GRUVIA WEEK 2016
DAY 6: FEAR
Modern Airport AU
PAIRING: GRAY X JUVIA
SERIES: FAIRY TAIL
A/N: Italized text means flashback.
If there was one thing Gray Fullbuster hated, it was people who did not know the value of time. People who waste it by just letting time pass, by just killing it.
"Time is money." He'd say. It was a little cliché but Gray stood by it.
So he'd hate himself if he was going to miss his flight to New York.
Gray checked the time on his gold Rolex. It was thirty after four. He needed to be in the airport in about thirty minutes and the traffic was not helping. The raven-haired impatiently checked his watch again. As if doing so was going to make time fly faster. Seeing there was no movement in traffic, Gray just heaved a long and deep breath.
"What's causing the delay, Mr. Wakaba?"
There was something about how he said it that made Wakaba's hair on his neck stand at its end. Leveled and cold. The loyal secretary watched his master through the rear-view mirror. As he had thought, Gray still had the morning news in his hands. However, he knew that behind the open newspaper was a young master running out of patience. Gray hated delays, after all.
What set Gray apart from other businessmen from his generation was his ability to keep his composure. His professional demeanor and impassive expressions made it hard to read him. Which scared the hell out of Wakaba. Gray was unpredictable and so was his silence. Like the calm before the storm. You would never know what hit you.
"Hey! Hurry up, will ya?"
Wakaba rolled down the window in panic. He popped his head out and barked. That's when he noticed a white pick-up being pulled up on the side of the road and an officer trying to guide back the flow of traffic.
"Oh. There was a minor accident, Sir. No one seems to be hurt."
Wakaba swore he had a mini heart-attack when he heard the rustle of the paper. Gray put away his Business Weekly. The young tycoon propped his fisted hand under his chin and stared through the car's window. The middle-aged secretary flinched when he heard his young master heave out an audible sigh. For the years that he worked in the Fullbuster household, Wakaba was already aware of few of Gray's little mannerisms. He could go as far as to say he knew the young master very well. If the sighing meant anything, it was a warning of Gray's declining tolerance.
"Finally!" Wakaba celebrated when the red Camry before him started to move forward. He quickly followed behind.
Gray looked at his watch the third time and returned his gaze to the window. The line of cars moving in a snail pace did not interest him. Not even the pulled-up car on the side of the road that caused him his golden ten minutes. He gave the surrounding a bored look. His passive eyes passed the hair with the rare shade of blue standing next to the man in uniform.
Wakaba brushed off the sweat that formed on his eyebrows. He sighed with relief once the car arrived in front of the Narita Airport. He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, popped the trunk and grabbed his master's suitcase. He was in time to see the young master out of the car and checking his wrist watch, again.
Gray took the luggage from his driver-bodyguard and quickly dismissed him. He would have had him carry the luggage for him but he had arms and legs that work. So, with his suitcase in hand, Gray made a beeline to the check-in counter.
The nice service agent greeted him with familiarity.
"Good morning, Mr. Fullbuster."
Gray greeted back with a small smile.
"Hand-carry I suppose, Sir?"
The pleasant lady only received another small smile as a response. Which greatly disappointed her. She didn't show it. She was used to it. Mira, as written on her nametag, knew Mr. Fullbuster was a man of few words.
Gray was a frequent flyer. Since he hated waiting in line for the baggage carousel to deliver his case, he always preferred hand-carry.
The pretty ticketing agent stamped his seat number on his boarding pass and returned it to Gray.
"Have a safe flight, Mr. Fullbuster."
"Thanks."
"Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 413D to New York City…" The beautiful voice rang over the speakers.
Gray pulled his carry-on luggage and made his way to the waiting area. As he passed by a newsstand, the young businessman scanned the titles and picked up one he liked. Then, he strode along the terminal. His sole focus was on the task at hand that he did not notice the breathless bluenette who just arrived at Narita.
Juvia had to stop in her tracks to catch her breath. She merely evened it when the young bluenette raced again to the check-in counter, dragging her suitcase behind her.
"Made it!"
Juvia surprised the young blonde behind the counter when she slapped her ticket in front of her. The blonde with the crisp suit, whose name tag said she was Lucy and happy to help, gave her a nervous smile. Nevertheless, she took Juvia's boarding pass, stamped a number on it and returned the same to her. All while watching the bluenette sweat and nervously laugh in between pants.
"Thank you. Ahmmm…" Juvia looked around. "Where's the way to my departure area?"
Lucy pointed her to the boarding gate.
"Thanks! It's Juvia's first time flying international."
"Oh. Then have a good flight Ms…" Lucy searched the boarding pass for her name. "Ms. Lockser."
"I sure will. Thank you!"
Juvia pulled her suitcase and footed it in. She found an old couple seating on the nearest bleacher and introduced herself. The excited bluenette invited herself to sit next to them and was welcomed with warm pair of smiles.
"Juvia-chan has a lovely name." Said the older woman who seemed too fond of the exuberant youngster.
In the middle of their fun sharing, a sudden urgency came upon Juvia. She excused herself to the ladies room and asked the couple to look out for her suitcase. Juvia came back in time for the first boarding call. A pang of nervousness hit her when she saw the other travelers herded to the vestibule. She rushed over to the bleachers where she left her suitcase with the couple and found it empty. Her nervousness turned to panic.
"Oh no!" She cried.
A woman's voice spilled over the surround system, repeating her final boarding call.
Juvia cried no a number of times. Her alarmed blue eyes frantically searched the area paired with her equally frantic heartbeat. It was Juvia's first time flying international and she had stumbled on extraordinary circumstances that day. The thought that maybe it was a sign that she should not leave the country crossed her mind. She almost gave in to that thought until a sliver of hope appeared in the corner of her eye – in the form of her electric blue suitcase.
Juvia almost jumped in happiness when she found her suitcase next to the bleacher near where she stood. She was about to run and grab it when someone had beaten her to it. Juvia got confused. The man now pulling her blue trolley was not Grandpa from earlier. No. The man was a lot younger and taller than Gramps. He wore a black, expensive-looking suit; the total opposite of Gramps colorful Hawaiian polo shirt. When she realized the apparent difference, Juvia panicked. The man was stealing her luggage! She pursued the thief and pulled the back of his suit.
"Hey! What's the big idea?"
"That's mine."
"What?"
"That luggage is mine."
As the strange woman kept on insisting her claim, the initial surprise that registered on the thief's face turned into annoyance.
"This?" He shook the luggage by its handle. "This is yours?" The man spoke in a slow manner that made Juvia feel stupid.
"Well, yes."
When the storm calmed, Juvia noticed the good looks the man had. His black, pushed-back hair, his determined midnight eyes and his enticing rosy lips. Blue curious eyes lingered longer on his enticing lips.
"I'm sorry miss but I think you are mistaken."
"What? No." Juvia pushed all the thoughts she had about his good looks. She grabbed the trolley from his hand but the man's quick reflexes hid it away from her.
"Give it back or I'm… I'm… I'm calling the airport police."
The young man was genuinely confused.
"Airport police?" He scoffed.
"Yeah! I'm calling the airport police. Help! Everyone, help!" She pointed at the culprit. "This man! This man is stealing my belongings. He's a thief!"
Juvia alerted the airport's security with her scandalous screaming. Even though people at the airport stared at him, the suitcase-stealer remained unfazed.
Officers in uniform immediately responded to the call.
"There officer! That man. That man is stealing my luggage!" Juvia pointed an accusing finger at the young man in the suit. She was relating to the nice officers her story when an old couple approached her.
"Juvia-chan." The old woman whispered. "Here is your luggage."
Blue confused eyes darted back and forth to the suitcase held by the thief and the identical one beside the old couple. Realization struck her like lightning. She turned to the man in the suit with eyes guilty and apologetic.
"We apologize for this, Mr. Fullbuster." The two officers in uniform separated to give way for Gray Fullbuster. "Please enjoy your flight, Sir."
"Thank you, gentlemen."
The two men in uniform turned to the now embarrassed bluenette. They stood side by side to block her.
"I am very sorry, officers."
She hung her head low in shame.
The flight attendant helped Gray put his electric blue suitcase in the overhead bin and ushered him to his seat in the business class. He settled in quickly, opened his newspaper and picked up where he left off. It would be usual for Gray to drown in his readings. That day, however, a ruckus coming from the back easily ruined his concentration. He ignored it and went back to the business article. But every time he tried to start on a sentence, the noise just keep pulling him back in. He was surprised to see that the cause of the commotion was the same woman who accused him of being a suitcase-stealer back at the airport. Unfortunately, her seat was next to his.
"Uh…"
Juvia could not find a word to say. The whole embarrassing experience rendered her speechless. She made a big scene and dragged an innocent man with her idiocy. So, she stood in the middle isle, staring stupidly at the man she just called a thief. She wasn't entirely sure what to do next until the flight attendant asked her to take her seat. Juvia quietly slipped in and sat in between Gray and some stranger. There was no point being too nervous since Gray just gave her the cold shoulder.
"I'm really sorry about earlier." She apologized in a small voice. "It was a really honest mistake."
"Forget about it." Gray said nonchalantly. He did not even look at her. His eyes were trained on the feature he was reading since earlier.
Juvia, feeling even guiltier because of the man's silence and dead tone, fidgeted in her seat. A tall and beautiful flight attendant pushing a cart of peanuts was coming over their row. An idea hit her.
"Peanuts, Ma'am?"
Juvia nodded.
"How about you, Sir?"
Juvia immediately snagged the bag, answering for Gray instead. The elegant lady dismissed the oddity of the act and pushed the cart to the next row.
"Here. Let me make it up to you." Juvia gestured to open the bag but Gray snatched it from her hands. He hated it when people made him feel useless.
"It's okay. I got it."
"No. Let me do it for you."
"It's really okay Miss. Just let me do it."
The two engaged in a silly game of tug-of-war.
"Let me make it up for earlier."
"I said you don't have… see what you did?"
Gray raised his voice. The bag broke with its contents scattering all over. Some even got to his pants. Juvia apologized endlessly. She helped him brush off the nuts between his legs despite Gray's obvious objection.
"I'm really sorry, Mister."
Gray had a little panic when Juvia's helping hands were going directions he did not welcome. She was entering dangerous territory and the raven-haired could already feel his pants tightening. Afraid he could not live down the consequences of this embarrassment, Gray grabbed both her hands and kept them away from his danger zone.
Juvia froze in surprise, her round blue eyes locking with Gray's. She stared at them long enough to notice that his eyes were actually blue, like hers, only darker.
"Please."
Gray leaned in closer to whisper.
"Just stop making up for it."
They both broke apart and settled back to their seats. Gray finished cleaning himself up and returned to the article he just could not finish reading. He moved a little to give himself some space from the blue-haired woman. (And to calm himself.) He peeked to his left behind his newspaper and noticed the shade of Juvia's hair. Gray's mind flew back to the woman in traffic earlier. It seemed like he was seeing a lot of this woman, whoever she was, and causing a lot of trouble for him. She was just all kinds of annoying.
Two hours in on the flight and Juvia easily dozed off. Gray did not know when exactly. He didn't care. He had folded his newspaper aside earlier and moved to his iPad. He reviewed a few contracts and proposals which Wakaba downloaded for him in his gadget. The success of the meeting in New York was crucial for the expansion of his automobile business. He prepared the PowerPoint and would be presenting it himself. He did a run-through of it again before turning off his iPad. The flight from Tokyo to New York City took almost more than half a day, so he gathered all his work-belongings and decided to take some shut-eye.
Gray's view turned pitch black as soon as he put on his eye-mask. His rest was cut short, however, when he felt sudden short quakes. He immediately took off the mask but it did little to no help. Gray started to have this sick feeling stir inside him as he felt his whole body tremble. The shaking was caused by a small turbulence. The seatbelt icon lighted up as the plane experienced another. This one lasted longer than the first. Gray clutched his arm-rests rather too tightly. He clutched on them so hard he did not feel they were already hurting him. The sick feeling made its way up to his chest, tightening it. His heart pounded hard in his ribcage as the memories of years ago flooded his mind. The images were blurred and ambiguous and were less terrifying. Unlike when he was younger when it felt like he was reliving the horror. Seeing shrinks and going to therapies helped. It did not totally erase the memories but helped suppress them. Sometimes, however, certain things trigger these memories and they find their way back to his present.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Captain speaking."
The color on his face slowly returned only when the shaking finally stopped. The woman in her left stirred awake.
"What happened?"
"We are experiencing a little turb-." The captain's message was cut short when the plane took a hit mid-air.
Gray froze. His grip on the arm-rests was tighter than before. He shut his eyes close but it only worsened the chunks of memory that rolled in his mind like a film. So, he opened them again. Gray thought the minimal shaking was just the first wave of a very strong turbulence coming up ahead. He started hyperventilating.
"You know, this is my first time flying international."
He could barely look at the owner of the voice, the woman beside him.
"It's my first time to see New York too! Is it really beautiful out there? Do you travel a lot?"
Gray's hands slowly stopped trembling. He felt an urge to answer all her questions. Slowly, his demons crawled back to their cage. Gray turned to the woman beside him and she flashed him a comforting smile. Like she knew what he was going through. She offered him her name and kept telling him about the places she wanted to visit. Gray usually hated distractions but this was a distraction he welcomed. He listened to her intently. Suddenly, she was a good kind of annoying.
Gray was starting to feel at ease when a fourth turbulence hit the Boeing again. It was stronger than its predecessors and appeared to be worse too. Gray could hear the shaking. The seat-belt icon kept glowing. Instead of the cold handle, Gray found himself grasping at something soft and warm. He turned to see Juvia holding his hand. Confusion flashed across his pale face. He was about to pull his hand away when the plane suddenly dropped a few feet. Gray gripped at Juvia's hand. A cry of surprise, and probably fear, erupted from the passengers. He sweated bullets. The fear, coupled by the tragic memory, was coming back to him fast like a bullet train. Gray fought hard to push it back where it belonged – in the forgotten abyss of his subconscious.
"It's going to be okay." Juvia whispered, placing a comforting hand on his arm.
Gray found warmth from a total stranger. He gripped Juvia's hand like he was holding for his dear life. Juvia did not seem to mind. So, he gripped it tighter, never letting go.
The plane goes round and Gray could feel his weight shifting to the other side. He was glad he wasn't near any windows. The turbulence wasn't going to stop any time soon. Prayers were said. Colors drained. There were no smiles and no flight attendants going around saying everything's going to be okay. They were probably strapped to their own seats. The craft rattled and bounced up and down. Gray thought it would go on forever.
It didn't.
The aircraft stabilized and Gray's grip loosened. He fully let go of Juvia's hand only when the captain came on the speakers and apologized. They were promised better weather, an uneventful flight and a safe arrival at John F. Kennedy. The experienced Captain was thanked with a celebratory applause.
A few hours had passed and Gray was still silent. His heartbeat had slowed down and his color returned to normal. His hands were free. He stared at his left armrest where his hand was next to the stranger's, barely touching. The ghost of her warmth haunted him and a need to feel them rekindled. Without thought, he easily complied. Slowly and cautiously, his hand reached for hers, starting with his little finger, the one closest to Juvia's. He took his time. Like that few seconds that lead up to a kiss, he allowed this moment to take its natural course. When their hands finally touched, she turned to him. She turned to him with a look that was neither distasted nor questioning. Rather, it was a soft gaze filled with something that began great stories – friendship.
The plane landed earlier than expected despite the changes in the weather and the crosswinds that shook the 77 Boeing. The passengers celebrated as soon as the announcement of their arrival was made over the speakers. They unmounted the metal tube one by one while they greet the attendants when they pass them by. Gray helped Juvia get her luggage from the overhead bin and together they strolled around the airport, passing time.
Juvia was to stay with a friend who was supposed to pick her up. Gray offered to wait with her and she gladly accepted. He led Juvia to one of the Starbucks inside the airport. They talked. About the coffee. The good weather in New York. The strangers passing them by. Nothing and everything. It was not until Juvia's friend came and picked her up that they separated. If Gray was being honest, it saddened him a little. But they promised to get in touch, a promise he would hold onto.
Gray asked the bellboy to place his luggage next to the dresser. He walked out and into the veranda. New York's weather was good for his taste. It was neither too hot nor too cold. Just the signature New York morning. The loud cars in the backed-up traffic pulled his attention below him. The good distance between him and the pavement made Gray feel slightly dizzy. He stayed on the sixty-eight floor of the Marriot, like usual. The common sensation of falling overwhelmed his senses yet his dark eyes never left the traffic.
Everyone was afraid of something, even gods and kings. We were all afraid to lose something – wealth, power, love. Fear was simply a reminder of life's mortality. That nothing or no one could last forever.
Slowly, the crash from twenty years ago was trying to creep out of its pit. He was only seven when the tragedy took away his mother from him. Gray felt the dark past begin to paralyze him. He struggled to cage them again. They fought hard. His hands grasped on the veranda's railings as a heavy feeling gripped his whole being. Gray took a deep breath to relax himself. One. Two. Three. He counted. … Four. Five.
"When I get nervous or scared before doing something big, I just count to ten".
Gray remembered the words of a certain bluenette.
"It helps take your mind off of it."
He remembered her friendly blue eyes. Six. Seven.
"Try it. Just count to ten."
Eight. Nine. Ten.
Gray slowly opened his eyes. He loosened his hold on the railings and straightened up from his hunched position. He stared at his hands. The comfort of Juvia's hand was still there. The genuine smile she offered him was forever etched in his memory. It painted one on his own lips too. He was glad he had good memories to replace the bad ones. It wasn't going to be quick and easy but he would forget about the accident and think of the friendly bluenette from then on.
Gray walked back into his room. He took his luggage and placed it on his made-up bed. When he unzipped the luggage, however, it was not his usual folded black boxers and clean white shirts tucked and arranged neatly in a row that greeted him. Instead, there was a parade of colored female intimates in place of his personal effects. Amused chuckle escaped his lips. He guessed he was going to see her sooner than expected.
A/N: Wow. That was long. And late. I don't know what happened. But see? I have you a lot of stuff right there. Mira flirting/subtly flirting with Gray. Don't you guys wanna see that? Juvia-Lucy almost moment. Tell me what you think, alright? Comment down there!