210Ch. 10 – My Gift to You
Because of their train being delayed, Gray and Erza made it back to Magnolia Town later than expected. The sun would be setting right about now, that is if the cloudy sky wasn't covering it. It was lightly snowing as they walked down the street, side by side.
Gray slowly came to a halt and Erza stopped along with him. "This is it."
It was an average sized shop stuck between two larger buildings. It was covered completely in pink paint with lots of other bright colors used for signs. It stood out far more than any other shops on the street, possibly to attract customers for business. The name of it was…
"Sweetie…Pie?" Just saying the name made it hard for Erza not to smile.
To be honest, Gray had no idea what the name of the shop was when he heard about it. All he knew was that it would be located in this part of town. He felt embarrassed that he would be walking into a shop with that kind of name.
"It's not that bad." The grimace on Gray's face said otherwise. A sly grin lit up on Erza's face. "Are you going back on your promise, big man?"
Like hell I'll let her talk down to me!
"No, we're going!" Gray angrily stomped through the snow and opened the door to little shop. A bell hanging on top of the door chimed when the door opened and chuckled to herself before following him inside.
The shop was much more crowded than Gray had expected. The shop was filled with customers and almost every table was occupied. Gray figured it would be a bad idea to go out with Erza on Christmas Eve. It was way too busy for his liking. The display case holding all the desserts was almost completely empty.
The upside to everything was the smell of pastries filling the shop. It was even making Gray hungry. Gray turned around to see if Erza had come into the shop yet and found her standing behind him, wide eyed with wonder. No doubt the smell was affecting her stomach as well. He thought he could see the faintest amount of drool slipping from her mouth.
"Don't get too carried away. I can't pay for everything in the shop."
Erza snapped out of her trance and gave Gray a knowing look. It was as if she was saying she might take him up on that offer if he was going to bother joking with her. Gray knew she meant it, too.
A larger woman entered from the back room. She was carrying a tray filled with fresh goodies to stock the display case with. "Why, hello there! Come to fill your tummy with some yummy? They're awfully sweet~ "
The way the woman spoke made Gray feel a bit uneasy. Trying to ignore those feelings and focus on his goal, he eyed the display of goodies before spotting exactly what he was looking for. "Yeah, I'd like to get a piece of the strawberry cake."
"Why, of course, sweetie pie!"
Chills ran down Gray's spine and Erza was doing her best to hold in her laughter. She didn't want Gray to hear her. Gray glanced back at her with a stern look and she quickly walked off to save a table for them. They didn't want to lose the opportunity to have a spot to eat. Erza went back to her muffled laughter when Gray looked away.
The lady hummed to herself as she cut off a slice of the cake and placed it on a warm plate. She held it out to Gray with a big smile on her face. "Here you are!"
"T-Thanks." Gray carefully took the plate from her. "Do I pay now or what?"
"No hun, we wait until after you're finished. I can assure that you'll be buying more~"
"Right…"
Gray left the counter with cake in hand and sat across the table from Erza. He placed the plate down in front of her along with a fork and napkin. She was beaming with joy as she stared down at the cake. She quickly scooped up the fork from the table and cut off a small piece of the cake. After stuffing the fork into her mouth, her face evolved into one of pure pleasure. She was in complete bliss. Watching her so content over eating a slice of cake was enough for Gray to think this whole trip was worthwhile.
Erza looked up at Gray and noticed him watching her eat. She felt a little bad to be enjoying something so delicious while he sat there doing nothing. "Do you want any, Gray?"
Gray motioned for her to continue as she was. "Nah, it's all yours."
"Are you sure?"
Erza wasn't backing down. Looking at the cake one more time, Gray thought it did look pretty good. All the different smells in the shop weren't helping his appetite, either.
"Okay, but just one bite."
Erza scooped up a piece of cake with her fork and held it out near Gray's face. "Here."
Gray leaned in without a second thought and closed his mouth around the fork. He pulled away and leaned back into his chair. Erza smiled at him as she watched him chew. After deciding it was to his liking, a smirk lit up his face.
This is really good. No wonder Erza looked so happy eating it.
After Gray swallowed the cake, a look of horror suddenly spread across his face.
Wait, what am I doing?!
"Erza, what was that for?!"
"You wanted to try some, so I gave you a piece." Erza merely gave him a perplexed look as she spoke.
She acted as if it was a completely normal thing to do. He couldn't blame her for what she did, either. Even if she was the one to offer, he was the one who leaned in to take the bite. He hadn't even bothered taking the fork out of her hand. He let her feed him.
But even more so-
"That's your fork!"
"Yeah, so?" She wasn't fazed a bit.
"So?!"
That's like an indirect kiss, right?!
He couldn't just yell that out loud, though. Maybe Erza was really oblivious to this sort of thing. He had to remain calm. If she found out she might take it out on him. That was the last thing Gray wanted.
Erza did nothing, though. Instead, she held out the handle of the fork to Gray. He had no idea what she was planning. "What?"
She nodded the fork in front of him again. "Now it's your turn."
He wasn't taking the hint. "My turn for what?"
"Now you feed me cake."
Gray had to stop himself from falling out of his seat. "Are you serious?!"
"Yeah, why not?" Her calmness over it all was really confusing Gray.
He tried his best to stay calm as well. "Erza, there are people here watching us. And isn't this a little…"
"You don't want to?"
The look she gave pained him. She looked somehow hurt. It made him feel bad about everything he just said. Was his reaction to all of this unnecessary?
Goddammit…
Gray sighed and picked up the fork. He cut into the piece of cake and held out the fork near Erza's mouth. What was he supposed to say in this kind of situation again? "Say ahh."
A big smile grew on Erza's face. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth wide. "Ahhhh~"
A small blush crept onto Gray's cheeks and his mouth wasn't sure how to react to this.
Why does she have to be so cute?
Gray gently placed the fork into Erza's mouth and she bit off the piece of cake from it. She looked extremely happy as she swallowed the treat and looked up at Gray. A small blush crept onto her face and she showed him a big smile as she gave a small laugh. Gray's cheeks flared up as well. He felt as if hot air was seeping out of his ears by this point.
Once things settled down and Erza finished her cake in peace, she spoke to him once more. "I never did get you a Christmas present."
Gray paused for a second. He never had time outside of his missions to get presents for any of his friends, let alone Erza. He was mentally kicking himself for forgetting about it completely.
"It's alright. I haven't given you anything, either."
"You're treating me to my favorite cake. It would only be fair to give you a gift as well."
So she considers this to be her Christmas present…
"Then you can count me getting the full reward as my present."
"No, that won't do. It should be something more special." She looked somehow frustrated as she folded her arms across her chest. She was really putting deep thought into this. "I'll figure something out."
He might as well do as Erza wanted. If she wanted to give him a present so badly, he wouldn't complain. "Whatever you say."
Erza looked at her empty plate and back up at Gray. "I'm ready for my next piece."
"Wait, you want more?"
"You did say you'd treat me to the biggest slice of cake I could eat. That definitely won't do."
Erza's bright smile was enough to make him give in. There was no way he could fight her on this. He pictured the image of all his reward flying off into the sun for whatever reason. Erza waited until the large woman was making her rounds to ask.
"Ma'am, do you happen to sell hot chocolate?"
"Why, yes we do!"
"Great! We'll each take a mug of it. And would you please bring out some more strawberry cake for us as well?"
"Why, of course! I knew you'd be getting more!" She looked back at Gray and winked at him. Another set of chills ran down his spine. He really couldn't keep up with this type of atmosphere.
It was dark outside and still snowing by the time they left the cake shop. The street lights were lit and guided their way back to their guild, their home. Erza walked with her hands held behind her back and seemed in high spirits. Filling her stomach with cake would do that to her. Gray could tell his wallet felt lighter already. He couldn't complain, though. Erza had a good time and so did he. Though the course of events confused him, he just decided to go with the flow.
The two were walking side by side down the street, something they were doing a lot lately. It really comforted Gray to be able to stand by her side like this. Erza turned to look at him and he gave her a curious look in return. He wasn't sure what she was going to say. She finally broke the silence.
"I heard you turned Juvia down."
Gray wasn't paying attention and almost took the wrong step. If he hadn't noticed at the last second he would have tripped and fallen face first into the snow. Luckily none of that happened and he only did a sort of awkward twitch. Erza didn't seem to notice anything different, so all was well.
Does everyone in the freaking guild know about that?!
While he was internally screaming, Gray's face only showed that he was slightly miffed. Gray felt as if everyone in the guild was keeping tabs on his love life. He couldn't catch a break from that kind of topic and it was really pissing him off. He knew he shouldn't be so surprised knowing Erza found out about it. She knew just about everything that went on in Fairy Tail…Well, except for his feelings for her.
"Yeah, I did. I told her a few months back."
"Ah, so it was a while ago." Erza listened to him closely as they walked.
Gray scratched at the back of his neck and looked back at her. "You were right. It was best for me to tell Juvia. I was so focused on how she would take it that I was never able to go through with it. Thanks for the advice."
Erza smiled back at him. "I'm glad I could help."
"Juvia is dating Lyon now, anyway. I'm pretty sure she's over me." Gray didn't understand why he was telling Erza all this. He felt it made him feel a bit better about breaking Juvia's heart, knowing she found mutual love in the end. That's what he chose to believe.
"Oh, is that so? I'm glad Juvia found someone. Things must be progressing nicely." Erza wouldn't stop smiling at him. It wasn't that he didn't like seeing her smile, but this time it felt as if she was hiding something. Had she already known about things with Juvia? And if she did, what was the point of even asking?
Gray felt on edge about this sort of topic. He wasn't the best at talking about his feelings and yet once again he was talking about it with Erza. There wasn't much of a break before Erza continued on with the subject. This was the part he wasn't prepared for.
"Was there a reason you turned her down?"
Gray almost froze in his tracks at the question, but kept going anyway. He thought he might make things too obvious if he acted any more strangely.
Yeah, it was you.
But Gray didn't have the guts to tell her. Not yet.
"Not really."
The ice mage looked the other way to avoid eye contact with her. He didn't want her to catch the blush on his face. What Gray didn't notice was Erza looking at him thoughtfully while his head was turned away. If only he would look the other way just to see a glimpse of it.
They reached the guild a few minutes later, the snow still softly floating down from the night sky. Gray assumed they would be going their separate ways once they walked inside the guild, so he stopped in front of the main doors. Erza stopped right next to him.
"It was a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me on the mission." Erza seemed to have enjoyed herself over the last two days and that in turn made Gray smile back at her.
"No problem. Feel free to join me anytime."
You idiot, watch what you're saying! You're being way too obvious!
Gray noticed something in the corner of his eye. He looked up and his eyes were greeted with an object hanging over the door. It was a green plant with white berries on it and it had a red ribbon tied into a bow.
Are you kidding me?
Gray was well aware of how his guild mates joked around about his and Erza's relationship. It was obvious to him that the mistletoe was left out particularly for him and Erza. They knew that the two of them would be coming back sometime that day and were probably waiting for the moment to surprise them with their little "gift". They were forcing him to make his move on Erza.
What would Erza think if he suddenly kissed her, something he's wanted to do for so long? Even if they had grown closer over the last few months, he didn't think she would be too happy if he stole a kiss from her. Erza didn't feel the same way for him.
He wasn't going to let them force this onto him and especially not onto Erza.
Gray looked back at Erza and noticed she was looking up at the plant as well. He knew he had to play it off as a joke. "Look, Erza. Don't worry abou-"
Gray wasn't given enough time to react. Erza swooped in and pressed her lips against Gray's. It was an innocent kiss. No heavy kissing or anything extra added into it, just the touch of each other's lips. Through this whole exchange, Gray didn't do anything. He was too surprised to do anything. He stood there frozen in place while she kissed him.
After a few seconds had passed, Erza slowly pulled away from Gray. She looked him in the eyes and he looked back at her, his mouth dropped slightly open in shock. There was something about the way Erza looked at him that Gray didn't understand. It was as if she wasn't satisfied. When Gray didn't speak, Erza's face grew red in embarrassment.
"I…better be going!" She gave an awkward nod to Gray and ran off in the opposite direction.
Gray could hear the muffled voices of his friends inside of the guild.
"They kissed!"
"Not just that. She kissed him."
"She kissed him?!"
"Holy-"
The door went flying open and the group of people huddled against the door fell flat on their faces into the snow. There were quite a few people who had been peeking in on their private moment; Cana, Macao and Wakaba to name a few. They all started hitting each other and tried to push each other off of themselves. A huge fight broke out from it and it seemed like everything that happened between the two was forgotten.
Gray didn't pay them any mind. All he did was stare off in the direction Erza ran off to. The stunned look was still present on his face.
What just happened?
Author's Notes: Not many chapters left until the end. Thanks for sticking with it for all this time!