Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail.
"Thanks for coming all the way out here to accept my request," A man that looks to be in his fifties bowed to Juvia and Natsu. He adjusted his glasses and swept away his whitening bangs. "I'm Wilbur Newman, a doctor. I'm sure you know that I'm looking for a mushroom on a specific island. Sadly, I've come across a patient that can't be healed by any conventional means, so please, get me five Summerburn Mushrooms."
"Then, do you know where in the island can the mushrooms be found? It'll make our work easier, Juvia is sure that will benefit the both of us."
"Of course, these mushrooms only grow around this time of year, I heard they are most commonly found near dead trees, but they can be found just about anywhere on the island. They are white in colour but have red jewel-like beads on the surface of the mushrooms. It shouldn't be hard to miss, if you have further trouble, I hear that the local wildlife there enjoy eating them."
"Are they tasty?" Natsu's bored demeanor changed completely after hearing of mushroom's 'attractive' qualities.
"Natsu!" Juvia smacked Natsu's shoulders as his unprofessional act.
"What? I'm hungry."
"Sorry for my partner's actions." Juvia bowed slightly.
"No, no, it's fine to be like this, that's what youth is about after all." The doctor laughed heartily. "And yes, I heard that they are delicious if cooked properly. But please, keep in mind that you must give me five mushrooms, I don't care how many you eat as long I get the required amount and you don't eat so much that it'll harm the eco-system over there."
"No problem pops! We'll get you the mushrooms in no time! Come on Juvia!" Natsu pulled Juvia by the hand again, ignoring the redness of Juvia's face or the chuckling of Wilbur-san.
Now outside, Juvia smelt the ocean air again, just like when we came here, the Autumn chill was negated by the dome of heat that Natsu is emitting which, thanks to Natsu pulling Juvia, Juvia is well within the effective range of the dome.
"Natsu, while Juvia likes your enthusiasm, you realise that we are going to an island right?" Natsu's fast-pace walking stopped. "That means we're going on a boat." Juvia finished with a smile.
"C—can we swim?"
"No, we don't even know where the island is."
"I'm not getting on that death machine again!" Natsu took off, running as fast as he could, troubling, because Juvia really can't catch up to him when he's like this. So Juvia employed her next best method.
"Natsuuu!" Juvia made a cone over her mouth, projecting her voice as far as she could. "If you don't come back now, Juvia won't help you with your sickness or cook food!" The speck of pink hair became bigger and bigger as Natsu came running back with a defeated face.
"Sorry…"
"Juvia knows that your motion sickness is bad but, please don't go running away like that, you're just delaying things."
"But it feels like I'm dying when I'm on one of those things…" Juvia now knows why Mira would tease Natsu when they were kids, this sulking side of Natsu is unbelievably cute.
"That's why Juvia is here right?"
"I still have to get on one of those…things." Even with the talk we had, Juvia still had to drag Natsu on board the boat to Lockwild Island.
It's been a while since Juvia was out on sea, the last time was S-class exams, lots of things happened since then, as the waves rocked the boat slightly, Juvia thought about how crazy it is to have Juvia's love interest change from Gray-san to Natsu. Looking at Natsu's soothed expression reminded Juvia that this trip to the island is two days long, meaning Natsu has to eat while being seasick, Juvia winced at the thought of Natsu throwing up what he ate every meal. Perhaps Natsu can starve for the trip, but that seems too cruel for someone that likes to eat…what has Juvia done? Will he hate Juvia?
The time that Juvia dreaded has come, Natsu woke up feeling hungry and sick at the same time. Slumping against the window, Natsu was first groaning at his sickness, then complaining about how hungry he is. With a plate of food on Juvia's side and another next to a Natsu's, Juvia already finished her meal while Natsu was still struggling to pick up a spoon. Never in Juvia's life would she expect to finish a meal before Natsu will. Unable to watch any further, Juvia picked up the plate and spoon.
"Juvia will feed you, just don't throw up on Juvia." Natsu looked at Juvia like he's seen an angel, rejoicing at his salvation.
"I'll…try…" While Juvia should be happy that she gets to feed the man of her dreams, Juvia was too busy worrying about Natsu's welfare and dodging food bits that came flying off Natsu's mouth when Natsu started coughing and wrenching. Juvia should make plans to do this again, but without the transportation. Maybe Juvia can find a way to negate his motion sickness, Levy did say something about reading up remedies for Gajeel, perhaps Juvia should join her.
After spooning the final mouthful to Natsu's groaning mouth, Juvia wiped Natsu's mouth and leaned his head to Juvia's lap once more. Juvia really can't wait until Natsu becomes energetic again.
The splashing of water and the disappearance of Natsu told Juvia that he wasn't bothered to wait for the boat to dock, so Juvia told the captain that Juvia will be following her companion; took some provisions and jumped out of the boat as well. Juvia found Natsu hugging a pile of sand and kissing a rock. Juvia already changed into something that's a bit more suited in a tropic climate, a light blue t-shirt with a brown vest and jean shorts. Seeing how Natsu is still revering the sand, Juvia decided to give Natsu a proper meal after two days of struggling. Juvia asked Natsu to start a fire after Juvia built a fireplace, then Juvia laid out some ingredients and her cooking tools. Soon, the smell of cooking food was in the air along with the whining of a hungry dragon slayer.
Seeing Natsu's brilliant smile that Juvia hasn't seen in two days was really refreshing in contrast to the face of death that Juvia has been seeing. One thing is for sure, Juvia has her jolly dragon slayer back, and his appetite is still as voracious as ever, munching down anything that Juvia cooked up in a heartbeat. While Natsu was eating his food, Juvia was looking at a map that the captain gave Juvia, but Natsu stopped Juvia from reading, saying how it's more fun to find it without any help—mouth still full of food of course.
The wildlife here is just like Levy has said, they look similar to the animals Juvia can find back in Magnolia, some of them have thinner coats. Boars that looks leaner; mice with bigger teeth; butterflies that look more like the local foliage. One thing that wasn't like anything that Juvia has ever seen, was the trees here. One species stood out to Juvia. While the rest was the same kind that you can find anywhere, Juvia spotted a species of tree that she has never seen before, even Natsu that has travelled more than Juvia has never seen it. The leaves were green like usual but, in the middle of the leaf, was a transparent film in the shape of a circle. Since it was pretty, Juvia took a few in hopes to press it into a bookmark as a gift of Levy and Lucy.
The most exciting thing about coming here was that the climate feels like summer back in Magnolia. The warm breeze was calming, full of moisture and not dry, chilling.
After a few minutes of walking, we found half-eaten mushrooms that matches Wilbur-san's description growing by a tree, Natsu commented that there is the scent of boar on the mushrooms and on the tree. At least we know that these mushrooms grow nearby, so we became more vigilant in spotting for fungus. This resulted in Natsu spotting mushroom stems, signs of something being uprooted and more half-eaten fungi.
"Well, it is something that grows only in this time of year, so Juvia is sure that other people are here to harvest them." Juvia picked up the stem of the mushroom Natsu found. "Do you think you can get a scent out of this?"
"No problem." Natsu sniffed the stem several times. "Got it." Natsu then cooked it with him flames and threw the thing into his mouth.
"Natsu! Why did you eat it!?"
"But it smells good," Natsu swallowed the food. "and tastes good. Juvia, you should have some."
"We're on a job Natsu! We'll first secure the five mushrooms first, then if there is any left, Juvia will cook something."
"Then let's get a move on, I smell a couple not far from here." Natsu took the lead, sniffing at minute intervals, becoming more frequent as we got close—according to Natsu.
"Found it!" Natsu pointed to two white mushrooms with sanguine dews growing by a rock. Juvia took out a sack from her bag and pulled out the mushrooms from the stem. Placing them in the sack, Juvia instructed Natsu to continue our hunt.
The mushrooms that we gathered must have a really strong smell that Juvia can't pick up on, because when Juvia was carrying two, some mice and squirrels were following Juvia. By the time we had three, animals like hedgehogs and foxes were appearing more often. Once we had five, even more animals showed up, and the bigger ones like boars, attacked us. We decided to harvest ten more before finishing up.
The evening sun was already there when Juvia started cooking, Natsu was spit-roasting some of the boar we took down while he was waiting for Juvia to finish. We found a pond the set camp since water is nearby. Since this was Juvia's first time in cooking Summerburn Mushrooms, it took quite a bit of thinking and experimenting before Juvia turned out something that is good. When slicing the Summerburns, the red beads would release some kind of sweet liquid with the consistency of syrup. The meal ended with a full and happy Natsu. Juvia placed the remaining mushrooms in a stasis container to get rid of the scent that it was still emitting. Plus, not worrying about the shrooms decaying is a bonus.
"Should we make a fire? It is getting dark." Natsu turned to face Juvia while still lying on the ground.
"Juvia thinks that's a good idea." Natsu stood up.
"Then, I'll get some wood, I need a good exercise after eating anyways." As Natsu's footsteps gradually faded, the absence of Natsu reminded Juvia what she came here for. Interacting with him really takes a lot out of a person, not to mention when you're trying to focus on finding something all the while looking at the sights of an island that's full of new things really distracted Juvia. Most likely we'll be going back in the morning, so tonight is Juvia's last chance. Maybe Juvia can convince Natsu to stay around for a bit longer to play at the beach, Juvia hasn't used her swimsuit yet, also, Natsu would take any opportunity to not get on transportation. Then Juvia will have a bit more time. Worse comes to worse, Juvia can wait for another time…
"I'm back!" Natsu cheerfully came into our camp, arms full of bundles of sticks Building fire really is easy with a fire mage; within seconds, Juvia could feel the warmth of a roaring fire. We sat together within arms-reach for a while, talking about the guild, sharing childhood stories—it was mainly Natsu sharing—and making jokes. Night reached us after talking for a long time. We would have kept going if it wasn't for one thing that caught us off guard. The leaves of the strange trees started glowing!
The lights from the leaves didn't really have one colour, they were just about every colour from the rainbow as far as Juvia can tell. And it wasn't a bright glow either, it was a soft one.
"This is amazing!" Natsu grabbed a few twigs from the glowing trees and took a closer look. We noticed that the film was the one that's making the mysterious light, whatever it is, it seems to attract bugs, making them dance in a circle pattern. While all of this as happening, Juvia was thinking of ways confess to Natsu. "Juvia! Look at this!" Natsu pointed at the octagon forming at the middle of the film.
"Natsu…"
"What?"
"Juvia has been meaning to tell you for a while now but…"
"Why are you so serious all of the sudden?" Natsu's face was peering into Juvia's eyes with curiosity. And so close!
"It's no—nothing!" Juvia messed up!
"You sure? You can tell me what's been bothering you for the past week or so."
"How do you know that!?"
"I'm your friend, what kind of friend am I if I didn't notice you've been troubled. If I can help you, I'll do anything that I can."
"Th—then can you—can you…" Juvia can't say it…why!? Juvia had no problems with Gray-san, so why not with Natsu? Juvia bit her lip in frustration, balling her fist to the point of shaking.
"W—what's wrong? Did I do something?"
"Juvia really—" Juvia's throat clogged up again. "Juvia…" Why!? Drops of tears started forming, rolling down Juvia's cheeks once they got big enough.
"If you have problems, you can wait until next time. But first," Natsu took off his scarf and wrapped it around Juvia's neck. "stop crying, will you?" Natsu whispered.
"But—"
"Can I say something first?"
"Ehh?" Natsu wrapped Juvia into a hug, spreading his warmth to Juvia's body. "Na—Natsu?"
"I don't know what's hurting you but, I can try to ease your pain, you suffered for so long. I don't want you to be hurt again." We stayed like this for a long time or what feels like a long time, Juvia couldn't tell, her heart was beating and her face feels hot.
"Hey Juvia."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for being with me. Being on jobs with you has been so much fun."
"Same here."
"Let's keep on going on more adventures like this."
"Gladly…" Natsu released the hug, cooling Juvia's body. A part of Juvia wants to grab onto him and never let go, especially now that Juvia is so close to succeeding.
"Are you better now?"
"Yes…"
"Then, let's go to sleep." No! Not now! Juvia was so close! Whether it was thanks to desperation or because Juvia gained more courage, Juvia threw her whole-body weight onto Natsu, knocking him down to the ground. "Juvia?"
"P—please let Juvia be selfish this one time..."
"What do you mean?" Throwing away all caution and shyness away, Juvia summoned all her courage.
"Juvia loves you!"
"Wha—"
"For all this time! Juvia has been trying to tell you this for so long but failed so many times! This is sudden, a—and you might find Juvia weird…but still—" Natsu crashed his lips to Juvia's! It was light, short. Yet, it was packed more passion than Juvia has ever experienced.
"I told you before, I don't hate weird right? In fact," Natsu buried his head into Juvia's hair. "I love your kind of weird." Natsu loves Juvia…
"T—then"
"Do I really have to say it?" Natsu pecked Juvia's forehead and caressed her head. "I love you." Juvia cuddled against her new boyfriend, feeling his body features; taking in his heat. Feeling bold, Juvia kissed Natsu, with him being more than happy to comply.
"Juvia is glad that she came to this island. Juvia finally has her prince."
"Are you ready to go to sleep then?"
"Can we sleep together?"
"Anything for my princess."
Thanks for reading! I'm finally getting somewhere with this story, wooo!
Hope I wrote this part well, this is my very first love story, but I know that confessions like these are important in these types of stories, so do let me know how I did, I want to improve after all.
Now, the reasons why I wanted to put this 'arc' on a tropic island is mainly because I wanted to write a chapter revolving around summer, since I'm sure lot's of you guys are on summer vacation. I'm pretty late on this but, expect a summer-y chapter on the next one!
Untill then, hope you enjoyed! I look forward to your feedback!
