How Dare You!

Written by NewMusic098

Chapter 2:

.~...~.

At the guild, it was awkwardly silent. Everyone there was just chatting and drinking. Not as happily as they used to, no. It lacks that certain something that would definitely classify them as the Fairy Tail Guild.

Then, a loud contact of fist to face was heard from a nearby table. There, a raven-haired man wearing nothing but his underwear was seen clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. A few feet away from him, a dark long-haired man was rubbing his cheek before glaring at the half-naked man.

"The hell was that for, you punk?" the long-haired man growled. The raven-haired man smirked and got ready in a fighting stance.

"I'm bored." he replied nonchalantly. "Since Natsu hasn't been fighting me at all, maybe I could get a kick out of you. Or are you too chicken to fight me? Huh, Gajeel?"

"Ha!" Gajeel scoffed. "As if! You're on, Gray!" He cackled wildly before lunging full speed at the Ice-Make mage. The two started a rumble, enticing others like Elfman, Nab, and a few others to join in as well.

By the bar, a brown-haired girl was sitting upright, examining the, possibly, most interesting thing that has happened all day. Everything was so dull it made her eyes sore just by looking at something. Maybe this could get her mind out of the boredom. But sadly, her mind played dull, and everything interesting was just plain boring.

Beside her, was her loyal pig guardian sleeping on the table, using a small satchel as his mattress. A bubble formed on his nose as he dozed off, ignoring the fight ensuing in the building. The girl looked at him dully for a moment, then pouted.

Sighing, she slumped her body on the bar table, her arms being used as a pillow to lay her head as she watched the fight with bored intent. In the corner of her eye, she saw a man with blue spiky hair walking idly between the battlefields. He yawned and stretched his arms as he went near the bar.

"Man..." he said. "Is it me, or everything here is so boring?" His purple eyes gazed on the bored brunette by the bar. He went to her and sat beside her.

"Hey." he nudged. "You okay?" He heard a groan in response, followed by the sound of shifting. He looked at her to see that she was looking away.

"Go away, Ashton." she said coldly, not minding that her attitude was a bit rough today. The man beside her frowned and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"What?" he asked. "Oh I get it... You're still mad 'cause I beat you on our last sparring match, huh?"

"Just shut up..." she said. Then she made a half-glare directed to him. "..."

"What did you say?" Ashton asked sarcastically. "I couldn't hear you through all you're whining..." He smirked when he made the girl slam her fist at the table and glare at him. Puggo awoke from his sleep with a shocked expression, then backed away for a bit.

"Go away!" Lina half-shouted. "I'm not going to talk to you anymore!"

Ashton huffed and leaned against the table. "Annoying brat." he muttered.

"Fish-Geek." she muttered back.

"Notorious pig."

"S-Class Pervert."

"Whiny baby."

"Peeping Tom."

"You said you weren't going to talk to me?" Ashton asked slyly.

"I'm not…" Lina responded, and Ashton was about to say something when Lina continued. "Right, Puggo? I'm not going to eat fish because it smells of freaky Ashton?" The blue-haired man's eye twitched, and was about to argue with her when someone disturbed them.

"Now, now..." a familiar female voice said as she made her way to them. Her pinkish-white hair flowed as she felt a wave of air coming from outside. The pair arguing didn't look at her and at each other. They only remained quiet as the barmaid made her way to them.

"What do you want, Mira-san?" Ashton asked when Mirajane got to them. She smiled brightly at the man, before taking a deep breath.

"Well," she started. "I was worried about you two. You haven't gone on any missions this past week, and I think you'll need the money real soon."

"Thanks for the concern, Mira-san." Lina said. "And now that I think about it, our budget's getting kinda low, hasn't it?" She looked at her guardian, who nodded slight and went closer to her.

"We should go on a mission." Puggo said. "It might get your mind more active again, don't you think?" Lina hummed a bit, before smiling brightly at him and nodding. She picked up the satchel and carried it around her shoulder. Puggo hopped off from the table and settled in comfortably inside the bag.

"Well, Mira-san, Geek..." she said to the two present near the bar. Ashton frowned again at the mention of this, and Mira just smiled.

"Will you be going alone?" Mira asked the brunette. She nodded and smiled, proceeding to the request board to find a suitable job for her. Mira patiently waited with Ashton by the bar, but noticed the still-present scowl on the man's face.

"Ashton," she called. "Is something the matter…?" Ashton hummed with a start before shaking his head, then looking back to where Lina was. She was currently juggling requests at the board, pinning and unpinning them from their spots until she finds the right job for her. Mira sensed something strange in Ashton's gaze, but before she could ask, they heard Lina squeal in delight.

"Mira-san~!" she called. She rushed to the bar and slapped the paper down on the table. "I'll be taking this job!" The white-haired girl looked at the job request. It was to escort a rich-man's daughter from Onibas to an outside ball happening at Magnolia's town square. The reward was 30,000 jewels.

"All right," Mira said. "I'll notify the client so they can get ready. Be safe you two." She waved at her and Puggo, who waved back graciously before taking off in a rush, not even bothering to acknowledge Ashton. The man frowned deeper, obviously not pleased by the action, but remained silent and pretended nothing happened.

"Brat…" he muttered. Mira faintly hears the comment, but ignored it and proceeded with her own tasks.

.~ … ~.

The brunette took a deep breath, taking in the freshening outdoor breeze. She was really glad that she finally got out of the guild after so long, and that she was finally able to go out on a mission. Even if it was just a simple escort mission, she would at least have some time to think about certain things. Like how quiet the guild has gotten without Natsu around. How she missed that infectious laughter and heart-warming grin of his. Just thinking about his smile was making her blush.

"Ooh…" she mumbled as she cupped her cheeks. She kept on walking to try and calm her emotions, but they've been kept to herself for so long that she would want to kiss him the moment he got back. She was still wondering why he was so tired and gloomy every day, and that he always had bags under his eyes for the past few weeks. Maybe he was training? That was the only logical explanation she could think of, especially for a person such as Natsu. His head was only filled for training and friends. Training for friends, training with friends. Friends, friends, friends; that's all that he could think of. Although she was very happy that she was one of his friends, she wanted to be more than just friends with him. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she likes Natsu more than a friend.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't realize where she was going. That is, until she bumped on a lamppost. She hit her head, causing her to fumble backwards with an 'ouch'. Rubbing her head, she looked around in a daze. It seemed she's almost reached the edge of the city. She was about to move when her emerald eyes spotted a familiar pink and blonde duo by a restaurant.

"Is that…?" she asked herself. She looked at Natsu and Lucy sitting down on a table reserved for them before telling the waiter something, presumably their orders. Lina was actually jumping to conclusions by this point, thinking of irrational and highly stretched possibilities like, 'Are they on a date?', 'Are they going out?', and 'When did all this happen!'

Feeling the girl's movement had stop, Puggo emerged from the satchel and looked worriedly at the girl.

"Is something wrong, Lina-chan?" the little guardian asked. He heard no response, and all she was doing was looking at a direction with narrowed eyes and a serious expression. Pugoo followed her line of sight and saw Natsu and Lucy hanging out at the restaurant. He wasn't particularly interested in human relationships, but when it involves Lina, he was all ears.

"Hey!" he called, finally earning a surprised jolt from the brunette before she looked down at him. Her emerald eyes were filled with slight confusion, and something else that Puggo couldn't pinpoint.

"W-what is it?" she asked, stumbling for her words as she tried her best to look and stay calm.

"You've been out of it a little while…" the guardian said. "I know you missed him, but enough to make you stare…?" She had to blush slightly at the comment. Developing feelings for the center-of-attention-Dragon Slayer was hard by itself. He was wanted everywhere; the guild, on missions, on parties… Practically, he's the life of everything. And when he was that depressed sack of gloominess, everyone else seemed to follow suit. It wasn't until Gray and Gajeel fought earlier that the guild sprang back to life, but not as much as it did when Natsu around. She had to admit, falling for a guy like Natsu was difficult, especially since she has competition. She likes Lucy, that much she can say, and she's very appreciative that she let her stay at her apartment when she had no place to go, but she hopes that she understands that she shares the same feelings she feels for the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Sighing, she just shook her head and ignored her guardian's question. And despite her body telling her not to go, she insisted herself to go to the restaurant, to at least catch up with them. They've been gone for a few days and she missed them, Natsu more importantly. She just wants to at least hear his voice before she has to leave for a mission.

She opened the door to the restaurant and was about to approach the two when a waiter stopped her at her tracks. She looked at the man strangely, who held his nose as if to indicate that he was at a higher status.

"May I help you, miss?" he asked. The tone he was using was definitely not inviting, because from the looks of it, it seemed that you are required to have a reservation to get in.

'So does that mean that Lucy and Natsu made reservations before…?' she thought to herself.

"I-I'm with them…" she pointed towards the pair of wizards chatting. She saw Lucy shying away from something Natsu said, and this made her even more curious. She wanted to go and talk to them at least for a little while, but the waiter wasn't letting her through yet.

"I see…" the waiter muttered, glancing at the guild mark on her neck. "Since you are a member of Fairy Tail, you may come in. My deepest apologies…" he bowed and made way for her to go in. She excused herself from the waiter, and went over to where Natsu and Lucy were.

From that distance, she couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it was clear that whatever it was, Lucy was having a hard time catching on. She was blushing and stuttering all the while, almost as if she was about to confess.

Lina's eyes widened in realization. By the way she was talking, it was bound to be something like that or leading to that. She wasn't sure if she was happy or mad. Happy for her friend to finally have the courage to finally confess, or mad because someone's going to beat her to it. A few moments of silence to herself, she just followed what her mind told her.

When she reached the table, she used her hands to bang on the table, startling both Natsu and Lucy in the process.

"Hey guys~!" she exclaimed innocently while a drop of sweat rolled down her cheek. Judging from Lucy's glare, she did ruin a confession moment.

This was gonna be hard to explain later on.


A/N: Sorry again for the long wait, guys! XD I just figured no one wants to see three girls fight, especially since the one is an OC… :3 Anyway, here's the 2nd chappy! I hope I can continue the 3rd quicker! XD

Ja~