Gray is sitting with his friend in the cafeteria, it's lunchtime and he's starving, nothing's better than eating a big meal after 2 math classes. However, his friends are giving him a hard time as they all eagerly want him to introduce his lovely neighbor to the friend group. The raven head glares at Loke, who still acts like he did nothing wrong. Thanks to Loke and his big mouth, everyone in his friend group knows that he has invited a girl into his apartment, a rare thing for him to do.

"G-Gray, you bring a girl into your house?" the red hair beauty Erza scowls at her underclassman "My god..."

"Oh come on, Erza. Don't be so harsh on him, Gray only eats dinner with her, right?" the blonde girl giggles "Unless I'm missing something or Loke forgets to spill the tea..."

"Don't look at me, Lucy. I've said you everything that I know, right Gray?"

The raven head glares at him again.

Loke, you bastard. You and that big mouth of yours...

Natsu, another friend of his, laughs out loud when Gray grumbly turns his head away. He points at the raven head, claiming that they hit the nail on the head when they bring up this topic. Gajeel sits next to him smacks the pink-haired man on the head for being too loud, the scary-looking man wants his friends to turn down their volume so that Levy can read the book that she just borrowed from the library.

"Why the hell did you hit me, you piercing freak?"

"Shut your big mouth, flame brain!"

And with that, instead of a peaceful lunch break, both Levy and Lucy have to jump in to stop their boyfriends from beating up each other. Erza, on the other hand, rubs her forehead and sighs deeply. As Gray's senior, she doesn't want the raven head to choose the wrong path that can potentially ruin his future. Although the raven head's family is considered wealthy, Gray pays most of his tuition fee by earning scholarships from the school. One small mistake and he can lose all the benefits of being the best student of the math major.

"Come on, Gray! Introduce her to us!" Lucy pouts "It's not fair that only Loke knows about this, right?"

He doesn't think that's a good idea, to introduce Juvia to all of them. The poor girl will be swallow in questions after questions by Lucy, then she will be teased by Loke and Erza will be mad at how noisy they are. Not to mention, Juvia has tons of activities to do in her club, which makes her very tired. Gray's glad that he was able to stop the girl from accidentally hurt herself while cutting the vegetables.

Hm...It seems like the theatre club is very busy lately...

"You can do whatever you want, Gray. But please think before you act, okay?" Erza pokes his head "You still have a long way to go, so act wisely!"

Gray nods his head then turns his attention to Lucy, who hasn't stopped whining about how unfair it is that she's not able to see his new friend. The raven head smirks as he gently taps his finger against her forehead, something that a big brother does to tease his younger siblings. Gajeel and Loke laugh at the scene, why Lucy and Gray aren't a couple is still a mystery to them as the pair seems to get along quite well and the raven head does have a soft spot for the blond beauty.

However, Gajeel's laugh slowly subsides when he sees a familiar figure from afar. Oh shoot...

The bluenette holds the sandwich package tightly in her hand, blue orbs open widely as she witnesses that horrific scene. She's glued to the spot with a priceless expression on her face and tons of questions begin to run through her little head.

Who is she? Why is she so close to her beloved Gray-sama? What is her relationship with Gray-sama? How dare she sits so close to Gray-sama like that?

Meredy and Lyon, who are walking next to her, sweatdrop at their friend's reaction. The pink-haired girl giggles a bit before pulling her friend out of the cafeteria before the ticking time bomb Juvia can explode in the middle of the dining hall.

Gajeel sighs upon seeing her expression, he taps on Loke's shoulder to pull the attention of the cassanova onto the bluenette. The glassed man, of course, laughs at the poor girl's priceless face. She looks so defeated that he actually feels bad for her and Gray doesn't even notice her as he's busy teasing Lucy. Gajeel and Loke glance at each other then decide that they shouldn't intervene, after all, the icing on the cake is not about Gray's oblivious attitude towards Lucy but Juvia's very own delusional about the situation.

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Meredy sweatdrops at the sight of her friend tearing her hair out, Juvia looks so defeated that her friends aren't sure if it's appropriate for them to laugh at the sight.

"Calm down, Juvia!"

"C-calm down? J-Juvia can't calm down!" she cries "Who is she? Who is that girl? Gray-sama seems to be very close to her, w-what if they're...NOOOOOO!!!"

Meredy has to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing. It's very amusing to see this side of Juvia, although she has known her best friend far too well.

Juvia has a very small circle of friends, even smaller than Gray's. Her shy and reserved personality didn't help the bluenette back then, most people around her age find her too quiet and proceed to label her as a boring person. It's only when she started high school that Juvia began to open up, welcoming new people in her life and one of them is Meredy.

In contrast to Juvia's quiet personality, Meredy is energetic and outgoing. The pink head loves going out and having fun, which is why people are very surprised to know how close Juvia and Meredy are. She understands her friend very well, from what she likes to her dream to the boy that Juvia has been stalked for years.

Meredy, being a great friend, has tried to gather as much information as possible about the certain raven head that saved Juvia from a molester. With her cheerful manner and many connections with students from different schools, the pink head was able to help her friend getting closer to Gray, step-by-step.

As Juvia's partner in crime, she really wants to see the bluenette happy. Though Meredy doesn't understand Juvia's personal problems, she never once demands the poor girl to tell her, knowing how uncomfortable her friend could be when mentioning her family. Juvia has always been an expert in hiding her secrets and problems, saying that she doesn't want to bother anyone, especially her friends.

"Lyon, do you know who that blonde is?"

"Not really, I know that she's Lucy from the Newspaper club. Her name appears on the university's website many times." said Lyon as he scratches his chin.

"How about Gray? Do you know whether or not he's in a relationship with anyone?"

Juvia holds her breathe, looking at the silver-haired man intensely. She needs to know, she needs to know whether or not she has any love rival besides that blonde girl. Her heart is racing and her facial expression is tensed, which amused Meredy and Lyon. Such a rare expression Juvia wears on her face and the girl has never been shying away from expressing her feelings openly in front of her friends.

"Even though I'm not close to him but I know for a fact that Gray's not dating anyone." Lyon smiles and pats the bluenette gently "Don't worry, okay?"

"What do you mean by 'fact', Lyon-san?" she looks at him, still not believe in what the senior said "Do you know something about Gray-sama that Juvia doesn't?"

"Well, if he's dating anyone, there would be news flying around the campus. You know how popular he is."

Juvia lowers her head and exhales heavily. Indeed, Gray is very popular, not only in the eyes of all instructors but also among the students. Many female students admire him and one of them is Juvia. She has heard whisperings and gigglings about "Gray is so handsome!" or "Gray is so cool!" or "Gray is so hot!", she even heard some students dare to say things like "I want him in bed!" or "I wonder how skillful he is, in bed..." Just thinking about that makes Juvia squirms in her own seat.

"Are you okay, Juvia?" Meredy sits down and wraps her arms around her shoulder "What's with the sullen face?"

"Juvia feels like she will never have a chance against those girls..."

The scene at the cafeteria shows Juvia one thing, that Gray is surrounded by many beautiful women. That Lucy girl is also very pretty, with silky blonde hair, smooth white skin and beautiful curves that men would drool over for. Her beloved Gray-sama seems to be very fond of her, maybe he's interested in Lucy?

"That girl Lucy, she's so pretty..." the bluenette lowers her head, twiddling her fingers as she continues "Juvia wouldn't blame her if Gray-sama is interested in her, after all, she 's not as beautiful as th-?!"

"Hold it right there!" Meredy immediately grasps both sides of Juvia's cheeks, anger glints in her eyes as she stops Juvia from even has a chance to finish her sentence "I dare you to say that again, Juvia!"

The bluenette turns pale when she sees her friend's angry expression. If life has taught her anything, that is she should never ever make Meredy angry. The pink head may be cheerful and sweet but when anyone dares to make her mad, she would make sure to send that person to hell.

"Juvia, never say that again! I don't care how beautiful she is or how Gray-san might be into that girl, the only thing I care about is how you will keep pursuing him."

Juvia sobs a bit upon hearing the phrase "Gray-san might be into that girl." That is her worst nightmare, she hasn't even got a chance to confess yet...

"Juvia, you are just as beautiful as all the other girls. You're kind and smart and a talented violinist, those girls won't stand a chance against you. So please, have more confidence in yourself!"

The bluenette stares at her friend and turns to Lyon, who nods his head, agreeing with what his girlfriend just said. Meredy is such an amazing friend and Lyon is so lucky to have such a supportive lover like her. Juvia pouts a bit then smiles, Meredy's words give her a boost of confidence that she needs. She hugs the pink head tightly, feeling grateful for having such a wonderful friend like her.

"We'll look into Lucy's profile for you." Meredy giggles as she pats the bluenette on the back "So don't worry about it and focus on your performance, okay?"

"Thank you! Juvia is forever grateful!"

Lyon scratches his head and turns to his girlfriend, who smiles brightly and pulls her friend into another tight hug.

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Although Meredy has tried to reassure her that everything is going to be fine and Gray is not in a relationship with anyone, she doesn't receive the news from her friend quite well. In fact, after learning additional information about the blonde beauty, Juvia almost made Meredy vomit as she violently shook her friend while whining about how that Lucy could potentially be Gray's love interest.

If it wasn't for Lyon who held her back, she might have accidentally sent her friend to the ER room. Meredy scowled her friend for turning into a big mess and sent the poor girl home, telling Juvia to "cool off your head". The bluenette pouts, feeling defeated as she storms back home right after her fourth and final class of the day.

As she is walking back to her apartment, Juvia accidentally bumps into someone, a very familiar face that she hasn't seen for quite a while.

"Juvia is very sorr-?! Gajeel-kun?"

"Juvia..."

Juvia holds the bag tightly in her hands, smiling brightly at the taller man. She hasn't seen him since they graduate junior high school.

"Gajeel-kun, it's been a while." said Juvia "How have you been?"

"I'm good, thank you."

Despite having a very scary face and an arrogant attitude towards everyone, Gajeel can't help the small grin that appears on his face.

"Say, you want to grab a coffee with me?"

"A coffee with Gajeel-kun?"

She looks at the time on her phone and smiles, it's still early and she also wants to spend some time with Gajeel, to see if he's doing well lately.

"Of course, where do you want to go?"

Gajeel walks with her to the coffee shop near the campus, which Gray previously worked before he switches to his new tutoring job at a small cram school. They talk a bit about their life after graduating junior high, smiling and enjoying every single moment.

Before Meredy, Gajeel is Juvia's first and only friend. Because he was very scary back then, Gajeel didn't have any friends because the kids were too scared to approach him. It was only when he and Juvia got paired up for an assignment that they became friends. After graduating, Juvia lost touch with Gajeel, not only because they studied in different schools but also how her family prevented her from hanging out with him.

Juvia knows that Gajeel studies in the same university as her, she sometimes sees him on the campus and she knows that he's one of Gray's friends. She is very surprised to learn that he is in a relationship with a girl named Levy McGarden and she's very happy for him.

"Gajeel-kun, she's so cute!" she exclaims when the scary man shows her the picture of Levy "Juvia still can't believe that you have a girlfriend, who would have thought..."

"Hey, that's very mean!" he jokingly replies "But year, next month will be our third anniversary."

"That's amazing! Juvia wished all the best for you guys!"

Gajeel smiles, a faint blush appears on his face. To have a cute girlfriend like Levy, he must be the luckiest guy on Earth. However, something runs through his mind as Gajeel turns his attention to his old friend with a serious expression on his face.

"Juvia, do you mind if I ask you this?" when the bluenette nods her head, the man hesitates a bit before speaks up "How...how's your family?"

This question stops Juvia's dead track, her body tenses up as she grips tightly onto her drink. That's right...How could she forget...How could she forget that Gajeel knows about her family matter...

"I-it's fine if you don't want to talk about it..."

"N-no, Juvia is fine. She's just..." Juvia sighs "It's been hard for her..."

Gajeel doesn't respond to her answer, knowing too well that Juvia doesn't want to talk about this. Juvia's family matter is very complicated, her father focuses on his eldest son and claims that he's the pride of the family while actively neglecting his own daughter. The last time he ever heard Juvia talks about her family is probably when her mother was still alive, after the older woman passed away, the poor girl was even quieter than before and refuse to mention her family to anyone.

He remembers the sad and disappointed expression that she wore on her face on their graduation day. Those blue orbs glance around, scanning the crowd as she desperately looking for her father, hoping to see him on that special day. Her effort was in vain and he remembers how the bluenette broke down in her brother's arms, crying and weeping like a child because of her father's neglected behavior.

Gajeel feels bad for her, to have a family that mistreats their own child. At least she still has a brother to rely on, from what he remembers, the guy loves his sister dearly and will do everything to make her happy.

"How's your brother? Is he doing well?"

Juvia's breath hitched as she freezes in her seat, her whole body trembles as if Gajeel just step on a land mine.

"He...He's fine." she turns to her friend and smiles "He's studying in Crocus."

Gajeel sighs, physically and mentally. He doesn't want to upset her, not when she seems to be in her best shape yet. He changes to a different subject to ease the tension around Juvia, this caring action actually makes her smile. Despite having a scary face, deep down, Juvia knows that Gajeel is nothing more than a big softie who wants to protect his friends at all cost.

"Gajeel-kun, are you close to Gray-sama?"

"Gray-sama?" he looks at her, puzzling "You call him that?"

"Just answer her question!" the bluenette pouts "Are you?"

"Maybe? I don't know, we're friends but to be close to that guy? Not really, I guess."

"Well, do you happen to know if Gray-sama has a girlfriend or is interested in someone?"

Gajeel stares at her as he's able to guess what she's trying to imply. He smirks and says nothing, which makes Juvia turned pale. His lack of responses scares the bluenette and shakes the poor girl to her core.

"If you want to ask about Gray and Lucy, just ask him instead. I don't want to make any assumption." with that, he stands up and waves "Well, I need to go. Can't be late for my job! See ya around, Juvia!"

"Ah, w-wait!" she tries to call him "Gajeel-kun!"

The girl huffs, she can't believe that Gajeel would just leave her like he just had his fun teasing her. But he said that he doesn't want to make any assumptions, what does that even mean?