"Hey, Happy, why don't we go find Lucy? It's been a while since we went out on a job with all of us together."

"I don't know Natsu, to me it looks like she's already busy with Gray and Loke." He stared at Lucy, probably thinking of how he should tease her about it later on.

I looked over at where Happy was pointing. There, sure enough, was Lucy. She was wearing probably the cutest top and short-shorts, all Fairy Tail themed.

'Wow, Luce looks great! Wait, why am I thinking this? We're nakama! Friends, pals, partners, whatever you could call it!' I thought, getting confused by my thoughts about Lucy.

"Natsu, NATSU, NATSUUUUUU!" Happy yelled louder with each time he said my name, snapping me out of whatever I was in. I think you call it a trance.

"Oui, oh Happy, what is it?" I asked him, surprised. Before I knew it, my eyes wandered back to Luce, wondering why she was talking with them.

'Are they planning on going on a job together? Mph, I can kind of understand Gray...a bit, but Loke? Why would she to discuss with him? He is already one of her contracted spirits!'

"You liiiiiiike her!" Happy rolled his tongue, making me look at him with a bewildered expression.

"N-no, why would you think that?" I hissed at the blue cat while he looped around in circles, smiling a little mischievously.

"Well, you keep staring at her; why else wouldn't I think that?" Happy stared at me.

"She is nakama, right? Soooo, I just want to make sure she doesn't get messed up with Gray and Loke! I'm only being good nakama." I defended myself.

'I hope that was convincing! I actually had to think about that…..and that's weird, not to mention hard, for me!' I thought.

"Sure, I guess being good nakama is very important, right?" he asked me, probably not believing a word I said, even though it was true.

"R-right, now, we s-should go see Lucy and see if she's up for a job." I told him, starting to walk towards Lucy, not paying attention to my surroundings as I heard the last bit of their conversation.

"Alright then, it's at my place tonight! Bye and thank you!" she finished.

They all went their separate ways and because we weren't paying attention, bumped into each other.

"KYAAAAA!" Lucy screamed as she fell into my arms. I instinctively pulled her into a hug so she wouldn't fall on the guild hall floor.

"N-Natsu…." She started, her puppy-dog eyes staring into mine with a serious appearance.

"Yeah Lucy, what is it?" I replied, her gaze was making my heart beat faster and faster.

'Why is she making me feeling this way? Why can't I look away from those chocolate brown eyes of hers?' I thought. At that time I was sure my heart was going to burst.

"You can let go now." She told me flatly, frowning and yet blushing. At that moment my heart crashed to a halt. My pupils widened as I released her and got up.

'I'm not quite sure why I feel like I'm being torn down by her words. Why I am so saddened by those five words…' my thoughts trailed off, 'wait a sec, why am I thinking like this!? This is probably the most complex thinking I've ever done! What does complex mean again?'

~o~

"You can let go now." I tried to frown while saying that flatly.

'I'm not sure why I said that…' I thought. 'I guess it's because I can't let him find out. Even considering how dense he is about the word, no matter how dense, I have to be careful. He could find out my arrangements with Gray, Loke, Mira, Erza, Levy, Juvia, and Cana! Then the whole thing would be ruined….'

After Natsu released me we both started walked towards the bar area, waving to Mirajane Strauss so she could take out order.

"A..." Natsu and I started to say.

"Um, you go first." Natsu told me, his smile making me feel a bit happier on the inside. I smiled back and started to say my order to Mira.

"I would like one slice of apple pie." I said to Mira happily, maybe a bit to cliché, which of course, Fairy Tail doesn't do.

"Hey, that's what I wanted!" Natsu told me, still with the smile I know and love, plastered on his face. The look on his face told me it was true, not just something for him to say to mess with me.

"Oh! That's nice then, Natsu." I said back to him. The reply was a bit lame though.

'I hope I played it cool. If I look like I'm trying to hide something, he'll pick up on it right away. If he does that, my secret won't be what is much longer, a secret.' I thought. I looked around to try and hide my unease. I looked all around the guild; at the people inside, the request board, upstairs at the S-Class section, anything that was in the guild really. When Mira finally gave us our pie, I noticed that there was only one plate, two forks, and two slices of pie. I sort of mentally thanked the gossip hungry friend.

"Sorry for just one plate!" she "apologetically" started. "There was only one plate left of the clean stack, all the rest are needing to be washed, which reminds me, Macao! Come clean these dishes! You haven't been doing your job for months!" Mira yelled towards the older mage. "Any-way's, just be grateful I didn't make you share a fork!"

While I just stared at her with a "what the hell" expression, Natsu just blushed like his natural skin shade was tomato red, which just isn't Natsu's thing. Macao then just got up to the bar area to do his supposed to be daily job of cleaning up the bar.

"Sorry but I've been busy on jobs and teaching Romeo some new magic." He mumbled as he got to the sink.

"So going on jobs and teaching Romeo new magic is checking out the girls by the guild?" Mira questioned him, her eyes looking at him very menacingly.

"Ah, uh, um, well, I, well, you see…you see….uhhhh" was all Macao could say as he walked slowly towards the dishes and away from Mira.

"Hmmm, what did you say Macao? I didn't quite catch that." Mira hissed at him. I could already sense the demonic aura. If Macao didn't give an exceptional reason, then he'd have to deal with Mira's Satan Soul takeover. Maybe even her other one, the one that Satan Soul doesn't have any effect on. I shuddered at the thought of witnessing the rumored demon.

"You were thinking about her Satan Soul too?" Natsu asked me suddenly. I jerked away from him, surprised by his sudden words.

"Uh, um, yeah, I was actually thinking about that." I told him; at least I wasn't lying.

"Me too, just thinking about something like that makes me fight her!" Natsu exclaimed punching his flaming fist into the air.

"Is all you ever think about is fighting?" I mumbled, speaking to nothing in particular for that statement.

"Well yeah, what else would I think about?" Natsu asked me, clearly not getting that fighting isn't the only thing in he could think about.

'If only he could see how much more there was to life than fighting. How much there was to see other than fists pounding. How much he could think about, like he could be thinking about me…'

~o~

While I was bickering with Macao about his daily job and how he wasn't even making an effort to remember about it or do it, I was really just focusing my attention on the two mages eating pie.

"Well Mira, um, I'm sorry about slacking on the job." Macao apologized. I actually completely forgot about him for a while as I focused on Lucy and the ever so dense Natsu, so he just got right back into what I was going to let him out of.

"Sure, Macao Conbolt, sure you're sorry." I turned to him, my face showing him a terrifying expression. For a moment, I thought that Satan Soul was about to come out, maybe even the second strongest takeover I have.

"Eh heh heh, well I really am!" he said while plunking his dirty hands into the sink. Dirty hands! Who would be so careless to do something like that? Well I guess if you asked Levy what the definition of careless was, she'd hold up a picture of Macao Conbolt, simple as that.

"Why are you cleaning with dirty hands? Seriously, who does something like that?" I hissed at stupid mage.

While I pretended to bicker with that damn mage, I was really eaves dropping on the conversation that Lucy and Natsu were sharing.

"Natsu, um, why did you blush when Mira said whatever she said? I mean, you don't have to answer, but, well, it's just not your…thing, to blush." Lucy asked her teammate a bit sheepishly, like she wanted the answer to be somewhat romantic.

"Um, well, I don't really know. I guess sharing forks with my nakama is something that I would normally do I guess, Lucy." The salmon haired fire mage replied, trying to come up with a reason that he didn't really even know himself.

'Geez Natsu, you're so dense! Even I know why you were blushing back then, are you really this hopeless?' I thought, mentally smacking the fire mage on the face.

"Uh ok, I guess that's pretty reasonable." Lucy replied, taking a small bite of pie, both of their arms brushing as they went for another bite.

'C'mon Lucy, fight for the real explanation! If she doesn't get to him then Natsu and Lucy being a couple won't be as much of a snitch as I thought! I will definitely have to tell her about that later on tonight at her place!' I thought, my long white hair getting in my eyes. I brushed it away and continued to listen to the two, but while I was lost in thought, I saw that they were both done with their pie and were looking at me weirdly. Well, at least Natsu was, Lucy just gave me a glare that said; "don't give anything away!" It was actually kind of scary.

"Can we get two more slices of apple pie" Natsu asked me, his eyes boring into mine.

"Yeah, I can, now, Macao, get your job done!" I replied, adding a hiss to Macao as he dipped his now clean hands into the dish water.

I walked over to get them their piece of pie. When I did I noticed Gray eyeing me, watching my every move until I noticed.

"Gray, what is it?" I asked, not bothering to look at the ice make mage. I already knew it was about tonight. The planning of making Natsu fall for Lucy, or at least making him realize his feelings.

"Mira, I need to know something." He replied, strolling closer. I noticed that his clothes were gone, unlike before.

"Gray look, your clothes." I informed him, giggling at him a bit.

"Huh, oh crap, again? Why did Ur have to be so weird?" I heard him mutter. I knew that he must've not put so much thought into that comment knowing that his master Ur was a touchy subject.

"Yes, again, maybe you need some therapy for that." I told him, trying not to offend him too much.

"Mph. Well any ways, I didn't come here for you to scold me about my habits. I came here to ask you how we would get someone as dense as Natsu to realize how he feels about Lucy. Because, seriously, I don't have a clue! I don't even know why I agreed! Really, why would I even want to help someone as dense as Natsu? Seriously, and we are rivals too! Did Lucy put any thought into this?" Gray blabbed on to me.

"Oh, you will find out soon enough! I know what to do, so just wait until tonight Gray." I told him a little secretively. He just stared at me a little confused and shrugged.

"I guess I'll have to trust you on that one Mira. Like I said, I don't have an idea what to do about them."

I smirked at his reply, watching him as he left. I saw that he had waltzed over to Juvia to probably ask her about what he should suggest tonight. Just like with me.

I walked over to Lucy and Natsu and gave them some more pie, telling them it was on the house.

They both thanked me of course, who would be stupid enough not to? Seriously, I am paying for their meal.

~o~

When Mira gave us our pie she said that she would pay for it. I think she said it was on the house or something, which means that she would pay for it, if you didn't already know.

Suddenly I was thinking about what Lucy, Gray, and Loke were talking about while scratching my spikey hair.

'I really do wonder what they were taking about. Ya know, I've been thinking a lot today. Way more than usual. Which is weird, I mean weird. But, anyways, what were they talking about? I hope it was just discussing a job. I really do, and I don't know why. Maybe it's just the thought about Gray and Lucy or Loke and Lucy together that just get me fired up and making me want to fight them! Not like I already don't want to though.'

"Hey Lucy, what were you, Gray, and Loke talking about? I was just wondering because you never mentioned it to me. You also were meeting up with them later tonight at your place?" I asked her, seeing her face turn from blissful to anxious.

"W-what, why are you so jittery? I only asked what your plans were with Gray and Loke."

"U-um, well, uh, you see…" she stuttered.

'Geez, I only asked what she was doing with them. Why is she acting like this?' I asked myself. 'Could it be that she's secretly dating the womanizer spirit and the ice exhibitionist? No, Lucy isn't that stupid, right? Hm, maybe I should check up on her later to make sure they aren't all weird around her.

~o~

When he asked me what I was doing tonight with Gray and Loke my mind blanked. I had many excuses ready for if he actually found out about it. But they just had to be erased from my mind! Thank the spirits he doesn't know what's happening though.

"Well, Natsu," Mira interrupted my ongoing stuttering. "Gray and Loke are going to help Lucy with something!"

"Help her with something? Why can't I help? I'm completely capable of helping her, way more than icicle breath and the womanizer." Natsu replied to Mira.

"Only them and," Mira stopped as Erza stomped over here with a serious look on her face.

"Oh Erza, aren't we surprised to see you here now!" Mira clapped her hands together.

"The strawberry is in the cake!" Erza shouted a bit louder and monotone than she should have.

'Erza, now the whole guild is looking at us! Thanks for saying the code though…' I thought to her.

"Yes, the strawberry is in the cake!" Mira repeated her statement.

"The strawberry is in the cake?" Natsu asked us.

"Yep, I, I got it! I need help making strawberry cheesecake for the guild! Just don't tell any more people!" I told him.

'I AM A GENIUS! Heh, I have come up with the best excuse ever! I am way smarter than I give myself credit for!' I thought while mentally patting myself on the back.

"Why can't I help bake the cake?" he asked me, pouting.

'Does he have to be so persistent?' I asked myself.

"Because, I just think that all you will do is make a mess and fight with the others!" I replied to his question.

"Well then why did you invite those two?" he practically shouted causing half the guild to stare at him.

"You jealous Natsu!?" Cana shouted over to him.

"N-no, why w-would you t-think that!?" Natsu stuttered.

"Because, you just totally want to romantically bake a cake with Lucy!" she replied causing not just me, but Natsu as well, to blush. Of course mine was deeper. It's just common sense knowing that my blush would be deeper considering how dense that particular dragon slayer can be.

"N-no, that's not it at all! Maybe I just like cake!" Natsu retorted.

"You like any kind of food Natsu!" the entire guild shouted, including me.

"H-hey, it's not like it's something to be ashamed of!" he hissed stuffing a whole freaking piece of pie in his mouth!

"Eh-hem, Lucy, like I said, the strawberry is in the cake." Erza whispered to me.

'Oh crap, I actually forgot about Erza! Well I guess it's time to go. Now that I think about it it's probably a good thing to get away from this nosey guild for a while.'

"Oh yeah, well bye-bye Natsu, see you later!" I told the salmon haired boy as I got up and left from the place where my life had become interesting.

"Macao!" Mira shouted.

"Whaaaat?" he replied.

"Watch over the bar and serve people while I'm gone!" Mira half shouted as she followed me and Erza, soon after Cana and Juvia left, then Levy, Loke, and Gray. We planned that out so we wouldn't look so suspicious leaving all at once.

END OF CHAPTER