Okay – here it is. The Final Chapter of Shooting The Breeze. Sorry it took me so long to get out, but the sweeter parts of it fought me.

I feel I must apologize for the Lord of Dance reference. I couldn't stop myself. Expect to see a lot of references to it in my all my fics. Especially the RoLu ones.

I have to say, you've all been amazing. I love each and every one of your reviews. And the sheer number… it just blows me away.

Special thanks go to Chrys Stone, for helping me with the fluffy scenes! And ChaoticDucky, for the humorous ones.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Lucy bit her lip as she walked beside the canal, not trusting herself to balance correctly on the ledge while she felt so light-headed.

Something must be wrong with her. It was the only explanation. For so many things.

Why else would she willingly play Mirajane's match-making game, have a conversation with her future murderer, comfort said eventual homicidal maniac, and escort him back to her apartment to hatch a revenge plot?

Also, she still had not let go of his hand. And she was very much aware of this fact.

When Lucy had initially extended it to him, her plan consisted only of helping the taciturn Sabertooth Mage to his feet. Well that plan was shot. Because she had just sort of… failed to let go. In large part due to the fact that she didn't want to. The way his long, calloused fingers wrapped around her own was warm but not stifling. His grip was gentle, as if he were hesitant and disbelieving that she would even want to hold his hand.

Actually, judging by the way he'd reacted when she comforted him earlier, it was very likely the case.

Lucy didn't hate this practically-a-stranger's touch. Not at all.

Her heart was jumping around like Happy on a bad batch of catnip. Breathing was becoming rapidly more difficult as she tried to keep her thoughts on a platonic line. This was proving more of a challenge than she'd anticipated. In addition, Rogue was a Dragon Slayer, so there was no way he hadn't heard her erratic heartbeat and labored breathing. This filled her with even more mortification.

Dropping the appendage was not an option however.

Because first of all… Rogue hadn't exactly let go of her hand, either.

Or was he just being polite?

It didn't help that she had no frame of reference to work with, here! The only other hand-holding she'd ever done was with her mother and father as a child, or with her teammates. And the latter usually occurred while they dragged her off on yet another harebrained adventure to rescue someone in dire straits or save the world through sheer reckless endeavors that resulted in most of her clothes getting torn off. (She was beginning to suspect that was the criteria with which they selected missions.)

So Lucy had no way of knowing what was going through Rogue's head. It would help if he had some sort of facial expression, but alas… that would be asking too much. His prior display of emotion must have maxed out his quota for the month.

And again… he still hadn't let go. Not even after that awkward question about webbed toes – which quite frankly had needed to be asked. Thankfully he had let that go after a vague comment about "Mirajane" and "a game of 20 Men Questions".

In fact, he might have tightened his grip when the boatmen called out a greeting to her (incredulous that she wasn't tempting fate on the canal ledge).

Unfortunately, the walk to her apartment was not long enough for Lucy to arrive at any solid conclusions about what she was feeling and what he was thinking.

With great reluctance (that she would analyze later when the handsome man wasn't staring at her) she finally released her hold on him to fumble for her apartment building's key. Turning it in the lock, she gestured for him to go inside. Quiet, internal rejoicing occurred when he used the doormat for its intended purpose of wiping his shoes before entering (instead of, say… as a hat. Or as something to beat Gray/Natsu with. Or as a place to leave small dead presents for her – sometimes she wished that the blue cat's affection involved fewer decapitated treasures in her doorway. Oh happy days and Happy days).

Shutting the door behind her, she resumed her purposeful stride to her actual apartment. Opening that door as well, she froze in the entryway.

Apparently Happy had decided to leave her a token of his affection just inside her apartment. The… gift… was staring her in the face (literally, with its dead, glassy eyes) and she bit back a groan. There was really no way to tell what it had once been after it had reached this stage of decomposition. How long had Happy held onto it before deciding to re-gift it to her? And had that stupid cat just lain in wait until she left her apartment to leave it for her to find when she returned?

Great. Now Rogue would think she lived with animal corpses strewn about. Honestly, with the increasing frequency of Happy's presents, it wouldn't be that far off of an assumption.

"Frosch does that, too."

Lucy nearly jumped at the Shadow Dragon Slayer's voice next to her ear.

Amused by her reaction, he gave the dead… something… a pointed glance. "Exceeds generally only do this when they truly love a person. I've never heard of or seen one do it for a human that wasn't their partner."

Laughing, Lucy stepped over the disemboweled carcass – given that it was the size of her forearm this was a little more difficult than it would seem. "I guess I should feel honored, then? Pretty sure he half does it just to mess with me. I'll clean it up – go ahead and take a seat somewhere?" After a moment's pause, she added, "And would you like some tea?"

"Yes, if it's not a bother." Rogue took a seat at the table, glancing around the room while Lucy dealt with her Exceed friend's offering. It was a tiny studio apartment, and bedecked in enough pink to offend, although it suited Lucy, somehow. The writing desk in the corner caught his attention, but he knew better than to approach it. Digging through her things without her permission would be beyond rude, and he was already hampered by what was quite possibly the worst first impression ever in the history of Earthland.

The only real downside of the quaint, comfortable apartment was how Natsu's smell permeated the space. Were the offerings left by the blue Exceed meant for Natsu, his actual partner, instead of Lucy? Was Natsu more than just friend and teammate to the blonde?

That didn't sit well with the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Especially when the she-demon's little sister Lisanna, whom he had met briefly at the GMG's after party, smelt so strongly of the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Shaking it off for now, Rogue let his gaze drift around the room some more, taking note of all the framed photographs on the walls and tables. There was one in particular sitting right in front of him, actually.

Within the photograph, Lucy and the Sky Dragon Slayer Wendy were the most prominent figures. The closest to whomever was taking it, the pair had their arms wrapped around each other, grinning widely as if no evil could ever reach them. Natsu also beamed at the photograph taker just behind them, along with his Exceed partner, Happy, and Wendy's partner, Carla. In the background, Gray – not wearing much of anything – looked on at the other members of Team Natsu fondly along with Erza in her customary armor.

Simple though it was, the photograph radiated such joy that the word was rendered insufficient as a description.

It was as if they were a true family.

Although Sabertooth wasn't anywhere near Fairy Tail's level yet, Rogue hoped that someday they would be able to take such photographs themselves – where jubilance could still leap from the image years after it had been taken.

Rogue also very much wanted one with him, Lucy, and Frosch that looked like this.

"That's the day Wendy joined the guild!" Lucy said, standing next to his chair with the tea she'd prepared.

He regarded her calmly with one crimson eye. "I see."

She pouted a little, placing the tea setting in front of her guest. "Darn it. I was hoping to startle you, like you did to me. Twice."

"Keep practicing," he surprised her by advising.

Giggling, she didn't round the table to sit across from him like he'd expected her to. Instead, she placed her own tea on the placemat next to his and pulled out the chair next to him. "Be prepared, then! I will succeed in surprising you someday!"

Rogue allowed a wry smile to appear upon his face. Oh if only she knew… he was still trying to recover from the shock her forgiveness had brought upon him. It was going to take quite a bit before anything else could begin to compare.

Lucy was pleased by the minute expression. She felt like she was finally getting somewhere with Rogue.

Where that somewhere was she would think about later. Yeah… much, much later.

"So!" she announced, rubbing her hands together in glee. "Here's my plan for Mirajane and Sting…"

Once Lucy was finished explaining the details of her plan to Rogue, he propped his elbow on the table and held in chin in thought.

Under his cool regard, Lucy fidgeted. To distract herself, she sipped her long cold tea. Neither of them had consumed much of the liquid, she realized. She hoped that was a good sign.

"I like it," he finally announced. A full-blown smirk crept across his face, causing Lucy to stare outright at him. "It's simple, and effective at communicating our irritation at their meddling. However, I would suggest we change the part where…"

Together, the pair leaned in close while they discussed their plan.

Both of them steadfastly refusing to acknowledge just how much the close proximity made their hearts soar. Or how, when the plan was complete, they lingered there, just talking and enjoying each others company for hours.

It was completely dark out when Rogue returned to his guild.

Sting, who had been rather worried for his friend's fragile state of mind when he had departed that afternoon, cautiously approached the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Hopefully, now that Rogue had had time to process the whole Future Rogue revelation (that Sting had played off as intentional to Mirajane… though it totally hadn't been) maybe he wouldn't be angry enough over the broadcasting-the-embarrassing-conversation-over-the-intercom thing to murder Sting in cold blood?

However, Sting froze in his tracks upon spotting the self-satisfied smirk on Rogue's face.

Rogue was displaying a facial expression. That was rarely a good sign for Sting – especially when it was a smirk.

The White Dragon Slayer fully expected to die for his sins.

So he was rather shocked, again, when Rogue brushed by him nonchalantly. "I forgot something in the office."

Sting blinked, standing in the middle of the guildhall, feeling like a moron. What had just happened?

Okay so… he wasn't angry at Sting anymore? And he hadn't gone Future Rogue on them either. The blonde Dragon Slayer was having difficulties understanding what was going on. If his friend hadn't decided to murder him, why the smugness?

Was Rogue just… deferring Sting's eventual homicide until there were no witnesses around and he wouldn't be the most obvious suspect? Or was he plotting something else? Like Sting's downfall?

It wasn't until Rogue had passed him by for the second time that Sting caught it.

A stupid grin spread across the young Guild Master's face.

Rogue smelled faintly of Blondie.

That sneaky bastard had gone to Magnolia, and met with the girl! And it had been a good encounter too, by all appearances.

Now there was the initiative that led to an almost successful attempt at world domination! With none of the homicidal tendencies that led to Sting's demise!

He couldn't wait to tell Mirajane!

The pair of them, without a doubt, made the best matchmaking duo in Fiore!

Also, in Sting's mind, they'd singlehandedly averted worldwide disaster. Because Rogue plus a girlfriend equaled no time for world takeover attempts and happy Rogue would not kill Sting on a whim.

Mirajane and Sting had just saved the world. Through matchmaking.

A little gloating was in order, he felt.

It had been over a week since Lucy had colluded with her dark Sabertooth friend. And today was finally the day they could implement their plan.

It could not come soon enough. Not because Lucy wanted to see Rogue again, no. It was because Mirajane had become even more insufferable than usual over the interval. Vindicated by her apparent success in matchmaking, she had been pestering her blonde guild mate incessantly about babies with blonde hair and red eyes (admittedly, that would be adorable). How Mirajane found out Rogue had met with Lucy was at present a mystery… since Mirajane was too twitter pated to give the blonde a concise answer. But not so much that Lucy could escape being interrogated at every turn about whether or not Lucy wanted to get married at the guild or at Kardia Cathedral. Because the Master would be happy to perform the ceremony at the guild, while the Archbishop of Zentopia would be more than willing to do the honors at the Cathedral.

In fact, Mirajane had been so bloody persistent about it, that the rest of the guild was beginning to join in on the teasing. Hell, even Vijeeter had come up to her and said something about shipping RoLu, which is what Mirajane had taken to calling them.

Natsu, on the other hand, was being a gentleman about the fact that, when he'd snuck into it later, her apartment had smelled like a certain Shadow Dragon Slayer. He hadn't said much at all about it, really. Only asking if she was okay and if Rogue had mentioned when Sting was next stopping by the guild so they could have a rematch. Happy had made a comment about Lucy liiiiiiiiking Rogue, and then presented her with a rotting fish. Maybe that's where Mirajane acquired her information. She should've kicked the cat out the window when the opportunity had presented itself.

Lucy wondered when Sting and Rogue would arrive. Enlisting the assistance of Master Makarov had been a brilliant idea, she thought. All it took to secure his cooperation was her explaining that Sting needed to be punished for breaking a promise. She'd said nothing about Mirajane, however. Makarov was only too willing to help his favorite Celestial Mage make a fool out of the young upstart Guild Master, but if he'd known that Mirajane would share in the punishment he would have put a stop to it immediately. There was no way he would ever incur the wrath of the Take Over Mage on purpose.

But an invite sent to Sabertooth to party with the high chance of Sting getting humiliated? That he could manage.

Everyone else was pretty excited about their rival guild coming to visit. Gray and Rufus had apparently hit it off during the GMG's after party. Natsu wanted to fight Sting (no surprise there). The Strauss sisters were looking forward to talking to Yukino, whom they had all but officially adopted into the family. The Exceeds loved Lector and Frosch as if they were a part of Fairy Tail (well, Happy had a bit of jealous streak that appeared whenever Lector got too close to Carla but that happened with Pantherlily, too). Gajeel was planning to bug Rogue incessantly about his name change. Lastly, Orga had surprisingly developed an odd, antagonistic friendship with Laxus.

It was hard for Lucy to contain her own enthusiasm, a small wrapped package sitting in her lap. Ready to be presented to two meddlesome mages. Half afraid that she would drop it, Lucy placed it on the counter beside her.

When the doors flung open so hard they smacked into the walls, Lucy knew that victim number one had arrived.

Which meant that her co-conspirator wasn't far behind.

"Yo! Fairy Tail!" Sting shouted cheerfully, having kicked open the doors in a way eerily reminiscent of his former idol, Natsu. "We've come to teach you how to really party!"

"Sting-kun is the best at partying!" Lector cheered.

Yukino followed close on Sting's heels, shaking her head at her Guild Master's antics. "Hello, everyone," the Celestial Mage greeted like a normal person.

She was nearly shoved aside as more mages flooded into the guildhall.

Before Lucy had even opened her mouth to call out a greeting, the party had begun in earnest.

Amongst the commotion, a dark haired man slipped through the crowd to take a seat beside Lucy at the bar. "Good morning," he greeted, for although the booze was starting to flow freely, it was still not yet noon.

Lucy smiled back at him. "How have you been, Rogue?"

"Well. And yourself?"

She grinned, ignoring the little feats of acrobatics her stomach was attempting to pull. "Pretty good. I'm really excited for… you know. Mirajane has been horrible this past week with the teasing, and the rest of the guild has started to join in. I'm more than ready to get a little payback."

Rogue nodded his understanding. "Sabertooth has developed something of a gossip habit, as well."

Lucy sweatdropped. "Kind of seems inevitable with Sting for a Guild Master."

Closing his eyes briefly, Rogue pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation – right over his scar. "Indeed."

"Fro thinks so, too!" a small voice piped up next to them. The small green Exceed standing on the bar countertop waved at Lucy with both costume-clad arms. "Hello, Fairy-san!"

The blonde woman giggled and held out her hand for the adorable Exceed to shake. "Hello. You must be Frosch; Rogue has told me a lot about you. You can just call me Lucy."

"Okay!" the cat agreed, lightly placing its paw into Lucy's hand.

The moment would have remained a nice one… if a naked man hadn't suddenly flown through the air and smashed into the bar behind Lucy.

Lucy, for her part, seemed completely unshocked by this strange occurrence. "Gray," she stated flatly. "Your clothes."

"Shit!" the Ice Make Mage swore, scrambling around to locate his missing articles and inadvertently treating Rogue and Lucy to a show they would rather not have been made privy to.

Rogue covered Frosch's eyes.

A solid object knocked Lucy off her barstool and onto the naked man with a whump. "Luce!" said heavy thing yelled, sitting on the Celestial Mage's now aching back. Beneath her, Gray muttered curses into the floor his face was now plastered to. "I need your help! Tell Stripper that I am too smart!"

"Get off, Natsu," she mumbled into Gray's back, the full effects of the Fire Dragon Slayer's tackle-hug starting to manifest.

"Fro is confused!" the Exceed announced, its eyes still covered.

Rogue couldn't agree more.

Gray must have said something particularly insulting into the floor, for Natsu then shouted, "Say that again to my face, Streaker! Or are you too cowardly to face me?!"

This time Lucy caught Gray's response. "I can't, you Flame Brain! Get your fat ass off me and Lucy!"

"Ah! Sorry, Luce!" Finally climbing off his best friend, Natsu took note of his surroundings for the first time. "Hey, Rogue! Hey, Frosch!"

As Lucy recovered from the blow, she slowly stood up and dusted herself off. When she looked up again, she noticed that the combined members of the two guilds had directed their collective attention towards the scene they had been making.

Including that of the two – very excited – meddlesome matchmakers.

Well. It seemed the confrontation was going to happen a little earlier in the day than Lucy had anticipated. The blonde had assumed Sting would be too busy with his brawl with Natsu, and Mirajane with the doubled number of customers, to bother her or Rogue about their relationship status until after they'd eaten lunch, at least.

Resituating herself on the barstool, Lucy shared a look with Rogue (that Sting and Mirajane no doubt caught and subsequently misinterpreted).

"Lucy!"

"Rogue!"

Lucy held up a hand to forestall the interrogations, just wanting this to be over and done with. …Although, her excitement over getting to see their facial expressions after the prank may have had something to do with it. "Hold on, you guys!"

"Are you two dating?!" the pair asked eagerly, ignoring the calm-down motions she was making with her hands.

"No," Rogue said flatly, as Lucy shook her head. They had also discussed how they were going to deal with this situation, so she wasn't offended by his response. ..Not that she… wanted him to say yes.

"But," Lucy tacked onto Rogue's denial, "we have started talking." She paused. "About quite a few things, and I think we've resolved some issues between us. So, we got you two a little something to show our… deep appreciation for your concern about our relationship."

She was pretty sure Sting and Mirajane only heard the 'deep appreciation' and 'our relationship' parts of that speech. All according to plan.

Smiling sweetly and hopping off the barstool, she presented the small, wrapped box to the pair.

Recognizing that smile for warning that it was, all members of Team Natsu slowly started to back away.

Rogue, knowing what was about to happen, also vacated his barstool. Holding Frosch, he moved to stand beside Lucy who was attempting to put surreptitious distance between herself and the hapless duo.

"We hope you like the gift!" Lucy said. "It's an expression of exactly how we feel about your help."

Mirajane and Sting were too pleased with themselves, and touched at receiving a present from their 'happy couple' that they failed to recognize the danger they were in.

Opening the box, together, they stared at the contents for a moment. Perplexed, they turned their confused stares to Lucy and Rogue.

"It's a box of dirt?" Mirajane inquired, for the first time noting that Lucy and Rogue had put quite a bit of distance between them.

"Oh!" exclaimed Lucy. "Sorry about that. Just add water! Juvia? Would you do the honors?"

Juvia did so reluctantly, sending small stream of water at the box.

It started to shake.

Dropping it, the horrified pair retreated from the object.

Their efforts came too late, however.

Green vines sprouted from the box, surging all around capturing the two matchmakers. Leaves sprouted and buds erupted along the vines, rapidly blooming into large, beautiful…

Fanged, salivating flowers.

Sting and Mirajane both shrieked as the plant's grip on them tightened.

"I think it likes you two!" Lucy called, grinning madly. "You can't kill it, by the way! This species is immune to magical attacks! Also, it's endangered! You'll go to prison if you kill it!"

"You wouldn't believe the permitting process I had to go through," Rogue added.

"What the hell, Blondie?! Rogue?!" Sting shouted trying to free himself as the herbivory drooled on his formerly pristine white-blonde hair.

Lucy dropped her smile and gave them her best deadpan stare – mimicking Rogue's expression. "Weren't you listening? I said that this is a sincere expression of how we feel about your interference in our love lives."

"Broadcasting a coerced conversation about my sexual preferences on the guild's intercom system," Rogue said.

"Breaking a promise to me," Lucy offered.

"Not leaving well enough alone when I told you stop."

"Initiating this in the first place, and like Rogue said… not letting the matter drop."

"Incessant gossiping about my supposedly non-existent love life."

"Telling other guilds what my preferences are."

Rogue finished with, "All in all, you both deserve worse."

Mirajane and Sting attempted to free themselves, the blue-silver blossoms leering down at them as they wiggled free of the entangling vines.

Natsu burst out into laughter. "Haha! They got you, Sting!"

Sting let out a frustrated yelp as teeth narrowly avoided closing on his leg. "You'll pay for this, you guys!"

"Lucy!" Mirajane screeched, trying to hold multiple vines at bay. "Just wait until we get free! We WILL match you!"

Then the plant laughed at them.

Which was as much as of a surprise to Lucy and Rogue as to Mirajane and Sting. They hadn't been aware that this species had vocal cords.

Unconcerned about the threats, Lucy hooked her arm around Rogue's as she watched Sting and Mirajane avoid the snapping jaws of the salivating plant. "This is making me a little hungry. You?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna go get something? Mirajane's too busy to make us anything right now. And even if she did, she might spit in it."

Rogue nodded. "Sounds good to me."

The pair turned to leave, when Sting called out to them. "Where are you two going?!" Breaking free of the monstrous vegetation, the bedraggled Dragon Slayer lurched toward the nearest table out of the reach of the plant's thorn-studded vines. "You… bastards…" he panted. "Can't… just… leave us… with this… thing!"

Lucy and Rogue stared at him blankly. "Of course we can," Lucy replied, her arm still intertwined with Rogue's. "We're going out to lunch."

Mirajane freed herself of the, now cackling, foliage and ungracefully collapsed next to Sting. "Isn't that a date?" she asked weakly, matchmaker instincts still going haywire.

Rogue snorted in amusement, and Lucy laughed at would-be matchmakers. "Of course not!" she said. "We're hungry. I'm single. He's single. We're going to go be single people together, because we don't find each other's company altogether unpleasant. And again, we're hungry. So we're going to go get something to eat."

Sting looked up at Rogue, pleading. "Rogue? Buddy?"

Rolling his eyes, the Shadow Dragon Slayer refused to respond to his friend.

As the pair left, Frosch flying after them, Sting groaned and collapsed to the table's surface and sprawled across it. "Mirajane-dono, they're totally going on a date. So we technically succeeded. Why doesn't this feel like success, though?"

"Maybe because a giant plant tried to eat you?" Natsu suggested.

Droy pointed at the rampaging man-eating shrubbery. "Are you guys going to keep it? If not, I'll take it off your hands."

"Please do," the defeated pair chorused.

They screamed as a vine wrapped around their ankles, dragging the pair from the table and hanging them suspended upside-down in the air.

The rest of the members of the two guilds, including Master Makarov, stared in dumbfounded horror at the plant now situated in the middle of the guildhall. Two of the strongest mages of both guilds desperately tried g to free themselves from it, with little success.

Everyone resolved to stay on Lucy and Rogue's good sides thenceforth. It wasn't worth pissing them off.

Lucy had meant every word she'd said to Mirajane and Sting. She wasn't ready for a relationship. Not even close. Especially not one with someone she barely knew.

But she could acknowledge the potential there.

Rogue was kind, calm, strong, logical… and apparently had just as good a sense of humor as she did. He could even hold an extended conversation with her. Not to mention Lucy was becoming used to the rather curious sensation of being able to feel every single nerve ending in her body when he was nearby.

Lucy decidedly liked having Rogue as a partner in crime. She could definitely see herself possibly falling for the man someday.

Though that day was not today, she wasn't going to waste her time. She'd spend it just getting to know him.

Just shooting the breeze.

Rogue had decided, while she'd held him a week ago, that Lucy was a very special person.

It was only after Lucy had asked that strange question about webbed toes, however, that Rogue realized something.

Although the Shadow Dragon Slayer was aware that something had shifted between him and Lucy, it wasn't until she'd asked her question that he fully understood why that was – and indeed, what it was. To Sting, he had admitted a passing interest in the rival guild's Celestial Mage during that odd interrogation. To himself during that exchange, he had been able to acknowledge that she was damn near perfect in terms of strength, beauty, and brains.

Now he knew that the kindness he'd glimpsed at the Grand Magic Games was nothing next to the well of compassion that actually dwelt within her. Lucy had a sense of humor as well, as displayed not only by the webbed toes question, but by the revenge they'd been able to orchestrate and implement together. But above even those auspicious traits, she was courageous (again only further proven by the aforementioned points). She had faced the gate, and his future self. His current self as well. Minerva. All the horrors thrown her way, she tackled head on. He was mildly envious of her for that – because quite frankly Future Rogue scared the shit out of him. And he had never even met the monster.

Rogue no longer held a passing interest in the gorgeous woman who had made him tea within her apartment, and cheerfully plotted revenge with him against their friends.

What he'd initially told Sting – that he wasn't interested in pursuing a relationship at the moment – still held true. But someday. After he was done with his amends. Even if Lucy had forgiven him, it would still take Rogue some time to be alright with himself.

But once he had?

Only outright rejection would stop him from pursuing his living, guiding star.

In the meantime, he would very much like to be her friend. Lucy had already seen him with his guard down, and he didn't mind if that continued in her presence. He wanted her to have the chance to get to know who he was beyond what fate had doled out as his lot.

Although, to protect his future interest, he may have to give into his more assholish dragon instincts and remove some of the more immediate potential threats to that interest.

Like Natsu. He may smell like the she-demon's little sister, but he was far too clingy for Rogue's peace of mind. Also, his Exceed left Lucy the type of gifts he should have been leaving his partner.

Gray was another – the Ice Make Mage showed all and sundry to the blonde (and the rest of the world) more often than should legally be possible. How had he not been arrested yet?

Things to consider at any rate.

But he had time. Time to get to know Lucy as well as Natsu and Gray already did.

So they would just… shoot the breeze.

For now.

And there it is folks, Shooting The Breeze is now complete. It was a fun run. There may be a sequel someday, but for now this is it.

In the meantime, I've posted a poll on my profile for my next long story. The choices are outlined in detail on my profile, in the section titled, "In The Wings." The poll doesn't close until March 31st. I will start writing the winner in April and posting in May.

Guests on the site: I don't know if the site allows you to vote in polls or not. If not, leave me a review with your choices.