Lightly put, Gray Fullbuster was not the best at cooking food.
His meals would end up either charred to pieces (due to his inability to keep his eyes on the stove) or frozen to the point that the food shattered (once again, due to his inability to keep his eyes on the stove, and going overboard when fixing that issue). That's why going on missions came as a blessing, most of the time. Not only did he have an excuse to either eat someone else's cooking or eat at a restaurant, but he also earned money to buy food from the guild when he was still in Magnolia.
It was a rare occasion that he tried to cook, and today just so happened to be one of those days.
Truth be told, it was for the sole reason that Juvia had come back from a week long mission, and the travel had taken her all night. He'd been half-asleep when the bluenette wobbled into the bedroom, and didn't even bother changing clothes before falling onto the bed. She was asleep as soon as her face hit the pillow, and he couldn't help but want to do something to welcome her back, because hell, he was her boyfriend and he was allowed to do sweet things every once in a while.
His first problem appeared rather quickly - he had no idea what to make. Juvia had mix for pancakes, she had eggs, she had bagels (which would, of course, be the easiest thing to make). But making something easy would be too… easy. He'd wanted a challenge, because he was Gray Fullbuster, and he liked challenges. So, he grabbed the pancakes, and a bag of chocolate chips from the pantry, and went to the counter.
Thirty minutes, a smoky kitchen, and three burnt pancakes later, Gray had finally made one pancake and decided that was enough cooking for one day. He'd successfully made a pancake for Juvia, and he would fix the mess he made later on in the day.
The water mage had just been waking up when Gray shoved the door open with his elbow.
"Mm…? Gray-sama? Good morning," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Juvia got back late last night… She apologizes if she woke you up at all."
"Nah, I was still awake anyway," he walked closer to the bed, and set the tray on her lap. Blue eyes widened at the sight of the breakfast, while a deep scarlet colored her pale cheeks.
"Gray-sama…"
"I figured you'd be too tired to get up early."
Juvia smiled, and pulled the tray closer to herself. "Gray-sama is so sweet," she gushed, bringing the fork to her mouth, and taking a bite of the pancakes.
"I'm pretty awful at cooking, so I don't know if it's any good…" he admitted, scratching the back of his head nervously. The last thing he wanted was for her to get sick because he was bad at cooking.
"Juvia promises they taste wonderful. Gray-sama did such a nice job!" Her smile only widened, into the same smile he loved so much. "Thank you."
He crawled back to his spot on the bed, laying so that he was on his side, facing Juvia. "I got up early to make 'em, so I'm gonna sleep for a bit…" Gray trailed off, pretty much half-asleep already.
Moments later, Juvia set the tray on the table, and stood from the bed.
"Juvia will clean up the kitchen for you. She can smell the smoke," she whispered, grabbing the tray again, and walking towards the kitchen.
Juvia ended up taking an hour to scrub down the kitchen and get rid of the smell. The idea of heading back to sleep wasn't awful - she was still tired from her mission and the thought of being able to sleep in Gray's arms after a whole week of her, Gajeel, and Lily being on a mission was definitely appealing.
Stretching out her arms, she walked back to the bedroom, and quietly laid down next to Gray, a blush barely present on her cheeks. "Thank you, Gray-sama…"
A/N: I'm a bit nervous posting this. c: Oh well, it's already on my tumblr. I'm not sure how I feel about this, especially the ending, but I'm going to attempt it nonetheless.