tête–à–tête

summary — in which gray and lucy have some interesting things to say about the different guilds and their members.

pairings — gray/lucy friendship

tags — humor, family/friendship

setting — grand magic games (the ball)

note — because gray and lucy's friendship is underrated. i mean, there is a ton of proof that they'll be bffs forever. also, i have no idea how to gossip properly so i apologize in advance.

[ FAIRY TAIL ]

During the Grand Magic Games, there initially was a sense of hostility in the atmosphere. The people of Crocus were a little apprehensive about the return of Fairy Tail's Tenrou group, thus ending in the crowd completely disliking the former strongest guild. The stunts Raven Tail pulled didn't help either. All in all, it seemed everyone hated Fairy Tail.

And then they won (ha, take that suckers!) and showed to the world what the powers of comradery and friendship entailed.

When the battle with the seven dragons began, all the guilds came together. Everyone fought together against the enemy, bled together, and eventually prevailed together. Though it was a long and complicated war, the bonds between all of the wizards prevailed, showing that if the people of the world would come together as one, there was nothing that could not be achieved in the future.

The ball held by the king of Fiore was a great way to relieve some of the stress from fighting on hours end. The women dressed up in beautiful, extravagant gowns as the men wore their fanciest suits. Everyone found their partner from different guilds and made their way to the dance floor, some mages bonded over the deliciousness of the buffet, and a few wizards who still had energy to spare had their own little brawl.

In the deepest corner of the ballroom, a duo could be found. A woman with golden blonde hair and a man with jet black hair. They were giggling and whispering amongst themselves. And the pair was commonly known as Lucy Heartfilia, the Celestial Maiden, and Gray Fullbuster, the Ice-Make wizard who stripped twenty-four hours a day, and seven days a week.

"You know what?" Lucy chortled. She was barely able to take a bite from her cake since she kept snorting and laughing. Despite her lovely dress and hairdo, she had no intention of acting like a lady tonight it seemed. "I still can't believe that Ichiya found Nichiya."

Gray grunted, a grin curling his lips in amusement. "You should have seen Erza. She downright fainted!" He prayed that the red-headed knight was nowhere near them at the moment.

Lucy giggled. She pictured the scene in her head with perfect clarity. "When we were fighting Erigor, she didn't even flinch! The Pandemonium didn't even seem like a problem for her. Even when we fought Acnologia on the island, she didn't waver."

"Erza's weakness is an old man who has an obsession with perfumes!" Gray's eyes began to water, his stomach ached from his boisterous laughter. His legs felt like jelly that he had to lean on Lucy's shoulder.

"Speaking of Erza," Lucy giggled, eyeing her friend who was accompanied by a certain Mermaid with long, violet hair. "She basically adopted Kagura as her sister."

Gray snorted, finally calming down. He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms against his now naked chest. "The only reason I like her is because she kicked Lyon's ass during the tag-team battle."

"No way!" Lucy exclaimed, her eyes sparkled at the new information. Albeit, the fire in her earthy ringlets quickly disappeared. She lowered her head. "I still wish I could have seen the tag-team battles," She whispered sadly.

"Oh, please," Gray waved her off as he snatched a bite out of the cake on her plate. "The only thing that was worth watching was Natsu fighting for your honor." He turned to the blonde, who suddenly had reddened cheeks, and smirked. "He liiiikes you."

"He does–he does not!" Lucy spluttered. She pointed to a Water Wizard with blue hair that was currently conversing with Lyon. "You better make your move on Juvia otherwise Lyon will totally steal her and have thirty-three babies with her!"

Gray shrugged, although there was a smug smile on his face. "There's no way of that happening. We already showed him up during the final day. Juvia and I totally kicked his ass!"

Lucy snickered, poking the noirette's bare chest in retaliation. "Of course you did. You liiike her!"

Gray turned away, a thin coat of pink covering his pale face. "Shu–shut up!"

"I heard the First Master helped you guys with a strategy," Lucy interjected, her head clocked to the side, ready for another spillage of juicy information.

"Obviously it worked," Gray cheerfully replied. "No, but seriously, she helped us with the minor battles which was good for our points. For all the major fights, we were kind of our own so in a way it didn't feel like cheating."

Lucy nodded. "How did the fight go with Erza and Minerva?" She shuddered a bit at the memory of the merciless kicks and punches.

"Erza showed off her new armor," Gray said, shivering when he recalled the monstrous look on his childhood friend's face. "Oh, and she fought for ya as always."

Lucy sighed sadly, her bright aura suddenly dampening. "I wish I wasn't so weak all the time. Then you wouldn't go through these problems."

Gray frowned. He reached out to ruffle her hair, promptly ignoring the way she shrieked so loudly. "You're on Fairy Tail's strongest team for a reason, you know. You're like our glue and rock that keeps us all sane and stuff. It's just bad luck that you keep running into trouble."

Lucy sniffled, drowning all her sorrows in the creamy cake. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious!" Gray proclaimed, growing angry that the blonde could ever doubt herself. "If Raven Tail hadn't cheated, you would have won the crowd over. I mean, you're Lucy Heartfilia for Christ's sake!"

"Thanks, Gray," Lucy smiled. She felt a whole lot better. She was lucky to have a great friends like him. "Hey, tell me about your fight with Rufus and don't you dare leave a thing out!"

Immediately, Gray brightened like a snowflake. "I won, duh! Man, the guy was a tough one to beat. He could use spells just by memory. At first, it definitely sucked."

"How did you beat him?" Lucy inquired. She definitely respected him when it came to power and strength, the guy just found ways to surprise everyone everytime he fought. Just like a certain pink-haired Dragon Slayer.

"A magician never tells his secret!" He said with an arrogant grin. "Oh, by the way, what happened to you and Natsu in the castle?"

"It was awful!" Lucy wailed, the brunt of all her injuries came back to the surface. "We ran into these wizards who were like a secret organization or something. Lily was up against a guy who fought with acid. There was a guy who kept calling Natsu a sinner—"

"Which he is, I bet," Gray commented dryly.

"And then this guy with a weird speech tick, you'll be proud to hear that Loke kicked his ass—" Lucy felt a surge of pride for all her spirits during the fight with the odd adversary, and she could bet that Yukino felt the exact same way.

"As expected of my partner," Gray nodded.

"There was this girl with Plant Magic who use something sour against Wendy." Lucy stifled back a giggle when she remembered the tears of agony of the little bluenette when she told her story.

"Poor Wendy." Gray mentally kicked himself for doing the same thing to the Sky Maiden not so long ago.

"And then another wizard who had weird Paper Magic, I think Mirajane was the one who beat her," Lucy continued.

A shiver slithered up Gray's spine when he tried to image Mirajane in her Demon Soul. "She doesn't always engage in battle, but when she does, it's scary as hell."

"I'll say," Lucy agreed. She never wanted to cross paths with an angry Mirajane. "A lot of things has happened to us, huh? This was such a crazy time."

Gray took a glass of champagne from one of the waiters. The sparkly drink instantly reminded him of a particular brunette. "Yeah. Like the fact that Cana finally met her match."

Suddenly, throbbing hearts appeared within Lucy's dark eyes. "Don't they make the cutest couple? I can't wait until Gildarts finds out that Bacchus stole Cana's bra on the first night of the games."

Gray flicked Lucy's forehead lightly. "Wow, you are such a girl."

Lucy grimaced. "But I'm still mad at him for being such a pervert towards Mira-san and Lisanna. It's a good thing that Elfman won that battle part. I didn't doubt him for a second."

Gray downed the rest of the contents of his drink within seconds. "My favorite battle was between Wendy and Chelia. It was kind of unexpected to see those tiny girls have big power."

Lucy couldn't agree more. She had to refrain herself from melting then and there just at the thought of the most adorable Dragon Slayer. "Wendy has grown a lot since first arriving to the guild, hasn't she?"

A serene smile appeared on Gray's face, making him the most angelic he's ever been. "I think we all changed."

"Say, Gray," Lucy began slowly, twiddling with her fingers apprehensively. "Will our friendship change too? Like, will we ever have moments like this again?"

Gray didn't even have to think about the answer. He knew that even though a number of years would pass by, he would always have a strong friendship with Lucy, the blonde who always complained on missions and saved their destructive asses.

"You know what, Lucy," Gray drawled out. He took in the sight of all his comrades mingling and smiling. Despite all of the hardships that he and his guild went through, all of the tears and blood shed, he knew one thing was for certain.

"I think we'll be just fine."

[ END ]

replies — to Beauty-of-Ladybug, hiya! thank you so much for the kind words, i'm glad you liked it. here's another friendship fic, lol, hope you like this one as well! again, thank you!

to, momiji-chan84, and Loso, thank you for favoriting and following the story! it means a lot! you guys are amazing :3