Lucy sat on her bed in the room that had been assigned to Fairy Tail A Team and stared down at a picture of her family. She was no more than a toddler, sitting in a chair that looked like a throne compared to her small stature, her favorite doll, Michelle, clasped in both hands. Jude and Layla Heartfilia stood on either side of the chair, seemingly smiling at her. A tear drop fell onto the picture and slid down onto the floor.
It was her birthday today. In all the excitement over the Games, no one had mentioned it. She wasn't even sure if anyone in Fairy Tail knew that today, July 1, was her birthday anyway. For that, Lucy was glad. Ever since her mother had passed away, Lucy's birthday had never left good memories behind: only those of a cold father and later, a life alone as a runaway. This year was no better than the others.
An image of Raven Tail's Flare Corona popped into Lucy's head, making her feel even more miserable. She had let her guild down today. Even though no one blamed her for her loss and she'd told Natsu that she was "all fired up!", Lucy still couldn't help feeling responsible for her team's 0 points. Another tear escaped, sliding down her cheek. It was on this day that she missed her mother most keenly.
Behind her, the door to the room opened and closed as someone entered. Lucy sniffled, wiped her hand across her cheek and replaced her family portrait quickly in her bag. It wouldn't do to be more of a burden to her team mates by having them see her cry. Biting her lip to keep more tears at bay, Lucy turned to see Gray standing over her, a concerned look on his face.
"What're you doing up here all by yourself?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You're missing the party downstairs." He looked to the side and muttered, "Not that there's any reason to party right now." He looked back at Lucy, narrowed his eyes and bent down so that his face was a little too close to Lucy's.
"Have you been crying?" he asked, his gaze softening.
Lucy pulled back and looked away. "No," she replied, wincing at the crack in her voice that revealed her lie.
"We both lost, you know," he said after a moment. "I'm almost too ashamed to show my face downstairs. But we're not accomplishing anything by moping around up here."
Managing a smile, Lucy replied, "Yeah, you're right. It takes more than a bad day to bring down Fairy Tail mages after all!" Glancing down, then quickly up to the ceiling, Lucy's face and neck turned bright red. "But, uh, Gray? You should probably put some clothes on first."
Now in a much better mood, Lucy laughed as a completely buck naked Gray rushed to retrieve his clothes from around the room.
As Lucy and Gray entered the tavern of the Honeybone Inn, a wall of sights, sounds and smells hit them: rowdy mages, music, bar fights and booze. In one corner, Natsu threw an unconscious Max onto the floor and demanded a new challenger, Cana and the Raijinshuu were downing shots like there was no tomorrow, and Makarov sat on the bar, watching his children party even in the face of utter defeat, a giant smile on his face and a mug of beer in one hand. Mavis, the spirit of Fairy Tail's first master, also sat next to Makarov, swinging her legs and watching the party with keen eyes.
After Erza had stopped Natsu and Gajeel's fight (which most likely would have destroyed the inn), Natsu came over and sat down next to Lucy, two plates overflowing with food in each hand.
"Oh, thank you, Natsu!" Lucy clapped her hands together. She hadn't eaten since her battle with Flare and was actually really hungry. "I'm starving!"
"Huh?" Natsu asked, confused. "These are for me and Happy."
Lucy huffed and let out an exasperated sigh, "Of course. Why did I think otherwise?"
Natsu studied his friend for a moment, then slid one of the plates over to her. "Here. I'll just go get another." Before Lucy could say anything, Natsu got up and rushed over to the buffet for another plate.
"He liiiiiiiiikes you," a familiar voice said right behind Lucy, making her jump a food in the air.
Furious, she turned to the flying blue cat and snapped, "Don't do that, Happy! I nearly fell out of my seat! And don't spout nonsense . . ." Lucy trailed off, pouting.
The exceed flew circles in the air, laughing, before settling on the table. By the time Natsu got back, Happy had already finished half a plate of food. Natsu quickly caught up and surpassed the cat, by dumping the entire plate of food into his mouth. Though somewhat disgusted at her two table mates' complete lack of manners, Lucy let herself be swept away by the celebration, forgetting her earlier foul mood.
The hours flew by until everyone except guild members had left the tavern. Lucy still sat at the same table with Natsu, Happy curled up and sleeping in her lap. She pet his head lightly and let out a long yawn. Looking at her watch, Lucy nearly jumped out of her seat, but Happy's content slumber made her resist.
Lucy leaned over to Natsu and whispered urgently, "It's almost midnight! We have to get up early tomorrow!"
"Lighten up!" Natsu replied, then burped loudly. "It's fine. No one else has left yet."
Looking around the tavern, Lucy realized Natsu was right. Everyone from the guild was still present, though Cana, Bixlow and Evergreen were still passed out. "Well, I'm going to bed," Lucy sighed and shifted Happy into Natsu's lap. "I'm tired."
A look of alarm passed over Natsu's face and he shot up, grabbing Lucy's arm. "Don't go yet!" he exclaimed.
Happy, having fallen out of Natsu's lap, stood on the table top and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah, Lucy, you have to stay a while longer. Your lap is really comfortable."
Lucy sighed and shook her head, "I'm really tired. I just want to go to sleep. Happy, you can come up and sleep with me if you want." Ignoring Natsu's pleas to stay, Lucy made her way to the stairs up the to rooms. Natsu and Happy followed behind, trying to stall her.
Natsu jumped in front of her on the stairs and crossed his arms, blocking her path. "I'm not in the mood to play games, Natsu," Lucy grumbled.
Glancing at something behind Lucy, Natsu cocked his head to the side and broke out into his trademark toothy grin. "But the guest of honor can't leave first!"
"Eh?" Lucy asked as the lights suddenly went out in the tavern. Confused, Lucy turned around and what she saw nearly brought her to tears.
Everyone from the guild was gathered around a white frosted, six-tiered cake. Each tier was ringed with alternating fresh strawberries and lit candles, and right above the cake someone (most likely Levy) had spelled out "Happy Birthday, Lucy!" in magic cursive. As soon as Lucy had turned around, everyone started singing the most horrendous rendition of "Happy Birthday" Lucy had ever heard.
Due to everyone's drunken state, most of the words were slurred to the point of being indistinguishable and everyone had decided to sing in their own key. Happy flew in circles around the cake singing, "Lucy birthday to you!", unaware that the "Happy" in "Happy birthday" was not, in fact, his name. Bixlow and his dolls were singing their own version of the song, which included something about Lucy and a certain lion spirit that made her blush profusely. Gajeel, singing horribly and loudly off pitch, received a glass mug in the face, thrown by an angry Erza, who had obviously appointed herself the conductor. Even though it was far from perfect, it was inherently Fairy Tail and made Lucy feel perfectly at home.
Natsu stepped down behind her, rested his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to say, "You didn't think we wouldn't find out today was your birthday, did you?"
Lucy turned to see his wide grin, wiped her tears away and returned the smile. "C'mon, lets go eat some cake!"
Thirty minutes later, Lucy sat at a table with Natsu, Happy, Erza, Gray, Wendy and Juvia, happily eating her strawberry shortcake (Erza had been in charge of getting the cake, of course). A sudden thought occurred to her. "Hey, guys? How did you know it was my birthday in the first place? I don't think I've ever told you . . ."
Everyone stopped eating and looked at Happy, who was licking frosting off his paw. He looked up at Lucy and replied, "Easy! I read your diary!"
"Ehhhh?! "