Work Text:
Lucy was ears deep into her covers when the creature jumped straight onto her stomach with his full weight.
“Yeowch!”
Happy reluctantly stepped off, mumbling something about her being over-dramatic as usual.
“God, Happy, announce yourself before you do the cannon ball on my liver…” She slowly hoisted herself into a sitting position before rubbing the sleep-crust out of her eyes.
“It’s an emergency, put your vanity aside for a second!”
“Vanity?” Lucy echoed, duly confused. She was somewhat used to waking up to an immediate verbal roasting-match, but this morning in particular she felt a little extra slow. She made a mental note in the back of her head to not eat junk food into the late hours. It always gave her a sugar-hangover, and since they were just as bad as the alcohol-hangovers she didn’t really find the temporary sugar rush worth it anymore.
“Carla’s birthday is TODAY and I haven’t gotten her a gift!”
Lucy would class Happy as a bit of a mental case any given day, but with the speed his eyes darted around her apartment and the jittery twitching of his skin, she found herself clutching his shoulders tightly to hold him in place. The second she were to let go of him, he would for certain grab any shiny item in his field of view and wrap them up in pretty gift wrapping paper to give away. In fact, if he even dared looking at Lucy’s precious new quill, she’d throw him so far out the window he wouldn’t even be back for Carla’s birthday next year.
“I’ve been looking for the perfect one for months Lucy, MONTHS, I’ve tried making her things and I even tried saving money to buy her the perfect gift but once I had enough Jewel the thing it turned ugly and then I kept saving in case something better and expensiver showed up but now nothing’s good and I-”
“God! Happy, you need to breathe!”
Lucy was right — Happy needed to physically gasp for air after rapping his list of worries. While he regained some much needed oxygen to that brain, Lucy tried to understand his situation. She knew that Happy had been courting Carla for years — ever since he met her, in fact — but that no gift that she knew of had been good enough. Probably because Happy insisted on giving her fish so fresh it still wiggled its tail from muscle memory — yuck! — but she was also aware that he’d tried to give her fresh flowers (the non-wiggling kind), chocolate, and even heartfelt letters. These were all, in Lucy’s opinion, perfectly good gifts. Carla could just be… particular, with the items she possessed.
It had once struck Lucy that Carla’s entire collection of worldly items could be gathered in a backpack, without even weighing as much as her own body weight. It was like she always was ready to flee, to keep moving if she needed to. Flowers were trivial and unnecessary — especially if she really did care about them, because how was she to keep the bouquet intact if she lived her life like she was constantly backpacking through Ishgar?
Well, apart from the flowers, Lucy understood why Carla didn’t jump with glee when she got offered the other gifts. Happy’s letters were either too generic and cliché (Lucy had helped him write them plenty of times) or too jumbled to make out a single sentence. Fish stink and say nothing romantic, and Lucy knew, thanks to some information-gathering with Wendy in preparation for last year’s birthday, that anything chocolate was off-limits for Carla. When Lucy inevitably slipped up and outed the secret, Carla seemed less bothered than Wendy had made it seem like she would.
“Of course I do not enjoy chocolate. It is thick and always too sweet or too bitter. Fruit falls better in my taste.”
At the time Lucy had been surprised at how easily coaxed Carla was — that was until she learned that Carla wasn’t much of a mystery at all. It was the opposite, really; she was an open book, as long as there was a good reason why she had to relay the information.
Happy’s squeaky voice brought Lucy back to the situation in front of her.
“Lushi, you need to help me! I would’ve gone to Natsu but he’s as helpful as a Vulcan when it comes to true love!”
Lucy smiled sympathetically.
“Sure, Happy, I’ll help you. Just let me get dressed first. You can tell me about the gifts you’ve considered in the meantime, so I know what we’re working with here.”
Finally letting go of the blue Duracell-bunny, she swept her blanket aside and stood up. A quick glance at the clock to get some understanding of their time frame. 9AM. Not too shabby to have enough time to whip up something good, but the brain-storming phase could take hours, which worried her. Any other guildmate wouldn’t give the time of the gift-giving a second thought — 1AM or 11PM made absolutely no difference — but Carla was intelligent and a good observer. She could sense a hurried gift from miles away.
“Okay, so first I thought like I usually do — the finest, freshest, biggest salmon I can get my paws on.”
Lucy pulled her nightgown over her head and rummaged for a top in her drawer.
“Solid, classic, but we know she doesn’t like being gifted fish,” Lucy pointed out as she settled on a sage green top she’d forgotten she owned.
“Right, so I thought about the other stuff I’ve given her before that she didn’t seem to like. Flowers…”
“They wilt so fast,” she echoed Carla’s opinions on the fact.
“Chocolate…”
“Not to her taste.”
“Letters…”
“Not your area of expertise.”
“And I know she doesn’t like makeup or when I give her clothes.”
Lucy settled for a tennis skirt in a tan colour before pointing her attention to her hair.
“Right, since she’s very selective with what she’s wearing.” She glanced at Happy through her mirror and felt her heart sting a little. He looked so hopelessly sad.
“I don’t know what to do! She doesn’t wear jewellery, she rejects any pretty trinkets I find, and she never wants to go on the dates I offer her. Sometimes I wonder if I have a chance with her at all…”
Lucy put her brush down, satisfied with the half updo she had made. Then she turned around.
“Look, Happy. I understand that you may feel hopeless right now, but I think she really appreciates you.” Happy looked to the side, dismissive of her encouragement, but Lucy continued. “You’re a heroic guy, and your actions speak for themselves. Carla isn’t very comfortable with receiving gifts, or even compliments. In a way she’s a lot like Gray! But look how Juvia managed to warm that icy heart of his. I’m sure you can do the same. You just can’t give up on her — I think that she’s deep down a bit insecure about her place in Fairy Tail and on the team, but she needs to feel wanted. If I may put in my five Jewells here, I think you’re the only one who can really make her feel at home.”
Lucy kneeled in front of her feline friend and gave him a soft stroke over his head. She hated seeing him this down. The way his ears hung low, how his frame shrunk, how his bottom lip quivered when he tried to speak. Happy wasn’t supposed to be sad — he was supposed to be happy. No pun intended.
“You know what?” Lucy said. Happy glanced up at her, eyes a bit glossy, and she gave him a comforting smile. “I think I have an idea.”
The way his ears instantly perked up coaxed out a giggle from her.
“Really? Spill!”
Lucy stood up and brushed off the dust from her knees. “So, we know she’s picky: she doesn’t want items she hasn’t chosen herself, she doesn’t like flowers since they expire, and the food you’ve offered her so far has been stuff she’s never liked. But last year I actually got some valuable information after giving her a chummy gift last year myself.”
Happy sprung up on his feet, little legs reaching impressive speeds as he followed Lucy’s steps into the kitchen. His tail was almost wagging in a dog-like glee — she wouldn’t tell him about that comparison of course.
Finally at their destination in the middle of the kitchen, Lucy turned around to reveal her valuable information.
“Carla loves fruit!”
Her sentence flattened Happy in a split second, bringing him to exasperated tears.
“You’re useless!” He groaned, stifling a sob as he tried swallowing through the thickness in his throat.
“No! No no no, listen! She loves fruit!”
“So!?”
“So we know which area we can win her over in! We’ll make a cake, filled with fruits and berries, a sponge cake base and a whole lot of whipped cream; she’ll be thrilled!”
“...” Happy’s tail twitched as he considered her proposition. Silently he dried his tears, took a deep breath, and pumped his fist in the air with a newfound determination. “Yeah! Let’s do it!”
“Let’s give up.”
None of them could even muster a frustrated frown — their faces were drooped into defeated sacks. The kitchen was a complete mess; cracked eggshells dripping residual egg whites on the countertop, butter coating the backsplash behind the stove, and a fine layer of flour covering the room like dust. Lucy had tried to keep up with washing the utensils as they went, but somehow it still looked like a hurricane had passed through her kitchen.
She couldn’t argue. If Happy had said this thirty minutes ago, she would have gone on an inspirational spiel on how they couldn’t let his motivation dwindle — actually, scratch that: she had already done exactly that. This was the result of yet another failed attempt! So instead she just sighed with such force that the flour swirled up again, taking a while to settle.
With a monotone voice she mumbled. “So, uh… I still have a fish in the freezer. Wanna take it out to thaw?”
Just when she said that, a loud thump came from the window.
“Natsu?” It was Happy who padded over to greet him, leaving little paw prints in the mess.
“Hey buddy! Whatcha been up to?”
The scene he walked into must have left him speechless, because he didn’t say anything as he panned Lucy up and down.
“Guess,” she mumbled, too tired to leave her chair.
“Did a huge baking-monster barf on ya’? Holy crap,” a snicker started to build up, “it’s like someone dropped a bomb in here!”
Alone in his laughter, Happy took the role to scold him.
“We’ve been through the biggest crisis of the century!”
“I can see that!” Natsu wheezed for air between his snickering.
“I’m serious! And now that we failed, Carla’s never gonna love me!”
Hadn’t the exhaustion carried the tone in his voice, Lucy might have thought that he was overplaying the situation for dramatic effect. However, the tears prickling in his eyes were a tell-tale sign that there was no hyperbole in sight — he was indeed frustrated beyond redemption.
“Woah there! Don’t cry, Happy, I'm sure you’ll figure out somethin’!” Natsu crouched down to face him better, chivalrously ceasing his laughter.
“I won’t though! That’s the thing! This is the only thing that could possibly make her like me!”
“Hey now,” Natsu stopped him mid crash-out, “what’s that supposed to mean? You’re a Dragneel! I think… Well, either way I didn’t raise ya’ to be a quitter.”
Happy, somewhere in between exhaustion and confusion, wiped a tear. Natsu continued.
“So, what do we have to do to get ya’ laid?”
“Natsu?!” Lucy hissed.
“I mean, uh, hooked.”
“Not better,” Lucy commented, though ignored as Happy spoke up.
“We need to bake a cake,” he mumbled, catching Natsu up on the mission ahead of them. “It needs to be perfect and fruity and fresh, and it needs to be done in less than three hours, or else she’ll think I’m the worst tomcat ever…”
“Now, now, she tends to think that anyways,” Natsu brutally comforted.
“By Mavis, can you take this seriously?” Lucy pinched his arm slightly to get him back into supportive-mode again.
Unbothered, Natsu continued.
“But a cake you say? Well that’s easy! Ya’ shoulda’ just asked me for help. I might not be a good cook, but I’ve never burned a cake once!”
“You know that doesn’t mean anything if you’ve also never tried to bake anything?”
This time it was Natsu’s turn to pinch Lucy.
“No duh. You both know it’s me who taught Mira Erza’s favourite strawberry cake recipe, right?”
Happy looked worriedly at Lucy.
“Is he okay..? I think he must have hit his head…”
“Maybe Wendy can help..?” Lucy distanced herself from Natsu — clearly he wasn’t right in his mind.
“No, not Wendy, let’s take him to Porlyusica, otherwise we’ll have to meet Carla.”
“You’re right, let’s—”
“Oi! I ain’t brain damaged, I’m telling you! I really am good at baking!” An annoyed vein popped up in his forehead, and it took all of Lucy’s willpower to resist interrupting him to point it out. “When I was younger I couldn’t do all these dangerous missions we go on nowadays, so I took a job as a helper at that bakery down on Tulip Street. Alright pay for a thirteen year old, ya’ know? Anyways the old man seemed to like me, so he taught me the recipe for his famous strawberry cake, with the only condition being that I never could write it down. I hate writin’ anyways so I figured ‘no prob,’ but then Erza made me teach Mira to do it, so I just helped her out.”
Silence followed his explanation. Partly in disbelief, and, at least on Lucy’s behalf, partly in awe.
“I’m just sayin’. I make one hell of a cake.”
It was Happy who grabbed the metaphorical gavel and gave his verdict in the form of a solid, determined nod.
“Okay,” he said, almost with enough volume to make Lucy believe he was starting to feel hopeful again.
“But, Happy, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Her worried voice conveyed what she actually was asking; if he really wanted to get hopeful again, despite the very high possibility that he’d be disappointed with the outcome — this time without any extra chances to get Carla something better.
To her surprise, he looked her in the eye and nodded firmly.
“I gotta give it my all. For Carla!”
He pumped his fist, and by the kitchen counter Natsu grinned.
“That’s the spirit! Lucy, you still got enough of the basic ingredients for a sponge cake, right?”
She glanced over at the carton of eggs, which had gotten worse for wear since they started their baking-mission this morning, but still managed to keep two intact.
“Yeah, I think so. There’s extra butter in the fridge.”
“Great! You go out and buy some more fruit — and you, Happy, come here and help me whisk the sugar and the eggs.” Natsu found his place quickly behind the counter. He quickly washed up a bowl and the measuring cups, putting them as well as his friends back into work.
“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” She shrugged into her coat, grabbing her wallet on her way out.
Neither of the boys answered, but they seemed to be working around the mess of flour and tools in a comfortable rhythm.
“Don’t burn the house down,” she quickly added before slipping out.
Strawberries, bananas, tangerines, blueberries, raspberries and, since the merchant was doing a special, peaches. Lucy wasn’t sure they would be using even half of the assortment, but she figured they would suffice for Natsu to pick from — if he really was as good at baking as he claimed to be. She had thrown in an extra jug of heavy cream too, since all her previous whipped cream attempts had either turned into butter, or stayed in the consistency of a stubborn soup.
Brushing off her feet at the entrance, she opened the door and entered a vanilla-smelling heaven. Somehow Natsu had cleaned her kitchen more thoroughly than she had ever thought he’d known how to, all while clearly upholding his promise to bake them the perfect cake.
“Gosh, it smells amazing here!” She complimented, placing the bag on the kitchen table.
“Said so,” Natsu smugly grinned, wearing his pride on his face.
“Lucy, it’s a miracle! Our Natsu hasn’t left a bigger mess than what we started with for once!”
Happy hugged Lucy’s leg to greet her, ignoring the annoyed stare coming from the fire wizard.
“That is a miracle! Hey, come up here and decide on the fruit you want to decorate with.”
As Happy flew up to take a look, Lucy brought over the heavy cream to Natsu.
“You might wanna take care of this too,” she shoved the jar into his hands. Surprisingly, he pushed back.
In a voice only loud enough for the two of them, he told her, “You do it.”
She chuckled.
“You really don’t want me to, trust me.”
“What’s the worst that can happen? It’s whipped cream.” His face was getting close enough for Lucy to be able to tell that he had taste tested the earlier attempts — suicidal, if the burnt brick told her nothing else.
“Who do you think made it into a slop before you came over?” She shook her head.
“Oh, come on. All ya’ gotta do is keep whisking it.”
“But when I did that it turned into butter.”
This time it was Natsu’s turn to laugh — seemingly in disbelief.
“There’s no way you can be bad at making whipped cream.”
“I am! Why do you think I buy the stuff that comes in a can?”
Again he chuckled.
“‘Kay. I can help you though.” He grabbed a new bowl from under the counter, then promptly started waving the whisk enticingly.
“Are you sure? I’m telling you, I have a knack for messing it up.”
Instead of answering he motioned her over, placing her in front of the bowl, then poured in the majority of the heavy cream. Lucy was about to warn him not to give her such a big batch, in case she ruined it yet again, but Natsu spoke first.
“Now show me how ya’ do it.”
Lucy hesitated for a second, but quickly gave in. He’d promised to help her after all, so she would just have to trust that he would do one of those incredible speed-moves in case she was about to blow up the place. Natsu shoved the whisk into her hands, and she gave him one last regretful glance before starting the task ahead of her.
She started whipping the cream.
“Stop!”
Literally whipping it.
Natsu threw himself around her, holding her hands firmly in place.
“What are ya’ doing?”
“I was preparing the whipped cream,” she stated, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s splashing everywhere.” He let go of her hands and wiped off something wet — cream, she could only assume — from under her eye, underlining his point.
“Another reason why I go for the canned stuff.”
She gave the bowl another sharp flick for emphasis. Cream hit the wall with a wet splap.
Happy gasped from the other side of the room. “Woah! Do it again!”
“I’m trying to get the snap right,” Lucy said, already winding up for another swing. “It’s not making the klatsch sound yet.”
Natsu stared at her. “…You think that’s how this works?”
“Well it’s called whipped cream,” Lucy argued.
“And whips need momentum!” Happy added, nodding hard.
Before she could demonstrate further, Natsu stepped in behind Lucy and caught her hands, forcing the motion to stop. Shifting closer, he slid his warm arms around hers so he could angle the whisk properly. He tilted her wrists a fraction, slowing the motion down.
“Look, ya’ gotta do it more… normally. Like this,” he said. “Keep it even.”
The whisk moved in controlled circles, significantly quieter now. The immediate effect Lucy noticed was the fact that the splashing had ceased, as well as the frantic clatter — now only a steady scrape against the bowl remained.
Slowly but surely, she watched the surface change. Natsu stayed behind her, doubling as a guide post as the monotonous motion started to show results. The cream thickened little by little.
“…Oh.”
“Told you,” he muttered.
Across the room, Happy had claimed the cutting board. He’d dragged a knife twice the size of his paw over to himself and was hacking strawberries into shapes that ranged from almost neat to absolutely tragic.
“Happy,” Lucy warned, “watch your fingers.”
“I am watching!” he insisted, tongue peeking out in concentration as he pushed a pile of blueberries into a corner. A slice of banana slid off the board and hit the floor; he dove after it before it could escape.
Natsu huffed a silent chuckle under his breath, but didn’t stop guiding Lucy’s hands. Every time she sped up, his grip tightened just enough to slow her back down. His breath against her neck almost made her dizzy, but luckily he held her steady.
“See?” he said after another few minutes. “It holds.”
Lucy lifted the whisk. The cream clung to it instead of dripping straight back down.
Her shoulders finally relaxed. “Okay… you were right, maybe it wasn’t as hard as we made it out to be.”
“Don’t get cocky. I still don’t think it’s safe to put you near a whisk unsupervised.” His grin was audible in his voice.
Happy, who had been handling a knife for twice the amount of time either of Natsu and Lucy normally deemed safe, zipped over, holding up a misshapen strawberry slice. “Taste test?”
“How many taste tests have you had already?”
Happy paused, seemed to consider a response, but then threw the piece in his mouth without answering.
Natsu, who must have considered the cream to be of good enough quality for cake assembly, took a step back, leaving Lucy cold and wobbly in his absence. Not even remotely close to the first time he’s had this effect on her, so skillfully she hurried to take a step to the side to find alternative support as Natsu moved over to the stove top.
Setting the bowl aside, Lucy asked. “Alright, master baker. What’s next on the agenda?”
Natsu brought the sponge cake forward and tapped the top of it with a knuckle. Then, with a dramatic flair, he announced;
“Assembly!”
“Which you’re so gracefully gonna do as well, right?” Lucy cocked an eyebrow, practically daring him to assign her or Happy on the job.
In a Natsu-like manner he chuckled and ignored her question by pushing the sponge cake and a long bread knife towards her.
“Ya’ gotta cut it down, make it into layers. The old bakery guy had a special tool, but I’ve made do with a knife plenty of times.”
“No, Natsu, I don’t think this is a good idea… Isn’t it better if I cut the fruit?”
He decidedly shook his head.
“Happy’s already doing that. At least try to thinly slice off the unevenness on the top. Should be easy enough, as practice.”
Of course, he was wrong. Lucy, with shaky hands and a disastrous horizontal knifemanship, managed to sever the first cut so badly they’d have to cut away at least half an inch extra. Natsu seemed impressed at her new levels of incapability, but was quick to take over before the entire cake was in danger.
“Okay, so I’ll do the cutting, but after that you’re doing the cream layers.”
With strong but gentle hands he grabbed onto her waist and moved her out of the danger zone. Lucy, no better than a teenage boy mid-puberty, blushed harshly and had to grab on to the counter to keep her balance.
“Happy, you feelin’ satisfied with your fruits over there?” Natsu spoke with his back against the two of them, and Lucy could to her delight regain the power in her legs for another minute.
“Aye!” With Lucy still leaning on the counter silently, Happy flew over in an excited vigor, balancing blueberries like he was applying to princess school. “So do I put them on now? Frankly, Natsu, I dunno if your recipe is any good, ‘cause without glue they’re just gonna fall off.”
“Oi, move your paws away! I’m still cuttin’!” Natsu practically had to elbow Happy out of his working area. “That’s what the cream is for, idiot.”
“Don’t call me an idiot, idiot! Lushi, Natsu’s bullying me again!”
His high pitched wailing made Lucy flinch — there were few sounds in the world that gave her a headache as quick as this.
“You’re not just a snitch, but a liar too!” Natsu childishly burst out, whipping his head around to find support in Lucy.
“Let’s stay on his good side, Happy, we owe him that with how much he’s helping us,” Lucy begrudgingly admitted. Then, deciding her legs would either just have to carry or fail, she pushed herself away from the edge and took place beside Natsu again to see how far he had gotten. “Wow, Natsu! That’s so even, you’re incredible!”
Happy muttered under his breath, “Yeah, butter him up, why dontcha.”
“Look, it’s time for you two to take over,” Natsu said, ignoring the sour furball on his right. “Lucy, take like one fifth of the cream and spread it here on the first layer.”
She spread a dollop of the whipped cream carefully, smoothing it out while Happy eagerly arranged strawberries and blueberries wherever he thought they looked best. The peaches got pushed toward the edges, then pulled back again when he decided that was wrong.
They actually managed to fall into a quite nice rhythm — Natsu putting down a layer of the sponge cake, making the foundation solid so Lucy’s uneven spreading of whipped cream didn’t destroy the integrity of the cake, while Happy decided on the perfect placements for the fruit. Flour still dusted the corners of the counter, and streaks of batter clung stubbornly to the stove, but they were finally starting to feel like the end was in sight.
Lucy glanced at Happy, who was lining up slices with intense focus, and felt a small knot in her chest loosen. No longer the panicked wreck from this morning, but instead focused and hopeful. His tongue slipped out from the side of his mouth as he struggled to get a strawberry piece placed in a way he liked, and Lucy found herself grinning.
Finally, Natsu nudged a tangerine segment into place with one finger. “There.” He took a step back. “That looks decent.”
“Decent?” Happy gasped. “It looks amazing!”
Lucy wiped her hands on a towel and stepped back to look at it. Cream — some of which had ended up on the plate, fruit, a slightly crooked edge where the sponge had cracked — but imperfections included, it was perfect.
“…Yeah,” she said quietly. “It really does.”
Natsu looked like he was about to say something, but seemed to change his mind before opening his mouth. Then, a beat later, he spoke.
“Well done, Happy! Ya’ think we can squeeze in a taste test before going to the guild?” With his focus still on Happy and the cake, he reached out his hands towards Lucy’s towel, and she promptly started wiping off the majority of the mess before deeming him “too sticky” and pushing him towards the kitchen sink.
“Aye! I wanna pick out a pretty piece for Carla first though. Lushi, can you cut it? I’m gonna mess it up.”
“Sure thing, show me where you want me.”
Happy carefully guided a clean knife to the area he wanted, and then watched Lucy create the first view of the cross section with starry eyes.
“Look!” He chirped, “it’s perfect! Carla’s gonna love it!”
She carefully balanced the piece onto a smaller plate — the one with pink flowers lacing the edges — and wiped off any cream that had migrated away from the cake to make it presentable. Then Happy put a few more blueberries and whole strawberries on the side to finish it off. Lucy used plastic wrap to shape a dome over the plate, keeping it safe from debris and dirt that was likely to accumulate on the way to the guild later.
Happy was beaming with pride. “Thanks, you two! I’m gonna give it to her now, save me a piece for later, ‘kay?”
Before either of them could wish him luck, he was out the door. The apartment fell quiet the second the door slammed behind Happy. Lucy stared at it for a moment, then slowly turned around.
And immediately regretted it.
“…I’m going to cry,” she said flatly.
Flour covered every surface. A cracked eggshell stuck to a smear of batter near the stove. The floor stuck faintly under her shoes. Behind her, Natsu had already cut himself a piece of cake.
“What?” he said around a mouthful. “It survived the battle, and I’m hungry."
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. “My kitchen didn’t survive the battle.”
He shrugged and nudged the plate toward her with his elbow. “You’re thinkin’ about it too hard. Sit.”
“I should clean.”
“Cake first. Stress later.”
“…That is a terrible philosophy.”
“Works every time.”
She tried very hard not to smile — failed — and grabbed a fork. The sponge gave way easily, cream soft and cool against the fruit. When she tasted it, her shoulders relaxed.
“…Okay,” she admitted. “That’s really good.”
Natsu puffed up immediately. “Obviously.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“And right.”
They leaned against the counter side by side, sharing bites straight from the plate. Lucy watched him out of the corner of her eye — a piece of hair falling over his eye, scarf crooked, an absurd smear of whipped cream near his jaw he hadn’t noticed.
She reached over without thinking and wiped it away with her thumb, his stubble scratching her a little.
“Hold still,” she muttered.
He froze for half a second, eyes flicking to her face before he snorted. “You’re worse than Happy sometimes.”
“At least Happy appreciates basic hygiene.”
He laughed, bumping her shoulder with his. The motion made her step closer to keep her balance, and she pretended she didn’t notice.
“…Hey,” she said after a moment, quieter but still light. “Thanks for jumping in earlier.”
“For the cake?”
“For Happy,” she corrected. “You didn’t tease him once.”
“I teased him,” Natsu argued. “Just not when he looked like he was gonna explode.”
Lucy huffed a laugh. “Still. It was really kind of you.”
He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly focused on cutting another piece. “He’s my buddy. And you two looked like you were losing to a bowl of cream.”
“That bowl of cream was vicious,” she said defensively.
“You were basically abusing it, Lucy.”
“It’s called whipped cream!”
“It’s also called stirring!”
She elbowed him, but she was laughing now, loudly, in a way that shook the stress out of her shoulders. Then her gaze drifted back to the mess surrounding them.
“…I seriously don’t want to clean this.”
Natsu followed her line of sight, then shrugged. “We’ll do it later.”
We.
The word slid into her chest, warm.
Before she could think too much about it, he reached over across her to grab another strawberry, leaning in just enough that she could feel the heat rolling off him.
“Besides,” he added, mouth full again, “you should be proud. You made good cream.”
“I made a mess. You fixed it.”
He tilted his head. “Nah. You just needed someone to show ya how.”
Lucy rolled her eyes, but the smile lingered. She nudged him with her hip.
“Well, Master Baker, don’t get used to it. Next time you’re the one cleaning up.”
“Deal,” he said immediately.
She blinked. “…Wait, seriously?”
“Yeah.” He grinned, sharp and easy. “As long as there’s cake at the end.”
Lucy shook her head, laughing under her breath as she took another bite. The apartment still looked horrid, like a battlefield in the afternoon light, but somehow it didn’t feel as overwhelming anymore. Standing there shoulder-to-shoulder with him, sharing a slice straight from the plate, she thought that maybe Natsu’s mentality wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He was loud, reckless, and weirdly detail oriented — perfect fit for a husband.
She absolutely wasn’t telling him that.
“Hey,” he said suddenly, nudging her again. “Toss over the last strawberry, would ya’?”
Lucy snatched it before he could blink.
“Too slow.”