Arthurs Note::I don't own Fairy Tail::
"Well..." Happy paused for a sort of suspense effect "I thought you two could have...a sort of competition."
"A competition?" Gray questioned a bit uneasy about that idea "I don't know about that Happy." Natsu nodded agreeing with the dark haired boy. Most of the time when you think about a competition you think about there being some sort of prize for the winner. The thought of Lucy being a prize made them a bit uneasy.
"Well technically it's not a competition." Erza explained as she walked towards them confusing both males. They didn't know it but she had been there for quite some time listening to their conversation "Because for it to be a competition that means both of you would have to have a crush on Lucy and our trying to make her yours". "Do both of you like Lucy?" That cat question with a smile of curiosity crawling across his face.
At that moment both males were lost in their won thoughts. For one the thought about Lucy being anything more then a friend had never crossed his mind For the other the thought of her being more had crossed his mind many times but not wanting to make things awkward between them never acted on them.
Without waiting for an answer Erza continued speaking "The way I see it Lucy probably won't tell us who she likes because we are always together as a group or surrounded by a room full of people at the guild hall. But maybe if she can get some one on one time with the both of you it might make things a bit easier on her. But there is also a catch for the both of you as well" Hearing that actually sparked both boys interests and curiosity. "You see since there is a possibility that one of you may actually like Lucy while you guys are alone with her you must think long and hard about your feelings for her. Also, I was thinking we could come up with a couple of guidelines for you two to go by."
"Guidelines?" both boys said simultaneously. "Why do we need that for?" Natsu asked scratching the back of his head.
"Well because -" the the scarlet haired female was about to explain but was interrupted by a blonde coming out of the bathroom. "Sorry it took me so long" she said apologetically. "Geez Lucy" Happy teased "We thought you drowned or something. Seeing as you're so helpless and all."
"What's that supposed to mean ca-" she was about to yell at the blue feline when she noticed the female in her living room "Oh hey Erza" she said with a cheerful smile.
"Hey Lucy" Erza greeted a bit relieved to see she wasn't upset at her but still felt the need to say sorry any ways "Lucy, I'm so-"
"Don't worry about it!" she reassured her with a smile on her face. "After spending the morning talking to Gray I felt much better."
"Hey" Natsu said some what offended "What about Happy and I? We showed up yesterday too". "Aye" the cat responded shortly after.
"Yeah but when you came over you started shouting like an idiot" Gray teased knowing it would bother the pink haired mage. "Besides she left almost as soon as you got here". The Dragon Slayer spoke angrily "What'd you say Pervert" clenching his fist preparing to punch his rival/friend. "You heard me flame breath" Gray retorted preparing for another one of their usual fights.
"That's enough you too." the scarlet haired female spoke with a firm tone which to the two meant if they didn't stop right then there would more then likely be pain in the near future. "Aye" the boys said in harmony as they each wrapped an arm around each others neck pretending to be the best of friends. Letting out a deep sigh the blonde thought to herself There they go sounding like Happy again. I thought they'd learn by now she though shaking her head softly with a smile Oh well if they didn't then they wouldn't be them.Looking at one of the boys in particular she smiled. "So should we head for the guild now?" she asked.
"Yeah" Natsu said with excitement "Lets head o-" He was cut off by Erza "Actually you can go on a head Lucy." that confused the blonde a bit "Don't worry we will be right behind you once we are finished".
"O-Ok" she said with hesitation but left any ways. I wonder what all that was about.
~Back to Natsu, Erza and Gray~
"What the hell Erza" Natsu said a bit angry "Why did you make Lucy go on without us?"
"Because Natsu" she calmly explained "We still have things to discuss that we can't discuss in front of Lucy. Right Happy?" her glance now going over to the blue cat. "Aye" Happy cheerfully responded. "Alright" she female spoke again "Now I'll explain the guidelines so that you two know what you two can't do when you are alone with her. "Aye" the cat responded again.
"I'm confused" Natsu said to the dark haired boy as he scratched the back of his head "What are those two talking about?" Placing a hand to his forehead and letting out a deep sigh Gray looked back up at Natsu and responded "Don't tell me you forgot already." Though he wasn't really to surprised about it. "Remember we discussed spending some one on one time with Lucy to see which one of us she likes." After everything finally came back to him the fire mage spoke again "Oh ok that much I remember. But... Why do we need guidelines?"
"Well Natsu" Erza butted in before Gray could answer "I was about to explain it to you". After that all eyes went to the her as she started speaking. "You see Natsu. The reasons for this is because if we don't set this straight now the both of you will more then likely try and out do one another during your one on one time with Lucy." Erza continued "And if that happens there is a chance Lucy might think that each of your actions are being done because you are romantically interested in her and in doing so could end up clouding her mind with thoughts that she might be interested in the both of you instead of just one of you."
"Alright" Natsu said "So what are these guidelines?"
"Well..." Erza started explaining.
1.) You can't call your time with her a Date.
2.) If you hurt Lucy. I'll hurt you (Erza made sure to add that one)
3.) Don't do anything to flashy.
So your plans with her don't clash Natsu and Gray will have specific days for their one on one time Natsu you will get Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Gray you will get Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It is up to you how each of you use your days. Whether you choose to spend time with her or not is up to you.
After making sure everyone was ok with the rules they left Lucys house and went to meet up with her.
~At the guild with Lucy~~Lucys POV~
After that weird situation with the others I couldn't help but shake the feeling that they were hiding something from me. Oh well i thought as I made my way to Fairy Tail I guess this gives me some time to think about what I am gonna do about him. I really want to tell him but I'm afraid he won't feel the same and even if he does can I really do that to her. I mean she is my friend after all and she really likes him but I can't help how I feel for him either. This whole problem was starting to give me a headache.
Reaching the guild doors I was still a tad curious about what my friends were hiding from me but I decided to put it a side as I opened the doors to see a guild full of people. As I walked to the bar I was greeted by many people.
"Hey Lucy" the blue haired female greeted me. "Oh hey Levy" I happily said with a smile "So how are things with Gray and the others? Are you still upset about what had happened? she said with concern. "Oh no we resolved that the day I left on that job with you?" I said with a smile. "Yeah that morning as I was heading out Gray was at my door and well... long story short I explained why I was upset and he reassured me that no one could ever feel my spot" I explained. I decided to leave out the part where Gray and I had ended up holding hands for a short period of time because she would get excited and tell Mira and soon after all the girls in the guild would know and blow it all out of proportion "I guess I forgot to tell you about it because I had other things on my mind that day."
"Oh" that of course peeked Levys interest "What sort of things?" she asked. "I don't know Levy" I said in a more hushed tone. "To be honest I'm still trying to figure things out before I say anything to anyone." I tried to tell her. "Is it about a boy? Is he in the guild?" Letting out a sigh I nodded my head to let her know she was right. You should have seen the smile that stretched across her face at that very moment. Before she could ask me anything else I responded quickly saying "Levy for now that is all I can say. Please don't tell anyone what I just told you" I begged her.
"Come on Levy."Jet spoke "We gotta go." Droy speaking after. "Coming" Levy yelled with a smile. Though before she left she got close to me and whispered "Don't worry your secrets safe with me. I understand where your coming from." She glanced over to the other side of the guild and then back at me. My eyes followed her glance to see the iron dragon slayer there. I was so shocked "Please don't tell." she whispered before waving good bye.
"Lucy" Natsu shouted "We're here." Same old Natsu I thought with a soft chuckle If he's not fighting he's shouting at someone"What took you g-" I didn't even get to finish my question before I was interrupted by a blue haired female and a white haired wizard. "Hey Natsu" Lisanna greeted the pink haired boy followed soon after with a hug. "H-Hey Gray" Juvia shyly greeted the ice make mage. I decided to give them a moment to talk as I walked over to the bar. After Mira brought me a glass of water I noticed Gray and of course Juvia were sitting next to me. "There you go again" Gray teased. "What do you mean?" I asked him a bit confused. "You're over here being anti-social so I thought I'd come over here. Juvia had agreed to come to." With a smile on my face I thanked them. Looking over at Juvia I greeted her with a smile only to recieve the same stare from her I normally get when I talk to Gray.
"So how about we go over to the request board and see if there's a job for all of us to go on." Gray said as he got up from his seat and I followed after him. Surprisingly Juvia didn't follow Gray and I. Looking back she just walked back over where Natsu, Lisanna, Happy and Erza were sitting. It's normally not like Juvia to leave Gray's side till he leaves for a job or leaves the guild hall"So which one do you think is best?" he asked knocking me out of my thoughts. I hadn't even looked them over yet and he was already asking me which one I wanted to do. "I don't know" I said trying to skim over all the requests. For some reason there were at least double the requests today. "I honestly can't decide. Why don't you pick."
I didn't know it at the time but once I said that an idea went off in his head. Watching Gray scan over the jobs again a certain expression of excitement showed on his face and with out even showing me he ripped it off of the board and folded in into his pocket. "W-Wait Gray" I said "Aren't you going to show me which one you picked" all of a sudden it was like he was a completely different person. "Don't worry Lucy." he said with a smile. Placing his hands on my shoulders he said "You will find out tomorrow. Now stay here a second so I can confirm this with Mira." With that said he walked over to Mira pulled the paper out of his pocket and whispered something in her ear. Why do I suddenly feel like there is something they aren't telling me at that point I was just so confused First it felt like I was being ignored and now they are keeping me out of the loop about something.At that point I figured the only thing I could do was wait and see what he was up to. He obviously wasn't going to tell me anything.
After he was done talking to Mira. He walked over to the table and whispered something into Erza's ear and after he got the nod from her he left. With out saying good bye or anything. I just figured he had things to do so I let it go and joined my friends.
After hours of talking and laughing with my friends I decided it was time to head home. On my way home that same guy in the boat warned me to be careful not to fall in the water. I assured him I was safe and kept walking. Finally after walking through my front door. I grabbed a towl and my pjs and went to go take a hot bath before I went to sleep. While I was in the bath I still couldn't decide if I wanted to tell him. The thought of his warm smile made my heard melt. I never thought liking a guy would be this hard.
About a half hour later I finished up my bath and figured it was time for bed. So I finished drying off. Putting on my pajamas I headed for bed. As I made my way to bed I suddenly noticed a dark figure laying on my couch. I couldn't make out who it was because it was so dark. Walking closer to the mysterious person I bent down to take a closer look and my uninvited guest. I was barely able to make out the fairy tail mark on his body. After that I knew exactly who it was but what I didn't know is how long had he been there to begin with. Oh well i thought to myself lying in my bed I guess as long as he's already asleep there's no reason to wake him up and with that I closed my eyes and went to bed.
~End Lucys POV~
That ends Chapter 3. Writing this chapter was really difficult for me because I was trying to come up with something other then "competition" but I had a real bad case of writers block. So I just figured I would explain it so every one could under stand what I was trying to do in this chapter.
Once I get an idea for chapter 4 I will start on it. I've kind of got one in mind but I'm gonna think about it a bit more so I'm not just guessing as I go. Thanks again for all the reviews. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter :)