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Gray wasn't listening.
He was eating a sandwich and enjoying it while Lucy and Juvia had their girl-talk together in their booth, that was none of his business.
"So then he just completely froze up," Lucy was saying, elbows on the table, "like, mid-sentence just stopped talking, and Cana had to physically turn him around and point him at the door to get him to leave."
"Some men have no composure at all," Juvia shook her head, with the easy authority of someone who had clearly overcome that particular struggle a long time ago. "It is rather sad, honestly."
"Right?" Lucy said. "Anyway, it worked out and they've been on like four dates now, apparently the whole freezing-up thing was kind of endearing once she got past it."
"That is quite sweet," Juvia said, then drifted off on some thought of her own. "Juvia supposes it is a little like our unison raids."
That got Gray's attention, unsurprised she wanted to compare Cana's new love-life to their own.
Lucy blinked. "...How is that like a unison raid?"
"Two things that you wouldn't think to fit together smoothly, somehow finding their rhythm anyway," Juvia said, entirely pleased with the comparison she'd just invented on the spot. "It is the same principle."
"What do you mean?" Gray asked after he swallowed his sandwich. "Ice and water are like the first thing that people would think are compatible."
"Not our Unison Raid, sillly," Juvia giggled and rubbed a hand on his arm. "Lucy and Juvia's Unison Raid."
"Wait, what?" He startled and placed his sandwich down.
"Our Unison Raid is so fun!" Lucy said excitedly and to Gray's irritated grabbed one of Juvia's hand across the table, "like, every time we do it I get this little jolt right before it comes out."
"Juvia feels it exactly the same way," Juvia said, lighting up instantly and beaming at Lucy. "It is like breathing at the same time as someone else. Juvia has always loved it."
Gray's breathing almost stopped at her phrase. "Always?"
Breathing at the same time as someone else.
That was… okay.
It was fine.
That was a phrase Juvia had used before. About him and hearing it get handed out to somebody else's Unison Raid with her like it was just a general observation about magic did something unpleasant in his stomach.
"See!" Lucy sat up straighter. "I knew it wasn't just me being dramatic about it."
"Oh, you are never dramatic about anything," Juvia said, deadly straight faced, and Lucy snorted into her drink which made Juvia break her false-seriousness and giggle.
"How long have you two even been doing unison raids together?" He was frowning, he couldn't help it really.
"Since the Tower of Heaven incident," Juvia said, cheerfully, which was somehow the worst part, that it wasn't even a hard question for her to answer.
Before the one with him.
There was a version of Juvia's life that existed before him and he knew that, he was a grown man and he understood how time worked but there was something specifically irritating about the idea that this, the falling-into-step-with-someone-else's-magic thing that he'd come to think of as their-thing somewhere along the way, had a whole prior chapter starring Lucy.
"That's right! It was the moment the two of us became really close," Lucy added, blissfully unaware she was twisting a knife into his heart.
"Huh," Gray said. It came out flatter than he meant it to. "And what did you mean by always loved it?"
"Oh, Juvia's magic is very connected to her emotions so she is able to do it easily," she shrugged and looked around the guild hall for a moment. "She could do one with each of the Element 4, and Gajeel. She really wants to try it with Laxus but Freed didn't like her asking that of him." She looked sheepish at the end and he felt like his insides were on fire at her words.
Laxus?!
His eye twitched at the idea of that happening.
"That sounds about right," Lucy laughed under her breath, "rain and lightning would be a pretty cool combo to watch you guys work on!"
"Some pairs do have to work at compatibility for a long time before it can happen though," Juvia went on and her gaze landed on Gray, "but Juvia and Lucy found it almost immediately. It is rare, Juvia thinks. So special."
Special. Gray's grip on his own arm tightened enough to leave marks.
Then, because apparently today had a theme, "hey, actually do you think it would hit even harder if I did it in a Star Dress? Like, my Aquarius form combined with your water, that could be insane."
"Juvia thinks that is a wonderful idea," Juvia clapped her hands together in excitement. "Our compatibility would likely be even stronger."
That was it.
He finally short-circuited whatever restraint he'd been running on so far.
"So you're telling me," he began, "you'd be fusing your magic together and touching each other in some way, all while Lucy is in a bikini?!"
It was not the point he meant to make.
The actual point was something closer to that's ours, except he had absolutely no idea on how to say that out loud without sounding ridiculous and like a child being forced to share his toys.
Both women turned to look at him with the exact same confused expression.
"...It's a combat outfit, Gray," Lucy said slowly. "I use it all the time in fights."
"Why would that even matter?" Juvia added on, equally baffled.
"It doesn't," Gray said, too fast and crossed his arms. "I don't have a problem with it."
"You have a problem with something," Lucy continued and he ground his jaw while trying not to glare at her. "Also, you're leaking."
Gray looked down and saw his glass of water bad complete frosted over. He hadn’t realized his magic had activated. He forced his hands to relax, forced his breathing to even out, and the frost receded.
Juvia reached up and touched Gray’s cheek. “Gray-sama does look quite tense. Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," his voice was low. "Just… a headache."
"Maybe Juvia should get him another drink.”
Before he could respond, she was on her feet and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before she left, gliding toward the bar with her blue dress swaying with each step.
Gray watched her go, his eyes tracking her until she was out of earshot.
Then he turned to Lucy.
The shift was immediate. His expression flattened, his eyes went dark and sharp, the kind of look he usually reserved for enemies on the battlefield. Frost crept along the edge of the table and the temperature around them fell to zero before he could help it.
Lucy blinked. “Um, Gray?”
He was being ridiculous.
He knew he was being ridiculous.
"Maybe you are a love rival after all," he said, too loudly, eyes wild and pointing at her like he'd caught her at something.
Lucy stared at him. "...What?"
"You heard me." He was committed now, there was no taking it back now. "Special compatibility? A rhythm you found immediately togther?"
"Gray, it's a fighting technique."
"That's what a love rival would say." He jabbed a finger at her, fully aware of how deranged this sounded and no longer able to stop it from escaping him. "You're not taking her from me, I don't care how in sync you two are."
Lucy blinked at him for a long moment, "...What are you talking about," she said flatly.
"I'm just warning you to leave her alone."
"Gray, I have a boyfriend. I'm not going to date Juvia!"
"That's not the point."
"What is the point?" Lucy rolled her eyes which did not help his mood towards her.
"The point is she's mine, Lucy."
"Nobody said she wasn't!" The blonde threw her arms up in the air, looking at a loss for words now.
Behind him, Juvia arrived back at the bar with the drink at precisely the right moment to catch the tail end of what he had said, took one look at Gray and beamed like Christmas had come early.
"Gray-sama, you want to claim Juvia in front of Lucy?" She was delighted, sliding back onto her stool and wrapping herself around him immediately.
Lucy was deadpan, already reaching for her drink again like she'd fully surrendered to the idea. "He just informed me, unprompted by the way, that I am never to take you from him."
"That is so sweet," Juvia said warmly, a blush on her cheeks and leaned her body weight against Gray. The motion made him shoot Lucy a smug look as his girlfriend smothered him.
"You are both as insane as the other," Lucy replied and gave Gray an unimpressed glare.
Gray opened his mouth to bite back but Juvia rested her head on his shoulder and sighed happily at the contact.
"See?" He couldn't help but gloat as Juvia clung on to him.
"What the fuck, Gray," Lucy said and took a long drink of her wine.