The Intruder

"Lucy, are you listening?"

"…Yup."

"Good. So I was telling her, why not try to…"

Lucy Heartfilia wrinkled her brow as she stared at the drawing she had just finished. A sketched out figure of a male's anatomy stared out back at her. As the voice continued to chatter excitedly on in her ear piece, the blonde's brows suddenly shot down and she gritted her teeth. Ripping the page from her sketchbook, she crushed it and lobbed the misshapen ball into the wastebasket, where it bounced on a pile of similar paper balls before rolling into a ditch in the corner.

Damn it. Again.

Her pencil dashed back and forth across the surface of a new page and within seconds, she had a new face staring out at her, followed by a torso, limbs and finally hands and feet. Just as she closed the circuit of pencil lines around the left foot, she tensed and her pencil tip broke against the white sheet, leaving a stain of graphite and black smudge around the toes.

"Shit."

Crush. Lob. Score. And repeat. That was how her entire morning had flown by in a flurry and before she knew it, she had missed lunch time. As if to make matters worse, just as she had scored her thirty odd paper ball her phone had rung. That had been a half hour ago and her conversation partner did not give any sign as to stopping soon.

On any other day, Mirajane Strauss would be someone she would have loved to spend an entire day with but with her deadline drawing near, this could not have been a worse time.

Over the last twenty minutes or so, she had dropped increasingly unsubtle hints about how busy she was but the silver haired beauty had seemingly missed every one of them. Or flat out ignored them. Either way, Lucy was ready to tear her hair out again. Already there were a few blonde strands wedged in amongst the paper balls from where somewhere around paper ball number 15 to 20.

In any case, Lucy turned back to her work desk to start a new drawing when she noticed that her sketchpad had officially run out of pages. Giving an unladylike grunt, she dumped the leftover book skeleton into the bin with so much force that the entire bin toppled over and its contents rolled out in all directions, scattering the floor of her office.

"Gaaah!"

"And he said… Lucy? Is everything alright?" Mirajane's worried voice echoed over her Bluetooth earpiece.

The blonde wanted to scream and rip the infernal device from her ear and trash it with the rest of the waste but she forced herself to reign in her fury.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. I just dropped something." Lucy gave herself a mental congratulation for having been able to affect such a calm voice. Mirajane was no fool though.

"Deadline?"

"… Yup."

"Sorry for taking up so much of your time then. I'll hang up so that you can concentrate."

Lucy restrained from letting out a loud sigh of relief, even though it reverberated in every cell of her body. "Thank you, Mira. I'll talk to y-"

"Oh, one more thing."

The blonde forced out a "What is it?" through gritted teeth.

"Y'now the guy I was telling you about just now? Lisanna's best friend?"

Lucy quickly searched her mental inventory for any mention of such a male only to come up short. Her mind had been busy with more important things while her friend had been rambling on after all.

"Y-yeah. I remember." She faked a giggle. "He sounds like a really great guy."

"Great then! I'll go ahead and book the date then." Mirajane enthused, giggling excitedly.

Lucy blinked and pressed the earpiece harder against her ear. "D-date? Sorry… what?"

"Is the…14th ok for you, Lucy? Two days from now."

"Hold on, let me check…" Lucy picked up her phone and quickly scanned her calendar. "Yeah, I'm good and… wait, what am I doing?" She dropped her phone and rubbed her temple. "Mira, what are you talking about?"

"Lunch, of course. Or would you prefer dinner?"

"I don't mean that-"

"Oh wait…" Mirajane's voice trailed off for a moment before returning with renewed enthusiasm. "Sorry, it would have to be dinner. I'm hoping you're good with dinner?"

"Wait, I-"

"Oh, never mind. I know that you'll be free for this right, Lu-cy?"

"Uh…"

"Fantastic! See you then, Lucy! I'll text you the details closer to the date!"

"Mira-!"

Lucy's expression froze when she realized that her companion had already hung up and the only thing still in her ear was a continuous beeping sound. Sighing, the blonde plucked the headset from her ear and flicked off the power switch.

"Whirlwind Mira" was how her friend was usually referred to within their mutual circle of people, and while Lucy had long gotten used to it, it could be really frustrating sometimes.

"Argh… forget it. I'll call her again later to cancel whatever she's preparing for me." She flung the headset onto a nearby couch and settled back at her desk, ready to tackle the dragon again.

It was in the late afternoon of the 14th that Lucy snapped awake with a start when the snooze alarm blared by her bedside. Grabbing the small clock, she gasped when she realized that she had hit the snooze button one too many times. The hour hand sitting snugly between the 5 and 6 digits taunted her as the seconds hand continued to tick inexorably on.

"Shit shit shit! I hadn't meant to nap for so long!"

Flinging the clock to one side she was out of bed, out of her clothes and in the shower where she rushed through every step of the menial task that was called taking a bath. The next few minutes after that saw her stepping out in worn gym shorts and a faded tank top that had been stretched too loose from too many rewashes. Putting together a messy sandwich of layers of lettuce, ham and too much sauce, the blonde cursed when the sauce oozed out of a corner when she picked up the distorted slices of bread. A glob of brown made the corner of her tank top its new home as it sluiced a dirty path down her waist.

"Damn."

Dropping her sandwich, she splashed water on the cloth and rubbed the stain out, managing to get all out except for what looked to be a new resident on her top.

"Oh fuck this."

Without bothering to change, the blonde stuffed the rest of the sandwich into her mouth and hurried into her office where she let out another explosive expletive when she realized that she had left the windows open before she succumbed to the overwhelming desire for a nap, and loose sheets of sketch paper had strewn themselves all over the floor and couch. Her portfolio had also blown open, and her finished works had also decided to tuck themselves within discarded sheets of failed designs, making this room one hell of a messy one. Groaning and grunting, the disheveled blonde was about to get to work when another accursed noise rang out.

The doorbell.

"What the hell now…"

Cursing invectives under her breath the entire way to the door, Lucy threw open the door with vehemence, ready to bite the head off whoever had dared to interrupt her precious few hours of post-rest energy.

The man standing on her doorstep was not someone she recognized or was expecting.

Tall, lean and handsome, he was dressed in a suede brown jacket that looked specially tailored for him over a navy shirt. His jeans were many shades of blue and highlighted the fit forms and length of his legs. Lucy arched a brow at the scarf. Wasn't it warm enough in summer? As her eyes rose to meet those of the stranger's, she had to choke back an unladylike snort at the colour of his hair, which was dyed a shocking shade of pink. The skeptical expression the stranger was wearing on his face told her that she was bluffing no one, and Lucy gave a self-conscious cough as she continued to eye his hair. That had to be natural, she thought, no straight, masculine-hearted male would willingly colour his hair in that shade.

By the time she realized that she had been staring, the male was already raising his brow at her.

"Lucy Heartfilia?"

"Uh… yes…?"

He extended a handshake to her, cringing a little as he eyed her state of dress, possibly wondering if her hand was as dirty as her clothing. "Uh… Natsu Dragneel. Hello."

"Draguniro?"

"Neel. It's Dragneel."

While her pronunciation had been a genuine accident, Lucy could not help but be the tiniest bit amused when she saw his cheek muscle jump as he corrected her.

"I see. So, Mr. Draguniro."

Muscle jump.

"What brings you to my humble home? Please keep it concise. I'm busy." She arched a brow and propped a hand up onto her waist, hoping that he would take her very big hint and skedaddle off.

"Mirajane told me that she had arranged a dinner date for us, so here I am." He shrugged.

"Of course, Mira did… Wait, what?" Lucy's hand slipped from her.

The man before her scratched his head awkwardly as he grumbled something out of the corner of his mouth. He was either feeling as frustrated and confused as she was right now or thinking that speaking to her was somewhat of condescension on his part. Lucy figured it was both, given the way he was sort of leaning backwards now as though she was giving off some sort of rank stench.

He folded his arms and sighed. "I wouldn't even be here had it not been for the bet I lost drinking against her brother. So as punishment, she told me that she would be setting me up with one of her friends and…"

He eyed her up and down with a critical look. Lucy instantly felt a little self-conscious when she realized how little her clothing covered, especially since they were old and worn thin. Giving an indignant huff, she folded her own arms over her breasts, willing him to stop staring.

With a decided snort, he continued. "Apparently… you're it… I think. I'm sorry, I thought your friend told me I'd be meeting with a woman, not something that just crawled out of a cave of filth."

Lucy barely managed to stop herself from hitting him and forced herself to take a composing inhalation of air.

"Well, I'm not sure what exactly Mirajane told me over the phone since I couldn't be bothered to listen. She was probably trying to set me up with yet another problem child."

"You-!"

"But I don't remember hearing anything about someone who smelled like he drowned himself in cologne. Overcompensation for something, I think?" She tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully as she watched the male seethe where he stood.

Giving herself a mental triumphant grin, she took a step back into the house and moved to close the door. She made a shooing action with her free hand.

"Well now. Since it's obvious we don't get along, I think you can just run on home now. I'm think your diaper needs changing. Goodbye, Mr. Draguniro." And good riddance.

The blonde spun away as she pushed the door shut, only to gasp when there was a sudden slamming sound. Given that her door closing was her favourite sound in the world, especially when it was slamming on people not unlike the pink haired intruder, she would have recognized it with her eyes closed. This sound was something different. Whirling around, her brows shot down when she realized that the stranger was now standing inside her house, his right arm propping her door wide open as he glared at her.

"Get out." She snapped.

"No." He shut the door behind him and walked towards her with a distinct stalking-like style.

"Get out before I hit you. You have no right to intrude on my house like that."

The male arched a brow as he eyed her slim arm with an arrogant look. "Hit me?"

"With something." She shot back as she looked quickly around for something violent and painful looking.

The book on the shoe cabinet was too light while the vase next to it looked too heavy to even lift. The metal spanner on the floor looked too dangerous; she wanted to scare him off not leave a bloody dent into his head. Wait… why did she even have a spanner lying around like that? Aha! Perfect. Lucy grabbed a stray stiletto forgotten behind the cabinet and brandished the heel at him. Four whole inches of stabbing doom. Affecting what she hoped was a threatening look, she glared at him again.

Natsu Dragneel eyed the red shoe skeptically and paused in his advance towards the belligerent blonde. While the tiny piece of footwear didn't look like it could pose much harm, the stiletto itself was a cause for concern. He knew that from past experience. He raised his arms and gave a very convincing defeated sigh.

"Ahhh. Whatever. I can't be bothered anymore."

As expected, the blonde now looked surprised.

Turning sideways from her and folding his arms, he gave her a mocking look. "Please. Did you really think I was going to do anything to someone li- to you?"

"What…?"

"Jeez."

Lucy startled when the male suddenly leaned forward and snatched the shoe from her hand. He flung it a safe distance away from her. "What the hell- Excuse me, Mr. Draguniro!"

"Oh shut up. Mirajane told me that I had to hang out with you for at least 3 hours before she would give me my house and car keys back. Like it or not, I'm going to be here till… 10pm."

"What! Wait, no… what?!"

"Where's your kitchen? I'm starving! Do you have any food to eat?"

To her outrage, the pink haired male strode casually past her and turned into her living room, his moccasins leaving dusty prints all over her floorboards.

"Mira… what?! Shit… w-wait! Dragnuniro! GET BACK HERE!"

Yikes… supposed to be a one shot… looks like this is going to be a multiple chapter fic. Bad habits die hard.

Faie =.=