AM BACK! OMG its been 3 long years and i have thought about this story quite a bit in that time for some reason and wanted to continue it so bad! I graduated uni... the pandemic happened, I reread the entire thing and thought wth is going on... but nonetheless, I was having so much fun writing this and hope you all enjoy it! (it was written a long time ago but i just added the ending and wanted to publish it rq and get started on chap 7 :P)

Warning: soooooooo much text conversation omg I promise that's not gonna be recurring sheeesh omg so awkward to write XD

Chapter 6

Gray had been home for a full 24 hours and had slept for 16 of those hours, and gorged himself with his mother's cooking while binging netflix shows for the other 8. Having no responsibilities was great, he thought. Not doing readings, and not waking up for lectures was great, he thought some more. Maybe Lyon's way of thinking was right, he went after what he loved, why can't Gray go after his dream; doing nothing at home while his mother fawns over him. Of course that was just wistful thinking, he knew, as his grades slowly loaded on his laptop snapping him back into reality. He wasn't surprised when he calculated his gpa: 4.2 as it was steadily the whole semester, so now school can really be just a distant memory.

With his academics safely tucked out of the way, his mind started to wonder to other topics. Namely Lydia. These thoughts came without his permission of course, but perhaps it was because Lyon was in his room, depressed and most likely crying, and Lydia's actions from yesterday that's causing this new plague. Lydia was devestated over the recent news of Lyon and Juvia's breakup, but it felt like all the sadness stemmed from her personal involvement in that relationship. She kept asking questions and just did not take the hint with Lyon's curt responses that he still needed more time before he could properly talk about it. Gray winced when he could practically feel the questions cut through his brothers heart like icicles.

"What's going to happen to the huge art mural piece i was supposed to do for your guys wedding!?"

That was the last straw for Gray, before he did something he knew he would soon regret.

"Lydia, when we get home, do you want to watch a movie sometime." He asked. He knew something like this would set Lydia off to non stop blabbering of their plans, which would lead into a tangent of what movie they should watch, leading to her talking about her favourite ones.

"Yes!" Lydia exclaimed. "Oh my god, we should get fluffy pancakes after, or before, I heard one of those stores opened up downtown and Lisanna said they were really really good. She tried the one with strawberries but we should get the matcha one, omg yes, when do you want to go!" She said, seemingly forgetting about her interrogation on Lyon.

Lyon glanced at Gray with a thankful nod.

"um, yeah we can do that." He responded.

"Omg yes, and I want to watch antman and the wasp! I heard it's really good. To be honest-"

And not to say Gray didn't pay attention to what she was saying afterwards, but this was the last thing he could remember her saying before they pulled into their own driveway.

On that train of thought, he was wondering when Lydia was going to message him about their movie 'date' as she put it.

He grabbed his phone from his night stand. He was currently still in bed despite it being 7 in the evening.

There were snapchats and messages from Natsu and Loke, but surprisingly nothing from Lydia. Being his neighbour and all, it wouldn't be uncommon for her to just come by his house in person and drag him to the movies whenever she felt like going. He suddenly received an incoming message from an unknown number.

"Hey, this is Juvia! I got home safely, by the way if you want to tell Lyon. We agreed not to talk to each other too much for a few days but I think he might want to know. Um, I don't know if this concerns you but Gajeel knows we're broken up but I had to tell him that it was my idea. Lyon let me know that he's giving you the apartment so if you guys run into each other in the hall or something and talk this is just a heads up! Also welcome to the building :) I just wanted to thank Lyon for the ride, too and to let you know that :) (btw i got your number from Cana)"

That was a nice tip. Since they were going to be living in the same building, they were bound to run into each other some time and remembering how scary Gajeel was, it was lucky Juvia told it to him like this. Lyon was out of the country, but the brother of the jerk ex boyfriend was perfectly in reach.

Oh, this also seems to mean that he was getting the luxurious apartment for real then.

G: Oh great he told you he was giving the apartment to me?

Gray typed. Oh wait, this is pretty selfish question, he thought, and rewrote a new message.

G: Glad to hear you're home safe. I'm not sure what Lyon is doing in his room now but I'll let him know during dinner.

G: Thanks for the heads up! He's a pretty scary dude, wouldn't want to be the brother of the jerk who messed with his friend

G: oh wait that's already me.

G: Hope you've been feeling better about everything.

Gray cringed, but he had already sent that last message, and her read receipt already popped up. It had only been a few days for her, how much better could she be feeling. Didn't seem like Lyon was doing well, locked up in his room all day too.

She started typing

J: That's really sweet, thank you. Lyon and I had talked a lot after we broke up and I'm very happy for his decision.

J: sorry TMI!

J: okay, as long as you know about the Gajeel thing :)

J: Have a good break :)

G: No it's fine, I'm glad to know you're okay since he's the jerk

G: have a good break too :)

J: hes not a jerk!

J: opps! Didn't mean to sound defensive

G: nah, it's fine you deserve to be angry about what happened.

And I saw you literally right after it happened, he thought to himself. Pretty weird.

J: I can't deny that. It's so strange, you were actually the first person i saw right after it happened too XD

J: and now you're moving into that room

G: haha yeah i was just thinking that too

G: If I had know what happened during that time, i would've dragged you to his apartment and made u watch me beat him up

J: you BEAT HIM UP?!

Gray laughed out loud for a second.

G: NONO just saying

J: omg you got me scared!

G: LOL

He stared at his phone, wondering if she was going to reply to that message. Perhaps he should say something else so it doesn't end off awkwardly. But before he could, he received another message from her.

J: just curious, what happened that night?

G: okay um

G: He just told me you guys broke up, and went back to studying

G: I was really shocked but i didn't pry because we were all so tired. I could have very easily beaten him up

J: since you told me it was okay to be angry, im only going to ever say this once

J: thanks for considering beating him up

J: okay back to being not angry! :)

Gray chuckled out loud again. His mom barged through the door.

"I called you from downstairs, it's dinner time! And get your brother out of that slump! He's been in his room all day."

"Okay mom." Gray said, jumping up. Dinner smelled delicious from downstairs. She put an arm around his mother for a hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hurry up it's going to get cold!" she said in a stern voice, but a sweet smile.

He pounded on Lyon's door.

"Hey wake up. Dinner's ready."

"Be down in a second," his groggy voice called through the door.

When they were seated around the table, Gray and his dad waited for his mom to grab the food from the oven. He was trying to come up with a response to Juvia.

"Who ya texting?" His dad asked, peering uncomfortably close to look at his phone screen. Gray snatched it away from his dad, something he was used to doing.

"None of your business".

"Wow you're being secretive for someone who's probably just texting your friends. Unless it's Lydia" his dad said, saying Lydia in a sing-song voice.

"What's this about Lydia?" His mother asked.

"Has our little boy grown up and finally got a girlfriend?" His father added.

"It's not Lydia." Gray said, deadpanned.

"Is it a girl?" His dad pressed.

"No."

His father sighed comically. "Gray's never going to get a girlfriend at this rate."

"Be quiet dear. He'll get one when he's ready." His mother said, settling their main course on the table.

"On the contrary, I heard on the way home that they're going on a date soon." Lyon said as he slumped into the kitchen.

"Oh so it WAS Lydia." His dad shouted, with an eyebrow wiggle.

Knowing that there was no way he could actually say who it was, since his parents knew of Juvia and their break up, he just decided to agree.

"Okay it's her. But we're not going on a date."

"When I was your age, I had already given your mom a promise ring." His dad said in a boastful voice.

"Who are you bragging to dad, it's just me and Lyon here, and we've heard this story already. A billion times"

"Oh but now that Gray's a college man, he can hear the details of how we met."

"Gross!" Lyon and Gray cried out together.

"Dear let's just eat quietly." his mom said, with a worried glance at her oldest son, who had settled in his place at the table and begun to look quite somber.

"Oh by the way-" Gray started, but stopped abruptly. How could he tell Lyon that Juvia was safe at home without saying they were keeping contact. Of course there was no reason for suspicions, but knowing Lyon and his family. They were a bunch of gossip loving freaks, especially his dad.

"What?" Lyon asked.

"Um, ..Have you tried that bubble pancake store downtown yet?" Gray finished, lamely.

And with the conversation turning completely mundane, dinner finished as smoothly as it usually did. With the family tucked into their usual evening spots, the parents in front of the TV, and Lyon and Gray holed up again, Gray pulled out his phone in the safety of his room.

G: LMAO ur way too forgiving

J: Perhaps

Wow she sure responds fast, Gray thought. Typically Gray was quite dry when typing however he did feel super bad for the girl.

G: it's a good thing though.

J: i guess :)

And with that, Gray pulled up his laptop and pressed resume on where he left off on the office.

Not that he would like to admit this, but a few days had passed since he had even left the house unless it was for a forced grocery shopping trip for healthy food with his mom. Life was actually pretty boring without his roommates, he begrudgingly admitted to himself. He even found himself asking Natsu and Loke what they were up to during the break and one thing they deduced together was they were excited to go back to school, and for their big move into their new apartment. Since it was still his big sister's boyfriend's they got the same low rate rent and because it was split between 3 people, it was a god send to 3 broke college boys.

N: lets go back a few days earlier to move in

L: down

G: sure

G: the 5th?

N: (y)

L: (y)

And nothing else happened during his break. Strangely enough, Lydia didn't even ask him about the 'date'. If it was important enough to her, she could have just come to his house, but perhaps she was too busy with other stuff and forgot about it. That would be a first for her, and if Gray was being honest, it was concerning him a bit.

By the 4th, the day before he was going to return to school, he wondered if he should check up on her. It was strange that she didn't even text him at all, too.

Okay, he decided, this is definitely too weird. It was 9pm, but Lydia would definitely be awake by now. He put on some sweats, and threw on a light jacket and decided to just check up on her. Also, with Lyon already moved out (btw yes Lyon moved out but i'm way too lazy to write about that since were not going to hear about him again lmao) she'd need another ride back to school and his parents had asked him if she would be going with them.

"I'm going to ask Lydia if she wants to come with us tomorrow." he called as he ran through the living room.

They weren't exactly next door neighbours, but her house was just a few down from his, and while he knocked on her doors, he realized the light from her bedroom was off. Oh no, was she sleeping? But her living room lights were on, so he waited outside the porch.

Her mother answered the door.

"Oh Gray! What a surprise."

"Hey miss Levinson, is Lydia in? Her light's closed but I just wanted to ask her something."

"Oh dear, she hasn't told you? She's been bed ridden with the flu for nearly 2 weeks now."

"Oh." Gray said. She didn't tell him that, well she didn't really talk to him about anything actually.

"No, she didn't"

"Well, that's fine. I'm sure she won't mind another visitor. Come on in."

Gray removed his shoes and went up the stairs. It was basically like walking to his own bedroom, how familiar he was with her house.

"Lydia, " he said, softly opening her door. "It's me, Gray."

"Oh, come in." She said weakly. She was laying in bed with the lights off, and a washcloth over her forehead.

"uM on sECOND THOUGHT." She suddenly shouted. "I'LL TALK TO YOU IN THE HALL"

Gray quickly backed out the door and closed it behind him.

"So what's up." Lydia said, stepping out of her room and closing the door behind her. Not to be rude, but Lydia looked pretty awful. She sounded like squidward had the cold and allergies at the same time, and she was bundled in sweats and an extra blanket

"Just wanted to ask if you were still going back to school tomorrow at this rate I guess." Gray joked.

Lydia laughed. "Yeah I probably shouldn't huh. My parents don't think so either."

"If Natsu showed up like this tomorrow I wud quarantine him to the lobby downstairs so perhaps not the best idea."

Lydia chuckled again.

"So this is why we couldn't watch that movie?" Gray asked.

"Unfortunely, yeah" Lydia said, her eyes kinda shined a bit at that but Gray didn't really notice.

Gray felt relieved. At least there was a reason and she wasn't flat out ignoring him on purpose. He couldn't think of anything he did wrong other than when he ignored her text the day before break. But that was weeks ago and it wasn't like Lydia to hold a grudge like that.

He wondered if he had anything else to ask her and was deciding it was probably a better idea to let her rest than keep her up in the cold hallway. Their house never had much circulation so she probably has to stay in bed swaddled in a million blankets so she didn't freeze.

"I guess i'll head back home now. I still havent packed."

"Typical." She said teasingly.

He looked at her awkwardly as if he wasn't sure if he was supposed to hug her. He didn't know what the heck he was supposed to do after not hanging out for a few weeks, but it felt like maybe he should hug her.

"Well i don't wanna get you sick so i'll see you in school, whenever the heck i'll be back." She said.

"Sounds good." Gray said. "Dont walk me out, get some more rest."

"Sound good." She said cheekily. He left her house and went back into his room.

His phone lit up with a text message.
J: Hey, um see you tomorrow :)

Gray was a bit confused. It didn't feel like he had built a texting relationship with the girl but it seemed thats what she thought they had. He still didn't wanna leave her on read though, he was still taking up the roll of the nice brother of the jerk who dumped her, of course.

G: yeah, see you

He closed his phone and laid in bed, not trying to admit to himself he was really excited to move into the new apartment with Natsu and Loke bright and early tomorrow morning.