On the second day, Natsu had known to expect Juvia on the bench outside Gray's house. Instead of going directly to the home of his friend, he walked on the other side of the street and straight towards the rain woman. "Still no luck?" he asked absently, more to make his presence known than anything else.
Her eyes lit up seeing the company, though he did notice they dropped a little when realising it wasn't who she'd hoped for. He tried not to take offense to that. "Natsu, you're back!" she said, as she pushed away the bags and made room for him to sit once more beside her.
He grinned back and sat down, holding out what looked to be some kind of baton for Juvia to take. "What's this?" she asked curiously, examining the thermos flask. As opened it slowly, the scents of warming spices and rich chocolate engulfed her.
"I figured even you could get sick of the cold sometimes," he told her, watching as she took it close to her chest and secretly admiring how easily she could hold the scorching metal. "You been out here for a while?"
"Thank you, Natsu…" she said with a small blush. Not like the blushes she would so often have when experiencing her sweet girl crush, but softer and genuinely thankful. "Juvia doesn't mind the cold. But she does appreciate the warmth too… Would you like a drink?"
Natsu couldn't rightly refuse, nodding and beaming from ear to ear. Quickly, the two cups were placed between them and filled with the surprisingly thick hot chocolate, overpowering the air with a richly sweet taste.
"Sometimes, Gray-sama will bring Juvia a hot drink when it's cold. Sometimes he will even come out and drink it with Juvia," Juvia said into her steaming mug thoughtfully, looking back up at the house, warmed by her memories.
It was something Natsu had been thinking about over the last day or so, mulling over who he would be seeing that evening and what he would say to them. Time and time again, he found himself reflecting on Gray and Juvia, their twisted relationship and the adoration that struggled to come to the surface, all the while trying to ignore the twisting in his stomach. "Doesn't that irritate you?" he asked, somewhere between confused and genuinely concerned. "His house is right there. He knows that we're sitting here, and he doesn't even think to come out? He just sits in there, probably all smug and warm and laughing at us!"
Juvia watched Natsu carefully, trying to pull apart his grumblings. It was a familiar tone, one that she knew all too well from years of studying Gray and Natsu's friendship straining to the point of constant fights. Her expression softened. "Gray-sama has his own way of showing others that he wants them close," she tried to explain.
Natsu turned back to Juvia, caught by surprise by her confidence. "Like what?"
She smiled again. "He bought Juvia a bench."
He blinked. He stared at her again, for longer this time, turning his head to the side. "What bench?"
"This bench!" Juvia said brightly, looking back at the house and blushing again. "Juvia now can always have somewhere to stay if she wants to be close to her Gray-sama!"
Natsu decided that he was no longer sure which of the two was crazier than the other. He just had images of Gray finally losing his patience with Juvia standing outside of his house, knowing he couldn't beat her entirely and reluctantly trying to make her as comfortable as possible. But then, maybe Juvia was right. Maybe he couldn't bare the idea of her staying apart from him, even if he couldn't gather the courage to let her inside.
"Juvia told Gray-sama where you were," Juvia continued, hearing only skeptics silence from the dragon slayer. "Juvia said that you would looking forward to seeing him but he… said there was work to be done on the markets. Is something wrong…?"
Natsu pulled a face, sinking low into his seat until he was almost horizontal. "Who knows?" he grumbled, taking a sip of the hot liquid. "I haven't really talked to the iced bastard for a while."
Juvia nodded, a glimmer of deep understanding in her soft smile. "Gray-sama has spent a long time by himself since the battle. He spends time working, or with the guild… but in the evenings he is usually alone."
"Not even with you?" Natsu looked up.
"Why would Gray-sama be with Juvia?"
Sometimes, Natsu felt like shaking her and her innocence. There was that horrible feeling in the back of his throat again, which he drowned with more hot chocolate before sitting upright. "Because he loves you!"
Juvia's face went scarlet. Her hands went weak, barely balancing the mug and avoiding disaster."Juv-Juvia doesn't- Gray-sama is so very-"
"Seriously?!" Natsu shouted in disbelief, unable to see how even he had seen this! His mind was racing, staring between the girl stuck in the seat and the house to the other side. Only one road between them, coated with layers of uncertainty and miscommunication which just continued to irritate Natsu. It had been years like this, not moving anywhere, and he'd just assumed there was something trickling slowly but surely between them. The worst kept secret of Fairy Tail.
He couldn't quite explain the rush of urgency that came from deep inside him as he grabbed her hand. The hot chocolate slipped from her hands and fell onto the ground, spilling dark steaming liquid into the cracks below and barely missing the water woman's skirt.
"N-Natsu, what are you-?!" she gasped.
"I'm sorting this out," Natsu answered stiffly, dragging her to her feet.
All of Fairy Tail had hoped that Gray and Juvia would one day work their relationship out for themselves, but it was clear that even after all these years nothing had changed. And it was unhealthy. For both of them. Natsu had no idea when or where that tipping point had appeared, when the strange games they played between each other had started to cause damage instead of annoyance, but now it was obvious. Alvarez had made a lot of unpleasant truths obvious.
Natsu kept his expression stony as he crossed the road, walking up to the front door of his best friend. He ignored how intense his smell was here, how much Juvia tried to pull away from his firm grip and offer some explanation. His determination was as powerful as it was foolhardy, and he made no hesitation to bang on the door loudly.
"Gray! I know you're in there so get your ass down here right now!"
Juvia's face was turning brighter and brighter red. She could feel the heat of Natsu's palms tightly gripping her wrist, growing warmer as his words became filled with an inexplicable anger and frustration. Even if she'd wanted to, there was no escape. "Natsu, you don't need to do this-"
They were both silenced by the sound of heavy footsteps. Natsu took a small step back, letting the door open to show the Devil Slayer, running a hand through his hair and wearing a heavy-set frown.
It was only then that Natsu remembered that this wasn't just the first time he'd spoken to Gray for a several days; it was also the the first time he'd seen him. Some broken logic had expected him to look exactly as he had at the end battle, bloodied and bruised but wearing the smile of victory they all proudly donned. He'd expected to see muscles pumped on adrenaline, an exhaustion that itched to take on the next challenge while dreading yet another. The difference made him temporarily forget why he was standing in his doorway. That strange lump in the back of his throat returned. Gray looked drained. His body slouched and hair fell flat. He looked tired. He looked-
Gray just blinked, looking between his two guests in confusion. "What's… going on?"
Natsu swallowed hard, pulling Juvia in front of him like a shield. "You should know what's going on! You've been getting Juvia to sit outside your damn house for years without even letting her in!" he yelled, realising that he was biting with more anger than he'd expected.
Gray just looked blank and dazed. His gaze now shifted from Natsu solely to Juvia, watching as her face continued to burn.
"Juvia tried to explain…" she excused herself weakly, eyes flicking up to Gray's and down to the ground.
Gray's mouth turned dry. He just couldn't even work out how to respond, though his hands were instinctively starting to curl into tight fists. "Natsu, what the hell are you-"
Natsu wasn't going to simply argue with words. He dragged Juvia forward and suddenly let go, leaving the young woman stumbling forward. She gasped, only realising too late that she was thrown into the strong arms of her half-naked crush. Her face when from rose to crimson red, a heat radiating from her cheeks and hissing in steam against his cooling touch. "Juvia-Juvia-" she mumbled, words completely escaping her.
"Natsu!" Gray hissed at him.
"Work it out!" Natsu yelled at them both, taking another step back. His body felt ready to collapse with the adrenaline through his veins, his heart pounding so hard he could no longer hear the thoughts in his head. That was probably a good thing. This needed to run on instincts alone; instincts and anger. "Both of you stop fucking around. She loves you, you love her - so get over it and just admit it already!"
Gray and Juvia looked back at each other, a moment of shock written across both of their expressions. It was nearly impossible to read anything else but pure surprise when they were literally being pushed together, although Natsu couldn't miss the way that Juvia's body leaned closer against Gray's bare chest.
It was definitely time to leave them to it. Before either of them could raise a word of protest, Natsu had slammed the door on their faces. Whatever was going to happen now, he didn't want to see it. Didn't want to be a part of it any more than he already was.
For the life of him, he couldn't work out why his good deed had left him with such a pain…
Thanks for reading!
If you want this to be a nice Gruvia story, stop reading here. Otherwise, new chapters will be posted shortly :)