NOTE: This was written on Ink'n'Echo's request. She asked me for an Ace/Gray fic. The basic idea was hers, since I know almost nothing about Gray and how he interacts with Ace. All I did was flesh out the idea and put the words on the page. Her request, her basic idea.

Though Gray held on with all his might to the calm, collected self that he displayed almost always, sometimes it did slip away from him. Usually those times involved cute things or his close friends, and sometimes both of those combined, Generally he wanted to keep it that way, since most people knew him only for the more morbid line of work he generally associated with, and his friendlier side certainly didn't match that persona. That was why, on one of his trips out, when he happened to notice a rather adorable toy monkey sitting in the entrance of an alley, he made very certain to check the area for any people who might witness what he was about to do. As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, he had no problem with scurrying off in search of the pretend mammal.

He made his way down the narrow corridor, and only really doubted the trip once, when he first arrived at the opening and saw the stuffed creature was much further back than it had been when he'd first spied it. It bothered him, yes, but he was aware of how strange his world was. Something like that no longer fazed him. With that thought, he went off to capture the toy monkey. He got close enough to grab it, but it jerked backwards, away from is hand, and made itself cozy a distance away. This puzzled him, and against his better judgment, he attempted to take the toy again. It was about as effective as the first time. The scene replayed several times, with Gray getting progressively more aggravated as time went on, until the alley opened up into a large, circular, empty space surrounded by buildings. He glanced around, now more hunting the silly monkey then just chasing it, until his attention was captured by the voice of the castle's knight, Ace.

"Hey, didja like the monkey?"

Gray looked to the source of the words, which was perched above his head on a fire escape, with his legs hanging down. In his hand was a long, thin string attached to the tail of the monkey.

Gray sighed, and loosened up a bit. It was just Ace, trying to pick a fight again. That was nothing new. Ace was ALWAYS looking for a fight, and though he didn't want to be an active member, sometimes he just had no choice.

He mulled over those true words as Ace dropped from his perch, sword in hand, and took several steps towards Gray, Whose hands were at one of his various knives. With Ace, you always had to be careful. It was impossible to follow that man's logic.

With that, the fight began. Swords and knives crashed, and Gray noted that his assailant was being particularly bold that day. He'd been nearly cornered twice in his first few minutes of blocking and dodging. Each time he'd managed to maneuver himself out of the way, but the third time he wasn't so lucky. He'd been preoccupied attempting to cut the squabble short to notice that Ace had been steadily backing him up until his back met with the cold brick, and by then it was too late. As he leaned back, trying to create distance, he contemplated what sort of counter attack would be most effective against the knight. Meanwhile, Ace was looming with that wolf-like expression he always wore. He certainly seemed to be having fun, and that grin grew worse as it crept closer, until it was about six inches from his face. Gray had thought about attacking, but a breath before he lunged something stopped him. There was no actual threat in the smile he was receiving. Aggression, yes, but he could see no intention of harm. That was why he let the scene play out, though he was certain to keep one hand on a weapon at all times.

He thought he might need it for a moment, too. Ace somehow managed to draw even closer without making any contact, and Gray's hand rested on one of the many knives hidden on his person. Ace still did nothing, but uttered a few simple words.

"Let's see now…"

He wasn't even sure if it had been directed at him or not, but in a moment it hadn't mattered because the lips that had just been speaking were then doing something very, very different. The lips were against his, though he couldn't match the action to Ace, because there were no way his lips were that soft.

And in a moment it was over, and he might finally be able to comprehend what had just happened, while feeling incredibly stupid for not seeing it coming. Only after Ace had leaned away had he noticed that the hand that had held a sword was empty, and propped on the wall behind him, and how Ace still held onto that non-threatening aggression in his face, but now it was accompanied by something that was a relative of the smile.

Ace was staring at him as he tried to form a coherent thought, but all he got was confusion.

"What?"

Ace pulled back a bit more, and spoke.

"What? You can't say you hadn't noticed the tension. It was bothering me, so I decided I'd fix that."

Gray realized that he was out of his normal seriousness, and had been for a while, and quickly composed himself, though his eyes were still tinged with bewilderment. He still couldn't dig up the right words, and the closeness of the other man was certainly not helping his muddled mind.

Of course, when Ace pulled away it helped even less. Gray still had his back pressed against the cool stones, and watched as Ace placed the abandoned sword back in its proper place, and prepared himself to leave.

Just like that.

After he'd kissed Gray with almost no explanation whatsoever.

Before he could launch off into a rare mental rave, Ace grabbed his attention with a gesture towards the stuffed monkey.

"That's for you, by the way. "

Gray looked at it, and back to Ace.

"Her name is Cassy."

The strangeness in that sentence convinced him that it was time to pry his back from the warming bricks, and finally form an understandable sentence.

"Why now?"

He knew that asking that was acknowledging what they'd both noticed quite a while ago, but there was no going back.

"Oh, I dunno. It seemed like a good time. Do I need a better reason?"

The look in Ace's eyes informed Gray that this wouldn't be the last time something like this would happen.

He watched as Ace strolled, away, bewildered, perplexed, and maybe just a bit attracted to the man. It was then that exactly what had just happened fully worked his way into his mind, and he looked down at the knives strapped to his body, questioned his masculinity for a moment, before snatching up the monkey, shoving it as gingerly as possible into a pocket, and going on his way like noting had ever happened.

No one needed to know that he hadn't been the more aggressive half of a kiss, no matter whom it had been with. That just wasn't right in his mind.

Author's Notes:

-This was both my first fight scene, even though I only wrote a bit of it, and my first kiss I've ever written. I'd like to hear your opinions, especially on the kiss.

-Aha. Third times the charm.

-So many blocks of text here. I didn't so my usual sporadic molestation of the enter key.

Serious Notes:

So, guys. This was interesting to write. I've never written a couple I don't ship/even know much about, so this took some research, and was just a bit difficult. I'm sure that Gray is out of character, but I don't mind. I do mind that literally nothing happens in this, though. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. My beta really enjoyed it, though, so whatever.

I'll be posting two more Blood/Elliot pieces in the next few days, by the way.

Love and confusion,

~Ali.