~Happy's surprisingly good at making snowmen, Lucy's sorry she ever joined in in the first place, and Natsu decides to take advantage of having a Lucy body double to practice with, even if it is made of snow.~

Snow Bunny

"Eat snow, Flame Brain!"

Lucy flinched as Natsu turned around just in time to get a tightly-packed snowball right to the face. Although, it'd been so meticulously packed by Gray that she seriously doubted it still belonged in the 'snowball' category, and had instead transcended into an 'iceball'. Ouch.

It was nearing the end of the year and Magnolia had finally gotten their first big snowstorm. Beautiful white snowflakes had been fluttering down from the clouds for the past ten hours and while no, it wasn't anywhere near a blizzard, it had indeed amounted to nearly a foot and a half on the ground. Lucy held out her mitten-covered hand and watched a few snowflakes land, and then slowly melt. The first snow of the season was always the prettiest, most exciting, and also meant the start of-

"Is that a challenge, you icicle prick?" Natsu shot back, his nose and cheeks red from the cold, and also from the blow they'd just taken from Gray's snowball. Natsu plugged up one of his nostrils and blew hard, a chunk of snow flying out of the other one. "Cuz I'll take you in a snowball fight any day!"

And Lucy supposed that was when the chaos truly erupted.

Yes, along with the first snow also signaled the start of 'snowball fight season'. No, it wasn't a season recognized by the Fiore Meteorology Center or anything anyone had really made official, but in Fairy Tail, Lucy had decided that from the first snow to the last, it was deemed snowball fight season. Why? Because she swore no one could go two minutes outside without hurling some oblong hunk of snow at someone else.

Whether it was her walking out of her apartment in the morning to be met with a facefull of snow thrown by Gray –who quickly apologized, saying he'd been waiting for Natsu to come out—or Erza using her swords like golf clubs to whack away at the snowballs she'd created, not really aiming at anyone in particular, instead simply enjoying the yells and chaos as everyone tried to avoid what could only be described as 'snowbombs' –she really did hit them awfully hard.

Everyone in Fairy Tail joined in sometime during the season. Even Levy, who thought the entire ordeal ridiculous, would eventually throw one at someone, typically because they'd used one of her books as a shield and now it was wet and nothing made Levy more sour than ruined books. Lucy herself eventually joined in, mainly because eventually someone would declare a contest and the last one standing got a cash prize of a few thousand jewel that everyone had chipped in –and she could really use that money for her rent—but also because they all made it look like so much damn fun.

She dodged a rogue snowball thrown by Elfman who looked like a veritable snow tornado, chucking snowballs in all directions and simply hoping he'd hit someone.

They were all out in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall, having met up in the morning after it'd snowed all night. Everyone knew that a snowball fight was pretty much inevitable, they just had to wait for someone –unsurprisingly it ended up being Gray and Natsu—to start off the fight. After all, what better way to christen the new 'snowball fight season' than with a… well… snowball fight.

Lucy shook her head, smiling as she watched her guildmates laughing and shouting at one another. Some had made forts to hide behind, some were making a stockpile of snowballs, some had teamed up, and some… were just willy-nilly running around getting hit and throwing snow as if they had no tactics whatsoever. Well, Natsu was, anyway.

"Looks like fun, doesn't it Lucy-san?" Wendy trotted up beside her, bouncing on her toes and watching the fight go down with excitement in her eyes.

"Looks rather dangerous and juvenile to me," Carla sniffed, floating idly in the air.

"Oh, come on Carla," Wendy whined and Lucy let out a chuckle.

"If you wanna join in you'd better hurry. They tire out pretty quick the first fight of the year." Lucy shook her head. "Don't pace themselves, I guess." God she'd been around these dorks for so long that she already knew their habits in even snowball fights. Sometimes she wondered if Fairy Tail members were too close.

Wendy made a little worried squeak that told Lucy she most definitely did not want to be left out, and with Carla reprimanding after her, she made her way into the fray. Although Lucy doubted that Carla was very serious in her scoldings as she spotted her batting away snowballs bound for Wendy with her wings.

And sure enough, Lucy knew her guildmates like the back of her hand, and not ten minutes later most of them had moved on from the fight. The only ones left were Natsu and Gray, the two originators, who were now panting and weakly throwing powdery handfuls of snow at each other. Gray had somehow managed to lose almost all of his clothes and Natsu was soaked head-to-foot as any snow that hit him melted on contact. If she didn't know how hardy he was she would've been worried he'd catch cold.

Levy had moved over into an untouched patch of snow where she looked to be instructing Gajeel on how to make a snow angel, as Jet and Droy furiously made as many snow angels as they could in hopes of impressing her. The Strauss siblings were all working in tandem on what could only be described as the most intricate snow fort of all time. Mira was a merrymaker after all, so no, it didn't exactly surprise Lucy that the massive piles of snow Elfman was toting over were slowly being molded into strands of ivy which wound up pillars on the front of the fort, complete with a porch and two rocking chairs which wouldn't support anyone, but were pretty to look at.

Romeo and Macao were taking turns bursting piles of snow with their magic as Wakaba made little age-related jabs at Macao. And everyone else seemed to either be simply basking in the beauty of the snowstorm or making some sort of snowman for themselves. Lucy had to admit the one that Asuka was making was the cutest, however, as it was only around a foot tall and very lumpy and yet she looked so proud of it she could practically burst.

The only person Lucy didn't see was the master… and honestly she assumed he was inside, praying that no one would wreck anything that he'd have to pay for.

"Lucy!" She turned to look over her shoulder and found Happy, down the road quite a ways, nearly to her apartment. Apparently he'd wanted a spot with some fresh and untouched snow, and figured the farther away from everyone else the more apt he'd be to keep his little area safe. Because apparently he'd been building a snowman on his own and honestly, it didn't look half bad.

Lucy crunched her way down the street to meet him. Happy dusted off his paws and gave her a 'well, what do ya think?' kind of look. She surveyed it up and down. He hadn't added any features to it yet, instead it was just a pile of three huge balls of snow, but it still looked rather impressive, especially considering the fact that he'd done it by himself. She gave him a nod and thumbs up of approval.

"It does, it looks good, right?" he grinned, shamelessly complimenting his own work. "Hey, Lucy, do you have any fish? Like, frozen fish… like frozen sardines, maybe?"

She gave him a look. "No, I don't. You guys do know that I'm not the only place who has food, right? Because I'm starting to think you and Natsu literally think that my apartment is the only place to eat..."

Happy made a very offended sound. "I didn't want the fish to eat them," –he gave her a look that said 'why I never… why would you even think such a thing?' and she somehow stifled an eyeroll. "I was gonna use it for a nose. Y'know, snowmen gotta have a nose."

She wasn't sure how seriously to take him, or whether or not to be offended by his tone. "Most people use carrots."

Happy surveyed the snowman as if critiquing art. "I think a fish would look much better… more yummy too… and it'd even stay fresh in all this snow." She swore she spotted a bit of drool dribbling out of his mouth. There was a moment of silence before he spied the look she was giving him and gave in. "Fine, yeah a carrot would work too, I guess."

"Well I do happen to have one of those," she said with a smile twitching at her lips. "I'll be right back."

She fished in her pocket for the keys to her apartment and only had to walk a few yards to make it to her building. Happy really had drifted quite some ways from the guild. She could barely even hear the yells and laughter near Fairy Tail anymore.

"Oh, and bring something for the eyes, too!" Happy called after her as she walked up the steps. "Oh, and the mouth! And some buttons! And a scar-" She closed the door behind her, cutting him off. She thought for how meticulously he was building his snowman he would've at least thought it through a little more than he had.

She made her way up to her apartment, shouldering through the door and frowning. How had she gotten roped into this, and so quickly? She grabbed a carrot from the fridge and popped open her sewing kit to withdraw a few black buttons. She figured they'd work for eyes and well, buttons, but for the mouth, Happy was on his own.

Lucy was inside her building for what she guessed was only probably a couple of minutes, and yet when she opened the door everything outside had gone to hell in a handbasket and she was left staring wide-eyed and shocked at the mess. Natsu had shown up, apparently, and Happy's snowman was looking much shorter without the top snow ball. There were sticks strewn about everywhere and Happy was zooming this way and that, dive-bombing Natsu and yelling incoherently at him.

Natsu was trying his best to shield his head. "Ouch! Jeez, I'm sorry! I said I was sorry! I slipped! I had no control of my leg, honest! I'll make you a new head! I didn't mean to decapitate him! I'll fix it!" Happy was relentless.

"I-I brought the carrot…" Lucy said quietly, standing on the doorstep, not sure if she should intervene or not. The remnants of the snowman's head were a few doors down, a crumbled and sad-looking pile. Happy stopped his assault when he saw her, tears in his eyes.

"He killed him~!" he sniffed, his voice quivering.

Natsu and Lucy exchanged a quick glance before Natsu scratched the back of his head, letting out an awkward laugh. "I slipped… I really did."

It wasn't long before Natsu had re-built the head of the snowman, which was much larger now as Natsu always tended to get carried away. They stuck the carrot on for the nose and put on the buttons and eyes. Happy was consoled, finally, when they stuck in two sticks for arms and Lucy donated her scarf to the snowman, wrapping it up high enough that it looked as if the snowman had pulled it over his mouth. That way they wouldn't have to figure out a way to give him a smile.

Happy floated around the snowman, examining it thoroughly. It apparently passed inspection as he floated back over to them. "Y'know, the snowman kinda looks like Lucy…"

She nearly choked on her tongue. It was probably one of the most awkward-looking snowmen she'd ever seen in her life. Between the over-sized head and the way it was starting to tilt to the side it looked like a hot mess. She was more than a little offended.

Natsu cocked his head to the side. "How so?"

"Look, I mean it's already got her scarf," Happy said, fluttering over to it. "And the head goes out to the side over here… and if I did this…" he hacked away at the snow on the left side of the snowman's head before moving to the side to show off his work. "It looks like her ponytail!" The snowman's head was no longer ridiculously large as Happy had carved out a little chunk of snow that jutted outward and down. It did sort of look like her ponytail… but there was no way she was every going to admit it.

"Ooh, ooh, I see it now!" Natsu danced over to the snowman and Lucy immediately regretted donating her scarf to this snowman… hell, she even regretted donating her carrot. There was no way this wasn't going to end in her feeling offended and Happy cracking some joke. "But'cha gotta give her bangs!" Natsu picked up a stick and drew bangs onto the snowman's forehead.

"And eyelashes!" Happy added, picking up a stick of his own.

"We could probably make the hair go out here, at the neck," Natsu said, chopping away at the snowman's neck until he had a little bit on each side that curled outward, just like the tips of her hair.

"And her nose isn't this big either," Happy said, snapping off the end of the carrot.

"And look, this stick even has five fingers!" Natsu broke off the sixth twig on the arm on the right.

"This one only has two… but wait if I angled it up like this," Happy strained and made the snowman's left arm go up into the air, "it's like she's making a peace sign!"

"These buttons are even brown, just like her eyes!"

"It's uncanny!"

"She usually wears a hair ribbon, though…"

"Lucy! We need your ribbon and stat!" Before she had any chance to protest, Happy had swooped over to steal her ribbon and in a flash had it tied onto the snowman's ponytail.

They both stood back to admire their work then, and Lucy felt color rushing to her cheeks in embarrassment. It actually did sort of look like her. With all the adjustments they'd made she doubted anyone would mistake it for anyone but herself… She couldn't bring herself to admit it or to yell at them and instead stayed silent. Why had she humored Happy in the first place?

In tandem both Happy and Natsu turned to look at her. Happy squinted at her and Natsu was scratching his chin.

"Hmm…" Happy hummed thoughtfully.

"Feels like something's missing…" Natsu mumbled.

She cowered backward under their scrutiny-filled gazes. What were they going to find? It looked fine to her… The only thing she could think of was that the snowman had buttons and her coat did not. But that was a rather minor detail.

There was a long and very uncomfortable silence before Happy's face lit up and he clapped his paws together. "Boobs!"

That was officially enough to lure her out of her embarrassed silence. She hadn't thrown a single snowball in the fight up the street but she scooped up a handful of snow now and chucked it at Happy as hard as she could. "Shut up ya stupid cat!"

0=0=0=0=0=0

The rest of the day had been a bazaar of embarrassment for her. Eventually most of the Fairy Tail members had wandered down the street to see what Happy and Natsu were laughing at and working so hard on. Things escalated and before long a crowd had gathered around, all with the sole purpose of making the snowman as accurate to Lucy's appearance as possible.

None of the guild members aside from Reedus were gifted with really any sort of artistic talent and so before long a monstrosity was born. Yes, it did sort of look like her still, and yes, she was far too ashamed to admit that… still… but god it was creepy and she sort of didn't like the notion of going to bed knowing it was out there.

And so as the sun set and everyone made their way home, and she readied herself for bed, she took a peek out her window. There it was, sitting a little ways away just… sitting there… However, to her surprise not everyone had apparently gone home. Natsu was still standing in front of it, his face screwed up in what looked to be concentration as he stared the snowman –or as Happy had dubbed it, a 'Lucy-man'.

What was he doing out there still?

Lucy heaved a sigh and pulled on a jacket. She treaded down the stairs and pulled open the front door, ready to ask Natsu what he was up to, but instead, she stopped on the threshold, peering outside to where Natsu was actually… talking to himself.

He hadn't heard her open the door, as his verbal train of thought remained uninterrupted.

"I mean, there's nothing better than practice, right? And it really does look like her." He made a face. "Ain't as pretty… tho this thing's hair puts hers to shame I mean look at that detail…" He admired his handywork again and she stared out at him with unamusement. While she sort of wanted to take his comment of her being prettier as a compliment… she also had to realize he was talking about her being prettier than a snowman… and a weird-looking one at that.

Natsu straightened. "Okay, here goes." He turned around with his back to the snowman and cleared his throat. With a huge breath he turned on his heel and held an arm out to the snowman as if wanting to shake its hand. "Hi, Lucy, I'd like to go out on a date with you… please…."

Lucy had to smack a hand over her mouth to keep from either coughing in surprise or bursting out into laughter. She was shocked, beyond shocked actually, by what he'd just said, but honestly it raised more questions than it answered. Was he asking a snowman out on a date? Wait, no, he'd mentioned something before about practice… was he… practicing to ask her out? Her heart did a fluttery-flip and she tried to stay as still as possible. No, that couldn't be. There was just no way. Natsu had some odd tactics at times and he was a goofball but this was just… watching him talking to this thing was just beyond ridiculous.

Natsu lowered his arm and frowned. "That sounded weird. I didn't actually ask 'er…" He turned around again and mentally prepared himself. He swiveled back to face the snowman and did an extremely awkward little wave to it as if he were spotting it from across a crowded room. Apparently he didn't like that tactic either as he hit the 'reset button' turning around to face away from it again.

He chanted something to himself a few times before he whirled around again and confidently walked up to the snowman. "Hey Luce, whatcha doin't tonight?" He paused. "Oh, really? You're busy… well… what about tomorrow night?" Another pause. "Oh… no I get it. Wh-When would you be free?" A much longer pause. "Two weeks from Tuesday? Alright then, well, would'ya wanna go out to eat?" He slouched. "That didn't sound right either," he mumbled to himself, walking back away from the snowman.

It was official… he'd lost his mind. Lucy had no idea what to think of the exchange happening right outside her front door, but she was positive it'd be laser-imprinted into her brain forever. Part of her wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it and part of her sort of wanted to hyperventilate. He really was practicing to ask her out. What was more concerning was that even the snowman was too busy to go out with him apparently, but she was proud of him for not giving up. Scheduling a date two weeks in advance took some guts.

Natsu was facing away from the snowman again and turned back around. This time he strutted up to it with a swagger that suspiciously resembled Loke when he was trying to seduce a woman. Natsu swung his arm around the snowman's neck. "Hey Luce, how would you like-" The snowman gave way under his weight, cutting off his sentence as he nearly fell to the ground. He'd had all his weight on its shoulders, after all, and the snowman crumbled under the pressure.

Both of the arms had fallen off and a good chunk of the middle snowball was now in a pile behind it, leaving the head precariously balanced on top.

Natsu gasped, scrambling on the ground and heaping up the fallen snow. "Oh my god, oh my god Lucy I'm so sorry oh my god," he chanted to himself, desperately trying to pack the snow back onto the snowman. He stabbed in one of the arms a little too hard and a different chunk of the middle ball fell out. The head tilted backward and he had to catch it with one hand to keep it from falling. "Oooh I made it worse, shit I made it worse, oh god Lucy hang on," he hissed to himself.

He scurried around to the front, all the while holding the head, and tried to pack in the other chunk of snow. A very bizarre dance ensued afterwards of Natsu trying to keep the head from falling, all the while packing in little bits of snow that had fallen off, which then in turn caused more bits of snow to crumble off. Lucy felt a little bit bad for how hard she was having to struggle not to laugh. He was doing a fairly good job balancing it all, though.

Eventually he got it to stand on its own again, though it'd lost her ponytail, one boob, and was leaning to the side a bit, now. Natsu stepped backward slowly, holding his hands up in case anything else started to fall. He nodded to himself and straightened with a heaved sigh when he decided it was free-standing and safe again.

"Listen, just…" He took another long and drawn-out sigh. "Lucy I just… really like you. You're like my favorite person and you're super nice and pretty and badass and I just… will you go out with me?" He stared steadfast at the snowman, the air outside quiet and cold. He didn't look entirely satisfied with his confession, though he didn't seem to dislike it as much as all the others.

And then Lucy was compelled to answer him. In a high-pitched and fake sounding voice she said, "Oh, but Natsu I'm just a snowman, this would never work."

Natsu nearly jumped out of his skin, tripping over his own feet and nearly falling over backward. "I-but-wha-I mean-no-how-you…" It only took a few seconds of utter disbelief before Lucy's spluttered laughter gave her away and Natsu's head whipped over to look at her. It took a moment, but he put two and two together and let out a breath of relief. "You scared me I thought-… unimportant… I was just… I mean, how much have you seen of…?" Natsu motioned around himself, referring to his back-and-forth with the snowman.

"Enough," she giggled, forcing herself to calm down when a look that surpassed mortification spread across his face. "Yeah, you're busted." He shrunk backwards, his blush visible even in her dimly lit street. "Oh but…" she continued, biting her lip. "But yes… Yes, I'll go out with you. If the offer extends to me, human Lucy, that is. "

#65 - accept

Well I Ho-Ho-Hope you enjoyed this wintery themed one! (get it, like santa? cuz it's winter... *cue epic fail sound effects*)

I did a Christmas themed one two years ago and I really wanted to do one again so here we are! Snow-themed, anyway. XD It was originally titled 'Snow Bunny' because Gajeel calls her 'Bunny Girl' and there's a snowman that looks like her, but it ended up that he never said it because I skipped that part... but the title stayed... not that you care where my random-ass titles come from but I thought I'd share. orz

Anyway, I just really wanted to get this out before Christmas and hopefully it gave ya a smile! Only three days away! *furiously starts wrapping gifts that I've been procrastinating on wrapping* This'll be my last little NaLu shot for the year, so the next time I'll see ya it'll be 2018. Wow. Time flies. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and I'd love to know what you thought of it! Your reviews legit make my day they're so amazing.
I also hope you have a seriously amazing holiday season and get some bomb-ass gifts and eat so much good food that you look like pre-timeskip Reedus by the end. XD And then of course I hope you ring in the New Year wonderfully too! ;3

~Foxtail-chan