Friday came like a ton of bricks falling on Juvia. Really it was just her alarm under her pillow. She peeked from under her blankets at the time on the clock. She was supposed to meet the people form the tent people to set up at the park at nine; it was 8:37 and the park was thirty minutes away from her house.

She darted out of bed, knowing she didn't not have time for either a shower nor breakfast, so she just rushed into the bathroom to get ready. She almost screamed when she saw herself in the mirror. Her hair was twice its usual size, and she had yesterday's mascara smudged under her eyes. Hurriedly, she tied her hair back in a knot, scrubbing at her face and teeth as fast as she could.

She didn't even bother with a nice attire, since today she would just be working the whole day, so she put on a jumper, some overalls, and work boots. She grabbed her satchel, a baseball cap, and her shades and rushed out of her house.

She was very aware of all the weird looks she was getting as she made her way to the park at full speed, in a jumper, mid June. She didn't care; the heat didn't bother her.

She could see the park at the end of the street, a big truck parked right outside the gate. A man stood leaning against the truck, tapping away at a screen. She eyed her watch; 9:13. 'Goddamnit.' She thought as she sped up, now panting slightly.

"Juvia's sorry she's late!" she tried to catch her breath.

"It is fine! The truck was delayed by six minutes so really we've only been waiting seven minutes and nothing goes totally right the day before a big celebration." he said as he flicked through some checklist on his tablet. "Follow me we have to set up the tent."

Juvia caught her breath, and followed the man inside. "How many people will be helping us?"

"I am not certain, you're friend said more people are coming."

"My friend?"

"Juvia!"

She turned around with a huge smile, Natsu's name at the tip of her tongue, only to find herself face to face with Gray.

She tried her best to not let her disappointment show. "Gray...sama, what are you doing here?"

He tried not to show the tinge of hurt he felt as he saw her smile falter. "I'm here to help you! Tomorrow may just be a ceremony to you, but to me, it's the day one of the most wonderful people I know was born. So I want to help you make it happen and make it special."

Her smile soften into a more genuine one. She hugged him. "Thank you, that really means a lot to Juvia." they held each other at arm's length.

They both had so many things they wanted to say to each other, but they didn't know if they were ready to tell or to hear what the other had to say. Unconsciously, their grip on each other tightened.

Juvia wanted to tell him she loved him. She did and always would; but things were different now. There was Natsu. There was his eyes, and his hands, and the way that he drooled when he slept of the fact that he liked to eat so much of her cooking even though deep down she knew she wasn't very good at making anything. There was that night at Davensfort Manor, that entire mission they just came back from, yesterday and the night before that. There was such an overwhelming sense of jubilance and warmth around him. She couldn't deny she loved him.

And then there was what Gray wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her he loved her, and he was sorry. He was sorry he'd taken so long to see what he had in front of him. He was sorry he'd ever thought anything poor of her, or called her attention and affection annoying. How lucky was he to have had someone who loved him unconditionally and praised him even in his lowest moments? And he'd stupidly let go. And as hard as he was trying to reach back and grasp and hold on. He knew she was gone; she was hanging by a finger. And it was all because he fucked up and don't keep it in his pants.

"Via?"

"Yes?"

She could feel the pressure of his fingers through her jumper, and he could feel her nails digging into his skin.

"I-"

"YO!"

They both turned to see Natsu and the rest of their friends coming in, all dressed ready to work.

"Are you two just gonna stare at eachother the whole the whole day of are you gonna help us setup for a party?" Gray and Juvia picked up the hint of salt in his voice and dropped their arms.

With a final weak look at each other, the split up so they could set up the tarp.

No one seemed to notice there was someone missing from their usual gang.

Setting up the tent had been easy enough. In fact, it was Erza and Elfman who set all the posts and refused to let anyone else help in securing anything.

Everyone else was either decorating the interior walls of the tent, the outside, setting the tables or setting the dance floor.

It was all going pretty peacefully, there was a lot of bantering and laughing, and only three fights broke out which Juvia was sure was a record; especially seeing as all the fights included Natsu.

The first fight was with Gray, for they were arguing on whether the crystal ball was centered or not (it was not). Juvia had been a little stressed over this, since they kept trying to get her involved as some sort of dick measuring contest she was sure.

The second fight was an actual dick measuring contest, which Mira and Erza tried to stop almost as soon as it started. By this point Juvia has given up fighting and had placed a bet with Lisanna, to whom she lost the bet to, but only because when Natsu was about to pull his pants down, Erza punched him so hard he actually knocked over one of the tarp poles, which thankfully Elfman caught, otherwise they would have had to start all over again.

By the third fight, Juvia had taken a seat at one of the tables and peacefully started to work on a centerpiece as the rest of the girls in the guild tried to stop Natsu and Gray from killing each other.

Unsurprisingly, it even though everyone from Carla and Wendy to Laxus and Freed had come to help set up for tomorrow, they didn't finish until around four in the afternoon. It'd been worth it though.

Outside the tarp, the tries were covered in lights and floating endless candles that filled the air with a sweet, flowery smell. The tarp walls had been enchanted by Reedus to have moving vines of white roses and orchids.

The inside walls were also enchanted with different passages from 'The Moon and Her Mages'. Orbs of light and endless candles floated freely around the roof of the tarp. At the center was the dance floor and above it was the cristall ball, charmed to split into little mirror pieces that would move around to the beat of the music. Once the moon was aligned with the opening on the tarp tomorrow night, the entire room would be showered in rays of red moonlight and all the delicate white and blue crystal details Juvia had been stressing over for the past few weeks would've all been worth it.

Juvia sighed as she closed the drapes to the tarp and enchanted it to stay closed until tomorrow.

She couldn't wait anymore.

And then she couldn't stop thinking about the ceremony aspect of the celebration, and no longer wanted tomorrow to come.

What if the incantation didn't work? What if Gray did not want to read it anymore? What if he did even though she was no longer sure that she wanted him to?

She tried to take a deep breath. She started her commute to her house. Everyone had started heading home a while ago. She'd hoped that Natsu or Gray would hang around; Gray because she needed to talk to him, Natsu cause, well, it's Natsu.

But he and Gray had actually been the first to leave, probably searching for some other place to go beat the crap out of each other.

She stopped for some food on her way back home. She hadn't had breakfast, or lunch, and she'd been running around trying to make sure no one broke anything.

She was also very tired, stressed, and not very clean, seeing as she had not showered this morning.

She stared out the window as she waited for her take out to be ready. The sun wasn't setting yet, but for some reason Juvia couldn't help but feel sleepy. She was so scared for tomorrow as well as excited. She reached into her satchel and pulled out her wallet.

Before her parents left her, they'd told her stories of their own coming of age; her mother had even given her a picture of herself and her father dancing at his coming of age. She liked to stare at the picture she kept in her wallet sometimes. She didn't remember her parents voice, of their touch; but she remember what she'd said to her.

"One day, you will find someone who'll love you enough to bond with you, moon or not."

Juvia didn't have a choice though. The chant had to be performed by someone who loved the mage unconditionally; a bond had to be made in order for the energy to flow. But Juvia's parents were long gone. And Gray…

She felt her mood worsen, the sky starting to cloud.

"Lockser?" the guy behind the counter called out.

"Thats me." Juvia snapped out of her funk. She slipped the picture back into her wallet and pushed all her nerves and worries to the side.

Juvia had learned to always carry her umbrella. At first it was because she could not get the rain to go away, even since her parents passed. Now, it was because it was like second nature; every time she was sad, the rain would come. Stress, anger, fear; they all triggered different things in the weather.

Right now it was simply raining.

The air was moist, and the raindrops were warm. She was tired.

She held her food close to her chest so it wouldn't catch any stray drops from her umbrella. She walked slow, not caring how long it took her to walk home. She could not shake off the nerves for tomorrow.

It was all fun and games; dress shirts and flower arrangements, until you remember you have to stand under the moon, holding two flowers while someone reads an old poem, so that you and that someone can be bounded for life; not only that, but that chant also affected your future as a mage. Lovely.

She sighed exasperated.

As she got closer to her house, she realized someone was sitting at the steps. They had sweat pants and a hoodie on, and to say the least, looked suspicious as hell.

"Gray?" she called out cautiously, ready to swing her umbrella at them if needed.

"Sorry to disappoint." Lucy pulled her hood back. Her nose was runny, and she looked as tired as Juvia felt, if not worse. "Can we talk?"

Juvia knew she had a shocked look on her face, and as hard as she tried to not show it, she couldn't help it. She hasn't seen Lucy around in….she didn't even know anymore. Not that she was complaining; while Juvia stopping biting at her since when she and Gray started dating, she had never been fond of Lucy, simply because she was everything Juvia had once wanted, and maybe still wanted to be.

A pretty, confident, secure, boy magnet. Juvia for most of her life dealt with people not wanting her around due to her rain predicament, so when she met Lucy, immediately she felt a dislike for her out of envy, spite, and jealousy. She wasn't gonna lie and say her anger was valid, but she also wasn't gonna pretend to like her all of a sudden. It was hard to like someone you spent so much time disliking.

"Sure." Juvia opened the door to her place, letting Lucy walk in first. "Wait here, Juvia's going to get you dry clothes; she may be a water witch but she likes her place dry."

She meant for that to be a playful poke at one of the names Lucy used to call her when Juvia stepped out of line with her, but all Lucy did was cringe at the mention of the name. Juvia cleared her throat and made her way to the kitchen to set her food down.

She got Lucy a dry sweater and a clean pair of sweatpants and showed her where the bathroom was. She was more than a little concerned. It's not like they didn't have their moments of female bonding and good times, but if Lucy Heartfilia came to her while looking like she hadn't left the house since the last time she'd seen her then something was up, and Juvia didn't like it.

Lucy came out of the bathroom, and Juvia immediately thrusted a cup of tea into her hands. "Listen, Juvia doesn't know what's wrong with Lucy, but when she looks like this, it's not any fun to make fun of her or be jealous of her!"

She took a sip of the tea and snickered. "You think it's fun to be jealous of me?"

Juvia relaxed, seeing the color starting to return to Lucy's cheeks. "Not really, but it's better than pouty Lucy."

She smiled weakly. "Juvia, there's something i need to tell you, and I know you're going to hate me for the rest of my life, and I'll understand if you hate me but I can't do it anymore. It's killing me inside out and I can't-"

"Lucy." she rested her hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Juvia already hates you."

They both laughed. Lucy took a deep breath. "I think I fell in love with your boyfriend."

Oh. OH.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"How did...when did Lucy…?"

"It was right before you and Natsu went on that Mission to Davenport. Before we returned we stayed at a bath house hotel. Erza was passed out tired along with Natsu, but me and Gray went for drinks. He was so drunk he couldn't walk straight. I was tipsy, but not drunk; not at all. And i knew he was with you, and he loved you. But I couldn't stop. Have you ever wanted something so bad, but you're so afraid to have it?"

"Yeah…" she thought back to Natsu and the weird air around them at the store.

"Well, I was so afraid I ran. I kissed him….and then i ran." she paused to see if she'd react, but Juvia's eyes were glued to her, filled only with concern and understanding, which was scarier than revealing all this to her. "When i felt brave enough to come back, I saw him leave the woman's restroom. Shortly after another girl came out. She was blond like me, but her eyes were blue, and she was slimmer and taller." she paused, fighting back tears. "I don't know if he thought that was me, or something, but I can't help but feel...it was my fault. He got drunk with me, and I left him alone, and in the haze he cheated on you and I-!"

"Is Lucy okay?"

"What?" she felt Juvia's arms wrapped around her. "Why….? Juvia, had I stayed I can't guarantee I wouldn't have slept with him…!"

"Oh Juvia gets that, and you're right; she does hate you for causing all the problems Juvia and Gray are having, even if you didn't technically sleep with him." she heard Lucy gulp, she sighted. "But Juvia also has to thank you."

"But why?!" Lucy was sobbing now.

Juvia held Lucy's face, wiping her tears way with her thumb. "Because Juvia's ready to let go now."

"I don't understand…."

"Lucy doesn't have to." she stood up, pulling her to her feet. "I think lucy need to eat something. And so does Juvia, so let's go eat, and Juvia can try and kill you later, okay?"

She made a noise that was a mixture between a sob and a laugh. "Okay…"

THIS IS SORTA RUSHED CAUSE I WAS DETERMINED TO UPDATE TONIGHT AND I GOT IT IN BEFORE TWELVE SO IT COUNTS HA SUCK IT GUYS. (jk i love you all)

I know a lot of you were asking me not to pair Gray and Lucy, but listen; I've got this.