Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
Yes, I know. It's been like forever and a day since I last updated and to make it worse, it's not even the story that everyone is expecting. I'm running through a bit of writer's block right now, but I was inspired to make another story lmao. I thought I might as well show that I am indeed still alive by posting SOMETHING. Please forgive me for being late!
Please excuse any poor grammar and spelling. We all know I don't own Fairy Tail!
ENJOY!
Liars
Chapter one
Natsu rolled his eyes for what seemed to be the millionth time. The loving couple was acting a little too lovingly for him in front of him as he was eating his food. He felt a little put off, and even that was overkill for him. Nothing ever put him off of his lunch.
"So Natsu, you got any plans this weekend?"
It was a harmless question, a very normal question in fact. However, the wrong person was asking it. Gray was smirking over at his best friend as he had his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder.
Natsu gave him a sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah, how about you fuck off?"
The girl sighed. "Natsu, do you always have to cause some sort of petty argument? Why can't you just reply normally?"
"Because I was supposed to be your man, not this fucking prick."
"I talk normally to normal people. That thing next to you ain't normal."
Lucy had to hold her boyfriend back from lashing out at him and Natsu snickered, suddenly feeling a lot better. He could see the vein on his forehead twitch and Natsu knew he got him good.
"C'mon Gray, don't stoop down to his level. At least not while we're at work. Please?"
Natsu's mood suddenly soured. The look she was giving Gray should have been reserved for him. Gray didn't deserve such an innocent and cute look. He was a fucking prick. Why couldn't she look like that at him? His bitterness was going to drive him insane one day.
Gray eventually sighed and sat back down with a nod as he kissed her forehead. Natsu clutched at his disposable chopsticks a little too hard as they snapped. The couple didn't even pay attention.
"You're right. He's just bitter that he doesn't have a girlfriend and I do."
Okay, THAT was fucking rude. Okay yes, so while it was true, it didn't mean that he had to say something. Natsu felt some unknown anger rush through him as he felt fire in his veins. He didn't have anyone to stop him if he launched himself over the table and attack Gray, and he was really gonna fucking do it, but he decided not to all so that Lucy wouldn't yell at him.
It also hurt that Lucy wasn't coming to his defense, despite them being friends before she even met Gray. What made Gray so fucking special? There was no bigger regret than letting Lucy meet Gray.
"Fuck off Gray, being in a relationship isn't everything. Besides, I have a hot date. I didn't wanna say anything cos it's our first date. Can't be jinxing that shit if it goes wrong."
NOW Lucy's eyes were lit up. She leaned forward, suddenly intrigued by the girl that Natsu was taking out. Her breasts were resting on top of the table and she had left three of the top buttons undone. Natsu gulped, willing himself not to look and not to go red. Gray was a pain to fight when he was mad and the last thing he wanted to do was ogle his girlfriend, and even if he had had feelings for her since before the two of them even met.
"Oh?! We should go on a double date, right?! Who is she, where did you meet her? Why are we only hearing about this now, it's Thursday! You've been leaving us out of the loop a lot lately."
Natsu blinked before he sighed. The reason why he had been leaving them out of the loop was because he wasn't prepared to become a third wheel. It wasn't his fault his two best friends had decided to date. He was also screwed, because he was lying about having a date. The fact that they had even believed him was a shocker. Natsu himself was happy to admit it, he's the worst liar known to man.
Well, he had to roll with it now. There was no way he was going to tell them it's a lie. Maybe he could play it off that he's joking, but that would give Gray something to laugh about and that was the last thing he needed right now. He already took the girl he likes, he can't be laughing at him for everything else too.
"It's the first date Luce, I barely know her. So the answer is no to your little double date. I don't think I can handle Gray's ugly face at dinner. I'm barely handling it right now."
"This coming from a dick who eats like an animal?!"
Both men glared at each other and Lucy sighed. Natsu sighed too and stood up, glancing down at his watch. They had 30 more minutes before the end of his lunch break. He had to get out for some fresh air. Well, his kind of fresh air.
Looking at his food, he was pissed off that he had no appetite for it anymore. He was definitely going to make Gray pay for this at some point.
"Where are you going?"
He sighed mentally. She should just stop talking to him so that he could get over her. But he could never ignore her when she spoke to him.
"Out for a smoke."
She tutted at him and Natsu could already hear the judgement. She didn't like it when he smoked and while he told himself that one day he would stop for her, he knew he was lying. Still, he had to stop for himself and better his health while he was at it.
"You should really stop."
He chuckled as he grabbed his rubbish and threw it straight in the bin. He took the box out of his pocket and fished one out.
"You're right, I should."
And with that, he was gone. He burst out of the front of the building and lit up his cigarette. He put it to his lips as he slowly inhaled. He needed the nicotine to hit him nice and slowly. He leaned on the wall, head back as he exhaled the smoke. He was so mad that he didn't go to the designated smoking area just outside the cafeteria. He didn't want to have to talk to anyone.
"Natsu-san?"
So much for not wanting to talk to someone. He hadn't even realised that his eyes were closed. He opened them and lowered his head that was facing the sky. He was a little surprised when he saw a familiar bluenette in front of him. One that he hadn't seen in a few months now.
"Juvia? Hey. I haven't seen you around in a while, you good?" A while being something like a year or so, now that he thought about it.
The girl nodded before her eyes landed on his cigarette. For the first time ever, Natsu felt a little ashamed that he was smoking. It was no one's business with how he treated his lungs, but Juvia seeing the cigarette almost made him put it out. Almost.
"It's been really busy in the sales team, so Juvia has had a really heavy workload. She hasn't really had time to hang out with anyone. Plus, there's been so many things happening in Juvia's personal life like moving house. Juvia did try to message Gray at some point, but Juvia guesses that he's also been...busy."
Natsu chuckled as he removed the excess ash from the end of his cigarette before taking another drag. By the sounds of it, she was aware of his and Lucy's relationship. Not like he was surprised. Juvia knew everything that was going on Gray's life. What did that guy have that he doesn't have? He had all these pretty girls after him and he never acknowledged them.
"Well, he acknowledged Lucy I guess."
"Yeah, I guess you could say that."
Juvia nodded as she leaned on the wall next to him. It surprised him a little bit. They weren't the best of friends, so they never really had anything to talk about. However, he was sure that she was aware of his big crush on Lucy. He thought he was pretty good at hiding his feelings, but Juvia was really good at reading emotions. That was probably all he actually knew about her. He almost felt guilty for not trying to get to know her the same way that Gray got to know Lucy, but there was no time to dwell on the past.
"Juvia thought that Natsu-san had quit smoking," she said softly.
Natsu shrugged. Had it really been that long ago that he had told everyone that he was going to quit? He hadn't seen Juvia in ages, so it was a surprise that she even knew that that was something he had planned on doing.
"So did I. I guess with the audits coming around, the financial team is panicking at a load of shit. It's getting to me, so I need something to take the pressure off." That and he seemed to smoke a lot more since the day he found out that Gray and Lucy were dating, but he didn't want to sound pathetic.
Juvia laughed a little as she nodded. "And Natsu-san doesn't do pressure."
Natsu smirked as he nodded his head. "See, you get it! I don't do pressure and I don't take heartache well apparently." He decided not to hide it from her. "I'm pretty sure you already know that Fuckbuster and Luce are together. Didn't even see it coming."
He looked back over at her and as expected, there was some sort of pained expression on her face. She was obvious as anything when it came to liking Gray. She had even asked him out before and the fucker didn't even give her a response.
"Yes, Juvia is aware...can Juvia get a cigarette too?"
Natsu's eyes almost popped out of his head. "Are ya kidding?! No, I don't want to be a bad influence on ya!"
Juvia rolled her eyes. "Oh just let Juvia have one and stop complaining! Please?"
She batted her eyelashes at him, trying to be cute and Natsu laughed before shrugging his shoulders. He had to admit, she was pretty cute. Who was he to deny her request?
"Well don't look at me when you start hacking up ya lungs. Don't say I didn't warn ya."
"Yes, yes." She was impatient now and Natsu couldn't help but chuckle. It felt like forever since he had really laughed with anyone and meant it.
He handed her a cigarette and as she reached for his lighter, he shook his head and pointed to his mouth. Juvia frowned before her eyebrows flew up un recognition. She put the cigarette up to her lips and he lit it up for her. It would have been semi romantic had the two of them been interested in each other.
Natsu watched as she took in an expert drag, even going as far to suck in some air through her teeth before releasing everything at once.
He laughed in disbelief. He tried to recall a time where he had seen her smoke in all the times that they had all hung out, but he drew up nothing but blanks. Maybe she had started recently?
"Now since when did you smoke?"
Juvia gave him a simple smile. "Juvia used to hang around with some shady people back in school. Juvia wasn't really a bad kid, just easily impressionable. Because of that, Juvia has been smoking since she was...13 years old?"
Natsu let out a low whistle. "That's definitely young. I only started maybe at 16. My old man smokes so I guess I just started it. So you were a bad girl, huh?"
A blush appeared on her cheeks as she nodded, looking like she wanted to hide away from her past.
"Like Juvia said, she wasn't a bad student, just easily impressionable. Juvia had to act tough to keep the real bullies away, that was the tactics. Besides, Juvia's older brother would ruin anyone who tried to hurt Juvia, so Juvia was automatically lumped with bad people."
Natsu hummed, glancing down at his watch. Okay, he had 15 minutes left before he had to get back to work. Oddly enough, he was enjoying talking to Juvia. He had never spoken to her by himself. They always had their friends around them and even then, her attention was solely on Gray while his was on Lucy.
"Is Juvia keeping you?"
He shook his head a little. "Nah, I've got 15 minutes left. I'm in no rush to go back in there, trust me."
Natsu then took a good look at the girl next to him. She wasn't looking at him, but rather the smoke stick in between her fingers. She was actually an attractive woman and you had to be blind to think otherwise. Attractive in a different way from Lucy. Lucy gave off good golden girl vibes that just drew you in, but also kind of made you treat her like glass. She was fragile but beautiful. She was also funny and a little violent when she needed to be.
Juvia gave off innocent but mysterious girl vibes. If Lucy was similar to the sun, then Juvia had to be similar to the moon. She was there but quiet. Always at the scene but blended into the background. She never let you know much about her unless you actually spoke to her to get to know her, then she was like an open book. She actually looked like she was crazy fun once you got to know her.
He could totally see her as a smoker back in school. However, she had since grown her hair out from the first time he met her and her azure hair cascaded down her back in waves. He liked her hair like this compared to the pixie cut that she had when they first met. Her equally cobalt blue eyes were cat shaped and extremely alluring. Natsu may not work in the same department as her to know whether she did or not, but he knew that she had a very curvy figure underneath that skirt suit that she was wearing.
Before he could even process what was happening, he had already opened her mouth to ask her something extremely stupid.
"Say, Juvia, you wanna go on a date with me this weekend?"
She almost dropped the cigarette on the floor, but managed to catch it in time without burning herself. Natsu jumped as well, surprised that the question had even left his lips in the first place. Her head snapped over to him as their eyes were wide, staring at each other. She looked like she was waiting for him to say more, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"W-what?!"
Natsu laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head. This was not the time to be stupid.
"W-well y'see! Gray and I got into an argument that almost turned into a fight-"
He was cut off by a chuckle as Juvia rolled her eyes and took a drag on her cigarette, signalling with her free hand that she should carry on. He shot her a sarcastic smile, but otherwise did as she had asked of him.
"Yeah, so we got into an argument which ended with me saying that I have a date this weekend." He saw the look she was giving him and he felt the need to defend himself.
"What, he was making fun of me! He was saying that I'm bitter because he has a girlfriend and I don't! I mean, he ain't fucking wrong, it's just that he's with Luce and that's why I'm bitter. If he was with you, I wouldn't give a shit."
Juvia let him rant and rave on about why he was pissed off with Gray, basically admitting out loud for the first time that he did indeed love Lucy and he had liked her for ages. She was actually shocked to learn that Gray knew that Natsu likes Lucy, but the issue was that Natsu passed it off as a joke. She then started to wonder what it was that Lucy had that she didn't have that made men flock to her.
She sighed which cut Natsu off as she stubbed the rest of the cigarette out on top of the bin that was specifically for the smokers area before binning the rubbish. She turned around to Natsu with a slight smile. One that couldn't unfortunately fool him. She ignored him and shrugged her shoulders. She had been looking for a little excitement in her life as of late and this was the best thing that she could find. She was going to tell him that he should just lie about the situation, but she had heard from Gray and Lyon that Natsu wasn't the best liar. How Lucy and Gray believed him this time surprised her.
"Juvia would be delighted to go on a date with Natsu-san. Of course to us it's just a hangout, but if anyone asks, it's a date, right?"
Natsu nodded eagerly, not hiding his shock when she agreed with him. He had definitely thought that she wasn't going to agree to it. "R-right. You also don't have to tell anyone else. I only ran my mouth to the icicle and Luce, no one else. I wouldn't put it past the both of them if they decided to tell everyone that I have a date though. Luce seemed excited for me."
Juvia's face scrunched up. "Ouch. That's painful."
The two of them pushed themselves off of the wall as Natsu stuffed his hands into his pockets with a loud sigh and a nod.
"Fucking tell me about it! How could she be happy for me?!"
Juvia rubbed his arm in sympathy. "Juvia is sorry. Maybe one day they'll break up and then Natsu could swoop in?"
Natsu seemed to think about it before he shook his head. He also couldn't help but notice she didn't say anything about her swooping in to be with Gray. Maybe she had actually gotten over him all this time that she had been away.
"Yeah, maybe. Only if that day was next week. I don't really wanna be pining after her any longer than necessary. Who knows, maybe I'll meet a nice girl who'll be more my type. My old man always tells me that some things just happen for a reason. Maybe we're only good as best friends."
He shrugged his shoulders and Juvia frowned. He seemed nonchalant, but she could tell that he was far from it. He was torn that his girl best friend who he was in love with had basically left him for his guy best friend. That was painful.
"For once, it sounds like Natsu-san said something intelligent. It seems like you have a brain in there after all."
She knocked his head for good measure as he stood there frozen, insulted and amused by her insult. He looked at her as she had a playful grin on her face, one that he had never really seen before. Back in the day, she only had one emotion and that was lovesick. Natsu didn't know much about her, other than her stalkerish ways and he certainly didn't know that she had a sense of humour.
"Of course I've got a head, I'm on the finance teams for fuck sake! I'm surprised you're not crying a river right now because Gray and Luce are together."
Her face went red, but she otherwise ignored the comment and pulled out her phone from her pocket to check the time. She then pulled up her keypad.
"Whatever. Anyway, Natsu-san should give Juvia a call regarding the details on Saturday. Juvia needs to be well prepared for whatever kind of date you have planned. You have two days, make it good."
Natsu facepalmed when he remembered that he really did only have two days. "Fuck, I forgot it's Thursday."
Juvia was amused. "Which really makes Juvia's point concrete, doesn't it?"
He paused, trying to think about what the hell she was talking about before glaring at her. "Oh shut the fuck up."
All that did was make the young woman laugh as he grabbed her phone and punched in his numbers into the keypad before using it to call himself. When they saved each other's numbers, Juvia started walking away from him.
"Juvia doesn't really mind what we do on Saturday. Juvia doesn't want to hassle you."
Natsu furrowed his eyebrows. "Hassle me? I'm the one taking you out. Don't worry, I'll make it memorable for you."
He watched as she looked at him over her shoulder. There was a certain way that she had gone about it that made her almost look like some sort of goddess of the sea. Her hair was literally the ocean and she was just...beautiful.
"Juvia will be holding you to it. Enjoy the rest of your day, Natsu-san."
And then she waved and headed to the lifts on the opposite side before she was gone. Natsu stood there for a few more seconds, wondering what he had seen was real before finally picking up his feet and using them to get into his own lift that took him to his department. He loosened his tie a little bit as he usually did after every lunch hour, but this time he felt like it was out of feeling a bit too hot. Eh, no use thinking about it.
He got up to the office that he shared with the rest of the financing team. Of course he worked with Gray and Lucy. Him and Gray had been best friends/rivals since they were kids and he met Lucy later on in university as they were on the same course. Gray himself had gone to another university where he had met Juvia, but they still ended up in the same company, in the same department. Other than Juvia of course.
Lucy glanced up when she saw Natsu walking into the office and she turned up her nose dramatically. "You were gone for a really long time, Natsu. You really should just give up that disgusting habit. It can't be good for you. Kami, you stink too."
Natsu smirked as he sat down next to her. Ever since their line manager had found out Lucy and Gray were working, they weren't really allowed to sit next to each other. This was the only time that Natsu got Lucy to herself as Gray was stuck on the other side of the room. However, it was annoying that their line manager was Erza, a childhood friend who had actually gotten a scholarship from the company itself as her grades were so exceptional. It boosted her right up to the place of being a manager.
"Aw c'mon Luce, gimme a break! I've been smoking for so long now and you never complained before. Why are you complaining now? It's getting annoying."
Lucy scowled at him and smacked his knuckles with her pen. She seemed to give him a look of satisfaction when he yelped in a bit of pain.
"Because it's a disgusting habit!"
"Good thing I'm not your boyfriend."
No, it wasn't a good thing, but he really thought long and hard about what he had said to Juvia. Originally, he had only said that he was going on a date so that it would get Lucy jealous. Then he realised that Lucy didn't even like him in that way to get jealous in the first place, so it would just be a waste of time. While it would take some time, he was serious about getting over her. This wasn't healthy, to be obsessing this long and hard over a girl who didn't want him the same way he wanted her. He didn't want to grow into an old man who never found the right girl for him just because he was looking back at some past love.
Lucy sighed and turned back to her computer screen, opening up the spreadsheet and her emails to see what her remaining task for the day was.
"If you were my boyfriend, you wouldn't even be smoking. You think Gray smokes?"
Okay, now Natsu was getting annoyed. At this point, he was more than ready to call over to Gray to switch seats with him, and he really would have, had Erza not walked into the room. Whatever he did was his own business, the same way that smoking was his own business. They all did things that helped them with stress, just like the simple fact that Gray was an exhibisionist. He could place his life savings on a bet that would prove Lucy was yet to find that out.
Instead of voicing his annoyance, he also focused on his computer screen. Well, he tried to focus, but he was thinking about Juvia instead. Juvia hadn't been judgemental at all. Maybe that was because she used to smoke. Or still did. Whatever. He actually felt bad that he had made her reduce herself to his level. He had never seen her smoke all the times that they had hung out as a big group, yet the moment they were alone, she didn't even hesitate. She had better control than he did, that was for sure. He actually envied her for it. Maybe he should ask her for tips on how to stop.
"Yeah well, I'm here for a good time, not a long time."
Lucy hummed. "Oh, so are you gonna tell me who this girl is that you're going out with on Saturday? Or at least how did you meet?"
"You're not gonna let this go, are ya? When did you and Gray tell everyone when you were dating? Hmm, by my calculations, you guys have been seeing each other for the last year and I only found out six months ago."
She at least had the decency to look ashamed. "Okay, touche, but this is you we're talking about here! You've never expressed ANY interest in any girl, so this is really exciting that you actually have someone that you could really get into a relationship with! I'm just so happy for you!"
Natsu almost blew a gasket when he heard that. "I've never shown any...what the fuck? Actually, forget it. I don't wanna talk about it."
He turned his head away, his anger coming back full force. Did he not drop enough hints? Was he not being obvious whenever he invited her to places and it was just the two of them? Whenever she would mention Gray or Erza's name, he would say no, just the two of them. Was that not enough? He had always thought that she was a bright girl and that she would be able to read into any situation, but boy was he wrong. He should have done what Gray did and that was just outright ask her out. It turns out Gray has more balls than him and that fucked him off to no end.
"No, say it. Something's eating you. What's up? Was it something I said?"
"Luce, I said I don't wanna talk about it, so we're not."
He hoped that she at least understood his tone, if that was going to be the only thing that she understood about him. He watched her clamp her mouth shut as she nodded and turned back to face her work, the both of them now sitting in silence. He was grateful for that. This was going to be a long rest of the afternoon.
The work day had finally ended and everyone was packing up to leave. Natsu dropped off his paperwork to Erza who called him back. He looked at the door and sighed before turning on his heel and heading back towards her.
"How are you holding up? I mean, this is the most I could do, have you guys next to each other when working. I guessed that would be enough for you, right?"
Natsu just pinched the bridge of his nose. So Erza knew that he liked Lucy. He was so sure he wasn't being obvious. "Yeah, I thought it would be great too. Unfortunately it's been nothing but shit because it's not like I can tell her to leave him and be with me, can I? Makes it more painful to sit next to her now, knowing that she'll never be mine."
Erza cringed. Her plan had backfired. Damn, she owed Mira some money now. Of course Mira was the real matchmaker when it came to love.
"I'm so sorry Natsu, I wasn't really thinking when I did that. Can you forgive me? Punch me if you need to."
Natsu's eyes widened in shock. "Erza, you've gotta stop with that shit! I'm not gonna punch ya! Especially not over something this stupid anyway. It's cool, I'll learn to get over it. Maybe this is good for me. It's not like I can hide away from her or anything, gotta face this shit head on."
"I like your style of thinking! Anyway, Gray tells me that you're going on a date this weekend. Who's the unfortunate girl?"
She was smirking at him and he shook his head with a smile. "None of your concern, Scarlet. Just testing the dating waters a little bit, y'know? I mean, I've never been on one and as Luce fucking put it, I've never shown interest in a girl before."
Erza stared at him, gobsmacked. "Is she...was she being serious? There's no way she actually missed all those signs of you technically asking her out," she deadpanned. Lucy was always on the hunt, looking for guys to date. She went on many dates, but never found the right guy. She was good at reading signals, so why was she unable to read Natsu's?
Natsu shrugged. "It just goes to show that I really ain't her type. Anyway, are we good here? I wanna go and buy some dinner before I get home."
Erza nodded her head. "Sorry for keeping you. And again, sorry for putting Lucy next to you."
Natsu just grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I ain't mad. Anyway, see ya tomorrow?"
"Nope, I have a meeting with the other line managers. I'll be pretty much holed up the whole day with them. Maybe next week Monday. Then you can tell me all about your date if it's something worth mentioning."
"Sure. Laters."
He slung his backpack onto his back as he started making his way out of the building. There were still a few people who were staying behind to get things finished or people who started their shifts later and were therefore staying later as well. He had seen Lucy and Gray leave together and it was obvious that Lucy was getting a lift from her boyfriend. Natsu knew how to drive, but he didn't drive to work. It cost him too much to drive into the city, whereas Gray and Lucy already lived in the city.
Just as he was about to fish out his phone and headphones to listen to some music, he saw a flash of blue not too far away from him. He realised it was Juvia once he got closer to and she seemed to be on the phone to someone.
"Yes, okay! Juvia will try and get something on the way home. Juvia thought she told Meredy-chan never to cook again?"
She was silent before she started giggling. Natsu noted that all the times she had laughed and giggled, it actually sounded nice. She did so without any restraint or without any shame.
"Okay, on the weekend, Juvia will help Meredy-chan cook something for Lyon-kun, okay? Just not Saturday evening, Juvia is going out. Juvia will tell you later, bye!"
He watched her hang up quickly, her face a little red and he knew it was because of their 'date' on Saturday. He grinned as he walked up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder which made her almost jump out of her skin. She turned her head to see who had just scared her and when she saw the suspect, she placed her hand on her heart.
"Natsu-san! You scared Juvia!"
He laughed as he moved his hand away from her. "Sorry, you were so open, I had to do it."
She pouted at him and that just made him laugh harder as they made their way out of the building. They both waved at the security on their way out.
"That's not funny, Juvia thought she was going to pass out."
"All I'm hearing is that I should start scaring you more and more. Anyway, where are you heading? If you're going to the station, we can walk together."
Juvia nodded. "Juvia lives in East Crocus. She just recently moved to Magnolia town."
Natsu got excited. They even lived in the same town! "No shit, I live there too! Born and raised."
She turned to look at him in confusion. Natsu raised his eyebrow, ready for her question because it was obvious that she had one.
"What?"
"Juvia thought that Natsu and Gray lived together? You guys are childhood friends, yet Gray lives here in Central Crocus. How do you guys know each other?"
"Oh, because Gray's a flashy boy living the good good bachelor's life. He decided to move to central to basically get more girls. Apparently it's a lot easier to bring back girls from the club in Central than to the suburbs. So yeah, he moved here and I stayed in Magnolia Town. What about you, where did you move from?"
"Not far really. Juvia was born and raised in Oaktown. Juvia decided to finally move out of her parents' home and find her own. So Juvia ended up finding a really nice cosy place in Magnolia Town with her best friend. It's really nice so far, though we haven't really had the time to explore. Well, Juvia hasn't because she's been so busy with work and Meredy works in Magnolia Town, so she has more of an opportunity to explore."
Natsu nodded. "Then I guess that settles it then. We're exploring Magnolia then. I can show you around the place. Sound good?"
Juvia nodded. She was a simple girl who only wanted the simple things in life. She didn't ask for much and she certainly didn't ask for much from a guy that wasn't her boyfriend. This was basically a fake date because Natsu couldn't keep his mouth shut, but they were rolling with it. It was casual.
"Juvia likes the idea of that! But Natsu-san has to give Juvia some time to at least plan some sort of outfit for the evening."
"Just wear anything casual. Maybe shoes that are good for walking. Luce always shows up to places in damn heels and then complains when we gotta walk loads. It's really annoying."
Juvia smiled. "Have no fear. Juvia doesn't own many heels, so it will be rare to see Juvia out in them. Juvia and her older brother always go out on walks, but he's busy with his own shop these days, so we barely get to hang out. Only when we go home for a family dinner."
"Oh, your brother owns a business? That's cool. What does he do?"
"He owns a tattoo and piercing parlour in Magnolia."
Natsu was about to compliment him before his jaw was left swinging. No. It couldn't be who he was thinking. He then turned to stare at her properly as they were walking and he could tell that he was making her a little uncomfortable, but she wasn't saying anything.
After a while, she sighed and decided to end his staring.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Very. If you're the sister to the bastard that I think you are, then there's something very wrong."
Juvia held her hand over her mouth so that she didn't laugh to loud out in public. That was pretty much the reaction of everyone whenever they found out who her older brother was.
"Judging by the reaction, Juvia can say that Natsu-san is probably thinking of the right person."
He cursed. "Fuuuuuck, that tin can is your brother?! You don't look alike at all."
"Juvia is aware. We are full blooded siblings and many people don't believe us until they see our family together. Juvia's brothers both look like our dad and Juvia got her looks from our mother. It's a typical reaction. People used to think we were together whenever they saw us. It was hard convincing them all that Gajeel-kun was Juvia's older brother."
Natsu let out a low whistle. "Damn, that's tough. It's even tougher being related to him I'm guessing."
"Juvia...survived. It's also the reason why she was such a bad girl in school. Gajeel-kun ran the school so Juvia got away with murder."
"Let me guess, Phantom?"
"Yep! For Natsu-kun to know that...Fairy Tail?"
"You know it. Damn, we really run in the same circle huh? That's cool though. Oh, I've been itching to ask, how did you quit smoking? I've been tryna quit, but it hasn't really been working out well."
He scratched the back of his head and Juvia winked at him. "To be completely honest, it's not like Juvia has actually quit. She just goes really long without having one. Juvia just started with smoking less in a day and then it just happened from there. Juvia never really went cold turkey, just cut down on her intake. It's like cutting back on sugar. People think they can't do certain things and then they get themselves worked up and then go back to smoking."
Natsu nodded slowly as he saw the method to the madness and then grinned. "Okay then, starting from tomorrow I'm gonna cut down! Not fully stop, but cut down. Is that what I got from that?"
"Natsu-san's got the right idea. Just cut down and everything is plain sailing from there."
"Sweet. By the way, stop being so formal with me. Just Natsu is fine, we're practically friends anyway. Right?"
He was looking deeply in her eyes as if he were looking for some sort of validation from her. Juvia could feel the heat build up within her from him staring at her for too long. It always happened when someone looked at her for too long. She felt that they were looking for imperfections that they could try and make her insecure with later on.
"Right. Juvia will try to not put any honorifics at the end. Sorry, Juvia is sometimes still shocked that she had friends."
They had reached the train station at this time and paid with their transportation cards and waited on the platform for their train that would take them all the way to Magnolia.
"You? Have no friends? Why, because of Gajeel? Did he scare them all off back when you guys were younger?"
He meant it as a joke, but he almost choked when Juvia nodded at him, looking a little sad almost.
"Because Gajeel-kun was so scary, many people had heard of his reputation and did their best to keep away from Juvia so that he wouldn't beat them up. Juvia hung out with his friends, but he was two years above Juvia, so when he left school, Juvia only had one friend. Then Juvia met Meredy two years before we finished school, so it wasn't too bad having two friends. It was only really in university that Juvia started making her more friends. It is still hard to believe that anyone classes Juvia as a friend."
Without any warning, Natsu slung an arm over her shoulders and pulled her in. She squeaked a little at the unexpected contact and she was smushed against his side. She placed her hands on his chest to push away from him, but she was stopped. Her hand had come into contact with something hard and she failed to believe that that was his muscle.
Luckily, he was distracted to realise what she was doing.
"Psht, as if your bastard brother could ever stop me from being friends with you! He can definitely try, but I'll fucking knock him out. Bet on that."
She stared up at him and two things came to mind when she looked at him. The first thought was that Natsu is crazy. Like batshit crazy and she wasn't sure if this was crazy fun or if this was the sort of fun that she should be running away from because it would get her killed.
The second thought was that Natsu was so handsome. Not in a tall dark and handsome way, oh no. That was more Gray's area of expertise. His eyes were sharp and alert and his energy just oozed out of him and affected everyone around him. He may act stupid, but he was really perceptive of many things around him. He also knew how to make people feel included. Juvia smiled up at him. Yeah, he was crazy fun.
"Juvia will hold Natsu to that then."
So how was that for the first chapter? I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Also, do you like what I've done with the summary? I dunno, I just got inspired with being vague and not writing a lot for my summaries.
This story will be getting weekly updates. That's right, you heard me! WEEKLY UPDATES! Because I've released this on a Thursday, you can expect the updates on a Thursday, unless something happens like a shift where I can't update all of a sudden. There's no set time as I work shift work, just expect it on Thursdays lol.
But please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! Follow the community Spread the Navia for more Navia stories! I see so many people saying there aren't enough Navia stories and you're right! BUUUUT, there's a place where they all gather to hang out and it's there! Saves you having to hunt for it lol.
Please stay clean, safe and sane! The UK is in its second lockdown right now and my friend caught the virus from work. I hope you're all okay out there too!
Lolita-chan