omg your post (/post/95419801212/second-of-three-requests-for-the-anon)~ will you be doing anything else with it BECAUSE I AM IN LOVE~
[i’m so sorry this is so late] but bro, that AU, where gray and juvia are childhood friends who grew up together? i have so many headcanons it’s literally insane, brace yourself
and please listen to it was always you by maroon 5 because it is literally the theme of this story omg
again this is SUPER LONG so buckle in and enjoy the ride/my messy headcanons/my notes lol
juvia’s parents died when she was young so little gray, who’s a year older than her, and his parents make it a point to look after her
juvia calls gray gray-sama because when they were kids, kid gray always liked when people called him gray-sama because he thought he was king of the world. juvia naturally calls him this, and the nickname sticks as they get older
awkward puberty years of embarrassed juvia seeing gray walking around shirtless & pantless with his developing muscles, not to mention gray noticing that juvia’s really ahem filling out in certain places
come high school time, they have definitely known each other long enough and are extremely comfortable around each other, and of course very close
BUT because i’m a horrible person, unfortunately gray’s parents pass away in a car accident and that’s when he really only has juvia who helps get him through it. like sometimes he calls her in the middle of the night, and he’s crying, barely able to speak while she stays on the line because she knows he just wants someone there. or he comes to her house late at night and sleeps on her couch because he doesn’t like how quiet his own home is, and she sits on her knees by him, leaning over the edge of the couch and holding his hand until he falls asleep. overall this whole thing brings them even closer together of course
gray gives juvia rides to school and home, including waiting for her when her club meetings run a little long after school
sometimes she gets him to sit in the club with her, but he usually just hangs around in the back, passing time on his phone. they’re clubs he wouldn’t normally be caught seen in, but he only goes because she asks him to
juvia’s in the yearbook committee and takes tons of pictures of gray and everything -w- and her being an avid photographer includes waking gray up at the crack of dawn to get the perfect ‘golden hour’ shot with him being her begrudging model. he also sleeps in his boxers and she’s used to seeing him almost naked plenty of times, but it still gets her a little flustered when she pulls the covers off and finds him almost nude -w-
with all these photos of gray and other things, juvia makes a little scrapbook. one day he walks in on her sleeping with the photos scattered around her, and when she wakes up, the scrapbook is finished with all the photos glued neatly inside
gray and juvia do still date other people though. juvia feels a little hollow when she listens to him rambling about how great another girl is, unaware that his crush is completely obvious as he chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. juvia listens and smiles politely because she’s one of his closest friends, but it still stings to hear him so enamored with someone else
juvia does date other people to try and get gray out of her mind, and gray gets extremely protective when she’s dating someone. but in the end none of her boyfriends are gray—even when she tries dating lyon—so she stays single
meanwhile, seeing gray with his girlfriend, smirking at the girl with his arm slacked over her shoulders—it bothers her, but she stomachs it and bears it because he’s happy
but when he goes through breakups, she’s always there to ease him through it. he’s hunched over on her couch with his hands over his face while she soothingly rubs his back, and he leans against her chest. she comforts him and takes care of him while a little sad too because she never wants to see him this upset
then, switching gears, as juvia makes more acquaintances and starts hanging out with lucy and erza and others, gray becomes a little jealous, grumpy over how juvia doesn’t text him or call him so often
he’d be a little snooty towards her, like when she asks to hang out he’d say “aren’t you busy with your new friends” while unknowingly pouting like a sour cutie
or, when she asks for a ride home, gray’d be like “oh, so now you need me huh” and she just blinks and says, “juvia will always need gray-sama.” (cue shojo sparkles). and gray opens his mouth to retort but his face gets all warm so he just looks away and opens the car door for her
life’s not always perfect though, they do get into arguments, sometimes over petty things, other times more serious. gray’s slipping grades because he’s too busy partying, especially when he dates someone like angel and gets into the wrong crowd (like oracion seis lol). he picks up smoking and drinks more and juvia scolds him about it but they argue over her mothering him and she’s not his mother and so on and so forth. (he does drunk dial her sometimes too, and while he’s rambling nonsense, juvia’s just trying to get him home safe.)
at one point gray’s talking with loke, and they’re having guy talk with gray saying something like “her name might be angel but you should see her in bed—” and they laugh and fistbump, but then loke grows really quiet. gray goes “what” until he follows his line of sight, only to find juvia gripping the strap of her bookbag and looking visibly uncomfortable despite the fake smile she’s wearing, a poor attempt to mask it. she says she just wanted to tell him she won’t be needing a ride from him today and proceeds to walk home, while gray follows after her and insists on driving her home, despite feeling extremely awkward that she heard him since he doesn’t usually talk about those things with her. it goes to the point where he’s in his car driving alongside her and convincing her to come inside while she walks on the sidewalk. when it starts to rain, he really insists she comes inside so she won’t catch a cold. after a while, juvia does acquiesce, but by the time they get back to her home she’s sneezing, and gray’s toweling her hair dry despite her saying she can do it on her own while holding a blanket (that he draped over her) closer over her shoulders. gray just scolds her for not getting in his car sooner.
eventually gray does break up with angel because she gave him an ultimatum that basically meant he would have to stop talking to juvia, but he couldn’t accept that of course since she means too much to him. so he’s right back at juvia’s again, having her take care of him after another breakup while she’s unaware of the choice he made because he doesn’t want her to feel bad
okay that’s a lot but we’re still not done OTL
come gray’s graduation, and juvia’s seeing him off to college, she hugs him for a really long time, silently crying because of course she’s going to miss him, and he’s holding her and clenching his teeth because the feeling is mutual
he has her pick a specialized ringtone on his phone because if she needs anything, she can call him and he’ll know it’s her
his uni isn’t exactly the closest to home, so they can only see each other during breaks. juvia of course gets really excited and jumps on him when he gets home, and he catches her and they twirl a bit because the force of her jump sends them spinning before he sets her down. gray always looks forward to coming home too, but he doesn’t realize that the excitement of going home is more than just returning to an old friend
but they have little skype dates too. sometimes juvia calls him and rambles about her day, and gray will ask if she needs something because he’s tired from classes and wants to sleep. she falls silent and says quietly that she just misses him and wanted to hear his voice, and he grows quiet, then asks her other questions to keep her talking and change the subject
sometimes she spontaneously visits him too, and people tell him what a cute girlfriend he has, while gray lectures juvia for taking multiple buses to see him [when deep down he is actually pretty happy to see her]
one day, while napping, he gets a phone call and knows from the ringtone it’s juvia. he picks it up and he’s groggy, but she’s screaming on the other line because she applied to gray’s college and got the acceptance letter today, and she’s so happy because she’ll be able to see him and they’ll be together again. gray shoots awake at the news, and he has this half-grin on his face while juvia’s squealing on the other line. he plays it off nonchalantly like “yeah, that’s great” but his heart’s pounding a little faster
gray’s like “I’ll have you show you around campus then.”"Yes!""And show you where to get cheap textbooks.""Yes yes!""And take you to the football games…""R-Really?!""And some basketball ones. They’re a pretty big deal here, so you should go to at least some.""Waah, Gray-sama! Juvia’s so excited!"and after she hangs up he plops on his back and is grinning all wide -w-
ohhh and then they get to college, and it’s during college gray realizes he’s in love with her. it takes a few events, and he’s dense as hell, but he definitely starts seeing her in a new light
he gives her a tour of the campus, showing her all the places and different buildings. juvia is amazed by all the sights and lags behind him, and when gray notices this, he goes back and takes her hand, pulling her along and telling her not to fall behind
more people give him comments about what a cute girlfriend he has, and gray brushes off the comments with a little blush while juvia hides behind him because she’s shy around new people
he eats at her dining hall, which is a buffet of food, and he naturally has plates and plates and makes a mess while juvia laughs and cleans his face with a napkin
and when he takes her to football games, the season runs through fall so it gets really cold, and he’s sitting on the stands with her and she’ll start shivering and he takes off his jacket and wraps it around her shoulders
she gets really into the games too, like decked in university gear with her cheeks streaked with the university colors, yet she doesn’t exactly know how the game is played. Dialogue like: “Gray-sama, why did that man take the ball from the other man? That wasn’t very nice!” and “That’s… That’s how the game’s played, Juvia.” She’d be all pouty like “this game is mean!” and wincing when the other players tackle each other.
Gray leans over and explains the game to her and then juvia’s like, “Oh! Juvia understands now! TACKLE! STEAL! SCORE!” and people will be lookin at them like what. And when they score a touchdown, she squeals and hugs his arm, like “did you see gray-sama?! Did you see?!” and he’s looking at her and smiling like, “yeah, yeah I saw.” —till she says, “Look, Gray-sama! They scored!” and he says “That was the other team, Juvia.”
they study together at the library, cram for last minute essays, fall asleep over each other for midterms and final’s week. sometimes when they’re studying at the campus library she’ll fall asleep because she’s studying so hard so he’ll piggyback her back to his place and let her crash on his bed
he walks her back to her dorm when it’s late on campus because he’s protective of her. sometimes he’s too tired to walk home because his apartment is an additional twenty minute walk, so juvia lets him sleepover in her room. the floor messed gray’s back up once, so she lets him sleep in her bed with her, but they just fall asleep, no hanky panky yet
juvia’s roommate meredy comes in and she’s like “oh, excuse me” while juvia shoots up all embarrassed and redfaced, saying “we’re not—” but gray, who’s a heavy sleeper, just slides his arm around juvia and pulls her back down. juvia grows more red whlie his face settles in the crook of her neck and meredy simply smiles and slips out of the room.
at one point, gray overhears guys in juvia’s hall who want to ask out the resident hottie, which he discovers is her. so he goes over to them and makes up things about her to make her seem unappealing. juvia finds out about this and gets upset because he didn’t have a right to do that, and maybe she wanted to try and get over him with other people
so later gray goes to her dorm to talk to her and make it up to her, get her to forgive him. and juvia lets him come in and they watch bad movies on her laptop while she snuggles on him. when she falls asleep, he gets up to use the bathroom. as he slips out of her room, the guys from her hall are like, “dude, you could’ve just said you were dating her.” and as he finishes business and goes back inside her room, sliding next to her in the bed, he looks at her sleeping, and that phrase gets stuck in his head and gets him thinking
naturally, with college times comes partying times, and during one party gray can’t take his eyes off her because she’s gorgeous in a tight little outfit, clothing he’s definitely not used to. he attends parties with her because he wants to supervise juvia’s ventures with alcohol, but naturally he’s never a good supervisor because he ends up getting trashed with her.
but while they go to parties together, gray’s impressed that juvia can party pretty hard like doing body shots off him
and naturally, as he takes her back to his place one night while they’re both pretty hammered, he ends up pushing her against the door and kissing her hard, and things get a little heated — it’s all these hidden desires finally coming to life (lol lyrics reference get it)
i have a little description (courtesy of combined efforts with my forever headcanon partner juvvias) of what happens during this time buuut it’s a little nsfw hohoo so i’ll save it for myself unless you want to hear it :)
just know their relationship takes an indefinite turn after this point, and then beyond that is even more surplus of headcanons o.o
LOL this is so long, oh my goodness, and it’s going to 4am now. but you asked my dear and as you can see, this AU is definitely, definitely stuck in my head. i would really like to write it! maybe one day TuT but i hope this satisfies your question!
