A/N: Because even though this is a Christmas!AU (nearly half a year late), I promised 7ScarletLies a long time ago that I was going to post this but never happened... hehe... hehe... heh...
FORGIVE ME
Anywho. Hopefully I'm back on the swing of things. Honestly, this semester has been literal hell for me (my English professor decided that she didn't like word count essays and focused on line count instead. And by lines I don't mean sentences. I mean actual, full lines of text) but I have this week, two days of finals and I'm done... for this semester. The dream.
Anyway, enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire
(P.S. this was only supposed to be around 4.5k words, but then I tacked on a little over a thousand afterwards *read:afterwords* as an apology of absence + a Omake)
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
Overview: Rated T for the smidgen bit of teen-rated language (basically a lot of 'damn's ) and a tinsy bit of angst. Ye hath been warned. Modern!AU. Consider this as a early *late* Christmas present. I went ham with italics and they're pretty scattered throughout the story.
Summary: Imagine you're just sitting there at your post in apparel on Christmas (because your workplace doesn't believe in closing on holidays, apparently), bored out of your mind, and wishing something exciting would happen. Well, that's Natsu Dragneel's life and that 'something exciting' came in the form of a slightly hysterical young blonde who only wanted her fluffy socks.
Pairing(s): Natsu/Lucy, implied Gajeel/Levy
Fluffy Socks
If he were to list the many ways one could spend one's Christmas joyfully...
This was not one of them.
Natsu sat with his head hung back and blew a hot breath from his lips. The blank receipt that he printed to quell his boredom did anything but. Sure, it amused him for a bit; he challenged himself to see how long he could keep the light paper in the air. He beat the ice-bastard's personal record again and triumphantly scratched the time into the underside of the counter– right next to where the—previously—highest recorded time resided and signed it off with a hastily carved flame.
It was only after he defeated his life-long rival again (and smugly scrubbed at said rival's sign—which was a snowflake, by the way—with a small square of sandpaper) when he once again slumped into his chair in boredom. His fingers absentmindedly tapped a rhythm onto the countertop; the hits were slightly offbeat even to the tune in his head.
His olive-colored eyes pierced a sharp look at the clock that hung mockingly over the register.
6:10 p.m.
He still had, roughly, a little under an hour left in his shift and he would honestly love to be anywhere other than here. Don't get him wrong though; it wasn't that he hated working at Fairy Tail because, truly, he loved the store and his friends working there more than he loved food (shocking, right?).
Usually, the time flew by during his shifts and there were times where he actually wished he could work more. As the saying goes however, life always got in the way. Being a full-time student at Magnolia State, there was no way he could work overtime; between classes, 'studying', and sleep? There was just no way he could handle that kind of pressure. He did, however, like that the working hours were pretty flexible.
Having the big boss as your surrogate grandfather had its perks, the salmon-haired worker supposed. It also didn't hurt that he and half of the other employees practically grew up under the owner's thumb. The entire store was family even if there already was a family waiting for each one of them at home.
There was rarely a dull day working at Fairy Tail.
Unfortunately, this was one of those rare dull days. There was barely anyone in the store besides the crazies that decided to take a shift on Christmas– Natsu being one of them. He honestly expected to have fun laughing at the eleventh-hour shoppers as they frantically ravaged the already emptied shelves for cheap, last-minute presents. Not to say it wasn't amusing at first...
But damn was it boring now.
"Wait up, Lu-chan! Please calm down–"
Natsu's ears twitched, recognizing the voice of Levy McGarden; a short, blue-haired woman that had lived down the street from him for as long as he could remember and a fellow employee. The girl always had her head in a book and would lethally wield it as a weapon whenever she got fired up. It was always amusing watching his stupid, metal-faced cousin, Gajeel Redfox, try to 'flirt' with her. And Natsu uses that term in the loosest way possible because it usually ended with a book embedded into his cousin's skill and the tiny bluenette suddenly book-less.
He would feel bad for the studded brute if the end product of his cousin's efforts weren't so hilarious.
It was strange to hear her in the store though. If the salmon-haired employee was correct—to which he usually wasn't—it was supposed to be the tiny bluenette's day off, and as much as he loved Fairy Tail, not even he wouldn't shop here if he could avoid it (although... even he had to admit that the fifteen-percent employee discount was pretty sweet).
"Don't tell me to calm down, Lev," someone shot back angrily, forcing the pinkette from his thoughts, "I promise that I am going to find and destroy whoever did this."
Now, the second voice– the unfamiliar voice caught his interest and before he knew he even moved, Natsu rose slightly in his seat to scan over the rows of clothing racks to pinpoint who said it. The speaker was obviously female, but the pitch wasn't as blatantly squeaky as some others. There was a slow-burning, melodic tilt to way this woman spoke even though her fury was apparent in the way that her voice trembled. Unwittingly, he had to admit that this voice amused him greatly. It was kinda endearing, like hearing a puppy trying to growl menacingly but failing epically.
Yeah, kinda like that.
"Honestly, Lu..."
The exasperation in Levy's voice went straight over his head as he watched a blonde turn the corner from the lingerie section and Natsu felt his breath catch in his throat. He wasn't an idiot, but he wondered, briefly, if this woman was what Cana would consider a 'hot mess'? The golden braid that draped over her shoulder was unkept and uneven, with small tufts of hair unintentionally poking out of every other twist. Her bangs were in a state of total chaos, but still framed her face in a graceful way only girls could dream to achieve.
What caught the pinkette's attention, however, wasn't her killer figure that probably brought guys crawling on their hands and knees, nor was it the natural seductiveness in the way her hips swayed. No, what actually caught his attention was the way her cheeks flushed with heated fury. It was the way her eyes was burning– alight with stubborn determination and red-hot anger.
It was like she, herself, was on fire.
And damn he would be lying if he didn't find it the least bit attractive.
"YOU!" The blonde cried out, startling the salmon-haired worker out of his thoughts as she pointed at him.
Dumbly, Natsu blinked at her before he turned to look over his shoulders out of habit. He wasn't sure why he did, there was no one around and it had been like that for most of his shift so she was obviously pointing at him. Still yet, he turned back to the blonde who already covered half of the ground between them and densely pointed to himself. His salmon-colored eyebrows rose in a silent 'me?' and the blonde looked as if she was refraining from rolling her eyes.
"Yes, you," she hissed, quickly covering the last leg of space and slamming her hands on the countertop. Natsu found himself flinching back out of instinct and cursed as her chocolate-brown eyes scorched his olive ones. "Do you know what this is?!"
He blinked. "This...?"
"This!"
With that, the blonde slapped something onto the counter and Natsu found himself fighting the instinct to flinch. He bravely kept her gaze until she removed her hand to reveal the reason for her anger and he saw that 'this' meant a sock. Not a pair. Just one.
And it was fluffy."It's a sock?"
"And?"
"And it's... fluffy?"
The blonde rose her hands, looking as if she was squeezing invisible stress-balls. Strangely enough, she looked like she wanted to strangle him and Natsu wasn't exactly sure why.
Suddenly, she deflated and pressed a hand to her temple. "I don't know if you're purposely being a smart-ass or if you're just really dumb."
Natsu furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to let out an indignant protest but stopped as he saw a familiar, slightly out-of-breath Levy scramble to the blonde's side. Her short blue-hair stuck a little to her cheeks, the skin slightly sweaty and flushed from exertion. She quickly sent an apologetic glance over to him and Natsu only managed a slightly stiff nod back. The bluenette smiled gratefully before she turned back to her friend and sternly placed her small hand on the blonde woman's shoulder.
"Lu, don't take it out on Natsu," the smaller woman chided, picking the sock off of the counter and shoving it into the other woman's hands. The blonde reluctantly let her shoulders relax and stuffed the foot-covering material into her jacket pocket, a bit of it sticking out to remind her it was there. Satisfied, the blue-haired woman nodded approvingly. "It was probably just some kid playing a prank again. This happens a lot."
Natsu heard her silent because it's usually one of them (as in either him or one of the other guys) doing the pranking that she tacked onto the end of that sentence.
"I'm pretty sure Gajeel has the security shift tonight," Levy pointed out, "I'll go see if he can pull anything up on the cameras and I'll text you the details, but until then, behave." Her hand squeezed the blonde's shoulder. "Okay?"
"Fine." At the bluenette's flat stare, the other woman sighed in exasperation. "Okay, Lev. I'll behave," the blonde rolled her eyes, "but if I find the culprit first, I can't promise that I won't take drastic actions. I mean– who in their right mind would steal only the left sock? On the fluffy pairs too!"
At this, Natsu casually glanced under the counter and discreetly nudged the cardboard box deeper with his foot. The blonde didn't seem to notice but, taking account of the heavy disapproving look in Levy's hazel eyes, the tiny bluenette next to the fuming blonde knew exactly who the sock-stealing culprit was. But... well, could you blame him?
He was bored!
"Whatever," the blonde huffed with her hands on her hips, "go find whoever did this to my fluffy socks and the excuse of 'doing the greater good' as cover up to visit your boyfriend."
Levy's face instantly flushed. "Wha–?! Shut up, Lu! He's not my boyfriend!"
"Yeah, yeah," the other woman rolled her eyes, a lot calmer now. "Now go to your boyfriend and make sure you have adequate evidence before you two accidentally destroy all the monitors in the security room with all of your pent up sexual tension."
"Ugh!" The blue-haired woman sent a glance at the tentative amusement on Natsu's face before flushing deeper and stomping away. "I hate you so much, Lucy. I really do."
Huh. So her name was Luigi. Weird.
"I love you too, Levy!" The blonde, Luigi, called back with a bright grin on her face.
Natsu's stomach flopped pathetically when she turned to him, his shoulders tensing as she peered at him through narrowed eyes. His leg, thankfully hidden under the counter, bounced nervously as he resisted the temptation to look at his hoard of left-sided socks that sat innocently next to his foot. He really hoped this Luigi chick wouldn't catch on; she was nearly as scary as Erza and that was saying a lot. Unfortunately, she continued to peer at him and he broke out in a cold-sweat.
Oh crap on a stick. She knows. He'd bet his scarf and all of his other worldly possessions that the next word out of her mouth would probably be poisonous enough to kill him–
"Sorry."
Oh shit he is so dead– wait.
What?
"Er," he stumbled pathetically. "E-Excuse me?"
The blonde pursed her lips. "Please don't make me repeat myself." At his blank blinking, she sighed and drew her glossy bottom-lip into her mouth. "It's been a long day, the missing socks were the last straw and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."
There was a tense silence that followed the cracking of her voice. Of course, he heard her the first time (he noted never to admit that to her), but the apology was a shock to his system and he didn't know how to cope. Natsu stared at in awe at how her cheeks flushed in guilt. Her chocolate-eyes were downcast but every so often, she'd glance up and he'd see the vulnerability in them. It was odd.
On one hand, he saw the proud set of her shoulders despite the truly apologetic and guilt ridden swirls in her chocolate-colored eyes, and understood how difficult it was for her to admit that she was wrong. For some strange reason, he was damn proud of her that she managed to do so. On the other hand. half of him wanted to hide the blonde under the counter and protect her from himself, while the other half of himself wanted to pull out the box of left socks and just... just give it her.
And damn the consequences.
Natsu cleared his throat when she started to fidget uncomfortably under his baffled stare. "No harm done," he replied with his brightest grin, unaware of her blush darkening, "I'm Natsu, by the way. Natsu Dragneel."
"Lucy Heartfilia," she returned with her brightest smile. If Natsu wasn't as confused as he was after hearing her introduce himself, then blinding shine of the quick flash of her flawless teeth would have probably made him flustered. However, her smile did thin when she noticed his silence. "What?" Her slender hands flew to cover her cheeks. "Is there something on my face?"
He immediately shook off his confusion. "Ah, no– I, well, just thought I heard Levy say your name was Luigi..."
"Wha–? No," the blonde, apparently named Lucy and not Luigi, recoiled scowl, "she said my name correctly."
"Are you sure?" Natsu asked with a skeptical frown.
"Yes," Lucy insisted, her hands dropping to her side as her expression turned bewildered. "I know what I said earlier was blinded by anger, but are you really being a smart-ass or are you just that dumb?"
"Oi!"
"It's either that, or you have to get your hearing checked!"
"My hearing is perfectly fine!"
"Then how did you get Lucy and Luigi mixed up?!"
"It was an honest mistake! Anyone coulda messed it up!"
"They don't sound anything alike!"
"It does so!'
"It does not!"
"Does so!"
"Does not!"
"Does so!"
"Does not!"
"Does so!"
"Does not!"
"Does not!"
"Does so– ugh! You're such a child!"
Natsu knew she ignored the victorious smirk that he shot her, but he continued to boast it like he would a trophy. There was something strangely satisfying and endearing in how flustered she got when she was all fired up, and because of such, he really couldn't help but goad her a little more. Besides, when she stomped her foot in a fit of anger, he found the action way too cute for someone who looked like she wanted to strangle him. Which was, in fact, a really weird thought for him to have.
"I bet it was you who stole all the socks too!"
His smirk grew taunting. "And if it was?"
"Gah!" Lucy cried, throwing her hands up in defeat. "You, Natsu Dragneel, are the most arrogant, immature, obnoxious– insufferable man I have ever had the displeasure of meeting!" He only chuckled, the insults running off as naturally as water on his favorite water-proof vest. "Just give me a sock so I can leave!"
His snickering stopped abruptly. "What?"
"Give. Me. A. Sock." The blonde glared, making sure to enunciate each word clearly.
"No," Natsu refused stubbornly.
Lucy's mouth popped open and then her face darkened dangerously. "What do you mean 'no'?"
The pinkette rolled his eyes. "You know what no means."
"For star's sake, Natsu, I wasn't asking for your permission!" The blonde raged, her eyes alighting with fire once again. "I just want the other side of my damn sock and I'll be on my merry freakin' way!"
"No means no, Luigi."
That was the last straw.
The blonde's hand rose and the pinkette instinctively closed his eyes when he saw her small palm swing. There was a loud smack reverberating through the apparel section, but he didn't feel any pain. Confused, he only opened his eyes in time to see the Lucy remove her hand from the counter and cradle it to her chest. There was a moment of tense silence between them before she spun on her heel and stormed away, not giving him even a moment to peer at her expression.
She didn't even look back at him when she swiftly strode away from apparel. Her long, golden hair was the last thing he saw as it swung angrily behind her.
Natsu felt his chest constrict as she turned the corner and out of his sight. With a staggering curse, he yanked the cardboard box from its hiding-spot and quickly stood with the box in his arms. He took a moment to glance at the stool he knocked over in his haste to chase after Lucy. Gramps would surely have his head if he left his post, surrogate grandfather or not. The one thing he was most adamant about was to take their jobs seriously.
And not to destroy stuff– but mostly to take their job seriously. Going after the blonde could possibly put his job on the line. Surely he'd get reprimanded and maybe be subject to that, but he didn't mean to come off as an asshat. Gramps would understand if he left his post to cheer up an angry customer, right? Customer satisfaction was Fairy Tail's number one priority after all, right?
Ah, fuck it.
Apologizing to the golden-haired weirdo was much more important than any of that.
"Lucy!" He called out and jogged to where he seen her last, not bothering to pick up the stool he knocked down.
Natsu imagined that he ran his voice ragged by shouting the girl's name up and down the empty aisles. He'd often catch the glares or bewildered looks of customers and fellow employees alike, but he ignored them like usual; his hair attracted a lot more attention than one would think– it being rose-colored and all.
He tried to mentally track where the blonde would've stormed away to and occasionally turned his head to peer down the many aisles of male and female underwear alike, ignoring the scandalized gasp from the rare woman still shopping there at that particular moment. The salmon-haired employee paid them no mind as they quickly shoved whatever they were looking at back on the shelves and he instead busied himself by scanning the area for the mass of golden hair.
Often times, the salmon-haired employee would glimpse a flash of blonde from the corner of his eye. In those times, he would barrel his way over to it like a moth to a flame and then change course midway because they weren't her. In those times, the object of his interest wouldn't even have to turn around for him to know that they weren't her. Natsu had made the mistake of approaching a few blondes, but quickly corrected his error before he could catch their attention and breezed past every single one of them as if he never noticed them in the first place.
There was just... something was always wrong about them.
There was one woman that didn't have the self-confident square of Lucy's shoulders, another didn't have the exact shade of golden-blonde that adorned Lucy's head. There was one woman whose hair just didn't fall correctly and– hell! He found one blonde that wasn't even a woman. There were few that tricked his eye but he quickly walked away a second later and spared no second glance because... well, just because.
It was just as he was sure that she was too fed up with him and left when he finally found her in the sports and camping aisle. Looking for her—and running into those who weren't—frustrated him to no ends. He was literally at his wits end by the time he approached what felt like his seventy-seventh mistake. Natsu was nearly convinced that she had already left until his entire body froze when he saw the perfect shade of gold sway in the corner of his eye, still in the organized chaos of a braid. He couldn't really explain the massive amount relief that slammed into him at that moment without sounding like the corniest shit in the world.
But, if he was to be completely honest, he thought his legs would've given out under him
Her back was to him and the air around her was tense. So, instead of rushing in and possibly making her even more pissed at him, he took the time to actually look at her. Lucy's golden hair suddenly seemed unnaturally dull under the florescent light and the tips of it brushed the small of her back as her head was tilted to look up at the large poster of a starry sky plastered behind a two-man tent. The earlier stubborn set to her shoulders was now weighed down and weary, and she was most definitely female.
Funnily enough, she didn't look like herself but he still knew it was her without her having to turn around.
"Gods–"
Lucy's sudden, trembling voice startled him out of his thoughts and he panicked. Did she knew he was there? Was she still pissed off at him?
"–what am I doing? What the hell am I even doing?" A stifled sob escaped her lips and Natsu watched as her body crumpled in on itself, making her seem smaller than she actually was. "Christmas is supposed to be fun and joyful. It supposed to be a happy day, right?"
Suddenly, the golden-haired woman whirled on him, startling him enough to drop the long forgotten sock-filled box from his hold. It was the swirling anger, however, which failed to cover up the sadness and the hurt and the pain that stopped him from leaning down to gather the scattered socks that managed to spill out in the box's fall. It was the openly displayed emotions which wrecked havoc in her chocolate-colored eyes that seared at his heart and stopped his breath.
When his silence prolonged, the blonde's mouth dropped into a self-directed scowl. "Right?!" In response, Natsu offered a hesitant nod. Lucy's face softened and she quickly turned back around, slumping against the shelves. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore, Natsu, and I hate not knowing."
"Well... then stop."
When she turned to stare at him with a slightly wide gaze, he immediately backtracked. The salmon-haired employee pursed his lips in thought and tried to find the words to fit his thoughts. "I mean," he started off slowly, cringing slightly when she continued to stare, "if ya hate it so much, then why don't ya just stop doin'... y'know, whatever it is that you're doin' and actually do somethin' you like."
Lucy blinked. "Like what?"
"Well," his hands nervously clenched and released. She didn't seem mad at him at the moment, so that must be a good sign. "I dunno. What d'ya usually like to do?"
"A lot of things, I suppose," she answered with a thoughtful frown.
"Then do that stuff."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
"Right... okay."
Lucy's frown slowly disappeared and a small smile appeared on her face, then a larger one, and then it grew and grew until her smile was blinding. And then she let loose a chiming, amused laugh that seared a feeling a pride in his chest. Natsu latched onto that feeling like a dying man and tore his gaze away when he realized that he'd been staring blatantly at her for the past few moments. He cleared his throat and swooped down to herd the scattered socks back into its box, only straightening when he was sure he gathered up all of them.
"Er, here," he muttered, thrusting the cardboard box into the blonde's arms. "It's the socks ya wanted earlier... the left ones."
The golden-haired woman stared at him, her expression unreadable. "So it was you!"
Natsu went to stutter an excuse (any excuse) but then another laugh bubbled from the blonde and he was suddenly unable to tear his gaze away this time. Part of him wondered if the girl finally jumped off of the deep end, seeing as she was looked like she wanted to rip his head off twenty minutes ago. The other part reminded him that he still had yet to apologize to her and that he should really consider doing that.
"Yeah, I was bored." Natsu stated when Lucy's laughter started to die down and grimaced because that was the most pathetic thing he said yet. The salmon-haired employee looked away in shame, his hand dipping into the back of his scarf to ruffle some of the rosy locks away from his neck. "I didn't think anyone was comin' to buy stuff so late and... yeah. Sorry 'bout that."
"No, don't apologize," the blonde blushed a pretty pink and chewed awkwardly on her lip. When Natsu turned to look at her, Lucy's entire face flushed further and her hands lifted to hide herself. "I kind of blew up on you again and overreacted. I-I mean, it was over one stupid sock... really."
"You said y'were havin' a bad day," Natsu fidgeted. "M'not usually that much of an asshole."
"I'm not usually that much of a bitch."
"No, but you said–"
"Stop trying to apologize."
"But–"
"You did nothing wrong, Natsu."
"I was–"
"Stop."
"C'mon, at least let me–"
"No."
"Lucy–"
"No."
"Ugh, fine," the salmon-haired employee conceded with a groan. "If ya won't accept my apology, then at least let me buy those socks for ya."
Lucy narrowed her eyes. "No. I get that you want to apologize, but I'm not going to make you buy my socks for me. I'm perfectly capable of buying them with my own money–"
"Discount."
The golden-haired girl fell silent immediately, her eyes widening. Natsu swore that he saw her eyes shine for a split second before she blinked, and then it was gone. Still yet, he knew what he saw and sure enough, when he smirked at her silence, Lucy shivered under his knowing gaze.
Got'cha.
"I can use it for friends and family," he sung tauntingly, enjoying the way she squirmed while trying to put on a brave face.
Lucy stubbornly squared her shoulders in that same way Natsu remembered searching for earlier and met his gaze. "That's implying that we're friends even though–"
"Fifteen percent off," Natsu teased with a grin, loving the way she practically drooled at the offer. He hung the bait in front of her for a moment before continuing to plead his case. "C'mon Luce, it's the least I can do when ya don't want me to apologize. Besides, we are friends, aren't we?"
Sure they argued ninety percent of the time spent in each other's presence, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be friends– or at least try to be. Friends argue too, and he was all too eager to point that out to the still skeptical looking blonde in front of him. Finally, after a few more taunting prods, Lucy grasped onto the hook with a long sigh and tugged firmly.
"Fine, but Luce?"
"S' a nickname," he beamed proudly. "Friends give other friends nicknames."
Lucy sent him a sour glance. "You made your point already, Natsu, but I'll accept the discount offer." The pinkette grinned widely, opening his mouth speak but only to get cut off. "However," the golden-haired woman continued with a warning tone, "you have to at least let me treat you to something. This deal is a two-way street and I tend to take my friendships seriously."
"Fair enough."
"Good," she smiled again and he returned it. "Okay, friend, when do you finish your shift?"
Natsu blinked at her, shocked. "Y'mean you're gonna treat me to something now?"
"Or, you know, whenever you finish work," the blonde teased with a silent giggle, but then her expression dropped suddenly. "U-Unless you have somewhere to be after this, then I totally understand if you want to get back to me on that! I-I mean, obviously! It's Christmas for star's sake! Of course you have somewhere else to be! Oh, Gods! Lucy breathe."
Natsu watched in awe as the golden-haired girl's face steadily grew darker and darker the longer her babbling went on. A chuckle bubbled past his lips before he could stop it and Lucy's spluttered to silence, her face impossibly red. He licked his lips in amusement, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips before he was even aware of it. The pinkette found her skittishness weirdly endearing, but mostly hilarious.
"Sounds good as long as it's food," Natsu agreed, jerking his head to the side and leading them back to his post. "I get off in ten, so if ya don't mind waiting around til then..."
"O-Of course!" Lucy smiled past her blush. "I kind of just moved here not too long ago so I don't really know any good places to eat."
The salmon-haired employee tilted his head to the side in thought. "Hm... well, have you ever been to Fairy Tail?" At the blonde's flat expression and her chocolate-colored orbs sweeping the store, he laughed. "No, not here. There's a place a little ways down the road. A bar run by lightning-rod's wife and Gramp's 'daughter-in-law', Mira."
"Oh!" Lucy snapped her fingers. "I remember Levy mentioning that once, I thought she was talking about this store."
"Yeah, we just call it Mira's bar," he took the box from her arms and tucked it under one of his. "There's s'posed to be a Christmas party around eight. I wasn't gonna go, but Mira does make some good food and since you're knew and all, we can get ya initiated."
The blonde frowned. "Initiated?"
"Yup," Natsu chirped, throwing an arm around Lucy's shoulders and pulling her into his side. She seemed to stiffen at first but then reluctantly relaxed after a few times of failed escape. "You're friends with me now an' that means you're Fairy Tail's friend too. Might as well get used to us, Luce. We're stuck to you like glue and ya won't be able to shakes us off that easily."
Unable to help herself, Lucy smiled fondly. "Honestly, that sounds like a threat."
Natsu playfully squeezed her closer to him with a cheeky grin on his face. "Merry Christmas, Luce. That threat is my present to you."
Omake:
"By the way," Natsu spoke up just as he was about to swipe his discount card into the machine, pulling Lucy's attention away from counting the money in her wallet. "If ya moved here a few months ago, how'd you survive?"
The bewildered look she shot him was not misplaced. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, y'said that you didn't know any good places to eat," he elaborated. "If ya didn't eat anywhere, how are ya still alive?"
"Are you..." the blonde trailed with a blank expression, "asking me how I ate?"
"Yeah."
Lucy blinked at him before bursting into loud laughter, continuing longer once she saw Natsu's flushed face. The pinkette pouted petulantly as he finally swiped his card into the machine and waited for her answer. He was truly, honest-to-gods curious to how she survived. Only the extremely gifted can cook, after all.
"There's such thing as a kitchen, Natsu," the blonde teased, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "and a hobby called cooking." She playfully brushed the dirt off of her shoulder. "I like baking a lot more, but I can cook pretty well. Not to toot my own horn or anything."
It was Natsu's turn to blink. "You can cook?"
"Yup."
His eyes sparkled. "Can I–"
"Nope."
"Aw, c'mon!" Natsu whined. "I spend so much on restaurants and I burn all of the food I try to cook. I also have a cat to feed!" Lucy only sent him an amused smirk and handed him the money for her socks, muttering a small not my problem under her breath. "I'm giving you a discount!"
She only raised an eyebrow. "You said it was because we were friends. Besides," she smiled, tucking her change back into her wallet, "this store doesn't give employee discounts on perishables for a reason. And if you told me the story correctly then that reason is you, apparently."
"That was one time. Those horsey Pegasus bastards were asking to be egged."
"Point proven."
"At least I paid for them!"
"Right. Well, I'll meet you out front in five minutes."
"But Luce!"
The namesake merely laughed as she scooped up her items, giggling over her shoulder as she walked away and sticking her tongue out at him. "Merry Christmas."
"Luce!"