#grayano

I can't stop laughing you asked me this exact prompt and pairing three years ago!! Here is the link to it. Don't worry, I wrote you a follow up for making me smile.

He never learned, did he? Or at the very least, he needed to figure out how to say no. Because here Gray was, yet again, stuck at the ice cream stand in the sweltering heat.

Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as before. Well... in some respects. This time he had more customers, as he had managed to keep all of his clothes on thus far and managed to avoid looking like a pervert. Mostly. Every once in a while he got a strange look from a customer, in particular one woman that had wrapped an arm around her kid and hastily retreated with their ice cream. Gray wasn't sure what had made her do that - he'd even checked with her that he was still wearing clothes! A mystery.

The clothes came with their set of problems though. His underwear, to be exact. They were chafing something fierce. The additional weight of the clothes had only made him sweat more, which had completely soaked through his boxers some time ago. Why hadn't he worn swim trunks? Those at least chafed... a little less.

At least the day would end soon. The sun was starting to sink, and as soon as it disappeared completely then the park would close and so would the stand. Then he could go home and mercifully escape both his boxers and the heat. He was literally itching to be free.

Gray's poor decision making skills aside... he was a little disappointed that he hadn't seen one particular customer at all that day. It wasn't as if he was hoping for a repeat of their last encounter, exactly. After all, that would mean that he had once more failed to comply with basic food hygiene standards. Especially as, once she'd left, he'd been questioned by park police about his public indecency. Over the years he had grown a pretty thick skin about people seeing him in the nude, but every once it a while the embarrassment would blindside him just as hard as it had when he was younger. This had been one of those times, unfortunately.

Wanting to see Sorano again wasn't weird, he told himself. He had things to ask her; the fact that a wanted criminal was out and about like it was nothing, had she continued to use her angel magic after all, was she doing well, had she liked the ice cream...

Maybe he just wanted a do-over on the impression he'd made. A thought he was not going to analyze further, as he was not Lucy.

Finally, the sun vanished, warm rays of gold and orange slipping into lavender and dark blue. Gray dutifully because to close up the shop, cleaning the utensils and securing the lids on the ice cream tubs (necessitating opening the freezer for some sweet, sweet relief), when he heard a throat clear behind him.

Not looking up, he called back, "Sorry, we're closed for the day."

"Ah," came a familiar, light voice. "I see I came too late today." Gray spun around, just catching the wicked smile starting to form on the woman's face as she tacked on, "For both the ice cream and the show." This time, Sorano had come without the hat, though still wearing a sundress.

"That might be construed as harassment," Gray quipped, not truly upset but still feeling a little warm in the neck at the reminder of what had happened before, and more than a little bit mesmerized by how her hair glowed in the fading light - almost ethereal.

Sorano raised an equally pale eyebrow as she appraised him. "For you or for me?"

Caught staring, Gray spluttered unintelligably. For lack of anything else to say on the topic, he abruptly switched it. "Did you enjoy the ice cream?"

The smile on her face softened slightly. "No."

Now that was a punch straight to the gut.

"...But my sister enjoyed it very much. I'm afraid I don't really care for ice cream personally." The wicked gleam in her eyes had returned in full force.

"How can someone not enjoy ice cream?" Gray muttered in shock. What utter blasphemy had he just witnessed?

She gave him a slight shrug. "Didn't have much occasion to develop a taste for it growing up."

That seemed fair, given Gray's limited knowledge of Sorano's past. "Then why come back?" he asked. "Looking for a another show? I'll have you know I kept my clothes on all day this time." Much to his discomfort.

A light laugh, as sibilant as he remembered, met his words. "Maybe I did?"

Gray considered her for a long moment. "Give me a few more minutes to finish closing up? Then maybe we can... try out a few other things you may have missed out on in the past."

Sorano licked her lips. "With or without your clothes?"

Defeated, Gray put his face in his hands and let out a groan. "I'm going to hear about this all night, aren't I?"

FT Ship Trials #37

Gray Fullbuster X Sorano Aguria is

Grayano

or

Royalty AU - Marriage Law - every royal must marry a commoner chosen by the advisor to keep the bloodlines clean

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It was one thing to be ordered to marry a commoner.  Sorano was fine with that, mostly.  She didn’t take too well to being given orders in the first place, so there was a part of her that would have rebelled against it no matter.  But she had long since overcome any wariness or disgust for the non-nobility, so the thought of marrying one of them wasn’t abhorrent.  And it wasn’t as if the bloodlines couldn’t use new stock.

No, the part she objected to most strongly was the fact that she wasn’t allowed to wed her commoner.

Perhaps it was strange to be so obsessive over someone from a lower class, but to Sorano, her affection for Gray Fullbuster was hard-fought, and she never did like giving up anything that was hers.  Not to her sister, not to her parents, not to the noble class, and certainly not to a silly law that marrying Gray would fulfill the requirements of anyway.

All because some stuffed shirts thought that money was near equal to nobility.  So what if Gray was dirt poor?  So what if he overheated easily and tended to strip whenever that occurred?  He was entertaining, and kind, and Sorano felt a rare sort of caring towards him.  And for some reason, he seemed to feel the same for her in return.

Fine, then.  If she must interview for other potential candidates, then she’d become the most unlikable person in the entire kingdom, the absolute worst marriage material on the continent if necessary.  She was already well on her way there, anyway, with her irascibility and sharp wit.  And if that failed, she tear them down and flatten them into the earth.

She was selfish as all hell, and they would learn to respect that or she’d set the kingdom to burning down around their ears.  And Gray, for his part, was just as stubborn and bullheaded as she was.

Sorano would like to see them try to stop her.  For they’d find out just what kind of an opponent she could be when she put her mind to it.

Her teeth were sharp, and she always went for the throat.

Gray wiped the sweat from his brow, wondering just why it was that no one was approaching the small ice cream stand.  He was melting in the sweltering heat, the air stagnant inside the stand.  The only bit of reprieve he got from it was when he opened the cooler’s door to bring out one of the confections for a customer.  Not even his magic was really helping him, no matter how often he tried to freeze himself.  His body was just too used to the ice living inside his veins to be affected by it anymore.

Why had he ever thought that this would be an easy request to handle?  In the middle of August?  For that matter, why did the requester even want a mage to handle it?  It would be one thing if Gray was helping to keep the ice cream cold, but the cooling lacrima was working just fine.  So why?  Why was he suffering needlessly?

And why did no one want ice cream on such a hot day?!  Normally there would at least be children that wanted some!

“I would like some ice cream, please,” came a vaguely familiar, sultry voice.

Looking up, Gray peered at the woman standing in front of the ice cream stand.  Her pale sundress stood out sharply against her skin, contrasting prettily with her summer tan.  Her long hair, as brilliantly white as freshly fallen snow, hung loose down her back.  A large, floppy hat with a ribbon wrapped around it hid most of her face from him, but not her sly smile.

She definitely seemed familiar to the ice mage, but the heat must have affected his brain because for the life of him he just couldn’t place her.

“What flavor?” he asked, putting aside his vague recollections for now.  Right now, all that mattered was that she was about to give him the excuse to get a little relief from the incredibly clement weather.  Therefore, she was now his hero.  His light.  His savior.

“Oh, any of them will do.  What’s your favorite?”   Her smile, if anything, grew.

“Melon,” he answered automatically.  “Cone or cup?”

“I’ll take two cones of Melon,” she said, taking money out a small clutch purse.  With long, delicate fingers, she placed the Jewels in his outstretched hand.

Sweet relief flooded Gray’s body when he opened the cooler and scooped out the ice cream.  He savored the cool air on his skin as he prepped the cones.  It ended all too soon, though, and it was with great reluctance that he closed the cooling unit again.

“Here you are,” Gray said, handing the ice cream over to the woman.

To his surprise, she only took one of the cones.  With her free hand, she lifted her hat’s brim to see him properly, and gave him a wink.  “That one’s to thank you for... the show.”

Flabbergasted, Gray could only stare as Sorano - formerly of Oracion Seis, a sworn enemy of Fairy Tail on two occasions - turned and left with her treat in hand.

What the hell did she mean by “the show”?

Then Gray shrugged, and looked down at the ice cream in his hand.

It was only then that he noticed that, at some point, he’d ditched his pants from the heat.

And his underwear.

A strangled sound of mortification burst from his throat, and as he frantically began to look for his discarded clothing, he thought he heard a high, sibilant laugh from somewhere nearby.

OK so @sxtrisoul asked for this & gave me the idea  fic yonks ago and I have been so slack, I hope that this shambles was worth the wait!

Pairing: Gray/Sorano

Description: “Gray is kidnapped by a cult of worshippers who sacrifice attractive men in hopes of resurrecting the ultimate hot guy and Sorano barges in and rescues him while in her pyjamas and a face mask”

After hanging out with Lucy as often as he did, Gray figured he would probably pick up a few of her habits. It was a fairly natural assumption, after hanging out with Natsu for too long he ended up saying ‘I’m all fired up’ about dumb shit. After hanging out with Erza for too long his cravings for strawberry cake went from non-existent to all too real. Any time around Elfman was just, dangerous. He had assumed that maybe hanging out with Lucy would make him care more about his appearance or he’d feel an urge to write down all his feelings, maybe he’d strip less which wouldn’t be a bad thing (he was running out of shirts and the local law enforcement were only going to let public indecency slide so many times). He never thought for a second though that the habit he would take from Lucy was her tendency to get kidnapped.

It’s possible that most people’s first thoughts upon having a sack thrown over their head and finding their wrists bound probably weren’t complaining about their friend’s bad habits but, Gray wasn’t most people. Most people didn’t have a stripping habit all of their own. He was glad his friends hadn’t picked up that habit from him, although he wouldn’t mind Sorano taking a few notes. He really hoped this wasn’t some sort of haze by Oracion Seis welcoming him to the family because he really didn’t need Cobra hearing that little thought slip, the prank would turn into a homicide real quick. As much as Cobra claimed not to care about anyone but Lucy, and on occasion Kinana, he would still kick his ass if he disrespected Sorano.