OH, DEAR READERS! HOW I'VE MISSED YOU AND THIS STORY!
So yeah, I'm not dead, nor am I giving this story up. I just lost some inspiration (which is weird, since I wrote a lot of this chapter over a year ago. I've been anticipating it forever!) and the last month and a half have been crazy. I made some life decisions, and long story short, I know what I want to do when I grow up! Yay~

Anyhoo, this is lovely chapter 11, which is a long one. I love this point in the story probably more than any other point, because we see Erza open up for the first time, and her relationship with Gray changes. I won't spoil anything else for you. :) But when I began to write this story (which is over a year old now, whoop whoop!) this was one of the first chapters I worked on. I still don't feel 100% satisfied with it. I feel that this scene is too beautiful for me to convey in the words I used, but I tried my best.

On another note (GrayZa fans will enjoy this note), I've pretty much given up on the manga. I honestly don't care which pairing becomes cannon. I'll always love Gray and Erza together, and no manga chapters will ever change that! I can still dream! They're cannon in my head. :D

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm posting today since it's the day of love, lol. (It's still Valentine's Day where I am. Only for like another hour but oh well.)

On yet another note (yeah, I know you want me to shut up already, bear with me) if you've read my story Butterflies and Mutual Density, you'll recognize the first scene of this chapter. :D

ENJOY!
-RD :)


13th Street

Chapter Eleven: Autumn's Glory

.x.x.x.

The sound of the knocking rebounded through Lucy's apartment. She poked her head out of the bathroom and poked it back in to finish her hair for the morning.

"Coming, Erza!" Lucy called as she fixed her blonde locks. Upon opening the door, she gasped. "Natsu? What are you doing here?" The only person she would expect a visit from in the morning was her next door neighbor. This was certainly a surprise; whether it was pleasant or not, Lucy wasn't sure.

"Came by before work," he mumbled, taking a good look at her place, which he hadn't seen in a while. "Got any breakfast?" Lucy rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen. Natsu, closing the door behind him, walked over to where she was pouring cereal and peeped over her shoulder.

"You know, you could just get breakfast on the way to work," chided the girl as she handed him the bowl. "There are plenty of restaurants on 13th Street."

"Yeah, but none of them are as fun to come to."

She couldn't help but crack a smile.

Gray took a hand out of his pocket… and quickly stuffed it back in. Sure, this was the address Natsu gave him, right next door to Lucy's at that. But he still felt nervous just showing up at Erza's house. Maybe he should have called. Wait, that would be a bad idea; he didn't even have her number, and if he got it, she would have interrogated him as to how. He could have told her at work, but he didn't. He had said ten the day before, but what if she forgot? Gray figured that it couldn't be helped. After all, it was he who said she was too uptight, who said he would teach her how to have fun, so any consequence suffered from knocking on her door was entirely his fault.

As nervous as he was, he knocked on the door. Nothing happened for about a minute, but soon the redhead came out, wearing nothing but a blue bathrobe.

"E-Erza!" Gray stuttered, surprised to see her in so little. She gave no reply but glared at him and slammed the door in his face.

That went well.

It was another twenty minutes before she came out again. In that time, Gray had sat on the floor next to her apartment door, gotten strange looks from two women walking down the hall, and had his toes stepped on by one of the women's toddler. After plenty of waiting, Erza once again opened the door, which was a relief to Gray - he had begun to wonder if she planned to open it again at all. This time, instead of a bathrobe, she wore a red plaid shirt, brown jacket with fur in the hood, and jeans. That was also a relief to Gray.

"You ready?" he asked. She didn't respond, but headed for the elevator, which he took as a "yes." After they had gotten outside, they walked to the parking garage, where Gray's car was located. Erza ran a hand across the metal - it was a couple shades darker than her hair. She stepped inside the car and settled into the passenger's seat. Gray cast her a happy look as they pulled out of the garage, but Erza looked away.

She was not happy.

Sure, she had made the bet, and sure, she had lost it. But that meant in no way that she actually had to have fun, even if that was Gray's intention. She planned to pretty much stay angry at him all day, which didn't sound too hard, considering that she was angry at him most of the time. She was going to have a bad day, and so was he, hopefully.

Erza frowned and looked out the window. "Why do you want me to do this, anyway?" she asked, trying to sound bored.

"Because you're going to die old and alone if you don't learn to have fun," replied Gray. She expected to see him smirking at her, but instead his expression was serious. The redhead snorted.

"Whatever."

They didn't drive far. Soon the duo wound up at the park beside their college. Gray got out of the car and opened the back seat to get out a soccer ball. "Wanna play?"

"Sure," Erza replied with a shrug. As soon as she had agreed, Gray tore off for a nearby open field. "Hey! Wait up!" yelled the redhead as she began to chase after him.

"Can't catch me, Scarlet?" He began to run backwards so he was facing her. She angrily tried to catch up, not at all happy about the fact that he was teasing her. Soon, they were in the field, and Gray ran about ten feet past her. "Hey, stay over there!" Erza obliged, not minding at all that she got to stop running.

He placed the ball on the ground and kicked it towards her. She stopped it and kicked it back. After about a minute, the kicking got more intense. After two minutes, Gray had just gotten the ball past her and "scored a goal."

"Whoo! Look at that! Fullbuster!" he yelled, doing a miniature celebration move. Erza took this opportunity to kick the ball right past him, scoring her own goal.

"Gray."

"Yeah?"

"Look behind you." He turned around to see the ball kicked past him.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Gray yelled. Erza shook her head, a smirk on her face.

"You never established the rules." Gray grinned, realizing that, unbeknownst to herself, Erza was getting the hang of fun. She was beginning to enjoy herself, even if she didn't want to.

Of course, if he told her all that, it would ruin everything.

"Bring it on, Scarlet!"

After what was probably a good hour of soccer, the two set out for lunch because Gray had heard Erza's stomach growl and then broken into hysterical laughter. All that running had them tired, but it was their fault after all - they each had an insane competitive streak. Erza had narrowly pulled out on top, but Gray said it was only because he had been "going easy on her." Even though that was highly probable, since he had a soccer scholarship to Magnolia University, Erza blew his explanation off and said he was weak.

They walked to a nearby Chick-fil-A at Gray's suggestion. As they walked in, Erza dug out her wallet and stared at it. She didn't have much on her, and paychecks at Fairy Tail wouldn't go out for another week. She almost smacked herself in the face for not having thought about food earlier.

Meanwhile, Gray had already walked up to the counter. "I want a chicken sandwich with large fries, and a spicy chicken sandwich for the fire-hair girl over there," he said, jabbing a finger in her direction.

"Gray," Erza began, coming up behind him.

"Come on, you know you want it," he said with a smirk. Erza looked at the man behind the counter and gave him a shaky smile.

"Excuse us for a minute." She yanked Gray by the jacket a few feet away and leaned in to whisper, "Gray, I don't have a lot of money on me, and I really can't afford-"

"Don't worry," he assured her, a smile on his face. "It's on me."

Erza sighed. "Gray-"

"No buts. I dragged you out here in the first place, so the least I can do is pay for your lunch." He went back to the counter and began to order their food. Erza could feel the heat rushing to her face, but shook her head. This was ridiculous…

…But if he really wanted to pay for it, was she going to complain?

Erza stared out the window at the people passing by on the street. She had nothing better to do; the only other thing to do would be converse with Gray, and that was certainly not better than looking at the street. When she turned to take another bite of her sandwich, she found Gray staring at her.

"Uh, um…" he began, awkwardness so thick you could cut it with a knife. "What's up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sitting in a Chick-fil-A with you. What did you expect?"

He shrugged. "Just trying to make small talk." Erza rolled her eyes. "I'm having fun. You?"

"What do you think?" she snapped before getting up from her seat and throwing away her trash, save her drink. All of a sudden, she didn't have an appetite anymore. She felt bad about throwing away a third of the sandwich Gray had bought for her, but she convinced herself not to care. Erza walked from the restaurant and began to walk in the direction of the park. Gray scrambled after her moments later, half a chicken sandwich hanging out of his mouth.

Once back at the park, Gray wanted to do something active again, but Erza, still sipping on her lemonade, decided to sit down on a park bench and leave Gray to his own devices.

Apparently, his own devices meant he was going to walk on top of a wall that separated the park from the football field of their college campus.

Erza's eyes widened as he made his way along the precarious wall. "Get down from there!"

"Seriously, I'll be fine!" he yelled back. "You're supposed to relax and have fun, remember?" At this point, Gray's foot slipped and he wobbled uneasily before falling with a scream.

"Gray!" Erza shot up, ran around the railing, and got down on her knees beside her fallen companion, who was lying flat on his back, slightly dazed. "Man, you really are an idiot," she softly laughed as she pushed her red hair out of her face.

All of a sudden, Erza felt herself being yanked down to the ground by the arm. She let out a small cry as she hit a pile of brightly colored leaves.

Gray laughed as she threw leaves at his face in frustration. He picked up a few and threw them back at her, watching them get tangled in her hair.

"Ugh, you!" Erza gave him a shove in the chest, giggling a little herself.

After the laughter died down, a silence fell over the two, and they froze for a moment, exploring each other's eyes.

Erza stood to her feet and dusted off her jacket.

"We should get going." Gray nodded as he pushed himself up.

Erza began to walk away from him and back to her lemonade, which she had left on the bench. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened back there - there was some kind of fluttering in her chest, and it felt odd… and kind of happy.

She didn't like it one bit.

Erza picked up the cup and went who knows where, leaving Gray to scramble after her. He had realized, even though he was supposed to be leading this expedition, he was doing a great deal of following. A smirk slowly made its way to his face as he laughed and shook his head.

"You really make no sense, Erza."

That was what was said as Gray seated himself next to the redhead on another bench. Erza had wandered aimlessly in an attempt to get away from him, and in the process, she wound up on a hill that overlooked all the park and their campus. Eventually, she had given up. There was no getting rid of this guy.

"Half the time you act like you hate my guts, half the time you act like you wanna be my friend, and half the time you just ignore me," Gray continued when she said nothing in reply.

"That's three halves."

"What?"

"You said half three times. There are only two halves in a whole."

Gray stared at his fingers and counted. "Ah, you're right. But I think there are three halves because it's usually a combination of those things." He leaned back on the seat. "You have like, a split personality. It'd be so much easier for me if you just picked one."

"Ignoring you sounds pretty good," she mumbled, placing her chin in her hand.

"Then why aren't you ignoring me now?"

Era looked up at him, eyes flashing with confusion. A couple seconds later when Gray let out a chuckle, she hit him for it.

"You're horrible." He laughed some more and stuck his hands in his pockets as a silence fell over them.

"Are you going to Lucy's Thursday?"

"For Thanksgiving?" she asked. "Uh, yeah. You?"

"Yeah," Gray said with a small shrug. "I have nothing better to do. My family decided to go on vacation to California for the holiday, so I have no one to visit."

"Oh," Erza replied as she began to play with her fingers.

"What's wrong? You look nervous."

"I… I don't like parties," was all she said.

Gray tried not to laugh. "It's not really a party. Lucy only invited like, three people. You, me, and Natsu."

"That's going to be a disaster."

"No kidding." Gray looked at the girl next to him. She avoided his gaze, instead staring out at the sky, which was beginning to have shades of orange and purple in it. Could it really be that late? Gray figured he had lost track of time. And now, since it was the end of November, the sun would set earlier, too.

"Why don't you like parties?"

Erza sighed. "Parties and I have a bad history."

"Care to explain?"

I, uh…" Gray nodded. He understood if she didn't want to talk. He was about to stand up when she blurted out, "My thirteenth birthday was the worst. When I blew my candles out, one of them fell over, and the cake- What? What is it?"

Gray had taken a good look at the girl beside him… and laughed. She had always been Miss No-Nonsense, tougher than steel, stricter than most. But seeing her in this new light was refreshing - this was a side he was sure very few people had ever seen.

"First you yell at me, then you ignore me, and now you tell me the sad story of your thirteenth birthday. Man, you are complex."

Erza sighed. "I don't understand you."

He shrugged. "Are you supposed to?"

Letting go another heavy breath, she replied, "I guess not." She stared out at the sun as it set, beginning to lose herself in shades of orange and pink.

"It's not like I understand you either."

"Huh?" She was broken from her trance by his voice and confusedly turned to face Gray.

"You're always by yourself. You don't have any real friends, other than Lucy, and you're bossy and demanding and really tough-"

"I'm alone because I don't feel comfortable around others. Lucy is just really nice, and I'm lucky to have her. And besides…"

"What?"

"I'm not all that tough." She paused for a few seconds. "I guess I… shut away the part of me that needs other people. It's just- Wait a second, why am I telling you all this?" she yelled as she shot up to her feet. Gray had to be the last person on the planet to whom she wanted to open up. Why was it so easy for her to talk to him, even though she wanted to stab him half the time?

"Because I'm willing to listen." Erza looked at Gray, his trademark smug smile on his face. She slightly laughed and looked down at her feet.

"I really don't understand you."

Gray chuckled. "You're not supposed to, remember? Unless the powerful ice-queen Erza is that interested in me. I'd be so flattered," he teased. She gave him a shove on the shoulder before sitting back down. And then, the two just sat there for who knows how long, both enjoying each other's company without needing to voice it. After a while, Erza broke the silence.

"Thanks for listening. It was… nice." Gray gave the girl beside him a questioning look. Not once in his life could he remember Erza thanking him for anything. Not the Jeff incident, not for helping her get out of trouble afterwards, not for anything. In fact, Gray was so stunned he hardly knew what to say.

After all that time, he finally got a "thank you."

"…No problem... Erza, can you do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Quit acting like I don't exist." Gray stood up, offering Erza a hand up. "I think I'd rather be yelled at than ignored."

The smallest of smirks came to Erza's lips. "I think I can deal with that." She took his hand and heaved herself up. "It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah." It was dark by then. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

While they walked back to Gray's car, Erza rubbed her hands together and reminded herself that it was November after all and it made sense for it to be cold. Why in the world had she not brought a heavier jacket? She didn't want to seem vulnerable - especially near Gray, who had already seen her in a vulnerable state a handful of times that day.

"You cold?" he asked. She cringed. Just what she needed: his attention.

"Nope!" Erza lied, looking down at her hands, which she was still rubbing together. "I am fine."

"Gosh, you are the worst liar on the planet."

"Hey!" she yelled before she felt him drape something warm around her.

"Don't freeze to death, alright?" Gray asked, giving her one of his lopsided grins. "You could've just said you were cold."

Erza pulled his black jacket around herself. "I wasn't cold. But… this is nice." He chuckled softly.

"Come here."

"What?" Before she could get an answer, Gray's arm was around her shoulder, pulling her toward his body. His hand rubbed her arm, generating some warmth. "Gray, what are you doing?" she asked, feeling anger well up in her.

"Warming you." Erza resisted the urge to punch that smirk right off his face.

"Aren't you cold?"

"I grew up in Minnesota. This," he said, gesturing to the surrounding area. "Is nothing."

"Let go of me. Now."

"Then at least keep the jacket on."

"Fine," Erza mumbled. The jacket was actually really nice, and… WAIT! What was she thinking? This was Gray, her former worst enemy and now kinda-sorta friend, and she was showing him her soft side! AGAIN! This was absolutely ridiculous!

All the way back to the Richardson Plaza, Erza dwelled on her odd behavior. She couldn't be this way. She couldn't-

"You know, you're not half bad, Scarlet."

"You are, though." He shot her a glare, and she held back a laugh.

As they came to a stop, Gray said, "Get out of my car."

"Glad to," came her reply as she opened the door. Despite the harsh-sounding words, there were small, playful smirks on both of their faces, evidence of a friendly bond that had not been there previously.

"See you around, Erza."

"Bye, Gray." Erza turned to face her building as Gray's car pulled off. She sighed and began to walk towards the front doors.

"Alright," she thought. "You won. I did have fun. But only a little. And you shouldn't expect more of this! You just… You got lucky today, Gray Fullbuster!"


Whee~ I hope you liked it! I have some time off from school this week, so I'll get cracking on the next chapter. Also, this chapter concludes Part One of the story. There are four parts. Not all of them are the same in length, but it's the four stages of Gray and Erza's relationship. We now move into the friendship stage. Hallelujah. She won't ignore him all the time now! If you thought the day was short, this takes place in the northeastern United States. After daylight savungs ends, you can often see sunsets at four in the afternoon, and it can be dark by five.

HeartGold12 - Sorry to make you wait so long!
HanaIchi Ikari - lol xD
Gerkyhen - I'm glad you think it's funny! *feels accomplished*
AkixYuseiGRL - Gray wants to show her how to have fun. He thinks she's too serious for someone their age and she needs to loosen up. :)
Avatarfan444 - Yeah, the teachers are still going heavy on the projects. ARG! School xP
AngelKnightKaoru - Yeah, she's going to have a positive role in the story. I see the sibling bond too.
lil'chrome-chan - I hope this is enough GrayZa to make up for the wait!
Kishin Rei - Haha, I try :)
xXWhiteRose13Xx - BWAHAHA! I'm glad I did! That made my day, really. :)
rycky - Hopefully I can keep it interesting!
AnimeLover1885 - Sorry it wasn't soon, hehe
claudeath17 - Thank you!
eileene - Not much NaLu in this one, but there will be in chapters to come~
RednBlack Fever - Oh, yes! GrayZa~
Atlas - Thanks :)
Yin005 - Here it is xD
fufi - :)
misuzu - GrayZa is the best!
haruharuna48 - I hope to be updating more soon. :) Thank you!