Chapter Four - Meeting the Fairies

On the way to her apartment, Lucy watched Natsu in a seemingly deep conversation with his cat. She giggled to herself. However, she already knew that anyone who saw them and called him crazy would be wrong. Happy was a very expressive cat so it was pretty easy to tell what was on his mind - even for Lucy. Seeing how long Natsu had known him, he was probably able to carry a conversation with the cat without too much problem. It did amaze Lucy how the cat actually had opinions on things though. It was a bizarre creature.

"Luuuucyyyy!" Natsu moaned after they had been walking for twenty minutes. Happy yowled in complaint at the same time. Without needed further explanation, she knew that they were bored.

"We're only about five minutes away so stop complaining!" she said, a little too loud not to seem annoyed. Natsu knotted his hands behind his head and looked down at his furry blue companion.

"We picked up a real weird one" Natsu whispered loudly. Happy yowled in agreement before Lucy stopped walking and turned round to give them a menacing stare.

"I can hear you, you know!" she growled, turning back and stomping the rest of the way to her apartment. Natsu and Happy duefully followed her naming things that might be in the home of a weirdo. It took all of her strength not to turn around and smack both man and cat on the head.

Lucy fumbled around in her purse - which she thankfully had not lost last night - and pulled out her keys. She shoved them in the door and twisted them, unclicking the lock. She turned the door handle and pushed the door open. Before she could step inside, Natsu and Happy raced ahead of her.

"Don't you dare break anything!" she snapped, but it didn't seem to deter them from running around, touching all of Lucy's things and poking around in her draws. Lucy sat down on the sofa in her lounge and she watched them raid her fridge. She closed her eyes and sighed. Once she opened them again they were no where in site. Lucy rolled her eyes and made her way to her bedroom. The coast seemed clear so she locked the door and pulled some fresh clothes out of her drawer.

Lucy had stripped down to her underwear before she heard the strange noise behind her. She slowly turned around expecting the worst. Natsu and Happy were digging around in her underwear drawer. Happy was in the drawer, with a lacy red bra on his head while Natsu was observing a thong in confusion. She panicked as to how they had gotten in when she saw her ensuite door open. Dammit, she screamed her head. Then, as any sensible woman would do in the same situation, she screamed outside her head as well.

Natsu turned to look at her immediately, thong still in hand, he covered his ears. He opened his mouth to complain about her being too loud when he saw her state of dress and blushed, moving his hands from over his ears to over his eyes.

"Shit, Luce, I'm sorry!" he said, panicking as she had done earlier.

"It's not completely your fault" Lucy grumbled honestly and then looked over at him and saw her underwear still in his hand. "Can you put my pants back in the drawer please?!" she shouted at him. He was so scared of her hitting him that he forgot she was half naked so he released his hands from his eyes, threw her underwear back in the draw, and by the time he looked at her again he face was back to a burning red mess. The worst part was he couldn't look away. He just stood frozen as his eyes raked over her body and he gulped loudly.

Lucy was about to scream again when he picked Happy up, threw her bra off him, unlocked the door and dashed out, leaving her in a haze. Lucy shook her head, wondering what that was all about. Did he not like what he saw? Lucy wondered at the back of her mind but quickly hit herself. I don't care anyway, so it doesn't matter if he doesn't like me like that! I mean we only met this morning! Lucy tried to convince her mind but she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She pulled on a blue mini skirt and a blue and white shirt with a zip up front. She put her belt with her key collection hanging over her hips, tied her hair to the side in a blue ribbon and pulled on her black boots, ready to go. She walked out of her room cautiously, hoping Natsu hadn't run out of her apartment with the rush he seemed to be in earlier. Lucy blushed slightly at the memory and then shook her head before she saw Natsu snoring away on the couch with Happy curled up on his lap. She frowned. I swear I didn't take that long…

Lucy walked over to him and shook him away. He opened his eyes slowly and stared right into her eyes. Their faces were only inches apart and Lucy blushed when she noticed and quickly jumped back. She nearly tripped over the coffee table before Natsu jumped up, Happy escaping before he would land on the floor, and yanked her arms back to him. They both fell back onto the couch. Lucy ended up on top of him, his arms around her waist, and their faces were just as close as before. Great, Lucy thought, you just made things worst! Way to go, Lucy! she blushed again as she saw Natsu staring intensely into her eyes. She tried to pull away but his grip on her waist was firm so she just ended grinding up against him. Lucy bit her lip. Happy yowled at them and Natsu's intense stare immediately snapped away and he let go of her waist, letting her jump off the sofa.

Lucy's mind was reeling, she had no idea what to think. Natsu seemed to just ignore what happen five seconds ago when he jumped up off the sofa and gave her his dashing grin.

"You ready to go?" he asked, grinning away. She smiled back and simply nodded at him, not trusting her voice to be even. They stood there in silence for a minute before Happy yowled. They both walked to the door, Lucy grabbed her purse and let the boys out ahead of her before she locked her door and turned back to face them.

"So where are we going?" Lucy asked in curiousity. Natsu turned back to face her and smiled.

"Home" he said simply, and turned back around before Lucy could ask another question. Once again he knotted his fingers behind his head and started a cheerful conversation with Happy. Lucy gave a small smile to their backs, despite still feeling a little awkward. If Natsu won't let it get to him, neither will I! She thought to herself, determinedly.

Despite her determination, Lucy could help but let her mind wander. Maybe he had a girlfriend? Maybe he already like someone else? Maybe he just didn't like her? Maybe his love interest in the book is real too...Lucy drove herself a little insane thinking all of these things and she couldn't help but notice she was acting a little jealous over a guy she had just met this morning. This is so weird...She moaned in her head, Maybe I am a weirdo...she frowned.

"Hey, Lucy! What's up?" Natsu asked, concerned. She hadn't noticed he had turned around to talk to her. She shook her head and replaced her frown with a smile.

"Nothing!" She said, a little too quickly "Just being a weirdo again! You know me!" she laughed a little but this only made Natsu frown. He obviously didn't believe her.

"You know you can tell me when you have a problem, Lucy" he started, he unlaced his fingers from behind his head and crossed his arms. "That's what best friends are for, right?" he smiled at her, but concern still twinkled in his eyes. Lucy felt her heart race a little and felt the need to smack herself over where her heart was. She refrained from it so she wouldn't look any more suspicious.

"Best friends?" she asked, smiling a little at the idea. Natsu returned her smile, safely believing that he had cheered her up.

"Of course, weirdo!" he grinned, uncrossing his arms to swing one over her shoulder "What else would we be?" Lucy couldn't help but laugh. They had only met this morning and according to Natsu they were already best friend. She had to admit, despite being a bit immature, she really loved his outlook on life.

"Yeah" Lucy agreed, earning another beaming smile from him "Best friends". They walked the rest of the way to 'Home' with Natsu's arm draped over her shoulder's, talking about themselves and getting to know each other. It was nice. It just felt right.


Lucy stood outside of the 'Fairy Tail' bar for the second time in her life. The morning light illuminated the large white name that sat on top on the old, seemingly out of place building. Lucy laughed. It was so weird. Because just as Natsu said, it did feel like home.

She looked up at Natsu who smiled down at her, arm still on her shoulders. Happy moaned at them after a full minute of unbreaking smiles and stares and they decided to walk into the bar. As soon as they were in, he retracted his arm from her shoulders.

"I'm baaack!" He shouted and quickly ran over to the raven haired boy Lucy had observed last night. She laughed as she saw him punch him in the face as a kind of greeting. Lucy look down and saw Happy, who didn't seem interested in starting a fight. She decided to pick him up, much to his approval, and walk over to the bar where she saw Mirajane eyeing her with a mischievous grin on her face. Happy purred in her arms and snuggled into her chest as she sat down on a bar stool. Mira looked down and the comfy cat and giggled.

"I see Happy's taken a liking to you" she winked, making Lucy blush a little.

"He's a little rascal but I love him" Lucy admitted looking down at the cat who seemed to be asleep in her arms.

"The cat or the boy?" Mira asked with raised eyebrows making Lucy blush fiercely and nearly drop Happy.

"The cat of course!" Lucy spluttered "I only just met Natsu, how could I love him?" she asked, unsure as to if the question was aimed at Mira or herself. She shook her head. Mira only laughed and started wiping down the bar.

"How's my favourite blondie!" Lucy heard a shout, she looked over to find Cana making her way to the bar stool next to hers. As soon as Cana sat down, Happy seemed to wake up and he hissed at her. Cana gave the cat a mean look and it hid its head in Lucy's cleavage. Lucy laughed a little. At least he is over my shirt instead of under it.

"Stupid cat hates everyone that goes near it" Cana grumbled, Lucy looked confused. She had gotten on with Happy the second they had met. Her thoughts were interrupted by Mira's giggles. "What?" Cana asked, not realising that she was laughing at Lucy and not her.

"Happy seems to loooove Lucy!" Mira said between giggles. Cana eyes the cat, who took his head out from Lucy's chest to his at them. Lucy cuddled him closer and he purred.

"Don't worry, Happy!" Lucy said "They're just meanies" Happy seemed to approve of this statement and rubbed his head against her chest. Cana started joining in on Mira's giggles but they stopped when Lucy gave them an unimpressed look. Happy set his head down on her arm and closed his eyes to sleep again.

"Soooo" Cana started "How was your little sleepover with Natsu last night?" she winked. Lucy blushed a little but rolled her eyes.

"He slept on the couch in the lounge so I'd hardly call that a sleepover" Cana seemed less than impressed.

"Awww, come on, Lucy! You're telling me didn't even take a peek at the goods?" Cana said softly to her. Lucy blushed furiously for what felt like the hundredth time that day and thought back to Natsu in only his boxers. She had obviously taken too long to think of an answer because Cana grinned at her and said "Oh, Lucy! I never knew you were a pervert!" she teased.

"I'm not!" Lucy shouted, a little too loudly apparently because she seemed to catch the attention of everyone in the guild. Lucy put her head down, completely embarrassed. She didn't even know these people.

"Such a perv!" Cana chuckled and took a swig from a bottle that Mirajane had just laid down on the bar.

"Who's a perv?" Lucy turned around and found that the voice belong to Natsu. She squealed a little bit before eyeing Cana to see what she would say. Cana raised her hands in the air in defeat and said "What you do in the bedroom has nothing to do with me!" Lucy's face went completely flush and Cana walked away looking smug.

"Huh?" Natsu looked completely confused. Lucy was glad that he was so dense. She did not want to have that conversation. Mirajane giggled behind the bar and Natsu frowned at her. She said nothing. He looked down at Happy snuggled up against Lucy's chest. The cat seemed to have woken up and it yowled at him. Natsu suddenly went red and scratched the back of his head nervously. He looked away from Lucy and she could tell that the cat had told him something.

"Damn cat" she muttered, she met Happy's glare but the two remained cuddled up. Happy rubbed his head against her chest again as an apology. Lucy was too weak to his cuteness not to accept it. She lifted him up to her face and he began to lick her cheek. She giggled, completely forgetting the whole ordeal with Cana. Happy stopped abruptly to look over at his friend who had his arms crossed and a not-so-pleased expression on his face. He didn't say anything but the look was enough to convince Happy to jump out of her arms and onto the counter.

She ignored Natsu and began stroking Happy's head and he curled up on the counter. He purred sweetly and quickly fell asleep. All this cat does is sleep, Lucy thought. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt an arm slip over her shoulders. She didn't need to look up to know the familiar weight was Natsu.

She looked over at him and he gave her a huge, heart stopping grin. "Hey, Luce! I want you to meet everyone!" he said enthusiastically. She couldn't help but return the smile and nod in agreement. He dragged her off the barstool and over to a group sitting on a table near the back of the bar. She felt kind of intimidated, looking over the group. She shuffled awkwardly under the gaze of the whole guild. Natsu squeezed her shoulder to try and convince her it was okay. He continued to drag her forward and pulled her down to sit next to him on the table, he dropped his arm from her shoulders and she shivered slightly from the loss of warmth.

"Hey guys!" Natsu shouted to the group "This is my best friend Lucy!" they all eyed her curiously. She saw the raven haired man she had eyed earlier smirking at her. She smiled back despite feeling awkward.

"Hey, I'm Gray!" he said with a genuine smile, she sighed a little feeling that she had made one friend. "Sorry for that flame brained idiot!" he pointed to Natsu.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted and suddenly stood up on the table "Don't insult me, ice princess!"

"I can do what I like dumbass!" Gray shouted "How'd you get a girl like Lucy to be friends with you anyway? She's way out of your league!" he said to add insult to injury, smiling as he saw he got to Natsu. Lucy blushed a bit but mostly felt awkward for causing a fuss.

"Don't say stupid shit to me, pervert! There aint no leagues in friendship!" Natsu clearly didn't get it.

"Be quiet!" an intimidating red-haired woman shouted and they both immediately shut up. Natsu, begrudgingly, plonked back down onto his seat, muttering curses under his breath. "Thank you. Hello, Lucy" she smiled, Lucy noticed just how beautiful she was "I'm Erza! It's a pleasure to meet you"

"It's a pleasure to meet you to" Lucy shook her hand; a firm handshake.

"I'm Levy!" a petite, pretty blue-haired woman chimed "Nice to meet you Lucy!" Lucy noticed her clutching a book to her chest and smiled to herself. Well be good friends, she thought.

"It's nice to meet you, Levy! I see you're a bookworm just like I am!" the girls laughed together before they heard a loud cough. Levy turned round to look at a black haired guy with piercings all over his face. Levy rolled her eyes at him before she turned back to Lucy and said "This is my boyfriend, Gajeel. Don't mind him" she snickered.

"Nice to meet ya, bunny girl!" he nodded. Before Lucy could say anything in response, Natsu decided to spring to life again. He jumped out of his seat and left leaving Lucy feeling uneasy.

"Hi!" Lucy heard from the last person on the table. She was a petite blue-haired girl, her hair a darker shade than Levy's, she seemed a little young to be in a bar but she didn't look all that out of place. I smiled at her, she seemed just as shy as I was. "I'm Wendy" she said, looking worried as if I was going to judge her.

"Hey, Wendy!" I gave her the best smile I could muster "It's really nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" she quickly chimed and smiled back at me. She was adorable.

"You have really pretty hair" I confessed, which earned me another smile from her and a strange look from the guys on the table.

"Thanks! You do to!" she said, just as Natsu returned to the table, Happy in hand. The cat soon jumped out of his arms into Lucy's lap.

"Happy!" Natsu growled in a warning. Lucy looked up at Natsu and smiled, trying to convey that it was alright. She petted the cat as the group continued talking. Lucy was told all about Natsu and Gray's constant fighting, Levy's huge book collection, Wendy's cat Carla and her relationship with Happy. Gajeel didn't seem to speak much, Lucy noticed, but the way he looked at Levy told her everything she needed to know about him.

Before she knew it, it was lunch time. They all continued talking over their meals - excluding Natsu who could hardly get a word out at the rate he shoved food down his gullet - Lucy was told that they all met at Fairy Tail when they were quite young (apart from Wendy, who came in later thanks to her friend Romeo) because it used to do a youth club before it opened as a bar in the evenings. She laughed as they told her about their escapades. There we a lot of stories about Natsu's idiocy which made him blush whenever they were told to her. She thought it was adorable.

"So, Lucy" Gray began "What made you become friends with an idiot like dragon breath over here?" Lucy blushed before laughing at Natsu's reaction.

"It's a funny story actually, I read that book that was based on him and felt like I knew the character. I went out to find him and managed to end up at Fairy Tail last night. I passed out from drinking with Cana" a lot of 'not surprisings' were mumbled across the room before she could continue her story "and then I woke up in Natsu's bed" Lucy laughed as she finished her story but she noticed the odd looks she was given. "Not like that!" she quickly shouted "I mean he took me in, let me sleep on his bed and he slept on the couch! Then we met in the morning...well I met him at least…" this seemed to calm everyone down but she saw a few curious faces.

"So wait," Gray said "You only met this morning?" Lucy and Natsu nodded "But that idiot said you were best friends!" he shouted, completely confused.

"We are!" Natsu defended "Just cause we met this morning don't mean we aint best friends!"

"That logic is crazy" Gray sighed.

"I feel like I've known Luce forever so it don't seem crazy to me" Natsu said honestly, making Lucy's heart race yet again. What's happening to me? Lucy thought. I caught Natsu beaming down at me and smiled back. I don't think I've smiled this much since Mama was still alive, she thought, sadly.

"Are you staying to drink with us this evening?" Levy asked but Lucy looked unsure "Come on! We can celebrate meeting you!" she goaded, and Lucy nodded, caving in.

"I guess it couldn't hurt" Lucy mumbled. But something told her it wasn't going to be a simple night out.

Hey guys! Thanks for all the favourite, follows and reviews! :) I'm really enjoying writing this so its nice that people are enjoying reading it too!

As I said before I'll be aiming for one update a week but it might end up being more until the summer holidays end and I get back to uni! I kind of feel like I'm on a roll at the moment! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one is already started so it should be out before the end of this week.