Of Fire and Ice

C.16

The next day I went back to Fairy Tail with Lucy and Ari. Once we stepped in, I was greeted with a big hug from Grey and a kiss on my cheek. He took my hand and I took Lucy's and he dragged us to the bar.

"So Henley. Grey's been telling me some stuff." Mira said and I blushed. "He finally confessed?" "Yep." She asked and I grinned. "Well you two are pretty cute." She giggled.

"And you got Natsu to be like a personal slave?" She asked and I nodded. "How'd you do it?" She asked. "Apparently her flames taste delicious." Grey smirked.

"Here watch this." I said and backed away from the bar a bit and looked up breathing out a pretty swirled ivy design in flames.

"Hey Natsu." I called and he looked over, seeing the flames with wide eyes. "Yes, miss?" He asked nervously. "Eat up. It's called encouragement." I said and he bolted over, inhaling them and sighing. "Thanks." He grinned and I nodded, skipping back to the bar.

"He called you miss! That's adorable!" Lucy laughed. "Shut up." I sighed.

We continued on drinking, eating, and talking as normal. Grey and I were in a corner, sitting close and talking softly. We were pretending not noticing Lucy and Mira fawning over us.

"Hey, make a tiny flame. I wanna try something." He said, so I made a tiny one in my hand. He held his hand over mine and the flames froze. We looked at it in awe. "That's amazing. I don't think it would work." He smiled and I gazed. "It's beautiful."

You could see my little orange flame inside, not dancing, while ivy blue covered it. Truly beautiful.

I handed it to Grey and made flames in my hand. "I prefer to watch them dance." I hummed, staring into my palm.

Grey watched the flames with me, or watched me watching the flames, I wasn't sure which. "Now who's the pyromaniac?" Natsu came over. "Still you." I smiled up at him, dissolving the flames in my hand.

"How?! You were literally just staring at them with this weird look in your eye!" Natsu said. "Were you staring at me, Natsu?" I asked with a grin. "No!" He blushed. "Hey, eyes off, man." Grey smiled and crushed me to him. I just laughed.

"Natsu doesn't like me like that." I reminded him. "Too bad I do." Grey shrugged. I looked away to hide my blush and smile.

"Do you have to do the couple stuff in public?" Natsu asked. "Well, not all the couple stuff. Just most of it since Ari doesn't trust Grey in our room." I smirked.

"Ari is getting pretty big lately." Grey said. "Yeah, she's bigger than a dog now. When we meet she was about the size of a cat." Natsu nodded. "Soon, around next month, she's gonna be about as big as a cow." I sighed proudly and watched as she snapped at Happy's tail as he flew away.

"When are you going to start riding her?" Grey asked. "Maybe cow size if she can carry me." I hummed. "I wish I had a dragon." Natsu sighed and I stared at him. "You've got a flying, talking cat." I reminded him.

"Yeah, but it's not the same!" "Seriously? They both have wings and they both talk. One has fur, one has scales. One does magic, and one breathes fire. There aren't that many differences between Happy and Ariadne." I shrugged.

"Ariadne is bigger than Happy!" Natsu fought. "We are so not having that conversation, Natsu. And I actually would not expect this of you. Happy is your best friend, and you're basically saying he's only second best to Ari? That's low, dude." I said and Happy and Ari stopped fighting so Happy could glare at Natsu.

"Is this true, Natsu?" Happy asked. "What? No! C'mon Happy, you know I would never-" "You're a liar, Natsu! We're done, you and I!" Happy said.

"Where are you going to stay, then?" Natsu asked. "He can stay with Lucy and I." I offered. "Yeah! I'll stay with Henley and Lucy! They think I'm fine the way I am!" Happy said and curled up in my lap.

"God, you're so mean, Henley!" Natsu groaned. "You dug your own grave, Natsu. I only helped bury you." I shrugged, drinking the last of my beer. "Oh, and I didn't like that comment about me being mean, so... No fire for you on Friday." I shrugged.

Natsu only glared at her before signing away. "Wow. That was impressive." Grey nodded. "It's a talent of hers." Ari nodded, climbing up on the table in front of us. "What is?" Grey asked.

"Breaking people and reducing them down to nothing." Ari answered before I could shut her up.