"Sorcerer's Weekly has held a poll for the most popular mage relationships. Natsu and Lucy are in the lead, Gray and Juvia a close second, Gajeel and Levy third and Ren and Sherry fourth. Fifth is Chelia and Yokovich of Lamia Scale. Fairy Tail is definitely high in the charts!"
"Other than Ren and Sherry, none of these relationships, unfortunately, have been confirmed. Team Natsu seems to overwhelm the chart, with three of their members being in the top two. The only members not on the board are Erza Scarlet and Wendy Marvell. Erza seems to have a secret lover, from what our sources have told us, and Wendy is often shipped with Romeo Conbolt from her guild..." Lucy read from the magazine out loud.
She blinked at it, dumbfounded, before she burst out laughing.
"Erza… Erza, oh my Mavis…" She wheezed. "Did you know you have a secret lover and Natsu and I are dating?"
Erza snorted and rolled her eyes.
"The only secret lover I have is you, dear." She replied, pulling Lucy closer to plant a kiss on the top of her head. "Speaking of, we should just come out with it. I know Natsu and Gray have been dating for a while now, Mavis knows they're not good at hiding it. Plus Wendy has been dating Cheila for quite some time and I don't think she'll be happy knowing her mate is being shipped with a random fellow."
Lucy hummed and grabbed onto her girlfriend's hand.
"Maybe we should talk to the rest of Team Natsu first?" Lucy suggested, swinging their hands lightly in between them. "I'm fine with people knowing about us but they might not be totally comfortable."
"That's true…" Erza acknowledged, letting a thumb rub a comforting pattern on Lucy's hand. "Are you alright with me asking them to meet us at your apartment? Wendy and I both live in Fairy Hills, and the boys won't be allowed in."
"It's fine with me." Lucy smiled sweet before giggling. "My landlady, however…"
Erza let out a bark of laughter.
"Yes… she might not like that."
Lucy and Erza entered the guild, hand in hand. This drew no eyebrows, as it was a common thing for them to be seen holding one another's hands. Many girls in the guild enjoyed the simple skin to skin contact.
What did draw attention was when Erza left a kiss on Lucy's cheek before going to break up a heated brawl between Natsu and Gray.
Mira, and some others, definitely took notice, the barmaid herself letting loose a giggle behind one of her hands.
"Oh, my…" Mira said to herself before being cut off by Erza slamming the fire dragon slayer and ice maker mage's heads together.
Mira let loose another giggle.
"Natsu, Gray!" Erza scolded. "What have I told you about fighting in the guild?"
"Not to…" They groaned in sync, glaring at each other in Erza's hold.
Erza dragged the two towards Wendy, who was talking quietly to Carla.
"Wendy, do you mind following me?" Erza asked as she approached the two. "I have a topic I want to bring up in discussion and Lucy has agreed to play host at her apartment."
Wendy blinked at the sudden ask and caught sight of the two boys grumbling about being dragged. She sweatdropped.
"Uh, sure, Erza." She agreed quietly, before looking at Carla. "Carla do you mind?"
"Not at all." Carla sniffed delicately. "Though I won't be coming with you. I wouldn't be surprised if Happy showed up mid discussion and I prefer to not smell of raw fish."
Wendy giggled.
"Okay, Carla, I'll see you later." She smiled before hopping off the bench and walking to Erza and waving to the exceed. "Bye!"
Erza granted Wendy a smile before heading back towards her girlfriend.
"Ready to go, Lucy?" She questioned.
"Do we have a choice in the matter?" Gray complained from Erza's hand. "And can you let go of Natsu and I now?"
"No." Erza replied cheerily. "But I will let you go if you agree to come with us and not destroy anything."
"We're not that bad!" Natsu complained.
Erza looked at him disbelievingly.
"Okay, we're sorta that bad." Natsu amended. "But we'll be good! Just let us goooo…"
Erza rolled her eyes and let go of them. They straightened up and brushed themselves off, annoyed.
"To answer your question Erza," Lucy interjected and grabbed a hold of Erza's now free hand. "Yes. Let's get going."
The group headed out of the guild, doors swinging closed behind them.
"So, what are we discussing?" Gray asked from his place on Lucy's floor.
Erza glanced at Lucy meaningfully. It was now or never.
"Erza and I wanted to talk about coming out."
Gray choked from his place on the floor and Natsu looked up at them, startled. Wendy blushed.
"C-Coming out?" Wendy repeated shyly.
"Yes." Erza said. "Lucy and I are together. While we kept our relationship on the down low at the beginning, in the case of it not working out, Lucy and I feel prepared to be open about our relationship with one another."
"And we know that um, you and Gray are together… Natsu." Lucy added with a bit of a blush. "And Wendy is with Cheila."
Gray looked up at them wide eyed and Wendy slowly sank down in her seat out of embarrassment.
"How'd you know?!" He squawked, looking around wildly. "It was that damn hothead's fault wasn't it?"
"Hey!" Natsu cried. "I didn't say anything!"
"Erza, Lucy…" Wendy tilted her head. "How did you know? I didn't tell you either…"
Lucy blinked and looked over at Erza who was just as confused.
"Did you not…" Erza shook her head in an attempt to reorient herself. "It was rather obvious? But maybe that was because Lucy and I were in a similar situation…"
"Anyway…" Lucy interjected in an attempt to bring order to the conversation. "We're not pointing it out because we're upset you didn't tell us or something stupid like that. We're pointing out because of Sorcerer's Weekly."
"Sorcerer's Weekly?" Natsu echoed.
"Uh, yeah." Lucy confirmed. "They held a poll about the most popular couples and you and I were number one."
Gray guffawed at that as Natsu's eyes grew huge.
"We were what?" Natsu said loudly, trying to shush his partner to no avail.
"Settle down Gray." Erza huffed, amused. "You and Juvia were a 'close second' in said poll."
Gray's laughter cut off sharply and Natsu began chuckling heartily in his stead.
"Chelia and some random dude were also listed." Lucy added helpfully.
"What?!" Wendy cried, sitting up.
"Yes, Lucy mentioned you would not be overly happy about that." Erza said patting Wendy's knee in an attempt to provide some comfort.
"Of course not!" Wendy exclaimed. "That's my mate you're talking about!"
"At least I know Juvia and have talked to her about the whole thing." Natsu said in agreement. "I still totally agree with Wendy though, it's uncomfortable!"
"And annoying!" Wendy agreed.
"That's why we told you." Lucy replied soothingly. "Look Erza and I were thinking of coming out soon anyway, and when we saw the magazine we thought we should mention it to you guys too."
"Why don't we make a spectacle of it?" Gray suggested suddenly, sitting up from his place on the floor.
"Why don't we all come out at once?"
"Team Natsu! It is SO COOL of you guys to agree to an interview!" Jason shook each of their hands with a great amount of enthusiasm.
"It's our pleasure." Erza said warmly. "We were happy you agreed, and on such notice too."
"Well of course!" Jason replied. "It would be so UNCOOL if we did anything else!"
He paused suddenly before reaching into his satchel and shuffling around.
"Darn! Let me go grab a pen from my office, I'll be back before you even know it!"
The man rushed off, his satchel bumping against his hip with every stride. Lucy took the time to talk to Wendy.
"How did Cheila respond when you asked?" Lucy leaned over and whispered to Wendy.
"She said it was about time." Wendy blushed. "I think she's pretty happy we're going public…"
Lucy snorted and gave the younger mage's arm a comforting squeeze.
"And I'm back!" Jason cried. "ALRIGHT! Let's get started!"
Jason cleared his throat suddenly and finally, they got into things.
"Team Natsu, what do you have to say about the recent poll on popular mage relationships?"
"Well…" Lucy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Natsu and I aren't together that's for sure. And neither are Gray and Juvia."
"Is there any chance of a relationship developing between you and Natsu or Gray and Juvia in the future?"
"When hell freezes over maybe." Natsu replied for her and snorted. "Lucy and I aren't interested in each other and I know for a fact Gray isn't into Juvia."
"Erza, what do you have to say about the rumors of you having a secret lover?"
"They're true." Erza smiled at Jason's brief look of shock.
"O-Oh? Cool! Who is your secret lover, if you don't mind my asking."
"You might know her as Lucy Heartfillia."
Jason took a moment to recollect himself, stunned.
"The Lucy Heartfillia sitting in front of me?"
"The one and only." Erza confirmed, glancing at Lucy with a soft sincere smile.
"How… how did that come about?"
"She asked me out after I saved her cake from one of Natsu and Gray's brawls." Lucy rolled her eyes playfully. "Most of the guild thought she was joking, including me, but then she showed up at my apartment with flowers, and confessed for real."
"It was a spur of the moment thing." Erza defended weakly. "But I figured if that was how I confessed I had to make up for it later…"
"And did she, Lucy?"
"She did." Lucy admitted freely.
"So cool… Natsu, Gray, Wendy, what are your thoughts on Erza and Lucy?"
"I think it's really nice." Wendy piped up. "They give Cheila and I a good example of what we want to be like when we're older."
Erza and Lucy looked over at her, clearly surprised and touched.
"You and Cheilia?"
"Yeah." Wendy blushed. "Chelia is my mate."
"Mate?"
"A mate is who you're meant to be with, like romantically and that jazz. Lucy says it's like a soulmate. All dragon slayers have one." Natsu explained carelessly. "Gray's mine."
"That's me." Gray half heartedly rose a hand.
Jason paused at the information.
"Is that so? So coool…" He breathed. "So you came here today to confirm your relationships with one another?"
"That's correct." Erza confirmed with a smile.
"Cool! I'll have to ask you some more questions first, but we'll get an article out the door as soon as we can! Do you mind if I take some pictures?"
The team arrived together at the guild the next day, talking and laughing with each other, ignoring the dropped jaws and whispers of their fellow guildmates.
"YOU GUYSSSS!" Mira squealed, rushing over to them. "You all have been holding out on me!"
"Sorry, Mira…" Lucy apologized for them with a chuckle. "To be fair, we've been holding out on everyone…"
"That's for sure." Cana agreed from her place at the bar. "Mira and I are feeling left out. Why don't we get to be a part of Team Pride?"
"Team Pride?" Wendy echoed, sidestepping an already brawling Natsu and Gray.
"Well, yeah, that's what Sorcerer's Weekly is calling you now." Cana said before getting up and slinging an arm over Mira's shoulder. "Besides, you're not the only ones in Fairy Tail with something to be proud about."
Cana shot Mira a quick grin and Mira looked away and blushed.
"Oh? My congratulations." Erza eyed the two mages in front of her.
"How many people in Fairy Tail are gay?" Natsu squawked in surprise, catching sight of the exchange while in a headlock from Gray.
"As far as I know, it's only you guys." Gajeel commented absentmindedly, picking his teeth with a fork before biting into it.
Levy slapped Gajeel for eating the guild hall's cutlery.
"Ow!"
"I mean, I'm into both guys and gals." Jet admitted, adjusting his hat. "But I think that's about it."
The guild murmured their agreement, all of them looking around at each other with new eyes.
"Cool with me." Gray said, getting up to re tackle his boyfriend.
Wendy giggled at the Gray's over the top tackle and headed over to talk with Carla.
"Huh." Lucy blinked at all the new information. "We should've come out ages ago, Erza."
"Well we know now." Erza wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist. "Besides, I liked having alone time with you. It helped us figure ourselves out."
"That's true." Lucy agreed, leaning into Erza's hold. "...I'm happy with you."
"I'm happy with you too." Erza chuckled and pressed a kiss solidly onto Lucy's mouth, ignoring the hoots and hollers of their guildmates.