Graylu week 2014

Story #1

Prompt: Cold

Hi there fellow Graylu fans! I am back with another Graylu story!

now STAY : please?

Can't Hold Back

"A yeti, you say? Captured two of them last year." said Erza.

Natsu grabbed a job posting from the board and sat down at the table where his friends were at to ask if they would come along. All they had to do was track and take down a yeti that was terrorizing a small but popular snow village and then get their heavy reward. It also mentioned something about the yeti completely disappearing before anyone could find it, so they'll have to bring a luggage for their stay. Just in case.

"Sounds easy enough," said Gray with only his boxers on. He, of course, was oblivious to the matter.

Normally Juvia would be all over Gray, especially at a time like this, but she was dragged on a mission with Gajeel. They were going to take down some water demon.

Levy walked by with a mug of soda, noticed Gray, and then mumbled about how this was disturbingly normal.

"When do we go?" questioned Lucy. She had her hair untied and was wearing a cropped white shirt, a black skirt, and black boots.

"Tomorrow," said Happy. He looked over at Carla and asked, "Is Wendy still sick?"

The young dragon slayer was at home with the flu. Carla took care of her as much as she could, but was eventually forced to leave by everyone since she was working too hard.

"She's a little better," replied Carla. "But she'll be going nowhere until I say so."

"That's too bad," commented Erza.

"Then it's settled then? We'll be leaving tomorrow?" chirped Natsu. He was worried for Wendy and all, but he was excited to leave the guild since they haven't done a mission in a while.

Happy looked over at his companion with sad eyes. "Should we really go while Wendy is sick?"

"Carla is taking good care of her, Happy," said Natsu. "If she needs any help, she can ask the other members of the guild."

Happy sighed. Mostly because he wanted to help Carla, but he also really wanted to go on an adventure.

"I'll head out first," said Lucy as she stood up from her seat. "I want to prepare myself and stuff. Unlike you guys, I can't stand the cold."

"If you weren't always showing skin, you wouldn't be cold," commented Gray.

Lucy's eye twitched. She looked down at the mostly-naked Fairy Tail member and her face went red with anger. "Look who's talking!" she cried as she pointed an accusatory finger at him.

Gray smirked. "I'm an ice user. Come on, Luce. We've known each other for some time now. I would think you would have realized at this point."

"No way!" said Lucy, pretending to be stupid. "All this time I thought you were a fire user! What was I thinking?"

Natsu gave her a weird face and asked, "If you thought he was a fire user, what the hell did you think I was? A mermaid?"

"That would make me a fish!" chimed Happy. He noticeably went off into his own little word after the mentioning of his favorite food.

Lucy face-palmed. Of course he thinks I'm being serious, she thought. Without another word from her, she turned around and walked away with a "Hmph!"

"It's a good thing I bought some winter clothes," said Lucy to herself as she balanced on the edge of the canal.

"Be careful, miss Lucy!" said a guy on a canoe. He seemed to always appear when she was doing her act, and it kind of freaked Lucy out a bit.

"Yeah, yeah!" called the Celestial mage.

Lucy got home and immediately started writing her novel. She tried to make it a habit to write one to two chapters every day. After finishing in a few hours, her hands were cramped and the sky outside was dark. In her seat, the girl stretched and was rewarded with a large popping noise coming from her back. The sensation pained for a brief moment and was replaced with pleasure.

"I should probably stop doing that," mumbled Lucy as she got up to prepare her things.

The following day, Lucy got up bright and early, took a shower, changed into a long sleeved blue shirt, dark blue skinny jeans, and furry boots. After deciding she was good and ready, she grabbed her luggage and left the building.

She was blinded for a moment, so she stayed where she was, covering the sun with her hand while squinting. It was painful but soon subsided. She was greeted by many people as she walked to her guild.

"I'm ready!" she chirped as she walked into the large building with the large Fairy Tail sign stamped to the front. She scanned the room and saw Erza, Natsu, and Happy sitting at their usual spot. They were eating breakfast. Lucy came over and set her bag down on the floor, and then immediately felt embarrassed when she noticed that the three were carrying light packs.

They don't need to bring bulky outerwear because they're all unnatural, thought the blonde. She nodded her head, whole-heartedly agreeing with herself.

"What are you nodding about?" questioned Natsu who finished his meal.

"Nothing. I'm just agreeing with myself."

"Good," said Erza after taking a sip of her juice. "It's good to agree with yourself."

"When is Gray going to get here?" whined Natsu. He propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Do we seriously need to wait for that ice pack?"

"What did you say, flame-brain?"

Gray was right behind them, which only seemed to start Lucy. The two boys were about to engage in hand-to-hand combat when Erza intervened.

"Save the fighting for the yeti! It's way too early in the morning to start this!"

"It's never too early for a good beating," said Natsu with a mischievous smile as he popped his knuckles on both hands. Gray started popping his neck.

"Ew!" cried Lucy as she shuddered. The two boys looked over at her with a questioning expression. "Will you please stop that? It's disgusting!"

"What?" started Gray with a smirk. "This?" he popped his neck once more.

"Yes! That! Stop it now!"

Gray started popping other parts of his body, and soon the salamander joined in. They were noticeably enjoying what they were doing.

"Wow," started Erza. She looked over to Lucy and said, "They're bonding!"

"Yeah, by teasing Lucy," said Happy.

"Anyways," said Gray after he finished with his last pop. "We better get going before we miss our train."

"Thank you!" cried Lucy. Heads in the guild turned.

Natsu cringed at the word "train". Normally he would have Happy take him there, but this place was too far.

The five team members said goodbye to the rest of the guild as they were at the front door. Then they were officially off.

On the train, Natsu tried his best to keep a straight face, but ended up fainting into Erza's rock hard armor. She patted his head, though you could tell it hurt since she was using unnecessary strength.

Natsu is going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up, thought Lucy.

"Hey, Luce," whispered Gray. Lucy looked up at the man seated next to her. "When we get there, keep up, will you?"

The Celestial mage blinked a couple times. Happy and Erza was so preoccupied with Natsu that they didn't hear what Gray said, but they did feel the dark aura swirling out of Lucy's body. Her face went red with anger.

"Excuse me?" said Lucy. She put her face close to the ice user's in order to be more threatening. "Are you implying that I'm worthless or something?"

Erza and Happy looked over at the two seated in front of them. The train went underneath a tunnel, making everything pitch black inside.

What was heard next was an "Oomf!" coming from Gray.

When the train finally cleared the tunnel, Happy and Erza was surprised to see the two missing. They heard a groan and immediately drew their attention to the floor. Gray was lying on his back on the ground by the seats with his mouth bleeding. Lucy had obviously punched the ice user in the face and left.

"Ne, what was that about, Gray?" asked Happy with a concerned tone.

"I just expressed my concerns and that damn woman punched me in the face!" yelled Gray as he sat up. He touched the area where he had been hit. She got me good, he thought.

"You probably said it weird," said Happy.

"I don't understand how she could have misunderstood that. She comes up with some crazy accusations." At this point, Gray got up and then got back on his cushioned seat.

"Shouldn't one of us go check up on her?" questioned Erza. She tsked in disgust after noticing Natsu had drooled on her armor.

"I think Gray should go," said Happy as he crossed his arms. "After all, he was the one that made her mad."

"Seriously? Maybe some time alone would be good for her!"

"Gray!" whined the flying blue cat.

The ice user sighed in defeat and got out of his seat to find the blonde woman who punched him in the face.

Damn that Gray! Thought Lucy was she moved to the end of the train. She just wanted to get as far away from him and his smart-ass comments as possible.

She made it all the way to the end of the train and opened the door where the small little balcony was. Air blasted her face. She shut the door behind her and then leaned forward onto the railing.

Get a grip of yourself, Lucy! You just…you just need to prove that bastard wrong! You just need to prove that you can hold up on your own in the cold!

The door behind her was slammed open. Lucy was so startled that she felt like she could just fall off the train and die. After seeing it was Gray who opened the door, she glared daggers.

"The others are worried," he said as he folded his arms. He managed to somehow take his shirt off getting there.

"Oh? You're not? Not that I care."

Gray sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. "Fine. We're worried. I may not be as worried because, well, you punched me in the face for no fuckin' reason."

Lucy's brown eyes narrowed more. "No reason?" She paused as she clenched her fists. "No reason?" She threw another punch at her male companion, but he easily caught Lucy by the wrist since she didn't have the element of surprise anymore.

"Cut it out, Lucy," said Gray. He released the mage's wrist. "Let's just go back."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Gray could see the fire burning in her eyes as if she was very determined. He couldn't help but notice how cute she looked at the moment with her cheeks puffed a bit in anger. Gray blinked.

"I said," said Lucy, "I'm not going. I'll go back on my own later."

"Suit yourself then, princess." Gray turned around and left.

Lucy sighed in relief. "That guy seriously tenses me up! And what was up with him staring into space in the middle of our conversation? Geez."

Five minutes after Gray left, Lucy went to the food area. She sat down at one of the small tables by the window and ordered herself a sandwich. While she was eating her food, she started thinking about Gray and how he's been being a jerk to her more than usual.

"I think it started after our last mission a few weeks ago," said Lucy to herself. Then she thought, I was kidnaped by a dark guild, The Cross, and they were going to sacrifice me to make themselves younger. My keys were left behind with my friends who were still searching for me. I was tied to a stone table. There were dark cloaked figures all around me and chanting in a low voice at the same time. I noticed that the stone table had a carving through it, ending at edge. A person placed a dark bowl underneath it, and then I instantly knew what it was for. My blood. I tried screaming but I was gagged. My vision started getting blurry, but I was able to see a figure above me, holding a dagger with both hands.

The next think I knew, the figure was knocked away from me. I heard the dagger fall on the floor. People were screaming and flying everywhere.

Next thing I knew, my restraints came loose and I was picked up by strong arms. For a moment, I thought it was Natsu, but when I looked up, I saw Gray's face looking down at me with fear and then relief. I passed out.

When I woke up the next day in the infirmary, I got the news that many Fairy Tail members, mainly Natsu, completely wrecked The Cross without mercy. Gray was the one who brought me to the infirmary with "utmost care" according to the nurse.

"Guess he's being a jerk because I had to be saved," said Lucy before drinking her cold glass of water.

After she finished and lingered in the food section a little more, Lucy went back over to her team. Erza and Natsu were still in the same position, Gray was looking out the window, and Happy was snuggled up in Lucy's spot. When she got closer, Erza and Gray looked over at her, but Gray went back to looking out the window.

"Where did you go?" asked Erza with a concerned tone.

"I went to go eat," Lucy replied. She looked down at the sleeping cat and then picked him up.

"Huh?" questioned Happy as his eyes snapped open. "Lucy, you're back!"

"You can sleep on my lap, Happy."

Lucy sat down and Happy gladly curled into a ball on the blonde's lap.

The group stayed silent the whole time, save for Natsu who moaned in sickness, until they finally reached their destination. By the time they got there, it was late-afternoon, but the thick clouds hid the sun and snow was pouring down.

"I should have brought my heavy jacket with me," mumbled Lucy as she stared out the window. Her stuff was in her luggage in the luggage car.

Happy flew over to Natsu who was still passed out and tried rocking him awake. Seeing it was no use, Erza threw him over him shoulder and started walking out of the train with Happy flying behind them. Lucy and Gray got up and followed without looking at each other once.

After grabbing their luggage, they were greeted by a young woman with tight brown braids in pigtails. She wore a fuzzy grey cap, furry black boots, and a heavy black coat.

"Fairy Tail!" she exclaimed. Her green eyes lit up. "You're finally here!"

Natsu started stirring so Erza dropped him. He immediately got back up and started swearing at the train. Happy sighed.

"You must be Gretchen," said Erza, ignoring the fire user behind her.

"Yes, please to meet you all! I am to be taking you to the lodge where you will be staying until you capture the yeti, but since you're Fairy Tail members, I'm sure the job will be done fast."

"After all, I'm on the team," bragged Gray.

Lucy rolled her eyes. She certainty had enough out of him.

"I'll lead you to the lodge then, it's not far so we'll walk," said Gretchen.

"Yes! Finally!" exclaimed Natsu with relief.

Lucy made sure that she was ten feet away from Gray, who she noticed kept glancing over at her direction.

The young blonde wasn't very cold, but she shivered a bit. She forgot to pull out her jacket.

"Here we are!" exclaimed Gretchen as she dramatically threw her arms up in the air.

Lucy looked up. The mountain lodge was huge. Lights were shining all around the building, and you could easily tell that it was jam-packed. People were pouring in and out. Laughter filled the air. So did the smell of gingerbread.

"When the yeti comes," started Gretchen as she turned around to face the team. "He, and I say he because I'm only assuming, destroys only one building and then disappears. We don't know where he goes and we don't know when he comes back. I've lost count on how many search parties were sent out."

"Was anyone injured?" questioned Lucy.

"Yes, but nothing too serious. I've also heard that the yeti takes one item from each place he's wrecked, but no one seems to remember what he took."

"Were they different buildings each time?" asked Erza.

"Yes."

"And how many building has he wrecked so far?" continued the scarlet-haired teen.

"Eight. We also haven't seen the yeti in two weeks."

The team members looked at each other and then back at Gretchen.

"Well, that's all the information that I know," said the guide. "I'll lead you to the front desk, then."

The Fairy Tail members followed her inside, all pondering how they were going to catch the yeti.

I'll melt him with my flames!

I'll freeze him with my ice!

I will plunge my swords throughout his body!

I'll…I'll summon spirits!

Fish!

"I'm so sorry," said the woman at the front desk. She had shoulder length black hair and wore black framed glasses. "I didn't realize there were so many of you! I was only able to save three rooms, each with only one bed. I must have misheard…"

"Can't you change it?" asked Gray.

"I can't," said the woman. On the desk, Lucy saw a nameplate that read: Maria. "All the other room are booked since the people who live in the homes that the yeti wrecked get to live here free until their place is fixed. You'll just have to make due or find another place."

They all looked at Gretchen. "Sorry," she said. "But I don't think there are any houses here with enough space."

"I'll sleep with Natsu!" commented Happy with a raise of his paw.

"Then I'll sleep with Gray," said Erza. "We've done so before, anyways."

"Okay, great!" said Maria. She grabbed five keys and handed them to the Fairy Tail members.

I'm sleeping alone? Thought Lucy with a pout. Why can't Erza sleep with me and Gray can sleep alone?

Lucy saw Erza pat Gray's head, which resulted in him getting a bump.

Never mind.

They all went into their rooms on the second floor. Lucy's room was large. She sighed in happiness and opened the curtains. She had a great view of the mountains. Lucy went into the kitchen and looked into the fridge. She saw that there was food already stocked, but she didn't feel hungry. She turned around and almost fainted.

Loke was sitting on her bed with his arms and legs crossed, looking at Lucy with a smirk. "Good evening," said the lion.

"Loke!" cried Lucy as she balled her fists. "Why are you here?"

"Everyone else has someone to sleep with, but you don't. So I thought I might do you a favor."

"A favor? A favor for me? Or a favor for you?"

Loke chuckled.

"I'll just sleep with Plue like I always do," said Lucy. She brought out the little snowball's key and summoned him, but he never came. "That's odd…" Lucy started slapping the key on her palm.

"He won't come," said Loke.

"Why not?"

Loke just smirked, causing Lucy to grunt in frustration. She decided to summon Virgo, but she didn't come either. "What did you do?"

"I just simply restricted them from interfering. All except Taurus… If you don't want to sleep with me, fine. But you'll be dealing with the cow later on if you don't say yes to me…"

Lucy imagined Taurus alone in her room with her and shivered. Loke was a way better option, but she still didn't feel comfortable with the idea. More so, she didn't understand how Loke got her spirits to stay put when she called.

Can he really do that?

"I know you hate being alone," said Loke as his eyes casted downward. Lucy was sure he was remembering the time when she was about to be sacrificed. "I just…after that day…I just wanted to be closer to you. If something were to happen like that again, I would go crazy. I want to make sure nothing like that happens to you ever again."

Lucy blushed. After a moment of silence passed over them, Lucy agreed to let Loke sleep with her. "Just don't try anything perverted, okay?"

Loke smirked. "I won't make any promises, princess," and winked.

After meeting with her team members one last time in Natsu and Happy's room, avoiding the fact that Loke was going to room with her, Lucy went back to her own and had dinner while Loke started up some simple conversations to pass the time.

When Lucy finished, she grabbed her pajamas out of her bag and went into the bathroom. She changed, brushed her teeth, put her hair up, and then went outside to find Loke in his boxers. The blonde mage blushed and looked away.

It's not like he's the first guy I've seen shirtless, though Lucy, automatically thinking of Gray. But the fact that he is sleeping in the same room with me shirtless is different!

Lucy threw her dirty clothes in a corner and climbed into bed. A moment later, Loke turned off the lights and climbed into bed with her.

Lucy shot up. "Wait, who said you'd be sleeping in the same bed as me?"

Loke continued getting settled in. "Why, you did!"

"Get off get off get off!"

Loke wrapped his arms around Lucy and pulled her down into the bed with him. Before Lucy could cry out, Loke covered her mouth. "Ssshhh," said the man softly. He held her close, not wanting to let her go.

He's so warm… thought Lucy. She actually started getting sleepy and didn't realize that Loke removed his hand. He's such a cat she thought with a metal giggle. That's why he's so cuddly.

Shortly after Lucy drifted asleep, Gray untangled himself from Erza, whom was sleeping soundly, and made his way over to the balcony door. He opened it and stepped outside. The cold air didn't bother him one bit. After silently shutting the window he thought, I hope Lucy is alright. Why the hell would Erza sleep with me after what happened to Lucy last time! It was dumb to let her sleep alone!

He silently made his way over to Lucy's balcony.

I'll stay with her, thought Gray with a smirk. She's going to throw a bitch fit in the morning and not speak to me the rest of the day like she did today, but as long as I know she's safe, it's fine.

Gray dropped down onto the ledge where he knew Lucy's door was at. He was about to open it when he froze. The curtains were wide open, and the ice user saw Loke with his arms around Lucy in her bed.

Loke's eyes snapped open and stared into Gray's.

Gray frowned and made his way back over to his room.

Meanwhile, Loke continued staring at the window. He then looked down at Lucy and whispered, "I see…"

Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Loke? Seriously?! Wtf is this person doing."

Shush. You'll get to the good and yummy graylu parts, I promise. Besides, I'm updating everyday for this so you won't wait very long!

So ssshhh *pets your hair* ssshhh

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Please comment to let me know how it done goes so far! (Wut iz engrish?)

annnnddd

HAPPY GRAYLU WEEK