Summary: Erza and Gray are in a secret relationship. This is how three of their friends find out.
Lucy
Lucy had been suspicious for a while now. It was strange that Erza and Gray weren't talking to each other at all. These two were always close in some way and Lucy knew for a fact that they were best friends. However they hadn't talked at all this week and both seemed rather upset, so Lucy saw it as her duty as their friend to fix whatever their problem with each other was.
It took a while to set everything for her plan up, because Erza was an S-class mage and Gray was strong as well, so trapping them wouldn't be easy. In the end Lucy had to rely on a few spells that blocked magic for a short time. Now she only needed to get these two in the same room, lock it and then their team would finally be happy again. It was surprisingly easy to get Erza into the room and Gray didn't make any problems either until he saw that Erza was already there. However before he could back out, Lucy closed the door behind them and locked it.
Gray sighed deeply when the door closed in front of his face before he turned around. Erza wasn't even looking at him and he knew that it wouldn't be easy to get her to talk to him. He was sure that Lucy only wanted the best for them, but he didn't know if trapping them in the same room and forcing them to talk wouldn't make everything even worse.
Of course did he want to be close to her again and of course did he miss her every day they didn't talk, but he knew that Erza had wanted space. Rubbing his neck awkwardly, he finally approached her.
"It seems that Lucy figured out that we fought and wants us to fix things."
"There is nothing to fix and there is nothing to talk about." Erza replied coldly, still not looking at him.
"Really? You're just going to pretend that we never dated for four months before you suddenly decided to shut me out because-"
"Stop, Gray." Her voice sounded almost pleading if it hadn't been for the demanding tone, but Gray wouldn't have any of it.
"No, I have been quiet for too long. Everything was fine between us, we were dating, sure in secret, but it was still great. Then a week ago I woke up to you having a nightmare and I did what every loving boyfriend would do, I tried to comfort you, but your reaction was to push me away and say we're over. Explain that to me." His voice was just as demanding and hurt was clearly shining through.
This situation had happened a week ago and since then he had been left with unanswered questions. All he had wanted to do that night was hold her close and comfort her after she had woken up screaming from what he was sure was a nightmare about her past. Not even for a moment he could bear to see her cry, so he had pulled her into his arms and had brushed her tears away with reassuring words. While every other woman would have been thankful, Erza had pushed him out of the bed and told him to leave because they were over.
The ice mage never understood women very well, but this reaction was surely out of the ordinary. He had strong feelings for her and he was sure that Erza missed him too. So what was this all about? Why was it so bad that he wanted to be there for her?
Lucy, who was of course listening from the other side of the door, gasped at hearing Gray's words. Her two friends had been dating? Sure, these two had always been close and according to Mira, Gray had been Erza's first friend in the guild and the reason why she had opened up to everyone, but this was still surprising. Not that they wouldn't match perfectly, both were hardly showing weakness and both weren't any good with feelings.
It was wrong to eavesdrop on their fighting right now, but when Erza spoke up, Lucy couldn't leave. She had never hear Erza's voice sound so soft and vulnerable.
"How do you expect me to react?" Erza took a deep breath before continuing. She knew that she owned him an explanation. "I have never let anyone so close to my heart as I let you. I don't ever want to be weak again and especially not in front of you."
The truth was that she cared more than anything what he thought about her. His opinion mattered so much to her and she didn't want to seem weak in front of him.
"Is that all?" Gray was relieved and finally stepped closer to her. "I know how strong you are, everyone knows that Titania, but I want you to come to me when you feel vulnerable. There is nothing wrong with letting someone comfort you, especially when he cares as much about you as I do."
Erza looked into his soft eyes that pleaded with her to understand that he just wanted to be there for her and for the first time ever she felt safe, truly safe. Gray had been not only her first friend, but also the man who had broken the armor around her heart. If she could let herself be vulnerable around someone, it would be him. Making her decision, she closed the last few inches between them and embraced him, only for him to return her affection equally.
"I assume that we're back together?" It was more a statement than a question.
Lucy could almost hear Gray's smirk from her side of the door as well as Erza's light slap on his arm. Quietly she unlocked the door and made her way back to the guild. There was nothing more that she wanted to do than share what she had just heard, but she wouldn't. For some reason the couple didn't want anyone to know that they were together and if that was their wish Lucy would respect that, no matter how much she wanted to share the news at least with Natsu. Hopefully now their team would be back on track and Erza would be alright.
Three weeks after Lucy had found out about the secret couple, she witness that Erza indeed was true to her word and didn't hide her vulnerability in front of Gray.
Their team was on a mission and everything was back to normal, Gray and Natsu were bickering, Erza was traveling with way too much luggage and Happy was asking when they would stop to eat fish. Lucy smiled at their antics, she couldn't be happy to call this crazy bunch her friends. However when they all went to sleep that night, Lucy was reminded that Erza was still having nightmares, but this time the couple seemed to have agreed on how they would handle this situation.
In the middle of the night Lucy woke up to Erza's panicked voice and she was about to run over to her, but stopped when she saw Gray already by her side. Gently he shook Erza awake and from her spot Lucy could see the worry in his eyes.
It was clear that Erza was shaken up by the nightmare, but this time she didn't push Gray away like she had done before. Three weeks ago she had learned that it wouldn't make her weak to rely on him in situations like these and with this knowledge she let him pull her into his arms.
"I'll sleep next to you for tonight." He offered, his voice gentle and his hand stoking her hair reassuringly.
"What if the others wake up?" Erza asked hesitantly. It wasn't that she didn't want to sleep close to him, because clearly she would love that, but she didn't want their friends to know about their relationship just yet.
"It's alright. I'll wake you up before they do."
With her worries out of the way Erza lay down on his chest, her head right over his heart and her hand over his Fairy Tail symbol. This position was nothing new for them. They had started going to sleep like this and since then Erza had encountered any nightmares. Breathing in his familiar scent, Erza found herself falling asleep quickly.
From her sleeping place next to the fire Lucy saw Gray kiss Erza's forehead before he closed his eyes as well, both were smiling in their sleep. Seeing them like this Lucy had to smile as well. These two were rather cute together, even though she would never say that to their faces. Hopefully they would tell the guild soon, so that she could see them this happy more often.
Cana
As always Cana sat at the bar in the guild an drank while enjoying the normal craziness that happened around her. It wasn't surprising that Gray sat down next to her, after he had finished fighting with Natsu, but his request to her was.
"You want me to read your fortune?" The card mage asked disbelieving. "The last time I did that was years ago and I had to practically force you."
"Well, now I can by choice, so are you going to do it or not?"
Looking closer at him, Cana could swear that Gray was blushing, but that might be the light playing tricks on her. Sighing she set her barrel down and took out her cards. If she was honest with herself, she was excited to read Gray's fortune again. Now that she thought about it the last time she had gotten this opportunity had been when Erza had jointed the guild years ago.
Carefully she lay the cards out. It was surprising that it were almost the same cards that he had gotten the first time, but there was one difference.
"You'll have all the luck in the world today." She finally told him, before asking. "Do you plan on doing something special today?"
"Why do you ask?" There was clearly a defensive tone in his voice that made Cana curious.
"So there is something." She smirked at her friend.
"That's none of your business." He was clearly hiding something. "Anyway I have to go and thanks for the reading."
Watching the ice mage go, Cana had only one thought. She had to find out what was going on. Normally she wouldn't meddle in other's matters, but her cards had told her that there was love in Gray's life and she wanted to find out who it was. It was hard to leave her half full barrel behind, but in the end Cana found this more important.
At first Gray didn't do anything suspicious and even when he went into a bakery to order cheesecake, Cana didn't think anything about it, but then something happened that surprised her.
When Gray arrived at the small river on the outskirts, he felt his heart beat faster. He hold the cheesecake a little tighter and approached the beautiful scarlet-haired woman in front of him. There was a reason why he had asked Cana to tell him his fortune, today was an important day. Erza and him had been a couple for half a year now and even though they had agreed on not making a big deal out of it, he wanted to do something special for her. The cheesecake that he had bought was more a distraction than it was a gift, so she wouldn't realize how nervous he was.
True to be told Gray was in love with Erza and that even before they had started dating, but he had never told her. Sure, he told her that he cared deeply for her and she returned that feeling, but this was different. Confessing to her would make their relationship that much more serious and Gray was afraid that she wasn't ready to hear these three words from him. They both weren't very good with emotions, neither expressing them nor reacting to them, so this wouldn't be easy. Erza trusted him more than anyone else and that alone should be enough for him, but the more time he spent with her the more he wanted to confess.
Today he finally wanted to be brave and tell her how deep his feelings for her really ran. Taking a deep breath, he forced his lips into his usual easy smile and approached the woman who meant so much to him.
Cana watched in silent amazement how Gray greeted Erza with a kiss. It didn't look like the first time that they had welcomed each other like this and it was obvious to Cana by just this gesture as well as the bright smile Erza wore when they pulled away that her friends were a couple. Just to make sure that she hadn't drunken too much and was seeing things, Cana went over how much she had drunken this day and came to the conclusion that she was almost sober. Considering that, she was now sure that what was happening in front of her was not an illusion. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't that surprising that these two had ended up together.
Back when Erza had first joined the guild, Cana had seen something in her cards when she had told Gray his fortune, but she hadn't been skilled enough to get all of the meaning behind it. Today when she had set her cards she had known what it mean, but hadn't really believed it until now. A card that symbolized love. It was rare that anyone got this card in a reading, because this card didn't mean a crush or a fleeting feeling that was misinterpreted as love, it meant true and eternal love.
Cana decided that she had seen enough. She already knew what Gray was about to say and she knew that his feeling were returned by Erza. Her cards had seen it a long time coming.
Porlyusica
Despite that Porlyusica was very withdrawn and didn't like having people around, she had a rather soft spot for the scarlet-haired woman in front of her. She could still remember when the same woman had been a little girl.
Back then Erza had looked so broken and no matter how strong she had wanted to seem, Porlyusica had seen that this little girl must be deeply hurt. The physical pain that she had been in due to her eye had surely been less than the pain she had felt inside. Porlyusica wasn't normally good at reading people, but it was obvious to her that Erza had gone through a lot. Without hesitation Porlyusica had offered to help her when Makarov had brought her with him and she had never found her medical skills needed more.
When Erza had thanked her and cried from happiness even Porlyusica had smiled slightly. Giving this girl hope again had been great. However then she had noticed that Erza couldn't cry from her right eye and she had gotten worried that she had made a mistake. When she had been about to research for the reason why this was the case, Erza had stopped her and told her that she had cried enough for a lifetime anyway so it wouldn't bother her. These words had only confirmed what Porlyusica had already thought, this girl was strong but had a deeply injured heart.
Now looking at the woman in front of her, Porlyusica had to smile the slightest bit. Back then Erza had already been strong, but now that she had grown up, she had even made a name for herself as Titania. The little girl had grown into a beautiful and strong woman. This didn't surprise, but what did was the young man that stood next to Erza.
Normally Erza came alone to the check-ups on her eye, but today was the first time that she had brought someone with her. As if sensing her thoughts, Erza spoke up.
"This is Gray, he insisted on coming and I got annoyed at his begging so I let him."
"I wasn't begging. It's just easier so we can immediately go on our next mission after you're done." He replied, but Porlyusica could clearly see a blush on his cheeks.
"Alright, but you wait outside." She pointed at Gray. "I don't need more people in my home than necessary." With that she turned back to her house, but stopped when she saw Gray's next move from the corner of her eyes.
Erza had been about to follow her, but Gray had taken a hold of her wrist to stop her.
"I hope that everything is alright. Get me if you need me." His words were only a whisper, but Porlyusica could clearly hear the concern and care in them.
The healer didn't hear Erza's response, but she must have reassured the young man, because he let her go and she followed her into the house. It didn't take long for Porlyusica to see that everything was alright with Erza's eye, but there was something else that she could see in her eyes. Back when she had first met Erza as a little girl the expression in her eye had been so haunted that it had been heartbreaking. Now she could not only see hope in her eyes, but a happiness that came only with the most precious emotions of all, love.
Porlyusica had a strong feeling that the reason for this expression and the happiness of the young woman was the man who stood in front of the house waiting. After she had told the woman in front of her that everything was alright, Porlyusica brought Erza to the still open door, but before she would let her leave, the healer had to ask her something.
"Do you still have a reason to cry?"
It might sound like a strange question to anyone else's ears, but considering what Erza had told her all those years ago, it wasn't.
"No." Erza answered with a soft smile in Gray's direction, who was returning her look with just as much tenderness. "Back then you not only healed me physically, but you gave me hope again. I'm still thankful for that and without you and the guild I might not ever have found my happiness."
Apparently Erza wasn't very good at talking about her emotions, but then again neither was Porlyusica. However both knew what these words mean in combination with the look that Erza was giving Gray and Porlyusica couldn't be more happy for them. She didn't know Gray, except from what Makarov had told her about him once, but he seemed to care deeply for Erza and that was what mattered. When the two left, Porlyusica looked after them with a small smile on her face. If anyone deserved to be happy it was the hurt little girl who had turned into a strong and beautiful woman in love.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think :)