"Give me 'nother one."

The meek bartender gave the woman in front of her a wary look.

"Erza, I think you've drank one too many beers already. I'm gonna have to cut you off."

The sword wielder grunted. "I still have money on me… See!" she placed a sack full of jewels on the table.

Mirajane shook her head. Her old rival was really out of it; forgetting that Guild members didn't have to pay for any of their drinks.

"I'm really sorry Erza, but you've already drank almost 2 barrels of beer. You're only one away from what Cana usually consumes. And we both know that's not a good thing."

"Hmph… Maybe if I drank as much as her, he'll take notice of me again." Erza mumbled to herself.

"Did you say something?" Mira asked.

"Nothing," was the quick response. "Just get me my beer already!'

The white-haired mage sighed and proceeded to get the requested order. A sober Erza was destructive enough and she didn't want to risk finding out how a furious drunk Erza would demolish the newly refurnished guild.

The armored woman gulped the contents of her now full mug down as soon as it was handed back to her. She allowed her body to slump forward on to the bar, extending the empty glassware towards the female bartender.

"Erza…" a male voice asked from behind her. "Are you alright?"

The woman did not answer the question, her mind busy trying to figure out who the owner of that voice was. It was familiar… too familiar. She would have guessed that the owner of the voice was the same person who was the reason of her drinking. But she still had enough presence of mind to think that it wasn't. 'He's with her right now. That's why you're drinking yourself to death, remember?' She thought.

"Miraaaa….. Beer! Now!" she commanded, but no one complied. Mirajane was now busy talking to the person who tried to talk to her. Erza, really desperate for the alcohol, tried to stand up and get it on her own.

Wrong move.

It would seem that the 2 barrels had made an effect on her balance. "Woah…" she stumbled, feeling her body falling forward on to the concrete floor. But before she could fall flat on her face she felt a pair of arms catch her just in the nick of time.

"I'm fine." She said, trying to remove the hands supporting her."I'm gonna get another drink."

"Oh no you don't" the man declared. "I'm taking you home."

Erza grumbled but made no move to resist. The mystery man carried her bridal style and made his way towards the guild's exit.

As they exit the guild and the fresh air made contact to her skin, Erza felt her sensed heighten. She could feel the warmth that radiated from her companion's body. She loved his scent and the softness yet strength of his arms under her.

'This feels nice…´ she thought. 'I could stay here forever.'

The cold breeze and the influence of alcohol were slowly lulling her to sleep. That is, until the man open his mouth to speak.

"Erza…." The man began. "You never drink to the point of passing out. What's wrong?"

The weapons mage grunted as a response, not liking the fact that this guy was robbing her of the opportunity to sleep. "Nothing that concerns you, now, let me sleep."

The man no longer replied, and Erza was glad about that. But before she could close her eyes and allow sleep to succumb her, she heard him sigh and mumble. "This is not like you but at the same time something you have always done."

The scarlet haired mage was surprised and angered by the man's words. She wiggled her way off his arms and into a standing position. As soon as she was able to maintain her balance, she glared at her companion. This was a difficult task even for the great Titania as the effects of alcohol made her vision blurry.

"And what the hell does that suppose to mean?" she challenged. She could see the discomfort in her companion even she can barely see him.

"I… uhm… I just…" he stuttered.

"Just spit it out!" she yelled.

"You never share your problems with anyone. You always deal with it on your own, thinking that you'll burden us if you us what's wrong. But the truth is Erza, we want to help you. We want to go through all those troubles so you don't have to deal with them by yourself. We are a Guild! We are a family! We want to help you…. I want to help you."

Erza avoided her eyes from his. She could barely see the person, much less look into his eyes, but she knew he could. She tried to hide the truth she knew was written all over her eyes. Though, she thought, it was useless since he already knew everything he just said was true.

The woman kept her gaze down until she felt the man move. Before she could do or say anything, he had her in his arms once again, not carrying her but instead capturing her into a hug. She didn't know if it was the alcohol or ten sense of security his warmth, but she did something she has never done before.

"I… It's…Gray." She mumbled to his chest. She felt the man stiffen around her paid no mind to it. He was asking her to open up to him and that is exact what she intends, wants, to do.

"He's… he's been avoiding me ever since…." She paused, feeling her throat tighten up as she remembered that day. "The day he confessed to me about his feelings… towards me."

"Erza…" the man began but she didn't allow him to continue.

"I didn't mean to hurt him. It was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. I was just so surprised… and confused. I was still caught up with things concerning Gerard. I still thought I had feelings for him and I didn't want to use Gray to get over him. He's my first friend, my closest friend in the guild, and I didn't want to lose what we had by changing anything. If I only knew…" a sob she was trying to conceal escaped her lips.

"And when I saw him with Cana, I wanted to do nothing but to tear her away from him. Then I realized that for the 1st time, I was jealous. I've never felt anything like that before when it comes to Gray or with any other man really, not even Gerard. I realized that, I love him."

Erza clutched the man closer to her. She needed to feel that someone was there for her during this realization.

"But I guess it's too late now. He's moved on."

She continued to sob hard onto the man's chest. It felt nice to be held while crying, feeling that she' wasn't alone, that someone actually cares.

"I'm sorry… for making you think I was avoiding you."

It was an understatement to say that Erza was surprised to hear those words.

"I never… I guess I was doing it unconsciously. I never mean to make you feel that I didn't want to be around you."

The woman extracted herself from his embrace to look at his face.

"Gray…" she whispered, touching his face to make sure it was really him and was not just a hallucination made by her intoxicated brain.

"Erza…" the ice mage held her hand on his face, bringing it to his lips to kiss. "Cana is my friend, like a sister I never had. You of all people should know that. She was just asking for some help for a mission she got."

The scarlet-haired sword wielder was speechless. She just keep staring at his handsome face, at his eyes, which she could see now that the blurriness caused by the alcohol has subsided a bit.

"I love you, Erza. I always have and always will. You'll never be too late." Gray closed the distance between them and placed his lips firmly on hers. He kissed her with all his might, pouring all his love for the armored woman. She returned his kiss with the same intensity, showing him that she felt the same way, in the same amount, as he did for her.

So that's it, my very first Fairy Tail fanfic. Please let me know what you think. When I first thought about this story, it was supposed to be funny but as I was writing it, it slowly became angsty so I really don't know how this ended up. I know Erza is OOC here but she's drunk so yeah. My friends acts all sort of crazy when drunk so I guess this is normal? Also, sorry if the end is a bit cheesy, I ran out of ways to end my stories.