A/N: This is meant to be platonic, guys, so yeah. And it's sappy-friendship-angst-type stuff, which is not most people's cup of tea, but sometimes you shouldn't just drink your favorite tea all the time because that's weird.
Contains a strong Juvia, so if you want a love-obsessed one who's wilting over Gray, sorry. He's not even in this oneshot. Also, everyone seems to forget how cool she is in general and just thinks of her infatuation with Gray, which, although is a major defining part of her character, isn't what she is as a whole.
I'm happy with this, even if it isn't happy-light-joking-shipping material. So suck it up if that was what you were here for.
They met living in a bad neighborhood full of gangs, and he'd still been the big, bad playground bully there. She was the weirdo that spoke in third person and whom everyone avoided like the plague. He's not even sure how anymore, but they stuck.
It must've been that time he tried to pick on her. She'd regarded him with a cool stare, annoyingly unperturbed. Her indifference ignited his anger, and he had fucking exploded.
She knocked him flat on the ground. Literally.
When he'd lunged for her, blindly snarling like the animal he had been in those years, she twisted like water and somehow flipped him so that he was flying through the air. She had taken him down faster than anyone he'd ever known.
She nearly killed him that day. He'd gotten up and attacked again and again and again, only to end up sputtering for air as he gagged, heaving on the ground. And he got up and tried over and over until he felt like every bone in his body was broken.
Her expression never even changed; she watched him slowly chipping away with her face an impassive mask, like she couldn't give two shits.
When he couldn't move anymore, Juvia knelt beside him, inspecting his injuries.
"Fuck you, bitch," he had snarled, his lungs still clamoring for air that hurt to take in.
For reasons he still can't understand, she wrapped his arm over her shoulder and pulled him to his feet, staggering under his weight.
Slowly, they made their way back to her house, which was full of creepy-looking hand-sewn dolls. He had been scared shitless, not that he showed it. He was terrified that she'd practice voodoo on him or something, but all she did was drape him over the pink, patterned couch and began to wrap his wounds.
Her expression still didn't change, but she started to hum some haunting melody and her hands were gentle. He thought that's how it should feel when a mother fixed up their child after a bad scrape, except he'd never had one before. That was pretty damn close to how he'd imagined having a mother would be, though, which was funny because she was the one who beat him up in the first place.
She made tea and asked why he was the way he was (An asshole, was what she meant. But she never said it.).
And then he realized no one had bothered asking him like that before and that his story was bubbling behind his lips and he wanted to tell someone, to not bear the pain alone any longer.
His life forced its way from his mouth in the form of words, and she squeezed his arm gently to let him know she understood. And then she opened her mouth and spun the story of her own life, and they ached together.
Soon, she knew everything about him, and he knew everything about her. Nobody else even came close to realizing what she'd been through, he realized. And she knew it was the same way for him.
A few months later, Phantom High School was busted for criminal acts. A few days after that, investigating cops found out that Juvia was living alone at the age of 17. And a few days after that, Juvia's official guardian was Gajeel, whom had turned 18 the month before.
It felt wrong to know that he had adopted her, when he was forever the younger one, the inferior one. She was mature and careful and poised while he ran rampant.
"Gajeel-kun," said Juvia, when they moved into the same apartment. "You're… you're Juvia's best friend. Thank you."
"You're family," he grumbled, averting his gaze. "Of course I'd help."
Juvia's face broke out into a smile, one of the only ones he's only seen on her. "You're family to Juvia, too."
So maybe she wasn't his sister. But she was family, and that's what counted.
They were relocated to Fairy High after Phantom High School was taken apart, and they both took up jobs. Juvia became a junior swim team instructor and a part-time lifeguard. Gajeel went into mechanics.
Before they went to their new school for the first day, Juvia made stew that tasted horrible for breakfast. Neither of them were good cooks, really, but her food was still better than Gajeel's, so she cooked.
"This school has the shittiest name I've ever heard," Gajeel complained over the stew. It meant I'm nervous and this is different and maybe I'm not ready.
Juvia grabbed his hand and squeezed it so that his circulation nearly cut off. "Juvia… Juvia is excited," she said, her voice shaking with true fear and emotions that definitely weren't excitement. "Things will be very different. You won't be able to fight anymore, and Juvia is sorry. But this might be good for us, Gajeel-kun. People will not be as harsh. Juvia believes they will even be kind. She wants to turn over a new leaf… Juvia… Juvia will no longer be sad over her past!"
Gajeel jerked back. "What?"
Juvia's eyes burned with determination. "Juvia will not let her past drag her down any longer," she repeated, her words shaky but ringing with finality.
And, somehow, Gajeel felt his throat tighten and his eyes burn. "Well, I suppose if you can do it, then maybe I will, too, Rain Woman."
Juvia shook her head. "Juvia is Rain Woman no longer," she said. "Juvia is just Juvia."
"Juvia," repeated Gajeel, letting her name roll over his tongue. It sounded weird with his gruff voice.
Suddenly, a tear was running down Juvia's cheek. Then another. And another. And then Gajeel's face felt suspiciously wet as his vision blurred.
They both started crying like babies and Gajeel would've been embarrassed if it weren't Juvia and God-fucking-dammit he wasn't emotional but Juvia dragged everything up and forced him to be a better person and reduced him into an unsure little kid again.
He hated change, and he ought to hate her, but he couldn't because she was there for him and the only thing she wanted for him was happiness and fucking sunshine and rainbows and...
he wanted the same things for her. He didn't want her to be sad anymore.
It was the first time he had ever cared for another human being, and it made his stomach twist in fear because it was so much easier to have no feelings and just think about himself. Except he couldn't do that anymore, because he and Juvia... they supported each other. It was such a weird feeling, to be supported. To mean something to someone and for them to mean something back.
They didn't go to school on the first day, but that was okay.
Maybe they both needed a little time to heal, first.