Sooo… Congrats to BlueFairy10 who successfully predicted this entire chapter! I'm a little creeped out, and a lot impressed… Its been a while, but here is the next chapter of the dating game. I hope you enjoy!

Ps. This is not yaoi… I guess that vibe may have been in the first chapter, but no… read my other stories if you want that… :p

~NJNJNJNJ~

Natsu crossed his arms as he glared at Gray, who was across the room basking in the triumph of his conversation with Lucy. The dragon slayer could barely contain his frustration at the whole situation, feeling for the first time not confident he could beat Gray. The ice mage had walked up to Lucy and asked her out like it was nothing! Natsu shook his head, frustrated. Somehow he felt betrayed. Gray and Lucy were his best friends, and now they were going on a date? Something about it just didn't feel right. It made Natsu feel like he had been left behind.

The fire mage shook his head, working to shoo those thoughts away. Little kids moped around feeling sorry for themselves, and Natsu was no kid! The great Salamander would not be defeated by Gray at something as simple as asking out a girl! Sure, Natsu had never been on a date before; but neither had Gray so they both had an equal chance of finding success, right?

Natsu glanced up as he heard the guild doors open, sighing as he watched Lucy leave with a group of friends, smiling and giggling as they went. Gray had been lucky, getting to ask out Lucy; after all they were really close, and something about the blonde could make anyone smile. Natsu would have been more comfortable going on his first date with her- but now…

Natsu slammed his fist down on the table in agitation, causing a mug to go flying off the edge. He raised his eyebrows in surprise when the floor seemed to whimper at the assault, then stood to investigate. Juvia was collapsed on the floor in front of his table, rubbing her head where the mug must have hit her, eyes moist. Natsu jumped.

"Oh, Juvia-! Sorry…"

He sheepishly crossed around to the girl, who merely shook her head.

"Juvia is fine…"

Unconvinced, the dragon slayer crouched down to peer at the blue haired girl.

"What are you doing on the floor, anyway?"

Juvia sniffled, looking away from the boy.

"Juvia cannot bear to stand- Gray-sama… Gray-sama-"

Fresh tears began streaming down her cheeks.

"has crushed Juvia's heart!"

Natsu was taken aback by the sobbing girl, unsure how to help.

"How could Gray have-"

He glanced back at the ice mage who was still high-fiving with guys at the bar, and realized what Juvia was talking about.

"Oh, is this about his date with Lucy? Don't worry about that Juvia, people go on dates all the time!"

The dragon slayer offered an encouraging smile, always hating to see a girl cry. In many ways he felt he could relate to how Juvia was feeling…

"But- but-"

Juvia rubbed at her leaking eyes.

"Gray-sama asked Lucy and not Juvia!"

Natsu sighed.

"I know, I'm pretty down about it, too…"

Then he hesitated. What was he saying? He shook his head, straightening once more.

"Hey, Juvia…"

Suddenly, the words were coming out before he could stop himself.

"Why don't we go out tonight? There's no need to mope around- we'll have fun together!"

The blue haired girl lifted her head to blink up at him, her tears finally halting.

"Natsu wants to go out with Juvia…?"

Natsu grinned, gaining confidence as he realized how easily this was going.

"Yeah, sure! We can meet here at 6 and go do something fun together!"

He offered Juvia his hand and she let him pull her to her feet, offering the pink haired boy a shy smile.

"Juvia is looking forward to it!"

Natsu's grin widened, and he offered a victorious thumbs up.

"Awesome! It's a date!"

Working hard to keep the pink out of his cheeks as he turned, Natsu headed out of the guild to go plan his evening. He had done it! He had asked a girl on a date, and it wasn't so hard after all! Natsu was already looking forward to his date with Juvia, no longer self conscience. Being a man was easy breezy!

~NJNJNJNJ~

"Howabout this one?"

Juvia and Natsu stood together in front of a small storefront, observing its window display carefully. Juvia pursed her lips as she perused the flashy clothes in the window before finally shaking her head.

"This place looks expensive- and Natsu would be bored in a clothing store!"

Natsu shrugged, unable to argue with her logic.

When they had met up at the guild an hour earlier, neither one had known what to do with the evening. After much debating they finally settled for simply taking a walk through the town and seeing what there was to do. Currently they were window shopping, or rather Juvia was while Natsu mostly just enjoyed the ice cream they had picked up.

As they continued along the bustling path together, Natsu began to wonder to himself if this was all dates were. Not that he was bored- contrary, he was having a nice time exploring together with his friend- but he had always figured the experience would be more exciting. However, this was also much less stressful than what he had imagined- Natsu never had realized until now that a date was just doing something fun with something you like. He did that all the time! He just had never labeled it a date before.

As the crowd thickened Juvia moved closer to Natsu, who linked arms with her, grinning.

"Now we won't lose each other!"

He winked and she smiled back. Natsu never saw much of Juvia's smile, and now that she was his for the night he figured he would try to get as many smiles out of her as he could.

"Should we go somewhere else? Juvia is scared Natsu is bored…"

The girl pursed her lips as she peered up at him, but he only shrugged.

"I'm not bored, but I think there are only a few stores left- after that, we could go to the river, or the park…"

Juvia peered ahead to see just how many stores were left, and suddenly jumped when she saw the one they were approaching. All of a sudden Natsu was being dragged at high speed towards the store, Juvia pushing through the crowd as if they weren't even there. When they reached the storefront Juvia pressed herself to the glass while Natsu gingerly stretched out the arm she had just nearly pulled off.

"What's this about, Juvia…?"

But she seemed unable to hear him as she swooned over whatever was behind the glass, barely able to contain her excitement. Curious, Natsu came beside her and peered in as well.

It was a jewelry store and the display held various accessories, some with intricate designs and expensive diamonds set in them while others were simpler or set with other precious stones like rubies or sapphires. There was one in particular Natsu bet Juvia was enamored with- it was necklace holding a golden umbrella set with many tiny, multi-colored gems, all strung on a bronze chain. The necklace seemed less expensive than its counterparts but still quite dazzling, easily the most colorful in the display.

Before he asked Juvia began to explain, still so close to the wall her breath blurred the glass,

"Juvia noticed this necklace while walking home this winter. She sees it every day now- it is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen!"

Natsu raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What! You've been staring at this thing since winter- that's like, 4 months ago, Juvia! What're you waiting for!"

She tore her eyes away from the jewelry display to blink up at him.

"What do you mean?"

Natsu was already making his way to the door.

"Let's go buy it!"

He headed into the store and Juvia flew after him, grabbing his arm before he could flag down a worker.

"No! It is far too expensive, and Juvia cannot just go and buy it just like that-!"

Natsu furrowed his brows down at the girl, shaking his arm free.

"Why not? You obviously love it if you stop to look at it every day. Who cares if it's expensive!"

Juvia seemed appalled by her date's attitude, who took the opportunity to call an employee over and ask for the necklace. Then he turned to the girl who was still swaying in dismay and grinned

"I'll split the price with you, howabout that? Then sometime we can go on a mission together- I bet we'd kick major butt together!"

She gulped, but nodded without arguing. As they paid for the necklace Natsu could see pink in her cheeks, and wondered if this was bigger a deal than he thought. Buying jewelry on a date? Was that customary, or too far? But he shrugged the idea off, deciding that he had done something nice and to just leave it at that.

Juvia seemed to be glowing with happiness as they left the store together, placing the chain around her neck and fingering the umbrella carefully. Natsu offered the girl a thumbs up.

"It looks nice!"

She flashed a smile up at him more characteristic of Lucy than of herself, and Natsu laughed. The whole situation seemed funny to him- why had she tortured herself if she wanted the necklace so bad?

"Juvia, you should be more decisive! You see what good can come of it? If you want something, don't be timid, just go for it."

She blushed at the advice, but nodded before asking

"So, now what would Natsu like to do?"

Natsu pursed his lips.

"Hmm, I wanted to go to the park but it's pretty dark now…"

Then he paused.

"Wait, did you say you pass by this way to go home? Do you live around here?"

Juvia blinked, then nodded.

"Juvia only lives a few blocks down…"

She pointed and Natsu flashed a grin.

"I want to see where you live- lets race there!"

He took off and for a moment Juvia was flustered before chasing after him, deciding his impulsiveness was endearing. Usually she could never make up her mind about anything, or was too shy to speak her mind. But Natsu always seemed to do anything he wanted, never worrying about anything. At first she was worried his impulsiveness might make their date difficult but instead Juvia found herself having a better time than she expected- Natsu was always so happy, she couldn't help but be happy too!

After receiving a tour of Juvia's small apartment Natsu declared that they should watch a movie and the pair ended up spending half the night together, Juvia practicing Natsu's advice by picking the movies they watched and Natsu eating all the food in her house. Finally when he could tell Juvia was really tired Natsu went home, the two exchanging the usual goodnight kiss for a hug instead, both promising to go on that mission together soon.

Overall, both had a better night than they had expected. Natsu had been worried a date might be awkward or boring but Juvia was neither of those things, and he was genuinely happy he had spent the evening getting to know her better. When he went to bed that night, the fire mage could barely stop smiling. Being a man was the greatest!

~NJNJNJNJ~

So, Natsu and Juvia had a smoother night than Gray and Lucy, but Gray was able to seal his date with a kiss. Who is winning this game, exactly? And where is Erza in all this? Find out soon! (and when I say soon, I mean probably not that soon.)