Buried Emotions

Chapter Seven

Erza

"NATSU! YOU CANT LEAVE FAIRY TAIL!" I shout as I kick down the door to his bedroom and find him and Sting in an embrace.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Gray shouts, quickly walking into the room, pushing his way past me.

"Haven't you guys ever heard of knocking?" Natsu asks, pulling away from Sting and glaring at us. "Can't you see we're in the middle of something?"

"We- I thought- You and Gray..." I'm completely in shock. I thought Gray and Natsu were together? "When did you two..."

"Last night," Sting says, rubbing his nose against Natsu's cheek and getting a funny look from Happy. "It was raining and since Sabertooth is still a ways away, Natsu let me take shelter here. We got to talking and... We'll we found we really liked each other."

"I didn't see you come in last night," Happy states as he narrows his eyes at Sting.

"Came in through the window," Sting replies without hesitation.

"That sounds creepy!" Lucy shouts, moving closer to Natsu protectively.

Sting snorts. "Funny coming from a Guild who's members break into each other's houses constantly."

"Oh. I guess that's true..."

"You weren't here this morning," Gray says in an angry tone.

"I wanted to surprise Natsu with breakfast!" Sting produces a cereal bar and an orange from his pocket.

"You don't know him at all if that's all you brought," Gray says with disdain. Sting gives a nervous laugh and hands the food to Natsu who takes it quickly.

"It's perfect! Thank you!" Natsu pulls Sting towards him and plants a kiss on his cheek. Out of the corner of my eye I see Gray tense up.

Gray turns around and heads for the door. "Come on. Let's go," he says, clearly hurt. "Don't want to interrupt their moment." I glare at Natsu until he nervously looks away before I follow Gray out.

I stop Gray outside the house and pull him into a hug. "Are you okay?"

Gray pushes me away and shoves his hands in his pockets, turning away from. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" As stubborn as always.

"You can hide your feelings from yourself, but you can't hide them from your friends." Gray turns around and gives me a half quizzical half scared look. "What? Thought we didn't notice how you've been acting lately?"

"If you didn't notice, you're a bit transparent about your feelings," Lucy says as she walks out of Natsu's house, shutting the door behind her.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Gray says, stomping away. I roll my eyes and walk quickly to catch up with him.

"You know, we're always here for you," I say, trying to comfort him.

"Yeah," he says, letting out a sigh. "I'm- I'm just so stupid, you know," he says, as tears start to fill his eyes.

"You're not stupid," I coo.

"Yes, I am. I let him slip through my fingers because I didn't want to face the truth. I-" Gray stops and punches a tree, splitting it in half. "Now he's with Sting and he looks happy."

"And is that what you want? Natsu to be happy?"

"Yes," Gray whispers. "But I also want to be with him."

"Then tell him how you feel. At the very least, you will feel better," Lucy tells Gray.

"I can't do that. It'll be too... weird."

"So? Do it anyways," Lucy says.

Gray sighs and puts his head in his hands. "How do I even do that?"

"Oh, we'll tell you..." Lucy and I say as we each grab one of Gray's arms and lead him towards the Guild.

I know this is a lot shorter than my other ones, but I want to get the stories out faster and feel like I take way too long with writing over 1000 words a chapter.