Gray Fullbuster was not a particularly curious person. He stayed to himself much, avoiding gossip, which was almost impossible in the Fairy Tail guild. The dark haired man was very reserved, not opening himself up to anyone, except for a selected few.
And one of those selected few happened to be their sole celestial spirit mage, Lucy Heartfilia.
The busty, blonde haired woman had become one of his closest friends, turning to her when things went south. Lucy understood a level of his pain, sympathized with his past. One drunken night led to shared secrets between the two, secrets that shocked one another.
She was essentially the sister he never had. And he truly cared deeply for her, willing to lay down his life for her; she was part of his family.
So Gray was especially overprotective of Lucy and her well being.
Especially when it came to boys.
Particularly one obnoxious, motor mouthed, fire spitting, pointy eyed, arrogant, pink haired, dragon slayer that essentially captured her heart; even if she didn't realize it yet.
"Hey Gray!"
Called man turned over his shoulder as he took his place at the bar, already shirtless. Lucy jogged to him, her smile radiating on her smooth face.
A small smile settled on his thin lips. "Yo, Lucy."
"How are you?" She asked, settling down next to him. He noticed the jagged breathing and her disarrayed appearance. Lucy Heartfilia was normally very well kept.
"I'm good. Just trying to get some time in for myself. You?" The ice mage asked, taking a sip from his drink.
"Here you go, Lucy!" Mirajane Strauss placed a cup of ice cold water in front of Lucy, to which the blonde quickly thanked.
"Thanks Mira!" She took a sip, then turned back to him. "All is well. I was just making my way back to Fairy Tail after a nice day out around the markets. I promised Levy-chan I would go over to her place tonight to talk about a book that we both fell in love with recently and I totally lost track of time!"
Gray chuckled. "Well, you're in luck because Levy is not back from her mission with Scrap Metal yet."
The stripping male gestured over towards a mulling Jet and Droy, who were painfully awaiting the arrival of their missing link.
"What?" Lucy gasped, "She's not back yet!?"
He shook his head.
"That Levy-chan!" She pouted, her arms crossed in front of her. "If she wanted alone time with Gajeel, all she had to do was tell me. She didn't have to try and use the mission as an excuse."
Gray couldn't help smiling a little bigger as Lucy nagged. This was one of the many reasons he enjoyed her company. Lucy Heartfilia was as humorous as she was intelligent.
"Anyway, have you gone on any solo missions since we took our break?" She indulged. The ice mage nodded.
"Yeah, I was requested by Duke Wesel over by Crocus for this bandit job. Doesn't seem to hard of a job and the pay is nice, but you never know how these things turn out."
Lucy agreed with Gray, both of them knowing how simple jobs could turn out much worse than originally planned.
"What about you? Have you gone on any missions with flame brain since our break?"
At the mention of the infamous dragonslayer, Lucy crossed her hands out in front of her, sheepishly pouting, her cheeks pink with a small scowl etched on her face.
