Trigger warning: mentions of rape

#

After driving around for a while, looking for his girlfriend, Gray gave up just going to random places hoping to find her there. Instead, Gray drove to her building and waited until he caught someone else leaving before he snuck in.

With a sigh, after knocking on her door for good measure – he was sure she wasn't home – Gray sat on the floor, back resting against her door and phone in hand just in case she called and he waited.

She had to come home sometime and he needed to make sure she was alright after that strange meeting that afternoon.

A noise caught his attention from the stairs and for a second, he thought it was Juvia, but his shoulders dropped when he saw it was an older woman, all her hair was white and she looked frail. She was holding some bags with groceries but looked at him in suspicion when she noticed him just sitting there. He must've been a vision, hair messy because of the number of times he passed his fingers through it in frustration and he was clearly upset.

Seeing she was struggling with her groceries, Gray got up and the woman held on to her purse, still looking at him suspiciously.

"Do you need any help?" He asked, stopping a few steps away from her so she felt safer. "My name is Gray, I'm Juvia's boyfriend." Gray pointed towards the door of the apartment. "I'm waiting for her."

The woman relaxed slightly. "Oh, I've seen you two together. I know Juvia-chan, she's a sweet girl." Taking it as his cue, Gray took the groceries from her quietly. "Thank you." Gray shrugged and watched as she opened the door, her hands shaking lightly as she reached for her keys and slowly opened the door. "Could you...?" She pointed towards the counter and Gray put the bags there. "Thank you very much."

"You are welcome." He bowed his head slightly and offered the older woman a small smile before making his way out. Once he was outside the apartment, he checked his phone and sighed when there were no new messages.

With a humph, he sat back in front of her door, closing his eyes and resting his head on the door. He wanted to see her. She never outright ignored him before, she had always been the one wanting to talk, to share and now that he needed her to appear, she was nowhere to be found.

"Did you two have a fight?" The voice startled Gray, who opened his eyes and saw the older woman on her doorway, arms crossed over her chest. "Is that why you are waiting?"

"No." He answered. "I'm worried because something happened and she ran away before I could help her. I just want to make sure she is fine."

The woman hummed in agreement. "I see. It's about time someone took care of that girl." She nodded. "She forgets that she also needs to be taken care of."

Gray snorted. "That she does. Hopefully she'll let me."

"She will." The woman chuckled. "If you need anything, just knock."

"Thank you..." He didn't know what to call her.

"Martha." She supplied.

"Thank you, Martha." Before he could say anything else, they heard footsteps stopping and both looked at its direction.

It was Juvia and she was clearly surprised to see him there. "Gray-sama?"

He was on his feet a second later, walking her way, feeling so relieved to see her he could wrap his arms around her for hours. "Oh, thank god!" He whispered and did as he wanted, pulled her into a hug. "Dammit, Juvia. You can't disappear like that." For a second, he thought she was going to push him away but then he felt her arms around his torso. "Don't do that again." By the corner of his eyes, he saw Martha smile and quietly get inside her apartment, closing the door to give them privacy.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, hiding her face on his chest. "I got overwhelmed."

"It's alright." He told her and kissed the top of her head. "Are you alright now?" Seeing her hesitate to answer, Gray cleared his throat. "Do you need some time? I can go, if you want me to."

Juvia shook her head. "No. Juvia doesn't want to be alone and... she wants to explain."

He frowned. "Okay." She grabbed his shirt as if afraid he was going to leave if she didn't hold on very tightly. "Let's go inside."

"Yes." Juvia agreed.

#

Gray watched as his girlfriend walked in circles, clearly nervous and agitated, while Gray sat on the couch, trying to be patient and waiting until she was ready to speak. Seeing the situation she was in, Gray was almost afraid about what he was going to hear.

With a loud sigh, Juvia finally stopped moving around and sat by Gray's side. Gray turned her way and waited as she moved her hands over her lap.

"You know Juvia has had an ex-boyfriend and that we didn't end in good terms." Juvia said and Gray nodded. "Alright." She cleared her throat to calm herself. "His name is Bora, we met at a party during my second semester, his third and I couldn't believe he started to hit on me. He was... the golden boy." Juvia sighed. "Handsome, smart, wonderful grades, member of the polo team, very easygoing, articulate and somehow he wanted me, the lonely scholarship orphan." Gray frowned at that.

"We were together for almost seven months and he treated me well, he did seem like a nice guy. He wasn't." Juvia's eyes watered and Gray's gut twisted inside his stomach, preparing himself. "There had been a man terrorizing women on the campus, drugging them, taking them to a seclude location and... raping them. The next morning, they remembered nothing. The girls were always the same type, lonely, with little or no friends." She gulped. "Sadly, this is more common than we think it is, but everyone knew it was the same man because he took one earring from every girl he attacked, leaving the other.

"There were so many, every girl in campus was on alert. Seventeen cases we knew of, not to mention the ones we didn't know." Juvia took a deep breath. "I had spent the night at his apartment and he had left early for a test and I was about to leave when I tripped on a loose board on the floor." Juvia closed her eyes. "Juvia was about to call him, to tell him he needed to have it fixed when I saw a plastic bag there. I got curious." Juvia opened her eyes and stared at Gray. "Inside, there were twenty-two earrings, not one with a pair."

Gray's eyes widened and he felt sick. "Fuck. He-"

"Yes." Juvia nodded, a few tears falling. "I didn't want to believe at first, but the evidence... I grabbed the bag and left the apartment. Thank god I had the mind to hide it, because a few hours later, he came to my apartment, shaking in anger, demanding for it. He had arrived home and saw the floor board loose, the earrings missing. He knew it had been me."

"What did you do?"

"Confronted him." Juvia shook her head. "I thought... I thought he was going to deny it at least. But not even that. He told me there was no harm done since they didn't remember what happened. He couldn't even see..." She tried to dry her tears. "He kept demanding the bag, but I couldn't give them to him. I owed those women to hold on to it until justice could be served. I didn't care he was my boyfriend, he was a criminal. He punched me." Gray felt anger boil inside his veins. "He had never been violent before, but he did and told me no one would believe me if I told and he'd ruin my life."

"Son of a bitch."

"I waited for the next day, afraid he was going to follow me and went to the police station." Juvia looked away. "They were expecting me."

"What?"

"Bora is the son of a Police Captain." Juvia cleared. "He must've warned his father. I didn't... I didn't even think about that. A couple of officers took me to an interview room... It was horrible."

"Did they threaten you?"

She nodded. "Me and... Gajeel-kun." She passed a hand through her hair. "Gajeel-kun was never arrested, he was behaving but he has some issues and if provoked, he could... Bora knew. They asked me for the bag, over and over again."

"You didn't give them." Gray guessed.

"No." She shook her head. "Going to the police, I only took one earring with me, the rest was safe. It was the only guarantee I had. They gave up after a while. Juvia is not proud to say she left the precinct in tears." The blunette looked down in shame.

Gray reached for one of her hands and slid closer to her, putting an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "You had just found out the guy you were dating was a serial rapist, you got assaulted by him and the people who were supposed to help you, terrorized you. I'm impressed you held it together as well as you did, by what you told me." Juvia sniffled. "What happened, then?"

Juvia sighed, bracing herself. "He appeared at my apartment later." Gray's body tensed. "I didn't let him in, the phone was in my hand ready to call the emergency and the chain stayed on." He relaxed just a little bit. "He told me to not tell anyone, or he'd make my life hell and that no one would believe me, not an orphan with no support, with no one. I was so mad at him." Juvia whispered, getting closer to Gray as if to make sure he wasn't going to leave. "I told him everyone would know." She hid her face on his shoulder. "He made good on his promise."

"What did he do?"

"The next day, when Juvia got to the university and went to see the Dean... everyone seemed to look at her." She whispered and Gray frowned. "Then Juvia heard someone say 'she's the one who went crazy over the break-up'."

"What?" His frown deepened.

"Juvia didn't pay too much attention to it at first until she spoke with the Dean." Juvia stopped for a second. "She let me tell the whole story before she told me it was against the policy of the University to falsely accuse someone of a crime, especially when the police had already turned me down. She told me I should get over my break-up without damaging a good man's future." She gulped. "Bora had told everyone he broke-up with me and I went crazy over it."

"Shit."

"He told everyone I refused to let him go and that I said I'd destroy his life, when in reality he was destroying mine. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy, as if I'd snap at any time and just kill him or whatever." Juvia told him. "I even reached out to some influential women and when I told them who I thought had done the rapes, do you know what they said?" He shook his head. "That it couldn't be him, Bora didn't need to rape anyone with how he looked, with who he was. Any woman wanted to sleep with him. Some of the women he raped believed in me, others, not so much,"

"What the fuck?"

Juvia moved her head so she could look up. "They didn't get the difference between what happened and what it should've happened. I tried a few more times, but everyone started to call me a stalker, that I was obsessed with him." Juvia gulped. "He'd appear in front of my apartment at night, as if just checking or just to terrorize me, stayed a few minutes and then left. I couldn't sleep, I was getting paranoid he was going to get inside my apartment and do the same thing he did to those girls. People whispered as I walked around, saying 'stalker' or 'crazy'. Juvia was falling apart, not sleeping, eating whenever I remembered, my grades weren't the same and it was close to the finals, it was the first time Juvia was so down at the ranks since she was thirteen.

"No one believed me, I was being pushed away from everything, I was getting sick because of it." She dried a stray tear. "This went on for a few months before I couldn't take it anymore. That's when Juvia decided to change schools, to come here and start over. That's why Juvia doesn't have many friends on her Facebook page, and all I do have are from here, that's why Juvia didn't let Jay-kun know we are dating. Bora... he could come back here and do something to me, Gajeel-kun, you, I don't know. Juvia was just afraid.

"I've been monitoring the news around where he lives and unless he changes his M.O., he hasn't..." Juvia hesitated. "It's nothing, it doesn't change much but I keep an eye on him the best I can. The moment I hear something happened I'm going to drive over there and make a fuss." She looked down, defeated. "I just need for someone to believe me, for his father to not be as influential."

"Fuck, Juvia." Gray shook his head. "I never thought... You are such a strong person, I didn't think..."

"No one does." She told him. "Besides Gajeel-kun, you are the only one who knows about this." Gray nodded and for one awful moment, he thought about her. Was she...? Did it happen to her? By the way she talked it didn't seem that way, but- "I know what you want to ask." She interrupted his thoughts. "It's the question everyone wants to ask and never do." Gray looked down in shame. "Juvia told Gajeel-kun she was certain nothing happened to her, otherwise he would've killed Bora. But the real answer is that I don't know."

Gray blinked in surprise. "You don't?"

The blunette shook her head. "I was his girlfriend, I spent nights there, we had sex." She said. "He could've drugged me while I stayed at his place after we had sex and in the morning I wouldn't know; anything I felt could've been for regular intercourse." Gray nodded. "No earrings were ever missing from me, so maybe... he didn't get the thrill from his girlfriend? I don't know how his sick mind worked, but the truth is that Juvia has no idea if he violated her."

"I'm sorry." Gray squeezed her hand tighter. "God, I wish I could put my hands on him!"

"Get in line. Gajeel-kun taught me how to defend myself." Juvia raised her chin. "To never get assaulted like that again."

"That's why you acted so fast when that guy touched your ass at the diner." Gray recalled. "You punched him."

"Never again." She repeated.

Seeing her tale was finished for now, Gray noticed how tired Juvia looked. She had probably wandered the whole afternoon, going through what happened inside her head over and over, thinking about what she could've done differently, torturing herself because she wasn't superwoman.

"You look about to drop." Gray told her gently. "Eat something, take a shower and go to sleep." Thankfully it was her day off.

"Can't eat, my stomach is turning." The blunette shook her head and Gray reserved that information for later, alongside the fact she had told him she got sick during the time she was back at her old school. "Sleep sounds wonderful, though, even if it's early."

"You need the rest." He didn't know what to do; should he offer to stay? Should he leave? Did she need him around or not with everything she went through? "Juvia?" She looked his way. "Do you want me to stay? I can either stay or go, it's your call."

She bit her lower lip. "Juvia doesn't want to be alone."

"Then you won't be." He told her gently. "Go take a shower, I'll take one after you."

#

From: Natsu

21:11: Did you find her?

To: Natsu

21:12: Yeah. She's fine now.

From: Natsu

21:12: Are you sure? She looked very freaked out.

To: Natsu

21:13: She was, but I'm staying with her tonight.

From: Natsu

21:14: Anything I can do to help from my end?

To: Natsu

21:15: If you ever meet a scumbag named Bora, who is her ex, make sure to punch a few times until I get there to finish the job.

21:15: Trust me, he deserves.

From: Natsu

21:16: I bet he does. Don't worry, punch first, questions later. Or no questions at all, if you tell me the guy deserves, I believe you.

21:16: Go take care of your girl. Good night, ice brain.

To: Natsu

21:17: Yeah, night fire breath.

Gray looked towards the bathroom where Juvia was combing her wet hair. She had exited the shower with a towel around her frame and while Gray took his own shower, changed into some comfortable pajamas – large and didn't do anything to tease him in any way, with the big sleeves, dark grey color with pink hearts all over – and once he was done, she got inside to comb her hair and he checked his texts while she did so.

He lied down on what he considered to be his side of the bed and he waited for her to come to bed.

Juvia turned off the bathroom light and was quick to jump on the bed and get under the covers with him, her whole body wrapping itself around his and he let her find the best position. He knew she had found it when she sighed in contentment.

Gray started to slowly stroke her hair, as if to put her to sleep faster. His hand stilled when he heard her whispered: "Thank you."

"What for?" Gray whispered back.

"For believing me." She said. "You never questioned my story."

"That's because I've known you for just a few months and even so I can see you were honest." He told her, quietly. "Anyone paying attention would know."

"Thank you even so." She kissed his cheek. "Most people don't believe me."

"I am not most people." He felt a little better when he saw the corners of her mouth turn upward just a little bit. "Now go to sleep, tomorrow I have to talk to you about how my parents are asking more and more about you, since Lyon spilled the beans that he met you."

That time she actually chuckled. "Juvia should meet them soon."

"Yeah." Gray agreed. He grabbed her hand and gave her a light squeeze. "Now, sleep. You are not alone, I'm here with you."