"What can I get for you?"

"Juvia would like to get an Earl Grey Tea Latte."

Gray startles when he hears the familiar voice standing in front of him. Juvia smiles at him, she has arrived earlier than usual in order to spend some time with Gray. Besides that, she still needs to finish her writing assignment about a play that the instructor has assigned his student to watch.

Juvia could have finished the essay yesterday If she didn't spend all of her free time making this lunch box for her and Gray. She has 2 hours left before the deadline and then she has to do her club activities, then goes back home and get the dinner ready for both of them. The bluenette sweatdrops when she thinks about her schedule for today, although there are a lot of things that she needs to do but to be able to spend some quality time with Gray? She'll exchange that opportunity for anything.

Gray tells her to wait at a table and he will bring the drink out for her, he's almost done with his shift after all. The raven head takes off the black apron and gets all his stuff in the staff room before moving towards Juvia's table with her drink in his hand. He quietly sits down on the opposite seat, watching the bluenette typing nonstop on her blue laptop. Gray takes out his phone and to do some reading before his next class starts, he needs to do something while waiting for Juvia to finish her assignment.

When the bluenette finally gives out a heavy sigh, Gray smirks and hands over her drink. She seems to be quite surprised, feeling a bit guilty for making him wait. The raven head doesn't mind, not when he understands how annoying it can be to finish an assignment within a short amount of time.

"It's okay, Juvia. I understand how you feel."

"Gray-sama..." she whines as her eyes tear up a bit "Juvia doesn't like the combination of long essay and deadlines."

"Well, you should have done it sooner, right?"

She pouts, clearly not enjoying his words of advice. How can she finish everything when she only has 24 hours a day? She needs more than that. Besides the essay, Juvia also has some difficulties with the math class that she's currently taking. Since Gray is a Math student, maybe he can lend her a hand?

"Here you go, Gray-sama. Juvia hopes you enjoy this."

The raven head gratefully accepts the bento box, his eyes shine brightly as his nose gets hits with a beautiful aroma of food. Today, he gets to eat rolled fried eggs with fried salmon and cucumber salad. The taste is amazing, better than all the food he has in the convenience store. He envies how great Juvia is at making food and how he's unable to make any dishes without setting the whole kitchen on fire.

"Gray-sama, what do you want to have for dinner?"

"Ah..."

Gray stops at his track and looks at Juvia, it seems like he's the only one who thinks that this will be a one-time occasion. He doesn't want to bother the bluenette, knowing how busy she is. But Juvia doesn't mind about turning this into a daily routine.

"Erm, I really don't want to bother you, Juvia..."

"It's okay, she doesn't mind. Unless...Juvia is bothering you..."

Gray wants to find a way to reject her offer, however, he doesn't know what to do or how to do it. Juvia is very happy as she's able to eat lunch with him and he doesn't want to ruin her joy, but he also doesn't want to rely so much on her.

Juvia looks at him a bit and sighs, putting down her chopsticks as she actively averts her eyes away from him. Gray doesn't really enjoy her company after all...

"Juvia is sorry if she's bothering you. She's sorry for not realizing that she is stepping a little bit too far into your personal life..."

"Don't say that. I, I just don't want to bother you. You still have classes and club activities, right?"

Gray responds a bit too fast, feeling a bit annoyed at himself for guilt-tripping the poor girl after she has gone out of her way to cook this amazing meal for him.

"Oh no, Juvia can manage that. It just...it's been a while since she last shared a meal with someone. She just wants to have a companion, that's all..."

The bluenette lowers her head and Gray immediately catches a glimpse of sadness in those beautiful blue orbs. The raven head sighs in defeat, he doesn't want to make a girl sad or unhappy. He might be a dry person with little to no interest in other people's feelings but something about those hidden messages in Juvia's eyes make him unable to deny her offer.

"W-well, we can eat together if you want to. However, we'll share the grocery cost, I don't want you to pay for food for both of us."

"Whatever you want, Gray-sama."

******************************************************************************

Time flies so fast that by the time Gray realizes, it has been two months since Juvia offered to cook for both of them. Although they have different schedules, as long as the clock strikes 7:00 pm, they will have dinner together, whether it's at her place or Gray's.

The raven head starts to get used to seeing Juvia's face almost every day and even tries his best to share dinner with the young girl whenever he can. Although Juvia is just a new friend, Gray can't deny his enjoyment of seeing her around as her soft yet cheerful personality is like a breath of fresh air in his life.

"I was near your place yesterday and saw you walking with a girl."

Gray turns over to look at his friend, Loke. The glassed boy with spiky orange hair resembles a lion's mane sends him a smug look, expecting the raven head to give him an honest answer.

"Yesterday? You mean Juvia?"

"So Juvia is her name? – he smirks – Is she your new girlfriend?"

The raven head almost got stuck in his own shirt after hearing this.

"No, she's not. She's my next-door neighbor."

"Heh~ She's very cute!"

"Don't even try to aim her."

Gray scowls at his friend, knowing too well about Loke's playboy attitude.

"But I'm wondering if she's really your neighbor..."

"Well..."

Gray notices that besides her cooking dinner almost every night, she also does various chores like sewing and folding his clothes and preparing lunch for his part-time job. Juvia seems to enjoy doing them, she's such a nice neighbor.

Unlike his friend who's very grateful to have such an amazing neighbor like Juvia, Loke's expression is a bit complex. The young man askes himself whether or not Gray's new friend is just being nice and cares a lot for her neighbor.

"You know, I'm kinda worried for her..." turning to his friend, Loke continues "I mean, she lives under the same roof with a lot of guys. She looks like a good girl and I'm okay if she's your girlfriend, but she's not, right? Is it even okay for her to stay there?"

Gray understands what his friend is trying to say. The apartment that he's living in indeed has more male students than females but he never really pays attention to this detail until Loke brought it up. The fact that Juvia lives alone in a place like this is kinda worrisome...

"What are you guys talking about?"

They both turn their attention to another friend, a tall and muscular guy with many piercing studs on his face. Loke's face lits up as he wraps his arm around the other guy's shoulder as he sends his friend a puzzling look.

"Gajeel, you're here just in time! Our little Gray has finally found himself a new girlfriend, a pretty cute one if you ask me."

"Hah? A new girlfriend? That girl must be blind if she accepts this ice prick's confession." Gajeel smirks "Have you even learned any lesson last time?"

"I told you that Juvia is not my girlfriend!"

Gajeel stops dead in his track the moment he heard the name 'Juvia' coming out of Gray's lips. He turns to his friend, wearing a serious look on his face as he grabs onto Gray's shoulder.

"You don't mean Juvia Lockser?"

"You know her?"

The raven head is quite surprised about this small piece of information, he never knew that Gajeel has any friends outside of their own small circle of friends. Loke observes the situation between the two, not quite sure what to do. Gajeel seems to be tensed upon hearing the name 'Juvia', but he doesn't know why. From his own knowledge, Juvia can't be his ex because the scary-looking man's first girlfriend is Levy McGarden, a member of their friend group.

"We went to the same high school, so yeah..."

But the way Gajeel said seems to indicate something deeper between him and Juvia, that piece of information somehow irritates Gray and he doesn't know why. He shouldn't feel like this, right?

"Oh shit, I have to go. Can't let a beautiful lady wait on the first date! See ya!" Loke grabs his bag then waves at his friends "Oh... Say hello to Juvia for me, will ya?"

Gray slightly shakes his head and sighs in defeat, he really can't let Loke anywhere near Juvia, the cassanova will probably sweep the poor girl up her feet immediately. As he puts all his stuff inside the backpack, the raven head turns to Gajeel, who stares at him intensely.

"Chill dude, why are you staring at me like that?"

"Gray..." Gajeel tries to say something before shuts his mouth, lets out a big sigh and walks away "Come with me for a sec."

"Hey!" the raven head tries to call him but his voice falls on deaf ears "The heck...?"

******************************************************************************

Gray follows his friend to the theatre art department building, a place that he never expects himself to step foot in. Gajeel leads him through the hallway then stops in front of the department's theatre stage, opens the door and sneaks inside. Although the theatre art department welcomes all students of Magnolia University, both Gajeel and Gray agree that they don't want anyone to see them walk in here.

They sit far away from the stage, but close enough to watch the students practice for the upcoming performance to celebrate the 150th birthday of Magnolia university. Gray doesn't understand why Gajeel wants him to sit here and watches the performance until he notices the familiar blue hair walks onto the stage with a violin in her hands.

"Good luck, Juvia!"

"Do your best, Juvia!"

All the students cheer on for the bluenette as she smiles and waves at them. Gray slowly slumps down his seat as Gajeel does the same thing, they really don't want Juvia to see them here.

The bluenette begins to play the violin on the stage, although Gray doesn't know the name of the song, the sound emitting from the instrument is strangely calm. This is the first time he sees Juvia's performance and Gray'd be lying if he said that he's not amazed by it. The way the bluenette plays her violin is so professional, the luxurious sound almost sends him to his own dreamland.

As for Juvia, she immerses herself into the tune. Her movements are graceful and elegant, the beautiful ocean blue hair flows with her soft movement, creating a smooth wave that cascades downs the small shoulders. Gray watches her in awe, a small blush appears on the cheeks as he consciously hides his face behind the collar of his coat, admiring the young girl from afar.

Gray has met plenty of women in his life, his adopted sister, his friend Lucy and Levy, his seniors Erza and Mirajane, they're all very beautiful and attractive. Juvia, although not as pretty as all the women that he has mentioned, is very cute in her own way. Right now, seeing her performing so confidently, Gray realizes that the young girl in front of his eyes is simply gorgeous.

"Who would have thought that the great student, Gray Fullbuster, has a habit of stalking other people."

"Geh..." Gray snaps out of his thought and turns his attention to the person who just spoke "Lyon?"