Gray didn't know when he first fell for Juvia, but he had a sneaking suspicion of the incident that made his feelings hit him square in the face.

413.

It had been the anniversary of Ur's death, which was always a sore day for him. But it just so happened to share the same date as the '413 day anniversary' Juvia had conjured up. He'd been completely rude to her, brushing off the scarf she'd put work into like it was a piece of trash.

But when he had been digging through the snow, in search of that same scarf, which turned out to be pretty damn warm, it had hit him. Juvia wasn't an annoyance. She wasn't just another guild member. And her love that she harbored for him wasn't just some silly crush that only came to be because of his looks. He still didn't understand why the girl was so madly in love with him, but he understood fully that he shared the same feelings towards her.

Gray had just been in denial.

And he knew why - it seemed that anybody who got close to him ended up dying.

So, he held off. He kept acting the same towards Juvia, shoving off her advances with nothing but an indifferent shrug.

It wasn't until after the whole incident with Tartarus that Gray realized that even if she didn't grow close to him, she could still very well die. But the difference was that she would be dead, and he would never be able to confess his feelings to her, no matter how badly he wanted to.

It took him nearly two months to build up the courage to finally confess to the bluenette, and when he did, his heart was pounding. They had gone on a mission that took them through Mt. Hakobe, to the Waas Forest. While Gray had been just fine and dandy with the cold weather, Juvia was not.

She had been freezing, her cheeks flushed a deep red and her body shivering non-stop. They had barely advanced up the foot of the mountain when Gray stopped them, reaching into his bag for something.

It was a scarf.

Specifically, the scarf Juvia had made for him, however long ago.

The water mage gasped, watching Gray closely. She hadn't thought that he had gone back for the scarf. She'd just figured that perhaps somebody else grabbed it off the street, hoping it would keep them warm. Her blue eyes widened in shock, but a small smile crept up on her lips.

"Gray-sama?" she asked, walking one step closer to him

He glanced to the side, before opening his mouth to speak. "Listen, Juvia… Over the past couple months, I realized something. It's not that I don't like you or anything, so sorry if I made you think so… It just seems like whenever somebody gets close to me, they die. So, I guess I was in denial because of that. I don't want anything happening to you, so, I guess it made me suppress my feelings or something." Gray held the scarf out to Juvia, watching from the corner of his eye for a reaction. She seemed torn up, and he could understand why. To anybody, it could look like he was denying her.

"I really like you, Juvia," he confessed, after a moment of silence. The only noise after was the loud howl of the wind. Juvia was frozen - her mouth was parted in an 'o' shape, and her eyes had widened to a size he hadn't thought possible. "Juvia…?

"Gray-sama…" Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes, causing Gray to internally panic. Was she about to reject him? Had something happened that made her realize that maybe she wasn't in love with him? "J-Juvia… is so happy!" she cried out, wrapping her arms around Gray's neck. Almost instantly, his heartbeat slowed to its normal pace.

He leaned down slightly, pulling Juvia into a hug. She responded quickly, by not only hugging him back, but stepping up onto the tips of her toes to place a soft kiss on his lips.

"Juvia loves Gray-sama," she whispered, pulling away to stare at him, hoping that this whole encounter wasn't a dream, and it would all end up being real.

"And Gray-sama loves Juvia," he teased, draping the scarf around her neck.

Thank Mavis for that scarf, he thought, as the snow crunched under two pairs of boots while the two walked further up the mountain.

A/N: And it's over :( I had a ton of fun with this, since Gruvia is my OTP. But that doesn't mean that my writing is over. In fact, it's only just beginning c: I may do the bonus days, I may not. It depends. But I give a ton of props to the people who organized this. The idea itself was wonderful, along with the prompts and the organization. :) Hope you enjoyed.