Author: Gruvia is rocking the internet world lately! This fic was prompted upon seeing two artworks done by Hiro Mashima. The first one is the 'some like it hot' cover of Juvia and the second one is the manga cover of Gray in Chapter 440. I don't know if Gray's a little bit of OC. I think he is in this fic. Please let me know what you think. Reviews, constructive criticisms, follows, and favourites are well-appreciated. Thank you, guys!
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Some Like It Hot(-headed)
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Snow had started falling in Magnolia. Despite the slow drop of temperature, he walked around the streets of the city with his upper body exposed for everyone's sight. Travellers who were not used to seeing such display tend to follow him with their gaze. As for the locals, they were used to seeing him with such nudity. Some would even consider it a lucky day that he had decided to keep his pants on. He was feeling a little bit down due to weather. It reminded him of his teacher, Ur. At the same time, the weather gave him an eerily ecstatic feeling as it also reminded him of a certain pesky blue-haired woman who one time insisted of giving him a scarf, as if he needed one. He smirked as he thought that the woman really do things her way. Walking with a smile on his face, he accidentally overheard a conversation between two men.
"She's really hot," a young man enthusiastically remarked while holding some sort of a glossy magazine. He and his companion were both staring at the front cover. The other one nodded in agreement and added, "those legs are a pair of killers."
He shrugged off. What they were doing is none of his business, he thought. His eyes remained on the road. However, it wasn't the last as he encountered again a scenario of men talking enthusiastically about a certain hot woman with a pair of killer legs. The men's remarks range from "hot woman" to "the mage I want to fuck." These recurrences of these men and a certain hot topic piqued his interest.
The walking ice mage came across a shop selling caramade franks. Thinking that he should buy some, he stopped by. He placed himself at the back of the queue. Then, a group of men entered the shop as well while they exchanging remarks about a woman.
"With a weather like this, I pretty much hope for a woman like her in my bed," one of the perverts snickered. The other men agreed in unison.
Trying to understand the context of their conversation while patiently waiting for his turn to order, Gray slightly frowned. Their voices started to become loud, annoying the hell out of him.
Someone from the group replied, "she has killer body and a pretty face. Maybe I can try and get her autograph."
"Well, you'll have to make your way to their guild," the other one replied. "I'll go there later and try to take a picture of her."
Another one added, "I wonder if she has a boyfriend."
"As far as I know, she doesn't have one," the other replied, "but I believe there's this guy named..."
Gray was almost at his wit's end. He turned around to give them a glaring look, a nonverbal cue that they were beginning to annoy him. The group of men flinched upon seeing him. The guy who was speaking stuttered, "G-Gray Fullbuster."
As if on cue, the group immediately avoided his gaze and ran out of the shop. Those men seemed to be afraid of him. He wondered whether he became too harsh on them. When it was his turn on the counter, he was greeted by the old shopkeeper.
"Hi," she greeted with a warm smile on her face.
"I'll buy three caramade franks," Gray told her and gave her money. At the back of his mind, he was feeling sorry for that group. The old woman nodded and then started packing caramade franks.
Upon giving his purchase, the old woman unsolicitedly said, "your friend is really making a buzz with her magazine cover photo."
Gray thought of Lucy. That woman must have taken photo shoot quests for Sorcerer Weekly, he thought. He also added that the woman usually takes odd jobs to make both ends meet when it comes to her rent.
"She's used to that," Gray replied nonchalantly as he took the paper bag with caramade franks. The woman seemed to have something to say but chose otherwise upon seeing the ice mage walking out of the shop. The old woman simply sighed, "I'm not referring about the blondie."
He was hoping to see Juvia to give her a caramade frank. Part of him tried to seek a justification for such. The woman can actually buy her own caramade frank. He resorted to a simple justification and mumbled to himself, "she was nice to me lately."
When he entered the guild, he was welcomed with the rambunctious feel of people. The guild hall was slightly crowded, despite that almost all of Fairy Tail's members were out for quests. The bystanders in the guild hall are mostly male. He frowned, suddenly a little bit comfortable not finding a familiar face.
The ice demon slayer immediately made his way towards the bar and was greeted by the take-over S-class mage. "Juvia is out on a quest with Lisanna."
"I'm not asking about her," Gray replied as he avoided the Strauss's eldest's gaze. Then he asked, "who are all these people?"
Mirajane pursed her lips, trying to think of a way on how to break the news to someone whose patience is short-lived. She let out a sigh before answering, "they're waiting for Juvia."
Gray raised his eyebrow. "What the hell do they need with Juvia?"
"Oh, they're harmless," Mirajane chirped, seemingly entertained with the ice demon slayer's apparent annoyance. "They just want her autograph, that's all."
He placed the paper bag of caramade franks on the counter. "Autograph?"
Mirajane pulled out a glossy magazine inside the drawer of the bar and showed it to Gray. The glossy magazine had Juvia on its cover. Half of the blunette's body was on the front with the skin of her inner thigh showing. The pose was clearly seductive with the obvious position of her leg and her finger across her lips. The words 'some like it hot' ran across the magazine diagonally like a teasing line.
The small crease between his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth a little bit turned down clearly stated his foul mood. Mirajane noticed his expression and chirped the question, "what's wrong, Gray?"
He tried to avoid her question by simply answering, "I just need a mug of beer."
Mirajane tilted her head out of wonder and replied with a nod. Clearly getting the message that the man wanted to be left alone, Mirajane left the ice mage.
The table behind him was loud enough for him to overhear. Their topic was Juvia Lockser and how they wanted to become close to her. He clenched his hands, trying to control his anger.
Mirajane had served him a mug of beer when he finally had enough of their shitty dirty talks about the blunette. He put his fist on his palm and made the floor icy. The white-haired Strauss seemed to be surprised of his action. The other seemed to be distraught about the sudden ice floor.
With his head lowered, Gray said to Mira, "sorry, I just think that we really need air conditioning in this place. Too hot."
Picking up his mug of beer, Gray added to Mirajane, "get a coat. It might get a little chilly later."
Soon, his words became true. The temperature of the place dropped down. The bystanders, including those men who were waiting for a certain water mage, started walking with difficulty out of the guild, murmuring that they cannot withstand the cold. Some even slipped while walking.
Gray felt triumphant as he smirked, "you guys really like it hot, huh?"
Mirajane who is already wearing a coat over his usual dress, on the other hand, seemed to have noticed the effect of Juvia's photo on the ice mage. She calmly shared, "the magazine clearly boosted our Juvia's image. Those guys have been waiting for her since this morning."
"Tch," was the only sound Gray Fullbuster had made. Mirajane continued to share what she knew. "that magazine issue is spreading like a wildfire."
The pupils in his eyes narrowed. The Fullbuster mage chugged down what remains in his mug. Without a word, he rose from his seat and went out of the guild hall. He even left his paper bag.
Mirajane simply tilted her head as she wondered what the ice mage will do. She then shifted her gaze to the icy floor of the guild hall and sighed. She murmured, "I'll have to do a lot of mopping tonight. Maybe, I'll ask for Lisanna's help later."
The take-over mage started cleaning the counter and tables. More strangers came in, looking for the Fairy's water mage. Mirajane already came up with a spiel. "She took a quest this morning and won't be back until this afternoon. You can hang around, if you want."
After a few hours, most of them decided to leave the guild premise as nightfall arrived. The guild hall became much quieter as bystanders left one by one and most of the members of the Fairy Tail had returned from their quests. While Mirajane was starting to serve some Fairy Tail members, a young decent-looking man came over her and asked, "is your guild selling today's issue of Fairy Tail magazine?"
Placing a finger on her cheek, Mirajane looked up and replied, "the Zasshi store exclusively distributes our magazine merchandise. I don't think we have an extra copy here."
"The issue was sold out an hour ago," the man sadly reported. "and the shopkeepers told us that they won't be doing any reprinting."
"Oh, that's unfortunate." Mirajane apologetically smiled as she watched the young man leave the vicinity.
The door of the guild hall swung open, and the team duo of Lisanna and Juvia entered the guild premise. The blue-haired water mage immediately looked for a certain ice mage.
"Juvia, Gray left a while ago," Mirajane greeted the water mage with a smile. She pointed out a paper bag lying on the countertop of the bar. "He left without a word. He even forgot his paper bag."
"We actually finished our quest a little bit early," Lisanna reported, "but we were stalled a lot of times by Juvia's new followers."
Still oblivious to her newly gained popularity, the water mage dropped her head out of disappointment. Her teary-eyed expression made Mirajane a little bit worry as she definitely did not like the idea of adding more water to Gray's melting ice. "Juvia is supposed to let Gray-sama see her magazine cover."
"Yeah," Lisanna added, "the problem is we were unable to get a copy of the issue. The store told us that it was sold out hours ago. They told us that a man bought all the copies. What a creep!"
Juvia shivered with the thought of the perverted buyer. Then, she wailed, "Gray-sama wasn't able to see my cover!"
"Oh, he did, actually," Mirajane shared with a smile on her lips. "And it seemed like he was in a bad mood."
"Oneesan, I wonder why," Lisanna marvelled. Juvia, on the other hand, seemed to be distressed with what Mirajane had said. The water mage sat on the guild hall floor with her head down.
Mirajane shifted her gaze towards the melting ice floor in their guild hall then whispered back to her sister while looking at a devastated Juvia, "because apparently, some like it hot-headed."
FIN
Author: Really? The last time I wrote for our lovely Gruvia is three months ago? You've got to be kidding me! With all those academic stuff and anime overdose (I did a lot of binge reading, binge watching, and Tumblr lurking... I'm proud of them! LOL), my writing of fan fictions has been stalled for a while. Oh my, I remember mumbling my poor heart out months ago with Gray and Juvia's progress (the ups and the downs: the emotional rollercoaster) with the words, "my fragile and vulnerable heart can only handle so much, Mashima-san. Have some mercy!" And now, with all those that happened to them, I feel like my heart is going to burst into millions of happy stars (secretly whispering my thanks to Mashima-san). I love how they now interact with each other.
