A/N; Is this fluff? I'm not sure. Probably more like humor, with small pockets of fluff lol. Also, this story is post- GMG, but pre-Tartarus.

Home Improvements

It had been a fine, spring day in front of the guild, and Juvia had just bid farewell to Gray, who was leaving on a short, weekend-long mission with his team. It was then that Juvia had overheard Lucy and Natsu's comment about the state of Gray's home.

"Let's get going everyone, or we'll miss the train," Erza chivied them all along, her strict tone booming over the chatter of the guild they were leaving behind. She had her vast amount of luggage, holding many of her armors, and other supposed necessities, along for the journey.

Lucy and Wendy both had much smaller, single luggages that they were pulling along behind them, while Gray and Natsu both were carrying packs.

"Alright, we're coming," Gray answered wearily, clearly not a fan of their early departure, as he gave a huge yawn along with his reply. "We could have been out of here already if you hadn't been wolfing down your third helping of breakfast," he said testily to Natsu, who just chugged his sixth tall glass of orange juice in one gulp, and belched loudly.

"Look who's talking, I was the one who dropped by and woke you up. I guess even your brain freezes over when you sleep," Natsu teased, as Gray glared at him.

"I would have woken up eventually without your help. And at least my brains haven't already turned to ash like yours," he shot back.

"Yeah right," Natsu said. "You were so out of it, I was about to give you a flaming wake up call, but I figured you wouldn't be happy if I caught all your garbage on fire, too. Isn't that right, Lucy?""

Lucy gave Gray an apologetic look, before confirming Natsu's statement, "it did take a few good shouts before Natsu managed to wake you, Gray. Also, your house is getting almost as bad as Natsu's. Haven't you guys ever heard of a broom?" she said over her shoulder, as she followed Erza, Wendy and the Exceeds down the lane.

Natsu laughed. "She called you a slob!"

Gray growled, "no she didn't, and she said your place was worse, so what does that make you?"

They continued to argue like that all the way down the main street. Juvia watched from the guild entrance as the group became smaller and smaller, until they were lost amongst the crowd completely. All thoughts about running after them, and insisting she come along, vanished from her mind at the thought of Gray's house. It was messy?!

Juvia had restrained herself, and only been to Gray's house a few times previously. And all of those past visits were to drop off a meal she had cooked just for him. He usually was bemused, but eventually grateful for the gift, since he didn't really cook, and ate most of his meals at the guild. However, she'd never seen much of the inside of his home, catching glimpses only of the kitchen, since she usually just lingered awkwardly outside. Also, Gray never seemed keen to invite her in, so she's alway been curious about what the rest of his house looked like. Maybe, now that he was away, she could surprise him by tidying up the place? But how would she get in?

Juvia had heard rumors that Mira held keys for many of the guild member's places, like Lucy's apartment, for emergency situations. Maybe Gray had left a key in her care, too? Thinking she might as well ask, she rushed back into the guild, and up to the bar, where Lisanna was chatting to her sister.

"Mira-san!" Do you by chance have a key to Gray-sama's house?" she asked in a flurry of excitement.

Both Strauss sisters raised their eyebrows at this.

"Yes, I do, Juvia... but why-"

"Juvia heard Gray-sama's house is messy, and she wants to surprise him by cleaning it up for him before he gets back!" she said brightly, clapping her hands together as if this was the perfect plan to win Gray's heart at last.

Mira looked at Lisanna, and neither could help but smile at the enthusiasm on Juvia's face.

"Well, I'm sure he would appreciate that very much, Juvia," Lisanna said kindly to her friend.

"You really think so, Lisanna-san?" Juvia asked her friend earnestly, looking even more excited by her plan.

Mira sighed amusedly at her little sister's encouragement, as Lisanna nodded her reply.

"Well, I wouldn't want to spoil such a considerate gift," Mira said, as she turned around and opened a small cabinet stuffed with keys. She searched through the jumble of metal, looking closely at the tiny labels, before pulling out a small, brass-colored key and holding it up in front of Juvia.

Juvia sucked in a breath at it's presence, as if it was about to unlock her most desired treasure. Mira dropped it into her open palms.

"Thank you, Mira-san!" Juvia beamed at her.

Mira smiled widely. "Don't forget to bring it back when you're done now!" she called after Juvia, who had already begun her quest, weaving between mages on her way out of the guild.

Juvia waved back, indicating she'd heard her, before disappearing through the front door.

Juvia first hurried back to her own dorm to collect cleaning supplies, which she packed in a basket, and then headed towards Gray's house. She made it there in less than ten minutes. It wasn't located that far away from the guild, but the house was distanced enough to be slightly secluded, except for a decent amount of trees as it's neighbors. Juvia walked up to the small cabin-style home. Juvia always thought the outside of the house seemed very Gray-sama-like, what with the grey stone walls, and oak front door as it's warm center. Juvia smiled to herself, and placed the key into the lock. She could hear a sharp *click* as she turned the brass knob, and let herself inside. The first room she came upon was the kitchen, which was quite well lit by the sunlight that entered through the small, un-curtained windows around the house.

Juvia expected there to be an odor, considering how Natsu and Lucy spoke about the place, but it didn't smell bad at all. In fact, it smelled quite earthy, with a hint of cold air, like the first touch of snow on a late fall day. It reminded Juvia of Gray's scent, and she smiled to herself, feeling very content. She looked around for a lighting fixture, and saw a lantern hanging overhead. She also found a candle sitting in a glass on the round table in the kitchen, and placed her basket of cleaning supplies down beside it. Juvia then started opening cabinets and rummaging through drawers, taking careful note of things that needed rearranging or disposing of, before finding the matches, and lighting the lantern, and then the smaller candle, so that a warm glow contributed to the sunlight already streaming in the room. Now she could better see the layer of dust coating many of the counter tops and stone floor. The kitchen sink also had a few dishes, utensils, and many glasses piled high within it. The small garbage to the right of the sink also needed emptying. She added these to her mental to-do list, before picking up the glass containing the candle and walking into the next room.

Gray's house was quite small, almost as small as Juvia's own dorm room. It seemed all he had were a kitchen, a bedroom, which she was now inside, and a tiny bathroom located to the left of the bedroom, it's door ajar. Juvia took stock of this room, which had many more things littered on the floor. Clothes were everywhere. Juvia had seen them in the kitchen, too, hanging off of chairs, but here they were in heaps on the floor, and all over his bed, which was unmade, the sheet also halfway on the floor. Gray's stripping issue had another downside to it indeed. She sighed, as it seemed now that her biggest job would be washing and ironing.

A dresser on the right, under the single window in the room, caught Juvia's attention, and she made her way towards it. She put the candle down on top of the dresser, and backed up to give it a good once-over. One of the drawers was crooked, another missing a knob, and the top one was only partly closed, a pair of pants hanging out of it. But, none of those things were what had captured her interest. Juvia was more intrigued by the collection of photos framed and on display on the top. These, too, were quite dusty, as was the top of the dresser, but she ignored that for now, looking intently at the pictures instead.

There was group photo on the far left, that featured everyone in the guild, taken shortly before they had done their S-class trial. Juvia was sitting near Gray, looking at him admiringly, as he smirked confidently at the camera. Juvia smiled, and then looked at the other photos. There was another group guild photo from before Juvia joined, of a younger Gray and Natsu, being forcibly posed together by Erza, who was still taller than them at the time. Erza stood in the middle, clearly keeping the boys from fighting with what appeared to be a vice-like grip on their shoulders, while Cana, the Strauss sibs, and many of the other guild members in their younger years smiled around them. The next picture was a joyful one of Gray and his usual team, in an obviously celebratory snapshot from a completed mission.

Next to Gray's team picture was another photo of Gray's younger days. Juvia knew at once that the woman within must be his teacher Ur, for she was the spitting image of Ultear, except with shorter hair. Ur was crouched down, and she had her arms around Lyon and Gray. Lyon was smiling widely, but Gray looked quite sullen in Juvia's opinion. There was a sadness in his eyes that she hand't really seen before. Juvia touched her finger to Gray's face over the glass, as if wishing she could comfort the young boy who she now loved so much. Finally, she turned away to the last photograph. She picked this one up to look at it more closely. This one was in a silver frame. It contained a somewhat charred and damaged photo of a very young, and grinning Gray with an older man that looked quite a lot like him, and a beautiful woman who was hugging Gray tightly. These must be his parents. Had Gray-sama rescued this from his home's ruins? Juvia thought to herself sadly. She looked from this Gray's happy face, to the expression he had in the photo with his teacher, and felt a pang of anguish.

Juvia put the dusty framed photo back down, and took a step back, looking at all the photos again in turn. A heavy weight had flooded over her. She knew a large part of this feeling was from this small look into Gray's past that was greatly unknown to her, as well as the sadness that lingered on the young Gray's face, as she wondered if any of that feeling still existed inside of him. But she also knew some of it had to do with what she had been looking for, and had not found. Perhaps this was selfish of her, thinking of such things now, but Juvia had given Gray pictures many times, some of just herself, but mostly ones of the two of them together. Gray had always accepted them, but sometimes she could tell he did so wearily, and just to be polite. Even still, none of them were anywhere to be seen, as she scanned the room again, looking for another pocket of pictures on display. But other than the bed and dresser, there was just one cluttered bedside table and a wardrobe populating the room, and no sign of any pictures on the walls either. Maybe they were in a drawer?

Juvia decided this would be as good a place as any to start, and opened the drawers to get to work. She found quite a few, clearly dirty clothes, having been stuffed back into the furniture, along with some badly folded, and thus now wrinkled, clean clothes. She sighed again, as she pulled everything that needed to be tended to out, and threw them on a new pile beside her on the floor. In the second drawer, Juvia encountered a half a dozen socks who were missing their partners. She supposed they must be somewhere else within the room. Juvia found a few miscellaneous papers, knick knacks, and souvenirs from Gray's travels in the final drawer, but no further pictures. Gray was clearly not one for sentimentality. Aside from the mess, the house thus far was pretty practical. Gray seemed to have only what he needed, and no more. He just had a problem keeping those few things clean and in their proper place.

She struggled to put the missing pictures she had given him into the back of her mind as she now turned towards the large, wooden wardrobe. She could see some clothes poking out of this, too. Contemplating what fresh mess she'd find there, she opened it with trepidation. Like the insides of the drawers and cabinets she'd seen thus far, this was also thoroughly disorganized. Coats and jackets had fallen from hangers. Shoes were thrown on top of each other, so that the heavy soles squashed the tops of those beneath them. And wedged into the right-hand corner of the wardrobe, a white pillow peeked out from between a few garments, which had still managed to hang on to their positions on the bar despite the pillow's violent displacement of them. Wondering why Gray was stuffing pillows in his wardrobe, especially such a large one, she pulled it out, toppling more clothes onto the floor of the wardrobe along the way. That's when she realized what this was. The blank white part that she had seen between the jackets was simply the back of the pillow. Now that she turned it around and was greeted with an image of her own face, she knew this was the pillow of herself in a bikini which she had given Gray for their 414th day anniversary! Juvia smiled wildly that he had kept it, but then her smile faded fast when she realized he had attempted to cram it into the back of his wardrobe for a reason. Clearly he wanted it out of sight.

Juvia's heart dropping for the second time that day, she hugged the pillow subconsciously, as if seeking comfort in herself. Just as she began to wonder if the pictures she had given him were somewhere at the foot of this wardrobe, too, she caught sight of something on the shelf at the top. There was one thing actually folded neatly in this room, and Juvia was now staring straight at it. It looked oddly familiar to her, yet she couldn't immediately remember why. She brought it down carefully. It was a woven, grey scarf which felt soft in her hands. This, too, smelled like Gray's earthy scent, with that hint of fresh snow. As she examined the material she noticed a few stitches had been dropped, perhaps from a hasty knitting session. As she fingered the wool, that's when it came to her. She did know this scarf very well after all. This was the scarf Juvia had made for Gray, and which he had rejected on their 413th day anniversary. But… Juvia left it lying on the ground. Does this mean Gray-sama had gone back for it?! Juvia swelled happily with the thought. Even though he was feeling so awful that day, he still must have went back to get it. There was no other explanation for why he had this, and Juvia certainly didn't remember it still lying around the next day. Back at the time, it's absence seemed a trifle thing in comparison to Gray's feelings, but now to see that it ended up here, with the person she had made it for, and that he had truly accepted it, made her so glad. And not only did he keep it, but he had clearly worn it, since it smelled like him. And it was also being well taken care of. It meant something to him. Something good. Juvia hugged the scarf to her, too, bursting with bliss. He had liked it after all!

The thoughts of the missing pictures, and hidden pillow quite forgotten, she carefully returned the scarf to it's place on the shelf with a grin on her face, and tore back into her endeavor with renewed vigor. She pulled out clothes from the wardrobe, too, and added them to the drawer pile, humming spiritedly as she went. She rearranged the shoes in two neat rows at the bottom, but she did not replace the pillow into it's corner. She was still unsure of what to do with it, because it just would not fit properly in that wardrobe, without disturbing the hanging clothes and rows of shoes. She left it to the side of the wardrobe for now instead.

When she was done with the wardrobe, she focused on the bed. The sheets were hanging so haphazardly off of it, and there were so many wrinkles running through them, that she was irritated just looking at it. Then her mind drifted to what it would be like waking up in that bed next to Gray, and all her annoyance faded at once. She wandered over, and started throwing the clothes onto a second pile, for the first had become too big, and was toppling over anyway. As she thought in amusement how someone who constantly strips could possibly still own so many clothes, she reached for the pillows. She removed the cover off of one, and deposited this, too, on another pile for washing, and then picked up the second one to do the same. However, this time she unearthed a magazine hidden underneath.

"What's this?" Juvia asked into the silence of the empty room, as she picked up this new surprise.

It was a Sorcerer's Weekly magazine. Not only that, but it was the Sorcerer's Weekly magazine issue which included the bikini spread the Fairy Tail ladies had posed for once. Juvia's eyes went wide and furious, as she rifled through the pages. Sure enough, thanks to an intentionally folded down corner, Juvia's hands were brought straight to the page with Lucy, posing in her tiny bikini. Juvia's face inflated with rage and heat. And Gray-sama had this under his pillow for easy access to Juvia's love rival's body. How many times had he ogled this photo, she wondered angrily.

As she glared at Lucy's smiling face, the previous happiness she had felt completely evaporated, she saw a piece of paper drop from the magazine onto the bed. Juvia picked it up dejectedly, her brow furrowed. It was a picture of her in her Fantasia parade dress and short hair, smiling shyly. Max had taken this picture shortly after she had first joined the guild, and she had given a copy of it to Gray. Curiously, almost not daring to hope, she turned the page with Lucy to find the next page containing her bikini picture, with Wendy's picture opposite her. However, Wendy could barely be seen, for a stack of photos was tucked into the center, blocking her from view. They were all the photos, more than a dozen, that Juvia had given Gray, several single ones of herself, and even more of them together. It wasn't surprising she didn't notice the large stack of photo's presence at first, for she was too angry at the conclusions she had made upon seeing the fold on Lucy's photo. But that's when she realized, the folded page was not folded onto Lucy's picture, but it was folded backwards onto Juvia's. If he was looking at Juvia's photos, and had them all grouped in this way, then surely he must find Juvia even a bit attractive? Juvia felt that wonderful swoop of happiness in her heart once more, and even stronger than before. Juvia was so excited by this wonderful discovery, that she actually spun around on the spot in merriment, clutching the magazine to her. When she stopped spinning, she took another look at the photos, her eyes lingering affectionately on Gray's face near her own. She really loved him so much, and even in his absence, he still managed to bring her joy.

With the thrill of her discoveries that day empowering her, she put the magazine down, and took up her task again, this time with the intention of going above and beyond in an attempt to show how grateful she was that she had a special place in Gray's home, and perhaps his heart, after all. For clearly, her earlier disappointments were complete misunderstandings on her part. Gray wasn't hiding anything away, but just didn't have the means, space or knowhow to display these treasured things properly. Juvia would take care of everything, and win over a little more of Gray's heart once he returns to see what she's done.

It's been a very long day, Gray thought in exhaustion, as he lugged his backpack up to his front door. They had gotten lost twice, thanks to Natsu and Erza's bad sense of direction, and by the time they had caught the train back to Magnolia, it was nearly midnight. Now, after two in the morning, his stomach grumbling, because he couldn't even stop by the guild for a quick dinner, since it was already closed, he was just grateful to see his house again, and couldn't wait to flop into bed.

"Stupid Natsu. Stupid Erza," he muttered in irritation. An immense yawn escaped his lips as he turned the key in the lock, and pushed open the door. He stepped into his dark kitchen, wondering if there might be any unspoiled food still left in his icebox, as his stomach gave another loud, persistent growl. He searched for the matches, which he always kept in the smallest drawer to the left of the sink. Sure enough, they were there, but most of everything else that used to be in there alongside them wasn't, or at least that's what it felt like to him. Wondering if he was just confused from lack of sleep and food, he lit the overhead lantern with a bit of difficulty as it was so dark, and took a better look around. Nothing, and yet everything was different. A jolt of trepidation flashed through him for a moment. Had he been robbed? But no, that made no sense. Because nothing of value appeared to have been stolen. In fact, there seemed to even have been a few things added to his kitchen, rather than taken away.

He took stock of the room, lighting the small candle on his table as well, but his table was no longer bare, for a crisp white tablecloth now sat atop it. Not only that, but he also saw patterned cushions on his wooden chairs, and slate-gray curtains on his window. Everything looked handmade, but also well made. Then he noticed the sink was empty, and he rushed to his cabinets and looked inside. Sure enough, they were stocked neatly with his small collection of dishes, cups, and bowls. He opened a drawer, and inside was his cutlery, also neatly placed, and now sparkling clean. Something funny had happened here, and as a feeling of dread caught hold of him, he opened his immaculate ice box. Inside it was nearly empty, except for a thermos and a bento box, with a note on top of it. Only one person ever brought him meals. Gray's face broke out in a sweat.

He opened the letter, his hands clutched tight around the paper. As he read the first line, he realized his fears were confirmed.

"To my dearest Gray-sama,

Juvia wanted to surprise you in person, but she waited and waited, and Gray-sama still hasn't come home. She hopes Gray-sama is safe, and that he hasn't been hurt! However, Juvia has faith that Gray-sama's mission was a success, for Gray-sama is a wonderful mage, and surely he would triumph over any challenge. Juvia only wished she could have helped out on Gray-sama's mission, but instead she decided to take on a different kind of mission. She overheard Natsu-san and Lucy mentioning how Gray-sama's house could do with some cleaning, so Juvia took it upon herself to surprise Gray-sama with a neat home on his return. She also made Gray-sama some iced tea and a bento, just in case he's hungry.

Juvia hopes Gray-sama will be happy with the improvements and special touches that she made to his house.

With deepest love always and forever,

Juvia Lockser

P.S. Juvia got Gray-sama's house key from Mira-san.

Gray scrunched up the paper in his hand, while he spat in frustration, "damn that Mira!"

Furiously wondering what other supposed improvements and "special touches" Juvia might have made, not to mention what she might have seen, his stomach gave another loud sound of displeasure. Choosing to heed it's urges, rather than venture further into his house at the moment, he sat down, and opened the bento. It was very pretty, and packed with food that thankfully didn't need to be heated up. He tipped the thing over his mouth, nearly swallowing it's contents whole, but he contained himself. He was starving, and he had to admit it tasted really good. Still chewing, he got up to get an impeccably clean glass from his cabinet, and poured some iced tea into it. He swallowed, the cool tea felt so refreshing it was almost as if it had breathed some new life into him, which was good, because he didn't think he could face the rest of his house in the state he had been in.

As he finished his bento, his stomach finally satiated, he took a look at his bedroom. Even through the dark he could tell he wasn't going to be happy with that room. Getting up slowly, he got the matches again and walked inside, lighting another overhanging lantern.

Light filled the room, and sure enough, he already didn't like what he saw. On his expertly made bed, placed between his two regular pillows in their freshly clean covers, was that large, body pillow of Juvia posing shyly in her bikini, which he used to have stuffed into his wardrobe. That means she had been in there, too. His face flushed, he turned away from pillow Juvia, and opened the wardrobe doors. He didn't need to look hard to realize it was the tidiest it's ever been. His eyes then fixed immediately on the spot where he kept the scarf. It was still there, on the top of the shelf, neatly folded, but as he looked around the rest of the wardrobe, his eyes narrowed, he knew there was no way she hadn't noticed it's presence.

His face burning embarrassedly, he shut the wardrobe doors, and caught sight of another anomaly. There were definitely more pictures populating his dresser than there used to be. He hesitantly approached it, his heart beating as if he had just tried to keep pace in a race with a speeding train. He looked at the familiar photographs, which were still at the forefront of his dresser. But among his old photos of the guild, and pictures of when he was a kid, there now were many photos of Juvia, and himself with Juvia, all in nice, new frames that were not his own. These photos were always in his room, as Juvia herself had given them to him, but they were never in this place. And that meant only one thing.

Gray raced back to his bed, and lifted the pillow. The magazine was still there, but he was almost afraid to pick it up. It wasn't just that she had found this very incriminating piece of evidence, but that she knew he kept it under his pillow of all places, that made the whole situation so exasperating. Was there even the slightest bit of hope, even with the fact that she had found the photos, that she might not know which page he found of particular interest and why?

Slowly, tremulously, he picked up the magazine and attempted to turn the pages. It easily turned to his usual folded page, as always, however, much to his sudden confusion, he found that it would not, and could not turn to any other page. As he attempted to loosen the pages, thinking maybe they had simply gotten stuck to each other, as sometimes happened, that's when he realized in horror, that they had literally been stuck. Juvia, apparently, had glued all the pages together, except for her own. And not only that, but Juvia had given Gray a fresh new photo of herself, in another bikini, glued over the page of Wendy that should have been across from her.

The magazine hung limply from Gray's hand in utter defeat. He sighed heavily, threw the magazine onto his bedside table, and tumbled onto his bed. He looked at the pillow Juvia beside him, her face looking innocently back at him, and he could only think of one thing: With one house cleaning, he'd been exposed more thoroughly than during any inadvertent stripping session he'd ever had.

The End

A/N: This was supposed to be a drabble, but it snowballed into this lol. I guess you could say this is the Gruvia version of the cute Nalu omake where Lucy goes into Natsu's house and ends up cleaning it, while finding some sweet things along the way. Honestly, though, I've been meaning to write something for ages about Juvia finding all the "Juvia paraphernalia" Gray must have amassed over the years. But I only now finally got inspired to actually iron out the details. I still just think it's funny how Gray must have that body pillow of Juvia somewhere, not to mention the scarf, and who knows what else she might have given him. I debated for a while, also, about if Juvia should actually be present (but asleep) when Gray got home, or not. But, ultimately I decided it would be funnier if she wasn't there, and also less complicated, because I didn't want this to go any further than it does, since, as I said, it's supposed to take place post- GMG (and post 413 Days), but pre-Tartarus. As always, reviews are appreciated, so if you read and liked this, let me know. ^_^