When We Take Different Paths 2018

Burst Your Bubble - Natsu x Gray

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima

When We Take Different Paths - Week 2 - MLM/Slash

Pairing: Natsu x Gray

Prompt: I Don't Care What People Think!

Burst Your Bubble

"Juvia, would like to know if Gray-Sama would like to have lunch with her today." Juvia asked Gray the second he came through the Guild's door. She wore her usual hopeful expression as she waited for his answer.

Gray blinked, his eyes still getting used to the sudden change in light. He thought about his options. If he told her yes, she would take it as a sign that he returned her increasingly aggressive affection. If he said no, she would begin to cry and possibly flood the guild hall again, causing everyone to be upset with him.

He chose the path of least resistance and answered, "I'm not hungry today, Juvia." He walked past her and looked for his team, hoping against hope that they had a job to go on. At least during jobs he had some peace. Even though Juvia often followed to keep an eye on him, she would never dare try anything with Natsu in the room and Erza nearby.

He spotted Lucy sitting at their table and hurried to take a seat across from his team mate. Juvia followed him and sat next to him as he attempted to talk to Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy. Need to go on a job to get rent?" He asked her, giving her a pleading look that screamed Help Me!

"Nope, rent is all set for this month. I was actually thinking of going shopping later." Lucy smiled cheerfully as she made an unspoken invitation.

He heard a hiss of Love Rival! coming from his left side and he guessed he couldn't blame Lucy for not wanting to get directly involved. Outside of Erza, Juvia had let all of his female friends know that Gray was hers and hers alone.

If he hadn't been so over the whole situation he might have found that amusing but a year of having no privacy, having to watch everything he ate or drank for any signs of tampering, being followed everywhere and accosted with random gifts and love offerings had taken the humor out of the situation real quick.

No matter how many times or ways he told Juvia he wasn't interested in her, it never seemed to get through to her. In fact, more often than not it spurred her on to ever more grandiose gestures as if she was determined to find the right combination of factors that would prove to him how much he really did love her.

But he didn't, he couldn't. Even if he was into women, which he decidedly was not, this type of affection was not something he wanted. It was not love by any standard definition, it was obsession.

He couldn't help but think that if Juvia really did care for him, she would listen. She would notice how uncomfortable she made him when she invaded his personal space or went off about her fantasies about him in his presence. How absolutely horrified he was in the knowledge that somewhere in Fairy Hills there was a shrine dedicated to him. She would understand how unhappy he was at how she treated his friends, who were his only family. In short, she would see him .

But no, instead he had somehow become a prize, an object that Juvia had convinced herself she had to have to be happy. Nothing more. And he hated it.

It had gotten so bad that he had taken to staying in random places just to be able to wake up without the water mage insinuating herself into his bed. It was a nightmare and he wanted it to stop. But he didn't know how to go about it.

Everything he had tried thus far had failed miserably. The other day Natsu had caught her following Gray into the men's restroom. Thankfully he had stopped her. Gray had noticed Natsu paying more attention to him after he had holed up at his house for a week.