Five Times Gray Touched Juvia’s Head
A/N: i took inspo from those tiktoks of girls who have videoed their boyfriends doing the forehead touch thing in their sleep lol its very gray coded imo
Juvia sat beside Gray like she always does, hands folded neatly in her lap, trying very hard not to stare at her boyfriend.
They had been dating for a whole week! She could hardly believe it and made it her mission to take in every angle of him she could while she had the chance.
Gray was leaning back in his chair, one arm draped lazily over the bench behind her as he looked bored, while listening to whatever argument was happening between Natsu, Lucy and Erza across the room.
Then, without looking at her, his hand lifted and placed itself on her head. His fingers press lightly into her hair, like he wasn’t even thinking about it.
Juvia gasped at the sudden contact and he turned his head to look at her.
“Your hair was in your face,” he mutters with reddening cheeks.
But she didn’t say that. She just nodded quickly, her face burning and heart stuttering in her chest.
His hand lingered a second longer than necessary before falling back onto the bench behind her again.
Juvia doesn’t hear a word of the conversation after that when he tries to start one up with their friends.
ii. when he's comforting her
The rain was pounding heavily against the windows of the guildhall. It had been a while since it’s been this bad as the winter months were slowly creeping in and the weather was getting worse and worse.
All day her guild mates had been asking her over and over again if she could change the rain, their moods getting lower and more irritated with the gloomy weather.
Juvia stood outside her shoulders trembling, staring at the ground.
Then she heard slow footsteps.
Gray doesn’t say anything at first instead, his hand finds her head before he decides to speak.
A gentle touch that immediately calmed her racing mind. The steady weight of his palm and his fingers threading slightly into her damp hair was incredibly grounding.
“It’s just rain,” he says quietly. “Doesn’t change anything.”
Juvia bites her wobbling lip to try and stop her tears from falling.
His hand shifts, thumb brushing just barely against her temple.
“You’re still you,” he adds. “And you’re… fine.”
He hesitates on the last word, like he means more but doesn’t know how to say it.
Juvia leans and allows her woes to be washed away by Gray’s touch.
The argument wasn't loud, but it had lingered between them until they got home that evening. The guild had gotten into a discussion about enemies they had previously defeated, then Lucy had asked which they would rather not face again.
Of course, Gray had quickly said he wouldn’t be able to defeat Juvia if they fought a second time.
Juvia stands with her arms crossed, looking away as Gray took off his coat and placed it on a hook by their front door.
“I just thought –” she starts, but her voice wavers. “Never mind.”
Gray exhales sharply, running a hand through his hair.
“Don’t do that,” he mutters. “Say it.”
She doesn’t and the silence between them stretches.
Gray clicks his tongue, frustrated, not at her, not really. “…I didn’t mean to say it like that,” he says after a moment, quieter now.
Juvia’s shoulders tense. “But what you said – ”
“I know what I said.” He sighs. “I just… I said it wrong.”
Juvia looks at him then, uncertain.
“... I didn’t like it,” She bit her lip, nervous that her lashing out would turn him off from her. “Do you really still see me as an enemy?”
“Not at all,” he says, softer still. “I meant that I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to attack you again. You know, I couldn’t.”
And then, before she could pull away from him, Gray stepped forward and kissed her. An apology he didn’t have the words for and Juvia melted into it, her hands clutching lightly at his shirt.
When he pulled back, he looked almost embarrassed.
“…Sorry,” he muttered, like the kiss hadn’t already said it for him.
Juvia shakes her head quickly, cheeks flushed. “No, it’s alright. I’m sorry too, I should’ve known you meant it like a hypothetical.”
Gray hesitated and then his hand lifted from where he had rested them on her hips and let it rest on her head, fingers slipping gently into her hair.
“We okay?” he asked, looking at her with concern.
Juvia nodded, leaning into his touch without thinking.
“Yes,” she whispers. “Very okay.”
Gray huffs out a quiet laugh, but his hand doesn’t move. If anything, it stayed there a little longer than usual.
Juvia doesn’t always ask before hugging him. She never had and this time, she slipped her arms around him from behind, pressing in close, and her cheek squishing against his back.
“Darling,” she hums softly, saying the pet name with all the affection she held for him.
“Hey Juvia,” she could hear the smile in his voice. His shoulders relax after a second, the tension of the day leaving him in a quiet exhale.
“…You’re so clingy,” he mutters, though it lacks any real bite.
Juvia smiled against him, “you don't mind.”
He didn’t answer that and instead flipped himself around to hug her back. His hand reaches up, a familiar action by now, until it finds her head without hesitation.
His fingers slid into her hair, slower this time, more deliberate as he pressed her into him by the back of her head.
“You’re warm,” he adds after a moment.
Juvia’s grip tightens slightly, her heart fluttering, “so are you.”
He chuckles at the irony of her statement but doesn’t deny it.
“…Stay like this for a minute?” he asked in a small voice, and rested his chin on the top of her head.
Juvia beams, though he can’t see it, “of course.”
Juvia can hear the soft crackle of the fire, the distant rustle of trees, the steady breathing of her friends sleeping around her. It had been a long job, even Gray had fallen asleep quickly when he usually preferred to stay up and chat with everyone before resting.
Juvia had watched him for a little while before drifting off, just to make sure he was comfortable. Sleep came easily to her after that.
But not for long as something warm brushed against her. A gentle weight pressing against her forehead that heats up her face.
Her eyes open slowly, the world still hazy with sleep, her thoughts slow to catch up.
Gray was still fast asleep beside her, his expression relaxed, his breathing even. And his hand was loosely placed on her forehead.
Juvia’s breath catches quietly in her throat.
“…Gray?” She whispers, though she knows he will not answer. But his fingers moved slightly, curling just a little, like he was settling into the touch.
Juvia’s chest tightens, something warm and overwhelming blooming deep inside her.
He had reached for her in his sleep.
A soft giggle broke the moment and Juvia turned her head slightly to see Lucy watching with a small smile on her face.
“Sorry,” she murmurs, careful not to wake the others. “I didn’t mean to stare, but… does he always do that?”
Juvia glances back up at Gray’s hand, still resting so naturally against her head and obscuring part of her vision.
“Yeah,” Juvia says softly. “He always touches my head for some reason, this is the first time he’s done it while asleep though.”
Lucy hummed thoughtfully.
“…Maybe that’s just how he shows love,” Lucy says gently. “Physical touch seems like it would be Gray’s love language because he’s usually so adverse to getting it from anyone else.”
Juvia blinked rapidly at the realisation.
Her gaze drifts back to Gray as he slept soundly less than a foot away from her.
“Seems like it,” she whispered in wonder and leaned into his hand, her body relaxing completely as she settled again, a little closer to him this time.
Now that Juvia had noticed it, she couldn’t unsee it. The way his hand would always find its way to her head had become something she looked forward to, she almost wanted to find a pattern to get him to do it more.
As their relationship progressed through its early stages he hadn’t stopped doing it. If anything, he did it more as they got more comfortable.
They sat together after Gray and the rest of Team Natsu settled back into the guildhall after completing a mission.
Juvia had never thought to question it before. But after that night, after Lucy’s soft voice, maybe that’s just how he shows love. Juvia couldn’t stop thinking about it.
So this time, she was ready.
Gray was talking excitedly to her, something about their last job, something about Natsu being reckless again. But Juvia was too excited to listen to his words properly.
She just watched him instead.
The way his lips moved, the way his eyebrows knit together slightly when he’s annoyed about something, and especially the way he leaned just a little closer to her without even realising.
Juvia lifted her hand and briefly hesitated before she gently placed it on his head.
Gray stopped mid-sentence and looked at her blankly.
Juvia’s heart raced, but she kept her hand there, his soft hair poking out between her fingers.
“I thought…” She began quietly, “you liked this.”
Gray’s face turned neon red.
“Th-that’s – ” he stammers, looking anywhere but at her. “That’s not… you can’t just – ”
He cuts himself off before he could form a full sentence.
“You do it to me all the time,” she says softly, hoping she hadn’t crossed a boundary of his somehow.
“I – yeah, but that’s because I – ” He exhales sharply, clearly flustered. “It’s… different.”
“And why is it different?”
Gray opens his mouth and his eyes flicker toward hers, down to her lips, then away from her again.
He knows exactly why it was different, and he could see that she knew why it was different too. It was how he showed her he loved her, and having her doing it back to him had taken him back.
Juvia feels her chest tighten, her feelings for him overflowing inside of her.
“…It makes me feel close to you,” she admits, trying to gently coax him into his confidence again.
Her fingers shifted slightly in his hair, gentle to not startle him too much, but unable to help herself as he melted into her touch.
Gray goes completely still as the blush on his face deepens, spreading all the way to his ears.
“You can’t just say stuff like that,” he mutters, voice quiet and rough now.
But he still hadn’t moved away from her touch.
“That’s why you do it too, no?”
He lets out a breath, half laughing, half something else.
“You’re impossible,” but there’s no heat in it.
Gray leaned forward and closed his eyes as she brushed her thumb across his temple, like he had done to her so many times before.
“…Only you,” he murmurs, almost too quiet to hear. “Don’t do this to anyone else.”
Juvia beams, her heart overflowing.
“Of course,” she says softly. “I only belong to you.”
Gray groans under his breath, flustered beyond recovery at that point.
“Yeah, damn right,” and he stayed right there letting her hand rest against his head as his eyes fell shut to appreciate the contact from her more.
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