Ch. 36: The Circle of Eight Back Together (For those who couldn't read the title of the chapter fully :))

{Jellal’s POV}

“Come on.” Gajeel groaned after Erza had dared him to sit on Levy’s lap. Levy was blushing furiously. “Please. I don’t want to do this.† He pleaded, though Erza just shook her head. I feel like I’ve seen this scene before. Oh wait. Yeah. When Gajeel and Levy fought with each other.

“A dare is a dare. Be a man and do it!” She ordered.

I looked up and saw Lucy’s bedroom. The lights were still open, meaning she was still awake. What could she be doing right now? Why did she walk out like that? Speaking of why... I turned to Natsu, who seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Should I call on Lucy?” I spoke as their noise died down.

“I guess...” Natsu answered and we all looked at him. A round of teasing was what he witnessed as he glared at each of one of us. “You malicious guys...” He murmured.

“We couldn’t help it.” I said, laughing. An idea popped into my mind. “Since you were the one who answered, why don’t you be the one to call Lucy?” It was the perfect idea. Erza and I did a bro-fist. Gajeel looked relieved. Not for long, though.

“Since you were the one who suggested it, why don’t you be the one to call her?” He flicked back the question to me. He did a nice job, but too bad, I was smarter than him.

“No, you should be the one to call her because she’s your bestfriend. Besides, I’m not that close to her to begin with.” I smirked as the seven of them shouted “Ohh, burn!”

He rolled his eyes. “All right, since you insist.” For the last time, he glared at me before leaving.

“Now, going back to Gajeel...”

“Thanks for reminding me, Jellal.” I bowed to Erza. “Sit on her lap.”

Gajeel tried to find an excuse. “I’m heavy. She’ll just push me off.” He pointed to Levy. “Her bones might get broken.” We all laughed at his excuse. He’s bad at reasoning.

“Y-Yeah!”

“Levy doesn’t seem to agree, though!” Natsu laughed as everyone did. Levy’s face was all red like her neck. Gajeel rolled his eyes.

“Okay then, we wouldn’t force you to sit on her lap. You might really crush her bones.” Erza guffawed.

“Let’s—”

„If I were just stronger than you, I would’ve kicked your a**. I should’ve studied martial arts, dammit!” Natsu held Lucy, his face showing the replica of boredom. Lucy struggled with all her might but to her disappointment, she couldn’t break free. “I wish I was a boy.“ Lucy grunted.

“Sit down, little girl.” Juvia said, eyeing Lucy.

“What are we gonna do now?” Gray questioned. “We didn’t want Lucy screaming here without a reason, am I right?” Lucy shot him daggers. “Come on, before she screams again.”

“Speak and I’ll cut your throat, Gray Fullbuster.” Lucy deadpanned.

“She’s like a monster.” Juvia commented, trembling.

“To ease the tension between us, why don’t we have a little story-telling?” I chimed in with a suggestive tone. “Four of us had fought for the past few days and months. I think it’s time to change that.”

“And those four are namely...?”

“All of us were fighting to clear it up.” Lucy sat down. She looked at Zeref and Mavis. “Except for those two, apparently.” We all nodded.

“What are we going to tell as a story?” Levy inquired.

“Childhood memories?” Erza smiled.

“Oh! Oh! I have one!” Lucy exclaimed like a little kid. “When Natsu was eight, we decided to go to a nearby mall with our parents. And then of course, since we were kids, we ran all the way to the toy store. We were so excited to be there since we wanted new toys.” Lucy chuckled as everyone stared at her. We rarely see her like this.

“And then? What happened?”

"Natsu and I searched for the toys we loved. We opened the new toys once we got home. Then he saw mine. I got a barbie doll, by the way. My eyes were sparkling with her blond hair and nice clothes. Natsu got a toy soldier.

"When he saw mine, his eyes narrowed. I asked him, "What?" but he didn't answer me and stared at the doll I was holding. A moment later, he said, "Can I play with your doll?" And damn, I laughed so hard. Especially when I saw him talking to the doll like it was alive after I lent him my doll." We all laughed at what she said (excluding Natsu) as Natsu blushed. I can't believe it! I can't believe that he played with a doll! “He even dragged my doll to the park! He made it sit on the swing.” All of us laughed harder.

“That was... that was hilarious...” Gajeel was out of breath like me.

“Well I have one too.” Natsu said, frowning at Lucy. He was the only one who didn’t laugh among us. Then he smirked. “It’s very interesting.”

We all leaned close to him except for Lucy. “One night, it was a sleepover. We enjoyed of course. We were eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow.”

“You were drinking alcohol!?” Levy gasped.

“No. We were underage that time. We drank juice and random things.”

“Random things...” Zeref wiggled his eyebrows as Mavis smacked him.

“Anyway, we slept late.”

Gray grinned. “Oh, you two did something very... very unholy. Ow!” Juvia had smacked him too. These guys had dirty minds.

“As I was saying... we slept very late. While Lucy was sleeping and I tossed and turned around my bed, she moved and mumbled something that at first, made me puzzled. I came near her and heard her mumbling “Natsu-kun.””

The girls pushed Lucy. “So you had a crush on him. Naughty girl. You didn't tell us about that.”

“I did not!”

"What did you do?" I asked.

“Nothing in particular. I just stared at her.”

“Then kissed her?”

“No, idiot.”

“What have you felt when she mumbled your name, though? Happy? Baffled? Sad? Angry? Bashful?” Gray questioned as the girls kept teasing Lucy.

“Of course I felt happy and bashful. She was my crush back then...” We let out whoops of excitement as we pushed Natsu, too. Boy, he was really something!

“Did you confess?”

“Yeah, did you?”

Natsu blushed. “Of course I didn’t!”

Gray rolled his eyes. “Jacka**. You’re not a man. You haven’t confessed to her? What kind of human being are you?”

“Yeah, I know, Gray.” Erza answered. “If I were him I would.”

“But you are not me. Besides, Jellal haven’t confessed to Erza back then too, so I’m not the only one.” Why was I involved in this suddenly? I haven’t done anything aside from teasing him.
The quiet atmosphere vanished when Lucy punched me. “You aren’t a man either.” She turned to the three men. “All of you too!”

“What? But I’m engaged to Mavis already.” Zeref tried to protest.

“So how did you confess to her?” The attention was switched from Erza and I to Mavis and Zeref.

Mavis’s pink cheeks didn’t help Zeref’s situation. “I just said that I like her at the park when we met for the tenth time.”

We all chortled at Zeref and Mavis. They really were a couple.

“I have a story to tell.” Juvia raised her hands as if to recite. “Eleventh birthday. You guys didn’t know about it. Only he did.” He pointed to Gray. Gray paled as soon as Juvia pointed to him. He gave her a pleading look. “And... he tried to cook lasagna for me, but ended up cooking the whole house!”

All of us guffawed. “That must be your best birthday ever!” Lucy exclaimed.

“Yes, I enjoyed myself. I enjoyed laughing at him.”

“But that was sweet. At least he tried.” Levy remarked with a sweet smile.

"It was supposed to be his gift for me. Too bad, though." Juvia laughed as Gray scowled at her.

"Anyway, I have a story to tell. It's all about Gajeel." Levy grinned. "We were at an amusement park. You guys were laughing and eating cotton candy when someone suggested that we must go to the famous haunted house. I didn't know that he—I'm pertaining to Gajeel—was afraid of ghosts. Do you guys remember the time when a doll appeared in front of him? He looked so pale! And he screamed like a little rat bit his cheek." We all laughed at the memory. Come to think of it, yeah. Gajeel was afraid of ghosts. That was so ridiculous. I never knew he had a phobia of ghosts.

Gajeel glared at us.

"Erza, I'm so sorry." Lucy apologized, making us look at her. "You know, she had a crush on Jellal back then, too."

They pulled Erza up and pushed her to me. I was so red I knew that I looked like the color of Mars. Erza glared at Lucy as she uneasily pulled away from me. "You'll be the death of me." She grunted.

"So, what's the meaning of this?" We all looked at Mavis. "Is the Circle of Eight back together?"

No one answered Mavis. Are we? No one knows. We've just been enjoying this whole time. Oh, just like the old times.

"Lucy had already made up with Natsu. Gajeel had already made up with Levy. I had apologized to Erza. No fights happened between Gray and Juvia, I guess?" I broke the silence.

"I guess the Circle of Eight is back together." We said in unison and laughed.