Author's Note: The next chapter is out! I'm slightly ahead so there might possibly be another update soon, but I'm still unsure. Anyhow, review if you want and enjoy chapter 5!
Chapter 5
"You have some great timing, you know that" Gray joked, as he and Loke made their way from his previous booth to another.
"Nothing like saving a wing-man to earn you a couple of bro points, but don't give me all the credit." Loke responded as they were passing by booths towards Lucy's table.
"Oh, then who gets the credit?" Gray questioned as the flirty spirit gave him a sly grin.
"Why none other than my beautiful master of course, she saw the trouble you were in and decided that I should intervene." Gray's eyes widened for a split second before he took his regular cool demeanor, making sure Loke didn't notice his reaction.
"Alright then, I'll be sure to thank her." He responded, with his usual stiff tone when he's annoyed but brought a joyful smile to Loke.
Loke knew he had gotten to Gray and it amused him plenty whenever he teased him about her, although it did come as a surprise the first time around when Gray confided in him that he liked Lucy. Of course it resulted in a brawl between the two over it, but Gray came out on top and Loke knew deep down, even before their fight, that Gray was a trustworthy person to leave his master's safety under. The end result was Loke giving his blessing to Gray, though the ice mage didn't understand why he needed it, and continuous teasing when the chance would arise.
"Great because were right near her table!" Loke exclaimed as he sat right next to Lucy, leaving Gray to sit next to Levy who was right across from her.
"Hey Gray, joining us I see." Levy said as she began to clean up her half of the table that was cluttered with a few open books.
"Hey Levy and I sure am. By the way Lucy, thanks for getting me out of their with Loke." He said, causing her to look at Loke with a questioning gaze. He simply replied with a wink, full knowing that he wanted her to play along.
"Damn that lion" Lucy thought exasperated, but decided to go along. "No problem Gray, you looked like you really needed it back there." She replied smiling to him.
"I did and I appreciate it. Again Thanks." Gray had then turned into his beautified self and Lucy began to slightly panic. "I know I can always depend on you Lucy and if you let me, you can depend on me too in more ways than one." Lucy was growing frantic as her heart beat kept increasing as he looked at her. It was already bad enough that she was crushing on him, but with this unbelievable version of him that made Gray look even better was pushing her to the limit.
"S-Sure thing Gray." Lucy cursed to herself for stuttering and wanted nothing more than not embarrass herself in front of him. All she could think about was how fast he could make her feel this way and how she would deal with the lion spirit later.
"I know I asked you this before, but are you alright Lucy? You're looking a bit red again." Gay asked looking right at her, although she wanted her to be by his side or at least have his hand on her forehead again. Levy had also looked up from her finished book to see and there was the proof.
On Lucy's behalf of the people who actually knew that she was crushing on Gray were her spirits and Levy. Lucy could rely on Levy to keep her secret about it, but Loke had nonstop teased her about him when he got the chance. Levy was supportive about her crush, but always found it adorable about her best friend when she blushed at times, this time was no different.
"Maybe you should rest a bit Lu-chan, you do look a bit red." Lucy was grateful for Levy's input, gaining the chance to avoid possibly humiliating herself in front of Gray.
"You're right Levy-chan, I'm just going to put my head down a bit, but who'll help you take those books back to the library?" She had offered to help her take those back before Gray arrived and now she didn't want to move out fear of stumbling as she walked.
"If that's the case then I'll do it. Gives me a chance to get out for a bit and let things cool down between the Knight and the Demon." Gray offered, although Loke would've objected to it if not for Lucy smashing his foot in with her boot. The spirit yelped a bit, but regained his composure when Gray looked at him.
"I hope you don't mind me going with you Levy, I'll understand if you don't wish for me to be with you." The beautified Gray had returned with Levy now experiencing the potion first hand, however a certain water mage and dragon slayer looked on at that table with hidden emotions from their table.
Levy stared at him, confused on how he had changed his appearance in such a way, but when she looked into his eyes time came to a stand still and it didn't matter. This in itself had reminded her of one of her favorite scenes in a romance novel she read a few days ago. The main heroine had just met the man that would lift her spirits again and show her the beauties of life versus her lifestyle of combat, she looked into his eyes and knew that there was hope for her. Levy's own fantasies usually had Gajeel in mind, but this time he had been replaced with Gray.
The others looked at Levy who had a dazed appearance on her face, until Gray shook her shoulder a bit to bring her around. She immediately blushed in embarrassment from being too deep in thought and let out a small cough to settle herself.
"What happened to you Levy?" Loke asked as he looked around for having the strangest feeling that the table was being glared at.
"N-Nothing happened, I-I was just...um...thinking. Yeah that's right. I was just thinking how um, people would react to Gray." She responded although Loke had a slight suspicion for her stuttering, as did Lucy.
"Oh and how would they react, hmm?" Loke continued trying to see if anything would surface with his questioning.
"I think they would react better than having a tall, long-haired man glare at them the whole time if people got close or looked at me." The last bits of her sentence had her voice lowering and eased Lucy's suspicions, but Loke still felt that there was something amiss.
"That settles it then, when do you want to leave Levy?" Gray asked as he picked up his shirt that was laying on the floor next to him, followed by his coat.
"Well we could leave right now since I've just finished my last book." She replied placing the book in her hand above a stack of six others each looking equally as thick as the last. Gray was both impressed and amazed at how such a petite girl like Levy could carry all those books herself.
"Okay then lets head out." Gray said, walking over the entire stack and carrying it off with Levy waving good-bye to Lucy as she tried to catch up to Gray.
Lucy looked on as the two made their way out of the guild and let out a small sigh as she turned back to look at the table. Loke on the other hand was tapping his fingers in a waiting manner as he looked at his master, yet he didn't seem bothered more like he was wanting an explanation from her.
"Now tell me what was that all about Lucy?" He asked as she finally looked his way, but she wasn't so amused either.
"Why should I answer you when I'm the one who should be telling you that." She crossed her arms in an annoyed fashion and Loke knew that she was just a bit upset, but she'd get over it in time.
"We have a lot to talk about between you two." He commented off-handily and Lucy understood how he was just trying to help, but this sort of thing is much more complicated for her. Especially when she could feel the jealousy prone water mage making her way towards them.
"Come on Gray, let me help you with those books!" Levy had kept pestering him when they left the guild to help. She didn't want to feel like making him carry all those books for her.
"Now what kind of man would I be if I let little you carry so many of these heavy books?" He teased as they continued to walk down the streets of Magnolia like he kept doing ever since she started with her wanting to help.
The town was as lively as it was when Juiva had walked by earlier and a few people would wave hello towards the two mages as they went by. Oddly enough Levy had begun to notice the amount of girls that kept ogling at Gray as they walked and wanted nothing more than solid script the word "wall" to prevent them from looking at him. Levy shook her head from those thoughts, wondering why she felt so territorial around Gray. She kept trying to think of multiple reasons as to why, but they always came back to the same conclusion she didn't want to believe. With a final tired sigh, she decided to leave it alone for now.
Gray had caught her sigh thinking that she was tired of his teasing and decided to let her carry at least a book. She was just trying to be helpful, but then again Gray hardly was around Levy to know when she had enough. Feeling as if he was being a bit of an ass, he stopped and bent his knees a bit for her to grab a book. Levy was wondering what Gray was doing when he stopped and waited for him to say something since he just remained there.
"Well?" He asked as she kept looking at him from behind the pile of books.
"Well what?" Levy had no clue what he meant by that and Gray didn't think he needed to spell it out for her. She's like one of the smartest people he knows, well anyone above others since he uses Natsu as a basis for intelligence levels. Him being at the bottom of course.
"You said you wanted to help so here, just take one from the top." Levy immediately flushed from not seeing the obvious and quickly took a book from the top of the pile. Gray chuckled at how fast she responded, making Levy pout at how he laughed at her embarrassment.
"Geez Gray, I didn't know you were such a bully." Levy said as she turned her head with her arms crossed, the book hugged to her body.
"It's not that I'm being a bully, all I'm doing is having a little fun. I hardly spend time with you outside of the guild, so I thought it would be better to make these times fun." He said as they continued to walk down the streets, but unbeknownst to them there was another figure following behind them in the shadows.
"Didn't think you, Mister cold, cool and serious, would have some sort of fun side to yourself. Well besides what you consider fun that is." Levy responded yet she was actually flattered to know that Gray was being considerate of how he treats his guild mates, which made her heart skip a beat since he was being this way for her.
"Hey I'm still that guy no matter where I go, but changing up my attitude keeps the mystery aspect of myself going. Which you missed by the way."
"Not to mention arrogant" Levy added laughing at how shocked Gray's face became when she said that.
"Hey!" He was baffled at how quick witted she was with minor insults, but laughed alongside her.
"There's hope for you yet Levy. In time you can throw insults like any other Fairy Tail mage, maybe as good as the Edolas version of yourself even." Gray commented as they neared the library and Levy felt a surge of pride that Gray believed in her ability to be more like those in the guild instead of just being the guild's bookworm.
Levy opened the door for the both of them when they made it and the inside was a quaint place, although the amount of books inside can barely rival that of the guild's library. There was a front desk where a young librarian around his mid to early twenties was looking over the newly returned books with the help of an archive lacrima. Near the center were multiple mahogany tables lined up in four rows with two placed together per space. Surrounding them were dozens of shelves lined with books, from free standing book cases to ones that were lined up against the walls. This was one of Levy's favorite places to come ever since she was a little girl.
"Hey Levy, come to return your books?" The librarian asked as she made her way from the front door where a small staircase lead her down to the ground floor.
"You bet Micheal, plus I was thinking of getting a few more to read." She replied placing down her book, while Gray had managed to finally get down the staircase which surprised Micheal when he saw him.
"Well would you look at that, didn't expect to see you here Gray." Micheal said as Gray set the rest of Levy's books onto the front desk.
"Back at ya Micheal, so this is where you work now?" Gray asked, although Levy was wondering where these two met.
"Wait a minute, Gray how do you know Micheal?" Levy didn't think he came to the library often, let alone getting to know the person who worked there.
"I got to know him when he worked at his father's bookstore that's about another block or so from here. Speaking of which, how's your old man doing Micheal?" Levy had to admit that there is some mystery to Gray because she's sure no one else besides her knows that he went to a bookstore.
"That's one way of explaining it, but yeah he's doing alright. Oh, he's also been saving some books that'd you like including a good chunk about ice magic." Levy was completely amazed at how these two spoke to one another so casually, though Levy saw Gray as some what anti-social outside of the guild.
"I'll go pay him a visit then. Levy if you don't mind, I'm gonna go see Micheal's old man for a bit and don't worry I'll come around again to help carry whatever books you're getting this time." Levy was about to reply when Gray changed into the Gray she saw earlier. "I wouldn't want to leave another avid reader such as yourself to carry all that weight on your own." She merely nodded her okay and with that the ice mage left and made his way down the street again.
It had been years since he's been there thanks to the time lapse, but he wondered what sort of books had Micheal's father received that were stashed away for him. He was in thought when he felt like he was being watched, someone was following him but he couldn't tell where they were. Gray was ready to create an ice clone to lure them away when an arm shot out of an alley and dragged him in, covering his mouth with its hand so he couldn't yell out. He was ready to fight back when he was pinned by the shoulders against the side of the building and faced with his attacker.
To his shock, Gajeel was pinning him against the wall with a hardened glare directed at him that gave Gray no clue as to what he would want. He was completely caught off guard when Gajeel released him and turned to look away, letting Gray get his bearings again.
"What the hell was that for Gajeel!" Gray knew he was ready for a fight, but to be followed like that by a guild mate confused him more so than angered him.
"Where is Shrimp, Stripper?" He asked in his usual gruff tone and Gray knew that he must have been looking for Levy back at the guild.
"She's fine, Levy's at the library right now and I was just going down the street for a bit." Gray would rather keep his little journey to himself and Levy for the meantime rather than get harassed by the metal face about it later.
"Fine, then answer me this. Did you actually mean what you told Salamander?" Again with this question, it was just getting on Gray's nerves if he had to repeat himself for everyone there.
"You were there! You heard me tell the idiot that I beat him and I meant it!" Gray exclaimed having been through this already. "Are all you dragon slayers losing your super hearing or something?" Gray off-handily said as he looked back to the main street, ready to get moving again.
"I knew that ice boxers, I meant when you said that you...uh..." Gajeel was not one to say anything about emotions, let alone ones that he didn't want the flaming idiot to get when it concerned him.
"When I said what metal face? I don't have all day." Gray was a person with patience, save for Natsu since he couldn't stand him, but he just wanted to get this over with.
"When you said you were falling in love with him." Gajeel mumbled it out, just enough for Gray to hear and he didn't understand why it felt very embarrassing to talk to him about it.
"The FUCK!" Gray exclaimed causing any passerby to look in the direction of the alley who heard his yell. "Why would I ever say something like that!"
"I've been wondering that too." Gajeel felt a breath of relief escape his mouth when he discovered that he denied saying it, but didn't understand why Salamander said it.
"I don't swing that way, to let you know plus Mira would have a field day if she heard something like that." Gray was beyond confused to put everything together to make sense although one question just popped up into his mind. "Why did you come to ask me that anyways Gajeel?"
"I...I assumed you used it as a way to get the upper hand." Gajeel had to think on his feet, but he was questioning why Gray began to look completely transformed into a picture of perfection with iron flowers surrounding him when he looked back towards the street again.
"That could work, but I rather avoid Mira in match-maker mode with all her plans and have my sexuality questioned." Gray responded, but he turned to look at him in such a way that amplified his appearance and the beautified Gray had surfaced in the eyes of Gajeel;" And besides, did you think I'd say something to him when we both know you deserve it?"
"W-Whatever...I'm heading back to the guild." Gajeel had managed to say it and shoved his way past Gray, leaving him too confused to care for the subject any longer and get back on his way towards the bookstore.
A/N: Micheal's an OC I brought in to the story to give Gray more depth, since we hardly know what he does in his spare time apart from being at the guild. This way, we see what he's been up to over the years.
