Sorry, things got a little hectic yesterday and I couldn't catch up with you guys. But, here, have this chapter!

Just a forewarning though: this chapter is gruvia-centered (giving you a little interlude) and slightly nsfw. If you're uncomfortable with either of these things, please feel free to skip this chapter. Although I would recommend reading the last bit for some important info...

chapter 13: wet line

definition:

A line of water, or water and chemical retardant, sprayed along the ground, that serves as a temporary control line from which to ignite or stop a low-intensity fire.

Gray tossed his head back into his pillow with a rough shout, his fingers digging into creamy flesh, and a small cry echoed his own not long after. Slowly, the raucous drum beat of his heart began to calm and his feverish blood cooled, his hazy vision clearing. He looked down his body at the magnificent woman sitting astride his hips and nearly swallowed his tongue.

Her tousled blue hair fell over her shoulders and her generous chest in soft waves, pale skin gleaming with sweat, and foggy ocean eyes blinked down at him.

After nearly six months of waking up to this, Detective Gray Fullbuster was nearly sure that Juvia Lockser was a goddess.

Or maybe a vixen, he internally amended when her plump lips tipped up into a coy smile that he knew meant trouble. Juvia, her hands having been braced behind her on his thighs, brought them around to slide up his chest.

"Is my Gray tired after just one round?" she murmured, voice husky.

Gray swallowed, his hands clenching on her hips. "Hey," he grumped, "men can't just keep going like you guys. We need a little break." His thumbs smoothed circles over her skin, delighting in the silky feel of it. "'Sides, it's about time we got up and did something productive or whatever."

Juvia's grin dipped down at the corners, and Gray had a split second of realization before she ground her hips into his. She leaned down, crushing her breasts into his chest, and purred against his jawline, "Is Gray absolutely sure?"

Despite having reached his peak just moments before, his gut tightened and a strangled moan tore from his mouth. She rocked her body so sweetly against his, her soft mouth moving against his jaw and his throat, and her hair tickling his sides. Her wet tongue snuck out to taste the glaze of his sweat and he almost made the most pitiful noise in the back of his throat.

Juvia was going to kill him one of these days.

"I'm…sure," he managed to grind out, stilling her hips with his palms. And nearly weeping at the loss of sensation.

He couldn't think of anything better than staying in bed all day, being tangled up in the dark sheets and long legs of this woman who had wrapped her slim fingers around his heart. He could lose himself in her welcoming body and sweet eyes.

Juvia sat back up with a pout, her cheeks rounding. Blue eyes, as deep as the sea, narrowed at him.

The look was admittedly adorable, but Gray only turned his face to the side. "Hey, it's not my fault that you have the libido of a rabbit," he said, and chuckled at the flush that dusted across her pale chest and face.

"Juvia does not!" she argued and reached down to tweak his nipple.

"Fuck." He lunged upwards at the twinge of slight pain, knocking Juvia off balance and sending her tumbling into the pile of pillows and sheets around them.

Her giggling shriek filled him with a warmth that he hadn't known for most of his life. He'd felt so cold and dead inside for so many years that, until he'd met Juvia, he hadn't known it was possible to feel this way. For whatever reason, she had been the first to thaw his heart–not even Lucy had been able to do so.

And, as Gray discovered, it was…nice to be able to feel again.

Juvia's blue head flew up, hair flinging around her face as she mock-scowled at him. "Gray, that wasn't very nice. Juvia could have gotten a boo-boo," she murmured, doe eyes blinking at him.

"I'd have kissed it better," he promised her, a slow grin spreading on his face.

Her ridiculousness had once annoyed him, driven him insane actually. But now…he found it endearing. She was quirky and funny, and her smile chased away his bad dreams and the cloudy skies.

To him, she was more than a woman.

She was his sun, his moon, and his stars.

And she was sitting naked in a mountain of fluffy blankets and pillows, their dark color clashing with her pale skin. She seemed to glow as she sat there, unaware of her perfection, her toothy smile making something twist in his heart.

He hadn't meant to, but he'd fallen in love with her sometime during those six months.

And once Gray Fullbuster knew love, there was no going back.

Christ, he was a sap, he thought with a roll of his dark eyes. Scooting to the edge of the bed, he reached over and gave her round ass a gentle slap. "Let's get something to eat, I'm fucking starving," he rumbled.

"Mm, Juvia is too…" Juvia clambered off his bed, her feet tangling in the comforter.

After she kicked off the sheets, she arched her back in a stretch, a yawn overtaking her perfect mouth, and Gray could only stare. She was goddamn beautiful; full breasts, round hips, pert ass, and supple skin that was as refined as glass. But the truly tragic thing was that she genuinely didn't seem to understand the depths of her beauty–in fact, she underplayed it far too often.

Yawning again, Juvia ran her fingers through her tousled hair before bending over–giving him a perfect view of her biteable ass–and scooping up the shirt he'd discarded the night before. She shook it out before pulling it on and doing a handful of the lower buttons.

Her mind-boggling cleavage was bare to his sight, but, unfortunately, he noticed that the tail-ends of the shirt hid the teeth marks he'd left on her right buttcheek.

He'd have to leave a mark somewhere else, he thought as he stood up.

Gray clothed himself in a pair of generic sweat pants–he'd owned fifty of the same color and brand because he always seemed to lose his clothes somehow–and headed out to his kitchenette.

"I'm making waffles," he said over his shoulder, knotting the ties at his waist. "You want some, Juvia?"

"Oh, yes, Juvia would love waffles. Juvia's just making the bed," she called back.

Ah, yes, Juvia always made the bed in the morning. In their time together, he had noticed that she had this insatiable need to be clean and organized…and over prepared. Thus the bed was made every morning, and his once filthy apartment was now immaculate. Even his laundry, which tended to be strewn all over the place, was picked up and placed where it belonged–the laundry room.

And at first, he'd been offput by her cleaning. She was his girlfriend, not his maid.

But, she'd assured him many a time that she didn't mind looking after him. She even sort of liked it, or so she claimed. Which was why he tolerated the embarrassingly sweet boxed lunches she made for him and let her fuss over his attire every morning before work.

As he mixed the flour and eggs in a bowl, Gray heard Juvia's wondering, "Gray, what's this box under the bed?"

His hands stilled, spine going stiff. "What box?"

But, there was only one box under his bed, and in it…

Gray abandoned the task of cooking, his utensils clattering as they fell into the sink, and dashed to his bedroom. "Juvia, don't - " he started, but when he stumbled into the doorway, Juvia was already kneeling on the floor by the bed.

His black button down shirt made her voluptuous thighs look amazing, but that didn't distract from the tattered shoebox in her lap. Its top lay discarded on the floor, and Juvia's pale hand lifted out something equally tattered and old.

"A…scarf?" she murmured, perplexed.

The thing in her hands could barely be recognized as a scarf now. Its ends were frayed, the color rusty with dirt and grime, and there were little tears in the fabric. And though Gray hadn't seen it for many years, his heart still stuttered at the sight of it.

"Why is there a scarf under Gray's bed?" Juvia pinned him with a perplexed look as she ran her thumbs along the dirty thing.

Rather than answer her, he stalked over to Juvia and all but snatched it from her hands. Putting the scarf back in the shoebox and closing it, he shoved it back under the bed where it belonged.

"Why were you looking underneath the bed?" he muttered.

Sensing the accusatory note to his voice, Juvia straightened her back and frowned. "Gray's underwear was missing and Juvia found it on top of the shoebox," she explained, almost defensively, as she pointed to his crumpled boxers on the floor next to the night stand.

Juvia stood up and took the boxers, handing them to him, and the hurt in her eyes was unmistakable.

Jesus, Gray thought as his thumbs rubbed into the silky material, he was such a dick.

"Hey," he said as Juvia returned to straightening things around the room with her back to him, "I wasn't accusing you, okay? I just… That thing brings back bad memories."

Juvia's blue head bobbed, her hands fluffing the pillows against the headboard. "But why is it in a shoebox underneath Gray's bed like some sort of secret? Gray is always so distant when Juvia asks about the past…" she whispered.

She'd asked about his past before a couple times. And each time, he'd shut her down cold without an explanation.

He'd thought that because of the cheery way she'd handled the rejections, that it hadn't fazed her. But…it seemed as though it had and he just hadn't noticed.

Gray Fullbuster, prodigy detective in crime…and yet he couldn't deduce what was in the heart of his own woman.

How pathetic was that?

When he stayed silent, Juvia rounded on him, blue eyes fiery. "Why doesn't Gray ever share with Juvia?" she demanded. "Juvia is tired of being kept in the dark. Gray knows everything about Juvia, but Juvia knows…next to nothing in return! It feels like a one-sided relationship…" Her usually calm voice almost broke, her bottom lip wobbling as her anger fizzled.

Gray was struck at the sight.

He'd…driven her to this without even realizing. What kind of second-rate, horse-shit man did that?

This, he told himself, was why all his previous relationships had failed miserably.

"And more than that, Gray doesn't want other people to know that Juvia is his girlfriend," Juvia babbled on, dark blue eyes turning watery and her button nose wrinkling. "For six months, Gray has kept Juvia a secret from colleagues and friends. Is Gray…ashamed of Juvia?" Her voice broke, tears threatening to spill over, and Gray felt like he'd been run through with a hot iron.

She thought he was ashamed of her.

His throat tightening, Gray rasped, "Jesus, no. Of course not. I just…"

The truth was, he was a selfish bastard. Once word got out that he had a long-term, stable girlfriend, their lives would be put in the spotlight. And not just at the precinct. Once that happened, he would have less time with her–just her.

…He didn't want that.

But it was bound to happen at some point, especially now that Lucy had Juvia's name.

"I just want to savor what we have, that's all. If people know about us, then they'll start sticking their noses into our personal lives and that drives me batshit crazy, babe…" he rambled, and felt as though he were just making excuses for his terrible behavior. "I just want some more time to ourselves. Just us, you know?"

His insecurities and selfishness, however, were no excuse for causing Juvia pain.

She sniffled, rubbing underneath her nose before tucking a gorgeous lock of blue hair behind her ear. "Gray really…treasures Juvia that much?"

"Of course," he said, stroking his palm across her cheek.

And he could only hope she understood his sincerity.

He sucked at conveying feelings with words, much to Lucy's amusement.

His girlfriend smiled for the briefest moment, small and fleeting. "Then, why won't Gray talk about the past with Juvia? Does Gray not trust Juvia?" she murmured, eyes widening at the prospect.

"No, no," he hastily assured her, cupping her elbows in his palms. "No, Juvia, that's not it either, I promise."

Gray wanted to punch himself in the kidney; she was probably the person he trusted the most in this world next to Lucy. Juvia even knew more about him than his blonde partner and honorary sister did–and that was saying something.

Sighing, Gray slid his hands down Juvia's forearms and dropped his forehead to the slope of her shoulder. "Talking about the past is…painful for me," he breathed, taking in the scent of rain.

But even her soothing scent couldn't quell the vision of flames and the flash of heat that he saw behind his closed eyes and felt underneath his skin. Even now, so many years later, he began to sweat at the memory he so badly wanted to forget…but couldn't.

Not ever.

Yes, he knew next to everything about Juvia–she'd been all too happy to share her tragic past with him. The fact that she trusted him with her dark secrets and innermost scars still astounded him. The relief on her face after she'd told him everything, laid all the cards on the table, made him wonder…if he'd feel the same way.

After six months, after falling in love with her…who else would he trust more than Juvia? The woman who made him stupid cookies with their faces on them, defended him ruthlessly from other spying women, and held him in the middle of the night when he came awake with silent screams and sweaty with old terrors.

She was his…everything. So it was about time that she knew everything.

"But…" Gray said slowly, guiding the both of them towards the freshly-made bed, "I think it's time I shared this with someone. It might…help."

They sat down on the bed together, his jaw bunching as the flashbacks threatened to consume him. Just when he thought they would be too much to handle, gentle hands framed his face, cool to his hot, and Juvia's smile chased everything away.

Sunshine.

She was sunshine and the sea, the scent of rain in her hair and the stars in her eyes.

"It's okay," Juvia whispered. "Gray can talk about this another time."

"No." One gruff hand reached up and brought hers down to his lap, where he squeezed it. Her touch was his anchor in the raging storm of bitter memories. "It's about time that I told you the story of little Gray Fullbuster, and the boy next door with the scarf…"

Hope you liked that little peak into Gray's (AKA Frostbite's) head! I enjoyed writing this chapter immensely... Stay tuned!

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