asdf
20 reviews already? WHAT.
to specific people
firstguest: your review gave me feels ;A; the chapter titles are just...weird...I don't know what I was thinking ^^' but no one pays any attention to chapter titles right?
superduperizee: I KNOW YOU. WHAT. actually reading one of your fics right now ahaha...
BrigitteoO: it...makes you feel better about your own relationship? O_O okay...I'm not really sure what to say.../hides
Medaka-chan: full scene? uh...ch 1 they didn't do anything but whatever...and idk about sexual tension
EVERYONE: thank you~ you make me feel better about my writing...which may or may not be a good thing
FF DOESN'T ALLOW STRIKETHROUGH AND IT'S ANNOYING (but somehow it worked on profile...)
this chapter's just general fluff with some Erza :) so no warning in this one...
"Gray. Come here," Erza demands, looking very scary so Gray obeys. He notices that Lucy's there, and so is Wendy, but not Natsu. Instead, Levy is in his usual spot.
Please don't tell me she found out about me breaking into the dorm, please don't tell me she found out about me breaking into the dorm, please don't tell me she found out about me breaking into the dorm... Strangely enough, Erza's expression changes, going from fucking scary to almost shy, even blushing a little.
"So...uh..." She stutters, not meeting the others' eyes.
"Wha—Erza? What's gotten into you?" Lucy asks, very concerned because Erza never, ever acts like this.
"Are you alright, Erza-san?" Gray decides to keep quiet, waiting for an opening to escape as the girls keep her busy. Just as he's about to move away, Erza pats—more like bashes, in her case—his shoulder, causing him to jump.
"I...girls..." She starts, and Gray nearly retorts with a remark of how he is certainly not a girl before meeting Erza's absolutely terrifying glare. "So...I have a friend..."
"You mean you, right?" Lucy can see right through her.
"Uh—no! Definitely not!"
"Riiiight..."
"Anyway...whatshouldIdoforadate?"
"What?"
"Please go slower...it's hard to understand..."
"I said...what should I do for..."
"For what?"
"A date," she whispers, face almost the same color as her hair.
"Wait...Erza, you've got a date?" Levy checks, making sure she didn't hear wrong.
"Yes, but I don't know what to do!" She wrings her hands, frustrated.
"Don't worry," Lucy proclaims, confident. "Us girls will help you!"
"Eh? Me too?" Wendy asks, embarrassed.
"I am not a fucking girl!" Will someone notice me already?
"Oh. Gray." Erza looks at him, disinterested. "You can go."
"Thank you, now—"
"Wait! Actually, come back."
"Stop changing your mind! Why do you need me, anyway?"
"I need a guy's opinion on how I look, of course." Erza's glare makes Gray feels like the biggest idiot in the universe. How was I supposed to know that?
"First, where are you going, Erza?"
"There's a carnival in town, we were thinking of going there." She's still blushing, but seems to have controlled it somewhat.
"Okay then, you can't wear anything too uncomfortable, since you'll be walking a lot...and you don't really need anything fancy..." Levy painstakingly notes down every word Lucy says.
"Why don't you just go in your normal outfit? You look fine." Gray says, hoping to get it over with.
"I don't know, is that a good idea?"
"No!" Lucy exclaims, horrified. She leans into Grays face, pissed off. "Look, if you're trying to ruin Erza's date..."
"I—I'm not! I mean it..."
Wendy interrupts, looking down nervously. "You have an outfit under that armor, right? I think it looks nice..."
Lucy starts pacing back and forth, still bothered. "Fine. Let me see it."
Erza requips, her outer armor disappearing. "Is this...good?" She has her blue skirt on and a white top decorated with a blue bow.
"Oh, you look very pretty!" Wendy encourages.
"Yeah, I have to agree. It's kind of cute, actually."
"Hm..."
"Oh, she looks fine, Lucy. Can I leave now?" Gray is starting to get annoyed, even more so than he was before.
"No."
"But—"
"I still think it's...missing something..." Lucy tilts her head, looking for any spot or stain. "It's too plain."
"Really? Do you think so? I can change it..."
"Erza." The scarlet-haired mage turns to face Gray, unconfident. "If your date really cares about you, then he wouldn't care about how you look, or anything like that. Now, stop worrying."
"I never thought of it that way..." Lucy admits, sheepish.
"So, it's fine? What—what if I ruin it? It's my first date! I don't know what to do!" Erza seems on the verge of a mental breakdown, shaking and gripping the table so hard cracks start to form.
"Calm down, Erza! You'll be fine."
"B-but..."
"I know! We'll add some jewelry!"
"Jewelry? I-I hadn't even thought of that...what do I do?" Her teeth chatter, clacking together noisily. "Should I c-cancel?"
"No!"
"Don't worry, Erza-san, we'll help you!"
Gray sighs, and takes advantage of the confusion to make his getaway, sliding next to Cana. "Why don't you help her?"
"Me? They're doing jus' fiiiine...'sides, the only boyfriend I need is right here!" She thumps the side of a barrel, presumably filled with some sort of alcoholic drink.
"Ah." Why am I incapable of holding conversations?
Cana moves closer to Gray, whispering conspiratorially, "Who is it?"
"Who's what?" He orders a drink from Kinana, who rushes off to get it.
"Her date, of course!"
"Dunno. She didn't tell." Kinana comes back with a mug of orange juice, apologizing for their lack of drinks and explaining that they hadn't restocked since Cana's last binge. Gray sighs and waves her off, reassuring her that it didn't matter.
"You have failed me, Gray Fullbuster." She stares straight into his eyes, dead serious.
"Failed what?"
"I told you to figure out who he was!" Are you a complete idiot? her expression reads.
"You never—"
Just then, Juvia enters the guild, calling out, "Gajeel-kun?"
"He's off on a request. Lily's with him," Levy answers.
"Oh...Juvia was hoping we could go on a request..." Juvia holds a request paper in one hand, dejected.
"Why? You usually go with him?" Gray asks.
"Sometimes. Mostly Juvia goes alone, but Juvia wanted to do this one together...but he's not here..." She turns to leave.
"Wait! I-I'll go with you!" Gray stands up, stuttering. Cana smirks.
"Really? You would do that for Juvia?" Juvia's smile is so pure and happy, a shining ray of sunlight. "Thank you so much, Gray-sama!"
On the path, Juvia stops, grabbing Gray's hand.
He flinches from the unexpected contact, but doesn't try to escape Juvia's grip. "What is it?" His hand fills with an odd sort of warmth, but he decides he likes it and intertwines his fingers with Juvia's, walking a little closer to her.
The action doesn't go unnoticed by the water mage, who looks off to one side, heat rising to her face. "C-can we go to the carnival? Juvia heard there's one in town, it'll be fun!"
"Now? Aren't we doing a request?" Not that he minded, but there was the possibility of running into Erza and her mysterious date. I guess I might get to figure out who after all.
"The town's far away; Juvia wants to start in the morning. Can't we just...relax?" Her face is pink; she's obviously flustered by even asking something this trivial.
It's absolutely adorable, and Gray stores a picture in his mind, of a blushing Juvia wearing a pale yellow sundress—there's a blue butterfly design right above her breast, matching the clip on her hat—a shy smile lighting up her face.
How could he refuse anything to a face like that? "Sure, why not?"
When they arrive at the carnival, it's early evening and Gray is shirtless. "Gray-sama, your clothes..." Juvia points out.
"What about them?" He starts using his Maker Magic to generate a cold mist around himself, because it's just too damn hot.
Juvia blushes, trying not to stare at Gray's bare chest (he's well-built of course, and summer's given him a nice tan) instead mumbling something incoherent.
"Mm, speaking of clothes...what's with yours?"
"H-huh? Is there something wrong with them? Juvia didn't leave the price tag on this time..."
"Nah, just you don't usually wear those kinds of clothes. Not that I'm complaining."
"Ah, Juvia was thinking it would be a nice change..." Actually, a few of the girls at Fairy Hills had forced her to, but she'd never let Gray know that, of course. "Do you like it?"
"Me? Yeah, looks nice. You should wear yellow more."
"Really? Uh, I'll try?" I wasn't expecting him to notice...
"Yeah, really. Now," he says, looking around. "Where'd you want to go first?"
"Juvia's not sure...what do you want, Gray-sama?"
"Uh, let's eat first, then think about it?" He grabs Juvia's hand, dragging her off. Juvia blushes at the contact. "How 'bout Caramade Franks?"
Juvia's blush turns even brighter, remembering her first time eating them. "Uh, Juvia's not hungry! You can have them..."
He looks at her, thinking, but shrugs. "Eh, suit yourself." Gray banters for a while with the vendor about the price, but eventually buys one, grumbling about how much he paid. He leads Juvia over to a small table for two, and starts eating while Juvia sits uncomfortably, hands crossed over her lap.
"You want some?" Juvia looks up hearing Gray's voice, and shakes her head mutely. "C'mon, don't be shy..." He rips off a small piece, holding it in front of her lips. "Just one?" And Juvia can't refuse anything to Gray, because Gray is just that perfect, a god, she thinks, and opens her mouth, enough for the ice mage to push the piece in.
Her face turns pink at being fed, but she chews slowly, enjoying the sweetness. Gray watches, caramel-covered lips quirking upwards into a smile. "See, you like it, don't you?" Juvia nods, and Gray takes out another piece, placing it to her lips with sticky fingers. "Want more?" he asks, teasing.
Juvia's blush couldn't have turned redder, but it does as she bites into the piece, lips a millimeter away from touching Gray's fingers. "You should get one for yourself...if you really want one, I'll buy it for you." She shakes her head, and Gray checks, "You sure? You seemed to like them."
"Uh, yes. I mean, yes, I'm sure. That Juvia doesn't want one," she clarifies, and leans over the small table to kiss him.
Gray's shocked for a second, but returns it, tongue flicking out to taste the caramel sweetness on her lips. It's addicting, he thinks, so he deepens the kiss, lips parting—
Juvia breaks off, breathing heavily, leaving Gray dazed. "Caramel," she says, as way of explanation. "On your lips."
Gray touches his fingers, still sticky, to his mouth. "Oh...I'll be...washing my hands now..." He slips away, leaving Juvia alone with a lump in her throat.
When he returns, Juvia has her head down, ocean hair falling to cover her eyes. Gray places a hand on her shoulder, shaking gently. "Juvia?"
She mumbles something, then repeats it louder. "I...I'm sorry."
Gray pushes away the blue covering her with his other hand, tilting her head up to face him. Her eyes have a faint trace of red, and he gulps, feeling a little like a monster. "For what?" he asks, voice soft. There are people staring at them, and he fights the urge to tell them fuck off, because he knows they're making Juvia uncomfortable.
"For...kissing you?" It sounds like a question, because Juvia simply doesn't understand why Gray is still here. "I shouldn't have, not when you didn't—"
"Want it?" Juvia confirms it with a nod. "Why would you think I didn't want it?"
"You left me," she whispers, an unspoken 'alone' hanging at the end. "Like you were...disgusted—"
"I liked it," he interrupts. "The kiss, that is." His cheeks flush, because saying that out loud isn't exactly easy. "Really."
"Oh..." Juvia smiles, small and shaky but there's a spark of pure happiness hidden in it that makes Gray want to kiss her, so he does, a soft brush of lips like an electric tingle. Her smile is even brighter when they break apart, and Gray decides fuck everything because he kisses her again, the crowd around them dissolving into blurred shapes as he loses himself in their own world.
yay random...angst? whathaveIdoneIdon'tevenknoooowww...but their relationship's getting better? sortof...
yeah...Caramade Franks...ehhhh...but hey, Lucy and Wendy and Cana and Erza~ (and you never get to figure out who he is :P)
this will be 5 chapters...maybe with epilogue...my updates are somewhere between daily-weekly...and if I get a review of course~