Author's note: Hey everyone! I have had this idea for the past few days for a fanfiction about Natsu and Juvia spending some time together and getting to know each other more. This is my first one, so constructive criticism please! Hope you enjoy reading it!

DISCLAIMER: Fairy tail belongs to Hiro Mashima and not me! (If it had belonged to me, all the ships would have reached the horizon by now. :3

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1. A Broken Heart

"So boring." was all Juvia could say with her head resting on the countertop.

"Bad day, huh, Juvia?" Mira asked with a comforting smile on her face when she saw the way Juvia's shoulders slumped.

The water mage shifted her position so she could look at Mira, "It started off pretty well, Juvia woke up earlier than usual to take a stroll, she also baked a batch of heart-shaped cookies for Gray-sama, but she now realizes that she did it for nothing!", she said with a sigh.

"I don't think it was all for nothing. Gray could just be late. He might come in any second now!".

"Gray-sama almost never is late at the guild, except for when he is really busy or has something really important to do." She stated with an unconvinced expression.

"Well, what if he does have something important which he has to take care of?" Mira asked, her efforts proving to be futile as the only response she got from Juvia was a 'Juvia knows he doesn't. ' and a half hearted 'hn' when she tried to convince her to go and talk to other people in the guild instead of waiting for Gray to come. Realizing that it wasn't working, she went back to serving the customers and decided to give the sulking water mage some time to get over Gray's absence.

"Oh, Gray-sama!", Juvia groaned. "Your absence drives Juvia crazy, you know?"

Suddenly, as if sensing something—or someone—she sat up straight, eyes wide. One could see the gears in her mind work.

"Hey, Juvia, you okay?" she heard someone ask, but she chose to ignore the question and continued her thought process.

"Juvia's 'Gray-dar' is sensing something! Maybe Gray-sama is around here somewhere! Maybe he's on his way over to the guild!" she excitedly looked around. As she turned to look at the entrance to see if someone was there, as if on cue, a certain ice mage walked in, fortunately, with all of his clothes on. All the colour lost from Juvia's face returned and she got up, with hearts in her eyes and full of energy, happy to see her beloved.

"Gray-sama, you're here! Juvia missed you so much! She was worried you weren't coming today! She even thought of paying you a visit, but then you could have been busy and she didn't want to disturb you! Where were you?"

Chuckling inwardly at her excitement, he said, "Hey there, Juvia. It wasn't anything to be worried about, I just woke up a little late today so I decided to come to the guild a little later than usual." Looking at her with a soft smile on his lips as she raised her eyebrows her mouth formed a little 'o' indicating that she understood, he felt himself enjoying Juvia's company more and more as the days went by. Sure, she could be a little—okay, more than a little—possessive and clingy when it came to him, but still, she was really fun to be with. Realizing that he'd been staring at her too long, he noticed the slight blush dusting her cheeks and looked away, feeling his own cheeks heat up.

"Um... Gray-sama?"

"Yeah?"

"Juvia asked you if you wanted to get something to drink. It's pretty hot this time of the year."

"Sure. You're right, it is a little warmer than usual. I'd like to cool off a bit."

Juvia was more than right. It was hotter than ever and everyone in the guild was feeling it, including the famous ice mage Gray Fullbuster. Sure, he could keep himself cool with his ice magic, but he would just be wasting his magic power then, making him even more tired.

As they headed towards the bar, Mirajane noticed the change in Juvia's behaviour and the hint of a smile on Gray's lips as Juvia went on with her usual chatter. Suddenly, her eyes glinted with mischief, as her mind thought of a plan. She was going to live up to her reputation as the match-maker of Fairy tail, yet once again.

*

"So Gray, Juvia, will it be the usual?" Mira smiled and went off to prepare the drinks when she received their nods, keeping an eye on both of the mages.

She looked on as Juvia went on about her routine, asking her love how his day was, while the said man gave his answers.

Everything was just like always, but she didn't fail to notice Gray's change of attitude towards Juvia. Normally, he would just focus on his drink instead of Juvia's chatter but today, he was actually paying attention to what she was saying. Not only that, but he was talking too. Answering her questions, voicing his thoughts, all that he wouldn't have done a few months ago.

What captured her attention the most was the way he smiled—not a big one, but big enough for Mira to see that he was feeling happy— at Juvia when she wasn't looking or when she was lost in one of her fantasies.

The change in behaviour and that smile was enough to confirm her suspicion. Gray was finally coming on terms with his feelings. He was no longer in denial or trying to avoid them. All he needed was a little time and she was sure the water mage would give him as much time as he wanted.

Looking at them, the take over mage felt at peace and with that, her brain formed a wonderful plan, as she thought of it to be. Wearing her usual expressions, but with a little glimmer in her eyes, she proceeded with her plan.

"Say, Juvia, aren't you taking any missions lately? The request board is full of them."

Juvia paused, looking at the beautiful mage before her. "Oh... Actually, Mira-san, Juvia finished a mission three days ago so she was just taking some time off. But now that you mention it, another mission doesn't sound so bad." she said with a smile.

Mira inwardly celebrated, as her plan was off to a good start. "Well then! Go choose a job, there's plenty of them! Also, why don't you take Gray with you?"

Gray, who was in the middle of taking a long sip of his drink suddenly burst into a series of coughs, unwillingly spilling his drink in the process. Juvia immediately stiffened, her eyes as wide as saucers in response to the suggestion. As the words sunk in, the expected reaction started to show, with a dark flush on her cheeks.

"Wh-what? A j-j-job with G-gray-sama!" As she stammered, she was lost in thought. "No, Juvia can't do that. Gray-sama just came from a job yesterday. He must be tired. Juvia can't risk him being sick just because she wants to go on a job together." She had taken her decision, the colour of her cheeks lessened, but still on show.

"In the past, Juvia wouldn't have missed even one chance to go on a mission with Gray. But now, her main priority was Gray's well-being, even though it means giving up an opportunity which she may not have for a long time. They've grown, both of them."

Mira's thoughts were full of old memories, like the first time they met, they were on the verge of taking each others' lives. But now, after Gray put his life at risk for Juvia and how Juvia defeated Keyes even though she knew that by doing so, it would indirectly result in Silver's 'death', she did it all just for her Gray-sama—just so he could live his life without regrets, looking at all that has happened in the past, there was definitely a change.

The pair of mages had gone through a lot together, from taking each others' lives to fighting for the same, they had formed a unique bond between them. This bond and this change was what made Mira desperately try to bring them together. In her mind, they were perfect for each other.

"Actually, Juvia, I wou—" Gray was cut off by a loud voice calling his name.

" Oy ice-princess! Did the ice finally freeze your brain or what?" Upon looking towards the source of the noise, Gray realized that it came from a certain pink-haired fire mage.

"What the hell, Natsu! I was in the middle of saying something! And what did you just say about my brain? Wanna pick a fight, you punk?"

"Just shut your stupid mouth and come over here. We're going on another job." Natsu gave his famous toothy grin and motioned towards the request board.

"Another job? Already? We just came back from one yesterday!" Gray eyed the huge plank of wood wearily, his body still recovering from the previous mission.

"I know, but Lucy needs money for her rent and since we're a team, I think we should help her even though she thinks she can do it all by herself."

"I can hear you, you know!" The pretty blonde replied, annoyed by her best friend's opinion on her capability. "Also Gray, you don't have to come if you don't want to. I know that you're pretty tired from the last mission. Don't listen to Natsu. I was gonna go alone anyway." Lucy smiled, an expression of understanding on her face, which completely contradicted the look of pure anger which she shot towards the fire mage, whose grin only widened after

Gray thought about if for a while. Though his body opposed the idea of going on another mission, he couldn't deny the fact that he was in need of money too.

"I won't mind another mission. Anything that pays well seems good to me." While Gray went over to the request board, the blue haired beauty felt left behind.

Juvia tried to conceal her disappointment as much as she could, but failed to hide it from Mira.

With her failed plan, she looked at the broken expression on Juvia's face and felt pity for the young girl. "Don't be sad, Juvia. I'm positive you'll go on a mission together soon."

Juvia seemed taken aback by this. "Juvia accepts that she's sad because she didn't get to go on a job with Gray-sama, but what worries her is that he is going on a job even though he isn't in the condition to do so. She just hopes he'll be okay." A smile creeped it's way onto Juvia's lips as she watched the love of her life quarrel with his somewhat rival.

"But aren't you worried about him being with Lucy on the job?" Mira's teasing tone made Juvia's smile falter as she looked at Mira. A hint of uncertainty rose in her ocean-blue eyes as she spoke.

"Juvia would have been concerned if it was just the two of them going on a mission alone. Since that's not the case, Juvia is okay with the situation till Gray-sama isn't affected negatively by this mission." Just as she finished voicing her opinion, she felt someone come up behind her. As she turned around to look, the face of the man she was just talking about came into view.

"Did you guys choose the job you want to go on?" Mira's question made Juvia tear her eyes off of Gray, and she turned the other way to finish her drink.

"Yeah. The request is with Lucy. We'll start our journey today evening."

"That's good. Natsu's hyped up about the mission as usual." Mira chuckled.

"Well, about that..." Gray's words were full of discomfort, indicating that he wasn't okay with the current situation. "Natsu can't come. The mission says it only requires an ice mage and a celestial mage. So I guess it'll just be me and Lucy."

Gray was obviously not very excited about the mission, but that didn't lessen the bitter feeling that rose within Juvia. She tried to get rid of the doubts that clouded her mind but they just didn't want to leave. She looked towards the request board, where Lucy was desperately trying to explain something to Natsu, who was silent the whole time, with a sad expression. Probably the only thing they had in common at the moment.

She turned her attention to Gray, who was talking to Mira about the job. She mustered up a smile and tried to set her emotions aside.

"Gray-sama, all the best for your mission! Please be safe and take a lot of care of yourself and Lucy-san. And also, try to come back quickly. Juvia will be waiting for you!" She gave him the best smile she could manage with her mind constantly nagging her with negative thoughts.

Gray looked at her, doubt prominent in his black orbs. He seemed to be lost in deep thought, eyebrows furrowed, his gaze never leaving Juvia's. He opened his mouth, as if he was trying to say something, but then decided against it.

With one last lingering look, Gray excused himself out of the guild in order to prepare for the job. Just as Gray stepped foot outside the guild, all the negativity she had put aside came back to her, as if a storm was going on, just around her.

"Hey, Juvia...Are you okay?" Mira's concerned voice rang in her ears as Juvia turned around to face the take-over mage. Putting on her facade once again, she gave Mira a reassuring smile.

"Juvia's fine, Mira-san. She just needs some time alone." Mira nodded, deciding to give the low-spirited water mage time to think things over.

Juvia didn't want to feel this way. She wasn't fine and she knew that her state of mind wasn't unknown to Mira. But she was relieved by the fact that Gray hadn't seen through her facade.

She didn't like lying to her friends. In fact, she hated it. But she also didn't want to drag any of them into this mess that was going on in her mind. Lying to them ensured that they wouldn't be worried about her.

Not that lying to Mira made her feel better, it made her feel worse than ever. It just added to the bitterness, softly chipping away at her heart, which was on the verge of breaking apart as she went to the table at the darkest corner of the lively guild, sitting down, trying to clear her mind.

Hopefully, it wouldn't rain tonight.

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Author's note: :That was the end of chapter 1! It took much longer than I expected, but it's finally done! Many of you guys might find the characters OOC, especially Juvia, and I'm sorry if you don't like it. But I really wanted Juvia to be just a little mature and have a little control over her feelings because I really like her that way. Also if the chapter is too long for you or anything , please tell me your suggestions in the comments, I'd love to hear them.

Also about the next chapter, I'll try to update as soon as possible, but it may take a lot longer because I have to attend school and complete stuff so I hope you guys understand. Lastly, thank you so much for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed :D