Author's Note: Hellooo! Another fic set over the 1-year time-skip...featuring the legendary stripping habit (¬‿¬) - Hope you all like it and thank you for the support so far!

Title: Stripping Habit
Summary: How were there always more clothes on the floor than on his body?

"Your gaze across my cheeks turned them into strawberry fields." - Sanober Khan

Stripping Habit

"Gray-sama, you're leaving your clothes all over the place again…"

At the sound of her voice, Gray glanced up from his sketchpad to see Juvia lumbering around their living room, tossing shirts, a jacket and a pair of trousers over her arm whilst sighing deeply.

If there were that many clothes lying around unworn then—

Groaning to himself, he looked down to see whether he still had anything on, already knowing what he'd find: nothing but his boxers, for what had to be the third time this week.

"Damn it…" Gray stood up, passing a hand through his hair and eyeing the living room wearily.

How were there always more clothes on the floor than on his body? He'd lost count of how many items of clothing he'd stripped off and misplaced over the years, never to be seen again.

Though, ever since he and Juvia started living together, she'd come to his aid, specially taking a bag along with them to missions. Clothes that would come off and clothes that needed to come on were stuffed into that bag and thanks to her, Gray's outfits actually made it home safely to the washing machine.

With a heavy sigh, he spotted the shirt he'd worn from yesterday's job draped over the back of the couch and reached over to get it, shooting her an apologetic look. "Juvia, you don't have to clean up after me. I can take care of myself."

Juvia straightened up, adding a pair of socks to the growing pile in her arms before meeting his eyes with a warm smile. "Juvia doesn't mind, Gray-sama."

"Nah, it's my mess," he said, crouching down to inspect under the couch for any hidden pieces of clothing. "At least let me help out."

Finding nothing under there except a lone chocolate wrapper from his snacking session earlier on in the afternoon – which he figured would be a clean-up job for another day – Gray rose to his feet, fixing the cushions and picking up the shirt, working his way around the room to her.

"Even retrieving your clothes can be as tiring as a training session, hm, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked, her voice light and playful as she took the shirt from his hands.

Gray rolled his eyes at her, folding his arms. "Yeah, yeah…"

"Ah…" Juvia glanced around the room, tilting her head to the side and humming softly. "Any more, Gray-sama?"

Gray inspected the room once more, eyes darting from one corner to the other. The cottage they lived in was small, cosy—much like his apartment back in Magnolia but at the same time, very different. Here, his possessions were mixed with hers. A teru teru bozu hanging by the window, vases of flowers dotted around the tables, her photos and books lined up along with his on the shelves.

He hadn't shared a home with someone like this in the longest of times, not since he was a child. But he had to admit, looking around and seeing how easily a simple "he" and "she" had become an "us" over the few months they'd lived together—he very much liked it and found himself thinking that once Fairy Tail returned, he'd very much miss it as well.

"Hang on…" Gray sighed irately when his eyes caught sight of a fabric under the stool by the window. "Got one more for you, Juvia."

He leaned down, fishing out the blue material before examining it.

It wasn't his. The skirt was long with slits on either side, crumpled and creased under the weight of the stool.

But the main point was that it wasn't his.

Getting to his feet, Gray held the skirt up in front of Juvia, raising a brow. "Hm. Funny…don't remember buying this."

When her eyes grew wide and she flushed crimson, he grinned, throwing it to her with a laugh. Without a word, Juvia caught the skirt in her hand and looked away quickly, scurrying to the kitchen whilst Gray followed, arms crossed behind his head and a smirk wide on his face.

"Hey, Juvia," he teased, playfully pulling on her ponytail. "What's with that? No comment when it's your own clothes?"

Juvia huffed, stuffing the skirt along with the other clothes into the washing machine. She kept her face turned away from him but from what he could see, he was pretty sure she was fighting back a smile.

'Yes,' he thought to himself, laughing, 'He very much liked being an "us".'

The couple that strip together stay together (¬‿¬)