Just a reminder I don't own Fairy Tail in any way, shape or form
After grabbing a few things from his house Gray had arrived at the beach where out in the distance he noticed the blonde on the beach alone. She wasn't doing much from what he could tell. From where he was standing at that point all he saw was a blonde figure laying down on a towel.
As he got closer he knew it was her cause he noticed a bag containing a spare change of clothes, an extra towel and her keys sitting right next to her. Since her eye's were closed she didn't realize someone else was with her. "Hey Lu..." suddenly he was at a loss for words as he starred at her. Holy...she's...shes... What he had failed to notice when he was walking towards her was that even though she was wearing her bikini bottoms she had removed her top completely and sat it on the other side of her.
As her eye's re-adjusted to the sunlight Lucy slowly recognized who was now on the beach with her. She had thought she had heard a voice but wasn't 100% sure so she thought she'd look and see. When she realized the unexpected visitor was Gray she gave him a weak smile as she moved her chest up slightly using her arms to support her "Hey Gray" she greeted the still silent ice mage. For some reason his cheeks were a bright red and all he could do was stare at her "Uh Gray are you ok?" she asked a bit worried.
"Uh... Lucy" Gray hesitantly pointed his finger towards the top piece of the swim suit that was still laying next to her. As her gaze followed his finger she noticed her bikini top then looked down to see her bare chest that was only being covered by her hands. After her brown orbs widened in shock she frantically grabbed the fabric and turned away from the ice mage.
As his gaze looked at anything other then the blonde as she put her bikini top on it was then that he knew for sure something was bothering her. Normally something like that would result in her hitting him and yelling at him not to look, but this time she didn't. When she finished putting it on she tried to hide her embarrassment by changing the subject "S-So what are you doing here?" she asked nervously trying to hide the blush of embarrassment on her face.
"Uh...well you see..." scratching the back of his head he tried to focus on other things to distract him since his mind was still preoccupied on what had just occurred and he was having trouble getting his words out. After taking a second to compose himself he cleared his throat and continued "I decided to take a break from job requests for the day and come down here and relax. You know catch some rays." Unbuttoning his already halfway unbuttoned shirt he sat his stuff down and took a seat near the celestial wizard "So what are you doing here all by yourself?"
"I just.. I needed some time to myself" the some what content tone she had a second ago suddenly sounded sad. "Do you want to talk to me about it?" Gray asked sincerely. "No it's ok. Thanks anyway though." she replied sadly. I need to do something to make her smile the raven haired boy thought.
"You know what this reminds me of Luce?" Gray asked as he looked around the beach then at the blonde who gave him a questioning look "This reminds me of the beach at Akane Resort."
"We did have a lot of fun there" Lucy added. "So I was thinking" Gray spoke as he laid down on the sand and folded his arms behind his head then turned his gaze back to Lucy "We haven't been there since the whole Jellal fiasco, so I propose we go there within the next few days, just you and me. What do you say?"
Suddenly Lucy's heart started racing "L-Like a date?" She said nervously as she became all to aware of the blush that snuck its way to her cheeks. The thought of going on a date with Gray made her a bit nervous. She still wasn't sure her feelings for the raven haired boy but after having her heart practically ripped out without Natsu even aware that he had done so, was it right for her to still have feelings for Natsu? Of course, she knew that such feeling's for a person wouldn't go away right away but she didn't know how fast she was supposed to let him go and move on.
Trying to hide the blush on his face he raised a brow to try and look confused by her sudden statement. Playing cool Gray responded, "It's up to you if you see it as a date or not. I'm inviting you because I want to cheer you up. Something has clearly made you upset and since you won't tell me I'm taking it upon myself to cheer you up." Even though going on a date with the blonde sounded like a great idea, they had never really discussed things after he kissed her that night as her house so for moment all he could do was act like her friend and hopefully some time at a resort, just the two of them, might change things.
"Ok"she said sounding a bit happier "I'll go". Some time away will be good she thought as a genuine smile spread across her face. Looking at Gray she couldn't help but feel grateful. He's such an amazingly sweet guy and even though we still haven't talked about the kiss he can tell I'm upset so he's putting it aside to be my friend. "Great" Gray replied as he got up off the sand and moved to the other side of her "Now let's get you into the water."
Before she could say a word he slammed his fist to his palm "Ice Make: Floor". Within an instant a small portion of the sand that trailed from her to the ocean was now coated in Ice. "Gray what are you doing?" she asked nervously. "Like I said I'm helping you get into the water" Gray answered. "Wa-Wait a minute" the blonde protested as the raven haired mage picked her up and placed her onto the ice. "G-g-g-Gray i-it's c-c-c-cold" she tried protesting again but because she was shivering so much she couldn't speak clearly." Suddenly it wasn't the way he was putting her in the water that bothered her it was the freezing ice under her butt that she had a problem with.
"Well I guess we better hurry and get you into the water, huh?" Gray spoke as he placed his hands on Lucys shoulders and with as much force as he could he pushed her down the trail of ice.
"KYAAAAAAAAAA" Lucy screamed as she slid down the ice at incredible speed. What Lucy failed to notice till it was to late was the ice ramp Gray had slyly put at the end of the ice trail. Not only did Gray force her into the water but he made sure she did so with a splash, literally.
After hitting the water Lucy swam up to the surface bringing her head up above water. Using her hands to move the strands of wet hair out of her face she opened her eyes only to be splashed in the face by more water as Gray came diving in the water the same way.
After Gray came up from under the water he used his hands to remove some of the water off of his face. "You jerk!" Lucy said angrily as she splashed him in the face with water "What did you do that for?"
After removing the water from his face for the second time he looked at the blonde and smirked "You're not upset anymore are you?" Without saying a word Lucy just looked at the ice mage in confusion. Letting out a chuckle Gray explained himself "I did it so you'd forget about whatever was bothering you before and focus on what's happening here and now. It's not like you to be gloomy, that's Gajeel's job." She couldn't help but chuckle when he said that. "No, the Lucy I know is very cheerful and at times scary person. You always have a smile on your face unless we barge into your house. So whatever happened to you earlier, I say forget it and go back to being your usual bubbly self."
Not giving the blonde a chance to respond Gray swam back under the water. "Thank you" She said in barely a whisper. After swimming for a bit she decided to swim back to the beach. She didn't want to stay in the water any longer and come out looking like a wrinkly prune.
When she reached the beach she grabbed the spare towel she had in her bag and dried herself off. Once she was dry she took a seat on the towel she had lying on the sand and watched as Gray swam in the water. Though his plan was ridiculous his intentions were good
About an hour later the sun had begun setting and was now painting the sky with a beautiful mixture of colors. As the air became a bit more chilled Gray came out from the water. After throwing him his towel Lucy threw on her spare clothes over her bathing suit and gathered her things into her bag. "Thank you for today Gray" She said with a smile on her face. "No problem" Gray replied as he slipped on his shirt not bothering to button it up "Once I get the tickets to Akane Resort I'll let you know. It should be some time within the next few days."
"I'm looking forward to it" She spoke giving him an approving nod. Once they gathered their things Gray walked her to her house and then headed home.
The next day - At the guild hall
It was half past four and as much as she dreaded it Lucy tried her best to act like her usual self. She arrived at the guild hall about an hour ago with a forced smile on her face. She arrived later then usual because she had spent most of the morning mentally preparing herself for whatever might happen.
The last thing she wanted was to see Natsu and Lisanna together but there was a good possibility that it would happen. If in fact they were going out Lucy wanted it to look as if she was sincerely happy for the two when that wasn't the case. She spent an hour or so laying in bed thinking about it, then she sat in the bath and spent sometime thinking about it even while getting dressed it was all she could think about it
Greeting most of the guild members she took that chance to search the guild hall for the young take over mage. Relieved that she was no where in site she took a seat next to Natsu and Happy at the bar where the two had been in the middle of eating. Natsu hadn't said anything to her about what happened yesterday with Lisanna. She didn't know if Natsu was the type of person who liked to talk to people about that sort of thing but the something about it brought a feeling of unease to her.
"S-So" Lucy spoke suddenly breaking the silence that lingered between her and the eating Dragon Slayer. The words escaped her mouth so fast wanting to make things less awkward for herself that she didn't know what to talk about. With his eyes now on her she decided to improvise "Do you have any jobs picked out for us to go on? If we don't go on a job soon I won't have any money for food."
It was a lie and she knew it. After the previous job that they had taken she had more then enough money that she was able to pay her rent and have money left over. Even though she didn't cook much she liked to keep her house stocked with food just in case Natsu, Happy, Erza and Gray dropped by unexpectedly, which they did a lot. The main food thieves just almost always happened to be Natsu and Happy.
"It's your turn to pick the job" Natsu pointed out "Happy and I picked the job last time." With a half smile and a nod she got up and walked over to the request board. Why hasn't he said anything about Lisanna? she pondered as she gazed at the board Does he not like talking about that kind of stuff? Or does he not want to talk about it with me? It's hard enough acting like I normally do but it's obvious from what I saw yesterday that Lisanna got the answer she was hoping for.
"Natsu" Happy yelled "Lucy's making a ugly face while she stares at the job requests." Sometime in between her thoughts Happy had flew next to her. Placing his hands behind his head Natsu walked up behind the two. "Have you found a good one yet?"
"Um" Quickly scanning the board she glanced over the rewards not even bothering to read the requests the first reward that a reasonable amount she yanked it off and handed it to Natsu.
After reading the paper Natsu handed it back to Lucy. "You want to work at 8island again?" Natsu questioned. After hearing him ask that she read the random piece of paper the yanked off of the board.
Request: Looking for wizards to be waiters/waitresses for a day. 60,000J - Yajima
"Um...Yeah. We haven't seen Yajima since before the whole Nirvana incident so I thought it'd be perfect. Plus you can eat all the food you want while we are there" She knew Natsu had been a bit unsure about it since they would have to use transportation to get there to get there so she had to say something that would get him to agree.
Thinking back to all the different foods he ate that day made his mouth water. "I'm all fired up" He said with enthusiasm and excitement "When do we leave?"
After letting out a sigh Lucy answered, "We'll head out tomorrow morning. I'll go talk to Erza and see if she'd like to join us."
"What about old droopy eyes?" Natsu asked looking around the guild expecting him to pop out and start a fight with him. "I haven't seen him around." Lucy answered while she too looked around the guild for the raven haired mage "If I run into him later I'll ask but for now I'm going to talk to Erza."
"I guess, but I say the job would be better without that pervy flasher. Come on Happy lets go."
"Where are you going?" She asked curiously. Throwing his back on his back he answered, "I heard that some where outside of Oak town there were reports of a salamander. I thought I'd go and check for myself."
"Geez Natsu, don't you remember what happened last time?" She asked feeling a bit skeptical "You arrived in Hargeon looking for a salamander and it turned out to be some poser using that name."
"Yeah, but what if this time is different?" Natsu asked "I haven't given up on Igneel. I know he's out there some where and if I can get some kind of clue in Oak town then I am willing to take that chance."
"Alright" Lucy answered him, knowing there was no way of changing his mind. "We'll meet up tomorrow morning at my house." After Natsu exited the guild Lucy took a seat next to Erza.
So this chapter was a bit shorter then normal but I hope everyone enjoyed it