Chapter 4

"Cat! Get out of my house!" Lucy yells at Happy as soon as she walks out of her bathroom and sees him making himself at home.

"But I have nowhere else to go, Lucy." Happy says in a sad voice.

"Nice try. But I won't fall something so stupid."

"But it's true. Natsu and Juvia decided to have a fight in our house and they both destroyed it."

"Wait… Natsu and Juvia?" Lucy's jaw drops.

"Aye!" Happy covers the growing blush on his face with his paws, "Natsu and Juvia are in looooove!"

"Hahahahaha! Good one, Happy. That will never happen."

"You didn't see them, Lucy. They looked different." Happy says seriously.

"Happy, Love could be staring right in Natsu's face but he'd think of fighting with it."

He ignores her, "I always thought it was going to be you and Natsu, Lucy." Happy says thoughtfully.

Lucy goes red in the face. "Why would you think that?! I didn't even think of that." 'Well the thought crossed my mind a couple of times but Natsu never seemed to be interested.'

"It's just like Aquarius said you will never find a boyfriend. Natsu is go-"

Happy doesn't get to finish the sentence as Lucy kicks him across the room.

She looks angrily at the blue cat, "You don't have to bring my lack of boyfriend into everything." She huffs, "Where is Natsu, by the way? If he really destroyed the house, he would have been here with you."

Happy stands up shakily, "He didn't come with me."

"Now, I know you are lying. You could have just told me you like my house better than yours."

"You sure think too much of yourself, Lucy."

"Cat, I am very close to throwing you out."

He hugs one of her legs, "No Lucy, don't kick me out." He gives her puppy dog eyes.

"Fine." She gives in.

Happy smiles brightly, "I knew it is easy to melt you."

She sighs. 'Someday, I will get you.' "So, why didn't Natsu want to come with you?"

"Because Juvia didn't want him to." He whispers conspiratorially.

"Huh?!" Her eyes widen in shock.

"Now, do you believe me? That there might be something going on in between them?" Happy asks her.

Lucy looks out of the window unable to agree or disagree. 'Well, this is certainly suspicious behavior.'

After Gray shuts and bolts the door, he turns to look at Natsu. 'If looks could kill, he'd probably be dead by now.' His primal instinct tells him to beat the pulp out of the pink haired freak.

"So, how are we doing this?" Natsu asks suddenly.

"Doing what?" He asks in suppressed anger.

"Do I take your room and you, the sofa?"

"Why would I take the sofa at my own place?"

"Because I'm your guest." Natsu guesses.

"No. I've a spare bedroom." Gray explains. "You take that room."

Natsu frowns a little, "Don't you have a one bedroom apartment?"

Gray shakes his head, "I moved to this new place." He moves his hands around, gesturing towards the apartment.

"Sweet! When did you move?"

'Tch! We may have known each other for a long time but his habit of forgetting details about others is still very annoying.' "A couple of weeks back. Dammit Natsu! You were here just last week with Erza and Cana."

"I don't remember." He replies flatly.

"As expected of you." He looks at his nakama while Natsu looks around the house. "Say, Natsu…"

"Um…"

"What were you and Juvia doing this evening?" He asks with a straight face. 'I can't believe I just asked without thinking it through."

'Damn it, Gray! I can't tell if he is jealous or not! Stupid Expressionless Face!' "Ahhhh… I found her walking around while I was going back home. We started talking and walking. Next thing I remember, we are at my house fighting. She is strong." Natsu sounds impressed.

"She is. She was one of the Element Four in Phantom Lord. She is bound to be strong."

Natsu shrugs, "It doesn't matter to me how she was back then. Now she is strong and that makes her a worthy opponent."

"Yarey, yarey! All you think of is fighting, Natsu." Gray sighs.

"I should have a go at her again." He smirks.

"I think one fight is enough." He says with a sense of finality.

Natsu raises his eyebrow at him, "Juvia will decide if she wants to fight with me again or not."

'I slipped again! Tonight is not my night.' "Ya, I know that. I'm just saying no one would make it a habit to fight you on a regular basis."

Natsu shoots a big smile, "We'll see about that. I'm sleepy." His stomach growls, "On second thoughts, do you have something to eat?" He asks sheepishly.

Gray points towards the kitchen. "There must be some food in the fridge or maybe in the shelves." Gray doesn't keep a lot of food at home because of the nature of his job.

"Great! You are not that bad."

"Too bad, I can't return the compliment."

"DAMMIT GRAY! I'm being nice here."

"So am I. By letting you stay here."

That shuts Natsu up. He goes to the kitchen for food.

"Oye, I'm going off to sleep. Don't ruin my place." Gray calls out while making his way to his bedroom.

"What's that supposed to mean!" Natsu yells while rummaging the fridge.

"Just what it sounds like." Gray chuckles.

"I heard that." He informs the ice mage.

Gray opens his eyes in frustration. 'Dammit! I can't sleep!' He sits up in anger. 'Why am I even reacting this way? It's not like something even happened in between them. But the way they behaved… Why on earth did Juvia even stop calling me 'Gray-sama'? I mean, yes, good riddance! But it was so sudden. Natsu is behind it. I just know it. Flame Brain must have told her something.'

Gray is angered by his own assumptions. 'Tch! Now I'm acting like her. Talking to myself, spacing out. When did she start rubbing off on me?'

He is distracted by the sound of his bedroom door being opened. He looks up to see Natsu leaning casually on the door frame. Gray looks at him questioningly.

"There was hardly any food." He says plainly.

"I don't keep a lot of food here." He replies plainly.

"You could have told me before." Natsu yells. "There was only some fish, some chicken, some curry sort of thing, some cookies and some chips!" Natsu complains.

"You ate all of that?" Gray asks in surprise.

"Yes, of course! I told you I was hungry." He answers like it is the most obvious answer.

"And you are still hungry?"

"Well, I guess, I'll be okay for tonight. I did eat a lot at the guild today." He pats his stomach affectionately.

"Then why are you complaining?" Gray asks angrily.

The fire mage brushes him off, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I don't know." He suddenly covers himself up with his blanket, leaving only his face visible. "If you thought I was asleep, why would come into my room, you pervert! What are your intensions?" Gray shouts.

"WHAT! What the fuck do you think you are saying?" Natsu shouts back at Gray.

"Thank God, I'm awake. I don't know what you would have done to me if I was asleep already."

"GRAY! I don't attack people in their sleep. Unless…" He falls deep into thoughts.

"Unless what, you pinked haired freak?"

He smirks, "Unless drawing on your face with markers will be considered as attacking." He pulls his hand from behind. Gray sees a couple of markers in his hand.

Gray's jaw drops, "There's no way I'll let you destroy my face!"

Natsu frowns, "Fine, not tonight!"

"Not ever!"

Natsu looks seriously at Gray, "Why'd you let me stay?"

Gray understands that this is the closest thing to a 'thank you' he'll get from Natsu, "I don't know. Look, just be grateful and leave it there."

"Bet you didn't want me to stay with Juvia!" Natsu smirks at his frenemy.

Natsu easily dodges the pillow Gray throws at him. "If you want to stay with her so bad, then go over to Fairy Hills right now!"

"Nah!" Natsu shudders. "I don't want Erza, Laki and Cana to attack me."

"Then just go to the next room and sleep." Gray says exasperatedly.

Natsu grunts in response and closes the door behind him.

"Gah! He's so frustrating." He sinks into his bed.

"I heard that!" He hears Natsu say.

"Ummm…" He looks up at the ceiling. 'Looks like, I won't be able to sleep tonight.' He sighs in defeat.

The celestial mage looks out her window hoping that Natsu would drop by any moment. Happy is happily asleep on the bed and snores softly, occasionally sleep talking about fish.

"I don't get it! When I don't need him here, he is always here. And now, when he actually has a reason to be here, he doesn't show up." Lucy says.

"So… much! Must eat… all the fish!" Happy says contently.

'I don't feel alone anymore because of him. I wish he'd show up so I wouldn't worry about him." She chuckles at her thoughts. 'Honestly though, I'm more worried about the damage he must have caused the person he is with now. Juvia?"

Her thoughts drift to Juvia and the possibility of her having a possible relationship with the Fire Dragon Slayer. "Please, they have hardly ever had a proper conversation, so a relationship is out of question."

'But what if they have been fooling everyone from the beginning? They've been together all this time but never let anyone know. Juvia followed Gray around to throw all of us off but in reality she has been following Natsu around. How scandalous!" She puts her fingers on her cheeks, closes her eyes, "That will make a great story. I will start writing it tomorrow."

"But seriously though," She becomes serious again, "I will have to find out what's happening in between them. I will observe them in the guild tomorrow."

She sighs and looks out of the window again.

I apologise for not uploading the new chapter during the weekend. Appy, my lappy, broke down... :-( I had already started working on the chapter on that laptop. For now, I'm using my father's old laptop.

To get the chapter out fast, I may have made mistakes so please forgive me for that.

Please read and review! I love all of the reviews I've gotten till now, thank you so much! you all keep me going! Thanks also to the people who have added the story their lists! I'm very obliged and humbled by the response...:-)

Enjoy! Neepa...:-)