Lucy's legs ached.

A lot.

It had been a long day. She'd done a job with the team and gotten a bit of money, and then she'd gotten bored later and decided to do another job. Erza and Gray agreed to go with her, seeing no harm in it. Natsu and Happy, however, refused the offer and left the guild on their own.

It had been another small job, just like the first, and it was over pretty quickly, but they'd had to walk all the way from Magnolia to Clover because the train was closed for the day - some sort of repairs. And so Lucy was pretty exhausted.

The strange thing was, when she reached the guild, Lucy found no sign of Natsu. Which was weird. She then realized he must have just gone straight to her place and camped out. The thought angered her, and she left the guild in a huff, heading for her place.

Lucy finally reached her house and pushed open the door. She slowly looked around, sure that her uninvited guests would come running, but Natsu and Happy were nowhere to be seen - or heard. And since being quiet was one of the hardest tasks in the world for Natsu, she guessed he wasn't there. The blond sighed and let the door fall shut behind her, slumping down against it.

She felt her face start to get hot, and tears prickled in her eyes.

Today was her birthday.

Nobody in the guild knew about it, and honestly, she was glad for that. She had too many painful memories of her birthday. In fact, the only good memory she had was the day she received Michelle.

And now even that memory was filled with sadness, because of Lucy's guilt for neglecting the doll for so long. Sure, Michelle was happier now, but...

Lucy buried her face in her hands. She had no family. No one who remembered how special this day was supposed to be for her. She had family in her guildmates, but Lucy had only told them her birthday once before, and it was a long time ago. No way they remembered. So she'd rather just forget it and act like it was a normal day.

And she had. She'd pretended that today was nothing special at all. That morning, she'd come close to tears looking around at everyone she now called her family, but Natsu was probably the only one to notice how she was feeling.

So Lucy now closed her eyes and let out a long breath of relief. She would go to bed, and tomorrow, she'd wake up to another normal day. It would be fun and filled with laughter, and she'd go on a job or two with Natsu and Happy.

Lucy slowly stood and made her way up the stairs to her room, not bothering to wipe the tears from her face. She was so tired. The thought of her warm, comfy bed, and a nice and quiet evening without Natsu there to bug her...

...was a thought that didn't last very long at all.

Lucy opened the door to her room, to find a certain pink-haired boy sitting on her bed, facing the window.

"Natsu!" she said sharply, but her voice cracked slightly. Sighing, she continued tiredly, "I'm really not in the mood for this today." He turned around, and she begged him, "could you please go home?"

Immediately, worry flickered across his face. "Luce? Somethin' wrong?" he asked gently, standing up and strolling over to you. He smirked a little and added, "it's not like you to not yell at us."

"Aye!" Happy agreed from up on Natsu's head. He spread his wings and hovered above the two. "What's the matter, Lucy?"

She reached up and wiped the tears from her face. "No, I-I'm fine, I just... just..." Lucy broke off as Natsu pulled his hands out from behind his back, to reveal what he'd been hiding.

He grinned sheepishly, blushing a little. "Uh, here. I got this for you..."

Lucy's hand flew to her mouth. It was a vase. A beautiful vase, brimming with the most gorgeous assortment of flowers she'd ever seen.

His smile widened at her response. "I remembered it was your birthday, so I thought I'd get you something. It's just some flowers, but Happy here said you'd like them..."

Lucy felt her eyes brimming with more tears. "Thank you, Natsu," she managed to say.

"I'm sorry we couldn't go on any jobs today. After I found the vase, we had to go all over the place to find some good flowers... I hope that lady wasn't serious about calling the police..."

"The police?" Lucy repeated, startled.

"Well, yeah. We picked 'em outta her yard. She didn't like that much, though."

Lucy couldn't hold in her laughter. Sure, it was just Natsu being dumb and reckless as usual... but it was kind of endearing.

"Hey, don't laugh at me," Natsu said, trying to look hurt, but he was smiling too.

Suddenly, Lucy stopped laughing. She looked up at Natsu, her eyes shining, and lunged forward in a hug.

Natsu blinked in surprise as her arms wrapped around him. "Thank you so much," he heard her whisper.

"Aw, Luce," he chuckled. "It's just some flowers, that's all."

She pulled away, looked up at him, and smiled. "Well, you know how they say, 'It's the thought that counts?'"

He nodded.

She hugged him again. "Well, it's true."

Those flowers - and the thought that Natsu put into the gift - was exactly what Lucy had needed.

She couldn't have asked for a better friend than he was.

Even if he did break into her house all the time.

"Lucy liiiiiiiikes you, Na- "

"Shut it, cat!"