A/N: Thanks for the reviews and follows and such! Makes me happy :)

PSA that asexuality != celibacy. It's a sexual orientation, the same as bisexual or heterosexual. Also asexual != aromantic. There is nothing wrong with wanting sex and/or romance, and there is nothing wrong with NOT wanting one or both. Nobody has an obligation to do anything they are not comfortable with, regardless of orientation. Talk about your wants and needs and boundaries with your partner(s), people! It's important! This has been a PSA.

Also I am really really sorry that the upcoming scene is so awkward. Please bear with me. I am not a witty person.

Normally it was just my cheer practices that coincided with Juvia's swim meets, but this week we had our competitions at the same time. As I waited impatiently for our turn on the gym floor at Sabertooth, I knew Juvia was back at Fairy Tail High competing in a home meet.

I was doing my best not to check my phone. I knew Levy would update me about how Juvia did, but I needed to focus. My friends weren't here this week, but their appearance last week was enough to last me. But would we be able to snatch first place on Sabertooth's home turf?

Minerva didn't seem to think so. "Ready to fall short two weeks in a row, Heartfilia?" she said, approaching with two of the other Sabertooth girls in tow. The Sabertooth cheerleading uniform body was gold with purple sleeves, with "Sabertooth" written across the front and trimmed in purple. It was simple but sexy on Minerva's body. But I had confidence in my own looks, so I didn't let the exaggerated sway of her hips intimidate me.

"What makes you so confident? Last week was a fluke for Fairy Tail," I said, crossing my arms. "Today's the day we claim first, and we plan to stay there."

"Oh yeah? But it seems you're in pretty bad shape from last week. We beat you so bad that you bled all over your beautiful uniforms," she said, gesturing to the criss-crossed lines of dark red that decorated our uniforms from the collarbone all the way down the sleeves. The uniforms were new this year, so the dig wasn't quite as pathetic as it could've been otherwise.

I smirked. "If you want to compare our school colors to blood, fine. But who ever said it was our blood?"

Minerva huffed and turned her attention to the squad behind me. "Lots of new faces this year. No wonder you were struggling so hard." She clicked her tongue as if in pity. But there was no way I was going to let her undermine my girls' confidence.

"New faces who have more talent in their pinky fingers than your entire squad combined. Be careful whom you look down on. You'll just make yourself look a fool."

"I'd be a fool not to look down on Fairy Tail. May I remind you that Sabertooth got first place?"

"That was last week. This is a new competition, and we will be taking that trophy right from your grubby little fingers. Best prepare yourself."

Minerva scoffed but turned and left. Her bitchy insult game was weak today; meanwhile. I was in top form. I'd won this round. Hopefully we could take this verbal confidence to the gym floor, too. Every time I saw her face, I got the strong urge to wipe the smug smirk right off it, and a win was the perfect way to do so. The frustrated and offended look suited her much better, I thought.

I could hear muffled echoes of previous team finishing up, so I gathered the girls in a circle.

"We're gonna crush 'em today, all right?"

"Yeah!" everyone chorused.

I started our pre-competition cheer. "Let's get fired up," I shouted to start the group chant.

"Let's. Get. Fired up!
Fairy Tail is here to stay!
Let's. Get. Fired up!
Blow them all away!"

We all cheered and jumped together, just as the volunteers started ushering us toward the main gym for our turn. This was it. I could feel the tension in the air. Sabertooth would go on after us, but it was common knowledge that we were the main rivals. We had to upstage them, here and now.

We ran out onto the mat as our school name was called. I did my usual scan of the bleachers for parents, and— wait, was that Natsu? I thought everyone would be out supporting Juvia. I thought—

But our music started and I had to shake the racing thoughts from my head. Focus, Lucy. I'd been distracted last week, too, and I couldn't let it mess with my performance this time. We would beat Sabertooth.

After the awards were finished, I ran out to greet him. "Natsu!" He opened his arms and I ran into them, squeezing him around the middle. "You surprised me again. I thought you'd be at Juvia's meet," I said.

"Someone had to come watch you," he said. "You did amazing!"

"I know, right?" I could feel the excitement thrumming in my chest. "You should've seen Minerva's face! She looked so smug last week, but this time we beat them! We beat our rivals! I was worried after last week when we started out behind them, but this should be enough of a boost to keep up our momentum for the rest of competition season."

"Nice job. That was a huge trophy, too!"

"Yeah. It's like half as tall as I am."

"Did you see Levy's texts?"

"No. I haven't been checking my phone. How'd Juvia do?"

"See for yourself," Natsu said, disengaging himself from our comfortable embrace.

He pulled out his phone and handed it to me. There was a photo open from Levy, a selfie of her, Erza, and Gray. The caption read: Gajeel's here too, but he's a loser and wouldn't join our picture. Juvia got the best times in backstroke and butterfly! And we won the meet!

"There's another one, too," he said, swiping to the next one.

There was another photo, this one of Juvia and Gray together. Juvia was in her swimsuit, hair cascading onto her shoulders and swim cap gripped nervously in her hands. Gray was relaxed and smiling, which was good to see after he kept dragging his feet about going to see her in the first place. They're adorably awkward, was Levy's commentary.

"It's a good day for Fairy Tail High sports," I noted.

"It almost makes up for the fact that the soccer team dropped out of regionals," Natsu said.

"Hey, the fact that you guys qualified in the first place is awesome. You beat Sabertooth for the opportunity. So you can still be proud of that."

"I'm just a little bummed that the season ended so quickly. I wanted it to last longer, and regionals are still going on. It's the semifinals today. The rest of the soccer team is there, besides me and Gray."

"Then I'm even more thankful you two ditched them to see Juvia and me. I'm touched."

He backed up a step. "No you're not. Nobody's touching you, see?"

I rolled my eyes. "Natsu, now's not the time for your terrible dad jokes."

"Then when is the time for my jokes?"

"Never."

"But Lucy," he whined.

"Your jokes are terrible. Mr. Makarov rubbed off on you too much."

He made a face. "I don't wanna be old like Gramps. No thanks."

"Lucy!" Miss Mira was approaching us.

"Congrats on the win," Natsu said to her.

"Thank you. Lucy, we've been looking for you."

"Oh, sorry." I laughed nervously. "I was just saying hi to Natsu to thank him for stopping by again."

"You can chat with your boyfriend later. Come on."

"He's not my—" But I was already being dragged back to where the rest of the squad was so Miss Mira could give us our post-competition speech. I gave Natsu a helpless backward glance as I disappeared from his view.

"He's not my boyfriend," I mumbled as Miss Mira pulled me through the hallways.

"If you say so," she sang, ignoring my attempts to slow us down. I sighed and gave up. Miss Mira was a force of nature, and sometimes it was best to just go with her pace.

Another weekend, another group dinner. This time, it was to celebrate both Juvia and I in our respective athletic successes. It was a much smaller affair, or at least it seemed that way with Jellal missing. We'd also made a point of separating Natsu and Gray so they didn't fight, which definitely helped. And once we got food into them, those two were quiet except for the sounds of them eating.

"Natsu insisted on watching you, Lucy," Levy said, nudging Natsu. She was sitting across from me, Natsu on her right side. On her left was Gajeel, while I was flanked by Gray and Juvia, the latter of whom was sneaking glances at Gray as the former pretended not to notice.

Natsu blushed. "Hey, somebody had to. Everyone else was going to see Juvia."

Erza, sitting at the head of the table by Nastu and Juvia, gave Natsu a hearty pat on the shoulder. "Thanks for representing us at her competition," she said.

Natsu winced under her strong hand. "Thanks," he muttered, still embarrassed.

Gray checked his phone and sat up straight. "Ah."

"What?" I asked.

"I wasn't looking at my phone so I didn't notice. My brother's here to pick me up." Gray had an older half-brother from his mother's previous marriage. Lyon Vastion went to private school, didn't get along well with Gray, and that was all we knew about him. Gray also had a sister he never met born from a third man prior to his mom getting married and adopted out. The whole family was just very complicated. So many half-siblings.

"Juvia wants to meet Gray's brother," Juvia said, clasping her hands together.

"Well, you'll get to," Gray said, though he didn't sound all that enthused. "That's him." He pointed out a tall, scowling man who was walking briskly toward us. His hair was bleached blonde and his facial features looked almost Scandinavian. I didn't want to make assumptions, but while Gray was full Japanese, his brother definitely wasn't.

"Hurry up," Lyon snapped, crossing his arms as he approached Gray. "I do you a favor of picking you up and you make me come all the way in h—" He stopped in his tracks, eyes widened. I followed his gaze to Juvia, who was slowly turning pink. Oh dear.

"I'd have driven myself, but I don't have a car," Gray said, standing up. "I'm going now," he announced to all of us.

"Wait a second," Lyon said, pushing his brother back down into his chair. He noticed everyone staring at the two of them. "Carry on," he said, waving his hand to dismiss us. Conversation awkwardly resumed.

Well, resumed for everyone except for me. I kept my ears tuned to the brothers' whispered conversation next to me.

"Who is she?" Ohhh boy.

"Who's who?"

"That girl! The one between the redhead and the blonde."

"You mean Juvia?"

"That's her name? Juvia?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"She's beautiful. You have to introduce me."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I said no."

"Is she taken or something?"

"No."

"Then why not?"

"You're too old for her."

"You guys are all 16, aren't you? I'm 18. And I'm a senior, so I'm only a grade above."

"The fact that you're an idiot and got held back doesn't concern me."

"If it doesn't concern you, then introduce me!"

Gray stood up, his chair clattering. "I said no!" he shouted. Everyone stopped and looked at him, startled. Gray snatched his coat and stormed out, leaving his bewildered brother staring after him.

"What was that about?" Natsu mumbled, frowning.

"I will have to discipline him later," Erza said.

"Please excuse my brother's rudeness," Lyon said gracefully, his eyes lingering on Juvia. "I don't see why he is in such a hurry to leave such a pretty lady, but I am his ride so I must also be going. We shall make our introductions next time, Miss Juvia." And before Juvia could even open her mouth, he turned on his heel and followed his brother out.

Gajeel whistled. "Well this ought'a be fun."

Juvia was bright red and flustered, fanning her face with her hands. "Juvia does not know what just happened," she said breathlessly, "but Juvia does not dislike it."

I grinned and elbowed her playfully. "How does it feel to have two hot guys fighting over you?"

"Juvia is quite flattered," she said. "But next time Juvia needs to tell Lyon that Juvia doesn't like such formal speech. It sounds too unnatural."

"Better yet, tell Gray to pass the message along," I said.

"Gray would blow his top," Natsu laughed. "If there's one thing I know about that ice cube, it's that he doesn't like to share." And he wasn't wrong. Gray insisted he didn't want a relationship, but he seemed oddly pleased by Juvia's interest in him when he thought nobody was looking. We'd just have to see where their relationship went. For now it was platonic, but if Gray kept this up, he might have to break his vow of singledom.

And if Lyon's insta-crush on Juvia stuck around, Gray would have his half-brother to contend with as well. Lyon picked Gray up from all our gatherings, but he always left before Lyon had to come inside to fetch him so this was the first time we'd actually met him. If Lyon was interested in Juvia, we might get be seeing more of him. And Juvia didn't seem to dislike Lyon's flirting.

While the Lyon-Juvia-Gray love triangle was going on, I had my own unlikely meeting to contend with. Daddy almost never got home until 8 or 9 in the evening, but on one particular day, he was home at 6. On a day Natsu happened to have invited himself over.

Natsu and I were on the couch watching TV while we ate — what else? — ramen. I had my portion in a bowl while Natsu ate the rest out of the pot. His appetite was always so much bigger than mine anyways.

I thought I was hallucinating when I heard the keys in the door, but then the front door swung open and there he was, my dad.

Natsu paused and looked up with noodles hanging from his mouth. Daddy stared back.

"You-you're home early," I said. "If I'd known I would've made dinner. And, uhh..." I also wouldn't've let Natsu come over, let alone stay this long. Only Levy and Erza had seen my father before, and this was even more awkward than both those meetings combined.

Natsu put a hand up in greeting as he slurped the noodles into his mouth. "Yo. I'm Natsu."

My dad looked like he was about to have an aneurism. I snerked. As much as I dreaded the upcoming lecture on involving myself with barbaric people like Natsu, I was definitely enjoying this reaction.

"Nice to meet you," Daddy said, his voice straining to remain calm as Natsu shoved more ramen into his mouth. "I am Lucy's father."

"Mn phm mnm mng," Natsu said, mouth full. He swallowed. "Nice to meet you, too," he repeated.

Daddy took a deep breath, in and out. He looked at me. "Lucy, if you need me I'll be in my office."

"Okay," I said.

I watched him go into his bedroom (aka his "office") and close the door with what was nearly a slam. I turned to Natsu. "Way to make a first impression," I said.

"Your dad has a scary face," Natsu said. "Didn't know what to say."

I giggled. "We may have lost our money, but he never lost his snobbishness about manners. Especially eating etiquette. I'm pretty sure you shocked him." I leaned back into the couch and sighed. "He's gonna have my head tonight."

"Sorry," Natsu said, looking a little embarrassed.

I patted his shoulder. "It's all right. That's what he gets for coming home early without warning me. Did you see his face when he saw you? So funny."

Natsu grinned. "He was pretty shocked," he agreed.

"But, uh...you should probably leave after you're done eating. And I need to get dinner started."

"You just ate."

"Yeah, but I need to eat with my dad, too. He gets mad if I don't join him for meals when he's home."

"That's stupid."

"It's his rule." I stood up. "If you want to keep watching TV, go ahead. I'll be in the kitchen."

"No, I'll come with you," he said, grabbing the remote in one hand and the ramen pot in the other. After turning off the TV, he wordlessly took my bowl as well and went into the kitchen ahead of me to start washing the dishes.

I wanted to protest, but I didn't. The look on his face was familiar; I knew he could tell this unexpected meeting had unnerved me and was trying to make me feel better. "Thanks," I said, resting my forehead on the back of his shoulder for a moment. I could feel his warmth through the t-shirt.

While I wasn't looking forward to the upcoming talk with my dad about the strange boy I'd invited over in his absence, somehow I was glad he'd met Natsu. It was hard to place why, but I was.

Lifting my head, I left Natsu to the dishes (hopefully he would actually do a good job) and set about preparing dinner. I left Natsu with a hug when I sent him home, and suffered through my dad's worrying when we sat down for dinner. All things considered, it could have gone way worse.

A/N: Thanks for reading!