Mhm, this is a movie based fic, as you probably can see. Yes, Titanic. Requested by Shika at Mangafox, so she can consider this her happy birthday present. Hope you enjoy.
NO character deaths because I don´t roll that way.
-X-
Gray twirled the two small tickets in his hand carefully, so as not to ruin them, as he stared at both. He sighed and led the palm of his hand to his face slowly.
"What are you doing?"
He didn´t need to turn to recognize the voice.
"Erza."
She curtly nodded even though she was aware he was not looking at her.
"What are you doing?"
Gray clicked his tongue. Erza was always the kind of person who wouldn´t let things slip away easily; her attitude wouldn´t allow her that, so he knew he wouldn´t be able evade the question. But maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to vent or seek for help. His pride usually wouldn´t allow him that, but everyone crumbles.
"Eh. Remember that talk we had in the games?" Erza raised a brow. "You said…I should make everything clear, didn´t you?"
Erza tapped her chin thoughtfully and took the freedom to pick the free chair next to him.
"And?"
He opened his mouth and closed it almost at once before ruffling his own hair even further.
"And. I´m trying to," he shoved the tickets in her face as she frowned, "but I don´t know how to do this, this just isn´t my type of thing."
Erza smiled slightly before shaking her head.
"You haven´t tried, have you?"
He scratched his head.
"How do I just go up to her and ask her something like this?"
"Gray," Erza frowned, "this isn´t like you. Just look at her. She would never say no. And you are not going to waste an opportunity and money from this. I won´t allow that. "
He laughed. Maybe it hadn´t been so bad to put his pride aside for once.
"Thanks, Erza."
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she got up.
"Don´t mention it."
She´d been hiding behind her usual pillar, her eyes scanning his every movement in a daily ritual until he spotted her and coughed before getting up and making his way towards her. With his every step, she looked around her to confirm he was approaching her and not someone else before furiously blushing and grabbing the pillar in such a tight hold it could have been brought down.
"G-Gray-sama?"
He coughed, before lifting up the two tickets in his hand.
"So…eh, I saw this mission and I was wondering if you´d like to come along with me, since you like water and all."
Erza wanted to facepalm, but she was afraid her armor would hurt her quite a bit, so she refrained, opting instead for glaring at Gray.
He cursed himself for sounding stupid, but Juvia seemed not to even notice as she brought her hands to her face and closed her eyes.
"Juvia must have heard Gray-sama wrong- "
"You didn´t."
She looked close to fainting, so he looked away to give her a little bit of personal space.
"Look, if you don´t want to-"
"No!" She quickly corrected. "Juvia is very, very happy! Juvia just didn´t think- Juvia wants to go with Gray-sama!"
He gulped as everyone´s eyes were on him and Erza grinned a bit uncharacteristically as she tapped her fingers against the wooden table. Perhaps it hadn´t gone so badly, afterall.
"So," he started, feeling a bit more like his usual self, "I bought these two tickets so we can leave tomorrow. We´re obviously going by boat, so…just be in time, it leaves at eleven."
And with that, he shoved the larger of the two tickets in her hand before taking off. She squealed in joy before looking at it for details and noticing he´d paid for a high class ticket.
"Ah, Gray-sama is so charming and caring…! Juvia is definitely not disappointing her dear Gray-sama…!"
Erza smiled and took a bite off her cake. It would be okay.
Juvia didn´t quite have an idea of how long this mission would last, so she decided to prepared herself by stocking up with what she thought would last quite a while. That and she supposed that a variety of outfits might surprise her Gray-sama and he might suddenly-
"Oi," his voice snapped her out of her trance, "you´re already here? You´re early."
Juvia blushed and clasped her hands in front of her, trying to act natural for once.
"Ah, Juvia just really wanted to make sure she would not make Gray-sama wait! But," she looked down, "Gray-sama is also here early, so…"
"I just wanted to think for a bit."
"Juvia is sorry! Maybe she shouldn´t have come early afterall!"
He laughed and shook his head.
"No, I´ll just take the company. I guess it wasn´t that important."
They didn´t talk much while they waited. Juvia twirled her index fingers together while she blushed and stole side glances at the man until a whistle signaled the boat was ready to receive its passengers.
"Oi, it´s time, let´s go."
She could only nod as she followed him.
The boat was enormous and Juvia gasped at its luxurious appearance as the line they were standing in slowly moved. She wondered why he would pay for something over like this on a simple mission, but she dismissed it as him being simply a gentleman and internally squealed, while composing herself. When they line reached them, the man verifying their tickets raised an eyebrow and scanned them.
"Are you travelling together?"
Gray nodded and frowned.
"Why?"
The man shrugged.
"I apologize. I just found it strange that one ticket is for a high class and the other is a third class one. Please go through."
Juvia´s eyes widened and she almost couldn't keep up with Gray as she´d stood paralyzed for a moment.
"Gray-sama!"
He ran his hands through his face before facing her.
"What?"
"Why didn´t Gray-sama buy equal tickets?"
"Look," he started, "I only have as much money as I earn from missions and I only had enough for a first class and a third one, alright?"
"But…Gray-sama could have bought two third class tickets…Juvia would not mind because all Juvia cared about was Gray-sama´s company…"
"Yes, well, I just thought you´d be happy."
"No, no!" Juvia shook her hands in front of his face. "Juvia is very happy Gray-sama would do this for her! She is just…surprised. Why all of this for a mission?"
Gray blew his hair out of his eyes. He´d have to tell her, eventually.
"Look, there is no mission."
Juvia blinked and looked at him questionably .
"I just…wanted to invite you to this trip, okay? But I don´t want to be a sap, so I said that to maintain my reputation In the guild."
Juvia thought she might explode if she didn´t stop blushing soon.
"Ah…um…Gray-sama is-Juvia is really happy."
Truthfully, happy was too little to describe it, but she tried to hold it in for the moment´s sake.
"So," he broke the awkward silence, "how about we look around? You know…to know the boat and stuff."
"J-Juvia would be more than happy."
The boat hadn´t been small enough to explore in one day, so he´d resumed to laying in his bed in a room at the ship´s bottom when night finally fell. He busied himself with making ice sculptures to pass time; he didn´t have it in him to sleep despite the late hour.
A knock on his door surprised him.
"Gray-sama?"
He could clearly distinguish her voice from the other side of the door.
"Juvia?"
She took this as a sign she was allowed to open the door without disturbing him and quietly tiptoed inside.
"What are you doing here? You should be in your room. Don´t you like it?"
She quietly shook her head.
"Juvia really likes her room and she thinks it looks really beautiful."
"Then why-?"
"But Juvia was feeling really lonely…she isn´t used to such luxuries and they seem a bit…cold. Is it okay if Juvia stays here? She isn´t really sleepy."
He laughed curtly and nodded.
"I´m not either, you can stay if you want. How did you find me anyway?"
"Juvia knew the rooms for third class were at the bottom of the ship, so she just had to ask around for someone who had seen Gray-sama. It wasn´t that hard."
"Oh."
She looked at him before turning her gaze back to her lap, huddled close to her as she was sitting on his bed´s edge.
"Juvia…Juvia saw Lyon-sama when she got out of the room. He is first class too and thought Juvia was travelling alone."
Gray raised an eyebrow.
"It´s like he´s everywhere we are."
Juvia giggled quietly so she wouldn´t disturb the room neighbors.
"Juvia thinks so too. But Lyon-sama insists on treating Juvia like a princess and she doesn´t know how to deal with that…he was pretty upset when he realized Gray-sama was here too."
"Tch. He´s coming on to you, that´s what it is."
Juvia played with her sleeves uncomfortably.
"Juvia is just not interested. Juvia only-"
She stopped herself and blushed warily.
"Then tell him off."
"Ah…Juvia doesn´t want to be rude…Lyon-sama treats her very well."
"So you like it?"
He grumpily stared at her and she quickly shook her head as if to prove her point.
"No! Juvia just-Juvia is like that."
He sighed.
"I´m sorry, I shouldn´t have."
"Juvia doesn´t mind, Gray-sama doesn´t hurt Juvia ever."
She finally noticed his handiwork laying on the wooden small tables the room could fit. She studied the perfect ice statues that somehow never seemed to melt carefully as she noticed they took the shape of various animals. Without even noticing, she reached and grabbed one to inspect it carefully. It looked like an eagle and it didn´t seem to even show any signs of turning into water as she took it and twirled it in the palm of her hands.
"You like them?"
Juvia absent mindedly nodded.
"I can make one of you if you like."
She held the statue to her heart and smiled, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Juvia would like that."
He didn´t ask her to pose and he didn´t ask her to be who she wasn´t because he liked his statues natural and he thought she was also best when she was acting like herself. So for the rest of the night, he carefully crafted and worked. Perhaps they didn´t sleep as much as they usually did, but they would silently agree they had been much better off this way.
On the next day, on Juvia´s room, it was possible to see a small statue representing herself perfectly carefully placed with the other most important objects to her.
From then on, Juvia had spent her time in the third class compartments for the most of it; Lyon did not particularly appreciate this as he barely had any time to interact with her. However, he´d heard that on that day, a rare third class dance would be held and decided to lower his standards and make his way towards where the party would be held. He supposed he would get a lot of side glances with his posture and attire, but he didn´t quite mind if it gave him a chance to spend some time with Juvia.
He could hear the commotion as he made his way downstairs and predictably got a few stares at his general composure, but ignored them for the sake of his pride.
"Excuse me, please let me through. I´m sorry, miss, please let me pass-"
The number of people was outstanding and he had to squint his eyes to look for a head of blue in the big crowd. A slow song could be heard starting in the background and he panicked, clearly aware he wouldn´t have time to ask her to dance. Slow songs seemed like a rare thing in this part of the ship. When he did spot her, however, she was making her way to the dance floor with, he grudgingly recognized, Gray. He was about to make a quick move, but when he spotted her face, she looked delighted with herself and he couldn´t find it in him to interrupt the moment.
Juvia seemed a bit clumsy on her feet in this kind of dance, so Gray shook his head and laughed, while he lead her.
"Juvia doesn´t understand, what is this party for?"
"Gotta have fun once in a while, eh?"
She giggled as they moved in silence and Gray found himself wondering why he hadn´t done anything earlier. He moved slightly away and, without warning, crashed his lips onto hers.
Lyon had been sitting, watching the development from the beginning and widened his eyes at this. He waited for a moment and when he saw she was kissing back, he rubbed his eyes slowly with his thumb and index fingers and slowly got up from his seat, heading back to where he´d come from. He just wished Gray would do everything he could for her.
Juvia seemed out of her mind when they broke away and had stopped moving, getting a few stares directed at her for getting in the way of the others´ dancing. She was blushing furiously like her old self as she stuttered.
"G-Gray-sama just-!"
"What´s wrong?"
"Juvia was- Gray-sama just-!"
"I´m sorry, I thought after all of this we-"
"No, no, no, Juvia is delighted. She just didn´t think Gray-sama would-ah, Juvia hás to be dreaming, that has got to be it!"
He laughed loudly as he lead her out of the dance floor before the song was finished. Juvia actually pinched herself a few times before leading her hands to her face and loudly squealing.
"Gray-sama!"
"What?"
"Juvia thinks she is going to faint."
"I´ll hold you."
She really did faint at that.
He looked over at the sea and closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing the sounds of the waves. The party was over already and Juvia had excused herself for dinner mostly forced by him as she had been unwilling to leave him back when he´d stated he hadn´t been hungry at that time. He unconsciously smiled. He hadn´t actually thought he´d end up making a move while on the trip but he rather thought he would use it as a base to see how things would develop from then on. He wasn´t the thinking type but the bold type, though, so things never usually went as he planned them and for once it was actually a good thing. He didn´t regret it.
"Gray-sama?"
He blinked slowly before he let a small, almost unnoticeable smile grace his features. He turned around to meet her as she slowly took her steps in his direction.
"Juvia is…"
He let himself grin this time before offering her a hand. She returned the gesture, shyly and she walked closer.
"Close your eyes."
She did not hesitate.
"Step up here." He led her to the boat´s very edge as he spoke, her face breaking into a larger smile. "Eh, this is so corny of me…"
She giggled at this single last comment as it was so like Gray-sama. Her Gray-sama, she proudly recalls now.
"Don´t be afraid."
"Juvia isn´t scared of the water, Gray-sama. Juvia embraces it."
"Oh," he snickered, "don´t you trust me not to let you fall?"
"No," her face was completely serious at this, "Juvia trusts Gray-sama completely."
And with that, he held her and opened her arms wide.
He definitely didn´t regret it.
The days went by slowly and Juvia thought these were undoubtedly her happiest ones until now. The captain had seemingly announced they would be taking a detour on their way back to Magnolia as the weather conditions of the normal way back weren´t appropriate for the trip. She thought it should only take them, at most, two days to get back and she quite frankly couldn´t wait.
She was laying on her back on Gray´s bed as they stayed in silence for a while. It wasn´t the same kind of silence they had at the beginning of this trip, but a rather comfortable one she had learned to appreciate. He, however, broke it.
"So how are we gonna tell them what happened at the guild?"
"Juvia thinks we should tell everyone the truth."
"Yeah, I suppose. If Erza hasn´t spilled it out already. Can you believe she was the one who encouraged me to do this?"
"Juvia is glad she never saw her as a love rival, it wouldn´t be fair."
"Well, to be fair no one actually was one."
"Juvia disagrees, that Luc-"
"Trust me, that was all in your head."
She pouted.
"Doesn´t matter now anyway, you won, didn´t you."
She brightened up a bit at this and victoriously puffed her chest up as she went for a hug.
"Juvia is so happy it happened like this. Now Juvia and Gray-sama can get married and then-"
A loud crashing noise and a shaking of the boat snapped her out of fantasies and he bolted out of the bed, careful not to hurt her.
"What´s going on?"
They could hear panicked voices coming from above and he quickly grabbed her hand as they ran out of the room, forcing their way through the crowd of the dozens of people hurriedly running up the stairs.
"Shit."
Juvia whipped her head around only to find why he had cursed; a giant iceberg had been crashed onto by the boat accidentally and water was quickly flooding the entire boat. She looked around and could see people quickly boarding the available lifeboards. She pulled him over to where she could see were still some to spare before she was quickly stopped by a man.
"First class have priority, show me your tickets."
Gray shoved her ticked in his face.
"She is first class, let her through!"
"No! What about Gray-sama?!"
"Juvia stop it, just go, I will do what I can-"
She grabbed him by the sleeve of the jacket he had managed to keep on all the while and dragged him back.
"Juvia, what are you doing?"
The commotion was unbearable and they could barely distinguish a way out with the panicked travelers trying to force their way out of the boat. They could see families being separated and Juvia gritted her teeth in a way so unlike her.
"Juvia is not going!"
"You have to! Get on the boat!"
Juvia shook her head defiantly.
"Not without Gray-sa-"
Lyon had apparently spotted them and quickly tore off his jacket to put it around Juvia´s shoulders while she never tore her gaze away.
"My, you look like you are freezing…! Come, the boat is right up there…I´m sure Gray will get out of this on his own."
He spared Gray one last pained glance and he suddenly knew Lyon never intended him harm. Gray was, in fact, quite grateful to the man for taking Juvia to safety. He would manage on his own, somehow.
"Thank you."
Lyon stopped in his tracks while he pushed Juvia to the front so she could get on the safety boat.
"Don´t worry about it."
He looked over the boat´s lateral edge as she was forced inside the boat and she looked at him, mouth agape and he was sure she doubted what Lyon had said was actually true and feared for a second what she might do. He nodded at her to try and reassure her, but she frowned and threw herself off the safety boat onto the ship back again, almost falling into the water.
He cursed and saw she was running along the boat and clearly intended to go up the stairs so she could get to him again, so he ran back to meet her.
"Juvia! What are you thinking?!"
"Juvia would never be so selfish. Never."
He hugged her while the screams of the people filled his ears and he could feel the boat was rapidly starting to turn, its peak pointing up. He held her as they grabbed the boat´s edge trying not to fall into the freezing water.
"Juvia."
She looked at him and he could see she was scared.
"We have to jump."
She widened her eyes and looked back at the sea before she resigned herself to nodding.
"Don´t you trust me?"
"Juvia has already said this. Juvia trusts Gray-sama completely."
He bit his lip before nodding himself.
"On three."
They could barely stand now and the boat was quickly disappearing onto the bottom of the ocean.
"One."
She stepped closer to the edge.
"Two."
She grabbed his hand.
"Three!"
They jumped.
The freezing water, the water who was part of her very soul, felt like a thousand needles piercing her skin all at once and she gasped once she managed to swim up. She felt arms around her and she knew they belonged to Gray as he quickly led her to something that looked like a fallen door from the boat.
"Here, climb on that thing, it should be able to hold off."
"G-Gray-sama w-what about y-you?"
She was evidently shivering and very possibly running out of any magic power as a result.
"Look at me, I´m much better off than you. I can stand the cold, you know that, don´t worry about me."
She reluctantly climbed on it with a bit of difficulty as she stared at him holding on to the edge. She knew he was able to stand the cold, but his body withstanding it was a different thing. This wasn´t ice, the ice he could stand. It was horribly cold water and she was sure that although he could stand the temperature, he could succumb to it anytime.
"Gray-sama…"
She wasn´t even sure he could hear her. But she had an idea. She knew her Water Bubbles could be useful at least for a little while before falling to the temperature of the natural water itself and they had oxygen which was vital now. The problem was finding enough magic power to do that, but if it meant saving her Gray-sama, she would find it anytime.
He gripped the edge of the door harder when he noticed what she was doing.
"Juvia, you can´t! You´re in no condition to do that!"
She smiled and shook her head with what strength she had.
"No…Gray-sama has done a lot for Juvia on this trip. Juvia wants to do this and Juvia will do this. If Gray-sama cares, he will understand."
And he had no retort or ways to stop her as she enveloped him in a Water Bubble just big enough for him to fit in, before falling flat on the door in exhaustion. He cursed and panicked now, not knowing if she could stand helpless.
But he heard a familiar voice in the background and he was never happier to hear that person as he was right now.
"No," it said, "you are going to continue to look for them or I swear I will make you lose your job and-"
"Lyon!"
The silver haired man whipped his head and scanned the are full of floating bodied until he spotted Gray flailing his arms around frantically inside the strange bubble.
"See? There they are! And what´s wrong with Juvia-chan? Is she-"
"She´s fine!" Gray yelled. "For now! But she needs help soon or she might-."
He couldn´t find it in him to finish the sentence, but Lyon understood.
"She doesn´t need help. Both of you need help. So hop on."
Lyon winked at him and Gray thought that today, just today, perhaps he deserved the hero´s title.
Juvia snapped her eyes open tiredly as she looked around the room she was laying in.
"You´re awake?"
She turned her head to the right side of the bed to face Gray.
"Juvia feels so tired…where is she?"
"At the back of the guild. Everyone was worried sick, you know."
She suddenly remembered the events that had gone on so recently.
"How did we…?"
"Let´s just say you might need to thank Lyon. Just thank him, he gets nothing more than that!"
Juvia giggled and blushed a bit despite her tired self.
"Not that Juvia would want anything else, Gray-sama knows that."
He smirked a little.
"Yeah, I suppose I do."
He patted her head lightly before getting up and dusting off his pants, the only article of clothing he was wearing and shrugging.
"Well," he started, "at least I´m less worried now. I´ll leave you to rest a bit, okay?"
Juvia nodded and closed her eyes.
She heard the door open and before he left, he remarked, and she could simply hear the smirk in his face somehow.
"Who knew both of our elements were enough to sink a ship?"
She turned onto her belly on the bed, hugging the pillow close to her.
"But Juvia thinks they were also enough to save us."
He laughed and the door clicked.
-X-
Done!
This was so incredibly hard to write, you have no idea. Plus, it is one of my longer fics which I usually don´t do, so I put an extra effort onto this one. I really hope you like it, I did my absolute best to keep everyone in character.
EDIT: Edited this to include the horizontal lines to make the separation of the events easier. Thank you.~