the most wonderful time of the year
p.2: if i could only whistle
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The rink messed up again. For the past month now, the ice-skating rink had double-booked the ice skaters with the local hockey team. Most days it was fine. The hockey captain and the figure skating coach hashed it out, either rescheduling or agreeing to share the sink, but on that day, December 23rd, tensions were high between the two. Needless to say, people were not in the holiday spirit.
Not that that was Gray's problem. Well, it was his problem, as he was a member of Laxus' hockey team and his step-sister, Ultear, was the figure skating coach, but Gray was always one for putting off his problems and the more emotional confrontations. He also did not enjoy getting on either person's bad side. So, considering their practices did not start for ten minutes and he had already finished the stretching portion of his warm-up, he avoided them like a retail worker avoiding Christmas Pop Hits on their days off.
Whistling a song his dad had been singing the last time they hiked together, Gray wandered aimlessly through the non-iced part of the ice-skating rink. There were the bathrooms, the place where you could turn in your skates, a little arcade if ice-skating wasn't your thing, and a storefront with stale snacks and cheap hot chocolate. Not that the cheapness of the hot chocolate made it taste bad – sometimes you want $1.50 hot cocoa after skating for two hours.
Juvia entered from the hallway, carrying her bag and her figure skates. One of his sister's figure skaters and a damn good one too, graceful with long legs and fluid movements, but very shy. At least, around him. He knew that she and Meredy, the other skater, were friends and he often overheard them chatting, but whenever she was around him, her personality changed. At that moment, she gave a small wave and smile and he nodded back at her. He debated whether or not it'd be worth stepping outside for a smoke, when he heard raised voices. Him and Juvia locked eyes, both knowing it spelled trouble, and entered the rink where the raised voices were.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Laxus said. Ultear glared at him, arms crossed. Gray saw his teammates, who'd arrived later than him, stretching and eavesdropping. Not that it really could be considered eavesdropping, when the two were basically yelling.
"I'm their coach. And we have a competition in two weeks."
"We need to practice!"
"So do we. Do you really think that I'll let you bully my figure skaters off this rink? You and your three concussions?"
The look Laxus gave could cut glass, but Ultear was–and Gray thought this with affection, he swears–a stone-cold bitch. "Share the rink," she said. "Or get off of it."
"Fine." Laxus spat the word and then called for the hockey players to huddle up. Gray skated over, but watched Juvia as she returned to Ultear. It was to check on Ultear's mood, definitely not because Juvia's hips swayed pleasantly as she skated. Either way, he knew Ultear would give him shit later because of how his captain acted and he wasn't looking forward to it. Might as well monitor the situation and the small pleasures in life.
In the huddle, the atmosphere was tense. Laxus explained their warm-up routine, which started off with skating around the ice, but allowing the figure skaters enough room in the middle. Out of the corner of his eye, Gray saw Bixlow whispering to Freed. He hoped Bixlow wasn't plotting anything. That was the last thing he needed, right before Christmas, when he had to drive back to Ultear's and his hometown for the holidays.
They began to skate their warm-up and Bixlow had been plotting. Unfortunately.
As the hockey team skated around the exterior of the rink, the figure skaters also swirled in circles on the interior. Yet practice for them had started about forty-five minutes earlier, so they were already completing routines. (Ultear had simply given them a break, so she could fight Laxus over the rink.) As Juvia and Meredy jumped and glided, Bixlow darted closer and then back again. Closer and then back again. Each time he darted towards the interior, he pushed closer to the girls. Gray wondered what his goal was, but when Meredy swerved slightly, dropping her arabesque as she spun, Gray realized what Bixlow was doing.
He was playing chicken.
See, Bixlow was a big dude. Super tall and super muscular – hockey does that for people. Bixlow, while funny, could also play some mean jokes. And he was forcing the figure skaters to choose between hitting him or not, thus messing up their practice.
But, unfortunately for Bixlow, he didn't know that Juvia was ridiculously stubborn with very specific things. The rumor mill (i.e. Ultear) said that her boyfriends were one. (The rumor mill also said that Juvia was currently single – not that Gray would care.) Figure skating was another.
So, when Bixlow darted towards Juvia and Juvia saluted, both playful and mocking, Gray knew what would happen. A crash. He had to stop it and so, he did the only thing he could.
He sprinted over.
Everything blurred. Bixlow glided forward, almost lazy in his manner. Juvia twirled into a Biellman spin. Gray shoved Bixlow away from her. Juvia slammed into Gray. They fell. Hard.
"Oh my god!" Meredy exclaimed. "Juvia, are you okay?"
Gray groaned. Black spots danced in his vision. He closed his eyes, so he only heard the scratch of skates on ice.
"Fuck," Ultear said. "Look at you." He groaned again and attempted to open his eyes. The black spots blinked in and out, but he could see Ultear, Meredy, and Bixlow standing over him and a dazed Juvia sitting off to the side, her hand gripping her thigh. He pushed himself up to a kneel, pain twinging in his knees, wrists, and forearms. His lips were oddly wet.
"Shit, why did you do that?" Bixlow's voice sounded strained and Gray did not understand why.
His vision focused. Deep red pooled on the ice, drops on his hands and pants.
"Shit." The word whistled in his mouth through the empty space where front teeth should have been.
Meredy cringed. "We should get both of them off of the ice," she said to Ultear.
Juvia and Gray were helped off the ice, Ultear all but shoving Gray past the benches and into the bathroom. She guided him to the sink and ordered: "Rinse your mouth out – gently."
"Jeez, 'tear, I'm not five," Gray said. She simply glared. It's good to know that, even when injured, Ultear would still bully him.
"I cannot believe you broke your teeth right before we had to go home for the holidays."
"Says the one who's bringing her boytoy who's still in love with his high school crush."
"Jellal and I are just friends." Ultear huffed. "You're so annoying. Bixlow grabbed your tooth, so hopefully that part won't be bad. I'll call the dentist for you."
"Wow, you care."
"Rinse your mouth!" She shut the door. A minute later, while spitting the bloody water into the sink, he heard a knock.
"I'm fine, 'tear, I swear –" Gray opened the door to Juvia.
"Here." She shoved an icepack out to him and then tried to shove the door closed.
"Wait!" Gray said, catching the door with his foot. Ouch, he thought, but he knew he was already going to wake up bruised the next day. What's one more?
Juvia stared expectantly at him, cheeks red. "Uh," he said. "Thanks? For the ice."
"I just wanted to give that to you," Juvia said. "Since I'm the one that hit you. Sorry, by the way."
"You're fine. Can you help me to the benches? My knees are kinda fucked right now."
He held the ice pack to his mouth as they walked. They both had slight limps, so the walk from the bathroom to the benches that lined the outside of the rink was slow-going, but eventually, they got there.
Juvia sat across from him and Gray leaned his head against the wall. The hockey team still practiced on the ice, but there was no sight of Meredy. Ultear must have dismissed her, considering she would have to leave to drive Gray to the dentist and Juvia was unable to practice. She still wore her ice skates though, fuzzy socks peeking over the skates.
"Where are you injured?" she asked.
"My teeth. My knees and wrists also hurt. You?"
"Ah, I fell weird on my thigh. And my wrist is a bit swollen. One of my fingers is definitely broken, too." She paused, biting her lip. "I'm really sorry for slamming into you."
"Don't be." The ice pack muffled his lisping words, but he continued all the same. "It was Bixlow's fault. He shouldn't have gone into your practice area in the first place."
"Still. I should've been more careful."
"I'm serious, it's okay."
"No, it's not! What if you're permanently injured?"
"It's just a tooth."
"But what if you can't whistle anymore?"
"Whistle?" She flushed.
"I've heard you whistle before." Her face turned redder. "Sorry, that makes me sound creepy. I meant I've heard you whistling in the bathroom."
Gray didn't know what to make of that. He didn't realize his whistling was so important or that she had actually heard him. Luckily though, he didn't need to think of a response.
"Gray!" Ultear called. "I got your appointment. We need to head out now."
He sighed and Juvia bit her lip again. "Can I have your phone?" she asked.
"Uh, sure?" He fumbled for his phone, while trying to not strain his sore wrists and while also balancing the ice pack. Cold hands reached over his into his coat pocket and pulled it out.
"Figured it's just easier for me to grab it. Sorry," Juvia said. "May you open it? Please?"
"My passcode is 7669." As she typed it in, he added, "I will change it after this, by the way." She clicked around on his phone. Gray tried to stay somewhat focused and not think about the light blue sweater she wore. How it seemed so soft that he wanted to reach out and touch it, run his finger down her shoulder to where the knitted hem met her wrist. That's how he knew he was injured. After all, who thinks that about someone who's basically a stranger?
"Well, I've added my contact info and sent myself a text," she said, putting his phone back in his front pocket. The way her fingers grazed over his hand made him feel like a middle school girl. "We can arrange a time to go to a coffee shop, so I can get you an apology coffee. Or an apology Christmas gift? Do you celebrate?"
Gray nodded, but his head twinged with pain, causing him to cringe. "Yeah. I celebrate."
Juvia smiled. "Then, I'll get you something and it can be both for Christmas and for an apology."
"Are you coming?" Ultear asked at the door leading to the exit. Gray stood up and walked to Ultear, gently bumping her shoulder. He turned to look back at Juvia, who waved and smiled softly. He waved back.
Once Ultear and him made it to the parking lot, in a voice like death, Ultear said: "Don't you dare date my figure skater."
Gray blushed and denied it, but all the same, part of him was filled with glee. He did like gifts, after all. It made him want to whistle along with the Christmas music playing from Ultear's radio.
But when he tried, he couldn't. As the music played and he couldn't join in, he thought that maybe Juvia was right. Oh, well. Whistling was a small price to pay, considering he got her phone number.
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endnotes: about gruvia's characterization – I switched juvia's speech patterns from third to first because it took me out of the au and I replaced them with a lot of common English feminized speech patterns (sorry, if that makes sense, etc). I figured that would be a decent substitute. Also, if gray seems more ~open to romance~ it's because in this au his family is still mostly alive, so I figured while he may still be kind of private, he wouldn't necessarily have a heart of ice.
this is the second part of a series i've titled the most wonderful time of the year. it's a series of holiday conversations, set in the same modern!au, between each of the four main fairy tail couples: natsu/lucy, gray/juvia, gajeel/levy, and jellal/erza. if that sounds interesting to you, please keep an eye out for them! each of these works will be posted as oneshots over the course of december. nalu has already been posted under the title all i want for christmas!
title taken from "all i want for christmas is my two front teeth"
let me know what you think! i always appreciate feedback, whether it be positive or more critical !