Love is just a word

Until someone comes around

And gives it a meaning.

Little Lucy watches the equally little boy, spellbound by the gooey, droopy, string of green his finger has uncovered from the depths of his nostril. The lumpy slime breaks free and swings, still glued to his finger, as if by magic.

"Are you going to eat that?" Lucy demands. She can't imagine what other use the goop would have.

The little boy turns around, his black eyes confused. "Why? Do you want it?"

Lucy looks almost greedily upon the pristine green thing resting on his finger. "Yeah. Give it to me."

Immediately the little boy pulls away. "No way!"

"Why not? You offered," Lucy frowns indignantly.

"It's my booger. It came out of my nose."

Lucy gnaws on her lower lip, utterly stumped. She clearly can't argue with that logic. With no other option, she clamps her teeth down on the nub of fabric bunched at the tip of her pointer finger and rips off her glove. She spits it onto the ground and glares wholeheartedly at the boy, who is now rubbing the morbidly fascinating green goop around on his palm.

"Teach me how to fetch one of those," she juts her chin at the smear on his hand.

He raises a pink eyebrow. "You're a girl. You can't do it."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Just teach me already stupid!"

The boy huffs. "Fine. Teacher Natsu will show the dumb girl how to catch a booger."

"Natsu's a pretty name," she tells him honestly.

"A boys name can't be pretty! Stuuupid!"

"Whatever! Show me already!" Lucy urges impatiently. Lucy is not to be kept waiting.

"Keep your panties on," Natsu grumbles. He observes her very seriously, nods, and sticks a finger up his nose. Lucy gasps.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not a bit!" he says, proud.

Lucy tugs her hair. "I'm not so sure…that looks awfully painful."

"It's just because you're a weak little girl."

The blonde glowers at him and, with as much pride as she can muster, sticks her own finger up her own nose. "There! How do you like that?"

He grins cheekily at her. "I bet I can catch a bigger one."

Lucy sticks out her tongue. "You're on! Stupid-stupid-stuuuupid!"

Fifteen minutes later, when a flustered maid finally found the young runaway Heartfilia heiress, the girl was in the middle of town crawling all over an unfamiliar street boy who had pink hair, her dress in a awful state, and - God bless her - boogers on her bare fingers, gloves discarded.

"Stupid girl! Get your own!" The boy tried to push her off.

"I'm not catching any good ones!" Lucy wailed. "Lemme have your boogers!"

"I can't believe you guys met like that." Gray's head makes a resounding thud as it lands heavily on the table surface. He should've realized that with people like Lucy and Natsu, they were just never going to get a simple 'our eyes connected and we fell in love' type of story. "You're a disgrace to couples world wide."

"I think I just threw up," Erza holds a hand over bulging cheeks.

Lucy is blushing like mad. "I n-never! Never! I never picked my nose! Ew! Gross!" She screeches (something that might be deciphered as, "Natsu you asshole!") and throws punches in her boyfriend's general direction.

"She still collects my boogers, I bet," Natsu tells Gajeel, smirking. He easily dodges his girlfriend's bloodthirsty fists. "Jealous?"

The table's occupants deadpan.

"Gross."

Sums it up pretty damn well.

…It's an ungodly hour. Please don't judge me. * ^ *

thanks for reading! : )