-A/N: Well, Im still alive. Sorry for the tremendous long wait.-
The next day at school Gray's mind had only one focus, and that was on Juvia. She was not yet back in school but that didn't stop her from bombarding his mind. It was already the end of the day and Gray could honestly say that he did not learn one thing today. Every time Lucy or Natsu tried involving him in their conversation all he would do was nod or sigh.
After racing out of class when the last bell rang announcing the end of the day, Gray walked towards Juvia's house. Of course logically thinking he thought she would be lonely. Being in a big house all by yourself all day could get pretty tiresome. So like the gentleman he believed he was Gray decided to accompany Juvia for the rest of the evening.
Arriving in front of Juvia's house Gray gently knock on the door. After remembering that Juvia couldn't really answer a door in her current situation, Gray bent down to get the spare key. Quietly peeked in his head into the house, he called out.
"Hey, Juvia! I came to visit."
Not hearing an answer Gray carefully walked inside. After all she could have been sleeping and he wouldn't want to disturb her, or she could have been just coming out of the shower and... Gray's mind reeled. What if she was coming out of the shower? How would he explain himself? Should he turn back? Should he stay? What if he saw her? Gray tried shaking the mental images out of his head, but he had not luck. A faint blush uncharacteristically painted his face.
He was taken out of his stupor when he heard faint talking coming from a bedroom. Carefully opening the door Gray stared in bewilderment, there was a guy sitting on the side of Juvia's bed. It took Gray awhile to notice that Juvia was also present.
"Gray-s. Gray, what are you doing here?"
Gray blinked, looking up at Juvia who just called out to him.
"Uh, I just came to check up on you, who's your friend."
Juvia sat up from her position on her bed.
"Oh, Juvia hasn't introduced you. Gray, this is Gajeel-kun, Juvia's very precious childhood friend."
Gray stayed silent, looking between Juvia and her friend. He looked like the exact opposite of the kind of person that Juvia -the Queen- would hang out with. Her friend was covered with piercings, with judging red eyes, and someone that looked like he would fight someone just because they were standing in front of him.
Juvia lightly touched Gajeel's arm.
"Now Gajeel-kun, say hi. You might scare Gray." She lightly chastised the pierced man.
"Che" Gajeel clicked his tongue in a sign of annoyance, while glaring at Gray up and down.
Gray came to a conclusion, he didn't like this Gajeel character and from the looks of it Gajeel felt the same way about him. With an awkward tension surrounding them, Gray couldn't handle it.
"Well, I see you're alright. I'll be going now, see you later."
Juvia's eyes widened. "No, Gray-sam..." She stopped herself
Gajeel noticed the change of demeanor in Juvia, and glared at Gray. Getting up from his spot on Juvia's bed he walked past Gray with a glare that said 'follow me'. Gray reluctantly followed the brooding man.
"Wait, Gajeel-kun!"
Gajeel closed Juvia's door before she had time to protest. Standing in the hallway in silence Gray shifted around uncomfortably.
"Oi, what's the deal with you and the rain women?" Gajeel questioned.
Gray eyed the man. "Why's it any of your business."
Gajeel red eyes got dark for a second, giving off a menacing glare. Taking a step forward Gajeel hovered over Gray peering down at him.
Gray wasn't fazed one bit by the overwhelming man standing over him. If anything he just got more annoyed. 'Who was this guy that Juvia let into her house?' He thought.
Every question that popped into Grays' head also popped into Gajeels', after a few more moments of silence from both men they realized that their attempt at a conversation was going nowhere, they backed away from each other.
"Oi, Listen here." Gajeel spoke up. "If you think about doing anything to her, don't think I won't be quick to kick your ass. Ya got it!"
Gray was silent for a moment, this guy really irritated him. But he could tell that he was just looking out for Juvia.
"Fine, I get it. Just tell me one thing, how do you even know Juvia."
Gajeel's eyes flickered with discomfort for a moment, before he spoke.
"That's not really any of your business, now is it?" Gajeel forcefully pushed past Gray heading back into Juvia's room, closing the door behind him. However Gray got a chance to see a glimpse of Juvia's apologetic face right before the door slammed closed.
Gray quickly headed home in a foul mood. When he passed Ultear who chastised him for not returning home right after school, he didn't even return his usual snide comments.
Throwing his belongings in the corner of his room, Gray plopped himself onto his bed. All his thoughts were consumed by the multiple circumstances surrounding Juvia and the Gajeel fellow.
'Who was this Gajeel guy anyway? He looked way too old to be a previous school friend, and with all those piercings he could be bad trouble. What if that guy was forcing Juvia to do something, or what if he was a drug dealer, maybe even a pimp?' Gray shook his head of his wild thoughts; his mind soon went back to thoughts of Juvia and her crazy imagination. 'So, she's rubbing off on me."
A smirk soon graced his normally crest-fallen face.
However the rapid banging at his door soon took that away.
"What do you want Ultear!"Gray yelled from his bed.
"Don't yell at me ya little brat," Ultear screamed back. "Someone's at the door for ya."
Reluctantly Gray carried himself off his bed, and headed towards the front door. But not before Ultear started to tease him.
"It's a girl you know; don't tell me ya got her pregnant." Ultear smirked at his blushing reaction.
"Shut it!"
Opening the front door Gray stared at the blue haired beauty standing in front of him.
"Juvia, what are you doing here?"
"Um, Juvia just-"
Ultear's blazing voice soon interrupted the stuttering girl.
"Well ain't ya gonna invite her in, ice for brain."
"Not with you around, you old hag!" Gray yelled back.
Stepping onto the porch Gray gestured for them to sit on the porch swing. After settling in the seat Juvia continued.
"Ju-juvia is very sorry about today Gray-san. Gajeel-kun has very, uh, very demanding personality."
"It's alright, really. It's nothing to get worked up about." Gray stated, "I just got one question?"
"A question?" Juvia slightly cocked her head to the side in bewilderment. 'What could he possibly want to ask Juvia?'
"How'd you meet a guy like him anyway?"
Gray knew it wasn't his place to ask the question, again. But he just had to know. He wanted to unravel at least one secret that surrounded Juvia.
That was until he saw that Juvia's eyes started watering. He never thought that this topic could make her cry, that was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Uh, listen Juvia. If you don't want to talk about it it's fine. Really."
Juvia quickly rubbed away the tears shaking her head.
"No, Gray-san has the right to know."
Gray waited for Juvia to calm down; he didn't really know what to do. Should he comfort her? But wouldn't that make the situation awkward? He decided to just sit there, which in his case was still extremely awkward.
Juvia finally spoke up, drying the last remaining tears from her eyes.
"You okay." Gray finally spat out.
With a nod of her head Juvia, took in a deep breath.
"Well, as Juvia said before Gajeel-kun is a very special childhood friend. When we were younger Juvia always use to follow around Gajeel-kun in the orphanage, even though Gajeel-kun would make it really clear that he didn't want Juvia around him, but still Juvia would do it anyway.
"Wait, you were and orphan?" Gray interrupted
"Shh, Gray-sam..." Quickly clearing her thoughts, Juvia began again. "Shh, Gray-san. Juvia is not finished with her story."
Leaning back against the swing Gray smirked. "Okay, fine. Continue, I'll hold my questions till the end.
"Thank you," Juvia smiled back. "Anyhow when Juvia soon got adopted, Juvia and Gajeel-kun would constantly write letters to each other. But after awhile those stopped, and then things happened that made Juvia not contact Gajeel-kun for a long time."
Gray was about to interrupt again, but thought otherwise, since Juvia was so engrossed in her story telling. However the look in her eye when she mentioned something happening disturbed him.
"Juvia had heard that Gajeel-kun went to the police academy when she became a freshman. However we never got in contact." After that Juvia's voice took on a hushed tone."When things took a turn for the worst for Juvia, out of nowhere Gajeel-kun burst in and saved Juvia. Soon after Juvia soon got adopted again, however Juvia's new foster parents ran away after about a month. So Gajeel-kun now checks up on Juvia occasionally when he gets time off from work."
Gray calmly looked over at Juvia, trying to soak in all that she told him. He noticed that there were parts in her story that were intentionally left out and he couldn't help but also notice about the way she told her story. Since Juvia spoke in third person it made him feel like she was telling any old story and not a story about herself. There were tons of questions forming in his mind, but he didn't feel like he had the right to ask. After all he was basically a stranger.
"Any questions?" Juvia asked. Her eyes basically pleaded him to not ask the obvious question.
Gray shook his head wantonly. "Nope, I'm good."
To be honest, at that moment one of the biggest things that surprised Gray was that that Gajeel guy was an officer of the law.
Juvia smiled at him, and before either of them knew it she hugged him. Caught off guard Gray slowly eased into the hug, soon holding her like he never wanted to let go.
She whispered."Thank you Gray-san, for listening to Juvia."
"Anytime."
Slowly they pulled away from each; they sat in the comforting silence of the spring breeze. Enjoying each other's company and watching the quiet suburban sidewalk.
Moments later Juvia let out a contempt sigh. "Well then, Juvia should be heading home."
"I'll walk with you. You must get lonely having to walk so slowly on those crutches." Gray said sincerely.
A blush rocketed across Juvia's face. "Thank you, Gray-san." However Juvia's blush soon faded after an idea popped into her head.
"But first," She yelled energetically standing up from the swing."To the pool!"
"What!" Gray deadpanned.
"Juvia still has to make you into a champion Gray-san. Remember, Juvia's future depends on it."
Her eyes twinkled from excitement and the pumped up energy flowing through her, giving her –in Gray's opinion- the most adorable expression –not that he would ever admit it.-
"Fine, fine. I'll go get my stuff." Gray lightly chuckled to himself.
A/N: So that's it for now. I now know what direction I'm going in for this story. I'll promise this, I WILL Finish this story and I also promise i won't take another year to update the next chapter. Bye-bye for now. Oh, and I thank everyone for the lovely reviews! \(0v0)/