Review Responses:
TheSilverDragoon94: Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad that you liked their interactions and the bit with Juvia and Levy! Small spoiler alert: Gajeel will be in future chapters with Juvia and Levy, but just not this chapter, but he will be there! While technically you don't necessarily need a college degree to be a firefighter, it's recommended since you'll find more work opportunities. And aw, I'm glad that you were able to relate to Juvia - I was worried that I didn't write her as relatable enough, but thank you for easing my worries! Aw, how cute! All that matters is that you and your wife finally got together and get married so it's all that really matters! (❁´◡`❁)
Mint Esthete: Thank you for your encouraging words! I apologize for making you wait so long for the next chapter! (＿ ＿)
Liatria: Ah, thank you so much for your sweet words! And I'm so glad that you relate to Juvia in a lot of ways - I was worried that the way I wrote her didn't make her seem relatable, so thank you for easing my doubt! (^/^)
Hazaphet: Thank you for your support! \^o^/
Summer Nickels: Thank you so much! Here's another update that is long-overdue! ＞﹏＜
Solar Sun76: Thank you for your encouraging words and suggestions! Please continue reading to find out what happens next! －O－
A-Very-Berry: Thank you for your kind words and thank YOU for reading it! (*￣3￣)╭
Chapter 5
"Oh, Kami, why is Juvia like this?" Juvia mumbles to herself as she paces back and forth in her rather cramped kitchen as the sound of the microwave heating up her dinner overpowers her racing heart. It is Monday evening and Juvia had just finished her shift at the Element 4 Café and her first-ever study session with Natsu. The entire ordeal went rather smoothly if she may say so herself. She hadn't embarrassed herself in front of him and that alone was enough for her to consider it a success...except for the fact that she had gotten little done the entire time there.
While the bluenette already had a feeling that Natsu wasn't exactly the type of person to truly sit and concentrate on doing his work, she hadn't known that he would be like that. For nearly her entire shift - Juvia considers it 'nearly', as there were a small handful of customers coming into the shop which made her leave her homework behind to take their order - it became glaringly obvious that Natsu was not studying...at all. He would focus on whatever it was that he was working on for a maximum of five minutes before diverting his attention to her or his phone.
Juvia knows that had it been anyone else distracting her from her homework, she would have been annoyed. Yet, for some reason, she couldn't find it in herself to be irritated by Natsu; she found that she really enjoyed his company and welcomed his distractions with a laugh. Time flew by so fast and before she knew it, it was time to close the coffee shop.
xoxo
"Thank you for keeping Juvia company today, Natsu-san. Juvia really appreciates it." She smiled shyly to him as she tucked the shop key into a pocket of her backpack.
"Nah, it was nothing. I had fun and I got some work done." Natsu grinned back and Juvia had to bite down a laugh, knowing very well that he had hardly done much.
"Well, Juvia has to walk home, now - "
"You're walking home? This late at night? By yourself?" His eyebrows seemed to be getting higher and higher with each accusation.
"Y-Yes." She nodded. "Juvia's apartment isn't that far - "
"Are you sure? Do you want me to walk you home just in case?" He offered, earnestly.
Juvia's heart must have done a flip or something, as she found her cheeks heating up and she found it difficult to look at him. "Y-Yes, Juv-Juvia is fine, thank you, Natsu-san. Juvia has a can of pepper spray, too." She offered, waving a blue can of pepper spray.
Natsu looked skeptical. "Well...all right then. Wait, let me give you my number. You have to text me so that I know that you made it home safe." In a blink of an eye, he took Juvia's phone from her hand and created a contact just for him. "You better text me back, okay?"
xoxo
"Come on, Juvia. You can do this." Juvia says to herself as she focuses on the task at hand. After much deliberation, she is satisfied with her final result and hits 'send' before she can change her mind.
juvia: hi, natsu-san, it's juvia! juvia just wants to let natsu-san know that juvia made it home safe
Her heart is beating so fast and so hard that she thinks that it may as well beat its' way out of her chest. Her cheeks feel like they are on fire and even with her mental reminders that it's just Natsu, her body language seems to disagree. The bright and sudden chime of her phone startles her out of her agony the same time her microwave beeps, telling her that her food is finished being heated. She chooses to get out her food out of the microwave first and settle onto her small dining table before she glances back at her phone. She opens to find that Natsu has texted her back after getting situated. A squeal rips out of her throat before she can seem to stop it and she opens her text messages icon to inspect the text.
natsu: awesome! glad to know that you made it home safe
natsu: [sent an image]
natsu: happy's glad you made it home safe too
Juvia grins at the image of Natsu's blue cat that appears to be smiling. In that moment, she wishes that she had a pet so that she could at least send him a picture in return. Instead, she settles for a text.
juvia: thank you happy-san! ❤
natsu: hey!
natsu: how come happy gets a thank you but not me?!
natsu: ＼＼٩(๑`^´๑)۶／／
Juvia giggles as she forms a text.
juvia: thank you natsu-san! juvia appreciates it!
juvia: (≧◡≦)
natsu: just messing with you
natsu: whatcha doing?
juvia: juvia's eating dinner.
Just as she is about to ask what Natsu is doing, her phone chimes. A text from Natsu.
natsu: dinner?!
natsu: whatcha eating?
She taps at her camera and snaps a photo of her meal - bowtie pasta with chicken and various other vegetables. It's leftovers from a few days ago when she had made a huge pot of it. She sends it over to him.
juvia: [sent an image]
juvia: bowtie pasta with chicken
natsu: whoa that looks good!
natsu: i'm getting hungry just looking at it!
natsu: (￣﹃￣)
Juvia blushes at the compliment. She doesn't think her meal looks very appetizing - it's delicious, she won't deny, but it doesn't look anything like the food served in restaurants or dishes that are posted all over social media. But then again, perhaps Natsu really is starving and he finds it to look appetizing.
juvia: it's just okay. it's nothing special.
natsu: hey don't say that!
natsu: it looks better than what i'm eating and i'm eating takeout
natsu: [sent an image]
She studies the image. Two and a half hamburgers - half, because it is more than obvious that Natsu had already eaten half of it - and two orders of fries. She silently is in awe of how much he can eat - a burger and an order of fries is usually all she can manage, and here Natsu is with 3 burgers AND two orders of fries.
juvia: ahh! hamburgers!
juvia: they look so good!
juvia: (^/^)
juvia: juvia is sure that natsu-san's food is more delicious than juvia's
natsu: the burgers are good, yeah
natsu: but it's so expensive getting takeout all the time
natsu: (┬┬﹏┬┬)
natsu: you're lucky you can cook
natsu: i can't cook for the life of me
juvia: ( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`)
juvia: don't say that, natsu-san!
juvia: juvia is sure natsu-san can cook! natsu-san just has to practice, that's all!
natsu: juvia
natsu: you don't understand
natsu: everything i've ever tried to cook
natsu: ended up in flames
natsu: FLAMES
natsu: 🔥🔥🔥
juvia: (∩｀-´)⊃━炎炎炎炎炎
juvia: don't worry, natsu-san!
juivia: juvia will hold the fire extinguisher if that ever happens again
natsu: thanks lol
natsu: i gotta go - i need to finish eating and start on my fire safety essay
juvia: ooh okay! good luck! o(*^＠^*)o
natsu: but we're still on for wednesday right?
natsu: and thanks
Just as Juvia is about to text back a reply, it dawns on her. He just asked her if they were still going to be continuing their study sessions. Which meant that he liked her company. That she is still able to spend time with him. Heat rushes up to her cheeks and she can hardly suppress her giddiness as she finally types him back a response a minute later.
juvia: yep!
natsu: sweet
natsu: see you wednesday then?
juvia: yep!
juvia: juvia will see you on wednesday then natsu-san!
natsu: awesome! see you then!
natsu: o(*￣▽￣*)o
juvia: \( ^0^ )/
Juvia picks up her fork and eats the remainder of her dinner, which has gotten cold due to her neglecting it in favor of texting back Natsu, while she balances her phone in her other free hand, scrolling through their recent conversation. She knows that she must seem pathetic to scroll back through their messages that just took place less than five minutes ago, but she doesn't care. Something about their conversation just makes her smile and is it so wrong to be happy? She hardly remembers the last time she's ever felt this light and giddy - it must have been some time back in high school before she discovered Gray and Ultear making out, when she would past by Gray on her way to her next class - and the high she experiences is nothing like she's ever felt before. And it certainly did not stop her from rereading their text messages again before she closes her eyes to go to sleep, the blissful feeling following her into her sleep.
End of Chapter 5.
(6/10/21): So...contrary to popular belief, I am not dead, LOL. But jokes aside, I am so, so sorry for being completely inactive. The second half of 2020 REALLY got to me, especially the presidential election - any fellow Americans out there that can relate? Not only that, but the whole pandemic took a toll on my mental health and I just felt so exhausted. During my hiatus from fanfiction, I haven't written ANYTHING so this chapter is essentially a chapter that I pushed out to help me get back into my writing zone, so I apologize that this isn't my best chapter - the future chapters will *hopefully* get better.
Anyways, enough about me! How 'bout those text messages, huh? I've never really written a chapter that is mainly comprised of text messages, so this was new and fun for me to do. I really wanted to add the images that Juvia and Natsu sent to each other, but FanFiction . Net unfortunately doesn't let me attach images, which sucks. I kind of want to make an Archive of Our Own account so that I'll be able to attach images and you guys could visualize it better? Yes, no, maybe so? And also, if there are any guys out there reading this, just curious - do you guys go back and reread messages between you and your significant other? Help a girl out.
As always, please let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll see you in the next chapter - that is hopefully not going to take ten months! (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ
P.S: I just want to thank everyone who have been supporting this work. As of right now, there are 52 favorites and 70 follows! That is CRAZY! None of my works have ever reached those numbers and I just - I can't even wrap my head around it. Even though I have been inactive for almost a year, the fact that this work has such a huge support system is just so touching. Thank you all so, so much! ❤