"Alright, everyone! It's time for the annual Valentine's Festival!" the white-haired she-devil announced. A chorus of groans was echoed throughout the guild hall.
"What was that?" the scarlet-haired warrior growled. A chorus of cheers and jubilation subsequently followed. "That's more like it. Listen up! You will all do your part to make this the most memorable event for Magnolia yet! It is our duty to our gracious town." Erza declared with her fisted arm raised in the air.
"Your duties are listed on the job board. Once you have finished what you need to do here at the guild, please report to your assignment immediately." Mira explained.
One table over, a pink-haired dragon slayer was occupied scarfing down his enormous breakfast, completely oblivious to the goings on around him. Oh, well. Someone will catch him up. Namely, the disgusted blonde sitting next to him who was trying not to let his mess get all over her.
"I hope Mira doesn't have me do anything embarrassing." Lucy groaned.
"Don't be too glum, Lu! I hear we're paired together!" a short and cheerful bluenette stated.
"That would be great, Levy! Hopefully, we'll get to run the cotton candy booth!" Well, wherever Levy was, the iron dragon slayer wasn't too far behind.
"Keep hoping, Bunny Girl. I got the damn fluffy candy booth with the Frosty Stripper." Gajeel said irritably. At this, Natsu began laughing hysterically, accidently spraying half chewed food bits all over the table. The thought of the Gajeel trying to operate the candy lacrima, getting the sticky strings stuck all in his hair, proved too much for the fire dragon slayer.
"Well, there are other things to do at the festival. Maybe we got put on cooking duty or prep or something." Lucy stated, removing herself from the now disgusting table, courtesy of Natsu. The ladies made their way to the job board together to see what they had been saddled with. "Okay, so most of us are on some form of prep or setup today. That much was obvious. And tomorrow we're running the…" Lucy trailed off searching for their names on the list.
"KISSING BOOTH?!" the two cried out together. Gajeel immediately flicked his head in the direction of the girls, his no-existent brows shooting beneath his headband.
"Mira, please! Let us switch with Gray and Gajeel! You know every girl in the city wants a chance to kiss Gray!" Lucy begged as she gripped onto the skirt of the she-devil's dress.
Well, they did… until Juvia happened." Levy reminded her with a grimace.
"Sorry, girls. But cheer up Lucy! Maybe you'll meet your true love through a kiss! So romantic!" the barmaid squealed.
Lucy and Levy slumped to the bar and let their foreheads drop to the smooth wooden surface in perfect sync. Natsu joined his partner, throwing an arm around her shoulder and giving her his famous toothy grin. Gajeel was right behind him, arms crossed over his chest and his famous scowl permanently etched on his face.
"Why the long face, Lucy? There's a festival tomorrow!" he told her, attempting to cheer up his best friend.
"Easy for you to say. You and Happy get to entertain people with your magic tomorrow." The blonde grumbled.
"Me and Lu have the kissing booth." Levy groaned. 'Only one way that'll happen.' Gajeel thought to himself, trying to think of ways to prevent his love from being kissed.
"You mean you get the booth with all those chocolate candies?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"No, Natsu. That's not-" Lucy began but was cut off by the excited male in front of her.
"You're so lucky! I'll be by the booth during my break tomorrow! Save me some kisses, Lucy!" He called out to her as her ran off with his flying blue exceed, presumably to begin practicing their routine for the next day. Lucy blushed crimson at the implication while Gajeel just scoffed.
"Tch. Idiot." He muttered as he stalked out of the guild.
"Well, c'mon, Lu. Let's get our prep jobs done for today and we'll figure out what to do about tomorrow later." Levy suggested in a defeated tone.
"I wouldn't feel so upset about this if I'd already had my first kiss. I don't wanna give it to some stranger!" Lucy cried.
"I know how you feel." Levy agreed dejectedly.
"How come it's us? Why not Cana? I know she'd be all for this!"
"Apparently, she'd be too into it and scare everyone off. We have some intimidating beautiful women in our guild." The blunette sighed. Lucy whined into her arms.
"Alright. Let's get this over with and then we're going to the hot springs to relax for putting up with this."
"Now that sounds like a plan!" Levy cheered.
The next day found our two stubborn, yet densely in love, dragon slayers in line at the ticket booth before going off to their respective jobs for the day.
"Didn't think I'd see you here, Metal Head. What are you getting tickets for?" Natsu asked him, genuinely curious as to what interested the man other than metal and music.
"I'm buying all the kissing booth tickets."
"What?! No way, man! You gotta share! You can't hog 'em all to yourself!" The son of Igneel shouted indignantly. The black-haired male whirled instantly and began shouting in his face.
"For the last time, Salamander! Bunny Girl and Shrimp ain't givin' out candy! You can do what you want with your mate but I ain't lettin' a bunch of random guys put their nasty mouths all over mine!" Gajeel snapped venomously. Natsu stood frozen on the spot as Gajeel faced forward once again. Mate? Guys? Mouths? On her? The meaning of his comrade's words slowly sunk in by the time Gajeel made it to the front of the ticket booth. Just as he opened his mouth to demand his tickets, Natsu had pounced on him.
"Gimme all the tickets to the kissing booth!"
"Hey, what gives?! I was here first!"
"I ain't lettin' no one kiss Lucy, Screwball! Back off!"
"That was my idea!" Just before the two could begin their typical brawl, raucous laughter was heard behind the booth.
"That's not how it works, guys. We don't do assigned tickets. You buy tickets and then spend them on whatever you want." Max explained. Natsu and Gajeel paled. They couldn't possibly buy all the tickets for the festival. How were they going to protect the girls now? Knowing Mira, she wouldn't be happy about the kissing booth not making money anyway. The two walked away, grumbling their way to their stations.
"Man, what are we gonna do now?" Natsu groaned as he kicked a rock. Suddenly a light bulb suddenly went off over Gajeel's head.
"The only thing we can do, Pyro." He said with a smirk. "Mark our territory. We may not be able to prevent all the kisses, and Lucy and Levy are gonna be doing as many flat-lipped cheek kisses as they can as it is. The least we can do is help deter the cowards." He explained with a devious glint in his eyes.
Natsu answered with a devilish smirk of his own as he went off in search of his favorite blonde. With luck on his side, he caught her, not too much later, walking down the street sipping a strawberry smoothie. He grabbed her and quickly pulled her into an empty alleyway, despite her squeal of surprise. Before she could protest, he pushed her against the wall and slammed his lips against hers, relishing in the warmth her body gave him, a warmth his own fire couldn't compete with. Lucy squeaked in shock before melting into the kiss, draping her arms over his shoulders as he wrapped his own around her waist.
"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked breathlessly.
"Unfortunately, I can't save you from the kissing booth." He whispered huskily into her ear, sending shivers of pleasure down her spine and covering her right side in goosebumps from her shoulder down to her hip. "So, I'm at least going to claim what's mine. So, everyone can see who you belong to." She gasped when she felt his fangs bury themselves into the junction between her neck and shoulder. A warm, tingly sensation followed the quick burst of sharp pain as he gently licked the small wound. He kissed the area once more before briefly pulling away to admire his work. A red tribal dragon curled around itself with golden flames protruding from its body now adorned her shoulder. He grinned before meeting her eyes, softly kissing her lips once more.
"You're mine now, Lucy." He told her as he draped his prized scarf over her shoulders. "This should help ward off some of the creeps. And if anyone gets ballsy, show 'em my mark. No one should give you a hard time today." He smiled and kissed her again (He was already addicted, he couldn't get enough of her lips) before turning and leaving for the park, where he was to begin his routine for the festival goers, arms folded behind his head, whistling a nonchalant tune. Lucy's knees buckled as soon as he was out of sight. She collapsed to the ground, a shaky hand made its way to her lips. She could still taste the spice of the kiss left behind.
"What just happened?" She spoke out loud to no one in particular. "Did that really just happen?"
Finally getting to the kissing booth, her question was answered in the form of her best friend, who was looking as equally disheveled, frazzled and confused as she was. Her shirt had a rip in it that was being held together by a familiar looking head band.
"You too, huh?" The bluenette whispered shakily.
"Uh-huh." The blonde whispered back.
"I'm so confused."
"Me, too." Lucy replied, still seemingly in a daze.
"But I like it." Levy suddenly said, a small smile forming on her face. Finally coming out her trance at her friend's words, Lucy beamed back.
"Me, too." She giggled. And if the kissing booth didn't do quite as well as Mira had hoped, well… Who was she to complain when two of her biggest ships had finally set sail?