Another double date! :3 This chapter is cute...to me. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing~

"Lucy!"

Lucy sighed, stopping just before the guild hall door. She'd only stopped by to pick up something from Levy, otherwise this was a day off for her. She'd meant to be stealthy (If Natsu caught sight of her, she'd be pulled into a job and she was trying to avoid that right now), and she'd done a damn good job of it, too. Up until now.

"Lucy-! Where are you going?"

"Home, Happy," she mumbled in response as the blue cat hopped from his spot at the bar to approach Lucy. His wide eyes were curious.

"But, Lucy, don't you remember?"

"Hm?"

"You promised to go fishing with me!"

Lucy blinked, thinking. That's right! What was she even worrying about? Natsu wasn't here at the moment, he was still recovering from their last mission, where he'd consumed some flames that didn't much agree with his digestive track. Bedridden, he was expected to be out of action for another day or two, even with Wendy's healing.

Happy had been so worried for Natsu at the time that Lucy had, in an offer to cheer the cat up, promised to take him fishing.

Thing was, Natsu wasn't in any real danger, and the promise had slipped her mind the moment after she made it.

But, it hadn't slipped the mind of the exceed in question.

"Lucy! You forgot didn't you?" The cat cried.

"N-no, of course not, Happy!" She had completely forgotten.

"I just...w-well, Hibiki is coming into town today-" an idea came to mind. "Say, Happy...I know I promised we'd go fishing, but is it alright if someone else tags along?"

Happy blinked like he hadn't heard her.

"Ah! I'll ask Charle!"

"Th-that's not what I meant..."

Lucy frowned, eyeing the row of fishers. To her right sat Hibiki, who blissfully looked perfectly in place, sitting at the bank with a pole in hand. To her left sat Happy and Charle (Wendy had offered to visit Natsu once more, and had urged Charle to accept Happy's proposition to fish, even though Charle currently wasn't fishing). They'd even asked Pantherlily if he wanted to join the party, but he declined in favor of sparring Gajeel instead.

"S-sorry about this, I just had promised Happy I'd go fishing with him-"

"No, it's fine. You don't have to keep apologizing for every date, you know," Hibiki smiled.

"Charle, are you sure you don't want to fish, too?" Happy beamed, completely ignorant of Lucy and her date.

When it came to a date with Happy, Lucy felt she did need to apologize.

"Are you getting any bites, Happy?" Lucy asked, sparing Charle from having to shoot down Happy's fishing offers. Happy shook his head, disheartened. Lucy sighed, leaning back. Her pole was firmly planted in the ground, still with no bites. Happy would switch between intensely watching the water, which didn't stir a muscle, and turning his attention to Charle. Hibiki looked like he was sleeping with a smile, perfectly still with his pole in hand.

"Well, we're by water, but I think I'll call truce," Hibiki finally winked, Lucy startled by his implication. She swore that if she ended up in the water, whether it be Hibiki or even Happy's doing, someone was going to be skinned and turned into a hat.

"Is this the right time of day for fish to be biting?" Lucy questioned.

Happy shrugged.

"Wh-what do you mean, you're not sure? Don't you and Natsu fish here all the time!"

Happy continued to stare absently, and Lucy debated just walking away now.

"Oh! Happy, I think you caught something!" Charle suddenly exclaimed, Happy flipping as his pole jerked slightly.

"Lucy, Lucy, help!"

"It's your fish!"

Happy gripped at the pole and tugged, and suddenly whatever he had caught decided to fight back. Reeling him forward, Happy almost plummeted in, except Lucy was quick to grab his feet.

In an instant, white wings were up and Happy was yanking at the pole to bring up his catch. Lucy still held a grip on Happy, helping pull the exceed back as Hibiki and Charle watched, excited.

With a plop, something jumped from the water and the line slackened. Lucy tumbled completely backwards, Happy landing on her chest as his line threw it's catch beside them.

A piece of seaweed.

Irritated and now grass-stained, Lucy pushed Happy off her, rolling the blue cat to the side as she restrained from exploding on the cat, having gone through all that trouble only to be rewarded with seaweed.

"There isn't a lot of activity here," Hibiki provided, trying to make light of the situation. Charle was giggling.

"Maybe, we should split up and cover more of the bank!" Hibiki proclaimed. Lucy raised a brow.

"Charle and I will go this way!"

Lucy exhaled, shaking her head slightly. Of course Happy would jump at the opportunity to be alone with Charle.

Surprisingly, Charle didn't argue, seemingly agreeing to the plan.

"Right, we'll go this way," Hibiki offered, and the two split.

"Why did you want to split up, anyway?" Lucy questioned, smirking at Hibiki as the trudged along the shore, stepping over cattails and other riverbank weeds.

"I felt it the duty, from one man to the other, to provide an opportunity where he could be alone with his prospective mate."

Lucy cocked a brow.

"That, and I thought you would kill him if we stayed a moment longer."

Grudgingly, Lucy couldn't deny the fact, and laughed.

"Sure it wasn't just so we could be alone?" Lucy teased, not meaning anything behind it. Hibiki, however, played along with the innuendo, pulling at Lucy's waist for that she spun into him.

"Why? What did you want to do to me once we were alone?"

Blushing, Lucy looked away, stammering, "I-I didn't mean it like that!"

Hibiki just smiled, letting Lucy go and walking on, which only left the blonde stellar mage baffled and rooted to the spot.

"Come on, there's a spot over here that looks alright."

"Lucy-!"

Lucy frowned, staring across the wide bank. Directly across from her, Happy stood, jumping and waving, with a faint Charle beside him. Hibiki stifled a laugh at the irony.

"So much for alone time," Hibiki cooed suggestively, to which Lucy blushed madly at.

"I-I never said anything about that-"

Hibiki unraveled his line, giving it a light toss as the bait sank into the still water. Distantly, Lucy could see Happy had done the same.

"Shame Happy only had two polls," Hibiki noted out loud.

"Well, it was originally only supposed to be me and Happy..."

"Did you want a go at this?" Hibiki asked. Lucy blinked.

"Me?"

"Unless Happy heard me," Hibiki joked dryly.

Lucy didn't respond, instead stepping cautiously towards Hibiki. He stood just where the bank dipped, awkwardly gripping his shoes on the angled ground. Lucy stepped carefully until she was beside Hibiki, to which he handed her the pole, gripping his own fingers around hers so that her back pressed against his chest.

"Hold it like this, you grip here and...here," Hibiki spoke, level sounding and completely unfazed by their close proximity. Lucy was thankful Hibiki was behind her, because she was blushing now harder than before.

"If you feel a tug, pull up a bit to hook it," and with that final advice, Hibiki released Lucy, stepping back.

Thankful that the contact had been quick, Lucy inwardly sighed relief. Unfortunately for her, no matter how brief the moment had been, the exceed had seen everything.

From across the pond, she could make out Happy's faint, "He lllllllikes her!"

"Damn cat..!" She muttered.

Lucy jumped the moment her pole jolted slightly.

"Hibiki..."

Without warning, the pole yanked hard, the line whipping around in circles. In an instant, Hibiki had gripped around Lucy, his fingers swallowing her own as he leaned over from behind her. Lucy didn't have time to react to their sudden contact, and she felt herself being pulled forward, frantic to both grip onto the pole and at the same time let it go.

"Watch up, Lucy! Try to reel her back!" Hibiki hissed in her ear, and Lucy tried to do so as told. But, it was hard trying to perform the motion he'd taught her, especially with a looming figure crashed against her back and an opposing force fighting her every move.

Lucy's shoes dug into the mud, and she found herself being dragged forward, leaning dangerously close to the water. Hibiki tried to tug her back upright, releasing one hand from the pole to grip at Lucy's waist.

Happy and Charle remained oblivious of the activity as just at that moment, they, too, got a bite. Frantically, Happy jumped as Charle warned him to reel the bite in before it got away. Struggling, both couples fought their respective captures, Happy's being far less troublesome than Lucy's was.

Lucy swore she heard the pole snapping.

"Lucy, be careful!" Hibiki warned, his voice as terrified and eager as she felt. Lucy breathed a quick, "Mn!" Gripping tighter as she felt her palms burn from the wood, gripping raw as friction worked against her.

Hibiki tried to rock with her, jerking at the pole and line. Swaying back in forth with Hibiki thrusting at her back, Lucy suddenly felt very conscious of their situation. Blushing, she nearly burst out laughing, just as her foot gave in, the bank abruptly steepening.

"Lucy!"

Falling forward, Lucy let completely go of the pole, throwing her arms out in front of her to soften her fall. She felt Hibiki quickly grip at her waist, throwing her to the side, and she heard the splash.

Lucy had landed, on hands and knees, firmly in the mud of the bank, while Hibiki, who had thrown her back to avoid the river, was half in the water and half out, sitting awkwardly on his bank with murky water soaking from his torso down, his knees awkwardly sticking out of the water.

Lucy stared at him, then watched the pole, line, and catch sink within the waters, victoriously free.

She burst out laughing, Hibiki standing and joining her in laughter.

From across the water, they heard Happy and Charle cheering loudly, "We caught one! we caught one!"

Lucy, her laughs finally dispersing, took the hand which Hibiki offered her.

"We're not really cut out for fishing, huh?"

Lucy stood, trying to brush the mud stains off of her. They weren't so much on her clothes as they were her legs and arms. She grinned at Hibiki, who was soaked awkwardly in most areas and dry in others.

"You didn't pull me into the water this time!"

Hibiki scoffed at her observation.

"The opposite, this time, I guess." He grinned at her, and Lucy smiled appreciatively back at him.

"Lucy-! Did you see? Charle and I caught one!" Happy and Charle flew from across the river, a dangling fish in paw (a little thing, no larger than a sardine at best, Lucy noted). Approaching the two, Happy stopped, hovering just above them.

"What happened? You two look terrible!"

Lucy, irritated, restrained from retaliating at the cat.

"You two were supposed to be fishing!" Happy sighed, and Lucy nearly snapped. What was he implying they had done instead?

"Good job, Happy," Hibiki complimented, completely ignoring Happy's last comments, which also irked Lucy.

"Ah, thank you!" Happy chirped, also forgetting his own implications.

Lucy just mumbled under her breadth, treading up the bank and grumbling a promise to herself to never go fishing with Happy again.

Ever.

A/N: Random Facts: Charle originally wasn't in this chapter. The concept was supposed to be a tranquil, peaceful date, but I tried to pull away from that because it came across more as another baby-sitting date, with Happy in place of Asuka. I almost did include Pantherlily, but that woul've been too many third wheels and what not... Happy's character was fun to write...

Don't ask what knid of fire Natsu ate...I just needed him out of the picture XD (Truth hurts...)

Alright, that's this chapter! Hope you all enjoyed it! I'll update soon!