Location: Fairy Tail Guild
Time: 10:24 a.m.

"Great!" Sting laughed as he clenched his hand in a battle fist that held excitement, hitting against the bar counter. "It's a deal!"

While waiting for Lucy, Sting was talking to Wendy and Erza at their so called girls' booth. Both girls sat at opposite sides while Sting stood in the middle beside them with one hand on his hips. He had complimented them about how amazing they were in the Grand Magic Games and how much determination he had to challenge them, and he had already made a deal with Erza to fight sometime.

The sound of footsteps then pulled Sting's attention away from the girls and to Natsu that seemed to be walking at a rare speed he would use when in the guild.

"Oh, hey Natsu!" Sting called with a wave of his hand while his eyes moved equally fast as Natsu's speed. Natsu turned and sent him a glare that he obviously wasn't expecting, the excitement in Sting's eyes burned, burned by the flames in Natsu's onyx eyes. It was scary. Both Wendy and Erza noticed, they were surprised, but did not make a sound.

At the matter of seconds, Sting felt that a knife was slowly being pushed into his stomach, pitches of pain, pain of fear as Natsu's eyes were locked with his fiercely when Natsu moved, picking up speed as he walked toward the guild exit while both his hands turned into hard rock fist, and then he disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey blondie!" Sting called out to the blonde as he made his way toward the guild bar,
hoping she had heard his voice.

Lucy leaned up a little, disconnecting her lips from the straw that she had chewed on since after she had finished her drink. She turned her chair to face the approaching Sting, then she grabbed her cup and continued to bite on the straw, inhaling her breath to get the already melted ice-water into her mouth.

Before Sting starts to speak, Lucy let out a long and sloppy sigh, almost a irritated groan. He studied her steadily, then he asked, "Wanna go for a walk?", his eyebrows slopped upwards on his forehead showing concern. Lucy thought about it for a moment, then hummed and nodded.

She placed her empty cup that was one-forth filled with ice on the counter and slid down her chair, producing a 'click' sound of her heels as it landed on the ground.

Then, she made her way towards the exit with Sting following beside her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: On the street
Time: 10:31 a.m.

"Hey blondie." Sting began cheerfully which was only replied by a hum of Lucy's. They walked down the street with no destination planned.

"You look pale. What's wrong?" he asked, hands in his pockets.

"Oh? Probably because I'm worried about my rent that I'm going to pay this month." she answered, stealing a glance at Sting playfully yet seriously.

"O-Oh. Sorry about yesterday." he laughed awkwardly. "I promise I'll return it to you by the end of this week. I promise!" he swore and raised his right hand and jumped in front of Lucy, mostly to get her attention because she had been dazing off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What Happened The Previous Day-
Location: Sakura's Sushi Restaurant
Time: 9:45 p.m.

"Oh...mm..m.." Lucy groaned, pushing a sushi into her mouth, mayo and sauce left on her pink lips as she chewed.

"Honestly, this is great! Thanks to me you got to eat this." Sting purred with a mouth full while the next sushi that was going to be devoured by him was already prepared and held in his hands, ready to be eaten anytime.

"Yeah, I'm really glad you brought me here," she said, ordering another set of sushi. "And since you're gonna pay, I'll enjoy myself tonight." she finished and leaned back a little, giving space for the waitress to take away the empty plates.

When the waitress walked away, Sting looked up at Lucy. "I-" he suddenly started while Lucy picked a sushi from a plate.

"Hm?"

"I didn't know...", he paused and looked down. The atmosphere became more tense, making Lucy stop her movements, except for her mouth that kept on working. But Lucy kept her eyes on Sting, ears ready to listen to what was about to be spoken.

"I didn't know that a Celestial Spirit mage like you could eat this much!" Sting laughed out loud, trying not to spit the sushi out of his mouth.

"Oh shut it!" Lucy said, matching her voice as loud as Sting's laughter as she gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.

After they cleaned their plates, they headed to the counter to make their payment. It was a total of—one-third of Lucy's house rent, and it'll take Lucy to do a few number of jobs to earn the money back.

Sting slid his hand into his pocket to get his wallet. He fidgeted his hands in his pocket for a while, then he looked up and turned to look at Lucy who only looked back at him. Sting didn't say a word, his hand remained in his pocket and eyes on Lucy.

At first Lucy just stood there, until she noticed something was wrong after seeing an oops-smile on Sting's face which his lips was squeezed into a straight line.

"D-Do you mind, paying for t-tonight?" Sting asked and immediately saw the change on Lucy's face—Lucy's eyebrow twitched and a side of her lips had moved upwards.

According to Sting, he had learned from Natsu and Gray that Lucy Kick was very similar to what was about to happen now, except that she had changed into a crying puppy as she handed the cash to the cashier.

"Thank you for the meal!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to reality~

"But, I don't think that's the only reason you're upset, right?" Sting pressed confidently, he knew something else was definitely troubling her, and mostly to take this advantage to change the previous topic.

Lucy didn't say a word, she stared at nothing in the distance, but her mind was obviously occupied. When Sting had noticed the silence between them, he started to fidget with the keys inside his pocket while thinking off something that could possibly cheer Lucy up, moreover, it was him who insisted for a walk, he had to do entertainment.

"Wanna hear a joke?" Sting started lamely, hoping the jokes would be funny or at least able to cut the silence between them that was growing. Sting then started to tell jokes. It wasn't funny which successfully slipped a few small laughs of Lucy because the jokes were stupid and doesn't make any sense.

As Sting joked, Lucy listened, minutes went by quietly before they realized that they were standing at the entrance of the park.

Magnolia Park, the huge sign read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Location: Magnolia Park
Time: 9:30 a.m.

It was a huge park. There were kids running around with strings held in their hands connected to colorful kites that was smoothly carried by the wind above them. People of all ages doing yoga and teenagers talking about love as they sat on benches.

Lucy's eyes settled at the tree that was in the middle of the park. An image appeared in her mind as her eyes stayed; sitting under the tree on the moist green grass under the shade while listening to the rustling of the leaves and the wind murmuring her name. It was all Lucy could ask for, for now.

They went. They sat under the tree, the image that Lucy could see around her, it was peaceful, just like the image that had appeared in her mind. But somehow, the atmosphere had led her to feel a little emotional, she doesn't know the reason why she was feeling that way.

She was lost in her own world of emotions when Sting's voiced snapped her out.

"If you don't mind, you could tell me what's bothering you," he said as he leaned against the tree trunk.

"I'll listen to ya!" he finished, turning his head to the left and looked at Lucy's calm yet bothered eyes as he brought his right leg towards his chest and his right elbow on his knees before he relaxed and closed his eyes.

Lucy hesitated for a minute and finally came to a decision. She knew that Sting Eucliffe from Sabertooth was once her and her guild's opponent but she deeply felt that she could trust him—at least that was what she thought at that moment. She brought her knees towards her chest and wrapped her arms around them before she began to speak.

"Have you ever loved someone?"

                   ✿ <Author's Note> ✿
Hope you readers had enjoyed this chapter. I guess it was boring though, but I'm glad if you'd actually read until here•<<.

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