Natsu was many things: quick-witted, short-tempered yet friendly. A people person, though, he was not. So why, after incessant knocking on his and Gray's shared apartment door, did the woman he came face to face with have such an oddly comforting and alluring effect on him?

Gray was late getting ready for his third date of the week (it was only Tuesday) when a knocking sound resonated through the sparsely decorated living room. And then again. And then again. With no sight of stopping in the near future, Gray had yelled,

"Oh my god Natsu will you please get the door!? I'll be out in a sec,"

Natsu thought about it for a second, then relented after another pounding at the door. He got up from his place on the couch, tossing his phone down and walked towards the door. He passed his reflection in the hallway mirror, not thinking much of his rolled up rubber ducky sweatpants and faded tie-dyed shirt, he opened the door. He was pretty sure he had never felt the way he did in that moment throughout his 26 years of life.

Wow, she's gorgeous, he thought. Big, beautiful brown eyes peered at him from under long black lashes. At that moment, he couldn't look away. His eyes travelled up and down the woman in front of him appreciatively, but always returned to her eyes. Something about them was almost familiar. After what felt simultaneously like too long and not long enough they both seemed to snap out of whatever stupor they were in. Natsu said,

"Uh, hi-," at the same moment the woman said,

"Hello I-," They both chuckled, flushing matching tones of pink,

"Hi, I'm Natsu," he said, reaching out his hand in offering.

"I'm-" she started, but was interrupted by Gray slamming his bedroom door and jogging across the living room to the hall they were in.

"I know, I know, I'm late," Gray said, before Lucy had the chance to speak. He then turned to Natsu and said, "Don't wait up," and with a wink, he ushered the nameless woman out of the doorway and slammed the door shut. Shit. Forgot about that part, the whole part where she was his date, that is. His lungs felt like they couldn't take a full breath and the world around him seemed to dim. What was this feeling? Or rather, what was the feeling when she was in his sight? Why could his lung capacity increase and his eyesight brighten at the mere sight of a woman?

Can't be just any woman, I suppose.

He sighed and returned to his previously forgotten place on his couch, grabbed his phone, and texted Erza. Erza was his boss, but over the past year they had become much closer, and the center of office gossip.

"Will they? or wont they?" type of things. Truth is, it will absolutely not ever happen. Why? Because neither was interested, just not the type of relationship they needed.

Oooh, what's she like?

That's the worst part. I have no idea. Tell me what's happening to me.

He added a sad emoji at the end of his message to try to keep the tone light, but in reality he was feeling increasingly concerned.

What? What's her name?

Oh, god. Had he really not gotten her name? Damn it, Gray.

Yeah, about that…

Incoming call: Erza.

Cringing, he slid the green circle up the screen to answer, "Hello?" he asked, more timid than he'd ever been.

"What the fuck, Natsu?" Erza's already loud voice was on the edge of shrill. He pulled the phone away from his ear, pushing his head into the couch cushion, "You meet what you describe as the LOVE OF YOUR LIFE, and you don't even get her number. Not only no number, but no NAME? Who even are you?" Groaning, he replied,

"She was Gray's date for the night, Erza. You know how it goes."

"No, actually I don't. I don't have to deal with that douchebag and his millions of girlfriends on a nightly basis. Are you saying this has happened before?"

"No. Not at all. Never," he blustered, flushing.

"So, what you're saying is the girl you fell in love with on sight is on a date with Gray? What are you going to do about it?"

He thought for a moment, biting his lip. He hung up the phone and got up from the couch, looking at the door. He then promptly walked to the freezer and grabbed a pint of ice cream and waddled to the tv to numb his mind. In the back of his head though, until he lost consciousness, he was still trying to get his lungs to the capacity they were at when looking at Gray's date.

Natsu jolted awake after what couldn't have been that long to the sound of the door banging closed. Looking around wildly, his eyes adjusted to see Gray's figure opening and slamming closed cabinets, eventually stopping and turning on the tap.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Natsu asked, still wiping his eyes to wake up.

"Had to present to care about some big-titted chick's aspirations for…" he lifted his arm to look at his watch, "two and a half hours. And nothing to show for it. Who meets on Tinder for anything other than flings?"

"Don't they have settings for that, if that's all you're looking for," Sometimes it was easy to forget how his roommate never grew out of the frat boy phase from college. Now was not one of those times.

"Well yeah, but I don't want to catch something from the girls on that tab"

"So, other than your blatant misogyny and blatant disrespect for anyone who won't put out for you, how was it?"

"Oh, you mean other than everything about myself?" He cringes at his own words "She was a good talker, if you're into that type of thing. I gotta go to bed if I'm gonna make it to work tomorrow"

He walked to his bedroom door but stopped in his doorway, without looking back he said,

"Thanks, by the way. For keeping me in check. I know you don't have to do that, and you don't have to put up with me. I'm trying to do better"

"Yeahp, I know." That's the sad part. Not to infantilize or give too much leeway, but he had come a long way since they met in college, if you'll believe that, "Have a good sleep, go make some money for us, huh?"

"Yeah," and with that, the door silently shut.

Natsu had always swore he'd never get a boring office job, yet here he was. Working at some nondescript company that was the first one to get back after he applied. He actually didn't mind it, almost liked it. Good pay, good hours, enough time off to do what he wants in life. What more could he ask for? To be honest, he believes himself to be a fairly lazy person in comparison to most others, but he was always kinda good at things. Tell him to do a task? It won't get done right away, but surely will be better than if anyone else was assigned it.

Travelling the normal route, a few blocks of walking to the Starbucks near his office, he looked at his watch and realized he was running pretty early.

Yes! I finally have time to go back to the cute little diner across the street.

After walking in, he smiles at the waitress behind the bar, gravitating towards the seats around the bar, "Hey, could I trouble you for a black coffee?"

The waitress beamed and said, "Of course! Just sit anywhere; I'll find ya with a fresh pot hon" Her nametag caught his eye, saying "Neida." He gave her a grateful smile and a thanks.

He took a barstool in the mostly empty cafe, enjoying the quiet and stillness of the air. Very aesthetically pleasing. He took out his phone and started scrolling through Instagram. A post from Gray pops up, showing pictures of himself and some older men on a golf course with their thumbs up. He had been stressing over this deal for a while now. Looks like he got their sale afterall, Dick. The next post showed Ezra's most recent photos from Greece. She had sent these to him earlier in the week, but he stayed on the post for a while anyways. He did miss her, another full week without her in the office. He sighed solemnly and left Instagram to mindlessly check his emails.

"And here ya go, hon" the waitress put down a ceramic mug that had a crack on one side with a mismatched saucer underneath and a napkin, and a little mint candy, "Anything else I can getcha? We got a lot of breakfast foods to choose from," He smiled at her, picking up the mug he cradled it in his hands, absorbing and basking in the warmth,

"nah, not today. Gotta leave here in a few minutes"

"You young people are always so busy, always needed somewhere else" she said it sadly, "well, I hope you can make time to come in more often. My favorite customer," The bell above the door dinged and Neida walked up to the front. The greetings went to the back of his head while he focused back on his emails. He sipped the coffee, savoring the bitter taste on his tongue.

I wonder if it's the caffeine, or the bitterness that keeps me awake on these mornings

"Uh, hi, Natsu?" A resonant voice asked to the left of his head. Oh. His name has never sounded like that before, "That's you, right?"

He looked up and saw the girl who was in his doorway the night before. He then proceeded to stand abruptly and put his mug down. But, of course, he missed the saucer which caused ceramic clattering and warm, not hot thank god, coffee to run down the bar onto his shoes and pants "oh, shit, whoops, I'm so sorry," he called to the waitress as she ran over with a few hand towels in her grasp.

"Oh, its okay," she deftly wiped the counter, "If I had a nickel for every man distracted by a pretty girl…" she smiled at them both, then picked up two of the three towels she brought, the mug and the saucer. She then walked through a door stating "Employees Only".

Natsu grabbed the leftover towel and began patting his pants, consciously making an effort to not scratch his neck out of embarrassment, "Hi," he chuckled out when he saw the womans eyes travelling the length of the coffee stains on his gray suit pants.

"Oh, I mean, hi, did that hurt?" She stuttered through the question after seeing herself get caught. She averted her eyes from his face and general person.

"Naw, I've been here for a while, so it had the time to cool a bit before the bath, thanks" He tried to make it a little better, hoping she would get over the embarrassment of basically checking him out and get back to it. Get her eyes back on him. He looked at her hair, seeing the depth in the color that he didn't get to last night in the dim light of the apartment's hallway. Her hair was blonde with golden strands, furthering the dimension of the hair is darker and lighter strands of blonde throughout. Who is this woman?

"So," he looked down at what she was carrying- a laptop and a thick stack of papers "how did the date go?" she turned immediately pink.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that there will not be a second one." She huffed "On both sides, of course" her eyes flashed to his, "right? I'm guessing Gray did some guy talk with you?" She held her bottom lip between her teeth, and pushed back a strand of hair that broke free from her messy- and I mean really messy- bun. He started to look at what she was wearing, instead of her face and hair then. Sweatpants, a white t-shirt, flip flops, and chunky black glasses. She looks like a college student. Almost as messy as he was last night when they met.

"Maybe not exactly what you're thinking," he gave in and scratched his neck, a self soothing behavior he picked up as a teenager

"Well if he's as blunt as he is with you as he was with me, I'm sure you got the gist" She rolled her eyes and put her laptop and papers on the bar, "I usually don't even talk too much, he was just leaving way too much silence for my taste. I won't even bore you with the end of the night, which I'm sure is what he focused on anyways" she sighed as she sat down on the seat next to his.

He cringed, "Yeah, I'm sorry about him, he's been like that since I met him, worse even, we're working on it I guess" he trailed off, not feeling like defending his friend at the moment, because damn what was he looking for, if not just one conversation with this woman? He was going to have a talk with Gray when he got home. Or maybe he wouldn't. "No excuse though, I'm sorry again"

She smiled sweetly, tilted her head in a shrug and said, "no harm done"

They looked in each other's eyes for a moment, as their smiles faded to more serious, intent, expressions,

"Hey, you think we could-" Natsu's phone alarm then went off, startling both of them.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I gotta leave. gotta go make a livin'" He looked over to the waitress, "again, Neida, I'm sorry" she smiled at him sweetly and said,

"Yes yes, just make sure to come back again soon!" As he picked up his bag, the girl jumped to her feet and said, "I'd like to, uh, see you again, if that's okay" her eyes as wide as saucers, biting her lip again, hands clenched in fists at her sides.

"Aw, you beat me to it, was just about to ask if you'd like to talk more over dinner." he smirked, "I mean, I think you owe me at least that," he gestured to his pants in a friendly way that made her roll her eyes.

"Okay, that sounds…" she looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep thought, "reasonable," she ended with a bright smile.

"Are you free at 7?"

"Tonight?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, is that too soon?" he stared feeling like he jumped the gun, immediately beginning to rescind the offer, but was cut off by the woman saying,

"That would be great! I already can't wait" she said, smiling widely.

"It's been nice to run into you again- uh, oh wow. I am so sorry, I never got your name" he said, embarrassedly scratching his neck again.

She laughed and stuck her hand out, the same gesture he made last night.

"I'm Lucy."