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Aʟʟ I Eᴠᴇʀ Nᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ
Chapter 21 - She Knows

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"Grandine!"

"I told you to never call me that, child!"

Gray, unlike any other teenage boy, would do on a Saturday afternoon, was up in his room, working on the homework assigned over the weekend.

While he did so, his earbuds were plugged into his phone, playing his selected music.

However, the sounds playing weren't loud enough to drown out the outside world, because he could hear and feel Porlyusica in his home almost perfectly.

'Tsk, great...' just the presence of his step-grandmother in close vicinity sent a shiver down his spine because whenever she was to visit, nothing was going to be good.

Any visit from her meant trouble--for Gray and Silver, at least.

Because of her blood connection to Wendy, that was the only Fullbuster family member she adored and loved. Don't get her wrong, she loved Silver and Gray, just not as much as the little girl who had made her a grandma.

Scratch that. Love was not a word in her vocabulary, and especially not something to describe the feeling she had for Gray.

She more of liked Silver, loved Wendy, and despised Gray. No one knew why that was, because as far as Gray and the rest of his family was concerned, he had done absolutely nothing to the grandma of his. Any reason why she hated Gray so much was unexplainable.

Suddenly, Gray's door swung open and in came a sweaty Silver, nervous from Porlyusica's sudden appearance "Porlyusica's here, you should come say hi."

Gray slowly rose his eyes to Silver, them showing boredom and uninterest "No thanks, I'll pass."

With a snicker, Silver shook his head "why not?" 

"I'd rather die than greet her," as soon as he said those words, he received a deadly glare from his father, making Gray all the more furious--moody teenager, y'know? "In case you haven't noticed, she hates me!"

"Maybe it's because you treat her so badly?" Silver said with a shrug, fully stepping into his son's room "For instance, your behavior right now."

Gray set down his pencil and removed one earbud from his ear, looking his Dad directly in the eyes "I'm doing my work, so she can wait."

"Oh, no, she can't!" Silver walked over to his son's bed and snagged the paperwork he had gotten from school, throwing it off of the bed and across the room in a playful manner.

"Dad!"

"You're not leaving me alone with that crazy ol'lady! Now, get yer'ass outta bed before I have to drag you down to go and see her myself." the father figure sneered, totally getting up into Gray's grill.

His father's little fury made the boy chuckle and rise from his bed, walking towards the door to exit his bedroom almost willingly; especially from the words that had come from Silver's mouth "I'm only going downstairs to tell her you called her an old lady!" before Silver could protest, Gray was already booking it down the steps.

"Gray Sprinkle Fullbuster don't you dare or I'm taking your phone away!"

"My middle name isn't Sprinkle!"

As soon as Gray got downstairs, Porlyusica's attention left her grand-daughter - the two were just talking, awaiting the third Fullbuster to make an entrance - and went straight to Gray.

Her eyes shrunk into a deep glare of misfortune, while Wendy's turned into one's of pure love.

"Onii-San!" Wendy squealed, pointing to their grandma as if the boy had no idea who she was "it's Grandine! It's Grandine!"

"For the last time stop calling me that! It's not my real name!" Wendy just chuckled, knowing full well it made her grandma full out mad at the name. Once again lifting her focus from Wendy to Gray, Porlyusica groaned out "hello there, brat."

"Yo." Gray said back, simply. He was all playful a moment before, but now he was already bored. He had only been down there for a minute, maybe less, now and he was already wishing he'd of stayed in his room.

Yes, Gray Fullbuster actually preferred homework over his own Grandma.

About at the time, Silver had made it down the stairs himself, slinging his arm over his son's broad shoulders as he caught his breath. For a guy not too old, a little hit of walking up and down the stairs was miserable.

With a toothy grin and secret plead in his voice directed at Gray, "Told ya I'd get him outta his room, Porly!"

With a subtle glare and uninterest in her wicked gleam, the grandmother just stared at her son-in-law "That's not my name either, you idiot."

Wendy gasped as soon as the 'I' word in their home was spoken. Her eyes were stricken with terror as she looked at her father as if someone had just scared her half to death.

"Hey. Idiot's a strong word. Don't use it around Wendy." Silver warned, not wanting his little baby to catch the slang of her close relatives. And obviously, it made Wendy panicked.

Porlyusica, for the billionth time in her life - it seemed - rolled her eyes into a glare and folded her arms as if about to put the smackdown.

Silence found the room as the old lady spent her time staring at her son-in-law dead on, her eyebrow narrowed and lips pressed thinly into a frown. She looked as if analyzing her late daughters' husband for the first time in life.

Gray and Wendy could feel the thick tension between the two as the silence drew out, looking from one individual, to the other, and then to one another with worry.

"I know that." her know-it-all personality would be the death to every inch of mankind. Especially if her statement every time was super cocky, another word that shan't be added to Wendy's knowledge "I simply understand, as well, that Wendy shouldn't attach to crude names she hears-- however, I don't really see the point of keeping the word 'idiot' out of her vocabulary if she lives with two of them."

As if dropping a bomb, Gray and Silver's jaw dropped in shock as soon as the words left Porlyusica's mouth. That comeback was so damn good that Gray was going to keep it in mind if he ever needed it for Natsu.

Wendy started cracking up, holding on to her stomach as laughter shot out of her mouth like puke coming out of nowhere. For a girl who wasn't supposed to hear the word 'idiot' ever, she sure knew what it meant.

"Gramma just called Onii-San and Daddy idiots!!" she laughed some more, especially with her father giving her the deer in headlights look at the word coming from her mouth.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she continued "that one was good, Gramma!" the poor girls' face was bloodshot red, growing redder by the minute as her stomach started to ache from all of the laughter.

"Alright, I gotta'dmit that one was a good one. Now I know why Skylar was so hilarious, too," Silver smiled softly, remembering all of the times his late second wife made him laugh.

"Oh, she got all of her funniness from me, if you haven't noticed," Porlyusica drowned out, giving a sly look to Silver "She even said it herself that she was funnier than you!"

Silver looked attacked, "what!? She told me every day about how hilarious I was--well, am...!"

Porlyusica just chuckled, placing a hand over her mouth "there's another thing that I taught her how to do--how to lie!"

The Father of the home dropped his mouth open, feeling immediately betrayed by his wife whom was in heaven. But regardless, he loved Skylar through infinity and beyond.

Same with Mika.

"C-Can w-we not t-talk about M-m-mom?" Wendy asked, her voice shallow and broken, speaking just how much she missed her mama.

"Oh, sweetie, of course!" Silver cleared his throat, remembering if any subject of Skylar came up around Wendy, she would cry herself to sleep later.

Porlyusica and Gray also knew this hurt the little girl, and if she were to ever start crying, their soft side would show.

I know, right? Porlyusica having a soft side? No way!

But believe it or not, she did have one... She just decided not to show it, like, ever.

The only times the soft side would come out was if Wendy started to cry, or a family member had passed away. Nothing else would trigger her heart to become so squishy.

"So, um, Porlyusica! What're you doing here?" Silver asked, changing the subject so he wouldn't have to see his baby girl cry.

It took a minute for the old lady to register why she had come to the Fullbuster home - she had forgotten, after all, - but as soon as her eyes laid on Gray who was leaning up against the wall, she perked up and remembered.

"Well, I figured you and Wendy could go out and get some ice cream," at the same time she mentioned the heavenly dessert, Wendy straightened up and looked at her grandma with wide eyes, a sudden smile bursting on her lips...

"Icecream?" her voice cracked, observing as Porlyusica pulled a 20 dollar bill from her pocket.

With a head nod, Porlyusica extended her arm out to Silver, handing the money to the Dad for him to take.

"Sweet! Wendy needs it," Silver went over to his little princess and picked her up, holding her in his arms as he continued staring at his mother-in-law "but what about Gray? And you?"

"Bring Gray back something, maybe. I was hoping to chat with Gray. Alone."

Gray's ears must be deceiving him.

The old hag wanted to talk? With him? Why? Did he do something wrong? Was he in trouble?

The only times Porlyusica would specifically chat with Gray alone was when he was in trouble and needed to be punished by her hands only, or when she needed him for something in school.

Gray spoke no words, being at a complete loss that his Grandma wanted to talk with him.

Even Silver knew nothing would end well, so he did the talking and questioning for Gray. "Oh? Why?"

Porlyusica shot a glare at her son-in-law "that is none of your business! Just go on out and spend time with your daughter! Please!"

Silver just deadpanned, right away following her commands. "Y-Yes ma'am! How long do you want us to be?"

"An hour?" the old woman suggested, which sounded like a painfully long time to be with a person you hated, in Gray's opinion "that'd be preferable."

"Alrighty," Silver grabbed his keys with a giggly Wendy in his arms, starting to head out of the house.

But before he left out of the front door, Silver walked passed Gray and whispered simple words of encouragement to his son

"Good luck." and then the father, and daughter, were off.

That was it--this is where Gray died.

Nothing would go well with the two of them alone, that's for sure.

If Gray even were to breathe once with the old hag in his presence, she would be at his throat, slicing into it to find what she wanted.

Sighing, the old woman walked over to the tiny dining table, pulling out a chair and sitting in it. She had faced it toward the sliding glass door so she could observe the beauty of the outdoors.

Porlyusica sat for a while, seeming very calm and collective, while just behind her was a fumbling mess of a boy worried for his life.

Seriously, what did she want? If her plan was to murder Gray, she should've already begun! Gray needed his misery to end ASAP.

After all, being dead was way better than getting yelled at by the scariest witch of them all for something you didn't even know you did.

Gray wanted to - needed to - run out of there. The fangs of the wicked monster sitting and waiting for the perfect time to attack was going to end up in Gray sooner or later, which would kill him instantly.

"I'm not going to bite you, Gray." Porlyusica spoke, shaking Gray from his thoughts as if she could read them running through just that "come sit down and chat."

And finally, now was the perfect time to ask what had been lingering on his mind "why?"

With wide eyes, Porlyusica burned her vision through Gray, it seemed "what is up with you and your father asking questions today? Just sit down and ask no further nonsense."

With reluctance, Gray pulled up a chair next to Porlyusica and joined her in looking outside.

He didn't see what was so interesting, but something was interesting enough to stare at for 5 minutes.

The more time that passed by, the more Gray wanted to run out of there, save himself from the yelling his Grandma was going to end up doing.

'This is so boring' Gray thought to himself, wanting to rip the hair out of his head with how much was running through his mind.

The wait was legitimately killing him, and he had almost wished that he had stayed up in his room.

"I'm just going to go--" Gray stood up from his seat, ready to ditch the place, but as soon as he stood, his Grandma glared at him.

"Sit. Down."

Needless to say, he sat down. Immediately.

Seriously, was she just trying to torture him? Because she knew he hated it? If that was her goal, she already had surpassed it a long time ago!!

And as if suddenly, as if years of silence, the woman finally spoke, but her words...oh her words confused Gray.

"About Juvia..." the grandma started off, continuing to look outside at the green of the grass.

What? What about Juvia?!

Gray just stared at Porlyusica, waiting for her to continue the sentence.

She drew a long pause, however, making Gray all the more anxious to know what she was about to ask.

Is Juvia a nice girl? Is Juvia liking school? Does she like my class? Does she like you? Is she your girlfriend...? The possibilities were endless.

"Is life at home for her...alright?" the question caught Gray off guard, and if he were to be honest, he was suspecting anything but that question to come out of the woman's mouth.

"What?" he asked like some stupid person, making Porlyusica turn to look at him with eyes he had never seen her have before.

They were soft, almost serious like, but not her kind of serious. It was a sad serious, genuine seriousness that Gray had never observed from the old lady.

Porlyusica softly frowned, "I mean, you two are friends. Well, were, apparently..." she looked at Gray, waiting for the answer.

"Life at home for Juvia is..." Gray couldn't just necessarily let the cat out of the bag that Juvia's father abused her. No...that'd cause Juvia to hate Gray all the more than she already had.

She did, in fact, plead with the guy and his other friends not to tell a single adult soul.

The only option left was to lie, but if Porlyusica further questioned it he didn't know what he'd do. "...it's fine. Why are you asking?"

"Fine?" Porlyusica repeated, looking her grandson dead in the eyes "Well, for starters, the other day when she was puking her guts out... I had to take off her pullover because the fever plus that hot thing was no good... But when I took it off, I noticed various amounts of bruises, nasty bruises that looked like they weren't self-inflicted. I was just wondering because...she looks to be neglected, or abused at home."

She was dead on. Completely spot on with her guess that she possibly thought wasn't true.

It'd pain Gray to keep on lying, but for the sake of Juvia, he really had no choice.

"O-oh? Really? That's strange... I have no clue what that could mean, um..." how perfect. Gray was great at lying.

The guy mentally slapped himself for sounding so fake... It basically spoke in his voice that he was false, and knew everything about Juvia's sad life at home.

And if only Porlyusica wasn't staring at him intently, as if trying to read him over and over again, scanning for any sweat drop that could signal his obvious lie, because that made Gray all the more panicked.

"Mhm..." the old woman trailed off, continuing to stare at Gray as if suspecting something "alright, then... Does she enjoy giving hickies to herself?"

Gray's face bloomed with red, red like Erza's hair, at the mention of the intimate subject. "W-What?!" his voice cracked, shaking with awkwardness.

"Or does she have a lover..." what was the crazy old hag implying, here!?! Was she crazy?! "is it you?"

Okay, okay okay, okay... Gray...breath...breath...

The poor guy was nearly suffocating. Was Porlyusica trying to make it as awkward as possible?

Porlyusica just smiled wickedly, folding her arms "It's okay, Gray. I was your age, too, once..."

"OKAY! No, that's it! No, no, no, no, no! Away from the subject!!!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to be genuine here and give some advice! Just stop doing it so much because it is obviously hurting her!"

Gray turned white as if he had just seen a ghost in the span of 2 seconds. The old woman definitely needed to go to the mental hospital, because damn, she was crazy to even suggest that idea! "We're not even dating! Why would you even as to think that!?"

"There is such a thing as being friends with benefits, Gray." Gray blushed furiously, "and, it seems like you two have found yourself in that hole."

The poor guy... His pride in being a guy was being washed down the drain just with a simple suggestion "The bruises you saw...isn't what you think! And, what? They're probably big, and m-my mouth isn't that huge!" he wanted to die, just for saying that last sentence.

Porlyusica wasn't even fazed by her grandson's embarrassment. The old lady just smirked, "well it is big with all the talking you do."

Another jab into Gray, "Shuddup!!"

"It appears to me, Gray, that you like hiding your secrets. Does your father know about your...naughty manners towards a sweet and innocent gal like Juvia?"

Gray had enough.

He was not a thing with Juvia. They were just friends for goodness sakes!!! To even think his own grandma would even consider him being sexually active was what he expected the grey area to be like.

He couldn't let Porlyusica go away thinking her own grandson gave a thing like hickies to a girl like Juvia. If he did let her go on thinking the two were a thing, he wouldn't head the end of it. Even worse, she would tell Silver, and that was a thing Gray needed to not happen.

There was only one choice.

"Okay, fine!! Her home is not the best, especially with her father abusing her 24/7!" Gray finally cracked, wanting to steer away from the painful topic of sexual intimacy.

Although nothing she said was true, Gray just couldn't get it out of his head that if it were the case...

Porlyusica smiled mischievously, immediately pulling out her phone "I thought so..."

"What?"

"I knew all along that she was abused. Those bruises were darker and more painful looking than hickies are." Porlyusica just smirked, "Plus, what girl would even allow a guy like you to do those things to her?"

Gray deadpanned. All of that just to get it out of him? Why would she even want to suggest that if her only plan was to roast him?

Something caught Gray's mind off guard, something that came from where Porlyusica sat, which pulled him away from his thoughts.

The old woman was pulling out her phone...

"Wait, what are you doing with your phone?" the red in Gray's cheeks were slowly dying down, as he stared at his Grandma in question.

However, she was too busy typing in her password and going into her dial pad, typing in the numbers '911' to answer his question.

"Woah, hey! Don't do that!" he took the phone away from Porlyusica, who only turned her body and gave Gray a glare.

"The girl needs help, Gray. She's obviously hurting!"

"Okay, but Juvia doesn't want the cops involved. She asked me specifically not to tell any adult, but here we are!" he turned off his Grandma's phone and stuffed it in his pocket, much to her dismay. "If I were to allow you to call the police, do you know what she'd do? She wouldn't talk to me for years, maybe even the rest of my life."

They stayed silent for a while, letting the cool air blow passed them easily and effortlessly.

Gray just sighed, taking a step back and looking away from the outside world "...and I don't want that."

"Why doesn't she want the police involved?"

"Hell if I know!" Gray groaned, "I'm on your side, Porlyusica, trust me. I agree that the authorities need to be involved and that she needs to get out of that retched home of hers. But...she somehow still has love for her satan of a father even though he hurts her day in and day out." Gray smiled softly, even though they were in the midst of talking about something depressing "I would've been long gone from that home if I was her... However, Juvia is just too...-"

"Nice?" Porlyusica finished his sentence for him, smiling herself.

Gray nodded, "yes..."

Porlyusica stood up from the chair she was sitting in, softly placing it back "I won't tell anyone."

Gray sighed in relief, "thanks."

"-If and only if you promise me you'll make sure she doesn't get more hurt as she is." Gray nodded in agreement, realizing even the meanest of people still could be nice. "So help me if you break that promise, though, Gray. I'll notify the police immediately."

Gray nodded, "I understand."

"Good," Porlyusica made eye contact with her grandson, her eyes growing softer by the minute.

Who was this old lady in front of Gray? She sure wasn't the grandma he knew "Even though you two may be in a fight right now, still try to protect her, because I can tell that you have made room for her in that ice heart of yours."

Ice heart? What could she mean?

He had to agree, though. For a Fiorean, he sure did care for Juvia as much as he would with his Magnolia High friends.

How funny. Even though he swore to never befriend a Fiore Highschool student, he somehow had broken that promise.

And hopefully, he wouldn't break any more promises, especially the current ones... Like making sure Dave Lockser never laid a hand on Juvia ever again.

Just then, they heard a rustle of keys, and soon after saw a fumbling mess of a Fullbuster man walk through the door.

"Hey! Glad to see the house didn't burn down or turn into a wreck!" the father said cheekily, smiling one of his signature ones.

"Gray!!!!" Wendy screamed as she ran into the house towards her brother, pink all over her face and a cup of ice cream in each hand "We got you vanilla! Your favorite! With yummy gummy bears and sprinkles on top!!"

As for Wendy, Gray could tell she had gotten bubblegum ice cream, especially with all the pink stuff surrounding her mouth.

Gray smiled at his little sister, bending down so the two were at eye level "thanks... I don't suppose you got sprinkles just because of my 'middle name', correct?"

Wendy just smiled, taking another bite of her ice cream with a satisfied smile spread across her face "maybe... That's a secret I'll never tell!!" she winked at her older brother, but squealed as soon as his hands started tickling her sides "STOP! I'm gonna drop my ice cream!" she said through laughter, only making Gray tickle her faster.

As the two siblings played, Porlyusica started making her way towards the door, which she would have to pass Silver in order to do so.

When she passed by, Silver turned around, following her to the door "so... What did you two talk about?"

"Nothing..." the woman placed a hand over the door handle, twisting it as she turned around to face her son-in-law "something between us two, about girls..."

Silver stared at the woman with envy, growing angry all of a sudden "so he talks with you, the grandma he fears, about girls but can't talk to his own father about it...?"

Porlyusica just smiled wickedly, "I told you I'm the favorite," as soon as she saw hurt rush over his face, the old woman laughed "Now, go teach your kids a lesson about not asking so many questions, will ya!?"

Underneath his breath, Silver whispered to himself "Don't tell me what to do, old hag..."

"What was that?" the old woman asked aggressively, making Silver feel an ounce of her aura growing darker.

He straightened up, suddenly, placing his hand above his eyebrow in an army salute "Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"Unbelievable..." Porlyusica just shook her head as she opened the door, taking a step out of it before looking back at Gray, watching as he took the cup of ice cream out of his sister's hand and smiled down at her sweetly.

Porlyusica smiled to herself. How funny it was to love your step-grandson even though he is nothing but a problem in your life.

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Hey! Sorry this took so long to get out 😅

My friend is leaving to Ohio in a while and I planned a going away party for her and totally spaced this chapter!

However, with me being sick I was able to finish it up!

Hope you enjoyed :)

And just a little warning... The chapters are about to get a little bit cruel/sad. Be prepared to control anger!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week! ❤️