Chapter Text
Gray sat at a small table overlooking the magnificent Margaret town bridge. The rest of his team, back from a quest that took them off continent, had arrived to the town few hours earlier and elected to stay the afternoon in the hotel to rest, before travelling to Magnolia the next morning. He didn’t feel very tired himself, he was quite excited at the possibility of seeing Juvia in less than a day and since he was in Margaret, he also wanted to take the chance to swing by Lamia Scale and say hi to Lyon.
He did get lost in the town pretty quickly, he wished Wendy wasn’t so tired because she knew it like the back of her hand, and of course he was too stubborn to ask for directions, so instead he found a nice café by the river and sat watching the small fishing boats passing by. The breeze carried the laughter of children playing on the riverbank and the giggles coming from the table right in front of him. He allowed his mind to drift, imagining how happy Juvia will be to see him, maybe I should get her a gift?! She’d be too excited!
“Gajeel-san?” a girl from the other table exclaimed and Gray’s attention snapped in her direction.
On the table just few feet in front of him sat a group of six girls and one man, they seemed to vary in age, two girls seemed to be teenagers, slightly older than Wendy, while another looked to be a woman in her late thirties, the others were most likely in their twenties. Gray quickly spotted three Fairy Tail pendants and one guild inspired tattoo. One of the girls was wearing a blue and white hat the looked very similar to Juvia’s when she had her short hair. The girl who had called out his guildmate’s name was the one with the guild’s mark tattooed on her upper arm placed inside a heart to avoid the prohibition on claiming guild affiliations, she was standing with her fists on the table, looking incredulously at one of the teen girls, her outburst was followed by some “ew”s and a “No way” from around the table.
The object of her ire, a teenage girl who Gray only then noticed had a Phantom Lord emblem -of all things?- embroidered on her shirt, shrugged.
“They have history” she said, emphasizing the word history making it sound suggestive.
“He has a girlfriend” The man who was sitting next to her said, mimicking her tone.
“People can break up!” Phantom girl replied nonchalantly.
The other teen girl, sitting on the other side of the table, gasped and seemed very affronted, “I will not tolerate you disrespecting Levy-chan like this! They say she’s already pregnant with his child!” her voice almost broke with that last part.
Phantom girl just rolled her eyes and muttered something about rumors.
Gray relaxed. They were obviously just Fairy Tail fans indulging in the latest gossip, though it was very rare for him to encounter fans outside Magnolia - in Lamia Scale territory no less!- he was used to this type of parasocial attention, worst case scenario they spot him and ask for an autograph.
The girl with the hat put up her hands in between the two teen girls, aiming to calm them down. “Look guys, we all know they are just good friends and most of us feel they are like siblings” She turned to Phantom girl and gave her a strained smile “Come on, even you have to admit it!”.
Phantom girl’s response was muffled, and the girl with the Fairy Tail tattoo was quick to talk over it “Yeah, men and women can be close friends without anything happening between them…besides you’re all just being heteronormative, Juvia-chan is clearly in love with Erza-chan!”
Gray felt the blood drain from his veins…this isn’t any idle gossip, this was speculation about Juvia’s love life…his Juvia! Worse yet, there were quite a few appreciative murmurs to that girl’s silly suggestion…Erza?! Really?!
One of the teen girls, who Gray decided to call Levy’s fan, clicked her tongue at her friend “Oh get off your soapbox, I’ve hardly seen those two interact”
“What?!” tattoo girl exclaimed “ what do you mean? they are always next to each other in all guild photos!”
The man scratched his temple seeming deep in thought” Hmmm…could be because they are around the same height. You know sometimes in group pictures that’s important”
Tattoo girl glared daggers at the man, seemingly unconvinced with his -very sound, according to gray - argument.
The older woman cleared her throat. Gray hoped against hope it was to change the subject to more sensible topics.
“You are all wrong…clearly Juvia-chan belongs with Lyon-Sama”
Oh dear…so much for sensible!
To Gray’s delight, the reaction from the table was some groans and at least two exclamations of “Not this again!”
The older lady, which gray decided to call his nemesis, scoffed at the others “You guys complain because I bring it up but you’d all be ecstatic if it happened…imagine Juvia-chan joining Lamia Scale and coming to this town, we’d be able to see her all the time!”
Hat girl shook her head “ No, Juvia-chan loves Fairy Tail, she’d never leave”
His nemesis waved her off “still, she’d come here more often if she was dating Lyon-sama”
Phantom girl snorted “ You know master Ooba would not let Lyon date publicly, she’ll want him to remain available for the silly fangirls who think they have a chance”
A round of boos and groans followed her comment, she rolled her eyes “Fiiine..for his super smart fangirls who still think they have a chance despite being oh so smart”
Gray has been referring to this girl in his head as Phantom girl, but the contrarian might be the most fitting title!
The group didn’t seem amused by her jabs. Hat girl smiled, the way a parent would before explaining to their children how silly they are, and Gray braced himself for the next outlandish theory.
“Clearly everyone here hasn’t been following Juvia-chan as well as I have, because you wouldn’t be here speculating when we all know she only has eyes for Gray-san”
Gray blinked, genuinely shocked that this girl, at least, was paying attention! And better yet, the others didn’t object, few of the nods were begrudging for sure, but Gray decided to take the win.
Hat girl put her hands together over her chest “Did you guys see their latest unison raid?” she had a distant dreamy look to her face, it reminded Gray of the look Juvia has whenever she imagines their honeymoon.
“I still prefer the one they did at the Grand magic games” Said tattoo girl, then turned to his nemesis “Don’t have that sour look! we lost fair and square..and that unison raid was just so good”
Nemesis just mumbled something he couldn’t hear. Gray smirked at seeing this obvious Lyon groupie put in her place.
“Let me know when she does a unison raid with Laxus-san” Phantom girl said.
Gray bristled, if looks could kill he’s going to be a serial killer by the end of the day. Thankfully none of her friends paid her attention, reducing the number of his potential victims.
“Anyone got the new Fairy Tail calendar? The two of them are on the month of September” The man said.
Tattoo girl squealed in delight “Really?! I haven’t gotten it yet…is it hot?”
The man shook his head “Nah…I mean it’s fine, I like Juvia-chan’s outfit! But it’s just a boring pose, not intimate enough”
Gray almost scoffed loudly at that, but he stopped himself so as not to draw attention, he took a deep calming breath instead…the Calander was all fighting poses! How exactly can it be intimate?!
He shook his head, he needed to stop letting them get under his skin, he should just tune them out, drink his coffee and leave unnoticed. He took a sip right as hat girl said in a scandalized low voice “Did you guys see their sex tape then?”
Gray choked, his coffee splattered all over his jacket as he coughed and wheezed for a full minute. He lost track of the conversation, though the part of his brain still functioning hoped Phantom girl was using her contrarian powers for good and explaining to them how the alleged sex tape was definitely fake and some conspiracy to sell tabloids or such!
His coughing fit over, Gray looked back at the other table and his eyes met the very wide astonished eyes of hat girl, her mouth was open in shock, but no voice came out. She started tugging on her friend’s sleeve to draw her attention. The girl next to her had been quiet throughout the conversation, and Gray hoped it was because she’s a normal tagalong who isn’t a groupie.
The quite girl blinked few times looking at him, then let out the loudest girliest squeal ever known to man, it put even Juvia’s fangirling outbursts to shame. He really needed to stop expecting any sensibility out of this group!
The other five all noticed her reaction and soon seven sets of wide unblinking eyes were fixed on him.
Gray wanted to run, no scratch that, he wanted to jump into the river and let the water swallow him into oblivion, but unfortunately, he found himself frozen in place, looking at the group as a person stuck on the tracks might look at an oncoming train.
Tattoo girl was the first to jump from her table to stand by his, her hands holding her cheeks.
“Anyone ever tell you how much you look just like Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail?”
Before he could answer, hat girl was on his other side, she reached out and gingerly poked his arm with one finger, as if making sure he’s real, and whispered “You’re him? aren’t you?”
“Ummm” Gray cleared his throat “Yes…I am Gray”
The group, which has now gathered around him let out a stream of cheers and some other unfathomable noises as they crowded hi personal space.
Gray awkwardly scratched the back of his head and tried to look anywhere but at the seven people crowding him, which was impossible!
“So…I should probably get going” he chanced a quick glance at each of their bewildered faces and added lamely “any of you know where the Lamia Scale guild hall is?”
The group exchanged weird looks, Gray could not tell what they meant but he was sure he did not want to know!
“Are you here to challenge Lyon-san to a fight?” Asked the man.
“Are you here to confess your love for Lyon-sama?” Asked his nemesis excitedly, hands clasped under her chin.
Gray scoffed “what? No, no way!…besides didn’t just make the case to your friends that you want Lyon dating Juvia?! Now you want me to date him? Make up your mind!”
The woman did seem chastised but only for a second before she crossed her arms muttering something about “Containing multitudes”, whatever that means!
“So you are here to challenge him?” repeated the man.
Gray shook his head “No…not here to do that either”
“Then why do you want to go to the guild hall?” asked Phantom girl raising an eyebrow.
“Just to say hi” Gray said exasperated, then added “so anyone going to tell me where it is?”
The group exchanged looks again then hat girl whispered something to quite girl before gesturing with her hand towards Gray, it felt as if she was deputizing her friend to speak on behalf of the group.
“We can tell you” said quite girl carefully selecting her words “but it’s going to cost you”
Gray frawned “You want money just to give me some directions? I can easily go to the street and ask someone else”
The girl nodded solemnly, acknowledging his point. “It’s true…but we don’t want your money, what we want is very simple”
“Then what do you want?” He asked, dreading the answer.
“Just some information” said tattoo girl excitedly. Quite girl glared at her, unhappy her role as negotiator was being jeopardized.
“We just want to answer some questions about Juvia-chan” added Levy’s fan.
Gray eyed them all one by one, their faces so eager, collectively holding their breaths, waiting for his answer.
He sighed.
“Oh what the hell…fine! you each get one question…but nothing too personal”
The group erupted into cheers and exclamation of “Yes!” and “Thank you!”
Tattoo girl took the lead, she sat across from him and asked in a low conspiratorial tone “so whose idea was it to have Juvia-chan in the final team at the grand magic games? why replace Natsu-san?”
Huh? Gray was not expecting such a logistical question.
“The master decided of course, who else? And it was because Natsu was otherwise occupied” he answered mater of factly.
Tattoo girl put a hand under her chin, seeming thoughtful “So it wasn’t Erza-chan’s idea?”
Gray gritted his teeth, he has not forgotten this girl tried to sell her friends on a secret Juvia-Erza relationship, he opened his mouth to tell her off then decided to leave her to her own devices “Sorry, you get one question only” he said instead, grinning widely.
Tattoo girl huffed and got up, her place was quickly taken by his nemesis.
“So…who do you think has more compatible magic with Juvia-chan…you or Lyon-sama?”
Gray frowned “What sort of question is that?…we have the same magic”
His nemesis nodded sagely “True true, so theoretically Juvia-chan can perform a unison raid with Lyon-sama as well?”
Gray considered hitting her with the one question rule again, but he couldn’t resist pointing out the flaw in her argument “Well..unison raid isn’t about the type of magic, it’s about the trust and the close connection two wizards have…theoretically, she can, practically she can’t, she and Lyon are not that close” Gray met the woman’s eyes for that last part, making sure his cold glare left no room for debate. He watched with satisfaction as her face fell in disappointment.
Next was quite girl, Gray was most curious about her question because he had no idea what her angle was.
“What’s Juvia-san’s favorite food” She asked.
Gray smiled, a normal-ish question at last. One he was happy to answer “She really loves Mirajane’s chicken pies, says they reminds her of a dish from her hometown”
A chorus of “aww” and “how cute” spread through the group.
The man took the questioning chair next.
“So I have a question about the Calander photoshoot”
Gray nodded prompting him to continue.
“Who chose your wardrobe? I really appreciate the warm tones Juvia-chan was dressed in, I would love to see her more in these colors, so I just wanted to know if it was her choice or the photographer’s?”
Gray scratched the back of his head, the earlier conversation hinted that the man was quite likely a photographer or some artist himself, so perhaps it was his hobby to overanalyze color schemes. Gray, however, was never the type to pay attention to these sorts of things, besides that photoshoot was months ago, was he supposed to remember such details? “I don’t remember” he answered honestly” But I can let her know you liked it I guess”
The man seemed disappointed by the answer, but he thanked him politely and got up, giving space to Levy’s fan.
“Ok..I need to know what’s the status of Juvia-chan and Levy-chan’s relationship?”
Gray frowned, the girl had smartly asked an open-ended question learning from her friends’ mistakes, but he wasn’t sure what she was aiming at, she doesn’t believe Juvia and Levy have some sort of secret affair does she?!. “Umm…they are good friends” he answered then had the presence of mind to use the opportunity to clear up some misconceptions “ Juvia and Gajeel are like siblings” he shot Phantom girl a quick glare “ So Juvia thinks of Levy as her sister too, she is very excited to be an aunt to their babies”
A tension filled quite came over the group, as excited and emotional looks were exchanged. Levy’s fan covered her mouth, tears forming in her eyes “Did you say babies?” she asked, voice shaking. The man put a hand on her shoulder and whispered “So it’s true” his eyes too, glinted with unshed tears.
Gray felt overwhelmed by their reaction, he may have underestimated how much this group cared about his guildmates. So, he told them a bit more about Levy’s unexpected pregnancy and how she’s handling it, of the guild’s reaction, about Gajeel’s and Pantherlily’s stress going through the roof and he added some details of how Juvia was preparing to support them. The group listened, captivated by his words, with quite few happy tears being shed. At a certain point he looked at hat girl who stood behind him and noticed she was writing in a notebook, he panicked for a second, worried his words will end up in some gossip column, then he remembered how the group was indulging in some outlandish rumors, might as well give them facts.
Phantom girl took the seat next, she had listened attentively to his tales of Gajeel and Levy, but now she looked him up and down, unimpressed, seemingly bored.
“So…Gray Fullbuster, if hypothetically, Juvia was still the rain woman, how would your relationship work?”
Gray grimaced, what sort of question was that? He looked around the group, hoping to get some clue, but they all had unreadable looks, maybe they didn’t understand it themselves?
“I’m not sure what you mean, can you clarify?” He asked carefully.
“Gladly” Phantom girl said, smiling smugly “As you know Juvia used to be followed by the rain everywhere she went, and what I want to know is would you still love her if that was still the case? What kind of adjustments would you make to stay with her?”
“Of course I would still love her!” Gray retorted angrily, what was this girl’s problem? Trying to poke holes in his relationship with Juvia…all so she can Justify wanting Juvia hooking up with Gajeel of all people?! “And I would make any and all adjustment to make her happy!”
The group gasped collectively, and Phantom girl had the widest grin on her face. Gray looked around, unsure what has transpired, he played back what he said in his head and felt a blush creep across his face…he just told a bunch of Fairy Tail groupies that he loved Juvia, what if the gossip reaches her?! What if it reaches the rest of the guild?
Phantom girl got up, high fiving the others and getting few pats on the back, he had walked right into her trap, and she was soaking in all the glory. Gray’s eyes darted to hat girl, who was writing in her notebook with shaking hands, she was the only one left with a question and he wanted the whole ordeal over with.
Hat girl noticed his attention and nodded, she closed her notebook and sat across from him, but was quite for a while, seemingly having a hard time choosing what question to ask.
Gray seized on the opportunity. “Hey, I will give you an extra question if you answer a question of my own”
Hat girl’s eyes lit up, she nodded furiously “of course, ask away!”
“What are you going to do with these notes?” he gestured toward the notebook
Her hands wrapped a bit more tightly on the notebook, perhaps fearing he’ll ask to see it next.
“It’s for the Juvia Locksor fan club newsletter. I’m editing it this year with my cousin” She pointed at quite girl who waved “everyone will be so excited we got an exclusive interview with you!”
“Juvia fan club? So…it’s just for you guys?” He asked, surveying the group
“Oh no…we’re just the local Margaret town chapter, there are few members who couldn’t make it today, they will be so disappointed! But we’re just one chapter, one of the smallest really, the magnolia branch is huge! Who knows maybe this interview will be great for recruitment!” The girl was rambling, obviously flustered to be talking to him.
Gray frowned. He knew Juvia had fans all around Fiore, they all had, but he didn’t expect them to be this well organized and to have their own publications!
“So what else do you guys do?” he asked carefully, half dreading the answer, half invested in the logistics of it all.
“Well, the local chapter meets once a month…but we also go to some events..like the yearly Juvia fanclub convention, that one is amazing! It’s just so big! People come from across the continent …oh! would you like to be the guest of honor this year?”
Gray furiously shook his head “No, no! I do not think I can handle 100 times this” he gestured vaguely around the room. Hat girl giggled and Phantom girl pretended to whisper “coward” but she did it loud enough for him to hear it. Gray decided to ignore her.
“Just ask your questions” he said defeated, prompting the girl sitting across the table.
Hat girl handed her notebook and pen to her cousin and took a deep breath.
“When did you fall in love with Juvia-chan?” she asked, blushing lightly for some reason, he was blushing too at her question but at least he knew why!
He waved his hand dismissively “I said no personal questions”
She pouted, but quickly picked her next question “ Do you have a favorite Juvia-chan outfit?”
Gray hesitated. He never really thought of it, and Juvia was beautiful whatever she was wearing, he wondered if the girl’s choice of hat indicated her own preference for Juvia’s white and blue dress. The sudden urge to connect with this group of people overtook him again, for some reason he wanted to give an answer that might please them since he didn’t have any of his own. He remembered Max telling him about which of Juvia’s figurines sold the quickest, so he decided to go with that. “I like all of Juvia’s outfits, but if I have to pick a favorite, I’d say her Team B black outfit from the grand magic games, it was quite elegant”
He noticed with satisfaction that it was indeed the answer they were looking for. Levy’s fan whispered something to quite girl who giggled and wrote some extra notes.
Hat girl, however, narrowed her eyes, seeming to have guessed his answer was pure PR, he pretended not to notice.
“OK so my second question is does Juvia-chan read her fan-mail?”
Gray thought about it for a while. He had absolutely no idea, though after today he was determined to burn it all before she had the chance.
“Don’t know, sorry…she does read all my fan mail though” he laughed nervously at that last part.
Juvia always did insist on reading any mail he got, and he didn’t mind, since he thought it was all silly anyway, he never asked what his fans were saying, but he was beginning to understand why Juvia always seemed so furious after reading the letters.
Hat girl’s face got as red as a tomato. Several of the others looked nervously at each other.
Phantom girl snorted. “ I told you guys that would happen”
The man rolled his eyes “No you didn’t…you said we shouldn’t write to him because he’s a loser not because she might read it” he realized he said this in front of Gray and smiled apologetically “Which I disagreed with, of course!”
Gray was absolutely ignoring that! He did not want to know what type of letters this group had sent him! Or think of what type of nonsense Juvia had been subjected to reading them! Instead, he got up and performatively dusted his jacket, which he was immensely grateful to find he still had on him!
“Well, it was fun meeting all of you, but I need to head out…so.. Lamia Scale guild hall?”
“We can walk you there!” tattoo girl chimed, way too excited.
“Yes, it’s like 20 minutes from here.. we don’t want you getting lost” added the man, appearing to do a better job at hiding his excitement.
Gray took a deep breath, he seemed to be doing that a lot this afternoon.
“Fine…as long as you don’t ask more questions on the way”
A chorus of promises of good behavior ensued, he did not trust a single one.
Gray of course, was correct not to trust their fake promises. By the time he arrived at Lamia Scale, flustered, red-faced and mentally exhausted, he had answered more Juvia-related questions that he has his entire life.
He did at least manage to clear up the fake sex tape allegations, so there was that!