Heeey. It's missytreejackson. This is my first story. Just some Dorandy/Mendy stuff because I think they're kinda cute with their awkward friendship and how Mest likes Wendy. Though, I don't like the pedophile stuff going on so I did it my own way and I hope you like it. Modern AU. Enjoy reading!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to the one and only Hiro Mashima
Mest
"Someday, when I grow up, I wanna marry you, Doranbolt," she said and gave me her widest smile, and purely an innocent one.
I just laughed it off. I can't rely on those words. Words coming from a thirteen year old girl. A girl that I cared for so much until I realized that it was love. But I can't and the whole world would agree I can't. I'm twenty years old and hitting on a child would get me in trouble. Call me a pedophile for what I feel but I know I'm wrong, that's why I'm leaving.
I'm leaving to continue on with my life, my career, maybe find someone to fall in love with, someone who won't get me in trouble and then get married and raise a family, my very own Gryder family. Yes, sounds like a perfect fantasy.
But what about Wendy?
She's going to grow up and move on. Maybe fall in love with someone else also, a love that is genuine, not like this puppy love she's feeling for me just because we get along so well. Then she'll remember me as a friend, and maybe laugh off this memory of her confessing to marry me.
Then maybe we'll meet again one day, or maybe not. But when we might, we'll smile at each other like good old friends, talk at a cafe and catch up with how our lives' been going. Maybe by then I'm married, she's with someone, we're both very happy.
And that's it.
"Alright, I'll miss you too, Wendy," I gave her a pat on the head. "And you too, Carla." I moved my hand towards her white cat to pet her but she only attempted to bite me.
Even with all the times Wendy and I spent together, with Carla, the cat would never learn to like me. She's not very fond of me and has never liked me ever since the beginning when Wendy introduced me. I left her place full of scratches and bandages as Wendy kept apologizing nonstop.
I placed my last luggage into the car and went inside.
"Goodbye, Wendy," I said as I laced my seatbelt on.
"Till I see you, Doranbolt." were the last words I heard from her before speeding off.
"Well that was quite a memory," Mest silently uttered as he closed his notifications tab and continued scrolling down through the page. It was on Favebook, a photo he once uploaded of him and Wendy and it's been seven years already.
Seven years.
But now she's probably all grown up. A beautiful, twenty year old Wendy. They weren't connected in Favebook also since Mest used his real name for his account while Wendy only knew him as Doranbolt. As for him, he made a choice not to. Besides, he was barely active, only checking in to see some important message and closing it once the business is done.
He held on to his imagination of what Wendy would look like. Her dark blue hair would be longer and smoother, she'd have a grown woman's body and her facial features would've been matured by now. He used to think of her as cute but now that he's thinking about it again, she would be beautiful.
I wonder how she is, he thought. She may still be in college or has already started working. Or in her age, she might even be already engaged. Or she may have been travelling the world, just as she planned. Does she still get queasy from travelling? Maybe she's used to it by now. Does she still have Carla with her? From what he knows cats don't really have a long lifespan…
A knock on the door of his office disturbed him from his thoughts.
"Sir, you have a meeting in ten minutes," his secretary reminded him.
He closed his laptop and fixed thing stuff. "Okay, just tell them I'll be there."
Wendy
"I'm going now, Carla, bye," she told her cat as she was about to leave. "Don't go messing to stuff while I'm gone."
A few moments later Wendy found herself in front of a tall building. Her hair was neatly tied back in a ponytail and she was carrying a box with a stack of papers in her hands. She was instructed from her office to have those papers signed by the Council and that's where she is right now, in front of the Council's building.
She made her way to the door while figuring out how to open it with her hands full. She cursed under her breath.
She thought about how it would be nice to go back to the past, even just for a day. Forget that, even better, a week. She'll be satisfied with that. Those days when she wasn't busy worrying too much yet about her internship or her graduation. When she could just mess around with her friends Gray, Lucy, Erza, Gajeel and Natsu while his cat Happy flirts with her Carla. She recalled the stress-free days. Despite being a twenty-year-old already, she still feels the thirteen-year-old spirit in her. And her friends would often tell her she looks younger that she really is.
Thirteen.
Then out of the blue, her thoughts produced a vision of a dark haired man, bright eyes and scars in his face. It was her friend. Or, at least she thought so even when he said goodbye. In her heart, he still is, even when he shut her out.
She could still remember her last words to him. She never said goodbye. She didn't want to.
"Till I see you, Doranbolt."
When.
Wendy shook her head to clear her thoughts. Now is not the time to be thinking about him. I'm here for work and to get my work done.
"Hey, I'm Wendy Marvell, an intern from Cait Shelter," she told the receptionist. "They sent me to bring these letters and have them signed by Mr. Mest Gryder."
"Mr. Gryder's office is in the fourteenth floor," she said without even looking at her.
Wendy thanked her and proceeded to her destination but when she finally made it to the fourteenth floor, she found herself a bit troubled.
She was lost. Sure, it's no biggie but Wendy could feel her heartbeat getting faster.
What is this feeling? This is totally weird.
She's never been anxious over getting lost before but why is her heart acting all crazy right now? She looked around the hall and found the doors didn't have labels in them. Great, just great. And she counted seventeen rooms in all. How the hell is she supposed to find Mr. Gryder. And what is up with her heart beating abnormally fast.
She was just walking along the corridor trying to find Mr. Gryder's office when she accidentally bumped into someone and dropped her box of papers. Now they're all scattered in the ground.
"I'm really sorry, miss," the said who she bumped into said and picked up the papers.
Wendy accepted the papers and placed them back in the box. "That's fine, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
The man stood and she heard a chuckle coming from him. "You're still a bit clumsy, aren't you, Wendy?"
Wendy paused in her actions to stare at the man who just called her by her name.
The man must've read the confusion in her face and it gave way for a friendly smile in his face as he offered his hand to hers. "You know, for someone who kind of swore to marry me, it kind of hurts not to be recognized.I thought we wouldn't be forgetting each other."
As soon as the realization hit Wendy, she attacked him in a fierce hug. "Doranbolt! You idiot. I missed you, so much."
Mest returned her hug. "I missed you too, Wendy."
When Wendy let go of the hug, Mest noticed her a bit teary-eyed until she started sobbing.
"I know, it's my bad. I'm sorry."
He received a playful punch from the woman. "I never I'd see you again ever since I started counting and I lost hope."
"Well, here we are. You've grown, Wendy. I knew you were going to be beautiful but I'm still surprised. You're gorgeous."
A light blush appeared from her cheeks but she tried to deny it by rolling her eyes at him. "And you've changed so much. I couldn't have recognized you but your scars gave hint."
"It's okay to say I've become painfully handsome, I won't tease you," he said smugly.
Wendy rolled her eyes again and laughed at the thought. At least, only his looks changed. He's still the weirdo Doranbolt I knew. "You've grown a goatee," she remarked.
"You like it," Mest playfully winked at her.
Wendy felt her face heating up and thought about how he knew what she was thinking, not that she'd admit it, of course. She swear she would get a headache later after all the eye rolls she's giving him.
"Anyways," Wendy thought it might be better to change the subject. She showed him the box full of papers she was asked to deliver, "could you help me out a bit here. I'm supposed to bring these to someone."
'Sure, I know everybody here. Who are you looking for?"
"Um, Mr. Mest Gryder."
"I'll carry these for you," he took the box from her, to her surprise. "Follow me, I'll lead you to his office."
When they reached the office, Mest settled the box into the desk and gestured for Wendy to have a seat.
"You don't have to carry those for me, you know," she said as she took a seat. "I was handling them well."
Mest let out a sarcastic laugh. "So when you bumped into me and dropped it, that was called handling well?"
"I hate you. Don't you have anywhere else to go. And where is Mr. Gryder, anyway."
He let out a laugh before taking a seat at his desk chair and showed her his name plaque. "You've been talking to him for the last ten minutes.
Mest
"'I still can't believe my whole life I've never known you as Mest Gryder," Wendy said while only staring at the cup of coffee in her hands.
After everything that day, lots of arguments and bantering, Mest signing the papers and Wendy going back to Cait Shelter to return them, they decided to meet up at Fairy Tail, a popular cafe and bar in the middle of Magnolia, to have a friendly chitchat and catching up.
"I mean, you work for the council, really," Wendy continued. "I didn't know they'd accept idiots."
"Hey, now, you're underestimating me, I'd actually pretty talented."
"I'd like to think of it that way considering you're a head of a division," she took a deep breath and a sip of her coffee. "A lot changed."
Mest was running out of excuses, he was running out of things to say. He can't tell her the truth, no. That he left because he loved her and didn't want to hurt her. He left because that was what he thought was the best for both of them. She was too young for love and he didn't want her to think that he had taken advantage of her innocence to charm her. He cared for her that he didn't want her friends to think she's a weirdo for hanging out a pedophile. He certainly didn't want her and others to think that he'll wait for her to grow up so that they can be together, that's what he meant about taking advantage of her innocence.
And he was convinced that his feelings for her might also be temporary. But as of the moment, just the two of them at a cafe table, seeing Wendy sad and disappointed about what happened, how they missed out a lot of important things in their lives, it hurt him. And that's when he knew he was wrong.
His guilt was eating him, clawing at his chest. He was wrong. He did everything. Maybe he shouldn't have shut her out completely. Maybe he should've talked to her, asked her how she's been every once in a while. And send her holiday greetings and birthday messages, like a friend does. He wanted to punch himself for thinking that it was the best. He could've been a friend who she could count on. He was a fool for him to think that shutting her out was his means of keeping their friendship.
"Doranbolt?" Wendy's words were faint but he could hear the pain from it loudly.
He stared deeply into her brown eyes, looking for answers, for anything at all, for what she might want him to say, for clues. But they were all just filled with hurt.
"I'm sorry, Wendy." He said as he broke his gaze.
"I don't want you to apologize anymore." She reached out to hold his hands.
"I don't know what to do."
"I want you to stay."
Yey, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to criticize. Feel free to like. Feel free to ask questions, I won't bite. Leave a review. It helps a lot ;)
-missytreejackson
