a/n: hello, i'm ren! i hope you enjoy this story :) i'm actually really nervous about posting this so please let me know what you think! — lowercase is completely intentional.
disclaimer: i don't own fairy tail or halsey's is there somewhere.
you were dancing in your tube socks in our hotel room,
flashin' those eyes like highway signs.
light one up and hand it over, rest your head up on my shoulder,
just wanna feel your lips against my skin.
juvia falls onto the white hotel sheets and closes her eyes. she catches her breath and begins laughing.
"oh my god, gray-sama!" juvia squeals, squeezing her blue dress to get the water out as she steps out of the mall fountain.
gray laughs at juvia before shrugging off his coat. he offers it to her, but juvia grabs his hand and tugs him into the fountain with her. they fall, and water splashes out of the fountain.
"juvia!" gray exclaims.
juvia giggles lightly. "payback, gray-sama."
"i can't believe you," gray says. he shakes his head and grabs juvia's arm and pushes her under the water.
she begins coughing, but her eyes are brights as she pushes gray's arms off of her.
when they look up, there is a group of people surrounding the fountain, recording the scene. some are laughing and some are cooing at them. gray grins at juvia and grabs her hand.
suddenly the crowd parts. a cop rides in on his scooter. he's scowling.
"what…" he begins. "do you think you're doing?"
juvia frowns and opens her mouth to speak, but gray pulls her out of the water and through the crowd. they don't stop running until they reach their hotel and are in their room, gasping for air.
gray begins laughing as well. he falls by her on the bed and sighs.
"aren't you glad you ran?" Gray asks.
juvia notes he's happier today.
"juvia is," the blue-haired girl says. "is gray-sama happy that juvia came?"
"very," gray whispers. he opens his mouth but closes it. "i'm going to take a shower- unless you want to go first?"
"it's okay," juvia says, wondering what the hell gray was about to say.
she closes her eyes again and falls asleep to the sound of running water. when she wakes up, gray is dancing to old music in dark blue socks and snowflake-patterned boxers. juvia stifles a giggle.
"join me after you shower," gray says, eyes bright.
"okay," juvia replies, disappearing into the bathroom.
she comes out in blue fleece pajama bottoms and a black tank top with her hair wrapped in one of the complimentary white towels. the music is still playing.
"gray-sama!" juvia shrieks as gray takes juvia's hands and spins her around. she begins laughing and gray laughs with her. they spin and they spin until the song stops and the collapse on the bed.
"juvia wants to go outside," juvia says suddenly.
"okay," gray replies. "go. i'll meet you out there."
juvia grins, grabbing gray's sweatshirt and tugging it on before walking onto the little balcony. gray appears next to her, a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a lighter in the other. juvia purses her lips but says nothing. gray wordlessly offers her a cigarette. juvia shakes her head and looks away. gray shrugs, lighting a cigarette and placing it in his mouth. he wraps his arm around juvia's waist and looks over her shoulder towards the lit up city.
"juvia's getting a blanket," juvia says. "juvia is cold."
gray nods and leans over the railing. when juvia comes back, the cigarette is no longer in his mouth. she smiles lightly and wraps the blanket around her and gray's shoulders. she rests her head on his shoulder, smiling as she watches cars run down the highway.
white sheets, bright lights, crooked teeth, and the night life,
you told me this is right where it begins,
but your lips hang heavy underneath me,
and i promised myself i wouldn't let you complete me.
"remember when i persuaded you to come with me?" gray asks.
juvia nods. "juvia does."
"the city looked like this one," gray says. "with the buildings and the cars and everything. but then there was the biggest building there, the guild in your city, and it was covered in blood and bodies and i was so scared, you know? because i was there for a while and i was already talking to you and you were the only one who wasn't in fairy tail that i really cared about."
"juvia wasn't hurt though," juvia points out.
"yeah, you were the one doing the hurting," gray says. "i was so surprised because you seemed so sweet before, honestly. but then i kinda realized you didn't want to hurt anyone. so i asked you to come back to fairy tail with me. didn't expect you to say no."
juvia grimaces and gray tightens his arms around her.
"phantom was the only place that accepted juvia," juvia says defensively. "juvia doesn't know if fairy tail will accept her."
"fairy tail will," gray says firmly. "so then i expected that we'd go on a flight to magnolia, right? i don't even know how we ended up in the north continent."
juvia giggles.
"but i don't have enough money and you don't have any money so now we're here in this hotel on a balcony with a blanket and a pack of cigs and a lighter."
juvia smiles. "we're in this hotel on a balcony with a blanket and a pack of cigs and a lighter but it's okay."
"it's okay because…?" gray prompts, grinning.
"just because," juvia says. "just because."
i'm tryin' not to let it show, that i don't wanna let this go,
is there somewhere you can meet me?
cause i clutched your arms like stairway railings,
and you clutched my brain and eased my ailing.
"you know, this is hard for me," gray says suddenly when they're lying in the small bed in the hotel room.
"what is?" juvia asks.
"opening up," gray replies. "it's hard for me."
"gray-sama doesn't have to if he don't want to," juvia replies, lacing her fingers through his and wondering to worlds and back how she got so comfortable with him in a period of two weeks.
"yeah," gray whispers. "i just… i don't want you to leave too."
"juvia won't," juvia promises. "go to sleep."
"okay," gray replies.
"goodnight."
"goodnight."
juvia wakes up at the crack of dawn like she always did. gray's phone is ringing. juvia picks it up, to see it reads 'flame-brain'. she tilts her head but presses answer.
"yo, where are you, ice-bastard?" 'flame-brain' asks.
"uh-"
"oh you're not gray," the boy says. "sorry 'bout that. who are you?"
"juvia is juvia," juvia says.
"juvia who?" the boy asks.
"loxar," juvia replies.
"from phantom?" the boy yelps.
"juvia- juvia has left phantom!" juvia exclaims.
"oh okay," he says. "cool, cool. i'm natsu dragneel and is gray there because i need to know when he's getting home-"
"juvia and gray-sama are in the north continent," juvia interrupts.
"are you coming to fairy tail?" natsu asks.
"yes," juvia replies. "but juvia did not bring any money and gray-sama does not have enough for plane tickets."
"idiot," natsu murmurs. "okay, then get home as soon as you can! cana misses gray… kind of."
"okay," juvia replies. she disconnects and immediately thinks, who's cana?
you're writing lines about me; romantic poetry;
your girl's got red in her cheeks, cause we're somethin' she can't see,
and i try to refrain, but you're stuck in my brain,
and all i do is cry and complain because second's not the same.
gray finally wakes up, and juvia thinks it's hilarious.
"wuzzgoinon?" he asks, looking around with half-closed eyes.
"natsu called," juvia says. "he asked where you were."
"did you tell him?" gray asks him. when juvia nods, gray groans. "he's going to hold this over me forever."
"he also told me about someone named cana," juvia whispers.
"i grew up with cana," gray says. "she's like my sister. we've always had each other's backs."
"okay," juvia says. "well i'm going to brush and stuff."
"okay," gray replies, slumping back onto the mattress.
juvia stares at herself in the mirror; at the blue waves and pink cheeks. she purses her lips and climbs into the shower.
she can't stop thinking of gray, of how sweet he is and how he tried opening up to her. and she wonders, will i ever be enough for him?
so she allows her tears to fall down her face. so she allows herself to wallow in pain because she was never enough, and she will not be enough again.
she steps out of the shower. her eyes are red, her cheeks slightly pinker, her hair hanging straight. juvia grabs the blow dryer and dries her hair before braiding it into two. she dresses in blue leggings and an oversized sweatshirt with a picture of a squirtle.
when she exits the bathroom, gray is hunched over the desk, scribbling away on a piece of paper.
"what're you doing?" juvia asks curiously, leaning over his shoulder to see scribbles, scribbles, and scribbles and one line of words: she is like running-
but soon that line is scribbled out too.
"gray-samaaaa," juvia whines. "juvia was reading that."
gray crumples it up and tosses it into the trash can.
"natsu transferred some money to my bank account- actually, lucy probably forced him to do so- but we can head home now," gray says.
i'm sorry, but I fell in love tonight.
i didn't mean to fall in love tonight.
you're looking like you fell in love tonight.
could we pretend that we're in love?
"oh, okay," juvia says softly.
"is something wrong?" gray asks, looking up.
"not at all," juvia replies. "i'll go pack."
i just assumed we'd be staying longer.
gray leaves the hotel room to go get coffee. juvia begins packing.
i just wanted some more time with you.
she folds up the black coat her cousin gajeel gave to her and places it at the bottom of the suitcase and begins stuffing in her blue clothes in her blue suitcase.
i just want some more time.
and then the tears fall, one by one but then they come in a rush and she's sobbing, so she rushes back into the bathroom and falls to the floor, her back against the door.
because when we go home you'll have all of them. who wants me when there are others? who wants juvia?
the door opens.
"juvia?" gray calls, noting the damp blue shirt thrown haphazardly into the suitcase. "are you okay?"
he hears the sniffles from the bathroom and bangs on the door. "juvia!"
"juvia is okay!" juvia says. "gray-sama should finish packing. don't juvia and gray-sama need to leave soon?"
gray pauses. "i was thinking… that we could stay a bit longer."
juvia doesn't reply, but she's not crying.
"i mean… if you want to! i'm not forcing you or anything… we can go back."
he sounds so, so defeated. then, juvia begins giggling.
"of course it's okay," juvia says, opening the door and smiling at gray. "so what would gray-sama like to do today? juvia decided yesterday."
gray grins. juvia smiles back and gray holds out a hand. juvia takes it and together, they run out of the hotel room.
juvia looks at gray. he's snoring lightly. then she looks at the bedstand.
plane tickets.
she sighs and lays down. she was only delaying the inevitable; they'd have to leave eventually.
at least she's not crying this time.
the airport is crowded. extremely crowded. gray holds juvia's hand tightly as they weave their way through the crowd.
hope flickers inside her every time she looks at their intertwined hands.
finally, they make it to the gate.
"you ready?" gray asks, tightening his grip on juvia's hand.
juvia smiles with watery eyes.
"hey- are you crying?" gray exclaims. his hands fly to her face and wipe away the tears. "what happened?"
"juvia's just happy the past few weeks happened." juvia looks up. "and also kind of sad that they're ending."
"hey, we can always just fly up for another adventure," gray suggests. he looks up and clenches his fists. "i… i don't want it to end either."
juvia swallows and leans up and places a kiss on his lips. he blinks. juvia's already running towards the gate.
gray's lips curl into a smile and he follows her. he grabs her arm just as she hands her ticket to the lady in front of the gate.
"juvia," he whispers.
juvia twists. gray captures her lips in his. juvia's cheeks are red when the attendant coughs.
"sorry," gray says, not taking his eyes off of juvia. he hands the lady his ticket as well.
and then they walk into the plane, their hands linked together.
i'm sorry, but i fell in love tonight.
i didn't mean to fall in love tonight.
you're looking like you fell in love tonight.
could we pretend that we're in love?