Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
How's everyone been? I know, it's been a long time since I last updated this or anything for that matter and I'm sorry. I've got new a job that I thought would be a lot easier than my stupid shift work one and while it is, it's definitely made writing a lot harder. But I'm kinda back now lmao.
This is the final chapter and in all honesty, it's not really all that good. I wanted a chapter after the last one, but I also wanted the story to hurry up and end and now that's caused this issue where I'm not happy with it, but oh well. I hope you guys prove me wrong and enjoy it, but I don't blame if you don't like this one.
Sorry for the crappy grammar and spelling.
ENJOY!
Switched and linked
Chapter eight
"So who's his mate?"
Juvia glanced up at her best friend when he spoke. Natsu and Juvia hadn't told anyone else about them. The only other person who knew was Happy and they had told him that they weren't ready for everyone to know their business. Juvia herself was surprised that Gajeel hadn't actually figured it out yet. In fact, it almost made her suspicious that he didn't realise it's her.
She narrowed her eyes at him as she spoke. "I'm not saying. It's no one else's business. If you want to know so badly, you should go and ask him yourself."
Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. The way he was looking at her, Juvia knew that he knew. Still, she was still good at putting on her poker face whenever she needed to.
"Oh yeah? Well if it weren't ma business, then wouldn't ya try and hide yer scent from me? Yer fuckin' stink of him."
Juvia could no longer hold her poker face as she slowly blushed from the neck upwards. The way he made it sound, he made it seem like they were sleeping together, which they weren't! She turned her eyes away from him and found Natsu staring at her from the other side of the guild hall. He must have heard Gajeel talking, because he stood up and made his way over to them, ignoring his team's confusion.
He placed himself next to Juvia with an easy grin and a shrug. "I was wonderin' when you were gonna say somethin'. Yeah, Juvia's ma mate, got a problem with that?"
Gajeel smirked and shook his head. "Of course I ain't. I would rather she's a dragon slayer's mate. At least I know you'll remain loyal. But on the off chance that ya don't..." Gajeel actually snapped wood off of the guild table. Juvia flinched, but when she peered at both Gajeel and Natsu, she saw them staring at each other with a very serious look. She found herself shivering. They looked like they were about to lunge at each other at any given moment. She wasn't really happy that Gajeel was talking about her like she wasn't there, but she decided not to say anything. The situation was tense right now.
Natsu reached out for her hand, clearly sensing her distress. Juvia softened almost immediately as he responded to Gajeel's display of strength. "You got my permission."
Juvia's face conveyed shock but also a little bit of disgust. Did Gajeel just say he was going to beat up Natsu if he broke her heart and Natsu allowed that? "Wait, doesn't Juvia get a say in this?" Her voice was quiet as she reverted back to her third person speech. The two dragons chuckled a little and shook their heads. Juvia pouted, claiming that the both of them are being mean.
Gajeel decided to start the explanation. "This is a dragon slayer thing. Having one mate is for life. We can't hurt our mates and basically, other dragons can shame the dragon who hurts their mate. Scar face, Salamander and Wendy can hurt me if I ever hurt Levy and vice versa. We wouldn't really hurt Wendy too much as she's a girl, but still. She knows how heavy the burden is if she hurts her future mate."
Juvia nodded her head slowly as she drank in all the information. "But still, it seems like a good excuse for you guys to really go at it and fight really badly."
They laughed and Natsu brought his arm around her shoulders, no longer caring about who saw them together. Juvia snuggled into his side. If this was how everyone else found out about them, then so be it. She had been beyond ready to let others know about their relationship. Still, it was good that they had been dating for a while without the knowledge of anyone else. They didn't have people (Mira and Erza) trying to get involved with their relationship while they were testing the waters of their newfound relationship. Having no one know at first was great.
They heard a squeal from across the guild and Natsu just sighed without even having to turn around. Juvia smiled almost tiredly because that now meant that they were going to have to try and find the energy to answer her onslaught of questions. Gajeel chuckled as he left them and the couple stared at him with horror in their eyes.
"Wait, you're leaving, tin can?!"
"Course I am! I ain't tryna be here while the demon grills ya on yer relationship. Nah, I can listen from afar anyway. Bye kids." He was gone in an instant with a demonic smirk on his face.
Juvia scowled at his back and Natsu just groaned under his breath when he heard Mira's footsteps practically thunder through the guild. Natsu hid his face in Juvia's hair and mumbled about how he wasn't ready for this today. He grumbled even more when he could hear his team making their way to him.
"Really? I didn't notice how nosey everyone in this guild is, like fucking hell."
Juvia giggled as she watched them quickly making their way towards them. "The shock on their face is definitely worth it though. It looks like they think this is some sort of elaborate prank."
Natsu chuckled and they finally all arrived. Happy was the only one who didn't find it weird as he just plopped himself down in Juvia's lap. He had just had a load of fish and was feeling tired. Happy and Juvia had become very good friends, and that should have been everyone's first hint that something had definitely happened between Natsu and Juvia.
"Natsu, Juvia! What is going on and HOW could you not even tell me?!"
Mira looked like she was torn between ripping their heads off and crying at how cute they looked together. She slammed her hands down on the table in front of them, peering into their eyes as if she were interrogating them. Erza stood next to her, her arms crossed as she also glowered at them. She was a sucker for romance and the fact that a member of her own team was going through a romantic story in real life without telling her actually hurt.
"Mira, I think you should calm down. Maybe there's a reason why they didn't tell us. After all, it's not really any of our business, you know?"
Lucy was speaking a lot of sense but was then intimidated when Mira and Erza shot her a dark glare. As if they cared about that. Even Gray shivered from his place next to her. They both sunk back a little bit, which gave Natsu the impression that they had been dragged over by the two scary women.
"When did this start? Did this happen because you guys switched bodies? How was that?"
Mira had now sat down where Gajeel had once sat and Erza quickly did the same thing. Juvia held back her sigh as she glanced up at Natsu. He had an easy grin on her face as he just shrugged with one shoulder, as if to say that they should just give in for now. The quicker they answer her questions, the quicker they could get this over with.
"I guess you could say that it happened because we switched bodies? I mean..." She looks back up at Natsu, wondering if she wasn't supposed to tell them and Natsu lets her.
Juvia herself didn't know who it was going to shame more. Natsu or her. She hates remembering that she ignored Natsu, who was actually her soulmate, for a man who had told her time and time again that he didn't want her. She constantly felt like crap. Natsu was way too good for her sometimes.
She felt Natsu's hand snake around her waist and held her close to him. Sometimes, she forgot that he could feel her feelings as if they were his own. She wondered if that bothered him, but so far, he hadn't said anything. She felt his heat envelope her as if to remind her that he's here and that she's not alone. That was enough motivation for her to continue.
"Ano, it turns out that I was Natsu's mate all along. He just never said anything because he knew how much I liked Gray at the time. I...ended up finding out when we switched bodies. But anyway, now we're together and that's that!"
Natsu snorted at the shortest explanation of their relationship and while he would have appreciated that, Mira and Erza certainly didn't share the same sentiments. Their faces thundered over and Natsu had to respect that Juvia really didn't care about their reactions. After all, she was seen as the third strongest girl in the guild after these two and sometimes, Juvia could really give them a run for their money if she was serious enough.
"That's it? That's barely a story of passion and love! Come on Juvia, please tell us everything!"
The water mage actually sighed this time and shook her head. "What does it matter? All that really matters is that Natsu and I are together. At this point we've been together for like three weeks and we're really happy together."
Natsu grinned and moved his arm back around her shoulder. "Yeah, what Juvia said! If Juvia doesn't wanna talk about it anymore, you guys just have to accept that. Long story short, Juvia's always been my mate. I respected the fact that she liked the ice prick, we switched bodies, we didn't get along until we did and now we're together. I mean, you guys were there for a good majority of the stuff that we did in the day.
"I doubt that. You guys were definitely hanging out without the team though. You can't even deny that."
Natsu's eyes flashed dangerously at Gray who just smirked in response. He wanted to question why Gray would try and throw him under the bus like that, but he got his answer. Because it's Gray. Instead, he rolled his eyes at the ice mage.
"Don't think I have dirt on you too, ya bastard. Who is it you like again?"
Gray reacted immediately with a bunch of stutters and a slightly pink face as all the girls stared at him in shock. Mira's face lit up, Erza was ready to force him to tell her who it was at sword point and Lucy...she looked shy? Juvia instantly understood what was happening and she shared a secret smile with Natsu.
Unfortunately, the two other women focused their attention back on the couple with a barrage of questions and Lucy sighed as she shook her head and put her head in her hands. She really couldn't be bothered to see the two of them fight and she had also noticed the way that Mira and Erza's eyes widened as they pounced on that piece of information.
Before the couple even knew what was happening, Juvia had been separated from Natsu as she gasped and tried to reach out for him. Natsu's eyes went wide as Erza pushed him back down into his seat.
"Oh stop, we're not kidnapping her forever. We're just going to have some girl time and then we'll bring your girlfriend back to you."
Mira giggled a little bit as she pulled Juvia away with an iron grip. "Who would have thought that he's so clingy! Only three weeks and you would think they're married. It's so cute! Anyway, Lucy you're coming too!"
The blonde mumbled a quick "coming." At this point, Happy was awake as he had been thrown off of Juvia's lap. He landed on the floor in a thump and Juvia shouted her apology as Natsu helped him up as they stared at the girls. He exhaled some air out of his mouth.
"Girls are insane. Or maybe it's just the Fairy Tail girls who are insane, I'm not sure."
"What even happened while I was asleep?"
Natsu just ran his hand through his hair. "Mira and Erza wanna know the ins and outs of our relationship. They ain't happy with hearing the version without any juicy stories I guess. Weirdos."
Natsu almost forgot that Gray was there as he sat down in the seat opposite him as his arms were crossed. Natsu watched him with weary eyes, wondering what his problem was. This was suddenly looking like a really long day.
"So, you and Juvia, huh?"
Natsu nodded with a beaming smile. "Yeah!"
Gray nodded slowly. "I always had a feeling, y'know. I always felt like you liked Juvia."
Natsu and Happy's eyebrows shot up as they stared at him. He smirked at the both of them before explaining himself. "You thought you were being subtle, but you weren't. I noticed the way you would glance over at her whenever she entered into the guild but wouldn't be trying to get my attention. You do it a lot."
Natsu would have argued it, but he knew he was telling the truth. Natsu was always looking over at Juvia whenever she was near him, but seemed to do it more when she wasn't trying to capture Gray's attention. It was more of when she was looking at the job board that he would find himself looking over at her.
"You've always been tryna find a way to get closer to her without making it obvious. I know you loved having her in your arms that time she fainted in them. I heard about that when you guys found her in the village where we had stayed."
Natsu found himself blushing a little bit and both Happy and Gray laughed at him. He huffed as he turned his way from them, pouting childishly as he waited for them to finish laughing.
"C'mon man, lighten up! I ain't laughing rudely at you, I'm just mentioning it. I know you guys got closer from there and that she started trusting you a bit more. But I've got something you might wanna know. Juvia has liked you way longer than you would think."
Natsu's eyes widened as his head snapped back towards Gray. He wanted to open his mouth to ask him how he would know that, but his voice didn't seem to work. Gray closed his eyes with a smirk before reopening them to finish off what he was saying.
"There was one party where Cana must have gotten her hands on Juvia and she got pretty drunk. Juvia's drunkenly telling me that she's not really sure if she's in love with me or not because there's some other guy that she's also into. She went into so much detail about why she likes you which I definitely tuned out by drinking more, but I guess it's the thought that counts. I guess she doesn't remember what she told me or she tried to act like she still likes me all because she didn't really know if she liked you or not. But yeah, I just thought you should know that."
Natsu sat there in silence as he soaked in everything that Gray was saying. He stared down at the table and slowly, a smile danced onto his lips. He couldn't help showing how...jovial he felt right now. He obviously never doubted Juvia from the moment she accepted him as her soulmate, but just knowing that she had been thinking about him for that long, his heart felt so light.
"Thanks for letting me know. I gotta go. Buddy, you coming?"
"Where to?"
"I dunno yet, but we're heading to the market."
"Ooh, can we get some fish?!"
"Sure. Let's go!"
Natsu hadn't really bought Juvia any gifts or anything and he really wanted to show her just how much he liked her. She was better at this couple thing than he was and he felt like although he was happy to be her mate, he was still clueless on what he should be doing as her boyfriend. But now, he knew what he wanted to do.
"So what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
"I just feel like doing something special for Juves, y'know? I've got no clue about what I'm supposed to do as her boyfriend, but I've got a rough idea of a gift I want to get her. You'll help me out, right? Like what kinda things would you do for Carla? DON'T mention giving her fish, I don't think Juvia cares that much about fish like you do."
Happy pouted, but accepted it. After all, it was true. No one liked fish as much as he did, so why bother? "Okay, let's head to the market and you can tell me what you want done. Then I'll add any ideas on top of that, okay?"
Natsu high fived his friend. "I knew I could count on ya! Let's go!
~x~
Because Lucy's place was closer, Juvia had been forced by both Erza and Mira to go to Lucy's. The bluenette shot the blonde an apologetic look, but Lucy just shook her head with a little smirk. Juvia sighed. It would seem that Lucy was just really good at hiding her true intentions. Of course she would want all the information on how her and Natsu became a thing.
"I'm going to make some tea."
Erza nodded to the owner of the flat. "Oh, and bring snacks! I even think I left a cake in your fridge from the last time I was here."
Lucy was about to question the red head, but decided against it. Her house was practically her team's clubhouse. Hell, not just her team. There have been times where Cana or Mira are even in her flat. She was surprised she had never seen Juvia pop up from her bathtub, but the water mage was actually pretty good at accepting people's privacy, as long as you weren't Gray. Well, Natsu now.
They all sat around the table on their knees as Juvia tried to stall with her story. Still, three pairs of eyes just glistening at her was enough to make her uncomfortable. She started talking so that she could get this all over and done with.
"Fine, I'll tell you what you all want to know. So like I said before, Natsu's always known that I'm his mate. The reason why he never told me was because I was so into Gray. I always feel bad about it, but Bickslow explained the whole soulmate phenomena to me, so it's fine."
"What did he explain?" Lucy questioned from the kettle as the water was boiling. Juvia would have sighed about being interrupted and going off at a tangent, but it was a genuine and innocent question.
"He said that sometimes, you think someone is your soulmate because they might have a significant relationship with your actual soulmate. So if I had never fought Gray who was basically Natsu's best friend, I would have never joined Fairy Tail and then probably would have never found Natsu. Bickslow said that what I did was very normal, where I thought that Gray was my soulmate because he's Natsu's best friend."
The three girls nodded as they understood what she was saying. Mira rolled her hand forward. "Okay, so continue."
The bluenette smiled at her impatience. "So yeah, as it turns out, Natsu has always known I'm his mate. It doesn't manifest straight away, but it does the moment you build a bond with that person. There have been a few times where Natsu and I have seen each other as good friends, but that's usually in the form of trying to save Gray or something. Like during the whole Daphne event."
The girls all grumbled at that, feeling a little bad. Of course they should have known that Gray would have never betrayed them.
"So when we switched bodies, I didn't know that Natsu was going through mating season. His body felt like it was on fire and I was so shocked that he went through this every single year without mating or even finding his mate. Being in his body just made me so agitated and so violent. Did you guys ever notice that he got more violent around this time of year?"
Erza thought about it before she nodded. "I guess it must have started from when he was 15? Definitely a year after Lisanna was taken to Edolas, that's for sure. We thought it was because of Lisanna that he was acting in that way, he never told us that it was mating season."
Juvia nodded. "Right. So obviously, the moment he found out I was his mate, he should have jumped me during the next mating season. For obvious reasons, he didn't. I can't even imagine the restraint that he had on himself as he had to stop himself from being with me. I could barely deal with it and practically jumped myself. I felt like such an idiot, making him go through that, all while I was trying to force a guy who never loved me to love me. It was the wake up call that I needed.
"Once we returned to our rightful bodies, I guess I started to avoid him. I wanted to figure out my feelings for him, not have his feelings cloud mine. I felt so guilty and so stupid to make him suffer through that every year. I also didn't want him to think that I was going to start dating him out of pity, but I realised something. Slowly, but surely, Natsu had already been creeping into my heart. It started when Natsu, Lucy and Wendy found me."
Lucy had finished with the tea and was bringing it to the table, pouring everyone a mug of it. They thanked her before turning their attention back to Juvia. Mira piped up.
"What do you mean? Do you mean that you had actually started liking Natsu from the one year disbandment?"
Juvia hummed and then shook her hand. "Kind of. Embarrassingly enough I thought he was Gray, but when I passed out in his arms, I remember thinking that he definitely wasn't Gray because he felt nicer and warmer to be in his arms."
Lucy laughed as she remembered something that Juvia had said to her during that time. "Wait, but aren't you the one who insinuated that Natsu and I should just date? Or was it to get a room, I've forgotten."
Juvia blushed deeply as she stared down at her tea. "W-well, that was more of the turning point for my feelings. I was grateful to all of you for finding me there and really grateful that Natsu didn't think I was too weird for thinking he was Gray and then passing out. I also thought that if you guys did kiss or something, then I wouldn't grow any feelings for him."
Erza snickered. "I doubt that. His mate just passed out in his arms. I can already tell that he was extremely worried. He was definitely happy to have you in his arms though."
Steam came whistling out of Juvia's ears as the girls giggled at her reaction. She sipped on her tea to calm her down before continuing. "From there...I just started to notice him a bit more. I practically had to force myself to hang out with Gray. My advances became stronger as a way to convince myself that Gray is the one for me and that I'm not falling for Natsu. I was getting more and more frustrated when Gray kept telling me that he'll give me an answer soon. It's why I ended up crashing the job in the first place. I couldn't wait an extra day to hear from him, I needed to get his opinion there and then. Then Erza paired me up with Natsu as punishment and the rest you already know."
Erza sipped on her tea, a certain level of smugness written all over her face. Mira humphed.
"What's that face for?"
"Oh, you know. It's clearly because of my sharp thinking that they're currently a couple right now. But Juvia, answer me this. You haven't been deflowered, have you? He hadn't done anything against your will or coerced you or anything, right?"
Her tone was sharp as Juvia gasped and shook her head. "Oh Kami no! Natsu would never do such a thing! You can trust me! Look at how he managed to keep himself off of me after all these years, there's no way he would ruin it now! Please, have more faith in Natsu."
Mira smiled softly. "Wow, you really like him."
Juvia nodded with a bashful smile. "I do. I guess Erza-chan is right though. Thanks to you, I was able to find my soulmate. Thank you."
Erza blushed and waved her hand. Even though she had just been boastful in her hand with their relationship, it still made her feel embarrassed when Juvia brought it up. "O-oh, I didn't actually do anything, I was just joking! Anyway, let me get the cake! You can all have some!"
They cut the cake and kept discussing the soulmate phenomena and Juvia explained everything that Bickslow had told her. Before they knew it, there was a knock at the door and everyone looked at each other before Lucy went to go and answer the door. They heard a huge gasp and all went rushing down to see if she was okay. Juvia's eyes widened the moment she saw a huge helium heart shaped balloon. Natsu was standing there with a wide grin on his face, holding a box of expensive chocolates and another smaller box. Mira and Erza smiled as they gently pushed her outside to meet her boyfriend, while Lucy shut the door as soon as she got out.
Juvia could hear their footsteps running upstairs as quickly as possible, probably to watch them through the window, but she didn't care. She couldn't believe that Natsu had done this all for her.
"Natsu? What's all this?"
"Oh y'know. I realised that I'd never really done anything for you ever since we started dating, so I wanted to change that. You always come over and cook with me and even the kids in the orphanage. I just wanted to get you a little present. Do you like it?"
Juvia had seen Natsu blush a few times, but this was his most bashful. She could see the slight shake of his hand as he held out the box of chocolates and she couldn't help herself as she hugged him instead.
"I love it. Thank you so much for the gifts! Where's Happy-chan?"
"Oh, he stayed back with Lisanna so that he could leave us alone for a date night."
Juvia nodded as she took the smaller box first, wondering what was inside it.
"Um, I know that you like necklaces and stuff, so I bought you one."
Juvia stared at him, stunned that he would even know that little bit of information. It's true, she loves necklaces. She still had the Fairy Tail one that she had bought from Max's shop long before she got to join the guild and she had a few that went with all her different outfits.
"Natsu-kun, I don't know what to say...You really didn't have to get me anything, I didn't get you anything."
He gave her a wide grin with his teeth on show. "And you don't have to. It's just that sometimes I can't believe that you're here with me and I guess I don't really know what I'm doing. I wanna do everything in my power to make sure that I don't lose you."
Juvia felt her eyes burn a little bit as she shook her head. "Natsu-kun will never lose Juvia, don't think like that. Juvia will always love everything you do. Besides, you made Juvia breakfast in bed a few times. Juvia loves that. That is definitely a way to keep Juvia around."
He smiled at her use of the third person. She only usually did it when she was extremely emotional, like now. He urged her to open the box.
"Go on, open it."
She did so and gasped at what was inside. It was a dragon with its wings spread wide and its tail curled. Within the orb, there was an orb with fire inside. She stared up at him.
"It's supposed to be me I guess, with some of my magic in there."
She gently reached up and curled her fingers around the back of his neck as she tugged him down towards her. He accepted with no arguments as their lips met. Juvia felt like it had been forever since they had last been able to kiss in public. She clutched at the box in her hands as she focused on giving Natsu her most love filled kiss yet.
His mind was swirling at the way she moved her tongue against his as she subtly pushed up her chest against hers. He would have pushed her up against the door, had he not remembered whose door it was that he would be pushing her up against. He pulled back, breathless. He smirked when she looked annoyed that he stopped as he kissed her nose and leaned towards her ear.
"Don't forget, we've got an audience here."
She angled her head up to see her three friends grinning as they wiggled their fingers at her. Juvia blushed, but groaned in annoyance. Natsu shared her frustration as he kissed her hair.
"You wanna get outta here?"
"Please. But first, can you put this necklace on me please? I want to wear it now."
He nodded and handed her the balloon and chocolates to hold as he took the necklace out of the box. He swept her hair to one side when she turned around and placed the necklace around her neck. She shivered when the cold metal came into contact with her neck, but soon warmed up with Natsu being near her. Once he was done with the clasp, he kissed her neck gently, his lips practically ghosting over her skin.
"Natsu-kun, they're watching," she whispered gently. Still, her eyes fluttered closed as she enjoyed the sensations that came flooding through her body. He chuckled and it vibrated against her skin, making her smile in response.
"Then let's give them a show, right?"
He looked back up at the girls who looked like they were fanning themselves, getting real life raunchy scenes from their two guildmates. Natsu smirked and pulled away as he held out his hand for Juvia to hold. She reopened her eyes and intertwined her fingers with his.
"On second thought, you're right. Let's head home."
Juvia smiled brightly and nodded her head as she skipped next to him. She loved it when he spoke about his place as if it were both of their homes, and one day it really will be. Natsu raised his hand as if to wave to the three girls in the window as he walked with his mate through the streets of Magnolia. She spoke about different things, even the different jobs that she would like to take with him and Natsu listened to every bit of it. He couldn't help but smile as she spoke. She was gorgeous and she glowed in the orange light of the setting sun.
Juvia glanced up at him when she realised that she had been talking so much without hearing anything from him. "Sorry, am I talking too much?"
"Nope. I'm just watching you. I love hearing you talk."
The water mage nodded with a shy smile and hooked her arm around his as they continued with their walk. Natsu could feel her excitement and her love for him and he wondered if she could feel his emotions too. Still, he was always more an 'actions speak louder than words' kinda guy and he hoped that his message had gotten across to her.
"I love you," he thought to himself as they continued to walk under the evening glow of the setting sun. Juvia paused as if she could read his thoughts and who knows, she probably could after all that they'd been through. Natsu found himself freezing under her gaze before she gave him a soft smile and felt an emotion that was similar to his but he knew it was Juvia's. She loves him too.
So how was that for ya? I hope you liked it. I'm falling back into the swing of writing again and I have loads of ideas for you guys that I would love to share. Also, Bleach is making a come back in October, so if you see me writing more for Bleach, you know why.
Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! I love you all so much, thank you for reading! Hope to see you guys in the next one!
Lolita-love,
Lolita-chan
Dark Gothic Lolita