I have spent the past three weeks marathoning Marvel movies, getting the rest of my Elsword characters to level 40, and rereading Detective Conan from scratch.

I'm not sorry.

Chapter 4 - Making History (Continued)

"Oh, man… That's much better."

Natsu stretched his arms above his head and smiled as he leaned against the hilltop's solitary tree. The nearby park gave a great view of Magnolia since it was outside the town limits, and also offered a wonderful breeze that helped with his olfactory-related headache. The terrible stench that had plagued his nose was now completely gone; but he hadn't expected any other outcome after walking around the restaurant area of Magnolia.

More than once he contemplated buying something just because of how delicious the air smelled. He was quickly reminded of his budget every time. While by no means a cheap person, he wanted to collect income from a mission before splurging again. Maybe a monster-slaying job, this time… If Erza would let him come along on an S-Class mission again, that is.

Should he head back to the guild? Natsu hummed to himself. He left in such a hurry to get away from Lucy's perfume that he didn't get to talk to everyone. Not that he wanted to talk to everyone…

"So this is where you were, ash-for-brains."

Natsu grimaced as Gray's scent closed in on his own. No, he most certainly did not want to talk to everyone.

"What the hell do you want, Frosty the Snow-Freak?" he snapped. "I was actually enjoying myself here."

"I don't care whether you enjoy yourself or not," Gray snorted. "Though with that little show you put on at the guild, I'm the slightest bit concerned for your head." Natsu raised a brow.

"What show? I don't remember doing anything like that. Or are you talking about when I said I hated Lucy's perfume?"

"No, you idiot. I'm talking about when you asked her out." Natsu seemed genuinely surprised by this.

"But I didn't ask her out."

"Yes, you did. In front of the entire guild, minus Erza and Lily."

"No I didn't," Natsu insisted. "I didn't wanna ask her out while she smelled bad. I told her I'd try again once that gross perfume wears off of her." Gray stared at his teammate with the flattest expression he could muster.

"Are you really this stupid? You may not think you did-"

"I didn't!"

"- But you indirectly announced to Lucy and everyone in Fairy Tail that you were at least planning on asking her out."

"Oh." Natsu shrugged. "Cool! That just makes this easier for me."

"… You're serious, Natsu?" Gray asked. "You're serious about taking Lucy out on a date."

"Yup."

"Yup? You put half the guild into a coma with that and all you can say is 'yup'?"

"What am I supposed to say?"

"How about the truth?" Gray's hands – Naturally – Found their way into his pockets. "Come on. You're too stupid and dense to take interest in the opposite sex. Everyone knows that."

"I ain't stupid," Natsu grunted, channeling his inner Gajeel. "And there's no 'truth', bastard. I'm being straight with this. Also, you're calling me dense-?"

"Don't even deny it," Gray cut him off. "You're so dense your head would sink to the bottom of a tar pit. This is why I'm letting some concern shine through."

"Aww, I didn't know you cared," Natsu sniggered. "You must really like me."

"I'm not talking about you, Soot Balls! I'm talking about Lucy! You have no idea what the hell you're doing, and if you're not careful you're going to end up really hurting her!" At that, Natsu suddenly became very serious. He pushed himself to his feet and stalked over to Gray angrily.

"Listen, Ice Princess. I would never hurt Lucy," he growled. "Ever. And if you think I would purposely try to hurt her, you're out of your damn-!"

"I'm not saying you would do it on purpose!" Gray cut him off. "You're so emotionally inexperienced that you wouldn't even realize you'd caused her pain!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you two! Do you even know how to treat girls properly!?"

"Like I do everyone else. Duh." Gray was beginning to think that nobody would question his actions if he managed to pull all of his hair out of his head due to Natsu-induced stress.

"You moron, you don't treat girls like everyone else! Especially not a girl you're dating!" Gray heaved a long breath before continuing his rant. "Aside from that, what if it doesn't work out between you two? Our team would be ruined." Natsu's attention peaked again.

"Wait, our team would be-? Why?"

"See? This is what I mean by emotionally inexperienced." Gray ran a hand through his bangs. "Natsu, if by some chance you do end up dating Lucy – And believe me, there's hardly a chance she'll say yes – There will always be the possibility that it could go south. You might argue and separate, and try going back to the simple, strange relationship you had before. It would never be the same, though. Whatever relationship you have after that would be strained to hell and back. You wouldn't work together as well, and that in turn could ruin missions for you and us."

Natsu's eyes widened. He didn't understand most of what Gray was saying, but one thing was clear as an infant's conscience: Going through with this date could mean ruining their teamwork and their job requests. That was a huge risk, and with Lucy's temper nothing was certain. He had no idea how girls' minds worked, let alone someone like hers.

Yet… It wasn't a proven fact that relationships were destroyed by dating. It definitely wasn't, given the small Midwest clothing-clad child that had been running around the guild for the past couple of years.

"Do you understand, Natsu?" Gray questioned him, trying to catch his attention again. "Do you understand the risks? You could be ruining everything between you two and our team – At worst, the entire guild."

"… Then I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't I?" Natsu steeled himself against his rival, fists clenched at his sides. With narrowed eyes, he said, "Nothing is going to change between me and Lucy. You're wrong. I'll prove it to you."

Of course things are going to change between you, Gray thought to himself. Whether this ended on a good note or in a disaster… One way or another, their relationship was never going to be as it was yesterday or today; but perhaps it was best for Natsu to figure this out for himself. The ice mage sighed heavily.

"Fine. I'll go with this… For now."

"Glad you're gonna stop bugging me, Captain Underpants," Natsu snorted. "Now leave me alone. I'm gonna go back to the guild in a bit to find Lucy."

The Dragonslayer didn't delay with his departure. Gray's eyes followed him until he disappeared down the hill.

He wasn't quite convinced Natsu could pull through, or if he was even doing this by your own conscience, but he'd wait and see how this unwraps. His eyes would be open to every little thing the pyro did. He'd wait for him to slip up and screw himself over. Because no matter what logic Gray used, something still seemed very wrong this set-up – Like it was doomed to fail from the start – And he'd be damned if he sat back and let his teammates get hurt because of it.

Lucy came to mind first. That girl was much more intelligent than she gave herself credit for, but also very sensitive in relation to her friends. If Natsu screwed this up, she wouldn't be the same. The worst part was that, given how he bounced back from even the most terrible situations, Natsu probably would be.

God, what a mess this was already turning out to be.

Gray hoped she would either turn Natsu down flat and save them all the trouble, or at least be able to handle the downfall of a relationship with an extremely close friend.

Meanwhile, in the heart of Magnolia, two girls were in a similar state of mind and dealing with a somewhat different topic.

"Lu-chan, why don't you eat anything?" Levy asked as she scooped a forkful of banana pancakes into her mouth. Lucy continued staring down at her plate, food untouched but still warm.

"Levy-chan, this is… This is just wrong…"

"Did the waiter get your order wrong? I'll call him over for you-"

"Not that," Lucy said. "You know what I mean…" Levy put her fork down.

"Don't you want to eat before we continue this conversation? Food always helps clear the mind! I would know." The bookworm smiled. "I also know that your waffles will taste better when they're not cold." Lucy looked between her friend and her strawberry-topped breakfast, trying to decide her path.

"Can we discuss this while we eat?" she suggested. "We're both good at multitasking, so it shouldn't be too difficult…"

"Fair enough, Lu-chan!" Levy carved a slice of banana out of a pancake and popped it into her mouth. "I'm not sure why you're so hung up over this, though. All you have to do is give Natsu a yes or no! In my opinion, you should go for it."

"But… It's Natsu," Lucy insisted. "Up until today, he gave absolutely no indication that he even thought girls were different from guys…"

"There was the time he spied on us at the hot springs, though."

"Eh?" Lucy's head jerked up in surprise. "When was this?"

"Our training trip," Levy said. "He, Gray, Jet, and Droy tried to peep. Erza killed their foreheads before they could get a glimpse at anything though."

"… How do you know this?"

"Happy tattled on them to me by accident."

"And you're not angry?"

"It was a while ago. I don't hold onto anger like that. Hey, wait a minute…" Levy shook her head. "Let's get back to our original topic. Lu-chan, why don't you want to give Natsu an answer?"

"It's not that I don't want to give him an answer, it's that I don't have an answer for him!" Lucy exclaimed. "I have no idea what I want to say to him! I don't even know if I can face him after that! And did you hear what he said about my perfume-!?"

"Just don't wear any on your date," Levy answered simply.

"We're not going on a date!"

"So you're going to tell him no?"

"I-! I don't know, Levy-chan! What should I do?"

"I can't decide for you, Lu-chan. I can only give my opinion."

"Yeah… And your opinion coincides with just about everyone else's…" Lucy groaned and poked at her waffles with her fork. "I guess it's futile to ask for an opinion if that's true, then…"

"You shouldn't go my opinions, anyway," Levy said. "How can you expect to be happy if you do that? Only you know what you want to do."

"No, I don't; and that's the problem! I mean… I guess I can't call Natsu a terrible boyfriend candidate. He's kind, loyal, strong, not that bad looking… But… It's Natsu."

"We've established that, Lu-chan."

"I'm serious, Levy-chan!"

"Then give a better reason to say no than the fact that he's Natsu," Levy advised her gently.

"How about the fact that he has no idea what that kind of relationship entails? He wouldn't know the first thing about being someone's date."

"Then teach him!" Levy suggested. "He has to learn at some point in his life, so why not now?"

"He doesn't have the attention span to learn anything that doesn't involve fighting, food, or the guild."

"He does if it's something important to him. Here's some old news, Lu-chan… You are important to him. So he'll definitely listen to you." Lucy fidgeted in her seat.

"But…"

"Let me put it in this context, Lu-chan," Levy began. "If there wasn't some part of you that wanted to go on a date with Natsu, even if it's just a small part… Would you really be this conflicted over it?"

Lucy's brown eyes grew in size. Was she conflicted over this? She had no reason to be. She and Natsu were platonic teammates and she was fine with that. Everyone but Mirajane was fine with that. She couldn't deny the small curiosity she had to see Natsu attempt to act like a sane human being with actual feelings for another person, but… It was Natsu.

Like that counted as an actual reason. Listing the pros and cons to his personality, that was actually more of a reason to want to accept his offer. But the cons on the list are the destructive and insensitive parts of him that dominate how he acts, Lucy reminded herself. And that is something I don't want to have to deal with up close.

"How about this then, Lu-chan?" Levy interrupted her thought process. "If you truly weren't conflicted over this, then why haven't you realized that our waiter's been coming onto you whenever he gets the chance?"

"Eh!?" Lucy looked around the restaurant, trying to find said waiter. "He has!?"

"Yup," Levy confirmed with a smile. "He talks to you more than me and he sounds completely different when he does… Not to mention he's staring at you from across the room." Levy pointed a discreet finger to behind Lucy. The celestial mage turned around cautiously, not sure of what she'd see.

She quickly found she had no reason for caution. The man was tall, dark-skinned, and had blonde hair. He was busy cleaning his glasses at the moment, but once he put them back on his green eyes met with her brown ones. Noticing her stare, the waiter flashed a grin and waved. Lucy quietly waved back before turning around.

"Alright… That guy is so good-looking," she said under her breath.

"I know, Lu-chan."

"… And I didn't notice that?"

"Nope, not in the slightest."

"My god, I need help."

"No, you're just hung up over a certain pink-haired fire-breather." Lucy glared at her friend. The bluenette's grin all of a sudden seemed much more mocking than before.

"Levy-chan, you're not helping me."

"I'm trying, but it's not my fault my advice isn't sinking in!"

"Your advice was to say yes!"

"It wasn't bad advice, either. You go out with Natsu once, and if it's a horrible time you don't do it again; but if you say no, you'll constantly be wondering whether or not turning him down was the right decision. Simple as that!" Lucy laughed internally.

Simple. Right. When was anything involving Natsu ever simple?

Something in Lucy's peripheral vision distracted her. "Ah, Levy-chan. Your fanclub is here to see you."

"My what?" Levy followed her best friend's gaze and saw Jet and Droy at the entrance of the café. Levy blinked. "What in the-? What are they doing here?"

From the way the two boys was bossing the head waiter around, it was clear they wasn't here to eat. The poor man on the receiving end of their loud voices pointed to their table and backed away. Their expressions change when they found the girls.

"Levy!" Jet cried as they made their way over to them.

"Lucy! Here you are!" Droy called. "Are you finished here yet?"

"We're not, actually," Levy replied calmly, still shocked at the appearance of Shadow Gear's boys. "Why?"

"Erza's looking for the rest of the team," Jet explained. "She's going to take on one of the S-Class missions that came in, and she needs your help!"

"She needs my help?" Lucy repeated skeptically. "I don't think-"

"She needs all of your team," Droy continued. Jet nodded.

"At the very least, she wants you all to come with her; and if I were you, I wouldn't keep her waiting."

"A-Alright, then…"

"Speaking of waiting; I'll call your admirer over, Lu-chan," Levy giggled teasingly. "He can wrap up your dish to go so you can finish it later." 'Finish' as in 'start'; Lucy hadn't touched her waffles the entire time, despite her suggestion that they should eat and converse at the same time.

"Don't call him that, Levy-chan," Lucy hushed her. "It's embarrassing."

"I'd hurry up with calling him over though," Jet said. "Erza's already gotten certified to take the job. Master told her she can leave whenever she wants, and you know she doesn't like it when people keep her waiting." The four Fairy Tail wizards suffered a consecutive shudder. Yes, they knew that about Erza very well. Even seconds late could cost you a limb.

"We already talked to the other two," Droy added. "They're on their way to the guild as we speak."

"If you hurry, you can probably give Natsu an answer before you all leave," Jet teased. Levy elbowed him in the gut.

Lucy blanched. That's right… Natsu would be there. She didn't expect anything else. She could picture just how excited he'd be to be going on an S-Class quest… Hopefully enough to divert his attention from her for the time being; at the very least, until she decided what she wanted her answer to be.

Neither of them could afford the distraction. For now, there was a mission at hand.

Damn it, still haven't reached over 3k on a chapter yet!