The first two days of writing this chapter, I cannot even express just how bad my writer's block was. I thought since I'm on summer vacation now, I was going to feel motivated to write, but I wasn't for some reason. :')

But last night, I was able to write a lot thanks to a lovely band named Craft Spells. I completely recommend listening to them!

When I first started this fic, I wanted it to be a fun read with mainly just fluff and after you're done reading a chapter, your mood has been lifted a bit.

So, some conflict in this story will be picking back up next chapter, but it's not going to be as intense as it is in my other fics like SL, ahaha.

But still, please look forward to it because it's going to be good and it'll make you nervous. :-))

Speaking of which, I posted a new story on Saturday! Deal With The Devil is up and it'd be awesome if you guys read it~

Well, that's all I have to say for now. Thank you guys so much for reading. Almost 850 follows asdfghj that's so crazy.

See you next week. c:

There was never a break at Fairy Tail.

One second Lucy was scribbling down someone's order and less than a second later she was rushing to the kitchen to retrieve another order.

Running back and forth like that left Lucy no time to sit back and take a breather.

It also left her no time to speak with her new co-worker, Natsu.

By the time the two were finished working, they were too exhausted to speak at home. They simply shuffled into their rooms to go to sleep.

Then, the cycle repeated.

But in the midst of it all, there was a time Lucy was able to have half an hour of peace—lunch break.

"I didn't think working here would be this much work!" Levy sighed out as she plopped into her seat in the break room.

"Well, that's what work is," Cana remarked. "The tips here are great, though!"

"Tips?" Gray lifted a brow. "Why aren't I getting a lot of tips?"

"You don't know the secrets to getting extra tips," Cana replied with a smirk.

"Please, don't tell me you're doing something extra for more money," Lisanna sent her a frown.

"I don't want to know," Lucy shook her head before Cana thoroughly explained the process.

"I'm glad that we're able to eat the wrong orders," Natsu stated happily while shoving a large piece of chicken in his mouth.

The group rolled their eyes as they went on to eat their own food—which were also wrong orders.

They eyed the clock nervously once it began ticking closer and closer to the end of their break. When it was time, they let out a simultaneous groan.

"Back to work, everyone!" Mirajane sang, walking past the break room with two trays on her hand.

"Eight more hours," Gray mumbled.

"Eight? We only have three left," Levy spoke with a puzzled look.

"He works with Gajeel at the convenience store, too," Cana reminded, exiting the break room.

"You can do it," Lucy encouraged as she gave Gray an encouraging pat on the back. "If you need extra help, I'll be here!"

"Thanks, Lucy," Gray smiled, although she wasn't able to see it as Natsu pushed his way in between them.

"You guys walk too slow," Natsu said, returning to the front of the restaurant where customers were waiting to be served.

Lucy steps came to a stop, viewing Gray and Natsu shove each other around before separating to take some orders.

In a way, she was able to get her wish granted by being able to avoid Natsu by working. However, the tension between them never lessened.

It was always there even when they stuck their tongue out while passing by each other in the kitchen.

Lucy wasn't the only one noticing it, though. Levy and Cana realized it when Natsu spoke with Gray more than he did with Lucy.

But little did they know, there was a secret matchmaker who had noticed as well.

In the two weeks Lucy worked at Fairy Tail, she had never closed down the restaurant.

Lisanna had warned that it was a tough job—having to clean all the tables and dishes.

But even then, Lucy still wanted to see how the restaurant looked without anyone sitting at the tables.

So when Mirajane announced that she needed two servers to work overtime one night, Lucy knew this was her chance.

"I'll do it," she volunteered. "I don't mind."

"Thank you, Lucy!" Mirajane breathed out in relief. "Is there anyone else who can work just a few more hours?"

"I have to work at the convenience store tonight," Gray stated. "Sorry."

"I'm going somewhere tonight," Cana refused.

"I won't be able to do it either," Levy confessed hesitantly.

"So, Natsu, you have no choice but to work with Lucy tonight," Mirajane declared.

"What about Lisanna?" Natsu lifted a brow.

"I have stuff to do tonight, too," Lisanna grinned. "Sorry!"

Lucy felt her heart pound as Natsu's eyes connected with hers. Working together couldn't be helped—they were working at the same job, after all.

"Let's work hard together then, Natsu," Lucy forced herself to say once their break was over.

"Sure," he responded with a small smile, going off to begin working again.

Lucy clenched her fists at the awkwardness in the air. It made her stomach do a thousand flips in one minute.

The flips only increased when Levy and Cana waved goodbye to her after their shift, leaving her and Natsu alone.

"Lucy, can you come with me?" Mirajane came up to her once there were two hours left until closing time.

"Okay," Lucy nodded. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"Do you mind doing the dishes for a while?" Mirajane requested. "I'll get Natsu to come back here with you to switch soon."

Lucy peered at the dirty dishes, already knowing she'd have to hold her breath each time she came across some soggy half-eaten food.

"Okay," Lucy put on a smile. "I'm on it!"

"Thanks, Lucy!" Mirajane waved before exiting the kitchen.

Pushing back the loose strands of her hair, Lucy took a steady breath to brace herself. She tried not to wince when putting her hands into the warm soapy water.

The blonde hummed to herself as she washed the dishes. She was the only one back at the sink so she might as well have made a little noise to pass the time.

"Nice humming," a voice came up beside her once there were a few dishes left to clean.

"Thanks," she responded, glancing at him with a smile. "Are those dishes for me?"

"Mirajane told me to come here and give them to you," Natsu replied. "Do you need help?"

"No, I got it," she shook her head, accepting the dishes.

"Good, because there's a lot more that need to be washed," he grinned sheepishly. "I'll be back."

"Wait, Natsu," she blurted out, taking her hands out of the sink to hastily dry them. "You have some food in your hair."

"Do I?" he inquired as he spun around to her. "Where?"

He ran a hand through his hair, but the small piece of food still didn't leave his head.

"Hold on," Lucy told him, rising on the tips of her toes. "Here."

She couldn't help but notice that Natsu's hair was ten times softer today than all the other days.

"Thanks," he said when she had plucked it out.

They tried not to look at each other's pink cheeks too much.

"Get back to work," Natsu cleared his throat with a smirk forming on his lips. "We can't have you slacking off now."

"Hey, you too!" she countered, returning to her spot in the sink. "Get back to work."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off.

After being alone for ten minutes, Lucy was about to resume humming again, but she heard footsteps come behind her.

"More dishes," Natsu announced.

She had no choice but to accept them; he left as soon as they were in the sink.

Yet she found herself looking forward to seeing new dishes in the sink. The short conversation her and Natsu shared when he was there were enough to make her smile the entire time he was gone.

She missed talking to him like this.

"Mirajane said that you can take a break," Natsu revealed after an hour.

"Are you going to take my spot?" she questioned.

"Sadly," he mumbled. "Move out of the way."

Lucy giggled, happily allowing him to fill in her spot. She was about to go to the break room and sit down for a bit, but she couldn't bring herself to once she heard the dishes loudly clinking against one another.

"Natsu, you have to be gentler," she scolded. "Like this."

Standing beside him, she showed him how she had washed the dishes for the past hour.

"But it takes too long," he complained once her lesson was over.

"I'll help then," she replied.

Of course, Natsu didn't refuse the offer.

It was strange just how natural the conversation flowed out of them as they washed the remaining dishes.

The amount they spoke at the sink was more than they spoke the whole two weeks of working at Fairy Tail.

"Who knew dirty dishes would bring us together?" Lucy thought to herself with a smile dancing across her lips.

She liked Natsu—a lot.

"Time to clean the tables!" Mirajane called out as soon as the couple were finished drying their hands.

"There was a customer at this table who wanted me to dance for them," Natsu mentioned while he wiped off a table that Lucy swept nearby.

"Is that how Cana gets extra tips?" she laughed.

"I wouldn't be surprised," he chuckled.

After all the tables were wiped clean and the floor was spotless, Mirajane walked to Natsu and Lucy with a large grin.

"Thank you for helping out!" she proclaimed. "It really helped us tonight."

"We'll be happy to do it again," Lucy stated.

"I don't know if I'll be happy to, but I wouldn't mind," Natsu shrugged slightly.

"Well, as thanks for tonight, you two don't have to come here tomorrow," Mirajane revealed.

"Really?" Lucy's eyes widened.

"Have a nice break together," Mirajane smiled with a glint in her eye. "You can go home now!"

"Thank you, Mirajane!" the two exclaimed as she walked away.

"Finally," Natsu groaned, exiting the backroom with Lucy beside him. "I can't wait to go to sleep."

"Me too," Lucy agreed. "My feet are aching."

"Oh, that's right," he recalled. "You were supposed to have a break, but instead you helped me at the sink."

"It's fine," she assured, stepping outside the restaurant with him. "It wasn't a big—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as Natsu swiftly stepped in front of her, crouching to the ground.

"N-Natsu, what are you doing?" she stared down at him with large eyes.

"Hop on so you don't have to walk," he answered, looking over his shoulder. "Come on!"

Lucy anxiously bit her lip. She knew he would be able to feel her hammering heartbeat once she wrapped her arms around him.

But once she was in the piggy back position, she froze. Natsu's heart was beating just as rapid as hers.

As his arms went under her bent legs, Natsu commenced the piggy back ride.

"I still haven't taken you out to that restaurant you want to go to," Lucy realized.

"Let's go tomorrow," he suggested. "We won't be doing anything."

"Okay," Lucy smiled.

They were silent for a few moments; Lucy felt Natsu take a deep breath.

"I can feel your necklace," he blurted out.

"I can smell your cologne," she responded softly.

"It's special," he replied.

"The necklace I'm wearing is special, too," she whispered.

"Luce, that tickles," he chuckled with his neck moving away from her.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, jerking back from her position.

They shared a smile, even though neither of them could see each other's.

"You don't have to carry me up the stairs," she said once the apartment came to view. "I'll get off now."

"It's okay," he guaranteed. "I need a work out, anyway."

"Am I heavy?" she lifted a brow.

Lucy's brow remained lifted at Natsu's silence response.

"I didn't say yes!" he protested when Lucy scoffed.

"But you didn't say no," she remarked.

Lucy didn't notice they were at the top of the stairs until she felt Natsu fumbling around for his keys.

She didn't want to let go of him just yet, so she took out her keys and reached over him to unlock the door.

"Thanks," he pushed the door open for them.

Knowing that it would have been weird if she kept holding on to him still, Lucy loosened her grip around his neck and landed on her feet.

"Thanks for carrying me," she stated bashfully.

"Any time," Natsu answered, walking off to the couch.

Lucy tilted her head; she couldn't believe Natsu was going to play video games this late at night.

But instead of reaching for the controller, he reached for a pillow.

"Let's have a pillow fight," he proposed.

"What for?" she asked.

"We haven't talked to each other for two weeks, Luce," he pouted behind the pillow. "Let's play as our way of catching up!"

"But haven't we already—"

"What did you say?" he grinned after lightly hitting Lucy's face.

"You're going down!" Lucy declared as she swiftly took a hold of a pillow and swung at him.

Despite it being late at night and despite them knowing they were waking up the entire apartment complex, they chased each other around, occasionally hopping over the dumbfounded Happy.

With it magically turning out like this, Lucy felt a shred of hope inside of her as Natsu grinned at her.

Maybe—just maybe—she was getting one step closer to having Natsu feel the same way as she felt.

Except as always, inside that shred of hope, there was something telling Lucy that it all might be in her head.

But if that was the case, she wanted to keep being inside of it.