Title: Fifth Time's The Charm (2/5: Accidental Embrace)
Author: Noble Voyager
Rating/Warnings: T
Characters: Lucy Heartfilia, Erza Scarlet, Natsu Dragneel, Juvia Loxar, Gray Fullbuster
Setting: Sometime after Episode 50
Summary: They say, "two time's the charm". But who says you can't have it five times?
Disclaimer: This story is based on the anime/manga created and owned by Hiro Mashima. I do not own Fairy Tail. No copyright infringement is intended.

Lucy awoke to the bright sunshine that illuminated her room. She eagerly wished that the so-called "incident" that happened yesterday would have been just a dream. But some wishes are just never meant to happen. She couldn't stop thinking about it, so she got up from bed and took a shower to cool her down.

After she ate her breakfast along with her cute little companion, Plue, she got herself dressed up to her usual white and blue outfit and prepared to head to the guild. It's a good thing none of her teammates busted in her house just like they always do.

"Hey miss! Be careful there! You might fall!" one of the sailors shouted as Lucy balanced by the river.

"Okay! I will!" Lucy replied back and then sighed. If ever Gray had feelings for her, she still doesn't want to break their friendship. They have been really good friends, and she couldn't believe that it had to come to this. She pondered over that thought throughout her travel and after several minutes, she finally stood in front of the guild entrance.

She made her way to the entrance and hopefully, the guild will not fall into chaos again. As she stepped towards the door, she was awaiting a series of flying punches and kicks to greet her this early in the morning. Lo and behold, everything is just normal. No noise, no fights, and no chaos. She never expected the guild to be so mundane and calm all of a sudden. Lucy could feel herself overflowing with relief.

"Hey, Lucy!" the scarlet-haired Titania greeted as she waved to the stellar mage.

"Hey, Erza," Lucy replied, "how was the mission you took yesterday?"

"Easy, very easy. I don't even know why the Master assigned me such an easy mission." What can you expect from Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard? She is definitely the Titania who never holds back during battle. "How were Natsu and Gray while I was gone?"

Gray. How couldn't that name possibly escape from the chambers of her thoughts? She doesn't want to be reminded of the incident that happened the other day anymore. She turned her attention to where Natsu is and saw the dragon slayer looking exhausted. He must have been tired from the trivial and nonsensical fight he had with Gray yesterday. "Well, the usual... they are such a pain in the neck!"

The corners of Erza's mouth turned up to what seemed like a miniscule smile. "I sure hope you were able to shut them up."

"Oh... I sure did..." Lucy gave out another scornful smile. She remembered that moment when she was able to stop Gray from continuing the fight somehow. "Lucy! My rival! You will pay for doing that to Gray-sama!" Juvia shouted, even though she was quite near to where Lucy was. Without even making another eye-contact with her, Juvia eventually walked away, as though nothing had happened.

"Uggghhh! Juvia calling me a love rival for Gray is starting to get more and more annoying!" Lucy said as she put down her head on the table.

"What happened to you and Gray?" Erza prompted inquisitively with her unmistakable curious look.

"Well... you see... Natsu punched Gray so hard that it had him flying and falling to the ground. Then unfortunately, he landed on me. He tried to help me but everyone was like, 'Awww! What a lovely couple!' and something like that. Aggghh! I wish that never happened!" Lucy is starting to pound her fist on the table with such an annoyed facade.

"Whoa, calm down. It's not that bad, is it?"

"Yes, it is! It's completely bad!"

"Why?" Erza asked, getting even more curious.

Lucy's eyes widened. Should she tell her what Mirajane said about them? Well, she could trust Erza, anyway. "Well... the thing is... Mirajane was talking to me about my relationship with Gray and that we look... you know... good together," Lucy said in disgust.

"Oh? So, that's why. To be honest, I personally think that you two should go out."

"What?! Even you?! That was so sudden! What is it with people's minds nowadays?!"

Erza just laughed. She really enjoyed being with the sanguine and optimistic Lucy. "I mean, come on. You two have a lot in common."

"Yeah, whatever. But no matter what you say, nothing is going to happen between me and Gray."

"He's a great guy once you get to know him." Lucy didn't mind what Erza just said because she is already flooded with a rather overwhelming annoyance. But as she stood up, she noticed a fuming Juvia preparing to attack her. The deeply in love water mage is getting really serious now. Well, that's probably an understatement. She's already going overboard.

"WAAHHH! Juvia, what are you doing?!" Lucy shouted as Juvia is attempting to attack her with her water magic.

"Lucy! You are my one and only rival for Gray-sama's love! He doesn't need someone like you! His heart belongs to me!" Juvia shouted. She was already flooded with rage.

"I never even liked him before! You can have him, anyway!" Lucy replied as she ran for her life. Luckily, Erza was able to stop Juvia instantly by giving her a death glare. No one should ever mess with the Titania's comrade.

Meanwhile, Lucy didn't know that Juvia was already overwhelmed, so she turned her bead back to see that she is already safe. But as she kept running, she accidentally tripped on something made her fall to the ground. As she made her fall, she felt someone caught her and she accidentally gave that someone a hard embrace. As she looked up, she could feel herself blushing profusely again. It was Gray.

Lucy pulled back, blushing as hard as ever, "We keep meeting like this. I'm sorry."

Gray gave her back a slight smirk. "You know, if you wanted a hug, you could just tell it to me straight."

Lucy's eyes widened with embarrassment and gave the ice mage a slap in the face. She ran off to the counter and hid herself.

"Ouch! Was there something I said?" Gray said as he rubbed his slap-stained cheek.

Lucy could feel herself recovering. She now stood up and walked to Gray. "I'm sorry again. I just had a bad day today."

"It's okay. I'm glad to see you today, Lucy."

The blonde-haired stellar mage was once again shocked to hear something like that coming out of Gray's mouth. Why was he glad to see her? She doesn't even want to delve deeply into such trivial thoughts anymore. To cool herself down, she sat alone on a chair as she tries to forget what just happened. She probably won't need anyone's futile attempts of consolation... for now.