Hello dear readers, thank you all for your patience!
I hope you will all enjoy this chapter. As is the case with every Gruvia week or Gruvia day, I'll post a oneshot! So... see you in 2 weeks on Gruvia day (10th of September)!
Thanks for proofreading Margo!
The presence of someone in his room made Gray wake up in the morning. A faint shadow lurked close to the door. Memories of the day before flashed through his mind, the scent of her still lingered where their skin had touched during the embrace.
''Juvia?'' he asked, blinking to adjust to the sudden sunlight.
''Hah! You wish!'' a male voice replied.
Gray's blood turned cold. An intruder? In one smooth movement, he summoned a sword of ice, which immediately shattered into glittering dust.
''As quick as ever, eh?''
Someone stepped forward from the dark corner into the dim morning light.
''Lyon?'' Gray rhetorically asked, his heart still pounding in his throat, ''why are you here?''
''Erza wanted to let you know there is no haste to be worried about,'' he shrugged, ''according to a messenger, the monster has submerged and cannot be traced.''
''That's good to know, buys me some time to heal,'' he laughed sheepishly. His bones still felt like gelatine. ''Why couldn't she tell me herself?''
''Apparently, she has a visitor over,'' Lyon smirked, ''it's pretty obvious it's her lover.''
Gray's eyes widened and he jumped up to gather his clothes. ''Jellal is here?! What is she thinking?!''
''Jeez dude, cover up! Why on earth do you sleep naked?'' Lyon yelled and turned around to give him some privacy.
Gray laughed. ''Oh please, you know I hate clothes, always have.''
Lyon awkwardly pulled a book from the shelf and pretended to read it.
''Why is Erza's boyfriend such a big deal anyway,?'' he asked. ''It's unlike you to get so worked up over someone.''
''He's the most wanted criminal in the kingdom,'' Gray quickly got into his pants and started buttoning his vest, ''if the king finds out we're friends with him, we could lose our pardon.''
Lyon raised a brow. ''Never heard of 'em.''
He was given a deadly stare. ''He usually goes by the pirate name of Mystogan.''
Lyon's cheeks turned pale. ''W-wait, you couldn't mean... He's Mystogan of the Seven Stars?!''
''The one and only,'' Gray grinned.
''He is rumoured to wipe out entire smuggler dens on his own'' he let out, making wide gestures with his arms, ''and recruit people from the most notorious prisons.'' He didn't notice he had thrown away the book in the process.
''Those aren't just rumours, I can guarantee you it's all true.''
Lyon considered sitting down to process all of this information, but decided to just change the subject.
''So, how are you and miss Blue doing?'' he teased, ''she's really into you, isn't she?''
''I don't know what you mean,'' Gray quickly backfired while struggling with the buttons on his sleeve.
Lyon snickered. ''I see the way you look at her, Gray, you've got it bad man...''
He turned around to hide his face, which had started to gain colour. ''Even if these feelings are real, I won't ever let her get that close to me.''
''Why not? She deserves an answer at the very least, don't you think?''
Gray picked up his sword and attached the scabbard to his belt. ''You know what happened the last time a woman tried to protect me...''
Lyon blinked. ''You're seriously depriving yourself of women because of Ur's accident?''
''So what?!'' he sneered back, ''I manage just fine on my own. Everyone is better off without me.''
Lyon firmly stepped forward and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him furiously. ''Don't you dare say that!'' His voice broke as he hugged him tight.
Gray was shocked by his friend's reaction and didn't know what to say.
''Y'know, I still find it hard to believe you were alive all this time,'' Lyon softly spoke.
''Hey, no crying,'' Gray said as he gently pushed him back, ''same to you, I never thought I'd see you again... I'm glad you're back.''
They exchanged a meaningful smile just before the door suddenly opened behind them.
A bubbly young woman with long, pastel pink hair came walking in
''I know this is not my ship, but have you seen Ly-'' She gasped.
''Oh, I- I am sorry, you two must be in the middle of something,'' she muttered flustered, ''I'll go ahead to the beach, so you can... finish this.''
''Meredy, wait!'' Lyon yelled as he pushed Gray away, ''this is all a misunderstanding!''
Gray couldn't stop laughing,
Lyon looked over his shoulder. ''I'll get you for this later.'' He said before storming after her.
Erza had ordered both crews to gather at the beach they were now resting at, not too far from their destination. Until the monster would resurface, she had planned to have Jellal train them. Gray had urged her it was unnecessary, as Jellal alone would even be sufficient to take on the monster all by himself, but she had insisted.
Gray had eventually given up arguing, as he understood well this was her only way to spend time with her loved one, who she saw only a few times a year.
He didn't have time to think about a sparring partner, as his assigned one hadn't left his side ever since he came walking out of his ship.
She had run up to him in nothing more than wide pantaloons and a short, sleeveless shirt that revealed her midriff, claiming it allowed her to move around better when fighting. He wanted to believe it, though he was pretty sure someone had recommended it to her for different reasons.
He had noticed some googling eyes checking her out and subtlely led her away to a less crowded part of the beach.
''So I guess we're gonna train, eh?'' Gray said, detaching his sword from his belt and throwing it away in the sand, ''magic only, first one to surrender looses.''
Juvia looked around. ''We're pretty far away,'' she mentioned, ''isn't the whole point of the training to learn from our guest?''
''I'm pretty sure we can take on at least ten of them per person,'' Gray said with a grin, ''we're sparing them by training here.''
He looked at her clothes again. If this was Erza's doing, she knew him too well.
''Do I look weird?'' she asked when she noticed what he was looking at. The blush on her face threw him off even more.
''What? Ehm, no-. Not at all!'' he blurted out and quickly looked away, ''I think you look... pretty.''
''You're letting your guard down,'' he heard her say and before he realised what she was up to, it was almost too late.
He barely managed to dodge a jet of water and fired a set of icicles back, which she avoided by turning parts of her body to water.
''You've grown stronger,'' he admitted with a playful smile, ''but can you dodge this?''
He took a wide stance and raised his arms as if pulling something out of the earth itself. Dozens of icy stalagmites shot out of the sand, covering their entire sparring ground.
They did not get the time to reach her. She had already lifted herself on a plateau of water and melted the spikes to add even more water to it. She steered the wave down towards him; his reflexes only allowed him to freeze the front, but still, the wave washed over him.
He was pushed backwards, his back hitting the sand hard enough to hit the air out of his chest, and coughed up the water that had almost managed to reach his lungs.
Gray tried to get up, but a weight held him down. He blinked a few times to get rid of the salty water in his eyes. That's when he realised.
He stared up at her, his mouth slightly agape. The sun behind her made her look like she was the source of light itself. Locks of azure blue hair cascaded down around his face like waterfalls. She was panting, clearly having used up a big part of her strength and magic power. Their faces were just inches apart and he felt his heartbeat triple.
''Got you,'' she managed to bring out, barely louder than a whisper.