AN: Hiya! Just thought I'd note this is from an AU I found on tumblr, "You live across the courtyard from me and saw me dancing and singing enthusiastically to my collection of Disney music and now you can't look me in the eye without laughing".
And of course, I don't own Fairy Tail or the lyrics to any Disney songs they belong entirely to their respective owners.
I hope you like it!
Juvia had been all too aware of the attractive, usually shirtless, boy who lived across the courtyard from her. She didn't mean to be so aware, at times she didn't even want to be and despite what her friends said she wasn't a stalker. It just so happened that any time she walked into her room she would look out her window and thus directly into his room. It wasn't her fault it was just, fate. Really who thought a good arrangement for the university accommodation would be to circle around a courtyard? It wasn't her fault, it was whoever made it. That's right, whoever designed the hall and fate were to blame, not her.
Juvia tossed her hat onto the bed and shook her curls out with a sigh. Her friends told her that tonight would be the perfect opportunity to talk to him, the entire hall was supposed to be going out ice skating and he'd organised the whole thing so of course he'd be there. But, she had an essay due tomorrow, she always seemed to have an essay due tomorrow. She tried to get it done in time to go but she kept getting distracted by the boy across the courtyard. Although she could do it tomorrow all she could think about was how if she did talk to him, then she'd be too happy and excited to get any work done. This was her one chance to write it without him distracting her. She supposed she could go to the library but, that was a last resort. She still wasn't comfortable surrounded by people and much preferred the comfort of her room.
Juvia's phone vibrated violently on the desk. She thought the large teru teru bōzu phone case she got would muffle it but if anything it was even louder than before. It was a real problem in lectures since the silent function was broken. But she loved the case more than she was embarrassed by the loud noises in her lectures.
Lucy had texted her to inform her that her boy-next-door was a no show at the ice rink. Which meant he either had other plans or, he was still at the hall. In which case they would be nearly the only two people there. She scooted her chair back slightly, peering out the window and caught sight of him reading on his bed. She quickly pulled herself back out of sight and sent a reply to Lucy asking if she should go over and talk to him or if that really would be stalker behaviour.
'No more stalkerish than staring at him out your window xo' Lucy texted.
'Real helpful' Juvia replied. She put her phone down and decided she definitely did not have the confidence to go over there without a good excuse, if she could think of a good excuse then she would be right over there but, until then, essay first and boy later.
A couple hours later she had settled into a groove, she was happy with her progress and considering treating herself to a short Sims break (although that was dangerous territory, there was no such thing as a short Sims break). As she wrote the final touches to her latest paragraph her writing was suddenly interrupted by a familiar guitar strum. The loud music was blaring from across the courtyard and her open window did nothing to muffle it. Usually when her friend Gajeel was absent she didn't have to put up with music blaring, although he didn't tend to play Disney songs. Well, he didn't play them loud enough for the whole hall to hear. She shuffled back to her window and peered out, hoping to guess where the music was coming from.
Juvia was speechless. Her mystery crush was currently shirtless, not a surprise, while dancing and singing loudly to 'When Will My Life Begin' from Tangled, which was definitely a surprise. She wasn't sure how long this apparition was going to last and through the laughter she grabbed her phone. She had two snapchats from Lucy. One was of the ice rink with the lights down low and spotlights shining over the ice, illuminating Gajeel and Levy who both looked incredibly uncomfortable. She would bet anything that Gajeel was blushing. Apparently they got called out for cutest couple. The second was a selfie of Lucy and Erza pouting captioned 'wish you here' which Juvia quickly took a screenshot of. She had a folder of such images from her friends, they made her feel happier whenever she felt insecure.
She scooted her chair closer to the window and sneakily caught a quick snap of him performing a pirouette, arms gracefully above his head and all. She captioned it 'Essay is better than expected' and sent it to Lucy, Levy and Erza before tossing her phone back onto the desk and watching the scene before her unfold.
Truth be told he was a good dancer, she wished she could hear him sing over the music but although it looked like he was belting it out she still only got snippets here and there when the volume of the song dropped a bit. The song ended all too soon and she was ready to shuffle back to her essay when 'I'll Make a Man Out Of You' started up and he started performing a complex faux-kickboxing routine in his room. With that level of choreography this was either a common occurrence for him or he'd taken dance lessons at some point in his life, either one made her smile.
When she checked her phone again, after watching him slow dance to 'Kiss the Girl' and perform the duet 'A Whole New World' all on his own, she had messages from each of her friends demanding video evidence. He was currently on 'Go the Distance' from Hercules and singing dramatically into his hairbrush (good to see he cared for personal grooming). She pushed down her fear of him seeing and before she could talk herself out of it she recorded him belting out 'I know every mile, will be worth my while, I will go most anyway to find, where I, belong!'. Breathing a sigh of relief when she realised she'd gotten away with it, she sent it to the three of them and decided to put together a playlist of his song choices. It wasn't a stalker thing to do, he just had good taste was all.
Half an hour later Juvia had gotten no further in her essay but she did find a cute online Etsy store that sold Old Book scented candles which would be fantastic for Lucy's upcoming birthday. Her boy-next-door was still having a solo dance party to Disney songs and she had a good motivational playlist for future study sessions. He'd played some of her favourites, she'd even had her own quiet jam to 'Under the Sea' and 'Almost There'.
'Hakuna Matata' faded out and she heard the all too familiar piano chords start up. This could not be happening, she had to be wrong about the song, this was not happening.
'The snow glows white on the mountain tonight…'
Juvia fell back in her chair laughing, this was just too priceless. She moved back to the window with her camera at the ready, as the pre-chorus started she pressed record and captured him flipping his hair and twisting side to side dramatically. Still laughing she sent it to the gang. She tossed her phone on the bed and went to push herself off the windowsill when she realised that her boy-next-door had stopped dancing and was lowering his hairbrush/microphone slowly, and he was staring right at her.
Juvia blushed bright red and dropped to the floor, pushing the chair back across the room so hard she heard it smack into her door. From her huddled position on the floor she violently pulled her curtains closed and tried to slow her racing heart. His music cut off mid 'Let it go' and she cringed as she confirmed that it wasn't her imagining things, he had very much seen her spying on him. Oh gods she had ruined everything. He was never going to talk to her now, oh why couldn't she just be a normal human being for once?
She changed into pyjamas and tucked herself into bed. After sending a message on the group Facebook chat to Lucy, Levy and Erza to let them know what had happened she flicked her light off and buried herself in duvets. Her essay would have to wait, she needed to sleep off her embarrassment because if she stayed awake for any longer she was going to implode.
"Well at least it should be easier to talk to him," Lucy said when she came to Juvia's room to walk with her to breakfast, "now that you know he's a massive dork and all."
Juvia groaned and pulled her beanie on as she followed her friend down the hallway. It had been four days since the incident and she hadn't had a chance to apologise. She'd seen him a few times since and each time all she could think of was him dancing in his room and she kept giggling.
"I can't believe he saw me. I can't believe I filmed him! What kind of creep does that?!"
"People do crazy things when they're in love." Lucy winked.
In the dining hall Juvia immediately scanned every face in the room, something she did anyway but would never admit. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't spot him and felt much safer as she grabbed herself bread. She and Lucy waited at the toaster, chatting about their lectures that day when Juvia suddenly caught a flash of purple flying through the air.
Her boy-next-door had arrived, and had stripped off his shirt tossing it in their direction. Although that didn't seem to be intentional since he had his back to them and was arguing loudly with the pink-haired boy he was always seen with. Juvia had for a while wondered if they were in some kind of relationship but, they had put an end to those rumours.
"He's coming over here." Lucy said. Juvia had turned away from the scene, too afraid of being caught looking at him again.
"Don't say anything." Juvia hissed. She caught the evil glint in her friend's eye and felt her stomach drop.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Juvia couldn't pick out his footsteps in the noise of the dining hall, everyone was remarkably lively for 8am. It turned out she didn't have to though, Lucy was all too good at letting her know when he got close.
"Let it go," Lucy sung with a wicked grin, "let it go!"
Juvia turned round and saw boy next-door blushing madly and she felt terrible about it but she suddenly found herself laughing hysterically. "I'm so sorry." She choked out through the laughter.
"It's fine." He muttered.
"You're a really good dancer," Juvia added, trying to get her hysterical laughter under control.
"Thanks."
"I'm Juvia."
"Gray"
"It's nice to meet you."
"Do you make a habit of filming total strangers in their bedrooms?" Gray asked bluntly. That put an end to her laughter, she was about to burst into an apology when he cracked a smile.
"Only when I think it'll go viral on YouTube." Juvia surprised herself falling into easy banter with him. He invited her and Lucy to sit with his friends at breakfast and when they parted ways she had his number and a Disney movie marathon date for that evening. Perhaps being a bit of a stalker sometimes wasn't as bad as she thought.
