He was an idiot. A complete, total, fucking idiot.

Looking back, Romeo wondered why he thought that avoiding Wendy was a good idea. Not that he did it purposefully—he just got busy doing things that would impress her. Of course, he'd forgotten that she couldn't be impressed if she never saw him…

And now she was missing.

Six weeks ago, he knew everything about her life. Where she spent time, who she was friends with, which guys looked at her a little too long for his liking, but now…now he knew nothing.

Rummaging through his mission pack, replacing his vest-pant outfit with old white t-shirts and some of Alzak's hand-me-downs, he couldn't help but feel like Wendy's kidnapping was all his fault. Had someone been bothering her? Stalking her? How did the culprit even get the jump on her, what with her dragon senses? Had she been sick? He had no idea, because he didn't know anything anymore.

He'd get her back, though. Anyone in the guild would be just as driven to rescue their nakama, but she was his to protect, no matter the cost. If the price for her release is one dragon, well, fine. He could be a dragon, if it came to that. The master even gave him the means. Her life for his—that was an easy question.

It wouldn't come to that, though. Someone had touched—had taken—what was his, and there was going to be hell to pay. They were keeping his Wendy to a bar or a brothel. A brothel. If she was hurt, physically or mentally, he wouldn't just beat them to a bloody pulp. He'd kill them all.

Romeo stopped rushing around his room to grab the bottle of hair growth potion. No, he thought, downing a measured amount of the blue liquid. All but one. He'd keep at least one hostage as a bargaining chip against the Magic Council. They weren't above overlooking a massacre of criminals in exchange for information.

Tingling radiated across his face as the hair potion started to kick in. Content that he'd have a disguise of rugged stubble in a few minutes, he threw off his university clothes, pulled on his weathered, maintenance-crew jeans, and dug through his closet to find a suitable shirt. Nearly everything he wore either had his family's trademark S, the guild's mark, or his university's name or mascot plastered across the front and back. Other than some white undershirts, his only other options were nice dress shirts and his martial arts clothes.

"Oh right!" he shouted. "Crap. Where'd I put it?"

Romeo sifted through the clothes on his floor and his bed, looking for a white, long-sleeve thermal. His face was just getting itchy when he found it tucked into a pile of papers and miscellany on his desk chair. He gently tugged the folded shirt out of the mess, trying to keep the precarious pile from falling. A small piece of paper fluttered to the floor as the shirt came loose.

To keep you warm when I'm not there to make you sweat

XOXO

Meri

Romeo immediately grimaced at the note, groaning in disgust.

"Ugh. Seriously?" Maybe he was over-thinking it, but the subtext of the note—implied or not—made him gag. Meri was the perfect girl to just about everyone that met her. She was kind, she was bubbly, she never got mad, she never broke a promise, she was always on time, and she was ridiculously attractive. Slender but not skinny, just the right amount of curvy, and with an athletic physique that still looked incredibly feminine. Soft waves of her chestnut hair graced her high cheekbones and accentuated the glow of her pale skin and the piercing blue of her eyes. Romeo couldn't argue with such an assessment of her. He definitely thought she was beautiful, and he understood the merits in her personality. However, while the other boys in his class swooned and drooled over her, Romeo merely processed her good qualities logically—yes, she's pretty, and yes, she's nice. End of story.

He was more attuned to her negative qualities. Namely, she was really, really irritating. Was it ever necessary to giggle that much? No, not past age ten. Or how about her mildly obsessive behavior towards him? Years spent with Juvia had taught him the signs. She wasn't quite as animated as his guildmate used to be, but Meri managed to "casually run into" Romeo on a daily basis, she "happened" to join his martial arts club, and she needed extra help specifically from him because "shisho is mean." That was easily the worst. It was his job to help her, but her need for literal hands-on instruction made him dread every minute leading up to their sessions. The constant giggling, the heavy breathing, and the full-body contact as he guided her bare limbs around…

Okay, so he tried to think of her physical attractiveness objectively. He tried so very hard, but she would always, without fail, do something that made all thinking incredibly difficult. For example, one time she'd suddenly remember to bend her knees exactly when he stood behind her to fix her arms, pressing her perfectly round, spandex-clad rear into his unsuspecting hips. She then looked up at him innocently, batted her eyelashes, and asked in a breathy voice, "Should I bend over more?" He decided that they spend the remainder of that session meditating. It was partly to keep her far away from him, and partly to keep her from seeing the effect of her stunt on the body of a teenage boy.

It was horrible. He didn't like her—his affections were definitely elsewhere, she didn't make his heart race the same way, and he didn't think about her when she wasn't there. His body and his subconscious, however, were quite taken with her, and kept giving him suggestions of fun ways and places he could take her…

Ugh. She made him feel so filthy. He was not so innocent that he'd never had a sexual fantasy. He had as much "personal" time as every other healthy, teenage boy. What made them weird, though, was that ever since he met Meri, she starred as the leading lady; before, he no one he knew personally ever even played a cameo. To make it worse, they were vivid, realistic, and happened every time he saw her—which, with her suspiciously convenient schedule, meant that it happened a lot.

Maybe he'd just wear the shirt for now, and buy a new one later. He could suck it up for Wendy, who, he told himself, he respected too much to entertain any kinky thoughts about. He threw the shirt over his shoulder and headed off to the bathroom to shave and make sure his hair hadn't gotten too much longer.

Once he was done dressing, shaving, and getting himself together, he had exactly twenty-two minutes until the last train left. He scribbled a note for his father, saying he'd be gone for a bit on a mission, and ran out the door.

A/N: So, many things…

1. This chapter is basically "Chapter 13 ½". They don't fit well together, but 13 is kinda boring…it would've been cruel to leave you all with just that…but then this one is wicked long…

meh.

2. That bit about the coiled spring…I know it's cliche. I wanted to put that he felt "like an irradiated electron the instant before it jumps to a higher valence shell," or like "the singularity the instant before it exploded into all the matter and energy in the known universe," but I worried that they might mess up the ambiance.

BUT MAD POINTS IF YOU GET IT

3. Sorry about the turn towards the sexual in this chapter…sorta…

…not really…

If it made you uncomfortable, GOOD. Romeo is uncomfortable too. I've done my job better than I'd hoped. :D

4. I might pick up the pace of the story a bit. We've got a long, long way to go still. I might drop some stuff and use it for companion stories because one, way too complicated, and two, I feel like stories are more fun when you focus on one couple. Right?

Thoughts?

Posted Oct 2014