a quick Juvia for a speedpaint! I know we’re in winter now, but bikinis are so cute and so is Juvia??

a sort of drabble that I accidentally turned into a new au.

The slamming of the front door only proves to boost my anger.

“FUCK!”

Oh, how creative. I can honestly say I was expecting a bit more.

“Oh, just shut up!” I retorted, sinking to his level and spitting out simple minded phrases.

“I just don’t fucking understand you! In what universe is this ok?” He yelled, fistfuls of his midnight hair poking out in between his knuckles.

“It’s your fault, if anyone!” I blamed, a stupid decision, really. If Gray liked anything, which was extremely controversial, it was arguing. And maybe cuddling, but he’d never let me see the light of day if anyone but me knew that.

“My fault?! You know I don’t like goddamn PDA!!” He snarled, throwing a bunch of papers off of the kitchen island pointlessly, mostly just for theatrics I could only assume.

“Well I wasn’t the one who asked Lyon to kiss me!” I shot back.

It was a ridiculous topic, in all honesty.

Gray was the one who had dragged me to the baseball game in the first place, for the sole reason that it was ‘America’s game’ and he was determined to catch a baseball even though he probably couldn’t catch a dodgeball if the situation presented itself. 

I was very well aware of what a kiss cam was. I was also very well aware that Gray strongly dislikes PDA, and although sometimes it’s nearly impossible to resist from squishing his cute little baby cheeks in public, I respect his feelings and try to keep any affections I harbor on the down-lo.

But we both have a lack of luck that has dragged us through the sewers, which explains why we were targeted by the stupid camera.

He was so cute when his face completely combusted with embarrassment and he covered his face with his stupid baseball glove and I was laughing hysterically.

Apparently, the camera man didn’t find it nearly half as amusing as I thought it was, so he shifted the camera one seat to the left, to Lyon, Gray’s best friend, who was more than happy to comply to the rules of baseball, handed down from generation to generation.

Thou shalt obey the kiss cam. Or something like that.

The millisecond that camera transitioned away to some other sucker couple, Gray completely lost his shit at Lyon.

It was actually hilarious, but alas I had shut my phone off and it takes about three moon cycles for it to officially turn back on.

Lyon seemed generally pleased with himself afterwards, truly the only thing that pissed me off about the whole ordeal. Kissing me does not make him some sort of hero. It makes me the hero, if anyone.

Just kidding. Seriously, Lyon is one of the finest guys I know. Just a little obsessive is all.

And by a little, I mean hella because he actually wrote me a song, sometimes on April Fools day I’ll hide it under Gray’s pillow and then when he finds it all you can hear is a scream of frustration and the tearing of paper into itty-bitty pieces, and he assumes that the serenade entitled Dear Juvia is forgotten forever, but the jokes on him because I have at least thirty photocopies hidden in my dresser.

So Gray gets jealous easily. At least I wasn’t the kind of person who’d take advantage of that.

Or was I…?

“It doesn’t matter,” Gray fumed, storming out of the kitchen and into our bedroom to stew.

“You’re completely right, it doesn’t,” I sang back, purposely prodding at him because he was cute when he was angry.

Sure enough, his head popped up from behind the kitchen doorframe, pulled into a sneer. “Of course it matters! Lyon fuckin’ kissed you! He’s an idiot! And you let him!”

I furrowed my eyebrows together. It was at that point when I sort of realized the gravity of the situation, that Gray was actually pissed, not ‘pissed’ with a hilarious emoji next to it, but flat out I’m-gonna-eat-a-tub-of-Ben-and-Jerry’s pissed.

“Gray, just relax, it didn’t mean anything,” I soothed, knowing that if I let the fight get out of hand we were both going to bed angry tonight.

“Yeah, well…” He stepped back into the kitchen, digging his shoulder blades into the cabinet and sighing harshly. “It meant something to Lyon, didn’t it?”

“Maybe,” I admitted, because lying got you absolutely nowhere with Gray. He huffed, as if saying ‘that’s what I thought’ and kicked his head back against the cabinet, a hollow thunk sound resonating from it.

“You know he technically liked you first though…” he said, implying that he felt slightly insecure about where our relationship was. What an idiot. If I really wanted Lyon over him, I would’ve dumped his ass into a trash compactor years ago.

“And I technically went to jail once. Are we really going to harbor on these minor details forever?” I reminded, something he usually got a kick out of whenever it was brought up. Unfortunately I saw no signs of him becoming cheery at the mention of my slight criminal record.

He shook his head, almost sadly, and looked up to avoid meeting my eyes.

“Gray,” I said sternly, insisting that he look at me. He was such a big baby sometimes.

His hard, dark eyes finally found mine from across the kitchen, telling me a thousand things that I already knew.

“What.”

“I love you.”

He instantly turned away, no doubt bright red and embarrassed. I really just want to kiss the life out of that adorable bastard.

“…you too.” He finally coughed out.

“Come hug me.” I demanded, opening and closing my palms like a hungry infant.

He sighed, like this was one of the most abhorrent tasks he’d ever been enlisted, and trudged over to me. I was still sitting on the kitchen table, so it didn’t take long for him to arrive home.

“I’m still mad at you you know,” he informed as his arms encircled my waist slowly, and I opened my knees to let his body rest in between them.

“No you’re not,” I sang back, resting my chin on his shoulder and throwing my arms around his shoulder blades.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” He said quickly, pressing a kiss to the side of my hair. Cutie.

“Whatever you say.” I said dreamily.

After about a minute of hugging, Gray spoke again, which was surprising because this was the most he’d spoken straight since that time Gajeel tricked him into drinking a redbull.

“Say something for me,” he asked, well, more told, as he slightly pulled out of the hug, effectively draining away the warmth he had previously given me.

“Ok.” I agreed, but only because I wanted to hug him some more.

“Say, Lyon is a giant asshole, Gray is sexy as hell.”

“Gray, oh my god.”

“It’ll make me feel better.”

“You’re five years old.”

“On the inside, yes.” He admitted, but still looked at me expectantly.

I sighed, not believing that I was actually saying this.

“Lyon is a giant asshole, Gray is sexy as hell.”

A small smile bit at his cheeks, and his eyes bore into mine, like he wanted something more.

Oh.

Oh.

Those were his sexy eyes.

I bit my lip to prevent from smiling and leaned my forehead against his chest.

“Carry me?” I requested quietly.

“Oh yeah,” he said, arms already securing me as he lifted me, bridal style, from the kitchen table.

And with that, I decided that maybe I liked arguing just as much as he did.

heads or tails

Heads or Tails - OOC high school gruvia - Part 1 Part 2   Part 2.5       Part 3   Part 4  Part 5 Part 6  Part 7 Part8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 (nalu counterpart here) (navia brotp part here) (pregnancy here) (gajuvia brotphere) (gray pov here) (extra shit here)

its honest to god so embarrassing how long it’s taken me to post this but oh well….mental health am i right folks……

here it is, the final chapter of heads or tails before the epilogue :) and the epilogue is going to be the realistic ending, or the original ending, as so many of you suggested and i ultimately felt would fit the story best.

thanks for all of your support! ESPECIALLY from my closest friends, you guys know who you are ;)

(and yes, i DID shamelessly reference both stranger things and smallville. kill me.)

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stranger things

gray fullbuster p.o.v.

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Sometimes it’s hard to tell between fact and fiction.

Keep reading

heads or tails verse au – mild spoilers.

Natsu gazed over his living room, surprised to see one Juvia Lockser curled up on his couch in a blanket, wrapped up like a burrito and staring at the ground.

“Why are you in my house?”

She didn’t even look up, only pouted a  bit.

“Lucy wasn’t home.” She sniffed.

“Oh, boo-hoo. You’re stuck with me now.” Natsu said, sensing that she was upset and taking the small amount of space her feet hadn’t taken up on the couch. “So…what’s up?”

“Are you sure you wanna start this?” She asked, a bit of that signature snark creeping into her voice. “I did kind of sabatoge you entire relationship in high school.”

“Psh,” Natsu waved it away comfortingly. “It’s in the past, besides, you did the right thing in the end.”

“I guess, but I’d still be a little salty.” She mumbled.

“That’s cuz you’re a salty bitch. Besides, didn’t I get you and Gray back by sabotaging something of yours?”

Juvia cracked a smile. “No, but you’re gonna get a great opportunity in about five seconds.”

Great. Let’s hear it.” Natsu said with a smile, now knowing exactly how to deal with a PMS-ing woman from years of experience with his own wife Lucy Heartfilia.

“I just…I really need someone to talk to, Gray’s still on that stupid business trip and my mom’s not helping, and I-“ she stopped to wipe her eyes, “I don’t know what to do?”

“Oh god. Did you kill someone? Do I need to get the boat?” He asked, lowering his voice just above a whisper.

“No! I didn’t…not yet anyway…” she gave him a pointed look. “I just woke up this morning feeling really sick, pretty much puked out all my vital organs…”

Natsu frowned. Oh no, he knew where this was going…

“-Erza’s probably out skydiving with Jellal, Gajeel’s still at college, Sting is on his shit-damned honeymoon-“

“So you didn’t come to me first? Damn Juvia, right here. Right in my heart.” He faked a tear and wiped it away. She gave hi a wobbly smile before continuing.

“My mom has been hoping for this ever since I got married, and she’s been on my case about fertility and such…”

Natsu inhaled. Here it comes…

“I’m pregnant, Natsu. With a baby.” She clutched her face tiredly and screamed.

“Well…aside from the fact that a baby is the only thing you can be pregnant with, congratulations.” Natsu said happily. Juvia only glared.

“Congratulations? Natsu – I take care of other people’s children – not my own. I’m going to die –“

“You’re not going to die, relax. I’m assuming you have not told Gray yet…?”

“No, no…I don’t know what to do! We haven’t really talked about kids yet…” Juvia lamented.

“Come on, he’ll be overjoyed. He loves kids. Right…?” He asked her, suddenly doubting himself.

“Well yeah, but…I don’t know, don’t you think he might be upset?” She asked her eyes twinkling with tears. Jesus, these hormones really were turning her into a paranoid crazywoman, even more than she already was.

“Why would he be upset with you? It was his dick that did the watering.” He answered. “Right…?”

“Of course it was his dick! Now…what do I do? Should I tell him, or just surprise him when I go into labor? Some people do that, you know, at the hospital, there was this one girl who tried to go into labor on her husband’s birthday for a surprise-“

“Oh god, please stop.” Natsu advised. “You are not keeping this from him. And you’re going to tell him in person. We’ll get you that ‘pregnancy glow’ everybody talks about…you don’t really have it now, you’re just kind of…sweaty.”

“I know! I can’t see Gray like this, he’s already way out of my league, if I look any uglier, I’ll have to give him a free divorce pass out of pity!” She cried.

“Relax, relax…no one’s getting a pity divorce, you have nothing to worry about. Think about it like this. You’re married, both you and Gray have steady jobs, you have a supportive family…you’re going to be completely fine.” Natsu comforted. She looked up at him and smiled a little bit.

“I mean…I guess so, but-“

“Sh! No more talking, let’s go get some of Lucy’s magic face makeup and we’ll get you that glow…and maybe lose the sweatpants…” He began.

“Sure, sure, if we’re starring on Extreme Makeover – hysterical pregnant woman edition.” Juvia bit out sassily. 

“Shut up and deal with it, because we’re driving to Connecticut after this to tell your hubby! Roadtrip!”  Natsu cheered.

“Oh god, I’m speaking for both me, and the fetus, please no-“

“Shh…Natsu Jr. will love it, now what the hell does this thing do…?”

“That’s mascara, not lipstick you fuckbag – and there is no way on Satan’s mansion that I will name my child Natsu Jr.”

“There she is, Juvia!! I missed you! Pregnant Juvia took over for a while there…”

“Shut up, if we’re doing this, we’re doing it right…”

Seven hours later, they arrived in Connecticut to find out that Gray’s business trip was actually in New York.

Kitchen Makeouts - Gruvia

“Jesus Christ’s fucking asshole,” Gray whispered, the end theme of the series he and Juvia had just marathoned ringing in his ears. Netflix, ruining lives one subscription at a time.

“Gray,” Juvia admonished mockingly, pausing to yawn. “That’s blasphemous.”

Gray didn’t really care what it was. He cared that Tracy was dead, and with her all his dreams.

“Mm,” Juvia hummed tiredly, pulling her laptop off the coffee table to scroll mindlessly at whatever fuck-all hour of the morning it was and ignoring Gray’s crisis.

He groaned, leaning back against her couch and rubbing furiously at his stinging eyes. They had yet to start studying for their AP chem test the following day, sidetracked by the final season of How I Met Your Mother.

“Hey, Juvs,” he mumbled, reaching out with the intention of shoving her shoulder, but letting his hand linger.

They had been doing that, recently, dancing around each other in some weird mind game that Gray couldn’t hope to understand. All he knew was that something had changed, and someday soon the building tension between them was going to go all Tsar Bomba and explode.

“What’s the time?”

Juvia made a noncommittal noise, typing a reply to Lucy on Facebook—God knew why she was awake, oh, that’s right, high school and it’s determination to slaughter them all with five-page essays and endless lists of why they should consider careers as world class fishermen. Her cursor touched the top of her screen, the little bar appearing to tell them the time, or, in this case, spell their never ending doom.

“Oh my God.”

Gray leapt off the couch, hands in his hair. Juvia froze where she sat, gaping at her screen.

6:46 AM

“That can’t be right,” Gray said, his voice cracking in desperation.

Juvia threw her laptop aside and bolted to the kitchen, Gray hot on her heels. They skidded to a stop in front of the microwave like the fucking Roadrunner, begging it to tell them a different story. Gray covered his face with his hands, keeling over Juvia’s island and accepting his fate.

Juvia, on the other hand, shrieked, grabbing at her microwave and beating her poor, harmless kitchen appliance senseless.

“No, no, no, no, no,” she murmured, her hand slapping against the glass front.

Gray grabbed at her, locking his arms around her and dragging her out of attack range.

“This isn’t possible,” Juvia moaned, struggling against him for no reason other than to heighten the dramatics of their predicament.

She whirled in his arms, forcing him to adjust his grip, and he caught a mad glint in her pretty blue eyes. The blindingly blue strands of her ponytail swirled around her face and shoulders, giving her the look of a storm. Gray wondered what it said about him that he would gladly be consumed by her.

“What time did you get here?” she demanded, puzzling out the logic of their genuinely awful situation.

“Around eight?” he acquiesced, knowing she needed to lay the details out to wrap her head around how unfailingly stupid they were.

“Twenty-four episodes,” she mumbled, her eyes trained intensely on Gray’s shirt. “Twenty-ish minutes each, so about three episodes an hour plus dinner, which was like forty minutes…”

Gray watched as Juvia’s face crumbled in dawning realization. “Eight hours and forty-six minutes,” she whispered, damning them both.

They stood in the silence of early morning, two helpless teenagers who were going to fail AP chemistry because of Netflix.

“I’m going to sue Reed Hastings,” Juvia said, looking very near tears. Gray wasn’t feeling much better than she was. She turned on him, large eyes wet and manic. “How could you let this happen?!”

Gray’s jaw dropped. “Me?!” he choked out.

“Yes, you!” Juvia tried to swing her hands down to showcase how upset she was, but was hindered by Gray’s arms, still resting comfortably on her waist. “You know how I am with binging, why didn’t you stop me?!”

Gray, for some reason unbeknownst to him, did not let go of her, despite the rising tension in the room.

“I came here to study!” he yelled back, bewildered. “You were the one who brought up how gay you are for Lily!”

Juvia scoffed, the motion of her head causing her long blue tail to bob in pure indignation. “Everyone is gay for Lily Aldrin, Gray, what do you expect me to do about it?”

“Maybe not bring it up when we’re in the middle of reviewing the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation?!”

“Screw Henderson-Hasselbalch and their fucking equation,” Juvia screeched, her hands waving dangerously above her head. “I’m going to fail this test and go back in time to kill them with Ms. Drake’s precious fucking burettes!”

Gray stared at her, raging away in his arms in her kitchen at 6:53 in the fucking morning.

“Juvia,” he breathed, interrupting her tirade, and her eyes snapped to his, burning him inside out.

“What.” she snapped.

“I think I’m fucking in love with you.”

There were exactly two moments in his life when Gray had done something stupid enough to nearly cost him Juvia Lockser, and here he was, adding another moment to that list. His mind reeled, finally catching up with his mouth, and he stammered out nonsense.

Tsar Bomba his ass, he felt so hot the sun may as well have exploded. Actually, that sounded like a wonderful idea, if the sun would just do him a favor and supernova billions of years early, killing them both instantly, then the pathetic legacy of Gray Fullbuster could die here in this kitchen.

Before he could say anything of actual value after declaring his love to Juvia in quite possibly the most unromantic setting in the fucking universe, she pressed her hands against either side of his face.

“Say it again,” she murmured.

Gray looked at her, really looked, drowning himself in the ocean that swam in her eyes. Fuck it.

“Juvia Lockser,” he said, his voice low and gruff as his hands rose to circle around her wrists. “I love you.”

“Holy shit,” Juvia swore, moving at the speed of fucking light. 3 x 10^8 meters per second. Gray fucking hated chemistry.

Her mouth crashed against his and Gray lost himself in her, in the way her hands clutched at his neck or his hair, in the line of her body, pressed perfectly against him. A hand cupped her face, thumb running along her cheekbone as Gray kissed Juvia with everything he had in him. She reciprocated in kind, melting into him like the chocolate she’d made for him for his birthday so they could make stove s’mores. God Gray wanted to make stove s’mores with the beautiful girl in his arms for the rest of his fucking life.

Juvia gasped when he bit her lip, and the kiss turned from intense to sloppy high school makeout. Gray’s hands wandered to Juvia’s thighs and she jumped upwards, disrupting the motion of their kiss and locking her legs around his waist. He held her weight easily, turning to set her on the island so he could tangle a hand in her hair. They parted for breath, panting.

As soon as Juvia got her breath back she was blabbing. “I love you,” she tumbled out, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” She said it a thousand times in the growing morning light and Gray felt like he was flying.

“I love you,” she breathed, “I have loved you. For so long.” And wow, Gray must be the densest bag of rocks out there. A few memories came spiraling back to him, like the time in sophomore year when Juvia had been having some sort of silent break down and refused to talk to anyone all day until somehow, they’d ended up trapped in a janitor’s closet (yeah, real fucking cliche, Gray himself was pretty astounded by it) and she’d spilled, baring her heart for him. Gray remembered hearing Lucy’s voice outside the closet door, and how he’d dismissed it as a trick of the mind. She’d known that Gray could pull it out of Juvia, but she hadn’t known that that was the day Gray promised himself he’d rip out the fucking throat of anyone who ever hurt Juvia Lockser again. He had previously been one of those people, and though she had forgiven him for his idiocy, he couldn’t help but hate himself a little for it.

Juvia was watching him, her lip dragging nervously between her teeth at Gray’s silence. He’d said he loved her, but he had so many fucking walls that he didn’t blame her for being a little disbelieving. God her mouth. It was red and swollen and Gray didn’t think he could physically hold himself back from kissing her again.

“I love you too,” he whispered. “So godamn much.”

They’d been through too much shit together for a bunch of high schoolers, but they’d come out pretty okay. And yeah, Gray was head-over-heels, in-fucking-love with the goddess in his old T-shirt and flimsy cotton shorts sitting in from of him.

She grinned, bright and beautiful and blinding, like Juvia tended to be, then leaned forward and kissed him again.

“Kitchen makeouts and true teenage rom-com love notwithstanding,” Juvia said, drawing away from Gray’s lips eventually with Herculean effort, “We are going to fail that chemistry exam so hard.”

Gray’s eyes glinted as a truly, uniquely terrible plan formulated in his devious delinquent mind. “No we aren’t,” he declared dramatically. “Tracy Mosby didn’t die for this.”

Juvia stared at him pityingly. “Is it too late to rescind my love?”

Gray rolled his eyes, pressing a flurry of short kisses against her extremely ticklish neck, reveling in her giggles.

“Cruelty!” Juvia screamed, pushing at him with terrifyingly strong arms, God his girlfriend was the spirit of a world-class bodybuilder trapped in a tiny blue-haired Asian girl’s body.  His girlfriend. The thought made him grin.

He pulled Juvia off the countertop with newfound determination, dragging her into the living room to set his master plan into motion. Never mind that it had so many holes it was practically Julius Caesar. Juvia went without fight, amused by his antics. Maybe she would wait until after the test to tell him about the alternate ending.

author’s note - uhh this requires like maybe slight knowledge of how i met your mother, but like, really slight. also there is a himym spoiler in like…the third line? but im pretty sure everyone knows it? uhhh but this is basically the result of me reading 13 chapters of my rat mom and resident minion hater @umjustkatie  ‘s heads or tails and like,,,,,needing gruvia shit in high school. of course i made them have lowkey vague and tragic backstories because uhh im a fucking bitch for angst but like what is writing. katie i love you, you talented bitch <3 

as you can see - im not very good at angst. but i did try, so theres that

Her heels click against the road menacingly, and briefly he wonders to himself how many times they’ll meet like this.

“You lied to me.”

Well, accusatory statements are always excellent ways to kick off the night. Of course, he was far more accustomed to ‘Gray, you left the lights on’ or ‘Gray, you forgot to feed your sister’. Basic accusations like that. Although, there was something about the way she said it that made him cringe.

He is tempted to lie, or ask what she’s talking about, or maybe even crack a joke, but truthfully she was close enough to jumping him and strangling him to death wither shawl, so he just stood back and gulped.

 “Um…did I?”

Her eyes flare and instantly he knows he’s made a mistake. Whoops.

“You’re so…unbelievably selfish!” She screeches, tearing off one of her shoes and hurling at him. It misses him by about ten feet and he wishes it had hit him.

“Sounds like me.” He drones. Just let her get it all out, that was what was important bout this.

“How many times have you lied to me like this? Do you always do this, do you have something against my happiness?” She shouts, ripping off her other shoe and throwing it as well. It lands by his feet.

“Juvia-“

“Shut up!” She yells, eyes flashing with fury. “Just, shut up Gray, if you know what’s good for you.”

He didn’t. He really didn’t know what was good for him, did he? If he had any inclination as to what was ‘good’ for him, he wouldn’t have told Juvia that Lyon only asked her out to homecoming to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. He wouldn’t have scared away anyone else who wanted to ask her either. He definitely wouldn’t have watched her as she rejected Lyon and taken pride in the fact.

He was definitely an asshole – there was no going around that.

“I’m sorry.” He says. But he isn’t. He really isn’t – even he can’t deny that he wanted her to go to that dance alone.

“Are you?” She catches his lie, perhaps even more furious than she was before. “What could you have possibly hoped to accomplish from this? That I’d be alone? Because congratulations, you fucking did it Gray.”

She did go to the dance alone, she hung out with a few of her friends and third-wheeled it for the most part. He hated to admit that he’d kept a safe eye on her for a majority of the event, but he had to make sure.

At some point, while his eyes were on his own date, or perhaps the thumping speakers, Lyon must’ve got to her. Maybe asked her why she rejected him, that he only loved her and why she didn’t love him back.

It was at that point, he assumes, that Juvia must’ve pieced together the pieces of the puzzles. She’s no idiot, she’d realize eventually that Lyon’s jealous ex-girlfriend was nonexistent, and she could’ve happily went to the dance with Lyon.

Gray really didn’t want her to go with Lyon. She didn’t like Lyon – not romantically, anyway. If you looked at it in the sunlight, he was really just trying to spare Lyon’s feelings.

But if you looked at it in any other lighting – he was just selfish. He didn’t want Juvia to lie to herself, and he didn’t want Lyon to believe that she did like him in that way.

Most of all – he didn’t want to lose her.

Not her, so to speak, but the idea of her.

He was such a selfish bastard.

“What are you thinking?” She asked darkly. “What could you possibly be thinking right now, huh Gray?”

I’m thinking that I really am sorry, he thought emotionlessly, but I didn’t want anyone to go to that dance with you.

“I told you already, I’m sorry.” He speaks. She shuts her eyes and takes a few breaths, a familiar ritual she performs to keep herself from punching someone, he knows from experience.

“Why did you do it? Just…tell me why.” She requests.

He doesn’t know why. Well, he does, but he’ll never admit it to himself.

“Because you don’t like Lyon.”

“What?” She asks sharply, “how could you know that? You’re not me, maybe I do like Lyon-“

“You don’t.” He interjects. She summons up every hating fiber in her body and directs them all at him. H takes it willingly.

“So what.” She asks, hauntingly clear, and although her words are loud – it’s completely silent.

“So,” he begins slowly, “you shouldn’t lead him on.”

And with that, she snaps.

“Don’t pretend like this is about him!” she cries, distraught by his utter lack of human empathy.

Damn. She knows.

Gray bites the inside of his cheek, thinking about what to say next. Talking to Juvia was similar to walking through a field of land mines, you have to calculate everything, and so far his math was pretty damn off.

“What do you want from me, Gray?” She asks, and with that, the world stops spinning.

What does he want from her?

He recalls times when they were kids, when she’d follow him around like he carried the stars on his back and he’d do everything in his power to avoid her. When she’d play games with him and always want to be on his team because even if they lost, she’d still win because Gray Fullbuster always won. When he watched her fall for him – and enjoyed the view, because it felt good to be loved, to be admired.

Whether or not he liked it, he had used Juvia for the majority of his life.

And ever since she walked up to him on the street corner when they were fifteen and told him she loved him – and he laughed at her – there was a piece of her that had stopped loving him.

And he couldn’t take it.

-he was a selfish, selfish man, he knew that inside and out.

And all he wanted was for her to love him again.

He could never tell her that, of course. All of his emotions were kept under lock and key – if he let them out, like pandora’s box, he’d lose everything, and he’d be more vulnerable than he could take.

“-Goodbye, Gray.” She says, storming back to her house, just two doors down from his, and he realizes that he’s lost another piece of her heart. Trust- she didn’t trust him anymore, if she ever even did.

He stands there for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not they’ll be able to bounce back from this. He wants to bounce – he really does. They’ve been bouncing for a long time now, and there were only so many bounces gravity would allow before they’d be motionless on the ground.

He picks up her violently discarded shoes, holding them in his hands tightly. He drops them off at her front doorsteps. She’ll pick them up by morning.

He’ll get her back, he promises himself. Tomorrow, tomorrow he’ll definitely win Juvia back…