Day 3: Jealousy

The corner of the wooden pillar splintered under Juvia's grip, and an intense dark aura surrounded her. Natsu-san had broken her of that nasty habit of stalking… for the most part… But that didn't mean she never momentarily watched his interactions with their Guildmates before she "officially" met up with him for missions and dates. J-Just to make sure he was okay! Natsu-san wasn't always on the watch for shameless flirts, or hussies that didn't know when to back off. These moments of protection never lasted for very long!

Sometimes these "moments" translated to "5 minutes in real time", but hey, who was counting…?

"Are you sure I can't come along…? I really need the rent money, like… yesterday." Lucy begged with waterfalls of tears cascading down her face. Natsu chuckled at his friend's plight.

"You must really be desperate if you want to take the Vulcan job with me 'n Juvia. We're practically guaranteed to wreck crap~." Natsu's tone was teasing as his mouth twitched into a toothy grin. Lucy could only nod glumly.

"It's true. At this point, every little bit helps!"

Now, Lucy meant this in a completely platonic, monetary sense, but Juvia was known for having an overactive imagination. And it did not help that the world looked more sparkly and beautiful as she looked at Natsu and Lucy longer, with the blonde Celestial Wizard even moving into Natsu's chest longingly and looking up into his eyes with uncontainable lust.

"It'd mean a lot to me if you'd let me come along…" Lucy silkily ran a hand down Natsu's chiseled chest.

"I know, my love. But Mistress Juvia would be quite angry if she discovered our tryst~…" Natsu huskily replied as he leaned his face in toward the blonde.

"Oh, Natsu…" Lucy whispered.

"Lucy…"

They moved closer and closer until they grazed each other's lips softly and passionately. Both of them losing interest in the world around them as Lucy deepened the kiss, and her hand went lower to Natsu-san's pants-

Steam exploded from Juvia's ears, and she shook her head wildly, the faux romantic visions disappearing from view immediately. Lucy was even waving goodbye to the Dragon Slayer as she went to check out Team Shadow Gear's availability. The Water mage took several deep breaths to recompose herself. Natsu-san wouldn't cheat on her like that! Sure, he was a novice in the ways of love, but even he knew there were lines that were not to be crossed when one was in a relationship. Natsu-san was not some… some… player who picked up chicks to satisfy his lust!

'But he could be tempted by no-good, scheming, shameless… temptresses!' A voice in a far corner of Juvia's mind objected, though Juvia did her best to reel in her jealousy before it became overwhelming. Natsu-san had known Lucy-san longer than he had known Juvia, and their friendship was very well known in the Guild… He had even turned Lucy-san down, so there was nothing to worry about.

Lucy momentarily turned back to Natsu, winked, and blew a kiss.

Juvia twitched and shook an annoyed fist at the blonde's retreating figure. Curse Former Love Rival for getting Juvia so worked up over nothing…!

"Oh, Natsu! Still here?" Mira greeted the Pyro, leading him to approach the bar counter. "I thought Juvia would've gotten here by now~."

The barmaid giggled as Natsu shrugged neutrally.

"She's just late sometimes. It's all good, though~. She's really good at distracting me from my motion sickness – says she got experience from helpin' Junkyard out~."

Mira tapped her chin thoughtfully after a few moments of comfortable silence between them.

"Say. You wouldn't mind coming down to the cellar to help me out a minute, would ya? Evergreen whisked Elfman away for the day for some 'much needed pampering', so I don't have his big strong arms to help me move some supplies up here~." As the Pyro hummed noncommittally, Mirajane sweetened the deal. "I'll give you some of my leftovers, free of charge~."

Natsu rubbed his chin before nodding sagely and smiling widely.

"Sure, okay!"

As the duo marched off to the cellar, Juvia's eyes bulged, and sweat began to trickle down her face.

'L… L… Leftovers?!' Juvia internally shrieked. Her mind immediately leapt to the gutter after hearing that little exchange. No surprise there.

"So, uh, how do I insert this thing again?"

"You just lift up my legs like this~. Then you drill me like a man possessed, got it~?"

"This is weird, but I like it~!" Pause. "Say, uh… Juvia said to use condoms when we do this… What's a condom?"

"Oh, don't worry about those~. If you're doing 'safe sex', you're not doing it right~."

"Whatever ya say, Mira! Do I unload in or out?!"

"Why, you unload inside me, you sexy dragon! 'Til I'm full to burst with your molten seed~!"

… Juvia's mind broke from that daydream. Not only because Mira-san was being very naughty, but because of Natsu-san's well-toned body, and his rather… well-endowed… parts… Coughing awkwardly, Juvia tugged and glared down at her winter coat. Perhaps Natsu-san had a point about not wearing this stuffy thing all the time. Besides, if she showed off more of her voluptuous curves, Natsu-san wouldn't be so easily tempted away by the likes of Lucy-san and Mira-san. Instead, he would be the one stuck with wet dreams involving her… And then his dragon instincts would take over, and he would burn off her shirt, and tear off her pants…

Shaking her head vigorously once again, Juvia made the critical decision of returning Fairy Hills briefly to change into something… comfier. More form-fitting~. Natsu-san would be busy for a few minutes with whatever he and Mira-san were doing, so she had time!

… She just needed to hurry.

By the time Juvia returned to the Guild, enough had changed that she barely received any looks from her Guildmates when she strolled back in confidently. The reason being that there was a crowd in front of the bar counter, where Mira-san was standing across from Erza-san, and poor, sweet Natsu right dab in the middle of them.

"Mira, you've gone too far this time…!" Erza barked as she tugged one of Natsu's arms and brought him her way. The possessive look in her eye and the childish pout might have looked adorable if Juvia wasn't stewing in jealousy, toward the back of the crowd.

"Ara, ara, too little, too late, Tincan~. Natsu agreed to it." The Takeover mage argued with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. In the blink of an eye, she had snatched Natsu away from the scarlet knight and returned to her original position, but this time with the Dragon Slayer snuggled to her bountiful dirty pillows. "And Natsu always keeps his promises~."

Even the mighty Titania was blinking owlishly as she seemed to try and puzzle out how the barmaid had moved so damn fast. She stayed blinking like that for a few more seconds before growling and moving at a speed that rivaled the Demon's. Though there was a distinct clang as Natsu's head was connected with the scarlet knight's breastplate.

"Natsu has a duty to his team first and foremost! Promises with she-devils like you are irrelevant!"

Mira scowled at the knight's possessiveness. She was not about to lose this fight!

"Don't lie to yourself, Erza~. You just want him all to your greedy self! Natsu doesn't have to indulge you!"

Huh. Natsu was smothered in Mira's melons again. Go figure.

"He doesn't owe a tramp like you anything! He stays with us!" Erza roared. Aaand Natsu was back with her.

… This quickly devolved into childish fighting, Natsu going back and forth between the two legendary rivals.

"PROMISE!"

"DUTY TO HIS TEAM!"

"PROMISE!"

"DUTY!"

"PROMISE!"

"DUTY!"

By this point, Juvia was doing everything she could to make this nightmare go away. She pinched herself. Slapped herself. Shook her head until it seemed like her head would fall off her shoulders… Nothing seemed to work.

This wasn't some horrible made-up fantasy. This was real!

"ENOUGH!" Juvia roared as she entered the fray and parted the squabbling rivals by sending waves of water at each of them. She recovered Natsu while they were distracted, and started to inch toward the exit with Natsu hugged possessively to her chest, and the most jealous look she'd had on her face. "You two should be ashamed! Natsu-san is Juvia's! He belongs to neither of you!"

For a drawn out moment, both barmaid and knight looked at Juvia like she had sprouted a second head. Then, Mira recovered first, and things slowly made sense again…

"Juvia, we were talking about a photoshoot, silly girl!" Mira stuck out her tongue bashfully as she clasped her hands in front of herself and bowed apologetically to the Rain Woman. "We weren't fighting over just Natsu either, y'know~."

Erza bowed more deeply and apologized more profusely before explaining where Mira left off.

"Th-That's right! Jason is scheduled to be coming to Fairy Tail next week, and I thought it was obvious you and Natsu would be posing with me, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Happy, and Carla." She gave the barmaid next to her the stinkeye. "And then I hear this harlot spewing nonsense about 'promises' made… Delusional. You will be posing with us!"

Mira pouted and side-glared at Erza.

"But Lisanna will be quite disappointed if Natsu breaks his promise to her~." She beamed at the dumbstruck Juvia, who was still possessively holding onto Natsu. "So you'll be posing with us~."

Erza scoffed and crossed her arms. Her glare connected with Mira's and sent an electric spark her way.

"If Lisanna is so worked up over it, she can just pose with us. Problem solved."

Mira sent a spark back toward Erza's glare.

"Silly Erza~. Lisanna is a member of Team Mira, and therefore Natsu and Juvia are obligated to join us."

Everyone sweatdropped as the electricity intensified between their glares, and the two rivals got up in one another's face. Looked like they were about to throw down like the old days, but Juvia didn't care so much about that at the moment. Everyone else looked like they were fearing for their lives, but Juvia looked as if the gears were slowly turnin' in that head of hers, and Natsu was, well… He was just happy to not be on the verge of losing his lunch because of the rapid back-and-forth between the two strongest females in Fairy Tail.

"So Love Rivals were not fighting for Natsu-san's heart…?" Juvia whispered in awe, making Natsu grin as he extricated himself from her possessive grip.

"'Course not, you silly girl~. They were fightin' over us, 'cause we're really good friends with both of 'em! I wouldn't let them steal me away from you, my sexy Water mage~." Natsu grinned that grin of his that melted Juvia's heart, and she cried out all too happily.

"Muuuooo…! Let's cuddle!" Juvia overenthusiastically tackled the Dragon Slayer to the floor with the biggest smile on her face. It was only then that Natsu noticed it…

"… Are you wearin' the spare clothes I left at your place?"

"Juvia thought you would like seeing all of Juvia's curves~."

"…"