A few sunbeams streamed through the window that morning, lighting the room with natural light. Gray, who was asleep in his bed, felt his back warm up a little and groaned in his sleep from the uncomfortable heat. He tried to push away the sheet that covered him at the waist, but it did not help.
Lazily his eyes opened and he sat on the bed. Before he could think twice, his hands were quickly searching for his cell phone and he let out a defeated sigh when he saw that there was no new message in his inbox. After messing up his hair even more than they already were, Gray got up to take care of his morning hygiene, had a quick breakfast, and went out for his daily run down the block.
Near lunchtime, the cell phone vibrated in the pocket of his shorts and the brunette felt his heart racing in anticipation and nervousness beginning to grow inside him. But to his disappointment - or relief - the message was not from a bluenette in particular.
'Are you having lunch with your friends or not?' - Natsu.
'I completely forgot. I'll go next time, I promise.' - Gray.
'Juvia will be there.' - Natsu.
'One more reason why I shouldn't show up.' - Gray.
'Do whatever you want.' - Natsu.
'But I would reconsider if I were you.' - Natsu.
And he did.
For twenty minutes, Gray sat in front of his computer looking at the various photos he and Juvia had taken together on the screen. The brunette remembered each one of them and could see in his face - even in the photos where he had a frown - that he was genuinely happy in those days. In fact, for all the time they were dating, Gray could not think once that he was unhappy.
But now it all fell apart.
Gray took a deep breath before making the decision to send another message to Natsu.
'Fine, I'll go.' - Gray.
#
The restaurant was not crowded but with all the noise his friends were making, Gray was beginning to suspect they would be expelled at any moment. But he sure missed his noisy friends. For more than two weeks the brunette could not have fun and practically never left his house.
"So you finally decided to leave the den, Gray!" Cana spoke a little too cheerful to be completely sober. "Now it's Juvia who needs to appear. Where is she?"
Everyone looked at Lucy.
"She said she had some problems with the car, but Gajeel will bring her." The blonde said trying to look calm, but the look she gave Gray made him apprehensive about whether he made the right decision to be there.
Not long afterward his metalhead friend came with the bluenette beside him. Gray felt a sharp pain in his chest to see her again and when the woman's big blue eyes fell on him, he could see the same pain in them.
It was then that Juvia turned around and ran out of the restaurant, causing Lucy, Gajeel, and Levy to go after her.
It was too early for them...
"I ... I'm leaving." Gray said, standing up. "Let's play video games at my place one of these days." He looked at Natsu and Loke.
"Gray... We did not think that-" Erza began to speak with a sad look.
"It's all right. It's only a matter of time, I guess." The brunette shrugged, trying his best to disguise how much he was suffering inside. "Sorry to have ruined lunch. See you later." He left in a hurry.
#
Back at his apartment, Gray concentrated the entire afternoon on his video game. He had received several messages from his friends after the restaurant incident, but he didn't mind answering any of them. He did not even want to read them, to avoid looking at the wallpaper for a long time - which was a picture of Juvia lovingly kissing him on the cheek.
From the corner of his eye, the dark-haired man could see a teru teru bozu doll near the kitchen window. Raining or not, the amulet was always somewhere in the house because he could not simply get rid of something Juvia had given him. The same happened with the scarf she had knitted and countless other gifts that were stored in the apartment.
God was witness that he tried to throw it all away. But it didn't happen. He could not say goodbye to four years together yet.
Gray couldn't believe it was all over between them.