A/N So this isn't supposed to be anything serious guys, I'm just having fun. People forget Wendy's a dragon slayer, too. One day, she'll go crazy. ONE DAY.

-title comes from the song 'Ring the Alarm' by Beyonce. I am picturing a very angry Wendy breaking everything in her house while singing loudly to this song. Off-key.

-cover pic comes from Google images. Because it's cute.

XxXxX

But I'll be damned if I see another chick on your arm – RoWen

XxXxX

There are several well-known facts about dragon-slayers, and these are things that apply to dragon slayers in all shapes, sizes, or forms. Some of these things include hoarding - nesting, as they called it - or the fascination with shiny objects. They were prone to violence, admittedly some more than others; and they liked to stick together and stand up for one another. They had excellent senses of smell, sharper than usual eyesight, and the tendency to eat strange things like fire and air. They were also very possessive creatures. And when applied to the rule of dragons having one mate and only one mate, this could also cause dragon slayers to become very, very, jealous.

None, it seemed, had been able to escape this aspect. Take Gajeel, for instance. He threw people into walls if they even looked so much as sideways at Levy. And then of course there was Natsu, who once spent an entire week sulking in misery because Lucy started dating some guy. There had even been rumours from the town of Sabertooth's residence of entire buildings being disintegrated.

There was one dragon slayer, however, no one had expected to go off the deep end. But dragon slayer she was, and that made Wendy Marvell just as susceptible to ridiculous jealousy as the next.

She was sitting at one of the guild tables, supposedly eating lunch. What she was really doing was stabbing her fork into her meat so hard it was starting to bend out of shape, glaring holes into the back of a certain rainbow-fire mage's jacket.

"You know, if you concentrate hard enough you might set him on fire," Natsu joked from beside her. Lucy chided him, smacking the side of his face lightly.

"Wendy, don't listen to him. If you concentrate that hard you'll give yourself an aneurysm. And..um..." She trailed off, glancing at the fork which was now nearly bent in half. Levy picked up.

"Your fork is dying," she said dryly, gesturing to the now useless utensil. Gajeel perked up.

"I'll eat it," he offered, and Levy gave him a disparaging glance. "What?"

Wendy Marvell, now sixteen and arguably the princess of the guild, hardly looked like the kind of girl who needed to be jealous of anyone. The last four years had been nothing but incredibly kind to her, and she was beauty with flowing, blue locks and glimmering brown eyes. She had a willowy figure, slender but not thin, with just enough curve to catch a man's eye. She still wore sundresses, with patterns of blue, green and gold. But they became sleeveless, sometimes strapless, short, and entirely age appropriate. There was not a single thing Wendy Marvell, Sky Sorceress, could possibly want that she did not already have.

Well, of course, with the exception of one rainbow-fire mage by the name of Romeo Conbolt.

If the years had been kind to Wendy, they had been positively benevolent to Romeo. At seventeen, he was a pale, dark-haired version of Natsu. In fact, he'd once been called (by a very drunk Cana) the love-child of Natsu and Zeref. Romeo had also started wearing darker clothes, usually with open vests, and had taken to wearing his orange scarf tied around his waist. He also had a rainbow-beaded necklace hanging around his throat. One, Wendy would like to point out, that she had made for him, and that he never took off.

The development of friendship between Romeo and Wendy was an unexpected one, but nonetheless quite a strong one. Romeo liked his teacher Totomaru, but since the latter refused to go out on missions he was dying for some hands-on experience. So he'd taken to accompanying Team Natsu on their missions, and this usually included Wendy. Like any two children of the same age would, they had become fast friends and when they were deemed old enough, started going off on missions on their own, becoming the team Mirajane affectionately dubbed 'RoWen.'

Wendy's relationship with Romeo had done nothing but grow, and he could have easily been called her best friend, if not for Charla. The white exceed's approval of the boy only made the camaraderie between the three more enjoyable.

But there was another variable to add to the RoWen factor, and that was Wendy's other best friend, who was a girl and not an exceed. A girl by the name of Chelia Blendy, also known as the Sky God Slayer. After the Grand Magic Games, the two girls had never lost contact and wrote letters back and forth pertaining to what missions they went on, their personal lives, how their powers were improving. They met up often to spar, and every time fought the other to a standstill. Wendy's white wind and Chelia's black wind, earning her the nickname Stormy Sky, were undefeatable to the other.

Chelia had grown, but in a somewhat opposite direction of Wendy. She became taller, curvier, picking up her cousin's habit of Lolita-dresses. She was bright and bubbly and had more boys on a string that she could count on both hands, and probably feet, too. She and Wendy had grown close, and the dragon girl had harboured no ill will toward the other – right up until the day Chelia met Romeo.

Which led to the predicament Wendy had currently found herself in.

"No, seriously," Gajeel continued. "You'll never be able to use that fork again. Might as well just let me have it now, I want a snack anyway-"

"Gajeel!"

Both Natsu and Gajeel were sitting at the table with Wendy, watching her with unmasked amusement. Both were something of older brothers to her, and what were older brothers for if not to tease? "Quick," Natsu poked her. "Go kick Shelia out the window. I promise you'll feel so much better!"

Wendy snapped her teeth and Natsu's finger, and he backed off. Lucy was positively astounded to see her usually sweet friend in such a mood. "Wendy, for the love of Mavis! What is the matter with you?"

"Oh, this is nothing compared to how Natsu got that one time," Levy sighed. "Hey Gajeel, do you remember that?"

"Of course I remember," he answered gruffly. "How could anyone forget? Flame-Brain turned into a bigger pansy-ass than that vampire boy you love so much."

Ignoring Levy's argument of "I do not like Twilight," Gajeel continued. "Listen, kid. It's obvious you've got Mini-Flame-Brain picked out as a mate, so just get over there right now and save yourself all the trouble! And get that other damned woman off his back!"

Indeed, it did seem as if Romeo was all but head-over-heels for the stormy God Slayer. She was visiting the guild for the fourth time that week, and was currently sitting at a table leaned over so far her shirt was practically horizontal. Chelia was about as obvious as flirters could be, and Romeo, it appeared, was playing right along. He leaned in close to her, twirling red fire from his fingers and shaping them into a heart. Chelia giggled loudly.

Wendy's fork went straight through her plate.

"Okay," Gajeel said. "I'll eat the fork but not the plate; I draw the line at pottery."

At that moment, Chelia decided it was high time to visit her friend and danced over to Wendy. "Hey girl," she greeted cheerfully, oblivious to Wendy's turmoil. "How about we go spar later?"

"Actually," Wendy, who was always up for fun with her friend, countered. "I'm not feeling too well. I think I'll go lie down for a bit."

"Oh." Chelia's forehead creased. "Do you need anything?"

There was genuine concern for her friend in Chelia's gaze, and it made Wendy's stomach hurt even harder, because she should not be hating this girl who was supposed to be her closest female friend who wasn't an exceed. The Sky Sorceress shook her head, walking swiftly towards the exit of the guild.

Chelia watched her in worry, before sighing and returning to her conversation with Romeo. The fire mage had also been watching Wendy as she left, and had a hard time tearing his gaze from the door.

"I don't get it," Natsu said bluntly. "I know how dragon jealousy works. She should by trying to tear Chelia limb from limb right now!"

Lucy sighed. "Natsu, jealousy is very different for women. It's not just about violence."

"Yup," Levy heaved, resting her chin on her palm. "Poor Wendy. I can only imagine what kind of turmoil she must be in."

"Not to mention, Chelia isn't a stranger. They're close friends."

"Mhmm. She probably feels guilty as well as rejected, plus a great amount of insecurity."

"She's probably gone through an entire thing of ice cream by now."

Natsu and Gajeel followed the girl's conversation like a ping pong match. "How do you know all this?" Natsu asked, amazed. Lucy patted his head.

"I read, darling."

xXx

Meanwhile, it was not an entire tub of ice cream Wendy had gone through but she was getting there. Scraping her spoon through the frozen chocolate, she ignored the sound of Charla flapping her wings and coming through the window.

"You'll make yourself sick," she told Wendy, frowning disapprovingly. The young dragon sighed.

"I don't care. Maybe it'd be better if I did get fat. Maybe then I could get a real chest. The kind Romeo would be interested in."

"Oh." Charla sighed. "So that's what this is about."

Wendy just turned up the movie a little louder.

The white exceed padded over, sitting in front of Wendy and effectively blocking her from the lacrima screen. "Hey!" Wendy yelped. "These things are a new invention, you know. I paid a lot of jewels for that!"

Charla cocked an eyebrow, ear twitching. "Oh, yeah? And tell me you are not watching some sappy love flick where the guy is with the popular girl, then at the end realizes it was the nerdy girl he wanted all along?"

"No," Wendy said stoutly. Disbelieving, Charla turned around.

"'She's All That,' huh?"

"Sh-shut up!"

Wendy purposefully tuned out Charla in favour of the movie. The exceed rolled her eyes at Wendy's behavior, then hopped over to the window. "Well, I'm off to see Happy. Try not to get into a food-coma by the time I come back."

"Have fun on your date," Wendy said sullenly. Charla rolled her eyes and flew out.

Wendy clutched the tub of ice cream tighter. She wouldn't go into a food-coma; she was a sixteen year old mage. She could eat anything she wanted and never have a worry or care about how it would affect her body. Not to mention, she was a very physically fit mage. She could work off any extra fat.

With those thoughts in mind, Wendy delved deeper into the ice cream.

xXx

Back at the guild, Levy and Lucy were doing some research of their own. They watched stealthily as Chelia left the guild with a wave, and Romeo started to make his way to the request board.

Romeo, it had been decided, needed to be talked to. He should not be acting like his namesake; after all, his namesake killed himself rather graphically. And both Lucy and Levy refused to let that talk come from Natsu and Gajeel, because that would be less of a talk and more of a fist-flying 'don't hurt our little sister'. Now Lucy and Levy also viewed Wendy as a younger sister, but they had a considerably higher intelligence than their dragon counterparts. And they knew exactly what it was like to be on the receiving end of a dragon's jealousy.

So as Romeo reached the far end of the board, they reached out and yanked him back into the shadows.

"Wha-!" He yelped. Catching sight of the two women, he grinned. "Oh, hey Lucy, Levy. What's up?"

Lucy crossed her arms. "I think the question here, Romeo, is what is up with you?"

His eyes darted back and forth, not meeting either one's gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your new friend Chelia?" Levy inquired. Romeo gulped.

"Yeah, she's pretty great. What about her, exactly?"

Both girls were staring holes into him. Romeo was starting to sweat. "Um, guys, you're scaring me..."

Lucy slammed her hand on the wall next to him. "What about Wendy!?"

Romeo jumped about a mile. "What about Wendy?" he demanded. "She's my best friend, so what?"

At the mention of the word 'best friend,' Lucy leaned in very close. "Four years ago, guess who was my 'best friend'?"

"Um, Levy?"

"Natsu!" She growled. "And you know what I never realized about my best friend?"

"That you were in love with him?" Romeo crossed his arms sulkily. He had a pretty good idea of where this conversation was going to go.

"Exactly! And do you know what happened when I went out with another guy?"

Romeo rolled his eyes. "That's because Natsu liked you. It's a completely different story." He turned to Levy. "Same with you. You and Gajeel always had kind of a mutual interest. Wendy..." he sighed. "She doesn't think of me like that."

Lucy and Levy shared a surprised glance. "How do you know?"

"Because!" He said. "I just... I do! I overheard her talking, and she doesn't see me as anything more than a friend." Straightening his shoulders, Romeo made to leave. "So excuse me for having given up on Wendy a long time ago-"

Lucy grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back. "When was this?"

"...two years ago."

"Well, things have changed since then, pal." Levy frowned. "Either that or she was lying to begin with. Wendy is head over heels for you, Romeo."

He shook his head. "No way. You two are just trying to get us together, but it'll never work!"

Lucy gave him a solid thump on the head. "Idiot! Are all seventeen year olds this dense?"

"Ow!" he glared up at her. "Lucy, you're supposed to be nice."

"Not when people are being idiots!" She raged. Levy pulled her aside.

"Listen, Romeo," she said sweetly. "I know you have no reason to believe us. But... just go on a mission with Wendy, okay? And keep what we said in mind."

He sighed impatiently. "Fine. Just let me go, okay?"

The two girls watched him go from their hiding place. He quickly scanned the request board, snatched one off and stalked out the guild doors. Lucy was still seething in anger. Levy glanced at her in amusement. "You know, I think Natsu is rubbing off on you."

"Shut up, Levy."

xXx

Romeo found himself standing outside of Wendy's apartment, a place he normally would have no problem banging on the door to, yelling for Wendy until she opened the door. He liked to praise himself that he had more tact than Natsu because he actually knocked, but Wendy often complained that she'd prefer it if he just came in.

But today, Romeo was quite unable to knock obnoxiously as he would have on any other day. For today, see, the words Levy and Lucy had spoken to him earlier were still ringing in his head. He was teetering on that dangerous she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not thought process and it was not doing good things to his cognitive functioning. Or his digestion.

"Wendy?" he called tentatively as he knocked on the door, ignoring his gurgling stomach. "Hey, are you in there?"

No answer. He turned the knob and the door swung open, revealing a very dark room with all the shades on the windows shut. He entered slowly; the only light came from the flickering lacrima screen and Wendy's apartment was not exactly clean. She really tried, but then there was this bad habit she had of using the floor as a dresser.

He came across Wendy's prone form, stretched on the couch with her eyes closed and an empty tub of ice cream in her arms. A spoon was half-dangling out of her mouth. Romeo bit back a snicker; she was ridiculously endearing.

Kneeling down beside the couch, he placed a hand on her forehead. "You went into a food-coma, didn't you?" he asked her gently.

Wendy's brows furrowed in her sleep. Stopping his joking, Romeo looked at her sleeping face. I mean, really looked, because it wasn't often he got to just stare at her face like a creeper. Believe him, he knew.

It wasn't as if Romeo hadn't carried a torch for Wendy for the last four years. Honestly, who wouldn't have? She was pretty, and smart, and strong – not to mention incredibly sweet and good in the kitchen. She was like every man's dream girl, but Romeo was pretty sure dream-girls were supposed to like people back.

Chelia may not have been Wendy, but at least she seemed interested. Romeo was not the kind of guy to be stuck in the friend-zone forever, wallowing in his own misery. He was a good-looking guy, not to mention he was his father's son. So if Chelia, a perfectly cute and nice girl on her own, wanted something to do with him other than friendship, who was he to turn her down?

He brushed her bangs off her forehead. Still, if what Lucy and Levy said had been true...

Romeo shook his head. No way.

Getting up, he headed to Wendy's kitchen to grab her some water. Coming back to the living room, he kicked the couch and called, "Oi! Get up, lazy, we've got a job to go on!"

She groaned loudly. "Five more minutes."

"No." He handed her the glass of water. "Drink up, water is good. Celery, too, if I remember that movie correctly."

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," she answered immediately. Romeo snorted. Leave it to Wendy.

She chugged the water all in one go, blinking at Romeo, awareness fading into her face. "Oh," she said, once her eyes focused. "It's you."

"Yeah, it's me," he answered. "As if there would be anyone else telling you to go on a job."

She scrunched her nose. "I missed that part. What time is it?"

"Too early to be conked out for the night in a coma!" he declared, poking her in the forehead. "Come on, it looks perfect. See?"

She took the job request from him, eyeing it sulkily. "You sure you don't want to go with Chelia?"

He blinked. "Shelia's not even in the guild," he answered. "Why? Do you want to ask her?"

"No!" She said quickly. "Gimmie five minutes, I'll be right out."

"Kay, I'll meet you down in the lobby," he called as she dashed into her bedroom. Heading out the door, he shook his head. Man, she was weird.

xXx

In her bedroom, Wendy ripped through her clothes. Her cheeks were flaming, and she fighting the urge to break something shiny. Charla wasn't back yet, so she guessed it was just going to be her and Romeo. Curse that exceed! Ever since she and Happy had started a romantic relationship, she was around less. Not that Wendy wasn't happy for her, because she was, but no Charla meant she and Romeo had to be alone on missions and sometimes that meant overnight missions –

Like this one! Had Romeo just naturally sniffed out her weird feelings and decided that today was the day for a two-day mission? Oh sure, it looked like fun. Retrieve some mystic gem from a mountain top, facing deadly perils? She was all for it! Except the camping in the woods part. Alone. With Romeo. Alone.

Throwing a few things in her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, she wrote Charla a scribbled note and dashed out, almost forgetting to lock the door behind her. She had learned the hard way that, if she didn't, her female guildmates would sneak into her room and clean everything for her. Wendy hated that.

Romeo was waiting for her in the lobby when she arrived, previously unnoticed backpack sitting loosely on his shoulders. Wendy gulped. Whelp. Here goes nothing.

xXx

As the two walked out into the evening street, four more people hid behind a street corner, watching them closely.

"You'd think she'd be able to smell us," Natsu whispered.

"She's distracted," Levy whispered back. "See how she's walking? Focused entirely on her shoes."

"She's trying not to stare at Romeo right now," Lucy added.

"And jump his bones."

"The only thing she's paying attention to is her internal struggle."

"She wouldn't notice us if we yelled her name."

Gajeel stared at the two in amazement. "How do you know that?"

Rather than explain, Lucy and Levy slipped out and began to stealthily follow the younger couple. Natsu and Gajeel followed, both looking terrified that Wendy was going to turn around any second and blow up.

"Are we really going to follow them on their mission?" Natsu asked. "I mean, you two are acting kind of crazy."

Lucy whipped around, eyes glinting at her lover. "Who you callin' crazy?"

"Eep!"

Romeo turned around, and the four dove into the nearest alley. Lucy's hands were clamped on Natsu's mouth, and Levy had her finger against Gajeel's. When Romeo seemed to decide nothing was there and continued on his way, Lucy and Levy released their breath.

"Natsu's right, you two are completely insane. Demon woman been rubbing off on you or somethin'?"

"We're just very interested in Wendy's well-being, that's all," Levy sighed.

"So are we," Gajeel frowned. "But aren't these drastic measures?"

The bluenette raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to talk about drastic measures?"

Suddenly, Gajeel remembered why he was banned from the town library. Something which may have had to do with the amount of skinny nerds he had thrown through the window for hitting on Levy. He gulped audibly, and hastily changed to subject. "But seriously, why are we following them?"

"We aren't," Lucy sighed. "I just wanted to make sure they actually got out on a mission. From here, we can only hope that things take their natural course."

"Natural course being Romeo gets his head out of his ass before Chelia gets seriously injured?"

"Yes, Natsu, that sounds ideal."

xXx

But, despite the ideal conditions, Wendy and Romeo returned back to the guild two days later looking no different, other than Romeo harbouring a newfound belief that girls were really weird.

And both Levy and Lucy were starting to lose their composure.

Wendy came over to them, slumping in the chair. As soon as her forehead hit the wooden table, Natsu leaned over. "So? How'd it go?"

She mumbled something incoherent. Natsu poked her repeatedly until she moved. "Hey, come on, Wendy! Talk to us!"

Finally, she sat up. "Oh, it was fantastic," she grumbled. "Five different girls in the town hit on Romeo. Three of them gave him kisses for thanks."

Natsu hissed through his teeth. "Ai. How you haven't spontaneously combusted is beyond me."

"She isn't a fire dragon, that's why." Lucy conked him on the head. Turning to the younger girl, she asked in sympathy, "Really, Wendy, are you okay?"

"Just peachy," the girl grumbled. Lucy and Levy exchanged a look.

Gajeel finally spoke up, resting his chin on his arms so he was closer to her level. "Oi, kiddo," he said gruffly. "You've gotta do something about this jealousy. It'll eat you from the inside out."

"But what am I supposed to do?" Wendy asked Gajeel, finally letting an emotion other than annoyance show on her face. With her big wide eyes, she looked so vulnerable all four wanted to lock her away in a tower. "I mean, Romeo doesn't like me. He likes Chelia! I know he'd be happier with her, only...only..."

She let out a low groan and let her head hit the wooden table again. The others started to worry about a bruise forming.

Seeing that talking was going to get them nowhere, the four departed, leaving Wendy to sulk in peace. Lucy bit her lip, looking worriedly back at her younger friend. Natsu caught the look on her face, and casually leaned in to sling an arm over her shoulder. "Ah, don't worry," he said with a grin. "She'll be fine! I was, after all."

"Yeah," Lucy said sadly. "But you're a lot stronger than Wendy is."

All four gazes went back to Wendy, who had started repeatedly banging her head on the table. "She'll be fine," Natsu said, a little less convincingly. He glanced over at Gajeel. "Right?"

The iron dragon tapped his chin. "I give her three days."

Natsu frowned. "Have a little faith, man. Five days."

"You wanna bet money on that, Salamander?"

Levy cleared her throat. "Excuse me, what are you two on about?"

"How long it's going to take for Wendy to explode," Natsu said casually.

At the mention of the word explode, Lucy's mind was transported back to the time when Natsu set fire to Magnolia's central park and Levy's mind went to the time all the bookstores in town were mysteriously demolished. Colour drained from both girl's faces.

"W-Wendy wouldn't go that far," Lucy said weakly. Levy merely shuddered and clutched tighter to Gajeel. The two dragons grinned at each other. The bet was on.

In the end, however, it took her a week.

The doors to the guild slammed open, a vicious wind cutting through and knocking over several chairs. Wendy stood in the doorway, heaving, face flushed with anger and blue hair flying around her like a halo. Most guild members shrieked and ducked under their tables. Several cries of 'this is what we get for having three dragon slayers!' echoed.

Lucy jumped to her feet, clutching at her blonde hair to stop it from blowing everywhere. "Wendy!" She cried. "What in the name of Mavis is going on!?"

Seething, Wendy stomped toward their table. Levy found herself ducking behind Gajeel's large frame. Gajeel himself was staring at Wendy open-mouthed, and Natsu's reaction was somewhat the same. Even for a dragon slayer, this was extreme. She was basically causing a hurricane across Magnolia.

"Romeo," she hissed, voice almost otherworldly in its terrifying-ness. "Is. On. A. DATE!"

xXx

The group of four hovered outside the beautiful seaside town of Anemone, eyes focused on the small cafe. They were hiding in the shadows of a back alley, focused on the table near the outside, by the gate, with the white and blue umbrella shading the two occupants from the sun. Romeo and Chelia were smiling and making goo-goo eyes at each other that might actually rival Bambi.

"Mmf! Lmf m'gmf!"

The thin bluenette struggled against her iron bonds, trying to eat her way through the cloth tied around her mouth. What she might have been trying to say was "Let me go!", but her four captors had no such intentions.

Levy peered around the corner. "It looks like the date is in full swing and going well," she reported. "Both sides look equally interested."

"How serious is it?" Lucy asked from her point as a guard by Wendy. Natsu glanced back at her in annoyed confusion.

"How are we supposed to tell how serious it is?" he complained loudly. The other three shushed him. They were supposed to be undercover.

"What are they wearing?" Lucy hissed. "Normal clothes? Are they dressed up? How fancy?"

Levy studied them. "Chelia is wearing her usual style of dress, but it looks new."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "How new?"

"Not bought for this occasion," Levy answered, and Lucy relaxed some. "And Romeo's just wearing his usual clothes."

Lucy let out a sigh of relief. "Okay," she assured Wendy. "It's not a serious date."

"How can you tell that from their clothes?" Natsu asked in amazement. Gajeel nodded in agreement. "I mean, clothes don't mean much on a date, do they?"

Levy bit back a chuckle as Lucy glowered at her boyfriend. "To normal people, they do."

Gajeel shot Natsu a sideways look. "Don't tell me you never notice Bunny Girl dollin' herself up for you?"

Natsu blinked, "No. She always looks beautiful," he answered honestly.

Levy had to duck her head to smother her laughter. Gajeel snorted, and Natsu looked between the two in confusion. "What?"

Lucy, meanwhile, had started glowing the second those words left Natsu's lips. Staring lovingly at him, she made the mistake of not watching Wendy.

"Oh," Levy noticed. "There is one thing different about Romeo. He isn't wearing his necklace."

Something behind them snapped.

Four heads whipped around. Wendy, who had been struggling non-stop since they left the guild, had gone completely still. Silence fell over them, and Lucy reached out a hand gently.

"Wen-"

xXx

The date had been going well, Romeo thought, until the cafe exploded.

Well, as well as a date could have gone, he supposed. The conversation was a little awkward and forced; Chelia kept giggling in a voice too high-pitched and looking over her shoulders. And of course, there was the setting – Anemone was Chelia's hometown, not his, and she was no doubt using that as backup. He'd only been here a few times to visit the Lamia Scale guild hall, and both times Wendy had been there with him.

Unconsciously, his hand went to his neck. He kept forgetting that he left the beaded necklace at home. It always made him think of Wendy, and on a date with another girl this might not have been a good idea.

"So," Chelia said, checking over her shoulder again. Why did she keep doing that? "What was the last mission you went on?"

"Uh," Romeo thought. Sure, he remembered. The one he went on after Lucy and Levy had pushed him into it. "I went on this job with Wendy, we had to climb to the top of a mountain and get this magic jewel – it was causing storms that were destroying the village, see? And..."

He trailed off. Chelia was barely paying attention.

"Man, girls are weird," he muttered, slouching in his seat.

It was at that moment the explosion happened. A large gust of wind ripped through the street, knocking all of the umbrellas over and causing some of the cafe windows to shatter. Chelia shrieked, and both of them sprang to their feet, whipping around. Romeo felt his legs shake. He knew this wind.

"Wendy?" He cried in disbelief.

She was storming down the street, causing the cobblestones under her to fly off. Her face was shadowed, eyes glowing red. Romeo fell back a few steps, but Wendy paid him no heed – she raised her hand and without a word sent a blast of wind towards Chelia.

"What are you doing?" Chelia cried, throwing up her own gust of black wind to dispel it. The force of Wendy's blast was enough to send her stumbling back. "Wendy, what's wrong?

The Sky Sorceress, didn't answer, merely screamed and threw her arms up. A storm was brewing above them, covering the sun with dark clouds. Romeo scanned the streets behind her – and came to see Natsu and Gajeel cowering in a back alley, shielding Lucy and Levy from the flying debris.

"You guys!" He yelled at them. "You meddling – what did you do?!"

At that, Wendy turned to him. "What did they do?" She hissed, stepping forwards. "What did you do?!"

Wendy lunged for him, but Chelia jumped in the way. "Wendy!" She yelled. "Stop!"

"And you!" Wendy's voice was inhuman. "Taking him away from me! Thought you could get away with it, did you?"

Romeo was dumbfounded. Chelia started. "Wha-is this about him?" She pointed to Romeo, and he stared at Wendy in wonder. Could it be...were Lucy and Levy right?

"Of course this is about him!" Wendy roared. She lunged toward Chelia, and the both were lost in a flurry of magic and fists.

"No! Wendy, you have to listen!" Chelia cried. "I had no idea you liked him! If I did, I never would have-"

"Have what?" Wendy sent a particularly violent blast her way. Chelia ducked, and the top half of the cafe was ripped away. Romeo gulped. Wendy lunged forward, wrapping her thin fingers around the other girl's throat.

"I don't like him!" Chelia managed to get out, clawing at Wendy's hand. "Okay? I don't like Romeo!"

That caused the storm to slow. The winds shifted to a gentle breeze, and Wendy loosened her grip. "You...don't?" She asked, face coming out of shadow.

"No," Chelia sighed, and Wendy let go. The other girl stumbled back, coughing.

"Then...why did you..." The young dragon stumbled back, and Romeo was stunned to see a few blue-white scales dusting along her cheekbones. Had she...he'd never seen her lose control like that before. Was that all because of him?

Chelia gave a shaky laugh. "I was trying to make Lyon jealous," she said finally. "He just...I just wanted him to see me, you know?"

Wendy blinked. "Oh," she said in a very small voice. The scales disappeared and the winds died down completely. A blush began to spread across her face. "Oh."

Chelia bit her lip, and Wendy gave her a small half smile. Then, out of nowhere, one of the residents of Anemone yelled out.

"Hey! Isn't that Fairy Tail?"

"Those damn Fairies! Why do they destroy everything?"

Wendy let out a small eep, suddenly seeing all the destruction she caused. Romeo made a split-second decision – a very Fairy Tail kind of decision. He jumped to his feet and ran towards Wendy, grabbing her wrist. "Run!" he yelped, and tugged her along.

Chelia watched them go with a grin on her face, waving at her departing friends. Romeo turned and waved back, letting her know there were no hard feelings. The two raced past the other four, who promptly go to their feet and started running.

She giggled. How typical of her friends. Glancing around at the cafe she'd inadvertently demolished, she felt a small twinge of regret. But it had all been part of her plan. Cafes were a small price to pay next to her friend's happiness.

She hadn't been entirely lying to Wendy. Sure, getting Lyon's attention would have been nice. But there was another ulterior motive at play, and she had definitely lied by saying she had no idea Wendy liked Romeo. She'd known since the first day she saw the three of them together. The day she made it her mission to see them get together.

Congratulating herself, Chelia brushed some of the rubble off her shoulders. Mission: accomplished.

xXx

The six walked back to Magnolia in some silence. It wasn't too long of a walk, just long enough for the silence between Wendy and Romeo to become suffocating.

Wendy was still overcome with mortification at what she'd done. She was walking with her face very firmly focused on the ground. Up ahead, Gajeel and Natsu were having some kind of quiet argument. They were too far away for Romeo to hear, but thanks to her dragon hearing, Wendy could make out every word. They were arguing about whether or not anyone won the bet.

"Technically," Lucy muttered, "I won."

"Just because we didn't," Natsu hissed back. "You didn't bet at all!"

"In order for us to win she would have never blown up at all," Levy reminded her.

"Yeah, I win because my guess was closer."

"No you don't," Gajeel growled. "Nobody wins, Salamander. Got that?"

Wendy covered her face with her hands. They'd been placing bets on her? Was that how bad she'd been?

From beside her, Romeo was being awfully quiet. She finally gathered enough courage to glance his way. He looked lost in thought, eyes distant.

"Romeo?" She asked softly.

He grunted in acknowledgement. Feeling a little braver, she continued. "Are you okay?"

He sent her a sideways look, and Wendy felt chills all the way down her legs. This was nothing new to her, of course, it happened every time Romeo looked at her – but now there was an extra fluttering in her stomach. Because now he knew how she felt.

"I just..." he said. "Chelia. She never liked me. She was only using me to make Lyon jealous."

"Yeah?" Wendy asked cautiously. If Romeo said he was heartbroken and would never love again, she might just blow up all over again.

"Well.." he ran a hand through his hair. "Ack. This is so dumb."

"What is it?"

"Is it really so impossible for a girl to like me just for me?" he said in one rushed breath. Then he seemed to realize who he was talking to, and cleared his throat.

Wendy bit her lip. "I like you, Romeo." And there is was. Damn, did it ever feel good to say it out loud.

He chuckled, shoving his hands in his pocket. "Yeah, I got that," he said, eyes on the ground.

"Yeah," Wendy replied, embarrassment fading into her voice. "Sorry about that."

"Why did you say you didn't like me?" He asked suddenly. Wendy blinked in surprise.

"Huh?"

"A few years ago. I overheard you arguing to Bisca that you didn't like me."

Wendy felt a laugh bubbling up in her throat. She couldn't help it. He heard that? He actually believed that? "She was just teasing me. I got flustered and argued. She didn't believe me one bit." The giggles were escaping now, and Romeo glared.

"Don't laugh," he pouted.

"I can't help it!" she laughed, wiping away a tear leaking from her eyes. Romeo growled low in his throat, and grabbed her arm, pulling her face close.

"I said, don't laugh," he said in a rough voice. Wendy stopped laughing immediately, gulping. They were about an inch apart.

"Um," she licked her lips. "Um, you...do you..."

Like me, too?

The question hung in the air between them. Romeo's eyes searched hers, dark and mysterious like they always were. She was hardly ever this close to him. Her dragon nose twitched. He smelled like smoke.

Slowly, Romeo answered the question by leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers. Wendy practically melted into it, raising her hands to rest them gently in the crooks of his elbows as he circled his arms around her waist. Wendy grinned into the kiss; oh yeah. Lacrima screens did not do it credit.

"Kyaaaah!"

The sharp squeal broke them apart, and both jumped in shock, springing away. Natsu was clapping and Gajeel was watching with a proud grin on his face. Lucy and Levy, on the other hand, were jumping up and down with their arms around each other, screaming for joy like their favourite ship had just sailed into canon waters.

"Why can't we have normal relatives?" Romeo grumbled, glaring at the four of them. Wendy merely laughed, and pulled him in for another kiss.

xXx

I love RoWen.

(If enough people ask I might be persuaded into telling the story of Natsu setting fire to Magnolia's central park, or Gajeel throwing people out of library windows)