When Juvia found out, she wasn't sad. Perhaps for a while the streets would be a bit more rainy than usual, and her appearance at the guild more sparse, but she had seen it as inevitable. The day when Gray would finally reject her, once and for all.

"Listen, Juvia, it's not you ... I know you'll find someone great." Gray said. When he looked up, there were tears in his eyes. Juvia shook her head, and smiled at him.

"No, it's okay. I think Juvia understands."

"No, Juvia, I'm so sorry-"

"It's okay, Gray." Juvia said. "But, Juvia is still your friend, right?" Gray looked down at the ground, before grinning at her.

"Of course!"


The truth was this: Gray didn't have a crush. Sure, he had feelings that he couldn't quite distinguish yet with a few females of the Fairy Tail guild: but, apparently, that was normal at his age. He sipped his drink, leaning against his chair as he looked up at one of his best friends: Cana.

"Still sad about your break up?" she asked, grinning at him slyly. He glared at her.

"Silly, it wasn't a break up. I just told Juvia how I felt about her. We still are close friends you know." he responded. Cana nodded, gravely looking at her glass of alcohol. Juvia and Gajeel had left the other day for unknown reasons, and told Master that they wouldn't be back for a week. People like Mirajane said that it was to mend Juvia's broken heart. However, when Cana saw Juvia the next day, she had to think twice. While the water mage seemed a bit worn out and tired, she actually looked happy. It was the strangest thing. Cana shrugged off this thought, putting a hand on Gray's shoulder for condolence.

"If you ever need someone, Gray," Cana whispered, "I'll be here. I promise you that." A smile formed on his lips, and he turned around to give a hug to the card mage.

"Thanks."


When Juvia and Gajeel came back, everything returned to normal. Save, of course, Juvia's usual Gray love antics, which had ceased completely. However, this seemed to have positive effects on the pair, as the ice mage and water mage seemed to be even closer than before. No resentment was found, or awkwardness - in a few days, in fact, the two were happy to go on a mission asked about it on the girl's slumber party the following day, she smiled.

"Juvia's not mad at Gray-sama at all! Juvia understands that he doesn't like me now, and, actually, Juvia's okay with that!" Juvia said in her usual peppy voice, and Lucy's mouth, which had been gaped open, formed into a smile.

"Of course, that's the way to think about it!" Lucy said, before hugging her friend. Erza had been sitting at the corner, eating her strawberry cake pensively. Juvia looked at her.

Come to think of it, Gray and Erza were very past was well known to the guild: how Gray, the cocky eight year old brat, had found the scarlet knight crying at a river and made friends with her, stopping all fighting with her. Macao and Wakaba claimed it was because of a childhood crush, but Gray would adamantly refute these statements, saying that Erza and him were "just friends".

"Just friends". She hated that term. If friends were the most important thing to a person, then, is "just friends" really so flattering? Juvia held her knees close to her chest. If anything, she wanted to help Gray-sama find his hapiness, even if that meant she couldn't find hers. Because, deep down, she knew that was the meaning of love, and that was the meaning of friendship.