“Really, Lucy?” Erza looked at her in mild shock. She then frowned slightly. “Well, it is tradition here in the guild… Many members have helped with the process in some capacity over the years… But that doesn’t mean it’s every family’s holiday tradition, I suppose.”

“My family didn’t have many holiday traditions,” she sighed while pursing her lips in a pout of self-pity. “My father didn’t really believe in them… He said they got in the way of productivity.” Though she and her father had since made amends before (and after, thanks to Lucy’s soul-searching) his passing, her childhood still stung in many ways, including it seemed her lack of holiday cheer. The three of them looked at her with owlish eyes and gaping mouths. Erza’s arms then surged forward to wrap around Lucy’s head and literally pull her across the table to smother her into her chest; it would’ve been comforting, if Lucy’s cheek had not instead met the cold and unforgiving surface of her steel armor. Oblivious, she nuzzled into Lucy’s blonde waves while crooning supportive encouragements. After a bit of worming about in her iron grip, Lucy was able to push herself up onto her hands with a huff. “It’s not that big of a deal! Honestly, guys, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I am totally missing out!” Lucy wailed in dismay as she flopped face-down onto her bed. Ever since the conversation about the gingerbread houses, Lucy had been plagued with a blue feeling that made everything less sunny to her. Upon arriving home, she had tried soaking in a bubble bath, putting on fluffy pajamas, and working on her novel notes, but nothing had alleviated her mild depression. With a frustrated shout, she had slammed down her pencil and jumped up with angry tears in her eyes; no matter how much she had tried to deny it, missing out on the holiday tradition got to her. With a low, miserable whine, she turned her head to the side to stare miserably at her bedroom wall. Lucy was not normally one to be melancholy over trivial things, but as she thought about it, it really wasn’t trivial; the gingerbread house was merely a representative of another aspect of her rough, soulless childhood following her mother’s passing. She knew there was no use sulking over it, but somehow she just couldn’t will herself to crawl out of bed and stop entertaining the gloomy feeling.

That is, until she heard the doorbell ring.

She knew it wasn’t Natsu, because he never bothered with the door and much preferred breaking in through the window like some common vagrant; her next logical conclusion was Gray. He stopped by from time to time by himself when he needed a change of pace, and would enjoy a cup of coffee and some small cookies with her every now and again. It had grown to the point where she had begun bouncing ideas for her novel off him, and though he didn’t really read for fun or know the intimate details of her story, he always listened attentively and gave her his honest opinion. Sometimes he had some really insightful things to say; she had incorporated quite a few of them into her work in progress.

“Coming!” she called as she retracted herself from her cozy, warm covers like an inchworm moving backwards, throwing her head back with a small sigh and a jiggle of her shoulders as if she could literally shake off the gray cloud of dejection around her. It clung annoyingly to her, like a heavy cloak. The sky outside wasn’t helping, as it was eclipsed by oppressive dark clouds that sapped the light and life out of everything and made the winter chill seem even deeper. Still, she couldn’t keep Gray waiting too long or he would impatiently start pounding on her door, so nonetheless she slid from her bed to walk barefoot down the hallway and to her front door. She swung it open right at the moment Gray was going to start knocking wildly, as she caught him with an embarrassed expression and his arm raised in a fist. “Hey, what’s up?” She tried to push as much false cheer and her usual optimism into her voice as possible, not really wanting to talk about her issues at the moment. Gray gulped slightly and then looked shyly down at his feet, which was unusual for him; it was then that she noticed he was hiding something behind his back. “Whatcha got?”

“Here!” he grunted and suddenly thrusted it into her hands, pushing her back out of the doorframe onto her hallway rug. Reeling at the abruptness of his action, it took her a moment to recover and actually look down at what he had presented her with. Her heart instantly scrunched in her chest with gratitude. In her hands was a small make-your-own gingerbread house kit, complete with all the decorating essentials. The gesture was overwhelmingly thoughtful. She found tears of a different kind brimming in her earth-brown eyes as she looked up at him with a genuinely moved smile.

“Gray, I… Thank you so much…” Apparently he had surpassed his initial timidity and awkwardness, because he now flashed her a pleased smirk. He slid one hand into the pocket of his coat while he raised the other arm to prop himself up against the doorjamb, and if one happened to pass by, it would not look unlike a man flirting with his lover. Lucy was too touched by his simple but considerate gift to even consider such notions.

“Of course. You didn’t think I wouldn’t notice how sad about it you were, did you?” Lucy’s smile warmed and now she was the one who shyly cast her gaze to her toes, which were digging into the fluffy fibers of her rug as happiness sang through her nerves. Gray really did have a way of seeing right through her. Natsu did too, a lot of times, but there were also instances where she had been able to conceal them well enough for it to go unnoticed by her best friend… But somehow, Gray was able to sniff out her melancholies or worries like a bloodhound. He would appear out of the blue like this to present her with some little trifle or words of encouragement; in fact, one such occasion had been the springboard for his afternoon and evening visits. He pulled his hand out of his pocket to reach out and very gently rustle her tousled blonde hair, causing her to look up at him. The smile on his face was so impossibly sweet that Lucy practically melted on the spot. Her heart rate quickened and her body temperature climbed a few notches as a little voice in the back of her mind quipped that the emotion he was wearing could only be loving adoration. “I just can’t stand to see you so sad, Lucy. You’re the sunshine of our guild, you know.” Lucy had to look down again because her face was crumpling as she fought back tears.

“Thank you,” she whispered again with a voice like a fleeting breeze. She was just so overcome by all this, her emotional responses heightened due to her already tumultuous state. Gray just continued to soothingly comb through her blonde tresses with his fingers as she recollected herself. After a few minutes, she was able to take a deep breath and raise her head to smile sweetly at him. “Gray, will you make the gingerbread house with me?”

“Of course,” he smiled back at her and walked inside. As he brushed past her on his way to the kitchen in an action that could only be deliberate, Lucy breathed in a sharp, barely audible breath as electricity skipped over her skin where his coat had lightly made contact. Clutching at her heart as it refused to still, she stared at the winter scenery beyond the ajar door. She had the feeling then that tonight, things would change…

After regaining her senses, she shut the door and joined him in the kitchen; he had deemed it necessary to strip off his coat and assemble the house bare-chested. Given it was one of his personality traits she had long since grown used to it; however, to her shock and mild horror, the sight of his shirtless stole all the breath in her lungs and she had to use all of her willpower to keep from ogling at his sculpted body. Of course she had always known Gray was attractive; many of the men of the guild were- but this was the first time that it was painfully apparent and threatening to derail her focus. Gulping, she attempted to redirect her energy on opening the gingerbread house kit to inspect its contents. It wouldn’t be a fancy, homemade creation like Mirajane’s, as the gingerbread sheets came pre-cooked and packaged in plastic to ensure freshness alongside a sizeable container of frosting and various varieties of candies. Her anxiety was just beginning to subside as she anticipated the revelry of assembling the thing- that is, until Gray leaned over her shoulder to likewise inspect the goods and involuntarily pressed his abs into her back. Surely he must’ve felt the shiver that crawled up her spine, but if he did, he made no mention of it.

I’m going to die before this is over, she lamented with a small groan. If Juvia doesn’t bust down the door and kill me for crushing on Gray first! Lucy was not oblivious to what was happening to her. She almost wished that Juvia and Gray were a confirmed item so she could squash all hopes of shenanigans happening her, but though Gray cared very deeply for the water mage, so far he had refused her many advances… Meaning that devilish little voice in her head could sing that she had a chance with him. Oh my, she just sighed silently and began opening the gingerbread packages with a quick prayer to preserve her sanity.

A floor, four walls, and two panels for a roof were contained in the packages. Lucy cracked open the jar of frosting and gave it a sample. It was surprisingly good considering it was in a cheap cooking kit, and she held up the jar for Gray to sample. She tried to keep her hand from trembling violently as his head dipped down next to hers to stick his finger into the frosting and scoop some up, looking at her as he very unnecessarily slowly drew it over his tongue.

“It’s good,” he remarked casually as if he hadn’t done the most seductive thing Lucy had ever seen in her life. She turned stiffly from him as she felt her soul leaving her body. She wasn’t going to survive this, no sir. All she could manage was a weak, shaky chuckle as she set the jar down, gripping it so hard the plastic would crack any second. I can’t tell if he’s flirting or just so comfortable with me he doesn’t care! She wailed silently. She inhaled deeply as panic began to bubble up inside her. Calm down, Lucy. Just treat this like any other night with Gray. Yeah.

That was so goddamn hard to do with Gray looking like a bigger snack than the gingerbread house.

Lucy’s hand was trembling the entire time she piped the icing across the gingerbread. It didn’t help that Gray decided that the easiest way to put it together was for him to stand directly behind her and reach around her on either side to hold up the pieces while she generously applied frosting glue. Lucy knew for damn sure they looked like the intro to some cheap adult film, but what could she do? Gray was either completely ignorant of the implications or thoroughly enjoying playing her like a fiddle, but she didn’t know, because his face remained stoic the entire time, except for when he would smile and make some comment that had no suggestive undertones whatsoever. By the time she finished icing white tiles onto the finished roof, she was exhausted- and they still had a heck of a lot to do!

When it came time to apply the candies, Lucy was able to relax just a little bit, because it was actually kind of difficult. Sometimes the candies were a little heavy- especially the gum drops, those annoying squishy bastards- and would fall from their spot, requiring her to stop what she was doing and apply more icing to try and secure it. Little by little, they applied the rainbow of candies, and when they were finished, she stepped back to admire their handiwork while sweeping the back of her arm across her forehead with a tired “phew.”

It was actually pretty cute, now that she got a good look at it. They had a little gumdrop fence leading up to the front door, which had a window of glass-like candy and a little chocolate-chip doorknob. Gummy flowers decorated a small garden with a gardening gingerbread man (which she had iced herself and thought she had done damn well with all those little lines!). The roof tiles were made with the same glass-like candy as the windows, in a menagerie of colors to make an effect like stained glass. Finally, cotton candy puffed from a small chimney. Lucy could not help but beam broadly at their creation. She whirled around to throw her arms around Gray’s neck in a hug, forgetting the earlier sexual tension in her glee. “It’s wonderful! Thank you so much for this, Gray. I feel lots better!” Indeed, the cloudy gloom had finally subsided and she was her sunshiney self again. As she fell back onto the pads of her feet to look up at him, he smiled and swept a stray hand of hair from her face.

“No problem. I’m glad I get to see that smile of yours again.” Ba-bump! went her heart like a drum against her ribs. The tension didn’t take long to return. A blush dusted her cheeks like sparkling pink sprinkles that shifted further toward red with each second he spent staring thoughtfully down at her. Suddenly, he grabbed her lightly by the chin to turn her face to the side. “You’ve got frosting on your cheek,” he remarked with amusement. Oh my God, I really am in some cliché teenager’s fantasy, Lucy groaned inwardly but secretly relished it. She expected him to sweep his finger over it and pop it into his mouth and look hella fine while doing it, but instead he did something that no cheesy teenage novel could prepare her for: he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss into her cheek. Lucy’s breath rattled as she drew it in, chocolate-brown eyes going wide.

“Gray…” she whispered. The longing in her voice called him forth, peppering kisses over her skin before arriving to her lips. His mouth feathered lightly over hers for a moment as stormy gray eyes greeted her, silently asking permission. She indicated such with her eyes fluttering closed and leaning her body against him, hands pressed against his chest. Despite her knowing it was coming, it was still such an explosive feeling once his mouth melted over hers like chocolate over her lips, soft and warm and sweet with the faint hint of the frosting. She inched herself up onto her tip-toes as she leaned dramatically into the kiss, simply drunk on the sensation of his mouth moving rhythmically over her own. He reached up to clutch a fistful of her hair to very gently twist her head to deepen the kiss, and though she thought it not possible, she swooned even further. They kissed like that for several minutes, deeply, passionately, before he pulled back. Her eyes opened to see him smiling wryly down at her, and his fingers teased through her hair in loving caresses.

“You’re my sunshine, too, y’know,” he breathed in a low voice aching with honest, raw emotion. Lucy’s eyes scrunched up as she smiled so hard her face hurt, but she simply couldn’t help it; God, she loved him, she loved him for what he was doing to her and saying to her. She circled her arms around his neck and fondled the ends of his dark hair, her eyes never leaving his for a single millisecond. Still on her tip-toes and unsteady, his other hand gripped her hip to keep her stable. Tracing a finger across his sharp jawline, she smiled cutely at him.

“You’ve really got some smooth things to say, y’know? Do you know the things you do to a girl?” she asked teasingly. He snorted in laughter before bringing her into another soft, sweet kiss, and Lucy shined brighter than the burning sun to chase away the gray clouds and winter chill to make a little warm space just for herself and Gray to inhabit…

“Aye! Steamed fish! I want steamed fish!” the cat familiar squealed in response. Natsu grimaced in disgust as the little blue kitty began drooling all over his shoulder. He hastily pushed Happy a few inches to the side so the saliva would instead drip down his chin onto the cobblestone ground. 

“Is the only thing you two ever think about food ?” Gray snorted in derision, then grinned at Lucy while slamming his fist into his palm. “Whatever. Let’s can this guy!” 

In unison, they took off down the alleyway after the cloaked figure. For a burglar, he wasn’t exceptionally fast, and the three mages plus Happy were very quickly able to spy the edge of his hooded coat flapping around the corners of the labyrinthine arrangement of alleyways. As she dashed alongside the two boys, she yanked one of her keys from her golden keyring and pointed it out in front of her. 

“Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius !” 

A white ball of light beamed on the edge of the key before exploding forth in streaming ribbons to form the archer man dressed in the comical horse costume. He came into existence running as well, his long legs matching Lucy’s stride as he asked how he could be of service to her. At this time, the thief was in clear sight, and Lucy pointed to the large brown sack of stolen goods that he was hauling over his shoulder. 

“Understood!” The Celestial Spirit quipped as he skidded to a halt and plucked an arrow from his quiver. The mages continued their hot pursuit as he notched it into the bow and drew it powerfully back over his shoulder, one eye closed as he carefully watched his target and the pursuers to ensure a clear shot. Lucy heard the distant thwong of the taut string followed by the shrill whistle of the feathered projectile streaming through the air. It clipped a few of her blonde hairs as it shot over her shoulders, making her bark at Sagittarius in protest. She forward again to find that the arrow had successfully done its job. 

It had snipped through the fragile fabric of the cheap sack, and Lucy watched with a triumphant grin as the frayed ends rapidly came undone to split the pouch in two. The thief exclaimed in alarm as his precious gold and silver and jewels spilled from the sack like custard from a squeezed pastry; they rained to the ground in a glittering parade, twinkling like beautiful bells to signal his defeat. 

No sooner had he skidded to a halt to try and salvage some of his lost cargo did Happy swoop down to pick up Natsu and bear him like a screaming bullet through the alley. 

“Take this!” Natsu roared as his arm burst into intense red flames. Like they had a life of their own, they licked eagerly at the wall as he passed it, leaving burning soot marks on the surface of the bricks. Gray had stopped once he realized that Natsu could take him out in one hit, but Lucy kept running a few paces, just in case. 

She soon realized her mistake. 

“Lucy! You’re too close!” Gray hollered as Natsu’s flames burst into a very unnecessary inferno, taking the form of a massive draconic wing. As he jerked his arm back to prepare for a punch, the roiling flames swept back towards Lucy. With an alarmed shriek, she screeched to a halt and threw up her arms in some pathetic attempt to shield her head. She felt the searing (and unfortunately familiar) pain of his flames greedily biting into her skin all down her front. 

Thankfully, her arms and legs took most of the brunt, and even then, they were second-degree burns at worst. Her clothes shielded her more vulnerable areas from severe damage. As Natsu swung forward to slam the thick of his arm into the thief’s throat and clothesline him, the flaming wing went with him and left Lucy in the cooling chill of the night air. 

“Ungh!” she grunted in mild pain as she fell down onto her knees. She then recoiled as her calves and knees’ sensitive skin met the harsh, unforgiving rough stone of the alleyway floor. The little gravel pebbles and gritty cobblestone bricks sank millions of pointy teeth into her seared flesh to send even more pinpricks of discomfort to her already overwhelmed nerves. 

Lucy looked down at herself to assess the severity of the damage; her arms and legs were pink with burned skin, but the flames hadn’t penetrated but a layer or so. Honestly, the worst part was that she was now down to her panties— the only remnants of her clothes were the shreds of fabric on her backside, which had not been subject to the intense fire. She was just tying off the salvageable strip around her lightly burned bust when Gray ran up and crouched down beside her. 

“Lucy! Are you okay?!” 

“I’m all right. Not even crispy.” 

“Natsu, you idiot!” Gray yelled at the dragon-slayer, completely ignoring Lucy’s affirmation that she was just fine. “You shouldn’t use techniques like that without warning us! You’ve gone and burned Lucy all up!” 

The pink-haired man looked over, momentarily distracted from holding the very crispy and unconscious jewelry thief by the collar of his clothes. Once he saw Lucy sitting on her knees and nearly naked, he dropped him and trotted over to survey the extent of her injury. He squatted down in front of her, looking her up and down. He then the back of his neck uncomfortably. 

“Sorry, Lucy…” 

“No! It’s fine! I knew you were about to attack him; really, I should’ve known better and stayed back like Gray…” she apologized quickly while waving her hands in dismissal. Really, she should’ve known better; it was Natsu , after all. 

“Hell no! Don’t apologize to him, Lucy!” Gray protested while continuing to glare daggers at Natsu. “He needs to take care to not get his comrades caught up in his attacks.” 

“I said I was sorry, so stop yellin’ at me!” Natsu growled and stood up to push his face into Gray’s. As their foreheads butted, a vein popped out in Gray’s forehead, but he didn’t back down. 

“I’m not yelling! I’m talking loudly in your direction!” 

Lucy was sure the volume of his voice qualified as a yell, but she didn’t say anything. The two continued to quibble back and forth, and she just let them; the jewelry thief was unconscious still, so he wouldn’t run off. 

She shivered, suddenly aware of how chilly the night was now that she had been reduced to only scraps of clothing. It was late in autumn, on the cusp of winter. Worse, now that the sunlight had long since faded from the sky, there was no shielding from the brisk cool. She ran her hands lightly up her arms, ignoring the stinging for the sensation of immediate warmth that the friction between her skin was able to provide her. Still, she couldn’t produce enough. She grew colder, to the point that she was shuddering and her teeth had begun to clatter. 

“Can you two knock it off and tie him up already? I’m cold…” She had meant to put some bite into her words, but she could hardly get them out of her mouth for how much her chin was wobbling with her shiver. She just sounded terribly pathetic. 

Natsu looked down at her before shooting one last glare at Gray and stomped over to the thief, who was just rousing. He socked the thief in the face, and he was out like a light instantly. 

Lucy pushed herself up to her feet, hoping that without the cobblestone sapping her body heat right out of her legs, she would be able to warm up a little. She was dismayed to find that it only exposed more of her body to the breeze rushing through the backstreet. She debated curling up into a ball until she felt something soft and warm fall over her shoulders. She then sputtered in confusion as something was pulled over her head. 

“Eh—?” 

She wriggled around, hearing Gray’s impatient voice to tell her to be still through the rustling of the thick fabric in her ears. She squeaked in shock as she felt his rough, big hands snap to her hips to spin her around. 

“I said be still !” 

Absolutely perplexed but realizing she would just tangle herself up thrashing around, she obediently stilled her body so that Gray could shove the garment over her. Her head popped out, and she looked down to see him wrestling her arms through the sleeves of his shirt. 

“Hey, what’re you—?” she pouted and began worming her arms through the sleeve holes. She was perfectly capable of dressing herself. 

Once her hands appeared at the base of the long sleeves, she attempted to smooth down the fabric embracing her midriff. Though Gray wore a larger clothes size than her, her sizable bust still swallowed the material, making it a tighter fit than one would assume. “I’m not that cold…” she whined quietly as it finally clicked in her head that Gray was lending her his clothing, and a pink blush dusted her pale cheeks. 

“Shut up. Yes you are,” Gray brusquely refuted and leaned down to pull off his pants. Her blush furthered down her neck and to the lobes of her ears as he so nonchalantly held them out for her. It was kind of wild that him standing there in his boxers wasn’t what fazed her. “Come on; your legs’ll freeze off in this cold.” 

“What about you?” she asked though she knew it was stupid to. 

“You know I used to run around in my underwear in blizzards,” came the haughty reply. 

Lucy reached up to grip his shoulders to not lose her balance while stepping into the pants. They were much too long, requiring Lucy to kick them up her legs to allow her feet through, and she had to hold them up around her small waist while Gray crouched down to roll them up for her. Lucy was going to do it herself but was having difficulty bunching all the loose fabric in one hand to tug at his belt. She blushed darkly when his head suddenly appeared at her stomach, and his hands overtook hers, gently pulling away the belt to draw it tightly around her middle. 

“You really are tiny, Lucy,” he mumbled, almost to himself. 

If Lucy were any redder, she would win a tomato look-alike contest. 

“Y-you don’t just say things like that…” Lucy grumbled. She averted her gaze as he stood up, holding his discarded coat in his hands as he did. She expected him to throw it on himself since she was just fine dressed in the layers that she was, but to her shock, he tossed it around her shoulders instead. His fingers danced a little over the chilled skin of her neck as he attached the clasp at her throat. Thoroughly embarrassed at the undeniably slightly erotic display, she just blushed brightly while he looked down at her in approval. 

“There you go. Are you feeling warmed up now?” 

God, if you only knew… she thought while tugging at the neck of the shirt. He had her all hot and bothered that she would’ve sweated even if she were still nearly naked. 

“Yeah… Thank you…” Really, she was warmed that Gray performed such a gesture of kindness. His body heat still lingered in the clothing, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she felt it melting away what felt like ice crystals that had formed in her body. “I’m much better now.” 

Lucy looked down the alleyway to see Natsu hefting the trussed-up burglar over his shoulder. 

“All right! Mission accomplished! Time for food! Fooooooood !” he crowed and pumped his free fist in the air. Happy had abandoned his wings and was skipping about around his feet with a similar chant for nourishment. Natsu began marching off down the alley to find his way back to the jewelry store where the authorities would be waiting. 

Lucy snorted in amusement and looked to Gray with a smile. 

“Would you like to stop by the hotel on the way? You need to get yourself some clothes too. Even if you don’t freeze, I’m pretty sure the phrase ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ applies to even wizards,” she joked. 

Gray gave her a mocking laugh while running his hands through his hair and watched as Natsu turned the corner. As she set off after him, Gray suddenly grabbed her by the elbow, signaling for her to stop. She looked at him quizzically. 

“What is it?” He had such a serious expression on his face all of a sudden. 

“Lucy… Are you really okay? Don’t you think we need to treat your burns?” 

Her hand rose to curl over her heart as if that would quiet the frantic melody that his question had just sent it into performing. That haze of pink bloomed across her cheeks again, gracing the cold skin like the onset of spring during the fraught of winter, and her brown eyes looked down because she couldn’t meet his heavy gaze. A smile formed on her lips. He cares so much… 

“Really, I’m okay. It happens more often than you might think, and they’re not bad burns at all. They won’t even scar.” 

“Stupid Natsu,” he grumbled under his breath, still holding her elbow. His hand slid down her forearm, tracing the outline of it before wrapping around her wrist. His name appeared on her tongue as a question but left her mouth as a small gasp. Gray pulled her hand to his mouth to press his lips against her wrist, where a burn peeked out from underneath the dark fabric. He held the kiss for a long time, and she knew that he must’ve felt her frantic heartbeat pulsing in the artery there. 

“To help them heal,” he flashed her a grin against her wrist. Lucy was as stiff as a board and was staring at him incredulously, both alarmed and mildly aroused. 

The way he looked at her, with the hint of affection and allure in his eyes, warmed her much more than his clothes ever could. He still didn’t relinquish the grip on her hand. As his arm dropped, hers went with it, and his hand slid down into hers to wrap around her freezing fingers. “Come on. Let’s catch up with that knucklehead before he makes a mess of dropping off that thief.”

“O-okay…” Lucy only whispered and allowed him to pull her along down the alleyway. The fingers of her other hand twisted into the fabric of the cloak and shirt, and she pushed the bottom half of her face into the collar of the oversized coat to hide the permanent happy smile painting her mouth. 

Gray… You sure did warm me up, for sure… she thought, closing her eyes and breathing in the scent of the man who filled her heart with an icy fire. It may have been autumn around her, but Lucy’s body bore the comforting, gentle warmth of spring. I wonder… if I asked you… 

Would you keep me warm forever?

“Hey, Lucy!” The blonde-haired girl smiled wryly at the reflection of the grinning boy with cotton-candy hair perched in her window, who was holding up a hand in greeting. Natsu’s kimono was a fiery red with dappled salmon patterns across the surface like it had been sponged with paint, but not in a messy or unpleasing way. His obi was white, as well, to match the dragonscale scarf wrapped around his neck. As she turned around to greet him, Happy squeezed through the window to land on her floor with an oompf!; he hastily jumped to his feet to proudly display his own little custom kimono of sapphire blue patterned with jumping light gray carp.

“Lucy! Lucy! Does it make me look handsome?”

“You’re the handsomest little man I’ve ever seen, Happy,” she assured him with an endearing smile. He whirled around to Natsu puffing out his chest in pride, tail waving back in forth in a clear display that he was exceptionally pleased.

“She called me handsome! <3” With a snicker, Natsu hopped down from the window to scamper right to her bedroom door and throw it open, sniffing the air hungrily because he was without a doubt looking for food. Lucy sighed and threw her head back in agony, as she just knew it was going to happen.

“Natsu! You were supposed to bring food too, y’know!” she scolded him as he dashed down the hallway laughing maniacally. A half-ass apology drifted behind him as he all but dashed down the hall, and Lucy groaned loudly as she heard the distant clinking of ceramic and glass as he attacked the small array of party foods she had prepared for the evening. Happy stood in the doorway of her bedroom looking guilty, holding his paws together as he stared at the floor.

“I’m sorry, Lucy… I had fish crackers made, but… I got so hungry this afternoon that I ate them all myself!” he sniffled pathetically. Happy was making such a sad display that it was hard to be mad at him, and she wouldn’t have been in the first place, because really it would have been the other Exceeds who had eaten the snack anyway. She smiled softly and walked over to crouch down and pat his soft little blue head.

“Don’t worry, Happy, it’s all right. There will still be plenty of food for everyone,” she reassured him. He grinned widely at her and dried his tears right there and then before whirling on his paws and taking off down the hall shouting at Natsu to wait for him. Lucy breathed a deep sigh and rubbed at one of her temples; the night had only just begun, and she was beginning to question why she had agreed to host the gathering at her house instead of pawning it off on someone else…

~~~~~~~~~~

It was no time at all before everyone arrived and the party was fully underway, several hours before the clock struck midnight and they would usher in the new year. Though Natsu had absorbed a notable amount of her freshly prepared food in his gullet in the short time it took her to walk down the hall, all it had taken was a whack to the back of his head with a wooden spoon to send him scampering to the couch whining like a literal wounded dog. He was even wearing a pair of glistening puppy-dog eyes, but unfortunately for him, Lucy was immune to such childish ploys. Unlike his forgetful self, the rest of the guests brought food for all of them to enjoy, so his dent really didn’t end up cause much damage. The settled around her kotatsu table (that she had bought on sale from a local odds-and-ends furniture store to complete Wendy’s vision of a traditional New Year) laughing and cutting up and enjoying the snacks. The time was about ten-thirty when someone (she honestly could not remember who) brought out the alcohol and things began to get a bit more raucous. Suddenly, a slightly pink-faced Levy who was snuggled in the arms of the much brawnier Gajeel gasped aloud.

“Oh, dear! We have to decide who each other’s New Year’s kiss will be!” she exclaimed. Her shoulders were falling out of her spring-inspired kimono, sky blue with colorful butterflies matching the ornament in her wavy blue hair, and with pursed lips Gajeel casually adjusted it for her. She giggled and lifted up her head to press a kiss against his chin. “Thanks, honey~ I mean for you guys, because obviously I have mine,” she purred while sloshing around a bottle of sake. Gajeel blushed lightly and looked away, muttering something unintelligible.

“Yo, Erza, is Jellal stopping by?” Gray asked teasingly as he leaned onto the table with wiggling eyebrows. Erza turned the shade of her hair and looked down at her lap in complete embarrassment. Her hands dug into the fabric of her simple black kimono before twisting into her sunset-colored sash.

“I-I have no idea what you are suggesting! I-I mean… If anyone were to be my New Year’s kiss, that would be- Ah! No! I don’t have to talk about this with you all!” she wailed and buried her face into her hands with a mortified wail. Laughter erupted around the room; Gray’s stopped short and turned into a grunt as Juvia threw herself onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Gray, my darling! Surely you will be Juvia’s kiss, yes?” she purred delightedly while nuzzling the back of his head with her cheek. Her lavender kimono with accents the shade of her hair was a stark contrast to Gray’s midnight blue one patterned with gray stripes, but they also complimented each other well. Gray didn’t seem to think that sentiment extended to their personal lives.

“No way. I don’t buy into that girly crap.” He mumbled as he shoved a custard-filled confectionary of Levy’s creation into his mouth. Juvia let out a wheedling whine and melted into a puddle-literally- behind him before slinking off in half-water form to seek comfort from a wine bottle. Wendy, who was sitting beside Lucy, fidgeted uncomfortably in worry.

“I don’t have anybody to give me a New Year’s kiss,” she murmured miserably as tears welled up in her round eyes. Lucy tutted in a motherly fashion and wrapped her hands around the side of her head to pull her into a hug (more like squish the poor girl into her cleavage, but she was a bit tipsy already). Wendy’s response was muffled as Lucy lovingly stroked her hair, which she had let flow free rather than contain it in pigtails.

“S’okay, Wendy! I’ll be your New Year’s kiss, don’t worry!” Natsu laughed while waving around a bottle, and he hastily added with an affronted look and a blush, “I meant on the cheek; damn, guys, I’m not a creep!” Wendy’s head popped out of Lucy’s grasp to look at him with joyful, sparkling eyes. She clasped her hands together as she stared at him in total admiration.

“Really, Natsu, you mean it?”

“O’course! Why should you miss out just because you’re a little younger than us?” he grinned and leaned over to throw his thick arm around her neck and snuggle into her affectionately. Happy tottered over to Carla with big, begging eyes, and the pretty white cat snorted in derision but obviously must’ve agreed because Happy crowed ecstatically, throwing his little paws in the air. Pantherlily looked disgruntled for a second before Carla nudged him in the shoulder and told him that she would give him one, too, and the buff black cat turned away bashfully, toeing at the fibers of the rug beneath him.

With all the talk about New Year’s kissing, Lucy was suddenly very acutely aware that she had no one to give her a kiss, either. Something about that fact made her exceptionally depressed. Perhaps it was the alcohol; it always resulted in her having disastrous mood swings, if the stories that Natsu told her were true. It wasn’t that Lucy thought that at this point in her life she would already have somebody to share such things with; after all, she was still young and had plenty of time to pursue romantic endeavors. However, seeing Levy and Gajeel and Gray and Juvia and even Erza and Jellal moving forward with their relationships (whether established or not) suddenly made her very conscious that she had nobody, nobody at all, she was even considering as a romantic partner. Her shoulders sagged a little as she pouted down at her little plate half-full of food that she now couldn’t stomach eating. Not wishing to ruin the fun everyone else was having, she brooded in silence. The melancholy slowly swallowed her up like a gaping abyss steadily drawing her in with an unbeatable current, until she was stranded in the black depths with nothing but the sadness and crushing dark. As Levy gleefully announced that it was nearly time, Lucy quietly excused herself from the table to walk into the other room, where she stood in front of the window trying not to cry.

This is so stupid, she told herself bitterly. All this fuss over a kiss. Lucy wasn’t quite drunk enough to be unaware of how pointless her roiling emotions were, but apparently drunk enough that the statement didn’t keep her from sulking anyway. She knew there would be many more New Years’ to come, and eventually she would be spending them with someone who loved her, but for some reason right now she was incredibly impatient. It seemed to her, in her sad, clouded mind, that everybody in the world had someone to share a kiss with at midnight but her. She knew that was entirely untrue, but alcohol made her so aggravatingly dramatic. She clenched her teeth as the first set of tears rolled down her cheeks, which were flushing red with frustration with herself. She pushed her hand into her face to try and catch them before anyone noticed. I can’t believe myself! What has gotten into me?

She could hear them yelling as they counted down. “Ten! Nine! Eight!” She wasn’t sure what saddened her more, the fact that they were all having so much fun and here she was being a stick in the mud, or that they hadn’t noticed her disappearance. “Seven! Six! Five!” She should really go back in there, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She was rooted to the spot with watery brown eyes staring through the glass, ever so lightly frosted by the chill outside. “Four! Three! Two! One!” Her eyes beheld the glittering expanse of stars. How she loved the stars. They always reminded her of her mother, softly flickering with an unwavering light… “Happy New Year!” all her friends screamed in the other room, laughing and sloshing alcohol all over themselves and her floor, giggling as they all partook in their New Year’s kisses.

“Happy New Year,” Lucy whispered miserably with a voice impossibly thick with longing.

“Happy New Year, Lucy.” She whipped around with a small gasp at the gentle voice behind her, shocked to find Gray standing there with a softly sad smile on his face. Guiltily, she shrunk into herself, drawing her arms to her chest as if to shield him from her inquisition. The rest of the group was chattering loudly back in the room, seemingly ignorant of the two of them standing out there. He had his head tilted down knowingly as his stormy dark eyes looked at her as if he knew all her secrets. She felt her heart thump hard in her chest; there was just so something… evocative about the look he was giving her, so raw and powerful and dare she say, sensual.

“S-So, I take it Juvia stole a kiss from you?” It was her pitiful attempt to play off the situation. He shrugged with a boyish smirk.

“All it took was a little peck on the cheek and she fainted,” he remarked casually. Lucy was beside herself suddenly; why was she relieved that Juvia and Gray had not actually kissed? All of a sudden it was like a flickering movie reel began to roll in her head, rapidly streaming through all of her and Gray’s history together… Natsu was her truest friend, her partner, but… There had always been something bubbling at the surface with Gray too that she could never really name. Considering that Juvia was always there combatting for his affections and they were always embroiled in some momentous battle or another, Lucy had never really cared to name that feeling, but right there, as he crossed the short distance between them to gently take her elbow with one hand and sweep her blonde hair from her face with the other, she was beginning to think that mysterious flutter of unknown feeling was in fact the fledgling bird of love.

“Gray,” she murmured pleadingly, though she wasn’t really sure what she was pleading for. Instinctively, her body leaned forward to just barely press into his. His hand fell from her elbow to land at her hip, lovingly hugging the natural curve of her figure. Tears still glittered on her lashes as she blinked up at him imploringly, and they fell like fruit from a tree to roll down her cheeks, only for his thumb to gently sweep them away.

“I’m sorry it’s not right on time,” he whispered. There was a husky, desiring tone in his low voice that made Lucy shudder lightly. Their eyes remained locked in a smoldering gaze the entire time, never wavering. Fire and electricity bloomed over the sensitive skin of her cheek as the tip of his finger ever-so-lightly feathered over it, “but Happy New Year,” he repeated in a whisper before his face enclosed over hers. Lucy’s eyelashes fluttered shut in anticipation of his lips meeting hers, but nothing could physically prepare her for the feeling. His mouth melded against hers as if they were simply made to fit together, soft and pliable yet firm and sure. Lucy’s hands curled into the fabric of his kimono over his chest in the instinctual need to ground herself, as something burst inside of her with the intensity of water surging through a dam. Sparked danced where his lips met hers, smearing the lingering taste of liquor over her lips for the aroma to waft up her nose. She wasn’t sure if that or the act in itself was intoxicating her, but inebriated she became; her legs became wobbly and her mind fogged over with a thick mist that prevented her from thinking of anything else besides the man holding her and kissing her with a fervent yet tender passion. When he pulled away from her, she swore he took her breath with him, because she had to inhale sharply. Her eyes drifted back open to see him smiling warmly down at her. “Feel better?”

“Mhmm,” she answered, suddenly shy. He sneered confidently at her in a dashing way that sent her heart to skittering like a pebble across concrete. Oh, dear, I have gotten myself into something, haven’t I? she thought as she tried to find an expression to match what she was feeling, only there were so many emotions at once that it was just one confusing mess. Gray chuckled under his breath and pulled away, only grabbing her wrist to tug her back into the room. Lucy was not sure how to explain her sudden disappearance to all her friends, but Gray had it covered.

“Man, Lucy, how could you run off to the bathroom right as it turns midnight? You missed all the fun,” he scolded her with a click of his tongue and a shake of his head. Everyone in the room jumped at her at once with New Years’ glee, and Lucy laughed, glad again to be surrounded by all of them. Gray, standing at the other end of the table with a powered glass of sake, raised it to her with a wink. “To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings!” the rest of them cheered loudly and drank, though they had no idea of the message underneath that seemingly simple dedication. As she sipped at a cup of wine, eyes linked to Gray’s the entire time, she nodded in understanding.

“To new beginnings.”

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to perusemy Tableof Contents!

“What are they?” he whispered and looked down at her. Her face was turned upwards, her brown eyes scanning the streaming letters to try and make sense of them; cast in the ethereal glow pouring from the volume, Gray thought briefly that she looked like an angel, sent from Heaven to wage war on Earth against the forces of evil. It was an ironically accurate metaphor.

“They’re all… about Natsu…” she frowned in response. Her eyebrows narrowed into acute arcs as she concentrated on the lettering. Suddenly, a concerned shock bloomed in her face, but before Gray could ask why, the world heaved in a savage earthquake. The light and words vanished as the book was flung from Lucy’s lap and shut in mid-air; Gray and Lucy soon followed. On instinct, he grabbed ahold of her and turned his body such to cushion her fall. He gritted his teeth as his bare back struck the rough cobblestone of the street, but aside from a few scrapes and bruises, he would escape unharmed. Lucy remained cushioned in the muscles of his arms and chest. Once the shaking stopped, she looked up, blinking.

“What was that?” complained Happy, who had ended up sprawled out on his belly next to him.

“It came from the guild. No doubt it’s Natsu,” Gray surmised. He loosened his grip on the Celestial Wizard as she sat up, holding her head as she recovered from the severe jostle. She then gasped and crawled off of him to scramble over to the Book of E.N.D., once more flipping it open to spill the script of Natsu into the air. Gray sat up slowly, his muscles stiff from the previous battles and the latest jarring, and incidentally glanced up at the words. He was alarmed to find that random characters were begin to pop out of existence. “Lucy, what’s happening?!” he demanded, startled.

“Natsu is injured, very badly!” Panic struck Gray’s heart like an ice spear of his own making. If Natsu was mortally wounded, they stood no chance against Zeref, period… And his friend could die. He crawled on his hands and knees over to Lucy just as she whipped out a magic pen and sat up on her knees, poised like a conductor ready to direct a symphony. “If I rewrite the missing characters, I think I can save him!” Gray didn’t even bother asking if she had memorized them, because he knew she did. He sat down beside her, watching as she began to hastily scrawl the magic characters back into place. He then clenched his teeth and looked down at his hands as he balled them into fists. I can’t do anything…

He jerked up as he heard Lucy scream in pain. Her back was arched into a sharp curved and her eyes wide as they stared unseeing up at the swirling mass of text; her hand, still clutching the magic pen, was dyed a bright, burning red with snake-like tendrils slithering up her arm.

“Lucy!” he gasped as she groaned in agony. Her entire body was quaking more than the earth had been a few minutes ago. When he put a hand on the small of her back to steady her, she recoiled with a hiss, though there were no signs that the dark magic had invaded there.

“My body… It’s burning!” came the hoarse whisper. Her face scrunched up in pain and she fell to the side, collapsing against Gray. As their skin met, he could feel the sweat that had already coated her paling body.

“It must be a rebound! Natsu’s demon magic is trying to overtake her body…” Happy cried as he nervously fluttered around the panting Celestial Wizard. Gray held her tenderly, knowing that his touch was sending shockwaves of pain through her feeble body, and pulled a few sweat-slicked strands of blonde hair through her face. Just as he was about to take the magic pen from her, she gripped tightly onto Gray’s shoulder and sat herself up.

“Lucy! Don’t overexert yourself!”

“I can do this,” she responded. The strength had returned a little to her voice, but it was still very obviously strained. “I just have to finish re-writing this section, and I think I can change Natsu’s fate.” She swallowed before raising her arm again, and her hand began to twirl about as she once more began scribing with the magic pen. Gray watched her with a mixture of concern and pride. Lucy’s strength never ceased to amaze him; it was different than the strength of those like himself and Erza and Natsu… A quiet, unassuming one, but a strength nonetheless, one that blazed when their own strengths failed… one that enable Lucy to do things they could never dream of doing. A faint smile ghosted his lips. Well, there’s something I can do for her at least. He conjured up a small sphere of swirling wind around them to cool the air and hopefully stave of the burning heat that was poisoning her body. In a matter of seconds, she relaxed, a look of mild peace pervading her features. “Thanks,” she said, tossing him a gentle smile.

“You got it. Now let’s save our idiot.”

They sat in silence as Lucy continuously reworked the magical text. Gray watched in discomfort as the curse crawled further and further up her arm, its thin tendrils branching up over her chest to seemingly entangle her heart. Gray knew that he could draw out the magic with his demon-slaying arts, but it bothered him because he knew that it was excruciatingly painful. Even with Gray’s maelstrom of cooling air, Lucy was still sweating profusely and drawing shallow, labored breaths. Her expression grew increasingly more exhausted until it seemed that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Finally, when he thought that she couldn’t take any more, she slumped over with an agonized groan and dropped the pen.

“I did it… It’s done…” she wheezed. The letters, now completed, spiraled back down into the book and it flipped shut of its own accord. Lucy took a moment to catch her breath, doubled over with her hand clutching at the area over her heart, before she weakly looked up towards the book. “It’s disappearing!”

“Does that mean it didn’t work?! Is Natsu-?” He didn’t finish the thought. Happy and Lucy both began to cry at the implications.

“I don’t know…” she admitted with a frightened sniffle. “I did all I could… Now we just have to wait and see…” With shaky arms, she pushed herself back up, and Gray rushed in to help her back into a sitting position. Her head flopped back against his shoulder, her sweaty locks streaking his skin in the salty liquid. He didn’t care, though. Once more, he swept hair from her face and smiled softly down at her.

“You did great, Lucy.” She returned the sentiment with a serene, tired smile just as the book vanished. He only took his eyes off her for a second to watch the last bits of light from the tome twinkle out of existence… and that second was all it took for it all to go absolutely, horribly wrong.

A strained gurgling noise left Lucy’s throat. When his gaze shot back to her, both her hands were pressed against her chest over her heart, and her brown eyes were wide, wider even than the moment the dark magic gripped her body upon attempting to write in the Book of E.N.D. “Lucy?!” he cried and shook her violently. Her body limply jostled at his touch, like she was lifeless, her arms dropping to her sides. Happy’s breath caught in his throat as Gray began to mutter her name under his breath, his voice gradually rising in pitch as she did not respond. He laid her down on her back, unsettled by the lifeless gloss in her unblinking eyes, and he ripped the bandages off his right arm. The demon-slayer magic blazed up his skin like black ink flooding paper, stretching up to his eye before becoming complete. He gripped Lucy’s wrist and held it up. Her hand just flopped lifelessly in the air. “Hold on, Lucy, this’ll fix you!” he whispered before forcibly drawing the magic out of her. The blood red stain on her skin receded as his demon-slayer magic gobbled it up eagerly like a monster devouring prey. However, even with the last dregs of the vile magic drained from her system, Lucy did not wake. She just laid there… Like she was dead.

As the thought his mind, Gray gasped and immediately pressed his ear to where her heart was. Instead of the steady beat of the organ drum, he heard nothing, just deafening, terrifying silence.

“No, no, no, no, no!” he cried as he shot back up and flipped his leg over her to straddle her waist. All measures of propriety and implications were aside, replaced by the cold rush of sheer panic. He leaned over and began frantically compressing her chest, trying to get her heart to start once more. “Come on, Lucy, you can’t die on me now!” he shouted at her. Happy was standing above her head crying pitifully, which was bouncing up and down a little as he pushed hard into her sternum, over and over and over. Gray paused for a moment to lean over and grab her face, pushing her lips apart before covering them with his own and exhaling deep into her mouth. He then flew up and began pumping her chest again. “Come on, Lucy!” he grunted, already beginning to sweat with exertion. How long had it been? Thirty seconds? A minute? He knew she couldn’t survive long without getting her heart going again.

“Come on! Come on! Come on! COME ON!” he screamed at her as there was no response. He wasn’t sure when he began to cry, but very soon he was aware of the painful stinging in his eyes and the wetness rolling over his cheeks. “Don’t die. Please, don’t die,” he begged her and again leaned over to breathe into her mouth. Instead of getting up to start compressions again, he lingered against her lips for a moment, near his breaking point. “I love you, Lucy, please don’t leave me!”

He was an idiot. Why hadn’t he realized it sooner? Of course he loved her. It was so obvious, in the way his heart pounded when he saw her, in the flutter in his chest when she smiled, in the way he thought her voice was pure music. He loved her, and now she was gone, and he would never have the chance to tell her. With a broken sob, he forced himself to sit back up and began laboriously attempting to resuscitate her though it was agonizingly painful to do so. Every breath he drew stung his heaving lungs. Every push made his muscles scream in protest. Yet he kept on, in the feeble hope that it would work. He repeated her name like a mantra, a chant that might instill life in her. His strength began to fail and he half-leaned, half-flopped over to give her one final breath.

Suddenly, she heaved under him, and he felt her mouth drawing in a deep, desperate breath. Her back arched as she began coughing and moaning in pain, but Gray was beyond stupidly relieved to notice. As he sat back up, he held his arms around her in a tight hug and pulled her up with him and buried his face into her golden hair as he began to sob quietly.

“Lucy… Lucy…” It was hard to get her name out with how intensely his voice was breaking. His body thunderously quaked, still facing the aftereffects of the fear that had gripped him only a few seconds ago. Lucy’s hands weakly slipped up his back up to his shoulder blades.

“G-Gray…” Almost as if to reassure himself, he put his hand on her neck. Sure enough, he could feel her thudding pulse in her carotid artery. “Gray… I’m okay… I’m okay…” she whispered in his ear. He could tell just by the thickness in her voice that she was crying too. He pulled back, his sobs transitioning into relieved laughter. Sure enough, there were glittering tears streaming down her cheeks. She was giving him that soft, sweet smile that made his heart melt. He swept a fingertip down her cheek, then traced her jawline, before his thumb gently swept across her lip. She parted them slightly, as if giving him permission.

And Gray sure as hell took it.

His hand snapped to the back of her head to jerk her forward. His lips smashed against hers in a passionate, desperate, sloppy kiss; if Lucy hadn’t been short of breath already, he sure as hell would’ve swept it away. She fell against him, and he could feel her chest moving against his as she fought for breath, so caught up in the intense kiss. One of her hands snaked up to the back of his neck to tangle her fingers into his messy strands of dark hair, while Gray’s migrated to her waist, fixing her in place as he pushed the kiss deeper. He drank her in, all her beautiful essence, and nearly got drunk off of it. Though he could have spent all day kissing her, the lack of oxygen began to burn his lungs, and he broke off the kiss, leaving them both panting hard. He only pulled back a few centimeters to gaze intently in her glittering brown eyes.

“I love you, Lucy,” he murmured, again caressing her face. He felt the heat appear in her skin as she blushed.

“I-I love you too, Gray.”

“Great, now that that’s established, can you two stop making out?”

“NATSU?!” The two of them screeched in unison and whipped around. Sure enough, the pink-haired fire wizard was standing there a few feet away, beat within an inch of his life and very much alive. He was glowering at them, apparently very uncomfortable at their open display of affection. Happy was clinging to his best friend’s leg nuzzling him tenderly. Identical blushed painted Gray and Lucy’s cheeks as the romantic mood was immediately murdered by Natsu’s arrival. Gray climbed of Lucy and stood, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. When he did, he stubbornly held her hand when she tried to pull it back. She blushed further, but made no move to resist further.

“Glad you’re alive.”

“Thanks, you too, asshole,” Natsu sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He flashed Gray a cocky grin. “Now that this is a thing, you know I’m obligated to tell you to take care of her or I’ll kick your ass, right?” Lucy began to admonish him for his rudeness, but Gray just grinned in return.

“’Course. Can we finish the ass-kicking at hand, first, though?” Natsu gave a big sigh and put his hand behind his head, toeing the cobblestone street.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get goin’- and I better not catch you two sneaking off,” he huffed with a playful smirk. Lucy went red to her ears and began yelling at him for his indecency, while Gray just smiled and turned to press a kiss into her hair. She instantly deflated into a gushy mess. Natsu cackled like a demon and whirled around to begin marching off toward the battleground.

“Hey, Lucy?”

“Hmm?”

“I meant that, y’know. I’ll take care of you,” he told her with a confident grin. She smiled happily back in response and nodded.

“I know- and I’ve got your back, too!” she grinned while holding up her fist. That was his Lucy, strong as ever. He chuckled and he intertwined their fingers before pulling her along in Natsu’s direction.

“I know. Now let’s finish what we started, eh?”

He tugged her along after the dragon-slayer, and for a brief second, swept his thumb up to her wrist to once again check her pulse. There is was, strong and steady. Gray would make sure that it would stay that way, because Lucy’s heart belonged to him now, and he wanted it to beat for him forever.

Just like his would for her.