First Gruvia fic, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Encounter

There was a handful of things Gray Fullbuster thoroughly enjoyed, and serving arrogant 12 year olds greasy barbeque while having a fistful of spare coins the aforementioned 12 year olds acquired by whining to their parents, shoved into his face was definitely not one of them. The annoying paper like hat and itchy apron decorated in splashes of oil, grease and fat that made up his uniform at the small canteen he worked at at his local arena was also not on the short list.

"What, is this your first day on the job or something?" The grating tone of voice Gray has come to hate reached his ears over the sound of the sizzling meat on the grill. "We've been waiting around for like an hour," The prepubescent boy groaned out while his two friends who flanked him like henchmen sniggered. Biting back the seventeenth smart ass retort of the day that Gray knew would get him fired if he dared utter it to a costumer, he settled for an annoyed "Tch," and flipped two hamburgers onto two buns already adorned with cheese and vegetables he knows will be picked out and tossed carelessly into the nearest garbage can.

Grabbing the Styrofoam plates which carried the two burgers ready to be eaten, Gray turned to face his costumers, wearing a glare he hoped would wipe off the smug smile on the kid's face, but his efforts proved to be fruitless as the counter separating the two acted as a barrier and created a false sense of empowerment, that unfortunately did not favour Gray.

"Five dollars," Was all Gray said as he punched in the order on the register. He knew at a moment like this his she-demon manager would smile at him and tell him to be nicer to the costumers, with an under lying tone of 'and if you aren't, I'll make sure you sadly go missing and are never found again'.

"Maybe I just shouldn't pay you because of all the attitude you're giving me," The brat in the hockey jersey said, making his friends go "ooh" like the kid had just said the best insult they had ever heard in their short and sad lives.

Being over a hundred percent done with people only an hour into his shift, Gray replied, "Look kid, if you want your food then pay up, if you don't want to pay then you're not getting your food and you're going to have to leave because you're holding things up here," while nodding to the line that was starting to form behind the current costumer. In response, the kid made a face and shoved the clamy coins into Gray's face, barely giving him enough time to grab them before they fell to the floor. Grabbing the plates, the little turd walked off laughing loudly and complaining boisterously the apparent bad service.

Good riddance, Gray thought looking up to the next costumer only to find his second least favourite type of person; the teenage, figure skating girl. Hair slicked back in a tight bun not a stray hair to be seen, who always thought that the cheap canteen he earned his dues at served a lactose free, gluten free, non-fat, half carbs and low sodium meals similar to that of a posh eatery in a trendy town which probably costs half of his paycheck to eat at. These girls were the definition of annoyance, even the human equivalent of a mosquito you hear buzzing around your room once you turn your lights out to go to bed. And the worst thing was that this species of female didn't solely exist at his workplace, but also in the halls of his high school smiling dazzling smiles of whitened teeth and flipping straightened hair over their shoulder, creating a wind of sickly sweet perfume scent that he would never understand why it appealed to most guys his age. They lived off of two hundred dollar allowances a week and whining until they got their way. And for the figure skating sub category, that which the ones standing in front of him fell into, they fed off of the support their parents gave them and investing thousands of dollars because they were sure 'their little angel is going to the Olympics', and earning all this only by smiling like a saint all the while smirking arrogantly behind their backs. Sighing and muttering out the generic welcome in a monotone voice, Gray prepared himself for a long day.

It was a quarter to eleven in the evening when Gray finally had the chance to turn off his register and officially close down the small canteen that had held him prisoner since eleven that morning. Turning off the grill and starting to pack up the condiments and food into their respective containers, Gray felt the restlessness of the moment he's been waiting for all day rise in his chest. After shoving the sealed up containers of food into the bottom of the fridge that kept the drinks cool, and while scrapping down the grill of meat residue, he heard the first sound of the Zamboni make its rounds on the ice, smoothing out the surface, freeing it from nicks and scrapes of the days skating, leaving an irresistible mirror like surface ready to glide on. The anticipation rose once more and for the first time all day, a smile split his face and he scrubbed harder and faster, not wanting to waste a single minute that could be spent doing what he loves most.

Continuing on at top speed, Gray continuously stole glances at the rink, looking as though he was checking to see it was still there. When he had started this job a few months ago, his manager, Mirajane Strauss, had asked why he kept the metal divider between the rest of the arena and his small kitchen area up until the very last minute. Gray had shrugged and responded, "Claustrophobia," but in truth, it was because his skin yearned to feel the crisp air seep into his space and slowly lower the temperate of the room more and more now that he had turned off the grill that acted as a major heat source; it was a lot harder to explain that and he didn't really care to try anyway.

With the food away, cash counted, and now the metal window like contraption slammed shut and lock on the door, Gray scanned the empty arena lobby where the exit to the canteen let out to, checking that no one was lingering. Satisfied with the empty building, Gray made his way to the main office, footsteps creating a slapping sound against the concrete floor and echoing in the silence. Dropping off the cash from the till of the canteen's register in Mira's tiny office, and locking the door behind him, he scanned the arena once more, making sure no one saw him head over to the front desk, reach over and feel around underneath the desk until he found the plastic box he was looking for. Pulling it out and onto the desk, he started to rummage through the contents of the lost and found box, muttering "Please still be here," under his breath. With a triumphant smile on his face, Gray found what he was looking for underneath a child's jacket. Gray took out the pair of men's size 10 hockey skates, thanking his lucky stars for finding them in the first place one night a week ago when he went to pick up his paycheck, and therefore starting the habit of his late night skating sessions.

Without bothering to put back the lost and found box, Gray jogged across the hall to the double doors of the rink and yanked them open, emitting a blast of cold air, only making the smile of his face grow. He walked over to the stands and sat down on the first bench, tugging off his shoes, he jammed his feet into the skates, quickly lacing them up with practiced hands. Soon he was up on his feet, and as he took his first slightly wobbly step onto the rubber mats with bladed feet, he heard one of his favourite sounds; the telltale sound of the blades of skates against the rink. Usually he wouldn't complain, but the sound of scraping ice echoing against the boards that surrounded the frozen water, which were still persisting might he add, were not coming from him as he was still standing outside the boards.

Smile long fallen off his face and instead replaced by an incredulous look, Gray looked up to the rink to see a teenage girl about his age gliding alone on the ice, dressed in a blue and white dress he recognized as one which those figure skating girls wore when they had a practice. The excitement and happiness he had felt just moments before melted into anger and as quickly as he could in skates against a rubber surface, Gray stormed up to the boards, mouth open and ready to shout at the strange girl with blue hair stealing his time to skate and be free and alone, when he stopped, struck with the grace she moved with. The figure skating he observed the other girls do when he didn't have any costumers and a class was taking place on the ice was so much different then what this girl was doing right in front of him. It looked more like a waltz preformed solo on ice, and less like she was trying to calculate he exact motion of each movement in her head.

So he stood there, silent, long enough for the girl to execute some simpler moves and even to see her leap into the air and spin, her arms and legs tightly held to her body, and land back on the ice, not wavering once.

Gray never had to announce his presence to her because her gliding had taken her towards the end of the rink he was standing at, and as she straightened from another of her impressive jumps, she turned to face him, making eye contacting causing her eyes to widen in surprise and to fumble a step, making her lose her balance and slip to the ground, landing on her butt with an "Oomph,".

"The rink is closed you know," Gray called out, a frown settling back onto his face now that he was no longer distracted by the girl's movements. "You're not allowed to be here."

"J-Juvia's sorry, Juvia didn't know," The girl responded, face blushing red as she looked down to her lap where her fingers fidgeted with the hem of her dress. As she remained seated on the ice, legs at an angle Gray was sure couldn't have been comfortable, she was like another person; instead of holding herself with grace and poise, instead she was sitting there like a scolded puppy, awkward and blushing.

Pushing open the door on the boards and stepping on the ice for the first time that day, Gray skated over to her, feeling his spirits already rise, despite being stubborn and wanting to remain angry that he wasn't skating away as he pleased. He was also curious as to who this Juvia was why they were relevant to anything.

He stopped just in front of her, frowning down at her and forcing her to look up at him with wide, apologetic and very blue eyes. "What do you think you're doing out here anyways?"

"Juvia has a figure skating competition and needs to practice," Her voice was small and shaky, but he could tell she was trying to stand up for herself, as her hands were now clenched into fists and her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and the completely helpless look she had been giving him was replaced with a slightly more intimidating one. And even that was as intimidating as a growling puppy.

"Who the hell is Juvia?" Gray asked exasperated. She just looked at him in confusion and tilted her head, giving him a look like how in the world couldn't he know who Juvia was.

"Juvia is Juvia," She said sounding extremely confused, putting a hand to her chest, indicating herself.

"You're Juvia? Why do you talk in third person?" Gray asked rudely.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Juvia asked back, eyes straying down to his indeed bare chest for a second, before shooting back up to his face, a blush spread across her cheeks.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed, groaning. He had this bad habit of casually striping, especially when he was excited or happy or stressed. Looking around, he spotted his t-shirt thrown on the bench next to his regular shoes. Honestly, he was slightly surprised the girl hadn't pointed out his lack of clothing before that point. "T-That's beside the point! You're avoiding the topic, can you just leave already?" He was frustrated now, even more so now that he was slightly embarrassed.

"But Juvia needs to practice!" The blue haired girl whined out, finally getting up quickly from the ice, with a surprising amount of ease, making Gray wonder if she spent a lot of time falling down on the ice.

"Maybe you should've come earlier when the rink was actually open," Gray gritted his teeth.

"There are too many people; Juvia does not have enough room to practice properly."

"Sucks to suck. Maybe you should just get your parents to buy you time on the rink," He shot back at her with a sarcastic tone, almost sneering at her.

"It doesn't work like that," She responded looking awkward, for whatever reason he could not fathom. He made a "Tch," noise, being very annoyed with how this situation turned out. Late nights when everyone was gone was supposed to be a time when he could skate when and for however long he wanted to, not to be spent arguing with this random girl.

"I really don't care if you can or cannot get enough practice time, it's not my problem, but you being here when you're not supposed to is, so leave," She looked really conflicted at this point; she was frustrated, annoyed and mildly frightened of Gray.

"I-Is it because you want to skate?" She asked, nervous again and started fidgeting with her hem once more. "Because you're wearing skates and all and your shoes are on the bench when you could've just yelled from the stands or walked onto the ice." Juvia said this all very fast, so that it was hard to keep up with her. But her presumptions were correct, and this frustrated Gray further.

"It doesn't matter what I'm going to be doing! I work here and it's none of your business." He had raised his voice some and she had flinched away slightly.

"Maybe we could share—" Before she could finish he cut her off.

"No, I'm not going to share the rink just leave!" Now he had really scared her, as her head was bowed and she had taken a full step away from him. It was admirable really that despite her obvious want to not be there and not want this confrontation, she kept her ground, mostly. "Fine. We'll race for the rink time."

"W-What?" Her head shot up, her eyes wide not believing what she had just heard come from Gray's mouth.

"We'll race. The first one to complete two laps around the rink gets to stay and use the rink for as long as they please."

"But the person on the inside lap will have an advantage," She responded, pondering this new idea.

"Then we'll do a switch, when we come up to the start line on our second lap, we'll cross over so the person on the inside will go on the out and the person on the outside will go in," He explained remember the technique he once saw speed skaters use. "The person on the outside will cross behind the person on the inside, and we should do it on a corner so it makes it easier."

"O-Okay, sounds simple enough. For the finish, are we doing the first skate over the line or body?" She asked.

"Let's just do skate," He was getting excited for this race; It would be his first real skating of the night and it brought back memories of times when he would go out to his community outdoor rink and race with his friends.

They made their way over to the decided start line, where Juvia dug a grove in the ice with the pick of her skate. They both settled into a starting position, Juvia on the inside and Gray on the outside. "You ready?" He asked her in a low voice, giving her a side glance to her determined face staring straight ahead.

"Yes." Her voice was steady. Looking back ahead, he prepared himself for the race for a moment before counting down,

"Ready, set," And with a deep breath, "Go!" And they took off. Juvia, with the pick on the front of her blades to help her lift off for a jump, took a head start with a solid first push, but Gray caught up quickly using the strong leg muscles he had acquired over the years of going to the gym and skating, using the muscle memory from years ago when he participated in races multiple times in a week.

They stayed neck and neck, until the first corner, where her advantage of having less ground to cover came in handy, and her turns were more practiced, better executed. It didn't matter though, as they came back out onto the straight stretch as his experience with racing and strong pushes came in handy and enabled him to catch up with her, even pulling ahead a fraction, only to have her catch up and pull back ahead in the at the turn. It carried on like this, past the switch and up until the last stretch of straight rink. They could both see the grove in the rink coming up and they wondered if they wold have to end up sharing the rink because of a tie.

It was then that Gray realised that he was either about to lose or tie with a bitchy figure skating girl, despite this Juvia girl being different from most he's encountered, but the sentiment was the same. So with as much effort he could conjure up, he pushed his legs to go harder, to exert more push into his glides, and it proved worth it as he pulled ahead ever so slightly with little to go before the finish line, and thrust one foot ahead so that his skate crossed the finish line a full second before her smaller skate crossed.

A smile crossed his face; his mood had already brightened with being able to skate especially so fast and with purpose, but to know that he won, and he could easily have the next hour to himself skating more helped greatly. He kept on gliding, not really with any purpose, just until he could catch his breath, which, as he looked over to her, was the exact same thing Juvia was doing, minus the smile and bright mood.

"Hey, you didn't do too bad you know," He called over to her where she was now leaning with her back against the boards. He noticed how she had completely regained her breath, but he was still breathing slightly heavier than normal.

"Thank you. Congratulations on winning, Juvia will go now." Her voice went back to wavering and nervous, and although her head was down and her short hair was somewhat covering her face, he could tell her eyes were watering up. He kind of felt bad.

She started to make her way to over where he presumed she entered in the first place, the door opposite to the one he went through where it was easier to get to the change rooms. She went slowly, looking around the empty rink sadly, kind of reminding him of himself. When she reached the door in the boards, she stopped giving the rink a last look, and eyes finally landing on him, a familiar blush decorating her cheeks, maybe she's embarrassed because she lost, Gray thought.

"If you come late on Thursday, the rink is usually pretty empty, if it helps at all," He called to her, making her smile a little in thanks. She turned back around to open the door and once she had stepped onto the rubber mats and off the nice and the door to the boards closed once again, she turned back to look at him,

"Um, you're missing your pants," She said just loud enough for him to hear, blushing madly before turning around and hurrying off to the female's change room. Looking down, he saw that she was right and he was standing there in his boxers and skates. Groaning, he wondered how he even got his pants off over the big hockey skates.

Taking time to put his pants back on, he spent the next hour or so as he had originally planned, skating his heart out and doing whatever he pleased. But as he was put the borrowed skates back in the lost and found, he wondered to himself why he wasn't as elated as he usually was after his habitual skating sessions.

For those of you who don't know what a Zamboni is, it's a really big machine that someone drives that goes onto the ice and uses something with water to smooth out the ice.

But there it is! First chapter, please review and please be nice! Constructive criticism is welcome though (:

And just a fair warning, I'm really crap at updating so warning and future apologies!

~Mac