Chapter Two: A Secret Between More Than Friends
"Hey," Gray said simply.
"Um, yeah?" Lucy stopped and turned back to him.
"I got some questions about Gemini," Gray asked, getting a serious look in his eyes.
"Uh, okay," Lucy said, confused by his change in mood, "What would you like to know? I could summon them if you'd like."
"No need for that, you already spent quite a lot of your magic power today. Don't push yourself," he assured her, "Just need to confirm a few things. Firstly, when Gemini copies someone, they not only gain that persons magic, but also their memories, as well as their thoughts and opinion of others, correct?"
Lucy was caught really off guard by this question. Why would Gray be so curious about one of her spirits out of nowhere like this? Despite this thought, there was no hurting in answering him.
"Yes, they can, but there's also a number of limitations. The mimic can only last up to five minutes, they can only remember two different forms at a time and must erase one to gain a new form," Lucy listed off the twin spirit's limited ability, "There's also the matter that they have to touch someone to transform into them, they can't correctly turn into someone that has a higher magic power than their wizard, and only can relay information while in form and only up to the point of copy."
"That's... a lot to remember," Gray said, surprised by how much Lucy knew about just one of her many spirits, "But that's not really important to my next question."
"And that is?" she asked, somewhat annoyed he just asked her a mostly pointless question.
"Was there any point that Gemini turned into me," Gray asked, going back to being focused and serious, "And more importantly, what info did they reveal."
Lucy understood what exactly was going on, and decided to play right along with it.
"I don't quite know," Lucy feigned ignorance, bringing a finger to her chin, "I mean afterall, I can be as hotheaded as Erza, I might not have caught on to what they said at the time."
Gray's eyes widened. Lucy had just answered his question by listing one of the many thoughts he had of her, one of the thoughts he never let out, espically to her. This, combined with her "whole package" comment earlier, only confirmed his suspicion.
"So, how long have you known?" he asked her, looking away.
"Ever since Nirvana, when Gemini was owned by Angel," Lucy revealed, her tone becoming less joking and more serious, "They became you, using your knowledge of Natsu's motion sickness to try and kill him. We stopped them, but then they began to list off your thoughts of me, and well... I kinda got a bit embarrassed at how personal they were."
Gray closed his eyes and sighed. He knew very well that there was no hiding it anymore. His thoughts were quite literally told to her, even if it wasn't by him. Gray could take some solace though, as Lucy didn't seem to mind his thoughts. But still, that doesn't change the fact that she was told them by someone other than himself.
"Gray?" Lucy called to him, "Is something wrong?"
"What exactly did they say?" Gray asked, to embarrassed to open his eyes and look at her."
"I promise you, it was nothing short of sweet," Lucy made sure to tell him first hand, "They said you consider me me easy on the eyes and having a pure heart."
"Damn it," Gray said in a tone mixed of anger and annoyance, gritting his teeth in annoyance.
"Hey, what's wrong? It's not like any of those things are bad" Lucy asked, now getting concerned, "Actually, I kinda liked be called them. They were really flattering."
"It's not what was said, it's that..." Gray started, but hesitated upon reopening his eyes to see a smiling and blushing Lucy, "It's... It's that I didn't get a chance to say it myself."
Saying that out loud and seeing her smile at recalling his words got the ice maker rather heated from embarrassment, now making it his turn to turn red. Lucy saw the expression on him. He bore the face of someone who had just missed there mark, but with how he was acting towards it all, it seemed unlikely that the he'd try to in the first place .
"Did you ever plan to tell me yourself?" Lucy asked, being a bit more forward.
"Well, it's not like I really had an opportunity to. It feels like it's every other day that something is happening," Gray started to explain his reluctance, "And around the time I started to consider it, Juvia join the guild and... well, you know how she can be."
Lucy wasn't buying his story one bit. It was unlike Gray to hold off on saying something, even if it might hurt someone's feelings. He was just more real with everyone. So it made no sense that he'd not tell her how he felt just because things kept getting in the way. The Juvia thing though, that was a hard maybe.
"Gray, be honest," Lucy requested, "Were you scared to tell me?"
"What?!" Gray shouted in shock, "What would I have to be scared of? I just never had the chance, that's all."
"Well, when was the last time you had a girlfriend? Went out on a date? Even just asked a girl out?" Lucy asked repeatedly, "Because in all my time in Fairy Tail, I don't remember you once trying. So why now? Why me?"
Gray said nothing. Not a word. Not even opening his mouth like he wanted to say anything. Just stood there before Lucy. With a grit of his teeth, he turned back to the door behind him and re-entered their room.
"Wha-Gray!" Lucy called out as she followed him back into the room, annoyed that he was ignoring her, "Hey, what gives? You can ask questions, but get moody when it's my turn? Can you at least answer my la-"
"Deliora," Gray interrupted, with anger in his voice and a knot in his throat.
Lucy froze at that name. The name of a demon from the book of Zeraf. A demon Gray had a dark history with. She dared not say anymore, too scared to push Gray's limit when it came to the monster of his past. She just waited. Waited as Gray made his way to the chair she had been at earlier, now it being his turn to sit.
"I... I lost so much to Deliora. My parents. My home. My master. So much I can never see again," Gray said with his hands held together, clearly shaken by memories, "So much so, as a kid, I was frightened beyond belief. All I had known, all I had loved, taken away. I... I didn't want to lose anymore. So, for three years, I did my best to make sure that never happened. I kept myself from loving others."
Lucy, taken aback, didn't respound to what Gray had said. Her only reactions were to stand still baring an expression of disbelief that turned to sorrow for her friend. Part of her didn't want to listen to him, to think he purposefully avoid feeling love for others. The other part of her was actively angery that he would try to denouce such a thing.
"How can you say that?! So you just cut yourself off getting close to people?! Then what about Natsu?! Erza?! Happy?! Wendy?! Everyone in Fairy Tail?! Are they not close to you? Can you honestly say you don't love them?!" Lucy let out her frustraition, "Are they not your family?! And... Why am I supposedly a different story?!"
"I do care for everyone, I would never deny that, but what I mean is I never wanted to be in love, not if I could help it, and risk losing more," he clarified, "But then, it all changed, on Galuna Island. When Deliora took his final breaths as he crumbled to pieces, part of me changed."
Gray stood from the chair, and turned back to Lucy, his expression looking much brighter than before. A small smile now grazing his face.
"I felt at peace. Years of fear and anguished, wiped away as I saw that monster finally die. I no longer had to live my life being afraid of losing someone."
"But... But why me?" Lucy asked once more, "That happened when I had just joined the guild, we barely even knew each other. Why not someone like Erza, Mira, or Cana? You've known them much longer than me."
"Honestly, it's because you were new," Gray explained, "I knew those three for such a long time, it just felt kinda weird seeing myself in a relationship with them. They're like the annoying sisters I never asked for. But you, I had only known you for maybe a couple weeks. That made you a different story altogether. And after that day, I started seeing you differently. I saw your strong will and conviction to stand for what you believe in. Your devotion to your friends. Your genuine, unfiltered love for Fairy Tail and all those in it. But most off all, Lucy, I saw your heart. An ever shining light that can withstand any darkness."
"He... he likes the whole package," Lucy repeated Gemini's words from long ago, as her blush returned, fiercer than ever upon realizing what was being said, "That's what it meant."
"It didn't mean just your appearance. It never did," Gray remarked as he made his way to the celestial wizard, "It meant, I like you, Lucy. All of you. Every last beautiful bit."
As those final words were spoken, Gray stopped his movement, leaving only a couple feet of distance between him and Lucy. Several moments pass, with neither wizard said anything more as they simply stared at each other. Gray had said all that he had kept to himself, every last word he had wanted to say for so long. Lucy, was the complete opposite. At a loss for words, she knew she wanted to say something, but didn't quite know what to say.
"I... I... I...," she kept repeating, her thoughts playing like a skipping record, "I... I... I need to sit down... or clear my head... or... both?"
"Alright, take a minute to breath," Gray tried to calm her, "No need to over do it. Just relax."
"Easy for you to say," Lucy said, as she made her way to one of the beds, sitting down on the edge, "I mean, you're all out in the open about it now. What do you have to hide?"
"Yeah, I'd like it if we didn't let this get to anyone else," Gray requested, sweatdropping at the idea of Natsu finding out, "Especially Juvia."
"Same here," Lucy said as she mimicked Gray's expression, "I rather like my head on my shoulders, thank you."
"So, what do you have to say?" Gray asked, raising a brow as he was curious as to what Lucy thought of what was basically a confession.
Lucy in honesty didn't know what exactly to say. Despite the occasional wierdo calling attention to her appearance, she never had anyone confess their true feelings to her. Well, there was Dan, but she didn't think that really counted. Though, to be fair, she did kind of corner Gray into the confession with the whole Gemini thing. Gemini... Gemini!
"That's it!" Lucy exclaimed as she reached for gate keys.
"What's it?" Gray questioned her sudden enthuiasm.
"Just you see," the celestial wizard remarked, holding onto a golden gate key, "Open, Gate of the Twins! Gemini!"
Gray held his arm up, shielding his eyes as the brilliant golden light of Lucy's summon filled the room. In mere seconds, the Gemini Twins appeared for the second time that day, and the light quickly faded.
"Piri-piri!" the duo chanted upon arrival.
"So, why summon them now?" Gray asked, very confused by Lucy's sudden action, "You already know my secret, right? And I thought they couldn't mimic a wizard stronger than their summoner?"
"That may be true, but I'm not having them mimic you," Lucy rebuttled before turning to the spirits, "Can you two turn into me real quick?"
"Of course, Lucy," Gemi replied, "Anything for you."
"But do want us to change like last time or do you want a new copy?" Mini asked curiously.
A single second went by before Lucy remembered what their last copy wore, or rather what they didn't wear, and her face turned beat red in an instant at the idea of Gray getting a front row seat to see her in only a bath towel.
"N-NO! A new copy will be fine! Perfectly fine!" she blurted out as she extended out her hand in a rush.
With that, the dual spirits tapped their stubby arms on Lucy's palm, and in a puff of smoke, changed into an exact duplicate of their wizard. This only brought Gray more confusion.
"Okay, I seriously don't get what's going on now," he said somewhat annoyed by his lack of understanding.
"Well, I figured since Gemini revealed how you felt about me, it'd be only fair if they do the same about how I felt about you, just so we're even," Lucy said, her full face blush now settled down to only her cheeks, before turning back to the now look-a-like spirit, "Okay, go ahead and reveal all information on Gray Fullbuster."
With a nod to their master, Gemini Lucy turned to face the ice maker.
"Gray Fullbuster. A user of Ice Make magic and a member of Fairy Tail. Can keep his cool quite well in any fight, but not so much his clothes. He's fairly straight to the point and speaks his mind, even if it can come off as harsh and blunt," the twins listed off Lucy's thoughts, "But that's what she likes. He doesn't pretend to be anything more than who he is. And it doesn't hurt that he's always been kinda cute on top of being a generally good person all around."
Both wizards were starting to get embarrassed at this point, with their faces burning red.
"But above all else, is how similar he is to her. Like her, he too cares deeply for his friends, no matter what the circumstance is, but beneath the surface... is pain. One she can not only understand, but sympethise with as well. She now knows the pain of loss that he's held for years. She feels sorry that he had to bare this alone for so long."
A noticable silence came over the room, as both wizards were given a firm reminder of the news Lucy had recieved after they returned from Tenro Island. Gray looked to Lucy, to see her looking to the ground, eyes closed and taking deep breaths. To him, it was obvious she was trying to keep calm. After a few seconds, Lucy lifted the key back up.
"That'll be all," she said, her tone drastically shifted from moments ago, "You can go back now."
With that, Gemini wasted no time and traveled back to the spirit world, now leaving the room in an even somber tone than before. Lucy quietly brought a hand up to her face, and with a couple clear sniffles, brushed the tears out of her eyes.
"Lucy... I'm sorry," she heard him say, "I know from experience... losing your family can be-"
"I haven't lost my family," Lucy stopped him, "I lost my mom when I was young, and now my dad, but so long as Fairy Tail exist, I always have family," she stated, now looking back up to him, with no sign of sadness remaining, "And that includes you and goes for you too, Gray."
Gray didn't have much to say to that. All he could do was smirk at her words and nod in agreement. There was nothing else to it.
"Yeah, of course," he affirmed.
With that settled, the two once again made their way out of the inn, this time actually getting out of the building and down the streets of the capital. For the most part, their walk was in silence. Not awkward silence, but more of a patient silence. As if neither had to say anything to know what they wanted to do. Lucy however, still wanted to hear it from him.
"Well, are you gonna ask me?" she questioned.
"Huh?" Gray cocked a brow at for a brief moment, before realising what she meant, "Oh! Um, uh... Well, Lucy, do you perhaps want to, I dunno... get dinner sometime?"
"Sure," Lucy spared no time answering with the most sincere smile, "Loved to. But let's see how the guild is doing first. We can go on our date afterwards."
Gray couldn't help but smile back upon seeing her own. Then his eyes widened at the suddened realization of what just happened.
'Me and Lucy. On a date,' he ran through his mind, 'Me and Lucy. Dating.'
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. Work has me swamped. And yes to readers of my other fics, that is also the reason I haven't updated any of them either. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and PLEASE REVIEW! Help me improve so I can make a better story for you!