Author's Note: Thank you for the initial feedback! I'm glad you guys liked the idea, I'm excited about this series too! AHH, finally found some motivation to write some Gruvia, so here you have it: part 2, Gray's first strike of revenge. Hope you enjoy ^.^
ii.
Three hours.
Three friggin' agonisingly long, boring hours that Juvia had been asleep for.
Gray sat by the window, his elbow propped up on the ledge as he stared out at their garden with glassy eyes that didn't see anything beyond the rain that was pouring down in heavy sheets.
He yawned.
Four whole days he'd waited for Juvia to take a nap, just so he could carry out his revenge, and now that she'd finally fallen asleep on the couch and he'd done what he needed to do, she wasn't waking up.
Sighing, he let his forehead slump against the glass, vision blurred by locks of hair and the dewy mist of rain.
At this rate, he'd fall asleep before she woke up.
"Gray-sama?"
Gray sat up abruptly, jerking his head over to the couch where Juvia was now awake, stretching, arms high up above her head to shake off the last remnants of sleep. Her voice was tired, drowsy, yet the sound of his name on her lips had never sounded better to him.
"Finally up, huh?" Gray said, smiling lazily at her. "You were knocked out for a good couple of hours there, Juvia."
"Eh? Juvia was asleep for that long?"
He watched as her fingers combed through her hair, brushing back messy curls to reveal sleepy blue eyes, pink cheeks and what Gray had been looking forward to most: a spectacular amount of black facial hair that even Elfman would have no problem identifying as manly.
"Yeah." Gray bit back the urge to laugh. "Long enough for me to get bored."
It had been a long time since he'd drawn on someone's face while they were snoozing away.
So many times, Natsu had woken up with a face full of scribbles because of him — 128 times to be exact; not that they kept score or anything — but still, it had been so long, that Gray had forgotten how funny it was, and seeing Juvia of all people with his doodles all over her just made it that much more hilarious.
"Hey, Juvia?"
"Yes, Gray-sama?"
Smirking to himself, Gray pulled the black marker out from his pocket and twirled it back and forth between his hands. "Gotta say, you look good today."
"Hah?" Juvia blinked at him, flushing crimson. "J-Juvia?"
"And the beard's a nice touch on you," he added, innocently tapping his chin.
That caught her attention.
"Beard…?" Juvia tilted her head to the side, brow furrowed. "But Juvia doesn't—"
Gray cleared his throat loudly, drawing her to the marker spinning between his fingers. "You sure about that, Juvia?"
When her gaze met his, he smiled, lips curling upwards in a playful smirk—and when her eyes fell to the item in his hands, only to narrow at the sight, he smiled even wider.
Pranking Juvia was new to him—new, enjoyable and just too easy.
"Gray-sama…what did you do?" she asked, eyeing the marker warily.
She didn't need to wait for a spoken answer because Gray laughing was all the reply she needed.
Jumping up off the couch, Juvia hurried towards the bathroom, flinging the door open and rushing inside, only to see her reflection in the mirror and have her suspicions confirmed—he had drawn all over her.
"Gray-sama! What have you done to Juvia's face?"
"What? Don't you like it?" Gray teased, surveying her reflection from the doorway.
She exceeded peach fuzz, and this masterpiece of his was years past a teenage kid going through puberty. He had taken the liberty to go all out, giving her a healthy sized beard and a thick, black moustache that would put even the Celestial Spirit King to shame.
"It won't come off!" Juvia cried, desperately splashing water on her face and wiping her cheeks.
"Yeah, it's not supposed to."
"What?!"
Gray shrugged as though the answer was obvious. "I used a waterproof marker."
"Waterproof?" Juvia's eyes widened in horror. "But Juvia's body is water itself!"
"That's the point," he said with a roll of his eyes. "It's no big deal. It'll wash off over the next few days."
"Then Juvia is to look this hideous for the next few days?"
"You don't look…that bad," Gray said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
And that was when Juvia turned on him—arms folded, eyes questioning, beard dripping wet in all its glory.
"Gray-sama thinks Juvia looks good?" She gave him a pointed stare.
"Err, yeah," he lied.
"Gray-sama…" Juvia shook her head, smiling a smile she couldn't quite suppress. "You are terrible at lying to Juvia."
He grinned at her. "Not so terrible when it comes to taking revenge though, huh?"
"Juvia still wishes you had let her take a photo that day," she huffed. "The braids looked so sweet!"
"Sweet?"
He scowled at the memory. One of the hair ties had gotten stuck in his hair, and in the end, scissors became involved — it was either that or him ripping his hair out in frustration.
Thankfully, he'd needed a haircut anyway.
"Yes!" Juvia said, reaching up to tug on a lock of his hair fondly. "So sweet."
"Not gettin' into this again, Juvia…"
"Gray-sama…"
"Though now that you mention it, where's that camera?" he asked, putting his hands on her shoulders and spinning her around so that they were both turned towards the mirror—Gray with a smug smile on his face, Juvia frowning at the sight of her beard again. "Because I figure this one definitely needs to go in the album."
Juvia glanced away, folding her arms and shrugging nonchalantly. "It seems Juvia misplaced the camera somehow."
"Like hell you did," Gray scoffed, knowing just how organised she was. For Mavis' sake, this girl even colour-coded her hats and they were all the same friggin' colour.
Smirk on his face, Gray shoved her shoulder gently with his own. "You know you're even worse when it comes to lying, right?"
Nudging him back, she smiled. "Juvia knows."
"That so?" Gray went on, voice teasing. "Then I suppose you also know that it's your turn to get me back for drawing on your face?"
She smiled a little wider. "Juvia knows that too."
ii. drawing on her face whilst she sleeps