**WARNING BEFORE CHAPTER BEGINS**
A lot of curses in this chapter, and a bit of abuse written at the beginning. You have been warned.
Enjoy the chapter~!!!

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Aʟʟ I Eᴠᴇʀ Nᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ
Chapter 7 - Bruise

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(The Night Before)

A girl quietly opens her front door, steps in, and closes the door as quiet as she possibly could. She was glad she was wearing hard-to-see-in-the-dark clothes because, thankfully, all the lights were off in her house.

She took only 4 steps before the lights above the broken downstairs turn on and rapid feet come running down the steps.

She sighs, knowing she was caught and stays in her tracks acting as if a deer does, pretending to not be there.

"Where were you..." it was a man and his voice was groggy, the girl could smell the alcohol he had been drinking even from how far apart they were standing. "I said where were you, goddammit!!!!"

The girl flinched as she starts walking, acting as if the man before her wasn't there. She figured if she just walked passed, it would all be fine and dandy. But of course, she was wrong.

The drunk guy wasn't putting up with any of it and grabs onto her hair, yanking it harshly as the girl let's out a quiet but pained yelp.

"Answer me!!!" the man demanded, screaming right in the poor girl's ear.

The girl lets a tear fall from her beautiful hurt eyes as she desperately tries to make the man let go of her hair. "It's...none of your...." and then another yelp as the man yanks her hair once more "...business... You wouldn't give a damn if I didn't come back, so why are you acting all high and mighty as if you cared!?"

It was then that the man let go of her hair, and once the girl thought it was over with and she could run away, the man brought back his hand and immediately slapped the girl's right cheek, near her eye, with such force. The girl let out a pained cry as she falls to the floor, holding onto her throbbing face.

"Get out of my fucking sight, you piece of shit." he kicks the girl on the floor as he walks past her, she made a pained noise as he does, swaying because of his alcohol intake, and heads for a room near the beaten-down kitchen.

The girl just lays there and weeps silently, wishing she had just stayed with her friend at her house just like she wished.

_

It was the next day, and needless to say, Gray was exhausted. Not the fake exhausted - he was pure out exhausted. Running on 5 hours of sleep wasn't good for him, and he swore off staying up and watching a movie with his Dad all night ever again.

He sat in homeroom groggily, listening to Porlyusica teaching -- the bell ringing 5 minutes prior to that moment.

Gray looked over to the window as he stared at the empty seat he wished to sit in. The Juvia girl wasn't there that day, who knows where she was. Could've been skipping class which Gray didn't blame her for. Maybe she did skip, found a new homeroom to be in, or was just running late...

The answer to that question was answered only a second later when the classroom door opened, and in stepped Juvia -- wearing her normal uniform, but with an unusual accessory.

Big black sunglasses sat over her eyes, completely covering up her eye area. Porlyusica looked at the girl as if she were crazy. "First off, why are you late, and Second, what is with that ugly pair of sunglasses on your face?" some of the students in the classroom burst out with laughter at Porlyusica's brutal remark.

"Juvia is sorry she is late, and.....she just thought she should wear these sunglasses today." the girl says as she starts walking to her seat. "Sorry for interrupting the class, you can resume."

"Young lady, I am positive it is against the school rules to wear sunglasses as big as those. Plus, we're inside! Take them off right now and don't wear them again." Porlyusica asks, more like demands, for her student to do.

Juvia looks at the teacher as she continues to her seat, disrespecting her teachers' wishes. "Juvia.....Juvia can't do that for you, sorry..."

"Juvia," Porlyusica says with a warning, walking to the row of Juvia's seat as all eyes were on them. "Do it right now or I will take them off for you."

Gray could tell the girl was looking around at all the students staring at her, even with the black lenses on. She looked so shocked and scared, Gray was really curious as to the real reason why she was wearing those glasses.

She just shakes her head at Porlyusica, whilst ducking her chin. "Please...Juvia needs these on."

"Juvia Lockser...." Porlyusica says with a warning, walking up the row to Juvia's seat. "I am saving you from embarrassment and from the dress code police at this school. Take them off now, or I will take them off myself and send you to the principal's office with all the talking back you're doing."

Juvia, again, shakes her head, looking away in hopes that Porlyusica wouldn't do what she said she would. But what Porlyusica says she will do, is what she does.

"Force it is, then, Young Lady." Porlyusica got to Juvia's seat for sure, grabbing hold of the girls' glasses and taking them off of her face.

The whole class was staring eagerly at the scene, some snickering at how stupid a Fiorean could be. But- they all gasped as soon as the glasses revealed what was under them, Porlyusica even gasping.

Gray looks at Juvia who had a disgusting looking black eye on her right eye. He couldn't even describe it it was so disgusting. The eye was surrounded by black, a disgusting black as if the girl had punched her eye a million times. Juvia's left eye was so different - it not being surrounded by black, and not swollen - from her right eye as of then, and Gray couldn't even tell if the right eye was real or not. A cry for attention? Nah, Juvia appeared to not be that way.

"Oh my goodness, child! What happened to you!!!" Juvia looks away from all the stares to the wall right next to her as Porlyusica gently places the glasses on the girls' desk, settling from the shock and walking away immediately.

Juvia grabs the glasses again once Porlyusica is away from her desk and puts them on, again looking away from the remaining stares on her.

Porlyusica cleared her throat as some eyes fled to look at her instead of the beaten up girl. "We will continue, and if any of you look back at Ms. Lockser I will make you come to the front of the class. You all understand me?" all of the class nods, except for Gray who had continued to stare at Juvia from the corner of his eye going against the rules just made. "Let's continue. Now, as I was saying when you are taking care of an injured-"

The teacher continues as Gray, once more, zones her out whilst looking at Juvia sneakily. The girl just kept looking away as her hand held her face with open palms towards the window. It appeared that she had no more injuries and it was just her eye that was hurt.

He wanted to text Lyon and asked if he knew what happened - but Gray would do it later. Breaking one rule was enough, breaking another would sure get a beating from Porlyusica the next time Gray went over to her home.

Gray couldn't shake the fact that Juvia, Meredy and Lyon's friend, had a black eye. Did she get in a fight? Not possible, it didn't happen last night and it definitely didn't happen that morning. Nothing explained why she had that black eye....did she give it to herself?

Gray decided to pay back attention to his Grandma, knowing fully well that worrying about a Fiorean would do something to his brain. He was a Mag-nol-i-an, she was a Fi-or-e-an! There was controversy there, not friendship.

…

Soon enough, the bell rang. As expected to all students of Porlyusica's homeroom class, Juvia was immediately called by her.

The girl with the black eye sighed aloud as she stood, putting her book bag around her shoulder, and walked up to Porlyusica while others headed out of the door.

"Do you mind telling me how you got that black eye of yours?" The teacher asks as soon as Juvia reaches her.

She took a while to respond but answered almost a whole minute later. "Juvia-Juvia....she doesn't want to tell..."

"I understand." Porlyusica's says before reaching for Juvia's glasses, and as expected from the teacher, the girl steps back. "Listen here, child. I am the school's nurse and it is my job to examine injuries. May I look at your eye?"

Juvia shakes her head softly while putting her hands up in defense. "No, no. It's fine.."

Porlyusica sighs as she catches the eye of her step-grandson walking out of the door. "Gray!"

The boy, halfway out of the classroom, turns around. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Be a good grandchild and help me out with this girl. I have a class and won't be able to pay attention to her during teaching." Gray stares at her wide-eyed with a 'are you serious' kind of look. "You will be to help heal this eye of hers or I will get in contact with your Dad, who I am sure doesn't want a call from his sons step-grandma telling him his son won't help a lady. 2 ladies, to be exact."

Gray groans. "What about my next class, huh? I can't just skip."

"Oh, yes you can!" Gray looks at his Grandma as he waits for her to continue. "I will talk to your teacher and ask for them to unmark your tardy. For now, you two, follow me please." Porlyusica walks off as Juvia follows unwillingly, Gray trailing behind soon after.

The three walk down the halls as Juvia gets loads of stares. She didn't know anyone that was staring at her, because they were all Magnolia High students, but she was sure they were all making fun of her for the big sunglasses. Anyone from Fiore High wouldn't dare to give her looks, or her gang would beat them to a pulp.

Gray, who really wasn't happy to be assisting a Fiorean and his Grandma who hated him, walked sluggishly with no excitement for skipping a class. His next class was boring, and yet he wanted to go to that instead of helping his rival.

They soon made it to the front office where they walked to the nurse's office and Porlyusica opened the door for her two students. They walk in as Porlyusica points to the couch/bed for Juvia to go and sit, and leaves Gray to stand as she closes the door and walks to a cabinet. She scavenges through the cabinet for a while, pulling out multiple tiny bottles to just slightly glance at them to only put them back.
As if finally, for what seemed hours to Gray but really was a second or two, the nurse/teacher pulls out an ointment and closes the doors of the cabinet.

She grabs some cotton balls as she turns to Gray and hands them to him, shoving them to be in his grasp. She turns around to a tiny fridge and grabs a bag of ice and sets in on the counter. She walks up to Juvia, and without warning, takes off the sunglasses.

Juvia squints as she adjusts to the lights, sitting awkwardly as Porlyusica stares at her right eye. Gray takes a full glance at Juvia's eye once more and immediately feels bad. That bruise looked absolutely painful.

"Seems like you were hit pretty hard. Can you see, child?" Porlyusica asks, standing up and no longer staring into Juvia's eyes.

Juvia shrugs. "Juvia can see pretty well."

"That's good, then. Your eye isn't bleeding, and it doesn't appear that you cannot see. On a scale of one to ten, one being not painful, 10 being severe pain, does it hurt?"

"Uhm.…a 7 1/2," Juvia answers, fidgeting her fingers in her lap.

Porlyusica nods and then turns to Gray just as the bell rung. "Put that ointment on the cotton ball and lightly dab it on the bruised parts of her eye. When you are done, wrap that ice pack in a paper towel and have her hold it while putting it on the bruised areas. If you notice her swaying, lay her down." she walks towards the door as she twists the doorknob and looks back at Gray, "You are not to leave until I come back, young man." and with that, the teacher was gone.

Gray stands there for a few moments, hoping Porlyusica would come back and say nevermind. But, of course, that didn't happen. Gray sighs as he takes the ointment and puts it on the cotton ball as instructed, and then proceeds to step closer to Juvia, pressing the cotton a little too harshly on the girls bruised skin.

Juvia winces and pulls her face away, Gray pulling the cotton back and apologizing. "Sorry..." Juvia shrugs it off and looks to the left where Gray can see her right eye as he continues healing her bruise, a little more gentle this time.

After a while of the two not talking, it got awkward. Here two rivals were, in a room alone while one is helping the other. If someone from either school were to walk in at any moment, they'd be mocked. So, to relieve the awkwardness between them Gray spoke up. ''So....what happened?"

"None of your business." Juvia, with poison-laced in her voice, spake.

Gray glares. "Ooooookay. There goes my plan to make it less awkward."

"You can just leave, you know. Juvia doesn't want you here." Juvia says harshly, looking at Gray with a glare.

"I don't want to be here either, trust me. But 'lucky' for you, I'd get my ass whooped by that old hag if I leave. So, looks like I am staying." Gray says while lightly patting the ointment on Juvia's bruise again.

Juvia let's out a sound of disgust, looking away again - and then the awkward silence returned.

Gray made sure every part of her bruise was well slathered in the ointment - he didn't want to get yelled at by Porlyusica because he 'didn't put enough on' or any excuse she could come up with. That old lady really didn't like Gray, if she asked for something from him she expected it to be well done or else he'd have to do it again. It really pissed him off, so he and she never got along. He hated being with her because she was too....mean.

Wanna know what else he hated? This moment.

He stopped coating her bruise in ointment and walked over to the ice pack laid out on the counter, grabbing 3 pieces of paper towels and wrapping it around the cold brick.

Gray handed it to Juvia as the girl took it. "You heard Porlyusica, put it on your bruised areas."

Juvia looked to the ice pack covered in white, then back to Gray, as if it were foreign to her. "Won't that hurt it?"

Looking at the girl in front of her with wide eyes, Gray stared at her as if she were stupid. "You don't know how to take care of bruises?"

She shakes her head. "No, I just let it heal on its own with no 'remedies'."

"The ice helps soothe it, and it doesn't hurt. Besides, what hurts more is leaving that bruise alone with no coldness on it. Trust me, ice makes everything better." Gray says confidently, leaning on the counter with crossed arms.

Juvia softly places the ice on parts of her bruise, wincing at the slight discomfort. "It hurts you because you're a wuss, a lame old Magnolian."

Gray looks at her with cold eyes. "What'd ya say? Because all I heard was gibberish from your mouth that I didn't want to hear."

Juvia smiles at him evilly "So you admit it?"

"Who said I did? If there is anyone that is a wuss here, it's you." Gray says back with venom.

Juvia looks at him as she squints an eye, moving her ice pack to a different place near her eye. "Juvia is anything but a wuss. So, please do tell why you think Juvia is one." she raises a brow at Gray, really pushing his buttons.

"Who was the one standing in the corner yesterday doing nothing while her friends fought, hm?" Gray says whilst looking at Juvia as she shifts uncomfortably.

She looks away. "T-That's different..."

"Mhm, sure. You wuss." Gray stops leaning on the counter as he stands with a smirk.

Juvia looks at him with yet another disgusted look. "Oh shut it, Gray fucking Fullbuster," she says as she rolls her left eye - Gray couldn't tell if she rolled the other, it was covered by the ice pack - and then looks away from him.

The two stay in silence for 5 minutes, both listening to the sound of air coming from the vents releasing cool air. Juvia continued moving the ice pack around her eye, closing her eyes as the cold sensation of the ice made the bruise hurt less. To ease the silence, she spoke up rather curious of something. "How'd you meet Lyon and Meredy?" what could she say? If her best friend and friend were talking with a Magnolian, she would have to be confused.

Gray let out a sigh as he folded his arms, closing his eyes as his eyebrows furrowed. "Eh, Lyon's my cousin and talks about his girlfriend all the time when we have family reunions or dinners. So he just introduced her to me."

Juvia laughed a little as she swung her legs back and forth. "Why do you sound so annoyed?"

"Nothing, it's just Lyon is annoying." Juvia looks at Gray madly after his comment, and Gray raises a brow at her and says "What?" demandingly.

"He isn't annoying."

Gray shakes his head "Trust me, he is. I am his cousin so I should know."

"And Juvia is his friend so she knows him as well," Juvia says in a protecting way.

"Cheap excuse. Lyon is annoying, and that's final. End of discussion." Gray answers and starts walking towards the cabinet where Porlyusica's got to the ointment from, opening it and examining it since there was nothing better to do. Both he and Juvia were just bickering back and forth and Gray didn't see it as worth his while. Juvia found herself in the same situation. That last conversation was going nowhere, and seeing as though there was nothing else to talk about without the two of them fighting, she just decided to stay quiet. If either one of them were to talk, it'd have to be Gray - she'd refuse to be the conversation starter

She iced her bruise as she silently observed what her school rival was doing - pulling out different medicine bottles and reading the labels, to then put them back. It reminded Juvia of what Porlyusica did, trying to find the ointment for Juvia's eye. Which brought her to another thing - that mean old lady teacher thing called Gray her ''Grandson'' and Gray calling her his ''Grandma''. So, were they family?

She wanted to ask but knew it was none of her business. Plus, she swore off talking until he did. Besides, what would she do with that information Gray would give her? Tell Meredy? Gajeel? She would do nothing with the info, which is why she decided to leave it be. She wouldn't need to know, it was useless to.

Gray groaned as he slams the cabinet doors and walks back to his previous spot, looking at Juvia whilst the girl whisked her eyes away from the boy - he didn't need to know that she was indeed staring at him. Dumb Magnolians suspect the most random things, so the guy would probably just assume something.

She moved her ice-pack once more and placed it on a part of her eye, exhaling as she closes her left eye. Though, they shot open when a vision from the previous night sparked her memory. She jumped, which got Gray worried.

"Woah, what was that?" he asked, Juvia staring back at him now.

She shakes her head and rolls her left eye, "Nothing."

Gray sighs and leans back his head to rest on the cabinet behind him. "Suit yourself."

They stayed silent for a few more minutes before the bell sounded, and not only 1 minute later the door opened. Gray let a sigh of relief once he saw his Grandma at the entryway, happy that this babysitting duty was over.

"How's your eye, child?" The old woman asks, closing the door as she walks to Juvia and removes the ice-pack from her hands, looking into the girl's deep blue orbs.

Juvia shrugs. "It feels a bit better, but Juvia doesn't think it has healed yet."

"Well, of course, it hasn't, stupid," Gray calls out, causing both pairs of eyes to be on him. Juvia glares at the boy, shaking her head as Porlyusica also glares.

"I will be sure to tell your father about that comment." she looks back at Juvia and begins to examine the eye area again. "Anyway Juvia, it won't heal and will continue to be visible today, but tomorrow I am sure it'll be better. What you need now is rest, so I will go call your home to come pick you up-"

"NO!" Juvia says before Porlyusica could even finish her sentence. Both the teacher and Gray stared at her with shocked eyes - them being big at the girl's sudden yell. Juvia cleared her throat. "Sorry, no. My home is pretty much empty at the moment, J-J-Juvia's D-Dad is at work and h-h-he shouldn't be bothered to come pick me up." the girl smiles convincingly to the two before Porlyusica sighs.

"I suppose you can stay here and rest. This class period is my free time so I will 'gladly' take care of you. And you, Gray-" she looks to her grandson with a deadly stare. "you may leave to your class."

Gray nods and walks to the spot where he dropped his bag and swings it over his shoulders, grabbing hold of the door as he walks out to his next class.

As he walked, he couldn't help but feel weird. Last night, when the topic of Juvia's Dad came up, Lyon had told Gray it was something Juvia needed to tell Gray and the others about her Father herself. And just now, she pretty much spoke frantically and avoided the topic of her home.

'God, girls are confusing' Gray thought as he walked. Just what was going on with her?

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Heyyo! I know it's only Monday and I just updated, but I am not going to be here Thursday-Monday (my updating time) so I just decided to do it today!!!! You see... I would do it Tuesday or Wednesday but I am going to be busy those days with homework and there'll be no time to update. So let's hope you all aren't mad with me for posting way early (let's be honest, you aren't and it's not a big deal.)

Why I'll be gone? It's Labor Day Weekend and my Family has this tradition to go camping because I have an extra weekend day. So, I'll be camping - which I adore even though I hate the feeling of being gross.

Anyway, I gtg. Enjoy the rest of your day and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! Thanks y'all!!!

(Here's a lil Gruvia/Juvia appreciation OwO)(And yes, they are from Instagram posts!!)