Hating a star

Chapter 15: Feelings?

Lucy's POV

After the children surrounded Gray and I helped Natsu out with his head ache, Gajeel and Jellal soon arrived. I don't like this feeling. Gray was looking at me weirdly. Could he have remembered? Noooo, he couldn't. I shrugged it off and went to the girls, who were standing, watching the boys play wth the kids happily, holding a drink out for me. But still, I need to be careful.

Juvia's POV.

When Gray was surrounded by the children of the orphanage, he looked really happy. Gray has a nice smile. Wait! What is Juvia thinking!? Juvia can't fall for the enemy. Juvia is with Rogue-sama, but... he's so boring. I think over the relationship choices I've made as I chat with the girls. "Guys." I mumble at a low point in the conversation. They all look at me, letting e know they were listening. "Um, Juvia thinks, um." I blush, feeling awful I was thinking these things. "What is it Juvia? Don't worry, you can tell us anything." Lucy puts her hand on my arm, reassuring my. I take a deep breath and look them straight in the eye. "Juvia thinks Rogue-sama isn't right for her." I state bluntly. They all freeze for a moment, but then burst out laughing. "Wh-What is it?" I blush, annoyed that they would laugh at something I'm very serious about. "S-Sorry Ju. Bu-But. Ahahhahaa." Levy clutches her stomach because she was laughing so hard. "Ju. Ahah ahah." Erza wipes away the tears appearing in her eyes. "J-Ju. We know, it's obvious. You guys are n-nothing a like." Lucy places her hand on my arm again, trying to stop herself from chuckling. "Th-Then, why didn't you tell Juvia!?" I stand up from my place in the dirty ground, blushing even more. "Ju, we did tell you. You were too far in your stalker mode to listen." Levy calms down, dabbing a handkerchief on he corners of her eyes.  "Don't worry Juvia. I think Rogue would understand if you split up. He doesn't seem like the relationship type." Erza slightly squeezes my hand, telling me everything was going to be fine.

"Come on. It looks like the kids are getting bored." Lucy points at the children, who were currently swinging on Gray and Jellal's arms, plaiting Gajeel's hair, or force feeding Natsu some sand cake. We all nod and walk over.

Levy's POV

When we get to the kids, they all rush up to us. The girls who had been plaiting Gajeel's hair pulled me over to him. They had put odd flowers in it and a pink bow at the end. I giggled lightly when I saw him blushing an grumbling about how much of a sissy he looked like. "Gajeel-kun! What are you talking about? You look like a princess!" Emma, a girl with similar hair to his, pouts. "Imma dude!" I shouts, making her tear up. "Gajeel, look what you did!" I crouch don't to her and hug her head to my chest, sitting her on my lap. "It's okay. Gajeel wasn't mad, he was just embarrassed. Look he's blushing." I chuckle, pointing out the red tint on his checks. Having someone notice it, he blushes even more, making Emma giggle. "Princess Gajeel!" She cheers, now happy and jumps out of my lap, hugging his neck. At first, he wasn't sure what to do. I knew he wasn't good with kids when he had his out burst, so I gestured him to hug her back. He take my advice and picks her up, throwing her in the air. "Weeee!" She giggled as she flies back down, landing safely in his hands.

Soon enough, all the other little girls come over and ask for 'Princess Gajeel' to make them fly as well. He tried acting like he didn't enjoy being around such small human beings, but I knew, inside his heart, he was happier than he had ever been.

Erza's POV

As Juvia helped get the children off of Gray, I was put with the task of helping Jellal. "Hey guys. I think Jellal might be getting tired." I point out the sweat starting to form on his brow and the kids cringe, running away ewwing. "Thanks." He collapsed on his back, breathing heavily. I chuckled at his behaviour and sat down beside him, looking up into the sky. "The sun's starting to set." Jellal comments on the orange red sky. "Yeah, its beautiful." I tuck some Jake behind my hair as I lay down, getting an ache in my neck from sitting like I had been. I had accidentally landed on Jellal's outstretched arm and tried to sit up, but his words stop me. "It's fine, I can't feel my arm." He chuckles and I reluctantly lay back down. I shouldn't be getting so close. Lucy will get mad. I think, look at the orange sky turn red. "You know. It kinda looks like your hair." Jellal's sudden statement pulls me back to earth, making me blush intensely. "Y-You don't say?" I stutter. "I guess Scarlet was the best choice then, huh?" He s,lies at me as I turn my head.

Suddenly, memories from when I was much younger flood into my mind. The picture of a young boy with bruises on his face, as well as an odd looking tattoo. I gasp when I realise it was Jellal. I now remembered that we were close friends, he even nicknamed me Scarlet. He was a troublesome kid who would always find something bad to do. I was a shy girl, and he helped me out of my shell.

My eyes widened and he chuckled, looking back at the sky, hiding his memorable mark from me. "I'm surprised it took you so look to notice, Scarlet." He smirked. I sat up straight, tears in my eyes. The last time I saw him was when we had an argument about his parents sending him to boarding school, four years ago. He sighed and sat up, looking down. "I know you probably don't want to get yourself involved with a delinquent like me. But, just so you know, I've changed. But so have you. So, I won't bother you again." I stood up and turned away, walking out of the orphanage gates, leaving me on the floor, covering my mouth in surprise.

I wasn't going to go after him, what I felt bad then had changed, and I had to protect Lucy. I'm sorry Jellal. I have changed. I got up and walked up to Lucy, who was currently having an argument with Natsu, hiding what I was feeling. I'll deal with that tomorrow.