Rainy Days by BelleDayNight

Summary: Natsu is engaged to Lisanna. Lucy is devastated, but Gray needs her help to keep Juvia away. Will their pretend relationship become real as they take more jobs together? An extended mission together at a casino in Joya might just do the trick! Will Erza ever forgive Jellal now that he's determined to win her heart? What does Natsu think of all this?

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. It is the work of the great Hiro Mashima.

Chapter One:

It was a chilly rainy day and Lucy just wanted to curl up with a good book—perhaps that romantic story Levi loaned her- and enjoy the slow pace of the morning. However, there was a note pushed under her front door reminding her that rent was due at the end of the week and a lazy day simply wasn't an option.

After a quick hot shower which afterwards she skipped drying her long, blond hair, she grabbed one of her few pair of jeans, t-shirt with scooping neckline, hiking boots, donned her grey-blue rain coat, slipped on her belt laden with her keys, a messenger bag with essential supplies, and headed towards the Guild's great hall. She'd pick up a warm breakfast and inspect the job board and be ready to set forth without delay. Maybe Natsu could help her earn some easy money.

As luck would have it, the pink-haired salamander was standing at the job board. After hanging up her rain coat to dry on the coat rack near the entrance doors, Lucy made her way confidently toward her teammate. He glanced over at her quickly and flashed a smile before redirecting his attention to the job requests. She stood behind him and surveyed the advertisements.

"See anything that could use a fire mage and a celestial spirit mage?" Lucy asked hopefully. She ran her hands up and down her chilled arms—it was cold outside, but toasty inside the guild's Great Hall and it was always warm around Natsu. It wouldn't take long for her fight back the cold.

Natsu reached up and scratched his neck, the tips of his ears burning red. He glanced back at her briefly before focusing on the board. "Sorry, Lucy. I can't take a mission with you this week."

"Oh." Lucy frowned, her disappointment evident by a slight hunch of her shoulders and the thinning of her lips. Natsu was her teammate and she thought that she could always count on him to be her partner.

"It's just, I promised Lisanna I'd take a mission with her," Natsu explained looking back at her, still rubbing his neck.

"Doesn't she have her own team?" Lucy asked, refusing to look at him—lest he see how upset she was at the news. "Her brother and sister? Elfman doesn't look busy," she pointed out with a flick of her hand toward the big blonde consuming a hardy breakfast at a nearby table.

"Well yeah, but she asked if we could spend some time together. We are engaged and all."

Lucy looked back at him, brown eyes wide and eyebrows arching high. "You're engaged?" She didn't think it was arrogant, but she thought that Natsu had feelings for her. How could he be engaged? Didn't Happy always exclaim that Natsu liiiiiiiked her? And where was that fish-loving cat anyway?

"Yeah, I promised her we'd marry when I was like nine, but then she disappeared, but now she's back. And you know how I feel about promises. We've just been so busy with the battles and then we were stuck in that seven year time distortion before that—I've got to try and make it right."

"I see." Lucy bit her lip and felt the anger and frustration rising up in the center of her chest. Maybe she shouldn't be so angry. She should be happy for Natsu being in a serious relationship, but why did it feel like she was being betrayed? She turned to face Natsu directly. "No, actually, I don't see. You were nine years old—a promise of marriage at that age means nothing. It is children playing at being grown up."

Natsu scowled at her and his dark eyes flashed in anger. "Well it means something to me."

Lucy looked back at the board and selected a job at random, hardly glancing at it. She started to storm away, but a warm hand grabbed hold of her shoulder—the heat radiated through her damp shirt. "Wait, Lucy," Natsu pleaded concern evident in his dark eyes.

"I wouldn't want to hold you up from spending time with your betrothed," Lucy said sweetly, but her clenched teeth betrayed her true feelings.

"But, that job, it's a really hard rank," Natsu protested. "If you want to wait until after I get back I'll be happy to help you."

Lucy jerked her shoulder out of his reach. "I don't need you to fight my battles. As a matter of fact, I don't think it's appropriate for us to do any more missions alone together." She made her way to an unoccupied table, grabbing a breakfast tray on the way with oatmeal and cranberry juice. Her molars were grinding together in frustration. How could Natsu be engaged? To a girl he hardly knew? Sure, they might have been friends when they were kids, but she and Natsu had been partners for the past year and a half—didn't that mean anything to him? Besides, Lisanna had been in Edolas for two years and technically Natsu spent seven more years away when their team and a few others, including Lisanna, were stuck in that time distortion during the S-rank trial.

She read over the job summary as she stirred the oatmeal absently, no longer having an appetite. It was a hard job and definitely not one she could do on her own.

"Why so glum, sugar plum?" Leo asked, simply appearing next to her at the table. He looked up and she followed his gaze to see Natsu making his way toward their table. The Zodiac King lowered his stylish glasses down from the bridge of his nose to glare at the fire mage. Natsu faltered in his steps. "This is a private conversation, Natsu. A and B only, see your way out."

Lucy snorted in amusement at Leo's dialogue. Really, how lame? However, he was effective and the fire mage changed directions and made his way out of the great hall.

"That's what you're eating?" Leo asked with a look of disgust. "Hold on, let me make it more palatable." He excused himself from the table and Lucy felt herself relax and focus on the mission.

It looked like Natsu was right in that it was too challenging for her alone. However, if Gray or Erza accompanied her it would be a cinch—all though a time consuming cinch and not particularly helpful in paying her rent by the end of the week.

She looked up as Leo sat back beside her, his hands full of a bowl of fruit—blueberries, strawberries, and banana slices, a plate of scrambled eggs and a few slices of bacon. "You need to start off the day right with a hearty meal," Leo admonished. He took the slip of paper out of her hands and started to read the job requirements. "I can see why Natsu would be an ideal choice to help you on this task."

"I didn't really read the request when I took it," Lucy admitted. "I was too upset."

"I know. That's why I'm here. I could sense your distress. I'm just glad it's girly over-reaction and not something serious," he said waving a slice of bacon at her face before taking a bite. "I figured you wouldn't mind sharing your hearty meal."

"It felt serious to me and it's not an over-reaction," Lucy said dumping half the fruit into her oatmeal and stirring it vigorously. A loud commotion across the great hall drew her attention. Poor Gray was fuming; it seemed that Juvia had been overly enthusiastic about gaining his affections—resulting in a bowl of oatmeal spilt across his shirt and pants.

"I told you, leave me alone! I didn't want to eat oatmeal, I already ate my breakfast. I didn't ask you to try to feed me. Why can't you stop being so weird?" Gray shouted, stripping off his soaked shirt and using it to wipe off the mess on his pants.

"But Gray-sama, Juvia just really likes you and wants to make you happy," the blue-haired water mage said, tears brimming her eyes.

In obvious frustration, Gray ran his hands through his dark, messy hair. "Look, Juvia—you're my friend. We make great teammates, but that's it. You can't even act like yourself when you're around me. How is that normal? Just, leave me alone."

"Now might be a good time to offer your teammate a bone," Leo suggested in a conspirator's whisper.

Lucy stood up and shouted, "Gray!"

Her half-naked teammate looked across the room; his dark eyes sought hers and locked gazes in desperate need of rescue. "Come here, please, we need to talk with you about a mission," Lucy said waving her hand towards her and Leo before sitting back down and eating a spoonful of her fruity oatmeal. The uncomfortable, nauseated feeling that obstructed her appetite had vanished.

"Look, Juvia, I have to go and talk to my teammate," Gray said. "Don't worry about the mess, but just stop obsessing about me. Maybe give Leon a shot—he likes you and he's also an ice mage."

"But, Gray-sama, Leon isn't you," Juvia protested, her face fallen in obvious disappointment. She glanced toward Lucy and her fists clenched at her sides. "Juvia is a better partner than Lucy is to you."

"You are a good partner in battle, Juvia, but you can't stay focused when we're together. It's a liability to job requests. I've got to go," Gray said picking up his tray and making his way to Lucy with the stained shirt tossed over one of his bare, muscular shoulders.

A small smile lifted the corner of Lucy's lip as she watched her grateful teammate make his way toward her. Things might not be going as planned with Natsu, but she knew that Gray was her friend and he needed her help and she was happy to provide it.

The ice mage sat across from her and Leo. "Thank you, Lucy. I really needed that save." He set his dirty shirt on the seat next to him. "I'm sorry I couldn't return the favor. I saw what happened with Natsu, but when I started to make my way over Loke already had come to the rescue."

"That's what I excel at," Leo said with a grin. "Saving beautiful ladies in distress."

"I wasn't in distress," Lucy countered frowning down at her breakfast. "I was just frustrated."

Gray leaned back and examined her with a critical eye. "I can see that," he remarked as she started to stab her eggs with his fork. He reached across the table and grabbed the paper with the job assignment. His eyes opened wide as he read. "Lucy, don't tell me you were thinking of doing this job alone."

Leo wrapped his arm casually across her shoulders. "She's never alone."

"Well yeah, I understand that, Loke. But as a celestial spirit there are limitations to your ability to stay manifested in the physical realm," Gray said.

"I was hoping to ask either you or Erza to help me. Normally, I do these sorts of jobs with Natsu, but…"she trailed off.

"I'd love to help you, Lucy," Gray said with a warm smile lighting up his handsome face. "If nothing else, it will get me away from Juvia. I swear the only time I feel happy is when I'm off on a mission with my team and far away from her. She drives me crazy with her craziness. You don't think it's infectious?"

Lucy reached across the table and patted his forearm reassuringly. "Not at all. You're completely sane—most of the time," she said with a grin. "I feel a lot better, guys, thanks," she said looking between Leo and Gray. "I really don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'll never have to know, we're a team after all," Leo said with a wink before he popped out of existence.

"That's handy," Gray said. "So, when do you want to be off on our mission? It looks like it will take at least two weeks with the travel time and everything, but more likely three or four weeks."

"Could you help me find a quick, easy mission first? I really need to pay my rent before I leave," Lucy said nervously biting her lip.

"No problem. Be right back," Gray promised. He headed towards the job board and after a careful observation took down a slip of paper. He was on his way back when Mirajane stopped him with another job request in her hand and handed it to him directly. "Even better, to keep your mind off from what an idiot our other teammate is and to keep me protected from Juvia I found us two easy jobs we can do. Mirajane just got a new one this morning that would be perfect for us especially—they asked for me by name and I can't think of anyone better than you to help me with it. Neither one should take more than a few hours. Then we can ask Erza if she wants to accompany us on the longer job request."

"It would probably be good to get her away from here. She keeps moping about Jellal," Lucy agreed.

"Exactly! And I can't have my women moping," Gray agreed holding one palm open and hitting his other hand in a fist against it. "Let's stop by my place after breakfast so I can change my clothes and then we'll head out. You're actually dressed appropriately for the job I have in mind. It's a drizzly day, but it shouldn't be too bad."

Apparently, Gray wasn't too full from his breakfast to ignore Lucy's food and he finished off the other half of her fruit bowl and half of her eggs and bacon strips. He gathered their food trays and returned them to the cleaning area before heading out into the rain with Lucy at his side in her raincoat while it still might have been chilly outside Lucy felt warm inside and had a spring to her step. Her value to Fairy Tail was more than just as Natsu's partner. She had other friends and was a valuable member in her own right. And as a Celestial Mage she was the best! Or at least that's what Leo told her, but he might have been inflating her ego.

What neither of them realized was that Natsu was standing outside in the shadows leaning against the great hall watching them with clenched fists and a scowl. Lucy was his partner as much as Happy was, she shouldn't be going on a job without him. The Exceed had been mad at him that morning too when he asked what their next job would be and Natsu explained that it would be something with Lisanna. Happy had not been pleased and wanted to know why they wouldn't be going with Lucy—as she was his partner. So, now both his partners were upset with him and Lucy had gone off with his stupid icy rival.

"Natsu? What are you doing outside in the rain?" Lisanna asked, approaching the guild hall. She was wearing a bright yellow rain coat and had a matching yellow umbrella over her head.

"Just waiting for you," Natsu answered quickly with a ready smile in place. He held out his hand toward her. "Let's go, I found a job for us."

Lisanna sent him a shy smile and took his hand. "I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a long time since we worked together."

"Yeah," Natsu said. What if Lucy was right? What if his agreeing to nine-year old Lisanna's promise of marriage wasn't exactly a legitimate reason to be in a relationship with her? It didn't matter; he owed Lisanna a chance of happiness. She'd had so much taken away from her with her separation for so many years.

"Where's Happy?"

"He's at Wendy's. We'll pick him up on our way out."

A/N: I thought I'd try my hand at a Fairy Tail fanfiction. I adore this series and met one of my best friends when I was cosplaying Lucy and he was Natsu at a con a few years back. Though, secretly I love the Lucy X Gray pairing….shhhh don't tell Natsu!