Summary: Modern AU setting. Ultear Malkovich at Magnolia University. First Year Law Student. On a mission to seek them out, out of a morbid curiosity and seething need to disrupt his life and make it a miserable, living hell, [because he was the one her mother willingly died for, when she so easily abandoned her own flesh and blood infant daughter a long time ago]; if it was within her means to do so.
Outline: Bitter Coffee. Room-mates. Locked gazes. Fresh coffee.
Prologue: cold coffee drafts
Ultear drank her coffee black and bitter.
She stopped adding milk and sugar to it a long time ago
She didn't really like it this way. But it fit her attitude and approach to life.
All cynical, embittered and disenchanted. Characters like that always had their coffee's black and bitter. And since she was well on her way to becoming that, she had decided to adopt the practice.
She found it was easier to stomach her dark, unsavory coffee against the harsh backdrop of the vicious bleakness and cheerlessness of her life anyway.
Not that her life was as horrible as all that.
Melody had been the only good thing in her life before, but now, there were a few more. And life wasn't so bad with Melody, Levy and Juvia to liven it up for her now and then.
It had only been a couple of months since she and Melody moved into Fairy Hill Dorms, and begun rooming with Levy and Juvia. That and a couple of summer courses together, and it hadn't taken them long to get better acquainted.
It was unusual for her, but it was nice. She had made some friends. Aside from little Melody, she hadn't allowed herself that luxury before.
But away from her Grandfather Hades, and his evil whisperings….
Maybe she could achieve some sense of normalcy in her life.
She doubted it.
There was a shadow hanging over her life here, and she meant to drag that shadow down to her level so she could gaze into it menacingly.
Maybe after that …..
She sipped the last dregs of her coffee, as she flipped to the next page, forcing herself not to wince, and focus on the material in front of her…
"Ahhh, That's it! I'm done," Juvia declared suddenly, smacking her textbook shut, and breaking Ultear's concentrated focus, "Juvia is going to go get another cup of coffee. Anybody else want one?"
Levy waved her off, fully immersed in her materials, her still full coffee cup barely touched.
"I'm good too, Juvia," Melody said cheerfully, "but Ul looks like she needs another cup"
Ultear sighed, "I guess I do," She put the tip of her pen to her lip thoughtfully, and absently handed Juvia her empty cup, "Thanks."
"You're welcome!"
Looking between Levy and Ultear, Melody piped in before Juvia made a bee-line for the coffee counter, "I know you two want to keep going, but I'm with Juvia. We should call it a night."
"The two of you can take off after that coffee and slack away all you like, missy. Ultear and me will keep cramming a few more hours. We don't want to break our straight A streak after all! "
"Yup, It's a shame though. Just a little more work, and you two could manage an A in this course. But meh, if you can't handle the heat, you don't want those A's badly enough…" She tucked her lilac hair demurely behind her ear on one side, and smiled evilly at them, purposefully dangling the temptation of 'A' under their noses.
They looked conflicted for a second, and then Melody slumped over the table. "I still can't do this anymore!"
"Me too, but maybe Juvia should stay and study after all," she swallowed, "if she wants A's like you two…"
"Uh huh." Levy agreed.
"It's not fair!. How can you read so much? And why are the two of you so much smarter than the rest of us?!" Juvia lamented, wrinkling her nose at them, then got up slowly to get their coffees "black and no sugar like always, right Ultear? For the life of me, Juvia cannot understand how Ultear can gulp that terrible concoction down!"
Neither could Ultear, but she had to stay in character.
That coffee was a metaphor of her past.
"It's an acquired taste, Juvia. And also, while we", she gestured to herself and Levy, sitting opposite her, and beside the plated glass windows like her, "are pretties with exceptional smarts, we also-"
"-we also work harder than the rest of you pretties put-together, smarts or no smarts-", Levy finished smartly, picking up from where she left off without missing a beat.
"What she said." Ultear acquiesced smoothly.
"Yeah, Yeah, we get it, you brainy over-achievers," Meredy stuck her tongue out playfully at them, "We're fine with our less impressive 'B's'. Go get that coffee Juvia. We can scram and have some fun without them."
"Alriiiiighty. Juvia really is done for the day. The thought of opening that thick book again right now…She'll pass," she said wearily, and started towards the counter.
Once Juvia was gone, a weird kind of humming quiet, settled around them that lasted for a total of five minutes because Melody suddenly broke it with a, "Bingo!" and Levy giggled, and said, "Uh huh," like she got it.
Ultear ignored their antics, and flipped the hair tickling her cheeks behind her ear. The other two exchanged inspired, amused glances, while Ultear tried very hard to concentrate on the tidy writing before her.
"So Ultear?" Meredy stated gleefully, breaking the playfully charged atmosphere between them, "I don't mean to interrupt your studying with fun or anything, buuut, did you know there's a hot guy across the café sneaking glances at you? He's been doing that for the last half-hour or so, I think….?
"…"
"Ever since he walked in actually..," Levy unexpectedly supplied, grinning widely, "I saw him do a double take when he first saw you from outside the glass windows. I was uber curious. At first, I couldn't tell if he was looking at you or Juvia, since you're both sitting on the same side, but it's clear as day now…"
"Uh huh,. Juvia isn't here now. and he's still staring intently at you Ul!…so… whatchya gonna do about it?" Meredy prompted ecstatically.
"Nothing." Ultear stressed, feeling flustered. She reached for her cup, and remembered she didn't have one. Juvia had gone to get her another one.
She had felt the distracting focus of his gaze on her for a while now. She was using all her energy to ignore it, and keep her cheeks from reddening against her will. She was also considering staring playfully back at him on purpose for fun, but something held her back.
"I was hoping we could all pretend to be oblivious to it…" she said, as matter-of-factly as she could, knowing it was a hopeless hope as her comment earned her evil chuckles from her well-meaning friends.
"Relax, you won't have to worry about Juvia. She won't have to pretend. She really is quite oblivious to it, bless her", Merry said in a sing song voice, implying she only had to worry about them, which was worse.
"….."
She looked back at her friends with a non-committal, long-suffering, dead-pan expression, refusing to play along.
"…Oh come on, Ul! Don't be a drag"
"Yeah. This is too exciting to just let go."
"Besides, the guy is attractive as hell, Ul. You should give him a chance. The two of you would look sooo good together."
"I second that. And to make things even better, I know the hot guy in question, and he's great! So if you'd like an introduction...you know who to ask Ultear. Oooh, I'm so going to have a field day with this."
"Whoa, Levy! Really?! Sweet! It can't get any better than that Ul-"
"-woow, it looks like you don't need me, Ultear. He's heading this way on his own…" Levy interrupted, wide-eyed, looking back at them after glancing his way.
"Didn't think he had it in him. He's surprisingly bolder than I expected. hmm" Then added teasingly, smiling at Ultear, "Or something about you just makes him bolder, eh?"
Ultear stood up abruptly, panicking. She gathered her books in a calm rush.
"I've changed my mind. I believe I'm done for the night. I will leave now, and you two will wait for Juvia to-"
Splat.
Neither Gray nor Juvia had been paying attention to their surroundings as they headed towards the same destination, so it was a given that she would crash into him, fall on her bottom and drop her purchased coffee's while he looked down at her in bewilderment.
Gray apologized hastily, helping her up.
It dawned on him suddenly as she blushed impossibly red, probably in embarrassment? that this girl had been sitting beside the girl who had momentarily stopped him in his tracks earlier.
He glanced back at the beautiful, arresting face that had jumped at him from outside the glass windows of the quaint little café compelling him to enter.
He panicked. She looked like she was going to leave.
"J-Juvia Loxar!"
"huh? Oh! uh I'm Gray!" he said briskly, then added abruptly to the girl who just nervously blurted out her name was Juvia Loxar, "Tell your friends not to leave," He rushed to the counter, looking back at Juvia on the way, and called out, "I'll buy you guys coffee, and a plate of cheesecakes to make up for knocking out your drinks!"
He couldn't lose sight of her yet.
The girl with red spider lilies in the whiplash of her gaze and dark hair the hue of muted orchids fascinated him.
He thought about that face as he placed his orders with Mira Jane, the friendly, attractive hostess of 'Faerie Treats Café.
Did he know her from somewhere?
An unusual jolt of familiarity had coursed through him when he spotted her. And in between drinking his coffee and studying her, he realized that she bore a very striking resemblance to Ul.
And the more he observed her unawares, the more he felt incredibly drawn to her. It wasn't just about her looking like Ul, or the fact that she was exceptionally pretty either. The girls sitting around her were very pretty too, put together in a different way, but pretty enough to catch any guy's eye nonetheless; and yet, they didn't incite the same response in him.
There was something about her – an air of remote sadness? a cold, casual detachment in her every movement? Or was it that he could almost feel the aliveness underneath all that vibrant stillness.
A vivid image of her curling up inside her perpetual, broken hourglass, adamant about stepping out because she was afraid she would impale herself on the broken bits scattered outside refused to go away.
There was that familiar stillness reflected in the dark spaces of her bottomless lilac-grey globes, a stillness he somehow felt he wanted to unravel...
He had an urge to see her escape her glass cage and come alive for him.
He didn't know why he sensed all these things about her or if he was just being fanciful which was quite unlike him in itself, but if there was any grain of truth in his observations, he wanted to find out for himself.
He had been very glad to note Levy sitting across her.
If observing them from afar didn't satisfy him, he could use the fact he knew Levy to go say hello. So he wouldn't look like a weirdo with a crush or a suspicious stalker or something if he tried to talk to her by himself.
And he had finally got up to do just that, when he bumped into Juvia.
She gave him an even better excuse to approach them - a silver platter excuse - now loaded with 5 delicious pieces of cheesecakes and fresh, oversized coffee mugs on him. Not that he wouldn't have done it otherwise. He did feel bad about knocking their drinks in his inattention. But now that he had his chance, he found he was nervous about going back there and finally talking to the source of his inattention.
,,,,,,,,,
Mira-Jane chuckled, having seen Juvia blush to the roots of Erza'a hair earlier and now, seeing Gray preoccupied and a tad bit nervous, she decided to tease him a bit.
"See something you like Gray?"
She was expecting him to glance back at Juvia who had not yet reached her table, her movements slow and hazy in her love-struck daze. He didn't.
Instead, he just snuck a glance at Ultear - the new bombshell around the block who just moved to Magnolia [and the Faerie Hill Dorms] a few months back.
She raised her pretty white brows interestedly.
Ultear was sitting at a corner table in her lovable Café opposite Levy and Meredy, who was the other new arrival [another hottie in her own right]. Speaking of which, Juvia was a newbie hottie too. She transferred to Magnolia a month or two before Ultear and Meredy. Sigh! Gray just had to be involved with the newbie girls in some way or the other, didn't he?
Mira-Jane recalled Gray having an embarrassing little crush on Erza once upon a time when she was new to Magnolia, though he had long since outgrown that now. And then there was pretty Lucy, who Natsu, Gray and Erza befriended, taking her under their wing. And now it looked like Juvia was hopelessly enamored with Gray who was hopelessly engrossed with Ultear…hmm…things were going to get very complicated indeed.
"Maybe…" Gray blurted out without thinking, surprising her with the bluntness of his reply, eyes still trained on Ultear.
"Here you Go!" she said cheerfully, handing him his tray, and bringing him back to the present while winking at him, "She's a tall order Gray, but I wish it works out for you. Good luck getting chummy with the newbie girls!"
"Right.… Thanks, I guess." he said dryly, blushing in embarrassment, because she had seen right through him. Was he that transparent?
Mira-Jane smiled sweetly and thought complications were sure to arise in this little, not so straight forward love chart that was in the making right now. Well, at least things would get interesting around here again.
She really did hope things would work out for Gray though.
He deserved some happiness in his life even if he didn't think so. Well, maybe things would change. He did look like he was determined to make some sort of definitive move this time around.
,,,,,,,,
Meanwhile, the girls groaned as Juvia walked back towards them in a glorious haze, plopping herself happily on her seat beside Ultear. She was steadily steaming puffed-up cloud 9's around her star-struck head, like a chimney on fire.
Ultear sighed uncomfortably, sitting gingerly back down, as Levy and Meredy slumped over their pages of material on the big square coffee table, face down.
She was sitting beside the glass windows with Juvia next to her on the open end of the table. She couldn't escape without bringing attention to herself even if she wanted to, afraid of the consequences of shaking Juvia from her love-struck stupor right then.
The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself in this situation. Sweet naïve Juvia, as always, completely missed the tense, awkward mood surrounding her.
"This is going to get complicated, isn't it?" whispered Levy, turning her head sideways to look at Meredy, cheek pressed to her study material.
"Yup, no doubt about it. Our Juvia's ill-timed love meter has struck at an inopportune time…" Meredy whispered back, turning to look at her as well.
"Just go with my original plan and pretend to be oblivious about it all like I said," Ultear hissed softly, sounding indifferent to the new developments.
"I suppose we will have to, won't we, Meredy?"
"Sigh, for Juvia's sake. And since Ul doesn't seem to be interested anyway….maybe he'll change his mind and fall for Juvia instead."
Juvia suddenly woke up from her daze, hearts in her eyes, and said excitedly, not noticing their guilty starts, "f-f-fall for Juvia? No wayyy! Uhhhh G-guys, Guess what!?"
"What?!" Levy asked spiritedly, sitting up and pretending ignorance for Juvia's sake.
"Juvia finally talked to him. The amazing guy Juvia said she was secretly stalking from afar for the past week or so? It's the same guy! He's going to buy us coffee and cheesecakes to make up for knocking Juvia out! He is soooo kind! Juvia was right to like him!"
"Huhhh, didn't I tell you to stop stalking him and try talking to him instead? And your pretty sure this is the same guy?"
"Juvia knows Levy, but but every time she approaches him, she simply loses courage! And yes!"
'No wayyy, the same guy? Talk about an unfortunate coincidence." Meredy couldn't help exclaiming woefully at this unexpected detail, then added, trying to be helpful, "hopefully, the guy isn't aware you've been stalking him., right?"
"I don't think so, butbut Juvia thinks its fate. To see him again, a face from your past and feel a special connection to them. Juvia is soo happy now she could die!"
"Okay Okay, don't die on us missy. Not for some hot guy you just met, well, technically, stalked, for the last week, I guess." Meredy chided playfully.
"Of course, I won't. But OH! I feel on cloud nine, Meredy! It feels like we're soo meant to be!"
"Do you like him that much?" Meredy asked fondly.
"Yeah, I really do…"
"Well, if Juvia likes him that much, I suppose it can't be helped. We'll do our best to try and support you." Levy said kindly. Meredy nodded.
"T-thanks you two." Juvia stuttered as she turned endearingly red again, the blood rushing quickly to her cheeks making it ample clear to them just how much she fancied the guy. They sighed, feeling sadly resigned. They really had to give up their earlier machinations and support Juvia now, didn't they?
Juvia suddenly snapped out of her daze, and addressed Ultear, "Ohh, I'm so sorry about your coffee, Ultear, but Juvia couldn't help it. She literally crashed into the boy of her dreams and Ohhh," she rambled on, wide-eyed, "Juvia hopes she didn't make a lame first impression! All she did was blush uncontrollably before him, and blurt out her name. But but he said he will replace our coffees! Oh he's sooo kind."
"I-It's fine, Juvia. The coffee's no biggie." Ultear added encouragingly, feeling awkwardly caught up in Juvia's tide. She attempted to wave her concerns off as casually as she could, "And you're adorable and cute when you blush like that anyway, so don't worry about that either."
This looked like the best time to get away.
"Anyway, I was thinking I should go-"
"Really? Do you think he thought I was cute?"
Juvia seemed to have only registered that part of their conversation.
"Uh, Yeah, definitely, anyw –"
"Butbut I didn't say much to him!"
Sigh.
"Its fine. Look at the bright side, You got to actually talk to the guy. You can stop stalking him now." Ultear said tiredly, feeling mildly annoyed that her attempts to leave inconspicuously for Juvia's own sake were going ignored by Juvia.
"But but but..can I really? I was only stalking him because I was too shy to talk to him. I don't think I'm over my shyness yet."
"We know, but you must! This is your chance to befriend him now. Talking directly to him should be no problem for you after this. Be more confident." She said sternly.
"That's right, Juvia! Ul is right. You can build a relationship with him properly this way. It's very exciting, isn't it?
"Y-you're right! Juvia will do as you say. Thanks Ultear, Meredy."
"No problem. Chin-up now. Prince dashing is heading back with his tray of goodies now." Meredy soothed her.
"R-really, OK!"
Juvia sat up straighter, fighting the temptation to look back at gray, while the rest of them slumped a little lower in their seats, hoping this wouldn't end in heart ache for her. There was still a chance things could work out in Juvia's favor by the end, and they would try everything in their power to push developments in that direction, since it seemed like Juvia cared too much, while Ultear didn't care at all.
Gray was a wild card. He was definitely interested in Ultear for the time-being.
"Hey Levy! How's it going?" he said casually, as he placed his tray on the edge of the table. He quickly grabbed a chair so and eased himself on it, "Mind if I join you?"
"Sure. I saw you come in. Why did it take you so long to come say Hi?" she asked innocently, just to give him some grief.
"Didn't see you there, being so tiny and all," he teased back, feeling uncomfortably like she knew exactly why he hadn't.
"Shut up, smartass." Levy said, while blushing. "Stop channeling Gajeel on purpose."
Juvia looked stunned, moving her eyes between them like a tennis ball, all flustered, "Ehh? You know each other already? That sounds suspicious. Juvia's romantic meter has activated."
Gray raised his eyebrows at her odd comment, unconsciously sweeping his gaze to Juvia's right at her, feeling self-conscious. Levy laughed it off, "We're not like that, Juvia."
"What she said. Gajeel would probably have my ass if it was like that."
The comment made Levy blush adorably again, and stuff her mouth with cake to hide it while Meredy chuckled and a whisper of a smile flitted across Ultear's lips before she bit it down.
"Oooh yeah. Juvia forgot about Gajeel-kun."
"Well, don't forget again, Ju. Lev obviously has Gajeel to go gaga over. How about introducing this hunk here for us Levy? So Juvia can go gaga over him!" Meredy teased pointedly, elbowing Juvia, and winking merrily at Gray at the same time, hoping to speed things up for her. "And I'm meredy, by the way."
Juvia blushed uncontrollably, looking very ripe for the taking.
Instead of taking the bait though, Gray just grinned awkwardly at Meredy and Juvia, acknowledging her introduction, and shot another quick glance at the elusive girl in the corner, not sure how to proceed, since the conversation had taken on an odd turn with the random teasing.
He pushed his tray of goodies forward, and said, "My peace-offering for knocking your drinks out earlier."
"OoooH. Thanks! Be careful Gray! Juvia might fall head over heels for you if you act so nice." Levy did her own little prompting taking Meredy's cue.
"L-levy!"
Ultear felt a little sorry for Juvia and the guy. Almost. Melody and Levy meant well, but they were being a bit embarrassing and a bit too obvious.
Gray was sure they were just kidding around with him, but he felt self-conscious anyway, especially since the girl he had in mind was completely ignoring his presence through it all.
She hadn't said a word, not even to thank him when she took her mug of coffee and cheesecake from the tray. She seemed to be deliberately ignoring her surroundings, as she leisurely sipped her fresh coffee.
The other girls were doing a good job trying to keep him distracted though. She would have to introduce herself sooner or later, right?
,,,,,,,,,,,
Ultear noted to herself that it was sweet as she drank it, but didn't say anything.
She had to remain as inconspicuous as she could right now. Besides, she found she liked this sweet taste, and might as well enjoy it briefly for this one time without complaint.
She popped another piece of blackcurrant cake into her mouth, licking the cream off her bottom lip self-consciously. She could still feel his gaze on her sometimes.
He cleared his throat, and poked Levy, "Hey Levy, introduce me- on second thoughts-
"sdrrygHesd Fray -", Levy said, with her mouthful.
"Don't bother, I'll do it myself." He said, rolling his eyes at her, "Sorry, I didn't get around to introducing myself. -Gray Fullbuster-"
Ultear and Meredy suddenly froze, their forks pausing midway to their mouth, Levy looking puzzled at their over-reaction.
He offered his hand casually, unsure why the atmosphere seemed to have chilled towards him all of a sudden, at least as far as Meredy, who was quite warm, and friendly to him previously.
Juvia was the first to take it, in a complete daze about it. Meredy shook it rather reluctantly. Levy didn't have to. And the unusually peeved girl in the corner who had all of his attention deliberately made no move to take it.
Instead, she abruptly stopped ignoring him, turning around to face him fully, dark haunted orbs pinning him down with a fathomless fury. He awkwardly dropped his hand, furrowing his brows and stared back into her fierce, beautiful eyes probingly.
She knew him somehow.
Or she knew of him. He was a bit of a trouble maker, but he didn't remember ever doing anything so terrible that she would hate him so. She acted like this was personal though, but he would have remembered coming across someone as exotically pretty as her before now.
"Come again?" she questioned silkily, an edge of resentment evident in her strong, clear voice,
Was it something he had said or done just now? Or did she know something of his past? She did react to his name. Meredy too.
"Gray Fullbuster," he repeated slowly, feeling nervous uneasiness clench his stomach as he locked gazes with her, wondering if she really wasn't related to Ul in some way after all. "Second year at Magnolia University, attending law school during the week, bumming around at weekends and working the community bar at nights...is something wrong?..." he rambled, trailing off uncertainly.
He finally had her attention, but it didn't look like the good kind.
She seemed to be seething internally, her gaze burning into him.
Juvia started, looking between them, the animosity radiating from Ultear confusing her, while Levy looked cautiously curious.
"Ultear?" Juvia inquired anxiously.
"Juvia?" Ultear stated coolly, going back to ignoring him "could you move out of the way, please? I need to leave."
"But-"
"Just Move Juvia", she demanded coldly.
"Juvia, just do it please," Meredy urged her quickly, looking seriously uncomfortable at the turn of events.
Juvia looked understandably perplexed at the sudden change in atmosphere, looking between all of them, unsure.
Levy gazed thoughtfully at Ultear and seemed to have made some deductions about the situation at hand, and nodded to Juvia reassuringly, who finally complied with Ultear's demand.
She had picked up her half-empty coffee mug while she waited for Juvia to comply, looking coldly in control of herself, but he could sense the underlying frustrations she was bottling up and he wanted to ask her why?
She barely knew his name and already the atmosphere between them was exploding with this horribly oppressive tension, and he needed to know more.
He grabbed her arm as she passed by him and opened his mouth to say something to her-
"Ultear Malkovich" she announced loud and clear.
And abruptly dumped the cold contents of her coffee mug on him, slamming it on the edge of the coffee table in the space of a minute, leaving him behind, stunned and wet, the cold dregs of her creamy white, sweet coffee clinging to his shirt and face.
She impudently strode out of the café after dropping her little bombshell on him.
She had the same last name.