AN: Sorry, guys! This week was crazy! I had to travel, clean the house, go to the bank (and wait in a big line), then to college (and face three other very big lines), go to class and in the end of the day, I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep, but here I am! I hope you like it!
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What to Expect When You're Expecting
Chapter Ten – That's How Girls Do It
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"Who run the world? Girls!" – Run the World, Beyoncé
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It was that weekend when Juvia and Gray decided to tell the rest of their friends about their new relationship. They decided together to not tell anyone about the pregnancy just yet; they read in a book they got that couples usually waited until the first trimester was over before telling the news.
They were together, sitting at the diner owned by Lisanna's family, close to the University with their friends. Since there were about fifteen people gathering around three tabled, it was quite loud. Juvia was sitting next to Gray, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary: she always sat beside him. Out of their friends, the only ones who knew they were together were Gajeel, Lisanna and Loki, and not even the orange haired man knew about the pregnancy yet.
After a night filled with laughter, Gray leaned to talk to Juvia while the noise was still loud enough so he could do it without others knowing.
"Are you tired?" He asked her, worriedly. Gray noticed that she was fatigued most of the time.
"A little bit." Juvia whispered back and no one thought it was strange; Gray and Juvia had their own way of dealing with things.
"Let's do it, then." Gray sighed. It was a simple plan, really. "Guys, it's getting late and we're tired."
"Booo!" Bixlow 'booed' Gray and Cana joined him, laughing.
"Do you need your beauty sleep, milady?" Natsu asked in a mockery tone. "Because it's not working!"
"Shut up, morons!" Gray got up and yelled at his friends and then he turned to Juvia, offering a hand, which she took, also getting up. "We're leaving."
"Good night." Juvia waved with her free hand and went with her boyfriend while everyone who didn't know they were together just stared at their joint hands in disbelief. Especially since it was Gray the one who offered it.
"Okay, what did you give me, Mira?" Cana looked down to her beer, confused. Was she hallucinating?
"Gray didn't take his hand away!" Lucy said in a confused tone. All of them knew that Gray wouldn't do that just for kicks and giggles.
"Calm down, guys, it's not like they're doing anything abnormal." Levy said, still looking as the couple reached the door and went out of the diner. "I mean, it's Juvia. She would tell everyone. Even the homeless' on the streets." She said and the others nodded in agreement but after a moment of contemplation, most of them were going to the nearest window to continue to look to the couple. Loki and Gajeel, knowing about the plan, snorted and didn't move from their seats.
"Ouch, my foot."
"Go over there!"
"Droy, you have to stay in the back, man or we won't see a thing."
"Why are we spying on Gray and Juvia?"
"Shut up, Natsu."
"Whoever grabbed my butt…"
"Sorry, it was an accident!"
"It's not manly to spy on our friends."
"I also think so."
"Feel free to go away, Ever and Elfman. My babies and I want to see what happens."
"Shhh! They are outside talking."
"Come on, Erza. Let's see!"
"Mira, we're adults. We shouldn't be spying on them."
"Oy, something is happening!"
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"Are they looking?" Juvia asked once she and Gray were outside. The man nodded.
"Of course they are." He snorted. Their curiosity was so predictable.
"You do know that we will be receiving texts and calls all night long, right?" She asked, giggling like a schoolgirl. The blunette couldn't believe that it was finally happening; she was about to officially become Gray's girlfriend!
"Yes." He sighed. "And this is just phase one. Imagine once they learn about the baby."
"We won't hear the end of it, will we?" Juvia stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his torso.
"Nope." Gray grinned, looking down to his girlfriend. "Let's drop the bomb then, shall we?" The blunette laughed and Gray grabbed her face gently so they could kiss. And just to make sure their friends had no doubt about what was happening, it was a very well given French kiss that made Juvia's knees weak.
Once they needed air again, they separated and, still holding hands went to spend the night in his apartment; while their friends inside the diner were blinking dumbly in surprise.
What the hell was happening between the two of them?
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As expected from their friends, when Juvia and Gray turned their phones on, each had several missed calls and many texts asking what was happening. In the morning before Gray left Juvia's apartment to go to his own, they had laughed and both were certain that they would have a crazy day explaining things to their friends.
Both decided to tell the truth, but omit the pregnancy part if (when) anyone asked. It was just easier if they already saw them as a couple when they give the news about the baby, which would take another five weeks, when Juvia would have finished the first trimester. By then they would certainly gotten used to Gray and Juvia as a couple.
After saying good-bye to her boyfriend, Juvia went to put some old clothes, grabbed her iPod and started to clean the house. She was sure that she would have visitors. Her girlfriends would organize and come to talk to her, just as predicted by her and Gray.
After half an hour after she started cleaning the apartment, she felt a hand on her shoulder and almost had a heart-attack. She swung the broom towards the person by instinct, fortunately, she missed. Gajeel was fast enough to move out of the way before she could hit him.
"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia put a hand over her chest and then took of the earphones. "You scared Juvia to death!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gajeel asked, grabbing the broom from her.
"It's Sunday." Juvia frowned. "It's 'cleaning the house' day."
"You have to think of your condition!" Gajeel said and Juvia took a moment before she could understand what he was referring to. She smiled. Oh, that sweet tsunedere.
"Gajeel-kun… Just because Juvia is pregnant, it doesn't mean that she can't do her chores." The man eyed her in suspicion. "It's true, you can look it up. How do you think things got done a few centuries back? Women did everything they used to do. Some even rode horses up until the day they went to labor."
"Yeah, well… That is in the past." Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Here in the present, or at least here in this house, no pregnant lady will drag sofas around to clean."
"Aw, you called Juvia a lady." The blunette teased him.
"Shut up."
"Okay, how about this… You drag the furniture around so Juvia won't lift any weight, if it makes you feel better." Juvia reasoned with him and Gajeel appeared to be thinking. "When Juvia's stomach starts to get in the way or if the doctor says she can't do chores anymore, she'll stop right away."
He sighed and nodded, offering the broom back. Sweep a floor wasn't a very risky thing to do, right? "What do you need me to move?"
"Juvia already covered it for today." The woman shrugged. "You can put it back in place?"
"Okay." Gajeel went to do exactly what his friend asked and when everything was on its place, Juvia continued to sweep the broom in the places she hadn't yet. "By the way, I'll be gone all afternoon." Juvia looked up to him. "Shortstuff called. Apparently you are going to be questioned today."
"Juvia already expected it." She shrugged. "It was part of the plan to not do a big reveal out of the relationship."
"You should've seen the morons when you two left." Gajeel chuckled. "Cana thought she was drunk."
"Is it that hard to believe that Gray-sama and Juvia could be in a relationship?" Juvia frowned.
"No, actually." Gajeel frowned as well. "It's really not. I guess that they were just surprise, because honestly, it came out of nowhere."
"True." She sighed and resumed her sweeping. "Now, either grab a broom or gather the dirty laundry." Gajeel started to complain. "Hey, you're the one who wants to take the chores away from Juvia."
"Maybe I am regretting my decision." He mumbled under his breath. "Man, this kid is already messing up with the ecosystem in here."
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As it turned out, not even after fifteen minutes Gajeel left the apartment (he probably got a notice from his girlfriend) the girls appeared. Levy, Lucy, Cana, Lisanna, Erza and Mirajane were inside her house before she could even open the door right.
"Hello…" Juvia said, but the girls cut her off.
"What was that yesterday, Juvia?" Lucy asked as soon as she could.
"Are you and Gray together?" Levy was the one who asked this time.
"We will need glasses for this!" Cana showed the vodka in hands and wandered inside the house.
"Hm…" Juvia tried to talk, but the girls weren't listening, more interested in asking all questions possible.
"You have to be! Gray wouldn't just grab your hand…" Lucy said.
"And kiss you!" Levy added.
"…in public like that!" The blonde finished.
"Found the glasses!" Cana said happily from the kitchen.
"So, what's happening?" Both Levy and Lucy asked at the same time and only then Juvia realized that she was literally with her back against a wall. The girls could be really scary and for a moment there, Juvia was frightened with the questions.
"Let her breathe!" Lisanna said, passing between the girls and leading Juvia away from their prying friends. The white haired girl asked in a whisper. "Are you up for this?"
"Yes." The blunette nodded, already prepared for all the questions. Lisanna led her to the couch.
"Let me give her a shot of vodka and she'll sing like a bird!" Cana said, coming from the kitchen. Bottle underneath one of her arms and a few glasses one inside another, struggling with it.
"This is their business." Erza said with arms crossed under her breasts and a little uncomfortable.
"You want to know too." Mirajane giggled and went to help Cana, so the brunette could return to the kitchen to get more glasses.
"I do, but not pressuring her!" The scarlet haired woman said.
"It's alright." Juvia said. "Juvia will tell you what happened."
"Wait for the booze!" Cana said from the kitchen.
Lucy and Levy went to sit next to Juvia, while Cana returned with the remaining cups for their vodka shots. The blunette immediately got worried: she couldn't drink because of the baby and if she refused they would notice something was off. She sent Lisanna, who was sitting on her right side, a pleading look.
The white haired girl frowned, not understanding exactly what was happening, so Juvia had to lean in her direction to whisper. "Juvia can't drink."
Realization passed through Lisanna's face. "I'll make a plan, don't worry."
After a few minutes, the girls were rushing Cana. They wanted to know the story already. And when the brunette finally gave each of them a glass with the vodka, all of them stared at Juvia with eager eyes, even Erza.
Juvia stared to her glass of booze and stayed in silence until Lucy, who was in her left side asked with impatience.
"Come on, Juvia!"
"Fine." The blunette brought her glass close to her mouth and pretended to drink it. "Well, it all started eight weeks ago…"
"What? All this time?" Cana asked, in shock.
The others shushed her even though they were also surprised with it. It didn't make sense for Juvia to hide a relationship with Gray.
"Do you remember that Soccer Party? In Gray-sama and Loki-san's apartment?" The girls nodded. "That night, Juvia and Gray-sama had a lot to drink. I mean a lot. So much that neither could remember exactly what happened."
"Who says that I don't bring the good stuff to the parties?" Cana laughed, drinking her vodka.
"Anyway… the next morning…" She sighed, already preparing herself for the exclamations of surprise. "…we woke up together in bed, naked."
She waited as the information sank in their minds. Even Mirajane's usual smiley face was replaced with one of surprise.
"What?" All of them asked in the same time.
"Yeah…" Juvia blushed.
"Did you two…?" Levy asked, still in shock.
"No doubt." Juvia replied, thinking about the pregnancy.
"Oh my god!" Lucy covered her mouth with her hand.
"Did he take advantage of you, Juvia?" Erza asked, even though not even she believed it. She knew Gray.
"Of course not." The blunette shook her head. "We were both very drunk. It was no one's fault."
"Fine, fine. That was weeks ago. Continue the story!" Cana said, pouring more vodka in her own glass. Lisanna excused herself to go to the kitchen and asked Juvia to continue, that she would be right back.
"Well… that morning, Juvia panicked and ran away. We didn't speak with each other until Monday. He passed by and we talked. Juvia thought it was weird what happened because of the circumstances of it, and he agreed to it. We agreed on not letting that night interfere in our friendship. But it did."
"That's why you two were so awkward towards each other!" Erza said, surprised. "We all thought that you had confessed to him and he had… rejected you. That boy is too unpredictable." Lisanna returned from the kitchen and sat beside Juvia again, trading glasses with her with discretion.
"I guess so." Juvia stopped to pretend to drink again and when the glass was close enough, she could notice the lack of smell and drank it; Lisanna had exchanged her vodka with water. It could fool the girls and she could actually drink it. She needed to remember to thank the girl later. "Juvia had promised that everything would be alright and it didn't. We grew apart, it was awkward." The girls nodded, remembering those weeks. None of them knew exactly what to do to cheer Juvia up, even though she was trying to act like everything was normal.
"Then, there was the graduation party." Juvia sighed. "I was ready to go to it and mend fences with Gray-sama one way or another, but…" She glanced at Lisanna. "Juvia had been sick for a few days before the party…" The girls nodded, they all knew that Juvia had food poisoning that day, and that's why she couldn't make it to the party. Gajeel said that she had oysters. "Gray-sama thought that Juvia didn't want to go and came here to set things straight. He said that he missed Juvia." The blunette smiled softly to the memory. "The next morning we talked…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold your horses." Cana said. "The next morning? Gray went missing from the graduation around two a.m. and he came here. How did you two end up talking in the morning?" When Juvia's face became as red as a ripped tomato, the girls squealed. "Wow, again?" Cana said. "You two are like rabbits, aren't ya?"
"Cana!" Erza said, also with a shade of pink on her cheeks.
"I am just stating the truth. Now that I know this, I won't ever be alone with those two ever again. I have seen many disturbing things in my life, those two doing it will not be added to the list." The brunette laughed and Mira joined.
Juvia coughed. "Anyway… the next day, Gray-sama asked what we should do. He suggested that we went out together, but not as just friends. He said that he wanted to try to be more." The girls 'awed' and Juvia giggled. "We have been together since then."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Mirajane asked kindly and every girl in the room was staring at Juvia.
The blunette took another sip of water and sighed. "Juvia wanted to have her Gray-sama only for herself for a few days. We had no idea where it was going to lead us. And if you guys knew before we were really together, sorry to say, but we do meddle into each other's relationships." The girls nodded, in understanding.
"Are you happy, Juvia?" Lisanna asked, with a big smile.
"Yes." Juvia smiled back. "Gray-sama is everything Juvia wanted and more than what she deserves, but she's gonna be selfish and hold on to him as hard as she can."
"You sound like Gajeel when we started dating." Levy rolled her eyes, and then asked. "Wait… did Gajeel know about you and Gray?"
"Yes."
"And he didn't tell me!" Levy was surprised.
"Sorry, Levy-san!" Juvia tried to calm her; she couldn't let Levy mad at her best friend. "It was Juvia's fault. She asked him not to say a thing. She made him promise."
The petite girl nodded in understanding. "I got it. Don't worry, I'm not mad at him, Ju-chan. He was just being a good friend. It's just this was such a good gossip!"
"Anyway, here's to the new couple!" Cana raised her glass and the girls copied the gesture and drank.
After a couple of hours (and very embarrassing questions from Cana) more, the girls were about to leave. They had a great time with their girly day and if it wasn't Sunday, they would have a sleepover and do even more girly stuff.
"Come on, we still have to get the boys." Lucy said, thinking of her own boyfriend.
"Where are the boys anyway?" Juvia asked, only then occurring to her to ask about their whereabouts.
"Loki and Gray's apartment. They are probably asking him the same things we asked you." Erza said.
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"So, are you dating Juvia? Die, zombie! Die, die, die!" Natsu asked and with every 'die' he pressed the button on the videogame console.
"Yes." Gray said, concentrated.
"About time." The pink haired man said as they continued to play while the other guys tried to give them instructions. And that was all they talked about the subject.
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"So, it's all good now?" Gray asked, his phone resting on his shoulder, while he tilted his head to the side so he could support it while he prepared his bed.
"Yes." Juvia answered from the other side of the line. "They know everything now. Well, except about the baby."
"Good." Gray said.
"Do you think they will be mad once they found out that we knew about the baby and didn't tell?"
"I don't know." He answered. "Probably not. They'll understand."
"I hope so." She whispered and he sighed.
"Don't worry, Juvia. Everything will be fine." He said but she said nothing. Gray sat on his bed. "Did you get sick today?"
"Yes." She answered. "Only two times; morning and about half an hour ago."
"You are not eating well, are you?" Gray sighed. For her 'only' be sick two times, it meant that she wasn't eating properly, in his mind.
"It's hard to eat. Everything makes Juvia nauseous these days." Juvia said and he could almost see her shrug.
"Juvia…"
"Don't worry. Juvia is taking the vitamins the doctor ordered and tomorrow she will have a big lunch."
"Fine." He lied onto the bed, putting his forearm over his eyes. "Hey, I have to talk to you about something."
She hesitated to ask: "What?"
"Don't worry, it's nothing too serious." He reassured her quickly before she could think of the worse. "It's just… next week is my family's monthly reunion. And I want to tell them. Well, the rest of them. I know that we agreed on not telling others until the trimester is over, but I'd like to tell them. Mother invited you too."
"Do you want Juvia to go with you?" She asked.
"Hell no." He said fast and panicked a little. Gray didn't want her to misunderstand him. "I mean, not yet. I know that you and I are together and all, and my mom wants to meet you. You know everyone else, and it's not like I don't want you two to meet, because I do. It's just… they will freak out. And I don't want you to meet my mother while they are freaking out. Especially Lyon."
"You can tell them." She said softly after hearing his little panic attack. "But wouldn't be better if Juvia was the one telling him?" She was very aware of the feelings Gray's older brother had for her.
"No. It's a man's thing." Gray said, calm again. "This is something he needs to hear from me."
"If you think it is the best way, Juvia believes it." The girl said and they stayed in silence for a while. "Juvia will sleep now. Good night, Gray-sama."
"Good night, Juvia." He said softly and hung up.
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AN: Sorry about the late update! But being an adult really sucks (says the person who posts a picture of herself as a zombie on facebook)! Really kids, enjoy your childhood while you can. Now with me returning to college, I have the craziest schedule. I guess that instead of two updates in a week, it will be one. Sorry about that, but college comes first. And I promise to update as soon as I can every time!
And the small part of the boys talk is just to show the contrast between men and women. Mostly, women want to have details, while men are okay with just knowing the necessary. I don't know, I think it was funny!
And if the story is going too slow, let me know! I have a feeling that it's going too slow. I intended this to be a small story, but things are getting out of control!
I'd like to thank: Knight of Athos, Yuki Brunestud, Arcane Valor, YamixTeaLover, Tamely, Jessicutie, animegirl115, Ushiio, ke23, Uchiha Evangeline, Chibi Waru-chan, Darkhope, xScarletxMoonx0, Essence97, yagami rin, FairyTailxoLove, Festus Flare, Yukistar, cybercorpsesnake, XxPlueXx, Rochi-chan, OMG and AliceCullen3! Thanks for your support!
Sorry that I am not pm'ing each of you. I have no internet at home; I am using my phone to update this. But I appreciate every single thing you guys wrote me!
Oh, by the way, Darkhope wrote a very good manifesto about Gray x Juvia and I just want to leave the link here: ( ship-manifesto. livejournal dot com slash 281510. html ) with no spaces, you know the drill. For NaruHina fans, there's one too that have its link on her profile! I hope you enjoy as much as I did!
02/24/2013 ~ BonneyQ