It had honestly started out as a relatively normal day, in Lucy's eyes. She'd woken up groggily but generously rested, and dressed herself swiftly before she left for the guild. As they did every day, the men in their boats called out to her, telling her to be careful as she sauntered on the edge of the canal. And as always, she dismissed their worries with a smile.
Of course, the second she opened the doors to her beloved guild, her normal day had practically dissipated into thin air. A small part of her wailed at the faded illusion of normality, but the majority of her felt relieved. She truly wouldn't be a member of Fairy Tail if she didn't secretly thrive in chaos.
"Luce!" hollered Natsu, who was sitting cross-legged on a table with Gray, an excited boy-ish grin on his also beamed as he sat upon the small table. Lucy waved happily and Gray, who was casually sipping an iced water, smiled at her as she made her way over to the table and sat down with them.
"You two are chipper this morning," she remarked suspiciously, noting the excited energy surrounding the couple. Knowing their usual antics, she then added with a pointed look towards Natsu rather than Gray, "I'm really hoping that whatever you've done has nothing to do with me or my apartment, for both of yours sake." Her eyes twitched as she recalled the many times she'd been victimized.
Happy shivered dramatically, and whispered not-so-quietly to Natsu, "Lushy's doing that thing with her eye again…" Natsu nodded his head in both agreement and wariness of the often violent blonde.
Lucy glared at the cat, a common occurrence, it was a wonder how annoying a small creature could be. Gray snorted at the display he'd seen and reassuringly spoke, "Don't you worry, you and your apartment are perfectly safe,"
She let out a sigh of relief, there was no way she had the dignity or the money left to repair whatever Natsu and Happy could've damaged. After that good news, she relaxed and patted Happy apologetically at jumping to conclusions. You couldn't blame her though, really, the amount of times she had endured either humiliation or a dysfunctional apartment for the amusement of her partners, was insane.
Happy gave her a disapproving frown which just screamed, 'why do you always see the worst in me?'. She just laughed at his theatrics, refusing to take him seriously, and promised to give him fish at some point. That immediately brightened him up - the cat had no morals when it came to fish.
All of a sudden, Natsu jumped skillfully onto the table, causing Happy to have to fly over to Lucy's lap. She raised her brow at the fire wizard, and even more so when he grinned proudly and hauled Gray up onto the table.
"Oi!" He barked, attempting to get the guild's attention, which it was impossible not to considering the fact that the two wizards were proudly holding hands whilst standing on a table. Although Natsu was the one emitting the pride, Gray was awkwardly focusing on a random empty spot in the guild. The poor guy didn't sign up for the immense amount of attention Natsu attracted when they started dating.
Lucy truly was at a loss. What could they possibly reveal, she couldn't guess. All she could feel was a tingle of suspense in her bones, that told her that it was going to be something good.
Natsu was about to burst with elation, his gleeful smile barely containing this announcement. He subtly looked at Gray, like a child asking if they were allowed to do something. The self-assured grin Gray gave him, a vast change to his previous social ineptness, obviously giving the Natsu green light.
"We're getting married!" He cheered.
And then it was chaos.
Screams of delight echoed throughout the guildhall, an uproar of enthusiasm that clearly signaled the guild's stamp of approval. Everyone was laughing and whooping, in some weird trance of hysteria at the unexpected news. The two men were pulled by force from the table to the floor, where they were immediately swarmed by eager mages who were ready to congratulate the two.
At first, Lucy was almost too shocked to move. There was absolutely no way she saw this coming, I mean, for goodness sake, they'd only gotten together not that long ago. But as she watched in surprise at how the two men looked at each other, she felt her heart swell with pride and warmth for her best friends. Slowly but surely, she felt herself get hyped.
Lucy basically pounced on Natsu as she gave him a loving hug, "Congratulations!" He pulled away, laughing, his fangs on show. He put a hand on her shoulder gently, "Thanks, Luce."
She felt herself beam, tears of happiness welling up in her eyes, "Natsu, you know I'm so proud of you, right?"
"Course I do!" He said in a cocky tone, but Lucy knew he secretly was on the verge of tears from her kind words. She rolled her eyes. "It's a miracle you're getting Gray to marry you, honestly,"
"Hey!"
Lucy just giggled and gave him another hug, which he returned gracefully before being sucked back into the horde of people, along with Gray.
Before Gray and Natsu had gotten together, people had often misinterpreted their relationship as something more than platonic, but that really wasn't the case. Natsu meant the world to her, he'd brought her to Fairy Tail, and he introduced herself to this crazy family she found herself in. Of course, he would always have a special place in her heart. They'd always somehow mutually agreed that they were simply the best of friends, and they were happy.
Knowing that her best friend was going to be married was hard to wrap her head around, but she truly couldn't be happier for him. She smiled to herself at the loud celebrations happening all around her, only Natsu could bring this level of madness. No, seriously, Lucy could swear she saw (and heard) Mirajane passing out after the announcement.
Partly red in the face, probably from the dangerous combination of alcohol and dancing, Lucy stepped outside with a sigh of relief. The crisp, cold air felt wonderful on her skin, and was a welcome contrast to the sweltering heat inside the guildhall. Booming music could still be heard from behind the doors, despite being muffled.
Only then did Lucy notice a head of gorgeous blue locks that could only belong to Juvia Lockser. She was sitting on the concrete stairs that Lucy was sure would be damp enough to cause annoyance, but then she supposed the woman was made of water. Juvia's head rested upon her slender, pale hands, her cheeks cutely smushed against it, and very quietly, so much so she barely heard it, Juvia exhaled a sigh.
Carefully, the blonde tiptoed over to Juvia, she didn't want to disturb her but she also wanted to make sure she was okay. She slowly sat down, cringing at how the dampness of the stairs had already seeped through her jeans. Juvia's head curiously turned towards Lucy, her blue hair shifting to the side of her head to reveal intrigued eyes. In return, Lucy gave a sheepish smile.
"Hi," Lucy said, unsure of what to say.
Juvia blinked, " Hello, Lucy,"
The two sort of stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, both uncertain. And maybe it was the strawberry daiquiri she had consumed not too long ago, but a laugh bubbled out of her throat.
Juvia looked utterly bewildered at the blonde, and Lucy slapped her hand over her mouth as another giggle escaped. She was stunned at herself too, to be honest. "I'm sorry? I honestly came over to ask if you're okay, definitely not to laugh in your face."
Lucy groaned as Juvia's expression hadn't changed after her explanation. Leave it to her to kick someone whilst they were already down accidentally. "Juvia, really, I-"
She was abruptly cut off by a snort, which quickly progressed into a laugh. Lucy was a little shocked to see Juvia, who she previously had thought was feeling down, laughing at her. And whilst her laughter was to Lucy's expense, she supposed she could let it slide.
Lucy giggled a little too, and once Juvia's laughter died down and only a smile remained, Lucy decided to ask what she was originally going to ask. "So…are you?" She awkwardly did a thumbs up to get her point across, but then realized that was probably stupid and she should be a big girl and use her words, "Okay, I mean. Are you okay?"
The other woman sighed, "Juvia seems to be getting asked that alot tonight,"
"Oh?"
Juvia smiled at her, "Juvia doesn't know why everyone thinks she's upset, she's extremely happy for Gray and Natsu!" Her brows were furrowed in frustration and she really did look fed up.
"Ah, so that's what this is about," Lucy said knowingly. "Everyone thinks you're still hung up on Gray,"
"Exactly! Juvia is different. She has changed…. Why can nobody see that?" Her head resumed its place, resting on her hand, and Lucy felt her heartstrings tug at Juvia's situation.
It must feel awful, Lucy thought, to have everyone still be stuck on the way you acted in the past. It was a known fact that Juvia was in love with Gray, that love bordering on obsession sometimes. However, a few months before Natsu and Gray even started dating, she'd let the man go.
Lucy put a gentle hand on Juvia's shoulder, "I'm sorry, you must feel really shitty, huh?" Juvia smiled a little at the blonde's reassuring touch and nodded, "Juvia is scared." She admits.
"Scared?" asked Lucy curiously, "Why are you scared?"
"Juvia overheard Mirajane…she's planning on setting Juvia up with someone!" she wailed. Lucy barked out a laugh, it sounded like something Mira would do, in fact, Lucy had experienced it herself.
"You poor thing," Lucy giggled. Juvia also chucked a little, a spark in her eye that Lucy had never really noticed before.
"The wedding is going to be beautiful," Juvia gushes, "Did you know Natsu insisted on it being next week?"
Lucy choked on air, and then gaped. "You have got to be kidding,"
When Juvia laughed and shook her head, Lucy put her head in her hands, "Oh dear god, I can already feel the stress. Of course Natsu thinks it's easy to put together an entire wedding in seven days," Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Juvia thinks it's wonderful," she exclaims, "It shows he can't wait any longer to be married."
Juvia sure had a way of looking at things, Lucy mused to herself.
The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, relishing in the comfortable quiet that had settled between them, and staring at the stars. All of a sudden, a thought came to Lucy. It was like one of those lightbulb moments that you only hear about, yet she was feeling it. The idea was fairly harmless, nothing that would get out of hand, and it would help Juvia out and probably herself too.
"Hey, Juvia…I have an idea,"
She tilted her head, a sign for Lucy to continue, "You can say no, but what if we just went as each other's dates to the wedding?"
Juvia looked surprised for a second, before opening her mouth to reply, but Lucy spoke again before she could get the chance, "I mean, hear me out, if we're each other's dates, Mira has no excuse to subject us to the torture that is being set up."
Lucy could see the idea registering in Juvia's mind, "Juvia actually thinks that is a good idea, people would also no longer believe she is still in love with Gray, as she is with Lucy!" She smiled.
"Exactly, and it would be platonic, of course,"
"Of course," Juvia said,and then joked, "Love Rival is smarter than Juvia thought,"
Lucy snorted and shoved Juvia gently with her shoulders, "Oh, shut it,"
Who knew the water woman had a sense of humor?