Chapter 6
Juvia releases a sigh of relief, she didn't know she was holding, when they reach the guild. Fortunately, Gray and Natsu didn't tear each other's heads off on the way to the guild.
'They bicker like little children.' Juvia thinks.
Gray and Natsu didn't start a fight again because they didn't want to be put in a water lock again. Although, they kept throwing each other dirty looks the entire way and passed rude comments on each other.
Gray and Natsu open the guild doors. As soon as the three mages set foot in the guild, the entire guild goes silent and looks at them in shock. Gray, Juvia and Natsu as taken aback by their reaction and look at them dubiously.
"What's going on?" Gray asks. "Fairy Tail have never been this quiet before."
"Maybe what Happy told us could be true." Cana says in shock and takes a sip from the barrel in front of her.
"I didn't want to believe it." Macao says.
"And who would have thought they would go and take Gray's permission before letting everyone know." Levy chimes in.
Elfman starts crying, "Gray, you are a real man! It is so manly of you to accept it so graciously."
"Natsu and Juvia, you both are so honorable to think of Gray's feelings before going public." Erza pulls both Natsu and Juvia into a hug. The fire and the water mage let out a yelp when their skulls hit the scarlet haired mage's armour.
"Never knew you had it in you to be so noble, Stripper." Gajeel says in suppressed admiration. "Maybe, I'll write a song about it." He snaps his fingers, "Shoobi doo bop…"
"What the hell are you all talking about?" Gray cuts in.
"Natsu and Juvia are together, see, I told you all." Happy says.
Natsu and Juvia manage to break out of Erza's grip, "What?" Natsu and Juvia say in unison.
"NATSU!"
Lucy stands with her hands on her hips and looks at him with anger.
"What?" Natsu asks her.
"What do you mean what? Where were you last night? After Happy showed up, I figured you'd show up too. I was worried." She punches him in the gut.
"OH! That hurt, Lucy! I stayed with Gray last night."
"Gray? You were at Gray's place?" She looks at Gray for confirmation.
Gray nods.
"Don't believe me?" He asks in disbelief.
"Why would you stay at his place? When you crash at my place all the time?"
"Ah, Lucy-san, I was the one who told Natsu-kun to stay at Gray-san (a collective gasp is heard)."
"Why would you do that?" She asks in confusion.
"Lucy-san is always complaining about how Natsu-kun is always at your place without your permission. So, I suggested that Natsu-kun stay at Gray-san's (collective gasp) place."
"Well, that is true." Levy nods.
"Yes, she is always complaining about it." Cana agrees.
"Ummm…" Lucy is at a loss of words. 'Damn her! Who is she to interfere in this?' "Even if I do that… it doesn't mean he is not welcome when he is in need. Or when he comes in with permission."
Juvia gives Natsu a meaningful look at Lucy's words. Natsu reluctantly nods in understanding and she smirks at him. This silent interaction is not missed by Gray and Lucy.
"So, you complain about me all the time, uh, Lucy?" Natsu asks her playfully.
The blonde mage waves her hands in front of herself and smiles, "No no no, it's what you think."
"So, you both are not together then? Lisanna asks.
"Juvia and I are only friends."
"Yesterday was just a friendly match gone bad, nothing else." Juvia adds.
"This is the last time I'm believing Happy's words." Lily says.
"Well, I didn't really believe Happy's words in the first place." Carla tells Lily.
"But Carla, you said that Juvia and Natsu would make an interesting pairing." Wendy says.
"Yes. I did say that. Because Fire and Water, who would not want to see how that would work?" She speaks like how a teacher talks to little children.
"Yes, that would have been interesting to see." Lily says thoughtfully.
"Fire and Water sounds good but nothing can beat Water and Ice. Ice can't exist without water." Evergreen chimes in.
Everyone starts discussing the combinations they support.
Natsu, Juvia, Lucy and Gray look in shock as the discussion turns into a brawl very soon. Mirajane looks at the turns of events and chuckles to herself.
"ENOUGH!" Master Makarov shouts. This causes everyone to stop. "You brats let everything get out of hand!" He strokes his chin in thought. "It's obvious Fire and Water are more interesting together because they naturally oppose each other."
The four protagonists look at the Master in shock.
"End of discussion! Now take a request and go out on jobs instead of wasting time here."
A majority of the guild members scramble to the request board.
"Natsu-kun, let's go talk to Levy-san before she leaves for a job." She locks her arm with his arm and pulls him in the direction of the petite mage.
He hides his shock when Juvia interlocks their arms and moves in the direction Juvia is maneuvering.
Gray lets out a small grunt when he looks at them but sighs when he realizes what they are about to do. Lucy, on the other keeps staring at them.
"Gray, what the hell is happening?"
"I wish I knew." He is annoyed.
"When? How?"
"Welcome to my world! I'm been thinking about that since last night." Gray sits on a bench and supports his face with his palm. He watches them discreetly.
"Did they act like this last night as well?"
"More or less."
"Do you think they've been dating each other behind our backs all this time?" She asks conspiratorially.
He narrows his eyes at her. "Where did you get that idea from?"
"Well, looking at them, it feels like something is brewing."
"Nothing is brewing!" He bangs a palm on the table. "Juvia is just helping him out." 'I may have said it but what if what Lucy just said is true?'
'Dammit! Gray is right. He trusts Juvia so much. I need to put faith in Natsu as well.' "You are right, Gray. I shouldn't have thought or said something like that."
He looks at Lucy and nods. He goes back to looking at Natsu and Juvia discreetly.
"So why are you staring at them then?"
"Haven't you heard? Apparently, Fire and Water are interesting together." He answers sarcastically.
"So, you don't trust Juvia as much as you claimed minutes ago?" Lucy presses.
"Oh, I trust her. It's Natsu, I don't trust. I don't know what he's been telling her but she has been acting strangely."
"Well, I don't trust Juvia." Lucy says defensively. "For all we know, she could be the one manipulating Natsu into doing things he doesn't usually do."
"Juvia is smart but she will never manipulate someone. First of all, is Natsu even capable of being influenced?" He speaks coolly but Lucy notices the edge in his voice.
"True but for whatever reason he seems to be doing everything she wants." Lucy points out.
"No Juvia is doing whatever Natsu wants."
"Is Natsu even capable of manipulating someone?" Lucy is on the verge of losing it.
"There's no use if we argue. The best way to find out answers is by observing them." Gray says nonchalantly. He may sound nonchalant but he feels anything but nonchalant.
Lucy nods in shock. "Agreed. What exactly will we find out if we keep observing from a distance?"
"I don't know. Changes in mannerism, I guess. You are the aspiring writer so you should know these things, not me."
"I know, but I was just trying to figure out what exactly we are to focus on."
Gray rolls his eyes and looks at his subjects from the corner of his eyes. Minutes later he looks at Lucy. He sighs.
"Could you be any more obvious?" He asks her irritably.
"Huh?!" She doesn't even look at Gray.
"Be discreet."
"Oh…Ooh! Right." She straightens her back. "How about I go and sit next to Levy-chan and join the conversation. We'll know what they are talking about."
Gray shakes his head thinking about the discussion they might be having. 'Levy looks a little shocked. Well anyone would be at such a request.' "Trust me, you don't want to know."
"Tell me what you know."
"Lucy, I've been really patient up till now but I really want to do this in silence. If you can't do this in silence then I suggest you move." Gray tells her irritably.
She blows a raspberry at him. She rests her elbows on the table and holds her face in her palms and observes the objects of their investigation again. Gray sighs and goes back to discreetly looking at them.
"Gray, I have a job. I think we both should be able to handle it."
Gray looks at the person standing in front of him, "I'm not interested, Erza." He tells her in a bored voice.
She raises an eyebrow at him, "You don't even know the job."
"Not this time, Erza." He glances in Juvia's direction.
Erza follows his line of sight and sits next to him as curiosity builds inside her, "So, what is happening here?"
"Didn't you want to go on a job?" Lucy asks without looking at her.
"This seems more interesting at the moment. So, what's happening in between them? This is like some novel."
"I know, right!" Lucy exclaims.
"And the fact that such a scenario is happening in real life makes it even more interesting." Erza says with sparks in her eyes.
Gray looks at her in astonishment. 'Bet you wouldn't be thinking this way if it were Jellal with Juvia.' Erza throws him a dirty look like she read his thoughts, he gulps. "Don't you have to leave?"
"Gray, what are you planning on doing to separate them?" Erza ignores his question.
"Separate them? They are not together." He retorts.
"Well, if you don't do anything, Natsu will take the girl from right under your nose."
"She's right, Gray."
"Same goes for you, Lucy." She says it like it is a challenge.
Lucy gulps and tugs on Gray's shirt (which he surprisingly didn't take off yet), "Gray, we need to do something."Happy's words in the in
I apologise for not uploading a new chapter for so long! I was busy with something else and also a bit stuck!
But please read and review! I hope you like it! :-)
BTW, did you guys read last week's chapter? It was fucking crazy! And i think, this week will be even more crazier!
Enjoy! Neepa... :-)