Chapter 9

Gray panted a bit when he stopped running. His eyes darted around the streets of Magnolia, cursing a bit when he couldn't find the familiar blue haired mage. Where is Juvia? How the hell can she run so fast? He propped a hand on his knee, just to catch a breath before standing up to look around again, taking a deep breath in the process.

"Now where should I go?" he mumbled to himself. His mind was searching for a place where Juvia would usually go whenever she felt upset. And that was when the realization hit him—he doesn't know. He knew nothing about the girl. Not even her favorite food, let alone the place she goes when she's upset.

Gray clicked his tongue. He still felt miserable for being such an ass. He should have cleared this up. Dragging on and hesitating about this issue for weeks had proven to be a procrastination that ate him up on his side. He really didn't like how Juvia had found out about this. It was totally a different scenario from what he had planned. But then again, he had only planned. Juvia must be really hating him now. He cursed himself over and over again as his legs scurried aimlessly, determining to continue his search.

The sun was already set when Gray decided to rest at a bench besides the river. Sighing disappointedly, he dragged himself along the bank to find an empty bench. It was almost dark and people of Magnolia had retreated into their house. He always gave up when he saw the familiar shade of blue bundled on a bench quite far from him. He trotted hastily, approaching the woman in question sitting in fetal position, head buried in her knees.

"Juvia!" Gray called softly.

The blunette wasn't moving, so Gray decided to tap her shoulder. Still no reaction. Was she sleeping? He frowned. "Juvia, did you hear me?" he nudged her harder.

He saw her shoulders hunched slightly. And her head shifted before lifting up, revealing her sapphire eyes. "Gray-sama?"

"Wh-wha—?" Gray stuttered. For a moment, he couldn't figure out why he was frantically searching for her. She looked so... normal. He couldn't really tell if she really was affected by the revelation. "Are you okay?"

Juvia raised her head, straightening herself to properly meet his eyes. Her eyebrows rose, eyes sparkling with something Gray could never comprehend. He was panting lightly, but his eyes held hers.

"Was Gray-sama searching for Juvia?" she asked, head tilting innocently.

Gray frowned. "Huh? Well, yeah. You were running away the moment you heard—" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "When you heard—"

Juvia's eyes went wide, hands clasping dreamily as she started to gasp. "Gray-sama was worried about Juvia!"

Gray wanted to say something—about how he thought of her as a very important nakama and of course he cared for her—but he wasn't able to mutter a single word when he felt himself tumbling backwards as the weight of her being pressed against him. His hands flailed backwards, gripping the edge of the bench to support himself. Eyes widened, one hand shot out to grip Juvia's waist.

"What the hell, Juvia?" Gray groaned in annoyance, trying to push her away.

He could almost see her heart-shaped eyes, swinging him in her embrace of euphoria. "Gray-sama is thinking about Juvia! Juvia is so touched!"

"Juvia, let go of me!" Gray's voice was muffled against her neck, despite the menacing tone woven with it.

"Juvia is so happy! Juvia feels like cooking something to celebrate this!"

"What?" Gray spat. "Stop sputtering non-sense! There's nothing worth celebrating for!"

He could feel her hold tightened, smothering him with her undying passion. This is bad. He growled. Why was he here again? Oh yes, he was supposed to wheedle her from her supposed to be misery. But judging from how she reacted, he felt as if he was not needed—or his effort wasn't at least.

"Juvia, get off me!" with all his might, Gray decided to slip away from her grip. Entangling her arms that were wrapping a little too tight for his own liking, he leapt as quickly as he could towards a corner, tripping a few times in his hastiness.

Juvia faked a wail as she watched the ice mage disappeared, and then her lips curved into a melancholic smile. Her eyes ran across the river bank, scanning the contour washed in the red of the sunset. There weren't too many people outside at that hour, and it seemed as if she was almost alone, with exception of a few people sweeping their front door.

She sighed. And that was when she felt a fresh drop fell on her face, rolling down her cheek like a tear. She looked up the vast red sky. A few more drops touched her face. And it started drizzling. She was a water mage, and she knew the rain was her doing. But she had endured the whole day, and she didn't think she could hold back any longer.

She never really thought that it would be Erza, of all people. She remembered when she still thought Lucy was her love rival. Maybe her imagination had really gotten a hold of her rationale. When Wendy said Erza was pregnant, she was sure that the father was Jellal, even though Jellal had flat out denied it. The relationship of the two are inscrutable, everything was possible.

If only she knew better, she could have figured it out by Gray's expression alone. How his face contorted in guilt and disbelief. Come to think of it, Gray was acting very weird that day.

Juvia let the rain fell washing her face. The rain had always been her only friend since she was small. She remembered the time she spent sewing dolls—half of her life sewing teru teru bozu doll, and another few years sewing the Gray plush toys—and how people simply stepped on them as if they worth less than a rock. The rain was the tears she wasn't brave enough to shed. Fearing that if the first drop fell, she might not stop crying.

But the rain had stopped.

She had not shed a single rain since she met Gray. Not a single drop. She wanted to remain a sun, in the middle of bright stars in the guild. But today, she failed herself. The tears of heaven kept dropping endlessly, and she felt the warm liquid smearing her face. She wasn't even sure whether it was the rain, or her tears. At that point, neither mattered anymore.

"Fairy Tail, Juvia is so sorry," she whispered, head lowering down. "Just for today, please let Juvia cry. And she promises that tomorrow..." she choked on her breath. "Tomorrow, she will smile again."

That night Magnolia was covered with drizzling rain, drumming in a sorrow melody and gloomy rhythm.

When Gray woke up the next day, he could feel the sun basking on his figure. He rolled a bit, enjoying the warmth. It was ironic how much he loved the feeling of the sunlight across his skin despite being an ice mage and—

Wait. Sunlight?

Gray shot his eyes open, just to squint a bit at the amount of light prodding into his eyes. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up. What the hell. The sun is glowing so gloriously that Gray could almost forget whatever happened last night. He rushed to the window. There wasn't even a single puddle as if the rain had never poured down.

He was an ice mage. He had a certain affinity towards water—and rain was one. He could sense the painful tears in the rain, and knew immediately it was Juvia's. He noticed right then that Juvia drove him off to be alone. And if that was what she wanted, he will respect her wish and just leave her be. But for the rain to suddenly stop without a single trace is—

Gray jumped off the bed, took a quick shower before dashing off to the guild. His foot skidded into a halt at the main door, eyes running wild over each figures to search for a certain blue haired mage. Too bad Juvia wasn't there. Gray sighed, raking his fingers across his hair as he stepped towards the bar.

He hesitated a bit, pausing a few times before reaching the take-over mage. It was awkward, after Mira had overheard their conversation; it just felt so damn awkward. "Uh, morning, Mira."

Mirajane raised her head. "Morning—" her signature smile wore off. "Oh, Gray, it's you."

"Yeah, umm..."

"What can I get you today?" Mirajane was pulling some mugs to clean.

"Well..." Gray looked around.

Any other day, Mirajane would have teased him that he was searching for their resident water mage, how he cared for her and how they looked perfect together. But that day Mirajane could almost figure out the untold story. She was always watching after her guildmates—be it missions or things more emotional. Gray, Erza and Juvia were almost becoming transparent to her. Her gaze softened.

She wouldn't blame Juvia for falling in love with Gray. After all, Juvia had a solid reason for that. But she wouldn't blame Gray for not feeling the same either. If she wanted to blame someone, then Mirajane would have blamed this to the cupid who was doing an awful job. Maybe she should just take over the cupid, and shoot better uncomplicated love arrows.

"Is everything okay around here?" Gray finally spoke.

"If you're talking about yesterday, then I haven't told anything yet."

Gray finally met the ivory haired lady. "Oh." Oh. He looked around. The guild was as normal as usual. The rowdy noise and cheerful laughs that Gray thought would never grow old. "That explains," he nodded.

"I thought you and Erza still had stuff to sort out before telling other people about it," Mirajane's voice was low, just enough for him to hear.

Gray gave her a gratitude smile. "Yeah... Yeah, we had. Thank you, Mira."

Mirajane smiled, that one smile she had always gave out to comfort people. That one smile that had always greeted them whenever they returned from missions. Gray had always wondered how she could keep that on, as if nothing in this world matters—be it a storm or rain.

Speaking of rain— "Mira, where's Juvia?"

Mirajane froze for a few seconds before smiling again. "She went off for a mission. Just before you came."

What? "With who?"

"Alone."

Alone? He gulped. "Is it going to be a long mission?"

Mirajane's apologetic smile answered it all. And Gray jumped off, scrambling towards the exit hastily. She can't possibly think he wouldn't notice—how she had tried to drown him in affections yesterday to drive him away, and how she had cried the whole night after she thought everyone was asleep, and how she suddenly took off on a long mission. She was avoiding him. No way! He won't let this end this way.

"Juvia!"

Juvia's steps halted at the sudden call from a familiar voice. She turned around, watching Gray trotting towards her. He stopped not too far from her, panting a bit, topless. He must have stripped out on his way.

"Yes, Gray-sam—?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Gray's voice came higher than he expected. And Juvia flinched at the intensity.

"Eh?"

"Look, you can yell at me, or even punch me; I'll give you permission for that. I'm a jerk for dragging it so long to the point of breaking anyway. But don't run away from me! We are friends! I still have a lot of things I want to do with you—as friends. We are guildmates—fuck! You're my close friend!" Gray was almost babbling in between his frustrations, letting go all the hesitations he had for months.

"That freeze magic—"

"Huh?" Gray blinked, looking up at her.

"That freeze magic Gray-sama had," Juvia repeated. "How do you defeat that?"

"Huh?" Gray's brows furrowed in confusion.

"When we first fought, Gray-sama froze Juvia's water body," she explained. "Juvia was wondering if there is a magic that can overcome that."

"Why are you suddenly talking about that?" Gray was sighing, partly to catch his breath after the jog.

"Because—" she looked away. "When we were going for the S-class exam, Gray-sama said he wanted to fight again. If Juvia wanted to be Gray-sama's friend, she should be stronger at least."

Gray was gaping; his eyes stared sharply into hers. "You mean—"

Juvia fidgeted for a while, her fingers weaving nervously. "Juvia... doesn't regret loving Gray-sama," her voice was low. "Juvia doesn't regret all the talks we had. It was because of that Juvia finally had people who love her—the gloomy awkward Rain Woman..."

"Wha—" Gray wanted to say all the odds. That she wasn't a gloomy awkward girl people had been calling her—she was far from that. Those people of her past were just not good enough to bring out the best of her.

But her gaze met his, her voice came a little more confident than before. "This is not Juvia running away from anything, Gray-sama. This is Juvia trying to face it. Juvia will try her best to be what Fairy Tail wants her to be. As long as she is needed, she will try her hardest."

Gray stared into her determined eyes for a while before sighing. "Silly, what the hell are you acting all cool about?" he scratched his head. "Fairy Tail is your home and you don't need to live up to any reputation. Just be yourself. That would suffice."

He saw how she finally smiled that giddy smile of her own signature. And he finally grinned.

"Gray-sama is so kind," she drawled.

Gray frowned a bit. Oh yeah, that reminded him that they still have unfinished business. "Speaking of which, how about we start off as friends?"

She tilted her head.

"I mean real friends," he emphasized. "We. Us. Not just me in the spotlight. Things about me and you."

Juvia giggled, but he knew she got what he meant when she nodded. "Maybe after Juvia's mission is over?"

"Sounds good to me," he grinned.

"We can drink some tea," Juvia suggested before smirking mischievously. "Earl Grey Tea?"

Gray groaned. "Stop being a creep."

And Juvia laughed. The kind of laugh that Gray thought sounded so new... And beautiful.

She was fumbling along the books, one hand clutching the wooden ladder she was stepping at. Curse all the high book shelves in the guild. Erza wasn't sure why they actually had such huge book shelves and even why they had so many books in the first place. Levy was the only one who would read it anyway.

"What the hell are you doing?" a calm voice of the ice mage greeted her right from her back.

Erza jumped, almost falling down from the ladder just to be held in place by a pair of strong arms. She didn't even realize he was there; and right behind her on top of that. Wait—how did he stand behind her at that height? "What? How did you—" her question was left hanging when she saw the pieces of ice built sturdy beneath his feet.

"Why are you climbing this high?" his grip on her hip tightened, balancing her and her ladder.

"I'm searching a book, obviously," she rolled her eyes, trying her best to sound a little annoyed at least, but her voice wavered a bit at the coldness she felt under his touch.

"This high?" she could feel his frown, and his voice woven with protest.

"It's up there," she cursed inwardly. Crap, why does she sound like a freakin' high school girl here?

Gray looked up to the book Erza had pointed. Concentrating a little more magic under his feet, he wrapped his arms around Erza's waist, holding her securely against her then rocketed to the level and reached the book.

"Hey, put me down!" Erza struggled under his arm, but their position was a little too high and she had barely anywhere to go and she resulted climbing him—which she regretted after.

"Stay still!" Gray grabbed her thighs in attempt to secure her in place, but she was struggling that Gray had to hold her on his shoulder. One hand still holding the book, he tightened his grip before quickly descending them down to the ground safely.

Erza gripped his bare shoulder, pushing herself up. "Well, you were the one purposely taking me off from the ladder."

Gray tilted his head a bit towards her, wanting to protest about how it was dangerous for a pregnant lady to climb that high because even though it might not harm her, it could still harm the baby. But his voice was frozen when he just noticed their proximity. She was there hanging her ass on his shoulder and he could clearly see her underwear. And if that wasn't good enough to fluster him, the fact that his face was just inches away from her core surely did. He blushed; face turned a deep shade of scarlet.

"What?" Erza looked down to him when he felt he was standing too quiet for her own liking, just to find him blushing so blatantly.

She frowned before realization dawned to her. Her ass was sticking so gloriously to his face, and it really didn't help that half of his gene was growing inside her. She could feel herself blushing as well before she quickly scrambled down. "Gray, put me down!"

"Uh... Oh, okay," Gray cleared his throat, hesitantly bending a bit to let the knight down on the floor.

Erza snatched the book from his hand, straightening her skirt. She huffed, then turned around heading towards a table; eyes not meeting his.

"So what are you doing with that book?" Gray asked, tailing her awkwardly.

"S-class mages do researches for some missions," Erza's hands were busy flipping pages and occasionally writing something that Gray thought wasn't necessary. It was obvious that she was also affected by him. He smirked.

"Oh really?" Gray decided to lean forward, one hand propping against the table as he peeked from behind her.

She froze. He was so close; she could almost feel his bare chest clashing with the back of her armor. Not to mention their close proximity not too long ago, Erza wondered if she should wear something else instead of a mini skirt from now on. She wondered why the hell Gray was becoming bolder as of late.

"Why don't you ask for my help next time? At least leave the stuff like taking high things to me."

Erza would have said that she was strong enough and she didn't need his help. But her heart was drumming frantically. She could feel his breath fanning across her neck, and it took all of her will power not to just turn around and kiss him endlessly. Her fist was clenching on the table. He wasn't touching her, but all her sense was being so sensitive that she could feel him in every pore.

And in the middle of her internal struggles, one almost forgotten memory fough to be seen.

Jellal...

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I got fever and I couldn't write well with the headache. And I don't want to rush this chapter. But ugh, I'm really not satisfied with this. Do tell me what you guys think. And I've decided to update my stories in a cycle now. So I'll only update Fireworks after I'm done updating my NaLu series. Let's hope I'll finish all my multi-chaps. Oh no. D:

On another note, the Gruvia part is done in this story. I'll get going with the Jerza take from now. I'm nervous, OMG. Thank you again to all those who had reviewed this story, I greatly appreciate it; TheDelta724, Medelie, Gordon Hail, TheShipWeirdo and the unnamed Guests.