It's been about three weeks since Juvia crashed into Gray's life. In the beginning it was slightly rough, but now it's as if Juvia has been living with Gray for years. By now they've gotten into some sort of daily routine. Juvia wakes Gray up in the morning (her being a freakishly early riser), Gray gets ready for school while Juvia makes breakfast (usually just cereal), they eat breakfast, Gray goes to school, Juvia stays home and usually searches the internet, Gray comes home from school then does his homework, later Gray makes a quick dinner, they eat, and after cleaning up they sit in the living room doing whatever until going to sleep. It was sort of a peaceful life.
"Was Gray-sama listening?" Juvia's voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Huh? No, sorry."
"Juvia asked why no one else lived with Gray-sama." Juvia asks.
"Finally found out it's not normal, huh?" Juvia suddenly finds her dinner very interesting.
"Juvia wanted to know more about Gray-sama so she looked him up on the internet." Over the past few weeks, Juvia had been getting used to all the words and stuff associated with the internet. But that wasn't the point. She had been looking him up?
"What did you find?"
"Several things. But Juvia found an obituary." Gray stabbed at a meatball on his plate. He didn't expect her to find something like that. "Who is Mika?"
"Mika's my mom."
"So she died?"
"Yeah, it's a long story. So basically my parents got into a car crash when I was young. My mom, who I heard was in the passenger seat, died. Then they couldn't find my dad's body so they assumed he survived. We don't know where he is." Gray remembered that day as if it was yesterday. It was a clear sunny day and at school that day, he was super excited because afterwards he was supposed to be going on vacation with his parents. Then when the end of the day came, he patiently waited at the car pick-up for his parents. Of course they never came.
"So is that why Gray-sama lives alone?" Juvia asks.
"Not really. I was sent to foster care. There I lived with my foster mother, her daughter, and my foster brother. I lived with them up until two years ago. Then I decided to move out. My foster mother is kind enough to pay for my rent."
"She seems more than just kind. But how does she manage to pay for two houses?"
"Well my foster mom is a talented and popular artisan. She runs a shop nearby. My foster brother works part-time there."
"What about your foster mother's daughter?"
"She works at a friend's restaurant."
"Has Gray-sama talked to them since he left?"
"Eh, not that much... Well I've had my hands tied since your arrival."
"Juvia is sorry."
"It's nothing to be sorry about. I really only see them around holidays. I'm seeing them on Christmas."
"Christmas?"
"It's a gift giving holiday. Look it up. Now that I think about it, Christmas vacation is coming up. I'm sure there's plenty of Christmas specials on tv. Surprised you haven't seen anything."
"Ah well, Juvia's been doing a lot of research on the internet." Juvia blushes.
"There's no shame in looking things up." Gray stands up. "I'm gonna start the dishes. Why don't you do some research on Christmas?" Juvia's face brightens and she springs up from the table.
"Yes Gray-sama!"
The next day was another long day at school. Just like any normal day, he drove home from school then when he got home Juvia would be waiting, he would do his homework, blah blah. Instead when he opened the door, Juvia was waiting right there.
"Gray-sama!" She shouted as he opened the door. This caused him to leap back.
"J-Juvia! Don't startle me like that!"
"Sorry Gray-sama, but Juvia wants to go shopping!"
"Shopping?"
"Yes! Isn't that what people do around Christmas?"
"So you've been doing your research." Gray sighs. He walks past her and throws his bag and coat on the couch. As he walks to the kitchen, he trips on something. He looks down to see his sleeping bag and pillow. "I thought I put these away this morning." He grumbles and starts folding the sleeping bag.
"Ah well, Gray-sama did."
"Then why is it out on the floor?" Gray asks irritated. Juvia nervously twiddled her fingers. He could guess the answer.
"Juvia wanted to see what Gray-sama has been sleeping in the past few weeks so she took out his sleeping bag and pillow and tried resting in it like Gray-sama. It was uncomfortable so Juvia got out, but she didn't know how to put it back..." Gray sighs. She was right, it wasn't comfortable one bit. Juvia has been using the only bed in the house so Gray has been switching between using the couch and the sleeping bag. After putting the sleeping bag aside, Gray grabs his coat off the couch and starts walking towards the door.
"Juvia, come on we're going shopping." Gray says. Juvia perks up.
"Really?! Juvia can get Gray-sama a gift!"
"It's not that." Gray sighs. "I'm gonna buy a futon or something and I think it's due time we get you some clothes." Gray looks Juvia up and down. She was wearing one of his sweaters (which was over-sized), one of his pants (which were over-sized and were held up by one of his belts), and even one of his boxers.
"Yay! Gray-sama and Juvia are going shopping!" Juvia cheers.
'It's nice seeing her happy.' Gray thinks. 'Perhaps this shopping trip isn't such a bad idea.'
'Worst. Idea. Ever.' Gray mentally slaps himself for thinking this would be fun. It's been about two hours since their shopping trip officially began. At first it was for Juvia to get a few outfits and a pair of shoes, but now it was a full blown shopping trip. And worst of all, he still hasn't gotten a futon.
"What does Gray-sama think?" Juvia's voice interrupts his thoughts. She was holding a blue blouse up to her chest.
"I honestly don't care." Gray groans. He was leaning against the cart that was already filled with clothes. He was so happy he brought her to a store that sold inexpensive clothing. Who knows how much he would've had to pay if he brought her to a mall or designer store.
"Then Juvia will get it!" Juvia smiles and drops the blouse in with the rest of the clothes.
"Hey I think that's enough clothes shopping for now. I mean we have to carry all this plus all the other clothes you got today." By Gray's feet were at least ten large shopping bags filled with clothes from various stores. Juvia was even wearing one of the outfits she had bought today. She wore light blue snow boots lined with white fur, dark blue pants, a cute blue T-shirt with santa and his reindeer printed on it, and her blue coat with fake white fur cuffs and collar was in the cart.
"Ok! Juvia is going to try some of these on now!" She pulls the cart to the dressing rooms. While she was in a stall, Gray sat on the bench right outside of it. Periodically she'd come out of the dressing room to model an outfit, but then she'd lock herself back inside until the next outfit. While he was waiting, the door next to him opened. A blonde haired girl walked out clutching a few outfits. As she walked by, she tripped on one of the shopping bags. Her body and her clothes all fell to the ground.
"Woah! Sorry about that." Gray crouches down to help pick up a few articles of clothing.
"No it's fine. I wasn't watching where I was going." The girl says, gathering the ones in front of her. She pauses to look at all the bags and the clothes in the cart. "Are you shopping with your girlfriend?" For some reason that statement caused his face to heat up.
"No! She's just a friend!" The girl laughs.
"I wish the friend with me today was as nice as you. He left me here with some money and went to the game store next door."
"Sounds like some friend." Gray snickers and hands her the clothes he picked up. He stands up and offers her his hand.
"Thanks." When the girl grabs it, a strange sensation coursed through his body. It felt similar to the first time he touched Juvia, except at the same time it was kind of different. It felt like the heat of summer. "Um, are you alright?" Gray snapped his attention to the blonde haired girl in front of him. Her brown eyes stared at him with concern.
"Yeah, it's nothing." He notices he was still holding her hand so he retracts it quickly.
"Well thank you for helping me." The girl smiled and walked away. She disappeared though the racks of clothing. Gray stared after her, wondering about the strange sensation he felt.
"What does Gray-sama think of this outfit? Juvia had a hard time putting it on, but she thinks it looks nice." Juvia bursts out and twirls in the outfit she was wearing. She stopped when she noticed the distant look on Gray's face. "Gray-sama, what's wrong?"
"Huh? Nothing. It looks good. You should get it." Gray sits back down on the bench. "How many more outfits?"
"This is the last one." Juvia replies. "Juvia will change so Gray-sama can buy everything."
"Yeah sounds like a plan." Juvia disappears back into the stall, but emerges a few moments later. The two make their way to checkout where Gray buys everything. But Gray just couldn't get the strange girl out of his head. They leave and start making their way back to where Gray parked a few blocks away. As they walk, Juvia babbles on about things she read and saw. Then she stopped in her tracks. It took a moment for Gray to realize the babbling bluenette wasn't by his side. He stops and looks around. Luckily Juvia wasn't that far away. She was looking at a display window.
"Hey don't wander off in a crowded area like this." Gray comes to her side.
"Juvia is sorry, but the display window caught her eye." Juvia apologizes while staring inside the window. Inside was carefully crafted jewelry, charms, and other accessories. If Gray didn't know any better, he probably would've said they were crafted by- wait... They were almost exact copies. This couldn't be her shop-
"Gray?!" An all to familiar voice says. Yes. This was it. He was definitely in front of Ur's shop.