Time had flown by and their was only 2 days until New year's eve and so far most of their punishment had been disastrous, Erza was ordering them what to do, Natsu and Happy were eating all the food and no one else would come and help, all hope of finishing was lost or so they thought.
"ok people we need to get serious" Erza shouted above the sound of eating "there are only 48 hours left and so far all we've done is sort out where we're going to have the party" Lucy smiled proudly as that is what she had contributed to the party.
"so what shall we do" Gray was slouching on a seat making small snowflakes, that looked like fireworks, in his hand.
"you and Natsu go get the decorations from that shop down the road, me and Lucy can get the food and Happy can........ stay here and look after everything" Erza walked out of the door with Lucy trailing closely behind and left the two boys to get the decorations.
"come on then" Natsu walked out and headed towards the shop.
"hey wait up" Gray ran and soon caught up to him "so who you thinkin of taking?" Gray tried to make conversation.
"wow you really don't know what to say if that's what you came up with" Natsu smiled "anyway it doesn't matter, the person who I was thinking of taking would never want to go with me" he looked down and tried not to look upset, there was something almost attractive about Natsu that night, his hair waved behind him in a carefree manner and his deep, brown eyes sparkled Gray certainly noticed it and started to blush immediately, he had to stop thinking about Natsu, he didn't know what had come over him but he knew someone who might. "hey where are you going the shops this way" Natsu said as Gray started to walk in the opposite direction.
"yea I know but I've got to go somewhere" he carried on walking even though for some reason he wanted to go to the shop with Natsu.
"I'd rather be in many other places than this but I can't, and you can't either" the pinkette was now dragging Gray back, ignoring his attempts to get free.
Eventually they got to the shop and by that time Gray had finally given up, he would buy this stuff with Natsu and then go find out what these strange feelings were. "so what do we get?" Gray trudged along the aisles and looked at things they might need.
"let's get this, and this. oo oo and this too" Natsu jumped round like a hyperactive monkey putting random things in the basket that were in the party section.
"really this" Gray picked up a condom that Natsu accidentally put in and put it back on the shelf, Natsu never usually got this hot but he had now, why did he have to put it in, of all things, he looked like an idiot, what would Gray think of him now, he laughed and moved on, this time being more careful of what he put in.
"that would be 23 jewel" the woman at the till said, she looked young probably their age "oh and here my number if you ever want to call" she added offering Gray a slip of paper, Natsu started to get angry, he had no idea why but the thought of Gray with someone made him feel furious, before he could take it Natsu grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the shop.
"what was that for?" Gray raised his voice, his pink haired friend became silent "I wasn't going to take it anyway" they began to walk.
"at least you didn't have to refuse" Natsu felt really embarrassed, why would he do something like that, his friend didn't reply. The rest of the journey was completely silent even the the birds didn't make a noise.
TIME SKIP
"where have you guys been" Erza shouted as they walked through the doors.
"buying decorations, what do you think" he waved the bags of decorations angrily and put them down on the table.
Once Gray and Erza had calmed down everything went swiftly and they were done for 9:30 "ahh everything is all done" Lucy sighed and sat down on a chair allowing her legs to rest.
"done? what do you mean done, we still have to put up the disco ball" Erza looked at Gray and Natsu expecting to be handed the last item.
"what disco ball" Natsu asked confused.
Erza sighed "don't tell me you've forgotten" she was in disbelief, how could they forget the main item "it doesn't matter I'll sort it" she dismissed them and got to work on getting a disco ball.
Gray was so happy to get out of there, now he could finally go to Mira's, she'd know what he was feeling. *knock knock knock* he knocked on Mira-jane's door, No answer, but he knew someone was in their, he heard gentle whispering of Mira and someone else's voice that he couldn't place, Gray knocked again this time louder. It didn't take long for Mira to open the door, I knew she was with someone now as she was wearing only the cover from her bed "who is it?" a male voice shouted from probably coming from the bedroom.
"it's Gray" Mira shouted back, they looked at each other for a while, Gray mouthed 'Laxus?' she nodded slightly, she was obviously embarrassed that he had caught her at such an inconvenient time.
"can I ask you something?" Gray asked anxiously, he was dressing what Mira would say.
"yes of course, let's sit outside" they both took a seat on a bench just outside her house.
Gray explained what he was feeling and waited for an answer, for a strange reason Gray was scared, maybe it was the way that Mira was staring at him with her mouth wide open or the fact he could hear Laxus laughing from inside, what was so shocking? Gray thought, he didn't want to answer that question but lucky for him he had Mira to answer all his questions for him.
"I think your in love with Natsu" Mira eventually said her mouth was still open, Gray found a tear trickling down his own cheek, how didn't know what to say so he took off running as far as he could, he couldn't believe she was true.
The raven haired 18 year old stopped when he heard a familiar voice "hey when did you start to go running?" he turned around and faced the one person he didn't want to see, Gray could him clearly, his smile was calming and his muscular body was dripping with sweat, a shiver went down Gray's back and his mouth was dry, he couldn't speak so he started running inng instead, even though he eard Ns footsteps coming up behind him he still carried on running, he couldn't bare to speak to him.
"Noooo" Gray screamed and ran faster and faster until he reached his home, he slammed the door behind me making sure that no one would come in. It didn't take long for a melodic knock to be heard "oh please no" Gray said under his breath praying that it wasn't Natsu outside his door.
"hey I know your in their" it was Natsu, Gray didn't make a noise hopefully he'll just go away and leave him alone but he didn't "ok, well I've got something to tell you" Gray suddenly became interested in what he had to say, he walked closer to the door so he could hear Natsu clearer. Natsu took a deep breath "I-"
His crush only got one word in before Lucy butted in "hey Natsu come over here I've got something to tell you" Natsu didn't bother to finish off the rest of what he was going to say, Gray was almost tempted to go out there and force him to say what ever he wanted to say. Gray thought all night of what he could of said, he could of said he hated Gray, he liked Gray, it could have been anything but there was only one thing Gray was hoping it would be. I love you.
