Serendipitous

Chapter II

Juvia's decision to wait a while before telling Gray what happened was a bad decision. Her paranoia kicked in, and she continued to avoid it out of fear that she would lose him. Most of the time, she stayed cooped up within the walls of her apartment. No one really wondered why she had been avoiding the guild—more particularly, Gray. Most of them probably just thought she was sick or something, but she couldn't keep that act up for long. Someone would eventually figure out that something was wrong, and she wouldn't be able to hide it anymore.

Sighing deeply, Juvia sat up in bed after lying there for a few minutes. There wasn't much to do while hiding out in an apartment; it was quite boring, actually. She had Gajeel over a few times, but she decided to keep the fact that her and Gray slept together from him. It was mainly out of fear that he would immediately want to kill Gray, and she really didn't want that to happen. Even if she was avoiding him, she was still very much in love with him—even more than before.

While she stayed hidden in her apartment, she often found herself replaying their lovemaking in her mind. It was undeniably the best sex of her life, and she was surprised that Gray hadn't caught on yet. The thought made her feel guilty, because he deserved to know what happened. Juvia was just so terrible at confrontation, and she wasn't ready to tell the love of her life that they had drunken sex. No one ever wants to hear that, especially if it was with someone you knew. And not just anyone you knew, but the person who's been in love with you for years.

Even though she was nervous to talk to Gray, she constantly wanted him all over again. If she ever wanted to be with him like that again, she needed to tell him. It wasn't just because of the amazing sex, though. That was just a bonus; it also had the possibilities of a romantic relationship between the two. The thought made Juvia anticipate it, but she knew that she shouldn't get her hopes up. Gray was a very unpredictable man, and she needed to be prepared for anything. But the only thing she could think about at the moment was Gray kissing her, and the way he felt on top of her, and...

Jesus christ, she really needed to stop.

It was difficult to stop thinking about him and their night together, but the thoughts had eventually subsided from her mind. It gave her some time to think about how she would tell Gray. There was no easy way of telling someone, so she needed to plan everything out. It wasn't going to be stuttered or suspenseful, it would be done right. Juvia knew that anything could happen, so she needed to keep an open mind to all of the possibilities. The outcome could be good, and her and Gray could get married and live happily ever after—well, that was a little far fetched, but a girl could dream.

Or the opposite of what she wanted could happen. Gray could get pissed and want nothing to do with her, and Juvia prayed to God that that wouldn't happen. She wouldn't know what to do with herself if Gray disappeared from her life. A life without Gray, for her, was a life without true happiness. It was a life that had rain; Juvia didn't want that again. She couldn't go back to it.

Juvia hugged her knees and buried her face there, trying to hold back a few tears. Just the thought of being without him made her want to cry and sob. It was hard to stop the emotions, but she eventually held herself together and lifted her head up. She never knew when she suddenly became so dependent on him, but being around him was like being cured of a disease. Gray undeniably spun her world round and round, and she never wanted it to stop. Juvia would be alright with it spinning forever on loop if she could be with him again.

After staring at the wall for quite some time, Juvia got up from her bed and made her way into the kitchen. Even if she was depressed, she still got pretty hungry during the day. She decided to make herself some soup and read a book she'd been meaning to start for a while. It was a cliché romance novel—no surprise there—and she had been looking forward to reading it.

While she was finishing up the last spoonfuls of her soup, she heard a knock on the door. That annoyed her a little bit, even though she really didn't mind visitors. It was just exhausting to see others at the moment. Juvia groaned before getting up from her spot on the couch and answered the door. She immediately knew who was there, and wasn't surprised at all. Her best friend, Gajeel, stood there with his arms crossed in disappointment. He also had a worried look, but he looked more disappointed than anything else.

"Why have you been avoiding the guild?" he immediately asked, not allowing her to say anything.

Juvia sighed. "Something just... came up."

He rolled his eyes. "That's bullshit and you know it."

Frowning, Juvia turned away and walked back towards her couch. As she sat back down, she heard the door close. Gajeel sat next to her, looking down in his lap.

"Juvia," he said, "if something's wrong, you can talk to me about it."

The bluenette nodded. "Juvia knows."

"So, nothing's wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…" Juvia replied nervously.

His eyebrows furrowed together. "Did that stripper do something to you?"

Juvia's eyes widened, covering her cheeks from an oncoming blush. "N-No!"

Gajeel groaned. "Either you're gonna tell me or you aren't. Your choice."

Sighing, Juvia stood up. "I'll tell you later," she told him. "I need to take care of something first."

"Fine," Gajeel huffed and stood from his seat on the couch. "Anyways, I gotta go. I'm going on a job with Levy."

"Have fun," the bluenette teased, smirking as he walked towards the door.

"Shut up!" Gajeel yelled before slamming the apartment door behind him.


After a few days of hiding out in her apartment, Juvia finally decided to go back to the guild. It felt different, but it was nice to see her friends again.

Everyone was worried, though, because she didn't immediately go looking for Gray when she entered the guild. Most of them tried to ignore it, but her closer friends weren't buying it. Once she sat down, Lucy had immediately bombarded her with questions.

"Wow," the blonde said in surprise. "Your first day back at the guild and you aren't hunting Gray down. Did something happen?"

Juvia laughed lightly. "No, Lucy-chan," she lied. "Everything's fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Juvia is sure."

Well, she didn't exactly bombard her with questions, but it sure felt like she did. Juvia was nervous that Lucy would see right through her, but the other girl seemed convinced. After the conversation was over, Juvia looked up and scanned the room. She found that Gray wasn't there, which wasn't surprising. He was probably out on a job or something along those lines.

"Where is Gray-sama, anyways?" the bluenette asked curiously.

"Oh," Lucy replied. "He went out on a job with Cana."

"Really?" Juvia asked, shocked. The two weren't exactly the bestest of friends, and they didn't usually go out on jobs together. Alone.

"Yeah," she told her. "Not sure why."

Juvia felt a tinge of jealousy that Gray was on a job, alone, with Cana. What were they doing? Kissing? Worse? She sighed deeply; that most likely wasn't the case. Juvia always found herself getting worried and jealous over the most stupid things, and she really was trying to stop them. But how can you do that when the man that you're deeply in love with hangs around so many girls? It's normal to get jealous, but probably not as normal to be possessive towards him. Gray wasn't even truly hers, so why does she have to act like this?

Wow, having sex with someone really makes you think differently. Juvia definitely wouldn't be thinking about this if her and Gray hadn't slept together. Did he manage to change her point of view towards him just from one night together?

The memory of that night fled her mind again, and she felt her cheeks get hot.

Lucy immediately noticed her friend's change of emotion. "Is something wrong, Juvia?"

"Juvia has to go," the bluenette said. "Goodbye, Lucy-chan."

She quickly left the guild, hoping that no one was following her. Juvia knew that if she kept getting flustered in front of the other guild members, people will eventually find out that something was up. And she didn't want anyone to find out about what happened between her and Gray, not before he did. That's when she decided that she needed to talk to Gray as soon as he got home from his job. It was now or never.


As Juvia waited for the day to end so she could hurry to the guild the next day to tell Gray, she got incredibly anxious. She decided to wait until tomorrow, so she didn't have to stop him right after arriving home from a job. It seemed like another way to avoid it, but either way, she was going to wish she told him sooner.

A few hours after she had gone back to her apartment, someone had started pound against her door. Juvia was nervous to open it, but she knew she couldn't hide forever.

As soon as she opened it, Gray was rushing into her apartment madder than ever.

"Juvia, what the hell?!" he yelled, not even giving her time to greet him.

"What, Gray-sama?" she asked nervously. Did he know?

"How could you not tell me we had sex?!"

Shit, he did know.

"Um..."

"Like, I remember doing it, but not with you!" he continued to yell. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"H-How did you find out, exactly?"

"So you did know?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together even more than they already had.

Juvia frowned, not knowing what to say.

Sighing, Gray ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Cana told me she saw us kiss and then leave."

"Oh..." Juvia whispered. Of course Cana just had to see them leave. She's terrible at keeping her mouth shut.

"Yeah, oh," he said cruelly. "How long did you think you could keep it a secret?!"

Juvia felt angrier and angrier by the second. Why was he being so cruel to her? "Stop yelling at Juvia!" she exclaimed. "Juvia wanted to wait a few days before telling you! And she decided that she was going to tell you tomorrow! So quit being such an ass!"

Gray was shocked at her response, and so was Juvia. It wasn't like her to yell at him, and both of them realized that.

He sighed again, leaning against her apartment wall. "Why did you want to wait a few days before telling me? And why were you in such a rush to leave the morning after?"

"Juvia panicked," Juvia frowned, looking down towards the ground. "And it's not easy telling someone you like that you... had sex with them while drunk."

Gray's eyes suddenly softened. "I understand," he told her. "It's happened to me a few times."

That made her even more jealous than she was before. Juvia knew that Gray had slept around a lot, but the mention of it made her blood boil. "So… are we okay?"

"Define okay," he said sarcastically.

Juvia frowned. His sarcasm wasn't amusing to the situation, and she did not appreciate it at all.

"Yeah," Gray mumbled. "We're good. As long as nothing changes."

Juvia's eyes widened slightly. "Nothing changes?"

"Yeah, like," he paused, trying to search for the right words, "this doesn't affect our friendship. Does that sound okay?"

The bluenette bit her lip. "Juvia supposes."

Gray gave a small smirk and pat the top of her head. "Good," he said. "Sorry for yelling at you."

"It's fine..." Juvia muttered.

"Anyways," he began. "I gotta head back to my apartment. See you tomorrow."

"Bye," Juvia whispered, but he was long gone by the time she managed to get the one word out. She was heartbroken.


A/N: sorry i havent been updating any of my fics lately lmao senior year is kicking my ass and im in independent study how does this happen. anyways i havent even started on new chapters for girl next door or love will find a way (if any of the ppl reading my gruvia fics also read that fic...?) so pls be patient sorry again school is just all over the place and im going to see melanie martinez in concert next week and. i cant handle it

oK thanks for reading special thanks 2 Baby pink 'n blue, Summer Eclair, Darkhope, Shinji777, SN2797, agirlworthfighting4, and the 3 guests for reviewing! love ya byeee