Lucy's got the morning shift again, and she is dying. This is pure torture.
Outside, the air is turning cold, and gray smog rolls over the honking cars. Inside the coffee shop, it's nice and warm and smells overwhelmingly of coffee beans, and Lucy is about to curl up on the ground and go to sleep and ugh she has Philosophy after this and...
Her brain is slowing down again, but she hasn't messed up an order or made a fool of herself yet, which is pretty rare.
Her apron is itchy. She can feel her hair falling out of place. Yukino Aguria, from her Astrology class, is sitting in a booth by the window, sipping on a small latte and looking perfectly put-together. Lucy wonders if she's being judged.
Suddenly, she hears the little bell jingling and moves to the register again, putting on a tired smile. "How can I help you?"
"Aztec Hot Chocolate," she hears a cheery voice say. "I brought hot sauce this time."
She looks up to see tan skin, freckles, and spiky pink hair. His smile nearly blinds her, and she idly wonders how anyone can be so happy this early in the morning.
"Oh, cool," she smiles back at him.
Hot guy who asks about hotness has returned, after three weeks of her waiting. She'd pretty much given up.
He rummages through his bag of crumpled papers to find a small bottle of Tabasco sauce, which he slams on the counter with a bright grin that reveals his weirdly sharpened teeth.
"Here ya go…" He squints at her boobs. "Luigi."
Lucy feels compelled to cover her chest. What a pervert!
Slowly, she realizes he was just reading her nametag. The urge to slap him disappears – then it returns full force when her brain finally figures out what he said.
"My name is Lucy," she says, her smile now somewhat forced.
"Lucy… what a weird name," frowns the pink-haired man, and a vein jumps in her forehead.
"It's better than Luigi," scowls Lucy, the smile sliding from her face.
He beams again. "Well, Lucy suits you," he says, and her heart flutters just a little. But not really, 'cause she's too sleepy to even spell the word flutter. Or to realize that might've been a backhanded comment, what with him saying Lucy's a weird name and all…
As it is, a soft smile slides onto her face. "Thanks," she mumbles, her cheeks flushing. "Do you want your Aztec Hot Chocolate heated extra?"
The man's eyes brighten. "Yes, please," he says. "And with the Tabasco sauce."
He hands her the money, and, since Mira's out sick for the day, she takes a cup and turns to make his drink herself.
Just as she's turning to the hot water dispense-y machine thing, the man grabs her arm suddenly and takes the paper cup from her hands. His hand on her arm is rough and abnormally warm and... gentle. He's holding her arm like Capricorn would back home.
Shaking the thought away, she gapes at him indignantly for randomly grabbing her and is legit about to snap at him, but then he digs through his shoulder bag again and extracts a fat Sharpie marker. Sticking out his tongue in concentration, he turns the cup and writes something on the side.
Slightly appalled, Lucy decides that if he hands her a cup with his number written on it, she's going to ignore it completely. It sounds kind of bitchy, but she is sick and tired of being hit on while she's trying to make some pocket money.
But then he holds up the cup for her to see, grinning widely. On the side of the cup is scrawled a simple "Natsu." Lucy frowns in confusion; if he just wanted to give her his name, there were a lot of better ways to do so - many of which wouldn't have given off creepy "I'm grabbing you" vibes. Anyways, Natsu is a weird name, but... it suits him. (Also 'cause it's weird, and he's weird, so yeah.)
He hands her the cup back and their fingers brush.
(It doesn't make her heart jump, or her breath catch. It doesn't make her feel bad for thinking badly of him. No, not at all.)