One more of my fills for HC-Bingo! This one was "Loss of job/income".

Leave reviews and let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: FT belongs to Hiro Mashima-sensei.

The Apartment on Strawberry Street

Lucy sat at the guild's bar bench, feeling her stomach complain of the lack of food. Her rent was already two months late and she couldn't find a single job she could do on her own, and her friends were all unavailable to her at the moment.

Erza had taken a small brake of Fairy Tail in order to spend some time with Jellal. Gray and Juvia had left in a long job involving an island of some kind. Gajeel and Levy had gone on their first mission together, and everyone knew they would take much more time than the job required because they had some emotional issues to resolve. And what was worse – at least to Lucy – Natsu had gone on a mission with Lisanna, leaving her behind to starve.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Mirajane asked her.

"No." the blonde complained. "There are no jobs for me, Mira. I can't find anything to do on my own, my land lady already threatened to kick me out and I haven't had a decent meal in days."

Mira frowned.

"You should have talked to us, Lucy. Food, at least we can provide you. You don't need to pay right away, we can open a bill and you can pay when you get the money."

"Really?" her eyes sparkled. "I didn't know I could do this."

"Of course you can. The same applies to Fairy Hills. The rent is more expensive than the one of your house, but you don't need to pay every month. You can pay everything together when you can."

That was also very good to know, but… Was she really ready to let go of her house like that? The apartment on Strawberry Street was the place she moved to after leaving her father's mansion. It meant a lot to her.

"Thank you very much for the information, Mira. For now, I'll just have anything you can give me to eat."

Mira smiled to her and served the day's especial – steak with mashed potatoes. Lucy ate with true adoration and left for her home, feeling at least well fed.

Two more weeks passed and Lucy couldn't find a job. She was truly devastated, but she needed to do what was right, so she started packing all her stuff in order to move to Fairy Hills. She felt tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to live on that apartment forever, there was just so many memories.

But they were memories with people that left her behind in order to spend time with their loved ones. She felt ridiculous. Was she useless to that point? How come there was simply no job she was able to do by herself?

Defeated, she let herself cry for a little.

And that was how Natsu found her.

"Hey, Lucy, I'm back!" that stupid grin on his face was just too much for her to bear.

"Go away." She whispered, wiping her tears away.

He looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Why? I just got back, I thought you would like to see me."

"No, I don't want to see you. You knew Erza, Gray and Levy were out of town, and what did you do? You left too, leaving me here by myself! And now I have to give up my apartment and move to Fairy Hills because I have no money to afford rent because I can't find any job I'm able to do by myself! You see, Natsu, so no, I'm not happy to see you, so if you could just leave I would be very grateful."

He raised an eyebrow at her. The salty smell of her tears didn't sit well in his stomach.

"Lucy, I'm sorry it wasn't my intention to-"

"Of course it wasn't! It's never your intention, Natsu, because you never, ever, stop to think of what you're doing. You just go ahead and do it."

"Come on, Lucy, you can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious. Go away. I have to finish packing. Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend or something?"

"What? Why would you think she is my girlfriend?"

"I don't know, Natsu, maybe it has something to do with the fact that you left me alone for two months to be with her, god knows where."

"That's unfair!"

"Well, you didn't invite me to come along, did you?"

"You're really sour today." He complained.

"Of course I am! I've been sour for the last couple of months, Natsu!" her tears started to fall again. "I've been alone, I haven't been eating well and my rent is late. There was no jobs for me. All good charts that I found I would have needed your aid, but you weren't there."

Natsu hated to see her cry, he really did. So, he got closer to her, trying to reach her with his hand.

"Don't touch me." she backed away. "You've been without me all this time, so you can just go on living this way. Go away."

"No, Luce, I can help you with your rent, and then we can go find ourselves a job."

"No. I don't want your help, not anymore."

But Natsu Dragneel was just too stubborn to let her words drive him away. He got closer and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I really am. You're right, I didn't really think things through, but Lisanna asked me for help, since Elfman was away with the Rainjinshuu, and I just couldn't say no to her, I'm sorry. I should have brought you too."

Lucy tried to untangle herself from him, but he didn't let her, so she just cried in his chest.

"I'm so mad at you." She complained. "I don't want to leave this apartment. I really don't, but I have no money."

"How much do you own your land lady?"

"14,000 jewels."

"I'll pay for it."

"No. I won't let you spend that much money on me."

"No big. I won much more in this job."

"So, I won't return it, since it's your fault anyways."

He laughed.

"Okay."

"I'm just kidding."

"It's fine, really." He opened his huge trademark smile. "I missed you, Luce."

"I missed you too, Natsu. Please, don't leave me behind again."

He crushed her between his arms.

"It's a promise."

She smiled and wiped away her tears.

"I'll take you on that one."

"Of course you will."

She got on the tip of her toes and planted a shy kiss on his lips. He answered hungrily, taking all of her into his mouth, and pressing her against the nearest wall.

Lucy always thought he was clueless about love and other things, but now she thought she was wrong.

"I missed you a lot, Lucy." He confessed.

"It's your punishment for leaving me behind."

He chuckled.

"Well, I think I deserved that."

"Like hell, you did."

"Be my girl, Lucy."

"I've always been, Natsu, it was you that never noticed before."

Grinning, he kissed her again.

"And will you let me share your bed now?"

"Only if you help with rent for now on."

He laughed hard. It was a cheap price to pay.