Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Fairy Tail, they belong to Hiro Mashima. But I'd be thrilled to take Loke off his hands.

Five days had now passed since Gray had given him a certain seven-day deadline, and Loke still hadn't a clue how he was going to meet it – on either count. When his friend had found out about the grudge he'd been keeping against Gajeel Redfox on Lucy's behalf, and his feelings for the celestial mage as well, he'd given him one week to not only tell the young woman of his love for her, but also find a way to start getting over his anger at the iron dragon-slayer.

Or else, as he'd put it.

Nothing much had happened in those five days, his master going on a few small day jobs by herself or with various members of her team. He'd spent most of his time in her world, opening and closing his own gate numerous times without disturbing her in any way. But there hadn't really been a chance for him to get her alone since she hadn't needed him on any of her jobs, and now time was running out.

He wasn't even going to count the grudge thing, because he'd had exactly zero luck on that end, too. You know what? I'm just going to take one thing at a time. Figuring out how to tell Lucy I love her is way more important than letting Redfox off the hook, he decided.

So what was he going to do? Blurt his feelings out in front of the guild – or maybe the entire city of Magnolia? Hell, maybe he should just spell it out in stars across the sky come nightfall so the entire world could see his confession. Sure. That should shut his frozen friend up – or at least about that.

Good thing he doesn't know about the rest of my grudge-keeping...

Loke sighed.

Today wasn't looking too promising as a love-confession day either, truth be told. There was no job, but there was a pool-party at the guild that he knew his lady-love would be attending. Normally he probably wouldn't bother too much with it for himself, but the chance to ogle a very scantily-clad Lucy all day – and the sudden realization that if he wasn't there, she'd probably have all sorts of guys all over her – had pushed him right into it.

The other problem was that he wasn't feeling at all confident about the matter of her feelings, even if Gray said he should be. He certainly wasn't seeing whatever it was that was making the other man insist that Lucy would be receptive to him. She seemingly paid him no more mind than any of the other guys that hounded her. He shrugged resignedly. Well, maybe today he'd see whatever it was. He hoped so, because otherwise he was just about ready to go hide in the spirit world and avoid his friend and his deadline entirely for as long as possible... like a few years, maybe.

With an only slightly petulant grumble, Loke forced his gate open and appeared in front of the guild wearing nothing but swimming trunks, his shades, and sandals, with a towel thrown over his shoulder. He didn't stand out, as all the guild members currently entering and those already inside were wearing gender-specific swimming attire, as well – even the Master, though he wasn't outside but sitting on the bar with a foamy mug in his hand as he watched his 'brats' with a smile.

Leo headed towards the bar himself, not really ready to go outside – Lucy wasn't here yet, as he couldn't feel her presence anywhere around the guild. (Yes, he always knew if she was nearby. He was really rather oversensitive when it came to her, and he could feel her in ways the other celestial spirits couldn't.) Sure, there were all the other beautiful female Fairy Tail members running around just as scantily clad as the blonde was sure to be, but while he still admired a fine female form there was no desire to go after them anymore. He only wanted one woman now. In fact, he pretty much compared every other girl he saw to his master, and none of them ever measured up. He'd realized by this time that they weren't going to, either.

"Loke!" Master Makarov said with a grin, lifting his tankard in salute. "I didn't think we'd see you at this event. As much as you've always liked the ladies, you've never really bothered attending pool parties before," he teased mildly. "Did you have Lucy open your gate just so you could attend this time?"

Loke leaned on the bar and smiled at Mirajane, who came over to take his order and then moved away, allowing him to answer the master. "No, I forced my own gate open. I usually do when I wander around in the human realm. There's no need for me to be a drain on her power all day for something like this."

"Ah, I see. Although our beloved celestial mage has become much, much stronger lately, and I don't think keeping your gate open even all day would bother her at all, really," Makarov said with a fond smile when he thought of the golden-haired young woman.

Accepting the drink that Mira handed him, the lion took a slow sip as she moved off to take and fill other orders. Then he stared into the tankard pensively as he thought about his well-loved master. "She has," he finally agreed. He chuckled a little as Makarov watched him with a knowing gaze. "Though even before she was stronger than she knew, or would have ever believed if you'd told her. When she saved me..." he trailed off for a moment as he relived that time.

"You never really told anyone how that happened."

A small smile crossed Loke's lips at that. "I'd never seen anything like it, even in all the endless ages that I've existed," he began slowly. "She found me in front of Karen's grave - I'd gone there because I knew it was time. My energy was finally fading away, and I would soon have disappeared. She confronted me about my identity, and then when I told her my story and that I was about to vanish, she refused to allow it. She told me she would force the gate to the spirit world open and send me back."

Makarov's eyes widened a little at that. "Really?"

The celestial spirit nodded, just staring into his drink as he walked the path of his memories. "Yeah. She refused to give up. That was back before she'd even opened up her second origin, but the power I saw from her that night... it was unheard of. She almost managed to force the gate open, might have done it, too – if she hadn't said that if it was the law of the spirit world that I had to vanish for Karen's death, then she would change it. Her words carried so much power and determination that they caught the attention of Seirei-o."

"The spirit world emperor?"

"Hm," Loke hummed absently in agreement. "Then she stood there and argued my case, that the law was wrong. She asked what good power was if you couldn't use it to protect your friends, and took him to task over the matter. I thought she was going to get herself in trouble, to be honest," he laughed, shaking his head ruefully. "But she told him that as a spirit himself he should have understood what I was trying to do by protecting Aries from Karen. And then she went even further. She opened the gates for every one of her spirits to come out in support of her words – all her silver and gold keys – at one time. Even after the sheer amount of power she'd already expended trying to force the gate."

It was quiet for a few moments as Makarov thought all that over. He was frankly astounded. If Lucy had been capable of that even back then, what was she truly capable of now? What would she be able to do in the future with more training? His mind boggled even thinking about it.

"The spirit king was not angered over her words?" he finally asked.

Loke grinned at that. "No... actually, he calls her his 'old friend' now. He's become very fond of her."

A soft smile crossed the old man's face as he thought about the young celestial mage. "Lucy has that effect on most people," he said. "It is her heart. I think that's actually the true source of her power in a way that it isn't for the rest of us. As long as her heart is never darkened, she will never truly be defeated."

It grew quiet between the two men for a few minutes as they thought about that. It was a companionable silence that lasted until Loke finished his mug of hard cider and sighed. "Well, I suppose I should head out to the pool, since that's where the party's at. Besides," he said, his head lifting as he looked towards the area in question, "Lucy's finally here."

Makarov smiled, the expression knowing again, even as a faint flush painted Loke's cheeks at the look. "I see that she not only has her heart, but she's taken yours, as well," the master teased, and the celestial spirit face-palmed in embarrassment.

"Is it that obvious to everyone?" he asked, his voice muffled, and the old man laughed.

"I would not say so – but I have been around for a long time, and I've seen the difference in how you act with Lucy versus how you reacted to all those other girls." His eyes twinkled. "Most probably have no idea of your feelings – including the beauty in question."

"Good. It's bad enough that Gray figured it out," Loke mumbled, shaking his head as he let his hand fall back to his side.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He ordered me to tell Lucy, then gave me a week to do it – or else."

A wicked grin split the master's face. "And how long ago was that?"

"Today's the fifth day."

"Then you'd better get busy on it, my boy," the little man said genially, a widening smile brightening his countenance even further.

Loke sighed woefully. "I know." He turned and began to make his way through the crowd with a wave to Makarov. "See you later, Master!"

When he got outside, he was glad he'd arrived when he had – the pool was already getting crowded, and he wanted to get a good chair for himself before they were all gone. And maybe if he was lucky, he could find one near her... or even better, right next to her.

He immediately spotted his lady-love, already on the other side of the pool and setting her things on the lounger of her choice. There were several others still empty nearby, and he hurried over to get the one beside her before anyone else could take it. He grinned engagingly when Lucy looked up and blinked in surprise at seeing him.

"Loke! I didn't expect to see you here-" a brow lifted, and then she rolled her eyes with a seemingly-disgusted pout, "-although maybe I should have, considering all the mostly-naked girls that are going to be here today. Ugh."

He acted shocked at her words. "There are other ladies here besides you, my love? I'm afraid I had not noticed," he said with a flamboyant smile. "I could not bear to take my eyes off of you long enough to see any others."

It was really nothing more than the truth, though it was clear Lucy didn't believe it.

"Uh-huh." She shook her head and her hands went to the buttons on her cute beach cover-up, and Loke wasn't able to think of a comeback as all coherent thought flew right off into the sunset.

He swallowed harshly and began to sweat a little as she reached the last button and opened it up, sliding it off her shoulders and dropping it on the chair without even noticing his reaction.

The spirit of the lion almost choked, and his eyes about fell out of his head. There wasn't much to what she was wearing under that cover-up, but what there was had all sense gone from his mind in one single instant. Tiny black pieces of fabric that almost seemed as though pierced by many glowing stars were joined by golden trim and strings... his colors. And oh, those shapely, endless bare legs and barely-covered ass...

Holy hell, I'm doomed.

A wolf-whistle and shout directed at Lucy from off to the left somewhere had him scowling an instant later and having to exercise great restraint to keep from knocking the guilty party out. He let off a resigned curse after a moment and swept a hand through his mane of hair.

Shit. We're all doomed.

This was going to be a very, very long day.