Both mages were sitting in the living room of their small house, while the rest of their friends were cheerfully spending the evening outside by the fire, giving them some privacy.

Gray was sitting across Juvia at the table where they used to share their meals together. He held his hands on his knees, awkwardly mumbling the sequence of events that led to his sudden disappearance. When he was done, he raised his head for the first time to see her reaction.

- "So… that's basically what happened…", - said Gray.

Juvia let out a small "oh". She held a blank expression for a few seconds before, happily getting up and heading towards the stove:

- "Alright, then! Juvia understands! Shall we eat? Everyone must be hungry-"

- "Woah! Too calm!", - he interrupted her.

- "Hm?"

- "Seriously? You're not mad or angry at all?"

Gray looked at her in disbelief. He was already a bit surprised that she so casually launched herself at him and locked him in a happy embrace back on the field, but he figured her reaction would change once she was actually aware of why he left.

- "Why would Juvia be angry?",- she asked calmly.

- "A-…"

Her question brought back a few images of the brief comment Natsu dropped once the fight was over:

Natsu was standing next to Gray, hands behind his head, looking at Juvia: - "Glad to see she's doing better."

-"Huh? What do you mean?", - asked Gray.

- "You don't know? Juvia passed out cold when we found her. She was seriously sick. Wendy couldn't even heal her straight away.",- casually answered the dragon slayer.

- "….What?…"

- "That little kid is getting stronger," - Natsu commented on Wendy, - "…. I might have to take her up on a challenge soon!"

Gray didn't say anything back then, and he wasn't really planning on bringing it up now, since Juvia herself didn't mention it.

- "So you're saying you were fine with everything, while I was away?" Gray kept staring at the floor, his fringe covering his eyes.

- "Eh- What?", -Juvia was a bit lost for words. That was a very sudden statement.

- "Annoying," - he mumbled.

- "Huh?!"

- "You should be mad at me."

- " Gray-sama…"

- "Or, what, you're saying that if this happens again you won't mind, even if I leave for a year? Or two?"

Gray was trying to test whether Juvia seriously considered this as something normal. People used to walk out on her all the time, but those people weren't her friends.

- "Juvia already said she missed you, Gray-sama! Of course she did! Any day with Gray-sama is always much better than without!", - she hurriedly tried to assure him.

- "Then why are you not upset?!"

- "J-", - Juvia exhaled and relaxed her shoulders. She was a bit exhausted with this conversation, but her expression wasn't really showing it. She took another brief moment before continuing:

- "..Juvia is not looking for reasons to be upset, Gray-sama."

- "…What?"

- "Juvia doesn't want to feel sad."

Gray was looking right at her, trying to study her face in hope that maybe something there would make it clearer for him.

- "….I don't…understand."

Juvia gave him a gentle smile, and started speaking very slowly, carefully choosing her words.

- "There were always..… very few things in Juvia's life that she could call "good"", - she confessed, - "….. But… meeting Gray-sama… Joining Fairy Tail… Changed that."

This time Gray saw her give him a very sincere and slightly shy smile.

- "Juvia always feels so happy to be with everyone… So if she were to get upset… there should be a very good reason for her to do that…. And Gray-sama leaving to go on a mission to save 30,000 people…"

She stepped closer to the table.

- "…to defeat an enemy so that all of us would be safe…."

Gray was silent. The guilt was still chewing on his chest, and he kept his head low, while she was walking towards his side.

- "Just doesn't seem like a good enough reason..," - she finished with a smile, and placed her hand on his shoulder, - "In fact, knowing that Gray-sama wouldn't think twice before protecting innocent people…. That he cares for others even though they're strangers…..

…Makes her love Gray-sama even more."

Gray shifted in his seat and placed his forehead on her stomach, slowly wrapping his hands around her waist, while Juvia, still standing let her other hand rest on top of his head:

- "Gray-sama is being too hard on himself…. But it's okay, because Juvia can always remind him that he is a wonderful person".