Crystal: Well I'm finally back after I don't know how long. I'm sorry for the delay, but I tried making this chapter a bit longer than the others. So here it is!

Too Soon

Magnolia was usually a noisy place in itself. The streets were usually full of cars and the sidewalks, of people rushing by excitedly, chattering about, aimlessly, of their normal lives. However, in a cafe nearby, a silver head was seated by herself, a cup of tea resting atop the glass table she rested her elbows on. Her face was contorted in anger as she impatiently tapped her foot as she waited for someone to arrive. Her fingernails tapped at the glass of the black table as her eyes surveyed the crowd in the shop.

She sighed as she took a sip of her green tea and lightly drank it. She couldn´t enjoy it as she felt herself remembering why she was angry in the first place. She didn't even understand how she could be so angry despite the situation having no effect on her, personally. Soon enough she heard the bell to the small shop´s door ring as she looked to find someone she recognized make their way inside. That someone shuffled their way towards her. Off the bat, she noticed the blonde hair under the white beanie he wore and the shades concealing the male´s face. She glared heavily as he sat and sighed.

"Yuki", he began to say cautiously as he called her name, but she felt her eye twitch as she finally let herself snap.

"Are you an idiot, Sting?!" Yukino yelled at the top of her lungs standing and catching the eye of many of the people who wanted to just enjoy their beverage and had to deal with the undesired noise. Sting looked at them apologetically as he also seemed to make sure they hadn´t figured out his identity. Along with him he had a bag, surely with his clothes for practice, and in his hands held a worn out and slightly dirty soccer ball.

"Yukino, you´re being a bit too loud", Sting muttered holding the ball to his face, but what can he expect after this girl, happened to be his sister´s BESTFRIEND. She must have seen the interview and he knew just by a glance that what he´d just said to her was probably the worst thing to say to her right now.

"Sting…You big idiot! I don´t care if they listen to the truth. How could you?! You seriously fucked up that interview! Do you even realize how your sister looked?! She was devastated! The fear in her eyes broke my heart. She even looked at me as though it was the end. I hope you realize what a stupid choice you made at mentioning her!" The silver head´s face was even bright red in anger as the blonde male seemed to shrink back into his seat.

"Yuki, I…I had to with Natsu-" the blonde tried to make up an excuse for himself, but the silver head was having none of that as she made a motion with her hands for him to zip his lips.

"I wasn´t done! Clearly you don´t have any excuse for your actions. I seriously can´t believe you. How hard was it to wait for the game to express your dislike! I am-" Yukino continued her rant as Sting sighed. By now everyone seemed to be listening intently to their ´lover´s quarrel´as he thought of it that way. He needed her to calm down.

She clearly wasn´t going to give him a chance to speak and nothing he could say would calm her rage. And so as she was still going off about his behavior, he suddenly stood up and grasped her face making her blink in confusion, before he crashed his lips onto hers. Her eyes widened in shock as her eyes closed for a few seconds before she realized where they were. Sting was the first to pull back a cocky smirk on his face as the silver head´s eyes looked away a heavy blush at her cheeks.

"Feel better, babe?" he teased as she pouted heavily.

"Sting, we´re in public, idiot", she muttered embarrassed her anger having gone away and replaced with simple discontent as she sat herself back down, still blushing, as she looked around at the people who giggled at their display.

"Look, Yuki, I understand you´re upset and I didn´t think Lucy would be this upset either. I do feel bad about it", Sting confessed as he straightened back in his chair. He did feel bad especially since Lucy had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the media. "I just had to declare war against Natsu somehow. I´m not letting him put his hand on my sister."

If anything, Yukino rolled her eyes at how ridiculous he sounded. "Sting, I hope you realize how dumb you sounded just now. Natsu, doesn´t know Lucy´s your sister and second, Natsu had nothing to do with Lucy", she deadpanned as he seemed to get quiet suddenly. The silver head´s eyes suddenly widened. "Sting, d-don´t tell me…Did you actually just realize it?" The male only coughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

Yukino was tempted to seriously smack him, but only closed her eyes in frustration. "Anyways, seriously, Sting, you should consider apologizing to Lucy, but first of all talk to her about your issues first of all. I just want you to get along", she muttered. Sting could only remain silent, feeling himself just as troubled if not even more. He always expected that Lucy would accept him once she saw him, but he´d never seen or could ever imagine her act so cold before. He suddenly began to remember their childhood as he looked sadly at the soccer ball in his hands. A gift he had always treasured.

"Big brother!" a young blonde´s voice rang. Sting turned to see his little sister look at him with excited and big brown eyes. She was only a third year middle schooler while he was already in his third year of high school. Said girl ran to hug Sting tightly as the blonde male reciprocated the hug. He looked curiously at a bag that she held in her hands as she giggled at his curiosity. Currently, his father had punished him and had forbidden that he have dinner that night.

Even when his mother had protested, he had yelled at her. Sting in a sudden burst of rage went to throw himself at their father and was beaten. He was banned from being outside and was to be home schooled in the mean time before he was allowed to go back to his school. Lucy had seen the whole thing, her eyes had been watery and as a result Sting accepted his punishment without further protest, to avoid seeing his sister upset.

"I see you have something there. Might that be for me?" he questioned with a grin as Lucy giggled and nodded vigorously and pushed the bag into his hands. The blonde male chuckled as he went to open it; beginning to exaggeratedly pull out the decorative tissues inside to make the younger laugh. His eyes widened suddenly as he paused. He looked to her a shine in his blue eyes as he pulled out a beautiful soccer ball from inside the glossy green bag. It was white with loops colored in black and outlined in a glossy gold color. Upon further examination he noticed that on the bottom of the ball, near the small pore you´d pump in air, was his name in the same gold coloring.

"Lucy, why did…" He began to say as the girl only smiled brightly at him.

"Happy birthday, Sting!" she had chirped as the blonde teen felt his eyes suddenly begin to water. The whole fight with his dad had made him forget that, in fact, today was his birthday. His father hadn´t even bothered to give him a hug or say those same words. Sting could only guess he had forgotten as well. However, he felt as the tears fell down his face because he was extremely happy that Lucy had gifted him something she knew meant so much for him.

"Big bro, don´t cry! I wanted to make you happy! I know you love soccer and I thought this would be good." Lucy gasped as her mood seemed to deflate. A sudden hand on her head had made her look at Sting as he had a gentle smile at his lips. He sniffled slightly as he wiped his tears away.

"I love it. I cried because I´m really happy. Thank you, Lucy. Once I´m done with being grounded, how about the two of us test out the ball together?" he questioned as the blonde girl's eyes seemed to glow in excitement.

"Yeah!"

"I don´t think she´ll ever forgive me, Yuki. I have to go now", Sting suddenly stood up grabbing his bag and tightly holding onto the ball leaving the silver head to look at his departing form.

"Sting", she muttered not finding any words that could possibly comfort him.

xXXx

"Wah! we´re finally here!" Lucy chirped both excited and nervous as she clutched to the arm if the petite blue haired woman she had dragged along. Levy was quite nervous herself but for entirely different reasons.

"L-Lucy, why are you excited about coming to the stadium when you well know that the team is having a private practice! And why are we in disguise?!" Levy hissed as the guards looked at them suspiciously from the gates. Levy pulled at the bonnet she had put on her head and fixed the shades on her face and looked around nervously.

Lucy smiled sheepishly before giving a slight sigh. Levy deserved to know the truth just like Yukino, but for now she wouldn't overwhelm her with too much. "Okay, umm, here's the deal. Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's forward, is actually a friend of mine and today I was invited to his practice", she confessed as Levy's mouth opened in shock. She seemed almost speechless if it weren't for the huge grin spread on her face.

"Don't tell me you're the girl he talked about in the interview and that's why we're wearing disguises?!" Levy squealed. The blonde simply nodded glad that her shades covered her blush. The blunette giggled before she reduced to light snorting.

"Well if it makes you feel better I'm also a soccer fan", the smaller woman grinned. This time it was the blonde's mouth that opened agape in disbelief. Levy had to be pulling her leg, right? She always seemed disinterested. But no, someone disinterested would never accompany her willingly to go buy a jersey or stay to watch a game or even willingly go to the stadium. Had she had disinterest, the moment she learned the truth she would have left.

"You sneaky...Ugh I have a very magical word I'd like to call you right now, but I'm too excited for that", the blonde laughed as her best friend gave her a smug grin.

"Oi, how long will you still have me waiting here?" a male's playful voice called out. Both woman turned to the gates finding Natsu giving them an amused expression. He probably found their disguises ridiculous since they were far warmer that what he had worn on Lucy and his first meeting. Lucy tried not to blush as he pulled Levy along to meet him.

"Hope you don't mind if I brought her along. This is Levy Mcgarden, one of my best friends", the blonde motioned as the pink haired male grinned.

"As long as she's a Fairy Tail fanatic and not a spy for another team I'm fine", he joked teasingly as Levy giggled and pressed at a hand at her heart.

"Well, I would never", she laughed as she stretched her hand to greet him. Although the atmosphere seemed to be going pretty cheerfully, Lucy felt a stinging in her chest at Natsu's previous words. She didn't know why exactly she felt so guilty about hearing him say that, but she guessed it must be because of Sting. She was hiding something so important.

"Lucy!" Levy yelled startling her out of her thoughts. The blonde squeaked slightly as she looked at her best friend confused. "We tried getting your attention for like 5 minutes now. It's hot and I want to take this off. You okay?" the blunette questioned, worry obvious in her tone. Lucy only nodded giving them both a smile.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the chance that I get to see you guys practice is becoming a reality", she half lied as the two people before her smiled. Natsu finally guided them inside after a few more seconds. As always the halls were difficult to get by and it seemed eternal to even get to the main field. It could be assumed that before it always seemed small since it would usually be crowded with fans trying to get their way to their seats.

The echo that permeated the space was beginning to make Lucy even more nervous that she'd soon be in the presence of her favorite team once again. As they finally walked out the large entrance where the teams usually appeared from she smiled widely at the seeing the whole team ardently into their practice. "Uwahhh!" Levy squealed taking the words from Lucy before the blonde could even muster them. Both girls looked at each other before they giggled. Levy seemed more of embarrassed, but she was clearly just excited.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail", Natsu chuckled as if they had just entered a magical place. The blonde rolled her eyes as the pink haired player winked at her. As they got near the field all three of them were startled by an angry voice that began to yell orders.

"Alright! Max get to the net right now! Alright, Natsu and Gray need to practice shooting in. WHERE IS NATSU?!" the female's voice boomed angrily. The blonde glanced at Natsu and was shocked by the heavy gulp he gave as he fidgeted nervously. "NATSUUUU!" the voice boomed once more and even the blue haired woman had to hide behind Lucy feeling as though maybe being there wasn't the best idea.

The pink haired male took no time to pretend he had been doing something the whole time. He jogged away from them as quickly as he could to try and hide behind Gray who began aggressively doing push-ups. It was a sight to see as all of them cowering at this woman's voice. Lucy turned to the feared woman and was shocked to find a stunning scarlet haired beauty walking towards them with a clipboard in hand. Lucy knew her as Fairy Tail's monster coach, Erza Scarlet. It was usually the general manager who would be in charge, but given that Macorav Dreyar recognized the talent of this woman he made sure to have her coach the team. Her trainings were known to work them into exhaustion, but it was her training that got them in top form in every game.

Her brown eyes suddenly fell to Natsu who seemed to pale at her scrutinizing gaze. "Natsu", her voice warned lowly as he licked his lips and stood. "How come you weren't here a few moments ago?" she almost whispered. He seemed to chuckle sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. His eyes fell towards Lucy as they lighted up in relief.

"I was looking for a manager! Yeah…a manager! And uh, my friend Lucy here happens to be really knowledgeable with the way our team works and she'd be great she could even help you overlook our training sessions!" Natsu would squeak out as Erza's eyes suddenly fell on them. The blonde licked her lips as the red haired woman strode her way to them. Her eyes seemed cold before they lighted up.

"I'm so glad Natsu was finally able to get a manager. You already seemed like a very capable person! I am Erza Scarlet," Erza grinned as she stretched her hand out to them. The blonde gave a slight scared look to Natsu before smiling nervously and greeting the red head. Her hand had grasped the blonde's firmly and it was almost painful as the scarlet haired coach shook her hand vigorously.

"Ha ha. It's a pleasure to meet you", Lucy chuckled nervously retreating her aching hand after it was released. She had to restrain from laughing when she saw Levy's face also contorted in pain as she gave Erza a strained smile. The scarlet haired woman smiled brightly once more before her face suddenly turned dark and serious as she directed her venomous smile at the boys.

"Alright, let me remind you that we made quite a few mistakes in the game against Twilight ogre", she spoke firmly as they all seemed to visibly pale.

"I don't think we messed up that bad, Erza…We did win", Gray mumbled, but it had maybe been a little too loud as she turned to give him an irritated look. He certainly had a death wish as she walked towards him. The two girls had to hold back their shock at seeing Gray gulp heavily in fear.

"What was that Gray?" she hummed with an angry tone.

Gray looked around for any help, but everyone just looked at him sympathetically. Erza sighed heavily a she stepped back to look at her clipboard. "Anyways, for your mistakes you will run a set of five laps for every set of practices we do today", she announced. She even dared say it in such a casual manner as the boys seemed ready to drop. Gajeel looked about ready to protest, but Natsu punched him in the arm.

The boys seemed desperate to get out of the situation. Natsu desperately looked for a solution when he spotted Jellal. Everyone simultaneously looked to the blue haired male who blinked in confusion. Once he saw their knowing glances he heavily gulped as Gray ran to pushed him forward towards the scarlet haired woman who was currently lively talking to Lucy.

"What do you want me to do?" Jellal sighed as he pressed his fingers at his temple.

"Dude, she's your girlfriend tell her to…I don't know… cut the intensity of the punishment?" Natsu shrugged but nonetheless, was extremely desperate.

"What are you a wuss, Jellal?" a new voice piped in as a blonde male, one of their mid-fielders, with haired in a spiked fashion approached them.

"Laxus", Jellal muttered in acknowledgement. He sighed heavily looking at Laxus's wide smirk and letting his pride get the best of him as he approached their coach, or in other words, his girlfriend. Erza glanced up at him as he licked his lips, his teammates watching carefully.

"Hey, Erza, you know if I must ask", he said before taking a slight pause.

"What is it?" she mumbled her cheeks slightly tinted red and the team almost thought they had achieved victory against her.

"Well, it's been a while since we've gone out and I was wondering if you'd like dinner tonight, babe?" he questioned and he himself felt shy almost forgetting his purpose. In reality, he had avoided asking her to lower the harsh practice conditions they were about to endure because after all, he just couldn't go against Erza.

"O-Of course… but uh…ALRIGHT! Everyone begin the laps now!" Erza called out nervously and the team member's mood deflated as they released groans. Lucy looked at their distress and decided to intervene as she wouldn't want them to die before their next game.

"Uh, E-Erza…If I may?" Lucy suddenly called out as everyone looked at her suddenly in shock. The red haired woman turned suddenly, her face serious. The blonde wanted to squeak at the intense gaze, but coughed awkwardly as she assorted her thoughts and words that she was going to say.

"Well, I've observed the team for some time and I was thinking that rather than making them run laps wouldn't it be more efficient to group the members based on the skills they lack to strengthen them through different exercises? For example, in the previous game I noticed the mid fielders were lacking a bit of speed, so maybe some conditioning would suit them. The forwards seemed to lack in ball coordination so maybe some passing exercises would work and so on", Lucy explained, suddenly getting into her analysis.

Everyone stared at her in awe as the silence was becoming overwhelming. They all awaited Erza's answer as the red haired coach smiled widely. "That's brilliant Lucy! You will be a great addition to our team. Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Erza grinned as she gave the blonde a thumbs up. Lucy's eyes lightened as she realized that she was now officially a member of the Fairy Tail team staff. Everyone cheered not only to congratulate her, but also for saving them from an imminent death.

She unconsciously found her gaze meeting Natsu who gave her a light smile in approval. Her heart seemed to skip a beat as she felt a slight blush tint her cheeks. For the rest of the afternoon, Lucy helped guide them with the exercises and the score practices. She couldn't help but laugh heartily as Natsu and Gray would break into fights and roll around the dirt of the field. Erza would be on them in seconds as they seemed to transform into the best of friends seconds later. They would look at Lucy with sheepish smiles as she shook her head and nodded.

The day seemed to finally come to an end as they ended the practice with a friendly soccer game. As expected Natsu's team won, not by much, but did so regardless. Levy had seemed to enjoy her time as well even when she found herself clashing with Gajeel, playfully of course, but he seemed to like her as he'd 'baptized' her with the name of 'shrimp'. As the players left to change Natsu pulled at Lucy's wrist as she turned to him curiously.

"We didn't get to talk much today, huh?" he chuckled questioningly as she smiled softly and agreed.

"Yeah, and we almost always talk through text", the blonde inquired as he laughed softly. She could of sworn he was getting embarrassed, but she decided not to comment on it. After an awkward pause, he coughed slightly as if trying to get his throat to work out what her wanted to say.

"This might be too sudden, but uh… I was wondering…if you'd maybe…you know…Like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" he questioned, suddenly looking away from her. The blonde's eyes widened and this time it was her time to feel bashful as she giggled.

"I'd love to…uhhh yeah sure."

It was totally ridiculous how they were acting. Already grown yet still acting like high schoolers. However, Natsu seemed really content with her response as he shot his head back to look at her almost in disbelief. "Really? I mean…uhh…cool. Yeah", he tried to play it cool, but only earned a smack at his arm.

"Stop trying to act cool, idiot", she giggled as she aimed a beautiful smile his way. He seemed to pause to just stare at her. She had such a beautiful smile, of course, now wasn't the time to tell her. He'd just make sure she knew that in his own way. "Great then, tomorrow then?" he winked playfully. She rolled her eyes in response before nodding.

"Yeah, well then. I'll see you tomorrow. Don't think I'll go easy on you because I'm your manager", she winked in response as well. He snorted before a smug grin appeared on his face.

"Tch, I wouldn't expect anything else."

Crystal: Welp this is the end of the chapter! It was a pretty lame way to come back after so long. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter regardless!