Gifts

Natsu always discovered the gifts she was planning on giving him, and it irritated the hell out of Lucy. Every Christmas and birthday, his present senses would start to tingle and it was impossible to surprise him. It didn't help that he was nearly impossible to shop for on top of everything. Lucy had never heard him ask for something she could give him, he was simply the most content being on the planet.

All of her attempts failed at surprising him. The prank kit she got him last Christmas he had already opened and used to prank her when she walked into her house that night, the book on dragon legends he found two nights after she got it (three before his 'birthday'), and the home-made jalapeno cookies for his first birthday were half eaten before she finished wrapping them. He was always thankful, claimed he loved her presents, but it was never a surprise.

Well, Christmas was coming up again, and even if it killed her, that boy was going to be surprised. She had spent weeks tracking down an old friend who owed her a favor, hours agonizing over getting every detail right, and now she just had to hide it for the next three days. In addition, she knew just where to put it.

Lucy, after picking up her gift alone, stood in front of the guild carrying several shopping bags and proceeded to show off her acting skills.

"ERZA!" She yelled, dashing into the guild. Few people turned to stare at her, but honestly, walking in quietly draws a whole lot more attention than someone running in screaming, it was how their guild worked.

"Erza! The Heart Knuetz Boutique just got their spring line in, you NEED to come check it out. There was a super cute outfit that not only goes perfectly with your hair, but also comes only in your size! Hurry up!" Lucy yanked on the re-quip mage's arm. Suddenly Erza was the one pulling Lucy out of the guild and towards the local shop with sparkles in her eyes, and it took all of Lucy's balance just to keep the gifts in her shopping bags from falling out as they dashed across town.

Eventually the two made it to the shop and Lucy pointed out the outfit she was talking freaking out about. (She needed to get Erza alone, but she was not dumb enough to lie to get her there, also, she liked being girly with her.) The two girls did a little fashion show, and Lucy was right, the dress was a forest green that went perfectly with her skin, eyes, and hair. Lucy hadn't even known that the fabric had thin metal plates inside the cloth, but it made Erza super happy. Now she could look pretty, casual, and still be equipped to the nines.

Walking back, and finding a lull in their outfit gushing, Lucy brought up the topic of hiding Natsu's gift.

"Hey Erza, can I ask a favor?" Lucy said nervously, a wizard's re-quip space was actually a pretty personal thing.

Erza looked at her for a moment, before deciding her answer with a grim smile, "Of course Lucy, who is it that needs to die?"

Lucy's mouth dropped open before she screeched out, "That's not it at all!"

"Oh, that what most people want from me so I just assumed…" there was an awkward silence, but Lucy just had to ask.

"Do…you usually say yes?"

"Nope, but there are about five people on this earth I would kill someone for, and three of them are too cocky to ever think about asking for help." Lucy could easily figure out who she was talking about, and she was flattered to be considered that important to Erza.

"I love you too Erza," Lucy said with a grin and a one-armed hug, the other arm was full of shopping bags, "But what I wanted to ask was if you could hide Natsu's Christmas gift in your re-quip space. I haven't ever been able to surprise him, but I want this year to be different. Even if he finds out where I hid it, he won't be able to get it if it's in your armory."

"Of course I'll hide it for you, Natsu's face is hilarious when someone manages to surprise him. Let's drop your stuff off at your apartment and you can give it to me there."

"Actually, can we go to Fairy Hills first? I have a feeling Natsu is already at my house," Lucy groaned, thinking of all the times she searched all of Magnolia for him and he turned out to be in her bed. Erza agreed and the plan was set.

Natsu was highly suspicious. When doing his usual 'raid Lucy's house during her hour long bath' he had found a present for Erza, Wendy, Gray, Cana, Juvia, Mira, and Levy, all clearly already wrapped and labeled, but there wasn't a present for him. He knew Lucy was mad about the whole 'punching her out of her own bed in his sleep' thing, but it wasn't enough to warrant not getting a Christmas gift. Lucy never got that mad, and she loved to give things! She was also really, really good at it! (Seriously, who would have thought to get Juvia an embroidery manual and materials, but Juvia is really craftsy and is going to love it! She even included a note that said she has the same fabric and would love to learn about it with her.)

But she hadn't let anything slip to Happy, there were no more hiding spots in her house, and all her other gifts were there. He even found some self-enchanted fishing lures for Happy, though they hadn't been wrapped yet. Where was his gift? There is no possible way she could have forgotten about him right?

Natsu sat pondering it, only becoming gloomier and gloomier the more he thought. He didn't even notice when the last fifteen minutes of her bath time slipped away and she left the bathroom fully dressed.

"Natsu, get off my bed and out of my room. Shopping was exhausting, not only did Erza and I raid three different stores, I found the perfect gifts for everyone. I fell asleep in the bathtub, now just let me sleep." As she finished talking she yawned and not so gently shoved him onto the floor before crawling under the covers.

"But, Luuuuucccyyy! You didn't get a gift for everyone, you forgot me!" Natsu whined childishly. Now, Natsu wasn't materialistic in the least, but objects were had value based on the meaning behind them, that's why he collected so many momentums. You could not receive a gift from Lucy and not feel the love and effort she put into making them. Seriously, the quality of gifts in the guild went up all around as everyone tried to give as good gifts as Lucy did.

He wanted a gift from her, and when she didn't respond, Natsu had no choice but to tug on her arm until she woke up and told him where is gift was.

"GO AWAY!" Lucy yelled, livid. She was cranky and Natsu hit her last nerve.

"I'm your best friend and you didn't get me a Chirstmas present!" Natsu insisted. Lucy showed exactly how much she appreciated his sentiment by punching him so that he flew out of her window.

"Stay out! Your present is somewhere you will never ever find it!" Lucy yelled as she slammed her window closed and locked it. Natsu was cheered up by the fact that she hadn't forgotten him, but pouted at the fact that he was going to have to wait longer until he found it.

Over the next few days Natsu searched everywhere for her hiding place, but all she did was smirk and claim he was never going to find it. He even cleaned his house hoping she had hid it under his own dirt certain that he would never look there. Finally, the gift exchange at the guild during Christmas Eve happened, and he started pouting whenever Lucy smirked at him. She gave Cana a copy-cat card, it turned you invisible and created a copy of you for escapes from Daddy dearest, Erza got a poker set as well as a few scenes from her novel (take a guess at which ones.) Gray got tickets to a concert of a band they both loved, and Levy got kitty stationary set that spell checked for you.

"Okay Lucy, now can I have my present? You've given everyone else there's." Natsu said, excitement leaking into his voice. Lucy looked at him as if considering, and Natsu was ready to beg for it when she smiled.

"Alright, tis the season you little sneak. I told you would never find it. Oi! Erza, it's time." Lucy called out, and Natsu watched confused as the red head made her way over to the two of them.

"Okay Lucy, mind if I watch?" Erza asked. A still confused Natsu watched Erza create the light circle for her magic and let his jaw drop when instead of pulling a sword out of her re-quip space, a small box rested in her hand. The rest of guild was gushing about the gifts they had received, or at least they were.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU CHEATED!" Natsu practically screamed, drawing everyone's attention towards himself. Lucy and Erza were laughing at him, as was Happy. When they quieted down she took the gift from Erza's palm and offered it to him.

"But isn't this gift even more special now that you had to wait for it? You really want this gift because of all those hours you spent searching." Natsu stopped pouting and the entire guild watched curiously, as he took the gift gently and unwrapped it. Lucy was starting to get nervous as the entire guild watched Natsu unwrap her gift, she knew it was a good gift, but it was also kind of a personal one. Natsu didn't notice as he reached in and felt something warm.

He pulled it out and couldn't stop staring. It was a miniature dragon, an exact replica of his father Igneel. The wings were proportioned just right, the dusky red of his spine melting into the bright red of his sides until it reached the light pink before becoming the yellow of his belly and wings, and the teeth just like he remembered. That wasn't even the best part, all the dragon statues he had ever come across had angry, fierce dragons, but this special statue had a kind expression. It's eyes were full of love and compassion. It was the look Igneel had when he had told Natsu that no matter what he did, he would always be proud of his son. Natsu couldn't look away.

Lucy started to panic after about thirty seconds of Natsu staring at her gift, "So yeah, remember that night I made you describe every single detail of Igneel and I took notes in order to put a dragon into my book? I lied, Dragons don't fit into my plot line at all. You had said you were worried that you were starting to forget Igneel, so I used those notes and tracked down an old friend that specialized in metamorphic magic and she helped me create the statue. You know, so you can remember what he looks like until we find him…It's okay if you don't like it, or I got something wrong. I'm sor—" Before she could finish speaking Natsu threw his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug, one he had no intention of releasing, ever. Mosof the guild was touched by the scene, and for the first time in guild history, everyone agreed to not ruin a moment and let their family have their privacy.

"Thank you Lucy," Natsu managed to say, doing his best not to cry. This gift had been worth the wait, and this person worth more than the price of every gift given that Christmas combined. He silently thanked every star, spirit, god, and magic for giving him the gift of Lucy Heartphilia of Fairy Tail.