Two days had passed since Lucy met the fast paced, nonstop, live wire of energy that was Natsu Dragneel and become friends with him, he had declared this. They'd gone to a diner that first night and it had to be one of the worst examples of table manners Lucy had ever seen. The guy could eat. Even when he wasn't the one paying, though Lucy never did say there was a limit to what he could order, the rosy haired man didn't hold back an ounce. He stuffed his face one dish after the other and she seriously wondered just how in the world he managed to stay as fit as he was. The bill, Lucy had reluctantly taken from the waitress, had amounted to around sixty dollars for just the two of them. Some might think it weird for a girl who came from wealth to find that expensive but even with that upbringing she'd always been a penny pincher.
Natsu hadn't shown an ounce of shame, only immense gratitude that she had treated him to dinner.
It made up for it in a way.
Then when she had finally gotten what she needed, bulbs, dog food, and some regular food, he made good on his promise and walked her home. It was dark by the time she was done shopping, but not dark enough to where she couldn't see and when she said walking back on her own was fine, he refused. He replied with something like Erza would hang him upside down for thirty minutes if he let her go on her own, and Lucy was seriously beginning to question whether the red haired, armor wearing woman was his friend.
In the end, he had gotten her home and they said their goodbyes just as the sun was about to disappear. Lucy had felt guilty that he was going to have to walk back in the darkness, but he gave her a grin and said he ran fast so he'd be back in the towns' limits in less than two minutes. She hadn't been in a place to doubt him, she didn't know how fast he could run and considering how fit he was, this was something Lucy had taken note of often in the time they were together, it was most likely possible for him.
But now, in the early afternoon of the third day she'd been in Magnolia, Lucy had run into a problem.
There was only one of her.
Dear God in heaven what she wouldn't do for a cloning machine.
There were just way, way, way too many things the house needed done and not enough time in the world, it seemed, to do them. First of all, it was in desperate need of cleaning. Ten years of not tending to a house would do that she supposed. Though, by some miracle, the house was still in very good shape. There weren't any cases of mold or little creatures staking their claim to the home so at least that was something to smile about. Second of all, things needed fixing. Like, handy man fixing. She was not equipped to do that. Lucy hadn't done a single piece of physical labor other than deep cleaning and working out in all her years. The gate needed fixing, she was still jumping over it, the door, the back door, the deck in the back needed board replacements- Lucy was going to lose her mind.
She yelled in frustration to herself as she paced back and forth through the living room, her voice bouncing off the high wooden ceiling, "What was I thinking…? I should've known the house would be so unkempt…" Lucy sighed, collapsing on her couch, she had cleaned the hell out of it earlier, and threw an arm over her face.
The teen stayed like that for a few seconds until Plue, she named the puppy Plue, jumped onto her stomach, knocking the air out of her, and began licking her face, "Okay, okay!" she sat up and, despite being winded, laughed, "Sorry, I know you want to get out but I really need to fix this place up first."
Lucy knew there was an obvious answer to her problems.
She just didn't want to ask.
She was being stubborn.
Very stubborn. Irrationally, unnecessarily, stubborn.
Lucy, who had been petting the puppy while getting lost in thought over what she knew she should do, groaned loudly and jumped off her couch.
"FINE."
She grabbed her phone, stomped over to her door, slid her boots on, pet Plue goodbye, and left the house.
She was going to ask Natsu for help.
It was the one thing she didn't want to do. Not because she didn't like him or anything but because she wanted to do it herself. She wanted to prove to herself that she could fix things and make leaving home work on her own. By her own power- yadda, yadda, etc., etc. All in all, she just wanted to be able to depend on herself to get things done. But you could only expect so much from someone who didn't know the first thing about fixing houses or handy work.
Lucy sighed and kicked up some dirt on the long path to town. Another reason she didn't want to ask was that she didn't want to bother him again. The girl still didn't know where they stood exactly, despite him saying they were friends she couldn't take that at face value due to their unlikely meeting and her rude-ish behavior toward him. Never in her life had she hit someone like she had done him, much less hit someone she didn't know. Yes, she was still stressing over it. It was still very strange to her that she reacted that way.
Maybe that was her real personality?
Who knew?
That was certainly plausible due to her rarely being able to express a real personality since she was a kid… Okay, now she just sounded sad.
"Oh whatever!" she shook her head and cleared her mind, rubbing a bead of sweat off her neck, "It's not like you see people doing home improvement by themselves anyway. There's always a crew or something."
Lucy made her resolve, and figured she'd try and pay him for it too, in return for him helping her out the other day.
"But God…" she sighed and wiped her neck again, "I really need to get a bike…"
Natsu groaned and practically slammed his head down on the warehouses' bar, eliciting a surprised noise from Mira and quite possibly giving himself a minor concussion.
He was so bored.
So. Bored.
The teen had just finished three jobs in the past two days, and since it was around the end of the month jobs were running scarce. There were still some available, but he knew he needed to leave them for the people who needed it. Natsu mostly worked for the fun of it really, but even that drive wore thin sometimes. He considered asking Gray if he wanted to hang out but didn't when he remembered the guy had announced he was gonna sleep in for some reason. Gajeel was another choice, barely, but he knew that whipped guy would be helping Levy out with her monthly library cleaning… so that option was automatically a bust.
So yeah. Bored.
"Miiiiiiiiraaa…" he groaned like a twelve year old, "What's there for me to do?"
"Umm…" the woman began to think as she was serving a customer their food and the default smile on her face turned mischievous, "How about you hang out with that pretty girl that came here a few days ago?" she sounded positively welcomed to the idea, like she would pay for him to do that, "I haven't seen her since the day she came around. Have you talked to her?"
Natsu thought for a moment.
Sure the idea had crossed his mind, but he just hadn't acted on it. Also he didn't know if it would be alright to just… show up at her house… It seemed like that would be weird? Was it okay for a person you just met to appear at your house and ask to hang out? Was that something people did? He could also just call her but that conversation would be sure to end awkwardly if she said no. When he'd thought about the possibility of asking her, those questions began running through his head and started to give him a headache so he set the option aside.
But really, was it okay for him to show up?
Cause he would. He definitely would.
She seemed like fun, and a good person, weird but good.
Natsu also couldn't deny that he wanted to see that dog again…
"Nah I haven't seen her." He replied simply in order to throw Mira off her romantic imaginings.
"Really? You two seemed like you hit it off."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned and picked his head up, really not knowing what that was supposed to be getting at.
"It means she thought you two got along well." Erza, who had just walked in a second ago, answered for Mira and sat down next to the rosy haired teen.
"Oh… then why didn't you just say that instead…?"
"It was a… never mind." Mira sighed, a little let down that he hadn't spoken to Lucy.
"Though I do have to agree with her." Erza smiled and set her elbow on the counter, turning to face him, "You two seemed like fast friends."
"Well I definitely see her as a friend." Natsu replied in truth, "She paid for my dinner that night so she's great in my book. Dunno about her though. She hasn't tried to talk to me or anything so…" he trailed off, not wanting to sound too disappointed but he knew it was probably evident on his face.
"Well have you tried to contact her?" Erza asked and gave him a look he couldn't decipher.
"…No…" He didn't want to answer.
"Then you're partly at fault. Don't make it sound like it's on her. The girl probably has things she needs to do. She is new to town after all."
"Ah!" Natsu shot up, "That's right! Her house's a wreck!" he grinned at the realization and Erza found that odd.
"And that's something to be happy about?"
"Yea!- Well, no, I mean that sucks for her," he explained, "but that'll give me somethin' to do."
"I suppose." She nodded, "Only if she wants your help of course. Don't overstep your boundaries- you've been known to be a bit overwhelming."
Natsu gave her a sour look, "You want me to help her out or not? First you get me to walk her home, now you're tellin' me I step on boundaries…"
"W-Well…" She contemplated his words, "You're right… hmm. Trying to befriend people is complicated isn't it?" the woman chuckled.
"Yeah I guess." He sat back down, "Never really had to think about it before." Which was true. All of his real friends, not counting his acquaintances from shops he frequented, were people he'd grown up with and in result he didn't have to worry about what he should or shouldn't do with them.
The teen groaned and put his head back on the counter, "Great. Back to square one."
"Stop your whining." Mira scolded, "Where's the bold Natsu I know? If you want to help her out there's no harm in asking! The worst she can do is say no."
Natsu only "hmm"d in reply. All that complicated "befriending" stuff was hurting his head- which is why he stopped thinking about maybe trying to see her in the first place.
"Mira's right you know. If it turns out that she-" Erza had begun to respond but was suddenly cut off by a rise of voices near the warehouses' entrance.
"Oh! Miss Lucy's back!"
"Here for another date with that troublemaker?"
"Can't believe he's already got a girlfriend… seemed like only yesterday he was pickin' up lizards and chasin' people with it…"
"Oh for goodness sake! I'm not his girlfriend!" Natsu heard a chime like voice snap and his head shot up instantly, looking in the direction it came from.
Erza noticed this and thought he almost looked like a pup who realized their owner had just come home- she laughed at the mental image.
Mira almost jumped for joy, "Luuucy!" she called out to her, giving the girl an escape from the teasing, and grinned as she made her way over.
"Geez!" Lucy complained and went over to the three, "When are they going to learn I'm not his girlfriend!" She spoke as if it'd been going on for years.
"Nice to see you." Erza greeted with a smile, "I was beginning to think you wouldn't come around again."
Lucy looked slightly embarrassed, "Oh I wasn't deliberately not coming here I just had things I needed to do- well, still need to do. Moving in has been tough."
"I can imagine."
"Yeah it must be." Mira replied while wiping down a pint.
Natsu still hadn't spoken.
"Where is it you're staying?" she asked.
"It's an over by the… what was it called… I can't remember the name of it but it's over by a lake. The house is a bit of an old thing and pretty deep into a wooded area so I doubt you've seen it. Which brings me to what I came here for." She turned to Natsu, who still hadn't spoken and by now he thought it'd be awkward to, "I'm sorry to ask but… I need some help."
"Y-yeah sure!" He thanked god for not having jump into the conversation, "I told ya if you needed help you could call and ask."
He was about to grin but was taken by surprise, as well as Erza and Mira, when the blonde slapped her forehead, "Oh my god- I forgot I had your number…" she groaned, "I just walked all the way here when I could've called! …ugh and feet are killing me now."
"PFFT." Natsu tried to hold in his laughter, "M-Man and your house is pretty far too. My bad. I was thinkin' about seeing if you needed help with that house earlier- could've saved you the trouble."
"Well thanks anyway and yeah I do need help…" she looked kinda pissed from what Natsu could tell, "It's a nightmare! I thought I could get it done myself but you can guess how well that went."
He could. The look on her face and the band aids on her right hand gave it away.
"No worries!" he tried to cheer her up, "Lucky for you I'm great with fixing things."
Oh thank God… Lucy was mentally relieved. She hadn't known if he would be able to help despite his offering and if he didn't then she was screwed.
"I can pay you for the trouble too."
"Nah no need." He replied and slid off his stool, "Just givin' me something to do is payment enough."
"Really?" Lucy didn't know anyone who'd be willing to work a job like what she was giving for free.
"Really." Erza spoke with a knowing smile, "I'd be willing to join you both as well. Seems like you could use all the help you can get."
"That would be amazing but I'd really feel bad not paying you." She tried to level out the giving and receiving that was happening but they were having none of it.
"It's fine, it's fine!" Natsu assured her, "We might as well get Gray in on this too. I know he isn't doin' anything. Just sleepin' in."
"I wish I could help out but I have to keep the bar going." Mira apologized and went back to serving her other customers.
Lucy let her worries subside and was happy she convinced herself to come ask for help. It wasn't a crime, though she did have the awful habit of feeling kinda guilty for asking things of people, but with the way they received her she thought to ask for help a little more often.
"Oi, stripper." Natsu, who had been in the process of calling Gray, spoke into his phone.
S-Stripper…?! Lucy involuntarily reddened.
"You up for some home improvement?"
A pause.
"No I did not break my front door again."
Another pause.
"God- I didn't break anyone's door!"
More pause.
"You wanna say that again?!"
"Enough." Erza snapped and grabbed the phone from Natsu, "Gray? We're helping Lucy out with her home. … Yes that "blonde chick" we saw the other day. Anyway, you're coming to help too. … Well are you doing anything? … Then you're helping. Be here in two minutes. Do not forget your pants."
And she hung up.
Is he that dedicated to stripping that he'd forget his pants…? Lucy wondered.
"Oh- I forgot to ask when you need to leave. Damn, I should've given him one minute."
"N-no… it's alright. I'm not in any rush and to be honest this is probably going to take more than one day-"
"Hell yeah it's gonna take more than one day." Natsu laughed, "That house was a mess! That window would hardly open and I was using most of my strength on the thing."
"…Yeah. What he said." Lucy just agreed with him, not feeling like getting ticked off about being interrupted.
"I'm good with it." He spoke again, "Can't speak for anyone else though."
"Hmm, I'm free today but tomorrow and the day after I'll be busy. If you still need help after I'd be happy to join you again." Erza replied to the end Natsu's sentence.
"Thank you, really." Lucy smiled at the red head, "Just today is a big enough help."
"I'm here!" Gray, who had sped his ass to the warehouse, appeared near the doors, "More than a minute left."
"I could've made it in half that!" Natsu replied with a challenging grin.
"Oh you want to bet on it?"
"Yeah I wanna b-"
"We're leaving." Erza stated and got up, quickly ending their short exchange.
Lucy really wondered what just kind of relationship these people had with each other.
"What the hell?!" Gray exclaimed as he saw the house he was supposed to be helping fix, "This is a damn mansion!"
"Haha I know right!" Natsu laughed and walked up the stairs about to let himself in when Erza stopped him with a flick on the back of his head.
"Sorry Lucy, you think he would've learned."
"It's fine, it's locked anyway. And this really isn't a mansion…" She wanted to disassociate her new home with that word at all costs.
Lucy walked up and joined Natsu, who was reluctantly waiting for her to open the door, and grinned at his "just scolded" look. Quickly, she unlocked the house and let them in calling out to her puppy when she entered, "Pluuuue!"
She waited a few seconds and smiled when she saw the little thing dart into view, barking away.
"What kinda name's Plue?" Natsu asked as he walked in, followed by a very curious Erza and Gray.
"A good one!" Lucy retorted defensively.
"This is quite the home…" Erza spoke up, awed by how large it was.
"That's one way of puttin' it." Gray said and began taking off his shirt.
Lucy noticed this, "Wh-What are you doing?!" she yelled, "Okay that might be your job, I don't know, but this is a no stripping zone! Keep that at work!"
"The fuck? I'm no stripper! Who told you that?!"
"AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA!" Natsu began the loudest laughed Lucy had ever heard, the boom of it even scaring Plue.
"You bastard! You told her I was a stripper?!"
"No- ah, oh my god my stomach- no I didn't say that but you pretty much are." He continued laughing, and Erza couldn't help but join in.
"You are stripping in her house, Gray." She spoke up when her chuckling stopped.
"Wait… so you're not a stripper?" Lucy questioned, causing another round of laughter from Natsu.
"Hell no I'm not a stripper! Clothes are just too restricting so I take them off sometimes! Now let's drop it!" He demanded and left his shirt halfway unbuttoned. It was better than nothing for him.
"O… Okay…?" Lucy thought it was probably for the best.
"Alright, so?" Natsu looked down at the blonde, "Where do you want us to start?"
"Well, seeing as though you probably know way more about this than I do, I'll handle the cleaning, whoever wants to help me with that can, and you just… look around and see what needs to be done and bought I guess." She finished and Natsu nodded.
"Well I already know that window needs to be fixed." He joked and walked off, beginning to survey the house.
"I'll go make sure he doesn't wreck this place further." Gray said and followed Natsu.
"It's not wrecked!" She retorted but he was already gone.
The girl sighed and turned to Erza who was having a stare down with Plue. She looked like she desperately wanted to touch the creature.
"M-May I?" she asked and Lucy laughed.
"Of course you can." The blonde bent down to pick up the puppy and brought him face to face with Erza who looked like she might cry from excitement, "Here."
Lucy placed him into Erza's hands and immediately he began to lick her face, "He likes you!"
"Adorable." She stated and set him down after a few good pets, "Though he is going to get very big soon, but it looks like you have the space for him. He seems to be in good hands." She smiled.
For some reason Lucy felt a bit overwhelmed.
"Umm, so would you like to help with the cleaning or would you rather go along with them?"
"I wouldn't leave you to do a job on all on your own. They can handle that." She replied and walked further into the house, "I might have to keep an eye on them though but I can do both."
Lucy laughed, "Almost like a mom."
"Indeed. Or maybe an older sister, which I consider myself." Erza grinned, "I've known them for a long time now. They're family."
Lucy gave an almost sad smile, "Must be nice. I've always wanted siblings. Though being an only child has advantages, I've heard." The teens she would speak to before would always tell her being the only kid in her family was a gift. There was no competition over succession.
"It's quite nice. Before them there was really no one whom I could call family. So I'm grateful. But enough of that for now!" Erza spoke with vigor and rolled up her shirts sleeve, she had traded in her armor for regular clothes that day, "Let's get to cleaning."
She looked to Lucy, expecting her to do something, "What is it?"
"Lead the way to the cleaning supplies."
"…"
"You do have cleaning supplies…?"
"O-Oh… haha… um…" Lucy wanted to evaporate.
"That's alright." Erza spoke but her tone told a different story, "We just have to go back to town and get some then…"
"I'm sorry!"
"Well… no really it's probably for the better. We were going to have to go back and get materials for your home anyway, might as well check for the things we're going to need now." The red haired woman reasoned and took the lead in inspecting the homes state of cleanliness, an embarrassed blonde trailing behind.
Hours of hard labor, almost accidents, and Plue continuously trying to chew up Natsu's shoe passed and Lucy thought she'd witnessed a miracle.
While there was still a lot of work that needed to be done, the help she enlisted from Fairy Tail had made a huge dent in that load. Those three moved like a team even when they were doing different jobs, and very quickly at that. The first thing Natsu had done when they got the supplies they needed was fix that "pesky window" as he called it. Erza and Lucy had surprisingly done most of the cleaning. The floors and counters were now spotless but she still had some serious dusting to do. Gray had assisted in fixing her door and whatever else Natsu decided needed doing, somehow losing over half his clothes in time, much to Lucy's dismay.
The house was really beginning to look like it's old self and Lucy couldn't help but wonder what her dad would think of her fixing up the place. Whether he'd be outraged or actually kind of happy about it, she didn't know. Seems there was a lot of things she didn't know about her dad. There were still no calls from him and surprisingly it wasn't bothering Lucy much. While she did miss her friendly maids and butlers and hoped she didn't make them upset by leaving, the girl couldn't come to regret her decision. Now that her mother's house, now hers, was starting to get fixed up Lucy was feeling a lot more optimistic about her choice.
The four of them, as well as Plue, were now sprawled out on the empty deck in her backyard, if it could even be called that- it was just a wide open space with no real fence to speak of that backed onto the lake, absolutely beat. They'd worked for hours and Lucy was already dreading waking up the next morning, knowing she was really going to be feeling it then.
"Oh man… that was harder than I thought it was going to be…" Natsu spoke up after a few minutes of just listening to the cicadas.
"Tell me about it." Gray agreed- he was only in his boxers now.
"That window wall, or what is it called again?" Erza asked.
"I have no idea. Window wall's fine." Lucy replied.
"Well whatever it is needs to be sent to hell." She let her obvious distaste for the large window in Lucy's living room out, "Why would anyone need a window that big? I don't see the point in it."
"Aesthetic."
"Gesundheit." Natsu spoke.
"What?" Lucy laughed.
"I said Ges-"
"I didn't sneeze."
"Then what the hell was that just now?"
"Aesthetic. Meaning, concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty."
"Oh… the hells a big ass window have to do with beauty?"
"It looks nice." She said simply.
"I guess, though for someone who doesn't like pitch blackness I can't imagine why you'd like a window that big in your living room…"
"There's a blind that rolls down… anyway my mom liked it so-" She stopped her sentence short.
"What was that about your mom?" Erza questioned.
"It's nothing."
Lucy got up and looked down at the three still sprawled out like children in front of her, "Anyway, since you're not letting me pay you guys the least I can do is treat you to dinner." She suggested the idea and really found it funny that it was the second time she was going to thank someone with dinner.
"That would be nice, but I can't let you pay for all of-"
"Nope! No way!" she cut Erza off, "I need to give you something back and dinner is really the least I can do. There's not a chance you all are leaving without letting me thank you."
Gray and Natsu looked at the two women apprehensively. People rarely argued with Erza and anyone who did, whether it was over a small or big thing, always lost.
The red head let Lucy's words brew for a moment and conceded, "Fine- as long as you're completely comfortable with spending that much. You did buy quite few expensive things today."
"Don't worry about that. It'll be fine." Though she was going to have to consider getting a job sometime soon,"But you!" she pointed to an innocent looking Natsu, "You're not allowed to go crazy like the other night."
"Tch."
"Did you just click your tongue at me?" Lucy was unbelieving of the action. He literally just clicked his tongue, like a twelve year old, at her.
"No. I was going to apologize and pay you back anyway." He even spoke like twelve year old.
"No, no- you're not doing that because then she's going to think it's okay to repay me for tonight's dinner."
"Tch." Erza clicked her tongue this time, a little irritated Lucy had found her out so quickly.
"You too?!"
"Oooookay you three can go on about paying/not paying and tongue clicks," Gray stood up, "But I'm going to get some very much needed food. Who's comin'?"
"Me." The three of them replied in unison.
"So?" Natsu got up and walked next to Lucy as they went inside, "What are we getting?" he sounded excited.
"I have no idea. You're the ones who're supposed to be choosing- Plue come on!" she replied to him and stopped to called to her puppy who was chasing a butterfly.
"Erza!" he shouted over to her, "Whaddya want?"
"Lucy chooses."
"Wha-?"
"You heard her." Natsu laughed and replied with a grin. He knew Erza would get her way somehow.
"Well…" she thought, "I still have no idea- I mean, I don't exactly know what restaurants this town has…"
"Whoa you want a fancy dinner?"
"No! I just said no crazy expensive food!"
"You said "restaurant". That means fancy."
"Ugh. You know what I mean."
"Clearly I didn't."
"Well what do you call them then?! Since you're being so picky about it."
"Picky?! Restaurant means fancy! Plain and simple!"
"Restaurant, a place where people pay to sit and eat meals that are cooked and served on the premises. Nowhere in that definition is there a "fancy"."
"What are you a walking dictionary?"
"Maybe."
"Anyway, food. What do you want?"
"I just said I don't know what's around here! That's why I want you guys to choose!"
"I meant just pick a type!"
"Oh…" Lucy thought for a moment, bringing her hand to her chin, "Are you okay with Chinese?"
Natsu made face.
"That's it! I'm not choosing. You choose."
"But Erza sai-"
"You. Choose."
The two continued to bicker in front of the doorway into the house as Erza and Gray looked on.
"How long you think until they get together?" he asked jokingly and Erza smacked his shoulder.
"Hey!"
"I do see what you mean though." And she did. They were an odd pairing, but they seemed to get along rather well. Extremely well for only knowing each other for a few days. It made her happy.
"Right? I give it a few weeks."
"Hmm… I don't know." Erza squinted her eyes a bit and concentrated on Lucy, "I think there's a lot more to her than what we see… I feel like she's hiding something. Which of course is her business, but I don't think, and this is just my intuition, that she's going to let anyone in deep easily."
"Huh…" Gray didn't have a response to that but Erza's intuition was usually right.
"Well, who knows?" she crossed her arms and smiled at the pair, "Anything could happen. Look at Gajeel and Levy."
"Haha! Yeah that was the last thing I expected…"
"We'll just have to let them develop on their own. If they even develop. I, for one, like her. She's very easy to talk to."
"Guess so. When she talks it does feel kinda… I don't know… natural…?" he couldn't find the right word but didn't care enough to try and find one, food being his number one concern at the moment, "Okay this is gone on long enough. Hey lovebirds! We eating or what?"
"We're not lovebirds!" they replied simultaneously, looking peeved they did.
"She still won't choose!" Natsu reported in a frustrated tone and began walking toward them along with Lucy.
"I won't." The blonde was stuck on her stubbornness.
"Yes you will. Just pick a type." Erza demanded.
"I already did! But Mr. Picky over here doesn't want Chinese food." She gestured to Natsu.
Gray and Erza made a face.
"Of course! Of course neither of you want it either!"
"Well, we just haven't had pleasant memories concerning Chinese food, but we don't hate it." Erza replied, still making a face.
"Your face's say otherwise."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"I'm done. Let's just go and figure it out on the way. We're losing daylight." Lucy stated and walked off.
"I think we made her mad…" Natsu whispered to Erza.
"You think we should tell her the story?" Gray also whispered.
"Let's just hurry so we don't inconvenience her further." Erza didn't bother whispering since Lucy was already out of sight.
They walked over to the front door to find Lucy leaning against the wall along with Plue at her feet. Natsu wanted to laugh at how they almost looked like a pair of thugs waiting to steal their money, but thought against it when she looked up at them.
"Did you three decide?" her voice was cold.
"Burgers."
"Italian."
"Mexican."
They all spoke at once and Lucy unwillingly let a laugh out.
Natsu smiled.
"Mexican it is then." She agreed with Gray's choice and opened the door, letting them go ahead of her.
"Tch. Why Gray's pick?" The rosy haired teen mumbled to himself as he walked out.
"Did I hear another tongue click?" Lucy asked as she pet Plue goodbye and locked the door.
"No."
"Uh-huh."
The four of them began walking away from her house, Gray and Erza ahead of the other two, and Lucy wondered aloud, "Does that place deliver? The place we're going?"
"It does but I doubt they'd come all the way out here…" Natsu replied, feeling sorry for the girl and how she'd probably never be able to get delivery…
"It's not that far... really…" She countered.
"Far enough that they wouldn't come, probably, but I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask… Does this place even have an address?"
She made an "I don't know" sound accompanied with an expression that made Natsu want to stop walking for a second.
It was… cute?
Huh… he thought.
Weird.
Noticing he had fallen behind a bit, he jogged back to the group and started up another conversation, not so unwelcoming to Gray's choice of Mexican food now.
A/N: Mostly dialogue in this one but I hope you enjoyed it! I just wanted to let them get to know each other a little better and bonding over housework, I've learned, is pretty effective. Oh and yeah I decided to name the dog Plue. He's apparently a kind of dog after all so it's fitting imo. Also I hope I was able to describe the house well enough. I have this mental image in my head but if it's a bit hard to imagine- it's supposed to be somewhat of a wooden architectural home but a bit old looking of course due to when it was made. Google it if you'd like a clearer picture. I just really love those huge ass windows.
There's still more housework to be done and now Natsu's the only one available. That should be fun. ;) Thanks for reading and thank you all for such nice reviews. Imma cry.