Author's Note:

This story - or perhaps story introduction, I'm not sure - was written for Nalu Fluff Week 2017.

Once again, I'm too behind on other stories to be able to complete all the prompts for this ship week, but I did want to contribute at least a little.

The main prompt for this story is "Rain" (the Day 2 prompt). I am also throwing in the Day 3 prompt, converted from "Vacation" to "Work", and a smidgen of the Day 4 prompt "Fashion". I haven't yet decided what else I may do for this ship week but you can probably look for a couple more pieces. Whether they'll be on time or not is hard to say. Then again, "a fanfiction author is never late, nor is she early, she publishes precisely when she means to." Thank you, Gandalf (and Tolkien, I suppose).

I hope that you enjoy the following shenanigans!

~ Impracticaldemon

Sunshine in the Rain

Law school was tough—it turned out that Professor Porlyusica's class on Trusts was just as bad as they'd told her—but this was infinitely worse. Here she was in downtown Magnolia, wearing her best—and currently only—suit, a tailored white blouse, sheer nylons and conservative dark heels. And she was lost. Not very lost, just momentarily stymied. Any one of the three mega-towers in with entrances onto the plaza looked like it could house the prestigious Makarov & Vermilion law firm that had granted her this precious and not-to-be-missed interview for a summer student's position.

Unfortunately, a small contretemps at a subway turnstile involving a little white dog, a oddly bluish-grey cat with a green bandanna for a collar, and a guy rocking a great suit and neon pink hair, had caused Lucy to drop the paper with the firm's street address. The guy had been apologetic, sort of—he'd viewed the whole thing as more funny than serious. Then he'd told the animals to meet him at the 'usual place' and off they'd trotted without further fuss. It had been a little weird. The man looked like he worked at some high-powered job—Lucy had assumed that the animals weren't his.

"Don't worry," pink-hair-great-suit had told her, "you didn't hurt Happy or Plue."

That hadn't been Lucy biggest concern, but she'd murmured something appropriate and gotten a wide grin in return. She'd even returned the guy's wave as he rushed off—though whether to his job or to rendez-vous with his pets was unclear. He wasn't to be seen getting on the subway, in any event.

"There's a map in the lobby if you need one," said a voice behind her just then, making her jump.

"Um, yes, thank you. I guess I'll just go take a look." In fact, Lucy was having a tough time convincing herself to go into any of the buildings. Unfortunately, the person behind her probably worked in one of the towers and would find it really strange if she just went on standing rooted to the pavement.

"Oh hey! I just realized it's you! Sorry again about earlier…"

Great. It was the pink-haired guy who'd seen her almost fall on her butt in the subway station. He had a nice voice, Lucy thought—not too light, but bright and cheerful without being sharp or nasal. A half-turn confirmed her first impression of the suit. It fit him too well not to have been either custom-made or at least tailored by somebody who knew exactly how to accommodate square shoulders, a trim waist and lean, narrow hips. Okay, just stop that right now.

Lucy shook her head at herself; it was really rare for her to notice somebody's looks that much before getting to know them. Mostly because she made a point of not noticing—man, woman, whatever… nobody and nothing was going to get in the way of proving to her dad that she didn't need his money, his connections, or him in order to be successful at what she wanted out of life. His comment had been dismissive, as usual: "Lucy, I've got no problem with paying for law school, but remember that Heartfilias hire lawyers—we don't become lawyers."

He didn't understand that once she'd learned all the tricks of the trade from the pros, she was going to turn around and use them working for the people who really needed lawyers—small businesses, new entrepreneurs, creative people with a dream… Her family's company swallowed them up and spat them out because they couldn't afford a professional who could read the footnotes to the fine print.

There was a polite cough, and the man beside her surprised Lucy by saying, "You're looking for Fairy Tail, right?"

"What—well… yes, actually. And you are?" Lucy waited politely for the stranger to respond. She was suddenly on high alert. Only lawyers called M&V 'Fairy Tail'. (Of course, they were probably the only ones who cared, but still… it was just one of those things that you learned: the names of the judges of the Supreme Court, the fact that most modern consumer protection law could be traced back to tainted ginger beer, and the real name of M&V.)

"Me? Oh right—I was in a rush before—Natsu Dragneel." He held out a strong, blunt-fingered hand and smiled encouragingly.

That's one hell of a smile, thought Lucy, trying not to stare. It really stood out in his tanned, olive-toned face. Fortunately, she was in interview mode and she automatically shook his hand—warm, but pleasantly dry—and responded: "Lucy Heartfilia. And my interview's in ten minutes, so…"

"Oh that's right!" Natsu forgot to let go of her hand, and Lucy eyed him with a sinking suspicion that she wasn't going to like what she heard next. "You're the one all the fuss is about." He held up the bag he had in one hand. "Special treats for the meeting—um, interview. They're pretty excited about having you join the firm."

"Because of the connection to Heartfilia Enterprises?" asked Lucy bluntly.

"Well, yeah… sort of?" Natsu looked puzzled, and then realized that he was still holding Lucy's hand. He returned it to her with a final squeeze and without any noticeable embarrassment.

Lucy tried to swallow her disappointment. They were giving her this interview because of her family connections, not because of all her hard work over the last year and a half. As if in response to her suddenly dark mood, the early spring sunshine was blotted out by a large, heavy-looking cloud. It reminded Lucy of a star destroyer from Star Wars—and every bit as ominous as one of those gigantic, triangular ships had ever looked to a fleeing Rebel cruiser. A drop hit the tip of Lucy's nose and a change in the breeze brought the smell of incipient rain. Petrichor, thought Lucy. The smell of rain—though really it's the smell of plants getting ready for rain.

"I really should get going—" Lucy tried again.

"You know, that cloud looks exactly like a Star Wars battle ship—a star destroyer." Natsu was now staring up at the cloud above them. Then he looked down at Lucy and blinked. "Uh, sorry… old sci-fi stuff is a big hobby for me."

"Yeah?" Lucy perked up a little. She was trying not to think about the umbrella she'd left at home because it had been so sunny earlier. Another drop hit her and she noticed that the plaza was emptying fast.

"Oh, sure! How about you?"

Lucy didn't know quite what to say. Natsu—because 'Mr. Dragneel' didn't suit him in the slightest—seemed perfectly prepared to stand there and chat, while the heavens were clearly getting ready for the opening act of what now looked like a major storm. She shouldn't have skipped the weather report this morning.

"Well, actually, um, Natsu—I mean, yes I like some of the old TV shows and movies too, but—"

Lucy was forcibly interrupted by a combination of drenching rain and Natsu grabbing her hand and dragging her off at a sprint, oblivious to her heels and demure-but-narrow business skirt. Apparently she should have acted on her instincts sooner and gotten under shelter right away. She would have had to forcibly ditch her new acquaintance, however.

Moments later, they stood panting in the lobby of the smallest of the office towers—or rather, Lucy stood panting while her companion went back to the door to look anxiously out at the rain.

"You know," he said over his shoulder to Lucy, "you really should've come in out of the rain before it started. Couldn't you smell it?"

Lucy finally snapped. To heck with trying to be polite!

"Yes, I could smell it, Mr. Dragneel, but every time I tried to get you to move, you just, just ignored me!"

There was a pause while Natsu processed Lucy's irritation. Then—why was she not surprised?—he grinned, and used his hands to comb some of the water out of his cotton candy hair. The result was a spiky, yet ridiculously perfect mess.

"Yeah, I guess I might have—I was keeping an eye out for Happy and Plue. Sorry about that. No harm done though, right? I mean, at least you're in the right building now, and it's just rain." He caught Lucy's expression and laughed sheepishly. "Well, yeah, okay a lot of rain. Heavy rain, you might say. But you look fine, really."

Lucy decided that they had bonded enough over the star destroyer cloud for her to get out her compact and do a quick check of her face and hair in front of him—something that normally she would never do. Thankfully, she did look okay, courtesy of a well-pinned bun and minimal, but expensive, cosmetics. On the other hand... She barely repressed a yelp at the jagged tear in her stocking. She restrained herself from shaking Natsu for having dragged her along at such a pace, and tried to make him pay attention to her anxiety over the time.

"Mr. Dragneel—Natsu. I would like to be on time for my appointment. I have three minutes to get there. Your pets appear to be quite good at looking after themselves. I expect that they are waiting out the rain under cover somewhere. Please tell me where to go."

With an abrupt change of demeanor, Natsu gave her a quick nod.

"You're right, my bad. It's just that I'm watching Plue for a friend, and I kind of had to sneak away from work to let him out for a bit and, well—come with me."

With impeccable manners, he swept her towards a bank of lifts, waving at a sleepy-looking security guard whom Lucy hadn't even noticed. Lucy thought she saw a look of apprehension flit across Natsu's face as the lift doors closed behind them and he selected one of the upper floors. What was that about?

When they stepped out at the thirty-second floor, scant seconds later, Natsu turned and leaned heavily against the marble-faced wall. Despite now being extremely worried about the time—even to the exclusion of fretting over her torn stocking—Lucy paused to see if she could help. The rain was now pounding against the windows, all but drowning out the inevitable soft music of the floor's tastefully neutral lobby area.

"Um, Natsu?" Only years of controlling her anxiety around her father allowed Lucy to ignore her damp, less-than-pristine appearance, the fact that she was late for an interview for her dream job, and the way that the storm outside was competing with Elton John for her attention. (Why Elton John? And why the Musack version? Did it really need to be even slower and sappier than it already was? Plus, the song was older than she was and she probably knew it better than Elton at this point, courtesy of a thousand upscale office tower lobbies just like this one.)

"… Sorry…" Natsu looked positively ill. He waved a hand at her feebly. "… 'S'why I usually take the stairs."

"To the thirty-second floor?!" asked Lucy, appalled. Then again, he did seem to be in very good shape. Maybe this was why.

"Oh, don't worry about Natsu, Ms. Heartfilia," said a distinctly amused male voice from behind her. "He's terrible with elevators. And cars. And boats, trains, trams, pony-wagons, children's pedal toys—"

"Shut up, Gray," growled Natsu. His voice was still distinctly rough around the edges.

The man who had come into the lobby looked to be about Natsu's age—maybe a year or two older than Lucy. She was surprised that he wasn't wearing his suit jacket, since most city lawyers she'd met over the years wouldn't leave their office without one. Still, the icy blue tones of his slim-fit shirt worked just fine with his dark hair and eyes. Again with the personal appearances, she sighed. What is with me today?

"Are you really going to be alright, Natsu?" For some reason, Lucy found that she already missed the pink-haired guy's slightly overwhelming smile.

"Yeah," said Natsu. This time he managed a slightly happier expression.

"Yeah, he's okay, I promise," said his colleague, at almost exactly the same time. He still looked like he was laughing at Natsu, but his tone indicated that he had answered seriously. "I'm Gray, by the way—Gray Fullbuster. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Heartfilia."

They shook hands, and Lucy found Gray's grip to be firm and dry like Natsu's—but cool instead of warm. It was an odd sensation, in fact.

"Lucy's fine, Mr. Fullbuster."

"Sure—just call me Gray, then. I hope Natsu met you like he was supposed to? We tend to find people standing outside in the plaza looking confused… Anyway, Natsu volunteered to leave early to find you, so you could get inside before the rain hit." Gray quirked an eyebrow, somehow sensing that something was up. "Was there a problem?"

Lucy froze. He was supposed to meet me and bring me straight here? Her mind quickly ran through images of the collision with Plue and Happy at the turnstile, followed by Natsu running off to somewhere while she boarded the subway, followed by Natsu looking for his pets while the clouds rolled in… and then dragging her willy-nilly into the building after the downpour started. She glanced out the window at the wind-lashed rain and then momentarily at Natsu, who was now leaning more casually against the wall, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and an irrepressible smile at the corners of his lips.

"Actually, everything was just fine," said Lucy, lying through her teeth for no discernible reason.

Natsu looked surprised and then grinned. Lucy blinked. How did he do that? For just a moment, it was as if the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. I'm living a cliché, she thought, rolling her eyes at her own sentimentality. She decided to make a start on appearing professional.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she told Gray. She'd just have to ignore the stocking.

"I'm good to go, too," added Natsu.

Lucy looked between them in surprise. She hadn't expected a job interview to include more than one junior associate, and Natsu and Gray just couldn't be that long out of law school. Gray's lips quirked.

"We've been working here for years, Lucy—only our degrees are kind of new. I'm the head of our forensic law and tax services, and your cover letter mentioned you had some interest in learning current methods for tracking multi-layered companies and complex transactions." Gray paused, then shook his head. "And Pinky over there"—he ignored an obviously automatic "hey" from Natsu—"believe it or not, is the head of our corporate and securities law group. Basically, if you're serious about the kind of law you have in mind, you'll be working with us—mostly Natsu."

Natsu finally pried himself off the wall. With a total disregard for personal boundaries, he walked over and gave Lucy a short, one-armed hug.

"It'll be great!" he assured her, beaming.

Lucy just nodded. But when she sat down for her actual interview, which was conducted by the famous Makarov Dreyar himself and his equally well-known protégée, Erza Scarlet, her heart wasn't hammering against her ribs the way it usually did during important interviews. Even her stomach butterflies had faded substantially. Strangest of all, the storm had abruptly blown itself out, and the sun was shining. All she needed was twittering bluebirds to complete the scene.

Oh well, Lucy thought, resigned. At least it's a good cliché.

[END]

A/Note: Thanks for reading! All comments and reviews are much appreciated, as are likes, kudos, reblogs and whatever other fine method of communication is provided by your platform of choice.

~ Impracticaldemon