Purr-fect Matchmaking

"Damn that stupid cat! I swear I will catch it and sell it on eBay!"

A tall, raven-haired man grumbled as he angrily stomped back and forth in his apartment. Gray was fuming! He stormed over to the fallen cage and gave it a strong kick before immediately regretting it. "Ow! Stupid cage!" He cried out while comically hopping on one foot as he rubbed his sore toes. He was barefoot and that cage was metal and hurt like a bitch!

Gray landed on his ass and grumpily let out a sigh. Today was not his day. First he woke up late for work, which ultimately led for him to skip breakfast and his morning coffee. Then on his lunch break he realized he forgot his wallet and could only afford to buy some candy bar from the vending machine, which only served to increased his hunger. To top it all off when he came back from a very long and exhausting day at work, he finds that the cage he set up to trap the sneaky little feline had broken and shattered a vase, scattering tiny shards of glass all over his floor. That was a pain in the ass to clean!

This man, Gray Fullbuster, had a problem, a feline problem to be exact. Every other day his neighbor's annoying blue cat (who the hell owns a blue cat?!) would climb over to his balcony and slip in though the open window—which he always forgot to close—and make himself at home. But that wasn't the worst part, oh no! This cat not only breaks into his apartment but he steals his freaking underwear! Yes, that's right...his underwear! The damn cat stole about ten boxers in the past three months.

"What a perverted cat." Gray muttered as he looked down at today's victim with sad eyes. His precious Calvin Klein boxers were torn, shredded, no longer wearable. He pouted. "Man and these are expensive." This cat also seemed to be fond of tearing up coincidentally only his expensive underwear.

Gray flopped on his back and looked at his ceiling with determination in his eyes. He balled up the hand with his torn underwear into a tightly clenched fist and punched the air.

"I swear. I swear I will catch that cat and make it pay."

Today was laundry day for Gray.

He had been so stressed and busy this past month that he had completely neglected his laundry duties. He realized it today as he got out of his shower that he was down to his last pair of boxers. Gray took this opportunity to finally get down to business.

Gray slipped on a bath robe before he set out his last articles of clean clothes on his bed. He then took his hamper of dirty laundry along with his detergent, and made a beeline for his apartment's communal laundry room. It was on the first floor, which could be a pain in the ass at times considering he lived on the third floor, but today Gray didn't mind as usual.

As he rode the elevator back up to his floor, he unwrapped the towel around his neck and began to dry his hair. "Ah, finally got that out of the way." Gray told himself with a serene smile as he gently massaged his scalp with the towel still threaded through his fingers. Today was a good day! Gray had gotten off of work early, was told to take the day off tomorrow and had found twenty dollars on the bus ride home (he was definitely going to use that money to buy himself new underwear). Ah, yes! Today was definitely a good day and best of all…

"No stupid blue cat to ruin my day!" Gray grinned happily. Come to think of it, the mangy thing hadn't "visited" him in a couple of days now. Maybe he got bored of stealing his underwear and decided to bother someone else. "Could be," he thought aloud. Or maybe his neighbor moved and took his annoying cat with him, never to be seen or heard from again and most importantly were far, far away from him and his precious underwear! Yes, he liked that idea.

Gray reached his door and stepped inside his home.

"Good riddance!"

Except it wasn't because standing before him was the vain of his existence, the devil incarnated, the thing that kept him up at night: that cat and it was making its way with his last pair of boxers!

Gray stood rigidly at the doorway, glaring fiercely at the blue fur ball as it also stared back at Gray mockingly. The blue cat had been shocked at being caught redhanded, but it still had its mouth latched securely on the elastic waistband of his boxers. His tail swished back and forth calmly, waiting for the tiniest sign of movement from Gray before making its move.

Gray had finally caught the cat in action! It was currently in the middle of his living room and far from any windows meaning he had a pretty good chance of capturing it and both of them knew it. He could see it in the cat's dark eyes.

Gray smirked and widened his stance, ready to pounce. "It's over. I've caught you redhanded, cat!"

He lunged forwards and made an attempt to capture the feline, but the damn fur ball reacted faster and slipped through his grasping hands before slinking in between Gray's legs and running outside through the open door. Fuck! He forgot to close the door behind him!

"No! I'm not letting you escape that easily!" Gray bellowed as he turned around sharply and ran after the cat. Unfortunately for him though, the backside of his bath robe's sash had caught onto the doorknob. "Fuck! Not now!" In a desperate attempt to keep on the cat's trail, Gray untied the sash and stripped off the bath robe entirely. He was not about to lose his last pair of underwear!

Gray dashed down the hallway like a madman. He was hot on the cat's trail and there was no way in hell he was about to let the little fucker escape his wrath. "Stupid cat! Gimme me back my underwear! Stop right now and I might have mercy on you!" Apparently Gray's shouts of fury didn't faze the feline at all. Instead it turned its head around to look at Gray and he swore he saw it smirk at him! That only fueled his anger and made him speed up his pace. "That's it. Once I catch you, I'm selling you on eBay for fifty cents! Plus shipping and handling!"

The blue cat sped up its pace as well and rounded a corner. As Gray made the sharp turn, he heard the familiar ding of the elevators signaling someones arrival. Shit! That cat was making a run for the elevator, wasn't it? Gray could see that the elevator doors were slowly opening up and the cat was not slowing down. He was just a few feet away from the little feline thief. He stretched out his arms and tried to scoop it up before it reached the elevator.

Too late.

The elevator doors were now completely opened and a single person stepped out. The cat jumped into the person's arms rather than inside the elevator.

"Happy?" The person questioned.

The last thing Gray saw was a flash of pink before he collided into the person and both were knocked to the ground. He had been running way too fast to make such an abrupt halt or even warn the person before their collision. Gray let out a groan in pain as he rubbed the bump that was surely forming on his head. Shit, that had really hurt!

"What the hell is your problem, you bastard?" Gray heard the pained grumble underneath him before feeling the hot breath fanning his cheek. At the sensation, Gray's eyes flew wide open only to be obscured by pink...hair? He glanced down, apology ready at the tip of his tongue when he was met by a pair of stunning, chocolate brown eyes. Now Gray had met a lot of people with brown eyes but none like these. He had never seen such deep and piercing eyes, almost as if they were staring into his very core. Gray wouldn't mind staring at them all day if they weren't currently glaring at him.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!"

He shot up like a spring, cheeks flushing a deep crimson after realizing he was presently straddling this pink-haired stranger and had been literally nose-to-nose with him. He got off and began to help the pinket get back on his feet. "It's nothing personal, honestly. It's just-" Gray cut himself off before directing a glare towards the culprit for his current predicament, who was sitting beside the stranger, underwear still in his mouth. "-that cat stole my underwear!" Gray finished off his sentence by bending down and ripping the elastic band out of the cat's teeth. The cat lazily swished it's tail looking somehow satisfied at its troublesome actions.

"Wait, you mean you're the guy who owns all those underwear Happy's been stealing?" the pinket exclaimed rather loudly, looking truly surprised.

"Yes!" Gray automatically replied with relief laced in his voice. Finally someone who understood the situation he was in.

Hold on a minute. How the hell did this guy know that his underwear has been stolen multiple times by the same cat? And who the fuck is Hap-

"Pfft! Hahahaha!"

Gray's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden eruption of laughter. He looked up and saw the pink-haired man clutching his sides laughing up a storm. His shoulders shook heavily and his eyes began to tear up. As Gray stared confusingly at the sight before him, he realized with a tint of pink to his cheeks that this man had a beautiful laugh. Crap! How was it that this pink-haired stranger that he had just met was affecting him so greatly? This couldn't be good.

As Gray patiently waited for the man to stop his hysterics, he concluded that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. The guy was nearly rolling on the floor for crying out loud! Not only that, but Gray finally connected the dots and realized this bastard was laughing at him. Screw that! Beautiful laugh or not, he was not about to tolerate some complete stranger to laugh at his face.

"Hey asshole! This isn't funny. Why the hell do you find this funny?" Gray shot him a fierce look even though his blush was a tell-tale sign to his embarrassment.

The pinket seem to finally regain some composure and took deep breaths to calm the last of his laughter. He sniffed and wiped his tear-stained cheeks before staring straight into Gray's eyes with the brightest smile he had ever seen. "Because Happy is my cat."

"Huh?" Gray blinked.

The man pointed at the small blue-furred creature that was now curled up into a little ball at his feet. "Happy. He's my cat. He's been stealing underwear ever since we moved here three months ago, I think." He scratched his pink locks awkwardly. "I always found it strange that he only stole men's underwear and I honestly tried to make him stop, but I guess old habits die hard, huh?"

Gray deadpanned. "Old habits die hard, huh?" He repeated calmly. Then he snapped.

"Fuck that! That cat has been stealing my underwear, my expensive underwear I might add!"

"Ah! You're right! You have really nice taste in boxers."

Gray face palmed. "That's not the point, you idiot! You need to learn how to be a better owner and control your animal!"

"Hey! I'll have you know I'm a very good owner!" He frowned as he stood his ground against Gray.

"Well a good owner would know to put that thing on a leash." Gray retorted. How dare this guy try to avoid the responsibility that came with being a pet owner.

"I'm not going to put Happy on a leash! Maybe you should learn to close your window so Happy doesn't go inside your apartment."

"What!"

"That's right! You're always leaving your windows open so obviously Happy is going to take that as an invitation to go inside." Gray simply stared at the pink-haired man in disbelief at his logic. He actually seemed pretty satisfied with his response and gave Gray a smirk. "Who's the idiot now?"

How could Gray have ever thought this man was cute? He was seriously stirring up a headache and he had just met the guy. He rubbed his temples in irritation before trying to simmer down his temper. "I am not going to close my windows. It's the middle of July and it's hot as hell an-" Gray paused mid-sentence after realizing something. "Wait how do you know I always leave my windows open?"

The pinket blinked and stared at Gray as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "You live in room 316, right? I live in room 317. I'm your neighbor."

Gray's jaw nearly unhinged itself. "You're my neighbor?" He could hardly contain his shock.

The shorter man gave him a grin. "Yup! I've actually seen you around a couple of times, but I always forgot to properly introduce myself to you." He once more reached behind his head to awkwardly rub his head.

Gray couldn't believe it! All this time this man had been his neighbor and he had never seen him, not once. Hold on a second. Something didn't add up.

"Wait, so if you knew your cat was stealing my underwear and you knew I was your neighbor, how come you never returned any of my boxers?" Gray gave the man an accusatory look. This man better not turn out to be some kind of pervert that got off on other men's underwear!

He returned Gray's gaze with an exasperated one. "Because you don't exactly write your name on them and I don't even know your name, so I wouldn't know who to give them to. Had I known all this time, I would've gladly given them back." Gray dropped his gaze as he tried to once more conceal his embarrassment. He needed to learn to stop jumping to conclusions.

Gray pouted and averted his eyes before speaking in a small voice. "Sorry."

The pink-haired man grinned at him. "Don't sweat it. Hey, maybe you should actually start writing your name on all your underwear," he told Gray in a teasing voice.

He frowned and gave a grumpy response. "What am I? Five?"

The pinket chuckled, amused at Gray's retort, but that didn't stop him from his teasing. "No, seriously! I could help you if you want."

Gray blushed. "Screw that!"

"Why not? Look! We could even start with this on-"

The pink-haired man had begun to reach towards the hand that was grasping Gray's underwear, but stopped midway after his eyes looked at Gray's body for the first time since their collision.

He was in his birthday suit.

The pinket immediately went red-faced and tried to avert his eyes before he saw anything, but it was too late. He had seen everything, from Gray's well sculpted abs to his well defined V-line that tauntingly directed his eyes to his exposed groin.

Gray saw the rather extreme change in the shorter man and followed his stare only to see why the man had experienced such a drastic change in composure.

He was stark naked.

He gave out a loud and startled cry before he tried to hide his manhood with his hands, cheeks burning hotter than ever.

It was at that moment that Gray realized he had been running around the hallways butt-naked all this time because his bath robe had gotten caught on his door knob. He had been so desperate to catch the thieving cat with his last pair of boxers that he had forgotten about everything else. And now he had been having a conversation with his really cute neighbor completely naked.

They stayed still, not daring to move a muscle as both their eyes slowly met. Slightly aroused brown eyes met extremely mortified blue eyes. They held their gazes for about a second before Gray gave a sharp turn and bolted down the hallway, but not without giving one last shout over his shoulder.

"It's all that cat's fault!"

Even though it was suppose to be Gray's day off, he felt like complete shit. After yesterday's event how could he not!

Gray had made it to his room in record time. After rushing back to his apartment, praying nobody would come out at such an inconvenient time, he took his stupid bath robe and took a rather long and depressing shower—yes another one.

His pink-haired neighbor never came back to see him the rest of that day. And he was glad! The guy probably thought he was a pervert now, running around the halls naked.

Gray shook his head, trying to keep himself from remembering that horrific experience. He mournfully finished his breakfast before getting up to wash his dishes. As he finished up and sluggishly moved to the living room, he tried to cheer himself up by thinking of all the positive outcomes of this event. At least Happy won't steal his underwear anymore and his neighbor would probably avoid him like the plague now, so he'll never see him again. "Wonderful," Gray said sourly.

Suddenly there was a knock on his door.

He wasn't expecting guests.

Gray got up from his position on the couch and lazily moved towards the door. He didn't bother looking through the peephole first. When he opened the door he was greeted with bright, pink hair and a wide, toothy grin. "Good morning, neighbor!"

Gray nearly slammed the door in his face and crawled into his bed where he would stay for the rest of the day.

He took deep breaths to calm his frazzled nerves and slow down his racing heartbeat before he could even look him in the eye without his heart exploding out of his chest. Despite his attempt to remain a cool composure, he could not hide the blush that crept up to his cheeks.

"M-morning. What are you doing here?"

His neighbor's smile widen as he also wore a slight shade of pink on his cheeks. It wasn't as noticeable as Gray's, but he too was blushing!

"I've come to properly introduce myself! Remember I told you how I always saw you, but never actually introduced myself?"

Gray nodded, too stunned for words.

"Well today's that's going to change!" The pinket stretched his arm out towards Gray. "Hiya! My name's Natsu Dragneel and I'm your neighbor. Nice to meet'cha!" He ended his greeting with that breath-taking smile of his, which nearly made Gray forget he was suppose to reciprocate.

He took Natsu's hand in his and gave the warm hand a firm squeeze.

"Nice to meet you. My name's Gray Fullbuster." Gray still couldn't comprehend how this guy was acting like nothing out of the ordinary happened yesterday.

"Gray." His name being called out snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to look at Natsu and realized he had been testing the way his name rolled off his tongue. Gray hated to admit it but he rather liked the way he said his name.

"Well Gray, here ya go." Natsu outstretched he arms, a package in his hands.

Gray raised a brow in confusion. For him?

He took the package from his hands and stared at it questioningly for some time. "Don't just stare at it. Open it." Natsu pushed the package closer to Gray, urging him to open it. He shot Natsu a suspicious glance. "This better not be some kind of prank."

The pinket simply gave him a mischievous grin.

Gray tore open the wrapping paper to discover… "My underwear!" He looked at Natsu expectantly.

"I told you had I known they were yours I would've given them to you a lot sooner." Natsu scratched the back of his head stiffly as his blush deepened. "I washed them too, y'know."

Gray counted the underwear. They were all there. All ten boxers! He couldn't believe Natsu actually kept all of them these past three months and washed them before giving them back! Gray gave him a sincere smile. "Thank you."

Natsu stared at Gray for a few seconds before returning the smile. "It's the least I could do. After all, Happy is my cat and I should take responsibility for his actions." It dawned on Gray that Natsu had actually taken his words seriously.

Natsu continued. "But that's not all. As of today I'm putting Happy on a strict kitty kibble diet. No more fish!" He smirked before leaning in closer to Gray as if he were going to tell him a secret. "Happy really loves fish so it'll be torture for him."

Gray couldn't help but let out an amused chuckle at Natsu's childish behavior. He really was cute. Too bad he spoiled any chances of him liking him after what happened yesterday.

"Oh! Before I forget, I have another apology gift," Natsu cheerfully exclaimed.

"Another one? Natsu, I think you've done more than enough. Really."

"Nope! Not yet." Natsu had a playful smirk and a sly glint in his eyes that resembled a lot like a cat. "I want you to have dinner with me."

His rather blunt statement threw Gray off. He was stumped. How could this guy want anything to do with him after he had embarrassed himself yesterday!

Gray's mind was slow on the update and could barely process what Natsu had just said. "D-dinner?"

"Yeah. At my apartment. I'll cook for you." Natsu looked up at Gray with hopeful eyes and that boyish smile still in place.

Now Gray was blushing profusely. Was this considered a date? He hoped so!

"S-sure," he finally responded after calming his pulsing heartbeat. Gray couldn't stop the ear-splitting grin that took over his face as Natsu's face lit up at his answer.

"Awesome! You won't regret it. I've been told I have amazing cooking skills, so feel special you get to eat my cooking." Natsu gave Gray a teasing smirk. "Even if it is as an apology for what happened."

Though he had said he was only cooking for him as a form of an apology, something in Natsu's eyes told Gray that this went beyond a simple apology dinner.

After they agreed to meet at seven that evening and Natsu went back to his apartment, Gray still could not stop himself from grinning like an idiot. He had scored a hot date with Natsu and it was all thanks to his crazy cat and his underwear-stealing habits.

You know what? He was starting to think that cat wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: So I'm kind of on the verge of making this a two-shot, but I'm not sure. Are people interested in seeing Happy try to ruin Natsu and Gray's dinner date as a form of revenge?