"Juvia and Gajeel-kun?" earning a nod from Gray, the bluenette continues "He was Juvia's classmate during middle school."
"I know that, but how did you guys become friends?"
"About that..."
It was on a summer day when the teacher decided to have the class split into pairs to do a presentation for the class wall newspaper, which made it quite difficult for Juvia as she didn't have any friends and her classmate found her too weird to work with. Gajeel, on the other hand, was very scary back then. Always got into fights and disobeyed the teachers, he was known as the delinquent of the whole school and no one dared to talk to him, that included Juvia.
This was why Juvia was very surprised when Gajeel actively asked her if she wants to pair up with him for this project. The bluenette was scared at first, but because no one else wanted to pair up with her, she reluctantly accepted his offer. However, after spending a few days working with Gajeel on the project, she realized how different he was. Whenever she did something wrong, the boy would not scold her and instead, helped the bluenette fix it without any complaints. This soft side of him actually melted Juvia's heart as it was the first time someone treated her nicely, better than all of the people in her class.
"Juvia became his friend after that, our presentation actually got a pretty high score and was featured on the center of the wall newspaper."
Gajeel and Juvia stayed very close during middle school, they ate lunch together, did homework together, walked home together. It was thanks to Gajeel that she's no longer feeling lonely in class. Despite having a scary face and cocky attitude, he was very soft and caring towards her, tender to all her needs and fought back anyone who dared to make fun of her.
"Does Gray-sama know that Gajeel-kun has a cat?"
"No, I don't. I don't think a guy like him would own a pet." said Gray as he enjoys the story "Tell me more about it."
"He named the cat Pantherlily, but Juvia calls him Lily!" she smiles "Someone left it in the corner of the street and Gajeel-kun happened to pick him up, Lily stayed with him ever since."
"Hm, that explains why Levy always mentions the name Pantherlily. You know, Natsu has a pet, too. He named the blue cat Happy, which is a terrible name if you ask me."
She giggles at his comment then turns her attention to the cooking show. Gray has spared her life by closing his notebook and retreating his calculator, a cue for Juvia to put away her quiz paper and anything that relates to math.
Today's cooking show features Minerva Orland, a famous pâtissier. Juvia has been following her for quite a while, loving every single recipe that the baker posts on her social media page. Minerva is showing the audience the cheesecake recipe that she recently developed and the bluenette is very eager to learn it.
"Gray-sama, look at how amazing her sk-?! Eh...?"
She is startled at the sight of Gray, staring intensively at the screen. He seems to be mesmerized by Minerva's skills, murmuring a string of incoherent words that are hard to make out. She looks at him before turning her attention to the beautiful baker on the screen, steams come out of her head as she enviously grips her long, flowy skirt.
C-could it be that Gray-sama l-like Minerva-san?
She pouts, not enjoying the thought that is playing in her head. Minerva is indeed a beautiful woman, she's a great baker with millions of followers on social media, no wonder Gray likes her. That little thought keeps spinning in her head until she hears the soft murmuring from the person next to her.
What did Gray-sama just say?
"...cake"
Juvia tries to lean in a bit, hoping to find out what he's trying to say.
"Cheesecake..."
The bluenette blinks a few times, sapphire orbs stare at his now craving face. She mentally slaps herself, feeling guilty for even thinking that her beloved Gray-sama has feelings for someone he sees on the TV. She should have known better.
The young man still stares at the screen, dark blue eyes almost pop out of the sockets. Is he that craving for cheesecake? If she could finish her practice early, then maybe Juvia can get some ingredients to make for her beloved the tastiest treat that he's dying to eat.
Yosh, Gray-sama just leave it to Juvia! She will make the best cheesecake in the world for you!
***********************************************************************************************
Despite saying that, Juvia's schedule begins to spiral out of control, along with that is the heavy amount of tests and exams from all of her classes, which requires the bluenette to write essay after essay.
When Juvia said she enjoys writing, she didn't mean doing it every single day.
She cries in her heart after submitting another essay online, sighing in defeat as her fingers ache from all the typing. After gluing herself onto the chair and staring at the computer screen for 2 hours straight, Juvia wants nothing more than a cup of hot tea and a hot bath to cleanse her mind.
Because of the midterm exam week, she's unable to keep her secret promise of making the world's best cheesecake for her beloved Gray. It's been 2 weeks since the day she found out about his craving for cheesecake and yet, she still doesn't have any free time to do it.
"Juvia has to do it fast before the other love rivals know about this and compete with her to win Gray-sama's heart!"
But she can only make it next week because Mavis-sama has decided to put a whole lot of workload on Juvia's shoulders to prevent her from achieving her goal of pleasing her beloved Gray-sama. Talking about workload, Juvia has another test tomorrow and then, she will have to attend the charity event that Lucy invited.
If it wasn't for Gray's reminder, she would have forgotten about the whole fundraising event for the Twinkle Star foster house. The bluenette already knows what song to play at the event, something lively like Joplin's The Entertainer or Gossec's Gavotte, maybe something sweet and gentle like Elgar's Salute D'Amore, that will be enjoyable.
And then, what should she wear for the event? Something formal? Or something casual? Should she buy a new one or just go with what she has in her dresser? Should she borrow dresses from Meredy? Juvia knows that her friends won't mind lending her something to wear.
She wants to stand out a little bit because Gray will be there and she wants him to only look at her and no one else. If that can happen, dear Mavis-sama has made her the happiest girl on Earth.
"But first, Juvia must study for her math test tomorrow. She needs to get a better score, she needs to make Gray-sama proud!"
***********************************************************************************************
"Juvia! You're here!"
The bluenette turns her attention to the high-pitched voice that just called her name, Lucy is standing at the front door, waving her hand for her to see. Juvia smiles and waves back at the blonde before motioning Melody and Lyon to come with her.
"You've made it!" Lucy exclaims "You don't know how much this means to the kids, they will be so happy to see all of you!"
"Thank you for your kind words, Lucy-san!" she smiles in return "May Juvia asks where she can put her stuff away?"
"Gajeel will show you then, he and the guys have been here since yesterday, building the stage for all of us."
Ah... Now that explains why Gray-sama didn't come home last night...
Gajeel, who is a few footsteps away from them, walks in and is ready to show them the way to the so-called staff room. Juvia smiles at her friends before waving goodbye to Lucy and heads into the foster house.
The Heartfilia household is a popular family in the publishing industry, one that distributes thousands to millions of amazing books, newspapers, and magazines. Every year, they would hold a charity event, whether it's for the children at the orphanage or hospitals or for research that would benefit the world. This year, they're doing fundraising for the Twinkle Star foster home per Lucy's request. A friend of hers, who works for the foster home, has asked the blonde if she can help to raise funds to provide more convenience for the kids and Lucy has accepted her request.
"Gajeel-kun, you have been here since yesterday?"
"Yeah, the blondie asked us to help set up the stage. There will be a lot of performances for the kids so make sure to make yours stand out the most." said Gajeel as he casts her a teasing look "You don't want the ice boy to be mesmerized by anyone but you!"
"Hmph!! Gajeel-kun, don't call Gray-sama with those weird nicknames!" she jokingly hits his arm.
Meredy and Lyon share a glance, smiling at how protective Juvia is when it comes to Gray.
"Gihi, whatever you said, sprinkler...!"
"And don't call Juvia by those weird nicknames!"
Gajeel leads them to a small room on the first floor of the foster house, where she's immediately greeted by Levy and the others. Loke, being a perfect gentleman, places a kiss on Juvia's palms as a greeting, which earns him a glare from the Gajeel, a disapproving look from Lyon and a blush from Juvia.
"Loke..."
A deep voice behind the glassed man catches her attention as Gray grips tightly onto his friend's shoulder, sending a death glare to him, a fair warning that might or might not have made Loke snicker and walks away with Gajeel.
Juvia's eyes turn into heart shapes, and the love of her life has come to save her again. How romantic...
Meredy sweatdrops at her friend's silly expression and turns to Levy to ask about the arrangement for the piano. She, Levy and Lyon walk to the other side of the room, talking about where they should put the heavy instrument, which leaves Gray and Juvia alone in their own world.
"Gray-sama!"
"H-hey, Juvia..."
He scratches the back of his head, feeling shy all of a sudden. He can not bring himself to look at the bluenette, not when she's all dressed up like this. He once said that Juvia might not be as beautiful as Lucy or Erza, but she is adorable in her own way, but now, she's so beautiful that Gray can feel his body heats up at the sight of her.
Meredy glances over to Juvia, smirking as she has just won the lottery's first prize. Juvia is wearing a blue strapless dress with floral details, her hair is braided in a loose French braid with floral pins on it, and her makeup is soft and gentle yet still fits her perfectly. The pink head has lent Juvia one of her dresses and asked Hibiki-senpai to transform the bluenette into a princess, just so that she can finally catch the attention of her beloved Gray-sama.
"Y-you look amazing..."
JUVIN~ Gray-sama just complimented her look!!
She blushes various shades of red, bashfully smiling as a response that makes Gray's heart skip a beat. When he looks at her again, he notices a few things. Her ocean-blue hair is braided with the baby hair softly kissing her smooth white skin. Her big blue eyes and those beautiful sapphire orbs are shining as bright as ever. The soft floral scent around her is so nice and soothing. Her choice of outfit, though strapless, still has a modest and elegant feel to it.
Has she always been this beautiful?
But before Juvia opens her mouth to say something, a loud feminine voice startles her from behind. She turns around to see a young woman with scarlet red hair who is looking at her with a puzzled expression. Her brown eyes stare at her, stern yet so warm and gentle, which makes Juvia blushes again and shyly twiddle her fingers.
"Ah, you must be Juvia, Gray's new friend?"
"Y-yes, uhm...ah..."
"Erza, my name is Erza Scarlet." the young woman smiles kindly "It's my pleasure to meet you."
"I-it's her honor."
Shaking her hand lightly, Juvia stops for a bit and stares at the hand. It feels so warm that she gets butterflies in her stomach, her eyes look at the bluenette with such tenderness that makes Juvia almost mistake her for him...
Nii-san...
Her brother always looks at her that way, caring and full of love. She silently wonders, is he doing well...? Is he taking care of himself well or no...? Is he happy...?
Do you miss Juvia as much as she misses you?
Erza studies her expression, feeling a bit concerned for the bluenette. Despite wearing a smile on her face, Juvia's eyes say otherwise. Those blue orbs fill with sadness, grief and sorrow as her lips draw in tightly like if she's alone in this room, she would cry...
"Juvia..."
A hand touches her shoulder and snaps the girl out of her thought, turning to her side to meet Gray. This is the first time she feels Gray's skin against her, his hand is rather cold but Juvia finds the feeling rather pleasant. He looks at her, concern fills the dark blue orbs as he silently asks her if she's okay. The bluenette slightly shakes her head, getting the negative thought out of her mind. Today is a special day, she needs to gather herself back and not let the gloomy feelings affect other people.
"She's okay, please don't worry about her."
"Are you sure? You look very pale..." he asks again "Do you want to sit down?"
Without letting her answer, he guides her to a chair near the opened window, hoping the fresh air will help clear her mind. Juvia smiles to herself, feeling grateful that Gray is by her side right now. Her hand grips tightly onto the violin case as she closes her eyes to calm her somber heart.
Erza calls him over to talk about something and Juvia happens to not mind her business as she eavesdrops on their conversation. Something about 'the performance' and 'a pianist' and 'he will be here soon', so there are other musicians besides her and Meredy. That's a good thing, to have several musicians performing on stage, maybe she and her pink head friend can learn some of their techniques to advance theirs.
Gajeel silently moves closer to her, poking her shoulder with his calloused fingers. The bluenette turns to him and smiles, knowing what her friend is thinking. She tries to reassure him that she's fine and a breath of fresh air might just be the medicine she needs to pull herself together.
*KNOCK KNOCK*
"Ah, that must be him." Erza smiles and opens the door to welcome a tall man with blue hair and a tattoo on his face "Come in, I'll introduce you to everyone."
The moment Juvia lays her eyes on the man, her heart stops. Her breath becomes shallow, blue eyes open wide in disbelief as she holds the violin case tight against her chest. Time just suddenly stops and the bluenette can feel a sudden coldness hit her core, her stomach twists hard that it's starting to hurt.
H-how...?