It took Lucy 3.5564 seconds to realize it wasn't a wall that she'd run into, but an actual person. A very heavy, seemingly muscular, pink haired(?), person, who, she ought to mention, was now placed directly on top of her. If it weren't for the dog now licking her face, Lucy would've wished to die right then and there, not wanting to face the wrath of the new home owner, but thanks to the little thing she got her mind right and tried to push the guy off.

Ugh… at least… help out a little… she thought as she felt herself doing all the work trying to untangle their bodies. What? Is the guy unconscious or something?!

After a few attempts she finally succeeded in getting him off and rolling him onto his back. It seemed what she'd thought was exactly the case.

"Come on… really?!" she sat up and examined the man further, noticing that a part of his forehead was beginning to redden. The teen guessed that the loud noise she heard when they fell was him hitting his head.

"Great…" she put her hands over her face and leaned forward, sitting like that for a solid minute, "I can't just leave now! He's gonna wake up and then what? I can't just bail and hope he forgets about this. What if he reports a blonde home intruder? What if they pick me up on the street?-oh god why is this happening?" she groaned, really, really regretting not asking Lisa for more information.

"Woof!"

Lucy peeked from in between her fingers at the dog in front of her, noting it was probably a Great Dane and slightly malnourished. Slowly, she reached forward to pet the dog, remembering you're supposed to go from under the chin, and scratched its head for a moment, liking the way it leaned into her hand. When she stopped, the black puppy crossed the distance between them and jumped into her lap, making the girl momentarily forget that she was in an unfavorable situation. "You're pretty cute…" she quietly giggled and rubbed the pups head.

"You change moods really quickly y'know."

Lucy heard the man beside her speak and she couldn't help but let a small scream leave her throat, "You! I thought you were unconscious! Wh-! Were you faking it?!" She stood up, setting the puppy down properly first, and faced the teen, she now realized he was probably her age, shouting, "Why the hell would you fake being knocked out?! Don't you know you're not supposed to do that?! I was about to tear my hair ou-!"

"Whoa hold on, I wasn't faking it! I just happened to wake up again when you were talkin'." The man replied and also stood up, irritating Lucy further now that he was taller than her, "And I won't report you or anything. I don't think the cops would just go around pickin' up blonde chicks for alleged home intrusion. This isn't even my house…"

Lucy was at a loss even when there were a million things she wanted to say… she just stared open mouthed and blank at the teen in front of her.

"Haha! But you sure did scare me!" he cracked a grin and rubbed his head, "I wasn't expecting anyone to show up in this old place. Seemed pretty abandoned to me."

The dog, who she guessed was feeling left out of the conversation, barked and ran up to Natsu, "AH!" he yelled, "That's right you're the reason I got stuck here in the first place!" he went to grab the puppy, but it easily dodged and began jumping back and forth, messing with the man trying to capture him.

Lucy didn't know whether to get mad, laugh, or beat up the pink haired guy in front of her but she settled for laughing with a bit of frustration mixed in, "Okay so- hold on, if this isn't your house, and by the way it's mine, then what are you doing here?" she folded her arms against her chest, a defensive pose she didn't really mean to strike, and questioned him.

"Well…" he stopped for a moment and looked at Lucy, probably gauging her anger/frustration, "uh, can I get your name first? I'm Natsu." He stuck his hand out and waited for her to take it if she wanted to.

It's an innocent enough request, she thought to herself as she eyed his extended arm.

"I'm Lucy." She spoke, grabbing his hand when she decided he seemed like an decent enough person, and then asked him once again, "So? What is it you're doing here?"

"Lucy huh…" he put a hand under his chin and mumbled, "Have I ever known any Luc-"

"Answer the question! …p-please." She cut him off with a voice that almost spewed venom, but tried her best to tolerate the man's pace.

"Oh sorry, sorry." He held his hands up and was almost sweating at the tone of her voice, "I was just takin' a walk earlier, minding my own business when I saw this dog," he pointed to the pup who was still wagging his tail, "who I thought was on a missing poster, so I start chasin' it and it led me here. I thought it got into this house, still don't know how it did, and when I couldn't find an entrance I just tried gettin' in through the window, then I got stuck, which sucked- I thought I was going to be there forever, then I got out after I saw the dog did get in here and then I started running after the thing for a while. That's when I heard you all of a sudden shouting somethin' like "How dare you!" and the rest just happened."

Natsu didn't look at all winded by that long sentence and as Lucy was still trying to process all the information he spoke again, "Was that a good explanation? Hope you're not mad or anything. I wasn't trying to break in- well, technically I did break in, but that's wasn't my intention, or- wait hold on let me get this straight in my head…"

While the teen in front of her put on a genuine concerned expression, Lucy could yet again only bring herself to laugh, "It's fine, it's fine. I was also borderline an intruder, so I get what you're saying." She smiled courteously and walked past him to go back to where she dropped her bags in a panic, forgetting that her shirt was practically ripped in half from the back.

"Ah." Natsu saw this and was about to speak up when he remembered all the times he'd been hit over the head for being "insensitive". He always thought the person would want to know when something was wrong or whatever so he pointed it out but, apparently that was the wrong thing to do so he kept his mouth shut and averted his eyes, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Um, but since this is my house, and you're a bit of a stranger…" she looked back at him as she grabbed her things but stopped mid-sentence when she saw his mouth bubbled up with air as if he were going to crack up. "What? What's so funny?" Lucy was honestly concerned about this.

"It's nothin'." He released the air in his mouth carefully and continued, "Anyways, you're right! I'm a stranger in your house so I should probably go."

Natsu made a move to leave, but Lucy stepped in front of him, "No… You're going to tell me what's so funny." The girl hated it when she was kept from things, especially things that were apparently funny.

"U-umm…" he really didn't want to say it and then suffer the wrath of this girl. From what he'd seen so far, it looked like she could get pretty angry… like Erza level angry.

"Tell me." Her brown eyes stared into his and for a moment Natsu felt like he could get seriously lost in them, but they moved from his when the puppy began licking her leg, "Oh I'm sorry…" she bent down and picked the little thing up, "Was I ignoring you?" Lucy smiled and spoke in that special voice people have for animals, "This isn't your dog right?"

"Nah. I thought he was a lost dog, there was a job posting for one, but he doesn't fit the picture, or breed…"

"Job posting…?" she questioned but decided that could go unanswered, "More importantly, you still haven't told me what's so funny." She looked back up at him with an almost pouty face, expecting an answer this time.

"You really want to know?" he sighed, "I'll tell you but you have to promise not to hit me."

"Why would I hit you?" she questioned.

"Just… whatever. It's your shirt. It's all ripped up from behind." He slightly braced himself for a beating but instead he was given a rapidly reddening face from the girl.

"C-close your eyes!" she set the dog down and reached around to her back to hold the shirt together.

"Wha-"

"Just close them!" she insisted and he did as told.

Once he shut them he relied on his ears to tell him what was going on, "I've already seen it y'know. You don't have to be embarrassed."

"I told you to shut them so I could change my shirt, idiot!" she yelled and went to ransacking her suitcase.

"Whoa. Name calling." He wanted to laugh when she told him to shut it.

She's kinda weird… he thought to himself. Not a bad weird though.

"Okay you can open them now."

Natsu noted her voice was calmer and opened his eyes to see she was now wearing a… blazer?

"BUAHAHAHHHA!" he busted out in laughter at her appearance, "What is that?!"

"Sh-shut up!" she covered her arms over herself defensively, "This was the first thing I came across that was for my upper body! It's temporary!"

"I've just never seen a teenager wear a blazer before, oh man." he continued his boisterous laughter.

"Yeah, this coming from a guy wearing a scarf in the middle of summer!"

"Hey! Don't insult the scarf!"

"Then don't insult my temporary choice of clothing!"

"I wasn't insulting it! I just said I'd never seen a person my age wear one!"

"How do you know I'm your age, huh? I could be twenty-five!"

"You sure don't look twenty-five! What's it matter anyway?!"

"Ugh fine! I'll change again but be prepared to shut your eyes longer this time!"

"You don't have to change! I just sai-"

"Just do it!"

And he did.

What hell?! Why am I just doing what she says?!

A full minute passed and Lucy finally told him to open his eyes. This time she was wearing another undershirt but its color was a light purple. For some reason, Natsu was a little disappointed.

"There." Lucy smiled at her choice, content with her current state of dress, "Now, where were we?"

"I don't know. We were just yelling about your clothes…" Natsu deadpanned.

"No, no," she corrected him, "about the dog."

"Oh right." Natsu had almost forgotten all about the pup, "Well I don't know what to do with him… it doesn't have a collar so I don't know if he belongs to anyone."

"Hmm…" Lucy, before considering anything any further, examined the dog to see if it was a male or female and found he was the former. "He looks pretty skinny too… You can't keep him until you see if he has a home?" she looked up at Natsu with serious concern.

"I could but I have a cat at home and I don't know how he'd react…" He wanted to help the little guy out despite their earlier interactions, but he knew Happy wasn't particularly welcoming to dogs. "Why don't you keep him? I really doubt he has a home anyway with the way he looks."

"Me?"

"Well yeah you. You don't see anyone else around here do you?"

Lucy, a bit ticked off by that reply, said, "I guess, but I just arrived in this town… I mean, I don't have anything he'd need."

She looked down at the dog, considering the consequences and responsibilities owning a dog had, but was instantly taken in by his little puppy eyes, "Oh but who could resist such a cute puppy!" Lucy bent down to pick him up, despite his being a Great Dane he was fairly light at the moment, and moved her face close to his, "Don't you worry about a thing, I'll make sure you have everything you need."

"That was easy…" Natsu grinned at the sight in front of him. He always liked when people treated animals with love. People who did the opposite saw no mercy from the man.

"Okay, then that settles that. He most likely came in from the dog door." She remembered that her father had put one in for the possibility of them getting a dog, but it never happened, "I'll have to close that off for the time being I guess."

"Looks like you have your work cut out for you." Natsu looked around the house, which was in desperate need of attention, and decided to extend his hand in help, "If you need anything you can ask me!" he wore a toothy grin on his face, "I heard you say you're new in town, and I have no idea why you'd have this huge a house, but I kinda got you into this, owning the dog I mean, so I can at least help out."

Lucy hesitated for a moment, knowing that if she accepted his help things about her were bound to come out, but for once she didn't want to care about it. She knew rich people weren't always so accepted by everyone, she experienced that firsthand, but technically she wasn't rich anymore. That was right! She didn't have ties to that anymore so what was the harm?

"Alright… Natsu." She smiled and was completely unaware of the slight blush on her cheeks.

Since he was already grinning, he grinned harder in response and stuck his hand out for what she guessed as a high-five. The girl quickly slapped his hand with hers and then went back to business, if that's what it was, "First things first!" Lucy set her fists on her hips and wore a stern expression, "I need to unpack so," Natsu couldn't help but look at her one suitcase, "um, I'll need help later on with where to find things but I think I can manage that. You can leave if you want. I'm just going to be around here for a while." Lucy desperately tried not to make it awkward, considering how they met it only made parting that much weirder.

"Okay cool." Natsu shrugged, not noticing her efforts to make the air comfortable, mostly because he was already comfy around her, "Let me give you my number."

Lucy blushed, completely aware of it this time, Oh my god… this is the time I've ever gotten a boys number... The girl knew she was overthinking it but she couldn't make the heat on her face go away.

"Sure, do you need mine?" she handed her phone over to him.

"Of course!" he smiled and gave her his own. Lucy wanted to laugh at how beat up it was, not like she was belittling him, but because even if she hadn't known him that long, it seemed very like him.

Quickly, she inserted her number and gave it back to him at the same time he was done, "If I don't answer for some reason you can ask around for a place called Fairy Tail. And if I'm not there then just tell the bartender, her name's Mira, to tell me you came."

"Fairy… Tale…? Like the… stories?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"T-a-i-l, like a dogs tail." He corrected her.

"Do… do fairies have tails?" her confusion was getting worse.

"Who knows?" he shrugged, "Anyway, I think that's it?"

"O-oh yeah, well I'll be seeing you!" she grinned, already not wanting to call him for a few days out of embarrassment.

Lucy walked over with him to the door that had been left open this whole time, and they said their goodbyes, "See you later!" the guy waved to her as he walked down the steps and disappeared into the houses' maze like path.

The girl waited until she knew he was actually gone, and shut the door, sliding onto the floor once she did. Her hands went to hide her blushing face; it was still burning from embarrassment. That was the first real time she'd ever talked to someone her age without a filter and it just had to go like that. She sighed and got up, sliding her shoes off and tossing them into the corner of the wall and door.

"Alright! Calm down Lucy!" she walked into the living room where the puppy had fallen asleep, and grabbed her bags, "You can do this! Just put on good airs from now on. It's not like you expected things to go super smoothly anyway. There are always second chances. Let's get moving!" she laughed a triumphant laugh and turned around to see Natsu standing in the hallway, looking sorry.

"U-Umm… excuse me…" he broke out in a sweat as he saw her body practically begin to flame, "I think I dropped my wallet some…where…"

Lucy, deciding that good airs didn't matter around this particular person anymore, exploded, "SO YOU JUST LET YOURSELF IN?!"

Four hours passed since she'd landed her first hit on Natsu, sending him on his way, and it would be a lie if she said she didn't regret it a bit. While it wasn't right for him to just waltz right back into her house, it probably wasn't right for her to hit someone she barely knew. He kinda deserved it, but even so Lucy couldn't help but feel a bit bad for doing what she did. And that's why she had decided to treat him to dinner.

Lucy sighed, If he even wants to talk to me again…

The girl was far into the towns limits now. After making sure the puppy couldn't get out of the house, and after she'd fed him with some food from a little corner store close to her home, she decided to go back into the city for a while before it got dark to get some things she knew she needed. Because Lord KNEW she wasn't going to sleep in a pitch black house. And now that she was thinking about it, there were probably a lot of things she'd have to place special orders for…

Damn it. Why did dad have to build such a fancy house…?

A groan left her mouth as she followed the directions she'd been given by a local to find her way to Fairy Tail. That exchange had been rather odd when she thought about it. The guy had even given her a "good luck with that" when they parted, making her a little wary of the place.

She was still wondering if fairies even had tails?

After a few more minutes, she finally found the building.

It's a… warehouse?

She stared at the front of it, seeing there was a large sort of garage door on the front, and then a set of double doors on its left, for easier access she guessed. The building itself was huge, larger than her house, she had taken to calling it her house, though she supposed that wasn't unusual and at the very top there was a huge sign that read "Fairy Tail". There was also a large amount of noise coming from the inside and if she didn't know any better she'd say there was a fight going on. Well actually, she didn't know anything about that place, so there very well could be a fight happening.

Just as her hesitation was about to get the better of her, an elderly man, who was very short, spoke up, "Hello little missy!" Lucy jumped, making the old man laugh, "You need something inside? Don't worry, there's nothing awful going on in there. They may sound like a lot of hooligans but they're all very nice."

"Oh I don't really-"

"Nonsense! I know when someone's hiding something, and I can tell you want to go on in." He grinned and extended a hand toward the door, "Shall we…?" he trailed off as if asking for a name.

"Ah, I'm Lucy."

He nodded with a knowing expression on his face, one Lucy found a little troublesome, like he knew something she didn't, "Well! Shall we, Lucy?" Makarov walked toward the door, and held it open for her.

With a gulp, and a tightened grip around her bag's strap, Lucy strode in, almost floored by what she saw.

If she had to explain it, it looked like the happiest place she'd ever seen.

There were people dancing like drunken fools, others were reading and chatting about important things it seemed, some were singing on a stage(?) there was a stage, and the rest of them were either eating with what looked like friends and just hanging around. Oh and there was one fight going on, she'd been right about that.

Makarov observed her expression, pleased with how she reacted.

"You like the place?" he asked despite the obvious answer plastered on her face.

Lucy scoffed slightly, "I love it…" she replied, forgetting she was talking to a stranger.

"Well as the current owner it makes me very happy to hear that."

"WHA-What?!" Lucy turned to him in surprise, blabbing out a jumble of proper greetings.

Makarov grinned mischievously; teasing beautiful girls had been a strong suit of his ever since he was a teenager himself. "No worries little lady. You're here for Natsu right?"

She raised her eyebrow at the question, wondering how he knew-Lucy mentally gasped. HE TOLD THEM ABOUT ME. OH MY GOD WHAT ALL DID HE MENTION. DID HE SAY I WAS A WEIRDO THAT TALKS TO HERSELF? I'M GOING TO HIT HIM SO MUCH HARDER NEXT TIME. NO, I'M GOING TO KICK HIM.

Ah, she's a funny one. The old man laughed inwardly as he saw the play of emotions on her face, "Anyway, Natsu right? Just wait on over at the bar and when he pops up I'll send him over."

"Oh wait, but I really don't have much tim-"

"Go on, go on!" he smiled and pushed her in the direction of the bar. Lucy stumbled, but caught her balance, unintentionally gaining the attention of some strangers.

She walked past all the tables, noticing that more and more people were looking at her, and once she got close enough she practically ran to an open seat at the counter. The girl guessed it was normal that newcomers were bound to get curious attention, they all seemed like they knew each other pretty well. Still, she wondered if no one had told them staring made people uncomfortable…

Lucy let the breath she was holding out, and set her elbows up on the bar. For a moment, she relaxed to the sound of chatter and laughter coming from the crowd until a white haired woman eagerly appeared before her.

"Hi! Can I get you anything?" The bartender asked, looking very, very excited.

"Some water's fine. Thank you." She unintentionally ordered quite plainly.

"Mhm, anything else?" The woman replied, still looking eager.

"No, that's good." She smiled and looked directly at her this time, a little awed by how gorgeous she was.

"Aw, are you sure?"

"Um-"

"Because there's plenty other-"

"Mira! You're making her uncomfortable!" another white haired girl, who seemed younger, scolded her.

"No it's fine!" Lucy mediated, "I might have plans in a little bit so I'm saving my appetite for then."

"Oh?" The woman called Mira made an excited noise that came with a sparkle in her eye, "A date perhaps?"

"N-No… more like I owe someone something…"

"Is that person here?" She questioned, "If you're waiting I can call them over."

"Well I don't know if he's here…" Lucy turned and scanned the building, not sighting pink hair.

"May I ask who it is?" Lisanna, who was now just as equally curious as Mira, asked.

"His name's Natsu. Pink hair, about this tall." She held her hand up in demonstration and almost shrunk into herself when she saw their expressions.

"Natsu?!" both the girls gasped in unison and grinned like they just witnessed a miracle.

Mira began jumping in place and Lisanna just looked plain excited, "GUYS!" The bartender called out to the crowd in the warehouse, "A PRETTY GIRL IS HERE TO SEE NATSU!"

There were a few moments of silence and then a roar of cheers unlike anything Lucy had ever heard erupted amongst them. People were throwing their pints into the air and yelling things like "finally!" and "wow took him long enough!"

Lucy wanted to crawl into the nearest hole.

And she was about to until she heard a bang sound on the counter next to her.

"What the hell Mira?!" A voice she recognized shouted in embarrassment at the bartender.

"Whaaat? I just got excited." She grinned and looked back toward Lucy, "So Lucy's your name huh? Natsu had told us about an encounter he had earlier, but I wanted to see if it really was you." She stuck her hand out and grabbed Lucy's gently despite her bubbly behavior, "I'm Mira! I'll get your water now so just a second."

"I'm Lisanna by the way." The younger girl grinned, "Any friend of Natsu's is a friend of ours. Please enjoy your time here!" After that she ran after her sister, an even bigger grin forming on her face.

"Damn it. All these people get excited over the smallest thing." Natsu sat down on the stool next to her, and Lucy for some reason thought he was most likely just as easily excited as they were.

She stayed quiet for a moment, not really knowing how to start a conversation with him after what happened that afternoon but he saved her the trouble, "Man! I thought you didn't want to talk to me after that." He grinned and moved to face her, "Talk about scary. That was almost as scary as when Erza gets mad."

"About that… sorry." She apologized, "I shouldn't have hit you like that, especially when we don't know each other that well."

"Does that matter?" he questioned, "Whether you know someone or not when they deserved to be hit it seems alright to me." Natsu finished simply.

Lucy could only shake her head in exasperation, "It's called manners."

"I guess…" he trailed off and adjusted his scarf; she still couldn't believe he wore it in the middle of summer, "Anyway, what's up? Did you need something?" his left eyebrow went up.

"Well since I came to apologize, which was a waste I guess, I was going to see if I could make it up to you by treating you to dinner but…" she looked around at the crowd and their smiling faces, "I guess you'd be more content staying with your friends."

Lucy hopped off the stool, forgetting she'd ordered water, "I'll just be going then." She smiled, "I have to get back before its dark anyway and there are still some things I need to get. So see you."

But before she could walk off another person made their way into the conversation, "What's this I hear about a pretty girl coming to see this doofus?"

A man, who was probably the same age as Natsu, appeared from behind her and stared at the blonde curiously, "You're here to see this idiot? Did he break something of yours?"

"Like hell I broke something!" Natsu retorted and stood up like he was about to fight the black haired man, unintentionally invading Lucy's personal space.

"Well it wouldn't be unusual if you did." He snickered, "It happens all the time, unlike this." The teen gestured to Lucy.

"Gray, Natsu, you're being rude." A red haired woman with a seemingly cool demeanor spoke up this time and sent visual shivers down both of the boys' bodies.

"Ye-yeah sorry." Gray stuttered and Lucy didn't know whether to be concerned or laugh at how different he was acting, "I'm Gray, nice to meet you."

She shook the man's hand and looked over to the woman who scolded him, and for maybe the sixth time that day she was at a loss for words.

Armor. She was wearing leather armor.

If you saw it from a little ways away, it would look like a regular, biker-ish, leather ensemble, but no. What Lucy was seeing was full on armor.

Where the hell am I..?

"I'm Erza." The woman smiled, and Lucy couldn't help but admire the air about her. "Sorry for their behavior. I'll have to teach them another lesson later." She flipped her bangs out of her face and gave a cold stare two the boys, quickly changing Lucy's admiration to fear.

"It's fine… really."

"And your name is?" Erza asked curiously.

"Right, I'm-"

"She's Lucy!" Natsu grinned and beat her to the punch.

"Lucy! I've got your water!" Mira rushed out of the kitchen, and set a glass down on the counter, "Sorry it took so long! There was a bit of an accident in the back." It was a total lie. She'd just spent the last few minutes gushing about how nice it would be if Natsu got a girlfriend.

"Oh yeah, sorry I already forgot about it." Lucy smiled, a bit embarrassed, and reached into her purse intending to pay, "How much?"

"Don't worry about it!" Mira replied and grabbed a cloth from her aprons pocket, beginning to clean the counter, "We don't charge for water and even if we did this is your first time here, I would've covered it for you."

Lucy really felt like she was being swept into a tornado of kindness every time the white haired woman spoke.

She nodded with a smile and took a sip of her water, choking on it when Erza spoke again, "So, are you here for a date with Natsu?"

The question was innocent but Lucy, who overreacted at times, tried her best to swallow her water and replied, "No! I was just here to apologize to him for something!"

"Apologize?" The woman questioned suspiciously, "Natsu… what did you do?"

"He really didn't do anything! It was me. I just felt bad for something and figured I needed to say I was sorry."

Gray chuckled, "What'd you do? Give him a good smack or what?"

"Yeah." Natsu spoke this time, "She hit me earlier for walking back into her house without permission and hearin' her talk to hersel-!" his sentence was cut short when Lucy turned and landed a fist on his shoulder.

"What are you telling them that for!" she fumed at his decision in telling them she talked to herself, "Just saying I hit you would've been fine!"

"Okay, okay…" Natsu rubbed his shoulder, it didn't really hurt all that much to be honest, and wore the expression of a scolded puppy.

"You really need to work on your manners. And another thing…" Lucy went off on a scolding tangent while Gray and Erza looked on curiously.

The two of them looked at one another, and then back at how their longtime friend was responding to this new person. Natsu didn't really make new friends. Sure he was friendly with a lot of people, but they hardly ever came into the warehouse looking for him and from the way they were talking you wouldn't be able to guess they'd only met earlier that day.

"How did you two meet?" Erza asked, a bit annoyed that Natsu had walked into a person's house of his own permission, but she'd touch on that later.

"It's a real funny story." Natsu replied as he and Lucy returned their attention to the two, "I got stuck in in window in this old house I thought was abandoned, I was chasing a dog, which she's keepin' by the way, and then I got out and started to chase it some more but then I heard her yelling at me all of a sudden and then we ran into each other. I passed out for like a minute and she got angry at me for pretending to be knocked out, which I wasn't," he looked at Lucy as if to prove his point further, "and then I got up and noticed her shirt was ripped in half from the ba-" he dodged another hit from Lucy, "from the back and then she got all embarrassed and had me close my eyes so she could change but get this!" he started laughing, "Of all things she put on a blazer! Oh man it's still funny."

"Is not!"

"And then we had to figure out what to do with the dog but she's a sucker for dogs apparently. Then we exchanged numbers and I told her to give a call or show up here if she needed anything. I left after that but I couldn't find my wallet and figured that maybe I left it in her house so I let myself back in but I overheard her talkin' to herself and that's when she hit me and kicked me out."

"…" both Erza and Gray didn't know how to respond.

Great… my reputation that didn't even begin is ruined… Lucy, who had slowly lowered her head in shame onto the counter, thought.

"Well… that's quite the first meeting." Erza spoke as soon as she came up with a response.

"Yeah man," Gray was stifling his laughter, "good job hitting him though. Not many people do that." He pat Lucy on her back.

"Yeah… right."

Lucy couldn't erase the sarcasm in her voice as she looked at her watch, noting she was running out of time, "It was nice meeting you all, but I really have to go."

"So soon?" Erza asked with a hint of disappointment.

"Yeah. I'm staying pretty far away and I need to get bulbs or I'm going to be sleeping in pitch blackness."

"Is that a bad thing?" Natsu questioned.

"For me, yes." Lucy deadpanned, and looked at him with tiredness in her eyes, that man wasn't good for her energy.

"Alright, we won't keep you if you have things to do. But Natsu," she gained his attention, "you should accompany her."

"Wha-"

"You're new to town, yes?" The red haired woman cut her off, "It wouldn't hurt to have someone who knows the area well to help out."

"S'cool with me. I already offered to show her around earlier."

"Oh? You did something so bold?" Gray teased.

"Shut up."

"I'm goo-" Lucy tried to refuse but was cut off.

"Nonsense. You're new, it's getting dark, and Natsu is very capable. I won't stand for you going alone." Her voice had no waver and Lucy could tell she wasn't going to get anywhere arguing the point.

"Alright then." She finished her water in a few gulps, and hitched her bag around her shoulder. "I don't have much time so we need to go now if I'm getting back before dark."

Lucy smiled at Natsu's friends, "It was nice meeting you guys!"

"Likewise." Erza replied and Gray only grinned and waved.

She began to walk off and tried her best to ignore all the taunts and teasing they were getting from the people around them. Most were just congratulating Natsu on his date and Lucy didn't have the time, or energy to correct all hundred something of them.

Once they stepped out into the evening summer air, Lucy sighed and brushed her hair out of her face, "You're friends really are… spirited." It wasn't an insult. Lucy was just tired. "Is there some special event going on today or…?"

"Pff if you think that's spirited you've got another thing coming. This is a normal day." He laughed and began walking across the street, looking for traffic first.

"That was normal?!" she asked in awe as she followed him.

"Yup. That's how most nights go. It usual dies down a little past twelve." Natsu continued walking, leading her past all types of different stores, "You said you needed bulbs right?"

"Yes." She said business like, "Bulbs and dog food for now. I don't have time to get much else." Her hand came up to her forehead and rubbed, "That path to the house doesn't have any lights, or at least I didn't see any, and it was hard enough to find it in the first place, so I don't even want to imagine trying to do that again with no light."

"What is that house anyway? You said you're new in town, and I believe you since I haven't seen you around here before, but how'd you get it?" he was curious.

"Er-uh… it's a long story…" Lucy dodged the question, but that only made Natsu want to know even more.

"Okay now I really want to know." He laughed and crossed his arms over his chest, "But if you don't wanna talk about it that's fine."

"Thanks." She felt a little bad for shutting his question down, but she really didn't want to say anything, at least not at the moment.

"So… dinner huh?" he teased, "You were gonna apologize with dinner?"

Lucy's eyebrow twitched at his tone, "Yes. Do you have a problem with that? It's not like you deserved an apology anyway."

Natsu chuckled, "Then why'd you apologize?"

"Sh-shut up. It felt like the right thing to do alright?" she blushed in embarrassment.

"Hey I'm not complaining. Buying me food is one of the easiest ways to get on my good side." He rubbed his stomach for emphasis and Lucy laughed.

Natsu stopped talking for a moment, letting her say whatever she wanted, and decided to focus on the girl next to him. She was pretty. That was obvious. No, if he were going to be honest, she was gorgeous. Her hair was a soft blonde, almost like morning sunlight, and her eyes, which he already decided he liked, were this deep brown color that reminded him of hot chocolate. Her nose was button like, and overall she just seemed very… girly? If that was the right word. It was a little creepy to him how he already wouldn't mind seeing her again tomorrow.

Natsu's mind went back to the conversation just in time for him to hear her next question, "Did you want dinner? I wouldn't mind paying. I'm actually really hungry…"

He laughed at her expression, "You're kinda weird."

"WHA-?" her head whipped upward to look at him, "I'm the weird one?! You're the one who wears a scarf in the middle of summer!"

"Hey!" he grabbed his scarf protectively, "I told you not to insult the scarf!"

"I'm not insulting it. It's just weird to wear something meant for winter in the summer!"

"Says the person who's only a teenager and wears blazers."

"You-just-we've already been over this!"

"Okay, okay fine." He conceded. "Food's this way."

Natsu pointed to a city square that was crawling with people, "It's my favorite place besides the warehouse to eat!" he grinned and tugged her toward the crowd

Lucy let herself be dragged along, not able to keep up with his pace in conversations, "It has to be quick! I need to get ba-"

"I know! It's fine even if we stay too long. I won't let ya walk home alone in the dark, so don't worry!" he looked back at her and gave that toothy grin she'd only seen once earlier.

Geez… The teen sighed and planned on holding him to his word.

It'd been a long day. A loooooooong day. Quite possibly the longest day she'd ever experienced. She even got a dog… and that was one of the last things she expected to happen. The girl was tired, but there was something about everything that happened that gave her a different kind of energy. She couldn't put her finger on it. New people had been introduced to her, people she could see herself liking and for once she was going to be able to control who was around her and who wasn't. It was a nice feeling.

One thing the teen didn't know or realize, was that she'd stopped excessively checking her phone for messages from her father since she met the man who was now dragging her into a diner.

A/N: And that was the longest chapter of anything I've ever written... goddamn... I apologize if there are any misspellings or errors anywhere in result of that. I hope you enjoyed their meeting. It was fun to write. Also, I'd like to know your opinions on how I'm characterizing them! If something is off or spot on, please let me know. It helps out a lot! natsu's already gettin some dokis~

Thanks for all the reviews so far, I'm super happy you're enjoying this. If you want, tell me some of your fave tropes and I'll work them into the story~ thanks for reading!