Note: So, apparently it's Grayza week. I never thought I'd bother with doing any of these shipping week things, but AmyNChan talked me into it, so you can thank or curse her lol (But this is the first thing I've written for FT in a few months, so maybe you should thank her for helping to ease me back into the fandom. Although I'm still mostly writing for Noragami at the moment, sorry.) I was extremely unimpressed when I first saw the prompts, which were definitely not my cup of tea. But then I figured out how to subvert most of them and put a twist on them, which then got me excited about writing them. Oops. So some of them are a tad unconventional, but that's what makes them interesting, right? :X

Btw, the summary is way more dramatic than it needs to be. It's a fancy way of saying that this is a collection of one-shots that aren't necessarily connected unless I say so, although you're welcome to string any of them together if you so desire.

Playlist

The sun was still raining down bright afternoon light on the city when Erza fled the guild. Her friends meant well and she knew they were just trying to help, but it was one of those days when she didn't want to be helped, not really. There were gloomy storm clouds gathering in her peripheral vision, seeping in through the cracks in her sanity. Gray, lifeless clouds.

She fumbled with her key, the cool metal nearly slipping from between her fingers before she slotted it into the lock and twisted the knob. Shutting the door behind her, she slumped back against it with a sigh. The key dangled from her fingers as she closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wood.

She and Gray had moved into this apartment last year. It had always been a warm and inviting place. Home. Except when Gray wasn't home with her, when they were off on their separate adventures and Erza came back to an empty apartment where the air felt still and heavy and silent.

It felt empty now. Had never felt emptier.

The air escaped her lips in a sighing breath, and she pushed herself away from the door to drop the key on the small hall table with a tinkling clatter next to the vase of roses. Gray had brought them home before going on his last job. Erza almost smiled as she remembered the adorably sheepish look on his face as he handed over the bouquet and suggested the apartment might feel less empty with a splash of color. Neither of them had particularly enjoyed coming back to an empty home while the other was out on a long job, even though Fairy Tail mages were in high demand these days and they knew they were sometimes needed in different places.

The roses had been a vibrant red the day Erza had put them in the vase and arranged them on the table so that they were the first thing she saw when she walked in the door. By now they had withered and dried, the petals curling and browning while their soft texture gave way to a leathery decay and then hardened like dead, brittle leaves. They weren't very appealing anymore and had none of the vibrant cheer and beauty they had once had, but she left them in their desiccated brown clumps and allowed their fallen petals to gather around the base of the crystal vase and dot the tabletop. She had told herself she would keep them until Gray returned.

She plucked one of the withered petals from a wilted stem. Her fingertip caught on a thorn as she withdrew it, and the sharp point scratched her skin and drew a faint line of red across the whorls of her fingerprint. Wincing against the sting, she watched as a bead of blood welled from the cut. She rubbed the petal between her fingers. Her thumb painted it crimson, one last homage to its glory days.

She rubbed harder, rolling the dry petal around and around until it crackled and began dissolving into grayish-brown dust like ash, flecked with crimson blood. The crumbs slipped between her fingers, sand falling through an hourglass, and dusted the tabletop. She plucked a new petal.

He loves me, he loves me not.

Her lips curled into a thin, bitter smile at the girlish naïveté of the thought, a relic of days long past. She hadn't needed such insecure games for a long time.

But the roses' skeletons made her miss Gray even more. She just wanted him to come home.

She pulled the miniature communications lacrima out of her pocket and tucked the petal behind it as she activated the screen and drifted into the bedroom. Throwing herself down onto the bed with her back cradled by the mattress, she held up the device and squinted at the interface.

Gray had bought them a pair not long after they had started dating so that they could keep in touch when they were apart and chat whenever they wanted to. Erza had grown used to the devices when they'd used them to keep in touch while Gray was undercover with Avatar, and she had thought it a splendid idea even though they had spent a great deal of time together to start with. She had been particularly grateful for Gray's foresight the first time she had gone on a solo quest that had taken much longer than anticipated. It was comforting to be able to stay connected.

Now she opened the message log of her lacrima. There was a short list of voice messages Gray had left when she missed his calls. Right now, she needed to hear his voice.

She selected the first message, turned the volume all the way up, and closed her eyes as she folded her hands across her stomach with the lacrima held reverently between. Gray's voice filled the air, breathing life back into the empty space. It was a little tinny on the recording, but it was music to her ears.

"Hey, Erza. Just checking in. Hope everything's going well on your job and you'll be home soon. I miss you already. I mean, everyone's still hanging around, but it's not the same without you, you know?"

Erza did know. It was never quite the same, even with the rest of her friends around to cheer her up. Waiting around for him to come home was the worst.

"But I've been helping Mira out and sneaking the latest chapters of Lucy's novel to read, so at least I've got something to keep me occupied." He laughed, and Erza smiled at the ceiling. She could hear the faint roar of voices in the background and knew he was in the guild. "Don't worry, everything's fine here. The guild's still in one piece and–"

A crash sounded in the background, loud and violent. Right on cue. Erza knew each of these recordings by heart now, had listened to them so many times that she knew exactly what had been going on, anticipated every interruption, could recite every word Gray spoke.

"Hey!" Gray's voice was muffled now as he held his hand over the speaker in a vain attempt to block out the sound. "Quit destroying things, flame brain! I'm on the phone with Erza, you know. She's going to be pissed if you wreck the guild while she's gone." Natsu mumbled something in the background, and Gray sneered something unintelligible back before clearing his throat and uncovering the speaker so that his voice was clear again. "Uh… Don't mind that. Natsu just…tripped. Loudly. Don't worry. The guild's totally fine." Another loud thump and the sound of splintering wood. "…Mostly. A-anyway, be safe and come back soon. Can't wait to have you back. Love you."

The recording clicked and went dead, and Erza could imagine Gray hanging up and immediately turning on Natsu to berate him. Or, more likely, to pick a fight with him.

She played the next recording, and Gray's voice filled the silence again. This time he sounded panicked, like he was scrambling to salvage the situation.

"Erza, hey, it's me. So, uh, something went wrong with your cake. You know, the one I was supposed to pick up today? Yeah, uh… Natsu sort of ruined it. I swear it wasn't me! Anyway, I went back to try getting a replacement, but they can't do it on such short notice. They have some premade ones, but they're out of strawberries or something ridiculous like that. I swear I tried convincing them to just bake another strawberry one, but they're being real stubborn about it. So I can get a different flavor, or go to the bakery on the other side of town and see if they have anything, but I know you don't like their cake as much. So… Yeah, I'm not sure what you want to do. Call me back and let me know what you'd prefer, 'kay? I'm really sorry."

Erza chuckled at his obvious panic. She might have yelled at him a bit that day, but she had forgiven him and made do with an inferior cake. That was so long ago that it felt like another lifetime.

She scrolled down to the next message.

"Hey, sorry to call out of the blue." His melancholy bled into every word, and his voice was tight with pain even as he tried to smooth it out. "I'm not…doing so great tonight. I mean, I'm okay. It's not like that. Just…I could really use you right now. Give me a call back? I mean, only if you aren't busy or anything. It's not that big of a deal. Sorry, never mind, I'm okay."

Erza still remembered getting out of the shower and finding the message on her lacrima, listening to it and calling him back. They had talked all night until light had begun bleeding over the horizon, about everything and nothing. They both had scars, and Gray had often struggled with his.

Erza remembered how worried she had been, because he always kept his problems to himself and something must have been wrong if he was calling about them. But then she had been…grateful, maybe. That he had turned to her when usually he would paste on a smile and pretend everything was fine. It had felt like a milestone of sorts, and she had been honored that he had chosen to confide in her and accept her support. And he didn't suddenly open up and tell her about every little thing after that, but he had begun slowly opening up more and more, and she had done the same alongside him. Until they could talk to each other about things they normally kept close to their chests. Until they knew more about each other than anyone else could imagine.

The thought made her want to both smile and cry, so she quickly moved to the next message.

"Happy birthday!" Gray said cheerfully. "Don't tell me you're asleep already? Tsk, tsk. It's exactly midnight, so I get to be number one again! We're going to have tons of fun, promise. I've got all sorts of plans for once we escape the guild. It'll be great! Anyway, I'll let you get to sleep. Love you, babe. Hope you get enough rest to make up for the sugar rush you're going to get from eating all that cake!"

Erza's laugh rasped along her throat. Gray had turned it into a game to always be the first one to wish her happy birthday. One time, before they had moved in together, he had climbed all the way up the wall of the Fairy Hills dormitory to knock on her window exactly at midnight. He'd always been such a sweetheart about things like that.

The next message made her smile even before it started playing.

"What's taking you so long? Seriously, I need you to get back here as soon as humanly possible." Gray's voice was tight with irritation, and she could imagine him pacing about in circles and scowling into the lacrima. "I swear, I am going to strangle this bastard if you don't come rescue me right now. He's driving me up the wall. Why did we think it was a good idea to let him stay here? Can we kick him out to find a hotel? Please, Erza, I'm dying here."

In the background, Lyon laughed. "Erza, tell your husband to chill out. He's still so easy to rile up. And you can't kick me out. I came to visit you, baby brother. I know you love me."

"Did I ask you to visit me?" Gray snapped. "I think not. Shut up, Lyon." To the lacrima, he added, with a pleading note in his voice, "Please hurry up. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in jail because I lost it and murdered him when you weren't here to stop me."

"Like you could kill me," Lyon retorted, voice muffled but clearly amused.

"Don't tempt me. I'm sorely tempted already. Erza, come rescue my sanity, please."

Erza chuckled breathily and fingered the lacrima humming softly against her stomach. With her eyes closed, she could almost imagine Gray right beside her.

That had been a long visit, after which Gray had sworn to never let his adoptive brother stay in their apartment again. A resolution that had lasted right up until Lyon's next visit. As annoying as the bickering could be, it was fun to watch them together. Even when they were always fighting and driving each other crazy, it was easy to see how much they cared.

The next message was different, and it was the one that made Erza's heart flutter and warm. The voices were muffled and a bit indistinct, because the lacrima was still in Gray's pocket and the call had been entirely accidental.

"–that all?" asked a girl's voice.

"Yeah, thanks," said Gray.

"Roses, huh?" the girl said, presumably making small talk as she rang up the purchase. Erza had imagined this scene a thousand times in her mind, imagined each expression and gesture until she could see it all clear as day behind her eyelids. "Are you going to ask out a lucky girl?"

"Oh, no. They're for my wife." He laughed sheepishly, a little wearily. "I'm in the doghouse."

"Ah, apology flowers? I get a lot of guys in here complaining about girlfriends and buying flowers to make up with them."

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I mean, I'm totally in the right here, but… Well, I love her. She's a wonderful woman and means the world to me. If I have to give up an argument and apologize… Well, she can have her way. I'm not going to keep fighting over something silly just because I want to 'win'. It's not worth it. I'd rather have her than a hollow victory, so apologies and flowers it is. She's more important than winning."

"Awww, how sweet! She sounds like a lucky woman."

Gray chuckled tiredly. "She might disagree with you at the moment. But anyway–"

A click cut off the recording as the allowed time for messages expired. The very corners of Erza's lips twitched upwards, although her eyes remained resolutely shut.

She couldn't remember what they had been fighting about now. Something stupid. They both had hot tempers, and although they usually got along beautifully, sometimes they fought. She had found that message before Gray had showed up with a bouquet of roses and an apology heavy with its sincerity, and it had knocked the fight right out of her. They had been feuding for days, but hearing his unguarded words meant more than even the apology he had prepared for her.

She had still let him give it to her, of course, and the flowers too. She had let him shuffle his feet and wait nervously for her judgment for a few minutes. And then she had pulled out her lacrima and played the recording. The stunned look on his face and flush that crept up his neck and across his cheeks had been so worth it. And then she had kissed him senseless and magnanimously agreed to call the fight a draw instead of claiming victory.

Because he was right in more ways than one. She loved him and he meant the world to her, and he was worth more than some stupid fight and more important than winning.

The memory made her heart ache, but she let the sweetness linger in the silence for a few moments before taking a deep breath and moving to the last message. Her hands tightened around the lacrima as Gray's voice filtered through the air again.

"Hey, Erza. Just calling to check in. Sorry I missed you. Well, it looks like I might've finished the worst of this job now. Some of these guys are scary dangerous, but I've captured most of them and turned them over to the authorities. It's mostly just cleanup now. Sorry it's taking so long… I expected to be done days ago. But I should be done soon and on my way home. I love you, Erza. Don't worry, I'll be home before you know it! See you soon!"

A painful knot twisted beneath Erza's sternum, tightening her chest so that her breath was choked and strangled as it fought its way up her throat and shuddered in the still air like a sob. The tears finally spilled over and tracked down her cheeks, and she trembled with the sobs rattling about her ribcage.

"You liar!" she wailed, sitting up abruptly and throwing the lacrima across the room as hard as she could.

It hit the wall with a loud thud and fell to the floor beside the dresser. Her heart immediately clenched in panic, and she jumped out of bed to rush across the room and pick up the device. She examined it, her heart in her throat until she made sure it still worked and she hadn't ruined it. A shuddering sigh escaped her lips, half relieved and half heartbroken.

She couldn't afford to ruin the lacrima. This was her playlist of broken memories and stolen moments. It was the last thing she had left of Gray, the last place she could hear his voice. She crushed the rose petal between her fingers. That and the roses crumbling to ashes in the hall.

She stepped back and fell backwards onto the bed. Closing her eyes, she pressed her trembling lips together against the salt on her cheeks and began playing the messages all over again from the beginning.

"Hey, Erza. Just checking in…"

Again and again and again.

Note: What? That totally counts as a playlist. Just like the one on my phone, which starts with the crazy Chinese lady who keeps calling me and goes through the scam warning me to call in before I get arrested for crimes I didn't commit and the three hundred people calling me about job opportunities. It's gold, man.

Oh, I also only found out about this a little while ago while in the middle of writing something else, so I've been scrambling to throw something together. So sorry if these are a little more unpolished than usual x.x