*** Author's Note: OHMYGODI'MSOSOSOSOSOSORRYTHISHASTAKENSOLONG. Grad school has been crazy and for a long time I didn't write anything. To be honest, updates will probably still be slow but I'll try and at least be a little quicker about it from now on.
I don't own any of the characters in Fairy Tail or the Hobbit franchise.
TWO
The next morning, the snow was still falling and I groaned a bit internally. The white fluffy stuff was always nice initially or when I had nowhere to be, but today I had to at least go out to get groceries. It was a lot less fun when you had to drudge through the stuff, carefully stepping so that you didn't slip on any especially icy bits. Unfortunately, when I had picked up the tuna for Happy the other day I hadn't had the foresight to also buy groceries for myself before the winter storm. See? Be glad that cat isn't staying with you. It's just a big ball of trouble disguised as a cute blue fur ball. Eventually, I had tugged on all of the layers I physically could and lumbered out the front door to walk to the store.
Arms crossed tightly across my chest, and slipping and sliding the whole way, I finally trudged my way through the sliding doors and into the warm and welcoming grocery store. With a sigh of relief I began taking off outer layers so I could grab a basket. I walked my way up and down each aisle, not in any rush to make my way back out into the icy mess outside. Then, turning a corner without paying attention, I nearly lost everything in my basket by running into a small female with bright blue hair.
"Lucy! So you decided to brave the storm today too eh?"
Smiling back at the petite woman standing in front of me, I laughed. "Yup! Nearly died on the way over here but a girl's gotta eat, right?" Although still slightly mortified at the accident, I was at least glad the woman in front of me was the mildest mannered employee at the publishing company I worked for, Levy McGarden. Although Levy and I hadn't interacted much at work (she was always busy reading manuscripts, and I was usually occupied with running errands and completing random menial tasks for Erza), the woman was kind to everyone she met and though I had thought about trying to become friends with her in the past, our busy schedules tended to preclude any meaningful interactions.
"We sure do," Levy replied, winking, "How's work been going, Erza hasn't been pushing you too hard, right?"
"No, no! Erza's been a great boss. Although I do worry sometimes that I'm not fast enough to keep up with her."
"Trust me, you're doing fine. Erza doesn't usually keep people around that she feels aren't up to snuff. You should be pretty happy with yourself, I think this is the longest she's actually kept an assistant in a while," Levy said reassuringly. I blushed at the compliment as we continued down the aisle. I knew I tended to be overly critical myself, especially at work, and it had been an odd day in the Hartfilia household when I would receive any praise from my father, so the kind words meant more to me than Levy probably realized. We continued together up and down the aisles, chatting about new products and the best snacks to have around in the current cold weather.
"How are you doing over at your place Lucy? I know you moved here pretty recently, have you gotten settled in yet?" Levy asked as we made our way over to the checkout.
"I'm all moved in but I'm still getting to know the area. Most nights, by the time I get home I just want to curl up in bed with a book or a movie."
"I know what you mean," the blue-haired woman laughed in reply, "Have you made many new friends yet? I know I was pretty lonely when I first got here."
"Well…"
"You know I could always show you some of the hot spots in town some time and we could have a big night on the town! We can go out for drinks, get dressed up… We can make a whole event of it!"
I couldn't help but smile back at her, "That would be amazing. The most social interaction I've had outside of work lately was with some weird cat that wouldn't stop visiting my yard… And his weird owner coming to bring him home. But I don't expect them to be coming back any time soon," I laughed.
"Great! How does next Friday sound?"
"Sounds like a plan," I said, still smiling. We both went through checkout and said our goodbyes before beginning the trek back outside and to our respective homes. Even with the cold wind, and the snow blowing in my face, I couldn't help but smile at the thought of making a new friend.
When I finally got home and had put away my groceries, I sat down at my desk, determined to make progress on my novel. It started out well too; words were flowing from my fingers to the page like they hadn't in weeks and I was so focused that I almost didn't notice a light scratching at the door. I probably would have continued on my productive streak as well, if the light scratching hadn't become a sudden loud and obnoxious yowling noise. With a sinking feeling, I closed my laptop and walked over to my patio door to see none other than Happy sitting outside in the snow, flicking his tail back and forth as though annoyed I hadn't noticed him sooner. For a moment I just stared at him, tapping my foot and considering leaving the beast outside in the cold. Before long though, another mangled yowl escaped the cat's mouth and I opened the door for him, sighing heavily as I did so.
"Welcome back asshole," I said, knowing he probably couldn't understand me anyways. "You know you're owner's gonna be going crazy looking for you again." As I spoke, Happy wound his way around my feet, rubbing his face against my legs and purring loudly. Apparently the blue fluff ball had missed me. Or at least missed the extra fish I gave him if the hopeful look he gave me next was any indication. I glared back at him.
"I'm not giving you any more tuna now! I know what you were up to before, you're not fooling me again you dumb cat."
"Mrow?" Still standing there looking up at me with a hopeful face, I rolled my eyes and walked back to my writing desk. The cat of course followed me, jumped up on my desk, and plopped down on my lap top, effectively blocking me from getting any more productive work done that day. Finally giving up, I scratched behind Happy's ear, in the spot I knew he liked best.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you OR your owner Happy," I said quietly. Honestly, Natsu had been so insistent that he knew what he was doing with Happy and that the cat could handle himself, but it was hard not to doubt his abilities as an owner when he couldn't even keep his cat inside during a snow storm. I had just set up a movie and sat down with my tea when the banging on my front door started. Although I'd been expecting this since I first saw Happy back outside on my patio, I still jumped at the sudden loud noise.
"LUCY. LUCY ARE YOU THERE HAPPY'S MISSING AGAIN."
Scowling as I opened the door, I yelled back, "You know you don't have to practically knock down my door like that! Or scream like I can't hear you! You're going to get me complaints from my neighbors!" I was sure there was practically steam coming out of my ears but I didn't care. I had had enough of this ridiculous cat owner and his antics. "Happy is fine. He's been here for about an hour and honestly I'm surprised you noticed so quickly this time considering how long it took you to find him last time!"
Upon hearing that his beloved pet was alright, Natsu visibly relaxed. "Aw, I'm sorry, it's just that Happy's my best friend ya' know? And after last time, I didn't want him getting stuck out in the cold and since this is where I found him last time I ran straight over." Natsu looked over my shoulder then. "Where is Happy anyways?"
As though hearing his owner's question, Happy got up on top of my couch and meowed loudly. Before I could protest, Natsu was pushing past me to pick up the cat. "Ya gotta stop doing this Happy you're going to give me a heart attack one of these days!"
"You could just close the fucking cat door," I mumbled to myself, although not as quietly as I thought because Natsu looked over at me with a confused look.
"But then where would he go to the bathroom? And what would he do during the day at work? I don't want him getting bored."
Not wanting to get into a yelling match like the last time the pink haired boy had barged into my apartment, I simply said, "Fine, whatever, I just wish you'd stop acting surprised and crazy every time your dumb cat leaves and comes here."
"Happy's not dumb, are ya' Happy," Natsu said, nuzzling the cat and then cradling him into his arms.
Giving up, I picked my tea back up and plopped back onto the couch, ready to move on from the whole encounter. "You can let yourself out," I said while picking up the DVD remote, "I know you think Happy needs independence or something but if you don't want to be constantly running over here in a panic, then maybe you should still consider closing that cat door… I mean, at least some of the time." As I pressed play watched the DVD menu start up, I waited to hear the sounds of the door closing behind the annoying boy and his animal but they never came.
"You're watching 'The Desolation of Smaug'? That's one of my favorites!" Natsu exclaimed. Before I could respond, Natsu situated himself on the other end of the couch with Happy. I hit pause on the remote.
"Excuse you."
"What?" He tilted his head and gave me a confused look.
"What exactly makes you think you can just make yourself comfortable here? I didn't invite you over to watch this movie with me."
"But this is like, one of my top five favorite movies! There's a fire breathing dragon! I love stuff with dragons! And it's cold outside! And Happy doesn't want to leave yet either do you Happy?" He said looking down at the cat. "And besides, at this point, we should really just become friends anyways, I mean Happy likes you and I've already been over to your place twice," he grinned looking up at me.
I rolled my eyes again but figured short of physical violence I wasn't going to get the two idiots out of my apartment before the movie was finished. Besides, the friend comment stuck with me. I really didn't have many actual friends yet in Magnolia and I certainly didn't want to push away anyone who seemed genuinely friendly. Even if they were a bit of an idiot.
"Fine. But you better not be one of those people who talks through the entire movie. I hate that."
"Scouts honor," he said, sitting up straight and holding up three fingers, trying to look very serious. I held back a smirk as I started the movie and settled back into the couch with my tea.
As I relaxed into watching the movie with Natsu and Happy on the other end of the couch, I started to enjoy spending the time with the two of them. At funny points in the movie, Natu's laugh was pretty infectious, and during the really action packed scenes I could see Natsu leaning forward, wide-eyed, which I found amusing considering how many times he had proclaimed to have seen the movie. It was hard not to find myself relaxing into hanging out with the strange, pink-haired boy. Finally, the credits started rolling over the screen.
"Well, Natsu, this was surprisingly fun but I'm gonna have to kick you out, I have work in the morning," I said, stretching as I stood up to see him out. He almost looked a little dejected but I did my best to ignore the expression on his face as he bundled up himself and Happy.
"Thanks for letting us hang out Luce," he said as he walked out the door. I wasn't sure about the nickname but it had been nice having someone else in the house once the boy had calmed down a bit. He certainly could be a bit of a flame-brain.
Work the next day dragged by; Mondays always did. Even with several cups of coffee, I found it hard to focus on any of my tasks. At lunch, I saw Levy in the breakroom. We both smiled and waved at each other and I went over to the table she was sitting at.
"Hey Lucy, how's your day going?"
"Ugh. Could be better. It's Monday, it's cold and snowing and grey outside, and I think I might need caffeine in an IV at this point."
Levy laughed. "I feel you girl, it's taking everything to get through this manuscript today," she gestured towards a large pile of papers sitting in front of her. "It's definitely going to be a long week. WHICH is why I'm so excited for our night out on Friday! You don't mind if I invite a few other people do you? It's just a small group I hang out with outside of work."
"Sure, I'm always glad to make new friends!"
"Great! There's this bar downtown called Fairy Tail that we all like to hang out at. I think you'll like it." She smiled brightly at me, and I couldn't help but feel cheered by her expression. We chatted while we ate our lunches, and although I still struggled a bit with some of the more menial tasks for that day, I found myself in a pleasant mood the rest of the afternoon with Friday's plans set. That mood continued on my way out of the office, and throughout my chilled walk back to my apartment. My smile disappeared instantly however, when I opened my front door to see a pink-haired boy and a blue-gray cat lying on my couch.
"WHAT THE HELL NATSU?"
Happy scrambled up and away into some corner at the sound of my yelling, while Natsu simply sat up and looking slightly remorseful said, "Aww, come on Luce, we had such a good time yesterday, and Happy seems to like it here a lot, I thought we could hang out again."
"BUT HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE YOU WEIRDO?"
"Oh, that was easy! Your window wasn't locked so I just climbed right in," he said with a toothy grin. With my hands clenched and my vision going a bit red, I tried to calm down as I gritted my teeth and replied, "Ok, fine. But NORMAL PEOPLE don't break into other people's apartments by climbing in through a window, JUST TO HANG OUT. NORMAL PEOPLE CALL OR COME BACK WHEN THE OTHER PERSON IS HOME OR… OR… OR SOMETHING. BUT YOU DON'T FUCKING BREAK IN. I mean… you would have had to remove the screen and everything…" looking over that the window in question I noticed that the screen was leaning against the wall. With a giant hole in the middle. And a puddle of water underneath the window where snow had clearly gotten in during his break-in attempt. I looked back towards a sheepish looking Natsu.
"Yeah… About that…"
"OH MY GOD."
"It's okay, it's okay! I can totally fix that!" He seemed so anxious to reassure me and eager to appease me that it was hard not to want to forgive him.
"Whatever. As long as you actually fix it. And clean up the mess you made coming in."
"Yeah yeah, sure, but seriously, I brought the next Hobbit movie do you want to watch it?" He looked so excited it was hard not to give in and forgive him a bit.
"Fine, put it on if you want, I need to make dinner though."
"Awesome!"
As he set up the movie, I went about my business making dinner. After it was done, I even dished up a portion for Natsu, having calmed down a bit from the window incident, and figuring he hadn't eaten dinner yet either. The look of gratitude and excitement on his face when I handed him the dish basically made any remaining anger melt away. We ate and watched the movie together for the next couple of hours in silence, other than Natsu's cheers for the heroes of the movie, and our combined laughs at the more comical bits. We both remained sitting quietly on the couch after the credits had finished rolling. Despite his earlier stunt, I realized I was really enjoying having company in the evening. The apartment seemed warmer with other people in it, and I hadn't been feeling as listless after work with no idea of what to do. I turned to the bright haired boy next to me.
"Hey Natsu?"
"Yeah Lucy?"
"Do you want to come over and hang out again tomorrow?"
I could see his face light up instantly. "Yeah! Sounds awesome!"
"Okay. But this time, just knock on my front door like a normal person please. And for tonight, I'm gonna have to kick you out again. Work and all that."
Surprisingly, Natsu actually complied without any arguments or comments about a cold trek home. He just picked up Happy, and bundled up to head outside.
"I'll see ya tomorrow Lucy," he said with a big grin on his face.
"See you tomorrow weirdo," I smiled back. "Oh and Natsu?"
"Yeah Luce?"
"If you ever DO break into my place through the window like that again, I WILL punch you in the face."
I heard faint laughter as the boy and his cat walked off.