GRAY

That selfish moronic flame-breath. Now he's with Lucy things are just going to get worse with Juvia fawning over me. I watched the crowd carry them away toward the guild and I hung back, pondering whether I should be pleased for them or not. Then my own personal leech grabbed hold of me.

"Gray, my love, the next kiss shall be ours!" Juvia's shrill voice rang through me. Geez, can't she take a hint.

"Juvia, stop clinging to me you psycho!" Surely that's enough of a put down to get the point?

"Oh, Gray, you always scold me when I hold you, that's why I love you so much." I guess not. I just continued walking, avoiding direct eye contact. What do I think about Juvia? Well, she's an incredibly powerful woman, we work well together and can easily form a unison raid against our enemies. I just... I don't like her like THAT. She's really scary sometimes as well. Also, she only hears what she wants to hear whenever I say anything.

We reached the guild and everyone was shouting and cheering still over the revelation of Natsu and Lucy's new relationship. I decided to keep out of it, so I stood outside. Looking up into the darkening sky and sighing. Juvia seemed to notice my expression and took my hand, pressing it against her face.

"You can have something like Natsu and Lucy has, if you just asked for it." My cheeks reddened and I snatched my hand away.

"I'm not thinking about it like that... I was just... I don't know if I should be happy for them."

"Is it because you're already in love with Lucy?" Juvia shot daggers at me and then at Lucy, who was blissfully unaware that she was being given the look of death.

"It has nothing to do with Lucy!" I frustratedly sighed and walked away looking towards the guild hall with longing. I couldn't put my finger on it. It just felt like... Natsu was just in the limelight like always and I was sat on the sidelines. It felt like anger, hurt... jealousy? I didn't know exactly what I was jealous of though, I didn't have any feelings for Lucy.

I punched the wall in frustration, making a fist shaped dent in the stone work. Juvia looked sad and I really don't know why. It was the kind of face someone would pull if you just hit a baby.
"Stop looking at me like that!" I shouted. She was getting on my nerves. Why did I feel jealous? In fact I felt pretty similar to this when Gajeel and Levy got together. Maybe I do want something like that. But, with who? Maybe I should talk to Erza about this, she seems to know about relationships and feelings and stuff.

"Heh. Natsu finally got a girlfriend, and LUCY at that. All I'll say is, I think he's scored way above his league." I muttered to myself and stepped inside the guild hall, smiling. I'd finally relaxed. I sat down at the bar and Juvia, the lost lamb that she is, followed and sat next to me.

"Hey Natsu..." I shouted over, "take good care of that one buddy." He flashed me a grin.

"I've took care of her up to now, its not like I'll stop now that she's my girlfriend."

"Just don't go accidentally setting her on fire or something." I grinned back, my wicked grin. Before Lucy came to the guild I hated Natsu. I wanted to punch him every time I saw him. I don't know whether it was by her influence, or whether we both have just matured, but we seem to have been able to call a truce with the occasional friendly rivalry. I could probably call him one of my closest friends now, although not to his face. After all, he's still an idiot, but Lucy seems to be able to handle that fine.

I glanced at Juvia. She wasn't looking at me for a change, rather she was looking woefully at Natsu and Lucy, who were hand in hand in the middle of the guild. I felt a pang of guilt. Why? I was uncertain. But I knew it probably had something to do with the fact I was more than aware of how much she wanted to be with me. She caught me looking at her and insta-blushed making me panic and for some reason, blush too. Knowing I probably gave her the wrong impression, I just turned to her...

"Hey Juvia, don't worry, I'm sure you'll have a relationship too someday with someone." Then she sort of went completely red and I'm pretty sure I made it worse. I sighed, a long and relenting sigh. I don't know why I feel bad for her, but I should probably do something to get her off my back for a bit, Erza said before that I needed to give her a clear answer about my feelings. So maybe it's best to tell her I'm not interested but in a really nice way.

"Um, why don't you come into the town with me tomorrow and we can get icecream or something." Man that sounded lame, but it would probably upset her less than rejecting her in front of the entire guild. I mean, I reject her all the time, but I haven't OFFICIALLY rejected her yet.

"Like a date?!" Hearts formed in her eyes and I could tell she was off in dreamland with the ponies and fairies.

"N- No not really just... icecream..."

"Yes! Yes I want to go! What time? What should I wear? Do you want to do anything after? Shall I bring anything?"

"Just bring yourself. Around 10. I don't care what you wear. I don't think you'll really want to do anything after. Got it?" She nodded, face red, eyes wide and lips parted. Hmm, she did look kinda pretty like that. I brushed off that thought in a hurry – no more leaving Juvia upset and wanting to be with me. I needed to tell her directly that I wasn't the one for her. I needed to tell her that I couldn't return her feelings. I knew what I needed to do, and I wasn't going to lead her along any more because I care for her...

Wait... What?!

We all know that Gray is denser than Natsu when it comes to his own feelings. But will he ditch Juvia for good, or will he realise feelings for her that he never knew he had? Time to read folks!