Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I am pleased to announce the addition of two new oneshot collections, Tales of Ouran High (Ouran High School Host Club) and Tales of Resonating Souls (Soul Eater)! Though no stories have been posted as of yet, feel free to head on over and leave a request!

Category: Romantic Fluff

Characters: Lucy Heartfilia and Gray Fullbuster

Requested by: farrah87 (Ao3)

Lucy sighed forlornly as she sat at one of the tables within the Fairy Tail guild, lamentedly swirling the drink in her cup around and around and around. With one sudden cry, she slammed the drink down against the wooden surface and immediately followed suit with her forehead.

"I'm so bored!" she whined miserably. Her normal partner, Natsu, had been recruited by Lisanna for a job because her normal partner Elfman was on a job by himself. Erza had basically bullied Wendy in taking a job with her because it required the use of her stat-boosting and wind magic abilities, and despite her attempts to be included on the mission, Lucy had been forced to remain behind on account of Erza's desire to "have one-on-one time with the impressionable little girl." As usual, Lucy had no idea what was going on in the legendary warrior's head. She could take a mission with someone else, she supposed, but it was just odd; it was either Natsu, or everyone on the team, and nothing else. I don't know if I can take any more of this boredom any longer, though.

"Hey, Lucy." The miserable girl raised her head when prompted, her lips still pursed into a sad pout. Gray was standing beside her with one hand in his coat pocket and the other holding up a piece of paper- a job. "Want to go on this job with me?" Lucy's unhappy expression immediately morphed to one of curiosity and confusion. Gray never asked her personally to take jobs; Juvia was his regular partner, and her jealous streak was enough of an annoyance for him to usually refrain from asking other female mages to take jobs with him just to save him the trouble of dealing with her. Even as Lucy took the job description to inspect it, she could feel the rain-woman's animosity brewing across the room. I bet she's glaring daggers at me, she thought with a weird combination of a smirk and deep frown. "I figured you would be a good person to ask because you know so much about books," Gray explained as she read over the request.

"A cursed book?" According to the description from a local shopkeeper, a magical book had landed in his inventory and he had been unable to get rid of it ever since. Every time he sold it, the customer would return it within days, sometimes hours, claiming it had cursed magical properties. Apparently, it had caused all sorts of problems, from temporary transformations to plagues of bad luck to making animals talk. He was at his wit's end and wanted a wizard to remove the curse so he could sell it once and for all. "It does sound like an interesting job." Though curses weren't something she cared to investigate, a book was enough to get her on board. "Let's go right now!" she grinned and hopped out of her seat. In her excitement, she grabbed Gray's hand to tote him along out of the guild, leaving Juvia seething with jealous rage in a corner until Gajeel knocked her in the head because she was disturbing his lyric-writing (which he probably needed to be interrupted because he was terrible at it).

Lucy was on cloud nine as she strolled down the streets of Magnolia Town, both at the prospect of investigating a magical tome and having a job to do in general. As she hummed happily under her breath, she wasn't even aware that she was still holding Gray's hand, or that he was pink-cheeked and looking anywhere but her because of it. She paused in the middle of the street to peer at the crudely-drawn map that had been included in the job request describing the shop's location. "Let's see… I think we take this turn here, and then a left, go down for three blocks, and make a right," she murmured and then looked at Gray to ensure he was listening. She narrowed her eyebrows when she discovered that he was not. "Hey, Gray, are you listening?"

"Oh, my, look at them. Such a cute couple." A bystander's comment distracted her from her scolding, and she looked to the side of the street to see two older women chuckling to themselves.

"Ah, young love. It's so wonderful," her partner agreed with a wistful sigh. Lucy turned red from her toes to the top of her head, finally realizing that her hand still enclosed that of the ice wizard, and she hurriedly retracted it like he had burned her terribly. Finally, he was able to look at her, and when he saw she was blushing so fiercely he turned a whole shade darker.

"Hey, what's the matter? You got a fever or something?" he spat and turned his face away again, but after a second he couldn't help but peer at her out of his peripheral vision. "If you're sick, we shouldn't go on this mission! I'll ask someone else!"

"I'm not sick!" she spat back but turned another hue of red. Lucy didn't want him to think her embarrassed, and she definitely didn't want him to ask someone else to go. Strangely, she wanted him to ask Juvia least of all, though they worked well together. Gray and I work well together too! "Speak for yourself! You're turning red too!"

"Am not!" His face was the color of a ripe apple. "I-it's just really sunny, that's all! The sun is making us burn!" Without further ado, he grabbed her by her upper arm and yanked her sideways underneath the shady awning of a building, but inadvertently pulled her into him; as her nose bumped against his chest, she let out a surprised squeak while her face continued to explore every possible shade of red it could turn. Gray gasped and hurriedly stepped back, but put excessive distance between them and tripped backwards over a box. Lucy jumped as his red face were replaced by his feet, because he had tripped and fallen into an empty box behind it. "Wh-what the hell? I'm stuck!" he whined loudly as he tried pulling himself out of the tiny wooden structure to no avail. Still pink and embarrassed, Lucy could not help but burst into giggles seeing him red-faced with his behind crammed in a crate. "Lucy! It's not funny! Get me out!" He's so cute!

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," she mused and crouched down beside him to grab his arm. She was painfully aware of the feeling of his sculpted muscles beneath his coat sleeve as she stood and pulled hard. It took a few tries, but she was able to detach the ice wizard from the box. For a second, they both stood there beneath the cloth awning with identical blushes. What the heck just happened? Why did we get all flustered like that? She then whirled on her heel and coughed awkwardly. "R-right! To the shop!"

Somehow they were able to make it to the second-hand book shop with no more crazy incidents. A little bell rang to signal their arrival as they walked inside. "Hello? We're mages from Fairy Tail!" she called into the depths of the shop when she noticed no one was at the counter. Truthfully, Lucy cared little about the job in the moment, because her attention was captured by the piles and shelves of dusty tomes. The shelves stretched to the ceiling, and were crammed with all manners of books. Small ones, large ones, ones that looked brand-new and ones that were falling out of their bindings, magical textbooks, fairy tales, cookbooks, memoirs; it took all her willpower no to just abandon Gray right there, pick up a handful of them, and retreat to a cozy nook to absorb more knowledge and stories. Before she could act on her urge, a middle-aged man came trotting out from the back of the story, stopping to bow apologetically in front of them.

"Yes, thank you for coming! My name is Pazu; I own this bookstore. You've come to respond to my request?"

"That's right," Gray agreed and stepped a little closer behind Lucy. For some reason, she could feel his body heat radiating from him and it made her shiver, but in a good way. What is wrong with me today? She thought with an inward groan. The shopkeeper sank into a relieved smile.

"Oh, wonderful. Come, I have it in a case in the back of the store." The pair of wizards followed the man to the back wall, where a large, leather-bound volume was encased in glass. Lucy's mouth fell open in awe as soon as she saw it, it was so beautiful. It was bound in rich purple leather patterned in intricate runes that were inlaid with silver thread, and was as thick as the muscle on Gray's arm. Wait, that's a weird analogy! While she pondered what had her brain on the fritz, the shopkeeper's shoulders sagged and he sighed. "I picked this tome up from a traveling merchant. He said it was a book of spells, and it is, but apparently the book possesses enough magical power in itself to activate them on its own." Indeed, when she concentrated, Lucy could sense the magical energy pouring off the book in thick waves. "The curses go off randomly. I don't know what to do. Please help me!" he cried and bowed deeply to them.

"No problem. Let's see what this thing is hiding," Gray smirked and immediately swung the glass door of the case open and reached for the book. Lucy didn't have time to cry out that it was a terrible idea; as soon as his hand landed on the rich leather binding, the book flashed with blinding white light. Both she and Gray cried out in alarm as the white light enveloped them. Lucy squeezed her eyes shut, unable to bear the intense whiteness, and gasped as she felt her body begin to hum with energy. It was a strange feeling, like her molecules were disassembling and reassembling a million times a second, leaving her with pins-and-needles all over. After a few seconds, the light dimmed and the strange sensation faded, so she opened her eyes hesitantly.

The first thing she noticed is that she felt taller. She was looking down at the shopkeeper now, while before she had been nearly eye-level with him. She also felt denser too, like she was packing more muscle weight. Were her clothes different too? She had been wearing a tank top, but her shirt had sleeves.

"Hey, Gr- oh!" That wasn't her voice coming out of her. It was Gray's. In a panic, she looked at her reflection in the glass case and gasped again. It wasn't her reflection, but the dark-haired man's. Her hands flew to her cheeks, which were not the soft cheeks of her body but the chiseled jawline of Gray. "We switched bodies!"

"God damn it!" Gray cursed, and it sounded unnatural in Lucy's high, feminine voice.

"I told you! It's cursed!" the shopkeeper wailed in dismay and sank to his knees. With a growl (it was strange feeling the guttural sound resonate in Gray's chest), Lucy yanked the dusty book out of the display case and began flipping through the pages trying to find the particular spell they had activated.

"Here it is! The body-swap curse!" Lucy cried. Gray frowned (it was weird seeing such a look on her own face) as he peered over her shoulder, but was so used to being taller that he made her crouch down so he could do as normal. Lucy grimaced, lamenting the burning in her- Gray's- knees while attempting to hold the book steady as she scanned the contents. "It says here that the only way to reverse the curse is 'for the fighting couple to reconcile and their hearts to become one.'" The words hung in the air for a while, before the two of them glanced at each other with bristling shoulders and matching blushes.

"We aren't a fighting couple!" Gray objected wildly. Is that how I look when I blush? I'm adorable, Lucy thought for a second before she recalled the problem at hand and nodded fiercely.

"Yeah- and what is this 'hearts become one' nonsense?" she huffed and tried reading the passage again a few times to discern a possible hidden meaning or clue. She found none, and with a heavy sigh she sank down to the floor in with her legs stuck out on either side of her and her head hung. "We're doomed."

"Don't do that girly pose in my body!" Gray snapped at her, and when she looked up at him dourly, she pointed at him while grinding her -Gray's- teeth.

"Don't do that in my body!" Gray had resorted to his signature casual stripping, and now he was in her body in just her bra and underwear. The shopkeeper had succumbed to the allure of her curvaceous body and was bleeding out of his nose onto the wooden shop floor with a contented sigh.

"What are you talking about- oh. When did that happen?"

"I'm doomed."

She and Gray sat in the second-hand shop for another hour attempting to riddle out how to break the curse before they abandoned the endeavor and decided to bring the book back to Fairy Tail for more wizened minds to investigate. Their cheeks were both dyed pink as they marched in silence down the street. Lucy kept fidgeting, not used to being taller and broader than everyone else, and thus bumping in to pretty much everyone they passed. Gray kept muttering under his breath about the lack of pockets in Lucy's outfits, because he kept going to slide his hands into them but met only the smooth fabric of her skirt. After they were halfway there, Gray groaned loudly and threw his head back in agony.

"God damn! Lucy, how do you do it? These things are killing my back!" he whined while shamelessly jiggling her chest. The only thing that came out of Lucy's mouth was senseless screeching gibberish as her brain short-circuited in her head.

"Don't touch my body like that! Pervert! You pervert!" she shrieked wildly while Gray somehow managed to replicate his moody, disinterested scowl on her girlish face. As Lucy tilted back her head and cried a little bit, lamenting the unfortunate turn of events, someone shouted at them from down the street.

"Gray! Long time no see!" Lucy tilted her head slightly to see who was calling them, finding a familiar shock of bright blueish-white hair and familiar fashion sense.

"Oh. It's Lyon." The Lamia Scale wizard stopped a foot or two short of them, smiling brightly. "What do you want?" Gray sighed, looking far too irritated to deal with his friend at the moment. It was even stranger coming out her normally friendly self, and Lyon noticed, raising his eyebrows before turning to Gray- well, herself in Gray's body.

"I'm here to challenge you for Juvia!"

"Do what?" they both screamed in unison, and before either of them could explain the strange body-swap curse, Lyon grinned devilishly and fell into his ice-make pose. Lucy screamed- emitting a very high-pitched sound that was several octaves higher than Gray's normal voice- and flung to the side as a lion made of ice pounced at her with sharp claws. "No! Lyon! Wait! I'm not Gray!" she wailed miserably as she huddled on the ground, hand on her head and butt in the air.

"Lucy! You're making me look uncool! Ice make- shit!" Gray snapped and went to perform his magic, momentarily forgetting that Lucy had no such capabilities. He snatched her keys from her belt and began jingling them around. "How the hell do you use these?"

"Don't treat my Celestial keys like that!" Lucy snapped at them as she rolled across the street to avoid the icy lion again. As she landed, clumsily because she was a bit heavier than she was used to being, Lyon was standing in the middle of the street with his shoulders hunched in disappointment.

"Come on, Gray. You're being no fun…"

"I told you I'm not Gray!" Lucy screeched angrily and jumped at him to slam her fist down on his head. As Lyon crouched down, whining as he cradled his head, the lion disintegrated into snow flurries and vanished. Lucy stood over him with her hands on her hips while Gray continuously bleated that she was making him look like a dork. "Gray and I have switched bodies on accident! Fight him some other time!"

"No, Lucy, I don't want to fight him ever! It's too much of a pain!" Gray whined in the background. Lyon looked up at her with knitted eyebrows, then at Gray in her body, the back to her in Gray's.

"… That's weird."

"Yeah, I know, so do you know anything about breaking curses?"

Lyon proved exceptionally unhelpful. He was originally going to follow them to Fairy Tail, but Gray kicked him in the behind (which he validated by saying it was something she would do) and sent him packing to his hotel, both ego and body bruised. Lucy was utterly exhausted by the time they came stumbling through the door to the guild, though it was only mid-day. Lucy let out a gak! as Juvia sprang out of nowhere to wrap her in a tight hug.

"My Gray! Oh, I missed you so much! Are you tired from having to put up with Lucy?" she asked with a glare at her body, and Lucy swore for a second her eyes turned as red as blood. Gray's face- or rather, her own- was a portrait of acute disgust and embarrassment.

"Juvia, I'm Lucy. We're under a curse," she explained as the blue-haired woman nuzzled her shoulder affectionately, and Juvia retracted with a hiss, shoulders hunched; if she had been a cat, her ears would be flattened to her head and hackles bristling.

"What? How dare you invade my Gray's body, Lucy! Get out! Get out right now!" she demanded and looked at her body as if she was considering being affectionate, but the sight of her, even if it was Gray's soul inside it, was enough to make her shiver. Lucy's shoulders hunched up to her ears.

"I didn't do it on purpose! Trust me, I would like to get out of it as soon as possible!"

"What are you saying? Gray's body is perfect! You should be honored to be in it!"

"Make up your mind, Juvia!" Lucy screamed and tugged at the blue-black hair of Gray's head in frustration, then sighed heavily and hung her head. "Ugh, whatever. Come on, Gray, let's see if Mirajane or the Master can help us." She looked to her right and found empty space where he had been. He had obviously snuck off while Juvia was too involved arguing with her to notice. "Gray!"

Unfortunately for the cursed mages, neither Mirajane nor the Master could offer any ideas to how to reverse the curse aside from the scripted clause. Lucy wanted to end this curse as soon as possible, so she forced Gray to accompany her to her apartment to riddle out the curse no matter how long it took. After hours of wracking her brain, Lucy flung back against the couch with an exhausted groan, watching through lidded eyes as her head bobbed up and down as Gray came dangerously close to nodding off to sleep. "Gray, this is hopeless. We're gonna be stuck like this forever." She ran a hand through her- his- hair and in her tired delirium appreciated the softness of the strands, fingers lingering amongst the fine fibers for a minute.

"Maybe it isn't as complicated as you think." She raised an eyebrow at him as he straightened up at looked at her. The serious expression he was wearing looked kind of odd on her face. "'A fighting couple has to reconcile and their hearts become one,' right?"

"Yeah, but Gray, you and I aren't really fighting about anything, and we aren't a couple."

"Maybe that's just it." Lucy's mouth twitched, somehow simultaneously liking and dreading where the conversation was heading. Her body betrayed Gray's embarrassment, the cheeks of her face turning pink. "Um… Maybe… The problem is that we're fighting each other about being honest to one another." He tilted his head to the side and scratched his head, a very Gray gesture. Lucy didn't know what he meant, or maybe she did, and the thought of it frightened her a little. Her gaze drifted to the bottom corners of her eyes, a natural gesture when she was uncomfortable.

"Gray, I don't think I understand what you mean…" No, she did understand, deep down; she wanted to deny it still, or maybe she didn't and just wanted Gray to be the one to say it, because she just didn't have the courage to say it herself. She couldn't straight; her mind was simultaneously blank and whirling with a million thoughts, landing on strange things like how sexy Gray looked all the time whether he was clothed or not, how sometimes she wished Gray was her partner instead of Natsu even though Natsu was her best friend in the entire world because the thought of Juvia spending all that time alone with him drove her insane, about how some nights she would lay in bed staring out the window at the stars wondering if Gray was looking at those same stars and if he was wondering if Lucy was looking at those stars too, and-

"Lucy…" Somehow Gray managed to bring a mannish sultriness to her feminine voice that sent another one of those good shudders through her body, and for a moment the strange maelstrom in her mind halted so that she could focus on him. Even though it was her body that she was looking at, standing up from the opposite couch to walk around the table to stand over her with this look on her face, Lucy could only recognize it as Gray. What was that expression? He never looked at Juvia that way, but it was a look she had seen on him before when looking at her, this happiness mixed with careful contemplation and a little bit of hesitation, too. "Be honest with yourself."

Be honest. So simple a thing yet so complicated, too. If she was honest with herself, so much would change, every dynamic of every relationship they had; Lucy had denied it, denied it to keep the status quo, but she couldn't deny it anymore. Gray wasn't denying it anymore; that's what he was telling her. It was amazing how awfully clear it was to her just then. They didn't even have to say it out loud for the two of them to recognize it, because in that moment, their hearts and minds were one.

Lucy's living room became enveloped with the blinding white light, and once again the strange pins-and-needles assaulted her entire body. When the magic spell faded, Lucy had to flew her hands for a moment, momentarily unable to believe that she was back in her own body. Before she could say anything, Gray grabbed her by the hips and pulled her down onto his lap, making her yelp; again, before she could say anything, his mouth had covered her own, and then she didn't even think of saying anything because there was nothing to be said. Lucy's body melted as Gray kissed her softly, and in her euphoria, Lucy pressed herself against him, desperate to feel as much as him as she could. She could feel his heart beating beneath her own; their heartbeats beat out of tune at first, but gradually settled into a matching rhythm, a gentle synchronized cadence softly echoing as once more their hearts and minds and souls aligned.

When he pulled away from her, Lucy was hesitant to do so, and her mildly flushed face hovered a few centimeters away from his. She had been longing for that moment and was admittedly a little disappointed it had been so brief. He smirked up at her. "You have that pouty look on your face again." This made her blush further, because it meant that he took careful note of his expressions just like she did his, and that made her a little shy. "Come on, aren't you going to say something?"

"I love you." He was probably expecting her to say something bratty as she often did, because a look of shock came over his face. That was what she was feeling, though, and it was the only thought that dominated her mind. "I love you, Gray." The ice wizard's face melted into a loving smirk and he wound his arms around her waist, pulling her body against his while he looked up at her alluringly.

"I love you, Lucy." This time, Lucy leaned in to kiss him, and he allowed it. Lucy knew everything was going to change after that, but honestly, she didn't care; for that brief time, she just enjoyed it, the way their two hearts had become one.