The following takes place within the time frame of Chapter 256.

Disclaimer: I only own my adoration for Romeo and Wendy and my hope that they hook up. The rest is the genius of Hiro Mashima.

Sky Fire

a Fairy Tail fanfic

by Rhov

Romeo smirked to himself as he walked home. Maybe showing Natsu all of his colored flames was a bit bragging but... well, that was allowed, right? After all, the dragon slayer had wanted to know just how strong he was. It's not really bragging if the person asks for you to show him.

His father was staying in the guild hall longer to drink and chat with old friends, but Romeo had school in the morning. He could hardly wait to tell Totomaru-sensei that Natsu was back. As he walked through the streets of Magnolia on the way back to the Conbolt house, he balanced along the low wall that separated the street from the river, just as he had seen Lucy do many times.

"Romeo-kun, be careful," a passing boatman called.

He waved that they cared enough to shout, yet he was a grown boy now, thirteen years old, practically a man, and a mage of Fairy Tail. There was no way he would be stupid enough to fall into the river.

"You really should be careful, Romeo-kun."

The girl's voice startled him, and he began to fall toward the water. A flash of white fur, then sharp claws had him by his scarf.

"Good catch, Charle! Sorry for scaring you." Wendy smiled and tittered softly.

Romeo gawked that she was there. It was still a shock for him to see her and the others. She looked no different than seven years ago, when he first saw her step into the guild. On that day, he experienced his very first childhood crush. Of course, she had been much older than him. In his six-year-old mind, Wendy had practically been an adult at age twelve, and a dragon slayer at that! She was way out of his league, but that did not stop him from watching her on his visits to the guild hall.

He waited until the Exceed set him down, then he straightened out his clothes in fast tugs. "I wasn't scared, you just... broke my train of thought so fast that it derailed, that's all." He blushed petulantly as Wendy giggled again.

"Hey Romeo-kun, how old are you now?"

He looked at her in surprise. She should know, right? For Wendy and the rest of them, only a few weeks passed in their minds. Or had she not known him well enough back then to even know his age? That saddened him a little. Not a day had gone by that he hadn't thought about her, but he was just a kid back then, not a guild member. He had only been "Macao's son." Of course a great dragon slayer like Wendy would have hardly paid attention to some guild member's little brat.

"How old do you think I am?" he challenged, still feeling a tad bitter.

She hummed with her finger to her mouth. "Fifteen?"

He gawked at her guess. Did she really think he had been eight back then? She thought he had been that old? Or maybe she had thought he was too mature for a mere six year old. That made him slightly smug. "Sorry, I'm not an old man yet. I'm thirteen."

"Oh! Then you're a year older than me," she realized. "I guess I have to call you Romeo-sempai."

His cheeks went hot. "No, just... just Romeo is fine. I mean, technically you're older than me, but physically I guess we're about the same age. You're almost thirteen, right?"

"Uh-huh!" she nodded proudly. "Hey, you wanna come to my birthday party?"

His eyes brightened. "Can I really?"

"I'd be very happy if you did," she grinned. "Now that you're older and officially in the guild, I want us to be friends, okay?"

"Y-yeah," he blushed.

Friends! The first girl he had liked, the first girl where he thought "wow she's rather cute" rather than "eww cooties" now wanted to be friends! This was definitely a day when dreams came true. And if all these other dreams could come true—if Natsu and the gang could return from the dead, if his childhood crush could want to be his friend—then maybe, just maybe, one other dream of his could be answered on this miraculous day.

"Hey, uh... are you, y'know, in a team?" he asked nervously.

"Well, not officially. I've done missions with Freed or Natsu, but not much."

"Well," he mumbled, twisting his toe into the ground, "seeing as we're the only two in our generation, maybe... I dunno... we could team up or something. I know you're a dragon slayer and way more powerful than me but..."

"I'd love to!" she squealed. "Isn't that great, Charle? I can finally be on a team!"

The white cat eyed this bashful boy uncertainly. "I don't know..."

"What should we call our team?" she asked, ignoring Charle's doubts about the honorableness of Romeo's intentions.

He always knew, if he could have formed a team, it would have been either with Natsu—although that was impractical considering his inexperience—or with Wendy. He never thought she would agree, let alone so fast. In his dreams of how he wished things could have been, he knew what name he would give to their team.

"Team Tenka! See, it's taking off your tenryū magic and my ka magic." (*see footnote)

Wendy's eyes gleamed in excitement. "Team Tenka! Yay! Makes me wanna go out on a mission right away."

"Well, I have training tomorrow, so in the morning go check the board and pick one. I'll meet you at the guild right after school and we'll talk to my dad about going out together."

Wendy suddenly blushed and looked down shyly. "G-going out t-together?" she muttered.

Romeo's face went redder than Erza's hair. For a while, all he could do was make gagging noises while Charle glared menacingly at him. "I-I-I mean... w-we'll see about... about heading out... as... as a team. As the new Team Tenka."

She still tugged bashfully on her skirt. "Oh... okay, yeah. Um... I should probably go find out where I can sleep tonight. I hope my old room is still there. Good evening, Romeo-kun... uh, just Romeo, right? Teehee!" she laughed, and her bashfulness faded away. "This will be fun. I'm finally in a team! I'm so happy. I'll see you tomorrow, Romeo."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to act cool. "See you tomorrow, Wendy. We're gonna make this the best team in Fairy Tail!"

She nodded firmly. "Right!" She waved and trotted away across the cobbled road.

As soon as she was gone, Charle flew right into Romeo's besmitten face and scowled at him. "I'm keeping my eye on you, boy," she warned, then the Exceed hurriedly flapped after Wendy.

Romeo chuckled as he watched them go. "Team Tenka! Rainbow fire and sky dragon. And she... she's still rather cute!"

Despite himself, he blushed at thinking that they would be working together, maybe even go on trips together. Romeo still thought Wendy was out of his league, but he was determined to make yet another dream come true!

The End

A/N: Tenka, 天火 – "skyfire" or fire caused by lightning. Wendy's attacks all start 天龍 "Tenryū" or sky dragon. "Ka" is the Japanese word for fire, such as Natsu's 火竜 "Karyū" fire dragon attacks. Romeo is taking "ten" sky and "ka" fire to make Tenka. That's why this piece is called "Sky Fire."

I'm not sure if this will be a multi-chap or one-shot. I really like RoWen and want to write more cutesy "first love" type of stories. I guess it depends on how well this is received. So if you like it and want more Team Tenka, leave a review. ^_^