Gruvia Stories

Unexpected

Juvia will always remember the first time Gray told her he loved her because it was truly iconic and it would be a perfect funny story to tell their kids.

As they've started dating for quite some time now; Gray was more often close to her in the guild hall, not caring a damn about what the others would think because he was just sitting here, stuck to her skin. Usually he would have an arm behind her, resting it on the bench and caressing her opposite arm mindlessly. Their legs would be touching underneath the table or she would have one of hers on his. Being this close also meant whispering things in her ear without anyone noticing or kissing her cheek or neck subtly whenever he wanted to. She loved how careless of the others he has become, they both loved it.

Today was one of these days, they were conversing with the others around the table, Juvia was laughing at whatever Lucy and Levy were telling her, Gray was silent beside her, too focused on the tiny braids he'd been making in her hair and Natsu was too busy eating to care about anything.

At some point he gave a quick look at the clock standing tall in the hall, finished what he was doing then got up from his seat.

"I gotta go." He said while standing up. He came up behind her and she turned her head to kiss him goodbye. "See you later. I love you" Then he left.

Juvia on the other end, looked at him with big eyes full of astonishement and although the guild was as loud as ever, most people heard him loud and clear. Natsu spilled what he was drinking, Gajeel who was never too far away from Levy came up to the table like something terrible had just happened while Lucy and Levy just chukled at the sudden confession. They all watched Juvia and she looked at them just to confirm she heard him right. At the look of their expression surely equal to her own, she became sure of what she had just heard and a smile appeared on her face. At the bar, Erza and Mira did not dare to move and both looked at Gray to see the exact moment when he'd realise. After all, they all knew he hadn't said it yet. Sometimes they would ask Juvia and she would just answer: 'Not yet, but he's nearly there.' So they were all waiting for the famous day. Juvia turned to his figure still leaving; they all saw him abruptly stop in his tracks. He stood there for a minute, realising what he had just said. It was the first time, he hadn't said it yet even if he felt it very strongly, and he just spit it out like this, like it wasn't a big deal. Why couldn't he do things normally? Like saying it when they were being romantic or in a special place or anything better than that, he wanted to slap himself but turned swiftly on his feet instead. He started to walk back to her slowly at first but then faster and ended up in front of her, looking directly into her eyes.

"Did you just say 'I love you'?" He was going to ask the question but she bit him to it. She seemed still a little shocked but had a sweet expression and chuckled at his reaction.

He just stood there for a few seconds longer and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess so." She laughed and he relaxed, all he could do was smile at the sight in front of him. All of their friends around them rolled their eyes but he was too busy looking at how happy it made her to hear the words. And finally he did not regret one bit to have so unexpectedly spoken his mind out loud like this, in a normal day situation with all their friends around when they both least expected it.

"Well, I love you too, so you can go now, Gray-sama is going to be late." She told him, taking his hand in hers and looking at him lovingly.

"Ok." He said softly before bending to kiss her one more time. "I really do love you though." He told her again just so she understands he did not say it without truly being sure he was in love with her. But all she did was laugh at him again.

"I know. Go now." She made a swish movement with her hand to tell him to go away. He smirked at her and turned his back to leave the guild quickly. When she faced her friends again all she could hear was Gajeel utter something like: "Stupid Icecube." But she was so happy that she did not even listen to what the others said anymore after that. She was on her little cloud and was so not ready to get down. 

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