Everyone stared, eyes darting back and forth between Laxus and Gray.
"You two know each other?" Freed asked, eyeing Gray.
Gray stared at the man.
"Do we?"
Laxus nodded.
"Don't you remember?"
Gray continued to stare blankly at him.
Laxus huffed, "You were that drunk?" he asked irritably.
Gray turned to Lucy to see if she knew what this man was talking about.
She shrugged at him.
"You came to my bar a while back, one of the weirdest customers I've ever had."
"Wait he's the Gray?" Freed cut in.
Laxus smiled at his boyfriend.
"Heh, yeah."
A sinking feeling blossomed in Gray's gut as he imagined what his drunk self could've possibly done.
"What did he do?" Lucy asked skeptically.
The couple laughed together, as Lucy and Gray exchanged yet another questioning glance. It wasn't until Gray turned, eyes falling on the bed, and his broken girlfriend laying upon it, did he remember why they were there. Swallowing, he turned on the still laughing men.
"Sorry, I think I'm should go find Gajeel...Lucy, mind helping me look?" he croaked softly.
Halting their laughs the two, nodded.
"No, no, you go look for him." Laxus said, shooting Gray a smirk.
"We'll keep her company." He winked at Lucy, earning a small slap from Freed.
"We'll keep a close watch on your lady friend here." He winked at Lucy, as Freed slapped him on the arm.
"Ok then, see you in a bit."
Gray nodded hesitantly, and walked out the door.
Wiping away his tears, Gajeel glanced over at the girl seated next to him. Levy seemed to be making a point of not meeting his gaze, as she fiddled with the end of her scarf. Blowing his nose, he chuckled.
"What?" Levy snapped, turning on him.
"You're wearing them." He stated smugly.
"Huh?"
He pointed to her ears where a pair of small silver hoops hung. He'd given them to her for her birthday but, hadn't seen her wear them. He'd begun to think she never would.
Noticing what he meant, Levy's face burst aflame. Covering her ears with her hands, she cried;
"Idiot! I just forgot to take them out!"
He blinked.
"Take them out?"
She huffed, her breath fogging up in front of her.
"Yeah." She muttered, her cheeks stubbornly staying pink.
"I wear them all the time at home."
Gajeel had needed to lean in to hear that last part, and surely his own had grown warmer.
"You mean...you wear them?" He questioned, softly. She turned to face him, her nose practically touching his.
"Sometimes."
Her warm breath fanned his face, his eyes darted down to her mouth. Heart ramming into his chest, he licked his own lips. They were so close, he could just lean in an inch and they'd be kissing. The mere thought caused his heart to triple it's speed. Levy seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he saw her slowly lean in closer, her eyes fluttering close. Was this really happening? Gajeel asked himself as he shut his own eyes.
"Gajeel!"
The two snapped apart. Gajeel sprang to his feet, ignoring Levy's scarlet face. He saw Gray run across the parking lot, eyes wildly scanning the area. He breathed out a sigh of relief, Gray hadn't seen them. Fuck. He'd messed up. Now was hardly the time for such things. He kicked himself mentally. Juvia was in the hospital fighting for his life and here he was...He shook his head violently, he was horrible. He ran over to Gray, leaving Levy behind. He heard her small cry of surprise as he sprinted away. Muffling the guilt he felt for leaving her reached Gray.
"What do you want?"
"What the hell?!" Gray gasped, startled by Gajeel's sudden appearance.
Gajeel clenched his fists, worry spreading through him. What if Gray was here to give him news about Juvia.
"Where'd you go?" Gray asked, his voice frosty as the air around them.
Gajeel stared silently down at his boots, shame colouring his ears red.
Gray sighed, awkwardly placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"It's ok, let's just...head back, ok?"
Gajeel stiffened, Images of Juvia's form laying in the bed flashed in his mind.
He shook his head, his legs feeling on the verge of giving out.
The two met eyes, and Gajeel saw it. Anger, fear, and pain. Gray's dark eyes held so much pain it was nearly overwhelming. But worst of all was the guilty look in his stare, Gray blamed himself. He wasn't sure why but the thought didn't bode well with Gajeel.
His phone vibrated, in his pocket. Looking apologetically at Gray, he reached to check it.
Gajeel?
It was Levy. A pang of guilt burst in his gut, he stared at the keyboard, wondering what to say to her.
Sorry.
"So…" Lucy started awkwardly, sitting in the chair by Juvia's bed, she stared, as she heard Gray's footsteps fade away.
"What did Gray do?"
An evil glint in Laxus' eye told her she may not want to know.
Freed chuckled as he took a seat between his boyfriend and the curtain.
"Well, Blondie, your friend is one hell of a drunk." Laxus told her.
Lucy smiled, remembering all the encounters she'd had with her friend whilst he was drunk.
"He came into the bar one night, I think it was a monday too." Laxus laughed.
"The place was practically empty, and he just sat down at the bar and ordered the first things on the menu. Thing is; first things on our menu is our signature chicken wings, customers call them Fairy wings."
It was Freed who laughed this time.
"Much to your dismay." he muttered under his breath.
Laxus ignored him and continued.
"Anyways, guess he was asking for drinks 'cause he got all pissed and asked if I were mocking him. I showed him the menu, and he just screamed and ate the chicken wings."
Lucy give a confused look, this hardly sounded like Gray.
"He ate all three baskets mind you, then he apologized for his behaviour, and ordered a few drinks. Afterwards, we had a very long conversation over the importance of carrots for one's health, it was actually really nice."
Lucy was beyond lost.
"Before he left though, he was really drunk so I made him call a cab, he showed me a picture of his girlfriend. He stood by the doorway for five whole minutes telling me how much he loved her. It was beyond cheesy, so I kicked him out." Laxus sighed, a smile playing on his lips.
"He tried to tell me some of the cheesy stuff, pretending he'd made it up." Freed said, shaking his head in laughter.
"Didn't take me long to figure out, he was plagiarizing a drunk."
"Oi!" Laxus cried.
Lucy giggled, these two weren't so bad. She'd thought staying behind would've been awkward but she was really enjoying herself.
"Never would've thought of Gray as a sappy drun-" she was cut off by a sudden beeping noise behind them. Juvia's heart monitor!
Panicked she jumped to her feet, turning towards her friend.
"Freed, call the nurse." Laxus yelled over the obnoxious wailing.
Freed had already hit the button.
Heart beating wildly Lucy grabbed Juvia's cold hand.
Shit.
A/N: well this chapter took longer than usual, huh? I did try to make it longer though. Well to be fair I just moved, and started a new school so...stuff's been pretty insane, also it was pretty hard to write Gruvia after the recent chapters (probably why I wrote more Gajevy in this one hehe~) Well let me know what you think. The more motivation the faster I write XD