CHAPTER 2: Forget you

I don't own Fairy Tail and its characters.

The day was slowly passing by and the sun was leaving space to the moon.
Juvia looked up at the starry sky losing herself in that vastness, the stars were so far away and she couldn't help but feel like a small part of something so much bigger.

Juvia let out a heavy breath, that day nobody let her near Gray. Gajeel managed to be with Juvia during all the afternoon.
The water mage could easily tell that he and Cana took very seriously her situation, they wanted to make her forget about Gray.

Clearly, Juvia knew they were trying to help her and that they were doing it in her best interest but she was starting to think that their effort was vain, she would have needed a great distraction in order to forget Gray.

She was going back to Fairy Hills, her pace was cadenced and she was in no hurry. She enjoyed the cool breeze of night.

Juvia wasn't expecting to meet Gray at the opposite side of the street so- when it happened- she was very surprised.
Instinct was telling her to go in the opposite direction and run away from him as fast as she could but- first of all- she needed to go back to the dormitory and she really wanted to talk to him.

"What could go wrong? Juvia just wishes to talk a bit with Gray-sama..." she told herself.

With her great surprise it was Gray who took the lead and started to make his way to her.

"There you are! I haven't seen you all day!" he said with a smile.
"Err... J-Juvia has been very busy" was her reply.
Gray raised an eyebrow, he seemed slightly amused "You know you can't lie, right?".

Juvia couldn't help but blush profusely, he noticed she was lying to him! And now?
"J-Juvia is not lying, why would she lie?".
"Riiiight... Listen, it doesn't matter. Are you going back to Fairy Hills?" he asked.
Juvia simply nodded her head.
"I'll come with you".

Juvia's fantasy started to run wild, was it possible that her Gray-sama wanted to take her to her own room? Or maybe he was just being kind... Yet again, maybe he had an agenda.

"A-Alright" she said in a whisper.
But before they could move, Gajeel came in a rush and stopped near them.

"What are you doing together?" he asked.
"I was just taking Juvia back to the dormitory" Gray explained.
"I'll take her, I'm going in that direction".

Without waiting for a reply Gajeel took Juvia's wrist and dragged her away.

"What's in your head, huh? We agreed that-"
Gajeel was cut off mid sentence by a whiny Juvia "Juvia knows but she can't stay away from her Gray-sama!"
"Well, find a way!" yelled Gajeel.

The Dragon Slayer stopped, making Juvia collide with his back, Gajeel turned back and started to silently scold his friend.
"It would be better if you started taking distance from him now or you will be too in love to do it".
"Juvia is already in love" she retorted.

Gajeel pinched the top of his nose with his fingers and let out an exasperated breath.
"He always rejects you!"
"That's not true".
"It's not? C'mon Juvia! Don't let yourself go just because he's nice to you. You're smarter than this and you deserve someone who cares about you without judging!"
"Gray-sama is-" but Juvia was cut off by Gajeel "He always tells you that you're too clingy, that you're annoying and he doesn't take you seriously. If that's not judgemental for you I really don't know what could be".

During other circumstances Juvia would have yelled at Gajeel for saying such nonsense, she would get mad but this time it was hard to make a point, he was right.
Her best friend was one of the few people who had said that to her, she had to admit that- at this point- it was far too obvious that Gray was not interested in her.
"Maybe Gajeel-kun is right" she said in a whisper.

Juvia started to cry and Gajeel desperately wanted to beat himself up for making her cry, people started to look at them and it was obvious what they were thinking. In fact, Gajeel could hear some of them say "Look at him, he has such a nice girlfriend and he makes her cry... That criminal".
Gajeel was well aware of his looks and he was often mistaken with some jailbird.

"C'mon Ameonna, d-don't cry huh?"
"Juvia is so stupid! Juvia knows perfectly well that Gajeel-kun is right but... But..."
The Dragon Slayer let out a deep breath, he couldn't see her like that and- even if he was not that kind of guy- he got closer to her and hugged her tight.
"You know he's the stupid right? Letting go someone like you..." he whispered in her hair.

Juvia looked up at her friend and gave him the sweetest of smiles, Gajeel would never admit it but his heart melted at that sight.
"C'mon, let's go to Fairy Hills" he said.

Night doesn't always make one wiser and Juvia was starting to understand that, she was more confused than ever.
She felt a bit silly acting that way, she was neglecting her positive and optimistic nature... Gray was the only one who had this power on her, making her putty in his hands.

Juvia always thought that she gave him too much room, she firmly believed that love was meant to be simpler.
With that last thought she got out of the bathtub and started getting ready for the day.
She decided that she would have taken a great job to shake her mind off of things.

When Juvia arrived at the inn of the guild she was surprised to see that it was incredibly empty.
She was even more surprised when she found Natsu all alone in front of the job's board. She didn't notice at first but when no "aye, sir!" was heard she realized that Happy was not present.

Juvia came closer to him, a bit curious as to why he was alone.

"Good morning Natsu-san" she greeted.
Natsu turned in her direction giving her one of his big smiles "Hey!"

Juvia had to ask, she was way too curious to find out "Natsu-san, why are you alone?"
"Mh? You were hoping to see Gray?" he asked.
Juvia tried to hide the sad expression on her face and smiled softly "Juvia was just thinking that it's weird seeing Natsu-san all alone".
"Let's see... Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Charle and- of course- Happy are on a mission since early this morning, I honestly didn't give a shit about the job they choose so I passed, and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to one whole day of train" he said letting out a breathy laugh.
Juvia nodded and smiled softly at him and couldn't help but notice the pride in Natsu's face after making her smile.

"And... Gray went to Lamia Scale, he wanted to catch up with Lyon and-"
"And you didn't want to go there either" Juvia said.
"Exactly".

The two were now silent, they were not used to talk to one another so the topics were slowly finishing.
Juvia spoke again "Juvia guesses that Natsu-san can't stay here simply relaxing, right?"
"Damn right. I am searching for a job that isn't to die of boredom".
"And did you find anything?" she asked.
"Nothing at all".

Juvia glanced at the wall, without thinking too much she took a paper with the higher reward.
"What about this one?" she proposed.
The missive said: Need someone willing to deliver in the adjacent town of Lightland. Deliver from: Shadowland.
Natsu read carefully the paper and when his eyes fell on the reward his jaw dropped in surprise "Holy sh- One hundred and seventy thousand jewels?! Are you fucking kidding me?"
Juvia smiled, she was happy to have been useful.

"Would you like to come along? After all it's you who found the job" he suggested.
"Juvia has never worked with Natsu-san before..." she said as if she was saying something obvious.
"So it's a no?"
"Ah! It's a yes! Juvia would like to come with you Natsu-san".
"Awesome!"

The pair walked over to Mirajane and started all the papers to notify that they went on a mission and off they were.

"The reward is really high, I think it's gonna be one hell of a mission" Natsu said absent-mindedly.
"Juvia doesn't really see what could be difficult in a delivery".
"Mh... You never know" he replied.
Juvia smiled at Natsu's antics, he looked happy like a child but then she started to remember something very important. She grabbed Natsu's forearm and gave him an expression that was between worry and pure shock.
"What's wrong?" he asked somewhat confused.
"Natsu-san is going to the train station!"
"Yeah... In which other way do you think we were going? Shadowland is half an hour from here".
"So that means that we should arrive in two or three hours by foot counting the stops" she reasoned.
"You want to walk?!"
"Juvia doesn't want to make Natsu-san sick" she replied softly.
"Hey, that's really nice of you. Thanks... The others don't take this in consideration at all when we go on missions".
"Juvia is used to it, Gajeel-kun doesn't like to say it but he suffers motion sickness too".
"So you always go on missions walking?" Natsu asked amazed.
"Sure. Juvia doesn't like when her friends are sick. Well, it always happens that Gajeel-kun has to take Juvia on his back from a certain point to another but this walk is going to be short so Juvia doesn't mind".
"I can't really imagine Gajeel taking you on his back and drag you around" Natsu mused.
"Gajeel-kun is really kind but he doesn't wish for people to know that" she replied with an amused smile on her face.
"So I will get you in trouble if I tease him about it?"
"Definitely".

During the first stop Natsu realized that Juvia went back to being sad, he couldn't see her like that. He felt like he should ask her what was going on even if he could tell that Gray was involved, then again he was sure that she would have preferred going on a mission with the ice mage rather than him.
Maybe that was her problem but her expression was way too sad for it to be caused by simply that.

"Juvia, everything okay?" he asked.
Juvia raised her head quickly, she was thinking to herself and didn't notice him coming her way.
"Juvia is fine" she said in a monotone.
"Sure, save that for someone else" he said sitting next to her "So, what's up?"

Juvia was surprised to see that Natsu seemed really worried about her, she smiled softly at him and started to talk.
"It's really something silly" she said.
"If it makes you that sad it can't be silly" he replied with a serious tone.
Juvia looked at him with wonder.
"I know that it has something to do with Gray" he said.

Juvia was even more surprised now.
"Is Juvia that predictable?" she asked.
"I don't know you sufficiently well to tell" was his reply.

Juvia nodded and gave him a reassuring look. She thought that if she had to forget about Gray it was better to let go and talk to Natsu who seemed like the kind of friend who listens without judging.
"Cana-san and Gajeel-kun agreed to make Juvia forget about Gray-sama, in order to do so they are keeping Juvia away from Gray-sama" she explained.
"And that because..." he waited for her to go on.
"Because they believe that the more Juvia stays away from him the more her love will fade" she said in a whisper.
"Is that the case?" he asked.
"Not for now" she replied.

Natsu looked at her with a baffled expression on his face before speaking again.
"I will tell you what I think" he said "In my opinion they are right but it's not their place to force you into this. It is Gray who should have the nerve to come to you and tell you once and for all that he is not interested in you. Y'know? I've always thought you were clingy with him and- sometimes- I still believe that you are but... Well he doesn't make things easier for you" he paused looking at her straight in the eyes "He behaves like an idiot most of the time, I think that if he doesn't like you than he should simply tell you".

Juvia widened her eyes and nodded fiercely "That's exactly what Juvia thinks".
Natsu smiled and brought an index under his chin "What do you think if I confess something to you?"
Juvia nodded.
"I have a pretty huge crush on a girl" he admitted.

Juvia grinned at Natsu "Is it Lu-chan?"
"How do you-" Juvia cut him short "Juvia is aware of the way Natsu-san looks at her" she explained.
"Mmh..." the fire mage let out a heavy breath "She doesn't like me back. She said that to me a while ago".
"Did Natsu-san manage to forget about her?" Juvia asked.
"Do I look like someone who forgot their crush?" was his sharp reply.
Juvia smiled softly at him and touched his shoulder "Juvia is sure that Natsu-san will manage".
"Maybe... Listen, let's make things interesting. Let's bet!"

Juvia looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face "A bet?"
"Yes, a bet. I stop thinking about Lucy and you stop thinking about Gray".
"It looks more like a pact than a bet" Juvia mused.
"Same thing to me. So, you in?" he asked giving her his hand.

Juvia studied for a second the situation, maybe if she promised it to someone it would have been easier.
The water mage shook hands with the Dragon Slayer and said "Juvia is in".
"I had no doubts" he grinned.