Prompt: You just moved in next door and I was opening my door to get my mail when your dog ran in and hid somewhere and you just showed up to help look for it AU
Characters: Natsu and Lucy

"STOP!"

The scream came just a second too late and a white furry flash forced its way between the pink haired man's legs and into the house. His face was a frown of confusion as the panting blonde jogged up to him, a leash in her hands.

"I'm so, so, sorry! Plue has anxiety and just as we were getting home a squirrel spooked him and he took off to the nearest shelter which would be your house since we live next door. Oh, I'm Lucy by the way, I'm so sorry I haven't had time to properly introduce myself, of course this isn't how I planned it. I was going to bake cookies and put together a little package and you were going to think me so lovely and charming and – "

"What are you going on about?" the pink haired man asked, tilting his head in confusion at the blonde – Lucy.

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a rambler" she blushed, fidgeting with the leash in her hand and hooking it onto her belt, the brown contrasting with her blue skirt.

"My dog, Plue, just ran into your house."

"What?!"

The pink haired man finished opening the door and dove inside, already chasing for the little white dog.

"You have to stay calm! Plue is horribly shy and if you startle him he'll just find a harder to get to hiding spot" Lucy moaned, stepping inside and closing the door behind her so Plue couldn't escape to the street outside. There wasn't a lot of traffic on Cherry Lane but still she'd be devastated if Plue got hit by a car or a bike.

"Stay calm? What about Happy?!"

Lucy frowned at the tall man, diving under his coffee table, his white scarf dragging alongside him as he crawled on the floor.

"You can be happy if you want? Just a calm happy" she responded questioningly as she headed for the curtains behind his couch.

"What? No, my cat – Happy! Don't dogs hate cats? What if your mutt eats him!"

"Plue is not a mutt!" Lucy practically screamed as she threw the curtains closed and started looking behind the tv, the pink haired dude taking off to another room.

"Besides, Plue is scared of cats" Lucy said, she was starting to get really worried.

A loud obnoxious cackle came from the other room, the man poked his head in the doorway and caught her brown eyes with his dark ones.

"Your dog is scared of cats?"

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest. "He has anxiety" she defended which earned another guffaw from her neighbor.

"Guess we better find him before Happy eats him" the man chuckled walking back into the living room.

"Don't be mean!" Lucy scolded, before looking at him again with concern. "You don't actually think your cat would eat him, do you?"

The young man chuckled then put a reassuring hand on the blonde's head, giving her hair a little ruffle.

"Don't worry about that Luigi, Happy is strictly a fish kind of cat."

"Good, and wait a sec Luigi?"

"That's what you said your name was, right? Luigi?"

The blonde bristled. "It's LUCY" she corrected, before frowning at him. "And, what's your name?"

"Natsu" the pink haired man shrugged before heading up the stairs. He paused halfway up and looked down at Lucy quizzically.

"Aren't ya coming?"

"Oh, uh, yeah of course" she hurried up behind him following Natsu into a sun filled workshop style room.

As they entered the room, a gorgeously fluffy Persian Blue stomped in front of them before sitting and meowing at them. Natsu bent to give the cat head scritches, which the kitten eagerly leaned into, whining when the pink haired man pulled away.

"In a minute bud, we gotta find Plue. He's a bigger scaredy cat than you" Natsu chuckled giving Lucy a wink. She rolled her eyes, heading to check under the worktable.

The cat stopped her, butting up against her legs and yowling for attention. Lucy stood still, unsure what to do. Natsu came up behind her, chuckling.

"Happy really likes attention, he won't let you do anything without getting either pets or F-I-S-H" the pink haired man explained, leaning casually against the desk, watching the blonde.

Lucy slowly crouched to get level with Happy and extended her hand so he could sniff. After a tentative sniff the cat bumped his head aggressively against her hand and she giggled and gave him scritches behind the ear, at which he purred rather loudly.

"Damn, he is loving that" Natsu chuckled.

"I'm sure he is, but we still have to find Plue. Do you know where he is, Happy?" Lucy said, not truly expecting a response; much to her surprise Happy gave a chirrup and strode away from her, stalking to the cat tree in the corner. The blonde followed the cat, Natsu following along behind her, and there in the hide at the bottom was a shaking white Bichon Frisé.

"Plue!" Lucy exclaimed as the puppy jumped happily into his owner's arms, giving her shaky kisses.

Natsu laughed. "Glad to see he's okay."

The pink haired man extended a surprisingly gentle hand towards the dog who gave it a sniff and a tentative lick.

"He likes you" Lucy said, watching in surprise as Plue leaned into Natsu's pets.

"Of course he does, animals love me."

Lucy giggled, reattaching the leash to Plue's collar.

"Well, thank you. And sorry again for him running in here, and for freaking out."

"Don't worry about it! Plue is welcome here anytime, see even Happy likes him!"

Lucy giggled watching the cat rub up against the obviously nervous and shaking dog.

"Thanks Natsu, we should go."

"Of course," he said, walking Lucy and Plue out, Happy curiously following behind.

"Besides, next time there will be cookies, right?" Natsu teased closing the door on Happy and following Lucy down the steps from his front door.

Lucy giggled. "Of course" she smiled before waving and walking towards her house.

Natsu grinned before turning the opposite way towards the mailbox, his original destination before all of the chaos. Worth it though, he thought, to finally meet the new neighbour.