Chapter three actually gave me a fit for a while, but thankfully, my last attempt was a complete success. Gotta love it when the brain decides to cooperate! Yosh!

Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, and unfortunately, he'll never let this happen. Sigh...

THE TWELVE MONTHS OF FAIRY TAIL

Chapter 3

Lucy stood there dumbfounded for far too long, her mind rolling with the need to figure out what Laxus had meant when a hand dropped gently onto her shoulder. She jumped, then turned, seeing Gray standing there, his face touched with concern.

"You okay?" he asked, tossing a glance in Laxus' direction before looking back at her. "Did he do something?"

Do something, she wanted to ask, like shock the hell out of her and set her insides on fire? That would be a big hell yes! Of course, Lucy couldn't say that. That would be inappropriate, not to mention embarrassing as hell. So, shoving a reassuring smile on her face, she shook her head. "No, of course not. Everything's fine."

His gaze was steady, eyeing her critically as if he knew she was keeping secrets. "You sure?"

Lucy's palms itched as she fought the urge to fidget under his scrutiny, but her will won out and she managed to pull off a convincing laugh. "Yes I'm sure. You about done worrying so we can get to work?"

Gray stared at her a moment longer before nodding his head and waving his hand at the room behind her. "I'm ready when you are."

"Great! Let's get this show on the road!"

The dark-haired man moved with her and laughed. "I had no idea you were so excited to get me out of my clothes. Usually, you're telling me to put them back on."

"Oh shut up!" Lucy fired back, her cheeks tinting pink. "That's not what I meant."

"It's interesting," he hummed, ignoring her as he stroked a hand over his chin in contemplation. "I would have thought you'd seen enough of my stripping every day, but I guess not."

The blonde woman smacked a hand onto his arm and laughed. "That's not funny!"

"Hey!" he pouted, grabbing hold of his arm like she'd killed him. "Don't damage the merchandise! Wouldn't want me to look abused in my picture, would you?"

Lucy rolled her eyes with a snort. "Oh please. You're fine, drama queen."

"I hope so..." Gray hummed, then his eyebrows lifted, and he grinned cockily at her. "It would sure be a shame if my photos turned out bad. Mira would be so disappointed."

The blonde froze in place, then whipped her head in his direction, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I swear to Mavis, if you do that, Gray Fullbuster, I will string you up by your toes and beat you like a rug."

His eyes went wide, and then he cracked a grin. "Beat me like a rug?" He snorted, a laugh bubbling up a moment later. "You're so bad at threatening people."

Once more, Lucy smacked him, her face folding into a pout. "I am not!" She tried to deny his statement, but was cut short as he cracked up again, his laughs growing louder. "I'm not!"

She crossed her arms as he continued to chuckle and turned to stomp over to the camera, her lip drooping petulantly. She wasn't bad at threatening people. She threatened Natsu all the time when he snuck into her bed! Then again, her mind argued, he kept doing it. Maybe she wasn't as good as she thought.

A pair of chilly arms draped around her, giving her a quick squeeze, and suddenly, Gray's face was dropping down over her shoulder. "Aww...don't be mad, Lucy Loo. You're plenty scary!" he teased.

"Hey!" Lucy squawked indignantly, turning her head to find a wide grin on his face. "I'm not scary!"

"Oh is that not right either?" he asked, still slumped over her shoulder. His expression turned contemplative. "How about moody?"

Lucy threw his arms off, struggling to contain her grin. She could never hold onto her annoyance when he was like this, and he knew it. Still, she fought it, trying to stuff down her amusement so he wouldn't see when she turned around, but he was already grinning like a cheshire cat.

Cocky asshole...

"Oh shut up," she muttered, giving him a shove and ignoring his subsequent laugh. "Get your ass over there." She paused, knowing she shouldn't, knowing it would only encourage him, but she couldn't quite stop herself. "...And I'm not moody."

Gray laughed as he made his way across the room, and turned long enough to toss her a wink. "Of course you're not."

Shaking her head and smothering yet another smile, Lucy moved toward him, going back over the poses she'd already worked out for him. She'd seen his magic in action extensively, and after careful consideration, she'd chosen the two poses best suited for what they were doing today. They were also two of her favorites.

She could feel herself getting excited to start, and with her interest sparking inside her, she grinned and clapped her hands together. "Okay first, let's start with your Ice Bringer."

Gray arched a brow at her enthusiasm, but drew his hands together. "Ice Make: Ice Bringer!"

A cool white mist swirled around him as his magic was activated, and within a moment, there he stood with twin swords in hand. And that wasn't all. Somehow, in the midst of calling forth the massive iced blades, he'd also lost his shirt.

Lucy glanced around, wondering where it had gone and how she'd missed it in the first place. "How do you do that?" she mused, laughing as she caught sight of the simple blue t-shirt hanging from a lamp halfway across the room.

Her friend shrugged coolly. "It's a gift."

Snorting at his explanation. "I'm sure Juvia thinks so."

"Hey!" Gray pouted at that, then pointed at her with the fine tip of his sword. "I'll have you know that most women think so too!"

"If you say so," Lucy returned with an elegant wave of her hand. Secretly, she enjoyed teasing him about Juvia. She knew the man had already told the water woman he wasn't interested, but she couldn't help finding enjoyment in the way the other female constantly stalked him. Well, the enjoyment was more accurately found in Gray's reaction to the stalking - his constant running to escape her loving clutches, his petulant whines at being followed. It was all too much to ignore.

"If I remember correctly, you were plenty eager to get me out of my clothes today!"

Her eyes rolling, Lucy smirked. "You wish. As you also pointed out, I'm usually the one trying to get you to put them back on."

Gray tossed her a smug look. "That's just because you want to touch me."

The blonde shook her head, but couldn't help laughing. "In your dreams, buddy." She waved him over. "Okay, let's get busy before you get even more ridiculous."

Winking, the ice mage followed her lead. "It's okay, Lucy Loo. It can be our little secret."

"Whatever you say, Gray."

Gray laughed, lifting his sword up in victory. "She admits it!"

A grin pulled at her features, one she knew she wouldn't be getting rid of before she booted his crazy ass out. It was always like that when it was the two of them alone - silly, completely devoid of seriousness. In a word, was easy.

"Okay Mr. Delusional," she fired back playfully, unable to keep the mirth from her voice. "Time to get serious."

"Yes ma'am!"

She laughed as he attempted a salute with his sword, then let her grin fall away. "Alright, here's what I want you to do." She moved toward him, using her hands to move him into position as she talked. "Step forward with your left foot. Right, but bend your knees a bit more. Yeah, like that." She reached for his arms, pulling them up and out to the sides. "Good, now lean you upper body forward like you're getting ready to launch an attack at someone."

Shifting back, she studied his stance and nodded. Everything looked right...everything except his expression. He still had that silly grin on his face, the one that said she'd proven his point. "What's all that about?" she asked, waving a finger at his face.

Gray's smile went wide. "I knew you wanted to touch me."

"Oh for Mavis' sake," she muttered, then turned and headed to her table for her camera. "You're nuts."

A chuckle shook his chest as he shot her words back at her. "If you say so."

She rolled her eyes again. "Okay sir, I've got other people to photograph today, so get your act together. Give me some heat."

"Um...you do realize I'm not Natsu, right?"

Lucy had to laugh at his deadpan look. "I didn't mean literal, you dork. I meant the heat of battle. Show me the ass-kicking face to go with that stance."

His mouth curved in complete assurance, and he hunched lower. "Oh I got this."

She nodded at his determination, lifting her camera as his hands tightened on the twin blades and his eyes peered out from beneath furrowed brows. His lips pulled back into a fierce sneer, revealing perfectly straight teeth, and Lucy was stunned to feel a faint fluttering in her chest.

He was...unbelievable. She froze in place at the picture he made, and she wondered why she'd never noticed how incredible he looked like this. She imagined him fresh from a fight, his skin aglow with sweat, and she nearly blushed at how enticing the image became.

What was she doing? This was her friend. She shouldn't be imagining him in such a way, no matter how intriguing it was.

Pushing the wild thoughts aside, she raised the camera to her face and clicked off shot after shot until she was certain she'd captured him perfectly. Dropping her hand, she grinned at him. "That was great!"

"Well, I am awesome," he joked as he shifted out of position and dispersed his swords.

Thankfully, it didn't appear that he'd noticed her momentary lapse, and trying to keep herself occupied, Lucy hurried him over to a wide open section of the room. "Okay, now for the other one."

She turned and found him suddenly clothed in only a simple pair of deep blue boxers. "W-Where did your clothes go?"

Gray looked down in surprise, then lifted his shoulders as if wholly unconcerned. "Eh...who knows. You wanted me like this, though right?"

Lucy pushed her rising blush down, cursing herself for reading more into his question than he'd intended. "Yeah." She kept it simple, knowing anything more could very well reveal her preoccupation.

"Alright, this time, do your prison."

The dark-haired mage shot her a strange look. "I though this one was supposed to look sexy."

"I'm not sure you can handle that."

The minute the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to retrieve them. She couldn't believe she'd gone there with everything inside her already acting so strange. But it was habit, something she would have normally said in response to a statement like that, but in this moment, she could only mentally throttle herself because she should have known what would come next.

Instantly, Gray's mouth dropped open, his jaw slack as he gaped at her, and then everything changed.

"I can't what?" He asked softly, his voice going deeper as his expression transformed into something she'd never seen on him before. "Oh you're going to regret saying that."

Unbidden, Lucy's insides clenched, and she fought not to stutter as she replied, "W-Why's that?"

Her question ignored, Gray shot her a seductive look and pressed his fist to his other palm. "Ice Make: Prison!"

Once more, the chill from his magic permeated the air, and Lucy waited with bated breath for it to dissipate. She had a feeling she was going to get more than she'd bargained for, but she'd had no idea just how right she was.

She'd expected him to make the prison, but Mavis help her, she hadn't expected him to be inside or for him to gaze out at her as if he'd like nothing more than to devour her poor feverish body whole.

He stalked forward, his hands reaching out to grasp the bars as his expression darkened into something far more seductive. His body shifted, arching into the solid beams of ice and somehow managing to look both powerful and restrained at the same time.

Lucy swallowed hard at the scene before. She didn't understand what was happening to her. Never before had Gray elicited the slightest bit of interest in her, and yet, here she was fighting a full-on rush of attraction. It was like a tidal wave of heat slamming into her and spearing out to every inch of her body.

"Lucy..." he called, his voice a deep rasp that had the pit of her stomach wobbling. "You going to take the picture?"

The blonde blinked rapidly, trying to move past the intense sensations swamping her. It took her a moment to gather her wits, but she finally managed to lift the camera to her face. She drew in a shaky breath, trying to force her pulse to calm, and then she snapped the picture. One after another, she clicked them off, adding more than she probably needed, but she was struggling to put Gray back into the box she'd had in before.

She couldn't however keep the camera attached to her eye forever, and she knew Gray would question her if she continued to hide behind the device, so with great trepidation, she dropped her arms.

She watched as the man before her retracted his magic, and then he raised that dark sexy gaze to meet hers. She held her breath as he took two steps in her direction, his movements slow and deliberate, and Lucy wondered just who this man was. How had she not known he could be so damn...provocative?

Gray stopped right in front of her, intensity rolling off of him in waves, and then he lifted his hand. He was going to touch her. Suddenly, Lucy was sure she was dreaming. It was the only thing that made sense because Gray had never been so sexy, and she'd never felt so weak-kneed over his presence.

She trembled as his hand neared her face...and then he grinned.

It took her a moment to realize he'd played her, but when she did, she smacked at his hand and shoved him away. "Oh my God, I can't believe you got me with that!"

A laugh burst from his throat at her reaction, and he shook. "Damn, I had you going good!"

"You are a supreme ass," Lucy muttered, but she couldn't help a giggle at his continued mirth. "Where the hell did you even learn to do that shit?"

A smirk adorning his face, he leaned in. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

A/N: Oh my Mavis, this wast too much fun. Thoughts? Questions? Nosebleeds? lol Who do you think is next?