An Unexpected Role

A/N: This little fic has been circling in my head for well over a year now, and I figured it was time to get it down. This is absolute silliness with a touch of romance. I hope you guys enjoy it. ^_^

Magnolia's Harvest Festival was fast approaching, and Fairy Tail's guild hall was even livelier than usual as the mages locked down the details of their role in the celebrations. As always, they planned on holding a parade which showcased the varied skills and magic of their mages in grand displays for the townspeople. However, one of the traditional elements of the festival, and Master Makarov's favorite event, a beauty competition between the female mages of Fairy Tail, was to be axed this year after a two-thirds majority decided on a change of pace. Instead, and much to Erza Scarlet's delight, they would be putting on a play for the town. This upcoming play was the reason why all the mages who were currently not out on jobs, were gathered before the stage within the guild hall. It was to be an original Fairy Tail production that Mirajane herself wrote. Everyone had already received a script, so those who had decided to participate already knew what they were getting into.

Thus, earlier that day, in an effort of fairness, all the interested mages wrote their name down on a slip of paper, which they then folded and put into a large black box with a small, singular hole in the top just large enough for Mirajane to slip her slight wrist through. Mirajane was currently listing the different roles, both acting and backstage work, as she pulled out people's names at random, and assigning them to their respective positions. The only problem was, there was clearly no guarantee who would receive each part, and because roles were limited and the guild membership had increased greatly since their win at the Grand Magic Games, there was even a high chance you'd end up with no role at all. Erza had already become massively disappointed when her name was called to manage the lighting during the play. Everyone knew of Erza's love of acting, as well as her ironic lack of talent for it, and therefore were aware that she had been gunning for the lead role of the princess.

However, Erza was not the only female in Fairy Tail desperate to claim the princess role. Juvia Locker also had her heart set on the coveted part. But in Juvia's case, her longing for the part was coupled with her desire for Gray to play the role of the prince. Juvia desperately wanted to see her Gray-sama act as the prince she always knew he was. Juvia had finely combed through the script the night before in an enthused stupor, and she had already memorized all the princess' lines in preparation. Because of course, if Gray did receive the role of prince, there would be no alternative than for her to play opposite him as his beloved princess, for this was not just some simple acting, but the storyline involved an actual kiss. Juvia went over the scene again and again in her mind, as she visualized herself and Gray in the scene. Above all else, Juvia must surely be the only one to win Gray-sama's kiss.

But, she knew that Gray and herself being chosen for the lead roles together would be a long shot indeed, as there was one other hitch in Juvia achieving this perfect situation besides the random drawing, and that would be the absoluteness of those chosen for each role. Mirajane herself put this rule in place to avoid fights, and to make sure of fairness. No one was allowed to switch roles. In other words, what you get, is what you're stuck with. No excuses or exchanges. The drawing is final.

Juvia's hopes were currently on the rise, though, what with the roles dwindling and neither her own, nor Gray's name having yet been called. In her opinion, she had already passed one of the biggest hurdles, for she had earlier convinced a reluctant Gray to put his name into the draw. And best of all, her greatest love rival Lucy's name had already been assigned to handmaiden, which meant no chance of her swooping in with her charms to seduce her Gray-sama as the princess.

Mirajane then announced to the crowd that only the prince and princess roles were left to be drawn, and Juvia's heartbeat quickened. She clutched onto Gray's arm in excitement.

"Gray-sama, wouldn't it be wonderful if you got the role of the prince?" she asked excitedly, her mind wandering as she envisioned Gray's handsome visage in a majestic suit sweeping a be-gowned Juvia off her feet.

"Not really," Gray said disinterestedly. "To be honest, I'd rather just sit back and watch. The last play I was in was a disaster."

Juvia wasn't listening however, as she snapped out of her own reverie in order to cling onto Mira's every word. She watched, as if in slow motion, while Mira's hand fumbled around in the black box for a few seconds, before pulling out a folded slip of paper. She opened it, smiled, and then announced….

"Natsu!"

The last thing Juvia heard was laughter and a loud groan, before she tuned out. She sighed deeply as her hopes came crashing down around her. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'it could have been worse,' she reminded herself, once again thinking of Gray playing opposite Lucy as the leads. She figured she'd have fun taking part in the parade at the very least, and maybe if she was lucky, she could convince Gray to share a float with her like last time, and they could play prince and princess there, if only in her mind. Just as her mind had started to wander again as she thought of this consolation with pleasure, her beloved's voice rang loudly in her ears, and suddenly the guild hall burst into sound around her once more.

"Juvia!"

"Huh?" Juvia looked up at Gray, who had an odd look on his face. He was pointing towards the stage where Mira stood. Natsu had joined her there, and as Juvia looked around she saw everyone was staring at her.

"Juvia, congratulations! You're the princess!" Mira said, a slightly commiserating, slightly amused smile playing at her lips.

"Eh?!" Juvia blanched and her eyes widened in horror.

Juvia would be playing princess to Natsu's prince?!

'No, no, no, no, no! This was not how things were suppose to turn out!' Juvia thought, as she looked desperately from Natsu, to Mira, to Gray and back again.

"Juvia refuses!" she said stubbornly, slamming her foot down and crossing her arms.

"Oh?" Mira said with a pause, considering the water mage.

Everyone looked to Mira as the mother of the guild, but they also knew all too well that she was not a person to be challenged. The occupants in the guild hall held their collective breaths.

"You do remember the rules of this drawing, don't you, Juvia? The choices are final. No complaints, no switches, and no refusals," there was no heat in Mira's voice or expression, but those who'd known her longest could feel the ominous tension bubbling below the surface.

"Juvia doesn't care. Juvia only wanted to play princess to Gray-sama's prince! Replace Natsu-san with Gray-sama, and Juvia will do it. Otherwise Juvia is out," she said, glaring at Natsu, as if this was all his fault.

Natsu, however, seemed quite unperturbed by Juvia's displeasure, as he stood casually with his hands behind his head looking bored, and as if he wished the drawing could conclude, so he could go eat.

That's when another thought occurred to Juvia. "Or, Juvia will take Lucy's role, and Lucy can have the part of the princess!" she offered, trying to strike some kind of compromise as a sign of good faith.

"What?!" Lucy gasped from within the crowd.

Mira raised an eyebrow as if she were contemplating something now.

Juvia heard Gray sigh beside her, and her ire increased. Even her Gray-sama was clearly upset with this situation. Surely her love didn't want her kissing another man.

"Juvia, just do it. It's not fair to everyone else who got stuck with their roles. If Mira-chan switches things for you, then she'll have to do it for everyone," Gray said, looking wearily down at her.

Juvia was shocked. Didn't Gray care that she'd be giving her kiss away to Natsu?

"But Gray-sama!" she whined, tears in her eyes.

"I'll tell you what, Juvia. Since it's so important to you, I will do you a favor, and make an exception by switching Natsu with Gray."

Juvia snapped her head around at Mira's words, her hands clutched together, and her face shining brightly with happiness. "Mira-san! Thank you so much!"

"However, if I do that, then I will also take you up on your other offer, and switch your role with Lucy's."

Juvia's mouth dropped in panic. This time Mira's eyes had a touch of evil in them, Juvia was sure of it.

"Why am I being dragged into this?!" Lucy shouted again in distress.

Gray simply looked bemused.

There was no way Juvia would ever willingly allow Gray and Lucy to share those roles together. It would be her absolute nightmare, and Mirajane knew it. She got her and good with that condition, because she could not let Gray and Lucy kiss. She had no other choice. Keeping in mind to never challenge Mira again, she looked from Gray to Lucy, and then up at the still smiling Mira. Sighing heavily, she shook her head. "No, Juvia will stick to the rules, and accept the role of princess," she said in a voice that seemed to want to be strong in the light of a terrible destiny.

"Excellent!" Mira said clapping her hands together happily. "Come up on stage then, Juvia."

With a heavy heart, and one final, torturous look at Gray, Juvia climbed the steps of the stage, as if one approaching the gallows, in order to stand beside Mira.

"I give you our prince and princess!" Mira announced to some scattered applause.

A loudly yawning Natsu, and a completely devastated Juvia must have made quite the site indeed on that stage together.

"Then we're all done here! Rehearsals and preparations start tomorrow. We have five days to get this play in top shape. Take pride in your roles, so we can give Magnolia a great show!"

Juvia could hear some excited and not so excited mutterings from those who were both happy and disgruntled with their various roles. She watched as the crowd dispersed, and then felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's not going to be as bad as you think, and you might even end up having a good time," Mira said earnestly.

Juvia tried to show appreciation for her encouragement, but only managed to achieve a half-hearted smile. When Mira had gone back to the bar, Juvia looked over at Natsu who Happy was teasing because, in his opinion, he was the farthest thing away from a prince that he could imagine. Juvia inwardly and fervently agreed. She glared at him again, as she tried to picture him being her prince. She swiftly decided how much he paled in comparison to the wonderful prince Gray would have made.

Resigned to her fate, she dazedly walked off the stage. It was still only early evening and normally she would have hung around to spend more time with Gray. But what with her current situation, and Gray's lack of interest in her predicament, she was no longer in the mood. And if she was seriously going to go through with this, she needed to mentally prepare herself. It was funny how she had been so enthused last night, and now it was with a hollow feeling that she realized she had already memorized all the lines in her previous excitement and anticipation over hopefully sharing the lead roles with Gray. Maybe she'd just go to sleep. She could feel a headache fast approaching.

The next morning Juvia found herself in a empty room off the guild hall with only Natsu and Mira for company. This room was a lot cozier than the hall, with armchairs, a couch and cushions peppered around the small space, and one desk in the corner. The room was usually used for private meetings Master Makarov would have when visitors and customers making special requests of the guild came to call. Juvia was currently perched in one of the chairs opposite Natsu who was slouching on a worn-in couch, a small cherry-wood coffee table between them. Mira stood over them with two scripts in her hand. Juvia assumed one of them was Natsu's since she already had her own, and it was like Natsu to have forgotten his, and Mira to have prepared for such a situation.

"I thought it would be best if this first rehearsal took place with just the two of you, since you share the most lines together, and with this few people involved, that should allow for maximum comfort," Mira said kindly.

Juvia appreciated Mira's consideration, but the damage was done as far as she was concerned.

"So, did you two study your lines?"

"Yes," Juvia said in a flat tone.

"No," Natsu admitted with a slightly apologetic grin on his face as he looked up at Mira.

Juvia fumed inwardly. The less prepared Natsu was, the longer this would take. It was bad enough she had to go through with this in the first place, but if it meant a severe cut into time she could have been spending with Gray-sama, then things just became doubly worse.

"Well, that's alright. It's just the first rehearsal, and you'll be having your scripts in front of you at the moment, so hopefully that will help you learn the lines as we go along, Natsu," Mira explained, and she sat beside Natsu on the couch and turned Natsu's script for him to the page where the prince meets the princess for the first time before handing it to him. Juvia could see Mira personally underlined all of Natsu's lines so he could keep track.

'Gray-sama wouldn't need to be babied like this. Gray-sama would have been properly prepared,' Juvia's thoughts of Gray's superiority raced through her head at top speed.

"Now, Juvia, why don't we start with you."

Juvia was quite good with her lines. She was hardly any kind of professional, but she put a good amount of conviction into her words as she read, which helped sell the scenes well enough.

Natsu, on the other hand, was all over the place. He was excited when he should be solemn, and cheerful when he should be sounding angry. He also would miss words and sometimes whole lines because he was racing through things and losing his place. With each flub of his lines, Juvia's headache from the night before redoubled itself. By the time they had reached the final scene, Juvia had, had enough of Mira's lighthearted attempts at putting him right, and she rose suddenly from her seat.

"Natsu-san, this is a very important scene!" she said seriously, as she sat herself next to him, which silenced Natsu's laugh in surprise.

"The prince is telling the princess that he can't be with her. He's upset that he needs to leave the woman he loves. So, he wouldn't be laughing, or boisterous. He's heartbroken, and he knows she is as well. It's tragic to know you love someone so much, and that the feeling is mutual, yet have no choice but to part forever. This is a goodbye," she explained passionately.

"Even if you can't imagine a romantic love, surely even you can imagine having to part from a dear friend, and how hard that would be. So, that is what you need to convey here," she said, pointing to the page of the script, while looking stoutly into Natsu's eyes.

"A dear friend? Someone important?" Natsu asked thoughtfully.

"Yes! Say you could never see Lucy again, for example."

"I would never let that happen," Natsu said so quickly and with such fierceness that it took Juvia aback.

'So, even Natsu-san has those types of feelings for someone,' Juvia thought, and she felt like she could relate to him a little more.

When Juvia spoke again, there was a kindness in her eyes and patience in her voice that hadn't been there before.

"Juvia is sure you wouldn't, but you're not you now, you're the prince, and the prince can't help the current situation. That's why he's sad."

"Ok," Natsu said, seeming to understand.

Mira watched the two and smiled mysteriously. "That's the spirit. Team work! And perfect timing, because we are about to approach the kiss."

Juvia sucked in a breath as her face went pink and her eyes shot wide open. Even Natsu looked a bit flustered and embarrassed.

"We don't need to do that already, right?"

Juvia agreed hurriedly. "Natsu-san is right, we can save that for the actual performance."

"No," Mira said commandingly. "The kiss is very important, and it is the climax of the play. We do not want it to be a disaster. It would be best if you did it now and got it over with, so when the time came to do it for the live performance, it will already be water under the bridge. In fact, that was a big reason why I wanted you two to practice alone today. So you could have some privacy."

Juvia and Natsu were left dumbfounded. Neither of them had expected to have to kiss, other than during the real performance. And being asked to do it right now was terrifying.

"B-but…" Juvia started to protest again.

"Take your own advice, Juvia," Mira reminded her firmly. "You are not you, you are the princess, and you love the prince with all your heart. Show him your feelings as you say goodbye. Imagine your beloved prince!"

"Imagine Juvia's beloved prince?" 'Gray-sama?!' Juvia lost herself in her thoughts of Gray and herself parting in such a romantic way, and her face became even more flushed, but pleasurably so this time.

"And maybe," Mira said, pressing on with an even more tempting scenario, "if this play is successful, the feelings of those who you are trying to reach, will finally see what they've been missing."

Juvia eyes widened at the possibilities.

"So, we're doing this?" Natsu asked hesitantly, looking at Juvia in confusion.

Juvia looked from a Mira who was smiling encouragingly, to an unsure Natsu, and she thought about Gray, and how she wanted to show him what a wonderful princess she makes. If she could just forget she was kissing Natsu, and pretend it was Gray, maybe she could get through this after all.

"Yes, but for me, you are not Natsu-san, you are now my beloved prince Gray-sama."

Natsu face broke into a disgusted look. "I don't want to be that iced loser."

Juvia ignored him. "And Juvia can be Natsu's desired person."

"Huh?"

"Visualize someone you'd like to kiss."

"Someone I-"

But Juvia cut through Natsu's thought process.

"We'll go on three."

"I'll count down," Mira said cheerfully.

Juvia nodded.

"One."

Juvia shut her eyes and tried to superimpose Gray's face over the space where Natsu was in an attempt to block him out. 'It's Gray-sama. It's my love. It's my prince.' Juvia repeated to herself as she tried to imagine Gray's handsome face over Natsu's dazed one.

"Two."

Juvia's heart was racing and her hands were sweating as she desperately tried to hold on to Gray's image in her mind, but she made the mistake of opening her eyes. 'Natsu-san is not here. It's Gray-sama! Gray-sama's kind eyes! Gray-sama's dark hair! Gray-sama's teasing lips!'

"Three!" Mira shouted enthusiastically.

Juvia's heart felt like it had jumped up into her throat. As Natsu closed his eyes and came at her, Juvia realized immediately that she was not prepared after all. Her illusion burst like a bubble in her panic, and before she could stop it, her only thought as she felt Natsu's lips press against her own was, 'it's Natsu-san.'

The kiss could be described in three ways: wet, rough, and (thankfully) brief. Natsu had grabbed her face so that his aim did not go off course. But he hastily let go and backed away after making contact, as if to assess the damage done. They looked at each other, quite clearly surprised that it actually happened, and as the panic and awkwardness began to subside, the laughter entered the equation.

Juvia was giggling, and Natsu guffawing heartily.

Juvia knew why she was laughing. That kiss was one more suited to toddlers experimenting in a playground, than a mature prince and princess sharing a passionate goodbye. And yet, it really was so fitting for them. Because any kiss they could have would always turn out like this. Natsu-san wasn't her prince, and she knew she was not his princess.

Juvia wiped away some tears that had been shed from the uncontrollable giggling, and stared at Natsu, who also looked at her in repentant hilarity. They then both looked at Mira.

"Well… it definitely could be bet-"

"No." they both said decisively.

Mira sighed. "Alright. To be honest, I'm shocked you went through with it at all."

Juvia looked indignant. "Mira-san told us to!"

"Yes, but I never thought you actually would."

Juvia was sure she saw that slightly evil look flash in Mira's eyes once again.

"Anyway, I'm proud of you two. Tomorrow we'll continue practice with everyone else, and now that you've gotten the kiss out of the way, you won't have to worry about it again until performance night. Just keep in mind that it's going to need to be a lot better than that. Maybe you two can do some private practicing for that on your own."

"No!" they shouted again.

"Ok, ok," Mira backed down in amusement. "In any case, good job. Now I have to go and supervise the building of the sets," and she left them alone.

Juvia huffed angrily. "Mira-san was teasing us."

"Yeah, it looks like it," Natsu agreed.

"Still, I do think Natsu-san and Juvia should practice a bit more, though."

"What?!" Natsu looked alarmed.

Juvia realized what Natsu thought she meant, and hastily corrected him. "No! I mean, just the lines! Juvia can help. If we're going to do this, we should do it well."

Natsu shrugged. "Yeah, ok, thanks," and he grinned at her.

Juvia smiled back.

"By the way, Juvia failed this time at keeping Gray-sama in her mind during the kiss because she was nervous, but she won't fail next time. So you needn't worry."

"Whatever," Natsu said airily.

"Did you manage to keep Lucy in your head, Natsu-san?"

"Mostly, but just at the last second I-" Natsu, realizing what he was admitting to, looked quickly at Juvia in dismay.

Juvia grinned widely.

"T-That was only because you told me earlier about Lucy being the important friend, and…" Natsu's face was seriously flushed now.

"Of course," Juvia said knowingly.

Natsu made a sound of irritation with his tongue. "Let's get back to practicing then."

"Yes!"

The sun was setting, and the noise in the guild hall was at maximum rowdiness as people were returning from their jobs. The warm glow from the surrounding candles bathed the room in a welcoming aura that invited it's patrons to partake of frothy drinks and generous-sized portions of Mira's excellent cooking. Gray had just gotten himself a beer at the bar, and was looking for a place to enjoy it, when he caught sight of his blonde friend sitting on her own at one of the large tables within the guild hall.

"Eating alone? Aren't you suppose to be practicing today?" Gray asked, confused as he took stock of the nearly empty plate in front of her.

"No, we start tomorrow. Today Mira said only Natsu and Juvia were going to practice, because they have most of their lines together, and they're the leads, and she wanted them to get comfortable with their roles," Lucy explained as Gray sat down beside her.

"Oh," he said vaguely, taking a sip of his beer. "I got to be honest, though, I can't see this play going much better than the one we put on once. I mean, can you imagine those two acting against each other? It's going to be so weird," Gray said, clearly amused at the thought.

"I know. I didn't want to say anything, but there's no way this is going to work out.," Lucy admitted guiltily. "Natsu and Juvia are way too different, and just trying to imagine them being romantic with each other is too far of a stretch."

Gray laughed. "Right? I can't even picture it. It's going to be a complete disaster."

Lucy sighed heavily. "Yeah, Poor Mira, she's trying so hard to make this all work, too. She really should have let people switch. Now we're stuck. And as for that kiss…" Lucy trailed off, as if implying it wasn't even a possibility.

"Oh God, there's no way they're going to go through with that," Gray said confidently, still chuckling. "Especially Juvia. She'd never let it happen."

"Neither would Natsu," Lucy added just as assuredly. "I'm sure they're both going to mess it up somehow," and she too started giggling.

"What's so funny?" Mira asked interestedly as she came up behind them.

"Mira-chan!" Gray greeted happily, taking another large swallow of beer. "We were just chatting about how you really got saddled with the worst pair of leads. You're never going to be able to get Natsu and Juvia to kiss, you know?" He laughed, before catching sight of her face, which wore a look he couldn't quite read. "No offense," Gray added, suddenly looking worried, since Mira was indeed working hard to make the production a success.

Mira smiled broadly. "Oh, none taken. Especially since they already did."

"Mira-chan!" a customer called from up at the bar.

"Coming!" and she walked off, leaving a shocked silence in her wake.

Gray slowly put down his beer, and Lucy sat stiller than a statue.

"That was a joke, right?" Gray asked after several long moments silence. The buzz in the hall began to feel quite irritating to him all of a sudden.

"O-of course it was!" Lucy said, though her voice cracked. "I mean… how could it not be…right?"

"But, I don't remember Mira ever outright lying like that. That's kind of messed up," Gray said, his face growing rigid.

"Really?" Lucy asked worriedly, before shaking her head as if trying to shoo away an irksome thought. "Well… so what?" Lucy asked forcing a laugh. "Even if they did, it probably was no big deal," she reasoned clearly trying to convince herself just as much as Gray. "But they probably didn't," she rushed on. "Like you said, Juvia would never let that happen. She likes you, after all. She'd have no interest in kissing Natsu."

"Yeah," Gray said, trying, and failing to sound confident. "Besides, like you were saying, Natsu wouldn't go through with a kiss. That immature flame-brained idiot, he'd probably set the place on fire before he could even manage it."

Lucy laughed in an unnaturally high way. "Y-yeah. Exactly."

Gray joined her attempt at laughing off the situation while taking large gulps of beer in between forced chuckles. "Not that I care, but they're not even compatible in any way. It's just stupid. Nothing to get worked up over."

"Yes, they just don't mix. Juvia likes that you both have similar magic, she'd have no interest in Natsu, even on the most basic level, since he specializes in fire," Lucy continued on, grasping at straws in an attempt to fill in the awkward silence.

At that moment Gajeel happened to pass by, and it seemed he had overheard the tail end of their conversation. "She dated a fire wizard once," he said off-handedly.

This revelation seemed to cause Gray and Lucy to give off an impression that they both could easily have been made out of ice in that moment.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is up with you two? You look like someone died or somethin'."

"She dated…"

"A fire wizard?" Lucy finished Gray's sentence for him.

Gajeel shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, some loser. They went out for a little while. Come to think of it, I think she told me once she had a thing for Totomaru, too," he chuckled at the recollection. "You know, the fire user from the Element Four? Considering that, it's pretty weird how she's now fixated on some icey nudist," Gajeel laughed loudly before grinning over at Gray, expecting him to retort with some sarcastic banter as he usually would.

However, Gray did not react, except to down the last of his beer in one gulp. He then got up still holding onto the bottle, which quickly frosted over and shattered into pieces.

Gajeel guarded himself from the frozen bits that went flying around. "What the hell is your problem?!"

"I'm going to kill Natsu," Gray said, his eyes dark with fury as he exited the guild, people clearing away from his path as they caught sight of him.

Gajeel was dumbfounded. "Jeez, that was creepy, huh bunny girl?… Bunny girl?"

"She likes fire wizards…." Lucy said to herself in a dead sort of voice.

Gajeel slowly backed away at Lucy's expression, which seemed incredibly forbidding.

Muttering to herself, Lucy too got up to leave, a gloomy foreboding haunting her steps, and Gajeel could have sworn he heard the words "love rival" as she passed by him.

The next morning was a much better start to the day for Juvia than the day before had been. She had practiced most of the day yesterday with Natsu, and he had improved greatly. He wasn't flubbing his lines nearly as much as he had been, while even remembering whole chunks of them without looking at the script for support. And she thinks he finally understood about adding feeling to his words to fit the mood of the scenes. All of that, plus having finally gotten over the awkward hump of the kiss, and the thought of not having to attempt it again for another four days, had Juvia in quite high spirits indeed. So, she was very much looking forward to the bigger practice session with the rest of the cast that day.

She was now working towards a new goal of impressing Gray with her acting abilities, and hopefully her role of the princess will show herself in a new light to him. Surely he'll have to notice her after she gives a wonderful performance, and immediately fall head over heels in love with her. Maybe he'd even hope that he himself was kissing her. Glowing with this objective in mind, she headed off towards the guild, as she mentally ran over her lines in her head again.

However, her buoyant mood was immediately sent into a whirl of confusion when her eyes fell upon a massive group gathered at the the entrance of the guild.

"What's going on here?" she asked herself aloud.

She could hear screaming and shouts of encouragement from those in the crowd as she drew nearer, and attempted to get closer to the inner circle.

When she squeezed close enough she realized that Gray and Natsu were at the center of the immensely dense group of mages.

"Gray-sama?!" she shouted to the air in alarm. What was he doing, and why did he look so angry? She'd rarely seen him so infuriated before, and certainly when it came to a silly bout with Natsu.

"Why did you hit me for, you ice-cubed pervert?!" Natsu shouted from the center of the crowd, as he held his cheek in aggravation. Juvia could see it was red, and swelling slightly from where Gray had clearly struck him.

"That's my business. Let's just say you deserved it," Gray yelled back, his fists clench, as if readying himself for another attack.

"Whatever! If you want a fight, bring it on, underpants freak!"

"You got it, fire-turd!"

And they rushed at each other.

Juvia clutched at her face in distress. "What is going on?!" she asked again into the boisterous crowd, trying to make sense of things.

"Good morning, Juvia."

Juvia jumped in surprise."Lucy!"

Lucy stood beside her, dark circles under her eyes, as if she hand't slept all night. Her voice sounded hollow, and she stared at Juvia in a very disconcerting way.

"W-what's wrong?" she asked in concern. The fighting had begun in earnest now, and Juvia could feel the air waver between icy cold and blazing hot as the boys battled.

"Nothing, nothing at all," but Lucy's monotone reply clearly indicated otherwise.

"Are you sure?" Juvia probed cautiously. She could hear Gray flinging more insults at Natsu from within the circle of cheering bodies.

"Oh yes, I'm sure… By the way, is it true you and Natsu kissed yesterday?" she said, still sounding quite flat, but there was a definite fire burning in her eyes now.

Juvia, surprised, took an instinctive step back, the boys fight driven from her mind at the question. "What?! How - I mean, where - Who told you?!" Juvia said, stuttering horribly.

Lucy inhaled very deeply, as if steadying herself. "I see… So, you have an interest in Natsu now? That's nice," Lucy said, the fire that had blazed momentarily now seeming to have gone out, and her voice sounded dejected instead.

"What?! No!" Juvia said quickly and assuredly. "Of course Juvia doesn't! Juvia loves Gray-sama!"

Lucy looked at her skeptically. "But you kissed Natsu?"

Juvia hurried on. "The kiss meant nothing! It was just for the play, and it was awful! We laughed about it almost immediately, Juvia swears! Juvia wishes with all her might that it was Gray-sama she was kissing instead. And Natsu also would much rather have been kissing Lucy, he told her so!" she shouted, trying to be heard above the crowd which was now cheering raucously again as the boys clashed violently. Juvia could hear Natsu questioning Gray again, while Gray blew him off.

At this, some light returned to Lucy's eyes, and her expression began to clear. In fact, her face became a bit flustered. "W-what?!… Really?" she squeaked in surprise.

Juvia smiled and nodded. "But don't mention Juvia told you. Natsu-san would surely be embarrassed."

Lucy's face brightened even more so, and she tried to fight back a smile. "That's… I can't believe he… Me?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes. But you have to be more proactive, Lucy. Because Natsu-san is even worse than Gray-sama when it comes to this sort of thing," she advised confidentially. "Although Juvia wished Gray-sama would say he was thinking of kissing Juvia, " and Juvia suddenly became pouty.

Lucy, lost in her own wonderful thoughts, didn't hear her.

"By the way," Juvia asked, bringing Lucy out of her happy pondering, "what is going on here? Why is Gray-sama so angry?"

"Oh! Well… you see…" Lucy began, looking sheepishly amused, when suddenly a loud crack was heard followed by two hard thuds, as two bodies hit the ground.

"They're out!" several people shouted from within the circle.

Juvia gasped. "Gray-sama!"

"Natsu!"

"There wasn't anything else they could do. Wendy is still on a job with Chelia from Lamia Scale, and apparently they haven't been able to contact her. She's not going to arrive back until the parade later tonight."

"I can't believe they messed each other up that badly."

"Well, they were able to leave the hospital today, so they could at least watch the play."

"They look like a pair of mummies sitting in the audience like that."

"And was she really the only one who they could replace him with?"

"She knew all the lines! Apparently she had memorized the whole script."

"With the way she keeps stuttering it doesn't sound like it."

"Yeah, well…. She's really enthusiastic!"

"Juvia sure isn't, though."

"It's rude to talk through a performance!" Lucy shouted in irritation to the crowd around her as she sat between Natsu and Gray, who could barely budge an inch, because nearly every part of them was covered in bandages.

Unlike Natsu, Gray's mouth was free of bandages, and he asked Lucy, "so, how come you ended up watching instead of participating?"

"Mira took my place as the handmaiden so I could look after you two," she said, glancing worriedly at Natsu who was quite the worse for wear.

"So much for no switching, and all roles are final," Gray said.

"It couldn't be helped. You guys really overdid it," she said sternly.

Natsu's eyes narrowed as he tried his best to point accusingly at Gray.

"It's rude to point, lame-flame-for-brains," Gray said audibly enough to get a reaction out of Natsu who immediately tried to rise.

Lucy held him down, and glared at the both of them. "Stop it! We're going to miss the best part!"

They both grudgingly settled down and focused their attention back towards the stage where Juvia and her new prince were about to share their passionate kiss.

"O-oh, my sweet p-princess! How it p-pains me t-to leave you. But I -I mean, but WE must part!" Erza stammered, her voice rising and falling awkwardly.

Juvia stared at her, her eyes seemed dull, and her heart was clearly not in her performance at all, as she said in an empty sort of voice, "yes, but before we do, I leave you with this parting gift. A token of my everlasting feelings." And Juvia placed a quick kiss on Erza's cheek, before turning back towards the audience, an audible sigh escaping her lips. She looked very depressed.

"Wow, they're not very good, are they?" Gray said critically.

Natsu did his best to shake his bandaged head in agreement.

Lucy said nothing, but thought back to Juvia's words during the boys' fight, and smiled to herself.

Juvia suddenly burst out into actual tears on stage.

"D-do not cry, my darling! We shall meet again, I mean, once more, in a-another life!"

"Those tears are pretty realistic," Gray said, sounding impressed as Juvia continued to bawl on stage.

Lucy and the bandaged Natsu nodded in agreement.

Lucy knew Juvia's tears, however, were a result of her having gotten her hopes up twice within the last week, only to have been dashed each time. Add that to her worry over Gray's current injuries, and Erza ending up as her prince, so she had no hope of pulling off a good performance in order to impress Gray, and she was left very miserable indeed. Worst of all, Juvia and Lucy had been so busy since the brawl, that Lucy never got a chance to tell Juvia why Gray had picked a fight with Natsu in the first place.

"Um… is it just me, or is it getting very wet in here?"

"Juvia stop! You're going to cause a flood!" someone shouted from backstage.

"Fear not, s-sweet princess, I will stem those tears!"

But Juvia cried all the harder, and people started evacuating the guild hall for their own safety.

THE END

A/N: As you can see this is kind of hard to classify as straight up Nalu or Gruvia, since it's just Natsu's slip and Lucy's/Gray's jealousy that makes it truly Nalu/Gruvia. And obviously the only people who actually kiss in this are Natsu and Juvia (Yay Navia?!) (and then Juvia & Erza lol). But, I had fun writing it, and the idea made me laugh, and hopefully some bits of it made you laugh, too. Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you enjoyed it!