Playing it as cool as Ice
A/N: Someone pointed out that I have done pretty much nothing with Gray and so since I love the guy, I figured I'd finally get round to doing something about him. I also kind of like Juvia despite her being incredibly stalkery and weird, so here I am writing them a fic, albeit with everyone else there for ahem 'moral support'. Thoughts are in italics and its set after the Magic Games. Enjoy...
"Hey will you two just give it a rest for five minutes!"
"Mphmmm mmm phmm!"
"Why did I get stuck with these idiots?" Gray held his head in his hands and cursed the day he joined Fairy Tail. His was sitting with the rest of Team Natsu in the Guild Hall after completing a quest. It had been pretty easy all in all, but they had lost most of their food on the first day due to a freak river-crossing accident (by freak accident I mean Gray convinced Natsu his reflection was drowning, and so he ended up evaporating the entire river as well as their food pack), and so now Natsu and Happy were happily catching up on the 50,000 calories they were used to eating on a daily basis.
"Well at least the money was good." Lucy offered, guarding her tiny meal to prevent any unwanted cat or dragon slayer hands from stealing it.
"It would've been good if we didn't have to spend half on clothes for Erza." Gray grumbled. "I mean the money was supposed to be split equally! How the hell did we end up spending half of it on some crappy armour and swim suits?!"
"Is there a problem with my spending habits?" Erza replied menacingly.
"N-n-no problem here Erza." Gray smiled weakly and tensed in preparation for a beating. Luckily for him though the requip mage was distracted by her order of cake being delivered. As she unloaded all three hundred and thirty seven cakes, Gray returned to his dark mood.
"Mph hmphh hmp?" Natsu asked.
"Swallow before you talk for once you bone head."
Natsu did just that. "I was asking you what's up buddy? Are you hungry or something?" Gray shook his head. "Ahh good. Saves me having to order you some food then."
"Natsu you've eaten out the entire kitchen!" Mira yelled from the bar but he just grinned cheekily.
"So what's botherin you then?"
"Yeah Gray you seem a bit down." Lucy added.
"If its that time of the month for you Gray I have this really good cream..."
"Erza what the hell?! I'm a guy for god's sakes! We don't..."
"Just, just answer the question Gray!" Lucy yelled before things got out of hand. She'd already had to help explain to Natsu about the Birds and the Bees and she was damned sure that wasn't going through that again.
The ice magician sighed. "I don't know really what's up. I guess I just feel a bit...alone..."
"AWWWW!" Lucy and Erza said together. "Gray you should have said something before!"
"But wait...you have our team here?" Natsu's confusion earned him the next "AWWWW!" from the two women. Even though he was about as smart as a rock, you couldn't deny that he had a big heart. I guess that was the gods compensating for his tiny brain.
"Yeah yeah well it's not something you just bring up to people." Gray said blushing. "I mean you guys are all happy with people so I didn't want to be a downer."
"Oh Gray hug me!" Erza yelled, embracing her friend. The hug would have been nicer if she hadn't almost broken his spine.
Lucy looked puzzled. "But what about Juvia? I thought you guys were close?"
Where was Juvia you may ask? Well I'll tell you, and if you didn't ask then deal with this info. The ex-phantom lord member was in her favourite spot behind the pillar which was behind Team Natsu's table. This was the closest she could get to Gray without looking like a stalker and so it was the place she spent the most time at. Mira had offered to put a chair in to make it more comfortable for her but Juvia had graciously declined since it restricted her manoeuvrability when she had to run away. The only downside to the position besides the fact that it wasn't on Gray's lap was that she couldn't hear his godly voice speaking, or his unworthy friends for that matter.
"Juvia is a bit...odd don't you think?" Don't get me wrong, Gray did like Juvia. Just he knew she was bat shit crazy.
"Maybe a little but she adores you!" Lucy moved round and sat next to Gray. "Plus she's not exactly ugly Gray. You could at least give it a try."
He sighed. "I still don't know Lucy; I don't think it would be best if we went somewhere alone."
"No problem!" Natsu chipped in, finally finishing his thirtieth plate of meat. "There's going to be a huge night out tomorrow with loads of people going. Why not ask her then?"
The group looked at him. "I never heard about such a party."
"That's because you weren't invited." came a voice. The group whirled around to see Laxus smirking on a chair by the bar.
"Aww but Laxus, its going to be really fun and I don't wanna miss out on that!" Natsu whined.
The Thunder God just shrugged. "Not my problem Natsu. I guess you'll have to find something else to be disappointed by. I'm sure the blonde can help with that."
She scowled at him and he laughed. Erza however wasn't having any of it. "Laxus why are you being such a dick? You should be embracing your fellow guild members, not rejecting them!"
"The hell's your problem?! You're coming with Jellal anyways. Why do you care what the rest of those losers do?"
That was a very good point. "Yeah you're on your own I'm afraid." She said quietly as she returned to her cake. Natsu went back to pleading.
"Please Laxus! Please please please!" The lightening dragon slayer rolled his eyes.
"Natsu every time I go out with you you end up screwing things up for everyone. Remember last time when we were at that water park and you blew up the ENTIRE FUCKING BUILDING?!"
Natsu hung his head, but Lucy spoke up. "Yeah but I'll be there to watch over him this time!"
"You were there the last time too. He still fucked things up."
"Laxus play nice." Makarov chided, sitting with his eyes closed on the bar.
"Screw you old man. You're just jealous because you're not coming either."
Before he could explode at his grandson, Mira stepped in. "Laxus you should let them go with you." She then leaned closer and whispered in his ear "I need this for my shipping wall. Don't let me down please."
He shuddered as he remembered the last person to 'let her down'. The guy was still in hospital breathing through a tube. "Fine you failures can come." He grudgingly said, but then sighed and stood up. "In fact screw it, while I'm here everyone can come out with us!"
Cheers went round the guild. "Except you Macao. You fucking suck." More cheers went round which drowned out the disappointed cries of the older man.
"Thanks Mira!" Lucy called to the barmaid. She just smiled back in response. "Right then Gray its all sorted. You can give it a try in a relatively safe environment that is surrounded by loads of...Gray where is your shirt?!"
The ice mage looked down to find his shirt magically gone. "God damn it not again!" Natsu and Happy laughed as he frantically searched for his shirt. As he put it back on he smiled and looked at his group. "Thanks guys, you really did me a solid this time."
"No problem Gray now come here!" Lucy smiled and hugged her friend, who hugged her back in response. In the background Juvia proceeded to crack the pillar under her grip. She hadn't heard the context of what just happened apart from the fact that everyone besides Macao was going to Laxus' party, and so when Lucy and Gray started hugging her life suddenly became not worth living. "Lucy is stealing Master Gray from me! I knew she was my rival. How could I have been so stupid letting them go on quests without me following them?! Oh Master Gray why?"
The hug broke up and Gray stood up. "Well I better ask her before she ends up breaking that pillar behind us. Wish me luck."
"Like you need it with Juvia." Natsu joked as his friend walked away. Juvia's heart stopped as Gray walked towards her. "He spotted me! Quick Juvia, escape now!"
"Hey." Gray began awkwardly.
"H-h-hey, m-Master Gray." She stuttered back, "I-is there something I c-can do for you?"
"Yeah..." He ran his hand through his hair. "Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but I was kinda hoping you wouldn't mind coming with me to that party tomorrow."
"...Eee..." Juvia squealed then jumped up and down on the spot. "My dreams have come true! Juvia is finally going on a date with Master Gray! And he asked me!" Drool began trickling down from her mouth as she fantasised about what would happen.
"Erm, Juvia? Juuuvia?" Gray waved a hand in front of her eyes to check for signs of life. When he found none, he put a hand on her shoulder and shook her slightly. Her instant blush let him know she was indeed alive. "So...is that a yes?"
"Master Gray touched Juvia's shoulder!" She managed a nod.
"Phew!" Gray breathed a sigh of relief. "Almost thought you were going to say no there haha. Great, well I'll meet you here like half an hour before it starts?" She nodded again. "Cool...well I'll see you then then."
He began to walk off, but stopped as he realised that he had no clue when or where this thing is. "Hey Laxus!" He yelled across the guild, "The hell is happening with this party thing?"
"I'll be fucked if I know!" He yelled back. "Like...just meet here at 7?"
Gray gave him a thumbs up in thanks. "I guess I'll see you here at 7 then." And with that he walked back to Natsu, Lucy and Erza. Unable to process what had just happened, Juvia collapsed into a puddle of water. It would be an hour and a half until she reformed again. I guess Macao chose the wrong day to sit next to the pillar.
"She said yes!" Gray exclaimed, earning him high fives from his group. "So...what do I do now?"
The others rolled their eyes. He really was hopeless with women.
-The next night at around 7-
Gray would have been sweating through his shirt, but once again he'd stripped without knowing it. "Its about 7 now...where is she?"
Lucy smiled. "Aww are you nervous Gray?"
He scowled at her. "Get off my back will ya?! I haven't done this in a while."
"How long is a while?"
The scowl turned to a glare. "Just shut up or go and talk to Natsu."
The smile turned into a grin. "Sure thing Gray, but I'd suggest you find your shirt and pants before she gets here."
As he scrambled to once again find his clothes, she turned to her pink haired friend and his cat who were standing next to them. "Hey Natsu, I got you a little something."
As he looked at her she pulled out his scarf from her pocket. He'd given it to her when he first asked her out to show her how much she meant to him, and she'd kept it with her ever since. Tonight, however, with him wearing his white suit she just couldn't bear to see him without it. Although she still didn't know why he was wearing one, as she wrapped the scarf around his neck she decided that he'd made the right choice. "It looks better on you anyways."
As she finished he hugged her. Happy flew up to their eye level and shouted "SHE LIIIKES HIM!"
"No shit Sherlock." Muttered Cana who was walking over to Gray. "Damn it I'm spending way too much time with Laxus." She patted him on his now covered shoulder. "So are you ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." She could see his hands shaking. Gelling a bit sorry for him, she gave him an affectionate pat on the back. The next thing she felt was anger as Laxus came up behind him and wrapped his arm around Gray's shoulder.
"Reckon she fucks on her first date?"
"W-What the hell man?!" He cried as he shook the arm off his shoulder. Laxus just laughed.
"Well we'll never find out unless she turns up soon. We're ditching her in two minutes. Guess you'll have to find out what she looks like in a sexy blue dress another time..."
Gray turned around and looked at him. "Wait, how do you know she's wearing a..." His jaw dropped. Juvia was standing in the middle of the crowd looking around for him wearing a stunning blue dress that tightly fit her figure. "I...I..."
"Go get him stud." Laxus laughed as he shoved him towards the bluenette. "You and Mira owe me at least three drinks each for this." He mumbled to Cana who just sighed and nodded in response.
"Master Gray!" Juvia screamed as her date crashed into and fell on top of her.
"Erm...hey...again." He said embarrassed. "You look great!"
"Master Gray noticed me! And he said I looked great! Ohhh Juvia is in heaven!" She just smiled back at him, too busy lost in her own world. They lay there for a few more seconds until Gray was hoisted up by Jellal.
"Thanks man." He muttered before extending a hand and helping Juvia up. She fainted as soon as his hand touched hers however and so he had to drag her to her feet. "Yeah this is going about as well as I expected it to go."
"Ok dickheads its time to move!" The group responded to Laxus' command and walked in unison to the location of the night, a local club. Originally when there was only about ten people going the location was a much smaller venue, but with the group at the size it was there was no way they could go to anywhere smaller. Near the end of the five minute walk Juvia woke up to realise that Gray was carrying her there, and so promptly fainted again.
As the group started entering the establishment, a bouncer stopped Natsu and Happy. "Sorry but there's no pets allowed in here. Especially not blue freaky ones like that thing."
Mira nudged Laxus in the side. "Do something. If Happy doesn't get in, Natsu will leave, meaning Lucy will leave, meaning Gray will feel uncomfortable and leave, meaning their date..."
"Yeah yeah whatever." He dismissed her with a wave and walked up to the doorman. "If you've got a problem with pussies then maybe you should quit your job."
The man glared at him. "You got a problem there scar face?" He spat at the lightening mage.
"That depends." He allowed some electricity to crackle around his body. "Do we?" Needless to say, not a problem was found that day and everyone got in ok.
"Juvia...you can wake up now. We're here." The girl opened her eyes and looked into Gray's. She almost fainted again, but she stopped herself and forced herself to stand up by herself.
"T-thanks for the help Master Gray."
He rolled his eyes. "Just call me Gray will ya?! It's weird otherwise."
"I'm on first name terms with the most perfect man on the planet!" While on the outside she managed a cool nod, inside she was jumping for joy.
"I'll get some drinks in before Cana drinks this place dry." Lucy offered and went to the bar, dragging Juvia with her.
"Now Lucy, I know we are deadly love rivals, but you'll just have to accept that Master Gray chose me to take out tonight rather than you. It must be hard, but please accept that."
Lucy looked at her psycho friend. "Yeah...sure thing. So listen, you have to stop being so nervous. It's only Gray for god's sake! He's a pretty chill guy."
Overlooking the mortal sin of saying 'only Gray', Juvia nodded. She was incredibly nervous and she knew that she could be...strange in this sort of mood.
"Juvia knows, but Juvia is very nervous. This is Juvia's first date with a guy that was actually nice to her. It doesn't help that the guy happens to be a god among men." She hung her head in shame. She was never going to be good enough for the masterpiece of a human that was Gray Fullbuster.
Lucy ordered a tray load of drinks then turned to the bluenette. "Well just get a few drinks down your neck and I guarantee you'll loosen up. I mean just look at Freed there; he's never danced like that before in his life!"
The rune mage was not used to drinking at all, and so after the few drinks that he had he was up and dancing like a maniac on the dance floor. The rest of his Tribe were laughing their arses off at it.
"And you're not trying to mess up Juvia's date?" Juvia questioned as she took hold one of the drinks Lucy had just ordered.
"Nope." As the blonde smiled back, the water wizard downed her drink. "Hey...I think it might be a good idea to take it slow..." As her friend knocked back another three drinks, Lucy realised that maybe it was a bad idea telling Juvia this was a good idea. By the time they reached the table only four drinks were left of the original ten.
"Here you go sweetie." Lucy winked as she gave Natsu and Happy their drinks. Natsu was a light drinker himself and Happy was a cat, so she made sure to give them the ones with the highest alcohol concentration. Hell would freeze over before she left the club without incriminating photos of the two doing something stupid while they were drunk.
"Here you go Mast-...I mean Gray." Juvia handed the ice mage a drink. He thanked her and took a drink of it.
"Juvia this sucks!" Gray spat the liquid back into the glass. "Isn't there any other drinks?"
Had Juvia not been under the influence of alcohol, she probably would have ran off crying at that comment. As it was, however, she was already fairly far gone and so she just took his drink, downed it and handed him another one.
"Erm...thanks..." He took the drink and looked at her. "Maybe you should take it a bit..."
She sat down on his lap and cuddled him. "Aww Gray, you're so cuddly!" The blue haired man went prone and stared straight ahead of him. Whatever he had done in his past life, he was paying for it now tenfold. Juvia looked up at him and smiled. "You should drink that before it gets cold."
"It's supposed to be cold though." Gray thought but he complied with her wishes. The drink tasted horrible, yet he knew that she wasn't moving until the glass empty. "There, done. Now will you..."
"Juvia thinks Gray isn't drunk enough yet!" She squeaked and handed him another drink. Reluctantly Gray took it and sealed his fate for the evening.
The group drank their way through several more trays before they called it quits for a bit. Happy ended up spending the rest of his night in the hospital after trying to fly while drunk. There wasn't a wall that he didn't hit. Natsu came back after dropping his friend off and ended up using his scarf to lasso people. It was all going so well for him until he tried to lasso the drink out of Gildarts hand. He missed it entirely, accidentally choked the middle aged man and got beaten up while Lucy filmed it all. Although the quality of the video wasn't great due to her drunken, shaking hands, it was an overnight sensation. On the other hand, Gray and Juvia ended up having a great time. The copious amount of alcohol in their systems allowed them to relax, and by the half way point in the night they were up and dancing on the dance floor.
"Wow Juvia I didn't know you could dance this well!" Gray yelled over the music. "It's like you're flowing around me everywhere!"
"It's because Juvia is made of water!" She yelled back then flowed from side to side to prove her point. "You are doing great yourself Gray!"
The song changed to something more fast paced, causing both of them to jump up and down in time to the beat. Lucy watched them and smiled. "I guess the plan was a success after all."
"Owww..." Natsu moaned, sitting beside her while he recovered from his beating.
Lucy laughed. "I'd ask you to dance but I don't think you can stand let alone walk."
"Just give me a few minutes until the jam stops coming out of my cuts."
Meanwhile Erza, the other participant in the "Get Gray A Girlfriend" a plan (alias GGAG), was keeping an eye on the couple whilst dancing with her date.
"See, I knew they would make a cute couple." Erza smiled.
"Almost as cute as us." Replied Jellal, snaking his arms around the red head. Erza grinned and grabbed hold of his hands.
"Maybe we should keep this PG. Well, at least for now..."
As Jellal realised that he was indeed have been the luckiest man alive, he accidentally stepped backwards and bumped into Elfman and Evergreen. "Oh...I thought you weren't dating?"
The two who had previously been very close suddenly leapt apart, denying any sort of emotional connection one another. Jellal and Erza just laughed.
"Shush man!" Ever hushed the two. "If Laxus hears you we're all dead!"
"Yeah I think he's ok with it all." Erza pointed over to the Thunder God who was sitting at the bar next to Mira, Bickslow, Cana and Bacchus. She waved at him and he waved back. Ever and Elfman screamed and ran out of the club to go live out their final few hours together.
At the bar itself, much drinking had gone on. Since Cana had the philosophy of "Go Hard or Go Home", the others had to keep up with her insane drinking pace. Bacchus was obviously ok with this since he was the heaviest drinker there, and even Laxus was managing to keep up with the two, Bickslow had started lagging behind after the last ten shots and was currently trying to stay upright. Mira had just given up on that front and had her head on Laxus' shoulder.
"WIIIIIILLLLLDDDD!" Bacchus started, raising his glass.
"FOOOOUUUUURRRRR!" The others finished, raising and then downing their glasses. The barman came over to the table.
"Erm...you do know there's five of you there..."
Laxus turned round and looked at the man. "I'm part of a guild, not a maths club, so shut the fuck up and get us some more shots."
As the man hurried off to comply with his wishes, Mira managed to snap out of her giggling fit to ask Cana to get Juvia and Gray over.
"HEY YOU BLUE HAIRED IDIOTS! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!"
Jellal almost went himself, but he used his brain and instead shoved Juvia and Gray towards the drinking club.
"Weeee're alls dloing slots." Bickslow explained in a slurred voice, "Yous are joininging uz!"
The couple looked puzzled at the five. Mira, Cana and Bickslow seemed friendly enough, but Laxus was a well known grouch and Bacchus wasn't even in their guild. Still, as they realised that the drinks were on Cana, they decided to match the speed of the pros.
"Ten shots each. Nobody starts until we all say go. First one to finish gets to make the last person to finish do what they want." After Cana had laid down the law, they each received their ten shots. Mira and Bickslow looked a bit green from their previous experiences, but the others were raring to go. Nobody wanted to be last since it was going to be either Bacchus or Cana that won.
"In fact lets make this interesting!" Bacchus announced. "Since Mira and Bickslow are pretty gone, Cana and I will take five of their shots each. That levels the playing field right?"
It did indeed level things out. When Mira finally managed to set her five shots in a line, the group was ready for hell.
"Ready?!" They all nodded. "Ok then. WIIIIIILLLLDDDDDD!"
"FOOOUUUURRRR!" They all shouted, then proceeded to drink their shots. Cana, Bacchus and Laxus dived straight into theirs, making short work of their drinks. In fact, had it been a fair battle, Cana and Bacchus would have tied for the gold medal. However, as it was Laxus won since he only had ten shots instead of fifteen. Gray came in fourth after almost being sick on his eighth. Bickslow came in a close fifth, and last place was fiercely battled out by Juvia and Mira. Ultimately Mira finished her five first through sheer will power, leaving Juvia swaying on her feet.
"Laxy Laxy!" Mira shouted out. "Make them kiss each other!"
He was about to tell her where to stick that nickname, but he noticed the couple blushing madly. He grinned evilly and looked at them. "Sounds good to me. You two; kiss!"
Juvia almost liquefied again while Gray turned bright red. They both knew that there was no escaping this bet, so they looked awkwardly at each other and shuffled together.
"Here goes..." Gray pecked Juvia on the cheek then pulled away. A sober Juvia would have liquefied right then and there, but drunk Juvia was far more demanding. Grabbing his head with her hands, she pulled him in for a full on French kiss. After fighting his initial shock, Gray relaxed and kissed her back, completing the kiss and earning them a chorus of "WILD FOUR!" from the others. As they finally broke off the kiss, Juvia stared into Gray's eyes and smiled, the happiest she had ever been. "This is the best night of Juvia's life! I hope it lasts forever..."
-The next morning-
"So how was last night everyone!" Macao yelled as loud as he could to his hungover Guild Mates.
"Shut up Macao."
"What was that?! I couldn't hear you over the PARTY YOU DIDN'T INVITE ME TO!"
"Go fuck yourself Macao!"
The rest of the night had gone pretty well aside from Gray losing his shirt on the dance floor after stripping. It only took them half an hour to find it through which time Juvia just stood there drooling at his body. In the end, after lots of dancing and lots more drinking, the group called it quits and left. The couple kissed then went to their separate homes to sleep blissfully, completely unaware that when the woke up they would feel incredibly embarrassed.
"Hey guys." Gray muttered, rubbing his head as he walked over to the rest of his team.
"Hrm." Natsu mumbled, not bothering to lift his head from the table.
Erza, on the other hand, was bright and smiling for reasons that had nothing to do with Jellal. "Hello Gray! So how was your date then?"
Gray blushed. "About that...you wouldn't have happened to see Juvia anywhere would you?"
"She's hiding behind the pillar." Lucy groaned and pointed to Juvia's Pillar (yeah it had a sign now).
The water mage herself had no handover to boot. Being made completely of water, there was no way she couldn't be dehydrated, and so she only felt shame and embarrassment. "How can I even look at Master Gray after I...I should just leave the guild. I don't deserve to be near his glory."
"Hey Juvia." She snapped out of her depressed thoughts and found her date standing in front of her.
"He has come to tell me to leave. Ohh Master Gray, how thoughtful you are, telling me in person. You truly are a wonderful..."
"So last night was...fun, right?"
Her heart stopped. "He must be joking with me. Oh Master Gray; your sense of humour is cruel but hilarious!"
"Oh crap she's not saying anything! You idiot Gray; you must've freaked her out last night somehow. Better just cut your losses and go." He sighed and hung his head. "Look I'm sorry if I freaked you out last night."
Juvia gasped. "No no, it was Juvia who freaked Gray out surely! Especially after we...kissed."
Gray looked at her then burst out laughing. "Wait; so you thought that you freaked me out?! But I stripped in front of everyone and was awkward the entire evening!"
Juvia was stunned. "Oh no! Juvia must be having vivid dreams again!" She was even more stunned when his blush deepened.
"Yeah I kinda messed up there." By this point Juvia was punching herself to see if she was awake. She could tell from the pain that she was. Probably would have been better for her to pinch herself over full on punching. "But...erm...if you want to give it another go, I'm free tonight..."
Juvia almost died right there on the spot. "Juvia...aheep hee wha?"
"I was asking you for another shot at a date. Maybe with a bit less drinking this time eh?" He laughed nervously, completely unaware that his would be date would have said yes to anything he suggested. Literally anything.
"Nyaaa!" She managed to get out and then nodded. Gray breathed a sigh of relief.
"Great! I just hope tonight is as good as last night; that was amazing."
He kissed her on the cheek and then walked back to tell his team the good news. Juvia couldn't take all the happiness any more and simply exploded into a puddle on the water.
"Clean up on isle idiot!" Makarov yelled and Mira went out with a mop and bucket. She just smiled as she gathered up her friend. "My shipping wall is almost complete finally! Good job Gray!"
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this fic. I'm not usually someone who writes romance fics so my bad if its not the best thing you've ever read. That said, I kinda enjoyed writing this, so I was thinking of doing one with maybe Gajeel and Levi maybe? I dunno if that would work, but if people seem to think that would be a good thing to write I'll make one. Read, review and recommend stuff for me to do :)