Letters to Apartment 400

Chapter 1

In Juvia's opinion, Sunday is the best day of the week. While it is arguably justifiable that Sunday is one of the worst days of the week, as it signals the end of the weekend, the bluenette female can happily disagree. Sunday is her lazy day, the one day of the week that she is free from any of her commitments, whether it be work-related or school-related. She had carefully planned her work schedule so that she was able to have her Sundays off and had trained herself to completing a vast majority of her schoolwork during the weekdays so that she could fully enjoy her 'me-day'. Her best friend, Gajeel, had already learned to avoid getting into contact with Juvia on Sundays, knowing very well that the petite woman would be much too busy soaking in the bathtub all the while reading a book that she had borrowed from his girlfriend, Levy, whilst her phone lay untouched somewhere on her bed.

More importantly, Sundays are important because of the small, pristine white envelope being slotted through her mailbox.

Juvia knows the routine by now-a neighbor's dog would start barking aggressively, a fluffy white Pomeranian trying his best to scare the intruder away, overestimating just how big he really is. A husky male voice follows suit, trying desperately to shush the dog from barking before the sound of her mailbox slamming shut ends the noisy orchestra.

Even though the orchestra might have just finished, the bluenette woman doesn't move to retrieve the envelope until at least five minutes after the Pomeranian stops barking, all the while letting out a breath of relief that she never knew she was holding.

...

My Other Half,

It has been about two months now since you have left my life and I still miss you. I know that I shouldn't be saying that, especially since you were the one who wanted us to go our separate ways but I can't help it. I still replay our good-bye's in my head and it kills me every time. Were my tears not enough to make you stay? Did you want more than what I could ever give you? Was I not enough for you?

I really do want to be angry but I can't find it in myself to be mad at you. You told me on that day to be strong and move on, as if you were already over the idea of 'us'. I'm really trying, but it's just so hard to fake a smile and a laugh without you around.

Yours always,

Your Faithful Idiot

...

The letters come, without fail, every Sunday some time between 2:00 and 3:15 P.M. While Juvia knows that she could stand by the door to actually see who has been sending the letters, she couldn't find it in herself to do that. She knows that it is common courtesy to at least let the person know that his letters have been given to her and instead of the intended recipient but the bluenette finds herself clinging onto that small bit of romance.

In a way, she could find herself relating to the writer of the letters. In high school, she had a huge crush on Gray Fullbuster, the captain of boy's hockey team. While the two of them barely talked to each other, she was deeply infatuated with the male. Similar to the stranger, Juvia professed her love to the hockey team captain on her favorite letter set, all the while remaining anonymous. On the day she had mustered up the courage to confess her feelings to the male in person, she had found him in a heated make-out session with Ultear Milkovich, the captain of the girl's ice-skating team. On that day, her heart shattered into a million pieces and she found herself being more torn apart than she would have liked to admit.

Because she had always been the one writing those love letters, she finds it nice for a change to be on the receiving end. She knows that the letters were not intended for her but hey, one can imagine a bit, can't they?

Juvia had started receiving the letters about three months after she had moved into her new apartment. Before then, she and Gajeel had been living together at a different apartment as roommates for nearly a year. She was fine with having her best friend as a roommate but when he started dating Levy, she found that she should give the couple their space, especially with the amount of times she nearly walked in on them.

When the first letter came, she found it odd that it wasn't addressed to anyone at all and there was no clue on who the sender was. Naturally, the bluenette was curious and tore open the envelope. When her eyes saw the words "My Other Half", she immediately stopped reading and placed the letter back into the envelope. At that moment, she immediately knew that that letter wasn't intended for her. After all, she hardly spoke to anyone at all at school and work and her last relationship was in freshmen year of high school with some jerk named Bora before she spent nearly three-fourths of her high school years pining after Gray. Even then, neither men seemed like they would be hopelessly in love with her. She approached her landlady about it, asking whether the last tenant had asked for their mail to be forwarded to a new address or not. The elderly lady had sighed and shrugged her shoulders, saying something along the lines of the previous girl leaving the city of Magnolia and had strict orders of any mail directed towards her to be disposed of.

For the first month or so, Juvia held off as much as she could, organizing the letters into a blue wooden box that she placed next to her nightstand. She was in a battle with herself; half of her argued that she should at least write a note to the writer to let him know that his letters were sent to the wrong person but the other half of her, the hopeless romantic half of her, thought that the letters were a way to let the sender cope with something traumatic. Perhaps the sender did know that the intended recipient moved out and the letters were a way to find some closure. If the bluenette was in the sender's shoes, she'd rather not know either.

By the time the seventh letter came, Juvia couldn't stand it anymore. She found the very first letter and carefully tearing the seal of the envelope, she slid out the letter and began reading.

...

My Other Half,

It's only been a week since we broke up and I can feel myself being torn apart. It all feels so surreal to me that you're no longer by my side. Lisanna tells me that I'm in denial about what happened between us and I know that she's right but I just can't seem to accept it. It all feels like a horrible dream, a prank even, and when I wake up, it will just be one big understanding. But as of right now, it doesn't seem like I'm going to be waking up from this nightmare anytime soon.

Lisanna's been going out with a guy in Laxus' gang, Bixlow. Did you know about it? She's been telling me that she hasn't been contacting you and so is everyone else in our friend group. I know that she and everyone else are just trying to protect me but I just wish that they wouldn't leave you behind. I'd want us to all be friends, even if we're no longer together.

You were my best friend before you were my girlfriend and I don't want to lose you.

Please come back.

Yours always,

Your Faithful Idiot

...

...and before she knew it, Juvia had read all seven letters. Never before had she ever related so much to a person that she never met and as much as she wants to meet the writer, she couldn't do it. By revealing that his letters were sent to her instead of his "Other Half", she would break the illusion of him thinking that his former lover would read all of those letters and come back. And more importantly, it would break the illusion that she was loved.

End of Chapter 1.

(4/2/20): Hi! I'm ladyluck1668 and this is my first-ever Fairy Tail story! To get the most obvious things out of the way, this story is indeed an AU and more specifically, it's modern AU! I apologize if anything in this chapter seems out of character. I'm personally a bit iffy about Gray being the captain of the hockey team and Ultear being the captain of the ice-skating team since I'm not sure if any high schools do have hockey and ice-skating as a competitive school sport. My high school doesn't have these sports but hey, I'm trying to be as close to the canon universe as I possibly can, so why not make our two ice mages be the captains of a hockey team/ice-skating team? Anyways, please let me know what you thought about this first chapter and I'll hopefully see you soon in the next chapter! Bye-bye~! (๑ÒωÓ๑)