#but Erza gets it instead lol

[pencilofawesomeness]

Woohoo, we're good to go. Action pose D with Erza!

I have no idea what the context of this would be, but man I had fun. Threw Gray and Natsu in there because I wanted one of the Samadhi Fire Incident poses to have that same dramatic flair of crap hitting the fan.

It is very red. Scarlet, some my say~ >:)

(Action Pose Challenge)

[lymmielove]

LEVY “LIKE THAT” MCGARDEN HCS | for @ray-desoleil and for me too lol

- Natsu and Lucy brought Daybreak back to the guild so that Levy could use her magic to break the spell on it. Lucy gave Levy a share of what her and Natsu earned.

- Inspired by that one official sketch from Mashima, Levy is very skilled at shooting and gunslinging in general. She goes on jobs with Bisca and Alzack sometimes when she’s not up for a group mission with Shadowgear.

- Speaking of Shadowgear, they have broken up multiple times, most initiated on Levy’s part because you can take the girl out of the feral environment but you can’t take the feral out of the girl (The feral: Growing up with Natsu Dragneel)

- Trains with the Thunder Legion on the regular. Bickslow doesn’t like Jet and Droy. Freed just wants to have someone to rant and yap about Word Magic to, to which Levy provides.

- Levy is secondary human google. The primary human google is Freed.

- Levy shot one of the council members when she was a kid because they made Gray cry.

- All the Guild Kids have gotten kidnapped. No, I will not elaborate.

- Levy’s bandanas can also double as effective restraints for any type of magic EXCEPT Dragon Slayer, God Slayer, and Demon Slayer.

- I’ve said this before but imma say it again, Freed took Levy on as an apprentice after the events of the Grand Fairy Tail Fight.

- When Gajeel got accepted into the guild, she did get her get back. She made him swallow non-iron bullets via her gun. Best believe the Fairy Tail Guild Kids were wooping and hollering. Lucy started screaming. Makarov banned Levy from missions for a month and a half afterwards but in everyone else’s eyes and hers, it was worth it.

- The real moment when Gajeel fell for her was when she flipped him on his ass in a fight.

- Levy rewrote the Book of E.N.D.

- She chopped her hair short as a kid in Fairy Tail. It used to be down to her ankles.

- All the dragon slayers like to have Levy with them in a fight because as long as she had magic, she’s walking fuel for them.

- Levy and Jellal are cousins, sorry I don’t make the rules, they just are.

- Her wardrobe consists entirely of cargo pants, compression shirts, fingerless gloves, and belts of many kinds and colors with matching holsters for her guns.

- Locks up the alcohol cabinet with runes after she learns from Freed, just so Fairy Tail as a whole can lower their alcohol budget.

- Is on ‘Make sure Natsu doesn’t eat all our rations’ duty when it’s a Guild Kids Only mission.

- Natsu’s second favorite. The first? Gray.

- Puts her books in alphabetical order instead of arranging them from series to stand alone.

- Can sew and stitch, the Guild Kids’ jackets have emblems and symbols all over them.

- Is the reason why Gajeel wears headbands.

- Gave Gajeel bangs by accident.

- Has matching piercings with the OG 5 (Cana, Gray, Natsu, Her, and Erza, in order of joining)

- Calls Romeo “Lover Boy” based on the story, it drives Romeo insane and it gives her joy.

- Gave Romeo his middle name.

- Fought Macao over parental rights. Romeo interrupted and proudly said that all the Guild Kids are his parents/older siblings. They all cried.

- Nails grow fast, but has a problem with chipping them a lot so she gets acrylics.

[lisannastraussisanangel]

Absolutely begging you do to a part 3 where they somehow manage to bring Lucy back, I need hugs and celebration my heart can’t handle it

I suppose I can heal the pain I've caused lol

It takes way longer than they planned for fix Lucy. I'm talking a couple years.

Because of this, Lucy has gotten used to floating around and spying on people. So now she has a terrible habit of knocking things over, falling over, and getting way to personal (physically and mentally) with members

It's Lucy who figures out how to come back so she get's the joy of surprising everyone

She goes after Happy first. Revenge is sweet

He's walking home alone from the guild and Lucy sneaks up behind him and grabs him. He screams in pure terror

But then when he sees it's Lucy and she's really there, he buries his face in her chest and starts sobbing.

They sit like that on the street for way to long just hugging

Natsu smells Lucy on Happy when he comes home so Natsu knows she's back (or at least he's hoping his nose isn't lying to him)

He runs out of the house and searches for her (because why wouldn't she go see him next)

Lucy is standing there in the walkway, almost sheepishly. Natsu freezes at first and just stares

It doesn't last long because soon he's tackling her. Lucy tries to be mad at him but she's so happy to be actually touching him that she just giggles as he clutches her tightly

Natsu wasn't able to smell her while she was a ghost so he sniffs her pretty hard, missing her scent (Lucy actually lets him do it too)

Wendy had helped come up with the spell to return Lucy to her body, but hadn't actually been there when Lucy successfully did it

So Wendy is stuck in the library trying to figure out new ways to improve the spell (they had several failed attempts so Wendy was always tweaking things)

Lucy simply comes up and sits on the desk next to her. Wendy is so buried in her research that she doesn't even smell her

She just assumes that its Lucy's 'ghost'. Well, until Lucy snatches the book from her hands

Wendy literally shrieks. I'm talking the loudest, most high pitched scream ever

And Lucy is once again tackled. Giggling all the way to the floor

Carla had seen it coming so she simply hugged Lucy and welcomed her back to the land of the living

Having heard Wendy's scream, Erza came running into the room. She was so confused when she saw the three women on the ground giggling

Lucy stood quickly and walked up to Erza. Erza was skeptical of what Lucy would do (ghost Lucy is a bit of a menace)

Without a word, Lucy pulled Erza into the tightest hug known to man

Well, she thought it was a tight hug, until Erza hugged her back and nearly broke all her ribs

Lucy had to tap out of it, but held Erza's hand the rest of the day

Erza didn't cry then, but that night she was the first to go to Lucy's house and cried into her arms about how much she missed her

The rest of the team showed up at Lucy's apartment that night. Something they had been doing since Lucy first turned into a 'ghost' (they figured they should make use of Lucy's space since they were paying the rent)

Everyone apart from Gray knew Lucy was physically back. So while they are all chatting, Gray tries to walk through Lucy (a habit he picked up because she kept trying to block his paths to things)

He ran straight into her and nearly slammed her into the doorframe. Lucy yelled at him because wth and then realized "oh shit, we didn't tell Gray"

He freaked out and lifted her off the ground as he hugged her.

He tried not to cry, but Lucy started bawling instead because now her could touch her whole team. This caused Gray to cry as well

Pretty soon everyone was crying all over again and Lucy was pulled into a group hug

They all cuddled her that night as well. No one wanted to take their hands off her for fear that she would disappear again

(Also Gray was pissed that everyone knew besides him and didn't say anything... there was a fight)

[fairydares]

Reminiscing on the Hard Road (A Gruvia Fic)

Rating: M

Summary: While on his way to a mission, Gray reflects on the hardships, tears, battles, and triumphs which led to him and Juvia finding their happiness together. (Or: the story of how they finally, officially got together told through memories).

AO3 Link ; FFNet Link

Words: ~8,000

Warnings: Please read with caution as this contains adult themes & situations (though nothing explicit). Also swearing and allusions to mental illness, dissociation and depression symptoms especially. Man this feels like the end of a drug commercial. Enjoy!

AN: I realized how long it'd been since I updated Chasing Tails and was feeling really bad about it. I'm so sorry, guys! I've just been really busy! I don't have time to get Chapter 5 up tonight, but I do have the time to share this Gruvia piece I wrote a while ago as a karmic sort of apology.

With that in mind, this is a bit of a rough, long one-shot. It comes from a chapter in a larger, mostly Nalu-focused fic which I may or may not ever actually finish writing. Sooo it's not even really a one-shot so much as it's, like, a segment of a chapter from one. I also barely had time to clean it up ever so slightly.

However, I thought Gruvia fans would appreciate anyway. Maybe one day, I'll write the whole thing because I honestly think it could be a story, or maybe a series of drabbles? This is all you kids get for now, though, lol. no fucks given (just kidding this will keep me up nights.)

o(O)o

Ignoring Natsu's whining about still being motion sick from beside him, Gray buried his hands in his pockets and let his eyes engage in their favorite past-time: roaming the curves of the blue-haired woman walking in front of him.

Him and Juvia had officially been together for over half a year, but his eyes still snagged on the same places they always had. The sway of her blue hair, now long enough to partly obscure the pinch of her waist and flare of her hips with each swish. The pretty, cute flush that lived on her cheeks as she listened attentively to Erza, who was chattering about a famous desert shop in the area. The way shadow and light shifted over the curve of her rear. And—forever his most favorite—the exposed skin of her legs. Long, toned, moon white...and fucking perfect.

Gray felt his cheeks heat, but couldn't find it in himself to drag his eyes away. The solidness and length of their relationship did absolutely nothing to diminish the novelty of her beauty, like he might once have feared it would. Instead, it hypnotized him more surely than ever. Noticing all the men drooling over her figure as they walked past, Gray was aware of the sting of possessiveness and annoyance which rose in his chest, but was also easily able to ignore it.

He was as comfortable as any guy with a stunning girlfriend could be in his own jealousy, these days. More shockingly, so was Juvia, a fact that was plain from the way she shot only perfunctory glares at the women eyeing him and whispering to each other as they passed.

As he stared at her back, his lips quirked ever so slightly. It had taken time, tears, and work—more work than he could ever have anticipated—to get to this point in their relationship. But work had never been more worth it.

His mind wandered to reminiscence. To where it had all started, when they had started, after the 100-Year Quest had ended and he'd finally—with Lucy, Levy, and Erza's help—managed to ask Juvia to be his girlfriend.

"Not just 'yours'," Levy had insisted, explaining that phrasing would confuse her. "Your girlfriend."

He'd actually fought them on it. Not really because he had a problem with commitment anymore (okay, it was a little embarrassing, but not too much) but because the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" felt ridiculous, considering everything they'd been through. How deeply he cared about her. For crying out loud, they'd tried to kill themselves for each other. He'd kill for her, die for her, and—most importantly—he would live for her. Beyond making his ears feel like they were going to melt off, the word "girlfriend" felt trite.

But when Lucy and Levy demanded to know if that meant he was going to propose, he'd balked. Actually, having the m-word shoved right up against his nose kind of made his soul flee his body. As ready as he was for a romantic relationship, he wanted to go through the actual experience of having one. Like, with all the steps involved. In order. He was at the point in his life that he wanted it more than anything.

More importantly, he wanted to give Juvia that experience. He was determined to do right by her.

With the girls' reality check, and the point they'd made that ambiguity might make Juvia jump to the wrong conclusion or even hurt her, they'd convinced him. He'd been committed to making his long-awaited confession as special for Juvia as possible, complete with saying any embarrassing words she wanted to hear.

Gray still hadn't felt worthy of the love she gave him. He still struggled to believe he was a man who could protect her. But after everything he'd been through during the 100-Year-Quest, seeing how much she'd missed him the whole time, and his talk with Juvina-sama, he'd understood it was completely unfair to ask Juvia to wait for him to decide he was worthy enough to love her openly. He also wasn't above admitting that Juvina-sama's suggestion that she wouldn't wait forever had disquieted some irrational part of him enough to make him antsy, impatient to make absolutely sure they were exclusive.

He'd been completely flustered throughout his confession, but known it had gone as right as it could. Lucy, Levy, and Erza—who thought they'd been slick, hiding in a nearby bush to watch him confess—had agreed. (Lucy had annoyed him to no end by teasing him over how "adorable" he'd been.)

And yet...Juvia's response hadn't been quite what Gray hoped. Lucy hadn't noticed it, but he had. He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but at some point, he'd learned to read the Water Mage like an open book. For how sincere a person she was—a trait he was all too familiar with—Juvia could also be surprising, even mysterious. As transient as water, with hidden depths you'd never know a thing about unless you were willing to dive beneath the surface.

When Gray confessed, he'd braced himself for joyous screaming. He'd planned to freeze a literal flood of tears before it could wash them both away. He'd been prepared to get a concussion from how hard she'd glomp him in the street. But while she had said yes, demurely accepted the roses, and hugged him plenty tight...her response had been subdued. In hindsight, he could see the pattern her reaction fit: the way her gaze had dropped to the street despite her happy flush, the hesitant, nervous gleam in her eyes, the limited verbal response.

The only times she'd ever acted that way had been when he actually reciprocated some of her affection. When he'd promised to give her a straight answer, after he defeated END. When he'd given her a one-armed hug and said he was glad her "body" was safe, after he'd saved her from that wood bastard.

Something had been wrong. But when the girls who'd spied on him only gushed afterwards, not seeming to have noticed anything off, he'd shrugged off his concerns, assuming it was his own lack of romantic literacy. He'd been nervous, but also really excited to learn.

But as their relationship officially began...it quickly became obvious that there was a problem, and that a one-sided approach to fixing it just wasn't going to cut it.

Juvia had always been prone to mood swings severe enough to make Gray's head spin, but as soon as they started dating, her mood seemed to sink. He'd try to ask her about it only for her to put on an obviously fake, cheery front and insist she was fine.

At first, he was sure it must be his fault. He'd had no idea what he was doing wrong. At that point, the guilt he felt for not taking Juvia's feelings seriously for so long, for abandoning her in Amefurashi Village, and for nearly letting her die in an attempt to save him had been taking a serious toll on him. The guilt had sometimes left him ragged. Every time she seemed down, he beat himself up and tried to do better. Talking, dates, spending time together (even when it meant ditching missions he really wanted to go on with the team), accepting her gifts and acting happy about them (no matter how much they creeped him out).

But the more he'd tried to make up for everything, the worse it seemed to get. He watched her frustration rise as he tried to be more openly affectionate, her denials that she was frustrated getting louder. More and more, she gave, but when he gave back, she'd look ready to explode or burst into tears.

What had made everything come to a head was the sex. A surprise in itself. For all the ways their relationship had suffered, sex had never been one of them. It'd started back in the cabin they shared in Amefurashi Village. From the first night they'd moved in together, Juvia had not-so-surprisingly tried to edge her way into Gray's bed constantly. She'd use excuses of cold weather, make puppy eyes, and sew nauseatingly pink coupley bed sheets to try to lure him (when, he still had no idea).

Meanwhile, he struggled more and more to pretend he didn't find (most of) her antics adorable. Not to mention incredibly tempting. Things escalated to where he'd feel his excitement rising towards the end of their daily training sessions, to the point his body became conditioned to react when he saw the damn sun set.

He also felt increasing dread at the notion of having to turn Juvia down—and for having to sneak out in the middle of every night to "take care" of the problem she always left him with (cold showers didn't exactly work for an Ice Wizard).

Finally, one night, she'd pouted and whined that she was sore from training and begged for a massage. Gray didn't know if it was the fact she was asking him for something instead of offering; the unbelievably cute, sparkly-eyed, hopeful glances she kept sneaking at him; or the fact he could tell she actually was sore from the way her face would pinch as she attempted to stretch provocatively in front of him, but his resolve had shattered.

Before he could think and without a word, he'd lifted his covers and held her gaze, not bothering to hide the dark promise in his eyes.

Her reaction had been priceless. He'd never forget it.

His acceptance seemed to knock the breath straight out of her. Her eyes had gone round as saucers, staring into his eyes like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her cheeks had darkened. She'd stood stunned for so long that he'd started to get nervous, wondering if she'd only been being playful all this time, not really meaning to come on to him or maybe not expecting him to ever accept. But just as he'd been trying to field the disappointment sinking his heart and trying to think of how to promise he wouldn't do anything she didn't want, she'd hesitantly approached the bed, trembling.

After giving her the massage she'd asked for, he'd rewarded her bravery three times over.

After that, for the very first time, the dynamic of their relationship shifted in one, important way—the one which would force him to finally confront his own heart:

In terms of their physical relationship, he became the more dominant one. In this one aspect of their shared life, he chased. Gray flustered Juvia. He hadn't been able to get enough. What had once been a relentless, one-sided pursuit (one where she had, admittedly, been gaining on him without his notice) became a dance which had addicted him before he knew it.

The notion of reciprocating her feelings had once had him running for the hills. So it had been a huge shock to learn just how much he liked it.

She was so obviously happy and disbelieving that first time he slipped her clothes off in the moonlit dark, cursing over her beauty. Utterly awestruck when he'd seen to her pleasure (twice, he still liked to remember proudly) before even considering his own. Sex was the first time he heard her speak in the first-person, the first time she said his name without adding "-sama" (since that battle in the rain, anyway.)

It was when he lost himself in her soft skin, her passion, and her pleasure that some part of him was able to accept the truth she'd had the grace to surrender to from the very beginning.

The shift in their sex life was also when he'd started to twig something wasn't right between them. After Alvarez was when he'd started it back up. His plan had been to wait until he was able to reciprocate her feelings verbally, like he'd promised, but almost losing her had broken him in a way some part of him would never truly recover from. Between that and his final, full acceptance of his own feelings, there'd been no restraining himself. He'd come onto her with all the subtlety of a freight train the second they were alone.

Even then, something hadn't been quite right. She hadn't been herself, quiet enough that—even as...compromised as his critical thinking skills had been, at the time, and even in his heightened emotional state—he'd noticed. He'd pulled back and asked if she was okay, but when her response had simply been to drag him back in for a kiss that made his knees weak, he'd taken it as a yes and matched her passion enthusiastically.

She kept staying quiet in bed. It bothered the hell out of him, and he badgered her about it more than once, but would ultimately let it go when she insisted she was fine. In his defense, there had been a lot of reasons she could've become subdued. They had just fought a war. They were all exhausted from fixing the town and working to build peace in Fiore.

But after the 100-Year Quest and after his confession, she got even weirder. He noticed it all the time, in every aspect of their relationship, but it was especially noticeable in bed, when they were so close to each other, both completely vulnerable.

When they'd cohabitated, he'd almost always been the one to start something. He'd enjoyed that. He'd even (hell, especially) enjoyed the way she'd flirt, pretend to be oblivious to his advances, pout and blush and make him impress her, coax him to the brink of losing his mind before finally caving to both of their desires. Those times where he went from prey to predator had balanced their entire relationship, satisfying both of them.

Gray wasn't some slimeball who needed sex, but he did need some balance in their dynamic. The private, physical side of their relationship was just where it'd happened to play out. It could've played out anywhere in their relationship, if they were off sex for a while for whatever reason.

But as soon as they became official, it became clear she'd fight tooth and nail to make sure that never happened.

She came onto him. Every. Single. Time. He'd been a little surprised, but happy enough. At first. But as he pushed her to talk to him harder and she denied louder, he'd started to guess that something was genuinely, really wrong.

She didn't speak in the first-person when they were intimate, any more. She didn't drop the "-sama." Even worse, he started to suspect she was seducing him even when she wasn't really in the mood. Almost like she felt like she had to.

It had been one such time when he finally flipped his shit. Even now, walking behind her and appreciating her curves, the memory made his mood falter a little.

He regretted how he'd handled things. It shamed him to remember how he'd all but shoved her off him and refused to do anything else with her until she was ready to tell him whatever the hell was going on inside that crazy, watery head of hers. It was an ultimatum. A cruelly-put one, at that. He hadn't realized just how hurt and angry he was until the words flew out of his mouth.

Juvia had opened up, alright.

In fact, she'd exploded.

They'd screamed at each other, horrible things Gray could hardly stand to repeat even in his own head. She'd demanded that he quit wasting both their time and leave her again, like they both knew he would. He'd asked how stupid she could be to think he'd do that, when he was obviously dedicated enough to put up with her psycho stalker gifts. She'd retorted that her "psycho stalker gifts" didn't seem to have any affect on his libido. He'd yelled that she was the one jumping his bones, ever since he'd asked her out. She'd said that was because she actually cared about his happiness, implying that was something he'd never understand.

She'd ended the black, ugly fight with four hoarse words that ripped his heart out of his chest: "This is over, Gray-sama!"

His apartment door had slammed behind her.

He'd been too shocked and devastated to do anything but watch her go, not even managing to stagger to the door and chase after her until she was long-gone. Black curse power had swirled across his skin as he pelted to the guild, growling in frustration when he didn't find her there. Then he'd run all the way to the female dorms at Fairy Hills only to be deterred by Erza, who met him at the gate. She hadn't known anything about his and Juvia's fight, but she'd been drawn by his yelling.

His older sister figure had knocked him out "for his own good."

The next afternoon, Gray had woken up in his own bed. Not bothering to see if he was dressed (it would turn out he wasn't) he'd booked straight to the guild only to be devastated by the news that Juvia had taken a long-term S-class quest just that morning, news which was delivered by a sympathetic Mira.

Sure that it was over, that he'd ruined everything, he'd drunk himself sick—then kept drinking, swinging fists at anyone and everyone who tried to console him until, finally, in the wee hours of the next morning, Gajeel managed to knock him out of it.

The hostility, Gray had expected. Gajeel was Juvia's best friend; of course he was angry to learn that Gray had done something to upset her so much, she'd left for a Quest that could take months or even years to finish without so much as a word to Gajeel or any of their other comrades.

What did surprise Gray was the understanding Gajeel eventually showed.

Gray got his ass knocked flat by the Iron Dragon Slayer. From his back on the ground, he started to spit out what happened. With each word, the larger man had visibly calmed. After enough had come out, he'd awkwardly helped Gray to his feet (his own, gruff brand of apology.) He'd helped Gray sober up, then he'd given him a pep talk.

He'd refused to explain his own guesses as to what was going on with Juvia, insisting "who knows what goes on in that water witch's head." But he'd also insisted that whatever was going on, it for damn sure wasn't what Gray thought, which was that he'd hurt her too badly for her to love him anymore.

"She's obsessed with you," the man had said, scowling in disgust. "She's always been obsessed with you. She's way too stubborn to let it go that easy. It's annoying."

By six AM, Gajeel Redfox—of all people—had talked Gray into chasing after the love of his life. He'd even used his Iron Magic to create a lockpick which got them into the archive room, where they'd found Mira's records...and Juvia's location.

He'd barely had the time to register the irony of her quest's location before he was gone, shooting Gajeel a gruff "thanks" over his shoulder and running home to pack.

It'd been raining when he finally walked into Amefurashi Village.

He hadn't consciously known where to start looking when he arrived, but his feet—following some combination of muscle memory and the fate he'd fought for so long—had carried him to the place where the word "home" had changed for him: the cabin he and Juvia had shared. Where they'd grown together. Taken care of each other.

Where he'd left her. Hurt her. Even if most of the reason to do so was because he wanted to protect her, he couldn't stop hating himself for that.

She was standing outside the place, drenched and shivering, when he got there. As if sensing his arrival as surely as he'd known where to find her, Juvia had turned to look at Gray with eyes that were glassy above flushed cheeks. She'd wavered on her feet.

As soon as she'd whispered his name, she'd toppled. Gray's bag had landed in a puddle with a splashy thunk. He'd lunged to catch her like his life depended on it.

Shouting her name had earned him no response, but pressing the back of his hand to her forehead had been enough to convince him that she had a seriously high fever.

Strangely, as worried as he'd been about her, he hadn't even thought to bring her back to Wendy or seek a nearer healer. In hindsight, he was sure that deep down, he'd realized it would do no good; she wasn't physically ill, but heartsick, just as he was. He'd felt lower than the mud gathering around his boots.

He'd been surprised to discover that he had to break into their old home, and rapidly deduced that Juvia hadn't been staying at their old cabin even though she'd been standing outside of it, both from that fact and the fact that none of her stuff was there.

As soon as he lay her in the bed which had once been his before becoming theirs, she'd begun shivering. For the first time in his life, Gray cursed that he was an Ice Wizard instead of a Fire Wizard.

He'd run outside, grabbed his bag, then come back in—only to curse again when he unclasped the bag only to discover that all its contents were soaked. Thinking quickly, he'd stripped his wet clothes, then hers. He'd climbed into bed with her.

"'M sorry, Gray-sama..." she'd slurred her sleep. "Juvia's so sorry...Juvia had to...I just had to..."

He'd shushed her, rubbing her arms to try to warm her up. "It's okay, Juvia. I know, my love. It's okay..."

He'd kept holding her and whispering soft comfort to her until she'd finally stopped shivering, at which point his frantic worry had abated enough that he could fully admit to himself how good it felt to have her in his arms, her skin against his. How warm she was. How perfectly she fit against him. How much he missed her. She was right there, as close as another person could ever be to him. Yet with how things had been between them lately and how lost she was to fever, he'd never felt further away.

Apparently, he'd fallen asleep at some point, because when he awoke, it was to the rising sun blazing at him from the center of the cabin window. Ignoring his body's reaction to waking up in the arms of the very naked, beautiful woman he happened to be in love with, Gray had instantly dropped his hand to Juvia's forehead, sighing in relief when it became clear her fever had reduced. She wasn't better, but she was getting there.

Quickly figuring out what needed done, he'd dropped a tender kiss to her warm forehead, murmuring a threat against her sweaty hairline: "You'd better not even think of running away again, crazy woman. We are going to talk when I get back."

Gray had dressed, glanced back, and left. He'd met up with he client—a rich and unfortunately good-looking asshole about Gray's age who was way too disappointed Juvia, herself, wasn't the one who'd shown up. Through gritted teeth, Gray informed the bastard it would be a couple days before he and his partner (he was sure to emphasize those words several times) would be able to begin investigating the dark guild threatening the area, as she'd fallen ill.

It annoyed him to no end that the creep seemed genuinely concerned about this, trying to insert himself, demand to see her, and attempting to coax Gray into revealing her location (Gray couldn't help the pleasure and hope which rose in his chest, when he learned she hadn't told this guy wherever it was she was staying; obviously, she'd had no interest in sharing that information.)

The client had thrown a rich boy tantrum when Gray refused to tell him anything, but ultimately let him go when Gray promised Juvia would be there in a couple days (not bothering to mention that he would absolutely be there, too.)

He'd gone to pick up medicine and food. He'd grabbed all the ingredients he could remember for something hearty, mild, and delicious she used to make him when they lived together, a chicken stew that tasted like something he could remember from childhood. Those ingredients, medicine, ginger tea...anything he could think of that might help her feel better, he purchased, barely noting price.

Juvia had been waiting on the porch wrapped only in a blanket when he returned, flushed with both fever and anger.

They'd both been pissed at each other. While Gray locked horns with Juvia's amorous creep of a client, she had apparently been discovered by the landlord who owned their old cabin and only barely managed to talk him out of his anger, ultimately having to pay double their old monthly rent to keep him from calling the authorities—all while wrapped only in a blanket.

A brief yelling match had ensued. It ended when Juvia began coughing rather violently, Gray dropping his groceries in the mud to run to her. Even as she insisted she was fine, he'd ushered her into the cabin, forcing her to sit before he went back out to grab the food he'd bought.

Her face had gone funny when he began grouchily unloading chicken, rice, broth, veggies, and herbs. When he (somewhat defensively) asked what the hell she was staring at, she'd haltingly asked if he'd bought all of that for her. Exasperated, he'd told her of course he had, she'd had him worried sick.

The groceries had been abandoned when she burst into tears.

It had taken several minutes of heart-wrenching sobs on Juvia's part and coaxing on Gray's for the conversation to actually begin.

During their ugly fight in his apartment, she'd exploded.

Here, in the lonely home they'd once shared, she imploded.

While the groceries thawed and dripped on the kitchen counter, Juvia sobbed the whole, messy, painful truth into his chest. She told him everything. She told him how, deep down, she'd always known she wasn't worthy of having her love reciprocated by him. It had been true from the moment they'd met, when she'd been part of Phantom Lord, but remained true no matter how long she'd been at Fairy Tail. That was how she'd put it: "I always knew I wasn't worthy of Gray-sama's love." Not only because of her past, but because of how annoying she was. How gloomy. How creepy and obnoxious.

Gray hadn't even had time to express his horror at the fact she thought those things before she'd been plowing on, her tears only getting thicker and her words only making his heart sink lower.

She said knowing she didn't deserve his love had turned to knowing she didn't deserve to love him at all, when she'd killed Keyes to free Gray's father from his undead life. But even though "Gray-sama had been wonderful enough to forgive Juvia," she'd continued to hate herself, deep down.

She told him that sharing a life in the cabin they were currently in had, for her, been the sweetest kind of torture. That she'd never been so happy—and never felt more undeserving. For the first time, she told him that she'd only had one lover before Gray, some piece of shit named "Bora" who'd never cared about her or her pleasure. Gray had been nothing like him, attentive, caring, and as invested in her pleasure as he was in his own. At first, feeling so cared for had been as overwhelming as it was amazing, but by the time Gray started to pull away from her for his mission, the overwhelmed feelings had slowly begun to fade, letting her forget everything but the happiness she felt with him.

Juvia told him that the day he abandoned her to infiltrate Avatar, everything which she'd started to believe could feel right began to feel wrong, and everything which had felt wrong began to feel right. She'd never felt she deserved to be loved by Gray the way she loved him. Being left by him had, in a horrible way, made her feel like the world was how it was supposed to be.

But it had also ripped her apart.

It had destroyed any confidence she'd begun to gain in herself.

She told him that she resented being abandoned. Resented not being told about his mission to infiltrate a Dark Guild, not just because of their relationship, but because she had once been in a Dark Guild, and could potentially have helped his and Erza's Mission. She'd not only felt betrayed on a personal level, but disrespected as a Mage with no small amount of skill and experience.

It was a side to the issue which he had, shameflly, never considered.

He was mortified when she'd finally let herself chastise him for this—especially when he'd tried to defend himself by bringing up details of his mission only to be instantly struck down and ripped apart by someone who was, in fact, very obviously more knowledgeable about the inner workings of Dark Guilds than either he or Erza ever had been. Hell, Juvia could probably have run the mission almost as well as Jellal had.

For the first time, he saw just how beneficial it would have been to have her on board, despite Erza urging him not to get her involved. He should've gone against her orders, asked forgiveness instead of permission. Over the course of that one conversation, it was clear that having her on board would have shortened the length of their mission by probably several months.

But worse than the benefits they'd missed out on, in infiltrating Avatar, worse than the fact that she resented him, was her admission that she hated herself for that resentment.

She'd apologized. So many times. Too many times to count. Each apology was another crack in Gray's heart. He'd tried to ask her to stop, but they'd just kept slipping out anyway. It was like she couldn't help it.

She'd told him that over time, as she got to know the other women in Fairy Tail—Lucy, Cana, and Levy—she'd realized just how unworthy she was of the care Gray held for even just his friends. She just hadn't been forced to confront her own lacking sense of self-worth...until he openly reciprocated her feelings.

She said that the second he confessed, part of her felt wrong. Like she'd donned someone else's skin—someone who was worth being loved by Gray. Her guilt, her knowledge that she wasn't worthy of him, her bitterness, her self-hatred...all of it had come rushing to the surface.

She told him that, as unworthy as she'd felt, she'd been too selfish to reject him. Too angry at the thought of him being with someone else. Her own selfishness made her feel even worse than before. She'd been determined to be worthy of him, and so she had sought to pay every ounce of love he gave her three times over. At least.

It hadn't made her feel any better. No matter how hard she tried to be sure to pay him back, every time Gray took her on a date or made love to her, it made her skin crawl, because she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve his love, his affection, or even his attention. He deserved better, and she was nowhere close to deserving him. She never would be.

If there had been even one last, single sliver of a doubt as to how he felt about this woman, it died then and there. Nothing—not his own guilt, being screamed at, or being broken up with—nothing could hurt worse than being made aware of what a hard time she was having. Learning just how badly she'd been dissociating during all their most precious moments. How much pain she was in. How little she thought of herself. How deep her scars ran.

He'd have given anything to take her pain away. He'd have given anything to change it. Right then, he couldn't think of a single thing he wouldn't have done to make her see herself as he saw her: the energetic, caring, fierce Mage he'd come to know. The woman who always eclipsed everything else for just a second, the first time he saw her every day.

He'd wanted to tell her all that, and more. He wanted to apologize. He'd wanted to tell her how badly he missed her after he'd left her here, that this place had been home for him, too. He'd wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, that no day without her smile even felt real, but his voice had been stuck behind a lump of misery and all he'd been able to do, for a very long time, was lay in their bed and hold her while she cried the rest of it out. He wasn't too ashamed to admit he lost a couple tears in her hair, too.

Over the twilight of time it had taken for her sobs to turn hoarse, then to whimpers, then sniffles, guilt, emotional exhaustion, an anguish washed over Gray in their turn.

Until finally, he hardened all of those feelings into resolve.

"I'm really thankful that you're here. For always being beside me..."

Those were the words Gray had said to her before Alvarez, and he'd meant them. For years, Juvia had done nothing but be there for him. Even when he didn't want her there, she stayed right next to him, quietly piecing together his heart and his trust. It killed him that the woman who'd confronted him with her love, made him face down his own weakness, always thought of him, and helped him so much more than he could ever truly thank her for had been hiding so much of her own pain. He wished she would have told him any of this all the times he'd pushed and asked.

But he couldn't blame her for that. Maybe she hadn't opened up to him before then, but her mentions of her days in Phantom and of that shithead ex of hers had driven home, with stark clarity, a realization he wished he'd made a lot sooner: Juvia didn't know how to open up like Gray had tried to demand, because she hadn't grown up somewhere like Fairy Tail.

Unlike Gray and Natsu and the others, she hadn't been taught to bare her pain, hadn't always known there would be someone to listen to her, cry with her, be on her side. While Gray had been fought, teased, and accepted for exactly who he was (more often his whole self than not) Juvia had been abandoned by every single person in her life except Gajeel and those who'd wanted to use her for their own ends. Gray abandoning her had only confirmed what she'd been taught was inevitable.

But the Ice Mage wouldn't linger on that. He wouldn't give any more time to despair.

It was his turn now, he realized. His turn to stay beside her even when it was hard, and do the work. Now, he just had to figure out how. But while he'd been trying to do that, had been gathering his words, Juvia had recovered enough to speak once more.

She'd apologized again. She'd told him that she knew this was too much, that all of this was too much...that she was too much. For the times they'd shared, she thanked him quietly, eyes bright with yet more tears and refusing to meet his as she continued that she'd had to let Gray go because she wanted him to be happy, and she'd finally, finally realized she could never do that for him, not really. Then she'd tried to push him away, and as Gray had tightened his grip, he'd realized he didn't need to figure out what to do, what to say, or how to love her.

She'd been showing him all along.

After a deep breath, the words had come low, and easier than he'd thought. He told her she was right, all of this was a lot...but also that he was so, so happy she'd finally told him what was really going on. He'd been as gentle as possible when he told her he could see how difficult and scary it had been for her to open up about all this and that he was proud of how brave she'd been for doing so, but she'd started crying again anyway, so he'd had to carry on with a shakier, hoarser voice.

He'd apologized. For everything. For not taking her feelings seriously for so long, for not seeing her when she needed to be seen, for leaving her behind and hurting her so badly she'd gotten sick. He hadn't been dismissing her abilities as a Mage so much as he'd been trying to protect her, but that was no excuse. "High-handed and cruel" was a generous way to describe his behavior, and he finally saw that. He'd told her that if he could take it back, he would. But he couldn't. He could only promise to never, ever leave her like that again, and he was more than ready to make that promise. He had been for a long time, since well into the 1oo Years Quest. If she'd only give him another chance, he'd show her.

At this point, Juvia had obviously started to twig that this conversation wasn't going to go how she planned, with Gray accepting she was too burdensome and unworthy for him and leaving her alone like everyone else had left her, because she'd started kicking up a fuss, forcing him to hold her there again.

"Let Juvia go, Gray-sama!" she'd demanded shakily, sounding like she was barely clinging to her determination. But Gray had refused. He refused to let her go like this, not until she'd heard him out.

As brief as the ensuing argument had been, it was also one of the most frustrating conversations Gray had ever taken part in (and he'd fought Natsu on basically every cock-and-bull-ass plan he'd ever come up with.)

He'd tried desperately to insist that while Juvia could be creepy and he did find rain somewhat gloomy, she was not worthless or annoying or obnoxious. He'd tried to tell her that she did make him happy. He'd tried to tell her how he felt about her.

Juvia had not responded well.

A wall had slammed up in her eyes, the same blank one he'd met on that fateful, rainy day so long ago. As she'd kept denying, and he'd kept pushing, their voices had gotten louder. Eventually, Gray had realized it was raining outside the window next to their bed again, and that was the one thing that had forced him to take a step back from his own frustration. Lucky, because if he hadn't, he might have flown off the handle and ruined everything all over again.

Looking down at her, he'd forced himself to cool off and realized he was being unfair; he was asking her to take an entire journey in one leap, to unlearn a lifetime's-worth of lessons about her own worthlessness over the course of a single conversation. No one could do that. It was an unreasonable thing to ask.

And so, when he'd finally gathered his wits and perspective enough, he'd said, "You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to agree with my feelings for you. But you have to believe that they're real...and you have to at least consider my side."

Juvia's eyes had gone wide. As they regained their sparkle, he'd refused to break eye contact. Slowly, the rain had stopped, leaving them in the silent hut.

After what felt like years, she'd shakily whispered, "O-okay."

And Gray had known that they were finally, finally getting somewhere.

Quietly and slowly, with their hands intertwined between their chests and their foreheads pressed together, they'd pieced together a fragile plan. They would stay together and be as they had been, but from now on, they were both going to make a concerted effort to be honest and rebuild trust. Gray started by admitting that missing out on Quests with his team had really started to bum him out, and while this seemed to sadden Juvia at first, she admitted after some thought that in being with Gray, she hadn't been nurturing her own friendships with her friends like Gajeel and Meredy. Lucy had also asked for help training her in Water Magic, and Juvia had declined so far even though she was interested in having someone to teach.

Gray had encouraged all of this...and he'd encouraged her to visit Porlyusica, too, when they got home. The old lady was hardly a Mental Healer, but she'd hopefully be able to help them find someone who was, someone objective and removed from the situation who Juvia could talk to openly. One thing which had sunk in fully for Gray over the course of Juvia's heartrending speech was that it was going to take a lot of time, work, and love to get Juvia to a better place. There was no way the two of them could do it alone.

They'd talked and planned until their voices were hoarse...and then they'd not talked for even longer. Juvia once again dropped the "-sama." She let him come to her. She didn't just surrender herself to him the way she had when they had each other before in their cabin, she'd given him even more—in his arms, she'd bared a small and precious part of herself Gray had never even realized she hid from him.

Over the course of the month they spent in that cabin, he'd cherished everything she gave him more than most men could've in twice the amount of time. How they'd managed to deal with that Dark Guild months and months ahead of schedule, he would never understand, because his head had never been less in the game. Neither of them had been able keep their hands off each other for more than an hour when they were alone together.

Neither had been particularly disappointed when that crotchety old landlord refused to give them back any part of their months' rent. Instead, they'd stayed till June was up breaking the place in thoroughly.

"It's payback for him being a jackass to you!" Gray had once playfully defended against her neck, pinning her against the kitchen counter and grinning as she gigglingly scolded him.

He only prayed no one ever took a UV Lacrima to the inside of that place. They'd go blind. He'd taken her on the couch, over it, against the walls, on the counters and tables, and in more positions than he'd previously known existed in that bed. When they returned home, a bunch of people had pointed out that they both looked like they'd lost weight. Gray didn't doubt it, after all the—

"...seriously, none of you know what it's like, every time we travel...OI, STRIPPER, YOU MAYBE WANNA QUIT EYE-FUCKING YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN WE'RE IN PUBLIC, YOU GODDAMN PERVERT?!"

The absolute last voice Gray wanted to hear when he was thinking about such great, intimate things yanked him out of his reflections in the most unpleasant of ways. An expression crossed between a scowl and a grimace consumed his features.

"Gray-sama!?" Juvia spluttered, craning her neck to peer at them over her shoulder with wide eyes. She looked half-scolding, half...affected as her cheeks went rose red.

Gray felt his own face grow hot as he turned to glare furiously at the pink-haired, disgusted-and-disgusting-looking bane of his existence.

"Would you keep your voice down, Dragon Boy?! I was not 'eye-fucking' Juvia!" His cheeks burned hotter as an elderly woman passing by shot him a deeply disapproving look.

"The hell you weren't!" Natsu snapped, drawing even more attention. "I could see all your gross, perverted thoughts right there in those droopy eyes of yours!"

"ARGH! So what?!" Gray just wanted this fight to be over, and figured that sort of admitting to what he'd been doing was the quickest way to make that happen. "Can't a guy even look at his girlfriend without pink-haired, flame-brained losers getting involved?!"

"THE HELL YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

"OH, SO YOU'RE DEAF AS WELL AS BRAINLESS, NOW?!"

"THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD IT! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU ICY BAS—"

"That's enough."

Uncharacteristically subdued and uninvolved though Erza's command was, it was enough to have both Natsu and Gray cringing and sweating in fear almost instantly.

"A-aye!" they squeaked, then sighed in relief as she shot them one last glare and clanked away.

"Ah, it always goes this way." Happy folded his little blue sausage arms over his chest and tsked. "If only Gray had kept his perverted eyes on himself, we wouldn't even be talking about this."

"And just how the heck is one supposed to 'keep their eyes on themselves', huh?" Gray growled up at the floating Exceed.

"By not being you, apparently!" he cackled back, Natsu soon joining him in his obnoxious guffawing.

"Why, you—! Get back here, you little shit!" Gray made a random grab at the little creep only to curse as he missed his tail by about a centimeter.

Meanwhile, Juvia clasped her still-red cheeks with her hands and donned an all-too-familiar, starry-eyed expression. "Juvia does not mind at all if Gray-sama...covets Juvia in public! How Juvia adores Gray-sama's passion!"

Gray flinched as if he'd been whipped in the back. In a second flat, he was blushing again. "O-oi, Juvia—!" he started, scrambling to find a way to get her to calm down before she came onto him in public.

(Again.)

"However," she continued before he figured out how to distract her, turning to look at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "If Gray-sama is going to covet Juvia on a public street, Juvia thinks he should at least wear clothes."

"Wha—?! CRAP!" Gray shouted as soon as he realized he'd stripped down to his boxers. "When did that happen!?"

Juvia wrinkled her nose cutely and giggled while he scrambled for his clothes. When he was finally yanking his jacket on, he shot her a playful glare only for his lips to quirk when she winked and sauntered after Erza.

That little...she'll get it later, he thought with a huff before shoving his hands in his pockets and strolling after her. He was well aware that he was full-on grinning, now, and didn't care in the slightest.

Little interactions like that...those were the fruits of all the hard work they—especially Juvia—had done when they got back from that S-Class mission. Gray had been prepared for it to be grueling and difficult, to fight. "Relationships take work" was a piece of advice he'd heard plenty, since he started asking for advice about how to love Juvia.

But what he'd never expected to find was that, while it was hard sometimes, it was work he was all too willing and capable of doing, because it was for her. For them. And what no one had told him was that, while loving someone meant their pain became yours, it also meant that their triumphs became yours, too.

Some days had been worse than others. Even though she'd been talking to a friend of Porlyusica's and made an impressive effort to spend more times with her friends, there were moments where Gray had felt like Juvia was back at square one. But he'd been there beside her, encouraging her every step of the way while she healed, learned that he wouldn't leave her again, learned that she was worth all of it. And slowly but surely, she'd healed.

That was what no one had told him: that every time she huffed at him to do his own laundry, teased him, sassed him into taking her on a real date, and even turned him down for sex, that he would feel such a huge rush of pride and triumph.

It was true that the road had been hard, but Gray had walked it with Juvia, and that had made every step worth it.

o(O)o

AN: Ah, sorry I don't have the time to edit this now and make it more cohesive! Also that I can't publish my next chapter of Chasing Tails just yet! I definitely, definitely will come back to edit this piece one day and make it better after I've done that. In the meantime, Happy Belated Gruvia Day!

P.S.: Fun Fact! I named this partly after one of my all-time favorite fics from a completely different fandom. The Hard Road by wthtonibelle, a Kacchako fic (from the My Hero Academia fandom) which is written in a similar way and has similar themes, only it's longer and better lol. check it out if you're so inclined!

[ac-liveblogs]

(1) Mualani drives me insane because she's a famed three-time-war-vet who can talk down armed robbers through sheer friendly intimidation, casually walks cross country to visit loner pals, and exudes so much confidence potential bullies wither away from her mere presence. She wears a swimsuit to the battlefield and throws bouncy balls as bullets. The game hypes her up, then ludonarratively follows through by giving you a trial version with 350k normals.

(2) In a better game, Mualani would be the kind of girl where half of Natlan adores her, but the other half of Natlan hates her and is too scared to say it to her face. She'd be wearing the swimsuits as an advertising ploy. She'd get into fights because she's a decorated-three-time-war-vet and you're literally nobody. But because this is genshin they somehow her boring. Whenever there's a fight, all she does is weakly bite back. (3) She can't even raise her voice at the Abyss order or the Archon she thinks might have killed her friend. Basically, every time her confidence could be abrasive, the game shoves her into a nice-girl-cookie-cutter-mold. By the end, she sounds like Erza Scarlet in a white wig. How did HYV fail that badly? It actually pisses me off to see a character who could so easily have some semblance of a personality be so painfully boring... sorry for my personal vent. Had to get that off my chest. lol.

No problem at all, I just finished the World Quest she's tied to myself and sat back like. Wow. You're right. Wow Genshin is screwing this girl so badly. Only HYV wouldn't commit to just… having her as the "protagonist" of the Natlan AQ, right? Or at least the focus point? After the "unity" thing... after showing her forsaking glory for her own personal definition of 'victory' that aligns with what her predecessors valued, tying into the themes of Natlan's people working together over time to protect what they consider important... after showing her as a protector time and time again...

Any other game would do it, especially if they didn't want to bother with Kachina's stuff post act 2 - it seemed like they were going to center Mualani instead. Unifying the 6 tribes on a larger scale like she did with Kinich and Kachina, per her Ancient Name.

But, uh oh sister, those line count leaks aren't looking good - we're seriously focusing on Mavuika? The least interesting link here? Miss "Yeah everyone's ancestors trusted the future generation to win this fight, except me apparently, I didn't trust the future Pyro Archon better be here myself?"

After they thoroughly shafted Kachina, who I'd stupidly thought would be becoming a hero/earning her name through the whole ~chosen one thing for her tribe, but apparently that's Xilonen!(??? why, if she does get acknowledged by her wayob it's not her as tribe's hero? it's just generic acknowledgment…?)

This all seemed pretty straightforward, right. Like, a pretty generically simple story that has existing templates that Genshin could easily pull off. Trust HYV to snatch defeat from the jaws of adequacy.

ghhh mualani could've been so cool why'd they do this to her (also why'd they cover her in fish i can't take her closeups seriously with those literal fish-eyes)

[lovelymessybubbly]

TAMA HOW HAVE I NOT NOTICED YOUVE DRAWN FAIRY TAIL AAAAA THAT WAS MY FIRST LOVE OMG who were your favorite lers and lees in the series (canon or not)? personally i love to see lee lucy and lee jellal whenever i can and its my personal hc that mira is the most feared ler in the guild and laxus is secretly also a big ler that only a few people know about (and are victim to) like the Thunder Legion, natsu, elfman etc.

yessss i love fairy tail !!! it was my third anime EVER hehe °₊·ˈ∗♡( ˃̶᷇ ‧̫ ˂̶᷆ )♡∗ˈ‧₊° my adorable fav natsu doubles as my favorite lee/ler of the series haha. he has such an energetic and playful personality that makes him such a fun tickler !! and all the ways he messed with lucy and erza in the show always had me feeling so giddy hehe, he is just such a natural tease and a big goofball at that, so it fits well to me. of course, being such an adorable ray of sunshine with so much energy and spunk, i cannot help but want to tickle the living daylights out of him every time i see him ღゝ◡╹)ノ♡ my cute little dragon !! like i just wanna scoop him up and scribble all over his midsection until he’s wheezing out pleas.

second fav lee is erza because, well, she is just a natural lol. such a tough and scary young lady but so so ticklish !!! i love how it just makes her melt immediately and she basically has no resistance to it, but she never seems to actively hate it, either.

i also love lee lucy so i agree w you there, another example of just a NATURAL lee lol ꉂ (′̤ॢ∀ ू‵̤๑))ˉ̞̭♡ she is just so jumpy and giggly and easily flustered and she totally likes it too hehe. jellal is not really my type but he was uber cute in the games arc lol and he has a really sweet laugh.

ler mirajane is SUCH big brain and she is definitely an absolute menace. i mean, a sweet and soft spoken girl with a hidden violent and intimidating side. i can easily imagine her gently approaching perhaps a belligerent guild member (gray? cana? you decide) and just LAYING into them with horrifying speed and technique, bringing them to their knees and drawing out undignified squawks and howls easily, all while retaining that innocent and angelic smile on her face (੭ु ›ω‹ )੭ु⁾⁾♡

subtle ler laxus makes a lot of sense too. the little shit. he is definitely the smug type, one who gloats about how easily he can take you down and how helpless you looked laughing and pleading like that. also probably an angry tickler; like if you tease him too much and he gets to fuming he will wreck you in seconds whilst whining and grumbling the entire time. “oh you think its funny huh? how about this? is this funny to you?” petty shit like that. but then again, an attitude like that just makes me want to tickle attack him instead (๑✧◡✧๑)

sorry for the long response, i love all of those goobers so much ♡͙♡͚₍⸉ॢ⸍͕͈ ˕̫ ⸌͔͈⸊ॢ₎♡͚♡͙

[gralunaisland]

I never thought too much about Juvia's starting stalker. I mean, yes, she secretly follows him and gives him a bento but I have always meant it with 'she just wants to talk to him but doesn't have the courage to do it', the goal was not to stalk him but to try to talk to him, but because of shyness she couldn't do it. Juvia's problem comes later in my opinion, when she actually joined Fairy Tail.

Why juvia's Stalking is Condemnable

Firstly, thank you for your patience!

Secondly, I don't think it matters that her goal wasn't exactly to "stalk" him. In fact, I don't think anyone stalks just to stalk. There are reasons you stalk someone, from wanting to kill them, to wanting to date them, to wanting to get information on how they live, to even just wanting to talk to them like you infer etc., but those reasons don't make the act of stalking someone okay. (I'll go more into this later in this post).

That instance with the bento is also not even the only time she does so. she follows him all over the place, even on his mission with Erza where she chews on a bush in envy, even to that one theme park where Team Natsu had a pillow fight to name a few. Even the time when Gray travelled cross-country to the grave of his father, she followed him without his knowledge, even though he had told no one because clearly, he wanted privacy to grieve properly. All these times can be described as "stalking".

The first definition of stalking is literally "to pursue or approach stealthily", which is what she does in all those instances. Gray doesn't know she's there, because she hides, so she is literally "pursuing him stealthily." Purpose or intent, like you're suggesting, isn't included in the definition. The fact that she follows him without his knowledge is stalking in it of itself, and it is a disgusting breach of privacy.

I don't think I'd let her stalking slide because of the flimsy excuse of "shyness". No one wants to be followed without their knowledge. It's completely disregarding that person's privacy. You don't "shyly" end up right in the private yard of the hotel room your crush is sleeping in and look into the room like she did. You don't "shyly" follow a grieving man to his father's grave just to invalidate his grief and make everything about yourself and how you "shouldn't be allowed to love him anymore" like she did.

[Which now that I think about it, isn't it crazy how insincere that was? Not only was she making everything about herself despite Gray's grief, and not only did she immediately start to blush when Gray broke down crying, clasping to her, and say he's warm instead of ever apologizing, which I mentioned in another post of mine, she literally continues to love him after this, so she never actually had a change of heart, she was just saying that "self-sacrificing" thing just to make herself feel better and thereby manipulated Gray into feeling sorry even though he did nothing wrong. This was a tangent, but this thought just came to me, and I didn't want to forget about it lol.]

All that to say about shyness, the type of shyness which makes you think it's okay to stalk your crush is disgusting and excuses nothing. It's one thing to be too shy to talk to a coworker you see every day at work, or to be too shy to talk to a classmate or even another student at school. It's another thing to follow that person to their work and to their place of residence without their consent.

A sub-definition of stalking is "to harass or persecute (someone) with unwanted and obsessive attention" which is actually the perfect way to describe what juvia does to Gray. He makes it so apparent that he doesn't love her and doesn't want to date her, and yet she continually harasses him, acting as his chair when he didn't know nor want it, begging him to spank her in public in front of all his friends, refusing to let go of his hand after doing a Unison Raid in the GMG, drowning the entire guild with her tears because Gray won't love her or something, flat-out ignoring him and his consent when he rejects her outright, etc. etc. the list literally goes on miles. she fulfills this definition of stalking completely as well.

I'm glad you agree that juvia has problems later on once she joined FT, but tbh I believe her problems began even before she stalked Gray. her entire first interaction with Gray on the Phantom Lord guild hall was insanely disturbing. she made all these delusions in her head at lightning speed, where she at first thought Gray loved her, and then because he said he'd die to save Lucy, she thought he was cheating on her somehow, that he loved Lucy, and then she switched to declaring that Gray and Lucy now don't deserve to live and immediately begins to try to boil him alive, and then she continues to misunderstand everything that transpires during the fight and thinks at the end that Gray wants to have sex with her.

There's been an impossibly wide disconnect between the two of them since the very beginning (which is juvia's fault entirely). No healthy relationship exists without communication, and that's one of the biggest things these two lack as a ship. (The stalking is even an example that shows the lack of communication, because juvia was literally not communicating with him and was following him only for her own desires and considerations, whatever the reason). Everything Gray says either goes in one of juvia's ears and out the other, or she twists his words or actions into meaning something she wants to hear or see, which is literally never based in reality. This is really a type of abuse she's been inflicting on him from the beginning, ignoring his consent and his words and his desires in favor of her own.

Anyway, even though we don't agree on the stalker point, I thank you for sharing your thoughts respectfully! I enjoy hearing different sides.

[wind-becomes-lightning]

📓

Hi, anon, my friend, thank you for sending something! I'm sorry to reply with a Fairy Tail plot bunny instead of Naruto, because like Nart has not been on my mind for many months now (unless its forced to)

I have several ideas for Fairy Tail, lets see, uh, it's probably been done before but Jellal and erza, have like this prince and knight dnyamic (i mean they are exactly that in edolas too LOL). so some fic that is like with that trope / AU. Something something devotion something something protection something something price is about to be married off so they have to be honest about feelings something soemthing like that. XD I have to think about it still.

To add to this, I have a bit written for another sex pollen fic for Fairy Tail, also with Jellal and Erza, here a part of it:

“Someone went through this before?” Jellal’s jaw fell open. The answer “Gray did” came back to him from several sides of the building. His eyes went over to Gray, who, red on his cheeks, had his face turned away from everyone. So Gray had done this ordeal before and - had been healed by someone. 

Jellal looked at Erza and back and then told himself that it was entirely unreasonable to believe that Erza had been the one that had provided “help” in this situation. There were so many people in the guild that could have, surely it wasn’t her, surely, she wouldn’t do such a thing with someone that she didn’t like, right? But then she did get along with Gray and they had known each other forever, so it wasn’t unreasonable to believe that she might have felt inclined to help him, right? His thoughts were spiraling out of control again.

[fairytail-whathesays]

Oh, I couldn't agree more with the PTSD. And the hyoer vigilance. I've been re-watching episodes 63 and 64, and there's something specific about the way he goes from having his "full" attention on Jellal to turning around to face Erza in a slip second when she moves twice.

And the concepts of love? I'm pretty sure he thought it was *normal*, the way Brain treated him. To be expected, love is conditional, your self worth tied to being able to earn it and vice versa. The kind of acceptance that, indeed, would take a long time to undo. As you said with the knives, the learnt sadism and giving back what was done to him... I don't even know if I'm repeating myself, I'm just amazed by the fact that not only do I agree with you, but your points make so much sense. At no point do I feel like saying "I respect that, but I have a fundamentally different view of this character". It makes me rethink his fight with Richard, too. Did he create a mirage of himself being defeated to lower Richard's guard and deliver a single hit instead of having to hurt him at length (which he's eager to do to Eve, Ren although he gets bored there, Jellal and Erza) or is it torture? Showing him that he's hurting his adoptive younger brother, in parallel to Richard's desire to find Wally? Although Richard was willing to fight, so...? Is it just trying to win the fight no matter what? He gets panicked in the middle of it, or shows an illusion of it, so is it really worth it, when it affects him like that? Should that part of the thrash can and call it a day, despite feeling like it's an important moment?

I had never thought about him wanting to hurt whoever he fancies. It's... Fitting. I had always approached it from the view that he half wants and half expects to be hurt, because that's likely the only love he's known, the only "love" he had for, give or take, eight years. Sure, it wasn't from a lover, but somehow that makes it worse. Considering we have no clue of his life prior to the tower and he never brings it further than to to say his name (which... Might not even be his birth name), I don't think he even remembers that.

THE PREDICTABILITY POINT. *insert the DiCaprio meme here*

*HOLY SHIT* "The subconscious message received from this is the one Midnight needs, which is that what he's been through is terrible (true and valid), but that he can get back up from it (also true and valid)." THIS. I had NEVER thought about that but WOAH.

Oh. That AU. That AU won't be just living rent free. It will be given its own mansion. Every coherent comment or feedback left me with that. You've given me so many thoughts, so many new things I want to explore.

... I got carried away again. Just one extra note on the way you deliver the core of just how resilient Laxus is, how capable of pushing against adversity and coming on top he, of embracing his scars he is. How he ends up actively choosing to pick the good things amidst the shitty ones.

Sorry for the long asks, I just want you to know that I love and appreciate the time and effort you put into this.

Nah, it's cool! Feedback like this is what fanfic authors dream of getting, lol.

I had watched the original anime while trying to get a better grip on Midnight's character. Sometimes an anime is really good at bringing out the spark in a manga that was missing in still black and white, and the Fairy Tail anime's first half was one of them. It's a shame they switched studios, because the 2014 anime just didn't hit the same. I can't think of a similar moment in the second anime like Midnight's appearance.

Like, he's genuinely chilling. His bored drawl, the unconcerned way he holds himself, the completely calm way he talks about how he wants to torment and hurt people. He's small and skinny and even looks pretty emo, so he shouldn't be that threatening, but the camera angles they use, the sound cues they use, it all works. They expand on his fight with Jellal, which in the manga is entirely offscreen. Watching him wordlessly and disaffectly fail to react to anything Jellal throws at him before smiling and putting him down with Spiral Pain? Cold as fuck. I tried to capture that.

Again, I'm really glad you enjoyed it! 💛🖤

[wuffgang-ameowdeus-moozart]

fate ft au (bc I'm replaying fate/extra)

(also note that fate/extra is like. the only fate content I've consumed in general. and I didn't quite understand everything? I just know it's addicting ok?!)

also also if y'all are ok with game emulators:

https://www.emulatorgames.net/roms/playstation-portable/fate-extra/

> the Heartfilias are the Harweys (so Lucy plays the role of Leonardo)

> Layla died not due to sickness but in the last Holy Grail War (she obviously lost lmao)

> Layla's servant was Aquarius

> Loke is Lucy's half-brother from her mother's side (so he plays the role of Julius)

> Rin Tohsaka is Erza (and her servant is Gerard)

> Rani the Eighth is Levy (her servant is Gajeel)

> Lucy's servant is Natsu

> she only calls him Dragneel so everyone assumes he is Zeref instead of his younger brother

> technically Zeref would indeed have been more powerful than Natsu, but Lucy had always been more fascinated by the overlooked younger brother whenever learning about them in history class (definitely not projecting or anything lol)

> she convinced her dad to summon natsu instead by pointing out that the less known the servant the bigger the advantage

> and her plan actually works pretty well? they always enter the arena with misinformation and since Lucy and Natsu are the only ones who get out again. well. it's not like *they* are gonna go and spread the truth

> Jude sent Loke to the military since this is a respectable position away from the estate

> he was low-key hoping something would happen to him there? he had already arranged a beneficial marriage for Lucy and was hoping they would be his official heirs. (also bc loke technically isn't his)

> Karen can be his direct superior who abuses both her underlings and her power? idk

> so. and here is where things get interesting

> technically the goals for the Heartfilias (aka Harweys) stay the same

> that is also the reason Loke volunteered to participate in the holy grail war. he doesn't care if it is through him or Lucy he just wants peace.

> if he and Lucy are the last ones he actually plans on throwing the fight. with no real support system (he and Lucy didn't really have a chance to grow close due to Jude) his mental state is in a really bad place

> and. here is the awkward part

> Layla actually started disagreeing with the Heartfilia way of seeing things

> she wanted to win the holy grail not for everything to stand still (aka Heartfilia wish), but to wish everything to change and keep going (aka Rin Tohsaka wish)

> Jude never found out (since she never got to actually wish for it considering she lost), but Layla's last words to her daughter was a confession explaining her actual true intentions in the tournament

> and thus Lucy's actual reason to enter the tournament is to fulfill her *mother's* last wish, not the Heartfilia one

> as you can imagine this doesn't exactly help with Lucy and Loke's estranged siblings situation lol

> I hope this makes sense? that's it for now but I'll add to it as I get to the actual fights in the game lmao

[arcanaaa]

PLOT WISHLIST FOR: Natsu Dragneel

THIS IS WHERE I GET EMOTIONAL because the one thing cana wished she could have had with her father was to be treated like she was his daughter and instead he spends that affection on natsu who isn’t even his biological child yet he treated him as if he was his son and that built so much resentment that honestly festered within cana for so long.

I’ll be honest: it took Cana a long time for her to move past those bitter feelings but as a child she felt so alone: here she was, orphaned at a young age and she’s sent to live at the guild where her father resided at and she held the hope that he knew about her and he would provide her with a safe and loving home and environment where she could grow up normally and happily and instead, she is left feeling unwanted and abandoned.

Which is not to say Natsu doesn’t feel the same! He was found by Makarov and basically adopted into the guild, just like Cana, but he knew that Igneel was somewhere out there and he was determined to find him even if no one believed dragons existed. Natsu being the odd child was nothing new to anyone in Fairy Tail because there was Gray, Erza and eventually Mira, Lisanna, Elfman- but Cana was the first to join Fairy Tail (aside from Laxus of course), and so that means she grew up closely alongside Cana, as well as the rest of the younger guildmates.

We all know Cana struggled with her feelings over Gildarts being her father, and we see that she held him on a pedestal, as being someone that was unworthy of being in his presence let alone being related to him. But here comes Natsu easily talking and laughing with him like he isn’t one of the most powerful mages in Fairy Tail! The audacity!

And what pains me more is that Cana only understands when she’s older that her resentment towards natsu stems from how she idolized her father as this being that was untouchable, this unattainable figure that she couldn’t be worthy of telling that she was his kin. She realizes too late that she could have had a better relationship with natsu and by extension Gildarts if she 1) had simply told him she was his daughter from the start and 2) got to know natsu better and became friends easier and bonded over the fact that they were both abandoned and left alone at such a young age.

But that’s after Cana becomes an adult and is able to put her life in perspective lol.

Cana’s relationship growing up would be really distant compared to the rest of the children in FT and that is only because of how close Natsu is with Gildarts. Where it not for that factor and the jealousy she feels, Cana and Natsu i think would have been close friends.

Give me Cana being such a shit to Natsu as a child and Natsu and Cana disliking each other as the years go on.

Natsu not understanding why Cana acts this way but fuck all for asking her about it, why should he when he did nothing wrong? And forget them actually talking about it until they’re older when they’re dislike is practically engrained- at least for Cana.

Years of Gildarts being gone puts Cana and Natsu’s relationship in a tense fashion, but him chasing rumors about Igneel helps Cana sort out her feelings and eventually she grows cordeal towards Natsu- which is a shock for him, but he doesn’t comment on it.

NATSU FINDING OUT cana can tell the future and him constantly pestering her about if he’ll find igneel if he’ll get to see his dad again and just mmmmmmmmmmmm boy cana trying really hard not to look too deep at his future because something tells her she’s not gonna like what she finds and she knows her instincts are always on point when its some serious shit so cana makes excuses or distracts him towards something else because she doesn’t wanna lie to him but she can’t tell him anything she can’t tell him that he will meet igneel but it won’t be happy, it won’t be how he expects it or how he wants it to be and no i can’t tell him i can’t risk changing what is already set in stone or else something worse might happen

but natsu is natsu and he is stubborn and he finally manages to get her and have him tell her why won’t you tell my future and cana just being like I can’t and no further explanation given and he thinks she’s being mean and stubborn and he goes and leaves to find igneel again and she’s just breaks and feels guilty because she knows how important igneel is to him and she hates that she can’t help him but if she did then it would change everything, even if she feels resentment and jealousy towards natsu she knows how he feels about wanting to see your parent again- she understands that better than anyone.

and then when Natsu finally does see Igneel again and the meeting is bittersweet and the battle is won, I can see Cana apologizing to him, because she knew

She knew he would meet igneel and she knew it wouldn’t be how he would imagine and she can only apologize and natsu just

I can see him being so numb because on the one hand he should be angry at her because she knew she could have told him

but on the other hand it wouldn’t have changed anything, as much as he would have wished for it otherwise, cana was only trying to prevent natsu from getting hurt emotionally and god

god that kills me

[arlecchno]

laughs in currently on summer break ,,,,,,

speaking of that tho , ive been busying myself by playing video games so much LMAO me and my silly visual novel names ( because im too lazy to play anything that needs me to put actual effort into it hahahhahahaha - )

SO THE STORY RIGHT - its a think me and my friend have been workin on since like the end of 2021 n its like set in a royal fantasy like au , fantasy monsters are something that havent been brought up in the discussion but we have cool magic stuff LOL . the most stuff thats defined is the very basic plot idea , the MCs r named Ashe Najimek ( prince , any pronouns ) , Rin Vasilios ( princess , she/her ) , and Kiole Soubaki ( king , he/him ) . dont question ANY of these last names because najimeks is just a keyboard smash and the rest were chosen by my friend they have no significant whatsoever LOL . aaaanyways , rin and ashe are basically from this mainland where all the kingdoms are secretly feuding with eachother but in order to maintain peace for the citizens they wont start an actual war . basically its every kingdom for themselves except for their silly trading systems . ashe and rins kingdoms are like at eachothers throats now since ashe and rin were born with the most magical power their lands have ever seen and its that trope where “child gets born into power and parents use them for own benefit causing child to rebel” yada yada but WUH OH WHATS THAT IS THAT 🫢🫢😨😱 GASP ANGST ?!?????!???? yeah lets go were tormenting our characters today baby ‼️‼️ the full book will go into the struggles of rin and ashe and how they end up as a result of how they take their circumstances . and how they become friends bc of those circumstances . lovely friendship . oh and theres two others that are their guards . Sio and Erza Eztli . theyre twins n stuff . THEY WILL GET DEVELOPMENT TOO WE JUST SHANT SPEAK OF IT NOW . im planning to make them long lost siblings tho lmao ! omg ive gone on such a long rant and i still havent talked about kiole . anyways so kiole is the token mentor character which i will not go into detail because SPOILERS MAYBE . he rules the edgy edgy kingdom of DEATH AND DARKNESS and all the other kingdoms have kinda outcasted his so nobody knows the fucker outside of whispers from the shadowed souls themselves MUAHAHAHAH - ahem anyways .

HERE ARE OUR MCSSS i love them awaaaaaaa

GOSH THO GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SCHOOL STUFF THAT SOUNDS LIKE SO MUCH BYE 😭😭😭

i also JUST read chapter 5 recently and like …

( for context my friends name / nickname is roof )

ANYWAYS THATS IT FOR NOW CYA LATTEEEERRR !!!!

RAHHHHH HELLO TO YOUUUU!!!! hope you're enjoying your summer break 🫂

AND YOUR STORY TOO!!!!!!! that sounds so interesting already and ROYAL FANTASY AU⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ SIGN ME TF UP BRO I LIVEEE FOR FANTASY AUS bro you got me hooked with the storyline and characters already and it's still in the works 🤞🤞 their last names are soooo creative too like even if they're a keyboard smash or whatever,,,, still so intriguing like yes sign me up AGAIN!!!! wish my keyboard makes up random and cool last names lmao

THE MCS...... please let me touch their hair i swear they've GOT to have the most silkiest hair in their kingdoms like excuse me let me bow down to them and ask them for tips and tricks 😞🙏

thank you hehe school is.... yeah whatever school's been the same for me but i thrive to live up to the day asphodelus finally ends LOL i need to get that series done before i'm even more burnt out

LMAO YOUR FRIEND'S NICKNAME BEING ROOF IS GOLD 😭 fun fact i was literally like brain dead trying to figure out some bad humour to insert in those lines but somehow ended up with that... (may or may not be a bit of a self insert because i totally don't stare at my own ceiling and wished i was the ceiling instead hahaha definitely haven't.... ever.....)

HOPE YOU'RE DOING WELL THESE DAYS AND I'LL CYA LATER TOOOO💌💌

[lisannastraussisanangel]

okay but now surely you heal our hearts with a part two of the fairy heart ask when team Natsu reacts to Lucy becoming a thought projection just like Mavis?? bet she just shows up in their living spaces like they used to do to her lol

I was actually just talking about this!

Lucy gets absolutely giddy when she finally figures out how Mavis was able to materialize herself. Her mind is filled with revenge for all the times they broke into her house

The first person she thinks to harass is Natsu, but he literally never goes home so Lucy can't wait in his house

So instead, she goes for Gray first. Lucy snoops through everything he has out

Gray comes home and finds her floating in front of his desk with tears in her eyes. Gray has a sketchbook open on the desk with a sketch of Lucy surrounded by the rest of her team

Gray freaks out at seeing her and tries to hug her. His arms go straight through her

Gray tells her that he started sketching again because he was scared he would forget what she looked like

After Lucy explains what she figured out, Gray insists they go to Natsu and Wendy next

Gray keeps trying to grab her hand and drag her but his hand goes right through. He gets increasingly annoyed, but Lucy finds it hilarious

When they get to the Lacrima where Natsu and Wendy have been sleeping for the past week, Lucy cannot help but mess with Gray some more

Gray goes running in (completely forgetting about his fear of looking at her in the lacrima), excitedly telling the dragon slayers that Lucy was a ghost and that she was able to talk to them. He turns and gestures to where Lucy should be and there's nothing there

Natsu yells at Gray that he's not funny and the two start fighting for the first time since Lucy sacrificed herself

While Natsu is distracted, Lucy pops up behind Wendy and whispers "boo" in her ear

Wendy jumps and screams so loud that the boys stop fighting

Everyone turns and sees Lucy floating there grinning. They all run (including the exceeds) and try to hug her

Natsu runs straight through her and crashes into the lacrima. Lucy yells at him not to break it. She's still in there after all

Everyone is crying by this point. Happy in particular is drenched in tears

Lucy asks where Erza is and everyone gets quiet. She is able to pry the information out of them eventually and they decide Lucy should go alone

This is the first time Lucy is serious about revealing herself. She sits with her hands in her lap and waits for Erza to arrive

Erza gets home and walks right past her. Lucy is too nervous to speak

Finally she whispers a tentative "Erza" and the redhead drops what she was holding and turns to Lucy as white as a ghost

Lucy tries joking that she thought Erza would be happier to see her. But Erza just stands there shaking with tears forming in her eyes

It gets super sappy and the girls cry together for hours. Erza opens up about everything she had been hiding from the guild and Lucy makes her promise never to do that again

Then Lucy finds out how all her friends coped and they are in trouble. She uses her ghostly powers to make sure they are all taking proper care of themselves and will literally follow them around complaining until they did so

[tamibae]

You don't want Lucy to be a plot armor for Laxus but it's okay for Natsu?🤔 Can you explain...

Yeah Ig it's confusing lol but anyways, I'll gladly explain.

Lucy is by far my most fav out of all the characters Mashima has ever created. It's only natural to want her to NOT be used as a plot armor for anyone, literally ANYONE. Not even Natsu. I want her to have own plot relevance and time to shine. Ik it's not much to ask after Hiro's violation on her character throughout the earlier parts of the series without any reason.

But seeing the most recent chapter, there's a possibility that Laxus will soon snap out of Kyria's hypnosis, it may be through nakama power and Lucy's being used as a way to execute that.

Since it seemed to me like the last panel focused on Laxus's viewpoint and shock.

The thing that irritates me is that Lucy being used as a plot device here doesn't carry any heavy emotional/long lasting impact, it's not like her and Laxus are very good friends and the traumatic memory of the situation will benefit either of them after things sort out in the future. If it were Erza/Wendy/Gray instead of him, I'd still have hell lot of complaints but at least it could lead to some sort of development in their friendship.

And now, about Lucy being used as a plot device to trigger Natsu to benefit NaLu. I'm against this idea too but not as much as the Laxus one. The only reason is that any NaLu angst may push Natsu to the edge and make him realise Lucy's importance in her life and how he feels for her, that we were robbed of in Alvarez. Natsu has practically witnessed her death 2 times till now yet he takes her granted and doesn't bother to act on his feelings. If it's gonna be NaLu angst then I'm fine with it but I want it to be worth all the busllshit Lucy has to go through.

I was never, am never and will never ever be okay with the Ignia theory too, I've talked to @nat-sul-ucy about "triggering Natsu" countless times in a row. No matter how much NaLu lags behind, it's not a good plot point for Ignia to kidnap Lucy just to get a reaction from Natsu.

As for what I want for the next chapter, I simply want it to turn out like this : Lucy uses a trick, she's perfectly fine and it's just to land a blow on Kyria. She defeats her all by herself without Laxus's interruption and breaks the hypnosis on him.

[fulloxar]

small fanfic ...

“ why did you do it?” voice echod in the small room, it was the interrogation room. 

a police officer sat facing a blue haired girl , with a frown plasted along her face, she didn’t answer her , instead she looked at her dead in the eyes , her blue orbs were tired result of lack of sleep .

the police officer suddnely banged her fist at the table “ answer me damn it!” but she didn’t flinch , her handcuffed hands tightned on top of the table.

“ i didn’t kill him “ at last ,she finally spoke , the officer was not satesfied since she didn’t get any new information about her case. she stood up and appreached the culprit closely.

“listen to me , if you don’t admit to your murder  trust me, you will live like a scared puppet in jail , so you better talk ... now” and even with that threat she didn’t budge from her seat because she knows she is the victim not the opposite.

juvia lockser was no muderer .

10:30 am , fairy tail’s private invistigation center .

loud voices was heard from across the infamous building , and it wasn’t of a good sign. 

“ you know very well if you try bailing her out they will be coming after us all!” erza mentioned , her tone increasing with each sentence she says.

“ they can try and we can easily spot them!” gray argued back.

the very two top intelligent and stealthy detectives were having an argument about keeping or bailing juvia from jail , she was faslely accused of murder that happened in an old apartment . 

detective scarlette suggested to keep juvia in jail until they can find the accuser and throw them in court to prove her innonce however, fullbuste’s idea is to get juvia out from jail secretly ( illegally) before anyone from there tries to kill her , and then the accuser shows themselves and that’s when they hit them hard.

in conclusion , gray is scared for juvia’s life so he will take the risk , and erza wants to take things smoothly so the real culprit wouldn’t end their lives. 

“they might kill us gray” erza warned with a calm voice , but her brown eyes says otherwise. 

“ so? it’s not like we didn’t kill people before” 

and that’s all my brain can create for a ... half plot story , this idea has been in my head for a long time but never got to write due to my poor writing skills , but i major in english ... soooo it might be a good start for something? 

should i be dropping these in tumbler sometimes? it looks like a preview of some episode lol, anyways i hope you got to like this a little bit , i would apprectiate a heart and a comment , thank you for reading ! 

mina out 

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Hi Phoenix I was wondering do you have any advice when it comes to writing a story ? I’ve been planning /writing a story awhile now but I feel like I’m basically copying fairy tail , the way the hero and heroine meet is like how Natsu and Lucy meet , the team I’m planning putting them in pretty much team Natsu all cause I put a girl who magic is like Erza but it’s hard to make unique magic that fits into a fantasy world.I feel like I’m gonna have a mental break down with all this stress, sorry

Ok so first of all my comrade anon. Breathe. Slow your brain a bit, cant do anything if your stressed tf out lol.

Now that we got our heads screwed on straight let's get talking.

You feel like your copying FT but guess what? This is still the first pass of your story! There's time to fix and change and snip away things to make it it's own thing so stressing out over it while its a wip is moot! I get that is natural to hold your head while your still in progress (trust me i've been there) but you've got time! No deadlines! All the chances to keep fixing until the story comes into it's own until you get it right!

And plus there's also the fact that no story/character is truly original in the sense that tropes, character traits, story beats, powers, etc often find themselves repeating.

Lets give some examples!

If we stick close to home Fairy Tail, Eden's Zero and Rave Master all had their main duo have 'meetings by chance' where the male protag is given the chance to showcase his unique abilities by defeating a large group of minor antagonists and being the instigator for the story's major events.

Then going along further we meet a male character who's abilites lie in creation acting as a rival to our male MC and a another female character who is incredibly strong. Things repeat!

And outside of the mashima circle it still holds true.

Superman and Omniman from Invincible essentially are the same at their roots (and yes i know omniman was deliberately crafted to be a superman like figure but regardless) of being a nigh invincible super powered aliens.

Pinkie Pie from MLP, Spongebob and Mabel from Gravity Falls all fill the same niche of the super happy go lucky character.

Natsu and Luffy are often lumped together with bearing similar traits of being the positive male protag. Heck even in Naruto the character role of the hardworking loser is filled by both Naruto and Rock Lee in the same series!

The key thing that makes all these characters their own despite having similar traits? Their execution! How they're used in story and the traits the creator chooses to showcase the most!

Superman is a hero and uses his powers for good, Omniman is a colonizer seeking to take earth for his empire. Pinkie Pie's cheerfulness is used for gags and breaking that universe's logic, Spongebob's endless positivity being slapped onto such a normal thing ( just a dude working at burger king) is where half those jokes came from and Mabel's quirkiness is used both to balance out her brother but also is used as a flaw and insight into her character.

And you're worried about powers being similar but extends to powers too.

Powers especially! Truly unique powers are hard to come by in this day n age!

Luffy and Mrs.Incredible have the same powers of elasticity but both focus on different aspects to the elasticity and how they use em. Mrs.Incredible is a logical character and uses strategy hand in hand with her powers to cleanly incapacitate her opponents whereas Luffy is written to be hardhitting and is literally made of rubber instead of just being stretchy alone which allows deeper uses of his powers.

Elemental powers are a staple in fantasy media but! That doesn't stop em from being used does it? Avatar is a good example of this where yes it does use common powers, but those common powers were written with a tightly structured power system that made it stand out.

So at the end of the day, you should worry less about things seeming similar and focus more on the execution of your ideas.

Your protags have a meeting by chance, however where is it? Who ran into who? Did they start off on a good foot or as enemies?

You have a magical swordswoman, are you having her summon weapons? Why not change how she summons them? Maybe she has tattoos of the weapons she uses on her body to summon them, or she made contracts with deities who gifted her tools she can summon at will. Or she has prosthetic limbs that she transmutes into weapons to use at will.

Common ideas, but different ways how they can be used.

At the end of the day an interesting spin on an old trope or concept is what writing sorta is, so stressin about things that seem similar's gonna do ya more harm than good.

You have time to think and go over this more than once, look at your characters, really sit and look at then and figure out what traits they have that you want to exploit and how it can be used to build em as their own character. Dont worry too much on the powers, i can assure you that similarity is not the end of the world. As long as it isnt literally copy and paste then you are fine.

Breathe. Take a step back. Look all over at other series, books, even irl for inspiration.

You got this comrade.