A/N: Okay so not a lot happens this chapter, and Natsu doesn't come up even once. Just warning you now.
I wanted to establish the friendship between the four main girls before I started getting into all the ~romance~ stuff. Because once that starts, Natsu's going to start stealing the spotlight haha.
I don't own anything!
Levy lived in an apartment several blocks down from mine, short enough to walk but long enough that it was a walk neither of us could make casually. Her parents were seldom around, so whenever I went over, we always had the whole place to ourselves. It was a small apartment, comparable to the size of mine, but the decor was stylish and understated. Everything about Levy just screamed "cute and classy," right down to her living space.
Her room, though, was something else entirely. Books. Books everywhere. Shelves upon shelves of books, and then more books in piles on every available surface. The money she earned with her weekend retail job was mainly spent on buying herself more books, and it showed.
Her library books were in a special pile on the corner of her desk so she wouldn't lose them. She pulled a few books from her backpack and put them on the pile. Then she handed me the novel she'd been talking about earlier in the day.
"Here. It's based on a fairy tail, but with an Old West twist. I know you like fantasy and romance, and I liked it a lot, so I wanted to hear what you thought." Fantasy, romance, and sci-fi were my preferred genres when it came to books. Levy gravitated more toward historical fiction and contemporary romance; very different genres, but each sparked her vivid imagination in a way that had her gushing for hours.
My friendship with Levy, while often chatty and hyper in public, also had this subdued side. For hours, we just lay around in her apartment and read side-by-side, just being in each other's mutual presence without actually interacting. If it were an outsider, I may have felt anxious at the endless silence, but for us, it was comfortable and familiar. More than the giggling and joking around, moments like these were the real heart of our friendship.
The novel was about a rich lady who rejects her high-class life, preferring to join her sheriff father out west, becoming a rough-and-tumble police officer with a mean shot. At a rodeo shooting contest, he meets a latino outlaw who has been fighting to take back his home after the US bought the territory. He's sweet, she's crass. With comparable skills, they find joy in training together when she's off the job, even though she's his enemy while she's on-duty.
And just when they're starting to fall in love, shy and slow, a local robber baron has decides that the protests of locals over stolen land have gone on for too long, and bribes the police into issuing execution orders against all of them. Though an excuse is given to the public, the she sees through it, and rebels against even her father to fight for the truth. Perhaps the man she loves is an outlaw, but this time, she's on his side of the law. But this means not only going against a corrupt system, but also against her own father and friends. It takes all the fire out of her spirit, and in the end her father takes her back by force to protect her, leaving the outlaw to lead the movement.
Toward the end of the book, Levy watched with amusement out of the corner of her eye as I swooned over the culmination of the two main characters' romance.
"'Bisca, what a cruel fate we have become tangled in.' You don't say! Oh my gosh, this is heartrending."
"I know, right? Historical fiction usually isn't your thing, but I read this and thought of you right away. The way they wrote the romance is just the right amount of cheesy."
"I mean, the pacing is a bit off, but the prose is beautiful and it tackles these kinds of tensions in a way that doesn't feel preach-y. It better have a good ending to top it all off."
"I won't spoil it for you. Finish it quickly so we can talk about it."
"Yes, definitely." I poured myself back into the book.
In the end, the couple managed to overthrow the robber baron's grip on the law and ultimately ended up together, slowly forging a new home for themselves in a town that changed for the better. And with that, I finished the first and so far only Western that ever got me to like it.
The reading high slowly wore off and I drifted into a pout. "Ugh, I want an Alzack in my life," I said.
"But if you did, you'd get annoyed at all the attention," Levy said. Always ruining my fun with her logic.
"Yeah, but he loved her so much and it showed. Even when they fought, he never once disrespected her, and still stood his ground. Their relationship was just so healthy. It's sad that I'm swooning over how healthy a romance is in a novel, but it's really not as common as it should be."
"That makes two of us," Levy sighed. "I read one the other day where the guy was such a jerk to her, but later he realizes he loves her and becomes nice, but like...he never apologized for saying all those disrespectful and hurtful things before. She just forgave him because of 'love.' And I see it all the time. It was gross."
"I'd like to say that we'd never fall for such things in real life, but neither of us has a particularly spectacular dating history."
"I don't even have a dating history," Levy said.
"I wish I didn't," was my reply.
She snickered.
I glanced at the clock and nearly bugged my eyes out. "It's so late already? Wow, where did the time go?"
"Into reading that book," Levy said, nodding toward the novel in my hand. "Hey, while you're here, wanna sleep over? We haven't had a slumber party in what feels like years."
"Yes," I said immediately, not even thinking. And after thinking, my answer was still, "Yes, definitely. I already did all my homework between classes because I knew I'd be spending a lot of time here today. My dad can take care of the chores himself for once. I'm staying."
"Yay!" Levy cheered. "Oh, should we see if Erza and Juvia can come, too? It's a little last-minute, but..."
"It's worth a shot," I agreed.
Erza lived upstairs from Levy, but her business rivaled even mine, so she seldom joined us on our quiet afternoons reading. But today she surprised us by agreeing to come down for our impromptu sleepover.
"She says she'll be down in 10 minutes," Levy said, surprise evident on her face.
I raised my eyebrows. "For real? Wow, I said we should try inviting them, but I didn't think either of them would be able to make it. Now it's turning into a proper party."
"What did Juvia say?"
"Hold on, she hasn'tâ Wait, there it is." I read Juvia's text and laughed out loud. "She said she's telling her mom something urgent came up for our group project so she's going to spend the night."
"Wait, what group project?" Levy asked, panicking.
"It doesn't exist," I laughed. "Juvia, you bad girl."
Levy relaxed, but soon she was laughing too. "Wow, she must really want to hang out with us. Juvia never lies, especially to her parents."
"Maybe it was because I told her we were inviting Erza, too. She wouldn't want to feel left out."
"Well, we wouldn't want that either. This is awesome! I don't think either Mom or Dad are coming home tonight, so we'll have the whole place to ourselves."
"I'm so glad I skipped Student Council today," I shouted, stretching my arms to the ceiling.
"And you called Juvia a bad girl," Levy tsked. "Miss Class President, you can't just go around skipping meetings."
"It's only once. They can live," I said. "I do half the work around there anyway. They owe me."
"Everyone's so out-of-character today," Levy said. "You and Juvia are rebelling, and Erza somehow isn't too busy to hang out. It's a Christmas miracle!"
"We should probably get some food, though. I don't know if Erza and Juvia have already eaten, but I'm starving."
"We have...5 minutes now until Erza gets here. She'll just have to watch us eat." Levy stood up. "Okay, I have some leftovers in the fridge. Hope you don't mind using some of them up for me."
"No problem," I said, giving her a thumbs up and a wink.
When Erza arrived, it was with a boxed cake in hand. Her parents owned a bakery together, and they always gave in to Erza's epic sweet tooth. It was a rather extreme combination, but it worked out for the rest of us, since we always got to sample her parents' goods. "It's strawberry flavor," she said.
"Of course," I teased. Strawberry was Erza's favorite. "Come on in. Levy's in the kitchen heating up leftovers."
"You two haven't eaten yet?" Erza asked.
"We were reading and lost track of time. That's the same reason for the sleepover, actually," I said.
Erza laughed. "Typical." She stepped inside and dutifully removing her shoes and finding herself a pair of house slippers. I closed the door behind her. To think that she was so awkward when we were kids, getting flustered whenever she forgot to take her shoes off at the front door.
Erza was my token white friend, as I affectionately called her. Levy and I had Japanese heritage (though neither of us could speak it, despite Levy's linguistic genius), and Juvia was from the Phillipines. Then there was Erza, Irish as a leprechaun and with the hair to prove it. Her family had moved to this neighborhood from elsewhere in Magnolia, so the high Asian population here hadn't managed to instill its cultural norms for a few years into our friendship. Now, she came over to our places often enough that it'd be weirder if she weren't accustomed to it.
But there was one thing she never got used to: the longsword hanging on the wall in Levy's small foyer. Every time she entered the door, she would stare at it for a full minute, examining it with her eyes as if she was running her fingers over its steel surface. Levy could vouch for the "every time" part of that statement. It was only a replica that Levy's dad, oddball man that he was, hung up to "intimidate burglars." But really it only served to distract Erza.
"You said Juvia was coming, too?" she said, her eyes still roaming over the sword. I made a funny face at her while she wasn't paying attention to me, but somehow she knew and elbowed me in the stomach anyway.
"Gack! Uh, yeah, but I'm not sure when. She's telling her mom it's for a group project but didn't give any other details. And it usually takes her 20 minutes to get here once she leaves."
Erza finally tore her eyes away from the sword to look at me suspiciously. "What group project?"
"She's lying," I said.
Erza frowned. "I do not approve. But I suppose it is getting her here, so I can't complain."
I pulled on her arm before she could get absorbed by the sword again. "Come on, we can chat in the kitchen. We can't just ignore Levy in her own house."
"Darn right you can't!" came Levy's shout from the kitchen. Erza and I laughed.
By the time Juvia arrived, Levy and I were both stuffing our mouths with some sort of grilled chicken and mashed potatoes from a restaurant. It was a pretty plain meal, but tasted good enough.
"Juvia is so sorry she is late," Juvia said as she made herself comfortable. Her accent was light â she'd always had excellent English â but still noticeable after three years in the US. She also had a random quirk of referring to herself in third person. Why? Only she knew.
"Don't worry about it," Levy said. "We're just glad you could come. It's rare that all of us get to see each other like this, especially at such late notice."
Erza laughed. "Yeah, I was really surprised when I got the text."
"Yeah, sorry," Levy said. "But Lucy was here late, I suggested a sleepover, and...well, it just sort of happened."
"Well, I'm glad it did. Hey, who wants cake?"
"Erza brought cake?" Juvia said. "Juvia would love some."
"No fair, Erza, Levy and I are still eating," I complained, mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Lucy and Levy can have some later," Juvia said, eyes shining. "Juvia wants cake."
Erza cut slices out of the cake like the expert she was, dividing it in half and then splitting that half into four. She put each slice on little paper plates and handed them out. Erza and Juvia dug into theirs voraciously as Levy and I continued eating our dinners, staring at our two other friends with the most disgruntled glares we could muster. Meanwhile, Erza and Juvia just giggled to themselves, making exaggerated exclamations about how delicious the cake was.
"If you tell me that it's as delicious as Gray Fullbuster's abs one more time, I swear..." I threatened, pointing my fork at Juvia's face.
"I don't want to eat Gray's abs," Levy whined.
Erza put down her fork. "Do you two want to make me lose my appetite?" she growled.
"Hey, Juvia was saying it first," I said, pointing to Juvia. "We're just telling her to stop."
"Juvia only said it once," Juvia said.
"Yeah, but you say it every time something tastes good," I said.
"That is because it is one of Juvia's charm points."
"One of your charm points is comparing food to your crush's abs?"
Juvia huffed. "At least Juvia has a crush. Life is so boring without crushes."
"Maybe for you," I said. "I'm just fine." Half a lie. Only half.
"Juvia knows Lucy. Lucy is a hopeless romantic just like Juvia. Levy and Erza are, too. Some people are fine without romance, but for Lucy it is boring, no?"
I held up the book Levy lent me and waved it around a bit. "That's what books are for," I said. "Levy recommended this for me today and I was swooning all over the floor."
"I can vouch for that," Levy said, raising her hand. "The entire floor. She even squealed a few times."
"Hey!" I protested.
Erza shook her head. "You two and your romance novels."
"You two have your real-life crushes and us two have our fictional crushes," I said.
Juvia perked up. "Speaking of real-life crushes, Juvia wants to know how Erza's date with Jellal went last weekend."
"You went on a date?!" Levy and I exclaimed in unison, our heads whipping around to look at Erza.
Erza turned a rather bright shade of red all the way to her ears. "Not a date," she said. "We just went to the dinner and a movie. But it was as friends."
I sighed, all the excitement draining from my body. "It's always 'as friends' for you guys. Gotta step up your game, Erza."
"I like us as friends," she insisted.
"But are you satisfied with it?"
"Maybe," she hedged. "I'm just taking it slow."
"Just be careful or we'll graduate and you still never told him how you feel," Levy said. "Not to say you couldn't be happy with someone else, because I'm sure there are more people out there if you wanted to find them, but we all know you don't want to, and we all know you'll regret it if you don't at least get it off your chest."
"It does feel deceptive to not be completely honest," Erza said, "but you don't need to worry. I can take care of myself."
"We know you can," I said, patting her shoulder. "But we still worry."
She smiled. "Thank you."
"Anyway, that's enough boy talk for a day," Levy said. "Sorry, Juvia." Historically, Juvia was the one who liked to talk about boys: who was hot, this celebrity, that celebrity, dating stories, the whole shebang. We always had a designated "boy talk time" so she could get it out of her system. It was generally enjoyable for the rest of us regardless of whether we actually cared about boys, if only for the fun of getting to look up aesthetically pleasing people on the internet, but today Levy was cutting it short.
"The only boy Juvia is interested in these days is Gray," Juvia said. "Juvia has no more need for boy talk."
"Okay, Juvia," I said, rolling my eyes a little. I giggled at her haughty expression. This crush on one of our school's soccer players was the longest-running and strongest crush I'd seen her have in the four years I knew her, and she was oddly passionate about it. She'd only talked to the guy a few times, and he hardly knew she existed, but for some reason she was completely smitten with him. Juvia had gone from boy-crazy to Gray-crazy, and I wasn't sure if I should be concerned or not.
Speaking of Gray Fullbuster, Juvia then turned to me and said, "By the way, Juvia was going to invite you to come to a soccer game next Monday." Mondays were my free day, and I'd get to spend it with Juvia. We could chat during the game, too. Why not?
I grinned and looked at my friend. "Don't even have to ask."
A/N: I've seen frustration from Asian-American friends about people "diversifying" previously all-Asian casts, so I kept most of them Japanese-American to honor the fact that it's from a Japanese comic. Just wanted to make that note, since Lucy mentions it in this chapter. Just deal with me here haha. I know in manga/anime fanfics people don't usually think about race so much as just hair and eyes, but I'm writing this like I write any of my stories even though the characters are from a manga. Oops? Habit I guess. Like I said last chapter, I'm new to posting fanfics. But I just love these characters so much that when the idea came to me, I couldn't resist!
That's enough rambling about my character development. Thanks for reading! Look forward to a certain friendship coming into fruition next chapter ;D