CouchPotato121 here

CouchPotato121 here! Hope you liked the last chapter. I had an inspiring talk with one of my best friends and that was the result. Unfortunately, that was only half of what I wanted to fit in that chapter so the end was kind of sudden and bad. So here is the second half of that chapter in the form of chapter 7. I don't think that there is too much cheese. But tell me if you feel that there is and I will cut it down.

Chapter 7

The Encounter

Gray walked in the door to their apartment only to find Natsu and Lucy asleep on the bed. He immediately walked to the kitchen and plopped the food he got at the store down in the table. Walking back to the door he grabbed the person he walked over with and left, slamming the door behind them.

35 minutes earlier

Gray was paying for the food when he felt a tap on his shoulder. His head snapped up looking around only to find the one person in the world that he really wanted to talk to: Mirajane. His mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged out.

"Mira…! WHAT! What are you doing here?"

"Umm… I was in town?" Mirajane offered. She didn't want to tell Gray that Makarov was worried about them because he hadn't gotten a huge bill yet.

"That's not right. You're not supposed to be here…" Gray said still not grasping that Mirajane was standing in front of him.

"Umm here are your groceries please take then and proceed to the exit." The Clerk said hesitantly, not wanting to make the man go gloom and doom again.

"Yes! Thank you very much. My Gray, this is a lot of food in here. How long are you staying?" Mirajane said taking the bags from the clerk and dragging Gray to the door.

Gray had still not recovered from the shock of seeing Mirajane after twenty minutes of sitting across from her in a café. His eyes were vacant and not seeing, mouth hanging open a bit. Then like a five-ton bag of potatoes falling from the highest point in the sky, it hit him that this was Mirajane. His eyes focused on her sitting across from him smiling a sweet smile. She noticed that he was "regaining consciousness" and talked first.

"How are things going with you three?" She asked trying to make pleasant conversation. She got quite the contrary reaction of what she was hoping. The gloom and doom took over again as he remembered his epiphany that he had in the store. But that did not keep him from taking to Mirajane; he would not waste this time with her. That was unacceptable and he had already wasted more that twenty minutes. Then he tensed as he remembered this morning. He went rigged.

"Natsu and Lucy are back at the apartment we are staying in. Everything was fine." He said leaving a hint for Mirajane to pick up. And being Mirajane she did.

"'Was fine'? Gray, what happened, I hope it wasn't too bad. I mean we didn't get a bill at Fairy Tail." Mirajane said seriously. She had not expected this, that there actually was a problem, maybe two from the looks of it. She watched as gray fought with himself over which thing he was going to tell her first. He made his decision and looked her in the eyes.

"Well, you remember the last job we had altogether? How we got all bruised up by Lucy when she went berserk? Well, this morning we were getting up, and she was in a really bad mood to begin with believe me, so when I took her advice and kicked Natsu to get him out of bed she kind of snapped." Gray said really quickly trying to keep all of the necessary things in and all of the unnecessary things out. He looked at the table.

"Things very quickly got out of hand, but we bound her magic, and then she fainted and has been out for hours. She just woke up before I went at the grocery store." Gray finished in one breath. He looked up to see Mirajane's reaction. She sat there for a moment before speaking.

"This is worse than Makarov thought. He though she would wait longer to make another appearance. Natsu is still with Lucy, right?"

"Yeah"

"Well, from now there is always going to be someone with her at all times, we may need to appoint someone, and we are not to let Lucy get too tired. That seems to be a factor in her appearance. Also I don't want you two to f-"

"We already agreed not to fight in front of Lucy again, that seemed to be when Jasmine would break through." Gray finished.

"Jasmine? That's her name. What does she want?" Mirajane asked more to herself than to Gray.

"She said for us to know what she wants, we would have to fine and ask Igneel." Gray answered waiting to see her expression at the mention of Igneel.

"What? Igneel? This just keeps getting more and more complicated. This might be getting out of hand for just the three of you. Makarov told me that if this 'Jasmine' appears again that I should stay." Mirajane was talking to herself very fast and Gray caught it all.

"You're going to stay?!" Gray exclaimed. This would certainly make it easier for him to bear Natsu and Lucy. Someone to really truly talk to. The tension that made his frame ridged when he talked rolled of his shoulders visibly relaxing. He looked up to Mirajane only to find a shocked look on her face and a small blush coloring her face stretching across her nose from ear to ear. His heart skipped a beat, spluttered, and picked up double time.

'Who knew Mirajane could look so …so … nice with a blush, no, Not nice per-say, but more cute? No, that's not it. Hmm. And what's with my heart? It like stopped to change to a faster gear. Damn, I must have a blush now too. That reminds me.' He ignored his heart as it switched into yet another faster gear when he thought about what the answer to his question would be. Who knew he could get so excited about hearing something personal from Mirajane.

"Mirajane, you remember the conversation we had about what I was feeling? Well, I found out that I was jealous. You said that you felt that same emotion at one point in time. I want to know when and who you were jealous of and why." Gray asked with the evil grin playing at the corners of his lips. The paint can splashed her face again this time hitting her face full on making her become a shade of read so deep that Gray thought her head might explode.

'Mirajane looks so pretty when she's flustered. I have to remember to make her blush full force more often. Maybe, once a day? That sounds good. I don't think I could ever get used to how easily she blushes that taunting red color. Ha! When I see that, I just can't help myself, I just have to tease her. I think cute may be the word after all. But that does not explain it all, there is more than just cute there. I can't put my finger on it. Hmm…'

"Umm, well you see, it…well… um… nice weather we're having?" Mirajane says desperately trying to avoid the question. "Here the sky is so blue, and the clouds look like they are suspended from the sky by strings."

'Haaaa, that was smooth! Great, he is not going to let this go I can tell. Nooo! What do I do?' Mirajane thought, desperately trying to get the attention off that subject. If she told him whom she was jealous of he would figure out that she liked him.

"Nu-uh you are going to tell me, no beating around the bush." Gray said as another evil grin spread across his face, eyes twinkling with mischief.

"How about you tell me how you feel about Lucy. Then I will tell you about…that but you promise not to overreact or anything like that. AND, No laughing!" Mirajane compromised. She watched Gray think this over, and after a minute or so he agreed.

So Gray told her all about his jealousy of Natsu for being so close to Lucy. He also told Mirajane that he had come to this conclusion many times but refused to accept that he was jealous of Natsu!

"Of all of the people in the world, WHY did I have to be jealous of Natsu?! Why?" Gray said in a very dramatic fashion, throwing his arms up in the air only to have them come down to his face and imitate The Scream, then dropped his head as he heard Mirajane giggle at his drama. A small smile graced his lips. He was going to put on a show for Mirajane. So he switched his smile for a pout.

Mirajane POV

I was all too happy to listen to Gray for the rest of the day. I didn't want to move, only listen to his voice that I missed hearing at Fairy Tail.

'Missed was to weak a word,' I mused, 'More like longed to hear his tenor voice echo through Fairy Tail.' I sighed as I watched him talk about it, he was animated and I liked that about him too.

'Come to think about it, there aren't many things that I don't like about Gray. The only thing I can think of is that he likes Lucy.' With my last thought he threw up his hands in the air and did The Scream. I laughed at the obscure gesture Gray just made. I could feel my face heat up a bit as he brought his head back up to look at me. He was pouting. Still staring at me he changed his position at the table. His upper arm was flat against the table and his forearm supported his face. The pout was gone, replaced by a small, warm smile.

'Whoa, That smile! I've never seen that smile before. Never! Not even when he was looking at Lucy. I think my heart just leaped out of my chest, ran a marathon, and hopped back in still beating at marathon speed. I must be blushing magenta right now.'

Gray POV

'This is the first time I can think of that I got to vent about Natsu and Lucy having a deeper connection than just friendship. I know I can trust Mirajane.'

I let a small smile for on my face. I decided to change the way I was sitting. I put my arm on the table and propped my head up with my hand. I looked up at her through my eyelashes, smile still in place. I stared at her, watched as her face became that wonderful red that made her look so innocent and, and I don't know! Dare I say sexy? No, but that was getting closer. Cute, one side of it Sexy the other side. That blush of hers is like a happy medium.

'I made her blush that deep red blush again. Oh man! My heart is just not behaving today. Just when I got it to slow down again I see her face flush and BAM my heart rate goes through the roof. Still though, I can see why. I mean who's wouldn't speed up with that gorgeous look on her face, all flustered and pink.' I couldn't it any more. I had to make conversation or I was going to watch my heart run away and never come back.

"Ok, I told you, now you tell me. I want to know." Smooth huh? Huh? Yeah!

"Umm, I bet that Lucy and Natsu are waiting for the food. I think we should go and deliver the food! Yeah that would be good. I'm a little hungry too. Check Please! Ok Gray lets go and make some food!"

It all happened so fast, one minute she was cornered, in my grasp, cowering in my presence, and the next we were walking up the stairs to the apartment. 'What did I do wrong? God, she's a slippery one. I tell you. Next time she won't get away.

We made it to the floor with our apartment and headed to door number 5. I got the keys out of my pocket.

'Hmm, I actually have my clothes on. Usually they're gone after ten minutes. I wonder why.'

I opened the door and looked around for the two other inhabitants. I didn't see them. I was expecting Natsu to come and bole me over trying to get to some food. I stepped into the apartment getting ready to hold the door open for Mirajane when I saw them. My worst nightmare came true. Natsu was holding Lucy in a very intimate position on the bed. They both looked asleep. I grimaced and felt a slight pang in my chest. So being civil and letting Lucy get some sleep, I went and put the groceries in the kitchen. Without stomping or making any more noise that necessary, I left without saying a word while grabbing Mirajane and leading her back down the stairs.

Once outside the building I began to loose it. Before I was going to say anything to Mirajane, I was going to find a place where I could talk to her without having to restrain myself. I found a park that was empty. It was more like a forest in the middle of town. So, I made my way in there so I could talk to the one person whom I knew would listen and would understand.

Normal POV

"Gray, are you alright? I mean you just saw-"

"I'm fine. Just a little angry at myself. If I had told Natsu to go get the food then I might be in that same position…" Gray left the sentence off there. Mirajane looked at Gray and smiled a sad smile. That last sentence made her feel a like she didn't have a place in his heart at all, that she didn't have a chance at all. But she was glad that she could read Gray. She knew it would be something like this, self-loathing, and not hating Natsu. In her mind, that made him admirable. She watched a look of pure horror cross his face. He looked up and stared at her. She stared back with curiosity, watching again how the lines on his face took a sad shape. Then he spoke, she watched his lips move and almost didn't hear what he said.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that I would have preferred to be with Lucy and not you. I wouldn't have left you to Natsu. I didn't realize what I was saying. I'm sorry."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean? Lucy is the girl that you like right? I see no reason for you to say you're sorry for wanting to be the one who's holding her."

Mirajane was even more confused. 'What is he talking about? I glad that he apologized about the last sentence but the 'preferred to be with Lucy and not you'. I'm so confused. Maybe he doesn't really like Lucy and she is just a crush! It would make sense. I mean who knows what I mean, I don't! But it was nice to hear him say that how would like to spend time with me like this. Maybe if I tell him then he might feel the same way I do but just doesn't realize this yet. That would be amazing.'

Mirajane was still staring at Gray when the meaning behind his words hit him. He looked that the ground and hid his face as much as possible without using his hands. He could not help it when his heart jumped out of his chest and ran away. He could not help that the he was now the one blushing and she was the one who made that happen. Just that thought alone made Gray go even redder than he already was.

'It's a good thing that we are where no one can see us. I would have lost my head! God! What is this? I've never felt this way before. This is like the fluttering is my stomach when I see Lucy, only twenty times more potent! What does this mean? I don't know! Don't ask me!' Gray fought with himself.

He looked up to see Mirajane was wearing a soft innocent smile looking at him in a way that made calmed him down one way and excited in a different way all at the same time. It was as if fire was running through his entire system igniting every cell in his body. He suddenly wanted more than anything to touch her face, give her a huge, anything that would entail touching her in any kind of way. It was a completely new feeling for him. He always thought that Lucy had an effect on him, but now he was starting to doubt that she had any effect on him what so ever. This feeling of wanting to touch her was so strong. It took all of his will power to keep from moving toward her and touching her.

"Thank you Gray. You don't know what that means to me. Ok, Gray I'll tell you whom I was jealous of. I never thought that you were the person that I would tell. I thought that you would forget all about what I said. But I guess I was wrong. Gray, I was jealous of Lucy." Mirajane stopped there waiting for a reaction from Gray. But he didn't move, silently telling her to keep going, to tell him more. So she continued.

"I was jealous of Lucy, for over a month when she first got here. She was spending more time with you and Natsu. I was jealous of that. I wanted to spend that much time with you. At the counter was the only real time I had to talk to you. You had missions that you would tell me about, and I listened to every one, hanging off every word that you said to me, treasuring them. But when you started talking to her more and more and less to me, I started breaking apart from the inside out. I didn't know what I was feeling until I talked to Makarov about the constant pain in my chest. He told me that I was jealous of Lucy. Jealous that she had you all to herself, and that you didn't seem to want to talk to me any more."

She paused again studying Gray's reaction. He was staring at her, mouth hanging open, not saying anything. So she continued again. This time she would finish.

"When I saw how you looked at her, inside I wished that you would look at me like that. When I saw the pain expression on your face after she was with Natsu, I couldn't not help you. I talked to Lucy, but she didn't notice the pained looks that you gave her when you saw them together. Gray, I was jealous of Lucy because she was the only thing you would talk about, look at, and I wanted you to look at me, talk about me, and maybe spend time with me outside of Fairy Tail. Gray, you mean more to me than even my brother. You know that that is saying a lot, but you have more of my heat than you know, and I just wish that I had just as much from yours."

Mirajane stopped there. She was done and it was all up to Gray now, whether to accept her love or not. She was ready for Gray's decision. She stood there, not at all embarrassed, but shaking, staring him straight in the eye. The answer she got was more than she thought she would get.

Gray had never in a million year thought he would hear this from her. Just listening to her made him feel things he never though possible. There was joy, sadness, regret, excitement, and so many others that he could only place as real feeling for her. He looked at Mirajane and saw her shaking. That was all it took for him to loose his hold on the want that was racking his body when he saw her. He walked forward, not wasting any time on thinking. He was past that and so was Mirajane. He put his arms around her waist pulled her in, pressed her close, and lifted her off the ground, holding her closer than he had ever held anyone before. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck and pull closer to him resting her head on his shoulder. Gray took advantage of the new position and whispered into her ear.

"While you were talking, I remembered that you were always there for me, no matter what. Through my ranting about Natsu, and my moping about Lucy, you were there. While you were talking about how much you wanted to have a part of my heart, you have no idea what that did to me. I have never felt this way about anyone in my entire life. The things I felt for Lucy pale in comparison for what I feel for you. Without even knowing it, you have made your way into my heart and much more. I have to say that after what you just told me, you are my heart."

There was silence for a long time, but to Gray it felt like a second. Still holding her off the ground he felt when she started crying. Gray could now feel tears through his shirt. But that was not what caught him off guard. Mirajane suddenly started laughing. He set her down without relinquishing his hold on her and gave her a quizzical look. She looked at him and answered his silent question.

"I feel sorry for Lucy. You and I are more in tune with our emotions. But when it comes to Natsu, She is going to have a hard time. In the long run, we are lucky. I have to say that I'm looking forward to how things between Natsu and Lucy work out." With that thought, I let our hug go until we were holding hands.

"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they wake up to find us staring at them." Gray finished with and evil grin. They proceeded to head back to the apartment, talking about how they were going to have to change the sleeping arrangements.

CouchPotato121 here! Longest chapter yet! (dabs sweat off of face) I can't decide and I want the reviewers to help me. Should I write another Fairy Tale Fic or a Naruto one? I have an idea that can go both ways. Which one should I do?

Please review with your answer.