Author's Note: Back with more Grooovia. Hope you enjoy!
Also, I started a new multi-chap fic! It's a series of pranks and battle between Gray and Juvia from when they lived together. I've been posting the chapters on this website as a separate story if any of you want to check it out ^.^ (OKAY that's enough of the shameless self-advertising...on with the story .)
Title: The Snowmen
Summary: Snowmen, scarves and warm hugs on chilly days.
"Let's pretend the snow isn't the only thing falling fast."
The Snowmen
When it snowed, he felt lighter, more at peace. He enjoyed just about everything about this kind of weather. The satisfaction of being the first to step in a blanket of freshly lain snow, the soft crunch under his feet as he strode forward, and the snowball fights.
Especially the snowball fights.
Head tilted up to the sky, he watched as snow fell down in thick clumps, settling in his hair and dusting his cheeks. It had snowed heavily throughout the night, both Gray and Juvia waking up to a wide, untainted canvas of white.
Well, that's what he imagined Juvia had woken up to. He, on the other hand, had opened his eyes to see a blur of blue hair, blue eyes and pink cheeks, unnervingly close to him and smiling like it wasn't only the friggin' crack of dawn.
"Gray-sama, you're finally awake!" she chirped when Gray had groaned and thrown a pillow over his face, shielding himself from the one-of-a-kind blue alarm clock he really should have been used to by now.
Juvia poked tenderly at his pillow, a smile bright in her voice. "It was snowing all throughout the night! It looks so wonderful outside and Juvia knows how much Gray-sama loves the snow—"
"Snow? This time of year? You telling the truth or just trying to get me out of bed again?" he said flatly.
"Would Juvia lie to you?"
Gray thought about it for a moment. "Yeah."
"Gray-sama!" Juvia was appalled. Huffing, she snatched the pillow from him, hitting him lightly in the side. "Juvia would never do such a thing."
"Okay, okay. Hang on a sec," he said, motioning to her to put the pillow down. She obliged, shooting him one last glare before setting it down beside him. With a stretch, Gray brought himself to sit up before passing a hand through his hair, brushing messy locks out of his eyes to flash a lazy smile in her direction. "Alright, you've got my full attention."
Now, breath pale against the numbing air, he blinked through the frost, trudging towards the back garden where Juvia was supposedly preparing a surprise. His thoughts regarding said surprise were thicker than a blizzard; he had no idea what it could be. But he figured him clearing out the driveway had given her more than enough time to get her act together.
He rounded the corner, hands tucked deep into his pockets and scarf flapping behind in the wind.
The garden was buried in white, the branches of trees hanging low with the weight of the snow and Juvia's beloved flowerbed nowhere to be seen, hidden under layers of frost.
Juvia herself was stood in the middle of the patch of snow, woolly hat pulled low over her head, gloved hands sculpting what appeared to be a snowman, and as Gray neared her, he saw that it was indeed a snowman, fit with the stone eyes and sticks for arms.
She was captivated by her creation, eyes alight with childlike excitement as her fingers gently pressed in pebbles under a carrot nose to give the snowman a wide, friendly smile. So busy, lost in her world, she didn't notice Gray had appeared behind her, arms folded and mouth quirked up in grin.
"Your surprise," he said with a clear of his throat to make his presence known, "was a snowman, huh?"
Juvia whirled around, her snow streaked hair whipping around her face. She gave him a warm smile. "Not just any snowman...it's a Gray-sama snowman!"
With a proud 'lo and behold' gesture, she stepped to the side, revealing the snowman—Snow-Gray—in all his frozen glory.
Gray arched a brow. A carrot for his nose, grey stones for his eyes and what looked like frozen weeds for his hair.
Well, at least she got some gardening done through the snowfall too. That had to count for something.
"That thing is supposed to be me?" He shot her a sceptical look.
Juvia bit her lip, her eyes darting back and forth between Gray and his supposed snow-twin. What had she missed? She tilted her head slightly to the side, scanning Gray from head to toe, before her gaze zeroed in on his mouth, set in a deep scowl.
Her eyes lit up, and in one jump, she closed the gap between them, using her fingers to tilt the edges of his mouth upwards into a smile. "So serious, Gray-sama! Would you prefer if Juvia turned the snowman's smile upside down too?"
Gray stared at her, deadpan. "Very funny," he said, pulling her hands off his face before breaking into a smile anyway, despite himself. "Okay, Juvia, watch this…"
He stepped forward, his mind sparking with an idea or two that his hands were quick to convey. Fist slamming into an open palm, the familiar surge of magic flowed through his veins. Cool wisps left his fingers to take the shape of another snowman mounted beside his own—neatly sculpted out of ice with closed eyes, a big smile and even a hat perched atop her head. The full package.
"Figured the Gray-snowman looked a little lonely, huh?" Gray said, turning back to grin sheepishly at her.
Juvia's eyes widened. Her cheeks were flushed red, blazing against the white of their surroundings; easily the brightest thing around them along with her smile.
"A JUVI SNOW-WOMAN?" she squealed excitedly — and that's all it took.
Before he knew it, she had crashed into his side, almost tackling him to the ground with a hug so tight, he felt he would suffocate from the heat had he not already stripped off his jacket and shirt.
Even so, against his cool body, she was a nice kind of warm, effortlessly folded against him in that same way he'd really grown to enjoy, and sometimes, found himself not wanting to end.
Absentmindedly, his fingers sifted through her hair, soft threads of blue under his touch. "Hey, Juvia," he murmured, thumbing a particularly large snowflake in her hair, "you gonna let go any time soon?"
Juvia's arms wound around him tighter, her cheek nuzzling into his chest. "Juvia is cold."
"Oh yeah?" He grinned. "You forget that I'm an ice mage?"
"Juvia doesn't know what you're talking about…"
Gray chuckled, his breath leaving him in an icy cloud of grey. "If you're cold, let's go in and have some hot chocolate."
After careful thought, Juvia hummed, pulling away from him. "Hot chocolate sounds very appealing right now."
Gray smirked. "You're making it."
"Again?! And what about you, Gray-sama?"
He shrugged. "I came up with the idea. And besides," he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "you make it a lot better than I do."
"Ah…that's true."
"Oi!" Gray squinted at her.
She laughed, a playful gleam in her eyes as she spun on the heel of her boot. "Juvia doesn't lie to Gray-sama, remember?" From the doorway, she threw a warm smile over her shoulder at Gray, who was still stood in the same spot, the corner of his mouth curled upwards, amused. "Aren't you coming inside?" she asked.
"In a sec."
"Don't be too long, or else Juvia will drink Gray-sama's share of hot chocolate too!" she called to him.
He watched her go, eyes following after the swing of her legs and the bounce of her hair with each and every step. When she was out of sight, he flicked his gaze back to the snowmen, crouching in front of them. With steady fingers, he reached up to unravel the scarf from around his neck—the very scarf she'd once knitted him all those months ago—and wrapped it around both snowmen before standing back up.
The sound of Juvia clattering around in the kitchen made his lips tug up in a smile, and sighing, he tucked that same smile under the collar of his jacket and headed back inside.
