Juvia was in a very industrious mood today. It was Gray's birthday and since Levy baked a cake for Gajeel's birthday, and Lucy baked one for Natsu on the date the guild had picked to be his birthday, and Erza baked one for Jellal on his (even though she wound up eating the whole thing herself) then she had to bake one for Gray!

The task of baking a cake itself wasn't the challenging part. Ever since her first baking fiasco on their 413th anniversary she had been practicing diligently to become a better baker and cook so she could provide her beloved with delicious food. After all the quickest way to a man's heart was through his stomach. Although Cana did say something once about a shortcut through their- ding!

The timer went off and Juvia pushed that thought aside and went over to the refrigerator to take out the frosting and test it to make sure it was at the right consistency. To her delight it was. Now all she had to do was decorate her cake.

Since she picked up this baking hobby, she had found that the decorating part was very calming. However, the baking part could be stressful at times like earlier this morning when she was freaking out because she didn't have any sugar for the cake! She was on her way to the store to get some sugar for his cake but thankfully she ran into Natsu and he lent her a jar of sugar he had in his backpack.

She entered the guild that morning proudly carrying her delicious cake that said "Happy Birthday Gray" with his face dawn out of icing. She was so proud with how it turned out and Gray seemed impressed too which only made Juvia all the more happy.

Juvia cut out the first slice and gave it to him since it was his birthday. She watches as he takes a bite, eagerly awaiting his praise for her hard work. But instead he spits it out and covers his mouth.

"What the hell. Is cake supposed to taste like that?" Gray asks.

"Huh?" Juvia asks, looking confused. "It doesn't taste good?"

"No it tastes weird." Gray says and Juvia's heart drops.

"Weird how? I followed the recipe to the letter and put in all the right ingredients." Juvia says in a worried tone and Natsu snickers from the bar.

Juvia took a bite of Gray's piece of cake and has the same reaction as him.

"What? Why is it salty?" She asks.

Natsu falls off of his stool laughing and Gray looks annoyed.

"What's so funny?" Gray asks.

"You actually ate the cake! You know I prank you every year on your birthday, and I ran into Juvia this morning and she was looking for sugar for your cake so I gave her the jar of salt that Happy uses for his fish! Your face was priceless!" Natsu laughs and Juvia's eyes get misty.

"You used Juvia to prank her darling on his birthday..." She mutters and sniffles.

Once Gray hears that he becomes furious with the fire mage.

"What the hell Natsu! Using Juvia like that wasn't cool! She worked all morning to bake that cake and then you ruin it just because you wanted to prank me!" Gray exclaims and lifts him up by his shirt collar. "Your rivalry is with me. You should've left Juvia out of this. Because now I'm really gonna go at you for messing with her!" Gray growls in anger.

"Uh, speaking of Juvia, she's crying right now, you might want to comfort her Gray." Happy suggests.

Gray turns around and sees Juvia wiping her eyes with her sleeves and he lets go of Natsu and pulls Juvia into his arms.

"Please don't cry Juvia. None of this was your fault." Gray says.

"Yes it was. Juvia should have taste tested the sugar before adding it to the bowl. But she was an idiot and forgot." Juvia whimpers.

"Hey the only idiot here right now is Natsu. You worked really hard and I appreciate that so much Juvia." Gray says.

Juvia smiles a bit.

"Thank you Gray-sama. I'm sorry you don't have a cake for your birthday though." Juvia says.

"Eh, I don't really mind. You're the only sweet thing I need." Gray says and kisses Juvia's cheek.

Her heart lept from the bottom of her stomach to her throat when Gray kissed her.

"Now dry those tears and watch me beat the crap out of Natsu for messing with you." Gray suggests.

"Okay darling. Anything for you." Juvia says and follows him outside to watch him fight Natsu.