Look Closer

Note: Hi! This is my first ever fanfic. I've always wanted to write these stuff but never got around to doing it because of my life-sapping univ-life. Well, I'm jobless now and have plenty of time on my hands. I've got a bunch of ideas in mind, hopefully I could put all of them into writing.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think about my first fic. All forms of reviews are welcomed and appreciated.

Enjoy!

Look Closer

Firing up was believed to apply only to pink-haired, fire-breathing goofs. No one had anticipated the catchphrase to be as relatable as it was at that moment. Magnolia at the peak of summer: all fired up.

The city might as well be renamed to the city of Satan's Ass. Because really, it was a living hell for everyone.

Everyone.. save for the ice cream man who capitalized off the hot weather for a living. And right now, he had the pleasure of serving the mages at Fairy Tail.

Not caring for a systematic service, the members crowded him, rambunctiously yelling out flavors while the ice cream man scooped and served without a single complain.

"Gimme' the spiciest, hottest one you got, pops!"

The request did not go unheard by the surrounding mages who released a collective sigh at the all-too familiar voice.

Gray could only roll his eyes. "Try again, stupid. I don't think ice cream's served that way."

Natsu stuck his tongue out at his friend, and then muttered under his breath, "Smartass stripper."

The ice mage stretched his arm out to reach for his cone, all the while tussling against the perspiring mob of mages before squeezing his way out and releasing a breath of relief.

Cone in hand, Gray ambled back to the guild's establishment. He relished in the chilly sensation prickling his skin, the one that his body has grown accustomed to. It was his element after all.

Setting foot inside the building, his ears picked up the erratic buzzing of airconditioners that failed to counter the heat from outside. Had the Guild Master supported his [rather self-proclaimed] ingenious idea of glazing the whole interior with sleek, glassy ice, then the electricity bill and the possibilities of a heatstroke casualty would go down exponentially.

Two birds with one stone! It was brilliant!

Only it wasn't, and Makarov didn't buy it, much to Gray's bitterness.

Psh, that's the last time I'm offering my services.

He walked towards the guild's water mage, noting that she hasn't moved an inch from her spot nor so much as changed her position ever since everyone got up to get ice cream.

"Oi Juvia, you'll miss the ice cream man if you don't hurry," he said.

He inserted himself between the bench and table and settled beside her, anticipating a response, but nothing came. Not even a glance.

"Juvia?"

Still nothing.

Huh, strange. She was normally on her toes as soon as he stood ten feet away from her. Or practically anywhere within the bounds of her Gray-sama radar.

The Juvia before him, however, was indeed odd.

No trace of hysteric fantasizing was evident on her face. No involuntary drooling over her Gray-sama. Only a listless gaze.

Gray followed her line of sight until his gaze landed on a magazine laying on the table in front of her. A copy of Sorcerer Weekly —summer edition. He scanned the cover page, letting his eyes roam from left to right until they made an abrupt stop at a particular text in bold, red font and tightly condensed letters. He narrowed his eyes to read the words clearly:

25 HOTTEST SPELLS TO USE IN BED — Magic that's bound to tingle every inch of him ;)

Almost instantly, patches of red tinted Gray from his neck upwards and a violent shiver cascaded his spine.

She couldn't possibly be into that, could she? Could she?! Erza maybe.. but not Juvia. Just, NO.

Still scowling, Gray sunk his lips to his ice cream in hopes of contracting a brainfreeze strong enough to dispel the heinous thought.

Only when the girl's elbow lightly brushed him that his attention was brought back to her. One of her hands glided over the surface of the cover, fingers tracing the outline of the model's finely sculpted face, while her other hand mirrored the movement on her own face.

Oh, that explains it.

Those who were unacquainted with the water mage would have dismissed her behavior as being her usual flighty self. But Gray knew her well enough to discern what was running through her head. Being the formidable mage that Juvia was did not make her any less of a girl with her own insecurities.

Now if only Gray's perceptiveness came with knowing what to say in this situation.

Although if he were completely honest, he knew exactly the words to liven her up, and that irked him more. It irked him that he had a 100 percent chance of cheering her up, setting her aflame in hearts and sparkles, and earning them the entire guild's attention and endless teasing.

So he deliberately decided that he did not know what to say.

But leaving her in this mopey state didn't cut it either.

Perhaps joking around will do the trick. He leaned forward abruptly as if gaining a sudden interest in the magazine cover. "Hm, you into girls now?"

"Juvi!" she squealed and bounced on her seat, eyes widening comically.

Heh, there we go.

"I-it's not that! Juvia doesn't swing that way!"

Gray stared dully while nibbling on his ice cream.

"Gray-sama, uh— Juvia was just—"

She was interrupted when something creamy and frosty touched her lips and— Was that vanilla?

"Save it," Gray said. He kept the cone still on her lips, nudging it lightly as an invitation.

A deep blush sprinkled her cheeks. Shortly after, her mouth curved into a frown which he found rather endearing.

She took a hesitant lick at the dessert before Gray withdrew the cone from her.

"Thank you, Gray-sama." Her eyes fell downcast once more, and she was back to admiring the girl on the glossy cover.

"Ne, she's really… beautiful."

"Hm, should I feel threatened?"

"Gray-sama!"

"Sorry, sorry," he said, grinning unapologetically. He then let his eyes drift to the girl on the cover and raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what to say. "Ehh—yeah I guess."

He wasn't gonna lie. The muse was attractive, a killer ten by society's standards. Brown luscious hair, bright blue eyes, a pointed nose and plump lips. So universally ideal to the point of being almost... generic.

Don't get him wrong. He would be enthralled to meet the cover girl cutie any day.

"What about Juvia?"

Gray could tell she was embarrassed by her own question with the way her eyes shifted nervously. But her curiosity seemed strong enough to outweigh the shame like all her other emotions usually did.

And he just knew she wasn't going to let him off the hook. Good grief.

"Err—what about you?" Maybe playing stupid would throw her off.

"Does Gray-sama think Juvia is also beautiful?"

It was worth a shot. Still, he was not prepared for this.

"Juvia… Do I really need— I mean, shouldn't you know already…" She should know!

Then again, this was Juvia he was dealing with. By no means was she settling for the vague answer he just gave and her pout confirmed it.

"Ehh, but… knowing it is one thing. Hearing the words straight from Gray-sama is a whole different matter for Juvia."

She raised her head to face him, still pouting.

Gray started sweating profusely. He could win best actor for his impeccable portrayal of the ice cream in his grasp. Stiff and dripping. And nearing its end.

He noted the way her eyes shifted before letting it fall again.

"Gray-sama rarely says out loud what he thinks of Juvia so.. I just wanted to know.."

In a lame attempt to hide his blush, Gray turned his head away and grimaced as he once more pretended that glaring at his barely alive ice cream was more important.

"I'm sorry this is very unnecessary, Gray-sama. It's just that… Juvia admires you so much she can't help but let the world know how thoughtful and brave and beautiful and—mmmph!"

"I get it, idiot!" Gray exclaimed while silencing her with his free hand.

Suddenly aware of the whispers around them, Gray withdrew his hand from her. A few guild members stared for a couple more seconds before returning to their respective affairs.

"—and Juvia just wishes she could hear the same from Gray-sama," Juvia finished, this time only audible enough for the two of them.

Gray slouched and pinched the bridge of his nose. Had he known this would be the turnout of his earlier teasing then he would have just kept his mouth shut.

Still, a pang of guilt hit him. Juvia had one simple request: To hear from him how he thought of her.

So why was he being so difficult?

Gray decided to face her, flinching when he did because he had not expected to find her staring back so intently.

"Look," he started, "Some things are already a hard given like the fact that you and I—well, we're—"

—beyond something more than I care to admit?

"—this." He grabbed onto Juvia's shoulders as if to prove a point, then instantly let go. Wow, that was lame.

The fleeting gesture made Juvia all wide-eyed and speechless.

He just wanted to get this over with without giving away too much. But maybe just enough to regard the questions that hung in the air around them.

His eyes looked elsewhere but her face, trying to keep the nervousness at bay. "And there are things… words in between this—"

In between us.

"—that are probably waiting to be said, and you know I'm not as open as you are when it comes to these stuff. But I feel it… It's here. Not any less real, not any less sincere than if I say it. So if I were you, I'd just… pay more attention."

He sucked in a clump of air before sighing for the hundredth time that afternoon, then he shut his eyes to dwell on his words.

Had he gotten the message across?

Sure, he had meant to get things over and done with, but he meant every word.

Bear with me, Juvia. This is the best I can convey right now.

Clap, clap, clap

"Honest, clear, and said like a champ. Well done, Fullbuster."

At the sound of this voice, Gray instantly paled.

Beside him was no longer just one problematic female mage, but two! The new arrival—nuisance—had her long, brown hair tied up in a loose pony, olive skin glistening with sweat. She sat snugly to Juvia's right while holding up an ice cream to the smirk on her lips.

"Wh— Cana?!" Gray shot up from his seat. "You bastard, have you been eavesdropping?!"

"Eavesdropping?" Cana tried to sound offended by the accusation, her hand pressing gently to her chest for that extra dramatic effect. "Why yes, yes I have."

Ignoring Gray and the profanities being spewed at her, Cana looped an arm—the one holding the ice cream— around Juvia's shoulders and held the cold treat to the girl's lips, to which Juvia flinched.

"Try it. I mixed in a lil' somethin' somethin', f'ya know what I mean."

Gray narrowed his eyes. Alcohol, no doubt.

"Juvia is fine. Thank you, Cana-san."

"Hm, suit yourself," Cana replied before unlinking herself from the girl to resume eating her treat.

Gray scowled at his companions a few seconds longer before unfolding his arms. "Look, if you so much as tell anyone what you heard—"

"Hold that thought, princess. Before you start threatening me into oblivion, let me just say…" turning to Juvia, "I agree with Gray's sentiments."

"Yeah, perfect. As I was saying, don't you even dare—Wait. What?"

"Eh?"

This obviously startled both the ice wizard and the water mage. Gray sat back down and wondered what his friend was on to.

Cana shifted in her seat, resting her forearms on the table.

"Gray's right," she started, "He's a lost cause when it comes to… words of affection. It almost stings my eyes seeing him stand pitifully next to his charmer of a brother."

"Lyon-sama is quite eloquent, isn't he," Juvia chimed in.

"Nothing's charming about that dimwit," Gray countered. "And the hell's he got to do with any of this."

Cana gave the ice mage a sidelong glance and smirked to herself.

"But if you pay close attention, just like now… you'd pick up on the things you've been meaning to hear, even when they're unsaid."

Gray rolled his eyes.

"You gotta be sharp when reading people like Gray. Sometimes, the things you wanna hear lie behind silence, or actions, or other words far from the actual things you want to hear. His words might come off as cold and bitter but there's always more to it."

Cana directed Juvia's attention to Gray by twirling a hand towards him.

"Case in point," she said.

Gray flushed red at the implication but pretended to be clueless. "You can stop now, you know."

Juvia could only whip her head from one mage to the other, eyebrows scrunched up while trying to comprehend her friend.

"But these people who struggle with opening up, they try their best in the few ways they can. Just give them time."

Juvia glanced wistfully at Gray.

They say that all she had to do was to "pay closer attention." But is that not what she's been doing ever since she met Gray?

"Gray-sama.."

He merely grumbled in response.

"Hey now, you'll get it soon," Cana said, giving the water mage a pat on the head. "Ice queen over here's really hard to crack. And in cases like this, you might wanna pay attention to other things…"

At this point, Gray had stood up from the bench, preparing to leave the two females and the task of comforting to Cana.

"… like his wallet. You'd think he's earning a fortune from his missions but it's really just your photos keeping it all bulky and well-fed. Zero cash, talk about cheap."

. . .

. . . . .

Two heads snapped at Cana so quickly it was a miracle neither resulted in a whiplash. Cana thought the shock on their faces looked adorably picturesque, and she instantly wished she had a camera on hand.

"Photos.. of me?"

As Juvia processed this newfound information like a complex math equation, she turned to the man beside her. "Is that true, Gray-sama?"

The initial shock on Gray's face had disappeared and was shortly replaced with panic. Or was it dread?

He started patting and feeling his trousers for his wallet and realized only then that it was indeed missing. His eyes shifted to the table but no wallet could be found. A thought dawned on him, and he raised his head knowing fully well who the perpetrator was.

"You son of a…"

"Son of a what?" Cana challenged, holding up a thick brown item.

Without thinking, Gray lurched wildly at the mage. She quickly handed her ice cream over to Juvia to keep it from getting knocked to the ground. She wasn't about to let 100 jewels go to waste, damn it. Times are hard!

Cana distanced the wallet as far as she could from the struggling ice wizard, while her other arm pushed him away forcefully by the face.

"Get this, Juvia," Cana called out while snickering. "You've got a photo in here wearing that ruffly bikini of yours, all crumpled up. Go figure!"

The implication failed to register in Juvia's head.

Gray, blushing furiously, ignored this revelation and focused on Operation: Kill a bitch and retrieve wallet. "How the fuck did you even get your hands on that?"

"Your careless ass left it lying on the ground outside and I happened to find it. You're welcome, by the way!"

"Just hand it over, damn it!"

In a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand, Gray snatched the unfinished ice cream from Juvia's grasp, making her yip in surprise, and hurled it straight at Cana's face.

Bullseye!

Cana stood from her spot slowly, menacingly, wiping the ice cream off her face.

"Oh you're gonna get it, Fullbuster."

"Yeah? I'd like to see you try."

And so the two battled it out; the wallet soon left neglected on the ground until Juvia swooped it up.

She nervously contemplated whether to open it, not one for rummaging through other people's belongings, but her photos were supposedly inside this wallet—her Gray-sama's wallet!

She had the right to verify this, didn't she?

Steeling herself, Juvia spread the wallet's bulky flaps and scoured each section. Her heartbeat picked up its pace when she found, true enough, her photos. Candid ones, ones from a magazine shoot, one from during the Great Banquet, and as Cana mentioned, a crumpled bikini photo with hard creases. Juvia felt her temperature rise a few degrees.

One of the photos caught her eyes and made her lips twist in distaste. It was a wacky, close-up shot with her index fingers hooked at opposite sides of her mouth and her tongue sticking out. She cringed at the thought of Gray seeing her make such an unflattering face.

Gray... She had been so engrossed in how he viewed her, that is until Cana came in and cleared this up for her.

She eyed all the photos again, giving the one with her wacky face the most attention.

"I mean, shouldn't you know already.."

Juvia squeezed the photos between her fingers tightly before returning them in Gray's wallet.

Now she felt foolish about her earlier display. She prided herself in knowing Gray better than anyone else did, in understanding him deeper than anyone else could. Yet she overlooked many things.

She constantly stayed alert for things she yearned to see and hear from him, considering only his actions at face value which didn't mean much rather than the subtle things that spoke volumes on how he truly felt.

So maybe he was right. Maybe she just needed to pay more attention.

The sound of footsteps approaching broke her train of thought and prompted her to face its source—a thoroughly pissed off Gray Fullbuster murmuring a string of obscenities under his breath. The polo he wore earlier now hung limply from his bare upper body which was covered in dirt and bruises.

"That fucking brute of a woman," he hissed.

He sat himself on the edge of the table, one foot flat on the bench and the other stretched over it.

Juvia kept her gaze on him, a playful smile pulling on her lips.

Gray frowned and gave her a pointed look.

"Oi you, wipe that smug off your face."

"Juvia does not know you're talking about," she said innocently before taking his wallet out and handing it over. "I believe this is yours, Gray-sama. The contents might cheer you up."

Gray raised a brow at her, obviously unamused, before snatching his wallet from her hand. "What, you're cheeky now too? That drunkard's rubbing off on you."

"Juvia is just happy." She flashed him a wide, sincere smile because she felt happy indeed.

Blushing lightly, he glared at her for a bit then let out a resigned sigh. "Of course you are."

He pushed himself off the table, much to Juvia's surprise, and began walking towards the exit. Juvia quickly got to her feet and chased after Gray, only slowing down when she finally caught up to him.

"Where are you heading, Gray-sama?"

"Off to find a Cana-proof wallet."

She giggled at this. "Would you like Juvia to go with you?"

"You're already walking with me."

They were now outside strolling on the dirt path. The ice cream man from earlier had left.

Juvia lifted her head to face him. "That doesn't answer Juvia's question."

He peered down at her incredulously. Asking that was unnecessary after the embarrassing revelation earlier. But rather than getting complacent with him, she would continue to ask.

As if she even needed to.

Does Gray-sama think Juvia is also beautiful?

Gray looked straight ahead. "Sure."

She beamed at him with bright, wide eyes and linked their arms together. "More time with Gray-sama!"

He smiled his softest smile that day.