Hello and welcome to chapter 3-er technically chapter two. XP Long time no see, eh? Pinky swear it won't take me anywhere near this long to update again. I'm still just scheming away with this story. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D

Chapter 2: Third Time's the Charm

"Okay! So I'm assuming you all know why I gathered you here today."

Natsu exchanged glances with the other waiters around the table. Was she crazy? Wendy actually thought they'd know why she asked them to join her at six in the morning, before opening, at a makeshift table for five? No… he didn't anyway. Although maybe he should? The other men looked just as confused as he felt.

Gajeel raised a hand, the only one with no shame, blurting, "I ain't got a damn clue."

Sting and Rogue, sitting opposite Natsu and Gajeel, looked relieved. Good, he wasn't the only one confused.

Wendy slammed her hands on the table. "Are you serious, guys?" she asked, stamping her tiny feet on the floor. She'd made them all sit down while she stood. Whether that was to make it seem like a meeting or to have them all more the same height she was, Natsu wasn't sure.

Wendy looked around the table with question.

"Yeah, I'm a little confused as well," Rogue input.

"Ugh!" she moaned. "C'mon guys! I sent you all an email last week saying we'd have bi-weekly meetings at the restaurant staring today! Didn't you read it?"

"Oh that," Natsu sighed. "Yeah I saw it, Wendy. Totally forgot about it though," he snickered as Gajeel nodded that he'd forgotten as well.

Sting whipped out his phone, scrolling for a moment before grunting. "Oh sorry, it got caught in my spam folder."

"Spam?!" Wendy whined. "Emails from me get caught in spam?!" Indeed if he'd worked at any other company and his boss' emails got caught in spam Natsu was sure Sting would've been reprimanded, or fired. However working for a pint-sized girl in a very unsuccessful diner had its perks sometimes.

Sting shrugged. "Dragonqueen77 ... I read it as 'drag queen' the first time Wendy. Sorry, thought I was being hit on by a dude so I ignored it."

Wendy's eyes bugged before she slapped both hands over her face, concealing a very vivid blush. "Don't judge it; I made that email when I was young!"

"How young, exactly?" Gajeel grunted. Natsu snorted. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one who had no clue how old their employer was. What did she make that email when she was two? Was that young to her? Seriously… how old was she?

Wendy lowered her hands as they balled into fists, her cheeks puffing out in frustration. "Okay, forget the email," she snapped, placing her hands on the table again. "This is the first annual meeting of the employees of Slayers Café. I hereby announce this meeting is in session," she said matter of factly.

Natsu once again exchanged glances with the other employees. Why on earth did they need to have a meeting when they worked in probably the most unpopular café in the entire city? Meetings were for successful businesses to air complaints and iron things out. Well… one thing could be ironed out. Natsu raised his hand. "Why're we meeting in the kitchen?"

Indeed it was before hours so no one would be in the seating area. That and even if it was during business hours it wasn't like anyone would show up, anyway. Plus, the kitchen was really too small for a table, let alone two shoved together to make room for all five of them.

They were crammed between the stove and a chrome countertop, in a space supposedly made to only be big enough for two people to pass by one another in preparing food. This really didn't seem like the ideal place to meet. Unless you were a munchkin, like Wendy.

She unamusedly stared over at Natsu. "Because it would look unprofessional if customers saw us even though the windows, having a meeting."

"I think looking unprofessional is the least of this restaurant's worries," Gajeel sighed.

Wendy groaned again, pointing down at the table. "C'mon guys. I hauled this back here so we could get some privacy so just hear me out. Humor me, even," she pouted, staring around the table and waiting for any protests. The waiters grumbled to themselves but didn't object. She sighed in relief. "Alright then, meeting is in session. We have only one thing on the agenda today, since it's the first meeting." She sounded incredibly chipper now. She could bounce back faster than should be humanly possible.

Natsu yawned as Wendy crouched down to pick something up. Gajeel shot him a questioning glance out the corner of his eye and Natsu waved a hand at him. Gajeel smirked, holding his hand up to his ear, mimicking a phone. It was a wordless question of whether the girl that'd distracted him the past day had called back and that was why he was tired.

Yes, the girl had called back, and yes, he'd somehow not been able to catch a wink of sleep because of it, but he'd be dipped if he'd let Gajeel know. He shook his head, mouthing 'it's just too early'. It was reasonable that he'd be tired this early in the morning. The sun was just barely starting to crest over the horizon when he'd shouldered through the café's door for the day.

The black-haired man scowled at him, studying Natsu carefully before shrugging and letting it go.

Wendy bounced back up, slamming a small wooden box with a slit in the top, onto the table. She nodded at it with pride, and all the waiters stared at it uneventfully.

"Ooh wow, a wooden box," Sting deadpanned. "So glad I woke up for this."

Wendy shot him a deadly glare before clearing her throat. "I'm not oblivious, I know the café isn't doing… as well as I'd hoped." That was an understatement but Natsu wasn't going to correct her. "I wanted a maid café and I was stuck with nothing but boys, however… I'm going to make the best of this and try to still run a successful café. Now, I've exhausted a lot of my own ideas, such as you guys going by names-"

"So we don't have to do that anymore?" Sting interrupted, his face bursting with hope.

"No. You still have to go by your names," Wendy clarified and Sting slouched in his seat. Natsu grinned. There was something satisfying when seeing that blonde idiot's dreams getting smashed. "However, my ideas so far haven't really brought in much more business. So, I'm opening a suggestion box for you guys to use. I'd like you to put in any ideas you have for this restaurant's success, or any complaints you may have for things that could be done better. Simple as that. I'll put it up right here," she said, placing it next to the stove and off to the side. "It shouldn't get in anyone's way and just feel free to drop in a note whenever you have a suggestion or a complaint. We'll read them at the next meeting and see if we can start implementing some of the suggestions to get this business going!" she cheered, pumping a fist of determination and looking at the other occupants of the table in hopes of finding someone else with as much enthusiasm.

Natsu was positive she didn't find it.

Gajeel and Sting groaned in displeasure and Natsu himself had to admit he was a little bummed out. Sure, he worked there and got paid for basically doing nothing –granted that pay was seriously pitiful- but having to think up ideas for the restaurant seemed like a real bummer and some unneeded extra work.

"Oh c'mon guys," Wendy said, bouncing on her toes. "If we all put our heads together we might be able to come up with something!"

Rogue nodded silently. "She's right. Five heads will be better than one."

Wendy looked ecstatic someone had agreed with her, looking back out to her other employees and waiting for someone to second the opinion.

"And that's why we make him work in the back as a cook," Gajeel grumbled. "Such a killjoy." Rogue sent a heated glare out the corner of his eye at Gajeel but stayed quiet.

Wendy huffed. "You know if this place doesn't pick itself up soon I'll have to let some of you go! I really don't need you all anyway! Plus, we're incredibly lucky our landlord has been kind enough to let me give him an IOU for the past couple months, but that kindness won't last forever! He's got bills to pay too, you know."

"Kindness," Sting snorted. "Didn't he make you go out on dates with him in compensation for not paying rent upfront?"

Wendy's face once again turned embarrassed. "H-he didn't make me; I felt bad and I wanted to go out to dinner to apologize formally!"

Natsu tilted his head at Wendy questioningly. Their landlord… He'd seen her go out with a guy before, but he hadn't known that that was their landlord. "Is that the creep with the scar on his eyebrow?" he asked. That guy had seemed about two times Wendy's age and Natsu seriously doubted he was letting her skimp out on rent in exchange for dates out of kindness…

"Not the only creep with a scar on his eyebrow that I know…," Gajeel snorted, looking at Sting. "Gihi."

Both Wendy and Sting's faces turned beet red, although for different reasons.

"Oy!" Sting yelled, apparently kicking Gajeel under the table as the black-haired man began choking out both cries of pain and laughter at the same time.

"H-he's not a creep! That's so rude!" Wendy stuttered. "And he doesn't have a scar on his eyebrow, it's on his cheek, if you must know." Although Natsu was sure no one had heard her anyway.

The meeting had apparently derailed. Gajeel and Sting were now having a very heated kick-fest under the table as Rogue flinched every once in a while when Gajeel missed, and Wendy was heatedly muttering to herself that their landlord was kind and sweet and just wanted her business to succeed, nothing else.

Natsu yawned again, amused by what the conversation had escalated to, although still unable to keep his mind off of the girl on the other side of that wrong number. Everything seemed to remind him of her now. The meeting had escalated… he hoped if she called again their conversation would escalate and he could get to know more about her. He was positive his brain had a screw loose. He'd never been unable to get someone off of his mind like this before.

But he really needed to stop obsessing on that. He'd left it up to her after all, even if she didn't know it, that if she called again he'd try to converse with her and if not, he'd move on with his life.

But seriously he hadn't slept a wink the past night. Two days without hardly any sleep? It was taking a toll. He was definitely going to sleep through his classes today.

"Okay that's enough!" Everyone quieted down. Rogue rarely spoke up against them, but it appeared he'd been kicked one too many times, or something, and had gotten his boxers in a bunch. He glared at all four of them. "If nothing else needs discussing and this meeting is adjourned, I must ask you all to leave; I need to sanitize the counters again before cooking."

"See? Killjoy," Gajeel grunted, shoving out from the table.

"Oh, y-yes," Wendy nodded. "Don't forget the suggestion box," she called after her waiters as they began to disperse and pull the tables back out into the dining area. "The first annual meeting of the employees of Slayers Café is adjourned," she smiled, apparently enjoying the sound of it.

0=0=0=0=0=0

Natsu had been absolutely right. He'd conked out in class only a couple minutes after it'd started. He'd slept so hard in fact that he only woke up when the person next to him shook him awake after the lecture over to shove a handout into his grasp.

Great. More stuff to do.

It was winter, going on spring, and classes had only resumed the past week. And this year it seemed all the professors had the same thing in mind: giving gigantic projects. Nearly every class he'd attended had, within the first couple days, assigned a project that was due by the end of the year. Which sounded great, honestly, he had an entire year to get it done, but still… the percentage of his grade those projects amounted to was enough to make him sweat.

Because of his hours at Slayers he was taking college leisurely. He wasn't taking an entire course load, instead only around four classes, although advanced calculus was kicking his ass and he was positive he'd probably just end up dropping it and only having three classes after that.

He'd be left with two art and one English class. He could manage that. Honesty, graduating college wasn't entirely in his plan. He hoped to gain some insight from the art classes, perfect his craft, and make it big, being able to drop out of the stuffy classrooms that were absolutely perfect atmospheres for catching up on sleep.

So he wasn't too worried about it, including what homework he did or didn't get done. He wasn't a scholar, merely an artist trying to make it through.

However, those sleep-inducing classes did counteract the horrible insomnia he had from that girl, so he guessed they were good for something.

He'd made it back to his apartment in good time and once again collapsed in a heap at his desk, propping his feet up on its surface and sighing. He'd actually finished most of his homework during his shift in the morning and hadn't received much today, rather than the notices for those end-of-the-year projects. He'd put those handouts on the side of his desk, figuring he had all the time in the world to do them.

And so instead, he flipped open his phone, scrolling through the history before sighing. She'd called at three twenty three in the morning the first time, from a number he instinctively put into his address book as 'wrong number girl', and at four thirty six in the afternoon the past day from a private number which he couldn't see.

He chewed on his tongue. All night the past night he'd been trying to guess what phones she'd used. Maybe the first one was her phone and the second was a friend's. Or maybe the first was her friend's and the second was a home number.

His eyes flicked to the time. It was nearly six o'clock in the evening now. He should get dinner.

He couldn't help the sense of discouragement welling in his chest as the minutes ticked on. He figured if by some random chance she would indeed call again, it would be today. What were the chances she'd wait a week and then randomly call? So he felt the worry growing with every minute that passed that no, she wasn't ever going to call again.

Plus, if she called, wouldn't it be likely she'd call at the same time she had the past day? If so… that was nearly two hours ago. Maybe she was just a little late… held up at work or something.

But seriously… he should get dinner. Once again he reminded himself he'd left her calling up to fate. He'd pondered calling that number she'd used first but figured that if it was a friend, that friend would probably tell his mystery girl that "the creepy wrong number guy called and asked for you. What a creep" and he really didn't want anything negative circulating about him.

He sighed, shoving off of his desk and wheeling over in his rolling chair to the door where a small stack of restaurant brochures sat. It appeared every fast food company in the entire city came to his apartment complex and threw their flyers underneath his door. He tossed them out every day and yet when he'd come home at least three new ones were there waiting for him.

He picked up the pamphlets from the day, leafing through them. He could get Thai food… he liked things hot and that shop on the corner had some really spicy sauce… Mm yeah that sounded good. He tossed the advertisements onto his bed and stretched. Food was always a good at getting things off his mind, including mystery women who called him at three in the morning.

And as if on cue, or a friend of irony itself, his phone in his hand sprung to life and began ringing spastically. He jumped, tossing the phone into the air in surprise before juggling it haphazardly and cursing to himself as he rushed to see who was calling. He eventually got a good hold on the phone and peered at the screen. 'Private Number' it said again and his heart nearly exploded from his chest in excitement.

He grinned toothily, immediately snapping the phone open and holding it to his ear. "Yo!" Crap, he hadn't thought that through. He should've said something cool or somethings suave or something rather than 'yo'. What an idiot. She'd probably think he was weird. If it even was her… the other side of the line was awfully quiet.

He leaned into the phone, pressing it closer to his ear, wondering if he had suddenly lost his hearing. But he was soon met with a prideful –and very loud- voice as the girl he'd been thinking about nonstop haughtily said, "You were wrong, oh genie."

He was deafened, holding the phone away from his ear and flinching, the smile on his face still unwavering. "Oh?" he asked, daring to bring the phone closer again. She'd been very loud the first time. She sounded so proud she could practically burst. "Wrong? The relationship genie is never wrong."

"Hmph," she huffed snootily. "Well you were. I'll have you know I confronted Gray today and I simply read the number wrong. His nine looked more like a four so I was the one who was off. He apologized and wrote it neater and I called him and it was his phone alright. So take that!" She snickered to herself on the other side of the line.

Natsu smirked at first, once again amused by her, but his smile soon faded. He realized two things. One, he'd been wrong. While yes, he was glad someone hadn't given the girl on the other end of the phone a fake number, probably shattering her confidence, this Gray guy had actually given her his number… Which meant… were they dating? Maybe they were just friends. Still… this Gray guy still sounded like a real jerkface. In all reality Natsu realized Gray sounded like a fine person, but in his mind he was positive that Gray had some hidden agenda when it came to the girl. Maybe he was a stalker, or maybe he was just giving her a legitimate phone number to then turn around and crush her heart in the future.

Whatever the case may be, Natsu swore right then and there that this Gray character would be his mortal enemy, if he ever even met the guy.

The other thing he realized was that fate and destiny, those two sneaky bastards, had indeed swung in his favor. He'd left it up to chance that she'd call back, and she had… which meant his plan to get to know her was a go. He was oddly nervous.

He shook his head, swallowing his nerves and instead focusing on the conversation at hand. "Sloppy handwriting, eh? You know they say people with bad handwriting can't be trusted."

Her snickers cut off abruptly. "D-do they really?" She sounded dead serious.

He wanted to say yes, but then again his handwriting was nearly just scribbles so he'd sort of backed himself into a corner if she ever happened to see his handwriting. Which he didn't know how or why she would, but still. "No. Sheesh, gullible much?" he grinned.

"N-no! I'm not gullible. You'll hear about weird things like that. Like people born in the spring and fall being better-looking than people born in the winter and summer." She sounded incredibly embarrassed.

"Oh, so you're not gullible."

"No."

"GullibleLadySaysWhat…"

"What?"

Natsu burst out into a fit of laughter. He could tell when she'd pieced it together on the other end of the line because she let out a loud and offended, "Hey!" Before sighing to herself and tsking audibly. "You're such a child, oh great relationship genie."

Her tone was sarcastic and irritated and yet he could sense the underlying smile in her voice. He was regretting calling himself the relationship genie a little bit. He'd been kidding at the time, hoping to amuse her, but it appeared the title had stuck. Although she didn't know his real name anyway, so perhaps she was clinging to that as it was the only title she knew him by.

He honestly didn't know a damn thing about relationships… but she didn't have to know that.

Natsu sighed. "It's just what I do. But seriously, be wary of that Gray guy he sounds like a weirdo."

"Pfffft," she scoffed. "He's not a weirdo. You don't even know him."

"Ah, you're right. Maybe you're the weirdo since you called me, a wrong number you dialed, just to tell me you'd read his handwriting wrong." It wasn't untrue. Did she seriously have something to prove badly enough to call him again? He was a complete and total stranger. For all she knew he was a real creep.

Although he couldn't deny that he'd felt some sort of immediate chemistry with her, as well as an immense attraction to her voice, even though he couldn't place why. Maybe she felt the same. Her voice sounded completely at ease when talking to him, despite being strangers. Plus, he was beyond glad she'd called… so he couldn't complain. Although he could pretend to complain in order to tease her.

"I'm not a weirdo. You said that if I ever "needed help from the relationship genie" that I could call again," she clarified. He could nearly picture her crossing her arms in defiance.

"Oh? So does that mean ya need my help again?"

There was a long silence and he could tell he'd caught her, a grin rivaling all others stretching across his face. "N-no I don't need your help…Gah!" She growled in frustration. "You just sounded so arrogant yesterday when you said he'd given me a fake number so I really wanted to put you in your place. Y'know, rub your face in it that he's definitely into me because hey, I'm a catch."

He let out a laugh. He hadn't realized he'd sounded arrogant… but he had told her Gray wasn't as into her as she was him… although he'd sort of been teasing. She probably was a catch, whoever she was, if she looked as pretty as her voice sounded. And with a feisty personality to boot. What guy wouldn't want a spitfire like her?

Although once again it did put a damper on his mood that she'd said Gray was into her… which suggested this Gray guy had given her his number in a romantic sense…and she'd gone ahead and tried to call him. Why did it bug him? Natsu didn't know… probably because he had himself completely convinced now that Gray was a terrible person. He probably kicked puppies as a hobby.

Oh right… that's right he'd said he'd try to engage this girl in a conversation if she called again. How would that be done? He didn't really want to talk about Gray and the wrong number but that's really all they had… although he guessed he could be bold and ask her a question. What question?

"Hey, if ya don't mind me askin'… what's your name?" Wow. Bold indeed. Natsu Dragneel didn't beat around the bush.

"I-O-Oh hey I gotta go," she said, sounding rushed.

Crap! He'd really done it now. There he'd gone and been all confident, hoping to move the conversation along nicely and transition into maybe a real chat. Not an awkward one between strangers but a 'getting to know you' conversation, if you will. But instead he'd probably scared her off. Of course she'd be scared. Some creepy stranger was asking for her name. He was such an idiot.

"Hey look I'm sorry, really you don't have to answer that; I was way out of line," Natsu said, his words spewing out so fast they nearly blurred together. "We're just strangers, I know, I mean, it was weird to ask-"

He was beginning to ramble and thankfully she cut him off.

"No, really I just have to go. I ordered food and it's here and I'm really hungry."

Yeah right. She was just making an excuse not to tell him. He'd blown it. She'd hang up and never call again and so even though fate had given him a shot… he'd absolutely botched it. Way to go. He'd probably be spited by the deity and it would never fall in his favor again.

He slouched. "Alright yeah… that's fine."

She sighed in what sounded to be relief. "'Kay, my stomach thanks ya." He waited for the click but instead she spoke again. "Oh, and my name's Lucy by the way." And without another moment for him to answer, the phone clicked dead.

Lucy.

What a pretty name.

So there it is! Third call with Lucy and he took a shot and she gave her his name. LucyxRelationshipGenie. Yup. XD

For a few chapters anyway I'll keep the "first half café, second half phone call" but it'll stray from that format pretty soon. The suggestion box hopefully will help Wendy out and let's hope Natsu doesn't forget about those end of the year projects. (I always forget about them ^^')Also whenever someone does that "PersonSaysWhat?" thing I always fall for it and it really gets my goat. So I had to put that in there. XD

Once again I must apologize for the little hiatus I had. I've been focusing on another NaLu AU called "Bound by Lock and Key" on my Ayumu Foxtail-chan account (link at the top of my profile) so I've been skimping off on this one. Gommen. A little self-advertisement? Maybe... I know; I should be slapped. XD It gets much more frequent updates than this one. ;3

Thank you so much for the absolutely drop-dead amazing reviews and whatnot last chapter! I love to hear what people thought of a chapter so they really do make my day! :D

~Foxtail