She was watching him again.

Gray tried not to meet her sapphire gaze, and attempted to look as though he hadn't noticed her staring. At first he had dismissed it as a coincidence- the canteen was always full at this time, so she could be looking at anyone- but after a few weeks he had come to realise that she was staring specifically at him. It wasn't creepy so much as odd.

After Lyon refused to let Gray spend his Sundays the same way he spent his Saturdays (eating, gaming and generally doing nothing) due to Sundays being Lyon's day off (and therefore his day to eat, game and do nothing), Gray had taken to visiting the local leisure centre once a week. Mainly he just listened to music and spent time in the gym, but occasionally he tried his hand at other sports.

And every Sunday, as he ate in the canteen he saw the blue haired girl staring at him from across the room. It was a gaze filled with interest, but she never made a move to find out more and only sat at the other end.

Today she collected her food only to see to her dismay that there were no tables left. She frowned and bit her lip, surveying the possibilities. Her eyes widened when he gestured for her to sit opposite him, for the canteen rather irritatingly had no tables for less than two, as though it was mocking people who chose to exercise alone.

The girl timidly made her way through the hustle and bustle. "Is it okay?"

He nodded, mouth full of sandwich, and she sat down tentatively, placing her tray (which seemed to hold nothing but a salad and a glass of water) down. "Juvia is grateful."

Gray tried not to choke on his mouthful, but in his defence he had already bitten off more than he could chew. When he choked she squeaked.

"Oh, sorry. I mean that I'm-"

He finished swallowing, eyes watering slightly. "No, no, don't apologise. I just took a huge mouthful. Juvia, was it?"

She nodded. "Juvia Lockser. And you?"

"Gray Fullbuster. Nice to meet you." He held out a hand, and she hesitated before shaking it. "Now, if you'll excuse me for a second, I'm just going to get myself some coffee."

"No, let Juvia-"

"You don't owe me any favour," he said, getting up and heading over to the machine, as it was one of the rare occasions when the drinks machine was A. functional and B. not being crowded around. Juvia still followed, pushing his hand out of the way after he had punched in the numbers as he made to put his change in.

"Let Juvia." She insisted, swiping a card over a panel. The machine spat out a Styrofoam cup and began to pour in murky brown liquid that was probably more water than it was coffee. He turned to her with a questioning look. "Employee perks."

When they were sat down again, she picked at her salad as they talked. She was twenty two, and she worked as a swimming instructor at the centre, teaching all sorts of classes from toddlers to fully grown adults. Sundays were her day off, when she did her own swimming training.

"Training for what?" He asked.

She blushed, poking a lettuce leaf around the plate with her plastic fork. "Do you promise not to laugh?"

He nodded and she leaned closer, lowering her voice. "Juvia wants to compete in the Olympics one day."

Juvia then went on to explain how she had been a swimming champion when she was younger, coming first in the region and second in the national competition. "But then Juvia went to university and got a degree in Geography which she doesn't know how to use." She said, pausing to eat half a cherry tomato. "So Juvia went back to swimming."

Following that, he and Juvia would meet for lunch every day to talk. He enjoyed her company, even if she was slightly strange. Juvia was a nice girl, and he enjoyed befriending her (and the free food and coffee was a bonus). It also turned out that her Olympic dreams weren't too far-fetched: when he didn't feel like exercising in the afternoon and watched the pool from the observer's deck, Juvia was as at home in the water as a fish, and a fast one at that.

And then, one day, Gray made the mistake of letting Lyon accompany him and from that day on, every other sentence that came out of Lyon's mouth was about Juvia. Gray wouldn't deny that Juvia was pretty, but as far as Lyon was concerned she was the reason the sun rose every morning, the axis upon which the earth spun, the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Needless to say, Juvia was slightly overwhelmed.

After a few months, Gray began to gather that Juvia had feelings for him. Yet he couldn't bring himself to give her any answer because he didn't know what he would say, and he didn't want to run the risk of changing his life. So Lyon kept loving Juvia who kept loving Gray who sat on the fence as indecisively as ever.

One day, when he had the day off, he agreed to walk home with Juvia once she was done with work. November had just become December and the weather was already frosty, with snow predicted to come. Juvia was bundled up in coat, hat and scarf already, with boots to avoid slipping on the icy paths. Gray dressed as he would normally, not minding the cold as much.

Juvia's cornflower blue hair had dried partially into fluffy waves. It smelled of chlorine, as it did most of the time, to the point that Gray had come to associate her with the smell. She stamped her feet to warm them, hands deep in her pockets and breath floating in small clouds.

"Is Gray-sama spending Christmas with Lyon?"

Gray-sama. That was another thing about Juvia that Gray didn't quite understand. He vaguely remembered once hearing that honorifics were a Japanese tradition, but why Juvia (who had lived in England all of her life) used them was a mystery, as was her third person speech. Gray had just learned that it was easier if you didn't question Juvia's little quirks and eccentricities.

"Yeah. And?"

"Well," Juvia reached up to readjust her hat before thrusting her hands pack into the warmth of her pockets. "Lyon asked Juvia if she would like to spend Christmas at your place."

Of course. She was an orphan who had few friends, so she'd have nobody to visit. And it was typical of Lyon to invite Juvia over at every possible opportunity (Juvia, come celebrate the 113th birthday of some dead guy at our place!). "And?"

"Are you okay with that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She frowned and looked away, biting her lip before burrowing her face in her scarf. It took Gray a second or so to realise; she had been testing the waters, looking for a sign and it wasn't looking positive. He remembered this only too well from his experiences with Erza, constantly looking for an indicator of his feelings being requited.

He averted his gaze. It was easier if he didn't tell her the truth.

And then he saw her sitting in the Costa Coffee across the road. Hair like spun golden sunshine, warm cocoa brown eyes. She hadn't changed despite it being almost a year since he last saw her.

Lucy's gaze caught his, yet she made not a single gesture of communication.

"Gray-sama," Juvia spoke, making him aware of how he'd suddenly halted. "What are you looking at?

The blonde across the road blinked before turning as her companion sat down. It wasn't anybody Gray had seen before, although he could faintly recall seeing a younger version of his face in one of Lucy's photos. The boy was muscular, lightly dressed despite the weather, with messy pink hair and a huge grin. He said something that made Lucy laugh, like how she had laughed for him that snowy January evening. Gray wished he could lip read.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia inquired again with a hint of worry in her tone. He peeled his gaze away from the scene to see her concerned look.

It occurred to him that Lucy's ice heart metaphor had been painfully accurate. In which case, Juvia had been holding onto her heart for a long time, waiting until she could let it melt for him. And he hadn't told her that wasn't necessary, even though if he did then Lyon would be more than happy to hold it or her. He realised just how numb Juvia's metaphorical hand must be by now.

It dawned on him that by doing nothing, he was just being a prick.

"Why don't we go to the park?"

Her eyes widened, and for a second the thought of those eyes filling with tears when he told her no almost made him chicken out. Almost.

He told himself that he was just taking the scenic route home, when in actuality he was just sitting on a bench on a street he had no reason to be on other than the slim chance of seeing the girl he had met when drunk out of his mind just under a year ago. But scenic route was the term he'd prefer to use.

It came as a shock to him when she actually came out of the same Costa coffee holding two takeaway cups, crossed the road, handed one to him and sat down.

He took a deep sip. "You remembered how I like my coffee?"

"I remember a lot of things. I'm still not sure how much you remember."

Gray sighed, tipping his head back to look at the sky. It was a clear blue, having released all its snow the night before. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

"You remember?"

"No, but I worked it out from the stainless carpet. Either that or you have some mega industrial strength carpet cleaner. So why didn't you say?"

Lucy shrugged and drank (he idly wondered whether it was tea or hot chocolate she was drinking, since he remembered that she didn't drink coffee). "I was ashamed of myself, I guess. I'd only just officially broken up with my boyfriend of three years and I was already moving on." She looked him in the eye. "But you didn't remember, so it was easy to lie."

He exhaled, clasping his coffee cup with both hands and feeling them warm up. "And then what went wrong?"

"I could live with a one night stand. But then you started to mean something, and I got scared."

They sat in silence before Gray decided to change the subject.

"How's the book coming along?"

Lucy seemed to come to life, smiling at him excitedly. "It comes out next week! My publisher says that we'll hit the Christmas shopping boom, and if it does well we'll print a second edition."

"Congratulations! What's it about?"

She beamed, speaking in a sing song voice. "No spoilers! You'll have to read it."

"Well, what's it called then?"

"Starlight in the snow. What's your girlfriend called?"

He almost did a spit take. "Who?" he spluttered.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "The one with the blue hair."

He shook his head vigorously. "No, she's not my girlfriend! That's Juvia. I guess you could say that she's Lyon's unrequited love, although the unrequited part seems set to change. I finally gave her an answer, but he's there to help her move on. Lyon's an asshole, but he'll wait years if that's the time she needs."

Lucy nodded in acceptance. "She looked nice. Maybe I can talk to her one day."

"Okay, my turn." Gray sat up, staring at her intently. "Who's your boyfriend?"

She jumped, almost spilling her drink. "You mean Natsu? No, no, no!" Lucy began to gesture wildly. "He's my best friend from Secondary School. I mean we dated once but that was ages ago! He's just my roommate. You see, he moved down here about a month after Loke left so I let him stay with me, but there's nothing romantic between us!" Lucy froze when she saw that he was laughing and pouted. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that you're cute when you're flustered."

Well, that caught her off guard. Lucy's expression became more serious and she looked down at the drink in her hands. "I, uh, haven't really been able to have a boyfriend all year… I mean, not since you…"

"I could be your boyfriend." He said it without thinking, and strangely enough didn't regret it.

Her cocoa coloured eyes bore into his coal ones. "Or I could get up and leave and never see you again."

Gray shrugged. "Not exactly my preferred outcome, but yeah, there's always that."

She laughed and leaned over to plant a kiss on his cheek before getting up off the bench and walking away.

Of course. She'd probably get together with Natsu. He could make her laugh. They didn't look like they'd make a bad couple. Gray could handle that, if Natsu was capable of making her laugh. Lucy needed love and laughter in her life, and she definitely deserved it. He hoped they'd be happy.

"Oi!" It was the first time something even vaguely cockney had come out of her mouth, and it contrasted her usual articulate diction. "Are you coming or not?"

Gray grinned and downed the rest of his coffee before chucking it in the bin and getting up to run after her and grab her outstretched hand. "So, what does the ice heart metaphor say about this?"

She shrugged. "No metaphor covers everything, and life's too short to think metaphorically about love when I could actually just do it."

"You could just do-"

"Nuh-uh. This time we're taking it slow."

Slow and steady. He could handle that.