Chapter 6

Walking to the guild with Lucy and Levy was a nice change for Wendy. She didn't usually walk to the guild hall with anyone other than Carla, so having others to talk to made the trip much shorter and more entertaining. Plus, it gave them time to talk about more private matters before they reached the prying ears of their guildmates.

"So, how are you going to tell him?" Lucy asked Levy.

Levy smiled. "I don't know. I want to be alone when I do it, so I'll probably wait until we're both at his place."

"I still really wish I could see his reaction." Lucy complained.

Levy shook her head. "But having everyone at the guild listening won't make it very personal. It's something I need to tell Gajeel alone before making it public. Which reminds me, Wendy. Could you invite Lily to hang out with you and Carla tonight? He'll be the next person I tell after Gajeel, but I really want the moment to be just me and him."

Wendy looked at Carla. The exceed sighed and nodded. Wendy turned back to Levy and smiled. "We'd be happy to invite him over. We can also invite Happy to make it an exceed party night."

"Can you imagine the party when you do tell everyone? It'll be crazy!" Lucy seemed completely focused on Levy revealing her big news. Wendy knew that despite all her complaints she secretly loved Fairy Tail's insane parties that more often than not turned into guild brawls.

"And Gajeel probably won't leave your side, especially considering how crazy Fairy Tail parties can get." Wendy smiled as she said it. It was no secret how protective Gajeel already was of Levy, and her news would no doubt make him even more careful with her.

Levy smiled. "Well I won't complain about that."

"Do you think he'll finally ask you to move in with him?!" Wendy exclaimed. Thinking about it made her excited. Levy was finally going to be starting a family with Gajeel. The first new family to the guild since Bisca and Alzack had Asuka.

Levy smiled shyly and shrugged. "Probably."

Lucy laughed. "I can't imagine he wouldn't. Though I doubt he'll ask as much as he'll demand. You probably won't have much of a choice in it."

Levy frowned, clearly a little frustrated by what Lucy was implying. "He's not that controlling. He'd let me stay in my own place if I wanted."

Wendy smirked. "Yes, but it's not like you'd say no. I know for a fact that you spend more time at his place then at your own."

"I'm sorry," Lucy apologized. "But once Gajeel finds out you're pregnant he'll probably propose and want you to move in with him. I'm surprised you're not already living with him. I mean, look at Juvia."

Levy laughed. "Juvia moved in with Gray as soon as he let her, but she was basically already sleeping over at his place every night. She seemed to only come over to get a change of clothes."

Carla raised her eyebrow. "I thought she seemed to be around less often."

"But what about you?" Levy turned to look at Lucy, her eyebrow raised. "When is Natsu going to move in with you? Or are you going to move into his place?"

Lucy blushed but kept her head up. "Natsu comes over so often it's as if he's already moved in with me. He's just lucky he doesn't have to pay rent on his place since he's never there."

"Then why not make it official?" Levy nudged her friend.

"Because then I'd have to deal with Happy officially living with me. He'd demand to have the fridge fully stocked with fish every day. And of course he'd expect me to pay for it."

"He does seem to really like fish. And thinking about it, Lily has a fondness for kiwis. Do you have a favorite food, Carla?" Levy looked at the Exceed flying along beside them.

Carla huffed. "I am not a picky eater, unlike those two."

Wendy laughed. Carla had food preferences just like anyone, but she certainly wasn't as demanding as Happy seemed to be. She seemed more similar to Pantherlily in that aspect.

The girls reached the guild faster than they'd expected. It was around 10 in the morning when they arrived so there wasn't too big of a crowd in the guild hall yet. Lisanna was working at the bar for her morning shift and smiled at them when they entered. The three ordered some pancakes for breakfast, Carla ordered a bowl of fruit, and they all grabbed an empty table.

It seemed to be only seconds after they sat down that Natsu came through the guild hall doors, Happy trailing behind him. His eyes instantly locked on their table and he jogged over to them. He was smiling like usual, but his smile faded into a worried frown when he reached them.

"Lucy..." he whined. "You weren't at home yesterday. Where'd you go?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I told you yesterday that I was spending the day with Levy. It took a while and I ended up staying the night at her place."

"Did you have to stay over?"

Lucy sighed, clearly frustrated by his clinginess. Levy smiled and decided to answer for her. "I'm sorry Natsu, it's really my fault. We got to talking so late that I didn't want her walking home alone and insisted she stay."

Natsu seemed more satisfied after that. "So what did you two do yesterday?"

Levy looked away at that, avoiding his curious gaze. Lucy shrugged. "Oh just some girl stuff: shopping, talking, all that stuff."

"Then why couldn't I come?"

"I just needed a day with just me and Levy. But I promise, today I'll be all yours."

Natsu grinned and hugged Lucy. She rolled her eyes again but smiled.

They really were a cute couple. Lucy complained and put up a tough front, but she seemed to really like having Natsu around as often as he was. Plus, no matter how silly he acted, she always forgave him instantly.

Happy was tired of being ignored. "How are you today Carla? I brought you a fish." Sure enough, he pulled a fish out of seemingly nowhere.

Carla sighed. "Hello Happy. I am doing fine today. How are you?" She didn't make any move to accept Happy's offered fish.

Happy grinned. "I'm doing great! Me and Natsu did a crazy workout yesterday. We even trained with Gajeel and Lily a bit too! Apparently they were also feeling anxious without Levy around."

Levy blushed and lowered her head, but Wendy could see her smiling to herself.

"Oh, that's right!" Natsu's voice brought Wendy's attention back to him. His arm was still around Lucy, but now he was looking at her. "How have you been, Wendy? Your scent hasn't changed so I'm assuming you're still going through your season."

Lucy elbowed Natsu and he cried out in pain. "Don't bring that up now, idiot."

Wendy smiled slightly. "It's okay Lucy. And I'm doing okay. I went on a job with Romeo yesterday and it went really well."

"Oh, so you went with Salamander's fanboy." Gajeel's voice made them all look up at him.

Levy jumped at his sudden arrival. Wendy couldn't tell if it was just surprise or if she was anxious about telling him her news. Wendy had to crane her neck because he'd come up behind her and was standing over her. She smiled at him as best she could. Lucy and Natsu didn't look surprised so they must have seen him walking towards them. Lily was floating behind him and nodded his greetings.

"Who's 'Natsu's fanboy'?" Lucy asked.

"Romeo," Levy clarified. Lucy still looked confused so Levy continued. "He uses the same magic as Natsu and while we were all on Tenrou Island he seems to have taken up Natsu's style as well."

Natsu grinned. "Because my style's awesome."

Gajeel scoffed, smirking.

Natsu glared at him. "You wanna go? Let's fight!" Gajeel only cracked his knuckles in response.

Lucy pushed Natsu. "Not now. It's too early to be fighting. Let's go find a mission." She got up from the bench and Natsu followed her. She smiled at Levy and Wendy. "I'll see you two later."

As she started towards the mission board Natsu cheered. "All right! Mission time!"

Wendy moved to the now empty bench to let Gajeel sit next to Levy. He nodded his thanks and sat down.

"So how was the mission with Fanboy? Did he try anything?"

Levy frowned, wondering what Gajeel was implying. What did he think Romeo would have tried to do? Did he think that Romeo was capable of forcing himself on her? Romeo wasn't that bad! He was actually one of the nicest guys her age she'd met!

Carla, who was still sitting on the table, stared at Wendy. "He didn't do anything. He was actually quite a gentleman."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "Really? And you were with him all day?"

Levy suddenly exclaimed, "Oh!" and started rummaging around in her bag. She pulled out a notepad and quickly started taking notes.

Wendy frowned, confused, until she remembered Levy and Lucy's request from that morning about a book about dragon slayers. Levy had probably brought the notepad to write down Wendy's answers to various questions she and Lucy had. It also seemed that Gajeel might be in on the questioning since he seemed unaffected by Levy suddenly pulling out a notepad.

Wendy was about to answer Gajeel when Lisanna came up to them with three plates of pancakes. She put plates in front of Levy and Wendy but for the third she looked around. "Where'd Lucy go?"

Levy gestured towards the job board where Natsu was continually pointing at different jobs and Lucy was rejecting them. "Lucy!" She called out.

Lucy turned and noticed Lisanna standing at the table with the food she'd ordered. "Oh, breakfast! I nearly forgot! Thank you Lisanna!" She came back over to the table and sat down next to Wendy to eat. Natsu didn't even seem to notice her leaving, instead continuing to search the board for a job Lucy might approve of.

Lisanna took a food order for Gajeel and Lily before leaving back towards the bar.

Lucy then noticed the notepad Levy had out. "Oh! Are we doing this now?"

Levy didn't respond, too engrossed in the notes she was taking. Gajeel shrugged, stealing a sausage from Levy's plate.

Wendy shrugged as well. "I don't know. Gajeel just asked about my mission with Romeo and Levy started taking notes. I don't know about what though, since I haven't said anything.

Levy finally looked up then. "They're questions I want to ask. Such as, how was Romeo affected yesterday?" She stared at Wendy intently and Wendy suddenly wondered if this is what it felt like to be interrogated.

Wendy took a bite of her food to delay answering. She could feel her face heating up, her embarrassment clear on her face. Avoiding their gazes while she thought of her answer, she looked over at Carla eating her bowl of fruit. The exceed smiled at her encouragingly.

Returning her attention to Levy, Wendy noticed Gajeel had taken the pencil out of Levy's hand and given it and the notepad to Lucy. In response to Levy's protest he simply pushed her plate of food closer to her. She huffed and started eating, given him a look that clearly asked, "Happy?"

Wendy wondered if Levy often forgot to eat.

"Romeo acted, well he acted pretty normal. On the train there we talked about his dad and how we both want to be nominated for the next S-class exam. If only one of us is nominated though, we agreed to be partners. The mission went smoothly. We helped defend a merchant who's been having his goods stolen by a group of local thugs. Well, I guess Romeo really did the defending. All I did was stand there."

Carla decided to chip in then. "Wendy zoned out while Romeo fought the thugs. Come to think of it, Romeo was also kind of aggressive, considering his opponents weren't strong or mages."

Lucy was too busy writing down notes to respond. Levy however looked thoughtful. "What happened right before the fight? Did they just attack or did something happen that might have triggered his aggression?"

"Well we were waiting for them. They walked up to us, told us our client's goods now belonged to them, then Romeo fought them to defend our client."

Carla raised her eyebrow at Wendy. "Their leader had touched Wendy on the arm and stared at her the entire time he was talking. Then Romeo punched him."

Levy's eyes widened and she grinned, excited. "So this guy had focused on you, Wendy. He'd singled you out and paid you special attention. He'd even touched you. So Romeo was reacting to that."

"He was being possessive." Gajeel clarified.

"Well, yes." Levy smiled. She looked ready to continue but paused when she noticed Lucy struggling to keep up with her notes.

Just then Natsu returned with a job poster. "Found the perfect one, Luce! Ready to go?"

She looked up at him and sighed. "Just give me a minute to finish eating, then we can go." She still had quite a lot of food left, having been distracted taking notes while Wendy talked.

Seeing this, Natsu grabbed a pancake and quickly ate it. "Hey!" Lucy protested, but Natsu grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"C'mon Luce!" She couldn't say anything as he pulled her out the door with him, leaving behind her unfinished food.

The other five at the table just watched all this happen. Wendy felt a little bad for Lucy having to get pulled along with Natsu's silly antics and his impatience to get going. It wouldn't hurt to wait a couple more minutes for her to eat. Though, if she were anything like Levy, she'd probably get distracted taking notes if they continued their conversation.

"Kind of like that." Gajeel said.

Wendy looked at him questioningly.

"Being possessive," he clarified. "She wasn't with him or even paying attention to him. He wants to have her to himself."

Wendy's eyes widened. "But Romeo wasn't anything like that yesterday!"

"It's a different form of possessiveness," Levy explained. "Natsu wants Lucy alone to himself. She was with all of us, so he whisked her away to go on a mission with only him. Do you notice how Happy didn't go with them?" Sure enough, when Wendy looked, Happy was flying around the bar chatting with Lisanna. "Instead with Romeo, this other guy was giving you attention and even touching you. Romeo was likely reacting in a 'She's mine. Stay away,' sort of possessiveness. Natsu and Lucy are already mated so he doesn't have to worry about her being won over by another man. However with Romeo, technically any man who looks at you is a threat." No sooner had Levy finished than she was reaching across the table to jot down her speculations on the abandoned notepad.

Wendy gaped. Was all that true? Was Romeo scaring away guys who could potentially be rivals? But, did that mean he was interested in her? He hadn't shown any interest in her as anything other than a friend before. Suddenly, Wendy remembered something from the day before that had worried her.

"Now that you mention it, at the train station when we were leaving, Romeo went to buy the tickets and while Carla and I were waiting for him, a guy came and was talking to me. All he did was talk to me, but when Romeo came back he was very angry and scared the guy away."

Gajeel and Levy both nodded. Levy said, "I'd say that's a perfect example of him scaring away guys who are getting too close to you."

Wendy frowned and looked down at her food. "So then Romeo really is being affected by my season."

Levy reached over and patted her hand. "Because of the way your season and pheromones work, I don't think it's possible for any man near you not to be affected. Some might not be affected as much because they're mated, like Gajeel, or some might be too old, I'm assuming like your client. But there is one good thing we know from all this."

Wendy looked up at her. She had a devious smirk that worried Wendy. "What?"

"We know for sure that Romeo likes you! He wouldn't be trying to scare away rivals if he wasn't interested in you!"

Wendy blushed but didn't say anything. To distract herself, she went back to finishing her breakfast.

Levy smiled and went back to eating. Gajeel had also gotten his food, Wendy hadn't noticed Lisanna deliver it, and he was eating as well.

The awkward silence ended when the guild hall doors opened and more members arrived. It was like a dam had burst and suddenly more and more members were showing up. Some went straight to the board, grabbed a job, and left. Others stayed to eat and socialize. Wendy noticed Juvia and Gray come in and sit at a table. Juvia was all over Gray. You'd think that her clinginess might have subsided once they were officially dating, but it seemed to have only gotten worse.

Levy said something about needing to talk to Juvia, so she got up and went over to join them at their table. Wendy assumed Gajeel would follow her, but he just watched as she left.

Lily offered to take all the empty dishes back to the kitchen, leaving Gajeel, Wendy, and Carla alone at the table.

"Aren't you going to go with Levy?"

Gajeel looked at her. "She'll be back. Plus I wanted to talk to you."

Wendy frowned. "About what?"

"I know how overwhelming going through all this can be so I wanted to remind you that I'm here if you need help. Plus, the Shrimp seems to want to help too, what with her research thing. If you need help, advice, or just someone who might kind of get it, feel free to ask."

Wendy smiled. "Thanks, Gajeel. I'll keep that in mind." Gajeel was such a nice guy. Before she'd joined Fairy Tail, she had heard all the rumors about the scary Black Steel Gajeel and had actually been afraid to meet him. However, he'd never treated her with anything other than kindness. At times, he also seemed to act more like he was her older brother rather than just a guildmate.

Carla smiled slightly as well. Wendy knew that even she couldn't find fault in Gajeel's offer to help her.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you Gajeel." Lily was floating back over to them and his smirk was easy to hear in his voice.

"Shut it, cat."

"Oh! I just remembered!" Wendy exclaimed. "Lily would you like to come over to my and Carla's place this afternoon? Carla wanted to have a get together and I decided to make it into an exceed party! I'll invite Happy in a bit."

Lily lifted an eyebrow. "Sure. Sounds fun."

Wendy looked back to Gajeel. He was staring at her, a confused look on his face. "Sorry Gajeel. No guys allowed at Fairy Hills."

He nodded but still looked at her suspiciously.

Levy returned then. "Sorry, I needed to ask Juvia about a book she borrowed from me. What'd I miss?"

"Wendy's throwing a cat party." Gajeel huffed.

Levy smiled. "That sounds so fun!"

"Why the sudden desire for a party?" Gajeel asked.

Carla shrugged. "I wanted to discuss how the other Exceed are doing. Happy and Lily don't visit them as often as Wendy and I do. And besides, Happy will be lonely without Natsu around."

Levy nodded. "That sounds like a good idea."

Wendy smiled and looked around for Happy. They'd have to invite him soon, or he might make other plans. She looked towards the bar, but it appeared that Happy had wandered somewhere else. She glanced around, hoping to see the flying blue cat somewhere. Instead, she saw Romeo entering the guild hall with his Dad. Suddenly overcome with embarrassment, Wendy quickly looked back down at the table.

After talking with Levy and Gajeel, it was clear her pheromones really were affecting Romeo. How could she face him knowing this? How could she talk to him without thinking what he said was because of her pheromones? She just couldn't think about all that right now. It was too much too soon.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Wendy could see Carla glancing between Wendy and Romeo. "Hey Lily, could you invite Happy for us? I just remembered we need to go buy groceries and clean up before having guests over."

Wendy looked up and put on the most believable fake smile she could. She could see Lily nodding in response. "Thanks Lily."

She and Carla got up from the table and hurried out of the hall. As they passed Romeo, he smiled and greeted them. Wendy smiled and waved at him on their way out. It was only once she was out of the guild hall and no one except Carla was around that she let her smile fall.

Wendy turned to her best friend and asked, "What am I going to do?"