Love Potion Screw Up

Chapter 2: Hopeless Gray

Gray's mind was focused on only one thing:

Lucy.

He literally could not think about anything else. And it struck him as odd, because normally his thoughts wouldn't be so centered on one person. But it seemed that today would be a first for this.

Gray had said that he was going to follow Lucy's example and go home. But that's not what he ended up doing. Nope, not at all. Instead, he was following Lucy home.

God, I feel like such a creep, he thought to himself. What has gotten into me? Maybe there was something in that drink Juvia gave me. As soon as that thought came to mind, he paused. Then he shook his head after a few seconds.

Nah, Juvia wouldn't do that.

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Lucy opened the door to her apartment and sighed with slight relief. "Home sweet home," she said to herself. She went inside and closed the door behind her, locking it in case Natsu and Happy decided to barge in. "Although," she thought aloud, frowning, "I'm sure if they wanted to get in, they'd have no problem barging through my window..."

"Pun pun!"

Lucy looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Hey, Plue! How are you today?"

"Pun pun," Plue said, smiling and trembling.

"Good! Are you here to keep me company?"

Plue shakily walked over to Lucy and hugged her leg. "Pun pun pun!"

Lucy bent over and petted his head. "Aw, thanks Plue. I appreciate it. I was about to go take a bath, wanna join me? We can chat for a while."

Plue twirled around. "Pun!"

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Okay! Let me undress and get some towels." She went to her bed and sat down, undressing herself and putting her clothes into a hamper, which was beginning to overflow. "Hmm, I'll have to do laundry soon." She wrapped a towel around herself and sighed. "Alright, time for some relaxation!"

"Can I join in?"

Lucy shrieked and whipped around, startled. "Wha–?! Loke!" She frowned, brows furrowed. "What the hell?! Don't startle me like that!"

Loke smirked, shrugging. "Sorry, Princess, I just couldn't help myself." His glasses glinted in the light coming from her window. Her eyes widened.

"Hey! I had that window covered!"

Loke stood up, hands tucked in his pockets. Leaning towards her, he purred, "but you look so beautiful in the light."

She huffed. "Whatever. I'm going to take a—" She paused, interrupted by a knocking at her door. She rolled her eyes. "Could you go see who that is, please?"

Loke grinned. "Anything for you, princess." When he walked past her to get to the door, she sighed. She began to walk to the bathroom, Plue following at her feet, when no more than five seconds later, Loke's head popped up around the corner.

"You have a visitor," he told her.

Lucy stared at him expectantly, but frowned when he didn't say anything more. "Can you tell me who it is?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

"It's just Gray." He winked, then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Gray? What's he doing here? She shrugged to herself and peeked around the corner, finding Gray sitting on the sofa. How odd.

She walked into the room, unconcerned about her current state of dress. He's seen me naked before, albeit unintentionally, she thought, but it's not like I'm totally naked this time.

She walked over to stand behind him and tapped on his shoulder. "Gray?"

His head turned and immediately he turned around again when he caught sight of her, face darkened by his blush. "L-Lucy-!"

"Oh don't be so embarrassed, you've seen me naked before. Anyway, what's up? Did you need something?"

He didn't say anything for a few seconds, and she frowned. "Gray? Are you okay? You were a little...off, today at the guild. Did something happen?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, then shook his head lightly, as if ridding his mind of something. "Nothings wrong, no. I actually just...well, I was wondering if you would like to maybe...hang...out?"

Lucy blinked. He came over here to ask me that?

A loud bang startled them from their conversation. "A-HA!"

They both whipped around to find Natsu standing in her doorway, pointing at them. "CANA WAS RIGHT!"

"What are you talking about, Natsu?" Gray asked him.

Natsu walked over to them and put an arm around Gray's shoulder. "Cana said you were gonna make a move. And you moved in with Lucy!"

Lucy eyed them both suspiciously. "I was not aware of Gray moving in with me," she said.

"I'm not," he deadpanned, glaring at Natsu. "Go home, Cana doesn't know what she's talking about, and neither do you."

"But now that we are here, we should hang out! Let's go get something to eat!" Happy came out of Lucy's room with one of her bras on his head. Lucy shrieked.

"HAPPY TAKE THAT OFF RIGHT NOW YOU DAMN CAT!"

"But it makes a great hat! Come on, let me keep it!"

"NO."

Happy huffed, taking it off and handing it to Lucy. "You're not fun at all."

Lucy sighed. "Guys, I came home to relax. Not to be bothered by you again. Please leave."

Natsu and Gray looked at each other, before the former spoke up. "But Lucy—"

"Leave."

Happy and Natsu pouted before shuffling to her bedroom. She watched them go in confusion, then she spoke again. "Just use my front door, idiots!"

They shuffled back across the room, still pouting, before leaving through the door.

She sighed. "Gray, I'd love to hang out with you, but not today. How about tomorrow?"

Gray nodded, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, tomorrow is good. It'd be nice to hang without those idiots causing a riot wherever we go."

She giggled. "Yes, I agree." She walked him to the door and gave him a kind smile. "Meet at the guild in the morning then?"

"Yes," he answered, and she winked at him playfully before closing the door. She sighed, grinning. "What an unexpected surprise that was," she said to herself.
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Meanwhile, on his way back to his own home, Gray could only think about that beautiful smile she gave him. I'm feeling strangely excited for tomorrow, he realized. But it's not a bad feeling at all.