.

Four

(In which Lyon tries to settle back into his routine, even though there's a selkie trying to burn down his kitchen.)

Lyon's internal clock was back on track after its hiccup the previous day, and he woke before dawn at his usual time. Shaking the last lingering fragments of dreams from his mind, he slid out of bed and commenced getting ready for the day.

The sight of dirty dishes piled on the counter made him wince when he shuffled out to the kitchen. Juvia must think he was a total slob. He'd have to tidy up this evening and do a better job of keeping things clean from this point on.

There was also the problem of a nearly empty larder, but he scrounged up a makeshift breakfast. Leaving the rest of the stew for Juvia, he found a hunk of rock-hard bread to saw in half. He put a cooked—albeit somewhat old—fillet of fish between the slices and stuck a wedge of cheese on top. He had yet to find anyone else who could stomach eating cheese on fish, but he wasn't a picky eater and was running out of options.

He wrapped his sandwich up for lunch and stared out the window. This was his everyday life, but this morning it felt distant and far-removed. There was a selkie sleeping in the other room, and he was just going to work like nothing had changed? Like his whole life hadn't just been shaken up?

It was a strange sensation to sling his bag over his shoulder and head out, closing the door quietly so as not to wake Juvia as he walked down to the rickety dock on the far side of the beach. It all felt so mundane, and he was impatient with it. He would much rather skip over these suddenly irrelevant parts of his life and get back to the adventure.

But this life would still be here long after Juvia left, and he couldn't afford to get caught up in his impractical adventures and forget about the real world.

So he traipsed down the weathered pier, wood creaking ominously beneath his boots, and boarded the boat moored there. The Lamia Scale was the smallest of the vessels lining the dock, but she had served Lyon and his companions well for years, even if she was a bit roughed up at this point. She was an unremarkable little fishing vessel, but she was, in some ways, a second home. Not only their livelihood, but the thing that kept them bound together and gave them a place to belong in the world.

Jura was already hammering away at the side of the boat with a series of dull thuds, while Yuka hovered like an anxious parent.

"How's it looking?" Lyon asked as he dropped his gear and crossed the deck to get a better look.

Jura had already ripped three planks off the side—thankfully above the waterline, so they didn't need to beach the whole boat—and was fitting new ones into place. The discarded planks lay off to the side, weathered and worn. A large gash tore through the old wood, and Lyon wondered what had nicked the boat this time. He hadn't noticed anything until now.

"Not great," Yuka muttered, "but at least he can fix it."

Jura shook his head. "She's going to need some serious repairs soon. Some of these planks are nearly rotted through, and she's falling apart. She'll need an extensive overhaul. I could start over the weekend, but there's too much to get it all done and you'd have to let me keep her in repairs for a few days and miss out on the fishing."

Yuka groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "That's not good."

"She's an old boat," the carpenter said with a shrug. "You've taken pretty good care of her, but she's reaching the end of her natural lifespan. You'll need to scrap her and buy a new one or do some extensive repair work."

Lyon ran his gaze along the worn wooden structure. It was true: she was old. She had been needing more and more repairs over the past months as things that would barely have scraped her sides in her golden years suddenly did major damage. He didn't think Yuka would agree to replace her, but even the repairs would be costly.

"Toby's not here yet?" he asked to give Yuka something else to think about.

Yuka scowled. "Of course not. It's Monday."

"Should I go get him?"

"I already stopped by to shake some sense into him. It's the same as always: he's convinced he's dying or something. He'll be here by the time we leave. Or I'll drag him here myself."

Lyon suppressed a smile. "It wouldn't be a Monday if he wasn't late."

"Mhm. Well, now that you're here, you can help me help Jura. Let's hop to it."

There was water to be bailed from what the waves had pushed through the hole, tools to be fetched, wood to be hauled about, and errands to run. Lyon threw himself into the work without complaint, just as eager as Yuka to finish patching things up and get out to sea.

The work soothed him. It was comforting and familiar, and it helped take his mind off his recent adventures as he fell back into the rhythm of his life. This was, after all, where he belonged.

By the time Jura and Yuka stopped ordering him around, he was feeling more himself and ready to settle into fishing again instead of obsessing over selkies and curses.

"Good enough for now," said Jura as he gathered up his tools. "Make sure you get back to me about how you want to handle the overhaul."

Yuka pulled a face. "Yeah. Thanks."

Jura lumbered off board and nodded to Toby as the sandy-haired man dragged himself up the dock with exaggerated difficulty. Perfect timing.

"Glad to see you could join us!" Lyon said.

"I think I'm dying," Toby moaned as he shuffled on board and yawned widely, surveying the repairs with drowsy eyes.

Yuka clapped him on the back. "Don't worry, you'll be feeling good as new by tomorrow."

"At least until next Monday," Lyon said.

He and Yuka exchanged a look and laughed.

Toby just sighed. "What did Jura say?"

That was enough to dry up Yuka's good humor in a heartbeat. "Nothing good."

"He's telling us to get ready for a complete overhaul," Lyon said. "Either that or scrap the boat, but… Well, the repairs will cut into our fishing time, which is going to be a pain. We'll have to discuss our options."

"Later," Yuka grumbled.

"It's kind of important. We might as well discuss it now."

"I've discovered that if you ignore a problem, there's a fifty percent chance it will go away on its own and a fifty percent chance it will ruin your life. Those seem like fair odds to me."

"…Wow. What a wonderful philosophy. Unless the magic wood fairies are coming to fix the boat in the middle of the night, I don't think this particular problem is going away."

"Fairies, now?" Yuka grinned. "Hear that, Toby? Dull little Lyon is finally growing an imagination! First selkies and now fairies, huh?"

Lyon groaned. "No selkies."

"I'd much rather talk about your selkie than ridiculously expensive boat repairs."

"There's no selkie."

"That's not what I heard!" Toby said. He grinned, finally finding something to pull him out of his Monday blues. "I heard you were asking a lot of questions about selkies, and Sherry said you had a girl at your place!"

"Porlyusica is furious," Yuka added with a smirk. "Says you lied and said there wasn't anyone with a broken ankle, but she heard from Sherry that there was. You might want to avoid her if you value your life."

"And Sherry! She is not happy that you have another girl in your house."

Lyon groaned. "I accidentally scared some girl on the beach the other night, and she fell in the rocks and broke her ankle. She's just staying at my place until she's healed enough to go home. That's all. It's not half as dramatic as you're making it out to be."

"Isn't it?" Yuka's grin only widened. "Lyon the eternal bachelor has a girl in his house! This is amazing!"

Lyon gathered up the last tattered shreds of his dignity and stuck his nose in the air in defiance of his flushed cheeks. "Don't you think we should be getting started? We're already getting a late start, and we might be missing out on time next week."

"Sure, but–"

"Everyone else is already gone."

The other boats that had been moored at the docks had already disappeared out to sea with their crews at or before dawn, and the morning light was already strong since they'd had to wait on Jura for so long.

A fearsome glower adorned Yuka's face. "Oh, I can already hear Gajeel now, that smarmy bastard. He gloats about everything. He's going to say something about us being lazy and him beating us, I know he will."

"Gajeel will be Gajeel. Come on, let's go."

"While we're out, let's see if we can find you another selkie!"

"Let's go, Yuka. And try not to fall over the side, will you?"

Yuka flushed and stomped off to unmoor the boat. "That was one time. And I'm still pretty sure one of you pushed me."

Lyon and Toby exchanged a look and laughed.

"No," said Toby, "your balance just really sucks."

"There was a huge wave, okay?"

"Oh, Yuka." Lyon headed for the sail, and they were off. "There wasn't a wave to be seen."

Yuka grumbled as he set about steering the craft, but at least it got him to shut up about the selkies. Lyon loved his friends, he really did, but sometimes their teasing was a bit much. He was still reluctant to discuss Juvia with anyone, so he'd rather see that topic closed.

Thankfully, it was a lovely day. The sea was calm and the swells were gentle, but there was enough wind to make maneuvering the boat child's play. It was cool without dropping to chilly, which was always a danger in their part of the ocean. All in all, it was perfect.

Toby kept an eye on the conical trawling net towed behind the boat, while Lyon worked the smaller casting nets whenever he spotted a promising patch of ocean or school of fish. There was plenty to do between maneuvering the boat, casting and checking the nets, checking and baiting the small crab traps they'd hidden in likely spots, and sorting through the catch to determine what should be kept and what should be tossed back.

Lyon liked to keep his hands busy. Some people found this kind of working life bone-numbingly dull, but he found comfort in routine. He felt the most alive with the taste of salt on his tongue, sea spray misting his face, wind ruffling his hair, the rocking of the boat beneath his feet, the feel of rough rope sliding through his hands. He might not be a dreamer, enamored of philosophy and the arts and fantasies, but he liked life well enough.

Of course, a touch of fantasy had just come waltzing into his life in the form of Juvia. He wondered what she was doing while he was out here. Hopefully resting her ankle, but he wouldn't be surprised if she made it down to the beach at some point. The sea would, after all, always call her.

Or perhaps she was searching for her hidden skin. Wasn't that what selkies always did when the humans were gone? Lyon's mouth quirked into a frown as he hauled the net back in and began sorting the catch.

What if she did find her skin tucked away between the rocks? He could very well return home this evening to find her long gone. She would have plenty of time to search while he was at sea. The thought made him squirm, but there was nothing he could do about it now. No point fretting over something he couldn't control.

Something smacked him in the back of the head, and he whipped around to see Toby and Yuka standing behind him. Yuka rolled his eyes in exasperation while Toby grinned.

"What?" Lyon asked.

"Since when have you started daydreaming?" Yuka asked.

"I wasn't."

"Oh really? We already tried to get your attention twice."

"Time for lunch," Toby said happily.

Lyon abandoned the nets to grab his sandwich and sit cross-legged on the deck. He chewed on one end while Yuka and Toby settled with him in a loose circle with their own meals. The bread was hard as a rock, and Lyon's jaws began aching after the effort of the second bite.

"Really, that's what you thought would make a good lunch?" Yuka asked, shaking his head. "Time to marry Sherry already. At least she can cook."

"Is that cheese?" Toby demanded. He craned his neck to peer at Lyon's sandwich and pulled a face. "Gross. I don't understand how you can eat that. Fish and cheese do not go together."

"I was running out of food," Lyon said defensively. "I need to pick up some more groceries."

Yuka grinned. "You'd better hurry up with that. You left your lady friend without food? What a gentleman!"

"There's still food! Just…not that much food."

"Uh-huh. So, is she–?"

"Maybe," Lyon interrupted, "we should discuss what to do about the boat."

He gnawed at his sandwich and glowered at Yuka, who stared back while also eating his lunch as aggressively as possible. They were at a stalemate.

Thankfully, Toby came to the rescue.

"Toby had puppies yesterday," he said proudly.

Lyon seized the olive branch. "Again? Do we really need so many mangy mutts?"

"It's amazing we don't have a whole pack of feral dogs running around town by now," Yuka muttered.

Toby loved dogs the way most people loved life itself, and somehow adopting one fluffy, brown-furred stray had led to a dog explosion in town. The fact that he had named the dog—the female dog—after himself had earned him a great deal of ribbing.

"I take care of them," Toby said. "Although Toby does a good job taking care of her puppies herself. She even fought off Happy when he came prowling around!"

"Happy?" asked Lyon. "Happy is so spoiled that he couldn't even catch a mouse, much less a puppy."

Natsu's bluish-gray cat was so pampered by his owner that he had never needed to hunt a day in his life. It was a shame since he could have been a good mouser and therefore far more useful around town, but Natsu had never been terribly practical. Not that the cat would touch a mouse these days. He turned his nose up at anything but the freshest fish. Spoiled to the bone.

"Okay, but he came too close and started sniffing!" Toby said. A dog lover through and through, he had never picked up a fondness for cats.

Lyon and Yuka cackled merrily, and the trio bickered and teased as they finished up their lunches. Lyon lived for these moments, and his worries about Juvia had been entirely laid to rest by the time they cleared up and got back to work. It was a beautiful day with friends all around and work to be done, and there wasn't any need for worries.

The rest of the day proved uneventful, and they pulled in a good catch. Less than usual since they'd gotten a late start, but still a good day's work.

They sailed back to shore with light still in the sky and began unloading their catch.

"Hey, you guys want to help me carry everything into town?" Yuka asked.

Lyon thought about shoving the responsibility off on Toby as usual, but then shrugged. "Sure. I have to get groceries anyway."

"Look at that, Toby! We're actually getting the hermit into town for once!"

Toby snickered. "You're becoming a real spinster, Lyon."

Lyon rolled his eyes as he heaved up a sack of fish with a grunt. "I don't think that word means what you think it means."

"On the contrary, my friend." Yuka had never looked more smug. "I think Toby has exactly the right idea."

Lyon left a few fish tucked away on the boat to pick up on the way home and resigned himself to his friends' ribbing as they marched up the beach and along the path to town.

The three of them had made an arrangement long ago and stuck with it. They each kept a small share of the fish for their personal use, and Yuka was in charge of preparing and selling the rest of the catch and distributing the profits. Lyon felt it fair to saddle Yuka with this extra work since he was technically the 'captain' and got the largest share of the money, this being because he nominally owned the Lamia Scale and paid for repairs out of the shared profit. In truth, Lyon just liked saddling his friends with extra work.

Town looked rather lively when they arrived. Many people were closing up shop for the day, and several of the fishing crews had already returned. People bustled along the streets and in and out of wooden buildings, merry chatter filling the air. Lucy and her best friend, Levy, were sitting on a bench hunched over her latest poem and discussing it in quiet voices, while Natsu sulked farther down the street and played with Happy. Mira's younger siblings, Elfman and Lisanna, strolled towards their house with arms full of groceries.

Gajeel leaned against the outer wall of the pub, talking boisterously with the rest of the Phantom Lord's crew. His face split into a sharp grin when he spotted the rival crew hauling their catch in.

"Look who it is! Surprised you're back already, seeing what a late start you had. How do you think you're ever gonna win if you're always sleeping on the job?"

"Not everything is a competition," Lyon said.

"It is," Yuka growled. "And I fully intend to win."

Lyon shoved his load at Yuka and waved to Toby as he strolled off, leaving the fools to their bickering. Yuka should know better than to get into it with Gajeel by now. Lyon sometimes wondered if he just liked the drama.

Lyon kept one fish tucked under his arm, a beautiful silver-scaled specimen that would do nicely for paying Sherry back for the clothing. But first he headed for the bakery. The air was pleasantly warm and filled with the aroma of fresh-baked bread and sweet treats when he stepped inside. It definitely smelled better than the boat, which always stank of fish.

"You've been busy," he said.

The normal array of breads was displayed on the shelves, but now every available surface was covered in all sorts of cake. Mostly strawberry. Erza had a particular fondness for strawberry cake, which meant everyone else was forced to eat quite a lot of it.

Erza was busy slathering a cake with icing of the most horrendous shade of pink Lyon had ever seen, but looked up and grinned as he crossed the room. Dropping the knife, she tucked an escaped strand of crimson hair behind her ear before giving up and undoing her hair to put it back up in a neater ponytail.

"It's been a while," she said. She left a streak of pink in her hair, but Lyon decided not to comment. "What have you been eating?"

"Very old bread."

"Unacceptable. Here, want some cake?"

"I really just need some bread today."

"How can anyone say no to cake?" Erza asked, aghast. She rubbed at the side of her nose, leaving behind another pink smudge. "I hear you have a girl at your place. Girls love cake. Trust me, cake is the way to go."

Really, Lyon should have thought up a better cover story for what to tell everyone about Juvia.

"Bread is fine."

"You're so boring." Erza huffed and bagged up two loaves of bread for him. "By the way, if you hurt that girl—or Sherry—I will hunt you down."

Lyon shuddered and leaned back from the suddenly deadly look in her eyes. He knew she was serious and lived in mortal fear of the day she turned on him. When she was mad, she was a monster.

"Yeah… I'll behave."

"Good." Erza smiled brightly and snatched up a box of what appeared to be a dozen tiny cakes. "Here, and you can even have this for free. Say hi to your guest for me."

"I don't really think–"

"Go on, go on. Don't they look delicious? It's a new experiment of mine. I call them cupcakes."

Lyon frowned at the tiny treats. "Why?"

"Because I bake them in cups to make them that small."

Lyon stared at her, trying to determine whether or not she was joking, but she had a mean poker face. Either she was dead serious or poking fun at him.

"Well… Alright, then."

Lyon shoved some money at her and escaped, calling a hasty goodbye as she waved after him. It was getting hard to juggle the fish and bread and cupcakes—especially when the scent of fresh bread wafted past the pungent odor of fish to make his stomach growl—but he shuffled his burden about and headed for the grocery.

The grocery had the distinction of being one of the larger shops, and it was crammed full of rickety wooden shelving on which Bisca meticulously organized produce and products. Bisca herself was seated behind the counter, brow furrowed in thought as she nibbled on the end of a pencil and pored over the books. Her husband, Alzack, tended to leave affairs of money and organization up to her, and she made the final decisions where the store was concerned.

"You don't have Asuka today?" Lyon asked. He collected some fresh vegetables and meat and other staples and drifted over to drop everything on the counter. He glanced over the counter to see if the little black-haired girl was just hidden from view, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"She's playing with Chelia. Hopefully, they aren't disturbing Wendy and Porlyusica this time." Bisca looked up and gave him a once-over. She was usually friendly enough, but now her gray eyes were both stormy and reserved. Guarded, almost. Lyon wondered if she was just having a bad day or if he had unknowingly offended her. "Will this be all?" she asked with cool politeness.

"Um… Yeah." Lyon shifted uncomfortably as she tallied up the total and found a bag. "Is Alzack out hunting still?"

Alzack had an old but well-maintained rifle and was the best shot they had. He hunted game in the forests off to the west of town. It was mostly hares, squirrels, birds, and the occasional deer, but even the smaller game was appreciated by everyone. It was good to have meat to supplement all the fish they ate, and the more they hunted, the less they had to pay to bring in from traders.

"Yes." Bisca accepted his money and offered him the bag without looking at him. "Word around town is that you found a selkie."

Lyon really should have come up with a better story.

"Apparently all sorts of stories have been spreading. I accidentally scared a girl on the beach the other night, and she broke her ankle in the rocks. She's staying at my place until she heals. That's all."

"I see." Bisca finally met his gaze, eyes somber. "You're a nice boy, Lyon. If you did find a selkie, make sure you do right by her." She bent over the book again, breaking eye contact. "Have a nice evening."

"Uh… You too."

Lyon reshuffled all the bags and boxes and fish and hurried back outside. That had been weird. He shook his head, resolving to put it out of mind, and headed for Sherry's house.

He tapped his boot loudly against the door since his hands were full and waited to see if she would respond. She might still be at the shop, but her house was closer and he didn't want to walk any farther than he had too with all this stuff. No one answered immediately, and Lyon was resigning himself to walking all the way to the store when the door finally swung open and Sherry blinked at him in surprise.

"Lyon? I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

Lyon tried to gesture to the fish, but gave up when the motion threatened to dislodge everything else piled up in his arms. "I brought you your fish."

"Oh! Come on in and put everything down."

"Is anyone else home?" Lyon asked as he followed her inside.

Her house was larger than his and far tidier. They crossed the living room, and Lyon dropped everything onto the table with a sigh of relief. He stretched out his arms gratefully.

Sherry sidled closer, a mischievous twinkle in her eye and a sly grin on her face. "No, my parents are out. You and I can do whatever we want."

Lyon flushed and hurriedly backed up a couple of steps. "That's not what I meant!" he sputtered.

Sherry laughed, and the sultry look disappeared as quickly as it had come. She winked and turned away to examine the fish on her table.

"I know," she said cheerfully. "But you're just too easy to tease. You turn the cutest shade of red."

"I do not!"

"Honestly, you think I'd let you take my virtue so easily? You'd have to marry me first."

Lyon buried his face in his hands to hide his flush. "You're horrible."

That only made her laugh harder. "Don't worry, Chelia and Asuka are playing in the other room, so any plans you might have had will have to wait."

"Sherry!"

"Okay, okay. My mother is over at the shop. My father is at the bar getting drunk."

Lyon dropped his hands and studied her with frank curiosity, sensing that it was safe to come out of hiding now. "Are they fighting?"

Sherry rolled her eyes and swept across the kitchen to put the fish in the icebox, her skirt swishing about her ankles. "Of course not, although one might be brewing. They get along so sickeningly well that I think sometimes they plan out fights in advance just to spice things up. I'm guessing it's my mother's turn to get mad at Father for getting drunk or some such nonsense. Next time, he'll be mad at her because she didn't make dinner fast enough. Probably in about a month. They seem to be scheduling fights the first Monday of every month now."

"Your parents are…" Lyon trailed off, not sure it was polite to finish that thought.

"Strange, I know. But I guess it's kind of cute. They get along so well that they even agree on their fights."

"Good thing we still have tempers," he said before he thought better of it.

Sherry turned and stared at him before smiling a little to herself and looking away. Lyon suddenly found the plank floor very interesting.

"These are cute," Sherry said instead of jumping on the easy opportunity to tease him. She opened the lid of the bakery box and peered at the tiny cakes. "Has Erza been experimenting again?"

"Yeah, I guess so. She insisted I take a box for Juvia."

"Juvia, huh?" Sherry tapped a finger on the table as she considered the name, and Lyon hurried to cover up his faux pas.

"Do you want to try one?"

She shook her head. "If they're for her, I probably shouldn't."

"She doesn't need a dozen of them. Aren't you curious?"

Sherry laughed. "Oh, alright."

She chose one of the cupcakes, eyeing the swirled pink frosting and paper wrapper around the bottom before taking a bite. Lyon took one too—the fish and cheese sandwich hadn't been that satisfying, and he was starving after a long day—and the sweet flavor of strawberry exploded on his tongue.

"Always strawberry," he said as he wolfed down the treat and licked the icing from his fingers.

"Well, it is Erza. They're really good, thanks." Sherry took his wrapper to throw it away in the trash, followed shortly after by hers. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Sorry, but I can't tonight."

"Your girlfriend is expecting you back?" She kept her gaze carefully blank as she turned back to him, but he thought he detected an underlying edge of annoyance.

"She's not–" Lyon shook his head and gave up. "There's not really any food left in the house, and it's bad manners to leave a guest."

"You could always invite her too. I'm interested in meeting her."

Warning bells blared in Lyon's ears. "That's alright," he said quickly. "Her ankle is still recovering. And aren't your parents possibly planning a fight for tonight? Maybe another time."

"I suppose. She must be keeping you busy." Sherry's eyebrows rose in the way they often did right before she scored a point. "Is that why you missed the service yesterday?"

"Yeah, I was up late trying to fix her ankle and overslept." Lyon relaxed. That was something with an easy answer. Easier than he had expected.

"So, have you had girls staying over quite often, then? You've been missing a lot of church over the past months."

Clearly, he had celebrated too soon. "Uh… No? I've just sort of been…busy?"

This was both a small and religious community, so people noticed when someone started missing mass on the Sabbath. Lyon went occasionally, but not nearly as often as he should. He had been religious when he was younger, but he had slowly lost the feeling over time. Although he more or less believed in his head, he no longer felt it in his heart. That was something he didn't want to discuss with anyone or even look at too closely himself. The others would disapprove, and he felt like he was failing at something too.

"Right." Sherry picked up the box of cupcakes and made for the door. "I'm headed over to the chapel anyway, so you might as well come pray with me for a few minutes since you didn't make it yesterday."

"But–"

"I'll be back in a little while!" she called more loudly. "You girls behave yourselves!"

"Okay!" Chelia called back.

Lyon gave up and snatched the grocery bags before hurrying after her. The church sat in a place of prominence at the far end of town, and they walked in companionable silence. Lyon fidgeted in discomfort when he followed Sherry inside. It was a humble building for a humble town, but it had been crafted with more care and love than any other, from the delicately carved altar to the sturdy wooden pews to the crucifix and wooden statues.

Lyon had once been able to feel something bigger than himself filling up this place, but now it felt empty and barren and that made him feel guilty and out of place. The closest he ever came to feeling that now was out at sea with the wind in his face and waves rocking beneath his feet. He always felt more out in nature than inside a building, no matter how lovingly crafted.

He slid into a pew beside Sherry and dropped the bags to kneel on the ground with her. He let his gaze and mind wander as he waited for her to finish, but one look at her dutifully bowed head made him feel bad again and he tried to buckle down.

He started with silently reciting some of the prayers he had grown up with, but the words felt hollow even in his head.

So… Hi. It's been a long time, huh?

Lyon winced at how dumb he sounded even in his own head. The longer he went without praying, the harder it was to start again. It seemed like poor taste to ask for a bunch of stuff right off the bat, especially considering he hadn't been a very good disciple lately, so he rattled off a list of the things he was grateful for first and ended with an awkward thank you.

And, uh, it would be great if you could help me figure out how to handle things with Sherry. And figure out what to do with Juvia. And maybe convince Gray to come back already. And… Yeah. Amen?

He fidgeted some more until Sherry stood, raising an eyebrow and nodding towards the exit. He nodded quickly, snatched up the bags, and made a beeline for the door.

"If you don't like coming alone, you can come with me next week," she said as she walked down the street with him.

Lyon gave her a sidelong look. As uncomfortable as the whole experience had been, it would have been a lot worse without her steadying presence beside him. Honestly, despite her teasing, she seemed to make him a better person. If anyone could help him get his life together, it was her.

"Maybe I will," he said. "Here, want to give me that box? I should really get going."

"I'll walk you to the end of the street at least," Sherry said, keeping a tight grip on the box. "Hey, do you think you'll make it into town on Friday?"

"I don't know, Sherry. I'm pretty busy. I can make it on the weekend for sure."

"I'd really prefer Friday."

"Sorry, but I can do Saturday."

Sherry opened her mouth to protest, but then snapped it shut and frowned at the ground. "Fine."

Lyon's grin finally broke free. "Oh, of course I'll come. You didn't really think I'd forget your birthday, did you? And even if I did, Erza's sudden proliferation of cakes should have given it away. Looks like you'll be getting strawberry again this year."

Sherry blinked at him and then fought back a smile. "You're so mean."

"Can't help it. You have to let me get in a shot at you every once in a while. It's not fair when you always win."

The sky was darkening in earnest now, and Lyon was glad the streets were emptier than before. He even made it past the pub without having to deal with Gajeel or Yuka.

"Please," Sherry said with a laugh. "I'm always going to win. You should bring your Juvia with you for the party. We're all dying to meet her."

Lyon was hesitant to commit when he wasn't yet sure if he wanted to hand Juvia over to the townsfolk. "We'll see how her ankle is doing on Friday."

Sherry opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a loud screech from behind them.

"Lyon, you little brat! I told you to bring anyone with a broken ankle to me!"

They whipped around to see a livid Porlyusica hobbling after them. For an elderly woman who often complained of arthritic joints, she was moving awfully fast.

"Oh, crap," Lyon breathed.

Sherry laughed and shoved the box of cupcakes at his chest. "Run, Lyon! I'll keep her off you."

"Thanks! See you Friday!"

Lyon took off at a quick clip despite his heavy load. He didn't want to be caught by Porlyusica on a good day, much less when she was mad at him. He hoped she didn't harass Sherry too badly.

It was well and truly dark by the time he picked his way along the rocky path to retrieve his fish and shove the front door open with his foot. The lamps were already lit, so it looked like Juvia hadn't found her skin yet.

"I'm back!" he called.

He found Juvia in the kitchen, and the smell of burnt assaulted his nostrils the second he set foot inside. She was standing by the range and frowning into a pot above the flames, but turned to give him a sheepish smile. Lyon dropped everything on the table and hurried over.

The pot was filled with water and a handful of unidentifiable objects. Maybe it was supposed to be soup.

"Oh no, were you that hungry? I'm sorry it took me so long. I had to get groceries from town, and I got a little caught up."

He dumped everything into the sink and fished out anything solid to toss in the trash.

Juvia shook her head, some mix of embarrassed and discouraged, and launched into a series of hand gestures that took Lyon several minutes of guessing to decipher.

"You wanted to make dinner for me?" he said.

She nodded and dropped her gaze to the ground, digging the toe of her shoe into the floorboards.

"O-oh. Thanks, I appreciate it. Don't worry, I'm not a good cook either, and I don't have the excuse of living in the sea all my life. I once wanted to make tomato soup and just stuck a whole tomato in a pot of water. My mother nearly died laughing." He smiled sheepishly and scratched at his head. "I'm not sure if you know what a tomato is, actually, but that's definitely the wrong way to make soup with it."

Juvia looked up and smiled as her self-consciousness faded away again. Lyon pulled a chair over so that she could sit and rest her ankle, and then threw together a quick soup accompanied by a cooking lesson. Juvia watched with rapt attention and cut up vegetables for him while he did his best to explain the rules of cooking when he wasn't too familiar with them himself. The one thing he was good at was preparing a fish, and this he showed her with great relish.

When everything was safely cooking, he put away the rest of the groceries, offered Juvia a cupcake as an appetizer before their late dinner, and checked on her ankle. On the latter count, the swelling looked better already, which he took as a good sign. Maybe they wouldn't need the full six weeks after all.

"What did you do today?" he asked while their dinner simmered.

He almost asked if she had been looking for her skin, but luckily his verbal filter caught that before it escaped his mouth. He did notice that all the dirty dishes he'd left piled on the counter were conspicuously absent, so she must have washed them and searched through the cabinets until she found their homes. That was slightly embarrassing.

Juvia perked up right away, eyes sparkling as she jumped to her feet and limped to the living room despite Lyon's protests that she should be resting her ankle. She sat down on the floor by the low wooden table and gestured widely, a grin plastered on her face.

A large collection of shells was laid out on the table, each meticulously washed clean and arranged neatly by similarity. There were small shells, large shells, scalloped shells, smooth shells, spiral shells, curved shells, white shells, pink shells.

"Wow."

Lyon wanted to tell her she was supposed to have been resting, but it was hard when she seemed so excited. Her eyes shone as she picked out her favorites and gave them to Lyon, her hands waving about in rapid excitement. He couldn't quite tell what she meant most of the time, but he had to smile anyway.

It occurred to him that she was probably down on the beach because she missed the sea, and the shells might have been her way of bringing a piece of it home with her.

"Just a second," he said.

He replaced the shells on the table and left Juvia blinking after him as he fetched the shell from his room. It was a large conch shell that his mother had found long ago and kept, and he had kept it after her death. He ran his fingers over its surface, sighed, and headed back.

"Here." He crouched down beside Juvia and handed her the shell. "If you put your ear up to it, you can hear the sea. Sort of. I mean, not really. It has something to do with sound resonance, but it sort of sounds like the ocean. So when you really miss the sea, you can listen to that and maybe it will feel a little more like home."

Juvia took it from him reverently, small hands exploring every inch of its surface before she lifted it to her ear. Her brows scrunched into a frown for a moment, but then her entire face lit up in awe.

Lyon smiled. "We should check on our dinner."

Juvia smiled back and let him help her to her feet. When they headed back to the kitchen, she didn't release his hand and her other hand stayed clamped firmly around the conch. She didn't need any words at all to say thank you.

Note: Couldn't ignore Lyon's daily routine entirely, but next chapter is all selkie-related lol