Of Fire and Ice

C.19

That night we all went down to the casino to play some games. Lucy and Erza were in dressy dresses, Grey was even dressed up a bit, but Natsu was in his normal clothes. I decided to be a little dressy with a strapless knee length dress in black and my black platform pumps.

I walked down with Ari on my shoulders, and tried to find one of them. I braided my hair as I went walking around. I got a lot of stares that I ended up ignoring.

"Wow Henley. You look...powerful." I heard Natsu say. "Hey Natsu. Any idea where Grey is?" I asked. "The bar." Happy answered and I smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you guys later." I turned to walk away. "Hen, I'm gonna go with them, I don't want to third wheel." Ari said and unraveled herself from my shoulders and neck and flew off to the two guys.

I don found the bar and Grey in a red button down shirt and slacks. "Well, someone looks fancy." I commented as I took the seat beside him. "Speak for yourself." He checked me out. "What? You plan on taking this dress off me as well?" I smirked. "If you'll let me, yeah."

The bartender came overt and I ordered a whiskey, being my favorite drink. "I thought you liked beer?" Grey asked. "I like whiskey more. The guild just doesn't have the good shit." I smirked. "But don't tell Mira I said that." I said quickly, making him laugh and nod.

Once I got my drink, Grey took my hand and lead me to a game. A shooting game. "Oh sweetie, I'll tell you right now I'm an excellent shot." I said and he smirked. "We'll see about that, honey."

He paid and got the game ready, and soon I was sitting down targets faster than him, and more accurately. I won easily, and Grey looked impressed. The man handed me a huge stuffed rabbit that was a little smaller than Ari.

"I think I'll give this to Ari. She can tear it up or something like all my other stuffed animals." I sighed. "Is Ari your daughter, miss?" The man running the game asked me. "Oh no. Ari is my dragon." I smiled and we walked away, leaving him in shock.

We met up with Erza and Lucy at the poker station, and though I was pretty good at poker, I let Erza take a winning streak. Natsu came over soon, looking pissed he lost at a rigged game. Ari tired herself back around my shoulders and neck and rested.

"What's wrong, Ari?" I asked. "It's really tiring to try and calm Natsu down." She sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head on my shoulder. "Aww. You're adorable." I cooed.

I hung back and watched the four of them play poker, Erza winning and Happy cheering on a losing Natsu. I smiled proudly at my little family. Including the dragon asleep on my shoulder.

"You can do it, my beloved Grey!" I heard a girl say, and I spun around around to see rain girl, Juvia. I could feel my hands burst into flame. "Oh no." I heard the team groan. "Beloved?" I growled.

People backed away from me, even Ari got up and flew to be beside Happy. Not Grey.

He got up and stood in front of me. "Henley, calm down. You don't want to fight her." He said, reaching down to my hands, and he slightly brushed my skin beside jumping back, looking at his red and blistered hands.

My flames instantly died. "Oh my god, Grey! I'm so so so sorry!" I reached out to him, then brought my hands back to my chest, scared I would hurt him again.

"Come on. I'll heal your hands." I said and he went back up to the room with me. We sat on our bed, and I held my hands overt and under his, and focused on the blisters and hurry going away.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" He asked, inspecting his healed hands. "I used to injure a lot of people, including myself, so Ari's mom taught me healing spells." I shrugged.

"That's great. But you know what?" He asked and I shook my head. "We're alone up here. We can do whatever we want. I'm sure the others would understand if we didn't come back down." He smirked, lying me down and hovering over me.

I was suddenly breathless. "Grey, I would normally say yes and probably show you how amazing I can get in bed, courtesy of some of my friends being prostitutes and teaching me a thing or two, but seriously, we've been together about two weeks. I would actually really appreciate if we saved it for a better night." I said and he nodded.

"I understand. But I'm still going to take that dress off you." He smirked and I sat up a little so he could undo the back. He slipped it off, revealing a strapless black bra and black and red silk and lace panties. I reached forward and carefully undid the buttons on his shirt, but key him take care of his pants.

After a little kissing, we fell right asleep, holding each other tight.