Chapter Text
YEAR ONE
The first time Juvia sees him, he's walking into class, top half literally bare. He's immediately sent back out the door by the professor, who— upon grazing his figure with his eyes— reduces into a stuttering, indignant mess.
The whole class titters at the incident (making the blushing professor much more furious), but they forget about it quickly, going back to their notes, chatting up their next-seat neighbours.
Juvia doesn't forget. He was handsome. Very handsome. She might even be in love.
With her teeth around the butt of her pen, she watches the door for any sign of his reappearance— but he doesn't come back, not today.
-
The next time Juvia sees him, she still doesn't know his name but he's seated a row in front of her, a few seats to the left. He has clothes on this time: a very loose aloha shirt with the buttons undone down to (near) his belly button.
He's been sent to the back where she is because the professor was too distracted. When he first walked in, shirt agape, he sat in the front row, only to shock the prof with his display and once again, be stammered away from proximity.
At least he was clothed this time.
At least he can stay.
He takes notes throughout the class. Juvia can barely do the same.
-
He doesn't always come to class, but he usually does. He seems out of place for the course; Atmospheric Sciences doesn't look like his forte, but sometimes he answers questions, even though the prof seems reluctant to pick him— as to not have to lay eyes on the godly clavicle he keeps on display.
Anyway, he always answers correctly. Says the exact same thing Juvia's written on her page and it makes her smile, even though it doesn't mean anything but that they have something in common.
It's dumb, she knows, but she can't tear her gaze away from him.
She should probably figure out his name.
She goes to visit Gajeel at Phantom later that day, leaning against the counter when there's no customers, backing away when there is— all while pestering him with incessant questions as he makes latte after latte.
"It's not even your shift today," he grunts, back turned to Juvia, espresso steam blowing over his shoulders.
"You need the company," Juvia retorts.
Because Jose's cheap and likes to have his workers slaving away by themselves.
"Hey," Juvia starts, once a girl walks away happily with her frap, "would you happen to know this guy? He's got dark hair, kinda spiky—"
"No."
"Okay, but he has this necklace on all the time, with a giant cross, it's actually huge now that I think of it— and he has this tattoo on his pec, but it's hard to describe—"
"If you've seen him shirtless already, how do you not know his name?" Gajeel cocks his head. "Wait— tell me you're not doing those anonymous college hookups."
"No! What? Of course not." Now Juvia's blushing and the ceiling's started to look really, really interesting. "It's just—"
"What? You have a little crush?"
Juvia tries to sputter out an excuse, but what she manages is mainly a nervous laugh.
"Whatever. Don't know anyone like that," Gajeel mutters, and wipes his wet hands with a rag. "Hop over the counter and help. I see a study group coming."
-
Turns out Gajeel was lying, or tempting fate, because a week later he's on the campus grounds, literally on the ground, tussling with the half-naked guy and being simultaneously kicked by a guy in flipflops.
Juvia has to shoulder aggressively through the crowd to get to the front, which takes a while. When she looks down at Gajeel, she's extremely concerned for his face with the threat of its multiple piercings being ripped out, because without them he looks ten times more horrifying.
"Gajeel," she yells, though its nothing compared to the hollering of the onlookers. "Gajeel, get out—"
He probably hears and throws the next punch out of spite. There's a sickening crack that sounds when his fist collides with the cheek of Flip-Flop Guy, and the crowd hushes into silence, as he sways, and sways, and pitches onto his back with a sad thud.
The blonde that's beside Juvia gapes in shock. And while Juvia's pretty sure she heard her yelling for the fight to stop too, she immediately squares her shoulders and cups her hands around her mouth, screeching at the top of her lungs for Natsu to kick his goth ass so hard that he'll like look like a fairy princess at the end of this.
Juvia flares up. Gajeel might be half-deaf due to the boxing of his ears, but Juvia might as well take the offense for him. She contributes her own suggestions, including pointers on Gajeel's stance. She even points out when a crotch is open for kicking, which Gajeel takes quite to heart. It's almost like they're in a Pokemon fight.
The men have started to bleed with every new hit by now, which is probably a sign that they should stop— but Juvia's too caught up in the commotion to care. She just wants Gajeel to win.
Even though he's not really doing that right now.
Gajeel receives a swift jab to his ribs from Flip-Flop/Natsu. He doubles over with a groan, sinking to his knees, coughing his lungs out, which is very, very bad for the acute case of asthma he has. He stays on the ground, trying to catch his breath.
"Oh, you don't mess with family," Juvia hisses, and steps into the open circle to the ramping crescendo of oohs. She pulls back, just like she did when she was eight, when bullies decided to finally get a bit too cocky, and throws with all her weight, aiming right at Natsu's widening stare—
It collides with the Shirtless Guy instead. Really, in her head, she calls him the Sexy Guy, which is a persona he still maintains as his face is snapped to the side. There's a curdling moment of realization as a stark trail of blood begins to leak from his nose.
Juvia's frozen still. Sexy Shirtless Guy is too, because he looks at her with the most intense, fierce gaze she's ever had put upon her in her entire life. Blood drips over the bow of his upper lip, and Juvia feels an irrepressible urge to wipe it away— with her fingers, mouth, anything.
There's a pained wheezing behind them, and Shirtless Guy breaks eye contact to look down.
On the ground, Gajeel gasps and waves a frantic hand in the air, trying to signal for something.
Juvia flinches. He's never been too good at Charades. But she remembers and blurts out, "Inhaler! He needs his inhaler," trying to look around for where he could've dumped it, because it's obviously not on his body.
A sound comes out a Gajeel close to a whine. By now, the fight's obviously over; 90% of the crowd has dispersed back to their daily paths, on their way to class or a lab or the communal dining hall.
A petite girl, with frazzled hair pushed back by a headband, steps forward. "Where is it?" she asks softly, and Gajeel waves her over to the opposite end of the quad.
She crosses over to where the lone, weathered messenger bag lays against the wall, and points to it, just to make sure.
"Y-eah," he chokes out with a scowl, almost offended that she had to check.
But the girl just gets to work, rummaging through its many pockets until she extracts the inhaler, which Gajeel's painted black and adorned with metallic studs.
"You're too nice, Levy," Natsu yells after her, cradling a bruised arm.
"You're very nice, and that's why I love you," the blonde yells in tandem, and jabs Natsu where his bicep's stained purple.
Levy just laughs as she hands Gajeel his inhaler. He mutters a quiet thanks after he recovers. She grins and starts a conversation, but it's too quiet to hear. Doesn't matter anyway, because Juvia's still staring at Shirtless, who's very adamantly refusing to do the same.
He finally swipes away at the blood that's been leaking out his nose, wiping it against his torso.
"I'm so sorry," Juvia finds herself saying, stepping forward even though she has nothing to offer. "Are you okay?"
He nods curtly, so quickly Juvia's sure it didn't even happen, and steps away.
"Ha. Frickin' dumb ass, what kinda man has a messenger bag?" Natsu jeers, stumbling over his own feet.
"A real man, seeing that you're punk ass little boy," Gajeel spits, and now there's a spatter of blood on the cobblestone and also (but hopefully not) a tooth-shaped object.
Levy giggles at this, and Natsu pouts childishly, wounded both physically and emotionally. The blonde, who has a very nice pair of zodiac earrings on each lobe, rolls her eyes and pulls Natsu away. Shirtless follows after them.
"How are you feeling?" Juvia asks Gajeel, kneeling by his side, still watching the disappearing trio.
"Levy, you coming?" the blonde turns back to ask, to which Levy answers, "No, I want to see how I can help."
They bid farewell, saying they'll see each other tonight, so one can only assume they're roommates. Distantly, Natsu says to Shirtless, "You didn't have to take that punch for me."
"Not my fault you're too damn weak," comes the reply.
Juvia flinches away from Gajeel's side. Not that he notices, because he seems quite transfixed on counting the amount of bruises he's accumulated. It's just that then, just then, was the first time she's heard his voice. Does he always sound this cold?
Was that her fault?
"I bet you're expecting payment for this," Gajeel grumbles at Levy.
"Oh! No, don't feel obliged—"
"Let's get her a coffee," Gajeel insists, trying to lift himself off the ground but failing egregiously.
"Let's not go to Phantom," Juvia cringes, "our drinks aren't even that good."
"That's because you add too much water."
"I do that to wash out the horrible, horrible taste."
"Hey, we could go to Fairy Tail," Levy pipes up.
"What?" Gajeel grimaces. By the name alone, he's probably thinking it's a cutesy place he won't be able to stand, but Juvia's interested. It sounds nice, even though Levy's provided no detail. Much less intimidating that Phantom Lord, a name Jose defends at every moment at the request of absolutely no one.
"Let's go." Juvia grins at Levy, taking her hand warmly.
They have to pull Gajeel off the ground first, though, and that takes a while.
-
Turns out Gray frequents Fairy Tail too. In fact, they all do, and they all grew up together and went to the same secondary school. Juvia and Gajeel wouldn't know, but they can relate; they both came from the same small town no one's ever heard of.
That's his name, by the way. Gray. Gray Fullbuster, and once Levy tells her, it lodges itself at the back of Juvia's mind.
"Is that the guy you were trying to find?" Gajeel raises a brow, his heavily-ringed fingers wrapped around a hot cappuccino.
"Yes," Juvia admits, and adds for Levy, "We have a class together."
"And he stood out to you because he's always shirtless?"
Juvia laughs and twirls a strand of her hair against her better judgment. "I mean, he did catch my attention."
"Because he's hot?" Gajeel sneers taking a long sip of his drink.
"Didn't know he was your type." Juvia smirks and Gajeel close to spouts out his coffee.
"But is he yours?" Levy asks coyly.
Juvia flushes. Thinking about it— maybe he is. Maybe she does have a thing of tall, dark, brooding men, and it helps that Gray happens to be half-nude most of the time. Maybe. He's not unlike Bora in looks, who dumped her for being moodier than him, but Gray— he seems to have less conceit written all over his face.
"Levy! Did you just come in?" A high, songbird trill of a voice interrupts Juvia's stream of thought, and it belongs to a beautiful aproned girl with bright eyes.
"Mirajane," Levy politely beams, getting up and out of her chair to embrace the barista that's approached their table. "Didn't know you were working today."
"Yes, well, I had to take over for Mak," Mirajane explains. "He's off trying to figure out how we can renovate this place."
"I like Fairy Tail just the way it is," Levy sighs.
Juvia agrees. There's a rusticness to this place, and even though it looks more like a pub than a proper cafe, it's perfect. It feels genuine. The atmosphere's warm; there's a pair of friends squabbling near the dartboard, a couple with a kid watching out the window.
Juvia can even imagine Gray sitting at a corner booth, lazing beside an ecstatic Natsu. She can imagine Lucy still yelling at Natsu, but this time, instead of cajoling him out of violence, it's to slow down his appetite.
"Hey, are you going to introduce me?" Mirajane prods cheekily. She's looking right at Juvia and Gajeel, the image of sheer friendliness.
"Oh! Yes, this is Juvia Lockser and Gajeel Redfox. They're first years like me, Juvia, you're in—"
"Meterology."
"And?"
"Mining engineering," Gajeel grunts.
"That's a nasty bruise you got there," Mirajane tuts.
"That's Gray's fault," Levy says. She goes on to explain the premise of fight (apparently no, there isn't a dragon in the tale of King Arthur like Natsu remembers). Mirajane appears neither surprised nor concerned.
"They always do that," Mirajane exhales, hands on her hips. "I feel almost responsible."
"Aw, Mom. I know you'll give them a good scolding," Levy coos.
"I will," Mirajane promises Gajeel, who's on the verge of releasing a groan because he's been babied by women all day. Juvia shoulders him as a reminder to maintain his manners.
"You're the belle of Fairy Tail, you know that?" Levy says.
"Well, I'm not sure about that. But if I have any power as a barista, there's something I can do for you two." She digs into her apron pockets, slipping out two stamp cards. "Welcome to Fairy Tail." She winks.
Juvia takes it. Mirajane gives her a blue stamp in the first box for her drink, then an extra one, just 'cause.
-
Once Levy and Lucy find her in the dining hall, they never leave her alone (literally, in the context of every meal).
"Gajeel doesn't have a meal plan?" Levy asks innocently, during their first dinner together.
Juvia, slurping down her Russian borscht, shakes her head no.
Lucy nudges Levy mischievously but Juvia's too hungry to make any note of it.
"He's working tonight," she explains, once she's done with her soup. "He's gotta pay somehow for all the piercings he gets."
Levy and Lucy burst into giggles— and for a moment, Juvia's shocked at the warmth of their reactions, before she breaks out into her own smile. Here she thought they pitied her for eating alone. Here they seem to enjoy her company.
"I think they're cool," Levy shyly confesses, scratching her fork on her finished plate.
Lucy looks amused. "I'd like to see you with septum."
"What? I could never pull it off," Levy waves her hands in the air.
"You totally could. Edgy librarians are in," Lucy says, popping a carrot in her mouth.
Juvia's told that Levy's in Information Resource Management, but her end goal is to take on a Master's for Library Sciences. Lucy's a Creative Writing major, which is pretty impressive, knowing that the program is a total grind. She almost went into Astronomy, she explains, but that was because she's avid astrologist and they're not the same thing anyway.
Not counting Gajeel, they're now the only friends she has on campus. Technically, the only friends she has at all.
It's nice.
"Hey. You and Gajeel should come to Natsu's party on Saturday," Lucy off-handedly mentions one night.
"Does he have a fight planned?" Juvia asks tepidly. She rather not step in to wreck someone's face again.
But yet again, if Gray's going to be there, maybe she'll reconsider.
"No. He's fine. I've talked to him about it, and honestly— he thinks you're cool, Juvia."
"What?" Juvia's tongue trips.
"Yeah. He respects you for absolutely wrecking Gray. You know, he was gloomy about it for the rest of the day."
"What?" Juvia finds herself repeating, this time a bit more hurt that she means to be.
Lucy's eyes widen. "Oh, he's usually like that. I mean that you made an impression."
Juvia's cheeks heat up. "Did I?"
"Sure. Definitely memorable."
Juvia tries to ignore the seed of disappointment in the pit of her stomach. Why did it have to happen like this? Of all the ways she fantasized officially meeting him, it had to end up as her punching him in the face to make herself known. Juvia understands that it's a memorable introduction, but when Lucy says 'memorable', she's hoping she means that in the good way. "Where are they right now?"
"They're not on a meal plan," Levy answers. "They always eat at Erza's place. They hog off on her cooking— which does make sense, she's undoubtedly amazing with a knife."
"Erza?" Juvia asks, a bit confused, a bit unsure of what she's feeling, about the name and the tradition that's been made known.
"Scarlet. She's a History TA here." Lucy's voice turns into a tone of reverence. "They grew up closer than most, and they always pester her. She's totally badass, which is funny, seeing that the boys haven't rubbed off on that after all these years."
"She sounds cool," Juvia murmurs, closing her mouth over a piece of bread.
"She'll be at the party. You can meet her there." Levy waggles her brows.
"Okay. I'll be there."
"Make sure Gajeel comes too," Lucy snickers, and Levy leaves the table to refill her drink, but as she walks away Juvia catches the hint of blooming cheeks.
-
It's a very lowkey party, contrary to Juvia's expectations. Natsu has a cat, which Gajeel's secretly delighted to find out about, but he still goes ahead and says, "My cat's better."
"Oh yeah? Can your cat fly?" Natsu scowls, and he actually goes ahead, picks up his mewling cat and tosses him in the air.
He lands perfectly on its feet, unfazed. Gajeel's mouth is agape, so is Juvia's, but no one else reacts.
So it's probably a routine thing.
"Erza!" Lucy calls her over, and the statuesque redhead that's caught Juvia's eye since she came through the door comes over. She has a serious gaze, one that softens when she meets Juvia's.
"Juvia, I assume?"
"Yes. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," and she smiles sharply, with a gleam that Juvia can only assume is like the Medieval weaponry she studies.
"Erza, where's the whiskey? Natsu won't tell me." A hand places itself on her shoulder, and she turns around with it still there.
It's Gray. He slacks once he sees Erza's company— Juvia, specifically.
"Hello." The word slides out of her mouth. She sees him as he was once, half a week ago, bloodied face, swinging necklace.
He doesn't say anything. Erza tells him it's in the top cabinet.
"Right," he eventually says, and the moment stretches out and he's suddenly aware of how glued his hand is on Erza. "Right," he says again, lifting it in the air, and he looks at the girls. "Anyone want a drink?"
"I'm good," Erza says, "Surprise me," Lucy pipes up, and Juvia thinks of what she wants.
Gray stands there for a moment, waiting, just like she hoped he would.
"Whatever you're having," is what she ends up saying. He nods, and heads off to the kitchen.
Lucy beams at Juvia. "See? No hard feelings about the punch."
"That was you?" Erza goggles, obviously impressed.
"It was an accident," she murmurs, running a hand through her curls.
"A very entertaining accident," Natsu hollers as he barrels into Lucy's side. She blindly yelps as she tries to regain her footing under Natsu's arm and continuous tussling.
"I feel really bad," Juvia stammers, "I don't even know how to make up for it."
"You don't," Natsu lolls against Lucy, "did you see me apologizing to Emo Boy over there?"
Juvia chew on her bottom lip. "I—"
Gray comes back, hands Lucy her peculiarly pink drink, and Juvia hers. Their fingers brush. She almost drops the glass. He doesn't notice.
"That's a lot of ice," Lucy notes, swirling it around. She downs half of it in a sudden, impressive swoop, and sours her face. "Gray, what'd you put in there?"
"You did say surprise me," Gray retorts, crossing his arms. His shirt's unbuttoned dangerously, just like in class, and his arms cover up most of the view.
"I didn't say to make it taste horrible." Lucy squints, and Natsu takes it for himself to try.
It's too bad he swallows it too quickly, because nothing comes out when he tries to hack it out. "Lucy, I think surprise means adding piss to the drink," he whimpers.
Gray whacks the back of his downcast head. "Asshat," he scoffs.
Juvia presses her fingerpads against her cool glass. There's an urge to press it against her forehead. Instead, she gingerly brings it to her lips, then tips it all back at once.
"Rum," she says after she swallows, rum with Coke, but she doesn't make the latter known.
"Classic Gray." Erza nods. "You should get more creative, you've been drinking that since we were sixteen."
"You guys were drinking at sixteen?" Lucy frowns.
"You never raided your dad's wine stash?"
"Of course not."
By now, Juvia's learned that Lucy grew up well, but not with a kind father.
"You're too much of a good girl." Natsu pinches Lucy's cheek, softening the mood. He gets pinched back.
Juvia keeps her attention trained on her glass, listening in at the same time. Gray really did put too much ice in there. Cold sweat piles up against her palm.
"I'm surprised your shirt's not off yet," Lucy says to Gray, who's hasn't moved, still without a drink in hand. Juvia wonders why.
He rubs the back of his neck. "'S not like I—"
"He's just scared I'll pull his nips clean off," Natsu snickers, reaching out a hand—
Which Gray swats away. "Shut up," he grumbles.
"Whatever you say, Magic Mike. You can't resist the call of the night," Natsu teases.
"I'm— not— an actual stripper," Gray hisses through his teeth, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You could be," Juvia blurts out. "Might as well be paid, right?"
The group's silent for what feels like a lifetime before they burst into laughter. Even Erza, with her mature regality, is reduced to near-tears.
Gray doesn't laugh. In fact, he opens and closes and opens his mouth, like he's looking for something to say.
Well, it's not like she's lying. Juvia should be embarassed, which she is in a sense, but she meant it. As a compliment.
It probably still doesn't make up for the fact that she punched him.
He goes to get his drink. They spend the rest of the night apart; at Erza's insistence, Juvia has to be introduced to virtually everyone on the premises, which takes up her entire stay.
But Gray does have his shirt off by midnight. Juvia tries not to stare when she's not being directly asked the small-talk questions.
She ends up doing that anyway.
-
They still have class together, of course. But most of the time, he comes in late and by then Juvia's too wound up in the lecture to notice. When she does catch him coming in, somehow he always arrives at a different time, like he has this randomized variable set in his schedule. He doesn't sit near her, or try to.
Juvia thinks it would be normal, if he did. After all, all his friends are also hers. They were at a party together. He gave her a drink.
It's one day near the end of October when it's pouring outside, not like usual. Moving to Magnolia, she didn't expect rain. It's a perpetually sunny place, and good weather's one of the most attractive features of the region. She almost forgot that rain existed, even though it was all that happened back home.
She does have an umbrella stashed somewhere, but it's back in her dorm. When class ends, she tears her gaze from the window and sets down the hall to her exit, ready to cross the entire length of the campus to get to her next class.
When she gets to the front doors, Juvia can't help but slow to a stop, wanting to listen to the patter of rain against the portico roof. She hasn't heard this in forever. With the emptiness of the grounds, devoid of jabbering students, it's singularly the only sound that floods her ears.
It's only been two months, and now it's back in her life, making her think of every instance that she had to walk home, stripped of her rain jacket. Having to get yelled at by her father for losing it again and again. That was always her excuse, in lieu of directing the blame to the bullies, who'd leave the bright blue of her jacket stained in next morning's mud puddles.
She closes her eyes to the white noise. Even though it made everything feel like before— it was hers. Rain belonged to her, in some sense. She steps forward, anticipating the fall of raindrops on her face.
It doesn't come. She's pretty sure she stepped out far enough, which makes it weird. She flutters her eyes open, and there's a dark binder cast above her head, taking in the brunt of the weather.
"Are you looking to get sick?" Gray berates her. The binder's small, it doesn't do much, so that means his body's taking in the rest of the rain. He's already sopping wet. His shirt clings to his frame, and it's like he's shirtless all over again.
But he doesn't move. He doesn't pull her back under the portico. He keeps on taking in the rain, and Juvia's almost jealous that he is.
"I don't get sick. I never do," she says softly.
"You could," Gray insists, but they still don't move and she still doesn't tear her gaze from him.
"I have to get to class." Her hair's starting to feel somewhat wet. Gray's grip on the binder sways.
"Just skip," he tells her.
"I like Chemistry."
"You—" Gray stops himself, and pulls the binder away from over her.
In an instant, rain flushes onto her and it feels holy. Her chin instinctively dips back and her throat bares itself to the sky. She closes her eyes again. "Do you have class now?"
A second of stubborn silence, until he says, "Yeah."
"You know, I don't only like Chemistry."
"What?" he says, when she lets the silence fill up with rain.
She smiles, a million kisses on her lips, and opens her eyes, staring up at the dripping clouds. They're about to clear soon. Juvia can tell by the glow of their silver lining. The rain feels like tears on her face. The sky's completely gray, just like her mind.
"I like you, too," she whispers.
In an instant, the rain dies down. It's like a weight's been lifted, and Juvia's chest rises and holds.
"Don't be late," Gray mutters.
At this, Juvia opens her eyes to stinging light. The remainder of rain must've drowned out his footsteps. He's halfway across the quad. He doesn't look back.
When she gets to class, she's dripping so badly the prof says she's free to go change out of pity, and also concern for the mopping the caretakers will have to do if she stays.
The residency halls are mainly empty when she gets back. She takes Gray's advice, she might as well skip to wash her clothes, clean the floor of the puddles she's made. That only takes half an hour, so she decides against the well-to-do student inside of her, that she should continue skipping and reorganize her belongings. She even takes her umbrella out of the rickety closet that came with the single bed room she was assigned. Opens it over her head, even though Lucy would probably say it's bad, bad luck.
She spends the rest of the time she's supposed to be in class making a teru teru bōzu to hang from the umbrella's skeleton.
It doesn't rain again, but she leaves it out all year.
-
The next time Gray comes into class, he's still obscenely late, but chooses to sit beside her. They don't really talk, even with Juvia's efforts, unless it's checking notes with one another. She finds that this is okay. She even starts bringing him food. He refuses to take it for the first few weeks, but once he realizes most of it goes to waste, he relents. They have to sneak it under the tiny desk space they have, and cover for each other's crunching with rude coughs and fake sneezes— which doesn't do much for subtlety, but no one in the class complains and they're not reprimanded. They're a good team, Juvia says to him one day, and he doesn't react with anything.
It goes on like for the rest of the term. They see each other at Natsu's parties, at the dining hall when Erza refuses to feed them, at the science department's library and Fairy Tail when the whole gang meets up for study group.
Juvia sits beside him when she can. Stays by his side at every opening, because, well, it's easy to do so. She's probably told him everything about her life and all her thoughts. He doesn't share much in return.
So she doesn't know what he thinks. He's unreadable. Everyone confirms that he's just like that, all the time, but Juvia knows what she feels.
Even though all they can be described as is 'just friends'.
This is how it is.
Freshman year ends. Juvia stays in town for the summer. Gray goes home.
-