This is based off a prompt I saw on tumblr, hopefully I did that prompt some justice.

A modern AU.

"I don't believe in ghosts"

"Some people can't see the colour red. That doesn't mean it isn't there"

Sue Grafton, M is for Malice

'Why am I doing this again?' Gray spoke aloud,

'Because ice-for-brains, you lost the bet, now get your ass over there,' Natsu pointed at the house that he, Gray and Gajeel were currently situated in front of. Gray rolled his eyes at his faint memory of the previous night.

'Okay so whoever passes out first has to do something!' Natsu declared as Mira began filling their glasses with some sort of alcoholic concoction,

'Already too out of it to think of a punishment yourself?' Gajeel snickered before grunting when Natsu punched him in the side.

'As I was saying before metal head over here interrupted,' Gajeel swore at Natsu but he remained unfazed, 'You guys know that 'haunted' house a few streets over right?'

Gray scoffed, 'Yeah, the one that's supposedly filled with ghosts and the like?'

Natsu ignored Gray's sarcastic tone and continued, 'Well, the loser has to enter the house tomorrow and spend at least 20 minutes in there,' Natsu grinned proudly at his idea.

'Wow, 'cause that's a punishment if I've ever heard one,' Gray rolled his eyes,

'Why? You chicken? If it's so easy, then it shouldn't be a problem should it?' Natsu taunted and Gray growled before downing his drink and the others soon followed.

That was the last thing Gray could remember before he blacked out.

'This is technically breaking and entering, you know?' Gray glanced at the eerie looking building and wondered for a brief second if it actually was inhabited by ghosts,

'Quit whining you pansy, I thought you didn't believe in ghosts anyway,' Gajeel grumbled at Gray,

'I don't! But that doesn't mean I'm willing to become a criminal,'

'Just go, no one has seen a living thing exit that place anyway,' Natsu said as he pushed Gray onto the walkway.

'Wow, way to make a man feel assured about his safety,' Gray mumbled under his breath as he cautiously made his way towards the front door.

Once he was stood in front of it, Gray began to feel nervous as the large, dark door loomed in front of him. Although it was unlikely, Gray checked to see if the door was open and to his surprise, as he pushed it, the door creaked open as if someone was welcoming him.

Gray took one last look back and saw his two idiotic friends giggling like stupid school girls as they made ushering motions with their hands. He then turned back to the entrance and stepped inside.

Just as Gray walked in, the door behind him closed shut, causing Gray to jump,

'Shit!' Gray swore as he took deep breaths and slowly turned his focus away from the door.

Dark. It was incredibly dark and Gray was almost convinced that no one lived here because who would leave their door open and leave every single light off?

Gray slowly walked forward, squinting as his eyes gradually adjusted to their darkness. He could faintly make out a staircase and a hallway with numerous doors, indicating a number of rooms.

As he walked further into the house, Gray's stomach began to churn as the house remained in an uncanny silence apart from the distant sound of a clock ticking.

'Oh God, Gray, what have you gotten yourself into? What if a ghost really does appear?'

'No, don't be ridiculous Gray, ghosts don't exist, just get this over with so you can give those bastards outside a smug look when you appear totally not frazzled at all.'

With all the contradicting thoughts flying around in his head, Gray placed his hand on a knob, prepared to open the door until he heard a hiss and something scratched at his hand.

'Mother f-,' Gray bit his lip to contain the pain and as he looked closely at his hand he could see fresh claw marks from which blood was seeping. Gray swivelled around to look for the evil creature that inflicted his wound but he came face to face with a dark figure.

Gray let out a less than masculine scream as the figure shrieked before it swung something into Gray's shoulder. Gray swore for the umpteenth time that day as he tried to wrestle the weapon from the mystery being.

'Gosh dammit, I can't die now, I need to remove Lyon from my will.'

With that thought in mind, Gray grabbed the person's arm, prompting them to drop whatever weapon they used to attack Gray with and Gray smirked, 'I won't be dying today!'

However, Gray failed to notice that the person had lost their footing and as Gray still had a hold of them, he toppled down too and onto his attacker.

Gray groaned, lifting himself up slightly and he could feel the person's warm breath on his neck.

'Not a ghost then,' Gray thought but before he could take any further action, a light turned on and Gray closed his eyes at the sudden brightness.

As he opened them again and his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he could see exactly who it was that was under him.

And let him just say that whoever were to see them in this position would definitely pin Gray as something he was not.

The person beneath Gray wasn't a ghost or at least Gray assumed so despite her having incredibly pale skin. She had dark, blue eyes that were widened in shock and long, fluttery lashes that hung low over her eyes. Her unusual blue hair was spilled around her head and from the strands that were trapped under Gray's hand, he could feel that it was very soft.

'Oh my! Juvia, you didn't tell me you were bringing over a beau,'

Both of them snapped their heads towards the wispy voice to see an old lady standing in the hall, a few feet away from them. Gray's eyes drifted downwards to the cat at the woman's feet and he glared at it as he realised that it must've been the thing which attacked him earlier.

Only then did Gray register the earlier spoken words and he hastily got up from the floor. The girl also lifted herself up and took a few steps away from Gray.

'No, Grandmama, this is not what it seems like!' The blue-haired girl frantically explained whilst nervously glancing at Gray.

'Oh? So, young man, who exactly are you?' The old lady turned her attention to Gray who began to sweat whilst thinking of a suitable explanation,

'Please, there's no way to justify this!' Contrary to Gray's thoughts, he attempted to make up an excuse,

'I, erm, I was-,'

'Dared to enter the 'haunted' house?' The old woman looked at Gray pointedly and he hung his head shamefully before mumbling a quick 'yes'.

'Well, I can't say you're the first, kids these days love making up things about this house but believe it or not, I'm still alive and I live here with my granddaughter, not a hoard of spirits.'

Gray glanced upwards again and saw no resentment or anger apparent on the old woman's face and breathed a sigh of relief.

'Oh dear! Your hand is bleeding! What happened?' The old woman exclaimed, looking at Gray's hand worriedly, and quite honestly, Gray was confused at her behaviour since he still technically broke into their house.

'Was it Theodore?' Gray glanced at the cat, or Theodore, and it hissed before walking away, clearly showing that he had no remorse for attacking Gray.

'This can't do, Juvia, take-,' She stared at Gray expectantly,

'Oh, Gray,'

'Take Gray here to the kitchen and treat his hand would you?' Gray looked over to the girl who removed herself from behind her grandma and cautiously walked towards Gray.

'Its fine, you don't need to-,' Gray began before being cut off,

'Nonsense! You can't walk around with your hand untreated, Juvia, take him,' And with that, the old lady left the hall through the door on her left and Gray was left alone with the girl again.

'Follow me,' The girl spoke softly, so softly that it was barely audible before she walked into a room. Gray was most positively confused by this sudden turn of events but followed her into the room anyway.

'Sit down, Juvia will get the first aid kit,' Gray noticed her odd speech behaviour but chose not to comment on it and instead sat down. Juvia returned shortly with a first aid kit in hand and quietly asked for Gray's hand.

As she cleaned the dried blood on his hand, Gray couldn't help but notice how soft and delicate her hands were and he stared at her as she focused on treating his hand. Not only was the house not haunted, but in it lived two seemingly normal ladies. Gray frowned as he thought of all the rumours that circulated in their neighbourhood.

'Don't you mind them?' Gray asked before he could stop himself, Juvia looked at him, surprised.

'Mind what?' She replied before returning to her task,

'The rumours,'

'No, Grandmama and Juvia have had to tolerate them since they moved in. Grandmama told Juvia that people will always talk, that it's unlikely they'll do much else,' Gray studied the girl silently before speaking again,

'Why don't you leave the house? Go outside?' Gray knew he was being invasive but he felt an urge to know,

'Juvia does leave,'

'Huh?' Gray questioned dumbly,

'Juvia does leave, she goes out to do the shopping and she even goes to school,'

'You do?' Gray asked in disbelief, if she did go out then why did everyone say that no one lived here?

'Yes, she goes to Gray-sama's school, although Juvia does not share classes with Gray-sama,' Juvia began to bandage Gray's hand and he furrowed his brows at the strange honorific.

'Oh, I've never seen you around,'

'Not many do,' Juvia spoke with a slightly sorrowful voice and Gray felt his heart drop for the girl.

'There, Juvia is done-oh!' Just as she spoke, the roll of bandages rolled off the table and onto the floor and both Juvia and Gray reached down to grab it. However, the two bumped their heads and Gray hissed in pain, glancing up to see if Juvia was alright.

At the same time, Juvia also looked up and found that the distance between her and Gray was far too small as both stared at each other, frozen in place.

Warmth flooded Juvia's face as she observed Gray's more than average features and upon seeing the blush on Juvia's face, Gray's face also became a little warm. Gray wondered how he never saw Juvia around because seeing her now, Gray knew he could never forget her deep eyes, wavy tresses and porcelain skin.

'Are the two of you done?' Gray and Juvia jumped apart at the familiar voice, both still red in the face.

'What are you two doing?' The old woman raised her barely visible eyebrow at the two, wondering what had happened for the both of them to become so flushed.

'Nothing!' Juvia spoke, her voice slightly high pitched and Gray cleared his voice before looking at an interesting corner of the room.

The old woman grinned slightly as she formulated an idea in her head,

'Well, Gray, perhaps you would like to visit again?'

'Huh?'

'You see, Juvia hasn't made many friends since moving here and it seems as if the two of you would hit it off,'

'Grandmama!' Juvia cried in embarrassment, refusing to look at Gray,

'So I'd appreciate it if you could come over for dinner next week,' The old lady finished, smiling at Gray,

'Er,' Gray looked at the evidently embarrassed Juvia, 'I don't know if that's a-,'

'And of course, if you accept, I'll forget about this whole incident,' Her smile remained unwavering as she looked at Gray who at this point knew that this outcome was probably decided from the moment he stepped foot into the house.

'Where is he? It's been, like, half an hour,' Gajeel grumbled, looking towards the house,

'You don't think he's been eaten by the ghosts?' Gajeel looked back at Natsu who was nervously pacing back and forth,

'You keep pacing like that and I'll feed you to the ghosts,'

'Wait! Look! There he is,' Natsu broke out of his pacing and pointed towards the entrance which Gray was just walking out of.

As Gray made it down to the two, Gajeel spoke, 'What were you doing in there?'

Rather than responding, Gray just stared at them with a bemused expression.

'Er man? Oh crap, Gajeel, I think he's possessed!' Natsu spoke worriedly and began to shake Gray,

'GET OUT OF HIM, YOU GHOSTLY FIEND!'

'Quit it! I'm not possessed,' Gray shook Natsu off with a glare,

'Then why do you look constipated? Oh wait, that's your usual face I forgot,' Natsu laughed and Gajeel pushed him,

'Forget moron over here, what'd you spend so long doing in there? Taking a trip to the toilet?' He snickered as he hi-fived Natsu.

'No, you idiots,' Gray rolled his eyes and Natsu quickly sobered up,

'Then what were you doing?'

'I think…' Gray spoke as he recalled the wrinkly, old lady and her pretty granddaughter who lived inside the so-called haunted house.

'I think I just got a dinner invitation.'

'Dinner? The ghosts offered you free food?!'

*smack*

'Idiot.'