Hello everyone and welcome back for another chapter in my first Fairy Tail piece. This one was a bit of a pain to write the various character's perspectives and try to gauge their reactions to the arising situations. However, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (even if a couple of segments are a little clunky). Anyway, that's enough from me for now; I hope you enjoy the third installment!
Lucy woke up the next morning with the worst headache that she had ever experienced. Her head was pounding and she was beyond thirsty. Opening her eyes, she stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. She was lying out on a soft bed and covered by a light duvet. Snoring peacefully beside her was Juvia, a thin trail of drool running from the corner of her mouth and onto the pillow beneath her face. Laying there for a long while, she tried to kick her brain into action and remember the previous night's events, or even how she had ended up in the bed in the first place though she was met only with limited success.
With a slight groan, Lucy sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She yawned gently, stretching her arms out wide and shaking her limbs free of the grip of the previous night's rest. Looking around, she frowned slightly as she noticed that the room that they were in was not Juvia's. In fact, they weren't in Juvia's apartment at all. Listening carefully past the sound of Juvia's breaths, she could hear the faint sounds of movement beyond their room. To her it sounded like plates hitting a table and pans clattering against a stove top.
Climbing out of bed, she shuffled over to the door and through the door. She stepped deftly around her shoes from the previous night, which had at some point been thrown haphazardly to the floor. Moving as quietly as she could, she opened the door to the bedroom and slipped out into the room beyond. Two things hit her almost immediately; the first was the smell of fresh bacon and eggs, and the second was the numerous bodies laid out on the floor in various states on undress and surrounding by mounds of empty bottles and cups.
"Morning Luce!" Natsu said cheerily, greeting her as he came into the room carrying two plates stacked high with bacon, eggs and hash browns. He set them on the living room table alongside mountains of freshly buttered bread. Once the food was in place, he made his way around the room, nudging awake the various sleeping lumps on the floor. They came to with a collection of groans, looking around blearily but otherwise, not really moving at all.
Natsu himself had at some point change out of his clothes from the night before and was now stood in a baggy pair of pyjama pants and long-sleeved grey t-shirt with black sleeves. Across the front was emblazoned the word 'fire'. Wrapped around his neck was the same scarf that he had been wearing the previous night. Once again, it was a strange combo but seemed to suit him in a peculiar way.
"Hey Natsu…" She said slowly, struggling to form words past her parched throat. "How… what happened last night, how did Juvia and I end up in there?"
"Oh, well it got real late last night and everyone was pretty drunk so we decided that they all should just kinda crash here. When we all finished up last night, the guys kinda just picked a bit of floor and slept there. There was one hell of a brawl for the couches but Erza put that one to rest pretty quickly." At this, he gestured to a distinctly hungover Erza, laid out on the couch amidst a collection of cushions from throughout the room. "We wanted to make you guys comfortable since we were all pretty new to you so I gave up my room for you guys to sleep in." He replied with a smile.
Before she could so much as utter a word of thanks, he had disappeared back through to the kitchen, leaving Lucy alone for a long moment until he returned with a glass of water and a pack of aspirin. He held it out to her and she took the glass from him with a quick smile of gratitude, though she left the aspirin. Raising the glass to her lips, she drained the water in two or three gulps, enjoying the cooling relief as it soothed her dry throat. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she sighed contentedly.
"I really needed that, thank you Natsu." She said after a long moment, glad to hear that her voice had returned to its normal state with the introduction of a little water; though in her mind she didn't doubt that she would likely need a whole lot more water before she would be completely back to normal again.
"Anyway, now that you're awake, Gray just finished up making breakfast. There's plenty of it so help yourself." He told her cheerily before leaning in closer with a sly expression. "If I were you though, I would dig in before the others wake up properly. They can demolish a whole platter of food like crazy and I don't want to see you go hungry because of them."
As he turned away to head back into the kitchen, Lucy could have sworn that there was a touch of colour blooming across his cheeks. It seemed to match his hair in a bizarre way which served to compliment his look.
She watched him go until he passed back into the kitchen and out of her sight again. Once he was gone, she made her way over to the table. Along the way she stepped around a sleeping Elfman and Lisanna. The two siblings had fallen asleep cuddled up close together, Elfman's arm wrapped protectively around his sister. In a way Lucy couldn't help but find it cute to see them like that, it was a whole new side to Elfman that she hadn't seen the previous night due to his slightly overbearing, 'manly' bravado.
Scooping up one of the plates from the stack on the table, Lucy helped herself to a generous serving of the breakfast foods as well as preparing a plate for Juvia. Sitting herself on one of the few couches available to her, she dug into her breakfast. The spread may have been limited but it more than made up for it in quality. Each and every morsel was cooked to perfection. The bacon was crispy but not too dry, and the eggs were gently cooked so that the yolk burst forth at the slightest provocation even if only to be mopped up by the awaiting hash browns. It was perfect.
Just as she was settled into her meal, the various people around the room stirred and came to life, following the smell of freshly cooked breakfast in the hopes that it would help to rid them of their hangovers. Much to Lucy's surprise, Natsu hadn't been joking. Within mere moments of having found the platters of food, the numerous hungry people had picked them clean. Each person returned to their little sleeping spaces and sat down to eat with ravenous enthusiasm leaving only crumbs behind.
Lucy chuckled to herself seeing the way in which they all behaved. None of them seemed to be particularly concerned with their manners and instead focussed on getting the food into their bodies in the most efficient manner as was possible. Behind her, Lucy heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and turned to see a sleepy looking Juvia emerge from the bedroom. She was yawning widely behind one slender hand and idly rubbing the sleep from her eyes with the other. In all it was quite a cute sight to see.
"Good Morning Juvia!" Lucy said with gusto, waiting for her best friend to come and sit beside her before passing over the modest breakfast that she had saved prior to the folks of Fairy Tail waking up. Juvia gave a grateful nod before slowly nibbling at the corner of a piece of toast. Clearly Lucy wasn't the only one feeling the effect of their previous night.
Getting to her feet, Lucy gathered up her plate and glass and carried them out into the kitchen. The room was all alive with a flurry of movement. Both Gray and Natsu shifted from one counter to the next in a seamless fashion, each man working in perfect harmony with the other as they tended to the cooking food and the dishes in perfect harmony. It was as though the two of them were engaged in a dance to which they both knew every step by heart and acted as though it were second nature.
Catching sight of her, Natsu swept over to her and took both the plate and glass straight out of her hands without so much as breaking his rhythm. Spinning away he worked his way to the sink and had washed the plate before Lucy had even managed to work out quite what was going on. A fresh glass of water was in her hand a mere moment later before Natsu was back to tending a pan full of sausages.
Lucy stood in the doorway for a long while; sipping at her water, admiring the whir of motion in front of her and savouring all of the wondrous smells drifting from the multitude of pans that the two cooks had on the go. It was enough to make her mouth water, despite having only just eaten a full meal. As she stood there, she allowed her mind to be swept away in the scene ahead of her as she watched everything that the two boys did.
After what must have been ten minutes or so, Gray served up another mountain of food and carried it out to the hungry masses were still sprawled out in the living room making their best attempts to recover from the night before. This left Lucy to watch only Natsu as he worked to keep the kitchen running; but without his partner, the magic simply wasn't there. One guy can only do so much, after all, and despite his best efforts it seemed that Natsu was quickly becoming overrun. Retying her hair, Lucy took a step into the kitchen and gave him her best smile.
"Hey Natsu, you look like you're having a bit of a hard time. Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked with a confident grin playing about her lips.
"Yeah, the pan with all the sausages in it needs tending. If you could just turn the sausages every now and again I'd really appreciate it. I don't know where the Ice Princess got to, but when he gets back I'm gonna kick his ass for leaving me alone with all of this." The pink haired cook replied. Even though he was grumbling away, the smile never seemed to fade from his face, nor did the fire in his eyes diminish. To Lucy it seemed that Natsu was incapable of any kind of emotion besides his usually cheerful demeanour.
Giving him a nod she dashed to the sink and quickly washed her hands before turning to the stove. Grasping the tongs that Gray had left beside the pans, she set to work on turning the sausages, before long they were sizzling away nicely and browning evenly on all sides. Finishing his work with the dishes, Natsu came over to check on the foods that Lucy was tending. Leaning over her shoulder with his face only a couple of inches away from hers, he nodded his approval.
"Nice job Luce! They look really great! I think you have a talent for this kinda stuff." He chuckled. Lucy blushed as she felt pride bloom in her chest at his remarks. A flash of confusion crossed her mind as she found herself wondering just why it was that her cheeks had flushed a delicate tinge of pink. She dismissed it as being a direct result of the heat coming from the stove, she concentrating on tending to the food and preventing it from burning. After all, it was only natural to feel a touch of pride at Natsu's comments. He was an incredible cook and had offered praise for her help… yeah, that had to be why.
Juvia groaned gently to herself as she felt her head pound and her stomach churn. Internally she vowed fervently to never, ever drink so much again so long as she lived. Every slight movement sent new waves of nausea through her body and threatened the return of what little food she had been able to stomach. Catching glimpses of Lucy dashing around in the kitchen with Natsu, Juvia couldn't help but feel seething envy. The blonde seemed completely unimpeded by the effects of the previous night's festivities.
Before she had chance to dwell on it, a tall glass of water appeared over her left shoulder. Taking it gratefully she turned around to find Gray standing over her with his usually impassive expression on his face. Moving around to join her, he took the seat beside her and stretched out with a contented sigh.
"It was a great night last night huh? I mean it got pretty crazy." He chuckled, shooting her an amused smile.
"Yes, it was really fun. Juvia didn't stop smiling all night; it was the most fun that Juvia has ever had! Thank you so much for inviting Juvia and Lucy." Juvia replied with a warm smile before cringing as her body made her pay for her enthusiasm with another dose of nausea.
"You're welcome. I hope this means we can see you guys more often and hang out. I mean all the folks here really loved meeting you, me and Natsu included. It's almost like you're one of us now. Hey uh… are you alright?" He asked with a touch of concern in his voice. Reaching out to her, he tenderly placed a hand on her bare shoulder in what was presumably meant to be a comforting gesture. Though the moment she felt his touch, she recoiled with a surprised yelp. His hands felt like they were literal ice, just the memory of it sent chills racing down the length of her spine.
Worriedly, she looked at him with apologetic eyes praying internally that she hadn't offended him. But Gray didn't seem to mind; rather he simply laughed and edged away from her a little.
"Sorry, my hands are always pretty cold. I didn't mean to surprise you like that. The look on your face though, it was priceless." He managed to say between fits of laughter. Juvia's face turned a new shade of red as she pouted playfully at him. She was glad that he hadn't taken exception to her actions and made a mental note to try and avoid a repeat occurrence should the situation ever arise again.
"Juvia is sorry, she was caught a little by surprise is all… a-and Gray's hands are so cold that it was a little bit of a shock." She replied, astonished to hear just how small her voice sounded. Before she could say any more though, she felt her stomach lurch. Climbing to her feet and breaking into a dead sprint, she shot off towards the bathroom at lightning speed.
Lucy patted her friend gently on the back as the two of them, accompanied by Gray and Natsu, made their way through to the apartment door. When Gray had returned to the kitchen with news that Juvia had fallen ill and had been in the bathroom for half an hour, she had known that it would soon be time to leave. Despite the fact, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that the party had finally come to a close.
Thanking their hosts and uttering a quick goodbye to all of the Fairy Tail folks, Lucy made to help Juvia across the hallway and into the safety of her own apartment so that she might recover. Taking tentative steps, Juvia led the way and Lucy began to follow when she was stopped by a gentle but firm grip on her arm. Turning around, she found Natsu's signature smile. An odd sensation crept up her arm that she couldn't explain until she looked down and found its source. The rose haired boy had a pen in hand and was marking out a series of numbers all up her forearm, finishing before she could utter so much as the slightest protest.
"There!" He said with a touch of pride. "I thought you might like to hang out again sometime, this way we can stay in touch and let you know when everyone is next getting together." He grinned. Seeing that and hearing his reasoning, all outrage or indignation within her died away in an instant. A slight blush bloomed over her features as she nodded her understanding. Turning away she caught up with Juvia and helped her friend across the hall and into her miniscule apartment beyond.
Once they were inside and the door was shut, Lucy guided Juvia through to her bedroom, helped her change into a set of pyjamas and tucked her into bed with a cool glass of water at the bedside. All the while the blonde pondered on the past couple of days and laughed. It all seemed so surreal and a stark contrast to her life beforehand that it was as though she had woken up from a long dream and started living again.
Having seen Juvia home safe and sound, the blonde gathered her things and took her leave. Heading out of the apartment she travelled down the stairs and into the nearest cab to take her off to the little coffee shop. Internally a part of her hoped that the sporadic opening hours over the past week wouldn't affect her customer base too badly.
"So what do you think of them?" Gray asked with a cocky smirk as he picked up the hundredth empty bottle and stuffed it into the black rubbish bag he was carrying. Natsu looked over at him and uttered a slight groan; he knew that smirk and knew that it could mean nothing good.
"They seem really cool, and the others seemed to really like them." He answered, hoping that this might mean an end to it. Alas, it was not to be the case.
"Oh come on, you and I both know that that isn't quite what you think. You wouldn't have given Lucy your number if it was. I mean we can always get the message out through Juvia since she lives down the hall. But you… you went ahead and gave her your number; there must be a reason why…"
"I don't know what you mean. I thought it would give her a bad idea of us if we only spoke to her through Juvia, I mean we don't wanna come across as bad people do we?" Natsu replied defensively. He didn't like this, not one bit. Gray was like a shark that had caught the scent of blood in the water and was circling round for the kill. It was evidenced by the look on his face at that very moment. The Ice princess had ceased all efforts to collect last night's debris and was simply stood staring expectantly at his roommate.
"Ugh! Okay, I admit it. Lucy is… well she's really cute. And she seems like a really nice person. I just thought I test the waters a little and go from there. It's no biggie…" The pink haired man continued, cracking under the pressure. Frustration at being caught in Gray's trap had frayed his nerves and served to wipe the smile off of his face. It just didn't make sense, why did Gray have to push it like that? It wasn't like it was some huge deal, just maybe meeting up for food or a movie sometimes perhaps. The idea sent a warm feeling across his face. Knowing that it could only mean trouble he flailed around for something, anything, to shift the attention away from himself.
"Well, what about you and Juvia? You two seemed pretty friendly at the party; I don't think I ever saw the two of you apart last night!" Natsu blurted out at last, launching a counter-attack against his friend.
"What about it? She didn't know anyone at the party so I was there to make sure she was comfortable is all." The stoic replied coolly.
"Oh yeah, the two of you looked real comfortable…"
"Watch it flame brain." Gray warned.
"Bring it on, Ice Queen."
That was the fuse which set off the charge. In an instant, fists and insult were flying freely and all of the progress that they had made towards cleaning the place since the last of their friends had left was undone. Bottles flew as the two squabbled and the apartment itself seemed to shake from the might of their bickering and Erza was nowhere to be found to resolve things between the two of them. It was business as usual as the sun set through the balcony windows across a cityscape bathed in the ruddy glow of the day's dying light.
Lucy arrived back at her home and heaved a sigh, closing the door behind her and blocking out the world. Work at the coffee shop had been beyond hectic with Juvia recovering at home and no-one else to help out around the place. It only served to further reinforce the need for hiring additional staff. She had been working flat out all day to serve the droves of increasingly agitated customers, uttering the same apology over and over again in an attempt to mollify them.
"I'm so sorry for the delay, but my only other member of staff is off sick today. I really do appreciate your patience."
The words repeated themselves over and over in her mind as she slumped into her living room and collapsed face down on the couch. Her feet ached and her back was so stiff that it had long since become difficult to move. She could only hope that the following day would be a little easier, and that Juvia would be able to come into the shop and help out. Another day like today had been, and Lucy wasn't sure if she could handle it.
Moving to bury her face in the crook of her arm and completely blot out the world, she stopped, once again seeing the series of numbers all up her arm. A smile spread across her face as she remembered them, having been so busy at work that she had forgotten all about Natsu giving her his number. Reaching into her bag, she rifled through it until she found her phone. Retrieving it, she unlocked it and hastily added the rose-haired man as a contact. Opening up a new message she was about to begin composing her first message to him when a wave of uncertainty crossed her mind; just what was she going to say?
She lay there on her couch, staring at the glowing phone screen in front of her. Her thumbs hovered over the phone's keyboard and yet she typed nothing. The message had to be just right; not too desperate sounding and not too cold. She wanted to make a favourable impression, so as not to seem too off putting. Her cheeks turned red in the dim light of her phone's screen as she realised just how silly she was being. Just why was she so nervous about it? He was only a guy, and she had only met him the once, so why did she feel like it was so important?
She groaned and set her phone aside for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and allowing her thoughts to wander. Yet no matter what her mind drifted to, it always came back to Natsu. He appeared in her mind's eye with his signature grin and the usual playful look in his eyes. What was wrong with her? She barely knew even the slightest thing about him but still her mind seemed to fixate on even the smallest of details that she had come to notice, every single one of his quirks, not to mention his eyes. So dark and mysterious…
Shaking her head to rid it of such thoughts, she scooped up her phone and hastily tapped out her message. It was coming purely from impulse but at the moment that was all that she could actually muster. Her mind was blurred and unreliable so her instincts were all that really remained to her.
'Hey Natsu; It's Lucy. Thanks for having Juvia and I over for the party last night. It was really fun, if a little crazy. I really hope that we can hang out again soon, maybe with Gray and Juvia too? Hope that you guys are okay and that your apartment wasn't totally trashed. The guys from Fairy Tail sure know how to party!'
She read over what she had written for any glaring errors before hastily hitting the send button and throwing her phone aside with a sigh. It was done and out of her hands, the ball was firmly in Natsu's court now. She just hoped he wouldn't see it as being really impersonal.
Natsu unlocked his phone and stared at the screen for what felt to be the millionth time but was again disappointed to see that there were no new messages. Sighing, he threw it aside again and tried to focus on the apartment's modest TV. There was really nothing on but he was willing to watch pretty much anything to take his mind off of Lucy. When he had given her his number he had hoped to hear back from her in a couple of hours, but it had been nearly a full day and she had been playing on his mind ever since. What if he had creeped her out or put her off completely? It was all entirely new territory for the usually hyper-confident man.
"She will text you when she can, I'm sure she's just busy at the moment. I mean she had to take care of Juvia earlier and I'm pretty sure that she said something about having to get to work today. You'll just have to be patient." Grey sighed from across the room. At first he had let it slide, but after nearly two hours of Natsu repeatedly checking his phone and groaning every time, the stoic's patience had begun to wear a little thin.
"But Gray, it's been hours! You don't think it weirded her out do you? Like, you don't think I scared her off? Maybe I should have been a bit more… subtle?" Natsu whined, checking his phone yet again.
"Believe me Natsu, if you had scared her off it would have happened way before that, probably when you tried breathing fire at the party. From what I can tell, she seems pretty to think you're pretty cool, but that's just my guess, I mean I have just about as much experience dealing with this stuff as you. I mean there was that brief fling with Daphne but the less that's said about that the better…" Gray replied before heading into the kitchen to retrieve a beer from the fridge. The mere memory of Daphne was enough to settle a sense of unease across his chest.
Natsu remembered Daphne all too well, from her weird dress sense to her overbearing and controlling nature. It seemed really lucky that Gray had managed to escape more or less unscathed, and that was even with Erza and the rest of Fairy Tail's help. Daphne had been the only person that Natsu had ever seen to genuinely scare Gray. His thoughts passed to Lucy, and he couldn't help but wonder whether the blonde could ever be like that. Staring at his phone, he shook his head. Lucy and Daphne were nothing alike.
Where Daphne had been overbearing and arrogant, Lucy was sweet and relatively modest. The two couldn't have been more different. Daphne had always caused an incredibly uneasy feeling in Natsu's chest, whereas Lucy only left him feeling oddly calm and cheerful. In the time that they had spent together, he had found himself smiling almost incessantly in a way that he never really had before. Even the more estranged members of his odd little family had noticed it, and teased him for it mercilessly from the moment of Lucy's departure until they had all departed for their own homes earlier that day.
Before Natsu could dwell on his thoughts anymore, his phone lit up and vibrated against the soft cushions of the couch he was sat on. Snatching up the device at the speed of light his dark eyes frantically scanned the lines of text displayed on the screen as an ever growing smile played about his lips. Running out to the kitchen to find Gray, he dashed through the doorway and nearly crashed headfirst into his housemate. Gray shot him his usual scowl and quirked an eyebrow, demanding an answer. Natsu's only response was to hold his phone up and display the message to his housemate. Gray squinted at the message for a couple of seconds before his expression changed to an easy smile.
"See, flame brain? I told ya she would get round to it eventually. She's even suggesting hanging out with you again sometime soon." Gray chuckled, before stepping past the pink haired ball of enthusiasm and heading back into the living room.
"Not just with me Gray! You and Juvia too! You gotta help me come up with something for us all to do. I'm hopeless with this kinda stuff!" Natsu whined, following after his roommate and still holding out his phone.
"You think I'm any better? Just pick somewhere nice that you can take her and that you think that she will enjoy. I'm sure that whatever Lucy enjoys, Juvia will too. I mean the two of them seem practically inseparable."
"But I don't know any places like that… I mean I barely know the city, the only place around here that I know I love is…" Natsu paused mid-sentence as a bolt of inspiration dawned on him "Gray that's it! We can take them over to Fairy Tail!"
"What… why would we…?"
"Think about it! All the places that we would hang out as kids; the fields, the trees down by the river, everything! It's real pretty out there and it'd be a really cool place to show them. We can even introduce them to the guys out there!" The pink-haired wonder explained, listing his examples using the fingers of his left hand.
"I mean… I guess it could work, and we could go see the others out there. Are you sure that they would like it though?" Gray replied, a somewhat sceptical look in his eyes.
"Well, they liked the guys when they met them here last night, and they both seemed happy to hear about everything that happened when we were growing up. I guess this way we can show them all the places we would go when we were kids."
"Alright, we'll take them out to Fairy Tail. You let Lucy know and I'll head over tomorrow and ask Juvia along." The stoic conceded. He supposed that it wasn't a terrible idea, and it would present the opportunity to spend a little more time with Juvia getting to know her on a one to one basis, since Natsu would undoubtedly want to run off alone with Lucy for a while.
Gray lay in bed that night with his heart pounding in his chest. He hadn't wanted to show it in front of Natsu, but the reality was that his nerves were playing up at the mere idea of asked Juvia out with them that weekend. In many ways, Natsu had it easy. It was much easier to send a message through and ask someone out that way, but to actually ask someone to their face was a whole other ball game; especially when that someone looked like Juvia did.
Over and over in his head, Gray tried to work out the best way to ask her but no matter how hard he tried, all of the methods that he came up with seemed stupid or juvenile. He thought about just coming out with it and asking her plainly, with no frills or playing around, but that just seemed like it might intimidate her or put her off. From what he had seen, Juvia seemed to be quite a shy girl, so charging in with all guns blazing was pretty much the opposite of what he should do.
Groaning to himself, he rolled over and buried his face in a pillow. Closing his eyes he forced his mind to clear itself. This kind of thinking wasn't going to get him anywhere, especially not when he was tired. Resigning himself to thinking more about it in the morning he allowed his fatigue to envelop him and carry him off to sleep; although even in sleep he wasn't completely free as thoughts of Juvia swam around in his dreams, as did the issue of actually asking her out for the weekend. It was an unavoidable hurdle that he would have to rise and face, and one which he would be sure to meet head on.
Lucy's eyes snapped open as her phone went off next to her head. She had been dozing peacefully since she had sent her text through to Natsu, deciding that sleeping would be better than brooding over every little detail of what she had said. Retrieving her phone and unlocking it she was met with a new message from Natsu. A tight feeling settled on her chest as she opened up his message to her and scanned the lines of text that he had sent her;
'Hey Luce! You're welcome any time. Sorry about that, the guys are pretty crazy when we all get together in one place, but I'm glad it didn't scare you off! They all thought that you and Juvia were pretty cool. The apartment was all good once Gray and I got it all cleaned up, though it kinda took forever to get done. Anyway, we were thinking that this weekend, we could all get together and head out of town a ways, Gray and I have somewhere that we think you and Juvia will really might get a little dirty, so dress for the outdoors! Gray's going to ask Juvia tomorrow, so keep it on the down low 'til then. You in?'
Lucy read the message a couple of times over with a puzzled look. She was relieved that Natsu seemed to be so eager to hang out again soon, but the vague nature of his message left her curious and hungry for answers. Where was it that the boys were going to take them that she would need to dress for the great outdoors and why was it so secret? Either way, Lucy felt that it was an opportunity that she couldn't afford to pass up. Quickly typing out her confirmation, she sent it back and set her phone aside once more.
Heading through to the kitchen, she fixed herself some food and ate quickly. Once she was finished and the dishes were done, she made her way through to her bedroom and got ready for bed. As she climbed beneath the sheets, she pondered the mysterious day out that she had ahead of her that weekend and just how she would manage the coffee shop if both she and Juvia were going to be heading out of town for the day. Her opening ours were already pretty erratic since the boys had come into her life, and she knew that she couldn't keep it up forever. But for now, she didn't think about that. All she was thinking about was the adventures that the four of them would be getting up to in only a few days time.
There you have it. I hope that you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too rigid. I wanted to try and really get the ball rolling for the main overarching plot line, for both Natsu and Lucy as well as Gray and Juvia. Next chapter will hopefully be a little more light-hearted and fun. Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say for now. I truly do hope that you enjoyed it. As always, please don't forget to favourite and follow if you would like to keep up to date with the release of the new chapters for this story. Please do review and let me know what you thought, I do read all of your comments and try to act on them where possible, in order to improve the experience of you, the readers.
That's all for this installment. I hope to get started on the next chapter as soon as my schedule allows and hope t have it ready within a couple of weeks. As always, I'll see you all in the next chapter.