AN: I actually really like this chapter so I hope you guys enjoy too! Please review! :D

Chapter 7

"Good morning, Lucy!" Jason greeted as he saw the blonde enter the office.

"Good morning," Lucy replied with a warm smile. She noticed her boss' eyes widen- probably from fear- as his gaze went past her and onto the two behind her.

"C-Cool seeing you again, Natsu! You too, Happy!"

The dragonslayer glared in response, still angry over the fact that he lied to him about Lucy's whereabouts. How could she want to stay with someone like him instead of going back to Fairy Tail?

"Sorry, Jason!" Lucy said with an apologetic smile. "These two are going to be staying with me for a while and I guess they wanted to see what I do at work! Natsu, Happy! Sit in that corner and be quiet, got it?"

Jason blushed as the blonde journalist walked towards him with a bright smile on her face. This did not go unnoticed by the two mages sitting in the corner, of course.

"He liiiikes her," Happy unashamedly said, nudging his partner, who was currently scowling at the sight.

Lucy turned towards the cat, her cheeks set ablaze as she yelled, "H-Happy! Be quiet!"

Jason awkwardly chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's cool, Lucy. You're right, Happy! I do like her!"

Happy's jaw dropped in surprise. Nobody had ever confessed something like that whenever he used his annoying catchphrase. People always denied it. Yet here Jason was, blatantly spilling his emotions. The blue cat unconsciously looked up to see his partner's face. As he predicted, the dragon slayer's face was scrunched up in a way that told Happy he was undoubtedly jealous. The exceed stifled a laugh.

"He liiiikes her too," Happy thought, but didn't dare say aloud. The cat knew when not to tease his friend.

Lucy stood awkwardly as if Jason was confessing to her all over again. Her chocolate-brown eyes landed on Natsu to see him pouting with his arms crossed. "Is he jealous?" she wondered. The warm feeling made its way back into her stomach. Shaking her head furiously, Lucy shoved that thought away. "As if! Natsu wouldn't get jealous over that! He has no reason to be jealous anyways!"

"L-Let's get to work already!" Lucy stuttered, taking her spot next to her boss.

And that is how Lucy worked the most awkward seven hour shift with a certain pair of eyes watching her interaction with Jason the entire time.

"You know, Natsu," Lucy started as the trio were on their way to get something to eat, "you didn't have to come if you were just going to be grumpy the entire time!"

"Oi, I wasn't grumpy!" the dragon slayer retorted. "I was just bored! You have such a boring job, Luce! How could you choose this over dangerous jobs with me and Happy?"

"My job is not boring, thank you very much!"

"Do you get paid as much?"

"W-Well money isn't important…"

"See!" Natsu exclaimed, gaining the attention of everyone around him. "You are the greediest person I know, Lucy! You belong in Fairy Tail going on jobs with us!"

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

Lucy sighed as they continued their walk to a barbeque joint in town. That is, until her eyes landed on the new frozen yogurt place she had been dying to go to but never had the chance. Scratch that, she had plenty of opportunities to go but never wanted to go alone. She suddenly turned around to face Natsu, who had been following her rather closely.

Natsu was surprised when Lucy randomly stopped and turned to face him. Their faces were right in front of each other, way too close for comfort. A tint of pink to match his hair made its way onto his cheeks. The boy wanted to jump back, but he couldn't. It was as if his feet were glued to the ground. He had been this close to Lucy before, but he was always the one to instigate it, never the other way around. Natsu then started to look in her eyes, they were such a deep shade of brown it was like he was swimming in rich chocolate. They were so bright and eager as well. He cursed at his ability to hear his own heartbeat, which was thumping rapidly in his chest.

Happy watched his partner with wide eyes. It was so blatantly obvious. He liked her. And it wasn't a joke this time! Natsu liked Lucy, there would be no other explanation for him to look at her like that- or to get so jealous after finding out Jason liked her. "He probably doesn't even know himself. These two are such dense idiots. I have to tell Mira when we get home!"

The boy cleared his throat as he tore his gaze away. "W-What do you want? You can't just stop like that."

Lucy stuck her tongue out at him and shot back, "Well maybe you shouldn't be following me so close! Anyways, can we eat here instead? I've been dying to try it out but didn't wanna go alone!"

"Why didn't you and Jason go?"

"S-Shut up, Natsu!"

Natsu playfully nudged the girl and asked, "So are you two a thing or something?"

Lucy led the way into the frozen yogurt shop while answering, "Of course not, idiot. I turned him down. You know, this really isn't any of your business though!"

Natsu laughed and went to fill his cup with a mixture of different flavors. He started with the mango, then pineapple, and finished with cake batter. Lucy stared at the choice of flavors with a pout. How could those be appetizing together? She understood the mango and the pineapple, but why the cake batter? Lucy filled her cup about three quarters of the way with only cake batter yogurt. She then helped Happy fill his own cup with vanilla. The next step was Lucy's favorite part, though she had to wait for Natsu to finish first. The girl watched as he dunked handfuls of coconut shavings and gummy bears. Lucy cringed at the thought of what his deadly concoction would taste like. She then sprinkled oreo crumbs, cookie dough pieces, and brownie bites into her own cup. To top it all off, she covered it with a mountain of whipped cream and cherries. The mage licked her lips in anticipation.

"What do you want on yours, Happy?" Lucy asked, taking the vanilla frozen yogurt into her hand once again.

"I want the Swedish fish!" the cat excitedly answered.

"You know these aren't real fish right?"

"I'm not stupid, Lucy! Anything that is shaped like a fish is good!"

Lucy giggled and sprinkled the fish-shaped gummies into the cup until Happy told her to stop. She then walked towards Natsu and put her cup along with Happy's on the scale to weigh their three cups.

"Oi," Natsu starting, reaching towards Lucy's cup before she slapped his hand away, "why are you putting your cup with ours? I'm not paying for you!"

"Yes you are!" Lucy shot back. "I'm letting you stay with me, it's the least you could do!"

Natsu mumbled something incoherently as he handed the cashier more money.

"My, my," the older female cashier started, "what a cute couple!"

"WE AREN'T A COUPLE!" the two shouted in unison. This brought back old memories of when people always mistook them to be in a relationship.

Happy ignored the two and said to the cashier, "Aren't they?"

Natsu snatched his cup from the scale while walking to take a seat. He could feel his cheeks warming up. Lucy and Happy followed in pursuit. Munching happily on their frozen yogurt, they all let out happy sighs, pleased with the taste. Natsu eyed Lucy's cup devilishly and quickly scooped some of it onto his spoon before plopping it in his mouth.

"Natsu, that's mine!" Lucy shouted, hitting her old partner on the arm. "Eat your own, jerk!"

"But yours looks so good!" he happily replied, a wide grin on his face.

"Too bad! It's not my fault you made yours all gross!"

"Oi, it's not gross! It's delicious! Here, try some!" He then got some of the yogurt onto his own spoon and held it out to the girl.

Lucy eyed the spoon while her cheeks started to burn. That was Natsu's spoon. His mouth had been on it and he was nonchalantly giving her a bite with the same spoon. Sure, they had shared food together in the past, but that was before! They grew apart and became new people! There was no way she could just-!

Natsu grinned at the girl with a wide smile after shoving the spoon into her mouth. Apparently she was too lost in thought she didn't notice the red spoon going towards her mouth.

"See, isn't it good?" he asked, his eyes bright with anticipation.

All Lucy could do was nod in reply, her cheeks starting to match his hair. To be honest she wasn't even sure of what the yogurt tasted like for she was too focused on the fact that she just ate off of Natsu's spoon.

"An indirect kiss," Happy randomly said as he munched contentedly on his own frozen yogurt.

"H-Happy!" the blonde mage screeched in embarrassment. Slowly turning to face Natsu to see his reaction, she was startled to find his face mere inches away from her own.

"What do you say, Luce?" he teased with a smirk. "Why don't we make it direct this time?"

Lucy squealed as she pushed the dragon slayer far away from her, ignoring the laughter from her company. She mentally cursed herself when she realized how fast her heart was beating and needed to get some space.

"S-Stupid idiots!" she cried out, her face flushed worse than before. "I'm going home to work on my novel!"

With that, the celestial mage stormed out of shop, still able to hear Natsu and Happy laughing in the distance. She placed her hand over her heart, and sure enough it was beating rapidly enough she felt it was going to fly out of her chest.

"I really need to get a hold of myself."

The old three musketeers of Fairy Tail sat in Lucy's living room for their first night staying in her apartment together- or at least their first night with Lucy knowing they were there. Natsu and Happy were animatedly telling a story from their trip, using insane hand gestures and taking breaks to laugh. Apparently their laughter was contagious, for Lucy couldn't help but laugh along with them.

"And then Gildarts ran back for us crying and beating Natsu up for accidentally taking his bag full of dirty pictures!" Happy cried out, rolling on the floor with laughter.

At this point everyone was crying while their stomachs began to cramp from laughing too much. Once they were all somewhat calmed down, Natsu faced Lucy with bright eyes.

"So now it's your turn!" he said. "Tell us one of your stories since we left!"

The celestial mage awkwardly chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. She didn't really have any interesting stories. The parts of her life before Natsu came and after he left were dreadful and terribly boring. How was she supposed to explain to him that she had no stories to tell because she always locked herself in her apartment, too scared of being abandoned again?

"Well, hmm…" she started, racking her brain for at least one interesting story. Finally, something popped into her head, though it was horrendously embarrassing. Either way, she couldn't let them find out how much of an introvert she became when they left. "Alright, you better not make fun of me, got it?"

The two of them stifled a smile and nodded their heads. Lucy knew they were bound to laugh but she continued anyways.

"OK, so when I first moved to Crocus, I had like no money whatsoever. I stayed in Magnolia, not really going on many jobs because I didn't wanna go by myself and everyone was just about gone by then. So I was absolutely broke and eventually kicked out of my apartment, which is why I moved here! Nab offered me to stay with him, but who would want to live with Nab? Anyways, Jason found me and offered me a modeling job for those skimpy photoshoots and I accepted, and it sucked! Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful to Jason for offering me a job because then I could pay rent and everything on time!"

She continued, her face getting redder by the second, "But you know, models actually don't get paid as well as I thought. When I got my first paycheck, I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of stuff for the apartment and I may have bought some clothes and other stupid things… And I also may have forgotten to save enough money for rent. I was barely short of the money I needed, but still short. I-I couldn't just get kicked out again! I had no choice!" Lucy covered her red face with her hands and she let out a squeal.

Natsu leaned closer to her excitedly, a mischievous grin on his face. "What did you do, Lucy!?" He could tell it was something embarrassing, he needed to know. The blonde mage mumbled something incoherently. "What did you say?" Her voice was too muffled from her hands being in her face when she said it again.

"Lucy, just say it!" Happy cried out, practically wiggling in his seat in anticipation. The cat had a feeling at what she did, but wanted to confirm his suspicions.

"I DID A NUDE PHOTOSHOOT TO GET THE MONEY I NEEDED!" Lucy shouted, burying her head in her hands. Laughter erupted from the two sitting across from her, embarrassing the girl even more. "I-I told you not to laugh!"

"No," Natsu started between cackles, "you said not to make fun of you. You didn't say anything about laughing!"

"It's the same thing!"

"I wanna see the naked pictures of Lucy!" Happy cried out, flying around the apartment and trashing it in hopes of finding them stashed away somewhere.

"Oh, me too!" Natsu said, getting up to join the exceed.

"S-Stop, I don't have it! After paying rent I bought all of the copies I could afford and burned them!" Lucy shouted.

"But there were some that you couldn't buy?"

"W-Well, yeah… Only two though, so you'll never see the pictures, idiots!"

"C'mon, Luce!"

"No!"

"I knew she would keep one!" Happy suddenly cried out, carrying a magazine in his hand.

Lucy shrieked and shouted, "You stupid cat! Give it to me right now!" She then went running towards the exceed before he could look for her pictures. Just before she could grab the magazine, Happy threw it towards the dragonslayer, who caught it easily. Lucy then ran towards him and it quickly became a game of monkey in the middle, though instead of a ball it was Lucy's nudes.

"That's it!" she cried out. "LUCY KICK!"

With that, the celestial mage used her specialty move to knock down Natsu. Turning around, she repeated the process to the blue cat cowering in the corner. Snatching the magazine from the floor, Lucy sighed with relief that they didn't see it- though the two had seen her naked before, more than once I might add. Walking towards the dragon slayer, she used one hand to tickle his foot while used the other to hold the magazine in front of his mouth. Natsu screamed and wiggled under her touch, breathing fire and burning the magazine to a crisp.

"No, Natsu! You just burned the magazine! Now how will we see Lucy naked?" Happy cried out.

"I have an idea!" Natsu replied, quickly recovering from the kick. He wiggled his fingers, about to grab for Lucy's clothes before the girl turned around and kicked him again in the face. "Oi, Lucy! I was just kidding!"

"Sure you were!" the blonde mage replied. "I have work tomorrow, we should go to bed now. And STAY on the couch!"

"Aye, sir!"

Lucy walked into her room with a smile written on her face. She hadn't felt this happy in so long, she had nearly forgotten what it felt like. Climbing into bed with Happy by her side, the two slowly drifted into sleep, though the girl would be lying if she said she didn't feel another presence enter her bed about an hour later. And she would also be lying if she said it didn't make her glad he joined them.

AN: I hope you guys liked that as much as I did! Btw, Lucy's frozen yogurt was what I always get. :) I love cake batter frozen yogurt haha!

Kaylacutiepop: (Chapter 5) Oh no I somehow missed your review for the older chapter! My bad and thanks for the review! :)

Mavis Chase: Haha thank you! :D And once I finish this story I'll definitely start watching it :)

MirrorFlame: And more you shall receive! :D Thanks for the review!

Guest: I'm glad you loved it! :D And thank you! I don't like making everyone wait super long for an update :)

Alexa: MAN I HOPE YOU THINK THIS CHAPTER WAS CUTE FOR YOUR FANGIRL HEART TOO! Haha thank you for the awesome review! :D

Court818: Haha you'll find out later! :D Thanks for the review again :)

J.C: Lol I love these reviews! Keep them coming! :D And by all means review all of my stories if you like Ulquihime! (Warning: my first story is terrible haha!) Thanks again! :D

12Rayne: Oh yes, Mira will definitely enjoy it haha! Thank you for the review :D

Sama775: Even more nalu fluff to come! ;) Thanks for the review! :)