Hihihihi, sorry it's been so long. So much has happened recently, but it seems my writing spark has made its way back to me.

It's just a smol drabble but hopefully, I can continue / do new stories!

A big thank you to everyone who still reads these hahahah. My Gruvia loathing will never be fulfilled.

Enjoy! Love KC xx

GrUvia fic in the modern world / online gamers

Can you fall in love with someone you've met online?

As she made her way nervously down the street, she couldn't believe she was actually doing this and couldn't believe it was actually happening. Butterflies consumed her whole body, giving her a buzzed feeling and honestly she felt like she was visibly shaking.

For the first time ever, Juvia Lockser was going to meet Gray Fullbuster and god did her heart cartwheel at the very thought.

But how did she even end up here in the first place?

Let's take a look back…

Juvia is an online gamer and streamer, playing under the username AmeOnna. When she first crossed paths with the Fairy Tail league, it was in a friendly online competition where her league Phantom Lord was put against Fairy Tail. But it hardly felt like a competition to her, she really felt like she was playing with friends. Unfortunately, her league lost and everything went back to the way it was.

Until Lucy reached out to her. A few members had swapped contact details for future collabs and now Lucy was seeing if she was free to join theirs Among Us lobby. They were looking for a few more friends to join and Lucy had thought of her. Honestly, Juvia had felt guilty and she didn't feel like she made the best impression on Lucy, but here she was asking her to join in.

She joined the lobby and she honestly forgot how friendly everyone was. She was initially met with ruckus from the usual antics of Natsu and Gray but everyone said hey and made her feel welcome.

And when Gray said hey, she felt her whole body shiver. Why was his goddam voice so silky? When they had first spoken online in the competition, his voice stood out to her compared to the rest, and when she did her research to find out who was who, her heart stopped when she found Gray's profile. The attraction she felt when nothing she was prepared for. She had just come out of a shitty relationship but when she saw how Gray looked and how he made her feel, even over online chatting, she knew she would never be the same.

And never the same she was.

The invites kept coming and coming and she interacted more and more with the Fairy Tail lot. Mostly in the Among Us lobby, sometimes doing smaller fun games with just the girls, sometimes teaming up with Natsu, Gray, and Elfman in shooter games, and just generally texting everyone here and there.

It was strange being the only anonymous player as Fairy Tail were full on cam gamers and were very well known but that didn't seem to bother them at all.

Then along came the perfect opportunity, they were a person short on the Among Us lobby and Juvia knew just who to invite. Gajeel! It was risky but she was honestly surprised how well he melded in with the guys and how he would pick on the girls during the interrogation breaks in the games, calling them bunny girl and shrimp but they never took anything too seriously. It suddenly started to become a thing, that as they called themselves team Natsu, would usually team up with Juvia and Gajeel.

She didn't mean to be so adoring of Gray over the game, but she just couldn't help it and it wasn't long until the group and their chats clicked on and then the memes started coming. Some were funny, some were mean but throughout it all, Gray didn't really seem to be taking too much notice. He'd bite back at his friends and chat and always say the same thing 'we're just friends'.

And Juvia was ok with that. A little let down, but there seemed no harm in her pining for him with it going nowhere. And it made for good banter during games.

But as time went on, Gray and Juvia got closer and closer, finding themselves messaging each other often, usually starting with planning games together and then carrying on to general chit chat. They realised they had mutual friends, Lyon and Meredy, and would do small group games with the 4 of them which pushed the 'dating' comments and memes even more.

One time while generally texting, Juvia asked Gray how he found all the comments and hoped they didn't bother him too much. He came back with his usual blunt reply that he didn't really care either way. But then he asked how she found them. Juvia took a good while to think of a reply and in the end, was just completely honest and said she didn't mind them at all and actually kind of liked them. Unfortunately, Juvia didn't get a response after either. Maybe she had scared him off, maybe she made him realise that all her pining and love comments weren't as much of a joke as he thought. But she never got to find out, as the day after he just texted her again about the usual schedule.

It had been about a year of them all playing together, with the Among Us game being at its peak and honestly doing wonders for all their gaming careers. During this time, Juvia and Gajeel decided to move leagues and join Fairy Tail. Phantom Lord had all started to go separate ways and they really needed to join a league to secure their gaming futures. This was big news and Juvia got to watch Gajeel sporting the new Fairy Tail hoodies and featured on their website. He even did an interview about joining them and it got Juvia wondering. Was it time for her to stop being anonymous?

She had been thinking about it for a while, how more connected the chat and audience seem to be with an on-cam gamer. How they could collaborate online and in person. How they could meet out and about. Maybe it was time Juvia thought.

She and Gajeel lived a little further out the city than the Fairy Tail lot, which meant meeting up whether she wanted to or not, wasn't really an opinion. However, it seemed Gajeel and Levy seemed to be willing to make the journey to see each other, as every other weekend Gajeel would be gone or Levy would appear. Juvia found it really sweet how well Gajeel and Levy got on and how it was obviously progressing into something much more.

Levy was actually the first person to see Juvia in person. It was inevitable that they didn't meet soon, due to her interaction with Gajeel, who was not only Juvia's friend but roommate.

However it seemed Levy had mentioned to the Fairy Tail lot how much Juvia would love to meet them all, but just didn't know when best to. When Juvia next went on Discord to chat with them all, they brought this topic up straight away, all pretty excited to meet her.

It was Lucy that actually originally brought it up and said they should plan to all meet and when she was next free. Juvia just said she would be happy to see them whenever and was free anytime around their usual gaming schedule.

What she didn't expect was Gray to also join in and say it would be good to meet her and she most definitely didn't expect him to then message her later to see if she was free tomorrow.

No group message or mention on discord, which meant he was asking to see her very much alone, and oh boy if she didn't freak out.

It also meant that she didn't have time to panic as she had to prepare to see the boy of her dreams (that was clueless about this) in less than 24 hours. Oh Jesus!

And now a very jelly-legged Juvia was walking across the broadway to a small café spot Gray had suggested. She was following her maps on her phone and it took her to the end of the walkway and just round the corner to a slightly secluded spot. As she put her phone down and followed the path around, it was there she spotted a handsome dark-haired guy, dressed casually in a white tee and dark jeans, waiting outside the place.

Juvia felt her brain stop at the sight for a second and suddenly the butterflies decided to up the tempo as she approached him.

Gray was looking down at his phone as she made her way over. She stopped a small distance away from him and said a shy 'hi'. Gray just about heard and glanced up to the spot where Juvia stood. They looked at each other for a second until it clicked with Juvia that he had no idea who to expect. 'I'm Juvia.. AmeOnna" she said with a laugh, realising her mistake.

His eyes widened at the realisation and a smirk came along with it. 'Hey, I'm Gray.'

'Nice to meet you,' she replied.

Gray motioned to the door and said 'Wanna go inside?'

They sat just the two of them, tucked in a corner with a dim lamp accompanying them. The place was small but cosy, and freshly furnished with wooden and metal aesthetics. They put in their drink orders and they arrived quickly after.

Juvia was stirring her drink, mixing the rose syrup into her fizzy drink. Now they had got initial introductions out the way and were more comfortable she was starting to relax. 'Sooooo then… what made you text to meet up so soon?'

'Ah yes,' he blushed slightly, making Juvia's heart pound harder. 'I'm actually going on a business trip next week, so today was the only day I was able to do it, and knowing the other lot, I'd be the last one to meet you by the time I get back.' He smiled but just looked down at his black coffee.

Juvia laughed softly at his reason. 'Would they be that bad?'

Gray laughed back 'Oh yeah. I wouldn't hear the end of it when I arrived back, especially with the way you are with me. Natsu would never leave me alone about it.'

'What do you mean, the way I am with you?'

Gray looked over, with a stern but humorous look.

Juvia laughed again and held her hands up in defense. 'Ok, ok, I get you.' She took a pause to take a sip of her drink and looked up at Gray. 'I am very sorry if I have caused you any trouble from this. That was never my intention.'

Gray waved her off, ''You don't need to apologise. Everyone finds it pretty amusing, even if it's at my expense.' He smirked over her way to show he was joking again.

That made Juvia smile and feel some pressure off her chest. She was glad she wasn't too much of a bother to Gray. Maybe he even likes it, a little.

'Sooo then' he started mimicking Juvia from before, 'why the anon life?'

'Me? Ah well,' she started biting her lip to think what to say.

Gray gazed at her while she paused to think. She was kind of everything he expected and nothing at the same time. She was definitely a lot timider in real life compared to online. She'd be shouting and saying absolute nonsense during the games, and yet here, in person, it seems she was a lot calmer offline, which he found quite cute, especially how easily she seemed to blush over the simplest talk.

In appearance, she was extremely pretty. He hadn't really imagined what she would look like, or more so, he tried to avoid it to stop making assumptions, but he had hoped she would be a little cute. But here she was, chatting across the table from him with bright blue eyes and blue locks trailing down her back. With her decision to remain visually anonymous, he wasn't expecting her to be this attractive, and yet here he was, sitting opposite her and quite taken with her looks. What was he kidding? He was extremely taken with her looks. Her cat-shaped eyes, long eyelashes, and how easily she expressed her emotions on her face. If someone had described her to him, she wouldn't be the usual type he was interested in, but now, taking her appearance in for himself, he couldn't deny the attraction or how it was making him slightly nervous.

'I don't know honestly. I started quite early when there weren't many girls online, so it seemed the safest to stay anonymous. Our whole Phantom Lord league was at first, but eventually, they all swapped over to the cam but at that time I couldn't afford a webcam so I stayed faceless and my channel just kinda grew that way. I've also never been a big fan of my appearance so I didn't think anyone would be interested in even seeing the way I look.' She smiled once she had finished, waiting for his opinion.

He blinked at her. Did this girl just say she didn't think anyone would be interested in how she looks?

'Yeah when we first started out, having Erza play with us was a real difference compared to other channels but I guess Fairy Tail has always been a bit different.' He chuckled, trying to figure out how he could approach the part about her appearance without being too weird about it. 'I don't think, erm, y'know, you should have felt the need to hide. I think people would have found you interesting…'

A blush glazed her cheeks at his half-attempt of a compliment. 'You think? Do you think I should show my face soon? It would definitely mean I could meet up with you guys more and be seen with you!'

Gray was a little taken back that his awkwardly worded sentence would boost her this much, but if it works, it works.

He smiled, 'Yeah definitely. I'd watch your channel if you showed your face, but it's up to you really..' he trailed off realising what he just said.

Juvia looked wide-eyed at him, straw in mouth from her sip and a grin slowly grew. 'Oooo now you know what I look like, you'll finally watch my channel?' She leaned over to poke him in fun. 'Wait, have you never watched it?'

Gray was like a deer caught in headlights. In two very dangerous headlights that were currently staring across the table from him. It seems like she was finally warming up to him in person as her bubbly personality that she shows so profusely on her gaming chat, was finally coming out.

'No no I have, you know what I mean'. Gray grumbled to himself, looking back down at his coffee and away from those dangerous blue eyes.

Juvia laughed at his very tsundere personality. He was usually so smooth and quick over chat, and yet, meeting in real life made her think that maybe she wasn't the only one with insecurities that you can leave behind when you go online to game with your friends.

They carried on chatting away which felt like hours, just getting to know each other more, how they got into the gaming world, and finding out they had a lot more in common than they both realised.

As they parted ways at the cafe, after Gray had proposed the offer to walk her to the station, but she kindly declined, ignoring her nagging heart, Juvia couldn't wipe the grin off her face. This meeting had gone even better than she imagined, and she wondered what more could come of her and Gray in the coming future.

She knew she was probably thinking miles ahead of anything possibly happening, but she would be eagerly awaiting the next time they could meet.

And Gray's smile on his face was surely saying the same things too.