Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
Well, well, well! Happy new year everyone! あけましておめでとうございます. 新年快乐。새해 복 많이 받으세요. Those are the three languages I'm currently learning, so I thought I would share with you how to say happy new year (yes, I know Chinese new year is later on, but why not say it still?)
Uh, I don't really know what to say about this year, other than I wish good health to all my readers and their families. If you want to get vaccinated (I'm aware some people are trying to avoid it), I hope you get it soon. But I'm not here to be a downer, I'm here to say happy new year and drop my first update for the year!
I don't own Fairy Tail, and I apologise for any grammatical and spelling errors!
ENJOY!
Liars
Chapter eight
"I really think that Natsu and this girl are getting serious. He doesn't really talk about her, but more of the stuff that they do together. He's always with her judging how he doesn't really hang out with us anymore. I'm dying to meet her! Can you believe it? He won't even give us a name!"
Lucy groaned as she sat back in her seat. Natsu had suggested that he and Juvia actually go to the cafeteria for a change of scenery. Well, he said that, but Juvia knew that Lucy and Gray were complaining that they hadn't seen him in so long and they were wondering if he was mad at them for bugging him so much.
"Let's go and hang out with them this one stupid lunch and then get them off my back. Plus it gives us a change of scenery."
Juvia had happily agreed. She found it funny how if Natsu didn't show his face for a few days, they saw that as forever. It goes to show how close they are. It also made her realise that she probably wasn't really much of a friend to them if they didn't feel the same way about her. She hadn't seen them for almost for a year and yet no one complained that they hadn't seen her.
"Juvia shouldn't be too upset. Juvia and Gray drifted apart at the end of university after Juvia's big stunt to ask him out. Thinking that Juvia could patch things up when we started working here was stupid and naive."
The two guys had gone to the toilet, leaving the two girls at the table. Juvia couldn't help but giggle at Lucy's complaint which made the blonde grin at her. She watched as she looked at her up and down before leaning towards her, almost as if she were going to whisper some sort of conspiracy to her.
"So how comes you're still single, Juvia? Do we need to go out one Saturday and see if you can find a nice guy? You're so nice and chill and you bake! I know damn well so many guys would love to eat you right up!"
"If they're not Natsu, Juvia doesn't want to know...Juvia has it baaaad."
She tried to shake her mind off of her thoughts of Natsu. Instead, she just politely shook her head with a small smile. "Ano, Juvia's just not interesting enough. Or beautiful. Lucy-chan has Juvia beat in that department."
Lucy leaned back, almost as if she were horrified. "Haaa?! Juvia, do you own a mirror?!"
Juvia nodded her head, innocently confused. "Well, of course. How else would Juvia get ready in the mornings?"
"You must not be looking at it then, because girl, you are stunning! That's it, we need to get you down to a club and meet a few guys! It's time to flaunt whatcha got! Even I can see that you've got a lot going on under that skirt suit! Also, I've never had a girls' night out with you, I would love to see you with your hair down."
Juvia blushed as she did nothing but look down at her lap. Lucy was throwing all these compliments at her and she didn't know how much more she could handle. She was never good at taking them, having barely received them. Just as she was about to speak again, she was interrupted.
"What's got you so fired up, Luce?"
The two girls looked up to see the guys coming back to the table. Gray's hands were jammed into his pockets and Natsu's arms were behind his head. Lucy pointed an accusatory finger at Juvia as the two guys sat down opposite them. Juvia could feel her face heat up the moment Natsu sat down. His eyes were now focused on her. She tried not to think about it as she looked at Lucy instead.
The blonde looked annoyed as she jabbed her thumb over in Juvia's direction. "Juvia doesn't think she's hot! So I've decided that I'm going to take her out this Saturday and we're going to hit the town and find her a nice guy that does appreciate her!"
Natsu's fist caught Juvia's attention. She saw it clench immediately and that sent her heart soaring. Did Natsu maybe have some sort of feelings for her that he didn't want her to go out with any guys? No, she couldn't overthink things, but that would be a nice thought though, wouldn't it?
"Huh. I think Juvia's pretty hot."
Their three jaws dropped at the way Natsu casually said that and Juvia wanted the floor to open up and swallow her hole, because just how is she supposed to react to that?! He just dropped that he found her hot. She was tempted to fan herself due to how hot he had just made her and she wanted to curse him for being so calm and casual as he propped up an elbow on the table and rest his chin on his open palm.
Lucy tutted from next to her. "Watch out Natsu, your girlfriend won't be happy if she heard you say that about another girl, no matter how true that is." Lucy chuckled after she got over her initial shock. It didn't look like this was a topic that Gray wanted to indulge in, so he was busy eating his food.
"Nah, I'm pretty sure she'll agree with me too. We both appreciate the same things. Don't worry Juvia, she'll love you."
Natsu threw a secret wink at her and Juvia's heart was ready to explode now. She didn't know if Natsu was playing around because he thought that she was playing around too. It was getting too risky to start joking about things like this, because now her feelings were getting involved. She never thought that she would be in this situation. This seemed like something that only happened in dramas and her life was far from one of those.
His eyes shifted back to the woman next to him and Juvia finally released the breath that she didn't know she was holding. "Either way, Juvia and I are going ice skating this weekend with Lyon and Meredy, so maybe another time."
That seemed to capture Gray's attention as he now sat up, his eyebrows were practically kissing his hairline. Juvia noticed a subtle smug smirk appear on Natsu's lips, but it was gone as quickly as it came. It made her wonder if she had said it on purpose just to rile his feathers.
"Well, DUH he said it on purpose, Juvia. Natsu loves to annoy Gray."
"First of all, you're going ice skating?! You fucking hate it!"
Natsu shrugged his shoulders, almost as if he were bored. "Well I got invited because Juvia didn't want to be a third wheel to the happy couple. I mentioned how I'm pretty shit at it and she told me to come along so that she could teach me."
Gray didn't look too happy that he was never asked, but he continued with his questioning. "Which leads me up to the second point. You're hanging out willingly with Lyon?!"
Juvia remembered how Natsu mentioned that when Gray moved to Central Crocus, he had found himself hanging out with Lyon a lot more, but it looked like Gray didn't realise that. How he hadn't noticed that his own twin and his best friend had slowly become the new best of friends was beyond her. She would never want the person she's dating to stop hanging out with his friends for her. Wasn't that overkill?
"I hang out with you, right? You guys are literally the same. You're the twins of annoyance."
That definitely got Gray annoyed. "I'm nothing like him."
Juvia almost verbally agreed with him. Lyon was a lot more of a joy to be around than Gray. He was almost the perfect mixture between Gray and Natsu to be honest. He had crazy ideas of his own, stuff that seemed Natsu approved, but he could also be as cold as his brother if he needed to be. But he was also very arrogant, but that was usually to piss Gray off, always reminding him that he was the older twin by a good hour.
Juvia did feel bad that she wasn't into Lyon the same way that he had been into her, but at least it wasn't awkward between them. They had still been really good friends and she was happy when Lyon and Meredy met each other. She felt like they were better suited for each other than her and Lyon would have ever been.
"Suuure. But yeah, we're hanging out on Saturday."
"But what about your date? Aren't you going to ask her to be your girlfriend? Every time you talk about her, I can tell that you really like her. I've seen a different side of you since you've been dating her, although I would like to see more of you. I hope she doesn't make you choose between hanging out with her or us."
Juvia almost said something in order to defend herself, but Natsu's face was enough to hold her back. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, but there was something dark about that look. As if he didn't like them 'insulting' Juvia. Even though they didn't know this was about her.
"She would NEVER make me choose. I do really like hanging out with her. I get to do things that I want to do for once and she doesn't complain that I like something like sumo."
He gave a pointed look at Lucy who sweat dropped, but also felt guilty. It was true, she had never actually tried to go to a sumo match with him. Natsu continued talking.
"But I also like doing the things that she likes doing and ice skating is one of them. I don't want to make a fool out of myself in front of her. That was another reason for me wanting to tag along. If I learn to skate with Juvia, I'll be halfway decent with this girl."
Juvia was trying her best not to react to what Natsu was saying. Whether he knew it or not, he was making her swoon next to him. She felt good that he was basically defending her without the other two knowing that they were all talking about her. He also found a more legit way to describe that the two of them were going to be hanging out this weekend.
"Well can we come? It's been a while since we last went ice skating and I know Lucy here still needs to improve."
Lucy blushed in embarrassment as she punched Gray's arm and he laughed at her. He slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her in closely. The other two watched as Gray whispered into his girlfriend's ear. Probably some inappropriate things and Juvia heard Natsu huff next to her. It made her wonder if he was over Lucy or not. Was he jealous that Gray was the one who got to talk to Lucy like that?
She felt him nudge her and when she looked up, she saw him shake his box of cigarettes and he gestured with his head that they should probably get out of here. Juvia was more than grateful for the distraction. They scraped their chairs back and when she was about to let the other two know where they were going, Natsu shook his head and pulled her along.
"When they get like that, they're not focused on anyone or anything but themselves. There's no point talking to them, let's just go otherwise you'll end up throwing up."
Juvia laughed and nodded her head before following him out. He handed her a cigarette and when she put it in her mouth, Natsu had his lighter ready for her as she leaned forward, putting the end of it into the flames. It was their thing now. She liked having many things with Natsu.
"Does Natsu think we should invite them?"
Natsu shrugged. "Yeah, if we don't wanna be suspicious I guess. I mean, we also have the option of telling everyone to go to one ice rink and then we go to the other one, am I right? Just so it can be us two. Good plan, right?"
Juvia giggled as she exhaled the smoke. Natsu may never know the weight his words hold. Just him saying that made it seem like he only wanted to hang out with her and that everyone else was a waste of his time. It made her feel like she was the only girl in the world in his eyes. She liked feeling like that, even if it might not be true.
"As much as that's a good plan, it will also make us look even more suspicious, which is what we're trying not to go for, right?"
He rolled his eyes as if he didn't really care about that, but he still answered. "Right."
Juvia smiled simply as she thought of something else to say. "Has Touka-chan been bothering Natsu this week?"
"Nah, she's left me alone so far, though I still see her giving me bedroom eyes whenever your back is turned. She's convinced that the two of us have something going on and that if I'm willing to play around with you, I should be willing to play around with her."
Juvia didn't know why it was so funny seeing Natsu get hassled by Touka. Maybe it was because she could finally see the humour in the way that people once viewed her. "Well, she's not far wrong. But is Natsu still coming over tonight? Juvia has finally gotten the ingredients ready for the hottest meal she could ever make."
Natsu smirked. "I'm still coming, don't you even worry. But we also have a small problem that I've been trying to bring up all day."
Juvia raised an eyebrow and for once, Natsu was the one who looked uncomfortable. Juvia stood a little closer to him and nudged his arm gently. They were friends, whatever he had to say shouldn't embarrass him. Unless...there's another lie involved.
"Natsu can tell Juvia anything," she said softly and he nodded.
"Um, on Saturday, when I dropped you off...my mum saw you kiss my cheek and she wants to meet you. I personally said that it's too early and that we haven't been dating for long, but she's a really persistent woman. I couldn't let her down, so I said yes."
Juvia's eyes almost popped out of her head at the fact that she was basically going to meet Natsu's parents some time soon. She couldn't help but turn away from him, embarrassed at the fact that he had brought up her kissing his cheek. She cupped her cheek with her free hand as she tried her best not to panic at the thought of his mother seeing them together!
"S-sorry! It's all Juvia's fault!"
Natsu shook his head, looking just as flustered as she was. "Hey, hey! No worries! I mean, if you wanna keep on doing it, I'm not gonna stop you..." He mumbled that last part, but Juvia heard him just fine. She turned and smiled shyly at him. He would never make her feel bad and that's one thing she liked about him.
"But Juvia is still sorry."
Natsu shrugged, a lopsided grin on his face. "Shit happens I guess. I mean, I don't know why she wants to meet you so early on anyway. She's never met any other girl that I've been with."
"Maybe that's why. But Juvia thought that Natsu has had many girlfriends?"
Natsu's hand froze as he was bringing up the cigarette to his mouth. "No I haven't...er, they were just girls that I slept with to hide the pain of not being with Lucy. In turn, I was their rebound. I always seemed to pick girls who were fresh out of a relationship. Pathetic reason to sleep around, I know. Pretty immature of me actually."
He laughed nervously and Juvia nodded. Juvia wasn't stupid as to think that Natsu hadn't slept with anyone, in fact it would be a shock if he hadn't. He's a very good looking guy and girls would be lining up to sleep with him. Touka was definitely trying her hardest. It didn't hurt her, she understood that not everyone was like her. A virgin.
He seemed quick to speak up again though. "Well that was ages ago. Like I said, I haven't slept with anyone in over a year...it was just a bad place for me. I'm not like that anymore."
Juvia laughed a little at his attempt to not try and make himself look like a whore. She shrugged a little bit. Just because she still had her virginity intact didn't mean that she was judgemental to those who didn't. Gajeel slept around before he met Levy. "We all have needs, right? It's fine."
Natsu frowned. "But you don't act on them like some dog. Not like me."
"Natsu, seriously. It's fine. Juvia isn't judging you. It's not like you're trying to impress Juvia, right?"
Natsu didn't even bother answering. He wanted to impress her. He wanted to show that he can be a serious guy who wants a serious relationship and not be that guy who jumps into bed with just anybody.
"Fuck, do I actually like Juvia in that way? I'm so screwed."
"We are two different people and Juvia isn't one to judge. Juvia even liked Gray while he was...with other girls before he started dating Lucy-chan. Natsu will find a girl who doesn't care."
Natsu frowned a little bit. "Yeah, but if that girl ain't you, I don't want her."
"We should probably head back inside. Juvia still hasn't finished eating. Oh, but when does Natsu's family want to meet Juvia?"
Natsu sighed as they were heading back inside after flicking their cigarette butts into the bin.
"Sunday. Honestly, just be yourself. My mum will love you."
The bluenette nodded, taking their place back in front of the couple who looked like they had only noticed that the two of them were gone. Natsu gave Juvia an 'I told you so' look and she tried not to burst out laughing. Gray was watching them with careful eyes. Juvia hoped they weren't doing anything that would be deemed too suspicious to do as friends.
"The two of you seem to be getting along well."
Natsu shrugged, trying to work out his angle. He's always had some sort of girl best friend at his side. Lisanna, Erza and even Lucy. Adding Juvia onto the list wouldn't hurt. Gray shouldn't think too deeply into their friendship as he didn't know that him and Lisanna had an arrangement and he never saw Erza in that way.
"Well yeah, we've been working on our project. Two weeks working together has made us close I guess."
"Natsu is pretty funny. And a good worker. Juvia never expected that, she thought he would be lazy." Juvia threw him a smirk and he rolled his eyes as Lucy nodded in agreement.
"With the right motivation, Natsu can be a really hard worker. Tell me Natsu, what's motivating you this time?"
She gave him a knowing look as if she could read his mind, but he gave off no clues. He wasn't at all worried that she was suspecting something was happening with Juvia, because somehow, they wouldn't think that Juvia is his type.
"A damn promotion. It's about time I got out of this position and started rising up the ranks."
Gray huffed. "Then that would mean we're all due one. You ain't the only one who wants a promotion right now."
"But I'm the one with a project right now, so we'll see. If I play my cards right this time around, I could get something."
That answer pacified them on why the two of them. He was not letting them know that the real reason as to why he was trying so hard was to make sure that he could impress Juvia. Not like it would have been any of their business anyway. Juvia and Natsu heard their name being called out and when they looked up, Bisca and Erza were heading towards their table.
"Yo, Erza. What's up?"
"A halfway meeting, that's what's up. We were supposed to have it today, but the managers have all been busy. We want to see where you guys are with your work. Nothing too formal, just show us what you've done."
The pair nodded and then Juvia asked, "when is the meeting?"
It was her line manager, Bisca who responded. "On Wednesday. Yes, we know it's short notice, but that's why it's an informal meeting. We want the formal meeting at the end when you've collected all the data and so on so forth."
Natsu groaned. Great, more work that he had to really try hard on. "Got it."
Bisca sniffed before frowning and looking at Juvia. "You started smoking again?" Her voice was flat, as if she were disappointed, but she would never really say anything. Natsu always knew Bisca as someone who wouldn't get into your business, but she was there for the support and was more than happy to listen to you whenever you were ready to talk to someone. He had spoken to her a few times when they were teens when he didn't want Erza or Lisanna worrying about him.
Juvia shook her head. "Juvia never really stopped. More of a social smoker now."
Bisca quickly glanced at Natsu before nodding and turning away to go and get some food. Natsu wasn't sure if anyone else saw it, but he noticed the smirk on her face and he just knew that something was floating in her head at the situation. Juvia had only started smoking at work again because of him and he knew that the green haired manager was thinking it had something to do with him. She wasn't wrong though.
Erza nodded to her own workers and followed her friend. Juvia then sighed and stood up. "That's a little bit of extra work that we then need to get started on. Juvia's going to head on up. Natsu can stay for the rest of his lunch-"
Scraping his chair back, he shook his head. "Nah, I'm coming with. I ain't gonna leave you to do all the work by yourself. I left that side of me behind in high school."
Gray shot him a dirty look and Natsu just grinned. It was clear that that sentence had hit home like it was supposed to. They said their goodbyes to the couple and as they were about to leave, Lucy called out to Juvia.
"Oh Juvia! Let me grab your number! We should definitely hang out sometime!"
Juvia smiled and nodded as they pulled out their phones and traded numbers. They soon left and got into the lift.
"I'm surprised you gave her your number. I didn't think you would ever be friends with your 'love rival'."
Juvia rolled her eyes and shoved him as he laughed. When she was someone who was easily jealous, she would always call Lucy her love rival instead of by her name and that was how she was dubbed as the crazy girl. She had since learned her lesson and after a few years of not seeing Lucy as her and Gray's friendship deteriorated, they were on good terms now.
"Yeah well, Juvia is no longer in love with Gray. Even if she was, we won't be rivals. Lucy won Gray's heart fairly, so Juvia wouldn't be able to call her a rival. Juvia is happy though, because she was able to see that Gray isn't the sort of guy that she wants."
The lift opened and they were on their floor. Touka was right there, surprised to see anyone in the lift, but the moment she saw Natsu, she gave him a sultry look.
"Hello handsome and...ugh. So Natsu, I was thinking that even when your project is finished with her, don't ever be a stranger to our department. I will definitely-"
"You know what? I'm thinking of getting serious with my girl."
With that, Natsu grabbed Juvia's wrist and they both left her standing there. Juvia glanced up at him, almost as if she could feel anger radiating off of him. That was very odd, he was never like this. "Is Natsu okay?"
He sighed in frustration, letting go of her and running his hand through his hair. "I hate when people don't listen the first time. I already told her I'm not interested and she keeps pushing it and it's fucking me off."
Juvia bit her lip as she nodded. She knew that feeling all too well. Gray was always pissed off with her, trying her best to get through to him, to prove to him that they were made for each other. She never took the hint at first. Eventually she did. To see someone else go through that, she fully understood how annoying she once was.
Natsu looked down at her with a weird look, wondering why she was silent. "You alright? Did I say something stupid?"
She shook her head as they entered her office. "No, no. Nothing stupid and nothing weird."
He caught her by her elbow and turned her around. Their bodies were close to one another. Natsu was searching her eyes for a clue, something that she was hiding away from him. She turned her eyes away from him, trying to not give away her feelings. That and she couldn't look at him with him looking at her so hard.
"Juves," he said slowly. "What's up? I know I'm a bit stupid sometimes and I don't think when I talk. Did I say something wrong? Let me know."
Juvia bit her lip before she then sighed and looked back at him.
"Juvia sees herself in Touka-chan. Juvia tried her hardest to make Gray fall in love with Juvia. Gray always told Juvia no and Juvia never listened. Juvia was just reminded of that."
Natsu nodded as he moved his hands from her elbow and moved around her instead. "Sorry for reminding you about that. At least you wanted a relationship with that prick. Touka just wants to sleep with me." He didn't really know how else to make her feel better. He felt like punching her for reminding her about a shitty time.
Juvia melted into Natsu's touch. She subtly breathed in deep. She loved the smell of his cologne and it was a scent that she had come to love over the last two weeks.
"It's fine Natsu. Juvia was just having a moment. Let's get started on this meeting, ne? Let's work hard so that Juvia can work up Natsu's appetite for tonight."
She pulled back and gave him a wink as she walked up to her disk. She may not have been doing it on purpose, but Natsu was watching the way her hips were moving in front of him. He really loved the pencil skirt she wore today. A simple pair of black heels that made her legs look deliciously long. She had a beautiful coke bottle shaped body and her arse looked so fucking-
"Natsu? Come on!"
"S-sure!"
"Natsu, come and taste this!"
They were both at Juvia's place as she was making some spicy food. She had found out that he loved to eat fish, particularly salmon. He had laughed and explained that he always argued with people who tried to tell him his hair was pink and he would claim it's salmon coloured. From there, salmon became his favourite fish.
He had jumped up from the bar stool that he was sitting on where he had been waiting for Juvia to call him. He was excited and Juvia could see it as he stood next to her, their arms brushing lightly brushing against each other. He did his best to ignore the warm feeling that washed over him. Juvia picked up a spoon and cut some of the salmon and blew on it as she raised it up to his mouth.
"Open up."
He raised an eyebrow with an amused smirk. "What, you're gonna feed me?"
She gave him an amused look and nodded. "Yes Juvia is. Now, open up!"
He complied, his mouth opened wide for her. She placed the fish with a few vegetables and what seemed to be some red liquid.
His eyes almost popped out of his head as he felt his tongue light up on fire. He enjoyed it, but it genuinely was the hottest thing he had ever eaten.
"What the fuck?! That was hot! H-how did you do that?!"
Juvia laughed and pulled out a little pepper from a bag that looked really shrivelled up. He squinted at it as if trying to know whether her had seen it or not. Then he looked back at Juvia.
"What is that? A pepper? But it's so small."
Juvia nodded. "Yes it's a pepper, but specifically it's a scotch bonnet. This pepper is extremely hot. Sometimes you only need to use one, but depending on how much food Juvia is making, she might add up to three. Juvia only put in 2 of this."
Natsu's eyes were wide. "Wait, only TWO of that small peppers has got my mouth on fucking fire?! That's fucking crazy!"
He picked the pepper out of her hands and looked at the pepper, turning it around. Juvia grinned.
"Juvia's mum makes pepper soup. It's a winter dish that she makes us whenever we're sick. But because we love it so much, sometimes we just like to eat it. She puts maybe 6 in there?"
"SIX?! I knew you liked some hot food, but I didn't know that someone's taste buds could handle the level of heat that I like. Someone who isn't my dad anyway. Fuck, you're amazing," he breathed out. He looked at her, finding himself falling deeper and deeper for this girl. He watched as she tried to laugh it off, but he found himself smiling at the fact that he could see her blushing. He liked being the reason why she blushes.
"Kami, she's so cute."
"Juvia loves hot food. She didn't think it was anything cool though. But yes, Juvia loves hot food. Juvia made a basic hot sauce with the scotch bonnet and stuffed the salmon with it. Juvia hopes that Natsu likes it."
"Like it? I fucking love it. Oh man, did you make enough of this stuff for lunch tomorrow? I'm gonna eat the hell out of this. Can I?"
He gestured to the food and Juvia nodded as he started dishing out the food in excitement. Juvia was touched when she saw him pile up her plate first before he then filled his own.
"You're so cool. Lucy can't cook for shit, she's got cooks for that."
Juvia laughed a little as she brought out a jug of water from the fridge. She glanced at the clock and wondered where Meredy was, seeing as she wasn't home yet. She was probably spending her time at Lyon's place. She decided to leave someone for her just in case she forgot to eat at Lyon's, although Lyon would never let her forget to eat.
"That's what happens when someone is rich enough to have cooks. Does Natsu's family like hot food too?"
He swallowed his mouthful before speaking. "Hmm. My dad does. Zeref can handle it to a certain extent, but would rather not have it hot, same with my mum. Wendy hates hot food in general. Makes dinner time annoying. That's why she must be so happy that at least two of us have moved out."
Juvia smiled and Natsu asked her something. "But what Luce said today got me thinking. Why are you single?"
She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes. That wasn't a question she had been expecting at all and she nervously wrapped her hair around her finger. Is it that weird that she isn't dating anyone? "Um, because no one really wants Juvia? Or maybe because she isn't actively looking for someone right now. Juvia hasn't really been interested in anyone since Gray. No one caught her eye."
She glanced up and quickly saw an emotion that looked like disappointment? Her heart sped up. Was he disappointed that she didn't like him? Okay, so it wasn't fair to say that she's not interested in anyone right now when the guy she's currently interested in is sitting in front of her, eating a meal that she cooked.
"What, no one at all?"
She needed to rectify what she had just said, now. Because what if there is the slim chance that Natsu likes her back and she unconsciously pushes him away? She wasn't risking that right now. She looked him directly in the eyes to at least convey some sort of emotion to add to her words.
"Well, maybe there is someone that Juvia would like to be with, but Juvia is trying her best to see where her feelings are really going. Juvia doesn't want a repeat of what happened with Gray, so maybe Juvia will let the guy ask Juvia out first."
There was this look in her eyes that Natsu couldn't decipher. Was she talking about him? Or did she actually like someone else and was letting him know that they were going to have to wrap up this fake dating scenario pretty soon.
"Don't be so fucking stupid Natsu, she ain't into you. Why would she be if Luce wasn't? I knew this was gonna be shit. She's too nice to say no, now she's gone and realised she likes someone like I told her she would."
"What about Natsu? Well, until recently Natsu was still in love with Lucy-chan, right?"
He snapped out of his thoughts quickly. "Right. But I mean, I've had loads of time to get over it so I guess I've had enough time to let my eyes wander to other girls. But yeah, I guess there is someone. I'm just worried I'm not her type though. I'm nothing like the guys she's liked in the past."
He watched as Juvia frowned and clasped her hand on the table. This was turning out to be kind of awkward, but he didn't want things to be that way between them. They had been so solid until now.
"Well Juvia would think that girl is stupid if she turns Natsu down. Maybe you should ask her out, you might get a surprise and she'll take you up on it."
She slipped off of her seat and grabbed their plates and took them to the sink so that she could start washing them. She didn't even realise that Natsu's eyes were on her.
"I wish you really would."
"But this Saturday should be fun, right? The six of us all going out and having fun on the ice. The only pair that won't be an actual couple will be us. Lucy-chan might try and convince Natsu to bring this girl out next time."
Natsu groaned as he stood up and decided to help her dry the plates. He also appreciated how she had swiftly moved on with the topic, making sure they weren't lingering on some dangerous grounds. Thinking about his feelings in depth in front of her was risky. He might end up asking her out for real, when he didn't even know how she felt about him.
"I sure fucking hope not. She won't let this go, considering they pretty much hid their relationship for six months. I dunno why she would want to rush me for things."
"Natsu is right, that does sound quite hypocritical. Natsu is doing a good job deflecting all of her questions though."
He shrugged carelessly, trying not to dwell on this shit that had been his life for the last year and a bit. It was a secret that he wasn't ready to let anyone know about yet and as much as he liked Juvia, he didn't want to make her worried or anything. It was something that he had learnt to deal with by himself.
"I'm used to it, I guess. I just joke about stuff and make it easy to talk about something else. Start asking questions about her and job done."
Juvia turned to look up at it and Natsu almost flinched at the serious look that she was giving him. "What?"
"Natsu better not do that with Juvia. Juvia will be here for Natsu whenever he needs her to be. Don't hide, don't deflect and don't joke about something that's serious to you. Juvia isn't going to fall for it. So promise Juvia."
He grinned and shook his head. "Sure. I promise ya."
That seemed to satisfy her as she gave him a plate to dry. "But to answer Natsu's question, yes. Juvia has made more food, so let's get it all into containers for tomorrow. Oh, with some rice!"
Natsu watched as she rushed around her cozy kitchen and just smiled as he stood there, drinking her in. He loved the way her tattoos littered her arms, all in bright colours. When she had removed her tights earlier, she had come back downstairs and he noticed a bright blue tattoo on her left, creamy thigh. Not only did her legs look delicious, it matched the red tattoo that he had on his left shoulder. It was from the famous dragon guild in the dragon chronicles. They had spoken about it in more depth, and Natsu couldn't help but smirk at the blush she wore on her face when she had come to the realisation that they had matching tattoos.
He couldn't help himself. He loved being around her, even more than Lucy. They were as different as night as day. While most people would have said that Lucy was the sun and that Juvia was the moon, he felt that she was a combination of both.
She may seem quiet and reserved at the surface, but she was bright once you got to know her. That was all it took. She was all laughs and smiles and willing to accommodate someone else with their own hobbies. She was there to listen to you and also be able to speak her mind freely about anything in her life. She was just amazing for that. He would never let anyone take advantage of that. He was going to make sure that he was there for her whenever she needed someone to talk to and to laugh with.
It was in that moment that Natsu knew, he was totally and utterly screwed.
So, how was that chapter? I hope everyone enjoyed it! I love you all to the moon and back, you know that? Your words are amazing and they make me know that I'm still doing something right! As you all know, this will be my 10th year of writing and I honestly can't believe that it's been TEN YEARS. I never thought that I would have even been bothered to be writing for this long! Seven year old me would be excited to know that our writing skills did indeed improve and get us somewhere haha.
But please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Please make sure you stay clean, safe and sane! I'm currently in isolation because I came into contact with someone who has covid apparently (it must have been a customer at work), so I'm pretty much stuck in my room for the next 5 days. However, I see this as a good thing because I'm supposed to be waking up at 2am for work for the next 7 days and now I'm missing 4 of those shifts. See the good in something at least!
Lolita-chan