THREE: FROSCH

A/N: I have nothing to say except Thank You for reading until this day! :D

Cuteness Overload

Gray would never admit it, but ever since he and Juvia lived together, some of her… girly and weird attitudes started to rub off on him.

Like being comfortable in physical contact.

Expressing his emotions so openly.

Laughing without a care in the world and smiling very often.

Don't get him wrong. He's learned to live with them and accepting them as consequences of the time they spent together. At first, he's uncomfortable but as time passed, he relaxed and never gave them another thought.

But of course, there is a downside to everything.

As much as he grew comfortable with these emotions, there's one he's not too fond of showing much to others (specifically, that idiot flame breath) because he knew, deep down, that even he would punch himself with his own magic.

He slipped one time and that was because he was overwhelmed. But after that, he swore never to do that again, especially in public.

You see, he started to notice that some things looked kinda…cute and adorable.

Whenever that thought crosses his mind, he whacks his head on the counter or face palms in frustration.

He even questioned his sexuality at first, but he still finds Natsu absolutely disgusting, Gajeel a violent jerk and Elfman a big softie, not to mention, his eyes still gravitate towards Juvia when she enters the room and he still finds her beautiful and—

Woah. Okay. Stop.

So sexuality aside, yeah he's still a straight guy.

From then on, he swore not to think of the words "cute" and "adorable" whenever he saw something… well, cute and adorable.

But of course, fate must love playing tricks on him.

Gray's on his way to Frankie's, the store that sells Caramade Franks to meet with Juvia for their, ahem, "date", when he saw the water mage sitting on a bench and apparently talking to someone.

When he was near enough, he saw that she was softly talking to the Exceed, Frosch, who was crying.

Upon noticing his presence, Juvia looked up to him with a troubled and sympathetic expression.

"Gray-sama…"

Gray looked from her to Frosch, who was rubbing his eyes, "What happened?" he asked with concern.

Juvia reached for Frosch and carried him before standing up, "Juvia was waiting for Gray-sama when she saw Frosch crying. Apparently, he got lost." At the mention of the word 'lost', the Exceed cried even more. Juvia patted him on the head tenderly, "There, there. It's alright…" she cooed.

He watched their interaction with fondness. He couldn't explain what he was feeling as he watched Juvia comfort the little Exceed. He tuned out the soothing words Juvia was saying and stared at Frosch, whose tears were gradually stopping. Whatever Juvia was telling the Exceed must have greatly brought him relief, because he grinned and clapped his hands.

And at that moment, Gray snapped.

He didn't remember when his feet started moving. He didn't recall when he reached out for them and Juvia looked at him in question. What he did know was that he lifted the small cat out of Juvia's grasp and suddenly hugged him. He then uttered the words that he swore to never say again.

"You're a really cute thing…"

Suddenly, as if he was electrocuted, he snapped out of his daze and started stuttering.

"I-I mean… It's not… That's not… It's not what you think!"

He stopped when he heard Juvia's giggles. He felt his cheeks heat up as he huffed and looked away, muttering curses and whatnot. Without a word, Juvia reached for Frosch and took him in her arms. This surprised Gray as his eyes flicked towards hers for a minute before darting away.

"Don't worry, Gray-sama. Juvia's not making fun of you," she said with a smile. Moving the Exceed to her left hand, she reached up to Gray with the other and lightly caressed his red cheek.

"It's just… Gray-sama's not the type to express himself so freely before. Juvia's glad that he's opened up," she continued, "For Gray-sama to be able to say that something's cute, it means that Gray-sama has become comfortable with words, doesn't it?"

Gray felt himself slowly relaxing and the tension leaving his body as he saw Juvia smiling gently at him. He raised his hand and grabbed Juvia's hand that was on his cheek, giving it a soft yet firm squeeze before intertwining their fingers together.

"Yeah, well… It's someone's fault that I became like this you know?" he said with a grin while pointedly looking at her direction.

Juvia just giggled and adjusted her hold on Frosch, who was smiling happily.

Gray tugged at Juvia gently and started walking, "We need to get this little guy home soon, before someone beats the crap out of everyone in town," he said, "But first…"

Juvia tilted her head to the side and so did Frosch, "What is it, Gray-sama?" she asked curiously.

He looked over his shoulder and gave them a grin, "How about some ice cream first?"

They both cheered and nodded enthusiastically and went to get their food. When they were sitting on the bench, with Frosch at the end, happily licking his chocolate and mint ice cream, Gray leaned to Juvia and whispered in her ear,

"I never said it, but I always find you cute, Juvia."

Needless to say, the bench and its occupants became wet after Juvia turned into a puddle of water.

Finally! Something light after the drama in the first two chapters! I hope you enjoyed!