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Apathy: lack of interest or concern: indifference.
Juvia looked at herself in the floor length mirror next to her front door, patting down any fly away hairs before she grabbed the large box at her feet. It was from an expensive shoe brand in Fiore, if the thick gold lettering on the front didn’t tell you that first; The box was sturdy, made to hold the leather boots inside.
The boots were heavy with thick, waterproof platforms on the bottom, made to withstand even the most ruinous conditions. They were a deep black color, Gray’s favorite, an intricate design of leather swirls extending up either side of them.
He’d been complaining about the state of his boots for a while now. They were old and the soles were starting to fall apart, making it increasingly hard for him to move around in battle.
Juvia wanted to rectify that.
She looked at the box one last time, nervous fingers tracing the design on the front, before pushing herself through her front door and to the guild.
The guild was packed when Juvia stepped through the large double doors, the familiar creak of their hinges barely making a sound over the loud voices inside. No one paid her any mind as she walked through the rows of people and tables, trying to peer over the sea of heads in front of her in attempt to find Gray.
He was sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the guild, Erza on his side while Natsu and Lucy sat in front of him. His shirt was off, as always, leaving him in a pair of baggy pants and his old boots.
“Gray-sama!” she called out to him happily, shifting the box so that it was hidden behind her back as she walked towards him.
Gray looked up from where he’d been playing with a chunk of ice in his water and eyed at her suspiciously.
“What do you have behind your back?” he asked instead of greeting her.
Juvia almost bounced happily on her feet. “Something special,” she smiled as she placed the box in front of him.
The first thing Gray saw was the logo on the front. His eyes widened as he recognized the name. “…Juvia, what did you do?”
Her smile almost faltered. “What do you mean, Gray-sama? Juvia didn’t—“
He didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. The top of the box was pulled off and placed to the side, leaving the carefully wrapped boots exposed to him. He seemed terrified as he moved the white paper to the side, seeing the boots properly for the first time.
Juvia couldn’t read his expression.
“Juvia…” his voice sounded horrified, “why—how much—I—“
“Gray-sama was complaining about the state of his old boots,” she explained when he couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, “so Juvia thought she’d get him a new pair.”
“How much did you pay for these?” he asked like he didn’t want to know.
“Juvia isn’t supposed to reveal that,” she huffed. “Don’t worry about it, Gray-sama, Juvia was happy to do it.”
Gray didn’t look pleased at that answer. Any excitement that had built up over the past few days was quickly dissipating.
She tried not to look outwardly disappointed.
“I—“ he sighed shakily, putting the lid back on the box. “Thank you. They’re nice.”
He didn’t sound very thankful.
“No worries, Gray-sama!” She tried to sound cheery, but she could hear the tightness in her voice. Erza and Lucy were looking at her sympathetically. She hated it. “Juvia is happy that she could help!”
Gray whispered something under his breath that almost sounded like, “That’s the problem,” and Erza kicked him scornfully under the table.
Juvia didn’t want to be here anymore.
“Um—“ she looked to the side, suddenly overcome with embarrassment, “Juvia has some errands she needs to run now. Enjoy your gift.”
She hustled out of the guild before anyone could say anything else to her, stumbling out onto the crowned streets of Magnolia. Distantly, the sound of thunder rumbled in the sky, but she tried her best to suppress it.
Gray’s boots were getting on his last fucking nerve. They were old and uncomfortable, the soles falling apart and flopping every time he tried to walk somewhere. It was infuriating and incredibly inconvenient in battle.
“Why don’t you just buy a new pair?” Natsu grunted when he’d complained for the third time that day. Gray was pretty sure he was annoyed, but he couldn’t exactly tell when the idiot"s mouth was stuffed full of food.
“Because shoes are too damn expensive and I have rent to pay,” he rolled his eyes. “I can’t afford to drop $20,000 Jewels on a pair of new boots.”
“You could always find a pair second hand,” Lucy suggested from where she was watching Natsu devour a chicken leg. “There’s a thrift store out in Fiore, next to Sabertooth.”
Gray thought about it for a moment. Wearing someone else’s old pair of boots wasn’t ideal, but it would be far cheaper than buying a new pair, and at least whatever he got wouldn’t be falling apart as he walked.
“Yeah, I guess,” he agreed unhappily. “Thank—“
“Gray-sama!”
His head turned to his left. Juvia was walking towards them, her arms tucked suspiciously behind her back. Suddenly, he felt a familiar sense of dread creeping up his spine.
“What do you have behind your back?”
She looked like she was resisting the urge to bounce where she stood. A large box was placed in front of him, heavy if the loud thump of it making contact with the table was anything to go by, with elegant gold lettering on the front.
He instantly recognized the brand as one of the expensive shoe places in Fiore. The kind of place he’d been staring at longingly since his boots started to fall apart. The exact kind of place he’d just told everyone he couldn’t afford to go.
“Juvia…” he said, the dread climbing to the base of his skull now, “what did you do?”
She looked stunned at such a question, but her smile never wavered.
“What do you mean, Gray-sama? Juvia didn’t—“
He didn’t wait for her to finish speaking before he ripped the lid off of the box. It fell next to him on the table with a loud thump. Inside was a pair of carefully wrapped boots, the white paper hiding a majority of the details, but even with them mostly covered he could tell how expensive the leather was.
Terrified, he moved the white paper to the side, almost choking when he saw them properly.
They were beautiful, that was undeniable, with their sturdy looking soles and beautiful decorative swirls. Despite being purchased by someone else, they were exactly taste. He wasn’t sure what part of that he found more terrifying.
“Juvia…why—how much—I—“
“Gray-sama was complaining about the state of his old boots, so Juvia thought she’d get him a new pair.” She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Like it was normal to drop $20,000 Jewels on a pair of boots for someone else.
“How much did you pay for these?” he asked even though he already had a good idea. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she’d gotten a discount.
Juvia seemed annoyed at the question. “Juvia isn’t supposed to reveal that. Don’t worry about it, Gray-sama, Juvia was happy to do it.”
No discount, then.
He could see the excitement on her face disappearing, and he felt awful.
“I—“ he let out a shaky sigh, trying to sound as grateful as he could. And he was grateful, he was also just horrified. “Thank you. They’re very nice.”
God, that sounded pathetic.
“No worries, Gray-sama!” Her voice sounded tight. “Juvia is happy that she could help!”
“That’s the problem,” he whispered under his breath and was met with a harsh kick from Erza in return. The searing pain was a helpful distraction.
“Um—“ she started, but Gray wasn’t looking at her, “Juvia has some errands she needs to run now. Enjoy your gift.”
She was gone before he could even respond.
“Gray, what the hell was that!” Erza scolded him, and he shrunk in on himself.
“What was I supposed to do?!” he demanded. “They’re expensive fucking shoes!”
“You could’ve been nicer about it!”
“I was trying to be!” he insisted. “I didn’t know how to respond!”
“Well, work on it!” Erza smacked him on the head and he went quiet, staring down at the box in front of him moodily.
“Well,” Lucy said after a moment of silence, her voice shaking. She was still looking at the box in awe, “I guess there’s no need for that second hand store now.”
A crack of thunder rumbled outside, and Gray’s stomach turned with it.
Juvia caught him just before he was about to leave. She was sure that she looked crazy, stumbling out onto the street in an attempt to catch him as she yelled his name.
His head whipped around towards her. He looked frustrated at being stopped in the middle of the street.
“Juvia packed you some lunch!” she said, pushing the bento box into his hands.
Gray only blinked down at it, looking slightly disturbed. “You packed me lunch?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Juvia didn’t want you to go hungry!”
He observed the box in his hands, looking like he didn’t exactly know what to do with it. “Um. Thanks.”
“No trouble,” she laughed, trying not to become discouraged at the frown plastered on his face. “Be safe, okay?”
At that, Gray finally smiled. “Always.”
“Okay, stopping for lunch,” Erza commanded as they came to a halt in the middle of a clearing. It was a nice spring day, and she wanted to eat outside.
Gray sat on one of the logs off to the side, away from everyone’s prying eyes. They’d been bothering him about the lunch Juvia packed since this morning, and he wasn’t about to let them win by letting them see what was inside.
The bento was a light blue color, his favorite, and when he opened the first container, he was met with three nearly prepared Onigiri, a pair of eyes dotted on each one with spicy mayo.
My god.
He placed the compartment on his lap so he could see what was in the second container. Grapes and thinly sliced strawberries.
A mixture of embarrassment and fondness warmed his chest.
Gray bit into the first Onigiri without a second thought, a simple mixture of tuna and spicy mayo. It was good, so good that he hadn’t realized how large the bites he was taking were. It was gone in a few seconds.
He plucked one of the strawberries from its compartment and popped it into his mouth, relishing in the tart flavor.
“Enjoying the food, Gray?” Lucy asked from where she sat beside Natsu on a pink blanket. A piece of broccoli was pinched beneath her chopsticks, a few inches from her mouth.
His cheeks flushed as they puffed out. “Shut up. What am I supposed to do, not eat it?”
“I didn’t say that. I’m just shocked to see you so…enthusiastic…about it.” She smiled at him knowingly.
He took another large bite of his Onigiri and turned away from her, much like a child. “Shut up,” he grossed over a mouth full of rice and tuna.
Lucy simply ate her broccoli with a smile.
Juvia hissed through her teeth when the cotton pad made contact with the large gash on her thigh. The medicine stung as it was applied, disinfecting whatever bacteria had found its way in.
She had to resist the urge to kick her leg out instinctively.
“Sorry, sorry,” Gray apologized softly. His cold hands helped to soothe some of the burn, and she sighed gratefully.
“It’s okay, Gray-sama,” she mumbled. As the adrenaline began to wear off, she could feel the exhaustion creeping in. All she could think about was collapsing into her large bed back home.
“You really took that hit hard,” he said as he observed the various bruises along her legs. “I was worried when I saw you fall.”
The muscles in her back ached at the reminder. “Juvia is okay. Nothing she hasn’t experienced before.”
His hand grasped at the underside of her thigh, the cool touch making her body, ironically, fill with heat. He was gentle as wrapped the bandage around the offending wound.
“That’s true.” He pulled the bandage tight. “Just be more careful next time.”
Juvia looked down at her neatly wrapped leg. She could still feel the ghost of his touch against her skin.
“Do you think you can walk?”
She broke away from her fantasy.
“Yeah,” she said in a tight voice. Sliding off the examination table and onto her feet. The pain was only slight when she put pressure on it. “See? All good.”
Gray spared her leg one more glance before putting the bandages back in the kit they came from. “Just—be careful next time.
“Ah, of course.” Her heart fluttered a bit at the concern in his voice. “Thank you, Gray-sama.”
“It’s no—“
Her lips pressed against his cheek before she could talk herself out of it, a gentle pressure against her lips. His skin was cold and dry.
“…problem,” he finished lamely.
Juvia looked up at him expectantly, examining his face for any indication of excitement or appreciation. Instead, he just looked mildly confused.
The familiar sense of disappointment wound inside her stomach.
“Okay, well, Juvia will be off then,” she said quietly, not bothering to keep her smile in place this time. She moved to escape the suffocating silence between them, but a cold hand caught her wrist before she could leave.
He was looking at her with an unreadable expression. “Don’t—don’t leave. Please.”
“Gray-sama?”
He looked nervous as he stared down at their intertwined hands. “I—“ he paused, staring directly into her eyes for a long moment before leaning forward.
His lips connected with her cheek for one blissful, long moment. They were chapped and rough.
“You’re welcome,” he said when he pulled away.
Juvia’s legs suddenly felt very weak. Her fingers dug into the skin of his arms in an attempt to keep herself upright.
“Gray-sama—“
“Goodnight, Juvia,” he said, helping her walk her way out of the infirmary. When the door closed behind her, she stood there like an idiot, looking at the oak detailing as her mind reeled.
What the hell just happened?
Gray was trying to suppress the rising nausea as he dabbed at Juvia’s wound. It was a large, ugly thing, her skin throbbing red around the edges.
He remembered the way his heart had dropped when he saw her fall from that building, landing on the ground with a loud scream.
There had been a large piece of glass embedded in the meat of her thigh.
She hissed through her teeth when he made a second swipe across the length of it.
His stomach twisted with guilt. “Sorry, sorry.” He seeped some of his ice magic into her skin, trying to soothe the burn, and her body relaxed.
“It’s okay, Gray-sama,” he mumbled tiredly. Her eyes looked heavy from where she was looking up at him.
Gray looked down at her legs. They were littered with bruises, the blue-black color a dark contrast against her pale skin. “You really took that hit hard. I was worried when I saw you fall.”
Worried didn’t begin to cover it.
Juvia shifted uncomfortably where she sat. “Juvia is okay,” she sighed. “Nothing she hasn’t experienced before.”
He grasped the underside of her thigh gently, trying not to pay attention to the warmth of her soft skin, and lifted it so he could begin wrapping a bandage around it.
Gray pulled the bandage tight. “That’s true,” he said finally. “Just be more careful next time.”
She didn’t respond, only looking down at the bandage on her leg. She looked lost in her thoughts.
“Do you think you can walk?” he asked, snapping her out of whatever fantasy she had been in. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Yeah.” She slid off the table unexpectedly and stood on her feet hesitantly. He watched as she assessed how much pressure she could put on her leg, smiling when she was able to stand on her own without issue. “See? All good.”
He looked down at her leg one last time, making sure she was standing on it properly, before turning to put the bandages back in their kit. There was an uncomfortable weight on his chest, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.
“Just—be careful next time.”
“Ah, of course,” she said softly. “Thank you, Gray-sama.”
He opened his mouth to respond, the words “it’s no—“ leaving his lips before the feeling of her soft lips on his cheek made him freeze. The moment seemed to go on forever, making his mind spin out of control. “…problem.”
Juvia looked up at him hopefully when she pulled away, and he could tell that whatever she was looking for in his expression wasn’t there. His brain was working enough to feel guilty about it.
“Okay, well, Juvia will be off then,” she murmured with a hurt frown. She was moving away from him sooner than he expected, like she was trying to escape, and his hand shot out instinctively to catch her wrist.
“Don’t—don’t leave. Please.”
Her eyes were wide and confused. “Gray-sama?”
Gray could feel his traitorous heart pounding as he looked down at their intertwined hands. He forced himself to look into her eyes. “I—“
He moved forward, lips pressing against her cheek. He was sure that his lips weren’t as soft as hers had been, but if the sharp gasp that left her was anything to go by, she didn’t mind.
He pulled away. “You’re welcome.”
Juvia’s fingers dug into the meat of his arms. She looked like a startled animal. “Gray-sama—“
“Goodnight, Juvia,” he interrupted, not letting her finish her sentence. He guided her to the door before he could think the better of it. He wasn’t sure that he could deal with whatever she had to say.
She was still reeling when he closed the door.
What the hell just happened?