Happy Holidaays :D Here's a new chapter before the end of the year, hope you'll like it (:

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Chapter 9: Going undercover.

Why did I agree with this? I should've said no. I shouldn't have come. Not now. Not in my current state. I was going to be normal again, but I didn't have enough time. This is gonna be awkward. This is awkward. Why didn't I say no?

Of course, I couldn't tell him the real reason, but I could've invented an excuse. Like, I'd already agreed to go on a mission with Natsu, or that I had to do something else. Anything. But no. I couldn't think straight, and said yes. And now, here I am, in the train with Gray, on our way to a mission where we have to behave like a couple.

Worst timing ever to do that kind of thing.

I still haven't had the time to sort out my thoughts. How am I supposed to stop thinking about him if we have to spend the next few days together, and to act like lovebirds to top it all?

Ok Lucy. Just act normal. Stop thinking too much. This is Gray. Your comrade and friend who's more interested in fighting than in having a relationship with someone. He doesn't like you like that. And you don't like him like that.

"Or do you?" A little voice in my head retorted. "Look at the mess you've become since you've been thinking that he might like you." It continued.

This is so not going to be ok. I should've have told him I was sick or something. But I couldn't do that to him since I'd already promised him to go with him.

"Lucy?" A hand was moving in front of my face.

"Yes?"

"We're here." Gray informed me.

"Oh. Right. Let's go." I forced a smile and followed him.

"You're sure you're ok?" He finally asked me while we were walking. "You really seem out of it."

"I'm fine, seriously!" I answered immediately.

By the look he was giving me, he obviously didn't believe me. Of course, even I wouldn't believe me. But after a few seconds, he began to walk again, apparently choosing to ignore it. I was really thankful for that. I smiled. He was so thoughtful.

"Oi, hurry up. We're already late." He called me.

"I'm coming!" I yelled back and followed him.

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She'd been like that since that mission with the freaky doll and the Horror House, but she wouldn't tell me why. She wouldn't even admit she was acting weird.

I asked Mira about it, but she just shrugged and told me she knew nothing. I asked Erza, and she said she probably just needed to eat some cake, but that's my fault for asking her while she was eating one, I'm not even sure she was listening to me. I'd thought of asking Levy, but she was on a mission. I didn't even bother asking Natsu or Happy. So, I didn't have any clue.

Something's on her mind, I'm sure of it. But I won't push her to tell me what, since it doesn't seem to be something serious. She doesn't seem sad or angry or anything. She's just… weird. Anxious weird. Overreacting weird. That kind of weird, you know?

So, I decided to use this mission to find out about it. 'Cause back in Magnolia, she'd always avoid me or escape from me. Here, she won't be able to. We'll have to stick to each other all day. And we even booked a single room for us. We'd already shared a room on a lot of missions, so it wasn't unusual for us. Plus, we had to look like a couple, so we hadn't even had to discuss it.

I hesitated for a long time before deciding to ask her to do this mission with me. I mean, having to do this with my current feelings wouldn't be easy. But I decided I didn't care. I was now able to control my feelings, so it should be ok. And maybe this'd help me to figure out hers. I didn't dare to believe it, but I couldn't help hearing a little voice inside my head telling me she was overreacting only when it came to me. I was here to find out whether this was just pure imagination or not.

Also, if she was like that because of me, if it was because she'd found out about my feelings and was bothered by it, or if she'd begun seeing me in another light and was either embarrassed or in deny.

So, I found this mission. I chose it on purpose because it was the one where only Lucy could go with me. Like I explained to her, going with Juvia would be too awkward. Even if I was thinking that going with Lucy would be more awkward now. But of course, I didn't tell her that. Going with Erza would be horrible. And I wasn't close enough to the other girls of the guild to make it seem real. And finally, I knew she was short on money since our last reward was practically entirely gone because of the mess we caused at the hot springs.

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We were now at the house of our clients, a young couple that was about to get married.

"Please, find out who's the culprit. No more couples go to the park anymore because of him." The woman asked us.

"So, you're telling us that that culprit attacks young couples if they're too close to each other at the park? That's insane." Lucy commented.

"Yes, last week we were at the park, just taking a walk holding hands, because we heard he steals cameras and picnic baskets, and the following day we found the word "Showoff" painted in red on our façade." The man explained to us.

"The worst is that he seems to go further and further. Before, it was just cameras and picnic baskets, but when people stopped coming with them, he started painting things, and a few days ago he even threw paint directly on a couple that was going home. I don't know why he's doing this, it's horrible." The woman seemed really affected by this.

"Don't worry, we'll find that guy and make him stop." Lucy assured them with confidence. "If this goes on I'm afraid he'd use some worse that paint."

"Did you or some of your friends see his face?" I asked them.

They both shook their heads, looking down, "We think he's a mage since everything happened without seeing someone doing it. The cameras, baskets, and even the cans of paint moved by themselves."

"So that's why only you know we're mages. Because you have no idea of who it could be." Lucy concluded.

The woman nodded, "Yes, we didn't even tell our friends so rumors wouldn't go around the town."

"You did well. He could become suspicious and don't fall in the trap, even if he doesn't know our faces." I agreed. "Anyway, don't worry, we got this."

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"So, what do we do now? We go to the park?" Lucy asked me once we were out of our clients' house.

"Yep. We keep a low profile and observe first. If we see a couple getting attacked or someone suspicious, we'll follow them. I don't think we'll have to be the bait for now."

"Keep a low profile and observe. Ok." Lucy nodded.

"Exactly. We go there but don't even hold hands. Apparently that alone is enough to make him angry."

If we can do this way it'd be better: the less we have to act as a couple, the less hard it'll be for me to restrain my feelings.

"But wouldn't it be weirder for a couple not to hold hands? I mean, he could find us suspicious just because of that."

"He'll think we're just friends or that we heard the rumors." I reasoned.

"But if observing isn't enough and we have to become the bait, this will become suspicious."

She had a point. "We'll figure it out when the time comes." I merely replied.

"Right. If we're lucky we won't even have to think about it." She concluded.

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"This park is so beautiful. I understand why everyone wants to take a walk there." Lucy commented with bright eyes, but then looked a little sad, "But it's almost empty because of that jerk."

"I know. There are only children and old people. Young couples don't dare to come here anymore."

"That's so sad. We better catch him fast." After walking a few minutes, she exclaimed, "Hey, look! A swan! He's so beautiful." She dragged me by the arm towards the lake.

"Didn't I say to keep a low profile?" I asked her, pointing my chin at her hands still on my left arm, looking around me to see if someone was looking.

She followed my gaze and moved her hands away, looking embarrassed. "I didn't think. I did it instinctively. Sorry." She was looking at the ground.

I smiled at her. "Don't worry. It's just that the guy seems to be really sensitive about these things." She nodded slightly.

"Hey, I'll go ask someone if they have some bread to feed the swan. Wait for me here, ok?" She told me happily, and added more quietly, "We'll cover more surface area like that."

"No problem. I won't move from here to make sure he doesn't go away," I went along with her idea.

"I won't be long," she told me with a smile before going away.

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"So what if I grabbed his arm? I do that all the time with my friends. It's not weird at all. I didn't act weird." I mumbled to myself while searching around for someone to ask for some bread.

I quickly found an old man on a bench who was feeding pigeons.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you give me a little bread please?" I asked me gently.

"Of course, young lady. You want to feed that swan over there, right?" He replied kindly.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I saw you with your friend. You're really cute together, by the way. It's good to see a young couple here. They don't come anymore these days…" He looked sad.

"Oh, but that's not…" I instinctively tried to deny, but I didn't know what I should say in case the culprit was listening, so I just asked, "Right, is it because of that culprit? We came here today and already heard some rumors. Nobody knows what he looks like?"

"Unfortunately, no. He hides somewhere and uses magic so he can't be seen by others. Last time I saw a picnic basket being thrown into the lake just like that. All that food wasted for nothing. That's terrible, really. Be careful, I'm happy to see some youngsters being happy here, but I'm afraid you'll be targeted too."

I smiled at him, "Don't worry. We're just here for a few days, and we didn't bring any basket."

"I hope you'll only have good memories of this place. It's such a lovely town, you know. I live here since I was a child, but that's the first time something like this happens."

"I'm sure it will soon go back to normal." I assured him, but quickly added, "I mean, he should become tired of doing this, especially if all couples avoid going here."

"I hope you're right, young lady."

"Don't worry. Anyway, thank you for the bread! Have a good day!" I happily thanked him before going back to Gray.

"You and your friend, too!" I heard him say behind me. I turned around and nodded with a smile.

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"Here's some bread! A nice old man gave it to me." I informed Gray, showing him the bread in my hand.

"That's nice of him. Here, the swan is still there, so you can feed him." He replied.

"Yay!" I shouted while throwing a little bread in the water. "Oh, it's eating!" I exclaimed before lowering my voice a little, "So, did you see something weird?"

"Nope. Nothing. And there's not even one young couple here. You?"

"Nothing either." I had looked around on my way, but saw nothing special. "Take some. It's fun to feed it." I handed him some bread.

"No thanks, I'll just watch you do it."

"Stop acting cool and take it." I placed it forcefully in his hand.

"You can be quite stubborn you know." He smirked at me while still throwing the bread in the water.

"But it works." I replied with pride.

"I agreed so we can go further into the park once we're finished with this."

"Right." I mocked.

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"I'm sooo tired." I loudly complained as I crashed into the bed of the motel room as soon I came out of the bathroom, already in my pajamas. We ate out and it was now past 10pm. "We were there the whole afternoon and nothing happened." The most tiring part of the afternoon was trying not to overreact around Gray, though. No wonder I'm so tired. But I think I did a pretty good job, I think I'm more and more able to act normal around him again. Even if I have still some kind of thoughts that I wished I didn't have.

"I hope really nothing happened, and not just that the culprit changed his spot. He could've have gone to another place where couples often hang out, since they don't come to the park anymore." Gray replied, his shirt already off. It was already a miracle he'd kept it on the whole day.

"We'll see if we hear something tomorrow. If not, I guess we'll have to be the bait." I said while my head was buried in the pillow.

"Yup" I heard him reply as I felt something falling on the bed on my left, or more like someone.

I suddenly straightened myself up, and asked him with round eyes "What are you doing?" He was now in just his underwear.

"Lying down, in order to sleep. Like you." He casually answered.

"Thank you, I got that part. But do you intend to sleep next to me, in the same bed?" We usually used futons, so it seemed weird this time.

"Well yeah. It's not the first time we sleep next to each other. Don't worry, I won't do anything to you, that's not like you don't know me." He was closing his eyes, ready to sleep.

"Of course I know that, but…" I argued oh so wonderfully.

He straightened up, "Maybe… I should be the one careful?" He mocked as he came closer to me.

I felt my cheeks become warmer, but tried to hide it. "Of course not! You know me, too! But still..." Really good argument Lucy, yay to you.

"I won't do anything to you, you won't do anything to me, we've already spent the night in the same room plenty of times, I don't see any problem here. But if you still do, the floor's all for you." He pointed at it with his chin.

"A gentleman would sleep on the floor." I pouted, crossing my arms and looking away.

"I'm not a gentleman, and I'm not the one that doesn't want us to sleep in the same bed." He retorted.

"Fine. Two futons next to each other or one bed, it's the same after all. Goodnight then." I quickly went into the covers and closed my eyes, facing the wall and not him.

"Goodnight to you too." I didn't need to look at him to know he was smiling in victory.

I tried really hard not to think about him being next to me, under the same covers, in his underwear… Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night.

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When I woke up the next morning, it was already sunny. Lucy was still sleeping, and it seemed she turned around during her sleep since she was now facing me, her hands clapped together under her cheek. She was so cute like this.

My hand moved instinctively towards a strand of hair falling on her face. I was about to replace it behind her ear, but stopped just before touching it, and decided to flick her forehead with my finger instead.

"Hmmm." She complained while rubbing her forehead and straightening up a little. She opened her eyes. "Oh, hey Gray." She greeted me with a slight smile, still half asleep. I was looking at her, my head resting on my left hand, waiting for her to realize the situation. Then, her eyes were wide open, "HEY! Did you just hit me?" She shouted at me.

"Yup." I admitted, still smiling.

"Why?" She shrieked.

"To wake you up." I simply replied.

"You could have just called my name, or something." She argued.

"I thought this would be funnier."

"For you, maybe."

"Of course, for me. Next time, be the first one to wake up."

"Oh don't worry about that, I'll get my revenge!" She seemed determined.

"And I'll accept it without complaint." I agreed without hesitation. "Anyway, let's go out there to see if there's some news." I stood up and walked towards the door while saying, "But first, let's have breakfast, I'm hungry."

"You know, maybe you don't mind walking around in your underwear, but I do. Let me change, first." She reminded me from behind.

I turned around and scratched the back of my head. "Right. Maybe I should do the same."

"Maybe, yeah. Especially if you still want to keep a low profile. A stripper in town wouldn't be unnoticed, you know." She mocked.

"Hey, don't make fun of me!" I quietly warned her.

"Hai, hai!" She teasingly replied with a singsong voice while disappearing in the bathroom.

I sighed, smiling. When was that girl not cute? I shook my head, and started to look for my clothes.