Before anything, I want to profusely apologize to anyone who's still reading this for the big delay on updating this story but things were a little bit tough and I couldn't bring myself to write a single sentence the past months. So, I recently came back from the dead and wrote this small chapter which in fact is 'Unexpected' as seen from Gray's side. I hope it's not too crappy.

Gray parked his Harley outside of the bar and when he made sure that it was secured enough, he made his way towards the entrance. Once he grabbed the metallic handles and pushed the door open he was introduced to the smell of alcohol mixed with smoke and perfume. An electronic hit echoed throughout the room and though it was still quite early the place was already full. Gray had to force his way among the people who were dancing and dry humping along with the rhythm and headed towards the bar where he knew the rest of the gang was.

"Hey Ice Princess."

It took no genius to guess to whom that overly excited voice and hearty laughter belonged to. Gray turned his head towards the direction of the only pink-haired guy he knew and narrowed his eyes. "Are you itching to have your ass handed to you Pinky?"

Natsu placed both of his hands on top of his head looking very much affronted. "How many fucking times do I need to remind you that my hair is salmon and not pink you, idiot?"

"Did I offend your masculinity, Pinky?" He smirked, watching the other wrangler getting off the stool, approaching him and practically fuming.

"What you said, Droopy eyes?" He growled, his hands curled into fists.

"Have you gone deaf, too, Flame Brain?" Gray took off his jacket, bumping his forehead with Natsu.

As the quarrel was right around the corner, an orange-haired guy hugged the other two, resting his arms on each one's shoulders, stopping them short. "Come on now guys, we are having fun tonight, chill." He moved to sit on one of the stools. The other two looked at each other for a few more seconds before parting.

"You are lucky Loke was here," Gray said as they sat alongside said man.

"And who said this is over?" Natsu took a sip from his drink when he suddenly gave an accusingly look at Loke. "Now that I think about it, where the hell have you been for the last half an hour? You said you were going to have a piss and you never came back, man."

"Probably distracted by some mini-dressed chick on his way back and simply followed the swaying of her hips like a lost puppy, am I right?", the brown haired barwoman with just a bra like blue crop top which showed off her assets, said, making the three men laugh.

"Actually she just introduced herself to me on my way there and how could I say no to that angel with those big, big eyes," he said while his hands simulated the shape of her bosom and added, "and that friend of hers with that bigger heart, Cana?"

Said woman just threw the towel with which she was drying some glasses straight at his face. "Manwhore!" She yelled and went a few stools further to take an order from another guy.

"Hey, like you are one to talk!" He snorted shaking his head and mumbled, "Unbelievable."

Gray and Natsu, on the other hand, weren't taken by surprise; it was a very Lokesque thing to do. They just sent him a knowing look and resumed on drinking.

"What? Don't be jealous that women love me. I'm their god." The last sentence started a new round of laughter.

"I'm pretty sure some of those worshipers of yours wouldn't mind if you disappeared off the face of the Earth," Natsu said and took a sip from his beer while Gray agreed to that.

Loke sighed and shrugged. "Not my fault; I can't devote myself to just one woman. And here I was trying to be a good friend sacrificing my threesome and actually fix you up with that hotty's company."

"I'll pass, I have my Lucy."

When no answer came from Gray, who seemed a little tense, the two men turned their heads and looked at him expectedly but he continued drinking his beer.

"Holy shit." It wasn't normal for Gray to turn down such an offer on a Friday night in a bar and his friends knew it. "What are you hiding?" They crossed their arms over their chests and threw him a dirty look. "Come on."

Gray snapped at them a little bit annoyed. "What you idiots? I-I'm just not in the mood, nothing's going on." It's just that that nothing has blue hair, cerulean eyes, a perfect body and an elusive personality that's been occupying his mind since day one. He just sighed, giving up on his friends' scrutiny. "Ok, there is something."

"Ha!" Natsu clapped his hands loudly getting the attention of a few people around and pointed a finger at Gray. "I knew it!"

"Come on man, give us a clue. Is she hot? Cheerful?" Loke lowered his voice then and wiggled his eyebrows. "Is she good in bed?"

Gray looked incredulously at him. "Shut up, just shut up."

Loke's eyes went wide as a thought struck his mind. "Man, don't tell me you haven't done it yet!" Gray's silence was his answer. "Shit, this is serious."

"Cana, more drinks in here," Natsu shouted and turned his attention back to Gray. "Ok, so, she must be really something. You haven't been like that since…" he waved his had idly. "So?"

By the time Gray was about to speak Cana came with their drinks. She saw that they were unusually serious and simply asked. "What did I miss?"

Loke grabbed his beer and patted Gray on the back. "Gray fell for a girl he hasn't slept with yet." He, of course, earned a slap from him.

"Can't you just keep your mouth shut you asshole?" He looked carefully back at Cana who was, the least to say, shocked.

"You… really?" Her brain was still processing the information. "Wow. Just wow. When Mira hears of this." She turned on the side searching for the white-haired woman at the other end of the bar but as she was about to speak Gray vaulted over the counter and covered her mouth with his palm.

"Please, just no, not Mira." Mira looked like an angel but that was nothing more than a carefully planned deceit covering the she-devil hidden beneath. She's been trying to set him up since his break up and he knew better than to fuel her plans. He sat back and passed a hand through his spiky hair. "I don' even know myself what's going on with her, if at all, so don't make this a big deal."

"You are using full sentences so there is something going on. What is it?" Cana rested her elbows on the counter, head on her palms and smiled.

"She is… I met her at work. She... She's just a… trainee. I mean she wasn't supposed to be my trainee but I-I happened to see her the day before when she came to give the results of the Highway Code and I just knew that I had to meet her somehow. So, umm, I kind of asked to be her tutor. I don't know why, I just felt something pulling me to her, like a magnet." He sighed, taking a long sip of his cold beer. "She's confusing me. She is there but she is not there, y' know? One moment she is so relaxed and every time she does something right while driving she beams like a little kid and it's fucking adorable and then she becomes so distant and sad like it's a crime that she's happy and… I don't know. It just," he looked up smiling as if recalling something, "she's so beautiful when she laughs. She even calls me Gray-sama, y' know?" He shook his head and laughed.

One look at the other three people and a stranger would think that someone had just revealed to them the world's most evil, detestable crime considering their ashen faces. The first one to speak was Loke. "You are in really, deep, bottomless shit."

Gray blinked a few times and nodded. "Thank you."

"No, I'm serious, I thought it was just a crush, not… that. Is this some kind of voodoo?" Loke was alarmed and turned for help to the other two who were still speechless. "Say something, he needs help. He's cursed!"

"Gray is in looooove, not cursed you airhead," Cana said dreamily. "We need to meet her. We have to meet her. When are we going to meet her?"

Natsu returned from the muted world, putting a hand under his chin while resting his elbow on the counter. He looked in deep thought, something unusual for him. "I don't want to ruin this, but, are you sure she's single? I mean, what if there's a boyfriend in the equation?" And that, my friends, is Ragnarok.

Gray's brain cells started waving white flags while red alarms were beeping simultaneously in his head. 'This is an emergency, I repeat this is an emergency, evacuate the building now.' Gray could practically hear his brain announcing from a non-existent megaphone.

From all the things he tried to reason out with Juvia's stance towards him, that was definitely the one thing he didn't see coming. No, scratch that. That was the only thing that didn't even dare to consider as a possibility. "B-B-Boyfreablh". He couldn't even say the word. No, no, no, nope, not a chance, not a fucking 0.00000001% chance there was a boyfriend involved in this. Just stupid Natsu being stupid 's all. But the damage was made, the bacterium called doubt was injected into his veins spreading slowly but steadily through his system.

"Damn it, since when are you so smart? Is that Lucy's doing?" Cana earned a glare from Natsu but she ignored him. «But he's right. You're quite smitten with her and you say she's pretty distant. What if Natsu's theory is not just a theory and there is indeed a boyf-." She didn't finish her word as Gray covered his ears like a kid, refusing to listen to the b-word.

"A-ah, not listening, nope." 'What's wrong with these people?' He slowly put his hands down and cleared his throat. "There is no person in her life starting with b, she would have told me, I didn't exactly keep my hands to myself. Plus, I gave her a ride home. You don't just skip this kind of information when someone is trying to be more than friendly with you. Are we good?" Before they could answer he said, "Good."

"Bullshit. If I had you as my trainer and you were all touchy with me I would have jumped you right there and then. The fact that she hasn't given you the green light yet is whether because she is taken," Gray was about to protest but Loke raised his hand, stopping him, "or she is a lesbian."

Gray paled. Cana blinked. Natsu laughed. Loke smirked in victory.

"Bhahahahaha, Gray you're so lame, man." He gave Loke a high-five.

"Or she is just not that easy." Cana's voice never sounded so heavenly in Gray's ears. "Hey, don't listen to them. It's not all black or white. There is always a grey area." She stopped to think. "Ha, grey area, you are Gray, got it? God, I'm funny." Aaaand the angel's voice just turned into the horns of hell. All his friends are stupid, period.

"Fine, but has she ever given you any sign that she's at game?" Loke's question took him aback.

He bit his lip and narrowed his eyes. "That's the problem. I really don't know. She's so hard to read. There are moments she slips out of character and flirts with me but when she realizes what she's doing she just… changes the subject."

Loke sighed and shook his head disapprovingly. "That's exactly why I avoid those confusing stuff. Gimme pretty, cheery, light dressed girls to warm my bed for the night and I'll be a happy man. This man," he pointed at Gray, "is not a happy man. He involved himself with a weirdo who we don't even know how she looks like and I bet my head she's not even hot. A miserable life awaits you, my friend." Loke finished while raising up his bottle of beer as if a toast.

"Can you not use your lower head when picking women for a change? And never have I said she's not hot you ass. And that was enough talking about my life, thank you very much. Can we drop it now?"

They were about to say something more about it but the stern look he gave them was enough to know that the conversation was over. For tonight of course.

For the next hour, the rest of the gang showed up whether in groups or individually. Even Gajeel with the guys came out from the backstage, where they were checking if everything was fine, to have a break before going back in. He told them that his friend would also be there tonight and they'd better behave.

"Seriously? The phantom girl is coming? Cool." Natsu said, especially since he knew Lucy would come with her and he had really missed his girl. "Let's play bets, how do you think she looks like?"

"Probably a 5/10, modest and anti-social," Loke said boringly and turned his attention to the girl from before, smirking at her. "Now that's a decent 8 over there."

"I wonder how you haven't been arrested for a sex crime already. You're a shameless example of mankind and a terrible influence on young children. And I dare you all to not welcome the new girl, go ahead and do it." Erza, pretty much everyone's big sister, preached, resting her hands on her hips and sending them a meaningful glare to which they all complied. That's a clever thing to do if you value your life.

As Erza was ready to explain further to Loke how obscene he was for treating women like that, Natsu started waving his hands towards the exit rather enthusiastically. "Heeeyyy Lucy, over here." They all turned their heads at the familiar blonde girl who was walking along with Levy and one more woman who wasn't included in their group of friends.

"Sweet, motherfucking titties." Yeap, that was Loke's reaction when his eyes locked with the extrinsic target. "Please tell me that's not Gajeel's friend or I'll shoot my dick and feed it to the dogs."

Erza gave him a loud smack on the head. "What did I say about behaving? Huh? God save the girl from your hideous pick-up lines." They were coming closer but for an unknown reason the new girl turned around and went to sit in a far corner from where they were seated. She just crooked her eyebrows and sent a nefarious look at Loke. "If she by any chance heard you, you're dead."

"Wow, a 5/10 modest, anti-social weirdo huh? Sure looks like it." Natsu burst out laughing and stopped just in time Lucy was close. "Hey Lucy, is that the 'Phantom Girl? Why won't she sit with us?"

A vein popped on Lucy's forehead. "She has a name Natsu, Juvia, that's her name, not 'Phantom Girl'. Say it one more time and I'll kick your ass." She checked again on Juvia and sighed. "She's coming, she just, umm, had something to do." She mumbled, knowing that Juvia was mentally preparing for the great meeting.

"Well then, I'll just go and say hello, if you excuse me," Loke announced with a smug grin on his face but as he was about to stand up from the stool someone pulled him back down. He turned his head only to meet with Gray's angry face which made no sense to him. "What got your panties in a twist?"

Gray inhaled deeply to calm down and shot him a nasty look. "That's the girl." He whispered but the goddess of wisdom wasn't by his side that night as Loke's brain was slower than Internet Explorer.

To be honest, Gray was barely holding his shit together. It took him some minutes to connect the picture his eyes were seeing with the fact that that woman was Juvia. Hot stuff is Juvia. Super duper, hot, smoking sexy stuff is Juvia. Gajeel's friend is Juvia. The 'Phantom Girl' is, yeah that's right, Juvia. Can you see the irony here? The universe was playing some hard prank on him. Suddenly the air seemed suffocating and all he could focus on was her and how he must go to her. Probably Gajeel would hang him from his family's treasures but he couldn't care less. No one presented him her whereabouts when introduced so he was innocent for all that mattered. Loke's enthusiasm was what brought him back to reality. Like hell, he would let that little snot go anywhere near his Juvia. 'Get in line you bastard, I bought tickets first!'

"What girl?" Loke was taken aback and hissed, not at all happy that his meeting with his future conquest was uncharacteristically delayed.

"My girl. My confusing girl." Gray made sure to supply his voice with a respectful amount of venom.

Luckily, Loke's brain seemed to finally come back to function. He shot his eyes open and flickered his mouth like a fish. He sent a look back at Juvia and then at Gray a few times. "She is your what? Please let this is a joke."

"Not at all. So, back off." With that, Gray grew some balls and headed towards the bluenette with his heart thumping louder than Totomaru's drums. 'Just a little longer,' he thought and a stupid smile found its way on his face.

Her back was facing him; she seemed like she was having an internal conversation and didn't seem to have noticed him. Extending his arm, he touched her shoulder, a little harder than he expected. 'Thank you very much nerves,' he slightly cursed.

Her whole body tensed and the milliseconds she took to turn face to face with him looked like an eternity. If Gray whistled internally at her backside, the moment he saw her face and her front in general, he was a goner. 'He died due to to inconceivable heart attack the Juvia girl gave him,' written with big, bold letters in Calibri 20 on his gravestone.

"G-Gray-s-sama?"

That was it, finally done. Not as long as the previous chapter but it was more like a 'filler' in which I tried to encapsulate Gray's feelings towards Juvia. I think a cold beer and his friends did a good job in there. I promise you all there will be more action in the next chapter, so please be patient with me. And again, sorry for the delay.

Special thanks to all of you who reviewed, favorited or liked the story, yuu, Guest, Guest, KiyomizuJ, Guest and korpo2003. I love you guys!