Author's Note: Hellooo! Here's some Gruvia fluff for you all. This is set during the one year time-skip in which Gray and Juvia lived together...(still not over the fact that this actually happened).

Hope you enjoy, and thank you for all the support so far!

Title: Early Birds
Summary: Water fights first thing in the morning are within Juvia's element, but Gray doesn't like losing.

"I fell in love the way you fall asleep; slowly, then all at once." - John Green

Early Birds

Living with Gray for five months had taught Juvia Lockser something: he was not a morning person.

She, on the other hand, was.

Juvia loved mornings. She loved being up bright and early, content with the thought of there being yet another day just waiting to be spent with Gray in their small home together, whether it be grocery shopping, strolling around the town together, completing jobs or just staying in – simply in the company of each other – she didn't mind. Every day was a wonderful one, regardless of what they did.

Today, they had a job to see to. The previous night, both mages had wholeheartedly agreed to assist a client by decorating his holiday resort with fountains and ice sculptures in exchange for some jewels.

At the time, when Juvia had mentioned how they'd have to leave quite early in order to be back home by nightfall, Gray had simply shrugged and flashed a cool smile in her direction, telling her it was no problem whatsoever.

But now, as she stood in the doorway of his room, already dressed for work in navy blue with her hair flowing loosely around her shoulders, she realised with a twinge of alarm that Gray had completely forgotten about today, or, more likely, had chosen to sleep in a little later.

Her hands curled around the doorframe as she peered at him, tilting her head to the side and smiling fondly at the sight.

He looked so peaceful while sleeping, dark hair framing his face in messy spikes, one hand resting on his stomach whilst the other hung slightly off the edge of the bed. The sheets were half covering him, half slipping off, revealing one bare leg whilst the other stayed hidden from view, like he was struggling between the feeling of hot and cold.

Such was the life of an ice mage, she mused affectionately.

Her heart fluttered at the thought of waking up to this glorious sight every day, and with this thought in mind, she exhaled a deep sigh—it really killed her to have to wake him up when he was sleeping so soundly.

She knocked on the wood, a tender smile on her lips as she whispered, "Gray-sama?"

Nothing.

Gray didn't even stir at the sound of her loving voice.

Juvia frowned. Had the roles been reversed and had she been the one to hear Gray's gentle voice, she would have been up in a heartbeat. In fact, her beloved could probably sneeze and wake her from a deep coma, their love was that strong.

She edged inside the room, hands clasped in front of her chest as she timidly approached him. She tried again. "Gray-sama?"

He hummed, his brow furrowing as he scowled in his sleep.

Progress!

Juvia bent down beside him, folding her arms on the edge of the bed and taking a moment to admire his sharp features before gently brushing back locks of hair from his eyes. "Gray-sama, it's time to wake up…" she murmured in a sing-song voice.

To her horror, Gray didn't hesitate to bat her away, turning on his other side with his back facing her, all the while mumbling incoherent sentences.

Juvia's smile fell from her lips. "Gray-sama! We're going to be late!"

"What you yellin' for so early in the morning?" he groaned irately as Juvia stomped over to the curtains and pulled them apart, allowing light to stream into the room and friggin' blind him.

"It's almost the afternoon!"

"Almost, right? That means it's still the morning and people sleep in the morning," he griped, yanking the covers over his head to shield himself from the sun and block out the annoying calls of his very own one-of-a-kind freaking blue alarm clock. "Let me sleep, Juvia."

"But Gray-sama, did you forget? We have a job to attend to," she protested, gently prodding his shoulder to keep him from drifting off again. "The client is not going to be happy if we arrive late—"

"Screw the client."

Juvia audibly gasped, appalled. "Gray-sama! We accepted this job! If you're not going to get up—"

"Yeah? What're you gonna do?" he challenged, voice slightly muffled.

She hoped he could breathe under there.

She couldn't risk it.

In one swift movement, she ripped the covers off of him to reveal a scowling Gray in nothing but his boxers, arms folded and dark eyes focused on her in a glare.

Juvia squeaked. "Sorry Gray-sama! You left Juvia no choice."

But he simply sighed, exasperated, before closing his eyes and flipping onto his other side, his back facing her once more. "Nice try, but I'm an ice mage, Juvia. The cold doesn't bother me. Covers or not, I ain't moving," he said flatly.

"But we need to leave!"

"Nah, we'll still make it with plenty of time to spare..."

Hearing his words and glancing to the clock, Juvia huffed heatedly, folding her arms across her chest to watch as he yawned and shuffled around on the bed, making himself comfortable for what would probably stretch out to be another few hours of mindless slumber.

And when the time would come for Gray to finally roll out of bed, she knew he would have to shower, get dressed, pack another set of clothes for when he stripped and misplaced his original outfit, and there was still breakfast to eat too…

Sighing, she flicked her wrist towards him, softly murmuring words under her breath before bringing down a surge of freezing cold water, soaking Gray from head to toe and causing him to jerk upright in bed, panting heavily and staring at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL, JUVIA?"

A giggle bubbled in her chest but Juvia tried her best to stifle it, pressing her lips together and blinking at him with feigned innocence. "Juvia thought the cold didn't bother you, Gray-sama?"

Raking a hand through his drenched hair, Gray swore, his eyes zeroing in on her in a deathly glare.

Now that she thought it through, she had been very bold attacking Gray like that—she hoped she wouldn't come to regret it.

"You're going to regret that, Juvia," he said threateningly, swinging a dripping leg over the side of the bed and keeping his eyes locked on her the whole time, like a predator eyeing its prey before the chase.

Juvia gulped, lacing her hands behind her back and quickly turning from one shade of pink to the next under the intensity of his stare. Her heart racing with anticipation, she slowly backtracked out of the room…

As soon as he was on his feet, she was out the door, flying off without another glance back, squeals of laughter rippling through her chest as he chased after her, very fast for someone who just rolled out of bed, she noted.

She stole a quick glance over her shoulder to see a blur of dark hair, blue boxers and a mischievous smile.

Dodging furniture left, right and centre, she ran from one room to the next in their small home, yelping his name in-between bursts of laughter while he gained speed, calling out to her in a daring voice, "Come on, you land a surprise attack on me and expect me not to fight back?!"

Before she had a chance to see it coming, she felt his weight crash against her back and they both fell to the floor, Juvia with a startled yelp and Gray with a victorious laugh as he tackled her to the ground, pinning her beneath him.

"AHH, Gray-sama is all wet!"

Gray smirked. "Oh yeah? And whose fault is that?" He ruffled his hair, spraying her with water whilst Juvia protested in an unconvincing fit of giggles, squirming beneath him and trying to wriggle away, though it was no use. He had her caged between both his arms and entirely under his mercy.

"You lose," he said smugly.

"No, Gray-sama! Juvia managed to get you out of bed which was her aim. That makes her the winner!"

He shrugged, his face splitting into a smile. "Okay, I'll give you that. You won that battle but now—" He paused, bringing his face down towards hers to watch her closely with daring eyes, "—do you accept defeat?"

This time, she said nothing, their laughter subsiding and the room silent asides from the soft patter of water dripping to the floor in cold beads.

Gray didn't move. She didn't move.

And at the sight of her pink cheeks, he suddenly became aware of how close they were to one another. Her body was pressed against his, her chest rising and falling rhythmically beneath him, her hands on his bare skin—one placed on his shoulder, the other against his chest from earlier when she had tried to pry him off.

He found his eyes roving over her features slowly, from the spill of her blue hair to the curve of her cheekbones and the questioning look in her eyes as she watched him watch her. His eyes travelled down to her lips, gaze lingering on her lower lip.

He had always acknowledged how pretty Juvia was, that he'd noted from the day he met her. But living with her was something else entirely. He'd grown accustomed to her, to the point where simply hearing her laughter would crack a smile out of him, and seeing her in the kitchen first thing in the morning, her hair tied back in a ponytail while she hummed to herself quietly, would already put his day off to a great start.

He didn't know how it had happened.

One day, he had returned home from his first meeting with Erza about the Avatar infiltration quite late. He'd turned the keys in the lock, stepping inside to be greeted by a dark room. It was pretty late; he hadn't expected Juvia to be awake anyway.

Flicking the light on, he'd stopped in his tracks, his eyes focusing in on the view before him.

Juvia was curled up on the couch, her hair fanned out underneath her and her eyes closed, a small smile wavering on her lips as though she was dreaming something worthwhile.

She had fallen asleep waiting for him to come back home. He couldn't help but smile at the sight, shrugging off his jacket and draping it over her.

This had been his first solo trip since they had moved in together and despite only being separated for a day, seeing her made him realise something: he'd missed her.

But now, eyelids hanging low over his eyes, he suddenly felt the ardent urge to kiss her senseless because in that moment, he had forgotten why they were on the floor, bodies flush and eyes fixed on each other. All he knew was where they were, this was how they were and he wanted nothing more than to press his lips against hers and melt into her.

He didn't know how it had happened—but it had and he was falling fast for her without having packed a parachute.

Gray tore his gaze away from hers, getting to his feet and ruffling his damp hair out of his eyes. With a clear of his throat, he set his mouth in his usual scowl, keeping his eyes trained on anything but her and ignoring the burning of his cheeks. "And now, I'm going to take an agonisingly slow shower just to piss you off, so we'll be even more late."

Juvia blinked at him curiously before scrambling to her feet with a squelch. "Ah, looks like Juvia may need to shower after Gray-sama too..."

"Hm." He turned on her, taking in the wet patches marking her clothes and grinning. "Wanna join me?"

"Gray-sama and Juvia…showering…together?" Blushing deeper than before, she squeaked once, before promptly fainting on the spot.

"J-JUVIA? JUVIA? SPEAK TO ME! I—I WAS JUST KIDDING, JUVIA!"

They ended up being late to the job anyway.