"Okay then," Loke purred, "who's going to be dared next? I think Droy's had enough torture for one day." The celestial spirit jabbed a thumb at the large man, who was currently passed out on the ground from running laps around the guild.
Natsu smirked and got this look in his eye usually only when he was about to raid Lucy's house. "I've got an idea for a dare for Gray over here!" He suggested. Immediately, Gray sent a harsh glare meant for death towards Natsu's way. Salamander brushed it off with a flash of his pointy teeth.
"So what is it, Natsu?" Loke asked.
"I dare Gray… to kiss Erza!" He whispered excitedly. Immediately following this, all the guys circled began to laugh their asses off. Gray froze, unable to speak from the shock
Wiping a tear from his eye, Loke turned to look at Gray. "So, are ya gonna do it or back off?" He laughed.
Gray quickly switched from utter shock to a bemused smirk. "Sure, it sounds like a good challenge. I'll even get it done today!" He crossed his arms and tried to look calm. Oh god what the hell am I doing here I can't kiss Erza that's so embarrassing I'm not even ready ye—
"Gray! Be a man and fulfill your dare!" Elfman shouted. The Ice Mage nodded weakly and ran off in search of the Requip woman.
Elsewhere, a certain scarlet haired woman clad in armor clenched her fist near the ache in her chest. Damn it… so he doesn't really like me, does he? He's not getting anything, least of all a kiss, out of me!
Erza stormed off once again, formulating a plan to avoid the traitor of a crush for the day.
The first place Gray checked was the guild hall. His heart beat erratically at the thought that he would find her right away. He couldn't decide if he was relieved or disappointed that Erza wasn't there. Still, he had to get this done quickly.
Sitting at one of the booths was Lucy and Wendy with Carla. He went up to them first to see if they knew. He slid in next to Wendy and asked, "So, have you guys seen Erza anywhere?"
Wendy tapped her chin. "No, not in a while. She passed by earlier today, but I haven't seen her since."
Lucy added, "You could ask some people outside! I'm sure they could do a better job than us; we've been sitting here inside the whole time."
Gray scoffed. "Lazy asses." He muttered, which caused Lucy to smack him over the head.
With a bandage on his swelling head and a little of Wendy's healing magic, Gray left and set out for the streets of Magnolia.
Erza sat alone in a cake shop, grumbling to herself between breaths of strawberry confectionary. The other customers were beginning to get nervous, but the owner knew Erza well, and would never kick her out to save his life. Instead, he risked the danger and questioned the redhead on her current attitude.
"It's nothing! I have to go now…" Erza wiped off the cream from her cheeks and sped out, grasping the bag of extra cakes in her hands. The baker wiped some sweat from his forehead, thanking his maker for his life.
A little while later, Gray visited the cake shop in search of the target of his dare. Unfortunately, the owner could give no information more than she ate in anger and left in a hurry. Gray was beginning to become suspicious himself, but lost his train of thought when the Raijinshu showed up.
"Gray, it's nice to see you. I wouldn't expect to meet you in front of a cake shop, however." Freed waved a gloved hand in the Ice Mage's way.
Gray shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm still trying to find Erza." After hearing that confession, Bixlow cackled along with his puppets.
"Ha! You better hurry up, Gray! Loke and Natsu are going to come looking for you tonight. Remember, if you don't do this, you'll…" Bixlow smiled as his sentence trailed off. Gray knew what he meant.
Evergreen tossed her loose hair and let a hand rest on her hip. "Well, I don't care what you're going to do to Scarlet, but I'd check out Fairy Hills if you're looking for her. Just watch out for the landlady." With that, the Raijinshu took off in a cool manner. Gray rolled his eyes, but took the Fairy woman's advice to go look around there.
It took him quite a while to locate an area of Fairy Hills that he could sneak into without being detected. Gray had a moment of doubt—why go to all this trouble?
For Erza, of course. He thought, and kept reminding himself after his scraped his hands on the gate. He was about to climb a tree to get to the upstairs window when hell itself called out to him.
"Gray-sama?"
Of course, it wasn't actually hell, just the Rain Woman Juvia eyeing him (or his ass) closely. He knew he'd never get to Erza with Juvia in the picture. No sudden movements Gray thought to himself. She repeated her question again, and he knew he couldn't hide from her any longer. Not that he was actually hiding, but that dinosaur theory could've been very useful in his situation.
"Oh… hey, Juvia. I-I'm just, you see, picking up some, uh—" Too late. Her eyes sparkled with the power to blind him if he didn't look away. Just as she was about to pounce, Gray was saved by an unknown advisory who grabbed Juvia around the shoulders.
"Juvia-chan! I've been looking for you! I found some amazing clothes…" When Gray dared to look at Juvia again, he found Cana pulling her reluctant form away. She sneaked a wink and a thumbs up at the boy, and once Juvia was off the premises, Gray made his move once again.
"Thank you, Cana." He whispered to himself.
The window to Erza's room was easily swung open. Gray had another moment of self-doubt: this was completely ridiculous and horribly rude and before he had a chance to even reconsider, he was pulled inside the room and then quickly slapped across the face with freshly manicured nails imprinting his skin.
"Gray Fullbuster. What are you doing here, eh?" the unknown attacker uttered in a dark and deadly way. The lump in his throat prevented him from responding, so she went on. "I really am in a pervert's guild, aren't I?" With that single statement, Gray popped his head up and met Erza's sharp, unyielding irises. He knew who it was right away, unfortunately, and attempted to flee from the situation.
However, Erza only had to grab him by the collar of his shirt and stand him upright. No escaping now. Gray was about to begin speaking, but Erza cut him off with a finger to his lips. A faint blush dusted his cheeks once he realized how close they were, despite the lack of romantic mood.
"I know your little game, Fullbuster," at first, the teenage Ice Mage was confused, but the notion suddenly sunk in, much like how his breakfast dropped in his stomach. "you're not going to get your little dare done, Gray." She seethed. Gray, meanwhile, proceeded to have a panic attack on the inside (She thinks I'm some pervert, or an asshole or something… what am I gonna do? I really want to kiss her!)
"What did you say?" Without realizing it, Gray accidentally mumbled to himself, notifying the attention of one Erza Scarlet.
"Erza," Gray began, "please, just let me-" he reached his hand out, but was quickly rejected by her slapping it away.
"No. Why the hell would I let you kiss me if it means nothing more than a dare?!" Erza retorted. Gray retracted his hand, taken aback by her outburst.
"Do you… want to kiss me…?" He shyly asked. The look on Erza's face was livid.
"You really think-"
"I do," Gray took a step forward. "I want you to know that I want to kiss you too, Erza. Not because of some dare those guys gave me; not for my pride or satisfaction; but because, frankly, Erza Scarlet, I am shoulder-deep in love with you and I've had this feeling for a very long time now but right now you look really gorgeous and all I want to do is kiss you and I don't think I can hold back much longer."
Almost immediately, Gray realized he just confessed in a mess of word vomit, something peculiarly out of character for him. He tried to take it back and apologize, but before he could a flash of red came before his eyes, and that was all he saw before he closed them once he felt something on his lips.
Erza was kissing him. He wasn't even thinking about how nervous he felt—she was kissing him. At first, it was soft and hesitant, but when Gray kissed back, Erza fought for her dominance and pressed harder on his lips. Soon after, Gray tested a little bite on her bottom lip, to which she replied with a gasp and it allowed his tongue to line the rims of her mouth. Her hold on his black hair tightened, and he completely closed the gap between them with the arms he had around her shoulders.
Erza opened her mouth a little, giving Gray the option to insert his tongue, which he gladly obliged to. Little gasps and moans could be heard between their breaths. However, Gray and Erza eventually had to cease their little "tongue fest" to get the recommended amount of air back into their system.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door to Erza's apartment, Loke and Mirajane smirked and did their best to hold in their triumphant laughs. They shared a high five, and quickly left before they were caught and killed by the redhead knight.
ahahahaha as if this hasn't been overused enough