Thanks for keeping up so far. Normally, the fanfics I post are purely erotica or lemon, without so much of a continuous story. This one's a bit different; I've been trying to both tell a story and provide lemon, smut, and/or fan service. Hopefully, both areas are to your satisfaction.


Two days had passed since Lucy opened up to Gray. Her alcohol intake was relatively minor in comparison to Natsu and Happy (and Gray for that matter). Meaning there weren't a whole lot of incidents. But Gray still couldn't shake her off his mind. He still smelled vanilla whenever she was around, even if she wasn't wearing perfume at all. He still remembered how it felt to touch her when she leaned on him after her drinking contest with Erza. But most importantly, he still couldn't shake off the 'bad man' she had mumbled about...whoever he was, Lucy definitely seemed afraid of him, though she wouldn't talk about it much.

Rarely did Gray and Lucy see each other inside the guild, or anywhere outside the cottage, but today was one of those rare times. They were both going on the same job, the first one Lucy would take that did not involve shopping for the guys or odd jobs around the cottage. A rare beast had been reportedly terrorizing a local village at night, and Gray accepted the job. At first, Gray was reluctant to let Lucy tag along, but...

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Lucy," Gray replied, "It's not a rookie job."

"But Gray, I'm tired of odd jobs like laundry and shopping!" Lucy whined, "Pllleeeeeaassse?"

"It's too..."

"Pwwwweeeaaasseeee?!" Lucy asked, sounding like a little kid.

No matter how serious Gray was, he found himself unable to resist the pouty face Lucy made, complete with the redness of her face from holding her breath in too long waiting for an answer.

"Alright, fine," Gray said, "But no complaining."

"Hooray!" exclaimed Lucy, raising her arms in the air and unwittingly smacked Happy to the ground.

"I'm okay..." Happy moaned unconvincingly.


Halfway through the walk to the village, and there had been nothing but grass and rocks. He had already abandoned his shirt, as per usual. He didn't notice, but Lucy occasionally took glances at his muscular torso as she walked next to him. She herself had been wearing a brown leather jacket, seemingly not bothered by the warm weather, with a white shirt underneath. Accompanying the jacket was a bright blue skirt that went about halfway down her thighs and a pair of black boots that went up her calves. Gray also found himself observing her during that time, but made sure she didn't notice.

Not much was said during the traveling time. Mainly small talk about other members of the guild, though both were careful not to mention Erza for their own individual reasons. Though it felt like forever, they had arrived at the village precisely 2:47 in the afternoon. The village wasn't much different from their own, but there was obviously a larger element of fear amongst the villagers.

"You'd find less gloomy people at a funeral," Lucy said.

"Guess we have this rare beast to thank for that," Gray replied, "Though if we play our cards right, it will be over tonight."

They had asked around about the beast; how large it was, what its capabilities were, what times and places it usually showed up. They gathered that it as about as tall as a single story building, roughly around 20 feet long, breathes fire, and usually ransacks the central area of town before retreating to the mountain caves.

At 8:00 sharp, most of the villagers had retreated to their homes, preparing for the arrival of the beast. Gray and Lucy sat atop a stack of crates, waiting for their target.

"See anything?" Lucy asked.

"No," Gray replied, "But I can hear it."

Now that Lucy had been paying attention, she too could hear it. She heard something climbing the buildings nearby, evident by its claw hitting the wooden layouts. Gray and Lucy then saw red fur from the top of the buildings.

"There it is!" Lucy exclaimed.

Gray and Lucy ran after the beast, which was now running in the opposite direction towards the farms, presumably for the livestock. A far cry from its supposed usual spot. Gray froze the road to try and stall the beast, only to see that it could also climb along the walls of the houses and jump to others at the same time, all while keeping itself camouflaged in its red fur.

"Gray, you idiot!" Lucy exclaimed, "I can't chase it like this!"

Lucy had been slipping on the ice, almost falling over several times. They would never catch the beast like this.

"Fine, hop on!" Gray moaned.

He grabbed Lucy and put her on his back while sliding across the ice. Though he couldn't see it, Lucy had been blushing as she rode on Gray's back while he chased the beast. Making his way across the frozen road was easy for a mage of his power. Not to mention the beast put up a pretty good chase. Upon recognizing it had two humans chasing it, it decided to call it an early night and make its way back to the mountains. Crawling over the gate leading to the village, it went through the mountain path with Gray and Lucy in pursuit.

"Alright, we're off the ice road, so you can handle yourself now," Gray said, putting Lucy down.

That didn't mean she could keep up with him, though. She was getting exhausted from running after Gray, who was running after the beast. Once the beast got to a circular pit in the mountains, it turned around, coming out of the fur it was hiding in. It was much longer than it appeared to be, and had green scales, almost like a dragon, but without wings. And both nearly found out the hard way that it could indeed breathe fire. Gray blocked it with a shield of ice surrounding himself. Lucy ran towards the rocky walls, barely dodging the flames.

But that didn't mean she wasn't hurt. One particular rock caught her foot, sending her face first into the ground and twisting her ankle. Lucy moaned in pain as she felt her nerves tighten up. Hopping on one leg was not an option...she couldn't muster the strength to stand up, so she was left to crawling. Right as the beast set its eyes on her.

As Lucy saw the bright flames heading towards her, she thought it was the end. But then she felt herself being swept away by an icy presence. Gray had picked her up and placed her on top of the path. Gray then froze part of the area to force the beast away, sending the beast back to where it came from. He had a feeling it wouldn't be coming back for a long time.


Gray and Lucy found somewhere to sit and relax to recuperate before returning to the village.

"Does it still hurt?" asked Gray.

Lucy didn't say anything, simply nodding her head yes. She had cried a little during their journey down. Gray took off his shirt, surprisingly not as part of his exhibition habits. Ripping parts of it and tying them together, he had turned it into one long strip that could be used like a bandage.

"I can get a cast on it," Gray replied.

"...thank you," Lucy quietly muttered.

She pulled off her boot and put her foot on Gray's lap. It was very easy to tell her ankle was swollen; it was a complete shade of purple, a stark contrast to the creamy complexion of Lucy's skin. Lifting her foot up with one hand, he wrapped the bandage under her heel, then around her ankle, and continued the process until it was tight enough to keep her bones together.

"Thanks," Lucy said.

"Lucy," Gray said, "Was that from today?"

What Gray was referring to was Lucy's index toe, which had been stubbed earlier on. Lucy nodded yes, but it had actually been while she struggled to stay balanced on the ice road Gray made rather than when she tripped on the rocks. It didn't really matter. Her toes were painted black, so it was hard to tell between nail polish and a bruise. Gray conjured up some ice in his hands, and proceeded to grab her toes.

"G-Gray, what are you..."

"This'll heal it," Gray replied, "It's not strong enough to heal your ankle, but just powerful enough to heal your toe."

Sure enough, not only did it gradually heal the bruise, but also brought feeling back to her toes.

"Get on," Gray said, standing up.

"Hmm?"

"It's a long way back to the village, and it'll probably take longer with you down to one working foot," Gray said.

He placed his hands under her leg and lifted her up, with Lucy wrapping her arms around him. As Gray walked down the path, Lucy buried her head into his hair.

He smells so nice...

Neither one said a word during the trek down. Gray thought she might have dozed off from the physical demands of chasing the rare beasts. But in actuality, she had been keeping quiet, mentally asking herself the same question she had been asking ever since he opened up to her when he let her stay in the cottage.

Am I...falling for Gray-sama?