Summary: Based on the Fairy Tale 'The Little Match Girl'….leaving Natsu in charge of selling matchsticks is a stupid idea.

Pairings: Natsu/Happy friendship.

YouTube Prompt: Fairy Tail Battle tribute, or more accurately a tribute to the stubborn will of Fairy Tail during battles, to 'Walk' by the Foo Fighters.

"There's no jobs left on the board and it's almost Christmas!" Natsu cried out desperately. "How am I going to afford presents if I don't work?!"

It was a cold, snowy, night three days before Christmas and the guild building was virtually empty as the job request board was. Macao and Wakaba were smoking and drinking in a corner, Cana was passed out from all the eggnog she was guzzled earlier, and Master was serenely sitting on the bar.

"Aye!" Happy agreed. "We won't be able to afford our Christmas roasted fish!"

The two clung to one another as they fought back the urge to cry (well…Natsu did, Happy had no probably letting a flood of tears run down his face. He was a starving kitten after all). "We're doomed Happy!" Natsu said melodramatically. "No presents, no tree, no food, no Happy Christmas for Natsu and Happy."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Oh pipe down you two!" Master snapped. "You're hardly going to be left out in the cold. Christmas is for family. We'll feed you."

"Yay!" Happy cheered.

"Yeah," Natsu trembled, "but who'll protect us when the others find out we have no presents for them? Erza will slaughter me for being so thoughtless."

"Tell you what," Master said, "I have literally a whole room filled with matches. They were a cheap reward from when a group of us helped a matchstick factory discover who was destroying the machinery. If you sell them all you can keep the money."

"Yosh!" Natsu pumped a fist in the air. "You got yourself a deal, Gramps! C'mon Happy, let's go and sell some matches."

"Aye Sir!"

And that was how Natsu ended up on the streets in the blistering cold (not that he noticed) with a huge haul of matchsticks to sell. "What are these things anyway?" Natsu asked as he held one up. "They're so dinky and weird smelling."

"No idea," Happy shivered, "can we hurry up and sell them. It's cold and I wanna go home."

"Aw, Happy," Natsu grinned, "you can hide up my shirt if you're such a wimp."

"I'm a wimp," Happy admitted gleefully as he snuggled unto Natsu's shirt. "A nice, warm, cosy wimp."

Natsu laughed but it faded quickly as his curiosity got the better of him. "Seriously," he muttered, "what are these things and how do they work?"

"Here," a voice said from behind Natsu. The boy jumped to see a man dressed in many layers and still shivering "I'll show you," he took the box and the match from Natsu and struck the match against the side of the box. It suddenly lit up with a brilliant flame. Natsu's eyes widened in awe and he felt his mouth salivate at the delicious smell of fire. "Like this, see?" he passed the box and the burning match back to Natsu. "….are you sure you should be playing with fire, kid?" he asked in concern.

"No problem," Natsu grinned, "Fire doesn't hurt me. I'm a Dragon Slayer, see?" he put the match in his mouth and gobbled the flame up. The man's jaw dropped open and his eyes bulged out of their sockets which only served to amuse Natsu (it always did when people acted so shocked to see him eating fire). Natsu, however, just hummed in enjoyment of the fire. It was like that party food Mira served, a dinky little bite on toothpicks. "Yum!" he cried out gleefully. "Hey, do you wanna buy some matches?"

"S-s-s-sure."

And with that Natsu sold one box of matches to a stunned man who slowly wandered off in a stupor while Natsu got to enjoy lots of free fire food.

Another match turned into another, and another, and another, and he was reminded of all the delicious Christmas foods he could have as he feasted on party food sized flames.

Soon he devoured a whole box, and then another, and another, and another until…

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ATE ALL OF THE MATCHES?!" Master bellowed the very next morning when a sheepish Natsu explained why he only had five jewels to his name and no matchsticks. "WHAT SORT OF GLUTTON ARE YOU?!"

"Heh," Natsu laughed sheepishly, "it's was fire," he said as if it explained everything.

"What kind of answer is that?!"

"Seriously," the newly returned Laxus raised a snarky eyebrow, "that's your question? Not 'What was I thinking?' I mean come on, Gramps, leaving Natsu in charge of selling matchsticks is the equivalent of leaving Erza in charge of a bake sale. Nothing is ever going to be sold because they ate it all!"

"…God, I'm an idiot," Master muttered to himself.

"Never mind that!" Natsu wailed. "I'm still broke for Christmas!"

For some reason, however, that didn't garner much sympathy and Natsu and Happy had to make do with making people presents. There was a lot of scribbled drawings that year…