What Are Friends For?

He remembered a time before Fairy Tail. A time when she was always sad, so sad that she had no tears except her magic. So she let the rain cry for her.

It hadn't bothered him all that much. She was strong despite it, or strong because of it. He was never really sure, not that he gave it any thought. He didn't consider her – didn't consider anyone – a friend, and as far as he could tell then, she wouldn't have called him a friend, either.

Except, when she decided to change guilds, he was the one she came to. Afraid and in need of help and support, he was the one she came to.

And apparently it wasn't a one-time thing.

"Juvia is," she hiccuped, "Juvia is worthless."

The woman sat on his front porch literally crying a river from her feet to his walkway. They had started inside the house, but he'd quickly led her back outside. The whole place would rust if he'd let that go on for another minute.

"Juvia … He won't even look at Juvia anymore. Gajeel-kun must tell Juvia what she has done wrong."

He clinched his teeth, "Look. I'm the last person in the world you should be comin' to with shit like this. The stripper is a fuckin' idiot-"

She interrupted, her tears stopping for her outrage, "Gray-sama is not-"

"He is," Gajeel waved her defense of the ice-alchemist away. "But about this?" He waved his hand again, vaguely referring to her … her emotions or whatever. "This I know shit about."

"Juvia will follow Gray-sama forever," she resumed her weeping. "Gray-sama is not an idiot."

"Followin' him isn't makin' you very happy," Gajeel told her. "And he … he..." Gajeel growled, already angry at himself for the damage this was going to do, "he said no. The bastard's doin' nothin' but hurtin' you now, and you're not doing a damn thing but fuckin' with your own self. You're not a dumbass, so get it through your waterlogged brain, already, and move on t'somethin' else. Fuck, I hate weepy women."

That stopped the tears. Bloody hell, about fucking time.

"Juvia-"

"Listen. You're doin' this to yourself. So either be fucking reasonable about this shit, or get the point: He said no. Ignore him, whatever, fine. Keep following the stripping moron around. Keep wastin' your time, no big deal to me. But he still said no."

And that took it a step too far. Shit. She was out of the chair now, on her knees. Crying. Again. God-fucking-damn it!

He sighed, and crouched beside her. It took a shit-ton of will, but he managed to put a hand on her shoulder, "What the hell do you see in the guy, anyway?"

"Juvia … From the moment Juvia locked eyes with Gray-sama, Juvia knew. Handsome. Strong. Kind. When Gray-sama touched Juvia, it was warm." The woman lifted a hand, and let it rest over her breast, which kinda freaked him out. What the fuck was she thinking about? "Gray-sama showed Juvia the sky, the blue sky and the sun, so she loves Gray-sama. Juvia wants to be with Gray-sama, always."

"And that's why you had'ta join with the Fairies, then."

"Yes."

Away from the stripping ice-alchemist, she was an absolute beast. He'd been with her on more jobs than he could count, in Phantom and Fairy Tail. Together they'd crushed dark guilds, leveled them, buried and drowned them. It was fucking bullshit that one bastard and his goddamn … Gajeel searched for a word … apathy. That one sounded right. Stripper and his fucking apathy kicked her ass like this. Embarrassing as shit.

"Listen, dumbass, I ain't the right person to give advice. I'm the last person you should talk to 'bout this sorta crap."

She shook her head violently, and the rain started.

Shit.

"You … Juvia knows, you understand, Gajeel-kun. You have a heart that aches, like Juvia."

"The fuck?!"

"Levy-chan," Gajeel's spine snapped straight and his eyes narrowed, "is good, Juvia believes this. And she believes that Levy-chan loves Gajeel-kun..."

"Like you could even tell, considerin' your situation, you freak," he muttered.

"Juvia can tell. Juvia can tell that Gajeel-kun knows love. You can give Juvia advice."

"You're being stupid," Gajeel told her, falling from his haunches to land on his ass on the increasingly wet wood of his front porch. "Shrimp doesn't give two shits for me outside of bein' a guild mate, and that's how it's stayin. That's how it is."

"That's not how it is!" Anger had taken hold of her again, causing the tears (and the rain, thank fuck) to stop. She shimmied forward, putting her face with its terrifyingly passionate expression, mere inches from his. "Juvia knows! You and Levy-chan, that's love. But you are like Gray-sama, Gajeel-kun. Why don't you accept Levy-chan's love? Why does Gray-sama reject Juvia?"

"I'm tellin' you, stupid, I don't know. Outside of the hair and the hips, you and the bookworm don't have shit in common. And me and that moron don't have a damn thing in common. Not one damn thing."

She smiled, "Juvia thinks that Gray-sama and Gajeel-kun both have black hair. And Juvia knows that Gajeel-kun is kind, like Gray-sama."

"I'm not-"

"And Gray-sama loves Juvia like Gajeel-kun loves Levy-chan, but like Gray-sama, Gajeel-kun toys with Levy-chan." She lowered her face, and played with her fingers. "Juvia thinks … Juvia thinks that you have hands, like Gray-sama has hands."

Shit.

It wasn't like she had any goddamn effect on him. Because she didn't. Even when they partnered on jobs now, in their new guild, she was separate from him. More than before. But he couldn't move away. He was stuck. Looking at her.

It was her hair, he decided. Her hair and the growing, burning tension in him that would accept this opportunity if he couldn't have what he actually wanted.

"On your knees," he said, not looking at her face. "Don't say his name, my name, your name, nothin'. I'll keep shut, too." She had turned, face away, skirt pushed up, top unbuttoned, boots still on. He'd always had a thing for her boots. "Fuck, this is bad."

The clothes were wrong. The breasts were wrong. The ass was close, but not enough. He focused on the hair. Since she didn't even have hair to connect him with her fantasy, he removed his shirt and pushed his pants below his knees. More than he'd ever done before. With her it was only ever far enough to get his dick out. Between them it was never anything but curiosity and convenience. Not more than five times in all their years and shared missions.

His entry was smooth. Always was with her. Made him wonder what the real thing would be like. Juvia-

Shit. He'd lost the image of her.

He tangled his fingers in the wavy blue hair, absorbing the color and texture. Almost there. Almost perfect. He closed his eyes, finishing the picture he had of her, intent on her hair. And her panting.

His other hand rested on the curve between her waist and hip.

No. No. No fucking good. He knew the curve, that specific curve too damn well. She couldn't be the woman he imagined. Not the one he tried to keep behind his eyes now, and not the one who haunted his dreams. His nightmares.

He pulled out of her, throbbing but unable to continue the game.

"Hot," she moaned as he released her. She rolled over to face him. Her skirt bunched around her stomach. He noticed there was a small amount of extra flesh around her hips, thighs, and belly. Good, he thought. She'd been too damn thin before. Magic and misery eating her alive.

"Gajeel-kun is too hot." She continued. "Gajeel-kun is Gajeel-kun. You were right; Juvia was wrong." Her chest heaved with harried breaths, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Fuck.

"Juvia doesn't want Gajeel-kun. Juvia wants Gray-sama."

He began to pull up his pants, but she stopped him by taking hold of his left hand and pulling it to her breast. He remembered that she was sensitive to touch there, but preferred he use his mouth on the other. Odd thing to remember. Almost mad for the feel of his tongue on her right side. His finger-tips on her left. Thumb circling her nipple, fingers tracing the swell of her soft flesh.

Nights and days of stupid youth. Covered in the mess they made destroying whatever they destroyed. He remembered the sounds she made. He remembered the way she shook. He never remembered her smiling.

"Juvia doesn't want Gajeel-kun," she whispered an echo of her own words, "but she wants to be touched." Her breath caught when he moved his hips to meet her once more. "Please, Gajeel-kun. Touch Juvia again."

She offered no resistance when he pushed forward. She never resisted him. "And if I bruise you?" he asked, bending over her and squeezing the pale flesh of her upper thigh, above her guild mark. She had always been prone to bruising, but she had worn more clothing back then. The fairy women had rubbed off on her with their skimpy clothing. Though she was still conservative as hell, compared to the rest. "What if someone sees?"

"Juvia was in a fight."

"A fight with no mission?" he teased her with his hands.

"Juvia fell. Juvia wants Gajeel-kun to stop talking." Her eyes were partially closed, and she raised her hips to draw him deeper inside of her. Not happy, but clearly needy. His balls squeezed, sending a thrum of wild desire into him, thrusting him onward without an actual decision to continue. He knew how she felt.

But he didn't like her commanding him.

Gajeel had an idea.

"Would your stupid, fucking ice-alchemist talk?" His thrusts were hard, fast. She was water, there was no resistance. That sharp slap of his pelvis pounding against hers, he needed it. He needed that wall to make it a challenge. How deep could he go, if her body stayed solid?

She had melted after orgasm, the first time.

"Come on, would your Gray-sama," he used the name to mock her, "talk? Would the prick's frozen dick even get you off? Maybe you wouldn't even feel it," he slammed forward with so much force that they slid half a foot on the wet porch. "Maybe the stupid bastard is doin' you a favor."

"And Gajeel-kun?" the words came out between gasps. "Levy-chan is so cute. So small," she shot his cruel teasing, his honest thoughts back at him. "Juvia can mold herself, stretch for Gajeel-kun; Juvia can control her body. Juvia has known you since Gajeel-kun was small-"

He growled and snapped his hips, squeezing her thigh and breast hard enough to make her cry out, but her cry was short and relatively quiet.

"Smaller," she corrected with a wet chuckle that hinted at unspoken insults. "Gajeel-kun might not fit," at least she didn't smile, "Gajeel-kun might hurt Levy-chan."

He moaned as she picked up the pace. With her, with the lessened friction it took so long to come, but this time she was fucking his mind as much as his body. His idea to tease her was backfiring. She rolled her pelvis, and he couldn't say why that was a problem.

"Is that why Gajeel-kun lies? Are you a coward, afraid to take responsibility for causing her pain? Or are you selfish, Gajeel-kun? Not wanting a good girl like Levy-chan," she twisted around him, fluid, but tight, back on her knees. He fisted his fingers in and around that bright blue hair and pulled until she moaned.

"Juvia knows Gajeel-kun. Gajeel-kun is not a coward. Juvia thinks maybe Gajeel-kun doesn't want a good girl, a small girl like Levy-chan."

"Just means she'd be all for me. She'd be tight." He could almost imagine it, how her body would clamp around him, drawing him in inch by fucking inch like a python swallowing a mouse, alive. It hurt, he was so hard.

Gajeel used his hands, stroking pinching rubbing, anything to keep her going. If she got distracted with her teasing...

"So, Gajeel-kun want's Levy-chan in his bed?"

"Or her bed, or the floor, a closet, grass; fuck if I care." He pinched her nipples before gripping her shoulders, pulling and thrusting. Harder. Faster.

Shit, if she stops...

"Juvia thinks Gajeel-kun wants more than the bed." She tilted her head so that she could look over her shoulder, peeking through the swaying curtain of that blue hair.

"Yes. Fuck yes. Everywhere. For everything. For forever."

She grinned. A sweet, serene expression that he'd never seen before Fairy Tail. Lifting a leg, she slowly turned again, sliding it over his chest to face him while her inside swirled like a whirlpool, contracting around him as her back arched and his arms trembled with the force he was using to push as far inside of her as possible.

They were both quiet. A habit they had gotten into since they were almost always on missions when they fucked.

"Never did that before," he commented as he pulled out. His withdrawal was followed by a stream of clear water. Cleaning up was always easy with the water mage. As long as they weren't on cloth. They were almost always in caves or forests. Worked well.

"Juvia wants to please Gray-sama."

"That'd do the trick." He sat back, pulling up his pants and putting his shirt back on. He also glanced at the walk way. No one was there. Good thing he didn't have neighbors. "You still goin' after him then?"

"Gray-sama is Juvia's perfect love. Juvia will follow him for always."

"Still say you're stupid, but if you get tired of him being a jackass and want me to beat the everlasting shit out of him," he gave her his most menacing grin, "I'd be fucking happy as hell to smash that icicle flat."

"Juvia won't let anyone hurt Gray-sama!" she huffed.

"Gihihi, moron. Offer's open, though. Whenever, whatever. Whyever. Fuck if I give the slightest shit. You give the word, I'll have the stripper begging you to forgive him."

Her stern, protective expression softened, "Begging..." Her eyes were bright as she adjusted her clothes. "Gajeel-kun is kind. You are always kind to Juvia."

"Don't go spreadin' that shit around. People startin' to think I'm going soft without you helpin'em out. It just gives me a reason to kick the stupid stripper's ass."

She lit up with that Fairy Tail smile again. "And Gajeel-kun? Will Gajeel-kun share his love with Levy-chan?"

His imagination assaulted him with lighting-fast images of a ll the ways he could share his love with the intoxicating bookworm. It was almost enough to turn him on all over again, and stronger than before. But the last image was one of her eyes. Of her standing beside him, covered in dirt and spots of blood. A victorious smile. Bright as a small sun and somehow managing to light even his recently shadowed heart. It calmed him, that smile.

"I guess. Yeah."

"Juvia will return to her home, now." She bent and put her hand on his shoulder, the most affection they ever managed. "Juvia thanks Gajeel-kun," she almost smirked, "for his kindness."

"Goddamn it," he grumbled as she left him.

Author's Note: Please review! Feel free to call me various, cruel names for this sexually-frustrated, need-based pairing! Much love!

This was odd for me to write for many different reasons. One, I don't do lemons. I try sometimes, but I generally suck at them, so I back away. Two, even writing a sexy scene, I am FEMALE... it was an odd decision my imagination made to take this from the male POV. Three, that's probably because I'm usually so attuned to Gajeel, but that was not really the case here, I don't really think. I lost him in a few places, so I'm not quite as pleased with this as I would like to be. Four, did I mention I'm not all that good with citrus?

Still, I felt compelled to do this. I ship Gajeel and Levy so totally hard, and I've decided to just go with them really having a relationship that just hasn't been talked about because they've been shoved in the background the last few chapters. But secretly they're banging in that underground area near the pools.

But Gajeel IS awkward, and Gray DID totally and cleanly reject Juvia at the King's castle... Juvia might go to lots of people, but she partnered with Gray lots of times. Even after changing guilds. So I thought I would LOOK for a Gajuvia fic, but I couldn't seem to find one that was romancy.

So I wrote one. Hope it's not too much of a disappointment!