Christine's note: I thought I should try some non-Gajevy for once!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and its characters belong to Hiro Mashima.

Gray Fullbuster grumbled as he walked through Magnolia for the second time this morning. The first time, he was halfway to Fairy Tail before started noticing the citizens mumbling around him and mothers covering their children's eyes. That's when he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. Or pants. But at least he was wearing boxers. He honestly couldn't remember if he stripped during his walk, or if he just never put them on in the first place. Whatever, he was wearing clothes now.

Right?

He glanced down.

Right.

After an unnecessary amount of time, Gray finally reached the guild. He grasped the handles and pushed them open. He was greeted with the familiar sites and sounds of Fairy Tail; Laughter, Cana drinking, chatter, indistinct yelling.

Wait. What was that?

Gray squinted. Halfway across the guild, he spotted Gajeel shouting. That in itself wasn't out of the ordinary, but the fact that it was Juvia at the receiving end of his yells was what caught Gray's attention.

As Gray strode towards them, he could make out what Gajeel was yelling.

"-couldn't ignore it for 10 more minutes!?" Gajeel roared down at the blue haired mage.

"Juvia can't just ignore something like that!" Juvia cried.

"It was 40,000 Jewels!"

Gray placed himself in front of the two mages. "Hey, what's going on here?"

Gajeel turned his glare to the ice mage. His sour expression deepened.

"And you!" He snarled, bringing his finger very close to Gray's face. "This is all your damn fault!"

With that, he turned and marched off muttering about "insane rain woman" and "stupid ice strippers."

"What the hell is his problem?" Gray growled, scowling at the dragon slayer.

Juvia groaned and sunk into a nearby table bench with her chin in her hands. "Gajeel-kun is mad at Juvia for failing their mission."

Gray looked at her with raised eyebrows. Usually Juvia and Gajeel were pretty successful at missions together. He took the seat across from Juvia. "What happened?"

"Juvia and Gajeel-kun took a bodyguard mission to escort Luppi-san to her beauty pageant and protect her dress from getting dirty." Juvia started.

"That sounds pretty tame for Gajeel." Gray commented.

"Yes," Juvia agreed. "But the reward money was high and Lily-san was busy, so Gajeel-kun asked Juvia to join him."

Juvia moaned and covered her eyes. "But then Juvia splashed Luppi-san with water and ruined her whole outfit and failed the mission."

Gray snorted, which he covered with a cough. It sounded pretty funny, but Juvia didn't seem to find any amusement in it.

Gray cleared his throat. "So uh…Why'd you do that?"

Juvia lowered her hands to prop up her chin. Her eyebrows lowered and her frown deepened. "Luppi-san was very insulting."

Gray quirked an eyebrow. "Towards you?"

"No…"

"Then who?"

Juvia was silent, not looking at him. Gray wondered if he was going to have to ask her again.

"She insulted you, Gray-sama." Juvia said finally, meeting his eyes.

"Me?" Gray asked bewildered, pointing to himself.

Juvia nodded.

"…What'd she say?" Gray prodded, when she didn't elaborate.

"Juvia would rather not repeat it." She said, poking her fingers together.

"C'mon, Juvia. I can handle it." Gray scoffed. He was getting curious now. What could have this girl said to make Juvia angry enough to fail a mission?

Gray met her eyes and nodded in what he hoped was an encouraging manner.

"Well," Juvia's face contorted as she began. "While Juvia was walking with Luppi-san towards the pageant, Luppi-san asked Juvia if Gray-sama was single. When Juvia told Luppi-san that Gray-sama was absolutely not available, Luppi-san said that Gray-sama probably a play-boy anyways and called Gray-sama a…man-whore."

"Man-whore!?" Gray sputtered. Was that the reputation he had?

Juvia nodded distractedly. Her voice was growing louder and more enraged. "And then, when Juvia told Luppi-san that she should not say such things about Gray-sama, Luppi-san said that Gray-sama must have slept with all the women in Fairy Tail, and asked Juvia if Gray-sama was good in bed. That's when Juvia splashed her with water…"

Gray was silent after Juvia finished. Did people really think that about him? It must be because he was always seen walking around magnolia, half naked. Damn, that habit was really starting to bite him in the ass.

When Gray noticed Juvia's furrowed eyebrows and clenched fists, he waved a hand and flashed her a smile. "Hey, hey, Juvia. It's alright. Don't let it bother you. I don't give a damn what that girl thinks of me, anyways."

"What!?" Juvia snapped her eyes up to Gray. "But Luppi-san said such horrible things!"

Gray shrugged. "She can believe whatever she wants. I know I'm not like that, and my friends know I'm not either, so what do I care? Besides, that's Fairy Tail's motto. We don't give a shit about what everyone else thinks."

Juvia's forehead creased, and her mouth parted slightly. She looked down at her hands. "Y-yes, Juvia supposes that Gray-sama is correct…that is Fairy Tail's way…"

"Yeah, ya see?" Gray grinned. "You don't have to go risking your mission for my sake."

Gray's words seem to have the opposite effect that he intended, as Juvia buried her head in her arms, wailing loudly.

"Oooh, how could Juvia make such a foolish mistake!? Juvia should have kept her mouth shut!"

Damn. Juvia was especially emotional today. He would have to be more careful with his words.

"Wait wait, it's okay!" Gray said quickly. "I appreciate you sticking up for me, Juvia, really. Thank you."

Juvia's weeping suddenly stopped as she lifted her head to meet Gray's eyes. Then her eyes slowly trailed downward. Gray followed her gaze, and saw what she was engrossed by. Her smaller, delicate hand was covered by his own, larger hand.

"Urk!" He grunted, pulling his hand away. "Sorry – uh, I don't know how that happened."

"I don't mind, Gray-sama." Juvia said shyly, with a smile.

Gray sighed inwardly. Well, at least she wasn't bawling anymore.

Juvia smile faded a bit as she glanced behind her. "Maybe Juvia should go apologize to Gajeel-kun…"

"Let 'em cool off." Gray said, waving a hand. "Speaking of which, where was he during that conversation, anyways?"

Juvia turned back to Gray, a look of shame on her face. "Oh…Gajeel-kun was instructed to scout ahead, looking for possible dangers to Luppi's outfit."

Gray snorted before breaking out into howls of laughter, holding on to the table. Juvia just looked embarrassed. Several mages from neighboring tables looked over at the two, wondering just what the ice mage was so entertained by.

"Tell me," Gray gasped out. "What did she do, after you splashed her?"

"Ah, well…" Juvia started, blushing. "At first, Luppi-san just stared at Juvia in shock, and didn't speak. Then Luppi-san started screaming at Juvia."

As Gray pictured the prissiest girl he could imagine with streaking makeup and a dripping dress, yelling incoherently, another fit of laughter burst out of him. Juvia watched Gray for a moment, before her brows furrowed slightly and her mouth settled into a frown.

"Gray-sama," Juvia scolded. "I-It isn't polite to –snrk!"

Juvia threw her hands over her mouth, with a beet red face.

Gray pointed to her, laughing even harder. "Look at your face! I knew it! You think it's hilarious too!"

Maybe it was Gray's hysterical state that got to her, or maybe it was the image of the soaked pageant princess. Either way, a very audible snort was heard behind Juvia's hands, and soon she also dissolved into giggles.

The two mages were completely under the control of hysterical laughter. Every time one would start to calm down, just a look from the other would ignite another eruption of laughs. More than half the guild looked over at the giggling pair. After about five minutes of this cycle, Gray and Juvia were finally able to regain their composure.

"Do you," Gray puffed. "Feel better now?"

Juvia nodded, also out of breath. "Yes. Thank you, Gray-sama."

"Don't mention it." Gray waved a hand. "You hungry?"

"Well…Juvia hasn't eaten for a few hours." Juvia admitted.

"Great, let's grab some food." Gray got up and motioned to the bar.

"O-okay! Juvia's treat!" She exclaimed, shooting up from her seat.

"No, you don't have to do that." Gray said, as they made their way to the bar together.

"Juvia insists!" Juvia asserted.

"You just failed your mission, remember? You don't have any money."

"J-Juvia still has money…"

"Look at the lovebirds argue about who's paying for lunch!" Happy sang, from above them.

Gray said nothing as the exceed's head was suddenly engulfed by a sphere of ice, causing him to plummet down to the floor, crashing loudly.

Juvia just smiled and hooked her arm into Gray's. For once, Gray didn't protest.