Note:

Flashbacks and thoughts in italics

'Thoughts' in the flashbacks are in plain text.

I do not condone or encourage any behaviors in this story. It is simply a fictional story.


"Butterfly Effect"


CHAPTER 9

Teahouse


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Loke stepped over a sewer grate right across a quiet Chinese tea house beyond the lane. He pulls out the cloth inside his pocket and a few silver coins hit the wet flagstone path. "Heavens. I thought I lost everything."

"Silver coins." Juvia commented with a blank face.

He replied in a sing song voice. "I was gone for a mission the other day."

The curls of her blue lashes rose up to the skin under her eyebrows. "You lost all that cash!"

"Nope. I kept all of 'em, notes... in the guild. Only the coins." He's had to exchange them for jewels. It not like Loke wanted her to fret. "We almost died," He doesn't think he has to explain everything else that had happened... "and this—" He stooped down and jabbed a pale knuckle to one coin. "—right here... is not important." Then, with a slight grin, Loke gestured to the tea shop. "Can we get inside now."

Juvia nodded, eyes fixed down at the herringbone patterns of the outdoor flooring. "You don't have to pay. I have an umm..." Loke looked at her confused. Juvia can only supress a sigh when her habit of rejecting monetary help kicked in, in a jiffy. "a pair of sapphire studs..." Her nose wasn't pierced. So his glance directly went to her ears, a part of her body that was visible to him. Nope, there was only her clear water skin. He imagined dipping a finger in the water surface to see the rippling circles. While he could envision the places on a female body where a stud could be, he did not let his mind stray any further.

"that I forgot to throw away in the river. I don't need it anymore." Juvia added. "I'll get it now!"

"No!" His gaze instinctually roved down her body.

"I don't like piercings." Juvia flinched. "I haven't."

Hiking both eyebrows, the sunny head bit his bottom lip. She had acted liked she was traumatized. "But why would you throw it away?" It's expensive...?

"It's something from Gray. That is... He got it on a mission, and you know, he too doesn't like studs."

He doesn't? Loke gave her a half smile. "Ok. Alright, but we're not renting a house. So, I'll pay. You can throw it away later. " He wagged his eyebrows.

The teahouse itself wasn't popular. Loke noted as Juvia chose a seat against the wall futher into the room. The interior felt ethnic but unpretentious. Oblong paper lanterns and shinto stools were subtly arranged, everything fragrant like smashed cinnamon.

"Can I get a creamed corn egg drop soup?"

"A vegetable noodle soup for me."

They can see a blueth river spread out into the dawn, amidst a clatter of branches poking to the frame of the balcony window. A few houses flanked the sides, on the foot of round iridescent hills, and several scattered across the hillside below the snow line. A little closer to the tea shop, fat sheeps dilly dallied about flowery meadow patches. "Such a pretty place. Too bad I didn't find it before." Loke pressed a hand to his forehead, and sighed dramatically.

Juvia laughed before she noticed the changing mixture of expressions on the other's face.

"Wait." The young man looked at her like a deer in the headlights. "I think I've been here before."

"Hah."


Author's Note:

That's a short part. But I'm satisfied.

If you liked it. Buckle up and enjoy the ride. If you didn't like it, please don't read. If you have any constructive opinions, do tell.