Hello eevryone! :D Now I know this isn't the next chappie for 'Read me a book about a Prince' BUT It is another Fairy Tail story. This time, GrayLu. Though it's only a one-shot, but whatever!
Dedicated to: kaahthemarshmello
This is for you Kaity! I hope you like it! :3 I've been meaning to write you a story, and I finally did it. And it's not Yaoi! It's GrayLu :) I hope you like it!
Warning, Contains Fluffyness & sappyness XD If you don't like it then...don't read it? Makes sense to me! :)
-I do not Own Fairy Tail! Nor the characters, or a Zoo for that matter...
I sighed as I sat at the bar table in the guild. It was another boring day. Natsu and Happy had gone on a mission a few days ago with Erza, and Levy had gone with Jet and Droy to another town over to some festival. They had invited me, but I was expecting Natsu to ask me to go on a mission with him, so I turned them down. Only realizing now it was a stupid idea.
I let out another sigh, making this one a little louder so the bartender, Mirajane heard it.
"What's wrong Lucy?" She asked, leaning over the wooden counter. She had a sweet smile on her face, as usual.
I pouted, feeling it was the only way to express how I felt. Mira only blinked at my face.
"I'm so bored!" I finally said, extending my arms out and waving them frantically. The white haired mage only chuckled to herself.
"Why don't you go on a mission then Lucy?" Mira pointed over to the request board. I turned to look at the board. I didn't really feel like taking a mission today, but it was probably the only thing I could do to not be bored anymore. I sighed again, this time out of frustration.
"What's wrong Lucy?" A none too familiar voice spoke up from behind me. It was a cool and crisp voice, and I knew without looking who it was. Gray.
"When did you get back?" I asked, turning around in my seat to come face to face with Gray and all his half nude glory.
"And where's your shirt?" I added.
The ice mage blinked and then looked down at his bare chest.
"When did that happen?" He scratched his cheek as if thinking back to when exactly he had taken off his shirt. He quickly recovered, shaking his head, and went back to his original question.
"So what's with all the sighing?" Gray asked, placing his bag down on the floor and taking the seat next to me.
"Lucy is bored and can't think of anything to do." Mira smiled brightly, answering for me. I puffed up my cheeks.
"You could go on a mission." Gray said, causing me to come face to face with the counter top.
"Or you could not..." Gray said, understanding that wasn't what I wanted to do.
"Mira!" someone called, the bartender nodded to her new costumer and then gave Gray and me a goodbye and good luck smile before leaving to tend to the other members of the guild.
"So..." Gray said awkwardly. I slowly picked my head up off the counter to look at him. He was staring straight ahead with his arms crossed over his now clothed chest. I never understood how he got his clothes back so quickly.
"How was your mission?" I decided to ask, feeling as though I owed him that. He usually sat and listened to me when I talked about my missions, so it only seemed fair.
"It was good, thanks for asking." He smiled down at me. I returned the smile. However our smiles only lasted so long. An odd silence quickly filled the empty space between us. Minutes pasted before either of us said anything.
"Do you...wanna do something with me then?" Gray coughed out the words. I was a little surprised at first, but I decided in the end that spending time with Gray wouldn't be so bad.
"I'd love to." I turned to him, giving him my best smile.
-x-x-
"Lucy, you ready yet?" Gray's voice came from outside of my door. After leaving the guild, Gray had gone home to drop off his things and I went home to change. Not that it's a date, because it's not! Just friends hanging out. But I still wanted to look nice.
"I'm ready!" I opened the wooden door widely to see Gray leaning on the wall, eyes closed and arms crossed.
"Awesome." He smiled, standing up straight. I looked him over quickly, noticing that he had also changed...and showered? Did I take that long to get ready that he had enough time to shower too! I shook off the thought and locked my door before joining Gray in leaving the building.
"So what do you want to do?" I asked, walking shoulder to shoulder with Gray. He didn't say anything, just kept walking, looking straight ahead.
I figured he had something already thought out so I decided to just go with the flow as well.
"Have you ever been to Magnolia's zoo?" Gray asked out of the blue. I gave it a moment's thought. In the full two years I had been in Fairy Tail I had never once gone to the Magnolia zoo. So I shook my head indicating that my answer was 'no'.
"You can't say that after today." Gray smiled down at me, causing my stomach to flutter in an odd way. It was comforting, but very strange. I never noticed this about Gray, but his smile was beautiful, almost breath taking.
"R-right." I managed to say before Gray grabbed my hand and started running. I stumbled at first but quickly started running with him.
-x-x-
"Here we are!" Gray stopped running and pointed up to a large sign that read 'Magnolia Zoo'.
I panted, trying to catch my breath after running half way around town. But once I recovered, I looked up at the sign and then over at Gray.
"Wow..." I breathed out. Gray chuckled.
"Let's go." He said, dragging me past the gates and into the zoo itself. He still held my hand and it felt warm and tingly. A lot different than I had thought his hands would feel like. Not that I thought about his hands on an everyday basis, but he's an ice mage, you'd think his whole body would be cold. Right?
Once we were inside the gates we walked over to the ticket booth, Gray bought both of our tickets which surprised me a little. I thanked him and he said it was no problem.
"Where would you like to go first?" Gray leaned down, glancing at the map of the zoo. It was very big and each species of animal had a different area where they lived. I took a quick peek at the map and decided.
"Let's go see the monkeys first!" Gray laughed at my outburst, but nodded and then we headed to where the monkeys lived.
On our way we passed random animals that didn't really have a 'place' where they fit in. Gray pointed out a camel; it was carrying a few kids on its back. And then we passed a pin that held a peacock. It was male, and very beautiful. I starred in awe at how radiant the bird was.
After passing a few more animals we finally reached the monkey area. It was a large room with cages lining the walls, each cage held a different kind of monkey from all over the world. I laughed, watching as some of the monkeys put on a show for the people in the room.
"Hey Gray, this one looks like you!" I pointed to a dark coloured monkey that sat by itself, drinking some water.
"No it doesn't." Gray said, coming up behind me. He stood over me, looking into the cage.
"That one looks more like me." He pointed out another darkly coloured monkey. However this one was grinning to the other monkeys. He was flexing whatever muscles a monkey could have.
I laughed.
"Oh my gosh, that one looks like Natsu!" I yelled, pointing to a lighter monkey that seemed to be glaring at the monkey Gray had pointed out. The Natsu-like monkey had a puffy patch of fur around its neck, almost resembling Natsu's scarf. Gray laughed at how much the animal looked like his rival.
-x-x-
Gray and I had spent a good chunk of the afternoon looking at the different animals and interacting with the few that you could interact with.
When we went to the pidgin and bird area we got to feed a few of the birds. Gray had gotten pooped on by a flock of birds. The lady that worked at the zoo apologized a million times, but I laughed as Gray's hair turned an odd shade of yellow and white. He only twitched as the goo in his hair slide down onto his shoulder and down his back.
Gray had cleaned himself up in the restroom that the zoo had for the customers and then we had gone to see the felines.
We passed all kinds of tigers and lions, Gray had even pointed one out the acted a lot like Loki. It was a lion that had many other lionesses surrounding it.
"It must be a lion thing." He joked.
The time passed by in a flash. After visiting all the animals and having a snack break, the zoo was closing so Gray and I had to leave.
"That was a lot of fun." I said as we excited the zoo.
"Yeah it was. We should do it again sometime." Gray said smoothly.
"Well...now what?" I asked, feeling a little awkward now that our zoo adventure was over. Gray sighed then scratched the back of his neck.
"You hungry for some ice cream?" He asked, looking down at me. I nodded. Ice cream sounds good.
Gray held out his hand and I looked at it. My stomach flipped and fluttered like it did earlier that day. I slowly reached my hand out and put it in his. My cheeks felt warm when I touched his hand, but I ignored it. It couldn't have meant what I thought it meant. It wasn't possible...
"Lucy?"
"Y-yeah!" I shot out of my thoughts and looked up into Gray's coal coloured eyes. They were smooth, like his voice and they sparkled in the light of the setting sun.
"Thank you for coming with me." He said. This time it wasn't my stomach that flipped. It was my heart this time. It began pounding loudly in my ears and it sped up its pace.
"Uh...R-right..." I gave him the best smile I could manage.
Gray squeezed my hand a little and then began walking down the street towards an ice cream stand. I followed behind him slowly, watching our intertwined hands carefully.
'Do I like Gray?' I asked myself. 'D-does he like me?'.I thought back on the past two years. Gray never really seemed interested in me, but maybe I was too blind to see it. He always listened to me when I complained; he also knew exactly what to get me for Christmas and my birthday. He may not have been the one to save me when I was kidnapped the few times it happened, but he was there. And he was the one to ask if I was okay. He helped me when I was sick from attempting to challenge Cana in a drinking contest. He was always there.
Gray and I approached an ice cream stand and waited in line patiently. Neither of us spoke. I was too consumed in my own thoughts to start a conversation, and Gray seemed too distracted as well to speak.
The line shortened and we finally made it to the front.
"What kind do you want Lucy?" Gray asked, looking at the choices in the cart. I did the same, scanning the flavours carefully, making sure not to puck something I didn't like.
"Cookie dough." I said, pointing to the tub that read 'cookie dough'.
"Good choice, alright two cookie dough's then." Gray said to the man at the stand. The man grunted and proceeded to scoop both mine and Gray's cone. Gray watched the man and I watched Gray. He had a smile on his face, and his eyes were big and happy.
"Thank you." Gray said taking to two scooped cones from the man and handing one to me.
"Thank you Gray." I said quietly. He nodded.
"...Gray?"
"Yeah?"
"Do...you like me?" I asked, feeling like I had to figure out these mixed feelings between us.
"And I don't just mean like a friend..." I added before he could say anything. Making sure he understood exactly what I was asking him.
"I do..." He said simply and calmly.
"Do you like me back?" He asked,, making me jump. I wasn't sure what I felt.
"I don't know...I think I do...My heart skips when you're around. And you make me smile, a lot. And I love when you're around, not just because you care about what I say or do, but because you make really nice company. I like that you listen to me, and that you did this with me." I said, taking small pauses in between to let him know how he made me feel.
"Lucy...-
"I don't know if that means I love you, but I do like you. Maybe more than a friend, maybe not...But I want you to know that you are important to me." I finished.
"I wasn't sure at first either." Gray said after a minute or two of silence. He looked at me with caring eyes.
"Lucy, I know it's not easy figuring out feelings and all that junk, but I just want you to know. I'll wait for you. And if one day you decide that you like me back, then good, but if you decide you don't then I'll move on. But I want you to know that right now, I love you and no one is going to change that, unless you say otherwise." He smiled. I felt tears sting my eyes. And in a quick movement, I had dropped my ice cream cone and threw my arms his neck. I hugged him tightly, trying to tell him how much it meant to me. How much he meant to me.
"Gray..." I sobbed out.
He chuckled, dropping his cone too and wrapping his arms around my waist.
"It's alright, don't cry." He rubbed my back soothingly. I only pulled him closer to me, hiding my face in his shoulder.
"I think I know now..."
"And?" He asked.
"...Gray I love you." I said, earning a grin from my ice mage.
"I'm glad you do." He said, pushing me just enough away that he could lean down and kiss me.
Oh yes, I can make any pairing a cheesy mess! X3 haha, I hope you all enjoyed my first GrayLu fic. :) I may write more sometime.
To Kaity: I hope you liked this non-yaoi story, just for you! (yep I can also write not yaoi stories! so :P) :D I was going to make you a NaruSaku fic, but I haven't gotten a full idea for them yet. Anyways, I really wanted to write something eariler today so I went through my list of ideas and saw this one and thought it'd be good :) I thought you'd like the GrayLu-ness :3 Also Congrats (again) On getting into IBS & HCK! :D
Thanks for reading and maybe reviewing? :)
-mosherocks4/Kris