I.

Whoever had had the brilliant idea of making Gildarts Clive and Cornelia Alberona share a dorm room had hated them both and wanted them to kill each other. To Gildarts, this was the only logical explication for his current headache.

Cornelia was the most aggressive person he had ever met and to his misfortune, she had a great aim and actually hit him when she threw something in his direction. If she were not so good-looking and smart and over all a decent person, he would have pursued a dorm change far more serious a few months ago when they had been first placed as roommates. He liked her, a lot, and that was the problem. He believed her to be cute when she was mad enough to gauge out his eyes and rip out his throat with her bare hands. And this was why he hadn't left the dorm when a free place in Macao's and Wakaba's dorm had opened up – but that could also have been because he didn't like the duo all that much.

"Clive!"

He slowly opened his left eye and turned his face in the direction of the door where – and hell, he was right once more – Cornelia stood, her hair damp from the shower she had taken after getting caught in a downpour on her way back from the university. "Yeah, Alberona?" he asked as he sat up. "What's the matter this time?"

"You fool have forgotten to go grocery shopping yesterday, that's the matter!" she snapped as she wrapped her hands around the steaming coffee mug. "And I am hungry."

"I am sorry but I had to turn in the stupid paper today … and you know how Professor Dreyar gets when you mess up on those things. He doesn't care about skipping but he is serious about the papers. That's why I had no time to go shopping, Alberona."

She hurled the hairbrush she had had in the pocket of her bath robe at him and he narrowly managed to dodge. "You … you stupid idiot!" she snapped at him. "You should have at least told me that there was no food – I could have eaten at Kat's place … but no, you fooled me into believing that there would be food for me at home!"

He had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. "I had no such evil intention," he stated calmly.

"No evil intention … don't make me laugh!" she said as she poked his chest. "I told you this before, Clive. I need my food. I get hungry. You might not get this but studying Literature and dancing in the ballet group of this university takes lots of energy from me. That's why I cannot afford to get home to an empty refrigerator."

"Shall I order a pizza for you, Queen Cornelia?" he asked, wanting nothing more than to make her shut up because hell, she had told him those things about eighty times before.

"Now you're talking," she grinned as she turned away. "Tuna please, yes? I will be in the kitchen in half an hour … I got to call Layla about the performance this Friday."

"There is a performance?" he asked. "Can I come?"

She twirled around, nearly spilling her coffee and glared at him. "Hell, no," she exclaimed. "You will only end up flirting with the other girls … and then you will forget to call them."

It was the topic they argued about quite often and Gildarts had only mentioned it to annoy her. She was at her prettiest when she was annoyed and therefore, he always asked whether he was allowed to come. She always declined and he would still sneak in – only to leave a few minutes before the end so that she would not see him. He was not even interested in a relationship with one of the girls from her ballet class because even though she would always deny it, they were almost dating – if you counted sloppy make-out sessions as dating which they did not.

II.

They had argued before but it had never been this bad. Hell, she had thrown her phone at him – her most precious possession aside her ballet shoes. She was incredibly aggravated and for once, he had no clue what he had done to freak her out like this. She had been in a bad mood since the morning when he had entered the kitchen where she had already prepared breakfast – which was rare because usually, she got up after him … especially when she had had ballet practice the evening before. Her current yelling was not helping because she did not voice why she was so mad and he was too lazy to guess. Maybe this was the end of their strange relationship. Maybe she was jealous because he had flirted a little bit with her best friend – but it had been harmless and she had never been mad at him for this before. Maybe she expected him to leave now but he firmly stood his ground, dodging the items she threw at him with maddening speed.

"Mind to tell me why you are this mad?" he inquired as she finally ran out of things to throw. "I have no clue what I did this time."

She glared at him and shook her head. "You know exactly that it's not what you did," she snarled. "It's what you didn't do, Clive."

This stung more than a slap because she had not called him by his last name for months.

"C'mon, Cornelia, if you don't tell me, how the hell am I supposed to know?" he asked.

She grabbed her mug of tea and headed for the door. "I am going to bed," she announced.

He looked after her before he shrugged and went into the kitchen to check whether any papers were due the next day. He froze as he stared at the calendar because it had the answer for his question.

24th May – Birthday, Cornelia

He was dead and he knew it. There was only thing worse than stealing a woman's chocolate and that would be to forget her birthday – especially when it was in the calendar, written in bright red letters. She would murder him in the morning if he would not come up with some kind of plan – and no, leaving the country did not qualify as some decent plan. He grabbed his wallet from his coat and sighed deeply before he headed for the door. His wallet might bleed up rather his money than his blood, Gildarts decided.

III.

The next morning, Cornelia stepped into the kitchen, obviously still ticked off by her roommate's inability to remember anything important. Usually, she would not have thrown such a temper tantrum but she had marked her birthday in the calendar and usually, the man she had been making out with on a lose basis since they had become roommates should mention it at least. Her hair was in a mess and she had bags under her eyes because she had hardly slept at all because a certain fool had been pacing around in the flat and rearranging furniture in his room and the flat in general all night long. Therefore it took her a few moments to realise that the breakfast table was set in a way that was unusually nice for a normal day. Hell, it was not even his or her birthday after all.

"Good morning, Conny," he said cheerfully as he poured in coffee. "Sit down, I am nearly finished here. And, um, the present is for you. I kinda forgot it yesterday since Professor Alen wanted an extra long paper … I am really, really sorry and I hope that you can forgive me for being such an unorganised mess."

She smiled as she unwrapped the present. "You know that this wasn't necessary," she said softly as she looked at the new pair of ballet shoes – just the same ones which she had been considering to buy for weeks. They had been too expensive for her liking especially since she had just bought a new set of kitchenware after messing up the old one.

"Nah, but I wanted to buy you something useful instead of the ring Macao advised me to buy," Gildarts shrugged as he finished squeezing the oranges. "And I really hope that you can forgive me for being such a … well, forgetful man."

She laughed as she got up to hug him. Yes, Gildarts Clive was the only one who could make her forgive him easily. She would have shown anyone else the cold shoulder for weeks but she could never stay mad at him for a long time – probably because she had been falling for him for quite a while. "Thanks, Gildarts," she said sincerely. "And I have to apologise for being so childish yesterday. I should have simply said something."

"Nah, you are cute and funny when you get mad," he grinned. "Well, it does hurt when you hit me with a book but it's still funnier than it hurts."

"Hopefully I won't be arrested for domestic violence one day," she sighed.

"Don't worry," he chuckled. "I would have to tell on you and I won't do that. I got used to you as my roommate and it would be quite a pain to find a new one."

"Nice," she huffed, letting go of him to grab a glass of orange juice.

"Eat up, we need to get to the university," he said as he sat down. "And please remember that I am going to pick yup up after your practice this evening. There is a new restaurant in the Southern District – my treat."

"Like a date?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"Of course," he replied amused.

IV.

Layla Heartfilia née Summers could not stop laughing when she received the invitation for her best friend's wedding. She had always known that Cornelia and her roommate had a brilliant chemistry but the brunette woman had always denied that she had any feelings for Gildarts Clive. This invitation marked her a liar but Layla did not mind this. She was too happy for her friend who had had bad luck with her previous boyfriends. Most of them had been selfish jerks who had never been deserving of the kind brunette. Since Gildarts had become her roommate, she had been laughing more and everyone with eyes had noticed that she was happier and far more carefree now.

The petite blonde swore to herself that she would make Gildarts regret every second of his life if he were ever to hurt her friend as she watched how Cornelia who looked absolutely radiant in her pretty white dress and Gildarts who looked really handsome in a rough way spoke their vows.

V.

"Alright, Cana," Gildarts said he carried the last box into her flat. "Remember what I always told you: if your roommate is male – move out. Your mom and I got enough money to get you a single flat but well, you wanted to have a roommate. The last thing Conny and I want for you to be distracted during your studies."

"Understood, dad," the pretty brunette said as she nodded seriously but inwardly, she was rolling her eyes. "I will see you this weekend."

"Let me hug you," he said before he nearly broke her ribcage. "Be a good girl, yes?"

"Okay," she said as she rubbed her ribs. "Tell mom that I love her, daddy."

"Sure thing," he said before he placed a kiss on her forehead and left.

She had just started to organise her boxes when a blond man entered the flat, carrying his own boxes. "Cana Alberona?" he asked. "I'm Laxus Dreyar. We are going to be roommates."