A/N: So... how's it goin'? I mean, pssh... it's not like I've been, like, gone for a long time or anything. I mean, c'mon. Didn't I just post something like... a few months ago? SEE! Not that long! Haha! Hehe! Heh...
Ahem. So. Er, I'm just gonna... hide in the corner. Or something... enjoy this apology (bolded, underlined and italicized) one-shot and as always, see you in the next one! -808Lionfire
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
Overview: Could be Rated K but Rated T because of the thoughts that run through my mind (just because I didn't write them down, doesn't mean the feeling isn't written in the words, haha!). High School/Modern!AU. Genre: Romance/Friendship but with a little bit of Angst/Hurt/Comfort but I didn't want to add that into the sub-genre... people might get the wrong idea. Just so you aren't confused, the main plot is focused around Gruvia but Nalu, Gajevy and Levy/Juvia/Lucy friendship is also a main point as well.
Summary: "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes, courage is the small voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow'." -Mary Anne Radmacher
Pairing(s): Gray/Juvia, Natsu/Lucy, and Gajeel/Levy. But mostly Levy/Juvia/Lucy friendship.
Courage
"She's really brave for confessing like that everyday."
And that's how it starts. Everyday after the last class concluded, that's how the whispers and the gossips starts.
She tries her best to ignore them. She really does. However, even a grand mountain eventually weathers to a harsh breeze and that's what she was; a mountain in the wind. She stands tall and grand against the whispers people murmur, but even mountains are allowed to cry. The only difference is that she doesn't let them see it. Or, at least, doesn't make them blatant as the rivers on the mountainside.
"I think it's kind of pathetic," Someone whispered in disgust, "He's a Fairy for goodness sake."
"I don't know why she keeps trying," Another mumbled, "I mean, she just keeps on getting rejected. I would have given up a long time ago."
A small squeak rung, "Shh! Do you want them to hear you?!"
Too late for that.
"Don't listen to them, Juvia," A kind voice scoffed from the blunette's side, "They don't know what they're talking about."
Turning to her left, the Russian teen glanced hesitantly at her blonde friend who took to glaring at anyone who'd look their way. Thankfully, the gesture worked perfectly. No one dared to meet the blonde teen's gaze, usually turning away or quickly shutting their mouths before her brown orbs could fall on them. Lucy Heartfilia. The blonde could be kind, but everyone knew that if you messed with her friends, she's merciless.
"We're Fairies too," Another voice pointed out dryly, "What's so wrong about that?"
Juvia turned to her right, having to tilt her chin down to get a good look at her other friend. The tiny bluenette's cheeks were puffed out in indignation as her hands clutched her books tighter to her chest. In all honesty, if it weren't for the smaller bluenette's pristine record, she would have slammed the bundle of pages on each one of the gossipers heads. Levy McGarden. In their division - Fairy Tail - everyone knew to stay away from the tiny teen when she got riled up.
"They're lucky Erza's not with us," Lucy snorted.
Levy rolled her eyes, "I don't know why they look down on Fairy Tail when Fiore High's Student Body President is a main member."
"It's because our division crumbled for seven weeks after our section went under maintenance during Summer break... there's that and the fact that the Tigers actually grew some ba-"
"Lu-chan!"
"Tch, I was going to say 'backbone'," The blonde muttered and whipped her head away from her two friend's unconvinced stares in favor of glaring at one of the lockers they passed by, "I can't forgive them for what they did to the others."
"We'll show them soon, Lu," Levy smirked uncharacteristically, "The Grand Games are next week, remember?"
"Can't wait," Lucy grinned darkly, "You go get 'em in linguistics, Lev. Juvia's going to beat them down in water sports, right?"
The bluenette slightly reared back when the blonde teen whirled on her, taking her shoulders in a firm grip. Her eyes shined in determination as she leveled Juvia with a hard stare. Slowly, the Russian teen gave a hesitant nod. Seemingly satisfied, Lucy nodded with a huge grin on her face. Meanwhile, Levy stood off to the side, hiding a snicker behind her hand.
"I think Natsu's competitive nature is rubbing off on you, Lu."
Lucy blinked blankly at the smaller bluenette before she shrugged carelessly, "Eh, I'm okay with that."
"Juvia wonders..." The namesake finally spoke up but trailed off when both girls turned to look at her. The bluenette swallowed hard and continued, "Juvia wonders if Mr. Makarov made a wise choice choosing her for the water preliminaries."
"Of course, Ju," Levy smiled reassuringly, "Water is basically your element. No one can beat you there."
Juvia shuffled uncomfortably, "Still..."
"You can even beat me in the water," Lucy deadpanned before giving off a cold shiver, "And as arrogant as that sounded, I had Aquarius as my swimming teacher."
The other two shivered, an uncomfortable strike of fear shooting down their spines. Juvia had to give her Love Rival that one. Aquarius was scarier than Erza could dream ever be. On a good day. They collectively agreed that they were glad the woman quit her day job to spend more time with her boyfriend, Scorpio. Aquarius called every once in a while on good terms. However, Lucy claims that it's only because the swimming instructor wanted to rub her relationship status in her face.
It was a sad fact but true nonetheless.
"Thank Mavis tomorrow is Friday!" Lucy exclaimed in glee, abruptly changing the subject. The blonde stretched her arms over her head, "I can't wait for the weekend!"
"We have a day off on Monday too!" Levy cheered in equal amount of excitement, her hazel eyes staring at the other two teens, "You know what that means!"
The three looked at each other and grinned before answering simultaneously, "Movie Marathon!"
Lucy and Levy giggled in excitement as they pushed open the front doors to the school building. Juvia followed after them, a small smile on her face as she watched two of her best friends ramble amongst themselves. It hadn't been very long since Juvia's original branch, Phantom Lord, had been shut down since their Branch Advisor quit after a 'small disagreement' with Fairy Tail's Advisor, Makarov Dreyar. Every member of Fairy Tail accepted both her and Gajeel with open arms, which was a far cry if their situations were reversed.
Levy, Lucy, Erza, Cana, and Mira (just to name a few) made sure she was comfortable in their dorms and she was forever grateful for them. And even if the other boys had a scuffle every now and again with Gajeel, she was sure that was their way of getting him comfortable as well. She doesn't know how she could ever repay them all, especially after the horror that her branch put them through.
"Oi!" A gruff voice called out to them, breaking Juvia out of her thoughts. She turned to see her dark-haired friend (a.k.a. Gajeel Redfox) cupping a hand over his mouth, shadowing a smirk and pointing to something on the ground. "Mind kickin' that back, Shrimp?"
The tiny bluenette's cheeks puffed indignantly, "I said stop calling that! I'm not that short!"
"Gihi," Gajeel smirked, folding his arms over his chest, "Just callin' it how I see it... Shrimp."
"ARGH!" With a disgusted battle-cry, Levy stomped towards the ball that was two feet from them. Juvia watched in amazement as her tiny blue-haired friend drew back her leg and harshly connected it with the black and white soccer ball, "Have your stupid spherical truncated icosahedron, Giant!"
If the dark-haired teen hadn't lifted his hand in the last second, Juvia was sure the ball would have smacked him right in the face. Levy's orange headband fluttered to the grass and, out of habit of being around her beloved, the Russian teen immediately bent down to pick it up. She watched as her blue-haired friend pushed her wild hair out of her face and gratefully accepted her headband with a kind smile before glaring back at Gajeel. Juvia, for a second, thought that Levy was going to stomp over there, but Lucy's hand popped out of nowhere and lightly gripped the tiny bluenette's shoulder.
Juvia turned back to their blonde friend, expecting to see concern or even anger for their blue-haired friend. However, the teasing and mischievous grin on Lucy's lips quickly shot down that idea.
"I think that's enough flirting today, Lev," The blonde teen teased, sending a wink over to Juiva, "Don't you think?"
Levy flushed at the other bluenette's giggles, "Lu!"
"Hey Luce!" A cheerful voice drew their attention as a familiar bright eyed, salmon-haired teen rudely pushed Gajeel out of the way and jogged towards them. He ignored the dark-haired male's threats in favor of grinning at the blonde. "You heading home already?"
"I hope you're going to apologize, Natsu," Lucy eyed the boy warily and whined when he threw an arm over her shoulder, "Ew, you're all sweaty."
"Well, duh. I'm on the team, weirdo," Natsu rolled his eyes, ignoring the girl's yelp of indignation. A second later, and a good whack to the back of the head in courtesy of the blonde, his expression was detached and he pouted at the blonde, "You still didn't answer my question."
"Yes, we're heading back to the dorms," The other teen's eyes sparkled and he opened his mouth to speak but Lucy easily cut him off, "And no, you're not invited. Now go away before Gajeel starts coming here and Levy decides to do some castra- Oh no."
Natsu was quickly ripped away from Lucy as Gajeel trapped the salmon-haired teen in a headlock. He immediately broke free and they started a two-man brawl, wisely a yard or two away from the girls. Both Levy and Lucy sweat-dropped at the pair before they gripped one of Juvia's arms in theirs and dragged her away. Once they were a a good distance away, they let go of Juvia's arms and sighed. The Russian teen glanced back and saw none other than Gray Fullbuster, gorgeous and shirtless, walking over to the two boys and tossing a soccer ball between them.
Juvia let out a disappointed sigh, "If Natsu and Gajeel hadn't started a fight, Juvia could have interacted with her crush like Lucy and Levy."
"N-Natsu is not my crush!" Lucy spluttered indignantly (along with Levy who agreed on her and Gajeel's part), her face turning bright crimson. Although she said that, she and the two bluenettes knew that wasn't true. "B-besides," The blonde continued with a flushed face, "Who said you can't interact with him now?"
"Lu's right," Levy piped in, her blush a little more tamed than Lucy's, "It's not much, but you can still wish him a good day and a fruitful practice."
Juvia glanced at her two friends for a moment before she blushed as well. Right. She knew that. Quickly, the bluenette turned on her heel just in time to see her beloved walking back to the field behind the two who started a verbal battle. Juvia placed a gentle hand over her racing heart and used her free hand to cup her mouth.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia called after a deep breath. Struggling not to faint when her beloved actually turned, she took another deep breath, "Juvia is heading to her dorm and wishes Gray-sama good luck during practice!"
It was slight, but Juvia could have sworn she saw the handsome dark-haired teen smile at her. "Thanks, Juvia!" Gray called back and the bluenette felt her knees go weak when he waved at her, "See you tomorrow then?"
"Y-yes!" Juvia stuttered, her face flushing in happiness as she shyly waved back, "Juvia will definitely see Gray-sama tomorrow!"
In fear of actually fainting of happiness, Juvia quickly turned around, grabbed both Lucy's and Levy's arms, and quickly walked away from the scene. Her two friends giggled in glee as the excitedly skipped around the blushing teen. Their eyes sparkled as they rambled about how 'cute' that was, or how 'adorably shy' she was. Juvia could clearly see that her happiness was reflected and amplified by the pair and she honestly couldn't be happier. Her heart was still racing like adrenalin pumped through her veins.
"Juvia now knows what Cloud 9 feels like," The bluenette giggled with the biggest smile on her face.
Lucy and Levy, catching what she said, squealed. They weren't embarrassed knowing they're acting like complete fangirls. Soon enough, the girls walked through the doors of Fairy Hills, Fairy Tail's female dormitory, and wasn't surprised when they found the girls in the mess hall. Juvia was still on a love-like high when Levy and Lucy explained what happened to the other girls. In true Fairy Tail fashion, the girls circled around the Russian teen and expressed their excitement.
Erza Scarlet, a pretty red-haired senior, smiled and clapped the girl a little too hard on the back. Mira Strauss, their gorgeous white-haired dorm's mother, squealed and demanded even more details while the white-haired woman's little sister, Lisanna Strauss, grinned blissfully for the bluenette. Cana Alberona, her pretty brunette roommate, drunkenly placed a hand on her shoulder and offered up her little flask. Juvia refused.
After a couple of hours of talking, they finally had dinner in courtesy of Mira's amazing cooking. They mingled around for an hour after before calling out goodnights and retiring to their rooms. After Fairy Tail's complete renovation, each 'dorm' was more like a small two-bedroom apartment. Living room included. Juvia hadn't minded the small living section with both beds against separate walls, but she did like this way the best. Cana... was an interesting sleeper, especially when she was drunk and sleep talking.
"G'night, Juvia," Cana grinned, waving to the bluenette.
"Good night, Cana," Juvia smiled back and waved to the brunette as she went in her room and closed the door.
The Russian teen collapsed on her bed, burying her face into her pillows. She then let out a bubbly squeal, the sound muffled exponentially by the fluff. Slowly, the smile slid of of her face as the other students' comments echoed in her head. Juvia tried to empty her mind to block out their words, but that didn't work. Instead, the bluenette gathered up a clean change of clothes and decided to take a quick shower before bed.
Juvia washed away all of that day's frustrations and felt her muscles sigh in relief. By the time she curled up in bed, her mid and body was completely exhausted. Her mind drifted back to the small exchange after classes and she couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. That was the first time Gray actually said that. She knows it could have just been formality because she wished him good luck, but Juvia wanted to stay positive. She wasn't going to succumb to the other students' whispers.
She's a strong mountain; a little wind won't weather her down. She's allowed to cry with the ones that mattered because they support her with everything in them. She'll definitely do the same. Those students can talk all they want but Juvia is actually getting somewhere with Gray and if it's just friends, then she'll be happy. But that doesn't mean she's going to stop trying.
With that thought in mind, Juvia's eyes slid closed and a smile filtered on her lips, "Juvia will try again tomorrow."