A/N: This is a continuation of the secret agents AU (the angry kiss prompt), but I guess you don't have to read the first part to understand this one (although it would be better). All you need to know is that Juvia and Gray are secret agents who are working on a long mission to capture a businessman who's actually a criminal, seven weeks prior this story they had sort of a screw up and fought, resulting in them kissing (angrily) and now here they are.

Yup, it might be better if you read the prequel as well. Also, this story has a microscopic mention of Jerza. Just for the heads up.

(And the names and surnames of the bad guys were pulled out of my head, sorry they sound stupid ;) :D)

Pairing: Gruvia

Prompt: I almost lost you kiss

-"Remember now, you're stuck with me - you said so yourself."-

Word count: 2899

After the incident that had happened seven weeks ago, the relationship between Juvia and Gray had somewhat changed. Although subtle, the changes (especially in Gray's behavior) were obvious. The day after their sudden burst of emotions and their shared kiss, they decided it would be for the best to act as if nothing had happened, so they wouldn't risk their mission. But now, seven weeks later, both were at their wits' ends – and something was bound to happen.

As fate would have it, they received and information that another chance for the capture of their criminal would appear exactly two months after their first try, in a bit more than a week. The preparations this time were even more hectic – they had already failed once, and they became suspicious. If they failed again, the entire year they spent working hard to gather intel would be in vain, and their mission would be a failure.

That week, Gray and Juvia forgot about the "problems" between them, because they were too busy preparing the plan of the attack. They both acted professionally, putting aside all of their conflicting and confusing feelings. However, it was clear to them both that, after the end of that night (which would determine if they succeeded or failed), they would have to talk about everything. There would be no more shoving things under the carpet. Just him and her – Gray and Juvia, and their bare feelings on display.

Juvia only prayed that they would survive long enough to get to that talk.

…

"Suspect number one, the secretary, Miss Philann, eleven o'clock. Talking with a potential buyer, Mister Jones.", Gray reported while sipping his champagne, hands in his pockets and eyes observing the entire hall. On the other side of his mini communicating device, Mirajane was sitting by a computer, following the happenings with several cameras that Gray and Juvia secretly put.

"Very well, I see them. Juvia, what about your side of the hall?", she inquired, and a woman with blue hair lightly touched her elegant earrings, before bringing her ring to her lips.

"Drener Caves, just in front of the doors. Marisha Neval right next to him.", she said, and lowered her hand just to raise it to her mouth again so she could pretend to drink wine. "They are whispering about something. Juvia believes they are talking about the transaction."

"Yes, of course.", Mirajane nodded, then typed something out on her computer. "I'm sending information to our superiors. Erza and the squad are a block away from you. If anything should happen, Juvia, please press the red code button."

Gray smirked thinking how Juvia was currently pouting, saying that "She knows, Mirajane told her multiple times already", but the smirk soon vanished as he was reminded why Mira kept reprimanding her about that. This mission was dangerous – they were sheep in the wolves' den, and had no one to rely on, but each other. Gray observed his side of the grand hall for a few more moments, before he told Mira that he was joining Juvia. Mira agreed with his decision, and so, Gray proceeded to meet with his partner, or how everybody else thought, his wife.

Just as he was coming closer to her, he noticed several people approaching her, and decided to increase his step in order to reach her faster. As Juvia noticed him from the corner of his eye, Gray could see the relief she felt, and he would be lying if he said he didn't feel the same.

"Darling, you're here! I was afraid you might have gotten lost somewhere!", Juvia said, with the foreign accent she had practiced for a long time. Gray smiled at her and raised her hand to kiss her knuckles, hearing the small gasp that left Juvia's lips.

"Forgive me, dearest, I was admiring the decorations. Mister Fray sure has a great taste.", he said, smiling politely, and sneaking an arm around Juvia's waist. She kept her composure, but inside she was burning.

"Mister Surge, finally we see you!", a man in his late forties said, laughing heartily. "I've always wanted to meet the young investor who climbed to the top so fast in person. Believe me, all those emails and letters meant nothing – one can only truly get to know someone in person!", he laughed, patting Gray's shoulder. Gray felt uncomfortable but kept quiet.

"And your wife, ah, she is a treasure. May I say, I haven't seen such a beautiful girl in a long while, ey, Missus Annabel!", he winked at Juvia and she blushed, but recovered herself fairly quickly.

"You flatter me too much.", she said, and she and Gray talked with the man for a few more minutes before excusing themselves and returning to scouting out the enemy.

"Man, that guy talks a lot. Can't he stop for like, two minutes?", Gray groaned, slipping out of his character. Juvia giggled.

"Juvia thinks he was a very polite gentleman. She feels sorry for him, being scammed by that awful Mister Fray.", she said and frowned, then sadly shook her head.

"I don't mean to interrupt your chit-chat, but I believe it would be better if you returned to your roles, Chares, Annabel.", Mira reminded them, and they stopped talking.

The party prolonged a lot more than Gray and Juvia had expected, which led them to believe that Fray had encountered some problems. They believed it had something to do with their computer expert, Levy, and smirked when Mira confirmed their suspicions – the girl sent a virus to Fray's computer which was used for the selling. As everyone was too busy talking to each other, dancing, or something else, Gray and Juvia slowly snuck out of the grand hall, avoiding Fray's associates Drener and Marisha who seemed to be on a lookout, and headed towards his study, where they received information that valuable documents were. Mira carefully guided them, telling them to look out and not to drop their guard.

"The door's locked.", Gray complained, but Juvia smirked and took a pin out of her hair.

"Leave it to Ju- me.", she said, and Gray moved away. Juvia unlocked the door, and the carefully snuck inside, watching out for any traps or alarms.

"We've entered the study room. We're looking for the documents."

"Third drawer on the left – that's where the key and the code to the safe are. The safe is hidden by the-"

"Books, we know. Levy told us some time ago.", Gray said, finishing his report to Mira.

"Juvia found the key and the code.", she said and Gray nodded, heading towards the bookshelf. Mumbling to himself, he calculated something then pulled out several books to reveal a small metal safe. He called Juvia over and she unlocked the safe, finding the documents they were looking for. In a state of happiness, Gray and Juvia looked at each other with big grins on their faces, satisfied with their success, but the worried voice of Mira called them back to reality and reminded them that nothing was over yet.

"Red alert, guys! Fray is on his way to you – it seems he found out spies infiltrated!"

Juvia fumbled with the safe and put it back to its original place as Gray returned the key and code. They hastily left the room, heading for the back door – the emergency exit – as Juvia clutched the documents that would prove Fray's criminal activities. They quickly exited into the garden and were about to leave as a shot was fired into their direction and they stopped in their tracks, looking around them. Twenty to thirty men surrounded them, and Gray mentally calculated their chances to escape as Juvia pressed the stone on her ring, calling for more backup. They pressed back to back and pulled out their weapons, pointing them at their enemies.

"Well, well, well. Congratulations. You're the first ones to actually get a hold of those documents.", a middle aged man, who was known as Fray commented. "Truly remarkable, Charles and Annabel Surge. Or should I say, Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser.", he said, his face gaining a dark look, and a shiver run down Juvia's spine, evoking a bad feeling inside of her. Just as he ordered his men to open a fire, Juvia and Gray's backup arrived, and they used that chance to run for cover.

"Damn it, get me those documents!", Fray yelled angrily, but everyone was too busy fighting.

"Shit, we gotta get out of here!", Gray said, while shooting from his gun. "We gotta take those documents to Jellal-"

"Juvia knows.", she silenced him, and they proceeded to run towards their transportation while shooting at the same time.

"Gray! Juvia!", a red haired woman shouted as she neared the two.

"Erza!", Gray said, and then Erza joined the two, fighting off the guys who surrounded them.

"Where are the documents?", Erza asked.

"In Juvia's bag!", she yelled and then yelped, as a bullet just barely missed her. Next to her, she heard Gray curse over and over again, but she couldn't blame him. They were in a huge mess, after all.

"We need to get them to safety! Juvia, hand me the bag!", Erza yelled as the three went to get into cover.

As Juvia did what Erza said, Gray nervously breathed.

"Damn, let's finish this already!"

Erza smiled and Juvia weakly giggled, too tired and afraid to do anything else. The adrenalin coursing through her veins was slowly disappearing, leaving her exhausted. Erza noticed this and warned Juvia not to relax just yet, but all Juvia did was nod, and Erza eyed her suspiciously for some time before Gray yelled at them to get moving because they've been found.

To Juvia, the rest was all a blur. She was barely aware of her surroundings, of the shots and the yelling and people coming her way. She saw Erza get into a helicopter, together with the documents, and everyone else retreating – which relieved her immensely. She saw Gray yell something to her, she saw his frightened face, but she didn't understand a thing.

Next thing she knew, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

And after that, it was dark.

…

As Gray set next to Juvia's hospital bed, the third day in a row, he blankly stared at the woman in front of him. He had tired, bloodshot eyes and he was messy. Their friends visited in and out, but Gray barely registered everything. The only one he clearly remembered coming was Gajeel, who silently entered the room. He said nothing as he watched his long time friend's pale face and the tubes coming out of her, nor did he comment something to the drained man that sat next to her. He just patted Gray's shoulder and said "She'll wake up". The two man sat in silence before Gajeel had to leave.

Gray didn't react when he noticed Juvia slightly stirring, believing it to be his imagination. However, when Juvia opened her eyed and weakly called out to him, he snapped out of his daze and called the nurses.

When they examined her and told Gray that she was alright and recovering, Gray numbly nodded and then asked to be left alone with her.

For a long time Gray and Juvia just stared at each other, not saying anything, and then Juvia softly smiled and giggled, inviting a smirk on Gray's face.

"It's been about time for you to wake up.", Gray joked, leaning his head on his hand, and Juvia weakly giggled again.

"Gray-sama looks awful."

"You're the one to tell."

The silence returned once more, but this time, they both gazed at each other fondly. Gray reached with one of his arms and grabbed one of hers, and Juvia squeezed with as much force as she could muster.

"The mission…-", she started but Gray was faster.

"Everything's okay. We did it. Erza gave the documents to Jellal – probably got her reward for that - ", Gray winked, joking at the account of Erza and Jellal's not-so-secret secret relationship, prompting Juvia to laugh, "and that bastard is behind the bars now. We have evidence against his partners, too. You have nothing to worry about."

Juvia squirmed a bit and then guiltily looked at Gray.

"Juvia's sorry. She should have been more careful.", she said, looking Gray in the eyes, and he didn't look away, instead he held her gaze.

"Yes, you should have.", he replied, with an unreadable face, but just as Juvia was about to say something else, he continued. "But you were tired, I understand. And the mission was pretty dangerous. Things like this are bound to happen.", Gray said, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, only to look at Juvia again. Something in the way he looked at her now, though, made Juvia blush slightly.

"Gray-sama…", she whispered, asking million questions, which he decided to answer.

"Two months ago", he started and Juvia knew right away what he was going to talk about, "you and I both did stupid things that led us to some sort of revelation. At least, they led me.", he said, and he gained a serious expression, and his eyes became focused on her own. Then, just like that, he told Juvia the words she never believed would leave his mouth.

"I love you."

Juvia's face turned extremely red, but not a speck of it grazed Gray's cheeks. He stayed serious, and that made Juvia afraid of what he was going to say next. Recognizing her fear, Gray squeezed her hand, and Juvia relaxed, if only a bit.

"Naturally, I was confused. I didn't know how or when it happened, but it did. Of course, I don't think I love you as much as you love me, but I know I've never romantically loved anyone more than you. And that freaked me out. You know why I joined this agency – I wanted to protect as many people as I could. I lost too many of those I cared about, Juvia, and I didn't want to feel so helpless anymore. That's why, not only did I decide to become stronger, but I also decided to shut my heart away. I believed it was the best solution."

Juvia stayed quiet, waiting for Gray to continue, but then he suddenly laughed through his nose and confused Juvia.

"Of course, I chose the worst possible agency for that. People in here just can't leave anyone alone, can they? Everybody sticks their nose where it doesn't belong.", he said, and Juvia had to giggle at that, because there was no denying it was true. Gray smirked at her and lightly hit her shoulder.

"Don't laugh, you're the worst one. Just couldn't let me be, could you?", he teased and Juvia blushed, stammering apologies, but Gray just smiled softly. Then his expression turned dark and Juvia became worried again.

"I almost lost you.", he said seriously, quietly but loud enough for those words to resonate in Juvia's ears. She frowned, and wanted to say something, anything, but she didn't know what.

"You know, after I realized I loved you I figured that the best solution was to pretend that wasn't true, and to distance myself from you. When the mission was over, I decided, I would leave immediately.", Gray confessed and Juvia hit him, but he just laughed.

"I deserve that."

"Gray-sama does."

"But you know -", he started, lowering so his face was only an inch away from Juvia's, "- I decided that was a bad idea. A stupid idea. 'Cause you're really reckless so you'd get into trouble whether I was there or not. And I'd feel better if you were by my side."

Juvia inhaled shakily, feeling happiness bubble inside of her but trying to suppress that feeling, because she didn't want to be disappointed. Carefully, she asked a question, unconsciously changing her gaze to Gray's lips. Gray did the same.

"Does… Does that mean… What does that mean?"

Instead of answering her, Gray captured her lips with his and Juvia melted at the blissful feeling as she wrapped her arms around Gray's neck. Gray caressed Juvia's cheek with one hand while he used the other to balance himself on the bed. This kiss was very different from their previous kiss, which was aggressive, raw and passionate. This kiss was gentle, soft, slow and full of care. It said thousands of things they could never explain with words, and it gave both of them reassurance. They almost lost their chance – but now, they both knew better.

As Gray pulled away he smirked at Juvia's dazed face, and then bumped their foreheads together. Juvia rubbed at the spot, pouting and complaining that "it hurts", but Gray knew she was only joking so to agitate her a bit more he ruffled her hair.

"Remember now, you're stuck with me. You said so yourself. No turning back, you're gonna have to accept all my flaws and everything.", he said with an affectionate voice, and Juvia took his hand and kissed it, then caressed his knuckles with her thumb.

"Juvia is more concerned about how Gray is going to accept her flaws.", she winked, and Gray laughed, already knowing that his life would become very hectic and interesting, but he'd have it no other way.

"I'm gonna think of something."