Hello there! Welcome to chapter two- er... technically chapter one? Since the first was a prologue? Heh.

Some stuff will be introduced in this chapter which I'm very excited about. I have plans for this little café, although I shouldn't give away too much. XD

Anyway! Ignore me and my weird scheming. Enjoy! :D

Chapter 1: Take Two

"Woah, what happened to you?"

Natsu stumbled through the door of the café, ignoring the question that had been thrown his way the instant he had opened the door, instead glaring up at the tiny brass bell above the door that had rung when he entered. He hated that bell; the sound it made was just plain annoying.

Natsu yawned, slumping over and slowly dragging his feet on the checkered tile as he walked into the café, the door swiveling shut behind him soundlessly. He was disheveled, his white button-up shirt one button off, the right side hanging down a little lower than the left and the collar poking him in the neck. His black suit jacket was swung over his shoulder and his dress shoes were untied. Natsu sure hated his work uniform, it felt like getting dressed up for a date every single morning.

But then again Natsu couldn't be too picky with jobs; he'd been lucky to find one in the booming city of Magnolia, even if it was a job as a waiter at a café that rarely saw a day with more than ten customers. He sometimes wondered why the café was so clean and classy if no one ever ate there. Although, he'd indeed been beyond lucky to find a job that paid enough to keep him off the streets, and he shouldn't complain, even if his coworkers were sometimes jackasses.

"Oy, I asked ya a question, Salamander," Gajeel Redfox, the head waiter, barked, the corners of his mouth rising in amusement. Natsu disliked Gajeel, mainly because of his harsh demeanor, but he was better than most of the other waiters that worked in the café, so he had somehow struck up an odd friendship with the man, one that consisted of more teasing than talking.

Natsu glared at the black-haired man as he ever-so-steadily made his way over to the counter, tripping once on his shoelaces and steadying himself on a chair. This was too early to be awake. Too damn early. Especially when he'd spent most of his time staring at the ceiling the past night, thinking to himself about that stupid call he'd gotten, rather than sleeping. He was sure regretting that now.

Natsu sighed, slowly walking behind the counter and basically flopping onto it with exhaustion. "I got a phone call last night," he mumbled, his voice muffled by the counter.

Gajeel cocked an eyebrow, meticulously tying his own bowtie as he watched the back of Natsu's head carefully. "Who was it?"

Natsu suddenly felt a little embarrassed. He'd spent hours pondering over the girl even though he had no idea who she was; he might sound crazy. "Oh, just a wrong number," he muttered, lifting his head from the counter and resting it on one of his hands, throwing his jacket onto the black countertop and tracing designs into the marble with his finger.

He could feel Gajeel's confused stare boring into him and didn't bother looking the man's way. "A wrong number? What on Earth happened that would elicit… this," he said, making a face and gesturing to Natsu's appearance, which was quite less than satisfactory.

Natsu slowly turned his head, trying to shoot Gajeel the most deadly glare he could muster. Maybe if he tried hard enough he could either convince the man to back off, or shoot laser beams at him. The first was more feasible, but laser beams sounded much cooler. "Shuddup," Natsu grunted when Gajeel's curiosity didn't waver in the least.

The door to the kitchen swung open behind them, clangs of pots and pans in the back blasting through the opening before it suctioned shut behind the blonde man that had just exited. Natsu let his arm holding his head fall, burying his face back into the counter. Sting Eucliffe. He disliked him much more than Gajeel, and was reminded every time he saw Sting's smirky face why he had decided to befriend Gajeel instead of the other waiters.

"What happened to this idiot?" Natsu heard Sting ask Gajeel. Natsu squinched his eyes shut; knowing that Gajeel would shrug and Sting would roll his eyes. Yes, his coworkers were annoying, and idiots, and sometimes he contemplated why the hell he even worked there. Oh yeah, that's right, he needed to pay rent and tuition. Bummer.

Before Sting was able to ask Natsu himself what had happened, the little brass bell dinged, and a pair of customers sauntered in.

"Welcome to Slayers," Gajeel and Sting said in unison, plastering on sweet smiles and bowing, before Sting made his way around the counter to serve the customers, slapping Natsu on the back of the head, a signal that he needed to shape up and get it together for the day.

"Yeah, w-welcome to Slayers," Natsu yawned, shoving off of the counter and stretching.

"But seriously," Gajeel said, stepping a little closer to Natsu in hopes of keeping their conversation hushed since they had customers, "Who called you? You seem kinda… weird about it."

Natsu frowned deeply as he looked down at his shirt, cursing under his breath as he realized he'd missed a button and thrown the entire thing off balance. He turned away from the seating, and unbuttoned his shirt slowly, contemplating whether or not to even answer Gajeel's question. The black-haired man had always been one for privacy, so why wasn't he giving Natsu his?

"Just… some girl," he grunted, quickly straightening his shirt and beginning to fasten it back together again. He again didn't look Gajeel's way, not wanting to watch the emotion on the man's face, and hoping he'd take it as a sign that the subject wasn't exactly open for conversation.

"Some girl?" Gajeel scoffed, "So some chick just randomly dialed you and that's why you're so out of whack today?"

"Yep, pretty much," Natsu sighed, swinging his jacket around his shoulders and poking his arms through the holes. He wouldn't talk about it. It was just some random wrong number that he hadn't been able to shake the past night, and so he couldn't sleep, but that was it, and tonight he'd sleep just fine, and he could get on with his life. At least he hoped so. He still couldn't deny that somewhere deep down he kinda wanted her to call again, and he truly wasn't sure why.

Before Gajeel had time to question him further, the kitchen door burst open again, this time a much more petite figure walking through, dashing to the counter and leaning over it to get a better look at the customers.

"We have someone this early?!" the small blue-haired girl squealed. She was wearing a maid's outfit, her dress bouncing as she hoisted herself up on the counter to get a look at the couple that had been seated.

Natsu couldn't help but smile down at her; she was just so excitable. Although sometimes he wondered how the small girl had managed to become his boss. It'd been her restaurant, newly opened, when he had interviewed with her. He'd asked her if she was even old enough to own a business and she had pouted, but due to the fact that nearly no one wanted to work at the café, she had hired him. Natsu worked for Wendy Marvell, a girl who he still to this day didn't know her age, and was seriously beginning to doubt she was even old enough to be in high school. But she was nice, and easy enough to please, so he didn't complain.

Wendy stayed glued to the counter, watching as Sting took the customer's orders with a smile. "Is he using his name?" she asked slowly. "He's not going by his name, is he?" she snapped, her eyebrows pinching together as she hopped back down and put her fists on her hips, a very displeased smile on her face. "You guys need to shape up! You go by your assigned names, and you need to use the new greeting when customers walk in! Don't think I can't hear you from back there, 'cause I can!" she scolded, shaking a finger in both Natsu and Gajeel's faces, before stalking away and around the counter. She doubled back, making her way toward Sting's table and past Natsu. "Your shoes are untied by the way," she added under her breath, sending a glare at Natsu.

The salmon-haired boy sighed, bending over to begin tying his shoes. She was nice, but she was strict. Of course, being ordered around by someone that small wasn't as intimidating as it would've been if someone like Gajeel had yelled at him to straighten up.

When Natsu had first begun working at Slayers, Wendy had given him a grand tour of the quaint café, showing him everything he needed to do, and telling him all about her vision for the place. She wanted the place to be a maid café, however she had not been able to find a single female to wait on tables, and so she had made do with the four boys she had hired. She had assigned them all names that they would go by, introducing themselves as their fake identities to the customers and addressing each other with them during working hours. Of course they didn't always abide by that, but they made sure they did when Wendy was around, or she would snap at them again, threatening to cut them loose. Of course, Natsu knew she would never actually go through with it; she loved them all too much, but he didn't want to upset her any more than necessary, and he figured the other waiters didn't either.

Gajeel rolled his eyes after Wendy had passed, continuing his conversation as if nothing had happened, "So, Salamander," he snorted, putting emphasis on Natsu's alias to mock Wendy if she overheard. "Care to elaborate more on this mystery woman who called you?"

Natsu shook his head, "No, I actually don't," he said cockily, smirking at Gajeel. "It was just a wrong number, and I am taking it off of the table for conversation for the rest of the day. Find something else to talk about to pass the time."

Gajeel groaned. Because of the lack of customers, it left the employees with a crazy amount of downtime, so conversation topics had become scarce.

Natsu watched as Gajeel's face fell and smiled to himself. It was fun to rain on his parade. Plus, it was just a wrong number. It shouldn't be a thing of conversation, even if it was plaguing his mind almost constantly. In all reality he didn't know what to think of it. He wasn't exactly sure how it had affected him, nor did he know what he'd do about it. He hoped that after a day at work and a good night's sleep that his mind would drift to something other than the woman that had called him. Then he could finally concentrate on his job and the college classes he was attending. Yes, that's what he should be focusing on.

"Two turkey clubs, table… whatever, the one with customers," Sting relayed, slapping a piece of paper into Natsu's chest. "You tell the chef, apparentlyI have to go clean the bathroom because I didn't go by my name," he hissed, his face beyond annoyed as he kicked open the kitchen door with his foot, rolling his eyes and glaring at both Natsu and Gajeel before disappearing inside for the cleaning materials he would need.

Gajeel snorted to himself as Natsu walked to the small chef's window, fastening the receipt to one of the clips attached to the metal carousel and spinning it so the chef could see.

"Oy, have fun Weisslogia!" Gajeel called after him.

"Shut up!" Natsu heard Sting retort, the blonde glaring out through the small round portal in the door before flipping them both off. Gajeel just laughed harder.

0=0=0=0=0=0

Natsu stumbled into his apartment later that night, a few heavy textbooks in his hands and a bag full of random crap swung over his shoulder. He couldn't remember all of the things he'd thrown into that bag. For all he knew that weird smell that he couldn't place was from an old peanut butter sandwich at the bottom, but he wasn't going to check. He mainly used the old bag for holding his work uniform during his classes. He knew he would catch crap if he wore a suit to class, and tried to stray away from that scenario as much as he could.

He closed and locked the door with a click, unceremoniously tossing the textbooks onto the end of his bed and letting the bag slip from his shoulder, landing on the floor by the door. He stretched, a smile sweeping across his face. No matter how small his apartment was, he still loved it.

It was only two rooms. The main room, in which he'd crammed a bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a gigantic recliner he'd found at a yard sale, was what he considered home. With only those three pieces of furniture, the entire room was almost full, just enough space to walk around in between the objects, but no more. He had a small window near his bed that he rarely opened. The streets of Magnolia didn't exactly allow fresh air to blow in, and the view wasn't that great either, just plain brick wall of the building next to his.

The adjoining room was a bathroom, tiny, but a bathroom nonetheless.

Natsu considered his apartment his little haven and figured that the instant he graduated from college, got a job, and started to make some actual income, he'd ditch the place. But for right now, it was perfect for him.

Natsu ran a hand through his hair, kicking off his shoes and padding over to his desk in his sock-feet. He plopped down and sighed, contemplating what he should do with the rest of his day. Should he take a nap since he was so tired? Should he take a crack at the mountain of homework he had? Or maybe he take a little time to unwind and draw.

Natsu Dragneel had always had a gift when it came to art. When he was little he could draw better than half of the teachers in his elementary school and continued to perfect his craft all the way until he graduated high school and went on to pursue a career in art. He wasn't interested in art itself, in fact he found all of the color theory classes and art history lectures he attended to be quite boring. He was more interested in the story of it all.

As a kid he'd been introduced to comics. Larger than life characters scrawled across paper with bright popping colors. Those characters could do anything. They could stop crime with their awesome powers, rescue innocent people with their big hearts, all while looking dashingly handsome and heroic. Natsu had run around his backyard as a kid with a cape on, pretending to be one of those masterful characters, and the older he got, the more he thought he might like to make one.

Yes, the masked man Igneel and his awesome fire-powers were Natsu's creation. It was childish, yes, and his stories usually consisted of more sound effects than actual text, but he loved it nonetheless. This Igneel he wrote about could correct any wrong, fight any villain, and do it all before dinner. Of course he had to have his trusty sidekick, Happy, by his side, but the two of them together? They were unstoppable.

Yes, it had been Natsu's dream to write and illustrate his own bestselling comic series since he had read his first graphic novel. He wanted his characters be household names. He wanted little kids saying that they wanted to be like the mighty Igneel when they grew up. He wanted people buying stuffed versions of Happy and saying how cute and funny he was. That was Natsu's dream. Although, he wasn't exactly sure how these classes were helping him, especially since he had yet to stay awake through an entire one.

He leaned back in his desk chair, slowly lacing his fingers behind his head and resting his feet on the desk, his mind wandering to the future and a smile sweeping across his face. It would be fantastic.

His quiet thoughts were short-lived as a light ring traveled out into the air. Natsu's head whipped toward his bag by the door, from which the ring was coming. His phone. Maybe it was that girl again. He pulled his feet off of the desk quickly, shooting across the room and to his bag.

No. He shouldn't be getting so worked up over this. His hand halted just as he reached for his bag, his fingertips brushing the fabric. It was bad news for him, especially if it was the girl. He would spend another night unable to sleep for reasons unknown to him. This girl somehow had affected him from across a telephone line. He didn't even know her name. He needed to calm down.

He took a deep breath, slowly calming his nerves and bringing his legs around to sit criss-cross. The phone continued ringing inside the confinement of the bag and he stared at it. No, he shouldn't answer the phone. If it was her, it would be better for his sleeping patterns and his brain if he didn't answer it, as he'd nearly driven himself insane thinking about her. If it was someone else, they'd leave a message and move on with their life.

The phone kept ringing.

But maybe not. If it was her, maybe he could strike up a conversation, learn more about her, and maybe find out the reason that he was so obsessed after only hearing her voice. Maybe she was related to someone he knew, and that was what was doing it. Also, what if it was someone he did know; maybe they were having a real problem and needed his help! Yes, that was a good reason to pick it up.

Natsu reached forward, tearing open his bag and rummaging around for the device. He found it easily, pulling it out in a blur and looking at the number on the screen. He slouched, his heart sinking as the number he'd seen last night was not the one on his phone. 'Private Number' it read. Natsu rolled his eyes, trying to fight off the letdown he felt before answering.

"Hello?"

"Crap," came the response.

Natsu froze for a second, his eyes widening. It was the girl again, alright. What was she doing? Why was it now suddenly a private number? And why had she called him crap?

"This isn't Gray, is it," the girl on the other side of the line deadpanned.

Natsu smirked in spite of himself. So she was trying to reach this Gray character again, was she? She must've been awfully disappointed to hear his voice on the other side of the line. He had expected to feel a little hurt, but instead he just smiled wider. She amused him and he had no idea why.

"Nope, not Gray," he chirped, "Just the guy you woke up last night."

The girl was quiet on the other side of the phone for a moment, and Natsu waited patiently for her response. He wasn't sure what he should say. Had she just happened to dial the wrong number twice? Or maybe she was reading the writing wrong.

"Is this seven five five, sixty-four thirty-seven?" the girl asked, her voice filled with confusion.

Natsu nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him. "Yep, that's me."

"Really?" the girl asked.

Natsu could picture her squinting her eyes, disbelieving that this was really the number. "Yep."

"Really?" she asked again, her voice a pitch higher.

Natsu smirked again. Yes, she'd definitely been given the wrong number. Ooh, poor girl. Natsu was curious as to who this Gray bastard was now. At first he'd been amused by him, but now he was just a bit annoyed. Who would give this girl the wrong number on purpose? Who was that mean? She was wonderful, how could Gray not notice it? Whoever he was.

Natsu managed to keep a lighthearted tone in his voice although his face and thoughts were full of malice. "It seems he's just not that into you."

"Hey!" the girl screeched into the phone. Natsu sputtered out a chuckle, holding the phone away from his ear and squinting an eye at the volume she had achieved. "I'll have you know that he is very into me!"

Oh, so he had guessed right. This Gray person was a guy that had given her his phone number, and had written down a fake one. Natsu gave himself a pat on the back for his guessing skills. Whoever this woman was, she was sure easily riled. She'd snapped at him their first conversation and now she was nearly yelling.

"Oh, okay, sorry. Maybe he just wrote it down wrong," Natsu said, sarcasm and humor easily evident in his tone.

"I bet he did," she retorted. "I'll ask him tomorrow and I'm sure he'll say he screwed up a number or something."

"Oh, sure he will," Natsu reassured, the mocking still clear in his voice, "Or maybe he'll just give you another fake one."

"No he won't!" she shouted back, "You just wait and see!"

"Alright, I'll be waiting," he snorted, rolling his eyes. She wouldn't call him back just to prove a point, and he knew it. Although maybe she could use a little advice, not that he was one to give it, but he felt the need to anyway. "Listen," Natsu started, with a little effort keeping his tone light and playful, "If some douchebag is going to give you a fake number, he doesn't deserve you anyway. Ditch 'im if he does it again," he said, sighing at the end. Indeed he didn't know this girl, but he didn't want her hanging around with the likes of Gray. Whoever that was.

There were a few beats of silence on the other side of the line and Natsu presumed she was thinking over his statement. Was it weird that he said something like that to her? They were strangers. Although he was starting to feel as if maybe they weren't, with all the time he spent analyzing their short conversation last night. What was it about her voice and what she said that made him think so hard, that made him lose sleep, and that made him so damn amused?

"He's a good guy," the girl said softly, "I'm sure he just wrote it down wrong. Thanks… though," she said awkwardly.

Natsu frowned. Although he didn't know the girl or the Gray she was trying to reach, he'd felt the need to intervene and now the girl sounded a bit sad. 'Way to go, Natsu,' he thought to himself with an eye roll. He shook his head and once again willed his voice to sound cheerful. "No prob, if you ever need some help from the relationship genie, just call."

He could nearly feel her eye roll through the phone. "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that, oh genie," she deadpanned.

Natsu grinned to himself. She had a bit of spark; he hadn't just imagined it last night. Even though they were strangers, she was bold enough to joke around with him. In a weird way he felt like he already knew her well, even though the amount of words they'd exchanged could be easily counted.

He only noticed they'd been plunged into an awkward silence, neither one feeling as if they should be the one to hang up, when she cleared her throat. For some reason, he really didn't want to end the conversation with her: the girl he'd thought about for the entire day. He wanted to ask her her name, but would she think that was creepy? That was the last thing he wanted. Plus, if she did ask this Gray about the phone number, he probably wouldn't be getting another call from her. It was best not to get attached.

Before he could make up his mind as to what would be better, asking or not, she gained the courage.

"Um, so yeah, sorry to bother you again… Bye."

"B-bye," Natsu responded, slumping over as the line went dead.

He closed his phone with a click and frowned at the floor. He'd blown whatever chance he had at talking to her again. If he'd asked her some sort of question, even something as simple as her name –which he was awfully curious about- he could've prolonged it. Perhaps, he could've even struck up a friendship with her, but he watched all those thoughts spiral down the drain as he shoved himself off of the ground.

He'd blown it like the idiot he was. He tried to shake it off, tossing his phone onto his bed and slapping himself in the face a few times to try and rejuvenate himself. It was for the best. He liked his sleep and she took it from him. That, and even if he had tried to strike up a conversation, it wouldn't have been a sure thing that she would've gone along with it. She might've hung up on him right then and there and he figured being shot down by even a stranger would hurt worse than what had happened.

He shook his head with a smile. Man, she really had him wrapped around her finger. If this Gray person was half as interested in her as he was, he'd probably just written the number wrong and it hadn't been a fake.

Natsu paused for a moment. Was he interested in her? She was fascinating, and he wanted to talk with her, and he kinda wanted to befriend her. He guessed that was the definition of interested. She intrigued him, and so he wanted to know more about her. Yeah, but he'd never lost sleep over strangers, friends, or potential friends alike before. The entire situation just seemed a little odd to him.

He took a deep breath and did everything he could to get his mind off of it, heaving up the textbooks on his bed and carting them over to his desk.

Fate and destiny were odd and fickle things. He'd never given them a second thought, they were just ongoing themes after all; you couldn't see them. He wasn't even sure if her calling him in the first place was because of fate; he shouldn't be relying on them, but he did decide to put it in fate's hands.

He wasn't supposed to know her if she didn't call again, which was the most likely possibility. On the off chance she did call again, he'd take the other option he'd concocted and try to engage her in conversation to try and find out why the heck he liked her voice so much and why she was plaguing him.

There. It was done with. Fate and destiny could collaborate and decide what was supposed to happen. It felt weird leaving it all to two unseen forces he'd never exactly believed in before, but he figured it was what was best.

But he couldn't help but hope something would intervene and she'd call him again.

So there it was! I hope you liked it! Call number two between Natsu and Lucy! I'll keep count and see how many it takes before Natsu stops being so oblivious and realizes he likes her. XD Natsu's a genie. A very very long giggling fit was had by Foxtail-chan when she pictured Natsu as a genie. Sad but true. XD

Thank you so so so much for the reviews last chapter! They were just drop-dead amazing! They all made me so happy! So thank you for dropping those; they keep me alive and I love seeing what you thought of a chappie. XD

~Foxtail