It was such an idyllic day. Cotton-white clouds dotted the cerulean sky and a delightful little breeze was blowing.

It's a pity Gray and Juvia didn't have time to notice it. It's not their fault, though - who could when they're fighting a monster that was more resilient that Natsu's idiocy?

"Ice-Make Lance!" Panting from the exertion, Gray tried to find the monster's weak spot, a chink in its armour, anything. If he could find it, half the battle would be won. "Where is it? Where is it?" With his face scrunched up in concentration, he assessed the monster over and over again.

Juvia stood firm beside Gray, launching attack after attack at the monster. Damn, it's hard to keep this up. Even though the monster looked a little worse for wear than before, it looked far from defeated, and they can't keep going at it forever. She sneaked a look at Gray. He still looked so perfect. Well, actually, he looked a little disheveled, but she could hardly comb his hair in the middle of the battle, right? Turning her entire focus back on the monster, she continued to bombard it.

No wonder this mission paid so well. Gray had expected it to be a breeze. He had expected them to nail it quickly, especially since both Juvia's and his power were always amplified near water, and they were in the middle of an ocean. Apparently, he had underestimated the creature.

Did this monster even have a weak point? Seriously, for crying out loud, it didn't even seem to be bothered much by their attacks. It was almost as if they were just mere pests. Gray's eye twitched at that thought. This was absurd - both of them were very competent mages!

At that moment, Gray spotted it. It was slight, but when one of Juvia's Water Nebulas had connected with the monster's teeth (if you could call that teeh - it looked more like a row of bombed houses), it flinched. It was then he understood. You can't penetrate through the monster's body armour, BUT you can destroy him from the inside out. How, though? You'll require both altitude and immense power...

Would his power alone be enough? Gray thinks not. How about Juvia? Probably not, too. And as for altitude, they'll have to be taller than the monster. And it's not like the monster was small. Maybe if they somehow grew 4 metres in height each then stood on top of each other?

...That sounded ridiculous, even in his head.

Maybe if they could stand on something? A platform of something that floated on water, and something steady enough to stand on. Something like... Ice! At that moment, all the ideas floating around in his head pieced themselves together. It was a simple idea - so simple he wanted to throw himself into the ocean for not thinking it up earlier - but it was a good idea nevertheless.

For it to work, though , he would need Juvia's cooperation.

"Juvia, how would you like to perform a Unison Raid with me?"

The moment his words left his mouth, Juvia started flushing harder than he'd ever seen her flush before. Well, except that one time he accidentally grabbed her breast while they were fighting. Still, the intensity of her blush made Gray wonder if he had said something wrong.

"Juvia...?"

Juvia didn't answer immediately. She couldn't. Her mind was preoccupied, frantically going through what Gray had just asked. Was there a hidden meaning somewhere? Did Gray like her? Was his request a confession of requited love for her? However, the monster's chilling roar broke her train of thought and made her snap back into reality. She was probably just thinking too much - she had to focus on their current situation!

"Yes, Gray-sama. Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah. Listen, we're going to destroy this monster from inside out, so I'll make an ice tower to gain height over it, and then we'll use a Unison Raid to attack it through its mouth, okay?"

"Okay! That's such a good plan, Gray-sama - you're so smart!"

Despite himself, Gray blushed. Just a little. It's hard not to be flattered when someone compliments you even when you're the one that landed them in trouble (he picked this mission, after all).

"I'm not sure about that, but thanks. Anyway, let's do this!"

With that, Gray froze and manipulated the water below them into a structure that loomed over the monster. The monster, seemingly feeling threatened by it, raised a hand to swipe at it, but that was quickly blocked by a shield of ice.

"Looks like we gotta do this fast, Juvia, or it'll destroy this tower!"

Intertwining their fingers together, they stood determined against the monster.

"You're going down."

The explosive power of their merged abilities proved to be more than enough for the monster. Unbeknownst to them, their attacks had been chipping away at the monster bit by bit, and although it had looked fine, it was actually already close to its breaking point. Their Unison Raid had been its breaking point. With the last roar it will ever make, it staggered, and then plummeted into the ocean; its watery grave.

Triumphant but exhausted, Gray and Juvia silently watched the waves claim the monster. It was strange, but they felt a certain kind of respect for it - it wasn't common for them to meet a foe that challenged them to such a big extent. They stayed together like that for a while, solemnly acknowledging their victory atop Gray's tower of ice.

Victory was sweet.

It was a halcyonic day. They had defeated a monster together. They were glorious in their hard-earned triumph. If Gray had been in touch with his feelings, he would have seized the opportunity to make that moment romantic.

It's a pity that he was, romance-wise, denser than a rock.

Hence, instead of breaking the respectful silence with a sweet word or two, he broke it in the most unromantic way possible - his stomach decided to growl.

"Gray-sama, Juvia didn't realise you were that hungry."

"Honestly speaking, neither did I. Shall we go grab a bite?"

"Sure, Gray-sama, Juvia will be delighted to."

- A While Later -

Gray and Juvia were in a hotel room.

How did that happen?

A storm had broken out. That's what had happened. Under normal circumstances, that would not be a problem to them, but the storm raged with unusual intensity, rendering their only mode of transport back to Magnolia unable to run. Apparently, the train was susceptible to derailing due to reduced visibility and other technical details they did not understand but were forced to accept. Since they had planned to beat and monster and get back to Magnolia on the same day, they had made no contingency plans. If they had tried hard enough, they could have walked back to Magnolia, but they were tired after their battle, hence they sought the easier way out and simply just checked into a hotel for the night. However, as fate would have it, the only hotel in that area had a grand total of one room left.

That was how they ended up in one hotel room together for the night. What's more, said room had only one bed. While it wasn't as if they had never shared a room together before, they certainly had never ever slept in one bed together.

The resultant awkwardness from their embarrassing situation was so thick, it was almost visible.

In a bid to keep the awkwardness at bay, they had avoided talking about their sleeping arrangements for as long as possible. Instead, they had talked about other things, starting from those they had in common, such as their friends in Fairy Tail, but soon, the topic had progressed to more personal ones, such as their pasts.

Gray had been slightly puzzled by how easy it was to talk to Juvia. Usually, he found it difficult to talk about his past, but he was comfortable doing so with Juvia. It was strange. Still, it felt good to have someone he could talk so freely to.

"Honestly speaking, I think of Ur as my mother, more so than my actual mother... I still miss all of them, though."

"I see, Gray-sama. Ur must have been a very good person."

"She was. Well, enough about me. How about you?"

"G-Gray-sama wants to know about Juvia?"

"Yeah. I've just realized I don't know that much about you, y'know?"

"Okay, Gray-sama... Um, Juvia was always rather lonely..."

Once Juvia had started on her past, it was hard for her to stop. On that cold, wet night, she spilled her heart out to Gray. Juvia had always kept her lonely and desolate past to herself, for the most part, so Gray was one of the very few who knew of it. It had made him respect her so much more, as Juvia had managed to overcome the tremendous odds against her and emerge as a powerful mage. She was amazing. If that had happened to him, he doubted he'll ever had smiled again.

At the end of her heart-wrenching account, she had leaned against Gray, crying. His protective side kicking in, he held Juvia in his arms and spoke quiet words of comfort into her ears. Her vulnerable side was something he had never seen before, and to be honest, it broke his heart to see her cry.

"Shhhh, Juvia... Don't cry... You have Fairy Tail now. You have all of us.", he whispered, while gently stroking her velvety hair.

Soon, his soothing words lulled Juvia into sleep. She looked so serene that way, with her long lashes forming dark crescents against her pale, pale skin. He really didn't want to wake her up. But then the only other alternative would be for him to spend the night with her in his arms, in a sitting position on the cold, hard floor.

He looked at the soft, luxurious, inviting bed in front of him. Then he looked back at Juvia.

Damn. His heart overpowering his voice of reason, he stayed there on the floor, embracing Juvia the entire night.

- End of Chapter 3 -


A/N: So, so, so sorry for the ultra late update. Stay with me, okay? I'll update more often now! Reviews much loved.

To Sarapyon, MissForgetfulMe, Shiawase-usagichan, Guest, Kretzuu, JellalxErza, Takarada, Gruvia 3, Lalalandlady, Starry Eyes, Kori'andr, fictionlover99, Helekiller2, iloveeyouu. and Natsu-Lover45, thank you so much for the reviews - I'm glad people enjoyed this! I love all of you.