Hello people of the Internet :D I'm back with another story. How are you doing? I'm fine except for slowly turning into a shipping looney. It's because I got my inspiration for this story from a regular TV show that has nothing to do with NaLu what-so-ever. Scary right? I found myself randomly thinking about my OTP while watching and BAM here is a new story. Well and because it's NaLu Week soon. Since I missed it last year, I felt obligated to dish something out this year. This is just a sneak peak though, the rest will be (hopefully) published from the 1st-7th July.
Disclaimer: I own Fairy Tail. Seriously, I do ... sigh ... Fine then, have it your way. I lied.
If I were you ...
"For the love of god, Gray, are you trying to kill me?"
With a lazy roll of his eyes, said guy shoved the offensive glass into her hands. Lucy eyed the murky brown liquid with a mix of apprehension and disgust. A nasty smell burned her nose and it took all of the resistance she could muster not to empty the contents of her stomach on what was left of Gray's clothes. Really, it was just his pants.
"It won't kill you. It's just a mix of whiskey, vodka, root beer, strawberry milk, raw eggs, my spit and some of Elfman's sweat. It's really no big deal."
Where did he even get all that? Gray had a shit-eating grin on his face that clearly spelled trouble for her. The blond knew exactly what he was going to say next and dreaded it already. "And if I were you, I would chug that down."
Lucy groaned and fixed her tormentor with a pointed glare. She narrowed her eyes for the Erza effect, but he didn't seem impressed. Why did she even agree to play this stupid game? Yeah right, how could she possibly forget, he found out about her secret love interest. Just her luck. "You'll regret this one."
Squeezing her eyes closed, the celestial mage hoped that the drink would magically disappear from her shaking hands. Well, there was no going back on her word or her secret would be spilled. With three big gulps, Lucy downed the liquid, ignoring the itchy feeling in her throat. When she slammed the empty glass back on the wooden table, she tried not to think about its contents. Elfman's sweat … Gray's spit. Keyword, tried. Dammit.
The next thing the poor girl knew, her head was greeting the toilet. Strands of blond hair clung to her forehead as she revisited her dinner. Meanwhile Gray was rubbing soothing circles across her back, probably feeling some well-deserved guilt.
"I told you it would kill me," she managed to mutter between gags. "Now see what you did."
"Well, you could've just admitted defeat," he quipped and laughed slightly. "Then we wouldn't be sitting here."
In a sense he was right. It was hard for her to admit, but Lucy was a huge coward when it came to these things. Confessing her unrequired feelings to the densest person on the planet, had her guts in thousand knots. Hell, she felt more comfortable chugging some random shit. Usually, Lucy wore her feelings on her sleeve, but concerning the love for her best friend it was the opposite.
"Why me."
Her stomach twisted again and her life flashed past her as soon as she closed her eyes. One particular moment stood out from the rest.
One night at the guild, Gray and her had a couple of drinks. At the beginning everything was fine and they were simply having a nice chat. But somewhere along the ninth mug of beer, Lucy was being more honest than she'd have liked. Alcohol, the root of all evil. Luckily, Gray had been in the same state of mind. So at some point their conversation was centred around a pink-haired dragon slayer and a clingy water mage.
"Seriously, Juvia is all over you. Why don't you just get it over with and tell her how you feel?" The Lucy from the past slurred her words and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "You'll be together in no time. In fact, if I were you I would do it right now!"
"Easy for you to say." Past Gray hiccuped and poured himself a fresh mug. "If I were you, I would tell that stupid flame moron that you love him. Otherwise, he'll never notice the difference between guys and chicks. That idiot still believes that dragons bring the babies to their parents."
"So that's why he had been all over Alzack and Bisca when we got back." The sudden epiphany made Lucy speechless, but a drunken mind can only focus on so little at the same time. Not wanting to dwell on her love-life any further, she searched for a way to distract him. "And if I were you, I'd wear some clothes."
As if a light-bulb went off in his head, Gray looked down only to meet his naked glory. "W-when did that happen?!"
"How would I know?"
He crawled beneath the bench to look for his pants, only to find that they were gone. When his head popped up again, he turned to Lucy with a smile. "If I were you, I would led me your pants."
"Whaaat?! No way in hell, pervert!" Past Lucy felt strangely reminded of their first encounter. Apparently Gray hadn't changed a bit.
"Oh really?" A wicked grin stretched his thin lips and black eyes shone with mischief. "Oi, flame brain, Lucy's got to tell you –"
The girl shut him up with a swift kick to his face. Whimpering, the ice-make mage covered back in his seat, holding the mug in front of his body for defence. Lucy towered over him, a dark aura manifesting around her. "If you dare say a word to him, Juvia will know about your feelings faster than Erza can bash your brain out of your head."
"A-aye ma'am. I get it, there is nothing in it for both of us," Gray mumbled and judging by his quivering body he was still intimidated by her sudden change of character. "So how about we make a deal?"
Lucy sighed but was curious enough to listen. At least, his ideas didn't end disastrous unlike those of a certain dragon slayer she knew. (Oh how wrong her past self had been.) Besides, there might be a chance for her to hook Gray and Juvia up. Now that she knew their feelings were mutual. Maybe she'd ask Mira for help.
"Or no, it's more like a dare game. One of us poses a dare to the other and the person has to complete it. If they can't do it or refuse to, they have to confess their feelings to the person they like. It's the best way to secure that our secret stays safe."
Still having the alcohol tuning the reasonable part of her brain out, it was a perfect idea in Past Lucy's mind. That way, she could get Gray and Juvia together. No more spiked teas and creepy glances from the latter. Moreover, I'd take her mind off Natsu and her ever-growing feelings. She smiled excitedly.
"You've got yourself a deal."
"Great!" Gray beamed back. "Then let's start: If I were you, I'd lend me your pants."
"Was this whole game set-up about you wanting to have my pants?" She yelled angrily, gaining some confused looks from her fellow guild mates. Out of the context, that sounded really wrong. Luckily, they were too busy with themselves since another guild brawl had just started. Gray threw nervous glances in the general direction of a scarlet haired demon, but even Erza was occupied. Giving Gajeel a bloody nose for ruining her cake, if you want to know.
"Are you gonna give up this soon?"
On the con side, he was going to abuse the freedom of making her do anything. On the pro side, she could do the same and play matchmaker as a side quest. Grumbling, Lucy fumbled with the button of her jean-shorts and hesitantly took them off. The good thing was that she had decided to wear a long top, so no butt flashing that evening. Gray took them and covered himself.
She grinned childishly. This was going to be a lot of fun. "It's my turn."
And that was how she got into this mess. The next couple of days, the pair continued to force each other into things. While some dares were hilarious, some were plain disgusting much like the drink Lucy just had. After a while, the dares proved to become more difficult but never impossible. It was like an unspoken rule between them.
"I feel like crap," Lucy croaked as they walked back into the guild hall and towards the wild banter. Gray didn't respond but made sure she wouldn't trip over her own wobbly feet. When they made it to their table, she slumped in her seat. "But it's time to get my revenge. If I were you, I'd sit on Juvia's lap for at least five minutest. And for the record, you're not allowed to answer any questions or talk at all."
For a moment it looked like Gray contemplated avoiding her dare, but he had something at stake as well. Lucy groaned, it's not like Juvia would reject him. Hell, the girl was head over heels. But it seemed like Gray really wanted to get to know her, which was almost impossible with her fainting all the time.
"You've been hanging around Mira too long," the ice wizard ground out between his teeth. She just smiled evilly and waved him goodbye. Awkwardly and with the hint of a blush colouring his face, Gray stood in front of Juvia's table. He send a pleading glance over his shoulder, hoping for Lucy to take the dare back. Nope, no chance.
To say Juvia was suprised by the sudden weight on her lap was an understatement. She barely suppressed a yelp when she noticed it was her beloved Gray-sama. Not only that but they had successfully gained the attention of the rest of Fairy Tail. The looks the couple recieved had Lucy in tears.
"G-gray-sama s-sitting on my l-lap. Is this a confession?" Those were Juvia's last words before she passed out with a fangirl nosebleed and a dreamy look on her face. This only added to Gray's discomfort. A guy sitting on a girls lap, the switched roles raised a lot of questions.
"Oi, ice princess. Whatcha doin' there?"
"Sitting on girls in unmanly."
"Ara, ara what an unexpected development."
"He llllikes her."
"Ne Gray-ni-san, I think you are squishing her."
"Oh ho ho, youngsters these day. Was about time thoe brats made a move on each other."
"Get a room you two! I wanna drink in peace."
"Gihi I didn't think the ice princess wanted to be the girl in the relationship."
"Gray, you better back away from Juvia now unless you want to face my wrath."
Lucy watched Gray suck in a deep breath of air, probably struggling to keep his mouth shut with all the comments and Erza's sharp swords. Particularly Gajeels provocation seemed to get to him, since his face turned an odd shape of red and the air turned a few degree colder. Lucky for him, five minutes passed soon and he could avoid being pieced to death by a thousand swords.
Watching him running in circles to dodge Erza was hilarious and a great satisfaction. He deserved it for making her drink that crap. Besides, it's not like her dare was that bad. She could have dared him to do more provocative things. Hmm, maybe later. Heavy breathing interrupted Lucy's evil plans and she turned around to meet angry black eyes. Gray's dark aura promised some bad abusage of the 'if I were you' game.
"Glad that you had your fun," he commented nochalantly. Lucy hated how their roles switched so quickly. "Since you brought Juvia into play, I guess that means flame brain isn't off limits either."
Oh crap. Did she just hear right?
"You heard right." Gray grinned and pointed at the pink-haired dragonslayer who was currently wrestling Gajeel. "If I were you, I would make Natsu pregnant."
Remember that unspoken rule to never make a dare impossible? Psch, forget rules. In Fairy Tail they are just guidelines anyway.
To Be Continued ...
Ah, couldn't help the Pirates of the Carribean reference there :P Well, how do you like this set up for a story? I didn't plan in to be long at all. Seven chapters will be enough (since NaLu week is a week, duh.) I know this had more Gruvia than NaLu in it. I promise there will be more NaLu in the future.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed it. Maybe with a dare you want me to include ;) I'm open for ideas and/or promps. It's the first time I do this, so let's hope it'll work out. Have an amazing day! :'D