A/N - Bringing some more characters and name drops into the picture; enjoy!

Chapter 2 – Personal Problems

As soon as they had exited the guild Gajeel released Gray and Natsu, scowling at the pair of them. "How about you two knock it off for a day?" He suggested darkly as he glared at Natsu in particular, unable to keep his fists from curling as he remembered how close Natsu's fireball had been to Levy.

"Oh yeah? You looking to join in the fight too?!" Natsu yelled angrily, drawing up flames once more in his hands.

"Calm down Natsu that's not what he meant…" Gray interjected quickly as Natsu struggled to calm down.

Gajeel sneered at Natsu and headed away from the guild, calling back "It's none of my business what you do…" Glancing back, he continued "just don't be stupid about it" before sticking his hands in his pockets and turning into an alleyway and out of sight.

Natsu, panting heavily, folded his arms across his chest in a sulking manner. "Well you're not going to see me listening to you any time soon!" he yelled pointlessly after him. Gray chuckled, noting that despite what Natsu had said, he had in fact listened to his fellow dragonslayer and was calming down.

"Hey Natsu; ignore what I said. I was just winding you up…" Gray muttered to himself, knowing that Natsu would be able to hear him anyway, even if it wasn't a direct apology. Natsu stiffened but apart from that, made no reaction to what he had said. Gray sighed and walked back into the guild, entering just as Happy flew out. Spotting Natsu, Happy swooped down next to him, poking him on his shoulder.

"Natsu are you okay?" Happy asked, concern momentarily showing in his voice.

Natsu placed his hands in his hair and closed his eyes. "Happy…" he asked quietly "…what do you think of Luce?"

"Lucy?" Happy raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh…" Natsu confirmed.

"Why?" Happy asked innocently, hiding the evil grin that was attempting to reveal itself.

"I don't know, Gray said something about her that got me thinking" Natsu motioned over his shoulder towards the guild "but I'd trust your opinion before his" he added moodily, looking at Happy.

"Well she lets us stay at her place. And she gives me fish! But sometimes she is mean when she doesn't give me fish…" Happy said sadly, thinking of the fish which Lucy had refused to let him eat raw and had cooked with potatoes instead for dinner once.

Natsu laughed. "Yeah, I suppose she is a bit mean sometimes" he said happily, all previous worries disappearing from his mind. "Come on Happy, let's go fishing and then you can eat them how you want!" Natsu ran off, Happy following with a cry of something along the lines of 'fish' and 'aye'.

Gray, who had been watching by the door, smiled to himself. He hadn't heard the conversation but he got the gist. That guy was an idiot. He smiled to himself as he made his way over to Erza and Lucy, who had finished their cakes and were talking about different battle techniques. Well, Erza was talking.

"You need to work on your defence as well as your magic training Lucy" Erza was lecturing Lucy as she desperately tried to motion Mirajane over with another cake to distract Erza, with no luck.

Upon seeing Gray however, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and quickly spoke loudly "Ah Gray! If you're here then that means Natsu must have finished fighting – I'm going to go home and check he's not burning the place down!" With a quick wave and a shout of farewell, Lucy raced out of the guild, leaving Gray to a slightly irritated Erza.

"Gray-sama?" Juvia suddenly appeared behind one of the pillars behind Erza, causing Gray to jump. "You've lost your clothes again; although Juvia thinks you look better without them" Juvia blushed as Gray looked down in disbelief and found himself with less clothes on then a moment before.

"Great. I've lost a shoe…" he said, avoiding both Erza's slight sigh and Juvia's stare as he located his shirt, glancing around the guild.

"Juvia shall find it if her love wants it!" Juvia cried and started crawling under the various tables people were seated on, causing a great deal of commotion.

"Gray you should really talk to her…" Erza began to lecture as Gray pulled his shirt over his head.

"You try talking to her, she won't listen. Besides, it's not your problem." Gray snapped back at Erza, unable to take his eyes off Juvia scuttling around at an alarming speed and asking for her 'love's shoe'.

"Oh so it's your personal problem then?" Erza laughed as Gray suddenly realised she had been listening to him, Lucy and Levy from before. "Maybe we should leave 'personal' problems to each person they belong to then hm? Including Natsu…" Erza added as Gray snapped his head up, knowing she was referring to what he had whispered to Natsu before.

"Yeah, well, I said I was sorry. Can't blame me if he doesn't get the message."

"Can you blame Juvia if she thinks she has one?" Erza asked quietly as Gray mentioned going to bed early and jogged out of the guild, forgetting why he was there in the first place.

Erza leaned back and allowed herself to relax. With Natsu, Gajeel and Gray gone along with Elfman and some of the other louder members of Fairy Tail on various jobs, it was almost peaceful. Mirajane wordlessly brought over a strawberry cake to Erza, who smiled and motioned a 'thanks' with a nod of her head.

"JUVIA HAS FOUND GRAY-SAMA'S SHOE!" Juvia sang happily as she bounced over to Erza, looking around her as she held the shoe in her hands tightly. Erza made a mental note to herself that although Juvia was shy sometimes, she was also quite noisy about Gray, with or without him.

"He has already gone Juvia…" Erza watched as Juvia's face suddenly changed into a heartbroken expression. Juvia looked at the shoe sadly, turning it over in her hands and noting every detail.

"Gray-sama left Juvia without saying goodbye... But he left her his shoe!" Suddenly Juvia was skipping merrily around Erza as Erza was shaking her head smiling. "Now Juvia has a reason to visit Gray-sama!" Juvia exclaimed excitedly, conjuring a number of thoughts at a rapid speed about how Gray-sama had intentionally left his shoe with Juvia just so she could come and see him. Juvia started to exit the guild but Erza caught her arm.

"Maybe tomorrow Juvia – Gray is bound to be tired after the scuffle with Natsu" Erza said, assuming that Gray would not be in a mood to talk to anyone that evening. As Juvia's face fell, Erza had an idea.

"Juvia, I think I can help you with Gray" Erza said thoughtfully, polishing off the last of her cake.

"Juvia is confused. Juvia doesn't need help loving Gray-sama." Juvia hugged the shoe close to her and sighed contently. "Juvia already loves Gray-sama to the full!" Without a backwards glance, Juvia cradled the shoe in her arms and marched out into the evening, leaving Erza alone in the sudden silence.

Erza quickly glanced over at Levy, who had taken out a book to read and was still on the first page around since Gajeel had left and made her way over to her, guiltily thinking 'I'm glad Lucy is dealing with Natsu tonight' as she sat down next to Levy and ordered her third strawberry cake of the evening.

'Personal problems'? Natsu, Gray and Levy? Let me know how you want this to develop :)