Day 4: Battle


"Get up, go down, then we go one more round; it's wrong, they say, but I can't stay away." -"I Can't Stay Away," The Veronicas


Gray took a deep breath, his dark blue eyes fixated on the ceiling. It was around midnight, and while he was tired, he couldn't seem to sleep. Usually, he would be immensely frustrated by this and trying to uncover the reason his eyes refused to close, but this time, it was more of a grudging acceptance.

The Ice Make mage glanced to his right, careful not to wake the woman next to him. The scarlet beauty was sleeping peacefully. In his bed. For the third time that week.

He groaned quietly, covering his face with his hands in exasperation. Why did they keep doing this? It was wrong. Wrong, wrong,wrong. And yet, he couldn't bring himself to tell her how wrong he felt it was. First off, they'd known each other for ages and this could mess up their relationship entirely. Second, her feelings for Jellal weren't exactly obliterated, were they? If anything, they were just growing stronger by the day. Gray really had nothing against the blue-haired fugitive—at least, not anymore—but he couldn't help but feel jealous. It was rather obvious to Gray that the woman beside him was simply seeking comfort in him until she could finally be with the one she really wanted. It was a fling. He was a rebound. Temporary with no meaning.

…Now, how the hell was he supposed to tell her that he thought of her as way more than that?

That was the problem. Gray Fullbuster didn't want to be the rebound guy, but damn, it may be his only opportunity to be with Erza in the way he really wanted to. He didn't want to be friends, he didn't want to be "like siblings." He wanted to be with her. But he was nothing to her, except a friend and, as of late, a meaningless fling. And he hated it, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything to her. Erza loved Jellal. That was that. Saying something to her would only cause unnecessary issues between the two of them, something he was sure he wasn't willing to put up with. But dear lord, how he wanted to step up. Half of him said yes, half of him said no. It was like a war inside his head.

…No, it wasn'tlike a war. It was a war. An all-out bloodbath between his rational half and his emotional half.

Gray huffed, punching his pillow a couple of times before rolling over and making another failed attempt at sleeping. He was fighting a battle with himself. And man, was he losing.


This is waaaaaaaaaay shorter than I would've liked, but I do like how it turned out. It was my favorite prompt to write for so far, so I wish I could've made it longer, but I wasn't so sure how to go about making it longer. Also, I'm so ridiculously tired today so my writing isn't that great. I'm not really thinking as clearly as I usually would be. Sobbing why does GrayZa week have to overlap with my first week of summer PE.

Well, anyway, I hope you enjoyed it :D