Hey there everyone! The weather's getting pretty chilly here some days, so I definitely needed this to help me warm back up! It's the story you've all been waiting for- the Super Summer Special! I've been thinking really hard about a good theme for the special- my original thought was a theme park, but with our dragonslayer friends, that has the potential to get really messy!
And of course, *drumroll* here are the pairs that will be featured in the triplefic! Gajevy, LaLu, and Gruvia! Enjoy!
On a side note, NaLu actually had the third top number of votes, but since LaLu had more and I couldn't really involve Lucy in two different pairings happening at the same time, Gruvia got the third spot. But! To make it up to all you NaLu fans out there [and because I enjoy writing about pairings I haven't tried yet], the next oneshot will be a NaLu fic! Stay tuned!
It was the perfect day for a trip to the ocean. Everyone in Fairy Tail could sense the impending autumn, but that day the sun was bright and warm, and a warm, gentle breeze was blowing through Magnolia. And so, just in case this might be the last true summer day, the whole guild had traveled down to the nearby beach. Once they got there, most of the members had headed straight to the water, but Gray wasn't particularly fond of swimming. Instead, he had sprawled out on the beach, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin.
"Gray-sama! Look what Juvia has made for you!"
The ice-make mage glanced over from where he lay in the hot sand, gazing up at the cloudless sky. He'd been laying there for at least an hour or two, and absentmindedly he wondered if he had a sunburn. His eyes grew wide as he saw the enormous sand castle beside him. Juvia kneeled beside it, gesturing proudly with both arms.
"Do you like it, Gray-sama? You can be the king of your very own castle now! And Juvia can be your queen!" The woman let out a squeal, cupping her face in her hands as she immediately began to dream up a romantic fantasy for the two of them. In her mind, Gray leapt from his spot in the sand to pull her in a tight, passionate embrace, dipping her backwards, his lips mere inches from her own.
"Don't you know, Juvia? You've always been my queen," he whispered, his voice husky. He moved even closer. She could feel his warm breath brush gently against her lips
"Oh Gray-sama! You're just too much- Juvia cannot stand it!~" Juvia sighed aloud, giggling to herself and shaking her head dramatically, a bright red blush spreading across her cheeks.
In reality, Gray watched the water mage with amusement, shaking his head at her antics and standing up leisurely, brushing sand off his swimming trunks as he wandered around the sand castle to look it over. It was very large, with plenty of room for a couple of people to comfortably sit together in- that is, if those people wished to sit very close to each other. The walls were high, reaching nearly up to his chest. Juvia had obviously spent the entire time the guild had been at the beach creating the structure, as quite a bit of detail had been put in the corner turrets and the walls. Gray glanced towards the ocean, where the water glittered only a few feet away from the castle.
"Hey Juvia?" Gray began, coming around to the woman, who was still rolling around in the sand, absorbed in her romantic dream world. At the sound of his voice, she sat up abruptly and grinned at him.
"Yes, Gray-sama?" she replied cheerfully. Gray gestured to the water.
"Don't you think this thing is a little close to the water? If the tide comes in, it'll hit the-" As if answering his question, a tidal wave rolled in just at that moment, turning the castle wall closest to the ocean into a soggy lump of sand. Juvia's face fell, tears already gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"Gray-sama... Juvia is so sorry... She did not mean for your castle to be destroyed... Juvia only wanted to do something nice..." She hung her head, shoulders already beginning to shake. Gray frowned, squatting down beside her and patting her back somewhat awkwardly.
"Hey, don't cry Juvia. We'll build a new one." He pointed further up the beach. "Over there, where the tide can't get to it. We'll do it together." Juvia's face brightened immediately, bowling Gray over as she wrapped her arms around his waist in a hug.
"Oh Gray-sama! You are too kind to Juvia! Let's go build it now!" she cried gleefully, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him to the spot he'd pointed out. Gray rolled his eyes and followed along good-naturedly. It WAS his idea, after all.
"What about this one?" Gajeel asked, holding up a rock he'd found. It was smooth to the touch and gleamed in the sunlight. Levy held out her hand for it, smiling at him.
"Well, it's still not a sea shell, but if you like it we can take that one too," she laughed, dropping the rock in one of her plastic pails. She held two, a blue one and a red one. The blue pail was nearly empty, containing only a few small sea shells. The other pail was getting pretty heavy, being a fourth of the way full with smooth, shiny stones. Gajeel had offered to go sea shell hunting with the tiny script mage, but so far he seemed mostly attracted to the interesting rocks they'd found. Levy didn't really mind, considering her plan for the sea shells had been to make a present for Gajeel anyway, so if he preferred the stones then she would use those instead. Gajeel frowned as he glanced in the two pails.
"Sorry, I'm trying to look for shells but the rocks are more interesting. They're distracting me," he grumped, shoving his hands into the pockets of his swim trunks. His shoulders hunched in embarrassment. Levy giggled and patted his arm.
"It's okay, I like the rocks too. They're really pretty Gajeel, you have a good eye!" she praised him. The dragonslayer's shoulders hunched more, as if he could cover up his blush that way. Levy pretended not to notice, already scanning the ground again. "Do you have a rock collection?" she asked nonchalantly. Gajeel grunted.
"I collect a lot of things," he muttered, not exactly answering the question. Usually he tried to collect only important things, but sometimes the dragon in him just had to have something particularly attractive, even if it didn't have much actual significance in his life. Gajeel didn't really collect any one specific thing. Mainly he just collected things he liked. Levy giggled, but said nothing more about the subject. Instead, she picked up a nearly perfect sand dollar and carefully deposited it in her blue bucket. Gajeel silently added another stone to the red one, and Levy suppressed a grin.
The two walked side by side for some time, stopping occasionally to chat with some of the other guild members that were scattered around the beach. As they got further from the water, Levy spotted Gray and Juvia further up ahead, building a humongous sand castle. A wide grin spread across Levy's face, and she grabbed Gajeel's arm, pointing gleefully.
"Oh look, Gajeel! They're making a sand castle! Can we make one too?" she asked, her eyes shining with excitement. Gajeel laughed, a mischievous smirk on his face. He ruffled her hair, making the script mage frown.
"Sorry squirt, but dragons raid castles; they don't build them," he teased. Levy's frowned deepened, until a new idea brought her smile back.
"Well, then can I bury you in the sand?" she asked. It was Gajeel's turn to frown.
"Why would ya wanna do that for?" he questioned, looking suspicious and even going so far as to take a few steps back from the blue-haired mage. Levy giggled and shook her head.
"Not like that, silly! I'll just bury you from the neck down- I'll leave your head out. Then you can try to get out of the sand, and if you can't get out then I'll help dig you out! It's fun! Don't you trust me?"
Gajeel looked doubtfully at the sand for a moment, then shrugged. After all, it couldn't possibly be that bad, and he was certain he could get out the sand without Levy's help if he needed to. He gave a sigh of resignation. "I suppose if you really want to," he finally relented. Levy clapped her hands.
"Okay! Now lay down in the sand here! We're far enough away from the water that we won't be bothered by the tide here," she commented, trying to make Gajeel feel more at ease. He laid down as he was told, watching Levy as she began to push sand up against his legs and sides. The sand was soft and warm, and eventually Gajeel had become comfortable enough that he drifted off to sleep, allowing Levy to finish her work.
"Gajeel! I'm done! Wake up and take a look!"
The dragonslayer was awoken by the sound of Levy's voice. He opened his eyes to find her kneeling beside him, a wide grin on her face. He felt heavy from the neck down, and as he craned his neck he could see that he was, indeed, covered in a thick layer of sand. Looking more carefully at the sand around him, he saw that Levy had shaped the sand to make it look as if Gajeel had a mermaid's body, complete with- to Gajeel's utter horror- a sea shell bra made from some of the shells Levy had picked up earlier. His eyes bugged as he saw the shells, and he let out an angry shout.
"HEY!" he yelled, struggling from side to side in his sand enclosure. Levy giggled as he wiggled around. Gajeel glared at her, stopping the giggle in her throat. "Squirt! When I get out of here, you're going to GET IT!" The last two words were shouted as he burst from the sand. Levy let out a delighted shriek, hopping quickly to her feet and taking off down the beach towards the water as quickly as her legs would carry her. Gajeel followed, hollering in mock rage. He finally caught up to the tiny mage at the water's edge, and he scooped her up easily in his arms, displaying a wicked grin. Levy grinned sheepishly back as he carried her further into the water, until the water was up past his hips.
"H-hey Gajeel, pretty funny stuff, huh?" she said, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. Gajeel only grinned wider, and Levy swallowed hard.
"I told you you were going to get it, shrimp," he replied simply, then dropped her unceremoniously into the water. The girl came back up quickly, shaking the water out of her eyes.
"Hey!" she sputtered indignantly at Gajeel, who stood before her with his arms crossed, looking satisfied with himself. He chuckled at her expression and ruffled her hair, which only made her frown more deeply.
"You had that coming."
"Whatever," she grumped back, splashing him. Gajeel laughed and scooped the girl up again, giving her lips a quick kiss. Mischief sparkled in his eyes.
"What's that, squirt? Looking for round two?"
Lucy poked at a crab with a stick, laughing as the tiny creature skittered away from her. Ever since she was little, she had always looked for tidal pools whenever she came to the beach. Her mother would make Aquarius watch her while she played in them, picking up the creatures that lived in the shallow pools or building little huts for them to hide in. Aquarius would usually complain the entire time, but Lucy still loved the pools, even after she'd made the poor choice of picking up one of the crabs and had gotten her finger pinched. Of course, now Lucy knew better than to pick up the creatures, but she still found the tidal pools fascinating.
"Whatcha up to?"
The voice startled her, but after her initial shock she smiled up at Laxus, who'd come up behind her. She patted the sand beside her, and the man sat down.
"Hey Laxus. I'm just looking at the tidal pool. I used to play in them all the time as a little kid," she explained, running a finger gently over the top of a sea star. Laxus laughed softly, peering into the water.
"I loved these things too- Gramps would bring me down here and I would look for sand dollars. I have a whole collection of those. I'll have to show you sometime." He smiled over at her, and Lucy nodded.
"I would really like that," she said softly. She leaned back, propping herself up with her arms behind her. Laxus mimicked her pose, reaching over to cover one of her hands with his. Lucy smiled at his touch, sighing as she scooted closer. Before them, the sun was beginning to sink down into the horizon, and the sunset painted a beautiful spray of pinks, oranges, reds, and yellows across the sea, with just the slightest tint of purple betraying the coming nightfall. Lucy let her head rest on Laxus's shoulder, and he moved his arm to wrap it around her.
"It's been such a lovely day. I wish summer would never end," Lucy sighed wistfully. Laxus gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"It will be back again next year, and then we can even more fun," he laughed. Lucy nodded, laughing with him. Laxus continued, "Are you done with the tidal pool? I think the tide will be coming in soon."
In answer, Lucy stood and stretched. "Yeah, I'm done. Where is everyone, anyway?" Laxus stood as well.
"Actually, that's what I came over here to talk to you about. The others are all wanting to play a few games of Marco Polo before we head back to the guild. Do you want to play?" He gestured further down the beach, where several of the others were waiting for them. Lucy could see Levy with Gajeel already in the water among many of their other guildmates, and Gray was being dragged away from a magnificent sand castle by a very excited-looking Juvia. With a giggle, Lucy turned back to Laxus, who was watching her expectantly. She flashed him a wide grin.
"Of course I do! I'll beat you there!" she challenged, then turned and ran down to join her guildmates. Laxus laughed at her antics and followed. Today, he would let her win. But only today.
Hey there! I hope you enjoyed the Super Summer Special! I know the stories were a bit cheesy this time, but we all need some fluff in our lives! Please, please, please write reviews telling me what you thought! Your feedback is my inspiration for new stories, and without that inspiration, it takes me forever to write anything new! Not to mention I just absolutely love reading your reviews and using them to better my writing!
Also! Since we already know what pairing the next fic will be about, I have a new request for you! Please send in suggestions for the sort of situations you would like to see in my upcoming stories. Weddings, proposals, picnics, family life- you name it, I just might use it! Even if I don't use all the ideas in the very next fic (I can only do so many at a time, you know!), I still may use your idea in stories to come. Have a great day, and happy reading!
