Happy Birthday Kaylove75!
Missing Happyness
By May Waters
"And what is a tiny thing like you doing outside my door, huh?" Lucy asked bending over to look at the animal perched on her welcome mat. The cat was blue and he had a small cloth, almost like a backpack, wrapped around his neck with no collar in sight. The tip of his long tail was white and he mewled in Lucy's face, tickling her with his whiskers. "I guess I'll put you inside for now, don't want you wandering around outside. I'm going to school though so I won't be home for a few hours."
The cat meowed again and curled up comfortably on the couch inside her small apartment. With a small smile she locked the door and jumped down the stairs, backpack bouncing.
-oOo-
"We have a problem," Natsu announced slammed his hands down on the desk in front of his friends.
"And it is?" Gray prompted gently pulling the crushed papers out from under Natsu's hand. It was his homework after all and he would rather not have their homeroom teacher, Aquarius, mad at him.
"Happy is missing," his friends seemed to have no response to the declaration. A few of their eyebrows had even shot up in surprise.
"And you're telling us this why, salamander?" Gajeel asked pushing the book he'd been reading across the desk so it was far away from him. Natsu rolled his eyes, his cousin was the most studious out of all of them, but he hated to admit it.
"I need your help to make posters after school and hang them around."
"You're absolutely sure he's lost then?"
"I couldn't find him anywhere near or in my house, he's never wandered off like this before so he has me worried." Natsu confessed.
"Alright, we'll help you look for you cat."
-oOo-
"So you just found him outside your apartment?" Levy asked rubbing the cat behind his ears. He purred lightly at the touch and she giggled, the animal was gentle and seemed to have a love for fish. He had knocked several of the canned tuna onto the floor while Lucy had been at school and upon testing the theory, it turned out the cat did know what the cans really were.
"Yeah," Lucy smiled. "He's really sweet, I'm not sure I want to give him up."
"But what happens when his owner comes looking for him?"
"I don't know." Lucy admitted throwing herself onto the couch and watching as the cat curled into her lap and started to purr warmly. She definitely wouldn't want to give the cat up if the owner ever came looking.
-oOo-
The next day at school Lucy did not want to see Levy at all, but couldn't avoid her in home room. The whole school had seen the posters, they'd been plastered over everything when they arrived.
Missing Cat
He's blue, born that way, with a white tip on his tail and he responds to the name Happy. He belongs to Natsu Dragneel, please call 893-347-3478 if you have any information on his location.
"You're going to have to call him you know." Lucy nearly vaulted herself into the wall when she jumped; her shoulder hit painfully into one of the locks on the lockers and she turned to glare at her so called friend.
"I'm not even sure that's the same cat."
"How many blue cats do you meet on a regular basis?" Levy stared at her friend, making Lucy feel like she was receiving the 'idiot' look.
"Alright, I'll call after school." Lucy said dejectedly moving past the poster and not noticing the distressed pink haired man they passed on their way to homeroom.
-oOo-
Lucy was nervously tapping her fingers on her kitchen counter, her phone pressed to her ear. She didn't want to do this, especially since Happy was winding his way happily through her ankles and purring all the while. The ringing was making her anxious, if this Natsu wanted to get his cat back so badly then he should at least bother to pick up his phone.
"Hello?" The voice on the other end was pleasantly deep and she was shocked for a moment, forgetting what she was calling about.
"Hi, I'm Lucy Heartfilia and I think I have your cat."
"You do?" His voice went high with excitement and she heard him cough.
"I found him on my doorstep yesterday when I was leaving for school. If you give me your address I can bring him to your house and you can make sure he's the right one."
"Yeah, just give me a second."
-oOo-
Lucy was standing on the porch of a nicely groomed home. Levy was supportively behind her and Happy was squirming in Lucy's arms. Taking a deep breath she relinquished her two hand hold on the animal and rang the doorbell. There was several thuds from inside and then the click of a lock before the door was opened revealing a blue haired girl who looked to be around the age of eleven.
"Uh- hi." Lucy greeted and the girl smiled.
"I'm Wendy, are you Lucy?"
"Yes I am." Lucy looked surprised.
"I live here with my cousins, Natsu told me you were coming over to bring his cat today. You can come in,"
Happy was wiggling all around in Lucy's arms and she had to hold him away from her to stop from being scratched. Inside the living room a white cat with a pink bow tied to its tail was sitting in a patch of sunlight, tail flicking back and forth. The cat slid from Lucy's grip and it darted across the room to jump on the cat which hissed and flicked its tail walking away.
"That's Carla, she's mine. I'm thinking that is Happy because he always does that when he sees her." Wendy giggled before suddenly yelling: "Minna!"
"Is he here? Is Happy here?" A teen about the same age as Lucy and Levy came racing down the stairs. He tripped on the last step and fell forward onto the tile floor.
"Are you okay?" Wendy asked.
"Idiot," another teen around their age emerged from the downstairs, he was smirking at the pinkette who was now standing up and trying to act like he meant to do it. His long black hair and piercings made him look quite mean and foreboding.
"Is it the right cat then?" It was a voice the girls they recognized, one of the most popular and well-known boys in the school. He was a notorious accidental stripper, Gray Fullbuster.
"Oh, hi Gray." Lucy lifted a hand in greeting.
"Lucy, thought I recognized that name. Hey Levy,"
"Hi," the high school bluenette leaned out from behind her blonde friend and waved at Gray.
"You know them?" Natsu looked surprised.
"Yeah, they go to the same high school as us." Gray shrugged.
"Where's Happy?"
"In the living room," Wendy told him before Lucy had the chance. "He jumped on Carla so I'm thinking it's the right one."
A black cat suddenly came prancing down the stairs before jumping up on the railing before jumping on the pierced man.
"This is Lily," he told them stroking the cat.
"What's up with all the noise?" Another man appeared at the top of the stairs, he had a scar covering his right eye which was a straight line and prohibited it from opening at all. His dark red hair matched his dark complexion and for a moment, Lucy was in awe.
"Natsu tripped down the stairs like the dumbass he is." Gray laughed.
"Shut up." Natsu grumbled. "Well, thanks for bringing Happy back I guess."
"You're not going to go check if it's the right one?" Lucy bit her lip, it was very awkward standing there. She never expected this kid to have so many siblings.
"Ah no, I trust Wendy. Got to trust your family, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose so." Lucy agreed.
"We'll see you all later then," Levy announced tugging on her friend's sleeve. The blond turned and they exited the house, Wendy thanking them and shutting the door once they were safely out.
"Strange family," Lucy told her friend.
"Scary," Levy agreed.
-oOo-
Lucy opened the door of her apartment only to see Natsu's blue cat back outside her door. She jumped backwards and the cat walked in calmly, winding its way around her ankles and mewing softly.
"What are you doing here?" Lucy was annoyed, this meant she'd have to take the cat back. Again. "Well, I'll take you back after school then."
-oOo-
Lucy sat on the porch of Natsu's house stroking the blue cat. She'd been sitting there for a good couple of hours, it was boring and she could only go through her ExceedBook Feed so many times before Levy's and Erza's status updates and recommendations of some very steamy romance novels started to look dull and out of date. She sighed and let her head drop to her knees. Perhaps she should just go home and return the feline tomorrow. Just as she made to stand up, a very happy cheer echoed from the end of the street.
"He's here!" Then the figure with salmon colored hair paused as he noticed the blonde sitting on their porch.
"Hey, he turned up at my apartment again this morning so I brought him back." Lucy shrugged. A bulky blond man walked up behind Natsu, she hadn't seen him before but it was apparent that he was a part of the house as the keys were dangling from his fingers.
"For bringing him back to us twice, why don't you stay for dinner? Heaven knows we need more of a female presence around here." The blond laughed and it sounded like thunder. "I'm Laxus by the way, good to meet you."