So I wrote this for Gruvia week on tumblr but for got to post it here... Actually, this is in the same universe as my Nalu AU Newfound. Please check it out also if you enjoy Nalu!
Title comes from the song Hold Your Hand by Perfume for no real reason.
Enjoy!
Hold your hand
Juvia glanced at the wall separating her from her neighbour. He didn't seem to be in yet. Juvia shook her head no, as to rinse her head of all thoughts she had. Since she had taken the last room at the end of the block, she only had one neighbour to the left. It had been two months since she had moved in this new apartment and she only had caught glimpse of him a couple of times after their first encounter. She had wanted to be a good neighbour, so she had brought cookies to him.
She couldn't believe at first that such godlike man could exist. She had stuttered incoherent words when he had opened the door. Not helping that he had been completely naked. Soon understanding her discomfort, as he had said a "be right back" followed by colourful curses, he had went back inside his place to get dressed, leaving a heavily blushing Juvia.
"You're the new neighbour?" he had asked.
Juvia had merely nodded.
"Gray Fullbuster" he had replied, extending a hand.
Waking up from her stupor, she had reached for the handshake. "Juvia Lockster," she had managed to reply. "Cookies…"
The handsome man had smiled and Juvia could swear her heart had stopped. He had taken the box and this had been their first and only conversation since. Other times were simple "hellos" as Juvia was unable to talk around him. There was also the times she would catch him on his balcony, often wearing only his boxers. When she'd realize his presence, she'd always hide and look at him behind her curtains.
But Juvia still knew he'd go to work a little after her and finished a bit after her. At 7 pm, he was usually home. He seemed to work on some weekends too. Some days he'd come late, sometime inebriate. Sometimes he'd come with a guy friend, Juvia never caught a name but she had often heard "flame-head".
She was starting to think she had an unhealthy obsession with her hot neighbour.
Today was no exception as she installed herself on her bed, ear close to the wall as she was losing her time on the internet. Once she had discovered how thin the walls were, she had arranged her room as to be glue on the wall connecting her with the beautiful stranger. It wasn't stalking, it was collecting information on the man that could be her man of her life.
Or maybe she was going crazy.
She didn't really have any close friends to talk to about it and have advices from. There was Gajeel, her childhood friend, but he would definitively classify her as crazy.
She sighed as she continued to to aimlessly surf the web. She thought of continuing the newest drama with her favourite actor. Reaching for the TV's remote control, she suddenly heard the next door opened.
"Gray! You drank too much."
Juvia gasped silently. It was the first time Juvia heard a woman in his apartment. "His girlfriend?" she thought horrified.
"How can Jellal even stay with you?" grumbled loudly Gray.
Juvia only heard a "bang!" on the wall and she screamed in shock. She quickly put her hands on her mouth, worried they had heard her. There was a long silence, followed by hushed voices, a door opening to then have a soft knock on her door.
Juvia panicked. Did they know she was listening? She still gathered her courage and answered the door.
There was a woman, probably not much older than herself, smiling at her.
"Hi, I'm sorry to bother so late at night but I wanted to excuse myself for the noise. I heard you screaming after I knocked him out so you must have been surprised," said the red-haired woman.
Juvia tilted her head in confusion at the "knocked him out" but still replied softly: "it's alright… And you are?"
"Ah!" The woman dug her hand in her pocket to get a business card. "Erza Scarlet."
Juvia took the card and quickly remarked the prestigious lawyer firm the woman was from.
"Gray drank more than he should've and I was the one in duty to bring him back. Usually it's one of the guys that bring him back but this time Natsu was even worst. Why they must always do drinking contest?" sighed Erza.
Juvia nodded slowly, unsure why this woman was telling her all this.
"And you are?"
Juvia gasped at her own lack of manner. "Juvia Lockster. Wait a moment." She run a moment inside to grab one of business card. She handed one to Erza.
"Designer…"
"Juvia just started, and it's a small company…"
"It's still impressive."
Juvia smiled shyly.
"I should get going. Gray is like a little brother to me so if he causes you any problem, please call me."
Juvia nodded and politely thanked the woman. She closed the door and sighed in relief. She hadn't been found. And Gray still had no girlfriend in sight.
She got back to her bed and preciously kept the card in her wallet.
The next day was Saturday and being off, Juvia decided to go do her groceries. Going out her apartment, she realized her neighbour was doing the same. Before she could hide in reflex, he said his greetings.
"Hey!"
Juvia blushed and stuttered an: "Hi."
"Tell me, have you met my friend Erza last night? I remember her saying she'll see you because I've been noisy but I kinda… passed out after that so I don't remember clearly."
"Yes… She was really nice," replied Juvia trying hard not to stutter.
Gray snorted and murmured something like: "Yeah right."
They continued in silence to walk.
"I'm sorry, if I'm being noisy," he finished by say.
"It's okay. Juvia doesn't think Gray-sama is noisy."
Gray paused. "-sama?"
Juvia cursed mentally. Not only she had started to talk in the third person, she had promised to stop it as it was seen as childish, and she had called him by how she would say in her head.
"That's it. He's never going to talk to me again," she bitterly thought.
"It's not bad," he suddenly said, probably feeling her discomfort. "The name. Whatever suits you. I can call you by your name too?"
Juvia fiercely nodded.
"Cool."
Arriving near the train station which was a street away from the groceries store, Juvia dared to ask: "Where are you going?"
"Work," replied Gray in a sigh. "My boss called me earlier to help since there's more clients then predicted."
"You work in a shop?"
"Yeah. I do sculptures and pottery. My boss, Ultear, mostly does glassware and stained glass. So the shop as bunch of house decoration stuff. We also do special request. My speciality is ice sculptures."
Juvia's eyes shined brightly in excitation. "That's amazing! Juvia is a designer since Juvia always loved to craft and create things but to be able to sculpt and create decoration must but such a trill."
Gray got a bit bashful and he scratched his head, blushing. "There's nothing special. I like it, that's all."
Juvia smiled. "Then Juvia shouldn't hold you up when they are waiting for you." She bowed goodbye and went to toward grocery store.
"Wait!"
Surprised, Juvia stopped as Gray jogged toward her. He gave her a business card.
"It's the shop's address. Drop by if you have time."
He waved bye as he did a quick run to the station. Juvia stayed a good minute there, dumbfounded, till she realized her handsome, godlike, nice neighbour had not only talked to her, but accepted her naming and the third person talking habitudes. Not only that, he had given him his business card.
Juvia tried not to squealed out loud as she skipped toward the grocery store. As she tried to calmly do her shopping, she kept thinking about her neighbour.
Juvia walked nervously in the unfamiliar area. It was Monday after work and she had decided to visit her prince's shop. She looked on her smartphone to verify she was at the good place. It was only at few stations away of their places but Juvia had never explored the area.
She finally arrived in front of "Ur's shop". Her heart was already beating too fast for her own good. She took a long breath in and pushed the door.
"Welcome!" She heard as she entered the shop. It was a young girl with pink haired that was at the cash box. She smiled at Juvia and Juvia smiled back.
She wondered if she should ask for Gray. Still wondering, she browsed in the shop, looking at the various home accessories. Juvia saw quickly a mug with an unusual form and raindrop draw on it.
"So cute!" She exclaimed as she took it.
"You like it?"
Juvia realized that the cashier was next to her. She nodded.
"It's from our sculptor. He did a collection with raindrops and umbrellas. It was the season that rain a lot. Even if his speciality is ice sculpture, he always surprises us with new pottery pieces."
Juvia continued to nod as she examined the mug. She liked it even more knowing it was probably her Gray-sama who did it.
She looked for the matching pieces from this collection. She always had a fascination about rain and water.
"Where's Ultear?" A new voice added and Juvia's heart was ready to jump out of her mouth.
"I don't know," the casher replied, "I though she was in the atelier. She might have gone to buy more paint."
Gray was about to say something when he realized who was next to the young girl.
"Hey. You came," he said casually.
Juvia blushed and nodded, unable to say something more.
The cashier raised an eyebrow. "You know each other?"
"Yeah," replied Gray, "she's my neighbour."
"Is that so," the girl said, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Seeing what was in Juvia's hand, Gray asked: "You like this?"
Juvia nodded furiously and added: "Juvia was thinking to buy it. It's really pretty."
The girl said, still sounding amused by the situation: "The story I told you about, it was Gray. And you knew about him!"
Gray grumbled: "Why did you say again?"
"Nothing! Only that you worked on this "rain" collection and that you always surprise us with your work."
Gray blushed, suddenly embarrassed by the situation. He murmured: "I'm not that good…"
"But it's really pretty!" Juvia interrupted. "Juvia really likes it!"
Gray blushed even more while the girl giggled. He murmured a "thank you" and told he would go back to working in the atelier. He gave a small goodbye to Juvia and disappeared behind doors that were behind the counter.
Juvia finished by take with the mug a matching saucer and teaspoon.
The cashier smiled even more brightly as Juvia brought the items at the counter.
"So, you are Gray's neighbour?"
Juvia nodded.
"Juvia, that's your name?"
Juvia nodded again, slightly uncomfortable.
"My name is Meredy. I work part-time here. Ultear has always been a big sister for me so she offered me the job since I'm in high school. It's going to be 25,89 yen please."
Juvia gave the money and Meredy started to wrapped the mug.
"You can come back anything. I'm sure Gray will be happy. For now, good luck!"
Juvia titled her head in confusion and the pink-haired girl simply laughed. Juvia wondered if this girl had felt her feelings for Gray as she bowed and went out the shop.
Juvia tried to not go to often at the shop: she didn't want to be too obvious about her crush. Even if Meredy, Ultear, the owner of the shop and Lyon, the other pottier, were all probably completely aware of her crush.
Juvia still went enough for that some regular customers thought she was a new employee, or even better, they mistook her for Gray's girlfriend. Juvia hadn't corrected them at the time, too busy blushing. Gray had then splutter about her being a friend. Not a neighbour anymore but a friend.
Today was one of those calm night that she had worked overtime at her job thus had no time to go at the shop. She walked tiredly back to her apartment, softly humming a tune to herself.
She heard a voice call for her and smiled in a heartbeat. "Gray-sama!"
He looked at her sheepish, "You came back late."
Juvia nodded. "Juvia had to work overtime. There's a new project and the boss is really setting the expectations high."
Gray hummed in understanding. "At least, is the project interesting?"
She looked down a moment, wondering if she could let her worries out. "Juvia is not doing much for it."
He glanced at her at the same she did and both faced each other, blushing.
"Juvia is not really able to say her opinion since there's people more experienced than Juvia…"
"I get that," said Gray, "before I started to work for Ultear, I guess I was in a similar situation…"
They arrived at their apartments, in front of their doors. Juvia was ready to say her goodnights when Gray suddenly said: "But it gets better. I mean, they'll see your value soon."
Juvia smiled at him. Suddenly feeling a lot bolder, she asked: "Would Gray-sama come in for supper?"
He took a five seconds to think about it. "You sure? You just got off work…"
"It's fine! It just leftovers from what Juvia cooked two days ago… If it is ok with Gray-sama…"
"Yeah, why not? It's better than…" he trailed off.
Juvia smiled shyly making him a sign to enter her apartment. Even if the chats had come more common and their relation had grew, it was the first time one would enter the other's apartment.
She told him to wait in the small room that was used as a dinning room and a living room, and directly went to the small kitchenette. It didn't took long with two plates of food.
Juvia expectedly looked at Gray as he took his first bite. "'s good," he said between bites, completely devouring the meal. Juvia smiled, proud, and started to dig her food.
Once full, more chitchat started. Gray was actually opening a bit about his life other then "Ur's Shop". He talked about his high school friends, Natsu and Erza among others.
Juvia found herself speaking of lack of friends minus her weird yet precious friendship with Gajeel.
"Juvia has never been good into making friends so Juvia often wonders how Gajeel and Juvia kept this friendship for so long," she confessed.
"You should meet my friends then. I'm sure they'd friend you. They friend everyone and anyone," he scoffed. "Besides, Erza kept pestering me about meeting you again."
Juvia smiled shyly. "Juvia would love that."
"Cool. I'll tell you when we go drinkin' or somethin'."
They stayed a moment looking at each other, Juvia felt herself turning red but never broke the eye contact. Gray finally looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks. His eyes then focused on some thing behind Juvia.
"Did you made this?" he asked, pointing the doll behind her.
"Oh," she exclaimed. She took the doll in her hands and went back next to Gray. "Yes. This one is the first Juvia made. Juvia has tons of it in her parents' 's how Juvia knew she wanted to be a designer… by dressing up dolls."
Gray looked at the doll, fascinated. Juvia gave to him and he examined it slowly. "You have amazing skills. And that's your first one?"
Juvia nodded.
"If you show it to Ultear, for sure she'll want you for the shop," he said. "You should send her a couple of dolls and other embroidery. She told me when wanted to work on table clothes and other various tissue made home accessories."
Juvia took time to think. "Gray-sama really think Juvia have the skills to create things that can be sold in the shop?"
"Yeah!"
She gave him a loving smile. "Thank you."
They once more stayed a moment, looking at each other. Juvia realized they were way closer of each other than when the conversation had started. Her right hand was grazing his left hand. Their faces were getting closer, so close she could feel his breath on her cheeks.
He suddenly got up. "It's getting late and we both working tomorrow."
Juvia tried to smile. "Yes."
"Then, hum, I'll see you another time." Without more, he left.
Juvia faltered. She was sure he had been about to kiss her. What had happened?
"Maybe he do not like Juvia like Juvia like him," she thought.
Trying to shake away the negative thoughts, she cleaned up and then got ready for bed. She then caught herself looking at her doll, suddenly feeling like creating a new one.
"Juvia will buy material tomorrow," she mused out loud, not forgetting what Gray had said. Maybe he didn't want to kiss her, but he still had thought she had talent. And for that, Juvia refused to lose hope.
"This was really fun!" exclaimed Juvia as Gray and her were going back toward their apartments.
Gray had invited Juvia to his friend Natsu's first photograph exposition's private view. At first she had been anxious about it but all Gray's friends had been welcoming. She had even officially exchanged personal number with Erza, promising to have lunch soon.
Not only that, Juvia discovered that Natsu was Gajeel's cousin. And upon seeing her friend, she finally meet his girlfriend that he had been avoiding for her to meet. Seeing Gajeel's blush when Levy had said: "Gajeel keeps all the handcrafts you gave him! They are so cute!" had been so refreshing.
Gray had also been awfully teased about the fact he had brought her; already calling Juvia: "Gray's girlfriend".
But since that night they had almost kissed, their relation had been stagnant. Juvia had spoke to Ultear about the dolls and various home accessories she could do and Ultear had asked her to do some in a heartbeat. Apparently, her first accessories had been popular and they had been asking more.
Every night, Juvia tried to come with new ideas and created more for "Ur's Shop". It encouraged her; people loved her ideas and designs. It was much more motivating then her day job.
Yet, nothing was moving with Gray. That's why when he had invited her to be his "plus one" at Natsu's private view, she had been shocked.
"Natsu-san is really talented," she said, "all the pictures had so much more stories that you could think of."
"Yeah. I'll give him that," Gray shrugged.
"And Lucy-san is really pretty," she said, glancing at him, waiting for a reaction. Maybe someone like Lucy was more his type.
"Yeah. I should've known he was hiding a girl. That explain all the times those last months he desisted to go drinking."
Juvia tilted her head, unsure what to reply. That wasn't the reaction she had been expecting. In fact, she wasn't the reaction she had been expecting. It wasn't like Gray to say something like shoujo manga in the: "But not as beautiful as you" style, even if she kept dreaming about it.
She knew that now. Yet, she was falling even more deeply in love every time she was in his presence. There was something about the way he was, the way he was hardworking, loyal, fun, a bit stubborn, creative that Juvia just wanted to discover more and more.
"Juvia?"
She jumped out of her stupor. "Did you say something?"
He chuckled this manner that made her stomach squeeze and her cheeks redden. "We arrived."
"Already…" she sighed, remarking that as she had been deep in thoughts, they were already in front of his door. She tried not slump as she went to her door. She looked at her neighbour: "Thank you for tonight."
He suddenly turned red and looked down. She titled her head in question. He went closer her to her. She continued to look at him in wonder.
He bended down and posed his lips on hers.
She blinked, surprised but before she could even savour the moment, he whispered goodnight on her lips. He gave her a tiny smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."
He didn't say more before escaping in his apartment.
Juvia stayed there, dumbfound.
Maybe he was liking her like she liked him after all.
The End.
Hope you liked it! Please review!