WARNING: Mentions of rape and molestation. Very brief, but if you're extremely sensitive about such topics, please don't read.

Hello, my lovely audience. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You guys are the reason I write – and my overactive imagination.

Do you have a vague memory of me saying that I'd try to update before the end of the month [August]?

I lied, apparently.

My bad.

But here's the newest chapter of First Kiss, albeit late. The pairing this chapter is Lories. Enjoy!

And I apologize for OOCness. I'm only human.

Disclaimer: I have no ownership over Fairy Tail.

Lories

Loke had always split up girls into three categories based on their looks – cute, pretty, and sexy. He examined the girl that stood a few feet away from him. She's definitely in the cute type, he decided.

Cute were the ones who had a tendency to wear more – rather than less – clothes, but it only added to their natural beauty. They generally had younger looking faces, and big, innocent eyes.

Pretty were the ones who maybe tried to accentuate their looks, usually with makeup. They wouldn't cover up every inch of their body, but they had a sense of modesty and usually acted upon it. Most girls he met were pretty.

And finally there were sexy girls. No, he wasn't the biggest fan of girls who dressed 'sexy', but it was all in a matter of how they did it. When sexy overlapped with slutty, he was the first to turn away and say, "No thank you." But if they dressed sexy because they were proud of their body, he wasn't one to stop them.

He was a supporter of feminism, after all. Even if he was dubbed as a womanizer.

And so the pink-haired girl in front of him was cute. The pink hair was an immediate clue, as well as the fact that the only skin that could be seen was that of her face and a bit of her neck and collarbone, but what really cinched it were her large, maroon-violet eyes. He'd never seen eyes of that color before, and it fascinated him. Her eyes had to be her best feature.

Though she had a great figure as well, with curves in all the right places.

Aries fidgeted underneath the orange-haired boy's piercing gaze. No one had ever stared at her for an extended amount of time, and it was making her uncomfortable.

That fact was only increased by a hundredfold because it was a boy.

The pinkette had had bad experiences with men. She didn't talk about it with anyone, unless pressured to do so. There were few times when she voluntarily revealed anything. It wasn't anything she wanted to remember, much less talk about. It had mentally and emotionally scarred her, and few people could say they understood how she felt.

She shuddered slightly at the memory, but the boy appeared to not have noticed, still continuing to just stare at her. Finally, he smirked and pushed his rectangular wire-framed glasses up his nose. The movement startled her, making her jump.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "I'd prefer if you stop staring at me!"

Loke blinked in surprise. He hadn't realized how long he'd been staring. He nervously scratched the back of his head. "My bad." Cute girls are usually shy, he reminded himself. Work with that, Loke. He couldn't be as forthcoming with her as he was with other girls. "I'm Loke," he said, casually tossing his hair. "And you are?"

Aries blushed a pretty shade of pink at his words, unaccustomed to such treatment. "I-I'm Aries." She bit her lip anxiously, fiddling with the edges of her hair and not meeting his eyes. What next…? Oh! "I'm sorry, but it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Loke smirked slightly at how flustered she was. It only added to her cute factor. Not to mention her adorable verbal quirk of apologizing all the time. Some could find it annoying, but he found it rather endearing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times, but you're quite charming. And certainly gorgeous."

Aries felt the color drain from her face.

xxxxxxxxx

*Flashback begins*

"I'm sorry, boys. I'm busy today."

"Really? You're always busy, Karen."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry."

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"Well… I'm busy, but Aries isn't." Aries squeaked as she was shoved forward by the cruel blonde. "I'm sure she'll do, right?"

The group of boys chuckled. "I guess she'll be fine. She's a looker, in more ways than one."

"Have fun with her."

Aries shook her head as she was slowly surrounded by the men. "N-No… Please…"

*Flashback ends*

xxxxxxxxx

"I-I'm sorry!" she said desperately. "But please don't talk to me in such a way! I-I don't like it, and I'm sorry!"

Loke blinked in surprise, a small frown of puzzlement resting on his lips. This girl was… Odd. He'd never met a girl quite like her before. He'd have to be careful not to grow too fond of her. The frown morphed into a small smile. "You don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have been so bold. However, I'm not taking those words back. You shouldn't feel ashamed of being beautiful. Many girls must be envious of you."

"P-Please. Do not compliment me. I-I, I'm so sorry!" Aries buried her face in her hands, embarrassed and completely humiliated at her cowardice.

"Hey…" he said gently, taking a step towards her and reaching to put his hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to offend you –"

She shoved the orange-haired boy away, having started to panic as he moved closer. When a man gets close to you, it's never a good thing… Upon seeing the look of shock and something akin to disgust etched on his face, she turned away from him. She couldn't look at him. I'm such an idiot! She felt something wet trickle down her cheek as she hid her face in her hands.

Loke had not expected her to push him away. He'd just been trying to provide comfort, after all. What the h*** was wrong with her?! Honestly. "Oi," he said angrily. "Why are you acting so –" He stopped. Is she… Crying? His face paled. Had he made her cry? "Hey…" he said softly, gently taking one of her hands off her face and holding it between his. "Are you okay? If I did something, just tell me. I'll stop."

Aries yanked her hand out of his, unprepared for his touch. She backed away from him, almost stumbling and falling. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't!"

"Can't what?"

"I'm sorry!" She shook her head, looking at the floor to avoid his eyes. "I'm truly sorry!"

"What's wrong?" he asked her kindly. "Don't bottle it up."

"Nothing is wrong… I'm fine…"

"You aren't fine."

"I-I'm sorry, but I am!"

"You're crying, d*** it!"

Aries' hand flew to her face, and sure enough, her cheeks were wet with tears. "Yes…"

"And so I am not going to leave you alone until you tell me what's wrong." Loke sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know I'm probably being way too forward, since I've known you for all of maybe three minutes now?" He noticed a small, half-hearted smile appear on her lips for a brief second. "But I'll be d***ed if I don't help you." After all, he'd sworn to never ignore a girl's feelings again.

xxxxxxxxx

*Flashback begins*

Loke frowned up reading the caller idea on his phone before he answered it. "Mr. Bob? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, Loke…" There was the sound of sobbing from the other end of the line. "I'm sorry for calling after three months… I know Blue Pegasus doesn't matter to you anymore. But… It's Karen!"

His grip tightened on the phone. "What are you talking about? Did something happen?" He hadn't talked with his ex-girlfriend at all since they had split. "Why are you crying?"

"Karen has – Karen has –" There was a choked cry. "Karen has killed herself!"

He suddenly felt the urge to throw up. "She… What?"

"Th-This morning… I found her… On the floor, and a g-gun in her hand… Blood… There was so much blood!" By then the man was in hysterics.

Loke couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe.

Suicide.

She had committed suicide.

And it was all his fault.

*Flashback ends*

xxxxxxxxx

Aries slowly turned around to face the orange-haired boy, though her maroon-violet eyes were still cast to the ground. "I'm sorry." Her voice was hushed. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he said lightly. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Her eyes widened in shock. You haven't done anything wrong.

That did it.

She grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards her, crying her eyes out into his chest. Part of her was mortified that she was sobbing all over a complete stranger, and yet part of her was at ease. Or rather, she felt she could trust him.

To trust a man…

The pinkette had never thought she'd feel that way again. Not after that.

Loke froze as the girl flung herself at him and stained his shirt with her tears. "I'm sorry," he heard her say, the words slightly muffled by his shirt. "I'm so sorry…" He slowly wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her closer to him.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that.

It didn't matter.

Loke smiled softly. She was like a little lamb. Innocent. Vulnerable. And he was going to protect her.

Why?

He wasn't sure. He had no idea what made him care so much about this girl. He didn't have a clue as why she seemed so different from the other girls. But what he did know was that as long as he was there, this girl was not going to cry like this again.

He hadn't thought he'd ever want to be in a steady relationship with a girl again. Not after that.

Finally, her sobs ceased, turning into quiet sniffles.

Aries slowly pulled away from the handsome boy that had been holding her so gently. She used the sleeve of the jacket Aquarius had gotten for her to wipe away her tears. She knew that she had to look positively awful, but for once, she didn't care.

Part of her wanted to run away. To escape from another man that could hurt her.

But the rest of her wanted to stay in the warm, strong, and secure arms of the boy who – despite of the flirtatious and seemingly obnoxious impression he had given off at first – cared so much for a stranger.

He reminded her of a lion – always protecting others and fighting for them. Or that was the impression she had gotten. "I'm sorry," she whispered, chagrined at how she had cried all over him. He surely thought she was a coward now. But it's better to be thought a coward than a slut, she told herself.

He smiled at her, giving her a feeling of warmth inside. "Don't be. I get the feeling you've been holding that in for a long time."

That was true. She hadn't cried in such a way in years. "I suppose so," she murmured, "but I'm still sorry. I've gotten your suit all wet, and…" She sniffed. "And I'm sure you don't want to even talk to me now."

Loke shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not true." He smirked. "If anything, I'm more fascinated by you than I was before."

The pinkette wasn't able to stop herself from giggling. "Thank you, I think." She cringed at the way her voice cracked. "I'm sorry if it wasn't a compliment!"

He winked at her. "Don't worry. It was."

She nodded, relieved.

"So, we still have to kiss and all," he continued, "but I think we just need to get to know each other first. Have a regular conversation. Ask each other a few questions. How does that sound?"

Aries let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. A genuine conversation. She could do that. "Okay!"

"We can ask each other a few questions, but first we can simply introduce ourselves. But just the basics. My name is Loke, I'm 20 years old, and…" He hesitated, unsure of what else to say without going extremely in-depth about himself. "Er… My zodiac sign is Leo?"

The pale-skinned girl giggled at the sheer randomness of his final statement, before realizing how rude that could be seen as. "I'm sorry for laughing," she said somewhat desperately, covering her mouth with her hands. "I meant no offense!"

"Nah," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "It was a pretty random thing, wasn't it?"

She gave him a soft smile. "Not at all." She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry if this is odd, but my name is Aries, I'm 18 years old, and my zodiac sign is Aries!"

"Hmm…" he said teasingly. "I wonder if that could be connected somehow…"

She tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear. "I was told I had not been given a name when I arrived, so they simply called me Aries. I'm sorry if this ends up being incorrect, but I believe there were people there also called their zodiac signs in a similar fashion of what mine is."

Loke raised an eyebrow at her statement, unsure of what she was implying by "when I arrived". "'Arrived'?" he asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Oh," she said, flushing. "I was sent to an orphanage and lived there until midway through my eleventh grade year." She winced. "I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to know!"

He shook his head. "No, that's exactly what I wanted to know." He smiled at her. "I was also at an orphanage for most of my life. Blue Pegasus, to be precise. And then I was moved to Fairy Tail for several years."

Aries froze. Blue Pegasus…? "How long were you at Blue Pegasus?" she asked slowly, before mentally facepalming at how rude she was being. "I'm sorry if that's too intrusive!"

"Not at all," he said with a lazy grin. "I was only there for a few months before I was sent to Fairy Tail."

"I was Blue Pegasus, too," she said, anxiously tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. "But maybe I left before you arrived, and so we didn't meet? I'm sorry if you don't care!"

"I guess that's the only way," he said with a laugh. "I amazed we didn't meet!" His smile vanished, replaced by something dark and haunting in his hazel eyes. "Stuff happened there. I was happy to leave."

"Agreed," she whispered, not really meaning the words for him to hear, but more for herself. "It was one of the best days of my life to be adopted from that place." Then she gasped. "But I'm not trying to say Blue Pegasus was bad! Master Bob was quite kind, but there was just someone who… Wasn't the most compassionate…" She slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, and now I'm sorry for dumping personal details on you! I'm sure you don't care, and probably think it doesn't matter – mph!"

Loke had placed his finger on her lips to silence her. "Hey," he said comfortingly. "You can tell me anything. Don't feel like it's too much or too little." He winked at her. "We'll need to trust each other before we kiss, after all." She nodded, and he moved his finger from her lips. "So feel free to tell me what made that adoption day so happy for you, and who it was that made every day before that so miserable." It was then his turn to get flustered as he realized what he'd said. "O-Only if you want to, of course! I mean, if it's that personal, you don't have to, and I don't want to pressure you, so –"

"I – I don't mind," Aries said, only slightly hesitant. "But I might not… Say everything… I'm sorry if that's not okay!"

He breathed a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't been offended by his statement. "That's fine. Perfectly understandable."

"Okay…" She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I drag on for too long. Please stop me if you have any questions!"

"Deal."

She wrung her hands out of nervousness. "When I was young, I was taken to Blue Pegasus. I was raised there, and I felt like I was in an Earthly Heaven for the longest time." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry if that's insignificant!"

He shook his head. "Nothing is insignificant if it happened to you. Every detail matters."

She nodded. "Okay… Anyways, when I was 10, someone arrived. Another girl my age. We became fast friends…" She unconsciously hugged herself. "But I've always been shy, and it became more of her bossing me around and me not being able to tell her 'no'. When we reached middle and high school – particularly high school, and I'm sorry if that's too detailed! – she became infatuated with the idea of boys and getting a boyfriend. She was dating four and five people at a time, and then ditched them after only a week or two. When we reached tenth grade…" She shuddered, remembering it all. "I'm so sorry…" she whispered, staring at the ground. "This is – this is very difficult to speak of…"

Loke noticed the single tear trickle down her cheek. F***, he thought. He hadn't meant to make her cry. "Hey…" he said, gently unwrapping her arms from around her and taking her hands in his. "If you don't want to talk about it, don't." In an attempt to lighten the mood, he added, "You can always wait to tell me until after a few dates, you know." She didn't laugh, as he'd hoped she would, but she did blush a brilliant crimson.

"N-No," she stuttered, "I do want to tell you…!"

"But it's hard," he finished.

She nodded.

"Well, after you finish I get to tell you my tragic past, so we'll be even then," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "That okay?"

She giggled slightly. "Sure."

"Now go ahead. Whenever you're ready."

Aries took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "W-When we reached tenth grade, she started to… Use me. Or rather, whenever she was busy, she'd let all of her boyfriends… She let them 'play' with me…" She held back a sob, instead taking a sharp breath. "I'm sorry...!"

Loke clenched his fist, seething in anger. How dare that b**** do something like that… He'd kill that woman if he ever met her.

"It never got to the… Extremes…" she continued after she'd regained a sense of calm. "Never full on rape… Just molesting… And when Mr. Bob found out, he reported it, and every man that had… Touched me… Was sent to jail. My friend denied any involvement… And I never said anything about her being involved… But things couldn't be the way they were before. A year and a half of being her toy established that. A few days after the trials, I was adopted. I was so thankful to be taken out of that – out of that h***hole." She sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry about my language."

"Curse all you want," he said tightly, still furious. "You've earned the right to, after going through that."

"And that's that," the pinkette whispered. "I haven't spoken to my friend since."

"Rightly so."

Aries sniffed and wiped at her eyes again.

Loke couldn't stand seeing her like that. So weak. So… Alone. He understood how she felt. He understand the sense of loss. The mixture of being free yet still caged by memories.

And he understood why she was apologizing all of the time. It wasn't a quirk. It had been drilled into her.

"Hey," he said gently. "I'm gonna tell you about my life story from when I was in Blue Pegasus, and I'm going to overdramatize it as much as possible to hopefully make you laugh. How's that sound?"

She giggled at his words. He had that effect on her. "Okay."

He cracked his knuckles. "Alright. Here goes." He cleared his throat before beginning his tale. "Once upon a time, there was a young man named Loke. He was quite handsome – still is, as a matter of fact – and he lived at Blue Pegasus for all of maybe five months. After two months, he had fallen in love with a beautiful girl. They got together, and were happy. Happy until said girl started cheating on him. When he found out, he broke up with her. A few days later he moved to Fairy Tail. He hasn't had a real girlfriend ever since." He dramatically ran a hand through his hair. "Truly a tragedy."

Aries hadn't stopped laughing throughout the whole story.

That made him smile.

"Your girlfriend kind of sounds like my old friend," she said after she finished laughing, slightly out of breath. "I'm sorry if that comparison was uncalled for!"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all." He chuckled, but the bitterness in his tone was obvious. "I'd have to agree. One guy was never enough for Karen."

She froze. "K-Karen? Karen Lilica?"

He nodded, surprised. "Yeah. How did you –?" His eyes widened. "That's impossible." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her so they were looking eye to eye. "When did you leave Blue Pegasus?"

"It was February 17th," she replied, trying to ignore her blush caused by how close they were, "in the year X781."

His hands fell to his sides. "I joined Blue Pegasus in March of X781. I left in July." He stared at her. "We almost met. And I dated the b**** that did that to you." He facepalmed. "I feel like such a jacka**."

She gave him a soft – if sad – smile. "I'm sorry if this is too forward, but how could you have known? As you said, we missed each other by a month."

"Still…" He sighed. "You're right. But now I'm always going to wonder, 'What if?'"

"'What if?' what?"

"What if we had met? And I'd still dated Karen? Would I have been a part of the group of men that molested you? Or would I have even known? Would I have even cared?"

She bit her lip, thinking. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what would have happened. And yet…" She gently took his hand. "It'll always be a 'what if?", no? It's pointless to dwell on it."

He chuckled, intertwining his fingers with hers. "Yeah."

There was a period where neither of them spoke, both enjoying the simplicity of silence and comfort of being with the other.

Aries broke it first. "I'm sorry if this is wrong to ask, but… Have you spoken with Karen since you broke up?" She looked up at him, her maroon-violet eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and something sentimentally bittersweet. "I would like to talk to her. To let her know that… That I forgive her."

For a moment he didn't speak. This girl amazed him. Out of all the many flings Loke had had, no girl had been pure. Not only in the literal sense, but also figuratively. None of them cared about love, or how other people felt, or how their actions affected other people.

For the longest time, he hadn't either.

"Aries…" He sighed. "I don't know how to say this."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion and worry. "What is it?"

"Well… The story I told you. About me."

"What about it?"

"It had a sequel. A part two."

She stared at the ground. "It's not a happy ending, is it?"

"No. It's not. And I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell you." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself. "Around three weeks after Karen and I broke up, after I left for Fairy Tail, I got a call from Master Bob." He felt the same sinking feeling grow in his stomach as it had that day. "Karen committed suicide."

Aries gasped, her hands flying to her mouth to cover it. "No…"

Loke nodded. "Yes. And it was my fault." He felt the urge to punch something. "I made her kill herself. By breaking up with her. I wanted to die for so long after that. But I couldn't. I couldn't pull the trigger. H***, I couldn't even put the gun to my head." He let out a bitter laugh. "Instead, I took her lifestyle. I went out with any and every girl I met, playing with their feelings and dumping them the next day." He gave the pinkette a sad smile. "I told you I was a jacka**."

At first, Aries said nothing. She didn't know what to say. Instead, she tightened her grip on his hand. "I forgive you."

Her words puzzled him. "What?"

"I forgive you," she repeated. "And I forgive Karen. I forgive any and all people who've done something wrong without considering the consequences, especially people who were drowning in grief and depression." She smiled at him. "I'm sorry if you think I should hate you, but I don't."

He wasn't sure how to react. Part of him wanted to sob and kneel at her feet. Another part wanted to worship the ground she walked on for the rest of her life. But what came out was…

Laughter.

He laughed so hard tears came to his eyes. He laughed so hard he couldn't speak. He laughed so hard he couldn't breathe.

Aries paled at his sudden outburst. Had she said something wrong? Should she not have voiced those thoughts? "I-I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand out of his, face burning with shame. "I didn't mean to be –"

"No," he managed to choke out. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just…" He was overcome by another bout of laughter. When he stopped, he leaned his forehead against the pinkette's. "You're amazing, you know that?" And then he kissed her.

It was soft, and gentle. Not forced on either end. A tentative wish, not a passionate heat. A hello and a goodbye.

A symbol of forgiveness.

When they pulled apart, both had small smiles on their faces.

"How was it?" Loke asked, a smirk dancing on his lips.

Aries giggled, not saying anything.

His grin widened. "I'll take that as a good sign. It gives me more confidence to ask you this." He laughed at the puzzled expression that crossed her features before continuing. "Maybe it's too early, but would you go on a date with me?"

Her eyes widened. "M-Me?"

He nodded.

She beamed at him. "Yes!" And then the smile disappeared. "But why?"

He chuckled. "To be honest, I should be asking you why you'd actually agree to go on a date with me."

"Because you're kind," she replied. "And you're trustworthy. You're strong, too. Like a lion." She turned a brilliant shade of red upon realizing she had spoken aloud. "Ah, I'm sorry if that was offensive!"

"Actually, that's got to be the best compliment I've ever received. As for why I want to go out with you…" He grinned at her. "I want to protect you. Because you're small, and really cute." He winked at her before adding. "Like a lamb."

She giggled at his comment. "A lion and a lamb."

"Definitely an odd combination," he mused, "but you know what they say: opposites attract."

"But we aren't that different," she replied.

"We'll always be connected," he agreed. "Through our pasts, and hopefully our futures."

Aries blushed at what he was implying. "W-Well –"

"Too soon?" he laughed. "I'm sorry." For the first time, Loke saw a sparkle of joy in her maroon-violet eyes.

"That's my line."

xxxxxxxxx

AND DONE.

Huh. I have mixed feelings about this one. Maybe I should just stop trying to write angst-y stuff.

Whoops.

Eh. Whatever.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! I feel Lories is often underappreciated. They're a really cute couple, but I feel that they're truly connected on the emotional level, and so I tried to go with that. Turned out alright, I suppose. And I only had TWO flashbacks. WHOA. I've just been in this flashback phase as of late. Don't know why. *shrugs*

NEXT COUPLE: Er… Probably Stingue. Maybe AlBis? Don't know for sure. But after whatever the next couple is, it'll be Jerza! So stick around if you're a hardcore Jerza fan.

Fun Fact #2. I almost made Loke act like a full-on womanizer around Aries, but I figured it just wouldn't play in well with the angst-y stuff n' stuff.