Hey Jealousy - A Fairy Tail Fanfic - Chapter 8
Thought you were gonna get out of this one, huh Gray?
All characters property Hiro Mashima
Chapter 8 – Ice Make: Baka
Gray Fullbuster sat stock-still at the bar, his mind reeling from the scene that had just unfolded in front of his eyes.
"What the HELL just happened?" he asked no one in particular.
Elfman Strauss slapped Gray on the back. "MAN just happened!" he grinned.
"Well said, brother!" agreed the ever-encouraging Mirajane.
Gray glowered at Elfman. "Seriously, what did happen? Mira had me face down on the bar almost the entire time." He launched the last barb at his attacker who simply put on her sweetest smile.
"I just didn't want you to interrupt them!" she said.
"Interrupt WHAT?"
"Dragon Slayer courting rituals of course," smirked Cana Alberona, who had perched herself on the bar counter to get her wine barrel refilled.
Gray looked up at Cana in disbelief. "You can't be serious."
"We are very serious," said Erza, approaching the bar. "It seems that both Natsu and Gajeel have finally claimed their mates."
Mira giggled as Gray gawked. "How in the heck did THAT happen?"
"Never underestimate the power of jealousy," sniggered Cana.
"Jealousy?" Gray furrowed his brow.
"Yup!" chirped Mira. "All it took for those boys to confess was to see their girls with someone else!"
Gray leaned back against the bar, closing his eyes and crossing his arms. "What idiots," he said in his most superior tone. "You'd never find ME acting like that because of something as lame as jealousy!"
"I am so glad to hear you say that, because the last thing I'd want is for you to interrupt my date with Juvia over such a petty emotion," said a familiar voice.
Gray's eyes flew open to see Fiore's other famous ice-make mage standing in front of him. "Lyon!"
"Hello, Gray." Lyon Bastia grinned at his dark-haired counterpart's obvious shock at seeing him in Fairy Tail. "How are you?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" blurted Gray. Though he and Lyon had been taught by the same ice-make wizard, Ur, their relationship was complicated to say the least. After Ur's death, Lyon spent the next years trying to surpass their former teacher – a path that had left much devastation in his wake. A fierce confrontation between the two young men led to Lyon's eventual redemption, but they didn't exactly become best friends after that. Their long-held rivalry put them on different paths, but their shared history made them closer to each other than anyone else they knew. Not friends, not enemies, but something in between.
Lyon cocked an eyebrow. "Erm, nice to see you too. As I mentioned, I'm here to pick up Juvia for our date."
Gray let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, right!" he scoffed. "Like Juvia would ever agree to go out on a date with YOU!"
Lyon chuckled. "Actually, if you want to get technical about it, SHE was the one who asked ME."
Gray wanted to freeze the smug look off Lyon's face. "No possible way. You're lying."
"No, I'm Ly-ON," the white-haired mage mocked, oblivious to everyone else sweat-dropping at his lame joke. "And if you don't believe me, you can ask her yourself."
"I don't care what you say…" Gray began, but stopped as he saw Lyon's face turn several shades of red and take on a heartsick expression that made Gray's stomach lurch. Twisting his head in the direction of Lyon's gaze, Gray found the cause of his rival's sudden transformation from hero to zero.
Juvia had arrived. And she looked stunning.
Gone was the dark high-necked, long-sleeved, knee-length coat she usually wore that covered her curvaceous body. Instead, she donned a frilly, sleeveless white summer dress sprinkled with light blue butterflies that hugged her in all the right places. The neckline plunged into her ample cleavage, showing off her best assets to their full advantage, while her long legs, usually clad in knee-high boots, were bare and visible thanks to the shorter ruffled hemline and strappy white sandals adorning her feet. But the topper, or lack thereof, was the simple headband that nestled in Juvia's blue hair instead of her customary heavy fur hat, which allowed her tresses to fall in soft waves against her sweet face, giving her a softer, more open look.
Gray felt his heart slam into his throat. "Has she always looked like this?" he thought.
But before he could consider further, Gray heard Lyon say the words to the blue-eyed girl that he could never manage to tell her himself in all the time he'd known her.
"Juvia, you look beautiful!" Lyon ran over to Juvia and kissed her hand, a move that sent another wave of nausea crashing into Gray's stomach. "I haven't kept you waiting long have I?"
Juvia raised her free hand to her face and blushed. "Thank you, Lyon-sama. No Juvia hasn't been waiting long, I just got here."
Gray walked over to Juvia, willing her to look at him. "Juvia, you aren't seriously going out with this jerk are you?"
Looking at Gray's concerned face sent Juvia's resolve into a tail spin. How could she possibly upset her Gray-sama like this? She was just about to call the whole thing off when Cana's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Really, Gray?" Cana's tone cut like a knife. "You've ignored that poor girl all this time and now you want to stop her from having a nice day out? Talk about selfish!"
Gray bristled. "I'm not being selfish! I'm just looking out for my nakama!"
"Oh?" said Erza. "Well, I think Lyon has proven to be trustworthy. He fought with us against the Oracion Seis and even helped look for us after Tenrou Island disappeared, after all."
Mirajane, enjoying Gray's discomfort, couldn't help adding with a wink, "Besides, Juvia WAS an S-class candidate, I'm sure she can handle herself!"
Stung by the girls' words, Gray struggled against the anger boiling up inside him. He didn't understand why they were so willing to let Juvia go with the Lamia Scale mage so easily. Lyon was obviously up to something. But on the other hand, why did he care so much?
Oh yeah, nakama. That was it.
Wasn't it?
"Juvia can go out with whoever she wants," Gray finally managed to grind out. "Honestly, I really could care less."
Gray regretted his words for many reasons, but it couldn't be helped. He braced himself for the inevitable tears that he knew Juvia would burst into, but none came. A little taken aback at the lack of waterworks, Gray glanced over at the blue-haired girl who he found wearing a stony look on her face that he hadn't seen since the first moment they had met.
Lyon laughed under his breath. "Baka."
Juvia couldn't say whether it was the encouraging words she had gotten at Lucy's sleepover the previous night, or the star treatment she had received at Lamia Scale that morning, or the way her girlfriends had just finished rushing her defense the moment before, but something in her had changed that made her want to slap Gray upside the head for what he had just said.
She was Juvia Lockser, the water mage. Once of the Phantom Lord's feared Element Four, now the third most popular female wizard in Fairy Tail. An S-Class candidate whose best friend was an Iron Dragon Slayer who still scared the crap out of most of their guildmates.
She was better than this.
She looked at Gray, raised her head high and said, "I am ready for our date now, Lyon-sama."
Gray gaped at Juvia, astounded at this sudden change in her behavior towards him.
Lyon beamed as he put Juvia's arm through his. "I am glad to hear it, my lovely." He turned to Erza, Cana and Mirajane and gave a brief bow. "Always a pleasure ladies." And with that, he and Juvia turned around and headed towards the guildhall doors.
"Oh and Gray," Lyon stopped at the doors and looked over his shoulder at his scowling fellow ice-make mage. Juvia didn't turn her head at all.
"Yeah?" Gray's voice came out as a snarl.
Lyon smirked. "Don't wait up."
As the doors to the guildhall swished closed behind the couple, Gray turned back to the bar, trying to pretend that he didn't care. But before Cana could finish her second barrel of wine, Gray was already out the door, leaving a trail of clothes in his wake.
"We'll see who's the idiot!" he scowled.
It was a long time before Cana, Mirajane and Erza stopped laughing.
A/N - I wish Juvia would really do this
