A/N Apologizing for lateness. I seem to have become extremely lazy as summer has rolled around...

Disclaimer- Fairy Tail = Hiro Mashima

Lucy Heartfilia is a reasonable person. Because of this fact, during the time that it took her to blink rapidly and regain her vision, she thought of many explanations for the sudden burst of light;

One: a light bulb blew out.

Two: the sun had come out from behind the clouds and was shining through the window.

Three: someone was playing a prank on her.

Most of these things would have been resolved rather easily;

One: replace the lightbulb with a new one.

Two: close the blinds.

Three: get revenge later.

Although, for Natsu the answer was to start yelling at the potted plant in the hallway.

"Quiet down, Natsu, I have neighbors!" scolded Lucy.

Gray sprinted over to join him, cursing under his breath as he went. He had just reached him when Natsu shot out his hand and seized something behind the plant, janked it upwards, and against the wall; using his body to block Lucy's view of the object.

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! Don't kill me!" pleaded a voice in desperation.

Lucy went rigid. Where had she heard this voice before?

"We're not going to kill you," answered Natsu, clearly annoyed, "Why are you here?"

"I think the better question is how did you know we were here?" interjected Gray, his tone just as annoyed as Natsu's.

"It's not what it looks like, I swear! I was only doing it because someone asked me too." explained the unknown voice.

A memory flicked through Lucy's mind. A man of average height, droopy eyes, sizable pair of lips, and a large nose. He worked at a food storage place near the middle of the city. His attire consists of a fairly large shirt with a medallion hanging around his neck, both in which bore the number "11". He also wore a pair of baggy, striated pants with disheveled sleeves, and he was always barefoot.

How Lucy knew so much about a person she couldn't even see was simple. She had seen him before. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when she would open the back door of her work to accept the donated crates of food in his arms.

"Tablin?" she asked cautiously.

There was a pause before the unknown voice spoke up again, "Lucy? Is that you?"

Gray looked at Lucy in surprise, "You know him?"

"Yeah, we talk sometimes," she replied and Natsu shifted his hold slightly, allowing Lucy to catch a small glimpse of the dark shadow pinned against the wall.

Although he was dressed a bit differently; a black coat and black ski mask, her suspicion was proven.

"Why are you dressed like you're about to rob a bank?" Lucy asked Tablin, "Which you aren't planning, right? Since, y'know, you missed that place by about 20 miles in the other direction." she said, pointing her finger over her shoulder.

"No, he is right where he planned." said Gray, annoyance laced back into his voice, "Although hiding behind a plastic plant is a little old school. Usually they just run at us headlong. They think we have less of a chance getting away if they do that."

"Woah, wait for a minute. Why are you talking like he did something bad?" said Lucy. She knew Tablin from the conversations she had with him during the week; he wasn't a bad person.

Natsu rolled his eyes, "He is part of the press, Lucy. All they care about is a good story."

Tablin shook his head vigorously, "I'm not part of the press! I work at a food storage place in the middle of town. You can ask her." He pointed straight at Lucy. "She works at the orphanage down the street from my job. She can prove I'm not lying."

Natsu narrowed his eyes, but Lucy could see the doubt clouding his expression.

"Then why were you taking photos of us if you aren't part of the press?" he asked, using his foot to kick a metal box lying on the ground near Tablin's feet.

Lucy reached down to pick it up. It was a camera. One of the professional ones with the dial that zoomed in and out. She flipped it over and read the return address and information scrawled on the back in case the camera was lost or stolen: Jason of Sorcerers Daily.

Why in Earthland did Tablin have a camera owned by one of the reporters of the biggest newspaper in Magnolia?

"Where did you get this camera?" Lucy asked Tablin, who was still trying to answer Natsu's question, but all that was coming out was a lot of 'um's and 'you see'.

"Today would be nice." said Gray, tapping his foot impatiently against the floor.

"It's a funny story actually." Tablin finally muttered.

Gray snorted, "Real funny, I'm guessing."

"He was bribed." prompted Lucy suddenly, and then pointed to the crisp twenty tucked halfway into Tablin's pants before anyone would ask how she knew, "Didn't he say earlier that he was only doing it because someone asked him to?"

Tablin nodded vigorously, "He said he couldn't get in since your landlady banned him from coming inside on account of him 'making a racket about foolish things'. I saw him getting kicked out while I was dropping off some watermelon to one of the stands outside. "

"By 'he' you mean Jason?" asked Lucy, motioning to the camera in hand.

"Yeah, he noticed me looking at him - er - Can you have him let go of my shirt?" He eyed Natsu's hands which still held him to the wall. "It's kinda hard to talk when he is crushing my collarbone." Tablin added weakly.

When Natsu grudgingly complied, he took a deep breath, rubbing the sore area below his neck, and continued, "He noticed me looking and approached me. He said his name was Jason and he worked for the newspaper Sorcerers Daily. They need photos of the singer guy from that new famous boy band Fired Up and he was willing to pay for it."

Tablin stood up and stretched his arms to the ceiling. He smiled when his shoulder popped, "Man, hiding behind a plant takes a toll after a while. Not even lifting those huge crates of watermelon earlier made me this tired." he remarked. He janked the ski mask off his face and took a deep breath, "Not to mention how stuffy that mask was. Sheesh, and that Jason guy said it would help me not stand out."

"Hold on now," interrupted Lucy, "That still doesn't explain how you knew Natsu was with me in my apartment. Not to mention how you knew to hide out in the hallway."

"That's easy." Tablin reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a bit of paper that looked to be the torn edge of notebook paper. "He gave me this when I accepted the bribe."

He held the paper up and Lucy squinted to read the messy handwriting.

Strawberry Street. Near Magnolia Town's shopping center. With a blonde girl. Hide out in the hallway.

"The only part I don't understand is he said to make sure I got 'Natsu's COOOL girlfriend in the shot'" Tablin said eyeing Lucy with a scrutinizing look, "But there doesn't seem to be any other girl here besides you, Lucy, and you don't even follow the gossip world outside of Magnolia. Unless..." he trailed off and glanced at Gray thoughtfully.

"Not in a million years." Gray replied and shot Natsu a disgusted look, "Who would ever even consider going out with this scattered flamebrain?"

"Dito to you, Stipper." Natsu retaliated, shooting Gray the same expression of disgust.

Lucy sighed and crossed her arms. Their arguments reminded her of the kids she knew at the orphanage. Luckily, this one didn't seem to be heading into any form of physical contact, so she felt no remorse in turning her attention back to Tablin as the two boys' attention strayed to each other.

"Earlier you said something about a band? Do you mean to say that Natsu and Gray are in a band?" she asked.

At this Tablin began to laugh, "I knew it! When Jason started describing the girlfriend more, I immediately thought of you. But then again, it couldn't be you. That's why I was really surprised when he told me that they were in your apartment building." He sighed. "You honestly don't know who they are?"

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows and blushed. Tablin made it sound like knowing the identity of Natsu and Gray was common knowledge. Just how famous where these guys?

"I'm not trying to make you feel bad or anything, Lucy. After all, you have the everything going on at Fairy Hills right now. Knowing the identity of a famous boy band is probably the last thing on your mind." Tablin reassured.

"You still didn't answer the question." reminded Lucy, pointedly,

Tablin raised his hands in the universal sign for surrender, "You got me. Those two over there are the members of a rising boy band named Fired Up." Tablin deepened his voice, "The stars of girl's daydreams everywhere: Natsu, Gray, Loke, Gajeel, and Jellal, the heart swooners of todays' music. They took the industry by storm and are changing the essence of music culture in a fiery fire!"

Lucy cracked a grin, "Fiery fire'? What is that suppose to mean?"

"Oh, y'know, whatever those TV music fanatics say. Anyways, all you need to know is there are five guys and they formed a band a few years ago with the help of their manager. They are visiting us in Magnolia for two weeks as part of their worldwide tour. As for their relationship statuses - " Tablin wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner causing her to roll her eyes in amusement, " I hear all of them are free, but one who is dating their manager. Which, mind you, causes most of their female fans to go a bit wild at the prospect of become the 'girlfriend of a famous band boy.'"

"Wow. Sounds kinda crazy." muttered Lucy, stealing a glance at the Natsu and Gray, who were too busy butting heads and shooting childish names at each other to notice much of anything.

Not exactly what Lucy would call a heartstopper.

"Sorry, Tablin, but you might have to return the money. We can't be having these photos out to the public causing all kinds of misunderstandings, " said Lucy as she began pressing buttons on the camera; looking through its memory.

Tablin sighed, "Figured as much. Can I at least return the camera after you're done? I would hate to pay for it. After all, I'm only getting paid minimum wage for my deliveries."

"Sounds fair enough."

There was a beeping sound as Lucy selected the photo Tablin had taken on the camera. It was the photo that Tablin had taken when they had opened her door. Natsu stood with one foot out the door, head held high, with his onyx eyes looking directly at the camera in shock. Gray, on the other hand, stood behind Natsu. He had his mouth open and head turned towards Lucy with a expression of confusion; like he hadn't heard her correctly. Finally, there was Lucy.

"Is that really how I look on camera?!" said Lucy in horror as she looked at photo in disbelief.

"Eh. I've seen worse. You only look like 78% horrible." said Tablin, glancing at the photo in disinterest.

"Thanks for the compliment. I'm still deleting it." said Lucy. She clicked the menu button on the side of the camera before clicking delete. A short tune played as the photo deleted off the memory.

"Did you only take one?" Lucy asked, clicking through the rest of the photos "All the other ones are of food and random people on the street"

"Yup, I didn't have time to take anymore since Mr. Pop Star had me at the throat the minute I took the first one."

Lucy winced. "Sorry about that."

"No worries. I brought it upon myself."

"You sure there aren't any more of you?" asked Lucy, throwing Tablin the camera.

"Not that I know of. Jason should be waiting out outside for me. You should get them going before he notices they are leaving."

"Right. Hey! Natsu! Gray! You guys better get out of here before anyone else find out you are here." called Lucy, causing the boys to pause in their argument, "There's a fire escape ladder a little ways down this hallway. We had some trouble with some little kids pulling the fire alarm as a prank, so the landlady disabled it a while back in order to get some sleep at night."

"Isn't that illegal?" asked Natsu as Lucy began to push them down the hallway, leaving Tablin to gawk at the trio.

"Probably, but I wouldn't complain. Since she did, the alarm shouldn't sound when you open the window."

When they reached the window, Lucy undid the latch, and pushed the window pane upwards until it locked into place. She stepped back to let Natsu and Gray climb out the window and onto the metal landing of the fire escape. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Lucy waved her hands to get their attention.

"I guess this is goodbye?" she called to them.

Gray gave her a half wave and shrugged while Natsu gave her a quizzical look. He cupped his hands around his mouth to call back, "Yeah right! I still have seventeen questions left to ask!"

Lucy paused. Was that a good idea? After all they went through he still wanted to come back just to complete a petty game she used to clear up awkwardness?

"Don't worry about the complicated stuff. We're already use to it!" yelled Natsu, reading her mind.

Lucy grinned in spite of herself, "I think you may need to go back to school, Natsu! You only have sixteen left to ask me."

A/N Before anyone asks; No, Tablin is not an OC. He is from Hiro Mashima's mind, and has even appeared in the background of his manga. I found him scrolling through the wiki. Tablin with no personality notated seemed to be a perfect photographer. (I tried with Jason at first, but I ended up scratching it since it turned out really boring and confusing)

Review? XD