It was safe to say that Natsu had always been a little suspicious.

He wasn't as dense as some of his friends may think he was. He noticed that some girls had a certain reaction to him, it's just he usually didn't really acknowledge it since he wasn't interested. And it had always been that way.

That was until he noticed a pretty blonde girl looking at him in his new homeroom.

Natsu was being honest when he insisted, he really didn't know what was so different about her. She certainly acted like other girls he had encountered, blushing a lot, and getting flustered easily. But at the same time, she couldn't be more different. He felt a weird sense of pride whenever he caused her to blush, and he found that her blushing was quickly becoming one of his favourite expressions on her.

When he ran into her the first time at the coffee place, he was surprised at her response to him. Natsu had seen her around college enough to know that she certainly wasn't a shy person. She was strong and confident, and certainly didn't shy away from telling people if they were being a dick. But when she ran into him, it was like he had encountered a startled bunny.

Sure, she seemed more comfortable with him by the time they walked to college, and he thought: Shit, progress. But from then on, she started acting like an even bigger weirdo.

Natsu would be lying if he said he didn't kinda like it. She wasn't like any girl he had ever met in his life, and it was just so damn amusing. He physically couldn't get bored with her around and – Yeah. He really liked it.

It was when he walked her home that he noticed she upgraded her weirdo tendencies. The startled bunny was back, and as funny it was to watch it did confuse him a little bit. She didn't seem nervous around anyone else, so why him?

Regardless, he found himself craving her presence more the more he spent time with her. He could barely believe it himself when he let her borrow his scarf. That was certainly something he had never done before – Not ever.

And then to forget it! That made him realise just how much she distracted him, that he would literally walk away from her while his prized scarf was wrapped snugly around her neck.

When he realised that he had left his scarf with her he got a little stressed and wanted it back. But if he was being honest with himself, he was a little thrilled he had an excuse to see her again. It got even better when he saw that she had a full-blown gaming set up in her home. She was a hardcore gamer too? Can't get any better than that.

Natsu knew by then that he wanted to see if this could go anywhere. He was so annoyed that he didn't get to ask her out the first time that he needed an excuse to go to her house to ask her properly. He couldn't believe how elated he felt when she actually said yes, with that soft but hesitant smile.

He nearly forgot that she was a full-blown weirdo till he encountered her with the Metal Freak. Why would Lucy be friends with him? And why were they being so weird about it? His suspicions were only amplified when he noticed Gray's confusion and doubts too.

When the Metal Freak and she wandered off Natsu may have let it go if Gray hadn't sketchily said he suddenly wanted to stop fighting because he had somewhere else to be. Natsu wasn't too surprised when he confirmed by following him that Gray was going to find where Gajeel and Lucy got off too.

But just because Gray was a sketchy creep didn't mean that Natsu was too. Natsu left to go to class, but not before hearing a certain word – or more specifically – name.

Chill.

Okay. Okay. So, what did that mean? Did Lucy know Chill? Did he live in the city too? Or even more weird – Did he go to their college too?

Then Natsu really jumped down the rabbit hole.

Lucy obviously liked him – He was confident enough in himself to notice that. But he also noticed she treated him differently in a way that seemed nervous – almost like she was holding something back.

Then he thought about the gaming set up.

She was friends with Gajeel.

Gray seemed to know something about that too.

They were talking about Chill.

It was at that point that Natsu just genuinely worried that Lucy's weirdness was contagious. This was just way too far-fetched.

But it still played on his mind.

The next day, he noticed that Lucy had walked to college with Gajeel. He did his best not to eavesdrop, but it was kinda fucking hard when the Metal Freak said something about a 'Flame Brain' every five minutes. He eventually blocked the whole thing from his mind before making his way to the bathroom before homeroom. Wherever his brain was taking him, it was definitely wrong.

He felt his chest tighten when he looked up from his desk to see Lucy's eyes on him. She looked very distracted and Natsu just had to grin. He could barely believe it when he saw her full lips mouth three words he knew too well before she quickly turned away.

When his phone buzzed in his pocket, his whipped it out to see it was the group chat. But what caught his eye – and ear – more was that Lucy's phone chimed in sync. He looked up and frowned. His suspicions that it was her were confirmed when she apologised to the teacher. He quickly typed a response to Gray.

His chest tightened when he saw her pull out her phone as it chimed again, her face flushed with embarrassment. To seriously confirm what he now knew, he sent a quick text to her phone number while her eyes were on the screen.

He heard the phone ding again and watched her face heat up more. When her big brown eyes lifted to meet his, he couldn't compose his expression even if he tried.

It was Lucy.

Lucy was Chill.

And fuck, she knew he had figured it out. Her eyes grew wider than he had ever seen them before. Oh, my fucking God, so it was true. She really was Chill.

"Oh…" He said under his breath. "Oh, shit. Oh, okay – Wow – "

"Mr Dragneel, is everything okay?" He could hear the teacher ask faintly. Lucy shot up from her desk when Natsu grew louder and started to stand himself.

"You! You're – And Metal and – This is – Wow - "

"Sir, can I talk to Natsu outside for a moment?"

She didn't wait for a reply as she quickly dragged the spluttering Natsu into the hallway and whipped around.

"I can't believe this – " He managed to splutter as they came to a stop.

"I know, I know!" Lucy whined and paced in front of him. Natsu slumped on a bench up against the wall in the empty hallway, still shell-shocked as he watched Lucy's pacing form.

"So – So you're…?"

Lucy stopped pacing and stopped to a standstill in front of him. "Yes."

Natsu nearly choked on his breath. "You're Chill?"

"…Yes."

"How is this possible?"

"I don't know!" Lucy whined and resumed her pacing as Natsu was quickly connecting some dots in his head.

"Wait, wait, wait – So you knew who I was?"

He watched as she lagged a little.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

He had to fight a wince at the sudden guilt on her face. "After when we first spoke at the coffee place."

"…Oh."

"Yeah. I recognised your voice."

Alarm bells rang in his head. "So, that's why you never came on call? Because you didn't want us to know that you were a girl?"

"Yeah. I used to go on call in game, but I'd always get trouble from creeps. So, then I just stopped going on call, but my name seemed to give me away. So…"

"So, you made out that you were a guy." Natsu sighed and rubbed his temples. "That's so shitty but I get it. Guys can be such dicks."

Lucy laughed breathlessly and made her way forward to slump onto the bench beside him. He heard her sigh and held his breath as he waited for her to speak again.

"Even before I met you, I wanted to tell you guys that I was a girl," she whispered. "You were all so much fun, and we had been playing together long enough for me to be sure you weren't jerks. I wanted to be able to go on call and be properly a part of the team."

"So why didn't you?" He whispered back. Lucy didn't answer for a moment.

"By the time I plucked up the courage to do it, I met you."

Natsu frowned. Lucy continued before he could question her.

"I met you and… When I realised who you were, I just freaked out. I couldn't believe we went to the same college. I had heard that Ice – I mean – Gray and you went to the same college, so I knew he was around too. It was so uncanny. And then – " Lucy trailed off. Natsu turned his head to find that her face was flushed. He turned his head in confusion.

"And then?" He prompted. Lucy made a small, embarrassed sound that made him have to fight a smile.

"And then I realised I had a crush on you," she whispered and Natsu genuinely felt like his chest was going to burst. It was hard to stay composed as she continued. "You were so… You know. I just couldn't believe you were actually Dragon, that Dragon was – " She cut herself off again, her face redder than Natsu had ever seen it.

"I knew I had to tell you, but I was so scared that it'd be too much. I didn't want to lose all the fun we had when we gamed but I also… I really wanted to see if this could go somewhere." She gestured between them. Natsu smiled and nodded for her to continue.

"Gajeel figured me out eventually. He could tell that I was hiding something as Chill and I kinda broke down and told him everything. He's actually became one of the most stable friends in my life – He's told me from day one to just tell you the truth."

"And the Ice Queen found out yesterday?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah. He noticed something was weird between Gajeel and I and then overheard Gajeel call me Chill. He figured it out from there."

"I see…" Natsu nodded and hesitated a moment before asking: "When were you gonna tell me? Were you gonna tell me?"

"I was," Lucy nodded furiously and faced him fully. "I was actually going to tell you today. And if I ended up chickening out, Gray was going to tell you."

"Ice Freak?"

"Yeah, he was actually the one who told me I had let this go on for way too long," Lucy sighed. "He told me that I had to tell you today or he would."

"Why'd he do that?"

Lucy smiled in amusement. "Well, I got the vibe that he was looking out for his closest friend."

"Ugh, ew, you weirdo! That's just gross," Natsu whined and pushed her away lightly as she laughed.

"It was actually kind of sweet." Lucy admitted with a smile. Natsu shook his head but couldn't help but grin.

"Sure," Natsu rolled his eyes before turning to look at her. She was staring at the floor and looked tense as fuck. Natsu waited a moment before collecting the last of his thoughts and releasing a sigh.

"You wanna start over?"

Lucy looked up at him with wide eyes. Natsu had to fight a smirk at her expression. She was too cute for her own good.

"Seriously? I haven't completely scared you off?"

"I actually suspected from day one that you were a bit of a weirdo," He teased her. "I get it. It was a pretty impossible situation. I kinda get why you freaked."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Lucy beamed at him. The smile she gave him was almost blinding, so much so that he chuckled gruffly and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Anything else I needa know?"

Lucy laughed.

"I'll have a think and get back to you."