Ohayou again, minna-san! So I'm back, with a new story, because I had this sudden urge to write some GraLu. So the thing is I ship GraLu, but I also ship NaLu, and I ship both of them equally (which, in case you were wondering, makes my head want to burst because I love them both way too much). However,this one is a GraLu fanfiction, because I find GraLu fanfictions a little more fun to read and write than NaLu fanfictions, but it does not make me love NaLu any less. So there.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! I rarely write romance fanfictions and this is actually my first proper one, so I can only cross my fingers and sincerely hope you like it.

Also, I don't own Fairy Tail, but I'm pretty sure you can tell, because if I did I wouldn't be sitting here and writing this absolutely wonderful fanfiction right now.

Bits and Pieces

I

A furious Lucy walked out of the club, blinking away tears. Straightening her coat, she briskly walked home. She stopped. How could she go home? Going home meant seeing his face again, and that was something she never wanted to do again. She turned around and walked in the other direction. It was pathetic to feel like you weren't loved, but at the same time Lucy was glad she didn't have to be hurt anymore.

Soon enough, she realized she was lost. The dark, moonless sky made it impossible for her to see anything. She cursed. She brought out her phone, only to see that the battery was dead. She leaned against the wall of the nearest building, and let the tears out. The night couldn't possibly get worse, she thought to herself. It was bad enough. She thought back to what had transpired at the club not a while back.

"Where were you?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm?" Natsu asked, pretending not to hear his girlfriend, and dreamily eating chicken wings.

"I asked where you'd been," Lucy repeated. "I mean, I haven't seen you since we arrived here."

"Oh, yeah, that," Natsu said, waving his hand as if it didn't matter. "Just went to a few places here and there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy asked, growing suspicious. Natsu never behaved like this, and it surprised Lucy a little. "Natsu, look at me and tell me - where have you been?"

At that time, Lisanna approached Natsu. "That was a great time we had today," she smiled shyly at the salmon-haired mage. She then turned to look at Lucy. "Oh, hi, Lucy! How are you?"

Lucy stared from Lisanna to Natsu. She then nodded, as if she understood. "Wonderful, Lisanna," she replied, faking a smile at the girl. "You've fallen for the best liar in town." She grabbed her black handbag and got up from her seat.

"Lucy, wait-"

"I honestly don't want to talk to you right now, Natsu," Lucy said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Before Natsu could say another word, she walked out.

Lucy stared at her hands. How could he do this to her? Why would he do it, anyway? He had promised to love her forever, and he'd said that their love was true...but Lucy was stupid to believe that. Love like that wasn't there in real life, and she had to grow up and realize that. She scolded herself for being so lost in love that she hadn't even thought about reality.

As she stood in the darkness, she noticed a car approaching. She wiped away her tears hastily. The car stopped in front of her. She hid her face. The last thing she needed was a creepy old man feeling sympathetic for her.

"Need a ride?" a voice asked, startling Lucy.

"Gray?" she asked, peering into the car. She could barely see his face in the dark.

"Who else would it be?" Gray asked, and Lucy could feel him grinning.

Lucy suppressed a small smile. She opened the door of the car and entered.

"Take me to your place," she said quietly.

"Are you sure you-"

"I can't go back home," Lucy said, swallowing.

"Okay," Gray said.

They drove in silence. After a few minutes, Gray couldn't take it anymore.

"I heard what happened," he said casually. "Levy called me."

"I see," Lucy murmured.

"I'm sorry about that," Gray said, glancing at Lucy. "If you need me to beat up that moron for you-"

"As much as I'd like that, it's fine," Lucy told Gray without looking at him. "All I want to do now is forget about him."

They reached Gray's apartment. It was large, unlike Lucy's house, but then again Gray was richer than Lucy. He seemed to live a wonderful life, almost perfect. Lucy often wondered what it would be like to be as rich as Gray. At the same time though, she realized that Gray was one of the loneliest people she'd ever met. After Juvia had left him for Lyon, Lucy couldn't understand how he still had the will to fight for his dreams. He must have been heartbroken, but he still believed in himself, and that fascinated Lucy.

He parked the car in the garage, and the two of them got out. Neither of them spoke to each other until Gray had unlocked the door to the house.

"I guess you're going to want to get a good night's rest now, right?" Gray asked.

Lucy could finally see him properly. In a way, he was gorgeous, but she could never like him. Their friendship was special, and she knew that she would totally blow it if she fell for him.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

"I'll show you to your room, then," Gray said, leading her down the hallway. She followed.

The hallway was a place Lucy always liked looking at when she came to Gray's house. It reminded her of when the four of them had first met: her, Gray, Erza and Natsu. All the pictures were still there, the pictures of Gray and Juvia, Erza and Jellal and even of her and Natsu...they'd all been so in love, ever since high school, but only one of those relationships had actually lasted.

"Have you heard from Erza?" Lucy asked Gray.

Gray shook his head. "But I'm sure she's okay. She's Erza, after all."

Lucy smiled. "I'm glad. I always knew she'd be okay, especially since she has Jellal with her."

Gray glanced at Lucy, and grinned when he saw her smile. "Yeah, me too."

The two of them stopped at the door of a room. "This is one of the guest bedrooms, and I guess you could stay here if you want to."

Lucy looked inside. The whole room seemed to be red. The walls were painted red, the curtains were red, the carpet was red and even the bedsheets were red, but it was still beautiful. The red seemed to bring out exactly what she was feeling: she was extremely angry, but at the same time she still loved Natsu. She couldn't bear to live without him, and just thinking about him brought tears to her eyes.

Gray noticed these tears and immediately tried consoling her. "Hey, don't cry," he said quickly. "I'm sorry if you don't like it, there are other rooms you can stay in."

Lucy laughed a little, sniffing. "It's not like that, I like it. It's perfect. I just...I can't seem to be able to get over him."

Gray stroked her hair. "It's all right. Just sleep it out for now."

Lucy nodded. "All right." She stepped into the room.

"Goodnight, Gray," she whispered, smiling.

"Goodnight, Lucy," Gray replied, waving at her before she shut the door.

She lay down and closed her eyes. "I'll be here for one night," she told herself. "Tomorrow, I can go stay over at Levy's or something."

Little did she know that she would be staying at Gray's for much longer than one night.

Eh, don't worry, I don't like the ending to this either. Oh well. Anyway, please review! As always, I accept all forms of criticism, so you are allowed to virtually punch me for messing up anything. But please don't kill me, that's illegal where I live and the last thing I want to do is get you arrested.

The next chapter will (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully) be up by Sunday or something. Or on Monday, after my exam. And fans of Cherry Blossoms, please wait just a few more days, I'm having serious trouble with writing something that you all will like. But let's see what I can do.

Happy reading!

~maddie-nee-chan