It was a quiet afternoon for the ice mage Lyon Vastia, who had traveled to Magnolia on a quickly completed mission. "I'll take this opportunity to see my sweet Juvia!" He thought satisfied, looking for his beloved sorceress of the guild of Fairy tail, with cobalt blue hair and the body of a fairy around the city. Luckily he didn't take long but unfortunately she was happily talking to Gray Fullbuster,another mage of her guild, his childhood friend and annoying love rival. Besides them there was that hothead Natsu Dragneel, a goof and cheerful guy with pink and messy hair who was strong and dangerous when he was serious. "Juvia my love, it's good to see you again." Lyon said, jumping straight into the discussion. "You should stop calling me that!" She replied offended, putting on that adorable pout that Lyon adored so much. Gray huffed boredly as usual but what surprised Lyon was the other man's reaction. For a moment, Lyon had the impression that Natsu had abandoned his typical cheerful manner to look at him with a gaze colder than ice. " I saw it wrong." He thought, doubtful of what he had seen. "What did you come here to do, to bother?" Gray asked Lyon sarcastically. "Just a short mission and I thought I'd come visit my dear friends from Fairy Tail." He responded promptly, trying to show himself to be morally superior to his rival. "Do you have anything to do this evening? I was thinking of offering you something to drink at a nearby inn." Lyon told them casually, plotting to outsmart his rival and spend the time having dinner with his beloved Juvia. "Well it's been a while since we spent an evening together, what do you think?" The boy with the unruly pink hair intervened and Lyon intensely hoped that by convincing him, he would be able to convince the others too. Gray shrugged. "I don't feel like it, I have other things to do." He replied annoyed, turning and walking away from them. "And you, Juvia?" Natsu asked her, in a tone that seemed much softer than before. The girl looked sorry. "I…" she looked hesitantly at Gray as he walked away. "It'll be for a next time." She responded to her friend, smiling melancholy and gently taking his enormous hands in her delicate ones. "Thanks again for today, it was really fun doing a mission together." Lyon immediately noticed that he was avoiding eye contact with her and his ears were turning a shade of red. "Of course, I'm happy to be with you." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck and waving at the girl as she ran towards Gray. Now Lyon was sure: he had seen a look of pure disgust on Natsu's face and it was aimed directly at the man who was leaving. Lyon smiled amusedly, having immediately understood what the pink haired guy was trying to hide. He rested his arm on Natsu's shoulder in a friendly manner. "Well, then there would be two of us having this dinner, two friends from different guilds, wouldn't we?" "We don't talk to each other often enough to call ourselves friends..." Natsu replied, visibly disappointed with the direction the situation had taken. "You're right, more than a dinner with friends I would define it as a dinner between love rivals, what do you think?" Natsu's body tensed and he turned to see the mocking smile on the other's face.
They were sitting near a small circular wooden table in a crowded and noisy pub in Magnolia, two mugs of ice-cold beer in their hands. "When did it happen?" The ice mage asked, taking a small sip of his icy drink. "Does it matter?" the other replied, still uncomfortable with being in that situation. "You don't have to do it, it was just out of curiosity...anyway for me it was the first time I met her, love at first sight." Natsu drummed his fingers on the wooden table, playing it like a musical instrument, and then shortly after drank some beer too. "Same reason...and the more I talked to her, the more I understood that it wasn't just fleeting emotion. Juvia is truly amazing." He stared melancholy at the reflection of his face in the mug. "But I guess she's not interested in me in the same way."
"Why do you think like this?" Natsu snorted, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "I'm the exact opposite of her Gray: he's taciturn, serious, shrewd, cold and beautiful. He Doesn't have anything in common with me." He drank reluctantly, finishing the first mug. Lyon finished his and ordered a waitress to bring two more. "You know, I think you underestimate yourself too much." Lyon said, drinking the new mug. "Don't say I told you but a certain God Slayer I know confessed to me that she thinks you are very cute." Natsu raised an eyebrow. "Really?" "And she's not the only one who thinks that. You need to worry less, you have nothing to envy to that buffoon." He replied, putting particular emphasis on the last word. Natsu shook his head smiling, surprised by those words. "You know, I think you're cool too." "I already knew this but thanks." Lyon joked, winking and both of them bursting out laughing.
"And he had me flying on his back and… and I could feel the clouds an inch from my hand." Natsu told, imitating the gesture with his hand, smiling at those nostalgic and bittersweet childhood memories. "Yes, I can understand the feeling, I imagine it's like touching snow. She really liked making snowmen with me." Replied the other, still managing to feel that wonderful sensation in his hands. He also reluctantly remembered her wonderful smile. He narrowed his eyes and drank, ignoring that constant pang in his chest. "I wish you can find your Igneel again." Lyon said sincerely, raising his mug high as did Natsu and they both gave a loud toast.
They were walking around Magnolia, enjoying the night view, swaying and laughing at every little thing. "Look, that cat looks like Happy!" Natsu shouted, pointing to a funny-faced cat. "I don't even know what a Happy is!" The other replied, both of them bursting out laughing like idiots. "There you are, we were looking everywhere for you." Commented a cold voice that they knew too well. "Oh, the Beauty and the Beast." Lyon said coldly, emphasizing the last word with great anger as he looked at his interlocutor and the girl near him. "We were worried about you." Juvia said, holding onto Gray's arm tightly. "I'm sure you were..." Natsu whispered sarcastically in a low voice but unfortunately Juvia seemed to have heard him, it broke his heart to see her resentful face. "Lyon, you smell like garbage, you're dead drunk. Come on, I'll take you back to my house, Juvia, you take care of Natsu." Gray ordered, yanking Juvia off his arm and moving closer to Lyon. "But Gray I..." the girl tried to speak. "Do as I say!" Gray commands sharply, awakening all of Natsu's anger towards him. "You should stop treating her like that!" Natsu roared staggered, with fire in his eyes and an unhealthy, alcohol-fueled desire to punch his friend. "Hic, my new best friend is right, you're such an as-" Lyon tried to speak but stopped to vomit on the street, causing disgust among those present and fortunately avoiding a fight. Gray took Lyon bodily. "Shut up." He sighed tiredly and headed towards home, leaving the other two alone. There was that moment of awkward silence, Natsu unable to want to start an argument in that state, not wanting to appear even more ridiculous in front of her. "I...I'm leaving, there's no need to walk me home." He finally said, turning and giving back to the girl. "Natsu wait, I'll help you." She said in a low voice. He stopped, trying to contain all the emotions that could come out in that moment of lack of clarity.
"You're doing it because Gray told you to, aren't you?" He snapped, wanting to hold back but his words seemed to come out of mouth against his will. "Normally you wouldn't have helped me, right? I could just disappear and nothing would change! I'm sure that even today you agreed to come on mission just because he was there, right?" He turned around but the only thing he saw was a very strong jet of water hitting him in the face, making him fall on the butt to the ground. "I agreed because you asked me to!" Juvia blurted out, her face red with anger and barely holding back a few tears from her eyes. "Because you're my friend! A-and it's not true that nothing would change, you stupid..." she walked over to him and gently held out her hand. She was even more beautiful from that shot, she looked like an angel that was trying to save his damned soul. "Let me help you, please."
"Oh so that's your house?" She asked him cheerfully, holding the tipsy man's arm around her shoulders. "Yes ..." he admitted embarrassed, who would have hoped to show it to her in a better situation, perhaps at the end of a successful date and not while he finds himself almost as drunk as an old drunkard. He opened the door and invited her inside, trying to keep himself upright for her. "Happy must have already gone to sleep..." he commented, noticing the absence in the living room of his blue feline friend. "So, what were you and Lyon talking about? I've never seen you two get along so well!" Juvia asked curiously, looking at the wooden furniture in the room in fascination. Now, that was a question Natsu hoped she wouldn't ask him, he absolutely had to beat around the bush. "Oh well, the usual boy stuff, missions, our training, how Gray is a stinker..." Juvia rolled her eyes but smiled amused. "...of enemies we've faced, girls..." he stopped, slapping himself in the face for saying that. Juvia's attention skyrocketed. "Girls? So is our Natsu interested in any girl in particular?" She joked in a flirtatious voice, giving him a cheerful pat on his shoulder. "Who is it?" "I-I'd rather not talk about it..." he muttered, avoiding eye contact. "I assure you that I will not tell anyone, not even Cana!" She placed her finger thoughtfully on her lips, contemplating who the girl in question might be. "Lucy?" "No." "Erza!" "No." "Cana? She told me once that she was sure you were looking at her breasts." "No and above all I wasn't looking at her breasts!" He replied offended with a face as red as a tomato. "I'm sure I'll guess right! Can you give me a clue?" She looked at him with her big, deep blue eyes, those lips so soft, her loving blue hair moving like waves... Mesmerized by those majestic waves, he instinctively caressed them. A gesture that took the girl completely by surprise, bringing dead silence to the room. "You're beautiful..." was the only thing he managed to say, before falling to the ground. Juvia screamed in worry and a flying blue cat rushed to her. "What's going on here?" The kitty asked, yawning sleepily. Juvia couldn't say anything but she pointed fearfully at the body on the floor. The cat approached that and placed its paw on the head. "He just drank too much, he'll get over it. Can you help me get him into bed Juvia?" The girl breathed a sigh of relief and helped the cat carry her friend who had collapsed from tiredness and alcohol. "Juvia you can stay here if you want, we have some extra pajamas in the guest room." "Do you have a guest room?" she asked. "Of course, we also have an extra bed. It happens that sometimes someone stops to sleep, like Lucy or Gray..." That name was enough to send Juvia into ecstasy and she more than willingly accepted to sleep there. She wore white pajamas consisting of a blouse that showed a lot of her cleavage and shorts that accentuated her hips. She jumped onto the small bed.
"My sweet Gray slept here! What a joy!" She said enthusiastically but something was bothering her. She must have felt over the moon and yet she couldn't stop thinking about Natsu, about what had happened that night and about his words.
'You're beautiful...'
She tried to push those words out of her head in vain. "First the sweet Gray, then Lyon and now... Natsu too? I had never considered it from a romantic point of view! He is just a friend to me...right? Uuuurgh, why does Juvia find herself the protagonist of these complex love stories?!"
'I could just disappear and nothing would change!'
"Stupid, of course it would change everything." She mentally admonished him again, pulling the blanket closer to her.
Natsu woke up with a terrible headache, remembering what had happened the previous night in a confused and fragmentary way. "Uuugh, my head." He said to himself, rubbing his forehead. "I will never drink so much again in my life." A sweet, familiar smell hit him. "I see you're already awake, I thought I'd make breakfast." It was Juvia carrying a tray in her delicate hands, wearing his blouse that showed off her cleavage and shorts that showed off her curvy legs.
"Oh, okay. It's that dream again. Be gentle please." Juvia rolled her eyes and laughed lightly like a bird. "I don't know what dream you're talking about but I'm really here." She said, placing the tray on his lap. "Juvia I...I'M SORRY FOR HOW I BEHAVED LAST NIGHT!" He shouted, cocking his head apologetically. "Water under the bridge.." She told him, smiling, a smile that made his face turn even redder. "A-and thank you for breakfast, there was no need." "I really felt like doing it." she replied. "However, there are too many things I would like to understand and I need your help. I think we should do some more missions together." She confessed to him and noticed that compared to usual, when there is food in the guild, he hadn't even started eating yet and he was giving her his full attention. "Um okay, I'll talk to Gray and the others about it too and..." "No." Juvia said firmly. "There are some things I need to understand better of you and to do that I would like to spend time together, if that's okay." "I...yes of course, absolutely." "Good then! I'll let you finish, I don't want to rush you." She told him softly, waddling away towards the door, stopping suddenly. "There's one more thing I need to know. What you said before collapsing, if you still remember it...did ou really mean it?" She waited without turning, internally fearing that answer. "Without any doubt." He said. She left the room, resting on the closed door with a hand on her chest.
Notes: If you liked this story and are interested in Natsu's stories with other girls from the FT world, check out the others I wrote previously about Virgo and Levy!