The thing about drowning was…
The thing was… it was peaceful.
Gajeel never felt so much at peace in one moment than floating, drifting down beneath the ice, letting the icy waters grasp his body and pull him further under. He closed his eyes and released his last breath as his burning lungs gave up.
"How much farther do we have, until we reach the mountain?" Evergreen groaned, wrapping her arms around herself to fight off the bitter cold. Laxus wrapped an arm around her, letting his natural body heat keep her warm.
"At least another mile." Lucy grunted, trying not to fall in the deep snow. Every so often, her boot would get stuck under the weight of it.
Gajeel placed a hand on her elbow, keeping her steady as she pulled herself out of the bank; she smiled at him in thanks and shifted her arm so that she was holding his hand, threading their fingers together. His palm was warm, even through his gloves.
"The woman mentioned a lake that we will have to cross before we reach the base of the mountain, it should be frozen enough for us to cross it safely too, during this time of year." Lucy continued.
"Is there no way for us to go around it?" Freed asked, shrugging his bag a little higher onto his back.
"It'll take us twice as long to go around the lake." Lucy answered. "It'll be easier to go across anyway."
"I don't know about you, but the easier way sounds like the better way," Bixlow said, "I'm freezing my balls off out here already, I don't really feel like chancing it with frostbite or hypothermia."
"I'm with Soul-Eater over here." Cobra agreed. He rubbed his hands together and blew into them to prove his point.
Bixlow cuffed the back of his head and snorted when he became unbalanced, falling into the snow. The dragonslayer grunted and glared at the Seith Mage, who was busy laughing at him. Cobra swept out his leg, knocking him down. Bixlow yelped rather girlishly as he fell with a muffled thud. Laxus chuckled at the sight, glad that his some-what reclusive teammate was having fun; speaking of reclusive teammates…
He squatted down and scooped up a small ball of snow, shaping it expertly in his hands, as he eyed Freed, who had his hands on his hips and was reprimanding the two childish mages. Evergreen smirked besides him, watching as Laxus tossed the snowball at the Rune Mage; it landed right on top of his head, causing him to pause, hand still in the air as he turned around to face the perpetrator. He gaped when he saw that it was Laxus, and then his eyes narrowed, cheeks flushed with cold and mild anger. He huffed and bent down to scoop his own snowball.
"I expected this from them, Laxus-sama, but you? Tch, you want to start a war, I'll give you a war." He muttered to himself, looking up to glare at their leader. He brought his arm back and threw the snowball as hard as he could. Laxus dodged at the last second and it ended up hitting Evergreen in the chest, who gasped in outrage and snarled at him.
"You did not just throw that at me!" She said, wiping the offensive cold and already melting ice off of her.
Freed's eyes widened as he raised his hands. "I was aiming for Laxus, I swear, Ever!"
Lucy looked up from the map she was reading with Gajeel just in time to see Evergreen pelt Freed and Laxus with as much snow as she could.
"Well, that looks like fun." She said, giggling as Bixlow used Cobra as a shield, trying to roll more snowballs from behind the dragonslayer. Gajeel chuckled and smiled softly down at her.
"You want to be dumped in the snow too, Bunny?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. She smirked at him, a forgotten fire burning in her eyes.
"Is that a challenge, Iron Boy?" She questioned, folding the map and stuffing it in her pocket. Lucy backed slowly away from the roguish man as he reached for her, attempting to pull her into a snow bank.
"Oh no you don't, Bunny. You can't run from me." He said, grinning wildly as she began to run away from him. She laughed as Gajeel slipped and fell face first into the white powder; she clutched her stomach, laughing even harder, when he tried to get up and slipped and fell into it again.
"I mean, I knew that some dragonslayers were clumsy, but I didn't think you were as well, Gaj." She called out to him, moving further and further onto what she now knew was the lake. Gajeel growled playfully and stood up, stalking closer and closer to her.
Lucy squealed loudly as he pounced, taking her down into the snow with him, effectively drowning her in the white powder; his arms were wrapped snugly around her, one hand cradling the back of her head and the other held her to him. He chuckled against her ear, sending vibrations down her spine. She sighed softly, enjoying the weight and feel of him on her.
"Who's the clumsy one now, Bunny?" He leered, pulling back slightly to look down at her. Mavis, was she beautiful. Her brown eyes glistened happily, plush lips spread into a wide smile, her hair was splayed out and mess, and her cheeks were flushed a lovely shade of peach.
"Certainly not me." She leered back and tugged hard on a lock of his hair. He growled softly and nipped at her bottom lip in warning, pupils slitting and eyes narrowing dangerously.
"Don't test me, Lucy." He rumbled out, his lips peeling back in a mock snarl. Lucy felt her stomach flutter with anticipation and smirked at him.
"Or…? Usually when you're threatening someone, you follow up with an and/or-" She began to comment, before Gajeel rolled his eyes and slotted his lips with hers.
His dragon purred as she sighed into the kiss, wrapping her arm around his neck to reel him into her more. Finally, he thought blissfully, curling his tongue softly against hers. Their lips moved as if they were old lovers, familiar and in sync, gliding together gently.
"Oi! Are y'all having sex over there or can we get a move on?" Laxus called, laughing when Lucy flipped him off.
Gajeel chuckled against her lips and pulled away from her. Regrettably. It wasn't his first, second, or last choice to do so, but they did need to get going before night hit and they were forced to make camp on the lake. He smiled down at Lucy, who returned the expression, giving her one last peck on the cheek before rolling off of her and standing up.
That was a mistake.
The second he heard the ice cracking beneath her feet, he pushed her out of the way just in time to fall into the icy waters below.
"GAJEEL!"
Sorry for how late this is, but this year has been complete shit and I've been trying to deal with a lot of things. Also for DoomMarine55, just because you're salty about my choice in pairings, does not mean that you need to shit on a good story. Also, who the hell uses Husbando when arguing? Natsu has a small dick anyway and soooo doesn't deserve Lucy, eff off and don't read my story bitch.
