love, like rain

1. meet cute

"Something's holding up traffic, I'm probably gonna be late for work."

Natsu yawned, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel of the car and peeking out the window as he talked to Gray over the Bluetooth. Hythe Street wasn't usually backed up this early in the morning, but they were at a standstill right now, and horns were starting to blare around him.

"What's going on?" Gray's voice was quiet, and Natsu could barely hear him over the sounds of traffic.

"I have no id--"

"Get the fuck off the road!" someone shouted. Natsu frowned, seeing the man in the car in front of him press on his horn as he yelled. "Some of us have places to be!"

"Jesus," Natsu grumbled, leaning curiously out the window. "Chill, dude."

"Is there an accident?" Gray asked.

"Don't think so," Natsu said. There was an SUV turned sideways across both lanes – now that he was paying attention, Natsu could see that oncoming traffic was blocked too. There were no sirens, though, and nobody appeared to be hurt.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Angry guy was shouting again, and Natsu leaned further out the window. He could just see a head of blond hair moving toward the SUV, and as the figure got closer, Natsu realized it was a guy about his age. He was moving awkwardly in a crouch, steadfastly ignoring the shouts and blaring horns.

Shit, he's cute, Natsu thought, taking in the man's dark tan and bright pink shirt. As he leaned further out the window, Natsu suddenly realized that the man was helping a turtle cross the street. He wasn't touching it, just guiding it through the traffic, and Natsu nearly cried at the sight.

"Is everything okay?" Gray asked.

"Gods, yeah," Natsu said quietly, watching the turtle. "I think I'm in love."

_____

Natsu ended up being nearly half an hour late for work, but when he'd told Lucy about the turtle, she'd nearly teared up and had immediately forgiven him for having to open on her own. Now it was lunchtime, and Natsu was sitting at one of the tables in the café, flipping through his phone.

"You're the asshole that held up traffic this morning!"

Natsu looked up from his coffee to see the guy from the truck standing near the door of the café, gesturing angrily.

"I'm sorry if you were late for something," said a voice with a soft, unfamiliar accent. Natsu leaned back in his chair and was pleasantly surprised to see the turtle guy. He was even cuter up close – soft blond hair, eyebrow piercing, pink shirt with Magnolia Zoo written across the front and a tiger cub underneath.

"I was late for a meeting!" the angry guy insisted, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was just a damn turtle."

"Tortoise," the blond man corrected with a smile. "It's a common mistake. And gopher tortoises are actually an endangered keystone species, they--"

"I don't give a shit what kinda damn turtle it was," the other guy growled. Natsu glared at him. "Don't block off traffic for it, people got places to be." The man crossed his arms over his chest and scowled.

"I'd be happy to buy you a coffee to make up for--"

Before he could finish, Lucy called out the angry man's order, and he grabbed it from her, jostling the blond guy and spilling coffee across his shirt.

"Dude," Natsu said. He was on his feet and halfway across the café before he realized what he was doing. "Don't be a dick."

"Excuse me?" The angry man turned around to scowl at Natsu.