Face Your Fears (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

The Confession King

{LEXI'S POV}
It's been a long day and I'm tired. So finding four of the five Sabertooth team members blocking the way to our hotel isn't exactly the most welcome sight.

Yuuna stands beside her brother, with Enigma and Nero further back. Yuuki is grinning brightly. Even though it's dark, he emits a faint light of his own.

Nashi, Avery, and Storm tense, as if expecting a brawl to break out immediately. Reiki steps forward, hoping to end things civilly. I duck behind him so he shields me from view.

Seeing this, Yuuki's eyebrows crease. The smile remarkably doesn't drop from his face.

"Told you it wouldn't work." Yuuna whispers. "Let's just go, Yuuki."

"No way. It wouldn't be like me to give up in the face of failure." Yuuki hisses. They get into a little back and forth spat like we aren't right here.

"Oh no." Avery realizes what's going on. "I know why you're here and you'd better forget it."

"Care to explain?" I ask, since I do not know why he's here and his attention is primarily on me.

Avery glares daggers at Yuuki. "The Eucliffe twins both have royal nicknames. Even Chapati-san knows them. Yuuna is the Ice Cold Queen and you," she jabs an accusatory finger at Yuuki's chest, "are the notorious Confession King."

I cock my head. "What's that mean?"

Avery groans and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Lexi, Yuuki has this nasty tendency to confess at first sight to practically every girl he lays eyes on. He acts like any one of us will do."

"I don't—"

Avery huffs and scowls at Yuuki, cutting him off. He holds his hands up in placation.

Avery will have none of it. She jabs a finger in Yuuki's direction. "At least he's polite about it and doesn't force anyone to say or do anything they don't want to, plus a lot of people respect and like hanging out with him, but I hear Yuuki's been rejected by 56 girls in a row and counting. Poor, poor Confession King."

"Ya know, I prefer Yuuki but if you like Confession King then you can call me whatever helps you remember me." Yuuki grabs Avery's pointed finger and shakes it, grinning blithely.

Avery arches an eyebrow, glancing down at their joined hands then back up. "Okay, whatever-helps-you-remember-me. I'm annoyed by your presence."

"Nice to meet you, annoyed-by-your-presence." Yuuki laughs, his glow brightening.

He has a friendly laugh, and I can see why people would congregate around him. He's like a magnet. Yuuki turns to me. I swallow hard. The reason why the Confession King is here. He wouldn't—

He does.

Yuuki bows ninety degrees. "Lexi Dreyar, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one! Please go out with me!"

Somehow, even with all the build up and lead in, I'm still surprised. I've never thought of myself as worthy of someone else's romantic affection before.

In front of me, Reiki stiffens and begins to glower. He who would've been the peacekeeper now has the highest probability of snapping Yuuki's head off.

Unsure of what to do, since this is my first time being confessed to, my gazes jumps between Reiki (who looks downright murderous) and Yuuki's party.

Yuuna makes eye contact with me and shrugs, shaking her head slightly. "Just get on with it already, no need to hold back. He's actually a pretty decent guy once you reject him."

"Hey!" Yuuki complains.

"Uh, okay. Um, Yuuki-kun, I'm sorry but I reject you?" Is that how you do it?

Avery rolls her eyes. Her expression screams I told you so, dunderhead. "That makes 57 girls and counting. I rest my case."

Enigma trots towards us. She lays a hand on Yuuki's shoulder. "She isn't going to think you're serious if you don't put any effort into proving you like her."

She pulls a single rose out of her armor and offers it to me, but I'd never accept that particular flower.

Reiki's anger boils over beyond his tight control. He knocks the rose out of Enigma's hands and steps on it. Roses bring up unpleasant memories in our guild, for Reiki and his family especially.

We all silently shuffle around each other in an awkward dance. Finally, our group has a clear shot to our hotel and we make a break for it.

"It was nice talking to you all!" I call over my shoulder as Reiki drags me away by the hand.

"See you later!" Yuuki waves.

Our hotel has a bar on the first floor, and the entire Fairy Tail guild has taken up residence. I spot some people from other guilds too.

Aunt Cana and Uncle Bacchus are drinking together, still sharing an amicable relationship despite mutually deciding they'd rather not get hitched.

Aunt Yukino is sitting with Mom, Aunt Lucy, and Aunt Levy, having a late night meal.

The atmosphere is rowdier than usual. Everyone is super happy that we won both the event and the fight, starting off strong. Nashi sits down by Uncle Natsu and begins to take notes—like, actual notes—writing down all his tips and tricks to fire dragon slayer magic. Although she mainly takes after Uncle Natsu, sometimes the Aunt Lucy in her pokes out.

I go sit next to Mom. She ruffles my hair.

"Well done figuring out the secret to Tower Escape." Aunt Yukino congratulates me. "I tried explaining it to Yuuki, but he just doesn't like storybooks. He could never sit still long enough to listen to them as a child, and not much has changed."

Aunt Yukino laughs fondly while thinking about her son. I tell her about my recent encounter with Yuuki. Now Aunt Yukino buries her head in her hands, secondhand embarrassed by his antics.

"We've debated getting Yuuki to stop confessing so quickly, but he isn't harming anyone with it so Sting-sama said to just let him be." She admits.

Pretty soon, the five of us go to our rooms early. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Avery has already called dibs on the mystery event, but any one of us could be fighting in the following battle.

My brain is full of information, but I close my eyes and drift off before I know it.
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If you know him, then you know.