Part 3 of 6.
THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT
Gray scrutinized the pocky stick with a keen eye. He experimentally snapped off a piece and chewed on it, tasting the chocolatey exterior and crunchy interior.
It doesn't taste so bad... Gray considered - completely fooling himself. He loved the taste, but would never let on.
Pocky, huh? Pretty good. He took another bite, and another. Before he knew it the whole stick had disappeared.
"Crap" He huffed under his breath.
Loud cheers distracted him from his current train of thought. A large part of the guild was laughing and pointing at something obscured by the crowd. Curious, Gray approached them - momentarily forgetting about his pocky situation.
"Yo, what's happening here?" He asked Levy, who was shaking her head exasperatedly.
"Oh nothing, just Natsu getting beat up by Lucy" She chuckled.
Sure enough, when Gray turned his head he saw none other than his pink haired frenemy getting done in by everyone's favourite celestial spirit mage. He balled up in laughter within seconds, earning a mean look from Natsu - who's face had gone blue from Lucy's beating.
"Natsu, what'd you do this time?" Gray wiped tears from his eyes and regarded the dragon slayer.
"SHUT UP, GRAY! As if you could beat Lucy at pocky anyway" Natsu crossed his arms and huffed defiantly.
"Huh? Pocky? Oh yeah, you mean that thing Mira showed us earlier?"
"Yeah" Natsu grabbed a pocky from one of the boxes lying on the bar nearby and snapped off the top, crunching on it cheerfully.
"Wait a minute..." Gray turned to Lucy, who was dusting herself off after brawling with Natsu. "You BEAT him at that game?!" Gray's jaw dropped.
Lucy's face darkened and just then Gray noticed her slightly reddened lip.
"No... No I didn't win. Why don't you ask Natsu why I didn't win. Go ahead" She towered over Gray - something characteristic of Erza to do. Gray sweatdropped and put his hands up defensively.
"Uh... That's fine, I don't want to know" He took several steps back from the fuming blonde before wiping his forehead.
"Her bad side seems worse than Erza's today..." He mumbled incoherently to himself. "That stupid pink haired dummy" Gray shot a dark look at Natsu, who as usual, was completely clueless as he munched on his pocky.
Hmmm... I should get some of that pocky...
Gray sidled up to Natsu and grabbed a pocky between two fingers, nibbling on it like a rat on cheese. He took a few more just when Natsu turned his head away.
"Yo, Gray. Did you try playing pocky with someone?" Natsu glanced at him from the corner of his eye, catching him downing the last bit of pocky that he'd taken.
"No" Gray shrugged.
"Why not? It's fun! You should have seen how I wrecked Lucy" Natsu swelled with pride, smugly smiling.
"I don't know... who should I play with?" Gray scanned the room for prospective partners.
"Hmmm, well why don't we just ask them?"
Gray suddenly realized what Natsu meant, but before he could stop the pink haired idiot, the words had already left his mouth.
"WHO WANTS TO PLAY POCKY WITH GRAY!?" Natsu yelled at the top of his voice, catching every single person's attention.
Almost all the girls' heads turned to where Gray and Natsu were standing. Gray immediately smacked his head against the bar top, turning his back to the crowd.
That fucking IDIOT.
He glared daggers at Natsu - who was waving at all the girls who were gathering around them. He patted Gray on his back and regarded the women.
"Gray doesn't have a partner to play with, so which of you wants to have a go?"
Immediately all their hands shot up. Gray looked over his shoulder and discerned individual girls from the group that had gathered. Surprisingly, Juvia was nowhere in sight.
That's weird... Wouldn't she be first in line for something like this?
He scanned the group of girls once more, and noticed that very few of his close female friends were a part of it.
Typical...
"Gray" Natsu smacked his back to grab his attention. "So, who'd you wanna play with?"
Gray sat up straight on the bar stool and spun round. A few seats beside him he saw Macao and Cana sharing a few drinks. She seemed completely disinterested in the pocky game demonstration earlier, and showed absolutely no interest whatsoever in the prospect of very nearly making out with him.
Perfect. Now I can get out of this shitty situation Natsu put me in...
"Hey, Cana" She glanced at him with half lidded eyes - characteristic of her when she was day-drinking.
"What?" She didn't sound irritable, but she didn't sound too friendly either.
"You wanna try a game of pocky with me?" Suddenly Cana perked up.
"Oh? And why me all of a sudden?" Cana raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.
"Just cause" Gray answered vaguely.
"Hmm, I have a better idea" Cana hopped off her stool and dashed into the crowd for a moment.
Eh, Gray's mind was blank.
"Found you!" He heard her shout from within the crowd somewhere.
Moments later Cana emerged with a startled Juvia. She pushed the flustered mage forward and waggled her eyebrows suggestively at Gray, who could do nothing but inwardly groan. It's not like he disliked Juvia or anything, it was just that everyone made it a point to pair them together. Like, every possibly moment. And although Juvia was good company most of the time, Gray preferred mixing things up a bit.
He sighed, defeated by Cana's insistence.
"Juvia, do you want to play pocky with me?"
The previously confused Juvia was now alert. She put a finger on her chin and considered for a moment. The surrounding guild members waited in tense anticipation.
"Juvia..." She began hesitantly. "...does not want to play with Gray-sama"
Everyone's jaws hit the floor simultaneously - Gray and Cana included.
"You don't want to play with me!?" Gray clarified.
Juvia nodded resolutely. He was now completely bewildered. Never before had Juvia turned down an offer to be even remotely close to him - and now, when her golden opportunity to get up close and personal with Gray, she declines? Even Cana was quite taken aback by the water mage's resolve.
"But why!?" Suddenly there was a slight pleading note in Gray's voice - as if he wanted Juvia to want to play with him.
"Juvia does not want Gray-sama and Juvia's first kiss to be because of a game" Juvia explained.
Gray crossed his arms and ran her explanation through his head over and over - each time finding that he didn't like it. Not one bit. But there was little he could do to change Juvia's mind - considering that she was already halfway across the room.
"Wait, Juvia!" Gray dashed after her. He grabbed her arm and spun her around so they faced each other. "..."
Juvia raised her eyebrow, waiting. "...Are you sure you don't want to play with me?" There was an evident note of desperation in his voice which he was trying hard to suppress.
"Yes. Juvia is sure"
Gray thought that Juvia was trying very hard to fight against her true desire - which was to play with him - but he detected no hint of conflicted emotion or regret or struggle in her voice. She was resolute, and wasn't going to change her mind any time soon. Gray heaved a sigh and made his way back to the bar, a little dejected in his stance.
"Are you that pissed that she doesn't want you all of a sudden?" Cana quipped, leaning against the bar beside a gloomy Gray.
"No... not really... I mean... I'm used to her fawning over me, so it's weird when she suddenly deviates, you know?"
"You sound pretty conceited, Gray" Cana's voice took on a strangely serious tone, but she didn't elaborate further.
"... I know..." He finally said.
"Anyway," Cana's light-hearted tone returned, putting Gray at ease, "Let's play!"
She grabbed Gray's wrist and steered him towards a small clearing in the centre of the guild hall. She produced two pocky sticks - one chocolate and one strawberry. Gray shrugged and picked the strawberry flavoured one, having already tried the chocolate before.
Then Cana did something altogether surprising - but then again, maybe not.
"Yo, Juvia!" Cana called out. Gray raised an eyebrow in surprise, unsure of what the brunette was trying to accomplish.
"Yes, Cana?" Juvia emerged from the crowd nearby. "What can Juvia help you with?" She seemed completely aloof to Gray's presence, which annoyed him slightly.
"Can you say 'go' for us? We're playing pocky" Cana pointed to the light pink pocky Gray was twirling with his fingers.
"...Okay, Juvia can say 'go' for Gray-sama and Cana" She took her place adjacent to them, acting as a referee for the game.
Gray held the pink pocky in his mouth and Cana grasped the other end between her narrow lips. They both glanced at Juvia - who was uncharacteristically stoic - waiting for the start signal.
"Go!"
Gray closed his eyes and began his rat-like nibbling, concentrating on the sweet taste of the strawberry biscuit. Neither him nor Cana were particularly fast, nor slow. They seemed quite evenly matched. Juvia observed with ever narrowing eyes. All too soon Cana was just inches away from stealing Gray's first kiss.
A thousand things went through Juvia's mind at once.
Juvia must stay strong.
Juvia must not interfere!
Gray-sama's and Juvia's first kiss will not be because of a game!
Is pocky kiss even a real kiss?
But, Cana-san is not my love rival!
They are so close!
Their eyes are closed...
Juvia shut her eyes tightly for a split second, trying desperately to prevent herself from interfering. And though her will was strong - seeing how it had got her this far - it was not strong enough.
She cracked.
Juvia grabbed the scruff of Cana's collar, silently praying that she'd be forgiven for it, and pulled her away from Gray. She fell onto the ground with a thud, bewildered at her current position.
Juvia snapped up the pocky stick in her mouth and bit off the last bit. She scrunched up her face as her lips met Gray's; the only thing she could hear was her wildly beating heart.
Gray felt the pocky stick jerk slightly as he made his way towards the centre. Seconds later he felt soft lips against his.
Wait, what was the goal again?
His mind swirled as he left reality, plunged into a moment of stopped time. His senses were flooded with the scent of rain and wet earth, soft wavy hair pressed up against the side of his face and neck. Her hands grabbed his shirt roughly, pulling him closer to her. Between entwined lips, his tongue found the last traces of the pocky, completely forgotten. His hands cupped her face and pulled her deeper into the kiss. He stopped for a breath and was all too soon brought back to reality when her grip on him went limp.
Gray felt her face moving away from his, unsure of what he should do - pull her back or let her go. His half lidded eyes opened to a world of blue.
Wait... what?
There, standing before him, was not Cana, as he'd thought, but a beetroot red Juvia.
"Juvia? What the-"
Juvia keeled over backwards, landing on the ground with a painful thud. Loud cheers filled the guild hall and completely surrounded a perplexed Gray and an unconscious Juvia. He absent mindedly touched his lips, looking at the out-cold water mage.
It was her?!
THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE OMG! Next is GaLe (GAJEVY!)