Hello, it's Ella! It's finally summer break which means I can focus more on writing! I haven't updated recently because I've actually been writing other parts of the story first because it just naturally comes to me that way.

Also my chapters are getting longer and longer AND I'VE BEGUN WRITING THE FLUFF SCENES. They will come in the next couple chapters, I promise!~

Summary of last chapter:

Basically Gray, Natsu, Erza, Levy and Mira were ninjas in the building of Nifil Corporation trying to catch the perps. Exposition. Background about the case. You meet red wine man and he's totally pissed at Makarov for being a popular kid in the mage world and wasted wine and a wine glass in the process. Lucy tried to be a ninja but Erza's ninja skills were better but Lucy got away from Erza and Natsu (But she doesn't know it was him). The Fairy Tail gang is questioning the Wizard Counsel because they are so suspicious.~ o.o

Anyways, here's the story peeps.

Chapter 7: Close Encounter

"Lucy, are you okay? You look really tired." Wendy frowned and walked over to Lucy who had been sitting on the couch rubbing her temples for the last ten minutes.

Wendy remembered waking up this morning, earlier than her best friend as usual, and got their clothes ready. She woke Romeo up in a pretty tame manner today because he seemed to be in a good mood again today. Usually, they would see their elder preparing breakfast or cleaning up the house but today she wasn't.

Lucy was sitting on the couch obviously bothered by something. Romeo and Wendy were worried because it had been years since they had seen her like this. Trying to help her cheer up, the kids sat down both sides of her and hugged her.

She was a bit surprised but nonetheless still accepting of the hugs she received from them. She had to admit, it cheered her up a bit that they wanted to try and comfort her but it bugged her that they had to see her like this when she would always try so hard not to break down in front of them.

The night before had affected Lucy more than she had expected. She wasn't sore from running or psychologically scarred that the red-haired woman had chucked swords at her. Instead, she felt emotionally drained. She was furious with herself for breaking character at what was possibly the worst time possible to do so.

Why had she decided to say anything? She knew that it was her job to do whatever her master says and stay quiet. It was forbidden to reveal any information to anyone besides those involved and to prove that rules need to be strictly enforced, their master demonstrated one of the forms of punishment you would receive if you dared challenge him.

She practically has her life on the line and yet she just couldn't resist speaking up for herself and her friends. Lucy was secretly hoping that this would change everything. Somehow, someway, or by some magical force it would make everything better but as much as she wanted to hold on to the hope that it will all turn out okay, she reminded herself that that kind of thing only happens in fairy tales.

The fact that she could not even tell the two little bundles of joy that she always tried to hard to protect who she really was would snap her back into reality. The tasks she is forced to do is a constant reminder of the choices she made to get there. Her jobs are a reminder that she could possibly be living a more stable lifestyle but that certain events in her past clouded her vision for her future self.

Lucy couldn't remember a single time where she had been truly content with every aspect of her life. There was just always something wrong. Either she had no money, no family, no friends, no health or as she had come to realize recently, no happiness. She loved Romeo and Wendy, she really did. She cared for them as best as she could and always put in as much energy as she had so that they'd grow up with a happy childhood.

She loved them but it was all for them. Lucy was a generally selfless person opposed to the cold and harsh demeanor that she portrayed when she was trying to be inconspicuous. It hurt her when she couldn't help someone out or save them because she just wasn't allowed to. Those situations would make her feel horrible about the kind of person she had become.

It had been getting more and more difficult to tell apart her real self from her façade. If it was the real Lucy or the fake Lucy making these decisions she will never know. Her life was getting harder to manage and it was taking a toll on her.

Romeo and Wendy did not know much how her past but they prided themselves in knowing Lucy for who she is now. It would destroy Lucy if they found out about all the horrible things she had done and is currently involved in. There's no doubt on her mind that they would never look at her the same way ever again if that were to happen.

They were children but they were definitely old enough to understand the type of jobs and work she did. She wasn't proud of it, in fact, she hated the situation she was in with every fiber in her being. It was difficult to care of them let alone even take care of herself. She was a train wreck and they would be scared of her.

Although her life seemed to be slowly falling apart, she would always undoubtedly try her best to stay strong and be a good role model for Romeo and Wendy. She will be the first to admit that she knows she is not perfect and that certain aspects of her parenting style are not the best but she knows they will survive.

They will be able to fend for themselves when they are older so they do not need to depend on anyone else. It will be easy for them to keep moving forward and Lucy was trying to making sure that she could too despite all her struggling.

Lucy looked at the kids and gave them a small smile. "I'll make breakfast."

Romeo frowned at her. "No it's alright, Lucy. We can make our food today."

"No, no. It's alright, I'll make it." She got up and walked into the kitchen to make them food.

As soon as she was out of sight, Romeo and Wendy looked at each other with worried looks on their faces. They could tell that she was getting more stressed out with every passing day and even though Lucy denies it or brushes it off today was a perfect example of her not being herself. It worried them that she might be spiraling out of control and there is nothing they can really do about it.

They wanted to help but they just did not know how. It seemed that every attempt they made to comfort her ended in someone walking away from the conversation before anything of value could be said. It saddened them that they were seeing her for less time every day as the year went on.

She wasn't home that often anymore and they had begun to doubt that she had any free time or breaks. Working. She was always working. It did not used to be that way. There was a time when she was home immediately after they got back from school to when they went to sleep. Now the only times they see her are in the morning when she takes them to school, the brief time when she would come home late in the afternoon for a couple of minutes to change and head off to another job and on certain occasions when she wished them goodnight.

The kids would try and go see Lucy at work whenever they could because they wanted to make sure that she hadn't vanished. Sometimes when they'd show up she would be visibly tense. They would shrug it off and blame her being busy at work for her being wound up but that wasn't the case.

It would be incorrect to say that she wasn't stressed due to the multiple jobs she has but she did not want them to be wandering around places she was at in case one of her clients, coworkers or bosses decides to do something irrational or dangerous. People were out to get her so she tried her best to make sure that they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire if things went downhill.

Nevertheless, she hasn't turned them away. It hasn't gotten to the point where she has needed to do so. She would let them stay and enjoy her company while she quietly did her job. Thankfully, they only knew about the jobs that were safer to be at because if they knew about her night job it would cause many problems. The kids meant no harm so Lucy tried to act as if nothing is wrong but remained on guard, ready for the worst.

"Romeo! Wendy! The food is ready." Lucy shouted from the kitchen.

The kids headed to the kitchen and grabbed their food. She had made them some pancakes which looked absolutely delicious. They couldn't help themselves and they dived into the food almost immediately. After about ten minutes of eating, they hurried out the door so they wouldn't be late for school.

Lucy dropped them off at school how she normally did. The three of them had a friendly banter and said their goodbyes like always. As soon as Romeo and Wendy were out of sight, she headed to work at the restaurant. She walked to work slower than usual since she was dreading how horribly the day was going already only a few hours after the sun had come up.

Since it was a Friday afternoon it was extremely busy at the restaurant. It was rush hour and costumers were flooding in every minute. It was days like these were Lucy felt the most tired because she would run around trying to make sure everything was in order.

Yukino was also stressed out on days when it was busy because she wanted a good reputation for her restaurant. It was hard to open a new business in Fiore however she had chosen the perfect time to establish a business in an area that was demanding for more local businesses.

However, that did not exclude her restaurant from competing with other family restaurants or food chains. You needed to fight for every costumer you had otherwise they'd go to other places to find better service and food. Even though it was quite easy in Magnolia to capture the attention of dozens of new patrons, it was just as easy to make them disinterested.

Lucy's boss recently had to hire more workers because there simply weren't enough people in her restaurant to control the masses. It made the job a lot easier for sure. It may cost her a lot more money to pay them but it lessened to burden on her workers that were swamped with things to do. This allowed the workers to take turns with shifts and allowed some to be on break because there were still plenty of people out on the floor.

"Lucy, I'm so tired." Yukino flopped onto the table in the worker's lounge.

"Go to sleep earlier when you get home today." Lucy replied casually.

"Aren't you tired?"

Lucy shrugged and folded her arms. "You get used to it I guess."

"Aw, that isn't something you should be used to. You're always telling me to take care of myself but I don't see you following your own advice."

"I've tried. Unfortunately, I keep falling back into my old habits."

"Take a break every once in a while. Hey, why don't you go on vacation? That will surely take your mind off things."

"I can't afford to go on vacation." Lucy quickly dismissed the idea.

"Why not? What's the point of working so much if you're going to explode one of these days?"

Lucy laughed. "Geez, Yuki you're so overdramatic."

"I try." Yukino joined in, laughing with Lucy.

"Anyways, I can't take a vacation. I need to keep working for my sake and the kids. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll finally agree to it."

"I hope that you'll agree to doing it too. You need to do something for yourself for a change. Stop worrying so much about pleasing Romeo and Wendy and focus on helping yourself."

"They're children." Lucy frowned.

"They're growing up. They're not little kids anymore, Lucy. Look at them, they are almost teenagers and they know how to take better care of themselves better than any other kids around their age thanks to you."

"Hmm… I think you might be right."

"Listen. If you want to take of them so badly then you need to realize that your health is also very important to them. They're kids but not clueless so they'll know that something is not right. Don't make them worry about you 'cause that will only make it worse."

"I'll try. I won't make any promises but I'll try."

"Good. You're way too young to worry about them so much. You're not even that much older than them, only a few years' difference. You're not even old enough to be their mom."

"Biologically it's impossible so yes that's true."

"So stop acting like one. I understand that you love them and want to protect them but act like the protective older sister instead of their mom. That's not your job. Live life, you're still young. You're beautiful and have so much going for you. Honestly, I want to see good ol' Lucy back from before we… you know."

"I know I'm not their mom and that I'm not even related to them but they've help me in so many ways. I am so much more responsible than I was before and I learned to take care of myself and others. You know that I didn't know how to do that before."

"We both ran away for a reason huh?" Yukino wistfully smiled. "But I want to make sure that you're making the right decisions here. We escaped to find happiness but I'm not sure you'll find that if you're working all the time."

"You work all the time too so what is the difference?"

"That's different. My dream has always been to own a restaurant and my passion is cooking. I work a lot but because that's what I love doing. But you on the other hand don't seem happy. You never were the type to just settle down without putting up much of a fight so I don't understand why you're giving up now."

"I haven't given up, there are just other things that are more important."

"I'm pretty sure your mother would beg to differ. She valued two things more than anything and besides your father I think you'd know that better than anyone else."

Lucy became sullen and smiled a sad smile. "Love and happiness."

"She was a wonderful person and you remind me of her. Another thing you had in common was your passions. When we were little you'd always talk about adventure. You wanted to explore to world and have amazing, once in a life time experiences. Hopefully you still feel that way because lately I haven't been able to tell whether or not you've changed both on the inside and outside."

"I think we've both changed a lot, don't you?"

"I feel like we've switched roles in this friendship. You're usually the one lecturing me but here I am reminding you that's okay for you to be yourself."

Lucy smiled. "You've matured. I'm proud of you."

"I hope so! I'm twenty-two and you're seventeen so I'm obligated to be the more mature one" Yukino said sarcastically.

"You're so old." Lucy teased.

"Twenty-two is not old!" Yukino shrieked, "I'm still a glowing young woman who was so much to live for."

"Oh yeah, you're totally living for that guy you like."

Yukino leaned in closer to her and lowered her voice. "We shall not speak of him while at work."

"But he's eye candy to you right?"

"N-no! He's so much more than that. He's a great guy, I promise."

"When are you going to introduce me to him?"

"Uhh… I don't know."

"You don't want me to meet him?"

"No, it's not that. I swear."

"Wait… don't tell me! You haven't had the courage to talk to him? Is that it?"

"Well…"

"Yukino!" Lucy raised her voice in disbelief.

"Ah, calm down!"

"But you've known him for months. I would have thought that you would have asked him out to dinner or something along those lines by now."

"I'm nervous. I back out at last minute whenever I want talk to him about it."

"Don't be so afraid. From what you've said, I think you might have a food chance with the guy."

"I think I'm just going to take things at my own pace. I'll tell you whenever I'm truly ready to ask him out."

"Don't make him wait too long." Lucy joked.

"Haha very funny. Now enough about my love life, what about yours?" A somewhat sinister smile appeared on Yukino's face.

"What about it?"

"You said there's a guy, huh? What's he like?"

"I literally know almost nothing about the guy so there's not much to tell."

"But I bet you guys had this instant connection. First time you've ever mentioned a guy to me in years without giving me any details."

"That's because I don't know any."

"Well you ought to know something."

"I know his name unless it was an alias."

"What's his name? I'll ask around to see if anyone knows the guy."

"Like hell I would tell you."

"Awh, come on Lucy. Don't be like that."

"You haven't told me your mystery guy's name. Also, I don't want you investigating him because that's a bit creepy."

"Creepy but you get all the information you need."

"I'd rather ask him upfront then find out through possible rumors."

"He could lie to you, you know."

Somehow, Lucy doubted that Natsu would do that to her. He didn't seem like the type of person to lie about who he was. Even if one day he fed her lies Lucy was pretty sure she would be able to tell that he was doing so.

"I'll take my chances."

"That's the spirit! Be a risk taker."

Lucy sat there and thought to herself: You have no idea. She may be close with Yukino ever since they were little kids but there were certain things that they kept hidden from her as well. Yukino was practically her older sister so as much as she knew it was unfair to hide the fact that she's involved in shady activity but it would spear her from constantly being in fear that something would go wrong.

Whenever certain situations arose where Yukino tried to help Lucy she would get some of her fellow guild members involved. Yukino decided that she wanted to be apart of a guild because it would be a wonderful opportunity to practice her magic.

It was ironic she was something that Lucy had a huge resentment towards. Sometimes it put Lucy on edge knowing that Yukino was a part of one of the more powerful guilds; Lumia Scale. She had to be extra careful when one of their members would drop by the restaurant because she couldn't risk getting recognized by any means.

Lucy did not know anyone from Lumia Scale which was a major disadvantage. Since she wasn't interested in getting too involved with the mage world she tried her best to avoid direct contact. Unfortunately, this meant that she did not know if the person walking right next to her in public is possibly a mage. It usually is awkward when she finds out someone she has met is a mage but Lucy has learned to deal with this issue over time.

Lucy looked up at the clock that hung over the door. "Our break is over. Time to get back to work."

"Right when it was getting to the good part too." Yukino sighed disappointedly and stood up.

"It is a sign that we should stop talking about it."

"I'll get you to tell me everything eventually, just you wait!" Yukino enthusiastically said to her.

Lucy gave her a sad smile. "Maybe one day."

Yukino opened the door and peeked out to see what was going on in the restaurant. To Lucy's surprise, Yukino started laughing to herself and continued to stare out the door.

"What is so funny?"

"There's a man that just walked in and he looks so weird." Yukino whispered to Lucy.

"How so?" Lucy got up and tried to peek through the small slit that the door allowed them to see through.

"He has pink hair."

Lucy's eyes widened and she covered her mouth so Yukino would not hear the gasp of surprise that she had made. Natsu? What is he doing here? She continued to look at him as he walked across the restaurant and sat where one of the waiters directed him to sit. He was with another person that looked around the same age as Natsu and Lucy wondered if they were friends.

She had never seen him interact with anyone else before and was half curious to see what his interaction with his friend would be like. It was a stupid idea because there was no way she would be able to spy on them without being noticed and rejected the idea of gaining some information on him.

Yukino smirked and closed the door. "Lucy, you should totally go ask him if he dyed his hair or if it's naturally like that."

"No way." She denied almost instantly.

"Why not?"

She had to think of some excuse to avoid going out there and talking to him face to face. He would definitely recognize her voice given the opportunity to hear it when not in her cloak. Out of all chances the one person that does not have anything to lose if he revealed her identity happened to waltz into one of the few places she could not really hide.

"It's because it's rude." Lucy responded lamely.

"Oh don't give me that. You've definitely have heard much worse."

"I'm not going to be responsible for making a fool out of myself in front of a stranger."

"You're no fun." Yukino huffed and folded her arms.

"You are not respecting the costumers."

"It's just a simple question. It's not like it's going to hurt anyone."

"You never know. It could one the one thing he is super self-conscious about."

"Alright, alright I get it. I'll just go out there to serve him but as punishment you have to cook his food."

"Fair enough."

Yukino grabbed her note pad and pen off the table and headed out the door. Lucy took the opportunity to hide behind her and rush to the kitchen without being noticed by Natsu. She swiftly went to get her cooking apron and tied her hair up in a neat, golden bun.

Lucy looked at the clock in the kitchen expectantly. She was just counting down the minutes until she had to go to her other job because it would spear her from running into Natsu. She had this feeling that she needed to get out of there as soon as possible and there was no way that Lucy was going to deny her gut feeling even if that meant ruining any chances of getting to know the guy that peeked her interest.

Natsu walked into the restaurant a bit annoyed that ice princess hadn't let him pick where they were going to eat lunch. Even though he was angry that he did not let him go to the buffet across the street, Natsu calmed down as they enter the quaint restaurant.

"Table for two." Gray calmly told the waitress assigned to designate people to their tables.

"Ooh. Y'all on a date or somethin'?" The waitress asked curiously.

"No!" Gray and Natsu shouted simultaneously.

"Ah, what a shame." She waitress frowned and signaled for them to follow her.

The waitress eerily reminded the boys of their scary matchmaker friend, Mira. A shiver went down their spines as they released that they would never be free of the relentless and passionate fangirls. Their friend's simple pass time sometimes worried the two considering that many of the people they have met on the streets that also have a habit of "shipping" people are dangerous to be around.

As they sat down, Natsu could feel the stares of the other customers ogling his strangely colored hair. It was normal for him to receive looks wherever he went because he knew he stuck out like a sore thumb. Since it happened frequently, it did not bother him in the slightest anymore.

"Someone will be right with you to take your order." The waitress nodded and walked back to her position by the door.

As soon as the waitress was gone, Gray turned to Natsu looking quite upset. Gray was a genuinely calm and collected person who only would get riled up because of this equally as confusing counterpart, Natsu. When he was visually upset, Natsu knew that something that happened recently is the cause of it and he would take advantage of his friend's state to mess with him.

"Ugh, why the hell do people keep thinking we're a couple? We're not acting all lovey dovey so what's their problem?" He groaned and sunk into his chair.

"Maybe it's 'cause they think you're girly. I would too if I saw you walkin' 'round like that." Natsu laughed.

Gray clenched his fist into a ball and looked angrily at Natsu. "Shut your trap if you know what's good for you."

"Don't tell me to shut up. You shut up." Natsu copied Gray's pose of intimidation.

Gray rolled his eyes. "How original."

"More original than the garbage that comes out of your trap."

A voice randomly popped into the argument between the two boys. "Wow, you two sure are odd friends in deed."

Gray and Natsu looked towards the source of the sound. A waitress with short white hair had appeared with a questionable smirk on her face. She held her notepad in one hand and her pen in another, ready to take their order. Both boys scanned the menu and tried to decide on what they wanted to order.

Natsu placed the menu on the table and smiled at the waitress. "Everything on the menu."

The waitress's eyes widened and was not entirely sure if she had heard him correctly. "Wait… everything on the menu?"

"Yup, everythin'. Oh and instead of one grilled fish make it five."

"Are you sure you are going to be able to finish all of that? You ordered a ton of food. It's practically enough to feed ten people." The waitress questioned his order once again.

"You'd be surprised. He'll vacuum everything up and leave ya with nothing." Gray snorted.

"Alright." She smiled and wrote down the order. "What will you have for desert?"

Natsu looked through the menu and nothing seemed to interest him. All of the sweets there were something he had recently somewhere else or a desert he simply did not like. The waitress noticed him frown as he looked through the items on the menu dissatisfied.

She bent forward and whispered to the boys. "I'll let you guys have a strawberry cake for ordering so many things. Don't tell anyone else about it though because we aren't supposed to be selling them at this hour."

Gray and Natsu nodded, both satisfied about having a strawberry cake. It had been a while since either of them had had one because the bakery that was once the prime jewel of pastries had randomly shut down one day. It disappointed them because that was something they looked forward too after a long day of hard work as a reward for what they had done.

Even though it came as a shock to many people in Magnolia, the person who was most furious about it was by far Erza. The moment she found out that they had closed down, she sprinted to where the shop once stood and burst through the door trying to somehow salvage what was left behind by the previous owners.

"Alright then, I'll be back shortly." She nodded and headed towards the kitchen.

When the waitress walked away to get their food, Natsu decided the coast was clear. He took off the backpack he had been wearing and opened it up. A bright blue puff ball of energy jumped out of the bag and sat on the seat next to Natsu.

"Happy! Ya ready to eat?"

"Aye, aye!" Happy smiled adorably and rubbed his palms together.

"Still don't understand why didn't you just let Happy walk in with us." Gray tapped his fingers on the table impatiently.

"They might kick us out for havin' somethin' that doesn't look like us."

"It said on the door that pets are allowed, dumbass."

"HAPPY IS NOT A PET. HE—" Natsu was about to refute Gray's statement when the waitress came back with some of their food.

He immediately closed his mouth shut and patiently waited for all the food to be place on the table. Natsu, in general, was not a very patient person. It was always hard for him to stay quiet in any situation because he always had something to say, something to do or somewhere to be. Eating was one of those moments where he allowed himself to gain some self-control and is usually preoccupied with stuffing food in his mouth rather than worrying about other things.

When the waitress left, both Gray and Natsu indulged in the delicious food that they served there. The presentation and smell of the food gave clear indication that the meal was going to be excellent and boy were they not disappointed. After they impossibly downed the various foods they were given and Happy was satisfied with his five fish they called the waitress over and asked for the desert. Not much time had passed when the waitress came back with their order and again, they were impressed with what they served here.

Natsu looked at the desert in awe. It looked surprisingly delicious and he suddenly felt very grateful to Gray for dragging him to eat here. He took a bite and it was without a doubt one of the best things Natsu has ever had to eat.

He was about to take another bite when he smelled a familiar scent near him. It definitely was not Gray because even though Natsu jokes around with Gray about him acting girly which he had no problem with, it did not smell like him.

Granted, it was a bit weird that Natsu could pin point everyone's smell from far away however it was an asset of his that proved to be valuable in situations like these. Natsu shifted around his seat, trying to locate where the smell was coming from. He looked around and did not recognize any of the other patrons that were in the restaurant.

Natsu then looked down at his strawberry cake. He began inspecting it and people were giving him confused stares. Gray decided to ignore his actions because their was no point in arguing with him when he was caught up in something else. Natsu took a fork and poked the cake. As expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened or changed.

He decided to smell the cake. Natsu took a sniff of the desert in front of him and he finally recognized the smell that had been causing him to go crazy for the last two minutes. Strawberries and cream. The smell was Star's unforgettable scent. He dropped his fork and abruptly stood up.

"Natsu, what are you doing?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

Without giving Gray a response, Natsu ran to the kitchen. He burst into the room and the chef that was in there jumped, startled by the costumer suddenly breaking into the kitchen. There was no sign of Star being in the room. He was afraid that he had imagined catching a whiff of her scent because that would mean that he was officially losing his mind because of this girl.

"Sir you're not supposed to be back here. It's for employees only." The chef sternly reminded Natsu.

Natsu ignored the chef. "Who made the cake I just ate?"

"We don't serve cakes for lunch. Now please leave the kitchen, sir."

"The strawberry cake thing! It... well look, can ya please tell me who made it."

The chef frowned. "I can't do that."

"I just—"

"Natsu, you dumbass!" Gray burst into the kitchen and grabbed Natsu.

Without giving Natsu any rime to react, Gray pulled him out of the kitchen and dragged him back to the table they had been sitting at. He was furious at his friend for pulling a stunt like that and felt embarrassed that he had decided to bring him along in the first place.

"Are you stupid? What the hell were you thinking, flame brain? We're in a restaurant out in public. Be civil for Mavis's sake." Gray scowled at his friend.

"Just smelled somethin' that seemed familiar but I guess it wasn't." Natsu sighed in disappointment.

"You're going around sniffing people again? Keep yer nose to yourself."

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck. "Right…"

"What's up with you? You're acting weirder than usual and that's saying something because you're always all over the place."

"Imaginin' things." Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Not like I'm blind. Now tell me."

"I told ya that I'm fine already. Back off, Gray."

Gray wanted to help Natsu deal with whatever was going on in that head of his but Natsu was not going to make it any easier for him. It was out of the ordinary for Natsu to be as zoned out as he had been for the last two days because even though he was not the best listener he would always try his best to pay attention to whoever he was talking to.

He would pretend not to listen whenever he was having a small fight with Gray but they both knew that he wasn't going to ignore Gray if he had something important to say. That made it all the more reason for Gray to try and intervene on Natsu's early adulthood crisis. They might not seem like they would be good friends at all but those closer to them knew it was a healthy competition between the two of them.

Both equally the same and uniquely different in their own right and yet they still managed to make their odd friendship work. They had been through quite a whirlwind of problems together over the course of many years and they knew that they had each other's back whether they or not they refused to acknowledge it. They would fight over practically anything they had a different view or opinion on and there were moments were they decided it was best to swallow their pride for the sake of the other but this was definitely not one of those times.

Gray slumped back in his seat. "I was trying to nice. Guess you can't handle someone trying to make sure you don't run off and do anything stupid like what you did just now."

"That's it!" Natsu launched himself at Gray and began physically fighting with him.

A couple of employees ran over to the boys and forcibly pulled them apart from one another. Eventually, they were kicked out of the restaurant by one of the waiters and we're left to sulk outside to think about what they had done. Gray was furious that they were forced to leave in such an ungracious manner but Natsu had just been left wondering if Star had been standing in the kitchen not too long along baking his now new favorite food, strawberry cake.