Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, its characters and their stories.
Ambiguity
It had been some time since she took a solo mission. After getting back from Tenrou they did not even have time for anything other than train for the Games, and they did waste that time in the Celestial Spirit World. So, when the events that followed the Games finally ended, they and everyone in the guild, did nothing but party for about a week. Now that everything was going back to normal -all the normal it could get being Fairy Tail- the mages from the Tenrou Team were starting to go on jobs like there was no tomorrow.
That morning upon entering the guild Juvia was knocked to the floor by a very excited Natsu followed by Happy, both of them saying something about going on a job with the team. Since she didn't see neither Erza nor Lucy, she assumed the whole of Team Natsu would be going. Now she was in front of the board looking through the fliers searching for some interesting job. As nothing caught her eye, she just grabbed the first one with a reasonable reward that could cover more than just her room at Fairy Hills and walked off to Mirajane for her approval of the job. The barmaid was, as always, cleaning the counter, and as soon as she arrived Mira just took the flier, inspected it with a slightly worried, slightly amused look, and returned it to her.
"You might want to take someone with you for that. -said Mira as she still wiped the counter.- It might be hard work for just one person. I should know."
Mira chuckled and waited for her to realize what kind of job she had just picked. She quickly read the description. A restaurant in Hargeon was looking for some mages to help their waiters and at the same time defend them from some dark mages that had harassed their crew. Especially the women. They requested at least two mages.
"But I cannot ask anyone. Gajeel-kun is already busy." Juvia said as she pointed at said Dragon Slayer. He was in a corner of the guild in what appeared to be in the middle of a heated discussion with Levy. "Besides, he would not like the job."
"Why don't you just ask Gray then?" Mira smiled knowingly at the blue haired mage.
"G-Gray-sama? He is in a job with Natsu-san and the others. Is he not? I just saw Natsu-san leaving saying he was going on a job with the team." Juvia fidgeted with the hem of her dress. If Gray was there she sure would ask him to come with her, he may even accept. But he wasn't. She looked back at Mira, who was still smiling.
"Gray wasn't going with them. In fact, I think they were just referring to their team with Lucy. Erza is on a solo mission." Mira pointed to her right. "Gray is right there. You can go ask him." Then she just turned and left Juvia standing there beside the bar. She had two options, goind to the board and picking another job, or just asking Gray, and she would be lying if she said she would prefer the first one, so she just walked to the table where Gray sat. He was eerily silent, a mug a beer in front of him. This was becoming too usual as of late.
"Gray-sama." Juvia waited for him to answer, but Gray didn't even seem to have listened to her. "Gray-sama. Juvia would want to ask you to come with her to this job." She placed the flier in front of Gray, but he still didn't react. "Gray-sama?" The worry she started to feel trespassed to her voice. Just when she was about to repeat the question for the fourth time, Gray answered her.
"What do you want, Juvia?" He didn't even sound irritated as if he had listened for the fourth time his name. He just asked as if Juvia hadn't been standing there the last few minutes. "You came here for something, right?" He then picked up his gaze from the table and looked to her.
"Juvia has just asked Gray-sama if he would want to come with her to this job. The fliers' on the table. It says at least two mages are required."
"Let me see." Gray's eyes traveled quickly through the information provided in the piece of paper. "You want me to work as a waiter? Ok, why not? Already did that with Lucy and the others."
"You did what with love-rival?" Juvia could sense she was overreacting, it was just that these reactions happened almost on automatic. She remembered her promise to Gray, though. She was a new Juvia. She should put all this behaviour behind her. Just when she was about to apologize, Gray cut her off.
"Again with those stupid things? I told you from now on I would flatly say if I didn't like something. Well, I don't like how you obsess with that love stuff. And I don't like you calling me 'Gray-sama' all the time. Just drop the suffix." He then took the flier and went to the bar. Gray waited there for Mira to sign it and then went in the direction of the guild doors. "You coming?" he asked her while waiting at the entrance. "We have to take a train in less than an hour, you know? You should go pack."
Juvia happily stood up and went to him. She would be going on a job with Gray-sama for at least a week. Right then and there she was sure she was the happiest woman on Earthland.
The train ride went by easily, after all, Hargeon wasn't that far from Magnolia. While Gray spent the time watching through the window, visibly sulking (not a good look on him, she decided), Juvia spent her time watching Gray. He hadn't changed too much since she met him, at least not physically. However his interactions with her had shifted over time. They hadn't change in the way Juvia would have hoped. He still tended to avoid her and normally just act as if she wasn't there, but Juvia knew that behaviour was only present when she was being too much of a stalker. But in those times when she dropped her crazy ways and just hung out with him, he showed a calmer side. He had even began to genuinely smile when talking with her, or at least she thought it was genuine. Before, she had only seen him drop that smug smile of his while around friends. This was a start, right? If he allowed himself to be that relaxed around her that meant Gray-sama considered her a friend, right? She hoped so. It wasn't near at all to what she wanted him to considered her as, but at least it was a start.
Now that they had finally arrived to Hargeon, they started to walk towards the restaurant. The hostal reservations would have to wait. First they should talk with the owners and see if they would need protection too throughout the night. Gray led the way with Juvia trailing behind. She continued to study him while they walked. He seemed a little out of it, like he wasn't even thinking about where he was headed, or that they in fact where on a job. This kind of behaviour worried Juvia, but when she was about to ask him about it they reached the restaurant. Surprisingly, Gray was still wearing all of his clothes.
The owners of the restaurant turned out to be an old married couple, and as they finished to concrete all the details on the job, they insisted for them to take two spare rooms in their own house. For the family photos that hung on the walls next to the kitchen area of the restaurant Juvia supposed the spare rooms belonged to their kids. As Gray-sama still seemed to be a little absent, Juvia politely accepted their offer. They were led to the back of the kitchen and then up some stairs, and finally to their rooms. At the end of the corridor there were two doors, one in front of the other. Juvia took the one to the right, leaving Gray the other one. The old man, Olivier Juvia recalled, told them that there was an adjoined bathroom accessible from both of their rooms. Having said that, he excused himself saying something about having to get back to the kitchen, and remembered them that their shift would start at eight o'clock pm. With that, the ice mage entered his room and shut the door behind him. Juvia sighed and entered her room. The fact that Gray-sama had talked to her even less than usual was still nagging her. Juvia tossed her bag in a corner of the room and went directly to the bed. They should use the time they had left before their shift at the restaurant started to ask some of the girls that claimed were molested by these mages, but Gray-sama didn't seem like he was up to it, if his behaviour upon entering his room was to take into account. It was odd for him not to be caring at all about the mission. As much as Juvia annoyed him with her shenanigans, Gray didn't usually act as distant as he was acting right now. And she knew she hadn't even been that much of a stalker as of late, so, what was making Gray act colder than usual? Deciding to just leave it be for once, she quickly dressed in the uniform Olivier had left them and went downstairs again.
Luckily, she found some of the waiters in the kitchen when she arrived. She waved to Olivier at the hot plates, and went to present herself to her co-workers. She first approached the girls, after all, they were the ones that were molested. The pair were waiting at the stools for the orders of the customers to be ready, and were chatting quietly. Both of them were quite pretty, one of them being clearly taller than the other one.
"Hello. I am Juvia from Fairy Tail. Your employers have contacted my guild in order to help you."
"We know you! You were in the Games!" said excitedly the petite one. She turned to look at the other one. "Do you remember her? She was the one that did a unison raid with her boyfriend in the final round! They looked so cuuuute together!"
"Oh yeah! They defeated the other ice guy from Lamia Scale and the little girl, right? It's so nice to meet you." The taller girl offered her with a smile.
"Y-yeah, nice to meet you too" Juvia stuttered. Had she heard alright? Had they just called Gray-sama her boyfriend? She was about to faint. Those girls thought they were dating. And if they thought it, it should be because of a reason, right? She was on cloud nine for like five seconds until she remembered that in fact Gray was more rude than usual with her and he hadn't even crossed any words with her since they have got off the train. She was forcefully taken back to the present and her mission. She smiled back to both of them and went strictly to the point. "So, would you be so kind to tell me what exactly happened so we can help? Do you know these mages before they assaulted you?"
"T-they did not... assault us "-the brownhead petite girl said nervously "They just had had a little too much to drink, and they, they were just a little annoying to us."
"A little annoying to us? For God's sake, Clarie, they tied you up to their table! And you didn't even told us! If it weren't for Max..."
"It wasn't like that at all! They were just showing me some magic." She returned her attention to the water mage. "You see, one of them has magic capable of controlling ropes, so he was just making a little demonstration. You shouldn't worry about me, about us. What you should worry about is the cashier of the restaurant. They said something about planning some robbery."
"Are you saying me that this incident only happened once? The flier for the job said it had happened multiple times." Juvia was convinced that the tiny girl was lying, her nervousness in speech and her flickering eyes to the entrance of the restaurant proved it. Besides, the other girl was clearly stating with her actions that this was no laughing matter.
"No! It has only happened once, I swear. They may have been here more than once and tried to flirt, rather forcefully, with us, but I swear it was the only time anything like this happened."
"Could I talk to you alone?"Juvia asked the taller girl. She was sure that if she could talk to her $alone she would tell her what was going on. The girl quickly answered her.
"Sure." Then she turned around towards the door trough which the waiters entered the kitchen. "Max! Can you cover me for just a sec? The Fairy Tail mage wants to talk to us about that." Some boy on the outside called back an "You owe me, Sam!" and she turned again towards her."There's a room at the back of the kitchen, we can talk there if you want." Without waiting for her, Sam, as it seemed it her name, started to walk towards there. Once they arrived the girl gestured her towards a couch while taking a seat herself.
"You know, Clarie didn't really want to call any guilds because of that incident. Me and Max, along with Olivier and Jane, were the ones who called for you." She started explaining without leaving Juvia any time to ask anything. "She clearly isn't thinking straight, all because of that boy she likes got involved with that gang."
"What boy?" Juvia asked, a little confused.
"Daniel, a friend of Clarie's since they were little. He just got involved with these Magic Busters or something, and they are using him for their purposes."
"Is he a mage, Daniel? Why did Olivier not informed us of this?" Juvia was more and more confused as the girl continued talking.
"Yeah, Dan is the one that can control the ropes. He is the one that restrained Clarie, althought it wasn't much like him to do that. He used to be a decent guy before he joined those mages." Sam was talking so much in so little time that Juvia had trouble following what she was saying, but she more or less caught the gist of it.
"So you are saying that this nice kid out of the blue joins a criminal band of mages and now he is harassing his childhood friend? Gray-sama and I should go talk to him." Juvia was worried. When they arrived it seemed like the "attacks" on the waitresses were not personal, but what Sam was saying lead her to think that perhaps this kid would have some special reason for it.
"Your boyfriend's here? You're not working alone?" Sam asked her with great curiosity in her eyes.
"Gray-sama is not my boyfriend, he is just nakama." Said Juvia a tad sadly.
"But, at the Games..." Sam was cut off by a boy her age saying she should get back to work. "See you later, then. Don't hold Clarie as a liar, she was just trying to protect Daniel, she is sure he was been manipulated." She was just about to go out the door when Juvia answered.
"Don't worry, I will try to talk to Clarie-san later" Juvia smiled and waved back. "Also, I would like to talk to Max too. You said he was there when that happened."
"I will tell him, maybe between shifts you can speak to him." With that she left for work. Juvia wasn't used to deduce things, or take charge of the missions, but seeing Gray was off she would have to this time.
After six long hours of work, she finally returned to her room again. She was just so tired. Now she admired Mira-san all the more. Juvia didn't even know how she could be serving in the guild all day, and not ever complaining. Her back ached from having been standing too much time, she was about to fall asleep any moment and she didn't even have time to spend time with Gray-sama with how the restaurant was full of customers. That did not mean she hadn't seen him flirting with some girls that happened to be only "having a coffee". It was a miracle Gray had accomplished to stay fully clothed throughout the whole night.
None of the so called Magic Busters, as Sam said the thugs were called, had made an appearance tonight. Tomorrow morning they would have to search the city for this boy Daniel, but right now, all Juvia wanted to do was to sleep. She quickly changed into her nightgown and climbed to the bed, snuggled under the covers and cuddled with her Gray plush doll. Soon enough, she was fast asleep.
The next morning she woke up to sunrays washing over her closed eyelids. For the amount of light she could say it wasn't that late in the morning, that she was still on time for a quick breakfast before having to go walk the town. She showered quickly. Gray-sama didn't appear while she was using the bathroom, and neither did he knocked on the door, so she supposed he was already up and about. After she finished dressing she went downstairs to the restaurant. At this time of the morning it was only occupied by some people having coffee or a snack before going back to work, so the place was relatively quiet. She saw Gray sitting at a table at the far corner of the diner and went to sit by him.
"Ohayou Gray-sama." Juvia said with cheerfulness.
"Ohayou Juvia." Gray answered looking into his coffee mug. He still seemed a little distant, but at least he had answered her. She took it he would at least be talking with her today. Right then the young waiter from yesterday arrived at the table with a tea mug and some toasts.
"On the house" he said while putting it all on the table. "By the way, my name's Max. Sam said yesterday you wanted to talk about what happened with Clarie." He then dropped the tray on a free chair and took one to himself.
"Who are you again?" Gray didn't seem too enthusiastic in engaging a conversation this early in the morning.
"He was present when those thugs attacked the other waitress, Gray-sama. In fact, I believe you were the one that stopped them?" Juvia directed the conversation once again to Max.
"Yeah, I saw how that Daniel seized Clarie and tied her to the table. I was expecting her to say something to him, to fight against the restrains, but she stayed immobile. Just when they were about to..." he hesitated for a moment, "to try something with her I just had to walk in. It had happened once or twice before. Those times I wasn't here, but Sam and the others say they didn't go that far. If I had been there..."
For his words Juvia was certain he cared to some degree about the girl, or at least he was very protective her. You would have to be Natsu not to notice that.
"So you went and stopped it before anything happened. How was that? I believe they were mages." Gray cut in, all business.
"I have some magic myself, although is no good like yours. I can somehow dissolve magic." Gray arched his eyebrows. " It's no good anyways, my magic is too weak. But it was enough to drive those idiots out."
"So you are saying this Magic Busters aren't even powerful mages? Oh Mavis. Alright, Juvia, when you finish your breakfast, we are hunting these thugs down. Hopefully we can finish the job today."
"Okay, Gray-sama. Thanks, Max-san." She smiled to the young man as he stood up and went back to work. She then proceeded to eat her breakfast and drink her tea as quickly as possible. "Why would they serve me tea?" she mumbled to herself. Most people had coffee for breakfast. If they ever had tea it was plain normal tea, not mint tea. Not her favorite.
"I told them you would prefer it." Gray grunted. He then gulped down what was left of his black coffee and left Juvia there at the table. "I will wait for you outside."
Juvia coudn't move. Had she heard alright? Was she still dreaming? This...this couldn't be real, right? Gray-sama had just said that he had told them what she would prefer for breakfast? She was just about to die right there and then, as happy as she was. He knew which was her favorite tea. He knew which was her favorite tea. She happily finished her breakfast and went outside.
They walked calmly through the streets, Gray asking questions here and there about the Magic Busters, or if they could please show him where Daniel Lasso lived. Nearing lunch hour they had a quick meal in a tiny bar near the shore. They asked the owner again for directions. This time they were directed to the outskirts of the town, near the end of the seashore. They quickly found the house they were given directions to. A small wooden house near the cliffs at the end of the bay. As soon as they reached the house Gray knocked on the front door, Juvia trailing behind him. A young man opened the door, followed by a little girl, no more than six, seven years old.
"Hello. How may I serve you?" He had a kind voice, Juvia noticed, and he, perhaps unconsciously, had placed his left arm in front of the girl, as if trying to protect her.
"We are mages from Fairy Tail. We are looking for Daniel Lasso, we want to talk to him." Juvia politely answered. She then smiled to the little girl, who hesitantly returned the smile, showing two small holes where her front teeth should have been. She was cute.
"And that would be me." He kneeled before the little girl. "Saku-chan, go back inside, I will be there in a second." He caressed the girl's head and then stood up again as she entered the house. "So. Why would Fairy Tail mages would want to talk to me?" He leaned in the door frame as he addressed Juvia directly.
"We believe you know a girl called Clarie?" Gray asked, although Juvia could see he wasn't actually expecting any answers. She noticed the boy's easy-going expression faltered for just a moment, then went back to normal. "We were hired by her boss. He was concerned about her well being while working at the restaurant. Some mages" he looked the young man in the eye "were reported to have harassed her."
"I can explain." Dan quickly sputtered out. "They were making me do that, I would never, never, hurt Clarie willfully. I lo-...I've known her all my life. She is one of my best friends." The boy clearly was telling the truth, at least in Juvia's eyes. The way he had said Clarie's name...It reminded her of the tone she used to refer to her Gray-sama. He loved the girl, also. Clarie was a lucky girl.
"And why would you be with those people, to begin with? You seem like a nice person." Juvia knew her intuition was right, this was a good kid. Clarie was right, he was forced. "Were they threatening you?" He flinched. He walked past them onto the street and looked to both sides. Then he gestured them to enter to his house and closed the door behind them.
"Not me. They were threatening Saku, my little sister." He looked over to where the girl sat, playing with some crayons. "They had attempted to kidnap her before. I was able to stop them that time, but..."
"And why would they want to take a little girl?" Gray interrupted, his voice a little annoyed.
"She has healing magic abilities." Dan answered, as if that made it all clear. Juvia had to admit, since having Wendy in the guild, every injury their guildmates could suffer, were considerably less serious. It was good to have someone like that in any team. But she still couldn't understand why they had gone for Clarie.
"Okay. So you were forced to restrain Clarie at the bar. Why? Why her? For what the other waiters have told us, she was the only one harassed."
"I don't know. Those guys were wasted that night. The other times they just flirted with her a lot. I suppose their leader just has a thing for her. I don't like it." He seemed worried. Then his little sister came running with something in her hand and calling for him to see what she had just drawn.
"Do you know where they meet? Where can we find them?" Gray asked with irritation.
"I don't know where their hideout is. but they told me to go to the restaurant again tomorrow night. Something about a robbery." He still seemed preoccupied. "I could meet with you guys there."
"Alright. Just leave it to us. We will just defeat them and hand them to the authorities." Juvia smiled and waved to the little girl. "We will see you then."
They quietly left the house and started walking back towards the was still fairly early in the afternoon, so Juvia proposed to stop for a moment to get some ice cream. Gray wordlessly nodded and they walked in the nearest ice cream parlour they found along the way. When Juvia was about to pay for her mint and chocolate cone, Gray handed the girl behind the counter some money. The girl gave Juvia a jealous look and quickly returned the change to Gray. She followed after him when he walked out of the place.
"Thanks for the ice cream, Gray-sama." Juvia happily chanted once they were outside, back under the summer sun.
"I told you to at least drop the suffix." He grunted. "You don't have to thank me, it's just an ice cream." He picked up his pace leaving Juvia behind. She stayed still for a moment before following him. They fell into what seemed a companionable silence. He was behaving nicer than usual towards her, but the events of the day prior, in which he had practically ignored her (more than usual) were still fresh on Juvia's mind. She knew she shouldn't risk it asking, but she was really worried as to why he had been brooding. At it wasn't just yesterday. Juvia had noticed that since they got back from the Games he was not his usual sarcastic self. He had picked up a drinking habit that could rival Cana's, although he usually got drunk alone in a corner of the guild. He hadn't even participated as much in the brawls of the guild, turning down more than once Natsu when he had called for a fight with "Ice Princess". Juvia suspected the issue he was dealing with had happened during the Games, but she wasn't sure what it was. Deciding that she could take another day of Gray not talking to her, although she really didn't want it, she took a chance and went on with asking.
"Gray-sama, could Juvia ask you something?" She almost hesitated at the suffix, seeing how much it annoyed Gray, but could not stop the habit of a long time to roll out of her mouth. He shrugged his shoulders instead of giving a verbal answer. Now was the difficult task, actually ask him if there was anything wrong. "Are you alright? Is something bothering you? Since the Games..." She stopped as soon as she saw Gray had stopped walking. She noticed how tense his body was. She waited for an answer, for Gray to even acknowledge her question and shake it of his shoulders nonchalantly. But seconds past. Her neglected ice cream was beginning to melt too much under the afternoon sun. Wordlessly Gray started walking again, this time at a more slow pace.
"Don't worry about that. How is your ice cream?" Juvia knew he was just trying to deviate the topic to other matters, and although she wasn't going to 'not worry about that' at all, she decided to leave it for later, again.
"It's delicious. Would you like to try it?" Her over-imaginative mind started to think about the possibility of sharing an 'indirect kiss' with Gray-sama. How good would it be? It would be great. She sighed.
"No, thank you. I had more than enough with mine." Juvia realized he had already eating his cone, and disappointed continued to eat her own. "Why do you like mint flavour so much,though? I don't get it, it's the most plain flavour after vanilla."
"Juvia loves mint flavoured foods because it reminds her of her Gray-sama." She happily answered. And it was true. As weird as it sounded, Juvia had always connected Gray with the flavour. Perhaps it was due to freshness that mint left in her mouth that reminded her of Gray's ice magic, she didn't really know.
"Whatever."
They soon arrived at the restaurant, and after sharing what information they had collected talking with that Dan kid with Olivier and his wife (unfortunately Clarie and Sam had the day off) they went upstairs to their rooms to get a little rest before their work hour came around the clock.
The next day Juvia was just taking an order from a customer when she saw Dan entering the restaurant. He was followed by some nasty looking men, already looking more than a little tipsy. They settled themselves in the area which Gray and Clarie were attending. Juvia looked over to where Gray sat at the bar waiting for an order. He barely acknowledged her look before turning away to talk with Clarie, saying something to her Juvia couldn't catch. She then walked over to where the Magic Busters sat. She looked to be writing down their order. Juvia didn't like to be using her as bait, she had told Gray-sama so. She had a bad feeling about it.
"Juvia, concentrate." The whisper came from her right, she hadn't even noticed Gray had moved and now he was walking towards the table were Clarie was. Suddenly the lights went out and Juvia felt something restraining her from behind. She heard screams from the customers, and tried to free herself from the ropes by converting her arms in water, but she couldn't use her magic.
"Just stop moving, little fairy. Yes, that's right. Little Dan told us about you. We only want to get some money and the girl. We don't want to hurt no one. However, no one can see us in the dark. Maybe I can have some fun with you in the meantime." The voice from behind her chuckled. To Juvia's nose arrived the disgusting odor of alcohol. The man was surely more than drunk. Just because she couldn't use magic it didn't mean she couldn't fight with him and then free herself. Just when she was about to fight back she felt a sudden coldness around her wrists and the rope, turned into ice, broke into little pieces freeing her. She turned back looking for the thug, but he was already unconscious on the floor.
She then saw Clarie was being held by Dan, close to the door. She looked at him and gestured for him to go out, to take Clarie out of here. Once she saw they had successfully gone out of the restaurant, she engaged the fight Gray was in since he freed her. In less than two minutes they had already defeated the drunk mages and restrained them in Juvia's Water Lock. While everything went back to normal and Olivier was trying to calm down the customers, Juvia and Gray said to his wife they would be returning after turning the gang to the authorities. Once they had handed them to the police, and had assured themselves Clarie was alright by meeting with her and Dan on the outside of the restaurant when they got back, they walked back into the bar. Max was waiting for them at the counter, and said to them Olivier wanted to talk to them, he was waiting in the room next to the kitchen.
"We just wanted to thank you for your work, and for helping Clarie. You are free of your work as waiters. Thank you for helping us out with that too." He smiled while shaking his hand with Gray. "My wife and I would like you to stay for the rest of the week you were supposed to, if you would like so too. You can visit the town and get some relax."
"Thank you Olivier-san. That would be great." Juvia smiled as she profusely shook his hand. "If you still need a hand on the restaurant we could work."
"Oh, don't fret, don't fret. Max and the others have been managing just right 'till now, haven't they? I have started to think they like it even." The old man chuckled as he walked to the door. "Thank you, again. You can collect the reward tomorrow morning. Enjoy the night today!" With that he left, and Juvia was again alone with Gray.
"Would you like to go for a walk, Gray-sama? Sam told me the other day about 'the best ice cream parlour' in the highest part of the town." She knew she was pushing her chances a little bit. After finishing a job Gray usually drifted off to rest or be on his own, so when he silently nodded she was more than a bit surprised. Happy nonetheless, but surprised.
While Gray went to buy their ice creams, Juvia waited at the edge of the square, situated just over the cliffs. The view of the ocean from there was beautiful, and she couldn't help but get inmerse in the beauty of the landscape. The full moon just made it even more stunning. While staring at the ocean, she couldn't help but think back about how the mission had gone. They had defeated that nonsensical gang and had protected everyone (even if Gray said they had never been that much in danger). Anyways, it was a successful mission. Plus, Juvia would be enjoying four more days of free accommodation and Gray-sama's company. A dream come true! Speaking of which, he still seemed a little bit absent, but at least he was acknowledging her. It was better than having him ignoring her. The fact that he had avoided the topic of his gloominess when Juvia had brought it up still nagged her. He seemed to be warming up to her if his actions were something to be taken into account. He had willingly invited her to an ice cream. Twice. He had even said to Max and the other what she would like for breakfast, for Mavis sake! But he hadn't answered her question about if something was wrong with him. And Juvia knew he was all but okay. It was something that happened in the Games or the war with the dragons that followed, but Juvia wasn't sure what. The fact that he didn't trust her enough to tell her what was going through his mind upset her. She leaned into the railing, letting her view fall down, into the sharp end of the rocks at the base of the cliff.
"Maybe he doesn't care about me. He always says I'm annoying." She whispered, more to her than to anyone in particular.
Those gloomy thoughts didn't match the striking view. She knew she was over thinking things, and that she should at least be enjoying his company. The night was too beautiful to waste it. Standing up, she was about to return to the ice-cream parlour when she noticed Gray's presence and the coldness it brought with it. He handed her her cone and rested his forearms on the railing, while tending to his own ice cream. It was also mint and chocolate.
"Thank you, Gray-sama." She smiled. "Why the change in flavour?" She was curious as to why he had chosen it, when just the day before yesterday he had labeled it as "the most plain flavour after vanilla".
"Just wanted to try it. You said it was good." Juvia's smile grew even bigger.
Upon returning to the now closed restaurant (they had stayed a while, a long while, contemplating the ocean in comfortable silence) they entered through the back door and went upstairs as quietly as possible. Juvia had already bid Gray good night and was about entering her room when he opened his mouth.
"About the question you asked me, about what was worrying me. It has something to do with what happened while we were battling those small dragons. It was..." he hesitated. She was facing her door, but she could sense the atmosphere has tensed, that he was tense. " It's about..."
"You don't have to tell me if you can't right now, Gray-sama. I understand it." She smiled to herself. He had just tried to tell her. Even if he couldn't really phrase it, she knew the intention was still there. It still counted. Juvia posed her hand on the knob again. "Good night Gr-"
"I do care about you, you know?" he cut in, so quiet Juvia almost didn't catch it. "I just thought you should know."
...
...
Had she heard alright? He said he cared about her. Had he heard her when she was whispering that thoughts to herself? Anyway, it didn't mattered. He had said it. She felt happier than she had felt in months. Could he actually meant what she thought? Was it that type of caring? Deep down she hoped so. She loved the idea. She almost squirmed in delight.
"Good night, Juvia."
She heard his door shut, for once carefully. She knew she would be having happy dreams tonight.
(Gray's POV)
When he closed the door he leaned against it. The mission had been easier than he would have liked, but with him being so distracted it hadn't seemed like it. After hearing Juvia sound so defeated while leaning on that railing, he knew he had to do something, to tell her something. He really wasn't that annoyed by her anymore, in fact, he was used to it by now, and had had, albeit unwillingly, started to enjoy her antics. So he just told her that he in fact cared about her. After all, she was a friend.
Hi! If you have read till the end, thank you so much! I really appreciate it ^^. This is my first posted fanfic, so if you want to leave any comment or make any constructive criticism I would appreciate it :)
I apologize for my english, it is not my first language. If any words or expressions are wrong I am sorry.
Now, I wrote this one-shot for the Gruvia Week. The following days I will be uploading more one-shots written with the prompts given for the week. All of them are going to be related, but you can still read them separately and they will still make sense (I hope :S).
Thank you so much again if you have read it till the end 3
