Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
I am currently battling against the clock to make sure this gets uploaded on Thursday (although for many European, Asian and Oceania friends, it will be Friday for you). I hope everyone's been well since last week, and thank you so much for all your kind words! You all know how to make a girl blush :")
I don't own Fairy Tail, I apologise for my crappy spelling and grammar.
ENJOY!
Liars
Chapter nine
This was going to be their third weekend together. Natsu didn't realise how fun it was to hang out with someone that you actually liked and made it fun. Well, he did. When he used to like Lucy, he used to love hanging out with her. He was happy enough to do whatever it was that she wanted to do, and that was probably why it was way better hanging out with Juvia. They both got to do the things they liked, together. He felt like he was getting to know her more and more with each passing day.
Right now, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her as both her and Meredy were listening to what Lucy was saying. He didn't realise he was staring until Lyon hit his arm to grab his hired skates. He gave him a sheepish smile and grabbed them before heading over to a bench.
The invite had ended up being extended to both Erza and Jellal and Gray was talking to them. That just left Lyon with Natsu and Natsu didn't like that. Not because he didn't like Lyon, but more because of the way he was looking at him. He didn't like that look one bit. It was mostly out of habit that he still called Gray his best friend, but it was most probably Lyon now. They knew a lot about each other and right now, that was pissing Natsu off.
"What?" He practically growled out at him. Lyon gestured with his head over at the girls with an annoying smirk.
"Oh nothing. I'm just trying to see which girl it is that you like over there. I mean, it couldn't be Meredy because she's my girl, so I narrowed it down to two people. Now, I know you like Lucy-"
"How the fuck did you know that?!"
"-and I also know that you've been bitter towards Gray for 'stealing' her away from you. However, I also know that you've been trying your best to get over her soooo, the only other person-"
"Lyon, I fucking swear-"
"-that it can be, is Juvia. So you've got your eyes on Juvia over there, huh? Good for you, I mean I don't blame you. I did at some point too, but she was so far up Gray's arse I just let her go. Good job I did, Meredy was the girl for me."
Natsu glared at him and Lyon laughed. "What? You're mad that you're disgustingly obvious? Look, Meredy and I could tell all those times that we all hung that you were practically in love with Lucy. How Gray never saw it...well we all know he's a fucking idiot."
"Amen." That was the only thing that Natsu was happy to agree on with Lyon right now.
"So what, you never told her or anything?"
Natsu sighed. "I always believed that actions speak louder than words. I've never really told anyone that I like them, so I don't really know how to deal with it. That and Luce was practically used to saying that I don't care about girls more than I care about food. Shit hurts. But I did stuff for her and she just thought I was being friendly."
He shrugged and Lyon shook his head. "Oh, she's one of those clueless people who can see when someone likes someone else, but not when someone likes her? I know a few people like that. So Juvia, huh?"
Natsu nodded again, his eyes on the said woman. What was the point denying it? Lyon isn't stupid and he hit the nail on the head. It also felt good telling someone else and not having to keep the secret to himself.
"I really like her, dude. She's fucking perfect and she doesn't even know it. I just know I'm not her type. Me and Gray are nothing alike. I'm definitely not Bora."
Lyon punched his arm as if disappointed that he would bring up that name. "Oi, Bora definitely doesn't fucking count. He's a bastard and you're just...a prick."
Natsu rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Thanks, makes me feel so much better. But how did you and Meredy start dating? How did you ask her out?"
"I just did."
Natsu growled. Fucking figures. Lyon was never one to be shy about anything. "But you were never looking for love. You even swore off of it."
"That's because Sherry was so damn creepy! She threatened every girl that tried to get close to me, so I said it as a way to get her off of me! I didn't want to put any girl in danger just because of some other girl."
Natsu's eyebrow twitched when he remembered Sherry. Lyon hadn't gone to the same school as him and the others. He was actually a lot smarter than Gray and went to the local Grammar School called Lamia High. He had met Sherry a few times and let's just say that he never wanted to meet her again.
"Judging by the look on your face, I'll say you remember her. But yeah, the moment she got a boyfriend was the moment I could finally breathe around girls. By that point, I was already going to uni, so I thought I'll just meet someone there. I met Juvia, she met Gray and eventually I met Meredy through Juvia. After we all hung out a few times, I realised I liked Meredy and just asked her out. Just the two of us."
Natsu stared at Lyon like he had just met a celebrity. "You asked her out, just like that? How did you feel?"
"Not gonna lie, I was nervous. I had the same fears as you. What if I'm not her type? What if she's also into Gray like Juvia was? All these insecurities and questions float through your head and I get that. But at the end of the day, we'll just never know and I guess my curiosity to see what her answer would be. All turned out for good anyway."
Natsu nodded. "Yeah I guess it did. So what, did you do it in a special way? Did you take her somewhere cool or what? And how did you get her to go with you? After all, she must have been used to going out as a whole group, right? How did you manage to get her to go alone?"
"I just asked her. It's not like that would be weird for you and Juvia anyway, you guys already do stuff without everyone else. In fact, this is the first time you're doing anything with all of us around. So my advice to you is that you should take Juvia somewhere special. She really loves Christmas and everything involving it. Maybe if you take her to the Fantasia parade, you can ask her out then."
Natsu's eyes widened. They had the Fantasia Parade coming up and it conveniently happened at the end of their project.
"You're smart, I like that idea."
"What idea?"
They both jumped as Gray and Jellal came up behind them. Lyon didn't even skip a beat and without looking at his brother, he replied with, "going to a buffet when we're finished. Saves money and he gets to eat like a pig."
"Hey!"
Even though he sounded angry that he was called a pig, he was more than grateful for his quick thinking. Natsu wasn't a very good liar and he was very surprised that he had even come this far with his little lie with Juvia. Maybe it was because she made it seem believable with him.
"Sounds like Natsu. But I'm definitely game. Hey! We should race like old times! Whaddya say?"
"You're fucking on."
They both ran in their skates and Meredy and Lucy looked up and face palmed when they saw their respective boyfriends run away from them like little children. Jellal snickered with Natsu as he walked back over to Erza.
"Wait, but Gray is supposed to help me! That idiot!"
"Don't worry, I can help you if you want. My boyfriend just ran off with yours, so we can run off together, ne?"
"Sounds good to me. Juvia, are you okay to handle Natsu? I know that he might be a little difficult to handle-"
"Juvia will be just fine. Don't worry."
She didn't want to hear her say anything bad about him and Natsu couldn't help but grin from where he was sitting. He stood up when he saw Juvia making her way to him and she smiled at him before they set out to the rink. Lyon and Gray were already speeding along and while Natsu used to think that was cool, he couldn't help but remember the way Juvia skated with such speed and grace. She definitely wasn't aggressive looking as they were.
"I'm pretty sure you can go faster than them."
They were on the ice and surprisingly, Natsu wasn't as shaky as before. He had gotten over his initial fear of the ice and used the technique that Juvia taught him. She beamed at him.
"First of all, Natsu is doing an amazing job for your third time! Basically second because no one taught you that first time. Secondly, Juvia doubts that. They look like they're going at the speed of sound!"
It was almost like a gust of wind blew past them as Lyon and Gray sped past them yet again. Juvia huffed and rolled her eyes as she gave Natsu her hand. He looked down at it before looking at their environment.
"You sure? I mean, we're in front of all of our friends."
"Meredy and Lyon already know about our situation and Juvia also doesn't really care. To them, Juvia just looks like she's helping Natsu, right? Then it's fine! This is what Lucy and Gray looked like all those years ago."
"Yeah, and look where they are. They're a couple now. You tryna tell me something Juves?" He was only joking around, but he also wanted to find out how she felt. Maybe if she could give him some clues, that would be perfect.
Her face went bright red and she looked away. "W-well it's not like Juvia would complain or anything. But we know what we're doing, right?"
"Yeah. Right."
He didn't want it to be awkward between then, but he didn't know what to do. Luckily, Juvia did. She swung herself in front of him, holding both of his hands as she smiled at him.
"Come on, let's start working on your speed so that soon enough, you can be like those two."
Natsu chuckled and shook his head. "They've practically been skating from the womb. I don't think I'll ever catch up."
"Not with that attitude. So tell Juvia. How did Natsu not get into ice skating, but Wendy did?"
"Pretty sure it was one of those barbie movies. She saw barbie figure skating and that was it. She was absolutely hooked like an addict on crack. She begged and pleaded to start having lessons and being a daddy's little princess, my dad enrolled her into lessons. She stuck at it and here she is. An amateur figure skater."
"That's amazing."
Natsu nodded, feeling nothing but pride for his younger sister. Then he beamed at Juvia. "You should come to one of her competitions one day. I'm sure she'll love to have more support."
Juvia nodded, unable to keep the grin off her face and Natsu found it contagious as he started grinning back at her.
"Juvia would love to come. Just give her a time and date and she'll be there."
Natsu wasn't sure if it was the conversation that he had with Lyon that had him feeling like this, but he felt like she was talking about something completely different. Almost as if she were inviting him to ask her out, but he wasn't too sure. He didn't want to jump the gun and be wrong about it.
"Great. I'll let her know. Now, as much as I like us skating like this, shouldn't I try and skate without you?"
Juvia shrugged and let go of his hands without any warning. The moment she did, he stumbled a little bit as if he had lost some confidence, but he managed to catch himself again. He glared at her as she snickered at him and then twisted round so that she was now skating next to him. As they were skating along, they couldn't help but hear a gasp.
"Natsu! What the hell, when did you get so good?!"
They turned their heads to see Lucy clutching onto Meredy for dear life and Meredy herself didn't look like she was having much luck trying to get her off. Natsu practically howled out in laughter at the sight of his friend clinging on like that and Lucy growled at him. If she could skate by herself, she would have come over to hit him.
"Well, Juvia's just that much of a good teacher. That and I'm a quick learner. Clearly I can't say that much about you. Thought Gray woulda been dragging you here with him every weekend?"
Lucy scowled at him, not at all happy that he was better than her. Especially when her boyfriend should have made her better. "Remember we live in Central Crocus. There isn't really an ice rink near us, it's on the West side of town. That and he seemed to drop skating a little bit when we got together. I don't know, I never really asked him why he did that."
Natsu raised an eyebrow and even Juvia looked up at him confused. The both of them knew how much he loved ice hockey and he used to play so much of it in his spare time. Did he think he had to stop doing all the things he loved for Lucy?
"Anyway, can I skate with Juvia? I know Meredy here is trying to hide the fact that I'm hurting her as I'm squeezing the life out of her arm, but maybe I can skate with Juvia?"
Juvia didn't really mind and she nodded with a smile. "Sure."
Natsu whined. He didn't want his partner to let him go, but he also hadn't spoken to Meredy in a while, so he was sure that things were going to get awkward between them fast. He could also get more advice from her seeing as her boyfriend already knew how he felt for Juvia. Maybe she could tell him if Juvia felt the same way.
Lucy held her hand out for Juvia to grab and Juvia pulled her gently. "Okay, let's do what Juvia did with Natsu and that was get him to hold onto the side and hold onto Juvia with the other hand. Now we push, push, glide. Yep, just like that!"
Juvia's voice was soothing as Lucy felt herself relax and focus on her feet. She was silent for a while trying to get the hang of it and when she did, she felt confident to talk at the same time.
"So Juvia. You seem to have gotten really close with Natsu lately because of the project that you guys are doing. I was wondering if maybe he had told you anything about this girl he's seeing? You don't have to tell me her name or anything, just like if they're serious or what?"
Juvia giggled and shrugged. "Juvia doesn't really ask those kinds of questions. It's not really her place to do so. Why is Lucy-chan so adamant to find out about this girl? Natsu said that he'll tell you about her when he's ready."
Lucy yelped a little bit as she tripped, but Juvia's hand was firm as she held her tightly without letting her tumble to the ice. She was grateful as she kept repeating her thanks and Juvia shook her head with a smile. She was used to picking up Rogue from when they were younger and he wanted to learn how to skate with her.
Lucy sighed before she answered. "It's because I knew that Natsu had a huge crush on me. It was probably to the point of love, but I'm not too sure. I just wasn't into him. I didn't see him in that way, I saw him as my brother. However, I didn't want to embarrass him and tell him it's never going to happen if he wasn't going to come out and ask me out himself. Then the day that I met you and Gray, I met someone I liked and it seemed like Gray liked me back too. I also knew that you liked Gray too and I thought you guys were dating, but he confirmed you weren't...I know it's taken me so long to apologise but...I'm sorry."
Juvia was stunned into silence before she finally found her voice again. "Ah, no. It's fine. Sorry for what? Sorry that Lucy-chan had feelings for Gray and that they're reciprocated? Juvia's not mad. She was hurt and upset at the time because she's so used to never being liked, but it was just Juvia's routine."
"Juvia." Lucy's voice broke when she heard that. She hadn't meant to make the blue haired girl feel bad at all.
"That came out wrong! Trust Juvia when she says she's okay! Juvia had gotten out of a pretty rough break up in high school and was just looking for anyone who gave her attention. As the first guy to talk to Juvia, Gray was basically just a replacement for the pain that Juvia felt. Juvia sees now that we wouldn't have been compatible and for that, Juvia is happy that she's not the one with Gray."
Lucy gave her a look of relief that clearly showed she was happy that there was no bad blood between them. "Juvia, I would hug you right now, but I need to cling onto the side here."
They both laughed out loud together. When they quietened down, Lucy still had a smile on her face.
"But I guess the next reason why I want to know who this girl is is so that I can thank her. I haven't seen Natsu this happy before, even when I wasn't dating Gray. He's really applying himself in his work, he's serious about a promotion and he's just in general doing really well. I remember when Ultear thanked me for basically making Gray a better man and I didn't understand it at the time. Now I do when I see what Natsu's going through. He may not act like it, but he's got so much love to give and that girl deserves the world. She's one hell of a lucky girl and I hope she doesn't break his heart."
"Juvia would NEVER do that...Because Juvia isn't even dating hum, duh." She couldn't believe that that thought had just popped up in her head!
Instead, she just hummed in agreement with that. She looked around until she could see him and she found him laughing along with Meredy. Just the sight of him smiling made her smile too and her heart constricted in her chest. She really had come to like Natsu. This was also very different from when she used to like Gray. If she had seen another woman make Gray laugh, she would be so jealous. Right now, the sight of Natsu smiling made her happy. Even if she wasn't the reason behind his smile right now.
"This is really bad, Juvia really does like him!"
"If Natsu wasn't already dating this girl, I would have even set you guys up! But you know, he's doing so well with her. And that's why we need to go out one weekend. Ooh, or better yet, I set you up on a blind date! Tell me your type of guy and I'll see what I can do."
Juvia gave her a plain look. "Juvia is not going out with Loke."
Lucy blushed as she started to stutter. "W-what makes you think I was going to suggest him?!"
Juvia smiled knowingly and winked. "Because Juvia has heard Lucy-chan trying to tell all the single girls that he's changed. Personally, Juvia thinks he should stop thinking he doesn't deserve Aries-chan and he should ask her out."
"That's what I'VE been telling him! Aries has been by his side through his hoe phase and she never once stopped loving him! Then suddenly when he realises her feelings for him, he stops being a playboy to better himself, but he still won't admit that he likes her to go out with her! Kami, their life is such a drama right now."
Just as Juvia was about to respond, Gray suddenly did the most dramatic brake on the ice and Lucy squealed before glaring at him. Even Juvia wasn't impressed as he literally sent a whole spray of ice shavings towards them.
"You scared me!"
He gave her a sheepish grin. "Sorry babe, that was the last thing I wanted to do. Here Juvia, I'll take her off your hands now. Let me teach my girl how to skate."
Juvia nodded as Lucy reached out for Gray. She seemed a lot more steady on her feet now and Juvia smiled. She was glad that she could finally take advantage of not having to help anyone right now. Natsu was with Lyon, Meredy and Erza and when she looked to see who was next to her, she saw her cousin.
"Yo, Juvia."
She beamed up at him as she hugged him, making Gray and Lucy confused.
"You guys know each other?"
Jellal gave Gray a strange look, as did Juvia herself. It was no secret that Jellal was her cousin, so why was he asking? "Yeah, she's my cousin."
Their jaws practically dropped and Juvia looked confused, especially at Gray's reaction. This wasn't the first time they were all out together. Did Gray not actually pay attention when she spoke about him? "Juvia thought you guys knew?"
"NO! Well, it's not like Jellal works at the same company as us for me to even know that! Talk about a small world I guess. So Juvia, that means you live near here, right?"
"Yes. Juvia moved to Magnolia in the last year, but Juvia was originally from Oaktown, the next town over." Okay, so now she knew that she had given away a little bit of the information that they had used with Natsu's 'girlfriend', but she was also certain that they would never make the link themselves.
Gray whistled. "You're an oak girl? Lemme guess, you also went to Phantom?"
"Yup!"
Gray looked mind blown at the information. "How the fuck did I not know any of this back in uni?"
"Because Gray never really paid attention to Juvia. Juvia was willing to learn everything about Gray. His past, his friends, his families and his ambitions. Juvia knew it all. But Gray never got to even know Juvia's birthday. Huh. Looking back at it, Juvia should have never fallen for such a guy."
Instead of saying that out loud, she shrugged her shoulders before turning her attention back to her cousin who was smirking at her. She didn't like the look of that at all. He had something planned.
"So I heard from the grape vine that you like someone."
Juvia went so red that if she started whistling like a pressure cooker, nobody would have been surprised. She looked over at the couple and they seemed to be interested in who she liked, especially Gray. He probably wanted to know if it was still him or someone else.
"Juvia's not denying or confirming that."
"Oh really? Fine then, how about a backwards race? Five laps around the ice. I win, you tell me who it is and if you win..."
"Jellal-kun has to get that face tattoo that Gajeel-kun has been wanting to give you for quite some time now."
Jellal practically paled at the thought of his cousin wanting to tattoo his face. He didn't know why it had to be him per se, but once Gajeel had a creative streak and idea within him, he wanted to act upon it. For that simple reason, Jellal had been avoiding his cousin for quite some time now.
"It's not even worth it!"
"Aww, is Jellal-kun scared he'll lose?"
"I'd rather die than get that damn tattoo on my face. Fine, I'll leave you alone for now, but let's have that race."
"Jella-kun is on."
Lucy cheered from next to them as she was clutching at her boyfriend. "I want to watch this! It might be best if I stop skating for now. Besides, my feet are hurting. Gray, mind if we have a break before we start again?"
"Sure thing. I wanna watch this too. I'll call it." He watched as they both got into position. "Three, two, one, go!"
They were both off in a shot despite skating backwards. Lucy gasped in awe as she watched them skate. It was clear that Juvia had practically lived on the ice and Jellal was more than lucky that he had decided to not go through with their little bet, otherwise he was going to have to walk around town with a brand new tattoo on his face.
Juvia had easily breezed the five laps, coming to her own dramatic stop right back next to Lucy and Gray and Jellal soon caught up, panting as he did so.
"You bitch, you still skate."
"Why would Jella-kun think that Juvia stopped?"
He didn't answer as he tried to get his breath back and his girlfriend came skating up as she laughed. "Wow, Juvia really handed you your ass on a silver platter, Jellal."
Jellal groaned as he held his head, the five of them deciding to skate along.
"Thanks for the reminder babe. No really, I needed it since I forgot that she won."
Erza smirked at him and Juvia grinned as she shook her head. She was going to skate off now seeing as she was now the fifth wheel out of them all. She went ahead of them, slipping on the ice. She could practically do this with her eyes closed.
She just needed to clear her head for a moment and actually come to terms that she was starting to develop romantic feelings for Natsu. But how was she going to go about it? She had seen that shouting out her feelings at the top of her lungs wasn't really the way to go, seeing as it didn't work with Gray. But the two of them were different. Natsu felt no shame or embarrassment in a lot of things, so maybe he wouldn't mind as much.
But still, she was scared. Maybe she should drop some hints and see if he takes it. The ball was totally in his court and if he liked her back the way that she did, then he would have to be the one to make the call and ask her out.
"Hey Juves, what's got you thinking so hard?"
She looked up to see Natsu trying to catch up with her. She slowed down and he gave her a grateful smile.
"Nothing interesting. Why, what's up?"
"The others have been trying to call you that we're all going for dinner. Turns out we're going back to your favourite buffet place in Oaktown."
Juvia nodded as she looked around, and didn't see any of their friends. She frowned before looking back at Natsu.
"Where is everyone?"
He shrugged. "They were kinda tired of trying to wave you down, so they all left. I'm your ride, so I thought I'd wait it out until you were ready to go. You good?" They came off of the ice and Juvia nodded her head, no longer looking distracted.
"Yeah. Yes, Juvia is fine. Thank you for waiting and sorry for keeping you."
"Nah, I don't mind. I'm not in a rush to get there. I am excited to eat there again though."
"So is Juvia! But Juvia also wants to go back to that place that Natsu took her the first day. Juvia really liked it there, and Natsu is so friendly with everyone. It was cute."
Natsu pretended to puff up his chest and deepen his voice. "Me, cute? Nah, I think I need to overload you with some toxic masculinity."
He bumped into her and she laughed as she tried to push him away, but he was unrelenting. "Yes cute. Natsu can never be toxic. Not to Juvia."
He looked down at her as they went to go and remove their skates and he grinned at her. "That's good to know. Because right now, only your opinion matters to me," he said softly.
Juvia's eyes widened as she then turned her head, wrapping her hair around her finger as her heartbeat went crazy. She had never had anyone ever say something as nice as that to her and it sent her heart into a frenzy that she knew Gray wouldn't be able to do.
She watched as Natsu went to return his skates as she couldn't help but look at him. Jet black jeans that threatened to hang low on his hips. Juvia was reminded of his chest and his V line from the time where he was getting his chest and arm tattoo. She wanted to see that again. Maybe if she went to the gym while he was there...
"Juvia should stop by the gym instead of going swimming one morning."
He finally got his shoes back and he put his feet into them, slamming the shoes onto his feet. He looked up to see Juvia already looked at him and he held out his hand to her and he watched as her face lit up and she practically ran over to him, grabbing his hand. His heart literally fluttered in his chest. He had never met anyone who was that happy to to be in his presence, save for his family.
Maybe he actually had a chance? Maybe Juvia liked him the way he liked her? The signs were there, he wasn't going to miss them. He was going to take Lyon's advice and he was going to ask her out. His confidence had shot up ten fold now. He was going to make this fake relationship of theirs real.
He squeezed her hand subconsciously, and his grin widened when he felt her squeeze back. This was a good day.
So how was that chapter? I hope it was okay! Can I also say, I'm an idiot. I really thought this was the chapter with the family dinner, LMAOOOOO! Fucking idiot! I thought let me throw in a filler chapter with everyone present to help move this story along. I hope no one's confused about Lyon's position. Where he's ovbiously good friend's with Juvia, I thought it would make sense for him to be the one to realise that both our two knuckle heads here like each other, so I made him be Natsu's best friend. Basically.
Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Stay clean, safe and sane everyone and I love you all to the moon and back for the love I'm getting on this story!
Lolita-chan