Painful
- Lucy finds Gray in the arms of another woman, years later they meet again and Gray wonders why she is still hurting.
...
They were young that time. And with youth, comes with stupidity.
But frankly, Lucy found herself a lot smarter than he was.
Because she wasn't stupid enough to throw away the five years they built together down the drain. She wasn't the one who slept with someone who wasn't her lover.
She just turned twenty one that time. She was so busy, and it was eleven days before her college graduation. Busy enough not too pay that much attention to him.
Majoring in Astronomy, she needed to do a lot of work to make sure she graduated. And she had to do a lot more to get into the space program.
Lucy did admit to herself, she was wrong to ignore him for as long as she did. She knew that if he were to do it to her, she'd be really pissed too.
So that night, she decided to make it up to him. She knew how much Gray loved surprises.
She had been ecstatic that day. The dean of her college had just announced which lucky students from the program were accepted as interns in Crocus' palace itself.
Lucy was selected as a junior researcher, who will be under the supervision of Hisui Fiore, the most famous astronomer in the country. Out of the seventy students that had been a part of the Astronomy program, she was one of two lucky students who were selected.
Her hard work had paid off, and she couldn't wait to share the news with her then boyfriend, Gray Fullbuster.
Unlike her, he didn't have much work on his plate. He was majoring in Art, and hard work for him would start after he get his degree.
They were graduating together. And she couldn't help but think he was going to propose to her on their Graduation day.
That night, even if it was a bit too much for her budget, she bought expensive ten year old wine, then ordered some take-out eigh ounced steak from the restaurant Gray loved so much.
When she arrived in front of their apartment building, which they shared together for two years, she couldn't help but sigh. She knew she hasn't been home in a while, and has been sleeping over at a classmate's dormroom which was a lot closer to university.
Gray probably wasn't expecting her to be home too. Which made her surprise even more exciting.
Fishing her keys out of her pocket, being very careful not to drop the bag of food that dangled on her other hand, she opened the apartment door and laid her things in the kitchen counter.
She heard shuffling in the bedroom, which confirmed that Gray was home. Lucy smiled.
She walked slowly, seeing that the bedroom door was slightly opened, she kept hearing shuffling of things and started to wonder whatever he was doing. She pushed the door open further, "Gray, sweetie, guess what-"
The sight that followed left her betrayed.
Gray was under a naked woman, and Lucy must've disturbed their intercourse, considering their position. He looked at her with wide eyes.
"L-Lucy!"
She couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She just stared.
No matter how painful the sight was for her.
Pushing the blue haired woman off of him, he rushed to his girlfriend. "Lucy I-"
"..." Lucy turned around, as if she did not even see her lover with someone else.
"Lucy..." Gray followed behind her. "Lucy please talk to me..."
She finally found her voice. "I got accepted in the palace. I bought wine and everything. I wanted to celebrate with you." She whispered. She stopped at the kitchen counter, where her things laid as she left them.
Her mind went blank after that. She could barely remember what she said, what she did.
But she did remember that the expensive wine she bought that night wasn't opened.
She remembered it on the floor, in pieces. The wine itself was stained on the wall.
And the blue haired girl rushed out of the room, screaming "Gray-sama!", thinking that he might have been dead.
Gray was only looking at her with wide eyes, probably shocked with her violent response.
She didn't remember hearing apologies that day. Or maybe she just didn't bother to listen to Gray's pathetic excuses. When she finally came to, she found herself in front of Levy Mcgarden, her best friend's, apartment, which she shared with Gajeel Redfox.
She had asked Gajeel the favor of retrieving her things from Gray's place, which he did wordlessly, and Levy, being the sweet friend she was, let the poor blonde crash at their guest bedroom until she was good to be on her own again.
As much as she could, she avoided Gray. Even as he tried to approach her in the halls of the university.
And she remembered him being in front of Levy's doorstep, and Gajeel preventing him from getting in.
The next the Lucy had a clear view of him, was at their graduation, when he climbed the stage to get his diploma. It was also the last.
She changed her phone number, blocked him from every social media account she had, and four days after their college graduation, she moved to Crocus.
Where she spent several months trying to move on.
She later came to know that the blue haired girl he cheated on her with was named Juvia. And she was part of the Bay watch at the beach.
She never knew what happened to Gray after that too.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"Lucy, wanna grab some lunch?"
The said blonde glanced at the white haired girl with a smile. "Sure Yukino. I'll just drop these by Loke's office if you don't mind."
"Not at all, I'll meet you at the lobby okay?" After giving the girl a nod, she left the room.
In past three years Lucy had been working in Crocus, she had come to take a liking towards the girl, and Yukino was actually the first one she had as a friend, considering she was the other student accepted as an intern. Though they had been seperated months after the internship started, as Yukino stayed under Hisui's supervision, and Lucy was transferred to another department, they still met up with each other a lot. And for a year, they lived as roommates before Lucy decided to move out.
She knocked on the door, and after hearing a faint 'come in', she opened it and smiled.
Loke Regulus looked up, and Lucy almost laughed to see the miserable look on his face. "Oh, Lucy. Came to pass your latest research?"
"Yup." She approached him and laid the thick file on his desk.
"Do you hate me, Lucy?"
"No, I happen to like you very very much."
"Then why do you keep giving me works thicker than a textbook every two weeks?"
"You know why." Lucy giggled. "I made it easier this time."
"Easy?" Loke repeated. "Make it one page to count it as easy." The man placed his head in his hands and groaned loudly. "You hate me, just admit it."
"I do not Loke." She laughed. "I just... I need this."
"You can just have my job, Lucy, I'll gladly trade with you." He joked. "I'm kidding of course. I know how much becoming a professor means to you."
"I failed last time because I was too busy focusing on finishing my Master's degree. This one's not gonna be the same, I promise you that." Lucy declared.
"Fine fine, I'll give your research a recommendation to the big guys." Loke rolled his eyes.
"And that is why you are the best boss ever!" She gave him a smile. "I have nothing to do later, I'll help you with your work."
"So you could make me focus on your research, smooth Lucy."
"Yes." She laughed again. "Now I have to go and get lunch. I'll see you in half an hour."
"Thanks Lucy."
*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"What is this place?" Lucy asked as soon as they entered the restaurant.
"It just opened two weeks ago. But you wouldn't know that since you locked yourself up in the office." Yukino rolled her eyes at her.
"i did not, 'lock myself up'. I needed to finish my research and I stayed quite late."
"Please, you barely leave the building. If it wasn't for your boyfriend who brings you lunch from time to time, you'd probably be starving."
Lucy blushed at the mention of 'boyfriend'."I wouldn't be. Stop Exaggerating Yukino."
"Hi, welcome to The Strauss! Table for two?" Another white haired woman approached them with a smile.
"Yes please."
"Right this way." The waitress led them to an empty booth. As soon as they were seated, she handed them two menus. "My name's Lisanna, I'll be your waitress for today."
Lucy's eyes almost widened at the amount of food in the menu. "Wow... I do not understand what any of these mean." She looke at the waitress. "What would you recommend?"
"I highly suggest the Chef's platter, its a variety of fish, shrimp, and lobster rolls. You can choose it with fries or salad."
"I'll take that then. And some iced tea please."
"I'll have the Big Baby Burger, with mash potato and side and a lemonade please."
The waitress, Lisanna, scribbled down on her notepad. "Alright. that'll be ten minutes serving time. Please let me know if you need anything else."
Yukino spoke once the waitress left. "How are you two anyway? Doesn't he get angry when you come home too late at night?"
"Who?"
"Your boyfriend, duh?"
"Oh um..." Lucy blushed. "Well, he does scold me sometimes, but he understands how much I want the promotion. And lately he's been working the night shifts so he doesn't really notice that I'm not there sometimes."
"Ah, he's a fireman right?"
"Yeah..."
"How's the relationship so far?"
"Its... new. And I have no idea where its going." She gave a small thank you when Lisanna served their drinks. "He's kinda... weird sometimes."
"Well, its only been four 'll get used to it soon." Yukino took a sip of her lemonade. "Honestly its been three years since Gray. I think its time you put your trust on Natsu."
Lucy blushed even harder at the mention of the name. "I don't even know how you know about the Gray incident. I don't remember being close to you back then."
"We went to the same college Lucy, its not like I didn't know you. Besides, he kept screaming your name in the halls when you passed by after you guys broke up. Everyone knew about it." The girl rolled her eyes. "Are you taking Natsu?"
"Taking him where?"
"The reunion! Did you forget about that?!"
"I didn't forget. I didn't even know we were going to have a reunion!"
"See?!" Yukino exclaimed. "This is the result of staying in the office too much!"
"Oh please. Besides, I don't think I wanna go."
"Is it because Gray might be there? From what I heard, he's not even in the country."
"Really?" Lucy suddenly sounded interested. But then shook her head. "Wait, I don't care."
"Take Natsu with you. If you don't wanna enjoy there with me or Levy, then at least you have him."
"I'll think about it." Yukino fished out her phone from her purse, putting it down after typing a small text. "Oh food's here."
*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Lucy laid on her stomach in bed that night, reading her emails on her phone. She groaned when she saw the notification from a travel agency.
"I can't believe he actually booked me a flight and a hotel room."
FOUR HOURS AGO
"Guess what?!" Loke blurted out suddenly as Lucy was filing papers in his office.
"...What?" She raised a brow in curiosity.
"You get the week off."
She blinked. "Uh... thanks? I don't remember asking for a leave though."
"You didn't. Yukino texted me earlier about your college reunion. I filed your paid leave for you. About time you started using it, instead of saving them up like dollars."
"What? I'm not even attending that. I was planning work on the new constellation next week."
"Nope." Loke shook his head. "You coming to work means I need to go to work. You're going."
"You're using my college reunion as an excuse to slack off on your work?" The blonde crossed her arms. "That's stupid."
"Call it whatever you want, but you're going."
"Loke-"
"No, shut up! You're going even if I have to book your flight for you!"
"Stupid." Lucy rolled her eyes. "This better be paid by his bank account."
"What is?" A voice spoke near her ear. She shrieked and threw the nearest thing she could get her hands off, a pillow. The man caught it with one hand without flinching.
"Natsu what the hell! I didn't hear you come in!" She exclaimed. The pink haired man grinned at her.
"And you're home!" He wrapped his hands around her and swung her around like she weighed nothing. "I missed yah Luce!"
Lucy blushed deep red. "I... I thought you were working the night shift today."
"I was, but Laxus is being punished so he has to take everyone's night shift!" Natsu laughed loudly. He set her down and sat on the bed, grabbing the phone she dropped on it. "So what's this about someone else's bank account?" He asked, swiping through her screen.
"Oh, its nothing important."
"Hm? Why did your boss book you a flight to Magnolia? You doing something behind my back?" He raised a brow at her.
"What? No." She shook her head. "He forced me to take a week off. He heard that my college reunion was next week and practically jumped at the opportunity to have me gone."
"Well you work too hard, babe." He grinned at her. "College reunion huh? Can I come with?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I haven't met any of your friends besides Yukino and that little girl that visited you last month."
"Her name is Levy. And-" Before she could say anything else, the man already stood up, her phone in hand and headed towards her desk, where her laptop rested. He typed away her password and opened a travel site.
"Let's see... on Wednesday and... aha! There we go!" He exclaimed childishly. Lucy couldn't help but smile at how adorable he was. He dialed a number in her phone and spoke, "Hello Erza? Its me Natsu. I think its time I started using those paid time offs I have. One week. Oh come on, I haven't been spent time with my girlfriend in almost a month! Please?" She could see how he pouted. "Thanks Erza! Your the best!"
The blonde approached him and sat on his lap. Natsu looked at her questioningly. "What is it Luce?"
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I haven't been paying attention to you. I'm sorry."
The pinkette gave her a sincere smile and cupped her cheek. "Hey, work's work. We all gotta do a living, its fine. I'm just glad I get to have you for myself for a whole week." He laid a tender kiss on her forehead.
"Yeah... Its just gonna be us for the whole week." Wrapping her hands around his neck, she pulled him closer to her, locking her lips with his soft ones, and him kissing back eagerly. She felt his hands travel and resting on the back of her legs.
Their kisses soon became more and more aggressive, as Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist, and him carrying her and laying her down on the bed.
He broke their sensual kisses and began kissing her neck, earning a moan from his girlfriend. "Luce..." He whispered in her ear. "I want you."
After earning an eager moan from the blonde, he didn't dare to stop.
*.*.*.*.*.*
"I haven't been to Magnolia before!"
"Natsu, calm down." Lucy rolled her eyes. It was as if the lad wasn't throwing up his guts earlier on the ride there. They stopped at the reception desk of the hotel. "Hi, we have a reservation under the name Heartfilia." She told the receptionist.
"Heartfilia?" The girl looked startled. "Oh its you!" she exclaimed.
Lucy blinked at him. "...Excuse me?"
"Don't you remember me?" The girl smirked at her. "Always drunk, always fondling your boobs."
"Oh..." Her eyes widened. "Cana?!"
"Yup! Wow, are you here for the reunion?"
"Well um... yeah. You work here?" Lucy asked. "I honestly thought you'd end up owning a bar..."
"Oh I do. My dad owns this hotel, I run the bar downstairs. I'm just filling in for the girl today." She laughed loudly, then typed into her computer. "You're in the regular guests rooms. But as an old friend and next owner of this hotel (hopefully), I'll upgrade ya to the VIP rooms." She typed away even more.
"Really? Thanks Cana! That's so great of you." Lucy beamed at the brunette.
"Of course. Does Gray know your back?"
"Who's Gray?" It was then the busty brunette took notice of the man behind her.
"Oh..." Lucy trailed off. "Natsu this is Cana. A former classmate of mine. Cana, this is Natsu... my boyfriend."
"Hi!" He waved happily at her.
"Oh... hello." Cana laughed nervously. "Its nice to meet you Natsu." She then looked at Lucy and looked and gave her a card. "Eighth floor, room twenty seven. Leave your bags, I'll have someone bring them up for you." The blonde took it and smiled. "Why don't you two come by the bar later? We can catch up Lucy, and I'd love to get to know you Natsu."
"Sure!" Natsu agreed. "Can't wait." He grinned. He then grabbed Lucy's hand and walked her to the elevator, leaving the brunette alone.
"...Boyfriend, huh?" She sighed. "Gray's gonna be crushed."
*.*.*.*.*.*
As soon as the doors of their hotel room closed, Natsu asked her. "So... who's Gray?"
Lucy froze. "Why do you wanna know?" She slowly asked him back.
"Well you kinda looked weird when that girl mentioned him. I mean, you always look weird but, a lot weirder this time." He shrugged. "Is he someone important?"
"Was." Lucy said.
"Oh. Are you gonna tell me about it?"
"Um..."
"Please?"
Lucy sighed. "He's an ex-boyfriend." She said. "We broke up three years ago."
"Huh..." Natsu nodded and sat on the bed. He gestured for her to sit on his lap, which she did so. "Why'd ya break up?"
"He cheated on me."
Natsu nodded again. His eyes blank.
"Natsu?"
"What?"
"You kinda spaced out there."
"Nope." His hold on her tightened. "I just can't believe there's a jerk who'd betray you like that." He kissed her temple. "I wanna beat him up for hurting you." A kiss on the lips. "And for making it very hard for me to get you to be my girlfriend."
"Natsu!" She pushed him playfully. "Are you serious?"
"Not really." He grinned sheepishly. "But I courted you for two years Luce. Courted."
"And that's what makes you very very special." She kissed him softly on the lips.
"Can we do it?" He asked her suddenly. "I feel very jealous all of a sudden."
"What?" Lucy stifled a laugh.
"Don't you laugh. You weren't a virgin when we met, and now that I know the guy who touched and hurt my princess I am very very annoyed." He glared.
Lucy laughed loud. "Natsu," She said his name between laughs. Suddenly, she found herself forcefully laid down on the bed, with Natsu hovering over her.
"I'll teach you to laugh at me."
"No!" She thrashed, still laughing.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*
"Lucy!" The bloned turned to see a small bundle of blue that was half her size, jumping at her. "You didn't even let me know you were coming back!"
"Hi Levy." She returned the small girl's hug. "I planned to surprise you. Turns out I was the surprised. How'd you know I was here?"
"Cana called me." Levy said, and behind her, Gajeel came close.
"Hello Gajeel, its nice to see you again." She greeted him, eyes softening at the thought of her best friend and her boyfriend still staying strong after all these years.
"Bunny girl." He greeted.
"Ah! A metal face!" Natsu pointed shamelessly, casuing the man to glare.
"What'd you say you salamander looking freak?!" He exclaimed.
"Hey!" Levy remprimanded him.
"Natsu, stop that." Lucy held his arm back. "This is Gajeel, Levy's boyfriend so be nice."
"You're face sucks!"
"Say that again pinky!"
"Its salmon!"
The two ignored their girlfriends and continued to throw each other insults. Levy and Lucy looked at each other and just sighed, letting them go.
"Well, don't they get along?" Cana joked as she arrived with drinks. "Lucy, margeritas still your favourite?"
The blonde took the pink drink. "Yeah, thanks."
"And Levy, the usual, Vodka Cranberry."
"The usual?" Lucy raised a brow. "You drink here often?" She questioned Levy.
"Yeah, sometimes, when me and Gajeel fight, I always end up leaving the house and checking in here for the night. Cana's always here and makes me drink it away." She rolled her eyes.
"And he always ends up picking her up at four in the morning." Cana waves her hand dismissively. "Anyways, how have you and Natsu been together?"
"A little over four months."
"That short?" Cana looked surprised.
"Hear this Cana. He courted her. For two years!"
"Courted? I didn't know that still existed."
"I didn't know you knew the word courted." Lucy scoffed and the brunnette laughed.
"I'm glad you found someone, he seems like a great guy."
"Thanks Cana."
"Well, I can't wait to see Gray's face when he sees you two." The busty brunnette took a shot. "I'll either laugh or pity him."
"Gray? I thought he was out of the country?" Lucy asked.
"No, he's here. He's quite the artist now. Has exhibits here and then" Levy answered her, placing her chin on the palm of her hands.
"I think he's seeing someone again. I saw him last week."
"Ah..." Lucy trailed off. "Well, its nice to know he's... living." Before she knew it, her margarita was finished and she already felt the contents of it in her bladder. "I gotta pee, where's the bathroom Cana?"
Said girl pointed at the back and the blonde excused herself. As soon as Lucy was out of sight, Natsu turned to Levy.
"Hey, Levy." He called out.
"Don't you go addressing my girl so casually pinky!"
Natsu ignored him. "What's this Gray guy like?" The two girls looked at him weirdly.
"Ha?" They said in sync. "You wanna know about Gray?"
"Ah. I only found out about him today."
"He's an artist. He and Lucy dated for like five years. They've been together since high school." Levy thought back. "We all went to the same university and graduated together."
"Hm... What was his relationship like with Luce?"
"You sure you wanna know about that?" Cana raised a brow at him and when he nodded, she continued talking. "Gray's a childhood friend of mine so I know him best. In the beginning, he loved Lucy more than anything, and anyone. To be honest, they were pretty inseperable. He picked her up and dropped her off wherever she went, and he was fucking protective."
"He and Lu-chan looked really happy. Which is why it all came as a shock to us when shit went down with them."
"Hm..." Natsu nodded in understanding.
Gajeel, for the first time that night, talked normally."Bunny girl turned up at our front door. Crying and looking like shit."
"Lu-chan never talked about what happened, but apparently she caught him having sex with another girl in their bedroom." Levy's expression contorted to that of disgust.
"Her name is Juvia, shrimp." Gajeel rolled his eyes at her.
"That girl and Gajeel are in the same fraternity." Cana whispered to Natsu. "Which reminds me, does Lucy know that?"
"She does." The bluenette nodded. "She even doubted Gajeel if he knew about their affair."
"Did you?" Natsu raised a brow at the man.
"Fuck no." Gajeel reached over the table to take one of Cana's vodka shots, earning a glare from the girl. "I only knew Juvia liked him, I didn't actually think she'd sleep with a taken man."
"Hey." Lucy greeted, sitting beside Natsu. "What were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing babe." Natsu drank his beer before planting a kiss on her lips. "Was she as uptight as she is right now in college?"
Cana laughed loudly. "Hell yeah she was!"
Everyone snickered at the blushing girl as she tried to contradict Cana's words.
Thus, the night filled itself with drinking and stories of the past.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Gray looked around the crowd boredly as he took another sip of his rum and cola. He almost choked when a hand hit the back of his head. He glared. "What the fuck, Cana?"
"Why the hell are you drinking such a weak drink?! I taught you better!" She reprimanded him and took his glass, replacing it with whiskey.
"I don't plan on getting drunk Cana. I still have to drive back home."
"Then don't come home. You can crash here, half of the class is." She gestured towards their other batchmates.
Gray just stared at the crowd. Tons of people he no longer recognized, and some he did, but he didn't bother talking to. And on the corner he saw his small group of friends.
"Max and the others are their taking shots." Cana pointed. "Socialize Gray! Just because you're famous now doesn't mean you have to be a buzzkill." She rolled her eyes. "You use to be more fun back in college." She dragged him in the corner.
"Yo, Gray!" Max greeted him. "How ya been?"
"Great." He shrugged. "You look different." He noted, and took a look around the crew. There was Max, Freed, Shelly, Gajeel, and Alzack.
"Did you know Alzack here is fucking married? He knocked Bisca up!" Max laughed. "I saw that coming man."
"Shut Up."
"Gray." The man turned to see another close friend, Lyon Vastia. "Its good to see you."
"You saw me two days ago." He raised a brow.
"Well, you barely said five words to me," Lyon shrugged. "Are you here with Lucy?"
Gray's expression visibly stiffened.
"Oh right." Freed piped up. "I saw her by the pool. I didn't know you guys were still together."
"They're not." Gajeel grunted, pushing a drunken Cana away from him.
"Oh?" Shelly took interest. "I guess the prom king and queen still has the broken relationship huh?" She giggled and flipped her pink hair. "The guy she came with was really hot too."
"He is!" Cana slurred, draping an arm around Gajeel." We were drinking with them the other night! Fucking funny as hell!"
Lyon took a look at his best friend. "You okay there Gray?" he whispered to him.
"Y-Yeah..." He trailed off. "Have you seen Juvia?" Gray asked quietly.
"She's... by the pool, taking a swim."
Gray walked away in a rush, ignoring a following Gajeel. He didn't bother to stop even as the buff man gripped his forearm. "What, Gajeel?"
"You gonna run away?" Gajeel raised his pierced brow. "Not even gonna apologize to bunny girl? Not even gonna explain why you're dating the woman you cheated on her with?"
"...She's not gonna wanna hear me out."
"Have you tried?"
Gray broke his grip roughly. "The fuck do you care Gajeel? Lucy hates me. I don't wanna ruin her night by showing myself to her." He looked down at his shoes.
"...Too late." He heard Gajeel say. Gray looked to the direction he was looking, and he saw it.
The beautiful blonde he betrayed. Staring right at him. He could see her bite her lip, but noticed that her eyes never left his.
"Lu...cy..." He mouthed.
"Gray-sama! There you are!" Gray felt his shirt damp, with arms wrap around him and a pair of lips attach itself to his cheek. "Juvia's been looking for you everywhere!"
"Oi, Juvia." Gajeel warned.
But it was too late.
Gray saw how her eyes widened, the way she clenched her fist, and how a tear escaped her beautiful brown eyes. She glared at him, and turned to walk away, disappearing from his sight.
He didn't feel his legs move, but they did, following where she was going.
"Gray-sama! Where are you going?" He heard Juvia call out. But he didn't care. He continued to rush after his ex-lover.
Juvia glared at the man who held her arm. "Gajeel-kun, let Juvia go."
"I should have stopped you three years ago from ruining a relationship. I can't let you ruin his apology too." Gajeel glared at his blue haired friend.
"She's here?!" She shrieked. "She might steal Gray-sama from Juvia! That love rival!"
"And you were partly the reason whty she was broken in the first place. I assure you, Juvia, she's not gonna steal anything from you the way you did to her."
*.*.*.*.*.*
Lucy couldn't believe it.
She thought she didn't care. But she did, as soon as she saw that blue haired bitch.
Memories of that night flooded her memories. And the hurt she felt returned to her chest. Tears found their way into her eyes again as she choked in a sob.
She continued walking away, finding herself in an empty hall after avoiding the other people.
"Lucy!" She heard Gray call out. Her heart pounded. She didn't want to face him. She couldn't. Soon, she found herself not walking, but running away from man she used to call her boyfriend.
Their chase didn't get very far, as he took hold of her arm, and forced her to stop. She was forced to look at his dark eyes. He looked the same as he did all those years ago.
"Lucy..." He wrapped his arms around her. "I missed you... I..."
Slowly, she felt the fear fade, and be replaced with anger.
"Missed me...?" She faintly said and pushed him away. "You missed me, Gray?" She hissed at him.
"Look... I was wrong. Fucking wrong. It was my mistake! Please hear me out!" He begged her.
"You're damn right it was your mistake! You're damn right you were wrong! Don't you touch me Gray!" She continued to push him away, though losing, as he was stronger than her.
"Look I'm sorry." He said. "I'm so... so sorry. I was wrong. I didn't mean to do it." He held her face. "It only happened once, Lu. Just that one time. I didn't know what I was doing."
She gripped his hand, forcefully take it off her cheeks. "Don't you tell me that you didn't mean to do it. That you didn't know. Because you did! If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have done it in the first place!" She screamed at him.
The two ignored the fact that there was already a crowd forming around them. With Levy, Juvia, Gajeel, Cana,and Natsu at front.
"It only happened once? Fuck that! No matter how many times you did it, you still did it!"
"I'm trying to apologize for it!"
"What's your apology gonna do Gray?! What?!"
"I'm trying to fix it! I'm trying to make things better. Because I know that you're still hurt by that night!"
"Make things better? Fix?" She repeated. "You think you're apology is gonna make me okay?" She slapped him hard on the cheek.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia broke through and arrived at his side, but Gray didn't even glance at her.
Lucy glared at her before looking at Gray straight in the eye. "You think that just because you apologized to me makes me feel alright? Did you even think about how I would feel at all once you said sorry?" She breathed. "The night I caught you fucking this woman isn't what's painful, Gray. That's not what haunted me!" She screamed louder. Silencing Gray, Juvia and the entire crowd. "The nights that I spent crying on my bed, those dark thoughts of myself is the most painful part of all!"
Lucy was now crying. Hard.
"Why was I not enough? Was I no longer attractive to him? Was I no longer worth it? Was I now dispensable? Is it gonna be like this all the time? That is what hurt me Gray! Not the moment I saw you shove your dick in this whore!
"You're right. Its your mistake." She clenched. "My mistake was coming here." Before she turned away, she raised her middle finger at him.
"Fuck you. Fuck you Gray. And you too. For ruining me. I hate you both."
Gray was left speechless as the blonde left that. Juvia was too, looking at the ground, embarassed.
He was too shocked to even notice the fist that connected with his face. He landed on the floor.
"Gray-sama!" Juvia was holding his face in less than a looked up and saw a salmon haired man being held back by Gajeel and Lyon, all the while glaring at him.
"You're the bastard that hurt my Lucy." He spat out with almost venom like voice. He broke free from Gajeel and Lyon's grip and grabbed Gray by the collar. "Don't you come near her, don't you look at her, and don't even fucking think about her. You stay away from my woman." He hissed at him before harshly letting him go and heading the direction the blonde went.
Gray breathed, tears falling from his eyes. Had he fucked up?
No.
He fucked up the moment he let Juvia Lockser in his life three years ago.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*
Natsu found his girlfriend back at their hotel room, sitting on the bed and hugging her knees to her chest.
"Baby..." He softly called out to her, taking her up in his arms.
"I'm not okay Natsu." She sobbed.
"I know. You can cry." He placed kisses all over her tear streaked face. "I'm here princess."
"I'm sorry."
"Hey... calm down okay? You didn't do anything wrong. " He cupped her cheeks and made her look at him. It broke his heart when he saw how much dark emotions she carried in her eyes. "I asked the others about it behind your back. I know. You didn't give him the chance to talk to you. You avoided him all these years, and you left the moment you got tha chance."
"..." Lucy sobbed harder.
"You built up your emotions for years. You holded it in. And the moment you saw him, it just all came loose huh?"
Lucy wrapped her hands around his neck and brought him closer to her, resting her head in his shoulder.
"I'm here, Luce. Always." She heard him say.
"I know."
"Luce." Natsu whispered in her ear.
"...?"
"I love you. So much."