Thanks to all who took their time! :D The longer chapter I promised is here; I had so much fun writing this one, I hope you enjoy it.

Sorry for the mistakes: as I always remind you, I'm not a native!

~7~

"Oh, hi Juvia" a black haired woman greeted after recognizing the blunette behind her door. "Come on in" she added with a smile moving to a side.

Juvia smiled too. "Hello, Ur-san" she stepped in. "Your son is-"

"In his bedroom" Ur Milkovich nodded as she closed the door. "GRAY!" she yelled but sighed after not receiving an answer. "Just go and look for him; something to drink before you leave?"

The blue haired girl shook her head politely. "I'm fine, thanks" she said heading to the stairs and the woman went back to the living room. Once in the hallway that lead to the three bedrooms of the house, she turned to the right.

Her hand knocked on the door softly at first, and by the fourth time the hinges of the door were complaining. She sighed and turned the knob.

"Are you dea-" she trailed off and restrained a yell; he was in front of the computer, his bare chest the first thing her eyes noticed and therefore, she thought he was naked. Luckily enough, before any sound escaped from her mouth, she saw he was wearing a pair of jeans.

His right leg was hanging off the chair while the other was folded near his torso, his chin resting on his left knee. It was a rather uncomfortable position but the guy didn't seem to notice for he was truly absorbed with the ongoing match of League of Legends; he hadn't heard the knocks thanks to the black headphones on his head.

Juvia giggled as his fingers hit the keys with passion.

"DAMN" he shouted as he slammed his clenched fist on the table.

"WAA" that time she couldn't help but yelp in surprise.

Gray took off the headphones after hearing a yell and looked at her standing in the door frame. "Oh, Juvia, you are already here" he said while looking back at the screen and closing the server before standing up and leaving the chair. "Wait a minute, I'm going for a shirt".

"Did your team lost?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah, three of my teammates were assholes" He frowned while looking through his wardrobe. "Lyon was of no help either"

She didn't know much about that game; Juvia had only seen him playing but couldn't care less about what was actually going on. She only liked to see him -or his character, more precisely- killing the foe and celebrating the first blood or whatever with the team.

After noticing he always talked with a guy called "Lyon" she asked if he was a friend of him and Gray explained to her that he moved to that neighbourhood when he was around seven o eight, and Lyon was the first friend he made there.

"So he's like your childhood friend, maybe your best friend from your whole life?"

"What?" he frowned and looked at her as if she was crazy. "I had the misfortune of meeting him, but oh well, he's better than some idiots on LOL"

Juvia giggled; he obviously appreciated that guy.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, Gray had already picked a black shirt and that was when she realized something. "Wait, Gray, where is your costume?" she asked.

He glanced at her before shrugging and putting the piece of clothing. "There's no way I'm wearing one". He knew how fond of costume parties her friend was; the exactly opposite of himself.

Juvia's eyebrows furrowed as she placed her fists on her waist. "It's a costume party for lord's sake! You have to wear one, where is the fun if you don't?".

He jeered at her remark as he bent down looking for his shoes under the bed. "I don't care about it, I'm going to have fun with or without dressing up as something" he stated grasping the pair. "Besides, I don't even have a costume".

She crossed her arms over her chest thoughtfully. Just when he finished putting on his shoes, she snapped her fingers. "Got it" she said as she approached his wardrobe.

He raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What are you doing?" he asked as she looked for something in the piece of furniture.

"Improvising" she said gleefully. "You thought not having a proper costume was enough for not dressing up? Well, you are wrong" she explained, turning around with a white shirt on her hands. "I have just found the perfect costume for you".


"Gray, Juvia, you are finally here!" a cheerful Cinderella with beautiful long dress greeted them.

"Sorry for the delay" the blue haired girl said with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry, more importantly, what's hiding under your coat?" she arched one of her blond eyebrows with a playful smirk.

Juvia giggled a bit and took off the black coat; she bent a little with the hem of her skirt between her hands; "Juvia Lockser, on your entire disposition Lucy-sama"

The first response of her friend was an "I-can't-believe-it" chuckle. "Are you my personal maid for the night? How sweet!" she stretched her arm to the blue haired girl. "Now kiss my hand and promise your full loyalty to me!"

The girl dressed as a servant nodded. "But remember, Lucy-sama, just for tonight" she kissed her hand and they laughed a bit as the guy beside them rolled his eyes. Lucy looked at him and whistled. "Wow, I thought you were going to come in casual clothes as usual" she commented.

Gray tsked annoyed. "I was but-" his index finger pointed at the other girl standing at his side "the cosplayer freak right here forced me to dress up". The said girl smirked to the blond and made a "v" with her fingers.

Lucy burst into laugher. "Don't say it like that; it suits you, I should take you a photo"

The guy sent her a deathly look -a poor imitation of Erza's, but the killing aura was almost palpable- "No way in hell; it was bad enough with people staring at me on the bus. Unlike her, I couldn't cover this things with a coat" he said while pointing at the dark bags under his eyes. "The last thing I need is a record of this appearance" was the last thing he said before digging his hands on his pockets and turning around.

The two girls watched him walking away and meeting the guys that were already there. "You did a great job; how did you manage to convince him?"

Juvia giggled and looked at her. "I don't know" she simply shrugged and glancing once more at Gray added "such a pity he couldn't come barefooted"

The memory of Gray sitting a bit stooped in his chair triggered something in her mind. She remembered having seen the image of a black haired guy sitting like that, his eyes fixed in a screen and his mind no longer on the world around him.

"Hey, Kira is not around here, detective" Elfman -or Frankenstein for the night- said as soon as Gray approached the group. His back was turned to her so she couldn't see his face, but Juvia could swear he was rolling his eyes as a general laugh was heard and a wave of jokes about his costume were coming.

Gray was dressed up as L from Death Note, one of her favourite mangas. She combed his black locks to the side just like the said character and with the make up she had on her bag she painted the characteristic dark bags under his eyes. The blue jeans and white long-sleeved shirt did the rest.

Still giggling, she took her eyes off from him and had a look at every one else.

Natsu, the werewolf, was eating everything in front of him before joining the people making fun of Gray. Beside them, Warren dressed as an african shaman was chatting with Jet and Droy, two sad clowns who were missing Levy and wondering when she was going to appear. On the other side of Lucy's large living room, Loki, the hatter of Alice in Wonderland, was inviting some girls from their classroom to something more than drinking tea. Their other classmates were dressed up too, but not as original as the ones mentioned before; a football player, a basketball player, a baseball player, damn, they were all players of something related to a ball!

"So, The lightning bolts are coming later?" a green haired girl asked Juvia.

"Oh, you two look so cute together!" was the first thing the blunette said as soon as she saw Bisca and Alzack both dressed as cowboys from the Far West, which made the couple blush a little. "Yes, they are coming from the new bar they are going to performance"

"When are they playing?" the black haired guy asked.

"By the end of december, near christmas"

They smiled at her. "We will be there, so please book us two tickets please"

Juvia giggled; it always made her happy when people wanted to follow the band. "Of course!"

"Hey, hey, party girl is here!" a cheerful voice with a drunk tone tinting the words made everyone look to the front door. Cana waved a pistol as greeting before returning it to her belt. She raised a huge bottle of ron; "Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirates life for me" she chanted as her high boots tapped on the floor and she joined Juvia and the other two.

Not too long after Cana's appearance, everyone looked at who had just arrived for an odd metallic noise was heard with each step that person took; many eyes widened in surprise as a man with silver armor showed up.

"Just who the heck are you?" Cana asked not even trying to hide her astonishment. But another figure appeared just beside the shining one, and when she recognized the blue locks and tattoo of Jellal Fernandez, she looked up again at the weirdo. "Don't tell me... Erza?!"

Said female lifted the little visor grating covering her face. "Hello everyone"

"Between all the costumes, you picked a soldier with helmet and everything?" The brunette asked with disbelief.

"Erza, you do remember we are going to Fairy tail after this right?" Juvia asked knocking on the armor and noticing that it was actually quite hard. "Aren't you going to.. be a bit hot?"

The scarlet haired girl chuckled amused by her friend concernment. "Don,t worry Juvia, I will change into something else later" she assured with a confident smile; she glanced at his boyfriend and motioned him with her head. "I will get us something to drink". Jellal nodded and smiled; Erza pulled down the grating and walked away to the table with drinks. Cana watched her go with arched eyebrows and then glanced at the guy. "I must say, I never expected you to come as a lion tamer"

Jellal laughed quietly and sighed; "she forced me to"

"For something in particular?" Juvia asked.

The blue haired guy looked down at her; "Yes, but she didn't tell me; and truth be told-"

"You don't want to know" the other two girls finished for him and nodded.

He chuckled again. "Exactly"


"You came as Frankenstein?" Evergreen's voice was instantly heard over the crowd once her brother's band had arrived. "You think Tinkerbell and Frankenstein look good together?!" The harusen she always carried around hit the white haired guy on the top of his head. "You should have come as something else!"

Elfman rubbed the place where her girlfriend had unleashed her wrath. "But Eve, what was I supposed to wear? What looks good with a fairy in green dress?"

The brunette opened her mouth but closed it again. "I-I don't know but it was your job to think on something!" There was a general laugh as they listened to the usual scene between the couple.

A seventeenth aristocrat Fried was talking to the mad scientist Bixlow; Mirajane somehow managed to get Laxus on a Mafia tuxedo and she was a white haired Alice who had just came back from Wonderland; Lisanna was a terrible mimo for she was talking cheerfully with a nonchalant Dracula full of piercings.

"Hello, nii-san, Lis!" Juvia greeted her brother as he and the youngest of the Strauss sisters approached her and Levy.

Gajeel nodded at her as Lisanna waved her hand. Levy was about to speak when the black haired man arched his eyebrows. "A nerd? Seriously, bookworm?"

Levy's jaw dropped and she instantly stared at her feet. Juvia frowned, mad at her stupid and insensitive brother. "Nii-san!"

"What?! She's already a nerd in real life and she dresses up as herself?" he asked ironically without noticing Levy's tighten on her skirt.

She couldn't take it anymore; Juvia pinched his ear mercilessly and dragged him away from the other blue haired girl. "Gosh, does your idiocy know any boundaries?"

Lisanna patted Levy's shoulder and murmured in her ear; "Don't worry, he'll regret it later"


"Oe, Juvia!" Cana's unmistakable voice called her. "Why don't you serve me something? After all, you are such a cute maid" she mockingly said and Juvia narrowed her eyes at her. She was obviously going to ignore her request, but several people agreed with the other brunette and asked for the same; from one second to the other, almost everyone was calling her name.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine" she finally said and the rest clapped and cheered for her. She went into the kitchen to look for a tray.

A few minutes later, Juvia went to Cana and taking one of the glasses from the tray, she offered it to the brunette. "Would you like something to drink, Cana-sama?" she said with a fake kind voice.

The girl laughed. "Thank you; hey, you would be a great maid, no joking!" she smirked before gulping down the beverage.

The blunette rolled her eyes again. "Thanks for the compliment" she sarcastically said and turned around for many people were calling for her.

At first she thought damn, I must look like an idiot but then she found out it was actually funny. People widely smiled and thanked her, and Juvia ended up enjoying acting like an actual servant of the party, just because of those smiles. She made the same question several times, changing the names but always adding the "-sama" at the end.

"Juviaa, here, here!" she recognized Natsu's voice and turned around to walk to him, but when she saw the pink haired guy was standing just beside his frenemy, she stopped in her place for a few seconds.

She hadn't thought about calling him "Gray-sama" and for some reason, just trying to say that on her mind was difficult. She gulped trying to lose the nod on her throat; useless. She looked from Natsu to him, and after seeing his lips curled up in his usual smirk, she decided to move -and prayed for the sudden nervousness to fade as she took the few steps between them.

You did it! her inner self congratulated her once Juvia was in front of them. She smiled with her lips clutched in a fine line and bowed quickly to look away from him for a split second. "Natsu-sama" she first said to the pink haired guy before looking at the other guy, "Gray-sama" she added trying to sound natural; "would you like something to drink?"

Hey, I think it was not that bad.

"Why not" Gray said and just when he was stretching his hand to the tray, Natsu did the same and took a random glass. "Thank you" the toothy smiling guy said.

"Wait Na-" she tried already feeling the unbalance of the tray.

It only took two seconds but Juvia could swear she saw it in slow motion: the tray falling to a side of her hand, the glasses flying away from the tray and the content pouring out from the glasses and down to the floor. Out of reflex, she tried to step back to prevent the beverages from falling over her, but when her foot stepped in the already wet floor, her shoes slipped on it.

The first thing of her that hit the ground was her ass; then it was her back and finally but definitely the worst, her head. She closed her eyes as a sharp pain in the back of her head made her see little and motioning dots of color. While her hands covered her eyes, she heard the usual "Uuh" that crowds made when there was an accident.

"Juvia! Are you alright?!" Natsu was instantly on his knees beside her. "I'm so sorry, can you stand up?"

She breathed deeply, waiting for her voice to come out. "Yes, but I don't want to" she sincerely said; if she tried to stood up, she was going to fall again without a doubt.

A pair of hands lifted her up; "I'll take you to Lucy's room" the pink haired guy said as he headed there; Juvia simply nodded.

"She's wet with the drinks; why don't you put a towel over the bed?" Natsu suggested to Lucy once in the bedroom. The blond went to look for one as the guy waited with Juvia still in his arms.

"I'm sorry" the blunette barely mumbled, still dazed.

Natsu looked down at her with surprise. "Are you kidding? It was my fault silly, I'm the only one saying sorry here"

Juvia giggled quietly. "Don't worry, I will be fine with some rest"

"I hope so, I will feel terrible if you can't go to Fairy Tail"

Lucy stepped in with the towel and stretched it over the bed. Natsu placed Juvia carefully and then looked to the blond. "I'm staying with her for a while in case she needs something"

The girl smacked him lightly in the shoulder. "Why are you so brute?!" Natsu, rubbing his arm, was about to speak when Juvia did it first.

"It was an accident Lucy, I'm okay" she smiled. "Just leave me alone, I will be fine"

The pink haired guy shook his head. "You can't be alone, what if-"

"I want to rest for a while, I don't need anything else" she assured. "Now go down and back to the party"

"Juvia" Lucy frowned but the blunette rolled to a side, turning her back at them.

"Thanks for everything"

Natsu and Lucy looked at each other. "We'll come to check up on you in a while" the male said and they finally left the room.

Juvia sighed deeply; it always amazed her how everything changed from one second to the other; first you are having a hard time adding a -sama on a name, and then you ended up on the floor. The pain in the back of her head was still there and it seemed as if someone was hitting her in the same spot with a hammer. And she was pondering about starting praying; she wanted to go to the club with everyone else. It always felt awful being the only one not going to somewhere.

Suddenly, an ice-bag was placed just in the right place. She opened her eyes and after pressing the bag with her right hand, she turned around and found Gray sitting on the edge of the mattress.

"Those idiots forget an important part like the ice for the future bump" He smiled at her. "Luckily enough, I'm the one studying medicine next year and none of them"

She blinked still surprised by his sudden appearance, and giggled after a moment. "Thank you" she rolled over her back, leaving the ice between the pillow and her head. "I think Natsu will need some ice too, Lucy was really mad at him"

"Na, people don't put ice on their dogs after scolding them" he shrugged and looked to the door smiling, probably thinking on Natsu getting beat by many people apart from Lucy. Juvia pictured their idiotic friends saying things like "this is for hurting our maid!" while kicking him, or "have a drink" while emptying a glass of beer over his head; poor Natsu.

She looked at the guy still staring at the door, and a wide smile was drawn on her own face; she felt like a terrible friend. Just a few minutes ago, when Natsu and Lucy insisted in staying there with her, she turned her back at them to make them leave in peace; but now that it was the raven haired guy she was talking to, she suddenly felt like having company.

"You should go down too"

Gray glanced at her surprised and she face-palmed herself mentally; don't go! the inner-Juvia yelled from her insides, but the blue haired girl looking at the guy didn't show a sign of the ongoing battle between her wishes and what she thought was the right thing to do.

"He can't stay here missing the party" her moral pointed out.

"He came up by his own accord, idiot!" the other voice said. "And you want him to stay with you!"

"..."

"Juvia?" Gray asked with arched eyebrows since the other girl fell in silence; she snapped out of her mind and motioned him to go with her head.

"I want to rest for a while" she explained, trying to ignore the complains of the other part of herself; "and since I'm obviously falling sleep -for Lucy's bed is truly comfortable- just go back to the party"

He blinked a few times, maybe waiting for something; but if that was the case, she didn't have a clue about that something.

Just when she was fearing that maybe she did said I don't want you to go with her countenance, Gray stood up. "Okay, if you say so" he shrugged.

She clutched the towel under her with her fingers; as he turned back heading to the door, Juvia gulped down the intent desire of stopping him. "I will-"

"Check up on me later?" she finished for him smiling and he glanced at her. "Lucy and Natsu said the same"

He chuckled a bit. "Then there will be a large queue to check up on you" he said turning the doorknob with a hand and waving the other.

"Thank you" she heartily said before he stepped out of the room; he turned around to glance at her for a last time.

"What? You are not calling me Gray-sama any more?" he said with fake disappointment.

Juvia rolled her eyed. "No way I'm calling you that ever again"

He sighed. "Damn, I swear I could get used to it" he chuckled once more and finally left, closing the door behind him.

She stared at the dark wood for a few seconds before rolling over her side and looking through the window above her friend's bed. Apart from the pain of the fall, at that moment she had a little headache thanks to the grudge with herself. She couldn't remember when was the last time her will seemed split just in the middle.


As she had told Gray, Juvia fell in a brief but deep slumber. When Lucy woke her up, she obviously had a bump, but no pain.

"Your clothes stinks like beer" her friend said pinching her own nose. "You should use a costume of mine" she offered before taking out of her wardrobe a pile of clothes.

In front of three different costumes, she didn't know which one pick. Erza, Lucy and Cana were the extrovert-trio that used little pieces of clothing, so even if the costumes didn't seemed so diminutive over the blanket, Juvia knew before hand she was going to show more than she had intended to do that night.

The only question was: the playboy girl, the sailor or the nurse?

She tried the three of them and confirmed her thoughts; just how could they feel so comfortable with those things?

She didn't want to look like a piece of meat to her friends or the people at the club, so she had to think carefully about each one. The bunny costume showed half of her ass and it's corset clenched to her breasts without mercy; how did Lucy manage to breath with that? The sailor's skirt was really short, just like the nurse's, but guys always fantasized about nurses; she had never heard them saying something of female sailors.

She nodded to herself, she was definitely going to be the sailor.

After changing, she went down the stairs and something happened, something she wouldn't have expected in her whole life.

As soon as the people of the living room saw her coming, they clapped and cheered for her with huge smiles, happy of seeing her again. Juvia blinked stunned by that; since when did so many people cared for her, apart from the closest ones? The atmosphere quickly dragged her in and she smiled widely too, glancing at the floor from time to time.

"Okay, minna!" Lucy clapped her hands asking for the attention. "Now that Juvia is back, are you ready to go to Fairy tail?" she asked and everyone yelled like crazy rock fans. "Then let's take that bus!"

And the blond's last phrase was literal, for they were a large group and occupied almost the whole bus.


"As always, your grandfather knows how to celebrate Halloween, Laxus" was the general thought the blond heard several times as soon as the group was inside the club of old Makarov Dreyar.

Fairy tail was a well-known, large club of Magnolia, and thus, it was always crowded on nights; but on that night it was specially crowded. The Halloween decoration (shining spider-waves, real sized plastic bats, fluorescent ghosts painted on the walls, the white mist flowing around their ankles, and much more) were mesmerizing and every person that stepped in spent a few minutes looking at it.

The owner of the place, an old man of nearly eighty, greeted everyone in the door. He gave Lucy an affectionate hug and wished her a nice birthday, the blond deeply thanking him for letting her celebrate at the club everyone loved.

"Children!" he turned to the large group that came with the girl. "Happy Halloween, and have a great time please!" he said waving his hand.

Juvia smiled as she made her way through the crowd and the loud music bitted her ears. She hadn't been at Fairy tail for a long time and as soon as she was surrounded by many bodies dancing at the rhytim of the music, she started moving just like them.

She was with her usual friends; Lucy, Cana, Erza (who had changed to a leopard costume -now everyone got why Jellal was a tamer), Levy (whose skirt was shorter than what Juvia remembered -that was Cana's doing without a doubt) and Lisanna. As it usually happened with large groups in already crowded places, they parted from each other into smaller groups. From where she was, Juvia could see her brother and his closest friends ordering something at the bar, some classmates dancing not too far from her on the right, and Loki already courtesying unknown girls just behind Levy. What had been of the others like Natsu, Jet, Droy, Warren, Gray and other males she knew, she couldn't tell.

After forty five or so minutes of dancing, jumping or yelling when they knew the lyrics of the song, Lisanna and Levy shouted they were going to the bar and the other four girls nodded.

Everything stayed the same for a while until Juvia couldn't help but feel trapped in a horror movie.

One by one, her friends went missing. Lisanna and Levy had already announced they were going to drink something, but Lucy, Cana and Erza were suddenly gone.

Well, that's not exactly true; she saw how everything happened.

The first one taken was Cana; Captain Jack Sparrow appeared by her side, and it turned out he was actually Bacchus who had dressed as a pirate just like the brunette by pure casualty. The girl found this amusing thanks to the alcohol running through her veins, and dragging the male closer to her, she pressed her lips on his. And that's how the couple left.

Then it was Erza; she almost killed of fear every single guy who tried to place an arm around her shoulders or touch her in the slightest; Jellal, the tamer, came and took her by the elbow, dragging her gently away from the dance floor and to the bar. It was hilarious how Erza sent him a glare thinking it was a stranger, and then give him a quick kiss in the cheek before placing her head on his shoulder and walking away from there.

Natsu simply lifted Lucy by the waist and put her over his shoulder.

Juvia, who had just witnessed her friends being kidnapped -the first two with gladness, the last one kicking frantically for a bit-, was left alone in the middle of the crowd. She blinked a few times before bursting into laugher; those guys just came and took what they wanted.

Hmm I guess I'm going to the bar too then she said to herself glancing at the bar.

She was taking a step in that direction when she felt a hand taking her by the waist, and she froze. Someone -a guy without a doubt, for it was a large hand- was trying to dance with her, and Juvia was not the type of girl who liked dancing with strangers. She awkwardly turned to look at him and squeak after finding a white haired zombie.

Juvia instantly shook her head. "Sorry, I don't want to-" she begun taking his hand off from her but the guy stepped closer.

"You are such a cutie" he said bending over her for he was pretty tall, and she smelled the alcohol of his mouth.

"Uuhm, thanks but-" she pulled away from him again and almost ran to the bar, bumping into people and stepping on some feet in the process.

She sighed and glanced back to make sure he was not following her; damn, she hated those awkward moments and she always escaped from them.

Juvia smiled and look for a familiar face at the bar; but that little smile faded away as her heart seemed to hit the ground after seeing something.

At the counter, leaning over it with an arm and a drink in his hand, she recognized the guy with blueish dark locks, and the girl beside him too.

Gray was talking with the same pink haired girl that bumped into Juvia in the university hallways, the same pink haired girl she shared chemistry classes with. And the fact that they were chatting cheerfully while smiling made her sick.


So Juvia finally starts thinking on Him, but Gray is talking with another girl? Shit happens, I guess.

(I guess I'm a little bit of a despicable writer too)