Chapter 2

"Wow, you made that pretty quickly didn't you? And it looks so good! Mind if I take a bite?" After placing a bright, pink rose next to a tower of three pink macarons, I glared at Loke who was hovering over my shoulders with a hungry expression.

"Can you call for one of the maids instead of letting your saliva contaminate our kitchen?" With his arm, he slowly wiped his lips as the ends of his mouth contoured upwards.

"Well aren't you so demanding?" The chef steadily made his way to the entrance and made some sort of gesture outside the kitchen. When he held the door open for Lisanna to enter, I held up the dish for her to take to our VIP quest but when she widened her eyes, I instantly remembered that I haven't made this specific pastry in months.

"You made your infamous rose macaron? I thought you would have made something simple like pistachio or dark chocolate." As she approached, I shook my head and gave a soft smile.

"I didn't feel like making something ordinary today." A small glint appeared in her eyes as she picked up the plate from my hands.

"Now don't go trying to impress our VIP. I did say he's sexy but I'm pretty sure he has a thing for the ladies especially with the way he keeps flirting with Lucy." I momentarily looked behind the maid to see Loke narrowing his eyes at the floor. Quickly turning my attention back to Lisanna, I stared annoyingly at her for the smart comment. When she merely made her way out of the kitchen with a laugh, I shook my head as I looked up at the clock to see it was 19:40. Wait, where the hell is Lyon?

"Loke, can you find out what that idiot sous chef of mine is doing? He's been gone for almost an hour."

"Yeah, sure. Besides, I think I'll have a word or two with his brother." As Loke left the kitchen, I began wiping the stainless steel table with a rag that was soaking in detergent. After removing most of the debris, I scanned the kitchen to see that it wasn't as messy as I thought it would be. Surprising since it was especially busy today. Then again, I'm not working with amateur chefs. I grabbed some of the dirty trays I used earlier and neatly organized them at the three compartment sink.

As I glanced out the window, I felt a bit relaxed when some of the sun's rays basked me in its warmth. I began closing my eyes and thought about my time at Fairy Tail High. I remember being excited, finally able to leave Magnolia and travel the world to learn how to make delicious pastries. I didn't know how and when I became fascinated with being a pastry chef but I think it was around the time I accidentally stopped by a patisserie in senior year. I felt a smile creep up on my face when I remember staring at the pastries behind the glass window with the urge to eat each one. But I couldn't. Each of them were so mesmerizing and it was almost as if someone put their heart and soul into making them.

After about five years, I returned to Magnolia to make a name for myself. Somehow, during that time, I reconnected with some of my old friends like Erza. Despite us arguing over stupid things and calling each other names, I actually consider her as an older sister. Back at Fairy Tail High, she always said she wanted to run her own business but recently, she never had much luck especially when her partners were 'incompetent' as she says. When she wanted to open a patisserie for me, there was no way I could say no! She originally wanted me as the only maitre patissier working but when we became busier, we needed to hire other chefs to support the amount of clients we had. That's how we found Lyon and Loke and surprisingly, Lucy as well when she applied to work as a maid.

"Oh Natsu!" When I heard Lucy's sing-song voice, I refrained from looking annoyed as I turned around to see her. "Our very special guest wants to meet with the chef who made his macaron." My eye twitched as I walked away from the three compartment sink and into the locker room without another word. "Don't act like this!" I continued to ignore her as I took off my white chef jacket and hat. "If you don't come out, Erza will be very upset!" Before I could hang my jacket, I visualized the she-devil strangling me for not greeting her business partner. Oh well. Why should I care? It's not my job to play the game of politics anyway. I hung my jacket on the rack and wore a dark blue t-shirt.

"Natsu!" That was fast. I quickly changed out of my chef pants and into some pink khakis. As I buttoned up my pants, the door slammed open as I ruffled my hair to give it a spiky appearance. "What's taking you so long to come out of the kitchen? Don't keep us waiting!"

"You know I hate dealing with people." I shut the door to my locker and turned around to gaze at Erza's semi-dark expression. "All I do is go out there, smile, listen to them say thank you, and then go about my business. It's so stupid that it's a waste of time."

"Listen, you only have to do it once tonight. Just one last time!"

"You said that when a client wanted to use us for their wedding. And your reason was to 'seal the deal' to bring us at least 1 million Jewels."

"And it did, didn't it?" I blankly stared at her, hoping she understood that she wasn't going to convince me any time soon. "Why are you so stubborn? Especially at a time like this?"

"Am I interrupting something?" When I heard someone's voice, I looked behind Erza to see who was outside the locker room. As he walked closer, my eyes widened as I quickly looked away, pretending to ignore the newcomer. Even though it was a short glimpse, he had spiky black hair, dark blue eyes and was wearing black jeans and a shirt with a white jacket adorned with blue stripes.

"No, of course not Gray!" Glancing over to Erza, she turned around and waved both her hands back and forth. "We were just on our way out." A couple of footsteps echoed behind the raven and when Lyon popped up, I stared at Lucy as she shrugged her shoulders. Is this guy his brother? The so-called investor of our second patisserie?

"Oh there you are Natsu! I was so surprised to see your rose macaron come out of the kitchen that I couldn't resist taking a bite! I finally got to have a taste of it!"

"You do realize that wasn't for you right?" I slowly gave the devil's glare as Lyon nervously laughed.

"It was only one bite I promise! My brother had the pleasure of having everything else right?" He nudged his brother with his elbow and when a small smile formed on his lips, I swore I heard a couple of girls swooning somewhere.

"Yes, it was actually quite exquisite. I'm not a big fan of desserts so I never thought I would fall in love with one." When he made eye contact, I hastily looked away in hopes that he didn't catch me staring. "Lyon told me how the infamous maitre patissier dislikes going into the dining room to speak with his clients. So, I figured I would come into the back and meet with him instead. I hope you don't mind, do you Erza?" I looked back to see Erza shake her head with a pleasant smile.

"Of course not. However, I think it would be best if we returned to the dining room. Right Natsu?" When she glanced at me, I was momentarily taken aback when she pleaded with her eyes instead of using threats and insults. Was this really such a big deal to her? I sighed under my breath in defeat.

"Yeah, sure. Why not." Should have known better than try to win this battle.

"Great! Lyon, can you and the others start closing up the restaurant while we chat for a bit?" The slant-eyed man nodded as we made our way out of the locker room and kitchen. As I examined the front of the house, there were few clients finishing up their desserts. Staring at Lucy, she changed the sign to 'Closed' and locked the door with an allen wrench. I turned around to see Loke glaring at Erza's investment partner while Lisanna was clearing some of the vacant tables with help from Lyon. Turning my attention to the two I was following, we finally arrived at their table. Quickly noticing that it was one of the circular tables with three chairs, that means that I would have to sit between them no matter where I sat. Well, that's annoying. When Erza and Gray took their seats, I took whichever wasn't taken.

"Natsu, right?" My heart began beating faster as I stared at the raven. Just be normal and you'll do fine Natsu. You don't want this guy to think any less of you especially since he's 99.9% your type!

"Yeah, a pleasure to meet you." Smiling at the man across from me caused him to do the same but it was a bit different. It was sexy. Almost too sexy.

"How long have you been a pastry chef?"

"Almost six years."

"So it's safe to assume you have exceptional skill in your field?" My left eyebrow rose a little higher than it should when it felt like he was questioning my abilities.

"What you ate is a testament to my skills." I gave a pause before I felt my restraint start to loosen up. "Or what I lack since you seem to doubt my skills as a pastry chef."

"Natsu!" I stared at Erza out of the corner of my eye as she threw me a threatening look.

"It's okay." The raven chuckled as I tried to keep up the neutral expression. Didn't want to piss Erza off any further. "It's not that I doubt your abilities as a patissier. Even an amateur investor can see the good things that can come out from this mutual relationship." After wrinkling my nose, I looked away towards the front door. Of course, I should have known he was just investing to get more money out of it. "My apologies. I don't think I introduced myself yet. Where are my manners? The name is Gray Fullbuster. It's a pleasure to meet you Natsu." When his hand stretched out from across the table, I instinctively did the same.

"Sir, I'm sorry but we're closed." I paused right before shaking his hand as I glanced over to Lucy. "We'll re-open tomorrow morning at 10:00." As she was struggling to keep the stranger out of the restaurant, I looked back to Erza to see that she was just as confused as I am.

"I just need to see Natsu. It will only take a minute!" Hearing a familiar voice, I immediately stared at Lucy who was trying to keep him out as spiky blonde hair peered through the opening. Is that Sting?

"Let him in Lucy." The maid questioningly stared at me for a second or two but opened the door revealing just who I expected. Sting. Although, why is he out of breath? He looks like he ran a mile or something. I soon noticed a small, white box in his hands when its color was distinctively different from his blue clothes. When Sting caught sight of me, he gave a huge grin and quickly made his way over to us ignoring the other clients who were commenting about the disturbance.

"Sorry to bother you Mr. Dragneel but," Immediately, I raised my hand to interrupt when he was being so traditional.

"You can just call me Natsu. Don't be so formal. It feels kind of weird, you know?" If it was possible, his smile grew even more as he placed the white box near my chest.

"You got it Natsu. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for accepting me as your apprentice. I'm aware with how many chefs you've turned away so I consider it a great honor. Please accept this gift as a token of my appreciation." Gently, I grabbed the box from his hands and slowly placed it on the table. I wasn't sure what to expect so I ripped the one piece of tape that was holding it together and opened the cover. Goosebumps ran throughout my arms and back the moment I saw what it was.

"Wow! A strawberry cake? And it looks really good!" Wait, did he know I have a weakness for strawberries?

"Yeah, I read in a magazine somewhere that strawberries are your favorite." Well that answered my question. "I hope you like it." He must have baked this himself. Taking another look, there was a strawberry sliced in half sitting on top and the entire cake had frosting all over it. However, it looks like there was a piece of the cake missing but that allowed me to see that he mixed some strawberries in the cake batter. Considering the pastry he made earlier this evening, the cake is probably just as good. I gave Sting a grin when I glanced at him.

"I'm sure I'll love it. Thank you for making this for me but you know you didn't have to right?" When a red tint appeared on his cheeks, my smile didn't go away. Is he embarrassed?

"I know. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow at 05:00 right?" Nodding my head, he waved goodbye as he quickly left the patisserie just as fast as he arrived. I slowly closed the white box as I thought about eating the cake later tonight. With a smile still on my face, I turned back to Gray and Erza to resume our conversation. My smile quickly disappeared when Gray had a serious expression on his face. Unsure of what to do, I stared at Erza for some help but her attention was on my cake. I forgot she had a weakness for pastries. Makes it hard to remember sometimes when she's yelling at you.

"May I clear this table?" When Lisanna appeared, I felt so thankful for the interruption. Staring at Gray, his seriousness quickly changed to a smile, similar to what I first saw when he was in the locker room with us.

"Of course you may." Lisanna began to collect some of the plates and utensils, which gave me some to think. I should apologize for that minor interruption. Wait, why should I even apologize? It's not even my fault that Sting decided to give me a present and interrupt us. As I brought my eyes to see what Gray was doing, when we made contact, I promptly looked away feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Sorry about that Gray. I didn't mean to interrupt our conversation like that."

"It's fine. It wasn't entirely your fault." Even though his response wasn't as elaborate as I expected, I didn't believe it until he shook his head and gave a smirk. When Lisanna finished clearing the table, I hastily stood up from my chair. I had no intention of staying any longer especially since it seemed like this conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"I hope the both of you enjoy the rest of your evening and I look forward to our second patisserie opening up. It was pleasure meeting you Gray." I bowed my head and sped out of the restaurant ignoring Erza's calls to stop me. When I stepped out into the fresh air, I instantly sighed out loud as I was finally done with today.