The whines coming from the pink-haired boy on the floor were beginning to match that of the train whistle, justly earning him a swift kick to shin from one the teens he was wedged between. Natsu had no qualms against begging and it was blatantly obvious he was willing to do whatever he could to get himself off the hard floor of the unsteady train. With another whine leaving his throat, "C'mon, Gajeel, just scoot over… My butt's getting numb down here!"
"No, 'm not moving, and no one wants to know that, so shut yer yap before ya wake Shortstack up." To further his point, Gajeel gave Natsu another kick to the shin, eliciting a yelp.
The gaggle of teens on one side of the aisle consisted of a sleeping Levy, who was curled against Gajeel's arm, Gajeel himself, Juvia, Cana, and Natsu who had taken to the floor when they ran out of seats, adamant that it was going to be fun. That lasted all of about ten minutes. Occupying the opposite set of seats was Lucy, Simon, Erza, and Yukino. With a day off from school thanks to snow, the group had initially started off as Juvia and Cana studying at Juvia's house. In reality, it was more of Juvia studying while Cana toyed with her hair, trying to distract her.
When Juvia received a call from a frazzled Gajeel inviting them out for the day, despite being confused regarding his behavior they happily accepted his proposition. They stopped at Cana's on the way to the train station where they were to meet Gajeel; Cana insisted that they bundle up in ugly Christmas sweaters 'just for kicks'. With some convincing, Juvia had donned the lesser of multiple evils, a black sweater with a horrendous tree across the front, while Cana wore her personal favorite; a red and white knit sweater with an obscene image of three fornicating reindeer across the front.
It wasn't difficult to spot Gajeel's looming figure at the station and the blue head of hair next to him explained why he sounded so distraught over the phone. By some twist of fate, meaning Cana let it slip, Natsu had also found the group much to Gajeel's dismay. Being Gajeel's oldest and best friend gave Juvia certain advantages; like knowing how much his cousin annoyed him as well as knowing how fiercely protective he is of his family. She also had the privilege of knowing just how smitten he had become with Levy since changing schools, hence the desperate call for her and Cana to join them when Levy had invited him to go book shopping with her.
Their small town lacked any bookstore that Levy hadn't already picked clean so the pack of them decided to visit the mall a town over. With it still being before lunch, the train was nearly empty which let everyone spread out on both sides of the aisle; Juvia and Levy had taken to chatting animatedly about their chemistry final coming up while Cana egged on the boys over who could win an eating contest.
A short train ride later and with Levy as the navigator they'd found themselves at the mall, finally, with no shortage of stops on the way there. Already carrying several bags, full of either books or clothes, Gajeel let his displeasure be known with his repeated mutterings of, 'I'm not a damn pack mule.' With enough complaining from Gajeel and Natsu, they located the food court where they also found Erza, Lucy, Simon and Yukino. After a hearty meal of mall junk food, the nine of them spent the rest of the afternoon together.
Back on the train, which was cramped thanks to rush hour, Juvia was trying to read the book she'd gotten, recommended by Levy of course, but to no avail. It wasn't Natsu's incessant whining that was distracting her though, but the brunette she couldn't get out of her head, she was sure she had just read the same paragraph at least three times already. They'd become fast friends when Juvia joined the same chemistry class as Cana and Levy, and had been assigned to their lab table.
It hadn't been until the last month or two that it had begun to feel like something more to Juvia, and she wasn't entirely sure it was just her that felt this way. Cana lately had been making more and more excuses to see Juvia, like that morning when she used the guise of studying. It had gotten to the point that even in school the two were invading each other's personal space, not like it bothered them, they were practically glued together at the hip.
Juvia was pulled from her musings at the sound of her name coming from the girl she found herself leaning against, unbeknownst to her she'd been that way since before Natsu's whining had started.
"-Juvia can just sit on my lap then, if it gets him to be quiet."
Completely missing the first half of the conversation, like the part where Gajeel offered - in jest - to throw Natsu off the train, Juvia was unaware of the fact that she had been joking. Contemplating Cana's statement, she realized she actually really liked that idea. It's not like they weren't close, right? They'd shared a bed before, this wouldn't be any different.
While setting her book aside Juvia stood and promptly sat across Cana's lap, wrapping an arm around her neck, simultaneously giving everyone in the group a good shock, Cana especially. Flashing a quick smile to the girl beneath her, Juvia shrugged a shoulder and said, "Well, since you offered…"
Mouth agape, Cana locked eyes with Juvia for a moment before she was able to find her voice, hastily clearing her throat, "Y-You're fine." Finally pulling her eyes away from her, Cana nudged Natsu with the toe of her boot, "Get your seat already!"
Natsu wasted no time moving to the newly opened seat while Juvia struck up a conversation with Gajeel, knowing full well all the flak she would be getting later based on his smirk, she'd already given him plenty about his crush on Levy.
A particularly strong bump in the tracks interrupted Juvia mid-sentence, but before she could continue she realized there was now an arm wound tightly around her waist, a hand across her thighs, and a very red Cana staring intently out the window.
This was definitely nothing like sharing a bed together. This was much more intimate and Juvia was afraid that she was now in deeper than she had anticipated. With heat spreading across her cheeks she turned back to Gajeel, but all she received was a knowing smile and him shaking his head at her.
A while later hushed whispers were being shared between the group, save for Juvia and Cana, the topic of conversation. The two had fallen asleep and they had relaxed into eachother, Cana with her face tucked into Juvia's neck while Juvia's head rested against Cana's. Natsu found himself in the floor again, but without the complaining thanks to Erza. After being woken up by Lucy, Levy had swiftly pulled out a camera for pictures of the girls. No one had any intention of letting them live this down.