A/N: I decided to participate in GrayLu week again this year, but only for three of the days. My writing has been off lately, I was lacking inspiration and school is about to start again, so it ended up being three one-shots this year. Hope you enjoy!
Whispers
In Gray's opinion the whispers were worst the first year. He and Lucy were new in that part of town and knew none of the inhabitants, which of course led to lots of rumors about two of the most known members of Fairy Tail, despite their somewhat good reputation.
"Have you heard they eloped?"
"-completely disgraced her father"
"Scandalous."
"Poor girl, she'll definitely have her heart broken."
"Surely, they won't last."
"-from such a nice and respectable family. It's such a shame."
"I heard she's a famous author, but why is she married to a stripper?"
Hushed voices followed them anytime they went into the small district they now lived in. He had more or less gotten used to them by now, not caring what other people thought about him, but he knew how deeply it hurt her, no matter how brave a face she put on. Lucy was like that. She was constantly judged, because of rumors and she wanted to scream to the world they were lies, but she held her head high, because she and Gray knew the truth, and that was enough.
Whenever he felt her tense up by her side, he would put an arm around her shoulders and kiss her temple, telling her how stunning she looked and that he was blessed to have her. He also asked her what she wanted for dinner and what movie they should watch later that night. That usually stopped the whispers, for a while, but even as they years passed, some new rumors were started, but eventually they got better.
"-expecting a child without being married!"
"Heard he's a ruffian that kidnapped her."
"Her parents would have been so embarrassed if they were alive."
"Can't wait for them to split up."
"They love each other so much, it's tragic."
The second year, Gray was getting tired of people trash-talking his girlfriend and frequently made a point of addressing their vapid stupidity very, very loudly. Lucy would just laugh at his dramatic spiels, having regained her confidence and often add in a quip of her own.
"My sister told me he proposed to her!"
"-beautiful wedding for sure."
"Wonder how her dead parents feel about that."
"She can still break it off, she's too good for a gang member."
"Such a sweet girl. When my bag tore open, she picked up all my fallen groceries without missing a beat."
The third year they were too busy preparing for their wedding to waste their time with nosy gossipers. The paparazzi were no easier to deal with now that people knew they were looking for a wedding dress for Lucy. One thing was certain, she would be the most beautiful bride in all of Fiore and Gray couldn't be happier that he would be the one standing by the altar, waiting.
"She's starting to show!"
"It's so sweet how he tends to her all the time."
"I sometimes hear her singing, such a beautiful voice!"
"I wish someone loved me that much."
"Poor kid, will grow up without any grandparents."
"-weren't they expecting twins?"
The fourth year Lucy's feet and back hurt and Gray never let her go anywhere alone. Things had calmed down considerably, but the occasional idiot still popped up. He had memorized the food groups belonging to her many cravings, and made sure to find suitable, healthy substitutes. Cravings were a good indicator of what sort of nutrients she lacked, and Gray was making sure their baby grew strong and healthy - even if it meant forcing Lucy to eat her vegetables.
"He looks just like his father, but has her nose and eyes."
"I just want to squeeze his chubby cheeks!"
"-wonderful parents!"
"He always brings their son when he gets groceries."
"Never seen anyone that happy."
The fifth year their sleeping schedule was so badly messed up, they paid no heed to the whispers when they were out. Their son was the cutest little bugger ever, but man did he know how to tire out his parents. Once he started crawling and became mobile, Lucy had a hard time leaving him unsupervised for even a moment, and Gray would spend hours trying to get him to sleep, only to have him squirm his way back to the floor and crawling as fast as lightning. Sometimes he froze the floor to keep their son from getting away, taking advantage of his son's genome being half of his, meaning he wasn't really affected by cold, but couldn't get a good grip on the slippery surface.
By the time their son started school and was part of the soccer team, the whispers had completely stopped and everyone greeted the Fullbusters nicely.
