The situation was getting more awkward the more time passed. Gajeel was still glaring at Gray. And in all honesty, he didn't know why. I mean he could guess, but as far as Gajeel was concerned, scratch that, as far as anyone was concerned, Gray was just Juvias new boss, nothing more, nothing less. At least he hoped that was the case. Because in all honesty, he himself couldn't stand just being Juvias boss. It was stupid really, but he had so much fun with her during their lunch together, they just went along so well, and Gray had the urge to keep her close. As a friend of course. There was nothing more he wanted from the blunette except her friendship.

Lost deep in his thoughts, Gray didn't realize that Levy had managed to get her boyfriend away from the door until he was greeted by the girl on his mind.

"Hey, I'm glad you could make it." She was nervous, he could tell. While she was giving him a warm and welcome smile, her eyes were trying to look anywhere but at his face. The thought somehow calmed him. He wasn't the only affected it seemed.

"I'm really sorry about Gajeel.. he's just, he's a little overprotective that's all."

"Yeah, I figured that out. His glare kind of gave it away." Gray nervously scratched his neck. It wasn't like he was afraid of the guy, but if looks could kill, Gray would long be ten feet under. Juvia gave him an apologetic look before gesturing for him to come in.

"Dinner is almost ready. About Cana.." Juvia trailed off. What was with Cana? Now that he thinks about it, where was that drunk anyway? He could really use some support here.

"..she's not going to make it."

"Huh?"

"Apparently something urgent came up. She called earlier."

Great, just great. He should have known the moment he saw the smirk on her face that she was up to no good. Cana has been bothering him about Juvia since she first met her. Talking about soulmates, reading it off the cards or whatever.. Honestly, Gray didn't bother much with what Cana said. Either they were at work and he needed to focus on something else or they were spending another evening at a bar and Cana was too drunk for a proper conversation anyway. But that didn't mean he didn't listen to what she says. He was aware that Cana was eager to get him to make a move. Because in her words, he shouldn't let such a catch go. So of course she would pull a stunt like that..

He should be thankful for having such a supportive friend and to be honest, Gray wouldn't have minded much if it had only been Juvia and him. He liked spending time with her and that was a great opportunity to figure out what exactly it was that he was feeling whenever he was around her. But that wasn't the case. Because Juvia had a roommate that seemed to hate him and Gray was sure that he wasn't going to be able to get closer to Juvia thanks to that. He was just hoping that Levy would help him out and manage to make the dude back off.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before you came here. I had already prepared the dinner and didn't want to waste it. I also prepared dessert. Of course you can still leave if you want-" Gray couldn't help the small smile. He had already noticed that Juvia would start rambling whenever she got nervous and she was doing it again now. She was telling him about how they could delay it to another day when Gray decided to take her out of her misery.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, I don't mind the thing with Cana. I'm still happy to have been invited and be here, that is if you still want me here of course.." He trailed off, waiting for her reaction. If he was going to step over his shadow and try to deal with his emotions instead of ignoring them for once, then he had to at least make sure that Juvia was somehow affected too and this whole thing wasn't just one sided. His worries where gone though when he saw the slight blush on her cheeks.

"Of course I want you here. I mean, have you here for dinner."

"Then I'm very happy to be here." They stared at each other for a moment before Juvia shook herself of the trance.

"I just need to put the food on the table. You can already go to the living room, I'll be there in a moment."

"Let me help you."

"Oh no, it's fine, really. I can do it myself."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that.. but I still want to help. Also I really don't want to spend more time than necessary with Gajeel by myself." Juvia chuckled at that, shaking her head a little.

"Gajeel might act this way, but he's actually pretty nice."

"You sure?"

"Yes, one hundred percent." He looked at her a little doubtfully which made her smile more.

"You can of course also join me in the kitchen if that makes you feel better."

"I'd like that very much." Juvia laughed and gestured for him to follow her which he happily did. He was glad he could make her laugh. When he had read the report Juvias old boss had given him about her, he had found out that despite her being so nice and helpful to everyone, a lot would still describe her as gloomy. Apperantly she had seemed depressed to many. Gray was happy to say that he didn't get to see her that way yet. While he doubted that he had anything to do with it, it still made him proud knowing that she was feeling better at his company than she was at her old one. Because he knew that Juvias old boss would take her back in an instant if that's what Juvia wanted. And Gray couldn't let that happen.. because Juvia was a huge win for the company. Of course it didn't have anything to do with the unidentified feelings he's been having.

Gray had just helped Juvia put the last plate on the table. To say she cooked much would be an understatement. The girl had gone all out. He was impressed, that was for sure. How did she manage to work all day and then still have the motivation to cook at home? Sometimes pushing the pizza, which he found laying around in his freezer, in the oven was already too much work for him.

"This looks amazing as always Juvia!" Levy was looking at the sprawled out food in admiration. "I wish I could cook like that."

"Thank you Levy, you're too sweet."

"Who else is coming? Please don't tell me you did all this for him?" Gajeel glanced at Gray, a scowl on his face. Honestly, it was starting to get on his nerves. From what Gray could tell, Juvia was like a little sister to Gajeel and Gray was glad she had someone who protects her, but if he didn't stop the threatening looks his way then Gray wasn't going to hold back much longer. He was barely holding on now. If it wasn't for Juvia he would have long fought back. But for whatever reason, he did want to leave a good impression.

"Gajeel, be nice, he's our guest. Besides it's for all of us! And I promised Cana to bring her something too tomorrow." Juvia glared at Gajeel and gained support from Levy who was glaring at him as well. He in turn looked away awkwardly. Gray couldn't help the smug grin which was caught by Juvia. She just smiled at him in return.

"Alright, let's eat before the food gets cold." They all sat down. Gray wasn't exactly thrilled having Gajeel sitting opposite from him, but at least he had Juvia next to him. He was just going to focus on her and ignore him. Besides he had the advantage of two blunettes backing him and he was sure that Gajeel wouldn't dare to tick them both off, at least not if he intended to survive the evening.

The dinner was really nice. Gray was enjoying it. Gajeel had managed to get over the want to kill him with his glares and turned out to be quite the interesting guy. He was working on his music career and had actually played in a few clubs that Gray knew pretty well. Levy has been working in a library and is planning to open her own book shop soon. Not that this was any surprise. Levy has always been known as the bookworm in their group. How the two ended up finding each other and falling in love was still a mystery to him. They were so different after all.. but they seemed happy and in love. Gray wondered what that felt like. He glanced at Juvia before shaking the thought away. What was he thinking?

Gray watched Juvia put more food on his plate and he couldn't help but smile. Somehow she reminded him of his mother Mika. She used to always fill his plate too even when Gray insisted that he wasn't hungry anymore. But that's just how his mom was.. a small smile appeared on his face. He missed her. The last time he had an actual dinner with a home cooked meal was before she passed away. After that his father buried himself in work and rarely stuck around. Dinner started getting lonely and at one point Gray was so sick of eating alone that he just decided to not eat at all..

But sitting her now, he felt warm and content. It wasn't much, just a dinner with three people who he was just truly getting to know, and yet he wouldn't want to be anywhere else in this moment. He missed this, a simple dinner with others. And for some reason, he found himself hoping that Juvia would invite him over again.