~Because the morning after isn't always full of warm embraces and smiles. Sometimes it's cold and empty, just like the other side of the bed.~
Day 6 – Light
She awoke in the morning gradually, slivers of light peeking through her blinds and laying across her bedsheets like little golden puddles. One in particular had awoken her, peering through at just the right angle to shine in her eyes. She rolled her head to the side to avoid it, and a smile suddenly played at her lips.
Juvia had awoken in her bed in the same position, with the same sheets, same blinds, and the same little sliver of light that blinded her every morning since she'd moved into Fairy Hills, but today seemed… brighter. Even more so as the memories of the past night flooded back to her. It'd been the most magical night of her life.
She'd thought that perhaps her feelings of getting closer with Gray had only been conjured by her own hopes. Every day it seemed they were a little more comfortable around one another. Every day it seemed as if his eyes were softer when he looked at her and he stayed a little closer to her when they stood together. Every day it seemed to her as if perhaps this very odd relationship they had, this very one-sided relationship, was beginning to become not so odd, and most certainly no longer one-sided. Of course, she'd thought that in the past as well, only to have her hopes dashed, and so she'd tried not to read into it. Tried to turn off her "Juvia vision" in which Gray was a perfect soul and was going to, inevitably, fall in love with her one way or another. But still… it'd seemed to her as if they were acting more like a real couple.
Maybe it was because they went on more jobs together, alone. Or maybe it was because he'd shoulder his way in between her and certain other males when they were a little too close. Or maybe it was because he no longer avoided her looks, her holding hands, her blatant adoration… and in fact, sometimes gave her back some of his own.
She'd hoped she wasn't imagining things, and the past night had finally been proof that she hadn't.
Her hand grabbed the covers, her heart beating a little fast as visions of the past night came back to her. It was all a blur; she honestly wasn't entirely sure how it'd even started –it'd been so sudden and such a surprise, after all.
One moment her head was in the clouds because he'd leaned in close, resting his nose against her neck, his breath warm on her throat. And the next her feet couldn't feel the ground and he was asking for her apartment's key and he was all she could see and smell and feel and everything else melted away.
It was a haze of surprised ecstasy and fantasies coming true. She'd dreamed of having him as close as he'd been the past night, looking as sultry as he always did with his dark eyes, but this time they were full of emotion. Filled with the same love and need that she'd looked at him with since they'd first met.
It was a mess of his touches and things that felt like heaven, which were honestly the same thing as far as she was concerned. His hand entangled in her hair, the way he hesitated, mouth open and panting before finally kissing her, the way he'd moved so smoothly that she hadn't noticed they'd made it to her bed.
His hands had been everywhere, and his lips had been all she'd ever wanted. She'd had to work to keep herself aware enough to try and administer some of the immense care he was giving her, back to him.
The way he brushed away their clothing with ease and the way he'd run his hands up and down her sides, stopping on her hips and gripping them tightly. The way he'd settled between her thighs and the way that he groaned her name in her ear. He'd been practiced, experienced, and she only had a moment to ponder the pang of jealousy she had that went along with that knowledge, before he'd moved his fingers over her stomach and she was pulled back into his little world of ecstasy,
They'd been connected in the most intimate way possible the past night, a way she'd only fantasized about, and it had been even better than her wildest dreams.
She bit her lip to keep from grinning. The afterglow had been wonderful, and she swore she was still on a high from it even now, in the morning, hours later. She stared at her blinds again, the light shifting as a cloud drifted over the sun, then drifted away again. He'd been in her home, her room, her bed… Her breath hitched as she remembered she wasn't alone. She was so used to waking up alone that the realization that he'd be in her bed, on the other side, sleeping, made her stomach flutter in excitement.
She wanted to see his face… See if he looked as peaceful and content as she felt.
Juvia rolled to the side, back toward the middle of the bed and looked over her shoulder at the rumpled covers of his side. And her heart dropped to her stomach.
Where she'd expected to see him, stretched out on the other side, she was met with an empty mattress. The sheets were bunched up and turned over, most likely left that way after he got up. His clothes weren't on the floor and her door had been left open a crack. Her room was silent. Everything felt cold.
And not the pleasant cold that accompanied him and his magic.
She stared at his empty side of the bed, her chest feeling rather tight and her thoughts reeling as she tried to make sense of it.
He'd left. She told herself not to jump to conclusions. Maybe he'd had something he needed to do. Or maybe someone had called him and he'd had to leave… She wracked her brain for something that he'd said that would've hinted at this. It was a weekend, and they'd just returned from a rather high-paying job two days prior. He wouldn't be out working, he didn't need the money and it was a day that most mages, including Gray, typically took off.
Which meant that it was highly unlikely that someone had called him out to do something, or get something, either. Had someone else in Fairy Hills overheard their activities the past night, she knew they wouldn't be disturbed, either out of courtesy or embarrassment, and even the owner of the building wouldn't kick him out, even though it was technically an only-female building.
He wasn't the type to go out and get breakfast and he didn't have anything at his own apartment that would need immediate care. He didn't have pets or plants or anything he took care of, after all.
And as the realization that perhaps he'd left because of another reason dawned upon her, her doubts and fears creeping up and eating away at her happy thoughts, her glowing morning shattered.
There she'd been so sure that she hadn't been imagining things. That yes, Gray Fullbuster had warmed up to her and no, she wasn't crazy and they were starting to get closer. Beyond closer. And she'd been dead wrong.
Maybe she'd caught him in a moment of weakness or maybe he'd taken advantage of her constantly weakened state when he was around. Maybe he'd been humoring her by murmuring her name so passionately and maybe he'd been second-guessing it the entire time. Maybe she was just a fool to think that she would ever be his first and ultimate choice when in fact she was just the closest and easiest choice around. And maybe he'd left because he didn't want to tell her that it hadn't meant anything to him, or maybe he'd left because it was what he'd planned all along.
And what she was sure of was that the voices of her friends that'd told her to give up on him, and that he wasn't worth it and that she was wasting her time, were right. Because they'd only been afraid she would get hurt in the end, and in the end, she had.
The light of the beautiful morning splayed across her bedsheets didn't seem so warm and welcoming anymore. Everything began to look a little blurry and her hand clenched onto the sheets now to try and steady her wildly spiraling emotions. She bit her lip this time to keep the lump down in her throat instead of trying to suppress a smile.
That was when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye as she stared down at the slices of sunlight on her comforter, her heart feeling as if it would crack.
The door was silent as it slowly opened, and her eyes fluttered and her heart shot back up to her throat as she saw him standing there, moving carefully so as not to make a sound, with two mugs of some sort of steaming liquid held precariously in one hand.
He looked surprised as he caught her eyes and noticed she was awake. "Oh, hey," he said, a smile twitching at his lip but dying quickly. Perhaps he was too used to trying to look like he didn't care. "Guess I didn't need to be so quiet, if you were already up." He lost his fight with the smile as his eyes trailed from her eyes down the length of her body underneath the sheets, and back up to meet her gaze.
She had no words for him, and her brain was far too muddled to begin to make sense of what was happening. She'd been so dead sure he was gone that seeing him now… She couldn't think straight. Not to mention he was most definitely naked and it was a little distracting to say the least. Somehow she managed a small hum of recognition. She sat up slowly, holding the covers steadfast around her which didn't seem to please him.
He didn't voice his opposition, though, instead padding over to the bed and sitting down next to her, on his side. He handed her one of the mugs. "You drink tea, right? With honey?" Her eyes flicked to his cup to find a deep brown substance, most likely coffee. She'd never been a coffee fan, rather opting for tea even when everyone else swore by it in the mornings.
"A-Ah, yeah," she said quietly. She'd been surprised he'd remembered. Or rather, surprised he even knew. She couldn't remember ever telling him that she preferred tea… or honey as opposed to sugar to sweeten it.
He nodded, looking rather satisfied with himself before taking a sip of his own. "I would'a cooked something, but I don't think you probably would've been too happy waking up to a smoke alarm…" He smirked. "So I opted for a drink instead." He raised his glass.
She stared at him, uncomprehending. "W-Why would Gray-sama have… cooked something…?"
His eyebrows pinched together and he leaned back on the pillow. "Because I wanted to make us breakfast…" He made it sound like the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh," was all she could manage. Something about her cluttered thoughts, the emotional rollercoaster ride she'd been on, and knowing how not normal it would be that Gray would want to cook something for someone else, made everything feel as if it were utterly confusing. She took a sip of the tea. It was a bit too sweet, but in knowing he'd made it, it was quite possibly the best cup of tea she'd ever had.
"Is it that bad?" he asked, looking half amused and half defeated. She knew her face probably mirrored her confusion or perhaps made her look distracted which would be easily mistaken for distaste in the drink.
"O-Oh, no! It's delicious!" She took another long gulp to accentuate her point.
She could feel his frown. "You… okay?"
Her smile from earlier on in the morning seemed to be back and she had to fight to keep it under control. "Mm, Juvia's fine." She looked back at him, leisurely sipping his coffee while leaning back on the headboard of the bed, watching her intently. "Thank you… for the tea." She raised her own glass.
He nodded. "Anytime." He leaned forward slightly and placed a light kiss on her shoulder, which it appeared he'd embarrassed himself doing as he quickly sat back and busied himself with his coffee again.
And suddenly the slivers of light looked golden and bright again. Her bed felt warm and her heart felt bubbly and all the insecurities and heartbreak she'd felt a moment ago seemed miles away, instead replaced yet again by wispy, happy, memories of the past night.
Only accentuated by the fleeting thought that yes, she had been right: they were as close as she'd believed them to be and her undying faith in him, despite wavering at times, had always been spot on.
Kind of a random one. Not really sure where it came from or what I think of it, haha! ;D
I feel like while Juvia is one thousand percent sure that Gray will love her back, she's also incredibly insecure and worried about it on the inside, especially after they become more of a "couple". Maybe that's just me, though. ;D
Welp, just one left! I hope you enjoyed this and I'd love to hear what you thought of it! :D
~Foxtail-chan