~ Fun-filled Days ~

2 January X785

I awoke on the guild's dining hall floor with a slight headache. What the heck…? Why's everything trashed and why were so many people sleeping on the floor? It took a while for the memories to flood back to me. I remembered the dancing on the table tops and the extensive, non-stop downing of booze. In between there were fights, lots of fights. At one point I got caught up in a fight between Natsu, Gray and a slightly drunk Erza. It was a traumatic experience, and I'm happy to be alive.

At the end of last night, I was too tired to even walk home. After two consecutive nights of wild partying- the Countdown party plus the New Year's party- I was all partied out, so I just crashed at the guild. That seemed to be the case for most of the members as well. And I think the same could be said for the dining hall too… It didn't seem like there were any tables with four legs left.

Geez, this bunch of people really overdo things… It didn't seem like I would be able to have my meals at Fairy Tail today. Well! I guess I'll go home for breakfast then! I got up from the floor and carefully stepped over the passed out bodies. When I got home, I went straight to the kitchen.

What should I have today? Pancakes? I thought to myself as I reached for the fridge. But the moment I opened my fridge, heaps of meat tumbled off the shelves!

What the-!? Where did all this come from? I was momentarily stunned and I couldn't understand. 1… 2… 3 seconds passed before a light bulb in my brain lit up – Natsu. Who else could it have been?

But wait, when did he do this? This morning? No, his unconscious body was still lying on the guild floor before I left. Was it yesterday? I had all my meals at the guild yesterday so I didn't open my fridge at all… Or was it the day before yesterday, the first night he came to my house…?

I pondered over this but couldn't come to a conclusion. Standing in front of the opened fridge door with the heaps of meat (in their packets) on the kitchen floor, I realized I had a bigger problem on my hands: what will I do with all of this? Natsu, you idiot! Argh! This amount could probably feed fifty people!

My blood was boiling and suddenly I didn't feel hungry for breakfast anymore. I brusquely shoved all the meat back in the fridge before slamming the door shut and marching out the kitchen. I was going to go back to the guild and drag Natsu here. On my way out, from the corner of my eye I noticed Natsu's green backpack still on my living room floor. I'll remind him to take that back too.

When I got to the guild house, about half of the people who were previously on the floor were gone. They probably went back to their own homes. Fortunately for me, the guy I was looking for was still dead asleep on the floor. "NATSU!" I shouted as I stomped over to him. "Natsu, get up!"

There was no response, so I kicked him in the side and shouted again, "GET UP!"

"Huh…?" This time he stirred and slurred.

"Get up and clean my fridge!" I was still fuming.

Upon hearing this he sat up, wide awake. "Fridge? Food?"

I rolled my eyes. Typical Natsu. "You stuffed my fridge with meat! I can understand if it's just a little, but seriously? That's got to be like 10kg of meat or something! I can't eat all that!"

"But your fridge was horribly stocked so I thought I'd help you stock it…" I softened when I realized that he was only trying to help. Looking at his uneasy expression, I felt guilty for being angry when he was only trying to be helpful.

So instead I said, "Then why don't you help me eat it?"

In a way, that was a peace offering, because I knew Natsu loved food. Besides, he was the one who bought all that anyway. Immediately his face lit up in a smile and he exclaimed "Alright!" in response. Then he got up and we headed towards my apartment.

"Wait!" A familiar voice cried just before we left the guild. We both turned around and saw Happy. "I'm coming too!" Happy yelled once more. And then the three of us went back to my house.

That morning Natsu alone finished half the meat in my fridge, I don't know why I was so worried before. Apparently he also bought a bag of coal which was sitting on the floor beside my cooking stove. I didn't notice it until he started cooking the meat. Happy and Natsu both stayed for lunch (although I didn't have fish for Happy) and by the end of lunch, my fridge was back to the way it was. I was so happy!

Until he refused to go home.

"Go home!" I yelled at him, who stubbornly sat on the armchair in my bedroom. It was 1:24pm now.

"Don't wanna!" He refused like a kid who didn't want to eat his green peas. I stood opposite him while Happy sat on the coffee table in between us, watching our exchange.

"Why not? There's nothing to do here!"

"Duno," He shrugged. With a child-like grin on his face, he smoothed his hands over the armrests of my armchair as he said, "I like your house! It's comfy! Right, Happy?"

"I duno, there's no fish here…" Happy disagreed.

"Yes, that's right! So go, go buy fish for Happy!" I said in a bid to chase them out of my house, but I soon realized that it wouldn't work.

"We normally fish for fish. But we already did that yesterday, so we're pretty much free today!"

"Aye! Lucy, entertain me, I'm bored!"

"Then go home! You're not supposed to stay at somebody else's house when they tell you to leave!" I replied angrily. Just then, Happy floated up and left his spot in the middle of Natsu and me. What is this cat doing? I observed him for a brief second before Natsu got my attention again.

"Woooo~ I just thought of something real good, Happy! Let's stay here and play all day!" Natsu exclaimed.

"What! No! Go home!" I sensed this potential threat to my privacy for the rest of the day and started to worry.

"Wow! Natsu, come take a look at this! What is this?" Happy's voice called from a corner of my room. I whipped round to see what he had poked his nose in to. To my horror, it was my underwear drawer.

"Don't just go through my stuff like that!" At this point, Natsu had already stood up and was making his way over. I frantically ran over and shoved the drawer shut before he could see anything.

"Just get out already!" I yelled once more.

"But we don't have anything else to do or anywhere else to go!" Natsu said.

"Aye!"

"There isn't anything for you here either, so just go home!" I argued.

"Sure there is."

Then came Happy's voice again before I could retort Natsu, "Wow! This weird thing is blue like me!" My eyes darted to the cat who had once again managed to wander off without me noticing.

That's-! "What are you- Put that back!" I hurried over to the cat that held up my blue bra. I snatched the piece of clothing back and stashed it deep within my laundry basket. "Stop touching my stuff!" I yelled at him. Honestly, if he weren't a cat I would have Lucy-kicked him to the next town. But he didn't even know what a bra was. He was merely curious, and did not have any perverted intentions unlike a certain Golden Bull.

Oh yeah! Thinking of Zodiacs reminded me of Sagittarius. I hadn't made a contract with him yet! Hehehe, these guys are in luck! "You guys want some entertainment right?"

"Aye!" "Yeah!"

"Shall I show you? How a contract between Celestial wizard and Spirit is formed?"

Now standing in the middle of the living room, I pointed the golden key straight before me. We had moved to the living room because I knew the 12 Zodiacs had pretty large physiques and Sagittarius would be rather squished in my bedroom if I were to summon him there.

I shouted the command. "I am the one who connects the way to the Celestial Spirit world! Now, O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open, a door to the Archer! Sagittarius!"

Wind started up around my feet and magic power surrounded me before Sagittarius appeared. He was a centaur with medieval-style clothes on his human torso. He had a giant quiver on his back and a large bow in one hand. As if just being one of the 12 Zodiacs wasn't grand enough, his towering height made him all the more magnificent.

"Moshi, moshi." He saluted. "Sagittarius, at your service."

"Uwaahhh… Look, Natsu, it's a giant man-horse!" Happy cried.

"Yeah! I'm looking!" Natsu responded. He and Happy were seated on my couch.

Ignoring the audience, I stated directly, "I want to form a contract with you."

"Oooh~ What will it be? Blood contract?" "Magic binding spell?" Happy and Natsu speculated.

"Very well. I promise to always protect you, my new owner. I will come whenever you call." Sagittarius bowed but his head was still above mine.

I lowered my head too when he did, matching his manners. He seemed prim and proper, unlike Loke who was a flirt, or Taurus who was a pervert.

"Thank you. I will also do the same." I smiled at him who saluted back before fading away in a mist of golden glitter, returning to the Celestial World.

"…That's it?" Natsu said lackadaisically.

I looked back to those two; the both of them had a disappointed and subdued look on their faces.

"Yeah, of course. What else did you expect?" I replied.

"How boring…" Happy mumbled.

"What's with you… Don't say that after camping all day in somebody else's house! Besides, show's over! Now hurry up and get lost!"

"She sure is cold-hearted huh…" Natsu said.

"Aye!"

"Cold-hearted?" My eyebrow twitched at this comment. "I've already entertained you guys long enough and even showed you how I form a contract, so can you guys leave now?"

"Hey! Show us all your other key guys!" Natsu exclaimed, unashamedly disregarding my words.

"Aye! How many Spirits do you have contracts with?" Happy asked.

I folded my arms and tapped my foot on the floor impatiently. How can I make them leave? I thought for awhile and then I tried reasoning with them, "I can't summon them all because my magic will deplete really fast. But if I show you all my keys will you guys promise to leave afterwards?"

Natsu and Happy looked at each other, and then Natsu shrugged and said, "Ok." Yes!

So I got out my key ring and presented it to them. "I have 9 golden keys and 7 silver keys, total of 15 units."

"Oooooo~" The both of them went.

"You've already seen Gemini, Taurus, Scorpio, Capricorn and Leo… I have Aries, who's a ram, Aquarius who's a pitcher, and Cancer who is a crab-"

"A crab?!" Happy exclaimed.

"Sounds yummy!" Natsu shouted in succession.

"…Celestial Spirits are not food!" I yelled. I quickly continued and wrapped up the presentation, "And then there's Virgo! That's all! Now go home!"

"Virgo… She's like a maid right?" Natsu said.

"Oh? Seems like you do at least know something about the 12 Zodiacs. But Virgo is a maiden, not a maid." I corrected him.

"No, I'm pretty sure she's like your maid or something." Natsu replied with a slightly confused look on his face.

"No, she's not- argh, whatever! Just leave already!" I pointed to the door.

"Come on." Natsu said as he stood up. Happy also got up at the same time. Finally!

"Bye~!" I waved delightedly as they walked to the door.

At that moment, Natsu walked back up to me. "What are you talking about? You're coming with us too." Without any time to react, he grabbed my wrist and suddenly I was running along the paved streets of Magnolia with him.

"Natsu, where are we going?" I shouted.

"To the guild! Let's go on a mission!"

"Aye!"

12 February X785

Dear Mama,

I just got back from an adventure in Edolas with Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail. Just a while ago, I discovered something. Remember I told you previously, about the night I strolled to the guild with Natsu to the Countdown party and he talked about all sorts of missions he wanted to go on? Coincidentally or not, all the missions and adventures we've gone on up till today fit the preposterous description of those jobs Natsu mentioned.

When Natsu said that he wanted to infiltrate a rich man's mansion, I immediately thought of Heartfilia Konzern. For a moment I felt gloomy, but when Natsu kept bringing up his outrageous ideas for missions, I managed to laugh away the sadness. Yet in the end, we really did go on such a mission. After we saved Macao from a Vulcan's Take Over magic up at Mt. Hakobe, we went on that mission where we infiltrated the Everlue mansion.

After that, we took down Eisenwald together with Erza and Gray. It was another one of those requests Erza got from Jellal. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet this Jellal guy, who's supposedly Erza's love interest, because only the four of us were involved.

We also got a chance to revisit Galuna Island on an S-class mission. I really thought I was gonna die then… And finally, we had gone to a parallel world – Edolas. We had really done everything Natsu wanted.

And yet, somehow, despite having done all that, I am still behind on my rent for February. I was supposed to pay on the 1st. Fortunately, the landlady gave me until the end of the month to pay up. And "school" at Phantom Lord Academy doesn't start until April, so I still have time to go on missions and get my rent. I'll have to start saving up for those months when I'm at Phantom Lord Academy too…

I'm still a rookie and I have much to learn about the world of wizards, but everything around me is fascinating and every day is filled with fun because of Fairy Tail. If I'm not on a mission, I spend my day at the guild with the other guild members. Everyone over there is like one big family! It kind of reminds me of Ms Supetto and

Basaa! The sound of my window sliding open startled me and I scrambled to cover my letter with a book before I turned to look at the intruder. I simmered with anger as I watched the pink-haired dragon slayer climb through the opening. He crawled over my pink quilted bed and his sandals swiped over the pink covers as he moved to stand on the floor.

"Use the damn door!" I yelled even though I was already more or less used to it. One day when he had decided to drop by, he saw that my window was open. He never used the door ever since…

Unfazed by my shouting, he merely answered matter-of-factly, "But the window's open."

"…" I didn't have anything to say to this. He wouldn't understand my reasoning anyway; Natsu's logic was on a whole other level. In fact, I wasn't sure if one could call it logic.

"What are you doing?" When he began walking over, I panicked. I swiftly opened my drawer, swept my book (and the letter beneath it) in, and closed it abruptly.

"Nothing much!" I said. "So? Why are you here?" It was already night time.

"You're being weird again, Lucy." He said. Then he went back to my bed and sat down on it cross legged. Thankfully, he had no intention of pushing further for answers.

I refused to acknowledge that comment and simply raised an eyebrow at him, which told him that he had unintentionally bypassed my question again. He was prone to do that; he went at his own pace, and he seemed to have the attention span of a goldfish sometimes.

"Mirajane said something I couldn't understand just now." He answered, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, clearly displaying his bothered feelings.

"Oh. What is it?"

"She was worried and she mumbled something about not being able to find her heart-shaped cookie cutters. So then I told her to use the star-shaped cookie cutters or something. But then she gasped and looked all mortified, saying that using star-shaped cutters for the day after tomorrow would be like Gray wearing 10 layers of clothes or Erza not eating strawberry shortcake. Why is that? And what's so special about the day after tomorrow?"

"What's today's date?" Even though I asked, I picked up the calendar on my desk and started counting the days I'd missed when we were in Edolas. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…

"It's… the 11th? Or 12th? What does it matter?" Natsu said.

It was 12th Feb today… which meant the day after tomorrow would be Valentine's Day! "Ohmygosh!" I squealed upon realizing this. 2 more days to Valentine's!

"What? What is it?" He got up from my bed and rushed over.

I looked up at him from my seat at the desk and exclaimed, "It's Valentine's Day in 2 days!"

"Valentine's Day…" His forehead creased for a while as he tried to recall what event was that. "Oh! You mean the day where I get lots of chocolates? Whew~~ I can't wait!"

And all of a sudden, Natsu was excited about some event he couldn't even remember the date of. Is food all he ever thinks about? "But I still don't see why Mirajane couldn't just use the star-shaped moulds." Natsu abruptly stated.

"Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love and affection, so heart-shaped cookies would be more suitable than star-shaped cookies." I attempted to explain it to him.

"A cookie is still a cookie, doesn't matter what shape it is, I'll still eat it. I'll eat whatever people give me on Valentine's Day, because they're all always so yummy!" I resisted the urge to face palm at his comment. Oh well, it was expected that Natsu didn't care about these sort of things anyway.

I gave up trying to make him understand. Instead I realized what he had said earlier, about getting lots of chocolates on Valentine's. "Do you usually get lots of chocolates on Valentine's Day?" I was curious. Were these friendship chocolates or honmei chocolates? Could Natsu actually be… really popular amongst girls…?

"Well, yeah! Magnolia is really into Valentine's Day. Random people walk around the streets giving out free chocolate on that day! And Fairy Tail's Valentine's Day celebration is special!"

So they weren't honmei chocolate… "How does Fairy Tail celebrate Valentine's?" I inquired.

Instead of telling me, Natsu simply said, "You'll have to see for yourself on the 14th! Mirajane does a great job!"

"Mirajane organizes the whole thing all by herself?" My voice was raised towards the end of my sentence, conveying my amazement.

"Yeah! Or sometimes Elfman or Lisanna helps. She's going to bake cookies tomorrow. And probably make the chocolates too, I think. I hope she'll still do them even if she can't find the heart-shaped cutters…" He looked serious as he said that last line, evidently slightly worried that there wouldn't be any cookies for his stomach on Valentine's Day.

And then an idea crossed my mind! "Can I help her bake the Valentine's Day goodies tomorrow?" I asked eagerly.

"Oh yeah! If we turn up to help her bake then she'll have to make them! Great idea, Lucy!" No, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind, Natsu… But I just let it slide anyway.

Early the next day, the two of us helped Mirajane out in the Fairy Tail kitchen.

"Natsu! You're getting flour all over the place!" I yelled in dismay. We both stood over one of the two enormous island counters that were in the middle of the kitchen. He was holding a sieve over the bowl, carelessly shaking it. The sieve was much larger than the bowl below and flour sprinkled all over the surrounding rather than into the bowl.

"Here, use this instead." I swapped the small bowl for a larger one. After that I proceeded to mix the butter and sugar together in another large mixing bowl.

Mirajane occupied us with these simpler tasks as she finished up the rest of the necessary preparations. As I mixed, I watched her adjust the temperatures in the four ovens… Measure out exact amounts of various ingredients and lay them out on the island where Natsu and I were… Take out all the different baking equipment we would need and place them on the other island…

"Mix it until it's light and creamy, Lucy!" Mirajane reminded me as she swiftly glided across the kitchen for the fifth time or so to bring out the last of the baking equipment from one of the cupboards. She was so familiar with this kitchen.

"How many servings are we baking?" I asked her. Before answering me, Mirajane took out several bars of chocolate from one of the fridges- Fairy Tail had 4 fridges in its kitchen- and started chopping them into fine slices. She worked opposite from Natsu and me at the same island counter.

In her usual cheery fashion, she spoke, "400 cookies, 200 truffles and 200 cups of tiramisu!"

"What!" I nearly dropped the mixing bowl. "And we're not going to use a magic beater?" I looked around for that machine but did not see it out on either of the two island counters.

"Of course not! It's Valentine's Day! That means all of my sweets will be 100% handmade!"

Just like that, I had even more respect for the beautiful Mirajane Strauss than I already had. Already, a mild ache was creeping its way into my right arm; I was tired from mixing so I paused. Setting the mixing bowl down on the counter, I looked over to see how Natsu was doing.

It was like he was at war with the flour or something. Seriously, the white stuff went everywhere but into the bowl. It was all over the countertop, some of it on the floor, some of it dusted over his black vest, and I even saw hints of it on his beloved scarf… All this while he had a look of serious concentration on his face. This guy was hopeless.

"Natsu, you're getting the flour everywhere…"

"Aw, damn! Really?" He paused to take a look at his surroundings.

"Yeah," I walked up to him and started brushing the flour off his clothes. "It's all over you!"

Pasha! Without warning, a photograph was taken. The sound of the camera shutter flickering came from the kitchen's entrance. When I looked there, I saw Lisanna standing in the doorway, with a small rectangular camera held up to her eye. The camera had a small sphere of lacrima where the flash emitted from.

"Oh hey, Lisanna." Natsu greeted her nonchalantly.

"Wow, how rare for you to be making the food instead of eating it. I just thought I should document this ground-breaking moment." Lisanna remarked cheekily as she brought down the camera from her eye. "But you really can't do anything other than eat and fight, can you?"

Natsu scowled and retorted, "Why would I need to be able to do anything else?"

"Hey, hey, don't stop sieving. Lucy too, keep mixing." Mirajane interjected the conversation. "You too, Lisanna. If you're free you might as well help out."

"Hehe! No thanks, nee-san! I'm just hovering around to snap a few photos for Valentine's Day here and there."

"Hmm…" Mirajane seemed thoughtful for a moment. Then she said, "Okay! I have more than enough hands anyway!" How were 3 people 'more than enough' to bake 400 cookies, 200 truffles and 200 cups of tiramisu…? That just proved that Mirajane was really used to doing all this. Just as she finished her words, she also finished slicing the 15 bars of chocolate. Next she went to the stove and started boiling some cream.

"Hey, Natsu, let's swap. You do the mixing." He had more arm strength than me anyway.

"Ok." He easily complied and we switched positions before beginning our tasks again.

Lisanna continued moving between the kitchen and elsewhere (where other preparations were going on) to take photos.

Shortly after, somebody else (that was not Lisanna) stepped into the kitchen. I looked up from my sieving to see that it was the Re-quip mage, Erza.

"Hi, Erza!" I merrily greeted her.

"I- I…" The sight of a stuttering Erza caught my attention. She even seemed vaguely troubled and shiftily avoided direct eye contact with me. This was unusual.

"What's up, Erza?" I prompted her to speak up. There was nothing she couldn't tell us anyway.

"I want to- teach me… Mira, teach me how to make chocolate…" She bashfully requested. I was slightly surprised when I heard this. Natsu seemed to be surprised too as he looked up from mixing the 3rd batch of cookie mix.

Mira paused her task at the stove and went up to Erza. She started bombarding the swordswoman with questions, "What kind of chocolate? Is it for Jellal? Is it honmei chocolate this time?" Her questioning was relentless. My ears pricked up at the mention of 'Jellal'.

For a brief moment, Erza appeared to be cornered by Mirajane's questions. But Erza would have none of it. Her right eyebrow twitched before she burst out, shouting her demand, "Just teach me how to make Valentine's Day sweets!"

"It's alright~" sang the white-haired mage. "I already know it's for Jellal anyway." Then she ushered Erza over to the island counter where Natsu and I were at. Opposite from the two of us, Mira showed Erza how to make the cookie mix.

Once Mira saw that Erza got the hang of it, Mira said "Later I'll show all of you how to cut the shape and stuff." Then she resumed her previous job at the stove.

Just as I was wondering whether I would finally see this Jellal person tomorrow, Lisanna reappeared at the doorway for a fleeting moment to snap another shot before going off again. That blinding flash that came without warning was the only indication that she had ever come by.

Time flew by and soon it was mid-afternoon. We had been in the kitchen for half a day and things were progressing smoothly. How could it not when Mirajane was there to guide us?

I was not done with the amount of tiramisu mix we needed, but Mirajane reassigned me to cookie cutting duty. And right now, the 3 of us gathered around the island counter, watching how Mirajane cut the cookie dough.

"First, you scatter the flour all over." Even though Mirajane said this… As a result of Natsu's initial attempt at sieving flour, the countertop was already a floury mess so Mirajane didn't toss anymore flour over the surface.

"Then you roll the dough flat… Use these cookie cutters, like this," She demonstrated as she spoke. "And then transfer them to the baking tray here. I'll control the oven, so just tell me whenever you get two trays full."

The 3 of us got to work straightaway. Mirajane observed and corrected us for a moment before walking away. She was pouring the truffle mixture into shallow glass dishes over by the second island counter. Deep seriousness written all over her face as she did so. Erza emitted a similar aura of deep concentration.

I worked on the dough before me, lightly pressing Mirajane's heart-shaped cookie cutter into it. (Looks like she found them in the end) At that moment, flour flew at me from the left.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. My head snapped up to find the source and I realized that that flour had come from Natsu.

Flour was flying all over his station. Again.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" I yelled.

"What? Mira said to scatter the flour all over."

"Yeah, but that's- What you're doing is just-" I struggled to find a way to make him understand. In the end I gave up and sighed. "Just don't get it all over me." Guess we'll just clean up the kitchen at the end of the day.

"Okay." Yet, as soon as Natsu said that, more flour came at me and the entire left side of my blue and white sleeveless collared top became covered in the white substance.

"Natsu!"

"Hahahaha!" Wait a second, was he…? Is he doing this on purpose? I saw a playful glint in his eyes which confirmed my suspicion. I decided to play along.

"Why you…" I swiped the counter surface before him, effectively sweeping the flour off the counter and onto his black waistcoat and grey-white knee-length pants.

"Hey!" He protested. But he soon retaliated. Grabbing a handful of flour from the bag itself, he threw it at me. While I ducked, it didn't stop the flour from falling on my hair and on parts of my face. Reflexively I flicked my hair around to shake off whatever flour I could. Although it must have been quite a sight because…

"Hahahahaha!" Natsu would not stop laughing at me.

"Natsu, stop messing around." Mirajane spoke sternly.

But this time, I wanted my revenge. While he was still busy laughing, I seized the opportunity and grabbed a fistful of flour from the bag too. I hurled it at Natsu and the flour hit him directly on his cheek, jaw and neck area. Good, now he had a patch of white on his face too.

"Lucy…" Mirajane said my name warningly.

Compliantly, I went back to cutting out another heart shape from the dough. But Natsu just had to provoke me again. He threw another bout of flour at me. So I flung more flour back at him, but this time he dodged! Darn it!

"Missed me!" He haughtily taunted.

"Stay right there!" I ordered as I grabbed another fistful of flour and went after him.

He saw I was coming for him and he retreated towards Erza's side of the island. Naturally I gave chase and when I came close, I tossed the flour in my hand at him, only to miss again… and hit Erza…!

Shit.

Natsu, who was quick thinking when it came to things like Erza's wrath, retreated back to our side of the island instantly.

The flour had nothing on Erza's armour top, but her head snapped up and she glared at me – the one who had just broken her deep concentration. Her intense glare bore into my face and I instinctively backed away. When she took a step forward, I took another step back.

"Lucy…" When she said my name I freaked and turned round to run but instead, I slammed right into Natsu and somehow I slipped – or he slipped – or we both slipped on the flour-ridden floor, and we ended up in a very compromising position.

Pasha! The now-familiar sound of Lisanna's camera shutter came once more.

"Whoa, what happened in here?" Surprise was evident in Lisanna's voice.

"My, my," Mirajane commented.

On the floury kitchen floor, Natsu's entire body collapsed onto me and our legs were tangled with each other's. When he got up mid-way, he paused, seemingly realizing the position we were in as well, and things fell into a trance.

His forearms on either side of my head supported his weight as he kneeled over me. Momentarily his black eyes met mine and everything in my brain just vanished in that second. My heart fluttered and my heart rate sped up. I could feel my cheeks turning pink.

Pasha! Lisanna took another photo. I wanted to tell her to stop, but the words were caught at the tip of my tongue. I was completely immobilized.

"Natsu," Erza's call snapped Natsu out of his trance. "Get up."

Erza's hand grasped around Natsu's biceps and she supported him up. Mirajane held out a hand to me and I took it.

"I told you both to stop fooling around." Mirajane said.

I could only listen to her wordlessly. My mind was still trying to process what had just happened. What was that? What was that feeling in my chest just now? There weren't any words to explain it.

"Just look at you two," Mirajane continued her lecture. "What a mess! Go and clean yourselves up right this instant! Then come back here quickly and finish up!"

I nodded in silence and left the kitchen with Natsu. Pasha! Lisanna's camera sounded again from behind.

I awoke the next morning feeling extra cheery. Knowing that it was Valentine's Day, it didn't take much for me to get out of bed. I quickly got ready, putting on my pink spaghetti strapped top and my navy-black pleated miniskirt. Not forgetting my keys, I bounded down my steps two at a time. Putting on my rose-coloured lace-up sandals at lightning speed, I left my house at 9:20am.

I walked quickly towards the guild, excited to get there as soon as possible to celebrate Valentine's Day with everyone. But along the way, it felt like people were staring at me and I unavoidably slowed down. By then, I was approaching the general store.

When I walked pass the general store, something on its newsstands outside caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, I realized that Natsu and I were on the cover page of the new issue of the weekly Sorcerer magazine. Shocked, I snatched up a copy in my hands and studied the cover photo.

The photo showed the both of us lying on the floor with Natsu hovering above me, our eyes locked. I recognized it as the photo Lisanna took from yesterday. At the bottom of the cover, large words in bold read 'Fairy Tail's Newest Up-and-coming Couple!' and in smaller words read '6 page spread with photos inside!'

What the-?! LISANNA…! I scrunched up the magazine in my grip and stomped off to the guild.

[To be continued…]

Yay! Chapter 11 is finally done! This chapter is 1.5 times longer than my previous ones… Without A/N, it's 5765 words? But I take so long to update so I guess it's alright! Also, I know the front part of this chapter is like a filler, but I swear I had to write it for the sake of continuity.

School's already started for a month now so I'm pretty busy… Sorry for the long wait! Also really sorry that it's still not super NaLu yet! But I really just want to take it slow and develop their love story, so please bear with me!

Just a few other points about my story…

I know I might have gotten Lucy's apartment layout wrong, but I kind of like it this way anw!

Honmei chocolate is chocolate that girls give guys whom they have romantic feelings for… The other would be giri chocolate, which is friendship chocolate.

Oh btw, I have no idea whether it's possible to make that much stuff in 1 day with only 4 ovens. Just assume Mirajane is a superwoman and that the 4 ovens are freaking huge! :D

Gajeel & Juvia are not in FT yet ^^ otherwise I would have had Juvia pop in the kitchen and make cookies for Gray too… :(

Once again, thank you for reading & for all the support! ^^ Please leave me your reviews! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**UPDATED 24/5/2014 – changed the number of golden keys Lucy had to 9 so that I can write chapter 21