Hello boys and girls. I'd like to tell a story.

Does anyone still remember me? I do apologize. There have been lots of things happening in my life, including a three month hospitalization, losing my job, moving to a new country and losing my drive to even write. It took a lot of effort to regain the ability to want to write but finally I got something out. Again I do apologize. So please forgive me...or don't. One more thing. To those who have asked if I have a tumblr. I now do. It's LeonAlmalsy. I'll soon be adding stuff onto it.

Oh yes. So Fairy Tail has finally ended. And yeah, Gruvia is canon. Kewl.

Let's go to the reviews.

Blue Star, yes Gray would have said "I love you". But he wouldn't really mean it. It would have been a last comfort.

dreamworld, I do find it easy to write from Gray's perspective. Perhaps, it's because I'm a guy. Perhaps because I have experience in some of the things Gray has gone through in his life. But... yeah.

IceDragonSlayer, I have written a story from Uriel's point of view. It's part of my Seven Days to Love You fic, Chapter 4. If you like kid logic, magic, ice cream and ball kicks, it's certainly the story for you.

As for the story, this is the first thing I have written in about a year. I do apologize if it comes off forced but I have been trying to get back into the groove of writing. Please enjoy...or don't.

U is for Unconditional

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails.

The first peals of sunlight crept through across the floor on top of the bed and onto Gray's face. The ice mage scrunched up his face in annoyance, trying as hard as he could to make the disturbance to his sleep go away. But that was impossible. Gray opened his eyes and allowed his brain to assess his current situation.

The first thing he realized when he opened his eyes was that he was naked. But that's normal for Gray Fullbuster; he usually slept in the nude. The second thing the black haired man noticed was that he wasn't alone in his bed as he felt a depression on the other side of the bed. Again, that was normal. For the last year or so, his bed was usually shared with another. The third thing he noticed was his bedmate, a woman with long blue hair. She was naked as well. Par for the course. He noticed his arm was around her waist, her nose in her hair, her rear against his groin. The tiniest of smirks crossed his face. It's these little things he loved about her. He inhaled deeply. Her scent was intoxicating. She smelt of the ocean, of the pomegranate in her shampoo and coconut in her soap, and something uniquely Juvia...oh and sex, lots of sex.

His brain when to memories of what happened the night before. They had made love that night...fiercely. Juvia's body was so pliant for him. Her soft skin, her large and bouncing breasts, those statuesque legs that wrapped around his waist, the moans that left her pretty mouth, just thinking about last night made him almost desperate to make love to her again.

He lightly ran his fingers across the planes of her flat stomach, kissing the juncture where her neck met her shoulders. Juvia made a noise that was a mix between a giggle and a moan.

"Good morning, Gray." She murmured sleepily as her body greedily begged for more.

"Morning." The ice mage replied, brushing his lips against skin, a whimper of pleasure softly exhaling from her mouth. He pressed his flaccid length against her rear in a recreation of what they had done the night before.

The water mage extricated herself from his embrace to sit up, leaving Gray lying down and resting his head on his arms. "Perhaps we should get out of bed." Juvia said, stretching her limbs.

"I've got a better idea." Gray murmured as he crawled over to her and kissed her neck. "Let's stay in bed all day. I've got some new ideas I'd like to try."

Juvia moaned as the Ice Mage bit her neck. "Juvia would like that but she's sure Gray will get hungry."

Gray pulled his girlfriend closer. "I'm hungry for you right now." The ice mage accentuated his statement with a lick of the water mage's ear.

Juvia pulled away playfully, smacking him on his naked chest. "Stop!" She laughed. "We need to get up." She managed to disentangle herself.

Gray propped himself with his elbow to see Juvia's beautiful naked body. It was really hard to believe now but she had once had been ashamed of her body. How could she be ashamed of that body? It was just so perfect and his. Only his.

"Juvia is going to take a shower." She announced.

"How about I join you?" He said with a waggle of his eyebrows. "You know, to save water."

Juvia smiled. "If Gray goes in the shower with Juvia, we will waste so much water."

Gray did his best to look scandalized. "Juvia!" He said in mock shock. "How could you doubt my intentions? I'm doing this to save the environment."

"Silly Gray." The water mage said and bounded towards the bathroom, giving her boyfriend an unobstructed view of her curvaceous body.

Gray sat at the table, watching his girlfriend's hips wiggle to a song that only she heard as she made breakfast for the two of them. Food is such a production at their place. Juvia has a tendency to make extravagant meals or massive quantities of food that only a human disposal like Natsu could eat. That's not to say that the ice mage didn't appreciate it by any means. He has never ate better than when Juvia made him food.

Before he could blink, the first plate was set in front of Gray: blueberry pancakes smothered in strawberry syrup and decorated in bacon and sausage links. Oddly, the meat pieces made the number three on the pancakes. However, the ice mage really didn't pay attention to that. Juvia's cooking was calling and it was rude not to answer.

"Is everything to Gray's satisfaction?" Juvia asked as she placed a cup of iced coffee in front of her boyfriend before setting a plate for herself.

Gray, his mouth full of pancakes, simply nodded.

"Does Gray plan on taking a job?" She asked, daintily cutting up her own pancakes.

"Why?" The ice mage responded as he sipped his coffee.

"If he doesn't perhaps the two of them can take a walk along the Magnolia Promenade." The way that Juvia asked was almost as if she was afraid of hearing his answer. She always did that, as if she thought that he didn't want to spend time with her. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"I don't mind." The black haired man shrugged his shoulders. "If that's what you really want to do."

"Juvia most appreciates it." The blue haired woman smiled.

Such a smile made Gray's heart lurch. How was it so simple to make her smile? Was he really making her that happy by just spending the day with her? Well, who was he to deny his lady anything.

It was the perfect day for a stroll. The sun was out but not blazing hot. There was an appropriate amount of cloud cover. Gray was wearing a white shirt, khakis and a jean jacket. Juvia was wearing a yellow sundress that showed off her amazing legs.

"So where will we go, Juvia?" He asked.

Juvia grabbed Gray's hand and led him through the market place. There were stands where cute animals were begging to be adopted. Juvia wanted to adopt them all but Gray, the voice of reason, told her that they weren't always at home so adopting a pet wouldn't make sense. With a heavy heart and tearful eyes, she extricated herself from the adorableness.

The two of them passed by a woman selling exotic flowers.

"Flowers for your lady?" The woman asked, trying to make a sale.

Gray asked for a yellow one. He paid the woman and received the flower. The ice mage affixed the flower onto his girl's hair.

"Juvia feels so beautiful." She squealed in delight, unable to keep the heat from filling her face. "Thank you Gray." The blue haired woman showed her appreciation with a wet cheek kiss.

The ice mage scratched his cheek and blushed. "Yeah, sure." He mumbled, somewhat embarrassed. Juvia knew that he wasn't a PDA kind of guy but that didn't mean that he disliked it either. He was slowly getting used to it.

They spent a good couple of hours just aimlessly walking around, viewing the local stands. As they were ambled along the promenade, Gray couldn't help but feel like something was off. He was forgetting something, he knew. But what? Have you ever tried to remember something important and you tried to make as many jumps to get to it. Like that. It was on the tip of the ice mage's tongue. But it was completely out of his grasp, like trying to find the perfect word to describe a situation.

"Gray has removed his shirt." Juvia announced, knocking him out of his train of thought.

The ice mage looked down. Lo and behold, he was indeed shirtless. Damn, he thought. He got so lost in his head, he started stripping. Thought I got that under control, he mused.

"Juvia has Gray's shirt if he wishes to put it on." She then handed him his shirt which he put on dutifully. "Is there something wrong?" Juvia asked, concerned.

"Lost in thought." He answered.

"Something Juvia can do to help?" There was a gleam in her eye that made the ice mage smile. She was always doing that, thinking about him before herself. How did he ever earn the love of such a woman?

"Nah." He said, shaking his head. "Let's keep on walking."

How long has it been since they just walked around and took in the sights of their home town? It was kind of relaxing not having to worry about completing a mission or defeating some bad guy. Perhaps they should make a habit out of this, just one day out of the month, staying home with each other. Yeah, that would work.

"Oooh, Gray." Juvia squealed in delight, pulling his arm gently and pointing in the direction of a stand. "Let's go over there."

The ice mage allowed himself to be dragged by his girlfriend and although he may be scowling on the outside, on the inside, he was smiling.

Juvia led them to a stand where a vendor was calling for business.

"Calling all mages." The vendor said. "Would you like to see your magic calcified and turned into wearable jewelry? Then step right up."

"Oooh, Gray. Let's go look." Juvia said, dragging him closer. The two blended into a crowd where the vender was standing in front of an aquarium-like device filled with a clear liquid.

As soon as the vendor got enough people around his stand, he yelled in a booming voice. "Observe."

He put his hand in the liquid and released a bit of magic. Immediately, the liquid calcified and turned into a spiny starlike object.

"See." He yelled out to the crowd. "It's that easy. Afterwards, this crystal can be turned into earrings, bracelets and any other jewelry. It's perfect for birthdays, holidays and anniversaries."

The word anniversaries echoed in Gray's head as the day's events started swimming through him. He felt like there was something about this date that was important but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Then, the "Oh shit" moment came. Today was his and Juvia's anniversary. They've been together for three years today.

How could I forget this day, Gray thought to himself. And why didn't Juvia say anything? But then he remembered the three on his pancakes. Fuck.

Why hasn't Juvia said anything? Why hasn't she brought it up? She just looking at him, smiling, like she always does when she's in his presence.

"Is something wrong, Gray?" Juvia asked, concerned.

"Oh, nah." He said a bit too quickly.

Juvia breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. Juvia has been having a wonderful time."

"Me too." Gray nodded.

Juvia grabbed onto his arm and hugged him tightly. "Thanks for taking me."

The water mage smiled.

That smile, just like many of her smiles, melted the ice mage, and, at the same time, made him feel incredibly guilty. She deserved everything in the world and he couldn't even be bothered to remember a simple date.

In that moment, he came to a terrible conclusion.

Gray Fullbuster was a dick.

On days without missions, Gray and Juvia usually spend evenings on the sofa, watching movies. Juvia had just made popcorn (another perfect batch) and was currently snuggling up against him. The ice mage, however, couldn't enjoy the movie. He was too busy on his guilt trip. How could he be so careless? Forgetting their anniversary? Did he just pull a Natsu?

"Gray, what is wrong?" Juvia asked.

It was sort of scary how in tune his girlfriend was with his feelings.

"Juvia, I'm sorry." Gray hung his head in shame.

She made a cute cock of her head. "For what?"

"I forgot about our aniversary." The ice mage admitted.

Juvia looked back at the movie. "That's okay." She said softly.

"How can it be okay?" Gray asked, a bit of despair in his voice. "I couldn't remember a date that means a great deal to us. I didn't get you anything. I forgot. I completely forgot..."

Juvia gently grabbed her boyfriend's hand.

"It's really okay." The water mage told him.

"But.." The black haired man was about to protest but his girlfriend place a delicate finger on his lips.

"Please listen to Juvia." She told him. "When Juvia was young, all she wanted was someone to love her, to see her as someone other than a rain woman. She learned to cook, learned to clean, learned to sew. She became the perfect friend, the perfect girlfriend. She wanted to be liked, to be loved. But no one wanted her."

"Juvia." Gray whispered.

"But then Gray came along." She continued with a watery smile. "And took away her rain, gave her the sun, a place in the world, friends to fight for, and his love. Gray gave her all the things she never believed would have. That's why Juvia doesn't need anything for our anniversary. Just being with Gray is the best present anyone could have given her."

Gray allowed himself to smile. It was kind of embarrassing to hear his girlfriend saying such stuff but he has gotten used to it over the years. It had always amazed him how open with her heart she was. After the death of his mother, father, and teacher, it took him years to be able to be able to allow himself to be vulnerable. Even after all she had endured, his girlfriend still had the capacity to love and be loved. Her love was unconditional, though. Despite the fact that he didn't initially love Juvia, despite the fact that love was the last thing on his mind, she persisted, and in the end, she got her wish. Her love was like the depth of the ocean, bottomless, boundless and overwhelming.

"C'mere." He motioned to her with a crook of his finger and a serious look on his face.

With just a moment's hesitation, Juvia crawled over to where her boyfriend sat. Before she even realized it, Gray had her straddling his lap. She must have looked shocked because the ice mage had gently caressed her cheek.

"I love you, Juvia." He said in a voice barely above a whisper, as if he was afraid that someone other than his girlfriend could hear. "Love you so much." And then he kissed her, slowly so that she understood how much he loves her.

Juvia could hardly keep the tears from her eyes. Gray doesn't say the words 'I love you' very often. The ice mage usually shows his love through his actions. So whenever he does say the words, the water mage feels like she is floating on air.

"Juvia loves Gray too." She replied as he kissed her forehead and settled into his embrace. This was where she belongs...here...in Gray's arms.

Gray took of his shirt and stared into his girlfriend's blue eyes. So soulful, so trusting, he thought. He loved her, that he knew for a certainty as he closed the distance between them. He knew that he would drown in Juvia's unconditional love. But hey, there were worse ways to go.

And that's the end of that chapter.

Such a terrible chapter. Apologies.

I've always found that of all the girls in Fairy Tail, Juvia would be the person who could forgive more easily, as long as it has nothing to do with another woman. Because of her tragic upbringing, she is more inclined to give instead of receive. A part of her would be scared that if she didn't keep giving, no one would want to be with her. While dates, anniversaries and birthdays are important to her, what is more important is being with the one she loves.

On the other hand, part of what repelled Gray about Juvia in the past was her intense love. Still reeling from the hole that Ur (and his parents) had left by their deaths, he would be massively uncomfortable with any grand gestures of love. So when the two first met, the ice mage would be hesitant in diving into love until he is comfortable that his love one wouldn't be leaving any time soon. And yes, he wouldn't remember dates as well as Juvia (I mean, who could), what would be more important to him is the time they spend together.

So, love it? Hate it? Have no opinion one way or the other? Want to yell at me for not updating for a year? Leave me a review. I will answer each and every one of your reviews.

Here is the prompt for the next chapter.

One week in paradise with the woman he loved, Gray couldn't ask for anything more. The beach, a nightclub, a town fair and a beautiful blue haired woman with amazing legs? Oh yeah. This would be one great holiday.

So what's the V word here?

Until next time,

A. Angel