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bsidethetrees · 6 years ago

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Birthday Mayhem

It felt like a typical day, honestly, for most of the guild members at Fairy Tail. In fact, it actually was. There was the typical drama in the hall of so and so arguing with whoever about this or that, but Mira was still there, serving drinks, Kinana tacking up jobs, and Makarov, in his old age, was seated atop the bar as usual, staff in one hand and eyes closed in deep meditation (or sleep; probably sleep). People were milling about the busy hall and things were just...peaceful.

Fairy Tail was, for the first time in a long while, at rest.

Happy, the typically most at ease whether times were stressful or not, did not feel this peace that day. No. Instead, he was wracked with nerves.

"What's wrong?" Lucy yawned a bit as, being such an early hour, she'd come around the hall for some breakfast before taking a solo job (she was really strapped for cash; she didn't have time for Natsu's typical shenanigans that went along with going on one with him). She'd just been served by Mirajane and was about to take a bite of her toast when, suddenly, a blue ball of fur crashed onto the table. She hardly batted an eye at the Exceed though. He, too, was known for his antics. "Happy?"

He took a deep breath in, the feline did, before looking quickly around, as if trying to place someone. Apparently satisfied, he then looked at the celestial mage and informed her, "It's Lisanna's birthday."

"Oh, is it?" She smiled then, Lucy did. Or, well, she was, and in fact was in the middle of replying how nice that was, when Happy reached with his furry pawn to grab one of her sausage links. Quickly dragging the plate away from him, she remarked in annoyance, "What's that gotta do with you shoving your gross paws in my food, cat?"

Defeated (in that portion of things, at least), Happy frowned just as heavily at her. "Lucy, don't you understand?"

"Understand what?"

"It's Lisanna's birthday," he reiterated once more. "Don't you know what that means?"

"Mmmm...that she was born on this day?"

"That she's gonna expect Natsu to know!" The cat shook his head some. "But there's no way he will. Natsu never remembers anything! When I asked him what he was gonna do today, he didn't even mention having plans!"

"Then… Why didn't you just remind him?" Lucy was having a very hard time understanding exactly what the problem with all of this was, honestly. Well, not completely. Sure, it would suck for Lisanna if Natsu didn't remember her boyfriend, but at the same time, with such a simple solution… These were the exact shenanigans she was hoping to avoid that day. "Then he would know and-"

"It won't be the same, Lucy," Happy insisted, exasperated it seemed with the blonde. "If he remembers on his own it'll be so romantic and sweet and-"

"Well, maybe he will."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"Then you should remind him."

"But then it won't be-"

"Happy," she complained a bit, "I had something I wanted to do today. Is this really that big of a deal?"

"It's a huge deal!" He might have even yelled at her, just slightly. Lucy blinked as the cat, considering his tone, sighed some and said, "I just really don't want Natsu and Lisanna to break up."

"Why would they break up? Over this? Especially if you could just tell-"

"Lucy, I know that you have no understanding of relationships like me and Natsu do-"

"Natsu is in a relationship. You're stalking another Exceed who has more than made it clear she's not into you."

"-but this is serious." And the cat didn't sound like he was purposely being over dramatic. He truly was feeling these things. "This is the first birthday that Lisanna is gonna have since her and Natsu got together, like really together, and I just want it to be special for her."

Sighing some, Lucy reached over to pat him on his head. "You're really worked up about all this, huh?"

"Imagine if you were actually attractive to a guy and he forgot your birthday-"

"You're pushing it, fur ball."

"I'd always remember Carla's birthday," he assured Lucy. "If she ever told it to me."

"Well," Lucy sighed slightly as, after a glance over at the request board where, no doubt, there was the perfect job, just waiting for her. "I guess I could stick around and help you figure this all out."

"You mean it?"

Nodding, she said, "But what do you want to do, Hap? If you don't wanna just tell him-"

"We can't."

"Then-"

"What are you losers being so loud about?"

And they were joined at the table then by Gray, who set down with a mug of beer. Lucy made a bit of a face at his typical state of undress, but Happy only eyed who sat down beside him, practically in his lap.

"Juvia," the feline remarked. "You're the exact person to help. And you two, Gray. You both know a lot about relationships."

"Yes," the water mage remarked. "We do."

"We might," Gray complained around his ale, "but definitely varying amount. Separate, varying amounts."

"Lucy here," the Exceed remarked, jerking a thumb towards the woman on the other side of the table, "isn't very knowledgeable in the ways of love. Not like the two of you."

"I wish I'd just gotten my job," Lucy sighed, once more glancing over at the request board. I could be on a train right now, away from stupid cats who are destined to be forever alone-"

"What would you do, Juvia?" Happy asked. "If Gray forgot my birthday?"

"You can't forget," the ice mage replied, "what you don't know."

Juvia considered the question for far longer though. Eventually, she said, "I would be crushed, I would imagine."

"And you wouldn't want that to happen to one of your friends, would you?" the feline kept up.

Suddenly, the blue haired woman's eyes grew darker before, with accusation in her gaze, she glanced between Gray and Lucy.

"My Gray darling should forget every other woman's birthday," she remarked simply. "If this is your idea of trying to stake a claim, Lucy, then-"

"It's not my birthday," she complained with a frown. "And I don't expect Gray to remember it."

"Do you expect Natsu to remember it?" Happy questioned then, glancing at her once more.

"I mean, if he doesn't even remember his girlfriend's, then-"

"Is that what this is about then?" Just like that, Juvia's eyes weren't so clouded and her tone wasn't so harsh. "Oh, poor Lisanna. To have such a forgetful boyfriend. Luckily, Gray would never forget such an important date."

"Again I reiterate," Gray remarked, "you can't remember what you never knew. And hey, Happy, what's up with all the questions, huh? It's Lisanna's birthday today, right? That's what you said? Then just go tell flame breath that it's his girl's birthday and problem's solved, right?"

"You would think," Lucy sighed. "But Happy thinks-"

"It would just be more romantic," the Exceed once more said, this time to the ice mage and the woman still seemingly stuck to his side. "Don't you think?"

"Yes," Juvia agreed.

"I really don't give a shit," Gray replied. "I mean, wouldn't it be more romantic for him to be reminded, Happy, then him completely forget?"

"That's why we have to make sure he doesn't completely forget." He balled up a fist and pumped it a bit. "We're Natsu's closest friends. And Lisanna's too, kind of. Some of us. Maybe. At the very least, we all love them both a bunch, right? So we have to make sure that this goes right for them."

"But how?" Gray complained as Lucy nodded in agreement at the question.

"I think," came a voice approaching the table, "that I can be of much assistance."

And she was there then, finally, as always, to save the others from their definite inabilities to accomplish a job. Erza Scarlet. Titania Erza. Savior of all.

Also, she'd just returned, victorious once more from a difficult job where, following it, she had her praises sang to her for an entire day as the tiny village insisted on her staying to celebrate her banishing the monster from their daily lives. Which meant that she was even more full of herself than usual.

"Really?" Happy asked the redhead. "You'll help?"

"Of course," she said with a nod of her head. "As soon as you tell me what it is that's wrong."

"You mean," Gray complained, "that you didn't even know? But you came over here and insisted that you could help-"

"Is that a problem?" Erza raised an eyebrow and, suddenly, Gray found it much more interesting to stare down into his beer as he only mumbled out an excuse of some sort.

"Natsu doesn't remember Lisanna's birthday," Happy began to tell the woman.

"And," Lucy took over, "the cat seems to think that if we just remind him-"

"Then it wouldn't be romantic," Erza finished and they all stared in shock, but she only had her stoic face on. "Yes, that would be a terribly unromantic thing. What if Lisanna found out then? Hmm? That we just told him? How would she feel? As someone who knows the way of the human heart very well-"

"You do?" Lucy asked. When she got that eyebrow raise from the woman, she was quick to change her timbre. "You do."

"I do," Erza agreed. She was tired of being questioned.

"I think you girls are blowing this out of proportion anyways," Gray griped (though not at Erza). "So he either forgets or he remembers. Lisanna puts up with all his other shit. Will she really be that shocked? Or hurt? And is remembering a date that 'romantic' or whatever anyways? Natsu's a dumbass. His girlfriend knows that."

"Men naturally do not understand the ways of women," Erza asserted. She should know. She was a (self-proclaimed) expert in the ways of love. Yes. "Therefore your opinion is invalid, Gray."

"Happy's a...well, a male, at least," the ice mage complained. "Why is his opinion counted? It's the whole reason we're all even having this conversation!"

"I think, my love," Juvia told him softly, "it is simply because he agrees with her."

Erza gave no glares for that. It was the truth.

"I have devised a plan," she decided then, Erza did, as she still stood before the table in all her armored glory.

"Already?" Lucy voiced her uncertainty.

"Yes." Nodding, the swordswoman said, "It is quite simple, really. The problem is he does not remember and we cannot directly inform him of the day. Well, then we must give him subtle hints."

"Well, duh," Gray remarked. When he, once more, got a glare, he was quick to add, "I just mean, obviously that's what we're gonna do. But Natsu's super dense. He's an idiot."

No one at the table balked at this. Not even Happy or Lucy. They all were in agreement on that.

"Yes, well," Erza kept up, still thinking. She was good at that. Thinking. She was good at most things. "We could...come up with a safety net."

"I dunno," Happy sighed at the thought. "Crafting a big net seems like a lot of work in such short time. And what would be the pay off?"

"I don't think," Lucy said with a look, "that's what she meant, Hap. And I also think you knew that."

Of course.

"Which is?" Juvia asked then, looking at Erza quizzically. While she wasn't the biggest fan of Natsu (which stemmed from her beloved not being one either) she did somewhat like Lisanna. While she was still getting acclimated to the guild, the other woman had returned to it and all it's new quirks, which meant they got accustomed to the place together. She found the youngest Strauss to be quite approachable and fun.

"It's quite simple," she explained. "While some of us spend the day attempting to put the idea back in his head, the rest of us should take to preparing a nice date that, as a last resort, we will lead them on. We'll spare no expense."

"I'm broke," Lucy pointed out. "In fact, I was just about headed on a job-"

"I have a fish head in my knapsack," Happy offered up, patting at his back.

"Yeah, I'm not giving anything to this either," Gray added to which, with a bit of a nod, Juvia had to agree.

"More than our time," the water mage offered.

Erza huffed a bit before remarking, "Then I will spare no expense as, more than likely I fear that this is the direction in which this whole thing shall go. If that does turn out to be the case, the ones who are going to go about hinting him will lead him back to he and Happy's home where, outside of it, the others will have set up a nice dinner and have purchased a cake."

"Their house?" Lucy asked with a bit of a frown. "Are you sure?"

"Your apartment then, will do nicely," Erza decided.

"My what now?"

"Yeah!" Happy was energized at the thought. "They can stay over at your apartment, Lucy, like a nice hotel or something. And you can bunk with me, back at the house."

"I hardly call where you live a house."

"Then I rescind my invitation." Happy frowned. "And to think I was going to share my fish head with you."

"I don't want your stupid fish head anyways, you dumb-"

"The park," Gray spoke up then. "We can set them a nice picnic up in the park."

"Yes," Erza agreed. "That will do."

"Since Lucy is too stuck up to stay over at me and Natsu's house-"

"I highly doubt the two of them wanna bunk at my place for the night anyways, cat."

"So who wishes then," the swordswoman went on, "wishes to do which job?"

"Well, I'm definitely not spending all day hanging around flame breath, trying to convince him to remember his girlfriend," Gray said with a bit of a snort. "I'll help out with the getting stuff together, because I do like Lisanna, but Natsu-"

"That makes sense," Erza cut him off with a nod. "And I will, of course, go to Natsu and-"

"Uh, Erza?" Lucy had her turn at interrupting then. "Not to...disway you, but are you sure that you're really the person for the job? To give subtle hints at something? Subtle is not exactly your strong suit."

"You do not think so?" the other woman asked.

"No, I don't. I mean, if you wanna give it a try-"

"And you're the one 'sparing no expense'," Gray pointed out. "Remember?"

"Ah. Yes." She sighed. She really did like the idea of it, attempting to convince the slayer of the importance of the date. It felt almost like a game, truly, and she was nothing if not someone with a deep competitive drive. "I suppose I could be a part of the preparations instead."

Juvia sensed something and, glancing back and forth between Erza and Gray, she remarked, "The two of you? Partnered together? I must be included in the preparations as well!"

"Why are you yelling?" Lucy griped a bit as she pressed a hand to her head. "And let's see, I guess that leaves me and-"

"Me." Happy looked to her. "You and me. We have to remind Natsu of Lisanna's birthday."

"Do I have to be stuck with the cat?" It was simple, it seemed, for the celestial mage to find something new to complain about. "I mean, come on."

"Like you'll be much help." Happy even sighed. "But I guess you'll have to do."

"I could always leave on a job and let you do it on your own, you know. You're the one that asked me for help, Happy." Finally, now that her food was cold, she didn't put up much of a fight as he took a sausage link for himself. "Don't forget it."

The teams separated then, with Juvia using all her resources now to mostly keep an eye on Erza (the woman was sneaky for sure), while Gray and Erza spoke between themselves over just what sorta things they should purchase for the date. Happy and Lucy, on the other hand, headed in the opposite direction.

"The first thing we have to do," Happy said as he fluttered along above Lucy's head, "is find Natsu."

"Well, where did you last see him? At you guys' house? Do you think he's still there?"

"I dunno," the Exceed said. "But I bet he's somewhere close by."

"Maybe," Lucy hummed a bit, "he's planning he and Lisanna's day and we don't even have anything to worry about."

This, of course, was not the case.

They actually ran into the slayer on his way to the guildhall. He seemed quite pleased to seem them both.

"Hey, Hap, Lucy, I was just looking for you," he remarked as they approached one another on the street. "What are you two doing?"

"Looking for you," Lucy offered up, grinning widely just from the sight of him. "Natsu. On this day. Such a great day, don't you think?"

"Well," he huffed a bit. "It's not raining, at least."

"Ha, Natsu, you're so funny." And Happy practically dive bombed into his chest, forcing the slayer to catch him.

"Hey, little buddy, what's the big idea!"

"I just wanted to hug you, Natsu, that's all," the Exceed laughed as he was, promptly, dropped to the ground by the slayer. "To show you that I care about you. On today. On a day like today."

"It is," Lucy agreed, "a pretty important day."

"All because it ain't raining?" Natsu frowned at the two of them. "And anyhow, I was looking for ya because-"

"Because of the nice day it is today?" Lucy asked.

"And how much you care? Not necessarily about us, I guess," Happy kept up, "but about the people in your life? Who are important to you? Because-"

"What are you two talking about? And hey, what were you doing together anyways?" This time, his eyes were a bit suspicious. "You're not plannin' somethin', are ya?"

"Who? Us?" Lucy tried hard not to look like this was absolutely what she was doing. "No way. Are you crazy?"

"Yeah," Happy agreed from the ground. "What do I look like? Sneaking behind your back to do something with Lucy? I would think you know me better than that, Natsu, but I guess not."

He sighed some, the pink haired man did, before nodding his head. "I guess that's right. What could you two be planning against me anyways?"

No doubt something for his own good.

Always.

"Anyways," Lucy said slowly as, turning, she easily fell in step with the slayer as he began his trek once more. "Where were you headed?"

"Just the hall," he said simply. "I wanted to see if that bastard Gray was around. I-"

"Gray?" Happy tried hard not to be disappointed. "Why would you be bothering with Gray today?"

"That sneaking bastard owes me-"

"Who cares about that?" Lucy asked. "Or about him at all?"

This was usually the right idea for Natsu, but at the moment the insinuation just wasn't cutting it for him. Not when he needed to collect from the man immediately.

"I do," Natsu complained. "I have to find him. Do either of you know where he is?"

They looked to one another then, Happy and Lucy did. They both knew that they couldn't lead Natsu to Gray because there was a possibility that, spying him in the shopping district picking up a cake and such with Erza, that he would become suspicious of their plans and, thus, not be duped either into remembering or showing up at the park without being outright told, but rather being blatantly shown the situation at hand and, wow, when Lucy really thought it out, why didn't they just do that?

"We'll take you to him," Happy said suddenly and for a second, Lucy though they'd come to the same conclusion. "Right this way."

Until the Exceed headed in the opposite direction of where Gray certainly was and, ugh, Lucy was starting to resign to the fact that she was not going to be going out on a job that day.

"Happy," she complained a bit as Natsu, though he was supposed to be the one being led began to take the lead, and the Exceed fluttered close to her. "Where exactly where are we going to take him?"

"Anywhere," the blue cat explained, "that Gray, Erza, and Juvia are not. Hopefully to Lisanna. After he's remembered, of course."

"Of course," Lucy sighed, following along.

They would not find Lisanna, however, as at that moment she'd just arrived at the guildhall, where Natsu had instructed her to meet him that afternoon. She was slightly disappointed to not find him there, but also understanding to his typical forgetfulness, and went straight over to her sister to question where he'd mistakenly gone out on a job that day.

"No," Mira giggled. "He hasn't even been in yet. And did you get the card I left you? On the kitchen table?"

"Mmmhmm!" Lisanna was just as giggly. "'Thanks, sis. It was really thoughtful."

"Well, we normally go out to dinner," the barmaid sighed a bit. "But I'm sure you and Natsu have something going on tonight instead-"

"We can go to dinner tomorrow night. If you're off."

"I can get off," she assured her, but just as quickly, someone was calling out to Mira, needing a refill and, well, duty called and all.

"Oh, Lisanna," Mira called as she headed away. "I almost forgot. Someone did want to see you."

"They did?"

"Uh-huh. Erza for some reason. In the park. She said for you not to arrive until midday though."

Lisanna sighed some, but agreed. Besides, she should be meeting Natsu soon; surely he'd not mind taking a detour there.

At the moment, he wouldn't have minded at all, if he knew that that was the exact location that Gray was. He was griping too, at Happy and Lucy, convinced now that this was just all some sort of big game to them. And, well, he was kinda right at least.

"I really need to find him, guys, so if you don't know where he is-"

"Just a little further," Happy kept up. "And hey, it must be awful important for you to find him. Is there anything else important that you have to do today? Do you think?"

"What are you talking about? Just take me to Gray!"

"Happy," Lucy tried, growing weary of the game they very much so were playing. "Maybe-"

"Just," the cat continued on, "a little further. And why do you want Gray anyways? What could he possibly owe you? On such a nice day? Huh? That's more important than-"

"I've been trying to tell you-" And Natsu stopped so suddenly that Lucy, who was following closely behind him, crashed into him rather roughly.

"Natsu," she complained, rubbing at her head. "What-"

"Wait a minute." He glared up at the sky then where Happy, realizing the others had stopped, was turning to face them in the air. "You guys in on it. Aren't you?"

"In on what?" Happy asked.

"You were looking all suspicious and were together and you guys never hang out together without me!"

"Well, some of us take jobs more frequently than two of us here," Lucy remarked. "So they don't have near the same amount of time to just hang about-"

"Plus it's Lucy," Happy agreed. "Who wants to be alone with her?"

"You know what, cat, I-"

"You're in cahoots! With Gray! Of all people!" Natsu huffed at the pair of them. "I can't believe you. Don't you know how important it is that I find him?"

Happy, exasperated as well (by this point, they'd spent a good chunk of the day going around in circles, searching fruitlessly for Gray while also constantly dropping hints; there was only so much a little cat could take), hurled his own accusation Natsu's way.

"Do you?" he questioned. "Huh? Natsu? How could you not? I thought that you loved Lisanna, but-"

"Of course I love Lisanna!" Natsu found offense in that. "Why do you think I've spent the whole day chasing Gray's ugly mug around town!"

"Surely," Lucy questioned slowly, "for some other reason? Because, I mean, I can't see one."

"Do you know," Happy griped with a heavy frown at his very best friend, "what today is, Natsu?"

At the exact moment Lucy and Happy were waiting for an answer, Erza was finishing up with the touches on her wonderful picnic while Juvia fantasied the idea of her and Gray just totally ditching the whole plan they had in place and, have their own date.

He was not receptive to this idea and Erza was too lost in her own world, marveling over her excellence at helping her friends once more to notice. Not to mention, the cake she'd picked up at the bakery was exceptionally exquisite, and though she had one back at the bakery she planned to swing by and pick up after all this, well, it was hard not to just open the box and at least take a whiff of it's excellence.

Still, in comparison to Lucy and Happy, the trio was far more successful in their portion of the plan. Honestly, no one would have expected anything less. And, when Lisanna arrived in the park, Erza was more than ready to greet her.

"Hi, Erza," she grinned easily, if not a bit uncertain. "And...Gray. Juvia."

It wasn't that Lisanna did not wish to spend her birthday with the three of them...it's just that...well, actually it was that. Erza was far closer to being her sister's friend than hers and while Juvia was alright, Gray, again, was not someone Lisanna considered too close. She figured it was something unrelated to her birthday, honestly, that they needed, and while she was always one to help her guild mates, she did really wanna get back to the hall as quickly as possible.

"Lisanna," Erza greeted easily as Gray gave a bit of a nod and Juvia actually wished her a happy birthday.

"Are you guys… On a date?" Lisanna took note of the blanket spread on the grass, the picnic basket, and the three of them standing before it. "The...three of you? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, I just-"

"Share my darling?" Juvia, quite easily, turned on the youngest Strauss member. "I could never!"

As Erza frowned at the implication (surely she could do better than Gray and Juvia, if she were on the market in such a way…) and even sighed a bit. Much like her boyfriend, clearly, Lisanna was not the best at reading a situation.

"No," she said simply. "We are not."

"Oh." Lisanna didn't know why she let out such a sound of relief, but she did. The idea of someone else for Juvia to possibly be possessive over was downright terrifying. Err, actually yes, that was the exact reason for her relief. "Well… I'm sorry, but I was wanting to meet Natsu today at the guildhall and he's a little late, but I should really get back in case-"

"That's exactly why we've invited you here," Erza was quick to say. "Or, well, Natsu has. Yes. He wished for us to set up this...date, of sorts, for your birthday."

"Really?" Lisanna seemed skeptical. "That wasn't really what we had plan-"

"Hey!"

And there he was, the man himself, with the loud screech from across the park as he came running over at full blast, Happy and Lucy, of course, tailing behind.

"Gray!" Once more, Natsu hollered as he smash smack into the ice make wizard, tackling him to the ground. "You big phony!"

"What the heck, Natsu? You idiot, get off-"

"You owe me-"

"I don't owe you shit!"

"What," Erza complained as she rushed to grab the cake box before the two buffoons rolled over on it (and just because she needed that whiff before she handed it off to Natsu and Lisanna), "is going on? You two, stop this at once!"

"You guys don't understand." Lucy was there, finally, out of breath and panting. "Natsu...didn't forget...anything!"

"Lisanna!" Happy took to crashing against her, but she was much more receptive towards it than Natsu had been much earlier in the day. "Happy birthday!"

She giggled, the youngest Strauss did, though she was still a bit confused. "Thank you, Happy, but what-"

"I brought you a fish! Well, only if you want it-"

"I mean, if you don't wanna give it to me-"

"Thanks, you're so understanding."

Lucy took the time out to make a face over at the feline before, once more, addressing the others.

"Natsu remembered Lisanna's birthday," she was quick to say. "In fact, he was going to meet up with her after speaking with Gray. Apparently, he owes him-"

"That?" And finally, Gray managed to shove the pink haired man off him. "That's what you want?"

"Yeah! I need it! So hand it over!"

"What," Erza griped, "are you two talking about?"

Gray groaned too as, reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he easily produced a tiny orb which, at the sight, Lisanna squeezed the life out of Happy in her excitement.

"Oh gosh, Natsu, honestly?" she questioned as Happy wondered if he'd ever taste oxygen again.

"Honestly," he said as, reaching over, he easily snatched the little blue orb from the ice makers hand before popping up. "Here you guy, Lis."

She rewarded him with another giggle and a kiss.

"What," Juvia also griped, though hers was rooted in something much darker (it could be construed, after all, in a distorted set of events, that Gray was the one presenting the youngest Strauss with something, "is it?"

"It's a defunt lacrima," Gray remarked. "It was offered on the job I was gonna go on and Natsu told me that I could keep the cash reward and he'd pay me some extra. But I don't-"

"It's the perfect size," Natsu remarked. "I could tell it would be, based off the description on the job. I was gonna take it, but then Lucy and Happy wanted to go on a different one, and Gray was gonna go anyways, so-"

"Perfect size for what?" Lucy asked, apparently not privy to that.

"To replace the one he broke." And Lisanna was staring at the tiny crystal like ball, rolling it around in her palm. "I had one, a special one, from when we were kids. It was attached to a necklace. We got it as a reward on the first job we took together. But he broke it a couple of months ago when-"

"You're the one that left it on the floor," he griped. "So I stepped on it, so what? What difference-"

"I didn't leave it on the floor. You and Happy raided my room when you were board and must have-"

"Oh," Lucy sighed. "I'm so glad to hear they do that to other people as well."

"Then..." Juvia looked between them all. "What was this all about? Any of it? We did all of this for...nothing? Because Natsu was going to go to Gray and get the lacrima and then meet with Lisanna. So why did we go through all of this extra stuff if-"

"Happy," Erza began softly as her dark gaze, finally, after a long day, found its way to him. "You are the cause for ruining everyone's day."

"Me?" He huffed a bit as, finally, Lisanna had released him to the ground. "I didn't do anything! Natsu's the one that said he didn't remember Lisanna's birthday."

"When did I say that?" the slayer asked with a frown.

"This morning! You said you didn't have any plans!"

"I said," Natsu complained, "that I didn't have any plans with you."

"Yeah, but...but… Lucy's the one-"

"Na-ah, cat." She even shook her head. "This is all on you."

"Wait, so what were you guys all doing then?" Lisanna finally glanced around herself. "They said you wanted to meet here, Natsu? Was it just to get this? Because I thought that we were going to go out to dinner. I mean, this is nice, but-"

"I don't what they're all doing." Natsu easily took the woman's arm. "And yeah, we were, after we spent the day-"

"Down by the river. I know," she agreed. "But you didn't show up at the hall-"

"Happy and Luce were leading me on a wild goose chase."

"Again," Lucy intervened, "I reiterate, that's all on Happy here."

The cat frowned then, down at the ground, before whispering, "I just wanted you guys to have the best birthday date ever. That's all."

"And we're going to," Natsu assured him as Lisanna only smiled down at him.

"Yeah, Happy," she agreed. "And thank you so much for caring. An awful lot, at that."

"You have no idea," Lucy complained, still put out by the whole thing.

"Well," Erza was hurrying things along then. "If the pair of you have other plans, I suppose you should be getting on with them, hmm?"

They did then, after thanking everyone once more, and then the five of them were left, the day nearly all but wasted, with a picnic that none of them wanted to share with the other, more annoyed than anything else.

"Hey!" Suddenly, Gray was more agitated than the others. "That slimeball never paid me!"

"Another time." Juvia was quick to pounce on the idea that had been rattling around in her head the entire time. "We wouldn't want to let this feast go to waste, would be?"

"Aye, sir," Happy agreed as, suddenly, he was right out of his funk.

"A feast," the water mage corrected with a glare, "for two."

"And of which I think Erza owns," Lucy pointed out.

"Hmm?" At the sound of her name, the swordswoman looked up. "Oh, yes, the food, right. Well… It shouldn't go to waste. Have at it, everyone!"

"N-No," Juvia tried. "I meant- Happy, shouldn't you be off doing something else?"

"Well, Natsu and Lisanna are on a date and Lucy's here stuffing her face, so where else would I be?" the Exceed asked.

"Uh, you're the only one stuffing their face, cat," Lucy pointed out as she only stood by, her arms still crossed. "And I hope you know that I needed to do something today, but instead of doing it, I led Natsu all over the city for what? Exactly? For you to insult me all day?"

"The reward is not always monetary or even measurable in any way outside of the consciousness of a job well done. Not to mention assisting a comrade," Erza informed her. Them all really. "Which we have all done today."

"How?" Gray asked from his spot on the ground where he still hadn't gotten up, though this was more due to the fact that Juvia was literally holding him there then, having drug him over to the blanket, insistent that she and him at least sit together and pretend as if they were going to enjoy some of the food Happy was quickly working through. "Huh?'

"Perhaps it wasn't Natsu and Lisanna we helped at all," Titania explained. "But, rather, their precious little cat."

For some reason, it was only glares that the others had for him though.

"Apparently," the ice mage complained as, with that nugget of wisdom, the swordswoman made off with the cake and left them behind. "Another reward for a job well done is cake."

Silly, Gray. For Erza, it was always cake.

Still, Lucy only sighed some before asking, "You had a good day though, huh, Happy?"

From around a turkey leg he'd found in the picnic basket, he nodded his head up at the celestial mage. Not only had Natsu and Lisanna, apparently, had plans all along, but Natsu also did something super sweet for her! They were probably going to have the best date ever, also. Because they loved each other. What was better than that?

"Yep," the Exceed said with a grin. "Plus, we got to hang out all day together. What could be better than that? Me and you, paling around the town."

"Uh, you just told Natsu earlier that you would never hang out with me."

"Jeez, Lucy, sensitive much? Can't take a joke?" The cat tsked. "Must by why you'll never get a man."

"I'm not sensitive, cat! And I don't see you sharing this picnic with anyone either!"

"Other than unfortunately," Juvia sighed as, reluctantly, she released Gray so he too could raid the basket, "the two of us."

#Nali #Team Natsu #Happy Fairy Tail #Lucy Heartfilia #Gray Fullbuster #Erza Scarlet #Juvia Lockser #Natsu #Lisanna #Fairy Tail #Fanfiction

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