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Lucy watched in surprise as Mirajane approached her with a beautiful bouquet of red roses. She blushed slightly as the bartender set it down in front of her.
“You seem to have a secret admirer,” Mirajane chuckled as Lucy looked a little embarrassed at the gift. She was secretly happy too, she liked romantic gestures and she loved roses. But when she heard Mirajane say that it was a secret admirer, she was a bit disappointed.
“Oh... so you don’t know who gave it to me?” Lucy asked. Mirajane shook her head. Lucy didn’t believe her initially -Mirajane always seemed to know everything within the guild- but when she saw that Mirajane’s eyes were also shining with curiosity, she was convinced.
“There’s a note, but unfortunately it’s not signed,” Mirajane said.
Lucy blushed even more. “You shouldn’t have read it if it was for me”.
“Of course, I had to do it, otherwise I didn’t know who it was for. Come on, read it!” Mirajane exclaimed excitedly. Lucy sighed and took the small note wedged between two roses. She opened it and smiled at the short message.
‘To Lucy, the girl who lights up my days. I love you.’
The small smile faded when she noticed that it was actually unsigned. “Do you really have no idea who is?” Lucy asked in frustration.
“Unfortunately, not, or I’d have already combined you with him. Or her. But I’m sure you can find out, we have a lot of Dragon Slayers among us, just let them smell the bouquet and they’ll find out who it came from!” Mirajane exclaimed. Lucy hesitated. She didn’t want to embarrass that person, especially given the final writing in which that secret admirer declared feelings for her, but she was really curious.
“I’ll ask Natsu then” Lucy decided, not wanting everyone to know who gave her those roses.
“Natsu won’t be back anytime soon, you’d better ask some other Dragon Slayer. Hey, Gajeel, come here! We need your nose!” Mirajane called. Lucy snorted but didn’t object, honestly curious, and she turned to Gajeel who was talking to a red and flustered Juvia. Not that it was a surprise that she was flustered, Gray was a few feet away from her so it was normal, Lucy noted with a touch of jealousy. She decided not to think about it, her crush on Juvia was just something fleeting. Something that would pass in no time. It had to pass, because it was clear that Juvia would never show the same interest in her. Perhaps knowing that secret admirer would distract her from her crush.
Gajeel approached them. “What do you want?”
“Smell these flowers and tell us who brought them!” Mirajane ordered.
“The only thing I smell is the stink of roses” he grunted.
“Smell better,” Mirajane insisted.
“It’s not necessary,” Lucy said looking at Juvia with some bitterness, the water mage had begun to approach Gray again. As usual, her thoughts on Juvia were too many and as usual not even a bouquet of roses could distract her from her crush. Who knows if Juvia remembered it was her birthday.
“Anyway, I don’t smell anything,” Gajeel snapped. “Happy birthday, blondie,” he said and then walked away. Mirajane didn’t seem satisfied. Lucy was about to tell her it wasn’t so important, she would wait for Natsu to return and she would ask him. She couldn’t do it though because Mirajane grabbed the bunch of roses and took it to Laxus, saying he could help her.
***
“Why didn’t you give it to her directly?” Gajeel grunted as soon as he returned to his friend.
“Juvia couldn’t do it,” the embarrassed girl said. There was no way she would go to Lucy and tell her how she felt. Meanwhile because Juvia wasn’t even sure what she was feeling, and then because it would be embarrassing.
“Sure you can fucking do it. And if you couldn’t do it, you could at least sign that damn note,” Gajeel snapped. Juvia snorted in frustration and then watched Lucy and Mirajane climb the stairs to reach Laxus and the Raijinshuu.
“Oh, no. You have to stop them” Juvia asked in panic.
“I told you you had to sign the note,” Gajeel grunted.
“Do something!” Juvia begged him on the verge of hysterics. Gajeel rolled his eyes.
“At least Lucy will finally know and you won’t have to hide and pretend you like Gray anymore.”
“This is embarrassing,” Juvia said desperately, covering her eyes with her hands. She didn’t even want to see Lucy’s reaction when she found out she was her secret admirer. Why had she written that damn note? It would have been better to give her a normal gift without revealing her feelings. But no, as a fool she was not only had he given her a huge bouquet of flowers, but she had also written that she loved her.
“Oh, Laxus apparently has a shit sense of smell,” Gajeel commented. Juvia moved her hands from her face and looked up at Laxus and the Raijinshuu. She couldn’t hear what the Dragon Slayer was saying to Lucy and Mirajane, but it was evident that he hadn’t said anything useful, judging by the two girls’ frustration.
Juvia sighed in relief and received a dirty look from Gajeel.
“Salamander will be back tonight and he’ll surely tell Lucy they’re from you. You better have told her for that moment.” Juvia banged her head against the table, thinking that that conversation would be terrible. But maybe she could persuade Natsu not to say anything.
***
“I don’t think Flame Brain will shut up,” Gray said sincerely when Juvia begged him to talk to Natsu.
“Surely you can convince him” Juvia insisted “You can do it. Or you can keep him away from the guild. Make him burn the roses in a fight!” the girl exclaimed.
Gray stared at her skeptically and then sighed. “Why did you give her roses if you don’t wanna tell her how you feel?”.
Juvia fell silent instantly, then nibbled her lower lip nervously. “Lucy doesn’t like Juvia,” she said finally. Gray raised an eyebrow.
“You’ve never had a problem with me like that,” he reminded her. He was right, Juvia had never had a problem expressing her love for Gray, even if he didn’t love her back. Now things had changed and she was over her crush. The problem was that she was in love with Lucy now. And talking to the blonde was much more difficult. Juvia didn’t know what it depended on, if it was because Lucy was a girl, or if it was because her feelings for Lucy were stronger. Juvia had no idea, she just knew that receiving a rejection from Lucy would do more harm than receiving it from Gray.
“Juvia knows but… with Lucy it’s different. She likes boys,” she snorted in frustration.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. The first time she joined the guild she seemed to like Mira,” Gray commented. Juvia looked at him even sadder and he realized what he had said. “Not in that sense, look, it was a long time ago. I just wanted to tell you that I think she likes girls, and then, as you’ve always said, it’s better to tell your feelings, get an answer”.
“Juvia doesn’t want to ruin a friendship,” she murmured.
“You didn’t ruin your friendship with me, you definitely won’t ruin it with her,” Gray assured her. “And maybe you discover that she likes you.” Juvia highly doubted it. Gray could say what he wanted, but Juvia had never seen Lucy look at girls. On one thing, however, he was right, declaring her feelings was always better than not having an answer.
***
“Can Juvia talk to you?”.
Lucy immediately smiled when she saw her friend approach her. She was still holding the flowers in her hand, wondering who had given them to her. After not even Laxus could smell the mysterious admirer Lucy gave up and she hadn’t even asked Wendy. Probably whatever smell was covered by the scent of roses, it made sense.
“Sure”.
“Um... did you find out who gave you the roses?” Juvia asked sitting down next to her.
“Not yet”.
“And you have no idea who it could have been?” Juvia asked.
“Honestly not,” Lucy said, becoming thoughtful. She had thought about it but she hadn’t come to any conclusions. The first thought had been Loke, but the boy wasn’t shy, he gave her the roses in person. Then she had thought of other guild mates, but she didn’t really think anyone would care. Besides the fact that most of them were engaged or had feelings for someone else. Gray and Natsu had something, Gajeel was dating Levy, Elfman with Evergreen, Laxus and Freed were hiding their relationship badly, even Cana had some kind of thing with Lisanna. Erza and Mirajane were completely in love -Lucy was still surprised that neither of them had talked about it- and Juvia was obviously in love with Gray so... she didn’t know what to think.
“Juvia knows who is,” the sorceress said suddenly.
Lucy turned in surprise to her. “You know?”.
Juvia nodded.
“Oh, um... so, can you tell me who is?” Lucy asked agitatedly.
Juvia nodded again and then took a deep breath.
“She’s Juvia,” she revealed.
Lucy was silent for a few seconds, the time necessary to understand what her friend was saying. As soon as she understood, the surprise mixed with excitement and happiness.
“You?” she asked to be sure. Juvia lowered her head embarrassed. “But... don’t you like Gray?” Lucy stammered in confusion.
“I liked. Juvia hasn’t thought about him for months now,” she murmured.
“But... you’re always with him,” Lucy retorted.
“Yes, Juvia does it because... because that way no one suspects anything and he agrees and... it’s a stupid thing” Juvia murmured shaking her head. “Anyway, Juvia just wanted to give you your favorite flowers. If you don’t like Juvia, Juvia understands it”.
Lucy only realized in that moment that she hadn’t said anything about her feelings, so surprised to find that Juvia felt something for her.
“Do you want to go out this night?” she asked quickly. Juvia looked up at her, her eyes widening. Her cheeks were red, and Lucy felt so lucky and so happy that she wanted to jump and scream for joy.
“Lucy means... a date?”.
“Yes, yes!” Lucy exclaimed immediately with a huge smile.
“Oh,” Juvia said surprised. “So... does Lucy like Juvia?”
Lucy found herself smiling spontaneously, her heart beating madly in her chest.
“Absolutely,” she said, slowly approaching her friend, just enough to make her understand what she wanted to do without doing it too quickly. Their breaths were mixing but if Juvia wanted to back off, she was free to do so. Lucy just hoped she hadn’t rushed things too much, as Juvia was still. After a moment of surprise, however, the sorceress’s face lit up, Juvia took Lucy’s face in her hands and gently joined their lips, as if she hadn’t waited for anything else for months. It was the best kiss Lucy had ever received and at that moment she thought she couldn’t have spent her birthday in a better way.