A/N Overused theme? Maybe. Overused plot? Not that I am aware of...

Disclaimer- Fairy Tail is created by Hiro Mashima

Edited- 2/16/15

*Details, details, details. Little grammar and punctuation. Not to mention Kudos to everyone who actually understood what on earth the un-edited copy even meant.*

Lucy awoke to a small weight resting across her chest. Cracking open one eye, she saw her dog, Plue, peering at her as he stood shivering on top of her chest. She raised one hand and patted her white West Highland terrier on the head softly.

"We will go on your walk as soon as I get ready, okay?" murmured Lucy sleepily.

As she moved to sit up, Plue jumped to the ground and cocked his head to the side. "Puun!" he barked.

"Okay, okay," said Lucy, yawning through her fingers "I'm coming now."

Lucy stretched her arms above her head and sighed in satisfaction when she felt her back pop.

She kicked her comforter to the bottom of her beg before swinging her legs over and standing up on the cold hardwood floor.

"Just give me like 5 minutes to actually look like a human being," she told Plue as she walked off to her bathroom, snagging a couple articles of clothing from her dresser as she went.

She emerged later, hair washed and brushed, makeup complete, and dressed in a simple red tee with jean shorts and brown boots. Pulling her brown belt through her jean belt loops she fastened it in place.

"Plue!" she called out to her dog, not bothering to turn when she heard the familiar sound of thumping from his paws hitting the floor as Plue ran.

Instead, she reached up and tightened the blue ribbon that was starting to come undone in her hair and strode over to her writing desk to grab Plue's leash and keys from the counter.

"Pun puun!" her dog barked again, weaving around her feet in excitement.

Lucy giggled, "Calm down, Plue, or else I won't be able to get the leash on!"

Plue seemed to have understood her, as he stopped moving — well almost all movements as he continued to shiver in his strange manner— and Lucy was able to click the leash to his collar.

"So, where should we go today, Plue?" she asked her dog, conversationally, as she walked down the sidewalk, having already locked her door.

"Puun!"

"Sure, that works." agreed Lucy, acting as if she had actually understood her dog.

They continued their walk without any specific destination, taking random turns every so often to change up the pace. Lucy wasn't worried about getting lost as she knew most of the city like the back of her hand. And even if they did, she was on friendly terms with most of the townsfolk and they would gladly point them in the correct direction. As she let her mind wander, Lucy glanced around at the passing shop's windows, only stopping when they came across an newly opened ice cream shop. The shop, Rose & Cream, was quite simple compared to the flashy stores around it. Circular glass tables were spread out, in no particular order, on the black and white tile floor. The serving counter was pushed against the back wall and, from her viewpoint, Lucy could make out the various tubs of ice cream placed inside, the glass plane separating the ice cream from the greedy hands of the children waiting for their turn to order.

Lucy looked down at her shivering mutt and smiled, "If only I brought my money."

"Pun puun!"

Lucy took one last look into the homely shop before walking away, promising herself to return again. As they continued their trek, Lucy spotted a crowd of people buzzing around them, talking, eating, laughing, and going on with their Saturday activities, only then realizing they had arrived at the center of the city; a 20 minute walk from her apartment.

Sitting in front of them, was a fountain made up of a single jet spraying directly up into the sky. Due to physics, the water fell directly back into the basin, thus creating a dome shaped spray of water.

Lucy also noticed a small group of children on the opposite side of the fountain, taking turns throwing pennies into the fountain. As she watched, each child would follow the same pattern as the one before: stand directly in front of the fountain, scrunch their eyes shut, concentrate on their silent wish with all their might, and throw their penny directly in front of them and into the fountain.

And although Lucy couldn't hear it on account of the noise from the people walking around her, she could imagined the tiny splash the penny made as it hit the water. She took a small step forward and found that the bottom of the fountain was completely littered in an assortment of pennies, nickels, dimes, and even quarters from past wishers. Lucy sighed in wistfulness as she recalled doing the same activities as a child, never forgetting she feeling of childhood hope as she saw her own wish sink to the bottom of the basin. Before she knew it, Lucy had reached her hand into the cool water and picked up one of the pennies.

She wasn't really stealing, she reasoned with her own self as she spun on her heel so her back was to the fountain, she was merely adding another wish to the coin.

Holding the penny close to her chest, she whispered her wish under her breath, and tossed the penny high over her shoulder. Immediately, she whirled around in order to watch the coin spin in the air on it's way down. It sparkled in the sun as it did so, and Lucy could have sworn she saw the light reflecting off the copper wink at her. Yet, before she could confirm it, the coin had already disappeared into the water to join the others. She sighed and pushed away the thought as a trick of the sun, before noticing Plue's accusing stare.

"I was borrowing it." she explained shortly, "That's not stealing."

Plue gave no verbal answer, but instead, began to shiver at a faster rate. Lucy reached down and gathered the white dog in her arms and sat down on the edge of the fountain; placing him in her lap.

"Plus it's not like I would be the first person they would think would steal something." Lucy reasoned, peering around the square before suddenly thrusting out her finger to point at a boy who looked to be about her age, "See? Now that is someone who looks suspicious."

Plue barked once, which Lucy took as his agreement, and moved around in her lap for a more comfortable position. As he finally settled down, Lucy kept her eyes on the man only a few meters away. He was dressed in dark jeans, black winter boots, and a white tee hidden with a coat. The look was completed with a pair of dark shades and a grey hat which completely covered his hair. It was something that would have better fit in during Magnolia's colder months, instead of the sweltering heat they were experiencing at the moment.

Despite the fact he must have been slowly being cooked alive under his many layers, the man

stood completely still with his arms crossed tightly against his chest and, like herself, was watching the people walk around. Although, unlike her, he was doing it in a matter that made him look like a complete creep.

To make matters even worse, every so often he would reach down to either yank at his coat or pull his hat lower on his head in an effort to not stand out in the crowd of people dressed in summer clothing.

Just then Plue gave a sudden bark in her arms, causing her attention to stray from Mr. Discreet to her terrier in confusion. Plue gave a jump as he began struggling to get to an object to the man's left.

"Plue! Stop it!" she scolded to her mutt, trying to prevent him from jumping from her arms, "What is with you?"

Lucy looked up, trying to find the cause of Plue's sudden antics and only then noticed the man standing a few feet away from Mr. Discreet. She rolled her eyes when she noticed he was wearing identical clothing to him, minusing the shades.

Other than the obvious differences in height and weight, this man was being a lot more conspicuous than his partner, almost to the point of blending with the shadows. If it hadn't been for Plue, she may have never noticed him. But now that she did, he gave her an unsettling feeling with his inhuman way of standing completely still with a face completely deprived of all emotion.

Unknowingly, she clench Plue tighter to her chest and swallowed slowly, unable to tear her eyes from the pair. While Plue seemed to settle down, Lucy watched as the man broke from his statue like character to reach into his coat to draw out a small black object.

At that exact moment, a woman stopped in front of Lucy in order to tie her shoe, effectively blocking her view of the man. Without her being able to see his actions, Lucy felt her gut sink. Something was really off about this man.

Craning her neck around the woman, she saw him bring the black object to his face and point it directly at Mr. Discreet. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to identify the object. It wasn't any form of eyewear that she could see, but what else did you bring up your eyes unless. . .

Lucy shot out of her seat, dropping Plue onto the ground, as fear for the man's life rippled through her. Her mind was completely blank as she began sprinting towards the man, knocking the unsuspecting people out of her way without any apology.

For a split second Lucy hesitated. What should she do? There was no way someone of her stature would be able to take on someone of his size. And then, just as quickly as the thought came, it disappeared, along with any form of hesitation. She needed to save him!

"Get down!" Lucy screamed at the man who was busy fixing his coat for the millionth time, "He has a gun!"

He did appear to have heard her over the noise, nor did he see his soon-to-be-murder move his finger to the top of the gun in preparation to fire. She slid under a taller man's legs who had stepped in her way, and screamed at the man again.

To her relief, it was only then that he looked up. His mouth dropped open in surprise when he realized her target was him. If he wasn't wearing shades, Lucy would have been positive his eyes would be bulging.

"GET DOWN!"

But, yet again, the man did no such thing, but, instead, threw up his arms to block his face. Relief flooded through her system when she saw him at least do something in the field of protecting himself. It was only when the top of her foot connected with the pavement at an awkward angle did she realize that the man wasn't protected himself from the bullet, but the her.

Before she knew it, her split second plan of throwing herself in front of the fire like a hero, she ended up instead tacked him none too gently in the stomach and sent them both flying to the ground. Lucy heard him let out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of his lungs from the force of her body hitting his as they both slammed into the pavement.

In a blind panic, Lucy struggled to disentangle herself from the man, all the while looking for any bullet wounds; having missed the sound of fire in her fear.

"Are you okay? Are you hurting anywhere?" questioned Lucy rapidly as he struggled to drag in air.

As she removed herself completely, one hand brushed against his fallen hat, while the other grazed against his shades; productively smashing one of the lens to pieces. While she was spared of a cut, it did hurt.

"Am.. I.. okay?" she heard the man repeat in a wheezy voice, haven't completely gotten his breath back. He pushed himself up with his hands and Lucy noticed that now that the hat was gone, his hair had arranged itself in a messy, spiky hairstyle with the strands dyed a bright pink.

"Yes! Anything hurt? Ache? Bleeding?" she said, scanning the man's body for any life threatening injuries. To her relief, she didn't find anything except a few scrapes and scratches from their fall.

"You run to me like a maniac— screaming very loudly, I might add— and tackle me to the ground for no reason at all. And, then, you start acting like a concerned mother?" he said incredulously, glaring at her with his black eyes. He drew in a deep breath while Lucy stared right back at a man she just saved from DYING! While she will agree it hadn't gone as smooth as she would have liked, he could show a little appreciation!

"I was saving you from getting killed!" she protested venomously.

"Killed?" he repeated, obviously not believing her."You are the one trying to kill me!" he yelled at Lucy.

His accusation rung in her ears and Lucy furrowed her brow in anger.

"I saw a guy try to shoot you!"

"Really?" The man pushed himself to his feet and brushed the dirt from his hands, "Because all I see is a crowd of people and a guy trying to light a cigarette."

Cigarette? Lucy mentally slapped herself and pointed her finger to his would have been assassin, who was busy walking away from them.

"See? That guy right there in the same winter clothi—" Her voice caught in her throat as her eyes focused more clearly on the retreating man. She rubbed her eyes furiously with her hand, trying not to believe her own eyes.

His assassin, on the other hand, wasn't paying any mind to them as he continued on his merry way. All the while, flicking his lighter closed and extinguishing the flame. He removed the lite cigarette from his mouth and let out a puff of smoke escape from his mouth as he continued to ignore them.

"No..he...I swear...there was a gun!" Lucy cried, desperate for him to believe her; even going to the extent of waving her hands around frantically as he continued to just looked at her with an unreadable expression,"He pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at you. I saved you by pushing you out of the way before he could shoot you." She winced. "Well, more like we crashed, but anyways—"

"Nope. No need to explain." he cut her off, holding his hands up for her to stop talking. Before she could utter a single word in retaliation, he leaned down so his face was inches away from hers.

All words flew from her mind as she shrunk back from his unblinking gaze. In any other scenario, she would have complimented him on somehow being able to pull off the whole widely colored hair with tanned skin ratio without it looking like a hot mess. That, coupled with the fact, that previously she had been wrong to describe his eyes as a black, because now that they were even closer they looked more like an onyx. Daresay he would have actually looked really attractive, if, y'know, he wasn't glaring at her.

"You. Are. Insane." he said poking her in the chest with every word before abruptly straightening up and leaving her to stare wordlessly at the air where he was once was.

Before she knew it, he had turned away from her and began to walk away without another word.

"Hey!" she called to him, having fully recovered from her surprise. "Where do you think you are going?!"

"Far away from you," he called back, not bothering to turn around.

Oh, so he was going to play that game. Well, too could play at that game then, buddy.

Lucy cupped her hands around her mouth, "Pinky! I am not finished talking to you!"

She smirked in satisfaction when his back stiffened and his movements were halted. Slowly, he raised his hand to feel his head, letting his hand brushed lightly against his exposed hair.

"Yes. I am talking about you." Lucy said, still talking louder than she needed to. She pushed herself to her feet and made her way over to him, "I am not done with you yet."

She heard him swear something under his breath, which she ignored, and instead crossed her arms as she waited for him to turn around.

"Well?" she stated impatiently, "Are you going to turn around, Pinky?"

"Stop saying that word!" he said, suddenly spinning around and slapping his hand on her mouth. Startled by the abrupt action, Lucy jumped away from his hand and used her sleeve to wipe her mouth as he moved his hand to cover the top of his head. Lucy refrained from rolling her eyes at the action. What ever he was trying to do wasn't going to work as his hat was still at the spot where they crashed and his pink hair was peeking out between his fingers.

"What is wrong with you?" she questioned, "If you are trying to hide your pink hair then maybe you should have thought of that before you dyed it."

Fear flickered in his onyx eyes and he made a grab for Lucy. This time seizing her by the waist and yanking her forward so she crashed into his chest. Tightening his grip on her waist, he removed his hand from his head and placed it over her mouth.

"Stop talking!" he commanded in a whisper, glancing around in a search for anyone had heard the blonde's remarks. His grip tightened reflexively when she began to struggle against his when he realized no one was looking their way did he turn his attention back on her.

"I will let go only when you promise to never point out my hai—ARG!" He cried out in pain when Lucy savagely bit his palm. He yanked his hand away from her mouth and started wiping it on his pants. She moved to stomp on his boot, but before she could, she was lifted off the ground.

"No you don't!" the boy cried, looking at her with exasperation, "What is with you and trying to cause me bodily harm?"

"Says the guy with PINK HAIR!" she yelled as loud as she could. She smirked in triumph when his eyes widen in horror.

Who tells their weakness to the enemy and expects them not to use it?

"Now you've done it." he said as Lucy began to notice the people around them finally beginning to take notice of them. Some were staring at them both with curiosity, while others were solely focusing on Pinky. And, none— Lucy would like to point out— where making any movements to free her from a hold she was positive could not be passed off as a couple's embrace. Then the whispering started.

"Pink hair?"

"Could it be him?"

"Does that mean the others are with him too?"

"I heard they were coming to town, but so soon?"

Lucy began to struggle even harder as his grip turned into a death grip around her waist. The boy seemed to make no notice of this as he visibly gulped as the surrounding civilians' confusion turned into excitement.

"Oh. My. GOSH! Natsu!? Is that you?!" yelled a very high pitched voice from the other side of the square.

The effect was immediate. Anyone and everyone who wasn't paying attention before, now had focused all their attention on them, primarily him. While some still had confusion on their face, others took one look at him and screamed. Loudly.

"Okay. Yeah. This hurts." said Lucy, wincing against the high pitched screams.

The crowds of people started to move towards the pair, abandoning what they were doing prior. Some even started pulling out their cell phones and beginning to snap photos of them while others began screaming for paper and a pen.

"Natsu! Can I have your autograph? asked a brown haired girl, pushing a pen and paper out for him to take.

"Take a picture with me, Natsu!" screamed another.

"Does this mean Loke, Gajeel, Jellal, and Gray are here too?"

Lucy's head was swimming from their non-stop questions and yells. Forget getting away from his hold, she wanted to get away from them!

In a matter of seconds everyone in the square had crowded in a tight circle around them.

To her relief, she felt 'Natsu' loosen his grip on her waist before leaning over so his lips were by her ear, "On the count of three we run" he whispered.

"What?" she whispered back, hoping she had heard him wrong.

"One."

"No! I'm warning you!"

"Two"

"Don't you dare do it!"

"Three!" he yelled, dropping her on her feet and grabbing for her hand. Once he felt her fingers graze his, he latched on and began pulling her into the crazed crowd, laughing loudly as they went.

"We love you, Natsu!" yelled someone in the crowd as they barreled past.

"Fired Up! lives forever!"

"I have ALL your merchandise!"

Never letting go of her hand, Natsu pulled her roughly through the hands of the suddenly turned crazed people. As they ran, Lucy felt them reach and yank at her clothing with enough force to rip the cloth. And from the yells and sounds of fabric tearing in front of her, Lucy guessed Natsu was receiving the same treatment.

"Almost there!" Natsu yelled.

"What is wrong with those people? They act like you are some celebrity!" yelled Lucy as she sped up her pace to match his.

They broke free of the crowd, amazingly with all their limbs intact, and continued sprinting towards a row of buildings Lucy didn't recognize. A quick glance over her shoulder proved that the crazed people from the crowd were indeed following them, but were being held up by the other civilians walking in the road.

"In here!" Natsu called, pulling them towards a nearby gas station.

Lucy didn't resist as Natsu yanked her through the glass door of the station. Lucy dimly registered the oddness of no one employee at the counter, manning the cash register as they raced down the station's candy aisle and ducked out of sight; using the rows of shelves as a shield from anyone looking through window.

Both Natsu and Lucy were breathing heavily from their impromptu run. Natsu was the first of them to recover and used the opportunity to peek over the aisle to look out the window.

"Good, no one followed." Natsu stated, collapsing back down on the ground next to Lucy.

"Thank you." Lucy whispered in relief to no one in particular.

She was a mess. Her hair was in tangles, her blue ribbon lost sometime in the struggling, and her shirt was torn at the shoulder from where the crowd had grabbed at her. She was missing a shoe.

However, compared to Natsu's appearance, she looked ready to go to a ball. His coat was completely missing and his white tee was completely in shatters. To the point it did resemble a shirt the slightest. On the right leg of his pants it was torn just above the knee while the left leg was, luckily, unscathed.

Natsu seemed to have realized the state of his clothing as he let out an annoyed gust of air and began removing the remains of his shirt. After he discarded the cloth into a pile next to him before moving to tear at his pants, making them into capris rather than pants, then giving the same treatment to the remaining leg. When he finished, his appearance had done a complete 180 from before. Except now, instead of having too many layers, he didn't have enough.

Lucy giggled as a thought passed through her mind and she rested her head against the chocolate bars.

Natsu looked at her from the corner of his eye, "What?"

"Oh, nothing." she answered, still laughing, "I just didn't know you were part of that crowd is all."

"What crowd?"

"The crowd of strippers."

"I am not a stripper!" Natsu said in horror, "Gray is the stripper in the group!"

One look at Natsu's expression sent her into another wave of giggles. Natsu looked at her for a minute before shaking his head in disbelief at the blonde's actions.

"Weirdo." stated Natsu.

Lucy to stopped laughing, "I am so not the weirdo here!" she said, narrowing her eyes at Natsu.

"That's right. You are also an insane psycho that tackles people when ever some goes for a light." answered Natsu smugly.

Lucy huffed, "I told you this already. I thought he was trying to shoot you!"

Now it was Natsu's turn to laugh.

"So those girls were shouting the name 'Natsu' at you earlier. Is that your name or did they just get you mixed up with someone else?" she asked quickly trying to change the subject.

His eyebrows rose, "You don't know who I am?"

"Am I suppose to?"

Natsu opened his mouth to reply, but then paused, as if to consider her question "Well, no. I guess not. It's just a lot of people do, so I just assumed."

Lucy studied Natsu's face closely. She may have seen his face once or twice before, but then again, she saw a lot of people once or twice. What made him so special?

"Do you live here? Maybe I saw you on the street?"

"Doubt it. I lived here when I was younger, but not anymore."

"So, where do you live now?"

Natsu shrugged, "Everywhere?"

"So you are famous and you travel around a lot," Lucy went over the possible options in her head. She lit up in excitement when a memory from the events before suddenly came to her, "A girl yelled something about you being 'fired up', right? Are you a famous cook?"

"Not even close." replied Natsu, reaching into his pants pocket to pull out a cell phone. He pushed the menu button and began flipping through his contacts.

Lucy scooted closer until she could see the screen of his cell phone, "What are you doing?"

"Calling for help. We can't leave now without being noticed."

"Who are you going to call then?"

Natsu sighed and selected one of his contacts. Raising his phone up to his ear, he answered, "The stripper."

A/N Voilà! There is the first chapter! This was way longer than I thought it was going to be. Once I start to write, I add random details I didn't plan before, and this chapter is a perfect example of that.

May or may not have made Natsu a bit OOC. I am going to blame him being famous. On the bright side, I promise he will be more in character as the story continues.

Happy New Years! My new years resolution is to stop eating so much chocolate. I have a bad problem with chocolate.