I'M SORRY I REALLY AM BUT LIFE SUCKS AND THE WEATHER SUCKS AND I HATE VIRUSES BUT I MADE IT AND THIS ONE IS CUTE AND FLUFFY AND HOPEFULLY MAKES UP FOR THE FACT THAT I PROBABLY SEEM LIKE A DOUCHE TO YOU ALL.

HOPEFULLY.

(ALSO I'M STILL THANKING PEOPLE LEFT AND RIGHT FOR ALL THE REVIEWS AND FAVORITES AND STUFF SO PLEASE DON'T BE MAD AT ME IF IT COMES SUPER LATE)

AND I'M CURRENTLY DISTRACTING MY NEPHEW WITH RAMEN AND THE CROODS WHILE I BABYSIT SO I HAD TO WAIT UNTIL FOREVER BEFORE I COULD POST THIS

Anyways, this chapter is especially dedicated to my wonderful, amazing, beautiful Maya-onee-chan! *Pumps fist and grins* Fighting! (P.S. I hope you enjoy your trip!) This is my best way of saying I love you, so you should probably read it. (#^v^#) YOU'RE AWESOME MAYA.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way or form own Fairy Tail nor do I earn money or profit of any kind from this story.

Warnings: possible fluff attacks, squeals, hatred for my pathetic writing skills

"Why?" Natsu groaned in despair as he slumped on the wooden table, the others sitting in various tables around him. "Why did it have to be Wendy, of all people!"

Laxus and Gajeel grunted in agreement, all three dragon slayers surrounded by a dark cloud of gloom. The girls looked at each other unsurely before looking back at the boys worriedly.

"I just-I thought they knew," Lisanna whispered guiltily as she bit her lips and wrung her hands.

"It's not your fault," Lucy reassured her, "they're just being dramatic-I think."

Another loud moan of despair came from the pink-haired boy and they winced in unison before sighing.

"Alright," Erza said irritatedly with a swish of her hair, "that's it!"

She stomped over to their table before pulling out a sword and sticking in right in the middle, scaring the bejesus out of the three.

"What's your problem?" she asked angrily, crossing her arms and waiting for an explanation as tic marks covered her body.

"Romeo's going out with Wendy," Natsu complained as he eyed the sword warily, lower lip jutting out childishly.

"And?" she demanded even as her cheeks turned red at the thought of such…romantic things happening.

"And that means we can't do anything about it!" Gajeel growled angrily, red eyes irate as his fist banged down on the table loudy.

"Exactly," Laxus agreed, clenching and unclenching his fists periodically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Erza asked, now completely confused.

"It means," Laxus stated as he rolled his eyes, "we don't have a legitimate reason for them not to date."

"I don't get it," Lucy said confusedly. "Then why aren't you happy?"

"Because," Natsu explained as if it was obvious, "that means Wendy has a boyfriend."

All three dragon slayers sighed in unison, the cloud of gloom back.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold up a second," Mira said exasperatedly, her hands covering her face as if she couldn't bear to look at them. "You mean to say that the reason you're depressed is because Wendy has a boyfriend and you can't do anything about it? What the heck?! That doesn't make any sense!"

Laxus and Gajeel turned to Natsu in askance, their expressions begging him to explain once more on their behalf. Natsu sighed and glared at the girls as if he was annoyed that they couldn't understand, blowing his pink bangs up with a puff of air.

"If Wendy has a b-boyfriend," his eyes watered at the b-word and the other two dragon slayers groaned, "then-then-then she's all grown up! She's leaving the nest! Our little hatchling has spread her wings! And since it's Romeo, there's no way we can legitimately set them apart either! Our magic won't let us even if we wanted toooo."

He dragged out the last word before sniffling and throwing himself onto the table with a loud wail, tears streaming down his face once more.

"Y-Your magic won't let you?" Lucy prodded hesitantly, afraid to make the situation worse. Natsu nodded through his tears and Laxus tore at his hair.

"I want to hurt something so badly it's killing me," he groaned, glaring at the wood like it had personally offended him. "It's like this damn itch that won't stop unless I've killed something."

Lucy and Lisanna gulped, grasping hands and shivering in unison as sweat ran down their bodies like a river.

"K-Kill something?!" Lucy squeaked, eyes wide with fear.

"I-Itch?" Lisanna questioned somewhat fearfully.

"Since Romeo's a potential mate, our magic won't let us harm him no matter what unless he screws up since he's being trialed for becoming one of the Ïrâ," Gajeel explained through gritted teeth while looking at Laxus sympathetically. "It's harder for us than him because he's second generation, but it's still pretty damn strong."

"One of the what?" Mira asked in confusion, a question mark popping up over her forehead.

"It's our version of a pack, or flock," the black-haired dragon slayer said curtly, now ignoring the others in favor of glaring at the floor and .

Slowly, Lisanna and Lucy separated, the blonde taking a step closer to her lover.

"You're in pain?" she asked worriedly, studying him carefully and leaning close. Natsu grinned weakly at her and shook his head, reaching for her hand and lacing their fingers together.

"It's more like my magic's bubbling under my skin to the point where it makes me want to blow something up," he answered truthfully, squeezing her hand before reassuring her. "But no, it doesn't physically hurt. It's all part of the process."

She still looked worried, but she gave him a smile, realizing that maybe they weren't overreacting at all.

"So, this process? What is it exactly? And what about your magic and stuff?" Lucy asked, sitting on a stool next to him and grinning when he started and looked at her in surprise. "After all, as your mate, I should probably know this stuff, right?"

"Aww," Laxus mock-cooed in disgust. "How cute and lovey-dovey. Almost makes me want to barf."

Mirajane stopped giggling at the two lovers to glare at Laxus viciously, her eyes glinting darkly. He turned the other way out of spite with a scoff but left Natsu and Lucy alone. Natsu's grin grew wider and he nodded, squeezing her hand once more before explaining.

"I don't know about Gajeel, but one of the first things Igneel taught me was about the importance of your Ïrâ. Birds fly in flocks, wolves hunt in packs, and dragons-dragons live in rages," Natsu said with a nostalgic look on his face, laughing as he saw the smirk on Gajeel's face out of the corner of his eye. They shared a feral grin and Natsu felt his mood lift before he continued, snickering at the bewildered and surprised faces of the others.

"Ïrâ roughly translates to rage in human, but as people who were raised by dragons, it means way more than that. Your rage is your family, your strength, part of who makes you yourself. Dragons in general prefer to stick by their own, but when their Ïrâ is involved, you'll never find anything or anyone more vicious than an angry dragon. When you form an Ïrâ, it becomes part of you to be protective of them and extremely attached to the point where your magic reacts to the littlest things.

"An Ïrâ generally counts as an entire species of dragon; for example, all fire dragons are technically an Ïrâ, but you can also have a smaller rage with different types, like us."

Natsu gestured to himself and the other two dragon slayers, before winking at Lucy.

"Your mate also counts as part of the Ïrâ, but if you could potentially harm the rage, our magic would reject you and you wouldn't be able to come within 30 kilometers of us without us knowing. However, hatchlings are a completely different thing."

"Hatchlings?" Lucy immediately asked, remembering him refer to Wendy as one earlier. The pink-haired dragon slayer nodded.

"Hatchlings are kind of like the babies of the Ïrâ, the children or the ones that haven't fully matured yet. Hatchlings must be taken care of and protected at all times, and if they find a potential mate before they fully mature, a trial involving the Ïrâ and the candidate happens. In our case, Wendy's the hatchling."

Here he grimaced, an unpleasant feeling in his stomach at the thought of Wendy and her suitor.

"So it's totally natural for you guys to want to kill any guys near her," Lucy said somewhat amusedly, giggling at the thought of the three dragon slayers following Wendy around like overprotective hens. "You literally can't help it. That's actually kind of funny, in a stereotypical overprotective father/brother way."

Natsu gave her a dark look and she grinned at him, brown eyes twinkling with humor. Erza struggled to hold back a smile and Mirajane laughed outright.

"Can you imagine it though?! Like, some poor boy coming up to sweet little Wendy and asking her for a date and then they show up looking like that," she laughed, pointing to the dirty looks on the three dragon slayers' faces. Lisanna and Lucy broke into fits of giggles, trying to stifle their laughter behind their hands.

"They would have been scared for their lives," Lucy crowed, imagining them glaring murderously at the poor boy-and he probably wouldn't have even had magic!

"With good reason," Erza nodded continuously, an approving look on her face as she appraised the boys. "Those boys should understand that Wendy is no normal girl."

The three boys grinned ferally, completely unrepentant of the horrors they unleashed on those poor boys that dared to come near Wendy.

"Poor Wendy probably has no idea," Lisanna giggled, hunched over in laughter.

"Nope," Gajeel said with a vicious smirk, his arms crossed in satisfaction. "And she never will."

"So what does this trial do? It's probably something really bad for you guys to act like this," Lisanna teased cheerfully, straightening up.

Natsu groaned, the ever-present purple cloud of gloom appearing over his head as tears rained down his cheeks.

"We wait," he cried despairingly, hands pulling his face's skin down as Gajeel's smirk disappeared and Laxus twitched.

"Wait?" Mirajane asked confusedly, cocking her head.

"Igneel said that you just have to wait and watch it all happen. That's why it's called a trial," Natsu said, his muffled by the hands covering his face. "If he proposes and their magic connects they'll be m-m-maaaaatesssss!"

He sobbed and threw himself upon the table once more, Lucy giggling at his reaction.

"I guess it would be hard to watch someone who was like your little sister grow up and practically get married," Lucy admitted, running her hand through Natsu's hair sympathetically. He whimpered and nodded, tears streaming down his face dramatically.

"She's not 'like', she is our little sister," Gajeel growled, blinking before turning his head away. "But for the record, I never said that, understood?"

The girls nodded, smiles on all their faces at the boys' affectionate behavior.

"They really are hopeless, aren't they?" Erza asked fondly with a shake of her head.

"Yup," Lisanna agreed cheerfully, lacing her hands behind her back as she and her sister shared a grin.

"They're such nice older brothers," Mira said with a soft smile and a giggle, looking at all of them with an expression of pride and fondness.

"Would you people shut up already?!" Laxus yelled loudly, crossing his arms and turning his head the other way to hide his face only for the red on his ears to stand out.

All of them shared looks of amusement, but kept quiet, grins and smiles all around.

"Well, you know Romeo's a good boy, so you won't have to worry about her," Lucy said softly to her lover with a smile.

"I know," Natsu sniffled. "But if just makes me so depressed thinking of her growing up! After all that's happened, I just want her to be happy. And Romeo's awesome, I know that. They're both really important to me, you know?"

Lucy hummed her agreement, pecking his forehead. "But you won't do anything to them, will you?"

"No," he agreed, sighing. "But I kind of want to."

"That's my boy," Lucy said fondly, ruffling his hair with a wink. "Now, come on. Let's go look at some missions for when this is over, huh?"

Natsu felt a grin pull at his lips and he laughed.

"Yeah, sure!"

As they walked to the mission board together, Mira realized something.

"Huh? Where's Juvia? She was just here a second ago…"

Romeo and Wendy stumbled off the ride dizzily, their heads spinning as they tried not to fall over. Laughing, they clung to the other and thanked the conductor, running to the next ride excitedly. They went on the roller coasters, the flying chairs, the gravity machine, and even the carousel, waving at each other from atop the painted horses with bright laughs. They ate funnel cake and ice cream and cotton candy, chasing each other with sticky sugar-covered fingers, Wendy giggling at the look of despair on Romeo's face when two of his four scoops of ice cream fell off.

As the sun began to burn a beautiful orange and lower, they walked towards the pier with their connected hands swinging, chattering excitedly about one thing or another. Romeo waved his free hand in the other exuberantly, Wendy laughing at his words with a happy expression on her face. As they reached the edge, they admired the setting sun in awe, content and happy. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on the cool metal, Romeo glanced at Wendy before his eyes flickered back to the huge star.

"You know, I've always admired you," he admitted quietly, a soft grin on his face. Wendy started in surprise, turning to him as he continued.

"When you first joined the guild, I thought you were really pretty. As time passed and I got to know what you were like, you proved that you were beautiful on the inside too. I always watched you from far away, but I thought you were amazing. When I found out why and how you joined the guild, I fell for you a little more."

Wendy's ears turned pink and she opened her mouth before closing it once more, speechless as a warmth spread within her at his words.

"Right after Natsu-nii, you were my biggest inspiration. You were only twice my age, but you were far more than I could have ever been. I wanted to be someone as strong and hardworking as you were, to become someone you could admire. And when you guys came back, it hit me. Maybe this was my chance, my opportunity to go after what I wanted-you. I really like you, Wendy," he said, turning to face her with a wide grin.

Wendy turned apple red with a squeak, playing with the hem of her dress and fidgeting as he laughed. The warmth in her body exploded into fireworks and she hid her face under her bangs for a moment so he couldn't see her embarrassing expression.

"Romeo-kun?" she whispered shyly, biting her lip and peering at him from behind her hair.

"Hmm?" he replied before looking at her curiously, eyes widening as time seemed to slow and her soft lips planted on his cheeks, strands of blue hair filling his eyesight.

"I really like you too," she whispered with an equally bright grin, her cheeks flushed adorably as she laced their fingers together. He stood there frozen for a moment, red creeping up his face and steam billowing out of his ears before finally reacting.

"Aaaah," he muttered quietly, crouching down and covering his face with his other hand. "She's too cute."

"Romeo-kun?" Wendy asked worriedly, her hair pooling over her shoulders as she bent over to look at him. He peered up at her between his fingers with red cheeks for a moment before giving in, pulling her down by the back of her neck and causing their lips met in a gentle press of lips that seemed to last forever before he let go and straightened up.

"We should start heading back now," he muttered, guiding her through the crowd with their connected hands.

"U-Un," Wendy agreed, her hair covering her face as she lifted fingers to her quivering lips.

They were both completely red.

Unable to look at each other, they missed the ring on Wendy's right hand shine a warm blue and the glowing lines making their way over both mages' skin.

Gray looked around the guild instinctively when he entered, sighing when nothing happened before heading to a table. He noticed Lucy and some other girls crowding around a table with the three dragon slayers and laughing but couldn't spot a flash of blue amidst all of them. Resting his head on his palm, he closed his eyes with a sigh, opening them to see the person he had been looking for right in front of me. He jumped out of his chair, unconsciously stripping himself of his shirt.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia asked curiously, cocking her head at him.

"Jeez, Juvia, don't scare people like that," he exclaimed, settling back down in his chair before adding, "what do you want?"

Juvia beamed and squirmed in embarrassment, her cheeks pink.

"Well, J-Juvia just wanted to tell Gray-sama something," she whispered bashfully before straightening up with a determined expression on her face and startling Gray when he leaned closer to hear her. "Juvia wants Gray-sama to know that Juvia won't give up on him and Juvia will do her best so that Gray-sama will start to like her!"

And with that, she swooped forward and planted a kiss on his cheek with her eyes wired shut before shooting off. Gray sat there, eyes wide and chin slipping off his palm before he hit the table, arms blocking his face.

"This girl," he muttered, a light pink gracing his cheek as he peeked over his arm to watch her run off. His cheeks darkened as he remembered the soft lips that graced his cheek and he groaned, stuffing his face into his arms once more.

"You're going to have to tell her one day," Erza informed somewhat amusedly behind him, chuckling when he moaned.

"I know," he muttered, glancing at the red head before his eyes once more flickered to the blue-haired girl across the guild. "I will. Soon."

"You better," Erza said with a grin, smacking his head lightly, "or she'll be the death of you."

"She really will," he muttered under his breath before slumping, ignoring Erza's resulting laugh. "If this keeps up, I may not have the strength to act normal anymore."

Even so, he chuckled, fingertips grazing the spot where the blue-haired girl had kissed him.

"She'll do her best, huh? I'm looking forward to it," he whispered with a grin.

DID IT MAKE UP FOR MY CRAPPINESS OR NO BECAUSE THEN I NEED A NEW PLAN

I'M SOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRYYYYYYY

(#TT^TT#)

Oh, and for the word Ïrâ, I basically just took the latin version on rage and changed the letters into symbols to make it look better. It's pronounced e-ra, like kira without the k.

~ForeverBlackSun

Published 8/18/2014