Buried Emotions

Chapter Eight

Natsu

"Man, that was hard," I say as start taking the peel off of the orange.

"Totally got under his skin though." Sting reaches over and takes a pice of orange and pops it in his mouth. "Now," he says as he's chewing, juice spewing out of the corner of his mouth, "we need to drive it home before I ask you to join Sabertooth."

I toss a slice of orange into my mouth and chew on it, savoring its' sweetness. Suddenly something horrifying occurs to me. "What happens if Gray let's me go? Just gives up?"

Sting taps his chin thoughtfully. "Well... I guess we could always take the abusive boyfriend route... Though I don't fancy that idea. Chances are that all of Fairy Tail would be after me. I wouldn't survive an hour with all of them angry at me." I nod in agreement. It wouldn't be a very good idea. Not to mention it wouldn't be very believable. I can easily beat Sting in a fight. I tear the wrapper off the cereal bar and split it in half, handing a piece to Sting who takes it with a nod of appreciation. We sit in silence as we each finish our half before we clean up the crumbs and throw away the orange peel. "Well, time to get you to the Guild. Hopefully Gray will be there," Sting says as his fingers intertwine with mine, pulling me towards the front door. I let Sting lead me and try to act as happy as I possibly can. When we reach the Guild, I take a deep and nervous breath before proceeding inside. Everyone turns their heads as Sting and I strut in and find a nice and cozy booth in a corner. We sit on the same side and as closely together as possibly. I spot Gray in the crowd and quickly look away, pretending to giggle at something Sting just said as he strokes my hand.

"He's not looking anymore," I say to Sting. "He's got his head on the table."

"Guess we got to dial it up a notch then." Sting gives me a devilish look and a wink as his hand caresses my face with his hand. "Oh Natsu! I love you so much!" Sting says quite loudly. Suddenly he leans in and presses his lips against mine. I hear several gasps and and the sound of glass shattering. "That ought to get his attention," Sting says, pulling away. "I'll be back." Sting winks at me again before he skips off towards the restroom. As soon as Sting is out of sight, Gray slides into the other side of the booth.

"Natsu. I need to tell you something..." Gray says, his face growing red. "I- don't want you getting mad or anything. I jus- I just need to tell you something and then I will leave you alone." Gray stares at me, waiting for any sign that I understood. When I don't respond he continues. "I know I've been a jerk recently. I just didn't want to come to terms with my feelings. But Natsu.... I like you. I mean, I REALLY like you. I just wanted to let you know." Gray gets up to leave but I grab his arm and pull him in for an embrace.

"Took you long enough you Popsicle breath," I say teasingly.

"Wha- What are you doing? Won't Sting be upset!?" Gray asks, pushing himself away from me.

"Nah. Not in the slightest. It was actually his idea to make you jealous. He had this whole plan to get you to eventually confess your love to me."

Gray stares at me blankly for a moment before he busts out laughing. "I honestly don't know what to think about that!" Gray wraps his arms around me, holding my head tight to his chest.

"Woah! What did I miss?!" Sting asks, popping in out of nowhere.

"Turns out we didn't need your plan after all," I inform him.

"Say what you want, but I helped," Sting says, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms as he looks away.

I roll my eyes. "Fine. You helped." Sting gives me a sideways glare for a moment before his face softens and is replaced by a wide mouthed toothy grin.

"Come here!" Gray shouts as he grabs Sting and pulls him into our embrace. "I'm just so glad you two aren't together!"

"And I'm glad Natsu isn't bawling his eyes out anymore..." sting says, getting a questioning gaze from Gray and the others that had started to gather around. "Oh, you didn't know?" Sting then proceeds to tell the story of how he heard Gray shouting and came running and how from that day on, he hadn't had a moments peace because of my constant crying.

"Oh, Natsu! I'm so sorry! I- I didn't mean to hurt you!" Gray apologizes, holding my face in his hands.

"It's fine! I mean, look at us now!"

"Yes. Look at us now," Gray says as he closes his eyes, his head moving closer to mine until our lips lock.

Everyone in the Guild starts cheering and jumping up and down, cheering us on. A bright light flashes and I hear someone shout about "cutest wizard couple," followed by a "SO COOOOOOOOOOOL!" Gray and I just chuckle and ignore them all. All that we care about in this moment is each other.

Sorry to end this right here and so terribly. I feel like this is childish and without any feedback, it's hard for me to keep on with something that I'm losing confidence in writing. I apologize for this! I hope to make better stories in the future! Perhaps one day I will return and fix this disgrace.