I Can Hear You

16

It's over. No more suffering. No more keeping secrets. It's over.

But what's more painful is that Juvia was the one to end this. It wasn't me.

And standing over her as I watched her cry was even more heartbreaking. Especially when Natsu was here to see the whole thing. This was all my fault. I never thought that my life would end up in a knot. And soon, I'll be a target by all of Juvia's friends, my own friends for hurting her, and, of course, the media. I'm ready for that Sorcerer Weekly magazine to come out any minute now.

The next day, I didn't show up at the guild at the break of dawn. Instead, I helped Juvia take all her things back to Fairy Hills. It was quiet and awkward. Neither of us exchanged words. We just walked back and fourth while carrying boxes.

Afterwards, we went to the guild. It was awkward there, too. No one said a word. Erza and Mirajane were quiet. Lucy and Levy were quiet. Nothing felt the same anymore. Even when I saw the Sorcerer Weekly magazine about Juvia and me did I realize things were different now. I wasn't as pissed as I normally felt when I saw an article about me. I just felt guilty and weird.

A few weeks had passed. Levy had her kids, finally. It was crazy, because Natsu and I had to be there for Gajeel's emotional support, even though Levy was the one giving birth to twins. We were no help either way, because all three of us fainted before the first kid even came out.

Juvia and I were still distant. Everyone was still awkward, but things were starting to get back to normal.

Guildarts came back, too. And, in the end, we threw a celebration for him with his return since he was staying for a while. Surprisingly, Gajeel let him hold the twins when he was drunk. It was a miracle when he didn't drop them.

After another week, Team Natsu started going on jobs again. Even Wendy tagged along, and so did a few new guild mates that were around her age. They were pretty funny, but they took the job serious and tried not to destroy a whole town like we usually would.

Things started to feel like it was before the wedding. Except that Natsu and I still had this aura around us since he confessed. I would glance at him a few times, and he would glance at me a few times. Sometimes, we would just stare at each other and wait until one of us looked away, which would take forever.

Erza and I had our Erza days every so often. I would usually take her out for lunch and we would chat a bit. Then I would take her to the shops so that she could pick out something for me to buy for her. It was always either a few cakes or a new piece of armor to add to her collection. I didn't mind, because they were both very Erza things to do. I enjoyed it when she did something her way.

Two months passed when Levy and Gajeel decided to go on a job together. Except Jet and Droy had to tag along as well. So that meant...

"Gray! Help me!" Natsu squealed as I sat in his living room, laughing at his face as the twins pulled at his rosy colored hair. The boy, Yaje, tried to eat some of his hair. Shutora, one the other hand, kept knitting it up with her fingers.

I snorted as I watched the rosette struggle on the floor. "You must be looking forward to a hair cut," I coughed between my laughing. When Natsu fell to the floor and the twins started to try to crawl all over him, I thought it would be best to end this. I stood up from my seat and grabbed the girl from underneath her arms.

"Alright, enough tackling Natsu," I giggled as I carried her back to the couch. I had to hold her hands down just to make sure she wouldn't reach up to grab my hair.