I redid this chapter so many times but in the end i was left with this.
Gray
Two weeks had flown by in the blink of an eye and Storm of Shadows was finally done shooting. I was more than ready to be done with the show and Minerva but I wasn't quite out of the woods yet. I had a weekend off before the press tour started and that was sure to be the toughest two weeks of my life. Minerva was barely speaking to me and when she did it wasn't pretty, usually dripping with hate and meant to hurt. How we had made it through shooting was a mystery to me, but to say I was glad it was over was a major understatement.
I'd probably only survived knowing Juvia waited for me at the end of each day. We had spent those weeks together, usually at my place, only going out for work and necessary errands.
To reward her patience with my crazy schedule and high stress situation I stole her away for a weekend at Laxus's cabin because she needed a break as much as I did. Her job might have been less hectic than mine when it came to scheduling, but it was more stress on our relationship. She spent multiple nights a week talking on camera about every aspect of my life, some of it fact and most of it fiction. As an actor I understood what it felt like to say things I knew weren't true on camera, but when I did it, it was pretend, and it wasn't about someone I was secretly dating.
As much as I wanted to use this trip to relax I still sat awake watching her sleep, sheets barely covering her naked body. Sometimes I wondered if it would be easier to just come out with our relationship, just put it all out there, but part of me knew what that would mean for her job. She would go from an average reporter to someone that was directly involved. They would start watching her just as closely as they watched me, and she wasn't ready for that yet.
"Hey," Juvia whispered. I had thought she was sleeping. She rolled onto her side and looked at me, her eyes full of questions as her fingers trailed my chest. "What's wrong?"
I slid my arm around her and pulled her close, "I just couldn't sleep."
"Because?" she gave a knowing smile, "what's going on in your brain?"
I studied her face and pushed a lock of stray hair behind her ear, it only took a moment to close the gap and my lips were on hers.
She hummed and pulled back with a smirk, "you can't distract me, I want to know what's on your mind."
She was smart, she knew something was up and no amount of kisses was going to change her mind about wanting to know what it was. "Fine, I was thinking about us...and the paparazzi."
"I've been thinking about that too," she admitted, sitting up beside me and hugging the sheet. "I think we should let things out in the open once you're done with the press tour, once there is some distance between you and the Minerva drama."
"You're sure? I don't want to do this unless you're ready," I didn't want her doing this just to make things easier on me if it was going to be harder on her in the long run.
"Positive. Once you start shooting the movie it'll be harder to see you without drawing attention, so I just need a little more time and then I'll even come see you on the set.'
"That sounds amazing," I tugged the sheet out of her hands and moved to cover her body with mine, "because then everyone will know you're mine."
She squealed and wrapped her arms around my neck, fingernails grazing my skin, "and everyone will know who gets to kiss you every night."
I took a moment to enjoy the heat of her skin on mine, the way we fit together, the softness of her gaze as she looked at me. Damn I was lucky. I slid my hand behind her head steering the kiss, taking control of the moment. Her hands slid down my back, fingernails biting into my skin as she squirmed beneath me. There was no denying the heat building between us as skin met skin, everything about it felt so right. Leaning down I kissed my way down her neck to the bas of her throat, giving a firm nip and was rewarded with her taking a hiss of breath as her nails dug into my shoulders. She had the best reactions and I loved being the one that caused them.
"I need you," she moaned, bucking against me and I wanted nothing more than to give her everything she needed. It only took a moment to sink into her. Her hands glided across my chest, dragging her nails lightly as she moved. We were good together, and in times like this it was easy to forget the paparazzi and the stress that threatened to spill over at all times.
She wrapped her legs around me pulling us closer as she gasped beneath me, I found a rhythm and drove into her until my breathing was ragged, slipping nearer and nearer to the edge, but I refused to slip over without bringing her with me. Angled lower I plunged deeper, the pace increasing as she tightened around me, "Gray.." her voice cracked in my ear "so close." That's all I needed, thrusting harder I felt her legs tremor as she cried out and slipped into ecstasy, and I tumbled after her.
#
The next day we spent the afternoon wandering the trails, and exploring the local visitor center, Juvia had spent the longest time inspecting all of the lame souvenirs until she found one she deemed to be a perfect way to remember out trip, so we headed back to the cabin with the tiny pinecone racoon. There was something peaceful about being so far away from all the things that usually followed us. We were just making it back to the cabin when I heard it. "Shit!" I pulled Juvia under my arm and threw my hat on her, "keep your head down," I hissed as I pushed her toward the cabin.
"What?" she managed as I shoved her inside.
"Didn't you hear that? Shutter sounds, someone is out there taking pictures." I hurried around the room shutting curtains and locking doors. "I thought we'd be alone out here, how they hell did they find us?"
"Who is it?" she started to peer out the curtains when I grabbed her wrist.
"Stay back, they'll see you. I want to give you the privacy you want for as long as I can so we can't let them see you yet." I felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on my shoulders, 'if they haven't already seen you, that is."
"Maybe they won't know who I am," she offered, I knew she was just trying to stay positive, but it was time to get real.
"Juvia, you're on television four nights a week, it wouldn't take long to figure out it was you. I know you think you're not a celebrity, but you are, people know you by name, they recognize you on the street. That makes you famous whether you believe it or not."
I could see the worry as it spread across her face, "it will be fine, we weren't going to be able to keep it quiet forever."
"No. I promised you we would do this on your terms and we're going to make sure that happens." I started grabbing clothing and throwing it back in our bags, "I know we didn't plan on leaving until later, but we are going to head back now, get ahead of the story."
Juvia hurried to my side and began loading her things back into her bags, "how are we going to get out of here unseen?"
"Trust me, I'll make it happen."
#
I placed my baseball cap on Juvia's head and adjusted the hood of my coat to cover her hair before zipping it up, "You look good in that," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I placed my sunglasses on her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Are you ready?"
She nodded, "as I'll ever be."
It wasn't a bad disguise, my jacket engulfed her frame, the hat and hood obscured her hair and the sunglasses hid most of her face. If she kept her head down I just might get her in the car before anyone could get a shot of her.
I had already loaded the bags in the car, so whoever was out there knew we'd be moving sometime soon, but I hoped we'd still catch them unprepared. I opened the door and stepped out, tucking Juvia under my arm and jogging next to her until she was safely in the car. I ran around to the driver's side and hopped in. "Alright, let's get back and see how lucky we are."
The drive back seemed to take forever, Juvia shuffled songs on her phone through the radio but neither one of us spoke until we reached the edge of town.
"What now?" she asked quietly.
"Now I'm taking you home," I didn't have much of a plan from there but I knew if I brought her back to my place someone would see her or follow us. My best bet was to take her straight home and not linger there, it would give her the best chance at keeping her life normal until she was ready.
"It's going to get harder now Isn't it?" I wouldn't have heard her if the song hadn't ended.
"Probably," I frowned, "but the press tour is over in two weeks and then we'll come out on our terms."
"This all seems like so much work, I'm fine if you want to just do it now," I looked at her face to search for any sign of hesitation, I didn't know how to read the worry in her eyes. Was she worried about the timing, or just about racing back to town? I promised her two more weeks of privacy and that was what I was going to give her.
"No we'll do this our way," I checked my mirrors and changed lanes. "Get your keys out, be ready to go inside and hope no one sees for now."
"RIght," she shuffled her begs and retrieved her keys as I pulled next to her townhouse.
"Go inside, be safe, and I'll call you as soon as I get home." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a kiss, "I promise this will be worth it in the end."