【Re:Freezing】 | Gray Fullbuster x OC

29. Something Familiar Yet Something New

I think it's time I cut my bangs again. It's already past my left eye.

Presently, Karissa was at the guild just sitting next to Gray while the people around her stared outside the window. It was raining hard. Again. Lucy had her hands on the window sill, looking up at the dark skies with Cana sitting on a chair behind her.

"I hope this rain let's up..." Lucy sighed.

"Yeah. It's been nothing but rain." Cana propped her chin up with her hand.

"I don't think this is Juvia's fault." Juvia defended herself.

"Nobody said a word about that." Gray leaned his hand in his palm before dropping his gaze on Karissa who began playing with her bangs, a frown on her lips. A playful grin came on his face.

"Movies are a good distraction from the rain though."

Karissa stiffened, letting her hair slip through her fingertips, turning her head towards him slowly. She met his grin with a scowl.

"Quiet, you." Karissa hissed and then pouted.

"All I said was that movies are a good distraction. There's no hidden meaning behind it." Gray snickered and patted her head softly, finding her expression entertaining and cute.

She leaned towards him and poked his chest harshly. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, Fullbuster. Now, stop it."

Gray grabbed her finger that kept poking him only to get startled when a hand slammed down between them, a pale hand. The two ice mages looked up and found Juvia staring down at them intensely.

"Love rival, what do you think you're doing?" Juvia said between clenched teeth, eyes burning with jealousy. Karissa just met her gaze with indifference to mask her annoyance. Gray was not Juvia's so she saw no reason why she should butt in. In fact, Juvia should be backing off and minding her own damn business. A metaphorical light bulb went off in her head, making a little grin appear on her lips. Gray arched a brow at this. Karissa wiggled her hand and slid it downward against his so that she could hold Gray's hand, making him blink in surprise and cause Juvia to gasp in horror.

"Oi... Karissa, don't make it worse." Gray told her, but didn't make a move to let go much to Karissa pleasure and Juvia's displeasure. It's not like he didn't like holding her hand.

"Gray-sama! Please don't cheat on meee!" Juvia tugged on his arm, wailing with tears.

"Come again?! What are you talking about?!" he responded, pulling his arm away from her.

Karissa snickered and moved to get up after making a show of squeezing his hand in hers and then moving around Juvia to walk past her once he slipped her hand away from his. Gray turned around to call after her, wondering where she was going until she stopped behind him and ruffled his hair with a small smile, causing him to stiffen and stare at her dumbly.

"I'll be back in a sec." She told him before pulling her hand away and looking at Juvia, a smirk of satisfaction on her face when she saw Juvia's mouth agape.

Yeah, that's right. Let that sink in, you water chick.

She did it on purpose to egg her on. Yeah, so what?

She was purposely showing off that she could freely touch Gray like so and that he could do the same without either of them feeling weird about it. It was a sign of affection they had for each other, and she would gladly show it off to provoke Juvia since she was the one who annoyed her first at the dorm.

Maybe that was her lowkey competitive side showing too.

As Karissa walked off towards the counter where Lucy was sitting, Juvia planted herself in Karissa's seat with a grumpy look, hoping to stop her from returning to her beloved Gray's side. The blue mage couldn't see the look on Gray's face from behind since he kept watching Karissa leave.