Author's Note: Of course, I do not own Fairy Tail and all of its characters. They're Mashima's! Thank you very much for reading my work(s). The comments, the follows, and the favourites really make my heart burst into tiny little stars. Receiving notifications actually makes my day (in the middle of work and stress). This one is actually a fic conceived from listening to Tegan and Sara's I'm Not Your Hero (hence, the title).

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I'M NOT YOUR HERO

A Gray/Juvia one-shot

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"I could have finished the job earlier," Gray Fullbuster, the ice mage of Fairy Tail, sighs as he walks down a street in Magnolia. His hands are on his pocket as he strides the road casually.

Juvia Lockser, a previous S-class member of Phantom Lord Guild but now a loyal water mage of Fairy Tail, closely follows behind him. She is wearing her usual dark blue dress coat. On top of her dress coat is her muffler with white fur trimmings. She shyly answers, "Juvia feels really sorry, Gray-sama. Juvia just wants to help."

"Regardless whether it helped or not, don't you ever do that again." Gray looks at her, seemingly pissed off about their earlier job wherein Juvia jumped off in front of Gray to protect him from the void blast of the enemy.

"But –"

"You didn't even know how deadly he was," Gray intercepts, "you could have been killed."

"Juvia is sorry," the water mage shyly answers. Tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. Gray remains as cold as steel as he mutters under his breath, "I already told Mira that I'm used to doing requests alone."

Juvia flinches upon hearing his sentiment. With her teary-eyed expression and slight redness on cheeks, she justifies, "Juvia only wants to be with Gray-sama."

Gray chooses to be silent as they continue to walk towards the guild base. He walks faster than usual in attempt to widen the distance between him and the rain woman. Gray looks up and sees the sky as a mural of orange and white. He sighs upon realizing that it is already sundown. Random people watch them and the ice mage simply shrugs off. He knows how popular they have been since their winning in Grand Magic Games.

Unable to give the woman a silent treatment, he sighs, "Juvia, just understand that I simply prefer doing things on my own.

"Juvia knows," The cerulean-haired mage answers. Gray senses the fast tapping of her shoes on the ground, seemingly trying to catch up with the ice mage's pacing. "But, Mira-san told me that the mission is not for one person only."

"You don't always have to believe her," the ice maker answers as he looks at the sky again – the orange and white swirls of sky turn gray. "She should have also sent someone else."

"What do you mean?"

"I prefer Natsu or Erza instead," Gray answers bluntly, facing the rain woman. Several people take glimpses of them. Trying to make their awful conversation seemingly normal, he approaches the rain woman.

Juvia remains silent for a while. Her hands are already clutching the hems of her sleeves. She suddenly feels difficulty in breathing as if a stone was placed right on her chest. The rain woman feels the sudden urge to cry and get mad.

Noticing her expression, Gray immediately takes her hand and pulls her towards an isolated area. Standing on a concrete bridge, he looks at the water mage's painful expression.

After his letting go of her hand, Juvia pulls the courage to ask him, "is it because they are stronger than Juvia?"

Gray places a hand over his hair, trying to rack his brain for words to express himself. He knows that it is not because of strength as it is also a fact that the water mage is one of the strongest in the guild. He also knows that teamwork has nothing to do with his decision as it was proven in different instances how well they work together.

"It's not that," the raven-haired man stutters without looking at her. Drizzles start to drop from the dark clouds above them.

Feeling embarrassed, Juvia feels the heat on her cheeks. Tears were already welling up from her eyes. The cold feeling of the rain droplets on her skin is a contrast to the heat she feels within. In a way, she knows that it is the water's way to soothe her ranging emotions.

Juvia takes a step backward as if wanting to go somewhere else and hide. However, part of her doesn't want to leave the ice mage alone. She wipes the tears from her eyes before it even hit her cheeks. Then, in a low voice, almost a whisper, she speaks, "Juvia just wants Gray-sama to see her as someone he can depend on."

Juvia tries to breathe deeply in an attempt to control her emotions but the tears continue to flow. The feeling of rejection – it is something familiar to her. She looks back to her past – the feeling of rejection from her childhood, from other men, and from other people. It is a feeling familiar to her yet she wonders how come every time she was being rejected, it is as if the emotion is raw and new. It is like the first time all over again. And to be rejected by the man she feels strongly for, the pain is beyond words.

"I don't mean to make you feel bad," Gray mutters. Still without looking at her, he replies, "I'm sorry."

Both of them are already soaked due to the rain. Though coldness has already permeated through their clothes, they remain still on the bridge as both of them are already used to coldness, figuratively and literally.

"Is it because Juvia is weak?"

He shakes his head. "On the contrary, I think you're strong."

"Juvia doesn't understand," she says with a frown.

"Juvia, do you know what happened to my master, Ul?" Gray asks, "losing someone you really love – it is the hardest feeling ever."

The water mage remains frowning as she does not understand the connection of Ul's death to the current issue.

"It's something that I don't want to feel anymore," Gray admits as he looks at her. The two pairs of dark blue eyes meet – his and hers. "Not again."

Juvia stops crying and remains silent. Her lips part a little as she tries to comprehend everything. Things remain incomprehensible to her; she frowns again.

"You will understand it," Gray approaches her as he takes off his white coat, "someday."

He places his coat over the water mage's head and says nonchalantly, "you might catch a cold."

She chuckles. "Juvia is water, silly."

"Right," he nervously laughs as they start to walk again. The rain remains pouring hard. Juvia, on the other hand, remains naive towards the ice mage's message. She then puts on a smile and understandingly thinks, " maybe someday, Gray-sama, Juvia will understand it."

FIN