I just want to get this out there, I actually love Evergreen. But somebody had to be the bitch, and I guess I just chose her.
also the 2nd half of this story is literally gray/juvia bonding I almost died writing it im such a nerd
I had no idea the day would come so fast.
My first swim meet.
AKA, the day I would publicly humiliate myself through showing the world what a horrible swimmer I was.
I'd had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach all week long because of the meet, not to mention Gray pretty much avoiding me, Sting sending me weird suggestive photos even though I'm 99% sure he's gay, and Levy has been oddly quiet and I don't know why.
Let's just all agree it's been a shitty week for me.
I sat down on the wooden bench in the locker room, staring at the pale green of my swim locker.
I could hear all the other swimmers giggling about which of their boyfriends was in the stands, and, over the crowd, I could clearly pick out Evergreen's pitchy voice talking about how she was going to crush Hargeon High.
God I want to fucking murder her.
But instead of taking action and tying Evergreen's hair to her locker, I stared at the stupid metal butterfly chain dangling from my swim bag.
This was going to be…beyond humiliating. But I had to do it. Not to mention coach was going to light me on fire and set me as a public example not to defy him.
Yup. An all-in-all shit week topped with ass flavored ice cream and fuck flavored fudge.
I stood up and walked out into the shower area, trying to stall as long as possible until I actually had to compete. Maybe I could fake a heart attack or something and get out of swimming.
I drowsily turned on the shower and ran my fingers through my already wet hair, having already taken three showers in a feeble attempt to draw my mind away from my impending embarrassment. Only a few swimmers remained in the locker room, but most of them were on the diving team so I didn't really know them. Thank god. Awkward small talk with team members that I was fully well aware hated me was like dive bombing into a field of set bear traps. Painful and shameful.
Well. Might as well just get it over with, tarnish my clean slated reputation as a varsity swimmer, and maybe shove a buoy up Evergreen's ass.
I pushed open the heavy locker room door, a swoosh of warm sticky pool air hitting my bare shoulders.
Oh yeah, our swimsuits were straight up hideous. The faded blue was stretchy and old, and unbelievably tight around my bust. I looked like Nicki fucking Manaj trying to glue my tits to my shirt so they wouldn't pop out like bread out of a toaster.
For once, I actually pitied Evergreen, for she had it even worse than me. A tit sandwich was really the only way to go around describing it.
This competition, I was only scheduled for one race. One race that I would ultimately fuck up and leave myself tarnished, but that's a problem for about ten minutes from now.
I walked up to my coach, bare feet making slappy noises against the wet floor. A particularly annoying sound.
"Coach!" I called out, hoping to sound strangled and in pain.
He briefly regarded me by tilting his posture to the side. This was all I needed.
I clutched my chest and stumbled into him, making as many gagging and coughing sounds as I could on my way there.
"What in god's name are you doing?" He asked, accent sharp with annoyance.
I made more sputtering and pained noises.
He stared at me monotonously, like he was waiting for me to finish up whatever the hell I was trying to pull.
Defeated, I straightened out and glared.
"What the bloody hell was that supposed to be?" He asked flatly, not even a little bit amused by my amazing performance.
"I was having a heart attack you inconsiderate ass." I sniffed.
He stared at me for a second. "…Get your ass in the water."
I turned away, making sure to mumble every curse word I knew before slipping into the water for warm ups.
My warm ups were normal, slow, painful, and exciting all at the same time. I always hated the feel of the water up against my skin, wet and slippery, grabbing at you and attempting to pull you down under. Of course, the pool wasn't nearly like this, the lukewarm water wasn't frozen with terror and the depths didn't stretch to god knows how deep and I wasn't seven miles beyond terrified, only mildly pacified by the bleakness of the pool.
I spotted Evergreen swimming out of the corner of my eye. She practices like a crocodile, slow, smooth, and like she's about to chomp my face off and laugh.
The whistle signaling the first race came far too soon.
It's not my race, of course, I was scheduled for a single backstroke race, and this was the front crawl.
But my race was undeniably next. And so far, faking a heart attack just wasn't going to cut it.
Evergreen waved at me before she started her race, because right, she was technically the best swimmer on our team.
How pathetically sad.
I turned away from the race so I wouldn't have to watch Evergreen win. Hargeon High was not known for their swimming.
My eyes fleeted to the stands, and I wasn't even disappointed when I noted no one was there to watch me. That was good though, the fewer people to witness my failure the better.
It was still a little bit sad though. I guess that's what I get for refusing to tell anyone anything about me.
I picked out a few people I did know though, mentally scrawling their names on my to kill list because I didn't need anybody spewing their stories to anyone else.
Elfman was there, Bixlow (I'm pretty sure? Bixman? Maybe?) Natsu…(gross) and maybe Cobra, but it was hard to see from down here.
Also, what the hell? Cobra? Didn't he have some knives to sharpen, or something?
I turned back to the pool, seeing that the race had finished, with, surprise, surprise, Evergreen as the winner.
She blew a kiss at me, a triumphant reminder that she had won, and she would always win, from this day forth. I realized that to anyone else it might appear as though we were friends, or perhaps flirty friends. No one would guess that we were in a blood feud. Probably because blood feuds are stupid.
The speakers announced my race to be next, and a mysterious brew of evil forces stormed in my stomach as I approached the board.
Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up. Don't screw this up.
I shakily jumped onto the board, and my eyes skirted the other swimmers.
Nobody too impressive, just Evergreen and Clarissa-something from Hargeon High were the only real contenders.
Not that it was going to matter to me.
God, it wasn't fair. Evergreen was such a major league fuckass. I should be able to do my best at this damn race, instead of flail around like a dead snail.
My mind raced and heart pounded. The race would begin in a matter of seconds and I could hardly sort my mind together, like a mess of scrambled eggs and roadkill that had once been my frontal lobe.
But I heard the whistle, and the telltale splash of my fingers hitting the water and I was swimming.
It was weird. Super surreal. I never remembered swimming being like this, but it was definitely happening, water tearing at the corners of my palms and legs blindly kicking back and forth.
Then I heard a whistle.
What the fuck? The whistle shouldn't have gone off that early! Is somebody drowning?
I glanced up from the water numbly, noticing that my hands were firmly fastened to the edge of the pool.
Wait a second, when did I get back to this side of the pool?
…
…
…Holy shit.
My hand released the edge of the pool and I stared at them like they were covered in blood, noticing that the other swimmers were just now finishing up.
Holy shit.
The blaring screams and applause felt like a never ending drop kick to the stomach. Coach was screaming at me in surprise and happiness, and I just stared at my goddamn hands for what felt like a lifetime.
Finally I snapped up, looking at Evergreen for something, anything, a sign that I was going to be alright-
But her burning glare confirmed my fear.
I had broken the pact.
I had broken the pact.
No, no, no, no, no.
She just sort of smiled, I imagined her to look like a king cobra, going in for the kill.
I had broken the pact.
I jumped out of the water, hurrying towards Evergreen with a thousand different things to say on the tip of my tongue…
Tell her it was an accident, tell her you have a deadly disease, tell her you're dying of cancer and winning a swim race was your final dying wish, tell her something, anything-
"You broke the pact." She said icily, sending a chill up my bones.
"No, I-"
"I hope you had fun." She said, bitter sweetness brimming in her words.
"Evergreen, no, I didn't mean to-"
She turned around sharply, with a sort of anger I've seen only a few times in my life.
"But you did, didn't you? You broke the pact and I told you you'd be sorry."
"Please Evergreen…" My arm shot out and grabbed her wrist, pleading for the first time since I started high school. "Please, don't-"
She laughed coldly.
"Then I guess you should've thought about that before you. Broke. The. Pact!" She whirled around, successfully spraying me with water and storming over to her friends who were whispering in outrage. It was positively scandalous in the swim world that I had just beat Evergreen.
"Lockser, Jesus! That was amazing! I didn't think you had it in you, but you did! And-"
I tuned out my coach's rant, all I could really think of was violently throwing up and then throwing myself down the Grand Canyon. I had fucked up. I had fucked up so bad and the worst part was I wasn't even going to be the one who was going to suffer…
Lucy was.
"I gotta go." I mumbled softly, pulling away towards the locker room.
Coach looked confused, but he let me leave probably because I looked like the walking dead.
The second I entered the locker room, I screamed.
Like, really screamed. The kind of scream you get when someone gets hit by a car in front of you and you get to see them explode like a meat balloon.
I could only hope that the room was soundproof.
My hands pressed to my temples dangerously hard, posing the risk of my poking holes in my skull.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
My breathing became uneven and rapid, as each last ditch plan I had got ticked off one by one.
I guess murdering Evergreen was my only choice now.
Drowning her in the toilet would be classy…
Oh my god Juvia, you absolute fuck be serious for like eight seconds…
Ok…ok…I just gotta think…
The locker room door swished open and I flung around, diving behind a locker gracefully and hitting my knee against the bench with a giant smack.
So agile. My leg feels like I just steam rolled it and then overcooked it in the oven on broil.
"Fuck," I whispered, my eyes seconds from popping out of my skull and bouncing around like yo-yos.
Yeah. Real nice imagery.
"Hello?" A voice I did not recognize inquired.
Just keep your trap shut and she won't notice you're in constant pain…
Unfortunately the girl came upon me, sort of diagonally squashed up against the bench, nails fastened to my knee like I was about ready to claw it off.
"Hi there." I said gushily, trying to sound infomercial-ish and fake.
"Oh my gosh, are you ok?" She lent me her hand and I made a huge scene trying to take it without screaming in pain/anger at my deceitful thigh.
Piece of shit leg. I didn't need it anyways, didn't do me any good.
"I'm feeling fantastic, why do you ask?" I said, hysterically sarcastic.
The girl looked a little bit guilty. "Well…you sort of screamed really loud and we all just kind of assumed you got stabbed or something."
Ah. Not soundproof.
"I…turned on the shower…it was really cold." I said flatly, although I had been victim to Arctic shower temperatures before, for a straight week. This was a short follow up of my dad's famous 2009 fight with my mom, cheerfully asking "what are you going to do, turn off our hot water?" and then followed by a week of freezing cold everything.
Moral of the story; don't fuck with women. We always win.
The girl gave me a nervous look, like are you sure you're going to go with that story? But I decided to stick with it and began unloading my swim bag.
"Um…I'm Kinana. I've never seen you on the swim team before, and you're obviously really good…" She rambled a bit.
"Thanks." I said unthankfully. I was busy examining my leg injury, where the beginnings of a massive bruise were starting to form.
"I'm on the diving team. Are you new to school this year?"
"Nope. Gone here my whole life." I answered without turning back.
"Really? But…I've never seen you on the team before…" She mentioned quizzically.
"I was on JV last year." I explained half-assedly. I felt kind of bad, because Kinana was obviously a really nice girl and I was being beyond rude ass bitch to her, but I really had a lot on my mind at the moment.
"No way! That was totally amazing…I can't believe this was your first year on Varsity!" Kinana argued, just as the locker room door opened to reveal Evergreen and her gaggle of bitches.
Welp. It was about that time in my life when my one and only wish was to spontaneously transform into Jimmy Neutron, slap a rocket to my ass and fly the fuck away. And maybe even shout 'gotta blast' in Evergreen's face.
Evergreen swished past me, to my surprise, not stopping to say something vague and meaningless about my doom.
"Evergreen," I said, my hand grabbing hers.
She turned around, her face as sour as my mom's secret stash of sour patch kids she thinks I don't know about.
"Uh…can we…talk?" Ugh, gross. Just saying those words is making me itchy.
"About what?" She asked sweetly, totally ignoring the audience that was forming around us.
"…Things." I said inconspicuously.
She rolled her eyes and walked away.
Well what the hell am I supposed to do now?
"Wait, Evergreen!"
She didn't turn around, but she did stop.
I swallowed.
"Please."
I could hear her satisfied snort of laughter and her snake like grin.
"Fine."
Oh god that was torture. If I ever said please again I might burst into flames on the spot.
I followed Evergreen over to the changing stalls, surprised when no curious swimmers followed us to see what was going on.
"Don't do this." I started, jumping right to the point and avoiding her villainous small talk.
"Don't do what?"
I'm gonna drown her.
"Don't release the picture."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Why not?"
I sighed frustratedly. She was just doing this to piss me off. Spoiler alert; it was working.
"Because Lucy doesn't have anything to do with this." I said, trying to keep my voice at a defcon 5.
"Well then Lucy shouldn't have been stupid enough to-"
Ope. Oh no. Here it comes. I'm gonna pop her head off like a dandelion.
"Don't talk about her like that. It was a stupid mistake, now just don't release the picture." I said, my voice wavering dangerously.
"Or what?" She asked.
I stopped. Or what? What could I possibly do to threaten her? Sure, I made plenty of threats on a daily basis but to be honest I was simply too lazy to carry any of them out.
Or…
"Or I'll beat you at every competition we'll ever go to. I'll crush you. You'll be the laughing stock of the team, and I'll carry us to state."
There is a 100% chance that if Lucy or Lisanna were behind me, they would shout out something annoying like 'slaaaayyyy' or whatever.
Evergreen looked taken aback. Even threatened.
"I'm impressed Juvia," she finally said, "I didn't think you had it in you."
I said nothing.
"Fine. I won't release the picture. For now. But just know if you cross the line one more time, Lucy will be known as the school slut for the rest of the year." She snarled.
"You're such a bitch," I felt myself say softly.
"I know," she said, before turning around and returning to her teammates.
Wow. That was intense. I think I need a five minute break.
Relief flooded through my veins like a dam had burst. Lucy would be fine.
I numbly walked back to my locker, putting on clothes that I wouldn't dare wear in public. Y'know, mismatched sweatshirt and sweatpants that made you look like a mom who woke up seven times in the night to keep her kid from puking all over the floor? Yup. That kind of outfit.
I was surprised by how closely Kinana stuck to me. She normally hung out with Evergreen's swimmer friends, or the ditzy diver girls who wore size zero swimsuits which were clearly only tools to make their boobs look bigger.
"Are you ok? You looked a little shaken up back there…" She worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I assured. And I was. I had guaranteed myself and Lucy an extra week of safety.
"That's good!" She said with a sugary smile. She and Levy could probably make a club, something like 'we're made of candy anonymous' or 'unrealistically nice club'.
I walked out of the school with Kinana, talking about the diving team she had just faced. She actually reminded me of a combination of Lucy and Levy, which was weird because Lucy and Levy were basically one person anyways.
"Do you have a ride?" She asked when we got to the chilly parking lot. I was lucky that I could French braid so fast, or I would've had fucking icicle hair.
I was tempted to say no, but I figured that if my dad didn't come I could stay inside the building, the only plus about home games.
"Yeah, I got one." I replied.
"Ok, then I'll see you later!" She called, getting into her car and driving away.
I should probably start driving myself to meets. Waiting for my dad is pretty much futile. The only real problem is that my dad would sooner stick his head in an oven than let me drive our car without parental assistance. Yup. My dad's one of those fucking lame ass dads who value their car and lawn over their only daughter.
My dad was set to come pick me up at 5, and it was 5:15 right now, so he should be here in ten to twenty minutes. My best hope was taking refuge back inside the school.
One thing I hate about being at school when school is not in session: janitors are still there. Ordinarily that wouldn't mean anything to me, but there's a specific janitor at our school who's famous for his...favoritism of young girls. He scared the crap out of every girl in the school, but our principal was one of those guys who assumed that women were scared by anything because "they're so fragile." Ass.
This particular janitor also thought he was being subtle when he looked at my boobs (which were actually fairly well hidden under my sweatshirt, but this guy obviously didn't get much action past one way eye sex).
He also took every opportunity to try and talk to me, and/or randomly come to 'clean' the area where I was standing.
And our conversations usually didn't go far past 'nice weather today' or 'hi'.
Aaaand here he comes now. Way to jinx it, Juvia, you fucking moron.
As the janitor drew closer and I mentally prepared myself for the ultimate bitch face, I noticed a few things about the janitor.
First, he was rather slim for a janitor. As in, there was no potbelly suspiciously peeking out from under his T-shirt.
In fact…nothing really close to a potbelly.
And janitors usually carry around some sort of mop-dealy wheely thing, or at least a broom. This guy just had his hands firmly plunged in his pockets and his eyes on the ground.
Also, I just now realized that that is totally not a fucking janitor that is Gray Fullbuster god dammit.
My senses switched to high alert, like my brain had its own 'oh shit it's Gray!' panic button.
It probably did. My brain is a weird place to be sometimes.
Ok, ok…there's still hope…he probably hadn't noticed me yet, if I could just stare out the window innocently he wouldn't even notice me...
I quickly flipped my hood up to avoid eye contact, and also possible meltage via his smoldering eyes. It's pretty damn hard to not melt, trust me on this one.
Hm. I probably looked really shady right now. A hooded figure, staring into the distance in the middle of a high school hallway…
"Are you trying to hide from me?"
Yes. Dammit. I mean no.
I turned around, doing my best to look surprised at his presence.
"Gray! What? When did you get here? I mean…who would have thought…dammit, fine." I gave up halfway, flipping my hood down and giving him a pointed stare.
…And then immediately melting. Damn! Does he have no consideration for the amount of property damage he has cost me? Millions in melted body parts!
"I saw your race," he said casually, nodding his head like I'd done a damn good job.
…Which I had. Fuck. Forgot about that.
"Was it impressive?" I asked sarcastically.
"Yeah. Especially the scream at the end, that had to be my favorite part." He added, just as sarcastically.
Fuck. Forgot about that too.
"I saw a spider." I covered lamely.
"In the girl's locker room?"
"Yes."
"In the middle of winter?"
"…Yes."
"What kind of spider?"
"Stop blowing holes in my story!"
He laughed a little, successfully beating me. He's the only one that can do that, you know. But he cheated, with his heart melting good looks and his adorable sexy charm and his low seductive voice…
"So…are we…still on for tomorrow?"
I stopped, remembering that I had completely forgotten about that.
"…Yeah." I admitted reluctantly.
"Good. If I have to hear my dad say one more word about the university, I'm gonna throw myself down the stairs." He said with a wry grin.
I…
Holy shit…
He just took my fucking line.
I mean, I didn't generally say it out loud…but I mean…it was my line, what the hell did he think he was doing just using it left and right?
"See you tomorrow, Juvia."
Well. That's that. I had officially signed my death warrant, the only thing left to do was send an email to Satan and tell him I'm returning home.
What the hell am I supposed to say to his parents anyways? 'Hello I'm Juvia your son's designated stalker?'
Jesus, only twelve seconds of talking to him and I'm already screwed.
.
.
.
"So, tell me again where you're going?"
I sighed, being the third time I've explained my cover story to my dad.
"We're having a study party at Lucy's house, everyone we know from my physics class is coming." I informed, yet again.
At that time, my mother strolled past the front entryway as I was putting on my boots.
"Oh, honey, your father and I know exactly what study party is codeword for." She said with a wink.
Right. Because I also had to tell them that Gray was picking me up.
I probably should've just gone with the truth, and told them I was going to Gray's house. But then my mom would've stuck some condoms in my jacket pocket and that would've been an interesting story to explain to Gray.
"Don't screw this up Juvia, your mom and I really like Fullbuster," my dad warned, in a slightly teasing tone.
"Oh don't worry dad, I'm pretty sure he knows you guys like him." I reassured with a psychotic glint in my eye. That presentation of affection was one I could've gone without.
Gray's car pulled into the driveway and I made the father-son-holy spirit thing over my chest. That was supposed to mean good luck, right? I needed to go to church more often.
"Alright, bye mom, bye dad!" I said quickly, attempting to open the door before my parents could embarrassingly have me off.
"Wait, wait, wait…do you have everything you need?" My mom asked, her eyebrows raised inhumanly high.
"Yes, oh my god mom." I answered darkly.
I made the mistake of letting my guard down for one second as Gray knocked on the door and my dad flung it open with a Shining-worthy smile.
"Good morning!" My mom bid.
"Uh…morning Mrs. Lockser…" Gray said nonchalantly.
"Now Juvia, you remember what we talked about, right?" My mom asked.
"What the hell did we talk about?" Oops. Said that out loud.
My mom winked and I made an uncomfortable squeaking noise.
"Let's just go," I said, grabbing Gray's arm hurriedly.
"Bye Juvia! Your father and I were just about to have a study party of our own," my mom said with wiggling eyebrows.
"Oh my god mom, gross!" I called back. She's disgusting.
I made a whining noise as I climbed into Gray's car.
Asshole. He was laughing at me.
"Hey! Put a cork in it buddy, this is free charity work." I clarified.
"Charity work? You owe me this!" He accused.
"If anything, my dad owes you this." I shot back.
"It'd be a little weird if I took a grown man to dinner with my parents, now wouldn't it?" He defended.
"Not for my dad! He'd probably love it!" I informed.
He took a second to breathe.
"So…you guys are hockey fans?"
Ugh, are we really on this again?
"My dad's a hockey fan." I corrected.
"Sure. And I couldn't help but notice that he recognized me by face…"
Ah. Here we go. The dreaded 'does your entire family stalk me, or is it just me'?
"He's very dedicated." I explained pointedly.
"…Right, so you definitely knew who I was before I even met you…"
Snoooore. Get to the point Gray.
"Why'd you lie?"
I rolled my eyes. "I told you before, I thought that maybe you were a different Gray!"
"Because, you know, there are so many Grays in the world-" he interrupted sarcastically.
"Look, what do you want from me? Maybe I'd heard of you before, it's a small world." I argued.
He paused. "I dunno, really. I just think you're…weird."
Cue sighing noise.
"Gray do you even know what a girl is? Because you clearly don't know how to talk to them," I started, even though it doesn't matter. For all I care, the only words he's ever said to me is 'Juvia you're trash' and I'd still love him.
"Hey, hey, hear me out. You know, the first time I met you, you told me to beat it." He began.
Oh yeah. That was a while ago. To be honest, I still kind of wanted him to beat it. He had kind of, you know, ripped a fucking hole in my average day-to-day life and royally fucked shit up like hurricane Gray.
"And, y'know, you were the first girl besides Ultear and my mom to say something like that.
Well, glad to know I'm on the same level as your mother, Gray.
"You're the first girl I've met that doesn't care about…whatever, just wants to be friends."
WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA.
WHAT THE FUCK.
BACK THE FUCKING TRUCK UP.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
I DO NOT WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH HIM.
My fierce anger must've shown in my eyes, because he looked momentarily frightened when we came to a stop at his house.
"Just letting you know Gray, I really had no intention of becoming friends with you." I said coldly, getting out of the car like the ice-cold bitch that I was.
But, I was telling the truth. It was fuck-buddy or nothing.
I heard him mumble 'ouch' as he got out of the car and followed me up to his front door.
"So, what's this college of yours I'm sponsoring? I asked, still harboring the kind of iciness in my voice.
"Uh…Bloomington." He said, still recovering from my below the belt comment. Shit. Now I feel bad.
"Oh, my cousin went there!" I said, suddenly bright because my cousin was out-the-balls rich and always gave me really kickass Christmas presents.
"What's he doing now?' Gray asked excitedly.
"Hm…I can't remember exactly…I think he…created…some company? I dunno, but he makes ass-tons of money." I encouraged.
"I can always count on ass-tons," he poked happily. He moved to unlock the front door, and I felt a wave of hesitation hit me like a school bus.
"Um...are you sure you want to do this?" I asked him, pulling at the back of his shirt to keep him from opening the door. I yanked my hand away when he turned to face me, embarrassed by my lack of tact. I seriously needed to stop touching him. It was becoming too much of a habit.
"Why wouldn't I be?" He reasoned. I wish his nonchalance was contagious, but I kind of wanted to strangle him for being so cavalier about his future that he was shouldering onto me.
"Hello? I use swear words as punctuation. I'm not exactly the Avon lady, I don't know if I can sell your parents on a smaller college experience…" I reminded him.
"On the contrary, I think you're the only one who can do it." He replied confidently. He swung the front door open and held it, like he was expecting me to just traipse in without a care in the world.
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means whatever you want it to mean. Now get your ass inside, it's cold." Gray said impatiently.
I wanted to tell him off. But pushy Gray was kind of hot. And by kind of hot, I mean really hot.
I obediently followed him inside his house, and I was hit with the smell of pizza.
"Dammit, not again…" Gray whispered like this was some recurring curse.
Gray's house was really…suburban. Family pictures all over the walls, hockey pictures, comfy carpet…very un-Gray-like.
But it was still nice.
I instantly became subconscious of my shirt, which was a little ruffly and almost showed too much of my boobs. Not like it was my fault though. Those monstrosities were impossible to conceal.
Gray probably sensed my alarmism and said something that would make me die a thousand deaths for the rest of eternity.
"Don't worry, you look nice."
Nice…I looked…nice…
Now comes the real challenge.
Don't blush don't blush don't blush don't blush don't blush…
"MOOOOOOMM! Lyon broke my CD!"
Ah. That must be the sister. She ran past us with shattered shiny pieces of Taylor Swift's face before stopping abruptly, and turning around eerily to look at me.
"Gray…who's…that?" She asked, like I was a demon Gray accidentally unleashed from hell.
"That'd Juvia Ul, don't be a little weirdo." He said gruffly, a little bit embarrassed by her awe.
She took a tentative step forward.
"Are you a real girl?" She whispered.
"Well, I'm not a hologram, if that's what you're asking." I responded dully.
Gray looked mortified. "Dammit Ultear, what did I just say?"
"I'm not being weird! I was just wondering is all. And I've seen Ex Machina! She could be a robot for all I know," she defended, before leaning towards me again, "Gray doesn't bring girls home," she whispered before running upstairs.
"She's…special." Gray quickly covered up.
"I see," I said in between bouts of laughter. Gray never got embarrassed. But when he did, it was cute.
So cute, in fact, that I might just have to take a ten minute breather to re-gather my thoughts.
I followed Gray up the stairs and past the dining room, which already had plates set up, and then into the kitchen.
"Mom, please don't tell me that Ul-"
Gray's mom flipped around, surprised, accidentally tossing an apple ten feet into the air.
"Gray! You're back! Already? But…we're not…oh my gosh! She's here!"
Fuck is she talking about me?
Gray's mom pushed him out of the kitchen hurriedly.
"Go, go, go! I'm not ready, I'm not ready…I'll call you two in when I am!" Gray's mom shouted, flushed as she flattened her short messy hair out.
"Jesus mom, calm down, I just wanted to know if you seriously let Ultear try again."
Gray's mom made a guilty face.
"I'm so sorry Gray, she said she had it all under control…I know how much this whole meeting meant to you…"
"Mom!" Gray shouted sharply.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry…" she peeked over Gray's shoulder and I sent her a little wave.
"Oh my goodness Gray, she's so cute," she whispered into Gray's ear, pretty loudly.
"Mom, I swear to god-"
"Off you go! I'll see you two in a few, and it was nice meeting you dear," she said with a quick wave as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Let's stop for a second.
Can you hear that folks? Me neither. I have officially stopped breathing, and therefore cease to exist. I have died happily on this day, knowing that Gray's family was just as, if not more, embarrassing than my family. I dedicate everything I have to Gajeel. Haha! Dick, try fitting all my girly shit in your garage…I'd like to see you try.
Love, Juvia.
Gray was still bright pink from the kitchen fiasco as he dragged me into his room.
He slammed the door shut and started banging his head on the door like Dobby the fucking house elf from Harry Potter and oh please god let me get this on camera…
"Looks like we have something in common." I said cheerily, sitting down on his bed because frankly it would take a freight train to the face to ruin this day for me.
"I…they're…not usually like this, I swear…" Gray croaked miserably.
"That's what they all say," I said woefully, but secretly I was beyond happy, like I was having the fucking fourth of July bonanza inside my brain, each and every brain cell had one of those new year popper thingies and was going off like a gajillion happy firecrackers in my head.
If this is what heaven feels like, I should probably retract that email I sent to Satan.
"Uh…Ultear has a cooking class this year, and she's been trying to cook at home, but…" he trailed off, "it hasn't really been working out."
"That's ok." I replied. Pizza was basically my first commandment. I lived off of it two years ago when the manager at Domino's had a crush on my mom and gave us free pizza all the time. That all came to an unfortunate end when my dad tried to beat him up in the middle of the store. Now my family is banned from any Domino's franchise in East, West, and South Magnolia.
"We've had pizza for pretty much the last month, not that I'm complaining, but," he came over to sit down next to me on his bed, "it's a little informal."
I laughed. "Informal? Gray, have you met me?"
He smiled a little bit, reassured by my casualness. "Yeah, I guess so."
I flipped around so that my feet were propped against his wall and my head was resting on his pillow. There was a hockey poster above the bed, and then a Magnolia University one next to it.
"How much do you like hockey?" I accidentally asked aloud.
"Hm. A lot, I guess." He answered simply, flopping down beside me, his feet propped up next to mine.
Is it hot in here? Or is it just the face that I've set myself on fire ohmygod he's literally laying down next to me somebody call the police-
"How much do you like swimming?"
I laughed sharply. "Not much."
"Really?" He pondered, surprised. "Then why do you do it?"
I sighed.
"I dunno. It's kind of like…proving to myself that I can swim." I answered vaguely.
"That's…that's really weird." He finally spoke, tapping his toes rhythmically on the wall, a little bit muffled by his socks.
"I guess so. But I guess you'd understand too if you like…hated the ice." I made up.
"If I hated the ice?" He resonated confusedly.
"Yup. Say, when you were younger, you fell on your ass a lot on the ice. Then you grow up to become a really good hockey player, to show the ice who's boss." I interpreted.
"…You fell in the water a lot as a kid?"
Whoops. Didn't want to delve into that part of my life.
"So, Bloomington, huh?" I asked, blatantly changing the subject.
He paused to adjust to the sudden change of topic.
"Yeah. I've been looking at it for a while, and…I think it's what I really want to do. I took a few business courses this year, criminology, and that health course, to branch out my horizons? And I really liked the business ones. Is…that weird?" He asked, like he wanted my approval.
"Course not. I mean, you can only play hockey for so long, but if you get a good education you can put it to use wherever you want." I approved, putting a big 'ol stamp on his forehead. Approved by Juvia.
He was silent for a minute, tracing circles with his feet on the wall.
"You're really smart, you know." He said softly, "I'm glad you're my friend."
Aaaand stab me right in the fucking chest. Go ahead Gray, get that knife real deep in there, wouldn't want to leave any internal organs still standing, would we?
He had no fucking idea how he literally just stabbed a knife through my chest. It would be literal torture to be Gray's friend, like I was standing a few feet from a vault filled with millions of dollars and I got to live next to the vault, but I still didn't know the pass code.
I'm an idiot. A stupid, stupid idiot, who let myself get dragged into this mess…the second Gray asked me to come to his parents house I should've said no, the second I met him I should've really made him beat it.
This is just what I get for crushing on a fucking Pisces. It's bad enough that I'm a Scorpio...
I was so stupid.
"Juvia?"
"Huh?"
"Thought you fell asleep for a second there…"
"Maybe I did."
"Nah, I'm way to interesting."
"Modest too."
"And handsome, you forgot handsome."
"I also forgot asshole, but that was mostly just out of politeness."
A sudden shift in noises from Gray's door prompted us to both look behind us.
"Dammit!" Ultear cursed, hiding her phone behind her back and smiling guiltily.
"Uh…dinner's ready, Gray…" She said before bolting.
"Ugh! That little fuckin' brat!" Gray leapt off his bed and chased her into the kitchen.
That's weird, all she did was listen to our…
Suddenly, it hit me.
That little sneaky chica filmed us.
"Dammit!" I leapt up as well and followed Gray into the kitchen.
"Mom! Gray's harassing me!"
"Ultear's harassing me! Gimme that phone!"
"No way! I'm putting this on vine!"
"The fuck you are, I'll kill you ya little-!"
"Both of you shut up, I'm hungry." A new, unfamiliar voice spoke. Probably Gray's dad.
"What the hell is going on up-"
Ah. A voice I never hoped I'd hear again.
"What are you doing here?" Lyon asked sharply.
"I'm here to tell you about our lord and savior Jesus Christ, do you have a minute?" I asked sarcastically.
"Seriously, what the fuck is she doing here?" Lyon asked Gray, who appeared, looking rather frazzled, out of the kitchen.
"What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were going to that job interview!" Gray asked angrily.
"I did go to the job interview!" Lyon argued.
"For five minutes?"
"They didn't like my hair!"
Ok, now I'm laughing.
Lyon glared at me. "What the fuck is so funny, little girl?"
I laughed a little bit more, dragging on the moment.
"Well, you just got kicked out of a job interview because of your hair. Do me a favor and tell me why I'm not laughing." I explained. His face flushed greatly.
"Why don't you just-"
"Lyon! You're back! We can start dinner now!" Gray's mom clapped her hands together and ushered us to the dinner table, which was covered in pizza boxes.
First of all, that is a shit ton of pizza.
Second of all, I have no objections.
"I swear to god Ul, burn one more dish and I'll put red paint on all your leotards," Gray threatened as we sat down.
She pouted. "You're mean Gray! No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"
"Yeah Gray, no wonder." I pitched in.
"Shaddup, you're supposed to be on my side." He whispered back.
"Says who? I'm a freelance favor girl, I do what I want, when I want." I ranted.
"You better keep your trap shut or I'll eat all the pepperoni." He threatened.
"You wouldn't."
"Watch me."
He dove for the pizza box and began comically piling piece after piece on his plate, and I briefly wondered how his mom was able to keep up with him.
"So, Juvia, Gray tells me that you're a swimmer," Gray's mom started, placing her head on her hands like she wanted me to delve into my life story and how I first began swimming.
"Yeah, it's my first year on varsity." I answered. Gray's dad perked up at the word varsity and looked interested.
"You do sports?" He asked, like those were the only words in his vocabulary.
"Pay attention Silver," Gray's mom scolded.
"Yup. She broke a district record yesterday." Gray added.
I did?
Huh. Maybe I did. I was too busy screaming to have noticed.
"Whoa." Silver marveled, impressed by my small feat.
"I don't suppose you're going to the U too?" Lyon asked pointedly, wanting to make a public service announcement that I definitely wasn't going to the U.
"Actually, no. I'm going to Holy Angels next year." I said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Holy Angels? Were they the college that had those drunk kids crash their car into the capitol?" Lyon asked, shocked.
Oh my god. That asshole literally dug up dirt on my college.
"Well, at least they didn't screw up that final kick at the Rose Bowl." I said sweetly.
I could see the entire family, with the exception of Gray, flinch at the memory. Oops. That's what you get Lyon, don't mess with my goddamn college.
Gray was trying to conceal his laughter, horribly, if I may add, and I noticed that he had a tendency to laugh hysterically whenever I made fun of Lyon.
"So Gray, what colleges are you looking at," I asked nonchalantly. Silver looked like he was about to cut in with a possible 'Magnolia University is god's school' speech, but Gray beat him to the punch.
"I really don't know, but I really like Bloomington University." He said, to the shock of his entire family.
"The hell is Bloomington University?" Lyon asked rudely.
"My cousin went there," I put out, ignoring Lyon's comment. "He got me a blu-ray player for Christmas last year."
His family liked that, I could tell. Hook, line, and inker.
My cousin also bought me every season of Sherlock and the Lord of the Rings extended blu-ray edition to go with it, but I decided to leave out my nerdy tendencies this time.
"He's also looking at Magnolia University." His dad piped up.
"Oh, my dad's friend went there." I mentioned, stealing a piece of pepperoni from Gray's plate.
"He died." I added, for extra effect. Not that it was untrue, but his death had nothing to do with college, but with his extreme alcoholism.
Details are for the weak.
"Unrelated, I'm sure." Lyon but in. God, I wanna stab him.
I shrugged, like I was hiding something about the college's relation to his death.
Lyon looked beyond pissed.
Gray was laughing so hard he had his hand firmly pressed over his mouth and was making coughing noises to crappily cover it up.
"I bet you guys are proud that Gray's so good at business courses. I would've failed the class if it wasn't for his help." I lied smoothly. I'll consider it a fib though, because I knew that if I ever did take a business course I'd fail dramatically, and I already knew that Gray was a genius.
"Really?" Gray's mother leaned forward like this was news to her.
I looked around, a fake expression of surprise etched in my eyes.
"Well I'm surprised he doesn't talk more about it, he's easily the smartest person in our class." I lied smoothly. Again, more of a fib because I had no doubts that he was the smartest in his class.
"Really Gray? That's amazing," his mother praised. Gray looked at me like I was a perfectly baked cookie and smiled.
"Uh, yeah, I really like it." He added dumbly, probably amazed by my fibbing skills.
Even his dad looked mildly impressed.
"It's a good career to get into," he said, mumbly personality disappearing slowly.
Gray was practically squirting happiness. I almost screamed because the happier he was the cuter his cheeks looked and now I really just want to chop them off and keep them in a jar in my room.
Aaaand moment ruined. Thanks Juvia, you idiot.
"Well Gray has been super busy preparing for State." Lyon interrupted, totally off topic and needy.
"Is that so? Business finals are pretty far away, but I'm going to need a head start studying, I heard they're really hard." I said, changing the subject again.
"You're really pretty." Ultear said from across the table.
That's a little bit weird, I mean, if I was Gray's sister I'd probably think he's pretty too, but I wouldn't say it to his fa-oh my god she was talking to me whatdoIdo.
"Thank you." I said, hopefully not to strangled and awkward.
"You'd be a lot prettier if your boobs weren't hanging out." Lyon muttered, just loud enough for me, and the entire table, to hear.
Alright. That's it. I'm a lady, I usually believe in calm, tactful torture, but it's time to get some WWE action going on here.
I turned around harshly to look him in the eye, the table still dead silent.
"Well where do you want me to put them Lyon? In my frickin' pocket? Unfortunately, it doesn't really work like that!"
Whoops. Sorry Gray, I ruined your chances of college. At least I had the decency to censor myself with the word 'frickin'.
To my surprise, Gray's mom turned to Lyon with her own comment.
"Yeah Lyon, where?"
And it turns out, Gray and his dad both share the trait of laughing hysterically when I point out Lyon's asshole-ishness.
Ultear fell on the floor laughing, and Lyon just kind of sat there, a hard look in his eyes.
"She got you there," Silver commented, in between gasps of laughter.
Lyon finally stood up and left, Gray still in tears from his embarrassment.
"Sorry…about…that…" I apologized half heartedly.
"No dear, I'm very sorry, that was an extremely rude comment, I just do not know what is up with him today…" Gray's mom offered.
"Mom! Gray ate all the pepperoni!" Ultear suddenly reappeared from underneath the table.
"Wha…you don't even like pepperoni!" Gray howled.
"Shut up, fatty!"
"Ultear, be nice to your brother, he's a growing boy." Gray's mom chided.
"Ur, don't belittle him." Silver reminded.
"Nonsense, he'll be skin and bones if he eats any less than that!" Ur declared.
Any less? I just watched that boy inhale an entire pizza!
"What time do your parents want you home Miss Juvia, I wouldn't want to keep you too late…" Ur asked guiltily, like she had kept me way too long.
"I think they wanted me home at least before nine," I said, unsure of the current time.
"Brilliant! It's only seven thirty, we can keep you for another hour and a half!" She said happily.
"Mom, don't suffocate her!" Gray reminded incessantly.
Ultear suddenly appeared behind me. "Do my hair like yours!"
"Gah! Ultear, back up!"
"Shut up Gray! How do you get it so soft?" Ultear asked, running her hands through my hair.
Gray stood up, faster than I'd ever seen him move, even at the hockey game, and picked Ultear up around the waist.
"Gray! Put me down!"
"Not until you stop touching people's hair."
"Relax Gray, it's a genuine question," I defended, mostly just to make Gray look like a total asshole manhandling his much younger sister.
"What kind of conditioner do you use?"
"I dunno. My mom buys it, it's in a blue bottle though." I answered.
"Is your hair dyed?"
"Unfortunately, no. I was born like this."
Ultear gaped. "No way! Lucky!"
"Unlucky." I corrected, "do you know how many colors go with my hair? Four. That's exactly how many colors."
"Let's go Juvia!" Gray said quickly, not being able to stand one more second of girl talk.
"Gray! Come back! I need to know how she gets it so wavy." Ultear whined.
I stopped, pretty much to see the pleading look on Gray's face.
"It's a legitimate question~" I sang.
"Please don't do this to me."
"I have to. It's girl code." I explained.
"For the record, I French braid my hair after I shower." I told Ultear, sparing Gray the gory girly details.
"Oh my gosh, will you French braid my hair?" Ultear asked hopefully, camping out in front of Gray's bedroom door.
"For god's sakes Ultear, this isn't show and tell!" Gray interrupted.
"Of course I will!" I answered, only to see Gray's reaction. I'd never seen him so unhinged, it was amazing. It made me feel like he wasn't so untouchable.
"Dammit Juvia, would you-"
"You should braid Gray's hair!"
I turned to inspect Gray, like I was taking to my newest client.
"I bet I could…" I admitted. His hair was a little short, but with a shit ton of bobby pins, anything was possible.
"Hell no, Juvia, if you touch my hair, I'll-"
"You'll what? Not study with me for the business final?" I asked cheekily.
His face fell. I had him cornered. Sort of like blackmail, I guess.
Ok, it was totally blackmail. I was a regular Evergreen.
He sighed heavily. "…Fine."
I was going to consider this my revenge on Gray.
He made me fall in love with him, fine, I admit it, I lost, but I'd be damned to the 5th circle of hell if I didn't drag him down with me.
the hell guys this chapter was 8215 word e
anyways, i actually sort of liked this chapter ad ill be rlly sad if you guys don't like it so idek let me know what u thought :)
SUPER FUN FACT: every variation of the word 'fuck' has been tallied up to a total of 471 fucks, in this entire story so far. *jumps out fourth story window* im so sorry
review responses :)
Thunder Explosion: the threats I come up with sometimes are v frightening and I literall stand when Yoshi egg shits me off a cliff like um no you have no permission to do that I banish you but thnk you for reviewing u are a very delicious peach
chokecherries: thank you I like writing bitchy characters and umm gajuvia brotp till the end?! hahahHAHAhaha im not cool im literally such a loser pls stop im screaming and crying
wtf gray: thank you! I like to thnk im funny sometimes so hopefully you can laugh at my (horrible writing) and or weird side comments
FlyingDoll4: ikrr I needed her to like something and I guess I chose children and thank for reviewing !
TiTi: iM soRY I got u dragged out of the mall! omg thank you though it means a l ot to know you liked it! (even if it did end in a spaz attack, but nowadays, what doesn't?)
fireXmaiden: youre soo welcome! I hope you liked this garbage pail of a chapter! and I hope I updated fast enough for you not to die!
Guest: shhhh you don't have to pick u my garbage but here have a trashy chapter anyways I lo ve you bye
SN2797: oH MY GOD TOP 5 NO IM TRASH I will always bear with long reviews I love you so much omg! I otally agree with the friendship thing too! that was going to be my plan bc gray is a tsunduck or whatever you call it ! thank youuuu
Zstar1:thaj k you soo much! I hope you like this chapter!
valences: hug me I nEED FRIENDS omg I love you
Lyralei: oh my god don't worry your English is x100 better than mine and omg ur so sweet I llove you don't be insecure about English! English loves you!
*ugly pterodactyl shriek* i love you guys