Okay. Here goes nothing!

And just so you know; I own nothing. Fairy Tail is Hiro Mashima-sensei's creation! I'm just borrowing his characters to fit my own storyline. So. Yeah, hope you like it!

Mirajane giggled at the distraught blonde sprawled across her bar. Lucy Heartfilia was a joy to have around, that's for sure. Before Lisanna's return, she'd been a bright bubble to mend a few of the still opened wounds, but even after the youngest white-haired sibling had returned from her sojourn in Edolas, Lucy was a great addition to Fairy Tail. The barmaid discovered that she found it hard to even imagine the guild without either of them; Lucy or Lisanna. Mira loved Lisanna and had missed her desperately, so it was only natural that she be ecstatic to have her sister alive and well and back in their midst, but Lucy seemed like a little sister now, too. It didn't hurt that the girls got along marvelously well, Lisanna giving the blonde pointers on how to handle Natsu at times and teasingly cajoling her about her not-so-subtle crush on the flame-brained dragon slayer.

The oldest of the take-over mage siblings enjoyed watching the interactions of her sister and almost-sister. The way Lisanna teased Lucy made it clear that she didn't like Natsu as more than a friend, and the glances that she cast toward a certain member of the Raijinshuu only confirmed Mira's suspicions. Though Mirajane did think her younger sister could do better than Bixlow, she didn't condemn Lisanna for her choice, because she could also do much, much worse than him.

Besides, she didn't really have room to reprimand her sister for choices in men.

She hadn't fallen for the one who had made all of them fight each other when Laxus had attempted to forcefully take over the guild; Lisanna hadn't fallen for Fried Justine.

And really, Mira couldn't condemn him for the things he'd done in the past, because she could still remember her days as the 'Demon' Mirajane. Perhaps her crimes hadn't been as bad as his–in fact, her only crime was being like the Gray to Erza's Natsu. Or, in simpler terms, she had been Erza's rival. Certainly, there was no shame in that, but for the new, gentle Mira, it was only natural that she be ashamed of her former personality. She was changed now, and she wasn't going to let herself completely return to her old self. Only in times of dire need would she allow herself to take on her Satan Soul form. It was a sort of repentance, and had been since she and Elfman and the entire guild had thought that Lisanna had been lost. Until the Laxus incident, when she had fought Fried (prior to falling for him, in fact), she had been actually unable to delve into her power. Only when her precious family was threatened did she break through whatever barrier had been there, and even after that she was able to control herself and failed to strike a fatal blow.

She had control of herself. It had been crumbling upon an increasingly unstable foundation after Lisanna had faded away, trickling to the Edolas side without her siblings' knowledge. But now Mirajane had control. Her little sister was back, and the guild was unthreatened. She could breathe easier for the time being.

Mira turned to the blonde, still sprawled on the shiny, freshly polished countertop.

"Is something wrong, Lucy?" she asked in her sweet tone, smiling at the disheveled individual. The celestial mage groaned and lifted her head in order to peer through chocolate eyes at the older woman. There were bags under the brown orbs, and the girl in question sighed exasperatedly.

"What am I supposed to do with him?" Lucy nearly whined. There was only one person the blonde ever complained like this about, and it was her partner (and crush, though she denied it), Natsu Dragneel. Mira cast a glance at Lisanna, who sat nearby, and the two shared an all-knowing grin at the poor girl's expense.

"You're not used to it yet?" Lisanna asked, sliding over to sit by her blonde friend. "You told me yourself that he's been sneaking in through your window for over a year in the middle of the night, and you still lose sleep over it? Jeez, Lucy. This is Fairy Tail, remember? You've got to learn to be a lot more adaptable than that."

"I'm used to it!" Lucy waved her hands in the air, agitatedly. "Trust me. I'm so used to it that sometimes I don't even wake up when he sneaks in anymore, which could be bad if it were really some sort of burglar sometime! No, it's when he comes to me in the middle of the night and begs for three hours. For what? For a job. No matter what I tell him, he won't give up until the morning, so he keeps me awake all night until he can grab me and drag me here to pick a mission. He talks all night, so I hardly get any sleep, and then pulls me here, only to decide that he's not interested in the requests available!"

Lisanna snorted in an unladylike manner, and Mira hid the giggle behind her hand as she picked up a glass to clean with her handy towel. Really, that girl had such an adorable angry face that Mirajane had no idea how the dragon slayer had resisted so long. It was obvious to almost everyone in the guild but the two people in question that they were meant for each other. All that was left was for them to realize it themselves, which could take a while, with as dense as they are to each other's feelings.

"Tell him you won't go on the jobs with him unless he lets you sleep," Lisanna suggested with a shrug. "Won't that work? Or have you tried it?"

"I thought if I said that he'd whine and complain and still keep me awake," the blonde replied pathetically, resting her chin lethargically on her palm. The two white-haired sisters both laughed, Mira's a bell-like sound that attracted green eyes from across the guild without her knowledge. It was often that her blue eyes trailed in his direction, but they didn't ever meet his gaze.

It was kind of comical how often they glanced at each other yet never made eye contact.

"Try it sometime," Lisanna suggested.

"You never know until you try," the older one agreed, smiling angelically at Lucy. "Besides, did you ever think that maybe he just wants to keep you as close as he can? You're his best friend and his partner, Lucy. Not to mention he might like you."

"No!" Lucy shot up so quickly that she made herself dizzy, but pointed an accusing finger at Mirajane. "Don't you dare start that again!"

Lisanna, who had heard all about the, "Don't you think Natsu might like you?" incident that her older sister had provoked, shoved her fist against her mouth to stifle her laughter. It was funny from even a friend's point of view. Just how oblivious could the two of them be?

"But, Lucy!" Mira frowned, pulling up her pouting face that got a lot of people. Her lower lip was stuck out in an endearing manner, and she widened her eyes to have that bright, innocent sort of look. "It's true! I think Natsu likes you!"

The blonde vigorously shook her head, not noticing her tormenter's younger sister trying hard not to fall off of a nearby stool. Mira got some sort of pleasure from causing this kind of reaction. Maybe it was mean, perhaps a little cruel, but it was just so fun to play with the celestial mage's mind in this manner. A matchmaker at heart, Mira also couldn't just dismiss Lucy's denial. No, she had to attempt to make the girl see sense and understand just how much her hotheaded nakama really meant to her.

Lucy made an excuse and fled, and Lisanna finally laughed out loud again.

"Was that really necessary, Sis?" she asked when she was able to breathe.

Widening her eyes innocently and blinking, Mirajane asked, "What did I do?"

As she said this, her eyes strayed back to the green-haired man of her affections, and not for the first time, she just wanted to tell him. Tell him how she felt. But she returned her attention to her giggling sister and brought out another of her gentle smiles, shoving the urge to confess aside. She was an adult, and she would have time for such silly things some other time.

At the sound of Mirajane's laugh, the green-haired Fried Justine immediately turned his attention towards her. Just by her body language, and how the blonde girl in front of her was reacting, he could automatically tell that Mira was going into matchmaker mode, and felt pity for Lucy. Lisanna wasn't helping her friend, merely laughing and trying to stifle the sounds as her older sister teased the unsuspecting celestial mage.

Fried had to admit that this devious side of Mirajane was rather attractive in his eyes.

The leader of the Raijinshuu knew that he had done many things wrong in the past, like blindly following Laxus when he should have listened to what his own heart told him to do. He hadn't felt right when he was forcing all of the Fairy Tail family to fight each other, but he, as well as Evergreen and Bixlow, all looked up to Laxus. They didn't dare defy him, and the others didn't seem to regret it as much as he did, but Fried would never forget. He'd never forget the pure rage he'd witnessed Mira show when she'd defeated him.

His life had been in her hands, and she'd given it back to him.

All along he had known that Mira was too gentle to kill someone, and it was practically an unspoken and unwritten rule in Fairy Tail that they didn't take lives, but he had really feared for his own in that instant. When she bore down on him, angry beyond his comprehension, he'd seen the 'Demon' Mirajane, and it was thanks to this sight that he was once more fully aware of what it meant to be part of the family. Since that fateful encounter, he'd done his utmost to atone for his mistakes, all the while with that nagging feeling pulling at the back of his mind, on his heart. He didn't want to admit it. Fried wanted to be able to deny this feeling like Lucy denied hers, but he couldn't.

Yes, Fried Justine had fallen for the Demon.

"You really need to stop staring, y'know?"

"Stop staring!"

"Stop staring!"

"Y'know?"

"You really need to!"

"Stop staring!"

Bixlow had spoken, and his five seith dolls had chosen which lines to repeat. It was enough to pull the green eyes away from the white-haired woman and turn them on the mage in question, raising an eyebrow.

As though he hadn't been staring at all, Fried asked his teammate, "Did you say something?"

Evergreen just snorted and replied, "You know exactly what they said. And they're right, you know. You're just as obvious as Lucy and Natsu are!"

It would be lying if Fried said he hadn't been afraid of that fact. But being who he was, the young man kept his composure and idly tilted back his drink. The light liquor caused a gentle burning sensation, and he appreciated it. He savored the rare occasions when he drank, unlike the card mage who could be seen sitting on a table near the bar and chugging down a barrel of beer like there was no tomorrow.

"Don't pretend you can't hear us," Bixlow guffawed, and Fried knew that the other man in the Raijinshuu had already had a bit too much to drink. His five 'babies' mimicked his entire sentence this time, and the green-haired man kind of wanted to trap the lot of them in a soundproof barrier, so that he didn't need to deal with this.

"Fried," Evergreen's voice was low, almost deadly. "Don't ignore us when we're talking to you. Admit it; you're drooling over her."

"Drooling?" Fried once more arched an eyebrow, keeping every other part of his expression neutral. "I'm not drooling over anything, Ever. I'm merely admiring a charming example of human nature and beauty."

Bixlow snorted, but said, "At least you're admitting that you were staring at her."

"You were staring at her!" sounded out five additional times. The enamored male pretended that he couldn't hear them, and was immensely thankful that there was no one else in their general vicinity (though he did figure that Gajeel, the closest person, could hear the conversation because of his dragon slayer senses).

Without noticing, his eyes drifted back and admired the cheerful smile on the white-haired woman's face as she joyfully conversed with her little sister. Most likely, Fried thought with a smile, they were discussing the blonde who had fled the girls moments prior. Perhaps they were even plotting out ways to drive the fire dragon slayer and the celestial mage closer together, because everyone knew Mirajane's matchmaking tendencies. Most of the guild suspected Lisanna of being the mastermind matchmaker behind Gray and Juvia's blossoming romance, and behind Erza's sudden visit to the cell of her childhood friend, Jellal. Fried was one of those who did suspect her, and for good reason. All one had to do was look at how similar the younger girl and her older sister were acting as they watched Lucy go over to sit with Erza, Gray, Happy, Juvia, Wendy, Charle, and Natsu.

"We can't get through to him," Evergreen said exasperatedly, throwing her hands up. "Fried, just grow a pair and tell her already!"

She stood up and grabbed Bixlow, stalking away. Fried gaped like a fish out of water after them, not expecting Evergreen to just come out and say something like that. Once he realized the state of his wide open mouth, though, he snapped it closed and returned to enjoying his drink.

He couldn't just come out and tell her…could he?

Okay. Updates may be kind of slow; I've got two NaLu fics going that I focus more on. But I was at a minor standstill for one of them and decided to start this.

Like it? Don't? Why don't you tell me? R&R if you feel like it.

And yes, the first chapter is kind of dry. I apologize.