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Gray Fullbuster really hated the summer.
It wasn't just a mild dislike or a casual preference for the colder months; it was a deep, bone-deep, visceral animosity. For an ice-make wizard who literally drew his magic, and his sanity from sub-zero temperatures, the months between June and August were nothing short of purgatory. The air became thick and heavy, suffocating him with every breath. The sun felt like a personal insult against him, beating down on Magnolia with a relentless, blinding glare that threatened to turn his carefully crafted ice sculptures into sad, tepid puddles before they could even fully form.
Worse than the weather, though, was the sheer indignity of it all. His clothes, which he already had a notorious, subconscious habit of shedding, felt like heavy, suffocating armor the moment the thermometer spiked. It was a season of constant sweat, sticky skin, and a perpetual, low-simmering irritation that even a brawl with Natsu couldn't entirely cure. Summer was loud, bright, and aggressively, offensively hot.
But if there was someone who looked like they hated the summers equally passionately, if not more than him, it was the celestial spirit wizard lying on the pool chair next to him in front of the guild pool.
She was wearing a plain, white skimpy bikini that did wonders for her well-endowed figure and brought out the tan she was sporting while she constantly moaned about the heat every 2 minutes.
"Uggghhhh," Lucy groaned, her voice a pathetic, melted puddle of sound. She shifted on the fabric of the lounge chair, her tanned skin glistening slightly under a layer of sweat and sunscreen. "I think my soul is actually evaporating. Gray, tell me the truth. Is my hair smoking? I feel like my scalp is on fire."
Gray, who was sitting cross-legged on the edge of his own chair in just a pair of swim trunks, let out a huff that was half-sigh, half-grunt. "Your hair is fine, Lucy. But if you complain one more time, I’m going to freeze your mouth shut."
"You wouldn't dare," she gasped, though she didn't even have the energy to open her eyes, shielding them with the back of her forearm. "Besides, a little ice sounds like heaven right now. Do it. Freeze me. Just a little bit?"
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Gray’s mouth. He leaned back on his hands, his dark eyes tracing the line of her collarbone down to the contrast of her white bikini against her sun-kissed skin. He’d never admit it out loud, especially not with the rest of the guild currently causing a chaotic, splashing ruckus in the oversized pool just twenty feet away, but Lucy’s constant complaining was the only thing making the heat bearable. It was nice to have a partner in misery.
"If I freeze you, Cana will just use you to chill her barrels of booze," Gray pointed out, nodding toward the edge of the pool where the card wizard was currently chugging beer straight from a keg.
"At this point, I might welcome being a human ice cube," Lucy muttered, finally rolling her head over to look at him. Her chocolate eyes were heavy with heat-induced lethargy. "Look at Natsu and Elfman. How do they have the energy to wrestle in this heat? It’s a biological anomaly."
Across the courtyard, Natsu was currently trying to fire-punch water while Happy flew overhead, wings fluttering lethargically.
"They're idiots," Gray said simply. “Remind me again, why you’re out here complaining instead of splashing around in the pool like everyone else?”
"All thanks to Natsu," Lucy pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and sinking deeper into her lounge chair. She shot a devastating glare toward the center of the water. "The water is totally lukewarm now because he can’t control his body temperature. It’s like swimming in soup, Gray. Heavy, chlorinated soup!! Normally, I wouldn’t mind Natsu’s heat but on days like today, he’s better off staying five feet away from me."
Gray couldn't help the snort that escaped him. He looked over at the pink-haired idiot, who was currently shouting about a "Fire Dragon's Paddle" while steam literally rose from the surface of the water around him.
"Fair point," Gray admitted, shaking his head.
Lucy sighed, blowing a stray lock of blonde hair out of her face. "So instead of relaxing in a nice, refreshing pool, I'm stuck out here, slowly baking like a potato."
Seeking a distraction, she reached out blindly toward the small glass table between their lounge chairs, aiming for the tall, condensation-beaded glasses of iced berry juice Mirajane had so kindly brought out to them earlier.
At the exact same moment, Gray reached for his own.
Their fingers collided in the narrow space between the glasses. Lucy’s warm fingers, brushed flat against Gray's knuckles, which were naturally, shockingly cold. The sudden contrast made them both freeze.
Lucy blinked, her chocolate eyes snapping open as she looked from their tangled fingers up to his face. Gray didn't pull away immediately. Instead, his hand hovered over hers, his thumb brushing just slightly against the side of her wrist where her pulse was fluttering a little faster than usual.
"Uh, sorry," Gray mumbled, though he didn't actually move his hand back to his side. "Go ahead. Take yours."
"No, it's fine, you first," Lucy squeaked, her cheeks flaring with a flush that had nothing to do with the heat. "Your hands are actually... really cold. It feels nice."
"Yeah? Well, being an ice wizard has its perks," Gray said, his voice dropping a little lower. He gave her hand a gentle, teasing squeeze before finally wrapping his fingers around his own glass. "Don't go getting dependent on me to be your personal air conditioner, though."
"Too late," Lucy murmured, a soft smile breaking through her heat-induced pout. She grabbed her own drink, immediately pressing the frosted glass against her cheek with a blissful sigh. "You're officially on cooling duty for the rest of the summer, Gray Fullbuster. I don't make the rules."
"Pretty sure you are making the rules," Gray muttered, but there was no real bite to it. He took a long sip of his juice, his eyes drifting back over to her.
The cold condensation from her glass was dripping down her neck, tracing a slow line down her collarbone and disappearing past the edge of her white bikini top. Gray suddenly felt a completely different kind of heat creeping up his neck. He swallowed hard, now finding his iced drink completely useless against the sudden spike in his temperature.
Before he could even put his glass back down, a massive explosion of steam erupted from the center of the pool.
"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Natsu’s voice boomed through the courtyard, completely obliterating whatever peace they had left.
A massive plume of white, scalding vapor rolled off the water, instantly raising the humidity by what felt like a hundred degrees and the pool’s inhabitants practically ran out of it. The air became thick, oppressive, and practically boiling. It felt like walking face-first into an oven.
"Whoops! My bad!" Natsu yelled from the middle of what now looked like a giant, bubbling hot spring.
"Natsu, you complete idiot!" Lucy shrieked, shielding her face as the wave of humid heat washed over them, melting the remaining ice in her glass in a matter of seconds. "That's it! I am officially done with today!"
Frustrated, hot, and thoroughly annoyed, Lucy practically stormed over the short distance between their chairs. Without asking for permission, she tapped Gray sharply on the shoulder. "Move over."
Gray blinked up at her, caught completely off guard. "What?"
"I said, scoot over!" she demanded, her pout fully formed and her cheeks flushed pink from a mix of anger and the sweltering air.
Recognizing that an annoyed Lucy was a dangerous Lucy, Gray instinctively shifted his body, pressing his back against the side frame of his lounge chair to create space.
He didn't expect her to actually take advantage of it so aggressively.
Lucy climbed right onto the chair, lying down flush against his side. The moment her sun-warmed skin came into contact with his naturally sub-zero body temperature, she let out a long, shuddering sigh of pure, unadulterated relief. She practically melted against him, tucking her head right under his chin and resting her arm across his bare chest, soaking up the freezing aura radiating from his skin.
Gray went completely rigid.
His heart thudded violently against his ribs, a frantic rhythm he was terrified she would feel since her cheek was pressed right against his chest. His hands hovered awkwardly in the air for a second, unsure of where to go. She was incredibly soft, smelling of coconut sunscreen and sweet berry juice, and she was wearing next to nothing.
"Uh... Lucy?" Gray choked out, his voice a little strained. "What exactly are you doing?"
"Hush," Lucy mumbled, her eyes closed in absolute bliss as she snuggled a fraction closer, her tanned skin a stark contrast against his pale, cool torso. "Just let me stay here until Natsu stops being a human hazard."
Gray stared down at the top of her blonde head, his initial panic slowly giving way to a strange, fluttering warmth in his chest. His arms gradually relaxed, one of them settling comfortably around her waist, his palm resting on the smooth curve of her hip. Her skin felt warm, decidedly summer-warm, but as she let out another contented sigh, completely safe and relaxed in his arms, Gray found himself tightening his grip just a little bit.
He looked back out toward the pool, where Natsu was currently getting yelled at by Erza for turning the guild pool into a sauna.
"Fine," Gray murmured softly into her hair, a genuine, quiet smile finally breaking across his face.
He looked away, staring out over the water, but his mind kept drifting back to the girl in his arms. There was something different about summer when it came to Lucy. Normally, she was loud, vibrant, and fiercely protective of her personal space. But the heat seemed to strip away her usual defenses, leaving her soft, malleable, and surprisingly compliant. It was a welcome change.
Not to mention, the way her white bikini hugged her curves was doing dangerous things to Gray's focus.
"Hey, Gray?" Lucy's voice was softer now, muffled.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you hate summer so much? I mean, besides the obvious 'ice wizard' thing."
Gray quieted for a moment, the ambient noise of the guild fading into the background. He looked down at his hands, tracing the faint scars on his knuckles. "When I was a kid... after Ur... ice was the only thing that felt stable. The winter was safe. It meant things wouldn't change, wouldn't melt away. Summer always felt like everything was slipping through my fingers. Like the world was trying to dissolve the only thing I had left."
He expected a joke, or maybe a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Instead, he felt a soft, warm hand squeeze his bicep.
He blinked, looking down.
"Things won't dissolve here," Lucy said quietly, finally looking up at him through her lashes. Her expression was uncharacteristically serious, her eyes holding his with a steady, reassuring weight. "The guild isn't going to melt, Gray. And neither am I. Even if it’s a hundred degrees out."
Gray stared at her, his heart performing a strange, sudden flip in his chest. The heat in the air suddenly felt less suffocating and more... electric. He slowly turned his hand over, sliding his fingers between hers, locking their hands together on the edge of the lounge chair. Her skin was smooth, a perfect contrast to the chill of his own.
"You're too hot," he murmured, his voice dropping an octave as a smirk played on his lips. "Literally. You're like a radiator."
Lucy huffed, a pink flush rising on her cheeks that had nothing to do with sunburn. "Shut up. I’m comforting you. Be grateful."
"I am," he said softly, squeezing her hand.
“Man, I’m so glad Juvia’s on a job with Gajeel and Levy,” Lucy sighed in bliss as she heard Natsu and Erza’s shouting match escalate in the background. "If she saw me using you as a mattress right now, she’d have drowned me in the pool before Natsu could even boil it."
Gray let out a low chuckle, the vibration rumbled right through his chest where her cheek was resting. “Would that have stopped you?”
Lucy tilted her head up to look at him, her chocolate eyes sparkling with a sudden, mischievous look that completely lit up her face. She grinned, her nose crinkling just a bit. “Probably not.”
“I figured as much,” Gray said, though his smirk only widened as he looked down at her. He gave her waist a gentle, playful squeeze, his thumb lingering on the smooth skin just above the waistband of her bikini bottom. “An angry Lucy can be a very scary Lucy. I wasn't about to risk my life by telling you no.”
“Smart man,” she teased, shifting just enough to press her chest more firmly against his side. She tilted her chin up, her lips just inches from his jawline. “Though, let’s be honest. Even if I wasn’t mad, you wouldn't have said no to me anyway. You like having me this close too much.”
Gray’s breath hitched slightly, his smirk faltering for a fraction of a second before he caught himself. He leaned down a fraction of an inch, his voice dropping to a low, rough murmur that brushed against her ear. “Keep talking like that, Lucy, and I might just have to keep you trapped here. Erza’s too busy lecturing Ash Breath and the pool's empty. No one’s coming to save you.”
A pretty, dark flush crept up Lucy's neck, but she didn’t back down. Instead, she let out a soft, breathy laugh, her grin turning into a contented smile as she nestled her head back down into the crook of his neck, her lips brushing lightly against his collarbone as she did. “Good. I’m not planning on running away.”
Gray looked down at the buxom blonde resting so contentedly in his arms, watching the gentle rise and fall of her shoulders. Her sun-kissed skin still held the residual warmth of the afternoon, but against his cool torso, she seemed to have found her perfect equilibrium. Feeling the soft, trusting weight of her draped completely over him, a strange thought crossed his mind.
For the first time ever, Gray Fullbuster thought that maybe summer wasn't all that bad after all.
Flap, flap, flap.
The soft, rhythmic sound of wings cut through his thoughts just a second before a sudden weight settled right on Gray's left shoulder.
"Wow, Gray! You're like a walking air conditioner today!" Happy cheered, rubbing his blue furry cheek right against Gray's neck with a blissful sigh. "It feels so nice over here. No wonder Lushy is draped all over you like a blanket. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you were holding her captive!"
"Hey! I am not holding her captive, she climbed up here herself," Gray grumbled, his face instantly exploding into a bright red flush as he tried to swat at the blue Exceed without dislodging the blonde currently snoring softly against his chest.
"Aye! But you're not letting her go either," Happy teased, his signature smirk plastered across his face as he rolled over onto his back on Gray's shoulder, soaking up the icy aura. "You guys are totally in looooove."
Gray glared at the cat, the romantic atmosphere completely shattered in a matter of seconds. He looked from the smirking blue Exceed, to the steaming pool, and finally down at his own sweat-sheened skin.
He let out a long, defeated sigh. "Yeah, never mind. I definitely still hate summer."