Summary: Juvia and Gray are trapped inside a cramped space for seven minutes. Read between the lines, because everything isn't really what they seem to be.
Pairings: Mainly Gray/Juvia, Hints of Lucy/Natsu, Elfman/Evergreen, Gajeel/Levy.
Warning: Be wary of Fluff and Crack. :)
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"Gray-sama… I'm sorry." Juvia said, her lips quivering. "It's Juvia's fault."
"Maa, Juvia. We'll get out, okay? Just hold your tears in." Gray said, trying to comfort his companion. He knew her tears would flood the remainder of the space they were cramped into. He inspected the area for holes or anything he could bust open but there was none. "Damn, looks like we're trapped here for the meantime."
Juvia sighed and daintily nodded her head in agreement. In normal situations, she would have been happy about being so close to her one and only Gray-sama but this was too close for comfort... because they were stuck inside a godforsaken closet made out of metal.
Flashback
"Mou. Isn't there anything fun to do?" Lucy complained, spreading her arms on the spacious table. Apparently, the resident celestial mage was bored to death because all the others took the jobs that she was planning to take. She could have gone with Natsu, but the simple-minded dragon slayer was down for the outs, tired from the previous job that he and happy had gone to. She thought about Gray and Erza too, but they seem to be taking rests too for the same reason.
"How about this, Lucy-chan?" Mirajane handed Lucy a piece of paper. It was a request from the head of small village called Calione, saying that the village was tormented by a medium-level monster that was eating up all the crops and food supply. The reward was substantial; it would pay off a month's worth rent. "What do you think?"
"Hmmm. I could go on this one," Lucy said, staring at the paper. "But maybe later. I'm still tired myself."
"Well, suit yourself, Lucy-chan." Mira said with that everlasting smile on her face.
"Do you know where Gray-sama is, Mira-san? Juvia hasn't seen him in a while now." Juvia said, sitting in front of Mirajane.
"I think he's somewhere around here, sleeping." Mira replied. "Feel free to look if you like."
"Oh, Juvia does not want to disturb Gray-sama's slumber." The water mage said. "I'm guessing he's too tired."
Lucy joined in the conversation. "You do care a lot about Gray, don't you Juvia?"
Juvia shot Lucy a cold stare. "So what if Juvia does, huh, Lucy-san?"
"Eeeehhh!" Lucy backed away, startled by Juvia's reaction. "N-nothing.. Just askin'." She said, laughing sheepishly.
"Na," Cana said, slamming a barrel of wine on the bar table. "I've got the perfect idea to spice up your boredom."
All ears turned to Cana, with the exception of Natsu, Gray and Happy who were situated snugly on their respective sleeping places. Cana smirked, seeing all the attention. Even the Raijinshuu, who barely minded any other business except their own, also perked their ears for a brewing surprise.
"I know you guys love to get drunk," She said, gulping a mouthful of wine. "But this time, let's play a game called 'Spin the Bottle'!"
"Eh? Spin the bottle?" Natsu sleepily asked. "What's that?"
"Tch. I thought you were asleep." Gray said, creeping up from a bench.
Natsu glared at the ice mage. "Look who's talking."
"Ugh," Lucy sweatdropped. "Don't you ever think about anything other than slitting each other's throats?"
"Maa, maa. Looks like we've woken up the sleepyheads," Cana crossed her leg. "To give you guys an idea, all of you have to take glasses of alcohol." Cana set down a huge Guinness mug on the table. "After each round, one has to spin the bottle and whoever gets pointed by it will have to choose."
"Choose what, exactly?" Fried asked.
Cana gave an evil smirk. "Truth or Dare."
"Tch. How lame." Gajeel snapped. "I'm outta here."
"Oh, but I bet you wanna find out how a certain lovely writing mage feels about you." Cana teased.
"WHAT THE FREAKING HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"
"Calm down, Iron boy. You're so defensive." Cana smiled teasingly. "So, you in or not?"
Gajeel sheepishly glanced at Levy, who thankfully was busy with something else. He let out a sigh. "Whatever."
"Who else wants to join?" Cana said, amplifying the volume of her voice. "This game is not just for the laughs, you know. Many secrets have been divulged and many relationships have blossomed because of this game."
"I'm in!" Mirajane chimed in. "How about you two, Elfman, Lisanna?"
"I will join this because I am a MAN!" Elfman screamed.
"You're too loud, Elf-niichan." Lisanna said, rubbing her ear. "I'm in, too!"
Lucy raised her hand. "Me too!"
"Count me in!" Natsu and Gray said in unison. Both instinctively shot death glares to each other. Happy was inching away from the two, trying to avoid being caught up in between. "I just want fish, that's all." The blue cat added.
"Wendy, you can't drink, got it?" Charle commanded.
"Haaaii, Charle." Wendy replied. "I got it."
"Don't forget about us." Fried said, with Bickslow and Evergreen behind him.
"Juvia wants in, too." Juvia cheerfully said.
"Oi, oi. Aren't some of you guys still minors?" Macao said.
"Nah, don't try to act elderly, Macao-san." Cana said, handing Macao a glass of beer. "You started out as a minor too."
"Well, fine. I guess I can't say anything against that." Macao said, retreating from the guild. "I guess this party is for minors only." He grabbed Wakaba by the shirt and dragged him outside. "Let's go to a place where only adults are allowed."
Wakaba broke free of Macao's grasp. "You don't have to drag me out, you know."
"So, anyone else wanna join?"
A cold gush of wind swept through the guild. The sound of metal boots clanked upon the second floor level. "Don't you ever dare start a party without me." A cold voice came from above.
"E-Erza..." Natsu and Gray huddled close. "We're doomed."
Later that night..
"Okay, who's going to spin the goddamned bottle?" Natsu exclaimed, already half-drunk after 3 mugs of beer.
"I'm doing it! It's a manly thing to do!" Elfman fiercely replied. He too, was already intoxicated, albeit only having a couple more drinks than his friend.
"Drunk already? How un-manly. Pfft." Evergreen commented, eyeing her Tenrou partner from head to toe. "Looks like your beefiness is all for show."
"NANDATOOO? Care to say that again, Ever?"
SMACK!
"Do NOT call me that again. Only the Raijinshuu are allowed to call me that!" Evergreen said, overly annoyed. "If you do, I will turn you to stone for the rest of your days."
"You liiiiiiiiiiiike each other!" Happy purred, teasing the lovebirds.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" The two exclaimed in unison.
"Yare, yare." Lucy said, exasperated. "Can't we continue on with this sipn-the-bottle thing in peace?"
"Couldn't agree with you more, Lucy." Fried said, crossing his arms.
"LET'S JUST SPIN THE BOTTLE, SHALL WE?" Erza said, in a very Titania-like fashion. She grabbed the bottle from the table and handed it to the person nearest to her. "You do it, Juvia."
"O-okay…" Juvia shyly accepted the bottle and spun it. It whirled round and round.. until it pointed to a certain calm and collected ice mage.
"Great." Gray said sarcastically, being in a bad mood after consuming an amount of alcohol almost on par with Cana's daily dose. "Thank you very much, Juvia."
Juvia fell to the floor in guilt. "Gaaaaaaahhhh, Juvia is sorry, Gray-samaaaa!"
"Truth or dare?" Mirajane asked, with a very suspicious smile.
Gray had a very bad feeling about this. Though he was feeling the effects of the alcohol already, he was still sane enough not to choose something that might ruin his personal privacy. He crossed his arms and lazily leaned on the wall. "Dare."
"Perfect!" Cana said, emitting a seemingly evil aura around her. "I was hoping you would choose that, because..."
Here goes nothing, Gray closed his eyes, waiting for Cana to announce his fate.
"…you have been granted the privilege of seven minutes in heaven with the person who spun the bottle!"
"NANIIIIII?"
"Hai, hai!" Mira joyously said, as if she won the lottery. "Gajeel helped me construct a very special metal closet for the benefit of this dare!"
"METAL?" Gray said, exasperated.
"Ne, Mira-san, Cana-san… Isn't this a bit over the top?" Juvia said. "Juvia can''t-"
"YOU GUYS PLANNED THIS, DIDN'T YOU?"
"Saa, who knows?"
"Good luck in heaven, Juvia, Gray!"
That was the last thing they heard before they were forcibly pushed inside the closet.
Back to the present..
She could feel Gray's breath on her face. She bowed her head as low as she could, trying to hide the pink shade that crept up her cheeks. Wait, was there even anything to hide? It was very dark inside. Gray couldn't possibly whatever expression she made so she lifted her head back up, trying to get some air.
The scenario was just like in her fantasies. Never did she imagine being this close to her one and only Gray. How she wished the moment never ended but then, all she had was seven minutes.
"Seven minutes, eh?" Gray muttered.
Juvia froze. Did he just read my mind? How could he..
"If I hadn't spun that bottle, it wouldn't have…" Juvia trailed off.
Gray sighed. "Well, nobody could have done anything about it anyway." He said. "Let's just make most out of the seven minutes in here, Juvia."
Juvia couldn't say a word. If only she could melt on the spot without flooding Gray to death, she would have done it the minute they were inside. However, the feel of Gray's lean body on hers, his skin, and his warmth… it was priceless. The warmth was quite ironic though, because Gray is an ice mage.
"Hey. Are you okay?" Gray asked. "Are you feeling dizzy already?"
"N-no.." Juvia replied. "Juvia is just… a bit uncomfortable."
"I can feel you." Gray said quite tactlessly. Juvia after taking Gray's words literally, turned as red as ember. Gray, realizing the weight of his words, attempted to back away as far as possible but 1 inch was the farthest he could get, since there wasn't much space left.
"Wait—I didn't mean it that way!" Gray defended. Oh God. What in the hell possessed me to say that? Am I so drunk already?
"Juvia knows." She replied. Though she knew he didn't mean it literally, it somehow had a seductive tinge to it just because it came from Gray. If it were from any other guy, those were just hollow words.
"Gahhh." ruffled his hair. He felt the heat rushing up his face. It was just like that time when he was chasing Ultear and Zeref in the Tenroujima. There was no sign of that pink, glowing bracelet on his wrist and yet, his face felt hot.
Why am I feeling this way?
"Ooooooh, this is going to be SO exciting!" Natsu said in a drunken drabble. He was hyperactively jumping around the room, elated that his comrade got picked for the dare. "Gray and Juvia sitting on the tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
"For someone who's drunk, you're pretty good at spelling, Natsu." Lucy comically said.
"What was that Lucy?" He said, inching nearer. He grabbed her by the wrists and flashed a very mischievous smile. "Did you just say I'm dumb?"
"What- WAAAAAAHHHHH! NATSU! STOOOOOP!" Lucy screamed. She wanted to puke not because of the alcohol but because of Natsu spinning her around at a speed almost the same as that of a bullet train. "STOOOOOOOP IIIIIIITTT!"
"Oi, can someone stop this idiotic, fire-spouting dragon and that girl? They're getting on my nerves." Gajeel mumbled.
Levy sweatropped. "There, there Gajeel-kun. Don't be such a killjoy." She said. "You did an awesome job with the broom closet, by the way!"
"Tch. Thanks." Gajeel looked away, embarrassed.
"What a bunch of noobs." Cana said, gulping down a barrel of wine. "More wine, please!"
"Here you go, Cana." Mirajane handed her another barrel. "Knock yourself out."
"Remind me to heal Lucy-san's dizziness after Natsu-san puts her down, Charle." Wendy said enthusiastically.
"Hmph!" Charle crossed her arms.
"You should lighten up, you know." Pantherlily said. "It's a party after all."
"It's not like I want to be here. I'm just here to watch over Wendy. " She snobbishly replied.
"I wonder what's going in there." Erza said. "You should have made a secret peephole, Gajeel."
"Had I done that, Gray would have busted that closet open by now." Gajeel said.
"I see you're not yet affected by the alcohol, Gajeel-kun." Levy enthusiastically said.
"Of course, I'm a man of steel." Gajeel pompously said.
Elfman interjected. "Speaking of which, Gray should be a man and confess to Juvia!" he headed to the closet and shook the damn thing. "DO IT, YOU BASTARDS!"
"Oi, Elf-nii! you're going overboard!" Lisanna said, trying to restrain her older brother.
"Or, it could be the other way around." Evergreen said.
Happy stifled a laugh. "Or you guys could do the deed too."
Evergreen grabbed the poor cat by the tail. "You really have a death wish, don't you?"
Mira sweatdropped. "Yare, yare."
An awkward silence had befallen Gray and Juvia. After all that shaking caused by Elfman, Juvia had to huddle closer to Gray to keep her balance. Gray's arm was around Juvia's shoulder, keeping her close.
Gray was already feeling very tipsy. The world spun around him like he was on a roller-coaster. "So this is how Natsu feels when riding transportation, huh?" He said, breaking the ice. "I feel sorry for him."
"Un, Juvia is feeling a bit dizzy as well." She replied.
Silence.
"Gray-sama," Juvia started.
"What is it?"
"I... I-" She sighed. Juvia, you must not ruin the atmosphere! "Nothing."
"You always do that, you know." Gray said, letting out a sigh.
"Do what, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, curious.
"That thing when you're about to say something and then you cut it off." He replied.
What? He noticed that, too? "Well.." Juvia said. "Juvia is just shy around Gray-sama." Juvia felt the heat rise up her face again. It was a good thing Gray couldn't see her expression right now.
"Na, Juvia." Gray started. He shifted weight to the his other leg. He felt Juvia move as he did, trying to make their placement as comfortable as possible. He paused, resting his chin on the water mage's head. "What do you think.. about me?" Shimatta! Why the hell did I ask her that? Is the beer taking its toll on me?
Juvia's breathing stopped. She felt very light-headed. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or if Gray had really asked her what she thought about him. If ever he did, what was she going to say? Juvia thought that Gray was the most beautiful human being ever to grace the planet. He was the most amazing mage she had ever met. To her, everything about Gray was perfect. She could never love another man the way she loves him.
But, is she going to tell him all that? Is she going to risk the foundation of friendship that she was already starting to build?
"In what way, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked innocently. She decided to keep her composure. Once again, darkness was her friend because had this scenario happened outside, she would have ran away from him just like she always does.
But now, there was no place to run.
"In whatever way you see me, Juvia." He calmly replied.
"Well, Juvia thinks Gray-sama is amazing." She said innocently. There, a half-truth, Juvia thought. She had to sift her words or else, she most likely would lose her newfound friendship with Gray.
"Oh." Gray said, a tad disappointed. What answer was I expecting? "I'm glad you see me that way."
If only you knew, Juvia thought.
"Juvia." Gray said. "I think I love you."
Juvia was taken aback. Never in her whole life did she expect Gray to say those three words to her. Never.
"Alcohol really does weird things, ne, Gray-sama?" Juvia said.
Damn, I knew I shouldn't have said that! What a fool I am! He thought. Juvia might care all right, but not in 'that' way!
He inched closer. Gray was losing control over his emotions.
"What it did," He said, cupping her cheeks in his hands. "Was ruin my word filter." It sure did. May Kami-sama strike me for what I am going to do next.
"Juvia is sure you're very drunk now, Gray-sama. One minute more and we'll-"
She felt his lips close into hers. It was soft, warm.. and manly. Just like she expected. Gray-sama's kiss is surreal.
Juvia was frozen. This only happened in her fantasies. Is this real? She questioned herself. This has got to be a dream. Love, confessions and other stuff isn't Gray's thing. It's just the alcohol. Gray isn't serious about this. He'll forget it the next morning.
"We could be stuck in here forever, for all I care." Gray said, closing the gap between them. "Just stay with me, Juvia."
Juvia's hands rested on Gray's firm chest. She was too elated to say something. After all, her fantasies have materialized right before her eyes. She lay her head on the crook of his neck, savoring the moment. "I'm always here, Gray-sama."
It was perfect. The moment was perfect.
"YOUR SEVEN MINUTES IS OVER!" Natsu's face immediately materialized in as the closet door hung open. "I suppose you were K-I-S-S-I-N-G in there, huh, you pervert?"
"SHUT UP YOU DRUNKEN ASSHOLE!" Gray sent Natsu flying over. He headed towards Juvia and escorted her out, holding her hand for balance. All eyes were on them, watching their every move. Gray glanced back. "What?"
"Ahhh, I see love blossoming from the closet," Cana said, in a very sing-song way. "I told you guys. It's more than just a game."
Gray and Juvia blushed. "Okay, that's enough. I'm going to bed." Gray announced.
"Ohhhh, that's fast, Gray!" Elfman exclaimed. "That's how a man does it!"
"WHAT THE-?" Gray looked at Juvia. "Listen, it's not what you think!"
"Gray-sama..." Juvia said, her face glowing in the brightest hue of red.
"DAMN YOU GUYS!" Gray chased around Elfman, Natsu and all the others who were teasing him. Juvia sat on the nearest seat, trying to keep calm as possible.
Juvia felt someone sit beside her. She turned to see Lucy getting comfortable with her.
"You finally got your wish, ne?" Lucy said, winking on eye.
Juvia smiled. "Un." She said, watching her beloved Gray having fun. "Juvia is happy."
OWARI.
A/N: I hope I made you guys smile with this story! I had fun writing this, to be honest. I hope the feeling reaches your hearts too.
Don't forget to review! Constructive criticisms are gladly appreciated. :)