Ah. Hello there! This is the first fanfiction I have ever written in about six months so it probably isn't that good compared to other Womeo fics you have read. I tried though and I was determined to post at least one more fic before school starts for me, which is unfortunately on September 4th. Anyway. As the title and summary says, this story is about the three times Wendy made Romeo smile a genuine smile.

But yes, hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except for Rony and the group of bullies.

The Three Times He Smiled

by two different tears

i.

The first time he smiled was when she comforted him after he was bullied by his 'friends', again.

oOo

Romeo stared at the second hand, ticking away. He couldn't wait for school to end.

Ever since the incident concerning his father's rescue from Mount Hakobe and with his so-called 'friends', he had moved to another school in Magnolia. When he had arrived at the new school, they were, of course, curious at the new kid and had bombarded him with a bunch of questions. The only questions that he had remembered were, "Who are you?" and "And what's your dad's occupation?"

"I'm Romeo Conbolt! And my dad is a mage!" was what he had proudly said to the kids and teachers, chest puffed out in pride.

That was it. After announcing that to the public, he was immediately swarmed with friends because he had a wizard for a father. Everyone thought he was cool – of course until he told everyone his father's name and the guild he was in: Macao Conbolt of Fairy Tail

"Who?" had been everyone's reaction to it. Of course, when people thought of Fairy Tail, they would think of the Salamander, the Titania, and the Demon Mirajane. They would never know Macao Conbolt, the purple flare mage of Fairy Tail. However, Romeo never knew, so when he revealed it to everyone and his friends, all he got back was a dumbfounded reaction and a bunch of laughter. The next thing Romeo knew, his so-called 'friends' had started to tease and bully him. They had pushed him and had called him names; so naturally, he had only wanted to escape to Fairy Tail where he wouldn't be treated with such behaviour.

So as soon as the bell rang, signalling that school was over for the day, Romeo immediately grabbed his belongings and ran to the guild. But before he could even get 10 feet away from the school, his friends-turned-bullies caught up to him and pushed him to the ground.

"Where ya running to, huh?" one of them asked.

"'Ey, he's probably gonna run to his daddy at his guild. Not worth beating up, Rony," another kid said. With a sneer evident on his face, the group of his former friends walked away, with looks of disgusts. Clearly, they didn't like being seen around Romeo anymore simply because his father wasn't a known wizard, unlike certain other Fairy Tail mages.

Trudging back to the guild, Romeo kept his head down. He had been ashamed to be the son of Macao back then, then he'd been proud, and now he couldn't help but feel ashamed once more. He had already experienced it once before, and experiencing it tons more times was only going to make him permanently hate his father. And maybe even the guild itself.

Not noticing where he was walking, he bumped into something – something that felt like a person's back. Romeo snapped his head up and immediately flushed. The person that he had accidentally crashed into on the streets was none other than Wendy Marvell, the youngest wizard at Fairy Tail, and the only known female Dragonslayer. Oh, and did he also mention that he had a major crush on Wendy?

"S-sorry, Wendy-san!" Romeo stammered. Great, was he blushing? The second last thing he wanted to do in front of his crush was blush. The last thing he ever wanted to do in front of her was to embarrass her, or himself.

The young Dragonslayer simply smiled and replied, "No worries, Romeo-kun!" Then, noticing his mood, she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Romeo-kun?"

Fidgeting on the spot, he played around a bit with his fingers due to his nervousness and he looked down as if their shoes were interesting to look at all of a sudden. "N-nothing…" And it was clearly a lie.

Wendy couldn't help but smile sadly. "I can tell that you're upset, Romeo-kun. If there's anything wrong, you can tell me. Really, Romeo-kun!" Even though they weren't exactly that close, compared to Romeo and Natsu's relationship, Wendy was still the person in the guild closest to his age. And she felt obligated to help Romeo with whatever types of problems he had. She put an arm around his shoulders – although it was a bit hard considering their height differences – and smiled brightly down at the boy, hoping that he would reveal his concerns to her. "Trust me, Romeo-kun. I won't tell anyone, I promise!"

Letting his feelings take over him, Romeo reluctantly agreed. While they walked back to Fairy Tail together, Romeo explained what happened at school earlier that afternoon, and he couldn't help but berate himself. He couldn't help but scold himself for giving into a girl so easily, but then again, that girl was his crush. And sometimes he did like to think that he'd have a chance to be together with her. He didn't know what to expect from Wendy's comforting skills, but when he finished with his explanation, there was a short silence between the two before Wendy wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry," she murmured into his hair. She knew what it was like to feel like an outcast, because she had a vague memory of being an outcast herself, which was what led her to the discovery of Grandeeney, and of course the discovery of dragons and dragonslaying magic. "Being an outcast is never fun."

Romeo didn't know what to say, so he stayed there in her embrace, only nodding to show that he agreed with the girl.

"I was an outcast before too," Wendy continued. "And I ran away from my family and friends, which is how I found Grandeeney. I know that you can't run away from your father…and I don't want you to, or to run away from us, because we'll always love you and you'll always be family to us. You know that right, Romeo-kun?" She pulled apart and looked into his eyes sincerely, making Romeo flush slightly. "We would never judge you because of who you are, Romeo-kun. Fairy Tail is not like that and you should know that you always have us to support you."

Tears sprang to Romeo's eyes at the kind words that the female Dragonslayer was saying to him, and he willed them to not fall. He didn't want his crush to view him as a weakling. "Thank…thank you, Wendy-san," he responded in a lower tone, biting his lip.

Giving him another smile, she slightly ruffled Romeo's hair. "Just tell us if there's something wrong, Romeo-kun. We're your family, and we're always here to help. And if they're all busy, you can always come to me!"

Romeo was grateful for Wendy being there for him (even if he didn't know her very well) and hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go. Eventually he did, though with a huge genuine smile and a few dried tear stains on your face.

"Telling it to someone else made it better, didn't it?" Wendy asked, a small smile showing on her face. For once, since coming to the guild, she felt like she actually made a difference in someone's life and she was genuinely happy.

"It did make me feel better!" The smile of his face widened into a grin, showing all his teeth. "Thank you…thank you, Wendy-san!"

ii.

The second time he smiled was because everyone was still alive, including her and the smile on her face had never seemed so beautiful.

oOo

Years had passed, and it was now 791.

Romeo counted the days that passed ever since the misfortune crashed on the guild that day. Already seven years had passed since Acnologia had wiped Tenrou Island off the face of Earthland. Already seven years had passed since everyone who had went on that S-class exams had disappeared off the face of Earthland. And those seven years were spent only in nothing but thoughts about those mages.

Dammit! Romeo thought to himself as he stared out at the open waters of the Hargeon Harbour. All he wanted to do was to see everyone's faces again and their smiles and laughter ringing through the guild hall. Was that so damn hard to ask for?

He trudged his way back to the guild alongside Bisca and Alzack, not in the mood to say anything to the two older mages or to even think about anything. All he had in mind was the group of people who had disappeared all those years ago, and weren't seen since then. He had so many questions on his mind. What happened? How did Acnologia appear? Isn't he a dragon? And weren't there three Dragonslayers on the island? How is it that they couldn't slay the dragon?

The thought of Dragonslayers brought Romeo back to her. Of course, he thought about his Natsu-nii every single day. Natsu was his idol; he looked up to him ever since he was a young boy and he even dressed similar to the pink-haired idiot. But lately, another Dragonslayer seemed to be taking over his mind. No, it wasn't lately. Wendy Marvell, the blue-haired Dragonslayer and the youngest one yet, had been occupying his thoughts everyday ever since that day back when he was still six. All he could think of was her smile, and how he would probably never be able to see it again.

And even Romeo had to admit himself that ever since that day seven years ago, he hasn't smiled once. Not a single smile had graced his face in those years, and he was probably going to never smile again. Not with Fairy Tail broken like this.

Sighing, he brought himself back to reality.

The next day, the young fire mage sat in the guild, moping around doing nothing. What did he have to do, anyway? They weren't offered many missions and even when they did receive requests, they were all crappy. Not like the ones Fairy Tail used to receive, with all those powerful S-class missions. Most of the current members had gone off in search of Tenrou Island, simply because of the message the four members of Blue Pegasus had given them the day before.

"In other words, Tenrou Island still exists."

Romeo couldn't exactly believe them until he saw those members for real, though. Even for his young age, he was a smart boy, and he didn't want to get his hopes up. He couldn't help but think to himself, what if it was a lie and the information was false? What if he really would never see those two Dragonslayers in his life, ever again?

A sharp rap on the door led Romeo to glare at the door. Oh, he knew who it was, alright. No one in the guild or in Magnolia would ever be that rude when knocking on the guild door, except for them, Twilight Ogre.

When Twilight Ogre entered, Romeo got up from where he was sitting, lighting his palm up in flames. The old Fairy Tail would never let people like them do this to the guild and get away with it, and neither was Romeo. He didn't care if he was weaker than Twilight Ogre; standing up for Fairy Tail was worth the pain he would receive.

And then one of the Twilight Ogre members was flying past him, ending up face front on the request board. In a split second, the remaining members had also been crushed by four other people.

The first smile in seven years appeared on Romeo's face when he saw who they were, and his eyes lit up. He thought it was a dream. Maybe it was? He pinched himself to check and even after he hurt himself slightly on his arm, the people who had disappeared seven years ago when Tenoru Island had been eradicated were still there, standing before him at the guild doorway. It seemed too good to be true.

Scanning the group, his smile widened into a grin and on his inside, he couldn't help but jump in joy. His Natsu-nii had come back, and so had she. The two Dragonslayers both had a smile gracing their lips, and all Romeo wanted to do was to run forward and hug them.

"You're all grown up, Romeo!"

And with that one sentence, he burst into tears, tears of joy and relief. "Welcome back, Natsu-nii! Everyone!"

Later that night, the entire guild held a party. How could they not? Everyone was back, the guild couldn't have asked for more, and everyone was in celebrative mood. But while everyone was drinking, dancing, or gossiping about what had happened in the seven years' time, he couldn't help but notice their beloved female Dragonslayer. Wendy looked exactly like how she did seven years ago – not that he had followed her everywhere and had an image of her burned in his memory! – and that smile of hers just seemed to stay on her face, refusing to go away. And looking at it, Romeo couldn't help but grin to himself. His crush had returned, safely and since the members stuck on the island for those seven years didn't age, Romeo felt that he had a chance to confess to Wendy. He was a year older than her now, anyway.

The boy was determined to tell the truth to her. After all, she (and not to mention the pink-haired idiot) was the one who brought back his smile.

iii.

The third time he smiled was because she was his girl and he just felt so damn lucky and proud.

oOo

The seventeen-year-old Romeo roamed through the streets of Magnolia, searching for the perfect and unique gift for the guild's resident female Dragonslayer. It was her birthday in just three days, and Romeo wanted to make it a perfect, sweet 16 birthday for the girl.

He was passing a store when something in the display caught his attention. Looking closer at it, he realized it was a necklace of a blue dragon…and immediately Romeo knew that this would be the perfect present for Wendy. He knew that she would love it.

"Is this for a little special somebody?" the store clerk asked Romeo when he paid the money for the necklace. He blushed and quickly said a 'Yes' before taking off, with the necklace in the box safely tucked in his hands.

The fire mage could clearly remember the day when he confessed his feelings to Wendy. It had been the best day of his life at that time, and it made it even better for him when he discovered that his feelings weren't unrequited, and Wendy did take quite a liking to him after she had seen how much older he was. And the smile that had been on his face stayed there for an entire week, refusing to fall off, because he was just so happy and he didn't even care if their resident matchmaker was already starting to plan their wedding. He just didn't care, because Wendy was finally his girlfriend.

oOo

Romeo woke up at exactly 8:30 a.m. with an excited look on his face. It was finally the day when Wendy would be turning 16, and he was determined to make it one of her best days ever. He quickly brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, and then headed to the guild as quickly as possible without sweating because of the temperature that day. Entering the guild, he couldn't help but stare in awe at the decorations that had been put up yesterday. It had taken everyone so much effort to make these decorations and suddenly, Romeo felt a bit guilty for not taking as big of a part as the other members, such as Lucy or Erza had. But it wasn't his fault; everyone had made sure that he wasn't helping them so that he could distract Wendy and take her to other places so that her surprise wouldn't be ruined.

In the four years since the return of the missing members, they had managed to relocate back to their former Fairy Tail building, which had the outdoor pool and the many floors. It was quite easy, actually. With the return, more requests had started coming in and then the S-class mages were able to go on S-class missions as well. And of course, they couldn't forget the prize they had gotten since winning the Grand Magic Games for all those years. Fairy Tail had definitely made a comeback as the strongest guild in Fiore.

Looking around, he observed the decorations and couldn't help but grin, because he knew Wendy would love it. There was a bunch of blue and purple (because they were both Wendy's favourite colours) balloons surrounding their doorway and streamers of the same colours were hanging from every part of the ceiling on the first floor. In the middle of the room, there was a huge banner in blue again, with the words "HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY, WENDY!" printed on it. Everywhere he turned, he could see something either blue or purple and it was like the guild had turned into a bluish-purple wonderland for the day.

"Wow," was all that he said as he headed to the bar to greet their guild's barmaid (and matchmaker), Mirajane. "Good morning, Mira-san!"

"Good morning, Romeo! And isn't the guild looking lovely today?" the white-haired beauty asked as she slid a glass of apple cider in front of him. Taking a sip from it, he looked at her and saw that her eyes were sparkling in that mischievous manner and suddenly, he became a bit nervous.

"Wh-what are you thinking, Mira-san…?"

"Oh, don't worry Romeo! I was just thinking of how cute the two of you make for a couple…and then my thoughts drifted off to how you would propose to her!" the barmaid let out a series of giggles. Then her eyes narrowed. "You are going to propose to her, right?

Romeo immediately turned a light shade of pink. "Oh, well, um, Mira-san, we're still quite young! Wendy has only turned 16…and I'm only 17!" he stuttered, avoiding the question deliberately. He didn't want to say that he would because what if something happened in the future? And if he said no, there was a good chance that he would get on the bad side of Mirajane, and that was something he definitely did not want to happen. Not when Mirajane's nickname was "The Demon".

"Oh," Mirajane frowned and Romeo knew that she was disappointed in his answer. "Did you get a present for her though?" she asked him, changing the topic.

He immediately smiled and nodded his head, taking out a little velvet box, making Mirajane squeal. He was sure that any second now she was going to faint but luckily for him, she didn't.

"Oh, Romeo! Wendy will love it!" she exclaimed when she saw the blue dragon necklace. Romeo didn't say anything; he only nodded and smiled because after all, he bought it because he knew Wendy would love it.

"Well then," the white-haired beauty began as members of the guild started to trickle in. "Wendy is supposed to be here in an hour and a half, so why don't you go get her?"

"Yes," another female's voice said from beside him, and he didn't even have to turn to know that it was their requipping mage speaking. "In the meantime, we'll make sure everything is in order for her."

With a quick nod, he quickly jumped off the stool he was sitting on and headed to Fairy Hills (yes, boys normally weren't allowed but Erza allowed him for this one special day), greeting the other Fairy Tail wizards he passed by. When he arrived at Wendy's dorm, he knocked on the door, preparing for what he would say to her when he saw her. But all his thoughts ended when the door opened to a blue-haired girl with a hair brush in her hand.

"Romeo!" Wendy exclaimed and gave her boyfriend a hug. Then, with a puzzled expression, she asked, "Wait, why are you here? You better hurry and leave before Erza-san finds out you're in here!"

"Don't worry, she knows I'm here," he said as Wendy widened the door to allow him in. Then, Romeo couldn't help but wonder if she remembered her own birthday. Usually people would be pestering the other about their birthday all month, but Wendy hadn't even mentioned a single thing about her birthday that week.

"Wendy, do you know what today is?" the boy asked her.

Wendy had a blank look on her face in response, before answering with a tone of confusion evident, "March 4th?"

Romeo only nodded and gave her a smile. "Anyway, Wendy, we have to be at the guild in almost an hour, okay? The guild is doing some renovations and they won't be finished until sometime later, and I want to see how it looks like on the inside!"

She nodded, "Sure!" and went back to brushing her hair and getting ready for the day – which involved leaving Romeo out in the corridor for over 10 minutes as she tried on outfit after outfit.

oOo

"Are you sure the guild was doing renovations?" Wendy asked, as she and Romeo walked hand-in-hand to the guild. "It sure doesn't smell that way. Smells like…a party?"

Crap, he thought to himself. He had forgotten that as a Dragonslayer, Wendy had enhanced smelling and she could smell strong-scented things a mile away. "Oh, well maybe the woods and stuff smells like a party? Maybe it's just their scent!" He fibbed, eager to get her suspicions away.

"Come on, why don't we see?" he pulled Wendy along towards the guild and when they entered, it was all dark. No lights were on and the only thing he could see was Wendy's face faintly from the sunlight outside.

"Why is—"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" was the next thing Romeo heard and suddenly, all the lights came back on with Natsu holding out stuffed blue dragon to Wendy. Her eyes lit up and she squealed, hugging the blue dragon like there was no tomorrow.

"Is this why you've been trying to lie to me all those times yesterday and earlier?" she turned to ask Romeo, a smile slowly spreading on her face.

"Um, yeah," he replied, slightly blushing. He quickly took out the velvet box and held it out to her with both hands. "Happy 16th birthday, Wendy."

As soon as Wendy opened the tiny box, her eyes went wide and her smile widened into a grin and Romeo thought that if she smiled any bigger, it'd be stuck permanently. "Romeo…" she took the necklace out and stared at it, before looking into Romeo's eyes. "This is so beautiful… I love it!"

She quickly let Romeo put the necklace around her neck and she gave him a quick peck on the lips, making Romeo grin. March 4th was officially his favourite day now and he promised to himself that he would always make her birthdays the best.

Romeo couldn't help but grin the while time during the party. Wendy was definitely one of a kind and he always felt that he deserved better than him. But she picked him, and he just felt so lucky and he was so proud that he could call Wendy his girlfriend.

How was it? :) I know the second part of the fic didn't have much dialogue, but hopefully that Womeo kiss made up for it? :) And I made Wendy's birthday March 4th because that's my headcanon. ^^ And my other headcanon in this fic is the part where Wendy says she was an outcast before she found Grandeeney...because I dunno, I made it up on the spot. xD;

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Would be very nice if you could review it? Constructive criticism is always welcomed!

~ two different tears