bits&pieces Chapter 20: She's In Your Court 8, a fairy tail fanfic

Summary: Gray Fullbuster is a player both in love and in life. He plays Professional Basketball and is being groomed to be in line with Basketball Legends Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. There's just one problem, Gray Fullbuster is a play-ah. His life is a giant mess of crazy parties, waking up with random women and waking up in random women's apartments. Just living the life.

The opinion of the public on him is waning. To save the million-dollar endorsements in the verge of disappearing, Gray needs to change his image. Therefore, Gray Fullbuster, Fiore Knight's Team Captain and Most Valuable Player, will be in the next season of "My Star Can Dance".

There's another problem: it seems like his star isn't that bright since his partner, one of Fiore's prominent ballerinas, doesn't know him? His billboard is hanging in front of her dancing school! And it was a good billboard since all he was wearing was his six-pack and an Aztec bandana. How come she didn't notice?

She's In Your Court 8: Imagine Me Naked

…

Speak to me, read my mind
Fill your mouth, with flesh and wine
And I'll be yours, just give me time
'Cause you have everything I could ever want
You have everything I could ever want
You speak to my soul like you've known it before
And I just can't stop
Lord I can't stop, myself

– Can't Stop, Mozella

…

The closed door muffled the loud screams coming from the other side of it. With every chant and every scream, Juvia's heart thundered. How long had it been since she performed in front of an audience? She couldn't remember. Acid settled in the pit of the ballerina's stomach. The thundering claps and cheers were not helping. In fact, they made the acid chew its way upwards.

Nerves were a performer's greatest enemy.

The knock on the door yanked Juvia's attention toward the single wood. A young man in a bull cap, black shirt and a mic in front of his lips peeked through the small opening.

"Miss Juvia, we're going live in thirty minutes. Please, prepare."

Juvia muttered thanks.

The young man was kind and sweet. Juvia could not remember ever seeing him around. He was probably a new recruit.

When the door clicked closed, Juvia abandoned the thought on the new guy and returned her attention to the vanity mirror. She watched her make-up artist, Cana, paint her lips with light lipstick that complimented her golden brown eyeshadow. Then, Cana sprayed the Treseme Stronghold around her blue bun to secure all the strands.

"All done!" Cana proclaimed. Then, she replaced her make-up tools inside a vanity box before she took a loud sip out of her Starbucks to-go cup.

The show's assistant scriptwriter, and Juvia's High School best-friend, walked up behind her, admiring Juvia's beauty in the mirror.

"You look so pretty, Juvs. I'm sure the camera's gonna love you."

"Thank you, Levy." Juvia gave her a strained smile. Baring herself to Levy, Juvia allowed her worries to show.

Levy opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a subtle knock on the door. A familiar shock of raven hair popped into the opening before any of the three ladies could say come in. Of course, they need not to because after Gray Fullbuster said hey, he invited himself in.

Juvia did not turn around to greet him. Instead, she met Gray's dark, awed eyes in the mirror.

"Wow, you look beautiful." The compliment escaped his lips breathlessly.

Levy excused herself, using setting-up early as the reason. The truth was, the show-writer wanted to leave the two alone. Such fact Juvia knew. She mouthed her friend a thank you; grateful when the latter dragged with her an insistent Cana who wanted to take a photo with Gray.

Juvia watched Gray as he walked up behind her, slow and dazed. But as awe-struck as he was with her, Juvia was the same. She couldn't take his eyes off Gray. His raven hair brushed back, made sultry by stubborn fringes falling off the wagon. With his hair away from his face, Gray's classic features came to prominence: high cheek bones and well-defined jawline.

Blue perusing eyes travelled down his neck to the bare skin teasing through the gap of Gray's polo shirt where one, two, three studs remained unbuttoned. Juvia caught her breath. The feel of his hard chest teased at her fingertips.

"Hey, you really look beautiful." He whispered, the rich baritone cutting through her thoughts. The heat of his hands settled on her shoulders, yanking her back to reality.

Gray Fullbuster in an unkempt brushed-back 'do might be a good distraction but the unsettling feeling, just like the plague, just wouldn't go away.

Wearing her heart on her sleeves, Juvia turned around her chair and looked Gray straight in the eyes, voicing her fear for the first time.

"What if I screw up?"

"You won't. You know why?"

Juvia waited for a good moment for his next words. Her heart ready to pop out her chest.

"Because you are Juvia Lockser. And Juvia Lockser never screws up. That's my job."

The confidence in his statement made Juvia almost believe it. She was able to appreciate his punchline too. But there was a little voice the ballerina could not ignore. A little voice saying maybe, maybe Gray was wrong.

"Yeah right." She rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to her reflection in the mirror. "There's a first time for everything."

Juvia was skeptical. She wasn't a pessimist neither was she a ball of sunshine. Juvia liked managing her expectations; less disappointments.

"Juvia." Gray called; his voice taming. He cupped Juvia's face, offering warmth with his open palms. "She is going to love you."

The old Juvia would have been surprised. Here was a stranger she's known not quite long, yet so attuned to Juvia's own feelings. Maybe, it was because she finally tore her own walls down for him.

"So, just relax." He suggested.

Juvia caught Gray's wrists in each hand and wrapped her fingers around them. She didn't push them away, liking how his palms felt against her skin.

"Breathe in, breathe out."

Her eyes shut close, rubbing her cheeks against Gray's palms. His words were so powerful that she was able to push the anxiety at the back of her mind which, she hoped, wouldn't make reappearance. Not until after their performance.

"We're going to kill this performance. Okay?"

Juvia nodded, resting her forehead against Gray's. All the uneasiness was melting away and she had this man to thank for that. Juvia trusted him, came to trust Gray completely and she didn't even know how or why. Even if the Hoopster acted like a five-year old on a sugar rush sometimes, there were moments, moments like this one, when Gray made her feel safe; like she could trust him; like she could rely on him. He got her back – one hundred percent.

"Besides…" Juvia felt Gray's hot breath fan her cheeks. "You could always imagine me in that audience…" He lowered his voice a fraction before finishing. "naked."

Then there were those other moments when she wanted to slap his spirit out of him.

Juvia sighed. His last comment forced her eyes open. She slapped his hands away and returned to the mirror. That wasn't how the saying goes.

"You're not helping."

Juvia checked her hair in the mirror to make sure they still held together. She eyed the man laughing behind her. Instead of getting mad at him; Juvia could not help the smile pulling on her lips. Gray Fullbuster could easily put her mind out of anything, whether by his lame jokes or using those lips for something more useful. Like kissing. That's another thing Juvia grown to like about Gray, aside from kissing, he could always turn things around.

"Besides, I should be the one getting nervous here." Gray confessed. "It's my first time and I feel this weird fluttering in my stomach." The admission and the realization of what the fluttering was for repulsed him.

He looked cute, Juvia thought. Cute but still repulsed.

Juvia studied him for a second. The lines on his forehead and the troubled expression proved his words genuine. The overly confident Hoopster climbed down his high horse. Seeing how Gray reacted to his own pre-show tension, Juvia sat there thinking that beating herself up for getting all nervous and worried was crazy. Performance jitters were perfectly normal, human even.

Juvia climbed down her chair, acting nonchalant about Gray's sudden confession. She then spun around to face him, leaned in and drop a volume as she spoke. "You know what a good distraction is?"

She almost broke out of character when the sudden proximity stunned the overly confident Hoopster.

"Wh-what?" Gray stuttered, his face clouded as he felt her hot breath against his flushed lobe.

"You could always imagine me in the audience, naked."

Juvia walked past him and left a wide-eyed Gray, who seemed to forget how to breathe, in her wake.

"Don't say that!"

She heard him complain after a long drawn-in breath.

"You know I can't get that image out of my head now."

Men really didn't like having a taste of their own medicine. But at least, it kept Gray's mind off the jitters.

Romeo, the young man from earlier, instructed the duo to prepare at the backstage. Gray and Juvia were the first to perform. At the holding area, Juvia could hear the host warming up the audience. The lively ruckus was waking up the uneasiness. Juvia easily pushed it back by remembering Gray's words earlier: the how they were going to 'kill the performance' and not the 'imagine him naked in the audience' nonsense.

After the host called out Gray and Juvia's names, silence covered the whole studio. Juvia listened for the cue. She threw her partner one last look, finding the fire in Gray's midnight eyes ablaze. From that moment she knew, the performance was in the bag, no doubt about it.

The first beat of their music poured through the studio's speakers. Then the spotlight was on the pair at the center of the stage. Juvia fixed her eyes on one person – the man carrying her through the routine. The whole world fell away and Juvia drowned in the music, the sway of their bodies and in Gray's midnight eyes.

Juvia's heart thumped along the thundering claps their dance received from the audience. A warm feeling swelled in her chest and the moment she saw the proud smile on her partner's lips, the warm feeling spread like wildfire throughout her body. The catch in her breath wasn't only because of the laborious routine.

Juvia could barely make out what the host had to say through the explosion of cheers. All she knew was that Jenny Realight had such an authority on stage that the audience settled down the moment she spoke. Jenny congratulated the couple on a great performance, slipping her own compliment in.

"That was one sizzling performance, don't you think?" Magnolia Weekly's resident model-turned-host addressed the question to the energetic audience. "I think you burned a hole on the ground."

The couple answered with mutual mirth; their arms were around each other.

"I'm feeling like there is somethin'-somethin' going around here." Jenny teased as she noticed the closeness between the two. "Care to share, Mr. Hotshot?" The host placed the mic next to Gray's lips, hoping for an honest and interesting answer from him.

"The only something I'm going to get tonight is a bad case of the cold. What, with my chest bare open and everything."

Ever the crowd-charmer, Gray's knack for a punchline earned a subtle laugh from the studio audience.

"Someone's a bit too showbiz." Jenny jokingly called Gray out for his evasiveness but she was running on a tight schedule. So, Jenny let them off the hook, for now. "We will get back to that. Now, let's hear from our judges."

The two judges only had good things to say about the performance. One of the female judges purred a 'muy caliente' and even feigned fanning herself to exaggerate her point. The lone male critic thanked Gray, riding on the Hoopster's joke about having to bare his chest on national television for the ratings.

"My pleasure." Gray answered, flashing his trademark wink that got all the female fans buzzing; some males too.

But the opinion that Juvia waited for and the one which mattered the most for her was from the dancer who was recently awarded the Prima Ballerina Assoluta – highest honor conferred to a ballerina.

When the spotlight was finally on Aquarius as it was her time to speak, Juvia could feel her knees wobble. Good thing she had Hoopster for support.

"Well, it's nice to see you managed to keep up with a great ballerina, Mr. Fullbuster." Aquarius began. She had that air and grace about her that intimidated. The form of her every move and sway like dancing were flawless perfection. "Do you have any background in dancing?"

"If you count my one-man show performance in the shower, then yes."

Juvia ought to feel embarrassed on Gray's behalf but she didn't. Gray Fullbuster could work a room with his quirky quips and that was one of his many charms.

"Is he always this funny, Ms. Lockser?"

Juvia's heart leaped when Aquarius started to address her.

"He tries." She answered, trying on the funny pants herself. Even got really excited when her dance hero chuckled at Juvia's joke.

Aquarius paused long enough to let the audience have a good laugh before she started talking technicalities.

"You were able to pull it off even without," Aquarius withdraw her eyes from her notes and looked at Gray. "I'm not counting shower performances as background." She interjected with a playful smile before continuing, "even without background in ballet."

Aquarius praised Juvia for adapting the routine to Gray's skills. The excitement escalated with every compliment thrown Juvia's way and she thought she saw stars when her dance hero said they did a great job.

"And I don't think I'm the only one here who thinks that your chemistry is off the charts!" Aquarius turned around without getting off her judge's seat. "Am I right?" She offered her microphone to the audience.

The response was deafening. Only the blind could not see the heat between Gray and Juvia.

The live shows were finally over but Juvia was still on cloud nine and there was no sign of her climbing down from it anytime soon. She couldn't believe how her life turned out: she met her childhood dance hero and even received high praises from her. Then there was Gray, the man who rose to the occasion magnificently.

Juvia peered at the man seated beside her and caught the Hoopster staring at her too. She recognized the glint in his dark blue eyes because she knew she had it in hers too. He reached for her hand under the table and gave it a little squeeze. Juvia returned his loving smile and leaned in when Gray motioned her to. Her skin set fire at the feel of his warm lips brushing against her lobe. He just said something funny and Juvia had to stifle the giggle that threatened to erupt. The show-creator was giving his thank-you speech and she did not want any of the attention. She liked the fact that both she and Gray were happy in their own little world. Juvia would like to keep it that way for a little while.

As the speech came to a close, Juvia raised her glass along with the contestants, the staff and everyone involved in the show. She clanked glasses with Gray and shared a knowing smile. A short bluenette slid into the vacant chair next to Juvia and she regrettably retrieved her hand from Gray's hold. She didn't have to look to know it was Levy whose brown eyes brimmed with excitement.

"He's right, you know." She started then phished out her phone to show Juvia, who was just about to take a spoonful of chicken pecan. "Look, the show's trending on twitter!" Levy exclaimed but apologized quickly when people started throwing judging looks at their table.

Levy returned to her conversation with Juvia, showing the twitter page on her mobile. Juvia was just reading the top page when Gray's hand suddenly grabbed Levy's phone. Bunhead did not fight him over it. After all, she wasn't that all interested.

"It's true! We're trending no. 1 worldwide."

Gray kept scrolling and started reading the tweets. He forgot all about the sumptuous meal right in front of him.

"Wow, you are ironheart143?" Gray passingly read Levy's twitter username which, hearing it aloud, the scriptwriter realized was quite embarrassing.

"Look, this one says 'Gray Fullbuster is God-sent. I'll let him drive me to heaven.'". Gray read a little too proudly for Juvia's liking. The corners of his mouth pulled in a smug. He read another one saying how frockmehard would like Gray to Full her Buster.

Juvia cringed internally. What did that even mean, to 'Full my Buster'?

"Oh! Here's another one. 'I am just as flexible. I'd wrap both legs around Gray's neck… and I'm going to read that to myself." He stopped the moment Juvia sent him the death glare and decided it was better for him and his blooming relationship to return the phone to the owner.

"Hey, there are tweets about Juvia too." Levy began reading mentions about Juvia. Aloud at first, thinking they were innocent until she realized, as she went through them, that people on the internet could get really dirty and detailed.

"Okay. I just lost my appetite."

Gray set his utensils on the table and refused to take another bite, pushing the plate at the center. The tweets just left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Oh! Some fans are also discussing how good your chemistry is."

"Let me see."

"Hey!" Levy pouted but she was no match against Gray's athletic reflexes. She crossed her arms as the phone-grabber scrolled through the tweets.

"Wow, we should really get a couple-name." Gray suggested without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Couple name?"

"That's right!" It was the scriptwriter who answered instead, stealing the opportunity from Gray. "Like Brangelina, Bennifer or Kimye. Yours could be…" She gave it a serious thought before excitedly announcing what she came up with.

"Oh, I know! JuGra!"

Juvia hissed in a little disagreement. "I don't know, Levy." She wanted to support her friend, especially that the scriptwriter looked really, really enthusiastic about this couple-name thing. But 'JuGra' did not sound right in her ears. "I don't think this couple name–"

"–that or it could be JuRay." Gray offered, finally lifting his eyes off the screen and fixing them on Juvia.

JuRay did not sound so bad but Juvia could tell Gray wasn't stopping there. In his eyes, she could see the gears turning.

"FulLockser? Too long. My last name's too long." Gray frowned at the inconvenience of his surname.

"ViaGra?"

"You don't want people calling us ViaGra, Gray."

"ViaGray? That way it won't sound too…"

"Actually, the people have already baptized you." Levy interrupted before the talk about ViaGra took them somewhere she'd rather not go into. "They're calling your loveteam Gruvia."

"Gruvia?" Gray thought about it and let the coined word roll off his tongue once more, testing how it sounded. "Gruvia. I like it."

Juvia expressed her agreement with a content smile that mirrored Gray's.

"Sounds better than ViaGra too." Gray mused. He seemed to enjoy that silly one though.

Right after dinner, after the Gruvia couple, as their fans fondly called them, said their goodbyes, Gray offered Juvia a ride. They didn't mind the others seeing them leave the party together. It wasn't the first time Gray drove the ballerina home. But they fought the need to feel each other's warmth until they got inside Gray's Camaro.

In the car, they fondly talked about the live shows. Gray even made fun of the Kendo champion with the scarlet hair.

"I pity his partner but I guess she wasn't called the Dancing Demon for nothing."

"Oh, if Erza could hear you."

Juvia thought she saw fear cross Gray's face at the mention of the swordswoman's name. She confirmed it when the other half of Gruvia cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject.

"How about the wrestler, Elfman? He invited me to watch one of his games. I don't think I'd like to watch men in their undies battling it out in the ring."

"Let me guess, you prefer women in their undies battling it out in the ring."

"Aw." Gray playfully swooned. "You know me so well."

"Ha. Ha." Juvia rolled her eyes again, laughed without humor.

As the ballerina listened in the passenger seat, she couldn't help but muse at the turn of events. She used to hate this man's guts. The basketball diva who pranced into her studio, challenging her patience every chance he got, was now at the driver's seat having a decent conversation with her like most old couples did. Juvia started to imagine Gray with white hair sticking out his head.

"Why are you looking at me that way?" Gray asked, glancing at her every now and then.

"Nothing." Juvia answered. "And keep your eyes on the road." She reprimanded without erasing the smile on her lips. She didn't even try.

"Oh c'mon. Do I have something on my face?" Gray knew there wasn't but he, too, had that foolish smile on his face.

"Yes. There's that silly look you need to get rid of."

"Hey, you have it on yours too."

"I don't!" Juvia denied.

"Yes, you do. Look!" Gray reached out and palmed Juvia's face with his free hand. "You get rid of it first."

"Gray!" Juvia reprimanded with a giggle, swatting his hands off her.

They shared a soft chuckle in the car; lost in their own little world again. Juvia shifted her gaze to the window and rested her head against it. Juvia heaved an audible sigh. The events from earlier played in her head like a reel. Today couldn't have been more perfect and she couldn't be happier.

The familiar brown roof peered into the window and Juvia felt the Camaro slowing down. The convertible prowled into the front of the two-storey white-fenced house.

"We're here." Gray announced. Then, he cut off the engine and alighted from the Camaro.

Gray walked up to Juvia's side, taking her hand in his. It wasn't the first time Gray held her hand but somehow it felt different – good different. Her heart was pounding, not in a nervous beat but more like that giddy feeling when drinking caffeine; like she was excited for something. Like there was something amazing to come.

They continued the path that led to her door; fingers still intertwined. They walked up the steps into the porch and halted in front of the door. The silence that settled between them was cut short by Gray.

"I guess this is goodnight." Gray said, taking a step closer towards Juvia.

Her eyes fell on his lips and Juvia thought back at the time they shared their first kiss, right in front of her door, exactly where they were standing now.

"Yeah. I guess it is." She answered, taking her eyes off Gray's tempting lips and back to his midnight eyes.

When Gray leaned in, Juvia fought the urge to close her eyes. She wanted to witness everything and safely tuck the memory in her mind. Her eyes never left his as Gray bridged the gap between them. She waited, heart strumming in anticipation. Then, he softly pressed his lips against hers.

The kiss started slow and gentle; both of them wanting to indulge in the taste of each other. It remained chaste until a low moan slipped from Juvia's lips and into Gray's. It was her permission and encouragement for Gray to deepen the kiss. He also would have if not for the sound that came from the door – a sound of a person clearing his throat.

Juvia pulled away from the kiss. She slowly turned to the door, praying she was wrong and that the person she was about to face wasn't who she thought it was.

But Juvia Lockser was rarely wrong.

Heat rose up and painted her cheeks rosy. She forgot how to speak for a moment and wished she could dig a hole to hide in.

"Oh, dad!" She managed to say sheepishly as she confronted a six foot man with his arms crossed against his chest. "You're back." She fought the second wave of shame about to hit her when the fierce blue eyes she missed narrowed at her.

"Good evening, sir." Gray greeted, catching Ambassador Lockser's attention.

The man did not speak but the intimidation came across his lone intended audience – Gray Fullbuster.

It has been awhile since someone put a mouse in Gray's chest.

Writer's Corner: Hi you guys! New chapter's up. How have you guys been? I would just like to thank you again for your unending support both old and new readers. You are the best!

I read your comments and to answer some of your questions, here we go: I ought to separate this fic from B&P since it's a whole new other and different story which can stand on its own. I agree with you guys! It's just that when I first started this fic, I didn't know it turned out to be like what it is today. But after SIYC, I'm going to separate all stand alone multi-chapa. So, please bear with me.

Also, I know I promised you guys a new character and I think he's not who you guys were expecting right? Hehe.

See you in the nex chapter and drop some love at the comment section. Muah!