Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me but to Hiro Mashima

Gray and Erza's conversation

Erza was walking into the back of the guild where the pool was. She had come to the guild early and decided to have some fresh air. It was still 5 in the morning and the guild was very quiet. They had yet another party last night, for what reason she did not know. Well, the guild throwing random party was usual anyway. Because of the party, they all had come home very late last night so most of them were still in bed at this hour. Not even Mira, who always tended the bar and usually arrived earliest than all of them, was present. The reason Erza came early in the morning because she and her team (Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, Happy, and Charle) had picked a job last night. The job required them to go on morning train (much to Natsu's dismay) to the neighboring town. They all had promised to meet in the back of the guild. Erza found one of her teammates already there before her, sitting on one of the lounge chairs on the edge of the pool.

"Gray?"

The ice mage turned to see Erza and greeted her. "Yo Erza. Morning."

"Good morning. Where are the others?"

"Haven't arrived. I was the first one here."

"Can't be helped. Let's wait for them" Erza said and sat on the lounge chair next to the one Gray was sitting on. She looked at the pool, watching the still water. Seeing the water, it reminded her about something. She turned to Gray. "By the way, how is it between you and Juvia?"

Gray blushed and turned away from her. "What is it all of a sudden?"

"I'm just curious." When Gray still looked away she added. "You know Gray, I'm your friend. If you have a problem, you can always confide in me. I'm not a love expert, but I have experienced love in my live and I know how it feels to be confused of your feelings."

Gray looked at Erza and sighed. "Well, since I can't hide anything from you, might as well tell you everything." Erza smiled and Gray continued.

"Well to be honest, you're right. I'm confused about my feelings. I already know about her feelings for me. I just don't know how I feel about her. Do I care for her only as a comrade, or as somthing more. True, she always do her best at anything I ask her to do, and she can be very obsessive. That part of her scares me a little. That's why I keep rejecting her. But there are times that I felt guilty for rejecting her. Like when she made me a shawl at the anniversary of Ul's death. I thought I went too far, so I searched for that shawl and took it anyway."

"Yeah, I saw you wearing it that day."

"What?! You saw me?!"

Erza chuckled. "Yeah. That's when I thought that you're actually not as bothered as you looked like for all her attempts to gain your affection." Erza smiled. "So you actually like her?"

Gray was quiet for a while. He looked down, too embarrassed to look at Erza and see her expression, especially about what he was about to say. "I can't say precisely about that. But... what I know is I care about her very much. I don't want to hurt her or see her sad. I want to protect her. That's all." He looked up to see Erza's expression at his near confession for Juvia. A knowing grin on her face and mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Her expression then softened and was pretty much looked like a mother who just realized that her son was growing up. "Don't look at me like that!" he almost shouted.

"Yo! Erza, Gray, morning!" They turned their heads and saw Natsu walking toward them.

"Oh Natsu, good morning. Where's Happy?"

"Fetching Lucy, Charle and Wendy. What are you talking about before I came? I heard the ice princess shout."

"Oh, Gray just confessed to me about his feelings for..." Erza was cut by Gray who covered her mouth with his hands, all the while blushing.

Gray leaned his head close to Erza's, still cupped her mouth. "Are you intending to tell my secret to the most open-mouthed person in Fairy Tail?" he whispered, still blushing. Erza, he could trust her to keep his secret but not Natsu. No one could tell Natsu a secret because it would be out and spread around Magnolia the next day.

Erza chuckled. "Relax Gray. I'm just kidding."

"Hey! What is it that you talking about?" Natsu called.

"None of your business flame-head. It's only between me and Erza."

"What did you say you ice princess? What exactly are you talking about that you have to keep it from me?"

"We're only talking about relationship okay, so shut up.

Natsu however, interpreted it a different way. Erza said that Gray had just confessed to her about his feelings. And now the two of them were leaning their faces so close to each other. Gray said that they're talking about relationship. Could it be... Before he could think about more, Happy, Lucy, Wendy and Charle came.

"Sorry we're late. We're all overslept" Lucy said.

"It's okay. The party last night was quiet exhausting" Erza replied.

"It's rare that Natsu come before Lucy."

"What's that mean?!"

"That means you're the one who is always late flame-head."

"Enough you two. Let's hurry. We have to catch the train."

At the mention of train, Natsu forgot about everything, including the whole Gray and Erza thing, and could only sulked. He remembered it after they finished the mission.

They were walking back to the guild from the train station. Gray walked close to Erza and once again, leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear. "About what we talked about this morning, don't tell anyone about it okay. Especially Juvia.

Erza smirked. "Sure. But you have to confess to her sooner or later." Gray blushed and looked away. Natsu, who was walking in front of them and saw everything, started to remember about his speculation about Gray and Erza's relationship. His face turned serious and pondering.

"What's wrong Natsu? You've been very quiet" Happy asked.

Lucy, who heard Happy, started to look at Natsu. "Yeah, you never said anything since we left the train station."

"Do you still feel sick?" Wendy asked him, referring to his motion sickness. Now Charle also looked interested.

"No it's not the motion sickness" Natsu replied. He looked back at Erza and Gray. Erza was teasing a blushing Gray about something. "Listen, I'm going to tell you about something, but don't let the two behind us hear it." The two girls and the two exceeds nodded.

Natsu looked back at the two first before saying "Tell you what, I think Gray and Erza are dating."

~~~0~~~

And just like that. The next day, the rumor of Gray and Erza "dating" had spread through Fairy Tail like wild fire. Now, it became the hot topic conversation in the guild. Everyone had been talking, "discussing" about it.

"I can't believe it. I thought Erza liked Jellal!" Lucy said disbelievingly.

"Maybe she got tired of him always keeping his distance from her" Levy suggested.

"But why Gray of all people?" Warren asked.

"They're in the same team and they're childhood friends. It's natural for Erza to finally fall for him" Max said.

"Um, according to Natsu-san, it was Gray-san who confessed to her" Wendy informed.

"What?! Seriously?!" the whole guild said in shock.

"Gray is a good man. Confessing to a woman is so manly!" Elfman shouted.

"Oh it was so cute! I can't wait for the wedding" Mira said dreamily. Everyone sweatdropped at the siblings.

"Why does Gray go for someone like Erza though?" Lisanna wondered. Everyone also pondered over this.

"Could it be..." Lucy said. Everyone turned their attention to her.

"What is it Lu-chan?" Levy asked.

"Could it be... Gray is a masochist?"

Everyone was silent after that. For a moment, no one said anything, until Wakaba's exclamation "It could be!"

Now everyone, with the idea of Gray being a masochist imprinted in their mind, was talking (discussing) again.

"Gray is a masochist. I can't believe it."

"So all those times, he purposely got into a fight so he could be beaten by her?"

"That means he actually like it?"

"I bet he enjoys it!"

"That's gross!"

In the heat discussion about Gray and Erza's relationship, everyone had forgotten about Fairy Tail's water mage. Juvia was sitting in the corner, in fetal position, sulking. She buried her head in between her knees. She had heard about the rumor this morning, and felt really sad and heart-broken. She was oddly quiet though. It's almost like she had given up. She knew that if Gray and Erza really were dating, she had no chance. Erza was more beautiful and way stronger too. She was no match for her. "Perhaps... just perhaps... it is okay. After all Erza-san was a nice and kind person and if it makes Gray-sama happy, then Juvia's happy... Oh, but it still hurt!"

Cana was the first one realizing Juvia's state. "That's right! Juvia must be really sad. Oh, why is it that nobody notices her? Poor girl." Cana walked toward Juvia and sat next to her. Juvia, who finally noticed her, looked up at her.

"Now, don't be too sad. It's just a rumor. Who knows? Maybe it's just a misunderstanding." Oh, she didn't know how right she was.

Juvia, still refused to get her hopes up, said "Maybe, but what if it's true? If it is, then Juvia...Juvia... Juvia will just give up over Gray-sama. Because Juvia is no match for Erza-san."

Cana looked pitifully at the girl. But before she could talk further, the aforementioned ice mage and female knight came through the guild's door. Everyone stopped their conversation and suddenly, it became very quiet. You can even hear the crows from the distance. Everyone just stared at Gray and Erza.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Gray asked.

"Nothing!" they said unison.

Gray frowned and Erza raised an eyebrow. "Anyway Gray, there's something I want to talk to you about. It's about yesterday morning's conversation."

Gray flinched and blushed. He let himself be dragged by Erza to the back of the guild. They didn't notice that everyone's eyes were on them. When they disappeared behind the door that connected to the backyard, the guild resumed their conversation about their relationship.

"So it's true then!"

"They really are together!"

"You saw that too right? Gray's blushing."

"Oh, that was cute."

It only put a damper to Juvia's spirit even more. Cana looked pitifully at the girl. "You want me to talk to him?"

"Hah?" Juvia looked up at her.

"Talk to Gray. We have to try."

"Juvia's not sure."

"Oh, come on! It can be just a misunderstanding. Let me talk to Gray. We will talk in the guild's sleeping quarter. You will stay behind the door and listen to what he say while I talk to him."

Juvia thought about it for a while. Perhaps... perhaps it was just misunderstanding. She then nodded. "Thank you Cana-san. I'm counting on you."

Hi, I'm Scarlet and Azure. I'm new. I don't even know if this story is good enough to read because this is my first story. I'm here not only to unleash my imagination but also to improve my English. Feel free to give me any advise about grammar or about the story. So please review.