Celestial Heart (A Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 10: I am Officially a Fangirl (Kill Me)

"Gray, play me in cards."

"Cards?" He looked up from his food--some sort of chicken dish maybe?--and raised a brow at me. "Since when do you play cards?"

I shrugged as I slid into the chair across from him. The guild was in another uproar and my smile was as crooked and wild as the Cheshire cat's from that story Luce and I would always read as kids. Usually, I'd be up to picking a fight, but I'd decided against it. Still sore from my fight with Natsu. "I learned when I was little, and I was picking wallets clean real soon after." My crooked grin widened a fraction. "So, play me? I'm bored."

He pushed his emptied plate away (when he'd finished it, I didn't know) and linked his hands behind his head, eyeing me appraisingly. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to ruin your ego a little," he said at last.

I didn't have an answer for that. We all knew he was the one with the inflated ego from our last outing together. (Natsu had refused to speak to us about what happened, so the whole thing was pretty much dropped. I told Lucy the truth and she just looked at me and went to bed)

I flipped a crisp deck of cards from my jacket pocket and spread them across the table, blackjack-dealer style. I turned them over with another swipe of my hand; Gray looked mildly impressed. His eyes watched each movement of my hands as I flipped, shuffled and stacked the cards until I was satisfied. I drew exactly fourteen cards: seven for Gray, seven for me. I slid him his cards, picked mine up, studied them, then asked, while peeking over the cards' tops, "Got any threes?"

Gray's eyebrow rose as an immediate reaction. A second passed, then two. And then Gray was spluttering with laughter, showing zero composure as he nearly tipped his chair to the ground. I took the chance to peek at his cards and, seeing that he had two threes, stole them with a smirk of my own.

Gray calmed down. Eventually. And when that time came, he leaned forward in his chair, elbows propped up on the table, his head held in his hands. He eyed me through the black bangs that fell over his forehead. "Is this stupidity natural to you, or do you work to be more of a dumbass than Natsu?" he asked, only half teasing.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I grinned cheekily.

He sighed, resigned, and picked his cards back up. Noticing I'd already stolen his threes, he reached across the table and froze my juice solid. Frowning, I picked it up with careful fingers, wary of freezer-burning my pale skin, and tipped the glass upside-down; the drink stayed put. Icy fog curled off the surface of the glass and little ice crystals froze to my fingers when I forcefully tugged them from the glass' grip. This was kinda annoying, but I smiled nonetheless.

"Get me a spoon, Ice Prince," I ordered after five minutes of waiting for my drink to unfreeze.

"Why?" Gray asked, puzzled.

"Because I collect them," I deadpanned. "I've got exotic spoons from all over the world. Really interesting. I even have one from-- Why do you think? I need one if I'm gonna chip away at this." I indicated the glass by tapping my nails against it. The resulting clink-clink-clink made Gray crack a stupid smile.

"Forget it." I stood from my seat, making sure to place my cards facedown on the table. "I'll get it myself. Oh, and Gray?" I added over my shoulder as I started walking towards the bar. "You might wanna put on some clothes."

He started, looking down at his naked torso. I didn't see what happened to him, but I heard his chair scrape hard against the wood floor and his skidding footsteps, so I assumed he made some made dash for his clothes. I chuckled. Jeeze, and he called me a dumbass?

I leaned over the bar counter as Mira noticed me and came over. "What can I get you, Winter?" she chirped.

"A spoon, please."