Lucy took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. Carefully gripping the box in her hands, she took a step forward.
"Natsu." The boy turned at the sound of his name.
"What's up?" He asked. Lucy determinedly handed the box to her friend.
"Happy Valentines Day." He eagerly took the box from her.
"Thanks!" He excitedly jumped around and Lucy cracked a smile. "I can't wait to get more friendship chocolate. This is my fifth one today." The smile became a frown.
"Yeah, friendship chocolate." She muttered. "Well, I'm glad you like it." Lucy turned around, "see you."
"Where are you going?"
"To see the girls," the blonde waved goodbye and tried to change her grumpy expresssion as she walked away.
"You'll be surprised." Natsu smirked mischievously once his friend was out of earshot.
"What's wrong, Lu? You seem down." Levy noted. "Don't tell me, he turned you down?"
"That shouldn't be possible. He's clearly into her. I know that as a fact." Juvia shook her head.
"Then why is she sighing every ten seconds?" A sigh.
"Friendship. He said my chocolate was his fifth friendship chocolate." The dejected girl sighed again.
"Eh?!" The others exclaimed, shocked.
"He thought your chocolate was obligatory?" Levy wanted to give the boy a good smack on the head.
"How rude of him! To call the special chocolate that Lucy made specifically for him friendship chocolate is outrageous." Juvia fumed.
"That idiot." A voice joined in.
"Right?" The girls nodded in agreement. Wait a second. "Gray?!"
"Good afternoon to you ladies." He greeted smoothly. He froze when he saw Juvia's stare.
"Gray~ I made you some chocolate!" Juvia hefted a giant box from under the table. "Please accept it!" Gray grunted in a mixture of fear and annoyance.
"And now I must say goodbye!"
"You forgot your chocolate!" Juvia called out and began to chase him. They disappeared in a cloud of dust.
"How long until he gives in?" Lucy asked.
"Give or take two minutes after being chased. She'll come back in five minutes."
"Stay away from me!" Gray panted. It's been only two minutes and he was tired. She was inhumanly fast.
"Just accept the chocolate~" On the other hand, Juvia didn't seem to be worn out in the slightest.
"If I accept, will you leave me alone?"
"For a while."
"Fair enough." He'll just have to find a way to avoid her when the time comes. He opened his hands and the girl happily thrusted the box into his arms. Gray took a step back. It was heavier than she made it seem. How in the world did she cahse me while carrying this?
Juvia smiled and walked away. Gray sighed and looked at the gift in his arms. He was so going to made fun of for this.
"Do you always have to go overboard with expressing your love?" He groaned. Well, not that he was complaining.
"What'd I tell you?" Levy grinned. True to her calculations, Juvia came back in five minutes.
"That was way too fast. She can't be human." Lucy looked up from her book. "How was it?"
"He accepted it without any problems." Juvia chirped.
"Knowing him he probably made an agreement with you to leave him alone," Levy laughed. "Until when?"
"A while."
"That's so vague. He's going to regret not taking a clear answer," Lucy chuckled. Poor Gray.
"But it must be nice to have them accept the chocolate with some sort of satisfaction." Levy trailed off. The other two looked at her curiously.
"Do you have anyone you want to give it to?" Levy shook her head frantically. They smirked.
"So you do want to give it to someone." Juvia grinned slyly and looked at Lucy. She grinned back.
"Is it for Jet?" Lucy pretended to think hard.
"Or Droy?" Juvia added. Levy knew where they were going. She tried to say something, but they interrupted her.
"Or perhaps. . . Gajeel?" At his name, Levy's face became a bright red tomato.
"So what if I like Gajeel? Unlike you two, I don't have what it takes to confess." She said bitterly.
"Of course you do. Everyone has the courage to confess." Lucy soothed her. "We can help you. We will help you. Right?"
"We're friends after all." Juvia proudly stood up. "Don't worry! You have a love expert with you. We'll make sure things go smoothly."
I'm not so sure about that. Levy laughed nervously. "Okay, I'll trust you with that."
"You're in good hands," Lucy gently patted her back. "Questionably good hands."
"Good thing you don't have any classes with him. If you see him, don't stutter. Just smile," Juvia noted. "Let's build your confidence first."
"You are so going to regret that deal." Gajeel cackled as Gray slammed his Valentines gift onto the table. Natsu laughed with him as Gray pelted them with chocolate.
"It was the only way to get her to stop chasing me."
"But your answer wasn't exact. For all we know, she could be coming after you when school ends."
"I'll just prepare myself. Maybe ditching five minutes before class ends?" Gray thought out loud.
"Nothing wrong with having a girl chase after you," Natsu twirled the spoon in his hand casually.
"In your case I think you chased away the girl." Gray pointed out. Gajeel leaned in.
"What'd he do this time?"
"He called Lucy's chocolate obligatory."
"That's a whole new level of low," Gajeel whistled. Natsu lurched forward immediately.
"I did that on purpose!"
"So you meant to break her heart?"
"You're the worst, Salamander."
"It's part of the plan!" Natsu defended himself. "I'm going to surprise her!"
"There's something called White Day. You can surprise her next month." Gajeel reminded him. Gray unwrapped a Kiss and popped it in his mouth.
"At least I got something." Natsu muttered. "You have nothing and Gray has too much."
"Too much is better than nothing." Gray said after swallowing his third Kiss.
"I never said I wanted chocolate." Gajeel grumbled.
"But you were thinking of it."
"Shut up."
"I bet I know who it's from," Natsu excitedly looked at Gray.
"Oh yeah? And who's that?"
"A girl." A deadpanned reaction.
"No duh, Sherlock." Gray sighed.
"Yeah, and for a moment I thought you knew who I wanted it from." Gajeel unwittingly revealed how he felt.
"Well of course it's Levy," Natsu answered nonchalantly. Gajeel choked.
"Here I thought you were too stupid to know," Gray had the audacity to roll his eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes, I'm not stupid."
"You okay?" Gray turned to a coughing Gajeel.
"Fine." He wheezed.
"No shame in hoping to get something from Levy. Just play it cool or you'll look like a fool." The raven haired advised. It rhymed. He's the one that looks like the fool now. Gajeel thought.
"There's not guarantee she has something for him though."
"Natsu."
"Hm?"
"Shut up."
As soon as the bell rang, the girls unwillingly got up and went to class. Juvia bid them farewell when they turned the corner.
Gajeel sulked and saw the bookworms walking past him. Lucy was looking straight ahead, talking about a new book and for a moment, Levy turned and made eye contact with him. She smiled.
Gajeel blushed and turned away quickly, almost crashing into someone. His steps became a quick pace and soon he was running to class. The teacher was pleased that he came on time. It's not like I wanted to come on time, he thought. Well, now that he was here, he might as well try to focus in class.
He only lasted five minutes. Gajeel yawned. He couldn't wait for school to end.
"You did great back there, Juvia's advice seemed to have helped." Lucy congratulated her friend as they made it to the quad.
"Remember, you have to play it cool." Juvia gently pushed Levy forward. "Go on, he's right there."
"You can do it," Lucy whispered as she and Juvia cheered their friend on from behind another building. As Levy walked up to him, the other boys quietly joined in the eavesdropping behind the building.
"So she did have something after all," Natsu whispered excitedly only to be shushed.
"G-Gajeel!" Levy mentally cursed herself for stuttering. "Please accept this!" She quickly thrusted the box forward. Gajeel stood frozen in shock.
"That wasn't what I taught her," Juvia remarked thoughtfully.
"It's a very Levy-like way to confess." Lucy giggled.
"That fool is standing there like an idiot," Natsu wanted to laugh out loud but that was impossible without ruining their hiding place.
"Any second now," Gray groaned.
Gajeel slowly took the box from her hands, dumbstruck. Just as sluggishly, he said, "thanks. . . Levy."
Juvia squealed. "He called her Levy!"
"Way to go, Levy!" Lucy threw herself onto her friend. They began talking about the success and laughed.
"Hey react a little, will you? You got what you wanted, right?" Gray patted Gajeel on the back.
"Yeah." Gajeel gave a smirk, but Gray knew that a smirk was a smile with Gajeel. "By the way, you should start running."
"Why?"
"Juvia."
"What?" Gray turned quickly. They made eye contact and Gray knew immediately. They began sprinting at the same time.
"H-hey, you said you'd wait for a while, so wait for a while more?"
"Nope! Besides, seeing those two made me happy! I want to be like that with Gray!" They were gone in a matter of seconds.
"There they go," Gajeel muttered.
"Lu and Natsu too. They slipped away while I was watching Gray and Juvia's antics." Levy walked up to him. "Wonder where they went."
"I think I know where." Gajeel hummed. "I'll walk you home."
"Thanks," Levy giggled. Gajeel had to walk slower to match Levy's pace, but it was fine. They were comfortable like this. Their hands touched for a moment.
They flinched away and looked at each other before smiling. Cautiously, they linked hands and continued on.
"Natsu, what are-" Lucy was roughly kissed. Natsu smirked.
"Did you really think I was dumb enough to think your chocolate was out of friendship?"
"Of course! Really, you couldn't just accept it normally?"
"I wanted to surprise you for once."
"You know there's something called White Day." Lucy reprimanded him.
"Hmph, don't say the same thing as Gajeel."
"It's common sense, you know." Lucy shook her head. "I'm surprised alright, I thought you had common sense."
"Lucy?"
"Yeah?" Natsu pressed his lips onto her, gently this time.
"Be quiet."