AN: Random. And so sorry for the lack of updates: college was sucking up all my energy. But now it's summer vacation, so, expect to hear more from me! :)

Unicorns

Gray was having dinner with his girlfriend and telling her about what happened that day at his work, like he always did.

"…when Natsu woke up he had lipstick on!" He laughed and when Juvia didn't join him, he stared at her and saw that the blunette was looking to the wall behind him. The man looked in the same direction she was looking and when he didn't see anything wrong with it, his gaze returned to the woman. Gray started to talk again. "And then a bunch of strippers appeared out of nowhere. They were very hot. I even got a lap dance." Gray took a sip of his drink and waited for Juvia to lash out on him asking all kinds of questions, but when she didn't, he became worried.

Usually, Juvia paid attention in everything he said like her life depended on it; and she was never that quiet.

"Hey, Juvia." Gray touched her hand and the blue haired woman finally looked at him. "Where were you?" He asked nicely.

"What?" She blinked, not understanding what he was talking about.

"It looked like your mind was far away." He said and she smiled.

"Sorry. It's just…" She put a hand over his. "Wedding stuff. Don't worry."

"Yeah?" Gray frowned. He was very good at detecting whenever Juvia was lying; he discovered that she sucked at lying to him, so it was very easy for him to call her bluffs. And yet, that time, he had no idea why he couldn't read her better. "What wedding stuff?"

"You don't want to know. It's boring." She waved him off and got up, collecting her plate. When she was passing by Gray, she kissed the top of his head. "Don't worry."

He frowned and stared as she went to the kitchen. Something was definitely up: whenever the subject 'wedding' came up, she babbled about it until Gray's ears bled with it. He got up and went after her.

Gray knew very well that something was happening with Juvia and she had the tendency to keep it down to herself, so he couldn't be burden with whatever it was. The silly woman.

"Okay, what is it?" He leaned over the kitchen's doorframe. Juvia looked over her shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Come on, Juvia." Gray rolled his eyes. "I know you: something happened and you are keeping it from me." She started doing the dishes. "Are you going to ignore me?" Not a word from her. "Very mature." He mumbled and when she looked his way, he showed his tongue and she laughed.

"That was gross. Are you sure I'm the immature one?"

"Whatever." He smirked and they stayed in silence for a few moments, before he broke it. "So, what is it?" Juvia sighed.

"It's stupid." She said quietly and returned to wash the plate.

"Let me be the judge." He walked towards her and when he was close enough, Gray turned off the water and waited her tell him what was bugging her.

"Today we went to take measures for the bridesmaids' dresses." Juvia sighed. "And Lucy-san brought her dress to get adjusted." Gray nodded. So far, he didn't know what in the world would make her sad. "It was the dress her mother wore in her own wedding."

Frowning, Gray waited for her to finish the story, but apparently, that was it.

"Uh..." He started. "And what upset you was...?"

The blunette woman turned and turned the water on again.

"See, it's stupid."

"No, no, no." Gray turned the water off and made her turn to him again. "It's probably not stupid. I'm just having a little trouble to see what upset you, that's it." Juvia looked down to her feet. "Was the bridesmaid dress... ugly?" He asked.

"A little bit, but the dresses are supposed to be ugly." She shrugged and Gray nodded. He had no idea why the hell ugly bridesmaids' dresses were supposed to be ugly, but it appeared to be common knowledge.

"Help me out here, Juvia." Gray sighed. "What upset you?"

She bit her lower lip in apprehension.

"Lucy had her wedding dress since she was a little girl." Juvia mumbled and Gray almost couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Did the dress upset you?" The black haired man asked and Juvia shook her head in denial. "Did Lucy upset you?"

"No." His girlfriend said and Gray felt like screaming in frustration: if she didn't tell him, he couldn't help.

"Okay." He breathed. "Just tell me what did upset you."

"The fact that she had her wedding dress since she was a child." Juvia responded.

'Do women drive men crazy on purpose? That must be it.' He thought.

He asked if it was the dress; it wasn't. He asked if it was Lucy; it wasn't. So, in the end it was both?

What the hell?

"Baby, I don't get it. I really don't." Gray said in defeat after thinking for a bit. He sighed and even called her 'baby', a thing that he rarely did. That was how frustrated he was. "You know that if you don't say it, I won't get it. You told me that you loved me for months before I realize that you meant it. If you don't say what happened, I'll never know. Just this once, this one time: please, just explain it to me."

Juvia breathed in and nodded. Gray was making an effort and she needed to make an effort as well. It was a silly thing, really. But at that moment, her boyfriend was worried about her and Juvia's life was devoted to make his easier, not harder.

"It's just..." The blunette leant over the sink, so her body was resting against it. "Juvia will never have the wedding dress her mother wore. If she ever wore one, of course."

Realization washed over Gray and he could finally comprehend why Juvia was so upset; that was one of the many things she couldn't have because of the lack of parental presence.

Usually she was a cheerful girl, but when they met each other, she was called Ameonna because her tedency to get depressed. Years passed since anyone called her that for the last time (it was an old acquitance of hers that Gray had the pleasure to punch right into the face) because she had changed so much. Yet, Juvia would get down when she realized other people could do certain things with their parents and she couldn't.

That was one of those things.

It was pretty common for girls to wear their mothers' wedding dresses, and since Juvia never knew who her mother was, it was another item on the list of 'Juvia Won't Have Because She Was Abandoned'.

Gray was lucky enough to have an aunt, a far relative, which was willing to take care of him when his parents died. He was so glad that he didn't have to go to foster care.

But Juvia did.

She had told him about all the houses she lived in, some nice, some not so nice. She left a year before she reached adulthood. She went to school and worked whatever jobs she could find; lived with her backpack glued to her and slept wherever and whenever she could, but her scores at school were always great: she knew that the only way to make her life better was to get a scholarship somewhere.

And she did.

She arrived in Magnolia as a bad girl, but now had an entire family of friends to look out for her, something that still made her uncomfortable. A girl who was used to take care of herself by herself was happy to have other people to worry about her, even if it was foreign to her.

She told Gray that her parents didn't even left a note with her name on it. She was left in a convent when she was just a few hours old, wrapped in a thin blanket. The nuns that found her also named her. Juvia, in one of the many languages the nuns' spoke, meant 'rain', and when the girl was left there, it was pouring very hard. While 'Loxar' was because when they realized there was a baby on their door, a famous religious singer, Sal Loxar was playing and they figured: why not?

Gray knew she was hurt by it. It was like her mother didn't even bother to name her even after she carried her daughter for nine months.

So, in the end, Juvia would become a little down when the subject was motherhood; and the dress thing was a big deal.

"I wish it didn't bother you so much." He whispered.

"Usually it doesn't." She said barely loud for him to hear. "I think about it less than before. When Juvia was young, she used to think that her mother was a princess that fell in love with someone she couldn't be with and had to give her up, or that she thought she couldn't raise me but would find me as soon as she could. She never did, of course." The blunette sighed heavily. "It was silly, but eventually, years later, I learnt that it was just wishful thinking. Every time she saw a mother with a child on the street, Juvia would get jealous, but since she found you and our friends, the thoughts are almost never there. But there are..."

"Bad days. I know." Gray raised his arm to look better at her and she stared up. "I have them too when I think of Ur. It's alright, we all have bad days."

Juvia nodded. "I know. Tomorrow I'll be better."

"Okay. You have the right to be upset." He nodded and lowered his head and captured her mouth on his. "You know I love you, right?"

"I love you too." The girl smiled a little. "More than you know. You have no idea of how much you saved me. How troubled I was."

"You were always good, Juvia. You just needed a little push." He grinned and she smiled back, her eyes glassy but much better than before.

Letting his arm back on her shoulders, they stayed in silence for a few moments, but Gray couldn't help but think about Lucy's wedding dress and how Juvia would have to see it with frequency.

"You know... About the wedding dress..." Gray started to say. "How about when we get married, you choose some real beautiful dress that our daughter can use? You'll be starting your own tradition." He shrugged, but when the words left his mouth, he knew he had just given her ammo to bug him about him marrying her.

But she didn't even stir from her spot, arms still wrapped around him.

That. Was. Odd.

Maybe someone built a time machine, traveled in time, stepped on a bug and changed history.

Or maybe Armageddon was arriving.

Either way, it was something to be concerned about.

"Okay, I just said that we are going to get married in the future, and said that we would have children and you didn't freak out. I am officially worried."

Juvia giggled and he could feel her get a little better. The woman looked up, smiling.

"It's not like Juvia doesn't think about we getting married. It's all in the plans." She shrugged. "You don't really have a choice but marry me."

"Oh yeah?" He grinned. Of course she planned marrying him. She made that perfectly clear every day since they've met each other.

"Yes. In about three more years you're gonna propose, Gray-sama." She said playing a little and he played along.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

"And why this time frame?" He asked curious.

"Because Juvia wants to be married before she's twenty-eight." The blunette shrugged.

"Why?"

"Who knows?" She giggled. "It was something that stuck in my head since I was a child. Juvia decided everything about her wedding when she was about... 8 years old."

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows in question and she nodded. "Tell me more."

"Well..." She thought. "There's this big light-blue-sparkly carriage..."

"How many horses will be pulling it?" Gray asked, already guessing that would be at least four.

"No, not horses: unicorns." Juvia giggled and he frowned for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

"Unicorns?" He asked and she slapped his chest playfully.

"Juvia was only 8. And unicorns were her favorite thing back then." The woman pouted and Gray laughed. "Unicorns and princesses. By the way, I hope you enjoy wearing a suit that looks like the one Cinderella's prince wore; Juvia's dress will be like hers, you know?"

He rolled his eyes at that. "Sure. So, how many unicorns will be pulling the carriage?" He asked as she continued to talk about the wedding she planned when she was just a child.

He couldn't give her the years she lost with her own mother. He couldn't give her the dress her mother wore in her wedding. What he could do was to give her, someday, her dream wedding and help her have a family to have the tradition.

Because, as she said, he didn't really have a choice: he was bound to her, willingly.

He could dress as a prince. He could even do the stupidest thing like ride a freakin' carriage. Gray would do his best to make her have her perfect day.

The tricky thing was to find the damn unicorns for her.

AN: Okay, I want unicorns in my wedding too.

And it's totally random. But come on, most of little girls pictured their wedding day. I know I did. Nowadays I don't want to get married, but I still think about it just because it's fun.

Anyway, thanks to: F.T-fangirl, ilovefanficXD, Tsanami SaberFairy, bystander, MissForgetfulMe, Ulcaasi, FreeGhostLife430, angelbaby5643, NekoMaji, bystanding guest, Yukari Hiwada, Fullbusterrulesmyheart, PattyPatt, TheRedSin, Guest, superduperizee, Yukistar, Sangami, Chibi Waru-Chan, Xeylah, Armageddon Angel, Fleur-de-Lys-Chan who reviewed! You guys are the BEST!

Next update will happen December 24th because of Christmas! :D