Despite how often Gray and Juvia participate in their guild's rowdiness and excitement, it's a rather subtle and quiet occasion when Gray eventually admits to Juvia he reciprocates her feelings. It's not so much a confession as a gesture, but suited to Gray nonetheless in Juvia's opinion.
It's an almost stereotypical day at the guild, with Lucy complaining about her rent, Natsu picking fights here and there, Macao and Wakaba griping about their age, and so on. It has been a couple months since the events involving Tartarus and while everyone is still recovering in one way or another, some things never seem to change. Juvia muses upon this as she people-watches from her spot at one of the tables, half-listening to the conversation Gray, Erza and Pantherlily are having next to her at the table about the job Team Natsu returned from the previous day. She has a book open, but she's given up reading it in favour of basking in the cheerful atmosphere around the guild, her head propped up by one hand, the other hand resting on the bench beside her. A gentle, contented smile graces her face as she observes, thinking to herself that even with the horrors of battle and war, she would never regret her decision to join here.
So lost in her daydreaming, she finds herself slightly startled by something touching her unoccupied hand, like someone trying to thread their fingers with hers. Juvia looks down to see there is indeed a hand on top of hers, halfway intertwined in a manner that is either lazy or an attempt at being sneaky that halted in fear of being caught. Blinking, she turns her gaze upwards and notices that the owner is sitting closer than she thought, though she knows that neither of them has moved since they sat down.
Gray in the meantime does not appear to have acknowledged the movement, continuing his conversation as if he hadn't subtly taken Juvia's hand into his own. She almost thinks it's an accident, that he set his hand down and it just happened to be on hers, but remembers other occasions where less contact accidently happened and his reactions of quickly pulling away and apologizing or denying the implications. Juvia blinks, bewildered as her mind reels to understand without delving into fantasy as she knows she's prone to doing.
"Is something wrong, Juvia?" Erza's voice cuts into her thoughts, snapping Juvia back to real time.
She turns her head to see Erza and Lily looking at her, their expressions a mix of concern and curiosity, and realizes she must have been staring for a while. She glances back to Gray and sees he's turned his attention to her as well, a dark eyebrow raised. To the other two table occupants, it likely seems that he too is wondering why she's staring, but Juvia sees it differently, having learned over time that Gray's expressions are often multilayered. There's something in his eyes that feels like a challenge, daring her to say something about their hands, but also willing her to understand what he can't properly convey with words.
Comprehension dawns on her and her eyes widen just the slightest. Gray doesn't like dramatics or over-the-top behaviour, and prefers doing things through action rather than words. Perhaps, she thinks, this is his way of showing her that in some way or another, her feelings towards him are reciprocated. Feeling breathless, she fights the urge to explode and tackle him into a hug and declare to the world that her hard work has finally paid off, and instead smiles in a way that is both soft and bright as she turns back to Erza.
"No, everything is fine," she answers, shifting her hand so it's officially intertwined with Gray's. "Everything is wonderful, even."
Her heart flutters more as Gray gives her hand a little squeeze, as if in thanks for not making a spectacle of it. She returns it with a squeeze of her own; "you're welcome, and thank you," it says.
Erza studies Juvia for a moment, then slides her gaze over to Gray, who has taken to watching the guild, head pointedly turned to the side. She then briefly looks down to the edge of the table opposite from her, between Gray and Juvia; Juvia sees a little spark in her eye that says she's understood what's happened, and the Requip mage smiles as well.
"Well, that's good," Erza replies, voice knowing and almost teasing. "I sincerely hope that it remains that way."
With that she restarts the previous conversation, acting as if nothing happened. Meanwhile, Juvia returns her attention to her book, but while her eyes read the words, all her mind can concentrate on is the surprising (but most certainly not unwelcome) warmth of Gray's hand in hers.
A/N: I seem to like "confessions" where one party just subtly takes the other's hand in a relaxed moment. I did that with one of my Ichigo/Orihime fics, haha. I think it fits with Gray and Ichigo though; with Ichigo (in the context of my fic anyway) he's shy and new to the concept of romance, while with Gray he seems the type to be less vocal about romance and the like. There's something sweet yet intimate about the action of holding hands, and I feel that compared to kisses the gesture is almost underrated.
Anyway, I do want to write a second part where the two of them explore their budding relationship a little more, but I've already had this as a work in progress for so long and I wanted to at least get to a point I could leave it as-is.
I'm not entirely sure why I wrote it in present tense rather than past tense (as I'm more comfortable with past), but it kind of worked out that way and didn't sound right when I tried to switch it.
Also, titles are hard; after a lot of trouble I decided to name this after the first line of the f.u.n. song "The Gambler", which is one of my favourites, though that's the only real connection this fic and the song have.
(Cross-posted to AO3)