The Struggle to Let Oneself Love Another

Chapter 10

"Lucy wake up I made you breakfast, it'll become cold if you don't wake up." He helped her up from her bed of blankets and pointed towards the dinner table where a plate with scrambled eggs and toast was. "Thanks Gray that's kinda unexpected of you, but I appreciate it."
"Well you are going out of your way to help me confess my feelings, plus you gave me your bed last night. So I figured I owed you at least this much. Hey do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure what's up?"
"Could you tell me what happened after I passed out?"
Lucy was caught off guard by his question and was completely reminded of everything that happened last night. She tried hard to hide the heavy blush on her face as she said,"Nothing, you just passed out so I put you on my bed while I slept on the floor." She said this with a nervous tone. "Wh...why do you ask?"
"Well it's just that I had this dream yesterday where I managed to confess to Juvia and we were so happy that we kissed and the dream just felt so real... whatever it was probably. nothing.Forget it."
"Yeah, sure" She couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth so she decided to just try her best and forget about it. "So what are we going to do today to help build up my courage?"
"Well there's no way we can rely on Gemini, so I was thinking that you could just practice on me and I'll react the way I truly believe that Juvia would." With a light blush on his face Gray agreed to this. Which made Lucy really happy inside. The two were standing right in front of each other, starting deeply into each others eyes. "Go ahead Gray, whenever you're ready." He didn't say anything for a couple of seconds until he finally said in a stern tone, "I Love you". Hearing Gray say that to her made her blush, she knew they were just practicing but to her it felt so real. She saw his serious face waiting for her response. She quietly responded with, "I love you too Gray." To him it was just practicing but to her it was the real deal. But she couldn't let him know that. Then she noticed a nervous smile on Gray's face. "Uh... Lucy I don't think that Juvia would react by referring to herself in the first person."
"Huh?... Oh yeah totally. Sorry I forgot about that detail."
"It's fine I'm getting kinda bored anyway."
"Do you want to go and hang around in the guild hall for a while?"
"Sure, but if I see Juvia there I'm going to need some help calming myself down so I don't run out of there again like last time." With the decision agreed upon, the pair made there way to the Fairy Tail guild hall. They had gotten half way there when Gray suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg. He immediately stopped walking and was holding onto the area that was in the most pain. "Ughh dammit!"
"Gray what's wrong did you hurt yourself?"
"No, it's just that two days ago I got into another fight with Natsu and my leg hasn't fully healed yet. That idiot I'll get him back for this."
"Hey don't try to stand up if your in this much pain, here let me take a look at it." Lucy crouched down to examine Gray's leg and immediately noticed that it was badly bruised. "Gray how have you been walking with your foot like this! Forget about the guild hall we are going back to my place right now." She then forcibly grabbed Gray's hand and lead him back to her apartment. Gray noticed the tone of worry in her voice and saw how much she cared. This made him slightly blush as he was being dragged around. When they got back Lucy made him sit on her bed while she went to go get a couple of items. She came back with some ointment, an ice pack, and some bandage wrap. She rubbed the ointment on his bruise, wrapped it, and told him to keep the ice pack on it to help with the swelling. "Honestly Gray, you know I don't understand why you and Natsu always have to get into fights you two are supposed to be friends right?"
"We are, this is just how we settle things. Instead of talking with our words we usually let our fists do all the talking."
"But still I'm worried that one day one of you is going to get seriously hurt and I... I... don't want to see you in that kind of pain." She turned her back towards him as she held on to her right hand. She didn't want him to see the tears that were swelling in her eyes. Then she felt his hand rest on her right shoulder. "Hey listen I appreciate the fact that your worried so much, so I promise that I'll try my best to not get into any fights unless I absolutely have to." He didn't know why but he felt the need to comfort her and make her feel better. So he lightly turned her around and wiped her tears from her face. Then he embraced her. She was shocked that the cold ice wizard would do something so warm, but she felt so much happiness in that moment that she wished they could stay like this forever. Then Gray broke the silence by saying, "Thanks for looking out for me Lucy" Then the both of them stared into each others eyes, not a single thought going through either ones head. Their heads slowly got closer to each other and then they kissed. With passion the two of them expressed their love for each other. Then Gray broke the kiss suddenly, he distanced himself by stretching out his arms that were placed on Lucy's shoulders. "I'm... Im sorry I didn't know... I was uh. Lucy."
"Yes Gray?"
"I still have feelings for Juvia. I'm sorry." Then he quickly let go of Lucy and ran out the door of her apartment. Before he ran out Lucy noticed that a tear was running down the side of his face.