Thank You Always

Chapter Four: I'm Not Okay

When Erza ran into Gray the next day, she did something very unexpected. She slapped him. Hard.

Then she did something even more unexpected. She hugged him, and cried for some time. Which was just as well, because Gray was headed to Erza's dorm to comfort her.

Word traveled fast in their college, so everyone, including the staff, knew that Jellal had broken up with Erza. Gray had gone to see Erza the moment he heard.

"Are you okay?" Gray asked when Erza was finished crying.

"This is all your fault! If you hadn't kissed me, or made me cry, or even attempted suicide in the first place, everything would be okay, and, and..."

"I'm so sorry, Erza, I wasn't thinking rationally."

But Erza was hearing none of it. She glared at Gray, then stomped back to her room.

Erza spent the rest of the day crying.

Gray spent the day in his dorm rethinking his life choices and how he could've supported Erza more.

Jellal spent the day regretting breaking up with Erza, and wondering how to fix things.

The trios' friends visited them, asking if they were okay. They answered their doors smiling, as if their world wasn't completely torn to shreds, and said, "I'm okay," though they were broken inside.

The next week, whenever they ran into each other at school, it was all awkward coughs and "Sorry" and "It's okay". But it wasn't. It was never okay.

Mutual friends, like Lucy and Natsu, noticed this immediately, and got together a group of the trios' friends.

Lucy, Natsu, Meredy, Ultear, Sho, Simon, Lyon, Loke, Juvia, Cana, and Mira showed up.

"So the problem is, Gray kissed Erza, and word got to Jellal, so he broke up with her, and Erza blamed the breakup on Gray, ending their friendship," Lucy summed up. "Even though the breakup is technically Natsu's fault," she added.

"Hey!"

"We should get Gray and Erza back together again first. Friendships are harder to salvage than actual relationships," Mira said helpfully.

"How so?" Meredy piped up.

"You can't force yourself to not like someone. As long as you love someone and they love you back, you're sure to get back together yourselves. Friendships are tricky because the feelings are platonic; you can force them," Mira replied.

"So we start by salvaging Gray and Erza's friendship?" Ultear asked.

When Mira nodded, Cana yelled out, "Commence, Mission Get Gray and Erza to be Good Friends Again!" Everybody cheered (except Juvia, who wanted her Gray-sama all to herself).