Week long missions sucked.
For both parties. In this instance, Juvia was more than glad to be home after spending a week of dispelling territorial monsters from her and Gajeel's former home town of Oak Town. While Gray was, admittedly, getting pretty lonely without her around the house. Sure, before they'd decided to move in together, he'd been used to not having anybody any in the house, but now that he was used to having her around…
When Juvia pushed the door open, it was nearing noon. Which usually meant that Gray was still at home, rather than at the guild. Sure enough, a mere moment later, she saw him poking his head over the staircase balcony. He frowned instantly when he saw her - Juvia's eyes were drooping in fatigue, and she had dried blood splattered across her body in various places. Long story short, she looked worn out and tired. The bluenette smiled upon seeing her boyfriend, and trudged slowly up the stairs, leaving her boots at the door.
"How was the mission?" Gray asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching as she stumbled clumsily around the room, going from drawer to closet and back again.
"It was… more difficult than Juvia thought it would be. But Juvia and Gajeel were able to complete it eventually." She reported, grabbing a clean dress from her side of the closet. Gray frowned, before directing the girl into the bathroom that was connected to their room. Juvia stared at him, her head tilted slightly to the side.
"Gray…?" she questioned, watching the ice mage turn on the bathtub water. Steam quickly arose from the tub, and Juvia felt herself being mesmerized by it. He walked over to her, and took the hat from the top of her head, setting it on the counter.
"Get changed and get into the tub. I'll be back in a couple minutes." Juvia nodded, and began to unzip her dress. Gray closed the door behind him, and went straight to the dresser, grabbing his bathing suit from the top drawer.
When he went back into the bathroom, Juvia was already in the tub, bubbles covering almost every inch of her body. He bit his lip, a blush heating up his face ever so slightly. Despite the fact that he had been with Juvia for almost a year, and they had seen each other without clothes relatively…often… she still managed to affect him in so many ways…
"Gray…" The combination of hot water and steam was causing Juvia to fall asleep, her eyelids drooping, and then snapping over in a repeating motion. Gray sighed, rubbing his head, before easing his way into the tub on the opposite side of Juvia. Once he was fully settled in the warm water, Juvia slowly crawled over to him so that her head was resting against his shoulder. The two stayed like that for a while, until Gray felt Juvia's breathing slow, telling him that she was asleep. Carefully, so as not to accidentally dunk her underwater, he reached behind him for the shampoo, and began massaging it into her hair.
She stirred slightly, blinking up at Gray. He hadn't even noticed that she was awake. Slowly, she put her arms of either side of him, gripping the side of the tub, and reached up to plant a small kiss on his lips. He grinned, and hugged her closer to him, pressing his lips against her forehead.
"Juvia…"
The bluenette glanced up, before sinking her head lower into the water to wash the soap from her hair.
"…you tease," he muttered, glancing away from the spot where she had disappeared. She was practically clinging to him underwater, and he sighed.
"Juvia got hurt on the mission," she admitted, causing him to look back towards her sharply. "But now that she's home, Juvia is fine…"
"Juvia," he muttered, his eyes darting everywhere he could see on her body.
"Gajeel protected Juvia," she told him, her voice sharper than it had been. But then, her gaze softened. "Juvia is fine. She missed Gray."
"Dammit," Gray muttered, shaking his head. "Now I gotta thank metal-head."
Juvia laughed, leaning her head once more against Gray's chest. He raised a hand to her hair, and began to rub his thumb in a small, circular motion. The water mage sighed in content, and felt herself drifting off once again.
Gray shook his head, watching his girlfriend's slow descent into sleep. "How did I manage to be so lucky," he muttered, closing his eyes as well.
A/N: I'm a bit sad. Tomorrow's the last day, but I might do the bonus days if I feel up to it. I also have a Nalu one-shot I may post if I like it enough :p Hope you enjoyed c: