Short 3

POV: Gray, 1st person

Gray is confronted by Juvia on the night of the second day of the Grand Magic Games. An unexpectedly heartfelt conversation causes him to react in a way he wasn't expecting.

By the end of the second day, Fairy Tail had made some headway. Between Natsu and Gajeel's weirdly touching performance during the Chariot event, Elfman's win and Mira's win, Fairy Tail was gaining some crowd support, despite still holding last place slots.

The guild's mood had improved a lot as well, so we decided to throw a dinner party that night. Members from the newly christened Quatro Puppy joined in, which was fine.

What wasn't fine was when Lyon arrived with the girl Cheria. I nearly choked when the guy walked into the bar. Between dinner the other night and the event Hidden yesterday, I was quickly running out of patience and energy to deal with Lyon.

What's worse is that Juvia was there, and the two of them managed to corner me.

"Tonight, let's finally make everything crystal clear!" Lyon demanded in that arrogant way of his.

To my horror, Juvia agreed with him. "Juvia wants to make everything clear too!"

I glanced around, looking for some sort of escape route, or even a friend to help me, but not only were my exits blocked, Lucy, Natsu, Wendy, Happy and Charle were leaving. I was completely on my own.

"Gray!" Lyon pressed. "What are your intentions with Juvia?"

"Gray-sama!" Juvia insisted. "Is it Juvia you want? Or Lyon-sama? Juvia needs to know!"

Back to this again? What is it about my relationship with Lyon that has Juvia thinking he's a love rival? Why is this even a question?

The two began to press in closer, and an escape opened to the left. Without giving it a single thought, I dove for it. I shot out of the room and ran as fast as I could until the sounds of the bar had faded.

I only slowed down when I was sure that I was safe.

Honestly, I couldn't handle those two at all. Juvia's imagination was so insane that I wasn't entirely sure how to bring her back to reality. Lyon was almost just as bad, convincing himself that he's in love with Juvia despite knowing nothing about her and treating me like a love rival.

I grit my teeth, recalling the first time Lyon met Juvia, and his ridiculous declaration at the time.

There was no such thing as love at first sight. I knew from my time in Fairy Tail that trust and affection are things that need to grow over time. How could he be so deluded? Why was he so persistent?

I was trying my best to stay out of it. No matter how stubborn Lyon was, Juvia was even more so. I knew better than just about anyone that she wouldn't relinquish her feelings for me for anything. Lyon's efforts were pointless.

What was I supposed to do about that, anyways?

Lost in thought, I wandered aimlessly for a while until I spotted Erza leaning against a railing, looking out at the city. I paused, shifting my path to join her.

"What are you doing out here, Erza?" I asked, joining her at the railing.

She looked back. "Gray…" She acknowledged. She turned back to look out on the city. "Nothing… Nothing important." Her tone was weary. "Why are you out here alone?" She asked.

"Until now, I was in the middle of some tug-of-war between Lyon and Juvia, and I have no idea what it was about." I answered her.

"You have no idea what it was about?" Erza smirked knowingly. "I wasn't there, but even I have a pretty good idea of what the deal was." I grimaced, shifting uncomfortably when she caught my eye. "You must realize by now how Juvia feels about you."

I stayed quiet. I'd never told anyone about Meldy's sensory link back on Tenroujima, and how it flooded me with Juvia's feelings for me. I knew damn well how she felt: I'd experienced it firsthand.

"Why not give her a clear-cut response?" Erza continued.

I can't, I wanted to say. I know how Juvia feels, but I don't know how I feel. I don't have a response for her.

For the first time I could remember, I really wanted to unload. I wanted to talk to someone about this mess. I wanted a bit of help, just a small piece of advice. Anything to help sort it out.

But Erza just kept going. "Never mind me." She said. "When it comes to love and hate, I've got too much baggage of my own to be giving out advice."

I was taken aback by her tone. She sounded like she had a lot on her mind. I asked "Did something happen?"

"No." She answered, turning to leave. "It's late. Let's go back to the Inn."

I followed her silently, respecting her wish not to talk about it. This was Erza, after all. She was fully capable of dealing with her own problems.

Before we made it back to the Inn, we ran into Juvia. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw us.

"Gray-sama!" She called out, running over to us. She opened her mouth to say something, then her eyes flickered over to Erza and she closed it. "Umm…"

Erza took the hint. "I'll go on ahead." She said. "Don't take too long, Gray."

I wondered if there was some sort of double meaning behind that, but I didn't have too long to think about it. Erza quickly vanished and before I knew it, I was alone with Juvia. I felt myself begin to heat up, which is a strange sensation for an Ice mage. It wasn't often that I found myself completely alone with Juvia these days.

"Gray-sama," Juvia started, snapping me out of my reverie. "Juvia is sorry if she made you uncomfortable earlier."

"No, I…" My voice caught in my throat. Damn it, why is it so hard to talk around her? "It wasn't… I just… Do you like Lyon, Juvia?"

Juvia blinked in surprise. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I couldn't believe I'd actually asked her that, but it was out in the open and I had to stick by it. Juvia fiddle nervously with her hands. "Juvia… does not like him very much. Of course, Juvia respects him as a mage, and as Gray-sama's senpai."

I decided to ignore the 'senpai' part. "Why don't you like him?"

Juvia started to blush. Her voice got quieter, and I took a few steps closer so I could hear her. "Juvia… does not like his affections… but mostly Juvia… Juvia is… she doesn't like how Gray-sama gets mad over his affections." She looked up at me, blushing madly. "Is it because Gray-sama wants his affections for himself?"

I sighed, completely exasperated. Only Juvia would make that leap of logic. Any other person would be able to tell that it wasn't Lyon I was worked up over. "It isn't…" I started "It's not… I don't like the way he treats you."

The words tumbled out of my mouth so fast that it was a wonder Juvia could make any sense of them, but by the way her eyes widened, she heard me just fine. "Gray-sama… doesn't like the way Lyon-sama treats Juvia?"

I tried to stop the flow of words, but it was like I opened some sort of flood gate. They continued to pour out. "That arrogant bastard doesn't even try. He completely ignores what you have to say and then turns around and throws himself at you like you're some sort of conquest. It's sick. I hate watching it happen."

We locked eyes for a few moments of tense silence. Slowly, something seemed to dawn on her, and her jaw dropped. "Does Gray-sama… feel protective of Juvia?"

"I'm protective of all my friends." I tried defending myself. I started to fidget, and I suddenly realized that we were really close. Much closer then when we started talking. How did that happen? When did that happen?

Juvia boldly took another step closer. We were nearly touching at this point. I tensed, my hands shaking, a cold sweat breaking out over my body. I wanted to take a step back, to get away from whatever toxin was causing me to react like this, but her dark eyes had me locked in place. "Is Gray-sama… jealous over Juvia?"

If we'd been around other people, if the sun had been up, if she'd spoken with a different tone, then maybe I could've reacted normally by pushing her away and denying it vehemently. But this… her eyes had me entranced. My body was frozen. My mind was mush. I couldn't think. I could barely breathe. "I-I… It's not…"

Juvia smiled gently and closed the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head against my chest. She could probably hear my pounding heart.

"Juvia…" I'm not sure if I was trying to protest or not, but her name came out sounding more like a plea than anything else.

"Thank you, Gray-sama." She whispered quietly. At this point my brain had completely malfunctioned and I couldn't think of what she was thanking me for. My arms twitched, wondering how good it would feel to wrap them around Juvia's small body, to bring her closer…

Juvia pulled back, stepping out of my personal space, and it was like getting a bucket of ice dumped over my head. A chill washed over me and my brain jump started.

Juvia smiled. "Juvia should head back to her hotel now." She said. "Juvia will see Gray-sama tomorrow."

I watched her leave, muttering a weak "Goodnight." As she vanished around the street corner.

Once I was alone, I sat down, suddenly feeling weak. My hands were still shaking.

What in the world just happened? It's not like Juvia hasn't hugged me before. She throws herself at me all the time and I'd never had that kind of reaction. What was different about this time?

We were having a real discussion, I thought. And she wasn't throwing herself at me the way she does when she's in the throes of her fantasies. It was a genuine hug, just to say thanks, to show me that she cares.

And it made all the difference in the world.