Gray sat alone at the bar over a glass of iced tea, lost in his own thoughts about the newly formed couple of Juvia and Lyon. Of all the people she could have picked, why him? It was if the water mage had deliberately chosen him, knowing how it would make him feel. There has to be some way I can get her to pick me over him. Juvia had always picked Gray over him, but he'd rejected her one too many times, a sad truth that he was now realising as he came to notice that he was missing the way she used to stare at him from behind a pillar, following his every move whilst trying to be stealthy about it, unsuccessfully of course. The ice mage hated the fact that this was such a big deal to him, but he couldn't carry on as if everything was normal. Maybe if she had picked someone other than him. As he thought about it, he wondered if he would actually be ok with her dating someone else, someone other than him or Lyon. He probably wouldn't. He had become oddly possessive of her, wanting her to be his. Maybe it was just his jealousy talking, but it did give him an idea. If her going out with someone else made him envious and made him want to make her his, perhaps it would work the other way around. If he started dating someone else, maybe the water mage would get jealous and decide she wanted her Gray-sama back. It'd have to be someone that he knew would get to her. The only person that the raven haired ice mage could think of was Juvia's old 'love rival', Lucy.
Gray looked over at the table where the celestial wizard was sat. His face paled as he noticed who she was sat with. Of course she would be sat around with Natsu and Happy. The trio of them hardly ever left each other's sides. Asking Lucy out on a date would be an easy enough task. Putting up with the torment he'd receive from the dragon slayer and blue feline for doing said task was another matter all together. Gray internally debated whether he should wait for the two of them to leave before going over to ask Lucy, but who knew when that would be? He wanted to do this fast. The sooner the better. The sooner the ice mage did this, the sooner he'd be able to get Juvia back. At least that's what he hoped would come from this. Figuring that waiting would do nothing to help his current situation, Gray decided to just go and ask now and put up with the mocking of Natsu and Happy. If he didn't show any reaction to them, they'd tire of it and move on to something else. On the other hand, them knowing about it could work to Gray's favour. If the two of them kept going on about it, the news would spread around the guild in a matter of seconds with how loud those two could be and it would reach Juvia in no time. Gray stood up and made his way over to the trio, leaving half a glass of iced tea behind where he had just been sat.
"Hey, Lucy?" The blonde looked up upon hearing her name.
"Oh, hey Gray. What's up?" She smiled as she spoke, always being happy to talk to anyone in the guild hall and always eager to make a new friend or to keep up relations with ones that she already had.
"So, uhhh..." The ice mage rubbed the back of his head with right hand as he started to question whether or not this would actually be a good idea. He quickly tried to think of something else to say to try and cover up why he had actually come over here but his mind was drawing one huge blank. Seeing no alternative, Gray finished his original question. "Listen, would you like, wanna go out sometime? Like, just the two of us".
"he llllllikes..." Happy's usual catchphrase for whenever something romantic happened around him was cut off by a sudden downpour of a mixture of spit and what Natsu was drinking. "NATSU! GROSS!" The ice mage looked at Natsu and then back at Lucy. They both looked as stunned as each other.
"Ummmm..." Before Lucy could give her answer, the pink haired dragon slayer threw his chair back as he stood up, roaring a challenge at Gray for having the nerve to ask what he just did. The ice mage simply ignored him and continued to look at Lucy, silently pressing her for an answer to his question. "Uhhh... I guess?" Gray figured that would do.
"You free tonight?" he enquired.
"I should be, yeah"
"Great, I'll pick you up from yours at 8". Gray spun on his heels and headed back toward the bar, leaving a very confused Lucy, a dripping wet Happy and a hot-headed Natsu still shouting challenges behind. Just gotta get through tonight and spread the details about it tomorrow morning. That should do the trick. The ice mage went back to his drink, content that he had put the first part of his plan into action. Actually, thinking about it, right now that was the only part of his plan that he had managed to actually put together. He would just have to hope that everything else worked out like he wanted them to.
