Hello everyone! As always, thanks for the reviews, faves, and alerts. I'm glad you are enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it.
Derrick - So nice to hear from you again! What can I say, Gajeel and Natsu are hilarious as possessive dragon-slayers. And Erza's and Mira's reactions will be epic. Just wait for those in the following chapter(s).
As for this chapter... Well, as I said on the end note last chapter, "pandemonium" is starting to unfold. I won't say more.
I would really appreciate if you all left me a review and told me what you thought of this chapter. There were some things I wasn't so sure about, so it'd be really nice if you did. Thanks in advance!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
"A Favor"
Chapter 6:
Gajeel had to hand it to the guy, Fairy Tail's Salamander never failed to disappoint. He couldn't have timed the pink-haired guy's arrival better if they had planned it together, and the fire mage had unintendedly showed up to deliver the overwhelming blow on his unaware target. Of course, that simplistic and childish tone the fire dragon-slayer had used with his guildmates had only served to further accomplish the effect he had wanted to create in the first place. Before, Gajeel would have assumed Natsu had spoken that way because he was an idiot who understood nothing about life and social relations, but after spending some time with him and witnessing him that morning at the jewelry shop, the iron mage knew better. His fellow guildmate was doing this totally and absolutely on purpose, knowing perfectly well just what sort of reactions such words and tone would provoke. He only had to redirect his gaze towards the fire dragon-slayer to see that clear smug smirk of amusement pasted on his face. However, what he saw next, he definitely had not expected.
After looking at the pink-haired moron reveling in self-adoration for what he had just caused, Gajeel glanced at his blond mate. To the iron mage's absolute shock, the girl had the same exact expression that Natsu had on her own face, and Gajeel realized instantly just how perfectly in sync the two mages next to him truly were. What was even more surprising was the fact that this woman had managed to covertly entertain herself for who knew how long while maintaining an innocent and non-knowing image with the rest of her guildmates. Sneaky little... Did that mean she was also aware of all those supposed jealousy outbursts of her pink-haired mate? Who was he kidding, of course it did! She was as an active participant of those scenes as the fire dragon-slayer himself. Gajeel smirked; perhaps he hadn't given enough credit to the Bunny Girl. He would rather be caught dead than admitting to it out loud, but he kind of liked her more for it now. Perhaps the Shrimp doesn't have such bad taste in picking her friends...
As his thoughts led him back to Levy once more, he wondered if she would partake of such activities with him in the near future. He turned his attention to the petite bluenette, who was still holding his hand tightly, and as he examined her countenance, he recognized that spark in her eyes and that shy yet amused side grin. Oh, she is definitely enjoying this, too… Gi, hee! The iron mage reconsidered the decision he had made earlier at the jeweler's that day. Perhaps, besides including the fire dragon-slayer in his frequent night escapades, adding the two girls was an advantageous plus for wrecking havoc. Those poor idiots won't even know what hit them… He smirked evilly, and as much as he appreciated the idea of what chaos he could achieve if his mate was in on his vast bunch of cruel shenanigans, he realized he still had unfinished business to attend to at the present time. That sort of fun will just have to wait, he said to himself. First, let's finish the matter at hand, the grin widened.
The iron dragon-slayer observed his stunned guildmates with pleasure and care. However, his attention concentrated on one mage in particular. The news of him claiming the script mage had already rendered her speechless and had shocked her enough to freeze her on her spot at the bar. Mirajane definitely hadn't seen that coming. Perhaps, if she had been given the necessary time to absorb the information properly, she would have calmed down and gone back to her usual self and started handing out celebratory drinks as she patted herself on the back for having such an avid eye for figuring out other people's feelings before everyone else did. However, to much of the white-haired barmaid's dismay, that hadn't been the case today. Mirajane hadn't been expecting the fire dragon-slayer to show up mere seconds later and state with such carefree attitude that he and Lucy had practically just gotten married for eternity and beyond to her easily-to-get-carried-away eyes. The absurdly brilliant shine of that ring on her finger hadn't helped either, and now, the Take-over Demon had been utterly defeated by the imaginative powers of her own mind. Gajeel could see it in her eyes and he was now only waiting for her to snap.
And he didn't have to wait long.
Just as some of the mages had begun to regain their consciousness after plummeting ungracefully down onto the guild's floor from overwhelming shock and eye-scorching brightness, the guildhall was taken over by an almost inhumane squeal that made the walls shake and forced everyone who was awake to cover their ears, their bodies to tense, and to redirect their attention towards the bar. Mira had just shrilled her life out and was now collapsing onto the floor as she twitched and muttered something intelligible for regular human hearing. However, the two dragon-slayers with their heightened senses heard every word perfectly, "To-to-too muchhh… Too much happi-ness." The iron mage started guffawing instantly just as the biggest smirk of achievement appeared on his arrogant face. As he laughed to his heart's content, he noticed the overwhelmed mage had, not without a serious effort, readjusted her attention on him. Time for the last move, he reminded himself. Gajeel wasted no time in yelling back at her the finishing touch of what he considered his not-so-well-though-out plan but perfectly executed revenge, "I told you I couldn't wait to see your reaction," and resumed his boisterous laughing. He observed amusedly how the Take-over mage scowled, her eyes widening again in realization and burning with what he could easily label as "wrathful hate," as she tried, in a last, desperate attempt, to move before she twitched some more and passed out completely on the floor. Gi, hee, hee… Now, who had the last laugh, huh, Demon Woman? A clue: me.
Happy had watched the very public scene the two dragon-slayers had just made at the guild from the back of the guildhall, sitting next to Wendy, who, for a strange reason, didn't look in the least bit surprised. She didn't look fazed at all; instead, she had a small, contented smile on her young face. How could she have known? he wondered. He wanted to asked her about it, but he decided that would have to wait, since he really needed to approach his foster father first and do two very important things: First, congratulate both him and Lucy for their decision to become a family and, second, apologize to Natsu for being a bigger pain in the ass lately. If he had known the reason why Natsu had been distant had been to go find, or make –Natsu wouldn't settle for nothing but the best–, a ring for Lucy, he would have never been so heartless to the fire mage in the first place. He couldn't deny it had been heaps of fun though, and a part of him begged him not to ask for forgiveness. He really had felt lonely in the past month and his feelings had been truly hurt. However, despite these self-centered thoughts, the blue cat realized he had been selfish and, while caring only for his own feelings, he had failed to notice his best friend's unusually jittery emotional state. It all made sense to him now, and he immediately understood why the fire dragon-slayer had chosen to be so secretive. Natsu didn't need to tell him, the Exceed knew his foster father better than that. Happy knew perfectly well how possessive the pink-haired male could get over his mate, and he understood that even if his partner tried to deny it, deep down, Natsu only wanted to share that part of himself with her. Anyone else would be considered an intruder into the couple's intimacy, and the Exceed knew that included him. In spite of all that, he had never felt excluded by neither Natsu nor Lucy, and as this heavy realization hit his furry head, guilt and regret started to creep up on him at faster speeds than he could devour a fish.
The no-longer-happy Happy then remembered how he had shared with Gray not that long ago the private information about Natsu's shameful underwear, and the guilt began to take over him completely. Looking at his foster father and his blond friend look so radiantly happy made the remorse overwhelm him entirely and his small body began to tremble with self-hate. The Exceed supposed the ice mage wouldn't stop from carrying out whatever plan he had concocted while he awaited for the fire dragon-slayer, indistinctively of whether the pink-haired mage had just made it clear that this was one of the most amazing days of his life or not. Gray wouldn't hesitate to ruin the occasion and deliver a crushing attack on his unsuspecting rival. In fact, Happy guessed that humiliating the fire mage today would only be an added bonus to the raven-haired male. What have I done! he reprimanded himself in frantic anger. His body continued to shake and little tears began to make their way out of his young black eyes, darkening the blue fur around his eyes as they fell, just as the guilt continued to heavily oppress his furry being. He moved his trembling paws to wipe the salty liquid from his eyes. I have to do something… Warn him… Anything…
"Natsuuuu~!" Happy finally screamed, flying out of the table he was sitting on at full speed towards the fire mage and successfully breaking the silence that had bewitched the rest of the spectators.
Gray had been stopped on his tracks too many times already that day. He hated to be overwhelmed by surprise and to be rendered totally useless thanks to it. First, he had been knocked out of his senses for a good chunk of the morning thanks to Juvia's inability to control her emotions. Then, he had further enraged the already pissed off Erza while trying to escape the water mage. Finally, just when he thought his day was beginning to brighten up and he could tilt the balance of his drawn battle with Natsu his way, the annoyingly cheerful dragon-slayer had showed up and rendered everyone speechless. Why did the idiotic fire mage have to choose this day from all of the rest to propose to Lucy? Why couldn't he wait until tomorrow, or next week? Now, the ice mage would look like the biggest asshole in Fiore if he went ahead with his plan to humiliate the pink-haired groom. He was beyond annoyingly mad and frustrated. To further his already fowl mood, he had just witnessed Gajeel do to Mira exactly what he had been aching to do to Natsu since he had woken up. He didn't know what had started the rivalry between those two, but it looked like the iron mage had really caught Mira off-guard. However, the Take-over barmaid wasn't known as the "Demon Mirajane" for nothing. The Metal-freak had no idea who he was messing with; this was clearly not the last he was going to see of her. Idiot.
The ice alchemist grimaced, he had been made to look like an idiot, and Gray despised looking like an idiot. It reminded him too much of the fire dragon-slayer, and he would never want to accept that they had more things in common than their Fairy Tail stamp on their bodies. Besides, if Gajeel could have his fun, why couldn't he do the same? Gray was angry and he knew he was probably taking their friendly rivalry too far, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now. He watched the pink-haired mage as he amusedly observed their guildmates' shocked faces. He knew the dragon-slayer well enough to know he found this whole thing entertaining, and as he realized that he was the only one not currently enjoying himelf, his anger spiraled out of control. Fuck this, I'm not gonna go down without a fight. I'm going through with it… I might regret it tomorrow, but I am taking that annoying smirk off that fire-breathing ass's face! With that last thought, Gray snapped out of his stupor and began to make his way through the crowd of flabbergasted mages and towards the guild's doors.
Lucy watched as Gray began to approach her and Natsu. She had just seen that look on his face, and she knew perfectly well what it meant. It meant the ice mage was in a bad mood and he would probably do something he would regret later –like trying to publicly humiliate Natsu, regardless of the news he had just received. She redirected her attention to the fire dragon-slayer, who, in turn, fixed his gaze on her. Natsu's eyes were shinning with so many emotions at the moment. Yes, he was definitely amused by the scene he had just caused at Fairy Tail, but she saw much more in those onyx eyes of him. He was truly happy. He was giving her that same look he had first given her a little bit over a year ago when he had decided to claim her, that same smile that had so fully warmed her body and soul that morning. The pink-haired mage's orbs dazzled with the fiery spark of complete and utter felicity, and that look of his was enough to convince her that she had no choice but to stop her other teammate before he had the chance to erase that rare and wondrous mien of the dragon-slayer that she loved so much.
Natsu stared at his mate as she pulled his arm gently, and focused his smile on her. He felt her untangle her fingers from his hand and he automatically, almost unconsciously, turned to give her a puzzled look. "Just wait here, okay? I'll be right back," he heard her say, and then watched her as she walked past him and made her way into the guild. The fire dragon-slayer reexamined the guildhall one more time to find whatever it was that had caught the stellar mage's attention and had forced her to move away from his side. He had wanted to kiss her passionately one more time before going inside the guild and asking Mira for some festive drinks. He wasn't going to get that fire whiskey anytime soon, since the white-haired mage had passed out on the floor from an overload of happiness and anger all thanks to Gajeel. So he had been really looking forward to that kiss. It would have been the perfect finishing touch to his announcement. Lucy was a ridiculously attractive female (according to his totally unbiased opinion) and he knew that even if his guildmates respected the fact that Lucy had chosen him as her life partner and would never dare to interfere between them, the greater male population of his guild, and of Earthland in general, couldn't help but wish that it were them who were kissing the blond at times. He had seen that envious look on several occasions and he would make damn sure to take any opportunity he got to remind them that it was him, and only him, who the blond wanted, or who would ever get the privilege of touching her lips. It was not that he was a cruel bastard who enjoyed showing off to others what could never be theirs. No, but he had always thought that actions spoke louder than words, and for all of those males who didn't know him or the stellar mage, they only needed to see the passion with which she kissed him back to understand that they had no chance with her. She was willing his, all his, and no one else's.
Natsu followed Lucy with his eyes and, as he looked a little bit further from her, he saw Gray approaching with a devious look on his face. He instantly realized where it was that the blond was going. He then heard someone desperately cry his name, and that someone could only be his blue-furred troublemaking son… but there was something different on his voice that day.
"Natsuuuu~!"
"Happy!" the fire dragon-slayer joyfully greeted his partner as he enveloped the blue hairball in his warm embrace. The fire dragon-slayer examined his son's appearance. He had never seen him like this before; tears were freely pouring out of his eyes, his entire body was trembling, and when the older mage's gaze found the blue cat's, he could distinguish the bitter signs of remorse and guilt. Looking at his son in such a vulnerable and distraught state made his bright smile falter a little. Happy had been in such a good mood that morning that Natsu couldn't figure out what exactly could have caused his mood to alter so much. Today was a day for celebrations and, even if he was still somewhat mad at the Exceed for advertising to the world the sort of underwear he liked to wear, he couldn't take that miserable expression on his blue friend's face. It didn't belong there. Happy's simplistic way of looking at the world always helped to ease his own mind. The dragon-slayer truly felt, just like he had all those years ago when the blue kitten had hatched from his egg, that the blue hairball he proudly called his son really made everyone around him happy. When things looked gloomy and desperate, Happy would make a comment that made everyone smile or laugh. Happy's good mood was contagious, and today, Natsu needed the Exceed at his happiest to make this a day that neither he nor any of his friends would forget.
"Would you like a chubby fish, buddy?" Natsu said. The sorrowful Exceed lifted his head from the fire mage's chest to look at his pink-haired foster father. He gave him a confused look as his tears continued to flow, "What do you mean, Natsu? Aren't you mad at me for… you know, telling everyone about your underwear?" he stated guiltily between his quiet sobs. Natsu observed his tiny furry friend holding so tightly to his chest and resting in his arms closely. The fire mage could see the tears as they fell from his eyes and the darker blue coloration they had caused on the fur under his eyes. Natsu could feel the cat's trembling and the tears wetting his shirt and arms. He gave his conflicted blue friend an understanding look as he spoke, recognizing the guilt and remorse in his son's voice. "Nah, turns out my awesome underwear is not embarrassing," he simply answered with a small grin, and then continued to try to uplift his son's spirits, he truly hated to see him in this state, "And, you know something, if you hadn't told Lucy about it, I wouldn't have found out just how awesome they truly were. So, fish?"
The response only managed to confuse Happy more. "What are you talking about?" he insisted, although the fire mage's words had succeeded in comforting him somewhat, since knowing that Natsu held no resentment towards him eased his conflicted mind and he was thus able to stop his crying. The dragon-slayer placed a finger on the blue cat's mouth, "Just watch," he almost whispered, pointing at the figure of the ice mage that had started to approach them and was about to be intercepted by Lucy on its way. The Exceed gave him another bewildered glance, and Natsu simply whispered back, "Lucy," and smiled knowingly. The feline's eyes widened and his ears perked up. "Scary Lucy?" he timidly asked, and watched the mage shake his head from side to side and say, "Worse." The cat continued, "Mean Lucy?" just as he moved around Natsu's embrace and re-accommodated himself in it. He saw the mage negate the statement again and felt him begin to pet his tiny head, "Then?" Happy waited a few seconds before the fire dragon-slayer lowered his head to whisper a secretive "Possessive Lucy, Happy. Gray doesn't even know what's coming to him."
The Exceed's eyes widened for a third time that day. He had only seen Lucy's possessive side once, and he never wanted to see it again. He had been making fun of Natsu during a mission one day and taken it too far, as it was common with him. The stellar mage hadn't hit him, like she would do when she was mad about something, or kept him from eating fish, like Natsu tried to do when he was upset. No, what she had done was much, much worse. The stellar mage had verbally confronted him in such a way, that she had made him feel utterly miserable for three days straight for being "mean" and "ungrateful" to the person who had raised him "out of the goodness of his heart." Happy had been so depressed, he hadn't even eaten the fish the fire mage had offered him after seeing his dejected expression. No one at the guild knew about this either, since he had been so embarrassed about what had happened that he had stayed away from Fairy Tail, and Lucy, after seeing him so sad, had apologized and asked him to think more about the consequences of his own actions in the future. He clearly needed to listen to the blond more; perhaps, the whole underwear mess could have been avoided then. Right now, however, he pitted Gray, like Natsu had said, there was really no way the ice mage would be ready for the storm that was about to hit him.
Gajeel noticed the weird interaction and whispering between the fire dragon-slayer and his cat. He could smell the salty scent of tears and he had heard something off in the Exceed's tone of voice. Confused, he decided to ask the fire mage what was going on, "Salamander, wha-"
Natsu cut him off and, guessing what he was going to ask, answered him back in a low voice that only he could hear, "Shh, I'm trying to enjoy the show." The iron mage saw that smug smirk he had seen earlier that morning appear on the fire dragon-slayer's face and followed his gaze onto the stellar mage who was swaying her hips towards the stripping Icicle's way. What the…? He was sort of confused and most definitely intrigued. The ice mage hadn't even paid any attention to the blond who approached him. His mind seemed focused entirely on the fire-breathing ass, and before Gajeel had figured things out, Gray broke the silence that still possessed the rest of their guildmates, "Hey, Fire-breath, I heard something quite interesting about a certain habit of yours!"
Lucy had been trailing the ice mage since he had begun to move, and she realized that he was ignoring her completely and focusing solely on Natsu. She smiled to herself; the distracted state of the ice alchemist would definitely work to her advantage. She quickened her step a bit, and when she was almost next to him, she heard him yell exactly what she had been expecting he would since she had seen that expression on his face earlier. She reacted instantly, "You wouldn't be referring to the underwear I bought for him last month, now would you?" she said, keeping an innocent façade as she spoke. She watched the ice mage as he halted his advance and redirected his attention towards her for the first time. Gray hadn't even noticed Lucy had moved away from Natsu and was now standing next to him. Startled, he turned to his right and stared intently into the blond's brown eyes somewhat confused. "Wait… What?" he finally managed to choke out. "That's not what I heard," he concluded after a brief pause, still looking bewildered and rather shocked at her statement.
Lucy smiled back at him as she began to close the distance between them, "Well, yes, I bought them for him. I happen to find those printed boxer-briefs extremely cute and adorable, and... very, very sexy." She paused, examining Gray's countenance before continuing, "You just have no idea what your imagination might do for you or how hot and wild your anticipation might get when coming across a fire mage… I just thought it'd be appropriate for him to wear flaming underwear, don't you agree?" The stellar mage watched with covert pleasure as the ice mage's face turned a bright red color and his eyes widened. He began to panic and started to step back in order to move away from her, but he bumped into a table behind him, which successfully frustrated his escape, "That's… That's too much information, Lucy! I didn't need to know that!" The blushing black-haired man tried to move away from the fiery blond, but she didn't allow him to retreat. After a few seconds of staring at the panicking Gray with delight, Lucy leaned forward to whisper in his ear one final remark, "Try to humiliate my fire dragon like that again and I promise you will get such detailed, mind scarring images that you'll develop an inferiority complex that will last you a lifetime, understood?" The ice mage nodded agitatedly as he uttered a shaky "Yes ma'am!"
The stellar mage smiled to herself, glad that she had put an end to Gray's mischief and knowing that this would be the last she, and anyone else, would ever hear about Natsu's underwear again. But she wasn't quite done yet. Without moving from her spot and still incapacitating the ice mage from fleeing, she whispered to him again, "Good. Now, why don't you go tell your best friend what you should have said in the first place instead of starting this, mmm?" Lucy then straightened back up and gave the ice mage a puppy-eye look and a wide innocent smile.
If there was something Gray did not want to do today was to piss the stellar mage off more than she already was, as he realized that that so-called innocent smile and look of hers were everything but innocent. He knew perfectly well she could be as scary as Erza and he already had to deal with that redheaded monster, so he didn't need to add a blond one to the mix. Gray let out the breath he had been holding since Lucy had imprisoned him and, knowing he had already been defeated, he said, "Hey, Fire-bre… I mean, Natsu, congratulations on your… 'dragon engagement,' for lack of a better term." He observed the fire mage with care, that idiot was cunningly grinning back at him as if he had known that Lucy would do something like that. Hell, the dragon-slayer had probably heard everything she had whispered to him just seconds ago with that heightened hearing of his. This was clearly not Gray's day, but he was entirely responsible for what had happened to him. After all, he had forgotten the second rule of war: never ever underestimate your opponent. Who knew that idiot had such a deadly secret weapon under his wings.
"Thanks, man! I appreciate it, but I'll still have to kick your frozen ass for getting too close to my mate, Ice-prick!" came Natsu's reply, as he smirked victoriously over his subdued rival. The fire mage had heard everything that Lucy had said to Gray, and he had to admit that the stellar mage had a particular talent for knowing exactly what buttons to push. It was probably due to the fact that she chose to watch his guildmates when they were fighting instead of joining in on the brawls, which granted her the advantage of cautiously examining each and every one of them from a privileged position when the rest had their guards down.
The fire dragon-slayer knew that all appearances aside, Gray was a very shy man who liked to keep his personal business private. It only took a keen pair of eyes to notice the sort of face the ice mage had every time he realized he was naked in front of his guildmates. That was the reason why the fire mage and, mostly, Cana chose pointing that out to him as one of their preferred methods for messing with him. Natsu had traveled enough with the guy to know that even if he was aware that he was pretty popular with the opposite sex, the bare mention of that fact to him made him blush and stutter. Gray could act like a stud all he wanted, but he was far from one in real life. It wasn't that he didn't know how to act around a girl, but the ice mage was so reserved about his personal life that the mere insinuation that others were aware that he had one made him uncomfortable. Apparently, Lucy knew this as well as the dragon-slayer did, and she had not even hesitated on using it against him. The fire mage could only imagine the level of embarrassment and awkwardness a statement like Lucy's had provoked on his rival. Natsu, on the other hand, could care less about what others thought of his personal life, as long as they didn't disrespect it or threaten his mate. He did what he felt like doing indiscriminately of where he was, or who he was around. That, of course, had led to some pretty public displays of affection, but he only cared if Lucy minded it. And she didn't; in fact, she was the one who started some of them, like the time they had a steamy make out cession at Magnolia's train station.
Natsu had just came back from a one-week solo mission by order of the master, and he had been pleasantly greeted back into the city by a heartwarming hug and a set of soothing pats on the head to ease the effects of his motion sickness. Once he had recuperated, the blond kissed him deeply before even allowing him to speak. It really wasn't necessary; the both of them knew just how much they had missed each other and neither could wait to be wrapped in the other's embrace. An old lady had approached them at that time and, frowning, she had asked if they didn't have any shame. Lucy had simply answered by smirking deviously at her and pulling the fire mage closer for another deep kiss before saying, "I haven't seen my mate for over a week, so if you're so bothered by it, why don't you just turn around and continue on your way, instead of interrupting our long-awaited reunion?" The woman had stayed petrified in her place by the unusually aggressive blond's response, just as Lucy helped him get up from the floor and began walking towards her apartment.
Natsu remembered how he had asked Lucy later on their way home why she had responded to the older lady like that, it really wasn't something she usually liked to do. The blond had simply answered that she was annoyed because the woman already knew why she was at the train station in the first place, and knew perfectly well who she was, and who she was waiting for. She told him the woman was already familiar with the sort of affection they were keen on showing each other once in a while, since she had already tried to admonish her for allowing her pink-haired boyfriend to kiss her so shamelessly in public. The fire dragon-slayer didn't need to ask anything else. He already knew how annoyed Lucy got whenever people butted into her private life like that. She respected others enough to do as they pleased and she expected them to do the same when it came to her. He couldn't blame her, he would have probably been even more pissed off if, aside from the already anxious need to see his mate again after a long period of separation, some stranger had decided to step in and pretended to give him advice on his relationship.
The fire mage snapped back into reality when he heard the ice mage respond to him. He wasn't however expecting that sort of statement. Damn, Lucy is really not showing any mercy today.
Gray watched defeatedly as the fire dragon-slayer replied to him. He was about to yell something offensive of his own back at the pink-haired idiot, when he heard Lucy cough next to him and say in a deviously innocent voice, "Aren't you forgetting something, Gray?" The ice mage tensed. Mavis, had this day really not turned out as he had planned it, Fuck my life. He took a deep breath before speaking, "Oh, and Natsu?" The fire mage gave him a quizzical look, apparently he hadn't been expecting the ice mage to ignore his provocation, a fact that had been made evident by the "Yes, Gray?" that he gave for an answer. The ice alchemist took another deep breath before speaking again, "I'm sorry for trying to ruin your special day." This is so messed up. Stupid dragon-slayers, stupid Happy, and stupid Lucy… Before turning around to return to his seat at his table in the guild, Gray watched as a surprised look appeared on the fire dragon-slayer's face. He smirked momentarily; at least he had managed to unsettle the fire idiot, not in the way he had originally wanted, but that was better than nothing. Well, I still have the afternoon to look up to, he said to himself, as a side grin made its way onto his face.
Just as the ice mage had begun his retreat, the majority of Fairy Tail's guildmates snapped out of their shock, as if the common bickering between the fire dragon-slayer and the ice mage had managed to break their self-induced stun. Soon enough, the loud festive mood of Fairy Tail returned, as they all yelled a joyous "Congratulations!" in unison and called for a party. The mages to whom the cheer had been directed at smiled back at their guildmates as they watched the guild return to normal. Cana reached for a new barrel of beer and plunged in; Lisanna stepped into the bar and, acting as temporary barmaid, started to pull out liquor bottles and serve her guilmates; Elfman began yelling incomprehensible "Man" related statements as Evergreen screamed back at him for being an idiot; Juvia sat close to her "Gray-sama" and started conversing with him; master Makarov and Laxus resumed their secretly friendly drinking, while Bixlow continued talking about the wonders of female panties to his babies; Wakaba and Macao approached Cana and lunged into their drinks as well; Redus hurried up to his canvas to start painting the scene; and the rest of their guildmates began to cheer for their friends as they chugged down several mugs of beer and proceeded to destroy most of the guildhall's common property.
Natsu watched as Lucy walked back towards the guild's entrance where he was still standing, waiting for her. As soon as she came close enough, the fire mage grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, lowering his head to nuzzle her neck and whisper a playful "That was evil, Lucy." She giggled and murmured back at him, "What? I like you in your underwear too much to let someone deprive me of that wonderful sight," following her statement with a soft kiss on his cheek, as she leaned onto his body. The dragon-slayer smiled lovingly back at her and kissed her forehead in return. He wouldn't say it to her right now, but he was seriously thankful that she had intervened on his behalf and helped him save face with his guildmates. It would have taken him too many beatings, several displays of brute masculine power, and an indiscriminate amount of time to achieve the same Lucy had just managed to accomplish in a few minutes. Furthermore, his guildmates seemed to have remained oblivious of her devious meddling with Gray, since she had been careful enough to whisper her threats for only him (and the three dragon-slayers) to hear. Besides all that, Natsu found her possessive side extremely sexy, and he reveled on it every time it surfaced. He chuckled as he leaned to whisper to her again, "But, you know, it really turned me on." Instantaneously, he felt her pull away from him and slap his arm as she gave him an angry look, "Natsu! Not in front of Happy!"
The fire mage simply laughed at her reaction and pulled her back towards him, just as he felt Happy stirring in his other arm and call out their names. Both mages turned to look at him, "I'm sorry Lucy, Natsu. I promise I won't ever do anything like that to either of you again," he said regretfully, getting the blue ribbon he had taken earlier from Lucy's apartment from his backpack and handing it back to her. The stellar mage smiled genuinely at him, taking the ribbon with her free hand before petting his furry head affectionately. "And I am also very happy for you," Happy said again with a smile of his own, leaning into Lucy's caress, and purring in response to her soothing touch. Shortly after, once he had had enough of the stellar mage's ministrations, Happy flew away from the fire mage's embrace, congratulating them again, and making his way to where Wendy and Charle were still seating. I should ask Wendy how she knew now.
Well, I'll be damned, Gajeel said to himself, Bunny Girl really did a number on that Stripper. For once in his life, he had listened to what Natsu had asked and he had remained still and quiet observing the fire dragon-slayer's mate in her "possessive stage," as the pink-haired male had pointed it out to his cat. The iron mage had heard every word she had said to Gray and he had enjoyed every bit of the ice mage's reaction as much as either Natsu or Lucy had, or perhaps even more than both them. Oh, how he couldn't wait to be the one doing just that to his miserable and unsuspecting victims. He had also been keeping an eye on Levy as she watched her blond friend protect her mate's honor, and he had been very pleased to notice the bluenette had actually smiled back at her friend and whispered a "You show him, Lu-chan!" She had, furthermore, unconsciously squeezed his hand as if trying to give her friend encouragement. Gajeel loved it; the quiet little blue-haired mage was a secret demon in the making. He wondered if he would regret turning her into a deadly one later in life. There were enough freaky women in the guild to add another, but he quickly tossed that thought aside, as he decided that he liked that spunky side of hers she tried to keep a secret from everyone else. I guess I find it… cute.
The iron dragon-slayer was brought back to reality when the pink-haired mage turned his way and yelled at him, smirking smugly, "Hey, Metal-head, I see you finally got your scared-to-death iron scales together to claim Levy, huh?"
Damn that fire-breathing idiot, he always does seem to get ahead of me with these things. He fixed his red eyes on the fire mage's as he annoyingly spit back, "Tch, shut up Fire-ass. I didn't say anything about your desperate howls for that ring, now did I?"
Both dragon-slayers stared into each other's eyes, recognizing that newfound taunting amusement in both of their gazes that had become so characteristic of their interactions lately, and which they thought no one else could identify but them. They were soon corrected from this mistake as both of their mates hit their shoulders lightly and they heard Lucy say, "Oh, just stop pretending you two are not genuinely happy for one another already," which was immediately followed by a "You can't fool us, you know?" from Levy.
Both dragon-slayers turned to look at their respective mate with an amusedly surprised look. There really wasn't anyone else who could read them as well as those two girls did. The fire mage seriously wondered just how he had managed to keep his intentions a secret from the blond for more than a day, while the iron mage questioned just how he could have been so blind to the undeniable chemistry that existed between him and the blue-haired script mage. Natsu laughed wholeheartedly as he nonchalantly scratched the back of his head with his left hand and tightened his hold of Lucy's waist with his right, just as Gajeel simultaneously looked away from the group and squeezed Levy's hand as he said, "Tch, whatever." The girls laughed at the dragon-slayers' expected reactions and proceeded to congratulate one another for their news. They were about to leave their men to go sit at a secluded table to talk to each other about the new developments in their lives, when Natsu spoke again and prevented them from leaving.
The fire dragon-slayer turned to look at Gajeel amusedly, "Hey, Metal-head, one more thing. Now that I've congratulated you for claiming Levy, it is only fair that I threaten to strip you from each and every one of those piercings you have on your body if you ever hurt her in any way." The iron mage glared back at him menacingly, bringing the blue-haired mage closer to him as he untangled his fingers from hers and moved his arm to her shoulders to envelop her possessively. "As if, Fire-breath! Not a chance, but if you're threatening me, then I'll threaten you back!" he replied. The pink-haired mage smirked back at him, but before he could return the iron mage's threat, he heard Lucy speak, "That wont be necessary Gajeel. Erza and Gray have already promised to skin him alive if he even dared to make me cry. Plus, most of my spirits would be happy to partake in the reaping." She paused for a second and sighed before continuing, "But, if you really feel like you must release some testosterone and impose your masculinity somewhere, why don't you go threaten Gray?" Natsu looked back at his mate taken somewhat aback by her words, Jeez, Lucy is truly relentless. She must really like those pairs of underwear... which could only mean... I must definitely get the spitting fire dragons one! Gajeel, for his part, made a note to himself to never cross the blond stellar mage, Man, is this woman vindictive!
As if knowing what the two dragon-slayers were thinking, Lucy spoke again, "What?" she began, "I'm only pointing out the obvious. If you all men need to harass the other about their women, then the only one who can threaten Gray is Gajeel."
The iron mage turned to look at her, noticing the other two mages were not as confused as he was, "What are you talking about Bunny Girl?" The stellar mage sighed before addressing Gajeel again, "What do you mean 'What are you talking about Bunny Girl'? Gray has been seeing Juvia for the past two months. He thinks no one knows about it, but the entire guild knows." She paused for a moment, reconsidering her statement and fixing her eyes on the iron dragon-slayer's again, "Well, apparently not everyone does, since you clearly were oblivious to the whole thing." Gajeel's expression changed, revealing his devious self from earlier that day once more. He let go of the script mage and patted her softly on the head in his characteristic way. "Just wait for me right here," he said, "I'll be right back," he concluded, before he began to make his way towards the ice mage's table.
As Gajeel was about to walk away, he heard Natsu ask Lucy why she had told him about Gray and Juvia, successfully forcing him to stop and finish listening to their conversation. "I thought he knew… He would've found out sooner or later, though. And I'm pretty sure he would have reacted the same way as he is now," Lucy replied. Levy spoke shortly after, "I agree with Lu-chan. Besides, I don't think it's okay for Gray to keep their relationship a secret. It is not fair for Juvia. I wouldn't have liked it if Gajeel had asked me to keep us a secret." Natsu sighed; he knew the girls were right. Gajeel would have beaten the Ice-prick up sooner or later for it. Besides, he was way too proud of his own relationship to even consider keeping it a secret; he couldn't understand why Gray would. As far as he was concerned, the more people who knew about him and Lucy, the better. It equaled more fun and less perverts to pulverize. He understood the ice mage was a lot more reserved than he was. Hell, aside from the idiotic Metal-freak, there was probably no other male who cared less about the general public's opinion than himself. Gray didn't need to tell the entire world who he was "dating," or be overly affectionate towards her, but he did need to acknowledge her in some respect and give her the place she deserved, especially among his friends and guildmates. Before leaving the vicinity of the three other mages, the iron mage turned to them and said, "Bunny Girl is right, I would have done the exact same thing today or tomorrow. Now, if you would excuse me..." and with that, he quickened his pace towards the ice mage.
"Poor Ice-breath, this is really not his lucky day," Natsu said as he watched the iron dragon-slayer approach Gray and start acting out the fourth shocking scene of the day.
So, how was it? I hope I wasn't too cruel to poor old Gray... and Erza hasn't even woken up yet. And is Mira really out for the count? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and next chapter Erza will be definitely making an appearance.