Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns the rights to Fairy tail and all it's amazing characters.
A/N: So this is my first time ever doing a prompt week, I hope you like (sorry if it's not a pairing you're particularly found of but oh well) and as always please leave me a review to tell me what you think.
"It's freezing in here." I complained as I pulled a jacket on to keep my shoulders warm. I couldn't believe how cold it was for late spring time, normally by now I could break out the strappy tops and miniskirts once again and put my winter leggings and tights away. The guild hall was so cold that you could see condensation appear every time you breathed and Magnolia was still covered in a blanket of snow. The only ones still loving this weather were the children, as they could still build snowmen and have snowball fights.
"I agree, Lu-chan." Levy mumbled from her position next to me. We were huddling closer to share body heat and try not to freeze to death. Where was Natsu when you needed him? He was the only one not affected by this cold spell and had been acting as the guilds personal heating system whenever we hadn't been away on job requests. "More so than normal."
"Yeah, it's been getting colder and colder for the past few days now." Cana slurred from her usual spot at the bar. I glanced over at the buxom woman who was one of my closet female friends, next to Levy. The woman really was the most indecent person around but I couldn't help but love her like a sister, especially after all we'd been through together.
"You say that yet you're still only wearing a bikini top." I chided playfully, pulling my jacket closer around me as the temperature dropped even more. How on earthland could it get any colder?!
"Ah well, you see the alcohol keeps me warmer, ya know." She hiccupped before taking another swig from her beer barrel. Jeez, how does her liver cope? Unless her blood has turned to alcohol with the sheer amount she drinks every day so that her internal organs don't have to bother with the strain. Actually, that hypothesis wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it was proved true one day.
"Then don't go hogging all the booze to yourself, drunk." Gajeel hollered from his spot beside Levy. To which we both covered our ears and shot him a very dirty look, he merely chuckled at us unapologetically and got up to go pester Cana for alcohol.
"I see the cold isn't effecting everyones usual cheer." Master smiled, walking through the big double doors followed by Gray and Erza.
"Welcome home." We all called out. They had been gone for the last week due to the magic council needing to sort some business with the master about the two mages who had gone with him. Nothing bad though which was unusual, instead it was for some other reason that hadn't been disclosed to us yet.
"Gray, Erza." I waved to my teammates, and motioned for them to join us at our table. I smiled brightly at them and waved Mira over so the two could order themselves something to eat and drink if they wanted.
"Gosh it's colder than I remember." Erza shivered. I nodded at my red haired friend and watched as she requipped into a much warmer outfit. Seeing Erza use her magic never seized to amaze me, it truly was a handy ability to have at your disposal and it made getting ready so much easier.
"How did it go?" I asked eager to know. "Did they want to conduct illegal experiments on you?"
"Where do you get those ideas from, Lucy." Erza chided, shaking her head. "They most certainly did not, as if the council would condone such a thing."
"I think she was joking with us." Gray chuckled, rolling his eyes at Titania and her lack of humour. "But to answer your question, it went well enough they merely wanted some help to figure out a string of unusual weather fronts."
"You mean like the one that's currently freezing us?" Levy piped up from beside me. Her lips were almost as blue as her hair and I had to admit most of us were starting to turn blue from the cold. I know my lips and hands definitely were.
"Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be a magical phenomenon, just a freak of nature type deal." Gray replied, accepting his mug of whiskey from Mira and sipping on it slowly.
"Awww." Levy pouted, before standing up. "Well with that depressing news I think I'll take my leave. My body is in desperate need of a long soak in a hot bath with a good book."
"Ok Levy-chan, have a safe trip back home." I smiled at my best friend as she exited Fairytail. I knew what she meant though, I had been thinking the same thing that I could kill for a long spell in my lovely warm bath but instead of reading a good book, I would be mentally working on how to write the next part of my latest novel.
"Wait, I shall accompany you home." Erza called before following the solid script mage out of the guild.
This left Gray and myself alone at the table, which was never a bad thing. I mean he was a hunk and easy to be around. We got on like a house on fire and I admit he was the easiest of my teammates to get along with. Erza was great to be around but she was always so serious and that made it hard to let loose with her at times. Natsu...well him and I got on like a house on fire too but I didn't think he was as easy going as Gray and I viewed him more as my, annoying, little brother because a lot of the time I just wanted to smack the dude over the back of the head for the amount of stupid ideas he came up with.
"So did I miss anything big while I was away?" He asked, his shirt disappearing into the crowd. I took in the view before discreetly averting my eyes. One upside to being an ice wizard I suppose was no aversion to the cold.
"Nothing major, that springs to mind just the fact that we have all been freezing our tail feathers off here." I retorted as his pants flew off. "Um, Gray your clothes."
"What the?! Not again." He yelped and ran off in search of his missing belongings. I merely giggled and admired the view as he bent down to pick them up and put them back on.
"You really are hopeless, at times you know." I laughed, as the ice wizard came to sit back down a flustered blush covering his cheeks. Wow he looks even cuter like that.
"Shut up will ya." He grumbled, downing the last of his whiskey. "So any plans for a job?"
"Well Natsu said he'd picked one but never showed up today." I smiled. "But its no biggie I've already covered my rent for the month and had leftover jewels to live off."
"How?" Gray stared at me in bewilderment. I couldn't blame him, I was usually freaking out over covering my rent each month.
"Levy teamed up with me for a job." I explained. This seemed to satisfy him and so we fell into a comfortable silence before Gajeel and Elfman got into an argument which caused the whole guild to erupt into its usual lively brawling self. And of course Gray went and joined in the fray.
"It's a good way to keep warm I suppose." I sighed, resting my chin in my hands as I watched the chaos. I know moving helps keep you warm but I'm not sure how fighting and possibly getting injured was a good thing. Nope I'd much rather stick to my original plan of soaking in a hot bubble bath. With that in mind I stood up from my seat, dodged the various on coming magical and physical attacks and headed out.
I pulled my jacket around me tighter as I entered the outside air, it was even colder out here. The sky was grey and thick with clouds that looked ready to cover us in even more snow. I will admit the town looked gorgeous in the white powdery flakes, giving it an even more magical feeling that it usually had, but I had had enough! The ground was treacherous to walk on, black ice was everywhere and made getting anywhere near impossible without sustaining some form of injury. I mean just this morning when I'd decided to risk going to the guild, I'd fallen 12 times and I'd had my most sturdy winter walking boots on.
"Lucy wait up!" I looked behind me to see who was calling my name, to see Gray coming after me.
"What's up?" I inquired, wondering if something was wrong. It was unusual for the raven haired man to come after me if I felt the guild hall, but breaking into my house a few hours afterwards wasn't so uncommon.
"I thought because of how icy it is I'd walk you home." He replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I heard from Mira you've been hurting yourself with how bad the roads are at the moment."
"Thats sweet of you to offer, but I should be ok." I said, mentally cursing Mira for spilling that piece of information. What was that demon barmaid up to?
"Well I may as well, there's no decent jobs on the board and who could resist walking such a lovely lady home." He winked at me before hitting me with that charming smile/smirk of his.
"If you insist." I giggled, smiling back. With that sorted we both started to head in the direction of Strawberry Street. It twice as long as normal as I was been extra careful where I put each of my feet, testing the ground thoroughly before putting my full weight down. Gray never once complained about the slow pace, unlike Natsu, who when he'd walked me back had complained the whole time about what a slow poke I was being.
"Careful Lucy." Gray called, as I felt my foot slip out from under me and my body start to fall backwards. Oh no, this was going to hurt! I shut my eyes to try and ignore that pain that would soon be coursing through my back, but it never came. "I got you."
"Th..thanks." I mumbled, feeling my face turn pink at the fact that Gray had saved me. Not that he didn't save me from time to time on missions, but somehow this time it felt much more intimate. He was so close to me and staring into my eyes and I was staring back. Time seemed as if it didn't want us to part and from the signs I was getting Gray didn't seem to want to let go of me. "Um, Gray."
"Oh yeah sorry." He coughed as he helped me back up onto my feet. My cheeks were still pink as I brushed the snow off from my legs and I hoped I could play it off as they were that colour due to the cold and not due to the fact that I'd enjoyed the close contact from my crush. I mean I doubt Gray saw me as anything more than a fellow nakama...but I wasn't sure about that anymore.
"It's okay." I smiled, trying to act like my usual self and not let my nervousness show. "Shall we continue?"
"Yeah." He replied and we fell back into step with each other.
"But this is why I don't like the cold." I complained, as I slipped for the 3 time in the space of a matter of minutes. "It's a death trap!"
"The colds not that bad." Gray chuckled as he steady me. "I mean if it wasn't for this weather I'd never normally get the chance to put my hands all over you."
"Gray." I gasped, my blush turning my face a new shade of red. Ok maybe he did see me as more than a nakama after all.
"What theres no need to be surprised, I've been dropping hints at you for a while now." He replied, keeping his hand on my arm as we looked at each other. Luckily we weren't far from my building so if things went wrong I'd be able to escape quickly, but the other half of my brain was screaming in happiness. So I hadn't been reading the signs wrong after all.
"But I thought...I thought you liked Juvia." I muttered looking down at a pile of snow that had been created by my slip.
"Juvia's nice and a great nakama but I don't see her in a romantic way and anyway I've had my eye on you since you first joined the guild." He smiled pulling me into a hug. "Why else would I agree to keep working with that pyro." He whispered into my ear.
I was speechless, here I was in the arms of the man I'd had a crush on for so long, being confessed to and all I could think was 'Is this a dream?' Oh right I should probably respond.
"Do you mean it." I whispered back hesitantly wrapping my arms around his torso to return the hug. I didn't care if this was a dream I was too happy.
"I don't lie." Was his reply. I pulled back from the hug and gave him my best smile, before we finished off the short distance to my house. We never once let go of each others hand.
" Thanks for walking me back and you know you might be right, this cold weather might not be so bad." I leaned in and kissed the boy's cool cheek and winked before closing the door to my building and sighing quietly. Yes, maybe the cold could be a good thing after all.