Chapter Text
“Woo-hoo! Another successful mission for Team Natsu!”
Natsu pumped his fist in the air and grinned at his teammates, which only earned him irritated looks. “Natsu, in what world would you call that successful?! You leveled half the village and we had to use the reward money to pay it off!” Lucy exclaimed.
Erza scoffed, not even looking in Natsu’s direction. “Your reckless actions have once again spoiled a perfectly easy mission. When will you learn to stop and think before you act?” She said in an annoyed tone as she pushed open the guildhall doors.
Natsu puffed and sat at a table. “Whatever. Those Basilisk Fang guys had it coming!” He said. It wasn’t long after the team sat down that a familiar blue presence made herself known.
“Gray-sama!”
As if on instinct, Gray put a hand on Juvia’s head and kept her at a distance. “Jeez, you’d think you’d get the hint by now.” He groaned. “Juvia hopes your mission went well! Do you need something to help you relax? A massage? A warm bath? A kiss?!”
Gray sighed and rubbed the space between his eyes. “What I’d really appreciate is some peace and quiet, so why don’t you stop being so annoying and buzz off?! I’m NEVER going to like you!”
At this, Juvia took a step back. “Juvia…Ju- that is to say…..Juviaissosorry!” She muttered before running out of the guild, tears in her eyes.
Gray only enjoyed his peace for all of five seconds before several random objects flew at him. “You idiot! Don’t you know anything about a girl's feelings?!” Cana shouted, having thrown an empty mug of beer.
“Yeah! I know Juvia can be overbearing but did you have to be that harsh?” Levy questioned while readying another book to throw.
Gray huffed, but didn’t respond. Guild activity soon returned to normal, but one member simply couldn’t get his mind off of what transpired. Natsu frowned.
He decided to check on Juvia.
Thanks to Natsu’s super-sonic nose, it didn’t take long to find Juvia. Not to mention the very specific rain cloud over the park. By a beautiful pond inside Kingfisher Park, Natsu saw Juvia with her knees pulled up to her face.
He approached her, trying to make a slight noise so as not to scare her. “Juvia? Are you okay?” He asked softly. Juvia wiped her face before turning to Natsu.
“Oh, Natsu-san! What are you doing here?” She asked, standing from her position by the water. “I saw you run out after that droopy-eyed bastard yelled at you, so I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Juvia sighed, her whole body releasing a tension she didn’t realize she was holding onto. “Juvia is okay. And don’t be so harsh on Gray-sama! He is right. Juvia is….
annoying.”
She paused before the last word, letting it fall from her lips with a bitter sting. Before she could even think, Natsu had her shoulders in his hands.
“Don’t even say anything like that Juvia! You’re amazing and strong and kind and if that idiot can’t see that then he doesn’t deserve you!” Natsu exclaimed.
Juvia blushed at his kind words before sitting back down by the edge of the pond, which Natsu joined her by. He picked up a rock and tossed it at the pond, bouncing off the water's surface a few times before dropping in.
“You’re too kind to Juvia. Especially after Juvia ruined such a beautiful day with her rain.” The water mage said, a hand held out to catch the drops.
Natsu grinned and scooted closer to Juvia, an arm around her shoulders. She shivered at the stark contrast Natsu’s hot skin gave her. “Are you kidding? Rainy days are so much fun! You can play in the puddles and race leaves!”
Juvia laughed softly at Natsu’s unwavering enthusiasm for everything. Matching Juvia’s better mood, the rain slowly stopped. Clouds parted and the sun showed through once again.
She used to worship the sun, and worship the man who showed it to her for the first time. But as Gray’s disinterest in her continued, she found herself basking in the sun's light less and less.
Its original power was spoiled by her broken heart, and she feared she would never feel that beauty again. The beauty of something new was lost.
“Oh look, a rainbow!”
At Natsu’s sudden statement, Juvia’s head snapped up from its downward position to scan the sky. Sure enough, stretched across the blue sky, was a dance of colors that brought a tear to Juvia’s eye.
“Juvia has…. She’s never…” Natsu looked in her direction, taking in her shocked expression. “You’ve never seen a rainbow before?” He asked.
She shook her head, not daring to break her gaze from the colors in the sky, for fear that they might disappear. Natsu squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. Finally looking away, she turned her face towards Natsu and smiled as widely as Natsu had ever seen her.
“Juvia loves rainbows!”
Natsu was quiet for a second before bursting into laughter. Juvia began laughing too, not because she understood what Natsu found so funny, but that for the first time in a while she felt at ease.
Not constantly worried about what other people thought of her, or how men that she loved could never seem to love her as much as she did them. But finally content with herself and her new love of refracted light.
When the laughter finally quieted down, Natsu got a good look at Juvia. Her long blue wavy hair framed her face, a child-like smile still present. Her big blue eyes looked into his, and Natsu couldn’t help but get lost in them.
At the same time, Juvia was looking at Natsu. His spiky pink hair had been wetted down, and looked almost like he had styled it. His sharp eyes studied her intently, and she couldn’t help but feel a little warm in his gaze. It was only when Juvia finally looked at Natsu’s lips that they both broke.
Their lips met, hungrily moving against one another. Natsu’s hand that had been holding himself up on the ground soon found its way into Juvia’s hair, feeling its softness.
In turn, Juvia placed her hands on Natsu’s neck, trying to pull him in closer. She felt like she was on fire, every part of her burning with the hope that this would never end. Natsu let out a small groan and moved his hand from her shoulder to Juvia's hip.
He had never felt like this before, never even thought to do this with a girl. Sure, he had been given the ‘birds and the bees’ talk from Master Makarov, but he always thought that girls didn’t interest him.
But the way Juvia feels in his hands and the tenderness of her kiss definitely has him interested.
Natsu was Gray’s opposite in every way. Not just their magic but their personalities and their looks. Juvia thought Gray was her perfect man, but she never felt like this with him. She never felt this unstoppable urge before. Where her brain didn’t even tell her body to kiss a boy, it just did it because it wanted to so badly.
They sat like that for a while, exploring each other’s mouths. Neither of them dared to take it any farther, still confused by the fact that they were even kissing in the first place.
When they finally did come apart, both were panting and unable to look away from each other. Neither spoke for a short time, just trying to catch their breath.
“So….that happened….” Natsu finally said. Broken out of her focus, Juvia chuckled awkwardly. “Yes…it did.” She stated and looked away, not quite sure what else to say.
Her biggest concern was if Natsu thought she was the kind of girl to kiss every guy she meets. Luckily she didn’t have to wait long for some assurance.
“I liked it though.”
Juvia turned back to Natsu with a surprised smile. “…Juvia did too.” She responded quietly. Happy with her agreement, Natsu pulled her in close once more. “Can I do it again?” He asked hopefully.
Juvia couldn’t find the courage to say what she wanted to say, so all she did was give Natsu a small nod. This earned her a kiss on the cheek, before Natsu dove right back in.
As day turned to dusk, the unlikely pair finally separated for air. Their arms were still wrapped tightly around each other, their faces still only a few inches apart. They both couldn’t help the euphoric laughter from their buzzing lips.
Natsu stood first, a hand held out for Juvia to use as leverage. He knew she wasn’t weak, he’s seen get thrown through the air and land on her feet, but he still wanted to be nice. Juvia accepted his hand, going to let it go only for it to be grabbed back by Natsu.
“Let’s do this again!” He said excitedly. Juvia’s eyes widened in shock. He wants to do this again with her. Natsu wanted Juvia. This made her heart soar, but only further confused her. She woke up this morning fully devoted to Gray. But now her feelings were muddled by his dismissal of her and Natsu’s fevered acceptance.
What was she to do? She had no idea. The only thing she did know was that being with Natsu felt good. Really good. And she had been told her whole life that you should stick with what you know. “Yes. Juvia would like that.” She found herself saying.
Natsu grinned before kissing her again. Not for as long this time, but with the same amount of intensity that put butterflies in her stomach. She couldn’t help but smile back when he pulled away.
“C’mon, I’ll walk you back to the girls' dorms!” Natsu offered while lacing their fingers together. Juvia blushed and let go of Natsu’s hand, which would’ve made Natsu protest immediately if she hadn’t wrapped her arms around his bicep.
Content with this, Natsu hummed merrily and the both began the short walk to Fairy Hills. Natsu’s head was at war. Part of him had no idea what he was experiencing and begged him to go hide in a hole until he could figure it out.
The other part, the winning part, told him that this was as natural as breathing. Kissing Juvia made more sense than anything in this world. The softness of her lips, the tiny sounds she made, all of it made him feel so good. And something that feels so good can’t be bad.
Neither of them knew what the next step after this was, but at that moment neither of them cared. They had found something new, something that no one else had any idea about. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.
Arriving at their destination, both lingered in each other’s space. Juvia, deciding to shut her brain up and listen to her heart. She pulled her arms out from around his arm and stood in front of him.
She placed a delicate kiss on his cheek, which only served to incite Natsu to pull her back in close and give her yet another kiss. Juvia was the one to end it, pulling back and putting a finger on Natsu’s when he tried to continue despite her seperation.
“Thank you, Natsu-san.”
She darted inside, her nerves finally getting the better of her. Which she was fine with because she had a lot to think about. Natsu, on the other hand, pumped his fist in the air before turning heel and walking jovially back to his house.