Work Text:
Meredy had decided that Juvia was alright, when she deduced that she was interested in the pink haired barista and not the silver hair annoyance. She knew that she was cold during their first encounter, but that's because she thought they were flirting right in front of her. Still, she relaxed when she saw how starstruck the woman was at the sight of Natsu. Quite personally, she didn’t understand why Natsu would’ve caught her eye, but as long as it wasn’t Lyon, she was fine with that.
Not like she had even admitted to herself that she has feelings for Lyon, she wasn’t sure if that was information that would ever grace anyone else’s ears. She couldn’t show that sort of weakness, not after it had taken her so long to become strong again.
By Wednesday, the three of them were there again, just like the last two days. It would seem that Juvia was going to become a regular in their lives in the mornings now. Meredy couldn't stop the way her heart would thump in her chest whenever Lyon would light up whenever he saw her. It took a lot out of her to make sure that she didn't beam back at him, because that would be so embarrassing if it turns out he was just being polite with her and he didn't actually like her the way she liked him.
So instead, she greeted him with a simple raise of the eyebrow like she did every morning. A look of nonchalance and a closed stance was her go to. Just like every morning, he was the one to start the conversation.
"Good morning Meredy, how are you?"
“Tired. Try not to annoy me this morning.”
“Me? Annoy you? Never .”
Meredy had noticed how Juvia was trying her best to stay out of the conversation and when she glanced over at the bluenette, she could see her eyes flittering between the two of them, as if she were watching a tennis match. When she looked back at Meredy, she gave her some sort of secretive smile that let her know that she already knew about what was going on here, despite only being here for a few days. Meredy’s cheeks went bright pink. She had been caught out and she hated it. She was just lucky that Lyon was an idiot.
She couldn’t remember just when her crush developed on Lyon, but she knew it had been a while. There was just something about him that made her feel like she was the only girl in the world. Maybe that’s because the first and last relationship she had been in was with Zancrow and he had treated her like she was nothing more than the shit under his shoe.
The first time she had met Lyon, she had been weirded out by the way he was staring at her. She thought he was a creep who didn’t know how to handle himself around girls and it was the fuchsia haired woman that he was with that had to push him straight out of his trance and tell him to order his drink so that she could get back to her hubby. She had raised an eyebrow at his behaviour as well as his friends. They were a weird group of people, that much was known.
She simply ignored him after that, thinking that she was never going to see him again. Even though those were her thoughts, even she had to admit that he was extremely attractive. It was a shame he had a staring problem.
The next time she saw him, he was by himself and it was early in the morning before work. She was tired and she needed her coffee to pick her up so that she could get started on her day. The coffee shop that was closest to her place had recently shut down as this one was taking their customers, so this was her new go to place for coffee. Lyon was there, yapping away to the dark haired barista who had an annoyed expression on his face as he tried to shoo him away. By this point, Meredy still hadn’t learnt the mystery man’s name, but she had found out that both him and the barista are brothers.
He had spotted her and stared at her yet again , but this was for a shorter period of time before his brother almost spilt his coffee on him in order to grab his attention. Meredy didn’t know how to feel. Did she have toothpaste on the side of her mouth or something? Why was he always staring at her like she had just killed a puppy?
Soon enough, she found herself going there every weekday morning to get her coffee fix before work and he was always there at the same time as her.
“Are you always this annoying in the mornings?”
Lyon had gotten over himself by week two and was no longer shell shocked whenever Meredy came in. They had also both introduced themselves to one another, although Meredy had been reluctant to do so, wondering if he would try to find her on every social media platform and add her now that he knew her name. Now that he was no longer acting like a weirdo everytime came into the cafe, she could now mentally admit that he was extremely good looking. She watched as he turned around after taunting his brother and he had a smug smirk on his lips that made her heart thump in her chest. It wasn’t fair, just who did he think he was making her panic like this? Not even Zancrow had been able to elicit such a reaction out of her.
“Only to my brother. I would never annoy you.”
Meredy’s heart fluttered and she wanted to punch herself. Was she this desperate for male validation and attention? No, she wasn’t. She couldn’t let Lyon’s words affect her and she couldn’t let him know that they were affecting her. He was probably just like Zancrow and would show his true colours eventually.
Instead, she outwardly rolled her eyes and that seemed to make his smirk widen. She swallowed harshly when she noticed just how good he looked. It really wasn't fair that he was so attractive. But still, that meant nothing.
"But you already are, so that's a lie."
It was meant to be a joke, but she then got it in her head that he really is a liar. She couldn’t help herself. It's what happened to her mind after she'd been taken for a joke when she had been with Zancrow. She couldn't help her thoughts, but it looked like it didn't even bother Lyon.
He stood up straight with what seemed to be an apologetic smile, but his eyes still shone with laughter dancing within them.
"Then I guess your drink and whatever else you want is on me. Accept it as my apology for annoying you."
She raised an eyebrow and wondered what he could possibly want from her. Men weren't this nice without wanting something in return and she didn’t know why she let it piss her off. Maybe because Lyon was finally showing his true colours and he was turning out to be just like the rest of the men out there. A complete pig who wanted just one thing. As if she would let him get into her knickers.
"No thanks, you can keep your sorry. I don't need it," she replied frostily. She watched as Lyon blinked at how abrupt she was and suddenly she felt bad. Maybe it was wrong to tarnish all men with the same brush, but she had been hurt too many times by the people she thought were her friends. Why would a stranger be nice to her? For once, she back peddled, sighing mentally at herself. He didn’t deserve to be spoken to like that. Especially when he hadn’t done anything wrong. Yet .
"Sorry, looks like I woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."
She saw him give her a crooked smile and he shook his head at her, as if he understood where she was coming from.
"Gets like that sometimes. It's cool. I really mean it though, I seem to be doing nothing but bothering you. I’m really sorry and the only way I can properly express that is by buying you a coffee at least. Then I’ll leave you alone after that, I promise.”
So Meredy let him buy her a latte and a croissant. Fast forward back to today and she’s been thinking about him ever since then. She hadn’t told anyone of her feelings for the silver haired boy and the one person she would’ve told was a relative of Lyon. She couldn’t tell Ultear that she had a crush on her younger cousin, that’s embarrassing! Ultear would run to tell Lyon all while scaring him into making sure that he doesn’t hurt her.
“Meredy-chan should really stop hiding how she feels.”
She turned to face Juvia who was smiling slightly at her. Meredy herself had stiffened at Juvia’s words, not liking how this girl had been around for 5 minutes and she already knew what was going on. Still, she had a look of indifference on her face as she shrugged off Juvia’s words.
“There are no feelings to hide. Besides, why don’t you focus on capturing that buffoon’s attention instead of trying to meddle in a love life that doesn’t exist?”
Meredy knew that the way she spoke was often viewed as harsh and rude. It’s how she was able to drive so many nosy people away whenever they suspected that she was being abused emotionally and physically by Zancrow in their 3 year relationship. Speaking to people with venom in her voice made people recalculate the situation and probably thought that the pair of them were as bad as each other or that she had done something to ignite Zancrow’s anger and probably deserved it.
What she didn’t account for was for Juvia’s smile to widen as she shook her head with a quiet giggle. Meredy’s green eyes darted over to where Lyon was and saw him making his order. Soon it would be Juvia’s turn before hers and she was wondering why she was laughing.
“It’s so funny meeting someone who’s more aloof than Juvia used to be. Meredy can hide it all she wants, your eyes are giving it away. You like Lyon and he likes you. Now, Juvia isn’t nosy enough to try and understand why the both of you won’t act on it, but Juvia can see it, just in case you were doubting it. Besides, Juvia already has Natsu’s number. He gave it to Juvia on Monday.”
Juvia then stepped towards Natsu as he beamed at her and they made a short conversation. With no one else behind Meredy, they were able to talk for a short period of time before she had to go to work and before the coffee shop got busy. Lyon was already standing by the side where he was waiting for his coffee and Meredy couldn’t help herself as she watched him turn around. His eyes immediately found hers as he grinned at her.
Meredy’s heart thumped in her chest as she also thought more about what Juvia was saying. So if Juvia could see that she liked him, did that mean that Lyon could tell too? No, he was probably extremely oblivious. Many people couldn't always tell when someone liked them, but they could always tell when someone liked other people. She really hoped that maybe he could never see through her. She didn’t really know him well outside of this environment, so she didn’t know what kind of personality he had.
“Oi, come over here Meredy! I already ordered you a drink.”
The pink haired woman was taken aback by Lyon’s words as she hesitated before deciding to take Juvia’s advice. To think that Juvia had only been in the area for 3 days and she already had Natsu’s number. Her and Lyon had been interacting well over 6 months and they definitely weren’t that close. Was that her fault? Was it because she was closed off and not willing to let anyone in? It wasn’t necessarily her fault, but was that a reason as to why Lyon didn’t want to act?
“Why would you order anything for me? You don’t even know what I like.”
Her breath stuttered in her throat when she saw the panty dropping smirk that danced on his lips. She could have grabbed him by the collar and yelled in his face to stop doing that before kissing him roughly, but she held herself back. Instead, she crossed her arms as a way to challenge him. She failed to believe that he knew what she liked. She usually got a different thing depending on her mood, but Wednesday was iced latte day and she doubted that Lyon knew that.
“Meredy, I’d like to think that after all this time, I could get your order right any day of the week.”
Her heart fluttered, but her mind was telling it to shut up and be reasonable for once. Why would he know her order? His was simple, an americano was standard for him. Nothing fancy, just a very simple guy and that’s what she liked about him. Zancrow had never been easy. It was like walking on eggshells around him because you never knew when he was going to blow up.
“Oh really? Do you think I’m that simple?”
Lyon shook his head as he retrieved his americano. “Not at all, I think you’re complex. Still, we’ve been coming to the same coffee shop for over 6 months and you think that I wouldn’t have been paying attention to you or anything you do?”
She raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the way her heart was racing in her chest. It sounded like he’d had his eyes on her the whole entire time, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up.
“That sounds like something a stalker would do, weirdo.”
She watched the way he threw his head back to laugh and sometimes, she couldn’t understand why he already had this much energy in him at this time of the morning. Still, her shoulders relaxed at his laugh. He was such a breath of fresh air compared to Zancrow. Before he could say another word, his brother slid him another drink and Meredy’s eyes fell from Lyon’s down to the drink her eyes widened as Lyon thanked Gray with a simple “thanks, dickhead.”
“One maple hazel iced latte with a light dairy swirl. You get this every Wednesday and that means you don’t get any of the pastries. Am I right? See ya later Juvia, Natsu.”
The two who were talking waved at them and Juvia gave Meredy a subtle thumbs up, making her blush. Lyon held out her drink and when she took it, she couldn’t help herself as she shivered when her fingers brushed his.
“So, was I right?” He asked as soon as they stepped outside. Meredy gave him a reluctant nod, but she decided to maybe give him a chance, just like Juvia had said.
“You were. Thank you.”
She watched the way he blinked in surprise before giving her a soft smile and she wondered what that was all about, before she finally realised. She wasn’t really one for saying ‘thank you’ and he had probably cottoned on.
“So listen...I really like you and I think you’re cute. I know you act cold and standoffish a lot and it was making me wonder if I was reading this wrong but...would you like to go out some time? Get to know each other a bit better outside of the coffee shop? Maybe I can learn your favourite meal instead.”
Meredy couldn’t even breathe as her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. He was rubbing the back of his neck and he seemed shy. She had never seen him look shy before and she found him to be the cute one in this moment in time. She couldn’t help herself as she finally let herself smile at him and that seemed to calm his nerves down slightly. She glanced down at the iced latte in her hands and decided that it was time to take the jump. Not all guys were going to be like Zancrow and she had hope that Lyon would probably be the start of something good in her life. Already, she was doing better than Zancrow ever did. He actually knows what she likes, for starters.
For once, she let herself smile in Lyon’s face and she enjoyed the way he watched her, eyes wide with happiness at the sight of her smile. Just knowing that she made someone happy widened her own smile.
“Yeah. Yeah, I would really like that.”