It was unsurprising that Lucy didn't get any sleep that night. All she wanted to do was go on game, get lost in it and forget all her worries, but she didn't. If everyone was online, they'd ask her to join, and she knew the sound of Natsu's voice would only stress her out more.

Lucy lay awake long after she got into bed, her eyes wide and tired as she stared at the ceiling. How is it that she's this scared? Natsu hasn't given her any reason to think he'd react badly – if anything he's given her every reason to believe he'd be fine with it.

If she was honest with herself, she knew it was because she liked Natsu so much. She'd never liked anyone so much or so quickly as she did him. Just thinking about him made heat flood to her cheeks. She pulled her covers up to press over her suddenly flushed face and squeezed her eyes shut. If she wasn't so attracted to him, she wouldn't be freaking out so much.

"Great, so all I have to do is like him less." Lucy whispered to herself and scoffed. That wasn't going to happen any time soon. She reached over to her nightstand and tapped her phone to check the time. She winced at the sudden array of light and lowered the brightness down. Eventually, her eyes adjusted enough to check the time.

"Ah, hell," she muttered as she noted the early hour. "I need to sleep."

She placed her phone back, tucked her sheets back around her and closed her eyes. It sucked, but she knew she had to tell him tomorrow. If Gray told him before her, it would be awful, for her and Natsu.

She willed her thoughts to quiet and eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

Lucy woke up before her alarm, though her phone was blaring. She frowned and answered it without checking who it was to make it shut up.

"Hello?" She asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Address?"

"'Scuse me?" She sat up and heard Gajeel sigh.

"I'm leaving now but I'm gonna get some coffee. Thought I might as well come and meet you so we can walk together."

"That so?" she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

"Yeah, figured you need so whine some more."

"Rude," she tried to laugh but it sounded more like crying. Gajeel groaned.

"Ew, you sound so emotional."

"Shut up, at lease I can emote. We're not all made of stone."

"Good one. Address?"

"I'll text you. Get me a coffee."

"Fuck you." And he hung up. Lucy laughed lightly before texting him her address and how she liked her coffee.

About twenty minutes later she heard a knock at her door. She frowned when she heard laughter and some yelling as she got closer and pulled her door open.

"What the hell is – "

"Finally, will you tell the shrimp that if she's under five foot then she's technically a dwarf?"

Lucy turned her head and looked over Gajeel's shoulder at Levy's small but furious form.

"Um…"

"That isn't even a little bit true, you big oaf!" Levy snapped back but Gajeel just shrugged and snickered.

"Okay," Lucy cut in. "Levy, what are you even doing here? Is everything okay?"

Levy sighed and nodded.

"I leant some of my notes to Jet and he lives in this building. I had to get my books back before class."

"Fair enough. And neither of you could help flirting this loudly at 8 in the morning?" Lucy was delighted to find them both spluttering in denial.

"I would never – "

"He is not my type – "

Lucy just nodded sarcastically and opened her door wider before cutting them off. "Sure. Gajeel, get in here. Levy, meet you at lunch?"

Gajeel made his way into her room as Levy slowly found her words.

"I – Yes, sure."

"Good. Don't worry – I'll be sure to bring Gajeel."

"I do not – " Levy began to screech, Lucy laughed and cut her off with closing the door. She turned to find Gajeel looking like a kicked puppy.

"That was not cool."

"Oh, shut up, you guys are so into each other." Lucy laughed as she made her way into her room to put her textbooks into her bag. Gajeel lingered in the living area.

"That's so fucking untrue," she managed to hear him grumble. She rolled her eyes to herself as she pulled her bag over her shoulder and decided to drop the subject.

"Whatever. You get my coffee?"

"Yes, you fucking ingrate. It's on the table."

Lucy ignored the dig and grabbed her coffee and turned to the door.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

"So," Gajeel began as they exited her building. "You're holding up pretty well."

"What do you mean?" Lucy asked. Gajeel released a puff of air.

"Well, you usually have a mental breakdown every time we even mention the fact you need to tell the Fire Freak the truth. And now you've been given an ultimatum, and have no choice but to tell him today, and you're just… chill."

As Gajeel spoke, Lucy felt that dreaded gnawing in her stomach build once more but did her best not to show it on her face. "I guess. I'm just sick of hiding and being… scared. I just need to get it over with and if Natsu doesn't like it – "

She wanted to say: 'I don't care.' But the words got caught in her throat. Gajeel stayed silent but nodded.

"It doesn't matter," she shook her head and kept her eyes forward. "Natsu is gonna find out today whether I like it or not. I have to tell him and even if I can't – "

"Won't."

"Can't – Gray would tell him anyway. Either way, him finding out today is inevitable."

"That's true," Gajeel agreed, his eyes steely ahead as hers were. "You get that it's for the best though, right? We're not trying to force you to do something you don't want to. It just – "

"I know, I know," Lucy sighed, her steps lagging until she halted to a stop. Gajeel walked a few steps ahead before turning slightly so he could watch her. "I get it's for my own good. If I didn't tell him the situation would just get messier and messier."

"Exactly," Gajeel nodded and turned fully to face her, his hands still in his pockets but his eyes were on her. "It would get to the point where it would be irreparable. And we don't want that, for you or the Fire Idiot."

"Oh," A small smile played on Lucy's lips as she took a step forward. "So, what you're saying is… You're looking out for me."

Gajeel's eyes narrowed warily. "…No."

Lucy laughed. "You get that we're best friend's now, right?"

"No."

"Aw, I always wanted a big, scary, metal best friend!"

"Fucking hell – " He sneered as he began walking again, Lucy giggled as she jogged to catch up and walk beside him. "That was a lot. Anyways, isn't the Shrimp your best friend? Or the other one?"

"No, because Levy and Cana are best friends. We're close, sure, but they're closer. So that leaves…"

"Right, I'm out." Gajeel sped up so much that Lucy near enough had to sprint before she could walk beside him again.

"Aww, wait, wait, wait…" Lucy laughed as she grabbed his arm. Gajeel growled and shook her off.

"Is stress making you insane? Back up," he whined, and Lucy laughed harder.

"Alright, alright," she walked beside him, trying not to chuckle when he grumbled something about 'stupid bunny girls' under his breath.

"So, if it's not too soon to ask," Gajeel began, and Lucy turned to him. "How're gonna break it to the Flame Freak?"

"I have absolutely no idea," she admitted, a knot forming in her stomach when they reached the road that led up to their college. "I barely got any sleep last night just thinking about it."

"Maybe you should just tell him straight up," Gajeel suggested with a shrug. "From what I've seen, the Fire Freak doesn't really respond to people who beat around the bush. His small brain will explode trying to figure out what they're try'na say."

"Alright," Lucy hummed, genuinely receiving the information. "So, no mind games. What else?"

"Um, that's all I've got. Maybe do something thinkin' yourself for a change."

"Alright!" she snapped, her stomach growing more uneasy as they made their way into the college grounds.

"Okay." Gajeel turned to face her and arched a studded brow. "Yer ready?"

Lucy took a deep breath and nodded firmly. "Yes."

"Good. Now leave me alone."

Lucy shot him a nasty look but left to make her way to homeroom, leaving him behind.

"You got this Lucy…" She muttered to herself before she pushed open the doors to homeroom.

As Lucy entered the classroom, the first thing she noted was that Natsu wasn't there. She took another shaky breath as she made her way to her seat and pulled her books from her bag. It was only a few minutes later that Natsu finally made his way into the room. He smiled apologetically at the teacher and apologised for being late before making his way to his seat.

It was just ridiculous that Lucy couldn't take her eyes off him, even when he was doing something as simple as sitting at his desk and pulling his books out. Lucy felt her mouth slowly fall open as he leant back and lazily reached a hand up to push his hair back as he flicked through the book to find the right page. His eyes lifted suddenly to meet hers. Time felt like it had stopped when he watched her for a moment. Eventually, Lucy watched as his lips curled into a slow smirk.

"Oh my God…" Lucy muttered. Her face near enough burst into a flame when she realised that she had whispered it aloud. She turned away before she could take in his expression and glared at the blurry words on her textbook. That did not just happen. It did not.

Lucy could swear she saw Natsu chuckling in the corner of her eye, but she didn't let herself check to be sure. Maybe he didn't even notice, Gajeel said he could be a little dense sometimes. She prayed that this was one of those times.

The teacher had just begun to tell them some announcements when Lucy felt her phone ding in her pocket. She said sorry to the teacher and decided to leave it, hoping it wouldn't go off again.

But - of course - it did. She apologised quietly and retrieved her phone from her pocket in order to put it on silent mode. She noted that it was the chat between her, Gajeel, Gray and Natsu that had gone off. She couldn't see what had been said, but she could see that the last message was from Natsu. Just before she could put it on mute, it dinged again with a text message from Natsu.

Butterflies immediately erupted in her stomach as she quickly read the text. It read:

Natsu (9:17 AM)

Did u rlly just say 'oh my god' for some reason? Cause that was cute af.

Lucy felt her cheeks suddenly heat up all over again as she quickly threw a glance in Natsu's direction.

Oddly, he wasn't chuckling in amusement as she thought he would be. His eyes were already trained on her, as she assumed, they would be. But they weren't amused. They were wide with shock.

It was only then did she connect the dots.

Her phone had just gone off with the group chat and she and Natsu were in.

And immediately after she just very obviously checked those messages, one of which he had received too, she had received a text from him.

He knew. Natsu fucking knew.

She held his gaze for a few seconds longer before all hell broke loose.