Gray, Lucy, and Natsu all made their way back from Lucy's apartment towards the Fairy Tail guild. Happy had gone on a date with Carla last night so he hadn't joined up with the usual gang. Natsu was busy pointing out which restaurants had "all you can eat buffets" but Gray wasn't paying much attention. He was thinking about what had happened between him and Lucy last night and what he would try to do today.

Everything had been going really well until the stupid slanty-eyed dragon slayer had shown up. In typical Natsu-fashion, he helped himself in through the window and interrupted Gray's make-out session with Lucy. Gray had wanted to try to make it clear to Natsu that he and Lucy were moving into the "couple zone" but the blond wizard had blushed and inched away when Gray tried to put an arm around her. What was worse, later that night after everyone had gone to bed; Gray had woken up to find Natsu missing from the other couch. The ice-wizard had quickly padded into Lucy's room to find Natsu sprawled out on the bed next to her. Gray had quickly remedied the situation by dragging him from the bed. Lucy had woken up, looking bleary-eyed but dismissed the two men when she saw what was happening and went back to sleep.

Gray didn't think Natsu was really interested in Lucy but it was hard to tell. The two were definitely close friends at the very least. There could be a few other potential rivals as well. Loke had been gazing longingly at Lucy while she was out tanning just last week. Gray should know, he had been right next to the celestial spirit. The two had watched as Lucy rubbed suntan lotion over her smooth skin, which was mostly visible thanks to the tiny bikini she had been wearing.

The plan for today was simple. Go out on a mission with Lucy, and only Lucy. Once the two of them were alone, Gray would work on changing a single kiss into a solid relationship.

Once they got to the guild, Natsu thankfully got distracted by Happy and left Gray alone with Lucy. Lucy wondered over to the job's post board and started to read the fliers. Gray was appreciating the view of her back side when he heard a small snort. He looked over at Laxus and Bixslow who were both clearly leering at Lucy and trying to hold back laughter. They were probably saying something perverted. Gray shot them a dirty look and went up to join Lucy.

"See anything interesting?" he asked.

"Hmmm, I dunno yet."

Gray's eyes fell on a flier and his hopes lifted. "Hey Lucy, what about this job here?"

The flier described that some vandals had broken into the local ice skating rink twice this past week. What was strange was that all of the doors had been locked so the owner suspected that someone might be using magic to sabotage his business. The job paid 100,000 jewels which would make a nice dent in Lucy's rent.

"You wanna try that one? It doesn't really seem like a three person job; four if you count Happy."

"How about just the two of us do this one."

Realization crossed Lucy's face and she blushed. "Uh, I guess that would be alright. We've never done a job before, just the two of us. Do you think it will bother Natsu?"

"Natsu's a big boy, I'm sure he'll understand."

An hour later, Gray and Lucy were boarding a train that ran to the north end of town. After the attendant had taken their tickets, Gray pulled Lucy into an empty compartment and started kissing her. Lucy kissed him back eagerly, wrapping her fingers in his hair. Gray pressed her against the wall but resisted the urge to roam her body with his hands. He knew that Lucy hadn't had a boyfriend before so he wanted to take things slow with her.

He nibbled her lower lip and then moved his way down to the crook of our neck when she let out a soft moan. Excitement spiked inside Gray and he pressed against her harder. She was starting to pant and Gray was almost trembling from trying to restrain himself. Who would have guessed that sweet little Lucy had such a wild side?

Finally, Lucy pulled away. "Wow, I mean wow!" she sighed. "Is all kissing usually like this?"

Gray smirked. "No, that was pretty hot. Either you're a natural or you've been hiding a boyfriend or two."

Lucy nodded solemnly. "No, I've never had a boyfriend before."

That seemed like a good opening for Gray to start a conversation about where exactly they stood with each other. He knew people might assume he was a half naked pervert but he wasn't really like that. He wasn't interested in dating lots of girls, he just wanted Lucy. He was about to bring this up with Lucy when a whistle blew and the train lurched to a stop.

"Hey, we're here," said Lucy. She reached up and pecked Gray on the cheek before opening the compartment door. Noise and bustling people greeted them. The conversation Gray was hoping to have would have to wait until later, he thought.

Luffy fan: Any good? Did you prefer Lucy's point of view (POV) or Gray's POV?