Juvia practically jumped out of her bed when her alarm rang at 8:00 that morning. This was the day that she'd been waiting for since she first laid eyes on Gray, during the days when she part of Phantom Lord and they had practically declared war on Fairy Tail. Rain had constantly fallen all around her, no matter where she went. Everyone one who spent even a little time around her would always complain and comment about how gloomy and depressing it was and she had just learned to accept it and deal with it. It left her all alone for the majority of her life, it had got her dumped from countless relationships. It made so many activities that couples did together completely undesirable. Juvia had never experienced a real picnic, or spent a warm summer's afternoon on a beach. Even Gray had complained about it the first time that the two of them met. But the ice mage managed to do something that no one else had ever done. He took the rain away and with it, he took all the sorrow and years of pain from her life. Better than that, he had replaced it with warmth and happiness.
This was the first date that Juvia had been on for quite a while, so she wanted it to go well. But this was also a date with Gray so it needed to go better than well. It had to be absolutely perfect. For a date with this ice mage, only the best restaurant in town would suffice. The Golden Rose. The place had never once received a bad review from any customer or critic who had eaten there, perfect for tonight's dinner. She figured that the earlier she called the easier it would be for ehr to get a table reserved for the two of them for 9:00 that night so that was high up on her list of priorities that morning, coming right after breakfast, a shower and brushing her teeth, the usual stuff that she did every morning.
It was about half past nine when the bluenette dialed the number for the restaurant. As the phone rang, she prayed that they would have a table free for tonight, almost forgetting to speak when someone at the restaurant picked up the phone and greeted her. The call was short and polite and when she hung up, Juvia thanked each and every one of her lucky stars that she had managed to get a table booked for that night. Now the biggest priority of the water mage's day was passing the news on to her date for the evening. She quickly threw on her usual outfit and got ready to head for the guild.
She pushed open the large, heavy wooden doors leading into the main hall of the guild and scanned the room. The bluenette walked hastily over to the bar where the raven haired ice mage was sat enjoying his morning drink.
"Gray-sama, Juvia managed to book a table for tonight".
"When and where?" His voice was low and he didn't even turn his head to look at her as he spoke.
"9:00 at the Golden Rose". Gray took his eyes off his drink and looked at Juvia when he heard the name of the place.
"The Golden Rose?" She nodded in response. "Juvia, that's going to cost a small fortune". She simply shrugged her shoulders.
"Juvia knows, but it's worth it".
"I don't suppose that there's any chance I can talk you into pickign some place that's a little cheaper?"
"Nope". He sighed. One of the things he had learned about Juvia is that when she made up her mind about something, it was set in stone. That and she would stop at absolutely nothing to try and please him or win his affection.
"Ok, I guess I'll see you there then". The water mage filled the rest of her day with small and unimportant activities to waste as much of the day as possible and to try and make it seem like it was going faster. Quite unsuccessfully though. But the idea of being on a dinner date with her Gray-sama managed to put a spring in her step.
By the time 7:30 came, Juvia decided that she just couldn't wait any longer. She had waited nearly a whole day for this and she was tireed of it. She wanted to go and see him now. She was already wearing a dark blue dress with a low cut neck line and straps rather than sleeves that reached down to her knees and high heels of the same colour and she couldn't think of any other way to kill some time. She had done everything she needed to do, even the chores that were so far down on her list of things to do that they almost weren't on it at all. She sat on her sofa and tried to pass some time by getting herself lost in one of her notorious fantasies of what could transpire this evening, but to no avail. She had never tried to force herself into a fantasy before, they always seemed to just come to her but this one wouldn't, leaving her with absolutely nothing to do. The water mage decided that the only thing she could do was have a slow walk down to go and see Gray before meeting him before the two of them were at the restaurant. She knew exactly where he lived and it wasn't too far from her house or from the place where they were going, she could probably get there in about 15 minutes but she figured that she could probably stretch it into a 25 minute walk if she tried.
Juvia knocked on the wooden door of Gray's home and waited. The two seconds it took for him to answer his door felt like two life times to the anxious bluenette. He opened his front door, revealing him stood in the doorway shirtless and in a pair of recently ironed black trousers.
"I'm not late am I?" he asked curiously, making Juvia shake her head to say no.
"Juvia just got ready early and couldn't wait any longer".
"Right... Well I'll be ready soon so I guess you can wait inside if you want". Juvia's cheeks turned rose as she blushed. She had just been invited into his home. She had followed him back many times without him realising but she had never even seen the inside of his home and now he was inviting her to actually coem inside. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be ready soon". True to his word, a few minutes later the ice mage emerged in a white shirt, black tie, black trousers and a pair of black shoes, a look much more formal than anything what he usually wore. "You ready?" Juvia nodded and was then quickly escorted out by Gray as the two of them headed out for the night.