Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters

Just a random idea I had floating around in my brain. Read, review, and enjoy!

When Natsu came knocking, Lucy didn't notice. Not that climbing up the side of the building and sliding in through the window could be considered "knocking." Natsu fell down on the bed, Happy curled up in his lap, and waved his hand.

"Yo, Luce! What's up?"

"Arrgh! Why is this so difficult?!" Lucy exclaimed, chucking a pen in the direction of her bed.

"Oi! Watch it, woman!" Natsu cried, rubbing the new sore spot on his forehead. Lucy looked up and blinked at him.

"Eh? When did you get here?"

"What are you talking about? Didn't you see me come in through the window? You're usually all over me for not using the door."

"Yes, because doors were invented for a reason." Lucy sighed and mentally face palmed. "Look, I'm sorry, but I just cannot deal with you right now. Could you come back in maybe…a couple days?"

Natsu gaped at Lucy, mouth hanging wide open. "What? You're kicking me out?"

"Why are you so surprised? It usually ends up happening at some point during our visits," Happy (very astutely) pointed out.

"I've got a lot of things I need to figure out, and I can't afford any distractions, okay? And you definitely count as a distraction."

"What do you need to do?" Natsu asked.

"Well first, I need to find rent money. The last job we took only paid us half what we should've gotten because of some people's inability to hold back and not destroy everything." Natsu and Happy seemed totally unaffected by the evil eye Lucy was giving them.

"Yeah, that was a bummer. Me and Happy were really counting on that job to get more food."

"Fish! Especially fish!"

"No, are you kidding me? I would've bought Mira's fire chicken. Her cooking is the best."

"Fish is way better. It's so good and delicious and wonderful and delectable and I'm sure Carla would love–"

"But you know, flaming marshmallows are really good as well. The more burnt, the better. Or maybe fire soup, or fire-on-a-stick, or fire shish kebab. Or maybe–"

"Come on, Natsu, you know you can just guilt-trip Lucy into buying you some food! She can never resist your puppy eyes!"

"Hmm, true. You know, I've been hungrier than usual lately. I should probably ask Lucy for some food soon…"

"I'm right here, you know!" Lucy burst out, successfully getting Natsu's and Happy's attention. Natsu's face suddenly lit up.

"Hey, that saves me a lot of time! So, can you buy me some fire food?" he asked, smiling broadly.

"Did you not just hear me say I need rent money?!"

"...So will you?"

"NO!" Natsu went flying through the window as Lucy's shoe connected with his face. With a loud splash, he landed in the river but was soon back on his feet. He quickly climbed back up to Lucy's apartment, completely dry (fire magic was so unfairly useful sometimes, a random part of Lucy's mind thought).

"Is rent all you're worried about?" Happy asked curiously.

"No. I promised Levy I'd have the next chapter of my book ready by Friday for her to read, but it's already Wednesday and I can't think of anything! This is the worst case of writer's block I've had in a while. Not to mention I'm out of groceries and a whole bunch of other stuff, but I can't buy any because I'm saving up my rent, which is due on Saturday. And I'm still down 25,000 Jewels! I need to get a birthday present for Mira as well, but I have no freaking clue what she'd want! Ugh, and now my head's hurting like hell. Great."

Lucy rubbed her temples, trying to ease the pounding.

"It's probably all the stressing out I've been doing all week. Do I have any aspirin?" she asked, more to herself than Natsu and Happy as she moved through the apartment to her medicine cabinet. Opening it, she looked inside and groaned. "Of course I don't. Add that to the ever-growing list of things I need to buy," she said bitterly, slamming the cabinet closed. The door rattled as Lucy stalked back to her bedroom.

Huffing, she threw herself into her chair, barely noticing Natsu's unusually contemplative expression.

"So…" he said slowly, "what exactly do you need to buy?"

Lucy blew out a breath. "Besides aspirin? Well, I need eggs, milk, lettuce, cucumbers, olive oil, chicken, fruit, salt, detergent, body wash, shampoo, a new pack of pens, stationery, regular paper, and might as well throw Mira's gift in there too."

"Hmm...okay," Natsu murmured, frowning slightly.

"What did you want to know for?" Lucy asked.

"Do you have any tea?" Natsu asked abruptly, causing Lucy to tilt her head questioningly.

"Uh, yeah, I should have some. Only green tea, though."

"Yosh! I'm going to go make you a cup of tea, and then you're going to go to sleep," he declared, jumping up and sprinting to the kitchen.

"Ehh?! Have you seriously not been paying attention this whole time? I'm in a bit of a time crunch here."

"You have a headache, don't you? You'll feel better after you rest."

Lucy hesitated, weighing her options. "I guess so…" She waited as Natsu finished up in the kitchen.

"Here. Green tea." Natsu handed Lucy a steaming cup filled with fragrant tea. Gratefully, she took it and cautiously started to sip. Happy flew over from the bed and landed on Natsu's head, frowning slightly. Natsu was acting a bit weird, sort of like Lucy. Not that he would ever say that out loud. Lucy would kick his butt for that.

Lucy quickly drained the cup and set it on her desk. Then, she hopped into bed and pulled the covers up.

"See you later, Luce!" Natsu said as he hopped onto the windowsill. Lucy smiled warmly as Natsu exited her apartment, landing softly on the pavement below. Then, she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep

Down below, Happy gave Natsu a questioning glance.

"What's going on? You've been acting sort of strange."

Natsu didn't look at Happy, instead keeping his gaze locked on the window of a certain blonde-haired girl. "Come on, Happy. We've got a lot to do."

Lucy woke up hours later, feeling refreshed and headache-free. Checking the time, she found she'd slept through the remainder of the morning and well into the afternoon. I need to make up that time I lost sleeping, she thought and quickly got out of bed. However, voices from the kitchen made her freeze.

"Naaaaatsuuuuu, why can't I eat this fish?"

"Cause it's for Luce."

"But it's a fish."

"Uh-huh."

"And I'm a cat."

"So?"

"So, by the laws of nature, I have to eat it."

"Eh, laws were made to be broken."

"But it's a law of nature."

"What's going on?"

Natsu and Happy startled, turning to look at Lucy standing in the doorway of her kitchen. Countless bags lay on her dining table and the refrigerator was in the process of being stuffed full of food. Natsu, who was holding a carton of eggs, proceeded to put it in the refrigerator before picking up a box of blackberries.

"Hey, Luce! You're up."

"You still haven't answered my question," she said, crossing her arms. Natsu grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, you know, we just thought–"

"You," Happy corrected.

"I," Natsu agreed, "just thought that you could use some help. I mean, you seemed really stressed and anxious and stuff. So, we went out and bought you all the things on your grocery list. I talked to Levy, too, and she said she was fine with not being able to read your new chapter by Friday. She also helped me pick out a gift for Mira. Here, take a look."

Lucy gaped, flabbergasted, as Natsu pulled out a beautiful, dazzling, azure blue dress from one of the bags. Her mouth dropped open even wider, if that was possible, when Natsu handed her a stack of Jewels.

"That's 25,000 Jewels there. Enough to cover your rent, right?"

For about a minute, Lucy flicked her gaze back and forth and back and forth, from Natsu to the dress to the Jewels to the groceries. Natsu's smile slowly dimmed.

"Lu…cy?"

With a sound between a cry and a laugh, Lucy launched herself at Natsu and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Thank you, Natsu," she breathed, face pressed tight against his shoulder. Natsu, surprised for only a moment, returned her embrace, enveloping her with his warmth. They stayed like that for a long while, and it probably would've been much longer if Happy hadn't started giggling. Lucy pulled away to look curiously at the cat.

"What?" she asked. Happy giggled again, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Oh, nothing. Just ask Natsu where he got all the money from."

Frowning, Lucy turned to Natsu.

"That's right. You said you guys didn't have any grocery money either. Where did you get the money to do this?"

"I asked the guild for donations," he said, expression nonchalant. Lucy, on the other hand, sputtered. Asking the guild for help, in her mind, was always the last resort, only to be done in extreme circumstances.

"Did you tell anyone what the money was for?" she inquired, dreadfully awaiting the answer.

"I told Mira it was for you. She started getting all weird and really excited for no reason, I think she was saying something like 'Nalu for the win' or whatever. But anyway, she was the one who pretty much forced everyone to hand over some Jewels, but she told them the money was for someone's first date. Not sure why she did that."

Lucy gritted her teeth, steam pouring out of her ears.

"Do you realize what you've done?!" she screamed.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!" Natsu protested indignantly, Happy giggling like mad in the background.

"Urghh! Now Mira's going to tease me about this for forever!" Lucy yelled.

"Oh, yeah, also, umm…" Natsu started, "would you mind buying me and Happy food for the next week? I mean, we sort of did save you a lot of trouble."

Natsu, knowing that Lucy was always stingy when it came to buying him food (which, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that he could eat mountains), turned on the puppy eyes, full force. But this time, Lucy wasn't having it. With a kick that sent him flying across town, she screamed so loud the guild could hear it over their brawl.

"NO FREAKING WAY, BAKA!"

Hope you liked it! This was actually really fun to write, so I hope it was fun reading it, too. As always, please, please, please review. Criticism is welcome and appreciated.

Iridiscente