Pt. 1

"One pumpkin-spice coffee," I told the barista. He nodded, taking down my order. I handed him the money then walked over to stand by the pick-up counter. I glanced around, taking in the orange and black decorations that covered the small cafe. With Halloween just around the corner, Magnolia was going way over board with the decorations and festivities. Even Fairy Tail was getting into it, everyone wanted to hold a haunted house, especially Erza, she gets way too into it.

"Gray-sama?" A small voice interrupted my train of thought.

"Oh, hey Juvia," I re-adjusted my stance and looked down at her, "What's up?"

"Oh, Juvia was just getting one of the pumpkin-spice coffees. They are supposedly very good,"

"Oh yeah, definitely," I looked away, unsure what to say next.

I admit, I like Juvia, she can be fun to be around when she isn't day dreaming about who-knows-what. We stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments before the barista called out our drinks.

"Want to sit down Gray-sama?" Juvia gestured to a nearby table. I nodded at her and we sat down. We held a pleasant conversation as we sipped our drinks, However, I kept finding it hard to follow what she was saying. I would keep getting distracted by the little things she did, like how she would get really animated when she talked about something she was very into, or even just t how her mouth moved.

"Gray-sama? Are you listening?" She asked. Crap, was I staring?! I gruffly nodded and motioned her to continue. ~I don't understand, why is my heart beating so fast?~ Juvia went on like nothing happened.

The conversation continued with bursts of laughter and playful banter. We both finished our drinks and stood up to leave.

"Want me to walk you back to Fairy Hills?" I offered. She nodded with a huge smile on her face.

Our silence was comfortable, but I was a bit apprehensive to look over at her, because it would be awkward to find her staring back at me. Yeah, of course I had noticed her feelings by now, I'd have to be as stupid as flame brain not to.

The fallen autumn leaves crunched beneath our boots. Their orange and red colors contrasted with Juvia's pale skin and blue hair, making her radiant. She looked so... so pretty... Wait what am I thinking?! I think I'm starting to lose it.

We arrived at Fairy Hills and Juvia turns to me."Juvia had a lot of fun Gray-sama," She looked up to me smiling.

"Y-yeah, we should do this again sometime."

"Yeah, Juvia would love to,"

I waved to her as she walked away. I stared at her until the door closed and suddenly noticed how warm my face felt. I hope she didn't see me blushing. Something is wrong with me, I must getting sick. I trudged back to the guild hall and sat on a stool in front of Mira.

"What's wrong, Gray? You seem troubled." She cleaned out an empty glass as she spoke.

"I think I'm coming down with a bug," I told her.

"What makes you think that? You look fine to me," She said as she looked me over.

"My heart keeps pounding, my face gets all red, and I feel like my stomach is doing somersaults," I confessed.

"I see. Now, would this only happen to be occurring around one person?" She leaned in.

"I think so, why?"

"Because that's no ordinary bug, Gray," She paused.

~Please don't say what I think you are going to say~

"It's a love bug!" She squealed.

I practically fell out of my seat at what she said. ~Me? In love?~ I mean sure but... Juvia?! Well sure she's really fun, and pretty, and kind, and oh my god I am in love with Juvia!

~Is that really that bad, though?~ I really must be as stupid as Flame Brain if it took me this long to figure it out.

Pt. 2

I had just finished eating as my guildmates started to trickle in to the hall once again, all in their Halloween costumes. Fairy Tail always held various events for the different holidays. This year we were having a haunted house and costume contest. Apparently the prize was something like 200,000 jewel, but Halloween isn't exactly my thing, so I wasn't going to bother participating. Now I just needed to escape the guild hall befo-

There was a loud bang as the doors flew open as Erza barged in... dressed as a sexy pirate... oh god. I tried to slide across the wall towards the door, hoping not to get noticed.

"Gray! Where is your costume?" Erza boomed at me from across the room. I froze. ~Crap, I've been seen!~ I made a mad dash for the door but was tackled to the ground. Erza sat on my back as she pulled out a roll of gauze.

"Erza, what are you-"

"You aren't wearing a costume, Gray," she said maliciously.

"I didn't want to! Hey, what are you-! Stop it! I don't want to wear a- Get off me, woman!"

She stood up and looked down at me, proud of her work. She had managed to wrap the upper half of my body (lazily I might add,) in layers of gauze, creating some kind of mummy thing... I grumbled and started shuffling to the door, until a flash of blue hair caught my eye. ~Maybe I could stay a little longer...~ I walked back to my seat, watching Juvia out of the corner of my eye. She looked really good in her witch costume.

"Hey ice-freak what's with the lame costume?!" Natsu yelled over at me.

"It's not my fault! Look at what you're wearing!" I gestured to his vampire costume.

"Shuddup, it's cool!" We got in fighting stance, but then Lucy stepped between us.

"No fighting! Natsu this way, come on!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him away. The two had been practically inseparable since last Valentines day when Lucy confessed to him.

Lucy dragged the idiot back to their table, leaving me to my own devices.

"Hello Gray-sama," Juvia said sweetly. I jumped in my seat.

"J-Juvia, when did you get here?" I said, startled by her sudden appearance. I looked her up and down again, my face heating up. She really did look good... Dammit pull it together!

"W-would Gray-sama like to go on a walk around the town? The decorations are really good this year" She said shyly.

"Sure, why not,"

She took my arm and led me outside.

Kids were running around in costumes, echoing choruses of "Trick or treat!" Juvia and I went around the shops and looked at the "spooky" window decor, laughing and having fun. We had managed to go around the entire town and we were back at the guild again,

"Do you maybe, wanna go in the haunted house together?" She ventured.

"Yeah, sure," I looked away from her, I could feel myself blushing. Weren't haunted houses something ~couples~ usually did?

I looked back at her only to see her eyes were glazed over and she wore a goofy looking smile.

"What's going through your head?!" I exclaimed. She entered her dreamworld again. I unhooked my arm from her and grabbed her wrist to pull her inside. I let go once we got in. ~Should I hold her hand?~ I reached out, but retreated back. ~Err probably not...~ I tried to steel my nerves before trying again, but suddenly Mira jumped out at us and Juvia shrieked and latched back onto my arm.

"Mira what are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Scaring you of course!" She said innocently.

Her demon face with her devil costume was frightening enough without her jumping at us. She retreated back into the shadows as we walked away. The next few minutes proceeded like that, Juvia clinging onto my arm, guildmates trying to scare us, and me being completely unable to focus because of how close Juvia was. I made up my mind. I pulled my arm out of her grasp and brought it around her shoulders, tucking her into my chest. She let out a squeak of surprise.

"Gray-sama?" She mumbled.

"C-come on, we are almost out." I couldn't calm my pounding heart. I hope she wouldn't notice.

We finally got out of the haunted house and stood under the large tree in the middle of Magnolia. Everything was bathed in a warm candle light from the jack-o-lanterns that were enchanted to float around us. Juvia stood in front of me, a light blush tinting her cheeks.

"Juvia had a really fun time tonight," She smiled shyly. Oh god, she looked so cute.

"Y-yeah, me too," I took a step closer to her. "We could do this again, i-if you wanted," Steeling my nerves, I took a step closer. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I started pulling her in.

"Gray-sama..." She whispered. But right before I was about to kiss her, she freaked out and melted into a puddle at my feet.

"Ack! Juvia?!" I was in shock for multiple reasons. Did I really just try to kiss her? She stood in front of me normally again.

"Gray-sama?"

"J-Juvia. I...I...I..think I'm in love with you," I felt my face go a thousand shades of red as I managed to blurt it out.

There was a high pitched squeal.

"Yes! Yes! Gray-sama Yes! Juvia loves you too!"

"Okay, Okay, we should probably get back to the guild," I tried to calm her down.

I took her hand and interlaced my fingers with hers. I could feel my face was as red as ever.

"Okay," She smiled, then we began to walk back, hand in hand.

This girl is going to be the death of me one day.