Thank you for all the reviews! It's highly appreciated.

Again, English is my second language and I'm not that good of a writer so I beg for forgiveness if there are wrong spellings or grammar...thank you (I know, I'm always saying this but, well, yea)

Genre: Drama, Family, Friendship, Romance, some Humor, Hurt/ Comfort.

Pairings: GrayXLucy, ErzaXJellal, NatsuXLisanna, GajeelXLevy, LokeXsoon to be revealed?, SeigrainXUltear maybe.

Summary: Gray hates the world for taking his parents away, for making his life miserable. But with his new family, friends and a certain blonde girl, will they make him change the idea about the world? Or will he just hate it even more?

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail or any of its characters. I am NOT Hiro Mashima!


CHAPTER 18:Is this what they call a date?


"Why Good day!" the old man, Mr. Yajima, said smiling.

"I don't believe it...You're the owner?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"I guess I haven't told you earlier, have I?" Mr. Yajima said still smiling while his hands are on his back.

"No and sorry for not asking you your name. I'm truly sorry for not knowing!" Lucy said as she bowed her head.

"Don't worry about it." He said.

"Mr. Yajima? Do you know this girl?" asked the teller.

"Only by face but not her name." He said.

"So that means she doesn't have any connections with you, Sir?" asked again by the teller.

"I'm afraid not." He said. With that said, Lucy felt silent, cursing herself for not asking the old man's name and for not introducing herself to him. "So it means that they cannot use your land, sir."

"I don't know her yes, but the guy she's with is someone I know from way back." He suddenly said. Lucy's ears perked up. He looked over to the old man in confusion. "You knew him from before?" Lucy repeated and looked at the raven haired boy who's still seated at the couch, arms folded and eyes wandering. What's he doing? Wait! If Mr. Yajima knows Gray, then maybe we can make the reservation! That's it! If Gray knows the old man then we can make it!Lucy thought in great delight. "Hey Gray!" she called his attention. He looked at her approaching form in confusion and asked "What?"

"I have a question for you! Do you know someone named Mr. Yajima?" Lucy asked. Gray puts his one hand under his chin thinking, then looked up again to Lucy and said "No, why do you ask?"

Lucy was about to say something when the old man, Mr. Yajima, suddenly joined their conversation. "So you don't remember me eh?" Gray looked past Lucy's shoulder and saw the man that took them at Camp. "Oh Sir!" he said and stood up. Lucy made way for the man to be able to see Gray clearly. "Thank you for bringing us here again!" Gray said bowing to pay respect. He straightened his body and continued "I'm sorry for not introducing ourselves. This is Lucy Heartfilia, my friend." He said gesturing his hand to Lucy who blushed and bowed. "It's nice to meet you, sir!" she said. "And my name is..."

"Gray Fullbuster, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" He said and smiled. Gray's eyes widen. "H-How did you know my name? I didn't tell you my name earlier, did I?" he asked politely.

The man smiled at him. "Don't you remember this place?" he asked. Gray looked around again thinking about the man's question. Before he could answer the man spoke again "You've grown a lot since we last met, boy." Boy?He thought. With that said, flashes of memory when he was little flooded his mind and the things that he can't understand earlier are slowly piecing together. "Ji-Jiichan Shitou?" he asked with wide eyes.

"So you finally remember me and this place?" the old man that is named Mr. Shitou Yajima, the owner of Camp Basanova, said. Gray looked down "So that's why I had a feeling that I knew this place, because I really know it! I can't believe I forgotten everything about this place. This place..." he said with clenched fist. "...this place where me and my Family used to go during summer breaks. And you..." he continued and looked at the old man with furrowed brows. "You're always here. Mr. Shitou Yajima, Grandpa Shitou..."

"It's so nice to see you again, boy." Mr. Shitou said.

"You're his Grandson?" Lucy said shocked. The old man laughed and said "No his not, but I consider him one. He's my friends' son. Gary Fullbuster."

"Oh...so umh..." Lucy started but doesn't know how to continue. "About the reservation?" Mr. Yajima said unexpectedly. Lucy nodded shyly. "As you can see, he knows the owner." the teller suddenly butted in too.

"So does that mean?"

"Your school has made the reservation." The teller smiled sweetly at Lucy in which she excitedly rejoiced.

"Gray! Did you hear that? We made the reservation!" Lucy said and hugged Gray that blushed at the sudden contact.

"You've got a cheerful girlfriend there, Boy."

"Yes. What a fascinating couple they are."

By these comments, Lucy broke the hug and shook her head. "We're not a couple."

...

"Well, thanks again, Mr. Yajima! See you on the trip!" Lucy said and bowed.

"Yes and give Macky my deepest apology for not visiting him often. Tell him to visit me instead and kindly tell him to treat me with some ramen." Mr. Yajima said. Lucy froze. Did he just say, Macky?Lucy though, which Gray thought as well in confusion. So to verify their thoughts, "I'm sorry but, when you say Macky, you didn't mean...?" Lucy asked.

"Why yes. Your principal, the principal of Fairytail Academy, is Makarov Dreyar, is it not?" the man asked.

"You mean you knew from the start that we are Fairytail Academy students and knew our Principal Makarov?" Gray asked this time.

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US FROM THE START THEN?" both Lucy and Gray practically yelled.

"You didn't ask." The old man simply said, smiling. Lucy and Gray blinked at him for a while before laughing; Lucy covering her mouth and Gray shaking his head in the process.

"You're still the same, Jii-chan." Gray stated and continued. "When I come back, I'll challenge you to a fishing contest. And I will win this time, got that, Jii-chan?" Gray asked in which the old man nodded in agreement.

After that Lucy and Gray waved goodbye to him.

...

"HMM! At last! We made the reservation! For a second there I thought the trip will be cancelled." Lucy said stretching her arms upward.

"But thanks to me, it wasn't." Gray said and smirked.

"Yea, yea." Lucy said as she brought her arms down and twirled to look at Gray. They both stopped and Lucy smiled gratefully at Gray. "But really, thanks to you the trip will still push through and will not be postponed or, even worse, cancelled. So now that we finished our task we should go back. We could still attend afternoon classes if we go now." She said as she started walking again.

"What?" Gray stop dead.

"I said, we finished our task so we could go back now and attend the afternoon classes."

"No we won't." Gray said as he started to walk passed Lucy.

"What?" Now it's Lucy's turn to ask.

"I said, No we won't." Gray said without looking back.

"And why can't we?" Lucy said following Gray with a scowl.

"Because we're going to seize the day to have some fun." Gray said looking around again. Lucy walked faster and blocked Gray to stop which was a success.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. Gray rolled his eyes at Lucy and answered "We're going to forget about studying today and have fun. Is that so hard to understand?"

"We can't do that! It's wrong to cut classes!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Yea, yea." Gray said waving his hands at Lucy and continued asked "Hey let me ask you a question, what do you do for fun?" while putting his hands inside his pockets. Lucy blinked at him before answering.

"Study." She said. Gray face palmed. "You're really hopeless, you know that?" He said.

"What did you- hey!" Lucy said as Gray grabbed her wrist and pulled her, dragging her to some place.

"HEY! Where are you taking me!" Lucy asked, well more like demanded.

"Just shut up and follow me!" he said.

"I will follow you if you stop dragging me! I can walk on my own!" Lucy yelled at him but he seemed like he's not listening.

"I know it's just here somewhere." He mumbled that cause Lucy to twitch in anger.

"Are you even listening to me? Hey!" Lucy yelled again trying to pry her hand off of Gray's grip.

"We're here!" He said suddenly.

"Huh?" Lucy said and frowned at him. She saw him looking at something so she followed his gaze and her eyes widen in awe. "Wow!" She gasped.

"Let's go inside!" Gray, still holding Lucy's wrist, said as he pulled the latter inside.

"What is this place?" she asked still in amazement.

"The amusement park? Haven't you been in one before?" Gray jokingly asked, smirking.

"No. Not that I'm aware of." Lucy said as she kept on looking around that made Gray looked at her with disbelief. He was just joking around when he asked that. He didn't even know that a girl as cheerful as Lucy hasn't been able to go to such place. "Seriously?" he asked.

"Yea. My father wouldn't let me go to one but I read about amusement parks before." She said. She looked at Gray and smiled. "Thanks to you I had seen one!"

"I've always wanted to go but my father wouldn't let me, so basically this is my first time!" Gray looked at the blonde girl and subconsciously smiled. He suddenly felt the urge to make his companion happy when they heard their stomach rumbling.

(Silence)

"I think we should eat now." Gray suggested, with a tinge of red on his cheeks.

"yea, I guess."

Gray and Lucy walked inside the park, still not noticing that Gray is still holding Lucy's wrist. Gray ordered some hotdog sandwiches and some drinks (hotdog sandwich? Really now, Gray?). The two of them seated on a nearby bench to eat. This is the only time they noticed that Gray was still holding the girls wrist so he hastily removed his hand and blushed. He gave Lucy her sandwich and put the drinks beside them to remove the awkward atmosphere that's starting to linger between them. Gray started eating the sandwich but then on his second bite he noticed that Lucy is staring at him so he asked why. Lucy removed her gaze, blushed and finally answered.

"I-I don't know how to eat this without spoon and fork so I was...s-sorry of staring at you so suddenly!" she said. Gray chuckled.

"You seriously don't know how to eat a hotdog sandwich?" Gray said with a teasing smirk.

"Well sorry for not knowing! I-"

"Here let me show you." Gray said cutting Lucy's words.

Lucy looked closely at how Gray ate the sandwich and did the same. But the hugeness of the sandwich caused a mess on Lucy's mouth which Gray laughed out loud. He pointed out where the stain is but Lucy couldn't find a tissue to wipe it. Gray took out his handkerchief and said "Here, let me..." and wiped Lucy's stained face that causes her to blush furiously.

Some people who saw Gray and Lucy were giggling at the sight. "They're such a cute couple." and "Oh how sweet!" can be heard. Hearing these, the 'couple' distanced themselves with the other and silently eat their remaining sandwiches; not minding if they're staining their mouths with every bite.

After they've eaten, Gray stood up and asked Lucy "So which one do you want to ride first?" Lucy looked around deciding where to ride first. Her face lit up and pointed at the carousel ride as she looked at Gray. "I want to ride that merry-go-round thingy first!" she said in a childlike attitude.

"Ok let go!" he said and walking ahead of her. Lucy got up and run at Gray's side so they walk side by side towards the carousel ride.

The ride was full and the only space that hasn't been occupied was a horse for two people. The 'couple' was already on the ride and the assisting staff was telling them to ride it for the carousel ride will soon to start. Lucy seated herself first, princess style of course, then Gray followed suit with him behind Lucy. The staff put on their safety belt and told Gray to hold Lucy the whole ride to prevent her from falling. Which Gray hesitated at first but his conscience win over him that if Lucy falls then it's his fault for not holding or supporting her. This means nothing Gray! It's not like you're hugging her on your own will, it's just for safety! Yea that's right, it's just for safety! He thought and puts his one hand on Lucy's waist and the other one on the handle on the horse. Lucy blushed, well both of them did.

The ride started and Lucy was nervous for this was her first time riding this thing. She shut her eyes close that didn't go unnoticed by Gray.

"You know, if you're gonna shut your eyes the whole ride you're not gonna enjoy it. Open it and you'll see its fun." Gray said. Lucy considered that thought for a while. It's true that she wouldn't enjoy it if she kept her eyes close so she decided to open it. She slowly opened her eyes and smiled. All the things around her are moving. (well, it's them who're moving but who cares.. :3) Gray, again, smiled subconsciously. Yes it's true that both of them are quiet the whole ride, but at least Lucy enjoyed it. That's what this is all about, for Lucy to enjoy herself for once. What? No it's not! It's for me to be able not to go to school today! He thought and blushed harder.

"That was fun! Where should we ride next?" Lucy said with much enthusiasm after the ride.

"Well, where do you want to ride next?" Gray repeated Lucy's own question to her.

Lucy looked around again and pointed at the ride with lots and lots of...wait are those loops?

"You really wanted to ride the roller coaster?" he asked shocked which Lucy only nodded.

"Let's go!" she said, held Gray's hand and dragged him to the ride.

AFTER the ride.

"Remind me...never...to ride...that thing...ever, AGAIN!" Lucy said panting as she was holding the wall for support. Gray was laughing like crazy.

"Stop it! It's not funny! I almost died there!" Lucy said, an angry vein appeared in her forehead throbbing furiously.

"Hahaha! But it was funny. Those expressions are the best Lucy! You should see your face! Hahaha" Gray said clutching his stomach.

"I said it's not funny! You could've at least warned me that it's not safe to be riding that thing!" she said readying a fist to be spanked to a certain raven haired boy.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry!" Gray said. "Now let's go there next!" he said, pointing to a fun house, changing the topic.

"OK!" Lucy said energetically, forgetting what just happened.

AFTER going out of the fun house.

"GRAY! I HATE YOU!" Lucy said while Gray continued to laugh his ass out.

"I told you to warn me!" she said sitting in a corner with her hugging her knees on her chest and quivering.

"But you were just so energetic to go so I didn't tried to say anything else." He said wiping his tears at the corner of his eyes due to laughing.

"It's a FUN house so I expected it to be fun not to be scary! WAAH!" Lucy cried. Gray smiled at his simple-minded companion.

"Hey there! Don't cry! Come let's go the next ride." Gray said offering his hand to Lucy.

"NO! I won't believe you anymore. Just because this is my first time to be in an amusement park doesn't mean you could trick me!" Lucy yelled at him and can now be seen with tears.

"I'm sorry. This one is the last ride. After this we're going home." Gray said.

"NO!" Lucy stubbornly said.

"Aren't you a little bit curious about the last ride?" he asked again.

"NO!"

"Oh alright! I guess I'll be riding it alone then. The ferris wheel seems to be fun though, sure you don't wanna go?" Gray asked again. This time Lucy looked up and asked "Ferris wheel?"

"Yep. That big thing over there." Gray said pointing it. Lucy's face lit up. Gray offered his hand again and this time she gratefully took it, stood up and wiped her tears "Let's go!" She said.

...

"WOW! Look at the view Gray! It's so beautiful!" Lucy said, forgetting what happened earlier, looking at the setting sun and the never ending horizon.

"Yep. I wanted you to see it." Gray said, as he cupped his chin with his hand and his elbow on the sill, looking at the wonderful sight.

"What?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"Well, I did a lot of trick on you today and to make it up to you I wanted you to see this view." He explained.

"Oh..." Lucy said and settled on the seat in front of Gray.

"You know, when I was little my parents and I always went here after our vacation at Camp Basanova. And I ride the ferris wheel last to view this wonderful scenery. It's so relaxing, and it gives you peace. And even after a long tiring day, seeing this will make you forget all about it." Gray said as the sun sets. Why was I saying this to her? He thought.

As we all know, Gray isn't the type of person to just share his stories to anybody. He isn't the type of person to lose his cool so easily, to laugh out loud over something even though it's funny, to smile without knowing he's smiling, and is the kind of person you would think of as a cold hearted person. But, in this one single day, all those things that you wouldn't think Gray would do, Lucy seen it all; glad that she had the chance to see this side of him. Lucy smiled and looked at the scenery again. "Thank you" she mumbled.

"Did you say something?" Gray asked, glancing at Lucy shortly and when his companion shook her head indicating a 'no', he looked over the scenery again and smiled, reminiscing the past. The rest of the ride was silent.

..ooOoo..

The 'seems-to-be-couple' was walking their way to the bus stop and silence lingers between them again. None of them were speaking even until they got there. After 5 minutes the bus came. Gray lets Lucy hop in first then he followed after her. They sit in silence until Lucy felt her eyes heavy. She leaned her head on the bus' window but felt uncomfortable and shifted a lot of positions but failed to get a nice position to sleep. Gray casting a long side-glance at his companion who's having trouble finding the right position to sleep took Lucy's head to his shoulder.

"Gray?" she said, looking at Gray.

"Just sleep. It'll be a long ride." He said.

"But how about you? Aren't you sleepy as well?" she asked again, with a concerned look. Gray sighed.

"I can manage. You go on and sleep." Gray said, finally eyeing the blonde, and cast a reassuring smile. Lucy smiled back and nodded.

The rest of the ride he was just staring at her.

.

.

.

Wait! I am not! I'm not a pervert, for Pete's sake! He shook his head.I'm just tired. He thought and leaned on the bus' seat. He slowly closed his eyes just to relax a little but later on drifted to sleep. Without realizing it, his head slides down and leaned on Lucy's head.

..ooOoo..

"Magnolia stop!" someone yelled. Gray opened his eyes and looked around.It seems that I had fallen asleep. He said to himself and found Lucy still asleep on his shoulder. He looked outside the window and saw that they really are in Magnolia. He woke Lucy up.

"Lucy, we're here." He said. The blonde opened her eyes and rubbed it. She looked around and stretched. They hopped out the bus and started to walk.

When they got to the place where they need to split up, Lucy said her good bye to Gray but he shook his head and insisted on walking her home.

"But it's already late! Aunt Ur might get worried if you don't go home now!" Lucy said.

"That's the very reason for her to be worried. It's late and I can't let you go home on your own. It's dangerous. And mom will kill me if she ever finds out that I didn't walk you home." Gray explained.

"But-"

"You know, sometimes I wish you weren't this stubborn. Come on!" Gray said, cutting Lucy's words, and dragging her again. She smiled to herself, seeing her childhood love like his old self.He really is the Gray I know from before. I'm glad he's back. Lucy thought.

...

"There's my house over there. I can go there by my own. You should go back now. I know Aunt Ur's worried sick about you. It already 9:30 pm. Thanks for walking me home. I really appreciate it!" Lucy said as she smiled gratefully at Gray and started walking home. Gray didn't say anything. He turned around and started walking home as well.

"GRAY!" he heard her called and when he looked back, someone jumped and hugged him to his surprise. It was Lucy. She broke the hug and kissed Gray on his right cheek. She backed off and bowed. "Thank you for this wonderful day!" She shot her head up again and smiled sweetly at Gray. There it is again. Don't smile like that! He thought as heat travelled to his face again and looked away.

"I had fun! Thank you for bringing me there. I really enjoyed those rides; even though I almost died in the roller coaster and the scary fun house, I really had fun! I'm happy that you're the one that was assigned to come with me." Lucy said. Gray looked at her with disbelief, shocked as if he hadn't heard that right.

"Well, we met in a very spontaneous way and I thought we're not going to get along well. That's why, at first, I really hated when Erza assigned me on this task with you, but now, I'm really happy that it's you. I saw that you aren't a bad person, and because of that I wanted to know you more." Lucy explained more. Liar! That's not why you don't want him to be assigned with you! You're becoming good at this Lucy! Lucy thought.

Gray can't believe what he's hearing right now. Is this really the 'Lucy the Man-Hater' that he once knew?

"Well, I better get going! Dad must be really worried by now. Oh! Tell Aunt Ur thanks for the dress. Tell her that I'll just return it after I wash it, 'kay? Bye!" Lucy said before she waved goodbye.

Gray was still standing still and looking as Lucy entered their house (mansion, if I must say!). He brought his hand on his cheek where Lucy had kissed him. Suddenly his phone rang. He removed his hand from his cheek before taking the phone out of his pants pocket and answered it; it was his mom.

"Gray? Where are you?"

"I walked Lucy home..." he answered, still staring at Lucy's house.

"Oh? So how did it go?"

"How did 'what' go?" he asked still calmed, for some reasons.

"The DATE silly!"

"Oh...It went well..." he answered as he continued his previous walk homeward.

"I see, you had fun?"

"Uh-huh..." he said as he brought his right hand again to the cheek where Lucy kissed him and smiled unknowingly. He heard a giggle which made him paused and think about what he said.

(Silence)

"WAIT! IT ISN'T A DATE! AND I DIDN'T HAD FUN!" he yelled.

"I'm going home now, bye!" he said before ending the call. He continued walking home clad with a knowing blush on his face.

Meanwhile...

(Ring Ring)

Lucy heard her phone rang and went out of the bathroom to pick it up. Levy? Why would she call this late? She asked herself as she saw Levy's name flashed on her cell phones' screen.

"Hello?"

"LU-CHAN~!" Levy chimed.

"Why did you call this late in the evening?" Lucy asked as she dried her hair with her fluffy towel.

"How's the date?~" Levy asked which made Lucy blush.

"What are you talking about? It isn't a date!" Lucy said.

"Yea right. You can say that all you want, but in eyes of the beholder it's called a date. So how did it go?"

Lucy sighed. "Well, even though it wasn't a date it was fun." Lucy started and smiled remembering their day together then she continued. "Gray defended me from a man who tried hitting on me when were inside the bus. Then we almost got lost, luckily Gray knew the place and the most important part of why we went there in the first place, we made the reservation with the help of Gray again. When we got at Camp the teller said that we're too late to make the reservation but, Gray knew the owner that's why we successfully made the reservation. Then when we're about to go home, he dragged me to an amusement park." Lucy happily tells what happened to Levy.

"The amusement park? Really? Then what happened?" Levy asked, obviously interested and curious as to what had happened.

"Well, we rode different kind of rides and..." Lucy continued the story until she got home.

"You kissed him? Kyaaa! That's Lucy for you! Uh huh Uh huh! Way to go on the DATE! You really enjoyed huh? I'm glad!"

Lucy suddenly fell silent at the comment. Levy noticed it and asked why.

"Hey Levy?" She started, when she heard Levy answered her she continued. "Is that what you really call a Date?" Levy giggled at her silly question.

"It's on how you look at it! Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed your little not-so-called date! See you tomorrow! Bet Lisanna wants to know happened as well. Ja'ne!"Levy said before ending the call.

Lucy was still silent. It's on how you look at it! She bears in mind what Levy said. She smiled.

"I guess it's not bad to consider it a date, right?" she asked herself before going to sleep.

..ooOoo..


So how was it? hahaha,, I hope you did like it!

Anyways,, there is no preview today because the progress of chapter 19 is, (TOOT TO TO TOOT), 0%,, =_="

I'm sorry,, I'm really busy with my thesis,, but I will not abandon this story because I love it so much! hahaha

But I have the plot: the makeup class that Jellal promised them (well, to Lucy) and Mira with Erza planning something for the trip,, so this will be what you're all wondering about:

1. Will Gray attend?

2. What will happen if Gray attend?

3. What is Mira and Erza planning?

4. How will Loke react if ever he found out about the "DATE"?

5. When will I upload the next chapter? Ok, this is really unnecessary, =_="

Oh and tell me if those above is good enough for the next chapter :) and tell me if I should include more,, hehe

And if you noticed that Mr. Heartfilia didn't even show up in this chapter even though Lucy went home late,, I'm sorry, I'm really lazy to write it! GOMEN!

Oh, and kindly tell me if there are wrong grammar or spelling so that I can change it! thank you! :)

Before I forgot, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I love all of you! :)

JA'NE