The marine park had recently rescued a dolphin with an injured fin and the employees were tending to him. Within a week his fin had been fixed but they decided to keep him for a little while longer just to make sure nothing else was wrong with him. They called him Dudley.
Juvia was on her way to feed him when the latch on the chain of her locket suddenly became loose. It fell from her neck and landed in the large pool where Dudley was. She checked to see if anyone was looking, once she was sure it was safe she jumped into the pool which allowed her to turn into a mermaid. She swam to the bottom of the pool and retrieved her locket but she had unintentionally caught the attention of Dudley.
The dolphin seemed to look very sad and lonely so Juvia decided to cheer him up by swimming with him for awhile. He perked up almost right away, acting so very sweet and playful but then again that was how most dolphins were. After playing with him for thirty minutes she slipped out of the water, dried off, and once she had her legs back she went to feed him. Dudley squeaked excitedly when he saw her and swallowed the fish she threw to him.
"You fed him." Her boss Mr. Neekis said in a surprised voice.
"Was I not supposed to?" She asked.
"No. No that's good." He said. "The thing is he hasn't been eating much lately and he's been awfully shy ever since he arrived here. He hasn't been comfortable around anyone... Anyone except you. What's your secret?"
"Well I..." Juvia said trying to think of a good excuse. "I guess he just likes my personality."
After work she went to the juice bar with Erza. There they sat down at a table and drank smoothies while watching all the boys fawn over Minerva. It made Erza sick to her stomach.
"Those guys are morons." Erza said. "They hang on her every word. I just don't understand what they see in that shallow witch."
"Still I wish someone would be interested in me. Moron or not." Juvia sighed.
"Someday you'll find a nice guy who will take a shine to you."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
"Thanks but I've pretty much given up all hope on that subject."
"Well you know they say, it happens when you least expect it."
Just then Jellal walked over to their table.
"Well speaking of morons." Erza said.
"Nice to see you too Erza." Jellal said with a glare but then turned to Juvia with a smile. "Juvia can I have a word?"
"As if she would waste her breath talking to you." Erza said.
"Well she wastes it on you daily."
"It's okay Jellal we can talk." Juvia got up from her table and went outside to talk with Jellal.
"Can I buy you a drink?" He asked her.
"No thank you."
"Are you sure? My treat."
"Jellal what do you want?" She asked.
"Can't I be nice?"
"Maybe but you've never been nice to me. Not unless you want something from me. So what is it?"
"You're nobody's fool Juvia, I respect that. Alright the thing is, the marine park has a library with information on every sea creature right?"
"Yes."
"So can you get me access?"
"Probably but why would I do that?"
"Because...Because...Because a lot of sea creatures are going extinct and I want to do research on new ways to help preserve them."
"Really? You want to help preserve wildlife?"
"Yeah. I'm very fond of it."
"Huh...I never pictured you as the species saving type."
"There's a lot more to me than what you see Juvia. So what do you say?"
"I'll see what I can do. What species do you want to do research on?"
"Oh...Ones that are rather big."
"Like whales and purposes?"
"Sort of but more rare, hardly ever seen by man. You think they have a subject on something like that?"
"If it exists then they have it."
"Great. You'll call me once you have their okay to let me in the library won't you?"
"Yes I will."
"Good. Here's my number."
He gave her a slip of paper that had his cellphone number written on it.
An hour later Juvia arrived back home where she found Ur dusting around the living room. She still couldn't believe that Ur could possibly be a mermaid. Or rather possibly was a mermaid. She wanted to ask her about it but what if her suspicions were wrong? What if it was all just a coincidence and she ended up exposing her secret.
"Is something wrong Juvia?" Ur asked when she noticed the girl looking at her.
"Oh no everything's fine." She said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay. So how was work?"
"It was fine. They rescued a dolphin, the poor thing washed up on the beach with a broken fin."
"Is it alright?"
"It's recovered but they're keeping it longer to make sure it's healthy."
"That's nice."
At the moment the phone rang, Juvia answered.
"Hello?...Oh hi! I didn't expect you to call here...Oh really?...Huh...No I don't have any plans tonight...Of course I'd love to. It's a date." Juvia hung up and left the house.
Judging by what she said over the phone Ur assumed that Juvia had a boyfriend who called to ask her out on a date. She smiled to herself, it was about time Juvia went out with a nice boy. She was always such a shy girl and Ur felt that she wasn't socializing as much as she should.
"Hey Ur." Gray said arriving home just fifteen minutes after Juvia had left.
"Hello Gray, how was your day?" She asked.
"The usual. I went to school, did all my work, was harassed by overly muscular pea brained bullies, and got a smoothie from the juice bar."
"Listen Gray, Porlyusica and I are going to help a friend of hers move into her new house so I need you to watch Romeo and Chelia tonight."
"Alright I'll call Juvia and let her know."
"Oh don't bother, she's going out tonight."
"Going out? Out to do what?"
"Out on a date with her boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?!" He cried out in shock. "Juvia has a boyfriend?!"
"Yes. He called here and invited her to go out with him tonight. Isn't that sweet?"
"No it's weird!"
"Weird?"
"What I mean is...It's weird that she wouldn't tell us that she had a boyfriend."
"Her romantic interests are none of our concern."
"But to just go out with some guy out of the blue, without telling us? Isn't that a little unlike her?"
"It is unlike her but I'm not worried. Honestly I'm glad she has a nice boyfriend. I was getting worried that she would never be able to form a romantic relationship with anyone."
"You don't know that he's nice. He could be a punk for all we know."
"Juvia's smarter than that. She wouldn't go out with some hoodlum."
"Then why wouldn't she tell us about him?"
"Because it's none of our business dear."
"What's going on?" Chelia asked walking in on the conversation.
"Juvia has a boyfriend." Ur said.
"Really? I didn't think boys liked her."
"Chelia!" She scolded.
"I'm sorry but I hear a lot of boys say that she's weird."
"She's not weird and you shouldn't pay attention to people who say things like that."
"I just still can't believe Juvia wouldn't tell us about this guy." Gray said. "Maybe she told Lucy and Erza."
Gray quickly called Lucy on his phone.
"Juvia has a what now?" Lucy said when Gray told her the news.
"A boyfriend and she went out with him tonight."
"Are you sure that's what happened?"
"Ur's never lied to me about anything."
"I'm not saying she's lying but maybe she misunderstood. I mean if Juvia had a boyfriend she would've told us but then again maybe she felt embarrassed. In retrospect we shouldn't meddle into her personal life."
"But what if this guy she's seeing is a total psycho?"
"I seriously doubt that Juvia would go out with a psycho. But to be honest I think that Ur just misheard the phone call."
"So you don't think she has a boyfriend?"
"99 percent sure. Besides Juvia tells you everything right Gray?"
"Right."
"So if she really did have a boyfriend I'm sure she would tell you."
"You have a point there."
"Yeah so why don't you just relax?"
"Okay you're right. I'm getting all upset over nothing."
"Exactly. But why are you so upset about this anyway? Don't you want Juvia to have a nice boyfriend?"
"No! I mean yes...I mean...I gotta go. Bye." He hung up after that.
Little did they all know was that it wasn't a boy who had called Juvia. It was her boss. Apparently he was having trouble feeding Dudley and he was hoping that Juvia would be able to help. Unfortunately people tend to jump to the wrong conclusions a lot.