Chapter Two

Wendy felt her jaw drop and her palms becoming wet. Her round cheeks bloomed into a perfect shade of crimson red and her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour.

He had finally asked.

After all the years of her crushing on him when they were younger, he had asked. Wendy couldn't have felt worse than she did now, thoughts racing. The poor Romeo was a few years too late, for Wendy had pushed away those feelings for him when she started becoming close with Gray.

"R-Romeo.." Wendy nervously started, her hands shaking as she grabbed his, his rough hands telling her how strong he has become. "I.." she breathed in slowly, not wanting to break down because of how upset she felt denying his love for her. "I like someone else, I'm sorry."

This time it was Romeo's turn to have his jaw drop. He moved his hands from hers and his stance was straight up and his face turned completely red. Him? Denied? That was a joke, right?

"That's okay!" He lied. "I'll just take my leave now, and uh, I'll see you around!" And with that he was back inside the guild.

Wendy stood there, her heart slowing down and her cheeks finally cooling. She felt terrible.

'I..I denied him.' Wendy thought to herself, her feet dragging herself away from the guild and to who knows where. 'My last and only chance to actually have my first boyfriend and I denied him. What's wrong with me?' Wendy knew that answer, but she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to even believe it, either.

'It's not true.'

Wendy found herself sitting down in a small cafe, the moonlight shining from the large window that she sat by. She didn't even realize that she was sitting there alone in an empty café until a small breeze from the opening door allowed the aroma of fresh brewed coffee seep into her nostrils and awoke her from her thoughts.

How long has she been sitting here?

Suddenly, she heard two familiar voices. She looked to the window to see Gray and Juvia calling out her name as Carla flew beside them. Quickly she sunk down, not realizing that Gray had already seen her.

'What am I going to tell them?' Wendy asked herself, not wanting to admit what happened hours ago. She sunk lower in her seat when she heard the cafe door open with a 'ding!' She covered her face with her pigtails as best as she could, but she couldn't stop the sound of heavy boots hitting the floor; coming closer and closer until they were right beside her.

"Wendy, I can see you." Gray said with that deep, husky voice of his that she adored. "Wendy…" He said again, this time with a warning tone. Wendy looked up slowly at Gray, her cheeks a slight pink and her fingers fiddling with each other. "Why did you leave all of a sudden?"

"Yea, I got worried," Carla jumped in, landing on Wendy's table. "You should've at least told me." She shook her head disapprovingly.

Wendy weakly smiled. "My bad," she shrugged, looking away and out the window. "I just kinda, I don't know." She sighed. She can see Gray and Juvia conversing among each other.

She looked over to Gray who put his large, cold hand on her bare shoulder. She couldn't help but let her body sink a tiny bit lower in pleasure and gratitude, her eyes full of love.

"I denied him."

"I heard." Juvia, Gray and Carla said at the same time. They shared awkward stares at eachother before shaking it off. "It's alright though," Carla reassured, "you'll find someone." Carla smiled gently, praying that she did. For being 18 and still single as a Pringle, Carla was becoming just slightly worried for the Sky Dragon Slayer.

"Yea don't worry about it, Wendy. He wasn't right for you anyways." Gray shrugged, patting Wendy's head. "You're still pretty young, and anyone who wants to date you has to go through me first." Wendy giggled lightly at this, her heart light with love.

"Yea, and Natsu-kun and Gajeel-kun.. and well, all your brothers." Juvia giggled lightly. Wendy couldn't help but let out a smile at the thought of her dragon slayer brothers protecting her and making sure she was happy with her significant other.

"Well, Juvia and I are going to watch a movie, please be careful when walking home." Wendy quickly looked up at Gray, her heart shattering. She couldn't speak, but she simply nodded her head. "I'll see you tomorrow morning!"

Then, they were gone.

'I need to get a hold of myself!' Wendy whined to herself, shaking her head and sighing, resting her head on the table. She couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, her lips pouting as always. 'It's not like…' she stopped.

"Let's get home, Wendy." Carla said, hovering off the table. "We need some rest my child." Carla gave her a gentle smile, watching as Wendy nodded in agreement and got up and out the cafe.

•

"Hey, Wendy!" Wendy had just walked into the building when she got called on by Natsu, who had come back from his small mission with Lucy and Happy. Wendy looked over to Natsu who happily ran up to her. She gave him a large smile, her eyes shining.

"Hey, Natsu-Nii!" She watched as he looked around, eyes full of spark and passion. "You looking for Gray-san?" She smirked, crossing her arms and tsking lightly. Natsu chuckled nervously. "You know how your fights end, Natsu-Nii!" Wendy warned.

"Yea, yea, I'll be fine!" Natsu waved it off. Wendy only shook her head and smiled at his cockiness.

"Gray-san is probably on his way right now," Wendy nodded, watching Natsu groan in annoyance.

Suddenly, the guild doors burst open and Natsu was flown back. "Haha!" Gray cockily laughed, who had hit Natsu with his Ice Make Magic. Wendy quickly ran out of the way when she saw a fireball heading her way. She watched it hit Gray, him falling back just like Natsu had.

She signed as she stood there, silently watching them fight. She shook her head and chuckled, how could she ever get tired of this?

"We should find a job request before they're all gone, since we're here early." Carla said, looking up at Wendy. Wendy nodded, being careful to avoid flying objects and fireballs/iceballs. When she safely got to the job request board, her eyes landed on a dark brown paper that stood out amongst the rest.

"Let's see," she whispered, leaning in to read the tiny lettering better. She smirked, not believing how easy this was. "This is easy, let's do this!" She smiled, ripping it off the board to show Carla. "It's killing Demon dogs, seems easy." Wendy shrugged.

"Alright, let's go tell Mirajane." Carla nodded, having full confidence in Wendy. Although Wendy didn't grow in height, she grew in strength. She had learned many new spells and new fighting skills thanks to Natsu and Gajeel, along with Gray. Gray was the one who took out his own personal time to help her train with physical combat, which was her weakest point. It was one thing that helped them grow closer.

"Hi, Mirajane!" Wendy chirped, a large smile plastered on her innocent face. "I'm gonna take this for today!" Wendy slid the paper on the counter towards Mirajane, who bit her bottom lip in fear and worry. She knows Wendy is an adult now, who has grown in many ways, but in her eyes, Wendy would always be her little baby that she had to protect.

"Hm," Mira hummed lightly, looking from the paper and to Wendy multiple times. "Maybe you should ask Gray to join you?" Mira suggested. Wendy squinted in confusion. "I'm just worried is all!" She gave an awkward laugh. Wendy only sighed, but then realized that maybe it was a good idea…

"Actually, I agree Mirajane!" Wendy chirped, her smile brightening up anyone's day. "I'll go wait for Gray-san!" She skipped off to a nearby table with Carla by her side, as she sat down, she noticed that Gajeel was at the table, too.

"Hey, twerp," he grumbled, his hand full of iron that he was planning on eating. "who are you waiting on?" He asked, his sentence hardly being audible due to his chewing of iron.

Wendy gave him a small smile before answering him. "Just waiting on Gray," she watched him nod slowly, his eyes slimming. "What is it..?" She asked nervously. Gajeel swallowed his chewed up iron and responded with,

"You two have gotten a lot closer over the years," he glared harder at her. She felt her cheeks turn red as her heart begin to race against her chest. Who else have noticed? Why did it upset Gajeel anyways? Did Natsu notice too? "You better be careful, Wendy. You're still my baby sister, don't think I won't kick Grays ass if he does some dumb shit." He growled like the wild animal he was.

Wendy nervously laughed with embarrassment and also fear. "Oh, Gajeel-nii, there's nothing going on between us! Don't be so silly," she sheepishly laughed, her eyes trying to avert his gaze. "we're just friends! I promise." She reassured Gajeel. But, his gaze still burned into her.

"Oh, speak of the devil," he suddenly said, his eyes shifting towards Gray who was walking towards the table with bruises and scratches. Wendy turned to him, her eyes wide. "What happened to you?" Gajeel asked, questioning him.

"What do you think?" He grumbled, showing a burn hole in his pants. Gajeel chucked before getting up, allowing Gray and Wendy to be alone with each other. "I'll see you later, Wendy." And then he was gone.

Gray huffed and sat where Gajeel once sat. "Ow!" He quickly yelped and leaped up off the chair. "This fucking bastard…" he mumbled angrily as he flung a sharp piece of iron off the chair and onto the floor. He sighed angrily again and sat down, his face full of frustration.

"Would you like me to heal you up?" Wendy mumbled quietly, afraid that she'll make his mood worse. Gray smiled gently at Wendy as he leaned back and relaxed. "you're not usually this tense when you finish a fight with Natsu-nii.." Wendy reminded. Gray shrugged, and then nodded. Wendy got up and quickly walked behind him, hovering her hands over his shoulders and healing up his soreness.

"While Wendy heals you I guess I'll ask," Carla said, passing Gray the job request. "Do you want to join us? We will most likely be out of town for a few days." Gray grabbed the paper and looked over it. He couldn't think straight. So many things have happened between last night and at this very moment.

Juvia, the night before, was clingy as always with Gray. Gray didn't mind of course, he never really did anymore. Gray and Juvia were close and although they might've shared some deep conversations about how they felt for each other, they never made a move. Juvia was too kind and respectful to force herself on Gray. Gray, however, didn't even want Juvia in that type of way anymore. Of course, she was beautiful and kind, but his feelings faded away. Which is what he explained to Juvia, and told her he wouldn't be able to go on anymore dates anytime soon. He hated to see her upset, so the words leaving his mouth made him feel weak and disgusting.

But, it needed to be done. He couldn't lead her on like that, it wasn't right.

"Yea, I'm not doing anything anyways!" He grinned weakly, the memories of the night before replaying in his mind. "Lets go!"