Darkness, that's all Gray saw. His head pounded as small rays of light started to appear in his vision. He groaned as his eyes slowly opened. He was in a small cabin with potions all around him. Porlyusica had her back turned to him and Juvia was sitting beside him, holding his hand tightly.
His heart started pounding as he gripped Juvia's hand tighter. Gray wasn't sure what it was but it felt like something was pulling him towards Juvia, like he couldn't live without her. "Juvia?" He asks, his voice barely a whisper.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia exclaims, jumping up. "Juvia is so glad Gray's awake!"
"Not so loud," he hisses, sitting up.
"Juvia is sorry."
Gray turns to Juvia and smiles softly, "Juvia, I'm so happy to see you."
"Gray-sama is happy to see Juvia?" She asks, surprised.
"Of course! Come on, let's go to my place," Gray says, standing up.
"Gray's place? Shouldn't Gray and Juvia go to the guild? I'm sure everyone is worried about Gray-sama."
"It'll be ok," Gray says, walking out the door.
Juvia frowned but followed him out, "Gray-sama can go home but Juvia really wants to let the guild know you're ok." Normally, Juvia would jump at a chance to go to Gray's home but something felt off to Juvia. Gray-sama wasn't acting like his normal self.
Gray stopped and turned around, his eyes, instead of being his normal dark blue, were now a dark stormy purple, "come with me, now!" He growls.
Juvia frowned, "Gray-sama? Is Gray-sama ok? Gray-sama is scaring me."
Gray blinked, his eyes turning back to normal, "you're right, I'm sorry." Gray says, smiling softly. "I'm a little tired so why don't you go back to the guild and meet me at my place later tonight?"
Juvia nods, "Juvia likes that idea," she says, quickly walking past Gray. Juvia will see Gray-sama tonight!"
Gray walked out after her and made his way to his place. What happened back there? Why did he act that way? It felt like something had taken him over, like he was in the passenger seat of his life. He definitely didn't like that feeling, he especially didn't like the fact that it scared Juvia. He might not act like it, but he does like Juvia. He hummed softly to himself as he made his way to his house, shirtless.
Walking into his house, he looked around, frowning. "I need to clean up before Juvia comes over," he mutters, getting to work, cleaning an already spotless house.
Juvia walked into the guild and everyone turned towards her. "How's Gray?" Erza asks.
Gray-sama is fine, Gray-sama went to his house to rest."
"That's good," Erza says, "I'm also g;ad to see that you're ok though." She smiles.
"Juvia is also happy about this." Juvia sat down with some of the girls and made small talk for a little while. Juvia didn't mention what happened back at Porlyusica's place, she didn't know what it was herself and figured she could just talk to Gray about it later, plus with everything going on, she didn't want to burden the guild with her issues, she can fix it herself, right? After all, he isn't a dragon slayer so he shouldn't be affected by The Season…
Juvia waited a few hours before heading to Gray's place. She wanted to give him time to calm down before she saw him again, hopefully whatever happened earlier, won't happen again. She admired the scenery as she walked even though she saw this stuff almost every day. Juvia hummed softly to herself, a smile on her face. She was so excited that her Gray-sama wanted to see her, normally he ignored her.
Gray ran from the kitchen to other rooms of the house. He was in the middle of cooking Juvia's favorite dinner for her but was also trying to sweep and dust everywhere. He wanted to make sure everything was perfect when Juvia got there, although he kept his house pretty clean, he felt like it needed to be cleaner.
He was putting dinner on the table when he heard a knock on the door. He took one last look at the table and smiled to himself before opening the door, "hope you're hungry."
Juvia smiled, she was in fact hungry. She walked in, taking in her surroundings. In the living room, there was a bookshelf with a few books on it as well as a few trinkets from previous jobs and mini ice sculptures, a small gray couch, and a TV in the corner. Gray also had bigger ice sculptures around the room, some were of his friends and some were of people that Juvia didn't recognize. Juvia's eyes set on a specific sculpture, a sculpture of her! Gray-sama had a sculpture of her? This has got to be the best day of her life!
Juvia made her way to the kitchen where Gray was waiting at the table. "Thanks for coming," Gray smiles, "I made your favorite."
"Gray-sama knows Juvia's favorite dinner?" She asks in surprise.
"Of course," Gray smiles, taking a bite of his food. "I pay more attention than you think."
Juvia smiled at this, it made her happy to know that Gray paid attention to her. "What happened earlier?" She asks, quietly.
"About that," Gray says, putting down his fork, "I don't know what happened but I want to apologize it wasn't me, it couldn't have been. I would never do that to you, I care about you too much."
"Gray-sama cares about Juvia?" She asks, sounding more surprised than she meant too. Juvia smiled brightly and ate some more, Gray sure is a good cook.
"Of course I do!" Gray smiles softly. As the night went on, Gray started to change, little by little. It was such a slow change, he wasn't aware it was happening until it was too late. The two mages were nearing the end of their meal when Gray used his ice-make magic to create a lock made of ice on the door.
"Gray-sama?" Juvia asks, looking at him, "what are you doing?"
"Hm? Oh nothing, just eating," he smiles, his magic no longer working on the lock. To tell the truth, he didn't even know what he was doing, he certainly wasn't doing it on a conscious level. The devil slayer part of his brain was slowly working on a subconscious level, trying to take over completely. His mate was right in front of him! Of course his devil slayer side wanted control!
Juvia frowned but didn't say anything as she took her plate to the sink, running water over the dishes. If she had too, she could fight Gray off but that doesn't mean she wanted to. Gray also put his dishes in the sink and turned towards her, "wanna watch a movie?"
"Juvia would like that," she smiles, following Gray to his couch. Gray grabs the remote and turns on a random movie before cuddling up with Juvia on the couch. Gray had laid his head on Juvia's shoulder causing Juvia to blush. She definitely wasn't expecting this but she also didn't mind, it gave her butterflies in her stomach. The ice lock issue was long out of Juvia's mind, she'd forgotten all about it.
A few hours had gone by and Gray and Juvia had gone through multiple different movies and Juvia was getting tired. "Juvia is tired, Juvia is going to head home." She stands up and smiles, "thanks for inviting Juvia over."
"You aren't leaving," Gray says, narrowing his eyes.
"Why can't Juvia leave?" She frowns.
"I don't want you too," Gray says like it was obvious. Gray's eyes had turned a stormy purple again.
"Juvia and Gray-sama can see each other tomorrow."
"No," Gray says, "stay here with me tonight."
"Juvia wants to go home," she heads towards the door and reaches out for the handle. She turned the handle but the door wouldn't open. Juvia frowned, she had forgotten about the ice lock Gray had created while they ate dinner. She used her magic and put boiling water over the ice.
Gray's devil slayer side had completely taken over by now, Gray was no longer in control. "Juvia," he says, glaring. "Step away from the door."
Juvia turns towards Gray, "Juvia doesn't like when Gray-sama gets like this."
"I don't care," Gray says, walking towards Juvia, grabbing her wrist. "If you're tired, that's fine. We can go to bed."
"Gray-sama please," Juvia says, looking at him.
Gray's eyes turned back to normal but fear was still evident in his eyes, "Juvia, I don't know what's going on but you should run before I lose control again. Gray melts the ice lock off the door, "go to the guild, tell them what's going on, I'm sure they can figure something out." Juvia looked at Gray with sad eyes before walking out the door, shutting it behind her. All Juvia wanted to do is help Gray.
She walks towards the guild lost in thought, what's going on with Gray? Is it something Juvia did? Juvia didn't know but Juvia wished she did. Juvia didn't like how Gray's eyes changed to a dark purple. It reminded Juvia of when he uses his devil slayer magic…wait devil slayer could he be affected by The Season too? Everything started to make sense and Juvia sped up, knowing Juvia needed to get to the guild faster.
Juvia ran into the guild, panting. Erza and Mira immediately ran up to her, "Juvia, what's wrong?" Mira asks, concerned.
"Gray-sama," Juvia says, panting some more, "is acting weird."