Juvia's alarm on her phone sounded, she noticed a muscular arm draped over her waist, Gray muttered and pulled her against him in his sleep, "Good morning" she said softly, trying to wake him gently she hadn't intended to have Grey stay with her in the bed the entire night but waking next to him was nothing to complain about, yet she wondered how he was going to feel about it.

Gray lifted his head and glanced at Juvia nestled against his chest, but when Juvia looked at his fa ether was not much of an expression to be see. Juvia watched as he pulled his arm back an sat up, getting out o the bed and walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. Juia gave a shaking breath before heading into the kitchen and got herself a cup of water and attempted to suppress her neres about Gray's reaction, or lack thereof, to waking next to her in his bed. Moments later he emerged tugging a t-shirt over his head and shooting a subtle smile her way. "I'm all ready, the bathroom is yours," he said.

"Oh okay" Juvia replied softly heading to get herself put together for work

Once dressed and ready Juvia appeared in the bedroom doorway again, Gray hopped down from where he sat on the kitchen countertop and headed toward the door, "are you ready to go?"

"Yea, but First I wanted to just talk about what happened um when we woke up," she said nervously.

"Can we maybe just talk about this later, maybe once the ex boyfriend stuff calms down?"

Juvia paused to consider before gently nodding, "That works, let's head out."

On their way to the bus they stopped at the small coffee shop, encountering the happy-go-lucky woman that served them the day before, she eagerly began to put their order together while Gray leaned against the register, "lovely to see you and your lady friend again," she said handing over the coffee and donuts with a smile, "see you again tomorrow, dears."

The bus was once again extremely crowded, with no seats available they were left standing quite close to one another. Juvia watched out the window as the bus travelled through tow but her attention was drown back inside again when Gray suddenly shifted around to stand behind her, she looked back to see Gray giving a stern look to the man behind her as the bust stopped gray pulled her off of the bus.

"what's wrong?" she asked as the was tagged along behind him, Stopping outside the flower shop he looked flustered, "that guy, how do you deal with guys like that?" Gray paced back and forth, clearly upset.

"What was he doing?" she asked, she hadn't seen anything that would justify this kind of reaction.

"WHAT?" Gray looked confused, "Juvia, he was ogling you, I stepped between you two before he got close enough to actually touch you."

Juvia felt sick, "I didn't see any of that, I'm sorry."

Gray sighed, "You don't have to apologize, but you should probably pay better attention, " his expression softened, "jus tprmise me you will be more careful." He opened the door to the shop for her, "I'll be by after you get off, see you later."

Juvia stepped inside coming face to face with her boss, "Oh, your boyfriend is really so handsome," Mavis gushed.

"I keep telling you he is not my boyfriend," she sighed.

"Yes, but I will keep telling you he is and we will see who is right in the end," Mavis grinned, "now, we're going a dozen orders with carnations today, why don't you get started on those?"

Juvia nodded and took a large bunch of flowers from the coolers and thought about her close call on the bus, she found herself wondering what would have happened if Gray hadn't been there to intervene.

After work Juvia exited the back rom to find Gray looking in the display coolers, wiping condensation from the glass he leaned closer to get a better look. She let her daze rest on his face, there was something calming bout seeing him there, but his expressions were usually so neutral that she was unsure of how he was ever actually feeling. She hated to admit it but she wanted him to want to be around her, she wondered if he enjoyed this time with her or felt obligated somehow to do the things he did for her.

Gray looked over, noticing her presence, he gave a small nod before asking, "ready to head out?"

"yep, all done here, Mavis gave me tomorrow off since we are caught up on orders."

Gray raised an eyebrow, "so where are you going to? Going back to your place tonight or o you ant to stay over again?"

She turned to face him, "Well, I was going to have Meredy over tomorrow so I should probably go home," Gray sat on the bus stop bench "or you can have her over to my place, It won't bother me."

"She'd probably bring Lyon," Juvia said.

"Well, that might bother me," Gray laughed.

"if you're sure, I don't want to overstay my welcome," she said nervously.

"You're fine," he said with a shrug. "I'd rather you not stress about your jerk of an ex, so if you need to not be alone, we will make it happen."

Juvia nodded as the bus arrived, "Thanks."

Dinner together had become comforting, Juvia enjoyed hearing him talk about work and then she would share her own day with him. Once the dishes had been cleared Juvia offered to wash them and Gray gathered clothes to wash, she tired not to giggle as he blushed deeply when he picked up her undergarments, he gave her a stern look causing any restrained laughter to bubble to the surface.

Wearing a t-shirt and shorts Juiva stood in the doorway of the bedroom, fingering the hem of the shirt she hesistated and Gray moved closer to her, "want me to stay in there again? Just for reassurance?"

"Maybe," she answered in a whisper, unsure of what would be best for their situation.

"Okay," he said taking her hand and moving into the darkness of the bedroom with her.

The next morning Juvia left Gray asleep in the bed and got up to meet with Meredy who was coming over for breakfast. Someone knocked at the door but when Juvia opened it she saw Gajeel standing outside with his brow furrowed, "What are you doing here?" he asked leaning to the side he peered through the door at the empty couch, "and please tell me you aren't sleeping with pretty boy."