Review Responses:
Dark Gothic Lolita: OMG, thank you so much for reading this! And no way! You're a WAY better writer than I am, but thank you for your compliment~!（*＾3＾）
xxbe-dazzledxx: I know right? There's hardly any NaVia content-*sighs* the downsides of shipping a crack ship. There's a community called 'Spread the NaVia~!' that has amazing NaVia stories if you want to find more NaVia fics to read! Thank you so much for reviewing! ⊂((・▽・))⊃
Icelyn20: Thank you for enjoying the plot so far! And I am definitely going to continue with this story! (￣ω￣)
Chapter 2
Juvia hums a song under her breath as she wipes the counter top with a raggedy gray washcloth that has clearly been through some damage, and smiles slightly. It is a slow Monday afternoon at the Element 4 Café near her university, Phantom Lord, with approximately five customers in the shop. Because the shop is rather small and not as popular compared to the others, the owner, Boze, didn't feel the need to have that many employees and thus, only had four employees-which was purely coincidental with the name of the coffee shop. Gajeel used to work in the shop alongside Juvia but quit a few months after he met Levy, as the short bluenette had made a comment about how the atmosphere of the coffee shop was unnerving and the importance of having a good and positive work environment. While Juvia had to agree with Levy that the atmosphere of the shop wasn't particularly the best, she found that work was work. She came to the shop to do her job and get paid. Nothing more, nothing less.
The bell above the door chimes, signaling a newcomer. Juvia forces a polite smile as she looks up at the guest. When she realizes who it is, her fake smile fades into that of a real, genuine smile. "Welcome to Element 4. What can Juvia get started for you?"
The coffee shop averages around a hundred people a day, as it isn't very large and a majority of the customers come in the mornings. Juvia works the afternoon shifts, where it is significantly less crowded. Because the coffee shop isn't a large chain coffee shop, not a lot of the same people would return back to the shop. The customer in question, however, is an exception.
Juvia had worked at Element 4 for about a good year or so before she met him. The day they met started off as any other day at the shop, slow and uneventful. That ended rather quickly when he burst through the coffee shop doors, looking like a mess. He had dark circles underneath his eyes and his hair was messy and unkempt. His movements were slow and zombie-like, as if it was a chore for him to even be in the shop. He had approached the counter and ordered a large, iced Americano with no water alongside 4 extra espresso shots. The bluenette balked at the order, knowing very well that that amount of caffeine would be detrimental to him, especially in that state, but against her better judgement, she served him his drink. When she asked for his name, he responded back with "Depression". While Juvia would usually comply to whatever the customer needed, she felt something within her telling her not to write that down. Instead, she opted for "Stay Strong! :)" to which resulted in a small smile playing on the guy's lips. He had been coming back ever since.
He smiles as he reaches the counter, running a hand through his pink hair. He is wearing his signature white scale-like scarf that she's always seen him in paired with a navy blue tank top with the gold words "Fairy Tail University" etched on it alongside a pair of white sweatpants and sandals today. Even though the bluenette could argue that he was practically wearing the same outfit every time he came to the shop, she had to remind herself that he looked a lot better now than the day they met. While the pairing of the clothing does seem odd - Juvia reminds herself that she shouldn't judge his fashion choice, especially not when Gajeel pokes fun of her wardrobe choice, saying that she looks very Russian - it surprisingly suits him. The tank top shows off his slightly tanned, muscular biceps and his scarf just makes him distinguishable from everyone else, although it is arguable that his pink hair already makes him stand out.
"Hey Juvia. I think I'll get the Chocolate Chip frap in a large." He flashes her a toothy grin that she finds endearing. And that's another thing that's changed since the first day they met. While he did order that monstrosity the day they met, he came back the following week and ordered a frappuccino from that week's special. Ever since that day, he began ordering sweeter drinks and hadn't ordered a bitter drink ever since then.
"Is that all?" She nods, tapping away at the buttons on the cash register.
"Yeah." He reaches into his pant pockets for his wallet.
"Your name?"
There is a pause before he responds. "Salamander." He grins as Juvia lets out a small giggle. It is a game; whenever he would come to the shop, he would give out weird names instead of his actual name. One day, he was "Fire Dragon's Roar" and another day he was "Fire Dragon's Claw". Even though there were never that many customers in the shop, the bluentte still found it embarrassing to call out "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, Juvia has your order ready" and to ask him for his real name was just out of the question for her; she is much too shy to do something like that.
"Okay, 'Salamander', that'll be $5.50." Juvia smiles as she scribbles "Salamander" onto his cup in her neatest handwriting while "Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang" digs in his wallet for the money.
"$6. Keep the change." "E.N.D" responds as he hands her the money, walking towards the pick-up area whilst the bluenette dumps the change into her tip jar before hastily preparing to make his drink. With her experience in making countless of different drink orders, she finishes making the drink in less than five minutes before placing it on the counter of the pick-up area.
"Salamander, Juvia has your order ready." She calls out just as "Dragon God" reaches out for the drink.
"Thanks, Juvia. You make the best fraps." He lets out another heart-melting grin and the bluenette just wants to melt. Just before he is about to leave, she summons up her courage at the last second and asks him for his real name. As the reality of what she had just asked begins to settle in, she stutters out that she feels embarrassed to be calling out "Phoenix Blade" all the time.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack" turns back and lets out a small smile, and it's different from his usual toothy grins and the smile on the day they met. "Natsu Dragneel."
End of Chapter 2.
(6/1/20): GASP! A wild NaVia interaction has finally arrived! In all seriousness though, I'm so sorry for taking so long to update! I've been feeling awfully slow and sluggish these past few weeks. And I'm so sorry that when I do come back, I came back with this monstrosity! But anyways, enough about me! Natsu and Juvia have finally interacted with each other! The Element 4 Café is inspired by Starbucks and I've never worked at a coffee shop or any drink shop before so if I butchered anything in this chapter, I apologize. Also! If you haven't noticed by now, most of the names that Natsu gave Juvia were inspired by his magic, LOL. And another thing! The coffee that Natsu ordered on the day the two meet is actually NCT's Jaemin's Starbucks order! And with that, please leave a review of what you thought about this chapter and since I'm on summer vacation, I'll try my best to update more! I'll see you all in the next chapter! Bye~! (9｀･ω･)9
P.S: Thank you all so much for the support on this story! As of right now, there are 15 favorite's and 23 follow's and even though these numbers may not seem like a lot to you, they mean a lot to me!（*＾3＾）