AN: Back like I never left!

Let's just jump right into it, okay?

The Kings of Magnolia

Chapter 7: Face To Face

Sitting in the driver's seat of his car, Gray Fullbuster was parked in front of the building that housed Juvia Lockser. Wearing a simple white button-up shirt (some of the buttons closer to his neck weren't quite 'buttoned-up'), some dark-colored jeans and a pair of black boots, Gray was waiting for the white-skinned woman to make her appearance. He had his arms crossed on his chest and kept his eyes on the door. He had called her a few minutes ago letting her know that he had arrived, and she told him that she would be down shortly.

If someone had asked Gray a week ago what he would be doing next Tuesday, he would have probably just shrugged and replied 'I don't know'. Maybe he would've had something Family related to do, or just say that he would be home doing nothing. Maybe Gray would tell you that he planned on driving around Magnolia for most of the day. One thing he sure wouldn't have said was that he would be on a date with some girl he met on the beach.

But here he was, waiting in his car for a girl he met on the beach. It was funny how things had worked out for the young mobster.

Actually, it was pretty funny how things had turned out in general. Last Saturday, Gray had received a call from Natsu about what this new girl of his named Lucy had told him. Apparently, Natsu had gotten himself involved with a woman who not only knew Juvia, but was also pretty damn close friends with her, too. So close, in fact, that the aforementioned Lucy was also upstairs living in the same apartment as Juvia. If that part didn't make Gray's head spin, than the other part of all of them meeting on the same day sure as hell did. How the flying fuck that happened, Gray had no idea. But as soon as the initial shock of the information Natsu had relayed to him wore off, Gray made it very clear to his loud-mouthed friend that he was to never bring up anything that related to the Family with the new girls in their lives. Natsu immediately agreed. Natsu made it known to Gray, in a surprisingly serious tone, that he was very taken with the blonde, and that he didn't want to do anything that jeopardized his relationship with her. Gray was caught a little off guard at how mature Natsu was being about all of this. But Gray also remembered how things had gone down with the pink-haired man and his last serious girlfriend, and he was sure that his friend didn't want another repeat of that nightmare. Not that Gray would ever talk about that with Natsu again; that was a rather taboo subject. Things had ended tragically for Natsu and Lisanna five years ago, and since then Natsu never really attempted to get too serious with another girl again. Sure, Natsu slept around. They all did. But there's a difference between sleeping around and getting serious with a girl.

Gray knew that all too well.

That's why no one made a big deal when Natsu talked about some girl named Lucy last Saturday. Gray had only heard through Mira, and she knew that Natsu brought up girls names regularly. Mira was pretty sure that Natsu was still hung up on her little sister, so she didn't say much about what Natsu had said about this Lucy chick. Gray rested his head on his window and wondered to himself what Mira, and her brother Elfman, would both say about Natsu getting close to another girl again.

Those thoughts immediately ended when Gray finally saw some movement coming from the front door to Juvia's building. He saw the blue-haired woman step out and begin making her way down the small staircase.

Gray exited his vehicle so that he could open the passenger side door for her. He watched as she walked towards his car. She was wearing a blue, sleeveless sundress that cut just above the knees. She had on a simple pair of white sandals and her radiant blue locks fell well below her exposed shoulders. She had on simple attire, but Gray was pretty damned impressed with how she wore it. She was stunning.

Before opening the car door for Juvia, Gray met her halfway and they both stopped in front of each other.

"Juvia, it's good to see you again." Gray spoke.

She analyzed the man with her dark-blue eyes. He was still as handsome as he was when she first met him on the beach. His hair still had that wild, unkempt quality to it; that was most definitely something she liked about him. Juvia also noticed that Gray hadn't quite gotten every button on his shirt and saw a good amount of exposed flesh around his upper chest region and the angles of his neck. This was starting to cause Juvia to produce a fair amount of heat on her cheeks.

"I-It's good to see you too Gray." She said as she lowered her head, avoiding his gaze so he didn't see her blushing.

Gray raised an eyebrow at this. "Is something wrong, Juvia?" Did he have something on his face? Was he not dressed properly? Gray didn't get it. She wasn't looking at him and that worried the man.

Juvia shook her head and raised it back up to look at him again. She had gotten over the embarrassment of looking at Gray in an inappropriate manner and locked eyes with her new companion. "No, nothing's wrong." She was spending an entire day with Gray, how could anything possibly be wrong? "Juvia is just so happy to see you again, that's all."

Gray grinned at that statement. Now that's what he wanted to hear. "Good, because I feel the exact same way about you." He turned around and went back towards his car. He opened the door for her and waited for her to enter the vehicle. "Ready to go, Juvia?"

She loved the way that he stood there holding the door for her with a confident smile on his face. He made it look so natural.

She nodded and began to make her way to her seat. "So, what's our first stop Gray?" she asked as she sat down on the black leather car seat.

Gray gave the blue sky a quick look. "Hmm, well, I am a little hungry…" He looked back down at his seated lady friend and smirked. "How about you?"

"Juvia hasn't eaten yet. I wouldn't mind grabbing something to eat with you." The woman responded.

Gray nodded his head. "All right, so how does a hot dog sound?"


"Gray! Long time no see!" said a middle-aged man with an apron on and short dark-blue hair.

"Right back at you, Macao." Gray and Juvia took their seats at Macao Conbolt's popular hot dog stand which was located smack-dab in the middle of downtown. The stand was a hit with the locals and the young adults in Magnolia. Macao made the most when drunken college students would exit the clubs that were all over the downtown area; everyone would come for a quick bite to eat before passing out at home. It was also a popular eating destination for the Family as well. Makarov became good friends with Macao and ate there often. Natsu loved the hot dogs Macao cooked up and even built up a sort of older-brother relationship with the man's son, Romeo.

Macao placed both his hands on the counter. "Where you been hiding? Haven't seen you around in a while."

"Just been busy, that's all. I plan to make myself a little more visible now, so get used to seeing me around more often again." Gray responded as he crossed his arms and leaned on the counter. "So where's Romeo? I thought he'd be hanging around here with you."

"He's out with his mother right now. They're both doing a little school shopping. He's headed into his first year of high school, you know. I hope he adjusts well, and the kids don't start pickin' on him." Macao said in a bit of a worried tone.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that he'll take what he's learned from Natsu about defending himself." The dark-haired man said, reassuring the older Macao.

"That's also something that worries me. I don't wanna get any calls from the principle telling me that Romeo got involved in some kind of brawl. He and Natsu are so much alike in many ways; complete hotheads, the both of them." Macao added a sigh to that statement. "Anyway Gray, are you gonna introduce me to this lovely lady you got sitting beside you or what?"

"Oh, um, sorry about that. Macao this is Juvia. Juvia, this is Macao, he runs this joint." Gray watched as Juvia nodded and presented the middle-aged man with her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Macao-san." Juvia said nodding her head.

Macao took her hand and shook it. "The pleasure is all mine dear. And I hope I'm not stepping over any sort of line here when I say that you are a beautiful looking girl. I don't know where you found her Gray, but she looks like a keeper."

"Thank you." Juvia smiled at the man's kind words.

"Yeah, she's all right." Gray looked over to the snow-skinned woman and gave her a mischievous smirk. Juvia let out a soft laugh at Gray's teasing. The sound of that was music to Gray's ears.

"Well I know the two of you didn't come here just to see me. What can get you guys?" Macao asked the two young adults.

Gray turned back to look at the older cook and responded. "Just get us two of the usual."

"The usual? You haven't been here in a while; I think I forgot what your usual was." The middle-aged man crossed his arms and grinned.

"Oh don't give me that. You remember, Macao." said the dark-haired man.

"Just kidding. Anything to drink with that?" Macao turned his back on the duo and went to grab a couple of glasses and straws for his two patrons.

Gray shrugged. "I'll just have a water. What about you Juvia?" he turned to look over at the bluenette.

"Juvia will have the same." She answered.

"Got it!" Macao returned with two glasses of water and went back to get started on their meals.

"So, what does this 'usual' look like?" Juvia asked as she turned to look at the messy-haired Gray.

He sucked a bit on his straw and looked over at her. "You'll like it. It's got chopped onions, melted cheese and honey mustard. I used to come here a lot and get it all the time when I was less busy. So yeah, you'll really enjoy it; Macao really knows his way around the kitchen and can really cook up a good dog."

"Juvia trusts you. I can't wait to try it; Juvia doesn't really eat a lot of food like this, so it'll be something new for Juvia."

"I can tell. To look that good, I guess you would have to avoid eating things like this." Gray smiled and rested the side of his head on his left fist, still keeping eye contact with Juvia. She looked especially cute today, Gray thought.

There were very few things Juvia had experienced in her life that felt as good as looking at Gray smile. And it was even better when that smile was directed at her. "Thank you Gray, but it's not that Juvia actively avoids eating this kind of food. I just never get the opportunity to indulge myself very often."

"Well feel free to let me know what other kinds of fatty foods you'd like to try. I'll see what other things we can stuff our faces with." The two had a laugh at Gray's suggestion and the duo was starting to become aware at how comfortable they were around each other. This was only their second time together, and they were jokingly talking about things they might do in the future, but the connection between the two felt more like something that was always there.

"So, it's kinda weird that, you know, Natsu and Lucy met up the same day we did. It's kinda scary, don't you think?" Gray said as he softly scratched his temple.

"Yes, that is a hard one to explain. But I don't find it too frightening; Lucy-chan needed something new. Her old boyfriend wasn't a very faithful man, and Lucy let him walk all over her. Juvia is glad that she found Natsu-san, even if he does seem a little… unstable." Juvia hadn't quite met Natsu yet, but from what she heard the guy came off sounding like a loose cannon.

"You ain't kidding. I've known that guy for a while now, and I've never met anyone as reckless as him. The guy can't help but make a scene. It can get pretty damn annoying, and I'm saying that as someone who considers him a friend." Gray chuckled. Natsu has always been a character, and as much as it could get on Gray's nerves, he wouldn't have the pink-haired lunatic any other way. He was insane, but also dependable.

Juvia nodded. "Juvia was told by Lucy-chan that he almost got into a fight over her at Club Nirvana. Apparently, Natsu-san had Lucy's ex pinned down on the bar counter and everyone rushed over thinking a fight was about to start. But Natsu-san managed to not hurt the man and everything was fine after that."

Gray's forehead landed on the palm of his handed and he shook his head. "He was told to be on his best behavior… then again, no one got hurt, so that's an improvement.

One of Juvia's eyebrows shot up at Gray's statement. "Is your friend really that violent?"

Gray sighed. "Well, he can be. But in his defense, trouble finds him most of the time. He isn't a bad guy though! And if he is serious about Lucy as he seems to be, than you can bet your ass that he will keep her protected. Your friend, believe it or not, is in good hands. Caring ones, at least."

"Hmm, I'll take your word for it Gray. And Lucy-chan seems happy now. Happier than she ever was with Loke-san, so that counts for something." Juvia said. She took to the straw in her glass and had herself a drink of water.

"That's good to hear. There aren't that many things worse in my eyes than a guy who treats a woman like trash, so it's pretty cool that one of my friends came in and ended that garbage." Gray added. "So has work been? Busy at Yajima's?"

Juvia placed both of her hands on her lap and looked forward, watching Macao fix up their lunches. "It's been steady; nothing Juvia can't handle. It's just annoying sometimes dealing with the staff. All the waiters and waitresses constantly tell me that I don't give them the right amount of costumers. That Juvia gives them too many old people, and they don't see enough tips. Some of them try to, in private, convince Juvia that she should start favoring them and all of that nonsense. I'm not there to serve them, Juvia is there to seat the costumers and make them feel welcomed!" Juvia said, unconsciously raising her voice a little too high.

Gray gave her a light laugh. "It's pretty clear that your coworkers bug you. It's not like you don't have a point though. That would annoy the hell out of me too."

"Right, but other than that, Juvia is doing okay at work. And with school coming up, I'm thinking of taking another day off so that I can have more time to dedicate to that and to myself."

"That would be nice. It could also give us more time together as well." Gray liked the idea of having more time with the bluenette.

"Oh yes! That would be amazing. Juvia would definitely use whatever free time she has to see you, Gray." Juvia wore a huge smile on her face.

"I like the sound of that. Hopefully your boss plays ball and lets you off another day."

"I think it'll work out. Juvia is a good worker and I don't see how I will be denied." Juvia said with absolute confidence. "And what about Gray? How has work been for you?"

"Hmm…" Gray knew this question was coming. Work was work for him; same old boring thing. Everyone had a route to run, a role to play. Illegal goods to smuggle and sell, and dirty money to 'wash'. And with Jellal gone, more work was left to go around. That was also crazy too; Jellal wasn't anywhere to be found. Not that anyone tried to look. Jellal made it clear that he was done with them and wanted to hit the reset button on his life. This caused a bit of an uproar with the gang, specifically with Natsu. He couldn't understand why Jellal would just up and leave like that. Initially, Natsu blamed Gray for infecting Jellal with his 'gloom'. Saying that it was Gray's fault for Jellal leaving the syndicate. But after reviewing the letter, Makarov knew that it had more to do with something that was in Jellal for a while. They all knew what went down with Erza, and how much she meant to him. And Jellal made it clear in the letter that he wanted something else for himself. Makarov told the group that they should all respect Jellal's wishes, and that they all had no choice but to move on without him. As much as it hurt Makarov to lose one of his dear children, he knew that Jellal was a grown man, and grown men make their own choices. From there, the group moved on, except with one less member of the Family.

So work hadn't been boring in that sense. Not at all. But of course, Gray couldn't share any of that with Juvia. Gray also hadn't noticed that he had been staring off into space.

"Gray…?" Juvia asked with a confused look on her face. Was he okay? Juvia was a little worried about black-haired companion.

Juvia's voice brought Gray back to the present and he snapped his head at her calling his name. "Oh! Sorry about that… just thinking about how, uh, busy Fairy Tail had been, you know?"

"Has it been that busy? Juvia knows it's a popular place; I hope being the place's manager doesn't stress Gray out too much." Juvia said in a worried tone.

"No, it's fine. Work has been manageable. Like you, it's nothing I can't handle." Truth be told, Gray doesn't know the first thing about managing a bar. Even though she was a bartender, Mira did a good job of playing manager, alongside her brother Elfman who also played the role of bouncer and security at Fairy Tail. Gray would have to remember to ask them what it is they actually do as managers. "Besides, you know Natsu is also a manager there too right? I could have him help out."

"That's right; Juvia forgot that Natsu-san also worked as manager. How does that work out between you two? Juvia imagines that there might be some crazy stories considering Natsu-san's off-the-wall personality." Juvia wondered what Gray was like when he was working. She imagined that he must've been a boss that everyone liked. Gray just exuded 'cool', so there was no way that her Gray was anything less than stellar at his job.

Juvia didn't know it, but Gray didn't have much to tell her. And that was because he was lying about working at Fairy Tail. It hurt him that he had to lie to Juvia, but he knew that it was a way of keeping her safe. But now, he had to come up with some more bullshit to keep her believing his lie. "Yeah, um, well… we…." Gray didn't know what to say. This didn't look good.

"Yes?" Juvia asked curiously.

"Uh…" Gray needed something that could help him change the subject. Just something…

"Here you go you two! Enjoy your dogs." Macao came in and placed the hot dogs in front of his two costumers. He gave Gray a knowing wink and went back into his kitchen to cook up more dogs for the other patrons at his stand.

"Thanks!" Gray said in a relieved fashion. That 'thanks' had a double meaning and only Gray and Macao knew it. Gray looked at the enormous hot dog that was sitting on his plate and gave Juvia a quick glance. "Here it is. Let's eat."

Gray picked up his lunch and began to feast. He hadn't been to Macao's stand in a while, but the older cook hadn't lost his touch at all. The thing was still delicious as hell. It made Gray want to kick himself for not coming as often as he used to. The cheese was melted just right; it sank deep into the meat and it tasted like heaven in Gray's mouth. The onions were chopped to perfection and the honey mustard was the icing on the beef flavored cake. The dark-haired man couldn't remember the last time he had such a great eating experience. It was probably the last time he was here at the stand. It probably also had something to do with the woman who was sitting right next to during the meal. Gray wondered what she thought of the food and turned his head over to look at her. He was surprised when he saw that she hardly touched any of it. Juvia had a worried look on her face and Gray wanted to know what her issue was.

"What's up? Lost your appetite or something?" he asked.

Juvia lowered her head. "Um, no it's not that. It's just that, It's really huge and… I'm not quite sure how to hold it. Juvia tries to lift it up and…" Juvia attempted to grip the giant hot dog with both her hands by the side of it and some of the onions began to fall off. The honey mustard was also spilling a bit on the paper plate. "…See?" Juvia was beginning to feel very embarrassed. She didn't want to seem like an idiot in front of Gray.

Gray softly smiled and shook his head. "Juvia, you're doing it wrong. The thing is frickin' huge, so grabbing it by the side will do you no good. Here, watch how I do it." Gray slowly lifted the gigantic hot dog by sliding his hands underneath it. By doing that Gray added support on the bottom so that the thing wouldn't fall apart and that none of the condiments and onions would fall off onto the plate below it. He took a bite out of it, chewed and swallowed. "Man that tastes great. Now give it another shot Juvia."

Juvia nodded and looked at her plate again. "Juvia thinks she knows how to work this thing now."

Gray chuckled. "It's just food; nothing that needs too much work or thinking really."

"Okay, Juvia will apply what she has learned from Gray. Here it goes." And with that, the bluenette mimicked Gray's movements and slid her hands underneath her food. She remained careful and slowly brought it to her mouth. Juvia opened up and took a huge bite. She chewed her food and raised both of her eyebrows as if she had just stumbled across some grand revelation. The taste of the dog was simply divine. Juvia wondered why she had never had anything like this before. She almost didn't want to swallow it; the dog was absolutely delicious!

Gray saw the joy in her face and grinned. "I told you it would be amazing."

Juvia finally swallowed her food and returned the smile at Gray. "Yes, you were so right Gray. This is quite the meal! Macao-san really does know how to make a good meal." All of a sudden she saw Gray begin to laugh at her. She looked around confused and didn't know where the source of Gray's laughter was coming from. He continued laughing and it was starting to bug Juvia and she furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. "Gray, what's so funny?"

Gray calmed down a bit scratched his cheek and pointed at Juvia. "It's your face."

"My face?" Juvia repeated, still not understanding.

"Well, your mouth to be more specific. You got some onion and mustard stuck on the side of your mouth. Honestly, it looks adorable. Stay still, let me get it off." Gray picked up one of his napkins and brought it up to the side of Juvia's mouth. He began wiping what was left on her face and Juvia froze. She looked into his dark eyes and felt heat rushing to her cheeks. Juvia folded her hands and waited till Gray was finished cleaning her up. He hadn't really touched her with his actual skin, but that action alone was enough to apply a pink coloring on Juvia's pale face.

"There you go." Gray crumpled up the napkin and placed it back down on the counter.

"T-Thank you Gray…" Juvia's heart was racing and looking at Gray smile at her did nothing to slow it down. She didn't mind too much though. There wasn't much that compared to the glorious sight that was a smiling Gray Fullbuster. It filled her with complete happiness and it started to come out of her when she lifted the corner of her lips to once again return a smile back at him. This time, it was wider than before.

Juvia had no clue, but she was having the exact same effect on Mr. Fullbuster. When she flashed him that signature adorable smile of hers, his heart also began to pick up the pace. Once again, Juvia was proving how much of a different kind of person she was compared to everyone Gray knew. Male or female. He, too, began feeling that familiar sensation of heat being produced on his face. The phenomena of blushing always made Gray feel a little awkward, but he didn't deny it. He figured that if Juvia was the cause of it, then it couldn't be too bad. And he knew that if he wanted to continue seeing this woman, he would have no choice but to get used to it. Small price to pay, Gray thought.

"You're welcome… Juvia"


Gray and Juvia were walking on the same boardwalk that Gray had been at last Friday when he first met Juvia. Magnolia Beach was starting to clear out and the sun was beginning to go down. Gray figured this would be a good spot to cap-off the day with Juvia. After their lunch at Macao's, the pair went to take a walk through Magnolia City Park. It was a very serene experience for the two of them. They chit-chatted throughout the walk and both of them had such a great time just being in each other's presence. They weren't doing anything special other than walking and taking in the nature, but the two of them felt incredibly relaxed.

From there they went on a small boat ride where some guy stands on it and pushes it towards any down a path with a long pole. Juvia had heard about it from Lucy and thought that it would be a nice thing to do with Gray. She was hesitant at first to ask him, but when she finally worked up the courage to tell him, Gray simply shrugged and went along with Juvia's plan. The boat ride was mostly silent, but like their first car ride together, it was a comfortable silence. Gray had sat and looked around and watched some of the best looking parts of the city slowly move past him. He had never done anything like this before, and Magnolia looked a little different to him from the seat of a small boat. For a second he had almost forgotten that Juvia was there with him, but he was reminded when she rested her head on his shoulder. He saw that she had her eyes closed and a light smile on her face. She looked cute, Gray had to admit. He knew she wasn't sleeping; like him, Juvia was completely relaxed and it allowed her to become a little braver and make a little more contact with the man with messy black hair. Seeing her like that made the boat ride more than worth it for Gray.

And here they were, hanging out at the same beach where the first met. They weren't on the sand this time, but at the end of the boardwalk.

Gray leaned his hip on the railing and looked out towards the horizon. "Here we are again. I hope you don't mind being here for the second time in five days."

Juvia shook her head and stood looking at Gray with her hands behind her. "Absolutely not. You know Juvia loves the beach."

"Yeah, but you aren't in the water, and isn't that what you like best?" Gray asked.

"Sure, but just being near it is good enough for Juvia."

Gray chuckled. "All right, if you say so." Gray looked around at the people leaving the beach. All types of people were there getting ready to leave and make their way to their vehicles so they could all go home. There were young adults, high-school kids, elderly people and a bunch of families. One family in particular that caught his, however, was one that appeared to be led by a single mother. She had what looked like two sons who must've been around ten years of age. They were both fighting and yelling for whatever reason, and the mom had to break them up and proceeded to keep them moving off the beach and towards the parking lot. She must've been carrying all of the stuff they had brought to the beach with them; a huge cooler, towels, chairs. How that mom carried all that while keeping her sons from killing each other, Gray had no idea. He didn't understand how a mother could do that all by herself, but he had total respect for the women who could handle that on their own. Women like Ur, Gray's mother. Gray sighed and watched as the family walked off the beach. He didn't want to be reminded of Ur; there was too much pain associated with memories of her and it began to pain Gray's heart. The pain must've made its way to Gray's face, because Juvia picked up on whatever Gray was feeling.

"Gray, is something wrong?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

Gray didn't turn to look Juvia. He kept his eyes on the beach. "I'm just thinking about my mother…" He spoke before he could think. Gray didn't want to continue thinking about Ur, but he had slipped, and he couldn't just tell Juvia to forget about it. Besides, it wasn't fair; Gray knew a lot about Juvia, and she didn't know too much about him.

"Oh?" Juvia became very interested. Gray hadn't said much about his past, so maybe he was starting to open up a bit more to her. "What is she like?"

Gray turned his whole body towards the direction of the sun and placed both of his hands on the railing in front of him. "Her name was Ur and she was a strong woman. Real strong. She took care of three pain-in-the-ass children all by herself. Ur taught us right, and how to be decent people. She wasn't rough with us or anything, but she knew when to be stern. Ur knew when to lay the law down when Lyon, Ultear and I were becoming unruly. Hell, sometimes she was funny, almost inappropriately so. She was just an amazing mom overall and I miss the hell out of her…" Gray lowered his gaze and looked to the water crashing on the pillars of the boardwalk. It was taking a lot out of him to talk about his mother.

Juvia walked closer to Gray. She could sense that he was in some sort of discomfort and she knew it had something to do with his mother. She feared that maybe she had crossed the line in inquiring about Gray's mom. He was referring to his mother in the past tense, so Juvia quickly came to the conclusion that Ur was no longer among the living.

"I also gotta add something." Gray continued despite his feelings. "She wasn't my biological mother. Wasn't Lyon's either. She adopted us when our real mothers didn't want us. I guess they figured it was better to give us away than abort us." Juvia eyes were beginning to widen. She was learning more about Gray today than she thought she would.

"I'm not sure why an already single mother living in a shit part of Magnolia who worked two jobs to support her and her daughter would want to add to all that stress by adopting two kids. But that's what she did, and I'm glad she did it. And I'm really sad that she's gone."

And that confirmed it. Gray was talking about a dead mother. Juvia wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, it was great to learn more about his past. On the other hand, was it really worth it if it came at the cost of Gray's pain? Juvia figured that she should stop him, she didn't want him to continue if it hurt him that badly. "Gray, you don't have to ke-"

"It's fine." Gray said, stopping Juvia in the middle of her sentence. "It's only fair that you know more about me. You know how my mother died?" Gray continued to keep his head down and gripped the railing a little tighter. "I killed her."

If Juvia's eyes weren't wide before, they most certainly were now. What in the world did he mean when he said he 'killed her'. "G-Gray…?"

"Well, not directly anyway." Gray went on with the story. "She died because I was a piece of nine year old. We were walking towards the bus stop after doing some grocery shopping. I had this basketball with me and I kept dribbling it much to my sibling's annoyance. I remember Lyon telling me that I should have kept it home; it bugged him so much to hear me dribble for whatever reason. Same with Ultear, but she didn't say much about it; she was the more quite one of the family. Anyway, on our way to the bus stop I thought I'd try some fancy dribbling moves I had seen on TV. That's when I dribbled the ball off of my foot and the damn thing flew out into the street. I… chased after it like a dumbass, and then, uh…"

Gray was getting to the hardest part of the story and swallowed a huge lump in his throat. "I saw a truck… and it was headed right for me. I was completely fucking terrified and froze up. I thought I was gonna fucking die right then and there. And then all of a sudden I found myself flying towards the other side of the street and landed hard on my stomach. I was a little disoriented at first and I started to get my senses back when I heard Ultear screaming. I finally turned around and looked back and saw… fuck… it was… my mother had pushed me out of the way and…" Gray turned his hands into fists and closed his eyes as hard as he could. He remembered so vividly what he had seen that day. He saw the groceries all over the ground, Ultear and Lyon both with horrified looks on their faces. He remembered the people that were around the scene, scrambling around to help. The equally horrified look on the face of the man driving the truck. And of course, Ur's lifeless body. The front of the truck had struck the woman headfirst and she died instantly.

"I fucking… I fucking caused my mother's death, I…" Gray's voice was starting to crack. He felt his eyes start to create tears. He gritted his teeth and tried to compose himself, but his efforts were all in vain. The memories were too strong. He kept his eyes closed but the man started to shiver and let out a sob. Gray was ashamed of himself for looking so pathetic. He knew he ruined the day by bringing up his mother and he figured that Juvia must've felt awkward standing around a crying man. That's when he felt two hands tighten themselves around one of his fists. Gray's eyes snapped open and he saw Juvia lift his balled up hand and bring it up to her face. She had a light and reassuring smile on her face. Gray had no idea how to react. His legs were growing weak and he felt them start to wobble a tiny bit.

"That's enough Gray, you don't have to continue. Juvia understands that it's hard to talk about something like this. Juvia is just glad that she got to know more about you. Now no more, okay?" she gave his fist a light kiss and continued to look happy for Gray. The man didn't know what to do next. He kept his wet eyes on Juvia's and he looked as if he was searching for something in them. He felt another shiver and his body shook all over.

Juvia pulled Gray into an embrace and rested her forehead where Gray hadn't finished buttoning up his shirt. "I'm here Gray, don't worry. If Gray feels like he can't stand, then let Juvia know and she will be his strength. If Gray can't speak, than let Juvia know and she will be his voice. I promise to always be there for you Gray, no matter what pain you might be going through, okay?"

Gray shook his head and let more tears fall from his eyes. "B-But I… I k-killed my…" Gray was beginning to stutter and it not only hurt him, but Juvia as well. He felt Juvia shake her head.

"Juvia said that's enough, Gray. No more talking about that. Just think of your mother as the amazing woman she was okay?" Juvia pulled him tighter. "Keep in mind that Gray at least had a mother. I didn't grow up with that, Juvia was alone most of her life. Levy-chan and Lucy-chan are all the family Juvia has ever known. So don't feel like you're all alone. Juvia is here with you, and she wants to help you carry that weight. From now on, your pain is mine too. You no longer have to go through all of this by yourself. Juvia will do anything she can to make you stronger."

Gray wrapped his arms around the bluenette and placed a hand on the back of her head. "Thank you…" he let a few more tears fall and let out a small laugh. "Sorry, I really fucked up our day together, huh?"

Juvia pushed back from Gray's body and shook her head. "Absolutely not! Juvia had a fantastic day with you. And we will have many more, if Gray will have Juvia again that is."

He looked down at her dark-blue eyes and grinned. "Of course, there's no way In hell I'm not seeing you again." He wiped some of the tears from his eyes and looked back down at his woman.

Their eyes were locked on each other's and they stood there in silence, face to face. Juvia slowly began lifting herself up by her toes and started to slowly close the gap between their faces. Gray swallowed another lump in his throat and began to follow Juvia's lead. He lowered his head and caught up with Juvia, and for the first time their lips met with their arms still wrapped around the other person's body.

Again, there was nothing but silence, except for the crashing of the waves on the shore. They were alone on the boardwalk, with even the sun going down to give them their privacy.


AN: Dat fluff!

How did you like it? I thought the last chapter was my strongest to date, and I'm not sure how I feel about this one compared to chapter six. Well, that's for the reviewers to speak on I guess.

So once again, thank you for reading!