Guess what? I'm alive! And I actually have a legitimate excuse this time. School started, and as I'm not only on the tennis team but in all honors classes and have to get up at 5:15 AM for the bus, I have all of fifteenish minutes to write per day, if that. So updates are probably going to be few and far between, especially considering my writing style seems to be evolving. I'm really sorry this took so long. Hope you enjoy it anyways!

"Lucy! Hey, Lucy!" a whisper was heard, floating into her ear.

Lucy turned, only to see Gray Fullbuster peering out from behind a pillar. Glancing around as to make sure no one was watching, he snatched her hand and pulled her next to it with him. Lucy was fairly annoyed, as she had been in the middle of enjoying one of Mira's delicious milkshakes.

"What?" she hissed, giving him a glare that spoke of this better be important because I want my milkshake, dammit! Her raven-haired friend nervously tapped his fingers on the wooden wall next to him and took a deep breath. "I need a favor."

Lucy looked at him for a second and groaned. "Alright, what'd you do to piss Erza off this time? I'm not distracting her again." The last time she had done that, the swordswoman had ended up reading the beginning of her manuscript, which Lucy wasn't nearly close to being done with yet!

"No, it's not Erza!" Gray frantically assured her, though he glanced around again as if making sure the red-head wasn't actually mad and looking for him. Lucy figured it was a reflex. She waited for him to tell her what he wanted, and when he hesitated, she rolled her eyes and glared again. "Then what is it?"

Gray looked at the ground and muttered. "You know Juvia pretty well, right? Like, the kind of stuff she likes?" he asked, sounding almost embarrased. Lucy could feel her mood flipping involuntarily. Oh oh ohhhhhhhh.

"Yeah, we're pretty much best friends." she managed to say nonchalantly. It's gonna take all my willpower not to tell Mirajane about this. She wouldn't, though, that would be cruelty beyond imagination and something she'd never willingly inflict on one of her best friends. "What about it?"

"Isortofneedtobuyheragift." Gray stammered out, before quickly and immediately rushing to explain. "I mean, it's not for any particular reason, she just made me that awesome scarf and I was a jerk to her when she gave it to me and so I thought it would probably be a good idea to get her a gift back." He gave Lucy an almost-pleading look, as if begging her to understand. Lucy wouldn't tell Mirajane, but she certainly wasn't above teasing Gray to death.

She made a show of flipping through an imaginary calendar. "Oh? Sure it's not for an anniversary or something? I'm almost positive today's your 478th or something along those lines..."

Gray gave her an extremely unamused look and she snickered. "It's an apology gift. Nothing. Else."

"Aw, you care about Juvia's feelings! That's so sweet!" Lucy cooed, clasping her hands together.

"I just don't want to be a jerk! And shut up, the demon woman's watching!" Gray whispered, sounding like he'd much rather fight Tartaros again then have Mirajane the Demon Matchmaker overhear this particular conversation. Lucy, now outright laughing, grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the guildhall, somehow managing to escape without Juvia shrieking about love rivals, Natsu attacking Gray/dragging Lucy off for a job, or getting hit by a chair from the brawl going on. This was a momentous achievement, in Lucy's eyes.

Once they were safely outside, Lucy turned back to her friend/victim, still grinning. "Well, I think it's concern."

Gray grumbled. "Oh, shut up and help me. I don't know what the hell she would like. What do girls like, anyway?"

His blonde teammate shrugged. "Depends on the girl." She pulled out a communication lacrima, typing a few things in on the screen. "Our first order of business is to make sure Juvia won't find us, though. It would be a serious problem if she did."

The lacrima beeped softly and Cana's face appeared on the screen. "Lucy! What's up?"

Gray gave Lucy an alarmed look. "Cana? But if you tell her-"

"Can you distract Juvia for a while, keep her away from Magnolia's shopping centers for a little bit?" Lucy asked, pushing Gray's face away from the screen with her free hand.

Cana's head tilted to the side as she noticed Gray, and her expression morphed to one of slyness. "Ooooh, I see how it is." Gray's expression turned to one of terror and Cana began to laugh. "Your expression totally gives it away! Good luck with this one, Lucy! I'll distract Juvia, sure. We'll go out for drinks or something!"

Lucy and Gray both shuddered. "Please do not get Juvia drunk. Trust me, that didn't end well." Lucy told the brunette, remembering Juvia's alcohol-induced shenanigans from their training session before the Grand Magic Games.

"And don't tell anyone about this!" Gray yelled as Lucy's finger hovered over to the off button.

"Alright, alright! We'll have fun!" Cana laughed, waving an alcohol bottle in the air as her face flickered. Satisfied, Lucy stuck the lacrima back in her bag and turned to Gray. "There we go!" she said cheerfully.

Gray scowled. "She's gonna tell someone. Probably Mirajane." he complained.

Lucy snorted. "Everyone will know you gave Juvia a present as soon as you give it to her. You're already dooming yourself by the act." she reminded him, already heading down the main road towards the mall. "Coming?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm right behind you." Gray sighed, easily catching up with the other teenager. In truth, he would have much rather not consulted anyone at all and just bought a gift for Juvia and given it to her, in private, but as well as he knew the water mage (which was very well), Gray had always sucked at giving gifts. Adding to that that the only girls he had ever given gifts to were Erza and on occasion Cana or Lucy (who were easy because swords, alcohol, and anything frilly), and he regrettably knew that he was going to require help with this endeavour. Figuring that Lucy, the girly-girl and least likely to tell anyone would be the best option, he had consequently sought out her help. She was willing to help, but her price was teasing. Lots and lots of teasing.

"We could bake her Juvia bread. I bet she'd love that."

"That idea was dead before it even came out of your mouth." the ice mage deadpanned, following behind her. While he spent a surprising amount of time shopping compared to a typical member of the male species (what? He had an image to uphold!), he didn't spend much time in the mall per say, and was therefore completely dependent on Lucy to lead him around.

"What about we give her a scarf, too?" Lucy suggested, a gleam in her eye.

"If you're about to suggest we buy a matching scarf or embroider my name/face onto it, I will kill you here and now."

"You wouldn't dare touch me." Lucy happily told him with absolute certainty. Considering Erza, Mirajane, Cana, and maybe even Juvia might come after him if he dared touch a head on Lucy's head, Gray needed no reminders. And that wasn't even counting Natsu, and the guy could actually be somewhat insane when injuries and Lucy were combined. And Lucy said Gray was dense. Watching her and Natsu interact was almost painful.

Then again, he was sure she'd say the exact same thing about him and Juvia, and so chose not to mention it.

"So where're we going?"

"The lingerie store." Lucy told him without a hint of sarcasm.

"Lucy."

She gave him a confused look. "I'm serious. Juvia loves lingerie."

Gray groaned. "First of all, I did not need to know that. Second, I think Erza's cluelessness and complete lack of tact are rubbing off on you, which is a shame, she's crazy. I can't give Juvia any kind of lingerie!"

His blond friend stopped and considered for a moment, before laughing. "That'd probably give her the wrong idea! Or right idea..." she added, giving him a suggestive look. Gray granted her a long-suffering one back.

"Please do not joke about that."

"Alright, alright, I'll quit it." Lucy snickered, thankfully turning away from that particular store's direction. "Though I must say, you seem fairly comfortable in this part of the store. Any reason I should know about?"

Gray shuddered, not even taking the bait this time. "Erza didn't really have any female friends when she started shopping...there. So I'm sure you can guess what happened."

Lucy covered her hand with her mouth as she walked, obviously attempting not to cackle at the image. "That must have been interesting."

"It was awful." Gray corrected, nearly crashing into Lucy as she stopped short in front of an umbrella shop.

Gray immediately shook his head. "She's got like a million already, and I'd never give Juvia an umbrella, y'know?"

Lucy nodded understandingly. "I figured. I wouldn't give the girl an umbrella either. Now, if we turn right here..." his friend muttered directions to herself as she dragged him down an escalator and through five halls. "Here we are!" she proclaimed, proudly presenting a cheerful-looking boutique with mounds of blue clothing. The shop owner and employees waved as she walked in with Gray, making it obvious that she came here a lot.

"Juvia's favorite color is definitely blue, especially considering that's all she wears." Lucy told Gray happily. "So I thought, maybe we should buy her something blue!"

The raven-haired boy shrugged. "It's as good an idea as any." He then noticed the devious look on Lucy's face. She looked like she was trying extremely hard not to laugh.

Gray sighed, walking over to the nearest rack of blue, painted fans. "Go ahead, spit it out. I'm already mentally prepared."

"Well, I mean, brides always have to have something blue to wear to their weddings, don't they? This'll definitely be a useful present for you and Juvia!" Lucy cackled, nearly falling over with laughter.

"You think you're sooo funny." Gray muttered resentfully under his breath, knowing that absolutely no retort would cause the blonde girl to take that back. Instead, he focused on the fans. Would Juvia like a fan? He had never seen her carry one, then again, she did like being fancy, and Gray could have sworn that fans were associated with fanciness. Lucy had said something about having one when she was still a heiress, anyway, so they probably were. He turned to ask her about it, but she was way too busy gushing over some sky-blue purse and obviously would be no help.

It didn't matter, anyway. All of the fans had little flowers or stupid motivational sayings or some deep quote from a poem Gray would probably know if he had been to school on them, and besides, none of them felt very…..Juvia.

Taking a glance back at Lucy to make sure she hadn't absolutely fainted over whatever the hell she was looking at now, he allowed his eyes to rove around the store. Shoes were out of the question, that just seemed like a weird gift to give. He also immediately ruled out anything with hearts, roses, or anything else that suggested love, as that would instantly set off one of Juvia's vivid fantasies and Gray wasn't sure he could stand another narration. It wasn't that he minded the girl herself as many seemed to think, but her imagination and never-ending displays of affection could be a bit off-putting. At least she had quit the stalking a long time ago.

As the ice mage pondered over racks of jackets in various shades of aqua and turquoise (already knowing he wouldn't be buying any of them), a grandmotherly-looking shop employee approached him. "Buying something for your girlfriend, dearie?"

Gray scowled. "She's a friend." Just a friend. "She made me something and I figured it'd be nice to get her a present back."

The old woman cackled. "They all say that, don't they? Now, what's her favorite color? I'll assume it's blue. We have a lovely assortment of furred hats over here that are soo in style, according to my granddaughter…."

"Why did I agree to this?" Gray moaned as he was dragged away from the employees by a laughing Lucy. It had been four hours and they must have made him look at every single piece of merchandise in the entire store, but of course there was either nothing in Juvia's size or Gray was positive she wouldn't like it. The employees waved a cheerful goodbye as the two walked off, obviously unaware of the hell they had just put Gray through.

"You know, for 'just an apology present,' you're really putting a lot of effort into this!" Lucy sang, giving Gray a knowing smirk. Unable to think of an appropriate response, Gray simply grumbled denials under his breath as Lucy (not listening, of course), examined the store directory.

"Ooh!" This is going to be interesting. "Accessories! This is the best jewelry shop ever! I'm sure you'll find something here!" Lucy squealed, though Gray suspected this was partially because she looked like she was planning to buy at least twenty pieces of jewelry for herself as well.

"That's what you said about the last store." Gray pointed out, causing Lucy to glance over at him with a glare. "Oh, do shut up. You asked for my help." she retorted, turning past an ice-cream shop towards to aforementioned jewelry store. The first thing Gray noticed was the abundance of giant, glittery necklaces and rings in the store windows, and he internally groaned. If there was one thing Juvia didn't seem to like, it was excessively fancy things. Her tastes (except in displays of affection) seemed to be much more simplistic. Nevertheless, he allowed Lucy to happily skip into the store, following with much less pep.

Instantly, your usual Perky Jewelry Store Employee® came rushing over, bursting with enthusiasm and glitter. Gray was instantly annoyed. Lucy instantly became best friends.

"Hi there! What're you two looking for today?" she asked cheerily, bouncing up and down where she was standing. Lucy lost no time in informing her all about the situation, and of course the employee (whose name was the most Perky Jewelry Store Employee® name ever, Kailey) instantly took it to be romantic. Even though it wasn't. At. All.

"Aw, that's so sweet! So it's like a gift exchange!" she exclaimed, quickly glancing around the store and ignoring Gray's protests. "Let's see….ooh! I know!" She immediately headed to the left of the store, towards a couple shelves heavily laden with overly glittery necklaces, rings, and bracelets. Lucy pushed him in that direction and gave him a smile before skipping off towards the section that was entirely pink. Like literally, even the shelves were pink. Following Kailey, he found himself in what looked like a Valentine's Day clearance sale. Hearts, flower symbols, and sparkles covered every inch of the tables and wall hangings, and there was lots of pink and red. Gray's eyebrow twitched.

"Um….." he asked, gesturing to a particularly large and sparkly necklace, "do you have anything less….Valentin-esque?" Kailey looked disappointed.

"Are you sure? These are excellent gifts for that special girl in your life!" she tried, giving him a wink. Gray's other eyebrow started to twitch.

"I'm very sure." he told her, putting an extreme accent on the very. Kailey sighed heavily.

"Alright, if you insist…ah, let's go here!" she cried, grabbing his hand and dragging him across the store, Lucy giving him a cheerful wave as he was dragged past her pink section, and he ended at another part of the store, one with much less bling. Gray let out a sigh of relief. He could tell that Kailey had been tempted to stop at the giant hats section.

She bounced along behind him, spouting useless information about the various pieces of jewelry as Gray examined the shelves for something that seemed Juvia. He barely cast a glance at the dark-colored gems, instead heading directly for the light blue and white ones. Dark didn't fit Juvia - she was much too cheerful and light for that. Some of the heart necklaces were pretty in Gray's limited knowledge, but that would give Juvia the wrong idea and while Gray had finally stopped kidding himself and admitted that he enjoyed her company immensely, he did not enjoy her tackling him and declaring her love for the twentieth time that day (which would definitely happen if he gave her anything with hearts.) So hearts were out.

Flower-shaped gems were weird and square shaped ones looked funny. Gray was beginning to wonder how the hell the girls always found jewelry that looked good in such a short amount of time. This was difficult. Although, he thought, examining an admittedly-lovely blue-white bracelet, a lot of things looked good on Juvia, so it shouldn't be this difficult. Then Gray realized just what he was thinking and immediately focused all mental power on jewelry.

Shopping was hard. Lucy seemed to have bought at least seven necklaces and a purse, as she came wandering over with several bags hanging on her arms. "Any luck? Ooh, these are pretty...no, no, Lucy, you need rent money!" she berated herself aloud, peering into the display case Gray was examining. "Which one are you looking at?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, Gray waved towards a silver necklace. It was a simple chain with teardrop-shaped gems (half ice-blue and half a bit darker) placed every six chains or so. Lucy oohed and aahed for several minutes before calling Kailey over to take the necklace out of its display case. It was even prettier out from under the glass top of its case.

"What do you think?" Gray asked, holding the necklace up to the light.

Lucy clapped her hands excitedly. "Get it, it's perfect! And then I can borrow it from Juvia!" she exclaimed happily, causing Gray to snort.

"Sure, she'd lend a necklace from me to her 'Love-Rival'." he reminded her, causing Lucy to playfully punch him on the arm as he walked up to the counter.

While Kailey punched the numbers in, Lucy examined the necklace again before snickering. Gray was almost afraid to ask, but he couldn't help himself. "What."

"You know…" she said, snickering some more, "the gems on this are the same color as your ice and Juvia's water when she summons it. Any particular reason?"

Gray flushed red and glared at her. "No! It just fits her!" he tried to explain, realizing that his defense was just making Lucy laugh harder as they headed out of the store, purchases in hand.

"It just fits her, oh?" Lucy cackled, following him out of the store. "So your associated color fits her? On a necklace with her own? So much for not a romantic gift!"

Gray scowled. "Lucy!"

She just snickered again. "You'll never get rid of me. Until you admit your eternal love."

"Really? I don't know, Lucy, considering how you keep smiling at Natsu like that, you might have some eternal love to admit as well." Gray shot back with a smirk. Lucy's ears turned red.

"This is your gratitude for my shopping help!?"

"You didn't even do anything! You just shopped for yourself!"

"I provided moral support!"

"In the form of teasing!"

"Necessary to the ship. Mira's paying me in milkshakes, you know." Lucy told him smugly, crossing her arms.

"I'm going to kill you." Gray deadpanned, raising a hand as if to perform magic. Lucy just sent him a smirk.

"But then Juvia'd probably get mad at you, and you certainly can't have that!" she laughed, grinning triumphantly at the instant blush that lightly tinted Gray's cheeks.

"That's it!" he shrieked, furiously chasing her down the street as she cackled.

"Aw, come on! You can't have your true love angry at you!"

"SCREW YOU, LUCY!"

"I don't think Juvia would like that much!"

Oh, she was dead.

When they got back to the guild, absolute chaos reigned again. The source of this chaos seemed to be the Thunder Legion and Laxus, who were running around in absolute panic as Bixlow's babies attracted every bit of metal on their person. It was extremely entertaining, in Gray's opinion.

Lucy gave him a wink as she headed back to the bar, where Mira once again had a milkshake ready with an evil gleam in her eyes, and Gray got a horrible feeling that she was about to be informed of every little detail on that trip. Nevertheless, Gray waved goodbye and headed towards Juvia, who was in a corner with a hysterically laughing Cana, looking somewhat bemused but also entertained.

As expected, Juvia lit up at the sight of him. "Gray-sama!"

Cana grinned. "Yo, Gray! Everything go alright?"

"I"m going to murder Lucy." was Gray's response as he dropped into a seat between her and Juvia. "Was this your distraction method?" he added, gesturing to the magnetic babies and the panicking guild members. Cana snickered, which Gray took to mean yes.

"Distraction?" Juvia asked curiously. Was that what Cana hadn't been telling her?

Gray awkwardly tapped his hand on the table and handed her a velvet blue bag. "I was sort of a jerk to you when you gave me that scarf, and I figured it would be nice to make it up to you." he muttered, dropping the bag in her hand.

Juvia was stunned enough that she forgot to conjure up a ridiculous fantasy of Gray proposing to her and them getting married that very night. "This is for Juvia?" she asked, pulling out the ribbons and revealing the necklace.

Cana whistled. "Damn, Gray, for a girl you apparently aren't in love with, that's a seriously good present."

"You're as bad as Lucy," Gray told her, still looking at Juvia, who was examining her present. She glanced up at him.

"So Gray-sama had Cana-san distract Juvia so that Gray-sama could buy Juvia the necklace?"

"Uh, pretty much, yeah."

Juvia smiled softly, clasping the necklace around her neck. "Thank you, Gray-sama." she said quietly, running her fingers over the gems. "It's beautiful."

Gray was honestly extremely surprised. He knew Juvia would like it, but he had expected a tackle and a shriek of 'Gray-sama I love you!' (several of them, in fact). He had not expected a calm Juvia. It was….rather nice, actually. Gray may or may not have really liked this Juvia. And come to think of it, he had never seen her smile like that before…..

Then Cana sent him a wink and he internally shuddered. From that, it was fairly obvious Cana was behind this sudden change, and Gray was now imagining the various stories she must have told Juvia while bringing about this change. Cana Alberona was not someone you really wanted to trust with your deepest secrets (which Gray had done), and he was now seriously regretting that decision.

He dared glance over at Juvia again and immediately noticed that 1.) the necklace looked really really good on her and 2.) Lucy was holding back snickers. Gray felt his cheeks heat up. Oh god. He was not blushing. No, yes he was.

Lucy fell off the stool in typical overdramatic Lucy fashion, cackling hysterically as everyone glanced at her in confusion. "I rest my case!" she laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. Gray punched her, sending her flying back into a wall, which restarted the brawl with Laxus and the Thunder Legion (still being chased by the magnetic babies) smack-dab in the middle of it.

"That hurt." she complained, giving him a pouty stare from where she was sitting next to the now-broken wall. Gray raised an eyebrow.

"You deserved it."

The all-knowing smirk she had to have gotten from Mira returned. "But I was right."

Gray had an internal argument on whether to try retorting, and very quickly came to the conclusion that it would be completely and utterly useless. "Fine. I admit. You were somewhat just a little bit right. Now shut up."

Lucy thought for a moment, and then her smirk widened and she caught Cana and Mira's eye. They seemed to understand the entire conversation from just that look (girls were so strange that way. How did they do it? Was it a secret girl language that girls were required to learn? More proof that Erza wasn't a girl at all- she was as confused as the boys were.)

Lucy grabbed Gray's hand, yanking him off balance and unable to do anything as Cana screamed over the commotion, "OH JUVIA!"

Gray gave Lucy a long, sad, pleading look. "Are we not friends?"

She snickered. "It's for your own good." Damn her. Lucy Heartfilia really was ridiculously smart, for a girl who had been a pampered heiress until she was seventeen- she was always right. In a way that actually made some sane sort of sense (unlike Erza, who was always right in the my-sword-speaks-for-me way).

How had he lived without being friends with this girl for so long again?

Happy was floating in front of both of them now. Gray barely had time to curse before the irritating blue furball warbled out, "So Gray llliiiikkeess Juvia in the same way Lucy liiiikkkkeees Natsu?" he asked, totally innocently (or so he seemed to think).

The two didn't even have to look at each other before they sent Happy flying six ways to Sunday. Truly, their friendship was magical.

Did I actually go and make a My Little Pony reference? Maybe.

(And what's this? A chapter without Crime Sorciere [read: Cobra, Meredy, Angel] at all? How did that happen?) The next chapter will cover Cana and Juvia's prank and the conversation they had about Gray, because I'm sure you're curious (you can thank Chartreuse if you are, they're the reason I'm writing that part lol). Anyway, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far, plus I'm really trying to accurately write Gray, so please do review!

ALSO- for those who would like to follow me on tumblr, my url is thefourteenthdarkone. Leave yours in the review if you've got a tumblr and I'll check it out!