"Those freezing hands aren't your fault

They carry scars from long before
Afraid to love someone,
You turn your back on the other side of the words...

Like ice, the embraced heart slowly starts to thaw

For anyone to be loved by someone,
Makes life in this world shine
If it was me, I'd make your heart warm once more
With eternal tenderness"

#

The first time he saw her, she was leaving the ice rink as his team was going in to train. Her azure hair was what caught his attention, because the moment she stepped out, she let it loose from the tight bun and a mess of curls fell and almost reached the middle of her back.

He lost sight of her when the rest of his team passed by him, all very excited and yelling, as usual. The thought of the mystery girl slipped from his mind and he didn't give a second thought.

That was until a couple of months later, one of his friends' girlfriend, Lucy Heartfilia, appeared with a girl who worn the most unusual clothes he's ever seen someone go to a party with – a dark blue dress with fur by the collar and end of the sleeves and some weird hat, hair curled at the end in an unusual hairstyle – and introduced her as Juvia Lockser.

Everyone said their 'hellos' and 'nice to meet yous', but for mostly of the conversation, the new girl stayed quiet, seated at a couch, looking around as if she wanted to get out and he couldn't actually blame her; she did look quite lost at the party, the only person she knew was Lucy and the blonde was a social butterfly. Taking pity on her plus the fact that he wasn't really in a partying mood, Gray sat next to her and she looked surprised to see him. "Sorry, I'm just not in the mood to party. I was actually studying when the idiots I call friends barged into my apartment and dragged me here."

"Oh." She said, in a small voice. "Juvia will just... sit quietly here, then."

"Nah..." He shrugged. "I just don't want to speak to them. You look in need of company, though."

"Juvia looks that pathetic, huh?" She groaned.

He smiled and took a sip of his beer. "Just a bit out of place. Where exactly did Lucy find you?"

"Trying a dress for my next performance." She sighed "The next thing I know, she is giving me advices to what I should wear, then grabbed me to have lunch, called a few times to meet up and tonight..."

"That's Lucy, alright." He chuckled. "What exactly are you performing?"

"Juvia is a Figure Skater." She told him. "The next performance is in three weeks and Juvia needed a new dress."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "I play Hockey."

She narrowed her eyes and gasped. "That's where Juvia knows you from!"

"You've seen me in the games?" He asked, rather smugly – he was, after all, one of the best players that season.

"Oh, no. Juvia has seen your team kick the Figure Skaters out when it is time for your practice and we are still there. They are not the... kindest when we are training when they arrive."

He groaned. "Sorry. There are many idiots in my team." He stopped for a moment, noting her blue hair and the mention of the rink. "Oh, so it was you I saw the other day at the rink. The moment the guys appear you just vanished."

"They can be jerks with us." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter Magnolia University's Skater Team is one of the institutions that has the most trophies and medals in the country."

"You do?" He was surprised. "I didn't know that. I mean, I knew the University had a program, but I never saw it, or knew how many prizes it had."

"Hockey is much bigger to people here." She took a sip of her soda. "Your team is what this college is known for."

Gray looked sheepishly down. "I can't say it's not, but I'll talk to them to ask nicely or to wait for you guys to finish your training."

"Thank you." She offered him a shy smile. "Juvia is going to try to watch one of your games, but all that violence..."

"It's not violent." She raised an eyebrow. "Okay, sometimes it's pretty violent, but it's thrilling." He smiled. "While you are playing with your team, you are one. And when we win... it feels great."

"Juvia can see that you are very passionate about it." The blunette smiled.

"Yeah. My dad taught me when I was a kid and after my mother died, we... bonded over it." Her blue eyes soften at the mention of his mother. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She waved him off and, to alleviate the tension, she changed the subject. "What are you majoring in?"

"Architecture." Gray was glad for the deviance of his mother's death. "Got a scholarship to play hockey."

"That's nice."

"You?"

"Juvia wants to be a Marine Biologist." She smiled. "With the Skating, Juvia has a partial scholarship, otherwise would've been even harder to stay in college."

Gray hummed in agreement, college was very expensive. "A Marine Biologist, huh?"

"Juvia has always been fascinated with the sea." She explained. "Juvia transferred last semester from Phantom U. Her dream job is to work at Magnolia Aquarium. They have the best research lab in the country."

"I also didn't know that." He raised an eyebrow. "To me the Aquarium was just... you know, where they had the fish." She giggled and suddenly he felt stupid and his cheeks burned. "And now I just sounded like any other moron jock. I'm shutting up now."

"It's alright." Her smile was bright. "Most people don't know it, but just behind the exposition of the fish, there's a whole research lab: they have their own boats, equipment..." Gray nodded. "Don't feel too bad, Juvia still doesn't see the reason behind Hockey besides a bunch of grown men going after a disk." She winked at him. "There you go, now you are not the only one who sounded like a moron."

"Juvia!" They heard Lucy's voice and both looked at the direction of the sound: the blonde woman had her coat on and was waving her hand so Juvia could join her.

"A second!" The blunette answered and then got up from the couch. She turned into Gray's direction and smiled when he got up as well. "Thanks for keeping Juvia company."

"Thanks for giving me a break from my friends." He chuckled and accepted her hand when she offered it to him.

"It was very nice to meet you."

He shook her hand. "Likewise." The blunette let go of his hand and told him good-bye, turned around and take a few steps in Lucy's direction, before pausing it and return to stand in front of him.

"Sorry, we talked a long time but Juvia didn't get your name."

To tell the truth, Gray was a bit surprised: the Hockey team was very well known across the university and being the captain, even if people never saw him, they still knew his name. "Gray Fullbuster." He said, amused.

She blushed. "Right, sorry. I'm Juvia Lockser."

"I know." He smiled.

"So... good bye. Again." Her face was so red Gray could easily compare with a tomato when she turned around and actually left the party. When he sat back down on the couch, he was grinning.

#

The second time he saw her, he arrived early to his practice and there were four skaters on the rink and it was hard to miss the blur of blue spinning in the middle of it. Gray's eyebrows shot up, finding himself actually pretty impressed with the movement. As a skater, he knew that was not easy.

Gray sat by the bleachers and watched the training for a few minutes, noticing that the other three skaters completely ignored Juvia, even when she tried to talk to them and he frowned – that wasn't right; he had talked with her for just a little while, but he could see she was nice and she was clearly trying to fit in, the other girls were freezing her out.

He hated seeing good people being singled out.

Fifteen minutes after he arrived, the rest of his team started to make a ruckus at the entrance and Gray saw the girls give a resigned sigh and start to go away, but they were clearly not done and the hockey practice should only start in another ten minutes.

The guys went straight for the rink and when Gray noticed that, he got up and whistled, gaining the attention of his teammates and the skaters.

"Hey!" The guys jumped. "They have another ten minutes on the rink. Behave, you were not raised in barns." Gray said and the guys had the decency to look ashamed before they went to sit on the bleachers to wait.

Juvia seemed to recognize him, because she skated his way and he stepped closer to the rink, waiting for her to get to him.

"I told you I would talk to them." He shrugged.

She smiled. "Thank you. We need these last minutes to wrap it up."

"Well, we do need to show people we are not a bunch of animals who can't wait a few minutes." Gray said. "You did good with that... spinning... thing."

Juvia chuckled. "It was a layback spin with catch-foot." She told him. "It's pretty hard. Want to learn?"

Gray snorted. "I don't think I can be as graceful as you and I my teammates would sure laugh at me. I'll stick with making goals and you do the layback thing."

"Alright." She smiled. "When's your next game? Juvia wants to see if you are really as good as you seem to be. Juvia won't know what is happening, but she'll cheer when everyone else does."

"Good enough." Gray shrugged. "Next Thursday is our next game. Lucy is coming too with some of our friends, you should come with them, I have this feeling you don't go out much."

Juvia bit down her lower lip and she seemed to think about it. "Maybe Juvia can change her shift and come."

"Shift?"

"Juvia works at a diner." She explained. "Juvia will talk to Lucy-san and figure something out."

"Oh." He nodded. "Alright, then." Gray raised his chin and Juvia looked over her shoulders to see the other girls leaving the rink. "They are not too friendly towards you, are they?"

"Not really." Juvia sighed. "Being the new girl is not easy."

"New girl?" He asked at the same time his team invaded the rink. "Goddammit, they do seem as if they were raised in a barn."

"Well, the girls already left the rink." Juvia chuckled. "It's fine. At least they waited."

"Just tell me if they don't wait anymore and I'll deal with them." Gray sighed. "Sorry, I have to..." He pointed to the rink.

"Yes, of course. Juvia needs to come out." She skated towards the exit while Gray grabbed his duffel bag and walked the same direction. Juvia was seated, taking off her skates and he sat by her side, taking his own skates from his bag and putting them on. "So, you are the Captain?" He looked at her. "They wouldn't listen to just anyone." She explained.

Gray granted her that. "Yeah. I became Captain last semester, the last one graduated and then I was chosen."

"You must be a good player and good leader for them to respect you this much." She put on her sneakers back on, cheap ones, he noticed.

"You say that after just witnessing one interaction?"

She stood up and grabbed her skates. "They stopped without hesitance, they didn't even fight it. It means they respect you and that's good. Respect is better than fear." Gray blinked and she reached for her hair bun and let her hair loose. "Juvia will try to make it to the game."

"Alright. When we win, we'll go out to eat something. Lucy will most likely drag you with us."

"When you win, huh?" Gray just shrugged and Juvia giggled. "Juvia will want to go to this celebration. As you said, Juvia doesn't go out much. It might be fun." Juvia smiled at him. "Have a nice practice."

"Thanks. See you around."

She waved at him. "Bye." Gray watched as she walked away, going to where she probably had her own bag. There was something about her he couldn't put his finger on.

"Hey, Gray! Are we going to practice or you are going to stare at your new girlfriend's ass?"

Gray scowled because there was no way Juvia didn't hear that and it was highly disrespectful, especially when he was not staring at her ass. Much. Maybe a little. It was a nice derriere, actually.

"Well, Kyle, you speak that way again about a girl you don't know or any girl at all, I might have to whoop yours. Stop being a jackass and focus on your defense, which was awful last game." Gray grabbed his helmet and looked at his team just in time to see his teammates tease Kyle. "Now, are we going to practice or do you guys need a pep talk?"

#

The third time they met, Gray was studying at the library and his eyelids were getting heavier by the second. He was almost falling asleep when he heard a chair being pulled over and he was surprised to see Juvia sitting next to him, a smile on her lips.

"Boring subject?"

Gray yawned. "You have no idea. Test's tomorrow and I know nothing." He opened one eye and looked at her. "Never saw you here before."

"Juvia is not very noticeable." She smiled and Gray had to agree that with that dark blue coat and long skirt, she wouldn't get much attention – but Gray, had seen her just a few days ago while training and she was wearing tights and a much more flattering coat then, knew she had a pretty lovely figure – and he just groaned, hiding his face on his hands. "Wanna some help studying?"

He removed his hands and frowned at her. "You know something about architecture?"

"Well, Juvia knows enough to tell you that this right here makes me remember of Agrabah, from Aladdin." She pointed at a picture.

Gray looked down to his book and saw what she was pointing to. "That's the Taj Mahal."

"My mistake." She shrugged. "This one is from Mulan, isn't it?"

He snorted. "Forbidden City in China."

The blunette smiled. "This one? Juvia is sure she's seen on Frozen."

"Hôtel De Glace, Canada." Gray told her. "Please, don't start singing Let It Go. Even I know the lyrics by now."

Juvia put a hand on his arm. "See? You know your architecture; you'll do well tomorrow."

"Yeah, because tomorrow's subject is going to be about real buildings that inspired Disney's movies." He rolled his eyes. "It would be the same thing if I opened your book" he pointed at the large dark green book she was holding "and starting to point it out Nemo, Dory, and Bruce."

"Oh, you are a Nemo kid, huh?"

"Please. Everyone is a Nemo kid." Gray scoffed.

"That is true." She smiled. "Well, if you had done that, Juvia would do just what you did: correct you." Gray raised his eyebrows. "You corrected me, it means you know what you are saying and tomorrow you'll do great."

"Hell, I did correct you, didn't I?" Gray asked and she just smiled. "Maybe I am not as stupid as I thought I was. I mean, I know about these structures, about their history... basically tomorrow's test."

"There you go." She patted his arm. "Maybe it's time for you to go home? You were almost falling asleep when Juvia arrived."

"I spent last night studying." He yawned and gathered his books, putting them in his backpack. "I'll just go home and sleep. I know what I know, god help me tomorrow." He zipped it up and looked at her. "Are you done here? I can walk with you. It's late."

She stood up and nodded. "All done, Juvia was on her way out when she saw you."

Gray waited for her to start walking to follow her. "The library is going to close soon. Do you always study this late?"

"Whenever Juvia has practice in the mornings and a night out at her job." She said as they left the building. "Today we practiced for a few hours longer than usual because the rink was not schedule for your team."

"We had our practice yesterday morning; earlier, actually, because your team didn't have it." Gray told her. "So, Lucy says that you are coming to the game."

"Yes. A colleague changed shifts with me. Juvia is nervous because... well, you'll probably get hurt." She made a cute distressed face. "I don't like when people get hurt."

He chuckled. "Yeah, don't freak out when you see players get thrown around."

Her nose wrinkled. "Not really a reason for me to go."

"It's part of the fun." Gray shrugged. "Don't worry: we are good, we are ready to fight back and we'll win."

"You are awfully confident."

"Realistic." He corrected her. "My team is the best one."

She seemed as if she was about to say something else, but stopped when she noticed there was a bus at the stop. "Sorry, Juvia really has to go, that's the last bus."

"If you want a ride, my car is just-" He started, but she interrupted him.

"Don't want to burden you – Juvia lives really far away; plus, you need to rest for tomorrow." The blunette gave a few steps back. "Good luck on your Disney test tomorrow and see you after the game. Good night." She turned around and ran towards the bus.

"Good night." Gray yelled and waited until she was safely inside the bus before walk towards his car. "'Disney test'." He laughed out loud. Well, she was something.

#

The fourth time he saw her, she was with his friends, waiting for him and his team to come out from the locker room. They had just beat the other team with a large advantage and everyone seemed to want to congratulate him at once. They were one step closer to winning the season.

After a few minutes and being stopped every few steps, he finally reached his friends and all of them made a big fuss out of it.

"Nice one, Ice Brain." Lucy's boyfriend, Natsu, said, his hand in a fist, to which Gray bumped with his own.

"Thanks, Fire Breath." Gray laughed when Lucy wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"That was great!"

"Yeah." He returned the hug and let her go. "And this time I made it out without bleeding once!"

"Atta boy!" The blonde laughed and stepped next to her boyfriend, who put an arm around her waist to bring her closer to him. A few friends more – Erza, Cana, Elfman and Lisanna – gave him pats on the back for his performance. Finally, Lucy pointed to a place a bit behind them. "Someone else came with us tonight."

Gray looked to where she was pointing at and saw Juvia, who, just like his friends, was wearing a dark blue and yellow jersey from the Fairies, Magnolia U's mascot. Her hair was in pigtails and underneath the too large jersey, he could see she worn tiny shorts (and he couldn't help but to notice how absolutely fantastic her legs were – he liked to think he wasn't a guy who had a preference when asked about a woman's body, but if he had to, it would be legs and goddammit hers were off the charts).

"Told you we would win." He told her when she stepped closer to him.

"That was so exciting!" She was almost buzzing, a grin on her lips and her eyes seemed to sparkle. "It was so brutal," she said in a darker tone before perking up again "but it was so very exciting! Every time you guys scored it was like my heart was about to burst out of my chest! Juvia can only imagine what it was like to play it!"

"Maybe I'll teach you one day." Gray laughed and noticed his friends gathering closer. "We are going out to eat, are you coming?"

"Of course she is coming." Lisanna exclaimed and put an arm around the blunette's shoulder. "I'll personally drag you if you say 'no'."

"She'll come with us." Cana said with a definite tone and watched as Lisanna pulled the blunette closer to their other friends. Cana, then, put an arm around Gray and told him in a low voice: "Okay, here's the thing: we like her. All of us. She's nice, she's sweet and she can be kickass; a perfect fit for our group." The brunette looked to him. "She likes you and we were talking and she might be exactly what you need. I mean, she is the opposite of that bitch Daphne, that's for sure."

Gray scowled at the mention of his ex. "Cana..."

"Look, Gray, Daphne broke up with you six months ago and ever since then, you haven't given any girl a second glance. I saw it when you talked to Juvia back at that party and it finally seemed as if someone removed a stick out of your ass. And just now, you smiled at her. You smiled at a girl who is not an old friend, so we'll take as a win."

"I just met her a few times, Cana." He tried to reason with his friend.

"And I am not telling you to marry her tomorrow." The brunette pointed out. "You might just win another friend by the end of this, we never know. What I am saying is: lower your defenses a bit and enjoy someone who has made you smile. Get to know her, someone new in your life might be a good thing."

"I hate you guys matchmaking." He mumbled.

"Yeah, well, you are friends with a bunch of girls and you really expect we won't meddle into your love life? Poor you." Cana rolled her eyes. "You are lucky Mirajane is not here."

"Just... stop it." Gray looked at the direction of where his other friends were alongside with the girl with blue hair. "I like her, she is nice, but I'll have her as a friend at most. I really don't think I can go any higher than that."

"We never know." Cana shrugged and started to straighten his shirt, then his hair. "Be nice, don't be creepy, don't be rude – I know your setting is to be rude to everyone –, remember to say 'please' and 'thank you', and..."

"Oh my god, stop it." Gray slapped her hand away when she tried to clean a spot on his face after she licked her thumb. "I know how to act, Cana, thank you."

"Look at you, all grown up." She pretended to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye and Gray rolled his. "Off you go."

"You are ridiculous."

#

Gray was outside of Frank's Burgers enjoying the evening air, needing a little space from his friends. His mother had called just a few minutes before to congratulate him and it was the perfect excuse to leave the ruckus inside.

"Oh, sorry." He heard a soft voice behind him. "Cana-san said this was the way to the bathroom."

He groaned at the mention of Cana's friend, knowing she was plotting. "It's fine, I was just taking a call from my mother, she was congratulating for the game."

She frowned in confusion. "Juvia thought your mother was..." The blunette let the phrase in the air and he was confused as well until he remembered their first conversation.

"Oh, no, no, no... She is." He said. "I was talking with my stepmother. My dad remarried a few years after my mom died. I just started calling her 'mom' after a while."

"That's nice. I'm glad you and your father found someone."

Gray snorted. "Someones, actually. Mom had two kids of her own. Suddenly, it went from just me and my dad, to another mom, a brother and a sister." He sighed. "We have a crazy relationship."

"Well, at least you have one." When he looked at her in question, she shrugged. "Juvia never met her parents."

"I'm... sorry to hear that." He told her with honesty, he remembered the pain when his mother died and to have never known a parent could be even worse.

"Juvia's used to it by now." They stayed in silence for a few moments before she turned to look at him. "So, how was your test?" He frowned. "Your Disney test, the one you needed to know what to call the castle from Frozen."

He actually smiled. "As it turned out, I got an A-."

"Congratulations!" She smiled as well. "See? Juvia knew you could do it."

"Just so you know, there was a question about the Forbidden City and all I could think about was that song about 'make a man out of you'." He told her and the blunette giggled. "So, thank you for that."

"Well, you are welcome, that is a very good song." She crossed her arms above her stomach. "Tonight we should celebrate that as well as your win."

"I don't think they will be too excited about a grade tonight, let them enjoy it."

"You know, maybe next time you can watch Juvia in her competition to see her win." She said and he looked at her – Gray could clearly see her cheeks getting pinker and if he had to guess, she had to summon a quite deal of courage to ask him that. "The others are coming, you should too."

He took a moment to answer. "When's the next one?"

"As it happens, next week." Her cheeks got even pinker. "It's here in Magnolia, so..." She suddenly seemed nervous. "Sometimes we need to travel for the competition, but not this time. It's going to be right here in Magno- oh, I said that already, didn't I? Sorry. Juvia got nervous. It's been a while since people she likes watched her. Certainly no one from here."

"What you mean?"

"Juvia has been here for just three months, she transferred from Phantom U." She clarified. "Juvia doesn't have a family, so... they were all strangers at the bleachers."

"Not on your next one. We'll be there." Gray told her. "And, quoting you: 'I won't know what is happening, but I'll cheer when everyone else does'."

"Sounds good enough." She put a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Juvia just hopes she doesn't get too nervous and slips. That would give the others too much pleasure." She mumbled the last part, but Gray heard it.

"What others?"

"The other skaters. They don't like Juvia because she is the best one here."

"And the most humble."

"It is the truth." She shrugged. "They act cold towards me because Juvia is good and doesn't want to make a life out of it." Seeing his frown, the blunette kept talking. "Juvia wants to be a Marine Biologist and Skating is a way of achieving that dream. It's not my fault I am better than them; just because someone is good at doing a certain thing, it doesn't mean it's what they want to do it for the rest of their lives. Juvia loves skating, and she loves even more because it is what will make my dream come true, but it is not my dream: it's theirs." She looked up to the starry sky. "They probably think the talent is wasted on me."

"Hey, I've seen you do the..." he tried to remember the name "layback spin." He was proud of himself for remembering it. "Trust me, you need both talent and a very strong will to train that. If you won a scholarship, it means you are talented and it is not a waste because you are using it for something good: your future. Don't care about what they say, your real friends will appreciate your gifts."

She was smiling by the time he stopped speaking and biting down her lower lip and just stared at him for a few moments before she took two steps, tip toed and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

Gray looked her in the eyes and then his gaze went to her lips for a moment, his heart raced and for just a second he wondered if she would let him kiss her before he cleared his throat and took a step back. His cheeks were probably pink by the way they warmed up. Damn it. "You are welcome. Don't worry, I'll tell the people going to your competition to cheer on your performance. And to boo the mean ones."

"Please, don't." She chuckled and they stayed in a comfortable silence for a few moments before she point at the door back to the burger shop. "Juvia really needs to go, she was really looking for the bathroom when she found you."

"Sure, go ahead." Gray nodded. "I'll go in as well, I just needed some time away from them. They can be incredibly nosey when they want to."

"Juvia is starting to get that." Juvia started to walk towards the door. "But they mean well. It's nice."

Gray hummed in agreement and held the door open for her to get in. Cana's words came to his mind, then. Ever since he met Juvia, he had thought less and less about Daphne, that was for sure and after every time he met her, he had felt good.

It would go nowhere, so he wouldn't even start to go down a dangerous road like before about kissing her or how beautiful her legs (and her in a whole) were.

He could use a new friend.

And only a friend.

#