How is Levy-chan doing at Fairy Tail's garage, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, knocking him out of his thoughts and look to the waitress holding his new drink out. Not wanting to anger her by not flushing out the alcohol, Gray took the glass from her hands.

"She's working on a new side project, but she won't tell anyone what it is," he shrugged boredly. "She wants to come to the next races and see you, though, so you may want to let the pile of bolts know."

"Why would Nii-chan need to know?" Juvia blinked curiously.

"So he can be less of an asshole when she's around," Gray sniffed and looked to her with a little spark in his eyes, making her flush. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed it from the last few times Levy came to the races."

"N-no... Juvia is very well aware," she blushed with a grin on her face. Holding her own cheeks with both hands, Juvia bit back a squeal, making Gray smirk behind his glass. "Juvia finds it amusing that her very own cousin and step-brother like each other. Even though Nii-chan denies it, he can't keep it from Juvia forever. Juvia always gets Nii-chan to tell her the truth about anything."

"Guess that makes you so special," Gray teased and it made the young woman jump in her heels. He hid his snicker from her as she fixed herself and pouted at him. "You know what I mean, Juvia."

It still didn't fix her reaction, since she refused to look his way when he would try and catch her sight. Behaving like a child, she turned her cheek and puffed air into them. "Gray-sama is just looking for trouble. Juvia knew you would be upset with her about ruining your car!"

Unable to fight back at being stared at, Juvia peeked at his amused face before biting back a fit of laughs behind her hand. Gray drank the last of his water and gnawed on his ice chunks once she relaxed. "Juvia is very happy to see Gray-sama again, too."

"It's -!"

"WHO LET YOU IN HERE, ICE PRICK?"

Gray choked on his bit of ice as Juvia exhaled in a sigh. Twisting his head to the flight of wooden stairs, Gray saw the tall and very pissed off Gajeel wearing the bar's t-shirt and old jeans. He was also donned fingerless gloves with metal nuts sewn into the knuckles of the leather, and a dark, yellowish bandana held his bangs back properly as the rest of his long, spiky hair was pulled in a ponytail.

Swallowing, Gray tried to keep his calm demeanor together. "I-isn't he early..?" he whispered to Juvia, who had a displeased look on her pretty face as she stood politely in her uniform. Everyone else in the bar was watching or multitasked with their play of pool or cards, but waiting for something to happen.

"WHADD'YA DOIN' WITH MY SISTER, HAH? WHAT DID I SAY 'BOUT COMING HERE?" Gajeel roared as Gray stumbled out of his stool, scrambling to put distance between him and the approaching man against the wall. Scooting as quickly as he could to the door, Gray didn't mind shoving anyone out of his way. "Who let ya in here? Get out! Lemme punch ya face first, too! Then, I'll skin you and hang you outside the bar, like a flag! But let me kill you first! Tell that Salamander that he's next when I'm finished with you!"

"Gajeel-niichan," Juvia called out harshly, making the burly man halt mid step of chasing Gray. She watched somewhat sadly as her crush managed to get through the door and have Boze close it for him. Changing her eyes to glare darkly at Gajeel, Juvia snapped her fingers for his attention and he stiffly turned himself around and stomped to the counter. Customers forced themselves out of his way as he launched himself over the counter and stood toe-to-toe with the much, much smaller woman.

"The fuck he was doin' in here again? Don'tcha remember what I said about him being in here?" Gajeel growled lowly down to her, making her roll her eyes. "Who let 'im in this time? Was it Boze? I paid that little shit to keep him out!"

"Nii-chan needs to stop yelling," Juvia said blankly, pointing a well-groomed finger out of the counter, where the customers were mute and watching with fear in their eyes. Gajeel blinked for a moment before snapping his jaw at them, forcing them to go back to their own business. Juvia crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground. "Nii-chan doesn't need to make a scene just because Gray-sama came to get a drink."

"The hell he come here for a drink for?" Gajeel nearly shouted, but was warned by his younger sister's deadly gaze. Grunting, the man snapped his eyes away from her. "He can get the same goddamn thing anywhere else, if he wanted!"

"Gray-sama says that he likes it when Juvia makes it for him," she said suddenly with a sweet coo in her voice. Gajeel shivered when he practically saw hearts in her eyes as she held her face with both hands. "Even though Juvia defended Toto-sensei's honor, Juvia couldn't help but enjoy that Gray-sama told Juvia that he likes her drinks!"

"You're a suckup."

"Nii-chan is a meanie," Juvia sang in response before reaching under the counter and pulling out the bag Gray had given her. Looking lovingly to the drawing Levy made for her, Juvia held the brown paper bag close to her chest and peeked at Gajeel. "Is Nii-chan feeling okay to work tonight?"

"Wanna make sure Stripper stays out," Gajeel responded darkly. Seeing the familiar penmanship of Levy's note of I miss you lots, Juju-chan! above the chibi drawing of herself, the man cocked his head. "Did that moron give you something from Levy?"

"It's from Gray-sama, but Levy-chan drew a picture on it," Juvia hummed brightly and winked at Gajeel. "Is Nii-chan upset that it wasn't from Le-vy-chan, hmm?"

The man rolled his eyes and looked to a customer who passed out on the counter, his head slamming on the hard top. "What did the little shit give you?"

"Gray-sama brought Juvia iron pills. He gave Juvia more bottles, because he thinks Juvia is out," she answered softly, looking inside the bag and suddenly realized that they were the more expensive and stronger brand. Smiling, she closed the bag and slipped it into her apron pocket, tucking it carefully inside. "Gray-sama is very nice to Juvia, so Nii-chan should be glad that he doesn't have to worry about Juvia too often."

"It's my job to worry, you brat," Gajeel scowled and crossed his arms. "I've been looking after you ever since you were a little thing. Don't take it that I'm being soft with you, got it? No way in fuckin' hell I'm gonna let that show-off stripper try to replace me, just because you think he's cute."

Juvia's cheeks went red in both irritation and embarrassment, but exhaled anyway with a light tooting noise from her lips. Smiling again, Juvia leaned her head on the man's harder than steel muscle and looped her thin arms around his forearm, snuggling her bonnet carefully on his skin. Closing her eyes, Juvia felt her anger slip away by being so close to her big brother. "Nii-chan knows that there's no one else who can take care of Juvia but Nii-chan. Nii-chan is the best in Juvia's eyes. Doesn't Nii-chan know he's the best, or does he think Juvia is lying?"

"I know I'm the best, dork," Gajeel snorted. "You just need to tell me when you run out of iron supplements. Ya know I would've gotten you some as soon as you tell me, Juvia."

"Juvia is also a grown up, too," she reminded him, looking up with her dark blue eyes and grinning when he shrugged, as if bored of the conversation. "Nii-chan doesn't need to baby Juvia so much as he used to - Nii-chan should pamper another lady in his life with things she needs and little gifts who is notJuvia...perhaps Levy-chan?"

The touching moment was ruined when Gajeel's whole face went red and spread down his neck. Fury and shock written in his eyes, the bulky man glared darkly to the waitress, who stuck out her tongue at him and winked. Uncurling her fingers and brushing her off of his arm, Gajeel stiffly went around the bar and snapped at anyone who looked his way.

"What the hell! Ya don't know nothing, kid," Gajeel told her when he looked back over his shoulder, where Juvia was waving sweetly to him. "Only reason why I put up with that little shrimp during the races is because you two are blood-related, got it? She ain't my type anyway! Don't go thinkin' that weird match-maker imagination thing with me. You know I can tell when you get your weird fantasies with that creepy look in your eye!"

Juvia sniffed with a small smile, hearing Totomaru coming through the curtain with a fresh face and clean clothes that didn't stink of smoke. When the older man glanced between the two with a raise of his brow, Juvia smiled to him before he reminded her to take an extra few minutes of her break.

"Why don't you go and grab a snack, Juvia-sama," Totomaru suggested. "You haven't eaten much today. Take your medicine, too." He gestured knowingly to the bump on her apron, making Juvia bite her lip shyly. "It was very nice of Gray-san to give them to you, Juvia-sama. Go on now, 'kay?"

Juvia nodded obediently and went back to the kitchen, away from her other job as serving drinks and grub to criminals, gang members, convicts and low-class scum. Totomaru watched as she disappeared from sight, a firm smile on his face.

"Smells like a fuckin' cigarette in here!" Gajeel roared. "Who the hell was smokin', huh? Show yourself so I can kick your ass!"

Totomaru sighed in defeat. "What am I going to do with you two..?"

Outside the bar, Gray shuddered in relief at not having any damage done to the inside of the bar, excusing him from Makarov's threat of cleaning the garage. The drunk man who was smoking was gone from sight, thank goodness, otherwise Gray would have taken the pent up energy to fight out on him (which didn't sound all that bad, considering how overly cautious Juvia was being during the scene).

Feeling a light vibration inside his pocket, Gray pulled out his cell phone and checked the ID. Expecting to see Erza's number, or even Natsu calling to ask how to properly scrub the floor, since he was hounding him before leaving while Lucy sighed in the distance, he instead saw the familiar name that made him drown out the noises of the city and nightlife.

Instantly shutting the phone off, disconnecting the incoming call, the young man hissed through clenched teeth and went over to his bike. Readying his helmet to put on his head, Gray wasn't expecting a light tap on his shoulder, turning to see the blue haired waitress standing with a little smile on her face and a healthy tint to her cheeks.

"How'd ya get out here?" Gray whispered in shock, looking between her and the metal door that had her freaky step-brother hiding inside. Not wanting to get in trouble, Gray dropped his helmet, which she caught before it fell to the dirty ground and pushed her farther into the shadows of the parking lot. There was a skinny tree there, but the shade made it more difficult for anyone to see details of their faces.

"How did you get here?" Gray freaked quietly, making the young woman blink. "What's gonna happen if Gajeel finds you out here, hah?"

Juvia rolled her eyes and held the helmet in her hands out to him, reminding him that he nearly let his possession fall to the dusty, gross ground. "Toto-sensei told Juvia to go on her break after Gray-sama ran out," she explained as he took it back. "Juvia went out the back and used the gate to find Gray-sama."