So here's chapter 2! I hope everyone is enjoying it so far, you get some fluffy goodness in this chapter! Again, thank you, Silv for all the wonderful and brilliant input!
Thank you for any/all reviews!
Papers and books were strewn around the tiny living room, covering nearly every girls had stopped studying half an hour ago at around midnight, and had run out of drinks two hours before that. Juvia was sprawled out in the middle of the floor and Cana was on her belly, using Juvia as a pillow.
"Juvia, why'd you let me drink s-o much?" Her speech was interrupted by a small hiccup and a groan from the brunette.
"Huh? Did you say something?" Grabbing a random sheet of notes near her, Juvia squinted at the paper while moving it to varying distances, trying to discern what it said and threw it aside when she concluded it was no use. "I don't think I'm going to be able to remember what I studied if we keep going; we should call it a night." When Cana didn't respond, Juvia resorted to poking her repeatedly in the side. "Come on Cana, get up please, I have to pee!"
Cana let out a whine and swatted Juvia's hand way. "Nooooo, you're too comfy. I don't wanna get up!" Juvia sighed and pushed on Cana's shoulder to roll her off. Cana's head thunked to the floor and she let out a low groan. "That was mean! Give a girl some warning next time!"
Juvia stood, making her way towards the bathroom, and called over her shoulder, "I told you I have to use the restroom, which was plenty of warning."
Cana managed to push herself up into a sitting position and started gathering up all of their notes into two piles, sorting them as she went. It wasn't hard to figure out which notes were Juvia's, considering the margins were covered with little doodles of hearts and Gray's name. Cana had mentioned the paper graffiti to Juvia earlier in the evening and why she hadn't felt the need to erase it, but was only met with a grimace, so Cana dropped the subject.
Her face fell as she thought about all the times she'd had to comfort her friend when it came to Gray. One night in particular, Juvia had shown up at Cana's dorm room at two in the morning, slightly drunk and bawling her eyes out because she had seen him out with an unknown woman, unsure if they were just friends or not. It had taken Cana twenty minutes to calm Juvia down enough just so she could get her to explain what was wrong.
Though Juvia had been the one to take the first steps to getting over him, the road trip they were leaving for in just eight days was going to be good for Juvia, Cana just knew it.
After a few minutes of continuing to separate their notes, Cana yelled towards the bathroom, "Hey doll face, you care if I crash here tonight?" Immediately regretting the choice of yelling, she held one side of her head as her blood pounded loudly in her ears, already well on her way to a possibly nasty hangover.
Popping her head out the bathroom door, Juvia had a toothbrush hanging from her mouth and her hair had been pulled up into a ponytail. "Not at all, do you need something to change into?" she asked, covering her mouth as she spoke.
"Yeah." Cana had left the living room, although she was a bit wobbly on her trek, and she had made it in front of Juvia's dresser in her bedroom. "Night clothes are in the top left drawer, right?"
"Yep! Just take whatever you need," Juvia called from the bathroom.
Rummaging through the drawer, Cana found an old t-shirt to wear, but had yet to find any pajama bottoms. Inspecting the tiny shorts in the dresser, she replied, "I don't think my ass is going to fit into any of these shorts, Juvia."
Finished in the bathroom, Juvia entered her bedroom and squatted in front of her dresser. She opened one of the lower drawers and pulled out a pair of sweats, handing them to Cana. "Here, these are too big on me, so hopefully they'll fit."
Taking the pants, Cana headed towards the bathroom across the hall. "Thanks, and dibs on the couch! Don't even try to get me to take your bed again."
"I'm just trying to be a polite host, but fine, if you say so!" Juvia shut the light off and poked her head out the door to talk to Cana. "If you need anything, just ask."
A good fifteen minutes later, after Cana had stretched out on the couch with an extra pillow and blanket from the hall closet, she heard Juvia crying accompanied by sniffles. It took her another five minutes before she worked up the nerve to gently knock on the door. "You okay in there, Juvia?"
No answer, but the sniffling had ceased.
"Can I come in, then?"
A meek 'Yes' could be heard through the door. Pushing the door open, Cana could see Juvia curled up in a ball with her back to the door, prompting Cana to crawl onto the bed over the covers to lie next to Juvia, leaning against the headboard.
Sniffling again and rolling over while wiping her eyes, Juvia mumbled, "Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your night with my crying, Cana."
"Come off it, you didn't ruin anything. Now get over here, you deserve some good cuddle time," she chuckled, motioning Juvia over.
Juvia scooted over and rested her head against Cana while wrapping an arm around her middle. She had hoped that making the promise to herself and to Cana meant no more nights spent crying over her broken heart, but it seemed she needed more than just sheer determination to heal those kinds of wounds. "Thank you, Cana. You're a good friend," she murmured, tucking her face against Cana's hip.
"Anything for you doll face, you know that. Who needs men anyway?" she chimed while threading her fingers through the hair hanging from Juvia's ponytail.
Juvia hummed contently, "You can get under the blanket, y'know. I'm not going to bite."
Cana snorted at that. "Fine, fine." She shimmied under the covers a moment later and Juvia was right next to her again, arm once again slung across Cana's middle.
"Where should we go first on our trip?" Juvia asked softly, half-asleep already.
Cana regarded Juvia's peaceful countenance, becoming so enthralled with everything about Juvia in that moment that a huge smile had plastered itself to her face, and she nearly missed what Juvia had said. Every nerve in her body was aflame just from how close they were when she responded to the question. "You've got family in Colorado, don't ya? We could just head that way at a nice, leisurely pace."
Juvia yawned and pressed her face into Cana's side. The thought of visiting Gajeel and his family made her grin, but she was too tired to get properly excited. "Yeah I do, and that sounds good to me," she murmured, "but I'm going to sleep now."
"Looks like we're on the same page then. See ya in the mornin' doll face." Cana mumbled the last part, but Juvia's eyes had already fallen closed.
Although she was tired, Cana couldn't seem to shut down her brain. She'd fallen for Juvia the moment they had met in that bar, but she has always been under the impression that nothing would ever transpire between them. No sweet nothings whispered to the other, no endless nights mapping out each other's bodies, no beautifully domestic afternoons of Juvia sitting in her lap with a book and a mug of hot tea.
A pang shot through her heart at the thought of all the hurt Juvia had already endured and she was resolute in the fact that as long as she was allowed to be Juvia's friend and make her happy, then that's all she needed.
It didn't take long after that for Juvia's even breaths to lull Cana to sleep, all thoughts of one sided affections losing their sting as she lay curled up with the woman whose happiness she would give anything to guarantee.
