OKAY IT'S VERY POSSIBLE I MADE SOME MISTAKES, IF SO, I'M SORRY, BUT I DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT FAIRY TAIL, SO I MIGHT GET MIXED UP SOMETIMES. SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.
TRY TO ENJOY THE STORY AS IT IS.:)

"Ready..." starts Erza. You grin at Gray and he smiles back.

"Be ready to lose," you say to your friend.

"We'll see," he answers as he grips your hand harder.

"Go!" exclaims the red-haired woman. You immediately try to push Gray's arm down, but you encounter resistance. You grin and wrestle with him, without anyone loosing or winning. Sweat is dropping down your forehead as the arm wrestling game goes on. Gray looks like having a hard time too, but neither of you want to surrender to the other. The crowd around the table grows by the second, everyone in Fairy Tail wanting to watch one of your usual competitions. Gray had won eighty-nine times, and you eighty-eight. You did not want to lose, but you are getting tired. You glance at the shirtless man. Gray meets your gaze, and you smile defiantly at each other.

"Don't...think...I'll lose..." mutters the dark-haired man.

You hear the encouragements from the guild around you. Some cheer for you, others for Gray, and some just enjoy the fight. You push harder and his hand moves slightly back. He seems surprised and tries to push you back. You look at him. He is trying with all his strength, determination in his eyes, his muscles flexing under the effort, biting his lower lip. "He looks so beautiful..." you catch yourself thinking. And it's over. Distracted by this thought, Gray has no difficulty bending your arm to the other side. Your eyes widen in surprise when you feel the back of your hand hit the table.

The crowd roars as Gray stands up, victorious. You are still stunned by the easiness he had managed to win. All of this because you got distracted!

"Still not over your defeat?" asks teasingly Gray with a smile. You frown and cross your arms.

"I would have put more effort if I was actually against a worthy opponent..." you answer.

"Excuse me? I am not worthy enough for you?" Gray frowns too and closes his fists.

"Nope. If I had been against Natsu, for instance..."

You gracefully avoid an arrow of ice, which passes beside your head. Gray is trembling with rage, ready to attack you. You think he is far superior to Natsu, but you would prefer to die than admit it. Besides, his reaction arranges you greatly. There's nothing better than a fight to distract you from what was bothering you.

"If that's how you take it..." you smile fiercely at Gray and activate your own magic. The other members of the guild quickly step away but still cheer for their favorite champion. You jump on Gray and attack, a delighted smile on your lips.

***

"Again?" complains Makarov, sitting on a table. Mirajane is standing beside him and gives you a reassuring smile.

You cross your arms, frowning. Your back slightly faces Gray. You don't look at him. He is the one who started the fight after all. Not that you care about Makarov's speeches.

"It's the third time this week! How many times have I told you to go fight somewhere else?"

"A thousand..." you mutter under your breath, but luckily the old man doesn't hear you. Makarov sighs, a hand on his forehead.

"I guess it's okay for today. At least you did no destroy half the Town like two weeks ago."

The Guild Master dismisses you two with a sign of a hand and you smile, remembering the fight from two weeks ago.

It had been so much fun! Neither of you had won and it took you the whole week to get healed up, but Gray had been in the same state as you.

Ever since you had gotten into Fairy Tail, you've fought with Gray. When you joined, he was the one who caught your attention. Tall, build and with dark-blue hair, he already was good-looking. But it was his courage and fierceness that you liked, along with his weird way of spacing out once in a while. You don't exactly know why, but you've always seemed to get into battles with him, even if it had started with a nice conversation.

And it was these moments that you appreciated most. You absolutely loved fighting with Gray. He was slightly more powerful than you, but you always managed to offer a good resistance to his attacks. You secretly liked the way he looked when he battled. He was always concentrated, frowning, and all of his attention was focused on you. You knew he liked fighting you too, because he was always letting out smiles during the battle.

Your relation was in a way similar to the one between Gray and Natsu, but it was also very different. Erza did not care if you two fought, and even organized some battles, taking the bets. The wins were about half-half. Sometimes you won, sometimes Gray won. But each time, you two put so much energy and emotion in the fight it isn't considered as a battle, but as a show for the other members of the guild. Each time a fight ended, you would fall down from exhaustion; if you were not already lying on the ground. Gray was also in the same state, but the next day it would start over. Other conversations, other arguments, other challenges, other battles.

It was the way of communicating between you and Gray. You understood each other more with fists and magic attacks than talking. He was the first person on which you had gone all-out with joy. It was so exalting to go against Gray! You simply can't resist saying these little comments that leads to an argument, and ultimately to a challenge.

"May I have your attention, everyone," says Makarov with a strong voice. Everyone shuts up and looks at the Guild Master. "As you all know, the Grand Magic Games will be taking place soon."

The members cheer, and you clap too, still beside Gray, who seems excited.

"You have two days to form your teams of five, then these groups will participate in the pre-selecting event. Come see me when you've find your teammates."

The guild roars in cheers and screams. Everyone is already talking to another, making up teams or simply discussing about the Magic Games. You want to ask Gray with who he'll be with, but has disappeared. You sigh, disappointed. You would have liked to be with him. But you doubt he cares about your opinion. Does he even consider you as a friend? Who knows. Maybe he only thinks of you as an enemy. You sigh again.

"What are all these sighs for?" asks a familiar voice behind you. You turn to see Erza, smiling, her hands on her waist. Behind her is Lucy, chatting with Natsu, and Happy is flying over them.

"It's nothing," you reassure your red-haired friend.

"Great. So we-"

"Do you want to be part of our team?!" asks Lucy with a friendly grin. Erza does not mind the interruption and continues on.

"That is exactly what I wanted to say. Right now, it's Lucy, me, and Natsu here" Natsu nicely waves at you. "Anyway, do you accept?"

You are stunned. Erza, the Fairy Queen, wants you to be in her team?! It seems too perfect to be true. You discretely pinch yourself. No, the pain is real.

"You don't want to?" your friend frowns as you don't say a word. "Or maybe someone already asked you?"

"No! I mean, of course I want to!" you quickly say before she takes back her invitation.

"Yay!" exclaims Lucy as she gives you an excited hug. "So how's it going with Gray?" she whispers teasingly in your ear.

"Shut up, Lucy! Leave me alone with that!" you scream, slightly blushing, as she lets you go with a smile of complicity. Her and Mirajane were sure you had a thing for Gray and took every opportunity to remind you. But you only felt friendship toward him... Right..?

You push away these bothering thoughts and join your team as they go ask Elfman, who accepts with joy. You look around, but you still can't find Gray. Where did he go? Now that Elfman has joined, he can't be with you. You're already five people. Oh well. Too bad for him.

You decide to go back to your room while Erza goes get the details of the Games. You knew the Grand Magic Games were hard and difficult, but you did not mind. It was only more fun when your adversaries are more powerful. You did not care if you were beaten up, as long as you can fight.

***

Your team managed to pass the pre-selection event without too much difficulty. Your team was one of the few who did not have a member of "spare" but you guessed you would be all right. The competition was starting tomorrow, so you were now resting in a small inn, reserved for your team only.

You were chatting with the rest of the team, and the subject was unanimous: this year, there were not only one, but two Fairy Tail teams. And to your surprise, Gray was in it. He did not join your team, but another. It bothered you very much. You would have liked to compete with him, for once. Instead, you might have to fight against him.

"Do you think we have a real chance of beating the other teams?" asked Lucy, starting to feel unsure as the Games' start grew closer.

"Of course!" replied Natsu with a nice smile. You smile too. You are pretty sure Nastu loves Lucy, and that the feeling is mutual, but nothing ever happened between them except friendship. You sometimes teased Lucy about it, but she would then get back at you with Gray. So you just kept these thoughts for yourself.

"The hardest might be to beat the other Fairy Tail team," adds Erza, arms crossed, thinking about the powerful adversaries we might have to face. Laxus, Freed, Gray, Mirajane, Gajeel... They were all participating for the Guild.

"That's true..." you say hesitantly.

"You just don't want to lose to Gray, don't ya?" whispers Lucy to you without the others hearing.

"Shut up, Heartfillia," you reply as quietly as possible. Lucy hated very much to be called by her last name, so each time she bothered you too much, you called her that. But the thing is, she's saying the truth. You really don't want to lose. Not in an official competition. You don't want him to brag about it or bring it up every time you argue or fought with him. It would be too humiliating. If he were to win, he won't ever want to fight with you anymore.

And what are the odds that you actually face Gray in a dual? You probably will participate in a more challenging event than duels, and there 80% chances that you don't even meet him in the arena.

You sigh. You can't do anything about it. You can only wait to tomorrow, to see what the future has in stock for you.