Dedication to @leviAnnlexi for her amazing Stingue one-shot she wrote for me! You all need to read it, like now.

Sorry I haven't been updating for, like... six days. I've had a lot to think about and such and I may or may not have been working on a 5sos fanfiction with my friend. Maybe this kind of eventful chapter will make up for it? *sheepish thumbs-up*

Natsu's POV

I think I've made this very clear before, but junk food is delicious.

Which is why I was practically drooling while our party of four was passing by sticky candy apples, popcorn, and miscellaneous fried candies and sweets.

"Why don't we stop and eat something...?" I suggested, even though I had just offered for us to go to the carnival games about two minutes ago. That's actually where we were walking- a strip of various funfair games that I'd be sure to win.

But those powdered, deep-fried, sugar-coated elephant ears were calling my name and it was serenading me to buy its overpriced goodness immediately.

"I don't see why we can't, since we're going to the games first and not the rides," Taylor, my date for the evening, well, at least I think it was a date, agreed with me. "The elephant ears look good."

"Exactly what I was thinking!" I snapped my fingers, leading her exuberantly towards a food stand. I immediately pulled out my wallet, ready to pay for my date. Taylor glared at me and shook her head, taking out money of her own.

"Nope," I pushed her hand away.

"Yes," She narrowed her eyes.

"No," I glared, smirking when she rolled her eyes up to the sky and begrudgingly put away her money. We quickly bought a large elephant ear each and immediately sank our teeth into them, moaning on contact.

Admist my thoughtful, bliss-filled chewing, I noticed Gray was not-so-subtly passing glances my way. He had a flash of longing in his eyes, and when he realized he was caught, he looked at his ice cream cone shyly. I bit my lip, looking at my shoes. It's not like I was stupid- I could see him staring at me all the time now. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that he liked me.

Which was pretty perposterous, if you asked me. He was dating Juvia.

After our extremely delicious pit stop, the four of us found ourselves in front of a ring toss game. I paid for 3 rings to throw and I stepped forward, sticking my tongue out in concentration. I felt like the whole world melted away, and it was only me, trying to circumscribe at least two of the bottlenecks with these cheap, neon-painted rings.

When I missed the first shot, I wasn't too fazed. These games were rigged anyway. However, a voice in the back of my head told me to keep trying, and win the major prize currently hanging to the side. I really liked the bright yellow duck, and I didn't really want to give it up, but the Drunk List was making me.

By a stroke of luck, I managed to ring my second toss by a millimeter. It spiraled around the empty bottle, making a very satisfying swishy sound. "Ha!" I exclaimed triumphantly, placing my hands on my hips. "This is easy!"

"You gotta ring one more, Natsu," Gray reminded me with a sickly-sweet tone, probably internally laughing over my possible future demise. I shot him a quick glare before getting into battle stance, because I was just that cool.

I lightly chucked the final ring in a spot I'd knew would work- the middle. It was bound to get snagged around one of the bottlenecks, considering there were so many. Pretty well spaced, too.

When it slid down the bottle, I whooped with joy, high-fiving Taylor, who was just as proud, clapping happily. The shady games man took down the stuffed duck, which I had so excitedly pointed at, and put it in my arms.

It was slightly heavier than I imagined, but it was awesome and I dubbed it with the name King Quackers, because that was obviously a suitable name for this perfection of a stuffed toy.

Why did I have to part with it, though? It'd look awesome on my bed.

"Natsu..." Gray mumbled, raising an eyebrow. Sighing and clutching on to King Quackers one final time before spinning around to face Taylor.

"Taylor, here. I want you to hav-" I was cut off by a blonde guy who had spotted the brunette and rushed over, calling her name.

"Tay! Hi!" He gushed, picking her up into a hug.

"Cameron! Ohmigod, what are you doing here?!" She asked excitedly, giggling as he whirled her around and set her back on the floor. She held her head, dizzy, smiling up at the mystery guy.

"I moved back!" He threw his hands in the air in excitement, earning another bear hug from Taylor. I watched the charade unfold, my jaw practically on the floor. Who was this guy to literally rush in and sweep my girl off her feet? Well, not technically my girl, but still. Rude much?

"Back into the old house?" Taylor guessed. When the guy nodded, she made an inumane sound from the back of her throat. "That's amazing! Ahh! I'm so excited!" She gushed. I cleared my throat awkwardly, and she twirled around to look at me. "Oh! Natsu, this is Cameron, my best friend. He moved away two years ago, but I guess he's back now!" She grinned fondly up at this 'Cameron' person.

I smothered the stuffed duck in my arms. "Nice to meet you," I mumbled up at him, who was taller than me by about six inches. He shot me a toothy smile and stepped closer to Taylor, throwing his arm around her.

"Were you guys on a date? Crap, I'm so sorry," He blushed, looking sheepish.

"Uhm, yeah," I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, feeling my poor social skill standing kick in.

"Natsu, you wouldn't mind if I..." Taylor trailed off, eyes meeting with Cameron's and they shared a smile. I sighed, knowing what that symbolized. They were meant to be together, and I was only going to be in the way.

"Sure," I smiled cheerily, obviously fake. Taylor's face broke out into a wide grin as she pressed a delicate kiss to my cheek and went the other way with Cameron. I watched them disappear into the crowd, wondering what the hell just happened. My heart felt like it was broken into a million pieces- I was that disapointed and upset. Suddenly the carnival didn't sound so good and junk food wasn't sitting well inside of me.

Gray, whom I had forgotten was there, inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Ooh... that sucks," He muttered more to himself than me. I whipped my head at him and furrowed my eyebrows, giving him a death glare.

"Good thing we're not like that, right, Gray-sama?" Juvia commented, not reading the gravity of the situation. Gray smiled, one that almost seemed forced.

"Yeah," He said with a strained voice. Suspicious, I raised my eyebrows at his cynical behavior. I decided it wasn't my business and shook my head, clearing my thoughts.

"Well, I don't wanna impose on you guys," I commented. "So I'm gonna go home, okay? See you all on Monday." I brushed past Gray, knocking his shoulder, and biting my lip as I marched through the crowd, trying to find the exit.

I knew I typically didn't break down like this. Plus, the idiocy of society doesn't think I'm capable of doing the aformentioned, since I'm a teenage male. News flash- guys actually have feelings too. My current feeling, in case you hadn't picked up on that, was wanting to go into hermit mode and watch stupid television shows because I know I won't be able to fall asleep tonight.

Suddenly, I felt a rough tug on my wrist, and I bit back a cry of pain. "Natsu, wait-" A voice said from behind me. I yanked away my and and glared at the owner of the notorious death lock.

Green eyes met obsidian ones, and I mentally cursed myself for being short. "What do you want," I grumbled, voice drowned out by the buzz of the carnival festivities.

"Why are you just storming off like this?" Gray asked calmly, sounding the slightest bit disappointed.

"Isn't it obvious?" I retorted impudently. "Because my date was crashed and now I'm not in the mood to be out right now."

"I'm sorry..." Gray looked at his boots, biting his lower lip remorsefully. I shrugged one shoulder and tucked the duck under my other arm.

"It's fine, I didn't think it was really going to work out anyways," I lied. Gray heaved a sigh and shifted his weight on his feet, like he didn't know how to respond.

"Please stay," He begged quietly. I rolled my eyes, as if. The last thing I wanted was to be scammed in sleazy games and fatten myself even more than I've already done. I touched my stomach self-consciously, a habit I never broke.

"No thanks," I declined coolly.

"Please?" Gray repeated, drawing out the 'e'. He clasped his hands together and gave me a beseeching smile. A wall inside me broke down and I heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Sorry, Gray, I just don't feel like it right now," I admitted ruefully, pouting. "Here, take this as a token of my apology," I offered, holding out the fluffy duck.

"U-uh..." Gray stared at the plushie shyly for a second before taking it. "Thanks."

"Gotta give it to someone special, right?" I chuckled. "Okay, well, I'll see you later. Good night," I waved meekly, heading once again for the exit. Over my shoulder, Gray was staring at the stuffed animal with reddened cheeks. Just to clarify, his cheeks were red, not the duck's. That would be weird.

I slapped the side of my face, punishing my brain. It was like I couldn't control what I was saying and some wacko voodoo doll was controlling all my brain signals and speech control.

Wrapping my arms around my torso tightly, I stared at my feet as they pounded down the sidewalk. I had too much to process right now and my mind was exploding with possibility fireworks. Basically, I was in a state of severe inner turmoil.

I need to sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

*vomits up 2000 words*

Sorry this chapter sucks horribly. I need to get back into the swing of writing. Hopefully I will update soon, but until then, enjoy this mediocre filler chapter :)

Thoughts on this chapter? Natsu's thinking? Gray? Taylor?

Question of the day (yep I'm going to be doing this now): Just so I get to know you all a bit better, what's your name and age?

I'm Hannah (Han) and I'm 14. :)