AN: Well, I've written about so many subjects... the one missing was the most cliché of them all: High School! LOL I hope it's interesting enough.
Dedicated to Esthellar and Caramadesfranks, they'll probably never read it because they hate High School fanfiction. HAHA It doesn't matter, though; it's still dedicated to them!
For the sake of this fanfic alone, most of the characters will have the same age. :3
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Hidden
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"Well, students, I need you to get with your partner for this project." The teacher said and the boys and girls started to move towards their respective partner. Gray Fullbuster, senior at the Fairy Academy, groaned with the thought of working with his partner; the teacher had designed them at the beginning of the scholar year and all he could say was that she was a pain in the ass.
"Don't look too happy about working with me, Gray." Cana Alberona sat by his side as she rolled her eyes. Her brown wavy hair on a messy ponytail and brown eyes sparkling with mischief as always.
"I would be happy if you actually did your work for a change."
"Ha!" The brunette laughed. "Like that's gonna happen!"
"My thoughts exactly." Gray scoffed. If he didn't know the woman for more than half of his life, he would've complained to the teacher a long time ago, but well… Cana was more of an artistic person than a book person and even if Biology wasn't his best subject, he still managed to get good grades and Cana just jumped on the opportunity of getting her grades better – her father didn't actually care about it as long as she didn't ended up knocked up, she was free to do what she wanted with her life, he trusted her to know what to do with her life and as long as she graduated from high school, he was cool with her choices. Gray would kill for a dad like Gildarts.
His own father was a bit of a dick, to tell the truth. Gray did have a lot of freedom as long as his grades were good so his father would be satisfied; and since Silver was travelling most of the time because of work, Gray had to grow up really fast and the best way to cut all ties about using his dad's money was to study to get into a nice college. It wasn't as if he didn't liked his father because Gray did, it was just that he felt that distance would make him like his old man even better.
"So, do you think we are going to dissect a frog or something?" Cana asked.
"No idea." Gray shrugged and his eyes scanned the rest of the class, stopping briefly on his friends: Natsu was seated beside Lucy, listening to something the blonde was telling him (and by the looks of it, he was being scolded; Gray didn't envy Natsu then); Erza was on a corner talking happily with Mirajane while the teacher was coordinating some others; Gajeel was clearly taking a nap as Levy read the Biology book intently; Laxus and Freed were evidently bored to death and a little bit behind them, Elfman and Evergreen were having a heated discussion about something that was probably ridiculous. Bixlow was teasing Lisanna with his weird hand puppets and the girl was giggling with his ridiculousness, Max and Warren were chatting but Gray's eyes wandered to the girl on the last row: she was alone, apparently her partner, Laki, missed class that morning. Her blue hair was loose around her shoulders, the woman was biting on her pen absented minded, she was looking outside the window and Gray noticed that her brown eyes were unfocused, which meant that she was lost in thought.
"Miss Lockser, do you feel comfortable doing the project by yourself today? Miss Olietta called the school this morning to inform that she has the flu, but will be in tomorrow." Gray heard the teacher tell the blue haired woman and he watched as she looked up to the older man with a smile. "Your grades are good enough that I am sure that you can start without help."
"There's no problem, Juvia will be sure to make Laki-san up to speed once she returns." The girl answered but before she could say anything else, Gray heard the dreadful voice of Lyon Vastia.
"Sensei, I can team up with her. I just graduated four months ago, but I still remember your classes."
"How the fuck is he always around during these times?" Gray whispered to himself and clearly groaned when he saw his cousin smiling goofily while he stood on the doorstep. "What are you doing here?" Gray asked loud enough for the white haired man to hear.
"Oh, Lyon-kun! Sure, sure. Come inside. You were always very good with Biology. I'm sure Miss Lockser would like the help." The teacher practically beamed with Lyon's presence and Gray wanted to barf with how many people just fell for his cousin's charms.
Lyon greeted the teacher and waved at the people he knew, he stopped for a moment on Gray and Cana's desk to tell his cousin. "Apparently, I am helping Juvia-chan." The dark haired man narrowed his eyes. "Plus, Ur asked me come to retrieve some papers and I was just passing by when I heard Sensei telling that Juvia-chan lacked a partner. I can't let that happen, can I?" Lyon winked before walking towards where the blunette was seated.
"Hey, go easy on your pen, Gray." Cana told him and only then he noticed that he was grabbing his pen so hard that it was almost breaking. "I swear, you are one of the most pig headed people that I know. You are clearly jealous of Juvia and Lyon and yet you are here murdering pens instead of punching him on the face and kissing the girl." Cana rolled her brown eyes in annoyance. "I betted that you two were getting together at the festival when you escorted her home last month, but the next day you were exactly the same. You are an idiot."
"Let's just do the project." Gray answered with gritted teeth when he noticed the teacher going to the front of the class to explain what they needed to do and the boy tried his very best not to look over his shoulder every time he recognized one of Juvia's giggles – the giggles that up until recently she reserved only to him.
That night of the festival changed everything and he wasn't about to screw things up.
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Gray was in a very bad mood by the end of the class and his friends could tell by the frown and fisted hands by his side. He had looked over his shoulders three times and if anyone asked, those two seated too close, they didn't need to talk in whispers (really, those were not nuclear codes, they were Biology answers, there was no need for that level of secrecy) and Lyon was not that funny, so Juvia's giggles were totally unnecessary for the purpose of the project. But watching Juvia thank Lyon for his assistance with a kiss on the cheek was too much for the dark haired boy to bear.
Once the teacher left the class, Gray was on his feet and grabbing his cousin's collar and pulling him towards the door. "Aw, come on, Gray." Lyon complained.
"Go. Away." Gray's stiffness didn't pass unnoticed by the white haired man, who chuckled.
"Alright then." Lyon straightened his collar. "Ur asked me to remind you that if you don't appear on Friday's dinner, you better change names and flee the country. Her words."
"Fine." Gray growled.
"Bye Juvia-chan!" The white haired man yelled, staring at the blunette over Gray's shoulder. "Call me like we talked about." Gray took a step towards his cousin, but Lyon was smarter than to pick more of a fight and started to walk on the hallway towards the stairs and even waved Gray good-bye with a ridiculous grin on his lips, a grin that Gray wanted nothing more than punch out of his face.
Once Lyon was out of his sight, Gray closed the class' door and returned to his seat, not before giving Juvia his dirtiest look, to which she just frowned in confusion, tilting her head to the side as he walked to his table with a stormy expression.
"Are you still not jealous?" As soon as he crossed his arms over his chest and after sitting on his chair Cana asked while casually picking her nails.
"Yes."
"Well, you might want to look over the meaning of jealous once you get home, I am sure you got the wrong meaning." The brunette shrugged. "You'll probably find your picture right next to it and, you know… green really doesn't suit your complexion."
Gray gritted his teeth. "Thanks, Cana."
"You are very welcome, my friend."
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Gray cornered her about it right before she got in to change for her swimming club lessons. He stood outside the girls' locker room, casually. He saw the group of girls appear and talked for a moment with Lucy, who was going to change for her track team practice, and with a look in the blunette's direction and Juvia easily ditched Lisanna to go and talk to him.
He waited for all the girls to be inside (it wasn't that uncommon for Gray and Juvia to be secretive from time to time) before he grabbed her hand, leading her towards the side of the building.
"What the fuck was that with Lyon?" Gray asked, pushing Juvia on the wall, his eyes narrowed.
"You told Juvia that you didn't want them to know just yet." The blunette answered, confused. "You said that Juvia needed to act normal."
The boy took a deep breath to calm himself. "I did say that, but it didn't mean that you were allowed to flirt with Lyon!"
"Juvia was not flirting!" She replied, affronted that he had that thought.
"You were giggling and touching your hair. You were flirting." Gray stared at her, analyzing her responses. "And you kissed him. What the hell?"
Juvia gasped. "It was on the cheek! It was nothing more than a 'thank you for your help' kiss. Totally innocent."
Gray mumbled. "Not for him. With that kiss alone you pretty much ignited his next weeks' wet dreams."
"Gray-sama!" Juvia slapped his chest, gasping and her cheeks getting warmer. "Don't say that."
"It's the truth." He shrugged, feeling slightly better that she was bothered with the thought of Lyon dreaming about her.
"You know that Juvia is Gray-sama's and none else's." She bit her lower lip and looked up to him with those beautiful chocolate eyes and he wanted to grin, but chose not to.
"I know." He relaxed with her statement. Maybe Cana was right and he had been jealous of Lyon. Before, when his cousin met Juvia, Gray had been bothered but not to the extent he felt that day. "Come over tonight?" He asked. "I'll go take you from your part-time job after my own, we grab something to eat and then we can go to my place to watch a movie."
"You know Juvia will never say no." The blunette smiled brightly and that time Gray couldn't help but to smile back. He looked over his shoulders to see if anyone was looking and when he saw none, he kissed her lips lightly and she sighed in contentment. He wanted to deepen the kiss, but not at school; he was already breaking his own rule of 'no kissing at school' and a full make-out session would certainly draw some attention. When he broke the kiss, she made an annoyed sound and Gray chuckled. "Later."
"Alright." Juvia pouted. "Juvia will remind you of that."
"I expect nothing less." Gray grinned. "Now go, we are already late for practice. I still have to change to my soccer gear and you to your bathing suit."
"See you later." Juvia was on her way to the girls' locker room when she called his name and Gray looked in her direction. "Juvia likes when you get jealous." She giggled.
"I'm not j-… oh, screw it."
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Ever since she transferred to Fairy Academy the previous year, Juvia and Gray had walked home together, so, when they left together that day, none was suspicious. Juvia never asked for him to wait for her when she had practice, but he ended up doing just that after only two months that she was his colleague and since they lived on the same neighborhood, it was only logical that they walked together. The best part of that, was that their friends lived on the opposite side of town and ever since they started dating, a month before, as soon as they arrived on an area where their friends were not going to pass, Juvia would happily intertwined her hand on his until they reached the shop she worked on, where they would part ways and that day was no different.
Gray kissed her good-bye and went to his own job a few blocks away on another shop. His father did give him enough money but Gray liked the bit of independence it gave him to have his own income of money.
As promised, Gray went to get her after getting off of his job and together they bought Caramades franks and went to his apartment – it wasn't much with just two bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room, but it was enough for Gray and his father, whenever he was in town – and it was surprisingly well kept for a male high school student who live essentially alone.
Juvia put her backpack on the ground and took off her shoes while Gray unpacked their food. "You cleaned?"
"Dad's coming back in three days. I'll have to do it again tomorrow, but I couldn't just let it the way it was, so I did some cleaning yesterday." Gray shrugged and told her to go seat on the couch. "What do you want to watch?" He sat by her side after handing the Caramades franks and put an arm around her shoulder, his food momentarily forgotten as he sailed through the channels until Juvia told him to stop on some movie or another; he didn't really care it had some time in to it and neither did Juvia.
The movie was halfway through when they finished eating and after some time, Juvia seemed to lose interest on the movie and much more interested on kissing Gray's neck up towards his jaw and finally his lips, which was more than alright with him, it was what he had been waiting for her to do it ever since they stepped inside his apartment.
He couldn't believe that it took him so much time to accept his feelings and to do something about it, but like Cana had predicted, he finally made a move after the festival when he took her home by telling her that he wanted to see if they could get into a relationship and make it work. He couldn't say anything else because Juvia kissed him right on the lips and he forgot what he was supposed to say. The tension between them had been rising for some time and that first kiss carried every ounce of it.
Once they decided to pursue a relationship, Gray asked her to not tell any of their friends just yet otherwise everyone would meddle on it and they wouldn't have time for discovering what they had by themselves.
And as it happened, they were quite compatible if the sighs she was offering him were any indication. Gray didn't even know when he flipped them over so Juvia was lying on the couch with him on top of her, kissing her as deeply as he could. One of his hands were underneath her shirt, on her stomach and so far, that was good enough for him just like the way she caressed his back over his shirt with one hand and with the other, she caressed his hair.
"Am I interrupting something?" A voice said from the direction of the apartment's door and the couple stilled their actions.
"Dad!" Gray tried to get away from Juvia and, with his eagerness to do so, found himself on the floor, red faced. "What the…? When…? Why…? You said that you were coming home in three days!"
The older man smirked and leaned on the wall, arms crossed over his chest and staring at his son and the young woman. "I'm early."
Gray got up from the floor and by the corner of his eye he saw Juvia tuck her shirt back. "So I noticed!" He said between gritted teeth and he was sure that his face was as red as a tomato.
"Well, if I didn't, I wouldn't have known that you and this young lady have been fooling around on my couch." The man stepped closer to the couch and offered the blunette a hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Gray's father, Silver Fullbuster."
Juvia hesitated, but took the hand and the man kissed it, making his son rolled his eyes. "Nice to meet you, I am Juvia Lockser." The woman blushed and looked to her boyfriend. "I… I really should be going."
"Aw, come on. I just met you." Silver whined, mostly to spite his son. "I didn't even get to tell you Gray's embarrassing stories yet."
"You are probably tired from your travel, Silver-san." The blunette said kindly, trying to ease the rising tension. "And it's getting late; it's time for Juvia to go home either way."
Silver thought for a moment. "Fine." The older man agreed. "Gray, go take her home."
"I know that, old man!" Gray almost growled.
His father stopped for a moment, noticing that Gray's grouchiness was for another reason entirely than to just seeing him. "Oh boy, did I stop you from getting laid? Sorry, kiddo. My bad." Silver chuckled, he had been on the boy's shoes a couple of times and the kid was in for a hard night. "Next time I'll make sure to call first to know if you want alone time with your girlfriend."
"Shut up!" He pulled a red faced Juvia out of his apartment, returning a moment later to fetch her backpack and shoes, offering his father a dirty look.
"I know, I know… we'll be talking about this." Silver rolled his eyes and waved him off. "Say whatever you like, I am relieved you like girls. I am relieved you like anything, really."
"Argh!" Gray took Juvia's shoes and slammed the door.
"What? A father worries!" Silver yelled and laughed a moment later. That kid was just too easy.
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Two weeks later, the young couple decided that they had enough time to figure things out and he knew that Juvia was dying to tell the girls about it and he couldn't deny her that, so, when they left that day holding hands, Gray knew that his cellphone would be bursting with calls, e-mails and texts, but all that mattered was the way the blunette blushed, how bright her smile was and the way his heart beat a little too fast when he noticed that he was the cause of it.
That's when he realized that he didn't lose time, every day was a preparation for that amazing moment; if he had jumped the gun, he wouldn't have been ready to open up and feel everything he could for her and Juvia deserved nothing but the best.
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AN: Oh, well… this ended up not at all like a High School fanfiction, but it's written and I loved Silver and I hope he teases Gray about her. I am hoping very hard that he liked her after the whole 'put you on ice' thing!
06/01/2014 ~ BonneyQ