank you! :D In regards to the pairing filter thing, what exactly is that and how do I do it haha? XD

J.C: Well, now you got the conversation with Lucy and Gray! :D I'm glad someone was anticipating it because I really wanted the two to have a nice conversation! And lol don't worry about reviewing, there are a lot of chapters hahaha! Thanks again :)

Kyouya Sata: OMG believe me I am just as conflicted with it as you are. I mean, I know I wanted her to come back for sure in my story, but I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be this soon haha! In the end I went with it because I want the first half of the story to be getting her back to Fairy Tail, then the next to be all about the two discovering their feelings and whatnot (and some other stuff mixed in that I won't spoil :D) Thank you for the review :)

Satomi Rin: Yes he is such a dimwit hahaha! It'll be even worse in the next chapter, just wait for it haha! :D (I think it's funny XD) And thank you :D

12Rayne: HAHAHA NICE! That's just what I wanted hahaha! Don't worry, the time for a love confession will come... eventually ;) Thanks again :D

Mavis Chase: Thank you so much! :D not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of the flower garden bit, I thought it was cute haha!

Mirror Flame: I think I'm on chapter 101! If you're looking for an AU story, my ABSOLUTE FAV is Texting Fire. ITS SO CUTE. If not... I like Dragon's Guide to Claim Your Mate!