This story is getting hard to write! D; Thank you so much for all the reviews and feedback, they really do encourage me to keep working. So now, enjoy this new chapter! Its time Natsu and Gray had a talk- MAN TO MAN! ;D
~GNGNGN~
Gray was taking the long way to the guild.
He was on Lucy's road currently, walking along beside the water, enjoying how the shallow canal glistened in the afternoon sun. This route was almost three blocks out of his way but Gray was enjoying himself, the cobblestone road much quieter than the noisy path through town. It was the perfect setting for the ice mage to finally sort some of the thoughts that had been slowly knotting up in his brain.
Gray shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed, unsure where to start. Ever since his encounter with Juvia in the park, things had gotten better and worse at the same time: Gray had realized he was hurting Juvia by avoiding her and was able to fix things between them, but this also meant he couldn't avoid her anymore. It was time to tell her where they stood, but he had to figure it out for himself, first! The ice mage sighed again, feeling stupid. How could a person not know their own feelings?
Gray paused in his walk and turned to look down into the canal, pondering the sparkling stream below. Juvia is water. Water is translucent, too clear to hide anything; however, the deeper you go the more you will discover, the deepest depths of water being the most difficult to interoperate. Water is unignorable because it washes over everything and it reflects back your own face instead of promoting its own. Water is refreshing, sometimes unpredictable and certainly more fickle than its sturdier counterpart, ice. If Juvia is water, then Gray is ice. While water is clear, ice is cloudy and much more difficult to interoperate. Ice is cold and water is bubbly. Water defies natural law by holding ice up so it can float. And wherever there is ice, there is water.
Perhaps it was no accident that Gray and Juvia's magic matched. Gray wondered as he stared down at his reflection if maybe they were just meant to be; maybe he was making this more difficult than it really was. Juvia was bubbly and he was not, but maybe that was what made them a good pair: they complimented each other well, like the elements that represented them.
At the same time though… If water is with ice too long, it changes to ice, and if ice is with water too long, it changes to water. Gray liked what he and Juvia had now, especially after working things out in the park. They were good friends, and the ice mage was afraid to change things by giving Juvia an answer. If he told her he didn't like her, they wouldn't be friends anymore. If he told her he liked her, they wouldn't be friends anymore. He promised Juvia he wouldn't avoid her anymore, but answering her meant losing their friendship!
"Oi, what're you doing here!"
Gray snapped his head up to see a certain dragon slayer approaching him, looking grumpy.
"Here?"
Gray looked around, unsure what the pink haired teen meant, but that seemed to only agitate him more.
"Why're you hanging out outside Lucy's house, you perv!"
Gray raised his eyebrows, turning around to find that he had indeed come to a stop outside their friend's house. Although the coincidence was strange the ice mage knew it had been only that, and rolled his eyes at the fire mage.
"I was just looking at the water, I didn't even notice this was Lucy's place so don't get all fired up about it…"
Natsu clenched his fists.
"I'll get fired up when I want to! And you better just leave Lucy alone, she doesn't want to be with a perv like you!"
Gray was agitated to have had such important thoughts interrupted by an idiot like Natsu, and wasn't about to let him off easy.
"What makes you think that, fire breath? Those steps right there are exactly where I kissed Lucy, just the other day! I think I can hang outside her house if I want to, after that!"
Gray looked triumphantly over at Lucy's front door, the night still fresh in his head. It made him feel somewhat guilty now with all this Juvia stuff, but she was the one who had gone on a date with the village idiot, so that must make it even…
Natsu growled.
"That's it!"
He lunged forward and grabbed Gray by the shoulders, shoving him down on the ground and pulling back for a punch. But Gray quickly shook off the dragon slayer and rolled away before lunging forward again to grab his attacker in a headlock. Natsu struggled for a moment before using his fire breath to burn Gray's arm, the ice mage releasing Natsu with a cry and stumbling back. Natsu took advantage of the opening, swinging a fist for Gray's jaw; but the ice mage quickly kicked out a foot and tripped the dragon slayer who fell back, grabbing Gray's arm as he went and sending them both tumbling into the canal.
Moments later two boys emerged from the water, coughing and sputtering, neither having seen the stream coming before they were breathing in water and smashing their heads on the shallow cement bottom.
"Natsu, you're such an idiot!"
Gray exclaimed, rubbing his head gingerly and shooting a glare at the boy beside him. Natsu reflected the look right back, firing in return
"Well it's your fault for pushing me!"
The ice mage stood, shaking as much water as he could off of himself and still looking grumpy.
"You started it!"
Natsu stood as well, shooting his counterpart a blazing look as they began to climb out.
"Only because you were talking about Lucy like she's some kinda object- you better just back off, okay, you had your turn!"
Gray climbed up to take a seat on the ledge with an agitated sigh.
"You say I call her an object, then you make her sound like some kind of rollercoaster…"
Natsu paused in wringing out his scarf, growling.
"What was that?"
Gray rolled his eyes, tired of this stupid fight.
"Look, you can have your 'turn,' okay? I'm not interested in Lucy, so will you just shut up!"
Natsu was a little surprised by the answer.
"You aren't?"
Gray pulled his shirt off to start wringing it out, grumpy for getting beat up and soaked over a misunderstanding.
"No, stupid."
The dragon slayer sat down on the ledge as well, still trying to process this information.
"Then why did you ask her out on a date!"
Gray rolled his eyes, wondering when this had turned into twenty-questions. Was Natsu this dense? He was asking like he had forgotten about the Dating Game altogether.
"For the same reason you asked out Juvia, dim-witt!" The ice mage looked over at the dragon slayer suddenly, quirking a brow, suddenly unsure of himself. "Unless you're secretly in love with her or something…?"
Suddenly Gray wanted to know all about Natsu's date with Juvia. Why had she agreed to go in the first place? At the time he had shrugged it off as just an attempt to get his attention, but it seemed like the pair really did have a good time, Natsu having even bought her a necklace- which she still wore. Was he perhaps too late? First a date with another guy, then a big fight… Maybe Juvia really was tired of waiting for Gray to love her back, and just wanted to move on.
Natsu made a face, shaking his head.
"What? No way! Look, she's really nice but I'm just not interested…"
Gray sighed, feeling stupid for thinking Natsu could like Juvia- the dragon slayer was being pretty obvious…
"Yeah, I've noticed- what's with you and Lucy all of a sudden? Was she turned on by your kiss with Erza or something?"
Natsu half-punched his friend.
"Don't say pervy stuff like that! I didn't kiss Erza, she found out about the game and tried to kill me before Lucy saved me. The game's stupid, so I'm quitting. I think I wanna ask out Lucy and I don't need idiots like you and Cana and Macao involved!"
Gray rolled his eyes at the dragon slayer, who sounded like a fired up 12 year old. Still, it was surprising to hear him say he wanted to ask out Lucy like it was nothing- here Gray was, so unsure of himself, and Natsu seemed to be ready to ask out his best friend like it was as simple as picking up groceries! The fire mage was always so impulsive, maybe he didn't realize what he was doing. Still though, maybe the fire mage knew more about what he was doing than Gray did.
This dating game had made them do things they never had done before- Gray still couldn't believe he had asked out Lucy so easily, and even kissed her. By calling it a game there was less pressure, which was what had made the date so easy. So why complicate things now with Juvia? He had asked Lucy out on a date as a friend and Juvia was either a friend or more, so why not ask her out too? There was no need to declare his love or make some final decision now. Juvia just wanted attention, and he was certainly willing to give that without getting his mind knotted up over it.
"Oh, too manly for silly games now, Natsu? Well I'm quitting too, so I guess it's a draw. This stupid contest has been more trouble than it's worth."
Natsu seemed only half surprised by his friend's answer, grinning.
"I bet they'll be pissed that there's no winner…"
Gray shrugged, standing.
"Whatever, that's their problem. Anyway, I'm heading to the guild. Good luck with Lucy or whatever…"
Natsu grinned even wider up at his friend, laughing.
"Thanks. I have no idea what I'm doing!"
Gray laughed a bit too, before quickly deciding something.
"Oh yeah."
He reached in his pocket to fish out some soggy money, tossing it down at Natsu.
"Here."
Natsu blinked, surprised.
"What's this for?"
Gray crossed his arms.
"It's for Juvia's necklace. Her and I are a thing now, so I don't need you debt collecting my girl. And no more 'gifts', either!"
Gray felt powerful again, it somehow liberating to be free from the game and playing by his own rules. It felt good to speak with certainty and authority even if on the inside he was still unsure of himself, and where exactly he and Juvia stood. Gray didn't know if he loved her, but he knew he liked her enough to call her his girlfriend and take her out and he was certain that for Juvia, that would be enough for now. Gray turned away with a smirk as Natsu still looked at him in surprise, having not seen a response like that coming.
And somewhere far away Juvia suddenly passed out from excitement(much to the dismay of those around her), somehow knowing that- wherever he was- Gray had just called her 'his'.
~GNGNGN~
Hope that last sentence didn't kill the mood…xD
Well, our 'men' finally seem to know what they're doing! They've quit the game, but will it be that easy to break free? In other news, I reeeeeally want to put some GajeelxLevy in this story so unless you review and say otherwise, it's going to happen and you're gonna like it. :p Please review if you like the story too, please, I don't just want a bunch of GajeelxLevy haters…xD