A/N: I'm on vacation right now but I have my laptop and more free time than I thought so here's another chapter OUT EARLY (Shocking, I know)

It's rather short but I'm having major writer's block right now with A Tale of Two Kingdoms so I figured I'd do a small chapter here to get the ball rolling for the next one which will be much bigger ;)

Please review and tell me what you think because your reviews last time really helped me write this :) Like REALLY helped. No lie. Keep it up, I appreciate every single one of them :)

"Alright, so what's the deal with this mating business?" Natsu grumbled, planting himself down on the sofa.

After several days of arguing back and forth with his roommates, the dragon slayer had finally given in. He had insisted it was only because his friends were so damn persistent, but truthfully he was worried about what his lack of knowledge and training meant for Lucy. He had yet to understand how they could possibly be mates, but if it did somehow end up being true he would never forgive himself for harming his best friend.

"Well first of all, we need to run some tests to confirm that Lucy is indeed your mate," Jellal sat beside the dragon slayer.

"Like what?" Natsu asked warily.

"Let's start with some questions, like how did you feel when you walked in on Lucy after her bath?"

"Uh… confused?"

"Did you feel your body heat up?" Gray asked.

"Uh, sort of. I'm always hot so it's hard to tell…" Natsu scratched his head.

"What about your heart?" Gajeel tried. "Do you feel it racing around her more frequently?"

"Yeah actually!" The dragon slayer perked up. "It's been doing that a lot recently. I was starting to think I was getting sick or something."

The other boys exchanged looks.

"Yeah, no… you're not getting sick Flame Brain," Gray explained. "It's Lucy doing that to you."

"Really?! How is she able to do that?"

"Okay, I'm done." Gajeel turned to leave but Jellal grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Gajeel be patient," He admonished. "He needs to know this."

The iron dragon slayer rolled his eyes but returned to where he was standing.

"Okay Natsu, let's skip right to it," Jellal sighed. "When you saw Lucy that day, what did you want to do?"

"Gross, I don't want to know that," Gray wrinkled his nose.

"Shut up Stripper, I don't want to either but Salamander is dense and this is important," Gajeel snapped.

"I wanted to leave?"

"You're obviously lying," Gajeel rolled his eyes. "When you saw bunny girl… y'know… what did you want to do?"

Natsu grumbled, "Okay fine, I kinda wanted to look."

"And?"

"Maybe get closer?" Natsu admitted, his face glowing crimson.

"And?"

"Argh no more! I don't wanna talk to you jerks about this!" The pink haired boy growled, covering his face with his hands.

Jellal chuckled, "That's fine. I think we've made some progress."

"So what do we do next?" Gray asked.

"Next we test him in situations involving Lucy," Jellal answered before turning to the fire dragon slayer, "And that means you'll have to interact with her Natsu."

The boy crossed his arms with a pout, "I don't wanna!"

"Wait, you two haven't spoken since your little spat?" Gray raised an eyebrow in question.

"Nope."

"You're an idiot Natsu."

"Oi!"

"That settles it then," Gajeel cut in. "It's Sunday tomorrow, no school, so we'll take Salamander to the guild and test him with Lucy."

"And if you try to get out of it Natsu, I'll send Erza after you," Jellal grinned, watching the pink haired boy recoil at the threat.

"…Fine."

"Gihihi, this should be interesting."

Laxus returned from his week-long mission feeling refreshed. It had been just what he needed after that date from hell. Much to the Thunder Legion's dismay, he had chosen to take the mission alone. As much as he appreciated having them around, he had needed some alone time to collect his thoughts and confront his growing feelings.

That's right – growing feelings. After his hellish date and heart-to-heart with Cana, the lightning mage found himself unable to get the eldest Strauss sibling out of his head.

It had started with simple objects in market stalls reminding him of the takeover mage and grown to lingering thoughts and daydreams. Eventually, she began to occupy his dreams at night.

Every single night on his mission; that's how often he dreamt about Mira. It was embarrassing to say the least. He couldn't think of a single person he'd ever admit that to. But it was the unfortunate truth.

He groaned inwardly. As each day passes these feelings will only grow, while she remains blissfully unaware.

"Laxus, you're back!"

Oh no.

A whole week suddenly didn't feel long enough as he looked up to see the silver haired beauty making her way over.

"How was your mission?" She asked with a bright smile as she approached him.

"It was good," He grunted, feeling the tips of his ears burn. "Easy job, good money."

"That's great!" She responded with her bright smile still intact. "I'm glad you're back safe."

"Thanks," He nodded, looking around the guildhall for someone to pull him out of this conversation. Instead he locked eyes with Cana who winked and turned back to her barrel.

Thanks a lot, Alberona.

"I have a surprise for you Laxus," Mira's voice cut through his thoughts.

He scowled, "I don't like your surprises."

"I think you'll like this one!"

"I really don't think I will."

"It's another date!" She beamed, clapping her hands together.

He felt his heart drop to his stomach. "I was right; I don't like this one bit."

Mira frowned, "Oh c'mon Laxus, I think she'll be a good match for you!"

"Like you thought the last one would be?"

She chuckled nervously, "Okay so that was a minor miscalculation on my part, but I'm positive I got it right this time!"

"No thanks," He growled, stalking past her towards the bar. He took a seat on the bar stool next to Cana, who had been watching the exchange with great interest.

"I think you should do it," The card mage spoke so quietly he almost missed it.

"What?" Laxus asked incredulously, glancing from the brunette back over to Mira who had decided against following him to the bar and was now clearing one of the tables in the guildhall.

"I think you should go on the date."

Laxus stared at the brunette, waiting for her to smirk or burst into laughter but she remained straight faced.

"Are you serious?" He couldn't believe his ears. Didn't she want him to be with Mira?

"Yes, I am," She whispered conspiratorially. "Mira told me who your next date is going to be. I think going on this date is the perfect way to make her jealous."

"Jealous?" Laxus repeated, stunned. "Don't be ridiculous. Who could possibly pose a threat to Mira?"

"Jenny Realight," Cana answered with an evil grin. "She's Mira's competition in the modelling world and now she's going to be her competition in the dating world."

"That flirt from Blue Pegasus?!" Laxus frowned. "Mira seriously thinks she is a good match for me?"

Cana shrugged, "Mira may love matchmaking but no one ever said she was good at it."

Laxus snorted, "Ain't that the truth."

"You still need to go on this date though."

Laxus sighed, "I'm too old to be playing dumb games like that, Cana."

"Please Laxus, you have to," The brunette practically begged, surprising him. Cana Alberona was certainly not one to beg for anything. She was the type who would take what they wanted and be on their merry way.

"Why do you care so much?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"Because it's in the cards!"

"The cards?" He repeated dumbly.

"Yes Laxus, my cards never lie and you know that," She snapped. "You have to do this."

He groaned and rubbed his forehead, "Fine."

"Oi, Mira," He called to the barmaid who was standing a few feet away clearing a table. She perked up. "I'll go on that damned date of yours."

"You will?!" She smiled so brightly he saw stars for a moment.

"Yeah," He grunted. "But this is the last time!"

"Oh thank you Laxus!" She squealed, running up and giving him a hug.

The lightning mage felt his whole body heat up at the physical contact but kept still. When she released him, she still had that dazzling smile on her face and for a moment he felt faint.

"I'll go call Jenny right now!"

Those words brought him back down to earth with a thump as he watched her run towards the Master's office.

He turned back to the card mage with a scowl, "I hope you're happy."

Cana smirked, "Happier than that blue cat with a fish."

When their session with Natsu came to an end, Gray had decided to go for a walk to clear his head. The temperature in Magnolia had dropped significantly in the last couple of days and he was quite happy about it. After all, what kind of self-respecting Ice Mage enjoys the heat?

After over an hour of walking, he decided to return to his apartment. It was getting close to dinner time and he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He had skipped lunch with his friends knowing Juvia would be there. He wasn't sure if he was welcome around her just yet.

The ice mage sighed as he walked up the stairs. He didn't want to rush Juvia or make her feel uncomfortable but he definitely thought they should talk about what happened – especially since there seems to be a few misunderstandings stemming from it. He just wasn't sure how to do that without crossing a line.

As Gray unlocked the door to his apartment, he felt his foot slip on something. He looked down and saw a small blue envelope with his name on it sitting on the ground in front of the door.

The handwriting was elegant and wavy, reminding him of a certain water mage.

Juvia.

"Could this be from Juvia?" He whispered to himself with wide eyes, clutching the envelope tighter in his grip.

He wasted no time rushing inside the apartment, locking the door and running into his bedroom.

Gray carefully opened the envelope and then the letter with trembling fingers. He didn't know if it was going to be good or bad but at this point he didn't care. He was just happy Juvia was saying anything at all, even if it was via letter.

Gray,

I'd like to talk about what happened. Please meet me in front of the Guild tomorrow at Noon.

Juvia

The ice mage sighed. He had been hoping for more but at the same time he was glad he would be able to talk to Juvia properly in person.

Tomorrow it is, He thought to himself with a smile. Can't wait.

A/N: So FINALLY next chapter Gray and Juvia are going to talk and we're gonna see Natsu try to figure out if Lucy is his mate. Should be fun!

** Also, I created a poll on my profile. I'm trying to decide between two ships for Rogue and I'd looooove your input. I personally ship him more with Kagura (I think their personalities work better) but I feel like he's shipped more with Minerva (same guild and such). I dunno, I'm happy to write for either one but I need some other opinions to help me decide :)

^^ Please take the 10 seconds to visit and vote because then I won't have to put this in the AN of every chapter ahead LOL.

And to the reviewers from previous chapters who commented on the difficulty of doing a multi-couple fic. YES. YES IT IS SO DIFFICULT LOL. But I have a lot of fun writing it so it's okay :) I'm gonna work to make future chapters longer, better quality and include more couples.

Thanks for reading, see you next time! (PS - Review)