A/N: LATE UPDATE! And a Arc Filler to boot! Real plot will continue next chapter, I promise.

And before anyone points it out; yes, I didn't include the women beating up Natsu in the last chapter. I wanted to, but I felt it took away a little bit of the seriousness I was trying to build up between Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and the fake Salamander... that and I was lazy. But me being lazy is no news to anyone.

We hit TRIPLE NUMBERS! WHOO!

It's about 12:40 A.M. and I'm pretty much hyper off of drowsiness right now. I was supposed to get this out earlier, but when I went to save the chapter, my log-in session was expired and it deleted 3K words of content! Whoo! To all the new Favs and Followers: WELCOME! We're glad to have you aboard!

We hit the big 100 though guys! I'm so excited~

But anyway, before this A/N gets too long: Enjoy and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire (Animallover, you get the whole Guest Reply section to yourself today~)

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima

As We Know It

Chapter 19

"Luce, this is a fish store."

The namesake rolled her eyes at the comment. Well of course she knew it was a fish store; she figures that was blatantly obvious with all the tanks around them filled to the brim with smelly water and equally smelly creatures. And if that wasn't enough of an indicator, the way Happy's dark eyes lit up the moment they stepped through the door would be. But that wasn't really the question now was it?

"Luce, what are we doing in a fish store?"

Ah, there it was.

"I'm trying to complete a transaction," the golden-haired woman replied vaguely, using her foot to scoot an eager blue cat away from one of the many tanks lining the floor.

Her salmon-haired companion made an impatient noise, "Why're you tryin' to buy a fish? We can catch as much fish as you want from the river back home. Better yet, there's a whole ocean three steps outside of this shop if we leave now." His dark-olive eyes shot her a look she pointedly ignored. "Those are free, Luce," he tried to persuade, "All. Free."

"Yeah, sure. That's nice, Natsu," the blonde distractedly uttered, her fingers drumming an impatient beat against the soddened wood of the countertop. At the Firefighter's equally impatient groan, she swiftly turned around and nearly bumped her nose against a clothed chest for what felt like the hundredth time in two days. "Natsu," she sighed, closing her eyes in exasperation, "Personal space. We talked about this."

Said man groaned again, taking a step back if only to appease her growing irritation, "I thought that was only for bedtime."

"It's for all times of the day!"

When the salmon-haired Firefighter released a rather disinterested huff, the golden-haired woman wanted to yell that she was this close to strangling him with his own scarf. Luckily enough for him though, Natsu's attention was snatched away by Happy's loud meow of awe and he immediately meandered through the maze of tanks to see what caught the blue-feline's attention. Lucy watched him go through narrowed eyes, wondering if he was really that dense. Although, judging by the grin he shot her over his shoulder, she was suddenly reminded that no, he isn't because he does it on purpose.

And not for the first time, Lucy found herself cursing everything she could; him, the Traffickers who have yet to show their nasty little faces, the two days they spent in Hargeon because of said nasty little faces, boredom, him, Happy, his and Happy's weird need to invade her personal bubble—even though she clearly booked a room with two separate beds—small side jobs, and him.

Imagine. Two days searching blindly for a cleverly hidden group of illegal traffickers with no one to talk to except for a strange man, with equally strange hair, whose sole purpose in life was to annoy you. Now, imagine being in her shoes and add a weird blue cat whose sole purpose in life was also to annoy you. Got it calculated? Do you feel it?

Now, multiply that by ten.

Lucy felt like she was slowly going insane. She desperately needed a distraction. One that was calm, preferably cute, not loud, or pink, or blue, or annoying. And since she didn't want to find boyfriend currently, she decided to get a pet. Hence why there were at a fish shop, but not to buy a fish like how Natsu was so easily convinced. Technically, it's supposed to be a pet store, but the shop itself was filled to the brim with fishes and thus, they call it a fish store. A Fish Store. Near the ocean.

Go figure.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" A cheery voice announced as an older gentleman floundered out from the door behind the register counter. The blonde smiled politely at the man as he settled himself behind the register, "Now how can I help you today?"

"I'm looking for a companion," Lucy smiled angelically, leaning forward on her elbows. She distinctly heard something crash behind her and her smile tightened, "Preferably a companion that isn't destructive–" another crash, "–loud–" Lucy heard a chiding 'whisper' of, 'You done goofed,Happy', and she hooked a thumb over her shoulder towards her partners' general direction, "–and nothing like those two."

"We have fish that definitely fit that description," the older man frowned, his eyes warily watching the man with pink hair trudge towards them with a strange blue cat in his arms.

Lucy eyed Natsu and Happy as they stopped right next to her. The Firefighter's expression towards her was slightly off-put and apologetic, which she didn't understand at first. But after looking at the blue feline's satisfied, cat-like grin, she felt ice-cold dread run through her veins. Besides, Happy's fur looked strangely wet...

"Ah! Er, no!" The blonde slapped her hand on the counter suddenly, shocking everyone but effectively getting the shop keep's attention off of the cat. "I-I was thinking of something more, y-y'know, different. I-I like to travel a lot, so I'm looking for a more p-portable companion," Lucy continued hastily, nervously picking at the strings of the hood of her shirt, "B-Because fish are really hard to take care of! Yeah! Cleaning their tanks daily, feeding them every few hours, and whatnot."

The golden-haired woman noticed the shop keep's attention and eyes slowly drift away from her and more towards Happy. She tried to discreetly nudge Natsu away with her foot, but he didn't get the hint and her chin trembled in reluctance. Taking a second to gather her thoughts, she slid herself between Happy and the counter, pushing Natsu back in the process, and unbuttoning the top few buttons of her shirt. She let out a quick breath before plastering a sultry smile on her lips.

"Hey, mister," the golden-haired woman drawled seductively, purposely lowering her voice to the tone that really hit home for most men.

Like she hoped, the shop keep's eyes immediately snapped back to her and she was glad she managed to at least smear on some red lipstick that morning. She leaned further forward on the counter, propping her chin in one of her hands while the other rested heavily under her bust, deliberately pushing them up in the act. Half of her chocolate eyes were hidden behind her lids as she watched the older man carefully. The blonde had to push back the bubble of self-loathing that pooled in her stomach.

She really hated doing this.

"Taking care of all these fishy tanks must be really hard work," Lucy managed with a pout, she hooked her finger to draw him closer and plastered a well-timed smile when he did, "I like hard-workers, y'know. I find that really impressive in a man."

"Y-You do?"

"Well of course," she purred softly, rolling her bottom lip into her mouth, "Very impressive."

"W-Well, I mean," the shop keep dazedly rubbed his cheek, a half-pleased, half-embarrassed flush coloring the base of his neck up to the roots of his hair, "It's n-no big deal, r-really–"

"Oh don't be so modest," Lucy giggled falsely, but the older male fell for it anyway, "Your wife must be so proud."

He seemed to flush deeper, "I-I'm not married, a-actually."

"No?" The golden-haired woman raised an eyebrow, "I was nearly positive you made an honest woman out of someone."

"I'd like to," his eyes hazed at the very thought, "M-Maybe one d-day."

"Hmm-maybe," she nestled her little finger against her bottom lip and gave him one last smile, "You must be a really busy man, mister. So how about we do what I came here for and I let you get back to your... manly work."

At this, the shop keep snapped out of his entrancement and blinked in confusion, "Pardon?"

Lucy dropped her head, letting out a long, silent sigh of relief. She quickly snapped her buttons back in place and straightened, the comfort that accompanied the relaxing of her back muscles nearly made her moan at the feeling. Instead of that though, she shot a quick smile at the shop keep's slightly dazed expression.

"We were talking about what I was looking for in a... companion," the golden-haired woman offered helpfully and in her normal voice, "I like to travel so the demanding care of a fish definitely isn't something I prefer."

The older man blinked a couple of times, before finally snapping out of his daze, "Oh, right! Of course, of course! So, did you have any other pets in mind?"

"Yeah," Lucy nodded, hooking her thumb over her shoulder, "There was this really cute puppy that caught my eye out front."

"The white one?" The shop keep asked and Lucy nodded. "The one with the orange nose?" Again, she nodded. "He is a rather quiet fellow..." the older man murmured softly, eye her skeptically, "He was the runt of the litter and shakes a lot; a weak little thing. Are you sure you want him? We have other pets that make worthy companions for travels."

"No, no," the golden-haired woman shook her head, a knowing smile playing at her lips, "He's perfect."

There was a second of pause, then, "I'll bring him around."

Once the older man ambled away, she let out a low groan of relief, slumping forward on the countertop. Her bones felt like jelly. That's usually how lax they became after stunts like those. Lucy hated doing it, she really did.

It was the clearing of a throat that snapped her back to reality. The golden-haired woman tensed while she slowly straightened to a stand. She already had a sheepish smile plastered to her lips when she turned to look at her—long forgotten—salmon-haired partner and—the reason why she's in this mess—blue-furred companion. Both of their faces were unamused. Almost blank, if their eyes weren't so critical as they eyed her.

Lucy's smile turned tight, "Please don't ask."

Natsu snorted along with Happy, "You make the old man look like one of those creepy ladies from two days ago and you actually believe that I wouldn't ask?" She grimaced at his bluntness and he rolled his eyes,"Yeah right, Luce. What the hell was that?"

"A..." the blonde fidgeted nervously, "A charm spell?" At his blank stare, she groaned, "I wish you'd accept that. It's easier to believe and a little nicer on children's ears."

"Luce..."

"Okay! Fine!" Lucy moaned in frustration, "It's a psychological trick, okay? Like hypnotism... or something."

Natsu's olive-eyes were skeptic, "Or something?"

"Ugh. Erm, remember when I told you I used to do some sub-training at the hospital in Crocus?" At the Firefighter's nod, she continued, "It's a trick I picked up when I used to hang around the research labs near the psych ward. It's just a bunch of fancy words and discreet yet provocative body language that therapists use on the psych patients to bypass their mental blocks. There are a few conditions they have to meet though."

"Like?"

"Like they have to be surprised into it, for one," Lucy ticked a finger and held up another, "And for two, I have to connect to an instinctual part of their mind that has laid dormant for a while. The longer the instinct has been unused, the stronger the reaction. You following?"

"No," the salmon-haired man answered honestly, blinking blankly, "You lost me."

The blonde sighed, "To put it simply, I caught him off guard– when he was most vulnerable, and managed to manipulate a dormant trigger in his mind. In this case, it was his instinct of desir– infatuation and I used it to my advantage." She grimaced at the slow realization burning in his eyes, "But it's not full-proof. There are some drawbacks."

"Drawbacks?" He echoed in confusion.

"Yeah," the golden-haired woman fidgeted, "The trick only works once no matter what instinct was triggered and it has no affect on people who know the user well or if they have been exposed to it already."

"So..." Natsu trailed off, ignoring Happy as he squirmed, "This thing only works once?" Lucy pursed her lips and nodded. For some strange reason, the confusion in the Firefighter's eyes only grew, "And you used it on the old man?"

"It's not like I enjoyed it," the golden-haired woman hissed, "I only did it because Happy almost got us kicked out and I need that puppy!"

"So you've done this before," the salmon-haired Firefighter mused, stating it more as a fact than asking it as a question.

"No!" She instantly denied and cursed when he sent her a skeptical look, "Okay, yes. I have. But I usually do it when I don't have enough money to cover something... like when I went to pay for last night's dinner..."

Natsu had the gall to look shocked, "Lucy!"

"Don't 'Lucy' me!" The namesake scowled, "Like you're one to talk! It's not like you had the cash to cover the difference either! Unless you wanted to fix another stove last night for the extra cash!"

"I still had some money on me! You coulda asked!"

"No you did not!"

"Sure I did!"

"Yeah right! You forked over all of the money we got on side jobs for lunch!"

"But I still had enough!"

"Enough to cover a thousand jewels?!"

"Ye–" the salmon-haired man paused, then frowned, "No." Lucy raised an eyebrow smugly and was about to tell him a big, fat 'I told ya so' but he quickly cut her off with a scowl, "So what d'ya need a puppy for? We got Happy, don't we?"

"No. You have Happy," the blonde pointed out with look of disbelief on her face. His expression didn't even twitch in the slightest and she rolled her eyes at him, "I want a animal companion of my own, which is why we're here in the first place. Watching Happy trying to bite your hair gets old after a while."

The scowl was still firmly planted on the Firefighter's face. If anything, it grew even deeper, "Oh, so you want a dog to bite your hair instead?"

"Your hair," she corrected with a saucy smirk and twirled a lock of blonde through her fingers, "I'll have you know that Happy never tried to bite my hair before." Lucy grinned and bent low enough to cuddle the cat in Natsu's arms, "Isn't that right buddy?"

"Probably because your hair reminds him of yellow snow," the Firefighter grunted and pulled Happy away when the blue feline moved to nuzzle the blonde back.

Lucy's mouth immediately popped open in angered protest and slapped his arm in retaliation. Natsu merely laughed at the hit and the golden-haired woman murmured a soft mumble of traitor when the blue cat started to snicker along with his owner. The golden-haired woman saw the Firefighter's mouth open and thanked her lucky stars that the shop keep returned before her salmon-haired partner could bite out another smart-ass remark.

"He'll be a bit skittish at first," the older man forewarned as he circled the register and plopped a white puff of shivering mess on the countertop.

Natsu eyed the puff from over a frozen Lucy's shoulder, "Why's he shaking so much?"

"I speculate it's because his body is trying to cope with our warmer temperatures since his breed is well adapted to colder climates," the shop keep answered fluidly, as if he said this a million times before, "He's a pure-bred American Eskimo."

"What's 'American'?"

"No one knows," the man answered calmly, "It's just a name."

The Firefighter scrunched his nose, "Still weird."

"I'm going behind real quick to gather the paperwork and I'll be right back," the shop keep announced and straightened out his shirt before turning to amble through the back-door.

"He's so cute!" Lucy gushed, finally getting over her awe at the quivering ball of fur. The dog looked at her and let out an awkward sounding whine. The golden-haired woman ignored the strangled noise that came from her partner behind her and gathered the puppy in her arms, laughing, "He's perfect."

"You sure, Luce?" Natsu asked skeptically, eyeing the white puff in her arms, "He has an orange nose."

"So?" The blonde deadpanned, turning to him with a frown, "You have a blue cat." The Firefighter rose a salmon-colored eyebrow at her and she looked down at the dog, "Besides, I wouldn't say it was orange... more like a really bright brown?"

"Lucy," his look was dry, "It doesn't even sound like you believe you."

"Shut up," she grumbled, placing the puppy back on the counter. "It could be a puppy thing anyway. He'll grow out of it," the golden-haired woman smoothed her hand over the puff's ears, "Probably."

Natsu snorted, "Maybe."

"What do you have against him anyway?" Lucy glared up at him, "Honestly, Natsu. Getting jealous over a dog."

"I ain't jealous," he denied roughly and huffed, cradling Happy closer to his chest. "Y'heard what they say 'bout cats an' dogs always fightin'," the salmon-haired Firefighter continued, sniffing indignantly, "They're not gonna get along. Haps'll probably do whatever he can to stay away."

"Maybe that's a good thing," the golden-haired woman eyed them both critically, "Happy won't barge into my apartment uninvited and you won't have a reason to come in just to raid my fridge." Natsu shot her a hurt look and her entire demeanor softened reluctantly, "How do you know they won't get along anyway? I mean, him and Happy could be just like you and Gray."

He scowled, "I don't get along with that bastard."

"And my name isn't Lu–" the blonde paused, already knowing she was setting herself up for the opportunity to be called 'Luigi' again. So, instead of continuing with that thought, she said: "Of course you do. I didn't see any new bruises on you when I left to find a motel. You two obviously had a decent chat."

"We can be civil," Natsu defended and would have folded his arms if it wasn't for the fact he was still carrying Happy, "But it's not like I'd go out of my way to talk to him or anything. Every so often, he's a good spar if nothin' else, but that's it."

Lucy clicked her tongue in disagreement, "I'll admit that you two are like fire and ice, but you obviously consider him family. You don't have to be friends to get along."

The salmon-haired Firefighter scowled when the blonde moved forward to take their blue-furred companion out of his arms. She took a step back and cradled Happy in one arm, using her free hand to lightly run her nails down the feline's spine. Like usual, the blue cat purred loudly, closing his eyes and rubbing his furry against the golden-haired woman's cheek. She smiled fondly down at the cat before raising an eyebrow at the pinkette.

"You're gonna by him no matter what I say," he pointed out without even posing it as a question. He knew her too well.

"Here's what I'll do," Lucy proposed, when he sighed at her nod, "I'll put Happy next to the puppy just for a second. If they don't get along, I'll find a cage or something when we go home so I can put him in it when you and Happy come over."

Natsu mulled over it, "Well that doesn't seem too bad."

"It's not," she agreed, "But that also means no spontaneous visits whenever you feel like it and no staying longer than you have to. It doesn't feel right to keep him locked up because you were bored and decided to entertain yourself at my apartment."

"How long is 'no staying longer than I have to'?"

"An hour or two. Max."

Reasons unknown to her, the Firefighter blanched. His olive-orbs roved over her face and she kept it carefully leveled, showing him that she wasn't going to back down. Then his eyes narrowed as if he was trying to intimidate her and, although she started to sweat, she still didn't back down. After a few more moments and no squirming on her part, he folded his arms with a stubborn draw to his face.

"No."

"...what?"

"I said no."

"What do you mean no?" Lucy asked, her eyes narrowing up at him, "I wasn't asking for your permission, Natsu. It's not like there's much to do in my apartment for you to stay longer than that anyway. I'm still unpacking and I've only been there for what? A week? Seven days?"

Natsu's lips twisted in wry amusement, "It doesn't matter if you've been there for seven years, Luce, I thought that was kinda obvious. It was fun just being together for the past four days, two hours isn't going to be nearly enough."

Lucy smiled in spite of herself, but that didn't stop her from thinking that's the problem. It was times like these she wonders how he's able to speak her thoughts like it was his own. She knew he wasn't saying it just so say it either; he was being genuinely honest to the point it was just ridiculous. Although, she couldn't deny the part of her that desperately hoped Happy would get along well with the white puff. Even when she joins Fairy Tail as a member, she doubts that she would frequent the HQ as often as Natsu does. That means she'd only see them once or twice a week when he and Happy drops by for a visit.

And if the two animals got along, she could enjoy their company without the guilt for locking up the cute, quivering bundle of white fur.

The past two days at the large port town was a shell-shocking experience to her usually quiet life. She doesn't know when exactly it happened, but the pair somehow barged into her life completely uninvited and made themselves at home. It was like she was suddenly diagnosed with amnesia and the only two beings she knew in the entire world were Natsu and Happy. Every single thing she did, every single person she talked to either involved Natsu and Happy or not at all.

She talks to Natsu and Happy. She eats with Natsu and Happy. She sleeps in the same room with Natsu and Happy. She works with Natsu and Happy. Everything she does is with Natsu and Happy. The only thing she doesn't do with Natsu and Happy is go to the bathroom.

Thank the spirits.

Which brings her to yet another reason why she really needs this puppy. Hopefully he'll give her life the normalcy she lost after meeting the obtrusive pair. It was surreal. Everything that they did together—even the weird stuff like trying to be ninjas while scoping out potential Trafficking suspects—was becoming too normal. She's way past the point of accepting his strange quirks and moving on, she's actually starting to expect it now. It'll be a hard transition when they return home and everything falls back to where they're supposed to be.

"Well you better pray they get along then," Lucy murmured, dropping her eyes and turning towards the counter. Without even a pause for reply, the golden-haired woman plopped the blue-furred feline onto the wooden countertop.

In the first couple of tense seconds, the two animals just stared. The white puppy, despite his age, sat obediently on the wood. His tongue lolled haphazardly out the side of his mouth and his orange nose twitched at the unfamiliar scent of cat. It was then that Lucy knew the puffball would have no qualms against Happy. It was all up to the blue feline to decide whether they would have problems.

Fortunately, Happy merely gave a disinterested sniff in the pup's direction before he lazily sprawled himself on the surface of the desk. There was a purr of satisfaction when the cold wood cooled his stomach. The white puff tilted his head curiously at the feline then, for reasons unknown to her, followed Happy's lead and sprawled himself on the wood. He tried to mimic the cat's purr, but it came out as another awkward whine instead.

The golden-haired woman snorted in amusement, "As far as blue-furred felines and orange-nosed puppies go, I should have expected that."

"Thank Mavis," Natsu suddenly breathed from behind her, relief heavily coating his tone as he swerved around Lucy to pick up the white puffball of a puppy. His face scrunched up when the pup let out a happy whine at being lifted, "He makes a weird sound."

"Again," the blonde huffed, taking the white puff from his grasp, "It's probably a puppy thing. He'll grow out of it."

The Firefighter tilted his back to eye the young dog critically, "Maybe."

"He will," Lucy argued, scratching the pup behind his ear. She stared at his orange nose and sighed, "Probably."

"Well it doesn't matter if he does or not," Natsu grinned, raking his hands through his salmon fringes before linking them behind his head, "They get along well enough. That means me and Haps can visit for as long as we want, whenever we want."

The blonde's look was dry, "How often do you plan on visiting?"

"Dunno. Two or three times probably."

"A week?"

"Pfft, no," the salmon-haired man shot her an amused look, "Two or three times a day."

"A day?" The golden-haired woman blanched, "You live halfway across Magnolia. Where are you going to even find the time to visit two times a day?"

"Or three," he corrected with a fanged grin, "Knowing you and your weirdness, you'd rather hole yourself up in your apartment. Someone's gotta make sure you come to the guild every day, might as well be me. You live, like, right around the corner anyway."

"Right around the corner, over two canals, through the gardens, and past the Cathedral," the blonde hissed, making the white puff yelp in her hands and Happy's tail to flick in amusement. Lucy blew out a breath to calm herself and even managed to put the white pup back on the counter.

"Eh," Natsu shrugged, "Same difference."

"You do know that I live alongside nearly all of Fairy Tail's female guild members," she pointed out with a roll of her eyes.

He sent her an inquisitive look, "So?"

"One of them ca– nevermind," the blonde turned away, knowing arguing with him was pointless.

He had some deluded impression that distances were nothing but a skip and a hop. She figured that out when he proposed the option of them walking all the way home after they finished with their current mission. Guess that's the price that comes with having severe motion sickness.

"Sorry for the long wait," the shop keep said as he walked out from the back-room (Lucy will guilty admit later that she forgot all about him), "Here's the papers."

Lucy took the offered stack and peered down at it, ignoring the way Natsu leaned in to read over her shoulder. The form was as basic as it could get. Full first name and full last name or initial. Date of birth. Social Security. Current residence. Household income and employment.

"Wait," the golden-haired woman muttered, her eyes squinting skeptically at the small text at the bottom of the paper. "It says that I have to have a steady source of income."

"Of course," the older man agreed, "Due to new policies on animal licensing, we can only sell medium to large animals to customers who have a reliable income. Otherwise, our licenses can be revoked if the animal is harmed, neglected, or abused in anyway."

"And being in a guild can't count as steady income?"

"No." It was Natsu who answered this time, his voice rumbled directly into Lucy's ear, "We only take odd jobs that people request the guild."

The blonde's face scrunched in confusion, "But I can put it Fairy Tail under occupation."

"Technically we're a branch company," he explained patiently, "But it's not a guaranteed paycheck for every branch. Mira's job at the hall is volunteer work. She doesn't get paid for it, but the separate companies under Fairy Tail does get paid. Like my branch, Force and Defense; that's the Firefighter and Police stuff. And our partner branch, Information and Investigation. They handle everything that involves clientele and detective work. Levy works for that one."

The blonde leaned away and turned to peer at him questioningly, "And I'm in...?"

"General," Natsu answered obediently, "As far as we know, though. Levy's probably gonna recruit you to help her in investigations once we get back home."

"I know it says 'Current occupation'," Lucy questioned the shop keep, "But is there any way I can sign my name under investigations? Apparently I'll be joining that branch when we go back."

"Unfortunately no," the older male shook his head, "It's considered a liability since you don't have that as a income currently."

"No way..."

A harsh breath of disbelief passed her lips and she pushed away from the counter, inadvertently bumping the top half of her back against her partner's chest. She didn't move away, and neither did he. Instead, he only shifted enough to reach around her, encasing her suddenly cold body in warmth while he pried the forms from her limp fingers. He continued to calmly read the papers over her shoulder while she felt her hope dwindling right before her very eyes. And still, he didn't move.

She was grateful for that.

Lucy felt Natsu's fingers prod her arm, "Here, Luce. Look at this."

Suddenly obedient, the golden-haired woman followed the lines down the paper until her eyes landed to where the Firefighter was pointing. She squinted at the extremely small print, the same place where she read up on the 'steady income' thing. At first, she didn't see anything, but then she had to reach up to move Natsu's finger slightly to the right, frowning at what she saw.

"What about it?"

"Did'ya read it?"

"Yeah, of course I did. It says that there needs to be a steady income from the owner."

"Or owners."

Natsu stressed the last part, making the golden-haired woman frown. She didn't understand his implication. She read it perfectly fine the first time so she wasn't sure where he was getting this extra 'owner' from. But just in case, Lucy turned to see if she missed that section. She didn't.

"Now you're just adding on words, Natsu."

"Geez, I thought you liked reading, ya weirdo," he ignored the glare he was given and continued, "The 's' in the curvy line thingies means that it can be more than one. Even I know that."

"They're called parenthesis," she corrected then rolled her eyes, "And I still don't get your point."

Natsu seemed floored as he furrowed his eyebrows at her, "Wow, Luce. For someone so smart you can be really dense." The blonde shot him an offended look; she really didn't want to hear that coming from him, but before she could comment, he was speaking again. "Look. For some reason, you want to buy this white furry thing even though you don't have a job–"

"Sure, just rub it in."

"–and although I was against it at first–"

"You can stop any time."

"–because I thought he was almost as weird as you–"

"Seriously. Any time."

"–but for some reason, you still want him. Even though he is weird, Happy seems to like him enough and he makes you happy, so we hafta get him."

"Natsu, we just went over this," Lucy sighed, "We can't get him. I don't have a steady job."

At this, Natsu grinned smugly, "Yeah, but I do."

The blonde paused. She turned her head to squint skeptically at him. Was he implying what she thinks he's implying? She wanted to say no, but there was such a proud, self-satisfied tilt to his lips, she couldn't deny it. Lucy would have been impressed with his quick thinking, only if the reason he was implying didn't go against nearly every reason why she wanted to buy the puppy in the first place. Her face was carefully passive as she turned to look at him.

"Natsu, we're not going to co-own a puppy."

A/N: Super horribly long Guest Reply go!

To (my ever loyal Guest) Animallover: This might sound weird, but I judge my writing skills off of your reviews and how many questions you ask. Congrats on being the 100th review by the way! I see you all over the place and yet you still manage to review on my updates either on the same day or the next. No offense, but I don't understand why you would keep coming back to this story XD As for the actual reviewing part though: thank you! That makes me feel a little bit better.

As for the reason why Lucy was embarrassed, it was more of a slip-of-the-tongue thing, really. She said 'A woman and her cat' like she was implying Happy was hers and that's pretty much you thought it was something else though, I'm sorry to disappoint you from my cliché-ness, haha! And the reason why Lucy was avoiding eating with them could be taken in two ways. First, could be because of how she wanted to gain some difference between the pair and her (like the angst explanation above). The second reason was really, really, really subtly implied that she wanted to go off and investigate on her own to avoid getting Natsu and Happy caught up in her mess.

Sorry for the long reply, but I have a lot to say, haha!