"I hear you beat up Lyon again,"

Gray narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that any way to greet your elder sibling?"

"Well you weren't exactly peachy when I answered my door."

She rolled her eyes with a playful scoff and let herself into his house. Gray grit his teeth in annoyance and followed after her.

"You know, I'm a full-grown man now; you could have a little more respect for my space. Besides, I have company over."

"Unless this company was sleeping with you the night before, I see no reason to tred carefully. And we both know you haven't--"

She stopped. Gray, his visage pissy, walked around his annoying sister to see what had stunned her to silence. What he saw was no surprise to him, but to his sibling. . .

"O-Oh my! I'm sorry, I-- I didn't mean to. . !" His sister sputtered nervously for a moment as she took in the physical state of his company, namely Juvia; the blue-haired girl who'd stayed the night at his house as per some unspoken custom had risen from slumber skin bare and her hair a tangled mess. While it wasn't necessarily awkward for Gray, his sister had no context whatsoever and was stuck in an uncomfortable position.

Gray recognized that he must have woken Juvia up with his bickering and instantly felt bad. Before he apologized, though, he needed his sister to calm down. He rubbed the back of his neck a bit hopessly. "Cool it, Ultear, or you're going to make her self-conscious."

"Wh-What!?"

Gray saw Juvia fluster. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from them both, her body language timid. Gray sighed and scratched his head irritably.

"Now look what you've done,"

"M-Me!?"

"Juvia, this is my annoying sister, Ultear," Gray moved on, trying to dissolve the weird moment, "Ultear this is my friend, Juvia. We, uh. . . didn't sleep together last night. . ."

That was enough to put Juvia over the edge. She bashfully excused herself to the bathroom.

Gray sighed. "Geez, Ul; you could've been cooler about it."

"How can I be cool when there is a naked girl in your living room?" Ultear whispered fiercely. Gray rolled his eyes and made himself comfortable on the couch Juvia just left. His shirt had been taken off at the door; now his pants came off and were languidly strewn about the back of the couch. Ultear seemed unbothered by the fact that he was only in his boxers and it made Gray wonder why she had never taken up the stripping habit that he and Lyon had.

"Relax. I told you, we didn't do anything like that."

"Then explain it to me."

Gray opted to ignore Ultear for favor of snuggling into Juvia's blanket and pretending that his sister was not there. He breathed in deep and exhaled serenly at the familiar smell that he could only describe as Juvia; how did she always smell so good?

"I'm back! Sorry for my look earlier," Juvia exclaimed as she entered the living room fully clothed, casting an apologetic look to Ultear. The older woman seemed unbothered. "I tend to sleep comfortably."

Ultear abruptly paced towards Juvia and took a firm hold of her shoulders. She looked into Juvia's eyes with a startling sobriety. "You seem like a really nice girl, but my idiot brother is an idiot. Just let me know if he does anything stupid, like try to have sex with you, okay?"

"O. . Okay. . ."

"Shut up, Ultear!"