Title: Absolutely

Summary: Her crying always grated on his nerves. Seriously, life couldn't possibly be that bad. But then she smiled, and everything changed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

AN: Inspired by the song "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days. Because I have nothing better to do when driving.

Gray did not like Juvia. Nothing she did ever made sense.

No, seriously, nothing made any fucking sense. She blushed and stuttered, randomly fainting and just in general losing it around him. He didn't get girls in general but where as other girls gave him a headache, she was a fucking migraine.

Even worse, she never shut up.

'Gray-sama' this. 'Gray-sama' that. And heaven forbid him if he ever ignored her. He nearly drowned the last time she cried.

You know, that was the other thing he never got. Why the hell was she always crying? He knew she was a water mage, but the sheer amount of tears she managed to produce on a daily basis could fix a desert drought. What could she possibly be crying about? Surely life wasn't that bad.

Gajeel was the one to finally smack him upside the head and tell him he was breaking her heart or some shit like that. Which still made no sense because yes, he's awesome, but what the hell did he do to make someone love him so much that they cried every fucking day?

Besides, wasn't love supposed to be a good thing? If all she ever did was cry, then he obviously wasn't her true love.

So he kept ignoring her and she eventually stopped crying so much. Even if she was still weird, at least his worries about drowning decreased.

Time passed and he slowly came to accept that Juvia wasn't going drop this whole love nonsense and just started getting used to the admirer thing. But then, just as they were walking along the streets (Mirajane sent them grocery shopping, being oddly giddy about it), she tripped and he automatically reached out to catch her. It wasn't important, just something he would do for anyone (except maybe Natsu).

But, Juvia smiled at him. All teeth and sparkling eyes, cute little dimples flashing on her cheeks to boot. And all he could do was hold her in his arms like an idiot as his breath was knocked out of his lungs and was left gaping like a fish.

Something...something, he wasn't sure what, had changed and he could barely get himself together enough to notice she was asking him something, brow creased in concern. He stumbled back, somehow managing to get his feet under him and help her to her feet, and brusquely said some excuse and kept walking to the store. She touched his arm in concern, but he brushed it off because her touch was suddenly electricity and he couldn't think when she did whatever the hell she was doing.

He surreptitiously studied her (or at least hoped he did) as they browsed the aisles, not that he could tell you what groceries they got. There was something different about Juvia and he couldn't figure it out. It was driving him absolutely nuts, especially with the way everything else seemed different too.

Just as he was about to pass it off as nothing, it happened again. He absentmindedly took the grocery bags, refusing to let her carry them and muttering something about a 'gentleman's duty' when she smiled at him again and bounced away in front of him, squealing.

She also left him standing frozen in the middle of the road because it all made sense suddenly. Nothing had changed. Juvia was still Juvia, that weird girl who really ought to stop obsessing about him.

But he had changed. It wasn't a sudden change, not really, but he had finally noticed the change that had been happening for years.

He was absolutely, completely head-over-heels fucking in love with Juvia Lockser and her smile.