A/N: My first contribution to Gruvia Week, which is not based on any prompts. Basically, I've been meaning to write this short fic since February. This is dedicated to my good friends rieriebee, darkdreamerx, and kanarenee who's positive reactions to my telling of this idea kept me motivated to finally write this down, so thanks for listening and letting me share this little plot bunny with you wonderful ladies!
When The Walls Come Crumbling Down
"The day is finally upon her. Juvia has been dreading it all month, but no matter how badly she willed it not to come, the morning in which her two babies would leave her behind has arrived at last."
"Why are you monologuing?" Gray asked wearily, as Juvia stared wistfully at her twins in the doorway of their three-bedroom wooden home, which sat just outside the outskirts of Magnolia. Both kids had both just finished giving their mother a parting hug before she had started giving voice to her sorrow.
"Mom… first of all, we're not babies anymore," said Gray and Juvia's teenage daughter Gwen. She had raven-colored hair like her father, which she always wore gathered together in two low, separate bunches on either side of her head. Her ice-blue eyes stared from her parents, to her brother, and back again. "Luke and I are fourteen-years old already," Gwen's tone was slightly exasperated as she looked up into her mother's concerned face.
"Secondly, we're just going away for a week to a training camp. Most of the other kids from Fairy Tail will be there, too, and so will kids from other guilds. Even some of the instructors are people you know, like Jura-sensei," she concluded, trying to calm her mother's worries.
It seemed like a lost cause, however, as Juvia's lip trembled in a failed attempt at trying to keep her composure. Juvia had been in a state of steadily increasing apprehension ever since Gray and herself had signed the forms a month ago which gave her children permission to attend this young mage battle camp experience.
"But, you two have never been away from home on your own for more than a day before," Juvia insisted anxiously. "What if you catch a cold? Or what if Luke needs something mended? What if you don't like the food there, and have nothing to eat, and since Mama isn't around, you die of starvation!" Juvia concluded in dismay, her voice rising higher as she ran through each supposedly impending situation.
Luke had inherited his mother's light blue hair, but his eyes were strangely as pitch black as his sister's wavy locks. "Mom," he began, his voice steady and kind, "neither Gwen nor I are going to starve to death, and we're both ice mages, so catching a cold is unlikely. Especially considering it's summer and boiling outside. We're going to be just fine, so stop worrying," Luke said soothingly, a small smile playing on his face as Juvia gave a large sniff, and clasped her hands together as if in prayer.
"But what if things get out of hand during training, and someone gets hurt, or if you two hurt someone by accident, and the magic council is called in, and you're both taken in for questioning, and put on trial, and then thrown in jail?! What will mama and papa do then?!" Juvia was obviously picturing this dreadful scene in her head in elaborate detail, and her whole family knew it.
Gray, a light stubble decorating his chin, sighed but looked more amused than annoyed with his wife's vivid imagination, clearly having grown used to it long ago. "Guys, just go, it's not going to get any better than this I'm afraid, and trying to talk sense to your mom right now won't get you anywhere," he said reasonably, as he put his hand around Juvia's shoulder, and gave her a consoling squeeze. "Have a good time, and show the rest of those kids that you should never underestimate a Fullbuster." He winked at them.
The kids grinned at their father, who also happened to be their teacher, "We will!" they assured him.
"There's that big tournament at the end of the training camp, which is this Saturday. You can both come watch us ice out the competition," Gwen said with confidence as she looked towards her mother, hoping the thought of being able to visit them would appease her.
Juvia's eyes sparkled at this invitation. "Mama and Papa will surely be there to cheer you both on," she said passionately, a heartfelt smile gracing her face through all the tears she was now shedding.
Gwen and Luke smiled back and gave one final look at their mother, who was blubbering into their father's shoulder, before waving farewell and disappearing down the dirt path which ran outside their cottage home. The large smiles on their faces clearly mirrored the thrilling sense of adventure in their hearts.
Gray and Juvia watched them go, the knapsacks on their backs getting smaller, until they were entirely gone from view. Gray took his arm from around Juvia in order to close the front door.
"Gray-sama…." Juvia said in a snuffly-sort of voice.
"What's wrong now?" he asked tentatively, his eyebrow raised.
"Juvia misses her babies!" she bawled.
Gray laughed out loud at this. "They just left!"
"Juvia can't help it! It'll be seven whole days before she gets to see them again! That's forever! What will Juvia do?!"
"Well…" Gray hesitated, for an idea had clearly been playing on his mind, too since this trip had been decided last month, and unlike Juvia, he was looking on the bright side of things. "We haven't had the house to ourselves for longer than a night before, and now we have the whole week all to ourselves. So, I can think of all kinds of things we can do to pass the time," he said with a low growl and a very suggestive look on his face.
Juvia, her tears drying on her cheeks, looked up at Gray, her eyes wide as she pondered his words before his implications hit her. "Oh!" she said, a sparkle of excitement blossoming on her face.
"Do you really think mom's going to be ok?" Gwen asked a little apprehensively.
"Yeah," Luke said, "dad'll take care of her."
"I hope they don't embarrass us on Saturday, " Gwen said with dread in her voice.
Luke laughed. "Well, I can't promise you that," he said, while digging around in his pack.
"What are you looking for?"
"Mom said she packed us snacks," he said as he searched under several layers of freshly laundered clothes.
"You're going to eat already?! Gwen asked in disbelief.
"I'm hungry," Luke said honestly. "Hey, do you have the forms that mom and dad signed?"
Gwen gave him a very stern look. "No, you said you were going to take them."
"Oops," Luke said, before biting down on one of Juvia's homemade, and chocolate-filled granola bars.
They both stopped walking in mid stride.
"Ugh!" Gwen groaned.
"Sowwy!" Luke mumbled through a mouth full of granola.
Luckily Gwen and Luke had not gone far, as they rushed back to their cottage, and burst hurriedly through the door.
"We're not back, we just forgot - "
The scene that met the teens' eyes was one that could only be described as surreally horrific.
Their father was in nothing but his boxer briefs, which in itself wasn't that unusual, but slung over his shoulder was their mother dressed in a full maid costume. There were clothes, both their mother's and father's, strewn about the sitting room, and their parent's faces were frozen in mid-giggles. However, Juvia's face was slowly changing into an expression of guilty shock. Juvia dropped a pair of handcuffs she'd been holding, and they made a dull thunk on the carpet.
"Our forms," Luke finished his sister's sentence, as he nearly choked on the snack he had almost swallowed whole at the sight of his parents.
Nothing was said for several excruciatingly long seconds as Gray, Juvia, Luke and Gwen were all frozen in awkward silence. Their eyes locked, as the teens stared at their parents, and the two parents stared at their children in turn, Gray peeking out from behind the frills of Juvia's underskirt which barely covered her backside, and Juvia trying to cover the upper half of her risqué maid outfit with her arms which were previously grasping onto Gray's bare back.
"Um… where did you put the forms again, mom?" Luke said at last, as though trying to regain a hold of the situation, for he could see out of the corner of his eye his sister's expression gave the impression that she might end up permanently scarred by this situation.
Juvia's voice was embarrassedly high-pitched and her face red, but she, too tried to maintain her composure, as she pointed to the armoire and said, "i-in the top drawer," with as much dignity as she could muster.
"Thanks," Luke said, and he quickly opened it and grabbed the two forms. They headed silently back out the door.
Juvia, with clearly an attempt to salvage the situation, said hopefully, "so, we'll see you on Satur-"
"Don't come!" Gwen shouted, her face still glowing with embarrassment as she hurriedly shut the door loudly on her parents pursuits.
The silence left behind them hung heavy in the air.
"We've lost them forever, Gray-sama!" Juvia cried in anguish with her hand outstretched towards the closed door, her children's appalled faces fixed in her mind.
Gray sighed lightly. It seemed he was not as perturbed as his wife was by the situation. "Oh well, it can't be helped," he claimed with a nonchalance bordering on indifference. Clearly he had other priorities at the moment as he continued to carry his wife off towards their bedroom, his brain still fixed on the task at hand.
Luke and Gwen were once again on their way to meet up with the rest of the Fairy Tail guild's younger members before heading off to the camp together. Neither seemed to want to discuss what they had just walked in on. Gwen especially looked like she never wanted to think about it ever again, and yet the scene of her parents' shenanigans was surely burned into her retinas.
Finally, Luke voiced his own contemplations. "God, I hope that's not how we were conceived," he said dryly to his sister who he saw shiver hugely at the thought.
The End
A/N: And that, my friends, is exactly how I imagine Gruvia's future family life haha. Happy April Fools Day, and happy first day of Gruvia week! As I said, this has nothing at all to do with the prompts, but I felt today would be the most appropriate day to post this. I'll post my proper contribution in a few days. BTW, I have a whole, detailed head canon about Gwen and Luke, their personalities, magic, what their relationships are like with their parents, each other, and the other FT kids, but those are things that will need to be touched on at a later time (if ever). For now, I hope you guys enjoyed the silliness. If so, please review as I'd love to know what you thought! And thanks for reading! ^-^