A/N: My first incredibly short chapter. Sorry! The next one will be long I promise! I'll have it out with my other two fics. I just haven't finished editing it yet and I got impatient so I posted this first.

Shoutout to the reviewers! Absolute-ZERO999, CANNONBALL (Guest), Guest 2, Leonardo the Hedgehog, That Awesome Indian Girl, and PinkKoala213! And thanks to all the new follows and faves! I never knew how much strangers could make me feel so happy :'D

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Anyways, as usual, let me know what you think in the review section! (if there's anything worth talking about in this short chapter that is...)

Faking and Loving

Chapter 9

Erza placed her fingers on Gray's lips, rendering him speechless and staring at her in shock. "Shut up." She whispered, leaning close to his face. She stood up slightly on her tippy toes to get closer.

"E-Erza...w-what are you -"

What the fuck was happening?! Gray screamed in his head. His heartbeat accelerated, almost leaping out of his chest. He hadn't felt this flustered in a long time.

Calm down, calm down...it's just Erza...calm down...

The scarlet-haired girl had already brought her face close to Gray's, her warm hands splayed out on his slightly cool cheeks, her breath fanning on his in small huffs. Gray couldn't help but close his eyes and braced himself.

A few seconds passed and Gray came to find out that Erza was not aiming for his lips but for his ears. "Plan failure." She whispered to him, her breath fanned lightly at the side of his face.

His eyes that were closed popped open. "What?!"

She flicked his forehead. "Don't shout in my ears, stripper." She gently pushed him away, leaving him speechless for a few seconds.

"Why would you –" He began. Erza looked at him confused. He lightly coughed and covered his mouth in attempt to force down the blush creeping up his cheeks. "– I thought you were gonna kiss me or some shit like that."

Erza smirked. "Oh? Were you hoping for it?"

"N-NO!"

"Relax, didn't I tell you there would be no kissing?"

"Then why?" He asked after calming down a bit, the heat on his cheeks finally gone.

Erza's face became serious. It was normal for her to have this sort of expression, Gray thought. "Remember when you told me that every time you tried to kiss your girlfriends on school grounds something bad always happened that basically interrupted you? Something bad that happened to the girl in particular at that moment?"

Gray became uncomfortable at Erza's mention of his past girlfriends. He wasn't sure why. "Yeah." His girlfriends always panicked at the last second for some strange reason.

"Well, I thought maybe the person who gave me the note might be the same person who's done the sabotaging all this time. And I was testing whether that person was still around here. Maybe they're watching our every move."

"But nothing's happened to you when you were about to kiss me." Gray said.

"True. So maybe this note wasn't sent just now. That person isn't around here. I thought I could've caught them somehow if they pulled off something while I tried to kiss you."

"Then we should pretend doing it public. That should get more of a reaction." There wasn't anyone around at the moment, as it was long past the time when everyone was done with after school activities and it was time to go home.

"Okay. But there is still the possibility that there is more than one person that's doing it." Erza said.

"What?!"

"The person giving these notes could be different from the person who likes sabotaging you in the middle of your make-out session."

"Hey! I don't…make out in public…" He said lamely.

Erza snorted. "Public or not, you did it when your stalker was watching. I'll investigate these notes first. The handwriting looks the same though, but who knows? I could be dealing with more than just one jealous fangirl."

Gray looked at the scarlet-haired girl, unable to keep the concern off his face. "You'll…be okay right?"

The redhead smiled at his awkward attempt at caring. It wasn't this way before. There was still that awkwardness lingering the two of them, and Erza knew that if she wanted her friend back, she would need to work hard. "What's the worst that could happen? I always am okay anyway, right?"

"Right." Gray couldn't help but smile back.

"Lu-chan! We're going karaoke after school, you wanna come with?" Levy asked, her two best friends Jet and Droy loyally by her side.

"Ah, sorry! I uh…I have to go meet up with someone. Bye!" Lucy replied in a hurry. She was out the door in an instant.

Lucy buzzed through the hallways and finally arrived at class 2-B. She sighed disappointedly as there was no one in the classroom.

Looks like I can't speak with her today, Lucy thought.

Just when she thought that, as she exited the main gates of Fairy Academy, she saw the person she had been looking for, who was currently walking towards the nearest bus stop.

"Juvia!" She shouted, loud enough for said person to turn around to see the blond running up to her.

"Lucy-san?"

The blond panted heavily as she faced the blue-haired girl. "H-Hey!" She greeted.

God, she was never much of a runner.

Juvia wore a frown. "What does Lucy-san want with Juvia?"

She didn't call me love rival. Weird.

Lucy gave a nervous smile. "Are you doing anything? Uh…I wanted to ask you to hang out with me!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Hang out?"

"Well, actually I wanted to talk to you. I could treat you to something if you want." Lucy tried to convince.

"Why is Lucy-san talking to Juvia?"

Lucy scratched the back of her neck. "I was worried about you, I guess. You've been away from school for two days."

"Two days isn't anything to worry about."

It is since you skipped school right after Gray got a girlfriend, she thought. "Look, I heard you were sick, and I just…I wanted to confirm you're okay. Since you haven't…well, you haven't been talking to me lately."

Juvia looked down. "You mean Juvia hasn't been annoying you about staying away from Gray-sama lately." She said.

Lucy laughed nervously. "Yeah, well, there's that too. I mean, are you -"

"Juvia is not okay."

"Eh?"

"Gray-sama has a girlfriend, but it is not Juvia. Juvia has failed again." She said, her voice on the verge of cracking.

"Juvia…" Lucy looked at her sadly.

Her sobs were more apparent now. "When will Juvia be worthy of Gray-sama?" She cried out, her voice louder than it was before.

People were starting to look towards their direction, and Lucy was openly panicking. She grabbed onto Juvia and said loudly to her, "Let's get out of here, okay?"

Juvia nodded, her face was still down, unable to look up.

Somewhere private…Lucy thought. I'll just take her to the dorms. Juvia doesn't live in the dorms does she?

Lucy thought she had determined what to do, but then she kicked herself mentally.

I can't bring her to my room, Lucy thought, feeling stupid, I share a room with Erza, her real rival in love for God sakes!

As she hugged the blue-haired girl on the side of the street near the bus stop, she quickly pulled out her phone. Levy was out going karaoke she supposed, Lisanna who shared a room with her usually stayed at the dorms after school. She had to call someone who was usually out till nightfall.

She dialed the number. "Cana, I need to borrow your room."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Jellal?"

"Yes."

"But you don't need to go so far as to -"

"- Just this once, I want to do something for myself."

"What brought this on all of a sudden? Just a few days ago you were moping that she -"

"I know. But it's different now. I've already decided. I can't hesitate anymore."

"Look, I know I convinced you to go after her but...you have to be ready."

"I've been ready for two years. If she wants to reject me the second time, I'll have to accept it..."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No, but I have to make sure."

"Make sure of what?"

"That she still loves me."

"Just...don't expect too much. She's got a boyfriend after all."

"I know. Just one chance."

"Don't pretend to be a dick like last time. Even if her boyfriend is with her."

"I'll try."