58th: Fish

Summary: There was a reason for everything.

Fish. She was a cat but she really, really disliked fish. To her, it was simply not good enough – or maybe it was because of all the half-rotten fish she had been forced to eat before she had found Wendy.

She had never expected Happy who believed fish to be something sacred to understand her dislike for fish and her preference for a good cup of tea.

Pantherlily on the other hand could relate to her because back in Edolas, fish had been rare and therefore unavailable for him. He had gotten used to fruits and vegetables and now, he preferred them over meat – much to Gajeel's delight because vegetables and fruit were cheaper than meat and the Iron Dragon Slayer was constantly out of money because he had taken up an expensive hobby which added heavily to his expenses for his own food: reading. Gajeel had started to read because he had listened to Evergreen's drunken ramblings on how the same hobby made it easier for two people to connect. (The female mage had originally intended to get Elfman to take but botanical studies but it had failed.)

Sometimes, the white exceed wished for Happy to realise that it wasn't because of him that she always rejected him but because of the fish … but her pride never allowed her to tell him this. She waited for him to figure something out, knowing that he couldn't. And so she sat there, waiting for a miracle to happen.

Wendy watched her and because she had known her cat for a very long time, she saw how the hopeful gleam in Charle's eyes fading away whenever Happy approached her with another fish as a gift. And while it took the young dragon slayer a few months to figure out what was going on, she finally came to a conclusion and when Happy was sitting alone in a corner, feeling depressed after he had been rejected once more, she sat down with him.

"…she doesn't mean it," the blue-haired girl said softly, barely loud enough for the exceed to hear her. "She's snobbish and stubborn … but she doesn't mean to hurt you. She simply cannot stand fish. She hates it to be honest."

"So, it's not me but the fish?" he asked as he looked up at her.

"Exactly," she said as she patted his head. "Maybe you should try something else, Happy."

"Thanks for the advice, Wendy!" the male exceed said before he dashed away, probably searching for another present to give Charle.

Wendy leaned back and sighed deeply. Well, this had gone well.

Charle was once more talking to Pantherlily when Happy made his way over to them. The blue cat seemed to be even more awkward than usually and she frowned as he held out a present which was not a fish for a change. "A-a … ribbon?" she asked.

"The old one got dirty on the job you took with Wendy, Gajeel and Lily, right? So here you have a new one," the blue cat explained. "Would you … go out with me? Natsu and Lucy have a date in the theatre tonight and I wanted to follow them…"

Lily nudged her none too gently and she nodded even though she was very confused. "S-sure," she replied.

AN: I know that it's short and probably absolutely terrible but Chapter 314 killed my inspiration and my motivation to write went on a long vacation. Other than that, I had a lot of trouble with school and all those annoying things – and then, I got sick. So I am sorry and hope that you can forgive me.