Just a random one shot I thought of while listening to Ingrid Michaelson's new song "Girls Chase Boys" the other day. I mean, it kind of just screams to be turned into a Gruvia fic, doesn't it?


Juvia sat, staring daggers across the Fairy Tail guildhall, wondering just how long it would take the object of her affections, one Gray Fullbuster, to realize he had stood her up again. She had waited at the little café he knew she loved, the one overlooking the canal, for three hours, three whole hours, before between hour two and her seventh glass of lemonade she had realized he wasn't going to show up, but she had waited just another few minutes…just in case. Of course she had been delusional – it was the fifth time in the past month that she had asked him out and he had been busy last minute, or like today, flat out hadn't shown.

So it was at hour mark number three that she had paid the bill and left the café sulking. Clouds began forming overhead, tiny droplets of rain hitting the ground, as she walked back to the guildhall. The closer she got, the harder the rain fell. By the time she had gotten back to the guild, and subsequently found Gray and Love Rival deep in conversation, the drizzle had turned into a full on storm.

Her fellow mages watched as she literally stormed into the guild, too afraid of the Rain Woman to confront her and ask what was wrong. Even Gajeel stayed in his safe corner, munching on some nails rather than facing the Ame-onna's wrath. The only people who hadn't noticed her presence were Gray and Lucy. Oh, but she had noticed them. She had plopped herself down, not even bothering to remove the water from her clothing, and fixed her stare on the pair. And that was how she had stayed up until the very moment when Lucy leaned from her chair and gave Gray a hug.

A particularly large clap of thunder sounded and lighting erupted across the dark sky.

Gray and Lucy flew apart, Gray narrowing his eyes in Laxus' direction. "What was that for?"

"Don't look at me Gray," Laxus motioned over his shoulder to where Juvia was about to burst from anger.

Their eyes met and Juvia leapt to her feet, fleeing the guildhall.

"What's the problem now?"


Juvia burst through the doors of Fairy Hills, hightailing it up the stairs and to her room. She fumbled for her keys, almost dropping them as her hands shook. Finally she got the right key out of her bag and into the keyhole, flinging the door open and slamming it shut behind her and locking it tight.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to shout to the world that she loved Gray-sama, so why wouldn't he give her the time of day? Instead she ran to her bed and flopped over, suddenly very tired. There she lay for about 15 minutes before someone knocked on her door.

"Juvia does not want to see anyone, so whoever is at her door, please go away!" she shouted.

Instead of leaving, the door swung open and Gajeel walked in, his hand turning back into skin and bone from a key. "I was only knocking to let you know I was coming in."

"What does Gajeel-kun want?"

"Gaj – ehm – I wanted to make sure you were ok. I don't think I've ever seen someone run so fast since Erza saw that sale on strawberry cakes."

"Juvia is fine, so you may now leave." Another burst of lightning lit the sky and Juvia cringed.

"Look, stripper has obviously got you messed up bad. If looks could kill, he would have been dead ten times over already. So what did he do this time?" Gajeel walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. After a moment, she sat up and faced him.

"Gray-sama stood Juvia up again."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "What is it, the third time this has happened?" He watched as Juvia held up five fingers and cursed inwardly.

"What's worse is Juvia caught him with Love Rival. Gray-sama should have been having lunch with Juvia, not consorting with her," Juvia spat out.

Gajeel sighed, running a hand through his long black hair. "Look, Juvia, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but stripper is obviously playing you. You need to get over him; he's not worth your time. You deserve someone who will treat you well, as the amazing woman and mage you are."

Juvia looked up at Gajeel with wide eyes. "What do you mean Gray-sama is playing Juvia?" Gajeel sweat-dropped.

"I mean he's leading you on."

Juvia straightened up, really thinking about what Gajeel was saying. Juvia's beloved Gray-sama was leading her on? Where was he leading her? He was playing her? What kind of game was he playing? And suddenly something clicked. He must be playing hard to get, I've heard it's very effective.

"Thank you Gajeel, I see now what I need to do."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "You do?" He wasn't sure she quite understood what he was trying to tell her…

"Yes, now Gajeel-kun must leave. I need to call someone."

Juvia gave Gajeel a quick hug, then ushered him out. She shut the door and ran to her phone, dialing a number she knew very well from the many times it had called her.

On the other side of the door Gajeel stood, confounded as he listened in on her call. "What have I done?"


Three days later

Gray Fullbuster walked down the street, his bag slung over his shoulder. He had just returned from a solo job, a rather easy job of getting rid of a bank robber. It had only taken him half a day to complete the mission. Still, the job had been in the far away town of Amaryllis, almost a full day's travel by train. On top of that the train had had to make an emergency stop on the way back when one of its passengers had gone into labor. Needless to say he was relieved to finally be back in Magno – is that Lyon and Juvia?

Gray ducked into a nearby alley, just barely missing being seen by the couple as they walked his direction. They were deep in conversation and fortunately hadn't been looking too far ahead. What are they doing together? What is Lyon even doing in Magnolia? Gray thought to himself. He watched as they walked past his alley, hand in hand. His eyes went wide. What is going on here?

As stealthily as he could he began to follow them. After a few minutes he realized they were heading in the direction of Fairy Hills. Lyon was walking her home. Where were they coming from? Were they on a date? Gray grit his teeth; he knew of Juvia's crush on him, and just recently he had maybe begun to feel the same way. Juvia was an amazing mage, powerful and intelligent. Not to mention she was beautiful inside and out. Besides the whole stalker thing, it was kind of hard not to be attracted to her.

That was why he had been pulling away from her this past month. She would only end up hurt if she were with him.

Gray kept following the pair as they slowly drew closer to Fairy Hills. He had to stop himself from mauling Lyon along the way as he watched his hand leave Juvia's and wind its way around her waist. Even worse, she didn't seem to mind it being there!

But the worst came when they reached the entrance to the apartment building. They said a quick goodbye, exchanged hugs, but as Juvia was about to pull the doors open, Lyon tugged her back and pulled her in for a kiss. Gray's eyes flew open as instead of pushing him away she began to kiss him back! It was time for him to intervene.

"Lyon, what do you think you're doing?"

Juvia and Lyon pulled apart, Juvia's face reading slightly conflicted while Lyon's was just smug. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm kissing my girlfriend."

"You're WHAT?!"

"You heard me, Juvia and I are dating now," Lyon answered Gray's cry.

Gray stormed over to Juvia. "When did this happen?"

"Three days ago I got a call from her, asking me to come visit. I came, we went on a date, Juvia finally realized what she was missing, and we've been dating ever since," Lyon replied for her.

Juvia was looking straight into Gray's eyes as he fumed. "Juvia needed someone who would appreciate her. Gray-san did not seem to want her, so she found someone who did."

Gray was speechless. He floundered for words, but couldn't come up with anything to express the way he was feeling. So he did the next best thing: he punched Lyon in the face.

Lyon recoiled from the hit, stumbling but quickly regaining his balance. He rushed Gray, pushing him to the ground. They skid across the path a few feet, Lyon trying to land a blow on Gray's face as Gray defended himself. Somehow Gray's leg ended up between Lyon's legs in the commotion and he took the opportunity to bring his knee swiftly up and into Lyon's groin. Lyon fell off of Gray, rolling in pain.
"Yo-you'll pay f-for that," Lyon grunted out. Shakily he stood up and somehow managed to yell out "Ice-Make: Eagle!" A barrage of ice-sculpted eagles flew from Lyon's fingertips, making their way towards Gray.

"Ice-Make: Shield!" Gray answered Lyon's attack. A large flower shaped shield appeared in front of him. Lyon's eagles bounced off at first, but the last few began to crack through the shield, finally bringing it down altogether. Gray flew back as the shield shattered backwards, his back colliding with a tree. He stood back up, disregarding the pounding in his forehead and the wet feeling of blood dripping down his neck, and attacked again. "Ice-Make: Hammer!" The crystalline hammer nicked Lyon's side as he tried to dodge it, but was just a second late. He grabbed at his side where his shirt was torn and a small trail of blood could be seen.

"Ice-Ma – ," Lyon tried to counter, but his attack was cut off by a cry from Juvia.

"Stop! Juvia wants Lyon-san and Gray-san to stop fighting! She did not want it to come to this!" Tears began to form in her eyes as she darted inside Fairy Hills. As she ran through the lobby she passed Erza and Cana who both bolted outside to see what had made her run. They were confronted with Lyon and Gray, panting and slightly beaten up, staring after Juvia's retreating form.

Cana sighed, turning to Erza and saying, "I'll go check on her." With that she took off after Juvia. Erza took the opportunity to march up to the two guys, grab each of them by the fronts of their shirts, and haul them to her eye level.

"I hope you two are happy with what you've done."


Inside her room, Juvia tears started to fall. She had never meant for either of them to get hurt. She had assumed Gray would see her with Lyon and immediately confess his love. She hadn't paused to think how Lyon would react to Gray's love confession, or what might happen if Gray didn't confess. She certainly had not expected it to turn into an all out brawl!

A knock came at her door and she whimpered.

"Juvia, it's Cana. Can I come in?"

Juvia sighed, sniffled twice, and then quietly said, "You may come in."

Cana pushed the door open and walked in, shutting the door behind her and walking over to Juvia's bed. "You need to talk?"

Juvia started to cry again and Cana placed her arm around her shoulders. "Juvia just wanted Gray-san to see her. But she also wanted someone to appreciate her. Lyon-san saw Juvia and appreciated her, so she thought if Gray-san saw Lyon-san and Juvia together, he would realize what he was missing."

Cana gave her a sad smile. "So you tried to play the player, huh? You just had to go and make a tough situation harder than it had to be…"

Juvia hunched over, obviously ashamed of what she had attempted to do. "Juvia didn't think they would fight over her. Now she's not sure what to do. She doesn't think she likes Lyon-san like that, but she doesn't think she can forgive Gray-san for ignoring her either."

Cana pulled her closer. "You know what I think you need to do? I think you need to give it a few days, think things over. Don't call either of them, don't let either of them call you. Then you need to make a choice. I'm sorry to say but in the end, someone's heart is going to be broken. But I know from experience, whoever it is will live."

"Why are you so boy smart, Cana-chan?" Juvia asked.

Cana flipped some hair over her shoulder. "When you've had to dump as many boys as I have, you learn a few things."


Back inside the Fairy Tail guildhall, Lyon and Gray sat bandaged and each nursing a drink. "How did this happen?" Gray asked finally.

"Don't ask me. I thought Juvia had finally come to her senses and left you. She called me and I was ecstatic. It was my shot, so I took it," Lyon answered, taking a long swig of his beer.

"I know why she called you though," Gray sighed. "I was ignoring her. I was trying to distance myself from her. I don't blame her for moving on."

"Now why would you do something like that?" Lyon asked incredulously. "Even the few days she was with me, I could tell all she was thinking about was you. She wants you, not me, Gray." Gray's gaze flew up to meet Lyon's. "And obviously you want her, so why were you ditching her?"

It was Gray's turn to take a long drink. "Everyone close to me gets hurt…I didn't want to see that happen to her too. She's too good of a person. I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to her."

Lyon rolled his eyes. "You really are clueless, aren't you? You didn't want to her to get hurt, so you pushed her away, subsequently hurting her. Where's the logic in that?"

Gray sighed again, knowing his "brother" was right. "So where do we go from here?"

"Now it's Juvia's choice. Does she choose one of us, or neither of us? I wouldn't be surprised if it were the latter…but it'll be all right. It's gonna be alright."


A few days passed. Juvia avoided Gray like the plague, while Lyon went back to Lamia Scale. He quickly returned, however, when she called him and said she needed to talk to him.

The three of them met at the café, the same fated café from the week passed. Lyon and Gray sat next to each other across the table from a rather silent Juvia.

Just as she was about to speak, however, Gray blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Juvia questioned.

"I'm sorry for ignoring you, for treating you badly. I…I didn't know how to handle how I was beginning to feel towards you Juvia. I've said it once, I'll say it again: everyone around me ends up hurt. I didn't want to see you hurt too. So instead of confronting my feelings, I pushed them away instead. I pushed you away."

"Does Gray-sama mean it?"

And that was when Lyon knew he had lost. The moment the –sama had reappeared, he knew he would be fighting a losing battle.

Gray nodded. "Every word of it."

"Oh Gray-sama!" Juvia flung herself across the table, her arms clasped around Gray's neck as she latched on.

Everyone in the vicinity sweat-dropped.

"I guess that's my cue to leave," Lyon said, pushing away from the table and making to leave.

"Juvia is sorry as well, Lyon-san." Lyon turned back. "She did not mean to lead you on."

"Don't worry, I forgive you. You weren't the only one being led on, remember."

Juvia gave him a smile and a hug. As Lyon began to walk away he called back over his shoulder, "Doesn't mean I'm gonna give up on you though, Juvia!"

"Forget about it Lyon!" Gray called to him. Lyon just gave a wave and wink.

As Gray and Juvia began to walk back to the guild, Juvia turned to ask him a question. "Juvia just wants to know one thing. What was Gray-sama doing with Lucy-chan last week when you should have been at lunch with Juvia? When Lucy-chan hugged you?"

Gray thought back. "Oh, I was helping her with her novel! She finally let me read it, and I was giving her constructive criticism...as best I could. That's why she hugged me."

Juvia smiled at him. "So you have no feelings for Lucy-chan?"

Gray smiled back. "Nothing more than as a nakama."

Juvia pecked Gray on the cheek. "Juvia is happy she played hard to get!" Gray just rolled his eyes and pulled her along.


Hidden behind a tree and watching the entire thing, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and Erza let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Glad that's over. Maybe now she'll stop calling me Love Rival," Lucy said.

"Yeah, and now I can get back to beating Gray!"

"Seriously, can't you two go a week without fighting?" Lucy yelled.

"We did go a week, and that was too long! I've been itching to punch his stupid face!" Happy laughed at that.

"You're not helping, cat! Now I'm leaving. I need to find a job, because I need to pay my rent, and I have no money left since I paid for your lunches again!" With that, Lucy turned on her heels and began to walk away.

"Hey, you can't go on a job without me! Wait up Luce!" Natsu took off running after her.

Erza just smiled and watched as Lyon walked away, Juvia clung to Gray, and Natsu ran after Lucy. "Oh, it's all the same thing," she said to herself. "Girls chase boys chase girls."


So it's not the best thing I've ever written, but it was stuck in my head and I couldn't do anything else until I wrote it. It would have made me frustrated whenever I heard the song too.

Review and let me know what you think of it anyways!