prompt: grounded
Anxiety has a funny way of manifesting at night.
Gray thinks it to himself when he rouses from static-cracked dreams in his bed, feeling the weight of his whole existence pressing against the center of his chest. It happens sometimes, on particularly cold nights in Magnolia when there's snow and snow and more snow, falling in thick, heavy flakes against glass window panes. The memories shift around in his throat and rise into the empty cavern of his mouth in an attempt to push out out out into the cold expanse of velvet sky, but Gray clamps himself shut, a vice grip on the sheets at his hips to stop the scream trying desperately to manifest from his psyche.
Moments trickle by in the same way a river would, smoothing Gray's body and mind like stones eroded by running water. He feels his fingers loosen by their own accord and his chest falls in quiet, careful breaths, sure to steady the silence as to not wake the sleeping woman beside him. He lets his head fall to the side, face to face with his Juvia.
Gray is especially grateful for her on nights like this. He draws his body closer as his eyes trace the slope of her nose, arm rising to rest across her waist where she lays delicately on her side. She murmurs something at the weight of his hand coming to settle on her bare back, a sleepy mixture of his name and a soft sigh, and he'd never say it within earshot of anyone in the guild but she was the cutest when she slept. Juvia's palm comes to rest on his chest, fingers pressing lightly against his guildmark and his eyes close, losing himself in the way her body responds to his movements, his touch, his attention.
"Juvia," Gray whispers her name, presses it gently into the space between them like it was a secret he'd never share. She shifts, curling closer, lips parting into the faintest of smiles and blue hair falling like ocean waves, crashing against the shore of his white bed sheets. She could calm the frozen tundra that stirred inside him with only her warm hand, melting away any resistance that lingers after a strange and listless sleep.
"Does Gray-sama make a habit of watching Juvia while she sleeps?"
Her voice startles him slightly as he watches her lips curl into an easy half smile. Gray can't help but chuckle as she opens her eyes, sinking further into his chest.
"Hush," his voice is teasing, playful. "Go back to sleep, Juves."
Juvia shakes her head, shifting and pressing Gray's back against the mattress. She lazily hitches one leg over his waist and sits up, settling her weight back on on his hips as his hands come to rest on her thighs, looking up at her soft figure while the moonlight hits her cheekbones and bare shoulders. Gray takes a deep breath, feeling an aching in his chest as he's filled with so much love and a longing to run his fingers through her hair.
"Can't sleep?" Juvia's voice is bed-worn and thick with husk and something sexy he can't distinctly place. She traces her name absently across his chest, dots the 'i' with a small heart and curls the end until it traces all the way down to his navel. Gray shivers.
"Static," he murmurs. Static was their word for a distress or unease not always easily discernible. Gray knows she understands, and she does, nodding her head and shifting her body to lean forward. Hands much smaller than his press into the pillow on either side of his head, blue hair cascading around them like a curtain of endless sky. He can feel her warmth pressing against his naturally chilled skin, and goosebumps rise from her hips to her breasts.
"Juvia will do her best to ground you again," she slips the words between them as she lowers herself further, nibbling gently on his ear. Gray smiles as she eases them into an easy chest-to-chest position, her nose pressed firmly against the pulse point of his neck and her arms coiling under his arms and over his shoulders. Here, in this moment, Gray feels heavy and light all at once, splaying his fingers against her back and tangling their legs together in soft submission.
"Are you cold?" Gray reaches over and tugs on their quilt. Juvia sighs in soft content, and he can feel her lips move against his neck when she talks.
"Sleepy," she murmurs, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "Go back to sleep, Gray-sama. No more static."
Gray gathers her closer and holds her tight. "I love you, Juvia..."
She's already asleep.