First or Last Kiss?

~11~

Jellal grunted as he tried to open his eyes and get himself into a sitting position.
To his surprise, two hands supported him until he was seated.
"You're alright. I'm relieved." He heard a familiar feminine voice say to him. He quickly turned around to face the person.
"S-Scarlet? What are you..." Jellal trailed off.
"I must apologise for knocking you out," Erza said, bowing her head slightly.
"It's okay, really," The blue haired mage said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"I bet you're wondering why I was following you, huh?" Erza nodded in response and Jellal sighed.
"Look, when all of you were presumably dead on that Tenrou Island, there were strange levels of magic around this place during the Grand Magic Games. Me and my guild – you don't know about that? I now have a guild called Crime Sorcière, anyway, this year me and my guild planned on investigating the increasing levels of magical energy and then we heard about Fairy Tail joining this year. So we sorta kept a close eye on all of you this whole time."
There was a moment of silence before one of them dared to speak up.
"There's no need to worry about me. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you." Erza crossed her arms and gave a chuckle.
"As for Fairy Tail, we're quite an independent guild too and we can look after each other." Erza unfolded her arms and held a hand out to Jellal who was still seated on the roof. He gladly took it and helped himself up.
"Although you say you can look after each other, I know for one that you haven't seen what some of Fairy Tail's members were up to these last couple days," he said with a grin.
"Oh? And what's that, then?" Erza questioned.
"Ah well, this Celestial Mage has been quite... busy, I must say." Jellal chuckled and jumped right into explaining the Requip mage what he'd seen.

*POV change*

"So how do you like it?" Yukino asked once she'd finished washing off the cooking supplies she'd used for Natsu and Happy's meal.
"Dewicioush!" Happy cheered with his mouth full of fish.
"What about you Natsu?" The light blue-haired mage asked, looking at the Dragon Slayer who was devouring his food within seconds. He held up a hand, as if to signal that he'd be done soon, and continued eating for a bit.
"It was the best meal I've head for days!" Natsu sighed in content when he'd finished his plate and leaned back in his chair.
"Thanks Yukio!" he grinned and folded his hands behind his head.
"Uhm... Natsu-san..." Yukino started shyly and looked down. "... It's Yukino not Yukio." She blushed and cursed her short hair for not being able to cover up her heated cheeks.
"A-And I'm glad you liked the food."
There was a moment of silence before the blonde Celestial Mage strolled out of the bathroom. She'd probably showered, since her hair was damp and she was wearing her pink PJs.

"Heya, Yu-chan!" Lucy greeted her temporary roommate and walked over to the kitchen table.
"So they made you cook for them, huh? Jeez... Natsu! You can't just –" Yukino interrupted the other girl before she could kick Natsu out.
"A-actually ,Lucy-sama... I offered to cook for them, since they were hungry and I wanted to... show my gratitude, in a way." Yukino fidgeted nervously with the hem of her tank-top and Lucy smiled to herself.
"It's alright, Yukino, don't worry. I thought that maybe these two were bothering you or something." Lucy sighed and sat down in a chair. Yukino followed her lead and shook her head lightly.
"Oh, no. They didn't, really!" she said and received a toothy grin from Natsu's side.
"Glad to hear! Well, I gotta go, see ya tomorrow!" Natsu stood up, carrying Happy on his shoulder and made his way over to the door. Before he left he turned around and waved goodbye.
"Good night, Luce, Yukio!" A soft thud followed after the Dragon Slayer left the room.
Lucy giggled while Yukino sighed.
"I told him it was Yukino not Yukio."

*Time skip: The following day/morning at Sabertooth's hotel*

Sting slowly opened his eyes but immediately shut them again when the blinding sunlight shone through the curtains of his hotel room. He rolled over and let his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness of the room.
"You finally awake?" Rogue's voice came from the kitchen and Sting set up in bed, the covers gliding off his toned stomach. (A/n: I know I said that I normally don't do this but seriously! Sting. The bed. His abs. *uncontrollable nosebleeds*)
"Jeez, Rogue... You opened the curtains didn't you?!" Sting growled and got out of bed with a sigh.
"Good morning to you, too!" the darkhaired Dragon Slayer called out. Sting sighed again and, having only slept in his boxers, put on a pair of sweatpants. He made his way over to the kitchen and took a seat at the table.
"Couldn't have worn a t-shirt or something?" Rogue remarked when he put a full plate of food in front of his Twin Dragon and continued preparing his own.
"We're alone, Rogue. Nobody's gonna burst into our room and –" The blonde mage abruptly stopped speaking. As if on cue a person came barging into the room without knocking and both Sting and Rogue found themselves in defensive stances.

"Sting?... Rogue? Fro? Jeez... it's so messy in here, how can they even live with their selves? Anybody in here?"
Headshaking, the blonde Celestial Mage rounded the corner to the kitchen and shrieked when Rogue pushed her roughly against the wall. Pinning her in place with one hand pressed against her throat and the other ignited with shadows, ready to throw a punch.
"Rogue!" Sting yelled and stopped the other Dragon Slayer from hitting the girl.
"L-Lucy-sama?" Rogue uttered before freeing her from his grip.
"I'm so incredibly sorry, I didn't mean to... well," He said awkwardly.
Lucy shook her head gently and rubbed her painful neck before speaking.
"I-It's alright! I should've just knocked, I'm sorry." She gave a rueful smile before her gaze met Sting's and then down at his exposed torso.
"Hm? Like what you see?" Sting teased and Lucy huffed.
"Tch, don't get ahead of yourself Eucliffe." Lucy grinned but it soon faded when she remembered why she got to the boys' apartment in the first place.
"I wanted to ask you something," She stated plainly and crossed her arms.
The two Dragon Slayers shared a look and then nodded approvingly.
"Why was Yukino kicked out of your guild?" Lucy spat, no longer able to control her building anger at Saber's master.
Rogue froze and stayed silent while Sting shrugged.
"She probably wasn't good enough, or something," He said. Lucy's anger flared up.
" 'Or something?' Why wasn't she good enough? She has three Golden Keys, three!" she yelled in frustration.
"Lucy, why are you getting so fired up? It could've just been about anything! It could've been because she betted on her life!" Sting shouted and regretted that action immediately.
He shouldn't be yelling at Lucy. He knew that she hated it when men acted superior. Wasn't he doing that now? Wasn't he making her recall moments with her so hated father? The father she'd lost not long ago? He knew what had happened; Lucy had opened up to him completely, while he had only lowered one wall. He would never let down his guard fully, but that didn't mean he couldn't love the girl in front of him. That he couldn't try.
He was pretty sure that yelling at one another wasn't going to help him with that process.

Lucy stared in silence at the blonde Dragon Slayer. What did he say? Why would he not care about one of his guild members? Is Sabertooth really like that? Is all they care about; absolute power?
She took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
"Yes, she betted on her life. And yes, she lost that bet, but doesn't that mean that you're supposed to be there for her? To comfort her? To ensure that she hasn't failed the guild, at all? Because failing is too big of a word to use in this situation. She just lost a game, that's it. Go tell your master that." With those words Lucy spun her heels and ran out of the room. Out of the hotel. Out of Sabertooth's claws. Which she desperately hoped hadn't affected Sting's heart like it had seemed to have.

*Short time skip: wandering around Crocus*

Gray had been out of bed early and to clear his mind, he'd been training. Running around Crocus's perimeters took longer than expected and he finally made his way back to Fairy Tail's inn a little after noon. (12:00pm)
What he also hadn't been expecting was to come across the blonde Celestial Mage, who was surprisingly looking very miserable for her being. After much internal battle he decided to head over. If not for her well-being, then for his own restless mind.

"I'm surprised you're out here, I thought you couldn't stand the heat?" Lucy greeted, hinting at the warm and humid weather that was typically Crocus.
"Ah... yeah, I was just heading back to the inn," Gray answered, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Damn, this is harder than I thought.
"Been training, huh?" Lucy asked, eyeing the raven haired mage up and down.
"A lot on your mind?" she said quietly and looked down, but Gray could still pick it up. He suddenly grabbed Lucy's wrist and led the protesting mage to an ally along the main road.
"Lucy... I-I wanted to say sorry for –" Lucy held up a hand and shook her head.
"Don't be sorry, Gray. If you hadn't acted the way you did, I would have never known your true feelings for me." She averted her gaze and leaned back against the rough stone wall.
"If anyone were to apologise, it'd be me."
"Lucy, don't shove this on yourself. Seriously, I'm sorry and I just want to know ... if the fact that you... kissed me back means anything to you," Gray asked, getting more flustered by the minute.
Lucy glanced at the, now shirtless, Ice mage and realised that she hadn't thought much about the kiss at all. She'd been so consumed with convincing Sting that the kiss had meant nothing. And it really hadn't meant anything. Right? Lucy thought.
She let the vivid memory pass by once and she shut her eyes tightly. It really hadn't meant anything, right?
She remembered Gray's vague question, his soft voice when he explained her that it wasn't about him hating her, no, it was about him loving her.
Lucy remembered how he'd suddenly pushed her against the wall and how he'd smashed his mouth on hers. How he'd tasted and how his icy touch had left her skin tingly for the next hours.
Suddenly she remembered all the times in the guild, back in Magnolia. How Gray would always drag himself on a job with Team Natsu and how his lopsided grins were often directed at herself. Lucy remembered well, that one time when he'd suffered from heatstroke and how he'd shared his darkest memories with her.

She suddenly felt the weight of all those memories. The weight of a thousand unspoken words. The weight of Gray's love for her and for everything she was. Lucy could feel it. She could feel the weight pressing down on her shoulders now and she had to admit that there was no way that she could deny her own love for him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yay, so many updates today!

Thanks again for reading my story >w<

--DevillishReads