There were so many activities within the festival, you didn't know which one to hit first.
There was the big snow ball fight, decorating cookies at the guild, dancing in the middle of town, and a plethora of different events going on along with ice skating on the lake. If you had to choose one though, it would probably be ice skating on the lake.
Not only was the lake big and beautiful, but the town decorated the area with colorful Christmas lights and were selling hot chocolate at the stands nearby. Gray, bless his soul, volunteered to make everyone ice skates for the day so long as no one complained about his stripping.
Juvia sure didn't complain. She was busy trying to make sure the lake didn't melt underneath anyone's feet.
You thought about going to say hello but it was just an excuse to go there and possibly ice skate.
The main problem in the moment though was you couldn't go by yourself!
That was the Hell of embarrassment ride you didn't want to buckle up for. You needed someone to go with you to have a good time or else you would be labelled as, "The Loner On Ice". You've seen enough sad shows on ice that you didn't need to create your own.
Sucking it up you did head over to the lake, but not to skate. On no no no, you did not walk over to the ice and water mage pair to ask them to skate.
As said before, that would be embarrassing. Instead you asked the two if they needed help with anything. You figured it would be better to help than to be bored. So why not right? It didn't hurt anyone.
"Hmm. Juvia's not sure what you could help with. Perhaps tickets? It's getting a bit more busy so collecting tickets could be harder. What do you think Gray-sama?" Juvia was always quick to ask her beloved Gray-sama what he thought.
He only shrugged with minimal thought on the idea. "Sounds good to me. You sure you don't mind (Y/N)?" He makes sure to ask but why bother when you offered?
"Yeah of course, I don't mind. You guys look like your getting busy so I figured why not help." That's kind of the truth, but you didn't need to explain the whole ordeal to them.
You got yourself busy by standing at the booth Gray was at and started collecting tickets for admission. It may have been free but there were still so many people to manage. It was a neat system and a great time waster to help you busy yourself.
"Thank you, have a nice time and be careful!" You smiled to each customer as best as you could. Seeing them have fun on the ice sure made you jealous. You wanted that someone special to hug while skating and falling. If you were to go now it would just be a humiliating mess of a time.
"Hey (Y/N)." The one person to get you out of your daze of jealousy just happened to be one of your many admirers.
Or so you thought.
There standing in front of you was the Sabertooth master and white dragon slayer Sting Eucliffe. Compared to last Christmas Sting was actually calm and collected. He seemed a lot more serious now that he was master but he was still the same Sting you got nervous around.
"Hey Sting... what are you doing here?" You ask with a tiny blush either formed from him or the cold breeze outside.
He grins and loses the seriousness of his master title easily. "What does it look like? I'm here to skate!"
And right behind him was the darling celestial wizard Yukino. The girl you knew was cuter and more lovable than you. "Hi (Y/N)!"
Sting scratches the back of his head and laughs off some sort of embarrassment on his part. "Well, I guess we're here to skate."
Your nice persona flew out of the booth and onto the ice just for someone to run over on sharp skates. "Cool uh... tickets?"
Yukino handed both hers and Sting tickets over and you (very aggressively yet nonchalantly) toss them into the box were you stashed all the tickets.
You force a smile and push the sour words out of your mouth. "Have a nice skate." Gray ice-made their skates and off they went.
You tried (and this wasn't an understatement) so very hard not to look their way the whole time you collected tickets. You did everything from playing with your hair to chewing on your nails abd nothing worked.
Every few seconds you were sneaking glances over at them, watching them laugh and have the bestest time ever on the ice-covered lake. A time you could be having if you just came out and said it,
"Sting, I like you!"
The words you so desperately wanted to speak ever since last year.
This didn't happen in the moment of course. It took time for your feelings for Sting to develop. You couldn't give him a straight answer all year due to the fact of you two living so far away. For heaven's sake, you had no idea how to keep a long distance relationship so you figured you shouldn't even bother yourself with it.
Looking at the two now has strengthened your jealousy and feelings. Hell, at this point you didn't care if Sting lived a million or two million miles away. You wanted a relationship with this boy, even if it killed you.
His sunshine locks, his beautiful blue eyes, and his incredibly hot single pierced ear was jaw dropping. He was always your type and now it seemed you were too late. Too late and too jealous.
Then you remembered you were working alongside a reoccurring jealous woman this whole time! "Juvia! I need to ask you something!"
She took a break from watching the lake and indulged in your questions. "What is it?"
You sat down with her and stared at her straight on, asking her with complete seriousness and nothing less. "How do you deal with jealousy?"
She blushed and glanced towards Gray. Then it looked as if a bulb had turned on above her head. "Ahh, Juvia sees what this is." She smirks and scoots over and nudges your side with her arm. "You're not asking about Juvia's jealousy, you're trying to figure out your own jealousy."
Juvia then gestures to the two tumbling light-haired fools on the ice. She wasn't wrong...
"Okay yes. I'm jealous. Now what? Do I breath through it? Do I plot or something? What do I do now?" You pestered her for answers she may not even have.
"You're asking Juvia how to deal with jealousy?"
You nod vigorously and almost beg on one knee. "Please help me. I'm all but ready to throw an ice skate at those two."
Juvia smiles. "Juvia would say follow your instinct, but yours seem a bit more threatening than others'."
"Juvia!"
"Okay okay. Well, Juvia thinks you should be honest with your feelings. You have no right to be jealous if you haven't told him how you feel." She had so many valid points for a woman who constantly threatened people with her own jealous behaviors.
You looked over one last time and stood up, readying yourself to march over to the two and demand your feelings to be heard. "Okay, then I'll do just that! I'll stomp on over there and force him to listen to me! I'll tell him exactly how I feel and he'll just have to deal with that!"
"You can do it (Y/N)! Juvia will be cheering for you!"
You give her one last look of determination and a thumbs up before turning and marching with one foot forward. Another foot forward and soon you're in a rhythm heading over to the two puke-worthy pair.
Juvia was so proud of her little pupil. She sent you off with pride in her heart and the smallest tear in the corner of her eyes... all up until she reminded herself she was still off duty and not keeping the ice from melting back into water.
And soon enough... your first stomp towards the two without any skates or common sense at all was one of disaster. You slammed your foot into the ice and broke it right under you. One small squeak and you were sent under the lake's icy surface for the whole town to see.
"Oh no (Y/N)!" Juvia called out.
Gray's attention was turned to the blue haired woman and the first thought that came to mouth and mind were, "Was that (Y/N)?!"
One nod from Juvia and the two turned to rescue mode, stripping down in order to save you with the most mobility.
There was no need. You came up right away and grabbed onto the surrounding ice with a growl of annoyance. "Freaking ice skating... freaking Christmas..."
"(Y/N)!" And freaking embarrassment.
The one emotion you didn't want to feel today and you felt nothing but it. Your year-long crush was standing there with his probable girlfriend, staring at you like everyone else at that lake. No one bothered to get near you in fear of falling into the lake themselves, so you very helplessly clawed your way out of the lake yourself and marched back to that stupid booth where Juvia showered you in warmth and apologies.
People may have looked concerned but they didn't bother with you once you were safe. They simply waited for the lake to freeze over again and continued skating.
You sat there shivering in one place and regreted your life for one small moment of disaster. "I hate Christmas."
"Don't say that (Y/N)! It was just one bad memory that's all!" Juvia thought she was comforting you yet it turns out it was everything but.
She knew she wasn't doing any good and neither was Gray, so they both went back to their duties and let you seethe in anger alone. You however sat there and debated whether or not it was worth it to get up and walk home. You decided it was after all the reoccurring stares you were getting from random passers.
"Juvia, I'm heading home." You told her as you got up and started walking.
"But (Y/N)-"
"It's okay," You felt a strong arm wrap around you and pull you into an even stronger body covered in muscles and warmth. "I'll take her home."
"Huh?" In second your whole cold and iced out body was being picked up and held by the arms of the Sabertoothguild master. "Sting? What are you-?"
"Thanks Gray. Thanks Juvia." He gave them his thanks and turned to walk you home, because he somehow knew where it was located.
It was an awkward as Hell kind of walk. He held you close to his warm chest so you wouldn't freeze to death. You were extremely thankful but the skin contact adding onto the fact that he was carrying you was causing you to overheat.
Of course you had to worry about overheating because you can never just be the perfect temperature around him. It was either over freezing with jealousy and falling into a lake, or overheating with love and falling into his arms.
You couldn't decide which was worse at the moment; being jealous or being in deep confusing love.
"Are you cold?" Sting finally broke your streak if silence.
You didn't want to create more silence, so even if it was a squeak you answered with, "I'm okay."
He started to laugh. "That was crazy you know! When I heard you fall, my heart almost stopped!"
Yeah, when you fell in and he was next to Yukino. "I'm sure it did." You rolled your eyes.
Of course he noticed the saltiness in your attitude. He was watching your every movement. "What's that supposed to mean?"
You didn't mean to sound like a jealous gal, but it slipped and you couldn't take it back. "Why were you with Yukino today?"
He starts laughing again. "Oh! I see what this is! You were jealous of Yukino."
"I was not!" It was hard to prove your point and cross your arms when the man of your dreams was carrying you.
"Mhmm. I'll believe you,"
"Thank you."
"If you admit you like me."
You almost fall out of his arms just to get out if the awkward situation. "What are you talking about?!"
"Actually, you have to give me a kiss."
"Sting!"
He tightens his grip and pulls you close to wrap your arms around him. "Go on. One kiss and I'll never even look at another girl, even Yukino."
"That's asking for too much."
He raises his eyebrow and smirks. "(Y/N)?"
You rolled your eyes. Slowly you snaked your arms around his neck and quickly, almost lightning fast, gave him a kiss on the lips and hid you face against his chest.
"See? Now was that so hard?"
"Please put me down."
Sting's grip actually tightens more and his pace grows faster each step towards your home. "Sorry, but we're not done."
"Sting!"
It didn't even feel like winter after that. All that overheating practically convinced you it was summer. With Sting around, it might as well have been summer 24/7.