Red Asters & Purple Gladioli

Chapter 1

9:00 a.m.

'Lucy Kick,' a blonde bombshell shrieks, shattering the silence while clutching a blanket to her chest. Her face rivaling a tomato in her anger and embarrassment, as she watches her pink haired partner and his blue cat fly through the air before slamming into the wall opposite her bed, causing plaster to flake off the ceiling and softly twirl down like snow around the pair.

'Lucy... you're too loud, so early in the morning, go back to sleep,' Natsu whines before making himself comfortable on the carpeted floor.

'Lushee I'm still sleepy, we came back late from that fishing trip,' Happy remarks while yawning, sprawling over his Dragon Slayer's back.

'That doesn't explain why you have to sleep in my bed! Can't you just sleep at your house instead of crawling into mine every time?'

'But Lushee your bed is warmer than ours and your house is nearer too. Also, you had food and we were sooooo hungry!' The blue cat mumbles matter-of-factly and nods off to sleep, dreaming about fish, 'Fishy, fishy come to Happy, I'm only going to eat you,' he drools out.

Lucy sweats at her partners' antics and gives her patented "I-give-up-take-me-now" sigh. Stretching, she gets up to make breakfast, knowing that the smell of food would wake the two up faster than more yelling.

While cooking she wonders about her dream. She's had the same dream almost every night for over a year now. Having finally found her soulmate, they had taken her out for the perfect date. She dreamed of them getting down on one knee with a square, blue box in their hands, the night sky lit up with gleaming constellations, as they lifted the box to reveal... a burping Happy patting his bloated stomach in the shape of a ring? 

That had woken her up immediately. The last thing she always remembers is seeing spiky pink hair and intense onyx eyes as sharp teeth grinned at her.

'Wait a minute, pink hair? Onyx eyes? Sounds like Natsu!' she exclaims and lets out a groan, hitting her head against the kitchen wall, 'Great, here I thought it was my soulmate, but turns out it was just Natsu all this time.'

'Funny, loyal, caring Natsu who actually looks pretty cute when he grins...' Her mind trails off treacherously.

'No, no, no way, bad Lucy, bad! He's your best friend, your partner, he probably already found his soulmate and doesn't have any of those feelings for you. Besides, you're waiting for your Prince Charming, remember? And it's not him! Right?' Lucy repeats, slapping her slowly reddening cheeks.

'Who's not what, Luce?' Natsu asks, standing in the kitchen doorway looking at Lucy, a frown twisting his mouth and a questioning look in his eyes. His eyebrows scrunched together in extreme concentration.

'Natsu! What? Nothing! When did you arrive?' Lucy stutters nervously, and giggles hysterically. 'More like how much did you hear?' She thinks, a panicked look in her eyes.

'You're weird Luce, and I think you have a fever, your face is all red,' Natsu says, walking over and putting the back of his hand on Lucy's forehead, a worried expression furrowing his brow. Lucy's eyes widen at his closeness as her mouth goes dry. Her brain fogging up, which is what compels her to ask the next question. 

(She insists later that a lack of sleep caused her to become fatigued and not at all Natsu's proximity, leading to the following behavior).

'What are you doing, Natsu?' Lucy whispers softly (and rather foolishly), as her eyes oscillate between drowning in Natsu's orbs and hastily looking away at the hem of her shirt before being drawn back to his gaze again.

'You like him,' Happy breaks in, drawling out the "I", while snickering at the two of them. His feathery, snow- white wings keeping him afloat over their heads, paws covering the Cheshire grin on his blue face, as he struggles to contain his laughter. This prompts Lucy to regretfully look up, breaking her fidgety cycle, and glare daggers at the fish- loving feline with murder in her eyes.

'Of course, Happy just has to come in and ruin the moment,' Lucy thinks angrily, 'Ahhh! This is not a moment, nope, nuh-uh, no!' Lucy grimaces, 'Wait, what did that cat just say?'

'Happy, you stupid, furry feline, I do not like him!' Lucy yells, her face steaming again, before grabbing him by the tail and throwing him up towards the ceiling. She then proceeds to calmly seat herself and tuck into the pancakes she had made.

Natsu stares warily at Lucy but sits down quickly not wanting to anger the blonde further and face her wrath next. At the sight of the Lucy's delicious home-made cooking, he greedily begins to inhale the pancakes on his plate, not wanting to miss out on eating.

'That was so good, thanks Luce!' Natsu exclaims, patting his bloated stomach after he finished eating. 'Well, I'm gonna go now, bye Lucy! See ya at the guild.' Natsu says grinning, 'C'mon Happy, let's go!' Natsu yells as he jumps out the window.

Happy follows behind, enthusiastically saluting, 'Aye, Sir!' and flapping his wings in the air outside.

'Why can't you just use the door?' Lucy yells after them as they leave. Shaking her head exasperatedly, she gets up and picks the plates before dumping them in the sink and decides to have a long, soothing shower before going to the guild, bracing herself bemusedly for whatever chaos she will soon encounter.