Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!
Happy new year everyone, I hope you all had a good holiday celebrating whatever it is you all celebrate. I've been slacking on stories on updates, I know and this is the 2nd year in a row I've missed my Christmas day and New year's day upload with 2 stories that I've been procrastinating with. I should really get them done lmao.
Still, here is a new year's gift from me to show you all I'm still alive.
ENJOY!
The wrong girl
Chapter six
When they returned to their hotel, Natsu didn't return to his room. He let Happy go by himself while he headed up to the penthouse floor. He spoke Juvia's name into the intercom and was allowed to come up in the lift. His stomach churned as he felt sick, but he didn't even let it bother him too much. His mate needed comforting and that was more important than anything in the world right about now. He could feel her anguish and that made him more sick than the moving lift. He smiled tightly to the bellhop that manned the floor from his desk before heading to Juvia's suite.
He composed himself before knocking on the door, wanting her to let him in. He could hear her shift from somewhere in the suite, but she made no attempt to open the door up. He sighed knowing that this was going to happen. Still, he wasn't just going to give up.
"Juves, I know you're in there. I can hear and smell you. I just want you to know, I'm still not judging you. I know why you did it, I also know that it was the real reason why your name was on the job advert. I'm sorry I couldn't be the person that you trust. I'll try harder next time. But just know, I'm not gonna leave until you open this door and I can see that you're okay."
He sat down in front of her door and leaned his head back against it. He didn't care how long he had to wait for her to open the door, he was going to wait.
Without even realising it, an hour went by before he heard his name. Her voice sounded weak and hoarse, as if she had been crying the entire time and knowing her, she probably had been.
"Natsu? Are you still there?"
He smiled. "Of course I am. Are you going to let me in now?"
There was nothing but silence before he could hear the mechanism in the door whirring and the door was pulled open. He didn't move fast enough as he ended up falling backwards, staring up at the beautiful water mage. She was stunned as she stared back down at him before he laughed and stood up.
Even though her eyes were red from her tears and her hair was everywhere, she was still the most beautiful girl that he had ever seen. He closed the door behind him as Juvia tried to smooth down her hair and look presentable. He smiled softly and shook his head.
"Don't do that, you look fine."
She snorted in disbelief. "Juvia doubts that."
"You're right, you look better than fine. You look beautiful."
They were silent again before Juvia sighed and moved away from him. Natsu knitted his eyebrows together. Had he said or done something wrong? He didn't like the energy that she gave off, but that was to be expected.
She was the first to break the silence as she looked away from him when she spoke. "So you guys saw Juvia kill..."
Natsu nodded. It hadn't even been the most violent death he's ever seen before. Probably the opposite. With the way that she had steadily drained Vidaldus of his blood, it was pretty anticlimactic. It was probably for the best and he realised that he really had no judgement for Juvia. He wasn't sure if it was because of the mate bite that was making him biassed or if it was because Vidaldus deserved it after hearing how long Juvia has been suffering mentally.
"I'm gonna guess that you did all that last night too? I was wondering why the list suddenly got shorter. No one else mentioned it, so I thought I was losing my mind or something. You could have told me, we're partners!"
Juvia moved away from him and headed into the living space. He followed her as she sat down on the sofa. He wanted to sit down next to her, but decided to give her enough room. She still looked shaken up by the events and forcing her to speak to him wasn't going to work. She had to speak at her own pace.
"Juvia is the only one who has killed as many times as she has on this team. Erza-chan killed Ikaruga, but from what Juvia heard, that was an accident. Juvia is a killer, not you. Juvia didn't want you to sink to her level, so she did what she had to do. This wasn't your job, it was Juvia's. Please don't think that Juvia doesn't trust you, Juvia trusts Natsu a lot, which is why Juvia couldn't tell you about this. It was something personal that Juvia needed to do for herself, by herself."
Natsu understood what it meant when you wanted to do something yourself, but he just hated the way Juvia shouldered everything and didn't even want to see him. "But it could have been our job if you had just told me. All those things Vidaldus said to you, they weren't true."
Juvia shot him a look of unbridled shock before she huffed out a surprised laugh. "You would've killed people if Juvia had told you what she was doing? Not a chance, not even the mate bite would make you lose your morals and Juvia wouldn't want you to either. How did you know what he said to Juvia?"
Natsu pointed to his ears. "Even though we weren't close enough to make it in time, I could still hear your conversation. Don't you dare let him get into your head, we love you! You've got friends, people who care for you and will never throw you aside. All that bullshit about being dark and twisted, fuck him. He's a fucking liar and he has no clue what he's talking about! He doesn't know about the bonds we share in Fairy Tail! You don't even know what I would do for you! You're my mate-"
"NO I'M NOT!"
They were both panting heavily, staring at one another through wide eyes. They were so heated up that the two of them had stood up without even realising, practically yelling in each other's faces. Juvia cut her eyes from his as she held herself as she stepped back. Natsu was surprised to hear her speak in the first person, but that just showed how emotional she was right now. It hurt that they weren't really each other's mates and Natsu wasn't sure if the pain in his chest was Juvia's or his own. He decided that it was both when he heard her voice crack as she spoke.
"I'm not your mate, Natsu. I'm not your real mate. You bit me by accident. We didn't fall in love with each other, you did it by accident. The girl who is supposed to be on the other end of this bite should have been Lucy, not me. You're just saying you love me because of this stupid bite! What is there to love about me?! I'm a stalker, a weirdo, a freak of nature! I made it rain everywhere I went for a good portion of my life! I never saw the sun until I was 17 years old! On top of that, I'm a killer, a murderer! Natsu...I'm nothing."
Natsu wore an expression like thunder. He was so pissed off that she would think of herself like that and without even realising it, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. She yelped, but felt no pain and Natsu did the only thing he could think of doing at that moment. He kissed her.
He pushed his lips against hers and just silenced any other words she would have said. He could feel her astonishment as she hesitated before she tried to push him away. She must have been strong if she was trying to defy both him and the mate bite. For her to try and push him away even though her body would have been screaming to give into him was a strength he couldn't ignore. And it turned him on.
Still, he gave her what she wanted and he let her go. He pulled back and released her wrists, but he was still close enough to kiss her again if he wanted to. She looked like a deer in the headlights as she stared at him and Natsu felt the guilt creep in. After all, she was right. They weren't really mates and they were supposed to be finding a way to stop themselves from giving into the bite, not encouraging it.
"Sorry, for kissin' you like that. It was the first thing that came into my mind to try and make you feel better."
Her cheeks turned a pretty pink colour. "N-no, it's f-fine. Juvia is sorry for pushing you away, she was just so surprised."
Natsu laughed a little bit, trying to pretend like nothing awkward had just happened while moving away from her. What he wasn't expecting was for Juvia to pull him back towards her. Before he could even ask what was going on, Juvia's lips were on his. His eyes shut immediately as he savoured the feel of her plump lips against his. With Juvia kissing him back this time, he felt like he was on cloud 9. He moved his arms around her waist and pulled their hips together.
Juvia opened her mouth to gasp as they pulled away once more. They were shell shocked as they surveyed each other. They didn't really know what to say, but after a while, it was Juvia who broke the silence once again with a cute blush on her face and an equally adorable question.
"Juvia was wondering if the offer to be her teddy bear for the night was still available?"
Natsu cheesed in her face as he held out his hand for hers before they headed to her room. He thought the bed that he had in his room was comfortable, Juvia's was nothing but a cloud. He got into it and tugged Juvia so that she fell against his chest. His arms flew up and around her, as if he were shielding her from everything that had happened in the last few hours. She appreciated his comfort as if this were something that they do regularly.
"Well, seeing as you offed everyone that we were supposed to get, I say we can afford a little lie in, right?"
Juvia groaned and hid her face in his neck. "It is way too early to be making murder jokes, Natsu."
"You're right. But I'm right too, right?"
"If Juvia has to hear the word 'right' again, she will show Natsu how wrong he really is."
Natsu chortled as he held her a little tighter. He couldn't quite believe that they were here in bed together right now. It was almost like a big fuck you to wanting the mate bite to fade away. He wondered if Juvia felt the same way. "Feisty, I like it. But seriously, get some sleep. We're gonna be having a fat lie in tomorrow and then we should grab something to eat! After all, we can still ride out the rest of the job here, right? We're not in a rush to get home."
She sighed against his neck which tickled him. Juvia giggled in his ear and did it again, making Natsu thumb her mate bite. She moaned lightly before pulling her head back to glare at him, making him glare at her too.
"You started it, I ended it."
Juvia flopped back down, throwing her leg over his under the covers. Natsu grew warm and he wondered if he would accidentally end up setting the place on fire if he was going to have to sleep this close to her tonight. He could feel everything she had to offer. Her soft curves, her breasts pushed up against him. Also, she was in such a short and see through dress, he wondered why he didn't notice it before.
"Goodnight Natsu. Thank you for being there for Juvia, even if it is just because of the mate bite."
He placed a soft kiss on her mate bite and her breath hitched her throat. His blood roared in his ears at her reaction, but he reigned it in, practically counting to ten in his head before he responded. "No worries. Goodnight."
He waited until her breathing evened out and she was asleep. He stroked her hair and silently prayed to Kami or whoever was out there listening that he got to keep Juvia as his mate. He wanted his reasoning to be that it was because it would be too exhausting to feel this way about another girl, but even he knew that wasn't the case. It was almost like he could feel the difference between his feelings and the mate bite. The bite didn't do much. It just made them horny for one another. Whatever feelings they developed for one another...that was completely on them.
He smiled, his fingers still running through her hair before he finally let sleep pull him under.
Natsu woke up while spooning Juvia. He honestly couldn't think of a better way to wake up. His arms were wrapped tightly around her as if he didn't want to let her go. He listened to her breathe slowly, signalling that she was still asleep. She deserved it, after all that she had done over the last two days. He also knew that she would be just as emotionally drained too. He wanted to do nothing but give her comfort.
Eventually, he felt her stirring in his arms. She sucked in a breath before turning her head slightly to see Natsu in her peripherals. She smiled up at him tiredly. "Good morning, Natsu."
He grinned and pointed at the clock. "I think you mean good afternoon." She craned her neck round to look at the clock and groaned when she realised he was right. They both wondered if the others had tried to contact them at some point, but Natsu doubted it. The only early riser was Erza and she most likely was going to let everyone off the hook for today.
"Well, Juvia deserved a lie in."
Natsu hummed in agreement. "You do."
She rolled onto her back to stare up at him and he peered right back. His gaze followed her hand as she reached up and held his own, shaking it a little bit side to side. Natsu could already tell that there was something weighing on her mind, so he nudged her. "You know you can tell me if something's bothering you, right?"
She nodded before speaking up. "It's just that...isn't Natsu scared? It's been what, two, three days and we're already acting like this? Doesn't it bother you that we're not mates by choice yet we're still so close like this? In a few days, this is all going to end and we're going to act like this never happened. Juvia doesn't even look at Gray, just because of this bite. Erza-chan even asked if this is a plan that Juvia made to try and get Gray to fall for her by acting all nonchalant. Face it, Natsu. This sort of behaviour doesn't just happen overnight."
Natsu didn't say anything for a while before he just smiled simply. "Then let's just make it count, right? Like you said, we've got two more days before the bites fades away and then we won't have to act like this again. The thing is, what if we find out we really do like each other?"
"Wh-what?"
Natsu nodded. "We've pretty much only been looking at the negatives. We keep saying it's just gonna end and all these feelings are gonna fizzle out, but what if it doesn't? We ain't thought about all that. I mean...I wouldn't mind falling for ya."
Juvia blinked at him and Natsu could already hear how fast her heart was beating. The way that Juvia made him feel, he had never felt it before. He failed to believe that it was the bite that caused them to get so close to each other like this. The bite was more like a wedding vow. If she bit him back, then they were 'married' in Layman's terms. The bite shouldn't be able to conjure up feelings that were never there, it didn't have that kind of power. Well, that's what Natsu was banking on, he didn't know if it was able to do that or not.
Juvia was still silent as he spoke again. "I mean, I don't think this bite can really control how we feel. Do you really think that? Cos I don't. I might not know as much about the mating mark as Mr Junkyard, but I'd like to believe that this is how we feel on our own."
Juvia gasped before turning her eyes elsewhere, her cheeks a nice crimson colour. She didn't want to think that she had any underlying feelings for Natsu, so she tried to focus on something else. She registered what he had just called Gajeel and she laughed. "Gajeel-kun will murder you if he hears that nickname."
Natsu just smirked. "He can definitely try. It'll be the best fight of my life."
Just as Juvia was about to speak, her eyes widened when she realised something. She pushed Natsu away from her roughly and rolled away. Natsu was stunned at her sudden behaviour, wondering what the hell had just happened. She jumped out of the bed, covering her eyes.
"N-Natsu! You're shirtless!" She squeaked.
Natsu scoffed in disbelief as he looked down at his chest. He was never one for sleeping with a shirt on, so he had removed it some time during the night. To think that his bare chest would elicit such a reaction from her, it was actually laughable. And extremely cute. He slipped out of the bed and started walking towards her. She must have heard him because then she started walking backwards, still covering her eyes.
"Seriously Juves? When you joined the guild, I was practically shirtless all the time!"
"You wore a waistcoat!"
"Yeah, that was open!"
"W-well, Juvia never noticed it back then!"
Her back hit the wall and Natsu grinned devilishly before trapping her with his arms on either side of her head. She removed her hands from her eyes but scrunched them tight instead. Natsu felt exasperated, but he couldn't help but find her innocence adorable. The dragon within him wanted that said innocence all to himself, but he held himself back.
"Oh come on, open your eyes!"
"No! Natsu needs to put on a shirt first!"
Natsu chuckled into her ear and he watched as she almost toppled over, her knees were too weak. Who knew the smallest of things could tease her?
"What, and block your view? Come on Juves, I know you wanna look. You probably wanna touch too. Go on, I'll let ya just this once. After all, it could be the last time you ever get the chance or the first of many touches."
He moved down from her ear and placed a soft kiss on her mate bite. She reacted by wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to keep herself steady and standing. She was panting as if she had just been running and Natsu smirked against the mark. Juvia must have felt it because she gave him a half hearted hit on his back.
"You're not funny."
"I wasn't trying to be."
He moved away from her, giving her a full view of his topless torso. She bit her lip as her eyes roamed over him and he couldn't help but wonder who she found more attractive - him, or Gray. It had to be him, obviously.
Just as she raised her hand to touch him, her little doorbell rang and they both jumped in surprise.
"Natsu, open the door! It's just me!"
Natsu sighed in relief and Juvia looked up at him expectantly. She didn't have enhanced hearing like he did, and where her suite was so large, she couldn't even hear who was at the door. "Can you hear who it is from here?"
"Yeah, it's just Happy. You go let him in and I'll put on my shirt. Sorry to burst your bubble."
He laughed when she nudged him out of her way, as if wanting him to stop saying things like that and he went to go and find where his t-shirt fell. He put the article of clothing on before going out to see his partner. Instantly, his smile disappeared when he saw Happy's smirk.
"So, you were sleeping in her bed, huh? Be a gentleman and take the couch next time."
The two of them blushed and Natsu hit the exceed's head. "Shut the fuck up!"
Juvia swatted Natsu's hand. "Hey! Juvia knows his teasing can be annoying, but no hitting! Anyway, Juvia is starving, we should go and eat."
Happy nodded. "Which is exactly why I came to get you guys! Erza and Lucy came by to tell us we should all go out for lunch and when they didn't see you, I had to tell them you were taking a pretty long dump."
The two guys laughed and Juvia just rolled her eyes at them. "Did they give a timeframe of when we should be ready?"
"Be in the lobby for two."
Both mages looked at the clock and they started scrambling around. They didn't have much time left to get ready and Lucy and Erza were mostly going to be knocking on their doors to get their attention. If they came by and saw Natsu in the suite in the clothes that he was wearing yesterday, all hell would break loose."
"Shit, we gotta go then! Both the dragon slayer and the exceed ran towards the door, but Natsu didn't disappear without a cheeky wink before he closed the door. That felt really good.
~x~
Natsu was sulking. Lucy and Erza had separated him and Juvia without knowing they had done so. They wanted to have a nice girl's day out and Erza forced the guys to hang together. Natsu and Gray agreed that they were gonna spend 10 minutes max with each other before going to do their own thing and hope they didn't bump into the witch.
As he was pouting, Gray cleared his throat as if to say something important. Natsu knew it was going to be anything but.
"Do you think Juvia's been acting kinda...strange these last few days? I mean other than the obvious assassin squad thing. But like, with me?"
Natsu snorted. "Yeah, she came to her senses and realised she was so wrong to like you."
Gray almost popped a vein in his temple as he swung his fist at Natsu who just dodged it with a rambunctious laugh.
"That's definitely not it, you fucking idiot! I mean, yeah she hasn't been tryna catch my attention, but I'm definitely the hottest thing to happen to the guild."
Natsu set his hands alight. "I'm literally a fire mage. No you ain't."
Gray rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I've seen you and Juvia hanging out quite a bit. You helping her get my attention or something? Because if you are, stop that shit now. I know you'll give her all the wrong info just so that she can piss me off even more when we get back to the guild."
Natsu gave him an incredulous look and Happy burst out laughing. "Me? Help someone who likes you? Fuck no! Although it would be funny to give her all the wrong information about you...Either way, that wouldn't work. She's stalked you enough to not need my help."
Gray raised an eyebrow. "So then why are you hanging out with her so much?"
Happy answered before Natsu could. "What's wrong with that? Juvia is our friend, of course we hang out with her. Besides, I plan on going fishing with her to help me!"
Natsu watched as Gray visibly relaxed at that and he couldn't explain it, but that made him angry. What, did he think that he was the only one who deserved to hang out with Juvia? Usually, the dragon slayer wouldn't even think about confronting Gray on the subject of Juvia and he was pretty sure he had made it so that he and the ice mage never brought her up, but things were different this time around.
"And what's it to ya anyway? It's pretty much public knowledge that you don't even like her the way she likes you."
Gray had the audacity to look embarrassed. "Nothing, why the fuck are you so mad?"
"Because it looks like you're tryna get at me for hanging out with my friend. What, are you jealous or something?"
"No," Gray responded stiffly. Natsu didn't feel convinced and this could get very bad very quickly. Gray was Juvia's first choice and if it looked like Gray might reciprocate her feelings even in the slightest, Juvia was most likely going to run with it and start planning their family home. That's assuming that she hasn't done that already.
"You sure? You sound kinda tight there."
Gray huffed. "She's a good friend of mine, but she's not really someone I see myself with...I think. It's so weird to see that she can actually be normal around me without being all weird and shit. It was easier telling myself I don't like her when she's being creepy, but now...she's actually kinda cute."
Gray didn't even realise that Natsu was about to punch him. It was Happy that saved him from the unsuspecting attack as he grabbed his elbow and pulled him back with all his might. Natsu growled in annoyance at Happy's interference, but the exceed didn't pay it any attention.
"Oh, 10 minutes is up! See ya later Gray!"
Gray turned back, surprised at their sudden departure. He watched the two of them bicker before he shrugged and went on his way.
Natsu wasn't happy at all. Just hearing that Gray might actually have feelings for Juvia had pissed him off. He crossed his arms and avoided Happy's pointed gaze when he was glaring at him.
"You're not even going to apologise to me for losing it? I saved you back there! Erza would have definitely sensed you guys fighting and would have found you immediately! Then she would have asked why you're fighting and because you're a terrible liar, she would have found out your little mating secret! You need to be more careful and stop being such a hot head!"
Natsu pouted. "I can't help it! Did you hear all that shit he was saying? About how he might actually come to like Juvia? Dude, he's had years to like her, years! Now the one time she doesn't give him the time of day and someone else can show her how much she's appreciated, that's when he wants to come in and confuse things? That fucking fuck-"
"Cool it with the profanities, you're scaring the kids."
Natsu looked and could see mothers blocking their children's ears so that they didn't hear all the swearing that he was doing. They all glared hard at him and he flinched while trying to look apologetic. He sighed when they all left and he groaned, rubbing a hand over his face.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this!"
"Shocking that it's all your fault, right?"
"Shut up. To be honest, I feel like Juvia's going through an upgrade. I mean, if you like Gray, it's only up from there."
Happy snickered. "Sure. So what happened last night then? I'm surprised she let you in."
Natsu nodded as they found a food stall and grabbed some snacks. "I had to wait an hour before I got in, but she let me in. We started talking, y'know, letting her know that we don't judge her or anything. Then we started talking about the mate bite. She asked if I was scared."
"Scared? Why would you be scared?"
Natsu shrugged. "She was asking me don't I think it's weird that we're so close after only having the bite for like two days. She was wondering if I was worried that it will just all amount to nothing after the 5 days is done and I said that we keep talking about the negatives and not once have we thought about what it might be like if we actually like each other even after the bite. We don't know the future-"
"But Carla does," Happy interjected with a lovesick sigh and Natsu watched him with a snort.
"Sure thing, buddy. But yeah, we don't know what's gonna happen, so she should just enjoy it for now before things end. Or not."
Happy looked at him suspiciously. "You sound like you want it to be genuine."
Natsu shrugged, trying his best to look nonchalant about it. "Well, why not? I think I could show her a good time! Besides, I'm not convinced that the bite is what is bringing us closer. Sure it makes me super possessive of her and probably wanna...but us being cool in each other's presence and stuff like that, that's definitely not the bite. And Juvia's cool, y'know? She ain't such a bad girl."
Happy smiled. "Well as you already know, I'm rooting for you guys, so do whatever you can to convince her to become your girlfriend after the 5 day period, okay?"
Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I wasn't joking when I told Gray that she could help me out with fishing. How did I not think about that before?!"
So how was that chapter? I hope it was enough to appease you guys for now lmao.
Please leave reviews of what you liked or any criticisms. Any unnecessary hate and I will expect you to show me how it's done seeing as you have so much to say.
Lolita-chan