"Hey, Mira. Does it feel colder in here than usual?"
Mirajane looked up from wiping the bar, down to where Lucy was sat in front of a glass of water. Lucy smiled weakly, using her finger to draw lines on her glass where frost was appearing. Mira smiled sheepishly.
"It's freezing," the white-haired mage admitted. "It's been like this all day."
Lucy frowned, her eyes falling back down to her slowly freezing water. A large bang caused her to turn on her stool, her eyes meeting Natsu's as he began radiating flames.
"Lucy!" he yelled. "Come get warm! It's too cold in here."
Natsu grinned and he waved his hands in the air, causing sitting guildmates around him to duck in fear of getting burned. Happy circled above his friend, basking in the warmth the flames emitted.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, panic rising in her chest as she threw herself from her seat. "Natsu, you can't just start fires in the guild!"
Mira couldn't help but cover his hand in a giggle, watching Lucy's long blonde hair as she ran over to her teammate, annoyance on her face. Natsu groaned, complaining about the cold and asking how Lucy expected him to beat Erza or Gray if his muscles were cold and stiff.
Lucy sighed, realizing it wasn't a fight she could win, and instead just asked him to be careful. The dragon slayer laughed triumphantly, resuming his unintentional reign of terror on the guildmates around him. Erza would be here soon, and Lucy was sure the fiery mage would put an end to Natsu's rampage.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, the doors to the guild slammed open, and before the poor boy could figure out what was happening, Natsu was pinned to the ground by an irritated looking Erza. "Natsu!" Erza yelled. "You're going to set fire to the guild!"
Lucy chuckled to herself as she turned, satisfied the situation would be dealt with. On her way back to the bar, she witnessed Mirajane frown, watching the opposite corner of the room.
"I think I've found the source of the frost," Mira spoke, pointing. Lucy followed her gaze and found Gray sitting at a table by himself, his body rigid and tired. The celestial mage was filled with a soft concern for her teammate, and without a word to Mira, she felt her feet carry her toward him.
The air became icier with every step she took. "Gray?" Lucy called, nearing the dark haired boy. Gray didn't respond, lost in his own thought. The glass of water beside him was frozen solid, ice crystals forming before her eyes. Lucy forced herself to smile through her worry, moving to stand across from him at the table. "Gray," she called again, waving her hand in front of his face. "If you aren't careful, you're going to make it snow."
Whether it was the motion that caught his attention or what Lucy said, Gray's eyes suddenly lifted to see her staring down at him. He didn't say anything, but just breaking his train of thought raised the temperature around her considerably.
"Sorry," Gray murmured, looking over his shoulder. He glanced at Erza and Natsu, who were still bickering loudly about the dangers of a household fire and whether or not Natsu was willing to rebuild the guild again if it went up in flames. "Did I start that?"
Lucy nervously laughed. "Possibly," she said. "But let's be honest; Natsu would have started a fight anyway."
Gray didn't react to Lucy's feeble attempt to make him smile. Instead, he sighed, lowering his head and running his hands across his face. "It's cold, right? Sorry, I'll try and pay better attention."
Lucy frowned. "What's wrong, Gray?" she asked, sitting down across from him. "You don't usually zone out like this."
Gray shook his head, doing his best to give her his trademark grin. "Hey, don't worry Luce," he paused, pointing his thumb at his chest. "I'm just fine."
At that moment, Happy collided with the back of Gray's head. Natsu was sitting beside Lucy a moment later, and then Erza was there, and everything became very loud again. Gray yelled at Natsu and Happy for causing such a fuss, Natsu told Gray it was his fault for freezing the guild out, and Erza began yelling over both of them around a piece of cake. Gray was suddenly shirtless and Natsu was fired up. Things were returning to normal.
Lucy sighed, watching as the three began fighting and noting the temperature in the room was still rather cold.
Lucy walked home with Plue later that night, balancing on the stone wall set against the river. Two fishing men in a boat warned her to be careful, and she smiled, assuring them she always was.
The blonde lifted her arms for balance. "What do you think, Plue?" she asked the spirit. Plue made a small noise as he trembled along behind her, his limbs stiff and straight.
"Gray was acting funny today," Lucy continued, as if Plue had actually given an intelligible response. "I'm a bit worried about him. I mean, he usually doesn't zone out, and with the way his body was radiating the cold I'm worried that maybe he's going through something."
Lucy continued this talk with herself all the way up to her front door, and Plue listened diligently; that was why Lucy loved him so much. He loved to just listen. "I don't know, Plue. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Besides, Gray is only human; he's allowed to have bad days."
Just as Lucy turned the knob and pushed, the door was suddenly ripped open from the other side. The girl let out a shriek as her balance was lost, the ground rushing under her as she moved her arms to brace for impact—
"Easy, Luce."
Lucy opened her eyes and found herself a foot away from making contact with her wooden floors. She could feel an arm around her waist lifting her back to her feet, coming face to face with a pair of dark, onyx eyes.
"G-Gray?" Lucy felt her lips move before she could stop them, surprise in her voice. Gray released her, drawing his arms back to his side and taking a step back, giving the blonde space to recuperate. Lucy reached for the door to steady herself, frowning at the shirtless boy in her living space.
"You almost ate a face full of floor," Gray teased, pushing his hair back from his face as he smirked. Lucy frowned, sending Plue back to the spirit world and shutting her apartment door.
"Ha ha," the celestial mage spoke dryly, hiding her face as blood flushed her cheeks. "Where's Natsu and Erza?"
Gray shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "It's just me tonight," he assured her, running his hand across his mostly bare chest. His shirt was discarded on the floor a ways from them, and almost his entire torso was covered in bandages from our last job. Only a small amount of his guild mark was peeking out from underneath the ragged white fabric. Lucy couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. She was always trying to be a better wizard, but sometimes she felt she was a hinderance to her teammates. Their injuries were often times a reflection of her inadequacies.
Lucy shook the thoughts. "So what brings you here alone, Gray?" she asked, moving past him to her bed. The ice maker shrugged quietly, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets.
"I don't know, really," Gray told her honestly. "I really just..." he trailed off, watching Lucy flop down on her bed. "I don't wanna be alone right now."
The blonde could feel the air around her chill, and she frowned, nodding. "Here!" she jumped up, moving to her bathroom. "Let me change your bandages."
Gray winced, following her. "Is it gonna hurt?"
He watched the smaller girl fumble with a bottle of antiseptic and a roll of bandages. Gray quickly caught her falling armful, unable to hide a smile at her clumsiness. Lucy blushed again, feeling embarrassed at her eagerness to be of help to her friend. Her heart hurt when she looked at him; he seemed somewhat detached, despite his normal disposition, and she wanted to do anything to make him feel better.
"Sit on the bed," she insisted, grabbing a cloth to help her clean his wounds again. Gray hesitated, and then did as he was told, crossing his legs and sitting with his back to Lucy. She sat gingerly behind him, beginning the slow and tedious process of removing the tattered bandages.
Gray winced in pain every minute or two, or drew in a sharp breath. Lucy apologized quietly, and Gray shook his head, his hand gripping the pink bed sheets. As Lucy continued to undress his wounds, Gray grew quieter and quieter. Lucy felt goosebumps rise as the temperature dropped again. She was silent, her eyes scanning the scrapes, cuts, burns, and bruises on his back.
"How much does it hurt?" Lucy finally asked, but Gray stayed silent. The final bits of wrapping came off, and Lucy began to clean the deeper cuts, being as gentle as possible with his open skin. Gray didn't move. He hadn't moved in a while, and the silence hung thick in the air between their bodies.
"Okay," Lucy said, a few minutes later. "Turn around. I need to get the ones on your chest."
Gray was stuck, it seemed, and Lucy was getting sick with worry. She sighed, moving her things and sitting in front of him, taking his chin in her hand and forcing him to look up at her. His eyes finally met her, and something seemed to click between them. Lucy watched him carefully.
"Gray."
His dark eyes seemed to become darker, and he pulled his knees closer to his chest, holding them there. "It's just hard," Gray whispered. Lucy felt relief flood her chest; at least he was talking to her. "It's lonely, y'know? I'm tired, and I feel... disconnected."
Lucy sat down, gently pulling his knees down and beginning to clean his wounds again. "I've been thinking about Ur a lot," he spoke. "And Lyon. And my family. And things just seem..."
"Cold?" Lucy whispered. Gray flushed red.
"I don't like talking about it," his voice was small, unusually soft. "Especially since the island. But you guys... you, Natsu, Erza, even Happy... you guys are all I have. I want to protect you, and– well, what if I can't?"
Lucy listened, dropping the rag and grabbing the bandages. She began wrapping him up again, prompting him to hold his arms up to make it easier.
"Things were different before you," he continued. "Things were much darker. My life was consumed with Deliora and anger towards people around me. Erza and Natsu it seemed were the only ones really looking out for me," his voice seemed to break. "And we were all so different, and they had so much to deal with on their own. But now, it's like I've got..."
Lucy stopped his emotional rambling, putting a hand on his arm. "Like you've got family again," she finished. "I know."
Gray looked away from her, obviously embarrassed he'd said so much. "Gray, it's okay to want to talk about these things," Lucy began. "You can't always be strong and silent and broody. Sometimes you have to be squishy."
Gray let out a quiet laugh. "I thought you were the squishy one."
Lucy rolled her eyes, smacking his shoulder. "I think Happy is the squishy one."
They both laughed a little, though the feeling of things unsaid still hung in the room. Gray hesitated, and as if in a moment of confidence, took Lucy's hand. "I care about you," he spoke, too nervous and upset to meet her eyes. "And... I don't know. We've had some close calls on these last few missions, and I just don't want you, any of you, to think I don't."
Lucy's body fluttered. She smiled her most genuine smile, and took his face in her hand. "I care about you too, Gray," she said. "We all do. Don't ever forget that, okay?"
Gray cracked a small smile, and he nodded. "Okay."
They sat like that for a minute, just watching each other, before Lucy's brain caught up with her heart, and a blush spread across her cheeks. She quickly made to get up, but Gray caught her arm, pulling her into a hug. The action startled Lucy, as it was definitely not like him, but she wasn't upset by it; her heart made a small jump at the feeling.
"Thank you," Gray whispered into her hair. Lucy wrapped her arms around him, smiling to herself.
And suddenly, the room felt warmer...