A/N: I am so sorry this took so long, but I won't waste your time with a pointless author's note. This was supposed to be posted last weekend but I couldn't finish it, sorry. Luckily, I have a short (10 days) holiday and will (hopefully) write new chapters during this time. No promises though. Oh and, I've also decided that I'll probably reply to reviews instead of doing shoutouts, which will take place from next chapter, I think? Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter Twenty Nine: A Turning Point

"I choose Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters," a certain brunette declared to the people who were with her, even though they were obviously not interested. "I mean, I haven't seen it yet, which is pretty surprising. Also, Logan Lerman is damn cute. Why would I miss the chance to see him on a big screen?"

"Right. Logan… who?" Erza questioned, to which Cana's eyes went wide.

"You don't know Logan Lerman?" She confirmed with disbelief, as Erza slightly nodded. "No way! How can you even…? Oh my God, this is a real issue we have here! Now we are most certainly going to watch this."

"I take it my opinion doesn't matter?" Gray finally spoke ever since he arrived.

"You are correct," Cana simply smiled. "You should be a gentleman and let the ladies choose. Like Lyon, you know."

"Right. So since I am not – in your opinion – and what I think doesn't matter, you shouldn't certainly mind if I go with Natsu and Lucy, right?"

"They need some time together," the girl answered. "They're dating, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget. Maybe I could… go with Loke and the others then?"

"Why are you so bound on not sticking with me?"

"Because you always make things worse than they are actually supposed to be."

"We're just three friends hanging out; I don't see how this situation is bad at all." To that word of Cana's, Gray didn't say anything and just gave her a glare, causing the brunette to smirk. "Okay then, why don't you go get the tickets, Gray? Erza and I will wait here. I'd like to talk to her anyway."

xxx

"And what are we doing here again?" the blonde asked her boyfriend as they both stepped inside the park. "Seriously Natsu, amusement parks are for kids. Do not expect me to ride that Piggy Loves You over there."

"Amusement parks are fun, Lucy," the boy simply said. "And we don't need to ride that. We can get on the rollercoaster and all. I just… I want us to have some time alone, okay? It's embarrassing to act couple-y in front of others, and it's boring if I'm not like that with you."

At his words, the girl simply smiled, and tip-toed to give her boyfriend a peck on the lips. "Okay then, where do you suggest we go first?"

xxx

Perfect, Lyon Vastia thought sarcastically to himself, just perfect. How much more amazing could this be? I have a chance to bond with Juvia, but Loke keeps on butting in by staying here. Awesome, right? Yup, sure is.

"So," Lyon told the blunette in front of him, "how's your club going?"

"Pretty good. This year we've got lots of new people and we're working on five projects. Hard, but fun as well. How are you guys doing with your recording?"

"Great. We've just recorded two new songs a while back. Been a bit busy, but it's worth it, you know."

"Well, that sure is nice. I hope to listen to some of your songs soon."

"Maybe you'll be one of the first people to hear them," the orange haired boy simply smiled, one which the girl returned.

At the scene, Lyon almost groaned. Almost. Well, he did mentally. The girl I like is hanging out with one of my best friends, he thought to himself, and they're getting close. Even closer than me and her, I think. Isn't that just fantastic? Not.

xxx

"I'm hungry," Cana stated.

"I don't care," Gray replied.

"Well, I do."

"Then go get some food."

"I cannot afford to miss anything."

"Then don't eat."

"But I am hungry."

"So? Either watch this or go get something… popcorn, maybe."

"Why can't you go get some for me?"

"Because–"

"I'll get it," Erza cut in, stopping their 'little fight' as she got up to leave and buy some popcorn.

"See," Cana smiled, "she's so nice."

"What are you trying to do, Cana?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't buy this being-nice-with-Erza act. Especially after… things happened."

"She didn't take any money with her," the brunette remembered. "Did she? Nope, she didn't. Why don't you go give her some to buy the popcorn? And some Pepsi on the way too, please."

"Look Can–"

"Please," the girl simply repeated, and that was all it took for Gray to understand. Her tone was slightly harsh, and he had an idea on what she was planning. Nonetheless, the boy – now also in a bad mood – got up and left for outside to find a certain Scarlet.

xxx

"There's an arcade around here somewhere, I think. Is there one?" Loke asked Juvia as Lyon simply glared at his friend, which the boy was clueless to.

"Yes," the girl answered him, "Do you want to see it? There's a map somewhere here, I think. It'll help you find your way there."

"Yeah. But I'll probably do it later." No sooner than those words left his mouth, Lyon discreetly kicked the boy so that Juvia wouldn't notice. Looking at him – in pain – to find an answer, Lyon simply stared back at Loke and then kind-of-pointed at Juvia. The boy, now finally understanding, simply widened his eyes. "Oh um… you know, never mind, I can just go now."

"You sure? We are having fun, after all," Juvia said, holding up a top she liked.

"Yeah, some of us are," the orange haired boy simply said. "Anyway, I guess I'll be there. Um, you want to join me, Juvia?"

Juvia simply looked and thought for a while at his suggestion, but what the girl didn't know was that her one answer could change a lot. Meanwhile, both Lyon and Loke were tense and eagerly expecting an answer from her, which the girl wasn't aware of.

"Um, I think I'll just stay with Lyon here," she finally said, much to the boys' relief.

xxx

"That… was… EPIC!" a certain pinkette exclaimed loudly, as his girlfriend simply panted beside him.

"Uh, excuse me?! I'm never doing that again! I officially hate roller coasters."

"Oh, come on Luce! It was fun!"

"It was awful. Do you know what that word means? It means that it was horrible. I can just puke right now."

"It was scary."

"Which is the awful part of it!" the blonde screamed in frustration. "Ugh, I'm never doing that again."

"You already said that."

"I know."

"Okay, say what? Why don't we not ride 'scary ones' anymore, and get you a panda?"

"A what?"

"A stuffed panda! Look, there's one over there! All I need to do is shoot through the hoops."

"And you think you'll be able to do it?"

"Pfft," Natsu simply scoffed, "Just watch me. Don't worry, I'm awesome at sports."

xxx

"Your girlfriend sure is… friendly," Erza commented while they both stood waiting in the queue for the popcorn.

"You think so?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean I… expected her to be all…"

"Mad about the 'situation'?" Gray suggested.

"Yes, mad. I just… she seems to be taking it normally."

"A bit too normally, and that's never a good thing for anyone."

"I'll agree with you on that. Do you think she's planning something or…?"

"Well, I have known Cana for fifteen years, and this does not seem like her at all."

"Which counts as a yes?"

"It does. We can only hope for nothing to wrong now."

xxx

"So, I haven't seen you in quite some time. How've you been?" a certain white haired boy asked, attempting to start a conversation.

"Good," Juvia smiled, "and you?"

"Fantastic. You do realize this is the first time we're talking ever since we came, right?"

"Aha, sorry about that. I just felt like I should get to know you guys better, you know."

"Oh don't worry, I'm not upset. Well, maybe a bit but I totally understand."

"Thanks for that," she smiled. After some while, a question came up in Juvia's mind, and she nervously started. "Um, hey, Lyon… did Gray… talk to you recently?"

"We live in the same house and he's my cousin, why wouldn't he?"

"No, I mean… did he tell you anything about… about me… us… things…"

"Um, no not really. Is there something I should know?"

"I am not really sure."

"You can trust me, Juvia. If you want to share something, go ahead. But if not then I won't force you."

"Thanks," the girl simply looked at him, smiling again, "there's nothing I want to tell you right now, but thank you for understanding."

xxx

"Awesome? Awesome? Saying you suck won't even be enough!" A certain blonde told her now pouting boyfriend. When Natsu had told Lucy that he could easily shoot through some hoops and win her a stuffed panda, the girl soon realized that her boyfriend couldn't do sports at all. They later paid for another try where Lucy was able to shoot through the hoops and win Natsu a stuffed panda, which she obviously kept on mentioning just to stick it up.

"Alright, I get it. Maybe I'm not that good, but hey! At least I tried!"

"And why did you do that, may I ask?"

"For you," he simply answered, to which Lucy just smiled.

xxx

"Well, that was epic!" Cana exclaimed, obviously excited and loving the whole movie she just recently saw. Behind her, Gray and Erza were casually walking and listening to her rambling. But, we couldn't exactly say that for Gray, since he was in a world of his own.

During the time when they were watching the movie, his attention kept on going to a certain scarlet haired girl for reasons he really didn't know. Or maybe he did, but just chose to ignore it. Cana deliberately made him sit in the middle and he most certainly knew that. Throughout the movie there were slight… well, 'interactions', and Gray really felt the tension build up between them. And so, now finally frustrated, he decided to finish what couldn't be done the other day when they were settling in their new house. And so he grabbed the girl's hand and leaned forward, crashing his lips against hers.

Except it wasn't exactly the girl anyone was expecting.

xxx

"So, Juvia, I wanted to tell you something," Lyon started, grabbing the girl's attention as she now looked away from the clothes rack and to him. Taking a deep breath, he finally spoke, deciding that it was the time at last, "I know we haven't exactly known each other for long, but I really like you. And it's more than just in a friend's way, you know. I… I am sorry if you don't feel the same but… I just really want to be with you. So I was wondering, if you wanted – and only if you wanted – maybe we could now officially take our relationship to the next level?"

The girl was, to say the least, absolutely stunned. Juvia knew this was coming, and also about what she had to do. And so, gathering all her courage, she began.

xxx

"When the recording and all is done, you'll be the first to hear it. I really want you to listen to this song since I wrote it and it's mostly based on you."

"Well, I'm glad I helped you write a song," Lucy simply smiled.

"Yeah, me too. And the boys are proud as well. I'll send you the album when it's released, which might take some time. But don't worry; you'll have the first copy."

"That's generous of you."

"No worries, anything for you," the boy smiled, and at that moment in time, Lucy Heartfilia realized something. She has a suspicion of this from before, but it was never confirmed. However, today, the girl finally knew; she was absolutely in love with Natsu. She didn't even want to deny it, since it was such a fantastic feeling. She experienced a bunch of emotions around him, and now she knew that all of those had caused her to develop the strong bond of love, which she was now absolutely sure she felt for him. She would tell these words to him and she would do it now. It wasn't exactly how she expected, since she wanted the moment to be perfect, but she wasn't sure that this feeling of realization would come around again.

"I love you, Natsu," the girl said, smiling and ignoring all the imperfect little things. Like the fact that they were not on the top of the Ferris Wheel, there were no fireworks, a bunch of people were crowding them, there was a lot of litter nearby, and that there was too much noise. But, along with those, she also ignored the tiny factor of him not saying it back.