Second chapter, second day. I'm on a roll. I'm trying to make up for lost time and finding out just how impossible that is. So yeah. There might be another tomorrow, not sure yet. I depends on what I do in class.

I don't own Fairy Tail.

~MM~

It wasn't actually Mira's idea, it was Happy's, but he wasn't about to admit that.

Not when Erza wasn't there with her heavy, Damocles' Sword presence to glint down on the quarreling peasants. Not when Natsu and Gray had ten seconds counting down in their eyes until the entire train station went up in a plume of steam and a slide of rubble. And not especially while Lucy was standing right there.

Happy might have told Natsu, except for the fact that his partner's unwitting reaction was Happy's endgame. About a week after the Everloo mission – the consequence of which was Lucy's frigid shoulder and cynically enlightened eyes, half-mast and scanning for deception – Happy had noticed an ache that seemed to well up inside his partner. One that made him shift restlessly, searching out aggravations and irritants in his guild mates, baiting for a fight that would take his mind off whatever it was that was bothering him. One that made him lie awake some nights, twisting in his hammock, swaying it side to side, back and back, in time with the beat of his heart. One that made the buzz of static air sound a lot like someone holding their breath.

Happy had tried what he could to cheer his friend up. He made sure Gray and Natsu's paths crossed – the conspicuousness of Natsu's attitude change lent Happy a lot of allies in that department; no one wanted to deal with the sulking Dragon Slayer – and that all the high risk, high reward requests were in his paws then in Natsu's face within the minute they were posted. Happy had Mira – who was having a grand old time (the only one) watching December breezes blow in the abyss of space between the Fire Mage and Celestial one – stock up on fire whiskey and the scented matches Natsu couldn't get enough of. He even influenced Romeo – with many a bribe and some slight exaggeration; the kid's ego had needed a little boosting – to keep Natsu busy with training the nine year old. When those distractions lost their ingenuity Happy made sure to find new projects for Natsu to do while at home: fixing fences, labeling neglected souvenirs, cleaning all the forgotten corners – anything to keep him busy. Out of the one week that Lucy refused to breathe the same air as the two – they hadn't meant to make her mad; she was blonde, she was pretty, she had been perfect for the job – the numerous distractions Happy concocted and accumulated lasted a glorious two days. The other five days would forever live in Fairy Tail's collective memory as a time they refused, on no uncertain terms, to repeat.

(Any mention of "floor", "coals", "fire", and "walking" in the same context still made all members flinch rather violently.)

While the five days of fiery hell – quite literally – went on, Happy found bits of stillness in Natsu. A calmness for seconds that seemed unfounded in his petulant pouting. The times were never the same: sun high, sun low, starts out, moon not, hottest, coldest. The places were never the same: perched on a bar stool, alone at a table, walking by the river, fighting in the guild. It took Happy two and a half of the five days to find the connection in it all, giving him two and a half more to observe it.

The stillness that settled into Natsu's bones, leaving him immobile to the point of collapse – Happy one saw his knees shake, only once, and lock up right before hitting the ground – came with a flash of streaking starlight and the scent of young ink and sweet pea. The quiet came when Lucy arrived.

Happy got caught up in the observation of the two. The push and pull between them. Lucy pushed by ignoring, avoiding, and snubbing; Natsu pulled with smiles, laughter, and universal energy. Lucy pulled with personality, mystery, and being; Natsu pushed by annoying, scheming, and moping.

Lucy would walk by, nose turned up (a drowning hazard, had it been raining), and Natsu's shoulders would unlatch, unlock. His anger and restlessness would empty out of him, drain through the floor and infuse the wooden boards, making room to sponge in the calm. For the five seconds they were aligned, across from one another, Everloo never existed and the five days of ache were soothed. The Lucy and Natsu would fall out of synch and time would restart. Natsu's muscle would wind up tight, sending him into another flurry of motion and chaos that ended with him being beat over the head by many a Fairy.

It infuriated Happy, their stubbornness, and it made him snappy and bitter with Natsu, who gave him a wide berth and some wary, tossed glances. Mira adored it. Happy just wanted to two to start talking again and realize what they had and what they could be and for all the fighting and occupational drowning and restless plotting with a cabal of one to stop. They were children. Worse than children.

Then Erza came home. And Happy had a wicked idea.

Who better to get the children to stop fighting than the disciplinarian of the household?

Mirajane, who caught on fast to Happy's recently lightened mood, asked what was going on and Happy couldn't have been more pleased. This would work. This would work perfectly. Natsu couldn't leave Lucy alone during a mission, he wasn't capable of it. It wasn't part of who he was.

(And Happy thought that there was a little more than nature versus nurture going on there – because really, Natsu didn't even know he was tense without Lucy around – but he needed more proof, and to get proof, the two had to start talking to one another again.)

Mira agreed readily when he told her, and Happy waited impatiently for the time Erza would call a mission. She did, and she called for Natsu and Gray – which just sped along Happy's plan while throwing in an unknown element. All the more for the better. Natsu could use a little competition.

Now Happy snickered as he waited at the train station, watching as Natsu's frown became ever more prominent every time he happened to catch Lucy in his peripheral during his head bashings with Gray. Happy could tell that Natsu didn't like Lucy being there. He'd guessed something like this would happen after getting back from Everloo and with everything that had happened with Lisanna, but it had happened fast and that really just kept Happy's scheme moving right along quite nicely.

They will talk to each other, he thought as Lucy manipulated the two, making them stop fighting at the sound of Erza's name. They'll talk, and something will happen. Something good. Something productive.

Natsu threw a Look at Happy, one that told the feline that Natsu knew he had something to do with Lucy's appearance at a dangerous mission and that they were going to have words because Natsu did not agree with it. But the Dragon Slayer didn't say that out loud, too busy trying to stifle Gray without using his magic and keeping a keen eye on his blonde partner to speak any words.

But Happy was glad. Things were happening. His father/brother/friend was acting like a dad now, and that was good, because Happy liked being the kid. And Happy liked trying to set his father up with a woman who he could very well live with being his step-mother.

Something's going to happen. I'll make sure of it.

~MM~

Yay! Another addition of the Happy Chronicles. The ending is really similar to the last one – or second to last, I can't remember – but I think it's going to be a theme for Happy. Eventually I think that his Scheme will spawn his "You liiiiiiiiiiiiike him" thing.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews last chapter! I look forwards to continuing to write for you!