"Faggots."

I had absolutely no idea what the word meant and it kinda reminded me of chicken nuggets, but I could tell that it didn't mean anything close to food because of Sting's expression.

My date looked panicked, scared and frightened. Before I could ask the reason, however, he quickly stood up and retreated, running away and facing the hotness of the sand without his sandals. I watched as he grew smaller and smaller in my vision.

Whoa, the word must've meant something real offensive to make him run without anything to cover his feet like that, and exactly when we were about to kiss.

Thinking about his expression angrily, I stood up and faced the person who said that to us. All I could see was red. How dare he hurt someone I cared for? I haven't figured out if I liked Sting that way yet, but I did certainly care for him as a friend.

"I don't know why you said that, or what it even means, but you're gonna pay for hurting Sting," I growled, glaring at the stranger. At the corner of my eyes, I could see the Exceeds running towards me with their little legs.

The man laughed me off, perhaps not knowing that I was a part of the current strongest guild in all of Fiore. The people around us looked like they felt bad for him, like they pitied him because they knew he was going to get ruined. He would totally need that pity for them, cause I as hell am not a person who let go people who hurt my precious friends without a little warning.

"Oh, come on. What's a gay fairy going to do to me?" He laughed again, even though I didn't understand the meaning of his words. "Just run off like your boyfriend with your tail between your legs, you can't do shit to me."

And there it goes.

Red, red, red, it was all I see.

I wasn't sure if the red in my vision emitted from my anger or because my body was literally on fire. With slow large steps, I approached the annoying stranger, my hands in forms of fists. My glare stayed on the guy, him probably becoming wary when he realized I was not some simple human he could meddle with.

When I got close enough to him, I easily planted my fist on his cheek. The single punch I threw smashed him to a person's umbrella. Instead of helping, the person shoved away the stranger, perhaps not wanting her umbrella burnt because the next thing I threw at him was my Roar of the Fire Dragon.

The guy was unconscious and burnt, laying limply on the ground. His, I assumed, friends, went to him panickedly. One of them looked at me but instead of threatening me like I'd expected, "Natsu Dragneel, mage of Fairy Tail, please don't hurt my friend anymore! I apologize deeply on his behalf, so please."

I decided that I was done with the guy. That ought to teach him not to hurt the people I care about. It surprised me how the person spoke so rudely while his friend was very polite.

I stormed off, a cat following me. It was Lector, Happy went to tidy our things up. I wondered why Sting's cat was the one who followed, then it came to my mind he might want to go see his friend too. But then, why didn't he fly to where Sting was going? He might be faster than me if he flew, since I was walking.

"Lector, what does that word even mean?" I asked, calming a little after that little incident. I was trying to find Sting by sniffing his smell, which was unusually sweet. I wonder why that is?

If Lector wanted to find Sting, he was following me blindly. I didn't even know for sure where Sting was, and the cat didn't even ask me where I was going. Or maybe, a thought occured to me, he actually wants to talk to me? But why?

"You do know that males who are attracted to males, like Sting, is called gay, right?" Lector asked to make sure. I nodded, even though I didn't really know, but I think I've heard it somewhere. "Well, some people think males should only be attracted with females and therefore they attack gay people, lesbian people, and other people from the LGBTQ+ community with such words as faggots."

I frowned. That's not right. People should be able to love who they want, it's a right everyone should have. How could these people be so cruel?

"Also, Natsu, I think you should let Sting alone for a while. He needs to cool off. If you approach him, he might say something that hurts your feelings. I'll handle this, I promise," he promised me. The cat walked in front of me and turned around to face me. "Instead, you might want to prepare the stuff for your date later on."

Date?

Oh, dinner.

Sting promised me dinner earlier.

A few seconds later, the Exceed was gone from my view and I was simply looking at the sand in front of me.

Finally, I decided to go back to Happy and help him tidy up. Fortunately for me, the blue cat was already done and was currently flying towards me while holding a bag and a really large umbrella for his size--he looked troubled. I made no move to help him, only waited until he approached me.

"Happy, I have a question," I told him. When he nodded at me, I asked, "What do you think our guildmates' opinions are on gu-gay people?" I found it hard to say the new word. I've always been slow, I thought, flinching when the words reminded me of the time Erza taught me about writing and spelling.

"I didn't know you knew about that," Happy stated, smacking my head with the umbrella by accident because it was too heavy. I yelped and took it from him, pouting. "Sorry. Anyways, I think they're all pretty much open to it. Except... Anyways, yeah, they pretty much are all open-minded."

I couldn't hear the name of the person he said, but I shook it away. If there was anyone who tried to sabotage my almost-relationship with Sting, I would just kill them. You know, it's usually better to go straight to the point.

We walked back to the guild, instantly welcomed with worried looks from everyone. That 'everyone' included Lucy, Erza, Wendy and Carla. Gray simply gave me a bored look while Gajeel was nowhere to be seen. I also think Mirajane was staring at me from somewhere, I hope I hadn't done anything wrong or offensive to her.

Trust me, you wouldn't want to deal with Mirajane's wrath.

She's horrible.

"Natsu! How did the date go?" was my greeting, said by Lucy Heartfilia herself.

"Well-"

"How come it ended so quick?" Erza whined, but with a serious face like hers, it only made it look weird and disturbing.

"What do you mean 'quick'?" I asked. "That date lasted like... five hours?"

I've never went on a date before, this one might even be the first and the last if I didn't patch things up with Sting quick. Don't blame me for not knowing the criterias needed for dating. I've never read "Tips to Date 101" or anything of the kind.

Speaking of Sting, I really had to tell him how I feel. And, cheer him up, too. I don't know about him, but I would be offended if someone offended me (obviously).

"Dork," Gray commented. "Erza here wanted you to spend the night with him. She was all ready to record the whole activity, apparently for her scientific search about how gay sex works. She claimed it being innocent and purely for education, but everyone finds it hard to believe. Especially when she says that she's going to present it in front of all her girl friends. Yep, they're all totally gonba masturbate to it."

He looked ao satisfied with himself, I couldn't help but to wonder aloud, "Spend the night with him in his chambers? What kind of activity are you guys talking about? And what's mas-mastur-bate?"

Again, new words really are difficult for me to say.

Then, everyone started saying I was innocent. When Elfman approached us and asked what all of this was about, they explained to him in hushed tones and weird expressions--they looked smug? Or shy? They were both blushing and smirking, I didn't even know.

After getting the gist, Elfman started shouting very loudly, "Whoa, Natsu! How could you not know? Does that mean you are still a virgin? Natsu, you're a MAN!"

I tilted my head. "What?"

"That must mean you are saving up until marriage!" he exclaimed. "Even though my old sister enjoyed telling me those fairytails about true love and stuff, I whatsoever couldn't bring myself to wait. You're so great, Natsu! I couldn't imagine being you. You are such a MAN!"

I tilted my head further, feeling like it would break. "O... kay?"

During the day, news had spread throughout the guild that 'Natsu is innocent', 'Natsu doesn't know what sex and masturbating is', 'Natsu is so cute!', 'The pinkie is a virgin, y'know?', 'Hell, his cat probably knows more about this.'

I didn't understand, obviously. Not that anyone would tell me. If I asked them, they would've laughed at me more.

Bored, I went outside. I was going to ask them about how to arrange this date when Sting was the one who asked me--and might no longer be willing to go on this date--but that plant jumped out the wall the moment they started laughing first.

"So, what do we do now?" Happy asked.

"He's probably already made reservations and it would be a waste to arrange a new date if so," I said after thinking logically for once in my life. We were walking down the path of Magnolia without a destination.

"Are you saying we go to the reserved, say restaurant, and eat there without him because he's not in the mood?" Happy asked with big hopeful eyes. "I mean, I really am not opposed to the idea. There might be fish and Sting hasn't gotten me the ones that he promised earlier."

I laughed. "Good idea, Happy. But, I was actually going to say we go to ask around where he might be staying. If we find him, I'll try to cheer him up or something. I still need the free food that he promises me."

Really, our minds were both always clouded with food. Maybe that's why we were best friends? Eh, who knows.

So, we spent the next few hours looking and asking around for Sting Eucliffe. Good thing most people knew him from being the guildmaster of Sabertooth, the second (snort) strongest guild in Fiore. Some of them were actually surprised that the guy had been here, but some of them had claimed they saw him flying with his cat. I was certain he went back to his guild.

The reason we didn't take off the moment one of the people told me about his location was because we needed to make sure. Actually, that was entirely Happy's idea. Many people aren't as good as they seemed, he had said. I didn't really understand what he meant, so I just followed his lead.

After all, I trusted Happy. He's my guildmate and nakama. My comrades aren't going to betray me, I'm sure of that, because everyone loved everyone in Fairy Tail--in a brother-sister way, of course.

Happy and I decided it was better to go by train. Actually, again, Happy was the one who decided that. Really, the small cat was the reliable one between the two of us. I mainly agreed because I would feel bad if I drained his energy, going from Magnolia all the way over to Sabertooth.

I tried to ignore the want to puke the whole way, imagining Sting and stuff. Not that I would ever admit that.

Off to Sabertooth we go.

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How are you guys liking the story so far? I hope you guys enjoy reading this and won't kill me for the slow updates. Midterm exams are killing me, but Monday is the last day, so wish me luck.

Next chap is the date, hope you're excited cuz I as hell am~
-J. x