AN: I just couldn't let this day pass without at least a small story!
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Late Gift
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Gray took the tray and it looked damn good in his opinion. It was Valentine's Day and even though he didn't care for it at all, his wife did and he would do pretty much anything for her, to make her happy.
Especially now.
To his surprise, she was already seated on their bed, awake and with some kind of knitted thing on her hands. She had been sleeping in for a few weeks, even though she was the early bird of the household.
"Hey, good morning." Gray told her with a smile, knowing she'd be happy about it, she had always been a sucker for Valentine's Day.
"Good morning." Juvia's smile was small and Gray frowned a little but didn't deterred himself. Valentine's Day was one of the few days he had to be romantic and it wasn't completely horrible. He secretly liked the day, actually. Juvia would become really… amorous about it and he was more than fine with her advances when they happened.
That year was different.
"Happy Valentine's Day." The Ice Mage told his wife, leaning to kiss her lips and put the tray with food and her gift next to her.
"To you too." Juvia smiled into the kiss. "Usually it's Juvia bringing you a tray of food and waking you up with herself under the covers." She winked when he blushed a little.
"Well." He cleared his throat. "That was on the plans but you didn't play along."
"Juvia is way too big for that." Juvia chuckled. "Besides, someone woke me up before you did." She put a hand over her growing stomach and Gray did the same, feeling their baby kick his hand.
"That's not a way for a lady to behave." Gray put a hand on her stomach, teasing her: he really didn't care whether it was a boy or a girl, but he felt he needed to pretend to think they were having the opposite of what Juvia thought just for fun.
"It's a boy and he is as restless as his father." Juvia chuckled. "Although, he's been very lazy. He's a week overdue." Juvia groaned in annoyance and Gray sighed: even though Juvia loved their baby more than anything already, she was more than done with pregnancy. She hated her bloated self, her aching breasts, her aching back, aching feet, aching… everything. Gray tried his best, always to make her feel better but it was hard sometimes.
"He'll come when he's ready." Gray told her and Juvia sighed. "Now, how about you eat something and I can give you your gift?"
"You got Juvia a gift?" She looked excited.
"Of course." Gray rolled his eyes. "I am not falling for your 'oh, I don't really need a gift' ever again."
"Sorry about that. Juvia didn't think you'd take it literally." She chuckled.
"Never saw you glare at me before." Gray smirked. "Eat the eggs before it gets too cold."
The blunette hesitated. "Uh… maybe later? Juvia isn't hungry yet. She's much more interested on your gift."
"Fine." He sighed and took a velvet box from, between the plates with eggs and the one with waffles. "Happy Valentine's Day. Again."
"Oh, that's promising." Juvia teased him – after three years of marriage, she got better abut teasing him. "Do you want to renew our vows again?"
Gray groaned in annoyance. "Just open the damn thing."
Juvia giggled and opened the box and she was surprised to see a necklace there, in shape of a heart, silver, just like his, even the light blue sapphire in the middle of it but the chain was much thinner.
"It's beautiful." Juvia's eyes watered (which wasn't so unusual given her hormonal ups and downs."
"It's a locket too." He said and only then, she noticed the delicate lock and she opened it. "I didn't put any pictures yet because I thought you'd want to have the baby here so we could take a picture with the three of us."
"Yes." Juvia nodded, smiling like crazy.
"There's something else about it, too." That time he was blushing and Juvia wondered why. "I don't know why I was extra cheesy this year."
"It's the baby."
Gray pondered for a moment. "That makes sense." He nodded to himself. "Well, give it to me." He laid his hand to her and Juvia gave the necklace to him.
The Ice Mage took his own necklace, the one with a charm of a cross and with a blue sapphire in the middle of it. "I asked for the jeweler to make an alteration. So this," he showed her his charm "can fit here." He showed her necklace and pushed the top of the heart a little, backing it away, so his cross charm slid inside and took perfect place on her locker.
Even the sapphire on his cross charm took over for the gem on her locker (as it had been pushed behind a little for the fit).
"Oh." Juvia breathed. She knew how important his necklace was for him – it belonged to his father and he never took it off, being the last memory of him.
"I know you know how important this is to me so I guess I wanted to make something to… show you that… I don't know." Even his ears were red and it was quite amusing. "It's supposed to be romantic and crap."
Juvia giggled with his lack of finesse. "If it means Juvia holds your heart in hers, you've succeeded."
"Whatever." He mumbled, looking away and getting even redder.
"Thank you." She told him, sincerely as he removed his cross from her heart locker and put his necklace back on. "It's perfect." Her eyes started to water again, lips wobbling. "It's so p-perfect."
Gray hated when his wife cried, no matter in which situation. "Hey, hey." He grabbed one of her hands, knowing her hormones were going crazy again. "This was suppose to make you smile, not cry."
"But it's so p-perfec-fect and Juvia is a ter-ter-terrible wife." She started to cry harder and Gray was confused.
"Why the hell would you think that?"
"Be-because she didn't fi-finish her gift fo-o-or you." The Water Mage sobbed and showed the cloth she had on her lap. "Thi-is was sup-supposed to be a swe-e-e-eater." The gray colored knitting work was nowhere near done, only halfway through, if he had to guess. "Juvia has been on b-bed res-rest and couldn't buy you a gift so… she tri-tried to knit something but Juvia feels so tired all the ti-i-ime she fell asleep a lot and it's not do-o-o-ne." She started to cry harder.
Gray hated pregnancy hormones. But then again, this was a very Juvia reaction.
"Juvia, I don't care about gifts. I don't care if you need another year to finish this, okay? Or if you don't finish at all." He told her gently. "You care about it, so I am glad to give you a gift without receiving nothing in return, okay? Don't worry, this is your day."
"Really?" She sniffed.
"Of course." He reassured her. "Now you should eat because I woke up really, really early cook you breakfast."
"Not really hungry." She tried to dry her tears and Gray frowned.
"You are always hungry at breakfast." He looked at her with suspicion. "You have been craving waffles and eggs for the past two weeks."
"Um…" She looked down to the lock in her hands. "Don't be… alarmed, please." She said, which was enough to alarm him. "But… Juvia thinks she's in labor?" Gray's eyes widened. "The contractions are steady, but too further apart to be a worry."
"You are what?" Gray asked, getting up from the bed and looking incredulous. "What- When- Why didn't you tell me?"
"You were being so romantic with the tray and the locker! Juvia couldn't interrupt that! You are almost never this romantic!"
"Interrupt!" Gray was exasperated. "Being in labor trumps romantic gestures every time! Remember that!"
"Alright." Juvia nodded and made a discomforted expression and Gray took her hand on his. It lasted a few moments before she took a deep breath. "Well, that was closer."
"We have to- there's- the hospital- should we-?" Gray, the almighty Ice Mage was absolutely lost on what to do and it would've been quite endearing to see if Juvia didn't know they had very limited time. They faced Acnologia a few years ago and he was as steady as he could be, but mention labor and suddenly he was panicked.
"You go and take the baby's bag. Remember? It's on the baby's room?" Juvia said and Gray nodded. "You take that while Juvia chooses a dress to put on. We have some time."
"How can you say that? You are in labor!" Gray was a little hysteric.
"Yes, dear." Juvia agreed, asking for his help to get up and he did. "Now please, the bag. Can you do that?"
"Yes." He nodded. "Are you going to be okay?"
"It's literally twenty steps away from here." She chuckled. "Juvia will be fine."
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It was 23:58 when Gris Fullbuster was finally born, after hours and hours of pain, groans and a few screams.
A couple of hours later, when the baby had been thoroughly checked, fed, bathed and given to the new parents, Juvia couldn't stop looking at their son. He was perfect.
"You know, you took your time inside Mama's tummy, honey." She whispered to the baby and he smelt the top of his head. "I guess I know why." She chuckled – exhausted. "Gray-sama?" Juvia called for her husband, who was dozing off on the couch next to her bed and he was up immediately.
"What? What is it?" He was worried.
"Nothing is wrong, don't worry." She told him but passed the bundle that was their son into his arms. "Juvia guesses she managed to give you a Valentine's Day present after all."
Gray seemed confused for a moment – right, Gris was born on February 14th, even if late at night.
"I guess you did." Gray chuckled and kissed the baby's forehead. "Best gift ever, by the way." Juvia agreed with a hum. "I can't wait to see how you are going to top this next year." He laughed.
"Next year Juvia will give you twins." She joked.
Gray paled. "Don't even joke about this."
The blunette chuckled. "Happy Valentine's Day, Gray-sama. And Gris-chan."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Juvia."
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AN: Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!
02/14/2018 ~ BonneyQ