A/N: I'm assuming the schooling system of Fiore is like Japan, in which case Romeo and Wendy are in Grade Eight and Grade Seven respectively (lower secondary schools are 7th-9th grade). I'm also assuming my attempt to hypnotize Hiro Mashima into handing the rights to Fairy Tail over to me have failed once again. Darn it!

Chapter 4

A Manly Fist

When Lucy, Natsu, and Gray stepped into the guild, they were shocked to see Romeo slouched on a chair, Wendy beside him, and the little girl dabbing cuts to his face. Already, a gash to his head was wrapped in bandages and his left eye had poofed out in purple swelling.

"Romeo!" Lucy cried out. "What happened?"

"Was it a bad mission?" asked Gray.

Natsu looked excited. "Were they Vulcans, like what your dad beat up?"

"No," the thirteen-year-old pouted. "They were Grade Nine boys."

"Ah," Natsu and Gray nodded together, seeming to understand perfectly, and they walked on to the counter to order from Mirajane.

"I don't get it," Lucy said with a frown. "Romeo is a fire mage and strong for his age. How could you possibly get beaten so badly by kids one year older than you."

"Lucy," Gray warned, and he shook his head in warning.

She still didn't get it, but she saw that her comment made Romeo glower even tighter. Suddenly he stood up and raced out of the guild hall.

"Poor Romeo," Wendy sighed. "I couldn't help him at all."

"I don't get it," Lucy cried out. "Wendy, you're a dragon slayer!"

They looked at her oddly, but Natsu realized it first.

"That's right, Lucy was raised in the Heartfilia Konzern. You probably had private tutors and stuff. You never went to public school."

She blushed a little at being reminded of that posh but painful past. "That's true. I finished all of my schooling through private instructors."

"In school," Wendy explained, "we're strictly not allowed to use our magic."

Gray thumbed over to Natsu. "Flame-brain here used to get in trouble every week for using fire, even if it was nothing more than a little flame in his mouth."

"And the stripper here," Natsu retorted, jabbing a thumb over toward Gray, "used to get detention all the time for uniform violation."

Gray turned angrily at him. "That has nothing to do with magic usage."

"So that's it," Lucy realized. "He couldn't use magic and he was too weak physically."

"No," Wendy assured wholeheartedly. "Romeo is really strong, but the older boys ganged up on him."

"That's being dirty," Gray glowered.

Natsu's eyes burned. "Was it because he's a Fairy Tail mage? I know he used to get harassed about Macao when he was little."

"No, not that," Wendy said, but she began to blush.

"Well, why did they pick a fight?" Lucy asked curiously.

Wendy's cheeks went even dark pink. "Because... the leader of the gang... h-he... sorta... confessed-he-liked-me-but-I-told-him-he-wasn't-my-type," she rushed out and immediately hid her face.

Natsu still pouted and hummed in confusion. "But if the gangster guy confessed to you, why did he beat up Romeo?"

Lucy sighed and patted his pink head. "A twelve-year-old gets it but a seventeen-year-old doesn't? Really, you're too much, Natsu."

For a few days, Romeo avoided the guild hall. When he finally returned, he looked weary, the type of exhaustion of someone who had been out practicing magic all day long.

"Does me no good," he mumbled to himself as he slurped a banana shake Mirajane had fixed him in hopes that the treat might cheer him up. "I can't fight those jerks with magic anyway." Suddenly, he felt a shadow looming behind him. Romeo looked around and saw Elfman standing there with his huge arms folded over his barrel chest. He glared up at the muscled mage. "What? Are you gonna tell me it's not manly to sulk?"

Elfman knelt down to one knee so he could look Romeo straight into the eyes. "When I was your age, I got beat up all the time at school. I was timid and weak. They teased me about how Mira was a demon, or I'd try to take them on myself if they harassed Lisanna. I got beaten up badly every time, and once landed in the hospital. What is the weakness of mages?"

"Physical strength," Romeo answered immediately. The boys at school teased him about that. "But I train! I'm strong! If it was one-on-one, I'd kick their asses. Six against one, though..."

"There's a different style to mob fighting, different moves, different strategies. I'll teach you." He held his massive fist up. "I'll give you manly fists, Romeo. That way you can protect both Wendy and your pride as a mage of Fairy Tail."

The boy's eyes lit up.

A few minutes later, Lucy looked up from writing her story. Elfman was teaching Romeo how to fight. Reedus had drawn and created six shadow dummies to gang up on the boy, and he was using fists, kicks, and throws to take on the whole group. The fight still gathered a bit of a crowd. Cana was taking bets. Lucy glanced around and realized Wendy wasn't there. That was a shame, because Romeo was really holding his own in the fight.

"I hope the training helps him," Lucy smiled to herself.

The following week, Wendy brought Romeo into the guild hall. He had one arm wrapped around her thin shoulder to help him to balance. Both of his eyes were nearly swollen shut, and he was bleeding from the mouth. By the way he held his side, he probably also cracked a rib.

Mirajane covered her face. "Oh dear! Did you lose another fight?"

"Nope," Romeo grinned, showing that he had also chipped a tooth. "I won. But it was twelve boys this time."

Wendy nodded proudly. "He was really amazing."

Romeo began to blush and turned his face away. "Aww, Wendy... it wasn't that great."

"No, really, it was! Romeo-kun defeated all twelve of them and protected me."

Lucy and Mirajane shared a knowing smile and tittered quietly at the flushed cheeks of the young boy.

Elfman smiled proudly and nodded in satisfaction. "Manly!"

End of Chapter 4