First day, first prompt. Not very satisfied with this one, must admit; I feel like I didn't manage to get the feeling and the effect I wanted. But I'm too tired to rewrite it, so here goes.

A day in Fairy Tail wasn't a normal day if there was not a constant ruckus of yelling and laughter and at least three fights, with some added material damage to the building.

But, even when these were the normal standards, there was something unusual today.

Natsu had noticed it. As dense as he was, even he could see it. Something in the atmosphere was different today, particularly around the female members of the guild.

He wouldn't know what, though.

Cana looked particularly gloomy. And extra drunk. No one dared to ask what was wrong; everyone knew better than to address Cana when she was in such a state of mind.

As for the rest of the girls, they had this look in their faces. Somewhat... expectant.

They were expecting something?

Juvia's face was a hopeful expectant. Illusion and daydream was written all over it, and you could see her glancing at Gray way too often, with glimmering eyes. Now, that was nothing new; but this time, instead of her coming to him, it looked like she expected him to come to her.

Levy's, on contrast, was a hopeless expectant. Like she wanted something, but knew she wouldn't get it. And yet, she still waited for it. She waited like an idiot, she would've said, if she'd wanted to comment on it. Which she obviously didn't, judging by the way she sank her nose inside a book.

Erza's expression was completely flat. She was eating cake, as always, and ignoring everything else, as always. Erza was good at concealing whatever her emotions were, and yet, you could see expectancy in the way her eyes glanced at the door every now and then. She even sighed from time to time.

Evergreen? She was sitting around with the Raijinshuu, but she also looked like she was expecting something, and by the looks of it, she was getting pretty exasperated. Her long nails mercilessly tapped the table with impatience.

And Lucy.

Lucy was sitting with Levy and Juvia. She said some words to them every now and then, but no one at that table, not even Lucy herself, looked particularly interested in talking. She rested her face in her hand, using the other to put the straw in her mouth and distractedly sip from her orange juice. Her mind was clearly elsewhere, absent from everyone and everything. Lucy was often lost in daydream, Natsu knew, but he'd never seen that look in her eyes before.

She, too, looked like she was waiting. But her waiting was... resigned. Like she was reaching for something she couldn't get to, and she was now waiting for it to come her way, but she didn't really expect it to do so.

Needless to say, Natsu was very much weirded out by all of this. Especially by Lucy, who was so lost in thought, she hadn't even noticed him arriving. Which was very strange, because Natsu had (as always) made a show of his entrance. It creeped him out to go near that table and say hello, so he decided to approach Gray and inquire for some answers.

"Hey, ice-cube."

"Yo, flame-brain" Gray's greeting was nonchalant, but he surely looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight in his seat, and briefly glanced at Juvia. Natsu couldn't tell whether he wanted to approach her or to run away.

Wow, everyone was acting weird as heck today.

"So... what's up with them?" Natsu pointed his thumb at the girls.

The ice mage shrugged. "I've absolutely no idea, and I'm not really sure I wanna know."

"They just... they look weird."

"You think so?" Gray glanced at them briefly enough, then shrugged again. "Why don't you go ask them if you're so curious?"

"Ara, ara" a soft voice cooed. They looked back to see Mira, who was serving something to Gajeel (who sat on a table nearby), and smiling at them. "You boys really don't know what today is?"

Gray averted his eyes from her, blushed slightly and mumbled something unintelligible. Natsu, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow and furrowed his lips in utter confusion. "What do you mean, Mira? Today is... uh, February 14th, right?"

"Exactly, Natsu. Which means...?" Mira made a gesture with her hand, encouraging him to continue. But Natsu didn't know what it meant.

"Which means... it's kinda cold?"

Gray gave him a look of surprise, and then bursted into laughter. Mira put a hand to her cheek. "Ara, ara" she said. Natsu was even more puzzled now.

"What? Why're you laughing?"

"Seems I was more right than I thought when I called you flame-brain!"

"Natsu, today is Valentine's day" Mira smiled, in a display of her usual patience with Natsu's dense brain.

"Oh!" Natsu patted his forehead, then looked at Mira awaiting an explanation. "So, what is that?"

"You really don't know?" Gray was bewildered. "What, did Igneel have you living under a rock?"

"Don't you say a word about Igneel!" Natsu immediately sent a deadly glare his way. "Unless you wanna go at it."

Mira intervened before a fight could ensue. "I guess dragons don't worry a lot about human festivities... Natsu, Valentine's day is the day you use to show your affection to your friends, your family... or your special one. And you do that by giving them a gift."

"Oh? A gift? Like what?"

"Well, most people choose chocolates, as it's traditional" the bartender smiled. "But it can be anything you want. Many people seize this chance to... confess their love for someone" she said the word confess with some sort of special intent behind her tone, and her eyes moved towards Gray and Gajeel ever so briefly. "But it's just about making the day special for the people you care about, by showing them you love them. So I think that's what the girls over there are waiting for. A gift."

Gray averted her eyes, a conflicted expression on his face, and a low "tch!" could be heard from the table nearby. Natsu then looked at Lucy thoughtfully. Was she waiting for a gift, too? … But a gift from whom?

He remembered the conversation he'd had with Happy that morning.

"Huh? You're going off by yourself? Where?"

"I want to buy a gift for Carla!" the blue cat said, lightly blushing.

"A gift? Why?"

"Because I want her to know that I llliiiiike her!"

Natsu had just shrugged it off as another one of Happy's numerous attempts at winning Carla's heart, but now he realized. So that's what it was about! Well, if Happy was going to give a gift, Natsu wasn't going to be less. Also, Lucy looked kind of sad and out of it today. Maybe a gift would cheer her up!

Having taken the decision, he stormed out of the guild and made his way through the streets of Magnolia, looking for the perfect gift for Lucy.

The question was, what?

He saw a chocolate shop right in front of him. Given the day it was, it was packed with people.

"Hmmmm" he hummed to himself, putting a finger to his mouth in a thoughtful manner. Well, Mira did mention chocolate. Natsu knew Lucy had a sweet tooth, so chocolate would probably enlighten her.

Then again, chocolate didn't seem too special. Lucy ate chocolate every possible day, so it wouldn't be a gift out of the ordinary. And Natsu didn't want an ordinary gift. So he decided to keep looking.

As he passed through the shops, different ideas popped into his mind. He thought about baking her a cake when he passed before a bakery, but he had no idea how to make a cake, and even less how to make it look pretty; and the ones he saw in the shop were too expensive for his tight budget. He thought about buying her a dress of some sort, looking at a fancy clothes shop, but he wouldn't know what kind of dress Lucy liked, even less what size would fit her, and again, a dress would probably be too expensive. Besides, neither the cake nor the dress would be special. Not the kind of special he wanted, anyway.

He sighed with dismay and kept walking. He thought about giving her a quill for her to write with, a ribbon for her hair, flowers, a notebook, and hundreds of other little things that crossed his mind. He even saw Gajeel buying a book, and Gray buying a... what even was that? Something that looked like a hat.

But none of those things were anything special! Natsu kicked the air with a growl. He couldn't give Lucy something ordinary!

With a deep, frustrated sigh, and a huge disappointment, he started making his way back to the guild. He walked with his eyes fixated on the ground and his hands in his pockets, kicking pebbles every now and then.

When entering the guild, he saw Lucy, now sitting by herself with the same absent eyes as before. He was infuriated with himself for not having found anything to give her. Regardless, he decided he should approach her.

"Hey, Luce."

She looked up at him when hearing her name, her eyes kind of surprised. Natsu thought he could see a glimmer of hope in them for a second, before she smiled at him. "Oh, hey, Natsu. Where have you been all day?"

"Well, you know..." he mumbled, then changed the subject. "Weren't you with Levy and Juvia? And Erza was here before too, right?"

"Ah" Lucy's smile, though still genuine, became strangely melancholic. "Gray and Gajeel came over to take them somewhere. And Jellal came in the guild as well. He practically swept Erza off her feet" she giggled. "And Evergreen yelled at Elfman a lot because he was late for their date, I think. So... yeah!" she sighed, then shook her head and smiled at him. "You never told me where you went, though."

Natsu clenched his fists. So he'd been the only one who'd failed to get a gift, huh. Nice going. "I..." he sighed, then sat beside her, deciding to tell her everything. "Lucy, I was trying to find a gift for you."

"What?" her chocolate eyes became bigger with surprise. "You... you were looking for a gift for me?" her cheeks quickly blushed pink. "B-but why?"

"Well... Mira explained to me what this Valentine's thing is, right? And everyone was getting gifts... and then I saw you and you looked so absent, kind of sad, you know? So I thought maybe a gift would cheer you up."

"Oh, Natsu" she seemed touched. "You didn't have to bother."

"No, I wanted to!" he replied, firmly. "But then, I walked all through the city and found nothing I liked for you. I failed miserably!" he sighed, scratching his neck. "See, I didn't want to give you something normal. I couldn't give you an ordinary gift, Luce, because you're not ordinary."

That made her eyes open wide and her face blush harder. When he realized what he'd said, he even blushed himself. He averted his eyes from her and ran a hand through his hair in embarrassment. "So.. yeah" he mumbled. "I couldn't get you anything. I'm sorry, Luce."

She smiled, a warm, happy smile that lit up her face. The kind of smile Natsu always wanted her to have. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all" she said, shaking her head. Her cheeks were still pink, and her eyes sparkled. He could tell she was really happy right now, though he couldn't guess why. "It's intention what counts, you know."

"Yeah, but..." he was going to say something, but was stopped by the kiss she gave him. He put a hand to his cheek, baffled by the gesture. Even though the kiss had been so quick, he would still be feeling the touch of her lips in the way his skin tingled hours afterwards.

"Thank you, Natsu."