HOME | DD

Description
You sat by one of the guilds windows, alone at a small round table as you often were. It's been snowing for a few hours now. You hated snow, too cold, and it stuck to your clothes and hair. You hated winter in general, it brought back too many sad memories. Although, there was one thing you couldn't hate about winter, ice. You loved it actually. It was so beautiful and smooth, its beauty hid danger, a lot like yourself. And it didn't hurt that a certain someone you had eyes for was an ice mage.
"Gray, your clothes," You heard Miras voice say from behind the bar.
You didn't bother to look. Gray was always stripping anyways. Setting down your now empty glass you strode over to the missions board. You were running a little low on money, but none of the missions looked good. Placing your hands on your hips you sighed and turned your eyes toward the window again. A mile or two away there's a lake that looks nice and frozen over. You stood there, tapping your foot, contemplating if maybe you should try your hand at ice skating again.
"(Name)" Gray said as he stepped closer, "you finally got back from that mission of yours huh?"
You glanced over your shoulder at him. He had pants on, thank goodness, but as per normal, he lacked a shirt.
"Hi Gray," You said with a soft smile, "I've actually been back for a few days now."
"You look like you're thinking about something, what's up?"
"Its nothing really, I was just thinking about learning how to ice skate." You answered with a small laugh, "When I was younger my parents tried to teach me, but I was never really all that good at it."
"A fire mage that wants to ice skate?!" Gray said loudly, bursting out into laughter. He clutched his stomach and almost doubled over onto the floor at the thought. You scowled at him. Pulling your fist back you jabbed him as hard as you could on one of his well muscled arms. It probably hurt you a lot more than it hurt him but it got him to stop laughing. He rubbed his arm a little, his mouth held in a frown, "what was that for?"
"You shouldn't make fun of others," You said, crossing your arms, "its really rude."
"You laughed first," he pointed out with a half scowl/half pout.
"Im the one that said it though, I'm allowed to laugh at what I say," You retorted and crossed your arms. You and Gray stood there and looked at each other with an odd silence lingering between the two of you.
"I didn't know you were serious," Gray said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked down at the ground, biting the inside of his cheek, then met your eyes again with a grin, "I could teach you how to you know."
"Really?!" You asked, your eyebrows raised in surprise, "you'd do that?"
"Yeah, I mean, if I don't teach you who will? No one else would try to teach a fire girl how to dance on ice." The smirk on his lips made you smile with elation. With an excited high pitched squeal you involuntarily hopped up to wrap your arms around Grays neck. You only hugged him for maybe half a second before you realized what you were doing and came to your senses. Letting him go you stepped back sheepishly and gave him an awkward smile.
"So um, how about we meet by the lake tomorrow for my first lesson okay?" You said, slowly stepping backwards, "Two o'clock okay? Don't be late!"
Turning on your heel and rushing towards the door, you left the guild building and headed back to your apartment. Once far enough away you slowed your pace. The sun is going down, making the snow reflect bright oranges and light pinks. You loved this time of day, and even if you hate snow you have to admit that it looked pretty romantic. Strolling up to your apartment, you realized something... You don't own any skates that fit you.
(~~~next day~~~)
You checked your watch again as you hightailed it to the lake. Not only had you woken up late this morning but you also had to run to a nearby store to purchase some new skates. Which took forever! Its half past two and your praying that Gray is still waiting for you. You stumbled through some snowy wooded area towards the lake, and felt relieved when you saw the dark haired man sitting on a small boulder.
"Gray, sorry I'm late!" You yelled ahead of you with a wave. He looked towards you and stood, the way his eyes fixated on you made you forget where you were (and what kind of terrain you were running through). Without warning you stumbled over something and ended up face down in the snow. "Oh gosh, kill me now." You groaned as you lifted yourself up.
"Hey are you okay?" Gray asked and held out his hand to help you up. Reluctantly letting him assist you, you wiped some snow from your face.
"I'm fine," you answered, grabbing your new skates from the ground with a reassuring smile, "I'm sort of a clutz so I'm use to it."
Gray gave you a once over, then smiled back.
"Yeah I guess you would be, I've seen you trip over nothing before," He said with a chuckle, "you wanna get started?"
You nodded eagerly and hopped past him excitedly. The ice was smooth, almost as if it were a skating rink. You never really thought Gray capable, but he was shockingly graceful on the ice. The way he skated was beautiful. He put you to shame to put it nicely. While you stumbled and fell he easily glided across the surface as if it were as easy as walking. Although you adored his warm hearted laughter, the fact that he laughed almost every time you fell was dampening your spirits. Not to mention the fact that your new skates weren't broken in yet and were giving you blisters with the way they rubbed against certain places on your feet. You and Gray had been at it for hours,(strangely he'd only stripped a handful of times during this period) and still you could barely stay on your feet for more than a minute or so.
"Jeez, you really are terrible at this." Gray laughed as he helped you up for the thousandth time. You sighed and pouted, rubbing your sore back side.
"I knew I wasn't going to be great at this, but I didn't think I was going to be this bad either." You said, looking down. The sun was already starting to set and you felt utterly unaccomplished today. Not only had you completely failed at skating but Gray probably wasn't too impressed at how you'd managed to spend more time on your ass than on your feet, "I think we should call it quits."
You didn't look at Gray as you tried to skate away. Remarkably you'd actually made it a foot or two before falling again. Ending up on your ass again for the umpteenth time you let out a pained sigh and you didn't even try to get up. You had done nothing but embarrass yourself today, and not in front of just anyone, but in front of Gray of all people. You felt like you were going to cry.
"Hey, c'mon," Gray said skating so he was in front of you. He extended his hand, but when you didn't take it he moved to sit beside you on the ice instead, "What's wrong? Even though you're terrible at it today, we can just try again tomorrow."
"I think we should just give up," you said and bit the inside of your cheek, avoiding his eyes, "thanks for trying to help me though Gray."
When you tried to stand his hand grasped onto your wrist, pulling you into his lap. The action was so swift you barely even had time to react. You gave him a questioning look as he smiled at you.
"If I don't give you lessons what will be my reason to spend so much time with you?" He asked, his smile widening.
You blushed at how close he held you.
"W-what are you saying?"
He face came closer to yours, not going for your lips but towards your ear. His breath was warm and made a shiver roll up your back.
"I was gonna use these lessons as an excuse to see you everyday," He said in your ear, you could practically feel his grin. When his lips pressed against the curve of your neck you gasped. He smiled against you as he nipped at the sensitive skin of your neck, "and who are we kidding? You could use the lessons anyway."
His words made you smile, but at the same time you wanted to smack him. Pulling away just a little so the movements of his mouth couldn't distract you, you gave him a coy smile.
"You just love saying rude things to me don't you?" You asked, "that's a bold move considering your trying to seduce me right now."
He grinned widely, tightening his hold around you. He pressed your upper halves together and roughly captured your lips with his. The way he kissed you and held you tightly made you softly moan into his mouth.
"It seems like its working though," He said in a low voice when the two of you disconnected. His dark eyes met yours and a victorious smirk spread across those devious lips of his, "Same time tomorrow?"
"Works for me," You said. Your eyes drifted downwards making you smile and held back the urge to laugh. Even when he was holding you he'd managed to do it without so much as either of you noticing. His eyes focused on you, giving you a look of confusion, but then you said it, the three words that he'd heard so many times. The three words that you had often contemplated saying to him but never did. The three words that at the moment you were delighted to say...
"Gray, your clothes."