AN: Imagine your friend crying over someone's death and you have no idea how to help her until she tells you that it was a fictional character. You calm down, take a deep breath and turn this whole thing into Gruvia. As simple as that. Enjoy.
Gray fumbled with the pockets of his pants to find the key to his apartment. It was raining hard which was odd as the weather broadcast mentioned a warm night as he could recall. He had just come back from a mission with team Natsu and as seemingly easy they thought it was, there is more than meets the eye.
The mission's request came from the mayor of Crona, a nearby seaside prosperous city whose economy is based solely on fishing and trade. Piracy wasn't something new to the people of Crona, usually being committed by a bunch of culprits who were easily taken down by the coastguard. The last couple of months, however, things got rocky as the attackers joined forces with mages from dark guilds, who, in exchange for their services, received a non-negligible part of the loot. The rest of it, though, was being sold at the black market. Upon seeing their economy incurring such a heavy blow, Mayor Caster had to take action.
A fiery battle took place but they eventually managed to overpower them and bring them to justice. The reward was worth the hassle but things would be easier if a certain bluenette had tagged along. Gray suggested that his girlfriend joined them as her water magic was cut for it. Juvia was elated for the offer but she rejected it halfheartedly, as she had already made plans with Gajeel for another mission. Gray couldn't help but feel a tiny wave of jealousy hit him, but he let it pass.
Speaking of said girlfriend, Gray expected her to throw herself on him the moment he opened the door with a bright smile and her blue orbs glowing upon seeing him, planting kisses all over his face while whining about how much she missed him. Getting to the good part, a table full of his favorite dishes must be waiting for him, courtesy of the lovely bluenette who excelled herself every time. He found himself smiling widely at the thought and he turned the keys to enter his little paradise.
No bluenette came running towards him, though, no delicious smells entered his nostrils, nothing. All he was welcomed with was absolute darkness and deafening silence. 'That's weird,' he thought as he stood there scanning the room and he suddenly felt really worried. Her mission was supposed to take a day roughly and there was no chance she didn't know when he was coming back. None. So her absence was a complete mystery to him. His uneasiness was growing bigger by each second, his tiredness long forgotten as his mind was busy thinking nasty things about the whereabouts of his girlfriend.
A soft whimper cut his train of thoughts and he reluctantly turned his head to where the noise came from. The bedroom. His eyes snapped open and his feet started moving before he realized it until he was standing in front of the half-closed door. Another soft cry was released and he almost couldn't breathe with the lump in his throat. With trembling hands, he reluctantly pushed the door to open further, afraid of what he would meet on the other side.
By the time the door was fully opened, Gray's heartbeat became erratic and he couldn't move. There, on his bed was Juvia, laying down and crying. He couldn't see her face due to the blue curtain that fell all over it. He felt his heart stiffen with the sight in front of him. The girl he promised to protect, the girl whose body claimed to be his, was in pain and he didn't know why. He let out a shaky breath and approached her.
«J-Juvia?" His voice was something more than a whisper as he slowly sat on the bed beside her, pushing her hair behind her ear with his fingertips.
She, of course, had sensed him getting in thanks to her Gray-radar that had developed over the years. "Gray-sama?" she managed to say between her sobs and in a split second, she threw herself all over him crying harder.
He tightened his own hands around her waist by instinct. His gut told him that something was off for his girlfriend to be as devastated as she was. "Why are you crying? Did anybody hurt you?" Half his face turned dark just by thinking that anyone dared to harm what was his. "Cause if that's the case, I swear to-"
"Gray-sama, he is dead." She started crying harder by then. Being an ice-mage didn't stop Gray from trembling as cold sweat run down his spine. Dead. Dead. A word he didn't want to hear ever again. Someone had died. Who? One of their nakama perhaps? No. That's not it. Fairy Tail mages are strong and never give up. They wouldn't dare die. Right. Juvia must have gotten the situation all wrong. Right? Right?
Swallowing hard he tried to detach Juvia off his shoulders so he could see her in the eyes. She fought him off at first but he eventually won the battle. He helped her sit on his lap and he started wiping away her tears. "Juvia, please, tell me what's wrong. Whatever this is, we can fix it. So, please, tell me what happened." He pleaded her and she finally looked up at him.
"W-Watson is d-dead. He died Gray-sama, he died." She closed her eyes firmly and tried to suppress her sobs but she couldn't.
Gray was sitting there in utter confusion. 'Watson is dead.' He didn't know anyone goes by that name but he seemed to be really important to Juvia. He thought he knew everything about her past before joining the guild but he obviously didn't. He held her face between his palms. "Juvia, who is this person? What is he to you? You never mentioned him before."
She choked. "That is," she sobbed, "that is because Juvia met him just today Gray-sama. And now he's dead and it's so unfair." Tears continued to fall down her now red eyes.
Then it hit him. That must have something to do with her mission. Did she fail her mission? Did anybody die before she or Gajeel manage to protect him? He knew that feeling all too well. The feeling of loss. The feeling of being unable to save the people you care about. His mind started traveling into some dangerous paths and he couldn't let that happen. Juvia quieted his demons a long time ago and now it was his time to help her go through it. He carefully chose his next words. "Was this Watson part of your mission?"
When she shook her head 'no' he furrowed his eyebrows confused. If it wasn't one of their nakama or a person associated with her mission, then who was he? "Juvia, I really want to help you on this one, but unless you tell me what happened, my hands are tied. So, please, just tell me what's wrong."
After a couple of minutes of silence, the bluenette finally spoke. "Watson was sick. An incurable illness. But, you see, he didn't breathe a word to Carol about it. He only wanted to spend the little time he had left with her by his side; not on a hospital bed waiting to meet his end. He wanted her to keep him in her memory as the lively, funny man who loved her." Another wave of cries echoed through the room as Juvia couldn't go on.
Gray was speechless. More and more people were popping out, people that didn't ring any bell to him but Juvia had strong feelings for them nonetheless. then a thought flashed by. She must have met them on her way here. Perhaps Gajeel could give him a hand. They took that mission together so he must be aware of them. "So, did you meet them on the train or something? Or in the city of Flins?" That was his last shot. What else could it be?
She took a tissue from the bedside table and wiped her nose. She sent him a strange look as if his words made no sense. "No Gray-sama, Juvia never met them in person. She sobbed and then she continued. "It was so unfair Gray-sama. When they finally found each other after so many years and so many hardships, why was fate so cruel to them? Why did he have to die? And poor Carol, how is she going to live without him anymore? You should have seen her Gray-sama. Her heart shuttered into million pieces, she couldn't accept it. Juvia understands very well the storm in her heart Gray-sama. She does."
As she started crying her heart out again, Gray could only sit there like a fool, panicking inwardly. Gods help him, he didn't understand any of this. Just who the hell were those people? Why is his evening so fucked up? Why isn't anyone helping him figure this out damn it? Thinking that he had enough of that, he decided to ask her straightforward. He held her firmly and asked her in a serious tone. "Juvia, I'm asking for the last time, so please help me. Who are these people? How do you know them?"
"What do you mean 'How do you know them?' Everybody knows them. Everybody. You aren't making any sense today Gray-sama and you are awful at comforting Juvia's broken heart."
Gray was taken aback. On one hand, he really wanted to help his girlfriend who was mourning the tragic fate of those two people but the point was that he had the slightest idea of who they were. Had he been sleeping under a rock or something? Was he the only one who didn't know them? He was getting crazy, big time. Letting out a big sigh he passed his palm over his face. "Juvia, call me a dimwit if you want but I have absolutely no idea who you are crying for. I've never met them, and as you said, they were strangers to you as well. And, yes, I suck at comforting people, you should know that by now, but I can't even do the little I can because you leave me in the dark. So, baby, I'm begging you, tell me who they are. I hate it when you cry, don't you see it? I feel so useless right now."
Juvia ascended her gaze to meet her beloved's distressed one. And, there, for the first time since he entered their apartment, she laughed. It was the most beautiful sound, the one that warmed his heart. "Silly Gray-sama!" She gave him a light peck on the lips and it took him more a few seconds to kiss her back.
He didn't know what he did, but she stopped crying and with her, the rain, as well. He let out a sigh of relief and watched her as she stood up and crawled on the bed reaching for something behind his back. Curious as to what she was up to, he followed her with his eyes until she returned to sit back on his lap. He looked at the object in her hands and he raised an eyebrow. It was a book. 'Our last moment' was his title and on the cover, there were two people riding a bike. It was a typical romance novella as far as he knew but he didn't understand what this book had to do with any of it. His questioning gaze fell on his girl's, expecting her to throw light upon the mystery.
"You see Gray-sama, today was the day Juvia and many, many others were waiting for so long. It's the day that this," she held the book close to her chest, "masterpiece was released. The day that we learned about the tragic love story of Watson and Carol. Juvia shouldn't get her hopes up, you're a guy, of course, you wouldn't know about them."
He blinked repeatedly. Book. Love story. Release day. Some Watson and Carol guys who were not their nakama, not some fellow travelers Juvia met on her mission, not even part of her mission. Just some romance characters. Not real. She has been crying over a novella. As his brain finally put all the clues in an order he wanted to struggle her. Yes, that's right, struggle her. The poor creature thought of some very nasty things and in the end, it was just a big misunderstanding.
He threw her on the bed and she squealed. He then stood up throwing his arms in the air. "Juvia!"
She just blinked at him. "Yes, Gray-sama?"
He made an incredulous face and pointed a finger towards her direction. "Don't 'Gray-sama' me. You scared the living shit out of me. I come back home and instead of my girlfriend throwing herself at me and fuss all over me until she's satisfied, I find," he moved his hand idly, "that. At first, I thought that something happened to you and I was ready to go out there and murder someone for hurting you. Then I thought that someone from the guild passed away considering how miserable you were. Or that a person from your past that I didn't know about passed away or that you failed your mission and somebody died or or…. I don't know, but I felt useless and hopeless when I saw you crying like that for god's sake. And it was all for a book! A book!"
He stopped and gasped for air. That crazy woman would be the death of him.
Juvia took this opportunity to stand up as well, circling her arms around his shoulders and looking at him under her big eyelashes. He was stubborn at first but when she started leaving butterfly kisses all over his naked chest and face, he relaxed. "Juvia's sorry. She was overwhelmed. She put herself in Carol's place and the feeling was too unbearable to handle. Juvia wouldn't make it another second in this world without her Gray-sama in it. And she almost lost him a few times." He tightened his arms around her and softened his eyes. "So, you see, that book hit right through Juvia's feelings. But now she understands that she was just being silly." Gray crooked his eyebrow. "Yes, she was. That book taught her something important. Juvia must live the best she can in the present, grasp every opportunity she can to create many wonderful memories with Gray-sama and the people she loves, so when the time comes she will have no regrets. But of course, that time will be when Juvia is old with white hair and wrinkled face, reading stories to her great-grandchildren."
She gave him a cordial smile. There was an ambiguous look on his face and for a moment she thought she said something wrong. But when he pulled her down to give her one toe-curling kiss all her worries went out of the window. When they parted, he rubbed his nose with hers. "That you do. You and me both. Our great-grandchildren will be fascinated by our stories you know." He said and winked at her.
Juvia's eyes widened. Her heart started beating faster. 'Ours.' He said 'ours.' Her face lit up and she couldn't contain her enthusiasm. "Do you really see as together until that time?"
He snorted. "What else could I do? Anybody else will be too normal to match your peculiarity. Giving me the creeps over some fictional characters for example." He sent her a knowing look and she laughed.
He let go of her and as he was out of the door he heard him shouting. "But, if you leave your boyfriend a little longer unfed and unwashed he will reconsider his future."
She trailed right after him, love overwhelming her. Yes. She would make the most of her every moment beside him with no regrets, no hesitation. Until their last moment.