Scraps of Paper

The Carpet

"Happy?" Natsu called, cupping his hands around his mouth so his voice would echo through the small apartment. He paused, waiting to hear some noise in response, but the whole flat was silent. Grumbling, Natsu began to trek through the cluttered rooms. He moved the blanket on the couch, but his cat wasn't under there either. He checked the kitchen and the litter box, even the small hole in the wall, but the blue cat was nowhere to be seen. 

"Seriously?" Natsu muttered, pausing and gazing around with scrutiny. "Where did that little sneak go?" 

Just then, Natsu heard a noise. He frowned and followed it into his bedroom. He looked past the door and felt his eyes widen. "There you are!" He walked into the room, smirking down at the little cat. Happy looked up at him with innocent black eyes. Just as Natsu began to suspect something wrong, his foot landed on something wet. 

Natsu's whole body froze, his muscles stiffening. Slowly, he looked down at his foot. He gulped, closing his eyes as he tried to keep his anger in. 

He had conveniently stepped in a puddle of pee, Happy's pee, which his delightful pet had left for him. 

"Happy," Natsu growled, but he opened his eyes to see the cat scamper out of the room. Natsu could swear he was smiling as he padded away, his tail flickering at him mockingly. "HAPPY!" 

...

Natsu tried to ignore the pee stain. He cleaned it up, of course, but the smell still lingered and permeated his room. He thought it just needed some time to clear out, so he spent two days sleeping on the couch, letting the odor escaped through the open bedroom window. That plan didn't work too well, and eventually the smell leaked through the rest of the house. 

It was hard to eat with the scent of piss in your nose all the time. No body had ever told Natsu how bad cat pee smelled. He'd always assumed that kitty litter was just so they didn't have to pee outside, but he could now see that it did so much more. 

Finally, a week later, Natsu couldn't take it anymore. Despite his limited funds, he found himself parking in front of a small carpet store. It was one of those tiny stores that weren't able to stay up on their own, so they were connected with another shop. The other shop happened to be a starbucks, much to Natsu's dismay. 

Sighing, the pink haired boy exited his car and, avoiding the people milling around the coffee store, slipped into the carpet store. Samples of carpets hung all over the walls, and a rack in the middle of the room completely obscured the view of the store. The store smelled like fresh fabric and dust, much to his nose's chagrin. He sneezed as soon as he entered, alerting his presence to someone past the carpets. . 

"Oh! I'm over here!" A girl with a squeaky voice called out. Natsu reluctantly walked over to her, his plans of milling around for a few minutes ruined. As he stepped around the carpet rack, resisting another sneeze, and stopped at the counter. A small girl looked up at him with large amber eyes, her light blue hair pulled up with an orange bandana. She had a young look to her face, but Natsu assumed she was his age. She had to be, otherwise this was child labor. "Hello! I'm Levy, how can I help you?"

"Uh, I'm looking for a carpet," he said lamely. Mentally, he slapped himself. Of course he was looking for a carpet, why else would he be here for? 

Levy giggled, looking somewhere beyond him. "Hold on a minute, sir. Let me just grab one of our assistants," she assured him, slipping around the counter and disappearing between racks. Natsu stood awkwardly, rubbing his arms. This was exactly why he didn't go out. Too awkward. 

Levy appeared a minute later, this time with another girl. Natsu had to resist the urge to gape. The girl she brought back with her was taller by a good foot, and had long blonde hair, complimented by large brown eyes. She wore a bit of her hair up to the side and her name tag read 'Lucy' in cute cursive. Everything about her screamed 'popular girl' and 'duck'. He tried not to flinch away from her when she stopped in front of him.