Gruvia

Gruvia is the het ship between Gray Fullbuster and Juvia Lockser from the Fairy Tail fandom.

Canon
Grey and Juvia share a very close friendship that has developed across their time together in the Fairy Tail guild. Many guild members have been made aware of how much Juvia is in love with Gray and some, such as Erza and Lucy, have talked to Gray about what he will do regarding Juvia’s feelings. At one point, Gray’s father believes Juvia to be his girlfriend and by the end of the Alvarez Arc, Lucy states that Gray and Juvia have become a couple.

Initially, the two were enemies when Phantom Lord was at war with Fairy Tail. They first met as Gray stormed Phantom Lord’s mobile fortress along with other members of Fairy Tail. Immediately, Juvia developed feelings for Gray wished to surrender, and even attempted to walk away whilst blushing. Due to the sudden onset of emotions for Juvia, the battle devolved itself into comic relief, with Juvia switching between love and hatred for Gray. Eventually, Gray won and was able to save Juvia from falling to her death, which cemented her feelings for him. Although Juvia’s love for Gray is apparent, she briefly hated him when Gray unwittingly hurt her feelings by complaining about the rain falling around them. This stems from Juvia’s inability to control her magic powers, resulting in perpetual rain surrounding her wherever she goes, something she has been derided for all her life. However, this soon subsides after she is defeated by him and the shock of her defeat, in conjunction with her feelings for Grey, allows the rain around her to cease, with Juvia seeing a clear blue sky for the first time in her life.

When Juvia officially joins Fairy Tail, alongside Gajeel, she becomes a partner to Gray in a similar way that Lucy is a partner for Natsu, however, she does not join Team Natsu. Her feelings for Gray are constantly on display, becoming hostile around other women who are friends with him, such as Lucy and Erza, constantly referring to them as her love rivals. She can be described as a “yandere”, as she often stalks Gray and has even collected a large amount of Gray memorabilia. Frequently, she will attempt to get Gray’s attention and will try to enact plans for him to start loving her, which normally ends in failure. However, despite the comedic nature of her love, it is absolutely genuine, with Erza herself commenting that Juvia’s biggest strength is her love for Gray, and she has shown she is willing to sacrifice herself for him on numerous occasions. She has also displayed a masochistic behaviour towards him, as she occasionally seeks to be ‘punished’ by him. During the time skip, she lived with Gray for about six months where they ate and trained together, something she was very boastful about, before he disappeared.

Her dedication to Gray has been shown numerous times. When Gray was about to be attacked by Simon, she uses her water body to protect him whilst he leaves a ice dummy of himself for Simon to attack. Whilst on Tenrou Island, Juvia loses her sanity when Meredy threatens to kill Gray, such was her rage she even intimidated Erza. When Gray dies in front of her during the dragon invasion on Fiore, she falls into complete despair, feeling crushed at losing him and can only cry out his name. During her fight with Keyes, she is contacted by Gray’s father, Silvers, via telepathy, who requests that she kill Keyes to prevent FACE from happening, even though that would mean his own death. Juvia, distraught at having to inflict such a great pain on Gray, ultimately kills Keyes whilst in tears, hoping that he will forgive her. Before passing on, Silvers tells her to look after Gray to which she tearfully replies she will. Following the battle, she confronts Gray and tells him she is responsible for his father’s ultimate death and believes she has lost the right to love him. When she and Gray are chained by ice lock whilst fighting Invel, she chose to attempt suicide in order to free Gray and subsequently tells Gray that her life belongs to him.

For the longest time, Gray remains cold and distant towards Juvia, finding her somewhat annoying. Nonetheless, he tolerated her presence and saw her as a good friend and a fellow guild mate. As such, he is more than willing to come to her aid whenever she needs it and has saved her on numerous occasions, such as when they first met and when Ultear tried to kill her. Despite Gray’s normally stoic demeanour, he often reacts in a comical way to some of Juvia’s actions towards him. Whenever Juvia gets drunk, she immediately latches onto him, with Gray getting flustered when her chest presses against him. Over time, Gray comes to see Juvia as a big part of his life and often sits with her in the guild hall (although normally because Juvia comes to him). He appreciates her attempts to always cheer him up and the advice she can offer whenever he is feeling troubled. When his childhood friend, Lyon Vastia, flirts with Juvia and unabashedly tries to make her his, Gray notably becomes defensive of her and arguably somewhat jealous. Amusingly, Lyon appears to start playing the role of accelerating Gray’s relationship with Juvia, despite his own feelings for her.

By the time of the Tartaros Arc, Gray has come to see Juvia as one of his closest friends and appears to have some romantic interest in her. Whilst riding back towards the guild, he allows Juvia to clutch around his waist tightly and holds her hand when she expresses concern about the upcoming battle, telling Juvia that he is here with her. Just before he casts “Ice Shell”, which would kill him, he thinks of all his guild mates, including Juvia, who calls out his name in a loving way. Following his father’s death, and the revelation that Juvia played the fundamental role in his demise, Gray appears to be furious, but in actuality he breaks down in tears and thanks her for giving his father peace. He then cries into her chest whilst she holds him. He was willing to spend time alone with her for half a year before Erza assigned him a mission that forced him to leave Juvia. Their relationship is highlighted heavily in the Alvarez Arc, and is contrasted with Natsu and Lucy’s relationship. As when he believed Juvia had died he flew into a rage and eventually clashed with Natsu, who was in his E.N.D form as a result of believing Lucy had also died.

His love for Juvia is heavily implied when he was chained to her via an ice lock and he chose to attempt suicide in order to free her. When Juvia did the same, and seemingly died, Gray becomes inconsolable and holds onto her tightly. He becomes even more distraught when Juvia uses her last amount of magic to repair the wound he inflicted on himself. The experience of almost losing Juvia devastated Gray and he openly expressed his guilt for not taking her love for him seriously, begging her to open her eyes. Following the battle against Acnologia, whilst attending the ceremony in Lucy’s honour, Gray tells Juvia, after numerous guild members ogle at Juvia’s body, that she belongs to him, implying that he now accepts her as his other half. Whilst on the 100 Year Quest, Gray and the rest stumble onto a celebrity guild called “Fairy Nail”, a counterpart to their own guild, where he meets Juvia’s lookalike, Juvina. Later, he goes on a “date” with Juvina and talks to her about Juvia, reflecting on the relationship he has with her and concluding that he must become someone that is worthy of her. At one point, whilst talking about the idea of romantic love, he immediately thinks of Juvia and smiles whilst blushing.

The two have excellent teamwork and have often fought battles together. Very early on, their ability to work together was shown to be almost natural and their magic has proven to be very compatible for each other, with Gray using ice magic and Juvia using water magic. Such is their team work, they are among a rare group of people who have successfully performed a Unison Raid, a notoriously difficult attack performed by two people merging their magic together, something that can only be done by mages who wield similar magic. The relationship between them has been noted by Meredy, as she created a sensory link between herself, Gray and Juvia, which she stated could only be possible if Gray and Juvia shared an extremely close bond.

Fanon
Gruvia is a highly popular ship among the Fairy Tail fandom and is typically shipped alongside NaLu, with both ships being seen as the foremost couples of the series. Gruvia's rival ship is GrayLu.

The pair gained quick popularity because of Juvia's love for Gray. Originally, whilst some might have found Juvia's obsession with Gray off putting, a lot of fans ultimately found it endearing and amusing. Eventually, as the series progressed, the popularity of Gruvia increased as Juvia began to show a sincere love for Gray, whilst Gray himself developed feelings for Juvia and eventually fell in love with her.

Fairy Tail author, Hiro Mashima, on his twitter page, regularly posts Gruvia content alongside NaLu, Jerza and Gale. Fans of the ship celebrate Gruvia day on the 10th September, with Mashima also celebrating Gruvia day on his twitter page.

Gruvia is of the original Gray and Luvia, whilst Edo Gruvia focuses on Edolas Gray x Edolas Juvia.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * In 2017, at a New York Comic Con event, Fairy Tail author, Hiro Mashima, drew Gray and Juvia's child for a fan. He later posted fanart of their son, alongside Natsu and Lucy's daughter, on his twitter.
 * Mashima drew Gray and Juvia, alongside their son, in a family portrait at a festival in France, 2018.
 * The ship officially became canon at the end of the main series, when Gray told Juvia that she belongs to him and Lucy, through inner dialogue, referred to them as a couple.
 * Gruvia is paralleled significantly with NaLu, especially in the final arc of the series. This is due to Gray and Natsu being major protagonists of the series whilst Juvia and Lucy are their partners (platonically speaking).
 * On the cover of chapter 532, titled "I Can no Longer See Love", Gray and Juvia can be seen together in their own panel, with the other panels showing canon/semi-canon couples such as Natsu and Lucy, Gajeel and Levy, Erza and Jellal, and Zeref and Mavis.
 * Juvia's Japanese voice actress, Mai Nakahara, has shown approval for Gruvia when she responded with enthusiasm to one of Mashima's drawings depicting the pair.
 * In the anime, it was predicted by an Eisenwald member that Gray's near future would have women and water (Juvia being a water mage).