BlackLynx17: There's this vocaloids song by JubyPhonic, I think it's called Click Crack? And it's a circus song! About two kids who never want to grow old, and I listen to it a lot when I'm editing this story because I don't know, it gives me inspiration. It's really good though, and if any of you are interested you should really check it out. Thanks for reviews!
"You know what's a girl to think if you ignore her right after she kisses you?"
I blush and stiffen up, peeking behind my shoulder seeing Wendy standing behind me with her arms over my chest. Is that a pout on her face right now? Is she mad at me?
"Hi Wendy, when did you get here?" I ask.
"I was always here Doranbolt, you just never seemed to notice me since you're all buddy buddy with your new best friend apparently." Wendy huffs.
"Now I wouldn't say new since we were best friends in the past." I tell her.
"Whatever," she huffs again turning her head away from me.
Is she mad? I don't know, I've never dealt with girls like her before. I mean, I've never had a girlfriend, but I've heard enough from my friends to know when a girl doesn't say she's mad, but talks mad, that usually means she's mad.
"Are you mad?" I ask.
Wendy lets out a loud "HA" at me and rolls her eyes.
"No I'm not mad, far from it. I'm actually on the more hurt card." She tells me.
I blink, "I'm sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" She asks turning towards me.
"For hurting you."
Wendy blinks at me then starts laughing out loud hard, "you- you- you are such a LOSER! MY GOD DORANBOLT!"
I've taken her abuse before, but this finally struck a nerve.
"STOP CALLING ME A LOSER JUST BECAUSE I HAVE NO EXPEREINCE WITH WOMEN! THERE'S MORE TO ME THAN THAT!" I yell at her.
Wendy gasps a little, her laughter coming to a stop as she stares wide eyed at me. Is she surprised at my outburst? I know I am. She blinks before a small smile appears on her face.
"I know that." She smiles at me.
"Then why do you constantly tease me?" I asks with a frown.
"Because you're cute to tease." She giggles.
I sigh and roll my eyes, scratching the back of my head, "I'm sorry for ignoring you. I just haven't seen Jellal- Mystogun in such a long time and last night he promised we could talk and that's all I wanted to do today and- sorry." I sigh out.
"I was teasing before too Doranbolt, I know how happy you must feel to know your friend is alive. You could have just stopped by and said hi to me though, you were my friend first. I found you." Wendy pouts with her bottom lip sticking out cutely.
I smile a little bit, "how about I make it up to you? Dumplings? On me?" I ask her.
Her eyes sparkle, "really?!"
"Yeah, we can sneak away right now if you want."
"Deal! Yes! Can we go to the place before?! Where we first met?! I loved their dumplings!" Wendy begs.
"I thought you didn't think they were the best?" I ask raising an eyebrow.
"Doesn't mean they weren't good!" She says.
"Alright, do you mind changing first though? I'm loving the bright colors and the stripes, but for my reputation... you know what? Never mind, you can go like that. I don't care."
Because for right now, I don't. Everyone knows that I'm hanging out at the circus, everyone knows I'm friends with these people and tried to help them. Everyone is keeping their distance though because they don't know if the circus is to be praised for or not yet; if praised I'm sure everyone will love me again, if not I'm sure I'd hear rumors and get looks, so what did today matter?
"I'm actually going to change, it's a bit cold outside right now and a dress is nothing something you wear while windy. I'll be right back." Wendy says running off before I could say anything.
I sigh and sit down in a nearby chair, waiting nearly fifteen minutes until I hear steps running back towards me. When I look over to see who it is my jaw drops as I see Wendy, normally dressed Wendy, running towards me. She is in a light blue shirt with white lace around her collar and a long pure white skirt with ruffles flowing down it, nothing out of the ordinary or strange standing out at all. Her hair is in two ponytails tied with a blue ribbon and she is actually wearing simple sandals, not huge clown shoes.
"Like what you say? Speechless huh? Didn't think I could look normal now did you?" Wendy giggles.
"You look beautiful." I confess.
Wendy's smirk vanishes and is replaced with a shy smile, her face heating up as she looks the other way.
"I want dumplings!" She pouts.
I smile and chuckle a little bit, holding my hand out for her.
"Let's go get them then."
She looks at me before grabbing my hand, gasping when I teleport us on the outskirts of my town. She looks around and smiles at me, grinning widely.
"Was that you-"
I cover her mouth and she glares lightly before pulling it away, "cool Doranbolt."
"Come on, let's go." I say dragging her away.
"So this is the town you grew up in, pretty nice and rich looking. I bet everyone here is snooty, huh? But then again you weren't snooty, you were actually a push over, so I guess everyone here are push overs too, huh?" Wendy asks in a fit of giggles.
I poke her ribs making her jump, "hey, I'm not a push over."
"Sure, joining the circus, helping us out in trouble, even performing, you did all those things on your own free will and not because I was there pushing you."
"Nope." I grin at her.
Wendy starts giggling behind her hand and stares up at me, "whatever you say Doranbolt."
I go back to her previous observation, "a little snooty, yes, but mostly everyone here is really kind and friendly. No one ever leaves Era, so these families have known each other for generations; it's one of those towns. The reason why some of us are snooty though and stuck up is because we have the best school in the country and have the highest rate of council members; that sort of gives us the right to be snooty and stuck up," I chuckle a little bit.
"No kidding, but you're not like that and you're super smart, right? I think? Um... wow, I don't really know a lot about your real, non-circus life." Wendy tells me.
"And I hardly know about your real, non-circus life and circus life."
"And yet we're still best friends, isn't that amazing? So Doranbolt, I believe this trip calls for some questions and answers. I'll go first and then we can take turns, so Doranbolt Gryder. What's your family? What are they like? What do they do? Any brothers or sisters?"
"That's a lot of questions Wendy."
"No it isn't, all those questions can be answered in what's your family? I'm looking for those questions to be answered in that question I just asked," she says stubbornly.
I chuckle a little, "well my family consists of me, my mother and father. My father is a councilmen,"
"Of course," she interrupts.
"And my mother is a hairdresser. She loves cooking and sewing and all that wife stuff while my father is very mello, not really stubborn with me since I always make the right decisions and haven't let him down yet. They're both pretty much let me be as long as I keep my act together." I explain to her.
"Oh, they sound like nice parents, and before you ask, I don't have any parents. Both of them died when I was seven and that's when I was sent to live with my auntie, but people didn't like me very much there. They always teased me because of my magic, but pretty soon Fairy Tail came to town and I met everyone else and the old Master, he was such a kind old man, and they asked me to join. My Auntie, she told me no, but I ran away anyway and slowly she forgave me. I still keep in touch with her now and go back to that town for performances."
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Wendy," I whisper lightly.
"No, I'm all over it now! Fairy Tail taught me not to hate my magic, but to love and embrace it because it's who I am! I mean, look at all the wonderful things I can do with it! I can save lives and entertain people at the same time, now who else can say that?" She smiles brightly at me.
I squeeze her hand and smile back fondly, "your turn."
"School life! I've never been to school before, what's it like? How does it work? How popular are you really? Because you acted all girly when we first kiss so I'm wondering if you've ever kissed a girl before?"
"Again, that's like eight questions."
"Again, I want all those questions to be answered about school life."
"Well school here in Era is just... school. How it works? From grades 1-12 you go to school, but different buildings every four to five years. It's like working basically? You know how you wake up? Practice your performances? Then at the big night show them to the crowd? It's like that. We wake up, go to school and learn all these things, then at finals, or the big night, we show up and remember all these things and get to go onto the next grade. It's pretty fun, I was mildly popular, but only hung out with a few of my friends because I only liked a few of them. This is my last year and I'm already practically done and when you graduate you get to go out into the working world and... no, I've never had a girl before, but I wasn't worried because... because I was pretty sure I was going to meet one through my new job, date for a while, propose and we were going to get married and just be happy." I shrug.
"It sounds like your whole life has been laid out for you Doranbolt." Wendy say quietly.
"It has, from the first grade I've seen this rode ahead of me. I've known my future since I was old enough to walk and talk."
Things get depressing and I don't know if it is my fault or not. Wendy stops talking and so do I, but the good news is that the dumpling store isn't too far away from here.
"So even after meeting us, are you still going to return to that set life?"
I blink and stop walking, "huh?"
"You don't have to, you know. I know what expectations feel like, I know what it feels like to have everything laid out for you. We have a choice though. I choose freedom so I ran, you can choose that too Doranbolt. Isn't that why you came in the first place? And keep coming back? To experience this freedom?" Wendy asks me.
"You-you can't be serious." I stutter.
"Everyone is expecting it, I'm just the first one who's voicing it. Come with us when we go Doranbolt, come join Fairy Tail."
Join Fairy Tail? Join the circus? And blow off everything I've learned, everything I've been taught since I was a child? And for what? Freedom? A chance to explore the world? Meet new people?! See new things? Find out just what other mages are like out there in the world?!
"I-I-I don't know." I tell her, shaking my head.
"I just wanted to be the first to ask Doranbolt, it's okay not to know. Come on, I'm really started to get hungry." Wendy grins pulling me ahead.
Me join a circus; the first Gryder to ever join a circus. I would disappoint my family, my friends, I would probably never be allowed back here. I'm not seriously thinking about this, I'm about to go do this... Jellal did it though, and he seems very happy right now. He's told me about his journeys, his life, and I was envious of a little of it. Envious, not that I wanted to actually go out and ruin my career and reputation to actually do it!
"Doranbolt! Doranbolt! How many dumplings do you want? Because they have a special on a dozen, but I can probably only eat four or five of those?" Wendy asks me.
"Get the dozen, I'll pay." I mumble getting out my wallet
Wendy is suddenly standing right in front of me, blinking as she looks at me in the eyes.
"Doranbolt? What's wrong?"
She is really beautiful when she doesn't look like a clown, but at the same time really beautiful when she does. I smile lightly at Wendy and decide to think about this all another time, not wanting to ruin our... I guess this would be a date.
"Nothing, did you order already? Hey Kana, how are you this evening? Business the same as usual?" I ask making polite conversation.
"Doranbolt! I haven't seen you in a while, how you've been? Business has been getting a little more speed lately, it's sure to slow down though once school is let out for summer break." Kana smiles at me from the back counter.
I see she is stuffing a rather large bag with dumplings, probably whatever Wendy ordered.
"Well you know all those summer school kids; I'll talk to the principal to see if I can sneak a flier on the gates for students to see and come on down." I chuckle.
"That would be wonderful Doranbolt! I knew you were always my favorite customer," she starts giggling.
My hand gets tugged at and I look down at Wendy, who is pouting slightly staring up at me.
"Aw, who is this little cutie pie? Don't tell me you finally got yourself a girlfriend? Is this the first date?" Kana teases.
Girlfriend... Wendy, my girlfriend... the thought doesn't exactly make me shiver or hate it. There is nothing wrong with that label at all actually.
"You finally caught me Kana, after years of constant teasing you can't tease me any longer. Meet Wendy, my girlfriend. Wendy this is Kana, the owner of this lovely shop I've been going to practically all my life." I introduce them.
Wendy's pout completely leaves her face as her eyes turn wide and her face really, really red. I hear something drop on the other side and see the clippers Kana had in her hands were gone, her eyes wide too along with her mouth dropped. She starts laughing and I start laughing, letting go of Wendy's hand for a quick second as I pull out my money.
"Here Kana, keep the change. It was nice seeing you again." I say putting my wallet back up.
"Thanks Doranbolt! Don't be a stranger and certainly bring your girlfriend along more! It was very nice meeting you Wendy, wow you're so cute. Enjoy you two." She waves us off after she hands me our bag of dumplings.
I grab Wendy's hand and start walking us off again, planning to head over to the plaza where the fountain is to seat down and eat. They have chairs there for locals and it would be a nice place to eat dumplings at rather than standing up and walking around. Wendy is still frozen, I wonder if she didn't like my statement? Or is probably wondering if it was joking or not? Was it a joke? This girl has stolen plenty of my first kisses, she's let me spend the night over and sleep in her bed, I've hung out with her more than anyone else in the circus and I do like her.
I do like Wendy, very much. Is that a love like though? I can't say if I love her or not... I do care for her though, and saying she is my girlfriend... I don't exactly hate the sound of that.
"If you don't hurry they're going to get cold." I say digging into the bag once we are seated down in our chairs.
"You surprise me Doranbolt, constantly." Wendy says, blinking back into life.
She snatches the dumpling out of my hand, that I knew she was going to do, so I reach in the bag and grab another one.
"So, girlfriend, I could do better." She giggles at me.
"Excuse me? How many guys can say they're apart of the circus and council? Huh? Huh? I think not." I tease her a little.
"Hey! I'm supposed to be the teasing one in this relationship! If this is even a relationship! Doranbolt... how serious are you being right now?" Wendy asks, tilting her head as she took a bit out of her dumpling.
"Extremely Wendy." I tell her doing the same.
"You know I'm leaving in two weeks, right?"
"We can write letters."
"You want to have a long-distance relationship with me?"
"I don't know Wendy."
"Well know because if you're serious about this... I'll be serious too. But if you're looking for some quick fling tell me so I won't get hurt later when I come back and hear you're married with your council girlfriend or whatever," she mumbles rolling her eyes.
She sounds a little jealous, which would be weird since that would mean... it would only be weird if... if she...
"Do you actually like me?" I ask, a little surprised.
Wendy snorts.
"Did you actually start liking me? Is that why- the kisses-the the kiss- really?!"
"I know, you're a loser... but you're a sweet and funny loser and... yeah Doranbolt, I really ended up liking you." Wendy smiles lightly, staring at her hands, "so I teased and picked on you a lot, but not too much because I knew this was going to end. I didn't want it to hurt so much when we parted ways, but still I ended up having these feelings. I don't think there was ever a way to prevent it from hurting at all."
"Was that why you invited me to join Fairy Tail?"
"Oh no, Fairy Tail needs you! We all wanted you to join Doranbolt, not only me, and having you join along just as a friend still would have made me happy. We all really like you Doranbolt, you're a really good person we would be proud to call our friend." Wendy praises me.
I smile lightly, "thanks."
"Well it's the truth! The short times your not being a loser you're actually pretty cool Doranbolt, pretty cool." Wendy nods her head reaching for another dumpling.
"So back to us, um... well... how would it work exactly? The long distance thing?"
"I wouldn't leave the circus for you, just like you wouldn't leave the council for me, and I don't think either of us would ask each other do even do such a thing. It would just be visits really. Mainly me to you because Mystogun's told me about how wonderful and a privilege it is to work at the council; I've been asking him a lot of things about Era since meeting you, and I wouldn't want you to give that up Doranbolt. So you know I would visit once or twice a month for a week maybe, probably with some friends too until we left the country. Then we could write to each other, a year later when we come back we would see each other for a full month and you know, just be together."
"And how long would that last us?"
"I don't know. Honestly I'm getting all this stuff from how past relationships worked in Fairy Tail and usually, after the year is up, those people who were left behind decide to come and join the circus, some even chasing after us to join. I know I wouldn't be able to expect that for you... now that we're talking about this I don't really know how this might work. Maybe it won't..."
"You wouldn't leave the circus?"
"I've never imagined it; maybe if we fell deeply in love enough I would, but at the same time sitting at home here, like all the other housewives here, stuck in this town with no where to go where all my friends, my family is out there traveling the world, seeing everything there is out there... I wouldn't be able to stay here. I can't settle down, I like moving from place to place, sort of like the wind. I go where it takes me." Wendy smiles, lifting her hand into the air.
I feel a small gust of wind run past us and shiver.
"So this couldn't work out?"
"I guess it couldn't."
I silently eat my dumpling and Wendy huffs, a small pout appearing on her face.
"Well this sucks."
I don't know why, but I find her saying that very funny and start laughing to myself. Wendy looks over at me and smiles, small giggles coming out of her lips as we laugh together.
"I really like you, I really do Doranbolt." She tells me.
"Then we can try and who knows? Maybe in a year I won't be able to live without you and join and maybe in a year you'll find out that you can settle down here and stay."
"I wouldn't be able to do that in a town that hates mages." Wendy tells me, "but," her voice gets lighter, "but who knows? Maybe?"
"I'd move. I'll move. I was starting to think the same thing and there's this little town called Magnolia located out of Era; I could commute back and forth. It's no more than two hours away by train." I tell her.
"Magnolia? Strange, I've never heard of that town before."
"Neither have I, I mean I know of it, but I've never really seen it or been there before. I've read about it a couple of times in my travel books."
"If you're really serious about this Doranbolt then on my first week visit, let's go. Let's go to Magnolia and see the town."
I blink and nod my head, "sure, it's a promise."
Wendy stares at me with a small pout, "you better not stand me up or pretend you don't know me when I come back."
"Of course I wouldn't do that Wendy! I- I-..." my face turns red, "I like you too."
She starts smiling at me widely, "I think that's the first time I've heard you confess to liking me."
"Well it's true." I mumble.
"And telling Kana I was your girlfriend! Oh my goodness that was the real shocker Doranbolt! I had no idea you were going to do that, ahahahaha!" Wendy laughs at me.
"Wendy!" I yell, feeling more and more embarrassed.
"Excuse me sir, but are you Doranbolt Gryder?"
I flinch and turn around, seeing a council member walking up beside me dressed up in the robes. I stand up straight and nod my head.
"Yes I am, how can I help you?" I ask with a polite smile.
"Oh, nothing like that, I just have this delivery for you. It was a good thing I ran into you here, you might have not been at home." The council member smiles handing it to me, "well goodbye."
"Thanks!" I calls out to him, my eyes on the letter.
"Doranbolt? What is it?"
It has the council's official seal on it, "I don't really know," I tell her turning it around.
I start opening it and pull the letter out, scanning through the words that are on it. My hands shakes and I look up at Wendy, a smile appearing on my face.
"They've accepted you! They want to give you a chance of accepting you here to Era! Wendy you did it!" I cheer.
"Oh my God! Are you serious?!" Wendy screams jumping up.
"Yeah, they want you to preform for some guests that'll be coming in... two days, wow that's not a lot of time, but if the guests are impressed they want to welcome you back into Era as their guest! You did Wendy!"
"What are you talking about me? You did it Mest! We did it! Oh my God this is such good news! We have to go tell everybody about this!"
"What? Now? But what about our date-"
"Screw our date Doranbolt! We have to tell everyone about this now! Right now! They'll be plenty of time for eating dumplings later! Let's go!" She screams jumping out of chair.
I sigh out and grab the bag, walking after her run until she turns back around and sees me about a block behind her. With a wave of her hand I'm pushed forward by a gust of wind and fall down on the ground right in front of her.
"Wendy! What the he-"
She cuts me off with a sweet kiss, "stop pouting, I'll invite you on another date after we blow the socks off for the council. I'll kiss you whenever you want me to though between then."
My face turns red so fast I have no control over it at all and Wendy starts laughing at me as she waves her hand and makes the winds pick me up.
"You're so cute Doranbolt it's so adorable. Come on, you're apart of this too now." She says grabbing my hand.
I am apart of this. There's no denying, no saying no to whether or not I'm Fairy Tail because I've committed myself to this. The crazy and strange thing about finally accepting this though is that it doesn't really matter. It doesn't change who I am, what I can do, what my abilities are and who my allegiance is to. If anything it just makes me a better and more interesting man.
It's makes me even closer than I am right now to Wendy, and that's something I love.