AN: This chapter is relatively bigger to compensate for the previous one. Now off we go with more (awkward) Gruvia moments!


Chapter 4

It was noon and the beach was literally suffocating by the countless tourists on it. It must have been pure heaven for those bandits; so many people to rob and they could go totally unnoticed in this crowd. It would be extremely hard to find them, not to mention hunting them down.

After wandering around for a while, they finally found an empty spot to lay their towels. As soon as they settled down, Gray took of his T-shirt and tossed it on the towel. He gave Juvia a random glimpse; she didn't pay any attention to him at all, she seemed too occupied fixing her towel. He sighed. Normally, she would be all clingy, or squealing nonsense or stare at him for no particular reason. Or something! But this…this was the definition of neutral! As time passed, he was more and more aware of this change in her behavior. At first he was relieved, but now he was starting to be kind of…annoyed? Disappointed maybe? He didn't know.

Did she really get over him? All of a sudden? It had seemed to him that she didn't intend to let go of her feelings, no matter what those were. Apparently he was wrong. What changed now? Did it have anything to do with those few days that she was gone?

Maybe…maybe she has found someone else? Suddenly he felt the little green beast of jealousy growling in his chest. He gritted his teeth. No. It's Juvia we're talking about. There's no way she's over me.

He grabbed the sunscreen lotion, put some in his hand and started spreading it on his chest and stomach. He was being ridiculous, he knew it; he never bothered to put sunscreen on in his life, ever! But he had to drag her attention somehow, he needed the smallest sign that she hadn't let go of him.

It didn't take long for Juvia to notice him. He felt her gaze roam over him and he flashed his smug smile. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't put effort into impressing a girl in ages. Soon however his smirk dropped when she quickly looked the other way.

And it took every ounce of her will to do so. The lotion made his body –that Juvia thought was sin itself, glow under the sun, making the curves of his abdominals more defined. But she decided it was better to drool over the mental image in a corner rather than the real deal.

"C-could you put some on Juvia's back?" she asked bashfully, still avoiding looking at him.

"Sure" he sat behind her and put some in his hand, but as soon as he touched her shoulders she shivered and withdrew from his hands.

"Gray-sama, your hands are cold!"

"Uh, sorry…" he rubbed his palms together to warm them up, then trailed circles on her pale skin.

"Alright." He said when he was done and turned around. "My turn now." She did the same and he hummed, feeling the pair of soft hands soothing his back.

They decided that they would have a better view of the beach at the sea, so they walked through the cool water until more than half of their bodies were fully covered.

Juvia narrowed her eyes, scanning thoroughly the beach for some suspicious movement.

"How in hell are we supposed to look for the bandit in this crazy mess?" Gray muttered; from this new point of view the place seemed even more populated. Juvia picked the left side of the beach and he scouted the right, but they realized it was just as futile.

"Uaah it's no use!" she whined a few minutes later. They had fought dark mages, monsters, dragons, demons, but now all those seemed a piece of cake compared to this task.

"Hey, there's no need to worry." he swam towards her, "We'll figure something out."

She smiled. "You're right. Besides, Melon-san said there's no rush." she said as she let her back float on the surface.

Gray bent above her and raised a brow, recalling the way she withdrew from his hands earlier. "Hmm…"

"What?" she asked softly.

"Nothing, it's just…" he bent a little closer, "I bet you're ticklish."

A pinkish shade stained her cheeks at the intensity of his eyes and she turned her head to the side. "Juvia isn't!"

His lips curled in a sly smirk. "I wonder about that..." His fingertips stroked her stomach, causing her to yelp and jump away.

He chuckled at her reaction. "Found a soft spot, didn't I?"

"I- It happened!"

"Liar."

Feeling as though those dark blue eyes could see right through her, she dropped any effort of convincing him about the opposite. The small pout on her lips turned into a playful smile and she splashed some water towards his direction in response.

A few droplets reached him and ran down his chest. He smirked and swung his hand on the surface, shooting a bigger jet of water towards her, which splashed over her skin but was absorbed by it in no time as she gave him a challenging look.

"Are you picking a fight with Juvia? In the water?"

A mischievous expression carved on his face, it was a look that wasn't meant for him ever since they had fought against each other when she was still in Phantom Lord. "Uh-huh…"

A wave emerged from the space between them and fell all over him, soaking him wet.

His head was dropped to his chest, the raven strands were stuck on his forehead and covered his eyes. Juvia flinched back, fearing that she might have taken it too far.

Gray shook his head to remove the hair from his eyes, "Now you've done it!"

He jumped on her and tickled every spot he could reach while she fought him back. Juvia liquified herself and he saw her slip from his hands like a stream and disappear in the water. He looked around, wondering where she would reappear when he felt something pull at his left leg and he barely managed to take a breath before he fell into the sea. Holding his breath, he pried his eyes open and saw something that looked like a small current –which he knew was Juvia, spin around him, randomly brushing across his skin. He almost forgot to hold on his breath as she tickled him, and it appeared she momentarily lost focus, because she turned into her normal form and he managed to pull her along as he rose from the surface.

His fingers stroked her waist and she laughed in a way he had never heard before; it was loud and spontaneous and so unusual of her that he couldn't help but smile. His hands stopped teasing her and rested on her waist as she couldn't fight him back anymore. Her eyes wandered on his features, panting to satiate her lungs with air.

"Do you admit defeat?" he asked softly when her breathing went back to normal.

"Juvia would say it's a draw."

He chuckled. "Good enough."

Juvia brought her fingers on the raven strands that fell on his eyes, brushing them to the side before her hand fell on his shoulder. She was frozen in her place, her mind was blurred by the proximity, the gleam in his eyes, the way he held her, everything.

He looked in the big blue orbs that stared back at him; they were so close, pressed on each other and somehow he could only think that kissing her was easy as breathing.

She unconsciously bit her lower lip as her eyes drifted from his eyes to his lips, then all the way up again. Gray could feel his heart clutching in his chest and he realized that suddenly his swimsuit felt too tight. He put her down before she could notice it and looked away.

"Should we search on the outside as well?" she proposed.

"Uh sure. Go ahead." She walked to the shore and he followed soon after.

They kept an eye on the wandering little merchants, which were the most likely to be who they were looking for, but surprisingly they did nothing suspicious.

Disappointed, Juvia dropped her scouting efforts and started drawing patterns on the sand instead. Gray looked at the smiley figure with messy hair and droopy eyes that was carved on the sand.

"Is that…me?" Juvia nodded.

"It does look a lot like me. You're good at this, y'know?"

She smiled nervously. He wasn't aware of the Gray-sama merchandise in her house that she has had lots of practice on.

"Then…" he drew a very simplistic feminine figure that, weren't it for the hat on the top of its head, she wouldn't be able to tell that it was her. "Is that supposed to be Juvia?"

"Yes." He gave his sketch a better look and sighed. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

Juvia giggled. "To be honest, Juvia expected you to be better at this. The things you make from ice are much more defined."

"Well yeah, I can give ice exactly the shape I have in my mind, but I guess that's different..." He muttered, scratching the back of his head. It was close to sunset and people were leaving. They were just wasting their time and he was starving. "Wanna leave? This is getting us nowhere, maybe we should try again tomorrow with a different plan."

Juvia agreed, so they picked up their stuff and headed back to the inn. On the way they decided that Juvia would go inform the client that they would need one more day and ask a few things they needed to know while Gray would go straight to the room to take a quick bath, so that she could take her time later, then go buy some food for both.

Gray walked in the room and threw his stuff on a small table. He rubbed his palm on his face as he suddenly felt the accumulated fatigue of a whole day taking its toll on him. His eyes wandered on the empty room before they fell on the outdoor spa tub; he felt too exhausted to even complete the simple task of showering, and sinking there would do the trick just as fine. Without putting further thought into it, he undressed and stepped in, groaning in content as the warm water gave him instant relief.

Resting his head on the stone edge of the tub, his mind drifted to a certain bluenette. The change in her demeanor, which he hadn't concluded whether it was for the best or not. And then there was the change in his behavior… For the first time he caught himself finding excuses to be close to her, touch her, make her smile… As though their roles had somehow been reversed. He didn't know when, or how exactly that happened. He was usually trying to keep her at a distance or put some sense into her when she pulled her usual antics and sometimes he just went along… How did he end up acting like a flirty teenager now? And he knew it wasn't just to satisfy his ego, he would be severely fooling himself if he were to believe that. He smiled to himself at the irony of the situation.

His lids fell heavy over his eyes as his consciousness was carried away by this stream of thoughts and before he realized, we was dragged in the depths of sleep.


Juvia opened the door and walked in. With a quick glance she could tell that Gray was nowhere around, and she couldn't hear water running in the bathroom either.

"Gray-sama?" she inquired, but got no answer. She hesitantly opened the bathroom door and peeked on the inside. He must have already left… she thought to herself. She took off her clothes, picked a fresh towel and she was about to go to the bathroom when she took glimpse of the wooden door at her left. Now, why use the shower when you can just soak in the warm water of the tub? Thinking about it for a moment, Juvia decided to indulge herself in a nice bath.

Murmuring a song, she pulled at the door leaf and stepped out. She had only made a couple of steps when she noticed Gray's sleeping –and gloriously naked, figure at the other side of the tub. She froze at that spot, placing a hand over her mouth to drown the squeak that tore from her throat. The gears of her brain worked frantically to sort out what she should do. She recalled Erza mentioning that she had bathed with him and Natsu several times, and that seemed to be the case for Lucy as well, not to mention Wendy. Apparently for Fairy Tail bathing together was some sort of ritual for sealing friendships, and that was exactly what she needed with Gray. Everyone seemed to be doing this, so why should she be an exception anyways? The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

With her face heated up and shaking in embarrassment, she walked to the tub, tripping on a bucket along the way. Gray's lids lifted at the sudden sound but snapped wide when he grasped the sight before him.

"D- Don't look this way, Gray-sama!" she stuttered, clutching on the towel she held against her that barely covered her body, as she stepped at the other side of the tub.

He had no time to protest so he complied, turning his head the other way. He felt the water waving along with a sound of movement and realized that she was really going to stay there with him.

"God why…" he muttered to himself, rubbing his temple.

"Did you say something?"

He glanced at her with the corner of his eye to make sure she was covered enough before he turned around. "Just one question: what are you doing here Juvia?" he yelled.

"Taking a bath…" she said bashfully. "Is…there a problem with that?"

"You tell me! Isn't there?" he scoffed, striving to keep his eyes focused on her face, or the bushes behind her head.

She tried to muster her confidence. "N- Not really… Gray-sama has bathed with Erza-san and Lucy…"

He laughed sarcastically. So it comes down to this huh? Fairy Tail had questionable sense of morality on some matters, which –he had to admit, he adopted quite a few times, but he had never been more aware of its inappropriateness until now. Clearly, the universe was punishing him for a lifetime of exhibitionism.

Juvia went on. "If it's okay to bathe with them, then same goes for Juvia, right? We're friends as well!"

Gray sighed. Hell, it was so not the same! Even if he refused to admit it, his body indicated him in the most uncomfortable way. Trying to drift his mind away from his hardening problem, he changed topic. "Anyway…" he said, a little angrier than he wanted, "Did you find the client?"

"Yes! He said we can take as much time as we need. Juvia also asked about the thefts and it seems that the bandit did strike today as well…"

"Under our noses huh?" he muttered.

"Juvia doesn't understand." she exclaimed, "We were there the whole time, how didn't we notice anything?"

While she was lost in contemplation, his gaze unconsciously fell lower on her poorly concealed breasts. A strained expression carved on his face as he kept staring. He was surprised and irritated with himself; he had had quite a generous dose of Juvia's nudity that day, normally all novelty should be wearing off by now. But that just didn't seem to happen.

It was then when he was hit with the most awkward question he could ever blurt out.

"Hey, I was wondering…your body…" he trailed off as he realized he had really said it out loud.

Her face turned red and she held on her towel protectively. The fact that Gray was thinking about her body in any way was too much for her. "Ju-Juvia's body?..."

He gulped and averted his eyes from her completely. Goddammit, it can't get any more embarrassing… "It's made of water, right? Doesn't it feel weird when you're in the water? Like you're blended with it or something?"

The blush on her face subsided a little. "Well…Juvia can deliberately let her body turn into water. So Juvia can feel water as an entirely different entity, just like everyone else…unless I choose otherwise. In which case Juvia can become part of the water around her."

"I see…" Suddenly his eyes widened as realization hit him, causing Juvia to jerk in surprise. "Holly shit! That's it!" he ran his hand through his hair.

"What-"she started but Gray answered before she could finish.

"The bandit is a mage too! A sand mage to be more specific…"

She blinked. "Like Max-san?"

"More like you I'd say… I bet he transforms into sand to get close to the victims' stuff."

"That makes sense!" Juvia was impressed by his perception. Even if he turned out to be wrong, it was a very good guess. Gray-sama is so smart!

"Doesn't it?" he bumped his fist on his other palm as he went on, "They must have some sort of base where they hide the stolen properties. We should try to find that tomorrow…"

Carried away by his epiphany, he didn't notice that she had come over to his side of the tub. Letting out an incoherent sound when he realized, he instinctively grabbed a towel from his left and covered himself as he crept away from her. She sat at a reasonable distance with unwavering determination as she kept telling herself that what she was doing was 100% among the range of 'friendly'.

They both stared at the void for several long moments.

"Juvia can wash your back if you want."

"No thanks."

Gray could feel that his skin had wrinkled from the water. "Uh…I'm getting out. Don't look!"

She turned around and he got up, wrapping the towel around his hips when he heard a small giggle.

"What?" he asked annoyed as he checked her to make sure she was still looking away.

"Nothing, it's just unusual for Gray-sama to be shy about his body."

That was because of something that had proved impossible to get rid of and definitely wouldn't go unnoticed. "You told me not to look as well. It's only fair, don't you think?"

"So if you had seen Juvia earlier, we would be even?" she prodded.

No, in that case he would have probably melted into a puddle. He rolled his eyes, wondering which was the wicked source of her sudden confidence as he walked back to their room.

Juvia smiled to herself. Just nakama or not, they were getting closer, weren't they? And although she wanted all of him, this seemed to be more than fulfilling.


AN: Hope you like it so far. As always, thanks for reading!