If Only You Knew

Chapter One - All In

-Author's Note: This is my first ever fanfiction so please bear with me. Please comment if you like it or if you have any advice, because I am completely open to ideas about how to improve as a writer.-

Damn it, Natsu... Gray thought to himself, always late. Gray had received a job request, and, as always, Natsu wanted to tag along so that he could show him up. Natsu was three hours late, and Gray was getting impatient. Natsu finally showed up, only to be smacked in the head by Gray.

"Where the hell were you, flamebrain?" Gray hollered. "You're late!"

"Relax, stripper boy, I was with Lucy!" Natsu replied. "And besides, we don't even need to be there until tomorrow."

"Well, it's getting dark which means we'll have to take the train," Gray said, smirking. "Serves you right for taking so long with your girlfriend."

"AW CRAP, NOT THE TRAIN!!!! And she's not my freakin' girlfriend, droopy eyes!" came an embarrassed protest from Natsu.

"Well of course she ain't, squinty eyes! Who in their right mind would go out with an idiot like you?!"

"What are you tryin' to say, ice princess?"

"You wanna go, ya fire-spewing asshole?"

"Any time, any place, ya--"

"ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!", boomed Fairy Tail's most badass female wizard.

"e-erza?" squeaked Gray and Natsu as they clung to each other, whimpering in fear, "wh-what are you doing here?"

"I came back to the guild after a mission, only to discover that you two idiots were going on a job together...unsupervised. We both know what happened last time the two of you went off on your own."

"Aw c'mon, Erza, we only fought for like, 3 days!" pleaded Gray.

"It's not up for discussion, I'm coming with you," said Erza, "and Lucy's coming too."

"What?! Why?!" cried Natsu.

Erza just gave him a death glare, and he silently retreated in an attempt to subtly hide behind Gray. I don't think so, hothead! Gray wanted to say, but he was not about to get on Erza's bad side. Not unless he had a death wish...but that wasn't the only reason. Gray hated when Erza was mad at him, because he felt like every time he got her upset he was distancing himself from her, when all he wanted was to be near her, all the time. Gray wanted to kill whoever made Erza mad in any way, because when she was happy, she lit up his life, and he didn't want anyone to take away his world, so when he was the one who caused her to get upset, he felt like a little bit of him died with each harsh word she included in her lecture.

When they were children, Gray had stumbled across Erza crying by the river.

"Why are you always all alone?" he had asked.

"Because I like being alone," she had said.

"Well you're alone now, so why are you crying?"

That day, Gray had seen a vulnerable side of Erza. At that moment, he vowed never to let anyone take advantage of her vulnerable side, and never to see her like that again--alone and upset and sad. That was the moment when Gray vowed to love her with all of his heart for the rest of his life, regardless of whether or not she returned his feelings. Not that he would ever tell her. Not that she would ever know. Not that anyone would ever know. No, he would never let that happen. He had to be the stone cold ice wizard who stayed strong no matter what. He had to be the guy who was there when his friends needed him. He had to be the guild member everyone could depend on, especially Erza. That was who he was, and that was something that would never change. That was something that could never change.