Hi everyone! As always, first of is thanking all of you who reviewed, faved, and alerted my story. It really does make my day.
Marika - Thanks for the review! Well, the great thing about it is that Mira would think she'd be chosing the child's name, but Levy would have already found a way to get the name she really wanted into her mind someway. I just know it, ha, ha.

Second, I am so sorry for the delay, but this chapter just keep getting too out of control - even for Fairy Tail, and that says something in and of itself. Anyways, I like to call this my "tribute chapter." It is my own little way of saying thanks to my reviewers. So for those of you who have either mentioned something they would like to see or just pointed out something they particularly liked, I tried to add all of it or make mention of in this chapter.
Tenshi Icarus- Whatever is been keeping Natsu busy as of lately, goes out to you, and it was inspired from our short conversation to your review of chapter 4.
89niners -best-team-ever- You wanted to see Lucy's spirits. You'll get some Loke flashbacks here as promised way back when.
Hejmdal- Gajeel decided to "Shooby do bop," just for you. And there's something else of him he rather not be mentioned, that's making it's way back with a vengeance.
Lucy Ashley from Fairytail,Catwho,- For you who can appreciate what fearful strategist Levy and Lucy can be, there's another taste of it. But who will be their victim(s) this time?
OhtaSuzuke- You said you were positive Gajeel and Natsu would team up in the future... Well... your dream might just have come true, lol.
Tsuki. Raven- Don't forget little Wendy is at the guild today, even if it doesn't look that way.

So, what to expect from this chapter? Mix all of what I've said up to this point and then add an unexpected visitor. And no, when I said last chapter that the visitor wouldn't make Natsu very happy, I wasn't talking about Loke.

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

"A Favor"

Chapter 9:

Three months later…

Natsu was in his favorite guild in Earthland. He was sitting on a stool next to Mira's bar, his back towards it, resting his arms on the counter to keep him in an upright position. He was currently trying to relax and enjoy some of his friends' craziness. Who knew fixing a house would turn up to be such a hard endeavor? He had built an extra room in his shack a few months back after realizing that, as exciting as having his way with Lucy in his hammock sounded, it wasn't really all that practical. Especially, since he couldn't hold the girl close to him like he wanted and had to worry about finding some sort of cover in case Happy came rushing into the place.

For once, the fire dragon-slayer had gained some sort of understanding of what the word "privacy" meant. However, it hadn't been the thought of him being exposed for the world to see what had driven him to build a separate room. No, it had been the notion that other men could get a glimpse of Lucy in such a state what had rushed him out of his house one morning determined to set stone over stone until he had a closed room just for the two of them. It had been one of the best decisions he had made in his life, as he found out a week after finishing the room and having Gray break into his house to get him ready for a last minute mission with the team. If the freaking stripping iced pervert had seen any of Lucy's precious curves, Natsu wouldn't have hesitated in blinding the fool. Hey, some ancient cultures believed blindness struck those who had seen forbidden things, so his violent impulses weren't that crazy, right? They had some solid base on some ancient tradition and that was enough to convince Natsu that he wasn't entirely out of line with this train of thought. Besides, he was a dragon-slayer with ancient dragon traditions; as far as he was concerned, it made perfect sense.

Speaking of the droopy-eyed Icicle, the poor guy had really had it bad that day when he and Gajeel came bearing news – and, in his case, murderous gifts. After he had fled from Fairy Tail with Erza hot on his tracks, Gray wasn't seen in Fairy Tail for over six days. Apparently, after beating him to an inch of his life and yelling some profanities-filled speech, which nobody in the guild knew exactly what it had consisted of, the Requip mage had had enough sense (or pity) to drag Gray's unconscious body to the best healer in Fiore – also known as the human-hating Porlyusica – to take care of his wounds.

The ice mage had been out of commission for five whole days and not even Juvia had been allowed to visit him. Gray returned to Fairy Tail a week later having developed a particular aversion to cake and any other spongy, sugary treats. However, after that day, things had been good for the ice mage; his relationship with the overzealous water mage was progressing and they seemed happy, work was good and profitable – considering Natsu had been extra careful to not cause unnecessary destruction –, Erza had long ago stopped giving him ugly scowls and menacing glares, and, just last month, he had had the pleasure of beating Lyon on a one-on-one magic duel the two of them had set up for no particular reason whatsoever.

As for Gajeel, after claiming Levy that day and pissing off Mira, he had decided to stay home and away from the guild for safe measure for a grand period of two days. He had begun to understand the way the white-haired barmaid's mind worked, so he had decided to give the woman some more space to cool off. The day he had come back, he had walked straight up to her and told her to get it over with so they could start on a new page. Most of Fairy Tail had been surprised by the iron mage's direct approach, but not Natsu. He knew the black-haired mage always dealt with his problems head on, and his enmity with Mira was no exception.

It was safe to say Gajeel got a pretty bad beating that day, but the Take-over mage hadn't been as rough as she could've been with him. Still, that rainbowed black eye had come back with a vengeance. The multicolored bruise had stayed on his face for almost two weeks; regardless of how many ointments the pink-haired healer had given him after a full day of pleading by the blue-haired script mage. In a way, Mirajane had gained a new form of respect for the iron dragon-slayer for having him approach her and confront her face to face. After that last clash between them, the two mages seemed to have reached a new sort of understanding between them, and things had been pretty calmed at Fairy Tail.

The fire dragon-slayer sighed as he went over his current situation. Construction on the new house was almost done, but, man, had it been problematic! What had started as a simple expansion, had ended up turning into a full-out plan to build a whole new house. Once the sketches for Lucy's library had been completed, the blond had suggested adding a special room to keep all of Natsu's memorabilia from his past missions. Then, came Happy's room, which was designed to accommodate his future family, and so it was built in a cornered area of the house to give the blue cat his own privacy. Next, a bigger kitchen (to which he, clearly, had no complains), a larger common room, a small study for Lucy, and two more rooms, each with its own bathroom. Finally, and on this the fire mage had insisted, a larger bedroom for the two of them with two glass windows going from floor to ceiling and extending from one end to the other so they could watch the sunset every afternoon. He liked the fiery oranges, yellows, and pinks of the sun at that time, it reminded him of his own magic.

Since Natsu had been dwelling in his own thoughts, he failed to notice the iron dragon-slayer taking a seat next to him, "Morning, Salamander." The pink-haired man startled a little and then turned to look at his guildmate, "Oh, morning, Metal-face. Where did you just come from?" Gajeel stared at him for a second before replying, "I just came out of a meeting with the old geezer. He's not too happy with me right now." Natsu laughed at the expected response, "Finally had enough of you, huh?"

Gajeel smirked back, "It's not like he's happy with you either, Fire-breath. You've pretty much burned down ten jewelry shops around Fiore and intimidated dozens of jewelers, of which three had to be committed to institutions for days of therapy."

The pink-haired dragon-slayer stopped his laughing, putting on as serious an expression as he could muster and said, "Well, that's not my fault. The second Lucy told me what she loved most about our ring was that it was unique and that it belonged to us, I was left with no other choice but to make sure it stayed that way. I have to say those stupid journalists from Sorcerer Weekly are the real pain in the ass."

To Natsu's aggravation, the gossip magazine had surprised-visited Fairy Tail last month and found out about the pledge between him and Lucy. Aside from publishing the news in their latest issue with a cover of the two mages, the reporter had taken a picture of Lucy's ring with a magical camera that made a perfect three-dimensional representation of the ring. Women around Fiore had raved about the piece of jewelry and rushed to shops to buy their own, so jewelers had wasted no time in trying to replicate the ring. Therefore, forcing the fire dragon-slayer on a series of unofficial excursions around the country to correct the situation.

Most jewelers were smart and had desisted from making the ring the second the fire mage had shown up at their stores' doors fulminating people with just his glare. Others, however, weren't that wise, and had needed more persuasion; and that's where the burning down of their establishments and scaring the shit out of them had come into play. It was understandable that Makarov was pissed about Natsu's behavior, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. If you asked him, it was the magazine's entire fault for butting in where they weren't welcomed. Going on those trips was a major headache, too, since he had to ride an accursed train from hell most of the time and Lucy refused to comfort him on his return. It was obvious she didn't approve of his methods, even if she was sympathetic to his cause.

To make things worse for the pink-haired mage, Makarov was pretty annoyed with the other dragon-slayer's behavior as well. For the past three months, Fairy Tail had gotten complains about the iron mage intimidating any male that had the misfortune of crossing Levy's path. Gajeel had seriously taken things to a whole new level, to a point where men ran away from the blue-haired script mage to avoid getting a visit from her possessive and violent mate later. This clearly didn't sit well with the bluenette either, since employees from the opposite sex refused to acknowledge her and she ended up having a very hard time going to the library, bookshops, or plain coffeehouses and restaurants.

The iron mage, however, continued his terrorization of Magnolia. At least, people weren't severely injured, most were just verbally threatened – unless the poor soul in question had actually really tried to flirt or touch Levy inappropriately, then he was sure to see what metal hell looked like. The pierced idiot seemed to have more sense than deciding to put half of Magnolia in the hospital, and Natsu suspected there had to be another reason why the iron dragon-slayer behaved that way.

"You know, Metal-head, you're one to talk. You have half of Magnolia's population fearing for their lives," Natsu finally answered. Gajeel stared at him momentarily and smirked, "Well, just like you said about your own little private missions, I can't help it. You see, whenever one of those clerks refuses to help her, the Shrimp comes rushing to my place fuming, glaring daggers, and screaming all sorts of profanities at me. And, between you and I, there's nothing more arousing than a pissed off Levy."

The fire mage turned to look at the black-haired mage, now thoroughly amused by their conversation, "So, you do all that to provoke her?" Gajeel nodded arrogantly, "Best thing about it is she actually knows why I do it, but she still can't bring herself to react any other way." Natsu guffawed, "Damn, you're sick, you know that, right?" The iron dragon-slayer laughed pleasurably as well, "Not more than you, Pinkie, you think I haven't noticed how much that 'possessive Lucy' turns you on?" The fire mage looked at him raising a quizzical eyebrow, but didn't say anything back, and instead both males continued laughing for a long time.

Once the dragon-slayers were forced to stop laughing for lack of air, the black-haired man said, "So, anyways, where's the Bunny Girl?" Natsu breathed deeply before answering, "She needed to go pick up some stuff at this store for the house. She should be here any minute now."

As if on cue, Fairy Tail's doors opened wide and in came the blond stellar mage followed by another blond man yelling his trademark "Cool~!" behind her. The fire mage scowled, Fuck my life, there's that annoying reporter again! And why the fuck is he so close to Lucy?

Gajeel seemed to notice the fire mage tensing at the appearance of the Sorcerer Weekly's reporter, "Calm down, Fire-breath. Remember what happened last time you lost your cool." Right after he had finished speaking, the iron mage regretted using the word "cool." He just hoped the pink-haired mage managed to control himself; nobody wanted a repeat of what had been happening to Loke for a few weeks now. At least, Leo had the luck of being a celestial spirit and being able to retreat to his own world to heal up and get out of the fire dragon-slayer's sight, the ignorant poor bastard who had just come in trailing Lucy way too closely for either the fire or the iron dragon-slayer's comfort didn't have any such advantage.

Natsu's scowl was somewhat replaced by an evil smirk as he remembered the nice little number he had made on Loke a few times already. The first time had been around six weeks ago, his team had just returned from a job posted by a particularly perverted old man who had tried to grope Lucy, Erza, and Wendy at any chance he got. Needless to say, the fire mage had not been in his best mood, and, just about ten minutes into the guild, Loke had made one of his unsolicited appearances. The spirit had wasted no time in pulling Lucy into a hug and giving one of his familiarly corny lines, "My princess, I felt your distress and came out just in time to save you!" Lucy had given him an annoyed look and, as far as Natsu was concerned, she was about to tell him to piss off, before the dragon-slayer had decided to speak first. "Let go of my mate, perverted cat spirit!"

Loke had never stopped being particularly affective with the stellar mage, despite of him knowing about Lucy and Natsu's relationship. The issue had always bothered the fire mage, and that day, Leo had just failed to notice how upset Natsu really was. So, instead of actually backing off and leaving the blond alone to go harass some other (unlucky) female, he had chosen to further annoy the fire mage by tightening his hold of Lucy and smirking tauntingly back at the pink-haired man. Natsu hadn't even bothered to say anything else aside from his original threat; and, after noticing the celestial spirit had disregarded his warning, he had lightened his hands up and singed Leo's hair – all of it.

In five seconds flat, the proud mane of the lion constellation had been burned off completely and the one now smirking evilly was the fire mage. Leo was so shocked he hadn't even spoken and was just standing there, agape, and utterly surprised. "I'm not telling you again, you don't get to touch my mate like that. Got it?" Natsu had said, just before the celestial spirit had started to touch his now bald head and started tearing up. "My hair! My pride!" the spirit had screamed as he disappeared with a poof on his way back to the spirit world.

The second time Natsu had burned Loke's hair off happened two weeks after the first incident. The celestial spirit had opened his own gate yet again and knelt down before Lucy, grabbing her right hand and kissing it, "My princess!" Natsu had been standing right next to Lucy, and he was particularly annoyed since he had just seen the latest Sorcerer Weekly issue with that picture of Lucy's ring. Not really in the mood to deal with the flirtatious spirit, he had turned to scowl at the blond male and said menacingly, "She's not your princess. She's my mate."

Once again, Loke had made the poor decision to provoke the fire mage and had responded with a "But she is my master!" and giving him a devious smirk. The dragon-slayer had only stared back at the spirit and without another word of warning, he had brought both his "fired up" hands up and incinerated all the blond strands in Leo's head. "Not this again!" Loke had yelled furiously. Natsu had just smirked knowingly back at him, "I told you, already. Stop provoking me, stupid lion, and stay the fuck away from my mate!" Leo had squinted angrily at the dragon-slayer before disappearing again as fast as he could. The Spirit King forbid some beautiful woman saw him hairless! He couldn't live with that, no fucking way in hell.

The third and last time Natsu had had the pleasure of injuring Leo's vanity had been just three days ago. On this occasion, Natsu had just returned from one of his extracurricular activities to prevent the replication of Lucy's ring. The jeweler had been one of those stupid ones who didn't seem to understand things the easy way, so the fire mage had had to turn to some "persuasion techniques." To make matters worse, he had just taken a two-hour train ride each way, and, once he had returned to Magnolia, he had had to put up with another of Makarov's lectures.

Understandably, the dragon-slayer hadn't been in the best of moods, so when the celestial spirit had made his appearance, Natsu had already burned the spirit's mane before he had had the time to finish yelling Lucy's name with that particularly annoying tone of his. Leo had then given the fire mage an angry look, "What the fuck was that for?" The pink-haired man had just nonchalantly replied, "You can call it preventive measures. Besides, I had a pretty bad day, perverted cat. You can blame the Icicle for not being here for your charred hair. Why don't you go get your beauty sleep and let me enjoy my time with my mate?" Clearly, Loke had been beyond pissed and was about to give Natsu one of his Regulus punches before Lucy had force closed his gate and sent him back to the spirit world. "Men and their male-egos," being the only thing she had said.

So, here he was now, forced to witness the blond reporter from Sorcerer Weekly insinuating himself to his mate. Not going to happen. Not on his watch. Natsu took a deep breath before he stood up and ignored Gajeel's words. "You!" he screamed as loud as he could, pointing an accusatory finger at Jason who continued to invade Lucy's personal space. The male had barely any time to react, and just as he raised his head to address the speaker, a fist collided with his face and sent him flying several feet in the air and onto an unoccupied table, shattering it in the process.

To Natsu's further annoyance, he had just had the misfortune of punching the one person in all of Fiore who considered being hit by the Salamander an honor. As soon as the reporter had regained his senses, he stood up and waving his tight fists up and down in his characteristic way, he yelled "Cool~! I'm not washing my face until I get an imprint of Salamander's fist!" Natsu squinted in anger and his fists tightened. Arg! Asshole! Can't you take a hint when you get one!

As excited as he might have been, Jason wasted no time in running back towards Lucy and continued his inquiry, "So, Lucy, how does it feel to be the much desired girlfriend of Fairy Tail's Salamander? Care to share any intimate details? Isn't it cool to be so wanted? Are you aware that you have hundreds of fans who would do anything for a chance to date you? You are a very attractive woman, been rated as the '#1 mage you'd like to have a fling with,' how does that make you feel? Have you ever considered giving other men a chance and dumping him?" – he turned to acknowledge Natsu for the first time since he had started his bombardment of questions – "No offense" – and then returned his attention to Lucy expectant for answers.

Time seemed to pass slowly for the fire dragon-slayer.

Desired…

Attractive female…

Girlfriend…

Other male competitors…

Wanted...

Intimate details…

Leaving him…

Natsu twitched, he was so beyond any degree of anger he didn't even feel when Lucy wrapped her arm around his and tightened her hold, "What the fuck did you just say?"

Gajeel stretched as he saw Natsu thrust forward and punching the Sorcerer Weekly's reporter. Just seconds later, he felt a familiar presence to his right, "You knew Jason was following Lucy, didn't you?" The iron mage turned slightly to acknowledge the white-haired barmaid, raising his empty liquor glass and shaking it to signal he wanted a refill, "Of course I did. What sort of dragon-slayer would I be if I didn't?"

Mira looked at him mischievously as she poured the alcoholic drink, "You could've warned him." Gajeel smirked as his commonly devious persona emerged, "And miss the entertaining show the Salamander is putting on right now? I don't think so!" The bartender remained calmed and continued her conversation in the same tone, but the smile that appeared on her face betrayed her indifferent demeanor. It was clear she found the entire thing pretty amusing herself. "But there's more to it, isn't it, Gajeel?" she said. The black-haired mage smirked again, "Well, I needed to get the master off my back, and what better way to do that than to have Pinky over there char that idiot of a reporter to a crisp?" Mira returned his smile, pouring some more alcohol into his glass, "That's not very nice, you know?"

The two mages had been too engrossed in their own conversation to notice what had happened after Natsu had sent Jason flying with one of his fire iron fists. However, when they did turn to pay attention at the fire mage's predicamental situation, they managed to hear just about enough to know what to expect from the pink-haired dragon-slayer. Gajeel questioned, "Desired?"

"Hundreds of fans?" Mira said next.

"Dump him?" the iron mage continued.

"Oh my!" was all Mirajane managed to respond.

At about that time, Levy walked casually by and stopped in front of the two mages, "Mira, is your guitar still at the guild?" The white-haired barmaid, nodded, "It is, why?" The script mage ignored her question and turned to the iron dragon-slayer, "Gajeel, you better start singing now, before Natsu incinerates that reporter for real and is probably imprisoned for it." The iron mage fantasized, "Imprisoned?" he said, as a small grin made its way onto his face. "I said now, Gajeel!" Levy countered, successfully bringing him out of his reverie and making him stand up and go search for the musical instrument.

The bluenette sighed; the only thing that would take all of the attention away from Jason at this point was if Gajeel started one of his so-called "bonding musical numbers." She wasn't all that excited about it, but there was no other choice. That blond reporter was the only living being on Earthland who thought her mate's music was like songs from the muses. In her opinion, it was more like songs from sirens – meaning it would drive you insane and procure your death. But if that would distract Jason from Lucy, then she would put up with it.

Lucy was not at all in a good mood. Besides having to put up with the annoying questions from the out-of-line reporter and his flirting, now she had to find a way to calm Natsu down. She only hoped Levy would hurry and take care of things on her end. As far as she was concerned, this wasn't her favorite way of dealing with this sort of situations; but he had asked for her help and she could only oblige. The fire dragon-slayer was seriously pissed off and he was a ticking bomb about to explode, at any second.

The stellar mage squirmed her arm through Natsu's flexed body and grabbed a firm grasp of the arm closest to her. She couldn't blame the fire mage for feeling this way. The reported had truly crossed the line of the inappropriate and he had unawarely committed the four biggest offences against a mated dragon: One, offend a dragon's pride by coming onto his mate; two, challenge a dragon's claim by mentioning competitors for his mate's affection; three, disrespect a dragon's matting by undermining its sense of commitment and prying into its intimacy; and, four, threaten a dragon's and his mate's lives by suggesting one of them would abandon the other.

With her free hand, Lucy pulled her flauve d'étoiles and prepared herself for Levy's signal. It should come any second now. The sooner the better, she thought, Natsu won't hold back much longer. And I'm sure he'll seriously go all out this time. Then she heard it, and her shoulders relaxed. Levy always delivered, she was always there when you needed her.

"Shooby do Bop

The melody of love blue metallic

Duo duo duo

Sha la la"

Gajeel had started singing; and no later than three seconds after the iron mage's appearance on the stage, Jason had redirected his attention to the singer. As expected, he was the only one enjoying the show, "Cool~! Best song ever!"

Lucy wasted no time. As soon as the reporter had taken his eyes off of her, she whipped her whip over her head and wrapped it around the blond male, who, upon feeling constricted by a mysterious magical tool, returned his attention to the stellar mage and her – … Mmm, Salamander looks rather pissed… – boyfriend. "Lucy?" he managed to ask.

The blond mage smiled lightly, "Alright, listen closely, Jason," she began, saying his name with particular disdain, "I'm going to make this as simple as possible." She paused momentarily and then proceeded to call on one of her spirits, "Gemini" she said, and seconds later, the two white creatures appeared murmuring their familiar "Pi~ri, pi~ri." Lucy looked at them, "You know what to do." The twins nodded and moved to touch Jason. "Information retrieval complete," they said in unison a few seconds later.

The stellar mage nodded and returned her gaze to the shocked and immobilized reporter, "This is how things are going to go. You are going to sign to me the rights of that picture you took last month of my ring. Then, you are going to make sure all current issues of the magazine are discontinued and collected. In exchange, I will give you a special interview for the reprinted issue."

Lucy saw the reporter frown. "If you refuse," she continued, "I'll make sure to tell your editor what you really think of him. Plus, I will make sure my mate, here, is informed of all the times you've fantasized about me." At the mention of the word "fantasized" the dragon-slayer tensed further, a reaction the Sorcerer Weekly's reporter didn't fail to notice. "Trust me when I say Natsu Dragneel likes to hunt his prey and he never gives up. He will chase you, and he will find you, and he will make sure you wished you were dead," the stellar mage warned. The fire mage nodded menacingly to corroborate the blond's assertion, still glaring darkly at Jason and too infuriated to speak. "Do you understand what I am saying? Do we have a deal?" Lucy asked.

The reporter shook his head franticly, "Y-y-yes!"

The girl smirked. "Good. Now, all you have to do is sign this paper," she stated, just as Levy appeared next to the blond reporter waving an affidavit and a pen. The blue-haired mage loosened the tight grip on the trapped man and handed him the writing utensil. With a shaky hand, Jason signed the legal document, "There, it's done. Now, release me and let me leave." Lucy smirked, "You know better than to violate the agreement. I expect those magazines out of circulation by tomorrow."

The reporter nodded again, "Yes, Lucy-sama, I'll make sure of it, just keep the Salamander away from me and don't say anything unnecessary to my editor." The blond mage released Jason from her hold, "Very well. You may leave now." Before she had even finished her sentence, the reporter had already rushed out of Fairy Tail, leaving a small trail of dust on his path.

Lucy looked at Levy, "Thanks, Levy-chan. I'll pick up that paper later." The bluenette nodded and went back to the guild's bar to try to make her black-haired mate stop his torturous concert. "I'll see you later, Lu-chan," she said as she walked away, "I have my own problems to attend to."

The stellar mage turned her attention to her mate. Natsu was still fuming with rage and she couldn't blame him. His muscles were flexed and holding him firmly on his spot; his eyes still fixed at the last place the blond reporter had been seen. Lucy pulled on his arm, "Natsu, look at me," she commanded. The fire mage delayed his reaction; it was seriously taking every ounce of his willpower to stay where he was and not run to catch up with the idiotic reporter to teach him a lesson about boundaries. When he finally turned to look at his mate, the girl caressed his cheek with her free hand. She was still holding him tightly with her left. Her soothing touch relaxed him a bit, and he closed his eyes as he leaned onto her hand and let out the long and heavy breath he had been holding.

Lucy let the fire dragon-slayer calm down for a few seconds before speaking again, "Listen to me closely, Natsu. I am never going to leave you, ever. And I don't care about any other man but you. You are my mate for life, Natsu Dragneel. Always and forever." The pink-haired man took a deep breath and opened his eyes. His dark orbs fixed on her brown ones. He moved his own free hand to her neck and caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Always and forever, Lucy," he whispered, and then pulled the blond closer for a kiss. It was a rough and desperate kiss, full of frustrated emotions he could only liberate in this way, or by fighting an opponent to the point of exhaustion. His fingers buried deep in her scalp, and as he freed himself from the stellar mage's hold, he moved his other hand to her lower back and pulled her even closer. He didn't care who was watching; he didn't care what others were saying. All that mattered at that moment was the two of them, together.

The fire mage felt her arms circle around his neck as a light moan escaped her mouth. He barely gave her a second to breathe before he ravished her lips again. His sharp canines nipped her lower lip carelessly; her tongue taunted his as she licked his swollen lip. Both of her hands were playing with his hair now, and his own continued to pull forcefully at the nape of her head. Natsu wasn't entirely sure of how long they stayed like that, letting all of their feelings and emotions bare for the world to see. When he finally broke apart to gather his breathing, he looked at her and murmured again, "Always and forever, Lucy." The stellar mage smiled at him lovingly and nodded. He then lowered his head to peck her lips once more and then turned to the black-haired dragon-slayer who was still sitting on a stool at the guild's stage arguing with his guildmates about how they had no musical taste. "You, Metal-face!" he yelled angrily, "You knew that bastard was following Lucy! You asshole, you could've told me!" The fire mage then launched himself towards Gajeel with lightened fire fists.

The second the fire dragon-slayer had yelled at his fellow slayer, all the mages who had been harassing the black-haired mage at the stage fled the area, knowing perfectly well what was to come. Gajeel had focused his attention on the pink-haired man and smirked deviously back at him, "And miss all the fun? No fucking way!" Mere seconds later, the fire mage was on top of him and ready for a fight. Gajeel had barely had enough time to throw Mira's guitar away from danger – a smart choice to avoid another Sitri bruising. The two dragon-slayers began their fight, rolling on the floor, leaving marks of burned or pierced wood on their path, grunting and yelling incomprehensible words.

Lucy sighed as she watched her mate "communicate" with the black-haired dragon-slayer. It was obvious Natsu was still not entirely over the episode with Jason and needed to vent some more. She made her way towards the bar, where Levy and Mira were sitting and chatting amiably. She approached the script mage and sat next to her, "Thanks for your help, Levy-chan. If you hadn't intervened when you did, I think Natsu might have actually tried to kill that reporter." The bluenette smiled back at her, "No problem, Lu-chan. A deal's a deal. You have that thing for me?" Lucy nodded, but before she could reach her purse, Mira interrupted. "What do you two mean?" she asked, intrigued and confused. Levy responded, "Well, I ran into Lu-chan at the store earlier when she was being followed by Jason. She managed to lose him for a brief moment and ask for my help in exchange of helping me with my own problem."

By now, the barmaid was even more confused, and the little group had been too immersed in their conversation to notice the two dragon-slayers had stop fighting and were now listening attentively. However, before the white-haired mage could ask the two to clarify what they were talking about, an unexpected voice echoed throughout the guildhall. It's lamentation made most of the mages in Fairy Tail wide-eyed and agape.

Not too far away from the three females, the master and his grandson had been exchanging some beer in pleasant conversation ever since Gajeel had left his office earlier that morning. The pleasantness had come to an abrupt end for the old man the second the fire mage had rushed towards the blond reporter and sent him flying in the air. Ah! When is this kid going to learn that not every problem is solved with brute force! Makarov whined.

The master's good day had only gotten worse as it had progressed and ended up completely ruined after Lucy's little stunt. Why me! I will never hear the end of it! The Council will have a field day with this! The short man was currently sobbing, while his grandson tried to awkwardly comfort him by patting him in the back rather forcefully. "Who would've known!" he cried as his hands went flying up in the air dramatically, "If I had known Lucy would end up blackmailing the magazine, I would have never asked her to help me stop Natsu's wave of destruction!" Makarov continued to bawl. "There, there, old man, at least you won't have to pay any more jewels for property damage," Laxus tried to console him.

Mirajane was astonished. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She turned to the blond girl in question with a quizzical look. "Lucy? What does he mean?" she asked. The stellar mage fixed her brown eyes on the older mage's. "Master asked me to deal with Natsu's 'extracurricular activities,' so when I saw that Jason would be here today, I just did what I had to do to make sure that picture never saw the light of day again," she responded plainly, "I had the luck of running into Levy-chan earlier, and asked her for help. She agreed and I told her I would recompense her for her troubles. That's it."

Mira looked at Levy next, "So, when you asked Gajeel to play the guitar…" Levy nodded as she interrupted her, "I was trying to get Jason distracted to give Lu-chan enough time to act." Lucy continued, "I wasn't expecting him to ask the sort of questions he did, but having Natsu so angry definitely ended up working out on our advantage."

The three mages' attention was caught by the fire dragon-slayer's words, still lying on the stage's floor and on top of a too-shocked-to-move Gajeel. "I feel so used!" he stated. The black-haired man looked at him, "Tell me about it!" The two dragon-slayers stood up from the floor after that and made their way to their mates. They gave each other a knowing look as they stepped off the stage, "Punishment, right?" the black-haired man whispered for only his companion to hear. Natsu smirked evilly, "You betcha!" and then gazed at Lucy, who was now staring at him.

The blond gasped. She could recognize that look anywhere. She rapidly grabbed her bag and pulled a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Levy, "That's my end of the bargain, Levy-chan. Hurry up and get out of here before Gajeel can see it!" The bluenette stood up from her stool as fast as she could, but the two dragon-slayers were already next to the blond. Without wasting any time, she pulled her solid script pen and wrote in the air the now familiar "paralyze" that immediately stopped the two men in their tracks. "Sorry boys, but you'll have to stay and be good for a few more minutes," she said as she began to unfold the paper Lucy had just given to her.

Levy smiled deviously; "It is perfect, Lu-chan!" she chimed joyously. The blue-haired mage then turned the paper so that Gajeel could look at it. He squinted in anger and seethed, "Levy~, what are you planning to do with that?" The script mage responded quickly, "Easy Gajeel, since you keep making it impossible for me to have a normal day in Magnolia, I'm going to make a few copies of this precious little thing right here and spread it around town. Wouldn't you say the blue leotard is very becoming? I think it does wonders for your figure."

Oh yes, the petite blue-haired demon had managed to get a hold of one of those paintings Redus had done of him dressed up as Happy. Fuck my life. Apparently, this little stunt would follow him to his death. Stupid Salamander for making him dress that way after he lost that bet. More importantly, that Bunny Girl was seriously in trouble for procuring such picture. If he actually thought about it, it was to be expected. Ever since the day he had called her on her private enjoyment of her mate's shamelessness, he had kept bothering her for what was over three months now. He knew the blond mage would find some form of revenge; it was just a matter of time. Damn it all! This was not going to end well.

"What do you want, Shrimp?" he asked annoyingly, letting a defeatist sigh escape his mouth. He could already guess, and he was not going to like it. "I want you to stop harassing every freaking soul that chooses to talk to me Gajeel! Either you stop, or I plaster this little image of you all over Magnolia. Your choice," the girl replied swiftly. The black-haired mage sighed one more time, "Okay, Levy, you win," he simply said.

Moments after he had spoken, the iron dragon-slayer turned to his left as the boisterous laugh of the pink-haired mage reached his ears. "Stay out of this, Salamander, or I swear I will make you pay for it," he warned. The fire mage stared at him, "I can't help it! It's too fucking funny, Metal-head. Blue really is your color. Besides, I think those fluffy ears and tail compliment you perfectly. I'm sure Erza would agree." Somewhere behind him, Gajeel heard the redhead mage confirm Natsu's statement. Of course she would agree! Those fucking ears and tail were hers to begin with!

A few seconds later, Natsu took a deep breath and spoke again, "Fine, fine. You win. Just," he paused as his expression changed from innocently amused to cockily dangerous, "If you need help punishing both girls, let me know. I'll be glad to help."

The iron mage smirked evilly, "Gi hee, you're on."

Both Levy's and Lucy's eyes widened after the fire dragon-slayer's statement. The stellar mage stood up from her seat and looked at her friend, "How much longer until they're free?" she asked. The bluenette turned towards her, "Not sure. I think it'd be better if…" Lucy nodded, "Run!" With nothing else said, the two women grabbed their stuff and sprinted out of the guild as fast as they could. "Where to?" Levy asked. "The train station!" the blond yelled back, "We have to make it into a moving vehicle. Hurry!" And off they went, disappearing from everyone's sight in an instant.

The white-haired mage turned to look at the still immobilized dragon-slayers amusedly, "So, are you going to go after them?" The fire and iron mages smirked deviously back at her. "You can count on it," Natsu replied, as Gjeel nodded his agreement and his expression darkened. Out of nowhere, two flying hairballs appeared in front of them.

Standing on the bar's counter, Happy gave a knowing look at his foster father, "Would you two want a ride to the train station?" Lily, who was standing right next to the blue Exceed and smirking dangerously, nodded, "I bet we can get you on board even if the train has already left Magnolia's station." Finally, waiting for the right time, the blue-haired dragon-slayer approached her older guildmates, "I can cast Troia on you before you leave."

Natsu and Gajeel turned their attention towards Wendy. The girl was giving them an amused and playful look. Happy was right when he said to watch out for this one, the pink-haired mage reasoned. "What do you want in exchange, Pipsqueak?" the iron mage asked. He was no fool. It was only a matter of time before little Wendy grew up and started acting like one of them. The sky dragon-slayer side grinned, "Let's just say you'll owe me a favor in return." The older mages gasped surprised, realizing their little dragon sister had been listening into their conversations for a really long time. Damn those hyper senses; from now on, they'd have to be more careful about half of what they told one another. It was not because they were afraid Wendy was too innocent to understand what they were saying; it was precisely because they both knew the opposite was in fact the case. Last thing either dragon-slayer wanted was to start giving the younger girl ideas about her own mating. Oh no, when that time came around, they'd be sure to make the poor sucker go through all the different rings of hell and back before even letting him touch her. Those would be good times to look forward to.

Natsu smirked at the younger dragon-slayer, "You've been pretty busy, haven't you Wendy?" Said girl giggled, "You could say that Natsu-san. So, do we have a deal?" Both male dragon slayers nodded. Wendy still had at least another two years before she started to seriously consider finding a mate. They knew the girl would hold that favor for as long as she needed to, and they would honor their promise when the time came. But for now, the blue-haired mage was offering them the chance to have unprecedented fun with their mates, and they'd be idiots if they denied themselves the pleasure of doing so. Who wouldn't want to chase his mate around a moving train? It was like a game of cat and mouse where the one doing the chasing was bound to win, and that so happened to be them.

"You've got yourself a deal," the iron mage said first, followed by a nod from Natsu and his own verbal confirmation, "Deal." Levy's enchantment broke a few minutes later. Gajeel turned to look at Natsu, "Ready, Salamander?" The pink-haired mage smirked evilly and nodded. Gajeel smirked back, he knew teaming up with the fire-breathing Salamander would result in unprecedented heaps of fun. Wendy then casted her spell on both males, and the two Exceeds extended their wings and grabbed a hold of each mage. "Later!" Natsu said, as he and Happy set flight; "Don't wait up kids," Gajeel added.

The four figures disappeared through Fairy Tail's doors, leaving the rest of their guildmates shocked, amused, or bewildered. Only Mira had been close enough to listen to the exchange of words between the three dragon-slayers. However, mages like Gray, Erza, and Juvia were close enough to their friends to know what to expect from the two dragon-slayers. They wouldn't be seeing those two or their mates for a few days. Other members were still trying to assimilate this new version of an evil Lucy, while the rest were too shocked to see the still depressed form of their master crying his heart out on top of the bar's counter, his body curled in fetal position with an uncomfortable Laxus trying to alleviate him. There was never a "normal" day at Fairy Tail – That much, they could all agree on.

So, how was it? Please do let me know what you thought of this chapter. And I hope you all enjoyed my little "treats."

Next chapter, Mmmm... I'd say this story still needs a nice fluffy closing. ;)