I have FINALLY managed to get this one out and let me tell you something, this is the longest one I've done yet. It's more than twice the size of the last longest one (chapter 2 for those of you are wondering). I'm so happy!
Before you read this, keep in mind that I have checked this over several times but I know I've probably missed several errors because it's so long.
I'm not happy with how this turned out, especially considering I rewrote it so many times. But I enjoyed it and I was trying to go with a cute ending. I'm not good at romance ok!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
It was the first day of summer, and a perfect day to the visit the beach. At least that was what her friend had told her when they had rang her up the night before, practically begging her to go with them. When she had finally accepted, the friend had insisted on picking her up. That was Juvia had found herself being dragged out of her house this morning, just barely having enough time to put her swimsuit on underneath her clothes and pack a few small things that she thought she would need. Now, she was sat in the front seat of her friend's car as they 'drove' to their final destination. Well, I say drive. Her friend, Erza Scarlet, was one of the most reckless drivers that she knew. But she would NEVER tell her that to her face. Juvia didn't have a death wish.
There were three others sat in the back: Lucy Heartfillia, Cana Alberona and Mirajane Strauss, the latter only coming along because she was forced into the car by Erza, who was also her roommate. But she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she actually seemed quite happy about the whole situation. "Erza, be careful! You just nearly ran over that poor woman." Mira exclaimed as Erza sped past a very shocked, middle aged woman who was frozen at the edge of the sidewalk. The red haired woman said nothing as the car took a very sharp turn and began spinning. It span in a full circle four times before coming to a complete stop. The other passengers were gripping the seats, doors and handles above them in hopes that it would somehow stop them from flying out of the vehicle. There was a victorious smirk on Erza's face as she proudly declared "We're here!", and stepped out of the car. The others were still gripping the fabric of the seats until she opened the door at Juvia's side to tell them that they better hurry up."Never let Erza drive again!" Cana breathed as she clambered over Lucy to escape the deathtrap vehicle. Juvia was slowly slipping out of the seat and seemed unfazed by the woman's erratic driving.
Her friends were all gathered round the side of the car whilst they waited for Erza to pay for the ticket from the parking meter. She realised when she joined them that they were scoping out the people on the sand beyond the small, concrete wall in front of them. "Which one do you think's Erzas friend?" Lucy asked as she pulled her bag over her shoulder. Cana chugged down the remaining alcohol from the bottle she had brought with them before replying, "Don't know. It's some guy from her martial arts class. So look for a guy who seems as if he could hold his own in a fight." The other girls scanned the sand, occasionally pointing out someone and asking "What about them?" Of course, they wouldn't know until Erza came back and told them that every single person they had picked was wrong. They had slumped in defeat before she had led them onto the sand and was walking towards the middle of the beach.
Juvia observed that there was probably over 100 families there that day, not including the other groups of teens, elders and adults that were scattered everywhere. There were people splashing about in the ocean in front of them, and there were young children skipping stones in the small rivers/canals that led down to the sea. A few dogs were running up and down the sand, with one or two owners chasing after them. "Imagine if I'd brought Plue today." Lucy lightly elbowed her and laughed as she said this. The woman seemed to think the idea of her very large and very white American Akita running after the smaller breeds was hilarious. The dog could reach past Juvia's shoulders when it stood on it's back paws and it had scared her the first few times that she had gone to visit her friend. In fact, the creature still scared her slightly whenever she went over to Lucy's apartment. Juvia herself did not own a pet, although she was quite fond of cats and fish. Mainly fish.
The group had stopped and were now laying out there towels on the ground. Erza had brought a huge parasol (God knows how it managed to fit in her car!) that she stuck behind them for shade. Cana had already came dressed in her bathing suit and had made herself comfortable on the ground. Lucy and Mira had gone off to the changing rooms some way down the beach. They were meeting their other friend Levy and Mira's little sister Lisanna. "Juvia, aren't you going to change?" Erza asked her as she took a bottle of sun cream from her bag. "Juvia will change in a minute. She is just admiring the scenery. It's been a while since she has been to the beach." The bluenette gave a small smile and Erza smiled back before re-focusing on applying her sun cream. A ball came bounding towards them and nearly hit Cana in the back of the head. She had gone to shout some kind of obscenity at the culprit before Erza shot her a deadly glare upon realising who had kicked the ball. A cute blue haired girl, probably only around the age of fourteen, came running up with her face red from embarassment. She began stumbling over apology after apology as they handed her ball back and she ran off with a quick "Thankyou" and a smile.
"W're back!" Lucy and Mira came towards them with Levy and Lisanna trailing behind them. The girls smiled upon rejoining the group and they quickly engaged in a conversation whilst preparing the rest of the belongings that they had brought with them. Juvia took this as her opportunity to sneak off to change. It wasn't that she was being anti-social, she just didn't want to feel as if she was holding everyone up because they were waiting for her. So she always decided to go last in any activity that they did.
The space she had been provided with was a small cubicle like room with a door that led immediately outside. There was a small bench that was just big enough to fit her and her bag, with just enough room so she could move her legs. It wasn't anything fancy, but then why would it need to be? The outside was decorated in a multitude of colours that were all arranged in some kind of rainbow formation. She was just placing her things back in her bag when she heard a group of people laughing outside of the door. They sounded as if they were males. Juvia could hear them laughing, shouting and generally having a good time, but she felt extremely anxious about going out there with them right outside.
So she waited. And waited. Eventually, their noise died down and she could hear footsteps heading away from the door. She let out a thankful sigh of relief and quickly gathered her bag before pushing the door open. Unfortunately, she opened wth a bit too much force and she was greeted with the site of a man hunched over on the floor clutching his face and foot. Juvia screamed and tried to run. But she caught her foot on the step that led up to the cubicle and she fell on to the sand with a thud. The man jumped from the noise and whipped his head up to see where it had come from. His eyes frantically scanned his surroundings before they landed on Juvia.
Her breath hitched in her throat as he looked worriedly at her and after a few moments, a goofy grin lit up his features. "Hey, you ok down there?" His onyx eyes were filled with concern as he held out a hand to help her up. Juvia only then realised that she had been staring at him and she ducked her head in embarassment. Her face had turned a deep shade of red, several shades deeper than the man's pink hair. Wait, pink?!
"Hello? Are you still there?" It was clear that he was trying to stifle a chuckle as Juvia eventually accepted his hand and he heaved her to her feet. She dusted off her swimsuit and the front of her legs as he handed over the dark blue travel bag that she had dropped upon hitting the ground. She gave him a shy thankyou before quickly scurrying away towards her friends. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage and the embarassment was very slowly becoming less evident on her face. In her haste, she was completely oblivious to the man shouting after her and soon, she was once again at the spot she had left her friends.
"There you are Juvia. We were prepring to go and look for you."Mira told her.
"Juvia is fine but she is thankful for your concern. She just had a little trouble with the changing room that she was in." Juvia threw in another small smile to reassure her friends, realising that they weren't all there. "Where are Lucy, Cana and Levy?" she turned to Erza.
"Somewhere over there," the red head replied whilst pointing in the direction of the ocean, "Go join them if you like. I'm still waiting for the others to arrive." Juvia nodded and started towards the sea. She loved the ocean. It was her favourite thing about the beach. The cool, crystal blue water was always (in her opinion) the perfect temperature whenever she visited, and she could spend hours splashing about in the waves. She had always been an excellent swimmer and had no problems with it at all. There was just something about water that made her feel comfortable, but she didn't know what.
She caught the last wisps of a giggle circling in the air and recognised it as Lucy's. The bluenette turned to find her friends in the shallows of the water, accompanied by a group of people unfamiliar to Juvia. Not wanting to interrupt, she planned to go back up to the others when she noticed Erza, Mira and Lisanna making their way down to the group. "Juvia, aren't you going to join us?" Lisanna questionned her as the others went on ahead. Juvia hesitated but eventually nodded and followed the younger Strauss sibling to the large group of people. She could hear Erza addressing whoever was there, but she could not get a good enough look at the new people.
"Girls, these are the friends I was talking about."
"Erza, you said ONE friend."
"I'm sure I didn't."
"Yes. You did."
"Enough!" Levy interrupted Mira and Erza's bickering, to the surprise of the others, before urging Erza to introduce them. The woman began pointing to each person individually and stating their names. "Girls, this is Gray," she pointed to a man with dark blue or black hair who wore a necklace and seemed bored by the whole situation, "This is Loke," a man with orange hair and glasses who threw a flirtatious wink to all the girls. "Gajeel," a terrifying looking man with red eyes, long shaggy black hair and piercings where there should not be piercings," Elfman, but you already know him, " Mira and Lisanna's brother, " and you remember Jellal," Erza's boyfriend who had blue hair and a strange red tattoo down his right eye. She looked between each if the males before asking, "Where's Natsu?"
"He's one of the lifeguards on duty today." Was the simple reply that came from the man that Erza had introduced as Gray. There seemed to be another person who was yet to join the group, but Juvia didn't really care. These people seemed nice, and she already knew Elfman, Jellal and Gajeel (well, the latter was more of an old acquaintance- she recognised him as once going to the same high school as her when they were younger). But she really didn't care for meeting new people, it was hard enough for her to first talk to the girls let alone the new people that Erza had introduced them to. She did try to make an effort though, and threw them a very timid smile whilst hiding her face when she introduced herself. That seemed to please everyone else.
They were all getting along extremely well. The others quickly took a liking to the male additions of the group, and Juvia found herself loosening up slightly around them. It would take some time, but she felt as if she could get used to them. All of them were either in the shallows of the water or resting on the sand, Juvia being part of the latter group and occasionally joining the conversation between the Strauss sisters, Erza and Jellal. Gajeel had recognised her, and even dragged Loke away after the second time he had attempted to flirt with her. His advance were now directed towards Lucy and Gajeel was 'teasing' Levy (it looked more like flirting to Juvia but she wasn't going to say anything). A few other people had joined the group, but Juvia could not remember their names. She knew that one of them was Elfman's girlfriend, who she eventually gathered was called something like 'Ever' as that was what Elfman had been calling her. There were two men who Juvia recognised as being the two that were always declaring their love for Juvia, and Cana had actually found a few of her drinking buddies from one of the bars she regularly visited (Quatro Cerberus was it?).
There were others but Juvia didn't care. Apparently Erza's lifeguard friend had popped by a few times, but Juvia wasn't really interested until she saw a flash of pink heading towards the group and she strained to get a better look. She regretted it when she recognised the strange man from earlier and she snapped her head back down in the hopes of not being noticed. But it seems as if luck was not on her side, as the man noticed her when he reached the group and he threw another cocky grin in her direction. Just don't look at him Juvia. He won't notice. DO NOT LOOK! She disobeyed her inner voice and stole a quick glance to the man, who was now talking with Erza. However, Juvia noticed how he had glanced her way again and she ducked her head once more. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Erza standing up and Juvia suddenly found a piece of seaweed next to her very interesting as she avoided looking their gazes. "Everyone!" she heard Erza shout and everyone else immediately came racing up the sand, "Girls and anyone else who doesn't know, this is Natsu," she gestured to the man who's grin grew wider as a reply, "Natsu this is-" Erza once more rattled off everyone's names, with Juvia giving a very shy hello like before.
They all took to the new arrival pretty well and Juvia eventually worked up the courage to go and apologise for the day's earlier events. He had noticed her getting up and heading his way. It occurred to her that she had no idea what she was doing, she didn't even talk to people even if she was forced to. But for some reason, she felt the sudden urge to speak to him. He seemed... nice (to put it plainly). A group of small children arrogantly ran in front of her and she was forced to stop otherwise she would have ended up being knocked onto the sand once more. She looked up to see the man- Natsu- trying to hide his chuckle and Juvia slowly felt heat rising to her cheeks once more as he began to walk over to her instead.
"Yo! You ok?" That was the second time he had asked her that today.
"Y-Yes. Juvia is fine." her eyes widened upon realising what she had just said. It wasn't very often that she spoke to strangers in her third person habit. She had been working on getting out of it, so as not to come across as 'weird' to others. Only people who she was close to had experience with her habit, and she really hoped that she it wouldn't scare off this new potential friend like it had the others. However to her surprise, she heard Natsu chuckle and mutter something along the lines of "Cute".
"You're laughing at Juvia!" she wailed and his chuckling halted.
"Wait no. Well yes I was, but not in a mocking way! I swear!" he was frantically waving his hands back and forth as he tried to reassure her that he wasn't trying to mock her in any way. He started rambling aimlessly and Juvia simply stared amused at his awkward behaviour. In her eyes, he had been confident when she first saw him. It was now clear that that was not the case.
A football came flying towards them and hit Natsu in the back of the head, causing him to fall forward and knock into Juvia. She tumbled backwards and would have hit the floor again if he had not grabbed her arms to hold her steady. "Alright! Who did that?" he yelled across the sand to no one in particular. His hands were still lightly clasped on Juvia's arms, and she blushed at the contact. She went to tell him that he could let go, when she felt him let go just as he was tackled to the ground by one of his so called 'friends'. This caused a brawl to ensue that involved most of the males who had joined the group. It seems that there were more people there than Juvia had initially realised. Not wanting to be involved, she cautiously stepped back and searched the sand for at least one of her friends. Maybe she could continue her conversation with Natsu later. Or maybe she could just forget about the whole thing and join Lucy, Levy and Lisanna in the ocean.
The last idea appealed to her the most, so she made her way over to her three friends. Swimming would calm her down. It was one of the activities that she found the safest and most enjoyable whenever she came here. Maybe now she could relax for the remainder of the day here...
Juvia had no idea what had happened. One minute she was playfully engaging in a game of splashing her friends (as childish as it may have been she had enjoyed it). But the next minute she had gotten caught in a very powerful wave that had dragged her under the water. She only swum out that far in the first place to get a ball back for the same kid from earlier- whom she had found out was called Wendy. Now she was on a very uncomfortable bed in some kind of medical room. The door to the room was closed, but she could hear someone on the other side talking. It sounded as if they were on the phone. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, however Juvia guessed that it was something important judging by the professional tone the person seemed to be using.
She listened for a few minutes longer before the call seemed to end and the door to the room opened. In stepped the last person she expected to see. There, stood in the doorway with a towel slung around their shoulders, was Natsu. He almost looked relieved to see her awake. Almost. Juvia detected a slight hint of anger behind his gaze as he stepped futher into the room and closed the door behind him. "So you're awake now I see." he pulled some kind of clipboard from the counter at the side of the bed. How Juvia did not see it before, she did not know. "Ok, let's see," he said as he flicked through several pages, "Juvia Lockser? That's you isn't it?" he looked questionningly at her and she nodded in response. She immediately regretted it as a pain shot through her head and she hissed in agony. "Easy there. I think you hit your head on something when you were dragged down. The others said that you are a pretty decent swimmer. But even so, what possessed you to go that far out?" There was irritation in the question, but there was also concern. It was only then when Juvia realised that he must have been the one who saved her. Of course he was. He's a lifeguard for crying out loud! It's his job.
Juvia proceeded to explain what she remembered, to which he only sighed and placed the clipboard back down. "You know, I'm always telling her to be more careful. Does she listen? No." he added when she was finished her explanation.
"Natsu knows Wendy?" he chuckled once more before replying that the young girl, Wendy, was in fact his and Gajeel's younger cousin. You learn something new everyday. "So, Juvia," he continued, "Think you're ready to get out of here yet?" He stared softly at her, awaiting her reply. She would have said yes had it not been for the pain in her head. "Err, does Natsu by any chance have something for headaches?" she asked timidly. He smiled again, this time more softly, before going to open the medical cabinet at the other end of the room and tossing her a box that he had taken out. "Here. I'm going to get you some water. Get two of those tablets out." Natsu left the room and Juvia proceeded to try and open the box. "And don't try to go anywhere when my back's turned, Juvia!" She heard him call from the other room. The door had been left wide open, so she heard him pretty clear. There was the sound of something hitting the floor, followed by a loud smash and some very colourful language on Natsu's behalf.
Juvia froze in her struggle to open the box (cause her short nails!). She waited a few moments before carefully lifting herself from the bed and shuffling over to the doorway. There was movement to the left of the doorway as she peered around it and saw Natsu with his head inside a cupboard, obviously searching for something. "Natsu? Is everything ok?" Her sudden interruption caused him to jump and hit his head off the top of the cupboard. He turned, prepared to yell some kind of profanity to the culprit, when he realised who it was and Juvia saw him visibly relax. "I'm fine just, warn me next time if you're going to sneak up on me!" He sent her a playful smirk and she giggled lightly in response. Giggled? Since when does she 'giggle'?
"So anyway," He began as he abandoned whatever he was looking for and handed her a glass of water, "The others are on their way over to pick you up. Probably should've mentioned that earlier," he was rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke, "You're in the main lifeguard tower by the way. It's a bit further from the others, so it'll take them longer to get here. But there wasn't enough room for you in the others and I had to make sure that you weren't seriously injured." She was touched by his concern before she remembered that it was his job to protect everyone here. He probably would've done it for anyone else who had been in the same situation. They were silent for a few minutes after that. It was awkward, as neither knew what to say to the other. What could they say to each other? They had only just met each other today. And the first time they had met, Juvia had nearly knocked him out with a door. She blushed at the memory. Embarrassment turned to anger upon realising that she still din't know why he had been there in the first place. "Natsu?"
"Yeah?" he was surprised at her sudden questioning tone and he lifted his head to look at her.
"What was Natsu doing this morning when he was knocking on the door of the changing room Juvia had been in?" her tone was low, causing him to gulp and telling him to think VERY carefully about his response. "Oh. Ah.. Well... You see- Some woman had seen a person-you in this case- go in there and they hadn't come out for about twenty minutes. They complained, and because I was the closest one patrolling over there, I had to go check everything was ok." His cheeks had a faint pink tinge lining them. It looked kind of cute to Juvia. Hold on a minute! Why'd she think that? Think normally Juvia! Her inner voice was practically screaming to be acknowledged. Juvia decided once again to ignore it as Natsu decided to show her outside so she could wait there for the others.
He led her outside and she stayed on the small balcony area of the tower whilst he went back inside to find whatever he had been looking for before. There were seagulls gliding above her head, squawking and screeching as they landed on the tower's roof. Underneath the gaps in the metal steps leading up to the entrance way, she could see two four-wheeled, yellow bikes with the word 'Lifeguard' inscribed in red writing across their sides. That must have been how they surveyed the beach. Something moved in the corner of her eye and she turned her head to see Natsu coming back outside looked slightly distressed. "Is everything ok?" Juvia asked upon seeing this.
"Huh, oh yeah, yeah. Everything's fine. I've just lost the keys to one of the bikes down there. I had them this morning and I need to give them to the other guy when he gets here." He continued to ramble on as Juvia suppressed the laugh she had felt forming in her lungs. She knew where they were. They were on the table she had seen on the way out there. But Natsu had obviously put them down there and completely forgot about them. She decided to put him out of his misery and reached around him to grab the item in question. He raised and eyebrow at her, "What are you doi- Oh." The keys were hanging off her finger as she dangled them in front of him. There was a very large smile playing on her lips as he sheepishly took them from her and let out an embarrassed chuckle. They were silent again until the others came into view, however this silence was much more bearable than the last. Natsu carefully led her down the steps to the sand before he dashed back up into the tower, telling her to wait there.
Her other friends finally reached her, relieved looks running across their features. Mira pulled her into a bone crushing hug, which was quickly joined by Levy and Lisanna. Juvia noticed that Wendy had even came along and was hiding timidly behind the figures of Lucy and Cana. She was cowering away from Juvia as she apologised over and over again for making her feel as if she had to go that far out to sea. The girl was on the verge of tears before Juvia finally plucked up the courage to tell her she was ok and she didn't mind at all. And for extra reassurance, she threw a genuine smile towards the younger bluenette. Wendy as unsure of what to do, until she saw a familiar figure coming down the stairs behind Juvia and she visibly relaxed. He waved to her before greeting the others. "Natsu! Where were you and why did you leave Juvia by herself?" Erza glared at him and he gulped before showing how he had Juvia's blue bag in his hand. "I-I just went to get this! She left it up there." He held his hands up in a defensive manner to at least try and give himself some sort of protection form Erza's wrath. The others shuddered as they rthought of what happens should you ever cross an angry Erza. They'd all experienced it at one point or another.
Juvia carefully took the bag from Natsu has he was now trying (and failing) to convince Erza that he hadn't done anything inappropriate whilst they were gone. The others were checking over Juvia, ensuring that she had been properly checked over otherwise Erza would be the least of Natsu's worries. And all the while, Juvia kept stealing glances to the pink haired man in question. Sure she'd only known him a few hours and let's be honest, their first meeting wasn't exactly ideal, but she could see the two of them becoming good friends in the future. He was easy to talk to, and she found him quite funny. From what she had seen, he was a caring person and she guessed brave (you had to be if you were willing to potentially risk your own health to save someone else from the cruel, unforgiving water of the waves). It actually seemed as if he was trying to cheer her up when she was in the lifeguard's tower, something which she could not remember many people trying before. The smile that appeared on her face was hard to hide.
She'd being doing that a lot today. Smiling. In fact, she'd probably smiled more today than she had in the past few months. And it was mostly thanks to him. That's so sappy. What are you thinking? There was a small scream and she looked over to see Natsu lifting an embarrassed Wendy from the ground and swinging her around. The other members of the group that had been there before she almost drowned had arrived. Most of them were hurling all sorts of insults and remarks to the lifeguard, but he seemed to pay no heed to them as he continued to embarrass his smaller cousin. Gajeel joined in at one point before he turned his attention to Levy again. She saw Loke once again flirting with the girls, this time his efforts were directed at Cana. This was stopped when she threw an empty bottle at him and he decided to give up on her. Lucy took pity on him and ended up in a four way conversation with Mira, Gray and Loke (although Juvia noticed that it was mainly Mira doing the talking). The others were all engaged in their own activities, she even noticed that the two friends Wendy was with earlier were now running over to join her.
She needed to get away from them for a while. It wasn't a bad thing or anything, she just felt too crowded. A quick walk down the shoreline of the beach would clear her head and make her feel better, so that's exactly what she set off to do. Juvia was going to inform someone of where she was going, just in case something happened again, but thought against the idea because she didn't want to bother anyone else today.What could go wrong with walking anyway? Without another word, she placed her bag over her shoulder and set off down the sand.
She had been walking for at least an hour and she knew that because she thankfully had her phone with her. Her friends had called her twice to ask where she was. They were worried something had happened to her until she was finally ably to reassure them that she had only gone for a walk. Now, she was resting on the sand, staring up at the clouds and birds flying over head.
"Beautiful isn't it?" The sudden voice shocked her. She hadn't sensed anyone coming up behind her. The person sat down beside her and she turned her head to see who it was. She wasn't surprised to find Natsu there. She was surprised her friends didn't send him sooner. "Did you follow Juvia here?"
"Yes and no."
"What do you mean?"
"Your friends were worried so they sent me to look for you. I don't mind to be honest. I was getting bored of messing with Ice Freak and you seem like an alright person." She knew it, although for some reason she felt disappointed that he didn't come find her at his own will. They spoke for a little while, exchanging random facts about one another with Natsu occasionally throwing a really bad joke into the mix. Juvia felt herself slowly becoming more comfortable with the situation. "It's funny," Natsu suddenly stated as he absentmindedly drew circles in the sand, "Every time we've tried to have some kind of conversation today, something goes wrong. I mean, you hit me with a door the first time I tried to talk to you. Then Wendy nearly knocked you over earlier and I got into another fight with the guys. I turned my back on you and the next thing I know I'm rushing out to do my job and save you from drowning! What's next? A giant meteorite crashes into the sand? How about a tsunami?"
"Juvia believes that it is very unlikely they will happen." There was more confidence behind her speech now. It was beginning to feel like when she spoke with her friends.
"You know, you're not that bad." he turned to face her, "This morning I thought you were weird. Still do a little bit actually," her heart sank a little at that comment, "But you know what? It's actually kinda nice. It suits you... Actually kinda adorable to be honest." The last part he muttered under his breath, but Juvia heard it. Her face broke out into a mad blush. "W-w-what d-did you just say?" His eyes widened and Natsu frantically tried to take back the comment without hurting her. But his actions were proving futile at the moment.
Juvia simply stared at him, dumbfounded at his remark. He was waving his hands back and forth whilst his eyes darted back and forth in every direction but at her. The whole scene had forced her to suppress the laughter she felt rising in her chest, because this had to be one of the most amusing things she had witnessed all day. Never had she seen someone, especially a man, be so embarrassed. Ever.
She lost her internal battle and finally let out a low laugh. Which became louder. And louder. And eventually she was clutching her stomach from laughing too hard. The man across from her was extremely confused, but found the pure joy her laughter very infectious and he to joined in. They were like that for at least five minutes but they eventually calmed down, their stomachs and lungs aching, and only letting out a light chuckle that soon cut out. But they both still wore bright smiles as they gazed at one another for a few seconds, before quickly looking away and looking to the darkening sky.
"I should probably take you back then. They'll be getting worried." Natsu stated nonchalantly, although Juvia for some reason detected disappointment in his tone. He lifted himself off the sand and held out a hand to help her up. This time, she didn't hesitate to accept and they began to walk side by side back to the tower. "Do you think they'll still be there?"
"Juvia does not know. Maybe." he chuckled at her statement.
"We'll find them if they're not," he glanced to her again before saying, "We should do this again sometime. Apart from the whole you nearly drowning thing, today's been fun. Maybe next time there won't be as many people and I can actually get to know you better."
"That sounds... nice." Juvia was unsure of how to respond to what he had said, but it did sound like a nice thing to do in the future. Maybe next time she could talk to him without hitting him in the face with a door. The memory of this morning was still fresh in her mind.
"Awesome! I'm all fired up now!" It was now Juvia's turn to laugh at him. He grinned stupidly at her and she couldn't help but grin back. She was glad she had met him, and to think this all started with her being forcefully dragged out of her home by their intimidating, red haired, mutual friend. She would have to thank Erza when she saw her.
I promised, and you received (eventually). I rewrote this several times and it was never originally this long but oh well. Not my best, I feel like I started rambling and repeating myself. Still fun to write. Like I said, I am aware that there are errors, but no one's perfect.
If you have any suggestion on something I could write for this next then feel free to say. I am writing something for another fandom on the site as well as this, so if you want then maybe you can keep an eye out for it.
Until next time...