Author's Note: I'm very sorry that I didn't update anything, I've been having computer trouble and will most likely upgrade to a newer laptop pretty soon. Until then I have to make due, so hopefully that gets settled soon (heh, that rhymed). Anyways, leave a review if you like to and here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 6
Back with Levy in the library, she was busy looking at a few more books she had in mind, but she really wanted to ask Micheal more about Gray. She wondered what books he was into, how often he went to the library or if he recently became an avid reader. There was a side of Gray that Levy didn't know she could connect to and wondered if they could bond more with the subject of books, but the thought of bonding had her stop mid step towards the next isle. She had over looked her best friend's crush on Gray and didn't want to get in the way of them, though this might be a great opportunity to get together with another reader besides Lucy.
Levy could argue that she had Gajeel, but the iron slayer paid little mind to reading and remained as intimidating in any situation whether at the guild or not. Then when it came to Gray he could be just like Gajeel, but he acts in such a care free way she hasn't seen before that it pleases her to be around him. Not to mention that they could get along pretty well given how their interactions are outside of the guild and she knows how Gray is when it comes to his guild mates.
The petite bluenette was a decisive person, but this time she has met her match when it came to the matter of the heart. She could pass up the chance to be in a relationship with someone that had somewhat similar interests more so than she has seen in other men or try and win Gray's heart and hurt her best friend in the process. Levy was stumped when it came to this matter, but a brilliant idea came to mind when she thought through it more. This idea was ingenious and everyone wins in the end, well mostly everyone.
"I know what I have to do, but first..." Levy made her way towards the front desk as Micheal had completed checking in the last book. "Micheal could you tell me how Gray was when he went into your father's store for the first time. Also how you two got along." She was readily interested in Gray's past when he came into Magnolia all those years ago.
"Looking for a bit of a childhood history lesson huh Levy?" He joked as he brought up a chair to tell his story. "About seventeen years ago I barely started working with my dad in his shop, cleaning up the shelves putting books back and the such when a boy about my age came in dropping his clothes around as he came up to my dad's cash register."
"Typical Gray, stripping without noticing." Levy giggled at remembering a younger Gray stripping his shirt in public.
"Yup, so he rings the bell a few times and my dad looks at him as if he were crazy with no clothes on. He tells him, "Son what happened to all your clothes?" in that instant Gray jumps back in panic and ran back to get his clothes." Micheal gave a short laugh when he remembered the sight of Gray's face full of panic. "After he got his clothes on, he asked if my dad had any books on ice magic, from regular to maker magic. He explained that he needed to find something, although never said what it was, but my father helped Gray out with what he needed nonetheless."
"Your father must have seen something in Gray at the time huh?" Levy asked as she continued to be enthralled with the story.
"He sure did, "like a man on a mission," he said to me once before with the case being the man was a little boy. Gray soon became a regular at our store, buying the latest copies on ice magic and a random book to read in his spare time. We began to hang out with one another when I was on break and he wasn't on a mission. We would talk about everyday things in Magnolia or his past missions, judging if it were cool or just boring." Micheal had a fond smile on his face when he looked back to those memories.
"Sounds like you guys became pretty good friends." Levy said, her own perception allowing her to see how well those two got along when they were younger.
"We sure did and as time went on he bought less amounts on ice magic books and started expanding his reading field. There wasn't a genre my dad had that he wouldn't read, I was amazed at how much he read, but I noticed that he kept away from a few horror novels containing demons for some reason. I wanted to ask him about that, but I decided not to so I didn't bother with it again."
"So he reads any type of genre except those horror ones then?" Levy had discovered his perffered tastes and was happy to know he read any type like she did.
"From adventure to romance, he's read plenty of them, but one book actually got him good and it was hilarious from the end result. On his fourteenth birthday my dad gave him a book to read when he was at home, well the following day he came to the store completely blushing from ear to ear. He asked me what genre was one that he was given and when I looked at it, I was crying tears from laughing way too hard." Micheal began to chuckle to himself as he wondered what ever happened to that book.
"What book was it? It's rare to see Gray blushing from almost anything." Levy wanted to know what can break Gray of his cool persona into a blushing mess.
"The title if I remember correctly was Passion beneath the Moonlight, it was an R rated book and my dad thought it was something Gray might find interesting. I knew that Gray read light to moderate romance novels before, but something that hardcore was a little too much for him and I couldn't get over it for nearly a week. Gray was pretty upset about it, but he let it go after a while and everything went back to normal for the next four years until you guys disappeared."
"So, what happened when we disappeared?"
"Everyone was frantic to find you guys for the first year and a half, but with the search teams finding nothing out there people started to lose hope. My dad and I weren't one of them though, we believed you guys were out there and so was Gray. He had a feeling he'd be back so he made sure to save up the books that would interest him, he felt it right to do it for him. I helped out too, being the one Gray usually hung out with when he wasn't at the Fairy Tail guild hall. In a way we bonded like brothers, but I'm sure Gray would deny it a bit since he's not one for sentimental things. Although he knows it to be like the truth."
"So you guys were that close, huh? Was it the same with your father?" Levy was so captivated with the story, as if she were reading a good book rather than listening to a repeat of memories.
"Yeah, my dad thought of Gray like a second son. He's seen him grow up ever since he came to Magnolia, it's still a wonder to either of us how connected we are to him when he was nothing but a strange boy with a stripping habit when we first met him."
"Wow that's a great story of your memories with Gray thank you for sharing them with me, but I have to ask when did you two meet up again?" One thing that Levy knows about herself is that she wants to know the answer to the questions she's got.
"You're welcome and that happened when I was out taking care of a few errands when I saw him sitting by the water's edge. I was pretty happy to see him again, although I was shocked that he still looked the same when I last saw him. Either way, we started talking again and catching up with our lives. I recently was reminded of what my father was doing when you asked how we know each other. Guess it must have slipped my mind when I talked with Gray." Micheal was truly happy to know that someone he can consider a brother is back and he wondered how his father was going to react.
"True to his word." Came Gray's voice as he walked down the steps, his coat laying on the floor already .
"Gray your coat." Micheal said his smiling face showing his true emotion of how the ice mage hadn't changed at all since then.
"Thanks Micheal, hey Levy ready to go?" He said putting his coat back on and she had completely forgot about the rest of the books but decided to make due with the books she has now.
"Just a minute Gray, I just need Micheal to check them out for me." Levy quickly placed the three books she managed to grab before she decided to hear Gray's story. It didn't take long to have them scanned by the lacrima and with that she was set to leave.
"Alright Levy you're good to go, come back if you want any more info of the past." Micheal said as she waved good bye to him, he still wore his smile after she left as he felt happy reminiscing on the past.
"I thought you were gonna get more than three books." Gray said as they walked back towards the guild, him carrying two of the three books.
"Well this is fine for right now and besides I've gotten to learn a bit of your past Gray." Levy replied with a smile on her face as she had a bit of a hop to her step walking alongside him. "By the way, how did it go seeing Micheal's father again?" She was curious to find out what happened since she's learned that Micheal's father cared for Gray like a son.
"It was a reunion the old man waited for, I'm surprised he didn't yell at me for not seeing him sooner." Gray joked as the two mages continued to have small talk on their walk back, but Levy was somewhat in her own state of mind, trying to get her little plan to work without things falling apart.
"Thanks for helping me out Gray, I'm sure things have settled down now so there's nothing for you to worry about." Levy said as they stood in front of the guild doors, already hearing some sort of argument happening.
"No problem Levy, glad to help." Gray was about to reach fo the handle to open the doors when Levy's hand shot out to grab him by the coat sleeve. He looked over at Levy to see what was wrong, but she didn't dare look up at him as the beating of her heart grew louder in her ears.
"If...If you w-wouldn't mind G-Gray, maybe you could...accompany me again some other time." Levy was beyond nervous and it took all of her strength and will power to keep her legs from shaking. Talking to him was one thing, but a Gray that looked ridiculously handsome and gave you compliments from time to time was a different story.
She had walked with her mind set on talking to Lucy and how their personal "conversation" would go, but she would also listen to Gray and that's where her mind had trouble. He would be talking about the subject for a while, but his image would change and all the compliments were hard for her to take since she rarely gotten such things other than being cute.
Asking this of Gray was the opening she needed. If she was taking a step to spend more time with him then this would be it before things were really put to the test when she told Lucy about it.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind going again." Gray replied and Levy let out a breath of relief when Gray had agreed and a bright smile formed on her face, one that Gray found contagious and smiled a bit himself.
Levy had noticed that he had stripped his coat and shirt again, but decided to enjoy the view a bit and with that Gray opened the door to guild, but the sweet little moment had passed as Gray immediately reacted and hugged Levy close to his body. The books they held fell to the floor, Levy was blushing like mad while Gray had a harsh glare towards his pink haired rival. The reason why was for the fact that Natsu had thrown a chair directed right towards Levy when Gray had opened the door.
"You flaming pyro, look at where you're throwing things! You almost hit Levy!" Gray shouted to him as Natsu's eye's widened when he looked on at Gray holding Levy.
To Natsu's eyes it appeared as if Gray held Levy with such care and love that he couldn't believe Gray was capable of handling someone like that. When he looked at Levy however, he saw her with a devious smile on her face snuggling closer to Gray when the real image was Levy blushing like never before with Gray holding her in a protective manner.
"I'm sorry Natsu, but Levy has managed to steal my heart. I hope you could understand that, but I know how you are...maybe you'll be able to find a way..." The beautified Gray spoke to Natsu in an apologetic way that left him standing with no words. He then let go of Levy and helped with her books, soon leading them towards the booth that had an angered Lucy with Loke trying to calm her down.
Natsu felt hurt, but not physically, it was more like someone had punched him right in the heart, which felt even harder especially after what Gajeel had told him.
FLASHBACK
Natsu was coming to terms that if Gray was truly falling in love with him, then he shoud at least try to get along with him and make it work. It took him the larger potion of an hour to come to this conclusion since he's really never been attracted to anyone before, so this was his first time liking someone back. If Gray was willing to like him the way Bisca does to Alzak than he would try his best as well.
With that in mind, he was ready for Gray to come back and tell him that he was willing to form a relationship, although he wasn't sure how it would work between two guys. Either way, they would just figure it out as the went along, but he didn't know at the time that someone else had plans of their own. That plan being to have Natsu understand that Gray never admitted to falling in love with him.
Gajeel came through the guild doors sometime after Natsu had came to his conclusion and approached him with a smirk that told him something was coming. He sat next him near the bar counter, not saying much of anything until he looked up right at Natsu.
"You know the Stripper never really meant what he said." Was the only thing he said and Natsu's world came to a stand still wondering if he heard him right.
"What did you say?" Natsu said in a low tone, hoping this was just a lame prank he was pulling on him just to get angry.
"You heard me Salamander, the Stripper never really said that he was falling in love with you." Gajeel's smirk grew much to the dismay of Natsu who didn't want to believe what the raven head was saying.
"You're lying" was the reply he gave him, but for some reason he could feel something rise within him as if a part of him was believing him.
"I'm not, I'm a bit of an informant and I get my answers. Meaning that the Stripper never said he was falling for you nor did he mean it." Natsu's anger was boiling over from hearing this. he wouldn't stand for a lie against his knew love-like interest. He wasn't very sure where he stood with this, but he wouldn't allow Gajeel to ruin it for him.
"Stop lying to me metal face!" Natsu said in his low tone, "You're just trying to get under my skin." This was all some way to rile him up, but he's not going to fall for it that easily.
"Don't believe me if you want Salamander, but if I were you then I'd keep a close eye on the Stripper." Gajeel got up from his stool satisfied with his work, but decided to taunt him a little more for the fun of it. "You never know when I'll take him for myself, gihi."
Natsu boiled over from hearing his last statement and his signature chuckle, he finally decided what he was going to do and the iron eater comes to ruin it for him. Letting his actions take over he grabbed the closest thing to him, being Gajeel's former stool, and through it right at him. Though he had the worst timing since right at that moment when Gajeel dodged the flying furniture, Gray and Levy had come through the guild doors. The rest had went down as before...
END FLASHBACK
Even after they made their way, Natsu knew there was some shred of hope for him, mostly from what the last bit Gray had said to him. Gray knew that Natsu could find a way, this meant that there was still a chance to get him back. Levy is just another obstacle he had to get over and if Gajeel's willing to steal Gray from him then it's a full out war between the two. With that in mind, the pink haired teen set out in search of his furry blue friend to devise a plan that will surely get him Gray.
Not far from where Natsu once stood Cana had looked on at the interaction between the two slayers. Though she was slowly recovering form her drunken stupor, she had more sense to know that something was brewing between the two and it wasn't going to be pretty. All in all, she felt it within her that it had something to do with Gray and she wouldn't allow those morons to interfere with her chances. She still had her trump card if she needed something to help boost her chances, though it will be saved just in case things get a little too complicated.
Over at the booth Gray and Levy had moved to that had Loke calming down Lucy, Gray wasn't close to sitting when Loke pulled him away. That left Levy with Lucy and it was the best thing to happen at the moment for her. This was her chance to come clean about her sudden interest in Gray and talk to Lucy about a proposition she had in mind.
"You okay Lu-chan, you seemed pretty angry when we were making our way here?" Levy had start out slow before she could push further with her question.
"To be honest Levy-chan, I...I snapped." Lucy replied with a defeated look on her face as she propped her elbow up onto the table, leaning her head on her opened palm.
"What do you mean by snapped?" She was worried that Lucy may have done something she would come to regret.
"I mean that I umm...sort of...told Juvia off..." Lucy was a kind person to many, that Levy knows, but for her to lose her cool to Juvia must have been major.
"Alright spill it, how did it happen" Levy was interested how Lucy would handle Juvia when she was angered.
"Well it went like this, Loke was going to question me on how I acted with Gray before you two left. I came back with my reply, but I noticed Juvia marching her way to our table."
"She must have been cautious of you, even with me and Loke there huh?" Levy inquired and Lucy nodded her head in response.
"Yup, she kept yammering on about how she didn't want me to be near her very precious "Gray-sama" and how I was her ultimate Love Rival." She let out a sigh when she said those final words, making them the bane of her situation.
"And you normally denied it, hurting how you truly feel for him and crushing your chances even more when he hears it, right?" Levy's heard her problem more so than not and understands how Lucy handles the situation and the problems it causes for her.
"Not exactly..." Lucy moved her gaze from her best friend to the table.
"What did you do Lu-chan?" Levy would be in a scolding fashion if she weren't so interested what Lucy had done instead of her normal routine.
"She kept talking and I don't know what happened to me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I just started talking back and one thing led to another and now I'm officially Juvia's Love Rival."
"No way, you actually stood your ground!?" Levy was excited that her best friend had finally shown she was capable of defending herself for the sake of a love interest, but the matter still remained on what she had to talk about with her.
"I did and I don't know what to do. Help me out Levy-chan." Lucy pleaded, but Levy began to twiddle with her fingers, since she too was something to say.
"Now Lu-chan I don't want to upset you, but I have to tell you something..." Levy was very nervous of how she was going to approach this.
"Go on, I won't get mad I've already done so enough today."
"The thing is...I've sort of...taken an interest in Gray." Lucy sat there stunned at what her best friend told her, was she mistaken or did she understand her correctly.
"H-how did you...w-when did this...I don't have words to explain how I'm feeling right now Levy-chan." Lucy was growing ever so confused, she finally took her stand on how she felt about Gray and now her own close friend says she likes him too.
"I'm so sorry Lu-chan, but I learned some things about Gray that I can maybe relate to. He's a mystery to everyone and I'm sure I've only scratched the tip of the ice-berg. No pun intended." Levy really didn't want to ruin her friendship over a guy, so she had to try her hardest to have Lucy go further in this conversation.
"I don't want to go against you and Juvia over Gray Levy-chan, but I don't want to do this alone either. Even with my spirits by my side it still a bit of an issue to me." Lucy plopped her head onto the table unable to believe that not only does she have to compete with a former S-class mage, but her best friend too.
"Well you don't have to do it alone." Levy had finally reached her opening and this was her chance to make this right.
"What do you mean by that?" Lucy brought her head back up to look at Levy, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well as the saying goes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"."
"So?
"So it means that you and I should team up Lu-chan!" This was the decision Levy had made in the library when she thought of Juvia being an obstacle while she was in thought. "Of course you're still my friend though when it comes to Gray, you're like my enemy."
"Are you sure? How will that work?" Lucy was skeptical about the idea, even if Levy's ideas were pretty good in the long run.
"I'm positive! We work together to win over Gray and if you're willing to, then we share him. It's a win-win for everyone." Levy was beaming with both pride in her idea and hope that Lucy would agree to it.
Lucy would be lying is she said it wasn't a sound idea, but a part of her wanted to have Gray to herself. Alas, looking at the situation as it is, Lucy had a handful of people she would be willing to share Gray with if ever and one of them was now Levy. She gave it a bit more thought and knew that it was the best course of action to have more allies on her side than rivals.
"Alright Levy-chan you got yourself a partner!" Lucy extended her hand with a bright smile to confirm their partnership. "Maybe sharing won't be so bad"
"Great! Let's win Gray's heart together!" Levy took her hand and shook it, making their partnership official.
Now, without the ice mage knowing what's happening, two dragon slayers are on the verge of war, Cana's got a mysterious trump card up her sleeve(or in her pouch), Lucy's made her stand and a partnership has been formed between the celestial spirit mage and the solid script mage. Rivals are becoming abundant and allies are being made, who's next to undergo their trial of the heart for Gray?
