Settled dew dreamily slept upon the morning's rise whilst stirred from his rest a dragon slayer. It was thought of by Mirajane Strauss that his assistance was a matter of extreme importance, and thus upon the dawn set out to Fairy Tail's guild hall.
"Laxus, I need a favor." Mira spoke teasingly cute–––a deception he had witnessed all too often. The She-Devil was up to something! "Tch," he bitterly spat out in annoyance. "Do you know what time it is? You couldn't have asked me yesterday?" Mira looked down in further deceit, coyly stringing him along as a puppeteer. "Sorry, I was just too overwhelmed yesterday to go into details. There's just so much to do with the festival coming up. Not only around here but the town too. We've got people coming in from all over!" As Mira spoke her passion was tangible, it had been obvious to Laxus and the entirety of the guild she was devoting herself without exception to the encroaching Magnolia Summer Festival.
"Yeah. Ok, so what do you want?" Despite his blunt rhetoric Laxus intended to carry out her request. She was a member of Fairy Tail and thus an extension of family. But Mira knew this. Quickly she clasped her hands within his own. Her slender fingers wrapped their form against his as if in prayer. Taken aback he stood silent, observing. "I need you to look after Romeo!"
"Wh–" he tried to question but was quickly interjected by Mira. Once she started there was no escape.
"It's the saddest thing you know! Have you seen him lately? He's moping around all the time. Macao doesn't know what's wrong. But…I do!" She smiled with a giggle and rose on her toes to whisper in his ear the unexpected. "He's in love!"
"But what does that have to do with m–" Laxus spoke again, only to meet the same fate.
"EVERYTHING!" She elbowed his chest, suggestively carrying on in her impossibly optimistic demeanor. "You have a lot of luck with the ladies. So go on, rub off some of your magic on him."
The lightning dragon slayer narrowed his eyes in annoyance at her request.
"Don't worry. If you need help I'm sure the others will be able to help out," ever the opportunist Mira sought to placate any unseemly chance of rejection before he could make it sound reasonable to either of them. But he could still try!
"And why didn't you ask the others instead? Crap like this suits Lucy Or Levy. Those book fanatics are all over romantic garbage."
Perhaps it did require a woman's touch, but Mira was quick to recollect on the state of romantic affairs in Fairy Tail. She sighed ready to lie. "I just…really need your help with this, ok? I've got a lot of stuff to do and the others are busy as well. Anyways, it's good for you to bond with the guild. Yeah!" She cheered once more in bubbly optimism.
The truth of the matter was far more graphic. Mira felt Natsu was too stupid to realize who he likes. Lucy didn't have the backbone to take her friendships further. Gray was lucky with women but stripped too much and could've taught Romeo perverse things. Juvia was a stalker. Gajeel was a suppressed tsundere. Levy was too obvious with her feelings. Erza and courtship seemed unlikely and her tendency to go overboard was out of the question. Elfman was too manly. Cana was an alcoholic. Lisanna was too shy. Evergreen's tactics of attraction seemed too mature. Bickslow was too focused on "babies". Makarov, Macao, and Wakaba were promising but their blatantly lecherous nature betrayed hope itself. Mira couldn't recall the last time Vijeeter spoke. Reedus may have been an artist but was cursed with their romantically inexperienced traits. And the list went on….
"Please," she pleaded with her shining sapphire hues.
"Hmph. I'm not making any promises. Who does the kid even li––"interrupted once more.
"It's Wendy! You didn't know that? Really?" Suspicion became cast upon his ability to succeed now but it was too late for her to find someone else. "Well…either way, good luck!" And no sooner had their meeting began it ended. Mira sped off to carry on her tasks in preparation for the festival, and Laxus was left waiting for the morning stragglers of Fairy Tail to arrive.
But Laxus's own ability to pick up chicks had diminished. In truth he was a titan among men, towering above many others. His body was vast and muscular, with a visage rugged but youthful and handsome enough to win admirers from a look alone. But romance had been commenced by his fans since Tenrou Island, as he oft spent time in reflection now. In truth the last time he made a pass at a woman was when he asked Mira to show her tits in exchange for assistance with fending off Phantom Lord. As the hours slipped into the next and the guild members poured into the hall, Laxus sat in quiet and undisturbed contemplation.
A sip of alcohol in the morning, while not entirely healthy, was his salvation from the stress that would come from the task set out before him.
"Hi Laxus," the young voice shot out. "Mira said you wanted to talk."
His hand grasped harder round the glass cup. The ice itself rattled as he lifted to take another swig of the hard liquor. "How the hell do you start this kind of conversation!?" he thought to himself.
"Romeo, liste–––"
Romeo's collar was quickly yanked at by Juvia who then burst her way through their conversation. "Romeo, we've got some work to do." The blue haired water witch had her own set of designs!
"Juvia knows you like Wendy. And today Juvia will help you make her fall in love!"
Laxus's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She was trying to steal his mission! At least she offered him a path to his goal.
"If you need helping asking Wendy out" the lightning dragon slayer rested his hand upon the young boy's shoulder. "I think I'll be able to help you out, kid" his confident and smooth voice bespoke of a fictitious success in the art of seduction. A disarming smirk enhanced his "cool guy" image. But Juvia saw his transition in demeanor from austere to the "suave" love interest in school girl shoujo romance manga as encroaching on her territory.
"What does Laxus think he's doing? He'll ruin everything" she thought. Juvia gritted her teeth before springing into action. Though their mission was the same the end result was not. "Oh ho ho ho, one less woman for Gray-sama to go with" was her goal. Should Romeo succeed in his love it would have diminished the amount of people Gray could go to the festival with. For this reason she could not trust Laxus's ability to woo over her own, and found it an easy task to swat his hand from Romeo's shoulder and separate the two by standing between them.
Juvia thrust against the counter a book. "Take a look at this!" As Juvia flipped through the book's pages the contents revealed itself as a log. Juvia recorded the times Wendy left her home and returned, what she ate, when she showered, where she went and the frequency of her trips, the duration. Her masterpiece compilation included detailed sketches and even notes on brief conversations she held with Gray, or even about Gray.
"W-Wow," Romeo was astonished by her work. Laxus was disturbed. "Juvia, wouldn't this sort of thing be considered stalking" he questioned.
"Stalking? No." Juvia's perfectly calm voice continued. "Wendy and I are neighbors at Fairy Hills. Neighbors know these sort of things about each other."
Laxus took another gulp of his drink, remaining silent. "NO MATTER HOW YOU SPIN IT SHE DEFINITELY STALKED WENDY. THIS WOMAN IS A KNOWN STALKER" but his thought went unvoiced.
"We've got an opportunity right now" Juvia smiled. Her finger drew their eyes to an entry on Wendy's morning habits. "Most days she and Carla have breakfast by the harbor. But today Wendy's breakfast basket will be empty."
"How do you know that?" Laxus posed the obvious question.
Juvia recounted how she broke into Wendy's room and switched the baskets before Wendy departed, ensuring Romeo a chance to save the day. But she opted instead to rephrase it in such a way it could be easier digested. She blushed. "Juvia just knows these things." She nodded.
"Al-Alright," Romeo nodded in unison with her. For him it was an opportunity to be closer with Wendy and therefore, did not see her in the same light as Laxus. "What do you think she'd like to eat for breakfast? There are a few bakeries open." Juiva quickly swatted his scalp. "You can only give the person you love food you've prepared with your affection. Women especially love it when men make them food. Don't be an amateur, Romeo. Don't worry though, Juvia will help you this once. We can make it together." Having no experience with baking Romeo readily agreed, and together the pair ran off into the guild's kitchen to "liberate" a few ingredients for their task.
Laxus felt watched although given his company it came as no surprise. A stalker and some kid he barely knew had made him a target for wandering gazes. He found himself soon compelled to venture into the kitchen as a means of escape and to also watch over the two before a seemingly inevitable catastrophe would strike. Surprisingly he found that breakfast in the kitchen had been going well. Too well.
"S-SHE SABOTAGED THAT BASKET" Laxus confirmed with disbelief. Upon entering the kitchen, row after row of Wendy shaped confections had been prepped and ready to be baked. It was obvious Juvia had been working in this kitchen long before Laxus spoke to Mira in the morning. Crepes, molded chocolates, twin-tail shaped bacon, Carla-figured croissants, had been stuffed into several baskets. The reason for copious amount was because, as Juvia found out through her many escapades of stalking Gray, things can happen and your gifts get ruined. Therefore to secure delivery of your token you must go overboard!
"Juvia," he called her out. "This is way too much!"
"Do you think so" she questioned with genuine interest. It was a paltry amount to the Gray themed goodies she could muster given an hour.
Romeo who worked the stoves was awash with sweat. Heavy, dark bags grew under his tired eyes–––no doubt exacerbated from the soot produced by manufacturing so many goods for a good deal of hours. "I think it's" he coughed. "It's enough."
It had only been several minutes since their conversation at the counter! Laxus quickly held the boy by his shoulders and lightly shook him. "Are you alright kid!?" Romeo's voice responded in a tremble. "Y-Yeah," but no sooner had he finished his head fell over unconscious.
"Juvia, open the damn windows," Laxus roared out.
Frightened she quickly sprang into action and fulfilled his request, drawing them open faster than one could imagine.
"Wh-what the hell is in this smoke" he questioned her as he walked out the room.
"It's Juvia's feel good mixture." Her fingers shyly pressed against each other as her eyes darted to the ground. Blush once again struck at her face in an embarrassing shade of red. "Y-Y-You see, it's grounded from some herbs I collect."
His eyes narrowed upon her figure once more. "How much did you put in…." he asked quietly in suspicion.
"I put some in the mixture for every batch. Even the meat," she smiled.
The guild was quickly evacuated.
Strewn over Romeo's hospital bed Juvia wept. Her wails were boisterous and frequent. Though Romeo was not in any immediate danger, he just needed rest and some clean oxygen. Laxus was of no want to being there but he felt obligated given the turn of events after having failed his own appointed task. "G-G-GRAY-SAMA" she cried out in despair-the sound of a soul without light. "THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT" Laxus barked. "Goddamn it! After what you put this kid through, we better make sure he gets at least gets a date." He sighed, resting his back against the hospital's wall. It was an obligation now to see this mission to its end, given that under his watch Romeo ended up in need of medical treatment.
The enlarged shadow of Lucy spread from the doorway. Hidden behind a veil of light and fog, she had come as Venus rising from the sea. Yet what emerged from out this light was but another chapter in nightmare. Lucy's modified Heart Kreuze top draped the frame of Lucy's Landlady. Lucy's mini-skirt left much of the stout figure's legs exposed. From the waist, weight had spilled-unable to be restrained by the top. "You should never let a girl handle a woman's job," she spoke in failed attempt of seduction and mystery, the sultry allure ruined by the elderly rasp.
To be continued….