Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of it's wonderful characters
Lucy was in the middle of getting some of her small cakes in the oven, when she heard the bell signaling a customer had entered the bakery. "I'll be right there!" she called out. She shut the oven and turned on the timer. After washing her hands and making sure she didn't have flour on her face, she stepped out to the front.
Her breath caught when she noticed a familiar pink head perusing the knickknacks she had for sale on the shelves by the front door. She hadn't expected to see him so soon. Maybe this meant he felt the same way she did? He looked slightly more dressed up today, still in work boots and jeans, but with a button up and scarf around his neck. Natsu had not yet noticed her presence; he seemed to be muttering to himself under his breath, his face uncertain.
"Good Morning Natsu!" she said cheerily.
Natsu turned and gave her a wide toothy smile and headed towards her. "Morning Luce! I had some spare time so I thought I'd come by and take you up on that coffee."
Lucy tried hard not to let her smile falter. Of course he wasn't here to see her; he was here for the coffee. She was so stupid sometimes. "Of course! How do you like it? Just a regular? Or if you like, I could make a latte or a cappuccino."
"Just black is all I need," He said warmly and he began to wander around, looking at all the food in the display cases.
Silly Lucy, she thought to herself, as if she had time to date anyway. It was definitely nice to make new friend though, especially ones who would fix things for coffee and muffins. "Do you want something to eat too?"
"That would be great!" He turned and smiled at her again. That smile did weird things to her stomach; she turned and poured the coffee, hoping her face wasn't giving her away.
"I just tried a new recipe for gingerbread muffins, you can be my taste tester." Lucy handed him the mug of coffee and motioned him to follow her to the back.
"Sure I like gingerbread, you sure it's okay if I come back here?" Natsu hesitated to enter the back room.
Lucy laughed, "Of course! It's my place! Just sit over there and I'll get you a muffin. You can keep me company while I get these cookies decorated."
Natsu sat down and thanked her when she handed him one of the warm freshly baked muffins. When he took a bite he moaned, "Oh man, that's good."
"Guess that recipe is a winner," Lucy chuckled as she sprinkled different colors of sugar on the cut out cookie snowflakes in front of her.
"You got that right!" he said with his mouth full. His manners were terrible; her former teachers would be appalled. The thought of their shocked faces made her giggle. He looked up at her confused. "What's so funny Lucy?"
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about something." Lucy blushed.
Natsu gave her a curious look but didn't ask anymore. He stood and looked at one of the rolling racks. "Wow is this the order from last night?"
"Yea, aren't they cute! She's going to pick them up this afternoon, so once I finish these I'll box them up." She was very proud of the little blue bonnets, booties, and teddy bears she made for the baby shower. It was a large order and she hoped it would lead to many more.
"What made you want to become a baker?" Natsu asked, drinking his coffee and nosily looking from rack to rack. It was obvious he had trouble sitting still.
"Well, when I was younger my father was away a lot, so I spent a lot of time with the help," Lucy began.
Natsu turned suddenly and looked at her, "The help? Like maids and butlers and stuff?"
"Yea, I grew up in a large house, so we just had a few people hired to help run things." Lucy grimaced; help was probably not the best choice of wording. She found herself embarrassed when she discussed her past life with her current neighbors and friends. She had no reason to hide it, and wasn't one to lie about it, but she did find that it seemed to create a new obstacle in forming relationships with people from more humble beginnings. Lucy hoped it wouldn't make Natsu look at her differently. "Anyway, I became very close with our cook Aed, and I would spend a lot of time in the kitchen. At first he would just give me little tasks, like chopping veggies, but by the end my dad couldn't tell the difference between my cooking and Aed's."
"That must have surprised him," Natsu said.
"Yea . . . It did." Lucy said quietly. "He wasn't as happy as I hoped he would be."
"No?" asked Natsu.
"No, but I knew I loved it, especially deserts, so after high school I chose culinary school with a focus on Baking and Pastry arts, and here I am!" Lucy said cheerfully, trying to hide the sudden pain in her heart from reliving her father's disappointments. She looked up to see Natsu staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She was grateful to yet again be saved by the ding of the oven, her first batch of cakes finished.
"Are those the Erza cakes?" asked Natsu, smelling in their general direction.
"Huh? Oh yea, she gets one almost every day," Lucy said as she pulled them from the oven and placed them on a rack to cool. "I don't know where she puts it all; there isn't an ounce of fat on her."
"Probably burns it all off using reasonable force," Natsu muttered, making Lucy laugh out loud. Though she really likes Detective Scarlett, she had to admit she was extremely intimidated by her. The one time Lucy had sold out of her small strawberry cakes, Erza had made the most terrifying face, as if she was shooting daggers from her very eyes. Needless to say, after that day Lucy always made sure to have at least one available.
"Yes, I would not want to be investigated by her," Lucy grinned.
"Should have seen her as a street cop, there was this one time . . ." Natsu was about to say something else when he noticed the clock on the wall. His face dropped, "Is that the real time?" Lucy nodded. "Oh man, I've got to get going; I have to go get a bid in to a potential client." He held up his arms, "how do I look?"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh. "You have crumbs all over your face and scarf."
"Really?" he hastily dusted himself off, missing most of the crumbs.
Lucy sighed and shook her head, "you really are hopeless." She walked over and helped brush the leftover gingerbread and reached up to wipe the few left on his chin. The way he looked at her when she touched his face made her feel flushed and weak in the knees. Literally weak in the knees, Lucy didn't even realize that was a real thing. She hoped he didn't notice, it was so embarrassing. "Must be a big client if you're worrying this much about your appearance," she teased. Lucy headed back to her station, trying to get her breathing back to normal by increasing her distance from the pink haired man.
"Yea, she's a real pain in the ass, but the jobs always pay well so it's not so bad." When Lucy looked back at Natsu, he smiled and winked, "Wish me luck!" He waved and hurried out the front door.
"Good luck!" She called out to his retreating form. Then she said to herself, "Get it together Lucy, he's going to think you are some kind of weirdo." Then she went back to her sugar cookies.
Natsu pulled Levy's ponytail before taking the seat next to her at the bar. "Thank for sending me in there blind Levy," he grumbled.
"What? But Lucy's so nice! Was it a really big repair?" Levy was confused.
Gray took the seat next to Natsu and laughed. "He's just mad because you didn't tell him she was hot. Apparently if Natsu is surprised by attractive women his brain spontaneously combusts. I should know since I was on the phone with him when it happened."
"Shut your piehole Ice Queen!" Natsu growled.
Gray stood up, "You wanna go flame brain!"
"What will it be boys?" Mira had perfect timing as usual.
"Whatever dark ale you have on tap," Natsu said.
"Same," said Gray, returning to his seat.
"Well, I didn't really think she was your type . . ." Levy started.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you know, the last couple have been kinda, well," Levy searched for the right word, "obtuse."
"Huh?" asked Natsu.
"Stupid, Natsu all your other girlfriends have been complete morons," Gray explained.
"I don't know that you could really call them girlfriends either," said Cana with a big grin, draping herself over Natsu's shoulder.
"What! I don't date idiots!" spat Natsu.
Levy raised an eyebrow, "What about Beth?" Natsu glared at her and took a drink of his beer.
"Milianna?" Levy went on. "Remember her? The one with that weird, crazy cat obsession? Didn't she try to steal Happy when you broke it off with her?" Natsu sank deeper on his barstool
"Hey, I kinda liked Milianna," said Erza as she sat next to Levy.
"Yea, it was fun making bets on how many times we could get her to meow in a conversation," added Cana.
Natsu stood up enraged. "Why is this turning into an attack on my sex life?"
"Oh so you did sleep with Milianna, I wondered," said Erza. She raised her finger to get Mira's attention.
Natsu sat and slid his hands down his face with a groan. "I hate you guys."
"What about Lamy?" Gray asked.
"Oh . . . I forgot about Lamy." Natsu's head popped up. "Yea, she was awful."
"I wish I could forget about Lamy," said Cana. "She threatened to cut me if I ever came near you, and then proceeded to show me the massive blade she kept in her purse. Still gives me nightmares, what a weirdo."
"Yea me too," said Erza and Levy at the same time. The both smiled in commiseration.
"What? Really? I only went out with her two times!" Natsu was aghast.
"Anyway, do you really like Lucy?" Levy changed the subject. "If you do, I definitely approve. I love Lucy! It's so great to finally have someone I can discuss literature with. She's a lot of fun. I go over there every morning before I open shop."
"Her cake is sometimes the only pleasant thing about my day," said Erza, getting a far off look in her eye. "One bite and all the nastiness and violence of the day just melts away."
Natsu became defensive, "Hey now, let's not get carried away, I didn't say I liked her. I mean, I do like her, but not in a like-like kinda way."
"Shut up, you totally do," said Cana.
"What are you guys talking about?" asked Mira, bring over Erza's drink.
"How Natsu likes Lucy," Levy said matter of fact.
Natsu banged his head on the bar, he was screwed now.
"Oooooh I love Lucy! Oh you should ask her out, you guys would be so cute!" Mira clapped her hands.
"How is it that everyone already knows Lucy?" asked Gray.
"She comes in every now and then for happy hour," said Mira.
"She's my neighbor," said Cana.
"She lives near you? Really?" asked Natsu.
"Yea, why?" Cana furrowed her brow.
"Cause you live in a dump. I would have expected her to be somewhere a little bit nicer," Natsu wrinkled his nose.
"There's nothing wrong with my building," defended Cana.
"Yes, they haven't had an incident there in almost three months now," Erza added, causing Cana to roll her eyes.
"Really though, Lucy has a nicer unit than mine. It's a one bedroom instead of a studio. But I'm sure you'll be able to tell us all about it in a few weeks anyway." Cana licked her finger and stuck it in Natsu's ear.
"Hey! Stop that!" Natsu yelled, batting her hand away. He stood, took a last sip of his beer and tossed some cash on the bar. "You guys are the worst, I'm going home."
"Can't take the heat?" teased Gray, his eyes glinting.
"There's nothing wrong with having a little crush Natsu," smiled Levy.
"No, come on that's enough. I've got one word for you Gray, Juvia." Gray was suddenly very interested in his beer, target destroyed Natsu moved on. "And Levy why don't we talk about the fact that all of a sudden I'm getting a lot of calls from you to fix things. Why aren't you calling Gajeel? He's more our appliance and metal guy anyway."
Levy's smile dropped, "Not cool Natsu. Sorry guys, excuse me." She got up and headed in the direction of the bathroom.
"That wasn't very nice Natsu," scolded Mira.
"How the hell would I know that wasn't nice when no one will tell me what's going on with them?" Natsu looked at Gray who shrugged and all three girls continued to give him death glares. "Oi, if you guys are gonna be stupid, I've got better things to do." Natsu ignored their pleas to stay and walked out to his truck. He glanced over at the bakery, it was dark and still inside. He figured a rich girl like her wouldn't want anything to do with a poor contractor like him, but it didn't hurt to look. He would find time for coffee again tomorrow, he thought. Then he started his truck and drove away.