"It's getting close to White Day, isn't it?" Lucy trailed off as she stared absentmindedly at the board in front of her. Her mind wandered to the month before.
Natsu had decided to surprise her that time. Although his efforts made her warm, she couldn't forget the crushing heartbreak she felt when he was acting.
"Should I start plotting my revenge?" Lucy smirked.
"Gray, I need your help." Natsu said with a serious face.
"What's up?" His friend was sprawled on the ground, letting the tree's shade and flower's scent lull him to sleep.
"How do I make chocolate?" Gray peeked at Natsu with one eye.
"Is it for Lucy?"
"Who else?" He rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you get a recipe online and try that?"
"Remember what happened last time I tried that?" Gray immediately shuddered.
Natsu had tried to make curry and while it was a spicy dish, he had added so many other mysterious ingredients that his friends had gotten food poisoning. Thankfully it was break, so they didn't need to skip school.
"I'll help." If Lucy had an accident because he didn't help Natsu, Gray would feel guilt a thousand times more painful than being hit by a car.
"Thanks." Natsu sighed gratefully. "By the way, did you prepare anything for Juvia?"
"I already made the chocolate. She'll be happy even if it was store bought, but I think after all the things she gave me last month, it's best to give her a homemade gift."
"That's nice. It's obligatory, right?"
"She won't think of it like that." Natsu smiled at him sympathetically
"It's the thought that counts." He said sagely. "That's all that matters to her.".
"What would Shrimp like for White Day?" Gajeel asked Juvia. Gajeel needed an idea and she was the first person he went to.
"Isn't chocolate fine?" Juvia tilted her head. "I suppose you can get her a book as well, but you'll have to ask Lucy about that."
"I can get the book then. I'm not good with making foods." He continued when his friend glared at him. "You don't have to give someone chocolate on White Day."
"That's true. . ."
"I'll look for Bunny Girl then." Juvia sighed.
"I wish you would stop calling them weird names. It was really cute when you called Levy by her name."
"Quiet, you." Gajeel looked at her curiously. "You're not chasing Gray?"
"I give him some time alone once in a while. Besides, I don't always chase because I love him."
"Then why?"
"He needs to learn to stop ignoring and running away from his problems." Gajeel blinked.
"Say, is there a book you're really interested in right now?" Lucy asked out of the blue as she checked her phone.
"That I've read and have or that I don't have?"
"That you don't have. Preferably one that I've never heard of before."
"Um, okay then. Let's see." Levy thought for a moment. "Well, there's one."
"What's it called?"
"Wait a second, I just finished it." Levy presented the book to her friend. "Here."
"Never heard of it." Lucy replied. "What's it about?"
"A girl that can see faeries is suddenly tasked as the queen of the summer faeries to defeat the queen of winter faeries."
"Seems interesting. Do you like it?" Levy grinned excitedly.
"I really like it! There's drama and romance. They use an interesting approach to romance too!" Levy placed the book back into her bag. "If I could, I'd like the whole series."
"It's a series?" Lucy asked. "How many books?"
"Well, there's five books, but there are side stories. So far, I only have the side stories. It's really hard to find the main stories."
"I see. . . Well, let's go. You have to return the book today, right?" Lucy tugged her friend towards the direction of the library.
"H-how did you know?"
"I checked the log when you gave the book to me." Levy laughed.
"You're really observant, aren't you?" Lucy just smiled and pulled her phone out.
Gajeel's phone vibrated. "Hold on, it's from Bunny Girl." Juvia stopped beside him.
"What did she say?"
"She told me to get a whole series of books for Shrimp. Apparently they're hard to find." He scrolled through the conversation. "She has all the details. Author, title, genre..."
"Lucy can skim through one chapter and predict how the story will end. It's not surprising for her to know all of that information."
"That's... skillful..." Gajeel glanced at his phone once more. "She's even giving all the location of the all the bookstores in the city."
"She's doing that because she wants Levy to be happy." Juvia looked up at him.
"Find those books and make her happy. Tomorrow is White Day. You don't have much time left."
"Natsu, nowhere in the recipe did it say that you need chili powder." Gray scowled at the offending item as he put it back where it belonged.
"But it makes thing interesting, doesn't it?" Natsu pouted.
"We're not playing roulette with the chocolate." Gray pointed his finger at the list. "See, it says vanilla extract but..."
"What's wrong with vanilla ice cream?" Natsu defended himself.
"Now I see why you always eat takeout." Gray shook his head. "You have limited ingredients, money and time. Don't screw up."
They laid out the ingredients on the counter. Gray glanced at the recipe and nodded. "This all that we need. Alright, this should be easy. Read the recipe before starting."
"Hm.." Natsu looked over the instructions thoroughly. "Okay..." He immediately dumped a fourth of the bottle of coconut oil into the pan. Gray hurriedly turned the stove off.
"Woah, woah, woah. No, stop. You didn't even separate the ingredients into the proper quantities."
"It didn't say to in the recipe!" Natsu huffed. True. His friend was technically right.
"But it says here in the list that you have to have a specific amount of each item." Gray pointed out.
"Oh." Gray sighed. Natsu had no common sense whatsoever.
"Let's try again."
This time, Natsu managed to get the correct amount and under Gray's watchful eye, carefully poured the oil into the pan. As they waited for it to melt, Natsu asked his tutor a question.
"What do you think of Juvia?"
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I asked." Gray pondered deeply. "She's nice I guess, but annoying at the same time. She won't stop chasing me."
"Do you know why?"
"Isn't it because of her obsessive attraction for me?" Natsu groaned.
"That made you sound egotistic. But there's also something else to it."
"I don't get it." This was going nowhere.
"Are you annoyed when she chases you around?"
"Of course."
"Then why don't you tell her to stop?" Gray fell silent. Why indeed. Natsu looked at his friend expectantly before speaking.
"It's because you keep running away from your problems."
"I don't-"
"That time your friend from the other city came over and kept trying to get you to come back. What did you do? You kept making up excuses about not being able to see him."
"That was one time!"
"And the time you sprained your ankle and tried to play it off instead of get help." Gray glared at his friend.
"Fine, but what does this have to do with Juvia?"
"She's trying to get you to say no to her."
"That doesn't seem to be like her at all." Natsu stared at him, hard.
"She only does things for the best of you."
"How do you know this?"
"Lucy."
"Of course." Gray should have known. Natsu couldn't say anything so wise by himself.
"Gray?"
"What is it now?"
"What do we do if there's smoke?"
"It means something is burning and you have to put it out." Gray was still too
deep in his thoughts to notice Nastu bring the pan to the sink until it was too late.
"Wait-". A mighty roar came from the pan as water helped add more fuel to the fire. "Why isn't it putting out?" Natsu asked, panicked.
"Idiot! Adding water to burning oil makes it worse! Where's the extinguisher?" Gray looked around frantically.
"Don't have one!" Gray groaned in frustration before pulling out a lid just the size of the pan and smothering the fire effectively.
"Oh~ Nice job, Gray!"
"Shut up." Gray panted, wiping the sweat off his brow. "This is seriously the worst cooking lesson I've ever attended."
"That was..." Easy? Embarrassing? Gajeel wanted to punch the cashier in the face.
When he had brought the books to the counter, the cheeky man gave him a look saying, "You like these types of books? Didn't peg you as the type." Thankfully, Gajeel managed to control himself in time.
"Gajeel." He turned. Lucy smiled in approval when she saw the books in his hands. "You found them? Good, let's wrap them."
"Wrap them? Can't we just tie a ribbon around them?" Lucy ignored him and pulled him to an alley.
"What do you want?" Gajeel asked when Lucy stopped when they were in the shadows.
"I need an idea for revenge."
"Didn't think you were the type to hold grudges. Just reject his gift. Claim you received more than just his."
"Isn't that too simple and similar to his?" Lucy arched an eyebrow.
"He's dense. It'll work." Lucy sighed.
"Fine. I'll try that. Thanks." Lucy started walking out of the alley. "This should be easy."
She won't last for long. Gajeel thought. After all, she had already forgiven Salamander long ago.
"I-I did it." Natsu gasped as he collapsed on the ground triumphantly. His chocolate rested on the counter and Gray delicately took a bite out of one.
"Unexpectedly good." He gave a thumbs up. "It's safe." Natsu grinned.
"That's nice. Think she'll like it?"
"Yeah." Gray let out a sigh. But to think that I had to stay at your place for the night. . . Not to mention you only finished one batch total. . ."
"Well, we slept and I did it. No need to fret over small things." Natsu gave a toothy smile.
"Just clean yourself up. I'm heading out first. Tell me how she reacts."
"M'kay. Bye." Gray closed the door and set off to school. He had been smart to have packed Juvia's gift and had kept it from melting at Natsu's place. He looked around.
Normally, he'd try to avoid the girl, but today was different. This time, he was the one approaching her. "Juvia." Like magic, the girl appeared before his eyes.
"You called? Could it be, you finally reciprocate my feelings? I knew the time would come~" she swooned.
"Here." He handed her the chocolate. Juvia tenderly took it and smiled. Gray felt his heart miss a beat. Her natural smile was really warm.
"Thank you."
"It's nothing. By the way. . . Natsu told me. You chase me to get me to stop running away, right?"
"Hm, Lucy couldn't help but tell him. And he couldn't help but tell you, it seems." She looked at him in the eye. "And if it's true?"
"I want to thank you. This whole time I thought you were annoying, but you really were just helping me. I want to make up for it somehow."
"Then, maybe a kiss?" She asked mischievously. "Well, I'm just kidding. I won't force you to-" Gray cut her off with a small kiss on the lips. Juvia blinked. He blushed at her reaction.
"You actually-"
"Yeah."
"You didn't need to-"
"I know."
"So why?" He smirked.
"Because I wanted to."
When Gajeel saw Levy, she was talking with Lucy about some project due the next week. Lucy had nodded along without properly paying attention until she saw him at the corner of her eye.
She politely excused herself in a flawlessly natural fashion. As she walked away, she winked. If it was for Levy or for him, he couldn't tell, but Gajeel was glad that Lucy was such a supportive friend.
Gajeel squared his shoulders and stepped forward. "Hey, Shrimp. I have something for you." Levy turned in surprise.
"Gajeel!" He gruffly handed her the books. Levy looked so happy, it made everything he had to go through worth it.
"The books that I wanted! Where did you get them! Thank you so much!" She squealed and hugged it tightly to her chest.
"Does it really matter? Happy White Day, Levy." Levy placed her books in her bag and embraced him. Gajeel stiffened for a moment before relaxing and returning the hug.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"It's nothing." He would do anything to make her happy, because he wanted her to always smile.
By the time Natsu had tidied up, he was running late for class. He sped past near fatal car accidents, ignoring the swearing directed at him. He needed to give Lucy the chocolate, he didn't have time to care about what others thought of him!
Target spotted! "Lucy! Hey, wait!" She stopped and frowned. He was a mess.
"What is it?" She sounded awfully cold.
"Here." Natsu handed her the box and she took it skeptically.
"How do I know it's not dangerous?" Did he really have that bad of a reputation?
"Gray tested it! He's alive too, so you don't need to worry." She sighed and took one out of the box. Chewing it, she made a face. It was hard to tell what expression she was trying to make.
Lucy wanted to say it was bad, she really did. But this chocolate was rather pleasant and when she glanced at Natsu's concerned features, she found it too hard to berate. She tried to form words of insult.
"It's. . .not bad. . ." Natsu took it positively.
"Really? That's great! I was super duper worried about what you'd say. I'm glad you like it." He was giddy, she could tell. Really, she should have known her heart wasn't into revenge.
"What's wrong?" Natsu asked when she pouted. Lucy turned away without saying a word. "Lucy?" Suddenly, she grabbed his shirt and smashed her lips onto his. It was rough, as if she was releasing all her anger into that one kiss. Natsu could only blink when she let go.
"Revenge it too hard to accomplish when it comes to you." She sighed. Natsu grinned.
"It was a nice try though."
"Be quiet, I'm still mad at you."
"But are you really?" He looked into her eyes and Lucy felt all her energy deep away.
"No. . ."
"Good, because I can do this then!" He picked her up and ran around with no destination in mind. She shrieked.
"I'm mad now, you know? Put me down!" He cackled.
"No can do, Princess!"
"Natsu!" But Lucy didn't really struggle to escape. Being in his arms and pressed to his chest was warm. She didn't want it to stop.
"You idiot." He grinned.