A/N: I cannot thank you all enough for your kind reviews, so here's a little something to start the year of 2015 (even though it's the fourth already... hah). And ah, for those of you who were wondering: the party Angel mentioned is coming soon, I promise!

Decoding

Laxus Dreyar was entirely too many things: too hot, too rich, too manipulating. And he has his sights set out for a certain, unsuspecting Heartfillia.

Chapter Twelve

The Star

Someone up there must really hate her today.

"You're the fairy girl from that basketball game, aren't you? The one in that stupid bird suit?"

I have a name, you jerk.

Lucy turned around to face the smirking star player of Sabertooth's basketball team. Unlike herself, he had long since changed out of his school uniform and donned on surprisingly simple street clothes—a light blue zip-front sweatshirt and (designer) jeans. The hood of the sweatshirt was draped over his head, giving him a nonchalant, yet suspicious look.

"Why are you here?" she asked him instead, bemused to why he was here of all places. "If I recall correctly, this is a commoner shopping district."

"Yeah, and it reeks," Sting readily agreed, flicking the tuff of blond hair that stuck out from his forehead.

Trying hard not get angry at the arrogant male, Lucy pulled her lips into a tight-lipped smile. "Maybe it's just you. Plus, no one is stopping you from leaving," she said, trying to side-step him so she could get going. The Sabertooth was having none of that, however, as he blocked her from passing. "Do you need something?"

If he's here to pick a fight because his team lost the game to Fairy Tail, he has another one coming. What a sore loser!

"Where are you going?"

Huh? She raised one brow incredulously, "That's none of your business... Now, if you will so kindly excuse me." Pushing past the blond male, she tried to make her way through the crowd. She was already late and didn't have to time for whatever the Sabertooth had up his sleeve.

She was less than ecstatic to learn that he was following her.

"Hey fairy, wait up!"

I can't believe this... Just before reaching the clinic, Lucy turned to Sting with an angry scowl on her face. "Why are you following me!"

Sting didn't look the least bit intimidated by her demonic glare—on the contrary, he was rather amused. "I'm trying to be incognito from my annoying staff. Got anywhere I can hang for a while?"

That did clear up her question about why he was lurking in the small shopping district with 'commoner clothing,' but still, it was an odd request coming from the egoistic male who practically announced to her weeks ago that he hated Fairy Tail—now he was asking someone from Fairy Tail to help him?

"Trust me, you'll much rather go back to your staff," Lucy rolled her eyes. No way she was going to assist him (he had rubbed her the wrong way upon their first meeting). "I wouldn't want to take away all your glorious prestige and class by letting you hang around people like me."

"I've got nothing better to do. I'll cope," Sting grinned. He secretly enjoyed her sharp tongue, even if she was from the school he hated.

Lucy growled in exasperation.

"So is that a yes, blondie?"

"No," she gritted out. "And you're blond too!"

.

.

.

Of course, he didn't care to listen to her. She couldn't put up much of a fight anyway, because the clinic was literally right in front of them and all he had to do was follow her inside.

"Are you Lucy's friend?" Mirajane asked with a friendly smile when he plopped himself down on one of the chairs by the front desk. Lucy was shaking her head profusely in denial, but the white haired woman didn't take notice as she passed Sting a cup of warm water.

He took it nonchalantly and slid into a comfortable position in the chair with his arms outstretched. "Yep."

"No he's not!" Lucy retorted childishly from behind the computer. She couldn't believe the Sabertooth...he had the audacity to call himself her friend. Why did he even insist on following her anyway? She had work to do, damn it!

"Well, I have to get back to work," the generous veterinarian apologized before turning to her receptionist, "Please take care of the front."

Lucy nodded with a thumbs-up. The computer blinked as desktop came to view and she looked through the newly scheduled appointments that were made in the morning which another receptionist, Haruka, had taken cared of. Haruka was the Strauss's second cousin and came into the clinic to help out when she was at school—again, the siblings usually kept the business within the family, but was generous enough to offer her the job.

"She's hot."

It took a second for the comment to sink in... Then Lucy narrowed her eyes and grabbed a pen to throw at the male. He didn't even bat an eyelash as the small object came whizzing over, missing him by a hair.

"You're such a pervert!" she hissed, feeling around the desk for something heavier to throw.

"Keh. It'll be weird if I didn't think so. I'm a man, after all."

"More like an annoying little boy." How does she always get suck with such annoying people?

"Excuse me?" he stood up, coming closer to the blond female. His form towered over hers. "You don't know a real man when you see one."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "You're right. But at least I know a boy when I see one—" she poked his forehead, "—Now leave, I have work to do." He looked irritated at her response and growled. In a weird way, he reminded her of Natsu. Her salmon haired best friend was far more tolerable even when he was being annoying, though, and this nuisance in front of her was not.

"Look," she stopped typing on the computer when he would not leave her alone, "if you do not have an appointment with Mira-san, which you obviously don't, the door is to your right."

"Don't tell me what to do, fairy." Sting, on the other hand, was fairly certain he was pushing her buttons. The right ones, too.

"My name is Lucy! Stop calling me fairy!"

...Lucy? Where have I heard that name before... Not giving it much thought, Sting merely shrugged. He wasn't going to deny that he never caught her name—she never gave it to him. But he didn't really care, however, since it wasn't important to him either way. Though, he did like teasing the poor girl. "Nah, I like it better."

Lucy huffed in defeat, "How long are you going to be here?"

"Is my amazing presence bothering you?"

"It's so overbearing that I can hardly contain myself, your royal jerkness."

"Hey," Sting raised an eyebrow, mocking offence. "I can be nice when I want to."

"Oh yeah," she almost snorted. She was surprised, though, that this was how the Sabertooth was really like. The first time they've met hadn't been a very pleasant episode, with him berating Fairy Tail and all. He seriously had beef with her school—for which she did not know why. She honestly thought she would dislike him more, but, like in an odd way that she found him resembling Natsu, she couldn't quite make him out to be all that bad.

Big-headed and full of himself, indeed, but she's had her share of guys like that. Compared to Laxus Dreyar, he was mild. "And I'm suppose to believe that this 'nice' side of yours actually exist?" Lucy asked with sarcasm, prying her eyes off the screen to look up at the male.

"Of course," midnight blue eyes made contact with chocolate ones, and when Sting smirked, she swore there was something that flashed within his eyes that she couldn't quite make out. "I offered you to transfer to Sabertooth, didn't I?"

Oh boy, this again? "What do you have against fairy Tail, anyway?"

"Because it's a shit school," his reply was the same as the first time and that didn't surprise Lucy the slightest...but then he said something that threw her off. "That damn president of yours annoy me. He thinks he's on top of the world just because of his family's business. I'll have him know that I'll surpass him one day, and when that day comes, I'll crush him."

Well, that was unexpected.

"You...dislike Laxus Dreyar that much?"

"With a passion," he said with a playful scowl on his face.

There was a small pause between them where they just stared at each other blankly. Then, Lucy started to laugh.

"Well," she said with a bright smile, catching Sting off guard, "that makes two of us."

This girl...

She reminds me of someone...

. . .

Sting stretched across the length of his limo. It has been hours since he left to hide from his persistence staff members of his household and he had finally left the clinic (much to the blond girl's relief) and decided that it was enough before they called the special security unit to find him. They were just so damn annoying sometimes, following him around everywhere he went and treating him like the little kid he once was. It was just a relief to get rid of them for a short while...

The family's most trusted and long-time maid and the steward sat before him. They had both a worried and disapproving expression on their faces. And currently, the maid was going off on him.

"Sting-sama, you mustn't take off so suddenly without a word ever again, we were all so worried!"

He rolled his eyes as the old maid continued to ramble on about his safety and what would happen if he "wasn't careful" around strangers. Seriously?

"And what if someone recognized you as the son of Eucliffe-sama and kidnaps you? This is serious!"

Sting yawned. "Keh, whatever."

The maid pulled a small scowl and then sighed in defeat. What was she going to do with her young master? She only wanted what was best for him and keep him safe! A hand reached out to pat her on the shoulder for comfort.

"Ah, I guess he's not a child anymore, let him have some freedom," the steward said softly. The young master wasn't going to listen, anyway. It was better to let him do as he pleased—just as long as he came back without a scratch. Restraining Sting will only make him more rebellious.

"Yeah, Jinjin," Sting referred the maid with his childhood nickname, snickering when she shook her head in defeat once again. "You're even more uptight than my old man."

"I only want what's best for you," she lamented. Watching her young master rub the top of his head in annoyance (he's heard her say that more than enough times; she wonders why), something critical she was meaning to ask came fresh to her again. "Sting-sama, who was the young lady you were with?"

Milky chocolate eyes and blond hair a few shades darker than his crossed his mind briefly. He closed his eyes and stretched more comfortably across the leather seat. "Eh, a fairy scholarship student," he replied.

His maid and steward gave each other blank stares and then glanced at their young master with confusion. They didn't press on, however, seeing as Sting looked like he wanted some peace and rest...

.

.

.

"This party is so boring."

A seven year old boy leaned against a white pillar matching the marble door it stood upon. He yawned; if it wasn't for his parents dragging him to this event at a business partner's mansion, he would have totally skipped out to play his video games.

It wasn't fair...Rogue didn't have to come!

"I wonder if I can sneak out..." Sting glanced at the unattended back door. There was no way he will be able to leave the premises with his parents still here, but he figured he could at least get out of the stuffy ball room.

The boy made sure to act as discrete as he could, darting behind unsuspecting guests so he wouldn't be noticed by adults who would try to talk to him. Once securely behind a giant potted plant situated right next to the back door, he looked around one more time before dashing into the midnight garden.

There weren't a lot of people in the gardens since it was getting really dark and most of them were inside sucking up to each other anyway. Sting mentally made gagging expressions as he slipped into the carefully trimmed hedge patch. The way they where methodically positioned, it reminded him of a maze and he walked further into the quiet night.

Suddenly, there was a faint sniffling coming from within.

Sting grew curious and ventured towards the noise...and found a small blond haired girl sitting on a giant stone by a pond in the center of the hedge "maze," crying softly.

"Hey!" he called out. The girl's back was faced him so she didn't know of his arrival and upon hearing his voice, she squeaked and nearly fell into the pond if it weren't for Sting quickly grabbing her arm.

The pull sent them both onto the grassy ground. The blond haired girl's eyes widened with fear when she lifted her head and realized that she landed on top of him.

"I-I'm s-so sorry!" she hiccuped, scooting several feet away from Sting, not caring that the friction was staining her dress green.

Sting got up, unaffected as he stared at her. The girl in front of him sure was weird... He noted the dress she had on and verified that she was from a rich family; but, why was she crying in the garden?

"Why are you crying? Are you lost?" he asked.

"...No," her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Then why?"

"..."

"Come on, you can tell me!"

She blinked up at him with tearful chocolate eyes and Sting frowned. He didn't know what to do or what to say when someone was crying...so she needs to stop right now!

"Uh," he looked around for something—anything to distract the girl. When he looked up, he saw a star that was shinning especially bright and got an idea. "Look up there!" he pointed to the sky, making the girl lift her head to see what he was pointing at.

"Do you see that bright orange star?"

The girl nodded.

"Well..." he trailed on, trying to make up something really quick, "That's a magical star! If you tell the star about your problems, they will go away!"

"...Really?" Her eyes were wide with awestruck as she looked at the star then at Sting. Any trace of tears were gone and a new hope filled within her big chocolate eyes. She then quickly clasped her hand together like she was about to pray and mumbled something to the orange star with her eyes shut tightly.

Sting, on the other hand, was just glad that the girl stopped crying.

"Do you study stars? You're amazing!"

Now he was feeling quite good about himself; he had made her stop crying and be admired. Though he made up that "magical star," he did learn a little about the stars and constellations so he knew a handful of their locations. Plopping himself down next to the now-smiling girl, he started to show her the visible constellations in the night sky. She listened tentatively, seemingly entranced with every word.

They stayed that way for over half an hour, just watching the stars as Sting occasionally made up new names for the ones she asked about that he didn't recognize. Neither realized or even cared that people were looking for them.

"You know so much about stars! I'm going to ask my sensei to teach me about ashro-astromo-"

"Astronomy," Sting corrected, turning to face the girl. She had a wide blush on her cheeks and her smile was so...cute. Unconsciously, his face started to heat up.

"H—"

"Lucy-sama! Lucy-sama!"

A couple of voices filled the garden, all calling for the same name. The girl he was with suddenly pouted, and he realized that they were looking for her.

"Oh no, Kaede-san is looking for me...Father will be mad," she mumbled and drew her attention back to Sting. She looked really happy. "T-Thank you for showing my the stars... but I have to go now."

Sting was struck with sadness that the girl had to leave so abruptly...but before he could say anything back to her, the person looking for her called again, this time closer to their location.

"Lucy-sama, please come out if you're here!"

The girl took his hand in hers, "I had lots of fun, thank you so much," she flashed him a bright smile before dashing away. Sting stood in the middle of the hedge maze, dazzled as he stared at the empty space before him.

"Lucy..."

The car was just a little away from the Eucliffe Mansion when Sting jerked in his sleep and blinked, instantly wide awake.

His maid and steward once again watched him in confusion. One second their young master was napping soundly and then as if something had enlightened him in his sleep, he was abruptly awake with a look of discovery.

"Young master...?"

He finally knew where he had seen Lucy before—he sat up straight and a grin stretched across his handsome face. "That party..." he said with realization. It dawned to him that she was certainly not a mere scholarship student. How could...

"Are you okay, Sting-sama?"

"She was invited to that party."

. . .

"I'm invited to a party...?"

Lucy stared at the pure white paper. It was an invitation to attend Angel Aguria's party that will be hosted in a couple of days—the heiress had stopped her at the main entrance before the first period bell would ring and personally delivered the piece of information to her.

"Please come, Lucy-san," Angel smiled at her.

Flattered as she was, Lucy just really did not like parties...especially since it reminded her of all the times she was forced to attend gatherings her father or another threw. Though she knew Angel's party would not be about business, she would still be associating with people of the "higher class" and she was just not up for their snobby ways.

"Well, parties aren't exactly my thing..."

"It would mean the world to me if you can come," the heiress said, clasping her hand together with a pleading expression, "You're my first friend."

Angel-san is so sweet, how can I turn her down?

Lucy sighed, lips pulling to form a small smile. "I'll be there," she promised, taking the invitation and carefully putting it in her brown bag. She jolted with a start when the bell rang. Waving at the heiress, she then ascended up the stairs to her first period.

Indigo orbs glinted playfully.