Secret Admirer

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL AND THE COVER IMAGE!

It was a well known fact that Mirajane had many secret admirers. She often received confessions and presents from the men that were attracted to her. On Valentine's Day, the amount of confessions, flowers and heart shaped presents increased to an amount that beat any other female's collection of gifts.

Mirajane was honoured to receive so many gifts, yet with each one, she became more upset inside. She never showed it (not even to her siblings), but she was also hoping that one certain rune mage would give her something. There was something about him that grabbed her attention. Maybe it was his silence, his strength, his looks or his loyalty; maybe it was a combination of them all.

Mirajane was usually the first to arrive at the guild. When she arrived this morning, however, she was surprised to see Freed sitting on one of the stools, his back turned to her. When he heard the door open, the rune mage turned his head to see Mirajane walking towards the bar and stepping behind it, like she usually did.

"Good morning. You're earlier than usual," she told him. He nodded and then looked into her eyes. She instantly took the chance to look at those blue-green orbs. She found them absolutely mesmerising and found it hard to look away from them.

"I wanted to think about something in silence. This was the first place that came to my mind." She understood what he meant. It may seem chaotic and noisy during the day, but as soon as everyone started to leave, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"What was it you were thinking about?" the girl asked curiously.

"A girl." Mirajane didn't know what to think. Freed was having girl problems?! It almost sounded as impossible as Gray not stripping or Elfman not talking about being a man.

"Do you think you could give me some advice, Mira?" he asked. She gave a nod and waited for the rune mage to explain what exactly was troubling him about this girl.

"I don't know what I should do. I think about her at day, see her in my dreams at night and I think I might love her. However, she has many admirers and when she can pick from so many men, I don't see why she would pick me of all people and she probably wouldn't. "

Mirajane was speechless. She had never heard Freed talk so emotionally since he admitted that he didn't want to hurt his fellow guild members, but felt that he needed to follow Laxus' orders. Not many got to see this side of him and she felt lucky to be one of the few people that did.

"What makes you think that she wouldn't want to be with you?" Mirajane asked softly.

"She's beautiful, kind, cheerful, helpful and so much more that it would take days to list all of her qualities. I'm nothing compared to her and I'll never be at her level. She's absolutely perfect in every way imaginable."

The soft, loving gaze the rune mage held whilst he'd explained his reasoning made Mirajane's heart flutter and clench in agony at the same time. It fluttered as his gaze was everything a girl could ask for when a man would describe his ideal girl. Yet, it made her want to cry because she was certain that it wasn't her he was thinking about.

Before she could continue their conversation, the doors to the guild opened again. Levy came through the door, followed by Droy and Jet. Since they now had company, Fried and Mirajane decided to finish their conversation some other time.

"Good morning Mira-san," Levy said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Levy-chan. Why so cheerful? Did Gajeel and you finally get together?" Mirajane asked. She was hoping that she could finally get the couple together, as it was obvious to everyone (except Natsu, since he's dense when it comes to the subject of love) that the two loved each other.

"Don't worry, I won't tell," Mirajane told the younger mages with a playful wink.

"Well there's nothing to tell anyway, since Gajeel and I aren't together." Levy yelled with flushed cheeks and then went to join Jet and Droy at their usual table.

Freed observed the way Mirajane interacted with the people that started flooding the guild. She was always so cheery, even though she had such a dark side to her when she transformed into the she-demon. Her kindness and loving side was only two of the many things he loved about the mage.

The rune mage's thoughts were interrupted when Bixlow and Evergreen joined him. Evergreen was complaining about Elfman and how his 'man' talk was annoying. Bixlow teased her, saying she only complained about Elfman to cover up that she secretly liked him. His dolls then agreed with him, which made Evergreen blush and shout that Bixlow was absolutely wrong. It was a topic that often came up between the three, as the two men loved teasing their female companion. Usually, Freed joined in on teasing Evergreen. However, today he only had his thoughts on a certain bartender.

Freed wanted to show the oldest Strauss sibling just how much he loved her. However, he didn't want to do it publicly; it wasn't his style and he preferred for them to be alone. He left the guild, heading home to think of a plan. He knew that Valentine's Day was coming up soon and he planned to give her something that would be better than all the other gifts she ever received. However, he didn't want to just amaze her on Valentine's Day; no, he wanted to lead up to the day and let February the 14th be the finale.

When Mirajane entered the guild the next morning, a bouquet of red roses and a poem greeted her. She took a whiff of the roses and read through the poem. She didn't recognise the beautiful handwriting and wondered who gave this to her. The poem was signed by 'Your Secret Admirer', which didn't help her find any clues as to who this mystery lover was. She could only guess that he had a gift for romance because she was flattered. The mage has had many secret admirers before, but none have caught her attention like this one. His words sounded sincere and like he actually knew her, instead of relying on the gossip on the streets and magazines. He seemed to indeed have affections for her, instead of only wanting to be with her because of her looks.

She read the poem again, and her lips twisted into a graceful smile. She felt a light blush dust her cheeks when she thought of the idea that it could be from a certain rune mage. However, she immediately dismissed the thought, telling herself to stop keeping her hopes up. Mirajanae took her usual place behind the bar and waited for the rest of the guild to show up.

A few people asked the takeover mage about the roses that were sitting in a vase on the bar. She blushed lightly and said that she didn't want to throw them away and didn't want to squash them or leave them dehydrated. The girls were as curious as Mirajane was when it came to the identity of this secret admirer.

"I wonder who it could be. Besides, why would they pick her instead of a beauty like me?!" Evergreen was complaining about the lack of appreciation and gifts that she received from secret admirers (which was probably none, since most find her far too scary and annoying) to the male members of the Thunder Legion. Bixlow pointed out that she was probably upset that Elfman hadn't given her anything, which she thorougly disagreed with and their daily argument started. Freed kept an eye on the beautiful bartender and her reaction towards the flowers. He saw how she smiled lightly every time she took a glance towards the roses. He was sure he had made an impression, but this was only the start.

The next day, Mirajane was surprised again by another gift that was left by her secret admirer. In front of her was a painting of herself. It showed the top of her head down to her shoulders. Everything from her hair to her shoulders was in black and white, except her crystal blue eyes. The picture was beautiful and something was written down the bottom in the same handwriting as the one on the poem.

You're an angel that shone light and hope into my life.

She was touched by the message and the picture. She wondered who it could have been that she gave hope to. After Lisanna's 'death', she had always tried to be more cheerful for everyone, which meant that anyone in the guild could have done this for her. She placed the picture upstairs where only the S-class mages were allowed, so no one would accidentally ruin it.

When the rest of the guild members came in, she decided to ask Reedus for help. He was a great artist and if anyone had an idea on who might have drawn this picture, it would be him. She showed the picture to him and he explained that it was him who drew it, but he wasn't her secret admirer. He was simply helping a guild member that was trying to show her how much she meant to a certain Fairy Tail mage. The message, however, was written by her secret admirer,(Reedus only confirmed that the message wasn't his doing; he was only responsible for the painting) as she had already figured out.

Her new discovery hadn't brought her much closer to her secret admirer's identity. The only thing she now knew was that it wasn't Reedus. She had already knocked out Elfman, since he was her brother and he seemed to be interested in Evergreen (even if he didn't have a good way of showing it). She knocked out Makarov, since he saw her as a comrade and daughter, not a lover. She sighed in frustration, as she felt she wasn't getting any further with this person's identity.

Freed silently watched her again. She was conversing with Reedus and he hoped that Reedus would keep his promise of leaving Mirajane in the dark for a little longer. Tomorrow (February 14th, also known as Valentine's Day) she would find out it was him. He just needed to find something that would impress her more than he already had. He wanted to show her how much he cared for her and how serious he was about this. It wasn't just for fun; no, he was doing this to show how much he loved the Mirajane Strauss.

The next morning, the guild's bartender wasn't surprised when strangers came up to her, giving her chocolates, letters and speeches of affection. She listened to all of them and kindly thanked them all, but her mind kept wondering to her secret admirer and a certain rune mage. She wondered if her secret love would give her anything for Valentine's Day, but decided that it would never happen. It hadn't happened in the previous years and she couldn't think of any reason why it would suddenly change this year. On the other hand, she wondered if her secret admirer had left another gift for her. She quickened her pace to reach the guild faster, to see if her hunch had been right. She opened the doors to find Freed sitting on one of the bar stools.

"Freed. You're early again," she exclaimed in surprise. He turned his head to look at her, before he stood and walked towards her. She started approaching him as well until she saw him smirk. She halted and wondered what he was smirking about. Before she realised it, a rune trap had activated and she was inside it with Freed.

"Freed, what is this about? Let me out of here."

He smirked again and looked at Mirajane's bewildered expression. The rune mage had caught her off guard and he enjoyed seeing her shocked expression.

"You know it's not that simple. We have to follow the rules before we can get out of this." She decided that he was right and looked at the rule that had started to form.

Confess a secret that has to do with the other person in the enchantment.

"I'll start. I have been your secret admirer to show you that I love you. I would also like to ask if you want to be my Valentine," he confessed. The girl gasped and everything seemed to come together. She had changed his life when they fought against each other, which explained the writing on the painting. She had once told him that she her favourite flowers were red roses when she had drunk too much and he had escorted her home (both of her siblings were on a mission and she didn't trust anyone else as much as she trusted him).

She placed her arms around his neck and kissed him, glad to know that he felt the same as she did. Freed's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, her body now touching his. When she broke the kiss, she smiled.

"Was that a yes?" She nodded and this time, he was the one that kissed her. They deepened their kiss, letting all their emotions show in their lip lock. When they pulled away, he smirked. She looked at him and raised and eyebrow in question.

"You still haven't met the requirements to set us free," he explained. Mirajane realised that she hadn't told him a secret of her own yet. It wasn't hard to figure out what to say.

"I love you."

She only ever had her eyes set on one person. Who knew he would turn out to be my secret admirer?