Series: Fairy Tail.
Pairing: Gruvia.
Setting: Post-Canon.
Prompt: The way you said I love you: As a thank you.
A/N: I really wanted to write scar kisses because of the recent chapters hahaha. So here it is. This is for @unisonraidd, because she deserves some fluff in her life. <3
Lick your wounds: to spend time getting back your strength or happiness after a defeat or bad experience.
Juvia flinched at herself in the mirror.
This wasn’t the first time Gray had seen her do that and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Since the war had ended and the town had been renovated, Juvia had spent little time in the presence of reflective surfaces. He’d never seen such an aversion to mirrors until he’d watched Juvia dress herself that morning. And now the moon was looming in the horizon and it was Juvia’s turn to use the bath. As it had been for the last thirty minutes.
Every now and then she would glance up from the floor to see if he was watching her. And every time, with deft precision, Gray would avert his gaze to the bed.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked, easing himself up on the bed as he watched her. ‘You look like you’re struggling over there.’
Juvia flicked a wrist to absently dismiss his concern. ‘Juvia is fine.’
She wasn’t, but Gray said nothing else on the matter. It wasn’t that unfastening her shirt was difficult, or even that she struggled with the process, rather, every time she popped a button open, Juvia was quick to fasten it shut again.
Growing tired with her struggle, Gray clambered off the bed and shuffled across the room towards her. She didn’t even notice him coming. His hand snaked around her waist and Juvia, in a panic, latched onto that hand and quickly thrust it away from her. Gray’s eyes widened at the flush of tears on her cheeks.
She rubbed at her cheeks and let out a frustrated groan. ‘I’m sorry.’
Gray could only stare at her.
‘Juvia did something terrible. Something horrible.’
Gray placed a hesitant hand atop her head. She nuzzled into his warmth, albeit reluctantly, and with a distance that made his cold heart swell and crack in his chest.
‘What’re you apologising for?’ he asked. ‘It’s my fault. I startled you.’
Juvia reached up to grab his wrist in both hands. She was trembling. ‘Gray…I’m sorry. Juvia is sorry. She hurt you deeply. Because of Juvia…because of me…you almost…’
Gray’s mind rushed back to his fight with Natsu. To the things he’d almost given up because his heart ached in her absence. It wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t have known. He’d never told her. Never told her how much she meant to him. She didn’t know that her death, her sacrifice, would plunge him into the darkness. He’d ached for her. Truly ached for her.
And, for the first time in his life, Gray had been offered a kindness. She had been returned to him, returned to the guild, where she belonged. In that respect, Gray was happy to have lost her. Just once. It showed him the truth of his feelings. Let him open up where he’d once been closed off.
Gray lowered his hand from her head and took a cautious step towards her. She watched him through pained eyes, eyes lost to a sea of memories.
It had been a year since the day she died.
He knew now what the problem was. Knew now why she’d been avoiding his gaze. Avoiding mirrors and windows and glass tables.
Taking her face into his hands, Gray leaned down to kiss her lips, a gentle touch to remind her of the feelings he kept stored deep down inside himself. The feelings he wanted to share with her, if only his courage would let him.
Her arms slackened by her sides, leaving her vulnerable to his every touch. He slid his left hand down her side, let it trace the shape of her hips, before bringing it back up to wrestle with the buttons of her shirt. One by one he opened them until, suddenly, her hand reached in to stop him.
‘Gray…’ she breathed, her breath hot against his lips.
‘Here,’ he said, taking her hand and pressing it against his exposed stomach. ‘You’re not alone, Juvia.’
She traced her fingertips along his scar, the scar that should’ve ended his life. A reminder of the things he’d almost lost. The things he didn’t want to lose.
Walking her back towards the vanity table – and the mirror sitting upon it – Gray kissed her again more fervently as she pressed her palm flat against his scar. He unfastened the rest of her buttons, pushed the shirt from her shoulders, and quickly spun her around to face the mirror.
They stood together in the glass, their scars prominent and proud. Juvia’s shaking began to stop. She stared at herself for the first time in weeks, stared at the scar on her body, at the shape of her figure and the pattern of tanned skin where she’d caught the sun on her chest.
‘They’re…the same,’ she whispered.
Gray nodded that it was so. ‘Yeah. Cool, aren’t they?’
Juvia laughed at that, the sound as peaceful as the first snow in winter.
Spinning her around to face him, Gray kissed her again and hoisted her up onto the vanity table. She swung her legs around his waist and urged him closer with her heels. Gray left a trail of kisses on her neck as he worked himself between her legs, both hands gliding across her sides and up her back. One by one those kisses took in the warm taste of her skin. He kissed down to her chest, kissing her tanned skin and her warm cleavage, before venturing down towards her stomach – and the scar that was waiting there for him. Her body tensed when he kissed it for the first time, only to melt under the gradual warmth it left behind.
‘Gray…’ she moaned, her fingers combing through his hair. And then she said, in a whisper, ‘Thank you.’
Gray, still crouched on the balls of his feet, laughed against her stomach. He leaned back to glance up at her face, taking her in for what felt like the first time. She laid her soul bare before him, let him drink her in as long as he needed to.
His mind reached back to all the times she’d been by his side. To the times she drove him wild with frustration. To the times she scolded him. To the times when she’d never abandoned him. She’d always been right there, watching, waiting. He’d made her wait long enough.
‘No, Juvia,’ he whispered, letting the memories warm his heart. ‘Thank you.’
