Melted Ice {Natsu x Juvia}

~missing~

Natsu's POV

The sun shone blindingly through Natsu's blinds as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. Groggily, he sat up, letting out a suppressed yawn out as he did. Looking over, he noticed Happy's little bed in the corner was empty. He sighed.
'Must've left without me.' He thought.

Just as he was preparing to leave his cottage, he noticed a paper on the table behind him. He remembered picking it off of the request board the night before. He was actually hoping to surprise Juvia with it, since it was a water-type speciality request and the reward was... well defenitely enough to pay Lucy's rent for a couple months.

He inhaled sharply, and dropped his eyes to the floor. Lucy... He's tried his best to keep her out of his mind, so why was she starting to appear again now? He shook his head abruptly.
'No Natsu. Not anymore. Think positive. You have a great cottage. Food is amazing here. I have Juvia...'

He perked up at the thought of her. The request! He quickly bound out the front door and made his way to the guild hall. He could just imagine her meeting him at the front doors, her face lighting up, a hug maybe...-

His thought were interrupted by a confused-looking Mira, who was sitting on the steps in front of the guild hall.

"Have you seen Juvia anywhere?' She asked worriedly. "She promised she'd meet me early this morning to help set up. I thought for sure she was with you."

Natsu felt panic well up inside of him. He forced it away.

"She probably just slept in. I'll go check on her."

*A few minutes later*

Knocking lightly, Natsu stood patiently at her front door. His knocking turned into heavy banging after a couple seconds.

"Hey! Juvia! You okay?!"

He felt kinda bad opening it without permission, but he was genuinely worried about her. With no reply, he tried turning the doorknob. To his surprise, it opened with ease.

'Weird. Who sleeps with their door unlocked?'

Stepping in, he looked around. Desk, closet empty bed, window.... He doubled back. Empty bed?

'Huh. The park, maybe?'

Making his way to the park, he felt his heart rate quicken. What if she was hurt? No, she was probably just sitting at a bench. Probably.

She wasn't sitting at a bench. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen. Eyes darting around, Natsu began frantically calling out her name. He was desperate. Where was she?

Just when he was about to give up hope and look somewhere else, something caught the corner of his eye. Something blue. When he approached to inspect what it was, he gasped in horror.

It was Juvia's blue and white hat.

•••

Juvia's POV

Juvia awoke to a loud ringing. It took a couple moments to realize that it wasn't her surroundings, but in fact her ears that were the source of the ringing. She opened her eyes a small crack. Her head was throbbing, with a sharp pain near her temple. Through the slits of her eyes, she peered around.