Chapter 1: A feeling he liked

Lucy Heartphilia sighed.

Drew Acacia, her Blue Pegasus boyfriend of two weeks, was probably going to be here any minute. And she was still standing in her room in front of the wooden wardrobe where she stored her clothes, clad in underwear.

Not to mention, her best dress had been scratched to shreds by Happy anyway, so she had nothing particular to save her clothing crisis.

Suddenly, she heard a bump coming from the living room.

She took a towel, wrapped it around her body, and took Loki's celestial spirit key out (just in case), and crept into the living room.

She braced herself. If it was Natsu and Happy again, she swore to herself she would never rest until she broke every single bone in their shameless bodies.

Lucy was about to creep into the living room door when another male figure slammed into her.

"Lucy!"

"GRAY!"

"Ouch!"

"Serve you right for coming in through the window again."

Lucy had poked the ice mage in the eye with Loki's celestial key.

And now she was kicking and punching him in every direction and with all the strength she could muster.

"Lucy, hey, that hurts-Ow-"

"You idiot!"

"What did I do?"

"What did you do?"

"Calm down, Lucy, I can explain!"

With that sentence, Lucy took a deep breath and said: "Fine. Explain."

Gray looked as though he wanted to check whether Lucy was about to go wild on him again first, but when she didn't move, he brought Lucy to the sofa and they sat down together.

"Lucy, I just wanted to check on you, whether you were okay. Natsu tipped me off that you were seen crying just now."

"If you actually believe what that bozo says, you must be as bad as him."

Gray laughed. "Lucy…I couldn't help but overhear what you were muttering in your room just now, and I could help you choose your outfit. My fashion sense is better than Natsu the Bozo's, you know."

Lucy couldn't help but giggle at that comment.

"Okay. I'm sorry I was so pissed off just now, but it wasn't your fault, really. Natsu really ruins everything sometimes…and Happy ruined the dress that you gave me…it was my favourite dress, you know. The dark blue glittery one, the one with the rose embroidery."

Gray blushed at that comment. It's no big deal, he told himself. It's just Lucy. Besides, she's already taken by that handsome Blue Pegasus card magic mage anyway.

He walked into her room and opened her wardrobe.

He looked for a while, and then chose a nice silver dress with spaghetti straps. He thought it would look awesome if she was going for a moonlit walk. He wondered where exactly he was taking her.

"Lucy." He beckoned her over and gave her the dress.

"Wow, thanks a bunch Gray! This should go perfect with that pair of black heels I have…" she gave him a big bear hug in return.

"Um…sure. Don't mention it." He managed to stammer out a sentence. Wow. What a relief.

"Oh gosh, Gray, don't say that! You're like, my best friend, next to Levy!"

"I am?" he said in surprise.

"Well DUH Gray you are definitely better to talk to than that pair of-" Lucy was walking to her shoe rack when she stopped short.

Gray sensed her silence and got curious.

"Lucy what is it? Why are you so quiet?"

He walked out to the porch where Lucy kept her shoe rack.

Lucy was staring at the rack as though it was Natsu, and she had a demon-like expression on her usually smiling face. Gray sighed…he really wanted to punch Natsu the Salamander in the face now.

"Lucy…what's the matter?" Gray asked uncertainly. He certainly didn't want to be a victim of Lucy's wrath, since he'd felt it before.

Tears were streaming out of Lucy's lovely big hazel eyes, dripping fast on to the cold wooden floorboards. Gray stared at her, startled. He hadn't expected her to cry, of all the possible expressions a beautiful cheerful girl like her could produce.

"Luce? Lucy? What's wrong?" he asked; quiet enough so that only Lucy the beautiful Stellar Spirit mage could hear him.

"That-that pair of heels…."she sobbed. "It was a gift from my mother…." She flopped down on the floor and started shaking uncontrollably, and Gray felt horrified to see her like that. He cautiously went up to her, and when she didn't try to kill him, he put an arm around her. He nearly started hyperventilating; her shoulders were so soft and fair.

Then he saw the state of the heels Natsu and Happy had so unconsciously damaged. The heels had been scratched, and the delicate black leather straps scorched by Natsu's fire wrath. The tiny sapphires on the heels of the black sling back heels had been scratched and some had fallen out.

Gray tried comforting Lucy. "Its okay, Luce. I think I can fix it with my ice…or create a new pair." Lucy sobbed even louder into his plain white shirt.

"I think I'll try fixing it first." He took one of the heels and willed his ice to fix it. Slowly, ice started to fill the cracks between the leather straps, and the emeralds glued themselves back with ice. Where there had been no sapphires, the ice filled it with delicate sparkly ice jewels.

Lucy stopped sobbing and just kept her face pressed into his chest. He thought it was the best feeling ever. She took her face out of his jacket to look at the heels and immediately gasped.

"Wow, thanks so much Gray! They look even better than before!" she changed from a sad looking girl to a cheerful grinning teenager once again.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. They both jumped.

"Oh, that must be Drew…" was it Gray's imagination, or did Lucy look a little…crestfallen?

Lucy checked her appearance in a mirror, and then slipped her pretty slender feet into the heels. Before she opened the door, she gave Gray a slight kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for everything. Now get out before Drew comes in." she whispered.

Gray grinned. Then he climbed on the windowsill, and said: "Until then, Lucy." He winked and jumped straight down.

Lucy opened the door to let Drew come in. At the same time, she was wondering what on earth he meant by, 'Until then'.

Gray was wandering around the streets on his own, completely lost in thought. He had savoured the feeling when she put her face in his chest.

"Lucy Heartphilia…." He muttered softly in the crisp night air, "I think I may have undiscovered feelings for you."