Summary: Set early on in the series, when Lucy is out of food and has no money thanks to the destructive nature of her team, she begins to go hungry.
Pairings: Mira/Lucy friendship, implied Natsu/Lucy, and Natsu/Happy/Lucy friendship.
Author's Note: For MysticAngel818, who prompted this idea. Sorry for the wait.
Lucy was starving.
She had never been this hungry before but then again she has never gone more than a day, that horrible day in the desert with Master and her team still haunts her nightmares sometimes, without food, and now, she has gone almost three days.
It was all Natsu's and Happy's fault, of course.
Natsu had to destroy something and make them lose most of their reward money, and so the last of Lucy's pennies were spent solely on rent. Then what was left in her fridge couldn't be stretched at all as she came home to find both Happy and Natsu stuffing their faces with the last of her food.
They did leave a slightly rotted carrot in the fridge.
And after she hacked the black bits off, yes, she did eat it. Because she was hungry. But the fact remained was that she was too poor to buy more food and quickly realised she was way too dependent on Natsu picking the jobs or even suggesting to go on a job.
She hadn't seen him for two days which wasn't surprising as she could feel Erza punching Natsu from the other side of town when he accidentally smashed Erza's cake. So since Natsu spent the first day recovering from his concussion in the comfort of his own home, Lucy took advantage of the peace, tried to ignore her stomach, and focus on her writing.
She spent too much time licking the empty sweet wrappers she found in her drawer than actually writing than she would like to admit.
And then the following day Lucy couldn't find Natsu anywhere and couldn't bring herself to go to the request board and pick her own job.
She was so used to having to force a sickly Natsu onto a train, put up with Happy's annoying comments, spend way too much time running, letting Natsu take over the fight, watch him (tearfully as she thinks of all the money going down the drain) destroy something, and then listen to his stupid laugh as she pouted the entire journey back home.
It might sound stupid but it was a routine she had become increasingly fond of (yes, she knows, more fool her) and it was even more fun when Erza and Gray tagged along despite the additional destruction that always wrecked.
She had been alone for so long before Natsu that she really didn't want to go back to that again, even if it was just for one job.
But then her stomach growled furiously for the thousandth time and Lucy decided it was time she just sucked it up and took one freaking job alone. It wasn't going to kill her unlike sitting around waiting for Natsu while she starved.
Unfortunately there was one hitch to this new plan….
"Hey!" Lucy yelped, her eyes bulging out of her sockets in sheer shock and horror as she took in the empty request board. "Where have all the job requests gone?!"
"Oh it's rent week at Fairy Hills," Mira said as if that explained everything, perhaps to her it did. "Erza, Levy, and Cana took most of them, and then I believe Gray had to take a few in order to pay for a new wardrobe, he has now lost everything, again, Romeo made Macao take a couple of the local ones, Reedus took one, and then Max, Warren, Loke, and Elfman took whatever was left."
"But…..but…." Lucy stuttered as she foresaw a whole day extra, maybe two, or worse a whole week, without food before. "But I'm so hungry!" she wailed before collapsed against the bar and bashed her head against the wood.
Her stomach bellowed in agreement to her distress. It wanted food now, not whenever she can finally get a job and get paid.
"That doesn't sound good," Happy's voice could be heard from above Lucy. "Sounds a bit like Lucy has a monster in her tummy. Ne, Natsu?" Lucy slowly turned round to see Natsu chortling away while Happy smirked. "Perhaps we should leave before Lucy decides to eat us."
"Don't tempt me, cat!" Lucy snarled furiously. "It's your fault I'm starving."
"EEK! LUCY IS GOING TO EAT ME!" Happy screamed as he flew around the room like a lunatic, tears running down his cheeks melodramatically. "SHE'S GONNA ROAST ME ON A SPIT AND COVER ME IN TOMATO SAUCE BECAUSE SHE SAID I TASTE NASTY!"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!" Lucy's stomach growled violently and instantly Lucy lost all fight in her as she collapsed back onto the stool. She was pleased to see that Natsu finally stopped laughing like a prat and looked a little worried for her wellbeing. "Urgh!" she groaned against the bar. "I am so hungry!"
"Here," Mira said softly.
Lucy's eyes widened as she took in the delicious plate full of food, and she meant full of food! The plate was heaving with freshly steamed vegetables, roasted potatoes, slices of a variety of meats, stuffing, and Yorkshire pudding to top it all off. Mira then also placed a second plate with cake on it for desert and a mug of frothy milk beside it.
Lucy was not ashamed to admit that she began to drool a little. "Mira!" she gasped. "I can't eat this!"
Mira tilted her head and looked at Lucy with bewilderment. "Why not?" she asked.
"Yeah," Natsu agreed as he elbowed Lucy. "Why not you weirdo?"
He then tried to grab hold of a slice of Lucy's roast chicken but before his fingers even touched her plate Mira reached out and slapped it away. Natsu's protest was cut off by a deadly, uncharacteristic if you ask Lucy, glare from Mira.
"Because," Lucy said shamefully, "I don't have the money to pay for it."
There was a moment of silence as both Natsu and Mira stared at Lucy as if she was an idiot. "Lucy," Mira said hesitatingly, "do you think Cana has the money to pay for all the booze she drinks in here?"
"…..Yes?" Lucy said meekly.
Natsu snorted and Happy began to snigger, Mira whirled round and glared at them. "Don't laugh at her!" she snapped as Lucy flushed bright pink. "Oh, Lucy, ignore those idiots. It's their fault that you don't know, after all they're your partners. They should have told you."
"Told me what?"
"That as a member you don't need to pay for any food and drink in here," Mira explained, "It is our job, as a guild, to use the money you have supplied for your yearly membership in a responsible manner to provide for you. We are here to support you. We provide you with medical care, and food, and water, and whatever else you need because that is what families do."
Lucy's eyes burned with tears at that. "Mira!" she sniffled. "That's really nice….thank you…..but I cannot impose on you and the guild all the time. I should really be able to buy my own food."
"Yes," Mira agreed, her blue eyes boring a hole into Natsu's head, "you should."
And at that, Natsu suddenly vanished. He moved so quickly that Lucy felt the gust of wind he caused. Happy blinked looking equally as surprised as Lucy felt and for a moment they all sat there in silence.
"Lushy!" Happy trilled. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you about the guild's food sooner. We really thought you knew. We didn't mean to leave you to go hungry."
"That's all right," Lucy sighed with exasperation, "but next time you raid my fridge actually leave something for me to eat."
"Yay!" Happy cheered. "Lucy has given me permission to raid her fridge!"
"What?!" Lucy spluttered. "That's not what I said!"
Happy ignored her as he kept on chatting, more to himself than anything, about the wonderful fish in Lucy's fridge while Mira quietly urged Lucy to just eat and leave Happy to it. With her stomach very much in agreement with Mira, Lucy decided she was better for eating and nodding while Happy talked about getting fresh sea bass for Lucy's fridge.
Lucy was about half way through her plate full of food when Natsu suddenly made a reappearance beside her (making her jump and drop a bit of broccoli down her skirt), he was ridiculously flushed and was panting ever so slightly as he held up a sweaty hand and shoved a large wad of cash into Lucy's face.
"H-Here," he rasped, "that should buy you enough food for a month."
"W-w-where did you get this?!" Lucy stammered as she reluctantly took the money. If only to get Natsu to stop pushing it up against her nose. "You didn't rob a bank or something," she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "did you?"
"What? No!" Natsu yelled. "I took it from my secret safe. It's where I keep all my reward money."
"But Natsu," Happy said in awe, "that's your Searching for Igneel Fund."
"Yeah, well," Natsu shifted uncomfortably, "Lucy is more important."
Lucy's face burned at that as Mira left out a shrill shriek that made them both jump while Happy merely smirked before he leaned in and purred;
"You liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike her!"