AN: Hi! A friend of mine here on FFnet suggested I write a story about Gray and Juvia trying to act more friendly-like, so I ended up with this idea.

Warning: This is not a 'Juvia getting over Gray' fic, in case that's what you thought from the summary. She is just trying to control her overly attached behavior and act friendly towards him. I doubt Juvia would ever let go of her feelings for Gray, unless he did something terribly awful to her, which he won't.

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day. The sun shed its bright light upon Magnolia as Juvia made her way towards Fairy Tail. She opened the guild door and the vivid noises coming from the guild hall filled her ears in an instant; an incoherent mix of blabbering and laughter, with some yells in between. Loud and lively, in a way only Fairy Tail knew. As she walked in, her gaze wandered over the familiar faces and soon fell on the object of her interest; Gray, sitting at the bar.

Without a second thought, she decided to go and greet him, and hopefully hang with him. He was alone after all and didn't seem busy. When she was halfway there, she saw Cana settling herself on a stool beside him. Juvia was far enough for them not to notice her presence but close enough to hear the two friends talking.

"Morning!" she said, placing her empty glass of beer on the bar.

"S'up?" Gray took a sip of his coffee. Then he glanced at the empty glass that waited for Mirajane to be refilled. "Which one is it?" he joked, referring to the presumably fair amount of alcohol Cana had consumed this morning.

"Dunno, I lost count." she replied honestly, scratching the back of her head. "So… I saw you leave with a chick from a bar last night."

Juvia had taken a few steps forward, but then she stopped. She didn't like where this was going.

"Oh, you were that drunk that was swaying all over the street?"

"Probably. Hey don't change topic!" she snapped, before leaning a little closer. "So did you get laid?" she added with a meaningful wink.

He averted his eyes. "That's none of your business."

Cana smirked, oblivious to the bluenette standing a few meters behind them. "I don't need an answer anyways. I know you did, you man whore."

He scowled slightly at the statement, but got over it with a chuckle. "Isn't that a bit harsh?"

Juvia felt the ground crumbling under her feet and suddenly the whole world was spinning around her at ruthless speed. Those things she heard pierced right through her heart, but she was frozen at her place, a part of her desperately refusing to believe it, as though if she stayed there she would find out all this was just a distasteful joke.

Meanwhile Mira came over to fill Cana's glass. "Don't sleep around too much Gray, alright?" she said, wearing her signature warm smile. Gray let out an exasperated sigh.

Mira went on "At least make sure you use protection. You don't want to catch any venereal disease now do you?"

He rolled his eyes before running his palm in his face. Cana giggled at his reaction.

"Will you cut it out you two?" he muttered, his face still resting in his palm.

Juvia didn't need to hear more. She placed her hand above her aching heart, her fingers clutching on her cloth. She turned around and walked towards the door, striving to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, and failing miserably to do so. She didn't even notice that she almost bumped on Wendy. When she got out, she burst into sobs. Tears kept coming like a stream and scattered down on the soiled ground just like the pieces of her broken heart. She couldn't control over it, nor did she want to try anymore, it felt like she had to cry it out in order to lift this burden off her chest.

Dark clouds emerged from the skies and as the daylight dispersed from Magnolia, heavy droplets of gloomy rain started falling on the ground.

Despite often spacing out in her own daydreaming, Juvia wasn't all that delusional. Gray was a handsome man (the most handsome one in the whole world in Juvia's opinion) so it was natural that he would have his share of women in his life. But she felt that she and Gray had gotten closer over the time. They spend time together, they were having fun together and most of the times he seemed to be enjoying her company... She had thought that, little by little, they were making progress, whether that was beyond the verge of friendship or not. And…she wanted to believe that, at this very point, if he were to be attracted in someone, then that would be her. That he would eventually feel for her even a little bit of what she felt for him. Sure she had love rivals, a lot of them actually, but she had thought it was one-sided by their part, that Gray-sama didn't reciprocate their interest, just like he didn't with hers just yet. But it seems that it was all just wishful thinking. It was frustrating, she had invested so many heartbeats, and butterflies in her stomach, and dreams in him, and she would swear that sometimes the treatment she got from Gray was different from the way he treated their other female guildmates, yet he would prefer to share something more intimate with a random someone over her. And that hurt. It was a bitter reminder that her love was totally, utterly unrequited.

Juvia was curled in her bed, with a Gray plush trapped in her arms. She had stayed there a whole day and now her limbs felt weak. Her hair was messy, her nose was stuffed and she needed a bath, but Juvia couldn't care less.

She always believed they were meant for each other, that he was the sunshine in her rain and she would be the warmth in his frosty winter. She was certain that one day he would realize it too, he just needed time to find out. All she had to do is show how happy he made her and try her best to make him happy in return. He would brush her off from time to time but she didn't mind; she always took it as mere toying with her affection, which she took quite delight into.

But now that certainty had somehow wavered. What if he was being serious about it and had no intention to change his mind?

He did tell you flat out that he wasn't interested… a little voice echoed in her head.

She shook her head in denial. But we've been getting closer! Juvia can feel it! We…we won together in the Grand Magic Games with our teamwork and….and he held Juvia's hand when she was worried-

He was comforting a friend… The annoying little voice responded, forcing her to see things the other way around.

Maybe that's what she was to him, just a friend. One of the many friends he had in Fairy Tail. And maybe she would stay a friend forever.

She didn't know how to deal with this new discovery. If saw her this way, then that would mean that she was pestering him with her behavior? That he would never be hers? What was she supposed to do then?

A knock on the door called her from the depths of her thoughts back to reality. Juvia didn't bother to answer. That way whoever it was might think she wasn't there.

"Juvia? Are you in?" a familiar female voice sounded a few moments later.

A few more moments of silence followed and just when she thought the girl outside had left, the door creaked open. Levy and Lucy hesitantly made a few steps forward.

"Hey…" Levy muttered.

Juvia looked at the two figures; she didn't have the strength to tell them to go away, and deep inside she might want some friendly company.

"Lucy too?"

"Hi… I came over to return some books to Levy-chan and we thought that we haven't seen you in two days. Mira-san said you weren't on a mission so…"

"We came to check if you're okay…" Levy completed her words.

"How considerate of you..." she said and blew her nose in a tissue.

The two girls walked in and sat on the bed, brushing the used tissues aside. Juvia sat up and placed her plush on her lap.

"Is anything wrong?"

"Nothing…it's just…Juvia realized she has gotten nowhere with Gray-sama…" She brushed some tears that formed on the corner of her eyes.

Lucy and Levy glanced at each other. This is Juvia, it was only natural that it would be something related to Gray. What did not make sense was that Juvia was sulking about it. While it was true that Gray was nowhere as vivid as Juvia on that matter, it had never bothered her before.

Juvia noticed their questioning looks so she spoke before they asked. "Gray-sama is…dating other girls."

"Oh…"

"Juvia didn't know…" she fought back the sobs as her fingers played nervously with the hair of her plush, "and she was hurt when she found out, because she had thought that…nevermind…"

"Aw sweetie…" Lucy placed an arm around her back. Both she and Levy could wordlessly relate to the situation, as they too happened to have feelings for their own someone, and she was sure that if they were in Juvia's shoes, they would be just as hurt. And she had to admit she was surprised herself; although Gray was one of her closest friends, she didn't really know anything about his personal life, as he never talked about it. She reckoned that he wasn't dense like Natsu (who was probably clueless about the opposite gender), she could tell as much, but she could also tell that he cared for Juvia more than he let out and she did believe that once he came to terms with his feelings, he would finally open up to the bluenette.

"Juvia doesn't know what to think or do anymore…"

After a few moments of mutual silence, Levy spoke up. "Maybe you should take things easy for a while. Y'know, not force things and let them flow. If you're just nakama, then let it be. Because, the more you think about it, the more depressed you'll get. And being sad never solved anything."

"Levy is right. Maybe what he needs from you now is a friend. Try to be just that. And… you never know how things will evolve in the future!" Lucy said in an encouraging tone.

"Right." the small bluenette agreed. "It's amazing what time can do. Maybe sometime he'll fall in love with you!"

"Or maybe you'll even forget your stupid crush!" Lucy exclaimed, though Juvia got the impression that she was trying to persuade herself rather than her.

Juvia glanced at them in disbelief. "Have you ever tried this?"

"Well yeah…" Levy admitted shyly.

She raised a brow. "And…it works out for you?"

"Not yet…" Lucy said bitterly.

Juvia sighed out of disappointment.

"Hey" Levy patted her shoulder, "you can try it for a change and see how it goes. You have nothing to lose."

"You'll still be there for him, maybe not the way you wanted, but we don't always get what we want in life, right? Besides, it's better than being miserable about it" Lucy assured.

"Just be a friend…" she muttered, as though she was trying to comprehend what that phrase meant. The two friends nodded.

"Juvia doesn't know how to do that!" she then exclaimed in a firm, serious tone.

The girls sighed and dropped their heads. "Come on now Juvia, you have many friends, I'm sure you know how to act friendly around them."

"But Gray-sama is different!"

"I know, but that's the point! To act like he isn't."

Juvia opened her mouth to protest but closed it instantly and Levy let out a small sound of relief.

"Well I'd better go. Natsu and Happy said they would come over to cook dinner and I'm afraid they'll set my house on fire." Lucy said as she got up.

"Me too, have to meet with Jet and Droy for a mission."

Walking to the door, the two girls told her they would be there for her, should she ever need to talk about it and Juvia thanked them. Once the door was closed, she slid down and hugged her legs.

She wasn't sure about this, about how she was supposed to do that. She had been in love with Gray since the day they first met, and that had become an unbreakable part of who she is. She had learnt to live showing him her affection. In fact, she could hardly remember how she was before he came into her life. She recalled that it felt lonely, but other than that, it was all vague. As though she had no dreams, no purpose worth trying for. Besides, she knew that he was the only one for her, the one who brought the sunshine. Was she supposed to give up on that? No, she couldn't do that. And here she had to disagree with Lucy on something: in Juvia's aspect, when you find that special person, you fight for them, not wait for the feeling to fade along the way. It was bound to never fade.

But then again, she thought, she didn't have to negate her feelings, just not demonstrate or force them on him. She could give it a try somehow. Just for a while. If being nakama was all he wanted from her, then she would be just that. This way she would give him a break from her clingy behavior, which would probably be more of a hindrance to him, for the last thing she wanted is Gray-sama to think of her as a burden, and let her mind off this mental struggle she's been through the last couple of days.

AN: I'm so sorry to make my beloved Juvia sad, but it was essential for the story. But I'll make it up to her later on! And although Juvia is now called to act somehow beyond her normal self, I'll try to keep both her and Gray as much in character as I can.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading.