A/N:

And the long-awaited GrayLu Weekends 2020 is here! I'm super stoked to be participating in such an event for the first time – I know I'm a late bloomer, but well, it's better late than never, right? I'm so excited to be able to do my part to keep the GrayLu love alive, even in 2020! :)

So here's my first submission for Day 1. I've worked with the prompts, which are quotes from the anime, and I hope you enjoy it! I will be posting a story each day based on either one of the prompts. They are all one-shots, and exist independently of each other.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

Day 1: Pain is Weakness Leaving The Body

[Prompt] Lucy: "Gray! Hang in there!"

Gray swallowed an invisible lump in his throat, trying his best to hide the fear that he could feel starting to bubble up inside of him. There was no way he was going to let Lucy see how apprehensive he was, especially not before it even started. He was going to win the bet, and show her that he could put up with whatever was coming – easily. He was an ice mage, an ice devil slayer, and her boyfriend who insisted that he could bear all pain that women had to go through, including childbirth. After all, they've been through a ton of fights with enemies of various difficulties, and he had often walked away with so many wounds that his bandages could almost pass off as a sufficient stand-in for clothes. So what other kinds of pain could he possibly not be able to tolerate? Don't you agree?

Well, since childbirth wasn't exactly an option for him, Lucy's amazing brain had thought of an alternative, which led them to their current situation. According to his lovely blonde girlfriend, very few men go through this by choice, and even fewer can tolerate the pain enough to go through it regularly. On the other hand though, many women have monthly appointments at such places, and deal with the pain on a regular basis. Not only that, this process isn't exactly cheap either, so just imagine that they're paying money to have pain inflicted upon them on purpose.

This was something Gray couldn't understand – if women didn't enjoy it, then why did they still choose to go for it? It's not like anyone was holding them at sword point, or it was a life-and-death situation, right? He could understand if it was to uphold their family's honour, or to save the life of a friend, or to exact revenge, but… for vanity's sake? This was one of the rare occasions that he felt he could understand how it was like to be Natsu – having the inability to comprehend things.

In any case… it all started when Lucy had just come back from a facial appointment, complaining that that particular session was especially painful because of the massive breakout she was going through. Team Natsu had just come back a week ago from a long 2-month mission, which had consisted of many nights camping outside in the forest, which obviously didn't have the most hygienic climate for maintaining a good complexion. Because of the accumulated dust, grime and dirt from sleeping outdoors, fighting and not having constant access to clean water, Lucy's face was sporting a rather terrible breakout.

Upon returning to Magnolia, she had immediately booked herself a facial appointment to get it fixed, because 'what is Fairy Tail going to do without a cutie like me?'. Gray, being her boyfriend, had no choice but to listen to her laments after her painful session, as he lazed shirtless on her sofa, discreetly holding her latest chapter draft.

Gray had tried to contribute to the conversation. "I'm sure it wasn't as painful as you think it is, Lucy. Getting injured in battle is definitely more painful, right?" he had offered. Apparently that wasn't a wise decision.

"Not as painful? How would you know anyway? You've never gone through it before. I'm sure if you did, you might even tear up," she countered.

Well, curse the male ego and pride. If only he had kept his mouth shut. "I'm pretty sure I won't. I can probably put up with any sort of facial treatment or whatever beauty or female stuff you girls like to spend your money on. Actually, I think maybe giving birth would be on the same scale as getting stabbed by my own Ice Bringer." No, no, no. If only future Gray had come back and warned him about the series of events that was about to unfold.

Lucy's eyes had narrowed. Oh… that look wasn't good. It was the look Aquarius always gave every time she was summoned. "Oh? Then do you wanna try?"

"Giving… birth?"

That had earned him an eye-roll from his beautiful girlfriend. "Of course not, we both know it's not possible. But I do have another appointment coming up that's considered to be pretty painful. If you're up to the challenge, you're welcome to come with me and prove your statement right. So?"

Gray had smartly chosen to pause and think. Perhaps he really should have learnt a thing or two about not acting impulsively, as Ur, Makarov, and Erza have all nagged him about over the years. But nope, the male pride had struck again – it will not be defeated!

"Okay, sure." – were the words of a particular ice mage who did not know that he was about to experience something he would regret for the rest of his life.

Which brings them to where they were right now. He was currently holding Lucy's hand in his, and they were standing in front of a set of glass double doors. It was an unassuming store in the heart of town which he had probably walked past a million times, every time he or the team visited the marketplace to stock up on necessities. Despite that, as he stood there, trying to calm the butterflies having a raucous party in his stomach, the store felt incredibly foreign and intimidating to him.

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked as she turned towards him, a bright smile adorning her face. His heart skipped a beat as he met her sparkling brown eyes – eyes that seemed to contain an infinite number of glittering stars in them, and which had made him fall head over heels for her. They danced with a mixture of excitement and mirth, showing that she was clearly enjoying his discomfort, even though he was trying his darnedest to hide it. "Your palms are getting warm."

Oh, yes. As an ice mage, keeping cool and being cool was his default. If his palms got clammy or warm, it was typically a sign that things weren't exactly fine with him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me," he waved off her concern hurriedly. "Well, are we going in or what? Don't you have an appointment?"

She giggled, seeing through his façade. "You mean 'we', have an appointment, yes. Alright, let's go in – don't worry and don't be nervous, you'll be fine!" Somehow, she sounded like she was almost making fun of him. There was a distinct mocking undertone to that supposed reassuring sentence. He steeled his nerves and quickly schooled his features into his usual emotionless mask. He was going to win the bet!

Ah, the bet. Well, after he had accepted Lucy's challenge, he decided that he had to put in a clause to ensure his own benefit – since he was technically volunteering to be put through unnecessary pain – aside from the intangible prize of proving himself right. After much discussion (and tickling and threatening), they finally came to an agreement on the final sets of punishment for the respective winner and loser. If Lucy won the bet, he would have to make breakfast and do the laundry for 2 weeks, and deal with a 3-month ban from reading any of her newly written chapters. If Gray won the bet, Lucy would have to accompany him on a 2-week trip to Mt. Hakobe where she would learn how to ski and snowboard… and wear a maid costume for him as long as they weren't in the public.

There was a lot at stake.

He didn't get a chance to respond to Lucy before she stepped forward, pushing the glass doors open for the both of them. Well, there was no turning back now – he only had the image of Lucy in a maid costume to keep him going.

"Hi there! Welcome to Silky Smooth, Magnolia's number 1 wax parlour. Do you have an appointment with us today?" Standing behind the reception counter, was a pretty lady with thick waves of platinum blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. She had the most piercing blue eyes, and a shapely body to match, which she was well aware of and plainly flaunted through her figure-hugging purple uniform. Her name tag read 'Jenny', and Gray assumed that she was the store manager, since she was in charge of the appointment bookings. As pretty as she was, Gray's expression didn't change a single bit – in his eyes, nobody could top his blonde.

Lucy walked up to the counter, pulling a somewhat reluctant Gray along. Other than the fact that he was about to undergo a waxing session (kind of) against his will, he was actually… Standing. In. A. Wax. Parlour. Can someone please add that to the list of places where he would rather die than to be caught in? The thought of possibly being seen made his eyes widen a fraction and his heartbeat increase slightly. He spared a couple of furtive glances around, and out the glass door, glad that he had chosen to wear a new outfit that nobody in the guild had seen him in before. For that very reason, he had managed to keep his clothes on.

Well, you might be wondering why he was so nervous about the actual waxing if he had so pompously declared that he could endure all pain that women had to go through. Thanks to the invention of network lacrimas, he had managed to do some quick research on waxing and what it was, after Lucy had specified that the upcoming appointment they were going for was for a wax.

Let's just say the short demonstration videos and online descriptions that he had seen did not look or sound pretty. First, the idea of applying hot, melted wax on bare skin was preposterous. Wasn't it torture?! He was pretty sure Lucy did not enjoy it last Christmas when Erza made her undergo hot candle wax drippings as part of the Guild Master game. Secondly, plucking hair strands out one by one was already unpleasant in itself, but no, literally ripping patches of hair out at a time? Oh dear stars… Lastly, why in the world would anyone let the first two points be applied to their nether regions?

Oh, when he found out about the concept of Brazilian hair removal, he had immediately flown to Lucy to demand an explicit explanation of exactly what kind of waxing they were going to go through. Lucy had broken into loud guffaws at the fact that Gray had done actual research and that he was so concerned about which body parts of his were going to be waxed.

Thankfully, while she was indeed going for a Brazilian wax – holy moly! – she had reassured him that he didn't have to do the same, since it was his first time. She told him to choose between his arms, his armpits or his legs, and he had decided that his legs were the best choice, especially since he had a tendency to end up topless. He figured that he could just keep his pants on for the next month until his hair grows back, and the other guild members wouldn't think it odd of him. Oh, he can't even begin to imagine the horror he'd have to go through if Natsu finds his legs hairless.

Lucy had the audacity of offering him an option to back out of the bet, and to simply default to the punishment, but hell no! He had given her a smug smirk, before walking off coolly – completing forgetting the initial haste that he had rushed to Lucy with. Waxing his legs didn't sound that bad, right?

"Hi Jenny! Yes, we have a 3pm appointment for a couple's wax please," Lucy replied the receptionist sweetly.

Jenny nodded, raising her hands slightly. A golden glow appeared and a virtual keyboard and screen shimmered into existence – an Archive magic lacrima that most modern shops had in place these days. This modern technology definitely increased the efficiency and convenience of business operations, removing the tedious job of painstakingly writing appointments and details down manually.

"Ah yes, a 3pm appointment for Lucy and Gray. For you Miss Lucy, I have assigned Flare Corona, your usual wax therapist. As for Mr Gray, we have Meldy, a wax therapist that specialises in handling male clients. Are you both okay with the arrangement?" asked Jenny.

Upon hearing his wax therapist's name, Gray quickly pulled Lucy aside. "A woman? A female therapist is going to be waxing me?" he whispered furiously into her ear. He didn't want any other woman touching him besides Lucy, even if it's just his legs!

Lucy placed a gentle hand on his arm, trying to calm him down. "Don't worry, most of the therapists here are female, and they're used to handling male clients professionally. Also, we're going to be in the same room, so there can't be a male therapist if I'm going to be doing a Brazilian wax, right?" she asked him pointedly, her brown eyes alternating between meeting his navy ones and looking down, wordlessly indicating said body part.

'Oh yeah,' he realised. He figured a woman touching his legs is infinitely better than another man possibly sneaking perverted looks at Lucy's private area. A grunt was all he made to show his acquiescence.

Turning back to Jenny, Lucy smiled their agreement.

"Alright, please follow me to your room." The platinum blonde receptionist moved towards a white door that opened to reveal a narrow corridor lined with more white doors, each leading to individual waxing rooms for the parlour's clients. Stopping in front of one near the end, Jenny opened it and gestured inside. "Here's your room. Please get changed, and your therapists will be here shortly. Have a silky smooth experience!" she sang, before giving them a small bow and walking back the same way they had come from.

Gray let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding as he looked around the room. It wasn't exactly large, but it was big enough to accommodate two single beds, which he presumed was for the both of them. At the back of the room, located in between the two beds, were two sets of wax warmers, which looked like a little stovetop with two small pots. In each set, one pot contained purple wax, while the other contained pink wax. Beside the wax warmers were an assortment of hair removal tools.

"So, how do you feel?" Lucy asked, as she started to remove her skirt and her panties.

Gray's eyes widened as he watched her, a bright flush working its way across his cheeks. "What are you doing?" he asked quickly, his voice coming out higher than he usually sounded.

Lucy gave him a weird look. "Taking off my clothes so that my therapist can actually wax me?" He detected a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "Also, you'll need to remove your pants as well. You can leave your boxers on though. Just take your pants off, then lie on the bed and cover yourself with that towel."

He looked down at himself, glaring at the black cargo pants he had on. Well, she had a point. He sighed, before moving to undo his belt.

Five minutes later, both of them were lying on their respective beds, towels covering their exposed body parts. Lucy turned to check on Gray, and saw that he was lying there staring blankly at the ceiling. She grinned, knowing that he was probably nervous but was trying his best to not show it.

"Don't worry Gray, you'll be fine. I don't care about the bet, and I'm not going to make fun of you. I'm just happy that you're here, and that you're game enough to try it out," she told him in a soothing tone, trying to make him feel more at ease. She was actually very surprised that Gray had not backed out at any point leading up to their appointment.

He turned to meet her gaze, giving her the warm smile that she loved so much. "Yeah, I know. Thanks Lucy," he returned.

Just then, two light knocks sounded. "Hi! Are you both ready?" Lucy's therapist, Flare, asked through the door.

"Yep! Come on in!" Lucy replied.

The door opened and in walked a lady with extremely long reddish-brown hair that was neatly tied into two long braids. Beside her was a shorter lady with powder pink hair that was tied up in a high ponytail similar to Jenny's, and matching pink eyes. The redhead walked over to greet Lucy, who Gray assumed was Flare, and they exchanged a few short sentences to catch up.

The other therapist walked over to Gray's bed, and introduced herself as Meldy. "Hi Mr Gray, I'm Meldy, and I will be your therapist for today. You will be doing a lower leg wax today, am I correct?"

Gray nodded wordlessly. Meldy seemed unfazed by his lack of response as she simply lifted the towel covering his shins, folding it neatly up to his thighs. "Okay, I will begin now. Please let me know if the wax is too hot." Without saying anything more, she turned to the wax warmer that was closer to his bed. Sticking in a flat brown stick into one pot, she stirred the melted wax around to mix it well, before lifting some up, rolling it multiple times to wrap any loose strands around the stick.

Coming back to Gray, she placed a firm hand to hold his left leg down, before smoothing the warm wax over a patch of hair.

HOT! Was the first thing that popped into Gray's mind. He sucked in an imperceptible breath of air. It wasn't boiling hot, or acutely painful, but it was definitely uncomfortably warm. There really wasn't another way to describe what having warm melted wax being smoothed onto your skin felt like – maybe the closest would be warm honey? Not that anyone would typically smooth warm honey over themselves. The substance was opaque, sticky and viscous, making it slightly hard to smooth properly, needing some strength being put into the action from Meldy. Thankfully, the room was air-conditioned, so the wax cooled down within a couple of seconds. Meldy was soon patting the hardened wax, testing to see if it was properly dry.

'Oh stars, is she going to rip it out now?' A resigned expression came over Gray's face, before it was quickly replaced by a stubborn one. He scrunched his eyes closed tightly, and took in a deep breath. He can do this. He was going to win the bet. He was going to make Lucy wear her maid costume.

Meldy patted the wax a few more times, and sufficiently satisfied that it was dry, she peeled up one edge of the wax patch, enough to give her a good grip so she could pull it off in one go. Taking a firm hold of the wax, she gave a light tug, and with that as his only warning, she promptly pulled the entire patch off Gray's left leg, leaving behind a rectangular area of silky smooth, hairless skin.

The entire breath that Gray was holding whooshed out in a loud, suppressed grunt, as he gritted his teeth together with all his might in order to keep his mouth shut. He was not going to scream like a little girl! However, his deep grunt was enough to make all three ladies in the room turn to look at him.

Lucy had a look of concern as she turned her head towards him, seeing Gray's face contorted into an unreadable expression. She didn't miss how tightly his jaw was clenched though, and seeing the bare patch of skin on his left leg, a small smirk made its way onto her face. Seems like her man was beginning to understand what she meant when she said that being a woman was tough.

"Gray, you alright over there?" she asked in a sugary sweet tone, knowing he was never going to indicate that he was in pain.

"Mmnggff," was all he gave in response.

"Okay…" The smirk stayed on Lucy's face as she shifted back to look at Flare. "First time," she whispered conspiratorially to her red-haired therapist. Flare gave her a knowing wink with her mouth shaped into an 'O'.

Half his left leg later, Gray was ready to pass out. This was pure, absolute torture! He didn't know how Lucy could just lie there without making any sounds of pain, and even make conversation with Flare. He wasn't even getting a sensitive region waxed, and he was already telling himself repeatedly that he would pick fighting with Natsu a thousand times over this. Why, oh, why, couldn't he have kept mouth shut and simply nodded and smiled at Lucy that day when she came back from her facial?

As Meldy put him through yet another cycle of the forceful smearing of hot wax, the ominous patting dry of the wax patch, and the excruciating ripping out of his poor, innocent leg hairs, he couldn't keep silent any longer. He had to channel some of that pain somehow. "Arghhhh!" he groaned out loud. He didn't care if any of the women laughed at him, he just needed to let it out.

Meldy patted the newest hairless patch gently, looking at him with pity. "You're doing great! Don't worry, most of our new clients tend to react like this. Waxing always does come as a bit of a shock when it's your first time," she explained.

He looked up at her helplessly. "Are we done yet?" he tried, his desperation showing plainly on his face.

"Um… we're only halfway through the first leg…" Meldy replied sheepishly, displaying a chagrined expression.

A louder groan followed her reply. Knowing that Gray must be feeling pretty terrible right now, Lucy decided to chime in with some words of encouragement.

"Gray! Hang in there! It'll be over sooner than you know. If you do this, I can say for sure that you're definitely stronger than all the other guys in the guild! I don't think Natsu or Elfman would be able to go through this, so you're very brave," she swooned. She hoped it worked, otherwise she was worried that Gray would unknowingly cause some physical damage to the parlour if it got too painful for him. They definitely couldn't afford to pay for a new building, and she did not want to end up working part-time here to pay off a debt.

"R-right," he muttered through gritted teeth. "Okay, I'm fine. I'm gonna finish this." Lucy could feel the almost tangible waves of determination roll off him. A tinge of pride surged up in her at his declaration.

The whole process took 40 minutes, but Lucy didn't care how long it took as long as Gray managed to survive it. Her usual Brazilian wax typically took an average of 20 minutes, so she spent the extra 20 minutes chatting with Flare and giving Gray the occasional word of encouragement.

After Meldy finished waxing his left shin, he had asked for a short break, so he could cool down and get over some of the earlier trauma. He had to admit though, that when he saw how smooth his newly-waxed leg was, he was amazed. So this was how Lucy always kept herself hairless and cleanly shaven, he realised. At that instant, he was floored by how much women had to go through just to keep up with society's standards of being 'beautiful'. Heck, he made a mental note to ask Lucy if she truly wanted to go through this monthly of her own accord, or if she was doing it for him. If it was the latter, he was going to ask her to stop it and declare how much he loved her as she is – hair and all!

Lucy thought it went fairly well. Fairly, because when Meldy resumed the waxing and started on Gray's right leg, he had reacted reflexively when she pulled off the first wax patch – freezing the entire wax patch and almost giving the poor girl frostbite in her fingers. Also, towards the end of his waxing, when a wax patch was particularly large and Meldy couldn't remove it in one go, the multiple painful tugs had made Gray accidentally shoot a jet of frost towards the wax warmer, freezing both pots of wax instantly, and rendering the wax unusable. Luckily, they were in a couple's room, so Meldy could use the other wax warmer instead.

Lucy had apologised profusely on his behalf and offered to pay for the wasted wax – while cringing internally – but Jenny, being ever-so-sweet, had declined, only asking for Lucy to refer more friends to the parlour. "But perhaps female clients would have a better time," she had said, inserting a subtle hint that Lucy had definitely perceived. She knew Jenny bore no ill intention though, so she had laughed it off, agreeing.

Finally, after sharing smiles and thank-yous, Lucy booked her next appointment with Jenny, and left the parlour, holding a traumatised Gray's hand.

Waiting until they were some distance away from the shop and on the way back to her place, she tugged on his hand gently, prompting him to meet her curious gaze. "So…?" she left the question open, knowing that Gray would get what she was asking.

He shrugged helplessly with a crestfallen face. "I guess I was wrong," he admitted willingly. That was yet another thing Lucy loved about Gray – how he was open to admitting his own mistakes with no hesitance or reluctance.

She gave him a loving look as she moved forward to throw her arms around his neck in a hug. "Oh, you silly boy. I hope you're not too traumatised! I'm so proud of you for sitting through that. Look at your legs now, though! They're so silky smooth!" she laughed.

Gray watched her with an amused expression. If you asked him, if it made Lucy smile and laugh like this, he would gladly go through it again. But… maybe not in the next 6 months. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in to give her a soft kiss. She melted into his strong arms, returning his affection with lots of love of her own.

When the kiss ended, Lucy had a mischievous glint in her eyes. Oh no… that expression wasn't good either. It was the look Loke gave whenever he wanted to do something pervy. Gray realised that Lucy was beginning to resemble her Celestial spirits in an increasing number of ways, and not all of them were good.

"Gray… about that punishment…" she drawled.

This was definitely not going to be good.

"Can I add in a new clause? Can I request that you don't wear pants when you make breakfast? We don't want those smooth legs to go to waste, do we?"

He groaned. And he really, really, really wanted to see Lucy in her maid costume too.

- End -

Silly Gray! Don't ever challenge a woman like that! ;) If you enjoyed this, please leave a review! Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow! :D

x, WinterMaidenMuse