—he wanted time to stop and allow him to reach her. But she was so far away; blue fading so fast in the rainbow of neon. Was it odd to fall in love with a stranger you are not sure you'll meet again? [Star!GrayxFan!Juvia]
I hold no ownership or whatsoever of Fairy Tail and the characters used in this work of fiction. Also the Cover Art used is merely a photoshopped image from a site (that I cannot source to you, guys ,because I lost it).
He watched the crowd unmoving, before he started jumping again to the beat of the song. He loved the song, but he hated the crowd. All of them swoon by their music, and yet never had they even listened to it. These people were most cruel.
They sang, they danced, and they followed him around. And yet they weren't listening to every bit of word he says. They were cruel bastards; all of them.
No, Gray, I don't think using it in your album is a good idea. When Levy wrote it for him, she hadn't wanted him to put it in their album. It was just now that he understood why.
He never understood the looming feeling of loneliness that he always felt. He had a crowd of loving fans following him around. He was willing to do everything to please the clump of people. Until he realized how stupid it was: this crowd doesn't give two fucks of who he really is.
They knew him as Gray Fullbuster and nothing more. He poured his heart in every song he sang for them, he poured his efforts in everything. But they didn't care. They only see a rock star.
They didn't see the unfortunate boy who was orphaned by a young age, and whose foster parent died as well; and yet rose into stardom with every ounce of effort and hard work. Now, Gray Fullbuster was a name whispered among the peers of different genders and age brackets. Any move he make creates a ruckus and yet nobody looks at the reasons behind those moves.
He got into a fight once, because the other had openly made lewd comments about Lucy and Levy. Everyone sounded so disappointed, unknowing what had actually taken place that night. And yet in performances like this, everyone tries to suck up to him so badly. They were pitiful.
But everything began to change when he saw a wisp of blue in a sea of neon. She stood unmoving in the crowd. Her glow stick was the only thing that didn't sway around wildly. Her movements were slow and gentle.
'Are you listening?'
Then she faded into the crowd of people like she hadn't been there at all. And he wonders if that turf of blue had been just his imagination.
….
"Levy?" he asked as she congratulated them in their recent performance. Natsu had grinned enthusiastically jumping to their manager. Levy had taken that role but at times, she wrote songs for them. When Gajeel had pulled the other away, he took the opportunity to stand before the petite woman. He'd be a bit late he he stood for a moment or so; his band mate would hoard her attention before he could ask.
"Were you in the crowd, a while ago?"
"No."
….
He started signing in the subway, for money. Someone had taken a video of him once and he started earning a bunch. People came by just to see him. But when Ul died, he took a step away from the limelight and burned himself with self-loathing.
If he had cherished her for a moment or so, this wouldn't have happened.
If it hadn't been for that fight he had with Lyon he'd still be miserable. It was him, who had made Gray realize how wretched he was. His foster brother had been a complete reflection of himself. And that was practically his wake up call.
Ultear hadn't seemed to care about her biological mother's death. She just continued on and on in the show business as if her mother hadn't died. So he had made it a point to bring her down. He was going to be the downfall of that ingrate. And he perhaps after that he was going to go on with his life.
It was just that. But he wasn't sure when it started to be more about him than Ul. Was it last year? Was it the year before that?
….
Again and again, he'd see her in that crowd. But, for a moment or so, he wonders if she was really the same person. He wonders if she was no figment of his imagination.
A fading blue hoodie and a gentle moving glow stick that danced in every heartbeat. It matched his own heartbeat. He wonders if she could hear it. Or perhaps it was hers she was swaying in. Then that meant their heart danced in the same pace.
Each moment he stood in the stage, he found himself longing for the music to go on longer and longer. Because it was the only moment he shared with her. Because it was the only moment he knew she was real.
Her eyes, he couldn't see them through the hood. But wonders if she knows each beat of the drums; each lyric of the song; each strum of the guitar; he offers her everything. Because she's the only one understood his loneliness behind the glamour.
….
He should have known. He should have seen it coming.
Erza was lonely like him. Even if he had been the one to first reach out to her, to make her move on and on. She'd been in love with Jellal all her life. And Jellal was bound to wake up from his reverie and take her back into his arms.
So why does he feel so hurt to see her engaged to Jellal. Perhaps because he was the very same man who had hurt her? Or perhaps it was a completely different reason?
He was pathetic. If only for a moment or so, he had realized that she wouldn't be with him forever.
All his life he thought he found the one for him in the form of Erza. But he never really took a step deeper into it. She was always there. And for now he'll run around from bed to bed. Because by the end he'll always come back to her.
But now, there were no more loving arms that would ease up his drunken tantrums. Erza was now Jellal's.
….
How he ended up in Gajeel's unit was a big mystery to him. But the woman tending to him was gorgeous. Lucy was gorgeous but she was a different league of gorgeous. She was like a goddess in the flesh. Her eyes were blue; so, so blue. And so was her hair; a different shade from Levy's. Had Levy had a body like hers, he'd definitely be running after the girl.
Ah—blue was such a lovely color.
Though she immediately scooted away once she was aware he was awake. Gajeel had replaced her post, and grumbled at him for being stupid. He tuned out most of the man's rants, and continued staring at the woman. That was before his band mate forced his head away from the flustered girl in the background. "Off limits," he snarled.
"I don't go around saying that about Levy though," Gray cackled sharply. His eyes narrowing after a few moments; he ignored the pain focusing on the fact at hand. Gajeel had a girl in his unit when he was dating Levy. Not that he was any better; he was quite a Casanova himself.
But Levy was Levy, how could someone hurt Levy? She was so fragile, so kind. She was porcelain.
The other man glared at him returning his own glare fiercely. It had lasted for a moment or so, before Gajeel sighed and stood up, "Levy's in my room sleeping, since you oh so graciously slept in my guest room. And I can't have her take care of a pervert, can I?"
"So you hired someone?"
"She's engaged."
"Never stopped me once."
"Say that to Titania."
So he didn't. It wasn't like it mattered. She was just some face in the crowd with quite a body to match. Nothing more.
….
It happened again. He saw her again. She stood there around the front row again. That faded blue hoodie and that graceful glow stick. Now he was certain, it was her, she was the very same person. Before he knew it, he had been quite dependent on the fact that that girl in the crowd would be there. She was his shelter; his support.
He wonders if she was like Erza, strong yet ridiculous at some point. He wonders if she liked books like Levy. He wonders if she was like Lucy, obnoxious and quite an air head. He wonders idly what she was, who she was, and, if she had her eyes on him like he had his on hers. Or was there someone else in the band?
He let his heart waver for a moment or so, then drowning the idea into the roars of the people before him. As long as he didn't lose sight of her, it was alright.
He didn't close his eyes; he didn't allow his gaze to leave her. She might disappear from his sight. He held out his hand to the crowd earning another roar of enthusiasm from his fans. But everything had faded, because it had been just the band, him, and her.
….
"Gray, "Lyon started as he gestured to the woman beside him. She looked awfully familiar. But he wasn't sure. He made a curt nod before tuning out of his foster brother's blabbering. But what he said next had caught him of guard. "This is Juvia Loxar, she's a model, and I guess you've heard of her. She's my fiancée," Lyon said casually.
He was taken a back at that. His eyes quickly shifting from the woman and Lyon, and there it clicked. She was the woman in Gajeel's apartment; the one that was off limits.
She looked flustered, and he could tell she was one of his fans. His lips curled into a smirk, Lyon decided to settle down, with a girl who liked him. He tried hard not to snort, as he watched her want him badly. His brother had taste but he forgot what was inside. Every pretty jar was just a jar if it was empty.
Lyon probably chose her because of her face. Tch.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Gray," he said holding out his hand.
"I know," she said breathlessly. Gray glanced at Lyon studying his foster brother. If the way she was all red now, or that she was staring bashfully at him wasn't a big hint, he didn't know what would.
But Lyon just gazed understandingly at the woman. Shit, this woman got him whipped. "How's Sherry?" he asked deliberately just to get his attention again. Just as planned, Lyon's eyes snapped back to his narrowing in a furious glare.
"She's perfect."
"Hmm?" he asked, ignoring the girl's presence in attempt to make her uncomfortable. His lips curled into an innocent smile, angling his body towards his brother. "How perfect?"
"If you've ever listened to the news, Fullbuster, you'd realize that she has been happily married to a model from Blue Pegasus for a while now," Lyon retorted, and he noted how the girl's hand curled tighter unto his brother's arms. Then she must know. Sherry Blendy had been such a perfect pair to his brother, elegant and had eyes only for Lyon.
But he was surprised, nonetheless, to the news. His smile faltered and Lyon smirked, "We'll get going now, we still have to meet up with Gajeel."
….
He walked easily into the parking lot, allowing the media to crowd at him. He had bodyguards, and they had to do their job. So that was why he was now walking in the public parking lot simply to his car. That was when he passed by a shocking blue car, with the logo of the Phantom Mag on its windshield.
He had stopped in his tracks, staring brazenly on the faded blue hoodie that had been worn by the driver seat. For a moment or so, everything about the girl in the crowd flashed his mind.
Then he continued walking sighing to himself ignoring the shattering sounds that echoed in his ears. His heart was breaking but he doesn't regret anything this time. She deserved someone better than him.
He wondered idly if it had been different if he had stopped the concert once and pulled her upstage—something flashy like that.
….
Gray rubbed his eyes as the sun's evil rays invaded his bedroom. He turned around as weight shifted beside him. His lips curled into a smile as he watched her sitting up. Her hair hung loosely behind her as she attempted to push them off her face. She was gorgeous even in her bedhead. He chuckled lightly as he turned back facing the ceiling.
A soft sigh came from his lips, catching her attention. Her eyes met his; blue, her oh so endless blue eyes. He smiled to her and she returned the smile. "How long will this dream last?" he asked softly.
"Not long enough," she said leaning down to him. Her accented voice echoing melodiously in the air. "But you have to wake up." And before her lips could reach his, he had been awaken. He growled to himself annoyed. He was having such a good dream.
He could see Levy's messy locks on his left. Then he turned to his right just to see a spike of pink hair. Definitely a red dye gone wrong; he should probably say that to Natsu. Lucy was snuck on the couch, sleeping as well. While Levy was beside her, reading a book, with Gajeel snoring loudly at her side. She didn't seem to notice that he had woken up.
Then who was the puff of blue beside him? His eyes widen before he turned to the girl on his left bedside. It was her; the same girl in the crowd; Juvia.
"She'd been here the whole time," a foreign voice came. He looked up to see Lyon standing before her. He hung his fur coat over her figure, smiling sadly.
Everything flashed back to him; the accident at the wedding night.
"And even if you were no longer the same Gray Fullbuster she had admired all this time, she still held back everything to rush to you," his brother said as he sat on the space beside her brushing her hair out of her face.
Gray looked scandalized by the idea that it was her husband telling him this. He looked away guilty as he felt happiness sprout in his ice of a heart. "Tch, you shouldn't tell me these things, Lyon. She's your wife, isn't she?"
"No, no, she's not. I figured that marrying her while she is hurt and confused would win her heart. I guess I was wrong," Lyon said looking back at him. His foster brother's smile faltered. "I'll win her heart this time, fair and square. And I will beat you at it."
"Yeah, it's wrong to win a girl's heart by committing suicide, Gray," Levy chirped smiling. He turned to his friends finding most of them already awake. "Sucker," Natsu said between snores. He tried not to smile as he realized that even in his dreams, Natsu hated his guts.
"It wasn't suicide," he pointed out instead. "I was driving just fine. And for once, didn't the nurse tell you or something, that there's no liquor or drugs in my system (for once) when the accident happened?"
"Doesn't change the fact you were driving so fast!" Lucy jagged. "And that girl beside you, Juvia, had suffered sleepless nights just to be by your side, even at the night of her wedding that you spoiled. So thank you for ruining a girl's dream," Lucy ranted openly.
"Tsk, your band is really crude. Can't you let her sleep for a moment or so?" Lyon frowned then hushed them down saying that Juvia needed rest.
….
"I don't think this is a good idea," Gajeel grumbled throwing his drum sticks to the air. Natsu nodded briskly. Levy merely giggled at the side. "Our first comeback from the shit you put us through and then you'll sing some pop bullshit or something?"
"I almost died you know?" Gray replied shrugging, an evident blush decorating his face. Levy tried to suppress her giggles in the background. Gray mentally wanted to kick the frail girl for being too obvious. Gajeel raised a brow at the commotion behind them.
"Hey, you know something about it don't cha?" The black haired man said glaring at his girlfriend, who in return broke into a fit of giggles.
"What's happening?" Lucy asked as she walked up to Natsu. Her face both confused and amused at the same time. Gray wanted to shut them all up.
"Gray want us to sing 'Touch my Hand' because he wants to impress Juvia," Wendy supplied shyly.
"WENDY!" he screamed scaring the girl who immediately ran behind Gajeel who barked a laughter at his expense. His blush increased tenfold as he turned away from them slapping his face. With a sigh, he tried to fight a grin etching on his face when he heard Lucy say something about, 'Why don't you do that for me, Natsu?'
"Eh?!" Natsu replied.
"Yeah, Flamebrain, it seems like I'm a better boyfriend than you!" He howled.
It was no longer about Ul, or Ultear. He had even found himself talking idly about show business to the latter. It was no longer about revenge. It was now about her; them.
He was smiling. He was happy, and not just for a moment or so.
"Not yet," Gajeel reminded. Tch. Maybe not. But he can change that with his fist; he launched himself at Natsu who was about to attack him anyway.
A/N: Tch. I couldn't give Juvia a sad ending as I initially had planned. Anyways, the Cover Art is inspired by the scene when Gray was in slight coma and was dreaming of Juvia.
FIRST FAN FICTION ACCOMPLISED \(^w^)/~(hurohuro)