A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks to Otppromts on tumblr, I was able to get a killer idea on a new fic, so here it is! Gruvia of course :3 Enjoy!
Have a gorgeous day! '\^~^/'
First Anniversary
Gray Fullbuster awoke to the sunlight from his open bedroom window beaming heavily upon his face and an unpleasant itching sensation stirring in his stomach. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and pulling back the bedspread so he could get up, the ice mage frowned upon noticing that his wife, Juvia Fullbuster, wasn't still sleeping peacefully besides him in her spot on their bed.
Of course she wasn't. Juvia had left two days ago to go on a job for them so they would be able to have some money for the next few months. Recalling this caused the man to scowl deeply and mentally curse himself for having pushed her into taking the job. Yes, Juvia was a very strong mage and he knew that, but every since they had gotten married, much less started dating, he had gotten very protective of her and was often seen with his guard up whenever he was around her, just in case any wanting men tried to flirt with her or even if some sort of criminal ambush were to happen, he was always ready for action. He knew Juvia could take care of herself, and the job was only a simple escort mission, but at times he felt greedy when it came to her, and during those times he just wanted her for himself, he didn't want her to be anywhere but in their house and in their bedroom with him. He understood well enough they needed to be saving up more money, especially since they had started thinking about having a child, but the man couldn't help feeling just a little bit worried whenever she went on solo jobs. When it got to the point where her jobs lasted a week or longer, Gray would sometimes have a guildmate secretly tag along with her and look after her from afar just so he could be sure she was safe. But he knew Juvia would be returning that day so he lightened up a bit and smiled.
The sensation in his stomach returned suddenly, letting him know he was hungry and Juvia wasn't there to make a nice, fresh breakfast for the both of them like she usually would. He himself knew how to cook, but he always preferred her elegant cooking over his plain, sometimes flavorless food. When his stomach churned again to remind him a third time he had to prepare food for himself, Gray sighed.
He fumbled around his and Juvia's bedroom for his underwear; the ice mage always slept naked no matter what, whether Juvia was with him or not, and every time he stripped out of his boxers he could never remember where he had discarded them. Finally finding them after five minutes under his bed and jumping into them quickly, he shuffled down the stairs of the Fullbuster household and stumbled into the kitchen wearily.
The moment Gray pried open the refrigerator door and began rummaging through the contents for ingredients to make a simple breakfast meal, something in his head "clicked", and he froze. He was suddenly overcome with this sense of forgetfulness that he couldn't quite understand; somehow, the ice mage had a feeling the day was important but he couldn't yet decipher why. Grabbing some pancake mix, butter, jam, eggs, and a carton of orange juice from the fridge and then bending down to retrieve a frying pan from one of the cabinets, he mentally checked off a list of important dates that were to come in the future or had already passed just to make he wasn't missing out on anything special.
"Juvia's birthday was last week, my doctor's appointment was three days ago, the Fourth of July has been passed, and..." Something was missing. Gray strongly believed something important had come up and today was the date for that important thing, but his mind couldn't picture what it was. It wasn't anyone's birthday that he knew of and there were no celebrations going on that day at the guild, that he was certain of...but just like the annoying sound of a wailing baby, that repetitive feeling of forgetfulness continued to haunt him, even when he had finished making his breakfast and had begun to eat. And what bothered him most was that he had no idea what the level of importance was for this day, for all he knew it could be someone's wedding day and he didn't even know.
Juvia was smart when it came to situations like these, maybe she would know what was so unique about today. But upon remembering that she had had to take her lacrima phone to a shop a week ago for repairs, the idea of calling her was out of the question.
"I'll ask Lucy or Levy when we get to the guild then," Gray decided firmly. "They're smart, I'm sure the both of them or maybe even one of them can tell me why today is so special. There's no way I'm going to deal with this annoying feeling all day."
Dressed, bathed, fed, and with that disturbing feeling gnawing in his mind again, Gray stalked out of he and Juvia's home, locking the door behind him and tucking the house key safely away in his pants pocket. The scent of lovely summer daisies and the somewhat cool breeze of the early morning greeted him with a gentle waft past his nose as he stepped away from the property of his home and onto the sidewalk, the Fairy Tail guild hall his destination. Exhaling deeply and grinning in the comfort of the fairly cool air, then looking up at the wonderfully transparent blue sky and the blazing hot sun that illuminated the earth, Gray walked on in silent contentment and mused over his plans for when Juvia came home when he heard a familiar voice.
"I don't think it's really necessary for us to take another job this week, Natsu." It was Lucy Dragneel, the wife of Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer. Hearing them made Gray's mood plummet a few levels, but for the most part he was genuinely surprised. Natsu and Lucy had surprisingly gotten married before Gray and Juvia, just half a year earlier. When Gray had learned that Natsu was the first to propose to his girl, he had been in a tantrum the whole day. Never in his life did he ever think Natsu of all people would actually propose to a woman, let alone date anyone or even understand what love was. But Lucy fully loved him back and had agreed yes to his proposal, so he had been and still was very happy for them. It shocked him, however, that the two were walking his route to the guild, when usually they followed the route on their own street where their house was located because that way was a few minutes faster. Deciding that it would do kind to bid them a good morning, and ask them about the importance of the day, he turned around and strolled over to them.
"Oi, it's Ice Princess twelve o'clock Lucy! Stand back, he might pass on his stripping habit to you." Natsu defensively positioned himself in front of Lucy to block her from Gray's view and glowered at his fellow ice mage.
Gray shrugged and waved them a hello, sending a silent and threatening glare to his fellow Fire Dragon Slayer before smiling quickly at Lucy. "Morning guys."
"Good morning Gray," Lucy replied, returning the kind greeting.
"Ice Princess," Natsu mumbled, returning to his side by Lucy once the three of them had absentmindedly picked up a similar pace and were walking together to the guild.
"Flame-brain," Gray grumbled back, sighing and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "So anyway, why are you guys going this way? Your house is on the other street and it's a little closer to the guild than here."
Lucy huffed and motioned to Natsu. "According to his 'killer Dragon Slayer nose', he said there's some new pastry stand somewhere along this way and he wanted to go this way so we could buy something for him to try out."
"Ah, so the typical food excuse," Gray guessed, chuckling.
"Hey!" Natsu shouted.
Lucy giggled and nodded. "Yeah."
Natsu grimaced at Gray again before his eyes began to search around the ice mage thoughtfully. "Oi, where's Juvia?"
This question caused Gray's smile to fade instantly. He shifted uncomfortably under Natsu's suddenly heated gaze and stared at his feet that out of nowhere seemed very fascinating. "She's still on that job of hers, but she'll be returning sometime around four o'clock later this afternoon."
"Aww, little Ice Princess is lonely," Natsu teased lightly, earning a dark glare from Gray and a jab to the ribs from Lucy.
"Wait," Lucy suddenly said, her eyes boring into Gray's as Natsu rubbed the area where she had jabbed him. "Call me crazy for remembering, but isn't today yours and Juvia's one year anniversary?"
Then it clicked. Gray understood why he felt like he was missing something, why all morning the feeling of forgetfulness had been haunting him. It was his anniversary. He was a fool for forgetting one of the most important days of marriage, sure somewhere along the road when he and Juvia had been married for years then maybe it would be okay for him to forget. But this was their first anniversary. The very first one. And though they had each other and their love was stronger than one thousand men, some part of him knew that today was supposed to be special, especially for Juvia. And though she loved him more than the world, most likely more than he could ever love her, who knew what kind of reaction she would express if she got home to see absolutely nothing arranged for their anniversary? The ice mage needed to do something before she returned or he would being in court arguing about a divorce the next day.
"Shit," he cursed, retreating back to his house. "Thanks for the heads up, Lucy!"
"He forgot his anniversary? That's low even for Gray," Natsu muttered.
Lucy jabbed him in the ribs again, harder this time. "Shut up Natsu, you were the same. Remember you had only found out because Happy asked you if you wanted to bail on our anniversary and go fishing instead?"
Natsu blushed and scratched the back of his head, remaining silent. That day, Happy had almost gotten him divorced.
Gray paced the floor of his living room in front of the couch, rubbing his chin and tapping his head thoughtfully, racking his brain for any romantic ideas to celebrate their anniversary. He couldn't choose anything fancy because money was sort of an issue at the moment (that was why Juvia had taken the job), and he himself wasn't much of a super sweet guy that could just come up with a romantic gesture on the spot that would cause Juvia to be overjoyed. However, he knew he needed to do something for her just in case she was expecting a wonderful surprise when she returned, and with time slowly ticking away the longer he pondered over the matter, he become more and more frustrated.
"Looks like I have no choice," Gray sighed, picking up his jacket he had set on the couch and slipping his arms through the sleeves. "Damn it, I hate shopping."
Gray spent the next few hours shopping, picking up anything that looking remotely romantic and Juvia-ish and showing it into his shopping cart, in a hurry to get home and have everything in place before his wife returned. At two o'clock later that afternoon, he finally arrived back at his house carrying bags of items equivalent to that of two full shopping carts and set them down on the coffee table in front of the couch in the living room.
With a sigh and a swift look at the wall clock, he began sorting through the bags for his first item.
Juvia beamed happily as she stepped out of Magnolia Station and into the merry town of Magnolia, the blazing sun shining high in the sky and a smooth breeze whistling through the town. She readjusted the ghost white sunhat the topped her head and smoothed out her blue sundress before strolling down one of the streets that led the way to hers and Gray's house.
The water mage hummed all the while she walked, taking in the familiar sights and the lush scenery of gorgeous summer flowers that lined every garden and waving politely to every passerby she saw. Any time whenever she or Gray took a job, the two were always bursting with energy at the thought of seeing each other again, even if the period of their departing had been just a couple of hours. Juvia always greeted him with a bear hug and he returned the gesture with a soft or deep kiss, and one way or the other one of them was always feeling amorous when the other returned, so a common way they celebrated the completion of a job and their safe return was to make love or simply hang about their house together. Seeing as to Gray hadn't found a way to communicate with her since her phone was going through repairs and that he hadn't found a lacrima to use like he usually would to ask about the mission or to check on her, she had a feeling he was up to something, and the thought made her giddy with excitement and caused her to pick up her pace. Seeing her beloved after a successful job always made her happy, but she was all the more jolly when he welcomed her back with surprises and gifts. Her mind circled around the possibilities of gifts he could have bought for her this time.
Yet, the closer she got to home, the more she felt like she was forgetting something. Juvia's jovial attitude dissipated the more she stepped closer to the gate that led up the front steps of her house. There was a bothersome voice in the back of her mind that was telling her something, trying to reach out to her and remind her of something major. She couldn't yet place her finger on it but it began to bug her, especially since she always wanted to appear gleeful when she saw Gray for the first time after a job.
"Juvia knows she didn't forget anything on the train," the woman said to herself. "And she didn't forget to collect the reward from the client either." To assure herself that she was right, the water mage lifted up the bag in her right hand that contained the 180,000 jewel and nodded. "Yes, Juvia has it. She didn't forget anything." But the irritating feeling remained, even when she reached the front doorstep of her house.
Inside, Gray had just seconds ago finished hanging up the final decoration when he heard the unlocking of the front door. Candles were lit up almost everywhere, lovely music played in the room, a rich lilac smell overflowed in the house, some light gifts were assorted on the coffee table, and then a gorgeous, well plated dinner was set up on their dining room table. Gray had also blown up some balloons that were set in corners of the ceiling and had even made a small banner reading "Happy 1st Anniversary~" that was plastered above the front door for the first person who walked inside to see.
And that person was Juvia, who, after having struggled a little bit with the house key, finally pushed open the front door and stepped inside the house. Her eyes glossed over and widened as she took in the sight of the lovely arrangements Gray had laid out for her, and the banner she spotted above her head when she looked up. "Happy first anniversary," she read in a shaky voice, reaching up to clap a hand over her mouth. "Gray-sama..."
"Surprise!" Gray exclaimed, throwing his arms open. Juvia dashed full speed at him and threw her arms around him, reveling in his strong arms that wrapped around her and the scent of lilac that had engulfed him strongly. She then felt the way his body was shaking and noticed that he was holding her less tighter than usual and slowly pulled away from his hold, studying him skeptically. "Gray-sama is shaking...Did he forget too?"
Gray refused to gaze at her accusing face and instead cast is eyes on the spaghetti that had been prepared for them. "Yeah a little...Wait, what? You forgot too, Juvia?"
Juvia nodded shamefully, her cheeks rosy pink. "Juvia had the date marked on the calendar, but she was too focused on the job so she forgot all about our anniversary! Juvia is sorry!"
Gray took the reward money she carried in her hands and threw it on the couch, then led his wife to the table and pulled out her chair for her. When she sat down, he kissed the side of her head and chuckled. "It's alright, we're still new to this whole marriage thing anyway..."
"Gray-sama is right, but Juvia would have still liked to get him something for this special day..."
He smirked handsomely at her. "Yes but you're here now and that's all I need."
Juvia blushed lightly and smiled fully at him. "Then let's celebrate, Gray-sama!"
The two clinked their glasses of lemonade Gray had poured for the both of them and prepared to dig into their delicious meal.
And that's done! What happens after that is up to you. ;)
For some reason I'm not too happy with the ending, but I'll leave it since I don't feel like spending another few hours on this. Thank you very much for reading, and like it or not feel free to leave a review.
Have an awesome day, and those of you reading this who have already celebrated their anniversary or have one coming up, Happy Anniversary! O(^~^O)