Work Text:
The rain was falling harder and harder. Yet nothing had hinted, just a few minutes earlier, at this sudden change where the sun would be hidden by thick black clouds.
Juvia stepped into the first shop she found. She had not brought anything to protect herself from the rain and was soaked to the bone. She felt as though the weather reflected her state of mind : gloomy, heavy, and melancholic.
Bora, her boyfriend, had broken up with her. He found her too gloomy, as if the rain followed her everywhere she went. She was too introverted and not sociable enough. And it annoyed him that she spoke about herself in the third person. But she could not help it. She had always been that way and thought he had accepted her as she was. She had been wrong. And once again, she felt abandoned, just as she always had throughout her life.
She looked around the place she had entered. It was a warm, cozy café, the opposite of the impersonal chains she usually went to. She immediately felt the gentle warmth of the place wrap around her. She sat at an empty table and looked at the menu of hot drinks, where the name of the café, Mira, was written in elegant letters. There were different kinds of coffees, chocolates, and teas. Everything seemed soothing.
“What would you like ?” A male voice asked.
“A cappuccino, please,” she replied without lifting her eyes from the menu.
She had chosen something simple. All she wanted was to go home as soon as the rain stopped.
“I’ll bring it right away.”
Two minutes later, a cup was placed in front of her, along with a small plate holding a madeleine. She smiled faintly when she saw, in the foam of the cappuccino, the clumsy drawing of a smiling sun.
She lifted her head toward the waiter. Her heart skipped a beat. Her cheeks flushed. He had black hair and black eyes, and a slightly sullen look even as he gave her a timid smile. She had never seen a man so handsome. She thanked him, and he nodded before returning behind the counter to serve other customers.
Juvia picked up the cup and brought it to her lips. She closed her eyes and took a sip. The warm liquid heated both her body, still aching from the cold rain, and her heart. She glanced at the window. The rain had stopped, and the sun was coming back.
******
In the days that followed, Juvia returned to the café, secretly hoping to see the waiter again. She had learned his name was Gray. Going to Mira had become the highlight of her day. She loved the atmosphere, watching the customers, some passing through, others regulars. She always sat at the same table, and each time, Gray brought her a coffee with a drawing in the foam. A clumsy, different drawing each time. A smiling sun, a leaf, a flower. He had even tried to draw a cat’s face, though it looked more like a guinea pig. He always had a kind word or a smile for her.
Since meeting him, she felt as though the rain had disappeared from her life. There was only sunshine now. Bright, like Gray’s smile.
******
The clouds were black. The rain would fall soon. Juvia had seen Bora with another girl. She never would have thought it would upset her so much. She was not in love with him anymore, but seeing him already with someone else hurt. He had moved on from their story so quickly, as if she had never mattered.
She entered the café. The familiar warmth of the place enveloped her instantly. She sat in her usual spot and looked out the window. The rain was falling. The sound of a cup being set on the table caught her attention. She looked up at Gray, who had just served her a cappuccino.
“Juvia didn’t order yet.”
“I know, but I felt like you needed one.”
He smiled at her and went back to work. Juvia looked at the cup and saw a little smiling sun. She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. A comforting warmth spread through her heart. She immediately felt better. Only Gray could make her feel that way.
She looked around. The place was almost empty. After a few minutes, the last customer left. She thought she should leave too. She didn’t want to bother Gray any longer. She stood up and walked to the counter to pay.
“Are you feeling better ?” He asked.
“Yes, much better.”
Mostly thanks to him, she thought. She looked at the various cups lined up on the counter. Gray followed her gaze and grimaced slightly.
“Mira asked me to practice the drawings,” he explained. “It’s the café’s specialty, and mine aren’t very good.”
“Juvia thinks they’re great !” She blurted out.
She blushed at her own enthusiasm. His drawings might not have been perfect, but they always made her smile and brightened her day. Gray gave her a small, crooked smile.
“Do you want to try ?”
Juvia hesitated. She wanted to try, but she had never been good at drawing and was sure it would be a disaster. Yet she nodded. It meant spending more time with Gray, and that thought alone made her heart beat a little faster.
He let her behind the counter, turned on the coffee machine, and filled two cups. He placed one in front of Juvia, handing her the tools she needed.
“Mira showed me how to do it, and she asks me to practice every day so it becomes perfect. It’s important to her.”
He showed her how to draw his little smiling sun.
“It’s the first drawing she taught me. Go on, try.”
Juvia tried to imitate his movements. She had never been so focused. She looked at her creation, which looked like anything but a sun.
“It’s terrible,” she said.
Gray looked at her cup.
“It’s much better than the first one I ever made.”
Juvia bit her lip to keep herself from smiling. She made another drawing, and she and Gray began to talk. She told him she was in her last year of university. He confided that he had been a hockey player and that an injury had ended his career before he could go professional.
“I spent my whole life on the ice,” he said. “When it all stopped, I had nothing left, and without degrees or experience, every door closed. Mirajane gave me a chance. She taught me everything. She became like an older sister.”
Juvia understood perfectly. Without Gajeel, her best friend, she would never have survived her years in the orphanage. She listened to Gray attentively. She felt privileged that he opened up to her. They continued talking about everything and nothing while drawing funny shapes in the foam.
******
Days passed, and Juvia spent more and more time with Gray. Her life felt brighter. With him, the rain no longer fell. Or rather, it still fell, but it no longer reached her.
It did not take her long to understand what was happening to her. She was in love. In love with his clumsiness, his timid smiles, the way he furrowed his brows when concentrating on a drawing in the foam. In love with the gentleness he hid behind his sullen expression. In love with the way he seemed to see her, truly see her, without judgment.
But she did not dare tell him yet. She did not want to lose what they shared, and after what had happened with Bora, she was afraid of getting hurt again. She did not want to relive abandonment, disappointment, the feeling of never being enough.
But she could not help analyzing Gray’s behavior toward her. He was more attentive, more smiling, warmer. He did not act the same way with other customers. He remembered details she had mentioned only once. He saved her favorite table for her. He always brought her a drawing in the foam, even when he was overwhelmed. Sometimes she caught him looking at her. A look he quickly turned away from, cheeks slightly flushed.
She hoped he felt the same way.
One day, her hopes were confirmed when he served her a cappuccino with hearts drawn in the foam. He handed her the cup while blushing, with an awkward smile. Juvia understood what he was trying to tell her.
She was no longer afraid, because he felt the same way she did.
The end