day 2 - tattoo

Lucy thought that Gray's tattoo was cute.

Mostly.

She also thought it was unnecessary.

And she was also confused.

Because as a loving yet eternally sensible girlfriend, what were you supposed to feel when your boyfriend of three (only three) years decided to get your name tattooed? On his chest?

To be fair, three years was a long time. Especially since before she met Gray, Lucy had been drifting from boyfriend to boyfriend. Natsu, Hibiki, Sting, even this one emo-looking guy. What was his name again? Midnight? Jeez. Lucy wasn't even sure if she was fully sober during the entirety of their very short relationship.

Bringing her back to her point… what was her point again?

Right.

Gray.

Three years.

Tattoo.

TotallycuteImeannotmanyboyrfriendsdothatfortheirgirlfriendsbutdamnwasitreallynecessary –

Ahem.

Okay.

"Lucy?" said Gray, sleepily. They were lying on the bed in darkness. It was probably past midnight (ha, Midnight). Lucy felt him groping around until he found her waist – he hugged her and pulled her close.

"Mm?" said Lucy. Trying to sound sleepy and like she hadn't spent the last three hours contemplating and pondering and thinking what the hell could possibly induce Gray to get a tattoo, oh my god.

"Why're you… still… awake?" Gray yawned, and Lucy felt it on her neck.

"I drank coffee before we went to bed…"

"Why?"

"I thought I'd be working late tonight…"

"Hmmm…" Gray wrapped his arm around her waist tighter. His warmth, usually so comforting, had a different element tonight. For one thing, Lucy was very sure that she had never before felt so uncomfortable with the fact that Gray's chest was pressing against her back. She normally liked to snuggle in and relish the fact that she was the little spoon. But tonight…

For Mavis's sake, the only thing on her mind was the fact that her name in ink and on flesh was pressing against her back.

Weird as fuck.

"Gray…?" Lucy murmured. She prayed that he was still awake.

"Yeah…?"

"Why did you get that tattoo?"

"What tattoo?" Lucy felt him shifting behind her.

"That tattoo on your chest… my name…"

"Oh." Gray sounded more awake now. He had stopped moving. "Why, does it bother you or something?"

"Not really," said Lucy, biting her lip. She wasn't sure if it bothered her so much as unnerve her, more than anything else. And she wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about it – was every girl supposed to love this kind of gesture if their boyfriend did it or was Lucy just weird? If Midnight had done this… jeez, if Midnight had done this…

"Why'd you ask about it, then?"

"Well, you just tattooed my name on your chest. It's going to be there forever. Permanently. I think I've got the right to be curious."

"So it does bother you."

"No, I just said no."

Gray raised his hip and brought it down on the bed, causing the mattress and Lucy to bounce. "What?!"

"Does it bother you that I have your name permanently etched onto my skin regardless of what may happen in the future?" asked Gray.

"…That must have been a mouthful."

"Answer me."

Lucy sighed. She shifted around to turn and face him. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked straight at her.

"It doesn't really bother me…" she whispered. "I just wondered why you got it."

Gray bit his lip. "First off… I hope you're not expecting to hear some sappy shit about how I got a tattoo so that, I don't know… our love or whatever would be just as permanent as this tattoo."

Lucy kept still, then exhaled and laughed. "Thank god."

"Hey, that hurts!"

"No, it's just… you've never been the sentimental type, so I didn't expect you to start now."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to tell you why I got it or not?"

Lucy pinched his arm. "Fine, go!"

Gray took a deep breath. "This whole story won't make sense until I tell you how exactly I met you."

Lucy leaned back. "What…? We met at a bar. There was nothing to it."

"No. I mean, yes, but… jeez, I can't believe I'm telling you the circumstances of our meeting now, of all times. At twelve midnight. In bed. And we're actually dating now."

"Get on with it!" Lucy bumped their knees together.

"Ow! Fuck. Fine. I get it. So, okay, remember that guy you dated once? Hibiki?" began Gray.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah."

"He's kinda sorta maybe a little bit the reason why we met."

Lucy frowned. "What?"

Gray sighed. "Zeref, this is so fucking weird… I really thought we could go through our entire relationship without me telling you this."

"Out with it!"

"Okay. Zeref. Let me go through this without interruptions, okay? It's going to make me look even needier than sappy shit about permanent love. Maybe I should just go with that. Hey, I got this tattoo so that our love would be just as everlasting as this – "

Lucy pinched his cheeks. "Ow! Fuck, that hurts!"

"You big baby. It wasn't even that hard."

"Zeref, you're stronger than you think. Okay, I'm starting. No more bullshit."

"Finally."

"Alright."

.

.

.

"See, I actually saw you two months before we actually met. At the same exact bar that we did meet."

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but Gray shushed her. "Ah, ah, ah! No interruptions, remember?" he said. She pouted, but complied.

"At the time, I'm pretty sure you were single. At least, that was what Hibiki told me. Now, if you'll remember, you and Hibiki kept touch even after your break-up because he was such good boyfriend material that you had to keep him on as a friend. I honestly don't know why you broke up with him."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Yes, but because he was boyfriend material, I constantly had to fight off other women. Not worth it. Besides, he makes a good buddy."

Gray frowned. "I said, no interruptions."

"Fine."

"Moving on. Ahem. I basically thought you were, uh, cute."

"Hee."

"Shut up. So I asked a good friend of mine if he knew you. That friend happened to know the name of every woman between the ages of twenty and thirty who lived or frequented downtown Magnolia. Can you guess who he was?"

"… Hibiki-fucking-Laytis."

"Hibiki-fucking-Laytis. Exactly. Anyways, imagine my non-existent surprise when he told me that you were his ex-girlfriend. It was really non-existent. He said he could introduce me to you, but only in that bar, because as far as he knew, you never really went out of your apartment besides for work or grocery shopping. And I didn't feel like hitting on you in your office or at the grocery, because that didn't really seem ideal. He promised to text me the next time he knew that you were going out."

"… and it was only two months later that I went out again."

"Yeah, so fuck you for that. That was… December 18. I remember that day, because that was possibly the worst best day of my life."

"Worst best day?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

"Exactly. So tell me."

"Right. As it was, Hibiki texted me that you had texted him that you were going out… Zeref. This is really kind of creepy."

"A little bit. Go on."

"So, here comes the problem in this whole entire story – when he texted me, I was in multiple situations. Multiple, problematic situations. Alright, so first of all, when he texted me, I was on my way to a job interview. At Fairy Tail."

"What?" Lucy's eyes were wide. "But you work there, now. If you skipped the interview, then - ?"

"Well, my portfolio was so impressive apparently, that the interview was just a formality," said Gray, shrugging in the darkness. "That was okay, but at the time my blood was literally running cold at the thought that I was missing the interview. Aside from that, I was flat-out running to the interview because the taxi I was riding had broken down and there was no time to wait and flag another one down. I was also pretty sure that my apartment was going to burn down, because before I left for the interview, I'd left a stove running and at the moment I was seriously internalizing whether I should go for the interview or rush back to save my house."

"…Wow."

"Wow is right. When Hibiki texted me, I kind of blanked out – I was being pulled in so many directions, and I wasn't thinking straight. If I had, I could have just calmly rushed to the interview, asked for a few minutes, then called my neighbor, Loke, who had a key to my apartment. He could've turned off the stove for me. Then, I could have just said no to Hibiki, and waited until you went out again."

"Yeah. Why didn't you do that?"

Gray frowned. "If I had been thinking straight, I would've done exactly that. And if I had been thinking at least somewhat straight, I would have rushed to my interview without asking anyone to check on my house. Or I might have disregarded the interview completely, and gone home. Thinking rationally, it makes no sense at all that I went to the bar again, huh?"

Lucy was silent. She snuggled deeper into Gray's arms. "Yeah."

"But I think I had only one thought on my mind at the time… that I wasn't going to wait another two months to talk to you again. Every fiber of my body was basically telling me that if I didn't go now, I wouldn't get the chance again. I don't know if it was just me being stupid, but I followed that – I turned straight around and headed to the bar, leaving my employment to uncertainty and my house to possible flame. Oh, but don't worry though. My apartment didn't burn down, because Loke went in anyway to steal a bottle of wine from me. He noticed the stove and turn it off before he left. So even though I'm really mad at him for stealing that bottle for me, I kinda owe him for saving my apartment."

"So, you went to the bar," Lucy recanted slowly. "And you met me."

"Yeah. And boy, you sure made me regret it for the first few minutes of talking to you. You blew me off, called me a prick, threatened to call the bouncer, but then after all of that you simmered down and we talked. By the time I left, I had your number and a stupid grin on my face."

Lucy blushed. "And this has to do with your tattoo… how?"

"Right, that. Considering the hell I went through just to meet you, I decided to get a tattoo to remind myself of that. Hurts like hell, but after that I have something to show for it. Uh… you."

Lucy hid her face into Gray's chest. "You're right. This whole thing was sappier than if you'd just told me you wanted our love to be permanent."

"Right? So, are you still uncomfortable with it?"

"Slightly. But now you're making me want to get a tattoo, too."

"Don't do it, Lucy. It hurts like hell, and think of the germs. Zeref. Go to sleep and promise me you won't get one."

.

.

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Lucy thought Gray's tattoo was cute.

Really cute.

end.

author's note: SO LATE SORRY I SUCK

History:

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published: September 6, 2015

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I promise I'll try to have everything uploaded maybe by September 8. I hope. Jeez. I'm sorry I suck, but I just do. Fuck me and my procrastination.

Disclaimer: fairy tail doesn't deserve the honor of being mine.