Note: Prepare yourselves.

Bouquet

Erza's birthday request threatens to bring a flood down on the guild, but Gray is determined to make it work.

"What are you doing out here?"

Erza shifted, rolling off of her stomach and onto one side as she looked back up the bank at Gray. The ice mage walked over and searched Erza's face as he dropped down to sit in the grass next to her. She smiled at him and then rolled back onto her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows as she turned her gaze back to the river.

"Nothing much," she said, trailing a hand absently through the grass. "It's a nice day and I'm enjoying it."

Gray didn't reply immediately, his concerned gaze boring into her, but then he relaxed and said, "I never took you for a sunbather."

Erza laughed. "What can I say? It's warm, the sun is shining, and it's a good day. Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. Guess I should have expected you to show up eventually. I swear you have some sort of magic ability to know when I'm down here."

"Well, someone has to make sure that you aren't just moping. To be fair, I wasn't that worried. I assumed you'd still be in a good mood because of your birthday."

Erza hid a smile. For all Gray sometimes tried to play it down, he was a big softie at heart. He might be an annoying little brat at times, but he did genuinely care about his friends, and he tended to take the river seriously.

"Yeah, I bet the party will be fun," Erza said, smiling as a gentle breeze tugged at her hair.

She did love parties, and birthdays were always exciting. Her birthdays were always the most exciting, of course. There would be presents, strawberry cake, all her friends having a good time, and more strawberry cake. What wasn't there to love?

"Fairy Tail parties are always fun," Gray agreed with a chuckle. "So, what do you want for your birthday this year?"

Erza shifted her weight to one elbow and gave Gray a disapproving look. "The whole point of presents is that I'm not supposed to know what they are until my birthday. Otherwise, it ruins the surprise. And anyway, shouldn't you be coming up with your own gift ideas?"

"I already have your gifts." Gray waved a dismissive hand and gave her a crooked smile. "That's not what I meant, exactly. Just… You know, it's a special day and only comes around once a year, so it should be the best that it can be. If you had to pick something to make it a little more special, what would it be? Within reason, obviously. I can only work so many miracles. Just anything, no matter how small, that would make it special. This is your best opportunity to ask for something that you wouldn't normally ask for during the rest of the year, right?"

Erza stared at him in silence, and then felt a fond smile tug at the corners of her lips. "You're such a big softie."

Gray scowled, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. "Am not."

Erza chuckled, but considered the question. She honestly couldn't think of anything better than having her friends gathered around and having fun…and strawberry cake. But she would get all of that anyway, and it wasn't what Gray was asking. She suspected that his real interest was in giving her some small, personal gesture to make her smile, and it was sweet of him to ask.

Something small and personal, huh…?

She thought about it for what seemed like an eternity, with only the warmth of the sun and the gentle rushing of the water and Gray's silence for company. It was probably more like two minutes, but who was counting?

Then a random idea hit her out of the blue, and she turned back to Gray with shining eyes. "Flowers," she said before she thought better of it.

Gray looked back, his eyebrows inching upwards. Whatever he had been expecting her to say, it was clearly not that.

"Flowers?" he asked, a puzzled frown spreading across his face.

Erza backtracked hastily. "I guess that's kind of silly."

"I didn't say that. If it's important to you, then it's not silly. But may I ask why?"

"Well…" Erza rolled back over and stared at the ground as she picked at the grass awkwardly. "No one ever gets me flowers. I guess because they don't seem like…me. And they usually aren't, but it seems sweet and it might be nice to do it just once."

Erza's image as a battle-hardened warrior and no-nonsense enforcer of the rules was not entirely unfounded, but occasionally she found herself drawn to the more feminine side of things. She didn't usually have the time or patience for all that nonsense, but occasionally she'd watch Lucy get excited over clothes shopping or painting her nails or whatever it might be, and it caught her attention. She did indulge in 'girl stuff' from time to time, but people often gave her odd looks for it since they weren't expecting it from her.

And she'd always liked flowers, on some level. They were pretty and smelled nice. But they were also frivolous things, their beauty fleeting before they withered and died. Erza didn't usually have a lot of patience for frivolous things, but since Gray was asking and this was the one day out of the year that she might actually indulge in something she wouldn't waste time on otherwise…

"Alright," Gray said after a short pause. "Do you have a request about what kind you want?"

Erza snuck a glance at him, but his eyes were earnest rather than teasing. "Surprise me."

"Okay." He smiled ruefully and ran a hand through his hair. "Of course you'd have to pick something hard."

"Hard? Why would–?"

"Well, we wouldn't want the guild to be flooded on your birthday, would we?"

Erza stared at him blankly, but then winced. Oh, right. Juvia.

"Have you actually just tried telling her that you don't love her like that?"

"Of course I have," Gray grumbled. He narrowed his eyes at the ground. "She's very resistant to the word 'no'. I think she'll come around on her own eventually…maybe. Until then, I guess I'll have to find a way to stop her feelings from getting hurt, prevent a flood, and simultaneously make it clear that I'm still not interested. It should be fun."

"Oh, don't worry about it, then," Erza said, shrugging. "It's not really a big deal."

"It's alright." Gray flashed her a grin. "I like a challenge."

Erza smiled but shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

Gray shrugged, then gave her a wicked grin. "Flowers, huh? And you say I'm a softie."

"I am not!" Erza protested, flushing.

Gray laughed and stood, brushing stray grass from his pants. "Well, enjoy your sunbathing. I've still got some birthday preparations to do, so if you'll excuse me…"

Erza watched as he started up the bank again and disappeared from view, and then she turned back to the river, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Gray was an idiot, but he was a lovable idiot.

And yes, fine, maybe they were both big softies at heart.

Gray was late. Erza thought it was rather poor taste to be late to a friend's birthday party, but she decided to forgive him on the grounds that he'd been so sweet a couple days ago. And anyway, everyone else was here and already having a good time. It was easy enough to lose herself in the celebrations.

"Erza."

She turned and raised an eyebrow as she noticed Gray walking up, his hands tucked behind his back.

"You're late," she said.

"Sorry about that," he said, offering her a sheepish smile. "But hey, I got you your flowers."

He produced a bouquet from behind his back, holding it out to her with an adorably goofy grin on his face. Erza had thought that he'd given up on the idea after his worries about Juvia, but here was a bouquet anyway, all crimson roses and dainty white baby's breath peeking through.

Erza stared in surprise, but then hesitantly took the flowers, bringing them up to her nose and breathing in the heady scent. She was pretty sure that most bouquets didn't have all magically perfect, unmarred flowers, and wondered if Gray had hand-selected them all.

"Pretty," she said, tracing her finger over a rose petal and reveling in the softness. "Thank you."

"I thought they matched your hair," Gray said. Erza flushed and he leaned forward, a mischievous light entering his eyes as he added, "And now they match your face, too."

"Jerk," Erza muttered, burying half her face in the bouquet and staring out from between the petals with eyes that she hoped didn't look as embarrassed as she felt.

Gray just grinned.

"Gray-sama gave Erza-san roses?"

And here came the flood. Well, it was nice while it lasted. Despite Gray's teasing, Erza really did get that heart-fluttering feeling and sense of this being something special, so she decided that the coming drowning would be worth it. It was odd, how such a simple gesture could mean so much.

"Ah, Juvia, there you are," Gray said cheerfully.

He turned to the teary-eyed water mage. As he turned his back to Erza, she noticed that he was still holding another bouquet behind his back, this one far more varied and with many different types and colors of flowers. Reaching back, Gray deftly snagged a large blue flower and offered it to Juvia with a flourish.

Juvia blinked at it, her tears momentarily forgotten, and then squealed delightedly as she snatched the stem and admired the blossom. "Gray-sama gave Juvia a flower! Gray-sama is–"

'Gray-sama' was already turning to Lucy, and pulled out a pink rose to offer her.

"…Eh?" Lucy looked between the rose and Gray, her face scrunched up in confusion.

"Here you go, Luce," Gray said with a grin.

"Oh, um, thanks?" She accepted the gift and twirled it about in her hand, studying it with a bemused expression.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia gasped, scandalized. "Love rival is also getting a flower?"

Lucy's head snapped up, and her face went white as she spotted Juvia's death glare. "Oh crap."

Erza shook her head slowly. "Your grand plan is to stop her from flooding the guild hall by siccing her on Lucy? I'm not sure that getting Lucy strangled is really any better…"

Gray looked over and winked, his eyes sparkling. Instead of responding, he stepped over to where Cana was sitting nearby with her tankard. Pulling out a pretty white flower from behind his back, he deftly snapped the stem to shorten it and then tucked it behind Cana's ear.

"And for Cana," he said.

Cana's expression was utterly flabbergasted, and all she said was, "You would've been better off if you made yourself useful and got me more booze."

But as Gray laughed and walked away, she reached up to touch the flower in her hair, a faintly bemused smile tugging at her mouth. Erza watched in awe as Gray worked his way through the guild, a charming smile firmly in place as he handed out singleton flowers to all the girls. And despite some initial incredulity, he left a lot of smiles and giggles in his wake. He even managed to surprise a smile out of Charle when he nestled a cluster of tiny blue flowers in her fur.

And then Erza smiled too, fingering her bouquet absently as she watched Gray work. She could see that same flicker of happiness in the girls' eyes that had been in her own as, for a moment, they were each the most special person in the room. Such a simple gesture, but the surprised smiles and sparkling eyes were genuine.

Maybe this had started out as a way to get Erza her flowers while also keeping a tenuous balance with Juvia, but she could see that it had become something more than that and Gray knew it. His smile was just as genuine, and his eyes were softer than she'd ever seen them.

"That's…actually really sweet," Lucy said as she drifted over to Erza, still holding her own flower tightly as her eyes tracked Gray around the room.

"It is," Erza said with a smile. "And clever."

She had to admit, Gray had come up with a brilliant solution. He had given Juvia a flower so that she wouldn't be so upset by Erza getting her bouquet, and then he'd given flowers to all the other girls as well to not give her any romantic ideas. And it wasn't only because he didn't want the hall flooded, Erza realized. That boy could be a stubborn brat, but he must have worked hard to come up with a solution where Juvia wouldn't be hurt even though he didn't want to encourage her.

And in the process he'd managed to brighten everyone's day, just a little.

"Gray-sama is very kind," Juvia agreed, twirling her flower about as she watched Gray with a strange little half-smile. Then she turned on Lucy, her mouth twisting into a ferocious scowl. "But Juvia's flower is much prettier than Lucy-san's. Gray-sama made sure to give Juvia the nicer flower."

Lucy winced and rocked back on her heels, suddenly looking like she wanted to escape again. "Um, yeah, sure. Totally."

"Everyone's flowers are very pretty," Erza said in a conciliatory tone, graciously deciding not to point out that her flowers were not only the prettiest, but that she had gotten an entire bouquet when everyone else had just gotten one. "It's a very sweet gesture."

"Actually, I think it's pretty lame," Natsu said critically, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Gray a thoroughly unimpressed look.

Leave it to Natsu to ruin the moment. The boy could hardly be called a romantic.

"Oh really?" Gray turned back suddenly, his eyes taking on a sly, mischievous cast, and Erza got the feeling that the sweet part of this whole thing had just ended. He grinned and walked back over to the group, his smug gaze fixed on Natsu. "Do you feel left out? It's alright, I got you one too."

"…Huh?" Natsu's brow crinkled in confusion, and Erza backed up a few steps, wanting to protect her flowers from whatever was coming.

Gray produced the final flower from behind his back, holding it out to Natsu. It was a pretty pink blossom, the petals curling delicately. Gray couldn't have picked a girlier flower if he tried.

"It matches your hair," he said, coughing to hide a laugh.

Dead silence fell over the hall as Natsu gaped at the flower like a fish out of water, too stunned to offer a response. Then Lucy burst out laughing, and soon the entire guild was in an uproar. Even Erza felt a smile creep over her face.

"You…" Natsu's shocked expression morphed into a furious scowl. He snatched the flower and flames burst to life in his hand, burning it to ash. "I'm going to kill you, ice princess!"

He lunged for the ice mage, eyes and fists blazing, and Gray danced back with a laugh, ice springing to his fingertips.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Lucy asked Erza as they watched the boys attack each other, fists and magic flying.

Erza considered it, but then half-buried her face in her roses to hide her smile and faint blush. "Not this time," she said. "I'll let them go just this once."

Note: I think this is the most pointlessly fluffy, sappy thing I've ever written, and I've written some disgustingly sappy shit in my day. But that ending, man. Still cracks me up. It's never too late to stick it to Natsu.

It wasn't meant to be Grayza at the time, but whichever way. It's grown on me since then.

...And I still can't stand Juvia, obviously. Crazy little bitch. But sometimes I get good stories out of her psycho tendencies.

emmahoshi: Lol, sometimes the fun isn't in straight-up attacking but in really sticking it to Natsu XD Gray is an awesome troll. And yeah, sometimes I like that contrast between Erza's tough side and her fascination with girly things lol Although I think that cake should be able to be loved by males and females alike. Cake for everyone!