I know, I know, new Fairy Tail fic, and I know, I know, it's set around Gray and Lyon again but seriously, this was a cute idea in my head and don't we all love to see Gray get into some sort of trouble and for poor ol' Lyon to practically babysit him until he's out of said trouble? xD
Erza shifted the bag she held in her arms as she eventually stood outside the building where the guild masters had their usual meetings. A hiss came from the bag and the redheaded warrior softly apologised before stepping inside. She was used to these meetings but could easily get sick and tired of the other guild masters - apart from Lamia Scale's new guild master. Lyon and her were about the only sensible masters there. Erza hadn't truly expected to be chosen as the new guild master of Fairy Tail and so to reassure herself that nothing would happen while she was away at meetings, she had put Gray as her deputy.
It may come as a surprise, but she trusted him, knowing that he wouldn't fight with Natsu if he was left in charge for the time she was away. Natsu could bug him and try and provoke him into a brawl but he had been given a clear threat that Gray was able to issue him punishment if he tried, so she'd learnt that he normally brawled with Gajeel or Elfman so long as they didn't destroy the guild in the process.
Sting was still the current leader of Sabertooth and Ichiya was (unfortunately) the new Blue Pegasus' leader. Lamia Scale, though, had elected Lyon as their new guild master since the old hag had passed away. Everyone had been skeptical of the decision at first, especially Natsu and Lucy since they distinctively remembered his leadership on Galuna Island as the Cold Emperor. But Gray had stepped to his defence, knowing that Lyon had been driven by hatred and that he was a loyal mage to not only his guild but it's alliances too. He had proven to be a good guild master, even if most people around Fiore would've preferred Jura to return and take the position.
Erza's bag shuffled a little as she walked and she reached a hand inside to soothe whatever was inside. She entered the meeting room to find she was the last to arrive and took her usual seat beside Lyon and opposite Sting. Erza sat the bag on her lap and the boys looked curious. She sighed and addressed them all. "Lyon, Ichiya, Sting. I...have a little problem concerning my deputy..."
Lyon pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's that idiot gone and done now?" Suddenly a dark grey cat scrambled out of Erza's bag and leapt up onto the table, sitting and curling his tail round his paws, bringing one up to lick at it and brush it over his ears. "A...cat? Erza, are you saying that Gray got turned into a cat?"
"Yes, I am. And I was hoping one of your guilds could take care of him. He can't talk, he's just an ordinary cat but it's still Gray. I'm just afraid he'll get hurt if we keep him at Fairy Tail. It's only until he turns back to normal".
Nobody spoke, they just looked the grey tom over. Gray stopped licking his paw and meowed grouchily at Erza when she went to pet him. He glanced at her side and flicked his tail before hopping onto Lyon's lap and scrambling up to sit on his shoulder best he could. Lyon looked at the feline version of his little brother and cautiously rubbed a finger gently under his chin. Much to his surprise, Gray begun to purr softly and lifted his head so Lyon could have better access to his neck.
"Well I guess that settles that". Sting smirked at the Lamia Scale guild master. "Seems like the little thing wants you to take care of him".
Lyon smirked back as Gray slipped off his shoulder and landed in his lap. He blinked before letting out a grumpy meow and sat up, going back to purring when Lyon's fingers ran through his fur. "You know Chelia's going to love dressing you up in pretty bows, right?"
The cat stiffened and looked up at him almost fearfully. Erza laughed. "Sorry Gray, but you made the decision for us so you'll have to put up with that. Just think of her as Wendy but...on a little more extreme scale".
Gray hit his head against Lyon's chest and kneaded at it slightly after pressing his paws on the man. He meowed low and let Lyon stroke him, sitting contently on his lap until the meeting was over.
Lyon decided to go straight back to his apartment after the meeting instead of going back to Lamia Scale like he has originally intended to do. Gray was purring contently in his arms but his senses picked up (as well as his curiosity) when they finally got to their destination.
Gray jumped out of Lyon's arms once the man had unlocked the door and proceeded to look around, sniffing here and there at various items. He was silent as he explored so Lyon went to change into nothing more than some casual sweatpants. It was later than he'd expected when he'd stolen a glance at the clock. He was about to turn in for the night when he heard a faint mew from the kitchen. He sighed and walked in there to see Gray sitting in front of the fridge. Of course, he was probably hungry.
"Can you wait until morning?" Mew. "C'mon Gray, I'm shattered from today". Meow. "Fine, I'll get up early tomorrow just to feed you whatever I can find, alright?" Mew. "Good, now I'm going to bed so you sleep wherever you want, I don't really mind".
Lyon went back to his bedroom and climbed under the sheets and clicked his bedside lamp off, darkness quickly shrouding the room. It wasn't until he was about to fully drift off that he heard faint pawsteps and smirked a little to himself. He kept his eyes closed and felt Gray jump up onto his bed and knew that dark blue eyes were currently focused on him, probably trying to work out if he was truly asleep or not. Gray then padded closer to Lyon and proceeded to curl up in the available space against Lyon's chest. He tucked his paws underneath him and curled his tail around himself, laying it over his nose as he twisted his head. Lyon peeked a look at him and his eyes softened. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad.
The two eventually fell asleep and the night drifted on until dawn broke through into the room.
Lyon couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Gray trying to stalk and catch a butterfly on their way to the Lamia Scale guild. The dark grey cat crept as silently as possible and then his head shot up and he sneezed when it suddenly landed on his nose, whiskers twitching. Lyon saw Chelia enter the guild from a distance and he couldn't imagine what the pink haired girl would do to the former human Fairy Tail mage.
Lyon quickly scooped up the cat version of his younger brother, much to the latter's distaste, and pushed open the doors to the guild, stepping inside and greeting everyone with the usual quick flash of a smile before going to his usual place and setting Gray on the table in front of him. The grey cat looked around curiously, one paw lifting off the ground as his ears flicked and his nose picked up various scents. It was quite amusing, considering this feline was supposed to be Gray Fullbuster.
Lyon's team eventually noticed his arrival (let's be honest, they're not the brightest bunch) and Gray gave a sharp hiss in Toby's direction causing the dog boy to growl back. Of course Gray the cat wouldn't like Toby at the moment. Gray even backed up so he was closer to Lyon and eventually hopped down onto the ice mage's lap. Lyon began to gently pet him, calming the ball of fluff on his lap.
"So how come you've suddenly got a cat?" Yuka asked, initiating conversation for the first time with their full team that day.
Lyon briefly explained the situation to his team of numbskulls and the trio gawped at the cat, astounded. Gray just flattened his ears and meowed curtly. Chelia's eyes brightened when the feline pawed at his neck a little. "He probably wants his necklace. This might do though!" She then untied on of her pigtails and tied the orange ribbon around Gray's neck, much to the cat's surprise. He bent his head to sniff at it before looking up at Lyon briefly. He pawed at the man's chest and Chelia took the opportunity to tie her extra ribbon around one of Gray's paws. "Now we won't be able to lose him!" she said with a bright smile.
"Unless he manages to get the ribbons off" Yuka thought aloud making Chelia frown a little and took the ribbon back, using it to tie her hair into a small ponytail instead.
"I suspect he will be stuck like that for only today, tomorrow he will be back to normal" Ooba said, walking up to their table.
"So that means we won't be going on any jobs today and will have to make sure the stupid cat doesn't do anything reckless" Toby whined, disappointed.
"Think of it this way; Erza Scarlet gave Lyon the cat form of her deputy to look after until things got sorted. That is a job in itself, is it not?"
The three numbskulls shared a look before they all grinned and nodded firmly. Lyon mentally facepalmed and cringed but decided to just lightly pinch the bridge of his nose - he really should know to expect this by now. He heard Gray purr in what seemed to be amusement too. Lyon rubbed the back of his finger on Gray's head, making the cat purr more and lean into his touch, a small pink tongue poked through grey jaws. It seemed as though Gray really enjoyed being pet...when it was by the right person.
"So our job is to look after the deputy of Fairy Tail for the day?" Toby asked, just trying to make it clear to himself more than anything.
"That's right" Yuka replied bluntly.
Chelia practically squealed in delight which had Gray abruptly halt his purring and flattened his ears. He certainly did not find any of this delightful, except the fact that he was quite content with being with Lyon. His team however...he'd see. All of a sudden he was plucked from his space and hugged tightly to Chelia's chest. He kept his ears flat, eyes narrowed and tail flicking as Lyon gave him an amused by sympathetic look. Yes...he would see about Lyon's team.
By the beginning of the afternoon, Chelia was playing with Gray. He stalked along the floor under tables and chairs, eyes locked on the feather toy she was dangling in front of her, tempting him to go in for the kill. He crept up slowly on it, then rocked on his hunches and sprung out from his hiding place, grabbing the feather between his paws and pawing and nipping at it while Chelia giggled at his antics.
Lyon sat at one of the tables with Toby, casually reading a book and occasionally glancing at the cat from the corner of his eye. He briefly wondered what Fairy Tail were doing without their ice mage deputy right now. His team probably missed him quite a bit. Juvia too. He was about to go back to reading his crime novel when Chelia walked up to him and Toby, holding Gray in her arms by wrapping her arms under his front paws so his body dangled somewhat limply while she still supported his upper body - much like how Wendy sometimes held Carla or how a small child held onto their favourite doll.
"Lyon I really wanna keep him! Gray's so cute as a little kitty!" the pink haired God Slayer squealed, momentarily squeezing Gray a little.
Lyon knew she liked cute things and even he had to admit his little brother was cute as a feline but he knew they couldn't keep him, especially like this. He was about to say something but Toby beat him to it with a snarl.
"He's been nothing but trouble since he got here! Cats always are! They're evil creatures with dark hearts and I bet he's no different!"
Lyon then snapped and stood up threateningly. "Take. That. Back!" he growled back. "May I remind you that that is my little brother you're talking about".
"Both of you keep your cool heads on," Yuka spoke up after coming back from the guild's own Library. "Toby is a dog-boy, there's no surprise that he doesn't like Gray since he's now currently a cat and vice versa. Remember how Gray hissed at him and hasn't been near him since. He's even struggling in Chelia's arms right now".
It was true what he said, Gray was currently trying to escape Chelia's hold on him. Chelia plopped him down on the table gently in which he instantly jumped onto Lyon's lap once he sat down, lowering his head and flattening his ears, dark blue eyes glaring at Toby just over the edge of the table.
Gray soon gave up glaring at the dog-boy when Lyon announced he was heading home. Gray scampered along as his heels as the duo made their way back to Lyon's place. Lyon made sure to keep an eye on him since it seemed as if Gray's feline instincts caused him to get somewhat distracted at times - hence the butterfly on the way there that morning.
Soon enough Gray's paws began to drag along the ground and he sat down with a small thud, meowing a little weakly to get Lyon's attention. The ice mage stopped too and went back a couple steps to pick up his charge and carry the now purring bundle of fur back.
He dumped Gray onto the couch, where he stayed and laid down, tucking his front paws under his chest. Lyon went and grabbed some ice cold water from the kitchen tap to refresh himself before he got undressed and crawled into bed. "Night Gray" he yawned out before falling asleep near enough as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Gray waited a little while before creeping over and curling up at Lyon's side, falling asleep too.
Lyon received the rude awakening of having a pillow thudding on his head. He groaned and opened his eyes, shoving the pillow off him. He sat up to look at his intruder and saw Gray standing there across the room - human Gray. Lyon woke up completely and smirked. "I see you're back then, the old hag was right".
"Right about what? How the heck did I get here?!" Gray was annoyed. "And gimme a shirt or something!"
"Why bother when you'd only strip out of it at some point anyway? And you honestly don't remember what happened?"
"No, I don't. Right now I'm thinking you somehow managed to kidnap me for a day or two".
"Erza brought you to me at the recent meeting the day before yesterday. You were...a little feline".
Gray's scowl turned into a look of confusion yet he was intrigued. "I was a cat? And she gave me to you to look after?"
"Not exactly, you chose me yourself. God knows why though but you actually enjoyed yourself from what it looked like. Oh, and Chelia tied the ribbon round your neck by the way for a collar".
"Figures why I had that... So, what, you looked after me for a day and two nights?"
"Pretty much. It was quite amusing to see you chasing after butterflies and playing with feathers attached to string" Lyon chuckled and Gray's scowl returned but more playfully.
"Sh-Shut up! Tell nobody, okay? Did Erza take me back to the guild as a cat or what?"
"As far as I know she brought you straight to the meeting after going to get you. I don't think your guildmates know".
"Alright...so long as nobody finds out it should be okay... Erza would've told them I was on a job or something anyway".
Lyon chuckled and got up, stretching and heading to the kitchen to grab breakfast. "Here; eat up and I'll walk to the station with you".
The two ice mages walked to the Margaret Town station and bid one another a fairly silent goodbye as Gray got on the train to head back to Magnolia. Lyon watched the train leave before heading to Lamia Scale and spend the day doing a job or two with his team. Gray had seemed fairly at home in their guild, and his team had liked him around too...well, with an exception of course. Lyon chuckled to himself quietly as he walked. At least Toby would be happy again.
I did a really long oneshot...longer than I normally do...wow... 0_0
Um, so I was thinking... I'm still going to do Battling Destiny (still working on it, I've been distracted) but I also want to do an AU...and I've been thinking of a College AU. Now, I've never been to college or university myself personally because I decided not to when I left school but I can try with what I know...?
I mean, it would have drama (of course) and romance (duh) but it would mostly be just the characters having a good time (yep Gray would be my main focus cause I can work with him quite well but I would have others as my main focus at times too) and getting through their studies and exams. So just let me know what you think either in a review or a PM if you prefer, I don't mind I just wanna know what people would think of that idea.
Also, I'm working on getting a new AO3 account...idk though for sure
