Chapter Text
Lucy Heartfilia was used to the hustle and bustle that always overwhelmed her family's small bakery in the resort village of Siren at this time of year. She had lived there all her life—except, of course, when she studied at Magnolia university for a few years—and she had always known that, in addition to writing, she wanted to work at her parents' bakery called Celestial Cakes & Cookies. She had grown up watching her parents work and when she was old enough, her parents had decided to make her an employee and Lucy had enjoyed it ever since. She took care of the sales side and the parents took care of the baking. That had been their agreement. It worked, because the work was efficient, which had brought them a good reputation and more customers. The bakery was now more popular than ever and even though her parents didn't say anything, Lucy knew they were happy with the situation.
Christmas time was definitely the busiest time in the bakery, because the holiday village had a lot of tourists from all over Fiore in addition to the local residents. Sometimes there was a line all the way outside, and on the coldest days, Lucy's mother Layla went outside through the side door to serve them a warm drink for free. From time to time, the woman was also at the cash register helping Lucy when the rush reached its peak around noon. When Lucy finally got to take a break, she barely had time to eat a small piece of bread and drink a glass of juice when she already had to go back to the cashier to do sales work.
"Thank you and goodbye!" Lucy said each time a customer left with their purchases. The next person in line came to the checkout accompanied by a couple of impatient young children and their mother didn't seem to be in a very happy mood either as she unloaded her purchases on the counter without saying a word. Lucy guessed that she just wasn't in that mood and calculated the price of the purchases on the computer which was probably the only very modern device in the entire bakery since the place was built in an old-fashioned house. They started using modern payment options to speed up checkout after the bakery became popular. Before there had been an old-fashioned cash register and paying in cash had been mandatory, but eventually her parents had realized how much easier it was if the payment was delivered in a more modern way. Lucy had quickly learned to use the new devices once they had arrived and been installed.
"That makes 2345 jewels," Lucy said to the children's mother and turned the card reader towards her as she dug out a large brown paper bag from under the wooden counter to put her purchases in while mother paid for her purchases with her card. "Here. Thank you and goodbye!" Lucy added as she handed the bag to the woman with a smile as she made her payment.
"Goodbye," the woman said. "Come on, kids, we have to hurry home before daddy gets home from work," she added to her children, who followed her out of the store without saying a word.
From time to time families also came to the bakery whose children were so restless that they caused minor chaos throughout the bakery and even tried to get into the back room and into the kitchen and their parents didn't care at all. Lucy had told her father about it and he had put a lock on the door leading to the back of the bakery so that nothing like this would happen again. However, parents usually came to the store without their children because the probability of queuing was so high.
*
Finally, in the afternoon, luckily, the worst rush began to subside and Lucy could finally breathe and eat something properly, because there were not a single customer in the store at that moment. She was already heading towards the kitchen to get something to eat when the clock next to the front door chimed and a man entered. He had an unusual color of hair, the likes of which Lucy had never seen before – It was pink. He was wearing a dark coat, a white scarf and orange gloves that didn't match the rest of his outfit. The pants were also as dark as his jacket. He was handsome and Lucy, who hadn't even spoken to men in years, was embarrassed. The man gave him a gentle smile as he started to come towards Lucy, who was having a hard time not looking at him.
"Hello," the man greeted the blonde.
“Hi,” Lucy said, hoping to sound like a calm salesperson. "How can I help you?"
"I came to pick up a package ordered by my grandmother Eileen Dragneel."
Lucy nodded. "I'll go get it from the side room. Just a moment,” she said and then walked into a side room where the ordered packages were kept ready for the buyers. The room was not large and Lucy did not know what it had been used for when the house had not yet been owned by the Heartfilia family. Now it served as a warehouse for custom work, and they simply called it the Closet. The name came from the fact that there had been enough space in the room for two rows of shelves, which were located on both sides of the room. All the shelves had gradually filled up during the last few days when so many people placed orders. There were so many of them that a few boxes had to be put on the floor, waiting for space to be freed up on the shelves.
Lucy rummaged through the boxes on the shelves – and thanked her luck that the packages were in alphabetical order – until she found what she was looking for. To Lucy's delight, Eileen Dragneel's box was on the very bottom shelf, because Lucy hated having to climb the ladder to get packages from the upper shelves. They were flimsy and unreliable and Lucy couldn't understand why new ones hadn't been bought yet. She had told her parents about it many times, but nothing had been done about it yet.
"I have to bring it up again," Lucy muttered quietly to herself as she picked up the package in her lap from the shelf. She carried the box from the Closet to the shop side and then lightly kicked the door of the room shut behind her. As she carried the box, she noticed that the mysterious salmon haired man was looking around the store. Of course, there weren't as many products for sale as there were just a few hours ago, because there had been so many people shopping.
On the store side, there were shelves on both sides of the room. On the right side, nearby the door, there were always different pastries and on the left side there were different breads on their own shelves, ready in bags and in a pile in a crib next to the packaged ones. The pastries, on the other hand, sat in the wooden cribs next to each other so customers could pick them up and put them into bags with a wooden handle. In the middle of the room there was also a dark brown clay with dark and light baguettes. Now, of course, there weren't any left because they had been popular today.
“Ah, too bad. There are no more Christmas star tarts here," the salmon haired man sighed when he came back to the cash register again after hearing Lucy's footsteps.
"Those and the baguettes were really popular today," Lucy replied. "If you want those tarts, best time to get them is to come here in the mornings. It's crowded here after noon."
"I'll keep that in mind," the man grinned with a playful twinkle in his eyes.
Lucy nodded and then opened the cardboard box to make sure that the order was correct. It was necessary because Eileen Dragneel wanted to be sure the order was correctly done. If there was something missing, the woman gladly came to the bakery to discuss the matter face to face. Lucy had seen it a couple of times when she was younger how she had yelled at Lucy's parents for a mistake in the order.
"I'll check that this order is in order," Lucy said as the salmon haired guy looked curiously at the blonde's antics.
The man grinned. "Grandma seems to have been here before, huh?"
He was so handsome doing so that the blonde’s heart immediately skipped a beat. She had to fight against blushing so this guy wouldn’t notice it.
“If there's anything left out of this, she'll come here and slurp it to us,” she replied, surprised that she sounded so calm.
"Sounds exactly like my grandmother," the man laughed.
"Do you live here? I don't remember seeing you before," Lucy asked curiously as she went through the package's product list on the computer.
"I don't. I'm just here on vacation to see grandma. I live in Magnolia.”
Lucy nodded, noting that there was no ring on the man's left ring finger. It was surprising to her because this man was so handsome there was no way he could be single. However, she didn't ask about it, because it would’ve been inappropriate.
“This package seems to be fine. Your grandmother also seems to have paid for this online according to this, so you can just take it with you,” the blonde said and she repacked the box.
"Good. When I came here, I was wondering if I have to pay for this or not as I forgot to ask grandma about it," the salmon haired man said as he took the box in his arms. "Merry Christmas, Blondie," he cooed as he headed for the front door.
"Merry Christmas, Pinkie," Lucy cooed to him, willfully ignoring the fact that she had more or less just flirted with a complete stranger. He flashed Lucy a playful grin over his shoulder as he left. As the door closed behind him, Lucy let out a deep sigh. She really couldn't deny that she had felt an attraction towards that man.
*
Natsu Dragneel sighed as he entered the house where Grandma Eileen Dragneel lived. He had ended up picking up her package only because no one else had time and also because he had just arrived in Siren from Magnolia. As soon as he had stepped through the white front door into his grandmother's familiar house, she had just walked up to him and ordered the man to go get his package. Natsu hadn't even had time to take his bags to the room where he would be staying during his two-week vacation when he already had to turn around and head back to the village.
"Bring the package to the kitchen and I'll check if it's okay," Eileen Dragneel said in her familiar smoky tone when Natsu had taken off his coat and carried the box to the living room doorway, where the woman had then noticed him and started to lead him to the kitchen. Natsu followed her politely because he had learned a long time ago that this woman was not worth fooling around with. She always got what she wanted one way or another.
“Put it here,” Eileen commanded, pointing to the granite counter in the kitchen. Natsu did so and the old woman immediately got down to business. She opened the cardboard box and began to dig out the treats she had ordered. Natsu really hoped that she thought the order was correct, because it had seemed to him that the young deli seller had been almost obsessively careful that the order was correct as Natsu had watched her ramble as she checked the contents of the box.
"Who was the seller?" Eileen asked curiously as she took out different bags of different gingerbread biscuits from the box; some had different decorations and some didn't. There were also Natsu's favorite chocolate covered gingerbread biscuits.
"I didn't ask her name," Natsu answered honestly.
"Describe her."
"She was young, maybe around the same age as me, blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes," Natsu replied and was surprised when the mysterious but cute sales clerk girl came to his mind so clearly even though they had only seen each other for a moment and Natsu didn't think he would see her again. How would he know if he would have to go to the bakery again?
“Ah, so you met their daughter,” Eileen said. “You could have asked for something extra, boy,” he added.
"I didn't think much about it at the time," Natsu defended himself.
Eileen looked at her grandson with a knowing look in her eyes for a moment without saying a word and during that time Natsu blushed deeply. The sales clerk girl at the bakery had really been the reason why he hadn't realized to ask for something extra. She had just been so attractive and also really, really nice.
"Well, maybe next time then," Eileen said as she turned her attention back to the contents of the box that was now spread out on the table. It consisted of a tiger cake and another cake with whipped cream on top and little Christmas characters standing in the middle.
“Are we really going to eat all this?” Natsu asked as the woman started putting the products in the cupboard with Natsu helping her.
"I ordered a smaller amount of stuff this year compared to the previous years. According to my calculations, there won’t be leftovers", the woman replied with a grin.
"I believe you, Grandma," Natsu said. "I'm going to unpack in my room now."
"Go ahead, boy, I'll be fine here with these," Eileen replied.
Natsu nodded and then headed out of the kitchen back into the hallway where his things were still waiting by the coat racks where he had left them when he entered the house earlier that day. He grabbed them with him and went upstairs to the second floor where his room was located. He had always stayed in the same room which was located in the middle of the corridor. Next to it was his big brother Zeref's room and on the other side were the rooms reserved for their parents. There were also a couple of guest rooms across the hall but Natsu had never seen anyone use them.
Natsu sighed at the door and then stepped into a cozy room. He looked around his room. It hadn’t changed at all since he had last lived there for a few days in the summer. It was just the right size for him. There was a light brown table in front of the window. On the right side of the window was a bookshelf, on the shelves of which, in addition to books, there were various decorative items. On the other side of the window was an empty corner.
Well, usually the corner was empty.
Now there was a small Christmas tree with silver, gold and white decorations and under it were already packages that Natsu assumed were from his family. On the other side of the room was Natsu's bed and a wardrobe where he could put his clothes. He glanced at his familiar bed and realized he was tired and that a nap would do the trick, but he knew it would be dinner time soon and that's why he couldn't do it.
Natsu sighed again and sat down on his bed. It was hard for him not to wonder if he had made a mistake by not asking the name and phone number of the bakery girl before leaving. He was sure that the girl was single, because when Natsu left, she had responded to his small-scale flirtation without any shame. Maybe they would meet again by chance? Natsu found himself hoping for that.
*
A few days later, Natsu was walking around the streets of snowy Siren with no destination in mind. He hadn't visited the village in years because his parents had moved to Magnolia for work when Natsu and Zeref were small. Back then Siren had been just a small village by the sea but now the place had become completely different – many of the places that Natsu remembered from his childhood were gone and either shops or various inns had been built in their place. Natsu was surprised that an outdoor water park had even appeared on the beach. It hadn't been there before. Of course, it wasn't open in the winter, and Natsu had already decided that he would come to Siren sometime in the summer so he could take a closer look at it – preferably with a date, of course.
Natsu shivered as a cold gust of wind appeared from somewhere and blew right at him. He pulled his beanie deeper into his head and hurried forward down the road, wondering why he had left his car on the boardwalk and not closer to his current location. The road he walked on was the same one Natsu had walked or cycled to school as a child. That building had clearly been torn down and replaced by a fine modern hotel that looked like it was full of luxury that only the rich could afford.
Natsu stopped. He had no idea where he was going. He had just started walking from the boardwalk wherever he felt like going and now he wasn't sure why he had chosen this direction. It was quieter there than in the center of the village, which it had been full of noise when Natsu had been there a while ago. The street was decorated for Christmas with golden strings of lights and small garlands with green mistletoe leaves and red ribbons were hanging from the ends of the street lamps.
"Why am I here – oh, I see," Natsu smiled as he found himself standing in front of Celestial Cakes & Cookies and immediately understood why his feet had brought the man lost in thought to this very street. The cute girl at that bakery had haunted Natsu's thoughts every day since they had met. Girl’s enchanting chocolate brown eyes had haunted him even in his dreams. Natsu decided to go see if the cutie was there and see if they could do something together before he had to go back to Magnolia. He would definitely regret it later if he didn't take care of it right now and that's why he walked briskly to the shop's wooden door and opened it. The doorbell jingled happily as soon as the man entered the warm shop. The smell of breads, cakes and pastries immediately wafted into Natsu's nose and soon after that his stomach grumbled from a hunger that Natsu hadn't even realized he felt before.
"Hello, Pinkie," said a familiar voice from the cash register. "I didn't expect to see you again."
Natsu smirked at the blonde. "I happened to be in this area and decided to visit you again."
"Oh, that’s so sweet," the girl said and blushed. "Would you like to try some orange cinnamon soda?" she then asked.
"That’s an odd combination," Natsu said in bewilderment.
"It is delicious! I swear it will knock your socks off, Pinkie!” the girl said excitedly, taking out two glass bottles from the small blue fridge that Natsu hadn't noticed before. Maybe it hadn't been here yet when Natsu had been here on his grandmother's errands. The blonde came out from behind the cash register, quickly opening both bottles of orange liquid. She handed the other bottle to Natsu with a smile.
"We have a collaboration with a local brewery which made this festive soda. You can get this everywhere in Siren," she explained.
"Alright, I'll taste this," Natsu chuckled. "You are the perfect saleswoman. You can get anyone to buy anything.”
"It's part of the job," the girl said with a smile. "I'm Lucy, by the way," she added.
"And I'm Natsu," Natsu introduced himself and then he took a sip of the soda that Lucy had offered him. He was very surprised by how much he liked the drink. It was just the right amount of sweet and the flavor balance between orange and cinnamon was perfect. “Wow, you didn't lie, Lucy. This soda is delicious,” he said.
"Did that knock your socks off?" Lucy teased him.
"No, but I definitely want to take this with me," Natsu grinned.
Lucy nodded. “Look, I have to be honest with you,” she sighed, and the saleswoman's facade immediately disappeared. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since you last came here," she said, blushing a little.
"Then we have the same problem," Natsu said quietly. "I think that's the real reason why I really ended up coming back here."
"I'm glad you did," Lucy said softly with a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she looked at Natsu.
"I’m single and ready to mingle," Natsu said before the girl could even ask.
"How did you know I was going to ask about that?" she asked in surprise.
"You had the look in your eyes that told me you were thinking about it."
"Blame yourself for that, handsome."
"I won’t," Natsu grinned.
Lucy giggled. "That was a good answer Natsu."
"I know an even better answer", Natsu said.
"Spill the beans then," Lucy said in a curious tone.
"I'd love to go out with you because there's clearly something going on between us."
Lucy’s face lit up into the most brightest smile he had ever seen. “Let’s do it!”
Natsu grinned and took another sip of the cinnamon orange soda which became his favorite thing about Christmas that year.