You all still need to read this.
Title: Crossroads
Fandom: Fairy Tail
Pairing: Gray/Erza/Natsu/Lucy, past Gray/Kana, others hinted
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,252
Summary: Gray's life had always been very straightforward, until the day he looked up and found himself at a three-way crossroads with no clue which way to go.
A/N: So, uh, first Fairy Tail fic...let's hope I didn't screw it all up!
The best part of being in a guild was that nobody cared what you did, especially in Fairy Tail. Do what you want until you die: they all lived by it, and they all encouraged it in each other. So when your nakama found out you had a thing going on with someone who had a thing going on with someone else, or that you loved your sister a little more than was usually recommended, or that you’d recently discovered heteronormativity wasn’t for you - and they would find out, because the other part of being in a guild was that there were no secrets - nobody really minded, although there was much obligatory mocking in all cases, because nakama gave each other hell as part of the definition.
But Gray never thought it would happen to him. Things had always been very straightforward in Gray’s life: fighting, friendship, fun, that sort of thing. And granted, sometimes things got turned upside down, nothing was ever perfect, people went away and new people took their place, but Gray rolled with the punches and kept moving like always.
But right now, he was…stuck. He was at a three-way crossroads with no idea which way to go, and being at a standstill was the worst way to be.
Gray’s love life had always been just about as straightforward as the rest of it: there was Kana, when they were young (not for long, but it was fun while it lasted, although things are more fun now without the furious blushing and awkward handholds under the table), and there’s Mirajane, because having a crush on Mira is a more reliable sign of life than a pulse, and then there’s…Erza.
And that’s where it gets complicated, because Gray has been in love with Erza his whole life, possibly since before he actually knew she existed, which is stupid but true. She isn’t an idol and she isn’t a fleeting teenage crush; she’s confidence, maturity, dependability. She’s bedrock, a knight in shining armor, and Gray has never been anybody’s damsel in distress and he never will but if anyone has ever made him want to consider it in a slightly warped and tentative part of his mind, it was her. But she’s…she’s a woman, and Gray still feels like a boy in her presence, and that’s why it’s complicated - because girls are fun but Gray doesn’t know what to do about women, especially not women like her.
And then there’s Natsu, and that’s where things get really messy, because Natsu is an idiot, and steadfast and headstrong and fearless, and still an idiot, even when he’s burning through attackers like a torch through tissue paper and when he’s the clenched fists and clenched jaw that drag them all out of hell and into the light. He’s an idiot, and if Gray sometimes gets a little hot and bothered when they wrestle it’s only because Natsu is hot and bothersome. He’s an idiot, and Gray is an idiot too, because Natsu is a boy and he makes Gray feel like a boy the same way Erza does, and different, and still the same, because the quavering heat in the pit of his stomach and the tight grip in his chest is identical when either of them touch him.
But the real problem is Lucy. Because Lucy is new, and Gray never had to think about any of this too closely before the first time she brushed the back of her hand against his jaw and asked him how he felt, and he realized just what he felt after all. Lucy is a girl, not like Erza or like anyone else, flirty and familiar and pretty in a way Gray doesn’t think he’s ever seen, and she’s smart and she screams at mortal peril and spiders alike even though she’s strong in her own way, stronger than she knows. He finds himself taking things from her just to watch her pout and snatch them back, never missing a chance to invade her house without permission, watching her a little too closely when she walks or talks or smiles.
His mistake was thinking that she would solve things somehow, that he could just pick one and that if he tried hard enough maybe she’d pick him too, but it didn’t take him long to figure out that he couldn’t, that he could never give any of them up, and that it was a moot point anyway because Lucy’s flirtations and that shirt she had proclaiming that she only dated bad boys were a complete front for the magazines with Mira in a swimsuit on the cover and the hand that always went to Erza’s arm in times of crisis, the arms that went around her armored shoulders with every giddy exclamation.
And when he found out from hearsay and fond looks and reproving smacks that existed for the sake of touching that Lucy might consider dating one bad boy after all and it was the same one Gray would, and that Natsu was awfully touchy-feely in her direction for someone who didn’t outwardly appear to actually have a sex drive, Gray thought that settled matters once and for all, and that just maybe his knight in shining armor was in the market for a damsel in distress and would be willing to take an admittedly distressed non-damsel instead. But Natsu, for all that he treated her like his eternal rival, had always melted into an unsure and obedient mess at a single well-placed glance from Erza just as Gray had, and lately she’d been sending glances more often and following them with smiles, and just as often she’d been showing off for Lucy’s adoring attentions and idly touching her hair and Gray was almost starting to get angry.
He almost hated Lucy, because she was new, and he almost wanted to feel that she didn’t deserve them, but he couldn’t, and he didn’t, because she did. She deserved them because she was nakama, and if Gray loved any of them he loved her just as much, but it did hurt, and he wanted not to ever be near them again almost as much as he wanted never to be away, and that’s why everything was complicated, and why he was stuck.
And he was so busy being stuck that he didn’t notice everything getting ready to move again until a pair of lips crashed into his and his life started up again with a jolt that almost knocked him off the metaphorical platform. It took him that long to figure out that he was never at a crossroads in the first place, that what he had thought were three different directions were all the same one, and that they had only appeared divergent from the spot he’d been standing when he looked at them.
So maybe he was a little stupid, but he took solace in the fact that Natsu would always be the bigger idiot, and that Lucy still screamed at spiders and that sometimes even Erza needed rescuing, and that even if he was a little stupid they loved him anyway.
And everyone did mock them for it, but Gray always had an arm around his shoulders and a voice beside him giving it right back, so they could get on his case all they wanted as far as he was concerned, because they would do what they wanted until they died, as long as it was right.
Fandom: Fairy Tail
Pairing: Gray/Erza/Natsu/Lucy, past Gray/Kana, others hinted
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,252
Summary: Gray's life had always been very straightforward, until the day he looked up and found himself at a three-way crossroads with no clue which way to go.
A/N: So, uh, first Fairy Tail fic...let's hope I didn't screw it all up!
The best part of being in a guild was that nobody cared what you did, especially in Fairy Tail. Do what you want until you die: they all lived by it, and they all encouraged it in each other. So when your nakama found out you had a thing going on with someone who had a thing going on with someone else, or that you loved your sister a little more than was usually recommended, or that you’d recently discovered heteronormativity wasn’t for you - and they would find out, because the other part of being in a guild was that there were no secrets - nobody really minded, although there was much obligatory mocking in all cases, because nakama gave each other hell as part of the definition.
But Gray never thought it would happen to him. Things had always been very straightforward in Gray’s life: fighting, friendship, fun, that sort of thing. And granted, sometimes things got turned upside down, nothing was ever perfect, people went away and new people took their place, but Gray rolled with the punches and kept moving like always.
But right now, he was…stuck. He was at a three-way crossroads with no idea which way to go, and being at a standstill was the worst way to be.
Gray’s love life had always been just about as straightforward as the rest of it: there was Kana, when they were young (not for long, but it was fun while it lasted, although things are more fun now without the furious blushing and awkward handholds under the table), and there’s Mirajane, because having a crush on Mira is a more reliable sign of life than a pulse, and then there’s…Erza.
And that’s where it gets complicated, because Gray has been in love with Erza his whole life, possibly since before he actually knew she existed, which is stupid but true. She isn’t an idol and she isn’t a fleeting teenage crush; she’s confidence, maturity, dependability. She’s bedrock, a knight in shining armor, and Gray has never been anybody’s damsel in distress and he never will but if anyone has ever made him want to consider it in a slightly warped and tentative part of his mind, it was her. But she’s…she’s a woman, and Gray still feels like a boy in her presence, and that’s why it’s complicated - because girls are fun but Gray doesn’t know what to do about women, especially not women like her.
And then there’s Natsu, and that’s where things get really messy, because Natsu is an idiot, and steadfast and headstrong and fearless, and still an idiot, even when he’s burning through attackers like a torch through tissue paper and when he’s the clenched fists and clenched jaw that drag them all out of hell and into the light. He’s an idiot, and if Gray sometimes gets a little hot and bothered when they wrestle it’s only because Natsu is hot and bothersome. He’s an idiot, and Gray is an idiot too, because Natsu is a boy and he makes Gray feel like a boy the same way Erza does, and different, and still the same, because the quavering heat in the pit of his stomach and the tight grip in his chest is identical when either of them touch him.
But the real problem is Lucy. Because Lucy is new, and Gray never had to think about any of this too closely before the first time she brushed the back of her hand against his jaw and asked him how he felt, and he realized just what he felt after all. Lucy is a girl, not like Erza or like anyone else, flirty and familiar and pretty in a way Gray doesn’t think he’s ever seen, and she’s smart and she screams at mortal peril and spiders alike even though she’s strong in her own way, stronger than she knows. He finds himself taking things from her just to watch her pout and snatch them back, never missing a chance to invade her house without permission, watching her a little too closely when she walks or talks or smiles.
His mistake was thinking that she would solve things somehow, that he could just pick one and that if he tried hard enough maybe she’d pick him too, but it didn’t take him long to figure out that he couldn’t, that he could never give any of them up, and that it was a moot point anyway because Lucy’s flirtations and that shirt she had proclaiming that she only dated bad boys were a complete front for the magazines with Mira in a swimsuit on the cover and the hand that always went to Erza’s arm in times of crisis, the arms that went around her armored shoulders with every giddy exclamation.
And when he found out from hearsay and fond looks and reproving smacks that existed for the sake of touching that Lucy might consider dating one bad boy after all and it was the same one Gray would, and that Natsu was awfully touchy-feely in her direction for someone who didn’t outwardly appear to actually have a sex drive, Gray thought that settled matters once and for all, and that just maybe his knight in shining armor was in the market for a damsel in distress and would be willing to take an admittedly distressed non-damsel instead. But Natsu, for all that he treated her like his eternal rival, had always melted into an unsure and obedient mess at a single well-placed glance from Erza just as Gray had, and lately she’d been sending glances more often and following them with smiles, and just as often she’d been showing off for Lucy’s adoring attentions and idly touching her hair and Gray was almost starting to get angry.
He almost hated Lucy, because she was new, and he almost wanted to feel that she didn’t deserve them, but he couldn’t, and he didn’t, because she did. She deserved them because she was nakama, and if Gray loved any of them he loved her just as much, but it did hurt, and he wanted not to ever be near them again almost as much as he wanted never to be away, and that’s why everything was complicated, and why he was stuck.
And he was so busy being stuck that he didn’t notice everything getting ready to move again until a pair of lips crashed into his and his life started up again with a jolt that almost knocked him off the metaphorical platform. It took him that long to figure out that he was never at a crossroads in the first place, that what he had thought were three different directions were all the same one, and that they had only appeared divergent from the spot he’d been standing when he looked at them.
So maybe he was a little stupid, but he took solace in the fact that Natsu would always be the bigger idiot, and that Lucy still screamed at spiders and that sometimes even Erza needed rescuing, and that even if he was a little stupid they loved him anyway.
And everyone did mock them for it, but Gray always had an arm around his shoulders and a voice beside him giving it right back, so they could get on his case all they wanted as far as he was concerned, because they would do what they wanted until they died, as long as it was right.