Encounter
"Hey Natsu, are you home?" Gray called as he burst through the door of their apartment. He dropped his bag onto the floor and kicked off his shoes.
"Yo pyro" he shouted as he trudged through the living room. He heard some music coming from the sound of the bathroom and thought 'he must not be able to hear me' as he walked towards the bathroom door and threw it open. He was ready to chew out his roommate for something when he stopped in his tracks.
His jaw dropped immediately, standing there in front of him was a very naked Lucy. She turned and looked at Gray and screamed, he covered his eyes and said, "Sorry Lucy" as he backed out of the room "I thought you were Natsu" he explained as he went to shut the door.
"Get out!" she said again as she slammed the door in his face. Gray made his way back to the living room and sat down on the couch. "Natsu is going to kill me" he muttered and shook his head and covered his eyes with his arm. He only looked up when he heard someone clear their throat. He saw Lucy standing in front of him, this time fully clothed.
"I. . . .." he started, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.
"I know it was an accident" she said and with that statement he sighed audibly. "It sure was, I didn't come home planning on coming home and finding my roommates girl in her birthday suit" he finished with an awkward chuckle.
"Don't get too used to it" she replied with a laugh of her own. The two smiled at each other and started laughing at the same time. AT that moment, the apartment door opened and in walked Natsu. He looked at the two of them and asked, "What's so funny?" Gray and Lucy stopped laughing and fell silent. Lucy waved Natsu off and said "Oh, nothing. Gray just told me a funny joke."
Gray was about to say something about what just happened when Lucy patted his leg to signal him to stop, Lucy stood up and grabbed Natsu's hand and kissed his cheek. "Come on Natsu, let's go to your room. I want to hear about your day." And with that they disappeared into his room. She glanced back at Gray and shook her head as if to tell him not to mention this to Natsu, he nodded in agreement and sighed once more as he heard the door shut. He lay back on the couch and covered his eyes again, the next thing he knew he was awakened by a pair of soft lips on his cheek. He opened his eyes and saw his girlfriend standing over him.
"Hello Gray-sama, did I wake you?" she asked as he sat up and smiled at her, he pulled her down so he could kiss her lips. They parted and Juvia asked Gray how his day was, he immediately launched into a story about work, he conveniently left out the part about his encounter with Lucy. A few minutes after Juvia's arrival, Lucy and Natsu reappeared in the living room. Lucy ran towards Juvia and pulled her into a hug which Juvia immediately returned. The two of them started gossiping while the boys just rolled their eyes.
Natsu spoke up and said, "Lucy and I are headed out for some dinner, do you guys want to join?"
Gray was about to decline when Juvia piped in saying "That sounds great!"
Gray sighed and said "Fine, let me go change first" as he walked towards his room. He emerged moments later and said, "Let's go."
The four of them piled into Natsu's car and made their way to their favorite eatery. Juvia and Lucy gabbed nonstop while Gray and Natsu just exchanged sideways glances and rolled their eyes. They soon arrived and Gray, Juvia and Lucy got out and waited in line as Natsu parked the car. Natsu joined the group shortly after they were seated and said, "I'm starved" as he sat down next to Lucy.
"You're always hungry!" Lucy and Gray said at the same time. They all laughed until the waiter arrived to take their orders. They chatted idly until their food arrived. Natsu immediately dug in and began to inhale his food. Lucy rolled her eyes and began to daintily eat. Gray and Juvia dug in respectively. During the meal conversation was light. Natsu listened while he ate, his eyes darted back and forth between the two women as they chatted back and forth. He noticed that Gray was acting strange and was avoiding looking at Lucy, he finished the rest of his meal and burped audibly. Lucy slapped his shoulder to admonish him and he grinned.
He looked back at Gray and said, "What's wrong ice princess?" Gray blinked in confusion and said "What?" Juvia and Lucy stopped talking and turned their attention towards their boyfriends. "You heard me you're acting weird. What's up?"
"Nothing is up pyro" he countered. Juvia looked at Gray and asked "Are you sure you're alright? You have been rather quiet."
"I'm fine, just drop it ok!" Gray said loudly as he pushed away from the table. He glanced around and realized that everyone in the restaurant was staring at him. He apologized and sat down. Lucy decided to try and cut the tension by asking if everyone wanted to check out a new club in the area. Juvia immediately said yes and Natsu rolled his eyes. Gray only said yes when Juvia elbowed him in the chest.
The four of them left the restaurant and started to walk towards their destination. Juvia and Lucy walked ahead of Gray and Natsu as they made their way to the club. Gray started awkwardly staring at Lucy's behind as she was walking and Natsu of course took notice. Natsu began to grow irritated and finally piped up saying "Hey ice princess, why are you staring at Lucy?"
Gray's jaw dropped and he fumbled for an explanation. "I wasn't staring" he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Natsu knew he was lying and stated so. Gray sighed and started to open his mouth to explain when Lucy spoke up and laid a hand on Natsu's arm. "It's not his fault Natsu, you see we kind of had an awkward encounter."
"What does that mean?" Natsu asked. Lucy tried to beat around the bush as if to prolong telling him what happened when Gray blurted out "I saw Lucy naked." Lucy facepalmed while Juvia began to tear up, Gray's face reddened with embarrassment meanwhile Natsu's brows began to furrow and he clenched his hands into fists. Lucy noticed and tried to calm him down before he could slam his fist into Gray's face. Once Natsu was calm she walked towards her friend and coaxed Juvia to stop crying. Lucy looked at her friends and said, "This is not the place to be discussing this, let's head home" and with that they made their way back to the apartment.
All four were silent the entire duration of the car ride home, save for a few sniffles on Juvia's part and Natsu's constantly cracking his knuckles. Once they parked the four quickly walked into the apartment where Natsu exploded.
"How dare you, ice maniac. I thought you were my friend? But then you go and do something like this!" Lucy tried to interject by saying "Natsu, it was an accident."
He turned towards his girlfriend and shouted "You, you did this on purpose you wanted him to see you!" Lucy was visibly shocked, she sat down and started to tear up. Natsu knew he had made a mistake but could not take the words back. He whispered her name and she stood up and walked over to him, when she was close enough she raised her hand and slapped him as hard as she could. AT that moment Gray grabbed Natsu's arm and walked him towards the kitchen to calm him down and explain what had happened that afternoon.
Juvia watched the entire events unfold and when the boys were out of sight she went to Lucy to comfort her. After a while Gray stepped into the living room, he saw his girlfriend hugging Lucy and cleared his throat, the girls looked up and saw Natsu standing behind Gray. He walked over to Lucy and held out his hand to her, she placed her hand in his and he pulled her up and wrapped her in a hug. He whispered an apology in her ear and kissed her forehead gently. She smiled a weak smile and looked at Gray from over his shoulder.
"Is everything ok between you and Gray?" she asked.
"Yes" Natsu replied "Ice princes told me everything and apologized. He told me it was his fault and that he'll never do it again."
Lucy dried her eyes and replied "Good, I couldn't stand it if you and Gray weren't friends because of me."
Natsu smiled and said "Yeah, we came to an agreement, since he saw you naked he said I could see Juvia naked."
Lucy elbowed Natsu in the stomach and looked at Gray and said, "You cannot be serious."
"Absolutely not!" he cried as he went over to Juvia and embraced her. "I would never allow you to see my woman naked!" Juvia squealed as the words left Gray's mouth, she ran to him and kissed his cheek and said "Oh, Gray-sama!"
"I knew you would never let another man look at Juvia" Gray rubbed the back of his head nervously and muttered "of course."
The four of them looked at each other and started laughing. After a few minutes, their laughter died down and Natsu pulled Lucy close and whispered in her ear. She giggled and the two of them shared a kiss. "Get a room" Gray groaned.
"Alright!" Natsu said as he pulled Lucy towards his room. When the two were out of sight Gray pulled Juvia over to the couch where they could both sit down. She averted her eyes from him until he placed a hand gently on her chin and lifted her face so he could look her in the eyes. "Juvia, please look at me. You do believe me, right? This whole mess was just an accident" he searched her gaze for an answer.
"Gray-sama" she mumbled in response. He knew she was unsure so he did the only thing he could think of, he pulled her body closer to his and kissed her passionately. After the kiss ended Juvia smiled at her beloved and curled into him. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear and she visibly blushed, but nodded. Gray stood up and picked Juvia up bridal style and carried her to his room.