"So" Lucy said as she pulled a chair up to the cell "What are you in here for today?" Sitting down, she rested her chin in her hands as she waited for Natsu to reply.

"It wasn't even my fault this time" Natsu grumbled from the cell. He was sitting on the cell floor with his back against the wall, the same place he always sat when he was brought in. He'd be released by tomorrow morning with yet another warning since somehow his bail was always mysteriously paid.

"What wasn't your fault?" Lucy asked as leaned in closer to the bars "Starting the bar fight or ending up getting the other guy sent to the hospital?"

Natsu was a quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "He was the one who started the fight, I just finished it."

"Uh huh" Lucy said as she leaned back into her chair "And what did he do to make you angry enough to break the poor guy's nose?"

"He made fun of my hair" Natsu said, crossing his arms as he stared up at the ceiling "If there's one thing I won't ignore it's someone making fun of my hair."

Sighing Lucy shook her head, honestly the reasons he ended up getting himself put in their station's little holding cell were ridiculous. He never did anything bad enough to get him sent to a real jail, but just enough to get him locked up for a day or two. Since Lucy was always stuck with night shifts at the station she normally was the one either dragging him in or the one he'd be keeping company with for the night.

"Just so you know, I didn't plan on hitting the guy hard enough to actually break something. Just enough to get him to swear at me before running off to his friends" Natsu said.

"Well that just makes it all better" Lucy said.

"Hey at least I had a reason this time" Natsu said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Ah yes, the last time you were in here for vandalism. You know they still haven't taken down that lovely picture you made yet" Lucy said. Lucy wasn't sure if it was funny or not but she drove past it every time she went to work so by now she was used to it like so many were. Honestly once they got rid of the picture it would feel like something was missing.

"Is that so" Natsu said, his mouth curling up in a smirk "I don't really go to that area too much so I wouldn't know."

"What do you think you'll end up in here for next time?" Lucy asked knowing full well that by next week he would have come back in once.

"Do you have no faith in me to be an upstanding citizen Lucy?" Natsu asked, tilting his head at her and acting his best to seem innocent.

"You and me both know you'll be back, you don't know how to stay out of trouble. I swear I'm going to find some kind of class to enroll you in, anger management or something. Maybe an art class or something to get rid of your extra energy and the free time you have to come up with all these different plots that land you in here" Lucy said, shaking her head though she knew Natsu would never go for anything like that, he was far too stubborn.

"Oh come on Lucy maybe I do all of this to spend some one on one time with you" Natsu said with a laugh.

"Cute" Lucy said hoping it sounded sarcastic enough "But you know what would be even cuter? If you stopped meeting me while I'm at work and you're in a cell and start meeting me somewhere that isn't the police station."

"These bars are the only thing keeping us apart" Natsu said, making a theatrical performance as he reached out and touched the bars and the looking at Lucy as if telling her to do the same.

"Ah yes what a shame to think we are hindered by these cursed bars, forever tethered apart" Lucy said in mock sadness, deciding to go along with Natsu and hold her hand out as well. It did get slow during night shifts.

"Oh man Lucy that sounded really good" Natsu said, dropping his little act for a second "When are you finally going to show your book to an editor?"

"Thanks, but I don't know" Lucy said with a sigh "I'm pretty sure my book wouldn't sell at all. It's a fairy tale for adults, I feel like I should be aiming at a younger demographic."

"Oh come on, from what I've read of it is good. I would totally buy the book if you get it published" Natsu said, he had been around enough to even learn one of Lucy's most guarded secrets. That she was writing a book and secretly wanted to be a writer more than anything, but even if she did write a book that didn't mean that it would pay the bills so she had to get a job somewhere.

"Well at least I know one person would buy my book" Lucy said realizing her hand was still outstretched; she pulled it back, doing her best not to blush. Honestly, she hated how Natsu somehow made her feel like a flustered high schooler sometimes.

"I'm sure you have more than one friend Lucy" Natsu said as he took his hand back from the bars and placing it behind his head "So how much longer until your shift ends?"

"About two more hours, you came in pretty late tonight" Lucy said as Natsu hummed in acknowledgement. Getting up out of her chair Lucy said "I'll be back, I'm getting something to eat."

"You got it officer" Natsu said as he watched her leave the room. He knew he had practically no chance with her if he kept getting put behind bars but he somehow always got roped into doing all of this. All the time he had gotten taken in for vandalism was because he had given his friend, the one who was doing the spray painting (he was just a good friend who had offered to be a lookout even after he had been arrested), enough time to get away. That was mainly why he was bailed out of those charges; his friend would scrape together some money to pay the bail as an apology. The others he still wasn't sure who was bailing him out but all those times he wasn't the one who had started whatever it was, a fight or argument, but he was somehow always the on getting dragged in.

Still, it was a nice reason to talk to Lucy. He wasn't exactly part of the crowd she was a part of. This was the best place to talk to her as ridiculous as it sounded.

"I sure hope you didn't manage to tunnel your way out while I was gone" Lucy said.

"You guys took away my plastic spoon so I'm stuck in here until I'm let out" Natsu said with a shrug.

"They're actually searching you now?" Lucy asked with a chuckled as she sat back down. Holding out a bag of chips to him she said "I got your favorite, I think you're the only one who eats them."

"I don't know why" Natsu said as he took the chips from her "They're the best."

"I can tell by how you eat them all at once" Lucy said as she watched him tear opening. Another one of their little rituals while Natsu was locked up, other than talking and teasing, was when Lucy got her usual four o' clock cravings and had felt kind of cruel eating in front of Natsu. So she had asked him what his favorite snack was and luckily enough it was in the vending machine. He paid her back the fifty cents when he was let out.

"I wonder how much longer I'm going to be stuck in here?" Natsu thought aloud before eating a handful of his chips.

"I'm sure you'll be out in no time, you always get bailed out" Lucy said as she opened her candy bar.

"Man Lucy" Natsu grumbled "How do you even manage to sit through all of this when I'm not here?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

"You probably play on your phone don't you, unlike me, a lowly criminal who has his phone taken away" Natsu said, dramatic as usual.

"You should be an actor or something" Lucy said "You're so dramatic."

"I'll try out for a play the day you get your book published" Natsu said, glancing over at Lucy from the corner of his eye.

"Is that taunt Natsu?" Lucy asked "You know you can't harass an officer right?"

"It's a deal since you seem to claim your book is so terrible" Natsu said "So the day you publish your book, I will try out for a play something I think I'd be terrible at. Do we have a deal?"

"I can't believe I'm about to make a deal with a hardened criminal like yourself" Lucy said as Natsu offered out his hand through the bars.

"So deal then?" Natsu asked as Lucy looked at his hand before taking.

"You got yourself a deal Natsu" Lucy said, shaking her hand she wondered what exactly her coworkers would think if they found out what exactly she does during her night shift and how close she was with a particular detainee.