HATSUNE'S POV
I gritted my teeth as I watch the guy I l-l-lo- damn! I can't even say it in my head when Juvia can say it to his face without worrying if she would screw it up or not!
Focus! Focus Hatsune! It's not like they d-d-d-da-dating, or something like that.
No! Get those thoughts out of your head! Don't jinx it!
I heard my best friend(?) and love rival giggle, then say, "Gray-sama… you're so good looking! Very handsome!~"
I turned my head around only to feel my heart shatter when Gray, MY Gray (well… we're not official, but still-), say these words: "Y-yeah, t-thanks… I guess… you're pretty good looking too… very… pretty…?"
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I could feel my chest twisting… my eyes drooping… my vision going blank… my ears going deaf as I heard Happy's voice and cheers of the other guild members.
I slowly stand up, hoping no one would notice me.
I walk towards the request board, just as I have regained my energy, and hoped that I couldn't hear any more of them…
My eyes zoom in to search for the perfect, high-paying, long-term, non-boring job…
And then one caught my eye… "Aha!" I mumbled happily, scanning the sheet of paper for more detail.
A job paying 500,000J, that's pretty high; beat a group of bandits who's been stealing from the villagers… easy enough; and it's on a village, whoa! It's pretty far… almost at the edge of Fiore.
"Master Makarov," I approach the master of Fairy Tail, Master Makarov.
"Yes, Hatsune. What is it?" he asks me. I bit my lower lip… he was so nice… to able to take in of someone… an ex-mercenary mage from a mercenary guild… Unlike my former guild master, who called me names and even though I was one of his best, ignored me and treated me like dirt…
Well… never mind that!~
I lift my arm up to reveal the job request that I want.
"…" he was silent. Even though we don't spend a lot of time with each other he knows me. A lot. I frequently go on slightly to kinda long term missions to get away from the wild, rowdy fights that's always happening in the guild.
BOOM! I heard a loud explosion and sounds of cackling flames. I twisted my head around.
It was that Fire Dragon Slayer boy- Nat-something… Natsu! Right… Lucy-san's obvious soon-to-be boyfriend!
Anyway, I turned around and walked away from the guild after getting the Master's approval of the mission.
"Hatsune!" I stopped my tracks when I heard his voice… "Hey! Wait up!" His voice had persuasion and worry dripping all over it. No… just ignore it Hatsune…
I was about to turn around until…
"Gray-sama!" Of course… I was just hallucinating… probably due to overusing the loudness of my Sound magic.
So I just… walked away… out of the guild… away from the brawls… away from them… away from him…
GRAY'S POV
"Gray-sama… you're so good looking! Very handsome!~" I let silently let out a sigh as Juvia clung and pressed face onto my chest. Sure she may be nice and kinda warm and all but I don't feel the same way about her… The truth is… I like someone else… And that person is-
"Y-yeah, t-thanks… I guess… you're pretty good looking too… very… pretty…?" I mumbled a curse, a curse to myself. I cannot believe I let those words come out of my mouth! Oh well… at least it wasn't those three words… right?
I mentally slapped myself. Ugh! Stupid Gray! I sure hope she didn't hear that!
I twisted my head into different directions as I searched for her.
Where is she? I asked myself.
I quickly-and as gently as possible-pushed Juvia away from me and continued to look for her.
There she was, she was walking towards Master Makarov. I squinted my eyes and saw that she was holding a piece of paper…
I mentally scolded and slapped myself, it was a mission, stupid me!
I was about to walk towards her and tell her that I-
BOOM! I felt a hot punch on my cheek. "Fight me Ice Princess!"
Dammit Natsu! Why now? Now of all time!
I suppose telling him I don't want to fight wouldn't work, Erza's nowhere to be seen, and Master's approving her mission. Hesitantly, I counterattacked him with my "Ice Make: Lance".
I should've told her how I felt about her sooner! Now she's going to go on a who-knows-how-long-she'll-be-gone mission!
I don't know how much more I'm going to call myself this, but I. Am. So. Stupid!
It was because of my big mouth that Hatsune thinks that I like Juvia when all along, I love her!
There! I admit it!
I, Fairy Tail Ice-Make Mage, Gray Fullbuster, is totally in love with Fairy Tail Sound Mage, Hatsune Angelbeat!
My head spun as I heard the creaking of the guild doors open throughout the sounds of other guild members fighting (because of that Flame Breath- who started it!)
"Hatsune!" I tried calling out to her. I ran towards her, lifting my arm to reach out for her, dodging random attacks.
"Gray-sama!" I heard Juvia call out and instantly clung onto me.
Oh come on!
HATSUNE'S POV
Time-skip to "A Few Days Later"…
Ugh! That took shorter than I expected… I let out a sigh of annoyance, trying to push the thoughts of Gray and Juvia away from my mind.
I entered the unnamed village at night with suspicions… the people there were looking at me funny- I could tell in their eyes that it was… pity, suspicion, sadness, fear, hostility… It seemed like this village wasn't used to mages. Or maybe they just heard about Fairy Tail's reputation.
And now… they were rushing into their houses, shutting the doors and windows with a slam.
I have a bad feeling about this.
…
"Hello? Anybody there? I'm the mage from Fairy Tail; here to come and beat those stealing bandits!"
My eyebrows furrowed. Suspicious, suspicious…
As I walked further the village, I decided to take a seat on the fountain at the-what could possibly be- the centre of the village, and eat bread.
I sighed. Could the request be a prank? If so, then I probably wouldn't have cared; I would've taken any excuse to get away.
I stood up and walked away from the fountain, when…
A man had snuck up on me and put some sort of cloth on my face, covering on mouth and nose…
Crap! What have I gotten myself into?!
"Boss! We got a good one!" Was the last thing I heard before leaving.
…
…
…
I woke up groaning. My hands were bound in some sort of anti-magic chains and my mouth was completely gagged. I gave myself a loud curse, which was censored because of my gag, not being able to use my voice was one of my, and probably is, my greatest weakness!
I scanned my surroundings: it was dirty, smelly, pitch black dark, and reeks of… Oh no. I realized in horror of what is going on.
No… NO… NO!
I cannot believe what I have gotten myself into! I mentally slapped myself repeatedly.
The door opened, revealing of what could've been my future violator, but it turned out to be…
Gray!
Oh no… am I dreaming? He can't be here! Wait a minute… am I dead? Was I in heaven or hell? I can't tell… but due to the horrible place I'm in, I'm pretty sure I'm in hell.
Oh what did I do wrong to deserve this fate?
"Hatsune!" I saw him flick the switch opening, and then ran towards me. He released the gag on my mouth and cut the chains I was bound to.
"T-thanks…" I felt myself blush and turn away.
Damn. Why does this keep on happening to me? Why can't I be more confident like Juvia? Ugh, no wonder he chose her.
And then… he did the impossible. Ah, no. Unfortunately he didn't kiss me, no. Instead, he hugged me. I felt my face go warm. I imagined my face with the shade of Erza-san's hair. Wow… I look really red… Heh…
"G-gray…" I snapped out of my thoughts as he pulled away from that tight hug. But I was still in his arms… it felt disappointing that he stopped hugging me, but, the hug felt nice. For an Ice-Make mage, he felt pretty warm.
"Hatsune… never do that again." His voice was uneasy… why?
"Do what?" I'm confused.
"You know…" he grabbed my shoulders all of a sudden, was his eyes filled with tears? I couldn't tell, but he was sobbing.
"Ignore me then going on missions… worrying me that I might…" he paused, "…never see you again…" I looked at him blankly; of course he worries about me! We're… it pains me to say it, but we're… nakama.
"I love you Hatsune Angelbeat."
Well THAT shocked me, my entire body went pale and I could've sworn my eyes were so wide they'd budge out of my eye sockets.
Did I just hear that? Those three words? From the guy I've loved since… a week or so after meeting him?
"Hatsune?" He waved a hand in front of my face.
I took a deep breath. He DID say it. I held his hands with a blush. I closed my eyes and replied, "I love you too… Gray Fullbuster."
And then… awkward silence…
…
…
…
So I decided to break the ice, so much for the confession I definitely dreamed about! (TT-TT)
"How did you find me anyway?" I asked.
"Oh, I asked Master Makarov about the mission you were in and I followed you. And then I watched you quietly until you were knocked out. I yelled out your name but were you already out cold, so I had to fight against these huge hordes of bandits while you were being dragged away from me. It wasn't until a couple of hours later I got the location of where you were, so I came here, fought my way through here again, and then I fought the boss, who was coming into this room and then I opened it, to see if you were here… and so you were…"
That was a pretty long explanation… And to be honest, kinda lame and anti-climatic too.
"Does this mean… you're my girlfriend now?" He asked me, blushing.
Gosh, he looks so cute.
With a playful smirk on my face, I winked at him, then turned around and began walking away.
"O-oi! Hatsune! Can you please answer my question?"
And of course, I cut off my Ice Prince with a kiss, answering his question.
…Yes, we did get the reward money, by the way…
And when we got home, we walked in hand-in-hand (Gray gave me a kiss on the cheek to boot!) but were greeted by a flooded guild hall and it didn't take me two guesses to see who caused it.