Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to my first GrayxJuvia oneshot, Like Rain On Your Birthday!
I dunno, I just got this sudden urge to write this pairing. Great practice with Gray's character, but ironically, His was the least satisfying for me to write. I mean, Gajeel's foul-mouthed and surly, and Juvia speaks in the third person and is just plain nuts, but other than fighting with Natsu, Gray is... blah...
Oh, here's the problem! I didn't make him strip! *goes to fix that* There we are!
Still didn't fix the problem, though. Oh well!
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters are the intellectual (Bluenote Stinger excluded) property of Hiro Mashima. I make no claim of ownership to them.
It was a well-established fact that Gajeel Redfox did not like rain.
Sure, it felt good in light sprinkles, but long drizzles and downpours would make his iron body rust up like a motherfucker. And besides, who could get anything done with a shit-ton of rain pouring all over your face?
Gajeel could. He had to if he was going to be friends with Juvia Lockser. Speaking of Juvia, she was probably the cause of all this damn rain that was keeping him and Lily inside. Nah, that couldn't be right. Juvia's been way too happy for her own damn good ever since coming to Fairy Tail. But just to be safe, he whipped out his phone to give her a call.
See, Communication Lacrima was all well and good for mages, but they never saw commercial use for two reasons. One, ninety percent of the population didn't have a shred of magical power in them, and two, no one had ever developed a portable version, which was detrimental to mages in the field who needed a way to contact each other. So mages had to settle for civilian cell phones. Under a guild's plan, a mage had 600 minutes and 100 text messages per month.
Gajeel dialed Juvia's number, only to hang up in frustration when he heard no reply. "Juvia's not answering her damn phone. Something's wrong," he growled to Lily, who was a nervous wreck for some reason.
"Well, whatever you do, you have to calm her down fast," the black Exceed said tensely. "It's hot, it's humid, and when it rains in those conditions, we get… thunderstorms…"
Gajeel grunted. Of course his damn cat would be afraid of a little thunder. Makarov's grandson would scare him shitless. Grabbing his umbrella, he said, "I'm goin' out to find her. God only knows what shit she's gotten in." He unceremoniously slammed the door behind him as he made his way to find his fellow ex-Phantom.
Juvia's rain had a limited area of impact, and since the rain was close to Gajeel's apartment complex, so was she. When the Kurogane caught sight of that familiar blue hair in an alley, its owner crying alone in the fetal position, he was no less than pissed.
"What the hell, Juvia?" he bellowed. "It's been months since you made it rain this damn hard!"
Juvia looked up. "Juvia is sorry, Gajeel-kun, but… Juvia is too sad to stop the rain now! Gray…Gray-sama…!"
Gajeel growled. Of course that ice bastard would have something to do with this. "What… did… that… stripper… do?" he managed to ground out.
"Gray-sama forgot Juvia's birthday!" Juvia wailed.
Gajeel facepalmed and surpressed a groan. "That's why you're making it rain cats and dogs? Because Stripper Boy forgot your birthday?" he roared. This was only met by more crying, the realization that he was only upsetting Juvia further, and more importantly, a heavier rain.
"All right!" Gajeel sighed. "I'll go talk to him. And with reason and compassion, especially for you. How does that sound?" Instantly, the Rain Woman's face brightened up, and she hugged her nakama with great force.
"Oh, Gajeel-kun, that sounds wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Although, Juvia thinks we have two very different definitions of the phrase 'reason and compassion.'"
"I define 'reason and compassion' as leaving the punk alive," said Gajeel with a manic grin.
"That's all Juvia asks of Gajeel-kun," said Juvia with a smile. "Juvia wants Gray-sama alive long to celebrate her birthday."
Gajeel laughed. "There's a smile," he said approvingly. He then stalked off to conduct his business with a certain exhibitionist icehole.
Gajeel cringed. He made terrible puns, even to himself.
He was met at the guild by the familiar sight of Natsu and Gray in one of their famous brawls. Unceremoniously, Gajeel transformed his right arm into a battering ram and struck the Ice mage in the stomach.
Gajeel was aiming for the face, but it seemed to have the same effect, as Gray seemed to double over in pain. Without waiting for Gray to recover, the battering ram became a claw – you know, the type you see in the crane machines – with which Gajeel yanked Gray towards him and said with all the fury he could muster, "You. Me. Words. NOW!" Gray could only stare into space as Gajeel dragged him to a secluded corner of the guild.
Gray was dumbfounded by the turn of events that had just occurred. One moment, he and Natsu were fighting (and he was winning, too!), and the next thing he knew, Gajeel rammed him in the gut and dragged him somewhere they wouldn't be disturbed.
"Get up!" the Dragon Slayer barked at him. Gray could only comply. Strong as he was, he never considered himself a match for Gajeel Redfox, especially not when he was this angry.
"So, Stripper," said Gajeel almost conversationally. "You wouldn't happen to know what day it is, would you?"
Gray was shocked. What did the day have to do with anything? "Uhhh… Monday?" he replied nervously.
"Yes. More importantly, what's the date?" prompted Gajeel.
"The 11th?" Gray replied, still not seeing where Gajeel was going with this.
"Of what month?" asked Gajeel.
"July," said Gray, gaining a certain ease with the Kurogane.
"Bingo!" said Gajeel. "And now the million Jewel question." Here, Gajeel's voice dipped dangerously low. "What happened on this very day nineteen years ago?"
Gray gulped. He should know this. "Can I have a hint?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.
And he had good reason to be, too.
Gajeel turned his arm into a club and whacked Gray across the side. "For God's sake, it's Juvia's birthday, Icicle Brain!" he shouted.
Gray was stunned. How did he have no knowledge of this? "Juvia never told me when her birthday was!" he said in his defense.
"Is that a fact?" sneered Gajeel. "Then why did I find her crying in an alley because you forgot her damn birthday?"
"I don't know!" cried Gray. "But if Juvia told me today was her birthday, I definitely would've remembered it!"
Gajeel was shocked at the conviction Gray held in his voice. He could find no trace of Gray trying to save his own ass.
'God damn it, Juvia. You never said you didn't tell him!' Gajeel seethed mentally. Out loud he said, "Buy her a necklace, take her to dinner, I don't give two shits what you do as long as she's happy. But if she comes to me saying you were an ass, I'll make sure you don't have one to sit on. Got me?"
"Got you!" said Gray a little more nervously than he intended.
"Good. Now get outta my sight," said Gajeel. As the Ice Maker scurried away from him, he sighed.
He could really use a bowl of nails and a pint of beer right now.
After her little chat with Gajeel, Juvia had taken a simple job in a nearby village. Her duty was to appraise the local flea market for any trace of illegal magical items. Simple, but tedious.
Still, Juvia was grateful for the distraction. Today was her birthday, and no one had remembered it at all. Admittedly, though, this was the first birthday she had celebrated as a Fairy Tail mage, so it could be that no one knew. Well, except Gajeel, but he never really cared for birthdays anyway.
But the one that truly mattered in Juvia's heart of hearts, her beloved Gray-sama, had completely forgotten her birthday! She had tried everything short of flat-out telling him just to get him to take the hint. It wouldn't be nearly as special if she had to tell him to his face.
Juvia knew she shouldn't be sad just because Gray forgot her birthday. She had plenty of friends to celebrate with. Friends like Lisanna, Erza, and Lucy. Even though Lucy was her rival in love.
Of course, Juvia knew and approved of Lucy's relationship with Cana. Still, both women were dear to Gray's heart, and there was always the possibility that they would seduce him into a threesome.
No. That could not happen. It would not happen. Not if Juvia had anything to say about it.
"Gray-sama!" she exclaimed. "Juvia will not allow you to be seduced by the lesbians!"
"…What lesbians?" asked a voice she knew only as Gray Fullbuster. She turned to see that he had a large sweatdrop on his forehead.
"Oh!" Juvia gasped. "Juvia only meant that she wouldn't allow Cana-san and Lucy-san to seduce Gray-sama into a threesome."
Gray laughed nervously. "As awesome as that would be, Lucy's the monogamous type. Ain't no three-ways happening in that relationship." Changing the subject, he said, "You should have told me it was your birthday today."
Those words hit Juvia like a ton of bricks. Or a ton of feathers. Whatever, a ton of one is a ton of another. Juvia didn't say anything for a whole minute. Finally, she spoke.
"Gajeel-kun is NOT going to be happy with Juvia," she said with a chuckle.
Gray didn't know what to say to that, so he just said what was on his mind for the past couple of minutes: "You're worth a thousand lesbians any day."
As expected, an awkward silence ensued.
"Hey. How about I help you with this job, and then we'll go somewhere nice for your birthday," Gray offered.
Juvia blushed. "Yes, Gray-sama. That sounds wonderful," she said. "But first, you might want to put on your clothes." Gray looked down and cursed, for he had stripped down to his boxers.
And so the duo set to work. It was still simple, it was still tedious, but as long as Gray was helping her, Juvia didn't really mind.
And there you go! Nothing too exciting. Gray certainly lives up to his name of being boring to write. Maybe next time, I'll touch upon his training with Ur a bit.
About the disclaimer, so no one gives me any flak for saying it: I said Bluenote was not really intellectual on Mashima's part. If I wanted to claim ownership of Bluenote, I would've said "intellectual property (with the exception of Bluenote Stinger) of Hiro Mashima," not what I said in the disclaimer. I dunno, I'm just paranoid like that.
So anyway, until next time, peace and love from Nightlingbolt!