Make Her Smile

What if Gray never fought with Juvia? What if he never showed her the sun? What if she still brought the rain with her? What if she was still the same old, sad, depressed girl as she was in Phantom Lord?

Gray stared at the mysterious girl from the other side of the room. She was strange. The girl had long, wavy blue hair and her eyes were a shade of dark blue and her pale skin made her look ghostly. Not long ago, her hairstyle was long and curled at the base. For whatever reason, she changed it today. Furthermore, her outfit was now a knee-high dark dress coat along with a matching hat that was clipped with a butterfly.

She was always lonely, with no friends. All she did was sit in the corner table and made it rain. The guild eventually got used to it. If they got tired of the rain, they'd just quickly send her out on a job which she would immediately agree to without any problems.

Many of their guild mates tried to talk to her and be friends with her. They were never successful. They either couldn't stand the rain or she just was really quiet.

Yet, she was still here not seeming to mind the fact how alone she was. After her guild disbanded, she had no choice but to join Fairy Tail. Her guild mate Gajeel came as well and he was just as independent as her except maybe scarier and possibly more untrustworthy but that's a different story.

However, this is about Juvia and Gray didn't understand her at all.

To be honest, he had never even seen her smile once. She had the same frown on her face every day. When people talked to her, they'd always end up leaving sad and gloomy.

Gray wanted to change that.

He began walking over to the blunette, out of the curiosity of wanting to get to know her.

"Hey," Gray greeted her quietly, when he finally reached her. He pulled out a chair and sat down beside her.

She ignored his comment.

"So," he began, trying to put on a polite smile. "What's your name?" Okay, so maybe that was sort of rude to not know your own guild member's name. Well actually, he did since she always spoke in third person which is basically rubbing their name in his face. He just wanted to start their friendship with a fresh start, as if they had never met before.

She didn't seem to hear him so he repeated the question again. This time, she finally looked at him in confusion.

"But we already know each other."

Gray grinned, he finally made her say something. "We know of each other, but we don't actually know. Now that we're talking, we can actually know each other...if that makes any sense. He rubbed the back of his head, "That sounded a lot cooler in my head."

She shook her head at his stupidity. "I'm Juvia."

"That's cool, a cool name. Very cool." He mentally slapped himself for making it sound so stupid. "My name is Gray."

"Cool," she replied. He began to wonder if that was her mocking what he said a few seconds ago.

There was not much to be said now. He looked towards the windows, trying to think of a topic. "Nice weather we're having today."

Not really, it was raining and it was her fault.

He sighed, why did he have to bring up the weather?

Juvia's expression saddened when he made that statement. "Yes. Yes, the weather is nice today." Lies.

"Yeah great weather. It's not hot or cold. It's warm but not too warm if you know what I mean." Gray told her, not mentioning rain once. He immediately started regretting what he just said because 'if you know what I mean' usually meant he was implying something dirty. "Wait no! That's not what I meant! I'm not trying to say anything dirty. I was just-"

She cut him off. "I'm going to do a quick mission so can we stop talking? Also y-your c-clothes."

"Woah!" He looked at himself to see he had subconsciously taken his shirt off. He immediately dashed off to look for it.

"And she just walked off!" Gray was telling his team what had happened.

Erza muttered. "So did you." No one seemed to hear her.

"She doesn't sound very nice." Lucy responded. "Why do you want to be friends with her? Maybe you could find happier friends?"

Natsu laughed. "You actually had a conversation with Juvia?"

Erza glared at them. "It's not funny. I think she needs friends."

Lucy and Natsu trembled under Erza's death glare.

"Stop it." Gray said sternly, looking at his friends. "I know she doesn't seem friendly but I really want to get to know her. You don't just leave a person alone because they have depression. It's serious and I want to help get through it."

"That's so sweet of you!" Lucy smiled kindly.

Erza agreed. "You just have to speak more to her."

"I can try."

"Great to see you again!" Gray greeted Juvia happily, at the entrance to the guild. She had just returned from a mission and she was totally exhausted.

Juvia stared at him, probably not knowing how to respond. She finally said something, but she looked away and was refusing to look at him again. "Why do you do this? Why are you standing here waiting to talk to Juvia?"

"Because I just want to cheer you up...Do you ever smile?"

Her eyes widened. She didn't expect that out of him.

Gray continued. "Maybe you don't like me but I also think you're just not used to talking to people. You always seem so..gloomy and I just want to be there for you. I know I can't just change a person so all I want is for you to smile, at least once. A real smile, not a fake one."

"Gray-sama…" Juvia was shocked he would do such a thing for her. "Juvia hasn't smiled in a long time and Juvia doesn't feel there is any need to. It is fine. Maybe you should just give up."

Gray shook his head. "No, I think we should hang out together. Besides, I'm sure I can do it."

Juvia stayed silent which seemed like ten minutes according to Gray. "Sorry but are you s-saying you w-want to be f-friends with Juvia?"

His expression immediately lightened up at the word 'friends'. "Yes. Lets be friends!"

"What do f-friends do?" Juvia questioned nervously.

"We can go to each others houses or go to the movies. We can also go shopping and you can become friends with my friends. There are lots of things friends can do."

Juvia shrugged, seeming to be content with the idea. "S-Sure."

We can go to each other's houses…

"By visiting each other's house, you meant going to Lucy's home?" Juvia questioned, looking utterly confused.

"Natsu, Happy, Erza and I like going here," Gray explained, gesturing to his friends. "It's a nice place. We often sleep over."

In that moment, Lucy stormed into her room after a completely tiring day of missions after missions. She looked around, not impressed by the amount of people in her home.

"What are you all doing? Get out! Out! All of you! OUT."

What a great first impression to Juvia. Juvia blinked. When Lucy finally noticed her, she laughed nervously. "Oops hi Juvia. I'm sorry about that. I guess we should all have a sleep over! Hahaha. I'd really like to get to know you!"

"O-Okay?" Juvia agreed, not exactly sure what was going on.

Lucy smiled as she went to give a kiss to Natsu on the cheek. Juvia glanced at them, what was going on? Since when were they...together like that?

"He's my boyfriend." She explained. "It sort of just recently became official."

Now everything made sense.

Erza sweat dropped. "So Juvia, what did you think of Gray when you two first met?" She asked cheerfully, breaking the awkward tension.

"Juvia honestly thought he was a desperate, awkward stripper who really wanted to get laid." Juvia answered, truthfully. "Of course, Juvia doesn't think this now."

Natsu burst out laughing. "That's because he is one."

Gray gritted his teeth, "That's what you thought about me?" He began randomly taking his shirt off.

Lucy sighed, standing up, "Why are you like this? Stop stripping! Not in my home!"

Gray shrugged. "Felt like it."

Erza ignored them and turned to Juvia. "So what were you like back in your old guild, Phantom Lord? Do you miss it? Were you happier then?"

Juvia shook her head. "Juvia doesn't really miss it. It's Fairy Tail's enemy after all which means it's Juvia's enemy. She is exactly the same whether she is in Fairy Tail or Phantom Lord. Juvia never changed."

For the rest of the night, they talked and decided to sleep over. Gray sighed as he noticed Juvia still wasn't happy.

Or go to the movies…

At Gray's apartment, Gray and Juvia were watching five movies that he rented while eating five bags of popcorn. Gray made sure to get some comedy ones to make her laugh. They were sitting on the floor, surrounded by pillows which made it really comfy.

Movie Marathon!

They were up to the last movie. A comedy one. The movie was filled with extremely random jokes making Gray laugh really hard. It was hilarious!

"That's not funny at all," Juvia muttered.

As soon as Gray heard that, he stopped laughing. Did he do something stupid? He looked at the screen to see a perverted scene that Juvia didn't like.

Gray immediately banged his head against a pillow. Why did he always end up doing something stupid?

The movie finally finished after the longest time and Gray was still laughing at the last joke. Suddenly, Juvia apologized. "Sorry Gray-sama."

Gray blinked, confused why she was apologizing. "Eh?"

Was she apologizing for not smiling or laughing at any of the jokes in any of the movies? To be honest, he got a bit annoyed at that.

"You didn't seem to like the last movie. Juvia did, she wanted to keep watching it. Sorry, you could've turned off the TV and get us to do something else." She replied, worriedly.

"What makes you think I didn't like it?"

"Maybe the fact that you kept banging your head against the pillow halfway throughout the movie, repeatedly till the end." She responded.

You see, Gray kept saying and laughing at things he shouldn't have been. He ended up hitting himself which wasn't very smart. He could be losing brain cells from it, causing him to make even more decisions he'd regret.

"Oh that." Gray chuckled nervously. "It was just so funny. I couldn't believe I was watching such a good movie. I wanted to hit myself to see if I was dreaming."

Juvia understood, believing it all. She looked at the television and was in a lost of thoughts.

After a few seconds, she suggested, "Gray-sama, you've been so nice to Juvia lately. No one's wanted to be Juvia's friend besides you. Thank you so much. What can Juvia do to repay you?"

Gray felt honoured, he was making progress. "It's okay, I don't think I'll need help anytime soon."

"Is that so?" Juvia frowned, she was hoping she would be able to return the favour.

"But if I do, I'll definitely call you!" Gray assured her.

There was a moment of silence as Juvia decided to look at the DVDs Gray had rented. "Hm. Juvia didn't know you liked chick flicks. That's pretty cool."

"Hey!" Gray defended, almost immediately. "I just watch them for the female leads. A lot of them are pretty hot. Anyways, I rented them because it has something to do with you. Want to guess?"

Now it was Juvia's turn to think if she was doing something wrong or not. It had something to do with her? Juvia froze. Was it something bad? Did she say anything wrong? She found herself standing up, finding an excuse to leave.

"Juvia's dog fell off the ground earlier today. Juvia needs to check up on him."

Gray looked at her weirdly, "Did I say something?" He shrugged, telling her to take care of herself and her non-existent dog. After she left, Gray banged his face against the pillow for what seemed to be the millionth time. He always had to ruin it, didn't he?

We can also go shopping...

Gray and Juvia entered the shopping centre. It was a huge place. There were so many shops they wanted to shop at. Too bad they were just buying food and stuff for the guild.

Gray checked his pockets. "Damn, I don't have the shopping list. Do you have it?"

"Juvia thought the master gave it to you." She checked her pockets, finding nothing.

"Well I'm not going all the way back there to tell him that we lost the shopping list." Gray groaned.

Juvia nodded, agreeing with him. She looked up hopefully. "Maybe we can just guess what he needs? Like food and alcohol. Juvia has all the money here." She showed him the credit card.

"Let me see." He snatched the card away from Juvia, staring at it with a smirk. "We could buy the whole store with this!"

Juvia understood. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Gray beamed at her, then turned to look at the stores they had passed. From jewellery to toys. "This is my opportunity to teach you what great things we can do with this credit card."

"We'll buy things that will benefit the guild. Like balloons." He grabbed the packet of balloons from a stand and threw them into their shopping cart.

She looked at him, puzzled. "How will balloons help the guild?"

"It makes the room seem more fun like it's a party. It adds cheer." Gray answered like it was the most obvious thing ever. He grabbed some random sunglasses from the glasses rack. "Just like how these sunglasses will benefit the guild. They are so cool. We can could even scare off our competition with these."

Juvia was beginning to understand now. "Um…like this cute stuffed animal?" She grabbed it off the shelf.

Gray nodded, encouraging her. Juvia continued, "Because it's really cute and everyone will have fun playing with it?"

The boy nodded again. "Exactly. Now what else?"

Juvia looked around and spotted something. "This board game because it will entertain us when we're bored?" She tossed the stuffed animal and the board game into the shopping cart.

Gray approved. "Well done. I didn't know I would be such a good teacher."

However, Juvia still hadn't smiled once during the whole shopping spree.

Anyway, that was how Gray and Juvia came back to the guild two hours later with about twenty bags with toys and junk food.

"You might want to get a new credit card," Gray told the master as he handed it over. "I think we maxed this one out."

And you can become friends with my friends.

Natsu and Lucy were a loving couple. They were having lunch in a café. Natsu and Lucy kissed once again. Pulling apart, Natsu grinned at his girlfriend.

"You're awesome." Natsu whispered to her.

Lucy giggled. "No, you're awesome. I almost feel like having sex with you right here and now."

"Please don't," a voice in front of them begged.

Juvia decided to hang out with Natsu and Lucy for a day. A friend of Gray was a friend of hers! However, she was unaware they were still at honeymoon stage. She almost wanted to throw up the food she just ate, just by looking at them.

"Sorry, Juvia… We kind of forget you're here sometimes."

"Juvia can see that." She sighed, the rain falling heavier than ever.

Lucy giggled as Natsu started playing with her hair. She planted a kiss on his lips, making Juvia feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Please, just make out and have sex in front of Juvia. She won't vomit at all." Juvia sarcastically said. Once the kiss deepened, she immediately regretted what she had said. "Ah! Stop! Please! Juvia didn't mean it at all. Argh. Gray-sama just has to go on a mission today. He didn't even want Juvia to come." She looked really upset.

After kissing, Lucy felt her hand was lighter than before. She turned to see a man, clutching her pink purse.

"Who steals purses these days?" She groaned in frustration.

Natsu sprinted towards the man. "Don't worry, I'll get it for you!"

He began chasing after him. "Hey! You! Stop running so fast!" He shouted.

Juvia sighed as they watched him. "He's running after the wrong guy, isn't he?"

Lucy nodded, her cheeks pink in embarrassment. She ended up opening the gate to one of her celestial spirits. It was Virgo. "Virgo, please go chase after the man with my purse."

"Yes Princess."

It took way too long for both them to get the purse. In the mean time, Juvia and Lucy were chatting like good old friends.

"Thanks for hanging out with me today. You're like my new best friend," Lucy told her, with a kind smile.

"Juvia is sorry but you aren't hers."

"EH?"

There are a lots of things friends can do.

Gray sighed, beginning to wonder why Juvia wasn't smiling. He tried almost everything! He decided he would make her smile once and for all.

She was currently outside, sitting by herself as the rain poured down onto her.

"Juvia."

She looked up to see Gray, she frowned. "Gray-sama…"

"Can I ask you something?" he wondered, sitting down beside her. Rain was hitting him and he didn't enjoy it. He was soaked already. He really had to get out of these wet clothes as soon as possible.

"You just did." She pointed out.

"What's making you so depressed?" Gray asked, in an annoyed tone. "You're always so sad, it's draining. Why can't you just be happy?"

Juvia frowned, she realised she was making him sad. She made everyone sad. Why, why, why?

Gray noticed how hurt she looked. "I'm sorry, it's just…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"It's the rain." Juvia finally said, surprising him. "Juvia hates it, it follows her everywhere. Juvia has never seen the sun. It's like a curse. Depressing, really."

Gray stared.

The rain? That was all?

"Really? I'm sure we can solve that," Gray used both his hands to freeze the rain with his ice magic. "Now that's better, isn't it?" He gave her a smile.

The sight was beautiful as Juvia looked at the sky in awe. The rain had frozen, falling to the ground and the sun came out. The rain stopped. Birds sang a song of beauty, children's laughs filled the air. The sun shone and the clouds drifted across the blue sky. It was bliss, beauty and happiness.

Juvia couldn't believe it. Immediately, she hugged Gray. "Gray-sama! Thank you so much! This is the first time Juvia has seen the sun."

When she pulled back, she was smiling widely that it almost hurt. Gray was stunned as he stared at her, all he had to do was freeze the rain?

This was definitely the first time he saw her smile. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with happiness as a light blush formed on her cheeks.

This caused him to beam. If she was happy, he was happy. She looked even prettier when she was smiling if that was possible. He couldn't believe this was happening. It felt like he had accomplished something special. He had no idea he loved seeing her smile so much.

"You are so perfect." Juvia was still smiling. "Then again, Juvia does want a perfect boyfriend."

"B-b-b-boyfriend?" Gray stuttered.

"What?" Juvia giggled. "You think Juvia would go around town with just anyone? You're a boy and you're Juvia's friend. No, her best friend. Juvia can honestly do anything with you."

"Y-You like me?" Gray wanted to hear her say more things that could make his heart beat faster.

A blush spread across her cheeks. "D-Don't ask so directly!"

"You should be direct." Gray smirked.

"Fine! I…I like you, o-okay? Well first, Juvia thought you were really annoying. Your stripping habit was weird. It still is, but that doesn't matter! On the other hand, you were so much fun! Juvia liked spending time with you."

Gray wanted to say something cool right then and there, like a flick of his hair. He didn't know what he intended to say but it came out like, "Ughhhhagahhh."

Not attractive at all.

"Sorry?" Juvia was lost.

Gray blushed as he gave her a kind smile. He tugged on her hand, "We should go and enjoy ourselves."

"Go where?" Juvia asked.

"With you," Gray said quietly, "anywhere is fine."