"Whoever begins to love must be ready to suffer"
(Antoine Gombaud)
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It was a beautiful sunny day in Magnolia.
In Fairy Tail, like always, one of the typical fights was developing, started by Natsu and Gray.
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Juvia was behind a pillar watching her beloved Gray-Sama with heart eyes.
"Have you finished drooling over the ice stripper? It's embarrassing!" Gajeel said, interrupting her mental images."
"Gajeel-Kun is bad! Juvia is imagining beautiful things!"
"That will never happen if not only in your mind."
"Jerk!"
Gajeel denied it with a head shake, he loved that crazy girl a lot, she was like a sister to him, but ultimately, he still couldn't understand her.
Seriously, what did Juvia see in Gray Fullbuster?
To him, that guy was just a stupid idiot that did nothing but have fun and make moments uncomfortable. Yes, he was a good mage, but…
"Gray-Sama is so great!"
Gajeel sometimes missed the Juvia from Phantom, don't get him wrong, he was happy that she was finally happy and joyous, but sometimes he missed his best friend, the serious and professional one.
He didn't recognize this fangirl that she had turned into.
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After a few hours, and after Erza's intervention, it seemed that peace had taken over Fairy Tail.
Of course, until the doors were opened and an undesired guest entered.
"What is HE doing here?" Gray thought.
"Oh no!" Juvia thought.
"Just what we needed!" Gajeel thought.
Erza and Mirajane gave each other a quick glance.
"Juvia-Chan, my beloved, sweet and marvelous Juvia-Chan, I came to see you, where are you?"
Juvia had the idea to hide herself… behind the bodies of Laxus and Elfman who were near.
"What are you doing?" Laxus asked.
"Juvia is trying to avoid Lyon-San."
"And what do I have to do with this?"
"You two are muscular! If Juvia hides back here, he won't see her and maybe he'll leave, Juvia hopes."
Laxus sighed, upset.
"Lyon! What are you doing?" Gray asked.
"Oh, hello to you too, Gray, I'm looking for my sweet Juvia-Chan."
"She's not yours and you're not welcome here."
"Kya! Gray-Sama is so sweet and charming."
"It's manly hiding a girl who wants to avoid her suitor!" Elfman suddenly said.
"Juvia-Chan! There you are!" Lyon said, dodging Gray.
The two Fairy Tail mages angrily glared at Elfman.
"Sorry."
"Hello, Lyon-San," Juvia said, unable to hide any longer.
"Juvia-Chan, every day you get lovelier."
"Oh, yes, thank you."
"I brought you a gift!"
Juvia rolled her eyes and Gray clenched his fists.
Ever since he fell in love with Juvia and started courting her, every now and then Lyon would show up to the guild with various gifts that Juvia would never accept.
"Lyon-San, Juvia has told you many times not to call her Juvia-Chan and not to give her gifts."
"Yeah, but she does the same thing with Gray," someone muttered.
"In fact, they are exactly the same!"
"Well, Gray never told her to call him Gray-Sama, nor has he rejected her gifts exactly, he reluctantly accepts them, but he does accept them."
"I'll keep doing it, because I want to and because you deserve them all!" he stated in a theatrical manner.
"Ok, enough! Don't you get it? Gray said, "She doesn't want it! Leave her alone!"
"Oh, Gray-Sama!"
"This doesn't involve you, Gray!"
"Get out of my guild and stop bugging my guild mate!"
The two began to fight, which was stopped by Erza, of course.
"Juvia understands Lyon-San's tactics! He intends to court Juvia, but he really wants Gray-Sama! Love rival!"
After that, everyone began to laugh and fall off their chairs, holding their bellies from the laughter.
Gray shook his head and blinked, seriously, only Juvia could reach that conclusion, wrongly, of course.
Lyon's face was full of horror. Him with Gray? Absolutely not!
"Juvia-Chan, what are you saying? It's not like that! I only love you!"
"Juvia won't fall for your trap!"
"B-b-b-b-but-but-but…"
"Love rival!"
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Lyon returned often to Fairy Tail, always to see Juvia and always with a gift, which she rejected.
The boy brought her everything: bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches, one time he even brought her a hat, like the ones she loved, but even though she really loved those gifts, she always rejected them.
"Why?" most of the guild would ask, and it was Evergreen who asked the question in one of their conversations.
"I don't understand why you don't accept his gifts!"
"Because she doesn't want them?"
"But he's making the effort! You should accept them."
"Juvia doesn't want Lyon-Sama to misinterpret."
"They're gifts and gifts should always be accepted."
"Juvia doesn't want to, sorry but she does not agree."
"Bah! Do what you want then!"
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Weeks passed and turned to months. The routine continued as usual. Juvia would drool over Gray, he would act like a tsundere, and Lyon would appear at the guild and court Juvia, bringing her gifts that she kept rejecting.
Although, this was destined to change, yes, because today, for the first time, Juvia would accept a gift from Lyon.
"Juvia-Chan, how are you?"
"Lyon-San, are you here again?"
"Yes! I wanted to see you!"
Gray rolled his eyes, upset with Lyon's manners and his constant courting of Juvia.
The ice mage noticed that his old training partner had brought another gift for the water mage.
Of course, Lyon didn't just get it, didn't he?
Juvia would reject this gift again, that much was certain!
In the end, she rejected Lyon's gifts, because she rejected Lyon himself.
"I brought you a gift!"
"Lyon-San, you promised Juvia that this would end!"
"Yes, but I couldn't resist! I promise that this is the real last one, I just want you to accept it."
"How can Juvia make you understand that she doesn't want…"
Lyon pulled out a beautiful bouquet of multicolored flowers that he had hidden behind his back.
"Well, I didn't know which color you'd like exactly, so I asked the florist to give me every color they had, here, flowers for you."
Juvia was left speechless.
Everyone was convinced that she would deny it once more, in the end, they were convinced that she would never accept anything from another man, because she thought that it was a form of betrayal against her beloved Gray-Sama, she herself had explained this strange form of thinking.
What's keeping you from rejecting them? Gray thought.
Gajeel watched the scene with some concern, he didn't know how Juvia would react to this.
Erza too, like Gajeel, watched this with a bit of worry.
Mirajane smiled sweetly and thought, "How romantic! This is such a sweet gesture and those flowers are really beautiful!"
Lisanna, on the other hand, remembered all the times that Edo-Gray had tried to give flowers to Edo-Juvia and she had always rejected them.
"Juvia-Chan? If you don't like them, I can exchange them! Tell me which you like and I will get them!"
"They're…they're…they're really beautiful, Lyon-Sama, thank you so much," she said with a sweet smile, but at the same time with a bit of sadness and melancholy.
"So, you accept them?"
Juvia paused for a while before saying, "Y-yes, of course."
Everyone gasped and some even fell in shock.
Juvia accepting a gift from someone else, another guy, Juvia accepted a gift from Lyon?
"This makes me so happy, Juvia-Chan! Here, flowers for the most beautiful flower in the universe!"
"You rejected precious jewels and expensive things but accepted simple flowers?" Lucy questioned, surprised.
Erza smiled softly, even though looking at Gray she feared the wrath of the ice mage.
"They're really beautiful, Lyon-Sama, thank you."
"It's a pleasure, Juvia-Chan."
Lyon was happy that Juvia had finally accepted a gift from him, but he was also concerned as he had noticed a spark of sadness in her beautiful blue eyes.
Gray felt a great annoyance and… envy?
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Author's corner!
Hello.
Here is a new chapter.
It's my headcanon that Lyon had given Juvia many gifts, even some precious ones, but she never accepted them, one because she wasn't interested in them and two, because she feared that Gray might take it badly.
This fanfic was supposed to be only one chapter, and this is part of the original idea and where the title of the fanfic comes from.
In the next chapter, we'll see Juvia and Lyon walk together and talk a bit.
Thank you very much to those who read, comment, and good night to all.
Until next time.
Thank you to Botan G for translating it.
Gruvia Silver.