Disclaimer: The following is fan generated content, created for recreational purposes only. Fairy Tail and all related media are intellectual property of master mangaka Hiro Mashima.

In a cute apartment building on Strawberry Street, a scraggly looking dark haired boy of no more than twelve trudges along the buildings halls. He's wearing a white apron over his t-shirt and trousers, and his forehead is covered by a handkerchief tied around his forehead. In his left hand there is a mop and in his right hand there's a bucket which is holding some soap and a brush.

He walked up to the apartment on the second floor. The door he was looking for had the name 'Lucy' written on the door. He knocked on it; "Coming!" answered an annoyingly chipper voice. The door opened to reveal a really cute blonde girl in her late teens. However what really caught the boys attention about this girl, were her amazing cantaloupe sized breasts. The girl caught the little boy staring, she snapped at him "hey eyes up here you little pervert."

The boy snapped back, "lady in case you haven't noticed, I'm only a little bit higher than your waist, the direction I'm looking in now is about as high as I can look."

"Whatever," she said disgruntled, "so what can I do for ya kid?"

He held up the mop and bucket, "I'm the new housekeeper."

"What? You're the new housekeeper the landlady was talking about. But you're just a…"

"A kid, yeah I know, that doesn't mean I don't know how to use a mop. Now you gonna let me do my job or what?"

The girl's eyes softened, if this boy was doing demeaning housework at such a young age, he must have been in some serious financial straits. "Sure come on in, I'm Lucy by the way."

"Yeah cool, where you want me to start?" The boy's voice was monotonous and annoyed.

"Well that's a bit rude," the girl thought to herself. "Um anywhere's fine, I just had the place cleaned up yesterday, so there isn't much to do."

The boy's eyebrow rose at this, "if you clean the place up yourself, why pay for housekeeping?"

"Well you see the thing is…"

"LUUUUUCCCCCYYYY!" A pink haired man covered in mud came barging through the window.

"WHAT THE HELL!" The little boy was so surprised he fell on his rear.

"Natsu calm down!" Lucy yelled.

The pink haired man shook himself like a dog, splattering mud everywhere. Lucy was furious, "what the hell Natsu? Why are you covered in mud!?"

"You would not believe the day I had today…"

"I don't care about your day! Look at the mess you've made!" Lucy's screech reached a demonic shrillness.

"Just listen," The man whose name was Natsu said. "I spent the day fighting Giant Dragon Boars."

"Giant Dragon Boars?" Lucy asked confused.

"Yeah, they're exactly what their names would make you think they are. They're these gigantic boars that can breathe fire. I had to wrestle with them in the swamps where they live, which is how I got so muddy, but it was a great time. The flames they made were delicious, and their meat tastes even better. And I managed to slaughter twelve of them, so there's enough meat for the whole guild. But you know how those guys get, even with all that meat, I doubt it'll last long, so you better hurry if you want a piece." Natsu put his arm around Lucy, and prepared to rocket out the window.

Lucy hesitated, "But wait Natsu, I'm not even HUUUNGGGRYYY!" They were out the window before she could object.

The boy examined the now muddy room. "I'm not really sure what just happened, but hey at least I got something to clean now." And so the boy set to work. He mopped, and he scrubbed, rubbed and he wiped. This went on for about an hour, and the effort tuckered the boy out. He was finished now, so he decided to take a break on the windowsill, the same one where Natsu and Lucy went flying out earlier. He untied the handkerchief from his forehead, and used it to wipe the sweat from his face and neck. He looked out the window, it was a pleasant sunny day; other kids his age were probably outside playing soccer or running around like idiots. "Eh, screw what other kids are doing," he thought to himself, "I have a roof to keep over my head. Sure maybe I have to clean up other peoples shit to keep it, but at least as long as I have it no one can tell me what to do under it."

Suddenly his stomach growled. "Well I got a roof over my head, but no food in my belly. I should talk to the landlady, see if we can come to some kind of arrangement on that." The boy looked around the room and spotted the refrigerator. He walked over to it and looked inside. He pulled out a yogurt, and grabbed a spoon. "Right now that ladies probably enjoying Giant Dragon Boar meat, I'm sure she won't miss one yogurt." He grabbed a spoon from the kitchen and started helping himself. He was about to have his third spoonful when he saw something that made his heart skip a beat. Down below walking across the stones of Strawberry Street, was a cute little girl about his age. She was a few inches shorter than him, she had peach colored skin, and wide sienna eyes, but her most distinctive feature was her cherry red hair that ran down her back in curling ponytail. "Minnie"

He set the yogurt on the nearby coffee table, and quickly ditched the white apron. He was about to run out the door, when he spotted the flower vase on a nearby stand. It was filled with pink heart shaped flowers that he didn't recognize, without thinking he picked one out of the vase and ran outside.

He scanned Strawberry Street up and down looking for the cherry haired girl. This only took a minute since her hair made her easy enough to find. "Hey, hey, Minnie!" The boy yelled after her.

The cherry haired girl looked back wondering who was calling her name. She spotted the boy, "Oh, Newkid!" She was clearly delighted to see him, as she dashed straight for him. "Where have you been?" she asked. "I was so worried when I heard you ran away from the orphanage. I asked father to look for you, but he hasn't done anything so far.

He gave her a cocky grin, "You don't have to worry about me Minnie, I can take care of myself."

"Should I take that to mean you're not going back to the orphanage?" She asked worried.

"The orphanage is for crybabies who think they need a family to survive in this world." He responded churlishly, "Besides there's no way in hell I'm letting that old crone beat me again."

"And just what do you plan to do for food, clothing, and shelter?" Minnie asked.

"I already have a job and a place to stay," he said.

"Really where are you staying?" she asked.

"See that building over there?" Newkid pointed to the apartment he just came out of.

"Yes?"

"Well, the landlady and I made a deal. If I help…maintain the place, I can live there rent free." He didn't want her to know that he had to scrub floors and toilets to keep a roof over his head.

"Really? Hmm," the doubt in her voice was palpable.

"Yup, that's right, I'm only twelve years old, and I'm already completely self-sufficient. The perfect example of that 'self-made man' your dads always talking about."

"Really, well, I guess I should wish you luck then. Anyway…see you some other time." She started to turn away from him.

"Minnie wait!" he called.

"Hmm?" she turned back.

"Um here, I got this for you." He held his hand out to offer her the heart shaped flower he plucked from the vase earlier.

"Oh," she accepted it gratefully, "Newkid, I love heart lilies, how did you know?"

"So that's what it's called." He put his hand behind his head slightly embarrassed, "Um, I don't know, I just sort of saw the flower and thought of you."

She looked at the flower, then to him with a warm smile. "Listen I know you have certain issues with being in the company of rich people."

A stern look crossed his face as he admonished her, "They have issues with me, not the other way around."

"In any case, I would like it if you came to dinner."

"You sure? I mean won't your parents have a problem with having a street urchin soiling their golden table ware?"

She giggled, "oh please, gold is sooo last year, we use platinum now. But in all seriousness I really do want you to come over. We always make something extra nice when we have guests over. And my dad will be really impressed with how well you're doing for yourself."

Newkid thought it over, "Okay, this is both good and bad. Good because I get to spend time with Minnie, bad because it has to be in the company of her family. I don't want to have to do a dog and pony show to impress her parents, and if that bastard brother of hers is gonna be there then that's just asking for trouble."

"I'll be there," he answered.

She smiled cheerfully at him, "great, I'll see you there." And she walked away.

He walked back to the apartment, went down into his sparse room in the basement, locked the door behind, and then screamed, "YEEEESSSSSS!"

A/N: Thanks for reading. I'm really hoping this turns out to be my big break on fanfiction. If I made any grammar or spelling mistakes please let me know so I can fix them. And please review. Thank you.