Note:

Flashbacks and thoughts in italics

'Thoughts' in the flashbacks are in 'single' inverted commas.

I do not condone or encourage any behaviors in this story. It is simply a fictional story.

CHAPTER 3

Bioluminescence

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He simpered amusedly when his ears caught up a thunder in Juvia's belly. Impulsively peeping a crack in one of the countless trees, she bit her bottom lip, somewhat disconcerted that he heard the enraged outcry of her hunger. Juvia felt jealous of Koalas peacefully dozing off on a eucalyptus tree. She did miss the regular glooms in her apartment, where she kept beat to the music while making content, homely meals, wholesome sashimi, rice, and tofu.

After every half an hour traversing the trail, they'd look back at their footsteps and wait for their legs to feel less weary. About two hours later, with a few seconds of anxious long-legged strides, they greeted a new development. Loke squinted at the bubbling creek. However, she expelled her breath in a whose with a watery mouth, heartened. Vines of ripe, flavorful brambles sprouted further down the swamp where the stones had collapsed. Right now, Juvia felt like she had the appetite to swallow a whale or two. Maybe, a whale is a bit too much to ask. She wobbled her head, a semi-smirk dangling on her features. But if this is all they have, then that's it.

"Wanna dig in?" One of his eyebrows quirked.

"You bet. I'm hangry." Juvia lifted her chin and shrugged at him, Loke could tell that something was nagging her, but he decided not to push it. Though most of his orbs shaded neath the ocean-tinted, gunmetal eyeglasses, she espied them zeroing in on her.

"Why does Loke still have those on your face? Shards might get in your eyes." She warned. They found themselves to be much sober, solemn, and sensible at the moment. She had no idea why he had on half-broken sunglasses at midnight, but she wanted to pull them off and uncloak the chroma of his eyes.

He grinned a slow and sexy grin. Flirtatious, in all sense of the word. "Why? Wanna know the color of my eyes?"

Like a deer caught in the headlights, she slapped a hand over her lips, gagging on a mouth full of blackberries. "Hah. It was a warning. If you wish to go blind that badly, not Juvia's business." Nose in the air, she tried on her hackneyed guise of indifference, all the time reassuring herself that Celestial spirits can't read minds. "Gee."

"How can I know that you weren't interested in me while you were rubbing your thighs together all the time."

Quick on the uptake, Juvia felt the flush creeping back up her neck. Even if she gets an extra pair of clothes, despite all the chilling cold, she would shove it in his dirty little mouth instead. "W-what? How ungentlemanly and Inappropriate! That's because I gotta answer the call of nature."

He picked up an imaginary lint on his loose shirt. This was almost infuriating. She had never found a smirk so irritating. Well, except Gajeel's, anyways.

He gave a head shrug, sucking on his teeth. "Alright. Why don't you go and piss then?" She walked away from him, behind a bunch of tall grass and trees, and into the gloom. Her disappearing back almost had him gulping, anxious about the things he didn't want: her getting attacked, her falling down a rabbit hole, her running away.

"Watch out for nettles! They're stinging plants." Loke cautioned.

"I know." She muttered back.

It didn't take long for him to hear a frightened shriek. So, she was a tad bit Afraid. "You scared or something?" He couldn't help but let out a mirthful laugh. "Want me to come there?"

"Don't you dare! Sicko. I'm not afraid of ghosts. They don't exist." Her thundering voice was euphonious to his ears.

"Okay. But I wonder if you'll be interested in hearing my story. Here, let me tell you something. Paranormal beings love roaming around. They're said to be innately invisible." He took the brief pause of silence as a grand invitation to continue the strange story...

"They'll be anywhere—over a tree, on your shoulder, beside you, sitting on a rock, or maybe butt naked on your head." Silence. "No sweat. Over there, behind the bushes, you'll have a wonderful time in their much-awaited company—"

"PUT A CORK IN IT! WILL YOU?!"

He chortled with the amusement of a child.. When had he ever come to take pleasure in testing a person's patience so much! It's been so long. Juvia proceeded to swear like a sailor. Maybe to ward off the imaginary ghosts.

Their pathless journey is trodden. Afresh over the skin of a brooding Kapok tree was the carving "Sky echoes back." Athwart was next: "Voodooing Damsel" inside a crude circle. Over assorted trees, stray words appeared here and there.

She had a deep cut on her foot. "Juvia said, she can walk." On the way, a thorn had punctured her feet. She had been limping, blood oozing out of the wound. After Loke went to the extremes with nagging, she had ended up on his back, arms around his shoulders, thighs flush against his large arms.

"Will you stop doing that?" At the instant, Loke swore her face burned redder than Natsu's Crimson Lotus.

Loke was shocked. That's when he noticed his long fingers wrapped around her thighs in a grip, a bit too tight, more so than he had intended. Loke didn't do it deliberately. Juvia had a wounded foot. They had to walk faster, and she mustn't run with that injured feet.

"Don't worry. My thoughts are always innocent and pure." He frowned and quickly bore the grin he was scandalous for in the fan population of Fiore. They called it, "lit like a lion." Talk about being a big shot. Nose in the air, he smirked. Don't worry. By "big shot," he is only thinking about his popularity. "Sadly, everyone is not the same.. Beware of perverts. "

Lies through his tongue. Juvia thought.

"That's rich coming from Loke. You're the one to warn me of perverts."

As if any novel enthusiasm in his eyes had dissipated into the muggy air, Loke shrugged again. Her damp dress is thin, sticking to her like a second skin, hardly covering her. On his back, he felt her drugging body heat. Her breasts pushed against him every time he took a long step forward. It was really distracting.

"Your status is definitely common knowledge." Loke had wondered how thoroughly his reputation had preceded him across Fiore.

"Erm.. I don't mind. Come on, let's be honest here." He groaned before snickering. "People would die to have a chance with me.."

"Oh really? Congratulations?" Juvia rolled her eyes. Is this some kind of self-promotion? "Please stop. I don't want people dying."

Which girl doesn't get crazily excited over sex icons like me? In case if you don't know, "I'm desired across Fiore. Just flip the cover of Sorcerer Weekly, and you'll see. Oh. You wouldn't even need to do that." Of course, there are times when his picture itself is on the cover page.

A couple of murmurs and mumbles blended away in the rustle of leaves. "It seems that Fiore's class and virtue went downhill." Now, it has become a hotspot of Overrated Idiots. "The modeling industry is seriously running low on decent guys who don't take boasting into an art form. There is no accounting for taste. I guess." Why had it never occurred to him that Juvia had the nerve to satirize him?

"I HEARD that." Loke pretended to be surprised. "I'm trying to be civil here. I tried. In case you don't know, mutual respect is a two-way road. Brat." They've not been having a casual conversation with all that searing heat between them. But the kind of conversation they were having the past hour was better than what they had before. Better. Fun.

"First of all, Juvia is not deaf. Secondly, she's a grown-up lady and not a brat. Thirdly," Ruby lips pursed, she said at last. "I don't know about your feelings, but my heart's not that big. I'm still mad at you for everything."

"I get it." He collected himself with some effort. Technically speaking, "we both are still not okay with what happened. We have a pending conversation left. And after we get back, when we're both in our right minds, we'll talk." We WILL. At least we're off of each other's necks now. That's good progress.

"Hold your horses. Is that blood I see on your tie." Out of the blue, she decided to enquire. The gleaming, shining red of his tie appeared alarmingly like blood.

"All is good." He waves off her concerns. "That's the wine silk of my designer ties. Glad I didn't lose any blood."

Now, it was his turn to change the topic. "Umm. You know what, Juvia?" Eyelashes flutter, gaze shifting. But this was something that had been on his mind. He needed to tell her. She had to know. "I don't hate to admit it. You have my respect, my gratitude. Let's take a few missions together after the S-class trials. What do you say?"

"Do you think that will work?" Suddenly, she looks up with a hint of shock on her face. Then, stifles a laugh. "Really? Both of us? We're like chalk and cheddar. Don't make Juvia laugh." They pause in their tracks when his right arm glides over her elbow to catch her small one in a pleasing pull.

"My intuition says otherwise. When both of us are not slightly smashed and frustrated, why don't you give it a try?" As if in a sudden urge to see his emotion, when he turns his head, she tries to see his eyes behind the cracked shades in vain.

She was silent as she considered the question. After the firestorm of criticisms they directed at each other, she had wanted to punish him with the silent treatment, something she had mastered over the years in her phantom days. But more than that, no sense of urgency had strained her to hold a grudge; she had felt no need to pretend all that incensed, no hard feelings. The warmth inside his palms ricocheted to her in a bullet of euphoria.

"At the end of the day, you're still my guildmate. Let's give it a try then," And a smile strained her lips like the tendril of a creeper moseying towards sunlight. The ice had broken. "Loke."

Merely minutes ago were they squabbling.

Her smile glistered chirpier. Her ruddy plump cheeks, apples drenched in nectareous dew. Loke stared at her. She had the prettiest smile, setting alight the bioluminescence of warm littoral waters. He had to inhale strong, for a moment ago, he felt his heart skip a beat. Silly.

Author's Note:

Mhm. that's it for now.