Mating Season (Mostly Chendy, Erlu, Canajane)

Chapter Seven

Wendy hadn't really been thinking about the Mating Season. She was young and it probably wouldn't affect her as much. She was, kind of, in denial about the whole situation. She giggled and led Chelia through the streets by their conjoined hands. "Is that a cupcake store?!" Chelia asked excitedly. Before Wendy could answer, Chelia took off and tugged her along by their linked hands. Wendy grinned and followed willingly. She loved this place and had been about to mention it. It was so good that it even held up to Erza's high expectations for cupcakes... which were even higher than her ones for cakes. Chelia pushed the door open with one hand, purposefully keeping the other one in Wendy's, and led the way in. Wendy ordered her favorite and Chelia got the same, proclaiming that, "If Wendy likes it, it must be good!" Wendy pointed at one for Carla and pulled out her small wallet that she kept with her at all times. Chelia patted her pockets before pouting. "Oh no! I forgot my-" Wendy knew she had and already had her own Jewels out to pay for Chelia's food. The pink-haired God Slayer was a tad bit forgetful. "Don't worry, Chelia!" She said with a grin, placing down the money on the counter for the man. "I'll pay." Chelia found herself blushing. She cursed herself internally. Why was it that the one person in the world that she wanted to not get flustered around had the unique ability to make her so? Life was so unfair sometimes. "Chelia, are you alright?" Wendy asked worriedly. "Yup! Thanks for paying!" She guessed that she might as well try to make the other girl blush if she was flustered herself. She draped her arm over Wendy's shoulders in a sideways hug. Wendy blushed and Chelia celebrated her victory silently. "Here you go," Wendy said, voice wavering for a second. "Thanks!" Chelia said with her normally bubbly attitude. "No problem." She said, face returning to its normal color. Chelia rolled her eyes, already trying to find out ways to make the girl blush again. She looked so adorable when she did that, accenting her already amazingly cute face. She found herself starting to turn red, but she forced it down angrily. Chelia was going to win this little game of theirs and there was no chance she was going to fall behind just from blushing at her thoughts! Carla watched the two with a raised eyebrow, not quite certain what she felt like she was missing. It seemed really important, but she just could not for the life of her figure out what it was. She glanced at Wendy, trying to figure out what Gajeel had wanted to talk to her about. She'd get it out of the girl one way or another later. Chelia and Wendy were already giggling at something Carla had missed in those two seconds she had been distracted with her own thoughts. There was definitely something she was missing.

<><><>

Gajeel looked around the guild, wondering who his Mate could be. His eyes landed on Levy and his face heated up. Gajeel couldn't imagine himself being that lucky. Levy was so sweet and perfect. She wouldn't want a ruffian like him with her. The Iron Dragon Slayer sighed slightly dejectedly, looking up and finding that Levy was looking at him. Gajeel found himself giving her a rare smile. Her face seemed to redden, but that had to be his imagination. Not like she would ever like someone like him. Not in a million years. If only he knew how foolish such thoughts were. Like the heart worked as the mind wished for it to.

<><><>

Erza didn't know what was making Lucy act so weird, but Erza even just looking at her seemed to send the girl into a deep blush. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she was both equal parts worried and... amused. It made her want to make the girl get flustered more. She even looked almost... cute when she did it. Mirajane walked over and Erza ordered another barrel of water for Lucy, making Lucy blush again as she had been just about to ask the same thing. "Lucy, are you alright? Do you have a fever?" She asked, leaning forward to put a hand on Lucy's forward, eyes inspecting worriedly. "N-no! Just... thirsty! Yeah!" Lucy was bright red and Erza was just frowning. "Alright. Should we speak to the Master again?" She asked. "I'm alright." She said hurriedly, giving Erza a look she didn't understand. Lucy didn't understand her brain. She remembered when Mirajane had said that she thought Natsu had a crush on her. It had been one of the most embarrassing days of her life. She had made a fool of herself and hadn't even liked him! She had imagined Natsu looking all cute-perhaps his hair had turned slightly darker, turning more red than pink, and maybe, just maybe, his features had turned a bit more feminine in her imagination-and now here she was doing the same with Erza! Except... this time it was infinitely worse. She actually did have a crush on Erza and it was making it hard for Lucy to think straight... not that any of her thoughts were necessarily straight at the moment, honestly. That just made her blush deeper. She took the barrel Mirajane set down and chugged it, desperately trying to hide her bright red face. Mirajane didn't seem fazed, her keen eyes inspecting the brightly colored cheeks of her friend. She knew that something, or rather someone, had Lucy all flushed. She needed to know the gossip and fast considering the fact that she was actively shipping Lucy with someone. And it was definitely not Natsu she was shipping her with. It was, instead, a certain scarlet-haired girl sitting beside her and giving her worried looks when she blushed as their faces came closer than normal. Erza is so oblivious... Mirajane thought, remembering the time when they were younger that Erza hadn't noticed her crush on her... she almost missed that. Now she had to deal with Cana, her new and all the more serious crush, who seemed to be on the verge of discovering her feelings constantly. She hated that. If only her crush could be just a little bit denser... but she really liked the way Cana did her strategic games. It was all a little bit above Mira's head on that subject, she really wasn't good at card or board games, but she really liked to watch. "Are you alright, Mira?" Erza asked, looking to the side. "Yup!" She said, giving the redhead a broad smile. She had had to say that more than once when she was younger. It was nice to know that, for once, she was crushing on someone other than Erza when the redhead asked. Lucy gave Mirajane a quick look and Mira thought for a moment that Lucy looked jealous. She smirked, knowing right then that Lucy did have a crush on Erza. Mirajane was very proud to say that she didn't have any sense of jealousy. She'd moved on... even if that moving on was moving on to a slightly alcoholic card Mage.

<><><>

Chelia didn't know why Wendy looked so weird as Gajeel looked over at her. There seemed to be something really weird going on between all of the Dragon Slayers. Chelia found herself really wondering what was happening to Wendy. It made her feel... sad that Wendy wasn't sharing whatever was going on with her. The two of them were really close... she was pulled from her thoughts as Wendy started talking, describing something that Chelia hadn't caught the name of. She listened intently, finding it easy to distract herself with the other girl around. "BOOM!" Wendy said loudly, hands doing an exploding gesture. Chelia giggles, though she was still not certain what Wendy was trying to tell her about. Wendy grinned back at her before suddenly becoming serious. Chelia turned in her chair to see Gajeel standing behind her. "Levy told the Master." Wendy's face reddened at the words and she nodded quickly, hoping that Gajeel would leave. Her wish was granted as the Iron Dragon Slayer walked off towards... Levy. Under normal circumstances that would have been enough to make Wendy grin. These were not normal circumstances. "Wendy, are you alright?" Chelia asked, beating Carla to the question. The Exceed stared at her with shock for a moment before turning back towards Wendy for the answer. "Yeah. Just thinking about... stuff." Wendy usually smiled after saying she was fine. Chelia knew that. She knew a lot of things about Wendy that she probably shouldn't have known. She just paid attention to the other girl. A lot of attention. "You can talk to me, Wen." She said, giving Wendy a compassionate look. Wendy rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. "I will. Just... not right now." That was a promise. When Wendy made promises she always kept them. Chelia smiled and leaned back in her chair. "Alright. I can live with that." She flashed Wendy with one of her winning smiles. Wendy smiled just a bit, but she seemed really nervous. If Chelia knew what was happening she probably would have been nervous herself.

<><><>

Mirajane set the barrel of whiskey on the counter for Cana, giving her a smile. Cana felt a little bubble of excitement filling her at the expression. "Here you go, Cana." She said. Their hands brushed against each other and Mirajane felt a sharp spark shoot through her whole body. It took her a second to process what that meant. She looked up at Cana and saw the girl staring at her hand in open disbelief and confusion. "What just-" She looked up at Mirajane and suddenly her face was red. She moved her hand away from sight, acting as if there was some kind of beacon on it proclaiming her feelings for the white-haired Mage. Lisanna appeared and was about to say something, but she quickly put the puzzle pieces together. She giggled despite her better judgement, unable to stop herself from doing so. Mirajane was far too tired to shocked to comprehend anything that Lisanna said or did at the moment. "Mate," Mirajane whispered quietly, staring at the other girl with shock written across her face. Lisanna's eyes widened at the other girl. "Mirajane, let's go to the back." She said, snatching onto Mirajane's hand and tugging her away. The oldest Strauss seemed unable to say a word as she was led off. "She's-she's my Mate..." Mirajane whispered the words as if she couldn't believe them herself. Lisanna nodded at her sister, setting her down on a chair. She didn't even argue as she thought. "I don't think Cana noticed your reaction considering she was still looking at her hand like it had severally betrayed her." She said, focusing of the bright side of things. Mirajane suddenly was back in the moment, her features turning worried. "Did she feel it too?!" She asked worriedly. "She'd have to be more oblivious than Erza not to notice the spark you two just felt," Lisanna said, smirking at her sister. Mirajane was far too distracted to hear her little sister's joke. Cana wasn't doing much better, still looking at her hand with open hatred. She had seen Mirajane's face. She didn't even know what the hell happened, but she was pretty certain that it was her fault. The card Mage put her head in her hands and growled under her breath, not even truly saying words at this point. "Are you alright, Cana?" She heard a soft, gentle voice ask. She looked over to the side to find Wendy giving her a worried look. Cana drew herself up as much as she could, trying to look like her normal, carefree self. "Yeah. I'm good." Wendy didn't buy it, giving her a blank stare. That damn Exceed's rubbing off on her too much. These were the last things she thought before she found herself telling the kid everything.