Work Text:
Gray had been standing outside Fairy Hills for nearly ten minutes and he'd gone over the whole day in his head the whole walk here.
Don't say anything stupid.
Don't let it go quiet for too long.
Figure out where to eat first instead of the awkward 'where do you want to eat?' 'wherever you like best' conversation.
Open every door for her.
Erza had told him that last one with a teasing smile after he scowled at the unprompted advice about how to treat a girl on your first date with her.
He quickly sent her a message on his lacrima to let her know he was outside when she was ready to go. Within a few moments the door to Fairy Hills opened with a long creak.
Every single thought in his head disappeared at once.
Juvia was standing in the doorway smiling up at him like he was the only thing she'd been thinking about all morning, which he knew her well enough to think that was probably true. Gray's brain, which had spent the whole morning rehearsing conversation topics and worst-case scenarios, gave him exactly one coherent thought.
She's so pretty.
"Hi," she said as she came closer to him.
"Hi." It came out rougher than he meant it to. He cleared his throat, tried again, and what came out instead was, "you look really cute."
She bit her lip and a flush crept up from her collarbone to her ears. "Thank you," she said quietly, seeming pleased and then she reached out to take his hand like it was the easiest thing in the world.
He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding with the contact.
She already knew he was taking her into Magnolia for the day and he'd been vague about it on purpose, but not vague enough apparently because she led the way down the steps and turned them toward town without hesitating. He didn't mind. His legs still felt like they belonged to someone else.
"You will not believe the night Juvia had last night," she said, swinging their joined hands slightly as they walked. "Cana was up until dawn again with her drunk singing and by four in the morning she was stumbling through the halls knocking on doors to get more girls to join her. Erza came out and just started yelling at her which made the whole thing worse. The whole floor was awake and arguing then."
Gray laughed, the tightness in his chest easing a notch with her casualness. "Sounds like Fairy Hills is way more chaotic than the men's dorms ever were."
"Juvia doubts that." She frowned and looked up at him. "You and Natsu lived there at one point, right? That can;t have been quiet."
"Ahh, yeah we did," he scratched the back of his neck, smiling at the memory before he even got to it. "We wrecked it constantly. There was this one time we set half the kitchen on fire trying to see if Natsu's was hotter than the stove for cooking. Which, in hindsight, should not have needed testing."
"Interesting," Juvia side entirely straight-faced. "And you two never fought each other or were loud in the middle of the night?"
"Well," he looked away awkwardly and she giggled, leaning into him more.
"Juvia bets the two of you were so cute when you were sparring!" She said loudly, and lightly placed her temple to his shoulder as they turned the main corner to the town. "How long did you like in the boys dorm?"
"We each got our own places when we turned seventeen. Don't tell him I said this but Natsu's smart, he actually bought his house for himself and Happy. I just started renting my apartment like an idiot who didn't think that far ahead." He shook his head at the idea.
She laughed, bright and easy, and squeezed his hand. It struck him that this, walking, talking, her laughing at his dumb stories, didn't feel any different from a hundred other afternoons they'd spent together.
Today felt just like them.
"Juvia has an idea," she said, as they came up on a row of stalls near the edge of the park. "Why don't we buy some snacks and then sit on the grass and eat them like a picnic? Juvia wants to hear more stories about you and NAtsu living together."
"That's a long list of stories." He replied with a gentle smile.
"Good, that gives Juvia an extra excuse to spend time with you," she winked and laughed to herself when he rolled his eyes teasingly.
He bought too much. Skewers, something fried and something sweet for after, more than two people needed really, and they ended up sprawled on the grass under a tree with the food spread out between them.
Juvia's head tipped back so the sun caught the side of her face. She was mid-story, something about Gajeel and a badly-timed sneeze during Juvia's earliest days in Phantom Lord, gesturing with a skewer for emphasis.
Watching her like that, he realized with a kind of quiet, settling certainty that he hadn't needed to be nervous at all.
This was Juvia. She'd been his best friend long before he'd worked out that she was also the person he loved. Nothing about this afternoon had she asked him to be anyone other than who he already was with her.
He felt his shoulders drop, the last of the tension going out of his body about how the afternoon should go.
She was still talking with her hands, eyes bright and halfway through the next line of the story when he couldn't help himself anymore and leaned over to kiss her cheek softly.
Juvia's sentence died on the spot as her jaw dropped.
"— and then Gajeel just — he, uhm —" She stopped completely, hand still frozen mid-gesture, face going a deep, blotchy red from her cheeks down to her throat. "Gray-sama kissed Juvia?!"
He watched her fold forward, hands coming up to cover her face, muffled fangirling noises escaping between her fingers, and he started laughing at how completely delighted she looked doing it.
Because that was the thing, everything between them had changed after he finally confessed to her. He'd told her how he felt, and she'd said it back, and somewhere along the way boyfriend and girlfriend had become words that actually applied to them instead of what Juvia insisted they should be to get a rise out of him.
But they hadn't changed, not really.
They were still just Gray and Juvia, trading dumb childhood stories and finishing each other's jokes, still exactly as ridiculous and exactly as easy as they'd always been before.
He reached over and placed his hand gently on her head in affection as she peaked through her fingers at him. Her reaction to the smallest piece of affection made his chest ache for her, knowing they had already kissed before a few times and still reacting like it was the first time ever… Gods, she was so cute.
She caught his wrist before he could pull his hand back, holding onto it like she wasn't done needing him close yet.
"Tell me what happens next," he said, grinning widely.
"Juvia doesn't remember," she lowered her hands from her face, cheeks glowing, and looked at him with an expression so gleeful that he almost laughed. "Gray-sama has to kiss Juvia again, then she might remember better."
"Might?"
"Juvia may need several kisses, it's a very serious case of memory loss!" She placed the back of her hand on her forehead to add to the drama of her statement, and he smirked when he noticed one of her eyes squinting open to see if he was falling for her joke.
"Well then I'd better get started, doctor's orders." He leaned in and kissed her other cheek.
She let out a delighted squeal. "Juvia can feel it working! She needs more kisses now!"
"Yes, ma'am."
She was kicking her feet against the grass, and she grinned so wide he thought her face might split in half
He kissed the corner of her mouth and she flopped forward, pressing her forehead into his shoulder, shaking with her giggles about the whole thing. When she came back up he kissed her nose, and then her temple, and then the spot just in front of her ear that made her shiver, and she wriggled in place like she could hardly contain it.
"Gray-sama is kissing Juvia so much," she whispered, like it was the most thrilling news in the world. "She is going to melt into the grass and you will have to carry her home."
"Hmm, will I get more kisses if I carry you home?" He asked it completely straight-face.
She gasped, delighted, and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, big and bright and a little clumsy. He fell backwards into the grass with her half on top of him, both of them laughing too hard to do it properly. She peppered his cheek with kisses, a tiny one on his jaw, one on the tip of his nose that made him scrunch his face with the tickle of it and made her cackle.
"Juvia is so happy," she said, propping her chin on his chest and beaming at him. "Juvia doesn't even have to ask for more kisses and she is getting them anyway!"
"You could ask me anyway, I'd like that." He tucked a curl of blue hair behind her ear. "Go on. Ask."
"Kiss Juvia, please!" she announced, so loudly that a couple walking past glanced over with raised eyebrows. He obliged her anyway, grinning against her mouth while she squealed into it.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, the sweet treat they'd bought for later got knocked onto its side, but neither of them cared or even noticed.
"Juvia loves you," she said against his lips, sing-song and breathless, like she'd been saving it up all morning and it had finally spilled over.
"I love you too."
She giggled wildly and clapped both of her hands over his face to block his view of her as she had her moment and then kissed him again anyway, muffled squealing and all. He was so busy being helpless about it that he missed her reaching for another skewer.
"Juvia remembers now! Gajeel was this close to sneezing on Master Jose during the meeting," she said as she sat up and took a bite of the food, her eyes sparkling at him as he lay there all dazed.
"My miracle cure for that ending?" He gave her an unimpressed look at the sudden distance between them.
"Juvia needed the kisses." She waved the skewer at him, entirely unashamed at her action. "But you should keep giving Juvia more kisses, for medical reasons in case she loses her memories again."
"For medical reasons," he agreed with a pointed look at his smiling girlfriend, shifting closer until her shoulder was pressed against his and when she leaned in to kiss him again, he forgot he'd ever been nervous that day at all.