WEIRDO BLABBS: FINALLY! Some free time! Sorry, guys. Anyway, this is just to break that cloud of gloom around this story… I felt I owe it this much.

NOTE: Most of the songs in this fanfic might be just poems I whipped up. But if I do use real songs, I will make sure to give credit accordingly so please do not sue me!


-CHAPTER FORTY-SIX-
Where we change the definition of group study.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

"Graaaay!"

Ignore it…

Tok! Tok! Tok!

"Gray, come here, damn it!"

Ignore it… If you ignore it, she'll think you didn't hear and she'll eventually stop

Tok! Tok! Tok!

"GRAY FULLBUSTER, IF YOU DO NOT COME DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, I WILL EXTEND YOUR SUSPENSION TWO MONTHS!"

The leader immediately plugged off his earphones and scurried out of his room in his sweatpants and white fitting top, occasionally slipping by his socks on the wooden floor as he ran past the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, the smell of something burning wafted right under his nose and he hurried even faster towards Erza's voice.

His heart raced at the sight of Erza in the kitchen.

Erza. In the kitchen. Cooking.

"Holy bananas, Erza!" the boy snapped. The pot over the stove was overflowing with green bubbles and the bottom of the pan was black as charcoal. Gray immediately swooped at the pot with a pot holder, turned off the fire and opened the lid. A thick smoke came from the bubbling liquid of the pot and it burnt the singer's eyes. "What is this?!"

"I was trying to fix a soup," the scarlet-haired woman answered indignantly.

"Didn't you follow the instructions in the cook book?"

"It was untrustworthy and out of date," she snapped, "So I tried to improvise…"

"Erza, the last time you tried to improvise when cooking, you almost killed someone!"

"And you are implying what?!"

Tok! Tok! Tok!

"Just get the door," Gray said, his back at her (otherwise, he wouldn't have the courage to tell her off). He, then, tied his hair into a ponytail and threw the contents of the pot out to make a fresh pot of soup. When he figured that the pot had been burnt beyond repair, he also threw the pot into the trash bin and took a smaller one from the cabinet above the sink.

Never leaver Erza alone in the kitchen again, he mentally noted.

Well, thinking about it now, it was his fault that she'd started cooking. He and the two other Fairy Tail members were expecting guests because semi-finals were coming up and they planned to study as a group with Lisanna, Levy and Lucy. Though Gray wasn't sure why first years had been invited over, when they had different lessons to study.

Gray wasn't worried about semi-finals, though. Since hehad been suspended, he had more than enough time to write up two songs, study his lessons, practice with Jellal and befriend Gajeel's peculiarly scarred cat named Pantherlily (Natsu's blue cat, Happy, was more friendly). His two dormmates, however, didn't have much time on their hands between schedules, class and training.

Maybe I should be thankful about this suspension, after all, he thought to himself as he put the pot over the fire now and started to slice and dice ingredients.

"So you're making a fresh pot?" he heard Erza say flatly as she climbed down the stairs from the entryway.

"Yes," he said, keeping his eyes on the knife. He didn't want to look at Erza at the moment, who knows how deadly a stare she would give him if he did?

All of a sudden, two red heads caught his attention and he looked at the edge of the table just long enough to catch two pairs of wide, curious eyes stare at him—examining, pondering.

Gray blinked. The two blinked back simultaneously at him.

He, then, smiled and crouched down to fling two running red headed boys over his shoulders.

"Senpai!" the two chorused. Gemi and Mini were excited and one could tell, as they practically clung to Gray's strong torso for dear life.

"I'm sorry… I had to bring them or else they won't leave my room," a girl said. Gray turned to see that it was Lucy—blonde and blue-eyed—wearing a green t-shirt and cropped jeans. "They were… um… rummaging in my underwear compartment."

Gray blushed and almost dropped the twins. "You didn't have to say that," he said under a pretend chuckle. Of all the topics to talk about upon meeting Lucy for the first time since the party three days ago, they had to talk about her underwear. It doesn't exactly do anything good to a teenager with raging hormones.

She smiled.

He smiled back.

And Erza was looking back and forth at the two of them, bored.

"Gray, aren't you going to invite her in? In the living room, perhaps?" Erza finally said when the two had stared at each other for a minute too long.

"R-Right!" he said and shook his head. "Follow me."

Gray turned by his heel, twins in his arms still, and led Lucy five steps down from the kitchen to the living room below. There, Happy and Pantherlily were napping on the couch.

"And Erza," the boy reminded, "don't touch the soup."


Natsu, Gajeel, Lisanna and Levy arrived with Jellal about half past six. The group had a very fun dinner at seven and it ended at eight thirty when Erza and Jellal took Gemi and Mini home so that the high schoolers could concentrate on their study.

According to the itinerary in Gray's mind, he would have one hour to study Math, thirty minutes to study English, then the rest of the night to re-read fifteen chapters of History. Since the exam was still two days away, he could study the subjects separately instead of studying them all in one night and risk information overload.

However now, around the living room floor at nine in the evening (when he was supposedly halfway finished through Math), he wondered why he and his 'gang' were in a circle, notes, books and pens disregarded, with an empty bottle at the middle, the mouth pointing to Lisanna.

He now guessed that the definition of group study had been changed; and this probably added to the declining quality of education.

"Guys, we should really be studying," Levy suggested. She was now cuddling Pantherlily in her arms like a baby.

"I agree with Levy," Gray nodded. "If Erza catches us doing this instead of our studies, she'll probably tell on us."

Natsu scoffed. "Oh, lighten up, you two. This is just an icebreaker… You know? To get us ready for activities."

"Gajeel, Lucy, you guys aren't in on this, are you?" the blue-haired girl asked, looking on both her sides where the two sat.

"Lisanna," Lucy said, straightening her back, "truth or dare?" ("I'll take that as a 'yes'," Levy whispered and looked at Gray).

"Truth," Lisanna chirped. Apparently, she was into the game, too.

"Who was your first crush—ever?" the blonde asked. At this, Natsu's head turned to the girl beside him who slightly leaned back in embarrassment.

"Well," she coughed and looked around shyly, "I had a huge crush on…" she breathed deeply and took a pause as if she wasn't going to say 'Natsu', "I had a huge crush on… Fried-san…"

Everyone's heads turned to Lisanna, even Pantherlily's and Happy's (who was on Lucy's lap). Natsu's eyes were particularly wide at this announcement—they were wide enough to fit billiard balls into them like in Tom and Jerry.

"Fried?" Natsu asked loudly, "Mira's Fried?!"

"Well… He's good-looking and mysterious so… Well, you can't help but like a guy like that—"

"I agree… Fried-san does look very good and he's just so dreamy," Levy commented, leaning in. This conversation was turning into quite the disturbing one for Gajeel ("I wonder exactly what dreamy means nowadays," Natsu whispered under his breath).

Lisanna spun the bottle now and it stopped, pointing at Gajeel. At first, the girl blinked a few times to process this information then the next, she was in deep thought.

"Dare…" he said.

"I dare you to call your father and tell him you love him!" Lisanna said excitedly. The face of girl beside Gajeel lit up like a Christmas tree as she immediately looked for Gajeel's phone and handed it to him. The bassist, of course, was blushing at the thought of calling his father and saying the three words he least wanted to say.

The young man looked at the phone in disgust. "Oh, fuck you!"

"Gajeel, language!" Levy warned and offered him the phone once more, with more force now.

Hesitantly, the boy took the phone in his quivering hand and dialled his father's company number. Everyone was silent as the ringing could be heard from the phone's speaker.

Natsu leaned in closer. "Put it on loudspeaker, Gajeel—"

"Fuck you, Pink—"

"Gajeel, language!" Levy warned again.

"Yes, h-hello?" Gajeel started. "It's me… Yeah… Uhm… Yes… Just… I… Just 'I love you'…"

Immediately after saying this, Gajeel threw his phone (it hit the living room wall and fell on the floor in thirty pieces), spun the bottle and it stopped to point at Natsu whose dare from Gajeel was to call his mother and father to tell them he loved them. Needless to say that Natsu was just as flustered and hesitant as Gajeel was.

"My dad went on and asked me if it was a prank," Natsu relayed.

"Well, you should have said 'yes' or else he'll be calling and asking for 'I love you's' every now and then," Gajeel quipped.

"Ha! Ha!" came Natsu's feigned laughter. "As if your dad won't…"

"Oh, him? He was in a meeting… His secretary picked up and asked if I had a message I wanted to relay and I said 'yes' and… well, you know the rest…"

"That's not fair!" the Salamander protested.

"And I quote, 'Everything is fair in love and war'," said Gajeel snidely.

Natsu now spun the bottle and it stopped at Gray.

"Truth or dare?" asked Natsu.

"Pass," he said flatly.

"You can't pass!" he said.

"Oh, yes. I. Can," he said, "Or would you rather I go to your room and take your 'Hello Kitty' boxers? It's good that your two favourite cats can greet everyone."

"N-No, thank you," Natsu said, defeated and ashamed. So he spun the bottle again and this time, it stopped at Levy, who was more than willing to do her dare. All she had to do was lean over to Gajeel and peck him on the cheek lightly. Needless to say, the conversation about apparent Fried's dreaminess dissipated into thin air.

Four more bottle spins, four more rounds of truth or dare before the bottle finally stopped spinning, pointing at Lucy—much to Gray's delight.

"Truth or dare?" asked Levy, sniffing as she was previously dared to take two spoonfuls of Natsu's hot sauce.

"Dare," the girl said confidently.

Levy thought for a moment, Natsu and the others giving her suggestions. "Convince Gray to say 'I love you and I just can't smile' with you…"

Lucy blushed. Gray tried to keep calm but his heart was starting to fail him and it beat twice as fast.

"Remember, you can't smile while saying this…" Levy reminded.

Gray and Lucy spent about two awkward seconds just staring at each other before Gray finally faced Lucy to start.

Lucy smiled and tried to stop a laugh coming on. "Okay, let's do this. I'll go first…"

Gray rolled his eyes.

"I… I love—" Lucy stopped halfway to laugh. It was very hard to say seriously without smiling or laughing while she stared at Gray's eyes so intently. She felt like she was being tickled by an invisible friend.

Two more pitiful attempts and Lucy failed each one.

Finally, Gray shook his head and cleared his throat. This silenced everybody and they waited.

The Fairy Tail leader faced Lucy properly now, cleared his throat and, with his droopy eyes, he stared intently at her as if she were a slice of steak.

"I…" the blonde tried to start but her throat became drier the more he stared at her. She couldn't speak, but just stared at him as if hypnotized. Everyone else around them (even the cats), also watched and waited. "I…"

He cocked his head slightly, his expression not changing.

"I…" she repeated.

Gray leaned in closer and Lucy leaned back; but they stared one at each other.

"I love you," Gray whispered (Levy squealed but Gajeel covered her mouth to muffle the sound), "I love you… and I just can't smile…"

"I…" Lucy felt the blood gush to her head all at once. Her arms felt like wanton noodles in hot water. Gray's emotionless eyes were drilling holes into her head, into her soul. "I… I…"

Gray laughed. "Can we just finish up now? This game is pointless."

"Y-Yes… I think so…" Levy said monotonously. She still stared at Lucy and Gray as if she were frozen. Everyone else was, too. "I think so, too…"

"Great!" said Gray, standing up. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room, studying… I suggest you guys should start as well…"

"Y-Yeah…" Natsu said. They still weren't moving. "I think it best if we do…"

Looking over his shoulders, his friends, the cats, and Lucy, were still frozen on the spot. Had he really looked as if he said it seriously? Were his acting skills actually that good?

Well, not like he didn't mean that (in fact, he meant the first part of it slightly; saying it without smiling while looking straight into Lucy's eyes was the hard part) but it was just surprising how his acting skills had upgraded during his suspension.

Just as he was about to go upstairs, Erza came from the entryway, seeming as shocked and frozen as his friends were, but happier. She was fidgeting, her fingers interlaced.

"Hey, Erza…" greeted Gray.

"O-Oh…! Hello, Gray… Are you guys done with the group study?" she asked nicely, as if possessed.

Gray hesitated to reply at first, "Well… You could say that… The definition changed…"

"Well, how about that…" she smiled.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes… Just…" she started and tried to continue but failed. Then, looking at Gray, she raised her right hand. On one of her fingers, a silver band with a small diamond was where it wasn't before.

"Wait…" Gray started, "Is that engagement ring—?"

"I think…" she said, "I think I just agreed to marry someone…!"


WEIRDO BLABBS: I. JUST. CAN'T. MAKE. JOKES. Anyway, on a lighter note, I am happy that I could finally remember to include Pantherlily and Happy in this story, even just a bit. I just felt that they should be here and I didn't include them in the previous chapters set in the Fairy Tail dorm.

Anyway, I was thinking of making a side-story for Jellal and Erza. You know, just for fun… ;) Until then, chill you guys. Huge storm coming in over at my place.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

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