Quick Note; I'm sorry this took so long, last week was pretty hectic. I hope you all like it :)

Chapter 10 – Meeting

Gray POV

It had been nearly a week since me and Natsu had our date. The very next morning I had awoke at quite an early time, only to find I couldn't get back to sleep; I was still excited that we had agreed to be boyfriends. As the day wore on, however, me and Natsu found it very difficult to have any time together that wasn't us arguing. This was mainly, or mostly, just an act to stop people from noticing any change in our behavior, however some of the time Natsu was just too much of an idiot not to piss me off. What made matters worse was that I had forgotten about my promise to Lucy, so I had to spend the next two days on a job with her instead of Natsu, much to the pinkette's dismay. Stupid Lucy…

On returning I found out from Mira that Natsu had went on a job and when I asked her when he'd be back she said it would take about three days, two days travelling and one day at the town where the client lived. I had sighed and wandered off to my apartment, where I now spent my time today as well. In total me and Natsu had spent next to no time together despite our new relationship status and that made me feel… deflated, or maybe annoyed.

Today, just like yesterday, I sat on my apartment sofa, staring at the town through the largest window as I lost myself to thought. It was only supposed to be another few hours before Natsu returned and I really just wanted to spend some time together with him, preferably alone. "What should I do? He was the one who was supposed to plan the next date, we agreed on that. So I probably shouldn't try to surprise him with one, he might get a bit annoyed" I said aloud, nothing but the cold walls to hear me. I sighed once more. Boredom ate away at me and by 12PM I needed to do something.

"Natsu wouldn't be back for another couple of hours so… I think I'll go do some training in peace and quiet in the woods. There's no point moping around here every time he's not around" I resolved, getting my shirt, which had, at some point I do not know when, been discarded at the intersection between my general living space and the front door. Once that was on my upper body I unlocked my door and exited my apartment.

As I walked through the town I felt a sudden relaxation overcome my body as I realised that, despite everything being the same, everything, or at least mostly everything, that I worried about had changed. I've finally got Natsu, and the guild's back together, and I can go on jobs and do what I want without having to worry about any other problems. I thought happily as I strolled through the brightly lit streets. My apartment wasn't far from the guild, and I could have stopped off there to see if anything interesting was going on, however I felt more like heading west, out towards the woodland hills that fringed Magnolia town on most sides. The streets were busy as usual, full of people who had come to the market, or even a few magic enthusiasts who had come to see the 'real' Fairy Tail. Since the Grand Magic Games had begun all those years ago, wizard guilds across Fiore had to deal with a new problem that had never really been seen beforehand. The problem of fans. Every day there would be one crowd of screaming girls, and one of annoying younger boys, all gathering in the streets around their favorite wizard guilds just to see their 'hero', much to the annoyance of wizards everywhere. Right now I did not want to have to deal with any annoying brats that had come to see me, so I avoided every major street that even loosely led towards the guild. "I wonder how Natsu would feel if there was any of those fangirls trying anything on me. I mean… I would feel kinda jealous, but I wouldn't do anything just in case people realise what's going on" I said in a whispered tone to myself. Images of an equally as jealous Natsu filled my head, rampaging through the crowd to save me from my fans popped into my head. I had to suppress a chuckle at both how sweet and how cute Natsu would look doing that; on top of his usual awesomeness, of course.

After a little bit of quiet walking I eventually reached the forest, heading deeper within I found the clearing I often trained at. I knew Natsu would train here too from time to time, the scorch marks on trees, indented boughs, and broken branches all signs of his physical training regimen. I used to come here to watch him sometimes, hopefully in secret, however if he ever did find me, which was not an overly rare occurrence thanks to his sense of smell, I used to just pass it off that I was training too. He would often let me off the hook and we would often end up brawling it out as a form of practice fighting instead of arguing about it, however thinking about it now as I let my magic flow to my fingertips I wondered if Natsu had only let me off because of his feelings; he had admitted he'd had them for a while after all. There's a few things I need to ask him I thought as I allowed my magic to cause an icy mist to rise around me. "Ice Make…" I began, stopping as I suddenly drew a blank at what to create. This was rare for me, but not unheard of, especially when I was training or distracted. The spell fizzled and I had to take a deep breath to steady myself; the thoughts about Natsu had put me off so I decided to set them aside for the time being. Once more I tried again, "Ice Make; Dummy" I commanded, ice instantly flowing forth to form a training dummy. This was a spell I used often, mostly just as target practice, although from time to time I had conjured them in order to compete with Natsu in a variety of ways, including seeing who could destroy the most the quickest. I conjured up a few more dummies, so that a total of six stood motionless against me. Once that was done I focused my mind a lot more; the next spell I wanted to use needed some work to make sure it could be focused onto a single enemy rather than a large area.

After a moment I focused my power to my Devil Slayer magic, tattoo on my arm throbbing with a reassuring burst of energy in response. It took a little time, I only wanted to destroy one dummy, not all of them like it would normally. The purple ice exploded forth as I flicked my wrist out, destroying four of the dummies and freezing a good amount of foliage behind. "Damn it!" I cursed, "Looks like I still need some practice". I sighed as I allowed the ice to retract again, observing the damage I had done to the forest; it wasn't that bad, only a few broken trees and maybe a bush or two… and some insects… and the ground was all cracked… and a small amount of tiny rabbits were frozen, they were alive, but dazed. Once the ice disappeared the rabbits bounded off, their home destroyed. "I really need to be careful using that around here" I noted aloud. As a little confidence boost I also noted that nothing had really been totally destroyed, and I hadn't damaged all of the dummies. "Right… now let's try something that won't completely piss me off" I said to no one in particular, assuming my Ice Make stance, "Ice Make; Lance" I said, as tendrils of ice shot forth, hitting and destroying one of the two remaining dummies. After that I smirked, no matter how badly I failed with other magic's it always reassured me to know I had my trusty Ice Maker magic to fall back on. "One more time then, Ice Ma-" I said, stopping as a crackling sound, followed by a bright flash of lightning whizzed past my shoulder. In an instant the other ice dummy was reduced to a smoldering scorch mark on the floor. "What the fuck was that?!" I exclaimed suddenly, turning to see where the strike had come from. Since it was lightning magic I had assumed it was probably Laxus, or maybe Erza in her Lightning Empress armor, however I was even more intrigued by the figure standing on the branch of a tree directly behind me.

"Ahoy Graaaaaay" Walter said, grinning. The Requip mage was wearing a dark blue suit, with white shirt and matching dark blue trousers and waistcoat, however he also wore bright yellow gloves, that had a silver lightning bolt pattern around each finger. "Did I scare you?" he mocked. I snorted derisively.

"Not so much scared as nearly fucking killed, you trigger happy maniac" I retorted. Walter shrugged and then shook his head.

"I wasn't aiming for you per say… but it was interesting to see how close I could get the lightning to go without hitting you and still destroy your little figure" Walter explained with an amused tone. I walked over to the tree he was standing in and hit it hard, shaking it somewhat. In a blur of motion Walter was standing behind me, tapping my shoulder. "That wasn't very nice. I just wanted to see how you were doing since you haven't been around the guild very much recently" the dark haired wizard said. "Plus…" he cocked his head slightly, "I wanted to know how you got on with Natsuuuuu" he stressed the fire mages name annoyingly. I wanted to hit him so badly, but found I couldn't. Despite his short time at Fairy Tail he had accustomed himself well, and now it felt like he too was part of the family.

I sighed and went to sit down at the very tree I had just tried to knock the Requip mage out of. Walter stood looking at me, eyes dancing with inner laughter; clearly he liked winning what he wanted, especially, it would seem, if that was some private information. "Natsu and me are together… sort of" I said to Walter, watching his reaction carefully. He nodded, motioning for me to go on. "We had a date, it was nice, we kissed, I walked him back to his house, and then we agreed to be boyfriends" I added. Walter clapped his hands briefly.

"Good for you. Just what you wanted, eh?" he said enthusiastically. I smiled slightly, seeing Walter happy for me made me feel a little happier in myself too.

"I suppose, it's just…" I stopped. Walter cocked his head, before taking a step closer to me.

"What's the matter?" he asked, I looked up at him, but before I could speak he laughed. "Oh, I get it… you've just agreed to be boyfriends and then you get to spend no time together. Am I right?" he analysed. I frowned momentarily. Damn it, he can read people so easily. Is there no privacy around this guy? I thought.

"Yeah… of course that's my problem. I mean… I really like Natsu, but it really sucks that we can't be a couple together all the time, I've got to hide my feelings in the guild, act like nothing's changed…" I said. Walter nodded, a small flash of light as he requipped to plain, dark blue gloves.

"I get it. But… don't you want to tell Natsu this, I know he's an idiot… totally clueless, but I also bet that if he knew you felt this way then he'd leap at the chance to make it up to you" Walter said casually, before striding out a little way away from me. I looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"You're right Walter, I should tell Natsu, but… I just need to think right now. I was training to take my mind off of it, but I guess it can't be helped. I'll talk to Natsu when he gets back" I resolved. Walter nodded once more, arms folded.

"That's the spirit, Devil Boy. Now… as for your training, how about we spar a little? I want to fight something and you need some practice with that purple ice" Walter said. I got up and went to stand facing off against him. The brunette grinned as I smirked at him.

"Just because you've helped me a bit doesn't mean I will go easy on ya" I stated. Walter bowed and laughed amusedly.

"Did you forget that even Erza couldn't beat me? And that was when I was using a fraction of my power" Walter boasted. I shrugged.

"I could beat you if I really wanted to" I retorted calmly, although I noted that he was indeed a strong opponent. But is he as strong, or as fierce, as Natsu?

"Come at me then, oh high and mighty Devil Slayer" Walter taunted, body getting into a fighting stance. I laughed, before throwing out a few ice attacks; I wasn't going to let him get away with calling me that, even if he had helped me yet again.

/

We sparred for a while, each being unable to gain the upper hand on the other. "Ice Make; Lance" I commanded, sending icy spikes forth to strike at Walter, who was pinned against a tree. He grinned wickedly, the deep blue gloves he had requipped to earlier glowed faintly, an icy aura around them. "I've told you this a thousand times" he said as he dodged the attack, "My Lord of the Ocean Gauntlets prevent any water based attack from besting me. That includes your ice". I swung an arm out, sending devil ice forth to attempt to freeze the dark haired wizard. He shook his head, clicking his fingers to spew forth a torrent of scolding water that blocked the ice with ease. "That's pathetic, I thought demons were strong" Walter commented. "But now I'm not so sure. I think it's time to end this".

"Yeah, and I'll be the winner" I stated, breathing a little raggedly from the exercise; Walter really was a difficult opponent to get the upper hand on, no wonder he could hold his own against Erza.

Walter tutted, wiggling his finger at me. "Don't tell lies, everyone knows I'll be victorious" Walter boasted. I pouted and assumed another fighting stance, ready to block and counter whatever he threw at me. Walter shrugged and glowed brightly. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Requip" he said, whole suit changing this time. It was the first time I had seen him do it, and it surprised me, throwing me off guard a little as he emerged from the spell wearing a jet black suit with metallic black epaulettes and metal gauntlets. "This you should be familiar with, it's my Jet Black Armor, it holds the same properties as the Black Wing Armor, one Miss Scarlet uses, but with a hell of a lot more style" he grinned as he raised his arms, weapons appearing in each protected hand. "And these are the Heart Seeker Guns. I think you can guess what their power is" he added, eyes narrowing down the twin barrels of his newly formed black guns, each with a heart and arrow symbol apparent on their handles. "I'll win now I think" he said as he fired off a shot from each weapon.

"Not yet, Ice Make; Shield" I commanded, wall of ice forming to protect me.

"I think so" Walter said, now behind me with one gun pressed to my back. I sighed and held my hands up.

"So you really are a pain in the ass, but at least you're a good fighter" I said, feeling Walter's gun pressed against my back. Walter chuckled.

"Now you're telling the truth. I am a good fighter, and I am also a better mage than you" he said, removing his weapons and allowing them to be sent back to where they came from, "Don't get me wrong though, you're powerful, it's just I've had a lot of practice in one on one fighting and also my Swift magic coupled with my Requip is just too well played together" Walter added as I turned to see him grinning, still wearing his black suit.

"You're fucking cocky, you know that. Too cocky" I commented, moving to rest against a nearby tree. Although I didn't want to admit it I had expected I'd lose against him, although it was some pretty good training. Walter bowed.

"You're too kind. Now… I had a reason for coming here earlier, and I do apologise for delaying, however I had a message to give you" I gave him a questioning glance, he seemed serious so I let him continue. "There's going to be some big meeting tomorrow between a couple of the guilds. Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale will all be there. Before you ask, I called it to discuss the very matter I came to Fairy Tail. I hope the other guilds will help out so we can deal with the other targets me and the Triplet Code were sent here to get rid of and then we can be out of your guild" Walter explained. I nodded.

"Okay, that makes sense, but why did you want to tell me that?" I asked, confused.

Walter smirked. "Two reasons. One; your guild is the host for this little meeting, and also you and a few others are the only ones privileged with the reasons for us being here. And two; You, Natsu, Erza, Laxus and Lucy will be going on a little trip with me in the not-too-far future. That clear things up?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. What sort of trip though?" I asked. Walter laughed.

"If I tell you that now it wouldn't be a surprise" he said, before checking his watch, "Oh… its getting a little late for what I had planned later, guess I gotta leave ya here then… and is that… oooooh… I think you've got a special someone waiting for you" Walter said, tapping the side of his nose. I cocked my head, but before I could ask 'who' he bowed out. "See ya later" he said, vanishing in a blur of movement.

"What the-?!" I said, startled by his disappearance. "Damn him, guess he meant Natsu though… I better get a shower and head to the guild then" I decided, glancing briefly at the area me and Walter had fought in. There were a few bullet holes here and there, and a little bit of damage from my ice (besides that caused by my earlier training) but it was otherwise fine. I figured it'd be okay so I left it and headed back to my apartment in Magnolia, my thoughts pondering who Walter had meant was waiting for me, as well as a few thoughts about what I had agreed with him. I gotta tell Natsu that I want to spend time with him… and that I want to go a bit further with him, maybe…

As I neared my apartment I stopped in my tracks. Sitting with their back against my front door, smiling warmly at me was the very mage I had been thinking so intently about. Natsu chuckled a little as I approached once more, pink hair sticking out at angles, framing that perfect, adorable face. "Hey Gray" he greeted cheerfully. So it was Natsu I thought as I smiled back,

"Hey Natsu, you're back" I greeted him, equally as happy. Let's just hope he stays this happy when I tell him what I agreed to… I thought hopefully.

/

Natsu POV

I saw, or more accurately smelled, Gray approaching. My nose twitched at the scent, easily detected despite all the others smells around me. I lifted my head up from where it had been resting against his door as I felt him get closer. Once he was within sight I smiled, happy to see him despite only being away for a very short time. What is wrong, I've spent much longer than a couple of days away from him before, how come I always wanted to see him when I was away? I thought as the raven haired Ice mage shot me a smile. "Hey Gray" I called out to greet him, voice as happy as ever.

"Hey Natsu, you're back" Gray replied, moving up towards me. I stood up to greet him, folding my arms and chuckling as he came up close to me.

"I know I am" I stated, in response to his own statement of the obvious. Gray shook his head, as if to shrug off my comment. Once he was within arm's reach he stopped and rubbed the back of his head, somewhat apologetically.

"Oh yeah… sorry but I was training, didn't think you'd be back yet. Were you waiting long?" Gray said, a little embarrassment in his tone. That's so cute I thought, grinning. An idea popped into my head to see just how apologetic he could be. I nodded at Gray, as if to say it was no problem, and he laughed a little as he shuffled a little closer to me. Taking his new position to my advantage I raised my arm, which, judging from his expression, Gray seemed to think was to pull him into a kiss. I let him think this as my outstretched hand reach up to him, and hit him lightly on the side of the head. "Oi… what was that for?" Gray exclaimed. I grinned wickedly.

"For being an idiot and making me wait. I hate waiting" I replied matter-of-factly, grinning wider as Gray melted from a look of shocked surprise. Gray sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"I really am sorry Natsu… I wanted to wait for you when you got to the guild… but it was so boring without you and well…" his shoulders slumped even more as he sighed.

"I missed you too" I said cheerily. Gray looked up, our eyes meeting. His expression told me he was checking to see if I was serious so I decided to do the only thing I could think of. I pulled him into a short, sweet kiss. As I pulled him away from me I could tell he was relieved, relieved and happy. "Do you want me to wait at the guild? Or…" My eyes gestured to the door behind me. Gray shook his head and fumbled around to produce his keys.

"I don't want to make you wait any longer…" he said, moving to be near to the lock. I smiled, inner self humming contentedly; this wasn't the first time I'd have been to Gray's apartment, however it still felt oddly special to go in there now, given our new relationship. He unlocked the door and then gestured for me to precede him in entering.

/

Once we were inside Gray relocked the door quickly, before placing the keys on a table beside the door. I wandered a little into his apartment, scenting everything around me a little more carefully than I had in previous visits. I could hear Gray move behind me, and soon I felt his chest pressed to my back, his head resting on my shoulder. "I really did miss you, you know" he said candidly. I turned my head slightly to see his raven hair resting beside my face.

"You should, I'm great" I said cockily. I could feel Gray sigh into my shoulder.

"Shut up, flame brain" he groaned, moving away a little so I could turn and face him. I sent him a cocky grin, before he kissed me lightly. "I was just training so I wanted to take a shower before coming to see you, but…" he stopped.

I cocked my head. "So what, take one now, I don't mind. I'll just wait here" I said, confused as to what was tripping Gray up; this wasn't the first time he'd left me alone in his apartment whilst he'd went to shower. Gray nodded.

"Alright, as long as you don't mind… I just felt like we should do something since we… since we haven't spent much time together" Gray said, eyes looking downwards. I smiled, realising that he must have been feeling like this whilst I was away and immediately I regret leaving him to go on that job with Happy, Wendy and Carla. I reached out once more and Gray leapt back a pace.

I laughed at his reaction. "I wasn't going to hit you this time Gray, I was just going to tell you to stop being so stupid… I get that we haven't been together much since… well since out date… and I guess you've thought about this too since I've been away on that three-day job" I said. Gray looked at me skeptically.

"Too? Were you thinking about it?" Gray inquired. I blushed and nodded abruptly.

"Well… kinda… Walter sort of asked how it was going with you and then he… mentioned something about not seeing us together besides when we were arguing in the guild" I stated. Gray narrowed his eyes at me. "What's wrong?"

"When I was training Walter came to see me too. He asked me the same thing, little bastard… he knew how I felt" Gray said, voice flat. I chuckled.

"He's been playing us both then" I said, I admit there was a little anger in me, but also a little gratitude at knowing he was looking out for us; he had set us up after all.

Gray laughed and shrugged. "I guess… I'll take a quick shower and then how about we go get something to eat, not a date or anything, just… lunch?" he said. I nodded.

"I like lunch, although it's a little late" I replied.

"Fine, call it supper if you want. Whilst were out why don't we discuss something we can do to show our appreciation for all Walter's help" Gray said. I nodded.

"Sounds great, we need to get him back for this" I replied, grinning evilly as Gray wandered off to take a shower. Once he was gone I jumped down onto his sofa, taking in the delicious scent of Gray around me. I really just want to stay with Gray here, but eating with him again, even supper, would be really nice too… I thought as I allowed my mind to jumped to a few more interesting images of Gray in the shower. I wonder if he'd let me join him? I thought, grinning at the prospect.

The thought was both incredibly tantalizing and also very difficult to remove.

/

Blake POV, later that night

I ran from roof top to roof top, the shadows of the darkened night around me as my cloak. I headed towards the east side of Magnolia, towards the agreed meeting point. I reached the border of the town quickly, a few minutes early for the other member had not joined us yet. Cyrus joined me after another minute.

"Factor, we're two minutes and thirty-seven seconds early" he pointed out, replacing his pocket watch into his suit jacket pocket. I signed him out a quick apology, it had been my choice to taken the more scenic roof path. "Just make sure we arrive on time. This meeting between the guilds needs to go perfectly if we want our own plans to succeed" Cyrus added. I nodded as I heard a noise coming up the path.

"I know Rogue, but they're supposedly from the council… I can't go pissing them off by refusing, can I?" A voice said, whiney. Not long after the blond it belonged to appeared. Cyrus and me faced him, and his companion behind. "Oh… are you…?" Sting Eucliffe asked us, finger moving between us, asking us to confirm our identities.

We both bowed. "Yes, Master Eucliffe. I am Cyrus, and this is Blake, we are two of the Triplet Code. We were sent to escort you to your hotel for this evening, and on the way we will explain why it is we called you, in brief. The full details will be given tomorrow" Cyrus said.

I gave another curt nod. Sting looked to each of us for a moment before nodding. "Alright, maybe you can explain why it is I'm here?" he said. Rogue remained quiet, observing us both carefully. If Walter had been here this may have been a friendlier encounter, however Cyrus was incapable of such an act. He was just too stone faced and formal.

Cyrus nodded in acceptance. "I will, although the full details will have to wait until tomorrow, this way if you please. He turned to have Sting fall into step beside us. I remained at the side of Rogue, despite his analytical glare.

"I'd heard of you guys as being some awesome fighting group, is there going to be a fight or something?" Sting asked as we walked. I sighed; I'd known Sting admired Natsu, it was in his profile, but I hadn't expected him to be so annoyingly similar. Not that he would bother me for very long, I had other things to prepare for tomorrow whilst Walter and Cyrus kept the guilds busy.

"I don't trust you" Rogue said as we walked. I looked to him and smiled. Yeah, I probably wouldn't trust us either… oh well, by tomorrow it'll be too late to stop the next stage of the plan. I hope Function's ready, because by the next evening there'll be war.

Chapter 10 End

Next Chapter; Wheels and Cogs