#gruvia fanfiction
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They’re so smushable
#nalu#fairy tail#fairy tail nalu#nalu fairytail#pro nalu#nalu fluff#lucy heartfilia#gruvia#jerza#jerza day#fairy tail jerza#gruvia fanfiction#gajevy#juvia lockser#gray x juvia#erza scarlet#levy mcgarden
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All Treats, No Tricks
Gray Fullbuster, Juvia Lockser
October 31, 2023
Posted: Decemebr 26, 2023
Writer’s Corner: Months too late but I think the timing worked for me. The ending sounds and feels more wintery/christmas-y, isn't it? I don't feel like this one's good enough as compared to my Juvia Day entry so your honest feedback is very much welcomed. Help me improve!
All rights reserve to Hiro Mashima, original creator.
Masterlist
...
The cold season rolled in and seeped throughout the grounds of Magnolia. Its silent breeze knocked puny, tree branches against locked windows. It howled through the night, prowling the silent grounds of sleeping citizens. For those who made the mistake of forgetting to lock their windows, the October breeze pried into their room and wreaked havoc on all that it could carry. Easily targeted all that weighed close to none. Especially ripping off the pages on the wall calendar and revealing today’s date – October 31, Halloween.
After the fiasco that was the Fairy Tail Horror House of X791, that type of event was forever banned in the town of Magnolia. In its wake a new tradition was born where families were invited to decorate their homes to win lovely prizes, even encouraging them to hand out candies to children going around house to house, mage guilds included.
Rather than eerily quiet, Halloween in Fairy Tail was fun and lively.
The troublemakers – Natsu and Happy – had a good idea of wearing costumes to scare off the children who, in the words of Natsu the Demon King, “dared to enter my house of terror,” punctuating it with a high-pitched maniacal laugh that did not, at all, scare a living soul. But he was enjoying chasing after children who somehow believed Demon Kings existed and that they were ridiculously funny. Erza, wearing the shortest (skimpiest but no one dared to say it) witch costume, took up her sword and pretended to battle the Demon King. She was acting, she claimed but Lucy, the only writer in the room argued that it was an inaccurate depiction and didn’t make any sense plot-wise. Why would a witch have a sword when she had magic powers? But who would take a Leopard Girl seriously? Donned in a tight-fitting onesie that hugged her body like a second skin and accentuated all her dips and curves, Lucy the Sexy Leopard lost all credibility.
A certain ice-make mage, on the other hand, found it all juvenile. Yet, Gray was pursuing kids around the guild, the end of his tape costume riding the wind as he did. He wasn’t a scary mummy, he deduced, since instead of screams of terrors, the guild was filled with children’s ecstatic cheers and giggles. Well, half giggles and half scandalous because the end of Gray’s mummy tape got stuck on some pillar and pulled, making him a half-naked, pervert who happened to wear pants made of strip linen.
Erza smacked him on the back of the head.
So inappropriate.
But not as inappropriate as the thing that he was about to witness.
Juvia, Fairy Tail’s resident water-mage, wasn’t too comfortable with her assigned costume so she kept herself hidden backstage. She watched in the shadows as her comrades showed off their costumes, parading around the Fairy Tail building, welcoming their guests with booze (for the adults), colorful drinks (for the kids) and some imaginative snacks. She wondered how come the only thing that connected her decorated brassiere and the underwear that covered her nether region was just strings snaked around her torso. She asked Erza about it but the only answer she got was the mesh material on her head, some sort of see-through veil, its length reaching her waist but covered nothing. Plus, the heavy and expensive accessories around her neck, arms and wrists made the look less racy than it actually was. They lent her some air of distinct. She did a once-over in front of the mirror, twirling around to inspect herself and couldn’t help but think she might be missing a piece on her costume. Maybe a skirt to cover her lower body? Because she swore her bottom was hanging out.
Erza said the long veil on top of her head covered it enough and that she should stop worrying about it.
She really should worry about it.
Even if Mira and the already drunk Cana assured her that she would be the envy of the room and would surely get Gray the Half-Naked Mummy’s attention. The latter was enough encouragement though, which emboldened Juvia to come out of her hiding. That and finding her self-declared love rival enjoying her time with Mummy Gray, her beloved. She charged towards the two, about to bring hell to the Leopard Girl, when a soft breeze touched her exposed skin and Juvia had another think coming. But it was too late. She was out in the open now and everyone was hollering and whistling at her ensemble. As she watched her comrades strut around in their own Halloween costumes though – the moon princess Mira-chan; vampire Lisanna; Elfman and Evergreen in a couple’s costume ala Adam and Eve; the Thunder Legion Tribe in what appeared to be some sort of forest creatures (were they supposed to be Pokémon and was someone supposed to collect ‘em all?); and archery goddess Wendy – Juvia felt like she pulled the short end of the stick.
Because what the hell was she wearing?
It was a fucked-up gypsy dancer costume if you asked Gray. Beautiful, he’d go as far as saying it was nose-bleed-inducing, but definitely fucked-up. He wasn’t too happy about that.
Even Cana was modestly covered in her own fucked-up priestess costume.
People – ugly men, irritating old geezers, boys that weren’t Gray-sama – started coming up to Juvia with Macao and Wakaba in the lead. She made it obvious she wasn’t comfortable with their attention but the crowd had already gathered around her. She searched for the black spiky hair in it but found her precious Gray-sama still standing beside Leopard Girl. Summoning all her magic power, Juvia immediately fell into her fighting stance, about to tsunami all those perverts out of the way when her vision turned pitch-black.
“Eh?”
She extended her arm to feel for anything, anything at all, that could explain why she was instantly blinded, only to feel strong fingers grab her wrist and whiz her away from the complaining crowd.
“Eh!”
“I guess this is safe for now.”
She didn’t need her eyes to know who it was. Juvia could recognize that voice anywhere, even when it was broken by huffs.
“Gray-sama…”
“Oh, that’s right.”
He swiftly released his grip on her hand and Juvia pouted at the loss of contact. A sudden chill replaced the warmth that encircled her wrist. She didn’t like it.
“Sorry about that.”
“No!” Juvia cleared up, in case he might take it the wrong way, “Gray-sama shouldn’t apologize.”
The water mage wasn’t sure where they went or how far they had come from the guild. But wherever Gray was, she was always safe with him.
“You saved Juvia from the commotion.”
A commotion caused by her inappropriate appearance, Gray ought to say but decided not to. Instead, he said a terse ‘It was nothing’.
Her ears might have deceived her but Juvia could place a grin on his voice. She could imagine that small curve of his lips, wanting to see it with her own eyes but something was still blocking her view. Something soft and rather silky, heavy on her crown too. It covered her from head to toe. She clutched the unidentified veil in her fist and realized it was the same fabric as the covering of the long table back at the guild. Juvia tried to pull on the cloth, trying to get rid of the covering when Gray started speaking again.
“…something like that.”
The covering muffled Gray’s words. As she was trying desperately to uncover herself, Juvia only caught the tail end of what he was saying. She stopped for a moment, tipped her head to the side, deciding whether to ask him to repeat what he said, which would give Gray the impression that she wasn’t listening to him, or just pretend as if she heard him.
Sensing her confusion despite the wall of fabric between them, Gray repeated his words, this time a bit louder and very much clearer than earlier.
“Don’t wear something like that.”
It took her a moment to realize but Juvia caught on to what the ice-make mage meant. It was her scant costume. Remembering how some cloth and some strings strategically covered those areas, Juvia internally agreed with Gray. She shouldn’t be wearing something like that again, nodding her head furiously that she might just break her own neck.
“In public.”
He added before clearing his throat and inviting Juvia to walk around the neighborhood, not giving her an opening to say anything back about his last comment. Juvia had the tendency to twist his words, or rather, which was always the case, point out what exactly he wanted to say but couldn’t.
Don’t wear something like that in public.
He meant only to wear it for him in private, right?
Gray started toward the direction of the crowd, where most people were scattered in small groups. He was saying something Juvia was not able to hear through that thick white covering hanging over her. She followed where she assumed Gray was headed, straining her ears to listen to his footsteps whilst she blindly soldiered on through the veil-made darkness. The water mage was starting to get frustrated with the covering she’d been trying to get out of since earlier. Despite her efforts, she couldn’t find the beginning or end of that long, thick fabric weighing down on her with a smooth but consistent fall, much like her magic – a curtain of water.
Ironic.
And why was Gray not helping her at all? It wasn’t like he was busy keeping quiet since he had all the time in the world to run his mouth about god knows what. His talking was like a soft buzz in Juvia’s ears – a distant noise that didn’t make sense.
Despite the cold breeze and the fact that she was practically naked inside, her body was starting to feel hot. A sheen of perspiration started to form over her skin. The heavy covering not only successfully blocked her view but also any air in and out of her fabric jail.
“G-Gray-sama…” She called out but the thick veil separating them blacked the words out, “…help Juvia~”
Gray hadn’t paid her any attention (deliberately ignoring her or unintentionally forgetting, Juvia wasn’t sure) until the poor water mage kicked on an uneven terrain and tripped. She braced herself for impact, throwing her hands in front of her as she was about to fall on the pavement, face-first. But the impact never came. Instead, Juvia’s body was pressed against something hard. Not as hard as she remembered pavement should be though. Curiosity spurred Juvia to explore this not-a-pavement surface, flattening her palms on what turned out to be Gray’s firm pecs, the slightest bump giving her the idea that she might just be… touching on Gray’s...
She rubbed them just to make sure.
“Uhn… Ju-Juvia…”
And kneaded for better measure.
“T-that’s… he-hey…”
She was definitely right.
Gods do exist!
Juvia could hear the strain in his voice. And something else. Something she wasn’t familiar with. But worry bumped curiosity off first place. Gray sounded like he might be in pain and the idea horrified Juvia that she might be the reason for it. He did break her fall and she was comfortably using her as a human cushion. So, she slid her open palms lower, eliciting more low and strange noises from the man beneath her. She ignored the noise in favor of resting her hands over what she assumed was Gray’s abdomen, intent on pushing herself off him to free her poor savior from his distress. She was a little bit sorry that she had to use his body to do so. Which, unbeknownst to Juvia, was stirring something in Gray that should not be stirred. Not when they were in public like this.
Oh, if Juvia could see the ice-make mage’s reaction now – gritting his teeth and clenching his jaw.
She successfully leaned away, readying to pull her knees so she could prop herself up and fully get off of poor Gray when a cold breeze whizzed past them, magically finding the end of the frustrating veil and blew the hem of the fabric covering her body. Gray was a hero the second time when he slapped that cloth back to its rightful place. Saving the water mage from the embarrassment of public indecent exposure.
“Eeep!”
But bumping her to another level of embarrassment.
Gray only realized where his hands were touching when Juvia’s body wiggled and twisted above him. The force of his ‘heroic act’ slammed Juvia flatly on top of him again.
“G-Gray-sama felt Ju-Ju-Juvia’s bottom!”
She muttered, fidgeting at the heat that spread over both cheeks, either because Gray’s hands were still cupping her ass or the mere force of his slap, or both.
“So, G-Gray-sama was into this kind of… s-s-stuff?” She whispered to herself.
But that wasn’t a whisper. It was more of a loud musing because that one Gray heard through the fabric barrier between them.
“No!” He strongly denied it. “That’s… I’m not… hey!”
For a good minute, they were a tangled mess – him trying to, but very much cautiously, push her off of him, slipping on the fabric when he tried to stand up with Juvia still on top of him, and her trying to pull herself away from him, which proved to be a struggle since Gray just couldn’t stay still. It didn’t help that the thick cloth separating them from each other was too silky and slippery to the touch.
Gray could only cry how that freaking veil was the devil. The devil! And he quickly regretted whisking the long mantle off the table to cover Juvia with, until they finally detached themselves from each other. Both were breathless from the endeavor.
Passersby threw them ugly looks, which made Gray realize that covering Juvia with the table mantle was not one of his brightest ideas. He tried to rearrange the cloth, so that Juvia was still fully covered (her fucked-up costume hidden), but made it so that her head was popping out of the makeshift ghost costume so at least she could see where they were going and avoid another mishap. The water mage, thank goodness, stood still and quiet, as Gray secured the long textile around her neck with a knot made of his mummy tape. He smirked at his creation, proud of his quick thinking. Then broke into cackles he tried to suppress but couldn’t, scrutinizing her attire – a Juvia floating head. Now, that’s a true Halloween costume.
“Gray-sama shouldn’t be laughing at Juvia.” She bemoaned. “Not when he’s looking like that.”
Gray followed her eyes down his lower body to realize he was stripped down to his G x J boxers, using up what remained of his mummy tape costume on Juvia.
“Whoa!”
It was Juvia’s turn to laugh at him. But Gray took no offense to it and joined in, the both of them laughing together and at each other in their poor state. They were so stuck in their own world that Gray belatedly noticed the scandalized glare thrown at both of them – mostly on him – especially by children who were often told to wear something in public.
Gray scooped Juvia off the ground (which was totally unnecessary by everyone’s account) and whisked the water mage, a second time, away from the crime scene.
Young couples are too bold nowadays.
It’s probably because of the full moon.
...
Gray hid them at some back alley. He surreptitiously peeked through the corner, with an unusually quiet water mage still carried in both arms. Only after making sure no one was following after them, not the police or an angry mob, that Gray could finally puff a relief. He settled Juvia on the ground as gently as he could. And wondered why she was running out of breath when Gray did all the running.
“Are you alright, Juvia?”
“Y-y-yes.”
She stuttered. Round blue eyes were spinning like wheels on the run.
“Erm… are you sure?”
She sure didn’t look okay.
Gray was so accustomed to Juvia that he could read her like a book. Every word and every sentence he could easily interpret. And this reaction from her was probably caused by him bolting her away. He should have thought of his actions thoroughly because who knows what Juvia’s creative imagination must have conjured of him holding her in a bridal carry.
Gray and Juvia’s wedding? Them on their honeymoon, crossing the threshold into their master bedroom? Probably, both.
He settled a hand on her shoulders. The thick eyebrows on his forehead were knitted – quite bothered by the possibility that she could still slip into her imaginary land when she had the real thing right in front of her now. Unlike before, Gray had become more receptive to her feelings. And unlike before, he made conscious actions to show that he returned those very feelings. Had he not made it clear to her?
“Juvia…”
His coaxing willed Juvia back to reality, to where she and Gray were in a back alley hiding.
“Juvia is okay, Gray-sama.”
Her blue eyes returned to normal and Gray could slip a sigh of relief. Without a need to worry now, Gray retrieved his hand and suggested they come back to the guild when Juvia’s made-shift cloak started to come undone. Her Halloween costume – the brassiere connected with some barely-there knots – peeked through the opening and threatened to reveal itself in its full glory. Which was bad for Gray for the following reasons: a) Juvia was still half-lying on the ground; b) they were in some dark, back-alley; and c) they were alone in that dark alley.
And d) he was still just wearing his boxers.
“Ju-Juvia!”
But it was Gray’s fingers that yanked the edges of the loosening drape and clasped them together against her chest. Another bad idea of Gray’s now that his fists were pressed down against her breasts. Soft and quite big. Not that it surprised him. He was very much familiar with how Juvia’s breasts felt to the touch. Not that he openly touched them either. Opportunities just happened to present themselves to him. Oh how tortured and conflicted he was. That stirring inside his stomach earlier was rapidly brewing into something that shouldn’t be brewing.
“Uhn…”
What a cute voice!
Damn, it was like the universe was trying to tell him something.
Gray yanked his evil hands and put them back to his side. Away from Juvia’s soft mounds.
“S-s-sorry.”
But that lecherous costume was taunting him again, the deep valley of her breasts peering through the slightest opening. He ordered himself to look away but his sinful eyes did not stray even just a little. So, he chose to just fight the rising heat that burned his cheeks. If she asked, he could blame that one on the weather.
Gray cleared his throat. Thinking that by doing so, Juvia might not notice him ogling. He reached out his hands and started to tighten the mummy tape again around her neck. There was a crisp silence between them, which Gray appreciated. Juvia’s focused gaze at his hands was reason enough for him to struggle to steady his fingers as he looped the tape. But in the end, he was able to fix it.
“All done.”
She thanked him with a lovely smile – the kind that always followed him in his dreams. The warm smile that kept him company when he was alone. The low howl of the October breeze made him aware that they were in a dark alley where people scarcely passed through. It had a wicked way of conjuring today’s moments that the courteous Gray would rather tuck safely into the back of his memory – when Juvia stepped out of hiding in her inappropriate costume; when he unintentionally spanked and cupped her butt-cheeks; when Juvia rubbed her palms over his breasts; and when he fastened the ends of the cloth and accidentally pressed on her soft mounds. These memories he’d rather bury in the depths of his consciousness and only unearth them when he was alone.
Right now, he wasn’t alone. He was with Juvia, the star of those evoking memories, in a place where there was little to no chance of anyone walking in on them if Gray allowed some of his dreams to come alive. Clandestine. He stopped that thought and suggested they walk back to the guild. He needed the exercise.
Juvia pointed out to him his current state and Gray miraculously found some cloak flapping with the wind, hanging outside somebody’s window. It was black, a total contrast to Juvia’s white ones. He figured no one was going to miss that drabby old cloak.
As they took the route to the guild, Gray considered walking Juvia to Fairy Hills instead. But remembered he was barred from showing even just his shadow there. His ban has yet to run its course so the guild – the very place they left earlier – was the sensible place to go, especially since he and Juvia were just wearing make-shift coverings that could unravel anytime. They had to avoid crowds.
Gray was deep in thought when a flash of blue caught his eyes. He snapped his head in its direction, eyes widening in awe at what his vision revealed.
“Look Juvia!” He pointed the all-smiling, happily distracted Juvia to a decorated house where three or four children were walking up to its stoop. “It’s you.”
Juvia followed the direction of Gray’s pointing and scanned the surroundings for anything that resembled herself or whatever it was that reminded her beloved of the water-mage. Surely, it must not have been the waving tube decoration, flapping around something that, when you squint your eyes at the right angle, resembled arms. Or the scary-looking life-sized doll made of blue hay, wearing what appeared to be a blow-up replica of Juvia’s hat. That must not be how he saw Juvia, right?
Without receiving an answer to these questions, Juvia was suddenly yanked against Gray’s side. One arm hung over her shoulder; the weight pulled them both down to a crouch like they were hiding. Their cheeks were close, sharing a border, but not touching, not yet at least. They were just close enough for Juvia to feel his breath on her now-flushed cheek when he covertly spoke to her.
“That one. She looks exactly like you.”
Juvia caught herself gawking at him, at Gray’s face which was fully and resolutely turned to the direction where he was pointing her to. She felt slightly guilty about that because one, that wasn’t even the first physical touch they’d shared just counting the ones they had tonight (not the most daring one either); and two, Gray was heartily showing her something. So, Juvia summoned her focus and followed his direction – towards the girl who was giddily jumping at receiving tons of candies into her basket, the kid version of Phantom Lord Juvia. She was donned in Juvia’s blue winter coat, a teru-teru bozu hanging by the clasp of her collar, and a cute Juvia hat merchandise sitting neatly atop her little head.
Juvia felt a pang in her heart. It was her in the rolled hairstyle the water mage got rid of to forget about that version of her. As the little girl skipped down back to the main road, Juvia felt sorry for the little girl. No child should model after her. Back then, she wasn’t her best self. She was strong yet lonely. Isolated by her own rain. Physically attractive yet gloomy that warmth and fun were foreign concepts to her. A smile, a true warm smile, had never even touched her lips. Simply, ugly. If she could only keep that image to herself and tuck it away where no one else could find it, she would have done so.
The Juvia of the present, the Juvia after joining Fairy Tail, after finally being accepted and loved for who she was and who she was not, was unquestionably the best version of herself yet.
But that twinge was pushed away by the slight curve of Gray’s lips. Warm. Affectionate. Proud. He was still looking at that little girl, at kid Phantom Lord Juvia, with eyes full of interest. Never left her figure as she turned around and hollered at the other two girls on the walkway. Her other two friends looked like shrunken versions of other Fairy Tail members, slowed down by their argument about who collected more candies between them.
“There’s Erza and Mira-chan too.” Gray chuckled. “Brings me back.”
Juvia forgot all about her own thinking, dumbfounded by the look on Gray’s face. Even when the curve on his lips was subtle it was also telling. Because Gray could picture so clearly how the actual Erza and Mira-chan, when they were at the same age as those kids, would squabble over the smallest and silliest things. Much like the kids rounding up their group of three with Juvia-chan. His mind flew to that rare moment when all the kids in the guild were huddled up together in an unusually peaceful group waiting out the night. Simply remembering pulled the corners of his mouth into a small smile – not wistful, not longing, just… content.
Before he even thought of it, Gray was already starting on his feet, with Juvia following closely behind and then, naturally, fell beside him. Stepping into the same stride, the same pace as his. Juvia had caught up to him again, naturally. It had been like that between them for years now. Words have become so moot and inadequate. It was as if they were operating on feelings alone. Like it was the only way they could clearly and completely convey their inner thoughts. And so, with no invitation required, Gray and Juvia explored the neighborhood, feasting their eyes at the sight of scattered children in all sorts, shapes and colors of costumes.
The children walked up to houses. Their eyes shone at the treats dropped inside their baskets. Some ran out screaming in terror, receiving childish and mean scares instead of sweet treats. Others gleefully skipped along the side of the road while peeking inside each other’s loots. The two Fairy Tail mages, however, glowed in pride at the insinuation that the kids put Fairy Tail in such high regard to dress up like them, as members of the strongest guild in the whole of Fiore.
Wasn’t it that imitation was the highest form of flattery?
Out of nowhere, Gray and Juvia started a contest of whoever could spot and recognize Fairy Tail look-alikes more. They discreetly point the children to each other – finding a little Lucy with a mermaid Aquarius who can walk on foot in this version, or the entire Lightning God Tribe whose version of Laxus put on some balloons in place of the original’s muscles.
They spotted another Juvia, this one much younger than the first one they saw earlier, around five or six years old maybe, donning polka-dotted leggings. She had a long-haired older boy in her tail, who she addressed as onii-san, carrying her basket for her. It was quite a picture for Gray, the little girl scolding the older kid, who both Gray and Juvia agreed resembled an Iron Dragon Slayer. At least, even in make-belief, Gray got to see Gajeel being ordered around.
They strolled deeper into the neighborhood and found out that the wizard costumes were not limited to Fairy Tail mages. Gray even flinched at a spitting image of a young but much more handsome (in Gray’s biased opinion) Lyon Vastia. But Juvia noted his mood became even livelier when they met the Lyon impersonator, despite Gray-sama’s act and words of displeasure. At that, Juvia hid a chuckle behind her hand, which Gray noticed.
They hadn't walked that far from where they met and were greeted by a polite version of the fire dragon slayer, when Juvia noticed Gray’s mood turn sullen, even if he tried to hide it with a small but dry grin. She ha dan inkling why. They must have seen ten or twenty versions of Natsu but not a single one of the ice-make mage.
Even Juvia wasn’t happy about that.
“Gray-sama…”
“You want to go back?” He jumped in, not liking the way she looked and sounded worried.
Gray already knew what she was about to say. But it seemed he’d rather not talk about it. Respecting his feelings, the water-mage simply returned his smile, hers understanding and much more genuine than his forced one.
“If Gray-sama prefers.”
“Alright then.”
They turned around, about to take the path back to where they started when something round and hard hit Gray right at the stomach.
“Sorry, Oji-san!”
A small boy bumped into him with a force enough to sway Gray but not to make him lose his balance. He first checked that his basket of candies was intact before the little boy with messy black hair beamed up at him, his smile was pulled so wide that his eyes were almost shut. Cheeks all puffed and flushed and chubby and cute.
He probably got away with anything armed with that smile.
“Greige?!”
But like the other kids his age, the boy quickly abandoned the stranger he bumped into and caught up with his friends.
“Wait for me!”
Gray quickly spun around. A seed of hope sprouted within him, urging his feet to move. He wanted to follow the kid and confirm his suspicion but his own logic stopped him, rooting him in his spot. That would have been impossible. How would Greige cross over Earthland? That boy might have been wearing a zipped-up coat with fluffy collar, the same one Gray remembered Greige of Edolas was wearing, but how could he cross over to their world? Impossible.
Hope had sprouted into longing.
“Greige?”
Juvia’s confusion and Gray’s sudden realization that Juvia was still completely unaware of their child’s existence in another world, pulled him out of his reverie.
“Um… I said ‘engage’.” He quickly lied, feeling warmth rise to his cheeks despite the cold October breeze blowing at them. “I thought he was an enemy or somethin’.” Yet even to him, he wasn’t that convincing.
But how was he supposed to tell Juvia he saw a kid who could pass as a doppelganger of the son they would have in the future but who was already existing as the child of Gray Surge and Juvia, a version of them who were already married and lived and breathed in Edolas?
If Juvia knew about their Edolas counterparts, she would sulk all week and demand that they too get married and make a baby. They weren’t at that point in their relationship yet. They haven’t even kissed! Through no fault of Juvia, of course. Even though she had given her consent to it in no limited terms, Gray just didn’t… he just wasn’t… confident enough.
“Let’s go back, Juvia.”
“Oh, okay.”
He wounded a firm arm around Juvia’s shoulder and secured her at his side to stop the water-mage from looking back at the boy who reminded Gray of his future son. He chanced a last glance at him though and decided his hair was too spiky and a shade lighter than the boy in his memory. He was too tall and too animated to be his prim and proper little Greige.
His mind was probably playing tricks on him.
“Greige.” Juvia tested the name on her tongue. She liked the sound of it, she told Gray, making the man sweat a little.
“H-h-hey Juvia, I told you that’s not what I said.”
“He looked a little bit like Gray-sama, didn’t he?”
Gray couldn’t seem to understand, or rather that he couldn’t believe how Juvia’s soft eyes, that loving gaze that seemed to be only directed at him, had always been a source of comfort. He couldn’t at all wrap his head around the phenomenon of her smile shining so bright to the point that it was blinding, yet he was incapable of looking away.
“You think so?”
She just made a sound, a cute little hmm, eyes now glistening with that gentle mix of pride and joy. Gray couldn’t even fathom how Juvia could grow even more beautiful each day.
Gray glanced back at the boy reuniting with his friends, looking for his own qualities in him. Maybe his dark, unruly hair could be attributed to the ice-mage but the little boy was wrapped in a winter coat, and Gray was known for unwrapping himself from any clothing.
No harm in imaging it though, that maybe the little stranger was copying Gray.
He wasn’t.
Gray wasn’t imagining it when the boy with unruly hair pulled his elbows back to form some sort of hand stance. He definitely did not need to humor himself when he heard the kid say “ice-make…” and pretended like magic power was coming out of his open palms and attacked his friends.
Maybe if Gray got over himself…
“Juvia… are you cold?”
“Hmm?”
And step out of that darkness that was holding him back.
“My place…”
Then maybe…
“… is nearby.”
He didn’t need to imagine anything anymore.
“Yes, Gray-sama.”
#gray x juvia#gruvia#gray fullbuster#juvia lockser#gruvia fanfiction#fairytail#fairytail fanfiction#be-dazzled#gruvia halloween
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Plushies
Fandom : Fairy Tail
Relationship : Gray x Juvia
My Comfortember 2023 contribution for the prompt : Plushies.
I’m sorry for the mistakes, English is not my native language. I hope you like it.
Summary : It had only been a few days since Team Natsu left Magnolia and yet Gray missed Juvia. They spent so much time together that he felt like a part of him was missing when she was not there. He had never felt this for anyone.
Disclaimer : Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
@comfortember
AO3 / FF.NET
Gray took his backpack and he sat down on the bed. He opened the bag and rummaged inside. He could hear Natsu and Happy sleeping in the bed next to his. Team Natsu had been hired for a mission that was supposed to last several weeks. They had stopped at a hotel to spend the night. Lucy, Erza, Wendy and Carla shared a room, while he shared one with Natsu and Happy.
It had only been a few days since they left Magnolia and yet he missed Juvia. They spent so much time together that he felt like a part of him was missing when she was not there. He had never felt this for anyone.
He smiled when he found what he was looking for in his backpack. He looked towards Natsu and Happy and he saw that they were still fast asleep. He knew that if they ever woke up, they would not stop making fun of him.
He took a plush out of his bag. It was not very big and fit in the palm of his hand. Gray could not help laughing slightly when he thought back to when Juvia gave him the plush. It was the day before he left for the mission. He was packing his bag when Juvia came to see him.
“Juvia has a surprise for you.”
She handed him a bag and Gray took it. He could see the impatience in Juvia's eyes. He opened the bag and took out a plush. Gray opened his eyes wide, not expecting this kind of gift. It was a small plush bearing the image of Juvia.
“It’s a Juvia plush,” the water mage said with a huge smile. “That way, when you miss Juvia, you can hold her close. Juvia made it small so you can keep it with you at all times. And look.”
She took out of her bag a plush of the same size as the Juvia plush.
“Juvia has a Gray-sama plush. She will keep it with her all the time, until you come back. This way, the two plushies can also be reunited.”
Gray smiled tenderly. It was not the first time Juvia had this kind of attention for him. Even if at first her gifts embarrassed him, he was now touched by all her attentions. He took her hand, drew her to him and kissed her.
“It’s perfect,” he said, pulling away slightly.
Gray lay down on the bed, Juvia plush next to him. Even though he felt a little ridiculous, Juvia was right. In a way, she was with him. He ends up falling asleep, eager to return home and to sleep with Juvia in his arms.
The end
#comfortember#comfortember 2023#fairy tail#gruvia#gray x juvia#gray fullbuster#juvia lockser#gruvia fanfiction#fairy tail fanfiction#fanfiction#my writing
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Daycare Love
Pairing: Gray Fullbuster x Juvia Lockser
Fandom: Fairy Tail
Genre: Romance & Humor | Modern AU
Rated: T
AO3 | FFNET | Wattpad
Summary: This story is not about two children in love, no. This story is about a re encounter between two childhood friends. When Juvia Lockser started working at Fairy Tail Daycare, she did not expect one of the children in her group to be, none other than her first love, Gray Fullbuster's son.
Chapters:
1. First day
2. The butterflies
3. Nightmares
4. Guilt
5. Stay tuned…
Updated 31st July 2023
#gray fullbuster#juvia lockser#gray x juvia#gray fullbuster x juvia lockser#gruvia#fairy tail#ft#fairy tail 100 years quest#gruvia fanfiction#fairy tail fanfiction#unvalley fanfiction#daycare love fanfiction#chapter list
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Reminiscing on the Hard Road (A Gruvia Fic)
Rating: M
Summary: While on his way to a mission, Gray reflects on the hardships, tears, battles, and triumphs which led to him and Juvia finding their happiness together. (Or: the story of how they finally, officially got together told through memories).
AO3 Link ; FFNet Link
Words: ~8,000
Warnings: Please read with caution as this contains adult themes & situations (though nothing explicit). Also swearing and allusions to mental illness, dissociation and depression symptoms especially. Man this feels like the end of a drug commercial. Enjoy!
AN: I realized how long it'd been since I updated Chasing Tails and was feeling really bad about it. I'm so sorry, guys! I've just been really busy! I don't have time to get Chapter 5 up tonight, but I do have the time to share this Gruvia piece I wrote a while ago as a karmic sort of apology.
With that in mind, this is a bit of a rough, long one-shot. It comes from a chapter in a larger, mostly Nalu-focused fic which I may or may not ever actually finish writing. Sooo it's not even really a one-shot so much as it's, like, a segment of a chapter from one. I also barely had time to clean it up ever so slightly.
However, I thought Gruvia fans would appreciate anyway. Maybe one day, I'll write the whole thing because I honestly think it could be a story, or maybe a series of drabbles? This is all you kids get for now, though, lol. no fucks given (just kidding this will keep me up nights.)
o(O)o
Ignoring Natsu's whining about still being motion sick from beside him, Gray buried his hands in his pockets and let his eyes engage in their favorite past-time: roaming the curves of the blue-haired woman walking in front of him.
Him and Juvia had officially been together for over half a year, but his eyes still snagged on the same places they always had. The sway of her blue hair, now long enough to partly obscure the pinch of her waist and flare of her hips with each swish. The pretty, cute flush that lived on her cheeks as she listened attentively to Erza, who was chattering about a famous desert shop in the area. The way shadow and light shifted over the curve of her rear. And—forever his most favorite—the exposed skin of her legs. Long, toned, moon white...and fucking perfect.
Gray felt his cheeks heat, but couldn't find it in himself to drag his eyes away. The solidness and length of their relationship did absolutely nothing to diminish the novelty of her beauty, like he might once have feared it would. Instead, it hypnotized him more surely than ever. Noticing all the men drooling over her figure as they walked past, Gray was aware of the sting of possessiveness and annoyance which rose in his chest, but was also easily able to ignore it.
He was as comfortable as any guy with a stunning girlfriend could be in his own jealousy, these days. More shockingly, so was Juvia, a fact that was plain from the way she shot only perfunctory glares at the women eyeing him and whispering to each other as they passed.
As he stared at her back, his lips quirked ever so slightly. It had taken time, tears, and work—more work than he could ever have anticipated—to get to this point in their relationship. But work had never been more worth it.
His mind wandered to reminiscence. To where it had all started, when they had started, after the 100-Year Quest had ended and he'd finally—with Lucy, Levy, and Erza's help—managed to ask Juvia to be his girlfriend.
"Not just 'yours'," Levy had insisted, explaining that phrasing would confuse her. "Your girlfriend."
He'd actually fought them on it. Not really because he had a problem with commitment anymore (okay, it was a little embarrassing, but not too much) but because the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" felt ridiculous, considering everything they'd been through. How deeply he cared about her. For crying out loud, they'd tried to kill themselves for each other. He'd kill for her, die for her, and—most importantly—he would live for her. Beyond making his ears feel like they were going to melt off, the word "girlfriend" felt trite.
But when Lucy and Levy demanded to know if that meant he was going to propose, he'd balked. Actually, having the m-word shoved right up against his nose kind of made his soul flee his body. As ready as he was for a romantic relationship, he wanted to go through the actual experience of having one. Like, with all the steps involved. In order. He was at the point in his life that he wanted it more than anything.
More importantly, he wanted to give Juvia that experience. He was determined to do right by her.
With the girls' reality check, and the point they'd made that ambiguity might make Juvia jump to the wrong conclusion or even hurt her, they'd convinced him. He'd been committed to making his long-awaited confession as special for Juvia as possible, complete with saying any embarrassing words she wanted to hear.
Gray still hadn't felt worthy of the love she gave him. He still struggled to believe he was a man who could protect her. But after everything he'd been through during the 100-Year-Quest, seeing how much she'd missed him the whole time, and his talk with Juvina-sama, he'd understood it was completely unfair to ask Juvia to wait for him to decide he was worthy enough to love her openly. He also wasn't above admitting that Juvina-sama's suggestion that she wouldn't wait forever had disquieted some irrational part of him enough to make him antsy, impatient to make absolutely sure they were exclusive.
He'd been completely flustered throughout his confession, but known it had gone as right as it could. Lucy, Levy, and Erza—who thought they'd been slick, hiding in a nearby bush to watch him confess—had agreed. (Lucy had annoyed him to no end by teasing him over how "adorable" he'd been.)
And yet...Juvia's response hadn't been quite what Gray hoped. Lucy hadn't noticed it, but he had. He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but at some point, he'd learned to read the Water Mage like an open book. For how sincere a person she was—a trait he was all too familiar with—Juvia could also be surprising, even mysterious. As transient as water, with hidden depths you'd never know a thing about unless you were willing to dive beneath the surface.
When Gray confessed, he'd braced himself for joyous screaming. He'd planned to freeze a literal flood of tears before it could wash them both away. He'd been prepared to get a concussion from how hard she'd glomp him in the street. But while she had said yes, demurely accepted the roses, and hugged him plenty tight...her response had been subdued. In hindsight, he could see the pattern her reaction fit: the way her gaze had dropped to the street despite her happy flush, the hesitant, nervous gleam in her eyes, the limited verbal response.
The only times she'd ever acted that way had been when he actually reciprocated some of her affection. When he'd promised to give her a straight answer, after he defeated END. When he'd given her a one-armed hug and said he was glad her "body" was safe, after he'd saved her from that wood bastard.
Something had been wrong. But when the girls who'd spied on him only gushed afterwards, not seeming to have noticed anything off, he'd shrugged off his concerns, assuming it was his own lack of romantic literacy. He'd been nervous, but also really excited to learn.
But as their relationship officially began...it quickly became obvious that there was a problem, and that a one-sided approach to fixing it just wasn't going to cut it.
Juvia had always been prone to mood swings severe enough to make Gray's head spin, but as soon as they started dating, her mood seemed to sink. He'd try to ask her about it only for her to put on an obviously fake, cheery front and insist she was fine.
At first, he was sure it must be his fault. He'd had no idea what he was doing wrong. At that point, the guilt he felt for not taking Juvia's feelings seriously for so long, for abandoning her in Amefurashi Village, and for nearly letting her die in an attempt to save him had been taking a serious toll on him. The guilt had sometimes left him ragged. Every time she seemed down, he beat himself up and tried to do better. Talking, dates, spending time together (even when it meant ditching missions he really wanted to go on with the team), accepting her gifts and acting happy about them (no matter how much they creeped him out).
But the more he'd tried to make up for everything, the worse it seemed to get. He watched her frustration rise as he tried to be more openly affectionate, her denials that she was frustrated getting louder. More and more, she gave, but when he gave back, she'd look ready to explode or burst into tears.
What had made everything come to a head was the sex. A surprise in itself. For all the ways their relationship had suffered, sex had never been one of them. It'd started back in the cabin they shared in Amefurashi Village. From the first night they'd moved in together, Juvia had not-so-surprisingly tried to edge her way into Gray's bed constantly. She'd use excuses of cold weather, make puppy eyes, and sew nauseatingly pink coupley bed sheets to try to lure him (when, he still had no idea).
Meanwhile, he struggled more and more to pretend he didn't find (most of) her antics adorable. Not to mention incredibly tempting. Things escalated to where he'd feel his excitement rising towards the end of their daily training sessions, to the point his body became conditioned to react when he saw the damn sun set.
He also felt increasing dread at the notion of having to turn Juvia down—and for having to sneak out in the middle of every night to "take care" of the problem she always left him with (cold showers didn't exactly work for an Ice Wizard).
Finally, one night, she'd pouted and whined that she was sore from training and begged for a massage. Gray didn't know if it was the fact she was asking him for something instead of offering; the unbelievably cute, sparkly-eyed, hopeful glances she kept sneaking at him; or the fact he could tell she actually was sore from the way her face would pinch as she attempted to stretch provocatively in front of him, but his resolve had shattered.
Before he could think and without a word, he'd lifted his covers and held her gaze, not bothering to hide the dark promise in his eyes.
Her reaction had been priceless. He'd never forget it.
His acceptance seemed to knock the breath straight out of her. Her eyes had gone round as saucers, staring into his eyes like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her cheeks had darkened. She'd stood stunned for so long that he'd started to get nervous, wondering if she'd only been being playful all this time, not really meaning to come on to him or maybe not expecting him to ever accept. But just as he'd been trying to field the disappointment sinking his heart and trying to think of how to promise he wouldn't do anything she didn't want, she'd hesitantly approached the bed, trembling.
After giving her the massage she'd asked for, he'd rewarded her bravery three times over.
After that, for the very first time, the dynamic of their relationship shifted in one, important way—the one which would force him to finally confront his own heart:
In terms of their physical relationship, he became the more dominant one. In this one aspect of their shared life, he chased. Gray flustered Juvia. He hadn't been able to get enough. What had once been a relentless, one-sided pursuit (one where she had, admittedly, been gaining on him without his notice) became a dance which had addicted him before he knew it.
The notion of reciprocating her feelings had once had him running for the hills. So it had been a huge shock to learn just how much he liked it.
She was so obviously happy and disbelieving that first time he slipped her clothes off in the moonlit dark, cursing over her beauty. Utterly awestruck when he'd seen to her pleasure (twice, he still liked to remember proudly) before even considering his own. Sex was the first time he heard her speak in the first-person, the first time she said his name without adding "-sama" (since that battle in the rain, anyway.)
It was when he lost himself in her soft skin, her passion, and her pleasure that some part of him was able to accept the truth she'd had the grace to surrender to from the very beginning.
The shift in their sex life was also when he'd started to twig something wasn't right between them. After Alvarez was when he'd started it back up. His plan had been to wait until he was able to reciprocate her feelings verbally, like he'd promised, but almost losing her had broken him in a way some part of him would never truly recover from. Between that and his final, full acceptance of his own feelings, there'd been no restraining himself. He'd come onto her with all the subtlety of a freight train the second they were alone.
Even then, something hadn't been quite right. She hadn't been herself, quiet enough that—even as...compromised as his critical thinking skills had been, at the time, and even in his heightened emotional state—he'd noticed. He'd pulled back and asked if she was okay, but when her response had simply been to drag him back in for a kiss that made his knees weak, he'd taken it as a yes and matched her passion enthusiastically.
She kept staying quiet in bed. It bothered the hell out of him, and he badgered her about it more than once, but would ultimately let it go when she insisted she was fine. In his defense, there had been a lot of reasons she could've become subdued. They had just fought a war. They were all exhausted from fixing the town and working to build peace in Fiore.
But after the 100-Year Quest and after his confession, she got even weirder. He noticed it all the time, in every aspect of their relationship, but it was especially noticeable in bed, when they were so close to each other, both completely vulnerable.
When they'd cohabitated, he'd almost always been the one to start something. He'd enjoyed that. He'd even (hell, especially) enjoyed the way she'd flirt, pretend to be oblivious to his advances, pout and blush and make him impress her, coax him to the brink of losing his mind before finally caving to both of their desires. Those times where he went from prey to predator had balanced their entire relationship, satisfying both of them.
Gray wasn't some slimeball who needed sex, but he did need some balance in their dynamic. The private, physical side of their relationship was just where it'd happened to play out. It could've played out anywhere in their relationship, if they were off sex for a while for whatever reason.
But as soon as they became official, it became clear she'd fight tooth and nail to make sure that never happened.
She came onto him. Every. Single. Time. He'd been a little surprised, but happy enough. At first. But as he pushed her to talk to him harder and she denied louder, he'd started to guess that something was genuinely, really wrong.
She didn't speak in the first-person when they were intimate, any more. She didn't drop the "-sama." Even worse, he started to suspect she was seducing him even when she wasn't really in the mood. Almost like she felt like she had to.
It had been one such time when he finally flipped his shit. Even now, walking behind her and appreciating her curves, the memory made his mood falter a little.
He regretted how he'd handled things. It shamed him to remember how he'd all but shoved her off him and refused to do anything else with her until she was ready to tell him whatever the hell was going on inside that crazy, watery head of hers. It was an ultimatum. A cruelly-put one, at that. He hadn't realized just how hurt and angry he was until the words flew out of his mouth.
Juvia had opened up, alright.
In fact, she'd exploded.
They'd screamed at each other, horrible things Gray could hardly stand to repeat even in his own head. She'd demanded that he quit wasting both their time and leave her again, like they both knew he would. He'd asked how stupid she could be to think he'd do that, when he was obviously dedicated enough to put up with her psycho stalker gifts. She'd retorted that her "psycho stalker gifts" didn't seem to have any affect on his libido. He'd yelled that she was the one jumping his bones, ever since he'd asked her out. She'd said that was because she actually cared about his happiness, implying that was something he'd never understand.
She'd ended the black, ugly fight with four hoarse words that ripped his heart out of his chest: "This is over, Gray-sama!"
His apartment door had slammed behind her.
He'd been too shocked and devastated to do anything but watch her go, not even managing to stagger to the door and chase after her until she was long-gone. Black curse power had swirled across his skin as he pelted to the guild, growling in frustration when he didn't find her there. Then he'd run all the way to the female dorms at Fairy Hills only to be deterred by Erza, who met him at the gate. She hadn't known anything about his and Juvia's fight, but she'd been drawn by his yelling.
His older sister figure had knocked him out "for his own good."
The next afternoon, Gray had woken up in his own bed. Not bothering to see if he was dressed (it would turn out he wasn't) he'd booked straight to the guild only to be devastated by the news that Juvia had taken a long-term S-class quest just that morning, news which was delivered by a sympathetic Mira.
Sure that it was over, that he'd ruined everything, he'd drunk himself sick—then kept drinking, swinging fists at anyone and everyone who tried to console him until, finally, in the wee hours of the next morning, Gajeel managed to knock him out of it.
The hostility, Gray had expected. Gajeel was Juvia's best friend; of course he was angry to learn that Gray had done something to upset her so much, she'd left for a Quest that could take months or even years to finish without so much as a word to Gajeel or any of their other comrades.
What did surprise Gray was the understanding Gajeel eventually showed.
Gray got his ass knocked flat by the Iron Dragon Slayer. From his back on the ground, he started to spit out what happened. With each word, the larger man had visibly calmed. After enough had come out, he'd awkwardly helped Gray to his feet (his own, gruff brand of apology.) He'd helped Gray sober up, then he'd given him a pep talk.
He'd refused to explain his own guesses as to what was going on with Juvia, insisting "who knows what goes on in that water witch's head." But he'd also insisted that whatever was going on, it for damn sure wasn't what Gray thought, which was that he'd hurt her too badly for her to love him anymore.
"She's obsessed with you," the man had said, scowling in disgust. "She's always been obsessed with you. She's way too stubborn to let it go that easy. It's annoying."
By six AM, Gajeel Redfox—of all people—had talked Gray into chasing after the love of his life. He'd even used his Iron Magic to create a lockpick which got them into the archive room, where they'd found Mira's records...and Juvia's location.
He'd barely had the time to register the irony of her quest's location before he was gone, shooting Gajeel a gruff "thanks" over his shoulder and running home to pack.
It'd been raining when he finally walked into Amefurashi Village.
He hadn't consciously known where to start looking when he arrived, but his feet—following some combination of muscle memory and the fate he'd fought for so long—had carried him to the place where the word "home" had changed for him: the cabin he and Juvia had shared. Where they'd grown together. Taken care of each other.
Where he'd left her. Hurt her. Even if most of the reason to do so was because he wanted to protect her, he couldn't stop hating himself for that.
She was standing outside the place, drenched and shivering, when he got there. As if sensing his arrival as surely as he'd known where to find her, Juvia had turned to look at Gray with eyes that were glassy above flushed cheeks. She'd wavered on her feet.
As soon as she'd whispered his name, she'd toppled. Gray's bag had landed in a puddle with a splashy thunk. He'd lunged to catch her like his life depended on it.
Shouting her name had earned him no response, but pressing the back of his hand to her forehead had been enough to convince him that she had a seriously high fever.
Strangely, as worried as he'd been about her, he hadn't even thought to bring her back to Wendy or seek a nearer healer. In hindsight, he was sure that deep down, he'd realized it would do no good; she wasn't physically ill, but heartsick, just as he was. He'd felt lower than the mud gathering around his boots.
He'd been surprised to discover that he had to break into their old home, and rapidly deduced that Juvia hadn't been staying at their old cabin even though she'd been standing outside of it, both from that fact and the fact that none of her stuff was there.
As soon as he lay her in the bed which had once been his before becoming theirs, she'd begun shivering. For the first time in his life, Gray cursed that he was an Ice Wizard instead of a Fire Wizard.
He'd run outside, grabbed his bag, then come back in—only to curse again when he unclasped the bag only to discover that all its contents were soaked. Thinking quickly, he'd stripped his wet clothes, then hers. He'd climbed into bed with her.
"'M sorry, Gray-sama..." she'd slurred her sleep. "Juvia's so sorry...Juvia had to...I just had to..."
He'd shushed her, rubbing her arms to try to warm her up. "It's okay, Juvia. I know, my love. It's okay..."
He'd kept holding her and whispering soft comfort to her until she'd finally stopped shivering, at which point his frantic worry had abated enough that he could fully admit to himself how good it felt to have her in his arms, her skin against his. How warm she was. How perfectly she fit against him. How much he missed her. She was right there, as close as another person could ever be to him. Yet with how things had been between them lately and how lost she was to fever, he'd never felt further away.
Apparently, he'd fallen asleep at some point, because when he awoke, it was to the rising sun blazing at him from the center of the cabin window. Ignoring his body's reaction to waking up in the arms of the very naked, beautiful woman he happened to be in love with, Gray had instantly dropped his hand to Juvia's forehead, sighing in relief when it became clear her fever had reduced. She wasn't better, but she was getting there.
Quickly figuring out what needed done, he'd dropped a tender kiss to her warm forehead, murmuring a threat against her sweaty hairline: "You'd better not even think of running away again, crazy woman. We are going to talk when I get back."
Gray had dressed, glanced back, and left. He'd met up with he client—a rich and unfortunately good-looking asshole about Gray's age who was way too disappointed Juvia, herself, wasn't the one who'd shown up. Through gritted teeth, Gray informed the bastard it would be a couple days before he and his partner (he was sure to emphasize those words several times) would be able to begin investigating the dark guild threatening the area, as she'd fallen ill.
It annoyed him to no end that the creep seemed genuinely concerned about this, trying to insert himself, demand to see her, and attempting to coax Gray into revealing her location (Gray couldn't help the pleasure and hope which rose in his chest, when he learned she hadn't told this guy wherever it was she was staying; obviously, she'd had no interest in sharing that information.)
The client had thrown a rich boy tantrum when Gray refused to tell him anything, but ultimately let him go when Gray promised Juvia would be there in a couple days (not bothering to mention that he would absolutely be there, too.)
He'd gone to pick up medicine and food. He'd grabbed all the ingredients he could remember for something hearty, mild, and delicious she used to make him when they lived together, a chicken stew that tasted like something he could remember from childhood. Those ingredients, medicine, ginger tea...anything he could think of that might help her feel better, he purchased, barely noting price.
Juvia had been waiting on the porch wrapped only in a blanket when he returned, flushed with both fever and anger.
They'd both been pissed at each other. While Gray locked horns with Juvia's amorous creep of a client, she had apparently been discovered by the landlord who owned their old cabin and only barely managed to talk him out of his anger, ultimately having to pay double their old monthly rent to keep him from calling the authorities—all while wrapped only in a blanket.
A brief yelling match had ensued. It ended when Juvia began coughing rather violently, Gray dropping his groceries in the mud to run to her. Even as she insisted she was fine, he'd ushered her into the cabin, forcing her to sit before he went back out to grab the food he'd bought.
Her face had gone funny when he began grouchily unloading chicken, rice, broth, veggies, and herbs. When he (somewhat defensively) asked what the hell she was staring at, she'd haltingly asked if he'd bought all of that for her. Exasperated, he'd told her of course he had, she'd had him worried sick.
The groceries had been abandoned when she burst into tears.
It had taken several minutes of heart-wrenching sobs on Juvia's part and coaxing on Gray's for the conversation to actually begin.
During their ugly fight in his apartment, she'd exploded.
Here, in the lonely home they'd once shared, she imploded.
While the groceries thawed and dripped on the kitchen counter, Juvia sobbed the whole, messy, painful truth into his chest. She told him everything. She told him how, deep down, she'd always known she wasn't worthy of having her love reciprocated by him. It had been true from the moment they'd met, when she'd been part of Phantom Lord, but remained true no matter how long she'd been at Fairy Tail. That was how she'd put it: "I always knew I wasn't worthy of Gray-sama's love." Not only because of her past, but because of how annoying she was. How gloomy. How creepy and obnoxious.
Gray hadn't even had time to express his horror at the fact she thought those things before she'd been plowing on, her tears only getting thicker and her words only making his heart sink lower.
She said knowing she didn't deserve his love had turned to knowing she didn't deserve to love him at all, when she'd killed Keyes to free Gray's father from his undead life. But even though "Gray-sama had been wonderful enough to forgive Juvia," she'd continued to hate herself, deep down.
She told him that sharing a life in the cabin they were currently in had, for her, been the sweetest kind of torture. That she'd never been so happy—and never felt more undeserving. For the first time, she told him that she'd only had one lover before Gray, some piece of shit named "Bora" who'd never cared about her or her pleasure. Gray had been nothing like him, attentive, caring, and as invested in her pleasure as he was in his own. At first, feeling so cared for had been as overwhelming as it was amazing, but by the time Gray started to pull away from her for his mission, the overwhelmed feelings had slowly begun to fade, letting her forget everything but the happiness she felt with him.
Juvia told him that the day he abandoned her to infiltrate Avatar, everything which she'd started to believe could feel right began to feel wrong, and everything which had felt wrong began to feel right. She'd never felt she deserved to be loved by Gray the way she loved him. Being left by him had, in a horrible way, made her feel like the world was how it was supposed to be.
But it had also ripped her apart.
It had destroyed any confidence she'd begun to gain in herself.
She told him that she resented being abandoned. Resented not being told about his mission to infiltrate a Dark Guild, not just because of their relationship, but because she had once been in a Dark Guild, and could potentially have helped his and Erza's Mission. She'd not only felt betrayed on a personal level, but disrespected as a Mage with no small amount of skill and experience.
It was a side to the issue which he had, shameflly, never considered.
He was mortified when she'd finally let herself chastise him for this—especially when he'd tried to defend himself by bringing up details of his mission only to be instantly struck down and ripped apart by someone who was, in fact, very obviously more knowledgeable about the inner workings of Dark Guilds than either he or Erza ever had been. Hell, Juvia could probably have run the mission almost as well as Jellal had.
For the first time, he saw just how beneficial it would have been to have her on board, despite Erza urging him not to get her involved. He should've gone against her orders, asked forgiveness instead of permission. Over the course of that one conversation, it was clear that having her on board would have shortened the length of their mission by probably several months.
But worse than the benefits they'd missed out on, in infiltrating Avatar, worse than the fact that she resented him, was her admission that she hated herself for that resentment.
She'd apologized. So many times. Too many times to count. Each apology was another crack in Gray's heart. He'd tried to ask her to stop, but they'd just kept slipping out anyway. It was like she couldn't help it.
She'd told him that over time, as she got to know the other women in Fairy Tail—Lucy, Cana, and Levy—she'd realized just how unworthy she was of the care Gray held for even just his friends. She just hadn't been forced to confront her own lacking sense of self-worth...until he openly reciprocated her feelings.
She said that the second he confessed, part of her felt wrong. Like she'd donned someone else's skin—someone who was worth being loved by Gray. Her guilt, her knowledge that she wasn't worthy of him, her bitterness, her self-hatred...all of it had come rushing to the surface.
She told him that, as unworthy as she'd felt, she'd been too selfish to reject him. Too angry at the thought of him being with someone else. Her own selfishness made her feel even worse than before. She'd been determined to be worthy of him, and so she had sought to pay every ounce of love he gave her three times over. At least.
It hadn't made her feel any better. No matter how hard she tried to be sure to pay him back, every time Gray took her on a date or made love to her, it made her skin crawl, because she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve his love, his affection, or even his attention. He deserved better, and she was nowhere close to deserving him. She never would be.
If there had been even one last, single sliver of a doubt as to how he felt about this woman, it died then and there. Nothing—not his own guilt, being screamed at, or being broken up with—nothing could hurt worse than being made aware of what a hard time she was having. Learning just how badly she'd been dissociating during all their most precious moments. How much pain she was in. How little she thought of herself. How deep her scars ran.
He'd have given anything to take her pain away. He'd have given anything to change it. Right then, he couldn't think of a single thing he wouldn't have done to make her see herself as he saw her: the energetic, caring, fierce Mage he'd come to know. The woman who always eclipsed everything else for just a second, the first time he saw her every day.
He'd wanted to tell her all that, and more. He wanted to apologize. He'd wanted to tell her how badly he missed her after he'd left her here, that this place had been home for him, too. He'd wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, that no day without her smile even felt real, but his voice had been stuck behind a lump of misery and all he'd been able to do, for a very long time, was lay in their bed and hold her while she cried the rest of it out. He wasn't too ashamed to admit he lost a couple tears in her hair, too.
Over the twilight of time it had taken for her sobs to turn hoarse, then to whimpers, then sniffles, guilt, emotional exhaustion, an anguish washed over Gray in their turn.
Until finally, he hardened all of those feelings into resolve.
"I'm really thankful that you're here. For always being beside me..."
Those were the words Gray had said to her before Alvarez, and he'd meant them. For years, Juvia had done nothing but be there for him. Even when he didn't want her there, she stayed right next to him, quietly piecing together his heart and his trust. It killed him that the woman who'd confronted him with her love, made him face down his own weakness, always thought of him, and helped him so much more than he could ever truly thank her for had been hiding so much of her own pain. He wished she would have told him any of this all the times he'd pushed and asked.
But he couldn't blame her for that. Maybe she hadn't opened up to him before then, but her mentions of her days in Phantom and of that shithead ex of hers had driven home, with stark clarity, a realization he wished he'd made a lot sooner: Juvia didn't know how to open up like Gray had tried to demand, because she hadn't grown up somewhere like Fairy Tail.
Unlike Gray and Natsu and the others, she hadn't been taught to bare her pain, hadn't always known there would be someone to listen to her, cry with her, be on her side. While Gray had been fought, teased, and accepted for exactly who he was (more often his whole self than not) Juvia had been abandoned by every single person in her life except Gajeel and those who'd wanted to use her for their own ends. Gray abandoning her had only confirmed what she'd been taught was inevitable.
But the Ice Mage wouldn't linger on that. He wouldn't give any more time to despair.
It was his turn now, he realized. His turn to stay beside her even when it was hard, and do the work. Now, he just had to figure out how. But while he'd been trying to do that, had been gathering his words, Juvia had recovered enough to speak once more.
She'd apologized again. She'd told him that she knew this was too much, that all of this was too much...that she was too much. For the times they'd shared, she thanked him quietly, eyes bright with yet more tears and refusing to meet his as she continued that she'd had to let Gray go because she wanted him to be happy, and she'd finally, finally realized she could never do that for him, not really. Then she'd tried to push him away, and as Gray had tightened his grip, he'd realized he didn't need to figure out what to do, what to say, or how to love her.
She'd been showing him all along.
After a deep breath, the words had come low, and easier than he'd thought. He told her she was right, all of this was a lot...but also that he was so, so happy she'd finally told him what was really going on. He'd been as gentle as possible when he told her he could see how difficult and scary it had been for her to open up about all this and that he was proud of how brave she'd been for doing so, but she'd started crying again anyway, so he'd had to carry on with a shakier, hoarser voice.
He'd apologized. For everything. For not taking her feelings seriously for so long, for not seeing her when she needed to be seen, for leaving her behind and hurting her so badly she'd gotten sick. He hadn't been dismissing her abilities as a Mage so much as he'd been trying to protect her, but that was no excuse. "High-handed and cruel" was a generous way to describe his behavior, and he finally saw that. He'd told her that if he could take it back, he would. But he couldn't. He could only promise to never, ever leave her like that again, and he was more than ready to make that promise. He had been for a long time, since well into the 1oo Years Quest. If she'd only give him another chance, he'd show her.
At this point, Juvia had obviously started to twig that this conversation wasn't going to go how she planned, with Gray accepting she was too burdensome and unworthy for him and leaving her alone like everyone else had left her, because she'd started kicking up a fuss, forcing him to hold her there again.
"Let Juvia go, Gray-sama!" she'd demanded shakily, sounding like she was barely clinging to her determination. But Gray had refused. He refused to let her go like this, not until she'd heard him out.
As brief as the ensuing argument had been, it was also one of the most frustrating conversations Gray had ever taken part in (and he'd fought Natsu on basically every cock-and-bull-ass plan he'd ever come up with.)
He'd tried desperately to insist that while Juvia could be creepy and he did find rain somewhat gloomy, she was not worthless or annoying or obnoxious. He'd tried to tell her that she did make him happy. He'd tried to tell her how he felt about her.
Juvia had not responded well.
A wall had slammed up in her eyes, the same blank one he'd met on that fateful, rainy day so long ago. As she'd kept denying, and he'd kept pushing, their voices had gotten louder. Eventually, Gray had realized it was raining outside the window next to their bed again, and that was the one thing that had forced him to take a step back from his own frustration. Lucky, because if he hadn't, he might have flown off the handle and ruined everything all over again.
Looking down at her, he'd forced himself to cool off and realized he was being unfair; he was asking her to take an entire journey in one leap, to unlearn a lifetime's-worth of lessons about her own worthlessness over the course of a single conversation. No one could do that. It was an unreasonable thing to ask.
And so, when he'd finally gathered his wits and perspective enough, he'd said, "You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to agree with my feelings for you. But you have to believe that they're real...and you have to at least consider my side."
Juvia's eyes had gone wide. As they regained their sparkle, he'd refused to break eye contact. Slowly, the rain had stopped, leaving them in the silent hut.
After what felt like years, she'd shakily whispered, "O-okay."
And Gray had known that they were finally, finally getting somewhere.
Quietly and slowly, with their hands intertwined between their chests and their foreheads pressed together, they'd pieced together a fragile plan. They would stay together and be as they had been, but from now on, they were both going to make a concerted effort to be honest and rebuild trust. Gray started by admitting that missing out on Quests with his team had really started to bum him out, and while this seemed to sadden Juvia at first, she admitted after some thought that in being with Gray, she hadn't been nurturing her own friendships with her friends like Gajeel and Meredy. Lucy had also asked for help training her in Water Magic, and Juvia had declined so far even though she was interested in having someone to teach.
Gray had encouraged all of this...and he'd encouraged her to visit Porlyusica, too, when they got home. The old lady was hardly a Mental Healer, but she'd hopefully be able to help them find someone who was, someone objective and removed from the situation who Juvia could talk to openly. One thing which had sunk in fully for Gray over the course of Juvia's heartrending speech was that it was going to take a lot of time, work, and love to get Juvia to a better place. There was no way the two of them could do it alone.
They'd talked and planned until their voices were hoarse...and then they'd not talked for even longer. Juvia once again dropped the "-sama." She let him come to her. She didn't just surrender herself to him the way she had when they had each other before in their cabin, she'd given him even more—in his arms, she'd bared a small and precious part of herself Gray had never even realized she hid from him.
Over the course of the month they spent in that cabin, he'd cherished everything she gave him more than most men could've in twice the amount of time. How they'd managed to deal with that Dark Guild months and months ahead of schedule, he would never understand, because his head had never been less in the game. Neither of them had been able keep their hands off each other for more than an hour when they were alone together.
Neither had been particularly disappointed when that crotchety old landlord refused to give them back any part of their months' rent. Instead, they'd stayed till June was up breaking the place in thoroughly.
"It's payback for him being a jackass to you!" Gray had once playfully defended against her neck, pinning her against the kitchen counter and grinning as she gigglingly scolded him.
He only prayed no one ever took a UV Lacrima to the inside of that place. They'd go blind. He'd taken her on the couch, over it, against the walls, on the counters and tables, and in more positions than he'd previously known existed in that bed. When they returned home, a bunch of people had pointed out that they both looked like they'd lost weight. Gray didn't doubt it, after all the—
"...seriously, none of you know what it's like, every time we travel...OI, STRIPPER, YOU MAYBE WANNA QUIT EYE-FUCKING YOUR GIRLFRIEND WHEN WE'RE IN PUBLIC, YOU GODDAMN PERVERT?!"
The absolute last voice Gray wanted to hear when he was thinking about such great, intimate things yanked him out of his reflections in the most unpleasant of ways. An expression crossed between a scowl and a grimace consumed his features.
"Gray-sama!?" Juvia spluttered, craning her neck to peer at them over her shoulder with wide eyes. She looked half-scolding, half...affected as her cheeks went rose red.
Gray felt his own face grow hot as he turned to glare furiously at the pink-haired, disgusted-and-disgusting-looking bane of his existence.
"Would you keep your voice down, Dragon Boy?! I was not 'eye-fucking' Juvia!" His cheeks burned hotter as an elderly woman passing by shot him a deeply disapproving look.
"The hell you weren't!" Natsu snapped, drawing even more attention. "I could see all your gross, perverted thoughts right there in those droopy eyes of yours!"
"ARGH! So what?!" Gray just wanted this fight to be over, and figured that sort of admitting to what he'd been doing was the quickest way to make that happen. "Can't a guy even look at his girlfriend without pink-haired, flame-brained losers getting involved?!"
"THE HELL YOU JUST CALL ME?!"
"OH, SO YOU'RE DEAF AS WELL AS BRAINLESS, NOW?!"
"THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD IT! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU ICY BAS—"
"That's enough."
Uncharacteristically subdued and uninvolved though Erza's command was, it was enough to have both Natsu and Gray cringing and sweating in fear almost instantly.
"A-aye!" they squeaked, then sighed in relief as she shot them one last glare and clanked away.
"Ah, it always goes this way." Happy folded his little blue sausage arms over his chest and tsked. "If only Gray had kept his perverted eyes on himself, we wouldn't even be talking about this."
"And just how the heck is one supposed to 'keep their eyes on themselves', huh?" Gray growled up at the floating Exceed.
"By not being you, apparently!" he cackled back, Natsu soon joining him in his obnoxious guffawing.
"Why, you—! Get back here, you little shit!" Gray made a random grab at the little creep only to curse as he missed his tail by about a centimeter.
Meanwhile, Juvia clasped her still-red cheeks with her hands and donned an all-too-familiar, starry-eyed expression. "Juvia does not mind at all if Gray-sama...covets Juvia in public! How Juvia adores Gray-sama's passion!"
Gray flinched as if he'd been whipped in the back. In a second flat, he was blushing again. "O-oi, Juvia—!" he started, scrambling to find a way to get her to calm down before she came onto him in public.
(Again.)
"However," she continued before he figured out how to distract her, turning to look at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "If Gray-sama is going to covet Juvia on a public street, Juvia thinks he should at least wear clothes."
"Wha—?! CRAP!" Gray shouted as soon as he realized he'd stripped down to his boxers. "When did that happen!?"
Juvia wrinkled her nose cutely and giggled while he scrambled for his clothes. When he was finally yanking his jacket on, he shot her a playful glare only for his lips to quirk when she winked and sauntered after Erza.
That little...she'll get it later, he thought with a huff before shoving his hands in his pockets and strolling after her. He was well aware that he was full-on grinning, now, and didn't care in the slightest.
Little interactions like that...those were the fruits of all the hard work they—especially Juvia—had done when they got back from that S-Class mission. Gray had been prepared for it to be grueling and difficult, to fight. "Relationships take work" was a piece of advice he'd heard plenty, since he started asking for advice about how to love Juvia.
But what he'd never expected to find was that, while it was hard sometimes, it was work he was all too willing and capable of doing, because it was for her. For them. And what no one had told him was that, while loving someone meant their pain became yours, it also meant that their triumphs became yours, too.
Some days had been worse than others. Even though she'd been talking to a friend of Porlyusica's and made an impressive effort to spend more times with her friends, there were moments where Gray had felt like Juvia was back at square one. But he'd been there beside her, encouraging her every step of the way while she healed, learned that he wouldn't leave her again, learned that she was worth all of it. And slowly but surely, she'd healed.
That was what no one had told him: that every time she huffed at him to do his own laundry, teased him, sassed him into taking her on a real date, and even turned him down for sex, that he would feel such a huge rush of pride and triumph.
It was true that the road had been hard, but Gray had walked it with Juvia, and that had made every step worth it.
o(O)o
AN: Ah, sorry I don't have the time to edit this now and make it more cohesive! Also that I can't publish my next chapter of Chasing Tails just yet! I definitely, definitely will come back to edit this piece one day and make it better after I've done that. In the meantime, Happy Belated Gruvia Day!
P.S.: Fun Fact! I named this partly after one of my all-time favorite fics from a completely different fandom. The Hard Road by wthtonibelle, a Kacchako fic (from the My Hero Academia fandom) which is written in a similar way and has similar themes, only it's longer and better lol. check it out if you're so inclined!
#fairy tail#gruvia#gruvia fan fiction#gruvia fanfiction#fairy tail fanfiction#fairy tail fan fiction#gray fullbuster#juvia lockser
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Gruvia Week Day 4 - Delirium ⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆
Summary: The time Juvia and Gray spent together in a void after their fight with Invel. A realm between the real world and the afterlife. Not fully alive, but not yet dead.
Rating: K+
Genre: Angst and Romance
Day 4: Delirium - Gruvia Week | Fanfiction ♡ @gruviaweek
#gruvia week#gruvia week 2023#Gray X Juvia#Juvia Lockser#gray fullbuster#gruvia fanfiction#my gruvia art edit
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Subtle
Summary: Juvia comes to the conclusion that Gray is much more subtle about his feelings than she is.
Also on FF.net and AO3
______________
“There, there.” Levy rubbed Juvia’s back as he lay with her forehead pressed against the wooden table. “I’m sure he really was just busy this time.”
“Maybe,” Juvia said pathetically, her arms loose at her sides. “He did seem to be in a hurry with Natsu.”
“See, the time will be right for guys one day soon. Maybe even sooner than you think.” Levy grabbed both of Juvia’s shoulders and sat her up straight again. “Just be as patient as you always have been. It’ll pay off one of these days, I just know it.”
“Patience,” Juvia let out a breath. “I’ve been patient about it. I was promised an answer from him a year ago and now look, he’s finished the 100 years quest and came back like nothing new happened.”
Levy gave her an awkward smile and rubbed up and down her arm in comfort. Juvia looked at her with a sad look in her eyes before looking down at her lap.
“Should I just give up? At this point he’d have to be pretending to not know that I’m right here waiting on him doing something,” she fiddled with her fingers, feeling heart broken by her own suggestion of giving up on waiting around for an answer.
“Oh Juvia, no,” Levy said back, tilting her head to get a better look at the water mage’s face. “He made sure you knew he was at least thinking about you, right? The ball is in his court now, and he’s the one who put it there.”
“Maybe,” Juvia said again, which seemed to be her favorite word during the conversation. “I guess my expectations for our reunion were just too high.”
“Hey, it was still super sweet. He even caught you when you jumped at him, that’s a good sign.” Levy was clearly grasping at straws to make her feel better about the whole situation.
Juvia gave her a small smile, and placed a hand over one hers. “Thank you, Levy. You’re too kind.”
“Well, ain’t this romantic,” Cana crashed onto the bench opposite Levy and Juvia’s table. “Never would have guessed, congratulations.”
She laughed out loud as both girls went red and stared at her in shock. Levy placed both hands on her now swollen belly and mumbled under her breath at the remark.
“She’s been dying to come over here and say that,” Lucy said as she approached. “I tried to hold her off, looked like you guys needed a minute.”
“Thanks Lucy,” Juvia smiled at the two girls who had joined them. “I thought you would be on a job today.”
“Nope,” she said and stretched her arms out with a big smile. “Natsu wanted to go fishing today and I didn’t feel like getting that awful salty smell all over my clothes.”
“Yeah, well you should tell him to take more care of his fishing rod,” a voice said from behind them. “He just forced me to make him two extra ones.”
Gray slid into the booth beside Juvia and ran a hand through his hair. Juvia stiffened up and moved to grab Levy’s hand under the table for support. Levy simply smiled and winked at her friend before shifting to stand up.
“I think I’m gonna get some air, crowded booths really get me stuffy these days,” Levy said and rubbed her stomach fondly. “Not for long though.”
The group bid Levy goodbye and continued their mindless chatter. Juvia attempted to keep up but couldn’t help feeling insecure at how Gray joked with Cana Lucy. They were able to make him laugh and bring out his wittiness while he was always so stoic towards Juvia when they talked.
She lifted her arms to rest them on the table and consequently knocked off a candle holder in her way. Without thinking she leaned over to grab it, feeling something soft against her arm on the way down and up again instead of the table's edge. When she was upright again she saw Gray’s hand retracted from the corner where she had just brushed against.
She blushed, deciding in her mind that Levy could’ve been right afterall. He did let her know he was thinking about her, just through his actions and not his words. She just needed to keep being patient.
___________
The door creaked closed behind them as Gray and Juvia walked out of the Guildhall, the evening air brushing against their skin.
“I swear, I’m not even kidding,” he spoke as she laughed at him. “Cana has not let me live that down, I thought everyone did that kind of stuff.”
She covered her mouth and looked up at him, “so, you just assumed she got naked and rubber cards on her body?”
“Well, I wasn’t that naïve, but you never know with Cana,” he mumbled as she giggled at him before linking her arm with his as they walked towards their respective apartments.
“That’s true,” Juvia hummed. “She was joking about Levy and I dating before you joined us earlier. I think Gajeel would have killed all three of us if he heard her.”
“Nah, he wouldn’t touch Levy,” Gray said with confidence. “He would definitely kill Cana though.”
“Plus, you would have to be Juvia’s knight in shining armor and save her from him,” she had hearts in her eyes as she fantasized about Gray sticking up for her openly in the guildhall, dressed as a prince of course.
“Right,” he snorted. “Be honest. Do you know about it? You do, don’t you.”
“Do I know what?” Juvia looked up at him, noting his curious gaze.
“That I like you back.” He said as if it was obvious.
“You what?” Juvia stopped walking and looked up at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly ajar.
“Well, yeah. I had this whole thing that after the 100 Year Quest was over I was gonna make you mine, no matter what.” He smiled confidently down at her. “I was trying to figure out how to actually catch you in a romantic moment to just tell you how I felt, and I’ve been trying to keep my feelings to myself in the meantime, but we keep ending up like this.”
He referred to their attached arms and his cheeks gained a slight pink colour as he rubbed the back of his neck. He kept looking at her though, not breaking their eye contact. For once, she was the one that looked overwhelmed while she was the one struggling to keep up, even though Gray was being so calm.
“I- I don’t know what to say.” Juvia managed, still staring up at him. “I thought I was never getting an answer out loud.”
“Out loud?” He frowned at her. “What- Of course I was planning to tell you, I promised after all.”
“You did,” she finally took a deep breath and gave him a small smile. “But, you also show me. I mean, protecting me from something as small as a table’s corner speaks volumes, you know.”
“Yeah, I guess I just can’t help it sometimes,” he chuckled and continued to walk again, their arms still linked. “I was hoping to make my confession a little more of a big surprise or something, but it’s just so natural to be close to you, sorry.”
“No, this was perfect,” Juvia sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.
Gray hummed and they continued to walk in a comfortable silence until they reached the start of the path leading to Fairy Hills, where they would usually part.
“Do you mind if I love you?” Gray said in a rush and then shook his head. “I mean, do you mind if I kiss you?”
Juvia giggled as she watched him mentally kick himself for the slip up, but she took it as her perfect opportunity to flirt with him.
“You could always do both,” she took the opportunity to wrap her arms around Gray’s neck and leaned her torso against his, smiling expectantly at him.
“Yeah, I guess I could,” he breathed out as his eyes met hers.
His hands rested on the small of her back as he leaned forward to meet her lips halfway. When their lips finally collided, Juvia completely melted against him and giggled against his lips which disrupted their kiss.
“You good?” Gray asked, teasing her. He had only leaned back a little and was smiling brightly down at her.
“Better than good,” Juvia said before connecting their lips together once again, Gray wasting no time in giving her what she wanted.
Levy was definitely right. Juvia’s patience had definitely paid off.
#trying to get inspo for my wips lol#pls enjoy theyre so cute#gruvia#gruvia fanfic#gruvia fluff#gruvia fanfiction#Gray X Juvia#gray and juvia
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The Way I Love You
How does Gray Fullbuster love a girl like Juvia Lockser? A few of their guildmates might know a thing or two... but can he actually pull it off?
You may also read it on FanFiction.net and AO3! Check out my master list for other Gruvia fics.
Tag List: @shampooneko @fbflame94 @juviaafullbuster @unvalley @gruviaftw11 @gruviyasharuto (I think I forgot some people here so please remind me if you want to be in my tag list!)
He really did not mean to stare.
But as a lone tendril of her wavy blue locks escaped from behind her ear and grazed her cheek ever so lightly, he couldn't help but get fixated by the view.
In the back of his mind, Gray was relieved that Juvia was so focused on the assortment of barrettes and clips before her that she did not notice how hard he was staring.
Only when she jumped and met his eyes did he realize that he actually reached out towards that stray lock of hair, now resting between his fingertips.
Well, so much for not being noticed.
Gray cleared his throat and hastily tucked her hair behind her ear. "I-it must be bothering you," he stuttered, internally groaning at the lame excuse he came up with at the spur of the moment.
Though a little surprised, Juvia seemed to accept it. "Thank you, Gray-sama," she said, a light blush blooming on her cheeks and a smile finding its way to her lips.
She picked up a hairpin decorated with heart charms and gave it to the seller. "Juvia would like to have this, please."
But before she could start rummaging through her bag for some jewels, Gray had already stretched his arm toward the storekeeper.
"Gray-sama doesn't have to pay for this!" Juvia said, grabbing his hand. But Gray did not budge.
The shopkeeper grinned and took the jewels from his hand despite Juvia's resistance. She wrapped the heart-shaped hairclip in a small pouch and gave it to the flustered girl.
"Dear, there's nothing wrong with your boyfriend spoiling you from time to time," the middle-aged lady said, making Juvia blush. Gray coughed a little and directed his gaze to the shiny caramel apples in the food stall beside them.
Juvia thanked the lady with a slight bow. Hooking her arm with Gray's, they continued strolling through the streets of Clover town.
The town was celebrating the annual Spring Bloom Festival, a week-long event featuring the flowers that bloom on this side of Earthland. Since both Gray and Juvia hadn't yet witnessed the festival before, they decided to take some time off from the guild to attend the last day.
Today was the actual Parade of Flowers, marking the finale of the famous festival. The water mage had been bristling with excitement and anticipation all day long.
"Gray-sama," he heard Juvia say, causing him to tilt his head towards her. "Thank you for buying this for Juvia." She dangled the small package in front of him, and Gray couldn't help but notice how long and slender her fingers were.
If those fingers would just slide down his palms and find their place between his fingers...
Juvia gasped as she felt Gray's cold hand reach out to her own, his mere touch sending electricity down her spine.
Gray was also surprised, realizing that he acted on instinct again rather than conscious thought. He was never big on any public display of affection, so he understood the stunned look on Juvia's face as he held her hand.
But today, he just couldn't keep his hands off of her. And he had a clue why as his previous conversation with the "experienced" fellows at the guild replayed in his mind.
"You're one lucky bastard, you know that?" Wakaba remarked after blowing his pipe. "If only my wife were as loving as Juvia —"
"She's not my wife," Gray quickly interjected, wondering and a little irritated at how he ended up at this guild table. One moment he was encasing the flame brain in ice, and the next moment he was sitting here in his boxers with Macao, Wakaba, Elfman, and Cana, drinking his third bottle of beer for no apparent reason.
"But she sure acts like one, pampering you and everything," Wakaba observed. "Man, what I would give to get my wife to be like that again."
"Drop it, that's never going to happen," Macao chimed in, grinning as if spiting his old friend. And then he turned to Gray.
"If you don't want her love to fade over time, stop being the frigid ice boy. You gotta give her something."
Gray snorted. "I'm sorry, did I ask for anyone's opinion?" Seriously, why are they talking about Juvia all of a sudden? He took a swig from his beer.
"Besides, we're doing great." We've never been happier, he wanted to add about his week-old relationship, but he wasn't nearly drunk enough to turn sappy.
"You're doing great now," Cana quipped, a bit of slur in her words, her cheeks already a berry shade. "Wait 'till she bumps her head and realizes she's doin' all the heavy lifting 'cause of your lazy ass."
Gray thought of all the things Juvia did for him. Aside from telling him how much she loved him in hundreds of creative ways, she would also cook for him (always with his face on a bread or a bento), sew him stuff (dolls, scarf —even a damn body pillow he would never admit he enjoyed unless Erza threatened him at knifepoint), wait for him to come back at the guild (regardless of whether it was a half-day or week-long mission), and attack him with hugs and kisses (he would scowl but never resist).
Just what exactly had he done for her?
Wait for her to finish her mission, like what he was doing now? So he could walk her home and she'd invite him for a nightcap? Perhaps cuddle and make out a little? Maybe do... more?
Blood almost rushed to his cheeks at the thought, if only he weren't feeling a little guilty. She'd be tired when she came back, yet he was thinking of tiring her out more.
Cana's right. He was an ass of a boyfriend.
The good thing was that he could still make things right.
He cleared his throat. "What should I do then?" he asked in his most nonchalant way to suppress the internal panic he was suddenly feeling.
Cana smirked as she leaned toward him, her drunken breath tickling his ear. "Finally realized you're screwing things up, eh?" Ugh, he couldn't get past the bullshit detector of that woman.
He downed his whole bottle before answering.
"I just wanna be a good man for her." There, he said it. He could hear Cana chuckling, but to hell with it.
"Spoken like a real man!" Elfman exclaimed, raising his beer mug and chugging it in one go. Well, if he got Elfman's approval, he must be on the right track towards "being a man," whatever that means.
"The rule's pretty simple: Happy wife, happy life," Wakaba said, though probably more to himself than to Gray. "Though, of course, that's easier said than done. Just don't annoy her when she's mad, and follow her every order, and do the household chores, and –"
"Or, you can just show her more of your feelings," Mirajane butted in as she placed new beer bottles on their table. "It doesn't take much to make a girl happy, Gray. Especially a girl like Juvia."
"Yes, being able to show your feelings without hesitation is manly!"
"Ooh, I can just imagine Juvia melting into a puddle when you kiss her in the middle of the whole guild," Cana teased.
Gray rolled his eyes and grabbed his fourth bottle of beer. All this talk about being showy in public... Yes, it wasn't his style, but if it would make Juvia happy, he'd do it in a heartbeat.
But with all the things Juvia's been doing for him... was that enough?
Mira's voice shook him from his thoughts. "Do you know about the five love languages, Gray?" He shook his head.
Mira nudged him to move as she squeezed herself into the space beside him, a knowing smile on her face.
"Every person has different ways to express their love. The first one is words of affirmation, which really isn't your strongest suit," she told him, and Gray agreed immediately. "The second is quality time, so maybe that's more your style?"
"Maybe I could ask her to go on a mission with me?" Gray pondered.
"Nah, missions are a lot of work," Macao chipped in. "Ask her on a date. Spend some nice, fun time together."
"That's more like it," Mira replied. "That's not so hard for you, right?"
"I guess I can do that," Gray shrugged.
"Sweet! I guess you can also do acts of service..."
"What's that?"
"Wash the dishes, clean the house, fix the pipes, wake up in the middle of the night to take care of the crying kid..." Wakaba enumerated with a tired look on his face.
"Just do stuff to make her life easier," Mirajane interrupted. "Know what she's going to need even before she says it, got it?" Gray nodded, prompting her to continue.
"The fourth love language is gifts. I think this is Juvia's expertise."
"I can never match all those homemade gifts she's given me." He remembered the scarf she made for him on their 413th anniversary... which made his mind wander to the body pillow he sometimes pulled out of his closet during lonely nights...
"And finally, you can show Juvia your love through touch," Mirajane concluded. Gray choked on his drink.
"Oi, what kind of touch are you thinking of giving Juvia-chan, Gray-sama?" Cana teased.
"Get lost, drunkard," Gray replied, taking another swig of his beer to hide his flaming cheeks.
And that was why today, all that talk about love languages got his brain into overdrive. If he couldn't show Juvia his love through words, there were many other ways to do so – spending time with her at the festival, being attentive to her needs, buying her gifts...
And apparently, touching her. A lot.
"Eh, Gray-sama?" Juvia's voice somehow broke into his consciousness. He immediately let go of her hand, taking the small package she was carrying.
"Uhh, I think you should let me carry this," he said as he placed it in his pocket. "To, you know, free up your hands."
Gray mentally cursed himself. Free up your hands? What kind of reason is that?!
After giving him a confused look, Juvia blushed and cradled her face with her hands. "Gray-sama wants to free up Juvia's hands so he can hold them! So sweet!" This made some heads turn towards the couple, making Gray redden as well.
He felt Juvia's hand interlace with his as they continued walking side by side. Though it wasn't the first time they held hands, he was keenly aware of how perfectly her hand fitted in his. He absentmindedly smiled at the thought.
After a while, a faint rumbling noise coming from his partner reached his ears. Fortunately, he knew that sound very well.
"You hungry?"
"Ah, Gray-sama heard that?" Juvia gave an embarrassed laugh.
"We should eat, then. You like takoyaki, right?" Gray asked, and she nodded. He gently pulled Juvia towards the nearest food stall. "I'm getting hungry, too."
So far, so good, Gray thought as he searched his brain for more ideas on how to be a good boyfriend.
He ordered two sets of takoyaki, not noticing a white-haired man eating at the same stand.
"If it isn't the lovely Juvia-chan!"
Gray's eyes twitched as he turned his attention to the owner of that familiar yet irritating voice. He watched in slow motion as his brother-slash-rival's face lit up at the sight of Juvia, how he extended his arms to embrace the girl even though it was clear as day that she was his.
For goodness' sake, Juvia's body was pressed against him, and they were even holding hands!
He stepped in front of Lyon just when he was about to hug his girl.
"Hey, Lyon."
"Gray! Didn't notice you there," Lyon greeted him haughtily, patting his back with a little too much gusto.
"Lyon-san!" Juvia exclaimed. "You're also here for the festival?"
Lyon side-stepped Gray to get closer to Juvia and grab her hand. "Yes! Actually, it was a last-minute decision on my part, but something in my gut told me that I must go. It must be fate seeing you here again, Juvia-chan."
Gray growled and reclaimed Juvia's hand from Lyon's grasp. "How can it be fate when Juvia is with her boyfriend?"
He watched in amusement as the weight of his words sank into Lyon's brain. Behind him, Juvia gasped and turned red as a tomato while muttering the words, "b-boyfriend..." and cradling her burning face with her hands.
"You're dating now?" The dynamic ice mage asked, doubt written all over his face.
Gray would've wanted to rub it in Lyon's annoying face, but it was Juvia who answered. "It's Gray-sama and Juvia's 15th day anniversary as a couple!" She turned to Gray with such a sweet smile that he couldn't help but smile back at her, momentarily forgetting the presence of his annoying frenemy.
When Lyon spoke again, Gray was surprised to hear a sense of genuine satisfaction in his voice.
"Is that so?" Lyon asked in a soft tone, a smile on his lips. "I'm happy for you, Juvia-chan." He then narrowed his eyes towards Gray and added, "I just hope this dense block of ice is treating you right."
Gray was about to pound his head with an ice hammer, but Juvia's words made him stop.
"Juvia is so lucky to have Gray-sama as her boyfriend. He never fails to make Juvia feel loved." She glanced at him, and the look in her eyes was so genuinely filled with love that he couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again.
He hated to admit it, but Lyon was miles better than him at being a boyfriend. He could show his love effortlessly and shower Juvia with words that could make her melt like ice cream on a hot summer day. He could see him giving her expensive and thoughtful gifts that she would surely cherish. Maybe he'd spend quality time with her on real dates instead of long-drawn-out missions...
But seeing her like this, looking at him with nothing but pure love in her eyes while ideal-boyfriend-Lyon was right in front of her... How could he not fall in love with her when she accepted him as her boyfriend wholeheartedly, in spite of all his flaws?
Gray reached out to her, wrapping his arm around her slender waist and pulling her close to him. He felt Juvia hug him back, prompting him to give Lyon a smug look.
Lyon just smiled back at him. "Juvia could do a lot better than you, you know," he said, finding satisfaction in the vein that suddenly popped on Gray's forehead. "But the heart wants what it wants. So you better take care of Juvia's heart."
"You don't even need to say it, dummy." Gray tightened his hold on Juvia.
Lyon decided to ignore him and instead turned his attention to the blushing girl. "Well, it's nice to see your beauty again, Juvia-chan." In one swift movement, he grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it before running away from Gray's curses and quickly disappearing into the crowd.
"That damn bastard!" Gray cursed, but Juvia's sudden wailing caught his attention.
"Juvia's sorry, Gray-sama! She promises she won't ever let anyone other than Gray-sama kiss any part of her body!" she said while wiping the tears streaking down her face.
It took a couple of minutes for Gray to calm Juvia down and convince her it wasn't her fault. They finally got to eat their takoyaki in peace afterward, with Gray also getting Juvia a teddy bear-shaped cotton candy to satisfy her sweet tooth.
Finally, the thumping of loud drums and the blare of horns signaled the start of the parade.
Gray let Juvia pull him towards the thick crowd gathered on the streets. But with so many people, they couldn't get a clear view of what was happening.
Glancing at Juvia, who was already on tiptoes and craning her neck for a glimpse of the famous Parade of Flowers, Gray got an idea. He squatted right in front of her, saying, "Climb on my back."
He heard her gasp in surprise, then ask, "Is Gray-sama serious?"
Instead of answering, he grabbed her legs and hoisted them on his shoulders, earning him a shriek from the water mage. Gray slowly stood up, with Juvia doubled over and clutching his cheeks from above.
"Gray-sama! Put Juvia down!"
He tightened his hold on her legs in response. "Straighten up. Isn't the view better from up there?" He lifted his head to look at her, not at all prepared for the beautiful view that greeted him.
It was his Juvia, looking down at him, her panicked eyes gradually softening as they locked with his. The sun shone behind her, its rays casting an ethereal glow on the waves of her hair, like dawn's first rays kissing the still waters of the ocean.
He wondered, was this how she saw me when I stopped her rain the day we met? And at that moment, seeing nothing but Juvia, he understood how this amazing girl could love him so deeply. For he felt it in his heart, too.
And he would damn well do everything in his power to make her feel loved every single moment of her life, even if he sucked at it.
Only when someone accidentally bumped into them and made him wobble did he realize people were already dispersing. He immediately caught an astonished Juvia, maneuvering her smoothly so that she landed in his arms, carrying her bridal style.
"You okay?" Gray asked.
"Hmm-mmm."
"Did you enjoy the parade?"
"Honestly, Juvia didn't see a single float," she replied with a small laugh. "But she enjoyed her view very much," she added sweetly, her arms wrapped around his neck and her fingers drawing lines on his nape, every touch sending shivers down his back.
Gray may not know a lot of things about being a boyfriend, but he knew what those lingering touches meant. His eyes traveled from her eyes to her nose and down to her inviting lips.
He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers.
***
A/N: Inspired by Gruvia Day 2021 official art. Yes, it took me this long to write about it. I've thought of this ending since I saw the art, but the rest of the story just came into my head in the last couple of weeks. And every edit felt like putting pieces of a mysterious jigsaw puzzle together until it became this unrecognizable story that's totally different from my original idea, lol. Hope this somehow quenches your thirst for Gruvia during this loooong drought.
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The Worst Mistake-English Version - Chapter 5 - GruviaSilver - Fairy Tail [Archive of Our Own]
Hi!
Here i leave you the link of the fifth chapter in english of "The Worst Mistake" in AO3 translated by @sorceress-botan .
Many thanks to those who read and review and to @sorceress-botan for translating It.
GruviaSilver 🩷.
#fairy tail#juvia lockser#gray fullbuster#gruvia#gajeel redfox#my fic#fanfic#fairy tail fanfiction#gajuvia brotp#phantomlord#borafairytail#lucyheartphilia#fairy tail fandom#fairy tail gray#fairy tail gruvia#fairy tail juvia#fairy tail laxus#fairytail#gruvia fanfic#gruvia fanfiction#ao3 author#ao3fic#ao3 link#ao3 writer#ao3 fanfic#gray x juvia#juvia x gray#hiro mashima#he is so jealous#jealousy
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CHAPTER 2 IS OUT AAAAA
#gruvia#fairy tail#juvia lockser#gray fullbuster#fanfiction#ft#writing#gruvia fanfiction#fic#my fic#my writing
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Exterminator (Gruvia AU) Chapter 9 - Flourish
© 2023 inspectingg (on tumblr, wattpad and fanfiction.net). All rights reserved.
Synopsis: The administration indisputably decided that social status not only determined one’s wealth, but also life or death. Driven by corruption, those who thrived at the top of the chain dominated the world. Desperate to seize absolute control, Exterminators were given the decree to kill. With the entire fate of the human race under their control, it is imperative to lose all morality and sentiment. When killing people is a full-time job, it becomes second nature for Gray Fullbuster. But when the first person he has ever vowed to protect was his next victim, he makes the difficult decision to keep her under his care, training her to kill – or else be killed.
Genres: romance, action & dystopian.
This fanfiction contains violence and sexual content. Reader discretion is advised.
Author’s note: two chapters updated in a row!? i'm trying to squeeze in as much writing as i can before i get busy again x0. i hope you guys enjoy another chapter of juvia suffering :( ! trust me it will get more fluffy in a few chapters' time :3 there is an exciting gruvia scene in this chapter that will make you hot and bothered ;)
Chapter IX - Flourish
Juvia’s gaze aimlessly fell to the metal bars that meandered around the edge of the tunnels. The ten-metre fall loomed at her feet, inviting her to take another step. Its gloomy shadows enticed her to swing her legs over, straddling the metal between her thighs until she could no longer feel the ground beneath her.
Jump.
Her eyes would roll backwards as she was brought back into the tunnel. The wind fights against her hair. Her skin burns from the force and she’s taken by the void. Before she could test those thoughts, she is interrupted by the clatter of Erza’s boots.
“If you want to die, do it somewhere else.” The Commander’s scarlet eyes flickered between the drop and Juvia’s staggering figure. “I’m busy as it is already.”
“Why did you pair me with Gajeel?” Erza stopped in her tracks. “All my opponents have been in higher ranks,” Juvia stammered. “I don’t see how that’s fair.” Erza immediately swirls her head to face the drifter.
“I’m always fair,” she hissed. Raising a hand, she slipped a finger down Juvia’s cheek. “I gave you the opportunity to climb the ranks.” Juvia flinched from her nail scraping down her bruised skin. “If you bothered to fight properly, you would’ve rosen the ranks and we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, would we?” Her breath hammered against Juvia’s face. “You’ve gotten plenty of help already from a certain someone.” Juvia gulped in response. “Does that answer your question?”
Juvia gave her a small nod and moved away uneasily.
“Good,” Erza smiled. She turned her head to leave, allowing her hair to follow her like a blaze. “Oh, I forgot to tell you.” Juvia flinched as she felt her face burn. Erza’s lips adorned an intense red tint as she let a tongue flicker against her upper lip. “Bora is alive.”
Juvia winced as a ringing punctured her ears. “You’ll pay. You’ll pay. You’ll pay” She was once again faced with the disfigured man who taunted her with a playful smile. Its flesh gleamed bright red and patches of skin peeled away, revealing the face of a normal man. His features twisted from blotches of red and reverted back to an ordinary man. Juvia couldn’t help but approach him carefully, started by his transformation. She raised a hand in shock, but was knocked over her feet as a stench tickled her nose, sending a rush of sulphur into her oesophagus. She lurched over to cough. A sting at her shoulder caught her motionless. She convulsed as she found a familiar dagger hanging out from her flesh, sending blood running down her body. Before she could recover her posture, the man twisted his neck to meet her face-to-face.
“Juvia Lockser,” it shrieked, “you’ll pay.”
Juvia screamed as a fist suddenly hammered against the man’s face repeatedly. With every hit, his face distorted into patches of red and black. Before she could stop what was happening, she realised the man was the one that tried to throw her over the edge, and Gray had killed him.
A guttural sound escaped his lips and the man began to whimper, its lipless mouth formed a pool of blood before eventually dissipating away into its rotting body. A puddle of frayed skin and flesh piled into a viscous liquid that slithered into the earth.
Juvia collapsed as her legs gave out. Every moment since she has existed felt like a crime. She buried her head into her hands. An ache grappled at her chest and she let it lave over as she crumbled to the floor. Juvia stared at the reflection of herself on the tiled ground. Before she could take a look, she felt her stomach jab at her skin, as if trying to escape. Her own existence disgusted her. No longer was she able to cry away her pain and troubles. It wasn’t physically possible for her anymore. Dabbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she was surprised to find them dry. She was fearful of how weak she was. A sudden feeling of needing to be strong washed away the unrelenting pain in her shoulder.
»»————- ⚜ ————-««
The trenches were silent. All the other recruits were in bed but Juvia stood at the centre of the training grounds. She formed her hand into a fist and lashed out onto a punching bag. Her bruised arms raised tirelessly, trying to match the speed she was constantly hit with. She felt her blood boil when she let Bora’s elbow slam into her face. Juvia threw out another punch, allowing the bag to sting her knuckles. His grip strangled her until she could no longer think straight. Her feet casted a blow to the rough fabric. A crude smile plastered across his face as he pierced the knife through her shoulder. She sent out an array of jabs, letting her blood race through her body. Her ragged breathing vibrated through her ribs, shaking her lungs rapidly. Her knuckles ached and her stomach clenched from the extraneous motion. Her shoulder was hammered with pain. However, she was too enraged to care. A shrill scream repeatedly encircled her, and she only accelerated her movements, desperate to drown everything out.
A cold hand suddenly enclosed her knuckles. Juvia jerked away in surprise and tumbled backwards. Her waist was enclosed by a strong arm and she found herself staring into Gray’s onyx eyes. A rush of heat flowed through her face as she found her palm pressed to his chiselled chest. He gripped her body against his as he leaned down to inspect her.
“You’ve lost weight.”
Juvia promptly took a step to steady herself, pulling away from him. She patted down her clothes and swept a lock of stray hair behind her ear. “Why should that concern you?” she muttered.
He tousled his hair away from his eyes as they surveyed her cautiously. “You’re right, it doesn’t,” he replied bluntly.
Juvia felt her eyebrow twitch in annoyance. She wasn’t sure what these feelings were but they confused her. She wanted to stay in his arms, but she was too scared to be close. When he tipped his head closer towards her she wanted to entangle her hands in his hair and kiss him. But when he would nonchalantly touch her with an aloof demeanour, she wanted to slap him away.
“You…why are you talking to me?” Juvia unconsciously bit her lip. “I thought I said I didn’t want to see you ever again.”
Gray sighed as he brushed a hand behind his neck. “I don’t know.” His eyes drifted down to Juvia’s feet.
“That’s all you say,” Juvia muttered. “At least you could make up something.” She took a step back when he leaned down on a knee. “Anything.”
“I don’t know how to express myself,” he grumbled. His hands followed her stride and caught the loose shoelace between his fingers. “I’m… not sure why I act like this.” No words left Juvia’s mouth as she swallowed down a sob. She watched in silence as he lowered his head to fix her laces. Her heart pounded vehemently. She pressed a palm to her chest, a pointless attempt at calming it down. His charcoal locks swayed gently with every movement. Juvia suppressed the urge to touch his hair.
He eventually let go and revealed a tight ribbon at the centre of her shoe. “I do know one thing.” Juvia trembled as he rose, allowing his sculpted figure to tower over her. His gaze locked onto Juvia’s quivering eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Before Juvia could respond, she let out a yelp as he sent a swing at her leg and let her fall backwards. He caught her right as she prepared for a harsh collision.
“You need to be cautious of everyone,” he whispered. She quivered as his breath tickled her ear. “If your opponent is bigger than you, hit them in the diaphragm.” Juvia forgot how to breathe as she felt his grasp tighten around her waist. With a jerk of his arm, Juvia was pulled back upright.
He suddenly yanked her arms away from her sides and pinned them together with a steady grip. “When a man takes advantage of you in a fight,” he muttered, “remember to kick them in between the legs.” Before he could finish his sentence, he swung Juvia’s body around and rammed it against the wall. She screamed in response and her eyes widened as her back collided against Gray’s arm. Juvia struggled against his hold but he did not budge. His other free hand trailed down her hip and latched on her underthigh. Juvia mewled in response but quickly pressed her palm to her mouth in surprise.
“If someone is about to kick you, get closer to them.” He trailed her thigh with a thumb. “They won’t have enough room to land an accurate hit.” Juvia’s arms flailed desperately above her head. She swallowed hard as the sensation of his hand on her thigh started to leave a burning trail. His chest was pressed against hers and his other hand tightened around her hands. With an aggressive tug, Gray wrapped her leg around his waist. “Are you listening?”
Juvia blinked in shock, her lips moving to form words but nothing was uttered. His eyes were steady as he peered down at her. She felt every one of his exhales caress her cheek. With his body encased around her, every feature on his face was captivating. His lips were slightly chapped, but they invited her to lean in closer. The way his eyebrows furrowed together accentuated his charcoal gaze, sending her into a state of frenzy she never knew she had in her body. Even the scar etched on his forehead striked her heart.
Juvia found herself completely infatuated by Gray, the Exterminator who could kill her at any moment.
#gruvia#grayxjuvia#gray and juvia#gruvia fanfic#inspectinggfanfics#fairy tail#fairy tail fanfics#fairytail#anime fanfic#manga fanfic#manga#anime#juvia lockser#gray fullbuster#fanfiction#gruvia fanfiction
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#my candy love#mystic messenger#mysme#our life: beginnings & always#our life#fairy tail#ft fanfiction#gruvia#gruvia fanfiction
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JUVIA DAY 2023: Hare Hare
Gray Fullbuster, Juvia Lockser
June 3, 2023
Posted: June 30, 2023
Writer’s Corner: Before June ends, I'd like to share this something I came up with for Juvia Day. A little bit late but I heard we are experiencing some Gruvia drought, so here's me trying... Enjoy!
P.S. thank you for the correction regarding Keyes/Keith, @groovyah!!!
HAPPY JUVIA DAY!
All rights reserve to Hiro Mashima, original creator.
Masterlist
---
How long has it been since Gray had been dragging his feet along the rough road? He stopped caring two towns ago. All that thinking only made the road grow wider. So, he decided it was better to keep his mouth shut behind the redhead leading their journey. All Gray wanted was just a little bit of information about the next dragon god they are trying to seal away. Was that too much to ask? He’d really like to put some timeline into this journey because, if he was being honest, Gray was not getting any younger and there were some things he wanted to do after this quest. But if he was really, really, being honest, he kinda, sorta looking forward to seeing a certain someone.
“Oh, this looks familiar.” It was Lucy who first noticed.
How she kept that cheery spirit in her voice was beyond Gray.
But, true enough, Gray was greeted by a familiar intersection, marked by shabby and wooden signage. He’d seen it far too many times not to recognize the arrow pointing to home – Magnolia.
Magnolia.
Fairytail.
Home.
That’s how that thought always flowed. Fairytail has always been home. Lately, however, his thoughts ended on something else.
Fairytail.
Home.
Juvia.
He wasn’t sure when it started. When she became the end of that train of thought. All he knew was when he thought of home, the picture of her blue waves, sparkling eyes, welcoming smile, and soft voice that called out to him lovingly, started to stake a claim on his consciousness.
Gray-sama, welcome home.
“It’s been a while since the last time.”
The Requip mage suggested they regroup at the guild and return to their journey after gathering some intel. Besides, they all needed to recuperate and deserved to have fun after the draining fight at the Labyrinth.
“Alright!” Exclaimed the fire-dragon slayer. “Let’s meet everyone!”
The anticipation brought some energy back to the travel party. So much so that they all agreed on how they looked forward to seeing their guild members. In Gray’s case, there was one particular member whose picture slowly and clearly appeared in his mind.
Gray-sama!
He probably didn’t notice it himself but the thought of seeing Juvia had its wicked way to arc the line of Gray’s lips.
...
The guild was rowdy as ever but the chaos brought in by Team Natsu, with two other dragon-slayers in tow, was most welcomed. They greeted each other with the excitement of an unexpected reunion. Yet amidst that chaos, Gray was able to cut through the cacophony of crazy and made his way to where his thoughts had lain lately – Juvia Lockser. Before he could take a step further, the water-mage was already walking toward him.
“Oh! My! Gray! Samaaaaaa!” Her every step was accentuated by her sweet greeting.
Juvia tackled him to the ground with the sheer force of her embrace. Then she said something, something about thinking so much of Gray that she had physically turned into him.
“That makes no sense!” He barked without thinking.
They were always like this. She’d say something ridiculous and he’d react like Juvia’s thinking was outside the realm of logic. He was so used to the crazy that his responses had become automated. But it’s not that she always said something impossible. His consciousness would like to correct him, however, when he suddenly remembered the fight he had with Sai.
Love Bond
His tone quickly dropped as the memory hit him like an arrow.
I transmuted your “bond”…
“No… it was that…” Gray avoided Juvia’s expectant gaze, scratching the back of his head thinking it might somehow redirect her attention away from his face.
“Could it be that you took on Juvia’s form as well?”
with the woman you’re in love with.
He didn’t want Juvia to see him fight this sudden rush of heat. So, he played it cool, like always.
“Well, it’s just…”
While he was thinking of a way to properly formulate his answer, so that she wouldn’t twist it into something out of this world, the alchemist’s words kept repeating in his head, louder by the minute.
the woman you’re in love with
Cornered, Gray mustered enough courage to take a peep at the water-mage, who was beaming at him with the smile that seemed forever imprinted on Gray’s mind. She looked like she wasn’t really waiting for an answer, content in just making conversation. That gave Gray some space to breathe. He wasn’t really sure how to explain to Juvia what the love bond alchemy was without confessing–confusing! without confusing her. But come to think of it, Juvia’s theory about why she turned into Gray that day wasn’t too far from possible.
As if sensing his intention, Juvia quickly dropped the subject. He led Gray towards the table where Natsu was already starting some commotion. The ice-mage didn’t need an invitation to join that circus. He effortlessly merged into the chaos – an old habit. Juvia was more than happy to stay out of the riotous entanglement. Glad on simply hollering for him at the sidelines – her old and still most favorite hobby. It shouldn’t come as a surprise how easily they both fell into the usual.
Gray ought to laugh at himself though. He should have realized it by now; Juvia was so attuned to his feelings that he didn’t even have to say it. Juvia just knew. She already knew.
The snow fairy toys with the women sleeping in the depths of your heart.
Gray-sama…
...
The reunion at the guild wrapped up in a tangled mess of passed-out drunks and beaten-up sobers. Good thing Gray still had full control of his faculties, and so did Juvia. He had the mindfulness of being sober enough to walk Juvia home; finally getting some alone time with her.
The walk to Fairy Hills was, in fact, far but seemed too short to recount all of Gray’s stories of his travels. He wasn’t the talkative type. Actually, he’d much rather let his fists talk than his mouth. But they’ve spent so much time apart that there were a lot of funny and incredible moments worth sharing. As Gray retold his stories, Juvia filled all the spaces with small reactions, going through the entire spectrum of emotions. When he ran out of things to say, he’d notice the few changes his absence did to Juvia – like how her hair grew a bit longer. Her bangs started to level to her eyes and framed her face a bit differently than he remembered. There was something about her, something he couldn’t pinpoint exactly. In the way she walked or spoke, it felt as if she matured in his absence. Has she grown taller? Her clothes, he noticed, were becoming tight around some areas of her body – he scolded himself at the last one because it brought back the memory of Juvina-sama stripping naked in front of him.
“You don’t look all right, Gray-sama. Is something wrong?”
Gray had to push that memory to the farthest back of his mind. He knew, even if Juvina was a spitting image of Juvia, the water-mage would never forgive her for flashing Gray. She would hunt the poor celebrity down.
Imagining what Juvia would do to her, Gray actually felt bad for Juvina-sama.
“N-nothing.”
When they reached the front of the female dormitory, Gray felt a tug of disappointment. An anxious nag that he was leaving something important. It wasn’t too big a feeling but enough to recognize what it was. And with it came another, one that told him he couldn’t wait to see her again or made him wonder when the next time would be. Team Natsu was planning to travel to Gazania and visit Sabertooth’s comprehensive library for some information. It would take Erza one more day to gather all the essentials for the long trip. After that, he wasn’t too sure when would be able to see Juvia again. The thought pushed Gray to resolve his feelings and decide to see her again if her schedule would allow it.
“Juvia, are you free tomorrow?”
“Juvia will make herself free!”
Gray panicked at Juvia’s sudden change of demeanor. And here he was, feeling regretful that she had actually matured in his absence, that maybe she’d changed into someone he wouldn’t recognize. And while it wasn’t all too new and surprising, Gray still wasn’t okay with the fact that Juvia would abandon everything for his sake.
He didn’t deserve it.
“No, I only meant…” it wasn’t like he didn’t like it, “if you’re… coincidentally if you don’t have anything to do, y’know.” It just felt like he was asking too much from her if she had to rearrange her day to accommodate him.
“Juvia can get out of anything to spend time with Gray-sama.” Seeing how her enthusiasm put Gray in an awkward position, Juvia clarified, “Since, Gray-sama will be gone for a long time again.”
“That’s…” Guilt clawed at Gray and he would have let it gnaw at him if it wasn’t for Juvia’s gentle smile and understanding gaze. So, he expelled a sigh of complete resignation. He was allowed to be selfish sometimes, wasn’t he?
“Alright, then. Let’s go out tomorrow.”
“D-d-date?!”
Gray could easily predict what would happen – and that’s carrying Juvia into the dormitory, bridal style, and explaining to the agitated swordswoman why exactly was Juvia mumbling ‘gray-sama, juvia, first date’ in a trance.
...
Gray wasn’t particularly nervous about today. He had everything in order. He wasn't a planner. Gray was the kind that lived life day by day. Went with the flow. Sailed with the tides. Nevertheless, he had a general idea of how this day would go down. He already had the checklist in his head, mentally ticking off the boxes per accomplishment.
Ask Juvia on a dat-HANG OUT. Ask Juvia to hang out while he was still in town – mentally crossed off the list. Although he initially planned on picking her up at Fairy Hills, his indiscretion the night before led him to be banned from hanging around the all-girls dormitory. While his unconscious stripping was nothing new to the Fairy Tail girls, Erza still felt the need to discipline his public exhibition. Hence, the 2-year ban. So, the two agreed to meet each other at the guild.
Gray caught himself stripping midway to the guild. He quickly ran back to find his abandoned coat and slipped back into it.
“That was close!” He exclaimed. He, at least, wanted to meet Juvia on their date HANG OUT decent.
He couldn’t help it though; the sun was unusually bright today. He shielded his eyes and quickly regretted daring to stare directly up at the sun. But he was glad. The weather was fine. More than fine actually, suitable for today’s destination – the amusement park. News about a newly opened amusement park reached beyond the borders of Magnolia. He heard about the opening while traveling back and he was curious to see it since then. He could already imagine trying all the fun rides the park boasted, adding a small bounce on his steps.
He turned the corner and jumped back. He wasn’t expecting Juvia to be so early. He, at least, wanted to be the one waiting for her but the water mage was already standing under the shade of Bake Bake Shop's awning. What really surprised Gray, making his breath hitch in his throat, was that Juvia looked different. She wasn't wearing her usual clothes. Instead, Juvia opted for a flowy skirt shorter than the one she commonly used. She paired it up with a strapless top and some high boots and completed her look with a brown puffy bonnet atop her head. Juvia had never looked this casual and c-c-cute…
He wondered how long she had been standing there. And, how long has she been fending off those losers walking up to her and trying to strike up a conversation?
His astonished eyes quickly gloomed.
But Gray had nothing to worry about. He, himself, said it, Juvia was one of the strongest mages of Fairy Tail. She defeated Keith/Keyes, one of the Demon Gates. And there was no question Juvia could have ended Invel too, a Spriggan 12. The water mage was a force to be reckoned with. He didn’t need to worry for her safety, though he was allowed to, and let himself do so every now and then. He didn’t need to worry about other men hanging around the watermage; for Juvia only had eyes for her Gray-sama.
“Sorry. Juvia is waiting for her Gray-sama.”
Gray had only seen that void in Juvia’s eyes on a few occasions. When she was still a member of Phantom Lord. When she was still the rain woman, her eyes were filled with a pointed gloom of disinterest – in life and in other people’s business. It vanished when she became part of Fairytail and when he came into her life. Sometimes, he’d entertain the illusion that he was the one who brought those sparks into her lovely blue eyes. She claimed that he did but that was too grand an illusion. So, for now, he’d settle for being the center of those ocean eyes.
“Gray-sama!”
There! There it was the brightest glimmer in her round orbs. As sparkly as the ocean being kissed by the sun. They shone because and for Gray – only for him.
Gray met her half way, approaching Juvia who scampered towards him. He waited for the tackle, like she always did when they saw each other, and if he was being honest, he wouldn’t mind it. Only to show those losers why they shouldn’t be approaching the water mage. But she settled on just beaming at him in her cute ensemble; the short skirt swaying along as she moved.
“Where is Gray-sama taking Juvia?”
He answered her smile with his cool, pompous grin. Well, he wasn’t being cocky at Juvia. Gray just wanted to show those bastards.
“You’ll see.”
Oh, if only the bastards could see Gray now, his cool, cocky grin trembling at the sight of the sign plastered at the gate – CLOSED FOR RENOVATION.
"I-I… I should have ch-ch-checked yesterday." He lamented.
AMUSEMENT PARK DATE HANG OUT - X
Juvia, who was hiding an amused smile behind one hand, was not at all disappointed. She was just happy to be spending time with Gray, just the two of them. Juvia couldn’t ask for more.
"It's alright, Gray-sama." Juvia placed a consoling hand on Gray's shoulder. "Juvia doesn't mind just walking around."
Gray turned a heel, letting Juvia push him back to the road where they came from, as he kept mumbling a dejected 'no'. Now, he was the one in a daze. Because, what a major bullcrap that was; he was really looking forward to trying the rides all day.
Juvia started a conversation to keep him from sulking. He noticed, however, that she kept fidgeting beside him. She was playing with her fingers, unsure where to keep her hand between them. Gray didn't notice himself already staring at it, at Juvia's hand. Then, he started to become conscious of his own kept inside his pants pocket. There was something off about just keeping his hands in there, which he found strange because he never noticed anything wrong about it before. So, to redress this unsettling feeling, Gray pulled one hand out of his pocket and, as he was about to reach out and seek Juvia's, something swooped in between and knocked them apart.
Of course, he had to check first if Juvia was okay before he screamed at the bastard who slipped in between them.
"Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry, mister!"
It was a kid who looked no older than Greige from Edolas.
Greige.
A mental picture of his and Juvia’s child, his cute little face and aloof eyes, tugged a string in his heart.
"Storm-chan, please wait for onii-chan!"
A young man apologized to the two mages, bowing his head so desperately that Gray thought he was going to break his back. Then, grabbed the kid and went along. He seemed troubled by his little brother but now that he carried the child in his arms, onii-chan seemed unbothered by it. They laughed together as they went their way. That’s when Gray noticed the colorful donut floater the young man had circled around his arm.
The brothers were headed to the beach.
That seems like a good idea, Gray thought.
Hit with excitement knowing today may not be a waste after all, Gray grabbed Juvia’s hand, leading her in the race to the nearest beach in town. Juvia was more than happy to be dragged along by him. How could she not when Gray never let go of her hand the entire train ride? Even when he seemed to have finally noticed it because he turned his face away and spewed something about holding hands being a normal thing.
Finally, something right was happening.
or so they thought.
Now, Gray's mood wasn't the only thing dampened by the depressing turn of events, forcing the two to find shelter from the sudden downpour. They were both soaking wet.
Way to rain on Gray's parade, quite literally.
Gray scowled at the curtain of water holding them hostage under some makeshift shed. He pushed out his hand, his palm testing the stream spilling over the roof. By doing so, he’d be able to tell if the rain was about to stop and if they could still salvage whatever remained of their day. With the strength of the rainfall, it wasn’t anytime soon. He hissed.
"This isn't Juvia's doing."
Gray, surprised at the confession, turned to Juvia with a confused look. Of course, this gloomy weather wasn't because of Juvia. His face contorted into utter confusion. How could she even assume that idea ever crossed Gray's mind?
The old Gray, the one who didn't fully understand her, would have scolded her for even entertaining those thoughts. But that version of himself was long gone now. This new Gray understood Juvia at her very core.
"I know." Was all he said, offering the sulking water mage a soft smile, one that said he would never think that. Not in a hundred years.
Because Gray-sama was the one who stopped Juvia's rain.
"Know what, to hell with this." He grabbed Juvia by the hand and pulled her out into the pouring rain. "Who says we can't have fun, eh?"
Soaking wet, the two crazy teenagers, as the onlookers anointed them, sprinted to the beach, unafraid of the strong waves hitting the shore; the sheer force of it dragged Gray and Juvia as it pulled back. They played so carelessly, splashing each other or pushing one another into the water. Then they'd share childish giggles at how silly they might have seemed. They walked on the coastal lane too, feeling the wet sand on the flat of their feet, lumps sticking between the toes.
Gray would remember something stupid Natsu said or did, or an embarrassing episode happening to Lucy. He remembered that one time when he took the last stick of grilled squid, which was meant for Erza, and thought he was going to finally meet his end. Fear crossed Juvia’s face who was absorbed with the story. Knowing the Requip Mage, Gray’s apprehensions weren’t unfounded.
Juvia would recount a few of her own stories too; telling him she went on a job with Lisanna where they had to wear funny costumes. She was a tree and Lisanna was a mountain. Gray almost broke his back laughing.
When Gray's stomach started to protest, he had the bright idea of dining al fresco. Well, they really had no other choice. No restaurant owner in their right mind would let a drenched couple dine inside. So, they settled on a small coffee table and took a shed under its large umbrella. Gray had no problem ordering shaved ice despite that weather. As much as Juvia wanted to share with him, she wouldn't survive a combination of wet clothes, rainy weather, and cold dessert. A cup of hot cocoa was the far better choice.
Juvia took a sip, the hot sweet liquid sliding from her throat and down to her stomach, warming up her insides. The water mage let out a satisfied sigh as she watched Gray, who was sitting opposite her, gulp down ice. They sat in silence, calmed by the sound of rain pelting on top of the striped parasol. While she immensely did enjoy chatty Gray, Juvia equally loved moments like this when they could just be comfortable around each other's presence. It gave her time to take notice of a few changes in Gray. He seemed to have lost some weight. She asked if he was eating all right. He said he was but all the walking and fighting burned a few pounds off of him. Juvia promised to make him a bento when she sees him off tomorrow. She said it so casually as if preparing him lunch was expected of her. Gray smiled at that, just a sober slant of the lips, and told her he’d hold her to that promise. But quickly reminded her not to give it when Natsu’s around.
“I don’t want Flamebrain to steal it or somethin’.”
They fell in total but welcomed silence again, so they could listen to the faint sound of rain hitting the umbrella. It sounded like the rain was about to end soon. Lamentably, Gray and Juvia’s time might be ending soon too. Juvia let out another sigh, this time, a bit wistful.
“What’s wrong, Juvia?”
Gray’s face was contorted into worry.
“Nothing.” She pouted. “Juvia will just miss Gray-sama.”
Imagining the days she has to spend without the presence of Gray, Juvia couldn’t help but whine, slumping herself across the table at the sullen realization that Gray-sama will be so far away again. At the other end of the world even!
She snapped back up when warmth enclosed her hand. Her heart skipped a beat when she confirmed that it was Gray’s hand gently placed over hers. She stared at Gray, who returned the look with equal guilt and plea. His eyes, softened by his silent request, gave her an assurance that he wouldn’t be long. There was promise in them that whatever happens, he’ll find his way home – to her.
Juvia didn’t even have to hear him say it. She knew. She could see it in the way he softly looked into her eyes and gently squeezed her hand. Gray had conveyed his feelings through these simple gestures far better than his words ever could. And they reached Juvia, loud and clear.
I will be back.
Juvia will wait for you, Gray-sama.
Gray opened his mouth to say something but he quickly noticed the rain retreating. He withdrew from her gaze only to confirm this suspicion. Just like the way he tested the strength of the downpour earlier, Gray extended his free hand outside the roof of the umbrella. All the while, not loosening his hold on Juvia’s hand now enclosed in his.
Totally unnecessary but very much appreciated.
“Looks like it stopped raining.”
The realization widened both their eyes; a rapturous glimmer reflected in both. As if reading each other’s minds, Gray and Juvia cheered in unison, “Let’s try wave surfing!”
The hold on each other’s arm had become so permanent that wherever they went, none of them ever let go.
Even when the two of them were brought in at the police station for indecent exposure. Because Gray and Juvia were so excited to ride the waves, now that the sun had peaked through the clouds and the weather finally agreed with them, they both unconsciously stripped down and walked around in public in their intimates.
It didn’t come as a surprise for Gray since he’d been down the station on more than one occasion, all for the same reason. He was embarrassed though, for causing Juvia to spend the night in jail on their last night together.
“Juvia doesn’t mind, Gray-sama!”
The culprit for his current state – his face turning beet red – clung to him despite the warnings from the watch guard. The heat from, he wasn’t sure if it was because of getting in jail, their intimate position together inside the very small space, or maybe both, was making him nauseous.
What tipped the scale, though, was having Erza Scarlet march down the police station to bail them both out. And the Requip Mage did not look happy. In fact, she was so mad about having to wake up in the middle of her beauty rest and come down the station that she added another year to Gray’s ban from ever setting foot at Fairy Hills.
And for Juvia, to endure a year of curfew.
“As if it’s not punishment enough for Juvia not being able to see Gray-sama in the middle of the 100 year quest.” Juvia mumbled under her breath as she miserably followed Erza home.
“You were saying somethin’?”
Juvia was one of the strongest mages of one of the strongest guilds in Fiore. She was not afraid of anything, except for that murderous glint in Erza’s brown eyes that made her feel weak, small and breakable all at the same time.
“N-not-nothing, Erza-san.”
...
As promised, Juvia brought Gray a bento lunch she woke up so early to make. They met separately ahead of the others so that, as Gray requested, he could eat it in peace, away from the nosy fire dragon slayer who would have demanded a bite or two. They walked together to Team Natsu’s meeting point and Juvia wished them well on their journey to the Sabertooth guild. She sulked at Gray’s departure despite his assurances that he would be back, whatever it took. She suggested he give her a goodbye kiss so she wouldn’t miss him that much and aggravated the swordswoman for flirting too much in the open.
Juvia settled with just waving her beloved Gray goodbye, looking as their figures grew smaller and smaller by the distance. She didn’t know how long the quest would take her beloved away. But in those times that she missed him, in those hours that she’s alone and lonely, in those moments when her desire to see the ice-mage overwhelmed her, she had yesterday and today to think back to. This feeling today, the elated bliss lingering from having to spend the whole day with Gray, playing around and just having fun, without a care in the world.
In spite of the heavy rain.
Or maybe, because of it.
Gray not only took her rain away. Yesterday, he gave a whole different meaning to it.
#gruvia#gray x juvia#happy juvia day#juvia day 2023#juvia lockser#gray fullbuster#fairytail#fairytail fanfiction#be-dazzled#gruvia fanfiction
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Ice Skating
Fandom : Fairy Tail
Relationship : Gray x Juvia
I got inspired by @creativepromptsforwriting’s January Prompts : Ice Skating.
I’m sorry for the mistakes, English is not my native language. I hope you like it.
Summary : Juvia tied her ice skates and headed for the rink. She had waited until the evening to go there. No one was there and she could skate freely. At least she wanted to learn to skate. No one knew that she did not know skating, especially Gray. She did not want him to know.
Disclaimer : Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.
@creativepromptfills
AO3 / FF.NET
Juvia tied her ice skates and headed for the rink. The cold had arrived in Magnolia and an outdoor ice rink had been set up in the center of town. All the inhabitants could enjoy it and have fun.
Juvia had waited until the evening to go there. No one was there and she could skate freely. At least she wanted to learn to skate. No one knew that she did not know skating, especially Gray. She did not want him to know.
They had been in a relationship for a few weeks. He was an ice mage and she did not want to disappoint him if he found out she could not skate. So when she saw that an ice rink had opened, she took the opportunity to learn. It should not be that hard, she told herself. After all, she had accomplished things harder than ice skating.
She glided along a few centimeters. She smiled, proud to be able to move forward. Suddenly, she slipped backwards and she fell on her buttocks. She winced in pain. She stood up with difficulty, nearly falling several times. When she regained her balance, she moved forward slowly. She told herself that by moving slowly, she would not fall. But her right leg slipped and she fell on her buttocks again. She stood up, groaning in pain. She would not give up. She had to succeed in skating for Gray-sama.
She did not know how much time had passed since she arrived at the ice rink. All she knew was that the temperature had dropped and she was cold. But she wanted to continue. She still could not stand on her ice skates. She fell several time and she was sure to have bruises all over her body. She fell backwards once again, but she felt someone catch her, putting their arms around her.
“Gray-sama!” She exclaimed, turning her head.
“What are you doing ?”
“No… Nothing.”
She did not want to tell him that she was learning to skate and that she was not good at it. She straightened up and looked at Gray. He wrapped his hands around hers.
“You’re freezing.”
He took off his jacket and put it around Juvia's shoulders. He was only wearing a t-shirt and even if he did not feel the cold, she felt guilty for bothering him.
“Now,” he said, “tell me what you’re doing at the ice rink at this hour.”
“Juvia was learning to skate.”
She had mumbled so quietly that Gray had not understood her.
“What ?”
Juvia sighed. There was no point in hiding it from him anymore.
“Juvia was learning to skate.”
She hid her face in her hands, ashamed.
“Juvia didn’t want to disappoint you.”
He took her hands away from her face.
“Why would you disappoint me ?”
“You're an ice mage and Juvia can’t skate. She tried to learn, but it was a disaster.”
Gray wondered where she got the idea that she would disappoint him if she could not skate. He wanted to reassure her.
“What you do with water is exceptional and I could never swim as well as you. Would you think less of me or that I disappoint you ?”
“Of course not !”
Gray smiled at her and Juvia could not help smiling shyly. She felt stupid for acting like this. Her lack of self-confidence had made her doubt what Gray might think of her.
“I can teach you how to skate,” Gray said.
A huge smile lit up Juvia's face and she nodded. They skated. Juvia was trying to imitate Gray. He had not let go of her hand and she had not fallen once. She had never had so much fun learning something. And it was thanks to Gray.
The end
#fairy tail#gruvia#gray x juvia#gray fullbuster#juvia lockser#gruvia fanfiction#fairy tail fanfiction#fanfiction#my writing
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Daycare Love
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A/N: Surpise! Daycare Love is back! I'm sorry this took years to update. I'm not really too satisfied with my writing here and there're probably lots of typos and grammar errors but I hope you still can enjoy it. Thank you for waiting! :) ♡
Chapter four | Guilt
Juvia would like to think she was a professional at keeping work related matters at work and work only. However, that night after her very…interesting first day of work, she could no longer call herself a pro.
There she was, tossing and turning in bed, left and right and her thoughts would not stop. Gray would not go away. Aster would not disappear.
As wrong as it may sound, if it was another family, Juvia would have been sleeping like a baby hours ago but this was Gray. He wasn’t some random stranger. He was her best friend, even how much she knew she had no right calling him that anymore after what she did to him.
Seeing Gray again after all those years brought back so many memories from their childhood and teenage years.So did feelings return, feelings she didn’t remember she had.
As all these thoughts
Yesterday in the break room, Cana was unable to explain further what exactly she meant by Aster not having a mother but if she would bring it up again Juvia wouldn’t push her about it. She felt like Gray should be the person to tell her if he wanted to but if he didn’t want to she wouldn’t be disappointed.
But to say Juvia wasn’t curious was a lie. There were a couple possibilities she thought about. Did Gray’s partner pass away? Did they have a bad break-up? Or maybe Gray really wanted to raise a child on his own? The first options were possible but the third? It didn’t seem likely, considering he would have ‘’only’’ been as young as twenty one or twenty two when Aster was born. Also the fact that Gray wanted to prioritise his career. Juvia recalled the day Gray told her just that.
___
It was friday, after school,which meant it was Caramade Franks day for the blue and raven hair best friends. They were sitting on a bench in Magnolia park eating while simultaneously playing something like 21 ish questions.
‘’No way you like pineapple on pizza!’’ Gray couldn’t believe what he was hearing.‘’I was rooting for you, Juvia’’
‘’Oh please’’ Juvia rolled her eyes at her best friend's very dramatic reaction. ‘’Have you actually tried it or have you just decided to agree with what randoms on the internet?’’
Silence.
‘’Thought so’’
As she was trying to come up with a question to ask him next, she saw a family. A father, a mother and a child. The child looked between one and two years old. They were playing football, the parents cheering every time their little one kicked the football which made the toddler beam and sometimes go ‘’Yay!’’. Their interaction made Juvia’s heart melt. She hoped that one day she would have what they have; A happy family.
‘’Okay, this is deeper than the other questions. Do you see yourself with a family of your own in the future?
‘’Yes’’ Gray answered smiling, without hesitation. ‘’I would like to settle down with my person and hopefully have mini versions of us running around our house. Only if she wants to, I know how painful birth can be’’
Gray’s unexpected answer made Juvia look at him in awe. The fact he would give up on having children, for his partner’s sake. Whoever that will be is going to be one lucky woman.
‘’But first I want to focus on my studies. You know how passionate I’m on becoming an architect’’
‘’Damn, who thought that the Gray Fullbuster, one of the most popular boys in school, was softer than a teddy bear. I guarantee you there are plenty of volunteers in your fan club’’ May or may not include myself but I will take that to my grave.
‘’Oh shut it, Lockser’’ He gave her a light smack on her arm. ‘’You better not tell a soul, especially fire-breath cause otherwise he will make fun of me until the day I die and that will be on you’’
‘’Yes, don’t worry, these lips are sealed. Even though that would be hilari- Ow!’’ She got cut off by receiving another slap on her arm.
___
Juvia grabbed her phone from the nightstand to look at the time.
3:38
‘’Fuck this shit’’ She cursed and didn’t waste another second in bed and swiftly got up. She removed her pyjamas and changed into sportswear. Maybe a way-too-early-in-the-morning run would help her get some sleep.
Spoiler alert: It did not help.
___
Entering the break room, Juvia was greeted by one of her colleagues. Someone she knew very well.
‘’Good morning, Juvia!’’ It was Levy McGarden.
Levy was another old friend of hers. She was exceptionally intelligent, definitely the most intelligent person Juvia knew and found it slightly strange she hadn’t chosen a different career instead in early childhood education. She always imagined Levy being a scientist, a researcher or even a librarian since she was a bookworm. Saying she loved books was an understatement. It was an (healthy) obsession. Juvia remembered one year when they still were in high school, over the summer Levy had read nearly fifty books. Fifty! Voluntarily!
Despite everything, if working with children was something Levy was passionate about and it brought her joy, Juvia was happy for her and she was more than happy to have her as a colleague.
‘’Morning’’
‘’Oh dear, you look, uh…’’ Levy was struggling to find the right word upon seeing Juvia’s drowsy state with big dark circles under her eyes.
‘’Like death?’’ Juvia finished the sentence for her. ‘’I know. I didn’t get a blink of sleep last night but nothing a cup or two of coffee can’t fix.’’ Or a mega pint.
‘’Not the word I would have chosen but close enough’’
To be honest, speaking with Levy made Juvia uncomfortable. Not because Levy was making her uncomfortable but because Juvia felt guilty. Not only had she most likely hurt Gray but she also hurt all of her friends back then and Juvia still couldn’t bring to forgive herself.
‘’Levy’’
‘’Yeah?’’
‘’I’m aware that you guys let me know everything is okay between us but I’m really sorry for hurting you and I hope you’ll still accept me as your friend’’ Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. It was only her second day at work and yet she was having a meltdown, really?
‘’Juvia…’’ Levy stood up from where she was sitting and rushed to Juvia to hug her. ‘’Of course I still want to be friends’’’
‘’Are you sure?’’
‘’Yes, Juvia’’ Levy reassured her and let go of the embrace to meet her eyes. ‘’I promise’’
‘’Thank you so much’’ Juvia wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheek.
‘’I need to go to work now but I’ll see you later, okay?’’
‘’Okay.’’
Levy gave her a last smile until she wasn’t in sight.
Now Juvia really needs that mega pint.
___
It was now eight o’clock and time for Juvia to start work. When she entered the corridor at her department, Gray stood by the door waving his hand while saying bye to Aster.
Yesterday Juvia was going to inform Gray of Aster’s day, including the situation at nap time where Aster had brought up the nightmares that have been occurring. Unfortunately she had already finished work before he arrived for pick up. Hopefully Meredy had forwarded the message.
The good news is that after Aster woke up from his nap, he said that he slept well and without any nightmares. As Juvia was in a crouching position to see and hear him better, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug which surprised her. Nonetheless she hugged him back gently to not crush his tiny body. He was adorable.
When Gray noticed Juvia, he had a big smile plastered to his face. Juvia knew it was genuine but she could feel that behind his smile, there was hut. He shouldn’t be smiling at her like that, she didn't. She didn’t deserve his perfect smile, she didn’t deserve his hugs, she didn't deserve his kindness. Nothing.
‘’Juvia, good morning’’
‘’Good morning, Gray’’ She gave him a smile back, trying her best to hide her anxiety that was building up inside her. And the guild.
‘’So, Meredy told me what happened at nap time yesterday and I just wanted to thank you personally, for helping Aster. He slept like a baby last night too’’
Stop it, Gray. Stop being so nice to me.
‘’Gray, you know you don’t have to thank me. I’m just doing my job but I’m really happy to hear that I could be of help. And if there’s anything else I can help with, please don’t hesitate to ask’’ Juvia managed both to keep eye contact with him and also not stutter. She was anxious as hell but she needed to stay professional no matter how difficult it was.
‘’Well actually…Never mind. I’ll see you later, Juvia’’ He gave her a small wave before Juvia was the only one in the corridor.
‘’See you later’’ Juvia wondered what he was about to say but shrugged it off. It was probably nothing important.
Or was it?
___
Stay tuned! ♡
♡TAGLIST♡
@eme-eleff @jetblackrevival @be-dazzled @azuchifairy @greenapplegrass @fbflame94 @gruviaftw11 @pinkbtr @shampooneko @anaviarts @juvsbby @fortheloversofbooks
#juvia lockser#gray fullbuster#gray x juvia#ray fullbuster x juvia lockser#gruvia#fairy tail#ft#fairy tail 100 years quest#gruvia fanfiction#faity tail fanfiction#daycare love#daycare love fanfiction#unvalley fanfiction#AU
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Will post more fully on tumblr tomorrow but here's that Gruvia one-shot! Rated M for swearing and flashbacks to sexual situations.
Summary:
Segment of a chapter from a Nalu-centric fic I will probably never finish writing.
While on his way to a mission, Gray reflects on the hardships, tears, battles, and triumphs which led to him and Juvia finding their happiness together.
(Or: the story of how they finally, officially got together told through memories).
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