Summary: Juvia still suffers from the traumatic incident with Ichiya's face.

Pairings: Gray/Juvia, mentions of Lyon/Juvia, and Gray/Cana friendship.

YouTube Prompt: Gray tribute to 'I Stand Alone' from Quest for Camelot.

It was a typical lunch at the guild, which always meant Gray was trying to enjoy a sandwich while Natsu was being a loud, obnoxious idiot, Gajeel was trying to deafen them all with his singing, and Juvia was slowly inching towards Gray from the other end of the bench.

With a heavy sigh, Gray put his sandwich back down (wiped off all the breadcrumbs from his naked chest, urgh what did he do to his shirt?) and turned to look at Juvia.

"Look," he said firmly, "we have been through this before, Juvia. I am not-"

Juvia screamed and leaped away from Gray as if he had some sort of vile disease. "Juvia cannot!" she cried out as she covered her eyes. "Juvia can no longer bring herself to touch Gray-sama!"

"Wait," Gray blinked, "What?!"

"Each time Juvia gazed upon Gray-sama's beautiful face, she sees it transform into Ichiya-san's hideous face." Juvia explained sadly, "Oh how it haunts Juvia's nightmares. Now Juvia cannot come near Gray-sama! Every time Juvia thinks of Gray-sama's cool, strong, beautiful arms wrapping themselves round Juvia's small frame and pulling Juvia close to Gray-sama's tight, beautifully sculpted, abs, Juvia is instantly bombarded of the memory of Ichiya-san sniffing her!"

"So…." Gray looked rather lost now. "You won't be hugging me anymore or following me anymore?"

Juvia closed her eyes against the tears and shook her head. "Juvia is sorry Gray-sama!" she wailed. "Juvia just cannot…..WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH GRAY-SAMA!"

"Told you," Gray could hear Laxus grumbling to Erza, "punishing that fat freak once was definitely not enough."

"O-Oi," Gray stuttered, "there's no need to cry. We'll get through this, we got through lots of crap before, so what's different about this time/"

Juvia sniffled and peered at Gray beneath her lashes and then suddenly shook her head rapidly. "No!" she shouted. "Juvia still cannot see anything but Ichiya-san's face. Juvia must resign herself to the fact that it is over. Juvia will never have a relationship with Gray-sama anymore. Perhaps Juvia should try and move on, Lyon-sama always said that Juvia should look him up."

"The fuck?!" Gray barked as he grabbed hold of Juvia's wrist. "You deserve way better than that icy prick. He'll spend more time preening in the mirror than paying you the attention you deserve. Look, I promise to do whatever it takes to help you recover, even if it means backing off entirely and never be near you again, but you got to promise not to go near that bastard. Promise?"

"J-J-Juvia promises!" Juvia squeaked, a faint pink flush covered her cheeks, and stars could be seen in her eyes. "Juvia thinks she is already beginning to recover. Gray-sama is beginning to look beautiful again."

"Erm…."

"Jeeze, Gray," Cana rolled her eyes as Gray tried to escape Juvia's clutches once again, "you can't expect to keep her away from one guy and remain platonic with the girl."

"That's not it!" Gray yelled as he wiggled in Juvia's arms. Juvia was now clinging tightly to his waist, her face buried against his bare shoulders, and she kept shouting how her love triumphed over her fears. "I just didn't want some sleazy guy who doesn't belong in our guild near one of our girls. I would have said the same for you!"

"Yeah, I totally believe you," Cana drawled sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, "that's exactly why you don't want Juvia to be near Lyon."