To the boy she loves, to the girl he adores

Chapter 5

Gray chocks on his food after hearing this. He looks at her, no, he intensively stares at her, eyes open widely that Juvia thinks they may pop out of the sockets. The bluenette sweatdrops, giving him a glass of water as Gray grabs it and chugs the whole thing. He then grabs onto his shirt, panting and wiping the droplets of water off his chin.

"W-who gives you that thought, Juvia? Lucy and Natsu will kill me if they hear that..." he turns to her "No, Lucy is not my girlfriend. She's dating Natsu, another friend of mine."

Gray looks at her and catches a sigh of relief escape those pink lips, Juvia looks like she just lifts a weight off her shoulder. He finds her rare expression, although odd, is adorable. Juvia has never been shy from expressing her emotions and he enjoys this side of her.

"Oh, Juvia is ever so sorry." said Juvia with her fingers intertwine "She's sorry for making you feel uncomfortable."

"N-no, it's alright. I mean, you guys haven't met so..." Gray tries to reassure the bluenette in front of him "If you want to, I can...I mean..."

She tilts her head, not quite sure what her beloved is trying to say.

"I-if you want to, I-I'd like to introduce you to, uhm, to them..."

Blue orbs open widely as she looks at the young man, who is still struggling to regain his cool after the embarrassing talk. She can't believe it, Gray wants to introduce her to his friends? Joy engulfs her as she can feel her feet barely touch the ground. Her hopes soar, finally, she's one step closer to her beloved Gray.

In contrast to her excitement, the raven head freezes in his seat, anxiously waiting for her answer. Juvia's lack of verbal response worries him as Gray fears that his offer might have offended her and the thought makes his stomach turns. Gray never wants to upset Juvia, sure he sometimes makes Lucy and Erza angry but with Juvia, he doesn't want her to be sad because of him.

"I-if you don't want to, i-it's ok-?!"

"Juvia wants to!" she exclaims, her voice raises a bit "She wants to meet Gray-sama's friend!"

He looks at her, this time, notice the shades of pink on her cheek. Her lips curl into a smile as she is bursting with joy. Juvia's beaming face awakens something inside him, a warm and fuzzy feeling that Gray has not felt for quite a while.

And then, Gray remembers his conversation with Loke a few days ago, about how Juvia is living under the same roof with a lot of male students. Looking at Juvia again, he wonders how should he said this that doesn't make her feel uncomfortable. The raven head clears his voice, which catches her attention as she looks at him with a bright smile on her face.

Well, here goes nothing...

"Say Juvia..." Gray begins "You can tell me if you need help making meals. No one else, uhm, also if I'm not home and something happens to you..."

He stops himself for a moment and analyzes the situation. Just now, it was horrible and he sounded like a selfish person. Juvia looks utterly confused at his words, even tilts her head to the side as she tries to process his words to find the meaning behind them.

Shit...This is bad...

"Y-you know, they said it's dangerous for you to leave your room with other guys living under the same roof. I'm not like them though, t-that's why..."

"Juvia knows..." she covers her mouth to stop the giggling sound from escaping her lips "She knows that Gray-sama is not like them."

"O-oh, okay. I see..."

He unconsciously breathes out, like he has been holding his breath this whole time. But her answer leaves a question in his mind, is it just him that Juvia puts her trust in? If so, then he gladly and proudly accepts it. For a sweet girl like Juvia, he wouldn't mind going out of his way to make her happy.